Ep.#7 - Who Takes No Risk (The Frontiers Saga - Part 2: Rogue Castes)

by Ryk Brown

  The door opened slowly, and the old man cautiously peeked inside before entering. He tossed the bag to the ground in front of Birk’s feet. “Took guts to ask, kid.”

  “What’s this?” Birk asked, reaching down for the bag.

  “About a dozen military ration packs.”

  “Food?” Birk asked, excitedly digging into the bag.

  “Some call it that,” the old man admitted. “I don’t.”

  “Thank you,” Michael said respectfully. He moved over next to Birk, taking one of the ration packs and inspecting it. “These are Corinari issue and quite old. Where did you get them?”

  “I had family in the Corinari. They’re still good. They’ve got a shelf life of like a million years, or something. Or so I’m told.”

  “That’s true,” Michael laughed. “They do. This is quite generous of you.”

  “Not really,” the old man replied. “I never much cared for them, to be honest.”

  “How do these work?” Birk wondered, examining one of the ration packs.

  “Press in the center to break the heat pack seal, then shake thoroughly,” Michael instructed. “In a few minutes, the contents will be fully heated and ready to eat.”

  Birk wasted no time in getting started, popping the seal and shaking the ration pack like a crazy man.

  “You three resistance?” the old man asked out of nowhere.

  “I thought you didn’t want to know,” Michael reminded him.

  “I don’t……and I do.”

  “Let’s just say that we are not fans of the Dusahn, and leave it at that,” Michael suggested.

  “Fair enough.” The old man watched as Birk and Cuddy opened their ration packs and started eating with their fingers. “Sorry, I forgot to bring utensils.”

  Both Birk and Cuddy made sounds indicating it didn’t matter to them.

  “Just thought you should know,” the old man said, turning to Michael, “the Dusahn have been making surprise inspections throughout this area the last few days. So you might want to have someone other than tractor-nose here on sentry.”

  “I swear, I have never snored before!”

  The old man slipped back through the door, headed back to the main house as Birk defended himself.

  Cuddy looked at Michael. “What if he turns us in?”

  “If he was planning on turning us in, he wouldn’t have warned us that the Dusahn make surprise inspections,” Michael insisted. “He would have just turned us in. Besides, he had family who served in the Corinari, which means he would likely support the resistance if he could. In a way, by letting us sleep here and giving us these rations, he is supporting the resistance.”

  “You call this support?” Birk wondered, tossing an empty ration pack to the ground. “These things are barely edible.”

  “You ate two of them,” Cuddy pointed out.

  “I’m hungry.”

  “Be sure to eat some of the kaka bites while on watch,” Michael instructed. “They’ll help keep you awake.”

  * * *

  “This is not my first time in the back seat of a Gunyoki,” Loki reminded his pilot.

  “My apologies,” Vol replied. “My intent was not to offend.”

  “I don’t offend that easily,” Loki told the old Gunyoki pilot. “I fly with Josh, remember?”

  Vol Kaguchi smiled. “Ah, yes. Patience and a thick skin would be required for that assignment.”

  “A lot of patience,” Loki remarked under his breath as he ran another diagnostics cycle on the Gunyoki fighter’s newly installed jump drive.

  Vol continued to smile as he checked his flight instruments. “One minute to the test area.”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  “So, how does this thing work?” Vol wondered.

  “I’m not really qualified to explain the physics,” Loki admitted. “But as I understand it, the jump field creates a bubble of normal, four-dimensional space around us. The power is dumped into the inner field as the outer field collapses and makes contact with the inner field. The result is that the bubble of normal space, and all objects contained within, transition in three-dimensional space, with time being the missing dimension. The inner field—which is still in normal space where time exists—decays at a rate that is dependent on how much energy was dumped into it at the moment of transition. Once it decays enough to become unstable, the field collapses, which forces us to transition back into normal space, thus ending the jump. We still travel along the same path, as if we were flying through normal space, but we don’t experience the time it takes to do so.”

  “Thank you for that explanation,” Vol replied politely. “But I’m simply asking how we activate the system.”

  “Oh. Well, you just put the ship on the correct course and speed, select the desired jump distance, and press the jump button. But for these tests, I’ll be activating the jump drive from my console.”

  “And just like that, you travel between the stars,” Vol stated. “Incredible.”

  “You already knew about jump drives, right?” Loki questioned.

  “Of course,” Vol replied. “Jump ships have been plying our system for several years now. I have just never actually traveled in one.”

  Loki smiled. “It does take some getting used to.”

  “What does it feel like?” Vol wondered.

  “You don’t feel anything,” Loki promised. “And since the Gunyoki fighters are getting stealth jump drives, you don’t have to worry about the flash, either.”

  “Marcus Taggert said the jumps make his teeth hurt.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s the only person I know of who could ever feel a jump.”

  “I wonder why.” Vol looked down at his console again. “We are entering the jump test area now.”

  “Test Control, Test One,” Loki called over the comms. “We are in the test area and ready for the first jump test.”

  “Test One, Test Control,” Josh replied over comms. “The princess says we’re ready here. You can jump when ready… Wait. Oh, and she also says I should stop calling her ‘princess’,” he added with a chuckle.

  “The young man does like to anger those around him, doesn’t he,” Vol observed.

  “Yeah, it’s kind of his thing.” Loki rechecked his console. “All systems show ready back here.”

  “We are on the designated course and speed,” Vol assured him.

  “You ready?”

  “Very much so,” Vol assured him.

  “Test Control, Test One. Jumping in three…” Loki armed the jump drive. “…Two…” He flipped the safety off the jump button. “…One…” He took a deep breath and pressed the jump button, looking out the window as he did so.

  Pale, blue-white light spilled quickly out of the jump emitters on the Gunyoki fighter’s hull, spreading out and engulfing the ship. Only a split second after it had started, the blue-white light completely covered the ship and increased in its intensity, but it did not flash. Instead, it faded away as quickly as it had come. Loki thought he noticed the stars shifting slightly but knew otherwise. Their first jump had been only a few light seconds, which would have resulted in no perceptible stellar shift. “Jump complete.”

  “Did it work?” Vol wondered.

  Loki scanned his instruments, checking and rechecking their position. “We are three light seconds further along our course than before the jump, so, yes, it worked.”

  “Incredible.”

  “Test Control, Test One,” Loki called over comms. It took several seconds for Josh to reply, as he was now three light seconds further behind the test ship.

  “Test One, zero indicators,” Josh reported. “One moment you were there, and the next you were gone. Wait… We’ve got you now. Three light seconds downrange. Go
ahead with the simulated stealth penetration jump.”

  “Test One. Understood,” Loki replied.

  “Coming about on a reciprocal heading,” Vol reported as he put the Gunyoki fighter into a tight turn to port.

  “Setting up for cold-coast,” Loki announced as he began powering down the ship’s unnecessary systems in preparation for the next test jump.

  “These ships aren’t exactly designed for stealth recon, you know,” Vol reminded him.

  “It’s just a matter of reducing emissions,” Loki insisted. “Any ship can cold-coast. You just have to turn everything off, that’s all.”

  “Not exactly sure I like the sound of that…turning things off, that is. These ships weren’t designed to be restarted in flight.”

  “That’s why they modified them.”

  “I still don’t know where they found the room for all of this,” Vol admitted.

  “You’d be surprised how much room all that broadcasting and monitoring gear takes up,” Loki told him. “Not to mention all that race commission safety gear.”

  “That gear keeps us safe,” Vol insisted. “Hence the name.”

  “The only safety gear you need in combat is your ejection seat and what you’re wearing,” Loki insisted. “That, and your shields. Trust me.”

  “You sound like you’ve seen your share of combat, my young friend.”

  “More than I’d like, that’s for sure.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  Loki sighed. “To be honest, I don’t really know. Josh asked, Nathan asked, I couldn’t say no.”

  “Even with a wife and baby at home?”

  “I guess that’s why,” Loki admitted. “They don’t have a home. Not anymore.”

  “Could you not have retired and lived out your life on Corinair, even under Dusahn rule?”

  “I’d always be worried the Dusahn would realize that I had once served, and lock me up just like they’ve been doing to all the Corinari.”

  “So, you fight for a better life for those you love, then.”

  “I guess so.”

  “It is why we all fight,” Vol told him. “We are now on the return course and at the proper speed.”

  “All systems except the jump drive are going cold,” Loki reported. “The jump drive will go cold as soon as the jump is completed.” Loki scanned his instruments again. “Jumping in three……two……one……jumping.”

  Again, the subdued, pale, blue-white light spilled out over their hull, quickly engulfing them, and then fading quickly away a second later.

  “Jump complete,” Loki announced. “All systems are offline. We’re cold-coasting. The only things on are the low-power comms and the passive sensors, both of which put out no detectable emissions.”

  “When should the Aurora be able to detect us?” Vol wondered.

  “I’m detecting them on passive,” Loki replied. “So they should be able to detect us.”

  “They should have jumped by now,” Lieutenant Commander Kono stated from the Aurora’s sensor station.

  “He counted down, as usual,” Josh assured them from the auxiliary station on the starboard side of the bridge. “They’re out there.”

  “I’ve got no indication of anyone jumping into the area,” the lieutenant commander assured her captain. “Not on passive, anyway. Shall I go active?”

  “That would be cheating,” Nathan said, half-joking. “Go ahead and hail them, Mister Hayes.”

  “Test One, Control. You out there?” Josh called over comms. After half a minute, he added. “Loki, how do you copy?” Josh looked at Nathan. “I don’t know, Cap’n. Maybe they haven’t jumped yet.”

  “Go active,” Nathan ordered.

  “Switching to active sensors,” Lieutenant Commander Kono announced. “Holy crap,” she declared a few seconds later. “I’ve got them, Captain. Off the starboard bow, about ten kilometers and closing fast.”

  “What the hell, Loki?” Josh called over comms.

  “Sorry,” Loki replied. “I just wanted to see how close we could get without being detected. Not bad, huh?”

  “Not bad at all,” Nathan agreed, turning to look at Abby and Deliza, both of whom were standing behind the tactical station watching the test. “Congratulations. How long until we can outfit all of the Gunyokis with stealth jump drives?”

  “Our plant on Rakuen has already finished the retooling process and is just waiting for word from us to get started,” Deliza said. “Once word is given, we can start installation on the first ship within a few days. Then we’ll be able to outfit one ship each day.”

  “How long until you’re certain of the test results?” Nathan asked.

  “We still have quite a few more test jumps to conduct,” Abby warned. “I’d like to be sure of the stealth emitter’s long-range performance and series-jump performance, as well, before committing them to production.”

  “How about we streamline the process with a compromise?” Nathan suggested. “Outfit the first dozen, or so, with the prototype designs, and limit them to short-range stealth jumps only and no series stealth jumps. At least, not in combat.”

  “I’d prefer to conduct thorough real-world testing,” Abby insisted. “However, if we can install data recorders on all the Gunyokis using the prototypes, I guess we could use that data to extrapolate and predict performance parameters for longer stealth jumps. Series stealth jumps, however, need to be thoroughly tested on a dedicated test ship, since there is much more risk of the emitters overheating.”

  “Agreed,” Nathan said. “Make the call, Deliza.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  * * *

  “Maybe we should have saved a few of those ration packs for tomorrow,” Cuddy commented.

  “I was hungry now,” Birk replied as he lay back in his makeshift hay bed.

  “If I remember correctly, there is a transportation station in the town a few more kilometers down the road. We should be able to pick up some food there, before getting on the train into Aitkenna.”

  “Where are we going to go, once we get to Aitkenna?” Birk wondered. “Our rent is more than a month overdue by now. I wouldn’t be surprised if the manager already sold all our stuff and rented the place out.”

  “I have some contacts in the city who may not have been compromised,” Michael assured them. “Once we get into the city, I can initiate contact.”

  “And if they have been compromised?” Cuddy asked.

  “Then we’ll check to see if your apartment manager has rented out your place yet. If not, I can pay your back rent, and we can hide out there for awhile until the Dusahn give up looking for us.”

  “Do you think they know what we look like?” Birk wondered.

  “Doubtful,” Michael replied. “Our encounters with them in the tunnels were brief, and there was a lot of dust and weapons fire in the air. Even if they were using battle cameras, it would have been difficult to get clear images of our faces. Three average-sized males, all with brown hair is likely the best description they have, which could fit just about anyone.”

  “The old man’s coming back,” Cuddy warned. “And he’s running this time.”

  Michael sprung from his hay bed, picking up his energy rifle and moving into position to defend himself.

  Birk took notice with a start, following Michael’s lead and grabbing his own rifle. “I thought you said we could trust him?”

  “I do, I mean, I did,” Michael replied as he moved into position. “But there is a reason he’s running.”

  Seconds later, the old man burst through the barn doors, panting. “They are coming,” he warned between breaths. “A friend called, they are two houses down. They have searched every home and outbuilding on this road. They will be here within the hour.”
/>   “We’ve got to get out of here while we can,” Birk exclaimed.

  “No, you must stay put,” the old man insisted.

  “He’s right,” Michael agreed. “If they are actively searching this area, they will have tasked either a satellite or a shuttle to monitor the area for movement.”

  “Then they saw him running out here to warn us,” Cuddy surmised.

  “Possibly,” Michael admitted as the old man moved over toward the livestock trailer in the corner of the barn, behind the tractor. “Unless their sensor scans are more narrowly focused. These properties are far apart, and at night a more narrow sensor beam is usually required for optimal resolution.” A puzzled look came across his face as he watched the old man preparing to move the large trailer. “What are you doing?”

  “There is an underground shelter that was originally a root cellar, dug out of the rock below us. It is big enough to hide all three of you, and then some. The entrance is underneath this trailer.”

  “They’ll see us on their hand scanners,” Birk insisted.

  “Maybe not,” Michael corrected. “This entire area is rich with terrak deposits. Between that and the magnetic fields of that fusion reactor, they might not detect anything below, not even the cave itself.”

  “That is why it was dug into the rock decades ago,” the old man argued. “To hide from the Takarans. Now help me.”

  Michael and Birk helped the old man push the trailer forward a full meter. Once the trailer was moved, the old man brushed away the hay and dirt on the floor, revealing a half-meter square door. He pulled out his buck knife, stuck it into the edge, and pried the door up, grabbing its edge and pulling it aside. “Inside, quickly,” the old man urged. “I need to get everything in here back in order and get back inside before their sensor beams reach my property, or they will know that I was up to something.”

  Birk was the first one down the hole, followed by Cuddy, and then Michael, who paused halfway down and looked up at the old man. “I do not mean to sound ungrateful, but why are you helping us?”