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The rendezvous with the Old Pack Mule was easily enough accomplished. Getting my plan past the crew, on the other hand, was not. Every one of them had some reason that they were the one I had to take with me.
Well, except Shelly.
"Bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh, Captain. The idea of leaving us behind isn't worthy of words. I, for one, am not abandoning my Captain to her fate. Neither is any of the others. They all came up with excuses to stay, but I don't feel like trying to be all that creative. So Bleh! You're not going without me. You can't argue with that, so don't even try."
"So none of you are willing to follow orders?" I asked.
"Well technically, we all became mutineers when we didn't surrender to Captain Tarkin when he demanded it." Lt. Cmdr. Dorn said. "There is enough irregularity there to keep it in the courts for years, but in the end, it would all boil down to if Captain Tarkin's backers stay in favor or not."
"Sadly, that is how the Morganite Courts work." Lt. Tine said. From the way everyone nodded, and what I had heard about Lt. Tine's experiences, I was sure he was right.
"I have an idea, I don't know if you are going to like it Captain." Cmdr. Barona said.
"Well, today is a day of not liking things. Might as well put it out there." I said.
"Why don't we send OPM down to the planet to give the survivors a chance, and beat feet back to Morgan space. Hopefully we can find the Admiral and bring the Fleet to help the rest." Barona was right, I didn't like the idea one bit.
"So who stays with the Old Pack Mule and flies it down?"
PO Smart got all excited. "Nobody has to stay Captain. The OPM has an autopilot system that can handle the landing. It just needs coordinates!"
"That would be nice if it worked." I hated to burst his bubble.
"Nope, it does work. It's one of the systems we ignored because Haul-o-caster didn't have a spare, since that kind of system isn't used on the Haul-o-caster." PO Smart said. "One of the things I've been doing in-transit is getting all the ancillary systems online. The autopilot system is repaired and tested."
"But what about our plan to sneak in using the Old Pack Mule to contact the Admiral? Can't do that if we leave it here."
Barona answered that. "We've already decided, as a crew, to hit this thing with Tarkin head-on. Having OPM in reserve would be nice, but we don't really need it. Those people below do need it."
"OK, how will we know where to send it?" I asked, already knowing they would have an answer.
"Captain, if we assume orbit and go to full active, these improved sensors should do a reasonable job of cutting through the distortion." Lt. Tine said.
"I feel it's my job to advise that assuming orbit will have us trapped against the planet if there are any attackers still in the area." Lt. Cmdr. Dorn said, "And by going full active on the sensor suite, we'll be painting ourselves for anyone in system to see. That does not mean that I am against the plan, it is just my job to advise the Captain, in case the Captain didn't already realize." Lt. Cmdr. Dorn seemed a little uncomfortable with having spoken up.
"No worries Lt. Cmdr. Dorn. You were doing your job, and doing an exemplary job of it." I said. "Please continue to advise me whenever you feel it is appropriate."
"Barns! Take us into orbit. Get the specifics from Lt. Tine as to what he needs to make this successful. Lt. Tine, find us someone to send help to."
I was surprised at how long the process took, but a few hours later we not only found a group of survivors, one of them had an old comm system that withstood the bombardment and they were able to contact us. Guess they just don't make them like they used to.
Cmdr. Barona and Barns took one last trip over to the Old Pack Mule and got the autopilot set to land at the coordinates we negotiated with the settlers. Once they returned, we were able to kick it off and send the Old Pack Mule down to the planet. I have to admit, it hurt a little seeing all those spare parts just fly away, but I had to remind myself we were saving lives. Spare parts are replicable, people aren't.
"Barns, pull us out of orbit and make for Morganite space at best speed." I ordered. "I haven't slept for days, Commander Barona, see that everyone gets some down time." With that I headed for my rack.
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