Rendezvous with Corsair by Jack Campbell

Author:Jack Campbell [Hemry, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Accelerate to point one light speed. Come port zero three zero degrees, up one four degrees.” Corsair’s main propulsion kicked in with more force at the same time as thrusters fired to alter her heading, pushing the battle cruiser onto a new vector while velocity built rapidly.

In the primary command seat on the bridge, Michael smiled, enjoying the feel of once more driving a fast, nimble, and deadly battle cruiser. He realized he had begun thinking of Corsair not as a captured enemy ship, but as his ship, the Alliance personnel aboard his crew, and even the Tigres as sort of a strange ground forces detachment temporarily assigned to the ship.

“Captain,” Lieutenant Kuei reported, “if the Syndic warships react as expected to our new vector to meet us ten light minutes short of the jump point for Cullen, intercept should occur in twenty hours.”

Twenty hours. Michael touched the internal comm command to broadcast his words throughout the ship. “This is the captain. Projected time to intercept of the Syndic flotilla is twenty hours. I will bring the ship to full battle readiness in eighteen hours. Make sure you’re ready. For now, get rest, and make sure your equipment is in top shape.”

He had time to tour the ship, walking around to speak to the Alliance personnel so he could personally gauge their morale. As he walked, he passed or saw groups of Tigres, all of whom watched him with intense gazes that held varying degrees of worry and curiosity and even pleading.

They knew about their families. They probably knew he would be deciding not just their fates, but those of their loved ones.

It wasn’t the sort of decision he was ever comfortable making. But there was no way to avoid his responsibility for making it. No honorable way.

The newly liberated prisoners were gathered together in a rather Spartan compartment that would have served as a rec room for Syndic workers. He went in, gesturing them to stay seated as some began to scramble to their feet when they saw his rank. Their uniforms were ragged, their frames too lean, reflecting the hard conditions that they had labored under for too long. “Relax. I wanted to check on you all personally. I’m Captain Michael Geary.”

The woman officer who seemed to be the most senior in rank among the newly freed prisoners smiled. “It still feels like a dream, or something out of a legend. A Geary coming to rescue us. Black Jack returned. Supposedly the war won. I think we’re all a bit worried about waking up and finding we’re facing our next shift at that labor camp.”

“I’ve woken up a few times in the last couple of days worried about the same thing,” Michael admitted. “Afraid to open my eyes and see the walls of that cell still around me.”

“The Syndics should have known they couldn’t hold onto a Geary!” a man among the former prisoners said with a laugh that the others joined in on.

He was about to

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