“Are you going to alert the fleet?”
“Why bother?” Tambu yawned. “Any ship of mine that can’t hold its own against a ground-mounted attack deserves what they get.”
“But if they set up a battery near a spaceport, they might ambush a shuttlecraft,” Blackjack cautioned.
“I suppose you’re right. All right, give me the list, and I’ll pass the word.”
He jotted down the names of the planets as Blackjack read them. The list was surprisingly long, between fifteen and twenty planets. Still, it was nothing to worry about.
“Very well, I’ll make sure the fleet is warned. Take a couple of extra days while you’re there and see if you can find out anything else.”
“Right, boss. What are your orders for dealing with one of the planets on the list?”
“I don’t know. Hail them from orbit and see what they have to say, I guess. If they make nasty noises, avoid ’em and head for another planet.”
“You mean back down?” Blackjack asked.
Tambu smiled at the disappointment in the captain’s voice.
“We have to fight often enough already. There’s no point in looking for trouble.”
“But you said yourself that taking a ground-mounted gun would be no problem,” Blackjack argued.
“There are lots of planets, Blackjack. Why would we risk a ship in a needless brawl, however one-sided, when there are so many that won’t put up a fight at all?”
“What if they shoot at us?” Blackjack pressed.
“If you’re fired on, you can defend yourself, of course. But under no circumstance will one of my ships fire the first shot. Got it?”
“Affirmative,” Blackjack scowled.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185