“Hold on a sec. What do you mean by strategic climate?” Minh asked. “That sounds like something a politician would say.”
Doc smiled at Minh and nodded. “It would be. It was all politics. There were a number of incidents, sacrifices that were made by fleet under orders from Intelligence, and a lot of them were traced right back to Wheeler and Intelligence Commanders like him. His methods were bloody, cost manpower, left a lot of wreckage behind but they were deniable and he had a very high success rate.”
“Ah, so they wanted to cut losses.”
“That, and Fleet Intelligence was very different when his people were in charge. They were shadowy, dangerous men who didn't have names and had the power to ignore people who tried to hold them accountable. It was like that for decades. Fleet Intelligence still suffers from negative public opinion because of that time, not that anyone in Intel would admit to caring about what their public image looks like. That kind of image and the tactics that caused it didn't mesh with the new administration.” Doc took a sip of tea from his transparent safety mug and went on.
“When he was assigned to his shadow ship, it was agreed that he would have as little attachment to Freeground as possible. That way they could disavow him if he failed in any task or used methods Command didn't approve of. He blames the assimilation of qualified refugees into the military for his change of post, and last I heard he often pirated British freighters on the outskirts of their space.”
“Hold on a minute. How many shadow ships are there? I thought there may be four, five at the most.” Ayan asked.
“Well, there are no shadow ships like this one. Each one is unique, normally not built by Freeground. To be honest I don't know exactly how many there are, but I can tell you that there are less than a dozen. With the Fleet stretched so thin, Freeground can't spare much. The ship Captain Wheeler was assigned to was a Core Worlds Explorer Four model, barely armed, but in good condition. He wasn't pleased, but he didn't reject it either. Being from Intelligence, he was allowed to hand pick more than half his crew, and he chose people who were like minded. A lot of them didn't fit well with the new Officers in Freeground Fleet Command.”
“What kind of man is he?” I asked.
“Solitary, severe in his thinking. After knowing him for a few months I was glad he didn't decide to become a surgeon. He's the kind who would cut a leg off to cure a cancer on the foot, and you wouldn't see it coming.”
“Why trust him at all? They could have retired him instead,” Minh commented.
“Retiring him wasn't an option. He knew too much about Freeground operations, politics and the military, had too many connections in too many solar systems, and was just too influential in general. They knew his tactics worked, but he operates without a moral compass. They gave him a ship. He took it into Sol space and pirated one of theirs.”
“He did what?” Oz exclaimed. The Sol system was under tight defence. It was well known that their government allowed no more than two hundred immigrants per solar year, and they had to be cleared through an application process that could stretch on for decades. Most ships that went near the perimeter were turned away. Few who tried to sneak past the perimeter were ever heard from again.
“This is classified at the highest level. Only the Fleet Admirals and Generals have access to this information. The only reason I know about it is because I was there,” Doc whispered. “He came out of hyperspace a good distance from the Sol system and then destroyed most of the ship systems, including the primary power plants and life support. We spent a week in our vacsuits, hurtling towards the perimeter of the Sol system, on the edge of the Kuiper belt. They took the ship as salvage, thinking it was a derelict. After we got to the salvage operation, he sprung the trap and we took a Zhàn Class Sol Defence Ship.”
“Risky, but genius.”
“More than half the crew were killed before we even set foot on the ship we captured. He also triggered an old nuclear reactor that he installed on the ship Freeground put him in command of as we were leaving, destroying an entire perimeter station. There were millions of people living there, families, but he didn't care. I didn't know what he would be doing with the reactor. I just thought it was installed as emergency power, in case Sol Forces didn't save our ship from colliding with the asteroids orbiting the perimeter. He carried the transponder codes from the Freeground vessel and applied them to the Sol Zhàn Class ship with a few modifications, and he's been stealing technology ever since. No one knows what Sol Defence will do if they ever catch him. If they're tracking him there's no indication of it and he'll do anything he can to cover his tracks.”
I shook my head, “No wonder they wanted him off the station.”
“Most of his crew weren't from Freeground by the time I finished my two years on the Triton. He pulled some amazing heists and accomplished a great deal while I was there, but he doesn't have a lot of our advantages.”
“Like?” Ayan asked.
“Last I saw him he didn't have the engineering or scientifically trained staff to use a lot of what he was taking. He could have improvements made to his ship well enough, but the manpower on his ship barely knew how to repair new technology since he would recruit from unregistered ports and the underside of civilization. It keeps the pay grade low, but it takes forever to train that kind of crew.”
"So his ship must be missing a lot of polish.”
“It's been years, who knows what's changed. He may have been able to replace the crewmembers who left along with me when we had the opportunity. There's no way he has the crew the Triton is made to run with; she's a Zhàn Class Close Combat Carrier made for long deep space missions. Last time I was aboard almost all the interior decks were sealed off and shut down. Automation runs most of his ship. I couldn't tell you exactly how though; it's a complicated system.”
“Anything else we should know?”
“Well, if he needs the First Light, then there's something big in his sights. Freeground must be pretty desperate if they're going through him to get it. Just don't trust him. He'll use this ship and her crew like any other tool.”
“In that case, I'll want you on comms from the beginning of this to the end. I may not be able to think ahead of him, but I could if I have access to the entire senior staff and we're all working this scenario together,” I told him. Everyone else was in agreement, and the tension in the room was nearly gone. It felt as though Doc was once again a full member of the crew.
Doctor Anderson smiled at me as and nodded. "Team thinking, that's why I love this crew.”
Chapter 10
Departing Zingara
Oz, Minh, Jason and Doc went on ahead to their duty stations as Ayan and I double checked the validity of our orders against Freeground Intelligence verification standards. The encryption pattern was already certified by Jason, but Ayan wanted to find out what kind of device had transmitted it. After a few minutes we determined the source and relay points. It couldn't have been sent from any place other than Freeground. It had even been relayed through two Starfree Port terminals. “I think that satisfies my paranoia, how about you?” she asked.
“I believe it's the real thing. I still don't like it.”
“Do you think the doctor is holding something back?”
“There's no telling. I guess I'd like to assume he's telling us everything we need to know. I just have a bad feeling. A lot of what I just heard about Captain Wheeler sounds like a prime example of what not to do when you're running a shadow ship. I realize we're not exactly being careful about maintaining our cover -- in fact I'm sure we'll be recalled to Freeground any day -- but stealing from Sol Defence? Killing millions of people? It makes me wonder what a shadow ship has to do to get recalled. What limits do we actually have?”
“Well, I'm sure the doctor reported how you escaped from Vindyne, including what you did with Alice. If anything would be cause for a recall, that would have been it. I mean, this entire spiral arm of the galaxy recognizes the Eden Two laws.”
�
��Meanwhile we send several thousand colonists to Freeground as refugees. I wonder which of our ships will be recalled when this is over.”
“Those people didn't have a safe place to go. Besides, those refugees handed Freeground a set of schematics and detailed information on all the technology we had seen out here up to that point. I'm sure Command won't be recalling us.”
“Not based on that. They might want to take a closer look at the First Light though. I know I would. Besides, after hearing about Wheeler I wonder what things will be like after a few years out here. Maybe an occasional recall would keep us on track.”
“I don't think you'd cause the deaths of millions or start stealing from old world governments. I'd have to do something drastic if you started leaning to the dark side anyway.”
“So you're volunteering as my moral compass?” I asked.
“Oh, that's only the beginning,” her crooked grin, that slight accent and stare that implied far more than she'd said was something I'd always remember. “Too bad we're short on time,” she finished with a wink.
“I know. While the rest of the crew are relaxing I'll be catching up, continuing the training of new bridge staff, and everything else that comes with being a captain.”
“Don't forget the thorough inspections, situating yourself in your new quarters, and probably attending something in Observation One with your Chief Engineer. But before your day fills up and time starts flying by, I think you should follow me to your new bridge,” Ayan said cheerily as she started walking towards the door. I shut down the table display and cleared my orders out of the buffer before catching up with her just outside in the hallway.
I was starting to get the feeling that she and the engineering team had put a lot of work and imagination into whatever I was about to see. I decided that even if I found it underwhelming I would do my best to look and sound as astonished as possible, but I was still hoping to be amazed.
The entrance to the new bridge was thirty meters forward of main engineering control, in the middle of the most heavily armoured section of the ship. We walked through an unfamiliar doorway into an interior sealed lock. It was unlike any other on the ship. Leading inward, the door itself was a quarter meter thick. It closed behind us. “Captain Valent and Commander Rice. Welcome to the command deck,” the computer said as the interior door opened.
“I call it the cocoon,” Ayan announced with a grin as we stepped onto the brand-new bridge.
The standard stations were all where you'd expect them to be, but they had three or six seats each, were all on three hundred sixty degree swivel mounts, and featured extra blank two dimensional panels that could be configured by the user. The floor was covered in dark blue acoustic control safety carpet. The captain's seat was between two chairs, but as I looked on, Oz stepped beside the night shift’s acting First Officer and a third came out of the floor. “Our Chief did one hell of a job designing this new bridge,” he said. “You haven't seen the half of it either.”
The busy chatter and resettling of shift change and pre-hyper space made the room look more like the command deck on Freeground than anything else. There was no trace of the antique ship we had taken command of months ago. As crew members ran about finishing their shift reports and running through checklists, they brought up holographic displays, used their flat control panels, and even brought up larger cross sections of the ship and navigational information on the walls. They simply touched any part of the blank wall surface and brought up the information they needed. One was accessing the new automatic and remote turret controls for calibration.
“Only a few of the ideas here are mine. I listen to the crew. Having a bridge below decks was your idea. So were a lot of others, and then there's Laura's idea to get the gunnery crew inside too. She'd been working on it herself, but she's still working on the final cloaksuit design among other things.”
“It doesn't make you any less amazing,” I whispered as I looked around. “I'll still miss the windows though.”
“I doubt it.” She grinned at me for a moment then addressed the ship. “Computer, activate all remaining bridge systems,” at her command the bridge transformed. A pair of two dimensional control panels came out of the sides of the captain's chair to rest roughly at my hand levels, the main holographic viewer displayed our galaxy and then the circular walls and ceiling became one large view screen. Even the floor displayed a view of what was under this ship, but it was obscured just enough so we wouldn’t all get vertigo.
“Who needs windows?” I asked myself quietly.
“Now that I've shown you the fancy stuff, there's a three man lift that leads down to engineering control, the automation center and up to main medical. I'll be installing the same security doors at major access points in those areas too. I also took one of those smaller power plants we salvaged and made it the dedicated backup for all four areas. Even if the rest of the ship were open to space and without power, everyone in those sections would be perfectly fine. We even have our own life support and inertial compensator systems. We're still tuning them a little though.”
“If I weren't in love with you already, I'd be putty in your hands now,” I whispered.
“Why Captain,” she replied, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “I've a few surprises for you yet. Laura and I went shopping while you were recovering. I think you'll enjoy my new off duty wardrobe,” Ayan whispered. She paused for a moment to let that sink in and went on. “Now I'll be in engineering so you can regain your composure and get focused.”
“Good idea,” I whispered back as she walked to the lift at the rear of the bridge.
I strode to the centre and sat down in the new Captain's chair. It took a moment to adjust to my body but when it did I may as well have been sitting on air. The control panels were the perfect height and reacted to whatever my eye was focusing on. As I looked from one screen display to another, it would extend from its two dimensional state into a small holo projection.
“I think she likes you sir,” Oz whispered.
“It feels really good to be the Captain right now,” I replied quietly.
“I know exactly what you mean. I have to be here when Fleet Command sees what we did with their little ship.”
“Too bad we can't show it to anyone else.”
“So you agree with my proposal? No visitors past the primary observation section?”
“I think even that should be reserved for special occasions,” I checked the general department status and found that everyone was reporting ready, from tactical all the way to propulsion. “Shall we be underway?”
Oz grinned and nodded. “Inform Zingara Control that we're grateful for their hospitality but it's time for us to be on our way.”
“Yes Sir,” Jason smiled back.
The main holographic display changed from galactic view to the head and shoulders of a Port Control officer with a shaved head and a dark van dyke. “Sorry to see you go, First Light. Good journey. You'll be clear of our protected space within sixty seconds according to your current speed.”
As the channel closed I set the main holographic display to tactical view. I opened a channel to engineering and a hologram of the circular central control consoles appeared between the field control and navigation stations. It was life size, and from where I sat I could see Ayan and two other engineers working the controls. “Yes Captain?” She said with a smile.
“Well, that's different. How are things looking from your end?”
“Fantastic. Full power is available and the antimatter intermix is set to augment main propulsion. Tell the helm to watch the throttle, let it out slowly.”
I smiled at her and to my surprise she smiled back while looking through a systems monitor hologram. Images of the bridge staff must have been displayed at her station. I decided to find out how it worked later. “Helm, ahead at the safest speed until you can verify with Navnet that we're clear to accelerate out of the gravitational field.” I looked to the energy field control, where there w
ere three seats. Only two were in use, that was the norm for the bridge it seemed and I knew it was because we were under-manned for the ship the First Light was becoming. “Shield Control, bring the energy and refractive shielding on line and cycle them up slowly until they're running at full power. Let's see how hard it is to power them up and balance them at the same time.”
“Yes sir,” Laura said from the right side of the bridge. I was glad she was there to monitor the new shields, but I was wondering if she would be missed in engineering. She was the best field control specialist on the ship but she was also fully qualified to work with Ayan and manage engineering.
I turned to Jason. “Is the quantum core online?”
“It is. All of our systems are performing much better because of it. There's a betting pool going around. Some of the crew wager the fully automated turrets are going to score more hits than the gunnery crew.”
“I'm betting on the automation,” Oz commented as he reviewed crew readiness across the ship.
“So you're the one who's going to pay for my next shore leave,” Minh said over the communicator. “All flights are reporting ready. We're set to launch seven at a time. We can be set and marking targets in less than twenty seconds.”
“Don't rush things down there. We traded a lot of antimatter for those new fighters.”
“Stop worrying. The crew down here wanted us out in fifteen, I'm the one who told them to slow it down.”
“I noticed there was an event scheduled for day two of hyperspace. You and Ayan are marked as hosting it in Observation One, but she has no idea what it's about. Care to let me in on some details?” Oz asked in a low whisper.
“It's a surprise.”
“Should we be expecting an announcement from the happy couple? Maybe a proposal from our Captain to our Chief Engineer?”
I was taken completely off guard for a moment. “Things haven't quite gotten there just yet. She doesn't think that's what I'm about to do, does she?”
“No, I'm pretty sure she doesn't think that's coming any time real soon. You can relax.”
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins Page 40