Pledge Allegiance Read Free Page B

lie to me, Baltimore. Solomon Vess is connected to Ensign Georgia Vess, who was lost on the Oregon . What was she, his cousin? Niece?”
    “She’s his daughter.”
    “You might as well stop the car, Baltimore. I’m not going to meet a man who blames me for his daughter’s death. I blame myself every day for every single soul who was lost on that ship. I don’t need to listen to someone’s personal grief and blame.”
    “He doesn’t blame you for her death, Blake.”
    “Of course he does. There’s no other reason he’d want me on his ship.”
    “I told you, he wants to make you an offer.”
    It didn’t sit well with me. Why would Vess want to make an offer to the captain responsible for his daughter’s death? It didn’t make any sense. And if the man wasn’t after revenge, then he must be pursuing some sort of closure. I was pretty sure I couldn’t help him with that; I didn’t have any closure myself when it came to the destruction of the Oregon .
    “He needs to understand that I can’t bring his daughter back,” I said.
    Baltimore looked at me and, for the first time, I saw a hint of a genuine smile cross her face. “Maybe you can.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “We believe that Georgia Vess, Solomon’s daughter, is still alive.”
    “What? That isn’t possible. All hands were lost except for myself and Lieutenant Schafer.”
    “That’s what everyone thought,” Baltimore said. “But now we have reason to believe that some of the crew survived. They’re on the surface of Savarea.”
    “But that’s a Horde planet,” I said. “Nobody could survive there and not be captured by aliens.”
    “They have somehow,” she said as we arrived at the space port. “And Solomon Vess is putting together a team to go and rescue them.”

Chapter 3
    W e walked through the crowded space port to the area designated for private shuttles. Baltimore showed her credentials to the staff behind the departure desk and we were waved through immediately. The perks of working for a billionaire, I guessed.
    I followed her along a glass and steel corridor that led out to the runways. Some of the older shuttle designs needed the runways to get airborne but most of the newer models were equipped for vertical take-off. I was sure that Solomon Vess’s shuttle would be the most modern version available.
    I was right. The shuttle, painted white with the Solomon Vess Industries logo painted in black on its flank, was the latest model. It looked brand new. The hatch was open, a set of stairs leading up to it guarded by four armed men in dark jumpsuits.
    We walked past them and up into the shuttle. The vehicle was plushly furnished with leather upholstery and tables of dark wood, maybe mahogany. Each window had a set of dark blue curtains that matched the thick carpet on the floor. The shuttle was better-furnished than my apartment had been by a factor of a million.
    Baltimore sat and gestured for me to do likewise. I sank into a soft leather seat next to a window. For the first time in a year, I was going to be able to see the stars clearly, and not through the screen of mist that covered Iton-3. Once we were in space, I wanted to make sure I had a good view.
    The door closed and the locking mechanism whirred into place. The shuttle’s engines began to hum.
    I had questions about what Baltimore had said to me in the car, but for now I wanted to experience every moment of my return to space so I pushed the questions out of my mind. I just wanted to see space and be awed by its beauty and vastness again, as I had always been when confronting the glittering void.
    The shuttle lifted off slowly and smoothly. If the curtains had been closed and I hadn’t seen the runway falling away from the window, I wouldn’t even know we were moving. Vess had either hired a top-notch pilot or the shuttle was being flown by a computer.
    I watched the space port get smaller and smaller as we rose at a faster rate. From up here, the city, with