Firebird

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Lt. Jeremy Dalton frowned at the screen. “Nothing yet, Steve?”

Steve Yaniwicz activated the expanded scan, pressed the earpods to signal that the AI was telling him something, checked the auxiliary display, and shook his head. “No, sir. No sign of her yet.”

Dalton was wearing his formal whites, in preparation for the upcoming change-of-command ceremony. “Okay,” he said. “They have to be close. Let me know.”

“Yes, sir.”

He called the Command Duty Officer. “Still negative, Mr. Brolley,” he said.

“Check with the rest of the squadron, Jerry?”

“Yes, sir. They are not in the area.” It had been almost two hours since the Abonai's scheduled arrival time. The Dellacondan star drive, like the Armstrong system that had preceded it, wasn't too accurate. You might come out of it thirty or forty million kilometers from your intended destination. But they were providing extensive coverage. Somebody should have picked up the cruiser by now.

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