Chapter 5
“You have dinner tonight with Marko Blashame.” Marna reminded as Garret sat in the sitting room of the Captain’s Cabin on Adamant. The Captain’s Cabin consisted of four rooms, all spacious and paneled with real mahogany wood from trees brought here by the first settlers to Peladon. The sitting room had a grand window that currently looked out on the space terminal we were docked with, loading passengers. Just aft was the large bedroom with its oversized bed and great bay windows looking out the port side as well.
“And you said you’d never fit in as my chief steward.” Garret remarked dryly and she laughed softly. Marna had spent the last two weeks under the crash tutelage of Marjaan, and was doing very well at preparing the entertainment and services for all of our passengers. Gary was doing just as well with his position as head of the cabin attendants. Along with the cooks and others assigned to the care of our passengers, he reported to Marna.
“I–I’m surprised at how much I like this.” Marna admitted with a little blush before returning to business. “We have four hundred and ninety-eight passengers on this trip, almost a full load. The R’Kallen entertainment troupe is aboard, free passage, meals, and equipment cover their pay pretty much. I did give them a one hundred credit stipend for each leg of the journey so they have spending money along the way. That still leaves our one-way trip to Lemos as generating forty-six thousand credits after expenses.”
“A drop in the bucket compared to the cargo, but the tax breaks more than make up for it.” I said aloud and waved her off as she started to comment. Carrying passengers wasn’t a very profitable business, but there were very few passenger liners. That was why the government offered massive tax breaks to shipping lines that offered passenger transport services. Marjaan would take those tax breaks and turn them into pure profit for us.
“We’ve checked with Lemos and they have very limited recreational facilities, so there won’t be much liberty for the crew while we’re there.” Marna continued.
“It’s a mining colony and a military research station.” I snorted. The military center might have recreational facilities but the miners, mostly clones, wouldn’t get much entertainment except for brothels and bars.
“Yes, well most of our Class ‘C’ passengers are replacement miners being sent out while the ‘B’ and ‘A’ are actually the company executives going on an inspection tour. Gospedene Blashame is the CEO of the mining corporation that owns the facility.”
“I know.” Garret said and regretted it from the hurt look on her face. “Still, it’s good of you to make sure I know that. Thanks.”
“No problem.” Marna said with a nod. She was coming along nicely since her ‘rescue’ from the pleasure house. He’d arranged the purchase to go through Marjaan’s ident instead of his own, and so there had been no warning for Tremere. While Tremere had interrogated him over the plans of House Lars, a condition for keeping his friend Deci in good health, Marjaan had collected Marna and Gary, his other two friends from the pleasure house.
Their contracts had been purchased on the open market, and at first glance, the ‘purchaser’ wasn’t Garret, so House Tremere’s liaison had not stopped the sale. By the time Tremere realized he’d lost two more holds on Garret, there was nothing he could do to get them back. The hard part had been convincing the two of them they could be something more than pleasure providers.
It had been easier with Marna, because her contract was so close to being valued and because she’d been in training to assist with running the pleasure house. Gary was having a harder time adjusting, but he was still doing a good job in his new role. If he had a tendency to sleep with most of the male and female crewmembers, well at least he now understood he was not allowed to sleep with anyone who reported to him.
“Is Blashame invited to all my meals?” Garret asked with a slight sigh.
“No, just the public dinners you will be having throughout most of the trip.” Marna answered with a sympathetic smile. He was not looking forward to those. The crew of this ship all wore the time-honored traditional uniforms of ships that carried passengers, dark trousers with a white shirt and for the officers, shoulder boards. Garret’s held the four gold stripes of a ship’s captain while Marna’s held the two thick gold and single thin gold stripe of a senior officer. The enlisted crew would wear various uniforms including dark coveralls for the engineers, and maid outfits for the female stewards, as well as short trousers and shirts similar to the officers’, except without shoulder boards. The short trousers would always end just above the kneecap and were really the best way to tell enlisted from officer, except for the fact that most of the enlisted crewmembers were clones.
“Captain, we have finished loading passengers.” Commander Alexandra Harrington’s voice came over the speaker system and Garret felt a smile form on his face that had nothing to do with dinners or any other mundane matter. His ship was preparing to head back into deep space, and he was her commander. The link sent back an answering surge of pleasure from the ship’s AI. She was just as happy to be heading out into space as well, even if it was as a passenger liner/cargo vessel instead of the flagship of a planetary invasion force.
“Very well, Ms. Harrington.” Garret said aloud, using a mental gesture to turn on the room’s communication system. It was another benefit of the link. “Prepare to run Abandon Ship drills prior to departure, and make sure O’Malley has the engines ready this time.”
That had been embarrassing! The first time he’d tried to pull away from the dock, his Chief Engineer had not taken the engines out of ‘station-keeping’ power generation and they’d gone a total of five meters before stalling. O’Malley had been off to the head at that moment, and most of his subordinates weren’t quite up to thinking on their own yet.
“Will do, Captain.” Harrington responded and another mental shrug closed off the communications line. Alexandra Harrington was a tall brown-haired woman just entering her early forties. She had been commissioned after graduating from the Service College that instructed most of the officers bound for the Space forces, and served on a variety of ships. Her last three postings had been to transports after she’d refused the sexual advances of a flag officer, and she’d quietly left the Navy when she realized she’d never be given a command of her own. She’d signed with Garret because she knew that whenever his firm expanded, purchasing new ships, she’d get first crack at them, and because she knew he was a military-designed clone.
There would be no attempts from him to get into her bed.
“Marna, why don’t we invite the good Gospedene Blashame and Gospedena Anova to the bridge for our departure?” Garret suggested as he stood up and grabbed his cap. The gold trim still looked odd to him, but every ship’s captain was entitled to wear the gold scrambled eggs on the brim of the hat.
“I thought you said no interviews for the journalist?” Marna was surprised. Lelaine Anova was the top-rated holo-journalist and was traveling to Lemos as part of an expose on the treatment of clones. Garret knew that her presence here was because of his mother’s political plans, and that Blashame was very uncomfortable that she was heading to one of his mining planets for the expose.
Blashame was a political ally of Tremere’s.
“No interviews, and make it very clear to her that any questions other than those relating directly to the operations of the ship will not be answered, and will result in her not being invited onto the bridge or into my presence again.” Garret ordered with a little more sharpness than necessary. Marna nodded, making a note on her data pad as Garret put on his command hat. It was at that moment that the normal lights dimmed and a blue light began flashing gently.
“This is a drill, this is a drill, all hands and passengers report to your abandon ship stations.” The computer’s melodic female voice intoned over the ship’s announcing system. “This is a drill, this is a drill, all hands prepare to abandon ship. Please follow the green lights in the deck to the nearest available escape pod. Captain, please report to the bridge.”
“Bring them to the bridge as soon the drill is complete.” Garret ordered the older female clone and strode out of his cabin. He was only forty feet from the bridge, and reached it within a minute of the alarm sounding. The O’Leary people had done a good job expanding the rear portion in the port and starboard directions, adding in the extra terminals that were now used for ‘tactical’ controls during combat operations. Here the bridge lights operated normally while a flashing blue strobe sent out the alert signal from above the main forward windows. Garret was pleased to see the bridge fully crewed and hustling with activity as the various crew damage control parties reported the status of the assemblies at each evacuation pod. Commander Harrington was standing over the Engineering crew station, which also served as the Damage Control link, carefully monitoring the incoming reports.
“Captain on the bridge!” Petty Officer Molena said from the Sensors station when she saw him enter and Harrington straightened to give him a slight nod before turning back to focus on the drill. Garret crossed the deck to his command chair, flanked by the two empty ‘visitor’ chairs and sat down. Moments later he was calling up a display on the computer panel to his right that showed the progress of the drill.
Garret took pride in how smoothly his bridge crew operated. Sure there were still minor foul-ups, but that was to be expected when they’d only had one week of training operations and had only reported to the ship two days before that for familiarization. While Harrington was overseeing the Abandon Ship drill, he listened to Crew Member Arjol talk over a problem with some ‘C’ class berthing assignments. Gary was on the other end of that intra-ship call and the ship’s AI channeled the conversation through his link when it saw him taking an interest.
Gary had things well in hand, another pleasant occurrence.
“Drill complete.” Harrington said as she stood up straight from the panel with a small smile on her face. “Nine minutes and twenty seconds from beginning to end.”
“Prepare to get underway.” Garret ordered with a pleased smile. Government regulations required the drill to be completed in less than twelve minutes, and he had set a ship goal of ten minutes. They’d easily met both goals.
“Aye, aye, Captain.” Harrington said with a nod. “Lieutenant Westley, prepare the ship for departure.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The handsome helmsman said from his station a few feet in front of Garret. Westley had been a sub-lieutenant in the Space Navy until two months ago when he’d been discharged. Officially it was honorable, but he’d not been offered re-enlistment thanks to a mark on his record for disrespect to a senior officer. Westley had not attended the prestigious Academy, but rather the Naval College where many non-command type officers were schooled.
Like most of the crew, he was in his early twenties, and had spent at least a few years in military service. Garret had lucked out with most of the crew, either buying their contracts from the ‘military surplus’ auctions or picking them up on referrals from certain senior military officers. Men and women, whose careers were cut short thanks to the outbreak of peace, were happy to find a spot with his ship, where they would at least be in space instead of bound to a planet.
“Attention crew and passengers of the BGL Transport and Shipping flagship, Adamant.” The computer’s voice rang out over the ship’s loudspeakers. “Congratulations on successful completion of the required Abandon Ship Drill. At this time the ship is preparing to get underway. Class A passengers may proceed to the observation level on the 09 Deck to view our departure. Class B and C passengers are invited to view our departure from the port side 03 entertainment deck. The entertainment deck was formerly the ship’s port side landing bay, and the aft blast door will be raised, allowing a grand view through combat-rated Plaz two decks high. The ship is scheduled for departure at 0900 hours, approximately ten minutes from now. Crew members are to report to departure stations.”
“She sure sounds happy to get back into space.” Sub-Lieutenant Markna said from her seat next to Westley. She was just under twenty-five, short with brown hair and a very skinny build. Amazingly enough, she’d not been offered renewal on her military service because of a fight started in a bar on Peladon; most of the people involved in the fight had been twice her size, or more, and yet she was the only person to walk away with little more than a bruise. Like Westley, her infraction had been minor enough that in wartime it would have just been a black mark, and maybe kept her from being promoted for a cycle. Now in peacetime, it was cause to not let her renew her commission.
“Aren’t we all?” Westley responded and there was a general murmur of agreement from the bridge crew. This shift consisted entirely of military veterans. “Engineering, prepare to bring reactors to forty percent.”
“Forty percent, aye.” Was the response from Engineering. No one wanted a repeat of stalling just out of the dock.
Garret had gone out with each of his other captains for one-day runs, and he’d been surprised at just how lackadaisical each of them had been with their crews. Liet was the sharpest of them, and his crew had been far more lax than those who served under Garret. It wasn’t just that Garret’s crew was mostly former-military, or had a lot of clones, because all the other ships in his corporate fleet had a lot of former military and a good amount of clone crew as well.
It had to do with the style of the ship’s commander.
The bridge door opened behind him, and Garret got to his feet, guessing correctly it was Marna bringing his two guests. While Westley verified their departure vector with Departure Control, Garret plastered a smile on his face and moved to greet the elderly gentleman, dressed in soft denim on Marna’s right, and the woman wearing a Japanese-style robe on Marna’s left.
“Welcome to the bridge, Gospedene Blashame, Gospedena Anova.” Garret was proud at how smooth his voice was as he greeted them. “Would you care to have a seat?”
“Thank you, Captain Lars.” Anova said with a shake of her blond hair and Garret barely hid his wince at the holo-camera on her left temple. He hadn’t forbidden it before, and it would… not be good to ask her to remove it now.
“A seat would be good, young man.” Blashame said, a bit rudely for referring to Garret as ‘young man’ instead of as captain of the ship. He was a rail-thin man in his seventies, with hair long since gone to white, and this close Garret could tell he’d been losing weight recently from the way his denim hung slightly loose on him. No one who could afford to wear denim would buy one poorly tailored. However, people often forgot to have their suit re-tailored when they lost weight (although those who gained too much had other problems since they rarely could fit into their suit.)
“Please, make yourselves comfortable.” Garret said, leading Blashame to the chair on the right of the command chair. It was the position of honor, and as the CEO of his corporation, a corporation that had just invested millions of credits into Garret’s for transportation, it was proper for him to sit there. After both of them had seated, Garret resumed his own seat in time to listen to the final checks being completed.
“Captain, we are ready to depart at your command, sir.” Westley said with a slightly formal tone. No one had missed the guests being brought in, and more than likely, no one had missed the snub to their captain from Blashame. Few crews in the universe would let such an insult go unchallenged in any way. Fortunately for Garret, the way Westley led off wouldn’t be an open insult, just a show of loyalty to their captain.
“Clear all moorings.” Garret ordered, noticing how Anova reset her camera higher on her head so it could record a good panoramic view. He knew that there had been a few news stories breaking over the last few days about the new company owned by a green-eyed clone, a student of the Academy, and ‘adopted’ by House Lars. It had certainly helped business with a lot of additional bookings already made for the trip after this.
“Moorings cleared, Captain Lars.” Commander Harrington reported from where she hovered over the Engineering stations. Normally she would have included neither the word ‘captain’ nor his name, but she was following the lead of Westley.
“Verify departure vector is clear of ships and debris.” Garret ordered.
“Our departure vector is clear of debris and other vessels, sir.” Westley said with aplomb, throwing in the old title of respect, rarely used outside of the military in modern times.
“Attention passengers and crew of Adamant, we will depart from the spaceport momentarily.” The computer’s voice sounded over the loudspeakers, and Garret kept from groaning when she joined Westley and Harrington in their polite rebuke of Gospedene Blashame. “On behalf of Captain Garret Lars, and BGL Shipping and Transport, owned by Captain Garret Lars as well, we welcome you to our maiden voyage and hope you will enjoy traveling with us.”
“Engage maneuvering thrusters direction one-eight-zero, one-half thrust.” Garret ordered as soon as the computer was done speaking, trying to ignore her words. She had laid it on a bit thick, and was now humming smugly in the back of his head. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a bemused expression on old Blashame’s face. Westley complied with his order, and they began to pull away from the dock. Maneuvering thrusters weren’t really meant to do more than change a ship’s direction at very slow speeds and even after a minute of full burn, they were now moving less than two hundred kilometers per hour. “Reverse flip.”
“Reverse flip – aye, sir.” Westley’s voice held the smile that Garret knew was on his face. The reverse flip was a showy maneuver rarely used outside of military vessels, but used almost all the time by them when they left dock. The bow of the Adamant lifted until it reached ninety-degrees in relation to the docking arm they had been moored with a few moments ago. Then the ship twisted and dropped until it was now facing exactly opposite of the direction it had been at the start of the maneuver. A really good military pilot would be able to pull this maneuver off without losing any speed whatsoever and a quick glance verified that Westley was indeed one of those good pilots. Before the maneuver they had been going two hundred and eight kilometers an hour, in reverse. Now they were going two hundred and eight kilometers an hour forward.
“Impressive.” Blashame said softly, earning him a nod from most of the bridge crew, and a softening in their stance. “I’ve seen that maneuver done a hundred times by military ships, but never a civilian ship. I swear, I didn’t even feel like we were flipping over like that.”
“The Adamant has the finest artificial gravity system, and inertial dampeners in the Republic.” Garret said proudly. “We also seem to have a good pilot.”
“Ready to begin departure, Captain.” Westley’s voice was smug.
“Engage main engines at standard speed.” Garret ordered. “Maintain course for Accelerator Two-Alpha and signal the Merlinda that we are on schedule for the rendezvous.”
“Aye aye, sir.” Several voices rang out at once and Garret turned to Blashame first.
“Thank you for hiring us for this run, Gospedene Blashame.” Garret said politely.
“Captain, please call me Marko.” Blashame’s voice was suddenly a lot friendlier, and a shiver went down Garret’s spine. “When Akira Shipping lost two of their transports to pirates in the last month, I was worried that we’d never find a free heavy lifter, and a ship with the ability to transport five hundred passengers to Lemos. When my transport department informed me you had a heavy lifter in your fleet as well as this ship, I felt we’d lucked out. Normally, we wouldn’t go with a new startup company like yours for such an important run, but you do come highly recommended, and you have the ships for the job.”
“Thank you, Marko.” Garret said, not offering for the man to call Garret by his first name quite yet. While in command and onboard his ship, it was never appropriate for a passenger to call the Captain by his name in public. Blashame knew that and took no visible offense. Indeed, he seemed almost approving when Garret did not make the offer. The first time they were alone, or met off the ship, though, Garret would of course make the polite offer. “It’s an honor to be called upon not only to transport you personally to one of your mining planets, but to carry the Citeesium ore to the various shipyards. I’m just glad my four ships will be enough to make the necessary runs.”
“Pardon me, but Citeesium ore?” Anova said from Garret’s other side and for a moment he wondered if she was an idiot. Anyone who dealt with spaceships knew what… oh wait, how many of her viewers would know?
“Citeesium is one of the most valuable ores known to the galaxy.” Blashame answered pompously, leaning forward in his chair for a better view. Garret used the moment to run an eye over his bridge crew, and check the panel for any dangers in their path. “Citeesium is refined with several lesser ores and produces the armor used on every Republic ship, the armor that has for forty years saved the lives of millions.”
“No Republic ship, civilian or military, leaves a dock without at least a basic layer of Citeesium-based armor.” Garret added. “Unpainted, it gives off a silver sheen. Instead of painting Adamant, we chose to cover the armor in a basic gloss, giving her the silver glow you commented on as you boarded.”
“I see.” Anova said politely. Her eyes confirmed for Garret that she had already known the answer, and the question had been for the edification of her audience. “That maneuver we did as we left dock, I understand it’s a maneuver for military ships? I thought this was a civilian ship.”
“Adamant was designed and built to be a planetary assault flagship.” Garret explained, again a question for her viewers more than anything else. “She had just completed shipbuilding trials and three-week shakedown cruise when the war ended. Since then she was remodeled to be a cargo and passenger mixed-use vessel. Still, she has her military reactors, sensors, and flight control systems making her one of the fastest civilian vessels in the Republic.”
“Not to mention the most heavily armed.” Blashame said with a snort. “Four anti-ship lasers, dozens of point defense lasers and rail guns, four torpedo tubes, and a mass driver are nothing to shake a stick at these days. With all the pirate attacks, and Lemos being so near the edge of Republic space, I wanted to travel on a safe ship, and this ship is safer than anything but a military cruiser.”
“Thank you.” Garret said appreciatively. That was to be one of their hallmark traits for advertising – well-armed ships that could travel safely, even from the worst pirate attacks. Marjaan was convinced this would bring in more business. Added with the fact that their routes would take them out from the core of the Republic to the fringes, around several of the major planets and then back to Peladon, there had been little trouble keeping her cabins as well as her cargo bays full.
“It’s why we chose you when our regular carrier line lost their remaining heavy transport.” Blashame said with a shrug. “We’re somewhat hesitant entrusting our cargo to an inexperienced captain, but at least your other ships have proven commanders.”
“Isn’t it true you’re not exactly inexperienced?” Anova asked in a sickly sweet voice and Garret turned to smile at her briefly. “You were in the elite Academy, weren’t you? I heard you actually participated in several campaigns during the war.”
“All Academy students spend time with the fleet during their summer break.” Garret acknowledged smoothly. His console was blinking now and he turned to look at Westley’s back before issuing more orders. “Helm, increase acceleration to full.”
“Increasing speed to full, aye aye, sir.” Westley acknowledged.
“Pardon, but ship’s business always comes first.” Garret said to Anova with another smile, which she returned in full measure. “My first summer I spent six weeks with the 501st Marine battalion at the Braxix forward firebase. In the fourth week a full planetary assault squadron attacked us. They managed to land two full battalions of light troops and a tank battalion before the fleet drove their squadron from orbit. It was another week before ground reinforcements arrived. The platoon officer I was assigned with was killed in the second day of combat and I assumed command of the squad until we were relieved. The next day, I returned home for the remainder of my summer break.”
“Weren’t you given the Yellow Cluster of Bravery for that?” Anova asked and Garret suppressed an urge to widen his eyes with astonishment. Supposedly his military and Academy files were sealed.
“Yes.” Garret said with a shrug of his shoulders. It was from a past lifetime, as he’d told himself over and over again while in the New Prejat pleasure house.
“I never heard that.” Blashame said with a look of surprise on his face as Garret turned to face him. “I thought your military training was cut short.”
“It was.” Garret said with another shrug. “The Academy is not like your average military college though. The military’s regular colleges don’t send their students off to combat until they’ve completed the full training course. The Academy believes its students should learn not only the theory in the classroom, but also the practicalities in the field. First year students are sent out to the fleet to work with ground forces. Second year students are sent out to the fleet to work with junior officers in the fleet. Third year students are sent to the fleet or marine battalions to work with staff officers as part of the fleet’s command structure. Fourth year students are commissioned on graduation, usually as Lieutenants, and sent into senior posts as Department Heads or Executive Officers on smaller ships, or as unit commanders with ground forces.”
“What year were you?” Marko Blashame asked, and from the way he was leaning forward slightly, Garret knew he had the old man’s interest.
“Fourth year.” Garret admitted.
“I’ve been able to confirm you hold the rank of Lieutenant in the Fleet Reserves.” Anova stated with aplomb and Garret turned to face her.
“A few weeks ago while I was home with my family, a team of Academy instructors came and gave me the exit exams.” Garret said with pride in his voice. He’d earned that pride. “They concluded after the exams that I was qualified to hold the title of ‘Academy Graduate’. The Fleet Reserves, by law, could not compel me to military service but agreed to commission me in the reserves. I also was granted my Ship Master’s license as are all Academy Graduates.”
“So that’s how you were able to take command of this vessel.” Blashame said with a smile of his own, and a nod towards Garret. “I never knew… one of your kind could be so productive on their own.”
“It’s been called ‘The Grand Experiment.’” Garret shrugged, not wanting to go into detail and a quick glance at Anova showed that she was swallowing her tongue. So far she had been very good about keeping her questions and comments away from certain topics, and he was grateful for that. Maybe later there’d be something more he could do for her, like a guided tour of the ship. Yes, that was a good idea. “I’m afraid it’s going to be somewhat boring here on the bridge for the next few hours. Could I interest either of you on a personally guided tour of the ship?”
“That would be nice.” Anova practically purred.
“I’m afraid I have an appointment already scheduled with your spa facilities.” Marko Blashame shrugged. “Perhaps later in the voyage?”
“I’d be honored.” Garret said with a nod towards the man as he stood. They followed suit and he was wonderfully surprised when the older man held out his arm and they clasped forearms gently in the gesture of respect. The man’s eyes promised a longer conversation later, out of the eye of Anova’s camera.
“So how does someone… like you… afford a ship like this?” Anova asked as they left the bridge and he led her along the port side main passageway. She could claim she was trying to be sensitive by not naming him a ‘clone’ with her question, but she’d just reminded anyone who would be watching this once she’d returned to her studio that he was in reality a clone no matter his bearing or his eye color.
“I was raised by the Lars family and adopted by them.” Garret said with a fond smile on his face. There was an ache in his chest because he’d yet to be reunited with Billy, but they were talking again by holo-message whenever it was possible. “The MX program had us placed with families and House Lars agreed to participate by allowing me to live with them. After a few years, they decided to adopt me.”
“How… is that legal?” Anova asked as they entered a lift that would take them to the next deck. The ship had made sure it was cleared and waiting for him.
“Yes and no.” Garret said with a shrug as the lift began to take them down, and aft. “I figured you’d be able to get plenty of views of the public areas of the ship so I thought you’d enjoy seeing the side of the ship most passengers will never see.”
“That would be lovely.” Anova said with a smile and Garret was happy he’d distracted her from the topic. “How was your adoption legal?”
“It’s more that there are no laws denying the ability to adopt.” Garret said, not wanting to put the ‘clone’ word into the conversation. Sure, he hadn’t wanted to answer these questions, but the questions weren’t about too sensitive of a topic yet. “The military held my contract until I’d completed my obligatory service, but after that was completed there would be no limitation to adoption into a family, and since the adoption did not impugn upon the terms of my military contract, it was deemed valid by the courts.”
“Interesting” Anova said as the lift stopped and the doors opened. The passageway they exited into was not carpeted or painted in bright colors like the passenger areas. Here it was military standard gun metal finish and utilitarian deck plating just like on any other military vessel. He felt warmer here, safer, more at home. “My, this is different.”
“Welcome to the real Adamant.” Garret told her in a warm tone. The rest of the tour was a discussion about the ship, and he even showed her some of the recessed weapon systems. Like most combat systems, the ship’s lasers were recessed into the hull. When they were called upon for use, the parabolic mirrors would raise up with the actual lasers below the hull level. The synthetic diamond mirrors would reflect and focus the laser beams towards their targets. If they were damaged, most of the time all that would have to be replaced would be the armored mirrors, not the complicated, powerful laser systems. Anova seemed to enjoy the tour, especially the sight of the completely full lower cargo bays. Then it was time to go back up above deck, with Anova being met by a crewmember to be escorted to her cabin, and Garret headed back to the bridge.
“Report, Commander.” Garret ordered as he strode alone onto the bridge. Harrington smiled at him as she got out of his chair. She remained standing next to him, as was appropriate for an executive officer. The X.O. by military tradition did not sit when her Captain was on the bridge.
“We’ve finished decelerating for the Accelerator.” Harrington reported nodding towards the three-dimensional hologram that hung just inside the forward viewports. It was a three-dimensional representation of surrounding space with the Adamant square in the middle. Just above and ahead of them were the Merlinda, Cynthia Rose, and Elaina. All three ships had left port hours ahead of the Adamant, but thanks to the former warship’s better thrusters, they were now mere minutes ahead. “Accelerator control has us in queue, and no delay is expected.
“Very well, carry on.” Garret acknowledged and ordered as he took a deep breath before activating his seat restraint and nodding to Harrington. She took one of the guest seats and activated its restrain system. Garret activated the ship-wide address system and took a deep breath before beginning his announcement. Most of his passengers were clones bound for the administrative offices of Lemos, and he knew the normal clone education was deficient in certain areas.
“This is Captain Lars speaking.” He said, knowing his voice would be heard throughout the ship, he was speaking as calmly as possible. “We may take wave-fold travel for granted, but hundreds of years ago humanity was confined to one single planet circling a yellow star. Faster-than-light travel was just a dream, a dream unfulfilled as private corporations took the lead in space exploration from bloated governmental space agencies. It was in the old Earth year of 2184 that the Research and Development team of Virgin Space first developed the fold-guide technology. It was deemed a failure when they could not make it work.
“Fifty-two years later a scientist working for United Space developed the theory of the Gerven Wave projection that enabled the fold-guide technology to work. Ten years later, the first experimental wave-fold equipped probe made the first Fold-Jump and a new era of space travel was born. Hundreds of ships nowadays make wave-fold jumps every day, and the distances of space prove no true barrier to space travel.
“In order to create a Gerven-wave capable of activating the fold guides, it is necessary for a ship or probe to travel at one-half the speed of light. Slower ships can take a day or more to reach this speed on ion-engine thrusters. Faster ships, like the Adamant can reach such speeds in hours if necessary. In order to speed space travel, many Republic planets have built Accelerators that use magnetic rail technology to push ships from a few thousand kph to one-half light speed almost instantaneously. We are now preparing to enter one of these Accelerators in long-range orbit of Peladon.
“The inertial dampeners will greatly reduce the effects of this sudden acceleration, but all passengers and crew are advised to be in their acceleration seats with full restraints in place. Failure to do so will result in serious injury. You can expect forces of up to four point five standard gravities during acceleration. We will make our wave-fold jump as soon as we receive an answering signal from the jump beacon at our jump destination, the Mid-Range Space Station Oberlin. When the jump is successfully completed, the restraint lights in your cabin indicator screens will indicate you are free to get up from your seats. A single jump in a twenty-four hour period is adjudged to have extremely limited side effects. You might experience some dizziness or brief nausea following the jump. Anyone experiencing side effects may make use of our ship’s infirmary and the services of our ship’s doctor at no charge. Thank you for traveling with us.”
“Nicely done.” Harrington said from her seat as Garret switched off the comm.
“Thanks.” Garret said and turned to the communications console. “Open a channel to the Merlinda.”
“Aye aye sir.” The crewman at the exterior communications channel said without turning around. “Channel open, sir.”
“Captain Luxon, it looks like you’re next in line.” Garret said with a tinge of humor in his voice. His crew was getting better at knowing when he wanted voice-only, as in this case, and when he’d want visual communication.
“Nice how you caught up to us, Captain Lars.” Luxon replied jovially. “Showing off the pretty engines on your pretty ship, were ya?”
“I just didn’t want you to think we’d forgotten about you.” Garret retorted, earning a bout of laughter from the older captain.
“Don’t worry yourself about that.” Luxon responded as his ship moved into line for the acceleration. The Accelerator was like a great ring in space, wide enough for a battle carrier and nearly two miles in length. “We’ll see you at Oberlin.”
“At Oberlin.” Garret agreed, motioning for the comm. to be disconnected. It was, and the Merlinda was through the gateway with its four canisters of cargo. He was trying not to think about those modified canisters, each carrying a thousand clones bound for the mines of Lemos, but it was hard to think about anything else whenever he thought about the heavy lifter.
The Merlinda faded out of view with its hyper-acceleration and the Cynthia Rose was moving into position next. Garret had a brief discussion with her captain before she too disappeared, followed soon after by the Elaina. When it was their turn, Garret gave the necessary orders and had the short discussion with accelerator control before Adamant passed through the great machine and was sped on its way.
The gravity force was heavy, but nowhere near what it could have been thanks to the inertia dampeners. A by-product of the anti-gravity technology discovered fifty years before the first work on the wave-fold guide technology began, anti-gravity technology had made possible real acceleration in space instead of the puny limited-thrust engines of that early era. It wasn’t long before they were at speed. The other ships in his ‘fleet’ had already made their jump, and now it was their turn.
“Verify targeting beacon at Oberlin.” Garret ordered. Now that they were traveling at greater than half the speed of light, they could use the wave-fold guides to transmit at faster-than-light speeds. This was how the Republic-wide holo-channels worked. They had numerous probes traveling in orbits of every solar system at high speeds, transmitting by relay all of their programming across the Republic. It was also how the military kept in contact with all their far-flung ships.
“Coordinates are verified, sir.” Mitchums said from his communications post. Garret nodded and gave the order, which Westley executed immediately.
“Cease thrust on all engines.” Garret ordered and then waited for it to be carried out. When the ship’s engines had gone to standby mode, the ship continued at its current speed. This far from the star’s gravity, they would continue at this speed for days before celestial gravity slowed them down at all.
“Engines at rest.” Westley confirmed as per protocol.
“Prepare to jump.” Garret ordered.
“Ready.” Westley stated clearly.
“Jump.” Garret ordered and for a moment he felt stretched, as if every molecule in his body was stretched across the cosmos, which in a way, was happening. Then with a pop that was more felt than heard, everything returned to normal. “Report.”
“We are at the specified coordinates.” Westley said a moment later, shaking his head slightly. Some people reported feeling a little dizziness after a jump, although Garret had never been so afflicted. The reason no jumps were usually done in a period less than twenty-four hours apart was that stretching feeling. Some people went insane if they felt too stretched too often.
“Engage engines at twenty-nine point four percent.” Garret ordered as the tactical display appeared in front of the viewports. There was Oberlin station, hanging gloriously in its deep space orbit. It was big enough to repair an entire fleet at once, and was the hub of civilian and military traffic in this sector fourteen light-years from Peladon. From here, the Eighth fleet sprang forth conducting patrols and keeping the capitol of the Republic safe from harm. The display also showed the other three ships of BGL lining up one on top of the other, one-half a kilometer apart. This would provide the greatest protection from a pirate attack. “Move us into formation and match speed with the Merlinda.”
“Aye sir.” Westley ordered and Garret relaxed with a broad smile.
They were on their way and so far everything was going better than he had expected.
As with all my stories, E provides immeasurable input, grammar checking, and all those other lovely editing thingies that make the story so much better!
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