Read Dana Cartwright Mission 2: Lancer for Free Online Page B

ready to retire. I need three more stones for the life-star and then I’m done.”
    Gordon offered, “I’ll see what I can do.”
    They took up test weapons and fired off several hundred virtual rounds.
    Macao groaned and muttered, “I won’t set a new accuracy rating today.”
    Gordon’s nearly perfect score was still not enough to top Sam Ehrmann’s all time best.
    “Want to work the mats again?” Gordie asked, inviting to the Captain to join him in the gym.
    “I need a bite to eat,” Janz answered.
    They parted at the lift. Macao took it up to Starboard-Seven, sitting and ordering coffee and a light snack as he lounged back in the nearly deserted cafe.
    His assistant, Yeoman Napa, delivered the tray of food along with a padlet. “This just arrived, sir,” she announced, indicating the message on the screen.
    “Thank you, Mister Napa.”
    She vanished rather quickly. Macao made a mental note to remind that her uniforms were inappropriately tight. He didn’t need the distraction.
    Shalee chuckled, but said nothing as he ate and sipped and read.
    The padlet had the ROE and the final mission parameters. He studied the first and only glanced at the latter.  
    “More limitations…more and more distractions…and more substitutions… Why? Why are they even sending us?” He began to wonder if they were deliberately trying to sabotage the mission.
    Finally, he logged in to record his official protest, documenting all the perceived ‘wrongs’ and the very few ‘rights’ that the Star Service had, so far, made.

    Personal Log: Captain Janz J. Macao

    Location: S.S. Lancer

    I cannot believe the incompetence. How can The Republic — the greatest organization in the history of the galaxy — tolerate a Star Service overflowing with incompetence?  
    Lancer arrived at Station Four, as scheduled months in advance, to take on a small, twenty-man shuttle and a command crew addition. Now, they’ve changed everything!
    The shuttle is barely space worthy and my command crew choice, Neville Brandt, has been replaced by a substitute — a tiny female — with no real mission experience.  
    Unbelievable! Fane! What incompetence!
    Must I abort a carefully crafted, planned, and detailed mission because of incompetence?  
    No, I will overcome. I will adapt.  

    JJM - Lancer

CHAPTER EIGHT

    Dana rushed back down to the flight deck with her gear bag over her shoulder, crossing from the doors to Bay 76 with an anxious feeling, lower on the scale than excitement, but not exactly dread.
    Again giving an affectionate pat to the exterior name panel on Trader One , she climbed the ramp. The aging Blade-Class craft might have a new name, but she would always remember the Alphan ambassador’s shuttle by its original name, Trident.   It was the very first shuttle craft she’d ever flown as a cadet, while at the Star Service Academy, Coronado.
    Now, nearly ten years later, Ambassador Kord’s private shuttle had been retired from service. A dash-and-bash meteor shower took out a stabilizer and caused a massive circuitry failure. The drone escort program had been disabled, as had some of the other more sophisticated tracking systems, which only a privileged few private ships were permitted to use.  
    Captain Macao might scoff at the little ship, but Dana certainly had great respect for all the Blade Class ships.
    Station Four recycled lots of the little, older shuttles, keeping them for use when needed for short VIP hops to conferences. If they weren’t repairable, the mechanics scavenged them to use for spare parts. Restoring them had become somewhat of a Dana Cartwright specialty, since she had the schematics and specifications locked in her photographic memory. It kept her flying, instead of chained to a console up in the control booth, where most commanders ended up, pushing buttons and people.
    Trader One hadn’t left Bay 76 for nearly two years. Not a soul had worked on it, though she had more than once asked Commander