The Excalibur (Space Lore Book 2) Read Free

ma’am?”
    Morgan walked behind her chair and wrapped her fingers around the back support. The wood there also creaked under the pressure.
    “What are we going to do in the next ten days?” she said between gritted teeth, veins popping out of her hands as they squeezed the chair.
    A man with a thick grey beard, sitting on the other side of the room, said, “We are already at full production on our Solar Carriers, but even with the additional time to build ships while the Vonnegan fleet has been in transit, we cannot match their resources. We estimate they currently outnumber us two to one.”
    “Thank you, Westmoreland,” Morgan said.
    The man nodded. Being that he was the oldest person in the room, and the most respected, everyone else wished he would continue to speak. But one of the very reasons he was well liked was that he knew when to speak and when not to. And because of this, he realized his part in the discussion had already ended.
    Baldwin whispered something to the woman next to him about the Excalibur, but Morgan ignored it.
    “Anyone else?” she said. “Traskk?”
    The reptile gurgled and hissed a series of noises that no one understood except Pistol. The android had been instructed to translate Traskk’s comments only if they weren’t threats toward the Vonnegan fleet. Pistol remained silent and Morgan couldn’t help but smile. Maybe, in a different life, she had been an angry Basilisk.
    “Peto?” Morgan said.
    A man two seats down from Westmoreland shrugged. “We’re outgunned and outmanned. As I see it, one of the only things we can do is send representatives to the other kingdoms to see if they’ll help.”
    Morgan nodded. “And who do you suggest would be qualified to serve as emissary?”
    Peto chewed on a long piece of straw as if he were tending to cattle rather than sitting in the most important council meeting in the solar system. “I’d suspect Vere would be best suited.”
    Morgan, still standing behind her chair, dug her fingers into the back of her chair once more. This time, instead of merely creaking, the wood broke in half. Splinters sprayed the people on either side of her.
    After taking a deep breath, she looked at the only empty chair in the room, which also happened to be the chair at the head of the long table—the chair Vere was supposed to be sitting in—and said, “Yes, you would think so, wouldn’t you?”
    “Does anyone know where she is?” Baldwin asked.
    Traskk gave a low hum as his tongue flicked side to side. Pistol shook his head.
    “Just like our other meetings,” Morgan said, using her boot to push the bits of her chair to the side.
    A young man came to the doorway: “Cade, sir, we have a problem down in district four.”
    Cade, rather than standing for duty, blushed so much that his rosy cheeks looked unhealthy. “I thought I told you not to interrupt me during these meetings.”
    “You’re what passes for security these days?” Morgan said, looking at the young man.
    Instead of answering in the affirmative, he simply groaned without even realizing he had done so.
    “We’ve discussed everything we can for the day. Proceed as you were,” she told the group. Then to the young security guard at the door, she said, “I’ll handle the disruption in district four.”
    “It’s turning into a near riot, ma’am,” the guard told her.
    Morgan looked at the empty chair where Vere should have been sitting and narrowed her eyes. “I said, I’ll handle it.”
    Leaving everyone else to organize their papers and excuse themselves, she stormed out of the room.
    “I feel sorry for the poor bastards in district four,” Baldwin said, and everyone shook their head in agreement.

4

    The entire bar had turned into a giant fight with no clear teams or groups supporting one another. One second, a bulbous-eyed Terrangulan was strangling the life out of a little drunken MaqMac. The next second he was having a chair broken over his head by a Khrrut with a back