Spinward Fringe Broadcast 3

by Randolph Lalonde

  “Considering the sheer size of the explosion that's not surprising.”

  Grace shifted in the seat at Frost's desk. His quarters were the perfect place to get some privacy. “We're down to two initiates aboard. Is there a chance you could get us more? He'll be taking more crew members on now that we've made port.”

  “I'll see what I can do. The registry is growing, perhaps there's someone trustworthy among them. Until then I need you to stay out of harm's way and collect more data.”

  “Anything specific?”

  “Just call a general medical assessment of the crew and do a detailed scan of everyone aboard. Work up a profile and send it to me in a burst transmission as soon as you can. We cannot afford to lose our grip on the Triton and with so few operatives left aboard we may have to recruit someone new.”

  “It would be better to have someone come in with the applicants.”

  “That may not be an option. Things are moving quickly in this sector and we may need everyone we have right where they are. Start feeling people out for interest in the movement. Be discreet.”

  “That's asking for trouble.”

  “I am making it an order,” Hampon said firmly.

  “Yes, Baron Hampon. I'll watch for anyone who might be ready to join the West Keepers. What about Valance? The crew are starting to get behind him, I think you underestimated his popularity.”

  “Leave him. We have no idea what will happen now that he's met Valent. If you hear anything about a drastic personality change, or memories from Jonas, send us a burst transmission with as many details as soon as you can.”

  “Is there anything in particular I'm supposed to listen for?”

  “If he recalls anything about Concordia or the Overlord then he's accessing information we need. Anything else will be incidental.”

  “How much do you think he'll remember? If he undergoes any sudden changes should I try to stop it? Put a mental block in place?”

  “They are not his memories. He is accessing the Vindyne transfer, you have to remember that. Treating them like externally accessible memories with medical equipment will damage the raw data image we tried to imprint on him.”

  “So I shouldn't try to access them directly?”

  “No, if you disturb the data it will start to sort itself into a pattern that will suit a digital system. The human brain, as you know, doesn't work that way. If he tries to access the imprint with any electrical instruments you should discourage him. With Valent gone we can't afford to lose whatever he's managed to subconsciously preserve.”

  “How much of Valent's memories does he have do you think?”

  “Why is that detail so important Grace?”

  “I'm curious, it's one of the traits you credit me for, remember?”

  “Fine. Our last imprint managed a forty one percent whole transfer.”

  “That's not very much.”

  “That's remarkable, most transfers didn't start making it past eighteen percent until last year. We performed his imprint seven years ago.”

  “I'll take your word for it. Anything else? I have a duty shift coming up.”

  “That'll be all. Watch the west to preserve the east.”

  “To the east I am true,” she replied automatically as she cut the transmission.

  Micromanagement

  “There's a group of people waiting to see you in the officers lounge sir. Chief Vega sent them up,” Cynthia said through the secure bridge intercom.

  “Did she tell you what it was about?” Captain Valance said as he shut down the log of the Triton's first Captain.

  “They're civilians who don't want to leave the ship. She called them believers.”

  Jake put on his long coat, wrapped his scarf around his neck and just stopped for a moment. Believers. What now?

  “Captain?” queried Cynthia.

  “I'm on my way. Thank you Cynthia.”

  He opened the private door inside his quarters, just to the right of the ladder, and walked down the slim hallway leading to the command deck causeway. Alice was already there, half way to his ready room. She smiled at him. “Hey you.”

  He smiled in return before accepting a brief embrace. “I'm on my way to meet some civilians who don't want to leave.”

  “I was just coming to say goodbye before we set off. The Clever Dream is all ready. I can't wait to get her fuelled up.”

  “Good luck, don't get too distracted down there.”

  “I'll try not to. Good luck with the civvies.”

  Captain Valance sighed as they started walking down the small corridor to the main causeway. “I think I'll need it. This ship, as much as I'm enjoying it already, is turning into so much more than I expected. Sometimes I think Wheeler had the right idea; automate most systems so you only have to manage a crew of one hundred or less.”

  “And only use ten percent of her weapons, a few rooms and barely even look at most of this?” she gestured to the broad hall of the command deck with her arms upraised and spread out wide. It was busier than ever. The security and intelligence compartment was fully manned. Stephanie had made it the nerve center for managing the crew, on board security and there were even a few people who only worked to collect potentially useful information from unsecured transmissions picked up outside.

  There were other crewmembers in the hallway as well. Some of the maintenance crew were starting to work on non-critical systems on the command deck. A number of problems were discovered when they started opening up the officer's quarters.

  There were also a number of meetings taking place. With six briefing rooms, the command deck was a place for all the senior officers to gather their people at the beginning of a shift or major operations. With a command structure in place, orientations, training sessions and mission preparations were constantly under way. Every time a meeting was completed a report was filed with the bridge staff, and Cynthia did her best to make sure they were sorted by department and priority with the help of four other volunteers of various qualifications. “I mean, this is a lot more like you,” she said with a smile. “You're different from Jonas, that's true, but some things you can't change. This is where you belong, just as much as him, and I couldn't imagine anyone else who could command an independent carrier. Doesn't watching all this come back online feel good?”

  Jake smiled at her. “Sure it does, but it's overwhelming. I'll deal with it though, Stephanie just took on the Chief of Security post, that'll take a lot off my shoulders. Just don't tell the rest of the crew I need to delegate.”

  Alice laughed and nodded. “I won't.”

  “You're right though. I've never wanted anything more than to see this ship in it's glory. I never thought I'd have an opportunity like this.”

  “That's what Jonas thought when he was given command of the First Light. He also had Ayan to think about. She was amazing. Intelligent, disciplined, fun, very pretty.”

  “I don't think I'll be getting involved with our Chief Engineer in quite the same way,” Jake said with a crooked grin.

  The comment took Alice by surprise and she laughed so hard a few bypassers couldn't help but look and smile.

  He waited for her to stop laughing before going on. “But I would like to hear more about Ayan. I think I had a dream about her last night.”

  Alice regarded him more seriously. “Really? I thought you didn't have any of his memories.”

  “Well, I've never really seen Ayan before but somehow I know it was her. Besides, Jonas didn't know if I had wiped the memories clean or suppressed them. It's strange, I know they're not my memories but that's not the way it feels. We'll have to talk more about this later.”

  “We will. Stephanie and Frost are waiting, See you soon.”

  There was a guard at either side of the main observation lounge doors, their new black vacsuits with single stripe ranks on their sleeves told him they were ranked as able crewmen. They held Aucharian rifles across their chests and wore heavy impact helmets, the only fixtures that
indicated their origin.

  “Good morning Captain. Chief Vega ordered us here to manage the crowd, but they're keeping themselves in good order. We compiled a list of whose inside and they insisted that we list their trades beside their names. Chief Grady just joined them.”

  “Thank you.” Captain Valance looked at the list. There were over sixty people there, ranging from a few non-speciality labourers to a surveyor, a bellhop, veterinarian and even a speech therapist.

  “Permission to speak freely sir?” requested the other guard.

  “Yes?” Jake said, not looking up from the chip, scrolling through the holographic list.

  “If you could at least find a way to keep Andie aboard, I'd really appreciate it.”

  Jake zoomed in her her profile and raised an eyebrow. “A hair stylist.”

  “Aye sir. No grooming system has the same touch.”

  He turned the projection off, transferred the list into his Command Unit and handed the chip back. “No promises. They're all looking to stay aboard?”

  “Aye sir.”

  Jake braced himself and stepped up to the double doors. They parted and to his surprise the sound level inside was reasonably low. They were all enjoying materialized food, up to seven or eight to a table, and taking in the broad view looking out into space.

  Chief Liam Grady wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood, greeting him at the door. “That was faster than expected.”

  “I was in my ready quarters. How's my ship, Chief?”

  “Good, we're working on power plants four and five and making repairs to several sections that show some old combat damage.”

  “That's not why I'm here,” Captain Valance whispered as he smiled uneasily at some of the people who stared at him. They were different ages, most of them didn't wear vacsuits, and many had their bags with them. The seats in the blue and crimson coloured officers lounge were full and a few security guards stood against the walls. Most of them were quietly talking to one or more of the civilians, the environment was relaxed.

  Liam smiled at the Captain. “That's not why you're here,” he confirmed, straightening the collar of his new vacsuit. His robes were loosely closed around it. “Most of these people are from Enreega and now that Regent Galactic has taken possession of the system they don't want to go back.”

  “We have a lot of people in the same position in the upper berth. They're signing in with their government so they can be resettled.”

  “These people don't want to be resettled. They want to stay here, on the Triton.”

  “This is a ship of war, Liam. Not only that but we haven't even explored the whole thing. It's over seven hundred forty meters long and even wider. That comes out to about sixteen hundred square kilometres of surface area not including the hangars. God knows what's in that much space, especially since she hasn't had a full crew in nearly forty years.”

  “That number's actually a little low, Captain. The ship is a little larger,” Liam corrected. He was still smiling calmly.

  “My plan here is to crew up, train our people and start hitting Regent Galactic where it hurts. Eventually we're going to get into a fight that costs us, whether we choose it or not. I don't want anyone not ready to make that kind of sacrifice to be aboard when it happens.”

  “Pardon me, Captain, but I think we've all thought of that,” said a woman with dark, cascading curls. She was a drastic contrast to her surroundings in a loose skirt that hung down to her ankles and a light blouse that was in no way made for space travel. She was well spoken and had an accent that indicated she most likely grew up near the core worlds. “There are Eden ships out there, Regent Galactic is taking whatever they can and nothing feels safe. I was on my way from Veldin Four because it was too hard to make a living there. I was almost forced to live like a beggar no matter how many hours I put in. I finally saved enough to take a voyage out and almost got killed. I'm sure you've heard the story a few times already, but I've lived it. As far as I'm concerned, this is where I want to be. If I can help here I'd like to. I'll take room and board at the quality it's available, it beats how I was living on Veldin. If there's no need for what I do, then I can learn to do something else.”

  “Tell them what you do Mischa,” Liam encouraged quietly.

  “I'm a massage therapist with twelve years of certified experience,” she said proudly.

  Captain Valance smiled at her and looked back to Liam. “Outside,” He whispered before leaving the room.

  Liam followed him out into the hallway a couple minutes later. “They're all anxious to sign up and help however they can.”

  “Did they send their requests to the bridge?”

  “Most of them did and had them denied.”

  “For good reason. What am I going to do with a massage therapist, a tiler, or even a hairstylist?”

  “They'll see to the crew's well being. Well, perhaps not the tiler, but I'm sure he'd be happy to move into a related trade.”

  “What related trade would he move into?”

  “I don't know, there are a lot of options. Ceramic fitter for example, the energy transfer systems use advanced ceramics for insulation and containment all over the ship.” Liam looked to the guard behind Jake. “Soldier, how long is your duty shift?”

  “Twelve hours sir.”

  “What about tomorrow?”

  “Eight. We're doing two long shifts and four short shifts a week according to the schedule that was released this morning.”

  “What will you be doing after getting off today?”

  “I'm volunteering to help clean up the abandoned sections of the ship for two hours.”

  “After that?” asked Liam.

  The soldier hesitated a moment. “I have no idea sir. Maybe go to the pilot's lounge, but it'll probably be full. I'll probably end up in my temporary rack for most of my downtime, get some time in the ship wide simulations before I get some shuteye.”

  “So on long shift days you have four extra hours you don't know what to do with, and regular days leave you with eight.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Liam looked back to Jake and crossed his arms. “We're busy now, getting the ship back in shape, running simulations and setting up the departments, but at this rate we'll be fit in a week, maybe two. Then we'll be in training somewhere in dead space if I'm guessing your plan correctly. The Triton will feel hollow without some people at her core bringing some colour and entertainment. People will start getting restless.”

  “I can't pay these people what they deserve to earn.”

  “They're not looking for payment, they're looking to live in the center of a carrier the size of most colonies,” Liam's eyes searched Jake's expression, which had lightened from its former serious disposition. There was an uncertainty he hadn't seen before. “What's really holding you back from this?” he whispered.

  Captain Valance walked across the broad hall to the other wall, where the guards couldn't overhear. “I caught a saboteur last night, she had already killed an entire squad of soldiers. You lost someone in engineering earlier today, and Jonas Valent gave his life for the ship. Taking the Triton is costing people their lives. We haven't even seen combat yet.”

  “We can keep civilians at the core of the ship. There are plenty of crew compartments around the botanical gallery The ship blueprints even designate them as family quarters. It's the safest part of the Triton, made to look and act like a town square with three levels of store fronts. This ship was built by people from our homeworld, designed using over a thousand years of spacial and nautical experience for voyages that last decades or longer away from port if need be. It makes sense that they'd ensure anyone aboard could make it a home they can enjoy. As far as combat is concerned, I'm sure some of them would volunteer for training in damage control or be content to hide in the center of the ship. Besides, they all believe in what you're going to do out here and they know you from the transmissions they've seen on the Stellarnet and on Hart News.”

  “I do
n't want to have these people's lives on my conscience if we were to take damage exactly where they're all holed up, or if the worst were to happen and we were to lose her.”

  “Then make it their decision. Scare them half to death if you have to, but I'm telling you that allowing them to remain, to make themselves useful will work out. Before long you might just be getting a massage and a haircut. Maybe your pilot, the one who was getting along with Alice the other night-”

  “-Ashley,” the Captain filled in.

  “Right, Ashley. Maybe she could benefit from speech therapy.”

  Captain Valance leaned against the bulkhead and thought for a minute. “Have them elect a civilian leader. You're in charge until then, but don't let it interfere with your duties.”

  Liam grinned and nodded. “I knew I'd like you. They've already elected Mischa.”

  “Well then, time for me to make it official,” Captain Valance said as he strode back to the observation lounge. “You might just get that haircut after all,” he mentioned to the guards at the door as he strode by.

  Silence settled over the observation lounge as all eyes were drawn to Captain Valance. Liam took a seat at one of the front tables.

  “I'm willing to allow you to remain aboard on a trial basis,” several of the civilians began to applaud, they were overjoyed. “On a trial basis!” Captain Valance shouted over the building din. The crowd came back under control within seconds. “You'll be responsible for cleaning up the quarters surrounding the botanical gallery and the garden itself. Triton's security force will provide support by way of law enforcement and you'll receive two squads to check quarters before you begin working. Other than that you'll be self governed and each be assigned a living space. Until we get communications policies and security measures in place, there will be no communications with the outside. I expect we'll have that set up sometime this week, then you'll be allowed to send messages to family. If you want to invite someone to live here with you it'll have to clear with ship intelligence, which could take weeks. We'll also go communications silent often, so don't expect to have much contact with the outside universe. I'm sure there will be other restrictions put in place while some will be lifted entirely. Be ready to adjust to changes.