The Clones of Mawcett (A Galaxy Unknown, Book 3) by Thomas DePrima

Author:Thomas DePrima
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw
Publisher: Vinnia Publishing
Published: 2010-09-14T05:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Fourteen

~ April 19th, 2270 ~

During the month long trip to Vinnia, Jenetta and Eliza continued to work on the Mawcett history, and by the time they reached Higgins SCB, the digest that had become a treatise, had evolved to become a book. All mention of cloning and advanced medical testing had been omitted, of course, as they concentrated on the planet's societal evolution with emphasis on religious overtones, and the increasing separation of the population along fundamental canonical precepts.

By linking the retrieved computer core to the ship's main system, Jenetta produced a complete dictionary of the language used on Mawcett at the time its population perished. The file would reside in her computer until she felt the time was appropriate for its dissemination.

Jenetta had also recorded and sent a personal vidMail message to the family of each Marine killed on Mawcett. Although it was Marine Captain Greene's job, and Jenetta knew that he had sent his messages, she felt an obligation to do so as well because they had been under her overall command at the time they died. Although Space Command personnel and Space Marines had died at the Battle of Vauzlee, while she was the acting XO of the Prometheus, this was the first time that people died while exclusively under orders issued by her. It saddened her enormously to think that she had sent them to their deaths, and even more so that if the war with the Raiders continued, many more under her command might perish. She did her best to put those feelings aside for now as she recorded the messages to the families. In each, she spoke about how the company had been on a routine assignment when attacked by the Tsgardi Raiders and how the Marine had fought bravely in defense of comrades, the civilian scientists, and the dig site laborers. Through it all, Christa's fate was never far from her immediate thoughts.

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Higgins Space Command Base, a massive space station floating in synchronous orbit above the planet Vinnia, dwarfed the enormous battleship sidling up to the assigned docking pier. The station, easily visible to the naked eye from the planet below, resembled an oval-cut, blue opal gemstone, surrounded by a huge silver necklace. The necklace was the station's docking ring, where numerous ships of Prometheus' nearly two-kilometer long length could dock with the station simultaneously. Access tunnels, connecting the base to the docking ring, appeared like spokes in a wheel.

During the Battle for Higgins, the station had been seriously damaged. When Jenetta had last been here, the docking ring had been left almost useless, and great sections of the station had been open to space. They'd had enough of a warning to evacuate all civilians and non-combatant military personnel, but casualties had still been high. Although work continued inside almost two years later, the station was fully pressurized again and the exterior of the base had been returned to its previous magnificent appearance.

After docking, all crewmembers assigned to the base on Mawcett were ordered to report to the hospital for complete physical examinations.

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