Trooper Down by Jim Laughter

Author:Jim Laughter [Laughter, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620161524
Publisher: Axia Books
Published: 2016-09-09T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“Establish perimeter,” the mothership commander ordered from his command chair.

The comm officer sent out the signal to the other ships. Small spaceships moved into position, protecting the large mothership.

“Perimeter shell established,” the comm officer reported. “Picket ships moving into position now.”

“Acknowledged. Set stationary stabilizers.”

The ship engineer activated the tractor rays that held the mothership in a stationary position near a particular asteroid.

“Ship is now locked,” the pilot said. “All readings stable.”

“Acknowledged. Summon the scout captains to briefing room seven.”

As the comm officer put the call out over the ship intercom, the commander glanced around the large control room.

I’ve got a good ship here.

After receiving acknowledgement that his order had been issued, he headed aft to the briefing room. He was confident that nothing would catch this crew off guard.

Since arriving on station to assume command of Sector 2046-W, formerly patrolled by the ill-fated mothership, the commander awaited the day when the retrieval ships would depart and he would receive final orders for his ship to assume patrol duties.

Already his crew had high marks in efficiency, and each of them knew that had they arrived a week earlier, they would have been on station for the attack instead of their unfortunate comrades. However, if the rumors were true and the other ship commander had indeed withdrawn his defensive umbrella, he wouldn’t have made the same mistake and been caught by surprise.

Anticipating the new assignment, he encouraged his section chiefs to tighten procedures even more. Since that time, drills had been more frequent, morale was up, and the commander had a right to feel proud of the troopers serving under him.

Entering the briefing room, he was pleased to see it full of scout captains. Their anticipation of this briefing of the senior staff and alert crews was infectious. He knew his pilots and staff were ready for their new assignment.

“Before I begin, I want to commend each of you on the reports I’ve been receiving of your preparedness,” the commander said. “It’s always encouraging to serve with people who take their jobs seriously.”

Someone in the back of the room began to clap and it spread quickly throughout the room. After a moment, the room quieted.

“We all know about the destroyed mothership,” the commander continued. “The latest I’ve heard from the investigation is that it was due to poor leadership and sloth. Rest assured that it won’t happen while I’m in command of this ship.”

The commander paused and sensed the mood. The apprehension of the scout captains was to be expected, but there was an undercurrent of trust still strongly present.

“We’ve managed to piece together the search logs of the previous ships,” he continued. “But unfortunately there were some serious gaps in their efforts. Your mission will be to fill in the gaps and thoroughly explore this sector. Each of you have already received your assignments and everything we have on each section.”

He paused again and surveyed his scouts.

“You’re to pay particular attention to any civilizations, especially those showing signs of industrial development,” he continued.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.