Read Twin Stars 1: Ascension for Free Online Page B

man, I know little more than you do. I am here on business, but when the call to action rang out I felt obliged to see what I could do. Obviously someone has taken control of this station, although I am at a loss to say who or why.”
    “Pirates probably,” Tysen considered. “The border patrol here is stretched pretty thin right now.”
    Sir Fawn chuckled. “Young man, for the border patrol to be thin there would first have to be a border patrol worth speaking of. This system sees a patrol ship, what, once every three months?”
    “About that.” Tysen admitted reluctantly.
    “Keeping borders is the last thing on the Admiralty’s mind these days, Lieutenant. They are far more concerned with their political games and gathering power to bother with anything resembling doing their jobs.”
    Tysen knew what the man was saying was true, but he couldn’t help but bristle a bit at the insult to the service- “You may be right, sir. But, there are still some men in the service who care- like Admiral Veer, sir. He doesn’t do those things you mentioned.”
    That earned him a melancholy smile from the old knight. “No, Ferris doesn’t play those games, does he?” he said, a touch of regret in his voice. “Well, here’s to his good fortune and continued health- for all our sakes.”
    Tysen wanted to ask him what he meant. Who was this man who used his mentor’s first name in such a casual way? Were they friends? Veers had never spoken of a man like this, but then Tysen didn’t expect to know all of the Admiral’s close friends. Instead, he decided that such questions would wait for a better time and place.
    “Can your Squire tell us what’s happening inside?” He asked the older man.
    “Esther?”
    The Squire turned to look right at Tysen, making his breath catch in his throat for a second and a shiver run down his back. He was starting to get annoyed with himself- what was he? A first year cadet with a crush?
    “Sensors in the room are still offline; however, I am detecting the passage of six individuals with similar chemical scent patterns through this corridor in the last two hours. Five are armed with newly artificed weapons, the other has a Battle Array.”
    Tysen noticed that the mention of a Battle Array brought a quick end to Sir Fawn’s seemingly endless good humor. Not that Tysen didn’t agree with him- a Battle Array made the wearer into an armored mobile weapons platform, and clearly explained the devastation they had seen as they’d made their way here. These were highly illegal for civilians, but perhaps if it was a pirate raid…
    “He’ll be the one to watch for, then.” Fawn said, drawing out his long gleaming blade. Tysen could see the sword had a dark, oily sheen to it that seemed to absorb rather than reflect light. “No notes on what kind of Array? There’s quite the variety.”
    “Energy based, I can detect ozone where it was activated before they went in. Assuming it’s a based on a standard template it will likely have the expected defensive and offensive capabilities.”
    “If that means a military template,” Tysen put in. “We can expect he’ll have a defensive field and be able to generate shock weapons for close-in fighting and probably energy pulses for ranged targets.”
    “Quite so, Lieutenant.” Sir Fawn nodded. “I will watch for those.”
    “But sir, even if you get close, you can’t penetrate his defense fields with just a sword.”
    Sir Fawn gave him a knowing grin. “Leave the battle tactics to me, Lieutenant. I have been doing this for a very long time. You and Esther will follow me in after I have them distracted- try to see what they’ve been up to. Don’t engage unless I ask you to.”
    “Sir, I’m a trained combat officer of Noble blood, I can help.” Tysen protested.
    “I will let you know if you’re needed, Lieutenant. Let us just hope they’ve only brought one Array…”
    * * *
    The shock saber’s energy blade passed through the deck where