As most of the officers were still leaving Wolf crewmen came into the dining hall and started decorating for the wedding. They had two hours to make the drab hall look a little nicer. Bre-Nan and Sin-Ca could have had their wedding in the fanciest and elegant chapel that the Mary Queen of Scots had but the Blue male had wanted it to be on the Star Wolf with his friends and shipmates.
Collins and several other ship’s officers who had been at the meeting stayed to help set up. A half hour before the service the mess hall had been transformed into an impromptu wedding chapel. It was at that time when Dr. Lt. Angelique Duarte arrived looking stunning in an off the shoulder blue silken dress that stopped just above her knees.
“Mike, you’re a lucky man,” Martin said after slapping him on the back and pointing over to the entrance of the dining hall.
He had to agree with his friend as the doctor spotted him and she gave him a big smile. She was carrying a uniform bag that he guessed had his dress uniform in.
“You must hurry, the ceremony starts very soon,” she said so fast that her French accent almost made it impossible to understand her.
He gave her a big smile as he took the bag
“Doesn’t the mess hall look great?”
She forced a smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
“Oui, but you must hurry,” she said giving him a look of worry.
He again smiled and gave into her anxiety as he left to change. As he was leaving he heard her taking charge of the room and telling people to move some of the flowers and chairs to better places in the room. When he returned he found that she was right and it did look better. The mess hall also was quickly filling up with people as they milled about and slowly found their seats.
Chief Warrant Officer Jacob Zimmerman best know as the Padre was standing next to an altar that had been brought in. He was the ship’s chief engineer as well as being one of the gray wolves but he was also an ordained minister and took care of most of the crew’s religious needs including Sunday services. The Padre was wearing a black robe but you could see his dress uniform underneath his vestments.
Those already in the room turned to look as numerous Karduans from the Spider had arrived. It was still odd to see Blues in Confederation uniforms but they had proven their worth and their loyalty both by their hard work and in battle. Nonetheless, many people still didn’t trust them and instead of being insulted the free Karduans simply worked harder.
It wasn’t hard for Mike to find Angelique as she was still reorganizing the room.
“Come my love, it is time to sit down,” he said taking her by the arm and guiding her away. One of the enlisted men who had been helping her said a quiet thank you to him, which he answered with a knowing nod.
The doctor let out a little sigh but allowed herself to be pulled away and to a seat on the groom’s side of the aisle.
Some music started but it wasn’t the traditional Wedding March, instead it sounded like a lonely flute accompanied by a lute. Later, Mike would find out that it was music from Kardua that was only used for solemn occasions.
Everyone that was still standing quickly sat down and turned to look as the groom walked down the aisles. Bre-Nan was wearing a Confederation dress uniform with the rank of ensign. Some people had protested quietly to Captain Hope or to Captain Kirkland about his officer’s status. They both pointed out that it was a battlefield promotion which was their right as well as that he was the executive officer of the Spider and had earned that rank.
Behind him came his friend and the commander of the Spider - Lt. Bill Peters. He was dressed in his best uniform complete with his new rank. Bill was to act as his best man as well as being his best friend. He carried a ring box in his left hand and looked more nervous than his Blue friend.
The music changed tempo becoming a little more up beat and the bride appeared at the doorway to the mess hall turned wedding chapel. She was dressed in a human style wedding dress but instead of white the dress was silver in color that accented her pale blue skin. It had both shoulders expose with a high collar that went to the neck. In her pale hands she carried a small bouquet of red flowers.
Her face looked very stoic and was unsmiling. This was normal for lower caste Karduans as their lives were spent serving others and smiling was reserved for your private time away from your mistress. It also served to help prepare your mind in case you were telepathically probed. Humor and joy lowered your defenses and opened your mind to be easily read.
“She looks so lovely,” Angelique whispered.
The Padre cleared his throat a little and the music stopped as the bride reached the waiting groom.
“Dearly beloved,” the Padre started going onto a short sermon about the joys of marriage and love.
Angelique took Mike’s and held it tight leaning forward a little to hear the sermon. His mind wondered from what was being said to thoughts of his own love life and the woman sitting next to him. He had never been with such a passionate and wonderful woman. She was smart, tough and damn beautiful and as the wedding ceremony continued he thought that he couldn’t have a better woman in his life than her.
Removing his hand from hers, he put his arm around her as she moved a little closer and leaned into his shoulder. Realizing that he was looking at her lovely face instead of the proceedings he turned back to the ceremony. There he saw that the couple wasn’t holding hands as much as placing the palms of their right hands against each other.
“I believe that the couple has their own vows to say to one another,” Padre Zimmerman said stepping back.
“By the Redeemer, I take you as my equal and share with you my life and my struggles,” Sin-Ca announced still looking very serious.
Bre-Nan bowed his bald blue head in a sort of a nod, “In the name of the Redeemer, I accept this duty and swear to share my life and my struggles with you as my equal and partner.”
To the humans watching it seemed rather emotionless but the other Karduans that were seated around them seemed pleased and were even smiling at this pledge of life and shared struggles.
The Padre once more stepped closer and had them exchange rings as a symbol of their unity. He then announced them as husband and wife. The new couple turned towards their guests as the room stood up.
Now the traditional human Wedding March was played as they walked down the aisle together. It was a different kind of wedding being a mix of Karduan and Earth customs but everyone seemed to like it. A dinner was then held and Mike found himself enjoying this last meal and time with his friends before their tiny squadron would leave the safety of the Wolf’s Den.
Chapter Three
Mike’s new command was shaping up nicely or at least it felt that way to him. It wasn’t really his first command anyway as he had been ship captain of the ISS Alamo and ISS Mammoth for brief periods. More importantly he had been the third officer on board the ISS Star Wolf and had learned from legendary officers like Captain Hope and Commander Richards. He wasn’t as good as them but they were once young lieutenants too and they had to be forged into the sharp swords that they now were.
Sitting in his captain’s chair on the bridge of the Randori, he watched his bridge crew as they prepared to make way. They were busy and so was he as the last mission briefing raced through his mind while he monitored systems reports coming in from all over the ship. They were ready that’s what he thought leaning back in his chair as it squeaked a little from the shifting of his weight. Two crewmen turned for a brief second to look at him but then quickly went back to work. He had to get that squeak taken care he thought once they were on their way and a little less busy.
“Sir, we are ready to get underway,” the helmsman report from the pilot’s station.
Collins nodded as Lt. Jim Thornton turned from his seat as he made his report. The helmsman’s brown eyes and narrow face smiled back at him.
Mike had pulled some strings to have the officer placed into the prize crews on his ship and then transferred him to helm du
ty. He wanted to give the guy a chance. An American Admiral from WWII once said, “That every dog deserves two bites.” This was Thornton’s second bite and now he would be right in front of Mike if anything went wrong.
“Sir, the engine room is reporting in that they are ready,” Midshipmen Junior Class Gustov Jansen sang out from the communications station.
The tall hulking young man was another Harpers Academy student but he had been left out of the stealing Star Wolf. In fact, Mike had kicked his ass and left him tied up to set of weights with his own socks stuffed in his mouth. At the time he couldn’t be trusted because he was an Austro Prime native as well as his father was an administrator with the new rebel government. Things had changed since then and now he and most of the other left out middies were serving on the four vessels of their task force.
Seated next to him was Jim Byrd operating the maser station with his Blue friend Chac-Ras who was manning the space radar system. Both men had helped Mike take the Karduan Star Destroyer at the Battle of Austro Prime and they were two people he trusted with his back.
“Weapons?” Mike asked nonchalantly.
Chief Sam Baker looked over to him and smiled. The old gray wolf had served with Mike on the Star Wolf and had volunteered to come over to the Randori. He wouldn’t tell anyone his age but he was long past retirement. He like the other gray wolves had earned the right to serve and knew weapons and fire control systems better than most youngsters serving on regular active duty ships.
“Sir, we’re ready to light up their blue asses,” he commented.
At that moment the bridge door swished open and Rufo appeared. He was in engineering coveralls and looked a little out of breath.
“Good of you to join us XO,” Mike said ignoring him while looking up at the view screen.
“Just making sure the engines are ship shape,” Cappillo said moving to standing next to the captain’s chair.
Collins leaned closer to him and whispered, “Chief Bell can do that. I need you on the bridge.”
“Roger that,” Rufo said with a nod and a slight frown. He then moved to each station to double check that every thing was ready.
“Sir, the Star Wolf is signaling that the squadron is ready to head out,” Jansen reported.
Mike looked to Rufo and nodded.
“Acknowledge their message,” Cappillo said and then looked to the helm station. “Half impulse ahead, bring us up and along the Wolf’s port side as she passes.”
Collins smiled at his executive officer as he watched his main view screen. The attack cruiser moved by their position and he could see that the Cody was already ahead of them leading the way to the bender point. The Randori quickly fell in next to the cruiser easily keeping pace with her.
Reaching the exit to the inner asteroid field they received another message.
“Task Force Trident, good luck and may God be with you,” the voice was that of Captain Kirkland who was staying behind to command the base and oversee ship repairs and crew training.
Exiting the Wolf’s Den, they crossed the system heading toward the bender point and easily picked up several small ships on their maser detection system.
Sensors picked up shuttles busily working in the gaseous belt of some of the nearby worlds. They were the Pay Dirt and three other smaller shuttles called the Eureka, the Gold Digger and the Sutter. The last shuttle was named after the man whose property was the first place that gold had been found at John Sutter’s Mill. This had started the 1849 California Gold Rush and ironically left Mr. Sutter in poverty. These shuttles had all been retrofitted for mining operations and were the moneymaking stars of the base.
As they passed by them they could see that the shuttles were busy scooping and filtering a multitude of precious minerals and gases from the various planets’ thick atmospheres. This included helium-3 hydrogen mix that was used to power the fusion drives of the in-system maneuver engines for most starships.
“Give us a wide berth from the red star. It is a flare star, and has a nasty habit of erupting now and then,” Mike said remembering what Captain Hope had told them when they first entered the system after stealing the Wolf.
“Aye sir,” Thornton replied making slight adjustments to their course.
All planets had gravity wells and even gravity-neutral zones or Lagrange points, where gravitational forces were stable, but for several reasons, they weren’t used.
A planet’s gravity wells were usually too weak and often too unstable to be used to open a bend or a wormhole. Such a bend from an unstable hole might end up with the ship somewhere they didn’t intend, or could even collapse and crush the ship before it could slip through. In addition, it was unsafe to open them that close to an inhabited planet. One mistake, and the ship could explode and rain debris on the world below, or even though it had never happened, warp the hole to affect the world directly.
The real problem with a bend was that even if you knew what system you were entering you didn’t know what was already there. Star systems still had to be relatively close along the cylinder of stars for bender drives to work. They needed a large stable gravity well and if possible a hydrogen gas giant.
Even then you never knew what might happen or if you’d safely make it. Both human and Karduan ships were also limited to the power they could provide for a bend and that determined how long they could maintain a stable conduit last and also how far they could go.
“Polarize the hull and prepare to bend,” Mike ordered as they followed the Star Wolf to the gravity well.
As they waited for the signal to engage their bender drives Midshipman Jansen called out from the communications station.
“Sir, the Wolf is asking us to open a channel and link to our ship’s public address system,” he said turning to look at Collins.
Mike nodded his approval.
“Captain Hope probably wants to speak to the squadron,” he remarked letting his bridge crew in on what he suspected.
A moment later the Hawk’s old face filled the main viewer.
“Today, we are embarking on a journey that will take us not home to safety but into the jaws of the enemy. We shall rain destruction down on them at every chance. We will fight smart and force them to chase and pursue us, and then we will hit them again.”
The old warrior paused for a moment letting them think about his words.
“We fight for the survival of our friends and families. We fight to protect our way of life and humankind. We face a tough road but one that we’ve trained for and one that our ships have been designed to win. There is no turning back and I don’t believe any of you would want to. God save the Confederation and Earth!”
The crew repeated this last part almost all of them calling on God to Protect the United Confederation of Earth.
“Captains, keep your channels open for Padre Zimmerman.”
A moment later the chief engineer of the Star Wolf appeared on the screen. It looked like he was in the engine room of the attack cruiser tending his engines or babies as he liked to called them. Chief Warrant Zimmerman was still in his engineering overhauls and was covered in dirt and grease. This didn’t matter as they waited for the old engineer and minister to speak.
The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Amen.
Mike immediately recognized it as being from Psalms 23. He especially
thought the part about walking through the valley of the shadow of death was appropriate. Saying a prayer before a big mission was sort of tradition for the gray wolves and pups. A tradition that Hope started and upheld, as having God on your side was never a bad idea and after all there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.
The crews of all four ships said “Amen” right after the Padre. A moment later the signal came to enter the gravity well and bend to their next destination.
In Einstein’s General Relativity Theory, it says that the curvature of space-time is directly determined by the distribution of matter and energy contained in it. Therefore, space curvature equals matter and energy.
If light bends in a gravitational field and matter produces a gravitational field, then matter can literally bend space. Anywhere there is matter, like a star or planet, then a bend or well in gravity could also be located.
If space is curved, then a straight line is not inevitably the shortest distance between two points. A shorter course could be found by going through rather than around curved space. Just as if you’d fold a piece of paper and put a hole through it: folded the two holes’ touch. Unfolded, they’d have a greater distance between them.
A trip through what people would call a wormhole or an opened gravity well wouldn’t take weeks or even days. Because the two sections of curved space are bent closer together once you flew into it you’d be instantly on the other side. No tunnel, no wormhole; in a traditional sense, just instant access to the other side of the universe in a blink of an eye. The problem with gravity wells and wormholes was that you needed one handy, like those around a heavy planetary body or star.
Another problem was that a ship would be crushed long before it got through the opening from the well’s immense gravitational forces. The conventional design would have called for a ship to match the gravitational force trying to crush it by an equal force versus force ratio. The amount of energy required to do this was far beyond the output produced by any ship engine ever created, and would have to have virtually the power of a star to work.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 7
