Multiverse 1

by Chris Hechtl

  Henry sighed and closed his eyes. Percy was right damn it; he could have ended this mess before it had begun. Mister, all so smug and superior, Quinn had pointed that out to him the last time he had talked to the guild rep. He hadn't found that many qualified prospects either, he thought. The only ones that were qualified either jumped ship from one of the liners or was put off for one reason or another. He didn't need to deal with a potential problem.

  “Just let me think about it,” he mumbled, getting up from his chair and walking out. Percy watched him go, knowing his boss was wrestling with the problem but also knowing from his sudden backing down what the answer would inevitably be. After all, they had little choice; they needed each other. Better the devil you knew than the ones you didn't know. They'd learned that with bridezilla after all.

  ...*...*...*...*…

  The next shift the owner reluctantly took them back on. The teenage girl came aboard upset, not about returning; it turned out the boy she had dated last year had picked up another girl right after she had left. She was heartbroken.

  The owner took a chance on a few greenhorns with no prior experience to fill out the remaining crew, but some departments would have to do double shifts.

  Jenny tracked Henry down the next shift. “I want in.” He turned to her. She gulped. “I want to be crew captain. I want to learn I mean. I want to be more than a burden.”

  “You are a young lady. It's your job to learn.”

  “And to eventually apply what I've learned. Mom and dad are freaked about what I can do. I can do more than babysit my little brother! Please sir, give me a chance,” she implored, and then bit her lip looking down, afraid she'd said too much. When he didn't say anything, just stood there, she toed the decking, sure she'd catch hell.

  “All right,” he finally said gruffly. She looked up all smiled.

  To her parent's surprise the teen was signed on to quote, unquote, keep herself busy and train her for the future. She was signed on as a general, untrained deckhand with pay. “She's old enough to have a part-time job. Hell, at her age I had two of them. Do her some good, and it'll get her out of moping and whining over that soap opera,” Henry growled.

  Her parents were worried, but to their surprise the girl buckled down when she got a chance to sit a bridge watch on her own. The sudden chance at authority and the heavy weight of responsibility that came with it matured her a great deal. Granted they were still in port, but the idea of Henry trusting her with the responsibility was both thrilling and a little humbling. After her second shift, the boy she had a crush on had been all but forgotten.

  In a bit of good, luck Henry managed to land an emergency contract when he found out through the station grapevine that a ship in port had an engineering casualty and was forced to give up a time sensitive cargo. That fortuitous event cleared their remaining port and fuel fees and even covered the transit cost back to their last stop.

  ...*...*...*...*…

  They made it to their next stop without incident, delivered the cargo, took on new goods, and a mandatory Federal cargo of medicine for a plague but no extra crew. They then ran to the next stop. It was a short stop, then on to the next. On that one they spent an extra six hours restocking supplies of food and life support materials.

  The short stops without liberty were hard on the crew. Henry knew it but didn't do anything about it. They had to re-earn their privileges and his trust by working hard and not complaining. He was surprised that they did put their heads down and get to work without complaint.

  The navigator worked hard, shaving hours off their course. It was risky but Henry realized it was a calculated one and decided that it was worth it, not just to save time and money, but to prove he had some faith in his team. They made it to their next port of call a day late. They racked up a smaller penalty than anticipated. He nodded to them, a sign of his approval. The chief gave a thumbs-up over his head, and the assembled crew cheered.

  ...*...*...*...*…

  The new crew settled in. The ship shook down well. Their next stop got them back on schedule and wiped away most of the old debt. They even managed a small profit. Since the crew had worked their tails off and since they had a profit sharing arrangement tucked away in their contract, Henry opened up the banking software and did the calculations. With a smaller crew, each were given larger bonuses, much to their surprise. It wasn't much, but something after so long was much better than nothing.

  This encouraged the crew and built morale. The teen was thrilled at getting a share. Her brother was envious and determined to get a share as well. He gathered up his nerve and went to the captain. The skipper was amused but acquiesced readily. He checked files, then nodded. He had the kid assigned as engine wiper and assigned under chief engineer.

  The boy was thrilled. The chief came to Henry amused and annoyed at babysitting. “Babysitting? That's all I need. Whatever possessed you to do this? Jenny I can see; she's got a good head on her shoulders when it's on the job and not on her hormones. But the kid? Seriously boss, it's babysitting!”

  “It's not; he wants to contribute. I was a year younger when I had his job so stop whining,” Henry said, reminding Percy.

  Percy cocked an eyebrow. “You were?”

  Henry snorted. “Sure. Chief of the boat had me all over the place. I realized a lot was make work or scut work or simple errands a bot could do, but it kept me busy and I earned my share plus a bonus.”

  “Oh.”

  “Give him a try. Start slow, build for long-term strength. Train him up right.

  “Okay. You say so; after all, you're the captain,” Percy said with a grin. Henry was gruff and a grump, but he had a solid head on his shoulders. He listened; something Jericho had tended not to do when he got married. Their bit of good luck and his relenting and giving the family a second chance had helped cement him as a good captain in the eyes of the crew.

  “Not if I can help it,” the owner sighed rubbing the small of his back. Damn watching the kids…did he ever feel old just watching their youth and energy. “If I find someone dependable, I'll take my old job back. Double shifts is for the birds. I'm too old for this shit,” he growled. The chief laughed and gave him a clout on the shoulder in passing as he left.

  ...*...*...*...*…

  On the plague world, the doctor and nurse remained behind with their cargo of vitally needed medicine. The ship was given a bonus for her timely arrival. The captain gave part of the bonus to the medics. When the new mother expressed her concern about her child, the engineering chief laughed and pointed out the owner was also a paramedic as was the chief and four other crew members on the ship.

  “We didn't need a dedicated doctor. If we have a serious problem, that's what the stasis pods are for,” he told her.

  She nodded in reply to that. “Cap, you are full of surprises sometimes,” she told the owner who shrugged uncomfortably.

  For the first time in their lives, the kids were flush with money. It's like a ground slide when a child is given ten times their allowance with no experience with money. They blow some of it in a rush, but Eric the son paused thoughtfully. He'd listened to Percy and Henry, how they'd scrimp and saved over the years. Finally coming to a decision, he went in search of owner for some much needed advice. He asked about shares in the ship in a rush. Henry was standing his shift on the bridge and was surprised and amused by the breathless question. “No,” he replied thoughtfully. “There aren't shares in the ownership of the ship, but you can buy shares in cargo or your own cargo,” he said, watching the lad's face go from disappointed to interested in an instant.

  The kid was instantly intrigued. The others on the small bridge were as well. “You mean we can do that?” the helmsman asked.

  Henry snorted. “Of course. You can always do that; it's in your contract after all. Usually I would invest your bonus money into an extra cargo, then the crew gets the entire proceeds on demand or when we get to the resort. But, the guild pointed out I can't do that anymore
, so I pay you right off now or put it in escrow,” Henry explained.

  “Oh. Can I do that? Invest I mean?” Eric asked, eyes wide.

  Henry studied the lad and then shrugged. “I suggest you do your homework. I'll tell you where we're going next or the nav will. Then check what each planet needs or wants, what is legal,” he paused the emphasis at that point with a long warning look. “And then see what you can line up. I suggest you start small, sort of get your toe in the water as the saying goes.” He snorted at the kid, Eric was just about jumping in his excitement. “I won't even charge you for freight the first run,” he added with a small smile.

  That little caveat brought Eric down a bit. “Oh,” he said quietly and thoughtfully. After a moment the kid nodded. “Fair enough,” he answered, smiling again.

  “Interesting,” the navigator said thoughtfully. “So no bonus when we get to the resort world?” he asked.

  “After this run?” the owner shook his head. “I still have legal fees from bridezilla and crew. She's trying to extort a settlement out of me for severance pay. Fat chance.”

  Percy snorted. “Ouch. Talk about really biting the hand that fed you.”

  ...*...*...*...*…

  They made several runs, continuing to rebuild their reputation and credit line. The kids banded together and formed their own investment group. Their first run of small investments was a huge success; they tripled their initial investment. Their parents immediately took an interest. They joined in and got involved on the second run. That time they doubled their investment. On the third run they barely broke even. “Sometimes it happens that way. In this case, you did everything right but another ship got in with the goods first,” Henry said, shrugging. “Welcome to what I've been doing for the past couple of decades.”

  On the fourth run, they were more careful. They were nervous but when they entered orbit they found they were in luck. They had filled a cargo hold with spices and wine just in time for a major wedding of two prominent merchant houses. They bought it all at exorbitant prices.

  ...*...*...*...*…

  They arrived on the world for celebration of colony founding and groups get into bidding war for cargo. They got one hundred times their investment. “Timing and luck…and good research. Good job,” the captain said with a nod. “Damn good job.” The kids and crew were all smiles for days. Bobby went around the ship fist bumping others and yelling “Ka-ching baby!”

  The next run was to resort world to run cargo to resort and junior execs. At the resort world, the crew lived it up. They ran into bridezilla working in a hotel as a hospitality hostess. Their former captain was a bus boy before committing suicide.

  The chief was amused when he heard the news. He heard that she had dumped their former captain for a junior exec but was trying to climb the corporate ladder. From the scuttlebutt they weren't getting far.

  She had also been trying to start a class action suit, even got a lien on the ship by seducing a judge. Now the judge was out, having been exposed by a PI hired by the ship owner.

  She was out on bail and looked haggard. She was a shadow of her former self and resented it. The captain and Percy were hardly recognizable. Each were in their best ship suits for the occasion.

  The captain stood and waited for the room to quiet.

  “I'm not big on speeches, but here goes,” he said. That got a soft chuckle from the assembled crew.

  “Being a spacer is tough. It's not an easy life, I've done it my entire adult life. I've learned the tricks of the trade in my travels but some of those lessons were hard ones. Hazards are out there, and we'll find our fair share of them over the years. From the siren calls of lust,” he paused to nod in the bridzilla's direction. “To the possible occasional over indulgence,” he smiled and waggled his champagne glass as he looked down at it briefly. The crew snorted softly. He looked up and smiled. “The important thing is that we get through them and learn from them. We're going to make mistakes along the way, but as long as we pull together as a crew we can work wonders. To the future!” he said holding his glass out.

  “To the future!” echoed the salute.

  “To learning from the past,” Percy smirked, noting bridezilla coming into the room. The woman felt eyes on her and looked up on her guard.

  She glared when she recognized some of the crew. They saluted her with their champagne glasses and just smiled.

  The End

  Bringer of Fire and Light

  Cast:

  Commander/Captain Shelby Logan

  Chief: 1st Lieutenant Cynthia Troll –“Trollope” blonde, curly Shirley Temple hair

  Doc: Veraxin V'brno female lieutenant

  Lieutenant Silverfish: Calico Neocat helmsman and Navigator

  Ensign Oz Kettle: Neogorilla assistant engineer

  Exec: 1st Lieutenant Zeb, Veraxin -doesn't talk much.

  Ezekiel Gunner: Ensign, ops

  Ensign Conrad Murray: weapons

  Prometheus AI: Dumb AI

  Lively: Main coon, ship's cat

  Oscar Levinson: escort captain of Descartes

  Lieutenant Eddington: Levinson's exec. Gets face injured.

  Troy Yu: escort Captain of Loch

  Adam Hotanga: Spokesman for Seti Alpha 4

  Jeremy Taylor: Rep electronics board director, Aierea 3. Black hair, receding hairline, bit of a gut.

  Doctor Duello McFile: Doctor from Io 11

  “Finally! On the road,” Commander Shelby Logan, captain of the Cabeiri Zeta class tender Prometheus, said smiling. “Better late than never I suppose,” she said with a bit of whimsy. Which was true, they were four years and six months overdue for their first mission. This was their first loop, the southern route of the sector. They would return to Pyrax within two years and then after a month or two to refit and rest they'd go on to do another loop, most likely a northern one. They were supposed to pick up the rest of their squadron when they returned to Pyrax…if the intended ships weren't tasked elsewhere.

  She checked the others in her little unit. The two Horseshoe Crab class frigates were riding her flanks; they were sturdy, but hardly the two escort destroyers she'd planned on having. Admiral Irons and his engineering AI Proteus had come up with several new ship designs while in transit between star systems, one of them the Shield Maiden class Escort Destroyer. The Shield Maiden wasn't just a refit or revamp of the ancient Aegis class, it was a complete redesign from the keel up. The admiral had designed it with cruiser level defensive systems which unfortunately meant a trade-off in her offensive armament. It was an interesting design built for their current troubled time period. The Shield Maiden's mission would be to interpose herself between a pirate and a convoy or other ship, intercepting the fire and letting her consorts run.

  That was the theory anyway. Unfortunately, with the Shield Maiden being a new design, and the limited number of hyperdrives and other critical parts, their design was still under review. Hopefully she'd see them when they returned to Pyrax.

  She'd hoped to have Naomi's Samuel's Xavier, but Captain Logan had reserved all the tin cans for Pyrax and Agnosta system defense or running convoy escort between the systems and Antigua. It was just as well, Xavier was still laid up and would be in the yard dog hands for another month before she shook free of the yard and managed to settle down. She understood her father's concern, with Firefly off on her first patrol and with a lot of the ships still working up or in yard hands, he needed to keep his priorities in order. Besides, Prometheus could look after herself if she got into trouble.

  She did have one consolation prize; their delay in leaving had let her pick up one other ship. The newly constructed fuel tanker Bertha brought up their rear. Bertha was a lumbering collection of struts and tanks with engines on one end and a tiny habitat along the central spine. The original plan had been to have a couple of additional support ships with them, plus at least two squadrons of fighters, but things changed.

  Despite everything Admiral Irons had sent, they still had a
limited number of fighters. Not just fighters though, but also trained and qualified pilots were in short supply. Pilots were a breed apart, you couldn't just stick a shuttle pilot into a fighter and expect them to handle the job. It took months of training to get the basics down, and then constant training in both simulators and in space to hone and keep those skills. With the short supply of pilots and high demand for them on the carriers, Antigua, system defense forts, and other squadrons it was no surprise that she'd come up short. Again.

  She'd thought her dad would have gone for sending a ship behind them to play catch up. Stuff her full of fighters and gear, she'd be a welcome addition to her little squadron. But the mission board had nixed the idea. Sending a freighter after them would just waste time and resources. All the freighters were needed running between the systems right now, a ship chasing Prometheus down would be foolish. Even if she came through the Janus system and tried to meet Prometheus half way along her journey would have been a waste of time…and a possible risk to the crew of the freighter if they ran into a marauder. No, they were right, she'd have to wait for a new freighter to come out of the yard in two years or more.

  One of the biggest things to change was the mission. When Admiral Irons had first ordered the Prometheus mission years ago, it had been in the early stages of planning. Really just a sketch of what the admiral intended in a couple paragraphs. The intent was a bit fuzzy, but the mission had a vital purpose, to start laying the ground work to resurrect galactic civilization and the Federation. Admiral Irons and Commander Sprite had refined the mission objectives over the past four years.

  Prometheus was a diplomat, a helping hand to the colonies she visited, and a floating advertisement of what the Federation was capable of if they worked together. That, along with the goodies she was intended to make and hand out, would be a powerful incentive to get colonies to sign on to the constitutional convention and a reformation of the Federation. She was to explore the southern route, get to know the neighbors of Pyrax, and establish trade and allies, along with a network of spy satellites to keep an eye on things.