BattleTech Legends: D.R.T. by James D. Long

Author:James D. Long [Long, James D.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2011-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

18

UNION-CLASS DROPSHIP TRACY K

PIRATE POINT 5N/LU0013ZULU

WOLCOTT

DRACONIS COMBINE

25 JULY 3057

Rose sat staring at the communications unit in the DropShip quarters. He knew it wasn’t likely the unit would activate by thought alone, but he sat there in the fervent hope of hearing from McCloud before he left Wolcott. He glanced over at the stack of hard copy reports on the bunk and considered breaking the final news to the rest of the Thorns, but for the seventh time in the last hour, he decided to wait a little longer.

Rose and the rest of the company had been trapped—Rose could think of no other word—in the Tracy K for three days. The trip had been mercifully uneventful, but the lack of information on McCloud and the Bristol was grating on his nerves.

The Tracy K had lifted off without a problem, despite the damaged appendage. Under a thick cover of aerospace fighters, the ship had successfully run the Clan blockade and was now preparing for the final approach to the JumpShip. Not that the ship was already in the Wolcott system, but Danes had to trust that it would be by the time the Tracy K arrived at their rendezvous point.

The mission required split-second timing on the part of the DropShip and JumpShip crews. Although no Clan ships had trailed the Tracy K, at least as far as the crew knew, the JumpShip would not remain long in the Wolcott system. After undocking any DropShips it had carried into the system, the starship would meet up with the Tracy K, then jump immediately to the Black Thorns’ destination. Because of the time-space relationship between the pirate point in the Wolcott system and the pirate point of their destination star system, any mistakes would doom the mission before it started. Of course, that assumed the ships survived the mistake in the first place.

Rose glanced over at the reports, then suddenly jumped to his feet, grabbing the reports and heading for the mess room. As usual, the Black Thorns had appropriated the largest mess room on the ship as their de facto headquarters. When Rose got there, the room was surprisingly empty, but a quick call over the public address system remedied that situation. While waiting for the room to fill up, he thought over the briefing report, but still wasn’t really sure where to start even after all his people were present and looking up at him expectantly.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re approaching the Wolcott jump point. I’m not really sure where that is, but Captain Danes assures me we’re on course and on schedule. If all goes well, the JumpShip will arrive within the next couple of minutes. That means we’ll be making the jump to the target within the hour.” Rose stopped to take a sip from a fresh cup of coffee. He noticed that the Thorns were unnaturally quiet, as if they were awaiting news of great import. Despite the importance of the mission briefing, Rose suspected they were looking for something more.

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