Read Warrior Chronicles 2: Warrior's Blood for Free Online

good authority that it’s empty for the next hour.”
     
    He took Kim’s arm again. They met a few people along the way, but most of them were still too apprehensive of Cort to approach them.
     
    --
     
    Keen sat across from the man in the armored suit. “Mr. Addison, It’s clear that we need you. By our charter, we can only refuse criminals. Anyone else who wants to come here can. You don’t have that problem. You can shoot a transport out of the sky. So that means the people who come for you have to come through our colony. And we’ve seen how that ends. I’m at a loss for a solution.”
     
    “It is a problem. I see that. The only solution I see is to prevent Atlantica from sending armed men to attack me.”
     
    “Any ideas how we do that?” Rhodes asked.
     
    “I have lots of ideas, but they all end in the restriction of freedoms for your colonists. You could also implement a two stage disembarkation protocol. When newcomers arrive, connect their modules to empty ones. Use the empty ones to search everyone and seize weapons or contraband. You would still have the problem of sleepers, though.”
     
    “Sleepers?” Rhodes was taking notes.
     
    “People who come here and blend in. At a predetermined time, they act on previous instructions. Or maybe they earn your trust and get jobs that put them in position to feed information to others. Get the idea?”
     
    “Yes,” Keen said, “what do we do about them?”
     
    “You don’t. Unless you control the screening process on Earth, you can’t. It’s like manufacturing. Unless you control every stage of the process, you can’t control quality.”
     
    “That can’t happen. We don’t have the authority. Again, our charter.”
     
    “Then you are stuck.”
     
    “What would you do if an unauthorized vessel arrived at Aeolis?” Chief Rhodes asked.
     
    “I have the weapons necessary to defend our installation. And the legal right to use them. You lack both.”
     
    “Can you provide us with better weapons?” Keen asked.
     
    “Absolutely not. With just the weaponry I have in this room, I can wipe out this entire colony. And I’m an expert at their use. I wouldn’t even consider turning your people loose with them. Cort could see the disappointment on both men’s’ faces.
     
    “It’s not just about us, you know,” Keen said. “With us guarding this site, you would be safe from any type of incursion, then.”
     
    “Not true. There is always the Argyre site. If populated, it would be ideal to launch an attack on either colony. It’s offline, but land a few modules there and they have a staging area. For now, anyway.”
     
    Rhodes looked up from his notes. “What do you mean?”
     
    “Argyre is a threat to both of us. You haven’t known me long, but you’ve known me long enough to know that I don’t tolerate threats to my people. In this case, we have a mutual threat. I am going to deal with it.”
     
    “I wish I could think like an Earthling and tell you that’s a bad idea, but I do not think it is. It does take away the only remaining evacuation site, though. How will we deal with that?”
     
    Keen spoke. “We cannot deal with it. We would have to agree to help each other in the case of an emergency.”
     
    “Considering you assisted me in the commission of several hundred crimes against your alliance charter this morning,” Cort began, “I think we’ve crossed that bridge. Gentlemen, here’s the deal. I’m not giving you weapons, but I am your only defense. You have people that I need. You can replace them. I can’t. So we have to compromise. All of my family members are going to be asked to move to Aeolis in a few minutes. If you fight that, I won’t help you again. And I’ll take anyone who wants to go anyway. So it’s in your best interest to help me with staffing and equipment, and it’s in my best interests to ensure your safety. I have options. You don’t. But it would be safer and easier if we were in