“I’m just not sure about Starhopper.” Kas cursed disgustedly. “If only we’d had even one sensor on her…,” He sighed. “There were only a few laser bolts I could trace toward her, and perhaps one missile. We’ll just have to wait until we emerge and see if she’s there.” He slammed his fist on the desk. “I hate being deaf, dumb and blind in Jump!” he complained.
Another of To-Ling’s thin smiles rewarded him. “Hardly an original sentiment, Commodore. I doubt there’s a military commander in known space that hasn’t felt the same way.”
Kas relaxed and grinned. “Yeah. Well, that doesn’t make it any less true. All right,” he continued in a businesslike tone, “It looked to me like we took out one destroyer and possibly one of those corvettes. How about you, Commander?”
She nodded slowly. “I agree about the destroyer, Commodore. I don’t think any of the corvettes was destroyed, but two suffered heavy damage, and I don’t think any of them came through undamaged.”
Kas grinned and nodded. “Well, we were certainly lucky. If we hadn’t been going so fast, they’d have had time to at least get their shields up.”
To-Ling shrugged. “Perhaps. You don’t suppose their admiral happened to be on that destroyer, do you, sir?”
Kas’ grin widened. “Even I wouldn’t count on that much luck.” He sobered. “All right. Now for the big question. How much time did we buy ourselves? How long will it take them to mount a pursuit?”
The small woman frowned. “There are so many variables, I’m afraid even our best estimates will be no more than guesses.”
Kas nodded. “True. But I have to make decisions, and we have to make plans. So, we start with the most pessimistic of our estimates, and then set up contingencies to cover variations. Agreed?”
To-Ling nodded. “Of course, sir.”
“Very well. We agree that we got one of the destroyers. The most pessimistic scenario would be if one of the corvettes was also destroyed…”
To-Ling frowned “I don’t follow, sir. It seems to me that the most pessimistic scenario would have all of the corvettes survive.”
Kas shook his head. “No. A damaged corvette would slow them down more than a destroyed one. They would have to spend time on damage control, make emergency repairs, rescue and care for wounded, and so on. A destroyed ship means just a quick scan for survivors before continuing with their mission.”
Her brow cleared. “Of course, sir. All right, we have one destroyer and one corvette destroyed. Naturally, we have to assume their admiral is aboard the surviving destroyer.”
Kas nodded. “Now we have to try to decide how badly each ship was damaged.”
She shrugged. “Even being pessimistic, battle cruisers mount heavy weapons, and corvettes are lightly armored. Any hit by one of our weapons certainly caused major damage.”
“True. All right. We have one destroyer and three corvettes remaining. All suffered at least some damage, and we agree that one of the three corvettes is in pretty bad shape. The destroyer took several hard hits, and I think one of our missiles took out several of her weapons emplacements.”
To-Ling’s eyes narrowed as she called up her memory of the encounter scans. “Yes, sir. However, she still has plenty left. And I don’t think her engines were damaged.” She frowned. “I thought I saw a heavy laser hit near her bridge… but I wouldn’t want to place any bets on it.”
Kas nodded. “Perhaps. But we’ll assume you were wrong. So, we have a damaged destroyer and three more-heavily-damaged corvettes, with an intact command structure. Anything else?”
To-Ling sniffed. “Yes, sir. The fact they showed up there tells us they knew our location. Which means they probably also know our course.”
Kas nodded again. “Of course. Moreover, since we’re taking the long way around, that also means they will probably be able to catch us, cutting straight across this damned big curve of a course they’ve given us. Sheol, they might even have time to go back to wherever they came from and get fresh ships.”
“I doubt that, sir. Unless they came from somewhere very close, by the time they returned to base, explained, and got everything sorted out to return, turnaround would take months. However, you’re right about them having time to catch up and hit us again. The big question is ‘where?’”
Kas grinned. “Ah! The jackpot question. If you have any psi abilities, Commander, especially in the field of precognition, I’d be glad to hear about it.” She favored him with another of her half-smiles.
As for the effect of the two planet-busters on the system’s sun, the issue was still in doubt. They had realized that if the missiles triggered a nova, the wave front of the explosion would propagate at the speed of light. This meant, of course, that they must be jumping just as the wave front arrived at the jump point. A few seconds too early, and Kas would not be sure the missiles had been destroyed. A few seconds too late, and Rekesh and Starhopper would simply become part of the rapidly expanding ball of incandescent gases.
What they had hoped to record was the last few moments as the missiles encountered the photosphere and the antimatter containment failed. They hoped to record the disturbances that would occur in the seconds, or even microseconds before a possible nova explosion. Kas had theorized that by analyzing their sensor scans and comparing them to scans of past novas, they would know what happened in that system just after their jump.
The results were somewhat disappointing. Though the sensors’ last few moments revealed large solar disturbances, there were distinct differences between their scans and those of past novas. No, Kas decided, they couldn’t count on a stellar cataclysm. This battle would be fought with conventional weapons.
Despite Kas’ preoccupation with unanswered questions, life rapidly changed from the adrenaline-charged pressures of battle to the unending tedium of a ship in Jump.
To keep from dwelling on the unknowable Kas devoted himself to crew problems. On the theory that he should start at the top, he summoned Roi Tremling to his office.
When the man arrived, Kas had him escorted back to his own quarters, demanding he shower, shave and put on a fresh shipsuit before returning.
Returning sullen and glowering, he found both Kas and To-Ling awaiting him. In an apparent rage, Kas thundered at the man for some ten minutes before getting to business.
“Commander To-Ling,” he grated, “I realize that the Wardroom is not my domain. But I cannot believe that the other officers willingly tolerate this officer’s lack of hygiene and manners.”
To-Ling was stone faced. “They don’t, sir. But he is senior to all of them. Even me.”
Kas waved a dismissing hand. “You are President of the officers’ mess. As far as I am concerned, a staff officer’s commissioning date is irrelevant.
“I am specifically giving you permission to deny this officer entry to the wardroom if you consider him unfit to associate with Fleet officers. You are to permit him entry only if his hygiene is satisfactory. And if his manners offend you, you have my permission to eject him.”
Tremling’s head swiveled from one of them to the other. Suddenly he snorted. “Don’t think I don’t know what’s goin’ on here,” he said in a surly tone. “I don’t have t’put up with this. You’ve got no right
…”
“I have every right,” Kas interrupted. “Even an engineer has to know that. However, you have no right. No right to subject your fellow officers to your lack of manners and hygiene.” He continued at some length, until he happened to glance at To-Ling, who rolled her eyes. Too long. His tirade was losing its effect. He decided to end it.
“You seem to pride yourself on not behaving like a Fleet officer. Very well. Until further notice, Commander To-Ling will be ignoring your seniority. If she feels it necessary to dress you down like an Ensign, she has my permission to do so. Moreover, if your behavior does not improve, I will progressively reduce you in rank until we find a rank I consider appropriate. Perhaps Apprentice Wiper.”
Tremling paled. “You wouldn’t dare! You don’t have the authority to demote an officer…”
Kas just shrugged. “You can file a grievance when we get back to Prime. If we get back to Prime. Now, get out, Commander!”
Tremling stomped out, furious.
To-Ling looked at him narrowly. “You really want me to do that, sir? You could get in trouble…”
Kas chuckled. “Commander, I’ve been in trouble ever since I joined the Fleet. After all, an outie barbarian uncouth enough to assault an Admiral is certainly uncouth enough to authorize you to deal with a fool like Tremling.”
To-Ling flushed slightly. “Is it my turn now, Commodore?”
“No. Well, maybe.” He shook his head. “Look, Commander. I’ve been very impressed with the way you handle your job. You’re good.”
He shrugged. “I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. However, because you impress me, I will tell you this. Changes are coming in the Fleet over the next few years. We cannot afford to waste good officers just because they have some silly prejudices.
“You know as well as I that you’re overdue for promotion to command and to Captain. If you could put aside these silly ideas of superiority, you’d be a good one. Don’t let your mouth keep you from realizing your potential.”
She frowned. “What do you mean, ‘changes are coming’?”
He shook his head. “I can’t go into detail. But I suspect you’re going to see a real shakeup, with some being forced out, and others gaining rapid promotion.”
“Like yours.”
He nodded. “Like mine.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, Commander. I cannot tell you more, and I have no business lecturing a senior officer like an Ensign. But I strongly urge you to take a hard look at your opinions and your prejudices. They’re holding you back.”
She was looking thoughtful. “I’ll think about it, Commodore.”
Kas straightened. “Good. Now, about these daily reports…”
Tremling was not the only problem case among the officers. Ra-Lavon, the Supply and Administrative Officer, and Raskin, the Gunnery Officer, for instance.
They were like two sides of the same coin of bigotry. Ra-Lavon had already shown himself to be openly hostile to outerworlders in general and Kas in particular. Raskin was equally hostile to innerworlders, and delighted in annoying them by acting as coarse and offensive as possible. The two were constantly irritating each other. Moreover, since one was a staff Commander and the other a line Lieutenant Commander, their constant bickering was affecting crew morale. Kas called them to his cabin together.
Feigning a towering rage, Kas ordered the two of them to convert an empty storeroom into a double stateroom, which they would share for the remainder of the voyage. “You’ll either learn to get along, or one of you will kill the other and I’ll execute the survivor,” he roared.
It was not just the officers, of course. He knew they hadn’t found all the stills and drug labs aboard, though they destroyed them as quickly as they were found. But he’d had to break four petty officers down to able spacers and two others had lost a stripe. That wasn’t the worst, though. Three spacers and two civilians were in the brig. He’d been forced to order three floggings.
Hardest of all was being forced to order the execution of a man who had attacked and killed another with a weapon he’d found. The man had pleaded, begged, and fouled himself in fear; but Kas had no choice. He had to show the crew in the strongest way possible that he would enforce discipline. He personally triggered the blaster bolt, then had the corpse put into a stasis chamber, to be jettisoned once they had returned to normal space. Only the man’s DNA-coded ident tag would complete his round trip ticket. Then he went to his cabin and threw up.
Time still dragged but finally, eventually, the jump timer clicked down to emergence.
Kas was pacing the bridge, fretting, when they emerged, and the viewscreens leapt to life. Kas forced himself under control. If Starhopper were detected Kas would learn of it instantly. It would accomplish nothing to hound good people.
He could stand it no longer and was about to demand a report when the chief sensor tech spoke. “Nothing detected, Commodore,” he reported crisply. “No hazards and no ships.”
Kas’ shoulders sagged, but it would have taken a careful observer to notice the slight change. Kas sighed. “All right. Maintain all sensors on max. If Starhopper or any other ship emerges, I want to be notified immediately.”
“Aye, Aye, sir,” the tech responded in the same crisp tones. Kas keyed his ship’s comm. “Commander Tremling,” he said, “Your repair crew is cleared to work outside. But no one works outside alone.”
“Yeah, yeah,” came the response, but then, just as Kas was about to roast the man’s ears, a reluctant “sir” was added to the bald acknowledgment. Kas glanced at To-Ling, who rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly.
“When your people have completed the damage assessment, Commander,” Kas continued, “You will deliver your report in person in my cabin. Preslin out.”
He sighed. Yet another bitch session with the engineer. So far, his and To-Ling’s efforts had largely been in vain. Tremling seemed to prize his lack of military bearing, manners, and standards of hygiene. It appeared that Kas was going to have to make good his threat to reduce the man in rank. He grimaced.
The problem was that Tremling was right. Kas almost certainly did not have the authority to reduce an officer in rank. Moreover, someone as abrasive as Tremling would never have made Commander in the first place if he did not have influence somewhere. Tremling would be certain to howl to anyone within reach when they returned to Prime, and Kas would be in trouble again. Pankin’s voice rang in his memory, telling him to keep his head down and stay out of trouble.
The problem was that Tremling had a disastrous effect on morale and discipline in the Engineering Department. How could the junior officers and senior petty officers be expected to maintain discipline among the enlisted people when the senior Engineering Officer was so unmilitary? He suddenly got a glimmering of an idea, but pushed it to the back of his mind. He had more immediate concerns.
“Astrogation, begin recalibration,” he instructed, noting with satisfaction that Lieutenant Commander Be’Rak, was already hammering at her keyboard. A large, if fleeting, grin accompanied her crisp “Aye, Aye, sir.” Kas suppressed a smile of approval.
He beckoned To-Ling. “What do you think, San? Have we lost Starhopper?”
The tiny woman shrugged, but her expression was grim. “Too soon to say, sir. Her nav comp was slaved to ours, so in theory she should have emerged at the same time and place we did. But we know so little about Jump space,” she continued. “She could emerge at any moment or perhaps not for two or three hours.”
“If she emerges at all,” Kas finished. To-Ling nodded soberly.
Despite To-Ling’s obvious disapproval, Kas remained on the bridge, hovering over sensor techs and pacing until he learned that the damage control team was returning aboard. With a scowl, he returned to his cabin to await Commander Roi Tremling’s arrival.
While he was waiting, he fleshed out the glimmering of an idea he had suppressed before. By the time Tremling arrived, Kas was almost cheerful.
He was unsurprised when Tremling appeared unkempt as ever. He restrained himself as the officer gave a detailed account of the damage Rekesh had suffered.
Kas relaxed somewhat when Tremling concluded his report. The only serious damage had been caused by only a few hits by destroyer-based weapons. The smaller weapons of the corvettes had been unable to inflict more than minor damage. It could have been much worse. More important now was the fact that none of the repairs would require special expertise. Only normal damage control would be required — which left him free to deal with Tremling.
The man was staring at him with a wary, frankly hostile expression.›From his oddly stiff posture, Kas suspected Tremling was carrying a concealed recording device.
Kas straightened. “Very well, Commander. Now all I have to deal with is you.” He glared at the dumpy, rumpled figure. “Upon consideration, I have decided that you were correct before. I probably do not have the authority to reduce you in rank, even temporarily. Nor do I have grounds to confine you to your quarters, much as I would like to.”
The wary expression began to fade into a satisfied smirk as he continued, “What I do have the authority to do is determine your duties. You are hereby relieved of your duties as Engineering Officer. I’m assigning you a special project.” The smirk faded to alarm.
With grim satisfaction, Kas gave his orders. Starhopper ’s crew had made use of one of Rekesh ’s shuttles during the quest for a plague cure. First, they had stripped out the food synthesizer to install in Dr. Kor-Nashta’s improvised quarters in the bio lab. Later they had stripped out some of the vessel’s accommodations to give Ro-Lecton room to synthesize the plague serum. Now the shuttle would provide Kas with an excuse to remove a serious irritant from the crew. Since the hangar deck had to remain unpressurized to preserve the bodies stored there, and Kas had forbade the crew to operate in suits alone, Kas gave Tremling four hours to move from his cabin to the shuttle. He would remain aboard while he examined “every bolt, nut, circuit board and connection” on the shuttle, and made repairs as necessary. “And I don’t mean just running diagnostic programs. I want every piece physically examined and checked out!” Kas finished.
Tremling was shocked. He was well aware that this was a sentence of solitary confinement for an indefinite period, but he suspected that Preslin had found a pretext for the action that fit within Fleet regulations — barely.
Once they installed a spare food synthesizer, there was no reason Tremling could not live aboard in comfort indefinitely. Since the shuttle was designed to serve as a lifeboat for forty people if necessary, it carried full ‘fresher facilities and food and water supplies for a month.
“You can’t do this!” Tremling exclaimed.
Kas shrugged. “I think you’ll find I can,” he replied in a satisfied tone. “But I suggest that while you are moving aboard, you arrange to hookup to the ship’s library. Perhaps you’ll have time to review Fleet regulations. Particularly those referring to the authority of the commander of a warship in time of combat. You might also,” he added, “review the standards of hygiene and conduct for Fleet officers.” As soon as the engineer stormed out, Kas summoned Tremling’s assistant, Lieutenant Commander Wor Sha-Tren. Sha-Tren seemed only a small improvement over Tremling insofar as appearance was concerned. At least Sha-Tren bathed regularly, though his shipsuit looked as though he slept in it.
Kas merely stared at the man for a few moments. Aside from meeting him for a few moments at his awakening, Kas realized he had not even seen the man since he had come aboard. Evidently, Sha-Tren wasted little time on social contacts.
More importantly, the man seemed angry for some reason. His every movement was calculated to offend. For some reason Sha-Tren wanted Kas to know he was angry.
After a moment, he remembered. Sha-Tren felt that he had been betrayed. He claimed to have had a “deal” arranged that permitted him to remain permanently on Prime. Given the man’s abrasive surliness, Kas suspected that Sha-Tren had made Lieutenant Commander only because his wealthy family had bought him the promotions. Even without his obvious display of anger, Sha-Tren was rough-edged. Clamping down on his temper, Kas explained that Sha-Tren was now Rekesh ’s Chief Engineer, and told him why.
The man’s eyes widened as Kas explained Tremling’s “special assignment”, but Kas noted that he immediately straightened, and his replies to Kas’ questions and comments began to be sprinkled with ‘sir’s’. When Sha-Tren left, he walked with a stiff straightness, and even threw Kas a clumsy salute. It appeared that Kas’ actions with Tremling were already showing dividends.
However, while personnel matters occupied a lot of time, there was no shortage of opportunity for Kas to worry about Starhopper and her crew.
After delaying for three ship ‘days’ Kas could wait no longer. Every hour they stayed in this system was another hour of danger for Rekesh. With a sense of despair, he gave the order to begin accelerating toward their programmed jump point. Nevertheless, he ordered a continuing watch for Starhopper. Though the Astrogator focused on the approaching jump point, the main bridge screen was directed aft. Kas knew that even if Starhopper emerged she would not be visible at this distance. However, he could not bring himself to realign the bridge screen. It would be a betrayal, somehow. A final admission of Starhopper ’s loss.
They were less than half an hour from the jump point when the Comm Officer shouted, “Emergence, sir! A ship!”
Kas whirled. “Is it Starhopper?”
The lieutenant frowned. “The ident beacon’s wrong, sir. She claims to be Starhopper, but the beacon is not the usual automated one. Either their ident beacon was damaged or…”
“… Or someone’s making a crude attempt to impersonate her.” Kas finished. “All right. All sensors on that ship. We have to know if she’s Starhopper within the next ten minutes if we’re to abort jump.” He turned to Til Be’Rak, Rekesh ’s Astrogator. “Is that about right, Commander?”
Be’Rak flashed him a blinding grin. “We could stretch that a minute or so if we had to, sir, but for every minute of delay, that’s a minute we’re accelerating at. 5G away from her.”
Kas grinned back. “Right. Thank you, Commander. I…”
“Incoming transmission, sir!” the Comm Officer interrupted. “Vessel continues to identify as Starhopper, but transmission is voice only.”
Kas frowned. “Well, now we’ll know. Put it through.”
The large bridge screen flared for a moment, then faded to blackness. “ Starhopper to Vir Rekesh,” a voice began, “This is Captain Rom Reffel aboard Starhopper. Mayday. I say again, Mayday. We have taken serious battle damage. Captain Ler-Traken was badly injured, and had to be placed in a stasis pod. Most of the rest of the crew are injured to various degrees. Request assistance.” Rom’s voice continued, but Kas was no longer listening. He could play it back later.
“Abort jump!” He ordered. “Adjust vectors to bring us around in minimum time. Make max boost toward Starhopper!”
Before he was even finished speaking, To-Ling was streaming orders.
It took almost a full day to vector the huge battle cruiser around and reverse course, another two days to drive back across the system, and yet another two days to slow the big ship and match orbits with Starhopper.
Kas replied to Rom’s first transmission almost immediately, but the lightspeed lag of more than half an hour prevented two-way communication for nearly two days. They established two-way communications as soon as possible, of course, but even then, lightspeed lag of minutes prevented most contact. Kas would receive a transmission from Rom, and reply. But before Kas’ message arrived, several minutes would have elapsed, during which Rom might have sent additional transmissions on totally different subjects. By the time Kas’ message arrived Rom had to try to figure out which message Kas was replying to, and how it might affect the messages he had sent in the interim. The same applied in the other direction, of course, and until the lightspeed lag was reduced to seconds instead of minutes, little could be accomplished.
Nevertheless, Kas finally got a coherent picture of Starhopper ’s condition.
When the enemy fleet had emerged, Starhopper had her inboard lasers deployed, in accordance with Kas’ standing orders. Ler-Traken had immediately ordered all weapons to open fire, and Gran had responded quickly, firing the lasers and even the quick-firers in Starhopper ’s nose.
For a moment, it had seemed they would reach the jump point unscathed. Then one of the destroyers had hit Starhopper ’s bridge with a particle beam, nearly destroying the Astrogator’s console, and inflicting either direct or decompression injuries on nearly the whole crew.
“If our jump comp hadn’t been slaved to yours there’s no telling where we might have ended up,” Rom said. “But even so we almost dropped out of jump several times. It was only thanks to Tera and Edro that we made it at all. Edro cobbled together controls that let Tera manually control emergence.”
Til Be’Rak’s eyes widened. “Manually? But that’s…”
“Impossible?” Rom’s grin was detectable even over the voice-only transmission. “I’d have agreed, until I saw Tera prevent us from dropping out of jump, then manually recompute the emergence using the captain’s station, then manually drop us out of jump. Sheol, I’m amazed we’re even in the right galaxy, never mind the right system! She hasn’t slept in forty-six hours, so I just ordered her to bed. She deserves a medal, Commodore.”
As more information poured in concerning the battered Starhopper, Kas began assembling repair crews. He relented and allowed Tremling to take charge of the team. Kas also alerted Ro-Lecton. He was pleasantly surprised when Tremling immediately established communication with Toj Kray aboard Starhopper and began drawing tools and supplies from Rekesh ’s stores.
Aside from the Astrogator’s station and the com system, Starhopper ’s damage was not serious. There were several hull breaches, but all but one were in the ship’s huge cargo bay, which had already been in vacuum.
The other one, of course, was on the bridge. Rom had managed to slap a self-sealing patch over the holes left by the particle beam quickly enough to save the crew’s lives, barely.
Unfortunately, several large pieces of the Astrogator’s station had struck Captain Ler-Traken, gashing his head, and smashing his left thigh. Worse, a large piece impacted his left side, shearing off his left arm at the elbow.
Edro had been quick enough to apply a tourniquet to the arm until the stump could be sealed. A quick examination convinced them that the captain’s best chance would be treatment aboard Rekesh. They put him in the sick bay’s stasis pod and Rom had assumed command.
Luckily, the civilian techs aboard Rekesh were qualified to repair Starhopper ’s Astrogator’s station, and they had plenty of spares and parts.
As soon as they pulled alongside Starhopper, they extended a pressurized tube between the two ships’ personnel airlocks, so they could avoid the necessity of suiting up to move between them. Kas followed the medical team aboard, even elbowing aside the repair techs. He accompanied Dr. Kor-Nashta to the bridge, while Ro-Lecton and the rest of his team went directly to the sick bay and the stasis pod.
Everyone on the bridge displayed injuries to some extent. Rom’s right arm was in a sling. Edro hobbled on a makeshift crutch while favoring a heavily bandaged left leg. Both of Gran’s hands were bandaged, and the blackened com panel revealed the reason. Kor-Nashta wasted no time in pushing Edro into the padded captain’s chair and scanning his leg. “Compound fracture of the tibia,” she said tersely. She raised her wrist com. “Doctor Ro-Lecton, I need a stretcher on the bridge,” she snapped. Without waiting for a reply, she whirled on Rom, who tried to wave her off. “It’s just a dislocated shoulder,” he protested.
“Really?” She replied frostily. “And where did you study medicine?” Nevertheless, after scanning the area, she was forced to admit he was correct.
“But that doesn’t mean it isn’t serious,” she continued, turning to Kas. “Commodore, I realize that you’ll need the Commander at the moment. But I warn you, if he doesn’t report for treatment within a few hours, I’ll… I’ll sic Dr. Ro-Lecton on you!”
“Not that!” Kas chuckled and raised both hands in surrender. “I promise, Doctor. Two hours… Or less,” he added as her expression clouded.
She jerked a nod and sniffed. “Very well. Mister Telker, you will come with me and get those hands tended. Now, what about the other one?”
Rom sighed. “You’ll probably need another stretcher team. Not that she’s that badly injured,” he added hurriedly as Kor-Nashta straightened. “But she was totally exhausted. I gave her Deepsleep. She won’t be waking up for… uh… six more hours.” he finished after checking his ring watch.
Kor-Nashta nodded and murmured into her wrist com again. “Uh, Doctor,” Rom added. “She does have a nasty head wound, and I’m really worried about her eye. The eyeball was literally jarred out of the socket and hanging on her cheek by the nerves and blood vessels. I.. uh… I popped it back in and bandaged it.”
“The nerves weren’t severed?”
Rom shrugged. “I don’t think so. But it was a hell of a bloody mess, and I didn’t do a careful examination. I just did what I had to do. We all did.”
The doctor’s nod matched Kas’. “What about Toj?” Kas asked.
Rom shrugged again. “He got bounced around, but you know those heavy-worlders. They can take a lot. Far as I can tell, he just has cuts and bruises. But I don’t think he’d admit to needing treatment if he’d lost a leg.” He smiled. “An arm, maybe. He wouldn’t be able to work as well without an arm.”
Kas chuckled in relief. Only Ler-Traken’s injuries seemed to be life threatening, and with the Rekesh ’s medical facilities even he was in little danger. “Don’t worry, Doctor,” he said. “I’ll order Toj to report to the Rekesh ’s sick bay at the earliest possible moment. Just now, though,” he continued, “we have to get Starhopper in condition to jump. I’ve ordered the Rekesh to deploy a tractor beam and take Starhopper in tow. We’re already boosting for the jump point.”
Rom looked surprised, then troubled as Kas turned to him. “Sorry, Rom,” he said, “I should have cleared it with you. But every moment we stay in this system, we’re in danger. We have to get back into supralight.”
Rom’s face cleared, and he nodded. “Understood, sir. But that only gives us a few days to complete repairs…”
Kas shook his head. “No. We’ll have to get the Astrogator’s station back on-line, but you can keep a work crew aboard and complete any other repairs while we’re in jump.”
Rom nodded again. “Yes, sir. Uh, with the captain injured…”
Kas sighed. “I don’t know, Rom. You’ve done very well. But I haven’t decided who will command Starhopper. Yes, you’re command qualified. But you’ve been away from military service for quite a while.”
Rom straightened. “Understood, sir. I’m sure you’ll make the best decision.”
Kas gave Rom a sardonic look. “Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Commander.”
Rom flushed. “Yes, sir. Sorry sir.”
Kas grinned. “Now, with Dr. Kor-Nashta’s permission, let’s go find our engineers and see if we can get them to tell us anything interesting.”