by James Rosone
“The group below will pull them down. They’ll reload ’em and move ’em into position over here,” the man instructed as he pointed to a different position closer to the base of the turret.
“What do we do if the guns run out of ammo?” asked one of the junior gunner mates. The kid looked barely old enough to be in uniform.
The instructor smiled as he replied with his thick Southern accent. “Well, if that happens—Spaceman Third Class, is it?—then it’s probably time to make peace with your maker. ’Cause these guns shouldn’t run out of ammo. Not with the fabricators below. They can 3-D print off new projectiles as fast as we can shoot ’em, so if we run out, it means either we’ve run out of materials for the printers, or something else has happened.”
Suddenly noticing her, the senior enlisted man for the crew, Master Chief Petty Officer Ian Riggs, called the room to attention. Halsey held her hands up, telling them to resume what they were doing.
Master Chief Ian Riggs walked over to her. “Checking in on us, Admiral?” the man asked with a grin.
“Oh, you know me, Riggs. I like to see how things are doing. Are they going to be ready for their shakedown cruise in a month?”
“Yes, Admiral. Everyone is getting familiarized with the systems,” Master Chief Riggs replied. “Aside from the laser banks and the missile batteries, this is probably our most complex weapon system.”
“True. It’s also one of our most important. These railguns are packing some of our heaviest combat power,” Halsey said proudly.
Riggs chuckled. “It sure is, ma’am. A twenty-four-inch armor-piercing warhead will certainly put a dent in your ship.”
“Don’t forget the two thousand pounds of high explosives inside,” she said with a wink. “That’ll tear a ship apart.”
Changing subjects, Riggs asked, “Have you been to Engineering yet? We’re still having problems with the power relay or something. We’re supposed to have two dedicated reactors for the weapon systems, but they keep shorting somewhere along the way. Best I’ve been able to get out of them is there’s some sort of problem with the power coupling array somewhere midship between them and us.”
Sighing audibly, she replied, “Yeah, I know about the problem, Riggs. Commander Morgan is crapping puppies over it. I was going to stop in Engineering next and see what I can find out.”
“If we get held up on one thing, Admiral, it’ll be engineering. All the other ship systems work and are ready to be tested.”
She placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Thanks for staying on these guys, Chief. You got your hands full getting them ready for this trip. How are they holding up? You know, knowing this is going to be a really long deployment?”
Riggs motioned for her to follow him outside the turret room. “Admiral, most of them are excited,” he began. “The thought of exploring a new world and potentially discovering new life is thrilling. But some are really anxious. They aren’t sure they’re ready to leave Earth and everything we’ve known behind for such a long cruise into the unknown.”
Seeing the concern on the chief’s face, Halsey asked, “Do you think we need to reassign some folks?”
Riggs shifted on his feet for a moment. “I—maybe. I’d like to talk to them privately and make that assessment personally. I’ll make sure they know if they want out of the expedition, it won’t hurt their careers or promotional opportunities. But if they stay, they need to accept that in a few months, we may be gone from Sol for a very long time.”
“It’s a tough decision, Chief. That’s why everyone on this mission has to be a volunteer. There’s a chance we could come back to Sol in a few years. But beyond establishing a colony on Alpha Centauri, our mission is to begin exploring deep space,” she replied softly yet confidently.
Admiral Halsey was excited to lead this expedition, even if it meant this would be as high as she’d rise in Space Command. It was a chance to lead humanity into the stars, something she couldn’t pass up. She could have requested a captain be assigned to handle the ship while she managed the squadron they were deploying with, but she really wanted to command again. Rank had its privileges, and she intended to leverage that for all it was worth when they left Sol.
“Walk with me to Engineering, Chief,” she said and turned to head down the hallway to the next set of elevators.
Chief Riggs nodded and followed her. “Admiral, if you don’t mind me asking, why are we bringing a battalion of Republic Army soldiers with us on a mission like this?”
She snorted. “I asked that myself, Chief. Command said we needed to have a RA presence with us for the expedition—oh, and it’s not just a battalion of RASs, it’s a company of Deltas augmenting them as well.”
Riggs shook his head at the mention of Special Forces. He seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with their involvement.
“I’ll get briefed more on why they’re coming as we get closer to leaving, but my gut says it has something to do with establishing the colony on Alpha Centauri. Remember, the GEU and Asian Alliance are going to set up colonies of their own. Plus, if we do find life and it’s not friendly, I suspect having a battalion of Republican Army soldiers along for the ride won’t be a bad idea.”
“Makes sense,” Riggs replied. “It’s just a lot of extra bodies on a tight ship as it is.”
“We’ll make it work,” Halsey replied. She brushed her hand along the side of the hallway as they approached the elevator. “This ship is enormous, Chief—the biggest we’ve ever built. We’ll have plenty of room for a battalion of soldiers.”
Riggs depressed the elevator button, and a moment later, the door opened. The two of them walked in, and he hit the button that would take them to the engineering deck. In seconds, the elevator moved down a couple of decks and then sideways as it moved through the center of the ship to Engineering.
When the door opened, the two of them got out and made their way over to the large room that housed the ship’s engineering section. When they got close to the doors, the sensor detected her rank and access code and opened up.
As they walked in, Admiral Halsey saw one of the BlueOrigin contractors talking to a group of petty officers assigned to Engineering. She and Riggs stood in the rear of the room and silently observed for a moment. Unlike the weapon crewmen’s red stripes on their gray uniforms, the engineering crew members had a yellow line on their blouses or coveralls. If someone was an officer or NCO, then they had a gold line above or below their department’s colored line.
The BlueOrigin engineer leading the training thundered, “You must maintain at least a thirty percent charge on capacitors one and two. The ship’s weapon systems are pigs when it comes to power. That means in a long, drawn-out fight, the higher-ups on the bridge may call down requesting you transfer power from reactors one and two to three and four, which run the magrails and the pulse beams. You can do that, but you can’t allow the stored battery power on capacitors one and two to fall below twenty percent. Can anyone tell me why, and more importantly, why you don’t want to override that safety feature?”
A couple of hands went up, and the contractor pointed to a young woman who looked super eager to answer his question.
“The ship needs power,” she blurted out. “Power for the life support functions and power for the engines to maneuver. If the weapon systems suck us dry, we could end up jeopardizing the entire ship.”
“Correct. That’s why the ship has four fusion reactors. One dedicated to handling propulsion and the FLT drive, one to control the life support needs of the ship and the artificial gravity system, and two for the weapons platforms.
“If and when the ship comes under attack, chances are the two reactors dedicated to the weapon systems may not be able to recharge the capacitors fast enough if the ship is in a long, sustained battle using its pulse beam and magrail weapons at the same time. That means the folks on the bridge are going to want you to divert power to the weapon systems. As the engineering staff, you need to understand what the reactor li
mits are. Do what you can to help the fight, but make sure you don’t jeopardize the ship in the process. Does everyone understand?” asked the contractor.
Everyone nodded; his warning and instruction appeared to have sunk in. Next, he dismissed them back to their department chiefs so they could continue with the rest of their duties.
Admiral Halsey liked listening to Adrian Rogers. He was one of the lead engineers and contractors for BlueOrigin. She thought Adrian was far and away the most intelligent man they had working on this project. He was extremely detail-oriented, but more than that, he had a way of distilling a super-complex problem down to simple terms even the average person could understand.
She waved to get his attention. Let me hand these guys off to my assistant, and I’ll be right there, his neurolink said to her own. She nodded and waited near the door.
She was still getting used to using the neurolink for anything more than administrative purposes. She never liked trying to communicate through it. She loved being old-fashioned—using her own voice. But she had to admit, the personal assistant aspect of it was terrific. Not having to wade through hundreds of emails and other mundane tasks had freed her up to handle many more pressing matters. She just had to remember to double-check those email responses from time to time.
A couple of minutes went by before Adrian walked over to her and Chief Riggs. “Admiral, Chief, how are you both doing this lovely day? What can I do for you that’ll make things even better?”
Admiral Halsey smiled at his way with words. “Adrian, it’s good to see you again as well. I’m glad to see they still let you teach. With that said, there’s a problem I need to go over with you. As I’m sure you know, we continue to have a power short. It seems to be happening somewhere midship. The guys up in the weapon section tell me they’re still experiencing a short when they start to draw power for the magrails or the laser banks. Have you guys figured out what the problem is, or where it is? This is a serious issue that has to get resolved.”
He sighed. “It’s complicated, Admiral. Chief Riggs and Commander Morgan have told me about it a few times, and we’ve been running a lot of tests to figure it out, but we’re talking about hundreds of kilometers of cabling to check. I think we’ve at least narrowed down what section of the ship it’s happening in. Now we just need to figure out what junction line and box is the problem. I’m confident we’ll have it sorted in a few more days, a week tops.” Adrian sounded cautiously optimistic; his warm, inviting smile often defused a lot of problems with clients.
Halsey nodded but wanted to make sure he knew he was on a short leash. She still hadn’t OK’d the completion of the ship, which meant the company hadn’t received their final completion payment or bonus. “OK, Adrian. Stay on it. We start the shakedown cruise in four weeks, so you don’t have much time to fix it before we leave the shipyard.”
Adrian flashed those beautiful pearly white teeth of his. “We’re on it, Admiral,” he responded. “We’ll get it taken care of. I won’t let you or Space Command down. Now, if you don’t have anything else, I need to get back to work on this very issue.”
She didn’t, so they parted ways, and she and Chief Riggs headed down to the flight deck to check on things there. Flight operations for Voyager were positioned on the bottom deck of the ship. There were two rearward hangar entrances where shuttles and landing craft could land. For takeoff operations, the shuttles would depart via one of the forward-facing launch tubes. Along the entire length of the hangar bay on both the right and left sides of the ship were the orbital assault craft that belonged to the RA. When they needed to drop the grunts, they’d pile into one of the landing craft for the ride to the surface. Once the landers were loaded with their human cargo, an armored shield would lift up, exposing the drop ships. An arm would extend the small vessel beyond the side of the ship and then release them. The flight crew on the craft would take over and fly the grunts to the surface. Once they had dropped off their human cargo, they’d return to the ship and reattach themselves to the same drop arm. The arm would then retract them to the side of the hangar and reconnect them to the Voyager to pick up the next load of grunts.
The Voyager had a total of twenty-four orbital drop craft for the infantry. They also had six utility drop craft, which would land the RAS’s drone tanks and mechanized combat suits, or Mechs as they were called. The Mechs were the newest infantry weapon—a 3.5-meter-tall bipedal armored killing machine operated by a single soldier. They were heavily armored and packed a .50-caliber magrail and 20mm smart munition launcher on both arms. They were the Army’s heavy weapon option for ground operations.
When Halsey and Riggs entered the hangar bay, they saw several shuttles present. A few dozen synthetics were unloading them, bringing on more supplies for their maiden voyage. On the far side of the hangar was a group of mechanics working on one of the Army’s new drone tanks while a couple more were doing some maintenance on one of the Mechs.
Admiral Halsey stood in front of one of the mechanical killing machines. “You have to admit, Chief, if you saw one of these things moving toward your position, it might cause you to run or give up,” she said with a bit of a chuckle.
“I’d be more concerned with the tank. Those squat little things pack a hell of a punch and are hard as hell to take out.”
She grunted at the response. “Let’s hope we never have to use these weapons of war, Chief.”
Looking at his watch, Riggs said, “You know, it’s getting close to lunch. You want to head up to the mess deck before it gets busy?”
She nodded. “Sure, Chief. It looks like they have things under control down here. Lead the way.”
Ten minutes later, the two of them arrived at the mess hall. The view from there was actually quite beautiful. The floor-to-ceiling windows provided a unique experience to those dining there, provided the blast doors weren’t closed. When they entered the massive dining facility, they both walked over to the beverage section, where some fresh coffee had been brewing. They grabbed a cup of joe and some lunch and then made their way over to a table next to the window. Since they were the only ones in the room, they had their pick of the seating arrangements. Lunch didn’t officially start for another five minutes, but rank did have its privileges.
Taking a sip of his coffee, Chief Riggs inquired, “Admiral, is Columbus still coming with us?”
She shrugged. “That’s what I’ve been told.”
“I still don’t understand the technology involved in that thing. How the hell is it supposed to generate a space elevator and then act as the orbital anchor?”
“I’m no scientist or engineer, Chief, but this is what I was told during the brief about it a few months back. When a site has been identified, Columbus will unfold itself at the center of the ship and create a zero g platform. On the platform is one of these new super-advanced adaptive printers. You know, the 3-D printers.”
“I know I’m old, ma’am, but I do know what a 3-D printer is,” Riggs replied as he reached for his cup of joe again.
She blushed a bit. She hadn’t meant to insult him. “Of course, Chief. As I was saying, this new printer apparently creates a molecularly perfect carbon nanotube cable. It’s what they’re looking at using in the armor of some of the new warships. Once they create the cable, it’ll be slowly lowered with an anchor weight until it reaches the ground. Once it’s anchored on the planet, they’ll finalize the rest of the process, and we’ll have a rudimentary elevator to bring cargo down to the surface.”
“Huh. Sounds kind of crude and untested. I think I’ll take a pass on the first trip down.” Riggs downed the rest of his coffee and started on his sandwich next.
Halsey managed to stifle a laugh. “Yeah, I’m with you on that. I think I’ll take a pass on the first few trips too. Still, I’m amazed at how much new tech has come out in the last ten years. I mean, who would have thought we’d have artificial gravity generators? I wish we had that technology when I first went into space forty years ago.
I hated being stuck in zero g for months on end. The fact that I can sit here like this and enjoy a cup of coffee is incredible.”
He nodded. “I’ve been in Space Command now for forty-eight years, ma’am. I wish we had half the stuff we have now when I first joined up. These kids don’t know how good they have it these days,” Riggs joked. He waved his hand in the direction of the crew that was now filtering in for lunch.
“So, changing subjects,” Riggs continued, “what’s going on with Europa? Is Space Command still moving forward with that colony? We’re gonna need it for deep space operations.”
She rolled her eyes at the question. “I have no idea, Chief. They were supposed to launch that colony group two years ago, and here they are, still in port.” She waved her hand in the direction of the window, where the four ships that were supposed to bring the materials to get the space elevator and other essentials for the initial colony were still in orbit. “I agree, Riggs. We need that orbital station and colony going. It’ll provide us a huge supply base for further deep space operations.”
“You know how the Chinese are. They don’t want us to have a base out there without them.” Riggs replied with a chuckle. He and Halsey knew each other pretty well after forty-plus years in the fleet; while he might have been amused by her frustration, the two of them made a pretty good team.
With the advent of medical nanites some thirty years ago, scientists had been able to significantly slow down the aging process of the human body. It was thought that humans would now be able to live to the low hundreds in good health. It also meant people worked a lot longer. Instead of serving twenty or thirty years in the military to collect a pension, soldiers and sailors were now required to serve forty years before retiring. Considering people could comfortably live to be one hundred and twenty, or even one hundred and forty, many folks were staying in the military past the fifty-year mark before retiring and starting a second career.
After looking out the window for a moment, Halsey turned back to Riggs. “Between you and me, what are your thoughts on the Space Exploration Treaty? Is letting this thing lapse a good or bad thing?”
