The Black Sheep (A Learning Experience Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

for files, Ensign.  If you find anything useful or informative, let me know.  The intelligence staff will want to take a look at them too.”
     
    “Yes, sir,” Thomas said.  He moved away from the personnel files and glimpsed into the engineering records.  Years ago, he’d been shown how to interpret the different files and put them together to build up a picture of what the ship had been doing.  Now ... he frowned as a number of automated statements suddenly fell into place.  “Sir?”
     
    “Yes, Ensign?”
     
    “I think the freighter went FTL while she was still in the planet’s gravity well,” Thomas said, slowly.  It was impossible to be sure, but why else would they have expended so much effort compensating for outside gravity fields?  And yet, it was generally agreed that trying was certain death.  “They must have been frantic.”
     
    He pulled up the dates and checked them against his internal logs.  Speaker To Seafood had gone FTL barely a week ago, suggesting she’d been running constantly since then.  Given the damage to the drive, Ryman must have feared being unable to go FTL again if he stopped for repairs - assuming, of course, he’d been able to evade his pursuers.  His partner hadn't been lucky enough to survive.
     
    “Sir,” he said, “what were they running from?”
     
    “Good question,” the XO said.  “I have no doubt Captain Ryman will be happy to tell us, when he wakes up.  Until then ...”
     
    He pointed at the console.  “Back to work, Ensign.”
     
    “Yes, sir,” Thomas said.

Chapter Three
     
    In a landmark statement last night, the Houses of Parliament in London declared the adoption of Islamic Law throughout Great Britain and its own dissolution and replacement by a council of clerics.  Since then, thousands of refugees have been making their way to Scotland or the Solar Union.
    -Solar News Network, Year 54
     
    “There’s nothing wrong with Captain Ryman, save for exhaustion and fatigue poisons,” Doctor Shari Carr said.  “I’ve given him a booster, for the moment, but he really needs at least a day or two of sleep.  Once you’ve spoken to him, Captain, I want to put him back under.”
     
    “Understood,” Hoshiko said.  She’d had her staff drawing information from the freighter’s computers and intelligence from the refugees, but she wanted to hear Captain Ryman personally.  “Can I speak to him now?”
     
    “He’s awake,” Shari said.  She ran her hand through her short blonde hair.  “Like I said, though, he really needs to go back to sleep.  I wouldn't have woken him if I hadn't needed to place his implants in stand-by.”
     
    Hoshiko nodded and followed the doctor through the hatch into the private room.  Captain Ryman lay on a bed, his arms hooked up to a life support machine.  He looked tired, Hoshiko thought, despite the brief period of enforced sleep.  She privately resolved to take as little time as possible as she sat down beside his bed, studying him closely.  He looked back at her, his eyes very tired.
     
    “I’m Captain Hoshiko Stuart,” Hoshiko said.  “Commanding officer of this squadron.”
     
    “Stuart,” Ryman repeated, as he sat upright.  “One of those Stuarts?”
     
    “I’m afraid so,” Hoshiko said, stung.  Was there nowhere she could get away from her family’s legacy?  “I’m afraid I have some questions I need answered.”
     
    “I understand the routine,” Ryman said.  He gave her a tired smile.  “But you’d better ask quickly before I fall back into blackness.”
     
    “It's a simple question,” Hoshiko assured him.  “What happened on Amstar?”
     
    Ryman laughed, harshly.  “That doesn't have a simple answer,” he said, after a moment.  “Let me see ...”
     
    He took a breath, clearly composing his thoughts.  “Captain Rogers and I have been partners ever since we bought our own freighters and set off to explore the galaxy,” he said.  “We had an ...