Omega Force 3: The Enemy Within Read Free

before he let loose a swarm of nanobots into his bloodstream to begin the repairs to the rest of his body.
    “ Where are we?”
    “ We’re running at a leisurely twenty percent slip velocity on our way to drop off our package. It’s giving both you, and him, time to heal. We had a tough time keeping Crusher from killing him over the last couple of days. He’s still extremely angry about what happened to you,” Twingo said as he pulled up one of the stools to sit next to the bed.
    “ I’d imagine he’s angrier that I let myself get captured,” Jason said as he reached for the cup of water on the stand next to him.
    “ There is that,” Twingo admitted. “I wouldn’t expect to go on any more solo missions for a while if I were you. Honestly, I’d consider it a favor if you didn’t … while we were looking for you, he was an absolute horror to be around.”
    “ I’ll keep that in mind,” Jason said with a dry chuckle.
    “ So what happened?”
    “ It’s a little fuzzy thanks to the drugs they kept trying on me. Well, that and them constantly beating the shit out of me,” Jason began. “I remember following the scrawny one away from that auxiliary spaceport we identified. He took me right to Corenntal himself, which surprised me … apparently these guys are as amateurish as we were told.
    “ Anyway, they milled around the warehouse district right outside the port before a bunch of freight haulers pulled up and looked like they were getting ready to stage up near one of the landing pads. I went to get a closer look and I was hit with some sort of stunner. When I woke up, I was chained to that chair and the festivities began.”
    “ Amateur or not, they still captured you with relative ease,” Twingo said as he leaned back. “We’ve got to start being more careful and establish some hard operational rules before one of us gets killed.”
    “ A week ago I would have laughed in your face,” Jason said as he laid back on the pillow. “But I have to admit, you may have a point.”
    “ I’m glad to hear you say that,” Twingo said. “I was thinking—”
    The soft snores from Jason indicated an end to the conversation. Twingo smiled slightly, tremendously relieved that the captain was on the mend. He left quietly to go inform the others that Jason had woken up and appeared to have suffered no permanent damage to his brain.
    *****
    Another full day after he had come back around, Doc cleared Jason to leave the infirmary. He was unbelievably stiff at first and the unusually high concentration of medical nanobots in his body was causing some interesting side-effects, but it was good to be up and about. The first thing he did was tackle the climb up the stairs to get to the command deck so he could sit in the pilot’s seat of the Phoenix again and re-establish that bond, running his hands over the controls. It was a very human thing to do, and for once the others didn’t laugh at his expense. He saw that they were still a little over five days away from their destination and that the ship was purring along at peak efficiency. He was impressed that Twingo had managed not only to sit constantly by his side in the infirmary, but had also kept the engines tuned during the long flight. He’d never actually tell him that, of course.
    “ So how’s our guest?” Jason said to no one in particular.
    “ Still breathing, thanks to these guys,” Crusher rumbled, folding his arms over his massive chest. Seeing the warning signs, Jason held up a hand to cut him off.
    “ I know you have some words for me,” he said quickly. “But can it wait until I’ve recovered a bit more? Or maybe we can just skip it altogether?”
    “ It can wait,” Crusher said ominously. Jason shuddered inwardly before turning to the others.
    “ So how did you guys end up finding me?”
    “ They had put you in a shielded location that blanked out your tracker’s signal,” Kage said from where he lounged in the copilot’s seat.