Read War of Alien Aggression 4 Taipan for Free Online Page B

made Ram feel like it wasn't them, but rather the people who ran this war who should be put behind bars.

 
    Chapter Five
     
    Fifteen minutes before zero-hour, as Biko spotted the inbound contact, the voice came over comms. " Hardway AT, Hardway AT, this is Taipan longboat requesting you open a bay for us on your topside primary. Our ETA is now."
    In the false-scale projection coming from the AT controller console where Biko stood, the incoming longboat flew across the bridge towards Hardway like a slow-moving bullet. Eight of Witt's F-151s flew with it as escorts. Incoming traffic from Taipan just before they were about to execute Matilda Witt's plan could only mean one thing.
    "I know who's on that boat," Ram said.
    " Hardway AT, acknowledge."
    Biko looked up from the AT control console to Harry Cozen in the command chair. "What are you looking at me for?" Cozen said, "She's a Staas VP and a bloody two-star admiral. Let her in."
    The muscles in Asa Biko's jaw clenched. He thumbed the comms and replied. " Hardway AT to Taipan longboat: Bay One doors open, topside primary bays, port side, right in front of the command tower. Welcome aboard."
    "Mr. Devlin," Cozen said, "have the redsuits completed all weapons modifications requested by Matilda Witt?"
    "They finished up an hour ago. They had to run three shifts at once, but they managed it."
    Cozen grunted acknowledgment. "Tell her it was easy."
    "When?"
    "Now," Cozen said, "when you go to Bay One and receive her, of course."
    She stood in the very center of the airlock doors so they parted to reveal her like stage curtains. She'd brought an aide with her. "Mr. Devlin," she said, "this is Mr. Morrisey." Morrisey wore a single dueling scar like a fat, 20cm keloid caterpillar crawling down his left cheek. His pinched face had grown in around it.
    Witt stepped across the airlock's threshold and into the passageway, and Morrisey followed her. Like Matilda Witt, he wore a business suit with a knee-length coat. It hung off his thin frame like he was a wire hangar. "Mr. Morrisey assists with command and control," she said. Morrisey's eyes briefly focused, but Ram could see from his oversized display glasses and how his hands ceaselessly gestured that he was engaged in monitoring or manipulating data at this very moment. He said, "Ma'am, all four carriers report green lights across the board and the breaching ship Malibu says they are 'go' to commence operations at any time."
    "Thank you, Mr. Morrisey."
    "This way," Ram said, "I'll show you to the bridge."
    Damage control teams waited in groups at their duty stations up and down the carrier's 950-meter spine. Every six-man team in their exosuits eyeballed Witt and her aide as the visitors passed. They stared at her in a way Ram thought she'd probably have considered insubordinate if she'd actually deigned to notice them. He asked her if she'd ever been aboard any other Staas Company attack carriers.
    "Once," Witt said. "SCS Araby . Despite the distinguished name, that ship smelled like stale suit-liners and sweat. Like this one."
    "I noticed you and your aide aren't wearing any kind of exosuits. Quite often, we'll vent our atmo before combat to prevent shock wave propagation in the event Hardway takes a direct hit. I'll have a pair of suits sent u-" Witt pointed the flat of her open palm at Ram's mouth like she planned to stuff the words back in if he said any more.
    "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Devlin, but that won't be necessary because we're not going to let the Squidies strike Hardway's hull today. Today, the torpedo junks and the interceptors will do the fighting. Hardway will remain prudently out of range of the alien guns and bombs as she should have been all along."
    When the lift arrived at the bridge and the doors opened, there was no standing at attention, but Hardway 's Staas Guards stiffened a little. Matilda Witt strode past them without any acknowledgment. "Were you expecting me, Harry?"
    He didn't turn around. "Of