The Cagliostro Chronicles Read Online Free
Author: Ralph L. Angelo Jr.
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Action & Adventure, Space Opera
us?”
“The President thinks it’s because we are dangerous. As a race we know one thing very well. That’s how to blow things up, and kill the enemy. The President believes that someone is trying to keep us sequestered in our corner of the galaxy so fifty or a hundred years from now we won’t be challenging anyone for galactic supremacy.”
“Why would they think we would do that?” Ariel asked, obviously perplexed.
“The answer’s obvious,” Red replied, “We’re conquerors. As a race we climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest ocean, etc. We explore until we run out of things to find in any given area and then we move on to a new area and start over.”
“That’s right Red. That was pretty much the Presidents assumption as well. He asked me to undertake this journey, to head up this investigation, and to do it surreptitiously. That’s why us and not the military.”
“Okay, but what about our vaunted spy organizations? Why couldn’t they do it?”
“In what ship? This is the only ‘Faster than Light’ or ‘FTL’ ship on Earth. We have a huge space armada, but none have ever broken the light barrier. The Cagliostro is the fastest ship known to man. It’s also one tough sucker as well. Between our shielding system, which withstood an onslaught from two powerful fleet war ships only a few hours ago, and our deck armor, we are virtually untouchable. At least for a while.”
“So does he have any idea who the spy is?” Eddie asked.
“No. He’s not sure. But he has a few suspicions.”
“So where’d these mysterious coordinates come from?”
“They managed to track a signal that was bouncing off a few of our satellites before being received somewhere in D.C. It was filtered and splashed about so that it had no real recipient that could be found. It hit a wide range of space, before it was received by its mysterious recipient. All we know is it came from the coordinates we’re going to.”
“Which is not the best news I’ve heard all day.” Eddie replied.
“How so?” Dan asked.
“Real Simple , Danny-boy, we have no idea what we are heading into. At all. This could be either a military base, a planet of space-pirates, which by the way, the concept of does not thrill me in the least. A planet of a warrior race, God only knows what else? We are really flying blind right now. We’re heading into trouble.”
“And that Eddie,” Mark began, “Is why we have to be prepared for all eventualities. Look team, we’re going to be in FTL for at least a week until we find this signal ’s origin point. Everyone here has to be sharp. We’re going to be running some training scenarios over the next week. We have to be at our best, because not only am I, but the whole world as well is relying on us. We may be the Earths first, last, and best line of defense.”
“So everything is riding on us.” Red finished.
“You could say that, Red. Look, the bottom line is that someone out there set their sights on Earth for whatever reason, and we have to find out why and what for.”
“Do you think there’s an imposter involved?” Ariel asked, “You know what I mean, someone who was planted taking the place of someone high up in the government?”
“I think that’s a definite possibility, Ariel. I even have a few suspicions as to who it may be.”
“Care to share that information?” Red asked as he clasped his fists and leaned forward on the table.
Mark turned toward him before speaking, “No. I’m not going to. It’s best if only I know who is suspected and who is above suspicion.”
“Wassamatter? Don’t trust us Mark?” Eddie asked, with a crooked grin.
“It’s not that at all, Eddie, and you know the answer to that already. The reason is simple, the less people who know who is under suspicion the less that can inadvertently give that information away.”
“Like if one of us gets captured and tortured or something?” Dan Sledge asked.
“Precisely , Dan. If they
“The President thinks it’s because we are dangerous. As a race we know one thing very well. That’s how to blow things up, and kill the enemy. The President believes that someone is trying to keep us sequestered in our corner of the galaxy so fifty or a hundred years from now we won’t be challenging anyone for galactic supremacy.”
“Why would they think we would do that?” Ariel asked, obviously perplexed.
“The answer’s obvious,” Red replied, “We’re conquerors. As a race we climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest ocean, etc. We explore until we run out of things to find in any given area and then we move on to a new area and start over.”
“That’s right Red. That was pretty much the Presidents assumption as well. He asked me to undertake this journey, to head up this investigation, and to do it surreptitiously. That’s why us and not the military.”
“Okay, but what about our vaunted spy organizations? Why couldn’t they do it?”
“In what ship? This is the only ‘Faster than Light’ or ‘FTL’ ship on Earth. We have a huge space armada, but none have ever broken the light barrier. The Cagliostro is the fastest ship known to man. It’s also one tough sucker as well. Between our shielding system, which withstood an onslaught from two powerful fleet war ships only a few hours ago, and our deck armor, we are virtually untouchable. At least for a while.”
“So does he have any idea who the spy is?” Eddie asked.
“No. He’s not sure. But he has a few suspicions.”
“So where’d these mysterious coordinates come from?”
“They managed to track a signal that was bouncing off a few of our satellites before being received somewhere in D.C. It was filtered and splashed about so that it had no real recipient that could be found. It hit a wide range of space, before it was received by its mysterious recipient. All we know is it came from the coordinates we’re going to.”
“Which is not the best news I’ve heard all day.” Eddie replied.
“How so?” Dan asked.
“Real Simple , Danny-boy, we have no idea what we are heading into. At all. This could be either a military base, a planet of space-pirates, which by the way, the concept of does not thrill me in the least. A planet of a warrior race, God only knows what else? We are really flying blind right now. We’re heading into trouble.”
“And that Eddie,” Mark began, “Is why we have to be prepared for all eventualities. Look team, we’re going to be in FTL for at least a week until we find this signal ’s origin point. Everyone here has to be sharp. We’re going to be running some training scenarios over the next week. We have to be at our best, because not only am I, but the whole world as well is relying on us. We may be the Earths first, last, and best line of defense.”
“So everything is riding on us.” Red finished.
“You could say that, Red. Look, the bottom line is that someone out there set their sights on Earth for whatever reason, and we have to find out why and what for.”
“Do you think there’s an imposter involved?” Ariel asked, “You know what I mean, someone who was planted taking the place of someone high up in the government?”
“I think that’s a definite possibility, Ariel. I even have a few suspicions as to who it may be.”
“Care to share that information?” Red asked as he clasped his fists and leaned forward on the table.
Mark turned toward him before speaking, “No. I’m not going to. It’s best if only I know who is suspected and who is above suspicion.”
“Wassamatter? Don’t trust us Mark?” Eddie asked, with a crooked grin.
“It’s not that at all, Eddie, and you know the answer to that already. The reason is simple, the less people who know who is under suspicion the less that can inadvertently give that information away.”
“Like if one of us gets captured and tortured or something?” Dan Sledge asked.
“Precisely , Dan. If they
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