by Nate Johnson
He followed Tom and Jimmy towards the berthing area to get changed into his deep space suit, stepping around wooden crates and cardboard boxes piled high along the passageway. Six months of extra rations took up a lot of space that no one had ever designed into things. The students had also brought along more gear than a mountain expedition, with cases of lab equipment and even books made of paper.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he looked at his two friends. Big Tom was the senior petty officer in navigation and on the first watch. Jimmy, the senior petty officer in engineering and lead on the second watch. Their two-man stateroom had been converted into a four-man berthing area to make room for their guests.
The thought that they had to sacrifice their precious space for civilians on a joy ride sent hot sparks up and down his spine. The three of them shared the room with John Chang, the deck department’s second lead. He took over whenever Erik shuttled the gig and had been assigned the fourth watch lead. They had formed a tight team over the last two years.
Erik had once heard the XO tell one of the junior lieutenants that the four of them made up the vital core around which the ship’s company revolved.
Big Tom got his nickname from his constant battle with weight, regardless of how hard he hit the gym. The Nanos kept it under regulations, barely. But, it was a constant worry every time they had a weigh-in. The missing musketeer, John, was headed back to the bridge to take the watch, leaving the three others to start organizing their crews and making preparations for getting underway.
Tom and Jimmy continued to banter about the civilians, as they walked down the long center hallway.
“Guys,” Erik interrupted. “I’m telling you, we’re going to have to keep a close eye on our men. Having women onboard is going to be a problem. I’m sure of it,” Erik said.
“Do you always judge so quickly?” a voice said from behind them. Erik turned to see Miss Beautiful brunette, Nora Johnson, standing there with her hands on her hips shooting him a look of pure hate.
“I can assure you that we ‘girls’ can take care of ourselves. You don’t need to worry about us,” she said, looking him straight in the eye. Daring him to dispute her.
Erik stopped and examined her, his gaze traveling up the form fitting tailored temp suit and stopping at the heart-arresting violet eyes. She looks like a young queen upset at finding a mouse in the pantry. How do these people live with themselves? he wondered.
“Actually, Miss Johnson, “I wasn’t worried about you and your companions,” he said with a small sneer. “I was worried about my men. If they do something to get themselves court marshaled then kicked out of the Navy, I’ll strangle them myself before the Captain ever gets his chance.”
Taking satisfaction at the stunned look on her face, he turned and slapped his shipmates on the back and pushed them down the hall.
They had only traveled a few feet when Erik stopped and turned back around.
“And, Miss Johnson, please ask your friends to tone it down on the perfume. It’s not so bad now, the guys just got off a long shore leave. But, in a few weeks, it’s going to start driving them crazy. There’s no need to tempt fate, now, is there?”
The other two spacers were looking at him like he had lost his mind. Nora’s mouth dropped in shock, and her eyes registered her surprise at being confronted so openly.
Then she relaxed, “Is it ‘the guys,’ or yourself that is so affected, Mr. Tanner?” she said with a self-satisfied grin, obviously pleased with herself at getting in such a good comeback.
Erik grinned back, enjoying the tussle. “Oh, it’s the guys, Miss Johnson. I’m from New Kansas and grew up on a farm. Believe me, I’ve smelled much worse.”
Miss Johnson looked outraged, her hands clenched into fists like she wanted to slap him, hard. He chuckled to himself and pushed his friends down the hall. He was pretty sure he heard a muffled curse behind him.
.o0o.
Erik stood at ease in the Captain’s cabin, hands behind his back, feet slightly spread.
“You’re sure about this, Petty Officer Tanner?” Captain Freeborn asked, looking down at the broken sensor array on his table. The XO, Engineering Officer Clark, and Chief Bowen stood behind the Captain, looking over his shoulder at the crumpled piece of equipment.
“Yes, Sir. I checked it myself last watch, as part of the monthly preventive maintenance. Everything was fine.” Erik and his guys were responsible for maintenance of everything not located on the bridge or the engine room.
Of course, the cooks took care of the kitchen equipment, but everything else was his responsibility, both inside and out. Nothing ever broke. If it did, he had a replicator build him a new one and replaced it. But, this was different. Someone had purposely smashed a sensor array, rendering it useless. He could have it replaced in an hour, but this type of thing had to be brought to the officer’s attention.
The Captain looked over his shoulders at the XO. “Any ideas?” he asked.
“No, Sir. It doesn’t make any sense. It couldn’t have been our people. They’d know how easy it was to replace. What’s the point? And, I can’t understand any of Professor Breat’s people doing it. They’re all chomping at the bit to find a new planet just like the rest of us.” He shrugged his shoulders with a look of total confusion. Both, Chief Bowen and Engineer Thompson shook their heads in agreement.
Erik stood there without saying another word. He wasn’t so sure about the civilians. Some of them seemed a little off to him.
They’d been underway for a week now, and a smooth disrespect had grown up between the two groups. The crew worked their butts off, twelve to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. And, the civilians sat around and read books, and talked about stuff.
The civilians, on the other hand, resented the enlisted guys. Probably for the simple reason that the crew resented them. No one likes to be thought of as less than needed. Especially, highly intelligent, privileged little brats like these. It was all so childish and not a big thing, nothing that wouldn’t go away given enough time. But, it wasn’t his place to say, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Okay Petty Officer Tanner. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Chief, have your people keep an eye out and let me know if anything like this happens again. I’ll have a quiet word with the Professor, and maybe we can put a stop to it real quick.
“You know, Sir,” LCDR Clark said, “There is a lot of equipment that if they were sabotaged at the wrong time, in the right situation, could do a lot of damage.” The man shuddered when he thought about what would happen.
Erik swallowed hard, every spacer had heard stories about the wrong piece of equipment breaking at the wrong time and ships disappearing. Traveling through a wormhole and never coming out the other side.
There were two conjectures as to what happened then. Either they were trapped in inner space, stuck in their dead ship until they died of old age. Or, they simply ceased to be. Even the elements of their body were removed from the known universe as if they never existed.
Receiving the Captain’s nod of dismissal, Erik came to attention, performed a smooth about face, and left the cabin.
He wasn’t going to let this rest. Nobody intentionally damaged his ship. No way. No how. He would get to the bottom of it if it was the last thing he did.
.o0o.
Coming out of the jump, Nora held her breath. It always sent a thrill up her spine. And, tomorrow would be the first time into new space. Her heart beat faster, and her palms began to sweat whenever she thought about it.
Anything could be on the other side. A huge rock hurling towards them, a fading sun ready to explode, or even aliens ready to blow them to smithereens. Anything was possible.
This was the ninth time in the last week, and it amazed her how blasé the crew was about the whole thing. Of course, they all had something important to do during a jump. She and her fellow students were as useless as always. Gathered in the recreation room. All of the screens lining the wall wer
e focused on the new space.
After the first Jump, an unofficial challenge had sprung up between the students and the bridge crew. Who could determine their new position the fastest? It was easy to do when you were in known space. It was just a matter of matching up known star fields. In fact, because you knew where the other end came out before you entered, you already knew where you should be.
But, Professor Breat had set up a test where the students had to find out their new position without using known star field maps. The navigators had heard about it and offered to join. It had become a competition, and the bridge always won. Quite often by several minutes.
The students had been getting closer each time. Jonathan Pierce, the sixteen-year-old boy wonder had taken it as a personal affront, and decided on his own, to rewrite the software application that the Navy had spent millions of credits creating.
For two days he had locked himself in his room, and come out all smiles only the day before. Now he was bent over his computer mumbling commands into his throat mike.
Nora laughed to herself out of pure happiness. Tomorrow there would be no going back. The ship would step off into new space, and everything after that was an official adventure.