Penance (RN: Book 2) (33 page)
Read Penance (RN: Book 2) Online
Authors: David Gunner
…Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Royal Navy gunboat, Bristol H-20. We are adrift without power and life support is failing, We require immediate assistance…
…Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Royal Navy gunboat, Bristol H-20. We are adrift without power and life support is failing, We require immediate assistance…
…Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Royal Navy gunboat, Bristol H-20. We are –
…Bristol H-20, This is Trent 002. We acknowledge you request for emergency assistance and have your coordinates. We are launching search and rescue units. Keep this channel open and please stand by…
Denz stood with his arms crossed as he and Canthouse observed the slowly rotating capital H that was Trent station, and the two dozen grey\white specs that were the ships of the EDP Rim-Paq squadron.
Though it hadn’t left them completely, the unfathomable time anomaly had not quite been on their side with the return voyage taking three weeks instead of the six seconds it took to arrive. They had used the time to keep the crew alive, as without fuel or engines there was little more they could do. They had also had many long talks as to what, why and how, but as much as he desired it these conversations with the command staff held little source of conclusion to him. He desperately wanted to ask the deeper questions, to speak to someone who knew his problems intimately, but such a person no longer drew breath.
Four of the grey\white specs were now grey\ black with their strobing navigation lights clear and bright.
He’d lost his confident. The private ear he could whisper into, and as no such other existed he kept the questions to himself and spoke to no one of his concerns.
Raulin handed Denz a clipboard which he looked over, signed and returned. Denz said something private to Canthouse, shook him by the hand and saluted him. The first officer returned the salute with all the strict rigor he could muster, and watched solemnly as his commander moved across the bridge to open a door.
Twice now they’d taken everything from him. But no penance was without patron and an amends would be exacted.
Denz looked about the cramped room with the eye of a long absent tenant, then stared at the door that had slammed shut only to find his own hand gripping the handle. He reset the mattress, straightened the unruly pillow and blanket, picked several pieces of paper off the floor and dusted them needlessly before setting them on the cover. He sat down and gazed about the room with his welling eyes coming to rest on the domed rivets that held the door in form.
I think we should call him George after your father…
Placing trembling hands on his thighs he began to count.
There would be sufferings.
End of book 2
The RN series continues with book 3:
Koll fired machines
. Expected late 2015.
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The final word
This is my second attempt at writing and publishing anything, and despite the grammatical vigilance of myself, my editor and the beta readers, problems do slip through the cracks. So if you do spot something, or if you just want to pass a note in general, I’d appreciate it if you could drop me a line at
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Thanks for taking the time to read this book.
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Cover art
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Editor
www.oceansedgeediting.com