Mission to Sector ZZ1219

by Jerry D. Young

  Johnny smiled. “I rather figured it would be. And, unless I miss my guess, pretty much everything that is not here, is already aboard.”

  This time the Commodore grinned. “Of course!”

  The Commodore pushed off, and Johnny, Willi, and Cherokee quickly followed. Willi was able to slip close to Johnny and match his trajectory through the work space. “What liner?”

  “You will see shortly. I will explain further then.”

  Willi did not respond. She just stayed with him, Cherokee a meter behind them. They did not go far. The Commodore took them to the nearest transport lift, which they entered. He gave a compartment number and everyone braced for the movement.

  There were several starts and stops, each with a change of direction. Willi was feeling queasy by the time the lift stopped and opened to another corridor. “I hate lifts…” she muttered, a hand going to her stomach, her face a very pale green.

  Johnny squeezed her hand, which she just then noticed he was holding. Willi managed a smile as they drifted rapidly down the corridor.

  Willi had to admit, but only to herself, that she was more than a bit disappointed when they entered another large construction area. An empty construction area, except for two shuttles, to which she paid little attention.

  But she did not hesitate when the Commodore launched himself hard toward the far side of the compartment. She joined Johnny and Cherokee in doing the same thing.

  All three flipped over to absorb the shock of the landing with their feet and legs. Johnny did wince, but Willi decided not to say anything, though it bothered her to see him in pain. And the Commodore had no problem, using his one leg quite effectively.

  The Commodore motioned them over to an airlock hatch to a compartment inside the larger space, next to one side of the compartment.

  When they had cycled through, Willi saw the large view port and joined the others. She noticed that the Commodore was smiling with pride at something. And Cherokee seemed mesmerized. Johnny, she thought, looked thoughtful. When she finally turned to look through the viewport herself she gasped.

  She looked at Johnny quickly, and then back out to the ship that was docked to the Scanlon facility a short distance away. “That’s… That’s not your ship! Is it? Johnny?”

  “Oh, it indeed is his,” the Commodore said, with the pride evident in his voice as well as his look. “Ahead of schedule, and under budget. Every design parameter met or bettered. She is the sweetest ship we have ever built. Sweeter even than any of our own. That is a fantastic design, Johnny. It will serve you well. For whatever it is you now have in mind.”

  Cherokee turned to look at Willi and Johnny for a moment, but quickly turned back to study the ship again. He listened, as he did not have much choice, as Willi whispered to Johnny. Or at least her words start out as a whisper. Sort of. The whispering aspect disappeared pretty quickly.

  The Commodore looked on unabashedly as Willi lambasted Johnny.

  “I know you are rich, Johnny. But my lord! That must have cost a fortune! Isn’t the government going to pay for it? Tell me the government is going to pay for it. Please.”

  “Oh, Willi,” Johnny replied, taking one of her hands in his, looking into her eyes earnestly. “Willi, it is my new personal craft. I have been planning it for some time. I tend to like options. Plenty of options. And I do travel a great deal. It just so happens that she will fill the role of privateer just as well as any of the roles I initially designed her to fill. I can’t deny that the possibility did not occur to me, but only in a what-if kind of way. I was not expecting to have to use her for that as soon as she was ready to go.”

  “But the money…” Willi lamented. “And to spend so much more on this mission…”

  “Willi, you are your Mother’s daughter. You come from a very long line of business people and traders. It is in your blood. I look at money a bit differently than traders do. Please understand that.

  “I am not frivolous with money, but I have no qualms about using what I have to achieve the goals I set for myself, and to do the things I feel compelled to do. I certainly do not have an unlimited supply of wealth, but I have more than even I will ever probably be able to spend in my lifetime, and will still leave our children with probably more than is good for them.

  “Please trust me on this, and do not fret about the money. Believe me, I have spent this much before, several times over, and managed to lose more than even I like, but that is the nature of what I do. Can you accept me the way I am, Willi? For better or worse, richer or poorer?”

  “Oh, Johnny,” Willi said, looking into his eyes. “Yes. Of course I can. I will. It might take me a few tries…”

  Johnny chuckled. “Oh, I rather assumed that would be the case. It isn’t a problem.”

  “Hey!” Willi said. But she obviously was not upset with him over the statement.

  Her hand still in his, Johnny turned to the Commodore. “I hate to just take delivery and take off, Commodore, but the sooner we embark, the sooner this whole mess will be over.”

  The Commodore nodded. He looked more somber now. “Privateer?” was the single word question.

  It was Johnny that nodded this time. “And the less you know, the safer everyone else is. We have all agreed to take the risks we face. I have no intention of putting anyone else at risk that does not have to be.”

  The Commodore replied softly, “I will risk myself as I choose, young man. But as you say, I will not risk others, either. So, no word of this will leave my lips. I take it you want to get the Dom Twos loaded. They are all fueled and armed.”

  “Dom Twos? Dominator IIs?” asked Willi. Cherokee was looking on in question now, too.

  The Commodore grinned again, with a touch of pride back in his look. “Yes. A few ideas from Johnny here, and a few from our R&D, and early feedback from Telstar after his recent use of the test bed unit that Telstar helped us with.”

  “You’ve talked to him? Does he know about the new model?” Willi asked eagerly.

  “He knows R&D has been working on improvements,” the Commodore replied, looking at Johnny quizzically.

  “I have not informed the others yet,” Johnny told Commodore Scanlon. Johnny looked over at Willi. “Major Butler and Major Echart have been granted open ended R&R leaves to ‘recover’ after the recent ‘unfortunate incident’. They will be joining us.”

  All three heard the stress on the words ‘recover’ and ‘unfortunate incident’. Johnny did not seem to like what he had expressed. It was only a second or so that Willi realized he had called both Bill and Janet Major.

  “They were promoted!” she exclaimed.

  “They were that,” Johnny said with a small smile. “At least they got some recognition and the promotion. I do not like the way they have been treated since, however.”

  “What are you talking about?” Willi asked.

  “I will let them explain,” Johnny said. He was already moving toward the airlock as he said, “Commodore, if you would ask the others to meet us in the Dominator construction area…”

  “Absolutely,” replied the Commodore. “I will meet you there. I need to make a couple of stops first, however.”

  Since Willi requested a quick break to use the facilities, Johnny and Cherokee availed themselves as well. But the delay was short, and they were soon meeting Bill, Janet, Sydney, and Clyde outside the construction compartment that held the Dominator IIs.

  Willi could hardly keep from squirming, knowing that the others as yet had no idea about Johnny’s ship, or the Dominator IIs. Willi took note that not only was Evie with Sydney and Clyde when they came in, but four other people came in with Bill and Janet.

  “I better make some introductions, I suppose,” Johnny said. He was again distracted with his communicator. But he looked up and saw Willi giving Janet a hug, and then Bill.

  “I want to hear about what happened,” she whispered to Janet. Janet nodded, but both looked over at Johnny.

  He began the round of
introductions. First the four people that had entered the compartment with Janet and Bill. There were two men and two women. All fairly young, and very fit.

  “This is Kathleen, Gwen, Charlie, and Matthew. They have agreed to act as crew for me, as a personal favor.”

  Willi gave Johnny a quick look, but he was speaking again, introducing the four to each of the others. “And, for whatever reason she is here, this is my sister, Evangeline. And my fiancée, Marilyn Monroe.”

  After the introductions, Johnny gave Evangeline a hard look. “And just what DO we owe the pleasure of your company at this time, my sister?”

  “I’m going.”

  Johnny shook his head. “Under no…”

  “I’m going,” Evangeline interrupted her brother.

  “Evangeline, this…” Johnny lowered his voice. “This… journey is going to be…”

  Again his sister interrupted Johnny. “I. Am. Going. I can fly that crate as well as any of the other test and check pilots. Better than all but one, actually. So. I am going, and I will be one of the pilots.”

  Johnny shot the Commodore a less than pleased look.

  “She can be kind of persuasive,” the Commodore said rather sheepishly. “Every time she made a run here she was down in the bay, checking on the construction. She knows the ship inside and out.

  “And she is a very good pilot. After the initial run up to check systems, she did all the rest of the flight testing. Evie had her doing things we didn’t even think she could do.” The Commodore shrugged.

  Willi watched Evie carefully as Johnny turned his attention back onto her. And stared. Evie’s countenance did not change one iota. She stared right back at Johnny.

  Never quite sure if she heard Johnny say what she thought she did, Willi kept her eyes on Evie. When Johnny gave the tiniest nod, and started to turn away, Willi saw Evie continue to hold herself still. Until Johnny was going through the hatch.

  Then she let out a breath, and managed to do a little victory dance despite the zero-gees. “Finally!” she breathed out just loud enough for Willi to hear as the others moved after Johnny, with Sydney, Clyde, Bill, and Janet all asking various forms of the question, “What ship?”

  As Willi and Evie entered the Dominator II construction area the questions stopped for a moment. Silence reigned for several seconds.

  Then the Commodore, his voice booming, gestured to the craft in the space and said, “Behold! The first of the Dominator IIs! Thanks to this young man here.”

  The Commodore slapped Johnny on the back. Gently, Willi noticed.

  The others swarmed all over the Dominator IIs. Apparently even Evie did not know about them. Nor the four new people that were now going with them.

  After a few minutes of excited talking, Johnny called for attention. “We need to board the Lady Paladin and supervise the securing of the Dominators and our four shuttles as the Commodore’s people bring them out to the ship.

  Again the questions came, asking about Lady Paladin this time. None of the others wasted any time following Evie, when she said, “Come on. I’ll introduce you to the Lady Paladin. She rolled her eyes at Johnny, and Willi saw her mouth the words, “Lady Paladin? Where did that come from? I thought she was going to keep the GRS 3 moniker.”

  When Johnny’s eyes cut to Willi, and he colored ever so slightly, Evie suddenly grinned and looked Willi herself. Causing Willi to blush.

  The efficient crews of the Scanlon Facility made short work of getting the Dominator IIs manhandled the short distance around the vessel to the Lady Paladin. There, Sydney and Clyde sort of just took over, under Evie’s direction. The others willingly followed their guidance to get four of the Dominator IIs secured in Ready Racks. Then they began stowing the other sixteen, four each in each of the four flight deck bays.

  Willi watched for a bit, but when Johnny said he was going to his zero-gee stateroom to rest, she started to go with him.

  But the draw of the Lady Paladin was too much. Willi went exploring. She spotted Cherokee a few times. It seemed he was doing the same thing.

  When the annunciators sounded for assembly in the main lounge of the ship, Willi, having studied the placards with the layout of the ship that were seemingly everywhere, had no trouble finding it.

  The others came in, one after the other, until they were all there. And all looked at Johnny, as he stood looking out of one of the view ports in the lounge.

  Finally, he turned and addressed the group. “I want to give everyone another chance to change their mind about going…”

  He was drowned out with quick, adamant protestations. Johnny smiled slightly and waited for the clamor to die down. It did not take long. But he did not really have much chance to continue, for most of them, other than Evangeline, wanted to know about the Lady Paladin. In detail, apparently, from the different questions being asked.

  “Very well,” Johnny said, the sardonic smile curving his lips. “However, while I do know the specifications, it seems Evangeline knows the ship inside and out, as I have been reminded. A few times. I believe I shall allow her to fill everyone in on the details. Evangeline?”

  Johnny took the opportunity to take a seat and took out his communicator. Willi watched him for a moment, but quickly turned her attention to Evangeline, as she eagerly began to describe the details and features of the Lady Paladin.

  “She is an amazing ship,” Evie said. “There is literally nothing like her anywhere. The Commodore said it is the most innovative design he has ever seen suggested, much less built.

  “As you all saw, it is a full ball type gravity wheel, like the Scanlon facility here. The gravity wheel is about half the diameter of a traditional Type One gravity wheel ship.

  “But with the full ball design, there is a tremendous amount of storage room compared to the axle ring storage of regular gravity wheel ships.”

  She started to say something else, but paused and looked over at Johnny. When he gave her a slight nod, she began to speak again.

  “And since the ball is both armored, and arranged to provide maximum protection to the gravity wheel, except for the outermost deck set up for observation and other activities that need, or for which exterior views make things nicer, the wheel is extremely safer than many.

  “Combine the ball with the extended frame that is part of what makes this design unique, there is even more room for stores, as well as a few other things.”

  Evangeline grinned. “Such as twenty Dominator IIs, two large, and four smaller shuttles, and a handful of other craft, some actually for use planetside.”

  That brought some surprised looks and murmurs.

  “I am sure you all also noted that in addition to the traditional daughter craft bays on either side of the control structure framework, there are two more sets on the extension, somewhat aft. Not to mention,” Evangeline continued, “the extension allows for another unique feature of the Lady Paladin.

  “That of her propulsion system. Instead of the standard set of four drives, with independent reactors driving them, the Lady Paladin has eight sets of drives that are somewhat smaller than would normally be fitted to a craft this size, in pairs.

  “There are four in the rear propulsion extension, as usual, but there are four more, located with the reactors outboard, the drives inboard, further forward in the extended hull.

  “In addition, there are two much larger, high energy, high mass drives centered in-line in the rear drive bay, to provide the thrust to overcome dead stop inertia, and allow the ship to reach cruising speed more quickly than would otherwise be possible. Even more quickly than pretty much anything except a Speed Demon III.

  “And,” Evie said, grinning, “the eight smaller drive units are all steerable, to allow some very complicated maneuvering when the gravity wheel is locked. We do not have to re-align the framework to aim it the direction we need to go. We can turn the entire ship, as long as the wheel is locked down, very, very quickly. And apply full thrust with all ten drives to get us up to
speed very, very quickly.”

  There were quite a few murmurs and people exchanging looks. But Evie had more information for them.

  “In addition to the two, larger than standard, reactors for general power needs, we have four, plus two each of both drive sizes and power reactors in storage. Along with… well… more fissionables than some people might be comfortable knowing about.”

  Seeing some widened eyes, Evie quickly added, “But stowed safely, of course, in their modular packs, inside further protective enclosures. With the apparatus built into the ship to refuel all the reactors in-house, almost automatically. It does take human control, but mostly just starting the process and monitoring it remotely.

  “With the freshly fueled reactors only, we have a range… Well, it is not unlimited, by any means, but at normal speeds, we can go a very long distance. And back.”

  “Normal speeds?” Willi asked.

  Evie grinned again. “Yes. As you all know, the standard acceleration rate of one-eighth gee that gravity wheel ships travel to avoid stresses on the wheel, axles, and bearings can get those ships up to about one quarter of the speed of light.

  “However, one of the features unique, again, to the Lady Paladin, is that with the gravity wheel no larger than it is, the rotation can be halted, the wheel locked into place, and the propulsion can then be upped to… above two gees, if necessary, without any damage or even much stress.

  “When you see the rest of the extension, you will see that many of the compartments are set up like a Sandusky Speed Demon III, to allow one-gee flight, without using the wheel. And one-third of the wheel is set up so it can be used during the one-gee travel, as well.”

  That brought many more murmurs. It was unheard of for a gravity wheel ship to stop the wheel, or have thrust at more than one-eighth gee.

  “And with one-gee constant acceleration,” Evie continued, “the ship can quickly approach one-half light speed. Perhaps more. I have not had it above three-eighths the speed of light. The throttles automatically cut out the drives at that speed.” Evie shot a rather annoyed look at her brother, who did not see it, as he was once again studying his communicator.