by Cliff Deane
Red Sands Space Port also served those, relatively small Space Shuttles capable of landing on the Red Planet. These were predominantly Space Defense Force Vessels, tourists, and immigrants. Cold fusion, which powers the Plasma drives, made for non-polluting landings and launches.
When Jim arrived, Reg invited him in and directed him to a seat. "Jim, I just got off the horn with Winters at the Trump Space Port in California. The comet mission is on, so let’s kick the resupply of those freighters into high gear. They get top priority for anything they need. They're scheduled to leave orbit in, let’s see, twenty-three hours and twenty-seven minutes.”
Jim said, “Sure, Reg, we can make that happen, well, barring breakdowns and such. We’ve got all of their resupply on hand, so, yeah, we’re good.”
“Thanks, Jim, I appreciate how well you do what you do. Okay, you don’t need me looking over your shoulder, so please, just git ‘er done.”
Jim Bream had worked for Reg Lee for nearly ten years, and though he was six years older than his boss, both men had a deep respect for each other. Hell, if Reg wants it done in twenty-three plus hours, then it will be done in twenty hours.
Jim had joined the Red Sands Colony in 2101, and once he became acclimated to Mars, the mere idea of ever returning to Earth caused a general unease. He told everyone that on Earth, he was running through chest-high water. His diaphragm heaved under the added stress of gravity until his lungs strengthened to breathe a bit more comfortably. His lungs convulsed as they spasmed for air, like a drowning Sunfish stranded on the dock. The damp and mildewy flavors of Earth brought discomfort to his nostrils and assaulted his taste buds, leaving a nearly uncontrollable urge to spit while wearing nose plugs.
Being a Martian, he thought the Earth was just too green, with way too many people. His place of origin was South Charleston, West Virginia and he held a Master’s Degree from West Virginia University. Reg often thought it funny that, while Jim had no desire to return to Earth, he tried to never miss a WVU Sporting Event and when his Mountaineers won Jim would strut around saying, “How ‘bout them Eers.”
March 8, 2116, AD
Geo-sync Orbit Red Sands,
Mars Colony
The senior Captain of the three freighters, currently in a geo-sync orbit over the Red Sands Space Port was Captain Scott King, though he allowed his few close friends to call him Sky King. He had come into space nearly forty years ago. He worked his way from Bridge Ensign to Captain in the Space Defense Force, and after thirty-five years, he retired.
During his tenure as Captain of the SDF Cruiser Wake Island, Captain King had gone toe to toe with the SRI-F Cruiser Lenin. The USUG-C and the SRI-F had managed to avoid war for forty years when the SRI-F decided to test the USUG-C resolve over discoveries on Mars. The SRI-F had demanded full access to the discovery of a Subterranean Martian city, dating back over ten million years.
The USUG-C denied the initial demand, citing potential corruption of the site. Full access would be granted once the city was mapped and cleaned.
Three weeks later, the RSN Cruiser Lenin appeared over the site and threatened to destroy it, should their demands for access be further denied.
Captain King placed his ship, the SDF Cruiser Wake Island between the Lenin and the Martian city. King ordered the Russians to withdraw.
Systemwide pressures grew dramatically as the Russians initially refused to budge and threatened to destroy the Wake Island if she continued to remain in the line of fire.
The talk of war was the only topic of conversation throughout the system. Both the USUG-C and the SRI-F ramped up military preparedness to Def-Con four. In orbit around Earth, ships of both Superpowers faced off and prepared for combat. On Earth, fleets began to sortie into open water. Armies and Reserves were called to duty. Global War seemed imminent, and global war was unthinkable.
As tensions rose, Captain King ordered that all weapons systems were to be kept fully powered up and prepared for battle.
Back on Earth, the United States President, Eileen N. Greene made it clear that the USUG-C would not allow the site to be destroyed, nor would SRI-F personnel be allowed on the site at the present time.
On day three of the Mexican stand-off, the Captain of the Lenin said, “Captain King, this is your last warning. Withdraw, or we will change you from the living to the dead.”
Without missing a beat, Captain King responded with, “Boris, you couldn’t change a dollar. Now, I will give you a fair warning; the instant our sensors detect you powering up any of your weapons systems, we will open fire.”
On day four, the RSN Lenin withdrew.
The phrase, “You couldn’t change a dollar,” went viral and quickly became a part of American slang.
The US President told the Media in a Press Conference that the actions of Captain King were proper and thoroughly sanctioned by the USUG-C. Greene told the reporters that she spoke with Captain King and congratulated him for his quick response to the Russian threat. His actions were in keeping with the most honored traditions of the Naval Service.
She ended the Press Conference with, “No Captain who, in service to his country, sails his vessel into harm’s way is ever wrong.”
Five years later, upon King’s retirement, the ink wasn’t dry on his papers when he was hired as Captain of the Mining Freighter, Astrid. Asteroid Mining Gmbh, a German company who had the foresight to begin mining the Asteroid Belt early on, was quick to grab Captain Sky King.
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Captain King left his ready room and made his way to the Navigation Bridge.
As he entered, Lt JG Proud shouted, “Captain on Deck!”
“Afternoon, Pete,” said the Captain, to the Watch Officer. “Please bring up the navigation charts showing our position, relative to Sol.”
“Of course, sir, said Lt JG Peter Proud, Officer of the Day. Pete pulled up the hologram showing the location of the Red Planet in relation to the sun. “As you can see, Captain, we are near aphelion at a relative distance of around 1.45 AUs, roughly one-hundred and thirty million miles.”
“Good, now bring up the current position of Holley Thorne, from our present location,” ordered the Captain.
“Yes, sir, Holley Thorne is currently 2.09 AUs from Mars; our intercept time is one-hundred and eighty days, if we leave as scheduled on 9 March 2116. We will intersect with Holley Thorne on Sunday, 5 September 2116.”
“Very well, send a message to Phobos and Deimos of the departure time, along with all pertinent data. Set your course, Pete, we depart in twenty-two hours,” said Captain King.
“Aye, Captain,” replied Lt. JG Peter Proud.
Back in the Captain’s Ready Room, Sky King said, “Computer, direct Commander Ward to come to my Ready Room.”
In less than two seconds the computer replied, “Message received. Commander Ward will arrive at your location in six minutes. He is currently located in loading dock three on J Deck.”
“Fine, now contact Phobos and Deimos. Invite Captain’s Putin and Chen to dinner this evening at 1900 hours.”
“Yes, Captain, I’ll let you know their response when they come in.”
Unconsciously, King said, “Thank you,” to his computer, who replied in a most pleasant female voice, “You are most welcome, Captain King.”
Answering a damned computer, thought King, why do I do that?
“Wake up, JJ,” said Sky to his AI, named in honor of Captain John Paul Jones.
Yes, Captain, how may I help?
“Send an email to my daughter, Hermione; say, I love you, Hermie. As you may now know I have been tasked with pushing the comet Holly Thorne away from the Earth and Moon. I have two other fine ships and crews to sort things out. I guess you know that this will put off our cruise vacation to Hawaii. I am sorry for that, but Holly Thorne just won’t wait. I’m thinking of retiring after this mission, so go ahead and start planning on something really big.
“I hope you know that I am truly disappointed at missing our time together,
but this is the mission I have spent my entire life preparing for, and it does seem like a fitting end to a truly satisfying career. Love ya, Sweetie. I’ll see you in 2118. Love, Dad.”
JJ said, Got it, Captain. Will there be anything else?
“Yes,” said King, “check with the ship’s computer and if Captain’s Putin and Chen are coming for dinner this evening, contact the cook and lay on each man’s favorite meal.”
Yes, sir, I’m on it.
Commander Alan Ward arrived six minutes later. “Come on in, Al, and have a seat.”
“Yes, sir, thank you, Captain, how may I be of assistance?”
King smiled and said, “Commander, we are going to war with Comet Holley Thorne. We clear the Space Dock in twenty-two hours. The particulars have been sent to your AI for perusal after the last of the provisions are secured. Speaking of which, how is our new Payload Master, Chief Jay Donovon shaping up.”
Al smiled and said, “Sir, I am happy to report that he is exceeding my expectations. He doesn’t need me looking over his shoulder, I’ll still check in with him every few hours, or so anyway. He seems to be a real hard charger, why, is there something about him that I should know?”
“Actually, there is, Chief Donovon has turned down a commission three times. I’m not saying this as a possible conflict or concern, but I must say that I think there has to be a story there, somewhere.”
“Oh, yes sir,” smiled the XO, “when he received his welcome aboard interview, I asked him that exact question. His response was admirable. He said that he loved being the Payload Master and that he had no desire to take a job that put him behind a desk.”
“How long has Donovon been a Payload Master, Al?” asked the Captain.
The XO said that his personnel file indicated that Chief Donovon had been an exemplary Payload Master for ten years. I think we struck gold with this one, Cap’n.”
“Good, good, now, do you have any concerns about making our launch window?”
“No, sir, barring a breakdown, or mishap with the elevators, I see no problem.”
The Captain looked at his XO and said, “Al, I know I run this ship like a US Space Defense Force Vessel, and now we’ll be putting that training and discipline to effective use if we are going to bring this mission to a successful completion,” said the Captain.
“Yes sir, personally, I have found your command presence to be refreshing. I have served on two other freighters, and from that experience, I have no question why the company put you in charge of this mission. Sir, your crew, is properly trained and ready to take on possibly the most important mission in the history of mankind.”
“Yes, Al, that may be true, but I don’t think we should pop the champagne corks just yet. Let’s wait until we have a successful completion of mission to report.”
“Yes, sir,” said Al, “but you must admit that it is exciting to be a part of this endeavor.”
Captain Sky King smiled and added, “Yes, Al, I do have to admit that I am both immensely excited and that I am scared to death, well, hopefully not to death.
“Holley Thorne is the largest comet that has ever been recorded, and that means that there will be plenty of rocks that will be thrown at us as she rotates on her axis. Every surface facing the sun will cast off pieces of itself as the Solar-side melts. Unfortunately, for us, we will have no real idea of her rotation speed or axis until we get up-close and personal. Keep everyone sharp, XO, this is one mission we cannot afford to screw up.”
“Yes sir, I understand,” replied the XO of The Mining Ship Astrid.
“All right, Al, let’s get to work. Let me know when Captains Putin and Chen report readiness status.”
“Roger, I’m on it, sir” and realizing he had been dismissed, the XO rose to return to his duties.
Holley Thorne continued her dive toward the star named Sol. She was monstrous, unrelenting, and dangerous. She would bypass all the planets of Sol by a wide margin, except for one Blue Marble in the system’s Goldilocks Zone.
180 Days to Ship’s Rendezvous with Holly Thorne
March 9, 2116, AD
Geo-sync Orbit, Red Sands,
Mars Colony
Seated in the Captain’s Bridge Chair, the XO reported that both Phobos and Deimos were standing by for the launch command.
“Sir, all systems show nominal, we are ready to break station coupling and launch on your command.”
“Thank you, XO, break coupling and take us out. We’ve got a comet to push around.”
“Aye, aye, sir, Commo, inform Phobos and Deimos to follow us out. Helm, all ahead one Mars Standard.”
“Aye, sir,” parroted the Helmsman, “all ahead one Mars Standard.”
Propulsion at one Mars Standard would maintain an artificial gravity equal to that of Mars. In six hours, the flotilla would begin increasing speed to 4.5 Mars Standards. The artificial gravity of one Mars Standard (MS) would be maintained by the ship’s rotation. Twenty-five MS equated to 0.012 AU or forty-six thousand five-hundred miles per hour. It would take ten hours and twelve minutes to reach a speed of 0.012 AU.
March 9, 2116, AD
Heinlein Space Port
Red Sands, Mars Colony
Via video live-feed, Reg and his Space Port Payload Master watched the departure of the three-ship flotilla as they pulled away from the Space Station loading docks and began their journey to rendezvous with the comet Holly Thorne.
“Well, Jim,” said Reg, “you did a terrific job in provisioning those three giants so quickly.”
“Thanks, Reg, I appreciate that, but my people are well trained, and they did the job. I just stood around and bitched about getting the job done on time.”
“Yeah, yeah,” smiled Reg, “Whatever. Now, we wait and hope they can move that big bitch far enough outside of the moon's gravity to keep her from colliding with either the Moon or the Earth. Personally, I’m glad that we won’t be passing through Holly’s tail. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s just something sinister about her.”
Jim looked from the video and stared directly at Reg, saying, “I’m glad you mentioned that because I have that same nagging concern that something evil this way comes; glad I’m not the only one.”
“Oh well, there’s nothing more we can do for them, and we have a lot of ore to dispatch for processing,” smiled Reg.
“Roger that, my friend and I’d better get to it or my boss will be on my ass.”
Both men laughed as Reg said, “Damn straight, your boss is a slave driver.”
CHAPTER THREE
727 Days until Holly Thorne passes Earth
Nighty Night!
9 March 2116
White House
Moscow, SRI-F HQ
The private Conference Room of the Chairman, Admiral of the Fleet, Victor Sokolov sat with the Indian, Admiral of the Fleet, Akash Paliath Achan, and the Chinese, Admiral First Class Liu Bang.
Each man had an AI that maintained the instant translation of his counterparts. The AI also managed to remove the distracting voices of the foreign languages. The Admirals only heard their own language.
“My friends,” said Sokolov, we must ensure that this monster which threatens the Earth is destroyed, should the SDF be unable to push the comet out of Luna’s path. Beyond that, however, I believe that we might have an opportunity here, to inflict some damage to our most arrogant adversaries, caused by the Comet Holley Thorne, of course.” This caused all three men to laugh at the thought of humbling the all mighty Americans and their lackeys, the British and the Germans.
“I propose that we dispatch a fleet of seven ships to intersect the Comet. Once we are on-site, we shall evaluate the need for firing nuclear missiles into the heart of Holly Thorne, and perhaps a couple of missiles just a bit too close to the accursed USSDF Fleet.
“That far out in space, their ships will have no possible way to contact their Fleet Headquarters to tell them of the terrible accident, because we will block all communications until they a
re all dead, and these fools will lose 70% of their entire fleet in a matter of one millisecond. In space, a near miss is a thousand miles, enough to irradiate their entire fleet.”
These were men of power and influence. They were not accustomed to others questioning their decisions, and as each man harbored an unbridled hatred of the USSDF, consensus came easily.
Over lunch and small talk, the decision was made to dispatch the entire SRI-F Fleet in two increments of three and four vessels. The lead element would depart on 19 March 2116, with the remaining ships following one week later. They would sail under the command of Captain Nicolay Volodin. Each member nation would provide their ships.
170 Days to Ship’s Rendezvous with Holly Thorne
19 March 2116
Captain’s Ready Room
Asteroid Mining Vessel Astrid
Captain King looked over his Officers, Senior Chiefs, and the holograms of Captain’s Putin and Chen, before saying, “I appreciate the outstanding job you have each done in preparing us for the mission ahead. Job one complete, but now it’s time to climb into those charming sleep chambers we all have grown to love so well,” said a somewhat sarcastic Captain Sky King.
“All crew members will enter the chambers, less the skeleton Bridge, and Engineering Staff, at 2200 hours this cycle. We will be awakened at 0700 hours on 28 August, seven days before the rendezvous with Holly Thorne. Are there any questions?”
There were no questions, as every spacer aboard these three ships knew his job. King said, “All right then, we’ll meet here in 163 days at 1000 hours. Good night, good luck, and let’s do this. Dismissed.”
At 2200 hours on 19 March 2116, the ships fell silent, but for the caretaker crews assigned to maintain a vigil in case something went wrong.
