by Ryk Brown
“I went down to Earth,” Vladimir told him. “I didn’t last two days. I couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on here, even if I don’t have any control over it.”
“Try not to worry, sir,” Marcus said, trying to ease Vladimir’s concerns. “They did a pretty good job on the Celestia, didn’t they? I mean, she hasn’t sprung a leak yet, has she?”
“Yet,” Vladimir replied, one eyebrow raised in suspicion.
* * *
After a twenty minute ride from the Lorrett spaceport, Jessica found herself standing on the front steps of a traditional Tannan home. It was modest like all the rest, built from wood and clay bricks molded from Tannan soils, and painted an off-white color. Like all the buildings of Lorrett, it was positioned so as not to interfere with the surrounding forest and geography. The Tannans had a great respect for the natural landscapes of their world, and generally went to great pains to avoid disturbing what was there before them. Especially when it came to forests. So much of Tanna was relatively bare, desolate and dry, with only scrub brush and rocks. Wherever there was flowing water on the surface of Tanna, there were forests, and where there were forests, there were Tannans.
Jessica knocked on the heavy, wooden door. Her mouth fell agape when it opened, revealing Synda and her rather sizable belly. “Oh my God,” Jessica exclaimed. “Are you pregnant?”
Synda put her arms around Jessica, embracing her. “Five months,” she replied as she pulled away.
“Five months?” Jessica was having a hard time hiding her disbelief. “I knew you met someone, but…”
“Yeah, I know,” Synda replied, understanding her friend’s surprise.
“Same guy, right?” Jessica asked as Synda led her inside.
“Same guy. His name is Terros.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Jessica said as she entered the living room. She looked around at the small but comfy room. “This is nice, Synda.”
“It’s small, but it’s in a nice area, and there is an extra room for the baby.”
“Beats the hell out of the camps,” Jessica insisted.
“Yes, it does.”
“I take it you two are serious, then.”
Synda pulled a necklace out from under her blouse, dangling it in front of her for Jessica to see.
“What’s that?” Jessica wondered.
“It’s a wedding necklace,” Synda explained, “at least that’s what I call it. The Tannans have a name for it. Welta-norbay-something… I can’t remember. Every year, you add a piece to it. After ten years, a couple of links are taken and made into wedding bands, and the rest goes on display on your living room wall. It becomes a symbol that your union has survived the test of time and will likely last forever.”
“I never heard of such a thing,” Jessica said as she sat down on the couch.
“Apparently it is a very important custom to the Tannans. In fact, they don’t have a wedding ceremony like we do. Their big ceremony comes when you reach the ten year mark.” Synda struggled to sit down next to Jessica. “We tried to invite you to the wedding, but they said you were on assignment somewhere and couldn’t be reached.”
“Yeah, I’ve only been back about a month.” Jessica winced as she watched her friend struggle just to sit down. “Are you sure you’re only five months? You look like you’re ready to pop.”
“Twins.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup. Girls. And I didn’t even want a family, remember?”
“Then why?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Synda admitted. “Something in me changed after I met Terros. It’s like the last few pieces of the puzzle of who I really was suddenly fell into place, and it all made sense to me.”
“Well then, that’s great,” Jessica said. “Really, that’s wonderful. I’m happy for the both of you.” Jessica paused to look about. “Is he home?”
“No, he’s at work. He works as a translator at the gunship plant.”
“Then he speaks English.”
“He does now,” Synda laughed. “He didn’t speak it very well when I first met him, but he’s a fast learner. In only six months, I’ve got him speaking like a native. That’s how we got this house…it came with the job.”
“Will he be home soon?” Jessica asked. “I’d love to meet him.”
“He only left an hour ago. They work long shifts. When he comes home, he barely has time to shower and sleep before returning to work. Everyone there works hard. They are trying to produce ships as quickly as possible. Terros says that once they have thirty or forty of them built, the pace will probably slow down a bit, but I don’t know.”
“He’s probably right. The purpose of those gunships is to defend Tanna, since the Alliance doesn’t have any ships that can get all the way back to Tanna on short notice.”
“But can gunships really stand up against Jung ships?”
“A handful of gunships can probably take down anything up to a battleship, and maybe even a battleship, if there are enough of them and they fight in packs,” Jessica insisted. “Of course, they wouldn’t stand a chance against a battle platform, but from what we’ve seen those are reserved for more densely populated systems nearer the core. I doubt you’re going to see one all the way out here.”
“Wouldn’t it have been better to build something bigger, then?”
“And what would happen if you spent a year building a frigate, or two years building a cruiser, and while you were building it, a single Jung frigate came along? They could wipe you out with ease. At least with twenty or thirty gunships, you have a chance.”
“That’s what Terros said.”
“Sounds like a smart guy,” Jessica said.
“Yeah, I think you’ll like him.” Synda shifted positions on the couch. “So, what brings you to Tanna?”
“What, I can’t just come to visit?”
“Of course you can, but I know you better.”
“Captain’s orders.”
“Captain Scott ordered you to visit me?”
“Not exactly. He ordered me to take a vacation. Said I was getting out of line and such. He thinks I’m suffering from post incident stress disorder, just because I mouthed off and threatened to kick a Ghatazhak’s ass.”
“You threatened to kick a Ghatazhak’s ass?” Synda asked, her eyes widening in disbelief.
“It was only Telles. He wouldn’t have done anything.”
“You threatened to kick the Ghatazhak commander’s ass?” Synda shook her head. “I think your captain’s right.”
Jessica shrugged. “Who knows, who cares. I didn’t argue. The Aurora’s in dry dock for a couple months anyway, and I get a chance to visit you and my brother.”
“Your brother?”
“Robert. He’s in charge of training the Tannan gunship crews.”
“I thought he just had the same last name,” Synda said. “I saw him being interviewed on a netcast the other day. I didn’t realize you two were related. He looks too old to be your brother.”
“He was first, I was last. Big family. He enlisted when I was just out of diapers.”
“Jesus,” Synda said, grabbing her belly.
Jessica’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
“I’m hungry again.”
“Crap, don’t scare me like that,” Jessica protested.
“I just ate an hour ago,” Synda exclaimed. “Seems like all my time these days is spent in either the kitchen or the bathroom.” Synda moved to the edge of the couch in preparation to stand. “Are you hungry? I’m getting pretty good at making traditional Tannan foods.”
“You’re cooking now as well?”
“Yup. Help me up.”
* * *
Josh and Loki stood gazing at Falcon One, the first, fully completed Super Falcon. It was the same ship Josh had test flown a few weeks ago, but now, all of its modifications had been completed.
“You know something,” Josh began, “I think it looks even better than before.”
Lo
ki slowly turned his head to look at his friend. “It looks better?”
“Yeah. You don’t think so?”
“Only you would worry about how it looks,” Loki muttered.
“Hey, it was damned embarrassing flying around in that harvester all those years…”
“Josh…”
“I mean, nothing, and I do mean nothing, is uglier than that harvester.”
“Josh…”
“A flying garbage truck…that’s what it looked like.”
Loki looked at his crew chief. “Just ignore him.”
“I usually do,” the crew chief replied.
“Look, they closed off the air intakes underneath,” Josh noticed as he moved closer to their ship.
Loki moved around the Falcon to his right, walking around the wingtip as he scanned the aft upper fuselage. “I can’t believe you got four mark two’s in her.”
“Actually, they’re more like mark two point five’s,” the crew chief replied. “They’re mark three’s cut short. Same amount of power per shot, but only about a third of the useful range.”
“I thought there wasn’t enough room in the old atmospheric engine compartments to hold the mark three plasma generators?” Loki commented. He looked more closely at the underside of the aft end of the ship. “You widened the fairings a bit, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir, we did.”
“What about the heat?” Loki wondered. “How many shots can she fire in succession?”
“If you dial them down to mark two power levels, you can fire all you want. If you crank them up to full power, you can fire a single burst of triplets per cannon per minute. Much more than that and you’ll likely overload the heat exchangers. We’re working on a new heat exchanger design that would fit in the wings, but it’s still in the idea phase right now.”
“Jeez! This bay is huge!” Josh exclaimed from underneath the Falcon.
“With the removal of the atmospheric engines, we were able to combine both weapons bays. We’re working on the different modules for that bay now. The first one will be ready for testing in a few days.”
“The missile system?” Loki wondered.
“Yes, sir. Four anti-ship, eight medium-range interceptors, or twelve air-to-surface missiles, depending on the mission. We’re also making one that can carry twenty dumb bombs,” the crew chief explained. “They’re also making a cargo pod, passenger pod, a search and rescue pod, and a sensor pod for recon missions. Fact is, that bay is so big we can pretty much do anything with it.”
“How are you going to get the pods into here?” Josh wondered as he climbed out from under the Falcon and joined them. “It’s not like we can jack her up higher off the deck.”
“They’re building special loading elevators into the decks of the Aurora, the Celestia, and here. They’ll park the pod on the platform, lower it down enough for the Falcon to drive over her, then raise it up from underneath and plug it in.”
“I gotta say, I wasn’t too excited about the side-by-side cockpit idea,” Josh said as he moved around the nose of the ship, “but it looks pretty good.”
“Would you like to take a look inside?”
“Standard module?” Loki asked, his anticipation showing.
“Standard module fully installed,” the crew chief beamed.
Loki smiled then headed for the boarding ladder at the leading edge of the port wing, near the fuselage. Josh was already moving up the boarding ladder that led directly to the side of the cockpit, its gull-wing canopy doors already wide open.
“How the hell are you supposed to get into the back from here?” Josh wondered as he climbed into the pilot’s seat.
“You lean the seat back and grab the handle above your head and slide back. Then swing your feet around,” the crew chief explained. “It’s a bit tricky in normal gravity, but during flight the cockpit is only at half-gravity, so it’ll be easier.”
“Why the gull-wing canopy doors?” Loki wondered.
“Not all of the cabin modules we’re planning include access from the cockpit aft. So we needed a way for the flight crew to get in and out in those cases.”
Loki looked at the recessed rim around the topside access hatch to the cabin module. “Is this a docking collar recession?”
“Yes, sir.” Again, the crew chief beamed with pride. “You can change crews in space without depress.”
“Very nice,” Loki replied as he climbed down the short ladder into the aft cabin. He paused as his feet touched the deck and did a complete turn, scanning the small cabin. There was a small terminal and seat in the forward starboard corner of the cabin, just behind the copilot’s seat. Along the wall behind it was a small galley area, complete with a washbasin and a food prep system. In the aft port corner, there was a rather comfortable looking seat, with plenty of room to stretch one’s legs and relax. He reached down and lifted the seat, finding the toilet underneath. Above the seat was a hatch that opened into a bunk compartment. There was a similar hatch on the opposite side, and two lockers built into the aft bulkhead between them, both of which were quite deep. The lockers themselves could be pulled out, giving them access to the cabin’s environmental systems located behind and underneath the two bunks.
The crew chief squatted on the wing just outside the hatch, looking inside as Loki explored. “Standard cabin, accommodations for two, for up to three weeks.”
“This is going to make those long cold-coasts so much easier,” Loki exclaimed.
“How soon do we get to take her up?” Josh asked from the cockpit, calling back over his shoulder.
“We were hoping you’d log some hours on her straightaway,” the chief told them. “We’ve got seven more to overhaul and modify. The sooner you two can shake the bugs out, the less re-modifying we’re going to have to do to the rest of them.”
“I can already tell you one problem,” Loki said. “No coffee maker.”
“Open compartment fourteen, just above the basin,” the chief told him.
Josh twisted in his seat to look down behind him into the cabin as Loki opened the compartment, then turned to smile at Josh. “Outstanding,” Josh exclaimed. “No more cold coffee on the cold-coasts.”
* * *
Nathan looked at the numbers on the home in front of him. They were the right numbers, but it was not the same house he had been to before. In fact, it was at least twice the size of the modest little residence he had visited ten months earlier. He had seen the correct street name carved into the curb, so he had to be in the correct place.
Two young men came out of the front door and walked toward him.
“Excuse me,” Nathan said to the young men. “Is this where Mister Dubnyk lives?”
“You mean, Captain Dubnyk?”
“Uh, yes,” Nathan replied.
“Yes, it is,” the man replied, after which he and his associate continued on their way.
Nathan looked at the house, examining it more closely. “Business must be booming,” he said to his Ghatazhak escort as he continued to the front door.
After knocking, the door opened, and a young woman appeared in the doorway. “Do you have an appointment, sir?” she asked, eying them both with suspicion.
“No, I’m afraid we do not,” Nathan apologized. “However, I suspect that Captain Dubnyk will want to see us.”
“The captain is very busy, I’m afraid…”
“Please, if you’ll just let him know that Captain Scott is here, I would appreciate it greatly. We have come a long way.”
“Of course,” the woman acquiesced, stepping back and closing the door.
“I didn’t think we would need an appointment,” Nathan commented as they waited.
“I believe this residence was once two separate buildings,” the Ghatazhak soldier said as he walked to the side of the porch, inspecting the front of the building. “There was once a path over there, just like the one on which we approached. It has been removed, as has the platform to which it once led.”
“That would explain things,” Nathan realized.
The door opened again, and the young woman reappeared. “My apologies for the delay, Captain. Please, come in.”
The Ghatazhak soldier stepped forward, determined not to allow the captain to enter without first ensuring his safety.
“I’m sorry, I was instructed to only allow Captain Scott inside,” the young lady said firmly.
“I am responsible for the captain’s safety,” the soldier insisted.
“It’s all right,” Nathan told his bodyguard.
“No one is ever in any danger in Captain Dubnyk’s home,” the young woman reassured him.
“There, you see?” Nathan said. “Everything will be fine.”
“Captain, I am under strict orders…”
“I’ll leave my comm-set open, alright?” The sergeant was not smiling.
The Ghatazhak sergeant touched the side of his helmet, causing his visor to drop down and his tactical display system to activate. He swept his head from side to side, scanning the interior of the building. “There are at least seven more persons in the building,” he reported. “I do not detect any weapons. However, there are several locations within the structure which my systems are not able to penetrate, all of which are large enough to contain hidden weapons.”
“Give me your side arm, then. Will that make you feel better?”
“Do you know how to use it?”
“I think I can figure it out,” Nathan assured him.
The Ghatazhak soldier removed his belt and holster, handing it to the captain. “It will power up when it is drawn from its holster.” He looked sternly at the captain. “There is no safety.”
“Thanks for the warning, Sergeant,” Nathan said as he strapped the weapon to his hip.
“Captain Dubnyk does not allow guests to carry weapons into his home,” the young woman warned.
“I’m afraid he doesn’t have much of a choice, this time,” Nathan told her. “It’s either I come in with a weapon, or my friend here comes in with all his weapons and his bad attitude. I’m pretty sure that Captain Dubnyk would prefer that it was just me and one little gun.”
The woman sighed in resignation. “Very well. Follow me.” The young woman stepped aside, allowing Nathan to enter.