Blood United (The United Federation Marine Corps' Lysander Twins Book 5) by Jonathan Brazee

Author:Jonathan Brazee [Brazee, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Semper Fi Press
Published: 2017-08-04T04:00:00+00:00

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Four hours later, Esther leaned back in her chair, hands clasped behind her head while she listened to Commander Anderson go over once again why he couldn’t leave an officer in charge of the Calypso Queen.

“I’ve got the XO and two more in sickbay, and now with this second contingency, I just can’t afford the manpower.”

Esther lowered her arms and swung back forward, saying, “But we can’t just leave the ship floating in space.”

“She won’t be. The propulsion will be up and running in another twenty minutes.”

“At 20%.”

“Still, she can get underway.”

Esther and the Mount Fuji’s CO were in his stateroom, hashing out alone what had become a bone of contention during the meeting in the wardroom. She completely understood his position. He was shorthanded, and he’d just received orders to transit to the Boclyn System for a possible interdiction—ironically as result of intel received by their prisoners. Esther didn’t give much weight to the intel, but she knew the Admiral had to act on it, and that meant taking the Mount Fuji away from the Calypso Queen long before a qualified crew could be formed and arrive to take the ship to Reece Station and the quadrant naval headquarters.

And of course, this had to coincide when the XO and two other officers were quarantined with one of the ultra-viruses which were making the rounds through human space. The ship’s surgeon said this was a particularly nasty virus, and there was a good chance he’d have to put the three sailors into stasis until they could get a higher-level treatment.

Esther had one out, one way for the Mount Fuji to leave on her new mission while still allowing the Calypso Queen to get underway, but it was a long shot, one she didn’t think would get accepted by the Navy brass. She wasn’t sure she wanted it, either. The new mission would probably be a blockade, but there was always the possibility of boots on the ground.

Screw it. We can’t just leave the passengers to fend for themselves.

“I have a possible solution,” she said hesitantly.

“Unless you have a way to get a crew here via instantaneous transport, I don’t see how.”

“What if we had a crew already here?”

“I told you, Esther, Navy regs require a commissioned officer to take over an abandoned vessel. I can’t spare one, and the Admiral agrees. And he was reluctant to give CHENG and the chief the time to even repair the ship.”

“Do the regs say that the commissioned officer be Navy?”

“What? Navy? Well, no, not exactly. But he or she needs to be underway qualed. That’s why I can’t leave Ensign Evers, Wolter, Liang, or Lieutenant (JG) Ahaad.”

“How about a ship’s master rating?”

“A ship’s master? That’s a civilian rating, but probably . . . yeah, that would work for a non-combatant. That’s probably what they’ll send over if they can’t get a naval officer, come to think of it.”

“I’ve got one.”

“Got one what?”

“A ship’s master. Captain Peaslee. Before he became a Marine, he’d earned his ship’s master license.

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