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

control. Do the same thing with the Highborn and with Social Unity.”
    “You presume much, Marten Kluge.”
    “Look, Chief Strategist. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since yesterday. One thing that struck me was that the lone cyborg had a goal. He fought to reach this room. He didn’t fight to reach the fusion core. That tells me the cyborgs think you’re critical.”
    “Go on,” said Tan.
    “If they think you’re critical, well, then I guess I do too. I don’t like the Dictates. In fact, I loathe them. But I’ll back you until the cyborgs are dead. If my choice is the cyborgs, the Highborn, Social Unity or the Dictates—” Marten blew out his cheeks. “Social Unity or the Dictates, I don’t know which is worse.”
    “You insult us. The Dictates are the greatest form of human—”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Marten said, waving his hands at her. “You told me yesterday that it’s greater than sludge waste. Now let me tell you how I see it. Social Unity let a psychopath put me in a glass tube to pump for my life. The Dictates allowed a sadist to put a collar on me and shock me to his delight. You’ll excuse me if I don’t see the benefit of either system.”
    “No system is perfect.”
    Marten snorted. “Look. What I’m trying to say is that I won’t interfere with your political maneuvering. At least, I won’t interfere if you’re working to destroy the cyborgs.”
    “You are not in a position to thwart me.”
    “I killed the cyborg for you, remember.”
    “Yes. I am grateful.”
    “I’ve trained Jovians to kill cyborgs. I may be more use to you than you realize.”
    “…Yes,” Tan said softly. “I’m beginning to see that. And that surprises me.”
    “That’s the trick,” Marten said. “To always have one more surprise up your sleeve.”
    Tan toyed with her chalice. She frowned, and she took a deep breath. Then she let it out slowly and looked up at Marten.
    “You have confirmed my decision,” she said.
    “Oh.”
    “The controllers and helium barons believe the emergency has ended. They are quite wrong.”
    “Yeah?” asked Marten.
    “We have scoured our system and destroyed the cyborg infestation. Now we must toil even harder, rebuilding our infrastructure. But we cannot rebuild civilian comforts. No. That would be a strategic mistake. We must launch more floaters into Jupiter’s upper atmosphere. We must construct moon-based lasers and point-defense satellites. Most importantly, we must launch three to four times the number of meteor-ships and dreadnaughts and train new crews.”
    “Keep the Jovians scared, eh?” asked Marten.
    “I am frightened of the future, aren’t you?”
    “Yakov showed me the way,” Marten said.
    “You are chaotic,” Tan said. “Your thinking—well, we discussed that yesterday. Are you saying now that you plan to sacrifice yourself for the greater good?”
    “I remember some Social Unity battle-slogans,” Marten said. “The exact sayings escape me, but it was something along the line of dying for your society in order to save Earth from the Highborn, that was the highest calling.” Marten scratched at the metal tabletop. “The Highborn had a counter-saying for those of us in the Free Earth Corps: Make the enemy die for his society .”
    “Yakov followed Social Unity’s dictum,” said Tan.
    “Yakov had learned to stand his ground,” Marten said. “He helped me see that sometimes if you’re a man and want to live free that you have to take a stand. Before that, I’d been doing a lot of running away. I’m through running, though.”
    “I fail to grasp how Yakov’s sacrifice—”
    Marten made a fist and set it on the table. “That’s the first part of it,” he said. “Standing. We did that here. So did Yakov. Now we have to do the second part. Attacking. We have to enter the enemy’s territory to burn him out and make sure he can never hurt us again.”
    “Your vision and zeal has confirmed my decision,” said Tan. “And you