Voice of Mars (Starship's Mage Book 3) Read online

  When the kiss ended, she smiled, and his heart spun in very familiar circles.

  “I will admit,” she said huskily, “that I suggested to my grandfather the negotiations shouldn’t end until the cast is off. Just so we all know.”

  Epilogue

  The bridge of the pirate destroyer Blood Savage was very quiet. The dead aren’t generally very talkative.

  The Ship’s Mage leaned his head against the simulacrum, obviously trying not to look too closely at the body of the ship’s nominal captain. The old pirate had recognized the gas before it had taken effect and tried to resist.

  The ship’s new – and always true – commander knelt by the body, cleaning blood off the blades sticking out of his forearms. He knew the Mage was terrified of him – had been even before he’d ordered the pirate scum that made up most of the Savage’s crew gassed and then gutted the stubborn captain.

  “We have a call on the Link,” the only other living person on the bridge announced. With the scum dead, there were only a dozen living souls left on the ship. Enough to get it somewhere, but not enough to fight. But the commander didn’t want a fight now.

  “Put it on,” he ordered, rising from his crouch and dropping into the captain’s chair. There was a little bit of blood on it, he noted absently. They’d have to clean it up.

  A slim, shaven-headed older man in a gray business suit appeared. The background could have been the office of any one of ten billion mid-level managers anywhere in the Protectorate.

  “Report, Agent,” the man snapped.

  “The operation was a failure,” the Agent said calmly. “Hand Montgomery intervened. I attempted to complete the mission regardless, but he pulled the Flotilla and Patrol together and engaged our little fleet. I was forced to activate the Clean Sweep Protocol and disengage.”

  “The agents with Wong and McLaughlin have already reported,” the man in the image told him calmly. “This is an expensive disaster, Agent. Destroyers. Gunships. Perhaps worse, we have reason to believe Montgomery is getting suspicious.”

  “How did he even find us?” the man on the Blood Savage’s bridge demanded. “We were in deep space, no one had the location.”

  “He took the Alan-a-dale intact,” the older man told him. “Even took a prisoner. Thankfully, it appears the Link was destroyed before it could be found.”

  “Damn,” the Agent breathed. “Clean Sweep took out any Link they could have found here,” he noted. “That technology is safe.”

  “Thanks to the prisoner, and your pawns’ lack of caution in the Link’s use, he suspects its existence.”

  “Then we remove him,” the Agent replied. “It has been done before.”

  “A Hand falls, another rises,” his superior replied. “It attracts attention. Almost as much as destroying entire colonies – an action, may I remind you, Agent, which was not within your permitted scope. Massacres will not help us if they even hint at our involvement.”

  “The only proof Montgomery has is of murderous pirate scum. We picked them carefully,” the Agent reminded his superior. “Clean Sweep was no great loss to humanity.”

  “No. But it drew attention to the fact that someone has something to hide. They’ll be looking for us now.”

  “Let them,” the Agent replied. “They will find only dead ends and the dead.”

  The other man shook his head.

  “You have crossed too many lines this time,” he warned his agent. “Your team is being recalled. I have other agents in place to watch the aftermath – an aftermath, I may note, that appears to be likely to make this sector more stable. The exact opposite of your mission.

  “Bring your team home,” he repeated. “We will review your actions in detail once you’re here.”

  The Agent bowed and gestured peremptorily for the Mage to start setting up the jump sequence.

  “It will be as you command… Vice-Director Ricket.”

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  Other books by Glynn Stewart

  Starship’s Mage

  Starship’s Mage: Omnibus

  Hand of Mars

  Voice of Mars

  Alien Arcana (upcoming, see www.faolanspen.com for latest estimated launch date)

  Castle Federation

  Space Carrier Avalon

  Stellar Fox

  Battle Group Avalon (upcoming, see www.faolanspen.com for latest estimated launch date)

  Stand Alone Novels

  Children of Prophecy

  City in the Sky

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Epilogue

  Other books by Glynn Stewart