The Spindle Station: Book 2 of the Alliance Conflict (6 page)

Victor knew she had a valid point. He supposed the humans would sit nicely for 3 or 4 days, but he doubted he could keep them captive for 11 days without beds or chairs or entertainment.

Victor waved his hands in the air and said, “Don’t worry, we will think of something. For instance, we could always use human beds and furniture. We will just have to find a way to attach the beds to the deck.”

The trip took just under a day to complete at the steady rate of .03 light. There were no problems with the power generator or thrusters. Victor deemed the repair and calibration a success. He was tempted to speed up, but they were now nearing the Conron – Earth hyperspace corridor.

As they made the final approach to the hyperspace corridor, they were hailed by traffic control. Technically, they were hailed by an automated defense system that was guarding the entry to the hyperspace lane to Earth.

On each side of the corridor was a large asteroid. It had been converted into a weapons platform and boasted an impressive array of missiles and ion cannons. One cannon was strong enough to vaporize a fully shielded battleship and the two asteroids combined had 16 of them. The asteroid also had 80 missile launchers and could automatically reload 10 times.!

…Approaching ship, the hyperspace lane is currently closed. Please reverse course. If you approach any further, you will be vaporized for your safety…

Victor responded, “This is the
Vista
. It is on the list of ships allowed entry to Earth.”

The forts had been facing toward the hyperspace lane, but after Victor’s response they rapidly spun 180 degrees on their axis to face the
Vista
. This rapid spin feature had been designed by Lorano. He had placed plasma jets around the exterior of the forts. This feature allowed the forts to track any ship on any trajectory in mere moments. There was a small drawback to the design though. In order to get an accurate shot, the forts had to spend about 3 minutes stabilizing themselves at the new coordinates.

…Ships are no longer allowed to enter because the hyperspace lane is closed…

Victor tried again, “Yes or No. Are we on the list of ships allowed to enter?”

…Yes. But, a new order was given to not allow any ships to pass and to vaporize them for their safety…

Victor wasn’t entirely clear how vaporizing his ship would keep him safe, but he continued, “Okay, I am sending you a new order from the Alliance Senate specifically ordering the
Vista
to go to Earth.”

…Received and authenticated…

“Then these newest orders show that the new orders were not supposed to overwrite your existing orders. The original list of ships should stand intact.” Victor concluded.

…Fine, you can pass this time. However, I am going to get clarification. If you destroy yourself, please do it safely…

The mini-freighter was now in the exact middle of the hyperspace corridor. Crista calculated their first jump, entered it into the navigation computer and double checked it for accuracy. Just for fun, she ran a simulation and got a 97% chance of failure

She looked over at Victor and said, “I suggest we not try that particular route.”

Victor replied, “True. We do not want to wind up wedged into an asteroid.”

Crista clapped her hands together to simulate the ship splattering into something. She said, “I can think of a few people back on Solaria I wouldn’t mind sending on that route.”

Victor laughed and said, “True.” He paused for a moment and said, “Are you sure we are at the correct starting coordinates? Remember, Lorano said that the collar will only calculate the correct next jump point if we are physically located in the correct beginning point.”

Crista nodded her head to indicate yes. She said, “We are. The starting point for the first jump is correctly stored in the transponder jump log.” She paused for a moment and said, “Go ahead, activate the collar so we can get the secret coordinates.”

Victor raised his hands and slapped both of his ears. The collar activated and Crista shrieked and rubbed her ears. Crista asked, “Did it work?”

Victor replied, “I don’t know. Lorano said that when I boxed my ears, the collar will automatically link with the hyper-drive unit. I don’t recall him saying how to tell if it worked.”

Crista replied, “Just activate it. Do you remember the code?”

Approximately 4 months ago, Victor, Lorano, Crista, and Carank had been sent to Earth to evaluate humans for their ability to be fighter pilots. While there, the hyperspace corridor from Earth to Conron was intentionally destroyed. They found a new route back to Conron. However, the team decided to keep this new route to Earth a secret. Lorano hid the coordinates in Crista’s control collar and created a complicated activation sequence.

Victor said, “Yes. I have to hit myself in the following combination - right cheek, left cheek, forehead, top of head, nose, chin, and repeat.”

Victor looked at Crista to see if she was ready. He then slapped himself on his right cheek. Crista reacted to the pain with a shout and covered her check with her hand. A few seconds later when the pain from the slap had dulled, she checked the navigation computer. There were a new set of coordinates loaded into computer.

Making a jump into hyperspace is relatively easy. One simply types in the coordinates of the place in space to which they want to travel and engages the drive. The navigation system then draws a straight line from the beginning point to the ending point.

Provided the navigation system knows exactly where the beginning point is, it can draw a reasonably straight line to the destination. If the actual location of the ship begins to vary in respect to the recorded location, the navigation system begins to draw lines that no longer lead to the destination. After two or three of these jumps, the ship can become lost as it no longer has a reference location to tether it to real space.

The secret coordinates were going to do just that. The navigational system will believe that the coordinates that Crista locked into the transponder is where the ship is. However, the ship will actually jump to the coordinates that the collar just loaded into the system. If they are in the wrong starting location, slapped the wrong body part, or Lorano made a mistake then they will quickly become lost in space.

Victor said, “Do it.”

Crista pressed the hyperspace button and then disengaged the transponder. That was another feature Lorano had added to the mini-freighter. It wouldn’t be good if their signal was detected while they were on the secret route.

The first few jumps were simply around the outskirts of the Conron system to the Conron – Uselon hyperspace corridor. They could have jumped there directly, but then they would have been observed leaving Conron headed to Uselon instead of Earth.

As soon as they exited from their first jump, Crista performed a passive scan of the immediate area. She shut it off after 2 minutes because there was a chance that they could be detected if someone was actively scanning the precise area where they were located. The chances of detection were miniscule, but they didn’t want to stay any longer than absolutely necessary.

She announced, “Well, we are still in the Conron system and are exactly where we’re supposed to be.”

She quickly entered the next set of coordinates and locked them into the transponder. Victor slapped his left cheek to obtain the next set of secret numbers. Victor waited a moment for Crista to rub her cheek. He then said, “Go” and Crista pushed the hyperspace button.

They repeated this process 9 more times over the course of the next 10 days in ship time (or 19 days in real time). They were on the far outskirts of the Waylon system and aligned with the entryway to the unrecorded Waylon – Earth hyperspace corridor. Lorano had discovered this corridor months earlier using the gravity charting missile technique.

Crista ran a passive scan and announced, “That’s odd; the
Sunflower
is here.”

Victor said, “Here. Are you sure it is here? Are you sure we are here?” Victor’s voice was a little panicked. He took several breaths to calm down.

Crista said, “If the
Sunflower
is here, then the humans are here.”

Victor replied, “True, but how does that help us?”

Crista said, “Maybe we could take some of the humans back and they could help us capture the new ones.”

Victor replied, “Or, they would just run off when we land and we would have to replace them in addition to the 45 we already have to get.”

Crista said, “We could fly over there and ask, I suppose.”

Victor did a quick calculation and said, “It would take 2 days to travel there at .04 light. We can’t micro jump because it would mess up the sequence in the navigational computer.”

“Yes, and Lorano isn’t here to reprogram it.” Crista continued, “How about if we send them a message and see if they can jump over here.”

Victor agreed and said, “Good idea. A message can get there in just under 2 hours. We need to send something that doesn’t identify us, but gives them a reason to come here. It should be secretive and coded.”

Crista smiled and said, “I know exactly what to send.” She took a moment to collect herself and said, “Computer, send the following message to the
Sunflower
– Come here and bring the humans.”

Chapter 3

Frank adjusted his tie and studied himself closely in the mirror. He thought that he spotted a hair with a gray tip on it, so he ordered the mirror to change to 15x magnification. “Aha, there it is,” Frank said to himself.

Frank grabbed the offending hair with a pair of electro-tweezers and held it tightly. He grabbed a paint brush and dabbed a tiny amount of coloring on it. Then he carefully painted the hair. He made sure that he didn’t touch any of the other hairs. He had to be precise because if he just dabbed the entire area it would create a dark spot. His opponents would notice the spot and accuse him of hiding his advancing age.

Now that the hair was appropriately recolored, Frank adjusted the mirror back to normal and studied himself again. His green skin shown no signs of wrinkles, his hands looked firm and strong, his nails were perfectly manicured, and his skin was firm. In summary, he looked great.

Frank’s doorbell chimed. He grabbed his communicator and looked at the being standing on the other side of the door. Perfect, his 1:00 appointment was here. Frank walked back to his main office, sat down at his desk and said, “Computer, release the lock on the door.”

The door slid open and a white being walked in. He was short by human standards, but well within two standard deviations of the average human male’s height. He was however, taller than most Solarians and just barely taller than Frank. Frank smiled and waved him to one of the chairs facing his desk.

Frank said, “Thank you for taking the time to see me while you were on Advranki Prime.”

The being made a polite chuckle and said, “I was officially summoned to your office the moment my mini-freighter touched down on the planet.”

Frank responded by eloquently changing the subject, “So, you are Jack Dogbarks, the captain of the
Jackal
.”

Jack responded, “Thank you. This is quite an honor. I didn’t realize that you even knew I existed, let alone who I am.”

Frank gave his award winning smile. He knew it was early in the conversation to break out his big smile, but he had another appointment soon and wanted to end this one as quickly as possible. Frank replied, “I know that we haven’t met in person before today, but I have read every report that you filed while you were officially observing Earth.”

Jack was surprised. He said, “Wow. I didn’t realize that the reports went to the highest level of government. I just figured they were read by a low level worker and filed in a waste bin somewhere.”

Frank neglected to mention that he had in fact only read a brief summary of the reports earlier today in preparation for this very meeting. The summary had been meticulously prepared by the aforementioned low level worker. He gently slid the waste basket where the summary reports were currently residing farther under his desk so Jack couldn’t see them. Frank stretched lazily, gazed around the room, and politely asked, “Can I get you anything, a drink perhaps?”

Jack declined the offer for refreshments and said, “Okay, get to the point, why did you call me here?”

Frank smiled at his own wit. The stalling gambit had worked. Frank answered, “I understand you were given a contract by the Hiriculans to haul cargo to an outpost. Please tell me about it.”

Jack said, “Yes, it is a limited contract for three trips. What would you like to know?”

Frank responded, “How you got the contract, where you are going, and what you are hauling.”

Jack replied, “Well, technically, the contract is for hauling cargo from the outpost to Solaria. They are going to fabricate some of the detail components such as light fixtures, specialty flooring, and solar panels at the outpost. My contract is to haul the finished goods from this outpost to Solaria.”

Frank asked, “What are you hauling there?”

Jack said, “Unfortunately, I don’t have a contract for the trip there. I filled my secondary hold with miscellaneous goods from Solaria. I plan to fill my main hold with dried sea moss. That is why I came to Advranki Prime.”

Frank said, “Well, that makes sense. How did you get the contract?”

Jack said, “That is the funny part. Right after the Solarian government announced the agreement for the new building, I simply walked into the Hiriculan embassy and asked if they needed cargo hauled for the project. I guess I was the only one bold or stupid enough to try it. Anyway, the Hiriculan embassy on Solaria gave me the contract.”

Frank asked, “Where is the outpost?”

Jack replied, “Way out there. It is three jumps past Influenla. I am told the system is rich in raw materials.”