by Tim Morrison
...
"Lord Camelin? What are you doing here?" Ryo stood in the airlock from the skyhook and looked around. He had walked these corridors many times in the past 23 cycles, but never as this. He handed Executive Officer Kalen a sealed missive, written on Camelin clan foil and sealed with the clan bond. The Executive Officer broke the bond with his thumbprint and read the short missive.
"My apologies, Sir. I see that you have been given command. Gyo Camelin has been medically retired from duty. May I be the first to welcome you aboard the TGX-2."
"Thank you, Captain Kalen. My father is far too weak to make these trips any longer, and has instructed me to begin taking the reins of command appropriately. Take me to the bridge, please."
"Walk with me, Commander. We will go there directly." Kalen said and they both started off towards the central trunk corridor. After a few moments they arrived at the corridor, with it's core gravity chute that went the length of the 1.6 kim long battlecruiser.
"Do you need assistance with the gravity chute, Commander?"
Ryo smiled and stepped into the chute, and was swept along, with Kalen smoothly sweeping along beside him. They swam through the chute as it rapidly pulled them towards the central core of the ship, and Ryo reached out and pulled himself to a stop at the main trunk exit, Followed by Kalen only seconds later.
"Very good, Commander. You've been practising since you were last on board." Kalen said with a laugh.
Ryo laughed with him. "Agreed, Kalen. No more bloodied lips for me." They walked down the short corridor and then stepped past the hardlock door and into the command centre of the starship. Ryo looked around at the staff busy checking and cross-checking instruments, verifying every part of the ship was ready and smiled to himself.
He noted the closed hardlock door that lead into the computer core, The bridge of the ship was buried deep in the heart of the vessel, right behind the core. Both of them the most heavily defended parts.
Kalen cleared his throat, then picked up the comm unit. "Put me on ship-wide, Cato." He asked.
The comms officer flicked some switches and nodded back at him.
"Crew of TGX-2. This is Executive Officer Kalen. Gyo Camelin has retired from active duty and is awaiting his journey to the Gates of Pangea. Our Commander has been chosen and is now on board. I bid welcome and honour to Commander Ryo Camelin."
Ryo nodded as the staff on the bridge stood and applauded, then walked into the middle of the bridge and took the comm unit that Kalen held for him.
"Thank you and I bid all of you welcome. Some of you know me from my travels on board this and other ships. My Father has seen fit to place me in command and as you will see, I will live up to his standards of excellence and assured command. You know your duties, and I know you do them well. Continue to perform them and we will serve the Confederacy and Clan Camelin to the best of our power and strength."
...
"What course do we set, Commander?" Kalen asked.
"We head for the Oxymax Nebula, Captain. Detach and prepare for neospace flight." Ryo said as he took up position by the main command console. Like he had seen his father do for many cycles when he had been on board this ship.
Viktor Kalen nodded and turned to the helm station, where the two officers who actually flew the immense battlecruiser werr sitting, hands on the controls but not doing anything as the ship was currently at rest.
"Cato, signal Skyhook we are disembarking. Helm, prime the drives and prepare for maneuvering thrust."
"Skyrook responds, moorings are detathing. We have soft lock, confirmed all moorings detactched. Skyhook is repelling us clear." Cato replied.
"We are at 500 mets and increasing distance at a speed of 50 mets per second. Drives are all priming, and fuel pumps are ready. We are nearing ignition temperature on all six drive units." Helm replied.
"Reactor control reports all four reactors operating at normal levels, full power is available at your comand, Helm." Came the report from the engineering station, beside the helm console.
"All stations, report status." Kalen barked.
"Helm, ready. Reactors, ready. Neospace, ready. Vortex, ready. Forward guns, ready. Aft guns, ready. Life support, ready. Gravity control, ready. Sensors, ready. We are in the Clear, Captain. TGX-2 is free and clear to move under your discretion." Came the reports from the various bridge stations.
Kalen looked at the big screen above the command console, painted on the view was an image of the Camelin Skyhook, now a few kilomers distant, and some other ships in range, but nothing in their direct course.
He walked over to put his hand on the back of one of the helm chairs. "Ahead, half-thrust until we are a thousand kims clear, then full power. Make our heading for Oxymax."
The massive battlecruiser, engines flaring as it began to acclerate, soon pulled far away from the orbital facility that was it's normal home, and once it was far enough away, the engines ramped up to full power, spewing hundres of tonnes of helium radicals from the fusing of hydrogen and conveting that energy into momentum, quickly accelerated up to neospace velocity and slid beyond lightspeed.
...
"What do you think, Commander?"
"I think, Captain Kalen, we need to get in there." Ryo said as they watched the swirling of the dust and debris that was the Oxymax nebula.
"It's ten Solar Lengths deep, Commander. The Vortex gateway was destroyed by Clans Jasinlo and Kerilac five hundred cycles ago. They detonated Antimatter mines through the one mapped corridor. No Vortex ship can penetrate that dust cloud."
"Then we go using Neospace drive. We will fly through it and see what lies at the centre. See if the lost Clanworld still survives."
"Why do you seek the Desinlo Clanworld, Commander? All records show they were banished from the Confederacy, and with good reason."
Ryo looked at his XO. "I seek it, Kalen, because it is there. At the heart of our own Clan territory lies this nebula. Within the nebula lies the Clanworld that once ruled the entire Confederacy, and has now fallen so far from the light. We must return the light to them and see if we can drive away the darkness."
"Diving into that dense gas cloud using Neospace is going to be a strain on this ship's superstructure, Sir. She was designed for vacuum, not plowing through a gas cloud with close to a hundred pascals of pressure." Kalen said as they continued to observe the roiling clouds of the active nebula.
"Then, Captain, we need to do some plowing. Unless you have any other objections, let's get the shields trimmed and get the ship prepared for extended gaseous exposure."
"Understood, Commander. We''ll get trimmed and ready to slide."