by Jeff Sims
Lexxi said, “Why are you talking to me?”
Solear said, “Because, I would like you to name the corvette.”
Lexxi replied, “I don’t care.” She reached for her giant earphones, but Solear stopped her and said, “Please Lexxi, how about thinking of a name for this vessel.”
Lexxi said without further thought or hesitation, “Buzzkill.”
Solear entered the name into the transponder without comment and entered the coordinates into the ship’s navigational jump system. Their route was straightforward. They were going to follow the exact same path that missile 1242 took.
The missile 1242 detected the anomaly just over 12 hours into its journey. It continued broadcasting gravity readings for a few more minutes and then stopped sending a signal. Missiles 1240, 1241, 1244, and 1245 also detected the gravity signature at 12 hours and stopped broadcasting a few minutes later.
He set the exit point of their jump 10 light minutes from where the missile encountered the gravity. That should provide a large enough safety margin to keep them from bumping into anything. They planned to be gone approximately 3 weeks; 5 days to jump each way and up to 11 days to travel to the site and investigate.
Solear contacted Lorano and told him the corvette Buzzkill was ready to jump. He then hit the jump button and they disappeared from Waylon.
Lorano spent the next few days tracking the first two sets of missiles until they reached the 30 hour mark in hyperspace. This translated to 12.5 days in real time. Lorano calculated that after that amount of time the missiles should have either reached Dunron or Hepitila and were beyond the range of the possible location of Old Solaria. He verified that all of the remaining missiles self-destructed.
Lorano had chosen an interesting target for the next two batches of missiles. The first 1,000 missiles were targeted directly at the planet Solaria and the second 1,000 were targeted just below Solaria. Although this is the complete opposite direction from the historically given location of Old Solaria, Lorano reasoned that it would be a great place to look for a missing planet because no one had ever searched there.
Lorano sincerely doubted they would find Old Solaria in this direction. The main reason he chose this direction is that he had a theory there was at least one system between Conron nad Earth. The next 2,000 missiles would try to find the exact location of the mystery system that had bothered their navigation on their original hyperspace jump from Conron to Earth.
Carank was reviewing the final data and asked, “Did any of the missiles make it to Dunron?”
Lorano answered, “You mean, did we chart a new path linking Waylon to Dunron.”
Carank chuckled and said, “I didn’t originally mean it like that, but in essence you are correct. So, were we able to chart a new path to Dunron?”
Lorano replied, “Unfortunately, no. Multiple missiles flew far enough to technically reach the system, but none of them registered any familiar gravity patterns.”
Carank: “It’s a shame. It would have been nice to link them together so that we could travel to Dunron without leaving Alliance space.”
Lorano: “Well, if we have time, perhaps we can send another batch that way.”
Carank: “Switching subjects, the new Mobile Powered Suit is almost ready. We should go to the hangar and watch the humans play with it.”
Lorano shook his head and said, “No. Let’s wait until after we fire the next batch of missiles. Contact acting Captain Clowy and tell her to prepare the Sunflower for departure.”
Carank said, “Maybe you should ride in the Sunflower this time and I will monitor from the station’s bridge. I think Clowy likes spending time with you.”
Lorano walked from the bridge of the space station to the bridge of the Sunflower. He found Clowy on the bridge attacking a particularly troublesome hangnail.
Lorano waited patiently for her to acknowledge him. She didn’t, so Lorano said, “Would you like me to contact the humans and have them board?”
Clowy looked up from her work and said, “Humans board?”
Lorano was impressed that she had at least managed to recognize the two important words in the sentence. Just for fun he switched to Altian and repeated the question. He realized that this was the first time he had spoken to her in their shared native language.
Clowy replied in Altian, “Yes. We need the humans on board in order to launch the missiles. Unless you think we should move all of the fighters from the Sunflower to the space station and have them launch from the hangar.” Clowy had responded in Altian, but didn’t seem to be aware that she had switched languages.
Lorano ignored the response or possibly more precisely, he became bored with the response and tuned her out. He simply contacted the hangar bay and announced, “Humans, please board the Sunflower immediately. It is time to launch the next set of missiles.”
Lorano waited for Ace to appear at the entryway to the bridge. He checked to ensure that no other humans were in the corridor. When he was certain that the humans weren’t going to storm the bridge, Lorano lowered the force field and allowed Ace to enter.
Ace went to the pilot’s chair and began immediate preparations to leave. He looked over at Clowy and said, “Captain, should I proceed to the same coordinates as last time.”
Clowy secured her nail file and said, “Should you?”
Suddenly unsure, Ace checked all of the readouts, and finally looked at Lorano. Lorano nodded affirmative, so Ace said, “Setting the same course and speed as last time.”
Ace uneventfully flew the Sunflower to an area just beyond the gravity well of Waylon and brought the ship to a full stop. He retreated to the hangar deck and climbed into his fighter. When he was secure, Jim Donovan contacted Clowy and told her they were ready to launch.
Clowy announced, “Launch fighters!” She smiled, clearly enjoying herself in the moment. She looked at Lorano and said, “That was fun. What now?”
Lorano answered, “Now we launch the missiles.” Lorano activated the hyperspace drive and adjusted it to the correct location just beyond the cruiser. Clowy contacted the fighters and told them to begin firing.
Lorano spent the next three hours talking with Clowy. He found that they had several things in common. They were both from Altian 1, though her mother relocated to Altian 2 when she remarried. Also, they both liked pyramids.
“1,998, 1,999, 2,000. We’re done,” announced Lorano.
Clowy contacted the humans and said, “All fighters return to the ship.”
After breaking contact, she looked at her communications board in total confusion. She ran a quick diagnostic and shrugged at the result. Finally, she looked at Lorano and said, “We are being hailed.”
Lorano said, “By whom? More importantly, what does it say?”
Clowy responded, “That’s the strange part. It is technically by no one. There is nothing on the scanner, no recent hyperspace signatures, and no active transponders other than ours.”
Lorano waited for a few moments, but Clowy had stopped talking. Finally, Lorano could wait no longer and said, “What does the message say?”
Clowy said, “The message simply says - Come here and bring the humans.”
Lorano thought about the message. Who would know that the Sunflower had human pilots aboard and also could enter the Waylon system undetected? The answer became obvious after a moment’s reflection.
“Oh,” she added, “Carank is now hailing us.”
Lorano answered the hail. He said, “It appears that Victor is back. He must be headed to Earth.”
Carank answered, “Why go back to Earth? And why would he want the humans?”
Lorano said, “I think the answer is obvious. Victor clearly has been assigned to recruit more human pilots. However, that doesn’t explain why he needs these.”
Carank thought for a moment and said, “Maybe he was assigned to replace these with a new batch.”
Lorano responded, “Yes, you’re probably right. We have only had them a few mon
ths though. Do you think they have to be exchanged that frequently?”
Carank replied, “I don’t think so, but one never knows. Come pick me up and we will jump to where I must assume the Vista is located.”
Ace returned to the bridge and piloted the Sunflower back to the space dock. When they docked, Lorano made a ship wide announcement, “Humans, a ship just contacted us and requested your presence. They did not give specific orders, but my belief is that this particular ship is bound for Earth. I suggest you return to the hangar, gather your personal belongings, and return to the Sunflower.”
A half hour later the humans were assembled back on the cruiser. Lorano strongly suspected the Vista was following the secret series of jumps to Earth. If so, then the Vista should be located at the 14 minute mark of the Waylon – Earth hyperspace corridor. Lorano plotted a series of three micro-jumps to get to that location. Typically, the pilot was responsible for calculating hyperspace jumps, but Ace hadn’t been taught how to do so yet.
Lorano watched as Ace backed the cruiser away from the space station. Ace then set a course to the location for the first jump and increased speed to .02 light without a jerk or really any sensation of motion. Lorano was consistently surprised at how smoothly the cruiser performed under Ace’s command.
Lorano felt the need to give Ace a compliment, so he said, “Fine piloting Ace. Someday you may become an adequate helmsman.”
Ace simply said, “Thank you.”
Lorano replied, “Remember that we need to reach .02 light before the first jump, then begin slowing after each micro-jump. We need to exit the third jump and come to a full stop immediately afterward. It is critical that we do not overshoot our target.”
Ace said, “Not a problem. Increase to .02 light, then slow back down to a complete stop at the target coordinates.”
Lorano thought about the make-up of the bridge crew on the Advranki warship – two Altians, one human, and only one Advranki. Clowy was technically the only officer aboard since both Lorano and Carank were civilians and Ace was considered enlisted.
This was probably the first time in Advranki history that an Advranki cruiser on an active mission was being captained by an Altian. However, with the recent personnel transfers and sharing of crew members, the Alliance was starting to act more like one cohesive military versus two (or three if one wanted to counted the Solarians) separate ones.
The Sunflower exited hyperspace and Lorano immediately detected the Vista on passive sensors. His guess was confirmed, the Vista’s transponder was turned off and the ship was in the exact center of the Waylon – Earth hyperspace lane.
Lorano asked, “Are we being hailed?”
Carank responded “No.” He added, “I am running an active scan. There are two beings aboard. Should I hail them?”
Lorano replied, “No. I think that they don’t want any more evidence of their presence here than absolutely necessary. Let’s dock with them and talk in person.”
The Sunflower was sitting a few thousand meters from the Vista. Ace activated the small parking thrusters and brought the Sunflower up and around and effortlessly docked with the Vista. When they had a solid lock, Lorano said, “Ace, please return to the hangar and prepare for possible transfer.”
Lorano watched Ace walk down the caribou corridor. When he crossed into the hangar, Lorano verified the corridor was empty and activated all force fields. Even if a human had been hiding in one of the crew quarters, he would not be able get back into the corridor. He then lowered the force field to the bridge and the one to the external airlock.
A few minutes later Carank and Lorano crawled through the airlock and into the Vista’s main hold. The conference would have been more comfortable aboard the Sunflower, but Lorano didn’t want Clowy to participate in their conversation. Even if they had met in private aboard the cruiser, it was still quite likely that their meeting would be recorded.
Lorano entered the main hold and saw Victor and Crista waiting in the middle of the completely empty hold. He said, “I really like what you have done with the place.”
Carank entered immediately after Lorano; completing the reunion. Carank also scanned the hold, but kept any comments to himself. He said, “Well, you called and we came.”
Victor replied, “Thank you. You two weren’t exactly who we were expecting, but better in a way. As I am sure you two have already guessed, the Alliance Senate has requested that we return to Earth and obtain enough humans to crew an entire cruiser.”
Crista added, “We have to get 45 humans.”
Lorano knew exactly how many crewmembers were required and briefly considered telling Crista her clarification wasn’t necessary. However, she quite frankly scared him and he refrained from making a derogatory comment.
Carank filled the silence by asking, “How do you plan to do that?”
Victor answered, “I honestly don’t know. I have an idea though.”
Lorano realized at least a part of Victor’s plan and said, “You plan to use these humans to somehow recruit the others.”
Victor said, “Yes. I want to offer the humans shore leave in exchange for their assistance. It will be far more believable if I have 20 people willing to board a ship. That should convince the others it is safe.”
Lorano said, “Excellent strategy. The new humans probably won’t realize what is happening until after you leave the atmosphere.”
Victor said, “Well, it wasn’t our original idea, but since they are here why not use them. I mean, they are here aboard the Sunflower aren’t they?”
Lorano said, “Yes. The humans are here. Carank and I are using the gravity missile technology I invented to try to find Old Solaria. The Sunflower is here assisting us. Oddly enough though, it has no crew. The only people aboard are the bridge officers and the humans. It is almost as if…” Lorano let his voice trail off. He wanted to see if anyone else could figure out what he was thinking.
Crista finished, “The humans will be assigned to the Sunflower when we return with them.” She realized that she was probably the butt of one of Lorano’s jokes and scowled.
Victor noted her change in mood and quickly restarted the conversation. He said, “I wonder if Captain Solear knows. Maybe we should ask him?”
Lorano: “Solear isn’t aboard. Clowy is the acting captain until he returns.” Lorano considered telling them about the new solar system they may have found, but decided against it. They really didn’t need the information.
Victor: “Since you are here, can I ask for two favors?”
Lorano: “Let me guess. You want to know whether the secondary power generator we installed can generate enough oxygen to keep 65 humans alive.”
Victor: “Excellent guess.”
Lorano and Carank reviewed the schematics and concluded that the current system was incapable of supporting that many people. Lorano drew a new schematic on the communication pad and forwarded it to Victor.
Lorano: “You can buy compressed oxygen in tanks on Earth. Purchase 11 full tanks and connect them according to the schematic I just sent you. Then, allow a small, metered release and you should be able to keep them breathing long enough to get back to Conron.”
Carank “In addition, you will need to obtain a carbon dioxide scrubbing system. They are readily available on Earth.”
Victor: “Now, the second favor. Can I just drop the humans at the space station here in Waylon? That way, I will only need to keep the humans in the hold about 15 hours instead of 11 days.”
Lorano laughed and said, “Yes. You can drop the humans on Waylon. You can send a signal like before and we can come and get them.”
Carank: “Wait, this is silly. Let’s just take the Sunflower to Earth to retrieve the humans.”
Victor: “That is certainly a better idea. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about keeping the humans alive because the Sunflower is designed to hold people. It would be much easier. However, we would need to reproduce the electronics package that makes the Vista look lik
e a blimp.”
Carank: “That shouldn’t be a problem.”
Lorano: “The only problem is where do we hide the Vista?”
Victor: I will program the Vista to follow the Sunflower to Earth and park at the exit to the hyperspace lane.”
Carank: “That isn’t the only problem though. Can you hack the Sunflower’s transponder and change the hyperspace log? We can’t have the Sunflower broadcasting the secret route.”
Lorano: “No, I can’t. We will have to fool the Sunflower’s transponder like we did the Vista’s. It is only one jump to Earth. We will just do it manually.”
Carank: “Victor, how long do you intend to stay on Earth?”
Victor: “Three weeks should be enough.”
Lorano: “That should work nicely. We should be able to go to Earth, get the new crew, and return to Waylon before Solear returns from his scouting mission.”
Lorano and Carank returned to the Sunflower’s bridge. Lorano activated the force field protecting the bridge and lowered every other force field. The humans could now wander freely throughout the ship.
Lorano noted that Clowy wasn’t on the bridge at the moment. He opened a ship-wide communication channel and said, “Humans, as you may be aware, the Sunflower is missing its crew. We have just been given orders to obtain a new crew from a nearby system you may be familiar with. The jump should only last about 11 hours.”
Carank walked over to Lorano, activated a privacy noise emitter and said, “There is one remaining issue. We are going to have to find a way to fool Clowy to actually give the order to go get the crew. Further, we cannot let her figure out that there is a secret route to Earth because she will be bound by her oath to the Alliance Navy to report it.”
Lorano thought for a moment and answered, “Yes, you are correct. However, tricking Clowy will be no easy task.”
Chapter 5
Jack was thrilled that they were just about to exit hyperspace in Influenla. The journey had only lasted 10 days of shipboard time, but it seemed like an eternity. If time flies when you are having fun, it must waddle when you are not.