by Chris Hechtl
The B component 504.3 light hours away had a K class star at its heart with another M class star orbiting it. In-between was a thick rubble belt, since the two stars were too close to allow planets to form between them. The dwarf planet/moon had just started to be terraformed when he'd left. Other moons had been identified as potential candidates, but it wasn't like they needed a lot of growing space. Besides, each of the small moons would only hold an atmosphere for so long and didn't have the magnetosphere of a much larger planet.
Outside the M class star was another asteroid belt followed by two giant gas giant planets on P class orbits. The innermost one had a terraformed moon. Both gas giants had a large number of moons, many like the terraformed one in the dwarf planet size status.
The stellar system was surrounded by a thick Oort cloud. One of the reasons it was so well protected and hard to get to.
Apparently the A component's habitable world had been lightly terraformed by retirees and people wanting to escape the rat races of the highly tech and saturated core worlds. They'd come out to the back end of the galaxy in an isolated nexus of the sector to get their peace and quiet. Nuevo had been settled along similar lines. The founders had been peppered with a mix of military retirees, which was one reason the admiral had visited the first time and as well for the second time.
He'd apparently leaned on that sense of duty when he'd reactivated their commissions and rates during his second visit. He'd shaken the star system out of its sense of apathy. The retirees hadn't been interested in building much or having children. The older you got the less interested you were in procreation and chasing someone around who made messes and wore your ass out.
The captain made a mental note to look into having a kid sometime in the next decade. That thought made him crack a brief smile before he continued reading on.
Apparently Admiral Irons, a rear admiral at the time, hadn't been a keymaster. He frowned, tapping the entry link. A caption came up with a classified header. He scanned it and then nodded. Apparently the admiral had been tasked with a mission to set up a redoubt in each sector under his jurisdiction where possible. Bek and Nuevo were natural candidates. He nodded. Now the reason they'd removed the entry from the encyclopedia started to make sense.
Of course that retraction might have been a problem, he thought suddenly. There had to be earlier versions of the encyclopedia out there. New Alexandria tried to keep them up to date with patches before the star system was destroyed. But what if one was off line? Or if someone had isolated a copy? They could compare the two and look for what was missing to lead them to interesting things.
Suddenly their mission had a more ominous note to it. He wondered briefly if the admiral had thought of that. Hopefully so.
Apparently the admiral had built a naval yard with the help of the recommissioned people on the planet and a couple A.I. he'd left behind to oversee the works. The class II repair yard had limited industrial capacity; the locals had been intent on building an industrial plant to keep things moving. Admiral Irons had created two class II industrial nodes in the B component to supply the yard, with a class III logistical system, and a bureaucratic speak for a logistics space station in component A. The fact that he'd done that all with, as he'd put it in his notes, “his duffel, a credit voucher, some documents, and an industrial replicator with orders to build some sort of resupply base and minor repair node” spoke volumes about the man's abilities. He'd had a bit more help than that locally he noted. He had reactivated every former military officer and enlisted in the star system. He had also nationalized an elderly Lagroose Mobile Shipyard to help the kickstart the process...That he'd gotten along so well with the civilian government … he shook his head. My times had changed he thought.
Unfortunately, due to the admiral's limited rank at the time, he hadn't had the ability to pass on many of his keys. He'd been limited on the tech transfers as well. Once the star system's governor or president was out of office, the keys would have been locked. That meant the limited number of replicators the star system had would have been of only some use. Eventually they would have worn down over the centuries.
The admiral had no access to medical keys. What had happened there? Without them regen tech … anti-geriatric tech … a lot of problems there. He flipped to the B component—a super gas giant and two small stars so a lot of radiation there. The dwarf planet had light gravity and therefore a limited magnetosphere. Yeah, not good, he thought. The generation the admiral had interacted with hadn't been interested in procreation so there would have been some sort of dip in population. And with the multiple species, they couldn't interbreed … inbreeding? He sucked in a breath. Yeah, not good he thought.
According to the admiral's notes and report, the people of Bek had been building their first space colony with an eye to building more in the future, as well as possibly terraforming some of the moons in both components of the stellar system. That was a lot of places to grow people up in, if they'd had the inclination to do so. They might have used artificial wombs if they'd had the tech. But the problem wasn't just limited to carrying a child; you still had to feed and rear it. He shook his head. That was someone else's problem to consider, not his.
The B component had the rich asteroids so mining and industry would be there. But A had the gas giants and the original industrial base including the repair yard. Had they set up and maintained the trade between the components? Logic said yes, but what if they backslid? He didn't have an answer, just more questions.
Things might be more complicated than the admiral knew. But there was only one way to find out; they had to go there. The star system had never possessed an ansible. They hadn't rated one, so they had been alone, probably imagining what had happened in the outside galaxy. Had they gone mad? He wasn't sure.
Hopefully the passwords the admiral had set up would still be relevant. Fingers crossed there he thought.
But the seed was there. He could appreciate that. At the very least he would be answering the question of their continued existence and quite possibly getting another yard into the Federation's hands. That wasn't a small thing.
And the rapids … he grimaced. The rapids were the least dangerous method of getting to the jump chain nexus. That was saying a lot. In order to get to the rapids, they would need to jump back to B101a1, then go south and jump a complicated course. One that he'd need expert helmsmen to handle.
He put the tablet down in his lap and rubbed his brow. That was going to be fun he thought.
Nuevo … he frowned. The Nuevo star system had two agro worlds settled along the same lines with a starting population of about 200 thousand or so, all of mixed species. Many had come from Bek since they hadn't liked the government and economy there or something. Nuevo lacked any sort of space presence or modern industry. It had no asteroid belt and only one Neptune class gas giant that was pretty far out.
The innermost habitable world had three moons and a .8 gravity field. The outermost habitable planet was a super Earth class at 1.4G. It was too uncomfortable for most unmodified human and Neo species. When the last census had been run, it was mostly populated by Centaurians, Tarq, Talasians, Burmite, Muttonchops, and Trolls.
According to the admiral's files, the hyperspace navigational guild had wanted to double the fees they charged for their services to get to the jump chain. It was one reason immigration had slowed, and trade had come to a near standstill prior to the outbreak of the Xeno war. People in the sector had all but forgotten the Bek nexus, which dovetailed with the government's desire to create a redoubt.
The admittance bell went off. He looked to the door, then to the panel next to it. His implants wirelessly connected to the panel and to the cameras on the other side of the door. He nodded. “Come in, Angie,” he said, signaling the acceptance and unlock code.
“I wasn't certain if you were up or not, Skipper,” the XO said, coming into the compartment. She noted his robe and tablet. “Doing some light reading?” she asked.
> He waved the tablet. “Going over our mission brief,” he said as she handed him a chip. “This is …?”
“The daily report. “Commander Garretaj is still trying to scare up the proper helm team for us. Unfortunately, he apparently spooked one into quitting the navy.”
The commander frowned. “Hard to do.”
“He got out on bereavement,” the XO said as the skipper indicated she should take a seat. The steward came in and hefted the coffee pot but she silently declined. “How you can drink that stuff this late …”
“I've gotten used to it,” the skipper said as the Veraxin steward topped his cup off and then retreated. “You were saying? Bereavement? A severance not leave?”
“Severance. A formal resignation actually. I think they were hoping he'd reconsider, but apparently not. He's a selkie from Epsilon Triangula.”
“Oh,” the commander said nodding. News that something bad had happened in Epsilon Triangula was still filtering through the media and general population.
“According to the commander,” the XO indicated the chip she'd handed over, “he managed to get a few of the other cadets to sign on with us.”
“Great, noobs in charge of the helm, no experience. Not something that bodes well on a dangerous mission, Ang,” he said darkly.
“Can't be helped. We need the quality, even if it's untried and untested,” the XO replied. “This is going to be a tricky mission. We can sort out if they can hack it with the first jump. If they can't we turn back.”
“But if they can't while we're en route we're SOL,” he stated flatly.
“That's the risk we're going to have to take I suppose,” Angie said. “Not too conductive to sleep I guess,” she said.
“Just one of the reasons I'm awake,” the captain said. “You read the mission brief?” He waved the tablet again.
“I scanned it. I didn't get into the details; someone dumped a lot on my shoulders,” she said wryly. The captain smiled. “I think it's worth the risk. We'll have to be careful.”
“Definitely. No one has had contact with them. If there are Xenos …”
“We haven't had any reports of Xenos anywhere, Skipper, not in this sector nor the neighboring ones. Where they went is anyone's guess.” She shrugged. “Personally I'm in the, ‘they went home after their home galaxy was attacked’ group. But it's only a theory. They could be marching around the galaxy tearing up everything methodically.”
“You are so much fun for sleep,” the captain sighed.
She gave him a small smile then shrugged. There was a long silence as the captain took a sip of coffee, then another before he set the cup down.
“I don't know. They could have split the difference I suppose,” the captain finally said.
“Now who's being full of cheery thoughts?” Angie teased.
The captain snorted. “Right now it's not our problem. I'm hoping the wishful thinking group has it right, and Bek is just waiting for us to move in, reestablish contact, and then turn into some sort of game changer. I admit though, it's a long shot.”
“Disease, a star going nova, the Xenos … yeah, a lot we don't know,” Angie said. She grimaced. “Skip, do we have to go through the rapids?” she indicated the tablet. “I was talking to Bock; he said there is an alternate route in there,” she said.
The captain frowned and looked at the tablet in his hands. He scrolled through it. “If there is I'm not seeing it,” he said finally.
“It's in an appendix. Classified cover,” she said, moving over to sit next to him so they could both look at the device. “Helm …,” she frowned. “Navigation ….” Quick flicks of her fingers found the section on navigation. There was a simulator and a lot of notes on reaction time. Also the reasoning for the route they were taking. She skipped through it to the map, then rotated it with a couple fingers until he could see it from another angle, then spread her thumb and index fingers apart to make the map zoom out. When it did a second jump line was identified. This one was dashed however.
“Crellis,” the captain said instantly.
“Is it …,” Angie peered closer then sucked in a breath. “Damn, okay, I get it now,” she said with a nod.
“It's a long jump,” the captain said, gauging the map's scale. “Three times longer than the other jumps. Probably even more dangerous,” he said.
“And we don't want to be anywhere near Crellis for obvious reasons,” the XO said. “Sorry I brought it up,” she muttered.
“No, it's important to see things from all angles before we jump,” the captain said, waving a hand before he let the tablet drop into his lap again. Angie sat back. He was glad; over the light trace of her floral perfume, he could smell a little sweat and a bit of hydraulic fluid. One thing he kept checking in her favor on all of her performance reports was her willingness to roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty. Officers were supposed to oversee enlisted, but that didn't mean you stood by and let something go all the time. Her willingness to jump in helped her leadership in the eyes of the enlisted and noncoms. It also kept her hands in the equipment so she was kept current on how they worked and what needed to be taken care of and when.
“I wish we could go to Nuevo first. Jump in there, look around. Sort of get our toes wet. It's too bad there isn't another jump line to Nuevo,” Angie murmured.
The captain scrubbed his face a bit, and then took another sip of coffee. He frowned. “There might have been if there had been reason for more trade. Nuevo is an agro world. It had little industry and nothing anyone really wanted except being off the beaten path.”
“Which they got. I'm wondering, did they maintain some sort of ability to go back and forth? I mean, between Bek and Nuevo?”
“I don't know. One way or another we're going to go find out,” the captain said.
His XO nodded.
“Well, according to that,” she indicated the chip, “we're about ready to go. All we've got left is the last series of tests and a bunch of goodies we're taking on. The bosun isn't happy about trying to stick it everywhere.”
“The crew is probably irritated at losing their hiding spot for the ship's still,” the captain replied with a smirk.
Angie opened her mouth and then closed it. She eventually shrugged as the captain's eyes twinkled at her. She rose, smoothing her pants before she stretched. “Unless you've got something else for me, I'm going to hit my rack. We'll be finished loading by 1000 tomorrow,” she said. “And I'm betting the brass will kick us loose to start the mission soon after.”
“Can't let grass grow under our feet I suppose,” the captain murmured. “Final recall?”
“Is set for midnight. I checked; we're only missing that helm team. We're supposed to get them before 0900. They've got their own compartment plus a small swim tank. And there is a grav tank on the bridge as you know.”
“We've got to keep them comfortable and functional,” the captain replied with a knowing nod. “Gotcha. Well, if that's it, I'll let you toddle along. I'll finish this cup and then if I'm not sleepy I'll prowl around,” he said.
She snorted. “The bosun will just love that. The skipper getting underfoot during the final push,” she said.
“Can't have it all his way,” the captain growled as Angie headed for the door. “Dismissed and good evening, number one.”
“Thank you, sir,” Angie said as the door opened. She stepped out into the busy companionway and then was gone.
* * * *
Commander Saul Garretaj looked at the status board. Caroline was finally ready to go. They'd had to poach the helmsman class to get the required talent to man her helm however; something the admiral severely frowned upon.
Two rather young and impressionable selkie midshipmen from Agnosta, and two subdued chimeras from Epsilon Triangula had agreed to go. There would have been five, but when they had pressed Cadet Jivante to go he'd resigned his commission. It had been an unfortunate loss of talent for the navy; one Admiral Irons nor Admiral Subert were happy about.
The young man had hopped a flight on Destiny to see if any of his family were left alive.
* * * *
“I am not sure what this is about,” Tulimak said dubiously.
“Something awesome I'm sure,” Tyjon Peete said, practically bouncing in his excitement. The chimera plebe had a water tank respirator on his back to provide a fine mist into his gills to keep them wet. He occasionally had to spritz himself with water to stay comfortable. The water tended to puddle wherever he sat however, Qilaq thought. Which was fine, they were all water dwellers, but others tended to get annoyed, especially when they slipped and fell.
“It has to be important since they are cutting our training so early. And our middy cruise is going to be 'different but more stressful'? What's up with that?” Kapueo Mahoe asked, shouldering his bag. He was a chimera from Epsilon Triangula like Tyjon, and also a plebe. Why they were getting singled out was starting to weigh on Qilaq's mind.
“I don't know, but I suspect we'll find out,” Qilaq said as their shuttle came closer to the ship's boat bay.
“They said they wanted us for a highly classified and vital mission. I'm excited,” Tyjon said, practically bouncing.
Tulimak rolled his eyes and wiggle waggled his whiskers. As a Neowalrus selkie he was the largest of their group. He was also the highest ranking middy and therefore in charge of their party. “Classified and vital are buzzwords for dangerous and possibly stupid. I wish I'd learned not to stick my neck out. The gunny was right, never volunteer.”