Ep.#14 - A Line in the Sand (The Frontiers Saga - Part 2: Rogue Castes)

by Ryk Brown

  “They can’t hurt anything,” Dylan assured Nathan. “Everything’s locked out.”

  “I remember,” Nathan replied as he peeked inside one of the cabins. “Pretty cramped.”

  “How much room do you need for sleeping?”

  “Not much, I suppose,” Nathan admitted.

  “If you need more room, then you might want to consider the YT-class medium freighters,” Dylan suggested. “They’re about twice the size, but they’re harder to come by since most of them are in service. That’s the good thing about the XK series. They’ve been around forever, so there are plenty of them around.”

  “This looks big enough,” Nathan insisted. “Like you said, how much room do you need for sleeping?”

  “Where the hell is the engineering compartment?” Marcus yelled from the common room.

  “Through…” Dylan started to yell but then thought better of it. He poked his head through the hatch instead. “Through the next hatch and to the intersection. Each nacelle is an engineering compartment.”

  “You mean you can work on the engines while under way?” Marcus asked in disbelief.

  “Sort of,” Dylan replied. “You can reach just about everything, so you can fix things while in space. But you can’t work on anything past the radiation bulkheads, like the react chambers on the main propulsion systems. But if one of them had a problem, you’d probably just swap the whole thing out on the surface anyway.”

  “Of course,” Marcus replied, pretending to know what the kid was talking about. “Through there?” he asked, pointing at the hatch in the middle of the aft bulkhead.

  “Yes.”

  Nathan pushed Dylan from behind, following him into the common room. “This is pretty roomy,” he commented, looking around.

  “It is,” Dylan agreed. “Crews pretty much hang out here while under way. Med-bay is over there, lavs and showers on either side, and the galley is in that corner.”

  “Where’s the table?” Jessica wondered, standing in the center of the bay and looking around.

  “You’re standing on it,” Dylan said, smiling.

  Jessica looked down, noticing a rectangle in the floor and stepped back off of it.

  Dylan stepped over to the wall and pressed a button. The table rose slowly out of the floor, coming to standard sitting height in half a minute. “It has two height settings: stand-up or sit-down.”

  Jessica pulled one of the swing-out seats from under the table. After examining it for a moment, she pulled on the ring around the back of the stool, causing it to expand into a seatback. “Slick,” she commented as she sat. “It’s more comfortable than it looks.”

  “It would have to be,” Nathan chuckled.

  “They usually retract the table during maintenance,” Dylan explained.

  Nathan moved around the table, pausing to open a door and inspect the port lav. “You said there were two heads?”

  “Heads?” Dylan wondered.

  “That’s what we call a bathroom on a ship,” Jessica explained.

  “We call them lavs. Technically there are three. The two here have showers. There’s one with just a toilet and a hand sink at the back of the flight deck.”

  “It’s definitely got more living space than the Seiiki did,” Jessica commented.

  “Holy fuck!” Marcus yelled from the aft corridor.

  Nathan immediately headed toward him, stepping through the hatch and heading aft. There was another corridor, about six meters in length, with a single hatch on either side. Nathan made his way to the end, where he found an octagonal intersection with corridors going at least fifteen meters to both port and starboard. “Where are you, Marcus?”

  “In here!”

  Nathan stepped through the aft hatch, following Marcus’s voice. The next compartment was even more spacious, with a retractable ramp at the back, and overhead storage racks around the upper portion. “Jesus, this is a big cargo bay.”

  “Fifteen by ten by five,” Dylan replied. “This is the utility bay. The four cargo bays are just as big.”

  “If this is the cargo ramp, how the hell do you load the other bays?” Marcus wondered. “There are no cargo doors.”

  “Each cargo bay has its own loading ramp, and full-width clamshell doors to make loading easier,” Dylan explained. “A lot of times, they use the loading crane as well.”

  “I have to admit,” Marcus nodded. “It seems to be pretty well thought out.”

  “The XK series was the first SilTek ship to be completely designed by engineering AIs,” Dylan explained. “The first one was designed nearly one hundred and fifty years ago.”

  “Nearly as old as you,” Nathan teased Marcus.

  Dylan’s eyes widened. “You’re a hundred and fifty years old?”

  “I got scars older than that, kid,” Marcus grumbled.

  Dylan stumbled a moment, still in disbelief. “Well, you sure don’t look it.” He looked at Nathan. “How long do you people live?”

  “Same as you,” Nathan assured Dylan. “He’s just odd.”

  “Cap, you gotta see this,” Josh called over Nathan’s comm-set.

  “What’s up, Josh?” Nathan asked.

  “The cockpit on this thing is huge, and it’s really decked out with all the latest gizmos. Hell, we’re not even sure what half the shit up here is for.”

  Nathan looked at Dylan. “Think you can set my pilots up with that game of yours? What did you call it?”

  “Night Runner?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Then you’re thinking of using an XK?” Dylan asked, holding back his excitement.

  “I’m thinking this one will do nicely.”

  “Cap’n,” Marcus objected, “don’t you think we should go over her a bit more? Maybe fire up the engines and take her for a test flight, or something?”

  Nathan looked at Dylan. “Is this ship flight ready?”

  “Uh…” Dylan checked his tablet. “She’s in for reactor core swaps and some retuning of her jump field generators, but that’s about it.”

  “How long does that take?”

  “A week or two, I think,” Dylan replied.

  “Perfect,” Nathan exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “That will give us time to make some modifications, and give Josh and Loki time to learn to fly her.”

  “Modifications?” Dylan asked as Nathan left. “What modifications?”

  * * *

  “We need anti-aircraft weapons more than we need jump missile launchers at the moment,” Major Montrose explained over the vid-comm.

  “My instructions were to get as many jump missile launchers operational on Corinair as possible,” Mister Ayseron reminded them.

  “The major is correct,” General Telles insisted. “As long as our fighters are stationed on the surface rather than on ships, they are vulnerable to attack. The Dusahn know this and will continue to whittle away at us.”

  “Those fighters are what’s preventing the Dusahn from attempting to retake Corinair,” Major Montrose stated. “Their ground forces on Takara number over ten thousand, and that’s not including the Zen-Anor. They have plenty of shuttles that could jump in and land troops. Anti-aircraft emplacements will not only protect our fighters, but they will protect our cities from invasion.”

  Cameron sat behind the desk in the captain’s ready room, listening to the discussion. “I agree that we need AA emplacements, but we need jump missile launchers just as badly. The Dusahn still have two destroyers. If they sent them both at once, they could inflict significant damage to the surface of your world before we could drive them off, let alone destroy them, which I doubt they would hang around long enough for us to do.”

  “I thought one of them was damaged,” Mister Ayseron said.

  “Yes, but it’s only a matter of time until they have it b
ack in action,” Cameron replied. “We need to be ready.”

  “Can we bring the Orochi back?” General Telles suggested.

  “Not until sometime tomorrow,” Cameron replied. “But we could only bring over a few at the most. Until the Aurora is repaired, we have to stay put. We can defend Corinair, but not the other worlds. So, the Orochi need to protect the Rogen and Orswella systems, for now.

  “What about the Gunyoki?” Major Montrose wondered.

  “There are only one hundred and eighteen of them jump-equipped at the moment. Until we get the Gunyoki upgraded with long-range jump emitters, they’d take too long to move between systems,” Cameron explained. “Besides, half of them are here already. I’m afraid we’ll have to make do with what we have, for now.”

  “Then that brings us back to the need for more anti-aircraft weapons,” the major stated.

  Cameron looked at the SilTek engineer. “Mister Ayseron?”

  “The launchers on the next load of mobile launchers could be replaced with anti-aircraft weapons for now. However, those weapons would have to be created, and all local fabrication systems are currently being utilized.”

  Cameron sighed. “He’s right. We can’t retask those fabricators just yet.”

  “In the meantime, I have ordered all our remaining tanks to be relocated around the Aitkenna spaceport, but they are not designed for the task. If the attacks on the spaceport continue, we will have to move those fighters onto ships in orbit, where they will not be able to deploy as easily.”

  “There is another way,” General Telles suggested.

  “I’m open to anything at this point,” Cameron admitted.

  “We could attack the Dusahn instead of waiting for them to attack.” the general suggested. “At the very least, it would tie up their forces defending their own assets.”

  “That would put our forces at risk as well,” Cameron countered.

  “And of course, there’s that whole ‘I’ll destroy Takara before I go’ thing,” the major reminded them.

  “That is only a protection against being conquered, not attacked.” General Telles insisted.

  “Can you ask SilTek to start making anti-aircraft weapons to ship to us?” Cameron asked Mister Ayseron.

  “Of course.”

  “Thank you,” she replied. “In the meantime, I’ll discuss this with Captain Scott, and I’ll have our intel people start working on potential strike targets on Dusahn assets. Thank you, Major.”

  General Telles waited until the vid-comm was off before speaking. “If left unchecked, the Dusahn will attempt to retake Corinair, you know this.”

  “I do,” Cameron assured him. “And so does Nathan. That’s why he went to SilTek.”

  * * *

  Nathan stood in the middle of the XK’s bridge, admiring the layout as Josh and Loki studied the consoles. “You’re right, this is a nice bridge,” he agreed. “Nothing like the beat-up one from the simulation.”

  “Night Runner is a pretty old game,” Dylan told him. “They never bothered to update it, so all the XKs are the original, quad-pod interstellar versions.”

  “What does that have to do with the simulation we were in?”

  “They probably used the modeling algorithms from Night Runner for the XK in the sim,” Dylan explained. “The older versions are the ones that are always in for maintenance anyway, so it sort of makes sense.”

  “Did any of you bother to look at the squawks on this ship?” Marcus asked from one of the secondary stations. “They go back for longer than any of you have been alive. Hell, this bucket has been in for maintenance six times this year alone.”

  “That’s not unusual,” Dylan insisted.

  “It is in my book,” Marcus argued. “It means someone wasn’t taking proper care of her.”

  “Flight crews don’t maintain their own ships,” Dylan said, laughing. “They just report the problem at the end of their run, and fleet maintenance takes care of it.”

  “Ain’t no one doing preventative on the go?”

  “Of course not,” Dylan explained. “Preventative maintenance is performed according to a schedule. That’s how you prevent failures from occurring during flight.”

  “Apparently not,” Marcus argued, looking back at his screen. “Not by the looks of this ship’s squawk list.”

  Dylan moved over to Marcus to take a look at the list himself. “Those are all routine, non-critical items.”

  “Maybe, but it points toward a poor overall condition. When this much shit breaks down, it means somethin’. Trust me on this.”

  “Maybe he’s right,” Jessica agreed. “Maybe we should look at a few other ships.”

  “We can, of course,” Dylan assured him. “But I don’t think their maintenance logs are going to look much different. All of these ships are cared for by the same people and in the same way. They know what they’re doing. In fact, back in the days when flight crews maintained their own ships, there were far more critical failures. There hasn’t been a single XK lost in more than fifty years, not since the fleet maintenance program started for all SilTek cargo vessels.”

  “Probably robots taking care of them,” Marcus grumbled.

  “As a matter of fact, yes,” Dylan replied.

  “Not makin’ me feel any better, kid.”

  “Well, are there any ships that are completely operational and ready for use?” Nathan asked.

  “XK series? No. In fact, there are only four of them on SilTek at the moment,” Dylan explained, looking at his tablet. “One One Four and Eighty-Seven are both due for full nacelle refits, so they’ll be down for nearly a month each. One Zero Two is getting her cores swapped as well, and won’t be ready any sooner than Seventy-Three.”

  “Seventy-Three?” Nathan wondered.

  “This ship,” Dylan explained. “XK Seventy-Three.”

  “Not XKL?”

  “They just refer to them all as XKs,” Dylan replied.

  Nathan sighed. “Maybe we’d better stick with this one,” he told Marcus. “What about the modifications?” he asked Dylan. “When can we get started on those? We need guns where we’re going.”

  “Where would you put them?” Dylan wondered, almost afraid to ask.

  “I was thinking on the top and bottom of that vertical octagonal tube in the middle of the ship.”

  Dylan looked concerned. “I’m not sure cutting holes in the hull is such a great idea.”

  “Where exactly are we going?” Marcus inquired.

  “First, Earth,” Nathan replied. “And if all goes well, Nor-Patri.”

  “The Jung homeworld?” Marcus asked in disbelief. “If all goes well, we go to the Jung homeworld?”

  “That’s the plan,” Nathan told him.

  “Well, Cap’n, as the chief of the boat for this broken-down barge, it’s my duty to inform you that your plan sucks.”

  “I never said it was a good plan, Marcus,” Nathan said as he headed for the stairs. “Just a plan. Come on, kid.”

  “Where are we going?” Dylan called after Nathan as the captain started down the stairs.

  “We need engineering droids. We’ve got work to do.”

  * * *

  “An impressive list of modifications you are proposing, Captain,” Miss Bindi said, looking over the items on the tablet before handing it to her boss.

  “I assure you they are all necessary,” Nathan promised.

  “I believe you may be taking advantage of our wager.”

  “On the contrary,” Nathan disagreed. “I’m merely following Miss Batista’s advice.”

  “My advice?” Miss Batista asked, looking over the list herself. “The XKs have been the backbone of our cargo fleet for more than a century. Had I suggested that you get a dozen of them, and permission and resources to heavily modify them, I think I would have
remembered.”

  “You suggested that we get as many new allies as possible, as quickly as possible. This is how we’re going to do it.”

  “With light freighters?” Miss Bindi questioned.

  “With small, versatile, well-armed ships that can be operated by small crews,” Nathan explained. “With them, we can reach out to other worlds in all directions at once.”

  “I see you’re proposing that we refit them all with long-range jump emitters as well,” Miss Bindi noted.

  “Those are critical. If we’re going to convince people to join our alliance, they have to see that we can move about quickly over long distances. They have to see that they won’t be out on the fringe—that every world will be treated as a core world. They have to see that we can respond to their needs in minutes, not days. That we are flexible and able to adapt to the varying needs of our members. The XKs are just a start. They’re a way to get some sort of uniform fleet with which to present ourselves. They are not the end solution by any means. We’re still going to have to build a real fleet. But that’s going to take time and planning. As you said, time is always a problem. Your XKs are the solution to that problem.”

  Miss Batista thought for a moment. “I said time was always an issue, captain, not a problem. But I do see the logic in your plan. Nevertheless, refitting a dozen ships will take time, and I was under the impression that you were in a hurry.”

  “I’m not asking for all the ships now,” Nathan pointed out. “I just need the one, and as quickly as possible.”

  Miss Batista did not look pleased. “Very well, Captain Scott. We shall provide what you ask, but on one condition. This fulfills our payment for the wager.”

  “What do you mean?” Nathan asked.

  “I mean, the free ride is over. The wager was everything you needed to defeat the Dusahn. Now that we know that isn’t possible, SilTek no longer has an obligation to provide this alliance with unlimited resources.”

  “What about the protection of Corinair?” Jessica asked.

  “We will provide you with one more planetary defense system, just like the ones we are completing for the Rogen and Orswellan systems.”

  “And the Aurora?” Nathan added.

  “The Aurora as well,” Miss Batista assured him. “But that is the end of it. “We will provide you with twelve XKLs, fully modified to your specifications,” Miss Batista agreed. “But we will not bear the cost of their operation. For that, you must get all members of this alliance to agree to share in its operating costs.”