The Black Gate (The Messenger #11) - J.N. Chaney Page 0,51
matters of security, but he was an ex-soldier and had proven himself to have more than a little tactical and strategic acumen.
“Dash, Guardian just informed me that you’ve arrived. Welcome to the future home of the Black Watch,” Ragsdale said over the comm. “Sorry for the mess, but we’re still kind of in the middle of building things here.”
Dash took note of the massive ring, now almost three quarters complete and already mostly powered-up. He shook his head as he compared that to how long it had taken to build the Anchors, or even the big carriers like Relentless or Victory. Having the enormous bounty of Dark Metal from the Scrapyard, while not having to fight an ongoing war against the Golden, made construction go far more quickly.
“Thanks,” Dash replied. “But I’m okay with a little mess. Look, I’m going to do a couple of orbits of the system here, check out the Gate, then I’ll come back and get the grand tour. You can send the nav info to Sentinel.”
“Will do.”
“Oh, and I brought a case of Freya’s plumato wine. She’s added a bit of spice to this batch, a bit of a kicker. Took me a while to get used to it—as in, about three mouthfuls, and then I was hooked.”
“You, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman,” Ragsdale replied. “I look forward to hoisting a glass with you.”
Dash chuckled and swung the Archetype onto a looping course around Guardian, keeping well clear of the myriad drones and work shuttles all tugging components out of the three heavy loaders. Even as he watched, the ring continued to grow, a testimony to the power of a large, active fleet.
Dash made sure not to get between the Sabretooth and her accompanying task force of cruisers and lighter ships, the intended core of the Black Watch fleet. She and her consorts stood a vigilant watch over the Gate itself, which still pulsed in and out of existence every six hours, so reliably that you could literally set a chrono by it.
Dash finished by doing a close pass over Solitude. The world beckoned to him, blue seas and rivers and lakes, lush green continents and islands, wisps and swirls of gleaming white cloud. He imagined himself on the surface, sitting on a rock, dangling his bare feet into the cool water, and waiting for something to take a bite on his line. His imagined scene of placid bliss could have appeared next to the word relaxing in a dictionary.
Eventually, he thought, we’ll be back there.
For now, though, Solitude would remain largely unpopulated, except for three bases scattered across as many continents, each a redundant copy of the others. These would provide not just resources for the Black Watch, water, and even crops, but also give its personnel a place to get away from the sterile confines of bulkheads and corridors. Not until the Deeper threat was ended would they consider Solitude for a more expansive settlement.
In the meantime, Dash accelerated away from the planet, aiming himself at Guardian. Following the ring’s traffic control instructions, he grounded Sentinel in a massive docking bay similar to that of the Forge. In fact, it looked to Dash like a near-identical copy. It made sense duplicating facilities they already had, but he still found it a little jarring.
He dismounted from the Archetype to find Ragsdale waiting for him, along with Jexin, whose mech stood a short distance away, and several other Kosan. Vynix was the sole Rin-ti in sight.
“Permission to come aboard,” Dash said, grinning at Ragsdale.
“Looks to me like you’re already aboard.” Ragsdale smiled back. “And damned welcome.”
Dash and Ragsdale shook hands. Of all of the people, both human and alien, that Dash had encountered during the Life War, Ragsdale was probably the one to whom he felt closest. They’d started as adversaries, but mutually respectful ones, when Dash and his companions had landed in Gulch seeking a distinct Dark Metal signal that turned out to be a crashed Golden battleship. It hadn’t taken long for that mutual respect to become true friendship.
Dash stepped back and turned his attention to Jexin and the other Kosan and Vynix waiting a short distance away. “Sorry. Had to say hello.”
Jexin waved airily. Vynix added, “We’re more than happy to wait for you to complete your human bonding rituals.”
“That sounds vaguely dirty,” Ragsdale said.
Vynix exposed sharp teeth in a leering grin. “We Rin-ti find it much more efficient to simply exchange pheromones that convey our emotional state. To you,