Admin98

==Chapter 98 - The Administrator==
Laboratory Module 183
Tharkad Shipyard
Gasthaus station
Tharkad system
Lyran Commonwealth
3150
"Star League? When???"  Yori laid the disc on a player set up by one of the techs.
"About concurrent with the Amaris takeover." Sharon said, "Near as we can tell based on isotope decays, anyway.  That shit's not as exact as we'd like, plus or minus is about fifty years."
The coordinator hit a button on the console, and music swelled in the lab module.
It was familiar, but at the same time alien. 
"They were explorers."  Nikol said,  "Weren't they?"
"That's our working hypothesis, yeah." Admiral Ngo's tone was sad. 
"Your uncle sent the mission. He didn't ask, because you wanted to go." Yori Kurita said, "Isn't that right?  you wanted to be the one to go-in the recording, you said you wanted to be remembered with Armstrong, and Kearney, and Pathfinder."
"It's someone else's now." Sharon said.  "If they even find it.  There's a possible stellar cluster past a nebula on the course shown-well off of anyone's colonization pattern, far from the Inner Sphere or the Kerensky cluster. Perhaps a year or so by cutter, maybe six months by something faster."
"What about follow up missions?"  Khan Lankeneau asked.  "Tell me you aren't letting your people hang unsupported because of petty jealousy."
Sharon rolled her eyes, "That's your objection? Four squadrons of cutters, with tenders and engineering teams are part of that mission. My Uncle Patrick didn't send one ship by themselves. The survey tasks alone, identifying probable candidate systems, finding and locating radio-shells?  Trillian needs the fleet here, at least until it's clear none of you are going to be attacking or in case she decides to give in to Julian or one of the others and go to war again."
"How many ships are you talking about?"  Yori asked.
"A Squadron is twenty ships." Sharon said, "Sixteen cutters and four tenders, -Tenders being your basic six-collar dropship hauler, which in this case carrying fuel and consumables transports.  Four of those is a cutter Division.  Pat sent a full division of cutters out.  So somewhere out there, are eighty ships, looking for probable source worlds for that probe."
"They could be looking faster, if they were proper Warships." Lankeneau commented.
"Yep." Sharon said, "You see, the Coast Guard doesn't own proper warships. The Landmark class Destroyers were all handed to LCN when I needed to reform the Navy. The LCN's owns future production at all eight yards, until fiscal year 3160."
"I'm not sure I like the idea that our future security is being handled by a regional militia. Especially one that is under-armed and pardon my saying so, slow." Daoshen commented.  "I have seen the spec-sheets on those cutters."
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