Deagth ship quest

by William Zellmann

  When they did appear they were unsuited. Kas unsealed his own helmet. “Well?” He demanded impatiently.

  Toj and Gran exchanged glances. “Well, sir,” Toj replied, “Integrity’s all right. I was right; the damned rock just brushed us as we passed. Instead of hitting the hull, it hit one of the sponsons housing a landing jack. Totally trashed the landing jack. We won’t be able to ground without repairs, but other than that, we’re totally functional. Just a couple of dented hull plates and our antirad coating’s scratched up some.” He shrugged. “It could’ve been a lot worse.”

  “Sure could,” Gran put in. “If you hadn’t used the quickfirers the damned thing might’ve brushed the bridge, or living quarters, or the hold. That was quick thinkin’, sir.”

  Kas shrugged. “Not quick enough. A little sooner, and it might have missed us altogether.” Toj snorted, but made no other reply.

  Kas permitted everyone to unseal their helmets but insisted that they remain in suits until they were out of this system, provoking a round of grumbling.

  Normal in-space routine called for a single bridge watch, but Kas ordered that two people man the bridge at all times while in this system. Sensors were set to maximum as they crept carefully toward the jump point.

  Nerves were stretched thin by the time that Tera announced that it was time to once more brave the plane of the ecliptic.

  Kas nodded. “All right. Dead slow, shields and all sensors at max.” He took a deep breath and keyed in the coordinates. As they re-entered the ecliptic, the shield monitors again registered load due to dust particles and micrometeorites. Silence reigned on Starhopper. Everyone’s attention was riveted on their progress.

  Tera and Kas stared at the instruments that indicated their agonizingly slow advance. Lady Jane hung over Kas’ shoulder. Rom and Edro monitored the sensors, alert to the slightest quiver. Toj, Gran and Lar huddled in Engineering, their suits festooned with tools and damage control gear, poised to race to any part of the ship at a moment’s notice.

  Time crawled, but no one could relax. They remained glued to the sensors until sheer exhaustion drove them to a few hours’ fitful sleep. A lifetime later, Tera pronounced herself satisfied with her computations, and they began steering for the jump point, still dead slow.

  The entire crew breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief when they entered Jump. Once supralight, they need no longer worry about encountering a solid object. Kas suspended the normal underway watch. The stress had left them all exhausted, and they all caught up on badly needed sleep.

  Chapter 7

  The next morning, Kas reestablished normal routine, and was once more all business. He called a crew meeting.

  “All right,” he began, “The next time we emerge we’ll be in the system where the Rekesh is located. There is no longer any need to pretend to be something we’re not. Effective immediately, Starhopper is again a Fleet ship, and we are all Fleet officers. That means that all the usual Fleet courtesies, customs and traditions will be observed, and we can lose the accents. Toj,” he added as he turned to the big man, “I want you to whip up some sort of rank insignia for us. We won’t have access to uniforms until we can get at the Rekesh ’s stores, but I want some sort of insignia that can be worn on shipsuits.” Toj nodded.

  “Why bother?” Kas looked around. It was Lady Jane, of course. “I mean, what the hell does it matter?”

  Kas sighed. “It matters more than you think. For one thing, we’ve all spent more than a month trying very hard to ignore those customs and courtesies, and to cultivate various planetary accents, in order to convince people that we aren’t military. We need to get back into our proper personas, and we’re going to need time to practice.”

  “For another thing, once we arrive in the Rekesh ’s system, we’ll begin waking our passengers. Those who are military will expect the stability of a military environment. Those who aren’t military, well, we’ll need to be able to enforce discipline. And that can best be done by establishing a rigidly military system immediately.”

  Kas eyed each crewmember. Tera was visibly relieved to be able to resume her military identity. Gran’s relief was less visible, but still obvious. Toj and Edro seemed unaffected, but Rom was suppressing a scowl. Kas reminded himself that his Exec had spent five years building his nonmilitary persona. It wouldn’t be easy for him to resume a military personality. Kas hoped that Rom would try, and try hard.

  Oh, once they began awakening their passengers, Kas could replace Rom, if necessary; but Rom was an effective officer, and at least Kas knew that. The officers in cold sleep were largely unknown quantities.

  He asked Toj, Edro and Rom to remain after the meeting, and dismissed the rest.

  “Toj,” he began, “I know no one can work outside during Jump, but I’d like a complete report on the damage. How bad is it?”

  “Pretty much like I said, Sir,” Toj replied crisply, in his best military manner. “The worst damage is to the landing jack sponson and the jack itself. The other damage is minor.” The odd Bulworth accent was gone. Toj was an engineering Commander on duty again.

  Kas nodded. “Will you be able to repair the jack with the tools and equipment on board?”

  The big man frowned thoughtfully, then shook his head. “I doubt it, Sir.”

  “Damn!” Kas cursed. “We’re going to need Starhopper badly!”

  Toj shook his head again. “I don’t see the problem, Commodore. Once we get Rekesh on line we could even haul Starhopper in one of her cargo bays!”

  Kas shook his head. “First, we don’t even know whether we’ll be able to make Rekesh spaceworthy — and if the med team can’t isolate the plague and produce a vaccine, we may still have to push her into the system’s sun.”

  “Second, we may not be the first to reach her. What if someone else has gotten there first and moved her to another system? Starhopper could be all we have.”

  “And finally,” he concluded, “Even if we’re the first to reach her and the med team does their job, the Empire’s diplomats still have to arrange passage for her through the independents and the Alliance, so we can get her back to Empire space.”

  “We’re the ones that have to let the cookie pushers know we’ve reached Rekesh, and that they should begin negotiating. Which means sending Starhopper to the nearest planet with an Empire embassy or consulate. Remember, the reason we had to go through this whole charade was the fact that you can’t send military vessels unannounced through other peoples’ space. It’s called invasion, and causes wars.”

  The big man frowned. “Sorry, sir. I still don’t get it. If we had to sneak out here because nobody would let a military ship pass, why should they let us through now?”

  Kas shrugged. “They’ve nothing to lose, now. The only reason they’d have delayed or refused passage for a military ship outbound was the chance that they could find Rekesh first. Once they know we’ve found her, and that the Empire’s been notified, they no longer have a reason to deny the passage.”

  “After all,” he continued, “the Empire didn’t ask for passage outbound because we didn’t want to tell anyone that didn’t know that Rekesh had been found, and we didn’t want to give those that did know any hints where to look. So all these systems that have been frantically scouring space for the derelict will now be putting on an innocent face, and loudly proclaiming how happy they are to assist the Empire.” He shrugged. “At least, that’s the theory.”

  Toj shook his head in disgust. “I’m glad I’m just a Fleet officer. That political stuff would give me fits.”

  Kas shrugged. “I know what you mean. At any rate, it’s important that we get Starhopper repaired. As soon as we can get a medical clearance and begin work on Rekesh we’ve got to send Starhopper to notify the Empire. It’s our insurance policy.”

  Toj brightened. “Sheol, sir, I clean forgot! Vir Rekesh is a battle cruiser! She has complete machine shops. And, since Starhopper is military surplus, she’ll have all the prints and templates.
” He straightened and grinned. “Don’t worry, sir. With the stuff available aboard Rekesh, I could practically rebuild Starhopper.”

  But Kas didn’t share Toj’s excitement. “Don’t forget,” he warned, “ Rekesh is still a plague ship. And she’s dead. Even if you get medical clearance you’d be working in the dark, in zero gee, in a suit. Her AI’s even been shut down so you’d have no comps to help, and you’d have to run power for the machines over from Starhopper.”

  Toj’s excitement faded. “Yeah. I’d forgotten about that.” He shrugged. “I still think I could do it if I can get aboard Rekesh.”

  Kas shrugged. “That’s up to the medics. Right now I have a higher priority for you.” He turned to Edro, including him in the conversation as he continued.

  “I’ve been thinking about how we surprised that Glory because he wasn’t in sensor range of the jump point. I’ve also been thinking that if someone should emerge in that system before we’ve got Rekesh operational, all they’d have to do would be destroy Starhopper and stake their claim.”

  “I’d like you two to put your heads together and come up with a small buoy that we can leave at the jump point. What I have in mind is something small enough not to be noticed by someone emerging from the jump point, but that could squirt a single directional warning to us.”

  Edro frowned, and muttered to Toj. “How do we know the derelict’s on the same side of the solar system as the jump point?” The big man asked.

  Kas shrugged. “We don’t. But if it weren’t I don’t think that trader would have found her. After all, he just stopped there for a recal and detected the ship and the beacon. So I think we can assume it’s on the same side as the jump point.”

  Edro muttered again, and Toj nodded. “That also assumes there’s only one jump point in the system.”

  “True, but irrelevant. We’ll do what we can. If the derelict is behind the system’s sun, any interloper is unlikely to detect her or us. The safest way is to assume that she’s on the near side. If we station a warning buoy, it can give us a warning without letting the interloper know she’s been detected.”

  “But if the buoy broadcasts a warning…” Toj began.

  “It won’t,” Kas interrupted. “That’s why I asked for a directional warning. That’s also why I wanted it to be small. It should be small enough to convince sensors that it’s just a space rock. But it has to have enough power to transmit a warning strong enough for us to pick up, on a narrow beam that won’t be picked up by the interloper. I also want it designed and built by the time we emerge in the derelict’s system.”

  The two muttered together for a moment. Finally, Toj straightened. “That shouldn’t be a problem, sir. We’ll need a lot of power, but only for a few seconds. I think…” his voice trailed off and he and Edro were again muttering together. After a few moments Kas realized that both men had forgotten that he and Rom were still there. He grinned at Rom and cocked his head in a signal to leave. Toj and Edro had turned out to be kindred spirits in opposites’ bodies. Over the length of the voyage they’d become nearly inseparable.

  It was only some thirty hours later that they called Kas to the engineering deck and proudly displayed a gray sphere about a meter in diameter.

  “It’s powered by a suit power cell,” Toj began. “The cell’s rigged to overload, so its full power will be discharged to the transmitter in about two seconds. The transmitter’s beam is not as narrow as say, a laser, but we don’t want it to be. Edro’s computed that it should be about as wide as the orbit of an earthlike planet by the time it reaches the liquid-water belt.”

  “Great!” Kas enthused. “It doesn’t look like much, though. What’s the gray stuff?”

  Toj grinned. “I melted together a mixture of nickel, iron and silicates, then formed it around the components and held it together with an inert binder. Every sensor we’ve tried on it identifies it as a typical space rock.”

  Kas nodded. “Excellent work, gentlemen. What kind of signal does it generate?”

  Edro muttered to Toj, and the big man replied, “Well, uh, really none, sir. What we’ll get is a two-second burst of static that’ll probably be powerful enough to drown out our comms. Even if we’re on the fringe of the beam we should be able to detect it.”

  Kas nodded. “That should work. Now, as soon as we emerge, we’ll kill all motion relative to the jump point and you can go out and position the buoy.”

  Not long before they were to emerge, Lady Jane awoke to find Kas sitting up in the middle of the ship’s “night.”

  “What is it, Kas? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing important, dear,” he replied, “Just something I’ve been putting off that I have to handle before we get to the Rekesh. I have to take care of the Edro problem.”

  She snickered. “And what, pray tell, is the ‘Edro Problem’? I mean, I know he’s shy, but that shouldn’t be something to keep a Commodore awake!”

  His smile was wan. “I’m afraid it is." He sighed. "Okay, here goes. You know the Fleet has two types of officers, right?”

  She looked puzzled. “I thought an officer was an officer.”

  Kas shook his head. “Nope. We come in two flavors: line and staff.” He shrugged. “Line officers are what most people think of when they think of military officers. Whatever his current job, a line officer is first and foremost a commander. It’s the line officer that becomes the captain of a ship, or the commanding officer of a unit or base. Staff officers, on the other hand, are specialists. They need professional qualifications, but don’t really need many military leadership qualities.

  “Engineers like Toj are staff officers, and so are legal officers and doctors, among other specialists. Staff officers are accorded the courtesies due their ranks, but regardless of their seniority, they are not in line to command a vessel or station. Their rank is a function of their seniority and technical expertise, not their leadership ability.

  “Edro is perfectly suited for a staff commission in Comps and Comms. But his extreme shyness and self-consciousness make him a total disaster as a line officer. I have to give him an ultimatum. Change to staff, or resign. If he won’t change, I’ll have to relieve him of his duties, and wash him out of the Fleet when the mission is over.”

  Jane frowned. “Oh, poor Edro. He’s trying so hard, and he’s so good at what he does!”

  Kas nodded. “I know. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been putting it off. But I have to take care of it before we start awakening the sleepers.”

  She frowned. “Do you think he’ll be willing to change?”

  Kas sighed. “I certainly hope so. We’re going to need his skills and expertise badly on the Rekesh, and especially on the way back.”

  She rose and walked to him, cradling his head against her breast. “You’ll do the right thing. And so will Edro. Now, come back to bed.”

  Kas began by praising Edro’s contributions to the mission but soon got to the point, flatly asking Edro why he held a line commission instead of the staff commission that better suited his personality.

  It took over an hour to find out between Edro’s muttered responses and the intricacies of the story. It seemed to be one of those ridiculous circumstances that begin with a simple mistake and get more complicated with every attempt to correct the mistake.

  “I’m going to give you a choice, Edro,” he said. “If you want to transfer to a staff specialty like Comps and Comms, submit your request in writing. I’ll approve it, and we’ll make it effective immediately. I’m going to need your talents very badly.”

  “But Edro,” he continued, “I must warn you that I consider you totally unsuited to be a line officer. If you insist on remaining one, I’ll have to consider relieving you of duty for the duration of this mission with an eye toward washing you out of the Fleet. Even if we get her operational, Rekesh will be severely undermanned. I will not endanger Fleet personnel by placing you in charge of them.”

  Edro nodded. “That’s fair enough, sir. And I�
�ve already talked to Toj. Transferring would be the answer to a prayer for me! Thank you, sir. I’ll have the request ready in half an hour.”

  Kas chuckled. “It doesn’t have to be quite that fast, Edro. As long as I can change your designator to staff before we begin waking up our passengers…”

  Edro had his written request prepared in less than an hour, and with a great sense of relief Kas made a production of the change. He wanted the entire crew to be aware of Edro’s changed status.

  Toj requested permission to throw a crew party. Since almost a hundred hours remained before they emerged in Rekesh ’s system Kas agreed. The party became a multi-purpose event, celebrating not only Edro’s change of designator, but the fact that no more hurdles remained between them and the system containing Rekesh. To Kas, the party represented a chance for the crew to dissipate the tension that had developed throughout their trip.

  Toj had made up pin-on rank insignia for all of them, including a double-size Comp and Comm insignia that he proudly pinned to Edro’s breast while Edro blushed and tried to escape. Enfolding the little man in a massive bear hug, Toj welcomed him to the ranks of the ‘real experts’ and congratulated him on finally escaping the ranks of the ‘truck drivers’. He was forced, grinning, to dodge food thrown by his line shipmates, along with hoots and yells of derision.

  The party was a huge success and lasted all night. Kas amazed himself by managing to remain sober, though he admitted to himself the next day that Lady Jane’s attractions had more to do with it than his own intentions.

  They had managed to get past their quarrel mainly by ignoring its cause. Kas no longer insisted that Jane keep his encounter with Admiral Lu-Jenks secret, and she no longer mentioned it. Of course, since everyone aboard already knew, she no longer had cause to mention it. That detail was also ignored.

  But the party succeeded in relieving the tension and stress of the crew. Everyone was noticeably more relaxed, and the banter and jokes that had become progressively more strained were once again casual and relaxed.