Read Annihilation (Star Force Series) for Free Online Page B

carrier, sir?” he asked a moment later.
    “Give it to Captain Sarin. She’s a senior officer, and she’s in line for a new ship.”
    Captain Jasmine Sarin had an interesting history, which was intertwined with my own. She and I had worked together from the very start of Star Force, and we’d become—close. Too close for my girlfriend Sandra’s comfort.
    Sarin had left my service and joined Crow last year, thereby gaining a promotion to the rank of Admiral. But she’d soon seen the error of her ways and returned to my banner with the reduced rank of Captain. As of today, I had her captaining a destroyer with a crew of only six. I knew she’d see the new captaincy as a promotion, one which I thought she’d earned.
    Captain Sarin was informed of the change in plans and requested a private channel with me. I took the call in my stateroom aboard the cruiser Lazaro , which was to serve as my command ship for this mission. The small fleet was just getting underway. Sending through a few ships at a time, we wriggled through the ring and glided into the Thor system.
    “Colonel Riggs?”
    “Hello Jasmine.”
    “I just got the news from Miklos. Thank you very much! I won’t disappoint you, sir.”
    Her pretty face appeared on my screen, her image updating a few seconds behind her voice due to transmission relays and other propagation delays. My cruiser was in the Thor system now, accelerating away from the ring toward the gas giant the Crustacean moons circled. Jasmine was still back on Welter Station.
    “I know you won’t, Captain,” I said. “That ship is ugly and slow, but she’s powerful.”
    Jasmine was as pretty as ever. Dark hair, dark eyes, perfect nose and lips. I’d been taken with her since the first time I’d met her. She was slight and quiet, but tougher than she looked. And she was always, always competent.
    “Any special orders for me, Colonel?”
    “Yes,” I said, “get that ship finished and get out to Thor as soon as you can. If possible, take over the task of playing assembly-boss from Miklos. He’s not taking proper care of himself.”
    “Uh, isn’t he just doing what you asked him to do, Colonel?”
    “A man’s got to learn to pace himself.”
    “But, Colonel, if you order a man to do something and give him an impossible schedule, he’s going to overwork himself. Surely you can see that.”
    I frowned at the screen. “You want me to take responsibility for the man’s condition? I guess I may have accidentally over-motivated him—if such a thing is possible. But in any case, he needs a few hours off.”
    “I’ll see what I can do, sir,” she said. I thought I heard a small sigh escape her.
    “Very good. Riggs out.”

    * * *

    A day later, we were half-way to the Crustacean homeworlds. Happy news came in from Welter Station: the carrier was finished. Miklos reported this to me with obvious pride. I thanked him, praised his efforts, then ordered him to build the second one immediately.
    “And get some sleep, man. You look like hell.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    When I broke the connection, I found Sandra standing behind me with her arms crossed. My immediate thought was: she’s found out about my giving the carrier to Jasmine, and knew I was bringing her along on this mission.
    She did looked annoyed, but not openly pissed. This was a fine line in her expressions. I decided to play it cool.
    “Hey honey, how about we get some chow down at the wardroom? This cruiser has the best food in the fleet. I ordered up a supply of frozen air-swimmers from Eden-8 just for you.”
    Her expression softened, but her arms stayed crossed. “Dinner now?” she asked. “We’re only hours away from planetfall.”
    I shook my head. “Plenty of time. Nothing’s shooting at us yet.”
    “I wanted to talk to you about something first.”
    There it was, I thought. It was the Jasmine-thing. It had to be. Jealousy was a prime-motivator on Sandra’s hierarchy of emotions. It outweighed hunger every