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“Gentlemen, can you hear me? Come in.”
Keltie stood by as the skipper radioed the rescue officer and the flight mechanic for the third time.
“They’re not responding,” the skipper said.
From the bridge, Keltie could see the star base, a diamond-shaped gray structure floating in space with several gravity rings spinning around it. Far, far in the distance, the bright star, Regina VII, blazed in the dark.
A long, covered space dock extended from the star base, and many spaceships were tethered to it, bobbing in the vacuum.
The skipper steered the rescue ship toward a turtle-shaped bay connected to the base.
“You’re clear for landing,” a voice on the radio said. “How are your technical issues?”
“I’m going to need some boots in the airlock when I land,” the skipper said. “My flight m
