Defender of the Flame (The Rising Flame Book 1) by Sylvia Engdahl

Author:Sylvia Engdahl [Engdahl, Sylvia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Ad Stellae Books
Published: 2013-04-19T18:30:00+00:00

~ 37 ~

As it turned out, no ransom was ever demanded; Promise got to Mars first and Fleet patrollers were waiting for Starhawk when it arrived. Terry was taken directly to the medical center in Marsport, but he checked himself out as soon as his hand was bandaged; he wasn’t free to explain why he didn’t need drugs for the continuing pain of the stumps, and he knew the mentors aboard could heal him faster than physicians could. He returned to the ship for a happy reunion with Kathryn. By the time they reached the moon four days later, his hand and forearm showed no sign of injury except for the missing fingers.

He went down to the moon’s surface, letting Kathryn and the passengers take a commercial flight to Earth, because he was ordered to report immediately to Admiral Frazer. After he had given a detailed report of the incident the admiral said, “Once the paperwork is put through you’ll receive the medal you’ve earned twice over, Commander. An encounter with pirates is something I can announce publicly.”

“I don’t need a medal,” Terry protested. “It was my job to protect my ship.”

“But you did it heroically without resorting to violence. Media coverage will be a good thing apart from the fact that you deserve recognition—if more captains were willing to stand up to pirates, there wouldn’t be so many attacks.”

Terry acquiesced; it was true enough that something needed to be done to reduce the seizures of innocent passengers. But he didn’t look forward to the attention.

“There’s something else I want to discuss with you,” Admiral Frazer told him. “We’ve been testing a new type of interplanetary ship that’s as fast as a starship in normal space and can land like a shuttle—in fact it’s no larger than a shuttle. I believe such a ship would be of value for patrolling Maclairn’s solar system—I know you’ve been using Promise to do that between trips, but if you could train more pilots there would always be at least one ship available. Do you agree, Commander?”

“Yes, sir. It would certainly be extremely useful.”

“Well, then, what I want you to do is take the prototype back with you. You can carry it instead of your shuttle, and Shepard will loan you a Fleet shuttle until you pick up yours. We can’t make extensive test flights in Earth’s system because it hasn’t been publicly announced yet—it has considerable potential for civilian use and we’re not ready to accept bids. Maclairn’s system would be an ideal place to try it out under operational conditions.”

It was agreed that Terry would remain on the moon to be trained in the capabilities of the new ship while Drew and Amir, who were due for leave, hitched a ride to Earth on a Fleet transport and a caretaker pilot from the admiral’s staff stayed with Promise. “He’s not in on the secret,” Frazer said, “but I’ll warn him that the ship might be targeted for sabotage.”

It seemed strange to be back at Fleet’s huge base on the moon.

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