Earth Strike. Ian Douglas

would be repercussions later. If there was a later. Gorman was willing to face the political fallout if they could just hang on long enough to get his people off this toxic hell-hole.

      Gorman watched the civilian go, scowling. That crack about his being antitheophilic had been just plain nasty.

      But, of course, the colonists on Haris were Refusers—the descendants of Muslims who’d refused to sign the Covenant of the Dignity of Humankind or accept the enforced rewrite of their Holy Qu’ran. Gorman, too, was a Refuser—at least in spirit. His church had accepted the Covenant, but many of its members had not.

      Bastards …

      The five Navy zorchies were settling in on the landing field now, the fighter icons gathering at the field’s north end.

      “Carleton!” he growled.

      “Yes, sir!”

      “Get your ass down there and get Stores moving on those g-fighters,” he said. “I want their tubes reloaded and those ships ready to boost, absolutely minimum on the turnaround.”

      “Aye, aye, sir,” his adjutant said, heading for the door.

      Hamid had been right in principle, if not in execution. The faster they got those ships reloaded and out on patrol, the better.

      Another nine hours before the naval battlegroup arrived.

      It was going to be close.