Chapter 63: Unfriendly Debriefing

Five days later, Corsica limped back into the Crucibleat system. We had found no Sa’arm in the M-class system we had jumped to, but when we tried to generate a jump bubble to leave the system capacitor two had overloaded. The ship had still managed to form the bubble, but the engine room was in tatters. Private Truit would spend over twenty hours in a medical pod after the overloading capacitor sent shrapnel through the engineering compartment.

This second reminder of the problems in the ship’s construction had the crew livid at the Confederacy. All of them had signed on with the understanding that they would be taking risks, but this was far more than regular risk-taking. My four problem crew had been the worst, but even Sergeant Bruce and Lance Corporal Kelly had asked to speak with me about the numerous flaws we were finding.

The ship shook violently when the jump bubble broke. Private Morrison sat at the controls and he was not happy. “I’m getting uneven thrust!” he screamed.

“Bridge, this is engineering. We had some engine damage as we emerged,” Ensign Warren called out.

“Bad?” I asked.

“Keep thrust under twenty-five percent while we check. Hopefully we can fix it quickly, but I can’t say for sure,” Ensign Daniels said.

“Understood,” I said. “Helm...”

“On it,” Private Morrison said. “We’re looking at five hours to reach orbit at that thrust.”

“Communications?” I asked.

“Ipanema is not in the system,” Ensign Munfree said. “I’ve sent out a message to Crucible Command, but at our current distance they might not have received it.”

“Keep listening,” I said. “I’m going to my quarters to compose a report about all we’ve seen. Somehow I get a feeling that my next briefing won’t be fun.”

“You did nothing wrong. All of your crew is alive. Why would you have a problem?” Chaz asked me.

“I think we broke the ship,” I said as I stood up. “And we didn’t clear the Sa’arm out of the system. That will be a problem.”

“You and I looked over the tracking data once we were out of the system. The largest Sa’arm ship there was carrying the others. We had no chance of defeating it,” Ensign Munfree said firmly.

“We’ll see if higher command agrees. I can say I’m happy to not see Ipanema right now. I’m not sure I would survive the blistering sarcasm we’d hear,” I said with a sigh. “Ensign Munfree, you have the bridge.”

“I have the bridge,” she said firmly.

I turned and walked the short distance to the entrance of the bridge. I was worried about the results of the briefing I was sure I’d be having shortly.

The passageways of the ship were ringing with happy voices. I guessed that my officers had allowed at least some of their men to leave their posts now that we were safely back in our home system. From what I could hear many of the man talking were hoping to get to see their concubines.

Entering my quarters brought me a moment of silence. I moved to sit on the edge of my bed with a sigh.

For several minutes I just sat there and said nothing as I thought about the first cruise for Corsica. We had not been hit by the enemy, but our problems with the flawed construction of the ship had resulted in two serious injuries. I knew they were not my fault, but I expected to be blamed for the casualties.

I leaned back for a moment. My head was resting against the rear bulkhead of my quarters as I pondered how to present all the information.

“Captain?” I heard Ensign Munfree call.

“Go ahead,” I said.

“We are receiving a series of recorded messages. It appears that many of the crew have messages from their concubines,” she said.

“Allow any crewmembers who are not on duty to receive their messages,” I said. “They can compose and send out replies for as long as we are in the system.”

“Awwww,” Chaz replied. “Are you feeling lonely for your harem?”

“Concentrate on your duties,” I growled.

I heard laughter as the connection faded out. Once the room was silent I sat up and looked at the far wall. “AI? Are there any reports I need to compile?” I asked.

“All relevant reports have already been forwarded to Crucible Command,” the AI stated.

“All?” I asked. “But I never sat down to go over and supply, logistics or repair reports. In fact, the only reports I have sent have been details about promotions I have given and the reports I dictated regarding the problems the ship has had.”

“The other reports are compiled automatically,” the AI said. “Replenishment of replicator stocks and munitions were discovered to be best handled by AI units. They are less likely to make a mistake.”

“Wonderful,” I muttered. “You almost don’t need a captain on this ship.”

“Humans remain the best way to handle the commands and operations that AI units are unable to handle due to strict limitations to their programming,” the AI said. “No AI may contemplate the kinds of aggressive actions required in a space battle.”

“Nevermind,” I said as I sat up. “Who sent me messages?”

“You have nine messages all of them originated from your pod on the planet,” the AI stated.

“That’s how many. I asked for who sent them,” I said.

“All of your messages originated from your pod,” the AI said again.

“Were any created by my dependents?” I asked.

“Two were created by dependents of Mark Parker,” the AI responded.

I looked over at the open area of wall I had been using for reviewing papers. “Can I see one of those?” I asked.

The screen flickered. A moment later a picture of Erica sitting on a bed in a room with pink walls lit up.

“Dad!” she called out. The young girl was smiling. She had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a t-shirt that had been decorated with a strange wolf-like head.

“Well, not really Dad. I’m not sure I want you to be my father. There are other ways I can love you,” she said.

I groaned and covered my face. The young girl giggled and then waved to someone I could not see on the screen. “Hey Angel! Come and say hello to Mark.”

“Unka Mark!” I heard Angelique scream out happily. She ran into the picture and climbed up into Erica’s lap. She then looked directly at what I guessed was the camera. Immediately her smile vanished. “He’s not here.”

Erica kissed the top of Angelique’s head. “I know. He’s off protecting us. But we can tell him we love him and want him to come home soon.”

“He’ll hear me?” Angelique asked.

“Definitely,” Erica said confidently. “And I know he loves you. He wants you to be happy.”

“Really?” Angelique asked. “I miss him. I want to play a game with him.”

“He’ll do that when he returns,” Erica said.

“Promise?” Angelique asked. Her voice had a tone in it that made it clear she completely believed the older girl.

“I promise,” Erica said. “He’ll come and play until you are bored.”

“Ouch,” I thought. “That might take a while.”

Angelique looked to her right. She sat for a moment and then jumped up. “Mommy is calling!” she cried just before running off.

Erica watched Angelique run off and then turned back to the screen. “Sorry. She really misses you. I never realized how much she looks up to you until you weren’t here. I was hoping this video might convince her that you are thinking of her. I know Aine and Miki are both tired of playing Candyland with her.”

I was shaking my head as Erica continued. “And now I’m sure you are shaking your head. Don’t worry too much, Lenore has been working on getting Angelique to try other games. Right now she’s really into the one with the penguins grabbing tiles filled with fish.”

“I should also say I miss you. Ashley has allowed me to get a swimsuit, but I want to try exploring the lake with you. The water isn’t too cold. I’m not sure why, but there are a couple of places its actually rather nice. Miki thinks there might be some kind of hot spring under the surface that it providing warm water to the lake. We have found a couple of streams that flow into it, but they are cool, so they aren’t the reason the water is nice,” Erica added.

I nodded at the screen. Erica was clearly thriving on the new planet. I hoped she would say more, but she had stopped talking and was looking off to her right.

“I better go,” she said turning back to the screen. “Lenore and Constance are fighting again. Hopefully this time we can stop it.”

Erica stood up and dashed out of my sight. The viewscreen remained lit showing the now empty bed for a moment and then the picture faded.

“Would you like to see the other message from your dependent?” the AI asked.

“One moment,” I said. “First can you connect me with engineering?”

“Captain Parker?” I heard Ensign Daniels call out. “Don’t you ever go off duty?”

“The ship and everyone in it is my responsibility. It’s a bit hard to show responsibility if you are willing to go off duty all the time,” I responded. “I just called to see how the repairs to the engine were coming along.”

“We’ll be allowing the helm to increase thrust to fifty percent shortly. Private Ambrose found the problem fairly quickly. When capacity two overloaded the shrapnel warped some of the components to the flow regulation system,” Ensign Daniels replied.

“Ah, so you have to replace some things. That’s what I need to know. I expect I’m going to be asked by Crucible Command once we get a bit closer to the planet,” I said.

“We’ll have it all rebuilt, again, in about another hour,” Ensign Daniels replied. “My engineers are growing a bit too familiar with making this kind of repair. I’m hoping we don’t have more problems.”

“Well, if I remember correctly, we’ve now replaced just about every part that can be replaced in the engines. So unless we take some hits we should be fine for the near future,” I said.

“We’re going to look at ways to improve the durability of the engines. Ambrose and Truit have some thoughts, but Boddicker is making sure they do things carefully. He doesn’t want any new problems created by their tinkering,” Warren replied.

“I don’t blame him,” I replied. “Keep me informed of progress.”

“What about a brief visit to our homes,” Warren asked hopefully.

“I need to find out what our orders are. The news about the Sa’arm incursion into the region is likely going to require that we perform a patrol of all systems between Crucible and any known Sa’arm held system,” I said.

“Just let me know so I can inform my men,” Warren said.

“I’ll make a general announcement as soon as I know anything,” I replied.

“I’ll let you get back to reports,” Ensign Daniels said. “And if you get asked, we’ll have full power again in about forty minutes. We just have to finish the repairs to conduit four and we can provide maximum thrust again.”

The intercom sounded a new chime. “What’s that?” I asked.

“Ensign Munfree suggested that a chime be added to indicate when a call ended,” the AI said. “That was a test of the new system.”

“I’m not sure I like it,” I muttered.

I took a deep breath, preparing to ask to see the next video from my ladies. Before I could speak the AI rang a series of soft chimes. “I have a priority message for Captain Parker from Crucible Command.”

“Put it through,” I said.

“Captain Parker,” the voice of Sergeant Griffiths called out. “My AI tells me that you have arrived back in the system. I don’t know the whole story, but I’m hearing that your ship isn’t moving at standard cruising speed so I’m guessing you had some kind of engineering failure. We need to talk as soon as you get this message. I know you’ll still be more than a light minute away, but we need to get a message drone off with the details of what you found.”

“Did Ensign Munfree send out a drone once we entered this system?” I asked.

“The last drone was sent out during the one hour spent in the M-class system Corsica jumped through several days ago,” the AI said.

“At least I know what to talk about,” I said. “Can you record a response to Crucible Command?”

“Recording,” the AI said.

“Sergeant Griffiths,” I started. “It’s nice to see you. Yes, Corsica had a failure of one of the capacitors used to power the initial formation of the jump bubble. When the bubble was broken to allow us to return to normal space some kind of energy backlash ripped up our engines. I’ve already talked to my engineering officer and he believes we’ll have full power again in less than an hour.”

I paused, trying to think of what to say next.

“Recorded and sent,” the AI said quietly.

“How long until we get a response?” I asked.

Corsica is just over two light minutes from the planet Crucible,” the AI said. “Any response will take a minimum of four minutes.”

“Good, play me the other video from my dependent while we wait for the response,” I said.

The viewscreen turned on and my sister appeared. She was wearing her cheerleading outfit from the previous year. It was clear it no longer fit comfortably. Her growing breasts pushed the fabric out and the sleeveless outfit made it so a surprising amount of sideboob was visible. She was sitting with her knees together as she smiled at the camera.

“Brother! Or perhaps someday you’ll be lover!” she said happily.

I hissed in surprise as my sister waved a hand dismissively. “Just kidding,” she continued. “Actually I did get to talk to Mistress Jessica recently. Captain Prescott was more than a little embarrassed by the number of problems Ipanema had at launch, but they finally got underway four days after we arrived here. I think he plans on seeing how many systems they can visit, just to show you up.”