"And?" Alberta raised her hands.
"A few survived."
"Really?" Janet said.
"In most cases they had been genetically altered to survive the experience," Chelsea explained.
"Then it is possible these aliens just have a stronger physique than we humans," Janet said.
Chelsea scratched her short hair. "Maybe."
"Chelsea," Alberta said. "I want you gather some scientists and brainstorm on this. How are they doing it? Also, can our inside ship sensors locate anyone invading the ship?"
"Well, captain," Piper said. "From a security point of view, our sensors are usually designed to recognize and locate non-organic explosives or weapons teleported aboard. Various cameras, both stationary and mobile, are able to locate people, but only in public areas. Quarters, restrooms, and showers are considered private. Now we could announce an emergency where nothing is deemed private, but for a short period of time."
"Is that legal?" Janet said.
"Uh, I will have to ask our lawyer about that," Piper said.
"I think it would be a good idea before we try doing something like that," Janet said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Talking to her daughter
"Erica?" Alberta had found her daughter in the cafeteria. "How are you feeling?" Alberta set her plate of food on the table and sat beside her daughter.
"Fine, Captain."
"I just wanted to say there was nothing you could have done." Alberta felt unable to focus on Erica's eyes, but her daughter looked at her bowl of chili.
"Uh...thank you."
Why is it so hard for me to talk to my daughter without yelling?
"We're going to the Weir system to bring medical drugs to cure a disease outbreak on the new colony planet there," Alberta said. "After Weir, we head to Sholly, to Pak, to Martinez, and jump back here. Maybe the local authorities will have discovered something by then."
"If not?"
"I don't know."
"I thought you knew everything?"
"What?” Alberta straightened her back. “What is this about?"
"I don't know."
"I suppose you don't."
"What does that mean, Mother?"
"Maybe if I had assigned someone else to watch the children."
"Oh, it's my fault?"
"Possibly!"
Erica stuffed chili into her mouth and then spooned up some more.
"I'm sorry," Alberta said. "I didn't mean it was your fault. It just...I wish it hadn't happened."
"Well it did," Erica said with a full mouth.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Dirt Problems.
Erica walked away from the cafeteria and was stopped in the corridor by Tea Williams and some other women. One was Judy Williams, another was a vicious girl named Dirt Shan with two nasty looking knife scars on her face.
"What's the problem?" Erica wondered how she would fight her way out of this.
"Problem?" Tea rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen, Erica. We just wanted you to know that Betty had family who cared about her. You know the girl who disappeared on your watch."
"I'm related to Betty too, Tea."
"Yes," Tea said. "Just like I'm related to your mother, but some of us are closer relations than others. You know what I mean? Dirt here is her mother. Did you know that?"
"Oh?" Erica said. "I'm sorry, Dirt. We're doing our best to find her."
"Sure you are," Dirt said. "You going to personally run out and find her just like you did to find your mother."
"Well, I..." Erica mumbled.
"See?" Tea said. "It's like I said. We're just dumb workers. Hardly more important than the robots."
"That's not true." Erica said.
"Less than robots?"
"No." Erica said. "You're family."
"Sure we are." Tea led her friends away.
Why do I care? Erica wondered.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Sleepless.
Erica sat up in bed. Currently third shift was running Guinevere. Everyone from second, including Junior captain Alberta Williams, was off duty and probably sleeping. Erica couldn't sleep. It wasn't my fault. Everything that happened in the park kept running through her head on a loop. Why do I keep seeing this over and over in my mind? What else could I have done? Damn your shit, Tea! What are you planning? I'm sure it won't be good.
Erica got up to get a drink of water. She tried to not make a sound so she wouldn't wake her roommate Tilly Zhou. Should I tell Tilly about Tea? Should I tell Piper, or am I just worrying about nothing?
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Welcome to Weir.
"Captain, we've came out of jump," said Ellie Williams, the executive officer of Guinevere's first shift crew.
"Thanks, Ellie." Senior Captain Audrey Williams nodded as Alberta watched her from the back of the bridge. Alberta thought of the first time she was permitted onto the bridge to watch her mother—then a junior captain—command the starship as it jumped out of hyperspace. So long ago. Innocent times. Audrey glanced at her.
"Permission to begin second shift, Senior Captain?" Alberta said in the official manner.
"Granted, Junior Captain."
"Senior Captain Audrey Williams to all crew. As of now, at 21:00, first shift is over." Audrey tapped a button on a screen. She stood and stepped to the side.
"Thank you, Captain." Alberta sat in the command chair. "Junior Captain Alberta to all crew. As of 21.02, second shift begins."
All around the bridge, her second shift crews were replacing first shift crews. As always, Alberta noticed her mother was the last of first shift to leave the bridge. It was as if she wanted to stay a little longer. Do I ever do that?
"Captain Alberta, we are in the Weir system."
"Thanks, Janet," Alberta said to her XO.
"We are receiving the first info dump from the nearest buoy," said Agatha Gee the comm chief. "Do I have permission to send it our info dump?"
"Permission granted, Agatha. Inform the crew of the first info dump."
"Yes, Captain."
It would be several hours before Guinevere would dock with the largest commercial spacestation in the Weir system. Alberta searched through the info dump, which contained the usual advertisements and messages aimed at the official email for Guinevere and every crewmember, including herself. Alberta opened one message sent for Guinevere from the spacestation.
"That's interesting," Alberta commented just loud enough for Janet to hear.
"What?"
"There's a large package waiting for us on Spacestation Weir I," Alberta said.
"Who from?"
"Unknown. Spacestation security scanned it for explosives, and it came up negative."
"We have a mystery on our hands, Captain."
"Yes."
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Checking Gifts.
Erica stood waiting with her mother Piper, Keiko, and Jewel on Guinevere's flight deck—one of two flight decks where small spacecraft could land inside Guinvere. They were wearing explosive armor.
"Why couldn't they have waited for us to dock at the spacestation?" Erica complained. "Why not teleport it over?"
"They're afraid its a bomb, thus consider it our problem," Keiko said. "And it's illegal to teleport an unknown item, for it might have something alive inside it."
"Oh well." Erica looked at the robot standing in front of Keiko. The robot was designed and programmed for bomb disposal. Jewel had her explosives sniffing dog with her. The dog could locate bombs and illegal drugs better than most mechanical scanners on the market.
"Here comes the space hauler," Piper said. Jewel scratched her dog's floppy ears.
Erica adjusted her flak jacket. These things are so uncomfortable. I guess they'll save us from most bomb blasts. Erica noticed Keiko adjusting her jacket too.
The space hauler flew in seemingly under its own power, but actually the flight deck crew had taken control of its computer to
fly it in safely. This was standard procedure. Once the hauler landed, its two back doors opened. Erica guessed the hauler bed was standard ten feet high by eight feet wide. The cockpit was eight by four. Two women in coveralls came out of the back carrying a large box in their hands. They both were wearing robotic exoskeletons that were far from shiny new.
"Where do you want it?" said the woman with a pilot patch on her arm.
"Set it down right there." Piper pointed for them. "And be careful."
The pilot spoke to the other woman as they placed it carefully in the spot indicated. "You sure you don't enjoy arguing with your wife, Marge?"
"Of course I do, kid," said Marge the pilot. "But I don't want her to win."
"Well, I jus—"
"Shut up, kid," Marge said. "I'm Margret Dankworth, pilot. Which of you folks is signing for this?"
"I will. I'm Piper Williams, Ms. Dankworth." Piper said. "Second shift's security chief."
Marge pulled out a tablet and asked for a thumbprint, which Piper gave.
The pilot shrugged and left with the other woman. The space hauler was soon out of there, and thrusting its main engines back to the spacestation.
"Okay," Piper said. "Let's do this. Raise the blast shield, Erica."
Erica pressed a button on her comp-pad and a seven-feet tall, five-feet wide, blast shield made of see-through aluminum-bakalloy, raised between them and the large box. Erica looked at the readings on her comp-pad. "According to ours scans of the box, it is eight by eight feet and weighs half a ton. It’s also room temperature. No life signs. It isn't generating heat of any kind."
"Thank you, Ms. Erica," Piper said. "Keiko, send out the robot. Jewel, send your dog over to see if he can smell anything."
Erica bit her lip as the dog circled the box with a slowly wagging tail. The dog jumped back suddenly. Erica's breath stopped. The dog went forward and sniffed again. It returned to Jewel behind the shield.
"A body," Jewel said. "It smells a decomposing body in there."
"Shit," Piper said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Going ahead.
"Contact the spacestation, tell them it was a body and not a bomb," Captain Alberta Williams said to his comm chief Agatha Gee.
"Aye, Captain."
"I sure hope they don't get anal about this, Captain," said Janet Williams the XO. "They could have us stuck here long enough to miss our next jump. The penalties would be brutal, and if it caused us to get behind in our payments, they might wind up owning our ass."
"Relax, Janet, it hasn't happened as of yet," Alberta said to his sister.
"I got a response, Captain." Agatha Gee said. "They want us to permit their space hauler to return so its pilot can confirm that there's no bomb."
"Anal," Janet whispered.
Alberta waved her to be quiet. "Tell them they have permission to return," Alberta said.
"Aye, sir."
"I suppose I should tell Piper about this," Alberta said to Janet. Alberta tapped the innership comm button on her keyboard. "Captain Alberta to Security Chief Piper."
The response was quick. "This is Piper, Captain. Something wrong?"
"The spacestation wants their space hauler to return so its pilot can confirm it was a body and not a bomb."
"Crap. Understood, Captain. I'm still in flight deck one and Amy just arrived to examine the body. Thanks for the heads up."
"Best of luck, Piper." Alberta knew that Amy was Dr. Amy Menendez, second shift's senior doctor.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Unknown vessel
"Captain, we just received a second info dump from buoy 12."
"Thank you, Agatha," Alberta said. They had jumped from the Weir system to the Sholly system and were making good time. They were well out of Yin Confederation territory. The first info dump had told them the last Yin trader starship at Sholly left three weeks earlier for Weir.
"No Yin starships in Sholly, Captain." Janet commented as she gazed at on of the screens on her chair. "Wait there seems to be a sighting of an unknown starship."
"Whose?"
"Unknown," Janet said. "It jumped in and stayed away from the spacestation and regular traffic. It wouldn't answer any hails. The Sholly government officials are freaked out at the moment."
"Dammit." Alberta checked the new info dump, because a trader needed to know what the current prices were in the local system. What her stuff would sell for and what was the best deals to buy for the next system. Sometimes you got it right, and sometimes you didn't. What did the local merchant buyers want? What did the average citizen want? What was legal? What was illegal? What was in between legal and illegal? A trader had to knows these things to make a credit and to survive.
"Captain?" Someone broke Alberta's concentration. She looked towards her sensor chief. "I'm picking up something headed our way at .80 kps squared. Their distance is four million kilometers."
"Really?" Alberta said. "Identification?"
"Unknown as of yet."
"Agatha, send a hail to the unknown vessel and announce who we are, and our peaceful intentions."
"Yes, Captain."
"It's big, Captain. I still can't identify."
"Keep trying," Alberta said.
"Should we try to increase speed, Captain?" Janet recommended.
"Yes, Janet."
"Helm, increase speed to .70 kps squared," Janet ordered.
"No response to our hails, Captain." Agatha said. "I'm still trying."
"Thank you, Agatha." Captain Alberta glanced at Janet and looked back at the readouts on her screens.
"Long range scans don't recognize the vessel," said the sensor chief. "I sent you an image of the vessel."
"Got it." Alberta looked at a hologram image hovering before her.
"Looks kind of like the Lorkiiz starship that kidnapped you," Janet whispered in Alberta's ear.
"But what do they want?"
"Probably not an apology."
Alberta nodded in agreement and rubbed her forehead. "Possible missile laugh!"
"Which is it?" Janet stood up.
"No life signs."
"That might change later," Janet said.
Alberta knew that, from that distance, a missile would reach them in an hour and half. The other vessel wasn't close enough for a successful missile launch. Standard military doctrine was to launch half a dozen or more missiles to overwhelm the enemy’s tactical computer. A ship’s counter missiles and lasers would easily take out a missile. Just a warning? But why? If it was a shuttle, that would make more sense.
"Still no life signs," Fiona said. "I'm getting hints of nuclear residue."
"It will reach us in one hour and twenty minutes," Janet said.
"I want counter missiles and lasers ready to fire," Alberta said.
"Ready, Captain," Tiffany Williams said at the weapons/tactical station.
"Agatha, inform the spacestation we've been fired upon by the unknown vessel," Alberta said.
Agatha Gee acknowledge verbally and with a nod. Alberta looked at one of her screens showing the missile was much closer. It also showed the vessel and Guinevere's speeds. It was the usual waiting game spaceships got into when one fired a missile at another spaceship. Space was huge. The distances were hard for planet-bound humans to understand even space-born humans like Alberta had trouble with the thought. The mathematics behind it were easy. It was wrapping your mind around it that gave you headaches.
"I'm getting an audio only hail now from the unknown vessel," Agatha said.
"Okay, Agatha," Alberta said. "Let's hear it."
"I took someone from you and returned her to you. Is that trade?" The voice spoke in an accent Alberta remembered. Alberta felt her palms sweating and her heart beating in her brain. Suddenly she felt Janet pulling on her pant leg.
"Please sit down, Alberta," Janet whispered.
Alberta suddenly realized she had stood up and wasn't sure how long she had stood there. Some of the bridge crew were stari
ng at her, but turned away as their captain sat down. Relax, you fool. Calm down! They're watching you. Lesson one on being a captain: a captain must never look weak in front of her crew. Mother drilled that into me since I was able to stand on my own two feet, and I can't break with it now. Alberta wished her sweat glands would stop working.
"I recognize the sound of their voice," she whispered to Janet. "Sounds just like a Lorkiizan speaking English."
"You're sure, you've no doubt?" Janet whispered back.
"Yes. Absolutely," Alberta replied.
"The missile exploded!"
"Range?" Janet calmly asked the sensor chief.
"Ninety thousand kilometers,” came the reply.
"Not close enough to cause damage," Alberta said. "They're just saying hello in an odd alien way.
Alberta tapped a button. "Captain to Chief Engineer."
"Chief Engineer speaking. How can I help you, Captain?" Catriona Zhou responded.
"How soon can you recharge the jump engines?"
"For another jump? How soon?"
"We need to jump out of the Sholly system as soon as possible."
Alberta heard a couple of imaginative curses before she got a reply. "Maybe forty minutes. It takes time, Captain."
"Understood. Try thirty minutes."
"What? That's impossible. Ooooh."
"I expect it to be done, Catriona," Alberta replied calmly, as if she were ordering coffee.
"Yes, Captain."
"Janet, turn this ship around get us further out of the Sholly system, so we can make our jump to Pak system."
"Yes, Captain."
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Fight or flee?
Junior Captain Alberta Williams yawned and took another sip of her coffee. Alberta was seated at the head of a long table in a conference room on Guinevere. She had called the meeting with second shift's head to discuss what they could on the Lorkiiz matter.
"Where's Shirley?" Janet asked.
"Right here." Shirley Williams entered the room with a small hand in the air. "Sorry, Janet."
Starship Guinevere (Star Traders Book 1) Page 7