Disgraced
Copyright© 2025 by Ogreface
Chapter 14: The Flying Pig
The next morning Dupre arrived and acted totally normal. After their usual morning run, during which they ran away from the supposedly fit boot camp class, they changed clothes, had breakfast, and headed to the maintenance shed. Dane was still waiting for a pair of burly MPs to suddenly arrive and ask for him, but nothing happened as they prepared for their operation.
That evening, instead of returning to the barracks, they had supper in the hangar. Once the sun had properly set, all external lights were turned off and the doors were opened as a shuttle floated into the hangar under cover of darkness. Dane was told the level of secrecy had all to do with ‘need-to-know’. None of the other ranger teams had any idea what they were up to, just like they had no idea what the other teams were working on. They took the rest of the night to load the two sleds into the shuttle, which had its interior stripped bare before it arrived.
For their every-day operations, where they assisted the navy engineers in modifying the sleds, they were issued navy engineering boiler suits, which they left in the hangar each day. That night, after loading the two sleds, they crashed in one of the side rooms where the navy had some bunk beds.
That next morning, they skipped their usual morning run in exchange for a trip into space onboard the shuttle with the two sleds onboard. They were issued new, modified, black space suits and strapped into the sled frames of the sleds before the shuttle exited the hangar. With the new space suits having external air and liquid waste connectors, they got launched with the cargo bay being unpressurized.
“We have our own private ride,” Dupre said over the closed system communication network. “Relax while our ride takes us away.” They could see nothing of what was going on outside, but they could feel when the shuttle changed its velocity.
“Right, we can start some space trials now,” Dupre said as few hours later. He and Dane were on or in one sled while Rogers and Nick were in the other sled. The rear ramp opened to a view or a star field. Dane was strapped into the pilot position while Dupre, who was floating free but attached to the sled by a long lifeline, gave the sled a gentle push so it drifted out of the shuttle cargo bay.
Once Dupre and Rogers were back inside the sled frames, they started testing the antigravity generators. Dane figured out that they were somewhere between the planet and the moon orbiting the planet, but much further away than the space station. The other surprise was ‘their ride’. It was a standard two-hub, eight-pod cargo ship.
The main difference between a frigate and a civilian-model cargo ship was the cargo pods. Both the frigate and a cargo ship was built on the same central shaft structure which contained the engineering and propulsion equipment. The cargo ship was not built inside a heavy-duty external frame like a frigate or a cruiser. It had two hubs attached to the central shaft, each with four rotating arms. The hubs rotated in opposite directions. There were also no rings connecting the pods. The pods were bigger than the cruiser pods since they were meant for all types of cargo and could actually disconnect from the hub and taken down to a planet surface on a cargo shuttle for loading and unloading.
When Dane moved the sled away from the shuttle he realized that the shuttle was docked to the rear of the cargo ship. It was clear that the cargo ship was not just their ‘ride’, it was going to be a base for the sleds.
The piloting controls for the sleds were totally new to everybody, but nobody was surprised when Dane managed to master them first. He could make some really tight turns, provided Dupre was tied to one of the back-brace positions. There was no stopping in space since they were orbiting the planet, which was orbiting the sun, which was orbiting the center of the galaxy, so the best one could hope for was to match velocities.
Once Nick also mastered the controls of the other sled, they returned to the ship, matched velocities with it and anchored the sleds to the external frame of the shuttle. Then they entered the ship via the airlock. By that time the navy crew had some packaged meals ready for them.
The four pods on the front hub were fitted out as human spaces with one pod being the ship’s crew quarters. The next pod was a small workshop and engineering crew quarters. The third pod was the rangers’ living quarters and exercise area. The fourth pod was meant to be a medical bay but was unoccupied and only partially equipped. The second hub with its four pods were ‘cargo space, currently empty’.
The navy engineers who did the modifications on the two sleds barely gave Dane and Nick a chance to get out of their space suits before they started bombarding them with questions on how the sleds handled.
Over the next week they made a few small changes to the sleds. The control system received a software update, the back braces got some extra supports for the humans, and the lasers were fitted. The navy team seemed as excited about the sleds as the rangers were. The captain of the ship, the Flying Pig, apparently most individually owned cargo ships had weird names, explained that the navy bosses were watching their experimenting with great interest. They were considering using the same frame and engines to make a purely navy attack sled or gun ship.
Once they had the sleds the way they wanted them, and both Dane and Nick were satisfied with how the lasers were mounted, another shuttle arrived at the ship. Onboard were Major Gallagher, another marine lieutenant, eight rangers, two gunnery sergeants, two sergeants, and four corporals, four medics, one of which was the same pretty female captain from the marine base. There were also two navy ensigns, both uncomfortably attractive and slender females.
“Close your mouth, sergeant, oh, wait, no flies in space,” the medic captain said to Dane as she gave him a cute smile. He was not really gaping at her; he was just surprised to see her there.
“I think she means you should not stare,” the major said with a laugh. “Captain Simone Dante is the best emergency trauma doctor we have, and she volunteered for this trip. Sergeant Ariane Zander is another trauma specialist. How is things working out, Dupre?”
“Great, major,” Dupre said. “These two are already masters in flying the sleds.” Then he introduced Dane, Rogers, and Nick to the others. The new lieutenant and the rest of the rangers were also introduced.
“The navy is showing a lot of interest in this,” the major said. “These two are experienced shuttle pilots. Ensign Tina Henderson and Ensign Erin Winslow have been sent out to try to fly the sleds, and to observe the operation. The navy is planning on adapting the sleds for an attack role, so they want to see how we do things.”
“Not to be pushy, but I suggest all the females share the medical pod quarters,” the pretty captain said.
“Not a problem,” the major said. “You can put Ricker and Prager with the rangers so you can have the entire pod for your ladies.” Ricker and Prager were the two male medics.
Once the medical team has claimed the fourth pod, and had all their equipment off the shuttle and into the pod, the shuttle left again. That was when the second hub revealed another secret. Two of the pods could unfold and open up to space. They also had sizable airlocks. While it was common for cargo ships to have at least one shuttle attached to them, having the sleds attached to the shuttle was unusual. With the two pods open, Dane and Nick showed Lt. Behr and Sgt Asher as well as the two navy ensigns how to move the sleds into the pods.
Once the two pods were sealed up again and pressurized, the new crews as well as the two ensigns were given a hands-on tour of the two sleds. Dane was expecting the new group to find problems or make suggestion to change how the sleds work, but nobody added to the existing list of suggestions, which has already been discussed and either implemented or discarded.
“We have a new feature for the sleds,” the major said later when the entire group, minus the crew of the Flying Pig, was together in the mess hall. “It is meant to be an emergency or medical feature, but the way Doc Dante designed it, we are thinking of making it a more general feature. Care to explain, Doc?”
“It is essentially a space tent,” the doctor said. “It has flexible ribs to give it some shape when it has no air inside. It is made from a combination of Kevlar, canvas, and plastic. We tested it with a high-powered rifle. The bullets didn’t penetrate. If a person is inside, against the side when a bullet or meteorite hits it, the person might die from impact trauma, but the body will not be exposed to vacuum. The idea is to stuff an injured marine and a medic into the tent and seal it up, allowing the medic to get the marine out of his space suit and apply medical treatment.”
“The new black space suits are purely for stealth operations,” The major added. “They also have the same Kevlar/canvas construction to provide better protection from being punctured. As for the space tents, instead of each sled carrying one medical space tent, we plan to issue each sled crew member with a tent, especially for longer assignments away from a base ship,” The major added. “Off-duty sled crew members can seal themselves up and get out of their space suits, to clean themselves, do some scratching where it itches, and do suit maintenance.” The females giggled, but they quickly stopped when the marines gave them puzzled looks.
“Galan, tell us how you envision crewing the sleds,” Lieutenant Behr said.
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