In Enemy Territory - Shannon West Page 0,39
to arrest the real murdering bastards will help him get over some of that. Besides, he was a soldier before I met him.”
“That was years ago, Mikos.”
“I don’t plan to put him in any real danger. Don’t worry, Father. I can handle these cowards. By the time you arrive, I hope to have them all in custody.”
Davos got up from his desk to stand at his window. “I don’t like this entire situation—there are too many things that don’t add up. Vaguely suspicious deaths of our officials on other Axis planets for months, with little evidence to prove much of anything, and then all of a sudden, we have people dying here on Tygeria and Lycanus, with almost no effort to cover up the causes of those deaths. They want us to know they were all assassinations. Why the change in strategy?”
“I know. It does seem odd.” Mikos acknowledged.
Davos shook his head. “The Gatifreyan ambassador seems overcome with grief.”
“I’m sure he must be.” Mikos was silent for a moment and then stood up himself and walked over to his father. “But keep an eye on the ambassador, just in case. I’ve directed Intelligence to open a file on him and investigate him completely. His background was already inspected thoroughly, of course, before he took office, but we could have missed something. I don’t really think he was involved in the deaths of his own mate and child—there was no way he could have known they would have been onboard Ryan’s transport, but we don’t know how deep this thing could be.”
“He’s already under surveillance. Very well—if I can’t talk you out of going, then be careful, son. Keep Ryan safe too. And we’ll look after Mikol for you. Your omak has rehired his tutors, and it won’t take long for him to get settled back in to his classes. Blake is planning to bring some of the friends he made at the school over to the palace to visit him.”
“Good. He’s missing them badly. I wish that school could have worked out for him, but our world is still too unsettled. Too dangerous. I think Ryan understands that now and doesn’t think I’m just being overly cautious.”
“I just wish he didn’t have to learn it this way. Blake says he’s been taking this all very hard.”
“I’ll watch out for him. And until we figure this out…”
“Yes, we need to be vigilant with the rest of the family. I’ve sent out messages to all your brothers.”
Mikos took his leave soon after and made his way to the royal docking port. His ship was three thousand meters in length and designed for long-range, independent operations. It was heavily armed and capable of taking out almost any ship in the fleet. Still, it wasn’t even a tenth of the size of the starcruiser his father would be coming on in a few days. It would take the cruiser more than a month to arrive, however, when he and Ryan should be there in as little as fifteen days if all went well.
His battlecruiser may not have been as large as the starcruisers or the destroyer class of ships, but it was faster and more maneuverable, while still able to inflict a great deal of damage if it needed to. Mikos believed himself to be a smart, fearless, and some even said, a ruthless captain, and he was confident he would be able to track the assassins back to Gatifrey and bring them to justice.
Standing at the top of the ramp as he came up was his mate, Ryan, wearing the tightly-fitting, black Tygerian uniform that was molded to him like a second skin. Mikos never got tired of admiring his handsome mate in the uniform, and his heart still started beating faster every time he saw him in it. He walked up to him, maybe a little too closely, so that Ryan had to put his head back to look at him.
“Well, hello to you too,” Ryan said, looking up at his mate. “I don’t think I like that look.”
“Really? I like the way you look very much.”
Ryan leaned in and lowered his voice. “Do I need to remind you that we’re on a serious mission here?”
“No, but maybe we should talk about it in our quarters. It’s a long way to Gatifrey, and my pilots are quite skilled. They don’t need me to tell them how to take off. Especially when we might enjoy it from the privacy of our bed.” He