Frontier's Reach: A Space Opera Adventure (Frontiers Book 1) by Robert James (beach read TXT) 📗

long swig of his bourbon and slammed the bottle down on the edge of the washbasin.

Althaus smiled with the same ugly grin he remembered. “Look at you. You’re pathetic.”

“Piss off.”

“What was that?”

“You getting deaf in your old age?” Jason turned.

Althaus took another step closer. “You’re just a delinquent. No better than that pimply-nosed teenager who turned his back on his family and ran off to the academy.”

Jason narrowed his eyes. “I fought for my planet.”

“And we’re so proud of you,” Althaus said sarcastically.

“At least I made something of myself. All you’ve ever done is ride on the coattails of your brother and then your nephew for the better part of forty years as a do-nothing cargo jockey.” Jason smiled. “You’re a loser, Althaus. And what really burns for you, is you know it.”

His uncle’s face reddened, and his fist clenched.

Yep, that sure pissed him off.

Jason didn’t have time to react to the right hook that crunched into the side of his face. The one swing sent him to the floor. Althaus might have been older, but the big mule could still pack a punch.

“Never forget your place, kid.” Althaus walked toward the door.

Kid…

Jason surprised himself by leaping up and running toward Althaus. He cannonballed into his back, sending them both sprawling into the corridor. Jason quickly reacted and spun Althaus around, landing several jabs to his head.

But Althaus returned serve, throwing him backward and shoving an elbow into Jason’s ribs. He did his best not to vomit up his bourbon and pushed Althaus back down, launching a right hook hard, downward into his face. His uncle groaned in pain.

But again, Althaus showed age hadn’t impaired him. He twisted Jason around and pounded his knee into his back.

Jason rolled away to avoid another blow, but Althaus was quick. He’d got to his feet and closed in on him while he crawled on his knees back to the elevator chute. Althaus grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and wound back his right hand, ready to strike.

“What’s going on here!”

Beyond Althaus’s hovering fist, Kevin came out of his quarters, staring at the pair.

Althaus dropped his fist and let go of Jason’s collar. “The kid and I just got into a little disagreement.” He pulled Jason to his feet. “We were just, uh, hammering out some details.”

“Is that right?” Kevin regarded the pair as if they’d got their hands caught in the cookie jar. “And how many more disagreements are you going to have? There’s still a long way to go before we reach Tau-Zeta and return to Odyssey Station. Need I remind you I’m the one who runs the infirmary on this ship? I’ve got no interest in setting your broken bones.”

Jason took hold of the rail on the elevator so his wobbly legs wouldn’t give way on him. “Lucky for us you have a great bedside manner.”

Kevin didn’t laugh.

“Everyone to the bridge immediately,” Tyler’s said over the ship’s intercom, alleviating the awkward silence.

Jason breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t in the mood to be dressed down. He wasn’t a cadet anymore. The three of them entered the elevator and made their way to A Deck. Tyler and Aly were standing over the operations station when they arrived on the bridge, while a message played over the speakers.

“This is the UECS Vanguard in orbit of Orion V. We are under attack… We request… We—”

“That’s where the message ends,” Aly said.

She and Tyler turned at the three men entering. Both looked disapprovingly at the wounded pair next to Kevin.

“Orion V?” Kevin said. “Isn’t there a mine there?”

Tyler frowned and nodded. “A decium ore facility.”

“Only the big cargo firms get jobs with them,” Althaus added.

“And the Vanguard?” Tyler directed the question to Jason.

“It’s a CDF cruiser,” Jason remembered, even if his mind was fuzzy. “Tough ship. Got quite a reputation during the war.”

“What’s our ETA to Orion?” Tyler asked.

Kevin took a seat at the helm and did the calculations. “We can be there in two hours if we cut through this area of space,” he said, pointing at his monitor.

“Plot the coordinates.”

Althaus stepped forward. “Is that wise?”

“We’ve received a distress call from a CDF ship, Conrad. Under the Commonwealth Shipping Network merchant code, we must render aid.”

“Isn’t that what the rest of their fleet is for?”

“Out this far, there probably isn’t another ship within five star systems.”

“Then it falls to us?” Althaus shook his head. “We’re hardly in any state to attempt a rescue in the Argo, let alone take on whatever attacked them.”

Jason chuckled. “You’re a coward.”

Althaus spun around, but Tyler stopped him with a firm grip on his shoulder before he could launch another assault.

“Enough!” Tyler demanded of the pair, clearly over their disagreement.

“We’ve already pushed our luck with our client on Tau-Zeta,” Althaus said. “If we don’t deliver this shipment at the agreed time, not only will we lose out on a ton of cash, but it’ll sully our name. I don’t need to tell you what bad word-of-mouth does for us out here.”

“What are you suggesting?” Aly asked him. “That we pretend we never heard their call for help?”

Althaus nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Jason’s right. You are a coward.”

His face reddened yet again. This time it was Kevin he looked to. “Can’t you control your daughter, Rycroft?”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “She’s not a child anymore. And to be fair, she makes a point.”

Althaus muttered something under his breath.

“Okay. Enough, everybody.” Tyler did his best to play peacemaker. “Have you plotted that course?” he asked Kevin.

“It’s in.”

“When you’re ready, take us to FTL. Aly, get to the engine room. Make sure we get everything we can out of those engines.”

Aly did as she was instructed and made a rapid exit.

“Uncle,” Tyler said to Althaus in a hushed tone. “Please contact our buyer, make them aware of our situation. Hopefully, they’ll understand and give us more time.”

Althaus didn’t seem done arguing but finally relented, leaving the bridge. Tyler stepped toward his brother.

“And you,” he told Jason. “You look like