by Doug Hoffman
As the pair of war-birds passed between the lesser Tharsis volcanoes, Bobby stuck to Beth's tail like glue. In frustration, she rolled inverted and dove for the deck, pulling up less than 500 meters above the rocky surface. Accelerating madly, she headed for the western end of Valles Marineris, the gigantic rift valley that stretches for nearly a quarter of the planet’s circumference. More than 4,000 km long, 200 km wide and up to 10 km deep, the largest canyon on Mars dwarfed the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. But, to be fair to Earth, several of its oceanic rifts were larger.
On they flew, into Noctis Labyrinthus, on the western edge of the Rift System, playing tag among the crisscrossing canyons that lacerate the huge blocks of older terrain. It was easy to imagine titanic floods etching their way through the jumbled ancient terrain. Racing eastward, the pair followed the southern valley, the Ius Chasma. Weaving to either side, they hopped back and forth over Geryon Montes, the central ridge that split the wide canyon.
Beth was becoming desperate to shake Bobby from her tail. No fighter pilot wants to admit another pilot her better, but Beth was beginning to think that Bobby was her match in a dogfight. She pulled a 50G turn into a side canyon that became really narrow, really fast. So fast she was forced to pull up and clear of the canyon walls. She circled around looking for Bobby but didn't see him emerge from the canyon below.
“Well that was a lot of fun.” Bobby's voice over the comm startled her. Looking right she saw his Kestrel off her wingtip.
Oh bollocks, she swore to herself. “Yes, it was good fun. Have you seen enough of scenic Mars for one day?”
“Yeah, you seen one gigantic canyon you've seen them all. How about you chase me for a while?”
“Roger that,” she replied as Bobby's fighter shot away and back down into the canyon system headed west. Beth streaked after him. Let's see if the smug little bastard can shake me on the way back to base...
Chapter 6
Armory, Peggy Sue II
The ship's armory was aft, between the cargo hold and the polar bear quarters. The Gunny was overseeing her Marines, who were storing their new suits of heavy armor. They were almost finished when JT strolled in accompanied by the SEALs.
“Lieutenant Taylor! As I live and breath,” Rosey exclaimed. “How have you been, Army?”
“Hey, Gunny. Long time no see. I didn't realize this was a reunion tour.”
“Have you joined this group of interstellar misfits? I haven't seen you since the M'tak Ka'fek.”
“Yeah, good times.”
“Any better and we'd all be dead,” added Chief Morgan.
“Come on, Rick. You special ops guys love being in the shit.”
“If you say so, Gunny. I only signed on for the retirement plan.”
The banter among the old comrades in arms piqued the interest of a she-bear who was also in the room. Seeing her turn her head toward the newcomers, Rosey waved the bear over.
“Aurora, come meet some old friends of mine. Guys, Sergeant Aurora was one of the Marines that boarded the planet killer that attacked Earth.” That action, known as the Great Alien Hunt, was the first counter strike made by Earthlings after the initial Dark Lord attack on the home world.
As Aurora padded up, claws clicking on the polished deck, a rank device could be seen on her harness. It displayed the stripes of a Marine sergeant. Polar bears did not wear jumpsuits like humans, finding temperatures in the common areas of the ship sweltering enough without covering. Besides, they found the idea of clothing somewhat laughable under any circumstance. To provide a place for insignia and the standard communication pip, the ursine members of the crew wore harnesses made from white webbing. The harnesses also had clips that enabled the bears to carry things when walking on all fours.
“Good to meet you, Sergeant. Nice to have someone with actual experience boarding a hostile ship among our ranks.”
“Nice to meet you, Lieutenant. And you gentlemen as well.”
“Gentlemen might be stretching things a bit, Aurora, but all these people are good to have with you in a fight.”
JT nodded to the bear. “I always feel better with bears in the mix. How many of our ursine brethren do we have among the Marine contingent?”
“The Sergeant runs second squad and Corporal Inuksuk, also a veteran, is with me in first squad. There are another male and female, Aput and Siku, on the bridge crew.”
“Sensor operators?” T'aafhal alter-space sensors had a neural interface that worked better with polar bears than with humans. Working through the bears' highly developed sense of smell, an ursine operator could literally smell targets through alternate dimensions, allowing tracking at faster than light speeds.
“Yeah, the Sue Two has all the latest alien tech bells and whistles. Some stuff even the Fleet hasn't got.”
“So what do you think of the new armor?” JT had been involved in designing several generations of space armor during his tenure on the old Peggy Sue. The gathered warriors—Marines, SEALs, and Army Special Forces—could not resist talking shop.
“It is supposed to be tougher than the previous generation, but that remains to be seen. The suits do have a new modular weapons system that is pretty sweet. You can swap between 5mm, 15mm, and 30mm railguns, and some new toys—a gigawatt pulse laser and a plasma cannon. Each comes with a matching backpack magazine or power source. You can mix and match to fit mission requirements.”
“That sounds useful if we need to go in heavy,” commented Chief Morgan. The special operators generally preferred the euphemistically labeled light armor, with its greater dexterity and physical flexibility.
“Even better,” added Sgt. Aurora. “There is a propulsion module you can add that lets you maneuver in low-G no-G conditions. No more having to swing around like a bunch of monkeys like we did during the Great Alien Hunt. No offense to you primates.”
“None taken,” JT replied with a grin. He had been close friends with several bears over the years and had come to appreciate their blunt spoken manner and often sarcastic sense of humor. “So how are your people shaping up?”
Rosey shrugged. “They've got some rough edges but all of them have some form of previous training. I figure they'll be good to go by the time we reach Aldebaran, two whole weeks of 3-space plus transit time to hammer 'em into shape.”
“I'm looking forward to some cross training among the different warfighters on board,” JT agreed.
“Yeah? Well just wait until Dr. Ogawa dragoons you into her sword fighting class.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Wardroom, 3rd Deck
Billy Ray had finished with the latest round of paperwork and was sitting in the officers mess, enjoying a cup of coffee, when Beth and Bobby returned.
“So how'd the testing go? You two look like you have a permanent case of the grins.”
Beth was, indeed, grinning widely. “I would say that the Kestrels are quite adequate for our needs.”
“Of course, we didn't get to really push the envelope,” Bobby threw in, “because we didn't have any AM for the auxiliary power converters.”
“Don't blame 'em for not wanting experimental fighters running around their hangar with a passel of antimatter on board.”
“Still, I found them quite exhilarating. There is a sense of speed when flying a small craft that just isn't present in a large ship.”
“I don't see what you two love about small boats,” the Captain said somewhat peevishly.
“There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats,” Beth quoted.
“Kenneth Grahame?”
“You forget, dear, that I've had a proper English education. When I was in school they still taught the classics.”
Bobby shrugged. “Hey, big or small, I just like to fly. If I get to shoot at stuff at the same time that's just a bonus.”
“You didn't shoot the place up, did you pardner?”
“No. Damn wussy shipyard dorks—n
o antimatter, no live ammo, they were even freaked out by a little nap-of-the-earth flying.”
“Technically, that would be nap-of-the-red-planet, Bobby.”
“Whatever. The Kestrels are shit-hot, I wish we'd had them at Alpha Phoenicis.”
“Great. I'll tell the shipyard people we'll accept delivery of the shuttles and fighters.” He made a notation on his sleeve display. “To change the subject completely, I ran into an old friend this afternoon.”
“Oh? Who?”
“JT. He's evidently been kicking around the solar system and was in need of gainful employment.”
“Really? And you hired him on?” Beth didn't know JT well, at least not as well as Bobby and her husband.
“Yep. He's a good man in a fight and a pretty fair astronomer to boot. That and he knows most of the old hands on board.”
“Well, it's not like we don't have the space, and trained people are hard to find. You're expecting to get into a fight during the coming voyage, my Captain?”
“Honey bunch, when have we ever taken a voyage where we didn't end up in a ruckus or two?” Billy Ray grinned at his wife and his best friend. “If'n you two are done messing around with our new boats I think we should make preparations to depart. We still need to load the small craft once in orbit and then go pick up some antimatter for yer new play toys, and for the ship.”
“Roger that, Captain.”
Beth raised a single eyebrow in Spock like amusement.
Polar Bear Quarters
Once the armor and weapons were stored Aurora returned to the Polar Bear quarters on first deck, aft of the armory. Polar bears are creatures adapted to the Arctic. Though much of the Arctic is covered by ocean, large tracts of that ocean are perpetually capped by ice two to three meters thick. In summer the temperatures are near zero, in winter the temperature drops to -30 or colder. Polar bears evolved to wander this frigid land in search of food, even swimming long distances to cross leads and fissures in the pack ice. A starship kept at temperatures comfortable for humans was not a comfortable environment for the white bears of the Arctic.
To provide the ursine members of the crew a place to sleep and relax when off duty, a special section was built into the ship where conditions were more appropriate for Arctic creatures. Freezing temperatures, floors of ice, and even a pool of cold water, with salinity comparable to that of the Arctic Ocean, gave the bears a place to unwind. Currently all four ursine crewmembers were present, cooling off before the expected call to departure stations.
“So what do you think of the human crew?” asked Inuksuk between chunks of ringed seal. The 600 kg male was lying prone holding the seal carcase with his paws, ripping off strips of skin and blubber with his teeth. Bears in the wild only eat infrequently but can assimilate 84% of the protein and 97% of the fat they ingest. When given a choice polar bears dine exclusively on seal fat. Strangely, when on this fat heavy diet their cholesterol levels actually drop, possibly due to the omega-3 fatty acids found in seal blubber.
“They seem OK to me,” replied Aput, the other male. He had always had a fascination with science and technology and enjoyed being on the bridge crew, even if it was sweltering and smelled of primates.
“We could have done worse,” said Aurora, pulling herself from the swimming pool and shaking the water from her fur like a 250 kg dog. “Several of them were among the first Earthlings to venture into space. They were with Captain Jack when he rescued many of us from the Arctic before the aliens attacked.”
Inuksuk snorted. “Like they were so altruistic.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I think that humans get more out of this 'partnership' than we do. If we weren't useful we'd still be running around on the pack ice, that or dead.”
“That's pretty harsh,” said Siku, the quietest and most introverted of the four.
“If you have such a hard-on for humans why did you sign on for a year long voyage on board a ship full of them?” Aurora walked closer to the big male and sat down on her haunches. “No one forced you to associate with primates.”
“I talked with Umky, Isbjørn's cub, and he told me about the last voyage these same primates made. They think they have a handle on where there might be some surviving T'aafhal.”
“And you're queer for T'aafhal?” Aurora, like many polar bears, had a habit of using slang from 50's film noir, possibly because the image of a hard-boiled private eye loner fit their idea of a real hero.
“Let's just say I want to find out why they made us like they did. I mean, why did they mess with both the primates and us? Why not just bears, and let the monkeys stay dumb and happy, picking lice off each other and throwing shit at their neighbors?”
“I don't know what your problem is, you dumb lug, and I don't much care, but understand this—you do anything to endanger the ship or the rest of us and you'll find yourself breathing vacuum.”
“Hey, sister, don't get excited! I'm along for the money and the adventure. I just don't care for humans much is all. That and I wouldn't mind snagging a fang on one of those T'aafhal creatures.”
“Just remember what I said, numb nuts. Best you keep your thoughts to yourself, because the walls around here have ears.”
The other two bears, less combative than the two ursine Marines, looked at each other as if to say, what have we gotten ourselves into?
Captain's Quarters
With departure scheduled for the end of morning watch, Billy Ray and Beth took the opportunity to grab a last night's sleep together before getting underway. They would both be on the bridge tomorrow morning and during the docking of the shuttles and fighters. After breaking orbit they, along with Bobby, would then split the watches until insertion at the alter-space transit point days later.
“You seem tense tonight, dear.” Beth had changed into something slinky and was at her dresser, doing those things that a woman does before getting into bed. Billy Ray was laying on the bed wearing only shorts, hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling.
“I always get a mite edgy before casting off on a long voyage. Trying to think of anything I forgot—it's not like we can just stop off at a roadside convenience store if I missed something.”
“Speaking of stops, we are going you-know-where before heading for the transit point, correct?”
“Yep. That's the last of the supplies—a couple of type one AM containers for the ship and a some type three eggs for your new play toys.”
“I can understand why we don't store antimatter on the Moon or one of the planets—an accident or an alien attack could set off a devastating explosion—but why does the Council keep the stuff at a secret location out in the asteroid belt?”
“It's one of the things the Council doesn't feel comfortable with the military having control over.”
“So it's under the control of a handful of the richest people in the solar system?”
“Honey bunch, life is full of hard choices and compromises, none of 'em perfect and many of 'em unpleasant. I'm just thankful to have you and our friends and a ship to go roam the galaxy in.”
“Speaking of friends, what's up with Lieutenant Taylor?”
“JT? It seems to me that he's going through a rough patch, trying to put his breakup with Gretchen behind him.”
“He swears that the breakup was amicable and that there wasn't any regret on either side. You're saying you don't believe that?”
“I'm saying there's a reason that Gretchen buries herself in her job and that JT shaved his head and went off prospecting in the asteroid belt. They are both in denial to some extent. Eventually they'll get over it.”
“Do you think it will affect his duties? Can we trust him in his... emotionally distressed state?”
“I think he will do fine. In fact, if we do run into one of those situations that he's best at he will welcome the challenge. Now stop worrying about the crew and come take care of your captain.”
She threw a hair brush at him, but had a grin on h
er face as she jumped onto the bed.
Chapter 7
Bridge, Peggy Sue II Underway
The trip to acquire the needed antimatter took four days. The subsequent plummet on a comet like course, passing inside the orbit of Mercury and nearly grazing the Sun, took another seven. Their objective was the alter-space transit point leading to Aldebaran, the first leg of their journey to the Pleiades.
Aldebaran, Alpha Tauri, is the brightest star of the constellation Taurus, the bull. The star's ancient name comes from Arabic, meaning “the Follower,” since it appears to follow the Pleiades star cluster across the Earthly sky. It is a bright orange giant with a mass 1.7 times that of the Sun. More impressively, it has a radius forty-four times that of Earth's local star.
“How are we looking for transit, Cmdr. Danner?”
“We are aligning now, Captain. We've past the orbit of Venus and should be at the insertion point in less than ten minutes.” A combination of orbital dynamics and relative mass put the Earth-Aldebaran transit point just outside the orbit of Venus, on the opposite side of the solar system from their last stop.
“Tell me again why we are going to the eye of Taurus first?” Asked Beth. Most renderings of the constellation made Aldebaran the celestial Bull's malevolent orange eye. Normally Mizuki would have offered an answer to the First Officer's question. Instead the Science Officer looked at JT and nodded, giving him an opportunity to show himself knowledgeable in matters astronomical.
“Aldebaran is sixty-five light-years away, and is positioned in front of the Hyades star cluster, which forms the head of Taurus the Bull. It is part of the head of Taurus, but is not a part of the Hyades cluster, which is over twice as far away—some 150 light-years from Earth. It is basically a convenient stop on the way to places farther out.”