Explore "Plague Ship" by Andre Norton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Oddly enough, in spite of the tension which must have boiled within him, Rip brought them in with a perfect four-fin-point landing -- one which, under the circumstances, must win him the respect of master star-star pilots from the Rim. Though Dane doubted whether if they lost, that skill would bring Shannon anything but a long term in the moon mines. The actual jar of their landing contact was mostly absorbed by the webbing of their shock seats and they were on their feet, ready to move almost at once.
The next operation had been planned. Dane gave a glance at the screen. Ringed now about the Queen were the buildings of Terraport. Yes, any attempt to attack the ship would endanger too much of the permanent structure of the field itself. Rip had brought them down -- not on the rocket-scarred outer landing space -- but on the concrete apron between the Assignment Center and the control tower -- a smooth strip usually sacred to the parking of officials' ground scooters. He speculated as to whether any of the latter had been converted to molten metal by the exhausts of the Queen's descent.