by Chris Hechtl
She ran into him and sent him the text message warning. “It's good to see you, sir,” she said.
Admiral Zekowitz noted the text file and nodded to her. “You as well, Commander, the rank looks good on you,” he said with a small smile.
“Thank you, sir,” she preened.
“Do you have time for lunch? I'm here for a couple more hours then I need to catch the shuttle down to teach an evening class,” the admiral said.
The commander made a moue. “Sorry, sir, I've got to catch a shuttle flight of my own shortly. They stuck me in one of the fortresses protecting the planet. At least they didn't stick me in one of the orbital warehouses,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Okay, well, perhaps next time,” the admiral replied, keeping his tone light. She nodded. “Carry on then, Commander.”
“Thank you, sir,” she replied dutifully. She saluted him. He returned the salute and then watched her leave.
Once she was gone, he opened the text file and scanned it. It was simple and on point. Si warned him off talking to Horatio. “JAG is looking into him—full witch hunt. Watch your ass, sir. You might be next. They are out for blood,” was the last line.
He grimaced as he deleted the file. He realized he would never be out from under the cloud he was operating under until Horatio was gone and his association a distant memory. Hopefully, he wouldn't be interviewed or called to testify. He hoped and prayed it wouldn't come to that.
But just to be sure he decided it would be better to be “busy” from now until the commodore departed the star system, just to be on the safe side. He had warned Horatio to keep his mouth shut and his head down. He didn't want to get pulled down with him.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Horatio tried to contact Zek in order to say good bye and good luck, but Zek ignored his calls. He tried to route calls around the block but the engineering office at the Academy regretfully stated that the admiral was rather busy with a full workload. He realized Zek had either written him off or was actively avoiding him to protect his own neck. He was deeply disappointed in the man but unsurprised.
Ilmarinen's final boarding was attended by the media. He had a public affairs flack beside him and had been given a brief speech to say to the media.
“Commodore, do you have any last words?” a Talasian reporter asked, pointing her microphone to the human.
Horatio glanced at the young man riding herd on him, then to the cameras. He smiled. “In the words of a famous Terran general, I'll be back,” he said. He waved, then about-faced smartly and went into the boarding tube to a smattering of applause.
ACT III
Chapter 39
“Not this again,” a rating groaned as the ship quivered and then the stomach churning nausea kicked in the moment they began to translate into the alpha band of hyperspace.
Horatio instantly recognized part of the problem. “We've got some sort of gravitational harmonic going on, also a subfrequency. Someone needs to check on them,” he said.
“Sub …”
“Low frequency tones below normal hearing,” Horatio explained. He glanced over to a few of the ratings who had different hearing. He rubbed his ears. “It's not pleasant, and it does nasty things to your innards,” he explained.
“Understood, sir. Can you localize it?” Lieutenant Koba asked, crossing her arms.
“I can't. It's coming from all over. Have you checked the A.I.?”
“No. I'll check the log,” the XO said, “and get engineering on it.”
“Yes, you do that,” the captain stated.
“You can sense all that, sir? Or is it experience?” Commander Koba asked.
“It's both. I can sense it …,” Horatio walked over to a bulkhead and ran a finger over it. “You can pick up low frequency vibrations from touch sometimes. Not here. You might want to get someone that can hear in those frequencies to help.”
“I think most of them are currently on their way to sickbay in pain,” the XO replied dryly. Horatio glanced at her. She had her arms wrapped over her stomach.
“Low frequency noise plays havoc with your guts. It can also induce fear and other psychological reactions,” Horatio explained.
“Okay, we'll run it down, sir,” she said just as he found a spot that was vibrating. “Here,” he said. He pulled a panel off and looked inside. His index finger traced the outside of the pipes and conduits that were safe to touch. He didn't find anything in reach. He looked up but couldn't see much. When he looked down, he saw a pipe just under the edge of the lip of the panel he'd removed. It was too hot though. “Possibly this one. It is a thermal line, too hot to touch,” he said, indicating the red pipe.
The XO came closer then grimaced and backed away. “I think you're right, sir,” she said.
“In order to work on it, we'll need someone with gloves or this part of the system will need to be drained and then adjusted. Most likely it is a bracket that is messed up,” Horatio explained.
He turned to them. “Part of the problem with the thermal system is the piping. With temperature gradients comes the need for expansion and contraction and bends can cause pockets. I don't hear any pings or pocking sounds. No rattling,” he said. He looked at the pipe with narrowed eyes, then tried to look down either side. It was too dark to see much.
“I'll get engineering on it sir,” the captain replied with a nod.
“Thank you, sir,” a rating said fervently.
“The ride is smoothing out a bit. The inertial dampeners are catching up,” the helm rating reported.
“Good to know,” the XO said.
Horatio nodded. Either the crew had indeed handled the problem and managed to balance the emitters to smooth the turbulence out or the A.I. had quietly taken a step in and had adjusted the inertial dampeners to compensate Horatio thought.
He took a step back when a tech came into the compartment hefting a bag. The XO silently indicated the open panel. The Neochimp grimaced, then went over to it. Horatio pointed to the pipe.
“We've been getting reports of loose pipes and fittings,” the tech said. He put a glove on, touched the pipe then nodded. “Yup, vibrating. I can feel it,” he reported.
“Can you fix it?” the XO asked.
“If I can find the bracket that is messed up, sure. Finding it can be tricky; it might be one that's over tight or too loose. If I can't I can rig another bracket with padding to dampen the vibrations,” the tech stated.
Horatio nodded. Sometimes running a problem down and fine tuning it took time, and sometimes it was almost impossible to get right. And once in awhile you fixed one thing only to find the fix caused other issues to crop up.
He stepped back and crossed his arms as he watched the tech feel for the problem. When he came across a bracket, he checked the fittings carefully, even going so far as to pull the lower panel off then reach up under the gap to get a multitool into the screw to back it off then tighten it back down.
“They should pad these better, but the heat would probably melt the padding,” the tech muttered as he worked.
Over the course of several hours, engineering teams ran the problems down. They reported finding more loose fittings that had been making a couple fan motors rub and bounce around, which was causing some of the sounds. They had also found a few vibrating pipes that were rubbing. On a few occasions, they had to wrap the pipes to cover the wear spot and minimize the sounds they were making. In others they had to plan to drain the pipe, cut it, and make adjustments so it wouldn't react anymore.
A team of electronic techs reported that they had found that there was a software bug in the life support. The translation between the motion and inertial dampeners had a delay factor built into it. It took a shift to run the code down and then get it fixed and then get it uploaded to the many inertial dampeners throughout the ship. They couldn't quite get it perfect though since the electronic hardware was Bekian built and therefore a bit slower than modern standards.
But every little bi
t helped.
Horatio watched it all with hooded eyes. Each step, each finding, each fix helped the captain and his crew learn their ship more and build up a level of confidence in each other and the ship's systems. He was amused when, at the end of the shift, a shift of a different sort had occurred. The eagerness of their journey had palled as the routine had started to settle in. Running a ship was something of a dull routine he knew. You didn't want or need surprises or excitement on a ship. That usually meant something was going wrong and their lives were in danger.
When the tech finished running down every problem he could find on the bridge, he nodded to the skipper. Captain Clayton nodded. “We can't always have Commodore Logan holding our hand at every little problem. Eventually we need to learn to stand on our own. Good work.”
“Thank you, sir,” the tech replied.
“Carry on then,” the captain said. The tech nodded and took off with his bag.
Horatio smiled from the back of the bridge. He nodded to the guard at the door and then made his exit.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Captain Clayton eyed Mister Bailey as the Neochimp tried once again to get the bridge officers to accept some ceremony. It sounded off, something below the dignity of an officer. They were technically already star sailors so why did they need to be inducted into some sort of hyperdog tradition. He shook his head.
Apparently, Lieutenant Olson and some of the other transplants were also eager for them to give it a go. But all the repairs to the ship had allowed him to put the distraction behind him for the time being. And he didn't want the crew distracted now that they were working on translating into the higher octaves of Alpha band for the first time.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Horatio felt relaxed for the first time in awhile. The ship and crew were handling themselves well. The repairs were under control or done with for the moment. The crew was shaking down well. Now that they were putting on speed, he felt better about the situation. He didn't expect to catch up to Caroline; that was way too much to ask for. But getting away from Bek just felt like a load was coming off his shoulders for a moment. Such a relief.
Their two trips in hyper, back and forth between Bek A and B, had helped them build their confidence in the situation. But they were now out further than they had ever been before. They were also very much aware that they were on their own and that the navigational system wasn't quite perfect.
The ship started out her journey in the lowest octaves of alpha band of hyperspace, as all ships did. Slowly they translated to a higher octave once the engineers were ready. After each translation, they spent some time to test the ship's systems. The octaves became harder to get into and the helm team struggled to keep up with the pace the higher they went.
Under Leo's supervision, Galiet and Bailey checked the hyperdrive regularly for signs of problems. None presented themselves. It took a week before everyone was confident enough for the navigator and helm team to try to get the ship into beta band. The helm team reported that it wasn't as tedious to fly the ship, far more challenging.
The navigator was more concerned about going off course. Finding way-markers in hyperspace was difficult with their Bekian-built sensor suite. It took time before the Delquir was confident enough that they were on the right track. The crew was nervous every time he expressed doubt.
With a class 1 hyperdrive, the sweet spot of beta was as high as the ship went however.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Once the crew was settled in and Horatio was confident they had the routine down, he turned his attention to the next step.
He called his staff together in the ship's wardroom and started in on the outline, but they started to call some of the officers in to lend a hand. Captain Clayton and his XO were there, as were all three of the engineering officers, along with Galiet, Bailey, and a couple of eager looking noncoms. But they weren't the only ones. It seemed word had gotten around, and everyone wanted to hear what the plan was. When he saw the knot of people waiting to participate in the corridor, he had them move to the mess.
Once everyone was settled in, they began.
With Pietro's help he had already broken the mission down into simple boxes; tasks and goals they needed to achieve and build off of if they were going to succeed. He presented that to them; then when he saw the consternation, he smiled and decided a bit of encouragement was in order. “I know the mission seems daunting, possibly impossible. But that's what we were trained to do. To do the impossible by breaking it down into usable chunks and goals, complete them, then build on the success. If we run into a problem, we analyze, adapt, and overcome,” Horatio explained.
The assembled officers and noncoms nodded.
“But I've got more in mind than what we've got outlined here,” Horatio said, indicating the tablet. He could see a hint of dismay in a few faces. “Call it … extra homework. Just to keep idle hands busy and all that,” he said with a puckish grin. “I can't have people bored and getting into trouble after all,” he said.
There was a soft chuckle from Chief Mackenzie at that dig.
Horatio smiled a bit more then let it fade. “It can be done people. It damn well will be done. We took a bunch of civilians and hammered together a force that not only stopped, but captured a Horathian task force in Pyrax. We did that on a short clock. And after that, we repaired those ships and built a hell of a lot of stuff in Pyrax.”
“But we're one ship, sir,” Leo pointed out.
“We're one ship, yes,” Horatio said with a nod to Leo. “But we've got a trained and motivated crew. Just the idea of building the station and getting more elbow room should be incentive enough. If not, well,” he cocked his head, voice cooling, “we have other means.”
Leo nodded slowly.
“But I always believed not only to dangle a carrot out there,” Horatio said, “to build pride, but to reward people for a damn good job. So, we'll figure it out.”
“If we can use one of the liners for a habitat, sir, I'm sure we can get a lot of support right there,” Olson suggested.
Horatio turned to the officer and studied his flag lieutenant for a moment before he nodded. He turned to the others. “See? Damn good idea,” he said with another look to Pietro. “That solves a lot of problems and yes, causes new ones. But with the habitat of a liner, we've got all sorts of readymade spaces available for use.”
“Think of the rec decks!” Gemma said with an appreciative grin. She shot a teasing smile to Leo. “I think we can see your point, sir,” she said with a nod to Horatio. Horatio glanced at Mack. The big man had his arms crossed, but he seemed to appreciate the idea. The chief engineer nodded in support.
“Good.” Horatio paused as if to let the idea percolate a bit then nodded. “We obviously can't get ahead of ourselves in the planning department. We aren't certain what we've got to work with on the other side and won't know for certain until we inspect everything carefully. We're going to be doing a lot of repairs,” he said. There was a rueful chuckle from the assembly. “But that goes without saying. I came up with the germ of an idea when we passed through the star system on Caroline. I'd like your input to see what we can do to flesh it out,” he said as he pulled up an image. “I thought we'd start with a basic modular design. Transhab inflatable habitats as temporary quarters, though I'm concerned about debris ….”
As he explained his concept, he began to draw them out with their own input. Some of the officers were eager for the challenge and opportunity; some were not happy about being “exiled.” The idea of building a new home and making it as comfortable as possible wasn't lost on them.
It would be theirs, something they could take pride in as “keel owners.”
“I heard about your plan of salvaging a ship and putting it back into service,” Mack said, eyeing the commodore. “We've got a lot of dangers with the mission as is, sir. Should we really be adding salvaging ships?” he asked, eyeing the flag officer. “It's not just the jagged edges that could hole a suit that
we have to worry about but also systems that were damaged and left unattended. There could be all sorts of ticking time bombs there,” he said warily.
“True.”
“I mean, an OMS could misfire, a reactor could go off, there are a lot of unknowns, sir,” Mack said.
Horatio nodded. “You forgot a few scenarios. Those you listed are bad enough. But we have a bigger threat to keep in mind.”
“Oh?”
“There is the threat of a Xeno virus. A computer virus would be devastating. A changeling or nanite virus would …,” he observed the atavistic shiver that went through the group.
“Maybe we shouldn't touch them at all then. Sun scuttle the lot,” Gemma suggested.
“It is tempting,” Horatio admitted, gauging the group. He knew it would be a hard sell with them.
“It's what we should do, sir,” Mack said firmly.
“And if that had been done over the years, yes, we would have avoided problems, but people like me wouldn't have been given a second chance—people like Admiral Irons and some others I know,” the commodore said firmly. “We're going to screen everything damn carefully. Every person, every molecule will be quarantined and scanned, checked, heated or irradiated to make damn sure it's clean.”
“So we're going to go through with it anyway? Despite the risk?” Mack asked in a semiconfrontational tone. “Sir?” he added when Captain Clayton gave him a sharp look.
Horatio measured him up, then the room. Finally, he sat down. “I want to tell you a story.”
“Sir …,” Mack began to protest, hands up in surrender.
“Can it. Consider me pulling rank for a moment. Okay, three of them,” he said, holding up three fingers briefly. “The first you know, the threat of the virus hitting a population. In this case, the Horathians did it deliberately.”