Friends in Command (Sons of the Starfarers: Book IV) by Joe Vasicek

Author:Joe Vasicek [Vasicek, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, action, pirates, strong female character, galactic empire, military science fiction, faster than light, frontier, far future, space fleet
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Whispers in the Dark

“All stations, report.”

The officers of the Merope-7 looked at each other with puzzled glances. Aaron couldn’t blame them—until just a couple dayshifts ago, he hadn’t expected to leave Ithaca so soon himself. But the important thing was that they were here, ready to obey his commands.

“Helm and astrogation, ready.”

“Engineering reports all systems green.”

“Comms and medical, ready at your orders.”

“Weapons and countermeasures, online.”

Mara took a deep breath. “All crew are on board and accounted for. Ready at your orders, sir.”

“Excellent,” said Aaron. He stood up from his command chair and stared out the forward window for several moments with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Phoebe, open up a shipwide channel.”

“Yes, Captain,” she said, keying in the command on her console. “Channel is open.”

He nodded and turned to face them, looking them each in the eye as he spoke.

“This is the captain speaking,” he began. “As all of you have noticed, I have raised the alert level and ordered all crew to their posts. I want you to know that this is not a drill. We are making preparations to embark and will leave the system imminently.”

The tension in the room rose a notch, and the puzzlement on their faces turned to open surprise. He went on.

“Some of you may be wondering how this fits in with our mission. When High Command sent us to Ithaca, they ordered us to patrol the local sector as part of the rearguard to the rest of the fleet. We are not abandoning that mission. However, we recently obtained information that has changed the scope of our mission, and I have decided to take the initiative rather than wait for new orders from High Command.”

He paused. The bridge was as silent as the void of space. His officers were listening with rapt attention—as was the rest of the crew, no doubt.

“About two standard months ago, a Resistance operative in possession of a top-secret military device went MIA near the Colkhia system. We learned that he passed through Ithaca sometime after he disappeared. It’s unclear what happened next, but we know that he must have passed through the Shiloh Rift, so we’re going there to hunt for any clue as to where he was going and who was following him.

“That missing operative is my brother. Our primary objective is to make sure that the device doesn’t fall into enemy hands, but if there is any chance we can recover him, I expect all of you to do everything you can to make that happen. If it does, I will personally be very grateful.”

He nodded to Phoebe, who cut the transmission. “Channel is closed, sir,” she said softly.

“Thank you, Phoebe.” He turned to the bridge. “Before we embark, are there any objections? They will be noted in the log.”

The bridge was silent. If anyone objected to his plans, they didn’t have the courage to speak up. On the contrary, as he looked into each of their faces, he saw a heartening solidarity. Even Mara was fully behind him.

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