Read Gabriel's Ghost for Free Online

better. Winter was approaching, with its recurring plague. Abbot Eng’s followers were devoted, but not stupid.
    “Our replacements will be on station already,” Drogue told me as we walked in the bright moonlight. No need to hide, to dart though the trees. “They’ve shown an immunity to the plagues. They’ll run the monastery, sit devotions with the Takas, lead the festivals until spring. I’ll return then.”
    Sully had said we were going to Moabar Station to intercept an outgoing freighter, bound in-system. Step Two in freedom for Chasidah Bergren. I had to live through Step One first.
    “You’re not coming in-system with us?”
    “Oh, no, Sister. We have a very active temple on station. And it’s Peyhar’s Week, don’t you know?” His round face poked out from under his hood. “Oh, perhaps not. We haven’t quite made the inroads in our missionary work with the military as we have in other arenas.”
    As far as I knew, the Takans were the only ones they’d made inroads with. But I wasn’t going to deflate his attempt at proselytizing.
    “The M.O.C. isn’t going to question my presence in the group? Or Ren’s?”
    Another negative from Drogue. “Brother Ren Ackravaro has visited Moabar Monastery several times on retreat.”
    “But I haven’t.”
    “Neither has the real Sister Berri. But her reputation will do you well. She’s a much-lauded missionary, known for her tireless works. Her ID, your ID bears the arch-and-stave. As Guardian, I vouch for your veracity.”
    Megan Sybil Baker - 22
    Why? What had caused this gentle man to align himself with the ghost from Hell? Was there a financial gain? “You’re taking quite a risk.”
    He sighed. “More is at risk if I do not, Sister.”
    The mission. And in Sullivan, a different kind of missionary.
    “Brother Sudral is still being vague about that.”
    Sully fell into step with us. He’d lagged behind, talking to Ren who walked with one hand on the pallet, the other on his cane. “For good reason. Curiosity tends to be an overrated trait. I’m sure the Empire taught you that at some point. At the moment, your overwhelming gratitude toward me is best expressed through silence. There’s nothing you can contribute at this point, but there’s much to be lost by being premature.”
    His sudden formal phrasing irked me. Sully the mercenary. Sully the poet. And now Sully the pedant. “I’m glad to know you think so highly of me.”
    He slanted me a glance. “Highly enough to risk my life to save yours. I was outvoted, you know. Fortunately I rarely listen to my advisors.”
    “Really? I’d never have guessed.” Nor could I picture him having advisors. In all the years I’d known him, he’d always been the one in command, pilots and techs following his orders.
    Sully dropped back, picked up his conversation with the Stolorth.
    Drogue and I walked on in silence. We were close enough to the spaceport that I could hear the distant clank and clatter from the cargo hangars. The occasional shout of human voices, the rougher call of the Takan guards. It was a chilly night when we started but now my body felt warm under the robes. I could feel small wisps of hair starting to curl around my face.
    Thoughts, equally as annoying, coiled and uncoiled in my mind. You know the system, Sully had said, sitting across from me in the clearing, lightbar between us and a dead Taka at his back. Therefore he needed access to military information, military procedures.
    He’d recited my pedigree.
    Access to military personnel.
    Why? My simplistic early assumptions revolved around money, even a heist of a Fleet payroll ship. Then I saw Ren.
    During the Boundary Wars, twenty years ago, Stolorth Ragkirils had excelled at interrogating prisoners. Torturing them. I’d seen vids on the results of their handiwork. Or mind work, actually. That’s why seeing one on Moabar so frightened me. Perhaps the Empire had finally realized that more than inmates died on this prison