From: Koenraad Gertodtenhaupt To: Bill Tasker Delivered-To: Tasker William T W/GEN Received: from relay1.local.ganymede.earthsys.gov by in-2.secure.ganymede.navy.mil.earthsys.gov with ESMTPSA id 0xS4UTkOl1VcqYV for wtasker@navy.mil.earthsys.gov Received: from relay1.qec5.rs001.l4.earthsys.gov by relay2.qec1.ganymede.earthsys.gov Received: from outbound.exclusiveservices.net by relay3.local.rs001.l4.earthsys.gov Subject: I need you at Ross Date: 14 Sep 2421 06:56:13 +0000 Date-Local: 14 Sep 2421 06:56:13 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf8" Bill, I don't think he's going to listen. He's always been soft. Good with his people because of it, but it's a weakness, and I think it's going to stop him from doing what has to be done. I need you out there as soon as possible. I know you're not done working up yet, but that isn't going to be a problem for you, is it? Call it a trial cruise. Hell, say you're going out there to relieve the colony - I can pull some strings and make it an official request, load you up with a med team and a couple bays' worth of supplies for them, and that'll still give you more than enough force to deal with the problem. It's only 27 of them, and you'll have, what, 20000 marines? Tell your people to go a little easy on the rest if they can. The med workups are going to be unpleasant enough, and we do need to end up with a minimally viable colony still out there once you're done cleaning up. From the sound of it, they still think these are the people they used to know, and they spent 25 years in space together. You know and I know there's no cause for grief, but they're going to need some time to realize it, and the more we can avoid making that worse, the quicker we'll have the healthy colony out there we need. So keep the collateral under twenty percent, maximum. Keep it under ten, and there'll be something very special waiting for you next time you visit Phoebe. Remember what we talked about before, and don't get clever trying to improve your bonus. This is not a sample return mission! We don't know what we're dealing with out there, but we know it is there, and we know it's highly infectious. Make sure all your people are in full protection, decontaminate and screen them all before you let them back off the assault boats - and if there's any doubt, don't take foolish chances. You know what that ship means to all our projects, not just Ross 128. If getting back clean means leaving that planet with twenty thousand new colonists, do it. Enough will survive. Your command will receive the request for assistance by midday tomorrow, no later. Project your departure and arrival times on that basis, and let me know soonest. I've got Kolya out there and my board here to keep pacified until you get there, and I need to know what kind of timeline I'm working with. Koenraad gemini://cosmic.voyage/Voortrekker/15-i-need-you-at-ross.txt

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