Shattered Stars (Intrepid Saga Book 3) by Tim Rangnow

Author:Tim Rangnow [Rangnow, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vagabond Publishing
Published: 2024-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

22 – Predashi

Indira found herself pacing the bridge once again. She glanced at the empty spot where a command chair should have been installed, and she swore it would be done the moment they returned to Kraken.

She finally bent over Lash’s shoulder to get a look at the displays on his console. “Status, lieutenant.”

“We’re approaching the sector border, captain. You have seven minutes to decide whether to stop short of it or cross over into Thonnar space.”

She grimaced distastefully. It wasn’t a decision she’d ever anticipated having to make, though she knew exactly which way she’d fall in this circumstance. “Have our sensors picked up the slave ship yet?”

One of Lash’s tiny fingers tapped against a screen to his left. “There have been some faint returns at the extreme outer limit of our scan radius, but that could simply be a passing comet or other space debris. Or a sensor shadow that we’re reading too much into in our desire to find our quarry.”

Indira smiled at the veiled caution in his voice. Lash’s ability to operate without being driven by emotion was one of the reasons she’d wanted him on her bridge crew. She’d even offered him the XO position, but he’d turned her down. The Tiké were a race that enjoyed exploring the galaxy and discovering new worlds and peoples, and he didn’t want to take on an important role that might be abandoned when his innate wanderlust drove him to move on.

“Helm, can we get any more speed?”

Ensign Sophie Marcus looked up from her station and shook her head. “We’re already pushing the engines harder than they’re designed for, captain. Engineering is protesting loudly and often about it.”

“Ensign Palson, is that true?”

The man at the Engineering console shrugged and blushed under her scrutiny. Most of her bridge crew had some experience in similar postings on Intrepid, but he was one of those who had been promoted up from the lower ranks when he transferred into Dauntless. Being spoken to by the captain was still a very strange experience for him. “Commander Valentine has been vociferous in his complaints about how hard you’re pushing Dauntless, captain,” he said in a cracking voice.

“The commander can voice his complaints once we’ve caught that Thonnar ship and rescued our people,” she said. “Until then, tell him I need every ounce of power diverted to the engines. Shut down non-critical systems if you have to. Give me more speed.”

“Aye, captain,” Ensign Palson said, gulping as he began relaying her orders to someone in the Engineering compartment at the rear of the ship.

Indira was tempted to give the young officer a friendly pat on the shoulder, but she suspected that would only ratchet up the tension visible in his stiff torso. In an ideal world, she would have had at least a few weeks to get to know her officers and crew better. The discovery of where the colonists were being held had thrown them into action immediately, however, so she was just the nebulous captain in charge of the ship.

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