The Jolo Vargas Space Opera Series Box Set

by J. D. Oppenheim

  And then he remembered, he had his own computer.

  Computer, what is Federation protocol to engage gunboat engines without use of the ship’s computer?

  Enter destination on the navigation screen.

  “Enter destination on the nav,” yelled Jolo to Katy.

  Press auto calculate on the lower right navigation screen.

  “Hit auto calc!”

  Engage thrusters manually in engineering panel, lower-level.

  Jolo jumped out of the chair and started running to engineering. He made it down to the lower level found the engineering panel and engaged the drives.

  He could hear the marines still firing, but soon he heard something else, something wonderful: the sound of the Jessica's thrusters engaging. The ship turned, gained altitude, and made it out of atmo. Then, using his embedded computer again, Jolo manually entered the commands to make the jump to Qualus.

  They would be in Qualus in an hour, which gave him time to head down to quarters and find number four. On the way, Jolo reviewed Fed gunboat landing protocol on his computer. Why could he remember Jaylen’s quarters but not how to manually make a burn? He knew he had to make a landing without the help of Jessica's on-board computer. So he'd have the landing checklist ready to go. He also pulled up the weapons systems protocol, just in case.

  He made it right to Jaylen’s quarters with no problem. It was just like in his dream. He remembered the chief coming, the door opening, and the girl standing there. How beautiful she was. Even though she wasn't dressed up, she was only wearing shorts and a T-shirt, she was beautiful, and no amount of Federation grease could hide that simple fact.

  But this time when the door slid open, the room was filled with boxes of food and some white containers marked with the Federation medical seal. He could barely step into the room it was so full. He stepped back into the corridor and looked up, it said Storage Bay #4 above her door.

  He knew that she had been here. So he started pulling boxes out and throwing them into the hall. He remembered where her bunk was on the far wall, and he wanted to make it there. Just to see that it was there. Just to see that little space where she had slept. So he kept pulling down heavy boxes. Some were food rations designed for long trips in space, some looked to be engine parts. They all had the Federation seal on them. Ten minutes later he was sweating and the corridor was filled.

  Katy walked in. “What you doing?”

  “Redecorating.”

  “Why?”

  “Are you gonna help?”

  So she helped him. And after another ten minutes or so they made it to the back wall. Jolo pulled the last large box away expecting there to be a bunk. A blanket. The book that he'd given her. Something.

  But there was nothing except a smooth metal wall.

  “This was her living quarters,” he said. “I remember that.”

  He worked his way towards the bathroom which was on the adjacent wall. He climbed on top of the boxes, moved the upper ones out of the way and then began pushing like a madman. By this time Katy had stopped and just watched him.

  He got to where the bathroom used to be, but it, too, was nothing more than a smooth wall. He ran his hands along it thinking there must be a welded seam. But nothing. He cried out, “Jaylen!” And then started punching a Fed ration box until dehydrated brown bits started spilling out, making a little mountain on the floor.

  Jolo sat down on a box in her room for a while, all alone, trying not to think. Once his breathing slowed and the urge to break something had subsided, he made his way to the mess hall and ordered a coffee and a slice of pie from the droid.

  A minute later the little bot brought him a piece of apple pie. It had a flaky crust, and small, golden brown chunks that really looked like apples. And even though he knew it was synthetic, he still enjoyed it. When was the last time he’d actually held a real apple?

  Jolo went to back to the main deck as the Jessica was nearing Qualus. He found Katy sitting in the engineering chair eyeing the status screen. Jolo strolled in and sat down in the captain’s chair.

  “ETA?” he said.

  “We should be slowing down in a few minutes. Are you okay?”

  Jolo did not respond.

  “Who was she?”

  “A girl that I knew before.”

  “Did you love her?”

  “I can't get her out of my mind.”

  “Sounds like love to me.”

  “It's just that I can't remember things. I remember the girl. The ship. I remember Barthelme. I remember the young engineer, Tanaka, and most of the crew. But I still don't know who I am or where I'm from. Or why those bastards want me dead.”

  “Well, I'm just a trash hauler pilot so take it for what it's worth, but if I were you I’d try not to fight it. The memories will come. And I know earlier I said you didn't seem like a hero. But taking this ship was pretty heroic. Stupid. But heroic. So there's that.”

  “Well, thank you for that little pep talk.”

  “I hope you find her.”

  Just then the ship dropped out of warp and started making minor course adjustments for the trip down to Qualus.

  Qualus was a large, dirty rock devoid of any natural beauty. Once they got close to the surface Jolo could see work crews. And initially he thought they were droids moving rocks out of a big hole in the side of the mountain, but then he realized they were human. Katy said the BG used local people because they were cheaper than droids. They kept them fed on a brown gruel that most core world humans would not feed to a dog.

  Katy said the core worlds maintain some semblance of civility and peace, and the standard of living was acceptable, but out on the edges, beyond Federation control, the BG pretty much did what they wanted.

  No one ever went to Qualus unless they were hauling refuse, as it was the core world’s main dump site, or they were mining: Qualus was a prime source of quarz 5, which was a key component to the making of weapons-grade alacyte. The BG had recently been sending cargo freighters loaded down with quarz plugs to Duval for final processing.

  The Jessica flew low over the mining operation on the ground. Shiny black BG foremen with long energy rods kept a close watch over the men, women, children, and even old people, who were busy hauling rocks into a large container. A freight ship waited to take a sufficient amount to Duval.

  A little further out, maybe 2 km from the work crew, Jolo spotted a small blue clump on the surface. They got close enough to actually see that it was a small child face down in the sand. The thermal scan read negative.

  “What's that about?” said Jolo.

  “He tried to run,” said Katy. “They got foreman enforcers on the ground and droids in the air.”

  Jolo landed at the rendezvous point and Katy came back an hour later sweaty, red-faced and breathing hard.

  “Did you get your money?”

  “Do I look happy? I was about to get the agreed upon amount, but then this greasy little bastard in a suit came and nixed the deal. I think he's a Fed. He said there is a battle group waiting for us when we break atmo. The slimy bastard was smiling like he already had us.”

  “Black suit and tie?”

  “Yep.”

  “Not good. Okay, let's stay on the surface for now and get out of here.”

  On the way out they passed by the mining operation again. Half a kilometer to the north Jolo saw some dust being kicked up and a shiny black drone in hot pursuit.

  “Katy, sit there in the engineer’s chair,” Jolo said. “Can you get a lock on the droid?”

  “What are you gonna do?” said Katy.

  “Well, we're already hot, so might as well go out swinging.”

  Jolo swung the Jessica around to get a better angle on the tiny droid and took it down with a short burst from the railgun. The people on the ground stopped running and looked up at the Federation gunboat hovering over them. They're wondering why the Fed would bother to help them, thought Jolo.

  Then they headed straight back to th
e mining operation. He flew in close and the people scattered when the large gunboat came in. The BG overlords waved their energy sticks at the ship. It was some sort of sign or signal. But Jolo took them out just like he’d done to the droid. Then he landed the ship. He opened the back hatch and started hauling out large boxes of Federation food and medicine to the work crew.

  Most of the people were tired and dehydrated, but happy to have something to eat. They tore into the boxes before they even got off the boat. A tall, bearded man came to Jolo.

  “Are you the captain?”

  Jolo nodded.

  “I’m Berg. Thank you for your help, but unfortunately this will be our last meal. The BG will be back within an hour and they'll kill everyone here.”

  “Where can I take you?”

  “Off this rock.”

  “I'm not sure if I can do that. I've got a Federation battle group waiting for me topside.”

  “We'll take our chances with you, if that's OK,” said the man.

  “Bring all your people in. Keep them here in the storage bay,” said Jolo, eyeing the stern man whose clothes were worn thin. He guessed the man was military at some point before being taken. “If it comes down to it, at least we’ll die free men.”

  Berg nodded, and looked at the people, still tearing into the Fed rations, “And on a full stomach.”

  Gravity

  The planet Qualus.

  Katy was on the bridge in a panic. “We've got a large ship breaking atmosphere in about 30 seconds. I think it's probably a BG cruiser. What are we gonna do? If we go topside the Feds got us.”

  Jolo stood there just staring at the empty nav and engineer’s chairs.

  Katy poked him. “You ain’t blanking out on me again, are you?”

  “Naw. Just thinkin’.” He adjusted the holster. “Okay. We're gonna run. I need time to think.”

  “Where to?”

  “Away from here. Stay low and close to the mountains. I'll be back in a minute.”

  Jolo ran back down to the storage area where the BG work crew was assembled. The feeding frenzy from before had slowed down and now they were sitting and resting. Some were crying, some looked happy, and most wanted some kind of reassurance or answer.

  “What's the situation?” said Berg.

  Jolo looked him in the eye. “It doesn't look good. Along with the Fed battle group waiting topside, we got a BG cruiser coming down to greet us.”

  Some of the people heard and started to get restless. “Maybe we should've stayed there,” they said.

  Jolo looked into the crowd. “Do any of you have experience on a large vessel? Preferably military?”

  An old man stepped forward. He had scraggly, gray hair and was missing several teeth. His clothes hung in rags off of his body. “Yes, sir,” he said, saluting Jolo. “I was engineer of a merchant frigate and we used to do long runs to the edge of space back before the wars. The BG took ownership and forced us into labor.”

  “Thank you,” said Jolo. “Anybody else?”

  Two large men stepped forward. “We work security on private ships. The BG got us too. We might can be of use.” Jolo glanced at Berg and he nodded his head.

  “These men are the Greeley brothers and I trust them,” he said.

  And finally one small man with glasses stepped forward. “I've never flown into deep space. But I'm a mathematician and probably could work in some capacity. My name is Koba.”

  Jolo pointed the big Greeley brothers to the armory. He hoped there were at least two battle suits that would fit. Then he told the old man, named Hurley, and the mathematician, to follow him to the bridge.

  He turned to face the crowd. “Have you people heard of Jolo Vargas?”

  Everyone looked up. “He’s a war hero. Is he coming to rescue us?” someone said. Then another, “He died two years past.”

  “Well, I am Jolo Vargas. I’m not dead yet, and I will not let you down.”

  He turned and strode out of the room as confidently as he could. He’d tried to say it like he thought Jolo Vargas would have said it. Like a real hero. He hoped they believed it, hoped he believed it. And as he made his way to the bridge, a familiar line popped into his head: If you can’t make it, fake it.

  Jolo smiled at the thought of it. These were the words of someone close to him long ago. And the words rang true. If he was going to have to improvise the whole way, then so be it.

  Jolo sat in the captain’s chair and considered his crew. He had the mathematician and Katy helping on the bridge, and the old man, Hurley, down in the engine room, and the two former hired guns getting geared up just in case. Berg had agreed to stay behind and lead the group.

  Could any of them really help? And he didn't know if he could trust the two brothers named Greeley, who he’d turned over the full ground assault arsenal to. But he had no choice.

  Jolo kept the ship low and out of sight, running as fast as he could without being seen. He needed time to think and come up with something. If it was a smaller BG ship he could go toe to toe, but that was in space. In the atmosphere the BG ship may have an advantage. So for now running was the best option.

  And then there was the matter of the Federation. If what Katy said was true then there was a cruiser and at least four gunboats waiting for him in orbit. He imagined Silas Filcher himself standing on the deck of a large destroyer, waiting for the stolen gunboat to pop up. Did Filcher have any sympathy at all, or was he fully on the president's side?

  When it came down to it he couldn't trust anyone. He was going to have to get past the Federation ships and he couldn't fight the BG on the surface of Qualus, so his options were limited.

  What he needed to do was jump. He just needed time to jump. But if they broke atmosphere, the moment they got there the Federation ships would lock on and that would be that. What if somehow he could make the calculations early? There was just no way that he could break through the atmosphere without them knowing, without them being there.

  “Koba,” he said, “can you decrease the calculation time for a jump?”

  “There are some things we could do,” he said. “But if you're asking can we make the calculation before the Federation boats lock on, the answer is no. They’ll know when we pop up.”

  Jolo had the ship heading into a generally southern direction, following a mountain chain and trying to stay undetected. For a moment they broke out into an open area when the mountain chain ended. They were no more than fifty meters off the ground and came upon a large group of people walking in a long line on the dusty surface. Jolo adjusted course slightly to go around but he was still seen. It was difficult to hide a large ship when you're running full out close to the ground. At first Jolo thought the line of red robed people were military.

  “Who are they?”

  “The Kubara,” said Katy. “They are the local religious leaders. They rarely pop their heads out of the caves in the mountains because of the BG patrols searching for workers, but there's going to be a partial eclipse in a few hours. It's a holy day for them and they'll lead their believers in prayer.”

  “I hope they say a prayer for us,” said Jolo. “What we need to do is jump from here.”

  “That's impossible,” said Katy. “Too much atmosphere, too much gravity to generate a warp field.”

  Jolo sat in his chair leaning to one side, the last of the red religious leaders now out of sight.

  Computer, what happens to gravity during a solar eclipse?

  At the beginning and end of an eclipse gravity is decreased as there is less atmosphere.

  Where is the least amount of gravity on the planet Qualus.

  The southern pole.

  Has anyone ever made a warp jump from the surface of a planet?

  There is one recorded instance of a small freighter making a warp jump from the surface of the planet Darst.

  Under what conditions?

  During a solar eclipse in the year 2432.

  “Katy, Take us to the southernmost pole. K
oba, is it possible to make a jump from the surface of the planet?”

  “From the atmosphere? No.”

  “What if we got less atmosphere?”

  “Oh,” the mathematician said. “Are you gonna try what I think you’re gonna try? Because more ships have failed than have succeeded. As a matter fact, I don't think anyone has succeeded.”

  “Yes, they have. A ship made it off the planet Darst during a solar eclipse.”

  “You remembered that?”

  “Uh, yeah. Weird stuff just pops into my head.”

  “Whatever y’all are up to sounds flimsy,” said Katy.

  The mathematician turned in his chair and adjusted his glasses. “The captain’s gonna try to make a jump from the atmosphere.”

  “No,” said Jolo. “Not from the atmosphere. From a very thin atmosphere. If we’re in the southern pole, which has the least amount of gravity on this rock, and in the middle of the solar eclipse, can we do it?”

  “It is theoretically possible,” said Koba. “But success rate is low.”

  “Katy, keep us low and out of trouble. I’d like to stay off the BG scanners if possible. Koba, you find out exactly when the optimal time will be to jump during the eclipse.”

  “What about the Fed boats?” said Katy.

  “They won't come down.”

  “How do you know?” said Koba.

  “Their boats are made to fight in space. Just like this one. They'll wait for us. And hopefully we’re gonna fly right past them.”

  “One more thing,” Jolo said. “I need to know if you guys are in. This might not work.”

  “Better here, than down there,” said Koba.

  “Those bastards took my money,” said Katy. “And I guess I'm out of a job hauling trash. So yeah, I'm in.”

  Jolo went down to the armory and found his newly recruited marines ready to go. They were both dressed in battle gear and disappointed when Jolo told him there probably wasn't going to be a fight just yet. He asked if they were in, and they just laughed.