Read Doom Star: Book 05 - Planet Wrecker for Free Online

were right in telling me that.”
    Marten wondered about that. He and Omi had talked last evening. Usually Omi didn’t say much. He did point out that he remembered a vicious gang leader in Sydney that the other members had hated more than feared. The leader had kept power by involving them in a deadly and ongoing turf-war. Everyone had recognized the leader’s gift at street fighting, and had been content to follow him as long as they were engaged against a tougher gang. Was Tan like that leader?
    “Yesterday cleared my mind,” Tan said.
    “Yeah,” Marten said. It had cleared his too.
    “The cyborgs devastated our system,” Tan said. “Now we must rebuild before the next fleet arrives. The cyborg yesterday showed me that they will never stop attacking until they’re dead or we’re dead.”
    “That seems obvious,” Marten said.
    Tan frowned. “This is difficult for me. You—” By a seeming effort of will, she smoothed her features. “You must not taunt me. Instead, you must allow me grace.”
    “Granted,” said Marten.
    Tan gave him a level stare. It was calculating and hard, and belied her elfin beauty.
    “You are more than you seem, Marten Kluge. You walked out to face the death machine. Then you proceeded to shoot it apart.”
    “It wasn’t a machine, but a cyborg, which made it partly human.”
    “Do not lecture me,” Tan said.
    Marten waited.
    She flicked her hand. “No. I shouldn’t have said that. Just now, I spoke with hyperbole and you stated fact.” Sighing, Tan leaned her elbows on the table and massaged her forehead. “Do you know the kind of pressures that have battered me this past year? One wrong misstep and I could have lost us everything. Yet everyday, the controllers and the industrial barons complained or demanded I meet another of their imaginary needs.”
    “The war grinds us down,” Marten said.
    She lowered her hands and straightened her back. “We’ve lost too many warships. Our fleet—it could not withstand a full-blown cyborg invasion now. You do recognize that, don’t you?”
    Marten waited for her point.
    “Yet it’s madness to simply sit and rebuild,” Tan said. “We must strike back and destroy their industrial capacity. But how can we do that with any hope of success?”
    “Are you asking me?”
    “How polite you’ve become,” said Tan, with an edge to her voice. “Please, grace me with your thoughts. It’s one of the reasons you’re here.”
    “I’m a ground fighter,” Marten said, “not a grand strategist.”
    It was Tan’s turn to wait, to say nothing.
    “Okay,” Marten said. “You asked. So I’ll tell you what I think. This is a war to the death. It’s either them or us. So we should gather the biggest fleet we can, go to Neptune and burn them out with nukes.”
    “And this can be achieved how?”
    “Talk to Social Unity. Talk to the Highborn. Convince them to unite their ships into one invincible fleet.”
    “The Highborn are too arrogant to listen,” said Tan.
    “They’re arrogant,” Marten agreed. “But I don’t know if they’re too arrogant not to fight with us. The Praetor gave his life to kill cyborgs. That ought to prove something.”
    “They will want tactical control,” Tan said.
    “If it gives us victory, give them that control.”
    Tan’s eyes narrowed. “You are like most people, I’m afraid. You see what’s in front of you, but you cannot conceive of what’s behind that. Of what use is it to defeat the cyborgs, only to fall victim to the Highborn?”
    “The cyborgs are aliens and attempt to convert all of us into their likeness. The Highborn are still human after a fashion. But you have a point. I don’t want to live under the Highborn. Therefore, I suggest you keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
    “Which is?”
    Marten laughed sourly. “I didn’t understand it yesterday when I came to see you. But I understand it now. You’ve been maneuvering this past year to beat the cyborgs but also to keep