Human Starpilots

by F Stephan

  “I don’t know, but this time, the jump felt right.”

  Lanakar shared a knowing look with Droum. “There is a part of intuition in the jumps. At least in some jumps. Maybe you felt this.”

  “I don’t know, but it felt great.”

  They continued till the end of the shift. During the next day, they prepared the transfer. When they came back in the dining hall on that midday, Mistress Taolel informed them that they acquired the signature for the Ouchnotagain. “Brian, you will calculate its trajectory and our rendezvous point based on the data we have acquired.”

  “Madam, it will be several minutes old.”

  “So, you will have to compensate for signal delay. I’ve requested the same task from Sonter. The one who is closest to the interception point gets a free drink tonight by the other.” She smiled. “And he runs the simulations with the other until he understands and reaches the correct conclusion.”

  “Is it a competition to win or to lose?” Brian muttered under his breath.

  “Did I forget to mention that the results are part of the exams from Master Heikert?” said the navigator casually before leaving the room.

  Brian hurried to the navigation room. Sonter had already taken the newest console, usually used by the navigator, and it suited Brian well. Four hours later, Brian sent Mistress Taolel his estimate via onboard link and left the navigation room to grab a bite. An hour later, while he rested on one of the sofas, Sonter came in with his head down.

  “What happened?”

  “You got lucky, crappie boy. You’re going to show me how to intercept those damn courses. But only after answering a most grave question.” The voice was steady and strong.

  “What?” worried Brian.

  Sonter looked at him dead serious. “What do you want to drink?”

  During rendezvous with the other ship, Brian had been posted at the cargo doors to count all goods. He had not been allowed anywhere near the lifters, unlike Sonter, who had clearly done this already in his life and who had greatly helped in the process. Brian just watched, nanites enhancing all perceptions, and counted crates moving in and out. He also had a chance to look at the other ship, but it took very little time to determine that it was identical to Theoldcow. After three hours of careful maneuvering and exhausting tension, the two crews took a break in the common rooms while Brian cleaned the cargo bay and secured the equipment. He arrived very late in a raucous room, full of laughter and with golden Sonter in the middle telling old jokes. Disgustedly, he left the committee to grab some sleep while he could.

  “Don’t take it too bad,” he heard from behind. The captain looked at him steadily. “His father took his brother and him on flights all the time, and he has lived through hundreds of such meetings. He knows all about these reunions, and this is your first.”

  “He seems so happy and at ease.”

  “Yes. Don’t be around when the Ouchnotagain leaves and his brother’s memory comes back. His father and he were happier then,” she finished regretfully.

  “Captain, what happened to his brother? No one says anything,” launched Brian to the retreating figure. The captain did not turn. “And I will not add to this. Sonter may one day talk to you about this, or he may not. This is his choice and his alone. Now, go and join the party. And please, leave early. Lanakar will take care of his nephew.” Brian turned and walked into the main dining room and the laughter.

  64 Brian

  They were five jumps and two systems out of Illimer. Sonter was down in environmental management, while Brian held the third shift on the bridge. Activity happened around the clock in the ship even if some parts of the routine were concentrated during the virtual day in use in the ship. Brian had the slowest shift to manage, which allowed him to get more used to all consoles on the bridge. The room was a circular office in the middle of the inhabited sections, easily accessible from all locations, and Brian felt good there. He had been allowed to realize the jump already one time and had succeeded. Not simply passed but succeeded plainly in full control. Not in prison like he had felt on the Heavyweight.

  The captain had invited him to analyze all light signals from the system and check for potential disturbances. This had become a regular exercise, given at random to Sonter or him, and Brian liked it. He was alone on the bridge with twelve transit hours to reach the next jump, and he had a few more hours to provide a full report on what existed in the system. This was quite a nice setting under the magnification of the instruments. The sun brought light only to two gas giants and an accretion disk closer to it. A comet cloud orbited farther out from the giants.

  Brian queried the satellite orbiting their entry point about arrivals and departure. Everything was normal and quite boring. The system was really quiet. Suddenly, Brian noticed a tiny energy signature in the comet belt. He analyzed it mechanically as he had a thousand objects, but something nagged at him.

  “Everything OK, youngster?” the captain asked suddenly from behind. He was used to surprise inspection at odd times.

  “Yes, Captain. I have just this one odd signal in the comet belt. I’ll need to investigate more before I can tell you what it is.”

  “Show me.” The captain sat in her chair and called a different display to look at the figures Brian had compiled already. “I have never liked this system. It is too close to Lelet. This is really a minor energy spike. Why do you bother with it?”

  “Captain, Mistress Taolel and you told me to report everything I found and especially to point out anything I cannot explain. There’s no reason to have a spike there for this.”

  “Good answer. You are right in your reaction. Let’s see. How old is that light?”

  “Twenty hours, Madam. It is quite far out from our position. It shouldn’t concern us, I suppose? What is this Lelet about which you talked?”

  The captain reviewed all numbers for a while before she looked up.

  “You are right to raise the question, youngster. This is quite a good opportunity for an exercise we haven’t done in a while.” The captain called up several displays around her. On the highest, a sleepy Lanakar yawned.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “I would like to launch the alpha drone for support. Would twenty minutes be good for you?”

  “It should be. On my way.” The engineer yawned again and shut the connection down.

  “Now, for your other question, Lelet is a system that was contacted by the Federation fifteen years ago and refused to join it. Systems decide against from time to time, and the Federation lets them be.”

  “So, why would it be an issue?” wondered Brian.

  “Lelet is a theocratic dictature, hard lined but unified. I don’t like them. And there have been incidents in this segment of the route over the last twenty years, although nothing was ever traced back to Lelet. You did ask Mistress Taolel about the predictability of our routes?”

  Brian nodded. “I’m quite concerned. Anyone who watched long enough could predict very accurately our position. In this system, we don’t have any intermediate jump points and a single route.” Brian turned toward his officer. “Captain, you are going to investigate over there?”

  “No. How long would it take at current velocity for a drone to reach the point you found in normal space?”

  Brian wanted to answer and then shut his mouth blushing. Unmanned drones could not jump, and it would take several weeks to cross the light-hours.

  “Good. You shouldn’t ask stupid questions like this anymore. I want the drone to acquire delta V compared to us. You see, if someone is over there and has the idea to jump on us, Theoldcow doesn’t have any defense and cannot really run. We accelerate slowly, we change courses in hours, and only a few cruisers and scouts still have efficient armaments from the ancients.”

  “Couldn’t we use the lasers?”

  “No, the lasers are only used to clear rubble at a very short distance. There are useless in those situations. No,” the captain shook her head and then continued.
“We have no real weapons. So we launch the drone and let it acquire some distance from us. And if someone is after us, we smash it against them at maximum speed. This is the only thing the drone does. It accelerates fast.”

  “If this is our only solution, why aren’t we launching the drone all the time?”

  “Youngster, you have earned yourself the right to bring back the drone. Then you will understand why we launch it so infrequently. Now, nothing will happen for a few hours. Go and get some sleep. If you must, take a pill, but sleep. This is an order. I will confirm it with Taolel. And when you wake, do get a sound breakfast. Remember that you need energy to use nanites.”

  With this, the captain called more monitors to share with engineering the launch of the drone. Brian went back excitedly to his cabin and took his pill. In space, everything happened in slow motion. While he fell asleep, he wondered how the captain knew so much about war in the peaceful Federation.

  65 Lenice

  The energy signature from the hyperspace exit registered in the sensors, triggering an alert in the captain’s cabin. The ripples from the exit traveled faster than light. Even if the ship was twenty light-hours distant from its prey, the gravity disturbance took only a few minutes to reach it. The captain confirmed its detection to Cortal and poured a drop of liquor in a glass, savoring the instant.

  A thousand years ago, the planet’s worst war in centuries had just ended with a massive release of viral epidemics in the atmosphere. It has destroyed everyone but a few survivors and the followers of the Grand Master of the Order. He had been the one who found out how an Ancient Device had been used to create the epidemics and to preach against the Ancient. The remaining inhabitants had crossed this period with a deep resentment against the ancient technology and its tyranny, which still simmered with the captain after all the centuries. The Church of the Faith had been the only political power which had survived and had guided the survivors in the following years. When the Federation had contacted them, many had doubted and been lured to believe in the words of the foreigners but the Grand Master had once again, like his ancestors, preached the true words, guiding all through those difficult times.

  The small cadre of space pilots that had been left had had to build its space capacity from the ground up, with many sacrifices along the way. They had had the luck of finding a few old ships hidden and a few batches of space nanites. Learning to use them had had a high cost for all; the technology had been determined as evil by the Grand Master, and the pilots, or Paladins of the Faith, submitted to the strictest monitoring. Today, everything would change.

  Ten minutes after the emergence, the voice of the Inquisitor resounded in the ship. “Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, shield arms and sword bearers, I call you to action. The Grand Master calls you to action. Our planet calls you to action. Do not forsake your faith and fail. Stand firm in your beliefs, and we will take what is our due, show our true worth to the Federation, and teach all to respect us. Prepare yourselves and obey your captains, chosen to lead you in battle. Our Grand Master will be with us.”

  On his queue, the captain took over. “To all hands, go to your acceleration couches. We leave in fifteen minutes. Countdown engaged. Alert mode one activated. Our Grand Master will be with us.” The light in the corridor dimmed, marking the switch to the highest level of emergency on the ship.

  The captain arrived on the bridge five minutes after, nodded to his team, and settled impatiently into his navigation seat. This was the time for revenge, and he savored that instant. He saw in his screen that in Cortal, his feeling was replicated like in a mirror.

  At the precise time of the countdown, he engaged the full drive toward the intrasystem jump point. Four classic rockets boosted the ship even more, accelerating over the next hour to the target velocity. Three gees slammed all of them into their couches, and most of the crew passed out. The energy signature would be horrendous, but their pray wouldn’t be able to see it until they emerged from the jump. Then the chase would start, and the crew would wake bruised and angry. That would be too late for their prey. The captain clenched his teeth against the brutal acceleration and reviewed mentally the next steps in emergence.

  66 Brian

  Brian was back on bridge as soon as he had finished his meal. His former volleyball instructor would have been horrified at the high energy-meal, but he knew it would last for a long time. And he had energy bars in his pocket in case. Derantor was back on her seat, and Kaloumar, Droum’s brother and the second pilot on the ship, was also at his console. In the 3-D central viewers, he could see Taolel in the secondary command center with the details of the drone around her, Sonter back in engineering. The others were sleeping their night shift away.

  Brian checked his console. Mistress Taolel had left him a message. “You had an interesting point with the energy spike. But you missed a few items in the system. I want you to check on them. One spike is already unusual; we don’t need a second one.” With that, several points blinked in his maps with added comments. “I want you to check in the chart for any intrasystem course from the comet belt to our trajectory. If you find one, work on escape routes for us. I will review your work as you go, in parallel to the drone. Share progressively via link. In eight hours, if nothing happens, come down to the auxiliary center to bring back the drone.”

  Brian opened a link to the navigator console and checked object after object on his console. He moved every analysis to the navigator as he went. He would probably get a lecture on “finesse” the next day, but he could account naturally for all other energy flares in the system. There were a few rocks colliding with each other, remnants of solar eruptions, and other causes.

  “What’s happening?” The message from Sonter popped up on his side.

  “We had an abnormal energy spike in the comet belt. The captain didn’t like it.”

  “Ah. The proximity of Lelet. Good, sit tight and pray to your gods.”

  The reaction from the captain had barely raised a reaction from Sonter. At the same time, the ship made a circular and predictable run between worlds without anyone worrying. Brian sighed. There was so much they didn’t know. He focused back on his work, moving to the intrasystem jumps.

  The system was irrigated with low gravity points and potential jump points, but there were no direct links between the belt and their trajectory, unless a madman pushed a ship to an acceleration that wasn’t in manuals.

  “So?” He looked up to find the captain had moved physically to his console.

  “We have no alternative route to our exit jump point. We would have needed an immediate course correction after exit, which we didn’t make.”

  “So, we are trapped in this course. Not very good. And route from the belt to us?”

  “Captain, no route. The closest jump point that would bring a ship to us would require at least an hour flight under three Federations gee, which the ship should not be able to provide.” Brian was quite happy with the thoroughness of his checks.

  “Unless a captain was crazy enough to add classical booster to his ship, burning a lot of energy in the process. Would we see it?”

  Brian computed quickly in his head.

  “No, the signal would reach here in fifteen hours.”

  “Spike, emergence spike,” cried out Kaloumar suddenly. In the middle of the chamber, two ships appeared suddenly in the middle of nowhere. They were a few light-seconds away from them. The captain was back at her console in a few quick strides.

  “Cruisers by their shape and size. Kaloumar, hull numbers analysis and identity check against the database. Taolel set an interception course!” Then, the alarm sounded in the ship and the captain announced calmly, “We have an emergence with two ships incoming on a rendezvous course. Intentions are currently unknown. Everyone to his post.”

  “Hull numbers are OP0 and R67,” announced the copilot in a worried voice. “They do not exist in our database. No reference, nothing.”

  “Ask them to identify. Pin
g them on all channels and energy ranges. We have a contact. Now let’s know who is saying hello. Brian, confirm their course.” Over the next minutes, the central star chart filled with information provided by all: their current trajectory to the exit point, the interception course from the two ships, the rendezvous. Derantor started running alternative flight paths without much success.

  “Hull OP0 and R67, please identify,” Kaloumar was speaking slowly, articulating. Brian could also see in his screens Droum and the marines storing and locking objects everywhere in the ship.

  “Federation starship Theoldcow. We are transport ships Lenice and Cortal. We had an engine malfunction, which stranded us here. We will meet you in an hour. We need assistance.” The voice had a harsh accent, and the words had been hard to understand.

  “How do they know our name when their hulls are unknown? And traveling by pairs?” wondered the captain. “Doctor?” The ship doctor, Shaz’al’nak, whom Brian had seldom seen, appeared on the screen. “Can you match the voice with our recordings from Lelet meetings?”

  “Immediately, Captain.”

  The captain replied to the two ships, “Please confirm your cargo, origin, and destination. We will assist as we can.”

  A minute would pass until they could have an answer. Two recordings appeared on a new side screen. “Captain, we have a match above eighty percent of compatibility. We have to account for deviation since initial contact.”

  “Oldcow, we have been on a quest from Baol to visit the worlds in the Human Federation and build new trade roads.”

  For Brian, this sounded plausible. Baol was on the other side of the Federation, and information traveled slowly from there. That could explain the fact that the hulls were unknown and the accent strange.

  Barely thirty seconds after, had a new recording appeared in the doctor’s window. “I have sixty percent compatibility with Baol, Captain. Less than Lelet but possible.”