Ringship Discretion

by Sean League

  Amelia nodded. "Yeah, that's a good point. I don't know."

  Ben stepped in. "Amelia, the computer says your simulations are done."

  Amelia stood up. "Good...Attie, I am going to check them."

  Attie nodded and went back to studying the plate.

  Thirty minutes later Amelia's voice came over the intercom. "Attie, I have the possible scenarios run if you want to see them."

  Attie, got up, grabbed a piece of beef jerky and pushed the intercom. "Be right there."

  When he arrived on the bridge, Amelia turned around in her chair and then turned back, pointing at the big screen. "It's basically the same problem we had when they were chasing us to Io, but our lead is larger, but then again, so is the distance. Assuming they have the same advantage in acceleration they had before, and there isn't any reason not to assume that, then they will catch us here. This assumes we turn and begin braking just before the midway point. Since we got a boost from Ganymede, its going to take us longer to decelerate than it did to accelerate."

  Attie interrupted. "Well, can't we use Uranus or one of its moons to help us slow down?.

  She said "Well, we could use Titania, but it won't make any difference because we would have start decelerating early to make the alignment. Nothing else is aligned correctly for us to make it to Oberon. Anyway, assuming we do decelerate normally, the BB ship will catch up to us about 10 days before we make it. This assumes they don't slow down, but keep accelerating. If they slow down and try and stop at Oberon with us, than they won't be able to catch us before we land."

  Attie sat down in the co-pilot chair thinking. "Well, if they kept accelerating, they'll be going even faster than the last time they passed us, so we would probably be fine."

  Amelia responded "That's a good point, but they could do something in between, like they did last time. Like if they brake late so they get to us before we reach Oberon, but not early enough for them to stop."

  Attie said "Hmmm. Well, there really isn't anything we can do, so we'll just wait and see what they do. What about the Big Sis ships that were chasing them?"

  Amelia responded "They are still in pursuit, but I don't think they will be able to catch her."

  Attie looked out the window and rubbed his face. "Man, that's a lot of emptiness out there, which makes me think they probably don't know where we are? We know where they are because the Big Sis ships pinging her with their radar."

  Amelia said "Well, they might not know exactly where we are, but they could just use their radar to find us again, although it might take them a while to do that."

  AJ asked "Well, what if we just cut the engines and acted like an asteroid."

  The captain leaned back "Wouldn't work. For two reasons. One, we wouldn't make it to Uranus this year and we would run out of food. Two, once they ping us with their radar, they will narrow the scan and they will be able to see our shape and composition. Their radars are pretty sophisticated, so I don't think we could fool them."

  AJ said "Oh."

  The captain sat up and looked at AJ. "It was a damn good question though. Don't stop asking ones like that!"

  AJ smiled and said "OK".

  The captain stood up, stretched and said "ahh" as his back popped. "Well, I think I will head to bed."

  Amelia pointed to the clock on the computer. "It's only 20:30 Universal."

  The captain waved his hand. "Like that clock has any meaning to my body out here. Goodnight, eh."

  AJ said "Goodnight Captain."

  Amelia turned to watch him go. She always enjoyed having Attie nearby and she felt a little sad. She thought about joining him, but she wanted to run a few more simulations and variables first.

  AJ turned to Amelia and said "I'm going to go to my quarters and search through more broadcast information."

  She looked at him with a slight smile. "OK. See you a little later."

  After AJ left, the bridge seemed so quiet. She turned down the lights, so all she could see were the stars, including one blue green one that she knew was their destination. A wave of sadness swept over her. She felt alone, lost in deep space, and she missed her husband. She loved Attie, but she loved her husband too. She could never compare the two. It was different. She began to feel the guilt again. It was always there, but it came back to the surface. She thought about her Burt being tortured and began to cry softly.

  Attie was starting to drift off when a knock came on his door. He said "Come in." It was AJ.

  AJ whispered "Captain. Its Amelia. She's crying on the bridge."

  Attie got up and pulled his pants on. "Thanks AJ. Go back to your quarters...will you?"

  AJ nodded and headed down the corridor.

  As Attie quietly walked onto the bridge Amelia was face down on the control panel crying.

  Attie put his arm around her, which made her jump, but she didn't lift her head. He said "Please stop crying. You don't want to short circuit the flight controls do you? She lifted her head with the tiniest smile, looked at him, turned and hugged him so hard that he had a hard time breathing. She tried to talk as she cried. "Oh Attie, I feel so guilty and I felt so alone looking out the window." He hugged her back. "It's OK. I feel guilty too and I'm sorry. I love you and I don't want you to ever feel alone. I am right here. The whole crew, our family is here. I can call them all up and we can all be here. She sniffled. "No. Just hold me."

  They hugged for 10 minutes until the captain whispered "My leg..it's falling asleep. Come on. There isn't any more work you need to do tonight." He picked her up and carried her back to his quarters. He laid her on his side of the bed and began to undress her. He unzipped her pants and pulled them off, gently folding them and putting them on the chair. He tried to take off her socks, but she rolled over, still crying into the pillow. Then she rolled back and grabbed Attie by his shirt "Lay with me Attie. Hold me." Attie got into bed still half dressed, hugged her and put his head on hers. He whispered "You mean more to me than anything in this universe. You know I would do anything for you." She turned her wet face against his and kissed him. "I know you would Attie and I love you too." Attie hugged her and thought about her effect on his life. She finally stopped crying and drifted off to sleep. Attie succumbed shortly after.

  In the morning, Attie opened his eyes to see Amelia staring at him. He blinked a few times trying to clear his eyes. She reached up and wiped them for him and he smiled. He whispered "Good morning my love". She kissed him gently on the lips and whispered back "Thank you for rescuing me last night." Attie just smiled.

  They looked at each other for the longest time and suddenly she tickled his belly and said in a giggly voice "Let's make breakfast!" He grabbed the back of her leg, where he knew she was the most ticklish. "First I'm going to tickle you to death!" Both Attie and Amelia squirmed and tried to evade each other's tickles until both of them, and all the covers, fell off the bed onto the floor. They laid there laughing until Ben knocked at the door. "You guys alright in there? There is too much laughing going on. Then the whole crew said "Yeah! What's going on in there?!".

  Attie and Amelia were quiet for a second as they made faces at each other. "Nothing!" They both busted out laughing again. Attie got up to go to the door and Amelia slapped his bare ass. Attie turned. "Hey! Watch it! Or your going to get it!" She flashed him. "Oh, yeah, what are you going to do? Attie got to the door while still looking back at her. "Oh, you are being so bad this morning!" She wrapped the large blanket around herself and ran up behind him. As Attie opened the door, she ran into the back of him, making it shut again. He reopened the door and both of them peeked around it. The crew was standing there making faces like they were pretending not to know what was going on. Ben contained his smile. "Well, good morning o' fearless leaders. What wise and important orders do you have for us this morning?" The captain waved his hand in a shooing motion while trying not to laugh. "Get the hell outa here! We will be out in a minute to restore your sense of order and security."

  As the captain sh
ut the door, Ben looked at the rest of the crew. They smiled as they heard the captain and Amelia continue to laugh. Doc said "I think its great." Helen nodded in agreement. "It's so wonderful to see Amelia happy. It's been so long since I have seen either one of them like that."

  Ben pushed everyone down the corridor. "Let's give them some fun time. We'll make them pay later."

  An hour later, the captain and Amelia finally wandered into the galley. Together they started to make french toast, when over the intercom came Helen. "Captain, Amelia, come to the bridge! We are being hit by radar." They both dropped breakfast and ran forward to the bridge. "By who?".

  Ben was there and he pointed to the sensor panel. "Here, I think it's our BB friend." Amelia motioned for Helen to vacate her chair and she sat down to analyze the data. Attie leaned on the back of her chair and watched.

  After about 30 seconds, while she continued to push controls, Amelia said "Well, we had lost sight of the BB ship when she turned to follow us, and changed the angle of radar reflection from the Big Sis ships, but now we know exactly where she is! Looks like she is following pretty close to my predictions. We just have to keep an eye on her to see whether she will decelerate or try to hit us while flying by again." She looked up at Attie. "I really think she will go for the middle of the road and intercept us about two days out from Uranus. That way the closing velocity won't be so high, and based on what we observed last time, she shouldn't have any trouble vaporizing us." Everyone looked at the captain. He stood up straight. "Hmmm..that's not good. What if we didn't decelerate for another 10 days and just kept accelerating?"

  Amelia spread her hands. "Well, we would completely miss Uranus and the BB ship would have even less difference in speed when she caught up with us, so, it does us no good, except that we would live a week longer."

  The captain put his hand to his mouth, his head down, and everyone watched him pace across the bridge. "Hmmmm..there has to be something we can do...." He paced a few times and looked at Amelia. "Well, we could try to call the Oorters, tell them we have their precious cargo."

  Amelia leaned back in her chair. "I think at this point, that may be our only option. Maybe they would send someone to help. Anyone else have an idea?" Ben, AJ and the others looked at each other waiting for more suggestions, but no one had one. Then Ben spoke up. "If we are going to send a transmission, we should probably do it soon, before that BB ship starts trying to jam us."

  The captain and Amelia turned from looking at Ben to looking at each other nodding. The captain said "Excuse me" and took the copilots chair. "Amelia, are you picking anything up from Uranus?".

  Amelia looked. "Well, some weak civilian traffic, but nothing military or government that I can tell. We might just have to send a narrow beam transmission directly at Oberon on the emergency frequencies." Attie nodded in agreement. "When you're ready Amelia...".

  Amelia adjusted the comms, switched to the narrow-band antenna and entered the position of Oberon into the computer. A minute later she pointed to the comm switch "OK Attie, you can transmit now."

  Attie scooted forward to the leading edge of his chair and sat straight up. "Mayday Mayday. This is captain Atticus Elliot of the ring ship Discretion. We have extremely valuable cargo to deliver to Oberon, but are being pursued by Solar System Independence Security forces and Earth ships. We require immediate military assistance. Please Respond". He let go of the transmit button and looked at Amelia. "Did it go?"

  She looked at the panel. "Yes, according to my instruments, it transmitted just fine, but it won't get there for a little over 2 hours and the transmission back, assuming there is one, will take another two hours.

  Attie took a deep breath. "OK, can you set it to repeat every minute until someone responds and hook up the response to the intercom."

  She pushed buttons. "Will do."

  The captain looked at Ben. "OK, while we wait for that, do you have the inventory list?"

  Ben put up his hand. "Just a sec. It's in my quarters. Be right back."

  The captain looked at AJ and Helen. "Anything else new?"

  AJ lifted his tablet, tapped it a few times. "Look at this..."

  The captain took the tablet and his jaw dropped when he saw it. "Ahhh..Holy Shit!...Amelia..."

  Amelia turned toward the captain. "Uhoh... What now?"

  As Attie turned the tablet to show her, "We're famous!...in the 'most wanted' kind of way."

  Amelia stared at the picture, looking for words...

  Ben walked back up. "Here you go Captain..." He watched them looking at each other and ignoring him. "What's with you two?"

  The captain started to turn with the tablet to show Ben, but Amelia grabbed it out of his hand and began reading it. "Attie, it says we are wanted terrorists....for the plot to kill this senator Romina. I don't even know who he is?!"

  Attie looked at Amelia with a cocked head. "It's all bullshit. They just want to get those plates back and badly. They are willing to.." Amelia interrupted "But, Attie, this means we can never go home! None of us can. Look they have pictures of you Ben, and you Helen...and Doc too. "

  Helen and Ben both got behind her chair and tried to look closer. Amelia said "Hold on a sec." She tapped a few things and the article appeared on the big screen. The whole crew crowded around the big screen, except Amelia and the captain. Attie just looked at Amelia and watched as she read through AJ's tablet.

  Helen spoke up. "It doesn't say anything about AJ. Maybe they don't know about him. She turned and AJ was right in front of her. "I mean you, AJ."

  The captain turned towards them. "Well, he was a last minute add and had never been on a mission with us before. We are the only ones who know he's here with us."

  Doc, still looking at the article. "How do they know so much about us?".

  The captain looked at Doc about to answer and then a thought came to mind. "Dammit! This means my ex-bitch girlfriend is going to get my ship!"

  Amelia put her hand on his shoulder. "Attie, really, I think we have more important things to worry about." Attie swung around about to yell, but held back and said "Yeah..." as his face cringed. "It just pisses me off!" Amelia was watching Attie when she looked up to see Ben smiling. She gave him a look, which made him smile even more and he had to turn around.

  After about 30 seconds, the captain stood up. "Alright, enough of this. We are big time wanted fugitives, and maybe we can have our own talk show or write a book someday, but lets get back to staying alive first. Ben, you had that inventory list? Ben reached up while still smiling, and handed it to him. The captain saw the smile and just growled. He started going down the list. "6 M24s, 1492 rounds of ammo, 1 brain scanner, 6.4 kg of C7, 100 warp probes, 9 and a half grav drive plate power cables....what does that mean?"

  Ben looked at the list. "The half is referring to the one that is not made for our plates, that was causing the drive..." The intercom interrupted. "Discretion, we are aware of your cargo, and have arranged protection. Maintain a direct course to Oberon. You will be given further instructions as you approach. Over." Everyone froze. Then Amelia whipped around in her chair and Attie exclaimed "That was so fast!!"

  Amelia checked the sensor panel. "Yes! We shouldn't have heard from anyone for at least 3 and half more hours."

  Attie hopped back into the co-pilot seat. "Can we get a fix on where that came from?"

  Amelia didn't look up. "Yes, I've got it. They are about 250 million km in front of us, almost on a direct course to Uranus. Their transmission was slightly off frequency. If it's from doppler shift, that tells me that we are moving towards them, but they are at more than half our current velocity, relative to Uranus."

  Attie looked over at her. "They are showing up on our sensors now. Why didn't we pick their ships up before? "

  She ignored his question. "Look at the wave. During their whole broadcast, the doppler shift was decreasing, so I think they are trying to match our speed."

  Ben tried to say something, but the captain interrupted
. "How long till they match our velocity?"

  Amelia glanced at Ben, but then focused back on Attie. "Hmm..Well, I am not sure. I don't know if they can out accelerate us or not. If they can't, then we will pass them soon and they will still be trying to catch up. If they are going to protect us, they will have to decelerate also.. no wait a minute. Scratch that. They only have to match the velocity of the BB cruiser to protect us".

  Attie leaned forward toward Amelia. "Can they do that? Match the BB cruiser's speed?"

  She nodded "Yes..and they should be able to before it gets to us." Everyone breathed a small sigh of relief and Amelia continued "As to your previous question, the reason we can see them now is because the BB ships radar was not only hitting us, but them as well, but with a delay. We should keep an eye on the space in front of us and record all data for the next 5 hours or so. That radar wave should light everything in our path up. Too bad we don't have our own radar any more." She pointed to the large dent under the console. "Or we could see for ourselves."

  Attie nodded. "Oh yeah, right. I should have figured that one out. There is just so much happening at once." Amelia put her hand on his. "Now Captain, you can't think of everything. That's why you've got us. Your job is just to put all these pieces together and give us a direction."

  The captain loudly exclaimed "Hey! I'm the captain and its my job to be condescending and comforting to you guys. Don't go taking over my job!......or..or I'll have nothing to do." At that, everyone chuckled a bit.

  Ten days later, Amelia came into the galley and found Attie asleep on the table. She touched his head and whispered "Attie, you're drooling on the components. Maybe you should go to bed."

  He took in a deep breath and sat up wiping his face. "Hi...yeah, maybe I should. Want to join me?"

  She opened the fridge. "I will in a little bit. I tweaking a few things on the schematics we've made and adding the photos."

  He stood up, put his arm around her and his head over her shoulder, while looking into the open fridge. "How close do you think we are?"