Wolfhound

by Kindal Debenham

  The threat sounded strange coming from a man pinned to the floor, but for some reason Jacob felt a chill. Perhaps it was the way he had said them, but Schroder’s words sounded familiar. He shrugged away the feeling of unease and stood up, shaking off Schroder’s hand as he did so. “Whatever you say, Schroder. Just remember that in Engineering, we always try to fix the problem at the source.” He turned back to look at the other ensigns for a moment and saw they had all distanced themselves from the fight. He turned back to glare at Schroder. “So don’t cause any more problems for me, got it?”

  Schroder got to his feet carefully, wary of other attack. “You got lucky, Hull. Don’t expect it to be that way next time.”

  “Is there a problem here, ensigns?” The sound of that smooth, oily voice sent a second chill through Jacob, and he turned to find Lieutenant Morris stepping around the side of the simulator. The other ensigns had faded away, standing together a few feet away and talking as if they had never even been involved, glancing nervously in the lieutenant’s direction every now and again.

  Jacob stiffened his posture a bit. “No sir, we were just—”

  “Yes sir!” Schroder’s harsh voice surprised Jacob to the point where he turned around to look at him. The Navigation ensign’s face was still tight with anger, and he seemed to be doing his best to ignore the other people in the room. “I found Ensign Hull here trying to tamper with the training equipment. When I asked him to stop, he attacked me, sir.”

  Stiff with shock, Jacob continued to stare at Schroder until Lieutenant Morris cleared his throat. Jacob turned to find the Marine lieutenant sizing him up. “Is this true, Ensign Hull?”

  Jacob shook his head. “No sir!”

  “Can you explain why you are holding those cables then, Ensign Hull?” The question felt like it was dripping with sarcasm, and Jacob felt a slight flutter of panic.

  “Ensign Schroder asked me to inspect the wiring for the simulator, sir.”

  Lieutenant Morris tilted his head to the side. “And that required you to strike him, Ensign?”

  “No sir.” Frustration laced through Jacob’s voice, and he sought desperately for some way out of the situation.

  “Do you have any explanation for doing so, Ensign?”

  For a moment, Jacob considered explaining everything. Then he shook his head. Resignation filled him. “No, sir.”

  For a moment longer, the Marine continued to watch Jacob, as if studying him. Then he shook his head. “Very well then. Ensign, you will report to Lieutenant Commander Piebald immediately for discipline. I will have called ahead to advise him on the situation. Leave the cables here, and someone from Engineering will deal with the situation. Ensign Schroder, you will come with me.” Lieutenant Morris looked Jacob directly in the eye and gave him a smile that was a barely above a sneer. “You are dismissed.”

  The words brought a feeling like a lead weight to Jacob’s stomach, and he stood still for a moment, head bowed in defeat. As Schroder walked by, the ensign gave him a sullen glare, and Jacob barely registered the murmur of conversation that had started up among the other ensigns. He turned and set the wiring back down in front of the access panel and left it there. I’m sure Turley will have something to say about wasting people’s time to fix that. If he doesn’t Urleigh definitely will. With a heavy sigh, he glanced at the darkened simulator and then left the room behind.

  Chapter Six

  Hours later, Jacob was in his coveralls again, crawling around the mess of wires and circuits that surrounded the Capistan generator. It was a relief to get back to doing something useful, especially since it gave him the chance to avoid thinking about the lectures he had received earlier. Lieutenant Piebald had been impatient, obviously angry at having to deal with such an annoying situation first thing in the morning. The punishment Jacob had received was severe. Banned from the training room for three months. Official demerits on my record for disorderly conduct. The last stipulation had been the worst. Written apology to Ensign Schroder for my behavior, to be delivered tomorrow morning. Jacob winced as he thought of apologizing for anything to the little wolf-faced liar, but at the very least he had not been confined to the brig.

  Lieutenant Urleigh had been enraged as well. He had shouted at Jacob for at least ten minutes straight about his lack of decorum, complete absence of discipline and civility, and his unfitness as an officer. As Jacob checked a power relay that led from the Capistan to the rift generator, he wondered if there was a single member of the Engineering section that hadn’t heard him being chewed out.

  The only one who didn’t seem to mind the situation was Turley. The old petty officer hadn’t even mentioned the fight, and if anything he seemed slightly more cheerful this morning, if as rough-voiced as ever. Speaking of the old coot. Jacob frowned as he found a fried power cable. He tapped his communication stub. “Ensign Hull to Petty Officer Turley.”

  “Yeah, Ensign?”

  “One of the cords here must have been fried in the last charge. I’m going to cut it loose and come down for a replacement.”

  “Sounds fine. Which kind was it?”

  Jacob tried to make out the inscription on the blackened casing. “It looks like a rating 500 cable, subsection 3D, line 45.”

  Turley sighed, and Jacob could make out tapping on the other end of the line. “All right, bring it in.” There was a pause on the other end of the line. “You know, it’s a pain to have to keep track of you. I’ve got a lot of work, and Urleigh is all over my back now to make sure you don’t screw up the Capistan too.”

  Jacob grimaced. “Sorry about that, Turley. I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.”

  “You damn sure better not!” Turley grunted to himself. “At the very least, you should have brought pictures of the officer you beat.”

  “What?”

  “It’s tradition!”

  Jacob had to suppress a smile. “Sorry, Turley. I’ll remember next time.”

  “You’d better. Bring the cord down.” Muttering something about inconsiderate ensigns, Turley closed the link.

  Four hours later, the power relays for the Capistan had all been inspected. Those burned out from the first riftjump had been replaced. Turley and some of the more experienced crewmembers had inspected the rift generator itself, making sure it had not been jarred out of alignment already on its maiden voyage. Accompanying them was the ensign in charge of the riftjump procedures, Ensign Navaja. He was supposedly brilliant, but the young man seemed like he would be more at home in a physics lab than a warship At least he hadn’t bothered anyone during the inspection, which was a plus in Jacob’s book. The Wolfhound was, for all intents and purposes, ready for its next journey.

  Jacob stood in the access window that looked out over the Capistan, exhausted from his work. He ran his gaze over the piece of equipment, looking for anything out of place. The Capistan was a simple machine in concept, if not in execution. The gigantic turbine was driven by dark energy rather than wind or water and was capable of generating almost unreal amounts of power in a very short time. It was that very power which allowed modern starships to riftjump, a process which involved the instantaneous transmission of matter and energy from one area of space to another. Jacob had always wondered how the process worked, but every time he asked one of his instructors, they got shifty eyed and muttered something about cheating at quantum physics. I guess that’s why we need Ensign Navaja around then.

  As Jacob pondered the gigantic, cylindrical bulk of the Capistan, he heard a shout from behind him.

  “Hey, Jacob!”

  Jacob turned to see Isaac and Laurie coming towards him. He smiled and waved them over, and they jogged the distance between them.

  “What are you guys doing down here? I would’ve thought that you’d be busy with something a bit more interesting than visiting me.”

  Laurie put her fists on her hips and gave him a glare, though it seemed only half genuine. “I heard about your antics and decided you needed a reminder about m
y turrets. You can’t be trusted anywhere anymore, Hull.”

  Isaac laughed and clapped Jacob on the back, nearly knocking him over. “We just wanted to see how you were holding up. How bad is it?”

  “No access to the training room, demerits, have to say sorry.” Jacob shrugged glumly. “He also said the commander might add to my punishment depending on the situation, but we’ll see.”

  Isaac shook his head. “A letter of apology? For what? Getting to Schroder before they could?” Laurie cuffed him on the back of the head. When she turned to Jacob, her expression was stern.

  “In all seriousness Jacob, you’re lucky they let you out of your quarters. You and I both know the Naval Code well enough to see how much worse it could be.”

  “Ah, but if I wasn’t here, Urleigh would have had to dirty his hands with inspections.” Jacob smiled a bit and shrugged. “Maybe the commander will add a bit of confinement anyway now that the riftjump generator is ready. Everything is all checked out and ready to go.”

  Laurie leaned around him to get a look at the Capistan, which hung motionless. “So that’s it? I’ve never actually seen a working model up close.”

  “Yeah, they tend to keep them away from planets and inexperienced ensigns.” Jacob winked at Isaac as he continued. “We wouldn’t want some Countermeasures officer accidentally rigging hers to explode, after all.”

  Laurie leaned back and made a face. “Very funny. So why isn’t it spinning?”

  “The fields aren’t on. They should be turned on in a bit, though. They were going to live test it again before tomorrow's jump.”

  Isaac nodded appreciatively. “Sounds interesting. Do you think they would mind if we stayed and watched?”

  Jacob shrugged again, this time a bit apathetic. “I don’t think anyone will care, as long as you don’t get any closer than this.” He heard a buzzer go off elsewhere on the deck and straightened up. “Sounds like they’re ready to begin the charge. Here we go.”

  A groan echoed through the Engineering deck, and the bulk of the Capistan lit up. The four pairs of spokes sticking out from the central hub began to flicker. With an audible crackle of energy, four DE sails burned to life, evenly spaced around the hub of the machine, and the Capistan began to move. The spin accelerated swiftly; at first the hub spun once in a handful of seconds, then once every other second. Then the spin reached a rotation every second, then two, and then the Capistan began to blur, the DE sails and spokes becoming an unbroken band of light and motion.

  Jacob glanced at a nearby monitor and walked over to tap a few keys. “It looks like it's spinning fine. No blocks in the power lines that go to the generator, no flaws in the spin.” He shut the monitor down and turned back to the pair. “We’re set all right.”

  Isaac nodded, his attention still caught by the Capistan. “That thing’s incredible. And it gets even faster?”

  “Yeah. At some point we actually have to lower blast doors and evacuate this part of the deck to avoid being harmed by some of the particles being generated.” Jacob smiled. “A lot more interesting than gunnery practice, huh?”

  Laurie snorted. “Well, just about anything is more interesting than that.”

  “Thanks Laurie, you’re always so supportive.” Isaac rolled his eyes. “Jacob, I just want to let you know that you aren’t the only one who’s going to be paying for the stunt Schroder pulled today. The other ensigns can’t seem to stop talking about it. Taylor from gun bank one is already making plans to stay clear of Schroder from now on, and the rest of the ensigns aren’t very fond of him either.”

  Jacob looked at Isaac a little skeptically. “They were all buddy-buddy before, though. Why stop now over a little fight with me?”

  Isaac hesitated, but Laurie answered for him. “It’s not the fight, Jacob. He ratted you out.” Jacob raised an eyebrow and Laurie sighed. “Schroder turned a personal disagreement into a matter of record. That’s beyond just having a little fun with somebody. If it had been something more important than a simulator, you could have been run out of the Navy.”

  At her side, Isaac grunted and shook his head. “Worse than that, he lied about what happened in order to make it worse for you. Nobody’ll be trusting that little bastard for the rest of the cruise. You have my word on that.”

  Laurie rolled her eyes. “Well, as reassuring as I’m sure that is, at least we can all take comfort in the fact that it is probably over now. Schroder can’t cause any more trouble for you without landing in the commander’s headlights, and as long as you keep your head down and write that letter, you’ll come through it all right. A few years from now this will a bump in the road on your way to a great career.” She ground to a halt, her expression becoming uncertain. “Jacob, what’s wrong?”

  Jacob hesitated, unsure of how to respond. “I don’t think it will be, Laurie. I’m not going to give Schroder the satisfaction of an apology he doesn’t deserve.”

  There was a moment of shocked silence as the Capistan turned behind him, and then Laurie exploded. “What the hell are you talking about? If you don’t—”

  “I don’t care, Laurie.” Jacob clenched his hands into fists and looked back toward the spinning Capistan. He tried to keep his anger from coloring his words, but some of it leaked into his voice anyway. “If the Navy is a place that a man like Schroder can make his way up the ranks while still treating people like he does, I want no part of it. I’m not going to stand by and let myself be stepped on by some rich man’s son for the next five to ten years until I can retire and get a ship of my own. That’s not the life I came here for.”

  Laurie took a step toward him. “Jacob, I know you. You wanted to serve the way your father did, and he wouldn’t want you to give up on that dream so quickly.” Jacob shot her an ugly look, but she still took another step closer. “At least think before you do this. Just think about what you’re giving up.”

  Jacob continued to glare at her, his heart still boiling with frustration and rage. Laurie stood her ground, and after a moment he felt his hostility cool. There was sense to her words, distasteful though they were, and he finally nodded.

  With a sigh, Laurie stepped back and glanced at Isaac. Jacob looked in the Gunnery ensign’s direction as well, and Isaac shrugged uncomfortably. “What? After all that my plan to sneak laxatives into his meals for a week doesn’t seem all that usable anymore.”

  Jacob burst out laughing, and Laurie joined in. For a while he enjoyed the feeling, until finally the chuckles faded away. Jacob and his friends fell silent, and their eyes were drawn to the Capistan as its speed increased yet again. For a while, they simply watched the spinning wheel until Jacob finally broke the silence. “In any case, I’m going to need to spend a decent amount of my free time thinking this whole thing through. Any last minute advice?” The two other ensigns shook their heads, and he sighed. “Well at least come keep me company a bit. After dealing with this mess I think I need some food before the next wave of problems show up. You hungry?”

  After a short break to eat, Jacob found himself back in Engineering. He started the rest of his work shift by quietly tracking down the problems Laurie had mentioned in the point defense turrets. It was hard, given that Urleigh continued to hound him, but once he told Turley what was going on, the gruff petty officer managed to pass along assignments that allowed him access to the interceptor power grid.

  As he worked, Jacob began to notice a pattern. In each of the turrets he checked, there was at least one branch that led off from the power lines of an unrelated system and fed into the interception grid. Something is off here. It almost seems like these modifications were done on purpose, but no moron would mix the wiring for the officer’s mess with half the combat systems on the ship. He continued to work on the problem, replacing the branched connections and tracking down the shorts until he felt he had found all of them.

  An hour before his shift ended, he was struck by a certain suspicion. Making his way across the deck again, he slipped into an access tunnel
and began to check the wiring on one of the short-range railgun turrets. It wasn’t long before he found yet another branch connection, this one leading from the refrigeration units. Seriously? This is getting weird. Pressing the tab again, he called up Turley.

  “Yeah, Ensign? You done snooping around yet?”

  “Kind of. Could you join me in access tunnel 3C?”

  The request seemed to take the petty officer off guard. Jacob could picture Turley thinking it over before he responded. “Sure, Ensign. I’ll be right there.”

  Jacob continued to stare at the errant connection while he waited. This can’t be a mistake. The same branched connection in every combat system I’ve found so far? He recalled an old engineering saying his father had claimed to live by. Once is a construction error. Twice is sloppy work. Three times is a conspiracy. The thought chilled him. It wasn’t possible someone would be trying to sabotage the Wolfhound, was it?

  He heard a steady stream of cursing echo up the access tunnel, and he turned slowly in the gravity to face the entrance. Turley was there, pulling himself toward Jacob along the tunnel’s length. A bit larger than most crew members in the Engineering section, Turley had a sizable amount of girth packed into his engineering coveralls and sported a large white beard that didn’t quite match regulations. Not that Urleigh would try to call him on it. The petty officer was looking less than pleased at having to come personally, and Jacob winced as Turley caught his eye and swore with a bit more volume.

  When Turley reached the spot where Jacob hovered, he took up a position on the other side of the hatch and looked in. “Well, now, let’s see what has the dear Ensign in a fit, shall we?” Jacob winced again at the sarcastic tone. The way Turley suddenly stiffened in surprise brought a worse feeling though. The petty officer slowly turned back to Jacob. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Jacob nodded solemnly. “Yeah. I’ve been running all over pulling branched connections like this out of the whole point defense system. Most of them didn’t seem to be causing interference, but a few were mixing up the magnetic charges, and Ensign Simms noticed. I just checked this railgun system because of the one I found the other day.” He paused, trying to keep himself from babbling. “Turley, do you think it could be—”