Starship Tomahawk (The Hive Invasion Book 2) Read Free

ships tethered to them, men and robots swarming over the hulls, installing weapons pods and windows. Those ships would become part of the relief fleet, or they'd stay behind to defend Earth.
    She wondered if the Tomahawk's tiny bridge felt claustrophobic to her new captain. The whole room was a scant ten meters from window to window, and the same distance from forward bulkhead to aft bulkhead. With only five duty stations it had always felt roomy to Kaur. Now there were two more stations, freshly installed, unmanned at the moment. Each console held a couple of telephone handsets and a bank of manual switches, for internal communications once the aliens fried the electronics.
    Running the ship with such archaic technology was going to be … interesting. Kaur knew her people were up to the challenge, though. She looked at his bridge crew one by one.
    She saw only one familiar face, Benson at Navigation. Most of the crew had rotated out during the refit, making her reduction in status less awkward. Ramirez at Communications was an old hand, a man with a dozen years of experience on corvettes. Sanjari was the only woman on the bridge. She sat at the Operations station.
    Tolstoy was brand new. He'd been a cadet a week before, serving on the Alexander under Hammett. Strictly speaking he hadn't finished his training, but the admiralty had decided a couple of months of combat experience counted for more than the few weeks of classroom time he was missing.
    Tolstoy was impossibly young, barely out of his teens, but he had the eyes of a seasoned veteran. If he lacked experience, well, no one had much experience with manual systems. If half the stories about the Alexander's last voyage were true, Tolstoy was going to do just fine.
    Benson looked up. "What's the word, Ma'am? Did you find the new captain?"
    Kaur nodded. "He's on board. He's giving himself a bit of a tour."
    Benson nodded, then lowered his voice. "What's he like?"
    Kaur glanced at the entrance to the bridge. "I'll let you draw your own conclusions. You'll be meeting him soon enough."
    Footsteps echoed on deck plates, and Hammett appeared in the hatchway. He walked to the front of the bridge, stood for a moment looking at the bridge crew, then spoke. "Hello. My name is Hammett."
    As if anyone doesn't know, Kaur thought.
    "We'll be getting underway almost immediately," Hammett continued, "so I'll be getting to know each of you during the voyage. We're nine days from Naxos, so we'll have plenty of time to get familiar with each other and with the ship's new systems."
    He looked at each of them in turn, and Kaur found herself envying his casual confidence. He was comfortable with command in a way Kaur could only aspire to. They made the right choice when they put him in command. The thought tasted bitter in her mind, but she couldn't deny the truth of it.
    Hammett looked at Ramirez. "Specialist Ramirez?"
    Ramirez nodded.
    "Benson?"
    Benson inclined his head.
    "Tolstoy. Congratulations on your promotion."
    Tolstoy turned pink. "Thank you, Sir."
    "You must be Sanjari. You served on the Falstaff, didn't you?"
    Sanjari said, "Yes, Sir."
    "I've already met Commander Kaur, of course." Hammett stepped past Kaur and took the captain's chair. He gave Kaur a single sympathetic glance, then said, "What's our status?"
    "All departments report ready, Sir," Sanjari said.
    Hammett nodded. "Last chance to run ashore if anyone forgot their toothbrush." When no one spoke he said, "Ms. Kaur. Take us out, if you please."
    "Aye, Sir." Kaur felt a thrill of excitement run through her, along with not a small amount of fear. The Hive held Naxos, and help would be nine long days away. She touched icons on her console, heard a warning chime as the hatch to the station slid shut, then a friendly ping as the computer verified the ship was sealed and airtight. We won't have that after our first encounter with the Hive. What else won't work? What have the refit teams overlooked?
    "Undocking," she said, and