RoustWriter: Blog

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...Time dragged on, and twice the First Officer was about to call to the Marine detachment, but refrained. He would hate to come across as a busybody who tried to mind someone else's business. Nevertheless, he fretted until he heard the Marine's voice on his communicator. "We are on the way out with prisoners."

The prisoners turned out to be a Chef and his assistant. From appearances, a very much-relieved Chef and his assistant. The Marine Lieutenant said the two claimed they had been captured during a raid on the luxury yacht where they were employed - one as a Chef and the other as his assistant.

Even though they were wearing emergency suits, it was still obvious the prisoners had been beaten at some point. The Lieutenant motioned to the two. "The beating was not from us. I believe their story, and so does my Liedoc," he said as he tapped the shoulder of his suit, forgetting that the Liedoc was attached to his fatigues beneath the combat armor he wore, and therefore, was not visible to the people he was talking to.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Excellent job. I will see that they get to Sick Bay."

The First Officer detailed two of his crew to escort the two injured men to the ship's medical facility where they would have their injuries seen to. The Marine Lieutenant insisted on escorting the Captain, First Officer, Science Officer and Helm through the airlock that was sealed into the rock of the tunnel. Once through the lock, the Lieutenant commented, "The air is good," as he casually retracted his face shield, and the others followed suit. On down the seemingly natural tunnel a hundred meters or so, it suddenly opened into a large amphitheater-like area with a ceiling a good twenty meters or more in height...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...With the laser/particle beams from three arrays slamming into the virtually trapped pirate vessel, its commander knew that his life expectancy was now counted in minutes unless he could break his ship free of the towering walls surrounding and trapping him virtually in one place.

But his savage energy impulses were slamming into the Hunter's shields as well, and they were taking a toll. Alarms were screaming as the frigate bucked and shuddered as laser/particle beams poured into her shields as well as an occasional missile, some of the energy overriding the shields to sluff off chunks of armored hull.

The Captain, seeing the pirate vessel stagger under the onslaught of laser fire from near point-blank range (5 kilometers), brought an additional missile array on line and fired two large missiles, then two more, then two more at the semi-trapped pirate vessel. One missile seemed to get through the pirate ship's shields, caused the big ship to stagger as it tried to extract itself from the confines of the deep-walled valley.

But the big vessel continued to shake off their fire and was now powering toward free space despite what the Hunter could do.

"Shields down to fifteen percent and dropping rapidly," Helm called out, his voice tense as the frigate wallowed from the pounding it was receiving.

"Ah, shit," the First Officer muttered, then, "Helm, initiate your maneuvering program. Get us away from those weapons while we can still function. Shut down any non-essential power drain and shunt all possible power into charging the shields."...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

..."Hush," Diana said as she gave Jasmine a hug. "You - all of you - are family. And besides, you won't tell us what you need, so we have to guess. In addition, we're eager to help you with the canning."

"With only a few baskets of tomatoes and all of us helping, things should go quickly," Jasmine said. Then, changing the subject and with a smile, "It's time for supper, so while we're fixing it, you guys can do the preliminary washing of the vegetables."

"I ordered a half dozen washtubs, and Ship put them down by the door," Diana said with a grin.

As Jeff and Morales went out with the wolves, "Don't knock doing a little preliminary washing of the vegetables," Jeff quietly said, "it beats the crap out of peeling tomatoes. Been there; done that; don't want to do it again."

Morales stared at Jeff. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. If memory serves, you dip them in boiling water, then put them in a cold water bath before pulling the peel off."

Jasmine came out. "After the tomatoes are washed, please cut an 'X' in the bottom before bringing them in," she said with a smile as she handed them paring knives. "Some of us are going to fix sandwiches while the others begin sterilizing the jars and lids and also preparing a boiling water bath to be ready for the tomatoes. We'll dip them for twenty seconds or so in hot water, then immediately put them in an ice-water bath before pulling the peeling off. Oh, yes, you need to core the tomatoes before you bring them in."

As soon as Jasmine was back inside, "This is not…" Morales began before Jeff interrupted him.

"We have the easy job," he assured Morales...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...The Captain walked in, acknowledged the change of command and sat in his seat.

"How are the injured, Sir?"

"The Doctor says the crew members with burns will be healed sufficiently for them to return to duty in three days unless there are complications. The crewmember with the broken arm is healed and was returning to his area when I left Sick Bay."

"Sir," the First Officer said, "we have received confirmation that all repairs are completed other than some dents when several of the rocks made it past our weakened shields and bounced off our armor. We have double-checked all ship's systems, and we are presently doing a slow search of this monster that must once have been part of a mountain chain or a planet or planetoid."

"Very well," the Captain responded. "We shall continue the search. Weapons Officer, do you remain confident in your weapons now that one of the laser banks has been repaired?"

"Yes, sir. My boards are all green."

"Very well. Look sharp. You might just get more shooting practice."

"Yes, Captain. My weapons are ready, and so am I."...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...Sixty-two days out, the First Officer asked and received permission to enter the Captain's office. "Sir, do you have a minute?"

"Certainly. What do you have, First?"

"The Navigator tells me there is a star system some two hours ahead, and according to our charts, it has a half-dozen uninhabitable planets and also an extensive asteroid belt. The nearest planet to the belt is far out from the primary and reportedly does not have life to be bothered by our making a few larger asteroids into smaller ones."

"You say there isn't any reported intelligent life on any of the planets of the system?"

"Well, the original survey data did not show any planets in the Goldilocks zone, so I doubt that we'll be noticed."

{blue} Goldilocks zone: Range of orbits around a star that could support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure. In other words, worlds where the temperature could support life as we know it. {/blue}

"All right. Drop out of warp well out from this asteroid belt. Let's sit quietly for a couple of hours before we move on in." Then with a grin, he jokingly said, "I would hate to stumble onto the pirates' stronghold while they're taking a siesta." Both men laughed at the idea before the Captain went on. "If we don't detect any signs of life in two hours of passive scanning, go to active for fifteen minutes. If we're still alone, move to the asteroid belt and set up your test range."

"Affirmative, Captain. I'll let you know prior to our dropping out of warp."...

Have a goodun;

Roust