Chapter 19
The Andromeda's exit from warp seemed slower this time, more painful as the battered and damaged ship winked back into existence just inside Mars orbit. The rest of the ships that had survived soon joined the Andromeda. The images made of the returning ships would soon be seen all around the world on the evening news.
News teams would be asking, had the fleet done all it could? Why had they returned without the hostages? Homer knew that is what the newsmen would be saying, because he couldn't help wondering the same thing himself. He felt ashamed for it, because he already knew the answers. He had been out on enough missions to know the type of things that could happen, and it was plain to see that the Andromeda had been through a fight, and too many of the other ships did not return at all. But when it came down to it, he didn't really care about any of that; all he wanted was to have Wendy back.
"Homer," Mizutani interrupted his thoughts, "radio the fleet. Have the least damaged ships form a perimeter, and we will move the Andromeda and the most badly damaged ships to dry docks immediately."
"Yes, sir." Homer answered absent-mindedly.
Commander Mizutani turned to the next closest aid. "Dispatch medical shuttles to rendezvous with the fleet. We need to get our wounded to hospitals as soon as we can."
Homer worked his controls, feeling numbness within him. "Earth Defense Headquarters calling Andromeda…" Homer settled into the professionalism of doing his job, barely holding back the urge to ask Kitano details about what had happened. The commander would do that himself, soon enough.
Kitano was both glad to see Earth again, but also felt shame to be returning without having accomplished what he had set out to do. But he had to think of his ship and crew… and the fleet as well. They were all too badly damaged to continue the search, and the sick bays were over crowded. There was no way they could survive another fight, and it was unlikely the enemy would surrender their hostages willingly.
Unobserved, a small Lupries scout ship made careful observations of the returning earth fleet. It made careful notes on where the ships exited warp, and where each ship headed. By the time it was done, it had tracked each ship to its patrol zone, and more importantly, had noted the location of each dry-dock, as the wounded ships returned home for repairs.