Melissa blushed. A lot. They were up quite early so that Naomi could get back to Alliance City in time. She had, in fact, been up even earlier since she wanted a shower – with Naomi – before he left. ‘He was a bit too much of a gentleman at first, but we got over that.’
‘It sounded as though you were having fun,’ Nava commented. ‘Until around one in the morning, I think.’
‘Sounds about right.’ Melissa could not have got much redder. There were limits to how embarrassed she was going to get about something she had enjoyed, a lot. ‘He’s big. I mean, everything’s in proportion, you know? I wasn’t sure it would go in… It did. And he’s not as green as Chess was that first time. Neither am I, of course. All in all, I think my first time as an adult was a screaming success.’
‘So we heard,’ Nava said.
‘And I’d appreciate it if we stopped talking about it now so my cheeks can return to a normal colour before he comes in.’
‘What’s keeping him?’ Mitsuko asked.
‘He got a message just as we were going to come out. It was from the ASF, so he wanted to check it in case it meant a change of plans.’
On cue, Naomi came through the kitchen door. He was a man who rarely showed emotion. He was not quite like Nava – who had to try to get herself to do something as simple as smiling – but he was what one might describe as taciturn. Normally. Right now, his face was exhibiting signs of not knowing what emotion to show. There was a hint of anger in his eyes, wrinkles of worry on his brow, and a definite indication of frustration about him in general.
‘You do not look like a man who just got laid, Naomi,’ Nava said. ‘I assume your message was bad news.’
‘You could say that,’ Naomi replied. His gaze moved from Nava to Courtney. ‘You could say it is far worse than that…’
~~~
‘To recap with more detail than Naomi was supplied with,’ Nava said, ‘while on a reconnaissance operation outside of the clan-controlled lands on Beherbergen, Kyle was apparently ambushed by an unknown force. It’s believed he was taken prisoner along with another officer. We can posit with strong evidence that his captors are Befreit Beherbergen.’
‘You got this from Fawn?’ Mitsuko asked.
‘Yes. She was most forthcoming for reasons I’ll get to.’
‘And she’s sure he’s not…’ Courtney asked, unable to say the final word.
‘The House clan sent out a search party after the unit missed two check-in calls,’ Nava replied. ‘They found bodies. However, Kyle and First Lieutenant Kory Greyling Sonkei were missing.’ She paused. ‘There’s no guarantee, but the current assumption is that they were captured for interrogation or use as hostages.’
‘Okay.’
‘A Greyling was also taken?’ Mitsuko asked.
‘And so I called Rhianna after I was finished with the first lieutenant,’ Nava said. ‘Obviously, the Greylings were already aware of the situation. First Lieutenant Kory Greyling was on Beherbergen as part of a joint operation between the IRD and the Greylings. After the attack in Alliance City last year, Befreit Beherbergen have become a hot topic for investigation. Especially their connection with the Redwing Faction. It appears that the recon op was requested by the House clan based on information gathered by their militia. However, it fitted with the task of information gathering First Lieutenant Kory Greyling was sent there for.’
‘Okay,’ Courtney said, ‘but what are they doing about it?’
‘The House militia are conducting searches in the area. The ASF have people embedded in the militia and are conducting detailed scans from orbit to attempt to locate potential sites where the prisoners are being held. A rescue operation is being planned, but the ASF are constrained in what they can do. Politics.’
‘That’s–’
‘The Greylings are not so constrained. Rhianna and Nobuyuki will be leaving tonight to investigate and mount a rescue. I requested that I join them, and Rhianna accepted. With no indication that she had to think about it.’
‘I want–’ Courtney began.
‘Your place on the trip is already arranged. Rhianna did not appear to think about that either.’
‘I think I could be useful,’ Mitsuko said. ‘This is another clan member we’re talking about in addition to a close friend.’
‘You’ll need support,’ Melissa said.
‘And reconnaissance,’ Rochester added.
‘Chess!’ Hoshi exclaimed. Nava had asked Rochester to come to the meeting and Hoshi had tagged along after hearing what the issue was. Kyle was not a close friend, but she was still worried. Now she had something else to worry about.
‘Are you both sure?’ Nava asked.
‘Yes,’ Melissa said.
‘No,’ Rochester said, ‘but I’m going if you’ll have me.’
Nava gave a nod. ‘Hoshi, we’ll do our best to keep both of them safe. Frankly, they’re both too useful to leave out. We’re doing this fast and there’s not much time to prepare. I’ll inform Rhianna that we’re all going. Be ready to leave by four p.m.’
‘Do we need to bring our combat gear?’ Courtney asked.
‘No. You’ll be supplied with military-grade suits. You won’t have time to fully familiarise yourselves with them, but they’re not different enough to the civilian versions that you’ll have any problems. If you have personal weapons you want to bring, bring them. If not, spell carbines and spare cells will be issued.’
‘I think you’re the only one with personal sidearms,’ Mitsuko said.
‘Perhaps. I will be bringing my three-oh-ones. It should be interesting to see how they perform in actual combat. You have about ninety minutes to prepare in whatever way you need to. Be on the helipad at four.’
~~~
‘The Greyling family thanks you for your assistance in this matter,’ Rhianna said as the shuttle which had come to pick them up powered its way into the upper atmosphere. She was standing at the front of the passenger seating compartment and the ship was currently accelerating at two gravities; artificial gravity and inertial compensation thanks to sorcery meant you could barely tell the craft was moving.
‘I thank the Greyling family for this opportunity to get my boyfriend back,’ Courtney replied.
‘We’re all here because Kyle is our friend,’ Mitsuko pointed out.
‘We’re aware of that,’ Rhianna said, ‘but thanks anyway. Of course, your father may ostracise the entire family if we get you killed so… swings and roundabouts.’
‘I don’t think he’d do that.’
‘Did you tell your parents you were coming on this mission?’
‘Strangely, I didn’t have time before we left.’
‘What a thing.’ Rhianna grinned and went on. ‘It’ll take us a short time to meet up with the Yosozume and then we’ll have a few things to do before we can get moving. The plan is to leave at seventeen hundred. We have clearance to break orbit in that slot. Then we’ll be making all speed for Beherbergen. That means sixteen hours at two gravities, a straight jump to the Beherbergen system, and another sixteen hours of acceleration at the other end. We should arrive at oh-five hundred Shinden time, which is ten twenty-five local. We’ll head straight down to the planet when we arrive.’
‘Sixteen hours at twice normal gravity?’ Melissa asked. ‘There’s no compensation?’
‘Afraid not. Not on the Yosozume. There’s no gravity either, until we start accelerating. You should be able to move around. If you take it slowly, anyway. Best thing to do is try to get a little sleep. We’ll all be able to use the better cabins and the beds are really very comfortable.’
‘You’re doing over a hundred and sixty light years in a single jump,’ Rochester commented. ‘You must have a very good navigator.’
Rhianna smiled. ‘Yes, well, we are the Greylings.’
Yosozume Armed Courier, Shinden Orbit.
Rochester was not a happy man. It had started as he floated down the docking tube from the shuttle. ‘Oh… Oh, that’s not good.’ He
had muttered it but Melissa, who was just in front of him, heard.
‘You okay, Chess?’ Melissa asked, glancing back over her shoulder.
‘Space adaptation syndrome. I’m feeling…’
‘Green? You look green. I think your skin has actually changed colour.’
‘We’ll get you straight to your cabin,’ Rhianna said. ‘There’ll be medication there. It should help. Some.’
‘It can affect anyone,’ Nobuyuki said. It was not like the man to give comfort, so maybe he had been afflicted once. ‘Well, except possibly Nava.’
‘I get motion sickness,’ Nava said. ‘I just don’t get it very often. Once, in fact.’
‘What were you doing?’
‘They were putting me through multiple rapid acceleration changes to see what I could take. I vomited all over one of the instructors. He accused me of aiming at him.’
‘Did you?’ Rhianna asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Could we not discuss vomit right now?’ Rochester asked.
‘Sorry, Chess,’ Nava said, though the flat delivery did not necessarily suggest she was.
The vessel they had seen through the shuttle’s viewscreens was clearly quite capable of landing on a planet. It was a slick, streamlined dart with sweptback wings, maybe a hundred and fifty metres in length. It was visibly armed, but then it was classed as an armed courier. Point defence weaponry ran in rows across its back and underside. There were indications of missile launchers at the front and definitely a large gun barrel of some sort. And yet the accommodation was far from what one might expect on a military vessel.
It was not immediately obvious that the floors were essentially on their sides, but you figured it out fairly quickly because each floor occupied relatively little space. How this worked when the ship landed was an open question, but it was clearly arranged so that when the ship accelerated, passengers felt it as gravity pushing them into the decks. Everyone was getting a room to themselves. Well, Nava was sharing with Mitsuko, and Rhianna was apparently in with Nobuyuki, but the others had rooms to themselves. And the rooms were well appointed. Double beds, en-suite bathrooms, a full entertainment system, and a desk you could use for whatever you might need a desk for, plus two acceleration couches with straps to hold you down in microgravity.
Nava ignored the seats and floated over to the bed. ‘I think I’ll enjoy this more lying down.’
‘It’s a shame we don’t have much time,’ Mitsuko commented as she positioned herself beside Nava, hovering twenty or thirty centimetres above the sheets.
‘Never done it in microgravity?’
‘You’re aware of my entire sexual history.’
‘Good point. I don’t think it’s as exciting as it sounds. And I think sex in two gravities would probably require lifting gear.’
‘Hm. I hope Chess is going to be okay.’
‘He’s not that unfit and the nausea medication will help. Plus, he’ll probably be lying down too.’
‘Right.’
‘Attention.’ The voice came from hidden speakers and was male. ‘Acceleration in ten minutes. Will all crew and passengers secure their belongings and prepare for two gravities.’
Nava lifted her head a little to check the case with her armour in it was in a suitable position. It was. ‘I guess we just float here until someone loads sixty kilos onto our chests.’
‘I don’t weigh sixty kilos. I’ll have you know I’m only fifty-eight.’
‘That is because you’re a beanpole. You could do with putting on a bit of muscle.’
‘And ruin my smooth lines? No way.’
‘Smooth lines. Right. Your waist size is only a centimetre less than mine.’
Mitsuko gave a sniff. ‘My hips are four centimetres smaller than yours.’
‘So, you have boyish hips.’
That got a gasp. ‘I can’t believe you just said that! I am not going to speak to you for the rest of the trip.’
‘Mm.’
About ten minutes later, when their own body weight was pressing down on their chests and forcing their bodies into the quite firm mattress, Mitsuko said, ‘Sixteen hours of this is going to make me very tired.’
‘I thought you weren’t speaking to me,’ Nava replied.
‘I’m not. My thoughts are being forced out of my head.’
‘It’s not that bad. I’m going to get up and take a walk in a bit.’
‘You,’ Mitsuko said, ‘are nuts.’
‘It’s going to be a slow walk…’
~~~
Climbing down to the engineering section was a chore. Two gravities made everything harder. Climbing back up was probably going to be worse. On the other hand, going down to engineering felt right. It was really the rear subsection of the ship, sealed away behind a heavy bulkhead, but the acceleration made it feel like you were going down into the bowels of the vessel which was really where the engines should be.
Bowels or not, the Yosozume’s engine room was as clean and tidy as the rest of the ship. Nava had half expected to be turned away at the bulkhead hatch, but her ketcom opened the door without trouble and she climbed the ladder down onto the first engineering deck to find a world of polished metal and clean plastic. There were also people, most of them seated in gimballed workstations which allowed them to ignore any changes in the orientation of the ship. Nava had never seen the engines of a sorcery-based spaceship before – which was why she had gone to look – and she had been entirely unsure what to expect. What she was seeing looked like the engineering in any other large vessel, or a power station, or maybe even a chemical plant. There were a lot of cables connecting sealed units and not a lot of signage to indicate what was what.
‘You’re Nava, right?’
Nava turned to find herself looking at one crew member who was not at a station. A tall, slim woman wearing blue coveralls, she had a monocle display over her left eye and the air of someone with authority. Brown hair and hazel eyes and the general look of European ancestry. Her skin was paler than was typical for Shinden residents.
‘I’m Nava, yes.’
‘Gretchen Greyling Sonkei, chief engineer.’
‘Good… afternoon probably, Chief Engineer.’
‘Gretchen,’ Gretchen corrected. ‘Even the captain only goes by Captain when he’s talking to people outside the ship. Never seen engines before?’
‘Was I that obvious? No, I’ve never had the chance to get into a spaceship’s engine room. I think I could have persuaded one of my friends to come too, but he’s still feeling woozy.’
‘Space sickness sucks. Have you got any clue about what you’re looking at?’
‘Honestly, no.’
Gretchen pointed upward at what appeared to be a solid wall with various cables emerging from it at various points. ‘Up there, well, behind there really, is the reactor and the quintessence aggregator. They need to be tied pretty closely together on these compression-type fusion units, but then the excess quintessence powers pretty much all the other sorcery-based systems on the ship.’
‘Okay.’ Nava knew the basic principles of most of the engineering, if not the details. Compression-type reactors used telekinesis generators to create the intense pressures required for efficient nuclear fusion. They also used barrier technologies to help screen everything outside the reactor from the radiation the reactor generated, and energy-transformation sorcery to improve the efficiency of the heat-to-electricity conversion. Traditional reactors used heat to pressurise water which drove turbines; sorcerous reactors worked more like magic thermocouples. ‘So it’s not a great idea to go in there?’
‘Well, it’s actually pretty safe, so long as you limit your time. The barriers block most of the radiation, but the wall’s there for what gets through and in case of a reactor breach. It’s the high-speed neutrons that really cause the trouble. We use a helium-three reaction, so there are plenty of neutrons. Basically, if they weren’t contained, they’d irradiate the entire ship. They still put a limit on
the lifetime of the reactor before it has to be entirely overhauled.’
‘Mm. What about the jump and manoeuvring engines?’
Gretchen gave her a grin and waved a beckoning hand. ‘Come with me.’
They went down a deck to where the jump drive was located. This turned out to be a pair of semi-circular projectors with cables connecting the two together through a central synchronisation unit about the size of a family car. There was not much to see, really, but what was there was big and impressive.
‘Of course, it’s basically a big teleportation device,’ Gretchen said. ‘The really clever bits are getting the two field projectors to work together, it gets really messy if they don’t, and making sure that the whole ship and its contents are covered by the field.’
‘It gets messy if they aren’t?’
‘Right. It’s not a good idea to leave the forward section here and send the rest a hundred light years away. It means the schema the drive implements is a bit more complex than a typical teleportation-type spell. Plus, most people aren’t capable of teleporting across interstellar distances. You can only do it with mechanical assistance, both the physical movement and the specification of the target coordinates. Not that I do the latter. If needed, I can make a jump, but the navigation isn’t something I’m trained in.’
Nava nodded. Even nodding felt a bit weird when her head was twice as heavy as normal. ‘And the main engines are based around telekinetic sorcery?’
‘Correct. Physics says it’s not possible, but physics says that a lot when it comes to sorcery. The engines in the ship push on the ship to move it forward. Shouldn’t work. It’s like flying by grabbing your feet and pulling.’
Nava gave a shrug. ‘My metaphysics isn’t quite good enough to explain it. Chess might be able to. He’s the one I said was too sick to come down here.’
‘Metaphysics nerd?’
‘I wouldn’t call him that to his face… He’s aiming to go into academic research when he graduates.’
Gretchen gave Nava a quizzical frown. ‘Then, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s he doing here? You’re going to end up in combat. Nerds don’t usually do well in combat.’
Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) Page 19
