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updated with our most recent jumps and inventory and make sure they have food and supplies sufficient to take them all the way back to Derfhome too. I'd also suggest they do not demonstrate their full acceleration capacity unless it is needed to avoid interception."
    "Again, all good ideas, log them as standing orders."
    Since the next system they entered would be new to their civilization, Captain Henry immediately ordered the new pilot of the Roadrunner to his command under their new procedures. Chance Ochocinco had previously served as first officer on several fast couriers. He was delighted to step up to his own ship. He had as his copilot the previous Captain Fat Ortega, who gave up the command of the heavy cruiser Quantum Queer to get his new berth. This was a measure of what people were willing to do to join the 'Little Fleet'. Chance keenly aware that Fat had two decades of command experience on him and he didn't intend to waste that much expertise by being jealous of his authority. He intended to ask Fat's opinion and recommendations at every turn.
    "We shall enter a new system next jump, never seen through the eyes of any of our three races. I'd like to take the High Hopes in heavy, with Retribution and Murphy's Law . If you do not see Roadrunner coming back out within a half hour, then I'd like The Champion William and Sharp Claws to jump in together. We'll pair up like this, practicing jumping in together in different combinations until everyone is comfortable. If you have any objections to your jump mate speak up. I will not force a movement against the Master's will if he feels his vessel at risk," Gordon said.
    Each captain reported in turn they were good to go. They were on their jump line and Sharp Claws and   The Champion William throttled back to allow the other three ahead.
    "Tighten up, Brownie relayed Gordon's orders. We shall jump at 1300+.6 hour to fourteen zeroes on my clock. That's the smallest interval of our clock and we should have the meter per second differential inside single digits when we go. Double check your settings with two different officers, because if you get left behind the tidal stresses will kill your ship," Brownie reminded them.
    At 1300.60000000000000 hours they ceased to exist by all appearances to the two vessels left behind.

Chapter 3
    The new system was quiet, as only an uninhabited system can be. There were some low frequency rumblings of a gas giant, quietly having minor indigestion in the depths of its atmosphere. One star held a tiny rocky planet so unbelievably close it was uninfluenced by the other star. Then there was a larger gap and the next planet wobbled around its sun influenced much more by both. That would prove unstable eventually. The orbit insured it had radical changes in climate at short intervals and was inclined far enough the planet rarely lost sight of one star behind the other. The computer couldn't predict its crazy orbit past a few hundred years. Neither star was particularly noisy, one not very different than the other.
    The first planet showed from afar as having a carbon dioxide atmosphere, dense enough to hide surface features from optical examination. They weren't done doing a passive examination and hadn't used their radars yet. The second planet out was larger than Earth, very dense, with a high argon atmosphere and had a surface gravity of about one point four-five G. High enough it wouldn't likely be colonized, even if they got a longer term prediction of its orbit, because the long term health effects would be horrible. The temperature ran to the high side too, nothing below 45°C more than twenty degrees from the poles. It had considerable volcanic activity and surface water, although not near as much as Earth or Derfhome. Even Hin had more surface waters, though dispersed better. Technically it was a water world, but practically it was uninhabitable.
    The world was likely a source of ore of some sort, having so much activity and water in