“The Freeground I grew up in was very cool. Lots of kids, everyone felt like the best way to get over the tragedy at the end of the All-Con Conflict was to start a new generation, so even though my parents weren’t around, I was never alone. They were always teaching us something even though we might not have realized it, we never wanted for anything, and trade was good. I joined the military and started to find out what it took to keep all that going, and then the politics went bad. The Freeground I left was xenophobic, afraid of their own people, trying to keep them from travelling because they knew a lot of them wouldn’t come back, and big on breeding for a better, bigger future. It was the Puritan Party, mostly, but you could see a lot of Freegrounders were big on the breeding initiative, and they didn’t want outside influence anymore. They blamed anyone who had something to do with connecting Freeground with the rest of the galaxy for the situation there starting to fall apart. The punchline is that Freeground was already in a lot of trouble because it was too disconnected from the rest of the galaxy. There was no way the station could survive without bigger trading partners and military alliances. Then the Holocaust Virus hit, and well, their allies were too busy taking care of themselves, then most of the trade dried up. Freeground Fleet had to start going out and getting whatever the station needed, and I guess they ran into some serious trouble.”
“Trouble that led them here,” Liara said.
“Honestly, I’ve never heard of the Isek. They say they attacked Freeground unprovoked for weeks, but who knows how the Fleet pissed them off. It’s another species, so maybe Freeground’s xenophobia set them off, or someone in Freeground Fleet ate one of their young, mistaking a bassinet for a buffet, who knows?”
“Oh, God, you’re gross,” Dotty chuckled.
“That’s; ‘Oh, God, you’re gross, Sir,’ to you, Private,” Remmy said with a smirk.
“Sir, yes, Sir,” Dotty replied.
“Okay, so we have to wonder if the Isek are another factor in this,” Liara said. “They could be looking for Freeground in the nebula as well.”
“I thought you were on a purely diplomatic mission,” Remmy said.
“I need to put the best, most complete picture of Freeground’s situation together by the time Triton Fleet calls us back. No new information is bad information.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The view of the blue and yellow shaded nebula disappeared, replaced with an old docking bay. The transport slowed and jostled slightly as docking clamps locked into place. A moment later the ship was drawn into a small dry dock compartment. Liara watched through the starboard porthole as scratched and dented doors slid closed outside. The cockpit door at the front of the ship opened and a short, thin man with a braided blonde beard and a bald head emerged. “I’m Petty Officer Gus Fielders,” he said, ignoring Remmy and Dotty as he offered his hand to Liara. “Call me Gus.”
She shook it and smiled at him. His record came up in her mind’s eye, delivered through her neural interface, or brain bud as it was branded. He was a small ship mechanic and pilot, listed as one of her technical advisors for the mission. Gus was one of the many people who were stranded on Tamber when his ship was destroyed, and he’d been a citizen of Haven Shore for two months before joining the fleet. Unlike many people in his situation, there was no gap in his records. Liara could see his entire professional life as a pilot and mechanic, a career spanning over twenty years. “It’s good to meet you, Gus. I think we should all be on first name basis for this mission, so call me Liara.”
“Yes, Ma’am. We’re docked, we’re locked onto our slip, and there’s a good seal in the compartment outside. My crew are watching the scanners for you. Captain Valent was kind enough to send a couple Triton Security fellows along who had a turn on the Warlord. They’ll guard our cargo and make sure the ship is ready to go any time we need her.”
“Then I don’t have to worry about leaving a guard with the ship,” Liara said.
“Absolutely not, they’re in heavy armour and have a kit made for trouble,” Gus replied. “Just wondering what the plan is, initially?”
Liara thought for a moment, giving herself time to make a final decision on what tact she’d be taking. Remmy, Dotty, and Gus waited expectantly, but she’d learned to shut staring gazes out long ago. “Strength and poise,” she said, hearing an echo of her father in her British accent and those words. “We have supplies they’ll be eager to get their hands on, and we’ll be keeping them until I feel they’ve offered the appropriate level of cooperation. Is this ship made for long journeys? Do we have our own ready supplies if we’re stuck here for a while?”
“We’re stocked, should be all right for four months without digging into what we have in the hold,” Gus said. “What are you expecting?”
“I’m just preparing for the worst. We may be stuck on this transport for a while if the government doesn’t want us to see much of the station.”
A cranky sounding chime sounded from the main exit hatch. It was followed by a message; “I’m Representative Tobias Anner, here to welcome you to Freeground Alpha and escort you to your accommodations.”
“Here we go,” Liara said. “Follow my lead, and look for details about how people who aren’t attached to politics or the military are living.”
Gus made sure his stunner was securely in his holster and opened the door. The ramp activated outside and Liara was about to depart when Dotty offered her a stun pistol with a large barrel. “It’s a stunner with three restraint shells loaded.”
“No, thank you,” Liara said, waving the weapon off. “I’ll leave that to everyone else, I don’t get on well with firearms.”
“Are you sure?”
Liara only nodded as she passed and strode down the ramp with Remmy, Gus and Dotty behind her. With one last check to make sure she had the right emblems displaying on her black and green command uniform. On her right shoulder was the silver skull of Triton Fleet, her left bore the sunset of Haven Shore, she wore the Revenge skull and letters on the left side of her chest, and her wrists had the slanted bars of Lieutenant Commander. Her uniform didn’t have to say anything else, in fact she’d added the Haven Shore insignia as soon as she was told that she was going on a diplomatic mission. It only seemed fitting, since her actions and observations could affect their home eventually.
The chubby-faced fellow who met her had fashioned his vacsuit to look like an older style business suit with a jacket and loose slacks. The two security personnel behind him were plainer, in navy blue light armour. The small pistols they carried seemed woefully inadequate compared to the hand cannons and heavy stunners that her security detail carried, and the representative’s eyes darted to Remmy and Dotty.
Liara waited until he was just about to speak before addressing him. “I’m Liara Erron, it’s good to meet you, representative Anner. Before we get started, I’d like to know who exactly you represent?”
He hesitated, cocking his head a little. She intentionally recalled a small dog that her neighbour had when she was a little girl who used to do the same thing. It also used to defecate in its owners’ shoes and run into walls constantly.
“I’m sorry,” Liara said. “Maybe the question is confusing for you, I’ll be clearer. I realize you’re going to tell me you represent Freeground, or Freeground Nation, but what I would like to know is who you report to. What branch, exactly, and what political party does it belong to?”
“The government, um,” Tobias Anner replied. Liara patiently waited for him to put an answer together, happy to see he was easily put off balance. “I am the youngest member of Freeground Parliament.”
“Elected?”
“I took over Representative Wan’s seat when he was killed in the bombing. I hope to run –”
“Who put you there? There were other candidates, I’m sure, but you were selected by someone,” Liara asked, turning and looking back up the ramp. Using her mental connection to the wireless systems on the ship, she ordered the ramp to retract and t
he door to close.
“The Prime Minister made the selections,” he replied.
“Then you report directly to him where I’m concerned?” Liara said. “To him and the Loyalist Party?”
“Well, yes.”
“That wasn’t so hard. Since you’re only keeping a seat warm in Parliament, I’ll call you Toby. You will call me Lieutenant Commander. Who are these people?” She asked, nodding at the four people in heavier vacsuits approaching the other side of the transparent doors leading into the station.
“Oh, they’re here to unload the supplies we saw on your ship when we scanned you,” Toby replied.
“We won’t be doing that today,” Liara said. “The supplies stay on the ship. If we do put them in your hands, I’ll follow them from my cargo bay to processing and finally to the people you serve them to.”
“I was told to unload the extra supplies in your hold.”
“I know for a fact that you were told nothing about how the supplies I’m carrying were to be delivered, or when, or if you’d receive them,” Liara said quietly. With a thought to the ship’s computer, the energy shields activated, momentarily filling the space with a crackling sound. “You are not dealing with a person who negotiates with smiles and ease. I am not Ayan Anderson, she is too important for this. You are dealing with me, and my final report will be a major determining factor in whether Freeground is allowed to join Triton Fleet, and if Freeground Nation citizens are allowed to set foot on Haven Shore or Tamber at all.”
“I’m sorry, I was misinformed, I guess,” Toby said. “Would you like to see your accommodations now? We have a tour scheduled for you in about an hour.”
“Lead on,” Liara said.
“I’m sorry,” one of the security officers said. “Your security detail will not be allowed to enter the station so well armed. We also cannot allow Remmy Sands to follow you. He is a known exile.”
“Sure they are, and yes he will,” Liara said, walking past the security guard and Toby. She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder to make sure her three companions were following, and was reassured when she heard the right number of boots against the deck behind her.
“I have to object, he is not allowed on the station,” the security officer called after her. He rushed to step in front of her.
Liara stopped, turned to Toby, looked him from head to toe then up again slowly and shook her head. Without a word she mentally commanded the ship’s shields to lower, the ramp to extend and the main hatch to open. Remmy, Dotty, and Gus followed her quietly. It took until her foot was on the ramp for Toby to shout; “Wait!”
Instead of acknowledging him, she continued up the ramp, entered the shuttle, had the ramp retract, the hatch close and the shields reactivate before sighing and sitting down. “Now they’re going to start taking us seriously.”
“Okay, that was a great show, but I can stay here, I don’t have to go with you into the station,” Remmy said. “Dot can cover you, no problem, she’s good.”
“If they haven’t evolved past their grudge with you, and they’re not taking this negotiation seriously, then we may as well stay here until the Revenge or the Triton gets back,” Liara said.
Chapter 8
Rearming
For an entire week the Revenge made its way through the Iron Head Nebula using short trans-dimensional jumps. They used the opportunity to test and study the new technology as much as to plot the best possible routes for Freeground Alpha.
Captain Valent grew more fascinated with the interior shape of the nebula as it was charted, and he saw many of his crew share in his explorer’s excitement. Between that and watching Ayan’s team learn more about the Trans-Dimensional technology, there was a constant level of excitement on the bridge and through much of the ship. The new shield system in the nose of the ship had every machinist and mechanic working overtime, except for a group that was directly under Frost’s command.
During morning jogs through the main causeway that ran through the middle of the ship, Jake took time to speak to Ayan. She talked about the Dynamic Field Technology most, it was at the core of how the Dimension Drive and much of Lorander’s systems functioned. He didn’t mind, and traded what he learned about the nebula and the Lorander database for what she was learning. The urge to send their knowledge back to the Rega Gain system so it could be used on the new fleet was growing by the day.
By the third day sergeants, lieutenants, and chiefs were running with them, listening in, sharing their insights, and getting a morning workout with the two Captains. It was an important step in bringing the crew together, and Jake was encouraged at the sight of it happening naturally.
He made sure to check in on Chief Frost, who seemed to exist in a different culture with his mechanics and machinists aboard the ship as they worked on the main guns. His trust in the man was what kept those visits too infrequent, but the reports were encouraging. The full automation of the first main turret was almost finished.
The work of Tactical Chief Frost’s team was more impressive than Jake could have predicted. The inside of the far right main cannon turret had been transformed from a stack of levels rigged so the guns could be loaded manually, to an automated machine that drew munitions directly from the ship’s main magazine. The machinations of the system surrounded Jake and Frost as they stood in the middle of the main service catwalk. Half a dozen of Frost’s people and several maintenance workers were using hand scanners to perform a meticulous final inspection before the weapon’s test firing.
Most of the components used in the automation of the weapon were already aboard the ship when it left the Solar Forge, but small touches and improvements had to be machined aboard from scratch. Jake could not tell which parts were made by the Solar Forge, and which were hand crafted, and the clean metal structure all around tickled the mechanic’s sensibility in him. The loading, maintenance, and internal repair automation systems were three storeys tall, and would be sealed during operation with internal armour so ammunition explosions would do minimal damage to the rest of the ship.
“So, how many qualified people are you transferring out now that the second turret is automated?” Jake asked.
Frost laughed to himself and nodded. “Not as many as the first. General maintenance got two people, and the engineering department got one. A lot are going to the repair teams working on the nose, a couple are training under Ayan on the new tech she’s working on, but the rest aren’t good enough to do much more than grunt work. There are so many good crew aboard who need more training before they’re useful, really useful here that we’re going to be reviewing qualification tests full time once the insides of the Revenge are done,” he said. “Even as it is, I’ve got twenty exhausted people who know what they’re doing, and a hundred who are useless as soon as the rough work is done. Between you and me, this crew was ready in spirit, but not in experience, y’know.”
“I know,” Jake said. “You deserve a lot of credit, Frost, making this work. What I’m seeing here is top notch. I wish I had the chance to see Turret One in this stage. Your people did a hell of a job.”
“We’ll know that when we get the first test rounds out,” Frost replied. “I know it’s put together right, and I’ve got a good team together now. They’ll start on the rest of the turrets tomorrow. All the main guns should be firing ninety rounds a minute before week’s end.”
“Don’t rush the work,” Jake said. “The Revenge is ahead of the fight. We shouldn’t need this kind of firepower for a couple weeks.”
“So the scouting mission goes well?”
“Better than expected. We haven’t run into any sign of Order of Eden forces yet. Scanned a few dead way stations along the way. It looks like the Holocaust Virus wiped out a lot of the humans who settled inside the nebula. It’s a funny thing, though, you can read the statistics on how big this nebula is, but it doesn’t clue in until you’ve jumped around inside it for a week and not seen any sign of the outer edges. You could hide the ent
ire Order of Eden fleet and everything Regent Galactic has in here and no one would find it.”
“Now if we could make that work for Freeground. I’ve heard they wanted to take control of our little fleet, it’s got the crew rumbling, no one likes the prospect. I don’t know how, but everyone caught wind of how Freeground politicians seem to cock things up over there. Doesn’t help that most folks aboard don’t like the Haven Shore council.”
“What about you?”
“Me?” Frost scoffed. “The only politician I’ve come to know is your Ayan, and I think she should have bloody taken Tamber, put a crown on her own head and run the place her way. Damn that council and whatever shit-heels want a piece of power.”
“Don’t hold back now, tell me what you really think,” Jake laughed.
“Can’t help it. Never seen her make a decision that wasn’t thought through right as an engineer. Bah, never mind all that, she’s in the right place I reckon. The fleet needs her more. I’m glad she’s here, and that she doesn’t seem to want to let Freeground take over either.”
“I don’t think there’s an officer who does,” Jake replied. “They might have more ships, even a station to run them from, but we’ve remained independent this long, we’re not going to give that up to a bunch of people who can’t put their own politics aside. Their fleet command and civilian government don’t seem to be getting along either, so I have no idea what will happen if and when we get them out of this mess.”
“If,” Frost said, nodding soberly. “I’ve kept my opinion to myself, but that station is the slowest thing with more than two seats in the sector. I can’t see how the Order won’t catch up to that giant can and find it before it can make it out.”
“I’ve been working on that problem, so has Ayan,” Jake replied. “Its size is the problem.”
“How is our Fleet Engineer doing? Every time I see her on the bridge she’s got her nose down, focusing on tech so far past me that I feel like I’m back in school.”
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