Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Epilogue

"Director, this is an insult to the Federation. An entire fleet, destroyed. The AU Prerogative, gone, and your precious Project EO is currently AWOL. You've failed too many times. The High Monarch has requested an audience with you. I expect you will attend." The council stared at Gottlieb as he sat in silence at the row of chairs at the table. He nodded, and the holograms flickered out. He stood up, and looked out at the stars, the glass reflecting the new scar across the right side of his face. Metreo. That was his name. He had been the one along with those traitors who had humiliated him and made him into a fool. He wasn't finished with them yet, not by a long shot. But, there was still one trump card that he had, something that had recently gotten into his possession. And it was something very valuable that could be used as a certain bargaining chip...or a weapon. As Gottlieb looked into the infinite, he smiled to himself. No, it wasn't over.

General Kovak sat at his desk, reviewing his notes, when he heard a knock at his door. "Come in." A Lieutenant walked and handed the General a folder. "The report from the attack on the Avalon Zeta, sir." The General looked over it. "We were unable to locate the Piece, which leads us to believe that the crew of the Renegade, along with Commander Koil managed to steal the Piece." The General sighed. "What about survivors?" "Our drone scans managed to detect a small convoy of GDF shuttles fleeing the scene. We believe that they were carrying Director Julian Gottlieb of the GDF, and what appeared to be a prisoner of sorts. We couldn't get a clear scan, but it did match up with someone on our records." The General looked at the picture, and then back at the Lieutenant. "Are you sure of this?" The Lieutenant nodded. "Who else knows about this?" The Lieutenant looked a bit unsure. "When we were...transferring the data...we were briefly hacked by an outside source. The ID code matched that of the one Commander Koil normally uses..." The General looked out the window. The Renegade was still out there. And he was going to find them...

Nolun looked over the file that Koil had managed to hack, and saw the scans again. It showed that the ship was carrying passengers that matched the signatures of Gottlieb, Julian...and Lovecraft, Andress. He put a hand over his mouth. The ship could track where those shuttles were headed. If there was even a chance she was still alive...he stood up, and walked up through the ship to the cabin. As he opened the door, they were all sitting and staring at him. Koil was in the main console chair, Dante and Bunker in the pilot and copilot seats, and the twins were in the gunner's seats. They sat in silence, and Nolun stared out at the stars, an entire universe ahead of him. She was out there somewhere...the chase was on. "Let's go find her." Everyone nodded, and Bunker charted a course. The Renegade, it's crew full of Slingers, flew off, it's destination unknown, but it's mission clear.

END OF BOOK 1