Ccg 8.1.4 -

“I know what it is,” Elara said. “I wrote the damn protocol. Ccg: Command Contingency Group. 8.1.4: Abandon all protocols. Return to point of origin. The dead are not dead. ”

The inside of the pod smelled of recycled sweat and old blood. The lights flickered, weak and orange. And there, strapped into a command chair that had been jury-rigged with a dozen different life-support tubes, was Jin Sol. Ccg 8.1.4

“You stupid, stubborn bastard,” she whispered. “I know what it is,” Elara said

Then she engaged the thrusters, and the Vindicator rose out of the methane dark, carrying a dead man’s truth toward the stars. ” The inside of the pod smelled of

“Why didn’t you signal? We were in-system for a week after the battle.”

Elara’s hand trembled. She hadn’t seen that sequence in eleven years. Not since the Orion’s Fall had bled out over the methane lakes of Tartarus Secundus. Not since she’d left Commander Jin Sol for dead in the burning CIC.

“Set course for Tartarus Secundus,” she said.