Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) by Michael G. Thomas Page B

marine guards watched but
said nothing, instead acting like statues or sentinels. Teresa
started to walk to the right side of the corridor, and once Gun
caught up started to speak.
    “Did you get any of that?”
    Gun burst out
laughing, and the loud roar of his powerful voice echoed down the
corridor like a mechanical hammer. His frame was massive, and next
to the slight body of Teresa he looked more like a giant. They
passed by more marines, and each of them glanced at him before
turning their eyes away. The Jötnar had been an important part of
the Alliance for years now, but the sight of one in the flesh was
always a cause for conversation. Gun had been the first of his kind
to turn on his makers and had a reputation for violence but also
fairness. He was also the leader of his entire race, and that was
something of great interest to all those aboard ANS Beagle. The
fact that the leader of the most powerful race in the Alliance
chose to work with APS Corporation was one of their greatest
assets, and a reason behind their success. They moved on further
down the corridor before he finally answered her.
    “ Teresa, you managed to miss that? You just agreed to
assist with the combined Alliance-T’Kari Helios
Expedition.”
    She stopped and looked hard at him.
    “ The combined Helios
what?”
    Again the leader of the Jötnar laughed and shook with
pleasure. Like all of his people, he had little time for politics
or discussion. He liked to explore, fight, and eat. Though
sometimes even the most bizarre topics seemed to amuse him, in this
case it was Teresa. Everything else to the Jötnar was a
chore.
    “ It is a mission to
another part of space, a place we have never seen or heard of
before. Anderson said the T’Kari call Helios the holy place that
links the seven peoples together at a single point. They suspect
there will also be a link back to our own system. They have been
cut off from there for a century because of the wars with the enemy
and his followers, and it control access to hundreds of
worlds.”
    Teresa stood in disbelief at what he’d just
said.
    “Wait. We’re sending an expedition to this place?
Where is it?”
    Gun actually seemed to genuinely smile at this
news.
    “ We don’t know yet.
I t is a secret. The T’Kari say they guard
it, but no ship has traveled there for a century. That is why we
will go together, one big happy family.”
    He then leaned
closely as if sharing a great
secret.
    “ Somehow I think
this peaceful expedition will include a lot of warships and
marines, don’t you?”
    Teresa felt so
stupid that she had managed to miss the most important part of the
briefing. By her estimate , she must have
drifted in and out through twenty minutes of talking and
discussion. Spartan had managed to get into trouble before, but
this time it was different. Her children were away, and all but her
most distant relatives were light years away on Carthago. Even
though her old friend Gun was there, she could feel coldness in her
body; the coldness you felt when everybody else had gone and just
you were left. Not even her company remained to offer much in the
way of solace.
    How the hell did I miss all the detail? Is this
dementia?
    She started to
worry. In theory, it was possible with
her in her forties, yet medical knowledge and genetic manipulation
had progressed so far that she had the body and fitness of a woman
twenty years younger. There were marines in service now that were
still passing the combat fitness tests in their sixties. These
weren’t generals either, these were low and middle-level officers
that moved and fought in the frontline with their
troops.
    No, it has to be something else. It must be the
stress catching up with me.
    They continued along
the corridor with a cheery looking Gun
and a mortified looking Teresa. The more she thought, the less she
could believe the words from Gun’s mouth. She started to worry that
either her memory or mind was starting to fail her. This part