by Jerome Kelly
“But it looks as if you found a way to make it work?”
“Yes, after a painstaking couple of years, we finally managed to properly replicate the technology and construct a unique cruiser that is more far advanced that anything else we currently have. I can also bet you that this ship is far more advanced than many of the leading warships in all of the other fleets too. If you take a look you’ll note that the armour and the weapons on the ship are a cut above the rest, in fact every one of the ship’s systems have been build to perfection. It might be less than half the size of the Titan but I can assure you, it packs one hell of a punch and it has far superior defensive and offensive capabilities to any other cruiser class ship in the alliance. The ship wasn’t actually due to be unveiled for another few weeks, we actually brought it forward a bit so you could make use of it for your mission.”
“I’m assuming the ship is in full working condition then?” Morelli asked, “I hope you haven’t missed out any important safety checks just so you could throw it into the mission.”
“Not at all, the ship has been subjected to every manner of safety check possible and has passed with flying colours,” Davidson said proudly, “it has performed every function we could possibly ask of it at one hundred percent capacity. You could not find a better equipped ship anywhere in the fleet. I can assure you it will serve you very well out there in the Blue Ring and in every mission beyond that.”
“So you were actually planning to give me this ship all along then?” James asked, “why not just tell me about it before? It would have saved a lot of hassle.”
“Admiral Jamerson felt it would spoil the surprise,” said Davidson, “even with your record with the other admirals, everyone agrees that as you are the most proven captain among us after your exploits against the Vulians that you should have this ship as your own. Jamerson did suggest calling it the Morning Star mark two but I felt it would be an insult to the memory of your old ship. The Evening Star is more fitting I think.”
“I guess so,” said James, “I only hope it’s as grand on the inside as it is on the outside.”
He was not to be disappointed. As soon as the rear shuttle bay doors opened to allow their shuttle access to the ship, James caught his first glance of the gleaming white interior of the ship and he was not disappointed by what he saw.
“This is amazing,” Melina said in awe, “if you happen to be in need of a pilot, I wouldn’t mind flying this thing you know.”
“The ship has a full crew in place,” said Davidson, “all the old crew of the Centaur have been transferred here too and we have been settling them in for the past few hours. I know it’s all short notice but I think they’ve taken to it rather well. I’ll be sure to give you all a quick tour before you get underway, it can’t hurt to get you all familiar with your new surroundings.”
James wasn’t about to disagree there, he couldn’t wait to have a look around and check in on his crew. As the shuttle landed in the hangar bay, the team was quick to follow behind Davidson as he lead them through the hangar’s interior doors and into the ship’s corridors. If there had been any doubts among the crew regarding their impending mission, many of them had been silenced by the sight of this magnificent new vessel. The admirals must have had to work incredibly hard to keep the construction of this ship as quiet as they had, a project such as this would surely have been attracting masses of attention all over the Earth.
“I have to admit, I’m impressed,” Saavoy said as the group made their way towards the engineering deck, “I guess we can no longer deny that the Human race really is an up and coming power within the Freedom Alliance.”
“It has always been our ambition to stand alongside the rest of you,” said Davidson, “I believe we have gone some way to achieving that with our work here. If you will follow me, I will show you to the engine room.”
As with the rest of the ship, the engine room lived up to expectations. Even Morelli seemed in awe of the technology that they had in place and James had a feeling she would be itching to examine it at the first possible opportunity. James recognised a few of the faces among his engineering teams as well as plenty of new ones, they had likely needed a few extra hands on the ship and James assumed that they would be members of the teams that had helped to build the ship and who were familiar with how everything worked. The man leading them was a familiar face though though, James recognised a rather scruffy looking man in his mid thirties with grey-black hair making his way toward them. This man was George Connolly, James’s chief engineer from back on the Centaur.
“Lieutenant Connolly, good to see you here.”
“Likewise, captain Tavarez,” Connolly said excitedly, “it’s good to be part of your crew once again, I was a bit worried that they might be reassigning me to another commander but I’m happy to see that they’ve kept us all together. I can’t wait to see what this thing can do, I have never seen such a magnificent ship in my life.”
“Enthusiastic as ever, always good to see,” said James, “but you might change your tone once you’ve seen where we’re headed.”
“Oh we’ve all been briefed, don’t you worry,” Connolly said confidently, “we know exactly what we’re getting ourselves into. Don’t you worry captain, I’ll keep this thing together no matter what comes at us. I will keep her in top condition, you can be sure of that.”
Good old Connolly, always excitable and passionate about his job, just how James liked his crew. He was as dependable as officers came too, he could certainly rely on him to keep everything ticking over behind the scenes while he and the team focused on what they needed to do.
Next up Davidson took them to the crew deck to show them what leisure facilities the ship had to offer. No powerful warship would be complete without somewhere for officers to unwind between missions and the Evening Star was continuing to live up to the hype.
“You have two crew lounges on this deck…” Davidson was explaining, “. . . there is a games room where you can blow off some steam when you get a free moment, there is a also gym and a sparring ring so you can keep yourselves in shape when you need. I did suggest adding a sauna too but admiral Sytchev thought it was a step too far.”
Following on from the crew lounge was the medical bay, run by none other than James’s old medical officer Anastasia Markova, a very eccentric presence to say the least but a reliable one nonetheless.
“Captain Tavarez, welcome to the medical bay,” Markova said with a more welcoming tone that she usually carried, she was not one to mess about, that was for sure, “I trust you like your new ship?”
“I’ll admit, I’m very impressed,” said James, “how are the medical facilities? I trust it is to your liking?”
“Oh very much so,” said Markova, “we’re very well equipped and very well stocked up on medical supplies. We have cutting-edge medical technology throughout the bay and knowing you, we’re probably going to need it.”
James’s history with Markova went a long way back. When he was still a student back at Greenwich academy in his younger days, Markova had been a leading general surgeon at one of London’s major hospitals so when the Vulians had attacked the academy, it was fair to say that she had been overworked for the days following the battle. James had certainly done a good job of keeping her busy during his time in London too. Every time a fight broke out between the rebel factions and the Vulian forces, Markova was the one with all the work to do afterwards. Fortunately, despite her sometimes short temper, she respected his abilities as a captain and his efforts to help free the planet from the occupation. The odd reminder of his actions and the excessive work that she had been forced to deal with as a result of his actions was fairly commonplace though.
“We’ll do our best not to work you too hard,” James laughed, “I don’t plan on having anyone killed out there.”
Safe in the knowledge that his crew were in good hands medically, Dav
idson continued the tour of the ship, now leading them in the direction of the command deck.
“James, there are a few more things I want to introduce you to before we head for the bridge,” said Davidson, “first I want to show you to the armoury and the war room. If you will follow me, I would like to introduce you to someone I am sure you will want to meet.”
As far as he knew, everyone from his old crew back on the Centaur had been accounted for, he was interested to see who they could possibly have that could top it all off. The answer was waiting for him just beyond the doors to the armoury. No sooner had he taken a step inside he felt the colour drain from his cheeks, it was as if he had just seen a ghost.
“Well hello there James,” said the figure of Lucy Maguire, “it’s been a long time has it not?”
He couldn’t believe it… Lucy Maguire, part of his old team back from when he had been on the run from Valdor back on Earth. James had no idea that she was still alive, the last time he had seen her was when the Vulians had ambushed them and broken up the team. After that, she had been thrown in jail and no word of what had happened to her afterwards had ever reached his ears. James had cared for Lucy very much back in those days, she had been like a sister to him. To have her back here now as part of his team… it was a strange feeling.
Lucy would now have been in her early thirties but she was still quite baby-faced. She was of an average height and build with shoulder length brown hair.
“I can’t believe it,” James could still not quite believe his eyes, “Lucy… it’s great to see you again, I’ve missed having you around.”
“An old friend of yours?” Saavoy asked.
“Lucy and I go back a fair way,” said James, “she was part of my team that I lead while the Vulians were in control of Earth. We fought side by side for over a year under some of the most extreme circumstances you could possibly find yourself in. We made quite the team.”
James could still not quite believe it was really her. He never thought he would ever see Lucy again after that fateful day where his team was broken by Valdor. Still, it was yet one more person he could trust who was along for the ride. As far as he was concerned, the more the merrier.
“It’s going to be just like old times, eh?” Said Lucy, “you and me fighting against the impossible odds with our backs to the wall, just how it used to be.”
“I’m sure you two will have plenty to catch up on over the course of the mission,” said Davidson, “and I’m sure Lucy will want to introduce you to another new feature we have on the ship, one we have also given her responsibility for.”
“Oh yes, I think you might like this,” Lucy said excitedly, “follow me to the war room and I will show you.”
Lucy lead the group into the war room. It looked very similar to the old cartography room from the Morning Star with several holographic projectors and a massive screen on one side which was where Lucy was leading them. Starting it up, the screen was filled with a projection of a city, a city ready for war by the looks of things.
“Hey, that’s Edassa!” Morelli noticed the familiar settings of her home city, “may I ask why you have a virtual readout of my home city on your screens?”
“I will show you,” said Davidson, heading for the panel and fiddling with a few of the controls for a few seconds, “as well as being the war room, it is also a simulation room and it uses a modified version of the program Alliance in Chaos.”
“Alliance in Chaos? Isn’t that the strategy game that was banned by the alliance council last year?” James asked.
“Yes and no,” said Davidson, “it was frowned upon by some who didn’t like the content and the scenarios the game included but it was never actually banned. However, a few months ago, admiral Shenji of the Japanese division of the fleet saw his son playing a copy of it and when he saw just how realistic it was, he had the idea of converting it from a game to an actual tool of war. You see, the game would pit two warring factions against one another over a city or in orbit around one of our worlds and the player would have to command his force to win the battle against the computerised opponent as a major test of strategy and military skill. See here…”
Davidson activated the program and used a few vocal commands to activate the simulation. He was now in control of the simulated Voronian military in an attempt to defend the city from marauding Vulian forces.
“So you can control your planet’s military and attempt to lead them to victory?” Julio asked, “I think it sounds like a good challenge for anyone wanting to become an officer. Why exactly was it frowned upon?”
“Because of this…”
Davidson reset the simulation and changed a few of the settings. Where there had previously been Vulian hovercraft and kosus walkers, there now stood a collection of Suran gunships and raptor walkers.
“I don’t get it…” said Ansare, looking a little puzzled at the unusual match-up, “. . . the Surans are one of our closest allies, why would you want to simulate a battle between these two races?”
“The idea of the game was to test a player’s ability to command any military force against any opponent,” said Davidson, “when admiral Shenji had a team redevelop it into a war simulation, he felt it would be an excellent test of a person’s leadership and strategic skills and he recently convinced the other admirals to implement it at all of our training facilities and on all of our warships.”
“I can see why there are some who wouldn’t want something like this out there though,” said Ansare, “this could be seen as something that could stir up tensions between races and incite violence.”
“We have no such intentions, admiral Ansare,” said Davidson, “this simulation is strictly for training and for strategic purposes. Because of it’s realism, it can identify weaknesses in the military forces of each of the alliance races and allow our officers the experience of commanding forces they would never get to command in real life. I would suggest that if any of you have the time that you give it a try.”
It was an interesting addition to the ship, there was no doubt about that. A couple of the team didn’t look overly impressed with the content but James was going to be sure to give it a try when he had a few hours free. He hadn’t had a true test of his skills in a long time and it could be useful for keeping him sharp, especially during the many long and boring patrol missions that he would likely have to endure again once he returned from the Blue Ring sector.
Davidson’s tour of the ship finally finished as they reached the bridge. James recognised all of his old command crew present, Jason Daniels on the helm, Sergey Ivanov taking up his position on tactical and his communications officer Elena Stevens in her usual position. The old crew was all there, the only thing that had changed was the surroundings.
“Captain on the bridge!” came the usual exclamation from Jason Daniels as James and his team made their presence on the bridge known, “welcome aboard the Evening Star sir.”
“As you were people,” said James, letting them get back to their jobs. He had always found these formalities a little pointless but he went along with them anyway, especially as he had an admiral on board. Even if he could get away with a lot more that he might have done had it been any of the other admirals, he still thought it best to make a good impression for Davidson to see.
“As you can see, the bridge is every bit as impressive as the rest of the ship,” said Davidson, “in addition to your crew and all the new features, we have also installed a cutting-edge virtual intelligence program into the ship’s main computer which will assist all the officers aboard with their jobs and will assist you with issuing your orders to the rest of the crew.”
“There are some of us who feel the VI program is a waste of resources and an unnecessary addition to the ship,” Ivanov interjected, “I personally think it devalues the crew by taking away part of the job we were trained for as officers.”
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�The talents of this crew will not go to waste, lieutenant Ivanov,” said Davidson, “this program is designed to assist you and to make your lives easier and trust me when I say you will need every resource you can get on a mission like this, even if it is rather experimental.”
It did feel as if they were taking away the human element of the command of his ship, no ship in any of the fleets in the alliance had ever used a VI system to assist in the command of the ship. They had always relied on the total ability of the crew and the captain to run the ship effectively and James would continue to do so. Other than that one hitch, James could not think of one bad word to say about the new ship that he had been given, it was effectively built to perfection. If the suspicions of the council and the admirals were correct, they would certainly need every asset they could get once they passed beyond the borders of the Valoran and made their way out into the uncharted Blue Ring sector.
“I guess I shouldn’t be taking up any more of your time then,” said Davidson, “from here on out, everything falls on your shoulder, James. I will return to the Titan and keep a watch over things from there. I wish you all good luck and I hope for your safe return and a swift end to these disappearances.”
With those words, Davidson turned and exited the bridge, finally leaving James and his crew to their own business. The mission could finally begin.
“You heard the man,” said James, “everyone to your stations. Bring the primary engines online and prepare to leave dock as soon as the admiral’s shuttle is away.”
“Aye sir,” said Daniels, who was certainly not hiding his excitement at getting to fly the most advanced ship in the fleet for the first time, “bringing engines online, estimate full power in three minutes.”
“Captain, I have my concerns about this new VI system,” Ivanov said, his disapproval of it’s instalment clearly grinding on him, “I do not approve of the admirals’ decision to use an untested technology on this ship’s bridge. We have no experience with technology like this and it could have a detrimental effect on the crew here on the bridge if it doesn’t work out.”