Dremiks
Cassandra Davis
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
© 2012 Amy Cassandra Davis
ISBN: 978-1470126362
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Cover art © 2012 Kirk Lunsford
For Ethan and Ian:
May you always travel the stars,
if only in your imaginations
Chapter 1
In space, the sun never truly rises. Moons and planets might obscure the direct rays of a solar system’s primary star, but the light is always there—waiting to dispel shadows and blind the unwary. The International Space Administration’s (ISA) Orion Launch Station orbited around the Moon, serving as workplace and home for jaded scientists, seasoned explorers, and cynical pilots. As the full glare of the Sun came around the Earth’s curve and fell upon the station, they all paused to marvel or wince. For those about to travel far beyond the familiar confines of the Earth’s solar system and such familiar sights, the moment of blinding light was especially poignant.
“Remember your duty, Margaret, and you will encounter no difficulties on this mission.”
Commander Maggie O’Connell stared at the video conference screen with blank features even as her nails bit into her palms. All around the ship, other fathers, mothers, siblings, and relatives wished their loved ones a speedy, safe journey, or expressed great sadness at their impending departure.
Not my father. My father chooses to remind me to do my duty.
“Your captain is a responsible, steady officer. Trust in his orders and look to Chancellor Trell or Vice Chancellor Hill for diplomatic support. They are aware of the political realities. They know what is at stake.” Admiral O’Connell’s hazel eyes glared out of his weathered face.
As if I have no clue about “what’s at stake.” Like I somehow forgot the war that raged during my entire childhood and killed four hundred million people. Like you would ever let me forget my responsibilities.
“I will be in touch throughout your journey.” He paused for effect. “Remember our agreement, Margaret. Dismissed.”
She made sure to cut the feed before letting her shoulders sag.
***
The crew of humanity’s newest space shuttle, Hudson, secured to Orion station pending her launch, completed their final system checks. The Hudson would carry her forty member crew and one hundred fifty colonists on a seven month journey to Dremiks—a Saturn-sized planet orbiting the sun Santalas. Santalas, its system of six planets, and its corner of the universe had been unknown twenty-five years before.
The planet Dremiks, according to her former inhabitants, was dying. Her smallest of two moons, Najif, was in a decaying orbit. The moon would eventually break apart and bombard the surface of the planet with monstrous asteroids. The planet was already uninhabitable for the Dremikian race. They’d fled a century before and started new lives on a space station. Their engineers held out hope that a humanoid species able to withstand the extreme climate and gravitational fluxes of the surface of Dremiks could mine the material necessary to save the planet. Humans, according to the Dremikians, were the first species they’d encountered who had the physiological make-up needed.
Deep under the surface of Dremiks, in strata of rock as hard as Earth’s iron, sifted a fine mineral which could be used in a powerful weapon. It was the Dremikian’s hope that the detonation of that weapon would right the orbit of Najif. The concept of moving a moon with an explosive force was too fantastic for many humans to believe. To persuade mankind, the Dremikians provided some of their small stores of the mineral, lorga. The resulting explosion disrupted the gas tides on Jupiter for a span of three years. Having suitably impressed humans, they provided the plans, engineering, and materials needed to build a shuttle to take human miners and engineers to Dremiks. In return for saving their planet, Dremikians signed a treaty promising humans a new home on the restored planet. The technological advances they proffered would open up the universe to exploration.
Captain Brett Hill, thirty-six years old and in command of his first ship, paced the engineering spaces. He knew it made him look unsure and fidgety, but he couldn’t stop all the same. He kept his hands clasped behind his back to resist running his hand through his dark hair.
Don’t fidget. Back straight, shoulders back. Head high, eyes direct. Make eye contact, but don’t intimidate. Mustn’t distract them now. No, don’t rake your hand through your hair. The captain must be implacable, a rock in the stormy sea.
The engineering crew members were completing their final pre-launch duties. Nodding assent and clicking softly in his native tongue, Dwax G’Trujkulis floated along beside Chief Turner. As the youngest son of the Dremikian ambassador, Dwax was supposed to be a merely ceremonial part of the crew, yet he had already proved to be invaluable in deciphering the finer points of Dremikian engineering.
This ship, fifteen years in the making after thirty years of genocidal war. If she’s not a symbol of all the good mankind can accomplish, I don’t know what is. Hell, the men who came up here to work on her had no country, no families, left to go home to. By the time the Peace came around we were half-way to needing a new planet ourselves.
Too bad we couldn’t take the time to add some aesthetics.
Hudson was not stately, and she certainly was not an awe inspiring sight. She was so elliptical as to prompt snide comments of flying saucers. She was, for all her alien engineering and shape, a shuttle. Her purpose was to deliver cargo and persons from one spot to another. Exploration or combat were not in her design. If, in the highly unlikely event, she were threatened, Hudson was designed to flee as swiftly as possible. However unprepossessing the shuttle might be, she was built for speed. She could fly to Mars faster than anything yet produced. But she was not going to Mars, or anywhere quite so common.
All of humanity’s desires and energy focused toward this one goal, for 15 years. Cannot fail on your part. Must not let your crew down.
We need to get there, fix that moon, and establish a colony.
Please let it be as simple as that.
Captain Hill had encountered quite a few Dremikians during his space academy days and his later military service. Their ethereal shapes and clicking language took getting used to, but they were a genial and humorous species. More mathematically intelligent and longer living than humans, they had physiological mysteries still to be explained. Their society and culture would be intriguing to study in their native habitat.
Stocky, graying, Chief Turner stopped his conversation with Dwax and glanced at the captain. “Your pardon, sir. I believe that was Commander O’Connell calling you to the bridge.”
Hill snapped out of his reverie at the chief’s comment. “Of course. Carry on, Chief. Report to the bridge at 0900 for launch preparation.” With a small nod to Dwax, Hill turned and made his way to the nearest tube lift.
Vacuum tubes as a mode of transportation were new enough that children still squealed in delight to try them. Captain Hill merely grunted. No matter how often he was assured that his internal organs were not being sucked out of alignment, the experience was still unsettling. The Hudson’s design had a major flaw in her captain’s eyes. There was no direct tube from engineering to the bridge. It was a short walk from one end of the spherical crew deck to the other and the nearest tube to the bridge, but it was an annoyance that the captain had not gotten past.
The bridge itse
lf was a nightmare of logistics. The main steerage and control panels abutted the nose of the craft, but the communication, navigation, and engineering panels were spread out around the room. To the supreme irritation of their diplomatic passengers, there wasn’t enough room on the bridge for observation seats. They would have been supremely bored, as the captain and his officers had repeatedly informed them. The launch would be no more impressive than the first fifteen trial flights the Hudson had taken. It was just as well, Captain Hill thought. He didn’t need extra bodies cluttering his bridge.
His executive officer, Commander Maggie O’Connell called the bridge to attention as he entered. He nodded smartly to the room in general before focusing on the woman in front of him. “As you were. Progress, Commander?”
“All systems on-line except for engineering, sir. Navigation has obtained star fixes for Mars orbit; communications has opened the launch channels for Houston and Orion command. Lieutenant Price reports the colonists are ready for departure. Dr. Fortunas has secured the science deck, and Dr. Ruger reports the medical deck stocked and secured. Awaiting inspection sir.” Her report was delivered smartly and precisely, just as he had become accustomed to over the last three months. He would inspect the bridge, but he knew before moving another foot that everything would be perfectly turned out and in order.
“Very well, Commander. Ring the bells, all hands prepare for pre-launch inspection and sequences.” Ringing the bells was more of a ceremonial throwback than a necessity, but the ISA had too many naval roots and naval-trained officers to forget long-standing traditions. Hill stood peering at the nose of the craft where heads-up screens and projections listed off bearings, status boards, and every other basic function of the ship. Another bank of digital displays showed the images captured from the surrounding space dock and the cold vastness beyond. Chimes sounded throughout the craft. The captain jerked his head around at the sound of Commander O’Connell’s voice across the loudspeakers following the chimes. Somehow, in all the confusion of the past few days, she’d found the time to re-record the basic command messages with her own voice. He had to admit the effect was more personable—hearing the voice of command instead of a synthesized droning.
He turned back to watch as the status boards showed each of the department officers reporting that their stations were manned and ready for inspection. As the last stations reported in, Commander O’Connell again snapped to attention before him. “All hands accounted for and all stations report ready and prepared for inspection, sir.”
“Indeed. Accompany me, Commander.”
Ensign Nate Robertson stood at attention beside the bridge navigation panels along with the two navigation crew members. Robertson’s father was a US Senator, which was why so young an officer was present among the crew. He had only recently graduated from basic navigational school, but done so at the top of his class. A genial young man with coal-black skin and just a trace of his native Alabama accent, Nate had inherited his father’s ability to put people at ease.
“You have obtained the necessary fixes and are ready for the Mars leg?”
“Yes sir!”
“Good, carry on Ensign.” Hill moved on to the engineering consoles where Lieutenant Johan “Swede” Guttmann waited. Captain Hill was tall enough that he rarely had to look up at another man. The Swedish engineer, however, towered above his captain.
“Everything in order down there, now, Lieutenant?”
“Yes sir,” the broad shouldered man replied in barely accented English. “Ready for launch, all systems running true and normal.”
“Ready to set a speed record to Neptune orbit?” A speed record was something raised as a jest a month before, but the Hudson’s chief engineering officer and his subordinates had taken up the challenge.
Impossible as it seemed, the six foot seven inch lieutenant stood even taller. “We’ll shave four hours off the best time, sir.” The hint of a smile touched the corners of his mouth beneath a thin blonde mustache. “My guarantee, sir.”
“I’ll hold you to that then, Swede. Carry on.”
The commanding officer and the executive officer of the Hudson continued around the bridge space and through the adjoining duty-stations, assuring themselves that mankind’s first transport to deep space was indeed ready to depart. The full inspection took an hour. Upon returning to the bridge, Captain Hill turned and nodded sharply to O’Connell. “All hands prepare for launch sequence.”
“Aye, aye, sir, all hands to prepare for launch.” She pointed at the communications section first. “Open channels on screens 1 and 5 for Orion and Houston. Secure all data streams and make ready ionic particle shields for the instruments. Engineering be ready to respond to commands in fifteen.” Her gaze fell on Dwax. “Honored One, please find your assigned seat and prepare for launch.” He rocked his head back and forth in the curious Dremikian gesture of assent even as she turned to Lieutenant Tony Price. “Co-pilot’s chair awaits you Mr. Price. Have controls ready to respond in,” she turned her head to check the countdown clock, “thirteen minutes.”
By the time the intercom system finished speaking, the bridge crew was strapped into their seats and every station showed ready for launch. A very gentle vibration that started as no more than a hum began to buffet the ship. On one view screen, a press conference on the space station, presided over by a rotund ISA dignitary, could be seen. Dockworkers were clearing the area around the cables that secured the Hudson.
Commander O’Connell strapped herself into the pilot’s chair and turned her head slightly to see her commanding officer. “All systems ready and on-line. Channels open to Orion and Houston. The ship is yours, Captain.”
“Captain has the con. Houston, the Hudson is ready for launch on your mark.”
“Hudson, Houston acknowledges, we show the board is green for launch. Orion Station, prepare to release dock supports on my mark… five, four, three, two, one, mark.”
The entire vessel shuddered as one hundred and four magnetic clamps released their hold on the idling ship.
“Hudson, Orion Station shows that you are clear of docking constraints. Acknowledge.”
“Houston, Hudson shows all restraints clear.”
“Very well Hudson, bring your maneuvering power online.”
“Thrusters and stage one power levels if you please, Commander.”
“Engine rooms reporting thrusters on-line and stage one engaged, sir.” Maggie reflexively braced her back against the back of her seat. Situated in the very nose of the bridge, she was surrounded on three sides by panels and screens that showed the status of every working system and subsystem on the ship. Beside her, Lieutenant Price double checked all status boards.
“Houston, ISA Shuttle Hudson reports ready for launch on your command.” Launch was a relative term, as there would be no blasting rockets or shooting off until the massive ship was well clear of the station and the nearby Moon.
“Shuttle Hudson you are cleared for launch. Good luck and Godspeed. Transferring command to Orion Station.”
“Shuttle Hudson, this is Orion Station, you are cleared for launch. Begin maneuvering on my mark, five, four, three, two, one… mark.”
With a nod that the pilot could not see from her high backed chair, Captain Hill said, “Take her out, Commander.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” Maggie flexed her fingers and wiggled her toes inside her boots. Her right hand tightened ever so slightly on the control stick to the right of an oversized touch-pad that she operated with her left hand. “Com, confirm all points clear of traffic.”
“All points clear, Commander,” Ensign Chi responded.
With that, all conversation ceased as O’Connell piloted the elliptical mass away from the dock and out into the bay-like holding area of the station. She’d performed the maneuver a dozen or more times during their shakedown cruises, but never with quite so many people watching. As the peninsulas of the station passed on either side of the ship, the watching crowd gave a cheer that was seen
on a closed-circuit feed throughout the ship. On the bridge, O’Connell was busy turning the ship to starboard.
“Navigation, confirm Lunar, Martian, and Neptune fixes.”
“Fixes confirmed, ma’am. We are ready for Lunar fly-by.”
Captain Hill spoke up. “Orion Station we are clear and ready for Lunar fly-by. Permission to depart Lunar orbit?”
“Hudson, we show you clear and your course fixed. Permission to depart Lunar orbit is granted. Safe journey Hudson, Orion Station out.”
Hill turned to his left to Lieutenant Guttmann. “Bring the engines fully on-line, Lieutenant, and transfer engineering controls to the con.”
Maggie glanced down and saw the indicators flash from yellow to green, indicating full power to all engines. “Captain?”
“All ahead full. Let’s give Lunar station a show.”
Lieutenant Price turned his head to grin at the commander. She grinned back. “As you say, sir. All ahead full.” With a tap of a button and a glide of her thumb on a slide scale, Hudson rocketed forward and streaked past the Moon. Sunlight reflected off her titanium skin. There were few angles for shadows to hide along the ship’s lines. Her engines, hanging on either side of the craft, glowed slightly with the increase in power. With a quick turn of her wrist and a bit of thruster, Maggie whipped the shuttle past the outer satellites.
“Sir, we’ve cleared Lunar orbit. Current rate of speed and heading put us at Mars fly-by at 1800 hours. Dinner in the asteroid belt, sir.”
“Indeed, Commander, indeed.” Captain Hill stood and nodded to include the entire bridge crew. “Excellent work. Communications, open channel to all decks if you please.” When he had the channel, Hill cleared his throat. “Officers and crew, honored guests, colonists, welcome aboard ISA Shuttle Hudson. We depart today for an historic journey. We will be the first of our species to travel and settle outside the galaxy. We will be the first to make multiple jumpspace legs in a man-made vessel. And we will fulfill the treaty signed twenty years ago that began our historic alliance with the Dremikians. The first part of our journey takes us to our initial jump point, Neptune. We will reach this point in thirteen days. During this leg, we will take the time to test our systems and conduct emergency drills. I have every confidence that we will excel at these tasks and reach Neptune orbit ready to make history. Ladies and gentlemen, the future awaits.” The captain released the switch and allowed himself to smile.
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