Convoy (The Shelby Logan Chronicles Book 1)

by Chris Hechtl

  Word of the Federation in Rho had been passed around on the planet as well as the former pirate slaves. Both groups were eager to join the Federation. Some of the former prisoners had asked for permission to help refit their ship. A few had requested and had been granted asylum to resettle on the planet.

  Strike from the Dark's prize crew had cloned the ship's databases, including her navigational database with the loaded course. She didn't have a full copy of the pirate database, but she did have Tortuga firmly mapped for them. While the navigator went over that information, several officers and noncoms with ONI training interviewed the Horathians as well as the former slaves.

  The captives were still in shock, so they gave up some juicy bits of intelligence, including confirmation of Tortuga. Two of the Horathians turned out to be former slaves themselves who had been on Tortuga. They reluctantly told them everything they knew, describing the asteroid base in as much detail as they could recall.

  Unfortunately, both had been used as general labor moving crates and goods in the port or warehouses for much of their stay, at least until they had volunteered to be recruited. One of the recruits had admitted to being sold to various ship companies several times before his last assignment on the prize ship.

  For Captain Corbin, the indentured nature of the pirates complicated the issue. His temptation to hand them over to the natives faded too with the proximity of Tortuga.

  Then there was Tortuga itself. Interestingly, the star that Tortuga was based in was in sync with one of the candidate star systems on the suspected list Ensign Slatterly and Lieutenant Prometheus had generated. If that was true, it meant serious trouble for the newly-founded naval base.

  “Curiouser and curiouser,” Captain Loggins murmured at the captain's meeting. “Now what? We need to warn the commodore obviously,” he said.

  “Agreed,” Captain Corbin said as he gazed at the human at the other end of the table, then to either side where the other three captains were seated. “We can't follow Fourth Fleet; Tortuga is picketed according to our new 'friends,'“ he said dryly. “I'd love nothing better than to go in and take it out, but we don't know what sort of shipping is there, and I don't like jumping in without knowing how deep something is.”

  “We could stir up a hornet's nest and have it all hit the sector capital without any warning,” Captain R'x'r'r agreed. “Do you wish to send Vixen to the sector capital to warn them?”

  “Yes,” Captain Corbin said. “But not until we've squeezed as much as we can out of the captives. I'm also going to want another copy of that database for the courier to carry. But that still leaves the prize ship. I've decided to give it back.”

  “That certainly simplifies the legal situation,” the human captain replied with a nod of approval. “They want to come with us. We can't slow ourselves to their speed however,” Captain Loggins said. “I think we should turn the ship over to the former owners and let them follow us at their best speed. We'll clear the path.”

  “And what of this star system? Should we leave a ship behind to picket it?” Captain R'x'r'r asked.

  “I … no,” Captain Corbin said slowly as all eyes turned to him. “Something tells me the commodore is going to need all hands on deck when she takes down Tortuga. For the time being we need to finish up with the repairs and negotiations and then get underway,” the Neochimp captain said firmly. “The sooner the better.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Captain Loggins murmured.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  The liberated ship took on some crew from the planet, so the trade between them in personnel was nearly evened out, at least for warm bodies. Clearly they'd lost some skilled hands while gaining unskilled inexperienced ones. Captain Corbin didn't envy them.

  “We want to go to the sector capital with you,” Captain Trug said anxiously.

  “You can follow us. We need to get there in a hurry. We will move ahead of you,” Captain Corbin said.

  “But if they find us again …”

  “My suggestion is that you make milk runs between the capital and Lebynthos or another star system you are comfortable with. Regular runs in a safe area will allow you to build up trade and it will allow your ship to trade with and be refitted by the shipyard over time,” the captain said patiently.

  “Once we expand our patrols, we'll make neighboring star systems safe again for travel. We'll eventually expand the coverage, and you'll be able to go further and further afield.”

  “Thank you,” the Tauren said with a nod.

  “Just doing our job,” the captain replied as he watched Vixen depart.

  Chapter 35

  Belfast returned to Tau-42Z15 with her priceless intelligence. She made a brief stop at the planet to refuel. Captain S'th allowed only one shuttle flight to get as much fuel and provisions as they could. In order to maximize what they could get, the XO led the mission with just the flight engineer and a copilot.

  While on the ground, Lieutenant Parker was asked about the Neocats. “Are you going to pick them up?”

  “What Neocats?” she asked, turning to her native Neochimp contact. Her people were busy trying to shoehorn as much fuel and provisions into the small shuttle as they could. She'd even seen them tucking stuff into every cabinet and under the seats, which was against regs.

  “The two saber tooth cats. I heard they went local with Manny though,” the Neochimp said with a sniff.

  “Run that past me again?”

  “Diego's an old cat. He was on planet a few years back when his ship was in port, and apparently, he got drunk or something and missed the last shuttle up. Shira jumped ship when she met him, or so I heard,” the chimp said indifferently. “The admiral will want her at the least,” he said eyeing her. “I know Captain Gutt was pissed about losing his XO.”

  “I think you have us mistaken for someone else. We're not Horathians,” the XO said carefully as she filed the information. The name Captain Gutt definitely got her attention. “Are this Diego and Shira around?” she asked, looking around them.

  “Them? Nah, they are on walkabout with their 'herd,'“ the chimp said scornfully, making air quotes around the word herd for some reason. “They were headed southwest or so I was told.”

  “Okay,” the XO said, filing the information. She passed on a mild tip to the contact when the crew were finished loading. “Stay safe,” she said.

  “A pleasure doing business with you,” the chimp said as he pocketed the survival knife. “Come again real soon!” he said as she went to the shuttle. She turned at his pitched voice and saw him wave so she waved back.

  She grunted at the smell of salted fish and other things. “This is going to be fun,” she said as she climbed into the shuttle. “Do I even have a seat anymore?” she demanded.

  “Every bit of cargo we can get in we did, ma'am. And we refueled the tanks to one ten, so don't be alarmed if the computer is sticky about that,” the flight engineer said as he helped her through the mess to the cockpit. Once she was in, he closed the door, dogged the hatch, and then packed even more gear in.

  “I hope we don't have to get out in a hurry,” the XO said as she took her seat. “Pre-flight checklist?” she asked.

  “All solid, ma'am. We're overweight by a lot so take it easy on the turns,” the copilot warned.

  “Right.”

  “Get anything else?”

  “Just some intel for ONI,” the XO said as she buckled in. “Are we clean?” she asked through her implants.

  “Rear hatch closing now … if I can move … got it. You two are lucky; I've got crap in my lap to have to ride up with,” the flight engineer complained. She checked the status board and noticed the boarding ramp was indeed green.

  “Okay, low and slow,” the XO said as she radioed for clearance to lift.

  “You better git while you can, storm coming in,” the tower said.

  “Don't have to tell me twice,” she said as she applied power. The ship bucked and then began to roll out and into the wind. Th
e fuel they had picked up was a drop in the bucket to what the ship needed, but it would be enough of a safety margin for the ship to make a comfortable transition to the next star system over she thought before her duties as pilot commander took over most of her attention.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  The Federation Beta convoy arrived in the Alpha star system of the Trajin sector in a burst of energy that rivaled but didn't nearly meet the same energy discharge of Alpha convoy's entry.

  That didn't matter to the crews however; they were just grateful to see real stars and planets once more after such a long boring journey.

  “What the hell happened here?” Captain Mochadeyn demanded. He and his crew were desperate for some much anticipated downtime after spending years in transit, but of course none of them wanted to get sick in the process. He read up on the plague and events when the convoy found and downloaded the contents of a messenger buoy.

  “Sir, we're getting some audio-only broadcasts from the planet,” the comm rating reported.

  “In a minute, Becky,” the captain said as he scanned the headers of news in the download. One caught his eye as he scrolled. He stopped and scrolled back up. “Wait, you said the planet?” he demanded, looking up.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then someone's alive down there. By all means, hail them. Let them know we're here,” the captain said. “Time until they send a follow-up message?”

  “Um … twenty minutes at this distance, sir.”

  “Fine then,” the captain said. He went back to reading. His eyes narrowed as he read about Dancer. Apparently, the commodore had done the right thing and alerted Rho right off. Dancer had returned a few months before he did, must be nice, he thought darkly. The ship had carried news that help was coming from Rho.

  “Comm, message to the planet,” he said, straightening up in his chair as he looked up. “This is Captain Mochadeyn of the Federation naval ship Cai Lun. Help is already on the way. If you haven't heard from the courier, well, a relief expedition has been mounted and is en route. Hold on and do your best. Help is coming,” he said.

  They listened to the near incoherent babbling from the planet, some thankful, some confused, some begging for the help right that moment. “You don't understand! People are dying here!”

  “Unfortunately, there isn't a lot we can do. We're freighters,” the captain said patiently as they crossed the star system to the jump to the Gamma-Delta-Echo star system that was a part of the cluster. “We can put our medics on the radio to offer what help they can.”

  “Thanks for nothing,” a voice said bitterly.

  The medics did their best to help right up until the ships reached the jump point. While they had taken up the radio channels, Captain Mochadeyn had overseen the refueling and resupply efforts of the various ships in the convoy. When they were ready, they jumped.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  Dasher arrived in the Platte cluster and made her way to orbit of the first planet. Their mission to pass on the cure was bearing fruit, but the crew hadn't expected having to stop in orbit of the planets and patiently transmit the data, then walk their way through it with the survivors. Some of the planets had audio-only transceivers, so the ship's on-board paramedic had to read the material to them since tiny ship didn't have a shuttle to bring a copy of the chip down to them. No one had thought of that when they'd left.

  But they were getting there. There were only a few more stops before they could turn around and make the return voyage.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  Blitzen entered the Tau-1183 star system in the usual explosion and sparkle of energy. Once her systems had stabilized, the little ship plotted a course to the next jump point. Without any of the convoy around to slow them down they were making good time in their race to catch up with ME Mahoney. The captain had a crew who had a pool on which star system they would catch up with the hospital ship.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  A week after departing Trajin Alpha, the Beta convoy arrived in the Gamma-Delta-Echo star system. They moved away from the jump point and then began to deploy the first ansible platform in the sector.

  As the platform was set up the first core was unpacked. The experts checked and were gratified to see that less than a quarter of her split muons had been disturbed and destroyed during the transit. Another 10 percent were lost in the jostling to install the core into the platform; such things were unfortunate but expected no matter how careful they tried to handle the core.

  Once the platform was powered up, they sent a test message informing the Rho Admiralty that the ansible was online. They received a congratulations message along with a confirmation that the hospital convoy was en route. Captain Mochadeyn received an up-to-date timeline on their scheduled window of arrival as well as that of the Gamma convoy.

  He in turn transmitted to Rho everything they had learned in their time in the Trajin cluster. He let Rho know how bad the populations had been devastated by the plague. “I've been reading about this. Whoever thought of it should be shot. Preferably in a suit, out an airlock, leaking air through a cracked helmet on a slow fall into a star,” he growled. “Maybe with their own sick twisted virus in them tearing their brains apart for good measure,” he added.

  “Agreed. I won't say it will happen, but I'm not against it personally,” a familiar voice answered him.

  The captain blinked. “Um … Mister … President?” he asked tentatively.

  “The one and only,” Admiral Irons drawled. “I thought I'd cut in to your report since I had a free moment. I wanted to thank you and your people for the sacrifice that they have endured getting to Tau and the continuing sacrifice they'll make getting to the capital. Keep up the great work,” Admiral Irons stated.

  “T … thank you sir,” the startled captain stuttered, sitting up straight.

  “Please extend my condolences to the families of the afflicted in the star systems you pass through. Let them know that we are sending help and that we will go after those responsible and bring them to justice. You have my word on that,” he said firmly.

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” the captain said as his personnel came to attention on the bridge.

  “Again, thank you and great work. Antigua out,” the admiral said, cutting the circuit.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  Low on fuel, Belfast stopped in Tau-15A922 with space and ground population. They arrived in orbit just as the planet launched a shuttle that they had kept quiet and under wraps during the light cruiser's previous visit.

  The shuttle naturally attracted the attention of the bridge crew. Their own small shuttle had gone down and had just returned with a representative from the natives to negotiate with them. But the sudden mass and energy signature rising from the planet had been too irresistible to the crew to ignore.

  “Will you look at that thing??” Lieutenant Parker demanded, pointing to a shuttle rising majestically from the planet below like some grand leviathan coming out of the depths of the gravity well. Which, technically she was, the lieutenant thought.

  “What? What am I looking at XO?” Captain S'th demanded, blinking all sets of eyes.

  “That!” the Neogorilla XO said, pointing to an image on the main screen. Apulia formed a karat box around the moving ship and then zoomed in with a separate window.

  The thing she was referring to was a Sky Whale. But it was no ordinary super shuttle. It was an elongated delta shaped lifting body, but it carried rectangular cargo containers stacked on top of each other in its open hold on its dorsal side. The underside of the massive shuttle was black and burned with repeated re-entries.

  It was clear the ship had seen a lot of use and abuse in its centuries of service. To see it still flying was an incredible experience and spoke of the tenacity of the people in the star system … and the incredible ingenuity of not just them, but also the designers of the craft.

  “There must be hundreds, thousands of the pods,” Thelma murmured softly.

  “
Yes, quite impressive,” the captain said diplomatically. Logistics and engineering weren't her strong suit.

  “Eight million tons of cargo,” a familiar gruff voice said proudly as Mister Rufus Salazar joined them. The group of Federation officers turned to Mister Salazar as Chief V'x'n escorted him onto the bridge. “She's the last of them. The last of an old breed,” the brown and black Neomastiff said, hooking his thumbs into his broad belt as he thrust his chest out proudly.

  “Welcome back aboard, Mister Salazar,” Lieutenant Parker said with a nod to the Neodog.

  “Thank you,” the mastiff replied, flicking his ears to the XO. His eyes like everyone else's were on the shuttle's image.

  “What the hell do you do with it all?” Thelma demanded, looking from the Neomastiff to the Sky Whale, and then back again.

  “It's cargo. Fuel, cargo, food, parts, you name it,” Mister Salazar said with an indifferent shrug. “She brings the stuff, mostly food mind you, up to the stations and habitats; they send down parts and semi-processed materials to pay for it all,” he explained.

  The Neogorilla XO blinked then turned to the massive shuttle. “Where do you get the parts for it to keep her flying?”

  “Good question,” Chief V'x'n mused. “That thing is bigger than a Cervidae class freighter. She's almost as large as we are,” the Veraxin observed.

  The native's eyes narrowed.

  “What do you want in trade for the shuttle's services?” the XO asked, glancing at the chief and then returning her attention to the mastiff. “If we can get all our fuel and supplies in one go, we'd appreciate it.”

  “I dunno about that. Having all our eggs in one basket isn't what I'd consider a good idea,” Thelma said.

  “Still, out of curiosity,” the XO said, turning to the mastiff with polite interest.

  “You ain't got it,” the native replied with a sniff. “Besides, we only fly the Goose twice a year. We had to launch her this round since there was a hurricane bearing down on this bay. If we had aborted, she would have been caught out in the weather.” he shook his head. “You don't have anything we can use. I know we cleaned you out last time.”