I realized when she finished that everyone on the bridge heard what my AI had said, so I regarded the bridge staff directly. “Everyone hear that? New orders. It's time to leave.”
“About time we got out there,” I heard Oz comment from behind me. He stepped in to my right side and directed a fleet doctor to my left, “I can take us out while you get treated Captain.”
“Not on your life.” I said with a chuckle. “Treat me here, Doc.”
The Doctor shrugged and nodded. He was a much older fellow with greying hair and seemed unsurprised by everything going on, as though this were just another day on the job. “My name is Doctor Anderson. Now just stay still and you won't feel a thing, Captain.”
I looked to the navigation station, where both Ensign Tommin and Lieutenant Commander Fields worked to ensure everything was in order. “Plot us a course for the Gai-Ian system. Just the first jump will do for now.”
“Yes, Sir!” answered Ensign Tommin, a young officer who had graduated the academy that year.
The doctor smiled as he split the arm of my vacsuit and sprayed on a local anaesthetic. The relief was instant and welcome, “Good choice Captain.”
“You know it!”
“Was just there a couple years ago on the Apollo, the ship I serve on. It's mostly an agricultural planet, but they're good people with deep roots.”
“That's good to hear, I only knew it was a free system. Isn't the Apollo out of the area though? How are you on Freeground?”
“The station is hiding two entire battle groups including the Apollo. We have a surprise waiting for whatever is coming for us. Looks like we'll have to spring it earlier than we thought.”
“Then you should get back to your crew.”
“No point now, operationally I can't leave the ship, I already know too much and your orders are to get us out of here. So I'll fix your arm, you get your crew out of the area and on mission,” Doctor Anderson whispered. "Then maybe I'll see what your medical section looks like and whip your triage crew into shape, with your permission, of course.”
“Of course.”
Oz smiled at overhearing the exchange as he checked his holographic command console. “We're only missing three, sir, a mechanic, a pilot and medic. We've taken on eleven extra who were blocked off by fighting on the station.”
“Let's be under-way, Commander.”
“Yes sir,” Oz replied with a smile. “Seal exterior hatches, release umbilicals, moorings, signal Port Operations to open the nearest launch doors and give us our trajectory.”
I picked up where Oz left off, he was doing the departure list for the first time, after all. “All department heads report in.”
Over the next few minutes I heard the voices of many friends. It was like being back in the simulations again, that feeling of being surrounded by people who were all glad to be there, all looking to work together towards a common goal. When the helm reported ready I couldn't help but grin. “Take us out, best speed. Put the exterior view up on the main display.”
We manoeuvred through the dry dock where every able ship was being manned and made ready. We passed through the doors, which seemed only just large enough. I looked down and saw that the doctor was actually just finished repairing the damage to my arm. “Thank you doctor.”
“Just try not to get in his way again,” he replied, gesturing towards Oz and shaking his head.
My first officer had no time to reply as he commanded refractive and bridge shielding to be raised and requested reports from tactical and navigation.
“We have several thousand enemy targets on the coreward side of the station sir, they're matched by our ships,” Ensign Thomas answered from tactical.
“Coordinates are set, waiting to reach a safe distance before engaging hyperspace systems,” answered Lieutenant Fields from Navigation. “A ten count will get us there at our current speed Sir.”
“Then start the counter at ten seconds. We don't want to damage the station.” I set the main viewer to display the station with one of the control pads on my chair.
“Just don't forget us out here in the dark,” I said to myself as I watched Freeground shrink into the distance on the bridge holographic viewer. “Sir?” Sergeant Everin asked, turning towards me from communications.
“Something Admiral McKinley said to me the other day. Fleet is putting a lot of trust in us. We're skilled, intelligent, and glad to do our part, but the main reason we're here is because we all call that station home.”
Once we were a safe distance away we entered hyperspace and after the post-entry checklist had been run through, I addressed the crew on the ship-wide communications system. “This is the Captain. As you're all aware, this wasn't the way we planned to leave, but as far as departures go, I can say this isn't the worst I could have imagined. There was supposed to be a launch this morning, and our Chief Engineer, Commander Rice, was to name the ship in honour of those who have served on her before.
“They were a good crew that faced terrible odds and never gave up. I doubt that we will have a chance to have that launch now, but I believe that we have had something better. This ship has been christened by purpose and we've been given the gift of trust. We, as the sons and daughters of Freeground are to go incognito into the darkness and find assets that will aid the people back home before eventually returning there ourselves. Though we will not be wearing uniforms, we must still honour those who have come before us and those we leave behind so we may return with our heads held high.
“In honour of her last crew, this ship will be called by the name First Light. I ask everyone to take a moment of silence for those who have given their lives on this ship when you can. Then welcome unfamiliar faces aboard wherever you see them. They are your new brothers and sisters. That is all.”
Everyone on the bridge got back to work, though there was little to do since we were safely in hyperspace. “Well said Captain,” Oz said with a smile.
“I've heard better,” Doctor Anderson said quietly. “But not often,” he added with a wry grin.
Chapter 9
Hyperspace
I spent the entire next day on the bridge, reading reports and making sure that the ship was doing well for its first long hyperspace journey since all the systems -- engines included -- were new. There was nothing seriously amiss. Oz and I found ourselves agreeing that we were glad department heads wouldn't have to submit daily reports any longer because with few problems to solve it got pretty boring. Neither of us were used to reviewing data for hours every day.
Ayan was another story. She seemed to be perfectly settled in, and whenever our paths crossed she was always reading or listening to a report while doing something else. It was obvious that she was quite used to being a senior officer. The chilly demeanour was gone, too. She was busy, sure, and was taking a personal hand in all the fine tuning that was necessary after a refit, but she always had a moment or two for a smile and a few words.
The dress code in engineering had gone the way the rest of the ship had, no more Freeground uniforms. Ayan and the senior engineering staff had instead assigned their department grey vacsuits that had room for all their essential hand tools, an optional pulse sidearm, and included conductive weave that rendered them all immune to electromagnetic weaponry and most accidents resulting from current. It was also designed in such a way that it could not snag on anything and was resistant to impacts and most punctures. All the technology existed before, but was normally reserved for specialist uniforms. After I saw them I was more than happy that the engineering department had taken the opportunity to improve things.
After seeing the work that had been done on uniforms there I ordered all other departments to design their new vacsuits. They were to include the safety measures that the engineering staff had implemented since they added no extra bulk, very little weight, and left room for other modifications.
Two days later, in the early morning, I ran into Ayan on her way into engineering from the main hall.
She had her coffee in one hand and was projecting a holographic representation of one of our reactors from the thin command and control unit on her other wrist. She stopped before the door opened and fixed me with a smile.
“Good morning,” she greeted brightly.
“Good morning. I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, but the new uniforms look great. I think all the other departments are treating the assignment to design their new uniforms as a competition.”
“Well, it beats most long hyperspace voyages. It's all everyone's talking about, but at least they're talking. I hear the gunnery crews are almost finished theirs and Minh-Chu is keeping the pilot uniforms a secret. How are the bridge staff uniforms coming?”
“We haven't really had time. On one hand we're taking care of the routine hyperspace travel watch, on the other there are new communication, leave, and general security protocols to review. Jason, or Sergeant Everin, rather, is doing some great work on our encryption, but it's taking forever to test and finalize.”
Ayan's expression slowly grew into a grin. “Just a few days out here and you're already sounding like you've been in command for years.”
“Most of the time it feels that way,” I agreed as I followed her into the centre of the engineering section. They called it the pit. There was a ramp leading down into an octagonal control section where all the systems could be monitored on control panels and through holograms. “Other times something comes up that I've never even heard of before.”
“That's what we're here for. You're senior staff. If you haven't seen something, chances are we have. If not, well, we can just figure it out together.”
“True, that's taking some getting used to.”
“I could imagine.”
I looked around and realized that we were right in the middle of four five-story tall reactors. “How is the refit looking?”
“Fantastic. Lots of things to iron out, sure, but these new reactors are amazing. They don't require the maintenance that the old ones did, and they put out a lot more power while having no harmful radiological footprint. No worrying about containment, cooling, they can't explode and there are so few moving parts that they barely look like reactors at all. I'm glad I was keeping up with engineering advancements, otherwise I'd be pretty confused.”
“Well, you have work to do and I should move on myself. I'll see you soon, I'm sure.”
Ayan put her coffee down and locked the mug to the shelf with the press of a button. “I'll walk you out.”
“I'm surprised the power plants aren't larger.”
“They're smaller than I expected too, more than half of the space the old systems took up is free in engineering. When we find some of that new technology that we're after, maybe we can add it to the ship.”
“That's what I was thinking,” I said, smiling at her.
She fixed me with a warm, glad expression as we reached the door. “I'm glad we're thinking alike. I'll see you later?”
I nodded and started walking away.
The doctor, who was jogging towards us and witnessed the end of our exchange, stopped to run on the spot beside me as Ayan walked back towards the centre of engineering and the door closed behind her. “Now that was some smile,” he whispered.
“It was.”
“Well, regardless of whatever chemistry you have going, I'm glad to see that you visit your department heads where they live. It shows that their ideas are important, that you want to be involved and familiar with the entire ship. That's critical to winning the respect of your officers, especially on a ship without Fleet uniforms. It might be a good idea to stop in on engineering every morning as well, should help things between you two.”
“Between us two?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, come on now Captain, everyone's watching you both. People are pairing up, and we're all wondering when you two will follow suit.”
“Everyone? It's only been a few days.”
Doctor Anderson grinned and resumed jogging down the corridor. “You should join me sometime. Looks like you could use a run.”
I had only been on one long hyperspace voyage before. Though it's the second fastest method of travel next to moving through high compression wormholes, it can get very boring. I took the doctor up on his advice the next day, and the day after that.
Doctor Carl Anderson, or Doc as I had started calling him, had been given the Medical Department head position since he had the most experience in Fleet and in medicine. He had been a doctor for over a decade before joining the infantry, where he served eight years as a medic. He signed up with Fleet afterwards and spent twenty seven years on different ships treating the wounded, and from what the file said he was forced to take command on six different occasions. He was eighty five but had to slow down on his jogs so I could keep up. Every morning he jogged around one deck of the ship three or four times.
“So, are you going to the party tonight?” Doc asked as we jogged down the main hallway of deck 13, which was part engineering and part crew quarters. The main hallway, which looped around the entire deck, had been reshaped during the refit so it could accommodate four abreast.
“They're calling it the Pilot's Ball, and I have to go. I'm the Captain.”
“Not to this one. Commander Buu is throwing it. Technically you can just stay on the bridge or make a token appearance then leave.”
I thought about it for a moment. “That's tempting, but it's the first social event and I've barely seen a lot of people since we entered hyperspace. For a quiet hyperspace trip everyone has been really busy. Some of us barely get enough rack time.”
“Ah, the first voyage after a refit is always like this. Lots of bolts to tighten. Even a few to loosen up. Just be glad no one forgot to finish installing anything.”
“How many refits have you seen?”
“Two, the Andromeda and the Ramses.”
“How did those work out?”
“The Andromeda started falling apart right after her relaunch. Downright embarrassing for the refit crew, damn funny to everyone who was praying for an extra couple weeks leave.”
“I could imagine.”
“Are we having much trouble with the refit? Seems pretty smooth in medical. Other than having to re-hang a cupboard, nothing has come loose or fallen over.”
“Well, Ayan shut down reactor three for a day or so.”
“Impressive. I didn't even notice the lights flicker.”
“Well, she's right into her work, literally. I went by to see how the repairs were doing yesterday morning and she had crawled inside the power plant. I didn't think there was room in there for anything.”
“Whatever she's doing, it's working. She's going to the Pilot's Ball you know.”
“Oh?”
“Aye, she was talking about it when she came into medical to get a bone density treatment. We ended up talking for a while, turns out I know her mother.”
“So you already knew about reactor three and how things were going in engineering.”
“What would make you think that?”
“Because if you ask her how she's doing she talks about engineering. She could have grown a new head since you last saw her and she'd still talk about how the ion intermix is a little off, or the deck plating under reactor two has developed a little creak during gravity adjustments.”
“You caught me. I must be losing my touch in my old age.”
“Ah, us humans are living to four hundred these days, you're still a young man.”
“That’s still theoretical for the most part, but I wouldn’t mind being one of the first to make it into the four hundred club. That's not the point. I'm twice the oldest crewmember's age and then some. If I don't live vicariously through at least a few of you young pups I'll spend this whole trip bored out of my mind. Besides, that's the price of this old man's advice.”
“For an old man you run me ragged on these morning jogs.”
“Ah, you're mistaken. It's my run, you're just following
along.”
“Right, so what's your advice old man?”
“Go to the Pilot's Ball and try to keep up,” he said with a playfully challenging finality before increasing the pace for the last stretch of our second turn around the deck.
Chapter 10
The Pilots Ball
That night Minh-Chu was in his own paradise. It was the first chance he had to show off his new flight crew. The twenty one fighters that had been assigned to pilots were spread out across the launch bay and each one had been labelled with their call signs. The main observation deck, which had a semi transparent floor to show the fighter bay below and a fully transparent wall in the front for a view of open space, was abuzz with the majority of the crew. Only a small watch was manning the stations, more than enough for hyperspace travel.
It was so good to see everyone in casual dress; only the pilots were dressed in uniform. Their new pilot gear included a thicker black vacsuit, a protective helmet and a flight jacket that looked like it was pulled right out of a museum. There were no identifying markers on any of them.
“Creative,” I said to Minh-Chu, clinking my champagne glass to his.
“Thank you, Captain. We all contributed something. Our drills are going well too.”
“So I've read, but I haven't had time to watch the playbacks.”
“Oh, so you become Captain and don't have any time left for Minh. Well, when you can make time, you should watch yesterday's second drill. I thought running scenarios with you guys was intense, but these pilots are insane.”
“Now you know how we felt.”
Minh laughed and nodded as Oz joined us. “Hey Minh, how do I get one of those jackets? The materializer won't make me one.”
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins Page 11