by Chris Hechtl
Already Prometheus's Veraxin doctor had reported deaths in the communities from something as easily preventable as dysentery. That bothered her. That bothered her even more when she saw images of starving sick children dressed in rags, barely able to move. Their eyes…she shivered. Those would haunt her.
“Are we going to court martial Yu, Ma'am?” Zeb asked. “He deserves it for what he's done, Ma'am.”
“Technically…he's consulted. He hasn't diverted military goods to the black market, after all, we're in contract with them. He's just…played their game and helped cover it up with us. Well, that's going to end.”
“I can put a call through to him ,Ma'am,” Prometheus said.
She held up a restraining hand. “No, no,” she said thoughtfully. “I've got a better idea. One that will take the starch right out of his profit margin,” she said, suddenly smiling like a wolf.
Instead of calling them on it, she took a more devious route. She made a large batch of goods and then had her people drop it in areas that the distributors had not gotten to yet but where speculation was high. The materials from before had disappeared into the black market, wildly popular, and had driven up price. The sudden massive amount of free items on the market dropped the price like a stone.
The distributors were not happy when they found out. A representative called, practically gnashing his teeth as he complained about undermining their efforts and profit margin.
“Well, you weren't moving fast enough,” she said sweetly cutting the circuit.
“You didn't make any friends there, Ma'am,” Zeb warned.
“My heart bleeds for their profit line,” Shelby growled. She turned to the exec. “We're here to make friends yes, but we're not here to line their pockets. Greedy bastards, taking advantage of people in desperate need,” she growled, shaking her head.
“It takes all kinds,” Cynthia agreed. “I'd love to have them switch places with the poor suckers who needed the stuff but couldn't afford it,” she growled. Her captain nodded.
“I need to call Yu. He's going to come over here, and we're going to have a chat,” Shelby said.
“Hell, Skipper, as much as I'd like to see him get his, I'd let the bastard squirm a bit. Anxiety over when the ax will fall will make him mind his P's and Q's for a while,” Cynthia suggested.
Shelby cocked her head and then nodded.
<====###====[=]<==
One of the things on Lieutenant Silverfish's list finally got scratched off, he deployed an orbital platform in the L2 point near New Haven. The platform was a solar powered data center, designed to allow ships to exchange information. Most of the information would be about the conditions in hyperspace. It was hoped that with it they could restart the trade and hyper navigation library.
The platform's computer would inquire local ships and allow them to access the computer's library. They'd considered allowing people to download information only, but the lieutenant had believed a limited write ability would encourage passing ships to pass on messages to other ships about local trade or situation reports of the area. He had spent some time with Prometheus and the coding team setting up various files that allowed the ships to upload a log and download others but not overwrite other logs. He was quite proud of the project.
"I'm not thrilled about the guilds, but…" Shelby shrugged. The guilds had been a bit of nuisance from time to time during the Federation. They had jealously guarded their turf and secrets. They had fossilized with their own internal politics and graft. Attempts to clean out corruption and criminal activities had been largely unsuccessful.
"I understand, Ma'am," the calico Neocat said, flicking his ears in amusement. "But this is a step in the right direction. We've left the directions programmed into a simple smart bot. I'm curious what we'll get out of it, if anything."
"Don't get your hopes up, Lieutenant, if I were you. Spacers may be spacers, but trade is something else. They don't usually exchange information freely. If they do, you have to suspect why. Everyone is looking for a leg up, an advantage over the competition."
The cat's ears flattened slightly before he shrugged and nodded briefly.
"I'm hoping it will still be there the next time a navy ship comes through," Shelby said darkly. He looked at her with concern, pupils dilating slightly. She smiled crookedly. "I wouldn't put it past anyone to scoop the thing up, strip it for parts, or hell, sell it. Or someone using it as target practice," she said.
"Then why.."
She shrugged again cutting him off. "Because we're here to get people back onto the path of civilization. I know you wanted to drop this in Halced. I'm not going to approve sticking them everywhere, but…"
The neocat nodded again. "It will help with hyper navigation, Ma'am. Just telling people the local conditions…"
"For the bands and octaves the ships pass through. But if another ship is faster or slower it won't help much," Shelby replied. The cat nodded. She waved a hand. "No problem. We'll drop another in Airea 3 and another in B443, maybe even set something up in Epsilon Triangula if we get the chance. All those systems are cross roads.
"Aye aye, Ma'am."
<====###====[=]<==
Once they were certain things were under control, Shelby finally got her chance to take on Yu and Levinson in a long overdue battle sim. Yu was indeed on his best behavior; he'd even apologized to her for his actions. She had accepted it but had made certain he knew he was skating on thin ice and his career was in jeopardy. She, however, would be magnanimous since she was too close to the issue to pass judgment. Instead she'd pass it on to JAG to handle when they returned to Pyrax.
All three crews were eager to stretch their legs and have a good fight; the crews of all three ships had a lot to prove. Sims internally or between the escorts were one thing, but a real sim in real space was much better. There was a lot to be said about a live fire exercise; nothing got you paying attention more than when it was for real, or as close as it could get. “Now, to your corners and come out swinging,” Shelby said, eyes twinkling.
“This is going to be good,” Yu growled.
“We'll see,” Shelby said simply, cutting the channel to the two frigates.
“Two against one, Ma'am. And they will come in on us together. It's a stiff fight. They are dedicated warships,” Ensign Murray said, sounding worried.
“Don't worry about it, Conrad. They are good, but they are arrogant. They think like you that Prometheus is just a tender. You know our specs. Let them get overconfident and sail in fat dumb and happy,” she growled.
“It's not them being overconfident that worries me,” Ensign Murray admitted. Shelby shot him a look and then nodded.
Shelby surprised the escorts by using a decoy to draw them into the asteroid belt. Prometheus used a series of rigged drones, and asteroids to draw them into a trap.
“They are still coming on us together, Ma'am. I thought you were planning to split them up?”
“I knew they were anticipating it,” Shelby said. “They know our speed; they are faster than us. So, we've had to get creative,” Shelby said, nodding to her XO. “I drew them onto my ground, my choice of a battlefield. Let's see if they realized that,” she growled. “Wait until they are in the center of the engagement zone, she said, leaning forward and raising her hand. Ensign Murray nodded, fingers hovering over his station.
“Now, Conrad!” Shelby barked.
Despite Ensign Murray being green he still held up his end of the engagement. Like a maestro Prometheus used simulated weapon drones seeded on all axis to tear the frigates apart.
Captain Yu called to congratulate her within moments of Prometheus battering his frigate into virtual wreckage. Oscar was more hesitant. She snorted. She could understand he was smarting. Good, he needed a good drubbing, a wakeup call that he wasn't the biggest, baddest bloke on the block. She signaled Prometheus to open the channel to Descartes. “Shall we go two out of three?” She asked, glancing at her XO as she smiled. “I told you, Prometheus ma
y be “just a tender” but her teeth are quite sharp.”
“It's not fair that you've got drones and decoys,” Oscar complained from Loch, entering the conversation.
Shelby raised an eyebrow. “A good captain uses every advantage given to them. Then they find ways to manufacture more. I'm not going to hold back on using a tool if I don't need to, after all; no one said I had to fight fair,” she said pointedly. “That's the point of combat. It's not about fighting fair; it's about winning,” she emphasized. He nodded.
“Now, want another round?” she asked. He nodded, but a bit more wary this time. She smiled like a shark.
<====###====[=]<==
They had an extra week that had been scheduled as time in the Halced system, Shelby hit upon the idea of having a military day on Federation Founding day. They worked out a plan with the local authorities to use the capital space port. Crews from all four ships ferried down hastily made displays and gear, then went through not only setting it all up and rehearsing their speeches and performances, but also the spit and polish required to make a good impression. Shelby wanted everything to be flawless.
The XO was a bit frazzled with his end, since he not only had to act as the executive managing the ground side operations from orbit, but also had to handle and oversee the GI parties going on in Prometheus. Shelby attempted to lend a hand, but she ended up getting called away frequently to deal with negotiations.
When the holiday arrived, the crowds of people flocked to see the space crazy people. Word had spread through the media as well as the scuttlebutt lines, everyone near the space port had seen the shuttles practicing their maneuvers all week.
The open house was a bit modest but effective. Marines and ship's security were on hand but only had to deal with a few drunk and disorderlies. Seeing a Marine show up in armor tended to take the starch out of any brawl rather quickly.
The crowd oohed and awed as the shuttles performed stunts that would have had any safety officer ground them immediately. As the regular public watched, the spectacle delegates and their families were shuttled up to orbit and then to Prometheus for a guided tour.
The tired but exhilarated crew wrapped up the show in the hot summer evening with a fireworks show. Shelby sampled reports from her people. Everything went over quite well, and the natives had been suitably impressed. The only problem was that they were hoping or expecting the same show the following year.
She smiled wryly. "See what we started?" Cynthia demanded. Shelby shrugged in reply. "Are we going to do this in every system?"
"That is an idea," Shelby replied, grinning at her chief engineer's sudden discomfort. Cynthia's crews had worked their tails off getting ready for the delegates, managing the ongoing manufacturing projects, as well as running maintenance on all the shuttles before their flights. And they'd have to run maintenance on them again, Shelby thought, making a note of it. Fortunately, a lot of that was scheduled to be done in hyper.
"I think we should recommend a ship do this on every holiday. It's great PR," Shelby said. Even if it's a lot of work and prep time," she admitted, with just a hint of guilt in her voice.
"Some freaking holiday," Cynthia grumbled. "I worked harder…" she shook her head.
Shelby waved an airy hand. "Quit your whining. It's all for a good cause, and you know it. Did you see the kid’s faces?" she asked, pointing to the news report her people had beamed up to the ship. She had paused it where a family was in camera, kids and adults all smiles. "We've gotten hundreds of applications in, plus thousands of requests for another show. Not to mention people very interested in joining the Federation," the captain said slyly.
Cynthia looked and then snorted. "Okay, so not totally wasted," she murmured.
"Damn right it's not. Each of those people will go on to talk about this for a long, long time. They'll tell their friends and other people. Word of mouth," the captain said. "Building bridges and inspiring them."
"Yeah, yeah," Cynthia grumbled, but her heart was no longer in it. She exhaled noisily. "Well, while you were playing tour guide, we got another asteroid delivery. I heard you had the delegates watch that, but I don't think you picked up on the spectrograph the sensor department pulled or the core samples the boat bay uploaded…"
Shelby knitted her hands together and politely listened to the report.
<====###====[=]<==
It took them a month to work through the remainder of their contracted deliveries as well as deploy the network of satellites in the system. Since the natives lacked a shuttle system to service the platforms, Cynthia placed several of them in the lagrange orbital points. They deposited the last satellite outside the Airea 3 jump point as they left the system. It would take them nineteen days to transit the 5.5 light years to Airea 3, but Shelby thought their time would be well spent. She'd heard rumors that the escort captains were going to drill their crews mercilessly in advance of their rematch. She was looking forward to it.
<====###====[=]<==
When they jumped into Airea 3 space, they deployed the planned recon satellite in their wake, then called the planet. The initial sensor sweep didn't pick up much beyond MM's trail. From the look of it the ship had been through very recently, according to CIC less than 2 to 3 months prior. Unfortunately MM's trail overlapped and therefore obliterated any other trails in the vicinity of the jump point.
"Captain, a ship is at the Beta 443 jump point. She's jumping now," CIC called in, surprising them.
"No time to hail?" The XO asked.
"No. They are out of range on the other side of the system so this data is old. And judging from our readings they are already charging their jump engines. By the time our hail arrives either their hyper field will distort it so much they wouldn't receive it, or they would have jumped."
"I see."
"Darn," Shelby replied mildly. The XO swiveled three of his eye stalks to her. She shrugged. "I was hoping we'd get lucky and run into another ship sometime. I guess not this time."
"We'll be here a while, Skipper. Another ship might come by," the XO said soothingly. Shelby nodded. "Any idea who it is CIC?" The XO asked.
"Working on it. By the size of her drive field she's a medium freighter. The closest match is Mariah’s Mischief."
"Understood," the captain said.
They were surprised when they were immediately answered by the planetary authorities once their initial hail was received. “This system is quarantined. We have a severe viral outbreak on our world. Under no circumstances should you land here. Please move on to your next destination,” the recording said in a flat tone.
Shelby frowned and then looked over to Prometheus. The dumb AI was coming along, but he still had a ways to go before he'd be anywhere near what Firefly was. “Prometheus, call Doc. Tell her to get sickbay prepped and pass on what we know. Com, raise the planet. Tell them we've got a full modern hospital with a lab and trained staff. They are itching to help,” she ordered.
“Aye aye, Ma'am,” Prometheus said.
“Aye, Ma'am,” the rating said a beat later. "Do you want me to patch them directly through to Doctor V'brno?"
"Yes, do so," Shelby said. "And ask them if we can tank up at the refinery," she said, pointing to the refinery CIC had put up on the plot. It was orbiting a class three gas giant and from its beacon's IFF it had been created by Io 11.
"Apparently Io 11 has been busy," Shelby murmured. "They've saved us a bit of work," she murmured. She noted the text report that the freighter Mariah’s Mischief had also passed through the system and left recruiters on the planet before her departure from the system a few days ago. It was gratifying to see the recruiters report being uploaded to Prometheus. The recruiters on the ground intelligence would be invaluable in the situation ahead.
"Did they leave the refineries everywhere?" Prometheus asked.
The captain shrugged. "Strategic places I bet. Either way, we can use the fuel. And we can add to it too. See if we can launch some additional satellites in orbit."
"The general purpose kind, Ma'am?" Prometheus asked. Shelby nodded. "I am passing the orders to the boat bay and cargo master now, Captain. Six Mark niner betas should do well here in geosynchronous orbit," the AI said.
"Good."
A few hours later Doctor V'brno called the bridge. “Fortunately it isn't a class one or two, Ma'am. It's contagious, but not airborne.”
“What is it?” the captain asked.
“A mutated version of Veraxin chitin spur, Ma'am,” the doctor replied.
“And that is?” the captain asked, wrinkling her nose.
“It is a contact virus, Ma'am, much like human warts. But in Veraxin it forms spurs all over their shell. I believe humans had a similar issue but genetic in nature,” she said. “Ah, I just looked it up, Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis. A recessive hereditary genetic disorder that left the patient vulnerable to human papillomaviruses.”
Shelby shook her head. “Over my head, Doc,” she finally said.
“Well, it isn't your field. But this is dangerous to a Veraxin or other species that has exterior chitin. And unfortunately, it can be carried by insect pests or even by certain other species, such as the Gashg.”
“Okay, so…what do we do about it?”
“Well, fortunately it is a contact pathogen. We've got it on file, as well as the treatment methods. I'm working with my colleagues on the planet to adapt the treatment to the mutated virus.”
“Will it be effective?”
“Oh not fully, not at first. But we'll adapt the processes to the virus over time. Once we have a sample, the rest should go easy. Full biological protocols are in effect.”
Shelby nodded. “So, you want to send a shuttle down?”
“Yes Ma'am. We'll need to decontaminate it once it is on board, the same for the crew.”
“Understood. Work with Zeb on it. Get me a report when you have one,” she ordered.