by AJ Vega
******
Julius walked through the aft engineering deck, inspecting the repair work that had begun. He stood on an elevated walkway overlooking the port engine block. Several compartments sat open as Murdock’s workers crawled in and out of the engine.
From his vantage point, he could see that Murdock had pulled out a large section. Julius noticed several dark burn marks in and around this piece, undoubtedly the most damaged part of the engine. He could see Murdock suddenly pop his head out from behind it.
“How’s it look?” Julius called to him from above.
“Looks worse than it is,” Murdock said. “The plasma actuator appears busted, nothing major so far—probably two days of repairs. We have enough spare parts to fix it if that’s all that’s broken.”
“Good. We’ll have an opportunity to buy some parts after this next raid. We’re selling the cargo soon afterward, so start making a list.”
Murdock nodded and then ducked down to continue his repairs.
Julius moved along the walkway, making his way to the deck elevator. He took the elevator to the observation lounge’s deck. As he walked out of the elevator, he could see a crewmember crouched down by a wall. He was working diligently on a section of pipe. Julius recognized him as the same spacer recruit he had run into weeks ago.
“How goes it, spacer?” Julius said from behind him.
The startled recruit dropped his tools and stood up, hitting his head on the bulkhead along the way. He still managed a clumsy salute despite himself.
“Almost fixed, Captain,” the recruit said, his face struggling to suppress a wince.
Julius looked deliberately at the piece of pipe that he was working on. “That’s not the same pipe is it, spacer?”
“No, sir! Absolutely not! The last one was the irrigation system; this one is air coolant, sir.”
“So I see. Why are you the only one working on it? Where’s the rest of your outfit? Playing cards again?”
“Yes, sir,” he said, almost looking down at the deck. “They’re playing cards. I lose every time and get stuck down here. I’m a really bad poker player, sir.”
“So I’ve noticed,” Julius said. He knelt down and eyed the pipe.
“Is it critical to fix this now?”
The recruit looked down at the pipe, seemingly not sure how to answer.
“It’s not a trick question, spacer. Just tell me honestly.”
“No, sir. It’s just a redundant pipe. In fact, I noticed it’s not even in use. I think they just put me on it to mess with me.”
Julius stood up, trying to suppress a smirk.
“Sometimes, you have to make your luck, spacer,” Julius said. “I think we can do without this redundant pipe, consider yourself relieved of this task. Now, go rejoin your outfit and invite yourself to the poker table. Tell them I specifically requested that a chair be reserved for you and me. I will join the game later.”
The recruit’s eyes brightened and a smile creased his lips. “Yes, Captain! Thank you, sir!”
The spacer saluted and went off to the elevator. Julius, of course, did not intend to join the poker game, but the threat of joining would likely improve the recruit’s bad luck.
Julius walked up the hall into the observation lounge. As usual, he saw no one else there. His only companions would be the asteroids and stars that seemed to stare at him from every direction, scratching at the surface of the transparent metal walls, begging to be allowed inside. In the center of the lounge stood Blackbeard’s cannon, facing the ocean of stars as ordered.
He walked up behind the cannon, placing a hand on it to feel the cold steel. He tried to imagine what it might have been like back then. He looked out the steel window, picturing the sea in place of the stars, waves of the ocean rising and falling across his view and a blue sky overhead. He imagined a gust of wind blowing at him, the smell of salt water stinging his senses, and the sound of the ocean striking his ship’s hull.
One day, he might just have to buy an old sail ship and travel the oceans. He began to feel a longing for Earth’s seas. It had been decades since he visited Earth. He had not seen the sea or even dirt land in a long time. He wondered seriously if he ever would. Sure, he may live forever if he was lucky, but being unable to set foot at home disturbed him.
He shook his head. Laina put these thoughts in his mind. He had not thought about going to Earth in decades, so why think about it now?
The idea of going there was absurd and unrealistic. The Earth he knew those many years ago was not the same one that would await him if he returned anyway. The corporations ruled everyone’s lives now. Their rules dictate the course of everything. The governments would occasionally try to intervene when they felt citizen’s rights were violated, but all it took were a few well-placed “accidents” within the government ranks and the investigations would stop. Things had changed terribly in the years since he divested himself from life under the UEP. Morality had succumbed to the will of the corporations.
He heard the deck elevator door open. He turned to see the leader of the new pilots, Reece, walk in alone. Wordlessly, Reece walked up beside Julius, leaning against the lounge railing and staring out into the same view of space.
“I’m sorry we screwed up, Captain,” Reece said, the words coming out strained. “Things just didn’t go according to plan.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, pilot. You did well. You brought back your cargo, and no one was hurt or captured. I’d say that was a perfect mission.”
Reece looked at him bemused. “No reason to be cynical, sir.”
“I’m not trying to be cynical or patronizing. It was a good mission. You made it back with cargo intact, and that’s what counts.”
Reece gave him a bewildered look. “But that’s ridiculous—we should have escaped without incident. If you hadn’t shown up, it would have been a disaster.”
“Yes, if we hadn’t showed up, you and the others might be captured or dead. And if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle. Luck was on your side, pilot. Luck has been on your side for quite a long time, I imagine. You managed to escape capture back when Enforcers raided Stromond, and you and the pilots managed to survive navigating the asteroid field. You should learn to embrace your luck; it is probably your most important asset.”
Reece shook his head. “You make it sound like luck is some kind of skill to be used.”
Julius smiled. “I have lived over a hundred years, pilot. And in that time, I have seen many things that defy logic—things that if I had not seen for myself, I wouldn’t have thought it possible. The best pilots and soldiers that I have ever seen were extremely lucky people. They were not the best skilled and some were not even very smart. However, their luck saved them where they should have failed. Do not discount the value of luck. It is a hidden and unseen attribute in a man that will save him when nothing else can. Learn to use it—embrace it.”
Reece laughed. “Well, Captain, you go on and harvest your good luck skills. Me and the boys will make our luck when it’s needed.”
“You certainly don’t have to believe in luck to possess it. Now, what did you really come here to talk about?”
“Nothing seems to get past you. I was talking with some of your other pilots about the junk field. They tell me that you have kept the majority of that space off limits to the pilots, so most of the junk field remains unexplored and uncharted. I was thinking about taking the pilots out and charting the entire field. It would be a good exercise for them and having the whole thing charted could be useful.”
“We lost quite a few pilots trying to do exactly that. The gravity fields out there are dangerous. The onboard navigation computers would not be able to compensate for the unexpected gravity changes. It would take an enormous amount of skill to fly through that mess without your navigation computers to help; there would be no room for error.”
Reece gave him a wicked smile. “Well, then, I guess I’m not
going to rely on skill; I’m going to rely on luck.”
Julius shook his head. “You’re using my words against me. The answer is no.”
“Come on, Captain. My pilots can handle it. We’ve handled those gravity streams before. We need the practice. How else are we going to become proficient at navigating through them? Besides, we need to start working on attack maneuvers for the next raid, don’t we?”
“Who said you were going to lead the squadron in the next raid, recruit?”
“Well, who else would do it? Murdock? You? It’s not as if you have a whole lot of people to spare. I don’t need to be babied, sir. Just give me the pilots and I can do anything. If I’m not leading them, then I’m just a waste around here.”
Julius pursed his lips. It was true that Murdock could not realistically handle both engineering and squadron leader duties. As for the other pilots, all were indeed overworked and tasked with multiple duty ratings—forget about trying to give them adequate sortie drills to keep their skills in check.
But how good were these pilots—and could Reece really lead them? Perhaps this could be a good test for them.
“Okay, pilot,” he said. “Take your boys out tomorrow. Fly out in the Z-40 Interceptors; they’re the best fighters we have. Murdock will fly out with you as an observer, but you will be the squadron leader. “
Reece gave a hasty salute. “Thanks, sir. You won’t regret it,” he said.
“Just make sure you don’t regret it.” Julius saluted back. “Dismissed.”
******
Haylek awoke to a shudder. He opened his eyes to see Freeze standing over him, shaking him.
“Okay, okay, I’m awake,” Haylek said, feeling groggy, with a sharp pain shooting through his jaw as spoke.
It had been a week since their employer’s man had killed Coredump. In an effort to avoid that fate, they shared with them information about Chorus. Since that time, they had not heard anything new from them.
“Waverider,” Freeze said. “I’m out of Elation and they haven’t delivered any replenishments. Do you have any left… in your locker?”
Haylek sat up, still woozy. The pain in his jaw seemed amplified by the fact that he had given up taking Elation and had been going through withdrawal symptoms.
“Uh… yeah. I have some in my locker,” he said. “Give me a second.”
Freeze stood back, giving him some room, as if realizing for the first time that Haylek still was not feeling good.
“You should probably take a little yourself,” Freeze said. “You’ll feel better.”
“No! Take it all. My combination is 55-1-37.”
Without any hesitation, Freeze jumped to the locker to get his fix.
Haylek stood up and looked around. Numerous used Elation charges lay strewn on the floor over by the supply chest. From his vantage point, he could see the inside of the Elation supply chest filled with nothing but empty charges. Over by the bunk beds, he could see The Doc sleeping. The time was late: 2:44 a.m. Earth time. He had been asleep for five hours.
“Freeze, have you checked the small delivery box to see if we received anything?”
“Of course not,” Freeze said as he fitted one of Haylek’s Elation cartridges into his injection gun. “The Elation comes in the large one.”
“I don’t mean for Elation,” Haylek said, not even trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. “I mean for messages from our employer.”
“Oh, uh, no. I didn’t check for that,” Freeze said as he injected himself.
Haylek stood up slowly; the room spun around him for a moment. He stood still, steadying himself until the dizziness stopped. He made his way to the small delivery box’s control panel on the wall. He pressed the access button to unlock it.
The only thing inside was a small, sealed envelope. He grabbed the envelope and took it with him as he stumbled to his terminal. He sat down and tore open the envelope, Freeze huddling over him. Inside was a letter that he read to himself.
“Is it from them?” Freeze said.
“Who else would it be from?” Haylek said.
“Well, what’s it say?” Freeze said.
Freeze tried to grab the letter, but Haylek pushed him away. Freeze sighed.
“It says,” Haylek said, looking down and reading, “We have to help them get Chorus free… from where she’s being held.”
“Chorus? What’s so important about Chorus?” Freeze asked.
“Chorus is an A.I., Freeze,” he said, “and you know how fast she is at computations. I think they want to us to use her to hack the rest of the Ocean.”
Haylek scanned farther down the letter.
“We’re supposed to hack into the security systems of the facility holding Chorus,” Haylek said. “Then our employer is going to use some attack ships to steal her.”
Haylek paused, folding up the letter and staring at his terminal silently.
“What? What’s wrong?” Freeze said.
“The end of the letter,” Haylek said. “It says: ‘Fail me and you will be smoked.’”
Both Haylek and Freeze glanced down at the black burn marks on the floor where they slayed Coredump.
“I don’t want to end up like him,” Freeze said.
“Me, either. Go wake up Doc. We need to do this.”
Chapter 12: Space Duel
“There were times when even I almost gave up. But then I looked at the faces of my men—and their spirits rose me from the dead.”
Julius Verndock, Captain, UEP Covert Space Operations Wing (CSOW), November 2073