Chapter Thirty-Four
There was a problem at Cerberus. Fletcher’s tone was professional but Cherry could hear an edge of fear and panic in his voice. It was hardly surprising. Concordia’s military had been preparing for decades for this moment, but it had never encountered a real enemy. Drills and exercises could not prepare you for the real thing. Cherry remembered too well the cold sweat and the painful tingle of nerve endings when faced with your mortality.
“Send people to visually inspect each system,” she said. “Tell them to try percussive maintenance, then run the checks again.”
“Percussive maintenance?”
“Hit the mechanisms with hammers. Not too hard, but enough to dislodge any rust or grit.”
“Oh, okay. They’re pretty large.”
“I understand that, Fletcher, but unless you have any
