Deadly Betrayal Read Free

probably be grateful. Thanks to him and his lack of respect for people and privacy, Adam and I were married.
    I couldn’t even imagine the ship without all the civilians. It was normally filled with life. Children, shops, restaurants…
    “The promenade?”
    “Closed. We’re running on a minimum crew.”
    “You sound like we’re going to war.”
    He nodded. “I think we are. I would advice you and John to leave too, but you’re both so stubborn I doubt you’d listen.”
    I probably looked like an idiot, staring with my eyes like round saucers. “What’s going on? We weren’t away that long.”
    “This has been in the works for a long time. There is a power struggle in the Confederacy. Up until now we’ve been explorers. We have negotiated and made treaties, member worlds have been treasured and respected. If the new faction gets its way, all this will change. They feel we should take and strive for power, not ask. They feel building on diplomacy is too lengthy a process.”
    I hoped he was joking, but it didn’t seem likely. Didn’t these people know anything about history?
    “Let me guess. This comes from one or a few persons who covet power but hide it well. They probably want everyone else to think like they do and like whatever they like.”
    Blake nodded. “Charismatic and dangerous. You’ve probably seen it before.”
    Same old power struggle, but on an interstellar scale. The enemy might not even be human.
    “What are you going to do?”
    He ran a hand over his face. “Several of the top Confederacy leaders are already dead. We have size on our side. Something happening on a few worlds doesn’t necessarily affect all the others, at least not at once.”
    “I hear a but .”
    “Yes. They have already attempted to send out new orders to the fleet, through several admirals even, but for all we know the messages might be computer generated. The admirals might be dead. I want to head for Earth, but we are far away.”
    What a mess.
    He said, “Most of the people on the ship don’t know. They think we’re preparing for training exercises.”
    I took another sip. The drink was good thinking on his part; I needed it. “What do you want me to do?”
    “Use your unique perspective. They have requested, well, ordered us to meet up with their new flagship. I think they will attempt to persuade me to back them. When I don’t, they’ll try to take the Bell, and when they can’t, they will destroy her.”
    “Sounds like a reasonable scenario.”
    And scary.
    “I was afraid you’d say that.”
    As far as I could see there was only one way out of it. “Don’t go.”
    “We have to.”
    “In that case, make sure we win the battle. Bring a good strategy, and backup.”
    Blake grimaced. “We can’t win this by pure force. We’ll need another tactic. Something stealthy and sneaky.”
    Stealth and deception wasn’t exactly their strong side. Not mine either, but I was better at it than they were. My strategies in the past were based on Hollywood movies and TV shows, but worked as long as the other side hadn’t seen the same thing. In this place and time, Adam and I were the only ones who even knew what TV was.
    “I’ll see what I can come up with.”
    “Don’t think too long. We’re scheduled to meet them tomorrow.”
    My instincts on arriving to the Bell had been right. We should have hurried in the other direction.
     
    *****
     
    I had a lot of new information to take in, and barely noticed my surroundings when I left the Captain’s office and headed for the elevator. If this rested on my shoulders, if Blake really hoped I would come up with a viable plan, we were in trouble. The situation must be more serious than he wanted to let on, and we were all going to die.
    Hopefully he had more viable ideas than asking me. Maybe I was just a backup.
    The floor disappeared under my feet as the ship jerked. For a moment I hung suspended in the air, and then gravity returned, sending me sprawled on