Far Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  “As you say, my love. And what of Euclidia?”

  “Euclidia is a teaching bot and will be quite capable of performing verbal teaching duties if we place him in the right environment. If we do not find a placement before we return to Tixaya, TSR will certainly assist us when we do.”

  “You seem quite confident of that.”

  Raiza smiled. “Ximon, forgive me if I may sound vain, but they value me. I am a product that has garnered them considerable positive press. They also value you as a great customer who showcases their products in exceptional ways.”

  “That sounds a bit cynical, but you’re probably right. What about this claw one?”

  “That is a partial mining robot that ASOR thinks may be useful on their station. I have made only minor repairs and will soon send him to ASOR to place with his equipment.”

  “Well, use the others on the ship as you see fit.

  “Thank you, Ximon. Again, thank you for extending your compassion to them.”

  Euclidia spoke up at that point. “Captain, yes, thank you for saving us and for providing such skilled technical assistance. You need not worry about me. I have been having wonderful discussions with Raiza, Peter, ASOR, and Mantis. I have rarely been in an environment so rich in robotic intellect. It is a pleasure.”

  Ximon was a bit taken aback by the disembodied talking head but said, “Well, I’m very glad you’re enjoying yourself. We will do our best for you.”

  “Thank you very much,” Euclidia said. “I’m not sure what it would be, but if I can be of any assistance, I am quite at your disposal.”

  Ximon kissed Raiza on the forehead and said, “Thank you for the great work, my dear. Continue to do as you deem best.”

  Ximon left laughing to himself at the strange turns his life took and the odd situations he seemed to always find himself in.

  After an otherwise quiet couple of jumps, they came out in the Zanerus System. As planned, Ximon came out very near the coordinates they were at when they jumped from Zanerus and dropped the drop tanks. Ximon had Shao and Mantis scan for any signs of the drop tanks. They found one right away and it appeared to be in good condition. However, despite searching for a short while, they found no sign of the other one.

  Ximon contacted Elsbeth. “We can only find one drop tank. What are your thoughts on operating with just one?”

  She moaned. “Ximon, why, oh why, do we always wind up discussing this kind of craziness? Can’t we do something ‘normal’ for once?”

  "We’re flying around in the Vast in a small ship for months and you and I are both sleeping with robots. What does ‘normal’ mean?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Let me think a minute.” There was a pause as she pondered. “Jumping and using the fuel from one should be no problem. The system will just use everything it can find in the drop tanks, then grab whatever it needs from our tanks. That shouldn’t be an issue and flying around with one tank in vacuum is obviously no issue. However, I would have to slap you if you ever tried to enter any kind of atmosphere that way. It would change the aerodynamics horribly and I wouldn’t want to ride the crazed roller coaster that would create.”

  “I see. Any other issues?”

  “Yes, there’s the storage. Even if we bring it in and store it collapsed until we need it, it’ll take up a ton or so of cargo space. We can probably make it fit, but with Alzroid’s extensive equipment, the fuel bladder, plus those sensors we recovered, it’ll be tight. I’ll talk to Peter and see if we can make it fit easily or if we’d have to EVA to rearrange stuff. Give me a few minutes.”

  As he waited to hear back from Elsbeth, Ximon maneuvered Mantis to approach the tank and match speed.

  When she called him back in a few minutes she said, “He believes he can move stuff so we could get it in, collapsed. However, we’d have to really take our time loading it and, if there’s an issue, we might have to do an EVA.”

  Ximon said, “Okay, let’s do it. We’re going farther into the Vast and planets are hard to come by. If we can get something that gives us an additional option, we need it. Plus, I wouldn’t want you to get bored.”

  “Oh, don’t worry—you’re great at making work for me. Peter is going to move some stuff around and I’ll get the arm ready.”

  It took them a while, but Peter and Elsbeth finally got it aboard without the need for an EVA. However, when they had finished, Peter reported that the cargo hold was filled to capacity.

  While in the Zanerus System, they exchanged more messages with Vir’s station as they refueled before jumping to 535-336.

  They’d had issues in the 535-336 system before, with severe solar storms that had forced them to hide in the shadow of a moon. So, when they came out at 535-336, Ximon had Shao, with Mantis and ASOR assisting, keep a very close eye on the sun for any sign of EMP or other solar discharge. Luckily, this time the sun was quietly content, doing nothing more ominous than twinkling.

  From there they jumped to Jesaporus and refueled. As Mantis was completing her refueling, they encountered a small group of merchant ships operating together. This made Ximon a bit nervous at first, since it could be a cover for piracy, but they were simply cautious and part of the same supply contract.

  After Jesaporus, they jumped, without fanfare, to Irapce. When they came out of jump, it was obvious that Irapce was a much busier system than they’d seen for a while. Shao immediately reported quite a bit of starship and shuttle traffic. Mantis noted there were quite a few messages for Mantis to relay and receive, something she did automatically upon entering any system. KSF vessels always acted as backup communication relays in Republic space and when dealing with Republic vessels and business.

  Ximon checked system date and time. Luckily, they had made it to the system four days before the start of the pre-exercise conference. Ximon sent a message to the exercise coordinator—Major Kanebti of the Irapce System Guard. Ximon announced that Mantis was in-system and requested instructions, lodging, and, if possible, a meeting before the conference.

  Then Ximon set course for Irapce-3, the main planet in the system and the namesake of the sector. Ximon had never been there but had heard it was a nice planet. As they approached, he could see that was so. It was a mix or rich greens and blues, with heavy cloud cover scattered about.

  Irapce-3:

  Diameter: 13,500 km

  Surface Water: 65%

  Distance from sun: 1.1 AU

  Atmosphere: Moderate density, breathable

  Gravity: 0.9 G

  Temperature Range: -20 to 35 C

  Magnetic Field: Moderate

  Lifeforms: 800M humans, diverse flora and Fauna

  Ximon received a live video reply from Major Kanebti. He was a man of about thirty, with tan skin, a hawk nose, and coal black hair and mustache. He wore a uniform of a deep brown-green and appeared confident and friendly.

  He smiled broadly before saying, “Greetings, Captain Sabo. We are pleased to welcome representatives of the Kremniy Republic and look forward to working with you. We will host you at the guest villas at Khnemu Guard Base near the Nebde Spaceport. Please, follow the directions to the landing pad indicated. I will have vehicles come pick up your crew and take you to your villas. May I ask how many are in your crew or how many will be joining us?”

  From the tone of the question, those answers clearly weren’t assumed to be the same, so Ximon decided to keep the party to the core crew.

  Ximon replied, “Major, we are honored by your welcome. We will have five joining you if that does not impose too much.”

  “Say no more, Captain. Five is a good number. We will have vehicles ready. I would like to invite you to an informal reception of other exercise participants who have arrived early tonight. It is an icebreaker, if you will. Your driver will provide you with details.”

  Ximon said, “Thank you. We are anxious to meet those we’ll be working with.”

  Ximon had the crew pack as they descended. He reminded them that, for official functions, they were act
ing as activated KSF. So, except for Shao, they all brought KSF uniforms. Elsbeth wasn’t too keen on putting the uniform back on, but she had one that fit comfortably and could always just wear a flight suite with KSF patches in addition to their custom Mantis patches.

  The city, or region, of Nebde was beautiful. The city was built on a lush jungle peninsula, surrounded by nice beaches. Even the spaceport was built to minimize impact on the jungle and beaches, with landing pads dispersed over a wide area instead of the whole thing being a giant slab of concrete. The base itself looked very nice, with small buildings and landing pads separated by small strands of jungle. Ximon knew there had to be a fair amount of activity happening down there, but most of it was obscured by trees.

  They landed and there was, indeed, a young uniformed driver waiting with a van to take them and their things. His general appearance was akin to Kanebti and he wore a similar uniform, but with different insignia. He introduced himself as Sergeant Kirshu.

  The villa they pulled up at looked very nice. It appeared to be craft of the natural wood of trees like those surrounding it and was open and spacious. If it was just for the crew of the Mantis, it would have plenty of room for them. The villa was surrounded by thin jungle, except where it opened onto a nice stretch of beach.

  Elsbeth’s eyes widened in appreciation. “Good one, Ximon. Looks like you hooked us a spa retreat for once.”

  “It does look nice, but we are here to work.”

  “Speak for yourself. I may have some skinny-dipping to do.”

  “Please, do try not to get us arrested or ejected.”

  Elsbeth just shrugged.

  The driver reminded them of the reception and said he would be there to pick them up at 1800 if they planned to attend. Ximon confirmed that they did.

  The driver helped them in with their bags and showed them the general layout. The villa was, indeed, just for them and, while not fancy by any means, was quite comfortable.

  They had a few hours, so the crew settled into their rooms, rested a bit, and then got ready for the reception. Ximon had asked everyone to come for at least this initial meeting.

  The reception was small, about thirty people total. Most were Irapce military personnel, but many of these wore uniforms quite different from Major Kanebti—some tan, black, or blue. Ximon assumed this meant there were different branches or specialties within Irapce forces. After discussions throughout the evening, that proved to be true.

  Major Kanebti was quite gracious and introduced them around. They met a good cross-section of participants, including Ambassador Douhat. Douhat was a short, thin, sharply dressed man of about forty who spoke with a very calm, soothing voice and appeared able to express great interest in any conversation or person. Ximon thought he seemed like the quintessential diplomat. Douhat introduced them to his staff. Sarah Downing was a seemingly ‘prim and proper’ lady of about thirty, who Ximon noted was somewhat plain but had a very nice body. Lain Casona was a young man in his early twenties who sported an Avant Garde hairstyle popular with the young in many parts of the Republic.

  It was a nice evening, with nice food and plentiful drink. Ximon nudged Elsbeth a few times to encourage her not to drink too much. After each time he did so, she would pout, but soon drank more. However, Ximon didn’t note any improprieties on her part so he didn’t worry too much.

  They met everyone, got an idea of some of the other participants, and Ximon arranged to meet with Major Kanebti the next day.

  Then the crew retired back to their villa. Most of them retired early, but Ximon heard Elsbeth and Peter headed for the beach near midnight. He hoped the water off the beach wasn’t filled with sharks or something. Ximon hadn’t thought of it, but he figured that Elsbeth had probably asked someone at the party about them.

  As Ximon planned for the meeting with Major Kanebti the next day, he thought of asking Elsbeth to accompany him. However, since it was before noon, he asked Shao to join him instead. Kanebti gave them a general rundown of the plan for the exercise and he shared some general data on the main ship types that Irapce would have involved. He also noted a few roles Mantis would play and explained how that had been adjusted for replacing the Eon Explorer with Mantis.

  The Irapce forces were an eclectic collection. They had several old ships that had apparently been sold by the Republic for surplus (or scrap) a few decades before, including a very old destroyer, several system defense boats, and a couple modified scout survey craft that were probably three to four decades older than Mantis. They also had quite a few small gunboats of their own design. These appeared to be small and simple but looked like they could pack a punch for their size. Finally, they had a few old ships of strange design, apparently acquired from other powers. In addition to all the ships, a lot of the exercise would involve Irapce detection and tracking sensors and fixed defensive missile or laser batteries. These were located in various places on the planet, on its two moons, and some were orbiting platforms.

  Kanebti also noted that there would be observers from the Independent States, which was to be expected since they were as close as the Republic was. But there would also be some observers or participants from systems or powers that Ximon had never encountered and some he’d never heard of. These included contingents from the Kingdom of Eamedora and the Ezox Federation. Ximon was interested to see what that might be like.

  Over the next few days, Kanebti gave the early participants plenty of time to relax, but hosted a few interchange meetings, a few more receptions, and several tours of the base, the town, and some Irapce vessels. Ximon attended all of these and wound up taking some mix of the others on all of them. He had to almost drag Elsbeth off the beach or out of bed a few times. Everything was quite interesting and informative. All the buildings seemed fairly new and comfortable, while all of the ships seemed either old or cobbled together.

  One ship they briefly toured was an old scout craft that the Republic had inherited from the Empire when some of its systems broke away and joined the Republic. The crew clearly did their best to maintain her, but the ship was old. It was easily thirty years older than Mantis and the technology and design were quite dated. Elsbeth was with him on this one and Ximon had to nudge her several times to prevent her from saying disparaging things to the crew about their ship.

  All in all, the area was very nice and the Irapce seemed to be a friendly and industrious people. Ximon had heard of some Republic citizens retiring here and he could see the temptation.

  When they had some downtime between tours and parties, Ximon gathered the crew for a few discussions. He briefed them on observations of the forces involved and had Elsbeth and Shao brief on what they saw of the technology. In general, most of it was dated and some of it of questionable quality, but it seemed capable and it appeared the Irapce forces were arranged to minimize the weaknesses.

  Once the exercise planning conference started, they were in hours of planning meetings, both as a group and then with their “side” in the exercise. It seemed to be a pretty good group, but the meetings wore on at times.

  Ximon spent some time chatting with the primary representatives from the Kingdom of Eamedora – Group Commander Merodach and Flight Leader Isthar. They were human, but were almost 2.5 meters tall, with lithe bodies and coppery-red skin. Merodach was a very polite man of about 60, with a black goatee and we wore a coat of rich maroon. Isthar was a graceful and gracious woman of about 40 with raven-black hair, wearing a uniform coat and skirt the color of rust. Their kingdom consisted of several systems in the neighboring Orrarra Sector. At first it appeared that they had brought only one ship – an old freighter of about 1500 tons. However, Ximon soon learned that, in addition to trade goods, the ship brought their actual contingent – two gunboats about the size of Mantis, several armed shuttles, and about a dozen very sleek fighters.

  The representative of the Ezox Federation, Marshall Pombo, on the other hand was quite annoying. He wasn’t tall, but he was quite broad, wearing a pale blue tu
nic draped over his girth. When he spoke, he spoke loudly and at great length, as if trying to show his value by many words. He was also dismissive of the views of others in conversation. Ximon took a dislike to him and the feeling seemed mutual. For some reason Pombo seemed to dislike the Republic and Ximon by extension. The Ezox Federation was in the nearby Verravroge Sector. Their contribution was a single clumsy vessel about twice the size of Mantis. The ship, the Pardalis, was slow and maneuvered poorly but seemed to have substantial sensors and weaponry.

  The planning conference went on for three days and then they had two blissful days off before starting.

  Once the exercise started in earnest, they got far less time for relaxing in their villa. A lot of the scenarios took place around the planet’s moon or between Irapce-3 and Irapce-4, so they spent several days back in space. Each morning they’d get a brief of the day’s plan from the commander of whichever force they were attached to. Then they’d take up designated positions, play out the scenario for several hours, and then meet back up.

  Each night the exercise team had a review of the day’s events and contributed insights. The fact that Mantis had been directly involved in a shooting war less than a year ago gave them both things to contribute and a lot of respect from the Irapce forces. Ximon and Shao each wound up the focus of a few tactical discussions. When Pombo was at these, he seemed compelled to dispute minor points and downplay Ximon’s experiences.

  For the first three days of the exercise, Mantis was part of the defending “green” team. Mantis was able to demonstrate the value of good sensors and sensor techniques, as it became clear that most of the Irapce vessels had very old sensors and not all were ideally maintained. Mantis operated in various roles and demonstrated some different tactics for detecting enemy activity as early as possible and for avoiding blind spots in their sensor coverage.