“Oh gee thanks Sir.”
“All beef and heart?” taunted Phil.
“Exactly!” said Alex with a smile.
Chapter 19. Tumos 1430, 8 June
There was a real buzz of excitement as the crew made their way from the briefing to Hanger 5 where they would see their new ship. Manuel was doing some calculations on his console as they tore down through the tunnels in a convoy of buggies. He leaned over to Aubrey and said loud enough to be heard over the engine “We will be able to warp to Earth in 5 days.”
“Seriously?” questioned Aubrey. “That’s a third of normal.”
“Two and half days to Klaster” he added.
Aubrey shook her head. “That new warp engine is amazing.”
“We’ll have to offer a toast to the sleth for that” said Manuel. “We also get their impulse burst too.”
“We’ll finally be on a par with rogan ships.”
“Actually a little better.”
The hangar doors began opening as the buggies approached. Aubrey felt the same feeling of anticipation she had felt several weeks ago when they came to see the Resolute for the first time. This time though it was her ship and that made her immensely proud. She hadn’t seen it yet but just the feeling that her first command was behind those doors stirred the adrenalin in her body.
Hangar 5 wasn’t huge like the one used for the Resolute. But then the Phantom was a much smaller craft. She had originally imagined a wedge shape like the Hermes but when she saw the schematics and the holo model Mani Govinda presented during the briefing she just loved its design.
There it was, as they entered the hangar and came to a stop - a black bird of prey. It had a main central body that tapered almost to a point at the front. About half way back it broadened like two arched wings, the top surface of which was flush with the main body and whose wing tips turned down and almost curved to the vertical. But these wings were not thin or flimsy. No they tapered vertically from the wing tips to the main body and these housed the missile launchers. They also tapered laterally back to where the main body flayed out like the wedge tail of an eagle. The rear tail section housed the two new impulse engines and the new single warp engine.
In the centre line under the wings, the droid pod would fit flush. For now it looked like some monster had taken a bite out of her from underneath.
From the centre of the main body where the wings met flush at the top it tapered down to form a half circle, which enclosed the command centre. The pilot’s cockpit was forward in the nose.
The whole structure looked sleek and curved. To Aubrey’s eyes it was the most beautiful craft she had ever seen. It was obvious from the expressions on the faces of the others that they felt so too.
Alice Wu was trying to take a picture of the craft with her communicator. Aubrey put her hand on the device and said “No Alice, you can’t do that.”
Alice felt embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
Raising her voice so the others could hear, Aubrey said “Listen up everyone. From here on, you are all part of the Fleet’s newest and best kept secret. She’s a lovely craft and she’s going to surprise the crap out of the rogan. Let’s make sure they don’t know anything about her.”
They were soon on their tour of the inside. In many ways, it looked like a similar fit out to the Resolute. Same surfaces and finish, but in general everything felt …closer.
Aubrey opened her cabin door and immediately missed her more spacious one on the Resolute. Aubrey reminded herself that this was the best cabin on the ship. It was a little bigger than her old Hermes cabin. ‘I’ll get used to it’ she said to herself.’
Chapter 20. Nova Vista 0900, 9 June
Dave got in the cab that would take him off to North Shore Hospital. He waved to Rihan and Sue who smiled and waved back as the cab pulled away.
“Thanks for this Rihan” said Sue.
“It’s Dave you need to thank” said Rihan.
“I will. Centrepoint?” said Sue, referring to the big shopping centre in the centre of the city. Rihan nodded as they got into the next cab in the rank and Sue gave the driver their destination. Once underway, Sue added “It’s just so good to get away from that hospital.”
“How much longer?”
“Art wants out now but he has to wait to get the all clear from his surgeon and he’s been tied up. Hopefully tomorrow he’ll see him.”
Art was indeed champing at the bit, when Dave arrived. Dave followed Art as he led the way down the corridor, his arm in the cast and the cast in a sling. They headed towards the noise, the unmistakable noise of pre-match commentary that blasted out of what was supposed to be a common waiting area. The room was occupied by four other patients. Art introduced Dave to them but most were preoccupied with the commentary blaring out from the screen on the wall.
The others were all marines recovering from various conditions. Here rank had no hold. The undisputed commander was Tom Whistle who had somehow convinced the nursing staff to grant them this little privilege. He was recovering from having most of his thigh muscle shot away. He’d been recovering for quite a while now.
“The Jets are going down for sure” he taunted Art as Art and Dave sat down.
“They’ve had a bad run” replied his offsider, Billy Stasis. “That’s going to change today. What do you reckon Sir?”
“I don’t know Billy” answered Art. “I’d be sacking Chengai. I could coach better than him.”
“Ain’t that the truth” said Billy. “And I don’t know how good a coach you are” he added with a smile.
Tom turned the sound up as the teams came out onto the pitch. Nurse Graham poked his head into the room with a frown. Tom held out both hands as if to say ‘what?’ Graham frowned more intently. Tom reluctantly notched the sound down and Graham said “thank you” and went about his duties.
Art leaned over towards Dave and said quietly “Thanks for coming Dave. This should be good.”
Two hours later Dave said his goodbye to Art and got in a cab that would take him back to town. He was to meet up with Rihan. He wasn’t really looking forward to their scheduled activity but he’d promised. He loathed shopping of all kinds, with probably the only exceptions being alcohol and movies. But Rihan had insisted that he buy some new civvy clothes.
He recalled how she had harangued him about it. “They are so not cool anymore Dave” she had said. “I’m not going to be seen with a professor on my arm.”
When he had retorted “what’s wrong with the professor look?” she had drilled him with such a withering stare that he had finally agreed to get some new clothes. ‘It’s the price you have to pay to keep your woman happy’ he said to himself.
Sue and Rihan sat down at the little café, stacking their bags of goodies on the other two chairs at the table. Both looked satisfied with the produce of their efforts but both were glad to be off their feet. The waiter came over and poured the water and asked if they would like to order. “We’re still waiting on someone” advised Rihan and so they sat sipping some water.
“You know Rihan there’s one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”
“Yeah, what?”
“You know back in Assam, outside the surgical theatre you said something about an awakening. You know you were as high as a kite. What was all that about?”
Rihan paused for a few moments unsure how best to explain it. She wished Dave was here. He was good at that. Finally she said “It was a spiritual experience Sue.”
“What do you mean?”
Rihan did her best to describe what happened. She explained about how she had felt overwhelmed with the nuclear strike alarm and how it had brought back her traumatic experience on Klaster. She told her how she began to panic but found herself repeating these words, this mantra, that Dave had given her.
“It’s hard to explain, Sue. But somehow, in amongst all that stress, I felt calm, peaceful…no it was more than that. I felt overwhelmed by this inner joy. I w
as ecstatic.”
“I still don’t understand. You looked like you’d taken some uppers at the hospital.”
“No, no drugs, well no man made ones anyway. Dave’s the one to best explain this. Look according to his guru, there is this divine energy within all of us. In fact, everything in this whole universe is nothing but divine energy. We are just a manifestation of that. Like everything you see, we’re not perfect but we long to be perfect. When that longing is strong enough and when there’s grace that inner divine energy is awakened. That’s what happened to me during that mad dash across the spaceport and it continued to unfold in the basement as we took shelter and again at the hospital. It was just amazing.”
“I never would have taken you for a ….”
“I’m not a fundamentalist or a zealot Sue. My Dad was into Christianity big time, but I didn’t want to have a bar of it.”
“I didn’t say a zealot” said Sue.
Rihan put her hand reassuringly on Sue’s. “I know you didn’t. Dave had been telling me all these things, all his experiences. I started meditating with him because I felt … I felt closer to him when we meditated together. That’s all I felt initially.”
“But back there in Assam I felt something very real. There was this power. It was tangible. You just have to experience it. I would not have believed it unless it happened to me.”
“How do you know it’s real? You were under a lot of stress. Shit we all thought we could die that day.”
“Mmm…” said Rihan as she struggled to reply. Then it occurred to her. “Since then I have not been under stress, not threatened physically, and yet I have had these truly amazing experiences. It’s like I’m riding a tiger, a wave of energy. I’m changing. I used to be really critical. Analysing everything and quick to judge. But I’m just not doing that as much anymore. And I feel …better. In fact I’ve been blissed out most days.”
“That’s just the sex” said Sue with a smile.
Rihan smiled. “No it’s different to sex. Better in a way.”
Sue gave her an expression that said ‘really?’
“Yeah it is. Mind you I’m not giving up on sex that’s for sure.” They both broke out laughing just as Dave approached. Hearing their laughter made him smile.
“So what’s this all about then?” he asked.
“Rihan’s just been telling me that she’s not giving up on sex” said Sue mischievously.
“Well I’m glad to hear that” said Dave as he bent over to peck Rihan. Instead of offering her cheek, Rihan kissed him softly on the lips.
“See I told you” said Sue.
Chapter 21. Tumos 1230, 9 June
It was a drained Dr Mani Govinda that finally relaxed behind his desk. The Phantom had taken off for Butros Alia. It had been an intense 24 hours with briefings, famil and test flight. He was getting tired of this ‘emergency’ process. ‘Cramming all this is not right’ he said to himself.
“Mani” hailed Dr Charles Sobon.
“Yes Charles. I hope you have good news for me.”
“Indeed I do. You won’t believe it though. I think we’ve got it. Can you come over?”
“Let me get a bite to eat. I’ll be over in an hour.”
But Mani was now intrigued. He grabbed a sandwich at the cafeteria and drove his buggy over to Lab 2. He found Charles eating his own sandwich at his desk. With his mouth full, Charles waved him to sit down.
“So what have you got?” asked Mani impatiently.
Charles swallowed, while Mani bit into his own sandwich. “You know we’ve been trying out all those other materials – the ones we originally discounted. Well we discounted them for good reasons. It was a waste of time.” Charles bit into his second triangle of bread as Mani swallowed.
“Understandable” said Mani. “So?” and he took another bite.
Charles swallowed. “So I was sitting on the can when the idea struck me.” Charles took another bite.
Mani swallowed. “I don’t like where this story is heading Charles. Sounds like a shit of an idea.” Mani smiled briefly before taking another bite.
Charles swallowed “Very droll. You’ll have to do better than that my friend.” Mani just shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Anyway” continued Charles “the thing is we’ve played with the original formula and Borat and I tested it this morning. Now mind you this is just one test…safe lab conditions…nothing extensive.”
Mani swallowed. “Yes get on with it” and he munched the last mouthful of his sandwich.
“Well unlike the current material it completely breaks down on burning” said Charles and he too munched his last morsel.
“Yes, yes but is it as efficient. That’s the key Charles.”
“I know. I know.”
“Well?”
Charles leaned towards Mani with a wry smile. “No it is not.”
Mani smiled back at his friend. “It’s better?”
“Fifteen percent…but that’s just one run. Early days yet” grinned Charles.
Mani smacked his hand on his thigh. “Great news Charles. I knew you could do it. More tests Charles. Do you need more help?”
“No just more time.”
“The Admiral doesn’t give me much of that Charles.”
“I know. I know. But we don’t want to get it wrong. This could have destroyed the Resolute. You know that don’t you.”
“Yes Charles but let’s not go telling the world, all right?”
“OK, OK. But I need another week to run the tests. We need to build new scrubber modules, run them for an extended period and then burn the crap out of them. We need to test for high energy blast, slow burn etc. You know the tests.”
“I know the tests but we can draw valid conclusions from a subset. Yes?”
“We did that last time Mani and look what happened.”
“Are you going to give me a hard time on this Charles?”
“If I had done so last time we wouldn’t be here” said Charles raising his voice.
“And Beta Phi would be in rogan hands” stated Mani forcefully. “Two days Charles. Do it in two.” Mani rose, leant over and patted Charles on the shoulder. “I knew we could count on you.”
Chapter 22. Butros Alia 1300, 9 June
Brennon was waiting on the apron as the Phantom touched down. The early afternoon sun was blistering but it would get hotter. The heat haze already shimmered over the dry desert surface on the far side of the runway. The driest place on the planet could be an unforgiving one but Brennon felt fully forgiven for his past transgressions. He was about to meet the woman who had made that possible.
2nd Lt Martin Lodi was first out. Aubrey followed. She spied the lone figure and waved. He waved back and began walking toward her. Aubrey had thought about how she should behave on meeting Brennon out here with all her crew watching. She had told herself that decorum was required.
But on seeing Brennon her heart leapt and she hugged him despite herself. He was a little surprised but hugged and kissed her back. Martin raised one of his eyebrows but said nothing as he stood beside the embracing couple.
“This is Martin Lodi, Brennon” she said “He’s our quartermaster.”
“Brennon Warner” said Brennon shaking Martin’s hand. “Come on in and we’ll get the show rolling.”
“You’re not related to Captain Warner are you?” asked Martin respectfully.
“Is it that obvious?” said Brennon. “You won’t hold it against me?”
Martin chuckled. “Of course not. I just…”
“Don’t worry about it Martin. We’ve got a full afternoon. Let’s go.”
After the entire crew went through the droid demo session, Brennon instructed Martin and his assistant on the use of the MagGrab to load the droid pod into the belly of the ship. They practiced unloading and loading several times.
After that each of the officers and Senior NCOs got to practice taking control of the command droid. Aubrey already knew that this was a challenge. It was somethin
g she struggled with. They had it out on the apron about 200m away from the ship and the facility entrance. Brennon showed how to approach the droid, declare your intent to take charge, go through the ID verification process and open the rear hatch and climb in. He then seemingly effortlessly demonstrated how to manoeuvre the droid.
Brennon was enjoying himself. He stretched out the pace so that it was now racing down the runway at 15 kph. As he approached the target range off to the side he pivoted and fired the inbuilt pulse weapon, demolishing target after target. When he charged the closest targets and used the Rez discharger on them, Aubrey knew he was just showing off. ‘He’s a boy with his toy’ she said to herself but smiled nonetheless. Brennon came jogging back in the command droid, dismounted and asked “Who would like to be first?”
2nd Lt Phil Turnbull volunteered and like so many before him stuttered and misdirected the machine. As they watched on, Aubrey whispered in Brennon’s ear “Show off!” Brennon responded with a shrug of the shoulders and a smile.
To her surprise one of her marine sergeants by the name of Jules Meyer seemed to master it with effortless ease.
Aubrey took a turn and found it a little easier than the last time she did it. But while practice helped she was convinced that it came easier to some and she was not one of them. This time though she was able to take out the targets with the Rizstorm launcher. But she could not quite master the coordination required to bend the torso and use the rez discharger at the same time to take out the low lying targets. When she came back and dismounted, though, she was pleased she had not completely disgraced herself.
As the last of the Senior NCOs was undertaking their famil with the Command droid Aubrey received a call from Phil Yomoto.
“Aubrey, everything going fine there?’
“Yes Sir, we’re just completing the droid famil right now.”
“Good. Now tomorrow morning 0930 I want you up here for a council of war.”
“Right Sir but you said we would have four days.”
“Yes you still have four days but I need you here tomorrow morning – just for the morning. I’ll have a shuttle pick you up at 0730. Let your XO run the show till you get back.”
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