To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  “Why not? Oh, the coonies?” Hannah asked.

  Aurelia smiled immediately. “You're quick. Yes, we didn't want any confusion of backlash. Or at least legal didn't.”

  “I can see their point,” Hannah said slowly and thoughtfully. “Though I see your point as well. With their native intelligence, inquisitive nature, and hands, they'd be prime candidates to uplift,” Hannah said. She smiled ruefully. “I wanted a coonie when I was little. Jamey pranked me. I thought he was going to come down with one for my fifth birthday, but instead of a live one, it was a stuffed one. I was crushed for a bit. He was so guilty!” she said, remembering the entire incident.

  “Jamey, your brother?” Doctor Lagroose asked.

  “Yes, I don't know if you've met him or not. He's on Daedalus now,” Hannah said.

  “As a matter of fact, yes, I've run across him a few times,” Aurelia replied with another enigmatic smile. “And I think, if memory serves me, which it usually does … I believe you were responsible for his recent distraction and hobby.”

  “Oh? Not Kathy!” Hannah said in denial, hands up. “I had nothing to do with her honest!”

  “No, losing her as an assistant sucked. Though we have cut back on projects for the time being, at least until the dust with the public settles down,” Doctor Lagroose said with a grimace. “Another reason I wasn't too happy about coming forward; I'm not convinced they are completely ready. Cognitive tests put them at around adolescent level in intelligence for some of the species. The dogs and cats are lower, however.”

  “Which is why you didn't come forward with them, the otters, or the other species?” Hannah asked. Doctor Lagroose nodded. “What distraction did you mean then?”

  “Distraction, oh, the drive. Specifically force emitter design and placement. You set your brother on his ear with that one. I heard security was going to step in, but when they heard it was you saying it and not him, they were all confused. So was he apparently.”

  “Wait, you heard …” Hannah's brows knit.

  Aurelia smiled. “You do remember who my husband is, right?” she teased. Hannah blushed. “Right, I see that you do. Well, Roman, that's Tyrol Roman the company security director, he got a copy of the recording of your conversation with your brother from his people since they weren't sure what to make of it. I caught Jack listening to it and laughing.”

  “Laughing?”

  “At the expression on your brother's face. You set him on his ear and deflated him quite nicely my dear,” Aurelia said with a smug grin and twinkle.

  Hannah chuckled. “The boys need that from time to time. Otherwise their egos get too big and something else pops,” she said.

  “I know,” Aurelia said wickedly. “And it's fun to pop them too,” she said. Both ladies chuckled together.

  “Well, you'll be happy to know your idea sparked all sorts of changes in the follow-up designs and changes in a lot of other things force emitter related. Which was one of the reasons you made the final cut to come up here so quickly,” Doctor Lagroose said.

  Hannah's eyes widened. “That?” she demanded. She wasn't sure she liked being known for her off the wall idea more than her hard work in her chosen field.

  “That and more. But we'll discuss it later. I, unfortunately, have an appointment. So, we'll have to table it. I'll see you on the transport to Mars,” Doctor Lagroose said, holding out her hand. Hannah took it and shook it. She had to hook an ankle to keep from flying off though.

  Aurelia smiled. The girl was quick when she focused. That was good. She nodded as they disengaged. “Have fun with the fins,” she said with a hand wave as she left.

  Hannah made her goodbyes to the pod and hustled out herself when she was paged. She followed the directions on her phone until she reached her class. “Ah, there you are, Miss Castill. Glad you could join us,” Miss Emmet said. “Now that we are all assembled here, let us begin with an introduction to the station's vital habitats and where not to go. Then we will introduce you to some of the people here and the projects they are working on. Unfortunately this is a docking station, so there are only a few science projects being run here, most are Earth related. But, we have time to kill until the Mars shuttle arrives, and you folks need to get your space legs. Here we go,” she said, waving to them to follow. Hannah fell in the rear as they moved out. To her, she'd gotten the only introduction that truly mattered.

  Chapter 16

  June 2160

  With Icarus nearly 50 percent complete, the newest ship design was officially put in the pipeline. There were some issues still with getting tech to line up. They still needed to work on the force emitters but Jamey, Levare. Alec, and the late Charlie had ironed out enough of the problems to make the switchover worthwhile.

  When the media got wind, they went into a tizzy about how Lagroose Industries was changing horses in midstream. Speculation mounted about how Daedalus would turn back and be recycled or turned into a training ship. There was a lot of rancor and finger pointing from the other megacorps and cartels.

  Levare ignored the media hype. It was mostly spin, and, of course, by people who didn't know what the hell they were talking about anyway. The company had already announced a change in the design when they came forward with Daedalus, but the talking heads seemed to have forgotten that he thought in disgust.

  He ran the design past Jamey who was on Daedalus outside Oort cloud running jump and working up exercises for the last time. Or hopefully the last time, Levare thought. Jamey was amused and impressed when he got the 3-D model. “I wanted to name the first ship after Charlie, but they nixed it. We're sticking with the plan to name her the Prometheus,” Levare said.

  “I'm glad. Charlie wouldn't mind. He didn't have as big a hand in this as I'd like. Besides, he didn't want a ship named after him. That I definitely remember,” he said, still studying the design changes. They'd worked out how to incorporate the force emitter nacelles beautifully. “Damn, I miss him,” Jamey said softly after a moment. “I think he'd get a kick out of this,” he said looking up to the camera. His digital image seemed to stick as frames were lost. “We're getting a lot of interference. We're too far out to hold a conversation anyway, Levare,” he warned. The image paused.

  “Getting excited?” Levare asked ten minutes later.

  “A bit. More … um, more, anxious to get it over with. We're trained enough. It's getting old, which is what the XO and Captain said they wanted. I guess they got their way, which is pretty much how it's supposed to be I suppose.”

  “You'd better believe it,” Levare said. “The Captain's word is law on a ship. You are going to be far from home and he's it. So be on your best behavior,” the design engineer warned.

  Jamey made a disgusted face. “Don't I know it. I've already had to work a couple extra shifts because I goofed.”

  “Goofed?” Levare asked ten minutes later, painfully aware of the time difference. Jamey was right, trying to hold a conversation was a pain in the ass. At least he had could catch up with paperwork in between he thought. Jamey was probably doing the same on his end.

  “I forgot protocol,” Jamey said sheepishly. “I'm also not thrilled about some of the traditions they want to revive. Stuff like a crossing over ceremony. They say it's for crew morale, to give people time to blow off steam. I'm pretty sure it's just a way to make the eggheads look bad. Which means me,” he said.

  “And me, don't forget that,” Kathy said, coming into the view of the camera to kiss her new husband on the ear. “Hi, Levare; bye, Levare,” she said. He got a view of her kimono and a flash of skin as she adjusted it. He was pretty sure the witch was flashing Jamey on purpose though. He pursed his lips in a silent whistle as Kathy climbed into her husband's lap, kissed him thoroughly, then giggled as she climbed off and out of his reach.

  Jamey gasped, panting. Levare chuckled. He knew it. Kathy was a lovely woman, but she seemed to have … let her hair down, he thought with a twitch of his lips. Definitely, he thought. She'd been quite the sh
oulder-shrugging, tight sweater, tight ass, tin-plated virgin while on the design team. He waited, looking away as Jamey looked longingly to his departed wife.

  “We're going with your design. The emitters have been field tested; I'm attaching the results. You can look them over in-depth while you are gone. Just remember though, by the time you get back to me with your thoughts it'll be in production,” Levare warned, filling in the blank. Jamey started talking so he paused. He hit the rewind to catch it.

  “I've got to um, go,” Jamey said. A giggle and rustle of cloth could be heard by the microphone. Jamey looked wide eyed, then stunned. “I'll um,” he licked his lips. “See ya,” he said as he reached out to cut the connection. “Come here you teasing little …” Levare heard before the connection was terminated.

  Levare chuckled. Kathy had indeed come into her own, he thought. He made certain to send the files over the encrypted link to Jamey and the engineers on Daedalus. There would be little they could do with it, but at least they'd have something to look over while they were gone.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  A tanker and logistics vessel undocked from the side of Daedalus. She moved to a safe distance with just her RCS thrusters, then her drive kicked at 5 percent power. She lumbered away, turning gently to get clear of the ship.

  “All right people, we're filled up to the brim, we've got the entire solar system watching us, let's not screw this up!” Andrea Hu said, pacing the bridge with her hands balled into fists behind her back. As the ship's Executive Officer or XO, she was second in the ship's chain of command. The woman had a coffee latte complexion and slanted eyes to go with her spacer black curly hair and intense professionalism. She had been a spacer for decades, since she'd turned 16, and had no intention of letting anyone screw up this moment. Woe to anyone who did trip the ship up; she was done with excuses or last minute holds.

  Every display on the ship blinked with the attention signal, then the ship's AI Sylvia put the countdown to jump up. The digital timer started at two hours blinked, then started counting down. “All right people, let's get this right,” the XO said over the intercom.

  “I've got some calls to make XO; you've got the jump check list,” the Captain said passing her a tablet.

  The XO blinked at the Captain then nodded slowly. “Aye aye, sir,” she said dutifully, taking the electronic device.

  “I'll be in communications. Miss Cole insists on a live speech for a send-off to the people watching,” the Captain said, rolling his eyes.

  This time the XO snorted in sympathy. “Aye, sir. It's time to make the history books,” she said.

  “Not quite, but shortly,” he replied as he left the bridge.

  The Captain made his way through the corridors; nodding to the crew, he took the long route to communications. He even swung by main engineering. The crew were busy. The chief engineer turned and made a shooing motion so like an errant school boy he retreated.

  The air was filled with excitement, he realized. Not just the ship, most likely the entire star system, he thought wryly as he finally got to his intended destination.

  “We all set in here?” he asked.

  “Aye, sir. Why didn't they let you do this canned?” The communication's rating asked, wrinkling her nose at him.

  He shrugged as he took a seat next to her. “Corporate wanted it live to make it feel alive. Build the suspense, whatever,” he said shaking his head.

  “Well sir, we've got twenty minutes until radio blackout from the charging drive and force emitters. I hope it's short,” the rating said.

  “It is,” the Captain said, pulling out his personal tablet. Instead of plugging it in he pulled the two halves of the device apart to expose the flexible LCD screen within. The handles allowed the device's screen to double in size.

  “Neat,” the rating murmured.

  “It's a toy. Old, they had them back when I was your age. But they break really easy. Pixels start getting frozen if you get too rough with it. I have two; this one was a gift from an old friend,” he said.

  He tried to set it up so he could view it but it wouldn't be seen by the camera but that didn't work out as he'd planned.

  “Sir, we're running out of time,” the rating warned. She flipped a panel open and pulled a thin optical cable out. She plugged it into the tablet. “Here, skipper,” she said, tapping the LCD built into the communication's station just below the camera.

  “Thanks,” the Captain sighed. “I guess some old dogs need to learn to remember old tricks too,” he said, pulling up the outline of his planned speech.

  “I won't tell if you won't, sir,” the rating said with a grin.

  Captain Locke glanced her way and then snorted. He scanned the text then settled himself. He brushed his lapel, making sure his uniform wasn't wrinkled or stain with a cursory look. “How do I look?”

  “A bit of …” the woman frowned and checked the view from her station, then reached over and adjusted his right shoulder. She brushed off his shoulder then checked her screen again. After a moment she nodded. “Good to go, sir, five by five,” she said.

  “Thanks,” the Captain said, settling himself. He hit the all-hands key, then slaved the camera and microphone to the intercom as well as the broadcast link the rating had set up for him. “This is Captain Locke speaking from Lagroose starship Daedalus. To all those of you watching, salutations. In a moment, we will be making history,” he said and then smiled slightly. “Finally,” he said, earning a soft chuckle from his companion in the compartment. “And I know everyone on board is anxious. You have a right to be. But what we are doing, man has done for thousands and thousands of years. We are a curious bunch, a race of explorers.”

  “Ever since man could walk upright, we've wanted to know what was on the other side of the grassland, hill, mountain, and horizon. Then we moved on to the seas. Now we are crossing another sea, the sea of space. She can be just as hazardous as any other sea, but I have faith we will get through whatever she throws at us just fine.”

  “This ship is named after a mythological figure from Earth's past, a great inventor who was said to have made wings that allowed him to fly and escape his prison. Now, it did work, but wasn't so successful with his son. Hopefully, we will not have the same problems as we break the prison of light and our own solar system.”

  Captain Locke went on to quote many famous adventures and explorers throughout mankind's history. He finished with the paraphrase of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong. “Over one hundred and sixty years ago, Neil Armstrong said that landing on the moon was “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Well, here we are again, and this time we are taking a giant leap. And again, for all mankind.”

  “We're going to see new places, experience new things as missionaries of our species. See things we had up until now only dreamed about. To the spirit of adventure and exploration. May man never lose it,” he said. “This is Captain Locke; we'll see you in the stars,” he said with another smile as he cut the channel.

  He let out a breath slowly, then turned to his companion. “What do you think, too over hokey?”

  She shook her head. “Not at all, sir. You went a little long; I was afraid you were going to lose a few people there. But they can always look the quotes and people you mentioned up.”

  “Definitely,” the Captain said, rising from his chair. “I wanted to strike a balance between the company and mankind. Inspire people. That's one of the things we're here to do, inspire them to look onward and upward. To be more than themselves. To aspire to more,” he said.

  “That part I think you nailed it, sir,” the rating said with a smile.

  “Good,” he said as he left the compartment.

  When Captain Locke stepped through the bridge hatch, a rating spotted him. “Captain on the bridge,” he called out. The crew stiffened at their posts. To his surprise the XO broke protocol to clap. Her clapping awoke others who joined in. He paused, standing there, not quite basking in their adulation b
ut in recognition of their approval. When it peaked he nodded to her smiling face. “As you were. Number one, status?”

  “We're all green, skipper,” she said, letting the clapping die down. She turned, experienced eyes checking the stations as the skipper took his seat and checked the readouts and log for himself. “We've had one minor hiccup with a half volt under in the galley, that's about it. She's running smooth,” the XO reported.

  He checked the countdown; they were at one hour. He could call a hold to do a last minute check but he didn't see the need. The XO looked at him expectantly. He cocked his head, looking back at her. She was cool, professional, almost bored. He surveyed his bridge crew and saw the same in his crew. Well, most of his crew, there was an undercurrent of tense excitement cut by boredom, almost fatalism of what if. What if it didn't work? What if there was a last minute call off?

  He didn't judge any of that likely. They were ready. After all, they'd trained for it thousands of times. But still there was an aura that this time it was for real.

  “Last chance, anyone, go or no go,” he said. The department heads each assented to the jump one by one with a ready “Go!”

  He turned to the tube where the two dolphins floated. “Mister Kaku, you have the con.”

  “Aye aye,” the dolphin replied through the intercom. He bobbed about, stretching. His partner did the same.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Jamey felt the excitement along with the worry over getting it right. He was at the duty station, he studied the readouts with a critical eye. All were good he noted, then tapped that into his log.

  He watched and listened to the engineering crew around him, stood about and listened to the AI countdown, or monitored their duty stations with ferocious intensity. Occasionally an officer would ask for a reading and get a response. They could easily see it on their display or on any tablet, but they were also checking to crew response Jamey realized. He stuttered when it was his turn. “Hyperdrive is holding at ninety-nine percent charge. Capacitors are nominal, no temperature variants from projected norm,” he said, trying to stay cool. He realized he had when he felt a hand pat him on the shoulder then move on.