by Ryk Brown
Like all Takaran ships, she sat on four pairs of massive, steerable, self-powered wheels that allowed her to move about within the hangar with ease.
Despite her unusual appearance, Nathan decided that he rather liked the Mirai. He made his way to her boarding ramp and headed up.
Deliza appeared at the hatch. “Welcome, Captain.”
“Thank you,” Nathan replied. “Permission to come aboard?”
“Of course,” she replied. She turned to lead him aft. “I know it’s rather large, but it is quite a nice ship.”
Nathan followed her into the main salon, where he paused looking up at the balcony at the aft end of the cabin. “I’ll say.”
“Yanni calls it a ‘space yacht’.”
“An apt description,” Nathan agreed as he moved into the cabin.
“Sit anywhere you like,” she told him. “We’ll be departing momentarily.”
“Why are you going to the surface?” Nathan wondered as he took a seat on one of the overstuffed chairs.
“We’re going to spend a couple days helping redesign some of the Eagle production lines,” she explained. “We’re going to turn them into ‘Super Eagles’.”
“Well, if they’re anything like your Super Falcons, they’ll definitely be an asset. Any word on when they’ll be starting production?”
“In about six weeks, assuming we can get a prototype up and working within four.”
“Think you can do it?”
“I believe so, yes,” she replied as she took a seat on the sofa.
“Even with the stuff you’re doing on the Super Falcons?” Nathan asked, as the ship began to roll.
“We’ve already got the Super Falcon prototype fitted with a new cockpit. We’re just running instrumentation and control lines. The rest is all creating different modules for both the weapons bay and the cabin area, depending on the mission. They don’t really need me for any of that.”
“Where’s Yanni?” Nathan asked.
“Oh, he’s already on the surface, at the Data Ark. They’ve been getting the cores back on line. He’s going to meet up with me later.”
“I see.”
“So, you’re finally going to take a vacation,” Deliza commented.
“Nothing special. Just taking care of some business, then visiting family in Winnipeg.” Nathan looked out the large windows as the Mirai lifted off the deck and slid out into the main cavern at the center of the Karuzara asteroid.
“Surely you’re going to do more than just visit family?” she wondered. “The Aurora is going to be in dry dock for at least a month, possibly two.”
“I was thinking of visiting Abby on Tanna, checking out the gunship production facility. I might even go to Tau Ceti and check out those two Jung frigates in her shipyards.”
“I was thinking someplace nice… and relaxing,” she told him. “Not a bunch of military bases.”
“Most of the ‘nice and relaxing’ places I know of have been blown to hell,” Nathan reminded her.
“At the very least, you could spend a few days on the beach at Porto Santo. I’m told it’s quite nice.”
“Maybe,” Nathan replied.
The big windows around the main salon turned opaque momentarily as the Mirai jumped to final approach into Porto Santo. Nathan rose and walked over to the window on the starboard side of the cabin and looked down at the island, the lights of the base and the city that surrounded it glowing in the darkness below. “I miss flying,” he muttered.
“Pardon?”
Nathan turned back to Deliza. “I miss actual flying,” he told her as he returned to his seat. “We jump everywhere now.”
“Saves time and propellant, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose. It doesn’t mean I can’t miss it, though.”
Nathan felt the Mirai’s engines rumbling as the ship lowered itself to the landing pad and set down.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like us to wait, and take you to Winnipeg when you’re ready?” Deliza wondered.
“No, thank you,” Nathan replied. “I really don’t know how long I’ll be. Besides, I’m sure Commander Telles can arrange transportation to Winnipeg for me.”
“As you wish, Captain.”
“Thank you again for the ride,” he told her as he rose and headed for the exit.
“Oh, Captain?” Deliza called. “I forgot to ask if you’ve heard anything about the Cetian vote?”
“Yes,” Nathan replied, “yes I have.” He smiled. “It was an overwhelming yes. They’ll be signing the charter in a few days.”
“That’s wonderful news,” she replied. “Goodnight, Captain.”
“Goodnight.”
Nathan made his way forward and down the boarding ramp, climbing into the open-top utility vehicle waiting below. Without a word, the driver pulled away, heading across the tarmac for the main gates.
It was a clear night on Porto Santo, with a sky full of stars. They exited the base and drove through the town that had cropped up around it, heading for the residential districts.
“If you don’t mind my saying, sir, I think it’s a very good thing you’re doing,” the driver said.
Nathan looked at the young man. He was obviously a fresh recruit, barely out of basic training. “Thank you, Private.”
“It means a lot to everyone serving,” the young man continued. “Knowing that a captain of a ship would go out of his way to do something like this for a member of his crew.”
Nathan said nothing, only watched the rows of houses pass by. The task he was about to perform was quite possibly the hardest one he would ever face. He dreaded its execution, yet, he had never wanted to do something so much in his entire life.
The vehicle pulled to a stop in front of a modest little house with a picket fence around its front yard. Nathan stared at that house for what felt like an eternity, before finally getting out of the vehicle.
“I’ll be waiting here to take you back, sir,” the driver promised.
“It could be a while,” Nathan warned.
“I don’t mind, sir,” the driver insisted. “Really.”
Nathan forced a smile for the nice young private behind the wheel, then turned and walked up the path to the front door. He looked at the sign on the door that said ‘Weatherly’. He paused, remembering the sergeant’s face, and then knocked.
Thank you for reading this story.
(A review would be greatly appreciated!)
COMING SOON
“WHICH OTHER MEN CANNOT DO”
The Conclusion
of
Part I
of
The Frontiers Saga
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