Coalition of Solar Systems (CSS) - Spectrumwebpages.charter.net/dafleming/Encounter.doc · Web viewAt the aft end was a large cylindrical structure that housed the main engines for

D.A. Fleming

EncounterCoalition Book 1

ÓCopyright 2013 by D. A. Fleming. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 ........................................... 5 Chapter 2 ........................................ 13 Chapter 3 ........................................ 49 Chapter 4 ........................................ 93 Chapter 5 ...................................... 120 Chapter 6 ...................................... 154 Chapter 7 ...................................... 189 Chapter 8 ...................................... 211 Chapter 9 ...................................... 242 Chapter 10 ................................... 264 Chapter 11 ................................... 290 Chapter 12 ................................... 307 Chapter 13 ................................... 332

For my Mother and Brother in the hope that they will both soon re-

cover from illness and go on to ful-fill new dreams.

Chapter 1

he explosion knocked Donovan Kane on his butt and overwhelmed his senses for

several seconds. Shaking his head, he picked himself up and lurched towards the intersection leading to Engineering. The air was foul with smoke from an electrical fire and burnt insulation, probably toxic, but he뭗 worry about that later.

T

A small group of crew members were picking each other up off of the floor ahead and beginning to file past him towards the shuttle Donovan had just left. Some of them were helping others too wounded or disoriented to walk for themselves.

He stopped one with Lieutenant 뭩 pips on his collar. 밨 eporthe ordered. The man glanced at his flight suit before saying: 밨eactor containment failure in progress Commander. All crew have been ordered to abandon ship.Donovan nodded and the offi-cer moved on, looking around to make sure

all of his people were moving as fast as pos-sible.

Donovan glanced at the panel that had ex-ploded as he passed by. Whatever wiring or circuitry it had contained was a charred, shattered mess now. As he turned to move on, still a bit disoriented, the lights went out and emergency lights flickered on.

Rubbing his eyes, which had started to burn in the foul air, he moved on. Reaching the intersection, he turned right and saw the hatchway to Engineering at the end of the hall outlined in red emergency lights. He moved forward, hoping he wouldn 뭪 have any trouble with the hatch.

His comm buzzed. Slapping his hand to it, he opened the channel. The voice of his co-pilot crackled in his ear: 밮 an, where the hell are you? We have to take off!

밒 f all the evacuees are aboard, take off. Do it now. Don 뭪 wait for me. I am staying to render assistance.He tapped his comm unit again to terminate the connection.

A moment later a slight tremor in the floor and wall told him that his co-pilot had obeyed orders. The wall felt hot under his hand, lending urgency to his progress.

Sprinting to the end of the corridor he reached the hatch and placed his palm on the access panel. To his relief, the hatch slid aside immediately, revealing a hazy view of main Engineering.

From drifting currents of smoke in the air, he could tell that the ventilation system was working, but it was fighting a losing battle against overloaded systems he could see throwing off sparks and smoking on every side. In the middle of the chaos a man in a hazmat suit was pounding his fist on a blackened, un-responsive console.

He recognized the man 뭩 hulking frame and gestures even with the hazmat suit on. Gillespie Walker had been one of the engi-neers that Donovan had worked with build-ing the new Coalition defense fleet ships several years ago. Gil had been assigned as Chief Engineer of the CSSS Bangaram when it launched.

Donovan moved towards him, calling out: 밎il, status report!The man turned towards him, shaking his head and reaching up to fiddle with the earpiece on the suit. 밮 an! What the hell are you doing here? I gave or-ders for everyone to evacuate.”

밒 was piloting the shuttle that took on your engineering crew. I knew you wouldn 뭪 abandon ship so I 뭢 here to rescue your sorry ass. I helped build this wreck, after all.”

Donovan couldn 뭪 see Gil 뭩 expression through the faceplate of his suit in the dim light, but his stance communicated anger and frustration. 밃 ll right, but grab a suit. I뭭 e been getting some anomalous radiation readings and the air isn 뭪 fit to breathe with all of these fires springing up every-where.”

밢 nce you are suited up, help me find some way to stabilize the main reactor. Every console seems to be down.Gil pointed to a locker and was ducking under the console he had been pounding moments before as he finished speaking.

Donovan opened the locker and pulled out one of the hazmat suits hanging inside. He took a moment to pull his pocket computer out of his vest pocket and stow it in a front pocket of the suit.

Pulling the hazmat suit on over his flight suit, he zipped the it up and pulled the headpiece down, sealing it shut. He

reached up to turn the suit systems on, in -cluding the communications system, and immediately felt fresh air blow over his face.

Turning around he could see Gil crouched before the computer console holding a cir-cuit board with sooty scorch marks running across it. Clearly disgusted, he tossed it aside, saying: 밄 loody hell. I 뭠 l be lucky if I can figure out where to find a spare in stor-age with half of the computers down!”

밐 ave you tried interfacing directly with the reactor?Donovan asked as he approached.

밳 eah, but the programs to control the re-action and do a controlled shutdown were in the main engineering computer and I haven 뭪 been able to find a working console to access it. We may be facing a contain-ment loss, or worse, at any moment and I 뭢 worried about that radiation.”

밪 how me.Donovan said. If Gil was right about the radiation, something was very, very wrong. The heavily shielded reactor should not be emitting radiation of any kind.

Gill pulled a diagnostic tool from his belt, turned it on, selected the correct mode and then turned the instrument so Donovan could see the display. Sharp spikes of radia-tion showed on the display at regular inter-vals, roughly every few seconds. Something was definitely very wrong.

밚 et me see what I can do.He said as he moved towards the reactor occupying the entire center of the dark, hazy room. Tak-ing his pocket computer out, he stepped be-hind another blackened console directly in front of the reactor and reached up to pull open a maintenance panel. Unfolding the jack from the side of his computer, he plugged it directly into a port on the panel.

It had been several years since he 뭗 worked on these systems, but he never threw any-thing away, including software, that might prove useful later. For a moment he strug-gled to remember where he had stored the programs he would need, but his computer remembered his preferences, as if it were just yesterday, and brought up the appro-priate folder.

He initiated the reactor control software. What he saw on the small display was not reassuring.

밎 il, you were right. We are about to lose containment.This was bad. Loss of contain-ment could result in anything from destroy-ing the Engineering compartment to blow-ing up the entire ship, depending on the status of the fusion reactor and exactly how the magnetic containment failed.

Directing his attention to his hand-held computer again, he decided there was no choice. 밒 nitiate emergency shutdown pro-cedureshe said, almost shouting in his haste as the small monitor showed contain-ment field strength start to drop into the red zone. He punched the shutdown control on the small display to make sure, not en-tirely trusting the voice command to work.

To his relief, the fuel feed to the reactor shut off and the reaction immediately began to slow down. One last spike in the display caused his heart to skip a beat, but a mo-ment later all activity stopped, the contain-ment field holding steady until the remain-ing fuel was vented and that system also began a stepped shutdown.

He turned to Gil, who by this time was look-ing over his shoulder, and grinned with re-lief. 밫 hank the gods I still had the right

program.They grinned at each other like kids.

Seeing that the air was finally clearing, he started to unzip his suit, but Gil put a hand on his arm stopped him, saying: 밒 still haven 뭪 tracked down the source of that ra-diation. It 뭩 possible the entire fuel assem-bly is contaminated.Don nodded acknowl-edgement as Gil pulled out his diagnostic unit and began scanning different parts of the reactor.

Donovan shut down his computer and dis-connected it, stowing it in his suit again as Gil completed his circuit of the reactor.

Gil said: 밨 adiation holding steady at a re-duced level but still lethal at prolonged ex-posure. It will take some time to track it down and purge the system. We may have to scrap the reactor or at least the fuel as-sembly. This ship isn 뭪 going anywhere anytime soon.

Donovan looked around at the mess, black-ened consoles and soot-streaked panels ev-erywhere he looked. 밃 ny idea what caused the radiation and overloads?”

밡 o. The power spikes started just after we engaged the warp drive. We had barely started diagnostics when the consoles started overloading. We dropped out of warp immediately. When I made a status re-port to the bridge the captain ordered us to abandon ship.”

Gil shook his head, his movements angry: 밒t shouldn 뭪 have been possible. Circuit breakers and redundant systems should have cut in, but everything seemed to fail at once. Let 뭩 get out of here for now and get these suits off. We should get to Med Bay and scan for exposure. Backup power and life support will still be functional there and I need to send a status report.”

Donovan felt his pulse returning to normal as he calmed down following the emer-gency. Something, maybe some remnant of the contaminants in the air, still seemed to be interfering with his focus. He shook his head to clear it. There was a big mystery here. This disaster shouldn 뭪 have hap-pened.

Turning his gaze towards the power distri -bution panel, he saw what looked like an in-tact console in front of it, albeit powered down. 밢 ne sec. Let me check something.As

he walked toward the console, he pulled his computer out, unfolded the built-in jack and reached out to plug it into the console.

Gill yelled at him as he made the connec-tion. 밯 ait! There could be a remnant power differential 뀛 Sparks flew from the hand-held computer as his body went rigid. He felt a blow to his chest knock him away from the console just before everything went black.

Chapter 2

onovan woke slowly, not sure at first where he was. He slipped in and out of

consciousness several times before he man-aged to wake up a little more fully. Even before opening his eyes he could tell he was in a Med Lab from the sounds and smells, but which one was another matter.

D

Although still groggy and suffering from a slight headache, effects he recognized as the aftereffects of stasis, he decided he was physically okay.

Some sign of his wakefulness must have caught the notice of the staff because he felt hands begin to gently examine him, peeling back one eyelid before he was quite ready to open his eyes for himself.

밳 ou are in the Med Lab on CSS Central station. Your buddy put you in stasis after you tried to fry your brain on the Ban-garam. He gave us the essential details of what happened. You 뭨 e lucky to be alive, but it looks like you are going to be fine.

Try to rest. We are keeping you here for ob-servation for another day or so.”

He managed to croak: 밯 aterand felt a tube applied to his lips a moment later. He gratefully took a swallow and then let him-self drift back to sleep.

When he next woke up he was feeling much better. Opening his eyes, he saw that he had a visitor: an older man in a CSS fleet uniform with Admiral 뭩 pips. He tried to sit up and salute reflexively but the bed 뭩 re-straints were still in place.

밃 t ease,the Admiral stepped forward, rais-ing his hand. 밒 am Admiral Jager. I just stopped by to see for myself how you were doing.”

밠 uch better, sirhe said. 밫 hey say I 뭠 l be released soon.”

밫 hat 뭩 what they tell me too. You might be interested to know that Chief Walker made it out fine as wellin better shape than you, in fact.”

밐 is distress call alerted the entire system to recent events on the Bangaram so, of course, every media organization in this

system has been trying to get at you for an interview. We have guards posted outside this room to make sure you aren 뭪 dis-turbed.”

밬 h, thank you sir.”

The Admiral grinned. 밢 f course. In any case, we need to debrief you first. Then we can consider whether to grant any inter-views to the press.”

밨 est up. I 뭗 like to see you in my office to-morrow when you are released. I 뭠 l have a new uniform delivered to you here and the guards outside will escort you.he said, turn-ing to leave.

밬 h, sir?”

The Admiral turned back around, giving Donovan his full attention. 밎 o ahead son.He said.

밃 m I under arrest sir?Donovan tried to smile, as if he were making a joke, but sus-pected it came across as more of a grimace.

The Admiral smiled again, even wider this time. 밡 ot unless there 뭩 something I don 뭪 know about.He winked. 밡 o, the guards are

just here to make sure the press doesn 뭪 try to sneak in and bother you.”

밃 nd the debriefing tomorrow is SOP¾I 뭢 afraid there 뭩 no way to avoid it. You may get asked some tough questions but I 뭢 sure you 뭠 l do fine. Don 뭪 sweat it.”

밒뭗 be more worried about that press inter-viewif we ever allow it. Half of Fleet and most of the solar system think you are a hero. Fame can be it 뭩 own burden. But don뭪 worry about that for now. Rest up and I 뭠l see you tomorrow.With that the Admiral turned on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving Donovan with a lot to think about.

* * *

The next morning, after a final checkup, he was given breakfast and then shown to fa-cilities where he was able to freshen up well enough before putting on the new uni-form that had been delivered that morning.

The guards, avoiding the press at the front entrance, led him down a staff lift to a back exit. After a tube transfer and a short tram

ride, they arrived at a CSS office block on the inner ring of the station.

The guards presented their badges at sev-eral progressively smaller reception areas, before stopping at a non-descript faux-wood door that slid open as they approached. Taking station on either side, the guards motioned him through.

Donovan entered a small room and stood at attention in front of a console with an en-sign seated behind it. The room was other-wise unfurnished, except for a few chairs facing the console and another door to one side, presumably leading to an inner office.

The ensign looked up, asking: 밅 ommander Donovan Kane?before looking back to his screen and then indicating a palm pad. 밣lease sign in and have a seat. It won 뭪 be long.Donovan pressed his palm to the plate until it turned green, signaling that his ID was accepted.

He turned to take a seat when he heard a slight 뱖 ooshas the inner door opened. Turning back he was confronted by the smiling Admiral Jager, already motioning him inside. 밅 ommander. Good to see you up and about. Please come in. We have a lot

to get done today!Donovan saluted before moving forward to enter the inner office.

Donovan followed the Admiral into a large, comfortable office, complete with informal seating area with overstuffed couches and plush chairs around what looked like a gen-uine wood coffee table.

At the back of the room was a modern desk with several chairs facing it, framed by old-fashioned bookcases to either side.

Photo screens, commendations, and awards, framed what looked like a real view port on the back wall, presenting a view of the outer ring and a partial view of the planet below, the day side slowing moving out of view as inner station ring continued its spin.

He tore his gaze away to see that the Admi-ral had moved to a side door and was, again, motioning him through. He turned quickly to follow and found himself in a small conference room with seats for a dozen people.

Already seated at the oval table was a Cap-tain in the uniform of Fleet Security. Dono-van stopped at the foot of the table and saluted. The Captain stood to salute before sitting down again and turning his attention

back to a datapad he had been consulting before their arrival.

Admiral Jager moved to the middle of the table, taking a seat next to the Captain, and gestured for Donovan to take a seat on the other side.

밅 ommander Kane, this is Captain Verma of CSS Fleet Security. He has a few questions for you.”

밄 efore we begin, I 뭢 having some coffee delivered but if you need anything else be-fore we get started, now is the time to say so.”

Donovan said: 밒뭢 fine. Thank you sir.”

The Admiral gestured for the Captain to proceed. Captain Verma looked up and locked eyes with Donovan for several sec-onds before he began, a slight sneer that looked like it might be his natural expres-sion, engraved in the lines of his face.

He began: 밳 ou are a Commander on de-tached service from Prithvi Planetary De-fense Forces, is that correct?”

Donovan nodded: 밳 es sir.”

밃 nd you have served in the new Coalition of Solar Systems Fleet as an Engineer and Pilot over the last seven years. Is that right?”

Donovan nodded again. 밅 loser to eight years now, sir, but, yes, that 뭩 correct.”

밃 nd prior to being put on detached duty to the CSS Fleet you were put on administra-tive leave, were you not? This was, I be-lieve, pending the resolution of certain charges that were characterized as 멌reative Requisitioningif I have that right.”

Donovan had seen this coming, as he had gone over what questions might be asked during the prior evening. He decided to keep things simple and volunteer as little as possible. Nodding again, he said simply: 밳es sir.”

밫 hat case has languished in the planetary military court system all of this time, not surprising considering all of the work in-volved in building the new CSS Central sta-tion and Fleet in this system, not to men-tion ironing out all of the politics and proto-cols involved. We are not here to litigate that case today.”

밐 owever, I am concerned that elements of that prior case might suggest a certain pre-disposition on your part. What I 뭗 like to know today is: do you feel that the charges that were brought against you at that time were deserved?”

Donovan was momentarily stunned that this man would actually ask such a question. The Captain was essentially asking him to admit his own guilt in a case that was to-tally unrelated to recent events.

He paused before answering while he gath-ered his thoughts. 뱒 ir, I feel it would be unwise for me to comment on that case while it remains open, especially without guidance from counsel.”

밦 uite right!the Admiral 뭩 voice boomed out, startling both Captain and Commander. 밚 et 뭩 stick to the case at hand, Captain. This is not a fishing expedition.After getting a stiff nod and a 밳 es sirfrom the Captain, the Admiral 뭩 face settled back into a re-laxed, smiling countenance.

If Captain Verma felt chastised he did not show it as he pursued his questioning. 밅ommander. Approximately three months ago, your shuttle responded to a distress

call from the CSSS Bangaram to pick up crew abandoning ship, is that correct?”

Donovan hadn 뭪 yet had time to check the date and hadn 뭪 known that three months had passed while he was stasis, but upon reflection, he wasn 뭪 terribly surprised, given the distances involved. It would have taken at least several weeks for another shuttle to respond from the inner system.

He nodded his head, saying: 뱒 ir. I haven 뭪 had time to check the date, having come di -rectly from Med Lab, but that sounds about right to me.”

Captain Verma consulted his screen again, then said: 밳 ou were assigned to pilot the shuttle run carrying supplies and personnel to the outer system defense stations, is that correct?Donovan nodded, saying: 멮 es sir.”

Captain Verma nodded again, as if ticking off items on a list. 밃 nd you just happened to be in the area when the Bangaram dropped out of warp?”

Donovan felt a frown coming on and tried to smooth his expression before replying: 뱒 ir. I am not sure how to answer that question. We were on our approved return trajectory

from DS3 to CSS Central via the refueling station orbiting Caci 4.”

밯 e had no idea what trajectory the Ban-garam would be taking on its way out of the system or even that it was scheduled to de-part at that time, but it is not uncommon, as I understand it, for ships to initially plot a course that would take them past known stations on their way out of a system in case there is any trouble as they initiate warp drive.”

밫 he fact that we were minutes away when the Bangaram dropped out of warp was pure chance aided by, I assume, good plan-ning on their part.”

Opposite Donovan, Admiral Jager continued to smile warmly, but a hint of amusement had appeared at the corners of his eyes. Captain Verma 뭩 sneer only deepened as he turned back to his screen. 밳 ou responded to the distress call, docked with the Ban-garam, but then you left the shuttle. Why?”

Donovan took a breath before responding, trying to remember his thoughts at the time. As he opened his mouth to respond the door to the conference room opened and the Ensign entered carrying a tray with

a coffee service and a variety of sandwiches and finger foods.

He accepted a cup of coffee, black, but de-clined anything else. Taking a sip of the coffee he raised an eyebrow. This was the real thing, not the fake stuff most of the fleet drank. Captain Verma looked on with an annoyed expression as the Admiral helped himself to coffee and a variety of food, saying: 밪 kipped breakfast this morn-ing, please ignore me and continue.”

Donovan nodded, took another sip of his coffee and began: 밯 e didn 뭪 have much in-formation. We only knew that the crew had been ordered to abandon ship.”

밯 e signaled the Bangaram that we were close enough to render assistance and we were directed to dock at the aft port airlock to pick up the remaining Engineering crew.”

밯 hen we docked, I passed through the lock in order to use the Bangaram 뭩 comm Sys-tem to announce our arrival so that the crew would know where to find the shuttle. Also, I assumed there could be casualties that might require assistance boarding the shuttle.”

Captain Verma nodded again, ticking an-other item off his list. 밯 hy didn 뭪 you send your co-pilot to see to the wounded?”

Donovan nodded in return. 밒 knew the ship. Before getting assigned to shuttle duty, I was part of the engineering crew that built that ship, among others, and part of this station as well. My co-pilot was per-fectly capable or piloting the shuttle but he wouldn 뭪 have known where to go once he exited the airlock.”

밃 nd then you stayed aboard. Why did you abandon your command and assigned du-ties?Captain Verma looked as though he was finally hot on the trail of something and a vein had begun to throb on his left tem-ple.

Donovan looked down at his coffee to avoid looking at the man. 밒 remember there was an explosion ahead of me in the corridor leading to Main Engineering. A power relay under one of the panels had overloaded. As the first crew appeared, I could see that several were stunned and some had burns or were having trouble breathing. I guided them to the shuttle and made sure that any injured crew had assistance.”

밒 stopped the first officer that passed and got a status report. He told me that there was a possible reactor containment loss un-derway.”

밒 knew that ship and its power systems and I knew I had a better chance at stopping the containment loss than just about any other crew who might have been aboard. I made a quick decision. When my co-pilot radioed me a moment later I ordered him to take off as soon as he had everyone aboard and told him I was staying to render assistance.”

밯 hen you found Chief Walker in Engineer-ing, what did you do?Captain Verma asked.

Donovan thought back again, trying to piece together events that seemed to have happened so fast at the time, events that were now several months in his past.

Stasis sleep sometimes interfered with memory of events that happened shortly be-fore the person entered stasis. In this case, Donovan felt pretty sure he remembered what had happened, and he remembered enough to be cautious in how he answered the question. He took another sip of coffee to cover the pause before he answered.

밒 remember Gil, that 뭩 Chief Walker, didn뭪 seem pleased to see me, but he gave me a quick run-down of the problems and told me to get a hazmat suit on before I did any-thing else. I did that and then he showed me the readings he was getting that showed anomalous radiation filling the compart-ment. I agreed with him that we should fo -cus on getting the reactor shut down first.”

밃 ll of the computer consoles appeared to be out of service so I used my pocket com-puter to access the required software and then plugged it directly into the reactor and ordered an emergency shutdown. Chief Walker hadn 뭪 had that option since, as you probably know, it is against 몉 egsto carry a personal computer or any other portable data device while on duty on a fleet defense ship.”

Captain Verma 뭩 sneer was back in force: 밃re you saying you were able to access the main computer and download that soft-ware? Or, as is more likely, did you have that software on your PC, kept perhaps since your days as an Engineer working on the defense fleet?”

밒 suggest you consider your answer care-fully Commander. Retaining proprietary and

security-sensitive software on your PC would be a security violation that carries a stiff penalty, but lying to a superior officer carries even stiffer penalties, up to and in-cluding dishonorable discharge.”

Admiral Jager had been silent all this time, but he chose to interject at that point, his visage taking on a stern, patient look. 밅 ap-tain Verma, I have no wish to interfere with your investigation, but let 뭩 stick to the facts and try to avoid alarmist accusations, agreed?”

Captain Verma looked shocked that anyone would suggest such a thing, but answered: 밢 f course Admiral.And then turned his gaze toward Donovan, saying: 밆 o you have anything to add Commander?”

Donovan thought quickly, taking another sip of his coffee, and then replied: 밒 re-member I was relieved when I got to main Engineering that my palm print was still on file and gave me access during an emer-gency. I realized I must still have adminis-trative rights with the engineering com-puter systems something you might want to take up with fleet security, but something which was, nevertheless, at the time, a great relief to me.”

밚 ikewise, my palm computer had retained my old preferences, so that when I plugged it into the reactor, it pulled up the neces-sary files automatically from the main engi-neering computer, I assume via the network in engineering using my access codes.”

밃 t any rate, I didn 뭪 question it at the time, just made use of it and shouted the voice-activated shutdown command and then reinforced it with the manual com-mand sequence. It worked and the reactor shut down just in time, based on what I could see of the diagnostics on that small screen.”

Captain Verma looked smug now. 밃 re you aware, Commander, that technicians aboard the Bangaram have since determined that most of the solid-state memory of the main engineering computer was damaged during the incident?”

밊 urthermore, the network in Engineering was almost entirely disabled. How do you explain accessing restricted software and data under those circumstances?”

Admiral Jager looked like he was about to intercede again, but Donovan spoke up first: 밒 can only assume that the overload

in the power distribution panel that re-sulted in my blackout, must have also dam-aged what was left of the remaining sys-tems in Engineering.”

밒 am just grateful that we were able to shut down the reactor before that hap-pened. Unfortunately, my palm computer was probably fused into a useless lump of metal and plastic when that discharge hit me through it, so I can 뭪 prove anything I 뭭e said. However, those are the facts to best of my recollection sir.”

Donovan sat back, trying to ease some of the tension from the questioning out of his neck and shoulders without appearing to slouch.

He risked a quick look at the Admiral and was surprised to see a fleeting look of admi-ration cross his face before the Admiral turned to Captain Verma, saying: 밒 think that ties off all of the loose strings nicely, don 뭪 you Captain? There can be no proof one way or another and, in the end, I think we owe some degree of consideration to the Commander here for saving the ship and re-maining personnel aboard. Agreed?”

Captain Verma looked like he had a sour taste in his mouth, but broke off staring at Donovan to turn towards the Admiral and say: 밢 f course, sir.”

밎 ood then!the Admiral smiled at the Cap-tain. Please have your report on my desk to-morrow. In the meantime, I have some other matters to discuss with the Comman-der here. Thank you for your time today and your diligence in this matter.The Admi-ral was already standing and smiling as he gestured for the Captain to leave the con-ference room.

Captain Verma, looking undecided between confusion and outrage, had stood up at the Admiral 뭩 prompt and was going along as the Admiral herded him out of the door. As the Admiral turned back to face the room once more, Donovan glimpsed the Captain standing outside, his datapad in his arms, raising one finger as if about to voice an ob-jection, but the hissing of the door as it closed covered whatever he might have started to say, and then they were alone.

Admiral Jager beamed at Donovan, opening his arms and saying: 밃 s I told you, you did fine, just fine. Nothing to worry about.For

some reason, despite the warm smile and open arms, Donovan was not reassured.

* * *

The Admiral returned to the table, activated a built-in touchscreen, and executed a few commands. Looking up he smiled again, saying: 밢 k, the formal part of the interview is over. You may still be asked for a formal report on the rescue mission to the Ban-garam but don 뭪 worry about that for now. I have one more small formality and then we can get started with the next part of to -day 뭩 program.”

Sitting down opposite Donovan at the con-ference table, the Admiral stared at Dono-van with a quizzical smile for a moment be-fore continuing. 밒 had another reason for bringing you here that I wasn 뭪 previously able to divulge, for which I apologize.”

밄 efore I get to that, I 뭢 sure you are won-dering why the Bangaram rescue and your part in it has become so important. There are a few things you don 뭪 know yet and I am about to enlighten you about some of it, but first I need to take care of the formali-ties.”

Touching a button on the touchscreen built into the table, he recited: 밄 y presenting yourself and your ID for verification, you agree that everything that is discussed in this office during the session that follows will be considered top-secret and will not be shared with anyone outside of this office without prior authorization from this of-fice.”

In front of Donovan, a screen lit up in the table, showing the outline of a palm. He pressed his hand to the plate and stated his name and rank for the record. After a brief pause, the plate under his hand glowed green signaling that his ID had been veri-fied.

The Admiral tapped a few more keys, say-ing: 밫 hank you Commander. All recording devices are now off and will stay off for the rest of our discussion, so 멲 t ease.I want you to feel free to say what you want for the remainder of our talk today.”

Seated opposite the Admiral at the middle of the oval table, Donovan relaxed his pos-ture in the chair, sitting back, letting his chair recline slightly, he asked: 밢 kay Ad-miral, I 뭢 all ears.”

The Admiral chuckled briefly and then got down to it. 밢 ne of the reasons we are mak-ing such a big deal of the Bangaram rescue, and one of the things you probably don 뭪 know, is that there were still crew aboard when you saved the ship, besides the Chief Engineer, that is.”

밢 ne of those crew happens to be a close relative of a top Colonial official. The de-tails aren 뭪 important, but there has been considerable pressure on Fleet to explain what happened and to release more details on the 밾 eroof the event¾that 뭩 you.The Admiral pointed a finger at Donovan and grinned again before saying: 밆 on 뭪 worry. We aren 뭪 going to throw you to the wolves, but let 뭩 worry about all of that later. That isn 뭪 the main reason I wanted you here today.”

The Admiral took a few moments to decide how to begin. 밳 ou are aware, of course, that the Coalition of Solar Systems is just getting started. You were part of the crew, in fact, that helped build this station and, later, the first ships in the CSS Fleet.”

밆 uring that time, we have been ironing out, amongst the colonies involved, just

how much power the new Coalition will have, what forms it will take, and how each colony fits in to the larger picture.”

밒 n short, we 뭭 e had our version of a con-stitutional convention and we 뭭 e been iron-ing out structures, laws, and protocols even while the station that would hold the new Coalition was being built. The lion 뭩 share of that work is now done and the CSS Coun-cil is turning it 뭩 attention to fulfilling the purpose for which it was formed: primarily ensuring the security of the participating colonies.”

The Admiral paused and folded his arms across his chest, looking down as he said: 밃 nd there we ran into a problem. Not with the Fleet. There was widespread support for a coordinated fleet to provide defense for the colonies. In fact, you could argue that this was the primary impetus behind the formation of the Coalition.”

밐 owever, as you know, there is a great deal we don 뭪 know about our local stellar neighborhood. Until now, we haven 뭪 had the unified mandate or resources for explo-ration. Most of our colonies are still rela-tively new, historically speaking, and they

are still getting established in some re-spects.”

밊 ew of the colonies, individually, have been able to invest in a program of explo-ration, but the Coalition, as a matter of se-curity, definitely sees value in such a pro-gram. Before going any further I want you to understand that this is one of the top-se-cret items I mentioned earlier.”

Donovan nodded, saying: 밒 understand sir.”

Admiral Jager nodded in return and contin-ued: 밫 he problems with establishing such a program are numerous.”

밃 s one of the few people alive to have sur-vived an encounter with the Vareni during your service on the Prithvi ship 멑 alcon you are in a unique position to appreciate some of the Pros and Cons involved in venturing out further into the space around us.”

밒 n fact, if it weren 뭪 for that mission we wouldn 뭪 even have a name for the species that embodies the chief threat, the only known threat to us in recent history. And it was that threat, one could argue, that gave rise to the Coalition in the first place.”

Donovan found himself nodding in response to each point the Admiral made. Most of this information was well known to him. He had a perspective that few others shared, based on his earlier service as Chief Engi-neer on the Falcon and his service, lately, as a shuttle pilot in the same solar system, the system that, as it turned out, was host-ing the CSS Central space station.

Shuttling around the system offered many chances to pick up information from diverse sources. However, aside from his question-able luck to have been involved in a couple 밾 igh profileincidents in his career, he was still not sure what the Admiral wanted from him.

He raised his hand in a 몆 ausegesture and, getting a nod from the Admiral, said: 밒 as-sume all of this has something to do with why I am here today?”

The Admiral chuckled again: 밒 did imply I was going to get to that sooner rather than later, eh? Well, the long and the short of it is this: The Coalition wants to set up a de-partment of exploration, but for various reasons I 뭠 l discuss in a bit, we can 뭪 do so openly at the present time.”

밢 ne thing I haven 뭪 mentioned before now is my position within the CSS Hierarchy. I am head of the newly formed Security De-partment of the CSS. As an information gathering arm of the CSS, it was felt that a covert exploration program should fall un-der my purview, at least for now.”

밪 o, I am creating what will be, in effect, a civilian exploration program that reports secretly, for the time being, to the Coalition via my office. I am considering you as one of my top candidates for Captain. If you are selected, yours would be the first ship of this new exploration fleet.”

Donovan was stunned. In his wildest dreams during the last few days spent re-covering from the effects of stasis and his injuries on the Bangaram, he had never imagined this. He was till adjusting to the fact that he 뭗 missed several weeks while in stasis and been subjected to a hostile questioning session immediately after re-porting as fit for duty.

The words 밅 aptainand 밻 xplorationand 뱒hippopped up out of a blizzard of confusing thoughts as he sat facing the Admiral, mo-mentarily at a loss.

Covering by lifting his coffee cup to take a sip, he grimaced when he discovered it was cold. He set the cup down, making a quick decision, and said: 밫 his is a lot to take in sir. But I can safely say that I am honored to be considered for such an important po-sition.”

The Admiral smiled and said: 밯 ell, I haven뭪 made up my mind yet, and that 뭩 the main reason for that top-secret confidential-ity agreement nonsense earlier. After all, your service agreement covers such mat-ters, but, in the event you become a civilian captain, under a secret commission from the CSS, it was necessary to cover all the bases.”

밐 owever, there 뭩 no reason to be stuck in here all day while we discuss this. Let 뭩 move into my office where we can be more comfortable while we go over the details.S-tanding up he held out his hand for Dono-van to precede him through the door to his office.

Once inside, Donovan hesitated in the mid-dle of the room, not knowing whether to take a seat before the desk or sit on one of the couches in the informal lounge area of the office.

The Admiral passed by him heading for the desk and keyed the intercom on his desk: 밇nsign, please have some refreshments for the Commander and myself brought in and hold all communications for now. Right, righttell him I 뭠 l call him back this after-noon and remind me later.”

Turning back to Donovan, the Admiral ges-tured towards the couches circling the cof-fee table at the front of the office.

Donovan took a seat on one side of a long couch near to what he assumed was the Ad-miral 뭩 armchair and leaned forward, his hands clasped, elbows resting on his knees. He asked the question at the top of his mind: 뱒 ir, if I am selected for this mission, would I be discharged from the service?”

The Admiral took the comfortable armchair nearby and said: 밯 ell, that gets a bit com-plicated, partly because of your status, be-ing on detached service from Planetary De-fense Forces while your case there is pend-ing. Let 뭩 just say for now that it would look to the public as if you were a civilian ship Captain but your true relationship with the Coalition would remain secret.”

밄 ut we are getting ahead of ourselves. There 뭩 still one piece of information I need before I make a decision about you and I think now might be the best time to get that out of the way.”

Donovan nodded, splaying his hands as he looked up at the Admiral, and said: 밯 hat-ever you need to know sir.”

밫 hank you.The Admiral nodded. What Donovan had taken to be a habitual smile had disappeared and the Admiral looked se-rious, his brows slightly furrowed as he said: 밇 arlier I stopped the Captain from fishing for information about your pending case with the PDF.”

밯 hile I don 뭪 think that case should have any bearing on the issues that the Captain was concerned about, I am interested in the details for other reasons that will soon be-come apparent if I decide to continue our discussions about this new exploration ser-vice.”

밒 have read the file for myself, but I would like to hear your version of events. So, I have to ask you at this time, if you would give me your own account of what gave rise

to the charges of 밹 reative requisitioningat the heart of that case.”

밫 his discussion is off the record: there are no recording devices in this office aside from my computer, which is off at the mo-ment, and I will keep anything you say con-fidential between to two of us. Please just give me the basics of what happened. Take your time.”

Donovan had been growing increasingly tense as the Admiral laid out what he wanted to know. As the Admiral finished he nodded and sat back to think.

He tried to formulate a brief outline of events to explain what had happened. As he was about to start, the outer office door whooshed open and the ensign he had seen earlier in the reception area brought in a tray with a tea service and snacks arrayed around the edge.

Donovan focused on the tray as a distrac-tion to give himself a few more moments to decide where to start. He poured a cup of tea for himself and, looking up at the Admi-ral, one for him as well. He took a sip, find-ing the tea still too hot but excellent, ap-parently it was the real thing, like the cof -fee earlier.

Setting the cup down, he began: 밫 he event you are interested in occurred not long af-ter the first reports of attacks by aliens be-gan filtering in. In fact, those initial reports were one of the reasons why I signed on to Planetary Defense in the first place, as many others did.”

The Admiral nodded as he filled a small plate with finger foods, saying: 밫 ry the fried eggplant before it gets cold, and try the sauce too.”

Donovan grinned and helped himself as he continued: 밫 he Falcon had just returned from a long mission surveying some of the nearer systems between the known colonies, systems that had been bypassed for various reasons by the colony ships: mostly red or brown dwarf systems or bina-ries with short stellar orbital periods.”

밯 e had returned to the Prithvi system for refit and re-supply. I was serving as Chief Engineer at the time, which was something of a misnomer, since I was the only engi -neer out of a crew of seven total. The ship was a refurbished early model in-system cargo hauler so there was plenty room for additional crew but the defense forces pre-ferred to keep things lean and inexpensive

as possible, which meant minimizing crew and consumables.”

밆 uring that first trip, my first trip anyway, it had bothered me continuously that we de-pended so much on a single reactor to power everything from the warp drive down to life support. If anything happened to the reactor, battery backup would only main-tain life support for a week at most, not long enough for anyone to receive a dis-tress call from us, much less reach us in time.”

밯 e had stasis pods, but we would have to make the decision to use them almost im-mediately because they would depend on the backup batteries too. I found myself babying that reactor and checking its status repeatedly, even when I was off duty. I 뭢 a little ashamed to say that it became some-thing of an obsession with me.”

Donovan took a moment to sample some of the food on his plate and took another sip of tea before continuing. 밃 nyway, we got back to the Prithvi system and the ship was due for an overhaul on several of its sys -tems. I hadn 뭪 been lax with any of the ship systems, given my concern for the main re-actor, but, as you probably know, every sys-

tem on a ship needs to be stripped down and checked, if not replaced, on a regular schedule.”

밯 e were given permission to scavenge for spare parts in the outer-system ship yard where we were docked and I was allowed to requisition a couple of assistants from the yards.”

밯 e got the work done in good time. Each system was disassembled, rebuilt, or re-placed, and re-certified. In some cases we found better systems on one of the de-com-missioned ships in the yard and were able to switch out the entire assembly. We even shut down the reactor and checked all of its systems carefully.”

밆 uring that process I discovered that one of the coils on the reactor that maintained magnetic containment for the fusion reac-tion had a microscopic anomaly that could have burned out at any time, potentially re-sulting in anything from a flare that could have killed anyone, probably me, who hap-pened to be in Engineering at the time, to an explosion that would have destroyed most of the ship.”

밒 n either case, the ship would have been dead in space unless repairs could be made after the failure and resulting damage. We didn 뭪 keep many spares on board, and what we did have was mostly for 멷 ssential-systems like life support.”

밒 t turned out that there was a decommis-sioned but serviceable reactor on one of the ships in the yard. There also happened to be an unused space on our ship just below the main Engineering compartment that used to be used for cargo.”

밒 did some calculations and determined that we could accommodate the extra mass of a secondary reactor at very little cost in fuel or propellant, since it would be kept at low power most of the time, until needed. It would be easy to install too because the outer hull cargo doors were still in place in that section.”

밢 ur captain had shipped in-system several weeks earlier to go planet-side and make her reports. Communication delays that far out made it difficult to check in with her. When I did send a message asking for per-mission to proceed with my plan, all I got in response was a 몀 essage receivedconfirma-tion.”

밃 fter several days passed, I decided to go ahead with my plan. I could always unin-stall it later if necessary.”

밒 finally got permission to go on leave once all repairs were complete and I forgot about the whole thing for a couple weeks, spend-ing my leave on the station.”

밯 hen the captain returned we went through the list of repairs and finally got down to the new reactor. She was surprised (I guess she had been busy while planet-side and missed my message or just skimmed it), but after I showed her my cal-culations and the software I 뭗 written that automatically engaged the backup genera-tor in emergency situations, she was pleased.”

밫 he new system, as it turns out, had the potential to keep our shields at maximum while running every other system at full power too.”

밯 e had orders to survey some systems a little further out this time, which meant some long travel times, so we got underway as soon as possible.”

밒 t was on that mission that we encoun-tered the Vareni. You probably know all of the details. We established communications and were surprised to find that they already knew our language, or their Comm Systems were automatically translating for them somehow.”

밫 hey told us who they were and then told us to leave the system. When we tried to ex-tend the conversation they fired a 몏 arning-shot. That one shot overloaded our shields and the main reactor but, thankfully, it exe-cuted a controlled shutdown automatically.”

밯 e were dead in space, but only for a few seconds before the backup generator came online. The captain ordered the pilot to take us into warp on a reverse course immedi-ately, which was risky, but it saved the ship.”

밯 hen we got back, it turned out that the manager of the ship yard had been upset about my requisition of the extra generator but hadn 뭪 learned about it until we were underway. He filed the complaint, saying that I had exceeded my authorization to requisition spare parts for repairs only.”

밒 t didn 뭪 seem to matter that my Captain had authorized the changes retroactively.”

밫 he authorities apparently agreed that it was worth investigation into whether or not I had exceeded my orders and I was put on administrative leave while waiting for the case to be heard.”

밫 hey were also keeping the incident with the Vareni secret at that time, so I was or-dered not to talk to anyone about the mis-sion.”

The Admiral broke in, holding up a hand, he said: 밒 think that covers the essential de-tails, except for one thing: Do you think you exceeded your orders at that time? Oh, and tell me how you came to be reassigned to the CSS while your case was pending please.”

밆 id I exceed my authority? Well, remember that I tried to get prior approval, so in that sense, probably not, but that 뭩 a gray area. On the other hand, I had uncovered a seri-ous flaw in a major engineering system and 몉 epairedit by installing a backup system that, in my opinion, should have been there in the first place. At worst, in my opinion, I like to think that I was showing initiative.”

밃 s to how I got reassigned, much later, af-ter I had been exhaustively debriefed, work was beginning on the CSS Prime station and engineers were being sought wherever they could be found.”

밒 contacted my caseworker and begged to be put to work. I was dying of boredom while grounded. Anyway, I argued, I would still be working in-system and readily avail-able for the hearing, if and when it ever happened.”

밯 ith surprisingly little trouble I was put on detached service to the Coalition and then the PDF seemed to forget about me, which suited me fine.”

밃 fter the major structure of the station was largely built I was assigned to work on building the new fleet defense ships.”

밯 hen the bulk of the fleet was finished and the pace of ship building started to slow down I asked for transfer to the shuttle ser-vice, because that let me travel all over the system and keep up-to-date on what was happening. I didn 뭪 even ask to get as-signed to one of the Fleet ships, knowing I had that case pending.”

The Admiral nodded, smiling, as Donovan finished his story and said: 밢 ne more thing, were you ever aware that the Fleet adopted your backup generator idea in all of the new ships? It was supposed to be a tactical secret, so only certain crews worked on those installations, but I am bet-ting it was a poorly kept secret among the engineering crews.”

Donovan grinned and said: 밳 es, I knew. Nobody talked but, among other things, I found my software on the computers in the engineering compartments of each ship I worked on. There was only one reason for that software to be there.”

The Admiral nodded, continuing: 밒 also be-came aware, while I read the various files on you and your work, that you recom-mended at one point that all engineering staff be allowed to carry personal comput-ers as backups for the main engineering computers in case of emergency. That idea was later turned down for security reasons, but it got serious consideration.”

Donovan smiled and said: 밫 hat 뭩 true. Did you have a question about some aspect of that?”

The Admiral grinned, saying: 밒 just thought it interesting that you happened to have your personal computer with you when you went to render assistance on the Bangaram. It was also interesting that you happened to be able to access the software you needed when Chief Walker had been trying without any luck to access the computer systems since the emergency arose.”

밒 think I speak for most of the Coalition Council when I say that we are very grate-ful that you happened to be there and dis -played such resourcefulness in saving the ship and crew. I am just curious, again¾off the record and just between the two of us¾did you keep your engineering software stored all those years on your PC even though it is against regulations?”

Donovan grimaced, deciding honesty was the best course, since it sounded like the Admiral (and everybody else) had put all the pieces together anyway. He said: 밯 ell, sir, I wrote a big part of that software my-self and I learned a long time ago never to throw anything useful away. You never know when you might need to re-use or re-write and re-purpose a piece of code.”

밃 s it happens, the practice was a lot more widespread than you might think, especially among the engineers that built the Fleet ships. We had to settle on a standard set of software so that the same systems on differ-ent ships would behave the same. Other-wise, every crew would have to train on a new set of software for each ship.”

밪 ince I was still in the service I didn 뭪 see a lot of harm in hanging onto those pro-grams, although I appreciate the security concerns behind the regs.”

밪 o, the short answer is: yes. I did keep all of my old files but my PC had every sort of protection and encryption on it that I could find or design. It would only respond to my handprint and voiceprint, for starters. I did my best to minimize the risks of compro-mising any military secrets.”

The Admiral, his face serious again, said: 밒 think, under the circumstances we can overlook that breach of regulations.He paused and then continued: 밃 s it happens, I think the resourcefulness and forward-thinking you have demonstrated in both of these incidents are exactly the qualities of the sort of person I am looking for in this 멵ivilianexploration service.”

밫 hey are not, strictly speaking, qualities I would encourage in military service, espe-cially in my new role as head of Security, but that need not be a drawback in your particular case, assuming you are inter-ested in this opportunity.”

밒 warn you, we have yet to discuss the de-tails and some of them might not be to your liking. However, after hearing your story from your own perspective, I think we can work together. What do you say?”

Donovan frowned, changing gears and thinking furiously. This would be a civilian service, which meant he would likely be dis-charged from the service if he accepted. In view of recent events, the Admiral having told him that he was a 멻 erosystem-wide and had the gratitude of some powerful politicians, it would probably be an honor-able discharge.

In addition, the Admiral himself had said they could overlook his breach of regula-tions. If he stayed in the service that long-delayed administrative action might still be an issue for him.

In any case, the chance to explore new star systems, visit other colonies, and possibly learn more about the Vareni were all part of

what had driven him to enlist in the first place. And this time he was being offered command, a civilian command at that.

He was sure there would be strings at-tached. He would not entirely be his own master, but it was a level of freedom he had not enjoyed for years. He made his deci-sion: 밃 dmiral, I 뭗 be honored and grateful for the opportunity to take part in this new service.”

The Admiral, who had been watching him thoughtfully, put on a big smile and said: 밇xcellent, excellent. I think you will be a big help getting this new service started and I look forward to working with you.”

밫 here is a lot to iron out. We can continue this afternoon. Take a few hours off and re-port back here at 15:00. I should have some good news for you by then.”

He stood and offered his hand. Donovan took it and returned a firm handshake and then saluted. 5:00. Aye, sir. Thank you sir.he said, turning on his heel and leaving the office.

Chapter 3

onovan walked out of the CSS offices and back to the tramline that would

take him to a transfer station tube to the outer ring. He took note of the inner ring sector address for the offices before he left so that he would be able to find his way back in a few hours.

D

He took a tube to the outer ring and an-other tram to the shipping sector where he kept a small, low-rent compartment. He had been living and working on the station for nearly eight years.

Technically, he could have gotten rid of the quarters when he transferred to shuttle pi-lot duty, taking transient quarters when-ever he returned, but he had accumulated a few possessions over the years that he would just have to put in storage each time he was away. Besides, he had gotten to know some of his neighbors and liked living in the working class area of the station where people looked out for each other.

Exiting the tram he waved to the shop own-ers on the main concourse as he made his way to the lift to the warehouse section. The inner ends of many of the warehouses, facing the central concourse of the ring, had been converted to small shops, apart-ments or simple sleeping compartments that shared some facilities.

Donovan reached his compartment about half-way down a small corridor off of the main concourse and palmed the door open. Everything looked just the way he 뭗 left it. The room was barely big enough to move around in, but held a single mattress with storage underneath and shelves along the wall above.

A small sanitation cubicle occupied the op-posite corner, next to the door. Opposite the bed a large wall screen came to life as he entered, showing a real-time view of the planet below, just a crescent of the day side, as the station orbited overhead.

He palmed open a drawer beneath the bed and removed some casual clothes. Chang-ing out of the uniform, so it wouldn 뭪 get wrinkled before he had to report back to the Admiral, he arranged it carefully on a hanger on the wall near the foot of the bed.

He palmed open another drawer and re-moved a small datapad. He lay down and turned on the device, checking to make sure that it held a complete backup of all of his software and other data as of his last visit to the station. Smiling to himself, he pocketed the device.

Turning towards the wall by the bed he checked his messages on the small comm unit built into the wall. He transferred mes-sages from friends to his datapad and cleared the rest, mostly enquiries from re-porters or people he didn 뭪 know.

He realized then that he was exhausted from the interviews that morning with Cap-tain Verma and Admiral Jager. He set an alarm on the comm panel to wake him in a couple hours and closed his eyes.

* * *

He felt like he 뭗 barely closed his eyes as he woke up to heavy pounding on the door panel. A moment later the comm panel by his bed started chiming and pinging, signal-ing a visitor at the door, the alarm he 뭗 set, and incoming messages at the same time.

Tapping the comm panel he saw a moder-ately long list of new messages mostly from

people he didn 뭪 know, presumably re-porters. He tapped a few buttons to backup everything on his datapad and then got up to answer the door.

As the panel slid aside he saw a harried looking fleet soldier standing at the open-ing, his hand on his holster as he glanced over his shoulder towards the concourse. 밅ommander Kane?he asked, saluting as he got a nod from Donovan. 밯 e are here to es-cort you to your afternoon appointment. The Admiral sends his respects and strongly suggests that you pack your things and bring them with you sir.”

Donovan stuck his head out of the door and glanced down the corridor towards the con-course. He saw the rest of a squad of sol-diers barring the way as many heads and arms holding up recording devices bounced up and down in the small crowd on the walkway outside.

뱒 ir.The soldier said as he placed a hand on Donovan 뭩 shoulder gently pushing him back inside the compartment: 밒 recom-mend you keep out of sight until we have to move. We are under orders to protect you from any possible danger until we reach your destination.”

Donovan nodded as he ducked back inside the room. 밒 뭠 l just be a few minutes.he said as he closed the door.

He palmed open one of the drawers beneath his bed and started piling clothes on the bed until he found a duffle bag at the back. He spread this out on the bed, opened the zipper along its length and began transfer-ring clothes and items from his shelves into the bag.

In a short time, everything was packed away and he quickly checked the sanitation cubicle and used the facilities before he made one final scan of the small compart-ment. Changing back into his uniform, he stuffed the hanger and his casual clothes into the duffle, zipped it up, and paused.

He struggled for a minute over taking his datapad with him, but then decided it would be best not to carry any electronic devices on his person when he revisited the Admiral뭩 offices. He stuffed it into the duffle be-tween some spare clothes, and hoisted the pack before opening the door.

The soldier stood in the opening, just as be-fore, but held out his hand, saying: 밒 뭠 l carry that for you sir.Seeing the hesitation

on Donovan 뭩 face, he said: 밳 ou may have to move quickly sir. I promise to keep it safe¾no one will get their hands on it.”

Donovan nodded and handed over the duffle bag. The soldier slung it over his left shoul-der and kept it pinned between his body and elbow, leaving his right hand free to rest on his holster. 밪 tay in front of me sir and try to keep inside the squad while we are moving.”

He signaled to the squad at the end of the corridor and they began to form a wedge to make a path through the crowd on the walk-way outside. Donovan walked quickly to the back of the squad and the soldier with him took his place behind as other soldiers took places to his left and right.

The noise of the crowd surged as the sol-diers forced a path through them, arms and heads bobbing up and down outside the cor-don of soldiers, trying to get a recording and shouting unintelligible questions over the soldiers and one another.

Donovan did his best to ignore all of them and kept his attention on the back of the soldier in front of him. In what seemed like no time at all, they reached the nearest lift and several soldiers boarded to go down

first to establish a beachfront on the con-course below.

When the lift came back, the rest of the squad piled in, pushing Donovan to the back and blocking the reporters and anyone else from entering before the doors closed. When the lift reached the concourse, the soldier carrying his duffle bag opened the control panel on the lift and hit the mainte-nance button, effectively disabling the lift until a technician could be sent to reset it.

The squad moved quickly down the corridor to the nearest tram station and took over the first tram to arrive, gently asking other passengers to take the next tram.

Behind them on the concourse, the first group of the crowd of reporters was spilling out onto the floor, having found another lift. Soldiers were still escorting people off of the tram as Donovan looked at the re-porters running in their direction.

Something made him look up at the walk-way above the concourse, where the bulk of the reporters could still be seen in the dis -tance, waiting their turn for the lift. His at-tention was drawn to someone running along that walkway in their direction.

Donovan tapped the nearest soldier on the shoulder and pointed at the man running towards them. A moment later he felt him-self being pulled backwards onto the tram by another soldier. As the doors closed he saw the soldier he had tapped draw his side arm and yell 밪 top!The tram began moving, leaving two of the squad behind.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and Donovan found himself being waived past each of the reception desks in the office complex until he arrived at the small room with the Ensign he recognized from earlier that day.

It seemed like he 뭗 barely been away while, at the same time, it seemed like days since he 뭗 been there. The short nap he 뭗 taken had left him more disoriented than rested, it seemed. He felt like a completely differ-ent person.

Donovan stopped before the Ensign, waiting for directions. The young man held up a hand and pressed a button on his station before waiving Donovan past and saying: 밣lease go right in sir.”

Donovan turned around looking for the sol-dier with his duffle bag, the bag containing

everything he owned. The soldier was standing at attention at the entrance to the small office.

As Donovan held out his hand for the bag, the Ensign to his side said: 밒뭠 l hold onto that until you are done with the Admiral sir. No one will disturb it.”

Donovan nodded and turned on his heel to enter the Admiral 뭩 office.

The door slid aside. Donovan saw that the Admiral was seated at his desk and was mo-tioning him forward. Donovan walked up to the desk and saluted. The Admiral grinned and said: 밫 hat 뭩 not necessary son. Your discharge just went through. Take a seat.”

Donovan felt stunned at the pace of events. Suddenly he was a civilian and he wasn 뭪 entirely sure he had a job yet. Holding the arms for support he eased himself slowly into one of the chairs. Opposite him the Ad-miral still seemed amused, saying: 밢 h, don뭪 look so stunned. You accepted the job re-member? A civilian command, you knew this was coming right?”

밳 es sir, it 뭩 just that so much has hap-pened since I woke up from stasis that don

뭪 quite know where I stand anymore. I 뭢 not even sure I have a place to stay on the station anymore.”

The Admiral grinned sympathetically. 밨elax son. I have spent the afternoon making sure you will have everything you need. Give me a few minutes to lay out the plan and I think you will see that your prospects have improved dramatically over the last few hours.”

The Admiral raised his eyebrows as if ask-ing permission to go on. Donovan let out a long sigh, not having realized he was hold-ing his breath. He tried to smile and nod-ded to the Admiral. 밫 hank you sir. I didn 뭪 mean to imply that I doubted you sir, but”

밒 know. I know. It 뭩 been a long day al-ready for you, hasn 뭪 it, a lot to absorb. I 뭢 afraid there is a lot more to go through be-fore we are done, but that can 뭪 be helped. I promise you will get at least a couple days to rest up and recover before we begin seri -ous planning on the exploration service.”

밒 n fact, after today I may be busy for some time with other matters. In the meantime, there are certain details I need to go over

with you right away.Donovan nodded, say-ing: 밒 understand sir.”

The Admiral reached into his desk and brought out a bottle and a couple glasses. 밒 know you probably haven 뭪 had lunch or dinner yet, but I think a small celebration is in order and this may help calm your nerves a bit. Terran whisky, over twenty-five years old.He smiled, pouring a couple fingers into each glass.

밫 his really should be savored, but I 뭠 l un-derstand if you want to knock this back.He pushed one of the glasses across the desk to Donovan and held his own glass up, say-ing: 밅 ongratulations, you are about to be-come the proud owner of your own ship, Captain.Clinking his glass with Donovan 뭩 , he took a swallow and sat back smiling.

Donovan took a swallow of the dark liquor, hardly tasting it, as he stared at the Admi-ral. 밪 ir? How canI mean, thank you for the sentiment, but I don 뭪 have the funds to af-ford my own ship.”

밨 elax son. Take a deep breath, sit back, and let me explain what 뭩 happened since you were here earlier. I think I have taken

care of everything, but if, when I am done explaining, you see any holes in my reason-ing, you let me know.”

Seeing that Donovan was doing his best to relax, he continued: 밊 irst a little back-ground. Remember I said earlier that we need to keep this new exploration service secret for now and that it would therefore start with a civilian ship?”

He barely waited for a sign from Donovan before continuing. 밒 didn 뭪 want to hire some civilian ship captain to do the jobtoo many unknowns. I wanted someone from the service, someone with some degree of loyalty to the Coalition and the discipline and experience that service engenders.”

밯 hen you came to my attention a few months ago, just as news of the disaster aboard the Bangaram was filtering through the Coalition, I thought I saw a possible an-swer. When I looked further into your past service, that first idea was bolstered by ad-ditional data I uncovered related to you.”

밒 formed a plan and put some parts of it into motion before we even met, just in case. And at this point I have to digress for

a moment to make sure you completely un-derstand what I 뭭 e put in place today.”

The Admiral paused, scrutinizing Donovan뭩 face while he took another sip of his whisky. 밫 here 뭩 a certain amount of poli-tics behind all of this and it is important background that may help you make good decisions going forward. You may or may not be aware that the Coalition is more than just a defense pact between the near-est colonies. It is more like a united govern-ment that covers governing structures, colonial rights, civil rights issues, trade, and defense.”

밫 hat 뭩 most of it. What we are concerned with for the moment, however, are the new trade agreements. In particular, the new 멼ntellectual propertyrights and guarantees granted by the Coalition to each member colony and its citizens.”

밨 emember I asked you earlier if you were aware that the Fleet had copied your design with the backup reactor and was even using your software? Well, if you had been a civil -ian and not in the service, under the new laws you would be due royalties and fees for the use of the software you developed¾even retroactively.”

밒 n other words, even though the laws were passed after the fleet started using your systems, those new laws were made retroactive, a concession to some of the Colonies for technologies they shared with the Fleet.”

밯 hen I learned the details of your past ser-vice, especially the fact that you still had a case pending against you, the seeds of an idea formed. Today I was successful in hav-ing you retroactively discharged from the Prithvi Planetary Defense Force. This is an administrative discharge with no dishonor.”

밃 t the same time, I was able to argue that you deserved a bonus for your part in sav-ing the Falcon and bringing back so much useful information about the Vareni. Be-cause of your newfound fame, I was able to generate substantial support for this idea.”

밪 o, in effect, you were discharged, without dishonor, for a technicality, but awarded a promotion and bonus for the results of those same actions. You are now a retired Captain.The Admiral grinned, clearly please with himself. 밯 ith me so far?”

Donovan nodded, saying 밳 es, sir. Thank you for doing all of that for me. But, I have

to ask: what about my service to the Coali -tion since then? I mean, what 뭩 my status?”

The Admiral 뭩 grin got even wider, if possi-ble, as he continued: 밫 hat 뭩 the best part. The bonus I mentioned earlier wouldn 뭪 be enough for you to buy a ship with. I know you 뭭 e managed to save a lot of your pay over the years, but the numbers didn 뭪 add up to enough, not by a long shot, as I am sure you will agree when we get down to serious planning for this mission.”

The Admiral paused for a moment, still smiling faintly, but with a thoughtful look on his face, as if ticking off everything he had set in motion recently. He looked up and continued.

밢 nce I had your discharge in place, I had you retroactively reclassified with the Coalition as a Civilian Consultant. We pay civilians a much higher rate than those in the service because we generally only hire experts in various fields. Your innovations and recommendations during your service helped me make the case.”

밪 uddenly, you had a lot of back pay coming to you at the higher rate that consultants get paid. But, on top of that, under the new

laws, the Fleet owed you for use of your backup generator concept and the use of the software that went with it. I had Ac-counting generate some numbers, and quickly pushed through the changes.”

밒 think you 뭠 l be pleased with the result. Oh! And, if that weren 뭪 enough, I called in a few favors and the Council approved a large reward this morning for your part in saving the Bangaram and rescuing the crew.”

밪 o,and the Admiral picked up the whisky bottle and gestured for Donovan to put his glass forward, pouring another shot for each of them, 뱋 ne more toast to my new, very rich friend and soon-to-be owner and Captain of his own ship.He clinked glasses again with Donovan and they both emptied their glasses.

* * *

밪 ir, I hardly know what to say. 멦 hank you-doesn 뭪 seem adequate, no matter how many times I say it.”

The Admiral nodded, saying: 밒 understand, and I appreciate it. I 뭭 e had to call in quite

a few favors today. However, at the same time, I didn 뭪 do all of this for you, strictly speaking, although I think you deserve the rewards.”

밨 emember, I had to find a way for someone from the service, someone trained by the service and loyal to the Coalition, to be-come a civilian captain, owning their own ship ideally.”

밫 he Coalition couldn 뭪 be seen to be be-hind the purchase of this ship or connected with any sort of mission this ship might un-dertake. Most of my efforts today were to-wards that end.”

밒 t was my good luck to find an engineering genius and bona-fide hero who I could in-terest in taking on this new mission”

밫 hank you sir, although my engineering ideas were not genius so much as just good engineering practices.The Admiral nodded. 밦 uite right and our earlier designs should not have cut corners like that and probably wouldn 뭪 have except that the colonies were just getting on their feet, so to speak.”

밡 ow, to the question of where you will be staying. I happen to have something in mind there too.The Admiral swiveled the computer screen on his desk so that Dono-van could see the display.

On the screen was what looked like a real-time image of a bare-bones inter-stellar cargo ship docked at the outer ring of the station. Without cargo containers attached to the long axis of the ship, the basic struc-ture was visible.

At the aft end was a large cylindrical struc-ture that housed the main engines for in-system propulsion, and presumably held the power plant, main engineering, crew quar-ters and probably the command-and-control center for the ship.

Forward of that a central, structural core projected forward, the same size and shape as two cargo containers joined end-to-end. The size and shape were intentional. This was the aft cargo carrying section, and sized so that containers could be mounted on either side and on the top and bottom in a plus sign (+) configuration. Containers could be added to fill in the corners, form-ing a square, and stacked up to two more layers outward in each direction.

The middle section of the ship was a disk with spokes extending outward to a large ring that housed the warp coils. This was a standard feature of most Terran and colo-nial inter-stellar ships.

Forward from that was another central structural core, the forward cargo carrying section. This section was 50% longer, with space for a third set of cargo containers to be mounted.

At the bow of the ship was a semi-spherical structure that housed the forward shields, sensors, and communications array.

The Admiral had given Donovan time to take in the overall design of the ship. 밫 his is the cargo ship 멒 old Sun.My thinking was that a cargo ship would be the best cover for this mission. They are by far the biggest share of the inter-stellar traffic that exists right now.”

밃 s you probably know, inter-colonial pas-senger ships are still fairly rare and per-sonal transports are almost non-existent so far. The fleet makes up the balance of cur-rent interstellar traffic.”

밃 s luck would have it, an associate of mine was able to meet with the Captain of this

ship. He is getting on in years and has put off settling down and having a family until it is almost too late. When my associate mentioned that she might know someone in-terested in buying a cargo ship, the captain was interested.”

밒 was able to sweeten the deal with a land grant from the Prithvi government that should provide him with a substantial es-tate to retire on. As you know, there are still many undeveloped parts of the planet so he had a variety of locations to choose from.”

밆 on 뭪 ask me how I got that concession. But, off the record, you might remember I mentioned that one of the crew you saved on the Bangaram was related to a promi-nent planetary official.The Admiral grinned.

밡 ow, I don 뭪 mean to rush you, but aside from trying to find some de-commissioned ship in the yards and doing a complete refit, this is probably the best opportunity we are likely to see in the near future. I 뭭 e looked at what 뭩 available right now in the civilian shipyards and there isn 뭪 much to work with. There is no telling when another cap-tain who is willing to sell might make port in this system.”

밐 ere 뭩 what he is asking:The Admiral tapped a few keys and a figure appeared on the screen in a large enough font that Donovan could read it across the desk. He whistled in response. 밃 nd here is your per-sonal account balance as of this afternoon:Another figure appeared under the first, showing a balance that was sub-stantially larger. Donovan could only gape at the total displayed.

밡 ow, keep in mind that you will have sig-nificant costs refitting the ship for its new mission, hiring crew, buying fuel and sup-plies, and, presumably, buying some sort of cargo to deliver to another system as part of your cover.”

Donovan looked at the figures displayed with new appreciation, and his brow fur-rowed as the balance in his account sud-denly looked inadequate to cover all of those costs.

밢 n the other hand,the Admiral continued, 뱓 his ship just had a major refit two years ago so most of its systems are up-to-date and in good shape. My associate was given a tour of the key ship systems and allowed to view the logs. The Captain assured her that the ship has the potential to realize a

significant profit if you carry the right cargo and use the drives economically.”

밆 on 뭪 worry too much about those details right now, though. You will have my help and support going forward wherever it can be supplied without pointing directly to the Coalition.”

밫 he question before us right now is, do you want to go forward with this purchase? As you can probably imagine, it has my rec-ommendation and if we move on it right now, at the very least, it will provide you with a place to sleep tonight.Again the Ad-miral grinned, evidently very pleased with everything he had managed to set in motion to reach this moment.

밠 y associate is in place and ready to make the transaction on your behalf if you ap-prove. I believe she is treating the Captain to afternoon cocktails as we speak, so, with a little luck, she may be able to get an even better bargain for you if we move now. What do you say?”

Donovan spread out his hands, taking his eyes from the screen to look at the man across the desk. 밫 his is overwhelming Ad-miral. I can 뭪 believe everything you man-

aged to put in place to make this happen. Part of me feels like it would be the height of disrespect to all of your efforts to put the breaks on your plan now.”

밒 f that weren 뭪 enough, everything you 뭭 e said so far makes perfect sense to me. I can see the reasoning behind choosing a cargo transport ship, although I can also see a lot of potential problems with that choice in terms of fulfilling the new mission while maintaining our cover. I am sure I am going to depend on your offer of further assis-tance to make this work.”

밫 o be honest, I was picturing something much smaller, like a long-range scout ship, but I wasn 뭪 thinking about a cover story when I visualized that. I have to admit, with some reservations, that this idea makes more sense overall.”

The Admiral nodded. 밒뭠 l be assigning you a liaison since I won 뭪 always be available to meet or provide quick assistance. Tthe person I assign to assist you will have a certain amount of leeway to authorize a great deal of assistance as quickly as possi-ble.The admiral splayed his own hands, in a gesture that said: 밯 ell?”

Donovan looked again at the ship. Without any cargo it was a weird, skeletal conglom-eration of geometric shapes, like something a child had assembled from blocks.

At the same time, it was oddly graceful and beautiful in its own way. It would probably look like a fat fish when fully loaded with containers. He found himself nodding and smiling as he told the Admiral: 밳 ou have done an amazing job putting this together. I agree it is our best choice under the cir-cumstances. Let 뭩 do it!”

밢 ne more thing.The Admiral leaned for-ward. 밒 mentioned hiring crew earlier. There 뭩 an opportunity right now to re-hire the existing crew of this vessel. My asso-ciate informs me that the Captain will offer a significant discount on the sale price if you do and he is willing to give testimonials for key members of the crew.”

밇 vidently he feels some obligation to his people, which speaks well for them. Most of them are on shore leave right now, but he says he will round them up to announce the sale if it goes through. He plans to offer termination pay to anyone you don 뭪 keep on and he 뭗 like that expense to be covered

in the sale price of the ship. It 뭩 totally up to you but it might save you some time looking for qualified personnel.”

밪 ubject to meeting first with his second in command to discuss the crew, I can agree to that. I will refund the cost of termination pay for anyone we decide to let go.”

The Admiral grinned and pressed a few keys on his terminal, causing a palm reader to light up on the surface of the desk in front of Donovan. 밣 alm in to approve the funds for the purchase. My agent will try to negotiate an even better price, with the provisions we 뭭 e discussed.”

He spent a minute composing a message to his representative and sent it off with the approval for the fund transfer. 밯 hile we wait to find out the results, I 뭠 l have din-ner brought in and we can discuss a few more details to help you get started.”

* * *

They moved to the lounge area of the office and Donovan was supplied with a datapad to take notes. As they took their seats, the Admiral said: 밳 ou must have many ques-

tions already. Perhaps we should start there and continue planning over dinner?”

Donovan nodded. 밒 do have a few. To start with, I need a better understanding of the scope of exploration mission you have in mind, the main goals or priorities, and any-thing that should be avoided. The answers to those questions will guide much of my planning for this mission.”

The Admiral was nodding as he spoke. 밦uite right, the perfect place to start.He sat for a moment in thought and then said: 밫his is all preliminary. In a sense the chief goal for this first ship is to develop the pro-gram, to create or discover rules and proto-cols for investigating new star systems.”

밯 e can be some help there. I can provide you with logs from the colonies first investi-gations of the planets they settled and, in a couple cases, planets they investigated but decided against for colonization. That 뭩 one goal of the program, of course, to identify new systems for potential colonization.”

He paused again, stroking his chin absent-mindedly, then said: 밣 erhaps I should take a step back here and review some of the reasons the Coalition decided to initiate

this effort at this time. I was forced to gloss over some of that earlier because of time constraints, but some of this information will be important for you to know going for-ward.”

He steepled his fingers in front of him, el-bows on the armrests of his chair as he sat back. 밒 t starts with the Vareni, of course. If it weren 뭪 for that threat, the colonies might have been content to continue on their own course in relative isolation, aside from the occasional trade or passenger ship.”

밢 ne thing you may not know is that Terra believes that they lost several ships, includ-ing at least one colony ship, to the Vareni before any of us knew they were out there. Back then we didn 뭪 even have a name for them, but we knew that ships, including some colonial ships, were sometimes de-stroyed when they ventured outside of the existing area of colonization.”

밨 escue and exploration ships were sent out and in some cases found traces of debris, all that was left of the missing ships. Some of those ships that were sent out to investi -gate never came back.”

밯 e couldn 뭪 even localize the threat for a long time. Now we think we have some idea of what solar systems to avoid, but, aside from a name, and the fact that their ships appear to be much more powerful than ours, we know almost nothing about them.”

밠 ost of this effort originated from Terra in those days. Now they have retreated and have adopted a mostly isolationist stance. They have stopped sending out new colony ships and their military vessels patrol only the systems near the Sol system as far as we know.”

밫 hat trend started about ten years ago, and was part of the reason the Coalition was formed. We sent a diplomatic ship to Terra a few years ago, in part to assure them that we were not trying to exclude them from the larger sphere of human en-deavors in the galaxy and invite them to join us in a mutual defense pact, but, with the exception of some of the outer colonies in that system, they were not interested. Occasionally we get some news via cargo ships that still make the trip, but that 뭩 about it.”

밪 o, that brings us up to the present, more or less. We have more need than ever to get

a better understanding of the scope and na-ture of the threat that the Vareni pose, but there is serious opposition in some of the colonies to 몆 oking the hornets nestas some of them put it. In other words, we have our own isolationist factions too.”

밯 e also do not want to give Terra the im-pression that we are looking to expand our sphere of influence. It is for these reasons that our exploration program will be, for all appearances, a civilian effort for now, not officially endorsed by the Coalition.”

밃 t the same time, some of the early rea-sons for colonizing other star systems have gained even more importance. One reason was to spread out human kind as much as possible to ensure our survival if something should happen to one planet or one sector of space, something like a super nova, for example. That reason applies more than ever now, with the added threat of the Vareni, although we have not yet seen any sign of invasion or fleets of warships.”

밄 ecause of the isolationist faction, our own fleet will limit their patrols to the existing colonial systems and a few space stations within the Coalition sphere.”

밪 o, locating habitable planets should be one of the program 뭩 primary goals. Plan-ets that might respond well to terraforming efforts would be the next best focus. Dis-covery of new life, including sentient or pre-sentient life could be game-changing.”

밃 t the very least, new plant and animal life that could be domesticated or that might produce new pharmaceuticals, fuel sources, or other products would be very valuable to the Coalition. Keep in mind, however, that strict quarantine protocols would need to be observed while investigating any new life world and upon your return to human inhabited systems.”

밃 t all times, signs of Vareni, or other warp-capable alien species, should be re-ported as soon as possible so that we can improve our picture of their sphere of inter-est. Avoid contact, for now, but gather whatever information you can before you have to leave any solar system where you find them.”

밫 he following information is not for distri -bution but it 뭩 not exactly top secret either: the Coalition is actively pursuing research into better shields and weapons systems. When we feel ready, we may try to make

contact with the Vareni again, but I don 뭪 see that happening anytime soon.”

밒 n the meantime, any alien technology that you run across will be of supreme in-terest to the Coalition. We 뭨 e talking bonuses herebut don 뭪 risk your ship or crew to acquire specific items. Log it, re-port it, and the Coalition will follow up when we can.”

밄 eyond that, the Coalition would be inter-ested in any important resources you can identify in each system you visit. Sources of water, fuel, propellants, rare earth ele-ments, fertilizer components, rare metals, and the like, would all be potentially useful. I 뭠 l provide you with a list.”

밒 probably haven 뭪 mentioned this before now, but the Coalition has made plans to pay for such information from any source. This was done, in part, to support our cover story. It has been quietly announced in cer-tain trade journals that the Coalition will pay for data on previously unexplored star systems and even for news from Terra or colonies outside the Coalition.”

밒 nformation will be impartially evaluated in terms of importance to the Coalition and

payment will be determined by a standard algorithm. For most civilian ships, there will be no negotiation on the prices we set. We don 뭪 want endless bartering sessions with every ship captain that comes through.”

밄 ut this new policy means that captains who are willing to share their computer logs, or portions of them, can benefit from a new source of income that was not previ-ously available.”

밒 n your case, you can tell your crew, if you wish, that you have a friend inside the Coalition who knows what information will be most valuable (which is true), and that gives you an edge to specialize in explo-ration in addition to regular cargo runs.”

Donovan nodded. Taking notes as he lis-tened, he interjected: 밎 ood, I was starting to wonder what I would tell my crew that wouldn 뭪 convince them I was crazy. To most experienced cargo crew, wasting re-sources traveling outside the optimal trade routes searching for who-knows-what, would signify little hope of profit or bonuses.”

He grinned at the Admiral who grinned back. 밒 t will also give me an excuse to hire on some specialists, which could be essen-tial if we do find any life worlds, for exam-ple.”

밫 hat 뭩 up to you, of course, but the more in-depth information you can provide on any system you visit, the more the Coalition is likely to pay. This will help off-set the costs of exploration, which, as you say, nor-mally wouldn 뭪 be economical for a cargo ship.”

밬 nlike your unofficial competition among the other civilian ships, we will try to adjust what we pay for information so that you show a respectable profit for the effort. Any more questions yet?”

밐 mmm, bear with me if I am not at my most coherent Admiral. It has been a long day. I do have some questions about what types of aid we can expect to help us get ready and, once we start our mission, on an ongoing basis.”

밊 or example, even with this new payment-for-information program, we may have trou-ble showing a profit if we burn a lot of con-sumables traveling to and running around

new star systems making observations. In fact, we will probably need to carry extra fuel, propellants, equipment, staff, food, and water, which will make the whole ship heavier and less economical to run. The ship will have to be redesigned to accom-modate all of this.”

밫 hat brings up another concern. I can 뭪 change the ship 뭩 profile too much or I will blow my cover. Other ship captains and port officials will notice if we seem to be carrying a lot of extra mass and will wonder what it 뭩 for. I may have to convert some cargo containers for the extra staff and equipment, partly to disguise what I 뭢 car-rying, which will cut into our cargo carry-ing capacity.”

밒 can tell you right now,he said, grinning 뱓 hat I am going to want a backup power plant if this ship doesn 뭪 already have one, which I doubt. Cargo ships are usually bare bones to minimize extra mass and maximize profits.”

밫 hat, in turn, brings up another issue. From discussions I 뭭 e had with cargo crew during my time shuttling around this sys-tem, I know that cargo ship crews often get

bonuses for profitable runs. On my ship, cargo runs will be less profitable because of all of the extra mass and lower cargo-carry-ing capacity.”

밢 n exploration missions they are going to spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for the scientists or specialists to do their work with little prospect of bonuses at the end of the trip. Ideally the crew would be willing to assist the scientists in some way, but regular cargo ship crew aren 뭪 scien-tists or trained assistants.”

밠 any, or most, may turn down my offer to rehire them once they understand my plans. They may not believe that the Coalition will pay well for scientific information. The rest may jump ship after our first unprofitable cargo run.”

밄 eyond that, we may need help with re-pairs or even restocking consumables from time to time. There 뭩 no telling what trou-bles we will run into in unexplored sys-tems.”

밒 뭗 also like some assurance that we will have some level of access to advances in propulsion, shielding, and weaponry. After all, the Coalition has a vested interest in

our success and safety while we are out there in the unknown, even if we aren 뭪 of-ficially recognized.”

Donovan paused and the Admiral jumped in: 밊 inished? Well, I knew this was going to be a challenge, despite everything I managed to line up to get the program started. I think I told you before that I would give you all the help I can, within certain limits.”

밒 t is difficult to know at this point in the process what types of help you will need and how I might be able to help. However, I think I can give you some idea of what I am prepared to do.”

밫 o begin with, we have several older Plan-etary Defense ships in the Fleet ship yard that have been decommissioned. Once you have had a chance to get familiar with the ship and draw up some designs for the changes you think you will need, I should be able to send you some cargo containers with spare parts.”

밄 y the time you leave port, those contain-ers and their contents can be re-purposed. I will instruct my staff to do a little account-ing magic, showing that they parts were

sold to support a classified program, which is essentially true.”

밒 am not guaranteeing that I can give you everything you want, but that spare genera-tor will be at the top of the list. It will have to be a model that fits inside a shipping container, but that sounds like it may fit in with your overall design considerations.”

밃 side note here on weapons. I will need a solid argument from you, in writing, before I can release militarily sensitive technol-ogy, especially weapons, into your care. That 뭩 not a 멞 obut I will need solid justifi-cation to do it. I doubt you will want the ex -tra mass to make your ship heavily armed in any case.”

밃 s I mentioned before, we will adjust our price for information based on your costs. Make sure to list crew bonuses in your re-port along with all of your other costs when you deliver information to us and we can take that into account.”

밒 think we can easily absorb the cost of crew pay and bonuses to get valuable infor-mation about our stellar neighborhood that we are not going to get any other way. You can assure your staff that you will pay

bonuses for long exploration trips and I will back you up when you report in.”

밡 ow, as far as ongoing and unexpected costs, including scheduled repairs, refit-ting, reprovisioning, and refueling. I can give you the following reassurance:”

밒 will have at least one representative at each colony and Coalition space station who will make it their business to contact you when you make port. If you need help with anything, you can ask that person for aid. You can also deliver reports to any of these representatives so you will not have to return here after every mission.”

밒 t might be a good idea to plan a return trip here for your first few trips out, so that we can coordinate on that compensation al-gorithm I spoke of earlier, but after that you should be able to report at any colony or station and expect to receive the same level of compensation.”

밃 s to your crew concerns, you could well be right about the existing crew of the Gold Sun. You 뭠 l find out once you have laid out your plans to those who want to stay on. You may wind up hiring staff who will be a better fit, especially in terms of your ex-

panded mission. That 뭩 just part of com-mand and I can 뭪 help you much with that.”

밯 hat I can do is provide you with a list of candidates for various positions once you have drawn up a list of specialists you think you will need. If you request anyone who is currently in the service, I will have to take it under consideration personally, but I may be able to arrange something.”

Donovan was momentarily worried that he had pushed too much but the Admiral broke into one of his big grins, saying: 밆 on 뭪 worry too much. This will be a lot of work getting everything ready to go, but it should be a lot of fun too. I wish I was go-ing with you!”

Donovan laughed, saying: 밒 뭗 be honored to have you with us sir, or leading us more likely. But that reminds me. I haven 뭪 had time to ask what happened to Chief Walker since I got out of stasis. Do you to know?”

밒 do indeed!the admiral said, laughing in return. 밃 fter he got you to the ship 뭩 Med Bay, he used the AutoDoc to run diagnos-tics and perform initial treatment on you, including treatment for radiation exposure. He followed directions to put you into stasis

after that. Only then did he put himself in the AutoDoc to get treatment himself.”

밯 hen he woke up he went back to work try-ing to restore ship functions while he waited for rescue. He managed to isolate the source of the radiation and scrub the atmosphere in Engineering.”

밐 owever, despite the backup generator on the ship, he wasn 뭪 able to restore power to the major ship systems by the time another rescue shuttle arrived. There was just too much damage to the conduits and power distribution circuitry.”

밫 he following is top-secret. In fact, please consider the entire event aboard the Ban-garam classified until further notice. Ac-cording to his report, there was some tam-pering with the fuel assembly. We strongly suspect sabotage but we are having to tow the Bangaram back to port before we can investigate properly.”

밠 eanwhile, your friend chief Walker was put on leave after he made his report. He went planet-side before you woke up. You can contact him later if you wish, but please don 뭪 discuss the Bangaram over civilian communication channels.”

A soft chime came from his desk at the other side of the room. The Admiral stood up, saying: 밫 hat should be good news.”

He crossed the room, sat down at his desk, and swiveled the screen back to face him. 밳 es, very good news indeed. My agent managed to talk the Captain of the Gold Sun down quite a bit on the price, including that discount for keeping his crew on, pro-visionally. That should help with the work you have ahead of you.”

밐 is second in command has been notified and will expect you at the ship later this evening. Her name is Caley Cabot. The rest of the crew are on shore leave but the Cap-tain will meet with them tomorrow and Ms. Cabot can contact them when you are ready to meet.”

밫 he captain has agreed to clear out his ef-fects right away so you can take possession whenever you are ready. My agent will meet you at the ship later with the com-mand codes.”

The Admiral looked up from the screen smiling. 밒 think this calls for a celebration! If you are hungry, I 뭠 l have dinner deliv-ered. By the time we finish you should be

able to go take possession of your new ship.Seeing Donovan nod, smiling at the news, he placed an order and returned to the seating area with the whisky bottle and two new glasses.

Pouring a shot for each of them, he raised his glass, saying: 밫 o my new friend and as-sociate, Captain Kane! Congratulations on your new command. May your travels be in-teresting and profitable!Clinking their glasses together they each downed their drink. 밒 think that 뭩 my limit without eat-ing something.”

Donovan agreed. He was tired and his head was already swimming a little from the whisky. He started to relax back into the couch and felt how easy it would be to just drift off to sleep. With a start, he shook his head and leaned forward in his seat trying to keep his head clear and stay awake.

He made a mental note to get some exer-cise. Clearly he needed to rebuild his stamina after several weeks in stasis.

밚 ooks like we found your limit too. I 뭠 l make sure we have some coffee delivered too.The Admiral went to his desk and sent off another message. Returning to his arm-

chair, he said: 밃 ny other questions while we wait? No? Well, I have a few suggestions if you don 뭪 mind.”

밒 뭠 l be sending you a few data dumps in the next few days, including the coloniza-tion and exploration reports I spoke of ear-lier and a list of nearby star systems that the Coalition would especially like to have explored in greater depth.”

밒 뭠 l also send you a list of resources in greatest demand at each of the colonies right now so you can plan what cargo to carry. Lastly, I 뭠 l have my people put to-gether a list of candidates for the specialist positions you might want to consider, along with whatever background data we can dig up.”

밯 hile your first inclination may be to work on redesigning the ship, you might want to consider working out your crew compliment first and hiring for whatever positions you have empty. Some of your crew, and I 뭢 thinking mainly of the specialists here, may give you important feedback about the type of equipment and facilities they will need, and that might affect the overall design for the ship.”

밢 nce the redesign is underway, you might want to have the crew running simulations. It would be a good idea to have protocols in place for a variety of situations before you head out. You can have the crew sift through the colonization and exploration re-ports and make suggestions so you don 뭪 have to do everything yourself. Then run simulations to see how well your protocols work, make adjustments and run them again.”

Donovan sighed. 밒 뭢 going to have my hands full for a while, especially with the work on the ship. I 뭢 not sure how much time I 뭠 l have for programming simulations and that 뭩 not exactly my specialty any-way.”

The Admiral grinned. 밒 thought of that. Re-member I 뭭 e been making plans for this new program for some time. Also, please keep in mind that your command will be the pilot program for this new service. Almost as important as the data you will bring back yourself is the development of a program, a series of protocols, for others to follow.”

밄 eyond that, remember that you are a ship Captain now. You have to learn how to hire

people you can trust and delegate as much as possible. Trust me. You might want to get your hands dirty rebuilding your new ship, but the more you can trust others to do the work for you, the better off you will be. Otherwise, you may burn yourself out quick.”

밡 ow, as it turns out, we have a young man in the service who is, I 뭢 told, something of a wizard at programming simulations. His commanding officer has been having some trouble with him unfortunately.”

밪 eems this recruit was running his own lit-tle underground market in entertainment sims. This was the cause of a minor scandal and a slew of discipline problems in his command. I don 뭪 think his CO would be sorry to see him go.”

밳 ou wouldn 뭪 have to hire him on as a per-manent part of your crew, but I think he could be a big help during the design phase of this program. I can get him reassigned to my department. I feel sure he would prefer that to the charges he is facing.”

Donovan said: 밪 ounds like he might be more trouble than he is worth but lord knows I could use the help. Seems like I

can 뭪 stop saying 멦 hank youfor all of the thought and planning you 뭭 e put into mak-ing this a success Admiral.”

밒 have a vested interest. This may be your command, but it 뭩 just the beginning of our exploration program. I expect to reap valu-able information from this program eventu-ally. The first part of that, however, is the work you will do developing it. We should both learn a lot from your initial design and planning efforts, lessons we can use when we start planning for the next ship.”

The meal arrived and Donovan found that the Admiral had gone all out. There was what tasted like real steak and lobster, fresh salad, and a variety of roasted vegeta-bles. There was a fizzy drink that was slightly sweet and sour served with the meal that seemed to revive him and by the time his plate was nearly empty he realized that they had hardly exchanged a word since the food had arrived.

When desert was brought in, the Admiral poured coffee for them and sat back with a satisfied sigh. 밒 don 뭪 eat like that every day, but I thought the start of this new pro-gram deserved a bit of a celebration.”

A soft chime from the desk announced a message. The Admiral got up and checked his screen. Smiling, he turned to Donovan and said: 밚 ooks like my Agent is outside. The Gold Sun 뭩 captain has cleared our his gear and you can take possession any time you are ready.”

Donovan spread his hands out. 봊뭢 not sure I can absorb much more today anyway. I think I 뭢 still recovering from stasis or the injuries I sustained. I feel like I could sleep for a few days.”

밒 t 뭩 definitely been a full day.the Admiral said. 밒뭢 feeling it too. I 뭗 take you down to the ship myself¾I 뭗 love to see her¾but we shouldn 뭪 be seen together outside these offices. After today most of our communica-tions will be through my agent.”

밒 t 뭩 been a pleasure meeting you and get-ting this project started with your help. Perhaps we can meet again when you re-turn from your first mission.The Admiral moved forward and shook hands as Dono-van stood up to meet him, then turned to the door to the outer offices.

The Ensign was still at his station as the door. He stood, holding his duffle bag out for him. Donovan stepped forward and slipped the strap over his shoulder, thank-ing him.

Turning he saw the Admiral bent forward talking softly with a pretty woman who ap-peared to be a little younger than Donovan, in her late 20s perhaps. She wore civilian clothes, a yellow jumpsuit, common attire on the station.

The Admiral turned towards Donovan. 밫 his is Specialist Jasmin Pranidhi. She will be my liaison with your project and the person you should go to with any special requests. She 뭠 l have a small office connected to a warehouse near your berth.”

밣 leased to meet you Captain. You can call me 멙 asor 멙 asminbut forget my rank once we are outside of this office.She held out her hand and Donovan took it, receiving a brief but firm handshake.

밒 뭢 afraid I 뭭 e kept the Captain longer than I should have on his first day out of Med Bay. Please take him to his ship. Make sure he gets settled in and has everything he needs.”

Admiral Jager turned towards Donovan. 밎ood luck Captain. Please don 뭪 hesitate to let Ms. Pranidhi know if you need anything. We will do our best to help if we can. I hope we can meet again before you leave.He ex-tended his hand to shake again.

Donovan took it and held it a moment, try-ing to communicate his gratitude as he smiled at the older man. Turning, he nod-ded at Jasmin and she led the way towards the outer offices.

As they walked she stopped suddenly at a door that was clearly marked as a restroom. Donovan, lost in his thoughts, almost ran into her. Stepping to one side, she said: 밳ou might want to change into civvies before we reach the ship. That way we 뭠 l attract less attention along the way.”

Donovan nodded and entered the restroom. He set his duffle on the counter by the sink and took a look at himself in the mirror. He definitely looked tired but his eyes were still sharp and focused.

He rummaged in his bag until he found a jumpsuit not unlike the one Jasmin wore, but black. It was a bit rumpled from being stuffed in the duffle bag all day, but he

thought it would smooth out once he had it on.

Taking off his uniform, he folded it care-fully and placed it on top of everything else in the duffle bag. He took a moment to wash his face before he pulled on the jumpsuit. Smoothing back his hair, he shouldered the duffle bag again and stepped out. Jasmin smiled at him approvingly and led the way again.

A tram ride, followed by a tube and another tram ride and they were in a section of the outer ring that Donovan had rarely been through before. Jasmin led the way to a tube station marked 밣 ort 47in somewhat chipped paint on the wall.

They stepped into a tube and the car de-scended for several seconds before opening at an airlock. Jasmin stepped out and keyed the comm panel at the lock, saying: 밓 asmin Pranidhi and Captain Kane.A female voice came from the panel. 밯 elcome. Be right there.”

After a short wait, the lock opened and an-other young woman smiled at them from the other side, gesturing them to enter. 밣

ermission to come aboard?Jasmin said. 밎rantedthe other young woman replied.

Once they were standing in the rather large lock entrance, Jasmin turned and gestured at the young woman, saying: 밅 aptain Kane, may I introduce Caley Cabot, your XO.”

Donovan put his hand forward, saying 밠 y first name is Donovan, but call me 멫 anun-less we are on the bridge or meeting with the crew.”

The young woman shook his hand firmly, smiling. 밒 go by my initials: 멌 C or my ti-tle. Let me show you to your cabin and then I can give you a tour if you like.She turned to lead them into the ship.

Donovan smiled back as he followed her with Jasmin in tow. 밒뭗 be more interested in a cup of coffee at the moment, if you have any aboard. We can do the tour tomor-row. I 뭢 afraid I 뭭 e had a very long day.”

Jasmin interjected: 밣 erhaps we should for-malize the transfer of command before it gets late and we forget. Then we can go to the galley if you like.”

Donovan nodded his acquiescence and CC led the way to the Captain 뭩 Cabin first, where he dropped off his duffel bag, and then to the bridge where she held out a hand to indicate the command console.

Donovan stepped forward and took the seat facing the console and then looked up sheepishly, saying: 밒뭢 not sure of the pro-tocol. Someone is going to have to walk me through this.”

Jasmin jumped forward, saying: 밢 h, my bad. I forgot to give you the command codes before we got here.She took a small datapad out of her pocket, saying: 밫 his has everything you need. Just dock it at the port there and the computer will walk you through it.”

Donovan placed the device on the console, which lit up with a menu of options. After a few moments he had verified his ID. The computer accepted his command codes from the datapad and acknowledged him as the new owner and Captain of the ship.

CC smiled, saying: 밯 elcome aboard Cap-tain. Are you ready for that coffee?Donovan nodded, saying: 밆 efinitely. Lead the way.”

Chapter 4

onovan woke up in the unfamiliar cabin but knew where he was right away. He

suspected he had dreamed about the ship and talking to Admiral Jager all night. His mind was already filling with various things he needed to get done and he hadn 뭪 opened his eyes yet. Deciding he wasn 뭪 likely to get back to sleep, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. A clock on the wall indi-cated he 뭗 slept for nearly 10 hours.

D

He looked around the cabin and was pleased with what he saw. The room wasn 뭪 huge but it was several times the size of his old compartment on the station. The bed was large, not the single he 뭗 gotten used to. Getting up he investigated a door near the foot of the bed and found a small but fully equipped refresher and john.

He was about to use the refresher when he realized he hadn 뭪 unpacked any of his per-sonal hygiene gear. He returned to the cabin and began unpacking his duffel bag on the bed. Another panel on the wall be-

side the bed proved to be a closet with built-in drawers on one side. He hung up his uniform and put his other clothes away, setting aside another jump suit to wear that day.

After using the refresher and dressing, he looked around at the rest of the cabin. A partition separated the bedroom from the rest of the cabin, which held a small desk with a computer console and a small lounge area with several comfortable chairs in a semi-circle facing the door to the corridor.

Everything was clean but worn, the enamel or paint showing chips or other layers un-derneath in spots. There were no decora-tions. Palming open the door he decided to go find something for breakfast, and see if his memory of the route to the galley was accurate.

He took the nearest lift down one level and then followed his nose to the smell of fresh coffee. It turned out to be the first hatch he came to. CC was there with her own cup and platter with some fruit, muffins, and pastries on it. She smiled as he entered. 밒 thought you might want some help finding things in the galley this morning, so we can start our tour here if you like.”

Donovan smiled. 밫 hanks. Coffee first I think. Thanks for getting it ready.He sat and poured himself a cup from the carafe on the table. 밪 orry if I wasn 뭪 much com-pany last night. As it happens, I had just gotten out of Med Bay yesterday morning and had a long day full of meetings. I was just about dead on my feet by the time we got here.”

밨 eminds me, what happened to Ms. Pranidhi? I don 뭪 remember much about our conversation or what happened after.”

밓 asmin? She excused herself after we caught you nodding off for the third time. I walked you to your cabin and told you I 뭗 meet you for breakfast. You overslept a bit though. I had a muffin while I waited.”

Donovan laughed. 밡 o worries. Thanks for waiting.Donovan picked out a muffin for himself and took a bite. 밪 o, what did we talk about last night? I really don 뭪 remem-ber much at all.”

밒 t was mostly Jasmin and I that talked. You tried to stay focused but, like I said, we caught you drifting off a few times.”

밪 he told me that a mutual friend arranged for her to negotiate the sale for you be-cause you were stuck in meetings. She said you wanted to jump on the opportunity as soon as you heard about it. Then we talked a little about the ship and crew, what colonies we 뭗 visited recently, and what goods are trading well right now. That 뭩 about it.”

밪 orry I missed it, but, in any case, I 뭗 pre-fer to have that talk with a screen available so I can see any records on the crew and ship while we talk. In a way, I 뭢 glad we didn 뭪 get too deep into any discussions last night. I have a lot I want to talk about and I want to be fully awake for it.”

밄 ut that reminds me of something else. I was told that most of the crew was on leave. Did we interrupt your own shore leave?”

밢 h, technically, but I didn 뭪 have anything special planned. I was still on the station, just visiting with some friends I have here.”

밯 ell, I 뭠 l see what I can do to get you some more time off when you need it but I뭠 l need your help for a few days at least.

Not to get too far ahead in our talks, but I have some big ideas for what I 뭗 like to do with this ship and it will involve some sig-nificant redesign.”

밒 also want to bring on some additional crew, which I 뭠 l explain later, and do some planning with the entire crew while the work on the ship is being done. During that time, there should be a few opportunities for you to take the rest of your leave if you like.”

CC 뭩 eyebrows went up as he talked until her eyes were round with surprise. 밯 e aren뭪 running cargo anymore?She asked.

밢 h, we 뭠 l still run cargo, but we may take a detour or two along the way. Don 뭪 worry, I 뭠 l explain later today, after we take that tour of the ship. Don 뭪 worry, it 뭩 nothing illegal and, with any luck, it should be fun and profitable. Ready for that tour?CC nodded, so he said: 밚 ead the way.”

CC took him on a complete tour of the aft section of the ship, the part containing En-gineering (the power plant, in-system propulsion, recycling systems and life sup-port), the crew quarters, gym, lounge, Med

Bay, and back to the bridge, showing him each of the stations.

Then he had her take him forward to the cargo core, examining everything along the way. Past that they reached the middle hub that supported the struts to the outer ring where the warp coils were housed. There was no internal access to the outer ring via the struts but she pointed out the structural elements and various instruments that were housed in that section, including shield emitters and small meteor lasers.

They continued through the longer forward cargo core to the bow section that housed the shields, sensors, communications gear, and the main meteor defense lasors. The communications laser doubled as an addi-tional forward weapon if fed enough power.

He noted that there was a lot of unused space in the bow section, due he supposed to the shield emitters needing a semi-spher-ical configuration for the best coverage. The designers had decided to enclose the entire area within the hull to allow for easy access, even though the internal space wasn 뭪 strictly needed.

Being so far forward of the main crew areas of the ship, wasn 뭪 likely to be used for

much. As he looked at the space he was starting to think of a few uses it might be put to but he cut his speculations short, de-ciding to wait until he could look at the blueprints.

CC led them back down to the Galley where they collapsed and finished off what was left of the treats CC had put together for breakfast. 밯 e don 뭪 usually eat like this,she said, gesturing at the fruit and pas-tries, 밷 ut I thought you might appreciate something a little special your first morning aboard.”

밃 nyway, it 뭩 a good idea to take advantage of fresh food whenever we can, which is usually only when we are docked at a sta-tion, so I sent out for a few things. By the way, we had already refueled and reprovi-sioned when you bought the ship, so that 뭩 a couple significant items you won 뭪 have to pay for this first time out.”

Donovan nodded, smiling. 밎 ood news. I was too busy to think about those details yesterday, but I have a feeling Jasmin knew and was saving that to surprise me with. At some point I 뭗 like to take a look at what sort of provisions are stored. We might be

able to afford a few luxuries. I 뭗 especially like to make sure we have real coffee and tea aboard.”

밚 et 뭩 move somewhere with a console where we can access the ship blueprints and crew records. I 뭠 l start off the discus-sion with my plans for the ship so you will understand what I am looking for when it comes to everything else. You might also want something to take notes on, although I don 뭪 think we will get too deeply into the planning today.”

CC led them to a lounge where there was console that crew could use to send mes-sages, view entertainment, or work on their own projects. There was a large screen that would make looking at the ship blueprints easier. She pulled out a small pocket com-puter from a hip pocket, similar to the one he 뭗 lost on the Bangaram, before sitting down at the console. Donovan pulled up an-other chair and sat.

밪 o, first off, thanks for cutting your leave short and putting up with all of this. I hope, once you hear what I have planned for the ship, you will be as excited about it as I am and want to stay on.”

밊 rom what I can tell so far, you have a solid knowledge of this ship and I will be relying on your knowledge of how a cargo ship runs to help us stay profitable, espe-cially with the changes I hope to make. Some of this may sound crazy to you at first, but just bear with me and I hope it will all make sense before long.”

CC nodded and gave him a tentative smile. Donovan went on. 밒뭢 trying to think of the best way to start Did Jasmin tell you any-thing about me after I fell asleep last night?”

CC smiled wider. 밯 ell, she asked if I 뭗 heard anything about you and I admitted that I 뭗 seen you on the news: all about the Bangaram rescue, mostly speculation as far as I can tell. They had a stock photo of you when you were younger and a quick shot of you being escorted by fleet security through a crowd of reporters.”

밠 y friends on station were shocked when I admitted that I hadn 뭪 heard about the Ban-garam and insisted I watch the latest news.”

밎 ood, that saves some explanation. My ser-vice history is a bit complicated but I am

basically an engineer and pilot by training. Until yesterday I didn 뭪 have a clear focus for what I wanted to do with my career. When I got out of Med Lab I went straight into debriefing. Once that was out of the way, I met with a very nice Admiral who asked me what I wanted to do next.”

밒 hadn 뭪 thought about it for some time, but I admitted that I 뭗 entered the service hoping to go out and explore the galaxy someday. However, there hasn 뭪 been much opportunity for that in the service so far.”

밃 s we talked I realized that, the way things have developed, there wasn 뭪 likely to be much chance of doing that in the service in the near future. The Admiral let me know that I had the option to retire from the ser -vice early if I wanted to.”

밐 e also let me know about a new program the Coalition announced recently to pay civilian captains for any useful data they bring back regarding nearby systems that haven 뭪 been explored yet.”

밐 e thought it was a long shot that they 뭗 get much useful data, since most ships stick to known trade routes and pretty much take

the shortest course between the colonies. On the other hand, he said that the new Coalition program provided an opportunity to an enterprising captain.”

밃 s he explained it, what the Coalition re-ally wants is detailed scans of systems that haven 뭪 been explored yet, along with as-sessments of resources available, and any planets that might be candidates for ter-raforming in the future. He assured me that the Coalition would pay well for such data and might pay bonuses for really valuable finds.”

밒 was very interested but confessed that I was hardly in a position to buy my own ship on what I 뭗 earned in the service.”

밐 e seemed to know quite a bit about me, however, including the fact that I had saved most of my service pay over the years, liv-ing frugally. He also informed me that the Coalition had voted to give me a substantial reward for my part in the rescue of the Ban-garam.”

밪 uddenly the idea didn 뭪 seem so crazy. He made some calls on my behalf, found out that your prior Captain was interested in selling, and then offered to find someone

to act as my agent in the purchase, which turned out to be Jasmin.”

밒 t all happened rather fast, but the Admi-ral also assured me that he would do what he could to help if I was serious about this because the Coalition doesn 뭪 have any other resources devoted to exploration right now.”

밃 lso, he was sure that he could use my new-found fame to get certain concessions for me, if the need arose. Meanwhile, he put through the paperwork that let me take early retirement from the service. When word came back that a deal had been struck, everything else was in place. And, now, here we are.He held out his hands as if to say: 멗 can 뭪 believe I 뭢 here either.’

CC had sat quietly listening, but with a growing look of surprise on her face, al-though she was still smiling.

She paused before saying anything, how-ever, as if choosing her words carefully. 밒 suppose most of us who choose to work in space initially had some dream of explor-ing. I mean, just imagine what might be found if you had your own ship and could go anywhere you wanted?She got a dreamy

look in her eyes for a moment before turn-ing back and refocusing on him, her expres-sion slightly exasperated.

밃 nd now here you are with this crazy story. Excuse me if this is too informal at this stage of our relationship Captain, but you must be one of the luckiest sons-of-bitches in the galaxy. First surviving that rescue attempt, getting shipped back in sta-sis, and then having this handed to you as soon as you wake up.She shook her head in disbelief.

밯 ell, technically I was awake for a couple days in the Med Lab before they released me, but I can 뭪 argue with your assessmen-t.He said, grinning. 밃 nd remember you can call me 멫 anwhen we aren 뭪 doing some-thing official, if you like, that iswhatever you 뭨 e comfortable with.”

밒 can see you 뭨 e going to need me. You have a lot to learn about command and run-ning a ship.She said.

밫 hat 뭩 true, I doHe said. 밨 ight now I am trying to feel my way ahead carefully. I don뭪 want to make any major mistakes at the start that I 뭠 l pay for later. Anyway, does

that mean you are on board with this crazy scheme? You 뭠 l stay on?”

CC grinned and said: 밳 ou bet 뭖 ha Captain. Better get used to hearing that title be-cause it 뭩 a reminder that goes both ways. It doesn 뭪 do to get too informal with your crew or they start to think they can offer their opinions on anything.”

밒 t 뭩 true that Captains often rely on their XO 뭩 for a second opinion, so technically, I뭢 the one person who should be giving you advice, even when you don 뭪 ask for itin certain situations. However, it 뭩 also my job to set an example for the rest of the crew, so it 뭩 멌 aptainfor me and the rest of the regular crew at all times.”

밃 ship captain can 뭪 afford to get bogged down in debate when quick action is some-times needed to save lives. If, as I suspect, you are going to hire on some scientist types, you 뭠 l get more than enough un-wanted feedback from them without the rest of the crew questioning everything you do. As it is, we are going to have to think through how to sell this to the regular crew. There 뭩 a lot to think about.”

* * *

They had lunch and then spent several hours going over the crew records and dis-cussing what scientists or specialists they might need to do a proper job of exploring new solar systems.

As far as the existing crew were concerned, she recommended, and he agreed, that they look for a new Chief Engineer. Redesigning the ship called for someone skilled in de-sign. Their existing engineer was little bet-ter than a mechanic in her opinion, and didn 뭪 always get along well with the rest of the crew.

Their pilot, a man named Gene Quimby, in his middle thirties, a few years older than Donovan, was currently doubling as naviga-tor. CC said he was well liked and capable. She was also a qualified pilot and Donovan assured her that he was qualified to pilot ships as large as a battleship.

She suggested, however, that the Captain and XO should not, in general, pilot the ship. Whoever had command on the bridge wouldn 뭪 be able to command effectively in an emergency while piloting.

Because of that and the extra maneuvering that an exploration mission might require, she suggested that they could use a second pilot to cover an additional shift on the bridge. She also suggested that they might want someone else qualified in navigation.

Donovan agreed. He wanted as many back-ups as possible, both in staff capabilities and in ship systems. He made notes to fol-low up on later.

That left the engineering crew, who dou-bled as cargo handlers at certain ports where such services were expensive. The chief had two assistants, so that the team could cover three 8 hour watches. CC told the Captain that the crew they had were competent and worked hard at maintaining the ship, often doing repairs when they were off-shift, so there would always be someone in main Engineering monitoring systems.

She said that she often kept an eye on the same readouts while she had the bridge, there being little else to do on long jour-neys, but it was safest to have someone on duty in Engineering at all times in case of trouble. Donovan decided to leave decisions about the engineering crew up to whoever

he hired for Chief Engineer, so they moved on to discussing specialists.

This turned out to be a lot of fun, as it was all speculation at this point. After little more than an hour they had a tentative list of specialists that might prove useful in different exploratory missions: Astrophysi-cist, Planetologist, Geologist, Chemist, and Biologist.

밯 hat about a doctor?CC asked. 밒 mean, what if we found a world already filled with alien life and decided to do some explo-ration? Our autodocs are sufficient for the types of injuries we are likely to see on a cargo ship, but what if one of the crew came down with some alien bug or parasite or something?”

Donovan thought about it for a moment. 밫he chances of our finding a life world are pretty slim, but, on the other hand, even primitive life like bacteria could be danger-ous and we might encounter that investigat-ing a comet. I think it 뭩 a good idea, espe-cially if we can find people with overlap in their areas of expertise. I 뭠 l look into it.”

He thought a moment more, then said: 밫hat reminds me, I am expecting some data

that might prove useful in our planning and I could stand to send a few messages as well. Why don 뭪 you take the rest of the day off while I take care of a few things. Sound good?”

CC grinned. 밒 am sure my friends on sta-tion would be happy to see me tonight. You can use any console you like to send mes-sages, but there 뭩 a private console in your cabin if you prefer.”

밢 h, one more thing. Before I leave I 뭠 l in-struct the computer to restrict access to the ship to you and me for now. I 뭠 l send a message out to the rest of the crew that they should stay on leave for a couple more days if that works for you?Donovan nodded, thanked her, and headed to his cabin.

* * *

A few minutes later he was pleased to find that his guess was confirmed. Jasmin had left her contact information on the datapad she had given him the night before, the same one that contained the ship 뭩 com-mand codes. He placed the call and was pleased when she answered immediately.

밅 aptain! You have great timing. I was about to contact you.”

밐 ello Jasmin. I 뭭 e had another busy day, but I am feeling a lot better than last night.He chuckled.

Jasmin grinned. 밳 es, you were dead on your feet. We should have escorted you straight to your cabin, but we both thought you would want to get acquainted for a bit first.”

밡 o worries. I slept ten hours but I needed it. CC and I have been talking all day. Actu-ally, she took me on a tour of the entire ship first, which I appreciated. I needed the exercise. Anyway, after talking about the ship and crew with CC, I have a few things I could use your help with if you have a few minutes?”

밃 bsolutely. That 뭩 what I 뭢 here for. I have an office on the concourse. It 뭩 attached to a warehouse adjacent to your berth. If you want to meet in person, we can meet here or I can also come to the ship if you prefer. I have some things to give you from a mu-tual friend of ours.”

Donovan 뭩 eyebrows went up. The Admiral certainly did move fast. 밃 ctually, I wouldn뭪 mind getting out of the ship. I should get familiar with the area and where your office is located. If you haven 뭪 had dinner yet, maybe we can find some place nearby.”

밄 ut first, I want to get the ball rolling on something and it occurred to me that you might be the perfect person to help me with it.”

밳 es to the dinner idea and just tell me what you need. I 뭢 here to help.She said smiling.

밯 ell, not sure if this is even possible, but I want to hire a new engineer for my crew and the person I am interested in is cur-rently in the service. I need someone to oversee the redesign on the ship anyway, someone I can trust, because I get the feel-ing I am going to be busy with lots of other details.”

밠 y friend chief Walker, who you might have heard of from the Bangaram affair, is on leave right now. I don 뭪 know if I can get him away from the service, but I thought I should check with him first and

see if he is interested and then see what we can do about getting him reassigned or whatever.”

밬 nfortunately, he is planet-side right now and I don 뭪 exactly have access to fleet records anymore so I have no idea on how to find him. I thought you might have better luck with your, uh, connections.”

Jasmin had started to grin part-way through his explanation and the grin just got bigger as he continued through his rambling re-quest. 밡 ot to imply that you are pre-dictable or anything like that, but our mu-tual friend already anticipated you on this.”

밐 e said to tell you 몉 equest approvedif you asked for that particular person 뭩 help on your project. I have his contact information, which I am sending you now. After you are done with your call, come on by the office and we can go over the rest of the materials I have for you and then see about getting some dinner.She signed off abruptly.

Donovan used the terminal to check his mail and was stunned to see how many un-opened messages there were but a quick scan explained part of it, at least. It looked like he was still getting interview requests

from reporters from all over the system. Luckily, Jasmin 뭩 message was at the top of the list. He opened it, found the contact in-formation, and placed his call.

The call went through quickly and then Donovan was looking at a slightly shaky im-age of his friend Gil, who answered: 밮 an! Is that you? Hold on.Gil 뭩 image went away and was replaced by a confusing collage of rock, vegetation, and sky. The image moved unpredictably in jerky snapshots and then steadied and rotated up to capture Gil 뭩 face again.

밒 뭢 on an ATV in the outback, exploring. Had to find a level spot to park this thing for a minute.His friend grinned.

Donovan grinned back. 밎 lad to see you happy and healthy, out and having fun. Looking for a patch of land to homestead?”

밨 ight back at 뭖 ha. Last time I saw you, I wasn 뭪 sure if you were going to make it with your brain still intact. Actually I am prospecting. Amateur hobby of mine: bomb-ing around looking for pretty rocks.”

밨 eminds me. Thanks for saving my life. I owe you one. Sort of why I called actually.

Can you talk for a few minutes or should we wait until you make camp for the night or something?”

Gill smiled. 밡 aw, I can talk now. And for-get about owing me one. You saved my life first, not to mention the ship, or did you forget that part?”

밐 ehe, I remember well enough. Ok, we 뭨 e even. And I 뭢 glad to find out you like prospecting. I called to find out if you would like to go prospecting full-time in a place that no one has ever prospected be-fore. What do you think?Donovan grinned.

밯 hat are you talking about, you fool? Did your brain get scrambled by that jolt you took after all?Gil was still smiling but there was a tinge of worry in his voice.

밡 o, listen. Amazing things have happened over the last couple days. For starters, I am out of the service and I was awarded a small fortune in reward money by the Coali -tion. Guess what I did with the money?”

Gil looked thoughtful for a moment, then brightened, saying: 밳 ou bought a parcel down here and you want my help to explore it?”

밡 ot even close! I bought a ship. A cargo ship actually. I need your help rebuilding it. After that, if you want to go prospecting with me in solar systems where no one has ever been before, well, I 뭗 probably let you tag along.Donovan grinned again.

밚 et me get this straight. Somehow you got yourself kicked out of the service. You bought some broken down wreck from the ship yard that probably doesn 뭪 even have a working power plant or engines, not to mention warp coils. And you want me to come up and make it work so you can go on a suicide run in Vareni territory. That sum it up?Gil had a look that said: 멗 see through you buddy.’

Donovan laughed. 밪 till way off the mark! This ship is a beauty. Just made port. She had a major refit two years ago and made a fine profit for her last owner. What I need is someone to redesign her a bit. I also need a new Chief Engineer for the crew. Seems my XO didn 뭪 get along well with the one she shipped in with. You interested?”

Gil looked shocked. 밳 ou actually bought a working ship? I had no idea you had that kind of money.”

Gil was getting frustrated. 밚 ook, I know this is sudden. The last two days have been a whirlwind for me. I hardly know which way is up anymore.”

밒 f you are interested, I have a friend up here who can smooth things out for you with the Service. If you say 멮 esto this, you뭠 l be a civilian by the time you get up here. A civilian with a job, that is. And I pay better than the Service.Donovan grinned again. 밒 could really use your help buddy.”

Gil looked thoughtful for a moment. 밒 sup-pose you 뭗 want me to pack up my gear and shuttle up ASAP, right?

Donovan looked sheepish for a moment, but then, remembering how much else was waiting on the redesign, adopted a more se-rious look. 밳 ou probably just got out there too”

밒 suppose I could wait a day or two for you, if you like. I think I can also guarantee you some time off later, when most of the work on the ship is done but before we ship out. The truth is I really could use your help sooner rather than later. Just say the word and I 뭠 l set the wheels in motion.”

Gil was still suspicious. 밳 ou say we are go-ing to go exploring in a cargo ship? Will this be in-between cargo runs or what?”

Donovan took a deep breath, realizing how much he had left out. 밫 he Coalition has a new program to pay ship captains for data on unexplored systems. Except that they don 뭪 expect to get much from most civilian captains because they stick to the shortest routes between systems, known routes.”

밃 ship that specialized in acquiring highly detailed stellar, planetary, and resource in-formation, on the other hand, could reap significant rewards, maybe even bonuses. That 뭩 what I plan to do. And, yes, we will still run cargo. I want to maintain the im-age of a cargo ship, so we 뭠 l do both, at least at first. Anything else you want to know?”

밐 eck, I turned around as soon as you said you needed my help.Donovan hadn 뭪 no-ticed that the image had returned to shak-ing gently as his friend turned his ATV around and headed back.

밊 antastic. I promise you won 뭪 regret ittoo often.Donovan grinned. 밃 fter you report

in, come find me. The ship is at Port 47. I 뭠l look for you sometime tomorrow buddy.”

밒 still don 뭪 believe half of what you said, but I 뭠 l come check out the disaster in per-son. See you soon.Gil signed off and Dono-van sat back in his chair smiling. This 멶isastermight just have a happy ending.

* * *

Exiting the airlock, he took the tube up to the concourse on the outer ring of the sta-tion. He 뭗 forgotten to get directions, but looking around he saw a hatch to his left just a little way up the concourse and turned to investigate. A sign, freshly painted on the door, read: 밓 asmin Imports-Donovan smiled and keyed the comm panel by the door, saying 밆 onovan Kane to see Jasmin Pranidhi.”

The hatch slid open and he saw Jasmin sit -ting behind a desk facing the door. She looked up smiling. 밒 haven 뭪 hired a recep-tionist yet, so I 뭢 doing my work here for now.”

Donovan looked around. The station was relatively new, but this office had obviously

seen heavy use. The carpet was already worn in spots, stained in others, and there were chips and scrapes on the walls and furniture, which included the desk and sev-eral utilitarian chairs for guests.

Donovan pulled one of the chairs up to the desk and sat. 밯 hen our mutual friend told me he would be assigning someone as liai -son, I had no idea that person would be set-ting up shop next door.He said smiling.

밢 h, it 뭩 a front, obviously, but I 뭠 l actually do a little business from time to time for appearances.She said smiling back. 밒 have a lot to go over with you, but, first, how did your call with Chief Walker go?”

밯 ell enough. He was skeptical, but he 뭩 onboard. He was camping, so I don 뭪 ex-pect him to get back to civilization and shuttle up until tomorrow sometime.”

밢 k, good. I 뭠 l notify the Admiral and he should have everything in place when Chief Walker reports in. How did the rest of your day go?”

밯 ell enough, but I 뭢 starting to feel a little overwhelmed. I keep coming back to how much there is to do and how much all of

this is going to cost. I 뭢 afraid to check how many credits I have left.”

밎 od knows how I am going to pay salaries and docking fees on top of all of the materi-als for the redesign I have in mind. I don 뭪 even know what it 뭩 costing me to stay docked here while we do all of the work and planning ahead of us.”

Jasmin held up a hand reassuringly, saying: 밯 e 뭨 e here to help, remember? The Admi-ral knows that it will take some time to get the program up and running and he will supply whatever aid he can.”

밠 eanwhile, you shouldn 뭪 worry too much about your credit balance. I like to think I did a pretty good job negotiating for the ship, and the incentives the Admiral pro-vided helped a great deal.

She spent a moment with her console and then swiveled the screen so he could see. 밫his is your current balance, and that 뭩 after paying the termination pay for the ships previous Engineer. I took care of that ear-lier, as soon as you told me, and sent mes-sages to him and the previous captain. You have enough credits left over to pay exist-

ing salaries for at least ten years.She smiled.

밃 lso, you should know that we have leased this entire section indefinitely. That in-cludes this warehouse and several others as well as the port where you are docked. So, don 뭪 worry about port fees while you are here.”

밫 hat also means that anytime you dock here, now and in the future, you don 뭪 have to worry about docking fees. You are part of the new exploration program, even if we aren 뭪 making it public yet, which means you will be given whatever help and support we can provide.”

Donovan took a moment to absorb what she had said. The Admiral had promised to help out where he could, but there were so many details that Donovan hadn 뭪 had time to think of the day before, much less ask about.

Regardless, what he was hearing was a huge relief. He took a deep breath. 밫 hank you for all of the work you and the Admiral have done. You may get tired of hearing that by the time we leave port. I am just

amazed over and over again at what the Ad-miral is willing to do to make this happen.”

Jasmin smiled. 밚 ike I said, we are here to help in whatever way we can without giving away our involvement. This warehouse, for example, was leased by a dummy corpora-tion created by a fictitious person with a fake history that links back to a planet-side company, if anybody checks.”

밫 hat company belongs to someone that owes the Coalition a few favors, but no one will find any links back to the Coalition or the Admiral.”

Donovan nodded. 밒 t perfect. The Admiral told me that we would be allowed to salvage some parts from the fleet ship yard. I as-sume we will be able to keep those parts in the warehouse here until we need them?”

Jasmin nodded. 밫 hat 뭩 why we leased all of this space. Yours is just the first ship in the program. We anticipate the need to have our own, small ship yard here. Whatever parts you don 뭪 use and whatever you re-move from your ship might be of use to the next ship we help get ready.”

Donovan continued. 밒 뭭 e also been won-dering where I was going to house the crew while we are taking apart large portions of the ship and rebuilding it. And we are going to need some place to run simulations while we are training the new and existing crew for whatever missions we can anticipate.”

밅 an we use a portion of the warehouse for that as well? Or should I look for accommo-dations somewhere else on the station?”

Jasmin was looking thoughtful. 밒 think we can partition off part of the warehouse and install life support. Living conditions might be a little basic at first, but give me a week and we 뭠 l have our own little hotel and conference center right here.”

밃 s far as the station is concerned, it will just be an extension of the office space.She smiled reassuringly. 밒 think we can also open a couple hatches to the lift leading to your port, so you can come and go without having to go through the concourse.”

밫 hat way we can avoid any questions about all of the traffic coming and going from your ship to this office.”

밄 ut you 뭨 e right. So much has happened in the last two dayswell, it 뭩 a lot for any-one to absorb. Let 뭩 go get some dinner and try to forget about it for a little while. We can start fresh tomorrow morning.”

밫 he main thing I want you to remember is that I¾we¾have your back. You are not alone in this. So wipe that frown off of your face and let 뭩 go have some fun. Do you like Vietnamese?”

Chapter 5

hey ended up starting with drinks at a little bar on the concourse favored by

cargo workers from the warehouses in that section. That had helped Donovan relax quite a bit and the rest of the evening went by pleasantly. Jasmin even picked up the check, giving him a wink. Back at the of-fice, they agreed to meet on the ship the next morning.

T

Donovan found he was exhausted when he got back to his cabin and collapsed on the bed again. It had been another long day.

Waking up the next morning, he felt re-freshed but the worries crowded in on him again while he was in the refresher. He tried to shake it off before he went down to the Galley. He didn 뭪 want to start the day on a bad note. He made up his mind to try to stay relaxed and rely on his new friends to help when he started to doubt himself.

He found CC in the galley nursing a cup of coffee. 밎 ood morning.He said, smiling. 밆id you have fun last night?”

CC smiled back. 밳 es, my friends were happy to see me. You look worried. Is there anything wrong?”

Donovan cursed himself and then laughed. 밒 was just telling myself that I need to make an effort to stay up-beat. So much has happened in the last couple days that I woke up with questions and concerns run-ning around my brain. If I 뭢 not careful I 뭢 going to develop a permanent worry crease.He rubbed his forehead absentmind-edly.

밐 ere.She said, pouring him a cup of coffee. 밒 get the feeling we had better supply you with coffee first thing every day before we make any demands.She tried to fight off a smile that became a smirk, and then a snort as she tried not to laugh.

Donovan grinned and sat down, accepting the cup. 밫 hanksHe took a sip. 밃 s I was telling Jasmin last night, you two are proba-bly going to get sick of me saying that, but I think I am going to depend on both of you quite a bit to help get this project going.”

밪 he 뭩 agreed to act as my agent for a while longer, since she has contacts on the station that will help us get the supplies

and equipment we need. Remember I said that the Admiral was willing to help us get started if needed? Well, she let me know that she 뭗 been in contact with him, and had been told to offer whatever help she can.”

밇 vidently they have some sort of arrange-ment. I don 뭪 know the details but I am happy to take advantage of the help!”

밒 뭭 e also arranged to borrow some of her office space during the ship redesign process, so we have someplace to stay and plan for our exploration missions. No one has done anything like this since the colony ships first went out, so I want to work to-gether as a group to plan and try to antici -pate what we might need out there.He waved his hand to indicate the space ex-tending out in every direction around the station.

CC nodded. 밪 ounds like a plan. Are you hungry yet?”

Donovan nodded. 밒 could eat somethingbut that reminds me: Jasmin was supposed to meet me here on the ship this morning. I don 뭪 know if she will have eaten first. I

should give her a call and let her know I 뭢 up.”

As he was getting up, a chime announced an incoming communication and a voice from the comm panel on the wall an-nounced: 밓 asmin Pranidhi here for Captain Kane.CC jumped up and keyed the comm panel, saying: 밄 e right there.”

Donovan could hear the lift moving a mo-ment later and took a swallow of his coffee while he waited. It wasn 뭪 long before he heard the lift again and then two female voices talking and laughing as they ap-proached.

밒 brought breakfastJasmin announced, de-positing a large bag filled with packages on the table. 밒 was betting you 뭗 sleep a bit late again, and I didn 뭪 want to eat from ship stores while we are on station. I got Dim Sum. I hope you like it.”

Donovan rubbed his hands together. 밢 h boy. I haven 뭪 had that in ages. Sounds fan-tastic.”

Plates and utensils were brought out as Jas-min arranged packages and opened them.

Fragrant steam escaped to fill the air with good smells.

CC brought out some condiments to go with the meal, saying: 밯 e keep a diverse supply of condiments on board. It really helps spice up some of our meals. We usually share cooking duties and not everyone is a gourmet cook.She laughed.

She also produced a pot of surprisingly good Jasmin tea with a little preparation. Little was said during the meal, although many appreciative looks were shared as they tried each new dish.

Finally, Donovan pushed back from the ta-ble, having eaten more than he was used to, and said: 밳 ou seem to know all the best restaurants in the area. I hope you 뭠 l share some of your secrets with us.”

Jasmin laughed. 밒 t 뭩 not really secret. I 뭢 sure we 뭠 l all get to know the local estab-lishments quite well while you are on sta-tion.She paused. 밃 re you ready to discuss some business?”

Donovan poured himself another cup of tea, grimacing, and said: 밒 have the feeling

there 뭩 another long day ahead so let 뭩 get to it.He did his best to smile encouragingly.

Jasmin and CC exchanged an amused look that he couldn 뭪 completely read but then Jasmin reached into a pocket and pulled out several data slivers, laying them on the ta-ble.

밒 brought some of the data that we dis-cussed, including dossiers on some scien-tific staff in this system who might be open to the idea of an exploration mission. As I understand it, one of your priorities is to hire your staff so you can get their feedback on what will be needed, equipment-wise, as you redesign your ship.She looked up and saw Donovan nodding agreement.

밒 took the liberty of making a few calls yes-terday. I wanted to help narrow down the search some. Some of these science types can bewell, 몊 tuffywould be a kind word I think.”

밳 ou are going to want people that you can get along with, especially on a long journey stuck on the same ship together. Or, at the very least, people who are quiet and keep themselves occupied, which seems to de-scribe another whole group of these people.

I think I 뭭 e found a few candidates you may like.”

밢 h, before I forget, that programmer the Admiral mentioned to you will be coming by this afternoon. I have his dossier as well. The Admiral thought you might want to meet with him before you decide whether you want his services.”

밫 he young man, his name is Liam, ex-pressed an interest in signing up for the crew, as I understand it. But that 뭩 up to you to decide. Is there a console some-where where we can go over some of this?”

CC gave them directions to a small lounge just outside the galley, saying she 뭗 join them as soon as she cleaned up a bit.

Donovan started to protest, but she cut him off, saying: 밆 on 뭪 expect this kind of ser-vice all the time, but right now you have more important things to do. When we have the full crew back together, we can share duties, unless you hire us a cook and a house cleaner too!She laughed.

They left the Galley, exchanging thanks for the help and for the excellent meal, respec-tively.

When they reached the lounge, Jasmin sat down before the console and Donovan pulled up another chair. She inserted one of the data slivers she had brought with her. 밢 k, first up, tell me what you had in mind as far as scientific or technical crew. That will help narrow the search.”

Donovan retrieved the small datapad he had taken to carrying around to make notes. Af-ter a quick search he retrieved the list that he and CC had come up with the day be-fore. He recited: 밃 strophysicist, Planetolo-gist, Geologist, Chemist, Biologist, and Doc-tor, especially one who has experience with alien life forms.”

밒 deally, we want candidates who have more than one area of expertise. That will save on salaries, living space, and consum-ables.”

Jasmin nodded. 밒 think we can find a few candidates who meet that criteria.She en-tered a few commands and a short list of names appeared on the screen. 밢 k, I 뭭 e talked to some of these. Let 뭩 see 뀛 She eliminated a few names, paused, and then highlighted three candidates, turning the screen so Donovan could see better:

Astrophysicist / Planetologist: Chandra Sthana Jayat

Chemist / Geologist: Paras Chervaar

exoBiologist / Medical Doctor: Lhilani Song

Jasmin said: 밳 ou gave me a list of six spe-cializations. These three candidates fulfill all six. That cuts your expenses in half. They are also part of the group of candi-dates I was going to recommend. All of them are currently single and potentially available. Would you like to see their files?”

Donovan agreed and they spent some time going over the dossiers of those three can-didates and then several others for compar-ison. 밃 s you can see, this is one of the few combinations of candidates that fulfills all of your requirements. You can see why I disqualified some of the other possibilities.”

밫 he three candidates in our short list have written papers on subjects that relate to ex-ploration or expressed interest in new ex-ploration efforts. I 뭭 e talked briefly with all three. We may be able to contact them right now, since it is daytime on the main conti-nent and Dr. Song works on the station. What do you say?”

Donovan was a little nervous, but sup-pressed it and agreed. Jasmin said: 밒뭠 l try Dr. Jayat first. I think you 뭠 l like him. Fa-therly sort.”

Donovan pulled up his file again in a side window while they waited for the call to go through. Dr. Chandra Sthana Jayat was an Astrophysicist and Planetary scientist work-ing at the state university in one of the Southern provinces. He did research as well as teaching undergraduate courses in both disciplines.

The file image was of a smiling, bearded gentleman in his 50s, perhaps a little heavy, although it was hard to tell from the face image in his profile.

The call went through and Jasmin spoke first. 밆 r. Jayat? I spoke to you briefly yes-terday. I 뭢 sitting here with Captain Kane, Captain of the ship that is planning some exploration missions. He would like to speak to you for a few minutes if you have the time.”

Dr. Jayat looked much like his file photo, but his smile appeared even warmer through the video link. 밠 s. Pranidhi, is it not? I 뭗 be delighted to talk with both of

you. I was just grading papers and could use a break.He smiled again, his eyes twin-kling.

Donovan smiled back. 밆 octor, my name is Donovan Kane. As Ms. Pranidhi told you, I뭢 putting together a crew for a ship and we might be able to use your expertise, but, first, I have to ask you: can you agree to keep this conversation confidential?”

Dr. Jayat responded immediately: 밅 er-tainly, and I will sign a non-disclosure form if you like. By the way, I recognize your name from the recent news, so I can under-stand at least one reason why you might want to keep our talk confidential and I re-spect that.”

밫 hank you Doctor,Donovan said. 밳 our word is fine for now. If we take this further, we may have you sign something, but let 뭩 not worry about that for now.”

밒 recently came into possession of a cargo ship that we are planning to redesign for exploration missions. Actually, we will probably still run cargo, but we plan to ex-plore nearby systems along the way, in-stead of taking the most direct, known paths to the colonies.”

밫 o get right down to it, your name came up in our search of qualified scientists who might be interested in joining such a crew for one or more missions. Would that be a fair assessment?”

Dr. Jayat looked surprised but pleased. 밯ell, this is quite an honor sir. It is difficult to make any commitment at the present time, butI can say that the idea of joining an exploration mission, at my age and at this stage in my career, is very exciting.”

밃 s it happens, I have been thinking about taking a sabbatical from the University for some time, but I hadn 뭪 quite got down to the planning stage yet. Of course, we are in the middle of a semester here, so I couldn뭪 leave immediately in any case. I 뭗 have to make arrangements for a substitute at the very least.”

The man was starting to look flustered. Donovan sympathized and cut in. 밡 ot to worry, Doctor. We won 뭪 be leaving any-time soon.”

밨 ight now we are looking for scientific crew who can advise us as to what instru-ments and equipment will be needed by each specialty as we redesign the ship. It

will be some time before the redesign is fin-ished and we make plans to leave.”

밠 eanwhile, we want to do some planning and simulations with the crew but we can probably work around your needs. I imagine you could even conduct lectures remotely from the station if you like.”

밐 owever, once we depart, we may be ab-sent from this system for well over a year, round trip. Actually, due to the nature of exploration missions, I can 뭪 say how long each trip might take. There 뭩 no telling what we may find or how long we will choose to stay and study each solar system we visit.”

밒 guess I also have to admit that there is an element of danger to this enterprise, since, by definition, we don 뭪 know what we are going to encounter. Understanding all of this, are you still interested?”

Dr. Jayat looked thoughtful. 밢 f course, I realize some of the dangersand I will have to consider the whole idea carefully, but I 뭗 be a fool to turn down an opportunity like this on the spot, as it were.”

Donovan smiled. 밢 f course Doctor. I wouldn 뭪 want to rush you into anything, although we will have to make a decision at some not-too-distant point. I 뭗 like to meet with you in person. It may be that a profes -sional consultation would fulfill our immedi-ate needs, and I 뭗 be happy to pay you for your time and cover your transportation costs.”

The Doctor looked thoughtful again. 밢 ne moment while I check my schedule. Hmm, yes, I think I can come up to the station. This will be my first time, if you can believe that for someone in my profession. Haha. How does the day after tomorrow sound? I should be able to make it there by noon, or thereabouts.”

Donovan glanced at Jasmin, who was nod-ding. She broke in: 밆 octor, I 뭠 l send you a message later today with shuttle ticket in-formation and directions once you reach the station. You may stay overnight if you like and see the sights. We will be happy to cover your costs and compensate you for your time.

밫 hank you. I am delighted at an excuse just to visit the station. Actually, I have a

colleague there I 뭭 e been meaning to con-tact for some time, so I have another ex-cuse to make the trip. I will be pleased to meet with both of you.He smiled as he signed off.

* * *

Without their noticing, CC had joined them and quietly taken a seat behind them during the call. She spoke up now: 밒 like him. Is he one of the scientists you are interested in?”

Donovan turned his seat to reply: 밳 es, he is our best candidate for Astrophysicist and Planetologist. He 뭩 also a professor. We caught him grading mid-terms or some-thing. I think he was glad for any excuse to take a break.He chuckled and both CC and Jasmin smiled.

They managed to reach the Chemist/Geolo-gist candidate Paras Chervaar and, while he was much less talkative, he seemed pleas-ant. He expressed interest and agreed to meet them the following day.

They were both encouraged when they placed their call to the ExoBiologist/Medi-cal Doctor candidate Lhilani Song. Jasmin

told them that Dr. Song worked at one of the Med Bays on the station, so it should be easy to arrange a meeting.

When the call went through, the image of a harried woman, perhaps in her 40s, ap-peared. Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail but many strands had escaped and were plastered to the side of her face. She said: 밫 alk fast. Busy day.”

Jasmin jumped in, talking fast: 밪 orry to bother you Doctor. We talked yesterday if you recall? I was hoping to find a time when we could meet and I can introduce you to the captain of the ship I spoke of.”

Dr. Song glanced at her watch. 밠 y shift is almost over. Can we meet for lunch at thir-teen hundred? That will give me time to freshen up a little.”

Glancing at Donovan and CC, Jasmin turned back to the screen and said: 밫 hat would be great. Can you meet us at my offices by Port forty-seven? We 뭠 l have lunch brought in.”

Dr. Song said: 밊 ine. I have to go. Is there anything else?”

Jasmin said: I 뭠 l send you a message with directions. Message me back if you have any food preferences. My treat, so order desert.”

Dr. Song laughed. 밯 ill do. See you soon.She ended the call.

Jasmin spent a moment sending off the mes-sage and then turned to Donovan and CC. 밯ell, we caught her on a bad day, but any first impressions?”

Donovan said: 밡 o strong impressions, other than that she seems to work hard. No negative impressions though.”

CC said: 밒 liked the fact that she was able to switch gears in the middle of a busy day and, despite clearly being tired and still busy near the end of her shift, she was able to laugh at the end there.”

Donovan said: 밎 ood points. I hope she isn뭪 too tired for our meeting. Maybe we should give her the option of meeting when she 뭩 rested?”

Jasmin said: 밒 think now is a good time to get a sense of her true personality. People are more likely to let things slip when they

are tired. That may not be fair, but it could be important for you to know what she 뭩 like under tough circumstances.”

밠 eanwhile, we have a little time before we뭨 e due at the offices for lunch. Is there anything you two would like to discuss while we wait?”

CC shrugged. 밒 have about a million ques-tions, but I am betting most of them will be answered once we get the whole crew to-gether, so I 뭢 content to wait for now.”

Donovan nodded. 밫 hat 뭩 the plan. Once we have everyone together, I can talk about what 뭩 been decided so far.”

After pausing for a moment, he continued. 밒 have something else I 뭭 e been wanting to ask, but there hasn 뭪 been time so far. It뭩 a pretty big subject, though, so we may only be able to get started on it today.”

He turned to CC. 밒 want to get a sense of what a typical cargo run is like, what car-gos you usually carry, how often you carry a full load, whether you use the stasis pods for any of the staff during the journey, what

life is like onboard during the trip, and so on.”

CC looked serious. 밫 hat is a big topic, or collection of topics, really. Some of it will definitely take more time than we have to-day to explain fully, but I can go over some of the basics now.”

밫 here are a whole slew of factors that go into deciding what will make a profitable run. Fuel generally isn 뭪 an issue with modern fusion reactors, but propellant for the in-system drives can be.”

밠 ost colony systems don 뭪 want ships dropping out of warp near the inner planets where there is likely to be more shipping traffic. As a result, after spending weeks or months at warp speeds, we generally spend almost as much time boosting inwards on plasma drives at each destination solar sys-tem.”

밣 lus we have to match relative speeds with each system we visit. As I 뭢 sure you know, warp drive just shifts our position in space, it doesn 뭪 impart any momentum to the ship.”

밪 o travel times and, to a certain extent, ship economics mostly depend on the time to warp to a new system, and then the time to travel from the outer system to the inner system on conventional engines.”

밇 ven so, propellant is not terribly expen-sive, but the need to carry a lot of it, and the extra mass, affects the overall equa-tion.”

밳 our biggest costs are going to be pur-chasing the cargo, crew salaries and bonuses for good runs, and other consum-ables like food. It all adds up and has to be figured into the profit and loss equations.”

밢 ur ship previously specialized in high technology items like: computers, communi-cations satellites and related equipment, in -dustrial fabricators and nano fabricators, medical equipment, and a lot of similar items.”

밎 ames and toys can be profitable, as well as video, music, and other entertainment programs, although the latter just require computer storage space. Cultural items, like artwork, are hit or miss. Sometimes they can be extremely profitable, but there

is no telling what will be popular at each destination.”

밒 뭭 e heard that other ships specialize in agricultural machinery as well as newly de-veloped food items, better versions of plants we already have or new variants. They sometimes ship back preserved food or raw materials.”

밳 ou see, you also have to figure out what you can get at the destination system that will make the return trip, or a trip to yet another system, profitable.”

밫 he items available for purchase at each colony differ widely. A good ship captain keeps up-to-date on what 뭩 needed most at each potential destination and then tries to find a cheap source for it.”

Jasmin interjected. 밫 hat reminds me, one of the data slivers I have for you has data on what resources are in greatest demand at each of the colonies right now, courtesy of your friend in the Fleet.”

She sorted through them and started to hand it over but Donovan held up his hand. 밣 lease hold onto it for now. We are weeks away from deciding on cargo and I suspect

I am going to be asking for some help navi -gating the market here when we make that decision.”

밠 akes sense,she said. 밪 orry for the inter-ruption CC. Please go on. I 뭢 learning things too.”

CC smiled and continued. 밢 k. You also wanted to know how often we carry a full load of containers? That depends on a lot of factors too. With the high-end items we typ-ically carried, there often wasn 뭪 enough of a market to carry a full load.”

밪 ometimes, adding on additional cargo of cheaper goods would just add more weight that would cut into the profits we would earn from the high-end stuff. So, we often ran with less than a full load.”

밢 ther times, the captain would decide to fill out the load with something desperately needed at the destination, even if he knew they couldn 뭪 afford to pay much for it. He called those 멺 ood willmissions and some-times had the crew vote on it because it might mean lower bonuses.”

밒 뭢 glossing over a lot here, but the full course in trading and ship economics will

take sitting down and going over all of the data I 뭭 e been talking about and running a lot of simulations. I 뭢 guessing there will be time for that later, while the ship is be-ing rebuilt.”

Donovan nodded. 밚 et 뭩 make sure we make time. In fact, there might be other members of the crew who would be inter-ested in learning more about some of this.”

밒 t might help if more people have a better understanding of what goes into these deci-sions, save us having to answer a lot of questions later. Anyway, tell me what a typ-ical trip is like. How do people entertain themselves when they aren 뭪 working?”

CC looked thoughtful, then grinned. 밫 hat varies a lot from ship to ship, as I under-stand it. Some captains are more lax than others about certain rules.”

In general, people watch stored entertain-ment programs, play games or sims alone or in groups, exercise, or engage in per-sonal hobbies. We socialize mainly at meal times but also get together for games or en-tertainment if several of us are interested.”

Previously on our ship, fraternization was allowed, as long as it was kept private, so people paired up occasionally, but usually on a short-term basis. It can cause prob-lems when people get too serious, break up, and then are forced to remain on the same ship until the next destination is reached.”

밨 emember, this isn 뭪 the Fleet, so some Captains allow or even encourage habits that wouldn 뭪 be allowed in the service. For example, there tends to be a certain amount of drinking, within limits, and use of some recreational drugs, strictly off duty.”

밢 nce in a while, parties are held for things like birthdays or holidays that people bring to the ship from whatever culture they grew up in. Those can get pretty wild sometimes”

밒 뭭 e been told that Captains that try to outlaw some of these activities usually find that they just go underground and become the source of additional discipline prob-lems, so the best course is often to just put limits on some of them where appropriate.”

밢 ur previous Captain never asked crew to go in stasis during a trip. I 뭭 e heard sto-ries of Captains that put non-essential crew

into stasis as a matter of practice, and even some that would put them on half-pay or no pay while in stasis, all to save a few credits on consumables and salaries.”

밚 ong journeys can be tough, but on this ship most of us preferred to stay awake. We also carried a pretty minimal crew, so most of us were necessary even during long peri -ods at warp. I 뭭 e never heard of a ship that ran into anything while at warp, but there 뭩 always a first time. We always had our bridge manned and someone in Engineering to monitor essential systems.”

Donovan raised a hand slightly to signal that he had a question. 밯 hat are the tough-est aspects of long journeys? Remember, these exploration missions may take us a long way off of known shipping lanes, so most of our trips may be significantly longer than what you 뭭 e been used to.”

CC thought for a moment. 밯 ell, no matter how well a crew gets along with each other, you tend to get tired of seeing the same faces day after day. Sometimes people start to isolate, get addicted to Sims, or fall into depression.”

밢 ther mundane things like food make a big difference. We tend to run out of fresh veg-etables and fruit after a few weeks.”

밡 obody has ever perfected a way of pre-serving vegetables perfectly. Canned fruit can be made into smoothies, fruit salads with some success, and deserts. But you start to dream of fresh vegetables and green salads after a while.”

밯 e kept a small hydroponics bay, mostly for salad greens, and that helped a lot, but we had to ration it. People who developed recipes to turn frozen, canned, or dry foods into something palatable became prized crew members.”

밒 used to enjoy time on the bridge because then I could stare at the stars and dream about what was out there. I also spent a lot of time scanning nearby space for anything larger than a pebble, even though we had automated systems for that. I was con-vinced that one day I would discover some-thing amazing.She laughed a little, her gaze turned inward.

밆 on 뭪 get me wrong. It 뭩 a good life, espe-cially when you have a crew that gets along well. And at the end of every journey, there

뭩 usually time for shore leave so you get to see a lot of amazing places.”

밇 ach colony is really different, although some things remain the same for all human worlds. You get to meet some great people and see some fantastic sights. Sampling the food at each colony is one of the main at-tractions.”

The console pinged, signaling an incoming message. Jasmin read it and asked: 밐 ow do you two feel about Italian for lunch?”

They each suggested a dish. Jasmin placed the order with a restaurant almost halfway around the station this time, and gave deliv-ery instructions. Then she placed another order with a local store and asked them to deliver as well.

밒 have to go back to the office so I will be there when these deliveries arrive. You are both welcome to come along now and con-tinue talking there or you can take your time and get there by thirteen hundred. It 뭩 about twelve-twenty now by the way.”

They decided to accompany her. Along the way, Donovan commented: 밒 never realized food would be such an issue, but then I got

used to pretty mediocre food in the Fleet I guess. Most of it was previously prepared frozen meals that we popped in a small oven. I 뭢 actually surprised that you do so much real cooking aboard ship.”

CC grimaced. 밯 ell, we carry some of those frozen meals too. There are days when no-body wants to cookbut you get real tired of those after a while. Cooking becomes some-thing of an event and an excuse to socialize when we sit down to eat together. Other-wise, everybody could just eat whenever they felt like thawing something out.”

They exited the tube and arrived at the of-fices a minute later. As the door slid aside, Donovan was amazed at the changes that had already been made in the décor.

The entire reception area had been re-painted and given new carpeting. Viewscreens on the walls showed images from the colonies. New furniture and a fancy new console sitting on a beautiful re-ception desk, completed the transformation.

Jasmin was amused at the expression on his face and explained to CC: 밫 he last time the Captain saw my office, it looked like it had 50 years of heavy use, even though the sta-

tion is less than 10 years old. Come see the conference room.”

As they entered the inner offices, sounds of construction could be heard not far off. Jas-min saw them seated at a long table in a tastefully decorated room while she ex-cused herself to go talk to the crew working on the back part of the offices.

Everything was shiny and new. Donovan felt like he was going to scratch the perfect surface of the table, or, at the very least, leave fingerprint smudges on it. Then he re-membered that they were about to eat there and decided not to worry about it.

CC was looking around, evidently as im-pressed by the fine furnishings as he was. Donovan pulled her back to their discus-sion. 밃 nything else you can think of that makes long journeys difficult?”

She brought her focus back to him and said: 밒 뭠 l give it more thought. There are probably things that I can 뭪 think of right now because I 뭭 e just become used to them and take them for granted.”

밒 n general, I tried to stop potential prob-lems before they escalated when I could, to

save the Captain from having to get in-volved, since I became XO anyway.”

밪 ometimes that got me a reputation for be-ing too strict, or even a prude, but I was willing to put up with that if it kept the peace onboard. Sometimes I wished we had a Counselor or the equivalent that I could direct certain crew members to, but the ship couldn 뭪 support that expense.”

Donovan nodded. 밒 can see where that might help. I 뭠 l keep it in mind. There are pretty advanced AI counselor programs these days. Did you ever try anything like that?”

She looked like she might take offense. 밒 haven 뭪 personally. I think we had some-thing like that at one point but I can 뭪 re-member the last time someone used it. I don 뭪 know if we even have it anymore.”

Donovan tried to smile reassuringly. 밒 didn뭪 mean you personally, don 뭪 worry. My impression of you is that of a very capable young woman who is serious about her du-ties. I also think you are very affable and interesting to talk to. If I had doubts about

you, I 뭗 have let you know long before now.He grinned.

밫 hanks, I appreciate that. I feel pretty comfortable about working with you too, al-though I still think you have a lot to learn.She grinned back.

밃 bsolutely. No question. And I know we 뭨 e just getting started. Thanks in advance for being patient with me while I try to absorb everything about captaining a cargo ship. Meanwhile, we are going to be writing the book on what it takes to run an exploration ship. All of us together, that is.”

They were interrupted as Jasmin led in the delivery person from the restaurant who had a cart in tow. She showed him where to unload everything and then excused herself and went back out. Another delivery person was shown in next, and she unloaded a cooler with ice and drinks and then several bottles of wine, glasses, a set of silverware, napkins, and plates.

Donovan and CC pitched in and helped ar-range everything. Jasmin opened one of the bottles of wine so it could breath a bit be-fore the meal. She checked her watch and excused herself again. Donovan and CC

spent the time while they waited peeking into the various dishes on the long table.

The aroma of fresh garlic bread was making Donovan 뭩 mouth water when Jasmin reap-peared with Dr. Song in tow.

Donovan was stunned. Dr. Song had trans-formed herself. He revised his earlier age estimate to late twenties or early thirties, somewhere near his own age. He tried to remember what her file had said, but came up with nothing.

She had changed into a simple light rose-colored silk dress. Her hair was pinned up on top, with several locks straying artfully to the sides. He suspected the use of makeup but couldn 뭪 detect a trace.

Jasmin introduced them: 밅 aptain Donovan Kane, may I introduce Dr. Lhilani Song? And this is the Executive Officer of the Gold Sun, Caley Cabot.”

He realized he was staring and, putting on a sheepish grin, he held out his hand say-ing: 밣 leased to meet you Doctor.He got a smile in response as she turned and shook hands with CC, who said: 밣 lease call me 멌CDoctor.”

밃 nd please call me Lhilani, everyone. I get so tired of hearing 멏 octorall day long. It puts me on edge when I am off duty.”

Donovan smiled. 밅 ertainly Lhilani. I hope you are hungry because my friend Jasmin here seems to have ordered everything on the menu.He indicated a seat for her to take, and moved around to the other side of the table.

Jasmin went over the drinks available but ended up pouring wine for everyone before sitting down next to Lhilani. Donovan de-cided to start this interview a little differ-ently. 밒 f you don 뭪 mind, Lhilani, can you tell us a little about the work you do cur-rently?”

She finished dishing up a helping of veg-etable lasagna and said: 밡 ormally I 뭗 avoid talking about work when off-duty, but I don뭪 mind talking about it briefly. There 뭩 not a lot to tell. I 뭢 a medical doctor working at Med Bay Five, about a quarter of the cir-cumference spinward on the outer ring.”

밄 efore I took this job I never imagined how many ways people could injure themselves on a space station. I thought it would be pretty boring, leaving me lots of time to

read medical journals or even do a little re-search.”

밃 nd there are days like that. But, more and more often lately, as the station builds up to full capacity and traffic in the system has increased, we get a steady stream of in-juries. Today we had some severe burn cases: cargo workers who managed to mis-handle a sensitive piece of cargo that ex-ploded, or crashed into something else that exploded. Their stories were pretty incoher-ent.”

A hint of her previous fatigue seemed to ghost her features as she spoke. Donovan could tell already that job satisfaction was an issue for her.

밒 also have a degree in ExoBiology but I have had precious little opportunity to work in that field. Humans have found very few examples of extra-Terran life so far and the labs that are working with those samples are all fully staffed at present, in this sys-tem at any rate.”

Donovan nodded. 밯 ould you prefer to be doing science then, if you had the opportu-nity?”

Having taken a bite, Lhilani finished chew-ing her food, swallowed, and took a sip of wine, looking over the rim of her glass at Donovan.

She set down the glass and said: 밯 hat I 뭗 really like is to explore the galaxy. That 뭩 why I pursued this particular combination of interests. I felt that when we finally got around to doing some exploration again, it would make me a good candidate for an ex-ploration crew.”

밆 on 뭪 get me wrong. I like being a medical doctor. I like helping people. But what re-ally excites me is the possibility of finding new life, new worlds, maybe even other sentient races. I 뭭 e dreamt about that ever since I was a child.”

밒 n fact, I 뭭 e made something of a nui-sance of myself, petitioning the Council to start a new exploration program. I 뭢 sur-prised they haven 뭪 told me to shut up, or the equivalent, yet.”

Donovan grinned. 밯 ell, I don 뭪 know how much Jasmin told you about us, but we just might be able to help you with that dream of yours.He grinned and got a warm smile in return.

밄 efore I go any further, will you agree to keep everything we talk about confidential?”

Lhilani nodded enthusiastically. 밳 es, abso-lutely.”

Donovan nodded. 밎 ood. We are taking ad-vantage of a new Coalition program that will pay ship owners for new data on outly-ing systems. We plan to start our own ex-ploration program, a civilian program. Our ship is a cargo carrier that will be modified for longer term science missions.”

밯 e will still run some cargo, but we will also do exploration, sometimes as part of a cargo run, stopping off in other nearby sys-tems along the way. At other times the trip will be planned purely as a science mis-sion.”

밊 or now, I want to maintain the appear-ance of a cargo ship because I don 뭪 want to broadcast what we are doing. I want us to get out there first, be the first to find whatever there is to find. With me so far?he waited as Lhilani swallowed and nodded her assent.

밊 orgive me,she said. 밒 t was a long shift and I am famished.”

밢 h, no worries. That 뭩 why we had lunch brought in. We 뭭 e been working all morn-ing and are hungry too.He took a moment to take a bite of food and sip some wine.

밨 ight now we are looking for some special-ists to round out the crew. We all know that the possibility of finding a life world, espe-cially in the nearby systems, is pretty low, but we thought it would be essential to have a Doctor aboard if we did stumble across any alien life.”

밫 here 뭩 also the possibility that we could run across microbial life while prospecting a comet or asteroid for water, fuel, or other resources.”

밨 egardless of the circumstance, we need to develop procedures for investigating any planetoid that might contain life as well as quarantine protocols in case of exposure. In the event that we do find a life world, we thought an exobiologist would be an impor-tant addition to the crew as well.”

밒 n our review of possible candidates, your name came up, partly because of your dual

specialization, just as you intended. Are you still interested?”

Lhilani began nodding her head emphati-cally. 밳 es. I am most certainly interested. Where do I sign?she said, grinning from ear to ear.

Donovan looked at CC and Jasmin and re-ceived nods from each. He turned back to Lhilani and smiled but then sobered. 밒 feel I should admit something at this point, in the spirit of full disclosure.”

He paused briefly, and then continued 밫 his will be my first command, that is of any-thing larger than a system shuttle.”

밃 lso, we won 뭪 be leaving right away. We are going to take time to redesign the ship, as I mentioned earlier. One of the reasons we are hiring specialists now is that we want input on what instruments and equip-ment they will need on board so we can re-design with that in mind.”

밯 hile that 뭩 happening, I want the crew to work together to design protocols for ex-ploring new systems, new worlds, encoun-ters with new life, and anything else we can think of.”

밫 here may be some danger. We have no idea what we might encounter out there. We might even run into a Vareni ship, which I hope to avoid, but the possibility is there.”

밪 o, having disclosed all of the potential hazards I can think of at this point, I have to ask again, are you still interested?”

Lhilani smiled again, saying: 밒 knew who you were, Captain. Like everyone else on the station, I saw the news feeds about your rescue of the Bangaram. Although the de-tails were sketchy, I was impressed. I am both reassured and encouraged knowing that the same resourcefulness will be one of the characteristics of the leader of this crew.”

밪 o, having made full disclosure,she said grinning, 뱘 ou can definitely count me in. I won 뭪 be difficult about salary, although I have quite a wish list when it comes to in-struments and equipment. I hope you have deep pockets.”

밢 h, also, I really should give notice to the station Medical Administrator. I may not be able to join you immediately.”

Donovan smiled. 밡 ot to worry. We are just getting organized. I think I can speak for my colleagues when I say: 멬 elcome to our crew.뮅 He raised his glass making it a toast and was matched by the others, with smiles all around.

밫 hat reminds me,he continued. 밒 want to think of a new name for the ship. One that is more in keeping with her new mission, without giving it away. I almost said: 멬 el-come to the crew of the Gold Sunbut it didn뭪 feel right, no offense CC. I don 뭪 know who came up with the current name.”

CC said: 밢 h, that 뭩 the Captain 뭩 privilege. I believe the prior Captain named the ship when he first bought it but I wasn 뭪 on the crew then. What did you have in mind?”

They had fun during the rest of the meal discussing possible names for the ship. Lhi-lani left them promising to be in contact soon to let them know how soon she would be able to join the crew. Jasmin told her that she 뭗 send an employment contract for her to look over in the meantime.

They hadn 뭪 reached a decision, but one name kept popping back up in Donovan 뭩

mind, something Lhilani had suggested: 밇ncounter.”

Chapter 6

asmin turned to the others after Lhilani had left. 밯 ell, I think things are looking

up! What luck to find someone with her qualifications who is also so enthusiastic?”

J

CC agreed. 밒 liked her and I was glad we could offer her a place on the crew. She 뭩 clearly getting tired of working in Med Bay.”

Donovan nodded. 밒 am feeling more opti-mistic after that interview. I was dreading having to decide between a lot of ego-cen-tric scientists who would demand top pay and want us to cater to their every need. Lhilani seems like she would bunk in a broom closet for a chance to go on an ex-ploration mission.”

CC and Jasmin looked offended. CC was the first to speak up. 밒 hope you are going to be nicer to her than that! I think she will be a great addition to the crew. I look forward to spending time with her once we set out.”

Jasmin was next. 밳 ou better treat her well Captain. She has her heart set on this and she may be up for disappointment on your first few trips. Remember, you said yourself that it was unlikely that you would en-counter a life world in the nearby systems.”

Donovan held up his hands. 밆 on 뭪 worry ladies. I plan to treat our specialists very well, while, at the same time, expecting them to pitch in and clean dishes from time to time, just like the rest of the crew. Lhi-lani won 뭪 have cause to complain if I can help it. In fact, I think she will be very pleased with what I have in mind.”

밫 hat reminds meJasmin, when you talk to her, remind her to send us a list of equip-ment and instruments that she thinks she will need to setup a comprehensive Biology lab. Also, have her make up a second list of any equipment and supplies she might need for the ship 뭩 Med Bay to supplement the autoDocs we already have.”

밅 C, please get Jasmin an inventory, includ-ing model numbers, of whatever medical equipment and supplies we currently have onboard.”

밄 eyond that, Jasmin, please see what you can do, maybe working with Lhilani, to get samples of any exo-life that she would like to work with, so she can do her own re-search while we are underway.”

Jasmin and CC smiled at him. CC said: 밒 knew I was going to like you Captain.”

Donovan looked down at the table, trying to think of anything else he might need to set in motion. 밫 hank you for another excellent meal Jasmin. If this continues, we are going to get spoiled before we leave the station. Where do we put the left-overs?”

밢 h, leave it for now. I want to give you two a tour of the new offices in back. They aren뭪 finished yet, but everything is framed in, so you can get the idea of what it will look like.”

Donovan exchanged a glance with CC and they both got up to follow her. Outside the conference room, they turned left and Jas-min opened a door at the end of the corri-dor. It opened onto a large open space with construction materials piled up on the floor and against the walls.

Corridors led off to the left and right at the back of the room. There was one door in the wall to their left and several openings that would become doorways in the back wall. They could hear the whining sound of tools coming from the corridors on each side.

Jasmin gestured at the large space. 밫 his will be the lounge. We can have meetings here to go over the results of simulations or discuss other issues. There will be couches and chairs, as well as a big console for re-viewing the sims over there against the far wall.”

She turned the other way and walked over to the door in the left wall, opening it, showing another room almost as big. 밫 his will be the main simulation room. We 뭠 l have stations for everyone built up against the walls and a central station to monitor everything in the center.Donovan and CC smiled at each other.

Turning back to the main room, she walked to the corridor at the back, left corner. It was lined with doors down the right side and had one door on the left at the far end. Jasmin lowered her voice. 밫 hese smaller rooms are being built as offices, but will be-

come crew quarters while the ship is being refitted. There will be a large restroom down at the far end there, opposite the rooms.”

Turning back to the big room, she pointed at the openings along the back wall. 밫 hese will be small meeting rooms, or entertain-ment lounges, with comm consoles for crew use. The corridor on the other side will mir-ror the one behind us, except that the big space on that side will hold a gym.”

밒뭢 having a kitchen and a small apartment for myself built in the outer offices, oppo-site the conference room. Crew can cook for themselves, for the group, or order out for food, but I think we should put some limits on that so we don 뭪 give away how many people we have housed here.”

Donovan agreed. 밎 ood thinking. Plus we can get an idea of who is a good cook and who needs lessons before we ship out.”

He had the feeling that he was forgetting something, but after looking around for cues, the idea refused to gel. He shook his head. 밫 his is amazing Jasmin. It looks like we will have everything we need for our planning. Thank you.”

밠 y pleasure.She replied. 밐 old on,she said as a faint buzzing sound came from her pocket. She pulled out a small comm unit and checked her messages. 밢 ur program-mer is on his way and Chief Walker is al-most done at the Fleet offices. He should be here soon too.”

They headed back to the conference room and tidied up the used dishes, putting them to one side. They kept the left over food out at one end of the table in case their other guests proved to be hungry when they ar-rived. They were just finishing as a buzz sounded from the outer office.

Jasmin brought in a young man, dressed in a Fleet uniform. He appeared to be in his early twenties and slightly long and untidy hair for someone in the service. 밅 aptain Kane and Executive Officer Cabot, this is Ensign Liam Riordan, the programmer I told you about.”

Donovan stood up and shook hands with the younger man. 밣 leased to meet you. I 뭭 e heard good things about your simulation programming.”

밫 he pleasure is mine, Captain, XO,he said, shaking hands with CC. 밒 뭢 betting you

were also told I was under disciplinary re-view, but I managed to get that matter dropped by agreeing to this assignment. The Admiral had me reassigned to his de-partment and filled me in a little on your mission.”

Donovan nodded. 밫 he Admiral mentioned some trouble to me but didn 뭪 go into many details. Have a seat Liam, or help yourself to some food if you are hungry. We have some leftovers from lunch over there.”

Liam grinned. 밫 hanks. I 뭭 e been in meet-ings all morning and then came straight here. I 뭢 pretty hungry.”

밐 elp yourself,Donovan took a seat and con-tinued. 밊 irst things first. By taking you on, I am going to assume we have an under-standing that there will be no trouble like that here. Our crew needs to use their time efficiently, planning for upcoming missions. I don 뭪 want anyone offering them other distractions during that time. Are we clear?”

밳 es sir. Believe me, I want to make a good impression here. To be honest, I am hoping there might be a place on your crew for

me.Liam turned and sat down opposite Donovan with his plate.

Donovan showed him a selection of drinks from the cooler and tossed one to him. 밯 e can talk about that later. We do have a cou-ple openings. But what I need for now, is someone who can create some fairly de-tailed simulations to help train the crew. I know you have the skills we need, but let me describe what I have in mind and you tell me if it is possible.”

Liam nodded as he ate. Donovan continued. 밫 he simulations will model missions that take place aboard our ship for the most part so I will want you to design a computerized model of the ship with certain modifications that we are still working on.”

밒 want the simulations to cover a wide va-riety of exploration missions, starting with basic scenarios. For example: what do we do when we first enter a new solar system? How do we proceed from there? What hap-pens if we find different types of planets, or a large asteroid field? Then, over time, add in more complex scenarios like: what do we do if we encounter aliens? Or find a life world?”

밊 or that simulation we might want to ex-tend it to leaving the ship via shuttles so it would be great if you could simulate a hy-pothetical alien world that we could land on. That would help us develop protocols for investigating such worlds.”

CC held up a hand to get his attention. 밡 ot sure I mentioned this Captain, but I am sure you saw during our tour of the ship that we don 뭪 have any shuttles.She grinned.

Donovan grinned back. 밒 f our new Chief Engineer agrees with what I have planned, we will have them. I want to be prepared for anything, even if it means carrying around the extra weight of a couple shuttles and supplies for them”

He let his voice trail off, realizing he 뭗 made a mistake. 밢 h my god, CC. I forgot to tell you that I hired my friend Chief Walker, didn 뭪 I?”

밆 on 뭪 worry about it Captain. I know you 뭭e had a million things to think about over the last couple days.CC said.

밯 ell, thanks for being so understanding, but as my XO, I really should have included

you in the decision. I 뭠 l try not to make the same mistake again.”

Donovan turned back to Liam, who had fin-ished off everything on his plate and was gulping his drink. 밢 kay, where was I? Oh, right, the simulations. I also want the simu-lations to evolve, taking into account what we 뭭 e learned from prior sims, and provid-ing harder situations as the training pro-gresses.”

밒 plan to have meetings after most of the simulations to discuss what we have learned and I am hoping you can incorpo-rate whatever protocols we develop into succeeding simulations. See any problems so far?”

Liam had pushed his plate aside and was leaning forward, looking serious. 밒 don 뭪 see any special problems so far. How long will I have to get ready?”

Donovan said: 밃 t least a week, maybe two for the first simulations. We are still reno-vating the space we will be using and don 뭪 even have the equipment installed yet.”

밳 ou might be some help there too. I 뭠 l have you work with Ms. Pranidhi here to

put together a list of whatever VR simula-tion and computer equipment we will need. We can probably get some help from our engineering crew to set everything up.”

밃 lso, we will be setting up rooms here for the crew while the ship is being rebuilt and the crew goes through simulations and training. Once we start training I 뭗 like you to stay here with the rest of the crew.”

밯 e don 뭪 want a lot of people coming and going from the offices, especially not in uni-form. Do you have any civilian clothes you can wear while you are working with us?”

Liam nodded. 밒 have civvies and I have a compartment on the station, since my previ-ous assignment was at Fleet Command. I can stay there until you are ready for the crew to move in here.”

밒 also have my own design computer, so I can get started on the simulations if you can give me blueprints of the ship.”

Donovan turned to Jasmin: 밅 an we have a computer installed here tomorrow morning? Liam can tell you what he needs.”

Jasmin thought for a moment. 밒 think we can do that. It shouldn 뭪 get in the way of anything if we keep it in this room for now. The other rooms should mostly be ready in about two more days, although the kitchen will take a bit longer. However, I can start moving in furniture and have Liam working on the simulation room starting three days from now.”

Donovan smiled at her: 밇 xcellent. You don뭪 disappoint.Turning back to Liam, he said: 밒뭗 rather not have any blueprints or other files leave these offices for now, so I want you to do all of your work hereon our equip-ment.”

밯 e will purchase whatever you need. So, for the next two days, I want you to report here, in civvies, and get what you can done while the work on our new training area is being completed. Any questions?”

밡 ot yet sir.Liam said. 밬 nless 뀛 he stopped.

밎 o on.Donovan encouraged him.

밯 ell, sir Thank you, by the way, for this op-portunity. I will do my best to make sure

the simulations meet your requirements. I was just wondering. Was there any desert?”

* * *

While he had Liam working with Jasmin to put together equipment lists, he and CC cleaned up the dishes in a washroom across the hall.

밒뭠 l go over the changes I want to make in the ship once Gil, uh, Chief Walker, arrives. I want your input, but I don 뭪 want to have to go over it twice. Actually, it will be good to have Liam there too, since he can use that data to put together a preliminary sim-ulation of the ship. At the same time, Jas-min can get an idea of what equipment and facilities we will need.”

밪 ounds like a plan Captain. By the way, Jasmin has been a big help finding our sci -entists for you. Have you mentioned to her that we are looking for another pilot and navigator? She might be able to help fill those posts too.”

밫 hank god I have your help and Jasmin 뭩 . There are far too many details for one per-son to manage. Will you make sure to men-tion it to her later if I forget?”

He paused. 밫 here 뭩 something else nag-ging at me that I 뭭 e been trying to remem-ber, but I so far it 뭩 not coming to me. Maybe we should take some time this after-noon before chief Walker gets here to list everything that needs to be done, every-thing we can think of, that is.”

CC agreed. 밎 ood idea. Maybe you 뭠 l re-member whatever it is that 뭩 been bother-ing you.”

Jasmin returned as they carried the dishes and silverware back to the conference room. 밒 found a computer that met Liam 뭩 specifications. I sent him off to go get changed and pick it up, along with another console for this room to connect to my in-ternal network. He should be back in an hour or so to set both systems up.”

Donovan sat down at the conference table and pulled out his datapad. 밫 hanks for get-ting that organized so quickly. CC and I were just talking and decided it might be a good time to go over everything we 뭭 e be-gun so far and then try to fill in the blanks, figure out what still needs to be done.”

Jasmin nodded. 봚 e should probably set aside some time on a regular basis to have a planning meeting and review where we stand.”

They got as far as listing everything that had been initiated to that point and a few things that they would have to take care of soon.

Donovan turned to Jasmin. 밄 efore I forget, we need to work up some sort of contract for our new hiresHe turned to CC. 밠 aybe you have something on file that you 뭭 e used for new crew in the past? Something we can build on?”

CC nodded. 밒 t 뭩 a pretty basic, standard contract agreement but it covers things like salary, bonuses, working conditions, and the like.”

Donovan said: 밒뭭 e never hired anyone be-fore but I think we may need to include some new provisions regarding secrecy, for one thing, and maybe have all of the crew sign a new agreement. I 뭢 not sure what else we need to put in there. Any thoughts?”

A buzz from the outer office told them they had another visitor.

As Jasmin went to the front office, Donovan said: 밨 emind me to come back to this later. Jasmin might have some ideas. We still need to fill in the larger outlines of every-thing else that needs to get done, even if we don 뭪 have all of the details yet.”

CC nodded. 밒 f we don 뭪 get to it tonight, then we should start with this list first thing tomorrow.”

Jasmin returned, a tall, broad-shouldered man in tow. 밒 believe you know Captain Kane, Chief. This is CC, XO of your new ship.

밅 all me 멒 il please,he said, leaning for-ward to shake hands with CC. Then he strode past her and grabbed Donovan in a bear hug, lifting him off the floor. 밮 an! I 뭠l be darned if you aren 뭪 the luckiest bum I뭭 e ever met.”

He set Donovan down and held him at arm-slength for a moment. 밒 뭢 glad to see you on your feet, but you still look tired. Are you getting any exercise or have you been

tied up in meetings since you got out of Med Bay?”

Donovan slapped his friend on the shoulder, laughing. 밠 eetings mostly. Can 뭪 be helped for now, but having you here will be a big help and a big load off my mind.”

He appraised his old friend. 밳 ou, on the other hand, look great, suntanned and rested. I hope you had a good leave, even if it was short because I am about to make you even busier than I have been.He had a twinkle in his eye as he smiled at his old friend.

They took seats and drinks were shared around. Donovan began. 밯 e are having a new console installed in here in a bit and that will help us go over what I have planned for the ship. Meanwhile, do you have a place to stay on the station? What 뭩 your status?”

밒 am officially on reserve status indefi-nitely. I am free to sign up with your crew. I don 뭪 have a place to stay yet but I as-sume I can find a find a berth somewhere nearby without too much trouble.”

밳 ou can stay on the ship for now. We have some unused quarters, don 뭪 we CC?”

CC nodded. 밯 e have quarters set aside for a Navigator that aren 뭪 being used right now. The prior Chief Engineer hasn 뭪 been by to move his things out yet, so I wouldn 뭪 feel right about assigning you that cabin yet.”

Donovan slapped his head. 밒 forgot all about him. He 뭩 probably been sending me messages and I haven 뭪 checked all day.”

CC shook her head. 밒 wouldn 뭪 worry about it Captain, he would have messaged me too if he was in a hurry and I haven 뭪 received anything. He 뭩 probably using the rest of his leave to look for other work, or, more likely, getting drunk somewhere. He had a tendency to overdo it at times. He 뭠 l be in touch in a day or two, or we can mes-sage him sooner if we need that cabin.”

Donovan nodded 밫 hanks CC. Gil, these two women are quickly becoming absolutely in-dispensable to me. I suspect they will be-come just as important in your life in the very near future. If I should forget, please

remind me to do everything in my power to keep them happy.”

Gil smiled. 밣 utting aside various jokes that have suddenly leapt to mind, out of respect to the ladies present, I will pledge to do my best to develop a good working relationship with everyone on the crew, but especially, as you suggest, these two lovely and capa-ble women.”

CC was blushing but looked pleased. Jasmin smiled at both of them. Donovan rushed to fill the silence. 밒 am really glad you are here Gil. I plan to dump about half of my worries on your head, starting tonight, if you are up to it. I know you 뭭 e had meet-ings all day already. Are you up for one more or do you need some time before we get down to business?”

밒 could use something to eat, but other-wise I 뭢 good to go.There were chuckles all around as they showed him the leftovers from lunch and supplied him with drinks.

Donovan slapped his hands, rubbing them together, saying: 밊 inally we can get down to some real planning. I 뭭 e had ship plans swimming around my brain from the last two nights as I tried to get to sleep. It will

be a relief to get these ideas out of my head and into yours. It will also be good to get feedback from all of you.”

CC spoke up: 밅 aptain, if you are going to go over the changes you want to make to the ship, you might want to wait until Liam gets back with that Console, so you can pull up the existing blueprints for us to look at. Also, he 뭠 l need to know what changes you have planned for his simulations.”

Donovan nodded. 밒 know. I know. I was just thanking Jasmin for getting that orga-nized so quickly and now I can hardly wait for him to get back.He laughed.

Donovan sobered, thinking about all there was to get done. He still had interviews lined up that would take up a good part of the next two days 밢 h, reminds me. One of the things we held off on Gil, was making a decision about the Engineering crew. I wanted you to leave it up to you to make the decisions when it came to your crew.”

Gil looked up from his plate. 밫 hanks. I was hoping I 뭗 have some say in that. Ideally, I뭗 like to see the crew at work. Would it be alright if I keep the existing crew on condi -

tionally to see how they do during the re-design on the ship?”

Donovan said: 밒 don 뭪 have a problem with that. If they don 뭪 like it then maybe they aren 뭪 the best fit. I 뭢 looking for people who are adaptable and willing to cross-train in other fields.”

밳 ou also have the option to hire a third as-sistant for the permanent crew so you can keep engineering manned around the clock when necessary without having to take one of the shifts yourself.”

밒 n any case, you will probably want to hire additional temporary crew for all of the work that has to be done on the ship. I am hoping you will find some good candidates for the permanent crew that way. Coordi-nate that with Jasmin. She is a great re-source for finding personnel and just about anything else you might need.”

Jasmin responded to a buzz from the outer office and brought back Liam with a cart in tow, piled high with boxes. Introductions were made and they all pitched in to un-pack the equipment, clean up the packag-ing, and get everything setup.

Jasmin turned on the new console while Liam worked on his new computer at the back of the room. She spent a few minutes setting up the connection to her network and then brought up the blueprints for the Gold Sun. Everyone but Liam gathered around.

Donovan pointed out the aft section of the ship. 밢 k, this cylinder is the main part of the ship, what I 뭢 calling the 멌 rew Module About half of it is Engineering, including conventional engines, power plant, fuel and propellant tanks, life support, recycling, and so on.”

밫 he forward half of that section contains crew quarters, Galley, Med Bay, cryonics, crew lounge, gym, storage space, and the like.”

밃 lmost a third of that forward crew space is taken up by a toroidal water tank at the center. Inside that is space for a 몊 torm shelterin case all of the shields fail and the ship is in a heavy radiation area. That space also holds the backup life support and bat-tery backup system.”

Donovan pointed to the next section of the ship. 밫 his long structural beam, with a cor-

ridor down the center, just forward of the Crew Module is the 멇 ft Cargo Mount It is the same size and shape as two standard cargo containers joined end-to-end.”

He pointed to the middle section of the ship. 밫 he disk in the middle, here, is mostly just a support for the large ring housing the warp coils.He gestured at the large, donut-shaped ring around the mid section of the ship, a standard feature of al -most all human interstellar ships.

밒 n front of that we have the 멑 orward Cargo Mount fifty percent longer than the aft mount. Lastly, at the bow, the semi-spherical section, here, houses sensors, for-ward shields, meteor defense, and commu-nication gear. That section is mostly empty space inside.”

Gil spoke. 밣 retty standard configuration for a cargo ship from what I 뭭 e seen so far. Without looking at the details, I can already see how it might get a bit cramped with a bunch of scientists and all their gear stuffed in somewhere. How were you plan-ning to squeeze them in?”

Donovan nodded. 밫 hat 뭩 the trick isn 뭪 it? I don 뭪 really want to change the profile of

the crew section of the ship by making it significantly larger, or we might get a lot of questions about what we are doing with all of that mass and space. Every cargo captain and port official knows how important it is to minimize mass. So, if we can 뭪 make more space in that section, what is the next best option?”

밫 he cargo containers.Gil smiled.

밢 nce you look at the problem, it 뭩 obvious, isn 뭪 it? Now, here 뭩 my idea. We can 뭪 do much with that central core the way it is, because it is already stuffed with structural beams, pipes, and conduit hook-ups for cargo that need to be maintained in atmos-phere or kept heated.”

Donovan used the console to zoom in on the Aft Cargo Mount section. He found a schematic for a standard cargo container and started stacking copies of it around the Aft Cargo Mount on the screen: top, bot-tom, left, and right, in a 몆 lus signforma-tion around the central cargo core. In total, eight containers now surrounded the core, two sets of four joined end-to-end.

밡 ow, what if we take out all those struc-tural beams, cables and conduits and dis-

tribute them among four containers perma-nently mounted on each side of the core. With the structural beams distributed more widely, the ship should have even greater strength and stability and we can probably make do with smaller beams with less mass.”

Gil interjected. 밢 r, we could replace the outer sides of those four containers with structural armor plating. It might be a bit heavier overall but we could get rid of the internal beams entirely. We might want to duplicate the pipes and conduits, port and starboard, however, so we have a backup to that system.”

Donovan nodded. 밃 s you can see, this con-figuration gives us the equivalent of ten empty cargo containers of new space. We can surround them with other cargo con-tainers and no one will ever know. We sim-ply never 몍 nloadthese, explaining that it is cargo for our next destination if anybody asks.”

밇 ach cargo container is approximately ten by ten meters and twenty-five meters in length. That 뭩 a little under twenty-five hundred cubic meters of internal space per container, or something under twenty-five

thousand cubic meters of new space total. I have some more details in mind, but what do you think so far? Any feedback?”

밯 owCC said. 밫 hat has to be more than the space of the entire aft section.”

Donovan nodded. 밫 he entire aft section of the ship has about eighteen thousand cubic meters of space and half of that is Engi-neering. If we go with this, we will be in-creasing our total crew space by roughly three hundred and seventy percent.”

Gil asked. 밐 ow much will this cut into the ship 뭩 cargo carrying capacity?”

Donovan smiled. 밫 he containers we will be taking out of use for cargo carrying pur-poses amount to just 3% of the ship 뭩 total cargo carrying capacity. I asked CC earlier if the ship always ran at capacity and her answer was that they often didn 뭪 for vari-ous reasons, so losing that 3% shouldn 뭪 be catastrophic.”

CC interjected: 밯 e are going to have to carefully examine the programs that help us determine a profitable trip once we have a new total mass for the ship without cargo added on.”

Jasmin spoke up: 밯 hy not just convert half of that central cargo core so you only use the surrounding four containers?”

Donovan said: 밫 hanks for asking that. If we are going to convert the Aft Cargo Core and redistribute the structural elements at all, then the best way to do it is to replace it 뭩 entire length. That way we make a whole new series of connections, more widely distributed, with the mid-section of the ship that supports the warp ring.”

밒 t is far stronger overall. It may even al -low us to use more powerful engines or travel at higher warp speeds. Also, I have uses in mind for each of those containers already. Want to hear?”

He saw nods all around and continued, us-ing the console controls to label each sec-tion as he talked. 밫 aking the forward, mid-dle-three containers first, the top container will be the new astrophysics lab, the middle section the Biology Lab, and the bottom section the Chemistry and Geology Lab. The two containers to either side will be the new shuttle bays.”

밫 aking the aft, middle-three containers next, the top container will become a new

machine shop so we can manufacture items as needed, we will move the water tank, storm shelter, and backup life support to the middle container, and the bottom one will contain a backup bridge, in case we sustain damage to the main bridge. The container on the left will be a new Recre-ation area, and the container on the right will be a new, expanded hydroponics sec-tion.”

밫 his will expand our total water tank ca-pacity by over three hundred percent, which we will need to support the hydro-ponics and maybe the recreation area. We should have enough growing space so that we will never run out of fresh vegetables or salad greens and that will decrease the amount of food we have to buy and store. It will make us much more self-sufficient.”

밯 ith the water tank moved from the exist-ing crew module, we will have space for at least 3 new large crew cabins for our scien-tists and almost twice that much unused space, which I haven 뭪 specified a use for yet.”

Gil spoke up. 밒 see at least one potential problem here,he said, pointing to the port and starboard containers that would con-

tain the shuttle bays. 밒 f we end up stack-ing containers over these, we won 뭪 be able to launch the shuttles.”

Donovan nodded. 밒 thought of that but I also wanted the shuttle bays next to the Bi -ology Lab so that we could offload samples that have to remain in containment until they have been tested for possible poisons or pathogens. If you can think of a better arrangement, I am open to ideas.”

Gil nodded. 밯 ell, with all of this new space in the existing crew module, we could move all of the cabins to the interior, which is safer for everyone as well, and use the outer port and starboard sections for stor-age and new shuttle bays. That would also mean that we could accommodate shuttle designs that don 뭪 have to fit inside of a cargo container.”

As an afterthought, he added. 밯 e can work out something like a dedicated tube to de-liver samples to the Biology Lab without risking exposure to the rest of the ship. Also, we can install airlocks with decontam-ination equipment at each of the shuttle bays.”

Donovan grinned. 밫 hat 뭩 why I needed you here Gil. I 뭭 e been shifting things around in my head trying to find an optimal config-uration but there 뭩 nothing like sitting down with the schematics and another good engineer to bounce ideas off of.”

Gil smiled back but quickly got serious again. 밯 e can move the gym and crew lounge to the container you have desig-nated as Recreation and move that forward to what would have been the port shuttle bay. I am guessing by 멢 ecreation you have in mind some sort of sports or relaxation area?”

밒 was going to solicit suggestions from the crew for that, but I was envisioning a park-like environment, maybe a jogging track around the outer edge. We could have a hand-ball court at the far end. My craziest idea was a swimming pool with a re-tractable cover that would be sealed in place when we are maneuvering.Donovan grinned again.

Liam had finished setting up his new com-puter and installing his simulation soft-ware. He had been listening in, however, and joined the others now. He whistled at the proposed layout. 밫 hat 뭩 a huge amount

of space. Who is going to do all that gar-dening?”

Donovan started to reply. 밒 was thinking we could all pitch in when off-duty 뀛 He paused and then gave Liam a surprised but pleased look. 밒 think that 뭩 what has been trying to surface in my head all day. Maybe we need a Botanist? What do you all think?”

CC was nodding. 밒 know I wouldn 뭪 be any help. I 뭭 e tried to grow plants in my cabin but they all died. I think it 뭩 a great idea, if you can afford to hire someone.”

Donovan shook his head. 밨 emember, we will be saving a lot of money by not having to buy and store fresh food whenever we make port. This should pay for itself. In fact, if we extend the hydroponics bay to the forward container on the starboard side (which was my starboard shuttle bay) we might have surplus food, or space to grow special seedlings to trade.”

Jasmin was nodding. 밃 ll good ideas, but let뭩 try to find you a Botanist that can cook too, in the interest of doubling up on skills. I think those two skill sets compliment each other, don 뭪 you?She grinned.

Everyone laughed. They spent the rest of the meeting coming up with fun sugges-tions for the Recreation section and dream-ing about different fruits and vegetables they could grow on board.

Liam got a commitment from Gil to update him on any changes to the blueprints so he could incorporate the changes in his simu-lations.

They agreed to go out for dinner later to celebrate. Before they parted, Donovan pulled Gil to one side.

밫 alk to Jasmin later about getting a tour of the Fleet shipyard tomorrow, if possible. You might get more ideas for the retrofit af -ter you have seen what is available. Make sure to check their warehouse for whatever they have already pulled out of the ships there.”

In a softer voice, he said: 밫 he Admiral promised he would send over as many con-tainers as we need, filled with parts if we need them.”

We will have to justify any weapons systems we want, but look for defensive systems like flack missiles and lasers that we can justify for other reasons, like meteor defense or

remote spectroscopy. Keep an eye out for any high resolution detection gear they have that might be adapted for Astro-physics, or dishes that we can use for radio astronomy.”

밢 h, lab equipment and computers too. Any-thing they have. Take a list of our current medical gear and cryostasis units and see if they have anything more advanced.”

밫 he more the better, since we can leave behind whatever we don 뭪 use in the ware-house here for the next exploration ship. Grab anything that you think we can use. It won 뭪 go to waste. Once we deliver our wish list, it 뭩 totally up to them as to whether we get it or not.”

밆 on 뭪 forget to get us a spare generator that will fit in a cargo containerthe Admiral knows I want that already. Get two if you can. See if they have more efficient engines or warp coils. Oh, and definitely don 뭪 for-get to see what sorts of shuttles they have.He winked.

Gil said, 밒 can 뭪 wait. It should be fun pil-laging a fleet warehouse.He grinned back.

Donovan nodded. 밳 ou might want to ask CC to take you on a tour of the ship after dinner. If you need anything else, tell Jas-min. I am betting most of your things are still on board the Bangaram. At the very least, she can recommend where to do some shopping before dinner.”

Gil asked: 밯 hen will we know what equip-ment and instruments the scientists will need?”

Donovan shrugged. 밯 e should be getting a list of medical gear and equipment for the Biology Lab from our new Biologist and Doctor. You just missed meeting her earlier today but I think you will like her. She 뭩 very enthusiastic, wanted to be an explorer for most of her life.He smiled.

밒 have interviews with two other scientist candidates over the next two days. With any luck we will have our science crew by the end of the week and I can ask them to write up their equipment lists as their first prior-ity. If not, we will have to go back to our files to find alternate candidates.”

Donovan reached out to shake Gil 뭩 hand. 밫 hanks for joining up Gil. It is a huge re-

lief to have you here to help make this crazy scheme happen.”

Gil grinned back at him. 밒 wouldn 뭪 miss it for anything!”

Looking around, Donovan found CC and gestured her over. 밅 C, I 뭗 like you to get together with Jasmin to go over possible candidates for our other open positions and then arrange times to interview them. I 뭠 l join you if I can but I think you two know what I am looking for.”

밨 emember we need, at the very least, a second pilot, a chief Navigator, a botanist (and hopefully cook), and possibly a third crewmember for Engineering. Get with Gil on that. Ideally, we want crew who are will -ing to cross-train in other disciplines so we have redundant skill sets or helpers for the scientific staff and the hydroponics bay.”

밚 astly, it might be nice if you could show Gil around the ship after dinner, if both of you have the energy for it, that is.”

CC smiled. 밒 뭢 on it Captain. We will find some good people for you.Turning to Gil, she said: 밃 nd I 뭗 be happy to give you a

tour of the ship later Chief. I 뭢 sure you have a lot of questions.”

Gil smiled down at her. 밫 hank you CC. I think it would be a good idea to get it done tonight. I have a feeling I am going to be extremely busy starting tomorrow morn-ing.”

Turning to address the room, Donovan said: 밚 et 뭩 meet back here at nineteen hundred for dinner, my treat this time. I want to cel -ebrate a little. We 뭠 l decide where to go when we get back together but I 뭢 leaning toward Thai food.”

* * *

Donovan excused himself and headed back to the ship. He wanted to spend some time going over the ship logs for past missions to get a better sense of some of the details of running a cargo ship.

In the concourse outside the office, several people passed him going the other way, but their gaze seemed to linger on him as they went past. They looked more curious or quizzical than threatening. He shook it off, telling himself that he was being paranoid.

He reached the tube to Port 47 and took it down to the ship.

Heading for his cabin, he sat down at the console there and took a moment to make sure the computer would recognize Gil later and grant him access to the ship. He set an alarm to alert him at 18:45 so he wouldn 뭪 miss dinner.

He searched for the ship logs and pulled up the most recent one. Before long he was en-grossed in the details of the last cargo run. The captain had included notes on the staff occasionally and he began looking for these as a way of getting to know those he hadn 뭪 met yet.

In what seemed like no time at all, the com-puter beeped and his own message, telling him it was almost time for dinner, popped up on the screen.

Getting up, he found that he was unexpect-edly stiff and reminded himself to start ex-ercising again as soon as he could. He took a moment to use the refresher attached to his cabin and then left the ship.

Exiting the tube from Port 47, he saw a small group of people gathered around Jas-min 뭩 office door. He started to move closer

but then realized he didn 뭪 recognize any of the people gathered there. In fact they looked suspiciously like reporters. Revers-ing course, he walked towards the nearest tram station.

He cursed himself for not having procured a portable comm unit before this. It was against the rules to carry one in the Fleet and he hadn 뭪 yet had time to go shopping. As he boarded the first tram, he looked back and saw several people running in his direction.

He waited until the tram reached a section with plenty of shops on the concourse and got off there. He ducked into the first shop that seemed to feature electronics and looked around. He saw what he was looking for at a counter near the back. Once he got there he found that there was a bewildering array of portable communications gear available.

He settled on one that was mounted on a sort of faux-leather wrist bracer, deter-mined to keep it on him at all times from now on. It had a powerful personal com-puter, nearly unlimited storage, and a screen that that could be unrolled into a much larger display when needed.

He made the purchase and registered the device with the station, entering his per-sonal code. Then he did a search for 멙 as-min Importsand was relieved to find it listed. He sent a message, letting her know where he was and suggesting that they leave the office singly or in pairs and meet him at the store.

He got an acknowledgement back almost immediately and browsed the other items in the shop while he waited. Before long, Gil showed up escorting CC. Donovan recom-mended Gil buy his own comm unit if he didn 뭪 have one already and showed him the one he 뭗 just bought.

Gil liked it and decided to get the same model, saying it would keep the unit out of pockets where he was apt to jam the odd tool from time to time.

Jasmin and Liam arrived with the next Tram. As far as they could tell, there was no one following them. Jasmin knew of a good restaurant nearby so they all followed her.

Dinner was fun. Gil and Donovan were pestered for details of the big rescue until they explained that the event had been clas-

sified, and then Gil was pestered for stories for how they 뭗 met and become friends.

Donovan mostly listened, laughing with the others when Gil detailed some of the mishaps and escapades they had shared while working on the station and in the ship yards years before.

Wine and beer flowed freely during dinner. As they were finishing desert, Donovan raised his glass in a toast and the table went quiet. 밒뭢 very pleased to have you all here with me tonight, new friends and old. I feel like tonight marks a turning point, the day when our plans have really begun to take shape. I also have a small announce-ment.”

밪 ome of us were discussing possible new names for the ship earlier. I 뭗 like the ship to emerge from her refit with her new name and so I have decided to name her 뀙 En-counter,in keeping with her new mis-sion.Everyone raised their glasses in re-turn, clinking them together, several of them yelling 밳 ay!giddily.

There were several more toasts, Gil manag-ing to both embarrass and please the Cap-tain. As the party broke up, they gave each

other various reminders to meet at different times the next day to get started with the next phase of the project.

They had a quiet ride back on the tram, many of them feeling tired after a long day and maybe a little too much wine or beer during dinner. When they arrived at their station, most of them had completely for-gotten the crowd of reporters that had been waiting earlier.

Donovan hadn 뭪 forgotten, but he had de-cided to try to put an end to the unwanted attention. As he stepped off the tram, he spotted the reporters waiting nearby, some of them already moving towards him. He stepped away from the station holding up his hands as the small crowd gathered in front of him.

밒 have a brief announcement.He said. 밒 have to apologize for the fact that I can not discuss the events that recently took place aboard the Bangaram until the Fleet has completed it 뭩 investigations into the mat-ter.He planned to be long gone from the station before that happened.

밃 s for myself, I have been granted an hon-orable discharge from the Service and plan

to move on soon to pursue interests of my own. I am a private person and do not want any further attention from the media or the public at large. Please respect my privacy. Thank you.”

He turned to walk around the small group of reporters but quickly saw that they had attracted a larger crowd that was still con-verging on their group. There was a distur-bance in the group of reporters and some-one shouted: 밎 un!”

There was a flash and Donovan felt like someone pushed him backwards, away from the reporters. He fell to the deck and looked up as Gil charged past him to a spot just beyond his feet where several people continued to struggle.

Suddenly he was surrounded and he thought CC was crying as she stooped down next to him. Jasmin was talking into her comm unit. Liam, next to her, looked stunned, his eyes wide and darting about as he tried to look in every direction at once.

He looked back at CC and said: 밆 on 뭪 worry. We 뭠 l be leaving soon. But don 뭪 forget to hireAnd then he blacked out.

Chapter 7

he scientist finished his email to his sis-ter on Prithvi and sent if off. He told her

that he had signed up as scientific crew on the cargo ship Encounter, which was being refitted for extended exploration missions. He told her about everyone he had met so far and said that he had great enthusiasm for the mission.

T

He lamented the fact that he would be ef-fectively out of contact for an extended pe-riod of time and said that he would miss her. However, he told her they would be in training for some time before they left, so he would send more messages to keep her updated and let her know their departure date as soon as it was determined.

He said he hoped that they would return with great discoveries that would help him make his name in his profession.

He didn 뭪 mention in the email that a cer-tain corporation had arranged to have her email copied and redirected so that any-

thing he sent her would become known to them as well.

* * *

Donovan woke up in Med Bay and wondered if he had just been brought out of stasis. He뭗 had the most fantastic dream, all about being given his own ship and making plans to go explore the universe. As he lay there drowsily, he remembered more and more of the dream. It seemed so real! He chuckled to himself.

Someone evidently heard him because a young man in medical garb appeared next to his bed, looking at the display over his head. The man glanced down and saw that his eyes were open. 밃 re you comfortable? Can I get you anything?”

밯 ater.Donovan managed to croak.

The young man shook his head, sorrowfully. 밒 뭢 sorry, you aren 뭪 allowed liquids just yet. Hold on and I will get you a little crushed ice. That should help a bit.Donovan tried to lift his head and found he was far too weak. 밆 on 뭪 try to get up yet. You 뭨 e on some heavy medications right now. I 뭠 l be right back.”

Donovan tried to survey his surroundings with his eyes while he waited but the small room didn 뭪 reveal much except for a screen facing his bed on the opposite wall.

The medical assistant came back and brought a small cup to his lips, emptying a tablespoon or so of crushed ice and liquid into his mouth. He let the ice dissolve, sensing the cold but feeling strangely de-tached from it. He managed to swallow the liquid and felt a little better.

The assistant was still there, examining his readings. 밯 hat happened?he managed. The man shook his head. 밒 wasn 뭪 here when you were brought in, but I can tell you that you 뭨 e lucky to be here. We had to re-grow some of your organs.”

밳 ou 뭭 e been in stasis until recently. You had surgery to transplant the new organs the day before yesterday. Everything seems fine so far. Try to rest. Press this button,he placed a small remote with a single button on it in Donovan 뭩 hand, 밿 f you need any-thing. We will be right here.”

Donovan felt the remote in his hand but didn 뭪 move his fingers, not trusting his re-flexes yet. He tried flexing the fingers of his

other hand instead and found he could barely move them. His hands felt like they were far away or, perhaps, encased in thick, stiff gloves that restricted movement.

He wondered if anyone would come to see him, but realized his family was long gone, far away. He tried to remember any friends that should be told what had happened to him, but images from his dreams kept com-ing back to him.

He found himself thinking about the people in those dreams as if they were real. The only one he could remember that he knew for certain was real, was his old friend Gil. But Gil was assigned to the Bangaram. There was no telling when he would see him again.

Finally, feeling sad about all of the new friends that he would never see again be-cause they weren 뭪 real, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When he woke up again, a new medical per-son was standing next to the bed, holding a portable scanner over his mid-section and looking up at the screen over his bed.

Donovan moved his head and found it was much easier. He didn 뭪 feel as groggy or as distant from his body as he had the last time he woke up.

He looked up at the woman by his bed and found she was looking back at him. 밐 ow are you feeling Mr. Kane?she asked.

He took a quick inventory of his internal sensations and said: 밊 ine, I think. Tired.”

밫 hat 뭩 to be expected. You are recovering from a massive trauma, but everything looks good so far. I am Doctor Galen. I 뭠 l be your personal physician while you are here.”

밒 f you are feeling up to it, I 뭗 like to try you on some light food today. You can also have water now, if you want some.”

Donovan tried to nod but his neck still felt weak and a little stiff. 밢 kayhe said.

The doctor smiled at him. 밫 ry to stay re-laxed Mr. Kane. I 뭠 l have some soup and a water bottle brought in shortly.”

Donovan waited, drifting in a pleasant fog of awareness. Soon, another person came in

and placed a tray in front of him on the bed. She used some controls he couldn 뭪 see to raise up the bed a little bit.

He felt momentarily light-headed as the bed forced him to bend forward slightly. That transitioned into a drifting, euphoric feel -ing that he rather liked. He realized he also felt a tightness in his mid-section, but there was no pain.

The woman by the bed lifted a cup to his lips and said: 밫 ry to drink a little.He felt the liquid pour down his throat and swal-lowed reflexively. He felt the coolness spread down through his middle. It felt great.

밃 re you ready to try a little soup?the woman asked. Donovan found he was able to nod his head a little this time and said: 밳esto make sure that she understood.

The woman gave him a swallow of what tasted like chicken soup, of all things. There wasn 뭪 much of anything solid in it, but it went down easily. After he 뭗 had about half of the cup he found some energy returning to his limbs and his head felt a little clearer. He raised his right hand and reached for it.

The woman said: 밳 ou can feed yourself next time if you can hold down this soup. Let me help you for now.She put the cup to his lips and let him take another swallow and then another until the cup was empty.

Donovan suddenly felt tired, turned his head to the side, and drifted off comfort-ably.

* * *

He woke up as a simulated sunrise lit up a 몏 indowby the bed. A medical assistant ap-peared quickly and asked if he was hungry. Donovan took stock and nodded emphati-cally, adding: 밳 es. I feel like I could eat a stack of pancakes and then some steak and eggs. Make sure there 뭩 bacon, orange juice on the side, and plenty of syrup please.He grinned.

The medical assistant smiled and said: 밄 e right back.”

When he reappeared, he held a tray with several covered dishes. He set it down across the bed at Donovan 뭩 waist and then elevated the bed just enough so that Dono-van could see the contents of the tray. He felt a familiar tightness across his mid-sec-

tion that he dimly remembered from the day before but there was still no discomfort.

The medical assistant uncovered the dishes for him. This time, he was allowed to reach forward and grab a utensil to feed himself. The food didn 뭪 look all that great, but it smelled heavenly. There were scrambled eggs and what looked like real bacon, some thin buttered toast, and a cup of yellow-or-ange liquid that could have been orange juice.

He dug in, beginning slowly but with in-creasing confidence, until he finished every-thing on the plate and drained the cup of juice.

밒 f you are feeling up to it, you have a visi -tor today,the medical assistant said.

Donovan wondered who it could be, feeling totally bewildered, but he nodded and said: 밪 ure.”

The medical assistant went away and Dono-van waited until he thought he 뭗 misunder-stood the man, but then the door re-opened and an older man in a Fleet uniform with Admiral 뭩 pips entered the room. Donovan

knew that he knew this man and grasped for a name.

밅 aptain, I 뭢 very glad to see you awake. How are you doing?”

Donovan fell back on protocol. 밊 ine sir. Thank you for asking.”

The older man looked puzzled for a mo-ment, then his face cleared and he smiled. 밆 o you know where you are son?”

밪 tation Med Bay, sirDonovan was momen-tarily surprised that he knew this, but real-ized that the background noise (there wasn뭪 any really) didn 뭪 sound like a Med Bay on a ship. Besides, he 뭗 already seen at least three medical personnel, which was a lot for most ships.

The older man continued to look at him, some concern evident on his face. 밆 o you remember how you got here?he asked.

Donovan searched his memory and said. 밒 was in stasissome kind of accident on the Bangaram sir?”

The older man straightened, looking a little alarmed. 밆 on 뭪 you remember anything

since then? My name is Admiral Jager. We met after you woke up from stasis the first time, after the Bangaram rescue. Ring any bells?”

Donovan frowned, memories of their first meetings flooding back. And then more memories came back momentarily over-whelming him. 밫 hen CC, Jasmin, Lhi-laniGil? That was all real?He felt foolish asking but he still couldn 뭪 believe his 멶reamswere real memories.

A curious series of expressions passed across the Admiral 뭩 face. 밒 guess I can 뭪 blame you for being disoriented Captain, waking up twice in the station Medical Bay in what must seem to you as less than one week.”

밄 ut, to answer your question: Yes, it is all real. You are Captain of the cargo ship En-counter. Your crew are all very worried about you. They have all been here to try to see you but only Dr. Song managed to get in, using her station medical credentials to bully her way in, even though she gave no-tice several weeks ago. She checked your status and was able to tell the others that you were doing fine, recovering well.”

Donovan felt a silly grin spreading on his face and then, inexplicably, felt tears run-ning down his cheeks. Embarrassed, he said: 밒뭢 sorry Admiral. I remembered most of it as I was waking up, but it seemed like a dream. I couldn 뭪 believe it was real.”

밫 hat 뭩 alright son. You just rest up and get well. Your crew needs youand you need to focus on getting well for now. I 뭠 l tell them that you are doing fine and will be back with them soon.”

The Admiral turned to go but Donovan wiped his cheeks dry and said; 밯 ait! Sir. Please”

The older man turned back around. 밳 ou re-ally should rest up. You 뭭 e been through quite a lot.”

밒 know. I mean, I realize that now, sir. But can you tell me what 뭩 happening with my ship? And the crewthere were so many things to do when I, when I What happened to me, sir?”

Admiral Jager looked sad for a moment and then a look of resolve came over his fea-

tures. 밳 ou look strong enough so I 뭠 l tell you, but you gave us all quite a scare son.”

밒 guess there 뭩 no gentle way to say this. Someone shot you just as you finished giv-ing an interview to some reporters. We have the man in custody and are investigat-ing.”

밳 our ship and crew are fine. They have continued the program you started. The ship is over halfway through the retrofit you initiated. All crew have been hired and have been running simulations for over two weeks now.”

The Admiral approached his bed again and took his hand. 밪 on, I am terribly sorry this happened and I feel partly responsible.The Admiral shook his hand, as if unsure what to do with it.

밯 e knew about the isolationist factions on the planet and we knew that there was sab-otage aboard the Bangaram, but we never suspected they would send an assassin to stop our program.”

밯 e are still trying to figure out how they knew about it, although we did find several listening devices in the newer sections of

Ms. Pranidhi 뭩 offices. We have our people following each member of the construction crew but haven 뭪 learned anything yet.”

밫 hank you sir.Donovan said. 밯 ill you please tell the doctors that I am ready for other visitors? I would very much like to see Jasmin, CC, and Gil in particular, if they can get away from their work with the ship and crew for a little while.”

밒뭠 l see what I can do son. I am glad to see you doing so well. All of us just want you to do whatever you need to do to get well. And don 뭪 rush it. You picked some damn fine people to oversee things for you and they are doing a great job. So don 뭪 worry about the ship or your crew. Everything will be there and nearly ready for your first mis-sion by the time you are ready to take charge, if I am any judge.”

With that, the Admiral gave his hand a final shake, turned, and walked out of the room.

* * *

He decided later that they must have given him something to make him sleep again be-cause he woke up when they brought him

dinner. He finished everything on the plate and fell asleep again.

The next morning after breakfast, he was allowed to get up and use the refresher at-tached to his room. When he took off his robe, he found that his entire left side from armpit to hip was covered with a soft, por-ous covering that flexed and stretched with his movements. It wouldn 뭪 peel away.

He decided it must be okay to expose it to water because they hadn 뭪 said anything about it. He got cleaned up and found there was a set of soft baggy clothes, pants and shirt, set out for him. Returning to his room he found a new person waiting for him that turned out to be a physical therapist.

He was taken in a wheel chair to a small ex-ercise room and led through a series of ex-ercises. His side felt stiff, partly from the covering over it, he decided, but he was able to stretch and move through the exer-cises with little trouble.

Next he was taken to another room for a full checkup. He was informed that he was doing fine, almost completely healed, but that he would have to take it easy for a week or so.

He was given a list of exercises to help him stretch and rebuild the muscles around his mid-section. He was told that the bandage covering his side would wash away over the next few days.

He was wheeled back to his room and found a fresh jumpsuit and a small bag with his other possessions, including his new comm unit. He was tempted to place a call to one of his friends right away, but a knock on the door proved to be Fleet Security. They were there, they said, to escort him back to his ship.

Donovan decided he would surprise his friends and followed the small squad out of the Med Bay by a side exit. They hustled him into a small car, the sort that only sta-tion security was usually allowed to drive around the concourse. Two of the squad climbed in with him, one driving. The other three climbed into another car behind theirs.

They took off moving moderately fast and before long they were at the entrance to port 48. Donovan started to say something, but the officer opposite him said. 밯 e are taking you by a back way through another warehouse.He climbed out first, scanning

the area around the lock, and then mo-tioned for Donovan to exit the vehicle.

The squad surrounded him and he was walked to the tube. Three of them got in with him, the other two remaining behind. The tube traveled about a third of the way down and stopped at a hatch. The officer palmed the lock and let them through a large warehouse space filled with boxes and equipment of all shapes and sizes.

At the other end of the large space they went through another hatch and entered another large warehouse, this one filled with huge shelves stacked with various ob-jects, some of which he recognized as ship parts. He started to smile, suspecting where he was. They turned right after little ways, turning down another corridor amidst the shelves. At the end they found another hatch and the officer palmed it open.

밫 his is it Captain. Good luck to you.Dono-van thanked the officer and stepped through the hatch. It opened on a short cor-ridor with what looked like a large, dark space beyond. As he reached the opening to the larger room, the lights came on and a small crowd of people jumped up from be-hind furniture and out of adjacent doorways yelling: 밯 elcome Home!and cheering.

Donovan broke into a huge grin as he rec-ognized Jasmin, Gil, and CC. He also recog-nized Lhilani and Liam among the group but the rest of the smiling faces crowding around him seemed new to him. Gil stepped up using his bulk and long arms to create some space around him, saying: 밇 asy folks, take it easy. He 뭩 barely out of Med Bay. We don 뭪 want to poke him in a sensitive area.”

He turned to Donovan, shook his hand, and said: 밯 elcome back Captain. You 뭨 e just in time. We were getting set to leave without you.He grinned and winked at his old friend.

Jasmin stepped up, saying: 밢 h stop. No teasing. Can 뭪 you see he 뭩 had a long day already?She stepped forward, giving him a light hug. 밯 elcome back.”

CC was next: 밒 t 뭩 so good to see you walk-ing around Captain. Last time I saw you I thoughtwell, I thought it was the last time I뭗 see you.She grinned and, looking flus-tered, stepped up and gave him a quick hug too.

밚 et me introduce the rest of the crew.She swiveled so she was facing the same way but kept one hand on his shoulder. 밯 e 뭭 e been busy while you were in stasis, waiting for your new parts to be grown.”

밚 et 뭩 see, you 뭭 e met Dr. Song and Liam Riordan. We 뭭 e hired Liam on as our new Science Officer to liaise with the science crew, but he 뭩 mostly been doing our simu-lation planning so far. This is Gene Quimby, our first pilot.She gestured at a slightly built, sandy-haired man in his late twenties who said: 밣 leased to meet you Captain.”

밃 nd this is our new second pilot, Amelie MercierShe pointed to a petite brunette with an olive complexion. She appeared to be young, perhaps mid-twenties at the out-side. She gave him a pretty smile and said: 밒 am honored to meet you and very happy to join your fine crew.”

Donovan smiled and nodded at each, still speechless.

CC went on. 밢 h, and you haven 뭪 met any of the engineering crew yet.She picked them out one at a time in the group. 밚 et 뭩 see, that 뭩 Greg Smithers. Janice where are

you? Ok, that 뭩 Janice Zudora, and over there is our newest addition, Nakamo Wichahpi.”

She asked, 밯 ho am I missing?and various people held up their hands. 밐 ave you met Dr. Jayat?”

Donovan managed to find his voice, realiz-ing he was still grinning like a madman. 밢h, not in person, but I recognize the doctor from our video chat.He waved at him, rear-ranging his face into a friendly smile.

밢 k, and what about Dr. Chervaar?”

Donovan nodded to the doctor. 밪 ame deal. Welcome Doctor. Pleased to see that both of you were interested in joining us.

밚 et 뭩 see, that just leavesoh, there you are. Our new Navigator, Jason Minami, and our new Botanist, Nathan Asha. Nathan is also a gourmet cook. Wait until you taste his cooking.She gave Nathan a big smile and then turned to the captain.

밅 aptain, may I present the crew of the En-counter!CC spread out her arms to encom-pass all of them, a huge smile brightening her face.

There was a new round of cheers and big smiles all around. Someone passed a cham-pagne glass to Donovan while others got a refill. Gil raised his glass: 밫 o our wayward Captain. May he stay safe and sound aboard our new ship!Everyone laughed and drank to the toast.

Jasmin stepped forward. 밚 et 뭩 get you comfortable. I bet you just got up for the first time today, didn 뭪 you?Donovan nod-ded and let himself be guided to a large, very comfortable looking couch. Jasmin saw him seated and then asked: 밃 re you hun-gry? We had lunch a bit ago, but we kept some food warm for you. We also have a big welcome home cake that we are all dying to try, if you prefer.”

Donovan said, 밄 y all means, bring out the cake!He saw Nathan dash towards the hall -way that he recalled led towards the outer offices. Jasmin and CC sat down flanking him and everyone else settled into a ring of couches and chairs that faced inwards on a big coffee table.

Nathan came back carrying a large double-layered chocolate cake, saying: 밒 f anyone is allergic to chocolate or nuts, there 뭩 also

cheese cake that I 뭠 l bring out in a momen-t.Someone else brought small plates and silverware and the cake was soon divided amongst them.

Donovan, who had only had hospital food for the last two days, let his eyes roll up in pleasure at his first bite. There were sev-eral chuckles around the room and he heard CC tell Nathan: 밒 think he likes it.”

Donovan looked around the room, drinking in all of the friendly faces. He focused on Nathan and said: 밫 hank you for this cake. It is fantastic.”

He looked around at all of them again. 밯hen I woke up in Med Bay the other day, I had a bad moment when I thought this was all a dream. It seemed too fantastic to be real. For a little while I thought I was just waking up from stasis after the Bangaram adventure.”

밒 think it was partly all of the medications they had me on, but as my head cleared I remembered more and more. To come back to thisseeing everyone here in this beautiful space Well, it 뭩 a better welcome home than I ever expected. Thank you all for join-

ing our new crew and giving me such a fine welcome.”

He raised his glass again and everyone matched him with a new chorus of 밯 elcome backand 밯 elcome Captain

밪 o,he said, 뱖 ho is going to fill me in on everything that 뭩 been happening. I can 뭪 wait to hear all of the details.He set his plate in his lap and rubbed his hands to-gether, eliciting more smiles from the group.

CC spoke up, saying: 밢 h my God, I hardly know where to start. Wait until you see us running simulations. It 뭩 exciting. I think everyone has fun seeing what new chal-lenges Liam has dreamed up for us. People watch on the big screen in here even when they aren 뭪 taking part. We have a multi-split-screen view programmed for the big screen so you can see what each of the par-ticipants are seeing and what the ship is do-ing in simulated space.”

밢 h! And wait till you see the ship! You won뭪 believe what Gil and his people have done. Well, everyone has pitched in, espe-cially with the common areas. There 뭩 still

work to do, but you won 뭪 believe what 뭩 already been accomplished. But I should let Gil tell you about that.”

Jasmin spoke up: 밯 hen we realized that you would be out of action for an extended period, CC and I decided we had better go ahead and hire the rest of the crew so that we could continue your plan to run simula-tions while the ship was being redesigned.”

밃 ll of the crew know that you have the ulti -mate say on who remains with the team, but I think you will be very pleased. Every-one has pitched in to try to get the ship ready for you when you got back. It 뭩 been a real pleasure and an honor working with this group.”

This was excuse for another toast all around. Someone had refilled Donovan 뭩 glass and he was already starting to feel the effects. He would have to go easy for a few days.

밒 s there any coffee? Or Tea? I 뭭 e only been on solid food for about a day, so this champagne is going straight to my head. I don 뭪 want to fall asleep yet. There 뭩 so much I want to find out about.He grinned at the group.

Nathan jumped up and Amelie stood as well, saying: 밒뭠 l help.”

While they waited for coffee, they started telling him about the work they had done and were still doing on the ship. 밯 ait till you see the Hydroponics Bay. Nathan al-ready has a big variety of seedlings start-ed.CC said.

Gil chimed in. 밯 e were able to find a cell culture bank that 뭩 being developed for trade. We got one of their prototypes. You won 뭪 believe the list of plant species it contains.”

Greg from the engineering crew spoke up: 밠 y favorite is the Recreation Module. We came up with some pretty crazy ideas but Chief Walker really delivered. Of course, we all pitched in to help put it together. That, and the sims, has really helped us come to-gether as a group.”

Donovan was starting to feel jealous, but did his best to keep his expression pleased. The coffee arrived and most people ex-changed glasses for cups.

Janice said: 밢 h! Tell him about the bees!There was laughter all around as people

looked to see who would take up the story. Lhilani finally put up her hands, saying: 밒 suppose I had better admit responsibility for that one. I was the one that found them.”

밯 e had ordered some mature fruit trees for the recreation module, you see. I hear that was one of your ideas. Everyone was very enthusiastic about it. These trees are very nice, already trained to a trellis in most cases so they could be placed around the walls. And the new breeds they 뭭 e devel-oped are continually flowering and bearing fruit. Butthey still have to be pollinated.”

밯 e worried about that for a few days. I mean, were we going to have to assign someone to go around pollinating each blossom with a brush or what? We got a lot of these trees. The idea of having fresh fruit whenever we wanted it was very popu-lar.”

밪 o, I consulted some friends in my field and found out about a new species of honey bee that was engineered to have no stingers. I thought 멒 reat! The perfect thing, right?뮅

So, we ordered a colony, and it came in it 뭩 own little stasis pod, with a kit to build the first hive container. We get it all setup and then quickly realize that we are going to need some means of keeping them from spreading to the rest of the ship. Gil came up with a nifty air curtain that you have to walk through on your way through the air-lock to the rest of the ship and that seemed to take care of it.”

We didn 뭪 realize that they had already been escaping or hitchhiking rides on peo-ple for about two days before that. At first, that is. Then we started finding them here and there all over the ship. I think the fun-niest incident was when one hitchhiked on someone all the way off the ship and in here and somehow got into the soup that Nathan made for dinner that night.”

It wound up in Chandra 뭩 bowl and when he saw it, he raised his hand to get Nathan뭩 attention and deadpanned: 멬 aiter, there뭩 a fly in my soup.When he spooned up the unfortunate bee and showed us we all burst out laughing. Poor Amelie choked on a mouthful and sprayed half the table with warm soup.Everyone was smiling or laugh-ing, but Amelie looked a little embarrassed.

밒 뭢 sorry I missed that.Donovan said, laughing. 밒 t would have been worth get-ting covered in soup to have been there.He winked at Amelie.

Chapter 8

hey 뭗 spent the evening running a sim-ulation for his benefit, so he could get a

sense of where they were at with the plan-ning phase of the project. During dinner, Gil told him that they still had crew work-ing on the interior of the ship, cleaning, re-painting, and installing new instruments and furniture.

T

After dinner, he decided he was too tired to take a tour of the ship, even if it had been ready. He hoped his stamina would improve quickly. He stayed for coffee and desert but then begged off, saying honestly that he was still recuperating. Jasmin showed him to a room that had been set aside for him. He found that his things had been moved in while he was away.

He went to bed hoping that he would have more energy the next day. He woke up dur-ing the night and remembered parts of a dream he 뭗 been having.

They were on the ship and trying to run from a Vareni warship that they 뭗 run into

while exploring a new star system. At the end of the dream, as he was starting to wake up, it turned out it was all a simula-tion. He felt oddly let down somehow. He wanted to be out there!

He made use of the restroom across the hall and went back to sleep.

In the morning, he got cleaned up and put on one of his spare jumpsuits, dark gray this time. The 멳 andagecovering his side was a bit thinner and more flexible by the time he finished. He got dressed and went looking for breakfast.

He found Nathan in the new kitchen, pulling something that smelled heavenly out of the oven. He smiled at the younger man. 밎 ood morning. Anything I can help with?”

Nathan set down the pan he was carrying and smiled back at him. 밇 verything 뭩 in hand Captain. We have been using the con-ference room as our dining room. Breakfast has already been laid out on the sideboard in there. I 뭠 l join you in a minute.”

Donovan nodded and reversed course. He entered the conference room up the hall a short distance on the right. And found

about half of the crew there. Gil, CC, and Jasmin were in a corner going over some-thing on a screen while they sipped coffee. Liam, Chandra, and Lhilani were still eat-ing. Everyone looked up and smiled when he entered.

Lhilani stood up, saying: 밄 reakfast is over here.She gestured at the sideboard along the wall near her. 밐 ow are you feeling to-day Captain?”

밮 ery well, thank you. I could use some coffee, but I so far I am feeling much bet-ter, certainly, than I was 24 hours ago.-Donovan got a plate and started filling it with various items, all of which looked fan-tastic. Lhilani gave him a searching look, as if giving him an examination without the benefit of instruments, but then she smiled, saying: 밫 ry the sausage. You can use the protein and it 뭩 very good.”

Nathan came in carrying a large plate with pieces of coffee cake artfully arranged on it. He got himself a plate and dished up his own breakfast, sitting down opposite Dono-van, who had taken a seat next to Lhilani.

Donovan dug in and quickly became en-grossed in the meal. After a few minutes he

looked up and saw bemused looks on the faces around him. He said: 밫 hank you for the wonderful breakfast Nathan. I assume you were responsible for most of this.”

Nathan grinned. 밒 get a lot of help, but, es-sentially, yes. Seeing you enjoy it is all the thanks I need.”

밡 ow I understand one reason why the crew is so happy.He winked at Nathan.

Chandra, on the other side of Lhilani, spoke up. 밒 t 뭩 true. He has a wide range of ex-pertise. I thought I would be missing my fa-vorite dishes while on this crew, but Nathan can do all of that and has intro-duced me to several new favorites as well.”

Having mostly sated his hunger, Donovan sat back for a moment with his coffee. Liam was working on a piece of coffee cake across from him, next to Nathan. 밒 don 뭪 think I got a chance to tell you last night Liam, but I was very impressed by the simu-lation you ran. You have done some fine work.”

There were a few chuckles around him. He looked around, his eyebrows raised. Lhilani explained. 밳 ou are absolutely right, the

simulations are amazing, and the level of detail is fantastic, but you missed the de-bugging stage.”

밯 e logged in one day to find ourselves at our counterpart stations onboard a theoreti-cal Vareni ship. We had a lot of fun with that! The simulated fireworks when we de-stroyed the Encounter were on par with the best movie special effects.”

Liam said: 밒 forgot to reset the PoV after I finished working on the Vareni ship simula-tion. Won 뭪 happen again. I will say that my AI crew aboard the Encounter gave us a run for our money. We actually learned a thing or two.”

밃 nyway, thank you Captain. Everyone has been a big help coming up with ideas for new missions and giving feedback to make things more realistic.”

At the other end of the table, CC looked up and called to him. 밅 aptain, do you have a minute?He nodded and giving a smile to the others around him, grabbed a piece of cof-fee cake and walked to the back of the room.

Jasmin, CC, and Gil were seated around a console in the corner of the room on which star charts of the local sector were dis -played. Jasmin spoke. 밡 ow that you are back we were just going over some of the other data that the Admiral sent you weeks ago. Part of that were charts with local so-lar systems marked out as candidates for exploration.”

밫 he other question we were grappling with, was what cargo you should try to carry on your first trip. After talking for a bit, we decided the two issues were linked. Depending on where you decide to explore first, that will determine which colony is closest when you are ready to move on. That, in turn, largely determines what you carry for trade.”

밒 know you hardly had time to think about this before the, uh, incident that put you back in Med Bay, but do you have any ideas about where you want to explore first?”

밫 hat reminds me. I haven 뭪 had time to ask anyone about what happened, but I defi-nitely want to have that conversation later today.He looked at Jasmin and she nodded.

He turned to the star charts: 밢 k, let 뭩 see what we have here.He could quickly see that they were looking at their current sec-tor of space. Systems with a colony were marked with yellow notations. Star systems that had been explored by previous ships had blue notations. There were relatively few of these.

There were many stars marked by a green circle in the display. He pointed to one of them and asked: 밆 oes this signify that the star is on the Admiral 뭩 list of solar sys-tems they want explored?”

CC nodded. 밇 xactly. They are pretty scat-tered, but generally seem to be the systems near to colonies that belong to the Coali-tion. Others seem to be likely candidates for life worlds or systems that might have worlds suitable for terraforming.”

Donovan nodded. 밒 used to stare at these charts for hours on long shuttle flights around this system. I am sure you all know that most of the known colonies are in this sector (zero-one-zero) and the adjacent sec-tor (one-one-zero) anti-spinward on the x-axis.”

밫 his is by far the most explored region of the Orion arm, at least by humans, and it is just a tiny piece of it, far less than one per-cent. Gil, will you bring the view up one sector on the z-axis please?”

밡 otice how many G and K class stars there are in this sector and, yet, it is virtually un-explored.They all took a minute to look as Gil pulled up smaller windows showing what was known about some of the stars from remote observation.

Donovan pointed to a bright star relatively close to the border with their sector of space. 밇 ighteen Scorpii here has been de-scribed as being nearly a twin of Sol, hu-manity 뭩 home star. It also has a spectrum that indicates high metallicity, which sug-gests there could be valuable resources in that system.”

밢 k, now take us back to sector zero-one-zero please.Donovan pointed to a K class star near to the upper-left corner of the dis -play. 밚 ook at Darius colony here at twelve Ophiuchi and how far away it is from every other Coalition colony. It also happens to be the only colony close to sector zero-one-one.

밡 ow, if we head there but take a slight de-tour, we could visit NN three-nine-five-four or HIP eight-four-five-eight-one.”

밨 elatively little is known about either of those solar systems. There are some re-ports from captains who stopped at NN three-nine-five-four looking for resources, but they didn 뭪 have the equipment to do a proper survey of the system and didn 뭪 stay long. Both of those solar systems could make good test cases to see how our equip-ment and protocols work.”

밢 nce we reach the Darius colony, we are at a good jumping off point to check out eigh-teen Scorpii or several other candidates.”

Gill switched back to the view of sector 011. They could all see that 18 Scorpii had a green circle around it. It was on the list, as were several other stars in the bottom half of that sector.

CC asked, 밯 hat about the next sector spin-ward? Darius is the closest colony to that sector too.”

Donovan shook his head, saying: 밎 il, show us that sector please.”

밫 here are some interesting candidates there too, but see these systems here, here, and here?Donovan pointed to several stars near the center and towards the far edge of that sector. 밫 hese solar systems are known locations where we 뭭 e encountered Vareni ships. Sector minus one-one-zero is not safe to explore at present. Neither is sector mi-nus one-zero-zero, spinward from the Sol sector.”

Jasmin spoke. 밒 can back that up. The Ad-miral doesn 뭪 want you taking chances with encountering the Vareni. We want to avoid any further provocations on either side.They could all see that no stars had been circled in sector -110.

They had drawn a larger crowd by now, as the others finished their breakfast and started gathering around. Donovan nodded and went on. 밃 nyway, that was the area I found to be most interesting back when I used to daydream about this.”

밒 know it takes us far away from most of the Coalition colonies, but I think our chances of making some big discoveries are better in that direction. I 뭢 certainly open to other opinions.”

CC looked at the time display. 밯 e have a simulation scheduled to begin shortly. We can come back to this later.”

The group broke up as people gathered dishes and leftover food and brought it back to the kitchen. Donovan refilled his coffee, turning back to look at the star chart still displayed in the corner. He thought: so many choices!

* * *

Gil approached him. 밒 checked with Liam and he doesn 뭪 need me for this simulation. Now might be a good time to take a tour of the ship. If we do it later, we could have a big group following us around and slowing us down. Everyone wants to show off what they 뭭 e done.He smiled.

Donovan nodded. He was both anxious to see the ship and nervous about it. So much had happened while he was in Med Bay. He hoped there wouldn 뭪 be any changes that he disagreed with. 밚 et 뭩 do it.He said.

Gil led the way to a side entrance to the tube lift for port 47. He talked as they went. 밃 s you can imagine, we had the ship

in pieces for a bit, until we got that new aft cargo core built and could set it in place.”

밯 e moved the entire aft crew and engineer-ing section into a hangar for about a week to make it easier to do some modifications. That section has more of an oval cross-sec-tion now, to make a little extra room for the shuttle bays.”

밯 e had everyone move out their gear and all of the supplies on board. We had to re-design most of the crew quarters and I wanted to clean everything up and repaint while we had the opportunity.”

Gill stopped him at the airlock. 밄 e ready for some major changes. After you got in-jured, we got some major concessions from the Admiral. I 뭢 guessing he felt bad about not anticipating the need for greater secu-rity during the planning phase. He gave us almost everything we asked for. Sosome-thing good came out of your time in Med Bay anyway.He grinned.

Gil led him through the airlock and down a short corridor into what looked like a new passageway. He said: 밳 ou won 뭪 know your way around at first. Everything inside the crew and engineering module got

shifted a bit to accommodate the shuttles and some new structural beams.”

They turned right. Gil said: 밯 e 뭨 e heading aft to Engineering. I want you to see that first.They passed through one open hatch-way and then reached another a little fur-ther on, painted Orange around the bor-ders. Gil said: 밯 e color coded the main sec-tions, CC 뭩 idea, so that you can always tell what part of the ship you are in. Orange is for Engineering.”

He palmed open the hatch. 밃 ccess is re-stricted to senior officers and the engineer-ing crew. That was Jasmin 뭩 idea. We tight-ened up security all over after you were at-tacked.”

They entered the large Engineering section and continued aft on what had become a catwalk above the largely open space. Lad-ders led up and down and other catwalks led off at right angles to access various sys-tems.

They passed the large toroidal fuel and pro-pellant tanks, unchanged from Donovan 뭩 last visit, as far as he could tell. Gil pointed to his left as they continued aft. 밯 e got two new reactors and replaced the one we had

here. This reactor is smaller but generates about twenty percent more power. We man-aged to sell our old reactor to pad out your budget a little.”

밫 hese are top-of-the-line military fusion re-actors. In addition to being smaller and more efficient, they are almost completely automated. We won 뭪 have to monitor these half as much as we would the old one. It opened up a lot of space back here.”

밫 he other one is installed in the forward section of the new Machine Shop module. Being near to the mid-section of the ship, it provides a backup power source to the warp drive and all of the forward instruments in case we lose power between here and there.”

Leading the way further aft and turning to the right, he pointed to the nearest engine mount. 밡 otice anything different here?”

Donovan could tell at a glance they weren 뭪 the same engines he 뭗 seen before. 밫 hey 뭨e tiny. You got us some midget engines?”

Gil laughed. 밃 gain, these are state-of-the-art plasma engines, the latest Fleet design. We got eight of them. They are far more ef-

ficient so they don 뭪 need anything near the cooling equipment that the old engines needed. That was most of the bulk that you saw before.”

밫 he only restriction we had to agree to was to retune them to use hydrogen as a propellant so that they won 뭪 have the same spectral profile as Fleet engines. But that suits our purposes for long range trips because it will be easy to find sources of propellant wherever we go.”

밒 had to reinforce the structural support around them though, and throughout the rest of the ship. These babies can supply as much as thirty percent greater thrust than our old engines, which were over ten years old. We also sold the old engines but we didn 뭪 get much for them.”

밒 mpressed yet?He asked, grinning.

Donovan nodded. 밒 was worried about sav-ing money for all the scientific equipment we would need, so I never even thought about looking for new engines.”

Gil said: 밯 e haven 뭪 paid for anything that I am aware of, aside from some of the plants and fruit trees we bought for the

Recreation module and a few other little things. I could be wrong, but I think we 뭭 e probably made you a little extra money sell-ing old components.”

밇 verything we 뭭 e asked for simply ap-pears a day or two later in the warehouse. Jasmin has been a wizard at finding what we need.”

He led Donovan towards the middle of the large space and then down a ladder to the area he remembered held the reclamation, recycling, and life support machinery. In-stead of many huge tanks filled with waste water in various stages of purification, he found they had been replaced by a single large tank divided into several sections and a cluster of smaller pressurized tanks to one side.

Gil pointed to the new machinery. We were able to get a new recycling unit that 뭩 far more efficient. We used to use some of the waste heat from the engines to help run the old unit. This one uses nano-scale filters to separate different molecules and gasses. We were able to get rid of all of that heat exchange plumbing running everywhere.”

밢 h, and we have another one of these in the Shelter module you designated. It han-dles all of the recycling from the adjacent modules. These things flush out the filters automatically so they require very little maintenance and almost never need re-placement parts. It mostly functions on in-ternal pressure from the artificial gravity so it uses very little power.”

Donovan asked: 밯 hat if we lose power and artificial gravity?”

Gil said: 밫 here 뭩 a pump to keep internal pressure steady and it will run easily off of backup power, which we have supple-mented with solar power collection. More about that later.”

밫 hese units produce most of the oxygen we need. The plants in our new Hydroponics and Recreation modules also act as a backup to our oxygen production and at-mosphere scrubbing systems. We have mul-tiply-redundant air filters, operating on sim-ilar principles, built into the vents on every deck.”

Gil led the way back up the central ladder and then to the Starboard side where he pointed out a large, rectangular object

mounted to the inner side of the hull. He palmed an access panel. It moved out and to the side, revealing a rack with small mis-siles, three high, and at least nine slots wide.

Gil said, 밃 nother present from the Admiral. These are entirely defensive, all with reflec-tive flack loads. They should stop or diffuse beam weapons for long enough that we can move out of the way. The flack might also confuse incoming missiles.”

밫 here are three separate launchers on each side of the ship: top, bottom, port, and starboard, for a total of twelve in all. We can design our own payloads. We have a medium sized industrial fabricator in the machine shop that can make replacements if we use these up.”

He took them down a ladder, past the en-gine mount on that side, and stopped at the next catwalk.

He pointed to a cylindrical object mounted to the hull there. 밆 efensive pulsed laser system powered by a bank of capacitors. It can still fire up to three times if power from the generator is lost.”

밒 t is programmed to work with our sensor suite to detect and fire on incoming objects such as meteorites or missiles. It is power-ful but doesn 뭪 have the optics to focus on really long range targets.”

밒 t has a nearly 360 degree range, but is locked out of the arc and elevations that would intersect with our warp ring. We have similar units on each side of the ship and at the bow section.”

Donovan asked: 밡 o offensive weapons then?”

Gil shook his head. 밯 ell, if we focused all of the forward lasers on one target, it would pack a punch.”

밄 ut the truth is, I didn 뭪 even ask for any-thing more powerful. In the unlikely event that we see a Vareni ship, my understand-ing is that we are to avoid contact and go to warp. The only other threat I could think of would be pirates and, as far as I know, there are none in Coalition space.”

밫 rue.Donovan said. 밃 lthough we will be going outside of patrolled Coalition space.”

밒 have never formed a strong opinion about the need for offensive weapons systems in all the time that I 뭭 e spent daydreaming about exploring. I guess we will have to wait and see what we find out there.”

Gil nodded. 밠 y thinking too. We have the capability to build other payloads for the missiles and we can reprogram their guid-ance software. We could even create a more powerful and longer range laser, but it would take some time.”

Gil was leading them forward towards the crew module and they palmed through an airlock again, leaving engineering. 밯 ith all of the space we gained in the crew module by moving out the water tank, the gym and the crew lounge, we were able to give about half the crew larger quarters. We also ex-panded the galley to twice the size it was before.”

Gil stopped at a hatch and opened it to re-veal a good-sized cabin with a partition be-tween the sleeping area and a sitting area with a desk and console at one end. 밫 he larger cabins, like this, have their own re-freshers at the far end.Donovan looked around. Everything looked new. Even the

walls were newly painted. The furniture looked stylish and comfortable.

Gil said: 밯 e were able to give the crew some choice in the furnishings, so each cabin has a slightly different character, even before we 뭭 e moved in. This will be my cabin.Donovan nodded, admiring the space.

Returning to the corridor, Gil led them for-ward and then they took a tube up a few levels. They exited on a similar hallway with a hatch opposite the lift that seemed to lead to an outer compartment.

Gil palmed the hatch open and they entered a small control room with a view pane that looked down on the nose of a shuttle in a large bay that extended to their right, down the side of the ship towards the engineering section.

밒 am very proud of these babies.Gill said. 밫 hey can land on a planet from a wide or-bit and have VTOL capabilities.”

밯 e have two, one on each side of the ship. Each one has it 뭩 own small fusion reactor and four small main engines. They have

powerful thrusters at the mid-section and maneuvering thrusters at the nose.”

밫 he middle third is cargo space, part of which is already packed with emergency gear and tools. The forward third carries up to six crew, including the pilot and/or co-pi-lot.”

밯 e had to extend the diameter of the ship by a few meters to each side to fit these in. The shuttle bays also extend into part of the engineering space, but we managed to cre-ate a lot of extra room down there too, so it was not a problem.”

밇 ven so, they wouldn 뭪 have fit except that the atmospheric flight surfaces retract when they are in space.”

밯 e installed dedicated lifts to the biology lab on the side of the bay there, just as we discussed.Gil pointed out a cylindrical tube near the floor of the bay, running under the control room they were in.

Donovan was nodding, taking everything in, and maintaining a steady smile as he wit-nessed how the ship had been transformed.

Looking at the shuttle, he said. 밒 trained on something not too different from this. As

I recall, these little shuttles are fast and very maneuverable.”

Gil nodded. 밯 e may not need most of their power unless we try landing on a planet with significantly higher gravity than we are comfortable with.”

Donovan pointed to what looked like a thick, black rubbery material that seemed to cover most of the body of the shuttle. 밯hat 뭩 that coating? I 뭢 not familiar with that.”

Gil smiled. 밃 nother little present from our Fleet friends. We have the same covering on our ship hull, wherever it could be ap-plied without interfering with ports or in-struments.”

밒 t is a thick foam that absorbs enormous amounts of energy and disperses it to all sides. It can take a hit from kinetic or en-ergy weapons and disperse most of the im-pact.”

밒 f something does burn through, it can re-seal over small breaches. It also serves as a decent solar energy collector and can recharge our ship batteries in a relatively short time if we are close enough to a sun.”

밒 t can take some damage from atmo-spheric entry, but we just spray more of the stuff on after each trip. We have vats of it down in engineering. It has the added ad-vantage that it makes large parts of the ship harder to see. The stuff is dark, as you can see, and it absorbs radar frequencies.”

Donovan was grinning now. He said: 밯 ow. This is overwhelming. I never expected to get so much high technology from the fleet. Won 뭪 this give away our relationship?”

Gil smiled back. 밡 ot at all. We can claim, truthfully, that it is a new solar energy coating. If anybody wants to know how it works, we can also claim we bought it from a third-party vendor that has it patented. That 뭩 close enough to the truth as doesn 뭪 matter.”

Shaking his head, Donovan followed Gil as they left the small control room. He was shown the new Med Bay and Galley.

Everything gleamed with new, unused fin-ishes and looked absolutely sterile. He guessed that wouldn 뭪 last long, at least in the Galley. He wondered if they had setup a chore schedule for the crew yet.

Their last stop in the crew module was the bridge. That space had been expanded a lit-tle and there were new consoles at each station and new acceleration chairs as well.

There was an added station that turned out to be the new science station, Liam 뭩 post. He would liaise between the scientists and Command from there.

Gil had him try his new chair, which had controls built into the arm rests, the left side controlling his displays, and the right side ship communications and over-rides for the major ship systems.

Donovan found it to be incredibly comfort-able and hoped he wouldn 뭪 fall asleep in it during long shifts.

Then Gil led him forward to the new cargo modules. They walked through the new storm shelter where he was shown retract-ing bunks, a large storage space with emer-gency supplies, and a duplicate of the recy-cling systems down in engineering.

The forward third of this central container was a cryostasis bay with enough stasis pods for everyone on the crew, in case they lost all life support.

The backup bridge in the module below was a copy of the bridge in the crew module, ex-cept that the space was narrower and longer. The forward third and the bottom half of this container had been converted to storage for the crew module, the labs, and the hydroponics bays.

Taking a tube up, they entered Gil 뭩 new machine shop. There where shelves and racks containing every sort of tool Donovan could imagine. Larger machine tools were arranged along the opposite wall.

Moving forward, big spaces had been de-voted to a pair of industrial fabricators that could assemble parts from nothing more than blueprints and stocks of the requisite elements. Gil showed these off proudly.

밫 hese are usually incredibly expensive, as I 뭢 sure you know. Somehow, Jasmin man-aged to procure two of them for us, along with a complete inventory of feedstocks. They are used, but they have been main-tained very well. Now, for the piece-de-re-sistanceGil pointed at a smaller, though still bulky cabinet near the end of the work-shop.

밫 his is a nano-scale assembler. It is very high-tech, very secret Fleet equipment. With the big fabricators we can make just about any large parts we need to build or fix anything on the ship. But when it comes to smaller, detailed parts like complex cir-cuitry, they don 뭪 have the fine resolution.”

밫 his baby can make anything we can think up and build a perfect prototype atom-by-atom. I couldn 뭪 believe they let us have one of these but I asked just in case... and here it is!Gil was stroking the sides of the cabinet with his hands. Donovan laughed but then assured the big man that he was impressed.

밒 뭢 already working on a variation of our comm units, the ones you and I bought, in my spare time. I 뭗 like to make one for each of the crew but with a few add-ons. In addition to the communicator, computer and storage, I 뭗 like to have a location bea-con that we can ping from a distance, for away missions.”

밆 r. Song heard I was working on it and suggested a few small instruments and a medical diagnostics package so we can monitor crew health on missions.”

밒 뭢 also working on plans for some small survey satellites that we can launch with our missiles so we can map any interesting planets we come across more quickly. We can produce those on the voyage out.”

Donovan nodded. 밒 뭭 e given that some thought as well. Make sure you build in some communications capability as well, so we can maintain contact with away mis-sions from orbit even when they are over the planetary horizon.”

Gil nodded. 밳 es, I 뭗 thought of that too. And I am betting that our scientists are go-ing to want me to squeeze in all sorts of other instruments. We are going to be lim-ited by the payload capacity of our missiles, but I suppose we could construct a special launcher for larger payloads if needed.”

They moved on and toured each of the labs. It was clear these were still under construc-tion as there were conduits full of loose ca-bles terminating at various stations where instruments were still sitting in crates or amidst the clutter of packing material.

They encountered each of the scientists di-recting engineering crew and helping set up gear in their labs. They had also been excused from the morning simulation. Dr.

Jayat was excited when they found him star-ing at displays at a workstation in his new lab.

밅 aptain! Chief! We just got our main com-puter running and ran calibrations with the new telescopes installed at the bow. I am already getting tons of data on nearby sys-tems on a par with most of the data we get from our orbital instruments on Prithvi. This is truly a marvelous setup!”

The Captain and Gil congratulated him and quickly moved on, the doctor being en-grossed by all of his new data.

Doctor Chervaar was more reserved but seemed to be happily absorbed with making sure all of his equipment was setup prop-erly. He let them look around while he kept busy following instructions in a manual to install and calibrate a mysterious closet-sized machine.

Doctor Song was very happy to see them, but cautioned them via the comm system to stay in the outer lab until she came out.

She passed through an airlock that divided her lab into two sections. The airlock seemed to possess a decontamination sys-tem, judging from the mist that enveloped

her as she passed through. As she exited the lock she unzipped the hood of a contam-ination suit to speak to them.

밪 orry to keep you waiting. I already have some experiments with exo-life samples un-derway in the secure portion of the lab. Nothing dangerous, but I want to avoid con-tamination of my samples by Terran organ-isms.”

Donovan spoke up. 밡 o worries. We were just taking a tour of the ship. I guess most of your lab will be off limits unless we want to suit up. But that 뭩 not necessary today. I just want to see everything and get a feel for what 뭩 changed while I was away.”

Dr. Song nodded. 밫 his lab is truly a marvel of automation. I was worried that my work would go slowly without lab assistants, but this setup almost runs itelf. You almost don뭪 need me, if you had someone who knew how to feed samples into the appropriate machines.She laughed.

밒뭢 glad that we were able to equip the lab so well. But you can thank Gil here and Jas-min for most of that. They have done an as-tounding job with every aspect of the ship.”

밢 h, I know. I am amazed at every turn at all of the new features and equipment.”

밯 e 뭠 l let you get back to your work. We still have several sections to get to before lunch.”

They said their goodbyes and agreed to get together for lunch.

Gil led him through a hatch to the forward hydroponics bay. Donovan could see that the space had been divided into two floors by catwalks that ran the length of the con-tainer.

Shelves lined the sides and ran down the center, dividing the space into two long corridors. Plants sprouted from thick, felt-like mats on mesh shelves, water and nutri-ents dripping down to collection trays. Light strips were mounted above each shelf of plants.

Large portions of the bay were not in use yet and Donovan couldn 뭪 identify most of what he saw growing there, until Gil showed him the laminated labels attached to the end of each row. They found Nathan in the aft hydroponics bay, moving newly planted trays from a workbench onto shelves.

This bay was already nearly filled with small seedlings of various types. Donovan noted the names of many familiar vegeta-bles as they walked down the corridor be-tween rows of shelves. Nathan looked up and saw them coming. He waved them over.

밐 ello Captain. Welcome to our gardens.He said smiling in obvious pride.

Donovan said. 밒 am impressed. You have squeezed far more growing space in here than I thought possible. I have already seen tons of plants that I don 뭪 recognize, even by name.”

밳 ou came through the forward section?Nathan nodded in return. 밒 am mostly starting seedlings for trade in there. I man-aged to clone the fruit trees we bought for the Recreation module and I brought quite a few samples myself.”

밫 hat 뭩 on top of the absolutely amazing botanical cell bank that your people pro-cured. We can clone just about anything we need from that and start seedlings in very little time. I persuaded Lhilani to house that in the Biology Lab, since we need ster-ile conditions to clone the cells.”

밒 also have a composting station near the entrance to this bay, for plants that do bet-ter in soil. It gets supplemented by steril -ized and filtered night soil from the recy-cling systems.”

밒 t will be interesting to see where our in-ternal carbon cycle stabilizes. I anticipate having more soil than I can use before very long. Of course, as long as we are mostly living and eating outside of the ship, we are bringing more carbon aboard all the time.”

Donovan was still looking around at all of the plants. 밳 ou have done an amazing job of getting all of this setup and running so quickly, even with all of the help from engi -neering and other crew. I want you to know that I am very pleased to have you on board with usand that 뭩 not just because of your cooking!He grinned at the younger man.

밒 뭢 very pleased to be here too Captain. This is an awesome playground for me and I really enjoy living and working with the crew you have chosen. It 뭩 an interesting group of people.”

They explained that they still had places to tour and said their goodbyes until lunch.

Gil led him back to the midpoint of the bay where there was a hatch leading to the storm shelter, in-between the shelter proper and the emergency storage section. They crossed that space and went through another hatch into the Recreation Bay.

They emerged into a large space filled with comfortable chairs and couches facing the far wall, which had a large screen on it for group viewing.

There was a small kitchen and bar to one side, with a refrigerated unit for cold drinks and equipment for making various hot bev-erages.

The passage leading back to the main sec-tion of the ship was lined on each side with smaller rooms with consoles for one to three people to send messages, play games, or watch something different from what was showing in the main room. These rooms were also equipped with VR gear so they could continue to run simulations while un-derway.

Moving forward, they passed a moderately sized refresher and locker room before en-tering the gym. Brand new exercise equip-ment of every description lined the walls and ran down the center of the room.

Donovan reminded himself that he needed to make time to use the gym in their section of the warehouse later that day.

At the far end of the gym there was a sauna and what looked like a large, covered hot tub, big enough for a small crowd.

They passed through another airlock into the last container and Donovan felt the strong jets of the air curtain he had been told about wash over him as the far door opened.

They walked into a beautiful park-like space with gently rolling lawns, walking paths in-terweaving around the lower spots. Fruit trees on trellises lined the walls, which had been covered with images of more rolling hills with forests and mountains in the dis-tance. Other ornamental trees grew at the top of the small hills around the center of the space.

They followed one of the paths forward and passed a rock-climbing wall on the left. Gil pointed to that and explained that a console at the bottom controlled where hand and footholds emerged from the wall so that it could be configured for beginners or ex-perts. Rope harnesses dangled from the ceiling for safety.

Looking up, Donovan noticed that the ceil -ing had images of clouds in a blue sky pro-jected on it. There was a single bright light source that mimicked a sun in a late morn-ing equatorial position.

As they continued on, he saw small seating areas with comfortable benches occupying niches between the trees and other foliage.

About two-thirds of the way along the con-tainer, there was a moderately sized pool with water continuously flowing from the front to the back. Donovan could see the edges of a retractable cover that would pre-sumably seal the pool while the ship was maneuvering.

Beyond this another hatch led to a game court. Gil showed him a control panel that would cause various fixtures to emerge from the walls for different games. The panel even allowed for disabling the artifi-cial gravity in that section to allow for null-gravity games.

Donovan was more than impressed. The ship had seemingly changed overnight into something beyond his wildest dreams. For the moment, at least, he couldn 뭪 think of a single thing to add or anything he would want to change.

He clapped Gil on the shoulder and said. 밒 have no words for what you have done here. It is more than I ever imagined we could ac-complish.”

밚 et 뭩 head back now before my head ex-plodes. It feels like I have seen more new and wondrous things today than in all the rest of my life put together.”

Gil laughed and led them back to their quarters on the station. Donovan asked him to fetch him for lunch and went to his room. He sat down on the bed, his head spinning with all of the new information he had absorbed. He was tired from the long tour. He definitely needed exercise, he thought, but decided to rest a little before lunch. He lay down and fell asleep in mo-ments.

Chapter 9

il sent Nakamo to wake Donovan for lunch. The young man was quiet as they

walked to the Conference Room. Donovan appreciated the silence, since he was still waking up. Even so, his head was already swimming with everything he needed to catch up on and do.

G

Lunch was delicious but not the quiet inter-lude he was hoping for. The crew peppered him with questions. 밆 id you see the new Rec. Rooms? 밆 id you see the shuttles?and so on. Finally CC stepped in and said: 밚 et the man eat!That got him laughing and ev-eryone else joined in briefly.

After lunch, the group was getting together to discuss the morning 뭩 simulation. Dono-van pulled Jasmin aside for a private con-ference in one of the smaller meeting rooms.

밊 irst, I 뭗 like to say 멦 hank youto you and the Admiral for everything you have done

for us. The ship is amazing and the crew are everything I hoped for and more.”

Jasmin nodded, accepting his gratitude. 밒 won 뭪 say it was easy getting everything that everyone asked for, but it was defi-nitely an interesting challenge and, as you guessed, the Admiral smoothed out a few sensitive acquisitions.”

밨 emember, we have a lot invested in mak-ing this work too. We have high hopes for you, your crew, and your ship.”

Donovan nodded in return. 밒 wanted to make sure I didn 뭪 forget that, but that 뭩 not why I wanted to talk this afternoon.”

Jasmin nodded again. 밳 ou want to know why you were shot, right?She waited for his answering nod and then continued. 밒 뭢 afraid we don 뭪 have as many answers as you probably wantyet.”

밫 he man who shot you was subdued by a camera man who was part of that pack of reporters. The shooter had been waiting with them, blending in by holding a record-ing device and watching the area just like the rest of them. No one recognized him

but they didn 뭪 think to question that ei-ther, since reporters had been coming up from the planet to cover your story for a week or more.”

밯 hen station security interrogated the man, he claimed he didn 뭪 remember shoot-ing you. He said he hardly knew who you were. It turned out he was a dock worker, single, and it was one of his days off work, so no one had missed him yet.”

밯 e are working on a theory, but it is just a theory at present, so take this with a few grains of salt. We think someone may be us-ing modern drugs and technology to essen-tially 멳 rain washinnocent people into per-forming sabotage or committing violent acts.”

밯 e suspect the isolationists, of course, but we don 뭪 have any solid leads yet. We are trying to back-track this man 뭩 movements for the last week or so, but so far nothing has turned up.”

Donovan nodded again resignedly. 밒 fig-ured it was something like that. Otherwise, I was sure you would have told me about capturing those responsible.”

밃 ny idea why I became a target, aside from the fact that I might have interfered with their plans for the Bangaram? In other words, do we have a leak somewhere?”

Jasmin had adopted a serious, worried ex-pression. 밯 e can 뭪 rule out the possibility of a leak, although we have been doing our best to do just that. The Council knows about the new exploration effort, of course, and not all of them voted for it, so there might be some members who let something slip.”

밢 n the other hand, only the Admiral and his people knew that he had signed you up for the program. Unless someone was watching really close and got news of the sale of the Gold Sun and then saw you com-ing and going that first night, we can 뭪 ex-plain it.”

밯 e did find some listening devices when we scanned the offices after you were shot. However, they were all in the residential area and we never talked much there or mentioned your name. It could just be your fame for saving the Bangaram.”

밒 f so, then the perpetrators learned about it at the same time as the news reporters

and set their man in motion almost immedi-ately. We are trying to track down the vari-ous reporter 뭩 sources, but you can imag-ine how that is going.”

밨 ight.Donovan said. 밪 o, my next concern is: how closely did you background check everyone on the crew? And my second ques-tion is the same, except that it applies to all of the extra workers who have been crawl-ing all over the ship for the past few weeks.”

Jasmin was nodding again. 밯 e checked ev-eryone 뭩 background thoroughly, including the temporary workers. They are who they say they are and their biometrics support that.”

밃 fter the attack, news stories spread spec-ulating that you were the new owner of the Gold Sun, or that you were shipping out on it as part of the crew. Because of that, we swore the temporary workers to secrecy.”

밃 side from a few specialists, they were all fleet crew who were reassigned to the Ad-miral 뭩 department, so they understood what it meant to take an oath.”

밫 he few specialists we allowed to work on the ship, for things like installing the new high resolution telescope at the bow, were carefully checked out before we let them near the ship and all of them were required to sign non-disclosure agreements.”

Donovan said: 밐 ow do we know someone didn 뭪 get to them before they reported to work on the ship? Could any of them have been 멳 rain washed as you put it, in ad-vance?”

밒 t is very unlikely. We initiated our checks on the specialists before we started negoti -ating for expensive parts like the telescope I mentioned. We didn 뭪 want to do business with a company that sympathized with the isolationists or any other fringe group.”

Donovan slapped his hand to his forehead. 밯 hat about the weapon? Surely that kind of thing isn 뭪 allowed on the station for civil-ians.”

Jasmin nodded again. 밯 e checked into that too. It was fabricated from parts that were fairly innocuous by themselves, but de-signed to fit together in a new configuration that was quite dangerous.”

밯 e are looking into fabrication records throughout the station, but we haven 뭪 found anything yet. We suspect it may have been brought on board the station in pieces, as parts in other machines.”

It was Donovan 뭩 turn to look thoughtful. 밯hy can 뭪 I shake the feeling that we 뭭 e missed something? I feel like there is an-other trap just waiting to be sprung at any moment.”

밒 know what you mean. As friendly as the Admiral usually is, you can 뭪 imagine how tough and serious he has been these last few weeks. I think it has been affecting his sleep. I know it has mine.”

밯 e 뭭 e been scanning these offices daily for listening devices. We haven 뭪 found any-thing since the construction ended.”

Donovan nodded. 밯 ell, I guess you have been doing everything I could possibly ask for and more, so I thank you and the Admi-ral again for your efforts. I am sure you will turn up something eventually.He gave her a weak smile.

밫 hank you for understanding Captain. I know it is frustrating and you certainly didn뭪 deserve any of the pain and suffering you have been through. Please know that we are doing our best to make sure that nothing else goes wrong before your launch.”

Donovan nodded and shook hands with her briefly. 밚 et 뭩 catch the end of the debrief-ing. I want to see how things went today.”

She agreed and they went out to join the group.

* * *

Donovan enjoyed listening in to the de-briefing and the suggestions that various people made to improve future simulations. When the meeting broke up, he called CC, Gil, and Jasmin aside to meet with him.

When they were all seated in the same small conference room he and Jasmin had used earlier, he began: 밒 got a briefing from Jasmin earlier about the attack that put me in Med Bay.”

밒 n some respects her report was reassur-ing in that I believe everything has been done that can be done to investigate the

matter. In other respects, it was less than satisfying. I can 뭪 shake the feeling that we haven 뭪 heard the last from those responsi-ble.”

밪 o, if we don 뭪 already have something along these lines, I would like to procure some hand-held diagnostic devices that can do passive and active scans for explosives and listening devices. I want enough of them for the entire Engineering crew and CC and myself so we can carry them at all times.”

밡 ext, I want you, Gil, and your team, to de-velop a simple set of protocols for scanning anything suspicious. Maybe start with pas-sive scans for explosive molecules or com-ponent molecules, then low energy scans for circuitry of any kind. What I want to avoid is setting anything off by scanning it.”

밊 inally, without alarming the rest of the crew, if possible, I want the entire ship scanned from top to bottom. If you can de-sign a robotic scanner to crawl over the hull of the ship, make a small army of them and do that too.”

밒 know you are all very busy with other du-ties getting the ship ready to go, but I want

this done, even if it means pushing out our departure date by a weekwhich reminds me. Do we even have a tentative departure date yet?”

The other three looked around at each other. CC spoke up. 밯 e were waiting to get you up to speed before we made any deci-sion about that. We assumed you would de-termine when we were ready.”

밃 fter all, we are still running simulations and we haven 뭪 had time yet to put to-gether a set of straight-forward protocols for various exploration situations.”

Donovan nodded. 밢 k. Good. We definitely need to make time for that. Also, I need time to take part in some of these simula-tions so I can get used to bridge operations and more mundane things like using the bridge console interface.”

밒 am also still recovering from my injuries folks. As much as I would like to put up a strong front and pretend all is well, it is go-ing to take me some time to get my full strength and stamina back. That tour of the ship today really wore me out.”

밐 owever, after that nap this morning I am starting to feel more like myself again. My head is clearing up and I feel like I can start to take on some challenges again.

밢 h, that reminds me. Please inform the rest of the crew to keep an eye out for any-thing unusual, even if it is just a loose screw lying on the floor. If they see any-thing, they are to report it to CC or Gil for investigation.”

밃 gain, we don 뭪 want to alarm anyone, so just tell them that we are looking to make sure that everything is in its place and that there are no loose connections anywhere.”

밒 f they see anything that doesn 뭪 belong, tell them not to investigate because it could be the equivalent of a live wire. Tell them to send for Engineering to take a look at it. Understood?”

Donovan saw nods all around. 밢 k. Can one of you see if Liam is free to join us?CC hopped up and was through the door before the other two could react. He sat quietly while they waited.

Liam came back with CC just behind. The small room was starting to feel cramped, so

Donovan stood, leaving the seats to the oth-ers. 밫 ake a seat. I have a few questions. This part of the meeting is mostly for Liam and Gil, but everyone here might be inter-ested.”

밚 iam, as I said before, I am very impressed with your simulations, or what I have seen of them so far, but I have a few questions about how they work if you don 뭪 mind.”

Liam shrugged and said: 밪 ure Captain, whatever you want to know.”

Donovan nodded. 밢 k. So far I assume you have been focused mainly on developing re-alistic simulations of the ship 뭩 design, the various departments and stations on the ship, and various mission scenarios.”

밫 he feedback you have gotten so far has gone into refining those aspects of the sim-ulation software and developing new sce-narios. Is that correct essentially?”

Liam nodded, saying: 밳 es, although it is a bit more complex than that. For example, I have some simple AI software that, in some simulations, tries to anticipate the actions of the crew. Sometimes I even cheat a little

by giving it knowledge of past behavior of the crew in similar situations.”

밢 k. Good enough.Donovan said. 밊 irst question: to what extent have you taken into account the design specifications of the various components of the ship?”

밯 ell, I 뭭 e been getting regular updates from Gil, as you directed, on any changes made to the ship, so my simulation always reflects any additions made.”

밯 hen it came to simulating something like the reactor, however, we haven 뭪 yet run any simulations where we have red-lined it, but we did run one simulation where we lost main power and had to switch to the backup generator.”

Donovan nodded. 밢 k. We 뭨 e getting there. Let me refine my questionusing the reactor as an example.”

Donovan took a deep breath and thought for a moment about how best to phrase things. 밯 hen the new reactor was installed, were you given detailed information about every aspect of its operation? And did you pro-gram that into your master simulation so

that you had, in effect, a simulated reactor as part of the overall simulation?”

He held up a finger, signifying that he wasn뭪 finished. 밢 r, were you given a general description of its performance capabilities, including things like the maximum power output, power needed to initiate the startup sequence, and so on, and simply used those as boundary conditions, so to speak, for the overall behavior of the machine.”

밒 n other words: the generator is either on or off. If it is on, we have power up to a cer-tain maximum, if we reach that maximum, we get some sort of alarm and some other consequences, otherwise, we don 뭪 care what the reactor is doing as far as the sim-ulation is concerned. Am I confusing things or do you see what I am trying to get at?”

Liam nodded and then shook his head, say-ing: 밒 get what you 뭨 e saying. You want to know if I have written code to simulate the exact operation of every component of the ship.”

밊 or example, did I program in all of the fu-sion reactor 뭩 design characteristics along with the equations governing the fusion re-

action at its core so we have a complete simulation of it 뭩 behavior?”

밚 ikewise, did I simulate the exact behavior of the plasma engines, thrusters, the life support machinery, recyclers, and every other piece of machinery on the ship?”

밫 aking it a step further, did I include all of the control circuitry, which includes the ship 뭩 computers and all of their program-ming?”

Liam 뭩 brow was furrowed now. 밫 he short answer is 멞 o.I simplified the simulation a great deal. To begin with, to simulate all of those computers would take a super-com-puter more powerful than all of them put together.”

밪 econdly, I am just one programmer. I had to take short-cuts to get these sims ready for the crew as it is, like re-using code from a space fantasy simulation I had written be-fore. I am constantly going back and using bits of code from other simulations I cre-ated in the past. Saves a lot of time.”

Donovan held up his hands: 밢 kay, okay. No offense meant. And I really meant it when I said I admired what you 뭭 e accomplished,

both individually and as part of the team. That 뭩 important and I am not discounting it.”

밒 am simply, to start with, trying to under-stand what the data from these simulations is good for. How much it tells us 뾵 hat it in-cludes and doesn 뭪 include.”

밡 ow that we have a general idea of that, I뭠 l tell you some of what I want to find out from these simulations and then I want you to tell me if it is possible.”

Donovan took another deep breath and crossed his arms, looking down. 밚 et 뭩 say we arrive at a new solar system, match rel -ative speeds, and shut down propulsion so the scientists can begin their work.”

밆 r. Jayat fires up every piece of remote sensing gear we have installed and then all of the astronomy computers to store and analyze the data that begins streaming in.”

밡 ext, let 뭩 say, for the sake of argument, that our geologist, Dr. Chervaar, still has samples from the last system we visited that he is working on and all of his equip-ment is on as well.”

밚 ikewise, Dr. Song has her ongoing experi-ments and is also cloning plants for our Botanist, who has the hydroponics bay go-ing at full capacity.”

밡 ow, a ship appears in the system and we quickly identify it as a Vareni ship. We de-cide to go to maximum warp immediately.”

밡 owwhat will the drop in power, if there is one, do to all of that delicate and expensive scientific equipment?”

밯 ill some of that equipment shut down? Will some of it fail? Will we lose contain-ment on some exo-life experiment in the Bi-ology lab? Will some of that equipment be damaged, perhaps at such a deep level that we can 뭪 easily manufacture a replacement part?”

He held up a hand again to signal that he had more to say. 밡 ow, imagine that we take a hit and half of our power relay cir-cuitry is fried, or it 뭩 enough to shut down the reactor entirely”

밐 ow long does it take emergency power to come online? How long before the sec-ondary generator ramps up if we had to cold start it from the battery backup power?

Can we maneuver at all while that is hap-pening? How long before we get the con-ventional engines working?”

밄 efore you answer any of that, can you tell me if the system is even designed to work in reverse, with the power now flowing from the generator at mid-ship back the other direction to the engines at the aft end? Assuming the backup generator had to be cold started, how long before we can go to warp?”

Gil held up a hand and Donovan nodded. 밯ith all due respect, Captain, some of those are purely engineering questions and I can tell you the answers or design in fail-safes wherever we decide we need them.”

Donovan nodded. 밫 rue enough Gil and that뭩 exactly what I want us to do wherever we can identify problems like that before we set out. That 뭩 also why I want these simu-lations to be detailed enough to show us problems we didn 뭪 know existed.”

밫 hinking it through only gets us so far. The system is far too complex for any one person to see all of the possible outcomes from any single equipment failure. That 뭩 why we need a good simulation of all of the

interdependencies, if possible, so we can test those failures and see what happens. Which brings us back to the question for Liam. Can it be done?”

Liam was looking thoughtful, mimicking the captain 뭩 posture with his arms folded across his chest, a small frown on his face. He said: 밒 don 뭪 want to tell you 멞 oCap-tain, but the real answer is somewhere be-tween 멮 esand 멞 o.뮅밊 or example, let 뭩 say you got us that su-percomputer that I stipulated earlier. Let 뭩 say we also had complete specifications on every computer on the ship and copied all of the software running on them to run through our virtual simulation of those computers. Then we add in more detailed simulations of every piece of equipment on the ship that those computers are running.”

밯 e still wouldn 뭪 have the exact data that they would be processing at the moment the power goes down, so we don 뭪 know ex-actly how hard those computers are work-ing to crunch numbers. Maybe they are working at a hundred percent of their pro-cessing power, or maybe they are only us-ing ten percent when the power goes down.”

밇 ither way, I 뭢 not sure it matters, but the point is, we can 뭪 predict, or duplicate ex-actly how those systems are going to be-have in every possible scenario even if we could model them perfectly.”

밢 n the other hand, we can attempt some-thing in-between that perfect simulation and what we have on those systems right now, which is nothing.”

밊 or example, we can try to incorporate whatever data the manufacturer has given us or can provide us on the performance of those devices when the power fails. Gil might be able to tell me what happens when there is a 멳 rown out which systems would draw the available power first, that sort of thing.”

밇 ven that, however, would take us a long time to accomplish, maybe weeks, probably months. There 뭩 no way to gauge it accu-rately right now.”

밫 hat reminds me.Donovan said. 밐 as any-body tried to figure out yet whether or not the computers in the astrophysics lab can handle all of the data coming in from all of the new telescopes and other sensing de-vices at the same time?”

Gil addressed that. 밯 e were going to run some tests on that in-system, during our shake-down cruise, to see if there are any problems. In theory, there shouldn 뭪 be, but I suppose it depends on whether the good doctor starts up any heavy analysis software while data is still coming in.”

밚 et 뭩 assume that data will always be com-ing in. From what I know of them, scientists never want to stop collecting data, even if it will take a team of other scientists their en-tire lifetimes to work through it all. They are happy just to have collected it and stored it away for future use.”

That got some laughs from around the room. 밢 kay, so we have some idea of where we stand. This is not an ideal solu-tion, but here 뭩 what I propose”

He shifted his stance, leaning back against the wall and hooking one hand in a pocket while he gestured with the other.

밊 irst, from an engineering perspective, let뭩 keep both generators running at all times and distribute the load to both of them. We can program the computers to ramp one or the other up to meet needs at either end of the ship.”

밪 econd, let 뭩 look into using the small re-actors on the shuttles as another backup. Gil, I want you to look into how much fuel it will take to keep them ticking over at low power. That will also keep the shuttles on standby for immediate launch if we need them. If necessary, we can work on setting that up while we are underway to our first destination.”

밫 hird, let 뭩 make sure the power can run in any direction, with control circuitry to balance the load and multiple, redundant circuit breakers to prevent a massive power surge from putting everything out of com-mission at the same time.”

밚 et 뭩 also make sure each of the labs has it 뭩 own backup battery system. Let 뭩 find out what equipment is most sensitive to brownouts or sudden shutdowns and pro-gram the computers in each section to do a controlled shut-down of those systems if main power is lost.”

Let 뭩 also figure out what systems abso-lutely have to be kept powered. For exam-ple, the stasis pods should have top priority if they are in use and we lose power to ev-erything else. I also really don 뭪 want to

lose containment in the biology lab, no mat-ter what else happens.”

밫 hat takes care of some of my concerns, probably. With any luck, the scientific sys-tems will never lose power, and we will al -ways be able to go to warp, assuming that isn 뭪 the first thing that gets hit.”

밊 ourth, let 뭩 look into getting that super computer or the equivalent. If nothing else, our main computer should be able to handle all of the data that the scientists try to col-lect and be able to run analyses and simula-tions on top of that.”

밚 et me be clear. I don 뭪 want systems that are barely good enough. I want systems that are two hundred to three hundred per-cent of our anticipated needs and, where possible, I want that capacity distributed and configured to act as backups to other systems in case of emergencies.”

밊 ifth (and I know you are all busy enough already, but you can delegate some of this to the scientists or others) let 뭩 collect all of the specifications, diagrams, and any other performance data we can get on every piece of equipment we have installed.”

밒 want to take the time to do that even if it means going to the manufacturer for each system to ask for additional data 뾢 ven if it takes us several extra weeks. Put it all in a special database so we have the data when we need it.”

밚 iam can work on incorporating that data into a more comprehensive simulation of the ship while we are traveling between so-lar systems.”

밫 here are some things we still won 뭪 know until we have that shake-down cruise. For example, we don 뭪 yet have any data on ex-actly how the plasma engines will perform now that they are reconfigured for a differ-ent propellant.”

밢 ver time we can refine the detailed ship simulation until it matches the actual per-formance of the ship as closely as possible. At some point we might start to get some useful data on interdependencies between ship systems by simulating failures in dif-ferent parts of the ship.”

Donovan paused. 밒 know some of what I am asking for might seem like overkill. Or some of you might be thinking that I am a

little paranoid since I got attacked.He held up his hands to stay any response.

밫 hat 뭩 okay. I would rather err on the side of safety, even if it takes us an extra month to get ready, than find that we overlooked some important vulnerability after we leave port.”

밒 want our new mantra to be: 멣 afety first.We need to do everything we can to make sure that this mission succeeds for one very important reason: If this first ex-ploration effort fails there may not be an-other for a very long time.”

밫 here is already a strong isolationist movement in the Coalition. They want us to hide our heads in the sand and pretend that there is no threat out there among the stars.”

밒 don 뭪 buy into that. I believe that knowl-edge is power. Safety lies in knowledge, in preparation and having adequate backups.”

밫 hat 뭩 why we are driven to spread out across the galaxy, so that the human race can not easily be destroyed, even if one so-lar system, or several, suffers some sort of catastrophe. That 뭩 our racial backup sys-

tem. That 뭩 one of the many reasons why we are heading out to explore again.”

Donovan was starting to get swept up in his own words. Without realizing it, he had let his voice rise in volume and strength. 밯 e are going to go get new knowledge that makes us stronger and find new planets to colonize that make us safer.”

밬 ltimately, we may even find another species out there that is ready to make friends with us, and together we will be stronger yet. Maybe we will be strong enough to try to initiate talks with the Vareni, with ships that can withstand a few punches without being destroyed.”

Now is the time to try. Now, before the Coalition winds up like isolationist Terra, hiding its head in the sand. Are you with me?”

The resounding chorus was: 밳 es Captain!”

Chapter 10

onovan and Gil spent the next week re-designing several systems to make

them more robust and build in fail-safes. Work was completed on all of the labs and the rest of the crew compartments.

D

When all of the work was done and the ex-tra workers reassigned to other jobs, the engineering crew ran complete scans on ev-ery compartment and every piece of equip-ment, including the hull.

The data the Captain requested on all ship systems was gathered and stored in a single database for future incorporation into more detailed simulations.

The regular simulations continued and Donovan now took part, learning bridge op-erations and how to command effectively. He encouraged the crew to give him feed-back during the meetings following each simulation so that he was able to learn and improve his performance as well.

They spent an extra week reviewing every-thing they had learned from the simulations

and writing up a set of exploration proto-cols.

Finally, it was time to take a shakedown cruise. If everything went well, then they would decide on their first destination, de-termine what cargo to carry, and set a de-parture date.

Donovan took his seat on the bridge. Gene Quimby was at the pilot station; Jason Mi-nami was at Navigation; Liam Rhiordan was at the new Science Station; and his XO Ca-ley Cabot was at the Operations console.

Amelie and Nathan were watching from the backup bridge. Nathan wanted to watch their departure but he also wanted to be near Hydroponics so he could check period-ically to make sure everything was okay there.

Gil and his crew were all in Engineering and the scientists were in their labs, moni-toring their own systems, most of which were powered down for the test flight.

Donovan turned to Operations. 밅 C, how 뭩 the pre-flight checklist going?”

CC looked up from her station. 밅 aptain, ev-eryone is at their stations. All equipment

has been secured for maneuvering. My board is green. Port control has given us the 멺 o aheadto disengage.”

Donovan said: 밓 ason, disengage the air-lock, disengage clamps, and then give us a 5 second burst on the port-side thrusters.

This was a tricky moment. If they hadn 뭪 accurately estimated the weight distribu-tion along the length of the Encounter, they would start to spin slightly, rather than move evenly away from the station. The thrusters at the aft crew module, the mid-dle (warp coil) section, and bow had been set to higher or lower degrees of thrust, de-pending on how much of the ship 뭩 mass was distributed nearby.

Gene reported: 밯 e are within three percent of profile, adjusting settings and firing a mi-cro-burst now.”

Donovan said: 밮 ery good. Let me know when we reach 500 meters.He opened a link to Engineering. 밅 hief, how are the en-gines doing?”

밐 umming along nicely Captain. We can feed propellant to them whenever you are ready. I 뭗 like to start with a sixty second

test, ramping up the power slowly, as we discussed.”

밬 nderstood,Donovan said. He looked over at the Operations console to his right. 밅 C, check with Port Control and get us clear-ance for acceleration please.”

밓 ason, plot us a course for Mining Station 3 on the outer belt. I want you to take us 5 degrees north of the planetary plane on the first leg so we will miss the inner belt, then take us back in to rendezvous with the sta-tion. Gene, please check the course once it is entered.”

Donovan watched his own displays as they continued to move away from the station. At 500 meters, Gene spoke: 밅 aptain, we are at the 500 meter mark. Course checks out.”

Donovan nodded. 밮 ery well. Fire starboard thrusters for station keeping and then re-orient the ship on the new course, thrusters only. Signal when we are stabilized on the new heading.”

CC spoke up: 밯 e have clearance for maneu-vering Captain. Shields are at full power and Engineering signals all green.”

Everyone watched as the ship was spun about in three dimensions to point towards the outer reaches of the solar system. As the bow approached the course that naviga-tion had laid out, thrusters fired again to stabilize them on the new heading.

Gene reported: 밪 hip oriented on new head-ing. Awaiting orders.”

Donovan checked everything on his dis-plays. CC was doing the same at her station to his right. Liam spoke up from his station. 밅 aptain, I have a red light on the forward telescope. It was not locked down for ma-neuvering. I can correct it from here 뾯 un-ning checks now. Ok. No damage and ev-erything reads as secured.”

Donovan said: 밨 e-check your boards folks. Report status.Donovan looked over his own displays again, pulling up a few windows for more detailed views while each station reported nominal status. He said: 밢 k, here we go folks. Initiate main engine test, start-ing with minimal thrust, ramping up to fifty percent power over sixty seconds.”

Everyone watched their screens as the sec-onds ticked by. At first nothing seemed to happen. Donovan glanced up at the forward

and side view screens, feeling slightly ner-vous.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, a slight hum could be felt and heard through the decks. Donovan thought he could detect slight movement when he looked at the stars in the side view screens but decided he was imagining it.

The test ended. Donovan re-opened the con-nection to Engineering. 밐 ow 뭩 it look Chief?”

Chief Engineer Gillespie Walker was frown-ing with concentration in the display. 밡 ot bad, not bad. I 뭢 making some slight adjust-ments to two of the engines. It 뭩 nice work-ing with these systems. Almost everything can be manipulated remotely. No need to go pull off panels and try to manually tune the fields.”

밢 k, according to my simulations, that should correct a slight difference in thrust that we detected. A longer test will give us better data. I 뭗 like to burn for three min-utes and ramp up to full power over the first two.”

Donovan nodded. 밃 greed. I 뭠 l check back with you in four minutes.”

Donovan turned his gaze back up to his dis -plays. 밇 veryone check your boards again please and report your status. Jason, see if those mis-calibrated engines put us off course at all. Gene, make course correc-tions at your discretion. Report when ready.”

Donovan waited as the reports came in. Ev-erything still checked out so he gave the or -der to initiate the second engine test.

Again, everyone waited as the engines ramped up. This time, they felt the ship start to hum sooner, some portions of the ship vibrating sympathetically with the pulse of the engines. The hum was a quiet, background thing, somewhere between a feeling and a sound, even at full thrust. They would soon get used to it and probably tune it out.

The test ended and Donovan checked in with Gil again. 밇 verything looks good Cap-tain. The engines performed perfectly as far as we can tell. Longer tests will tell us if any tweaking is required. The little data we have so far suggests that engine efficiency

may be one or two percent better than we anticipated.”

Donovan nodded. 밒 뭢 tempted to test the warp drive now, but we should probably do that longer test of the conventional drives first. We want to make sure we can get back if the warp drive fails. What are your rec-ommendations?”

Gil said: 밒 agree a longer engine test is prudent before we test the warp drive. Let뭩 run the engines at full power for an hour. If anything is going to go wrong, we should get some indication during that time.”

Donovan nodded. 밃 greed Chief. Good work.He closed the connection and turned back to his displays.

Donovan looked around the room, finding that most of the crew were watching him, waiting for orders. 밨 eport readiness for prolonged thrust.He waited for a moment as heads turned back to screens.

밚 iam, let 뭩 get a verbal check from each of our scientists. Make sure nothing fell over in the labs and let them know we will be at full thrust for one hour shortly. That should give everyone time to make sure their sta-

tions are secure and then go use the head if they need to.There were grins around the room.

Everyone reported green boards. Donovan gave Gene the order to engage the engines at full power. 밢 k, folks, make sure every-thing looks good at your station and then you are free to stretch your legs, use the head, or get some coffee. Set a countdown for one hour. We will shut down and re-check everything after that.”

Donovan paused. 밅 ome to think of it, we could use some sort of drinks dispenser on the bridge, with optional stimulants to help with long shifts. Why didn 뭪 anybody think of that?He grinned.

밒 뭠 l second thatGene said. Amelie, who had been listening in from the backup bridge, opened a channel and said: 밐 ere, here!”

CC laughed. 밃 nd cup holders! Who de-signed this bridge anyway? I thought it had all the bells and whistles!”

Everyone was grinning or laughing now. Gil chimed in from Engineering where he had also been listening in. 밯 e can figure some-

thing out when we get back to Coalition Prime station. Start a list.”

CC, still grinning, said: 밢 n it. I 뭠 l make sure the labs have something too.”

Donovan stood up. 밒 need to stretch my legs so give me your coffee orders. CC you have the bridge.”

Jason stood up too. 밒 뭢 not needed right now. I 뭠 l help carry.”

They got everyone 뭩 orders and took the tube at the back of the bridge down to the galley.

As they entered the Galley, Donovan noted that everything looked fine. Nothing had shaken loose. Of course, they hadn 뭪 done any wild maneuvers. A ship as big and heavy as the Encounter simply didn 뭪 accel-erate, turn, or stop quickly.

They filled everyone 뭩 drink order and made their way back to the bridge. 밅 areful with these folks. We are going to need some no-spill cups for use up here too. In the meantime, let 뭩 just be careful not to spill on anything that might short out.”

Everyone settled in again and sat watching their screens or gazed at the forward and side view screens. CC looked through the ship 뭩 entertainment database and played some classical music softly in the back-ground. Donovan checked everything on his own screens and then pulled up the ship 뭩 logs and resumed reading where he 뭗 left off.

He 뭗 been reading the previous captain 뭩 logs whenever he found the time over the last few weeks. Much of it was routine, but he found gems of insight from time to time. He kept the Engineering read-outs in his peripheral view as he settled into his chair to read another old log entry made by the prior captain.

The time went by slowly for everyone, how-ever they tried to distract themselves, as many of them found themselves nervously checking and re-checking their systems ev-ery other minute. Finally, all eyes were on the count-down timer as the hour mark ap-proached.

The timer ticked down to zero and Gene re-ported: 밪 hutting down engines Captain. We are within one half of one percent of our planned course, which is well within

the margin of error in our initial course corrections. All instruments are green and our course is clear to the limits of detec-tion.”

Donovan nodded. 밫 hank you. Any other problems to report?He looked around the bridge and then opened a link to Engineer-ing again. 밯 ake up down there. How 뭩 ev-erything look?”

Gil laughed. 밃 ll systems nominal Captain. The engines are working at peak efficiency. Not even a hiccough. We can initiate a warp test whenever you are ready.”

Donovan smiled. 밬 nderstood. We need to match velocities with our destination first. I뭠 l let you know when we are ready for that.”

밓 ason, calculate a burn to match vectors and velocity with Mining Station Three, leaving us with ten percent of our outbound velocity. Gene, double-check it and initiate when you are ready.”

Donovan saw the new vector and thrust es-timate appear on his screen a few seconds later. Gene reported: 밅 alculations verified. Adjusting course.”

Everyone watched as the ship re-oriented, pointing almost back the way they had come. They would have to cancel much of their out-bound velocity and then match the spin of the asteroid belt in the outer sys-tem, specifically the point where the mining station orbited. 밇 ngaging engines. Captain, it will be almost another hour before we have matched orbital speed with the sta-tion.”

밬 nderstood.Donovan said. 밢 k, folks, same drill. Check your boards and then feel free to stretch your legs if you need to.”

The hour passed much more quickly this time. Donovan was actually caught by sur-prise, having become absorbed in his read-ing.

Gene announced. 밅 utting engines. Vector and velocity with destination matched within several tenths of a percent except that we are still moving towards the station at ten percent of our previous velocity.”

Donovan looked up. 밮 ery good. Re-orient on our destination and all stations report readiness for warp. Jason, calculate how long it will take at warp one to put us one

hundred kilometers out from the mining station.”

He checked with engineering as everyone on the bridge reported readiness. Jason said: 밅 aptain, at warp one, it will take us two point seven three minutes to reach the coordinates you specified.”

Donovan gave the order: 밣 ower up the emitters and engage warp one for two point seven minutes.”

There was no physical sensation of move-ment, but there was definite movement in the side view screens this time as several stars moved out of view at the trailing edge of the screens.

In the forward view screen every point of light brightened a little as it was blue shifted slightly. Donovan found himself scanning his screens several times for any sign of trouble. The trip ended as he fin-ished his third scan.

Gene reported: 밆 ropping out of warp. We are a little over one hundred kilometers out from our destination and moving outward at ten percent of our former velocity.”

Donovan nodded. 밃 cknowledged. Jason, check with station traffic control and plot a new course to match vectors and bring us into docking range. Gene, initiate the new course and thrust as soon as you have veri -fied it.”

Donovan opened a channel to Engineering. 밯 hat 뭩 the good news Chief?”

밫 he warp drive performed perfectly Cap-tain. I wish we could perform a longer test at higher warp, but there 뭩 no point unless we had someone following us in case of trouble, I guess.”

Donovan nodded. 밃 greed. No fluctuations in the warp field? Nothing anomalous at all?”

Gil shook his head. 밪 teady as can be. It was a perfect match with my own simula-tions. We are as good to go as we can be without running another whole series of tests.”

밢 kay Chief. Thank you for your excellent work. The ship is in great shape and per-forming admirably. We will be docking within the hour, I think, so feel free to let

your crew take a break or take one your-self.He grinned.

He opened a ship-wide channel. 밫 his is the Captain. Great work everyone. Our first cruise has gone without a hitch and we ex-pect to dock with Mining Station Three within an hour. Please maintain stations as long as we are maneuvering. We will let you know when we are docked.”

밅 C, please take over docking maneuvers. I뭠 l be in my cabin until we dock. You have the bridge.”

Donovan took his coffee with him down the tube to his cabin. He set the coffee by his bed, set an alarm to alert him in a half hour, and then collapsed on the firm sur-face.

He had regained much of his old stamina over the last few weeks, but he had been on edge since they 뭗 left Coalition Prime sta-tion. Despite all of the precautions they had taken, he kept expecting something to go wrong, some undetected sabotage device to go off.

Now, the tension seemed to leave him in waves as he took deep breaths and closed

his eyes. It wasn 뭪 long before he fell asleep.

* * *

The alarm jolted him awake. He felt some-what rested but a little groggy. He forced himself to get up and resume his duties. He grimaced as he gulped the cold coffee he had left by the bed. In the refresher he washed his face with cold water and felt fully awake.

Striding onto the bridge, he found that they were in the last stages of approaching the station on thrusters before they could en-gage the grapples and mate with the station뭩 airlock. He sat down quietly to watch and listen.

Gene said: 밊 iring starboard thrusters. All stop infive, four, three, two, one. Engaging grapplesairlocks sealed and equalizing pressure. Docking maneuver complete.”

There were sighs here and there around the bridge. Gene spoke up again, saying: 밯 hat? You doubted me?He sounded outraged but he was grinning.

Donovan said: 밡 ice work Gene. Very smooth.”

Gene did a double-take. 밅 aptain, I didn 뭪 see you come back.”

밳 es, well, you were rather busy when I came in so I didn 뭪 interrupt.Donovan said, smiling. Keying the ship 뭩 intercom, he said: 밯 e are docked folks. Feel free to move about, but please make sure every-thing is shut down in your area before you leave it. Let 뭩 all meet in the Galley in five minutes to go over the plan for this visit.”

CC spoke up: 밅 aptain, I have a message from the station Commander inviting you to visit her at your convenience.”

밫 hank you CC. Please reply that I will con-tact her shortly. Also, are you up to taking first watch on the bridge? You can listen in to the meeting from here.”

밅 ertainly Captain. I 뭠 l tap Amelie to re-place me when it 뭩 time.

밮 ery good. Ok, let 뭩 all head down to the Galley folks.”

They took the tube down two at a time and waited for the others who had longer to walk to reach the Galley. Everyone took seats, looking pleased as they entered.

Donovan opened a connection to the bridge on the comm panel in the Galley and made sure CC could hear them.

He sat on the edge of one of the tables and looked around at his crew. 밯 ell done every-one! I 뭗 say the first phase of our shake-down cruise has gone amazingly well.He started a round of applause and was joined by everyone, most of them smiling and look-ing excited.

밡 ow, about our visit to the station. Most of you know that we arranged to bring some supplies for the station with us, so we will be here a little while until the containers get offloaded. There 뭩 some possibility that we may be asked to bring a load of cargo back with us, but I won 뭪 know until I check with the station commander.”

밯 hile we are here, I would rather not show just how many crew we have aboard. It might give rise to questions about how we can afford to pay so many salaries on a cargo ship.”

밢 n the other hand, there isn 뭪 a whole lot to see on a mining station. There are few shops but they are mostly geared to selling goods to the miners when they come in, usually at a stiff markup, so you probably won 뭪 like the prices here, even if they open up the shops for us.”

밫 here 뭩 also a combination bar and greasy spoon diner on the station, but we have bet-ter food right here.”

밐 aving said all that, let me see a show of hands for those who want to see the sta-tion.Donovan waited as several crew put up their hands.

밃 melie, if you go it will have to be in the first group. You are next on the bridge rota-tion.”

Amelie said. 밒 뭠 l check in with CC before we leave so I know when to be back.”

밢 kay, there are few enough of you that you can go in one group. Please don 뭪 talk about the ship, crew, or (especially) our mission. If anyone asks what you do on the crew, keep your answers short or deflect their question by asking what they do and

then ask more questions or get them to give you a tour. That usually works.”

밒 have been here on shuttle runs several times. I strongly recommend that you don 뭪 buy anything. There may be down-on-their-luck miners on station who will try to sell you gems or 멲 lienartifacts.He made quote marks with his fingers to indicate that he was being facetious.

밫 hese are usually worthless. The gemstone markets are flooded in this system and there are no real artifacts out here that we know of or it would have been big news long before now.”

밊 or those of you staying on the ship, you are free to do what you please until we de-part, unless you have been assigned other duties, but please refrain from sending any messages until we get back to Coalition Prime station.”

밫 hat reminds me, Gil? Can your team do a visual check of the main sections of the ship? Make sure nothing shook loose and that nothing smells like burning insulation anywhere?He grinned as he said this, indi-cating that he didn 뭪 think it likely.

Gil said. 밒뭗 like to run diagnostics on the major ship 뭩 systems and do a few other checks first, but we should have time for that.”

밆 raft anyone else who isn 뭪 busy if you need to. Ok. I think that takes care of ev-erything. I am going to go meet with the station commander, arrange to offload their cargo, and possibly take on another load. Station crew will do the cargo handling here.”

밚 et 뭩 plan to leave in approximately 18 hours. That should give everyone time to get some rest before we depart if you need it.

* * *

In the end, their visit took longer than he 뭗 anticipated. He 뭗 brought several cases of brandy for Commander Bania, knowing her preference from prior visits as a shuttle pi-lot. She gifted him with a bag of gemstones in return, including one diamond the size of a large grapefruit.

밳 ou won 뭪 see the likes of that one again soon. I saved it for a gift. If I shipped it

back in-system they 뭗 just cut it down for industrial uses.Donovan marveled at the large stone. He had certainly never seen one like it. He thanked her and they got down to discussing cargo.

They 뭗 brought 12 cargo containers full of fresh food and other supplies mounted on the forward cargo beam. The commander wanted them to take a full load of raw ma-terials back with them. 밫 he in-system car-riers can 뭪 keep up with our production, al-ways running behind.”

Donovan agreed but then she wanted to know what was in the eight containers that weren 뭪 being unloaded. Donovan was ready for that. 밯 e 뭨 e making another stop at the Mahaan Science Station to drop off more supplies on our way back to Coalition Prime. It was more efficient for us to stop here first.”

He happened to know that the commanders of the two stations didn 뭪 like each other and almost never exchanged messages or news if they could help it.

Commander Bania seemed to buy this and they agreed that he would take on a full load of cargo containers, minus the eight

slots already taken by their other 멵 argo-containers.

Then she offered to move those containers out of the way so they could be remounted on the outside of the stack, making it easier to offload them later.

Donovan thanked her but said: 밒 have strict instructions not to touch those until we get to the science station. I 뭢 told some of them contain sensitive equipment. They insisted that only their personnel should unload them. If they complain too much, I 뭠l have my people unload the containers stacked on top and then reload them once they are done.”

He managed to beg off staying for a meal, thanking the Commander, saying that he had matters to attend to on the ship.

Arriving back at the ship, he briefed the se-nior staff, telling them it might take a bit longer because they were taking on a full load of cargo.

He took out the bag of gems he 뭗 been given and emptied it on one of their dining tables. 밐 elp yourselves and pass some out to the crew, but let 뭩 save the big one for

something special. Maybe we can do some-thing decorative with it.”

* * *

The crew rested, exercised, or pursued hob-bies while they waited for the ship to be loaded. Donovan caught Amelie while she was still on her watch on the bridge. 밯 ake up. Captain on the bridge.He laughed as she actually jumped in surprise and then felt bad about. 밪 orry, that was a poor joke and I shouldn 뭪 laugh.”

She smiled back at him. 밒 t 뭩 alright Cap-tain. It is the Captain 뭩 prerogative to keep the crew on their toes.”

밫 rue.He replied. 밄 ut there are kinder ways to go about it. Anything happening up here?”

밡 ot much. No messages. I 뭭 e been watch-ing them load the cargo to keep busy. Don뭪 want them scratching our new paint job.”

Donovan laughed. 밎 ood idea. I should have made that an order for the bridge watch. I뭢 still learningbut don 뭪 tell anybody.He

made an exaggerated 밪 hhhsound, holding a finger up to his face.

Amelie gratified him with a giggle. Donovan smiled back. 밃 ctually, I came up to ask you a question. We can both keep watch while we talk.”

밃 s you know, I had planned to have you take the helm on the trip back. At that time, however, I didn 뭪 plan to have a full load of cargo. So, I wanted to check with you and ask if you are still comfortable piloting the ship under these circumstances.”

He noticed the start of a frown on her face and held up his hands quickly. 밠 eaning no offence of course. I 뭭 e read your file and know your qualifications. On the other hand, I know it can be nerve wracking tak-ing a ship on a shake-down cruise.”

밣 utting her under all the stresses of a full load of cargo complicates matters and makes her harder to handle. But it is en-tirely up to you.He spread his hands out, palms up, symbolically offering her the choice.

Amelie 뭩 frown turned into a serious look of consideration. 밫 hanks for thinking of

that Captain, but I do have experience with the in-system cargo haulers.”

밃 lso, all of us who have piloting creden-tials should probably get used to working with the ship with a full load while we have the chance. I have the impression that that won 뭪 usually be the case.”

Donovan nodded. 밫 hat 뭩 true and that 뭩 a good suggestion. I told the station comman-der that we 뭗 be heading for Mahaan Sci-ence Station from here.”

밣 erhaps all of the pilots can each take brief turns at the Helm when we make course changes so we can all get a sense of how sluggish she is loaded up like this.”

* * *

Finally the ship was fully loaded and the new mass profile was entered into their computers. Everyone was at their stations, with Amelie at the helm this time. Donovan gave the order for her to disengage them from the station.

Again, they used a short burst of the thrusters to distance the ship from the sta-tion, but let the burst last twice as long this

time, needing a bit more of a push with all of the extra mass they carried to move away from the station in a timely manner.

Donovan had Jason plot a course that would take them close to the Mahaan Science Sta-tion, but had Amelie take them a safe dis -tance on conventional propulsion before en-gaging the warp drives.

Thankfully, they were allowed to use warp in the outer reaches of the system. Other-wise it would have taken them months to get back to the Coalition Prime station on conventional engines.

Donovan didn 뭪 plan to actually stop at the science station. Instead they would warp to-wards the station, stop partway there, and turn towards Prithvi before returning to warp. They would stop when they were at the nearest approach to Coalition Prime station that was allowed, coming out of warp above the planetary plane for an added measure of safety.

Everything went as planned and both he and CC, as well as Gene got a little practice at re-orienting the ship while she carried a full load of containers.

The final leg of the trip took them close to three weeks on conventional engines, burn-ing continuously to catch up and match ve-locities with the station.

It was an expensive maneuver in terms of propellant expenditure but Donovan knew they would be paid for bringing in the cargo and their propellant (hydrogen) was not one of their major expenses.

By the time they reached the station, the first fresh vegetables from the hydroponics lab were being served at their dining table. Most of the crew were amazed at the taste, crediting it at first to Nathan 뭩 cooking.

Nathan grinned back as the first compli-ments were delivered but said: 밳 ou 뭭 e just never had truly fresh vegetables before.”

밠 ost of what you get on the station is al-ready days or weeks old by the time you get it and sometimes forcibly ripened after be-ing shipped green. These vegetables were picked less than an hour ago. There is noth-ing like fresh vegetables, fully mature and fresh from 몋 he farmas it were.”

Donovan weighed in. 밫 ruly excellent Nathan, even if you want to give your hy-droponics bay partial credit.”

밫 hat reminds me We are saving so much in regular costs with this setup that we ought to look into ways to make ourselves even more self-sufficient with other foods if pos-sible. We should look into protein vats or whatever they have these days. Let 뭩 not leave the station before we find out.”

There were nods all around. Gil spoke next, looking a little sheepish, which gave the big guy a slightly comic look. 밫 hat reminds me Captain. Remember the old recycling sys-tem with all of those tanks down in Engi -neering?Donovan nodded.

밯 ell, I held onto some of those tanks, hav-ing another project in mind when I got the time for it. It occurred to me that, properly cleaned and sterilized, they would make perfect vats for our own little brewing oper-ation, or even a distillerypurely for medici -nal uses, you understand.”

밒 thought I should run it by you first before I start brewing yeast down there though.He winked.

Donovan laughed. 밃 s long as the crew only gets their 몀 edicinewhen off-duty, I have no objections.”

밐 owever, there should be some sort of ra-tioning system. I 뭢 sure we can come up with something satisfactory, adjusting for body weight of course. Whatever system you come up with, please get our Doctor to sign off on it.He winked back.

Chapter 11

hey arrived at the Coalition Prime sta-tion having suffered no mishaps. All sys-

tems checked out and Donovan felt a huge wave of relief pass over him as they docked with the station.

T

They had managed to establish how much food from hydroponics they would consume on a regular basis. Nathan estimated that they would regularly have food left over and they made arrangements to vacuum pack and store it for future need.

Donovan had Gil and his crew suit up and unload the cargo themselves using one-per-son cargo tugs that they were able to bor-row from the warehouse. They earned a nice fee for bringing in such a large load of raw materials.

The day after they returned, Jasmin came to Donovan and announced that they had a special visitor in the conference room.

When they entered the room, he found Ad-miral Jager standing up to greet them. He

strode forward and shook the older man 뭩 hand. 밃 dmiral. It is very good to see you. I hope everything is okay.”

밅 aptain. Wonderful to see you looking so well.The Admiral returned his handshake firmly. 밒 received a report from Jasmin on your shake-down cruise. It looks like every-thing went well and you will be ready to de-part on your first mission soon. I wanted to see you before you left.”

He gestured for them to take seats around the table. Jasmin excused herself and re-turned a minute later with a coffee service, pouring each of them a cup.

The Admiral thanked her and leaned for-ward, folding his hands together. 밯 e have some new information that might interest you. I don 뭪 know if it will be much use to you, but I felt obligated to share what we know.”

The Admiral was looking very serious, which made Donovan worry. 밯 e recently made a connection between some of the iso-lationist groups on the planet and a large corporation in this system. Ironically, it is the Safar Corporation, local ship builders,

which we haven 뭪 managed to make sense of yet.”

밢 nce we made that connection we man-aged to get one of our people hired on by them. After some time spent gaining their trust, he was able to insert a software agent that did a search of their computers for any information relating to you, your ship, or your mission.”

밐 e found a memorandum to one of the cor-poration officers that included the name 멐ncounterand a date that seems to have been your estimated date of arrival back here, al-though they were off by a couple days. They had you arriving tomorrow.”

밫 hat 뭩 all we have for now. We don 뭪 know what it means, but we have increased secu-rity in this part of the station and in the ad-jacent space around your ship.”

밯 hat worries me most, at the moment, is that no one outside of your crew, fleet traf-fic control, and my office should have known the new name of your ship. We seem to have a leak somewhere and that is highly disturbing to me.”

Donovan nodded. 밫 hat is disturbing. Your office helped with the background checks on everyone in the crew. I can 뭪 think of one of them that I 뭗 suspect of being aligned with an isolationist faction. My best guess is that someone in fleet traffic control let something slip.”

밒 n any case, thank you for the information Admiral. As always, I can count on you to have done everything that can be done to assure our success. What worries me is what this corporation could possibly want with us?He lapsed into a thoughtful silence.

밄 elieve me, we have checked every possi-ble connection we could find. We 뭭 e checked everyone that you have had any significant contact with since entering the Planetary Defense Forces. We were looking for someone who might consider them-selves an enemy but we found remarkably few people who dislike you.He smiled.

Donovan grinned back. 밯 ell, I try do unto others and all thatwhich is part of what makes all of this so confounding. The isola-tionist sentiment I can understand, in the-ory, even if I don 뭪 agree with it. Aside

from that I can 뭪 think of a reason why any-one would want to do me or the ship harm.”

The Admiral nodded. 밯 ith the added secu-rity, we do not anticipate any serious threat to the ship before you depart. However, I hope you will understand if we scan any ad-ditional supplies and equipment that you have ordered before they get to the ship. The same will apply to any cargo that you decide to load up for your first trip.”

밃 gain, thank you Admiral. I appreciate the extra measures you are taking. Under the circumstances I am starting to feel that it might be wise to depart as soon as possi-ble.”

The Admiral nodded. 밃 greed. Have you de-cided on your first destination?”

밯 e have been discussing it. My idea was to head for Darius colony and stop at some of its stellar neighbors on the way as a sort of test run. We don 뭪 expect to find anything significant but it will give us all practice with our new exploration protocols. From Darius colony, we have a number of op-tions.”

The Admiral was looking thoughtful. 밐 mm, that takes you closer to the next sector spinward than I like. I am sure I don 뭪 have to remind you that most of our encounters with the Vareni have taken place in that sector and the sector spinward from Sol.”

밳 es, I know. My plans were to explore the next sector north on the Z-axis. There are some fantastic stellar candidates in that sector.”

밒 f we do catch sight of an alien ship, you have my word that we will do our best to run or hide. I know we are no match for the Vareni. In any case, if we do find them there, that will also be important informa-tion to bring back.”

밳 es, yes it would be. Well, I know from your reports that your ship is well provi-sioned with sustainable resources for long journeys, but I 뭗 like you to report back af-ter your first mission following your visit to Darius colony. Apart from anything else, we will want any knowledge you have gained on the best methods for exploring new sys-tems.”

밳 ou might be interested to know that we are constructing a new ship based on your

designs. Your sister ship will also masquer-ade as an interstellar cargo hauler. We haven 뭪 picked a Captain or crew yet, but we hope to get them trained in record time, based on what we 뭭 e learned from your ef-forts.”

Donovan smiled. 밫 hat 뭩 excellent Admiral. I am happy that the program is expanding. The more ships we get out there, the better I will feel about humanity 뭩 prospects.”

밒 ndeed. You have my approval for your current exploration plans. Your mission guidelines remain unchanged for now.The Admiral looked thoughtful for a moment and then seemed to make a decision.

밳 ou should still have the list we put to-gether of supplies that are most needed at each of the colonies. Please choose a cargo as soon as possible.”

밚 et Ms. Pranidhi know what you want to carry and we will make arrangements to purchase it on your behalf. That will allow us to run checks on it before we have the containers delivered to you for loading.”

밯 ith any luck we can get you ready to go in a matter of days. Please make sure your

crew have wrapped up any business they have left on the station and are ready to go as soon as you are loaded up.”

밫 hank you again Admiral. I will get right on it.Standing up, he offered the Admiral his hand again. 밯 e will do you proud, sir. I have high hopes for this crew and every confidence in them.”

The Admiral stood up and took his hand, giving it a firm, decisive shake. 밪 ee that you do, son. I have high hopes for you too.He smiled, nodded to Jasmin, and left.

* * *

Donovan asked Jasmin to call the crew to-gether in the conference room. They assem-bled quickly and took seats around the room.

Donovan looked around the room, taking in their mood. He began. 밳 ou have all done a fantastic job getting us ready for our first mission. As you know, our shake-down cruise went without a hitch and we even managed to bring back a full load of cargo.”

밃 side from a few pieces of equipment we have ordered, some supplies, and a new

cargo, the ship is ready for its first mission. I think we are ready too. Therefore, I have made the decision to depart in three days, or as soon as we can get our new cargo loaded.”

There were various looks of surprise around the room, but Donovan went on. 밒 know you probably expected that we 뭗 take more time, at the very least discussing pos-sible destinations, but the truth is, one di-rection is about as good as another.”

밯 e don 뭪 know what we are going to find at any new solar system we visit. Just about any direction we might take holds stars that are good candidates for life worlds.”

밨 egardless of our final destination, we are better prepared for exploration than I ever could have dreamed when we started prepa-rations.”

밪 o, the time has come. Please take the next two days to wrap up any remaining business you might have in this system.”

밒 can not predict exactly how long we will be gone on this trip. That depends on what we find out there and how long we take to explore the new solar systems we visit.”

밠 ake sure your affairs are in order before we leave but assume that this first trip will last somewhere between 1 and 2 standard years.”

밒 f any of you have any last minute equip-ment or supply requests, please get those in to CC by noon tomorrow at the latest. Also, I am awarding everyone a nice bonus for the cargo run we just completed, so you can all do some shopping for luxury items over the next two days if you like.”

밐 owever, I don 뭪 want anyone leaving these offices without a security escort. Shop online and have things delivered if you can. Also, make sure Gil and his team scan everything you buy before it goes on-board the ship. We are taking security very seriously during these last few days.”

밃 ny questions or comments?”

Chandra, their astrophysicist, raised his hand. 밯 hat 뭩 our first destination Cap-tain?”

Donovan nodded, mentally patting himself on the back. He 뭗 made a small bet with himself that that would be the first ques-tion. 밫 his may sound strange, but, for vari-

ous reasons that I will go into later, we are going to make that decision after we de-part.”

밳 ou can be assured, however, that what-ever decision we make, we will have more than enough supplies for that destination. I don 뭪 plan to be gone from Coalition Prime station longer than 2 standard years on this initial voyage. In all probability it will be closer to 15 or 16 standard months. Any other questions?”

Donovan looked around the room. Most people had varying looks of puzzlement and surprise on their faces. 밚 ook at it this way people. What would we spend more time on if we stayed here longer? Running more simulations? We can do that aboard ship while we are cruising at warp.”

밢 r, maybe we could spend a couple weeks debating over the best stellar candidates for exploration. I can tell you this much. We will be starting our voyage with a shorter run. During that first leg of our trip we can discuss where we should go next. Can any-one think of any other reason to delay our departure?”

CC raised her hand and Donovan nodded. She started somewhat hesitantly. 밅 aptain, I think we all knew that this day was com-ing but we hadn 뭪 discussed timelines be-fore our shake-down cruise, so this feels rather, uh, sudden. But I don 뭪 think any of us can think of a good reason to stay on the station longer. It makes sense. We are ready.”

밫 he question I had is somewhat unrelatedI was just thinking that it might help the ship feel more like home, maybe give us a little good luck, and add to our enjoyment of the longer parts of the journey if we had a ship mascot.”

She looked around the room. Several peo-ple looked puzzled, others were smiling as if they found the idea amusing, but others seemed delighted. 밯 hat I mean is: can we get a cat?”

* * *

The next few days went by in a blur for Donovan. He met with the senior crew sev-eral times a day. He had taken to inviting Doctor Song, in her capacity as ship 뭩 doc-tor and as representative of the science contingent. He gave her the additional title

of Chief Medical Officer and told her it would be reflected in her pay.

She was pleased to be included in the plan-ning sessions but tried to convince the Cap-tain that she didn 뭪 need extra pay.

Donovan told her: 밒 t 뭩 only fair and it would be setting a bad precedent to give you status as an officer on the ship and not pay you for those extra duties.She acqui-esced without further argument.

밄 esides,he said after further reflection, 밒뭗 like you to work on learning bridge op-erations so you can be a backup to myself and CC.”

밒뭠 l have Jason Minami sit in on those ses-sions too so he is cross-trained to take the Con as well. That will give me some com-pany.”

밒 am still learning many aspects of com-mand, especially ship operations on a cargo vessel. It will help me if I have a couple people besides CC to discuss it with.”

Lhilani said: 밫 hat sounds like fun actually. Of all the times I daydreamed about explor-ing the universe, I never thought of sitting

in the command chair.She grinned, empha-sizing her enthusiasm.

밒 t 뭩 not as fun as it sounds. There 뭩 a rea-son why it 뭩 called the 몏 orry seatbut it might just as well be described as the 몀onths of boredom followed by moments of sheer terror seatHe grinned and she laughed.

밄 efore you start that training, however, I want you to go over the crew roster with CC and determine who has any background experience in First Aid. Then I 뭗 like you to talk to each of the crew to find out who has any interest in cross-training as a medic.”

밒 deally we would have several crew cross-trained as medics if possible, including at least one person from Engineering.”

밯 e have study materials and simulations in the computer so I don 뭪 expect you to teach a full course yourself. Just get them started, answer questions, and supervise their progress from time to time. Maybe you can have a weekly meeting or some-thing. How does that sound?”

밒 t sounds like a good idea.She said. 밃 nd, depending on how much they want to study,

it might be good to train at least one person as medical technician, to assist in Med Bay.”

밫 hat 뭩 entirely up to you and whoever you can get interested, but it sounds like a very good idea to me. If that 뭩 settled for now, let 뭩 get back to the group.”

* * *

After the initial discussions with the com-mand crew, Donovan gave Jasmin the list of cargo he wanted to carry on their first trip. She excused herself to get started on that immediately.

Other equipment and supplies arrived regu-larly, having been passed by the Admiral 뭩 security team. These items were put in stor-age or, in a few cases, installed by Gil and the Engineering team right away.

The thing that took longest to arrive, in the end, was their new mascot. It turned out there were several batches of kittens avail -able planet-side at that time.

The crew went over the images and short videos of various kittens at play during mealtimes and placed their votes. In the

end, they had to hold a special meeting to decide between three leading candidates.

A choice was made. The lucky feline was subjected to a battery of examinations, tests, and shots before being put into tem-porary stasis and shipped up on the next shuttle. Various fees were paid and forms were signed and the Admiral 뭩 people even scanned the small container before it was delivered.

At dinner that night they decided to wait to wake him until the ship was underway so he wouldn 뭪 have to get used to two new sets of environments. Then the group started discussing what to name him.

Donovan let that go on for a while and then broke in. 밒 don 뭪 know how many of you have had a cat before, but there are a few things I want to make sure you have thought of before we leave and it 뭩 too late to do anything about them.”

밊 irst, has anybody thought to order cat food? Or figured out how to make it with the supplies we have? Second, what about a litter box and litter supplies for one to two years? Maybe we can recycle that, but then I suspect you will need to talk to Gil and

ask him to come up with something if we can 뭪 just buy the equipment.”

밫 hird, who among you will be responsible for regular feeding and watering? You had better specify one or two people or it might be overlooked.”

밊 ourth, where will he sleep? Do you have a cat bed ordered or several for different parts of the ship? Fifth, where will he be al-lowed to roam and what happens if he gets lost and no one can find him?”

밊 ifth, do you have grooming supplies pur-chased? What about toys and scratching posts? Depending on how far we let him roam, maybe you will need duplicates of all of these, including the litter box so we don뭪 have accidents when he can 뭪 get back to it easily. You might want to think about de-odorizing supplies too.”

밚 astly, what about a medical database for felines? I doubt any of our medical equip-ment came with that as a standard feature. We might want to purchase it before we leave if we can 뭪 simply download it.

Gil raised his hand. 밯 e have several radio antennae mounted mid-ships. If we gave

him a radio device on his collar, we should be able to triangulate his position anywhere on the ship if needed.”

Donovan nodded. 밢 k. That 뭩 one issue re-solved, assuming you make the transceiver and write the tracking software.”

밳 ou could use a similar principle to cause certain hatches to open for him and not oth-ers but that might require installing some new hardware on the hatches he is allowed to go through. In any case, I don 뭪 want him down in Engineering crawling into small spaces or chewing on wiring, for ex-ample.”

After another round of discussion, Nathan Asha and Amelie Mercier were designated as the primary care givers. CC wanted to be one of them, but Donovan vetoed that, say-ing that she had to make ship operations her first priority, which got a glare from her, but reluctant assent.

밐 owever,Donovan went on, 뱒 ince your quarters, like mine, are near to both the bridge and the galley, and large enough for some extra cat furniture, why not make your cabin his default sleeping room and

the first place we introduce him to as we get him acclimated to the ship?”

CC loved that idea and quickly got it passed by the group, despite grumbles from other hopeful crew. CC began taking suggestions for equipment and toys and the group moved to the lounge to search online for what was available on the station.

The next day the cargo containers started arriving and were sorted by Gil and his team in the warehouse prior to loading. When all of the cargo was loaded on the ship, Donovan had Gil run his scanning ro-bots over the hull one more time to check for anything out of place. Nothing was de-tected.

It was mid-afternoon by the time this was done. All of the crew were back aboard the ship and all supplies and equipment were aboard as well.

Donovan took his seat on the bridge and opened a ship-wide channel. 밫 his is the captain. All departure preparations are complete. Please take maneuvering sta-tions. We will be undocking from the sta-tion in a few minutes.”

CC scanned her boards and reported that their pre-flight checklist was complete. Gil reported that the engines were ready. Gene checked with Traffic Control to get clear-ance for departure.

A few minutes later, they were given clear-ance to depart. Donovan gave the order. The grapples were released, the airlock dis-engaged, and the ship began to move away from the station on thrusters.

At the appropriate distance from the sta-tion, he had Gene re-orient the ship on a heading for the Cavan colony orbiting GL-666 and had Jason plot a course. After boosting outward on conventional engines for a little over an hour, they entered warp and were on their way.

Chapter 12

onovan called the crew together in the Galley before dinner. Gene had the Con

and was monitoring the meeting from the bridge.

DHe waited until everyone was settled in. 밒 am guessing that word has already spread that we are headed for Cavan colony on the first leg of our journey. This is not our ulti -mate destination, but it serves several pur-poses.”

밫 he decision to make a side-trip, as it were, at the start of our journey was a last-minute thing on my part. I wanted to meet with all of you as soon as possible to let you in on what went into that decision and to explain why we did not set our final destina-tion before we left.”

밊 irst, you all know that I was shot during the early days of our preparation for this mission. It is still not clear who was re-sponsible for that. The person who shot me claimed that he was just a warehouse worker and had no memory of events lead-

ing up to or including the deed, suggesting that he was brain-washed or programmed somehow.”

밒 was told that station security suspect iso-lationist elements in the Coalition. Some-how they got word of our intention to start exploring. That faction wants the Coalition to stick to the existing coloniesto 몆 ut our head in the sand,so to speak, and avoid any contact with alien species that may be out there.”

밒 n other words, they are afraid of antago-nizing the Vareni, the only other alien space-faring species we know of. I can un-derstand their reasoning, up to a point.”

밪 o far, we have only had encounters with them when we have gone beyond the fringes of our existing colonies. Almost ev-ery one of those encounters has been a dis-aster so far.”

밫 hey haven 뭪 threatened our colonies or entered our colonial systems that we are aware of. If anything, they seem to be warn-ing us off or sending us a message to 몊 tay awayfrom certain areas of space. Their methods mostly involve shooting on sight.”

밯 e have only one instance of communica-tion with them that I am aware of and that was brief. It was six words in Standard. All they said was: 멬 e are Vareni. Leave this system.When we tried to respond they fired a warning shot that nearly disabled the ship.”

Jason raised his hand and Donovan nodded, giving him permission to interrupt. 밅 ap-tain, you talk as if you were there. As I un-derstand it, that incident happened nearly eight years ago. Is that right? Were you there?”

Donovan nodded and saw looks of surprise appear on the faces around the room. Evi-dently some parts of that mission were still being kept secret.

밒 뭢 not in the Planetary Defense forces anymore, or the Coalition Fleet for that matter, so I guess I can speak of it. I was a young engineer, on one of my first mis-sions.”

밒 t 뭩 a long story, but it is one of the rea-sons why I am here as owner of this ship to-day. Suffice it to say that, while I helped save the ship, I got into some trouble for the methods I employed. Many years later I

was both rewarded for my part in that mis-sion and given an honorable discharge retroactively.”

밒 was also compensated for a bit of Intel-lectual Property that the Coalition Fleet is still making use of today. All of that, and the reward that the Coalition awarded me for the Bangaram rescue, made it possible for me to buy this ship.”

밒 뭠 l tell the story of what happened with the Vareni some other time. I 뭢 getting off topic. Where was I?”

CC spoke: 밫 he Vareni threat and the isola-tionists.”

밨 ight, right. Okay, so, now you all know the relevant facts and speculation about why I was attacked. That is also why we have been so security conscious from the start.”

밒 was warned about the isolationists by a friend in the Coalition when I first voiced my desire to start exploring. That same friend gave me a warning several days ago, the day I announced that we would be leav-ing the station so quickly.”

밐 e let me know that Coalition security in-tercepted a message containing the name of our ship and the date of our anticipated ar-rival back at the station.”

밫 hat 뭩 how I learned that we were being watched, tracked really. Someone, outside of our group had the name of our ship. There could be a leak or more than one. I had already talked about my ideas for our first destination at least once.”

밒 decided to start out by heading in a com-pletely different direction from my previ-ously stated goal and then make a decision about our ultimate destination while we travel.”

밒 t will take us two months at warp 4.5 to reach the outskirts of the Cavan colony sys-tem and then another three to four weeks on conventional propulsion to rendezvous with the station. Only the command crew knew of this decision before we left.”

밊 or those that don 뭪 know, Cavan is mostly an agricultural colony. The system is very poor in heavy metals, so we are loaded up with a cargo of refined metals, rare earth elements, fertilizers and the latest

weather satellites and agricultural machin-ery.”

밡 ow, many of you heard my pitch on where I 뭗 like to explore the last time it came up, shortly after I got out of Med Bay. During the next few months, we will have time to go over those ideas and any alternatives that any of you would like to put forward.”

밫 oday, I just wanted all of you to know why we left when we did and why we have been so careful about security all of this time.”

밒 n closing, I want everyone to know that I don 뭪 suspect anyone on this crew of being a spy. If I did, you wouldn 뭪 be here. I have been and continue to be very pleased and impressed with everyone here.”

밒 know many of you probably have ques-tions, but let 뭩 save them for now. I can smell dinner is just about ready and I 뭢 starving!”

* * *

Whether there were more questions or not, Donovan didn 뭪 find out for several days. CC announced after dinner that they were

going to revive their new mascot and let him wake up in her cabin.

They didn 뭪 want to overwhelm the kitten, so it was decided that, in addition to CC, only Amelie and Nathan would be present at first. However, CC arranged to record the event and almost everyone else wanted to watch remotely from the lounge in the Recreation Module.

Their new crew member was a five month old short-hair 멦 uxedocat. He had a white front and white 몀 ittensand 몊 ockson his feet. He also had a white blaze down his forehead and on the tip of his tail. All to-gether, he presented a very dignified ap-pearance when he wasn 뭪 playing.

After several long discussions, the crew had decided to name him 밣 roteusafter an an-cient Greek demigod of the sea and weather. The legend was that of a shape-shifter who could tell the future, but only if you could capture him and hold onto him while he changed shapes.

Everyone seemed to agree that it was fitting for the ship 뭩 mascot to be named after a sea god, or a god of travel. And cats were

notoriously hard to hold onto if they didn 뭪 want to be held.

For those who were able to suspend or sup-press disbelief somewhat, pretending that he was the real Proteus, shape-shifted to appear to be a cat, just made it more fun.

The crew had already opened some beer from storage when Donovan arrived. He had brought a bottle of stronger stuff to help celebrate. Before long, almost every-one was slightly giddy and 몂 ohingand 멲ahingover the antics of their newest crew-mate.

Proteus had been sleepy at first, but he was given a mild stimulant to counteract the ef-fects of the stasis drugs. After they showed him the food and water, CC followed him around the cabin with a hand-held camera as he explored every nook and cranny.

He spent a long time sniffing and crawling all over Amelie and Nathan. He seemed to find the plant and cooking smells on Nathan especially interesting.

They presented him with a variety of new toys and quickly learned what his favorites were. He tumbled about with seemingly no regard for his personal safety, chasing a

bundle of colored feathers at the end of a string.

Everyone in the lounge was laughing and shouting orders to CC to 밼 ollow him!or 뱙oom in,as they watched the larger-than-life kitten on the big screen in the lounge.

At one point, Donovan became certain that someone was actually smoking something, recognizing the aroma, but couldn 뭪 catch the culprit.

Gil saw him looking around and reassured him that the air filters could handle it. Nev-ertheless, he made a mental note to ask Nathan what 몀 edicinal herbshe was grow-ing in Hydroponics before he left to relieve Gene on the bridge.

* * *

Several days passed as people settled into their new routines. Gil and his team were called upon to fix minor problems or look into anything the crew thought might be suspicious. They spent long hours tracking down strange sounds or smells that no one had gotten accustomed to yet. The crew seemed to have picked up Donovan 뭩 heightened security concerns.

Proteus was carried to the Galley at meal-times and, after devouring his food, kept everyone entertained, exploring the room and all of the new people, climbing up their legs and onto the tables without fear.

They had to research what was safe for cats to eat a few times after they found that he had been quietly helping himself to bits of their food when they hadn 뭪 noticed. De-spite his young age and bold markings, he already appeared to be a master of stealth.

He seemed to like curling up on Chandra 뭩 chest after eating, finding the scientist 뭩 slightly rounded middle a comfortable perch. The petting he received each time he perched there might have contributed to his preference.

Liam began simulations again on their sec-ond day out. He ran them through a rugged scenario where they had to escape from a hostile alien ship.

After the ship was destroyed several times and people were groaning about it, he pro-claimed over their headset channel: 밯 ell, it could happen. Anyway, we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. Get over it.”

He toned down the simulations a bit after that, but continued to throw in wild scenar-ios from time to time, some with man-eat-ing monsters on newly discovered planets.

Another time he killed everyone with a dis-ease picked up while exploring a new world that managed to get past sterilization and quarantine procedures.

Jason Minami and Janice Zudora delighted in thinking up tough new scenarios for Liam to try and laughed long and hard after watching replays later in the day.

It wasn 뭪 long before they started working on a 멒 reatest Hitsversion, with the best out-takes from all of their simulations inter-spersed with commentary that they made up.

At dinner on the fourth day, Donovan raised the question of the destination for their first exploration mission again. The room fell silent. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to make a suggestion.

Donovan was surprised. 밆 octor JayatChan-dra, you must have given this some thought. You probably have half a dozen fa-vorite stellar systems on your wish list to visit. What do you say?”

밯 ell, as an astrophysicist, I 뭗 have to say that the argument you made before we left has some merits. It is in the nature of dis-covery that we don 뭪 know what we will find until we go there and find it. In that sense, any direction we take will offer op-portunities for discovery.”

밃 s a planetologist, we know from the few solar systems we have colonized that our models do not accurately predict what we will find at any given star. Any stellar sys-tem may hold dramatic surprises.”

밒 do admit to some small interest in devel-oping further evidence for what types of stellar systems are more likely to give rise to life bearing worlds. In that respect it might make sense to search for stellar analogs of Sol or the other solar systems where the beginnings of life have been found.”

밐 owever, as I said before, every system we have explored has contained surprises, so I can not form a strong bias on that basis.”

밒 n short,Chandra said spreading his hands out to the sides, 밒 am happy to go wher-ever you decide to explore. I am sure there will be ample data of value wherever we go,

even if it only confirms or refines earlier findings.”

Donovan turned a bemused look on the other two scientific crew. 밆 r. Chervaar? Dr. Song? Do you have any strong prefer-ences?”

Lhilani spoke up first. 밒 was listening in when you outlined your preliminary plans shortly after you got out of Med Bay. I liked your choice. I agree that the sector of space 멲 bovethis one appears to have great poten-tial for finding life bearing worlds.”

Dr. Chervaar had been looking thoughtful but, noticing the pause after Dr. Song spoke, voiced his opinion. 밒 sympathize with the opinions of Dr. Jayat. Each stellar system holds possibilities for new discover-ies in chemistry and geology.”

밒 f I had any preference, I would say that it would almost be more interesting to explore systems that have been overlooked because the star is too small and cool, or too large and hot to be likely candidates for systems with life bearing worlds.”

밐 owever, I am also happy to work wher-ever we go. I anticipate making interesting discoveries wherever we explore.”

CC spoke next. 밅 aptain, I think most of us are happy to follow you in this. We trust your instincts, and you have clearly been thinking about this longer and more often than most of the rest of us.”

밃 lso, we haven 뭪 exactly discussed this, butthis is your dream, your ship. I think most of us are just grateful to be here to be a part of it. As long as you don 뭪 get us into a fight with the Vareni, I think we 뭗 follow you wherever you want to go.”

밐 ere, here! Well said.Gil said and others around the room spontaneously started clapping. That spread until everyone had joined in. Donovan could feel his face flush-ing and restrained himself from reaching up to feel if his skin was hot.

Instead he looked around at all the smiling faces, as everyone clapped, some of them grinning, enjoying his embarrassment. He held up his hands to end the applause. As it died down, he said: 밫 hank you, everyone, for your confidence. I am truly moved. I am also excited to get out there to some new

solar system and start exploring. I can hardly wait.”

밪 o, since no one else has voiced a strong preference, we will go with my initial plan, after our stop at Cavan colony, of course.”

We will make our visit to Cavan colony short. I doubt anyone will need shore leave so soon, and from what I understand, it is an agricultural colony with few provisions for tourists. However, while we are there, we will pick up cargo for Darius colony.”

밯 e will depart the Cavan colony station on a heading that suggests that we are return-ing to Prithvi colony and the Coalition Prime station. If anyone is tracking us, I don 뭪 want to give them a clear indication of our next destination.”

밯 e will drop out of warp after half a parsec or so and set a new course for the HIP-eight-four-five-eight-one system, about five parsecs spinward in this sector. That sys-tem also happens to be near to Darius colony in the twelve Ophiuchi system. The trip will take us a little over two and a half months at warp 4.5 but we may push it a lit-tle.”

밮 ery little is known about HIP-eight-four-five-eight-one, since it is not on a direct path from any of the other colonies. I have not been able to find any reports from other ships stopping there.”

밒 t is a white sub-giant, somewhat hotter than Sol. It is also part of a multi-star sys-tem but none of its stellar companions ap-pear to be close enough to have interfered with planetary formation.”

밒 think it is a fairly good candidate for a system that could contain a life bearing world. In any case, it will make a good test run for our exploration protocols.”

밯 hen we are done there, we will proceed to Darius colony. After trading our cargo and perhaps taking some time for shore leave, we will take a false initial course back to-wards Coalition Prime, partly just to main-tain our cover as a cargo ship.”

밢 nce out of easy detection range, we will change course to eighteen Scorpii. That trip will take us about two months. The trip back to Coalition Prime, when we are done, will be about 3 months.”

밫 he eighteen Scorpii system is the true goal of this first mission. It has been de-scribed as a near clone of Sol in humanity뭩 home solar system. I have high hopes of finding a life-bearing world there. If noth-ing else, it will be the first exploration of a stellar system in that sector.”

밒 f we decided to return to that sector on future missions, the eighteen Scorpii sys-tem will make a good jumping-off point for many other interesting stellar candidates.”

밃 ny questions or comments?”

Lhilani spoke: 밓 ust one comment: I can 뭪 wait to get there! I am getting excited al -ready.”

CC was next. 밒뭠 l second that.She added a big grin, showing her enthusiasm.

A chorus of other enthusiastic responses followed on top of each other. 밐 ere, here-and 밪 ounds great Captainand 밒 can 뭪 wait to get back and market the book and film rights!which set everyone to laughing.

* * *

The crew settled into their routines as the remainder of the week passed. Gil and the engineering crew were busy with a 몊 ecret-project that didn 뭪 stay secret for very long. The news spread quickly that they had their first batch of beer brewing down in Engineering but that it would take about five to six weeks before it was ready for consumption.

The bridge crew engaged in a variety of di-versions when not on duty. Most of the crew made frequent use of the new Recre-ation module: playing games, watching en-tertainment programs, exercising, or enjoy-ing the park-like environment in the for-ward module.

It turned out they had several amateur rock climbers who practiced in pairs for safety. The swimming pool, sauna, and hot tub were also popular at different times of the day.

Donovan decided to make use of the swim-ming pool one morning before his shift on the bridge. When he entered the forward Recreation module, the light was very dim.

It turned out that the light source that mim-icked a sun was on a track so that it moved along the length of the module as the artifi-

cial 멶 ayprogressed. That meant that the light was limited to simulated star and moonlight for half of each twenty-four hour ship day.

It was 몆 re-dawnwhen he entered and there were still stars projected on the ceiling but there was enough light to make out the path.

He put his robe and towel on a bench by the pool and stepped in. He was surprised at how strong the current was and looked around for the controls but didn 뭪 see any in the dim light. Shrugging, he waded in, leaned forward, and started swimming.

After a moment he found that the current had slowed to match his progress so that he never quite reached the forward edge of the pool. He swam until he felt a pleasant ache in his back and shoulders and then stood up. The light levels had increased while he swam but it still wasn 뭪 quite morning yet.

As he toweled off, he was surprised as a gentle 몉 ainstarted. He quickly threw on his robe and sprinted down the path to the exit hatch. He encountered Nathan coming in from the aft recreation module.

Donovan ducked under the hatch just as the 몉 ainstopped. Nathan greeted him with a big grin. Donovan said: 밡 obody told me about the rain in here. Is there some sort of sprinkler system on the ceiling or some-thing?”

Nathan nodded. 밪 orry about that Captain. I guess your initial tour skipped some de-tails. The weather in here is programmed to vary occasionally, so it isn 뭪 just sunny days all the time. We even have simulated clouds that seem to move across the ceiling at times, but don 뭪 ask me how that was done.”

밃 nyway, there is almost always a 몉 ain-fallscheduled just before the day starts in here. Gives the moisture some time to sink in or evaporate from leaves and other sur-faces before the light comes on in full. Oth-erwise water droplets on the leaves could burn them because of lensing effects.”

Donovan nodded. 밠 akes sense. It is incred-ible how much detail went into the design for this module. I am going to have to give Gil and his crew a raise.He laughed.

밢 h, we all helped come up with ideas, al-though it 뭩 true that they had to implement most of them. I am just coming in to check and see how our first fruit crops are doing. I want to make an apple strudel for desert if I can find enough ripe fruit.”

Donovan grinned back. 밪 ounds delicious. I won 뭪 keep you. I have to get ready for my shift on the bridge.They parted and Dono-van got on with his day. The desert they had that night was delicious and earned Nathan a round of applause.

The scientific crew were mostly keeping busy with personal projects or 멵 atching up on journalsas Dr. Chervaar explained, indi-cating the touch screen he carried every-where with him.

Dr. Jayat was most often found in his lab, already collecting data on nearby stars, even while they were at warp. He explained that the computers were able to adjust the data based on their warp speed at any given time.

Dr. Song had her own experiments going but began scheduling medical checkups for the crew during their second week out.

There were some moans and groans over having to get poked and prodded when they had nothing to complain of yet. She toler-ated this for most of a day and then ex-plained matters at dinner that night.

밒 want to get base-line data for all of you before we do any exploration missions or any other potentially dangerous activities. That means a full set of scans and the usual tests.”

밃 lso, on a trip lasting this long, it will be important to identify any potential health problems before we warp too far away from major medical facilities.”

밒 can handle almost anything that might happen to you while we are out there, or put you in stasis as a last resort.”

밐 owever, if we can identify any potential health problems before we leave known space, I 뭠 l be that much more prepared for your on-going treatment needs.”

밒 f we have to order medicines that we don뭪 currently have in stock or don 뭪 have enough of, that could be crucial. I can syn-thesize some medicines and it is possible that Dr. Chervaar or Engineering could

help with others, but there is no guarantee of that.”

Donovan chimed in. 밆 r. Song is Chief Med-ical Officer aboard this ship so she has the last word on all matters medical. That ap-plies to me and the other senior staff as well. If we don 뭪 have that in our ship pro-tocols yet, I 뭢 ordering that it be entered now.”

The grumbles subsided and everyone sub-mitted to the inevitable until only Donovan was left. He kept begging off, claiming that his schedule was too full and suggesting that he should have more free time once they all settled into their routines.

However, in private he admitted to himself that his recent experiences with waking up in a Med Bay after major accidents had made him reluctant to go back to one volun-tarily.

Finally, Lhilani cornered him an hour be-fore dinner during their third week out. 밅aptain, I need to see you in Med Bay right away. Please come with me.”

Donovan hesitated. 밒 s it an emergency? I have some things to do before dinner.”

밒 t is time for your medical examination and I won 뭪 accept any more excuses. If I have to, I will declare it an emergency, based on the orders you gave before the en-tire crew over a week ago.”

Donovan stammered: 밒 have really been very busy Doctor. I didn 뭪 mean to be a problem but there is so much to do.”

밫 here 뭩 our training sessions on bridge operations, simulations when I am off-duty, crew reports to read, ship logs that I still haven 뭪 finished reading... the list goes on. I 뭭 e barely had time for regular exercise and meals some days.”

Lhilani hooked him by the elbow and started walking with him towards Med Bay. 밒 understand. This ship will keep you as busy as you let it. You have to learn to make time for other priorities.”

Donovan felt himself bowing to the in-evitable. 밫 his won 뭪 take long will it? I was starting to get hungry and I was really looking forward to the meal Nathan had planned for tonight.”

밠 e too.She said. 밒 hear he is trying a 몉oastbased on the stuff that new protein vat produces. Evidently it can be set to adjust the fat content, texture, and flavor to match any sort of meat. He says he 뭩 been experi-menting with it. I 뭢 looking forward to my own taste test.”

밒 already took the liberty of asking that a tray be delivered to us here if we don 뭪 show up at the start of dinner.”

Donovan shrugged and gave in. She had him change into a patient gown and then lie down on a diagnostic bed. She worked at the computer interface next to the bed to initiate various scans and tests.

The bed was part of the new equipment that she had requested while the ship was being rebuilt. It was of the latest design and al -most fully automated. It could also enclose a patient and convert into a temporary sta-sis pod if necessary.

Right now she had various robotic arms moving over him, presumably scanning him in various ways. She told him to lie still and be quiet and he submitted to her authority in her own domain.

She performed other tests herself with hand-held instruments, giving terse instruc-tions as she worked. She gave him periodic encouragement too, however, saying: 밚ooks good,or 뱘 ou 뭭 e recovered well.”

She got various samples from him, pain-lessly, to his relief. She inserted these into other machines for analysis while Donovan continued to lie on the diagnostics bed.

He had started to drift off when she an-nounced that he could change back into his jumpsuit.

As he emerged from the refresher attached to the Med Bay, he smelled a delicious aroma and noticed a tray with two heaping plates and silverware on one of the table tops.

Lhilani said: 밯 e can eat here or take this to my cabin if you like. I 뭢 afraid we don 뭪 have very comfortable chairs in here. Mostly just lab stools.”

Donovan smiled. 밃 ctually, I haven 뭪 seen most of the crew cabins. I 뭗 love to see yours if you don 뭪 mind.”

Lhilani smiled back. 밃 ctually, I have a very nice red wine that I brought aboard as part of my personal luxuries. I was saving it for a special meal and I 뭗 be pleased if you would join me.”

He accepted. It turned out that she not only had an excellent wine to go with the meal, but had also brought some slightly taboo candles (open flames being discouraged aboard ship).

Donovan found himself relaxing and enjoy-ing the meal and her company immensely.

Desert was unexpected but turned out to be the best part of the meal.

* * *

The weeks seemed to speed by with several memorable events interspersed with their regular duties.

Proteus, their mascot, had graduated from CC 뭩 cabin to a larger range of the crew quarters and was provided with litter boxes and padded cat beds in various other rooms, although he seemed to enjoy curling up on human beds with those who let him.

He knew to look for his meals in the Galley during the human 뭩 regular meal times and showed up without fail.

Gil and his crew had installed small detec-tors on many of the hatchways that would 몊 eehim approaching and open for him au-tomatically. Many areas of the ship were still off-limits to him, but he seemed con-tent with his larger domain so far.

The first batch of beer from Engineering was a big success, although several people with somewhat discriminating palettes com-plained that it had a slightly bitter, chemi-cal aftertaste. The others scoffed at them and told them they wouldn 뭪 notice after they had another glass. It turned out to be strong stuff.

Donovan cautioned those who had upcom-ing duties not to overdo it, but otherwise decided he would not impose limitson this first celebration anyway.

The next day, many of the crew showed up at Med Bay requesting hangover cures and were given vitamin shots that seemed to do the trick.

One night a week later, Jason and Janice de-buted their 밎 reatest Hitscompilation of out-takes from their simulation recordings.

It met with unanimous accolades, although several crew suffered serious embarrass-ment at certain points. No one was singled out, however, and everyone got to see themselves in funny moments.

The best bit, everyone agreed, was several minutes of short takes with just about every crew member shouting various cuss words, curse words, and expletives in seemingly endless variety, although a few were defi-nite favorites for most of the crew.

It was capped off with a shot of Chandra, in his usual, quiet manner saying: 밯 ell, crap.That got everyone rolling on the floor with laughter.

The day came when they dropped out of warp in the system containing Cavan colony. They set a course for the small space station orbiting above the planet and began several weeks of travel on conven-tional engines to rendezvous with the sta-tion.

Chapter 13

C had the bridge when they docked with the station. Donovan dropped in with

coffee for the bridge crew a half hour be-fore they closed with the station but told CC to keep the con.

C

Donovan took the seat at the operations console and took a look at the space sta-tion. It was his first visit to this system so he wasn 뭪 entirely sure what to expect. He had seen images from their database but it was hard to judge the scale in those images without ships docked at the station to com-pare it to.

He was somewhat disappointed as they got closer to realize that the station was really very small. It looked like it was barely large enough to hold the cargo from several ships like theirs. There couldn 뭪 be a lot of per-sonnel living on the station, and there prob-ably weren 뭪 many shops, if any at all.

Nevertheless, there was another ship docked on the other side of the station as

they approached. He hoped there would be room for them to unload their cargo.

Donovan turned to ask CC some questions but saw that she was watching her screens intently during the last minutes of the dock-ing maneuver so he decided to wait. It wasn뭪 long before they were docked and the grapples were engaged, locking the ship to the station.

It was smoothly done and Donovan compli-mented everyone on the bridge and then dismissed them. It happened to be early morning when they docked and he informed everyone that Nathan had coffee cake ready in the Galley. CC remained since it was still her watch as bridge officer.

밆 o you want me to grab you some of that coffee cake before it 뭩 gone?He asked.

CC shrugged. 밒 had breakfast a little while ago and got an early piece, thanks.”

Donovan nodded. 밎 ood, I wanted to talk for a bit. I know we 뭭 e talked about what cargo to take on here, but I don 뭪 think I ever asked whether you 뭭 e been here be-fore.”

밢 h, yes. This is a common run from Prithvi colony since this system is always in need of metals and the other resources cheaply available there. You were right about there not being much of a tourist industry here, though.”

밪 ome of us took shore leave here once, on our way back from another system. It was difficult to arrange for transportation so we mostly visited the country-side around their major port city and the city itself.”

밒 t 뭩 a pretty planet but, aside from a few rowdy bars, doesn 뭪 have much to recom-mend it for tourists.”

After a moment 뭩 thought, she added: 밫here isn 뭪 much to see on the station ei-ther.”

밐 ow common is it to encounter another ship docked here?”

밫 hat 뭩 hard to say. It happens to be the best season to conduct trade right now, since it is currently early Winter in the Northern hemisphere down there. The ma-jor harvests are in and prices on grains are at their lowest point right now.”

밪 o, it is probably more common to en-counter other ships during this point in their yearly cycle. We never saw another ship while we were here before though.”

Donovan was nodding. 밒 was a little sur-prised to see that other ship docked, based on what I knew of the colony. I hope they haven 뭪 bought up everything on the sta-tion before we got here.”

CC shook her head. 밆 on 뭪 worry about that. They don 뭪 maintain supplies for trade up here and they ship down anything that is offloaded as soon as possible.”

밯 hatever we buy they will have shuttled up over the next few days. They aren 뭪 lacking for fuel or propellants and they have a small fleet of heavy lift cargo shuttles.”

Donovan nodded, trying to think of what else he should know. 밯 ill the station com-mander expect to meet us? Or can we do all our business from here remotely?”

밢 n a station this small, they actually ap-preciate visitors, unlike some other big sta-tions where we have been treated like sec-ond-class citizens. If it is still the same per-son in charge here that I remember, you

might enjoy getting together for a visit. A small gift wouldn 뭪 be amiss either, espe-cially if it is something he can share with his crew.”

밒 n fact,she continued. 밒뭗 be surprised if we don 뭪 get a call from that other ship be-fore long. Coming across other ships at small or remote stations can sometimes be an opportunity for a celebration, a chance to meet new people after long journeys.”

Donovan was frowning. 밯 e 뭠 l have to be careful who goes on any visits. I don 뭪 want to reveal how many people we have aboard. If we get any invitations, let 뭩 keep the shore party to bridge and engineering crew.”

CC nodded. 밒 don 뭪 think Nathan or any of the scientific crew will feel left out. Re-minds me, I 뭠 l have everyone funnel any shopping requests through me while we are here. There isn 뭪 a lot to buy, but it will be simpler and safer if I place all of the or-ders.”

Donovan smiled. 밎 ood thinking. Do you mind if I watch while you log our cargo with the station and begin negotiations? I 뭗

prefer to see how it is done once or twice before I have to do it myself.”

CC smiled. 밡 ot at all Captain. You can monitor from your station without being part of the call.”

Donovan watched as she contacted the sta-tion controller and arranged where and when to offload their cargo. She sent over the list of what they had brought and it was sent planet-side by the station. It wasn 뭪 long before bids started coming in from merchants on the planet for some of the raw materials and agricultural machinery.

It took somewhat longer for a government representative to enquire about the weather satellites they had brought. Donovan watched as CC conducted negotiations but wasn 뭪 too concerned about what she got for them.

He was the only one aboard who knew that the Admiral had never asked for payment for this first load of cargo that they had or-dered through Jasmin. He assumed it was a parting gift from the Admiral and felt a re-newed wave of gratitude towards him.

As CC wrapped up the first round of calls, Donovan was smiling encouragingly at her.

밫 hat was well done. When do you think bidding will settle down on the rest of the cargo?”

밒 t would be a good idea to set a deadline. That could drive up prices as the merchants try to outbid each other before the deadline ends.”

Donovan nodded. 밢 kay. I 뭠 l leave that up to you. I was just trying to think what we have that we could bring as a present for the station commander. Do we still have any of those gems left from the mining sta-tion?”

CC looked thoughtful. 밯 e should. Everyone picked one or two to have made into jewelry but there was a double-handful left after that as I remember it.”

밒 think Nakamo volunteered to learn how to polish gems for anyone who was inter-ested. We got some special equipment for that before we left. He may be using the gems that were left over to practice with. I뭠 l check.”

Donovan nodded. 밃 ll the better if he has some practice pieces polished that he is willing to let go of. They don 뭪 have to be

perfect and I don 뭪 want to deprive him of anything he cares for.”

밢 n the other hand, I am betting that gems are pretty rare in this system. You might ask him if he wants to sell the rest to get something special for Engineering or the ship. I bet they have some good brews or even liquors on this planet.He grinned.

* * *

In the end, he met with the station com-mander with CC in tow. They brought a case of beer from their storage for him to share with his crew. For the commander, himself, Donovan brought a single polished 4 carat diamond.

The commander was very happy to meet Donovan and recognized CC from prior trips. He was fascinated by the gem and volunteered to help barter for them if they had any others to trade. It seemed gem-stones were indeed still rare in this metal poor solar system.

In the end they traded 5 other rough gems for over forty cases of aged scotch from several sources on the planet. Donovan sus-pected that the other participants in the trade felt that they gotten the better of him.

On the other hand, Donovan was immensely pleased to come away with such a valuable trade item for something that was relatively useless where they came from.

They also arranged to have a pot luck on the station for themselves, the station crew, and the crew of the other cargo ship. Dono-van brought CC, Gene, Gil, and Gregory from the engineering crew.

They brought more beer and several dishes featuring fresh vegetables and fruit. Cap-tain Jasisi from the other cargo ship, named the Safina, brought 4 burly male crew and some nondescript dishes that Donovan sus-pected were re-hydrated pre-packaged meals. The soup was quite good, however.

Donovan couldn 뭪 shake the feeling that the other ship captain and his crew were watching them all evening. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all and everyone parted on good terms.

Several days later, they had unloaded their cargo and loaded a new cargo, composed mainly of grains, but including seeds for a wide variety of crops and some exotic fruits and mushrooms for the galley that they didn 뭪 have on board.

Gil arranged to have extra bales of various grains delivered separately for his brewing projects, trading another rough gem in the process.

By the time they left, they had enough grain to experiment with for years stored down in Engineering. They also got starter seedlings for several varieties of hops.

Donovan was more than pleased with the business end of their visit. They had sold the much-needed heavy metals, minerals, and machinery for a huge profit (especially since it was free to them). The grains and seeds they had purchased in return had cost very little in comparison, even with the cost of transport up from the surface fig-ured in.

As a bonus, they had traded some worthless gems for a substantial amount of very valu-able aged liquor.

Topping off their fuel and propellants cost them a little more, but they still came away with a huge profit.

He realized it would not always be this way, now that they were paying for their cargo and with the added costs of exploration missions tacked on. Nonetheless, he was very pleased to be able to start out the trad-

ing part of their mission with such a profit. He made a mental note to gather more gems wherever they could.

* * *

They departed the station and set a course back towards Coalition Prime and the Prithvi colony. The 밪 afinastill hadn 뭪 left when they were ready to go but Donovan didn 뭪 ask what kept them at the station. He couldn 뭪 shake the feeling that they were waiting to see what heading he set.

Once they had engaged the warp drive, he opened a channel to Gil in Engineering. 밎il, how is everything humming down there?”

밪 mooth as can be Captain. Our new en-gines continue to perform flawlessly. Now that I have all of the automation turned on the sensor and adjustment software has them operating at peak efficiency without any effort on our part.”

Donovan smiled. 밎 ood. You 뭨 e fired. You are now Chief Brewer. But seriously, I was wondering about our other engines. How are the warp systems faring?”

밫 hey are doing fine as well. Nary a hic-cough Captain. All of our readings are nom-inal and steady. Let me anticipate your next question. I 뭭 e been expecting it for some time. You would like to know what our max-imum warp speed is, am I correct?”

Donovan grinned. 밨 ight on the mark. I have done the math and I have my own the-ories on the matter, but I wanted your offi-cial opinion.”

밯 ell, it 뭩 a good thing you asked because we never had time to go over the upgrades to those systems before we left.”

밳 ou might be thinking that with the power from two reactors we could boost our speed considerably, but there are limitations based on how much power we can channel through the conduits, power relays, and the warp coils themselves.”

Donovan rolled his eyes at his old engineer-ing colleague, as if to say: Of course I thought of that!

Gil laughed. 밢 kay, okay. I know you had that much figured. So, the bad news is we can 뭪 double our warp speed (which would

have made news throughout the colonies) just because we have twice the power.”

밫 he good news is, with the power distrib-uted across two channels and some minor upgrades to our power relays, which we in-stalled before we left, we can manage warp four point nine for about ninety minutes be-fore the coils start to lose efficiency. Then we have to shut down and let the system cool off.”

밫 he warp coils are still the final bottleneck in the system. We looked into advanced warp coil designs before we left, but most of them are still theoretical.”

밫 here is very little that is actually in the testing phase and that is highly secret fleet technology. I only got hints about it. No firm facts. We didn 뭪 have a hope of getting our hands on that, even with your connec-tions.”

밃 nyway, if we don 뭪 push it that far, we can restart warp without significant delays. Also, we can maintain warp four point seven for several weeks without shutting down, as long as we monitor the system closely.”

Donovan nodded. 밫 hat 뭩 about what I was guessing, based on the incomplete data that I had. Okay, Chief, we are going to go to warp four point nine for one hour. Please let me know when you are ready.”

He could see Gil tapping away at a console at his end. A moment later he said: 밨 eady now Captain. If, for any reason, we don 뭪 get word from you in one hour plus five minutes, we will initiate warp shutdown from here. I don 뭪 want to take any chances.”

밃 greed.Donovan said. 밎 ive me regular re-ports.Turning towards the helm, he said: 밃melie, increase our warp velocity to four point nine please. Hold that speed for one hour and then shut down the warp drive.”

밃 ye, aye, Captain.Amelie grinned back. She made the changes at her console and then said: 밯 hee! I 뭭 e never gone this fast before.She grinned.

Donovan grinned back. As he turned his at-tention to the forward screen, it seemed like the background hum of the ship had gone up a notch but, on reflection, he de-cided he was probably imagining it.

In their forward display, the stars seemed to brighten a bit, and that probably was not an illusion. The side displays seemed to show stars slipping past the aft edge of the display at an increased rate while he watched. Otherwise, there was no sensation of increased velocity. Donovan realized it was the fastest he had ever gone as well.

The hour went by quickly, with Gil making regular reports. On his bridge screens, Donovan pulled up some of the same data that Gil was probably watching and nodded as each report was made.

When the hour was up, Amelie shut down the warp drive and they found themselves coasting in the outer reaches of the solar system.

Donovan turned to CC at Operations. 밣lease scan the area and report any con-tacts.”

He opened a channel to Engineering. He could see some of the readings on his own screen but asked anyway. 밐 ow are we do-ing Gil?”

Gil had a serious, distracted look on his face as he looked at several sets of read-ings. He said: 밚 ooks fine so far. Actually, I

am glad we did this test. It gives me some new data to run through the simulations.”

밫 he bad news is that the coils are running a little hotter than I anticipated. I may have to look at the cooling system again. I was giving you theoretical estimates earlier, since we 뭭 e never fed this much power into the system before.”

Donovan nodded. 밢 kay. What I want to know is: how soon can we go back to warp four point five?”

Gil nodded but held up his hands. 밎 ive me a minute to go over this data and run a quick simulation. I 뭠 l get back to you.”

Donovan turned to Jason, their chief Navi-gator, and said: 밓 ason, please plot a course for HIP-eight-four-five-eight-one. Amelie, I want you to re-orient the ship on the new heading as soon as you get the data from Jason.”

He turned to CC and said. 밃 ny contacts so far?”

CC shook her head. 밡 othing in our immedi-ate vicinity that I can detect.”

Donovan nodded. 밢 kay. Please program several of our flak missiles to detonate at one kilometer and fire them along our pre-vious heading.”

She nodded and a moment later reported: 밠issiles programmed. Firing missiles.”

Jason reported. 밅 ourse plotted, posting data.”

Amelie said: 밅 ourse received. Reorienting the ship.”

Halfway through the maneuver the star-board viewscreen showed several remote detonations and a cloud of glitter spreading outwards from a point roughly a kilometer away.

After several minutes Amelie said: 밪 hip aligned on new heading, Captain. Awaiting orders.”

밇 ngage plasma drives and increase thrust to full power.Donovan keyed his channel to Engineering. 밐 ow 뭩 it going down there Gil?”

밇 verything looks okay now. I was a little worried about one or two of the coils. I may

want to shut down and do an inspection later, but I think we are fine for the time being.”

밪 o, we can re-initiate warp four point five now?Donovan asked.

밳 es, yes. The excess heat in the system should slowly dissipate over time. The cool-ing system is not at maximum power yet. I뭠 l keep an eye on it.”

밢 kay, thank you. Tell your crew they 뭭 e all earned a beer. Oh, wait, you already have your own down there. Never mind.He winked before closing the link.

Donovan turned to Amelie and said, please disengage plasma drives and initiate warp drive on your current heading, factor four point five.”

Donovan reviewed the last few minutes. He had done everything he could think of to throw possible watchers off his trail. He couldn 뭪 think of anything else to try that wouldn 뭪 be veering dangerously into the realm of paranoia.

The measures he 뭗 taken should put them out of detection range of anyone trying to

follow them. If there were any ships lying in wait along their path, they hadn 뭪 detected them. It would have to do.

* * *

They dropped out of warp a light year out-side of the HIP-84581 system to take initial readings. Dr. Jayat was in his lab and al -ready excited about what the instruments were showing.

They had used the last two and a half months travel time to good advantage. Ja-son, Lhilani and Donovan had all qualified in CC 뭩 improvised class for bridge opera-tions. Lhilani had been training Amelie, Nathan, and Janice as medics and they were coming along nicely. Others were cross-training in other specialties.

Liam had developed an expert system that he augmented with a simple AI to work on refining new simulations for all of the ship뭩 systems.

The new program was constantly running and refining each new piece of the simula-tion software to match projected perfor-mance against the actual performance for each ship system. Liam added additional pieces to the overall simulation as time al-

lowed, based on the data they had collected before they left.

They had also run many more crew simula-tions on exploring new systems. Some of those simulations fed into the decision to stop well outside each new system they ap-proached to get initial readings on what they were likely to encounter further in.

Donovan turned to Liam, for the moment in his capacity as Science Officer and liaison to the scientific crew. Just as he was about to speak, there was a flash on the port view screen and a low 뱓 humpechoed through the deck plates.

밨 eport!Donovan said.

밣 robably a Micro meteor.CC said. 밫 oo en-ergetic for our shields, but it looks like the new hull covering absorbed whatever en-ergy the shields didn 뭪 deflect. Engineering is checking it out now.”

밪 can our vicinity. Make sure there isn 뭪 anything else out there that we weren 뭪 aware of.Donovan ordered. 밃 nd figure out why our meteor defense lasers didn 뭪 catch that please.”

Liam spoke next. 밫 here 뭩 much more dust out here than we expected. Some of it is moving at high velocity with respect to us. We haven 뭪 matched speeds with this sys-tem yet. Querying Dr. Jayat now to see if he has initial readings for us.”

Donovan nodded. 밳 ou took the words right out of my mouth. As soon as we have a de-cent estimate of the vector of this star rela-tive to us, feed the data to Jason.”

밓 ason, I want a course that puts us about 5 AU out from the star and about 1 AU above the planetary plane. That should be a rela-tively safe spot to conduct observations from. Once we have warped to that loca-tion, we can match speeds with the system using our conventional drives, so that will be your next calculation.”

밃 nything yet Liam?Donovan didn 뭪 want to stay at their present location if they were taking hits from interstellar meteorites. 밫ell Chandra that we are going to warp to the coordinates I gave Jason if he can 뭪 make another recommendation right away.”

Liam looked up from his screens. 밊 eeding Jason the data now. He came up with posi-tion similar to yours but about a quarter of

the way around the system from our ap-proach and half an AU above the planetary plane.”

밅 C, any word from Engineering?Donovan asked.

밡 ot yet,she said. 밒 뭠 l give them a verbal kick.”

밎 ene, as soon as you have the course from Jason, initiate the warp drive. I want to get out of this spot even if we do have a small hull breach.”

CC said. 밇 ngineering reports no breach. They will examine the outer hull once we have achieved station keeping with respect to this system.”

밬 nderstood.Donovan said. 밎 ene reorient on that new vector and initiate warp four when you are ready.”

밃 ye Captain, getting the course from Jason now.Gene took a little over a minute to re-orient the ship and then engaged the warp drive. 밒 t will take us a little over three days to reach the new coordinates Captain.”

밮 ery well. Thank you Geneand everyone else too. I didn 뭪 like taking that hit from a meteorite but everyone stayed cool and got us the answers we needed. I 뭠 l break out one of those bottles of aged scotch after dinner tonight. Inform Engineering.Dono-van grinned.

* * *

They had to pry Dr. Jayat and Dr. Chervaar out of their labs at dinner time. They were still poring over the initial data that had been gathered during their brief stop out-side the HIP-84581 system.

Over the course of dinner, they got some of their initial findings out of them.

Chandra was enthusiastic. 밯 e have prelimi-nary indications of at least six planets so far and that 뭩 just the start. We really didn뭪 have time to do anything like a complete survey.”

밫 here is at least one very dense asteroid field at about 3 AU out from the primary. This appears to be a very dense system. We could spend months here and not detect ev-erything.”

Donovan laughed. 밨 emember, this is just meant to be our shake-down cruise for ex-ploration missions. Unless we detect signs of a life world, we will have to set priorities and investigate only the most interesting features of this system before we move on.”

Chandra was still smiling. 밬 nderstood Cap-tain, but you will have to give us some time to evaluate our data once we match veloci -ties with the system. We won 뭪 know what the interesting features are until we have more time to make decent observations. However, I think Dr. Chervaar might have something significant to report already.”

Dr. Chervaar looked hesitant. 밒 t 뭩 too early to make any sort of official report re-ally. We only had minutes to make observa-tions before we entered warp again. We continue to gather data, of course, but I don 뭪 have the same confidence in the data we gather while at warp that Dr. Jayat seems to have.”

Donovan smiled tolerantly. 밅 an you tell us anything Doctor?”

밯 ell, we have initial spectra on those ob-jects that showed movement relative to the primary and enough reflected light in sev-

eral cases to make them candidates for planetary bodies. In almost every case we detected absorption lines for water. Most of it is probably ice of course, but it appears to be a very wet system.”

Lhilani kept Donovan up late that night, discussing the possibilities. They had been spending more and more time together when they weren 뭪 on duty.

밒 know the sun in this system is hotter than the suns in most of the systems we have colonized so far but that also means that the life zone around it should be larger.”

밒 f Chandra is right about the number of planets in this system and Perry is right about all of the waterwell, we might have hit the jackpot on our first try!”

Donovan grinned back at her enthusiasm. 밒t is exciting, isn 뭪 it? I mean, I 뭭 e been waiting for this all of my life.”

밣 art of me hopes that we don 뭪 find a life world because I just want to see all of the different worlds that are here. If we find a life world, we will probably end up ignoring

everything else in the system, for the most part.”

밢 n the other hand, to find a planet with new lifethink of how amazing and how scary that could be. Maybe we 뭠 l find di-nosaurs or other fierce predators, or we could find pre-sapients. Or what if we found a world with intelligent life just undergoing its industrial revolution. What would we do then?”

She laughed. 밯 hat if they launched their first space ship just as we approached or-bit?”

밫 hat could either be amazing or amazingly bad. I hope we wouldn 뭪 think it was a mis-sile and shoot it down. Can you imagine the tragedy of that?”

밳 ou 뭨 e right. We had better take careful readings before we approach any potential life-bearing world.”

밒 don 뭪 think we have to worry about sce-narios like that here though.He said.

밯 hy? Do you know something the rest of us don 뭪?She asked.

밯 ell, it 뭩 just that the folks on Darius colony probably would have detected some sort of radio emissions by now if there were any sort of technological society here. We may still find life, but I doubt it will be ad-vanced life. Stillthere 뭩 a lot of room in-be-tween the two extremes. Who knows what we will find.He smiled in anticipation.

They discussed the possibilities late into the night.

* * *

After two and a half months waiting to get there, three days to approach the inner sys-tem should have passed in no time. Instead the days seemed to stretch on and on.

Doctors Jayat and Chervaar continued to get new data and the crew had resorted to bringing them meals in their labs to make sure they ate something.

The scientists weren 뭪 very forthcoming with new discoveries, preferring to wait un-til they had better observations from a sta-ble vantage point relative to the system.

The crew kept themselves occupied, how-ever, and the days passed. It was Donovan뭩 shift on the bridge again when they

dropped out of warp. He had the same crew on duty with him again.

They were all nervous. Gene read the countdown aloud. 밪 hutting down warp drive in five, four, three, two, one.He tapped the controls on his panel to bring them out of warp.

The primary was much brighter now but still just a very bright star in their port view screens. There was nothing else visi -ble nearby, except for other stars.

CC said. 밒 nitiating scan of the immediate vicinity.”

Donovan asked: 밓 ason, do you have Dr. Jayat 뭩 parallax data on the primary?”

밒 have the data he gathered while we were in transit. He asked for a little time once we dropped out of warp to take new read-ings.”

밚 iam, let us know as soon as that data comes through please And remind the good Doctor that we don 뭪 have to be ultra pre-cise on our first attempt to match vectors. We can continue to refine our trajectory over time.”

밒뭠 l tell him, but I bet I already know what he 뭠 l say Captain.”

밓 ason, please see what you can come up with based on your own readings while we wait.”

CC spoke. 밅 aptain, our immediate area of space seems to be clear for the moment. However, our detection software has sin-gled out an item in the orbital plane a little over 1 AU behind us. It appears to be metallic.”

밪 how me!Donovan said, almost shouting.

A window opened on the forward view screen showing a remote view of the object, little more than a bright dot at this dis -tance.

밠 agnify!He snapped.

CC said: 밅 aptain, that is full magnification on the aft sensors. If you want a better im-age we will have to re-orient to bring the new telescope in the forward section to bear on the object.”

밆 o it now Gene. Liam, inform the scientists that we are taking control of their gear for

a few minutes. Show me what that is as soon as you can bring the instruments to bear on it.”

It seemed to take agonizingly long for the ship to spin about until it was pointing al-most the opposite direction. Gene applied breaking thrusters to stabilize the ship as it approached a reverse heading.

CC said: 밪 earchingobject found. Putting it up on the display.”

They all looked as a ship appeared on the main view screen. There was nothing nearby for scale, but they could see what looked like an airlock near to the bow of the ship and that gave it the appearance of being only a little larger than a fleet scout ship, perhaps a small cruiser. Donovan had never seen a ship like it before.

One thing was for certain. It was not a Vareni configuration. It had the central warp ring that was a signature of human ships. But he didn 뭪 recognize the design. He looked for but found no markings.

밐 as anybody seen a ship like this before?Donovan asked.

The bridge was silent for a few moments. CC spoke up. 밒 t looks like one of ours Cap-tain. Should I try hailing them?”

Donovan shook his head. 밡 ot yet.”

He didn 뭪 like thisnot one bit. It looked like someone had gotten word of his plans after all and this ship had been lying here in wait for them, probably for some time. Until he had data to suggest differently, he had to assume that the owners of that ship did not have good intentions towards them.

밎 ene, bring the bow up and point us on a parallel course to the planetary disc. Once the ship is reoriented, take us to maximum warp for thirty minutes. Program it for au-tomatic cutoff.”

It took precious seconds to bring the nose of the ship up so they were once again par-allel to the planetary disk. Gene fired the breaking thrusters to stop their rotation and then engaged the warp drive.

Donovan mentally counted the seconds un-til they would be at their closest approach to the unknown ship.

The moment slipped by and he tried to take a deep breath, willing himself to relax. Sud-

denly he felt foolish. Here he was running away and he didn 뭪 know anything about the other ship, other than the fact that it was probably a human ship.

It was probably a coincidence, he told him-selfor maybe Admiral Jager had sent out a courier ship to deliver a message.

He made up his mind to give the order to drop out of warp and initiate contact with the mystery ship. He had just opened his mouth to give the order when there was a bright flash.

The lights on the bridge seemed to flare momentarily, and then everything went dark.

End of Book 1

Cast of Characters

Encounter Crew

Captain: Donovan Kane

Executive Officer (XO): Caley 밅 CCabot

Chief Navigator: Jason Minami

1st Pilot / Navigator: Gene Quimby

2nd Pilot: Amelie Mercier

Science Officer / Programmer: Liam Rior-dan

Chief Engineer: Gillespie Walker

Engineering Crew / Cargo Handlers:

Gregory Smithers

Janice Zudora

Nakamo Wichahpi

Botanist / Cook: Nathan Asha

Scientific Crew

Astrophysicist / Planetologist: Chandra Sthana Jayat

Chemist / Geologist: Paras (Perry) Chervaar

Biologist / Doctor: Lhilani Song

Coalition Personnel

Admiral Jager

Specialist Jasmin Pranidhi

Captain Verma