Darrell Bain by Star Ship Down

Author:Star Ship Down [Down, Star Ship]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Damn it, Sissy, it’s my fault. I should never have let Jimmy and the twins go, not when they were already paired off. They were as good as married. Grindstaff asked me about marrying Maria and Jimmy and I agreed. We both thought it was a good idea.”

It was very early in the morning and they were sitting together in the living area of his cabin. Sissy had brewed some rationed coffee for him and Travis told himself he needed it before going to notify Sandy Johnson and Sergeant Maria Mirando. He had stayed in the control room most of the night hoping for a further contact from the tender’s new owners but there had been none. When the satellite came into range, he had the tech send a query for it to ping the tender and photograph the landing site at its closest approach. He was waiting on that report now and berating himself in the meantime.

“Travis, please don’t say it’s your fault. You had no idea this would happen.”

“You know the mantra as well as I do, Sissy. Everything that goes wrong in a ship is ultimately the captain’s fault.” He sighed. “I don’t know what I could have done to prevent it from happening, though. I approved the preparations Grindstaff and Brandon put together for the transport of the convicts and they looked good to all of us. I don’t understand how this could have happened.”

“We may never know, dear. Unless we use the other tender and try to rescue them.”

“I’ve already thought of that,” he said heavily. “First we have to see if they’re still at the site. If they’re smart, they won’t be. And second, I don’t see how I could justify risking it right now. There are seven of our people missing and possibly already dead versus almost a thousand of the rest of us. We need the tender for powering equipment, exploring, hauling goods, transporting people and all kinds of other tasks. And yet … Damn, I hate the thought of those bastards getting away with this. There were three women aboard, too. Just imagine what’s going to happen to them.”

“Oh, Lord. I hadn’t thought of that.” She hugged herself in an instinctive defensive motion.

Travis went to her, as much for his own comfort as hers. He was still holding her when the com chimed. He turned her loose and went to it.

“Captain Callahan.”

“Sir, it’s Borg Johannsen. We just downloaded the satellite data. As near as we can tell, the tender is not where it was when it landed. We haven’t picked up its signal, either.”

He cursed silently until he got himself under control. He had just about talked himself into sending the tender and a platoon from the army on a hurried rescue mission and damn the costs and risk. Now it was too late, if he’d ever had time at all.

“Captain?”

“I’m here. Sorry. Is there a possibility it’s been camouflaged?”

“I thought of the same thing, sir, but before Mister Brandon went off duty he pointed out that we ordered a complete sweep in the query.

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