DarkStar Running (Living on the Run Book 2) Read Free

throb. Once aboard the transport that would
take them to Atheron, he’d have it looked at. But for now, the transport was
still some distance away.
    Cap’s voice crackled in Carl’s headset. “What was going on
back there, Ensign? At first, it sounded as if killing innocents bothered you.
Care to explain yourself?”
    “Yes, sir. If you please, can we make this just between you
and me?”
    “On my honor, my ears only, Ensign.”
    “I have my orders, and I will obey them, but to be honest it
doesn’t set well with me. I don’t think killing should come as easily to a man
as Troy or Jessup would lead us to believe.”
    There was a long moment of silence. Usually quick and
decisive, this was totally unlike the actions Carl had come to expect from his
leader.
    In the silence, one issue nagged at the back of his mind,
prodding Carl to push for an answer, even though his question might be over the
top.
    “Cap, you seem as troubled about the Princess as I
do. May I ask why that is, sir?”
    When Cap finally spoke, he offered only a hint of what was
on his mind. “Hard to say, Carl. Truth be told, I was pleased to hear you
question our orders. Someone had to.”
    Carl tilted his head back to stare out at the stars. The
transport was still nothing more than a dot in the distance. “Do you see Trogs
as a true threat, Captain, or is there something else?”
    “My handle is ‘Swift’, Carl. Out here, that’s what I go by.”
    “Yes, sir, umm, Swift, sir.”
    Captain Archer chuckled. “Do you know much about Providence,
kid?” Even through the crackle of the headset, Carl could tell Cap was careful
to guard his words.
    “Rumors and hearsay, sir.”
    “Swift!”
    “Yes, mmm, Swift, sir.”
    The captain shook his head. “Go on. You were saying?”
    “It’s said . . . mmm, Swift , Prov territory
has been on a war footing with the Confederacy for more than a hundred years.
It’s loaded with Trogs, they say. Why do you ask?”
    “You say that for more than a hundred years they’ve held the
Confederation at bay? Kind of begs the question, don’t you think?”
    Carl glanced to his left. Cap looked at him, but, even with
the distance that separated them, Carl could tell real life now filled the old
man’s eyes.
    “I don’t understand where you’re going with this, Cap. I
mean, Swift. What’s Providence got to do with anything?
    “Chock full of Trogs, Carl. Chock full of inferiors, isn’t
it?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Inferiors?”
    Then it dawned on him. How could an inferior, any inferior,
hold a superior at bay, especially for a hundred years? “Oh, I think I take
your meaning, Swift. Trogs defy the Confederacy as if they were an equal.”
    “You’ve got it. Intel seems a bit lacking when it comes to
explaining that, but they won’t give me any more to go on.”
    “Swift, sir, ever fantasize about crossing the border to see
for yourself how they live . . . and how they die?”
    Another bit of protracted silence filled his headset. Then a
thought popped into his head. Sly old Swift had gotten him to lower his guard
and speak his mind—speak treason. Had he been set up from the start, an
elaborate ruse to get him to question the Confederacy? Carl’s anxious fingers
strummed rapidly on his armrest.
    Just ahead he saw the transport growing larger as they
neared. Once aboard, there would be no escape, none that he would care for, at
any rate. Carl got a mental picture of being shoved into an airlock, and yanked
into the vacuum of space as the outer doors opened. “Accidents” like that
happened all too often to be less than suspect. He took a deep breath, but even
that was shaky.
    “The truth?” Swift said at long last. “Yes, I have thought
about crossing over, just to see. Problem is, what if I like it better than
here?”
    Now that was revealing! Before saying more, Carl
tried to quietly release his held breath but could hear it loud and clear in
his own ears. Swift had climbed way out on a limb in