New Title 1

by Thomas DePrima

  "Have they ever given you any problems?"

  "None. They stay in my quarters, except when I take them to exercise with me. With them protecting me, I know that I couldn't be safer."

  "The word is that you're pretty good at protecting yourself."

  "It's nice to have the extra eyes and ears. I sleep very soundly with Cayla and Tayna next to my bed."

  "I can understand that. With three hundred twenty pounds of muscle, claws, and teeth protecting me, I'd sleep pretty soundly myself."

  As the chronometer on the bridge sounded eight times, Jenetta smiled and said, "I see that it's time for the watch change, so you have the bridge, Commander. I'll see you tomorrow."

  "Aye, ma'am. Goodnight."

  Jenetta's cases had been delivered from the BOQ and she took the time to unpack and put everything away before climbing into bed. Checking her bedside com unit, she saw that Zane still hadn't answered her message.

  In the morning, Jenetta headed for the ship's gym with her cats. She spent an hour working out and thirty minutes running around the track with the cats, before returning to her quarters to shower and prepare for the day. She enjoyed a couple of healthy breakfasts in the officer's mess then returned to her office with an armful of fruit to begin work. Matters relating to victualing and preparing the ship for an extended voyage consumed several hours, and then individual meetings with all senior officers to coordinate final preparations for departure took up the rest of her office hours for the day. She would have loved to spend some more time aboard the Colorado, but that would have to wait until after they were under way.

  Jenetta arrived on the bridge to begin her watch just before 1600 and spent a very busy four hours coordinating the final activities related to their departure. At 1950 she gave the order to seal the ship and prepare to leave port. The captain returned to the bridge just before 2000 but didn't intervene. He just stood near the tactical station and observed. After each department had reported in that all was secure and ready for departure, and port control issued clearance and departure instructions for the ship, Jenetta gave the order to depressurize the airlock tunnel and then release the docking clamps. As the clamps were released, the airlock tunnel retracted automatically into the dock. The ship was immediately floating free.

  "Reverse thrusters, twenty ticks," Jenetta ordered at exactly 2000 hours.

  "Reverse thrusters operating, twenty ticks," the helmsman reported.

  The large display screen at the front of the bridge, that normally showed the view from the bow, shifted to show a view from the stern. A small inset image now showed the view from the bow as the large ship backed away from the docking pier.

  As the Prometheus cleared the pier and other ships, Jenetta said, "Starboard bow thrusters, ten ticks."

  "Starboard bow thrusters operating, ten ticks," the helmsman repeated.

  The ship began turning in a slow counter-clockwise motion as the thrusters engaged. As it reached a certain point in its arc, Jenetta said, "Larboard bow thrusters, five ticks."

  "Larboard bow thrusters operating, five ticks," the helmsman reported.

  The ship slowed its turn but was still moving back away from the spaceport pier when Jenetta said, "Helm, Sub-Light engines at minimum power until we clear all station traffic. Engage Sub-Light engines."

  "Aye, Commander, engaging Sub-Light engines, power at minimum."

  The view on the large display screen changed again to show the view from the bow and the ship moved forward slowly until it cleared the docked ships and the ships in planetary orbit. Once clear of all traffic, the helmsman called, "Clear of all traffic and our course is laid in, Commander."

  "Are we aligned with our course, and is our path clear?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Tactical, what's the status of the Autotect grid?"

  "The Autotect grid is green, Commander."

  The sizeable tactical station aboard the Prometheus was designed to accommodate no less than seven officers. The lead tactician, usually a commander, or at least a lieutenant commander, sits amid an almost complete circle of displays and electronic control consoles. Facing him or her, on the outside of the circle, are six stations for the rest of the tac team. A bevy of holo-screens hang suspended over the encircling hardware so the lead can see what each tac team member is seeing.

  The ship's ACS, or anti-collision sensors, has the potential to 'see' another vessel that's hours away, even when both ships are proceeding at top FTL speed towards one another, if both vessels are transmitting a proper Autotect code. The signals travel on an Inter-Dimensional Band in hyperspace at a speed of point-zero-five-one-three light years per minute. Green means that no other ships are reporting a course that intersects with the Prometheus' projected course in such a way as to present a danger.

  "Tactical, what's the status of the DeTect grid."

  "The DeTect grid is green, Commander."

  The ship's DeTect equipment uses a special frequency in hyperspace to 'see' everything within four billion kilometers of a ship. The quality of the image isn't very good, but the computers can identify the movement of any ships, extra-terrestrial bodies, or miscellany that poses a threat to the ship's navigation.

  "Helm, build our envelope and proceed on course at Light-375."

  As a temporal envelope fully engulfed the ship, the helmsman keyed in the speed setting. Jenetta turned to Captain Gavin and said, "We're away, Captain."

  "Carry on, Commander," the captain said, then turned and left the bridge.

  Jenetta settled into the command chair and watched the front viewscreen as the ship rocketed forward on its designated course towards the Frontier Zone.

  Following her morning workout and breakfasts, Jenetta returned to her quarters and recorded a message to her brother Andy, congratulating him on his promotion to Lt. Commander. She'd been too tired to respond to his vidMail after she'd come off duty and viewed the message from him. Then she spent a couple of hours dealing with shipboard matters before placing a call to the chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Cameron.

  "Bill, it's Jen. I'm going to spend some time aboard the Colorado this morning. Are you free to join me?"

  "Absolutely! I've been itching to take a good look inside her, but she's been off limits."

  "The captain has instructed me to familiarize myself with it and to train crews in its operation, so I've lifted the blanket restriction and established access for certain senior officers. As the crews are established, they'll also receive access privileges, but this is your chance to scrutinize things without tripping over a couple of dozen enlisted crewmen."

  "I can hardly wait."

  "I'll meet you there. Your access privileges are already in effect. I'm headed down there now."

  "I'll meet you in the bay."

  Lieutenant Commander Cameron was standing in the new bay gazing up at the superstructure of the scout ship when Jenetta arrived. At forty-seven, Bill was still at the top of his game. Standing five-foot-ten, he kept himself reasonably fit. He had rugged good looks, dark brown hair, and brown, hound-dog eyes.

  The bay, or more accurately the air-tight docking collar, was easily ten times the size of a normal flight bay.

  "It's enormous," Bill said, looking up at the Colorado.

  "It's no shuttle," Jenetta said. "It's a real ship."

  "I was in a shuttle checking over the shipyard's work when it was delivered, but it was dwarfed by the Prometheus. Seeing it like this really hits home. And we're only seeing the uppermost two decks."

  "Let's go inside and look around. I spent some time on the bridge the other day. It's impressive."

  Over the next few hours, Jenetta and Bill looked through the engineering section while comparing the equipment to the computer's specs and diagrams.

  "This is crazy, Jen," Bill finally said in an exasperated voice. "From what I've heard, half this stuff is still experimental."

  "This is the prototype, after all. They must feel that it's been proven well enough to
release it for active service. They're already building more scout destroyers for the other battleships, from this same design."

  "According to the computer, this ship has only logged two days of space trials. New ship designs are supposed to log ninety days before being released for fleet duty. And ships containing radical new engine designs are supposed to be tested for six months or more. We don't even know how this new outer skin is going to hold up."

  "It saved our bacon on Dakistee. I think that it should do the job."

  "That was on a planetary surface, with a warm nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. We're talking about using it in the frigid vacuum of outer space. Remember the Titanic!"

  "The Titanic?"

  "The steamship that went down in the North Atlantic in 1912."

  "I don't follow you."

  "It was discovered, following an investigation of the damage about a century later, that the steel and rivets used for the hull became extremely brittle in the frigid waters. When the ship slid along the iceberg, rivets popped and hull plates cracked or buckled far more than they should have."

  "I'm sure that the shipyard tested the Dakinium plating under all the conditions that we'll face."

  "Probably, but there's no test like the real thing. And what about this new engine design? I only read about it in our engineering research updates a few months ago. I had no idea that it was actually being built. Now I find that it's a reality. They can't have had time to test it properly."

  "Maybe that's our job. Things are moving pretty fast since the GAC decided to expand our borders."

  "Things shouldn't move so fast that safety is compromised."

  "Do you feel that it's unsafe?" Jenetta asked.

  "I don't know, Jen. And that's the point! I don't think that it could have been properly tested."

  "We have months before we reach the old border. Spend some time going over the engines, and satisfy yourself that there's no imminent danger. In a month we'll start doing some space trials of our own, unless you've found something to convince me that we shouldn't."

  "We can't stop to perform proper space trials. We have to reach the old border and begin our interdiction operations."

  "The Colorado can launch and travel alongside the Prometheus. We'll have a couple of months to test the new engine design."

  "The captain can't slow us to Light-225 so that we can do that."

  "Captain Gavin will do whatever is necessary to help safeguard the lives of his crew. Besides," Jenetta said smiling, "Light-225 is only the officially listed speed. The Colorado can easily beat the Prometheus to the old frontier border."

  Bill's lower jaw dropped. "It's faster than the Prometheus? Faster than Light-412?"

  Jenetta nodded slowly.

  "My God! What's its top speed?"

  "Light-487, but that's classified. Only the ship's commanding officer can override the Light-225 governor by entering a special password through the console at the command chair."

  "Light-487?" Bill repeated in awe. "In a ship this small? No wonder the drive system looks so radical. It has to be."

  "If the claim is accurate, there isn't another ship in the galaxy that can touch it. At least not until the other scout ships are ready for delivery. I'd like to log as many trial hours in the Colorado as we can before we actually need it for operations."

  "Okay, I'll spend as much time with it as I can. Who can I bring in?"

  "Your senior engineers only, for now. I'm going to be bringing in bridge crews to train on the ship's controls. Let me know if you need to take anything off line or deactivate any of the bridge consoles."

  "Will do. When will the bridge crews be coming in?"

  "Tomorrow. I've already established the preliminary duty schedules."

  * * *

  Chapter Five

  ~ October 27th, 2272 ~

  Vyx approached the meeting place with considerable trepidation. Shev Rivemwilth had sent another note, this one saying that he was now healthy enough to conclude the arms deal. The meet would be in the same ramshackle house Vyx had visited last time. He'd brought half the payment with him, along with a small arsenal of weapons. His backup laser pistol rested comfortably in its well-oiled holster, and the older laser pistol that he'd bought at the pawnshop was stuck in his waistband. Concealed in various places on his body were half a dozen knives, and two old lead projectile weapons like the ones common on Earth two centuries earlier. The ancient 9mm pistols were able to pass through most screening devices set to pick up the energy signatures given off by laser and lattice weapons.

  Climbing the stairs to the second floor under the watchful eyes of two burly, Terran bodyguards, Vyx stiffened noticeably when one pointed to the laser weapons and held out his hand. Vyx shook his head very slightly and tensed his body for action, but the bodyguard simply stepped out of the way so that he could pass. They must have orders to let him pass with his weapons, but attempted to have him surrender them anyway, Vyx thought. He wondered if they were two of the hunters that had given him such a rough night the last time he was here. He hesitated, and then walked past the guards, the hairs on the back of his neck tingling.

  Entering the apartment, Vyx saw Shev Rivemwilth reclining on a sofa.

  "Come in, Trader, come in. Take a seat over here next to me. I'm sorry for not getting up, but I'm still convalescing. My strength is returning, but slowly. I've had a new artificial heart installed but it's been causing me some pain. I debated whether or not to get it, since my one heart could really handle everything, but I finally decided that I should have it as a backup in case something happened to my remaining original."

  "I'm happy to see that you survived the lattice wound, Shev. I never expected to see that Tsgardi here. Apparently he never expected to see me here either."

  "Why do you suppose he pulled his pistol and started shooting?"

  "We met a few years ago during a deal. He tried to sell me a load of laser pistols that he had salvaged from somewhere. I examined them and found that the pulse modulation circuitry in every unit was fried. I told him to take the junk to the nearest reclamation center and turn it in for scrap. He got mad and told me that if he ever saw me again, he'd kill me."

  "I suppose this was the first time that you'd met again?"

  Vyx nodded. "Yes, or one of us wouldn't have been around for our most recent meeting. I know that Tsgardi don't make idle threats. It was only my weapons that saved me during our previous encounter."

  "It's unfortunate that it occurred during our deal, but Tsgardi are known for letting their egos and tempers reign supreme. Good sense never seems to fit into their equations. Are you ready to conclude our arrangements?"

  "I brought the first half of the payment," Vyx said, passing over the envelope.

  Rivemwilth carefully examined the certified credit draft from the Gollasko Colony bank before sliding it into a small pouch-like device on the coffee table. After a few seconds, the pouch glowed green, then winked out. It was obviously some kind of wireless verification device. Satisfied, Rivemwilth said, "Very good. How soon would you like to take delivery?"

  "You have the weapons here?"

  "Not here in the building, but they're not far away."

  "I'll have the remainder of the payment as soon as you can deliver the weapons to my ship at the spaceport."

  "You can have them in two hours. Which landing pad?"

  "36-Delta."

  "Very well, two hours at 36-Delta. My associate, Mr. Gutz," Shev Rivemwilth said, pointing to one of his Terran guards, "will make the delivery and accept the final payment. I have something for you, by the way."

  Rivemwilth opened a decorative wooden box on the coffee table and took out Vyx's original laser pistol. Vyx tensed in case it was a ploy to aim the pistol at him under the pretext of returning it, but Rivemwilth extended his arm with the pistol pointed to the side. Vyx took it, noticing that the power pack was fully discharged, and stuck it in his waistband.

  "Thanks, I've grown very fond of this p
istol. I've missed its comforting feel."

  "You'll need it when the Tsgardi come looking for you. The one you killed comes from a very large family. Undoubtedly one or more will be looking for your scalp."

  "A blood feud?"

  "Tsgardi can be so foolish. There's no profit in vengeance. Especially when the one being avenged started the trouble to begin with."

  "Perhaps the family won't even hear of his demise."

  "No chance of that. I have several Tsgardis working for me and they've already sent word to his family. You don't have to worry about the group here, though. They aren't related to him."

  "Won't the family offer a bounty?"

  "Possibly, but you shouldn't worry about any of my people trying to collect. I don't allow them to take work on the side, and I doubt that the family would offer them enough to permanently leave my employ."

  "That's reassuring."

  "But you should still be wary."

  "I'll keep my eyes open. Thanks for the warning."

  Vyx stood up and walked from the room. He descended the stairs slowly, a much more dignified departure than the last time he was here. Walking the several blocks to the bank, he secured another draft for the remaining payment, and then made arrangements to hire two security guards from a protection services company that was located next door to the bank. The guards were a doltish looking pair, and he wondered if he could trust them any more than the arms delivery people, but he was desperate and needed backup to serve as a deterrent to possible trouble.

  He hailed a cab to take them all out to the spaceport as he left the protection company offices with the two guards. If transportation had been available after the shootout, he'd be long gone, but like most everything else on this colony even the driverless taxis stopped working as soon as it was dark. As they settled into the seats, he stated the destination to the auditory interface and deposited the fare into the slot in credits box.

  His spacecraft, which he had named Scorpion, was parked in an unguarded section of the port. Security wasn't really necessary as all ships in this area were equipped with self-protect systems. It's doubtful that anyone tampering with one of these ships would be around to celebrate his next birthday. For that reason, few travelers stayed aboard any of the parked vessels. If you happened to be next to a ship with a faulty self-protect system, your ship could be damaged or destroyed as well, even though ships were separated by ten-meter high double-reinforced blast walls. The hotels in town were cheap, so it was wise to stay in one if you didn't have other accommodations available.