by Nate Johnson
She’d studied every book she could find, once she figured out how to get included in the trip.
Her hands instinctively loosened her straps so she could get a better look. The weightlessness didn’t bother her. The inability to get a better look was frustrating the hell out of her, though.
A section of the distant ship slowly turned black exposing the docking bay. The shuttle twisted, confirming her observation and she lost sight of her new home.
Within minutes the shuttle passed through the opening, and she felt gravity slowly return. The vessel gently settled, and the curved wall behind them closed up. Their trip to the stars was about to begin, she squeezed down hard to stop a girlish squeal from spilling out.
That Petty Officer Tanner jumped out of his seat and scrutinized the passenger area. He probably thinks we’re a bunch of idiots, she thought. God, I hate arrogant know it alls, even if they are hotter than a man should be allowed to be. His short rusty brown hair and gray eyes were disconcerting. His nose looked like it had been broken years before, and the small scar on his chin added to the mystery.
Didn’t he know they could fix those things now? But, it was the tattoo that made the back of her head tingle. Some kind of strange bird, running down his neck from just behind his left ear to under his collar. Her hand drifted to the back of her head and rubbed at the feint tingle there.
While he looked only a few years older than her peers, the way he stood, the way he talked, it was nothing like the boys she knew.
She stood up, anxious to explore her new home, and was surprised when the other kids didn’t move out of the way. They don’t know who you are, Nora, she said to herself and settled back down to wait her turn.
Shaking her thoughts away, she glanced back at the pilot to find him looking at her, and quickly shifted her eyes to look back out the window at the docking bay. It was going to be a long trip.
Chapter Two
Erik looked out over his crewmates as they gathered on the recreation deck. Twenty-four men, everyone from seventeen-year-old cook’s helper, Billy Catherson, to the fifty-year-old Engineering Officer, Ian Clark. The entire crew was here, waiting...
“Attention on Deck!” the XO barked, as the Captain walked into the room, followed by the dumpy older teacher. Every man jumped to attention. Backs ramrod straight and arms braced against their sides.
“At ease, take your seats,” the Captain said, as he made his way to the front of the crowd.
Turning, he looked them over and then said, “As you know, we have fifteen civilians onboard.” The Captain nodded at the dumpy guy next to him. “Professor Breat, two other teachers, and twelve students. The Imperial Navy staff has decided to conduct an experiment. These students are the best and brightest young people in the Empire and will someday move up into leadership roles in business and government, both Imperial and local. They are our future, and the Navy wants them to have a good impression of what we do and how we operate.”
The Captain paused for a moment letting his words sink in, his eyes narrowing to pierce any resistance.
“As such, you will treat them with respect. They are not crew, but they are not passengers, either. They will be taking classes and working with Professor Breat and his staff to finish their freshman college courses over these six months. But mostly, they will be observing us and learning about the Navy.”
Erik could feel the tension in the room rise a notch or two. They were serious; it wasn’t going to be a weeklong familiarization tour, but a full-blown mission. Crap, what were they thinking?
The Captain looked out over the crowd. “As a reminder, all civilians are off limits!”
Someone groaned in the back, and everyone laughed. Even the Captain smiled, but then his face got very stern as he said. “Just so we are clear on this. If I find out that any of my men is involved with a student, and you know what I mean by involved, male or female, I will keelhaul them and then park them on the first asteroid I can find until their bones turn to dust. Are we clear on this?” he asked looking each man in the eye.
Everybody nodded, each person knew that an Imperial Captain was God on his ship, especially once they jumped into new space. It was one of the last jobs in the galaxy that wasn’t micromanaged from some higher headquarters. He could do pretty much whatever he thought necessary to accomplish his mission.
Giving everybody one last look, “This isn’t the love boat, and I’m not returning these girls to their parents pregnant and alone.” Seeing everyone nod affirmatively he turned to the man next to him. “Do you have anything to add Professor,” he asked.
“A… No… I … a ... think that covers everything, Captain,” Professor Breat said, looking like a Pekinese puppy meeting its first German shepherd.
“Okay, then. XO make ready to get underway, I want to leave orbit within the hour, our first jump tomorrow morning, and to be at our starting point within a week.”
Turning back to the crew he said, “Gentleman, I know we have the best crew ever assembled. We have spent the last two years picking and shaping this team for this mission. We are going to set a record for the most space explored within our allotted six months. I am sure that if we do what I know we can do, we’ll find something. Let’s pray it is worth it. Dismissed.”
“Attention on Deck,” the XO barked.
Once the Captain had left the Rec Deck, the XO placed everyone at ease and instructed his officers to meet him in the wardroom in fifteen minutes. By unspoken agreement, the enlisted crew remained on the recreational deck until the officers and Chief Bowman had left. Erik plopped onto a couch and listened in on the conversations around him.
“Off Limits, damn that’s not fair,” Jimmy Donaldson was saying to his fellow Engineers.
“I don’t know why you’re so worried Jimmy, you never stood a chance anyway,” Big Tom Weaver said with a laugh. Jimmy punched him in the shoulder then joined them in the communal laugh. Jimmy Donaldson looked like a cross between a Greek God and a choir boy. All blond, buffed and ready for bed. Women had a habit of stepping on each other trying to get to him.
As Erik listened to them and the others bitch and complain, he smiled to himself. A bitching Spacer was a happy Spacer. You didn’t start worrying until they stopped bitching.
Shaking his head, he stood up to leave. They were all professionals, and there wouldn’t be any problems. Hell, if the Captain really planned to push things, they’d all be busier than Valerian chipmunks on vacation, and wouldn’t have any time for fraternization.
He followed Tom and Jimmy towards the berthing area to get changed into his deep space suit, stepping around wooden crates and cardboard boxes piled high along the passageway. Six months of extra rations took up a lot of space that no one had ever designed into things. The students had also brought along more gear than a mountain expedition, with cases of lab equipment and even books made of paper.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he looked at his two friends. Big Tom was the senior petty officer in navigation and on the first watch. Jimmy, the senior petty officer in Engineering and lead on the second watch. Their two-man state room had been converted into a four-man berthing area to make room for their guests.
The thought that they had to sacrifice their precious space for civilians on a joy ride sent hot sparks up and down his spine. The three of them shared the room with John Chang, the deck department’s second lead. He took over whenever Erik shuttled the gig and had been assigned the fourth watch lead. They had formed a tight team over the last two years.
Erik had once heard the XO tell one of the junior lieutenants that the four of them made up the vital core around which the ship’s company revolved.
Big Tom got his nickname from his constant battle with weight, regardless of how hard he hit the gym. The Nanos kept it under regulations, barely. But, it was a constant worry every time they had a weigh-in. The missing musketeer, John, was headed back to the bridge to take the watch, leaving the three others to start organizing thei
r crews and making preparations for getting underway.
Tom and Jimmy continued to banter about the civilians, as they walked down the long center hallway.
“Guys,” Erik interrupted. “I’m telling you, we’re going to have to keep a close eye on our men. Having women onboard is going to be a problem. I’m sure of it,” Erik said.
“Do you always judge so quickly?” a voice said from behind them. Erik turned to see Miss Beautiful brunette, Nora Johnson, standing there with her hands on her hips shooting him a look of pure hate.
“I can assure you that we ‘girls’ can take care of ourselves. You don’t need to worry about us,” she said, looking him straight in the eye. Daring him to dispute her.
Erik stopped and examined her, his gaze traveling up the form fitting tailored temp suit and stopping at the heart arresting violet eyes. She looks like a young queen upset at finding a mouse in the pantry. How do these people live with themselves? he wondered.
“Actually, Miss Johnson, “I wasn’t worried about you and your companions,” he said with a small sneer. “I was worried about my men. If they do something to get themselves court marshaled then kicked out of the Navy, I’ll strangle them myself before the Captain ever gets his chance.”
Taking satisfaction at the stunned look on her face, he turned and slapped his shipmates on the back and pushed them down the hall.
They had only traveled a few feet when Erik stopped and turned back around.
“And, Miss Johnson, please ask your friends to tone it down on the perfume. It’s not so bad now, the guys just got off a long shore leave. But, in a few weeks, it’s going to start driving them crazy. There’s no need to tempt fate, now, is there?”
The other two spacers were looking at him like he had lost his mind. Nora’s mouth dropped in shock, and her eyes registered her surprise at being confronted so openly.
Then she relaxed, “Is it ‘the guys,’ or yourself that is so affected, Mr. Tanner?” she said with a self-satisfied grin, obviously pleased with herself at getting in such a good comeback.
Erik grinned back, enjoying the tussle. “Oh, it’s the guys, Miss Johnson. I’m from New Kansas and grew up on a farm. Believe me, I’ve smelled much worse.”
Miss Johnson looked outraged, her hands clinched into fists like she wanted to slap him, hard. He chuckled to himself and pushed his friends down the hall. He was pretty sure he heard a muffled curse behind him.
.o0o.
Erik stood at ease in the Captain’s cabin, hands behind his back, feet slightly spread.
“You’re sure about this, Petty Officer Tanner?” Captain Freeborn asked, looking down at the broken sensor array on his table. The XO, Engineering Officer Clark, and Chief Bowen stood behind the Captain, looking over his shoulder at the crumpled piece of equipment.
“Yes, Sir. I checked it myself last watch, as part of the monthly preventive maintenance. Everything was fine.” Erik and his guys were responsible for maintenance of everything not located on the bridge or the engine room.
Of course, the cooks took care of the kitchen equipment, but everything else was his responsibility, both inside and out. Nothing ever broke. If it did, he had a replicator build him a new one and replaced it. But, this was different. Someone had purposely smashed a sensor array, rendering it useless. He could have it replaced in an hour, but this type of thing had to be brought to the officer’s attention.
The Captain looked over his shoulders at the XO. “Any ideas?” he asked.
“No, Sir. It doesn’t make any sense. It couldn’t have been our people. They’d know how easy it was to replace. What’s the point? And, I can’t understand any of Professor Breat’s people doing it. They’re all chomping at the bit to find a new planet just like the rest of us.” He shrugged his shoulders with a look of total confusion. Both, Chief Bowen and Engineer Thompson shook their heads in agreement.
Erik stood there without saying another word. He wasn’t so sure about the civilians. Some of them seemed a little off to him.
They’d been underway for a week now, and a smooth disrespect had grown up between the two groups. The crew worked their butts off, twelve to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. And, the civilians sat around and read books, and talked about stuff.
The civilians, on the other hand, resented the enlisted guys. Probably for the simple reason that the crew resented them. No one likes to be thought of as less than needed. Especially, highly intelligent, privileged little brats like these. It was all so childish and not a big thing, nothing that wouldn’t go away given enough time. But, it wasn’t his place to say, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Okay Petty Officer Tanner. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Chief, have your people keep an eye out and let me know if anything like this happens again. I’ll have a quiet word with the Professor, and maybe we can put a stop to it real quick.
“You know, Sir,” LCDR Clark said, “There is a lot of equipment that if they were sabotaged at the wrong time, in the right situation, could do a lot of damage.” The man shuddered when he thought about what would happen.
Erik swallowed hard, every spacer had heard stories about the wrong piece of equipment breaking at the wrong time and ships disappearing. Traveling through a worm hole and never coming out the other side.
There were two conjectures as to what happened then. Either they were trapped in inner space, stuck in their dead ship until they died of old age. Or, they simply ceased to be. Even the elements of their body were removed from the known universe, as if they never existed.
Receiving the Captain’s nod of dismissal, Erik came to attention, performed a smooth about face, and left the cabin.
He wasn’t going to let this rest. Nobody intentionally damaged his ship. No way. No how. He would get to the bottom of it, if it was the last thing he did.
.o0o.
Coming out of the jump, Nora held her breath. It always sent a thrill up her spine. And, tomorrow would be the first time into new space. Her heart beat faster and her palms began to sweat whenever she thought about it.
Anything could be on the other side. A huge rock hurling towards them, a fading sun ready to explode, or even aliens ready to blow them to smithereens. Anything was possible.
This was the ninth time in the last week, and it amazed her how blasé the crew was about the whole thing. Of course, they all had something important to do during a jump. She and her fellow students were as useless as always. Gathered in the recreation room. All of the screens lining the wall were focused on the new space.
After the first jump, an unofficial challenge had sprung up between the students and the bridge crew. Who could determine their new position the fastest? It was easy to do when you were in known space. It was just a matter of matching up known star fields. In fact, because you knew where the other end came out before you entered, you already knew where you should be.
But, Professor Breat had set up a test where the students had to find out their new position without using known star field maps. The navigators had heard about it and offered to join. It had become a competition, and the bridge always won. Quite often by several minutes.
The students had been getting closer each time. Jonathan Pierce, the sixteen-year-old boy wonder had taken it as a personal affront, and decided on his own, to rewrite the software application that the Navy had spent millions of credits creating.
For two days he had locked himself in his room, and come out all smiles only the day before. Now he was bent over his computer mumbling commands into his throat mike.
Nora laughed to herself out of pure happiness. Tomorrow there would be no going back. The ship would step off into new space, and everything after that was an official adventure.
Intrepid
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