Frontiers Saga 12: Rise of the Alliance (38 page)

“You’re planning an agricultural bay as well?” Nathan wondered.

“No, nothing like that, Captain,” Dumar replied. “Actually, it was Prince Casimir who suggested it, as a way to help feed the people of Earth in this time of crisis.”

Vladimir smiled. “Oh, please, let me be the one to tell Jessica,” he said to Nathan.

* * *

“Keesh, Tweety. How’s it looking,” Captain Nash asked as he
entered the lower flight deck of Scout Three and made his way forward.

“All systems show ready, Captain,” Sergeant Ravi reported.

“Same here,” his cohort Sergeant Poteet added.

“Wellsy?” the captain asked as he paused at the forward ladder.

“Karuzara ops has given us a green light to depart, sir.”

“Very well.” Captain Nash turned aft and looked at his crew. “Anyone need a bandage or an aspirin before we depart?”

“Funny,” Sergeant Frisch replied as he sat in his seat with nothing to do.

“Don’t worry, Fritzi,” Captain Nash teased, patting the young sergeant on the shoulder. “As soon as we get some weapons for you to shoot, you’ll feel like a full-fledged, contributing member of the crew, worthy of sucking up our air and stinking up our head.”

“Stinking things up is Toosh’s job,” Sergeant Frisch reminded him.

“So it is,” the captain said as he climbed up the ladder to the main flight deck. “Gentlemen, are we ready for this?” he asked as he topped the ladder and stepped onto the flight deck.

“All reactors are at full power and the emitter array is green across the board,” Lieutenant Scalotti reported. “Jump drive is ready.”

“Sensors are also ready,” Ensign Agari added.

“Excellent,” Captain Nash said as he moved between the two men and twisted himself around to slip into the left hand flight seat at the front of the flight deck. “Glad you could join us, Commander Eckert,” the captain said.

“Thank you, Captain,” Commander Eckert said from the right seat. “I never pictured myself as an executive officer, but I’ll certainly do my best.”

“Don’t worry, son. On a Scout ship, being XO just means you help me fly the ship, do the things I don’t want to do, and take over if I kick the bucket.”

“I think I can handle that, sir.”

“I’m sure you can,” Captain Nash agreed. “Otherwise Captain Scott wouldn’t have recommended you.” Captain Nash reached down to the aft end of the center pedestal and pressed a button. Large doors covering their forward windows slid down into the hull, revealing the dimly lit interior of the Karuzara asteroid’s main bay. “There’s something you don’t see every day,” he said, looking out the window to his left.

Commander Eckert looked out as well, spotting the Aurora directly outside of them, with the Celestia inverted above her, and both of them moored to the massive docking platform that ran alongside them. “No, sir. You surely don’t.”

Captain Nash put on his comm-set and tapped the earpiece to activate it. “Wellsy, tell ops we’re about to disconnect and head out.”

“
Aye, sir,
” the ensign answered over the comms from the lower flight deck.

“All flight systems show ready, and we’re running on internal power and life support,” Commander Eckert announced.

“
Ops confirms we’re clear to depart,
” Ensign Wells announced.

“Very well,” Captain Nash said. “Disconnect all umbilicals.”

“
Umbilicals disconnected,
” Sergeant Poteet reported over the comms.

“
Ops reports positive retraction on all umbilicals,
” Ensign Wells reported. “
Clear to release mooring clamps.
”

“Release all mooring clamps,” Captain Nash ordered.

“
Releasing mooring clamps, aye
,” Sergeant Ravi acknowledged.

“
Ops reports all mooring arms are retracted,
” Ensign Wells reported. “
We are free-floating and clear to maneuver.
”

“Thrusting to starboard,” Captain Nash announced as he slid his maneuvering joystick slightly to the right. The sound of the gas jets reverberated faintly through the ship’s hull and into the cabin, providing them with audible confirmation that the thrusters had fired. Captain Nash looked out the window to his left again as the Aurora and the Celestia appeared to drift away from them.

“Five meters,” Commander Eckert reported as they continued to drift.

“Do you have a nickname?” Captain Nash wondered.

“Sir?” the commander asked.

“A nickname. Everyone on this ship has a nickname. Toosh, Donny, Wellsy, Keesh, Tweety. You need a nickname. Didn’t they give you a call sign during your flight training?”

“Yes, sir. Skeech,” Commander Eckert answered. “Ten meters.”

“Thrusting upward,” the captain reported. “Why Skeech?”

“I have no idea, sir.”

“Skeech it is, then,” Captain Nash insisted.

“Rate of climb is two meters per second,” the commander reported. “What’s your nickname, sir?”

“I’m ‘Captain’,” he answered with a smile. “Pr
ivileges of being the CO.”

“Of course.”

“Just don’t call me ‘Skipper.’ My sister loves that name, and I hate it.”

“So does Captain Scott.” The commander looked at his displays again. “Twenty meters to departure altitude. Eight seconds.”

“Thrusting forward,” the captain announced as their ship rose above the bottom edge of the massive departure tunnel.

“Four seconds.”

Captain Nash added more forward thrust, increasing the rate at which they approached the entrance to the departure tunnel.

“We’re clear of the tunnel bottom and rising,” Eckert reported. He looked out the windows and upward. “Doors are closing.”

“I guess they want us to hurry it along, huh?” Captain Nash said as he increased their forward thrust. “Must have been pretty intense flying the Aurora through these tunnels.”

“Definitely something to remember,” Commander Eckert agreed. “Chiles made it look easy, though. Next doors in three minutes.”

Captain Nash and his crew went calmly about their business as the Scout ship traversed the first airlock section of the Karuzara’s main departure tunnel. The captain divided his attention equally between the displays on the console before him and the view outside the ship. As the tunnels were designed to accommodate ships the size of the Aurora, there was ample space for the significantly smaller Scout ships.

“Seems like a lot of effort to increase and decrease the pressure of all the bays along this tunnel just for our little ship,” Commander Eckert said.

“A lot easier to work on a ship in a shirt sleeve environment,” Captain Nash commented.

“Entering the second airlock,” Eckert reported.

“You been through a lot of jumps, Commander?” Ensign Agari asked from the seat behind Eckert.

“Lost count, to be honest.”

“What does it feel like?”

“You don’t feel anything,” Eckert told him. “Just a bright flash on the view screen and it’s over.”

“I heard the Aurora’s COB feels it in his teeth or something,” Agari said.

“Yeah, I heard that too,” Eckert confirmed. “I never asked him if it was true, though.” Eckert looked down at his displays. “Coming up on max transit speed, sir.”

“Killing forward thrust,” the captain acknowledged.

“Third airlock in ten seconds.”

Captain Nash looked forward, noticing that the third set of airlock doors had only been opened about a quarter of the way. “I guess they figured they only needed to crack the doors open a bit for us to fit through.”

“I’m showing at least fifty meters clearance above and below, sir,” the commander reported.

“Launching will be a lot quicker and easier once our bays are operational,” Captain Nash commented.

Ten minutes later, the Scout ship had cleared the last section of the departure tunnel and was climbing up out of the departure trench that ran along the surface of the Karuzara asteroid. Captain Nash looked outside as the top edges of the trench fell below them. “We’re out.”

“Fifty meters and climbing,” Commander Eckert reported.

“Increasing forward thrust,” the captain announced.

“One hundred meters, three fifty separation. Two hundred. Four hundred. Six hundred. One kilometer, three separation and increasing. We’re clear to maneuver at will.”

“Activating flight computers, manual controls are offline,” Captain Nash said. He punched keys on the flight control computer and called up their first waypoint. “Selecting the first jump point and activating auto-flight systems.”

“Jump point in thirty seconds,” Commander Eckert reported.

“Jump emitter arrays are all green,” Lieutenant Scalotti announced. “Jump field generators also show ready. Reactors are all running at one hundred percent. We’re ready to jump, Captain.”

“Fifteen seconds to jump point,” Commander Eckert reported. “You might want to close the blast doors, Captain.”

“And miss our first jump?”

“Then I strongly advise everyone to close their eyes tightly and turn your heads away at the moment we jump, or you’ll be seeing a blue haze for the rest of the day.”

“You heard him, gentlemen,” Captain Nash said.

“Five seconds to jump point,” Commander Eckert reported. “Three……two……one…”

Captain Nash closed his eyes and tilted his head downward.

“…Jumping.”

Blue-white light spilled out across the Scout ship’s hull from a dozen strategically placed emitters. The light engulfed the hull like a wave of blue-white water in a split second, then immediately flashed in a brilliant ball of blue-white light. When the flash subsided, the Scout ship was gone.

“Jump complete,” Commander Eckert reported as the flash subsided.

“Verifying position,” Ensign Agari announced. “Contact. Two hundred kilometers ahead, five to starboard and two up relative. Contact is a Falcon.”

“
Incoming call from Falcon One, Captain,
” Wellsy called over the comms.

“Put them through.”

“Scout Three, Falcon One.”

“Falcon One, Scout Three. Go ahead.
”

“Congratulations, Captain,
” Loki’s voice said over the comms.
“We picked up no fluctuations when you came out of your jump. You should be good to continue the rest of your test jumps. We’ll lead the way. Jump two in one minute.
”

The cabin of Scout Three exploded in cheers.

“Falcon One, Scout Three. We copy. We’ll be right behind you. Scout Three out.” Captain Nash looked at Commander Eckert. “Now
that
was something.”

“Yes, sir. It was.”

“Falcon One has jumped away, Captain,” Ensign Agari reported.

“Jump drive shows ready, all emitters are green, and all reactors at full power,” Lieutenant Scalotti added.

“Ten seconds to next jump point,” Commander Eckert reported.

Captain Nash turned and looked aft at his crew, a big smile on his face. “
Now
the fun begins.”

* * *

Nathan sat in the middle of one of the many unfinished caverns in the Karuzara asteroid, looking at
the dome overhead. The portion of it that was completed was polished and stained a perfect white. All about him were planters filled with flowers, trees, and shrubs from the worlds of the Pentaurus cluster, all being fed artificial sunlight from portable lights suspended over them.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Jessica asked as she approached from the entrance to the cavern. She looked around as she walked toward Nathan. “What the hell is this place?”

“It’s going to be a low-gravity garden,” Nathan told her.

“I thought I felt a little light,” Jessica said as she looked at the floor panels. “Is the artificial gravity built into these floor plates or something?”

“Yup. Their artificial gravity systems are far more advanced than ours.” Nathan pointed up at the ceiling. “They’re going to polish the entire dome smooth and stain it white, all the way down to the floors, so they can project an artificial sky. All these plants here will eventually be planted into a soil base about three meters thick.”

“Why?”

“To make a nice place to relax, get some fresh air,” Nathan explained.

“It’s not fresh air, Nathan,” Jessica disagreed. “It’s still being circulated by the same environmental system as the rest of the facility.”

“Yes and no. The plants and trees will add oxygen to it. And it will smell nice.”

“Couldn’t they just go down to Earth if they want to smell plants?”

“I’m pretty sure that most of Earth doesn’t smell that good these days.”

“Good point,” Jessica said, sitting down next to him. “Do they really have time for all this? I mean, that platform is going to be here in a week.”

“It’s mostly being done by volunteers in what little off time they have. I think it helps them unwind a bit,” Nathan said.

“Maybe it’s not such a bad idea.”

“How is your family doing?” Nathan wondered.

“Good. My brothers are helping with construction of base facilities. My mom is working in the base mess, and my father is yelling at everyone. So it’s all good.”

“I’m glad you were able to get them someplace safe.”

“Yeah.” Jessica was silent for a moment, as she looked at all the plants around them. “You know, I had pretty much stopped thinking about them,” she admitted. “Figured it wasn’t much use, that either they were alive or not… That sooner or later, I’d find out. Kind of made it easier, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Nathan said. “I did the same thing. With the first platform, it was so hard to give the order to retreat, knowing that my family was still alive, and that they would probably die when we left. At that moment, I really wished that I didn’t know.” He looked at Jessica. “I hope to God that I don’t have to make that call again. I don’t know if I can.”

“You can,” Jessica said quietly. “You know,” she said, changing the subject, “the Corinairan medical teams have started treating the worst cases of radiation poisoning on Earth with nanites.”

“I thought it caused pain to non-Corinairans?” Nathan wondered.

“It does, but what would you prefer? A few weeks of nanite pain or slow death from radiation poisoning?”