Starfarer's Dream (Kinsella Universe Book 4) by Gina Marie Wylie

Author:Gina Marie Wylie
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-11-11T07:00:00+00:00

* * *

Rear Admiral Toby Greer swirled burgundy wine in a glass, staring at it. A few feet away Captain Bill Travers took a sip from his own glass and took up perusal of the view out the admiral’s window looking out over the achingly blue lake.

“I tell myself I have to be positive, that I need to look on the bright side,” Admiral Greer told the captain. “Yet every few minutes I run over my decisions and wonder what else I could have done that might have saved another ship.”

“You saved the planet, Admiral.”

“And you’ve saved two,” the admiral shot back.

Bill laughed uneasily. “True -- with the help of a few friends.”

Captain Travers turned brisk. “Your yard people should have that fan replaced by 1600 this afternoon. I need to get going. Any delay was going to be hard to explain. I’ve about used up my luck.”

The admiral smiled softly. “Captain, the medics say it will be seventy-two hours before Lieutenant Wolf is ready to travel. Starfarer’s Dream is one of exactly two ships in the Fleet that are equipped with the new lasers. Lieutenant Wolf would be an invaluable intelligence source, Captain, if she could talk to some of my captains and weapons officers about their employment.”

Captain Travers whistled low. “I don’t know what to say, Admiral.”

“There are nearly a billion people alive today in this system, Captain, who owe their lives to you and your crew. Trust me, Captain, Fleet will understand. And if they don’t I’ll personally let them know that I do understand.”

Bill suddenly laughed.

“What?” the admiral asked.

“I was just thinking about how many times I tried to buck up Commander Hoyt, telling him to look on the bright side, not to worry about being court-martialed, that we’d done good. What goes around, Admiral, comes around. Now it’s my turn.”

“Absolutely correct, Captain Travers! And doubly true for that very young lieutenant of yours. In order for our species to survive we are going to have to function at well above a hundred percent of our best -- all of us. If some of us can function at a thousand percent like Willow Wolf -- well, in spite of the darkness of the hour, there is the light of hope. With people like you and her, people like Turbine Jensen and Ito Saito -- we have a fighting chance.”

The door to the office opened and a Portie commander stood there. “Sir, sensors report a single vessel has been detected in the outer system, traveling on low fan. All of the active emitters out there were destroyed in the attack so we have almost no information on it.

“The Port Admiral requests guidance, Admiral.”

“Declare an alert. Dispatch the ready cruiser to intercept -- that’ll be Babylon. Have all the other ships come ready and prepare to engage if necessary.”

Admiral Greer turned to Captain Travers. “I’m sorry, Captain, but Starfarer’s Dream will have to go out without you.”

“There’s no time,” Bill agreed sadly. “Still, she has a hot pilot

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