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world by putting himself in command of the majority owner.
    They were still a week away from jumping into hyperspace and jumping out again into the area near Allie’s World. Butcher’s rants grew louder the longer they delayed the jump into Allie’s World’s solar system. People were crowded, stacked, and racked in every nook and cranny of the tiny ship. Stone could only wonder how bad Butcher’s frustration might become on-board the ship once Stone went down to the planet and the man didn’t have anyone left to yell at.
    Butcher shouted, “What the hell do you mean you never caught a clear picture of these night stalker creatures during your first time on the planet? All we have is this fuzzy picture of a half dozen of them stalking some house-sized tree-eating shit-making monster. Those were high-resolution shuttle cameras, right?”
    “Sir, we never managed to record them again. We did record in the highest resolution possible, but those things, whatever they are, are still fuzzy no matter how you tweak the recording. Frankly, the only time we saw them was at dusk and we tried to be locked up tight before nightfall. We didn’t want to go looking for those things.”
    “Then how the hell is anyone supposed to defend against them?”
    “All we had were survival knives. Most shuttles are not stocked with tactical nukes.”
    “Don’t be a smart-ass, Ensign.”
    “Sorry, Commander Butcher. We never saw them in packs of less than six. One looked too dangerous to go up against with only a knife. We were concerned more about survival, not doing a flora and fauna study. I don’t know if we can defend against them. Maybe they’re fuzzy in the pictures because they’re out of phase with the universe, vibrating in and out. For all I know, they can phase through shields, ship’s bulkheads and marine armor.” Stone noted how both 1LT Hammermill and Dr. Triplett made notes about such a possibility.
    Dr. Mohamed was in this meeting, yet he rarely spoke. His contempt for the military was even more evident than Dr. Triplett’s. After repeated attempts to be put in charge, but having no way to overrule the Emperor’s fiat putting Stone in charge, the man sat and sulked, his hulking frame hunched over his dataport display. The man was older than his assistant, but no less fit. While she appeared to be a long distance runner, Mohamed looked like a weightlifter.
    After Stone’s first meeting with the pair and their dismissive attitude toward his leadership, MCPO Thomas told Stone to ignore them as their manner was common on educational campuses throughout the empire. Thomas let slip about his master’s degree in engineering that he’d earned it at the Navy’s Non-Commissioned Officer College on Strathmore Upon Drumme. Even 1LT Hammermill ignored their constant jibes at the military, only mentioning in passing that he’d earned his degree in mathematics through the Marine Corps online college. Stone knew he would have to earn a degree to get promoted past lieutenant junior grade. Military educations were dismissed by civilian scientists across the empire as being somehow beneath their own.
    “Yes.” Butcher tried to take a deep breath to calm his jangled nerves. He failed, rounding on Stone again. “And control your marines, dammit. That corporal, what’s her name? Tuttle, has tried jumping every swinging dick on this ship. It’s a small ship, but it isn’t that small. Get her under control or I will have her locked up for the betterment of moral.”
    Stone wanted to say morale always seemed to improve when Corporal Tuttle was around. Morale improved especially for the men, but even the women with boyfriends and husbands didn’t seem to mind much since Barb never tried to steal their men, just borrow them for a little friendly bedsheet mambo, quickly giving them back better than she found them. So far, Stone managed to avoid her advances, in spite of that he often wondered where she found privacy on the overly