by M. D. Cooper
Nance smiled, a beautiful expression that filled her eyes with happiness. “Thanks. One of your bios helped me with my phobia—I don’t know if you knew I’m terrified of germs. I can now go out without that damn suit.”
“I had my suspicions; I’m really glad to hear someone helped you out. Who was it?”
“Her name is Terry, she works with a rather odious man named Dr. Philips,” Nance replied.
“I see her on the roster, though I’ve never had the opportunity to meet her,” Tanis said. “I’ll see if I can do something nice for her sometime.”
Tanis looked to Sera and an awkward moment passed between them before Tanis held out her hand.
Sera’s breath caught.
“Come,” Tanis gestured for everyone to enter the groundcar. “We’d best not keep Earl waiting.”
The car ride was short and brought them back to the maglev station from which Sera had disembarked yesterday. They boarded the train and rocked in their seats as it accelerated rapidly down the line.
“Whoah!” Cheeky exclaimed as the car left the Intrepid’s hull and raced across one of the structural arcs.
“The train we took yesterday didn’t do this,” Thompson added. “You guys are nuts,” he said to Tanis.
The general chuckled. “You should take one to the stasis bays sometime. There’s no track for the last hundred meters to the cylinders. You just line up and shoot into a moving hole.”
“You realize this is supposed to be a starship, not a high-risk amusement park, right?” Thompson said while shaking his head.
“Was pretty common back in our time,” Tanis said with a shrug. “We didn’t have inertial dampeners, so speed and finesse didn’t always go hand in hand. On a ship this big—and most stations, for that matter—you want to get places? That’s how it’s done.”
“I really want to see that stuff someday,” Nance said wistfully. “Even if it means going to Sol.”
“I’ve had my fill,” Tanis said quietly. “I’ll never go back there.”
No one spoke for the rest of the ride, and Sera saw that the train stopped one station further from the bridge than it had the day before.
The platform was wildly different than any of the stops she had seen yet. It appeared to be more of a food bazaar than a maglev station. A huge ring of vendor’s stands and restaurant facades surrounded the platform. Servers—both robotic and human—walked amongst the throngs, offering samples and hawking their menus.
“Your…starship has a food court,” Sera stated the obvious.
“It has several dozen. This one is left over from construction. Some companies bid for the rights to set up restaurants in the ship, and when we left we didn’t bother removing the facilities. It makes for an interesting forward mess.” Tanis threaded her way through the tables and Sera followed with her crew.
“Slow down a bit, these heels are not made for this type of maneuvering,” Nance called from behind.
Tanis obliged, slowing her pace.
“I thought it would be more formal than this,” Sera said, half expecting to see a couple of tables pushed together with the captain at their head.
“Don’t worry, it is. We’re just taking the back way in.”
They passed the crush of tables and slipped between a pair of short-order restaurants. From there, Tanis led them into a long corridor. The smells in the food court were pleasant, but the smells coming down this hall were nothing short of delectable. She held open a door and everyone filed through into a large, well-appointed kitchen.
Within, directing battalions of chefs, was the largest man Sera had ever seen. She considered he had to be at least one-hundred and fifty kilograms. She had seen a lot of heavy worlders—or mod freaks—who were large, or strong, but this man was not like that. She could only think of him as a jovial mountain of jelly.
“Tanis!” He rushed toward the general and Sera worried for a moment that he would simply bowl her over. He managed to stop short and wrapped her in his massive embrace. “Tanis! I am so glad you are back. When Priscilla told me, I was beside myself with joy.” He looked over her shoulder. “And who are these beautiful people gracing my kitchen? The ladies all look good enough to eat if—I weren’t so full from sampling this evening’s meal.” With that, he wrapped he arms around his belly and laughed.
“I thought you were never full, Earl,” Tanis replied with a warm smile. “This is Captain Sera; she’s here helping us out with our current little problem. The others are her crew—the people who helped save me.” Tanis introduced them all in turn, and the chef cast his smiling gaze over the throng.
“Welcome to my kitchen, Captain Sera and Sabrina’s crew!” he bellowed as he slipped around Tanis with a grace Sera would never expect a man so large to possess, and wrapped her in an embrace, as well. “It is good to meet you. I had despaired that we had entered a time of ruffians and evil men with those ungrateful wretches out there.”
Sera wondered if he meant outside the Intrepid, or just anywhere outside of his kitchen.
“Sera’s not evil, perhaps just mischievous,” Tanis said with a wry smile.
“Just the right amount then, I’m sure,” Earl said and slapped Sera’s ass.
“Um… yes,” Sera almost squeaked in startlement.
“Tanis tells me you are the best chef within a dozen light-years,” Sera smiled winningly. “I look forward to sampling it myself.”
“Oh ho! You’ll do more than sample. I expect to see that slim stomach of yours plump and full when you are done.”
“Earl’s not happy if people eating his food don’t have to unbuckle their belts,” Tanis added. “But we really must be going Earl, the captain is waiting.”
“But of course, we mustn’t keep his majesty waiting.” Earl bowed and swept his arm as they stepped passed him. Tanis led the way through the kitchen and into the dining room with Earl’s calls of what to eat ringing out behind them.
They were smiling and laughing as they stepped into the officer’s wardroom where the captain and Terrance were already seated. The room was dominated by a long wooden table, its surface inscribed with intricate patterns. Placed around it were wooden chairs and even the walls were covered with wood. Chandeliers made of natural crystal hung from the ceiling.
Sera took in the opulence, glad she dressed up for the occasion.
“Welcome,” Captain Andrews said as he and Terrance rose. “You ladies look stunning,” he said, though Sera could tell his eyes lingered longer on her.
“Was Earl pelting you with dinner suggestions?” Terrance asked.
“I think he just told us to sample at least forty separate dishes,” Sera replied with a laugh.
“That would be the first course,” Captain Andrews chuckled. “He’s quite excited to have you back, Tanis.”
“Of course he is. He’s gotten to stuff me with different creations for a hundred years and I’ve loved each one—it’s like having your biggest fan back.”
“He stayed out of stasis that long?” Sera asked.
“All great chefs are control freaks,” Tanis said with a shrug. “None can bear the thought of their kitchen in other people’s hands for too long.”
“But then he’s spent half his life in there…” Nance said.
“And he wouldn’t have it any other way,” Terrance replied.
The captain indicated that Tanis and Sera should sit at the head of the table with him, Sera on his right and Tanis on his left. “You are, after all, the guest of honor,” he said to Sera.
The rest of the crew sat down the sides of the table, getting settled just as Joseph entered through the kitchen, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
“I barely escaped with my life!” he laughed as he planted a kiss on Tanis’s cheek and sat at her side.
Conversation fell mainly to the events of the last five thousand years, Sera filling in some interesting details of the history they missed. A topic everyone was especially interested in were the initial FTL wars of the forty-sixth century and the conflicts of the eight millennia, which had very nearly brought an end to the human race.
The other diners filtered in over the next fifteen minutes, more than a few taking a moment to welcome Tanis back. Small conversations picked up around the table as everyone pelted Sera and her crew with questions.
“I have to ask,” Cargo said to Tanis at one point. “How is it that we’re even having this fancy dinner? Shouldn’t we be preparing for a battle? It’s a miracle we haven’t been attacked yet.”
“No miracle,” Tanis replied. “No one can win out there, especially considering that they all fear our picotech. Everyone is waiting for reinforcements, and when those reinforcements arrive, it’ll still be a stalemate. By that time, our FTL drive will be ready and we’ll leave them in the dust. In the meantime—unless they all decide to ally against us, we can hold them off.”
The serving staff appeared shortly thereafter, leading carts of appetizers. They were adorned in pristine white hats and jackets—Earl would allow nothing less. With no small amount of poise and decorum, they set plates of everything from finger foods to soups in the center of the table.
Sera didn’t hesitate to select a bevy of meat-filled pastries and half a dozen different types of cheeses. The servers quickly replaced empty dishes, and—after her third helping—Sera wondered what could possibly be next.
She did not have wait long before the staff returned with an array of pasta salads, sprinkled with the finest olive oil infused with garlic and oregano. It didn’t stop there, as they returned with more food arranged on elegant platters, on which the garnishes even looked good enough to eat.
Sera sampled just a little bit of everything and Cheeky made several vocal sounds of pleasure that were on the verge of embarrassing. Nance and Thompson seemed absorbed in their own private conversation while they shared a meatloaf—purportedly sourced from the ship’s own farms.
Sera thought they had reached the height of the banquet, but was mistaken. After their glasses were refilled with red wine, half a dozen chefs came from the kitchen and stood behind a table she had assumed was decorative. A fire roared to life and spread across the table’s surface. They watched, completely captivated as vegetables and thin slices of steak mixed with mushrooms were cooked in woks.
The chefs knew their business, spinning the utensils in their hands while dropping marinade into their pans. They served the dish with potatoes and a mixture of rice covered in a delicate cream sauce.
Sera replied.
While the food was the most exquisite she had ever tasted, Sera still couldn’t keep from watching the Intrepid’s captain, even when he wasn’t addressing her. Her glances were innocent, but when she peered at him out the corner of her eye she was completely unaware that the look was highly seductive.
Delicate, cream-filled pastries and cakes finished the delectable dinner off perfectly, but it was the conversation and laughter from her crew that gave her the most enjoyment.
As the desert forks were being licked clean, a breathless Earnest Redding burst into the room and raced to the captain’s side.
“We…I…You’ll…” he gasped.
“Easy Earnest, catch your breath, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, Captain,” he managed after taking a gulp of air. “It’s what’s right! We’ve had a breakthrough.”
“Really?” Sera asked. “Something beyond the information I provided?”
“Oh yes, very much so, and no. Though we wouldn’t have been able to manage it without your graviton systems and all those research studies you provided, as well.”
“So, what is it, then?” Terrance asked, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
“We’ve discovered how to use the graviton emission systems that Captain Sera provided us with—emissions that work in matter repulsion and photon redirection in directional and focused beams and waves—to create a generalized and consistent suspension wave in the form of a massive halo upon which we were able to successfully place a McPherson generality focus layer tuned to a specific area of space, while altering the gravitational waves supporting it to form a hard shell of non-focused space underneath it.” He said without taking a single breath.
“OK, I’m no slouch when it comes to physics, but you’ve gone levels beyond what I knew existed,” Tanis said.
“It’s a stasis shield,” Sera said, feeling as though the breath had been sucked from her. “He figured out how to make a gods damned stasis shield.”
“Does it work as people have always envisioned?” Captain Andrews asked.
Earnest was catching his breath again after his long explanation so Sera responded to him.
“From the description, it’s the holy grail—maybe more so than even your picotech.”
Earnest nodded emphatically and everyone fell silent, not a single piece of cutlery moved, not a single mouth chewed. The only sound was Earnest taking one last breath before he said. “That’s exactly right. And we can have it in place in two days.”
Silence reigned again until Terrance stood and raised his glass of wine in the air. “I propose a toast. To our good friends from Sabrina and our great and dedicated Edeners. We’ve proved it before and we’re proving it again: there is nothing we can’t do, no chasm that can’t be crossed, and no wall that can’t be breached. We’re living legends, people. We’re going to make history.”
“Make more history, that is,” Joe said with a laugh.
Everyone at the table stood and glasses clinked as the toast was repeated down the table, then everyone took a long draught. With wild abandon, Terrance threw his glass at the fireplace where it shattered against the tile. In a moment, everyone followed his lead with laughter and loud calls for more wine.
ESCALATION
STELLAR DATE: 10.29.8927 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: ISS Intrepid, Orbiting Fierra
REGION: Bollam’s World System, Bollam’s World Federation
The cocoon of the new Arc-6 fighter drew Jessica into its womb and she felt the ship’s systems connect with her mind.
Once more into the breach, she thought to herself.
Cordy, the squadron AI, addressed the pilots.
Jessica smiled at the squadron’s banter. Despite her near-death experience battling the Sirian scout ships, she had kept up her pilot’s credentials. She had not flown any active combat missions since that fateful battle, but had taken part in several training exercises with the Black Death—as the squadron had become known.
Rock and Cary were old guard
; they had flown against the Sirian scouts, as well, but many of the pilots on that fateful mission had been Victorians who stayed behind when the Intrepid left The Kap.
Still, she recognized many of the pilots and had exchanged warm greetings in the ready room. The one person she missed was Carson, who had gone on to lead his own squadron—currently out patrolling the space around Fierra’s southern hemisphere.
Her preflight checklist showed green, and, while waiting for the squadron to drop down their ladders, she ran it again for good measure.
On cue, she felt movement and turned her vision outward, looking around the bay with the ship’s sensors. They confirmed that the suspension field had picked up her Arc-6 and was moving it to her ladder.
The Intrepid now sported a dozen fighter bays—a number necessary to store and service the vessel’s eight-hundred fighters. This bay held racks for over a hundred ships, though nearly all were currently deployed. On the far side of the bay, techs and automatons worked tirelessly around a cluster of Arc-5s, upgrading them into Arc-6s.
Her ship slipped onto its ladder, along with the other twenty-four fighters in the squadron, and a thirty second countdown appeared on her HUD.
No one spoke, every member of the Black Death likely following whatever rituals they performed alone before a combat drop. Jessica sent a thought to Trist in what she hoped was a glorious afterlife.
This is for you, babe.
There was almost no physical sensation as the fighters slid down their ladders, the new inertial dampeners removing all feelings of motion.