Frontiers 07 - The Expanse

by Ryk Brown

  “You know, be his friend, make him think he has an ally.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” she asked, a quizzical expression on her face.

  “I don’t know,” Jessica fumbled. “Spend some time with him. Talk a bit… Oh! Give him a tour of the ship.”

  “Why?”

  “The more he talks, the more he might let some information slip,” Jessica explained. “He has to feel comfortable, like he knows and understands his surroundings.”

  “How am I supposed to remember everything he says? A tour could take hours.”

  “Leave your comm-set open. I can record everything,” Jessica suggested.

  “You know, I do have responsibilities,” Cameron said. “I am the XO, after all.”

  “I’ll cover you,” Nathan offered.

  Cameron sighed, resigning herself to the idea of becoming friends with Mister Percival. “Very well.”

  “Well, people,” Nathan began, “it seems we have a few mysteries to solve. Who is Jonathon Percival, why did he lie about how long he has been in stasis, and what happened to the expedition? We’re only about six or seven jumps from Sol, so we’ve got less than two days to figure it all out.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Major Prechitt entered the preflight briefing room, just as he had done at the conclusion of each jump cycle, in order to brief his pilots on the next training exercise. This time, however, he did not have a room full of dedicated, highly-trained fighter pilots. He had Josh and Loki.

  As usual, he went straight to the podium. He looked out at the two young men: Loki sitting straight up and looking very attentive, and Josh slouching in his high-backed seat and looking like he was about to fall asleep out of boredom. At that moment, he changed tactics. He picked up his data pad from the podium, pulled a chair from the side, and took a seat directly in front of the two young men. “Do you guys know who I am?”

  “Yes, sir, Major Prechitt,” Loki answered immediately. “You’re the commander of the Aurora’s air group.”

  Josh made a faint kissing sound, meant only for Loki’s ears.

  “That’s right, Loki,” Major Prechitt answered, staring at Josh. “I’m the Aurora’s CAG. Do you know why you’re here?”

  “You’re going to tell us how to fly a recon mission, right and proper,” Josh remarked.

  Major Prechitt swallowed hard. He was used to dealing with polished Corinari pilots, not punk kids with bad attitudes. “Actually, Josh, Captain Scott has high regards for your piloting skills. He insists the two of you are a great team, that you have a natural chemistry that balances one another’s strengths and weaknesses.”

  “Then why are we here, sir?” Loki asked politely.

  “The CAG is responsible for all spacecraft operations other than that of the Aurora herself. Until now, your recon flights have been under the direct control of Captain Scott. I’ve asked him to place operations of the Falcon under my control, where it should be.”

  “So you can tell us how to fly,” Josh mumbled.

  “This would be easier if you’d just give me a chance,” Major Prechitt said, staring straight at Josh. “After all, that is what I’m trying to do for you.”

  Josh straightened up just enough to demonstrate compliance. “Sorry, sir. You were saying?”

  Major Prechitt took Josh’s change in posture as a positive step forward and continued. “I have no doubt that the two of you can fly the Falcon superbly. I saw what you did over both Ancot and Aitkenna. That took both skill and courage. But I’ve got a problem. I’ve got fifty well-trained pilots who know their own spacecraft inside and out. But they have never seen, nor do they know anything about, Jung fighters.”

  “Neither do we, sir,” Loki reminded him.

  “Yes, I know. But you are about to fly a recon mission into what we believe to be Jung-controlled space. If we’re lucky, you might even be able to witness a few of them patrolling the system.”

  “If we’re lucky, we won’t,” Josh corrected.

  Major Prechitt smiled, understanding Josh’s sentiment and appreciating that the young man wasn’t foolish enough to desire such encounters, as many young pilots might. “If you do, take notes about everything: the speeds they travel during each maneuver, how sharply they turn, or how quickly they can accelerate. These are things that passive scans don’t reveal. It takes a trained observer.” The major leaned back in his chair. “You two have been thrice blessed. You have a unique spacecraft at your disposal, you have the skills to fly it, and you have a situation that demands its use. I can help you both become better pilots and a better flight team. All I ask is that you let me.” Major Prechitt looked at Loki, whose face was enthusiastic and wide-eyed. Then he looked at Josh, who had straightened up a bit more. “What do you say, boys?”

  Josh looked at Loki and his eager expression. “You’ve got my interest, sir.”

  “Good,” Major Prechitt responded. “Now, first, we’ve added a few toys to your ship.”

  “Like what?” Josh asked with suspicion.

  “Nothing that will change her flight characteristics, Josh. They’re more like toys for Loki.”

  “Like what?” Loki asked with interest.

  “We installed a pair of decoy drones. When you launch them, they emit both thermal and radiological patterns that mimic those of the Falcon. They are maneuverable and can be used to lure your enemy away from you.”

  “Sweet,” Loki said. “How did you manage that so fast?”

  “Such things are standard issue on Takaran fighters,” Major Prechitt stated. “The Karuzari have been using them effectively for years. We just reprogrammed them to mimic the Falcon instead of a Takaran fighter.”

  “Nice,” Josh said.

  “We also installed a pair of comm-drones. They were emergency comm-drones for use on Takaran recon ships. We stripped the FTL out of them and installed mini-jump drives. When launched, they will carry a message all the way back to the Aurora’s last known position by jumping in rapid succession.”

  “What happens if the Aurora isn’t there?”

  “If they know the Aurora’s next jump point, they will go there. Otherwise, they will self-destruct.”

  “And they’re only one-way?” Loki asked.

  “For now, yes. We’re hoping to make them two-way systems, but that involves rendezvous and docking, which is far more complicated to automate.”

  “How will we know how to use these new toys?” Josh wondered.

  “Senior Chief Taggart will go over them with you on the flight line.” Major Prechitt handed them each a data card. “These contain a list of things to look for if you do see their fighters in action. I figured, since you’re going to have a lot of down time while you’re cruising through the target system, you might as well review it then… give you something to do.”

  “Yeah, every little bit helps,” Loki admitted.

  “Very well, gentlemen,” Major Prechitt said as he stood. “Good luck and good hunting.”

  Josh and Loki both stood, shaking the major’s hand. Josh stuffed the data card into his flight suit hip pocket along with all the other data cards he had brought along to keep himself entertained for the mission. As they left the pilot’s briefing room and headed down the corridor toward the hangar deck, Josh turned to Loki. “Someone needs to tell the major that a recon pilot’s favorite thing to find is nothing.”

  * * *

  Nathan made his way across the Aurora’s main hangar deck. Over the weeks, the flight deck had changed considerably. Major Prechitt, the Corinari flight technicians, Senior Chief Taggart, and the Chief of the Boat, Master Chief Montrose, had all worked together—using the Aurora’s flight operations manuals as a guide—to turn the Aurora’s flight operations into a model of efficiency. As expected, their methods varied somewhat from standard Fleet flight deck operations, a necessity brought about by the differences in both spacecraft and roles. The Aurora had been designed as a ship of exploration and diplomacy first and as a warship second.
Now, ninety percent of all flight deck operations were designed for combat operations. To this end, both the port and starboard transfer airlocks had been tasked for the recovery of fighter-craft only, while the larger, center transfer airlock was now reserved for the launch and recovery of cargo shuttles.

  Even the Falcon, while much bigger than a fighter, was still small enough to fit on the forward elevator pads. It was no longer allowed to use the flight apron for operations. Instead, she launched and recovered via the forward elevator pads, which were designed to travel all the way up through the top of the Aurora’s hull, thus becoming flight pads of their own once exposed to space.

  Nathan walked across the hangar deck toward the Falcon as it sat on the port side forward elevator pad. As he approached, he could see Josh and Loki being given instructions by Marcus, the chief of the deck. “Gentlemen,” Nathan greeted.

  “Captain,” Marcus responded, giving a less-than-perfect salute.

  “I heard you got a few new toys,” Nathan said.

  “Yes, sir,” Loki responded. “They’re pretty cool, too. Marcus, uh, I mean, Senior Chief Taggart, was just going over them with us.”

  “Well, don’t let me interrupt.”

  “I was pretty much finished, sir,” Marcus assured him. His attention was suddenly taken away. “Hey! Dumbass!” he hollered at some distant Corinari flight deck technician. “Yeah! You! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Marcus turned back to the captain. “Excuse me, sir. I have to go slap someone.”

  Nathan laughed to himself.

  “Come to see us off, Captain?” Josh asked, coming around the nose of the Falcon as he completed his preflight inspection.

  “Something like that,” Nathan said. “Listen, I don’t know if you two realize this, but this flight, it’s different. It’s not like before, back in the cluster. Then, we already knew basically what was there. We knew what the risk was ahead of time. This place, well, no one from Earth has been there in over a thousand years. For all we know, it could be a hornet’s nest of Jung ships.”

  “Yeah, the thought had occurred to us,” Loki stated.

  “Not to me,” Josh said with a small amount of alarm. “Hey, what’s a hornet?”

  “Just, don’t take any unnecessary chances; that’s all. It’s not worth the risk,” Nathan said, “especially since…”

  “Since we have a jump drive that we don’t want to fall into Jung hands,” Loki finished for him. “Don’t worry, Captain. We won’t let that happen. If they’re coming for us, we’ll jump away fast.”

  “Good, but there’s one other thing. You can’t let them see you jump away.”

  “Why not?” Josh asked.

  “We think the Jung already know about, or at least suspect that we have been developing, a jump drive. If they see us jump, they’ll have confirmation. And that confirmation could provoke an attack on the Earth.”

  “But they’ve only got linear FTL, right?” Loki asked. “We’d still make it to Earth long before word of the jump drive got out.”

  “Yes, you’re right,” Nathan agreed, “but it would just escalate things. The Earth doesn’t need that right now. She’s not ready to defend herself, not yet.”

  “Right,” Josh said. “Jump before they see us. I like that even better. If they haven’t seen us, then they ain’t shootin’ at us.”

  “Good.” Nathan handed Loki a data card.

  “What’s that?” Josh asked. “Another history book for me?”

  “It’s a message from me to Fleet Command on Earth. If for some reason we don’t make it back to Earth and you do, this contains all of my reports. It’s all encrypted, except for the first message, which you can transmit to keep Fleet from opening fire on you.” Nathan looked at them with a serious expression. “We are all about to cross Jung-occupied space, gentlemen. One of us must make it through to Earth. One of us must get the jump drive technology back to Fleet Command.”

  “Captain, what are the odds that you’re going to run into another Jung ship between here and Sol?” Josh said. “I mean, space, it’s really big, you know?”

  “Just covering all the bases,” Nathan told him.

  “Bases?” Loki wondered.

  “Oh, I got that one!” Josh yelled. “It’s about baseball! I read about it the other day!” He turned to Loki. “It’s a game, everyone on Earth plays it. I’ll explain it to you on the way. It’s really interesting.”

  “Don’t worry, Captain,” Loki said, ignoring Josh. “If we can’t find you, we’ll head straight to Earth.”

  “Good luck,” Nathan told them.

  “No worries,” Josh stated with his usual confidence. They turned, ascended the boarding ladder, and climbed into the Falcon’s cockpit, pulling their helmets on and locking them in place as they slid down into their flight seats.

  “Sometimes, I can’t tell how much of that boy’s confidence is arrogance and how much is stupidity,” Marcus stated as he stepped up behind the captain.

  “A bit of both, I imagine.”

  Marcus looked across the flight deck, taking note of Commander Taylor and Mister Percival. “Who the hell is that guy?”

  “Who, Mister Percival?” Nathan asked. “He’s the guy we rescued from the Jasper.”

  “The one that was in stasis for a thousand years?” Marcus asked.

  “That’s him.”

  “Damn, he don’t look much older than me. Whattaya suppose it’s like? Going to sleep and waking up a thousand years later to a totally different galaxy. Everything and everyone you ever knew, dead and gone, turned to dust long ago.”

  Nathan turned to Marcus. “You know, you should ask him.”

  “What? Who? Me?”

  “Yeah, you. We’re trying to get him to open up, to tell us about how things were back before the plague, and what happened when the plague hit. Maybe you two would hit it off.”

  “If you think it’s a good idea, I guess I could try. Maybe put a little ale in him first, just to lube up his tongue and all.”

  “You might want to ask the doctor about that first,” Nathan warned. “And speak to Lieutenant Commander Nash first as well. She’s got a list of things we’re not to discuss with him just yet. Better yet, maybe you and the lieutenant commander can share some ale with him together. He seems to like her.”

  “Big surprise there,” Marcus said, “what with all her attributes and such.”

  Nathan turned slowly and looked at Marcus, who immediately straightened up slightly.

  “Uh, I’ll speak to the lieutenant commander about it directly, Captain.”

  “Carry on, Senior Chief.” Nathan returned the Senior Chief’s salute as he watched the elevator pad raise the Falcon upward, disappearing into the bulkhead above.

  “Canopy closed and locked,” Loki announced. “Reactors are hot, running at one percent. All systems are online and ready for launch.”

  “Maneuvering is hot. Mains are hot. Jump drive is in standby. Weapons are safe.” Josh glanced out the window as the walls of the elevator tube passed by them outside. Numbers indicating the distance remaining to the outer hull moved past them almost too quickly to read. “Topside in ten seconds.”

  “Flight Control, Falcon. Ten seconds,” Loki called over the comms.

  “Falcon, Flight copies,” the flight controller answered.

  The elevator pad began to slow its ascent. Josh looked upwards as the outer doors parted down the middle, retracting to either side. A few moments later, the elevator came to a stop, locking into place and becoming one with the Aurora’s outer hull.

  “Falcon, Flight. Pad one locked and ready for launch.”

  “Copy, Flight,” Loki answered. “Falcon launching.”

  “Mag-locks, launching,” Josh announced as he applied upward thrust. The Falcon lifted quickly up off the elevator pad, rapidly moving away from the Aurora perpendicularly.

  “Flight, Falcon. Airborne.”

  “Copy Falcon. Safe flight.”

  Josh pushed the
throttles forward slowly, easing the ship forward at a leisurely rate.

  “Not that I’m complaining or anything,” Loki began, “but usually our departures cause the blood to drain out of my toes.”

  “I’m feeling a bit… cautious today,” Josh said.

  “Cautious?” Loki asked. “Turn around and look at me.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to make sure it’s you.”

  Josh slammed the throttles forward, instantly bringing the main drive to full power. Despite the interceptor’s inertial dampening systems, the sudden acceleration pushed them both hard into the flight seats.

  “Yup,” Loki struggled to say, as his fingers and toes suddenly became cold. “It’s you.”

  Josh backed the throttles down, settling in the interceptor at twenty-five percent forward thrust. “Jump speed in five seconds. Coming on jump heading.”

  “Engaging auto-nav,” Loki announced. “Jumping in three……”

  “I hate the auto-nav,” Josh complained as he felt the system take over the controls, leaving them dead in his hands.

  “Two……one……jump.”

  Josh closed his eyes tight as the Falcon jumped away in a flash of blue-white light.

  * * *

  “Your ship is of an interesting design,” Mister Percival commented as they left the hangar bay.

  “An odd choice of words,” Cameron responded.

  “It is an odd situation.” Mister Percival moved slowly down the corridor, taking each step with caution as he continued the process of getting used to using his legs again. Although he was able to walk on his own, he had to pace himself to avoid getting too fatigued. Commander Taylor had offered to push him about the ship in a wheelchair, but Mister Percival had immediately refused the notion, choosing instead to take periodic breaks in the tour.

  “How so?” Cameron asked.

  “I had expected to wake up in a future full of fancy, high-tech gizmos and gadgets, where everyone had perfect health and lived wonderful lives. Instead, the technology is similar if not inferior to what I knew, and the people seem to be struggling as much as before. The only difference, perhaps, is that humanity has spread farther out into the galaxy and has become more disconnected than ever before. It seems a bit sad, really.” Mister Percival smiled. “To be honest, looking back, I feel kind of silly for believing it might be otherwise.”