by Chris Hechtl
While he did that, the sensor ratings surveyed the star system while they lumbered along across the star system to the next jump point. Using the long-range sensors as an exercise was good for them. “Too bad there is nothing here. If there was we could create a colony,” Commander Koba said when the sensor team finished giving a dog and pony show report to the senior staff of their findings.
The captain blinked in surprise at the outlandish idea. He turned to stare at his XO. “A colony?”
“Well, not us per se, but Bek,” the commander said with a shrug. “That is what our ancestors did in Bek B, sir,” she reminded him.
The captain nodded in agreement. “True. There is nothing of value here though,” he said.
She nodded. “No, sir. There is no point occupying a useless system I agree. It's just a way point,” she said. She glanced at the skipper then to Fly by Night. “Are we ready to jump, Ensign?”
“We will be, ma'am,” the Delquir replied.
“Good,” Captain Clayton said as the meeting adjourned.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Since the sensor team had pinpointed their location, Galiet, Fly by Night, and Leo ran a sim of what had happened and what had gone wrong. It took time to make the adjustments and more time to run sims to make certain they wouldn't get thrown further off course by their corrections.
“The problem is, we don't know how much is due to the nodes, the sensors, the drive, or operational error,” Galiet said
“I know. What do we do about it?”
“There are too many variables so we'll split the difference,” Galiet said, shaking her head. “We simmed out the worst, and best case, we'll take the middle ground. It's all in the fine tuning,” she said.
“It's nice that you are erring on the side of caution,” Leo said.
“Better to be cautious and lose a couple days being too far out, than to get too far into a system and into trouble,” Galiet agreed.
“I think we'd notice that. The closer we get into a system the more mass shadows, and therefore the harder it becomes to navigate,” the ensign said dryly.
“True,” Galiet replied with a brief nod.
~<><{<^>}><>~
“Countdown commencing,” a Neomutt rating reported. He looked over his shoulder and then held up his hand paws. “Fingers crossed we get it right this time,” he said.
“I don't have fingers,” Fly by Night said, tapping at his console with his long thin claws.
“Just for you I'll cross my toes too, sir,” the rating quipped.
“You do that. And while you are at it, keep an eye on your station,” Commander Koba said dryly from her seat.
“Yes, ma'am,” the rating replied in a more subdued tone of voice. He checked the status board. “Hyperdrive is nominal and at 97 percent charge, ma'am. Engineering has given a green light.”
“Life support good,” another rating reported when the XO looked at her. The rating seemed to preen a little in her seat, glad she'd managed to anticipate the question.
“Ninety-eight percent charge,” the engineering rating reported.
“Navigation ready,” Fly by Night stated. “Course plotted and fed to the helm,” he reported.
“Helm ready. We have the course plotted,” the rating seated at the primary helm position reported, gripping the yokes firmly in his hands.
“All stations report secure for jump,” the quartermaster reported over the PA.
The commander looked up to the nearest speaker, then over to the captain. He nodded.
She turned and checked the main status board. The countdown seemed to hover at 99 percent for a long moment, stretching their anticipation.
The moment it hit 100 she settled herself. “Jump when ready,” she ordered.
“Aye, ma'am. Hyperdrive capacitors discharging into the hyperdrive now. Space is folding … we have initiation. Engaging sublight drive and moving into the rift. Translation commencing,” the helmsman reported as he leaned in. “We are crossing the threshold … and we have a bit of turbulence …”
The ship shivered for a moment, then settled down as the inertial dampeners caught up. “And we have finished translation. Sublight drive off-line,” the helmsman stated.
“Securing sublight drive,” the engineering rating reported. His ears flicked. “Sublight drives secure and powered down.”
“First way point is plotted on a heading of Z plus 10 by X 1.2 by Y point 5. Course and speed set.”
“Energy reserves rebuilding. ETA to full charge in five minutes,” the engineering rating reported.
“Understood. Nav, you've got until then to make certain your fixes worked,” Captain Clayton stated. He turned to the communications station. “Let the crew know we're in hyperspace and beginning the process of translating through the octaves in …,” he glanced at the engineering rating in inquiry.
“Um, Chief Mackenzie is pegging it at ten minutes for the next one. It increases each time we go up an octave, sir,” the engineering rating reported.
“I know that. Okay, roughly ten to fifteen minutes for the next two hours. Comm, make certain you give a warning over the PA just before we translate each time.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“All systems in the green,” Commander Koba said as she finished checking her repeaters.
“Good,” the captain replied with a nod. He glanced at her. “You can stand down for the rest of this shift, Fazim. I've got it covered.”
She eyed him for a second or two then nodded. “Aye aye, sir. I'll go walkabout, then be in my office doing paperwork if you need me, sir,” she replied as she rose from her seat.
“Thank you, XO,” the captain said as she left the bridge.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Ilmarinen's jump into B-104 was without incident. They were off by a 2.45 AU but only 0.8 AU low. “It looks like we're getting closer to that bullseye,” the captain stated.
“Aye, sir. We're refining the software now,” Fly by Night stated.
“All systems nominal,” the engineering rating reported. “Chief Mackenzie stated we'll be ready to be underway in two minutes, sir,” the rating said.
“Good.”
“And, another dead system to cross. Pity we couldn't just jump straight there,” Commander Koba said.
“If it is all the same to you, I think I prefer the short jumps. You know, to make sure we don't get totally lost,” the captain murmured in an aside to her. She glanced at the Delquir navigator and then nodded.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Ilmarinen arrived in B-102C sixteen weeks after leaving Bek. The crew cheered when the announcement that the hyperdrive was offline was put up on the status board and announced over the PA.
“We're getting tentative navigational readings in, sir. They aren't final, but it looks like we're only an AU off. 0.4 by 1.7 to be exact,” Fly by Night reported.
“Getting better,” Commander Koba said, with her arms crossed. “Still far from perfect though.”
“Yes, ma'am. We'll keep trying to hit the mark. I think with practice we'll get the hang of it.”
“Definitely,” the XO said. “I think you and your crew aren't going to be slacking off while we are here, Ensign.”
“Ma'am?”
“I think we're going to go over the exercises Lieutenant V'l'r taught you. You can run them past me since I need to be caught up to speed on your specialty. The same for some of the other bridge crew members.”
“Yes, ma'am, as you wish,” the Delquir said, clearly uncertain but ready to follow protocol and obey her order.
The XO nodded, but before she could say anything else, she was interrupted.
“Sir, we've got an IFF broadcast,” the comm rating said as their hyper wake cleared.
“Really?” the captain asked in surprise. “Let the commodore know,” he said. “Who is it?” he asked.
“Sir, it is an automated beacon. It says it is from an ansible,” the Elf rating said, clearly confused. “Sir, I thought it was going to
be delivered to Bek?”
“Apparently not,” the captain said dryly. “Something must have gone wrong,” he said with a shake of his head. It didn't make sense to drop the ansible in the empty star system.
He pulled up the IFF beacon and checked the sensors. Passives were still filtering out their hyper wake, and actives were blinded by it for the moment.
“Sir, we've picked up an ion trail,” a Veraxin sensor rating reported. “Its old sir, at least three months based on these decay and spread readings,” he said.
“Keep me posted,” the captain said as a familiar human was challenged by the guard at the door. He looked over his shoulder and waved the commodore over.
“You rang, Captain?” Horatio asked flippantly.
“It seems we have a mystery on our hands,” the captain said. He pointed to the blinking dot on the main screen, then to the communication's log. Horatio frowned and got closer to read the plot. The IFF said ansible platform. He looked at the communication's log. It seemed to confirm the automated beacon.
“Sir, we've confirmed that the ion trail went from the Nuevo jump point to the rapids,” the sensor rating said, interrupting the commodore's thoughts.
“It looks like Caroline took her side trip as planned,” Horatio murmured. He went over to the communication's station and tapped at the Elf's station. “Sorry,” he murmured as he pulled up the raw IFF. After a moment, he nodded.
“It is legit. It is an ansible platform,” he announced as he turned around to face the captain and XO.
He noted with amusement that the consternation on the bridge seemed to intensify. There was even an air of resentment with it. “What the hell is that doing here?” Commander Koba finally demanded with a hand wave to the blinking dot on the plot.
The commodore looked over his shoulder to it, then back to the XO. “Apparently, they couldn't get it any further,” Horatio said. The commander turned to stare at the commodore, and then she nodded.
“So … so they just left it here?” she asked, turning back to the image of the platform. “Just like that?”
“It does seem odd,” Captain Clayton said, suddenly uncertain of the situation.
“Why not?” Horatio asked. He smiled. “Convenient, isn't it?” he asked.
The captain nodded. Horatio noted the wary look in the man's eyes though.
“I'll ping the platform. It'll take …” he paused.
“Ten minutes each way with a laser, sir,” the Elf replied.
Horatio nodded. “Thank you. A bit. Is it uploading anything?” he asked, turning to the Elf.
“No, sir. I just picked up the IFF beacon broadcast.”
“Ah,” Horatio said. “So, with your permission, Captain?” he asked, turning to the captain.
“By all means,” the captain said expansively. “I'm curious too.”
“Okay. Comm, lay a laser on the platform,” Horatio said as he jacked into the Elf's station. “I'll upload the commands and my pass keys now,” he said. “Done,” he said after a second.
“Message away,” the Elf stated.
“Okay. In the meantime, we have a schedule to keep,” Horatio said, turning back to the captain.
“Yes, sir. Passives are still being processed; active sensors are still being broadcast. But we can deploy the sensor platforms and probes now that the wake has dissipated.”
“Please do and keep me posted,” Horatio replied with a nod.
“Yes, sir. You heard the man,” the captain said, turning to his XO.
“Deploy probes, aye, sir. Platforms … tethered platforms are deploying now, sir.”
~<><{<^>}><>~
Captain Clayton watched the sensors platforms and probes being deployed and nodded to himself. He wasn't certain about the ansible platform however. His secret orders didn't specify that possible scenario. Now he was in free fall, and he didn't like it.
He surveyed his bridge crew. From the look of them, they had begun to accept the ansible and even seemed excited about seeing it there. But the sight of the Sargasso star system seemed to spook a few, he thought. He wasn't sure, but all those dead ships might make some of the most superstitious on the crew talk and unnerve others.
It was best if they dived into the work soon to try to drive such distracting thoughts out of their minds he reminded himself.
He glanced over to the commodore who was busy looking over the Elf's station. He nodded once and then tapped his controls to check on the ship's status.
~<><{<^>}><>~
While the survey teams went to work, Horatio took a moment to check the ansible. He had to be patient for the communications to lay a whisker laser onto the platform, send his key codes, then for the platform to respond with a return signal and the beginning of the data dump.
He took the ten minutes it took each way to get a return signal to study the platform. It was a basic one made up of a small fusion power plant, truss network for a skeleton, the ansible core mounted with shock absorbers all around, solar panels, communication and sensor arrays, computer modules, a couple ion OMS pods for station keeping, and a blinking warning beacon.
They had left the one platform he realized. Sally Ride had carried two of the things, but for some reason, the crew had decided to haul the unused platform back with them. It seemed silly. They should have dropped the second platform off and then picked it up later.
But he realized after a long moment that it wasn't his call. And what was done was done; there was no going back and changing it now.
Once he got the platform's status, he found out that it was indeed in B-102c because it couldn't go further. He found to his dismay that the platform had only one ancient byte of bandwidth. It was still downloading his report using four of those bits; the rest was reserved for the Pyrax to upload its own information into the ansible's memory buffers.
He shook his head at the concept. It was nice that they were getting real time information from the other side of the rapids, but gah, he thought, so slow! It was agonizing to see it operating like that. The SITREP said less than a quarter of his files he had uploaded to Caroline had been sent. And those were the basic stuff before he'd arrived in Bek! It was appalling to see the lag.
The Pyrax side was sending confirm bytes as well as the latest news. It was just basic information, one-line events, usually just the headlines. He scanned through them one by one. He read about the battle of Nuevo Madrid and that the pirate fleet had been destroyed. He smiled at that.
The Destria invasion had gone off a bit behind schedule, but that had been to be expected. There was little there beyond the announcement so he inferred that there were no problems there, but there were no details to support that. He frowned. It might be wishful thinking on his part he reminded himself. “No plan survives contact with the enemy,” he murmured to himself.
“Sir?” the Elf asked.
He turned to her and then back to the comm station. “Nothing,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
Seeing the news that Bismark had been temporarily hijacked had soured his mood momentarily. They'd gotten her back, but it was a mess. He shook his head. She would be laid up for awhile. That Quirinus had launched for the first of her builders’ trials was small comfort.
Moira had successfully made it to Antigua, and had been confirmed as Secretary of State. He nodded. She would do well there he knew.
Admiral Sienkov had been confirmed as intelligence secretary and was also sitting in as the security secretary, and head of ONI. That he was far less happy about, especially after his misadventure in Bek.
He whistled when he read about the Ssilli that had been found dead on a captured pirate ship in Nightingale. That they had found more of the species was a boon. He knew that Nara would welcome the additional genetic material even though she would also mourn that the pair had died. But knowing that they had lived somewhere was also a boon; it meant the species may not be as extinct as they had thought.
His eye caught the news that
Prometheus had left ET and was in Pyrax, preparing for a mission to Tau sector as planned. He nodded. And his daughter had been promoted! He grinned at that news. Good for her. He tapped out a quick congratulatory message to her in a side window, and then saved it for low priority mail.
He passed the first section of news events over to the ship's communication's department while also CC'ing a copy to the ship's officer compliment. The captain would have to sign off on broadcasting it to the crew. He knew they would be starving for news, especially new things happening in the galaxy around them, so he doubted the captain would try to censor anything.
When he looked for news more pertinent to him and his mission, it wasn't too hard to find. What he read disturbed him however.
Instead of a notice stating Caroline had delivered her cargo and was on her way back with help, he read the news that Caroline had gotten through the rapids but had taken significant damage before she'd managed to exit in B101a1. She was well past her expected due date and had been considered past due for several weeks. She'd made what repairs she could in B101a1 and according to the follow-up, she was running in the low alpha bands in hyperspace to Pyrax.
He sat back with a heavy sigh. He was glad they were safe. The damage underlined the dangers of the journey through the rapids and warned him all over again not to attempt it. Apparently, Caroline's blessing from Lady Luck had passed.
Or Murphy's gremlins had decided to put in an appearance, he mused before he set the thought aside to check the rest of the news. After a moment of blowing his cheeks in and out, he checked the star system status. No change, so he dived back into the remaining news briefs.
He was pleasantly surprised by the last less important bit of other news though, including a list of recent high-ranking promotions.
Sprite had been promoted to captain junior grade. He knew that promotion had been a bit overdue, but knowing John he'd held off on it since he didn't want to be charged with nepotism.
He grinned when he noted Trajan Vargess had been promoted to commodore. He was a little less sanguine about Dwight Harris's elevation to the same rank, but it had to happen eventually he mused.