Chapter 7

Lately, every morning seemed more exciting than the last. First the ship was done and we could go see it. Then we got a chance to play with everything. Today was the day we’d actually leave the dock with it. I hadn’t so much as commanded a pleasure boat on a lake before all this, and here I was the actual captain of a spaceship. The anticipation made it hard to stay asleep at night and gave me a ton of nervous energy every morning, and every morning it seemed I was more anxious than the last. It was all I could do to hold myself back from running right to the ship and shouting to the crew “full speed ahead, warp nine” or some such nonsense just to have the chance to experience how cool it was going to be to shoot out towards the stars.

Yet there was still real work to be done. Bringing the engines online and checking everything as carefully as we could was going to take some time if we were going to do this right.

I left Susan asleep in our bed and grabbed a quick breakfast to go before I headed out with a cup of coffee in one hand and a sandwich in the other. The base transporter room was nearly empty when I got there a little before 0700, as was the shipyard transporter room when I arrived.

As I got to the ship I found my XO Ensign Williams on watch, causally scrolling through things on his data pad as he sat in the Sensor Chief’s chair in the Sensor Bay. I knew he was on the watch rotation this morning, and looked forward to talking a few things through with him before the rest of the crew arrived. He looked up as I walked in.

He greeted me with “Morning, Pappy!” and sported a big grin.

“Good morning to you, too” I replied. “Anything going on?”

“Nope, all is quiet. Just going through all the checklists to make sure there’s nothing we should be adding to them.”

“Yeah, I think we’re pretty set on those, at least the ones for today. I think I’ve gone over those a dozen times, but I’m glad for the back-check. I have been known to miss things from time to time.”

“Between the two of us I don’t see that happening. I was even about ready to add an item for room inspections for health and welfare before I realized the ship’s nanites continually clean this place up. Glad they handle this, as I never liked having to crawl around underneath bunks looking for dust and dirt and all.”

I laughed. In the Air Force I had hated performing inspections as much as my men hated enduring them. Most of the time the senior NCOs took care of those, but periodically I was required to do them. It was a time waster, but if I didn’t have the paperwork on file that I had done my duty, someone was sure to come crawling up my ass. They were always doing that anyways, because there was always some responsibility that had been passed down to me, because no one else wanted to do it, that I had blown off, or I’d departed from accepted practice doing something, because I knew my way worked better. Here, the bullshit level was way lower and I could spend my time doing my actual job.

“Todd, I was arguing with myself in my head last night about starting emergency drills today and was second-guessing myself. My thought had been that we wouldn’t do them today, but I’m not sure about the standard that sets. Is it going to come back and bite us if we wait until the run to Earth and back to start working on those, or do you think we need to set expectations right off the bat that these are part of our daily operations?”

Ensign Williams thought for a bit. “No, I think it’s the right thing to do to wait on those. We’ll have a lot to do today and the men aren’t used to their normal jobs yet. I think they serve another useful purpose of making sure the men don’t get bored while they’re waiting around during FTL travel, or when we’re sitting around waiting for something to happen for some other reason. I don’t think anyone’s reaction to them the first few times is going to be negative, just because it’s a change in the routine they’d seen up to that point. I think your first hunch was the right one.”

“Thanks, Todd. I just sometimes over-analyze things. Maybe I’d sleep better if I just called you up when I was questioning myself.”

He laughed at this. “Well, I can’t say that getting woken up in the middle of the night is something I’d beg you to do, but I’m happy to help you in any way that I can. If you need it, you know how to reach me.”

We chatted for the next twenty minutes or so until the rest of the crew started arriving and made their way into the wardroom. Once they settled in and the chit-chat died down, I started.

“Well, men, today we get to take this thing out for a joy ride. Before we do that we’re going to repeat all the tests we did yesterday to make sure nothing’s changed. Report to the XO when you’re completed with that and we can get to today’s work. Any questions?”

There were none. “Then let’s get to it!”

We all went to our duty stations and went over the checks we did yesterday. My VR set was picking up some new targets we hadn’t seen yesterday, and some of the targets I’d seen yesterday weren’t there. I switched the display to vector plots and pushed the time interval up until I saw that the AI had tracked the arrivals and departures, so I could confirm that we weren’t having a sensor or tracking problem. Once I set the headset down in its cradle, I looked over to my XO to see he had finished up his checks and was waiting for all of the others to complete theirs.

A moment later he announced “All pre-flight checks complete, captain.”

“1MC.” My implant beeped. “Set condition Zebra throughout the ship.”

Hatches and valves were closed. I shut the outer hatch from my console.

“All stations report condition Zebra, captain.”

“Conn to Engineering, you are GO for main engine start.”

Ensign Chandler’s voice reported the progress he was making at the task, and I watched the XO’s displays that hadn’t shown much of anything yesterday start to light up. “APU to full power. Cooling system start. Energizing primary containment field. Containment field active and reading normal. Reaction mass initial injection complete. Initiating reactor. Reactor ignition complete. Reactor fuel flow to minimum. Main generator engage. Cooling system pumps to active. Shutting down APU. APU shutdown complete.”

There was a pause. “Conn this is Engineering, main engines are online and operating normally.”

My implant beeped telling me that the 1MC was back to me. “All stations, set condition Zebra Alpha. Secure from engine start.”

Zebra Alpha was a modified condition Zebra that allowed personnel to move around the ship as necessary to go to the head if they needed, or to another space if their duties required it. Airtight hatches could be opened to allow you to pass, but had to be closed as soon as you got through the hatch. Ventilation ducts could be opened to make the crew spaces a little more comfortable, as could fluid and gas pipelines so the toilet could flush and other crew comfort systems would operate correctly.

We waited for a while as we monitored the reactors and engine to make sure they continued to operate within the design specifications, and everyone checked over their systems to make sure that the switch from auxiliary power to main power had gone smoothly. No one reported any problems.

“Engineering, this is conn. Disengage Bus Alpha.”

Just as Ensign Chandler acknowledged the order, red lights started appearing all over the XO’s display.

“Captain, we have a power failure on Bus Alpha.”

“1MC. All stations report.” I said.

“Conn, this is Sensors, all systems are GO” reported Ensign Hendricks. Since all the systems on the ship would automatically switch over to Bus Bravo in case of a power interruption, this was the expected outcome. The APU didn’t route power to both power buses, so in order to test this we needed the main reactor online and the main power generator.

“Conn, this is Engineering, all systems are GO. Bus Alpha is disengaged.”

“Engineering, this is Conn. Engage Bus Alpha.” All the red indicators on the XO station turned to green.

“Secure from drill.” My implant beeped at me to let me know I was no longer on the 1MC.

We kept checking things over for a while and I had Ensign Williams visit Sensors and Engineering to make sure they were happy with what they were seeing, and to confirm that we still hadn’t found any problems.

When he returned I asked him “XO, in your opinion is the ship ready to depart?”

“It is, captain. All stations are manned and ready, all systems are operating normally.”

“AI, do you believe the ship is ready to depart?” I asked, even though I knew it would concur, but it wouldn’t hurt to check.

<All systems are operating within their design specifications. There is nothing to indicate that the ship is not fully functional or unavailable for operational deployment.>

“Well, that makes it unanimous I guess. AI, please connect me to shipyard operations.”

<You are connected, captain.>

“Shipyard ops, this is the Oxford. Request clearance to undock and departure vector.”

“Oxford, this is shipyard operations. You are clear to undock. Proceed on vector two two zero and contact Demeter traffic control on 122.50. The pattern is clear.” an unfamiliar voice answered.

“Roger shipyard operations. Departure vector 220 and Demeter traffic control on 122.50. Thanks for being good hosts.”

“Our pleasure, Oxford. Fair winds and following seas.” The connection cut off.

I switched to the 1MC. “All stations, prepare to depart.”

Even though they wouldn’t have to do anything about that since everyone was at their station, I gave them a moment to do the nothing they were being asked to do.

“Releasing umbilical.” I pressed the control that unhooked our power connection to the dock.

“Releasing docking clamps.” I pressed a control on my touchscreen. We actually heard some thuds as the docking clamps unlatch and retract.

“AI, push us off.” I could have engaged the maneuvering thrusters to gently push us away from the dock and then assume station-keeping the prescribed one meter away, but I wasn’t comfortable having the first physical maneuver I did with the ship happen when we were in such close proximity to a structure. One mistake and I’d crash the ship into the dock. That would be less than optimal. Instead, I let the AI handle it.

<Station keeping at one meter.> The AI reported.

“Releasing grounding cable. Navigation lights on.” This cable made sure there wasn’t a static electricity differential between the ship and the station that might discharge as a rather hazardous lightning bolt if the voltage difference was high enough. It was the first physical attachment made with a dock, and the last released.

“Secure from undocking.” My implant beeped, acknowledging that it was time to cut the 1MC.

I gave the maneuvering thrusters just a tiny little bit of power so we could crawl clear of the dock and we glided free of the shipyard. I turned us to a 220 degree azimuth compared to the orientation of the dockyard as we continued to glide. Maneuvering near structures required you operate using only thrusters, as the main engine wash of ionized particles and radiation was terribly hazardous and quite destructive to space facilities given the materials normally used in their construction.

AI, connect me to the radio. Set frequency to 122.5 Megahertz, AM modulation.

<”You are connected.”>

“Demeter traffic this is Oxford, departing Demeter Shipyard, over.” We used good-old VHF radio communications for local traffic control instead of AI communications, probably more because of tradition than anything else. It was a technology we were used to, and duplicated the technology used on planets for their air traffic control, so it made a seamless system for those craft that worked both within an atmosphere and outside of it. We could use the AI systems as a backup if we needed, or someone preferred those.

“Oxford, this is Demeter traffic. You are clear on your flight plan, expected duration six hours. Depart on vector 187, over.” Demeter traffic control had a filed flight plan for us and knew when we should arrive back, so if we didn’t show back up in six hours they knew it was time to go looking for us. The vector they gave us was relative to an arbitrary direction from the system’s star and would keep us out of other traffic until we departed the limit of Demeter’s traffic control area. Outside of that, it was our responsibility to make sure we didn’t bump into anyone else.

“Roger Demeter traffic. Oxford out.” I replied. We had just confirmed that there were no changes to the flight plan. I brought us around to the new heading and started giving the main engines power. We didn’t feel any acceleration, as the inertial dampeners on the ship could handle much more acceleration that we would ever be able to do, so there was no discomfort.

“Engineering, conn. How are we looking back there?” I asked Ensign Chandler.

“Conn, engineering. We’re green across the board.” he replied.

“1MC.” My implant beeped. “Set condition Yoke throughout the ship.”

Condition Yoke was a more relaxed posture for the ship, where airtight hatches could be left open, and it made it easier to move around the ship. Since we had seen the engines performing well and had encountered no problems, I thought the danger of some catastrophic problem near zero, so the convenience would be welcome.

I switched off the navigation lights since we were well clear of the shipyard and ordered “Sensors, conn. Deploy all radio masts.”

“Conn, deploying masts.” a moment passed. “Masts extended and locked. All antennas deployed and ready.”

Now we were in business. No doubt in Sensors the crew were eagerly playing with the full complement of the toys they were responsible for. I donned my VR goggles and saw numerous new contacts pop up that the more sensitive mast antenna systems could detect.

“Conn, Sensors. Detecting an Ainsworth class corvette bearing 05 degrees up one, range unknown. Designating as Papa One.”

I turned my head towards the front of the ship and the new contact was there in my headset in green, indicating this was a friendly contact. That would be our assigned babysitter for today. Since we were doing passive detection, it would take time to come up with a range estimate. If we were serious about it, we’d have to maneuver a bit to get some different angles on the target and if we could estimate the target’s speed, we could figure out what the range was supposed to be. I was willing to see what the AI could do if we stayed on course, which would give it the hardest problem to solve. The AI had already solved the target classification problem to my surprise, since that ship seemed to be running pretty quietly and not emitting a whole lot of energy, so there wasn’t a lot of data for it to work with.

To ease confusion, all contacts were designated with a letter and a number so when we were talking about them everyone knew which one we were talking about. The letter, in this case “P” for Papa, indicated that this was a passive radio-frequency detection and “1” since it was the first contact that system had made. Normally we wouldn’t designate friendly contacts, but part of what we were doing was training, so I guess Ensign Hendricks was making them go through their paces.

I figured we’d keep the ship operating in radio silence for a while so we could keep playing with this as an exercise. When the other ship detected us, I expected they’d hit us with a radar signal to confirm their plot on us and our range, and I was curious as to how long that would take them. They were waiting for us, so they were pretty much doing the same thing we were and I wanted to get a sense of how much better we were at this than they were.

It actually took about twenty minutes before Sensors informed me they’d detected an active radar signal from Papa 1. We had even been burning our main engines at about fifty-percent thrust, so it wasn’t as if we were really trying to be stealthy, and we figured out they weren’t running their engines at all, so they should have had all the advantage, except that we had intercept gear they didn’t. Their active emission immediately gave us the data we needed to know their range.

“Oxford, this is CSS Prudent, over” my implant announced. The AI was helpfully routing all FM radio traffic in the area to my implant. While traffic control was always done with AM radio, ship-to-ship was FM. It was just an old earth convention that had followed us to the stars.

“Prudent, thanks for being here for us. We’re ready for our burn to Poseidon Four, over” I answered.

“Roger that, Oxford. We’ll follow you out” they replied.

I set a course for the area where we would be operating and slowly brought the engines up to full power. In my VR headset I could see that Prudent had fallen in behind us. Our trip would take a little under two hours, with us flipping around about halfway so we could burn in the opposite direction to decelerate. We were going to insert ourselves into a high orbit around the desolate fourth planet in the system for our next set of tests. In the meantime the Sensor operators were giving their gear a full workout, except for the active emitters which we could use against the empty planet without causing anyone trouble.

“Prudent, this is Oxford. Would you like a data link? Over.” I was offering to share our sensor information with the Prudent, which we would normally do in fleet operations so our sensor data could be integrated with the rest of the fleet and our information available to all the other ships. This was one of the tests I wanted to do, but it depended on another ship agreeing to us fire-hosing data at them over a radio channel.

“Oxford, Prudent. Yes, we’d appreciate that, over” they replied. I initiated the link to them from my touchscreen and the link activated.

“Holy shit, Oxford, thanks for the visibility, out.” Apparently they were pretty impressed with the data we were able to share with them. Even though there weren’t a lot of ships out our way, at this point we had friendly contacts all over this wedge of the solar system, even beyond the sixth planet in the system and right up to the system’s sun. Now that we were clear of Demeter, there wasn’t anything masking our sensors.

With nothing but a wait until the deceleration burn, I left the conn to the XO to go visit the Sensor bay. The men were all busy, talking to each other as they worked, and Ensign Hendricks was coordinating their joint efforts as they evaluated stray signals, tested the capabilities of their equipment, and learned to collaborate with each other. I stood back and watched for a while so I could get a sense of how they were gelling as a team while they failed to notice I was even there. The last thing I wanted to see with all this going on was something like a shout of “attention on deck!” after I walked in, but I’d already made it clear that I didn’t want things like that to happen. We were going to operate pretty informally, and focus on our jobs instead of acting like marionettes.

I headed aft, still unnoticed by the Sensors crew, and towards the engine room. Ensign Chandler was busily going over everything, taking off equipment covers to take temperature readings and such and checking displays.

“How are we doing, Chris?” I asked.

“We’re humming along great,” he answered. “I’ve never seen anything work so well the first time out, before. No leaks, temps look fine and everything sounds like it’s working OK. It’s a good ship.”

I nodded. “It sure is. Let me know if you find anything.” I responded.

“Sure will, but at this point I’m thinking that might not happen.”

I headed back forwards, grateful we hadn’t had an engineering casualty or an accident aboard that would put us out of commission. Losing engines out in the middle of, well not quite nowhere, but close enough for our purposes would not be fun. The Sensors crew were still hard at it, and when I got back to the conn the XO was relaxing comfortably.

“Hey, Todd, bring the navigational shields online. We don’t need them here, but it doesn’t hurt to test them out, right?”

“Sure thing, captain” he responded as he punched a control on his touchscreen. Nothing seemed to happen, but an indicator light on his control panel changed color from blue to green. A lot of the time we would run without those when there wasn’t much risk of encountering small debris, as the shields gave off an electronic signature that made you a lot less stealthy. They also interfered a little bit with the sensors.

We pretty much sat around and talked for the next twenty minutes or so until it was time to flip the ship for the deceleration burn. I had the AI handle the routine maneuver.

My implant woke up. “Conn, Sensors. New contact bearing 184 down 2, range unknown. Designate Papa Two.” Since an identification hadn’t been included, we didn’t know what it was. I pulled on the VR goggles and looked aft to see a blinking yellow icon in the direction of our travel. As I watched it, another showed up next to it.

“Conn, Sensors. New contact bearing 184 down 2, range unknown. Designate Papa Three.”

I knew what these were, but the Sensors crew didn’t. These were the target buoys we had placed in the orbit of the planet and I’d had them configured to output an electronic signature that didn’t look anything like one of our ships. To the Sensor crew these looked like real war targets from a distance and it would probably pump their adrenaline up, especially since we were moving right at them, and give them something to practice on.