Assault on Cambriol: The Manhattan Trials

by Jerry Borrowman

  “Why the smile, Captain?”

  “No reason, other than every once in a while fate gives you a particularly good moment to relish. I just had one of those. By the way, have you seen Lieutenant Magill? I need to have a word with him.”

  “I believe he’s in the officer’s mess, Captain.”

  “Thank you, Commander.”

  Brighton smiled as he heard Jesik whistling softly down the corridor. Another good ending, thought Brighton cheerfully.

  8 – Shuttlecraft Competition

  Captain Rowley of the Fermata stood up and gathered his papers.

  “Remember, Rick,” said Jesik, “there’s a whole quadrant full of privateers who would love to see us lose our grip on the orchidite mines, so that they could become power brokers. You and Talbot will have your hands full patrolling the solar system and returning to orbit often enough to provide support to Major Wilkerson on the planet’s surface. It’ll be particularly tough to maintain ship’s discipline when so many marines are coming and going between shore duty and onboard assignments. I’d keep the rotation pretty tight so that no one has too much time on the planet – there are still plenty of rebels who would like to subvert the men from our second and third-class families.”

  “I appreciate the advice, Sir. Fortunately, I’m from good second-class stock, myself, so the men won’t have any reason to be angry at me for my genealogy.”

  Jesik laughed. “We have that in common, as Colonel Kensington likes to remind me whenever he gets the chance.” Jesik looked Rowley over. He’s awfully young to be commanding a Frigate, particularly in the hottest spot in the quadrant. But, he was steady under fire and should do fine.

  “A little free advice, Rick?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “I’d find occasion to spend some time with Lieutenant Commander Magill. He has a natural feel for the politics of this place and he’ll know the problems that Wilkerson’s dealing with. It might help you keep the peace with the Alturians, who aren’t elated to share the system with us. Plus, he needs to stay connected with the fleet to bolster his own morale.”

  Rowley acknowledged the advice and added, “I know it probably sounds strange, Sir, since most people would find it frustrating to receive an eighteen-month assignment on customs duty this far from home, but I’m actually looking forward to this cruise. I think the Keswick Rebellion’s going to have some long-term implications for Kalenden society that will take years to fully understand and I like being in the action.”

  With that, Jesik’s concern about Rowley’s lack of experience evaporated. “Keep the lines of communication open, Rick, and may the wind always be at your back.”

  “Good luck to you, too, Sir – and to Lieutenant Eaves and Carter in the competition.”

  “So you’ve heard their entry into the Shuttlecraft trials has been accepted? I imagine everybody knows it by now.”

  “Only everyone within three parsecs. Eaves isn’t quiet when he’s excited.”

  “He ought to be terrified. This is the first challenge he’s likely to lose and who knows what it will do to his self-assurance?”

  “I wish I could be there,” said Rowley with a grin, “I can see Mr. ‘Instant Reflex’ fighting the controls of a shuttlecraft. It’ll be like having the number one striker on the Kalenden Interstellar Soccer Team trying to shoot goals with a medicine ball.”

  “Well, when you hear that the Allegro’s reputation is tarnished, feel free to send your condolences. Good luck, Captain Rowley.”

  Rowley left the room to catch a shuttle back to the Fermata. Speaking into his communications device, Jesik said, “Mr. Brighton, is the ship ready for departure?”

  “All in order, Sir.”

  “Good, I’ll be in the shuttle bay to bid Major Wilkerson and Lieutenant Commander Magill farewell.”

  “Acknowledged, Sir. Wish them well for all of us on the bridge.”

  When Jesik arrived in the shuttle bay he found Eaves shaking his head with contempt. “Lieutenant Commander; a two-step promotion because of your unique ‘political skills.’”

  Jesik couldn’t help but smile when he heard Magill reply, “I told you to pay more attention in our Political Science classes. Politics is where the real power is; and now I have the rank to prove it.” Before Magill could react, he added, “And you really should stand at attention in the presence of a superior officer!”

  “Going to your head so soon?” asked Jesik, coming up from behind Magill. The sound of his voice nearly startled Magill out of his wits, and he teetered on his crutches.

  “Sorry, Sir! And not really—just to Mr. Eaves. A person needs every advantage they can get when talking with him.” Magill looked absolutely miserable until Jesik broke into a grin.

  “I understand— on more than occasion I’ve found myself trying to remind Lieutenant Eaves that even a lowly starship captain outranks a Lieutenant Junior Grade.”

  “Ganging up on me?” Eaves looked stricken. “Sir…Sirs!”

  “But on a more serious note, Commander Magill, do you really think it’s fair that you get a promotion out of this while Mr. Eaves languishes,?”

  Magill shook his head. “I suppose not. Although it’s quite nice on a personal level. But in spite of all his bluster he really did have a huge impact on the battle.”

  “Then we’ll promote him to full Lieutenant right now—how about that?”

  Sean Magill smiled. “I actually wish you could make him outrank me, Sir. He saved my life, after all.”

  “Afraid I don’t have that much authority. But I can do a one-step field promotion. How does that sound to you, Lieutenant?”

  “It sounds great, Sir. It means I’ll be of equal rank with Jason Carter, and he needs some humility.”

  “Well, you’re certainly the one to teach people about humility, Lieutenant Eaves.” Jesik then spoke his command firmly to the computer, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Eaves became simply Lieutenant Eaves.

  “Congratulations!” said Magill sincerely, then stepped forward and dropped his crutches to give Travis a hug. “Good luck in the competition. Stay in touch.”

  “You get this government good and organized so you can return to real duty!” Eaves actually held the hug a bit longer than Magill expected, which was his way of expressing the emotion that he felt.

  “Enough of that, gentlemen. We’ve got to be on our way.”

  Ten minutes later Magill was on a shuttle to the surface of Keswick and the Allegro had left orbit for the three-month journey back to Kalenden.

  * * *

  One of the greatest difficulties of deep-space service is the mind-numbing boredom one encounters during voyages that take months, sometimes even years to complete. Part of the problem is that even in vortex drive, space itself is so vast that there’s no way to experience a sense of progress because at any given moment there’s very little change in the position of the ship relative to the stars. It always feels like you’re absolutely motionless, even though the ship is traveling at an incredible rate of speed. The only time things get exciting is when a ship draws close to a planet or another ship, where speed becomes obvious in relationship to the other object.

  At first, Fleet Command tried to deal with this by providing a well-stocked library of books and movies. But that wasn’t enough to effectively occupy the crew’s off-duty time in a meaningful way. In time, the boredom of travel made it ever more difficult to recruit top talent into deep-space service, a real problem in maintaining defense and control of the trade routes.

  The solution came by accident during an after-dinner drink between several ship Captains attending a training conference. One bragged that he had the best Helmsman in the service, one who could dock a space cruiser to a soap bubble without breaking it. Another disagreed and soon a bet was made. Since both ships would be rendezvousing at Tatrius in four months, the challenge was that they’d have a formal competition of docking to the orbiting space station, with points awarded for accuracy, speed and style. At
this point, nearly everyone in the room joined the conversation and there was agreement that a competition was a great idea. Thus was born the first service competition. The effect on the morale of the two ships was profound, since nearly the entire time during the journey was spent getting ready for the competition. The respective helmsmen spent days in the flight simulators, practicing various maneuvers, while the rest of the ship’s company spent their time rehearsing their roles in the docking procedures and thoroughly checking all relevant equipment to make sure nothing would go wrong. By the time the two ships arrived, they found that news of the competition had preceded them and they were met by video crews who had set up interplanetary links so that military personnel from all branches of the services could watch the maneuvers. The victor was then awarded the “Docking Cup,” with a promise of a rematch the next time the two ships shared the same orbit.

  Fleet Command recognized that was just what they’d been looking for and so over time they sponsored a number of high-profile competitions that ships could choose to enter on a regional basis, with the top twelve in the fleet (based on service-points, rather than actual success in the regional trials) competing at a system-wide festival. The service points idea was a masterstroke, since it required everyone on the ship to do their best on every cruise, instead of occupying the time of just crewmembers who would directly compete. Of course, success in a regional trial helped qualify as one of the top twelve for the system competition given that additional service points were awarded to ships who competed in the various trials.

  The sites of the competitions were scattered throughout the system, so that major planets had a chance to host an event. The local citizenry of each planet also became involved, competing vigorously to see who could throw the best party. Huge festivals grew around the competitions and before long, both civilian and military authorities looked upon them as the premier events of the year.

  Because the ship was still so new, Allegro had not yet competed in any of the competitions. But with the combat points earned at Keswick, she could pick which trial to enter, without regard to any regional competition.

  Which lead to an interesting conversation taking place in the Allegro’s shuttle bay shortly after the departure from Keswick.

  “Have you actually ever piloted a shuttlecraft, Mr. Eaves?”

  “Well, not on an actual shuttlecraft, Sir, but I did successfully land a training shuttle in a simulator at the academy. I’m the only one who didn’t crash.”

  “Heaven help us,” cursed Chief Engineer Timothy O’Casey. His red face complimented his red hair.

  “And what about you, Mr. Carter?”

  He hesitated before answering. “I had to run the calculations for a shuttle landing during a navigational mathematics class.”

  “Just what the blazes were you guys thinking, signing up for the competition? Do you have any idea the scale of humiliation we’re all in for? You’re going to disgrace the ship and screw up my shuttle.”

  Carter looked at Eaves with fire in his eyes. “It was actually Lieutenant Eaves’ idea, Sir. I wasn’t aware we’d been entered until it was announced during the ship’s daily briefing.”

  Eaves did not look repentant. “With all due respect, how hard can it be? A ship’s a ship and once you know the layout of its control panel, the rest just sort of happens.”

  O’Casey snorted. “You are so full of yourself! Well, this competition should help you get over it. You see, Lieutenant, a shuttlecraft is not a ship like any other ship. Nearly every maneuver you execute to control a fighter is dead wrong in a shuttle. You hit resistance in a fighter, you power through it. Try that in a shuttle and you’ll fold the thing like an accordion. You want to bank to starboard in a fighter, you tip the controls to starboard and the ship makes the turn instantly. In a shuttle you have to turn the controls to port for at least thirty seconds before making the starboard bank, or you’ll roll the ship into a giant loop. Therefore, if you actually succeed in becoming a shuttlecraft pilot, you’ll be so screwed up mentally that you’ll never be able to manage a fighter again. I hope you learn to like piloting a large, slow, giant steel feather that dances slowly through the atmosphere, because that’s where you’ll spend the rest of your career.”

  Eaves still looked defiant, although he felt not nearly as confident. “But Sir, out of the twelve teams competing, they always have three fighter crews. So, I figured we ought to be one of them.”

  “Oh? That’s why you signed up?” O’Casey stroked his bushy red beard and smiled. “Lieutenant, they always invite three fighter crews to provide comedy. It’s hilarious to watch nine crews make nearly perfect hook-ups, while three ships do their level best to avoid crashing into buildings or the spectators’ gallery. At best, you’re facing better than five hundred to one odds that you’ll wreck the shuttle on the first try. MY SHUTTLE, dammit! Then, you’ll go off to some glamorous assignment in your fighter while I’m left to repair the damage.” O’Casey smoldered. Nothing was said for at least thirty seconds.

  “Sir, maybe this is a mistake, but, Carter and I have three months to get ready and I promise you we’ll get prepared. While I don’t want to screw up my skill as a fighter, I’m willing to take that chance. I think we can win.”

  “Win, with just three months practice in a simulator? Get real, Lieutenant. You might learn enough to avoid wrecking the shuttle, but you’ll be up against men who have made this their life’s work and who have piloted their ships through every kind of weather on every type of planet. You won’t win.”

  “Sir,” said Eaves with a sideward glance at Carter, “You may find this hard to believe, but this really isn’t about my ego. It’s about developing skills. I want to be able to fly anything that can move in the atmosphere or space.” He searched their faces for understanding, but both men remained stoic.

  He continued. “Fighter pilots have ten years at most and then what do they do with their lives? I’m a pilot. Not just a fighter pilot. Before I’m done, I want to design ships and improve things, and to do that I need to know everything there is about every type of craft in the fleet, including shuttles.” His face tightened with resolve. “Mr. O’Casey, I want to learn to fly the shuttle, even though it’s as big as a hundred fighters. So will you please help me?”

  O’Casey pursed his lips and straightened, a bit. “Well Lieutenant Eaves, I had no idea there was any depth to you. And while I’d hate to have to change my opinion, maybe you can learn. Three months in deep-space can be boring and watching you crash a simulator can give me a break from my routine. But I’m warning you, if I ever get the feeling, for even a second, that this is just a game, or that you’re in this to make fun of the shuttle service, I’ll personally take our shuttle out of service so fast your head will spin, and you will have to forfeit. Do you understand?”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Are you in this with your friend, Mr. Carter?”

  Carter grimaced and let out an irritated sigh. But, he nodded his head in the affirmative.

  “All right then, be here tomorrow morning at 05:00 for your first lesson.”

  “05:00!”

  O’Casey smiled.

  * * *

  The lesson started with a review of the principles involved in shuttlecraft propulsion. When deep-space travel became viable through the invention of the vortex drive, it became necessary to find a low-cost way to get people and materials from a planet’s surface into orbit. At first, designers tried to use deep-space ships to take off and land within the atmosphere, but the sheer weight and volume of fuel made that impossible, (with a typical ratio of one-to-five fuel-to-ship weight). Plus, the cost of recovering booster engines made the entire process impractical for routine service. So what was needed was a reliable way to shuttle goods and people to an orbiting ship that never traveled anywhere but in deep space.

  “But, even that presented a problem,” O’Casey explained. “Using explosive propellants for shuttles was extraordinarily expensive and damagin
g to the environment. Ironically, the answer to the problem came from Earth’s Merchant Marine. To make military submarines ever quieter and avoid detection by hostile forces, scientists developed a membrane that attracts or repels water, depending on how an electrical charge is applied to it. At first, the surface of the membrane had to be so large, relative to the submarine, that it was impractical. Eventually, though, the process was perfected to where large panels at the bow could be charged to attract water, in essence pulling the ship forward, while panels aft carried the opposite charge to push the ship forward. That ingenious solution eliminated most of the mechanical equipment aboard the ship. Thus, interior space formerly allocated to propulsion was available for cargo and supplies.”

  “Are you with me?” O’Casey asked. The two nodded affirmatively, so he continued. “As scientists pondered ways to make surface-to-orbit shuttles practical, someone thought of the idea of adapting the membrane to attract and repel other materials, including air. Dubbed the “Anti-Gravity-Membrane,” a substance was developed that could be manipulated electronically to resist or attract nearby objects. Practically anything could be used, but different materials provided varying attraction rates. If electrical power was lost, the membrane lost the orientation needed to hold the molecules in the opposing position and the membrane simply reverted to its inert state.

  “While the water-only membrane had become efficient enough to propel large ocean-going tankers at speeds in excess of fifty knots, it was difficult to apply the same process to a shuttlecraft because of the lower density of air compared to water. The size of the membrane was simply too large for traditional shuttles that carried forty or fifty troops. Ultimately, the solution was to build extremely large, but lightweight, shuttles that had enormous panels on the bottom and top. A typical shuttle is roughly the size of a soccer field and its boxy shape makes it look more like a large warehouse than a spaceship. Sophisticated computers constantly monitor the environment for the best material to oppose or attract, then modify the structure of the membrane to match that material. So, for example, the panels on the top of the shuttle might be programmed to attract themselves to gases in the atmosphere, while the bottom panels are set to repel the ground itself. All this can be accomplished with relatively-small, cold fusion generators and batteries, eliminating propellants.