The Battle of the Void (The Ember War Saga Book 6) Read Free

chair.
    “How is Lilith doing these days? She have a sister? I keep asking but you never answer.” Standish handed the photo back to Yarrow, whose face had gone several shades redder.
    “She’s fine.” Yarrow tucked the photo into a Velcro pocket on his uniform. “Ibarra’s got her and the rest of the ones we rescued from Nibiru working on Toth technology, helping salvage what they can from the Naga and all the other wrecks in system. And no, she doesn’t have a sister. If she did, there’s no way in hell I’d take the hit for introducing you.” Yarrow looked at Orozco, the well-built, blond-haired, blue-eyed Spaniard. “But some of her friends were asking about you, Oro.”
    “What have I got to do?” Standish asked as Orozco’s laughter filled the briefing room.
    “You tried being a little less creepy?” asked Bailey, the team’s sniper, as she and Egan sat on the bench behind the three Marines.
    “I was the first human to meet the Karigole,” Standish said. “The first human to set foot on an alien planet. Then there’s the Dotok and Nibiru. I should have a-a set of commemorative stamps, at least! Maybe an action figure. What do I get? I catch every crap detail Gunney comes up with and get to go toe to toe with every face-eating alien we come across. You’re still welcome for that save, Bailey.”
    “Haven’t you been busted down to private three different times?” Egan asked. “What was it for? Larceny? Destruction of property…disrespect to a commissioned officer?”
    “That last one was alleged and I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Standish said. “Sergeant Torni was there for that and she…she’s not here anymore.” The Marine’s face darkened and he took a seat next to Yarrow.
    More of the Breitenfeld’s crew filed into the briefing room. Yarrow recognized some of the bridge crew, Durand, and one of the Ma sisters from the fighter squadron. A man with a half-dead face pushed a wheelchair-bound woman into the room.
    “Who’re they?” Egan asked.
    “Two of the Iron Hearts, Kallen and Bodel,” Yarrow said. “We don’t see them out of their armor that often.”
    Yarrow watched as Bodel pushed his right hand off the wheelchair’s handle. The soldier’s left arm hung slack at his side as he tucked a blanket around Kallen’s legs and adjusted a shawl over her frail shoulders.
    “What happened to them?” Egan asked.
    “Bodel got hit on Takeni,” Standish said, his voice low. “I think Kallen’s been in that chair her whole life.”
    “Jesus, why are we putting them on the front lines?” Egan asked.
    “You’ve never seen armor fight, have you? They might not be much outside their armor…but they’re terrifying on the battlefield,” Standish said.
    Bailey frowned. “Standish, there was some story about you and them floating around when I first joined the squad. What did you do?”
    “I can neither confirm nor deny any such wild tales.” Standish crossed his arms.
    “Where’s Steuben? Lafayette? Aren’t they always early to these kinds of things?” Yarrow asked.
    “Gunney said something about Steuben dealing with that new Karigole village out in Kenya,” Egan said. “The Karigole matriarchs aren’t entirely convinced that we humans really don’t want to eat them like the Toth. Steuben’s been trying to talk them down, get them to stop setting traps for the resupply ships. Lafayette’s been on the Crucible since we got back from Nibiru, special projects.”
    “So they’re not coming with us?” Standish asked.
    “Guess not. I wonder if we’re getting some other mission experts coming with us. Where ever we’re going,” Egan said.
    A side door near the front of the room opened and everyone rose to their feet as Captain Valdar strode into the room. Stacey Ibarra and a civilian man in a plane jumpsuit followed behind him.
    “Shit,” Standish said. “Not her again.”
    Yarrow focused on the civilian man. His face was eerily stoic, eyes dead as a