Chapter 19

It was approaching dinner time on Eagle when Siobhan’s, Maureen’s and Sarah’s Clans finished their tour. That morning they had toured Phoenix, and the afternoon before had done the same thing on Dóchas.

Maureen said, “Let’s use the conference room off the bridge. Are you all going to eat dinner with us?”

“Sure,” replied everyone.

“We’ve informally talked a lot about our plans once we were all operational,” said Sarah as they were getting their snack in the conference room. “Based on what we’ve seen and heard, we should set a date for our exercises. How about 44 clock cycles from now?”

“Do we want the party before or after?” asked Brandan of Maureen’s Clan.

“I think after,” responded Siobhan.

“Is 44 cc enough time?” asked Courtney of Maureen’s Clan.

“Yes,” replied Melissa of Siobhan’s Clan. “That should give us more than enough time for fighter pilots and cruiser crews to become proficient in operating from our ships. It also gives our crews enough time to sort out how they will interact.” Seeing some of the expressions she added, “It’s not that their training is deficient, but they are moving into a new home and that takes adjustments.”

“Good point,” said Sally with everyone nodding in agreement.

“Once we have the full complement of fighters and cruisers on board, we need to practice rapid launches,” said Rusty. “These should start out slowly, uncloaked, and the pace should be gradually accelerated. We need to be able to do this cloaked. Once that is worked out, the next step is to figure out how quickly we can cycle fighters, including rearming.”

“We’ve done some of that from Dóchas with all of the pilots,” said Tara.

“So we are comfortable with the date?” asked Sarah.

“We are,” replied Siobhan.

“We are,” replied Maureen.

“Are Flight Directors satisfied with air crews’ proficiency?” asked Sarah.

“Yes,” replied Courtney and Melissa with Tara nodding her head.

Melissa of Siobhan’s Clan added, “It was a smart move to begin their flight training on An Clochán with some use of Dóchas. Otherwise, I could see this being a much longer step.”

“I hesitate to say this,” said Rusty, “but I think their proficiency is very good on all aspects except entry and departure from a space ship. This will give us time to improve that, and the crews to polish operations on the flight deck.”

“So who wants to talk about their exercise plans first?” asked Maeve.

Conan said, “Our idea is to move some distance away, but stay within this solar system. We are considering moving so we are near another planet, such as Uranus, or one of the other Jovian planets. By doing that we would be less noticeable from beyond this solar system. Once there, we would go through a series of exercises to hone our operational ability over say, 20 to 30 clock cycles. One part of that would be extended operations and simulated combat conditions.”

“What’s your goal?” asked Alison.

“Basically we need more experience in operating our ship and its systems. We need to know how quickly we can launch our fighters and cruisers. We have a pretty good idea about how fast we can launch Star Fighters, but we don’t know about the Badb Class Cruisers. Another unknown is how quickly we can recycle them. You asked for a goal. I see it as ‘becoming comfortable both with our systems and as a team’. We are also planning on doing a number of defensive, offensive and emergency drills. It is still open as to whether we divide the Star Fighters and Badb Cruisers into teams for tactical combat, or just use space debris as targets.”

“Were you planning on operating cloaked?” asked Maureen.

“Very definitely. The Star Fighter pilots have indicated that it takes some time to believe your HUD [head up display] or your telepathic sense when you can’t visually see the other fighters with you.”

“The crews on the Badb Cruisers need to shake down their ships as well, and get a feel for how they respond to commands. Weapons testing is also a must.”

“We were going to work that into the overall drill.”

“Speaking for Sarah’s Clan,” said Sarah, “we agree with what you’ve sketched out. In fact ours is similar.”

Colleen said, “Ours is also similar to Conan’s description. One part that isn’t covered is making a fairly long excursion. Each ship should make one trip individually, and then we should go as a group.”

“Presuming we want to minimize being detected, we could follow one of the planets orbits somewhat above or below the ecliptic.”

Tiff said, “We ought to phase it at set intervals and have all the departments consult to share their experiences.”

“Good idea,” responded Jill.

“This will give us another opportunity to evaluate our telepathic links,” said Erin.

Siobhan responded, “Yes, and I suspect we will find aspects to our links that we haven’t experienced yet.”

“How is that?” asked Aoife.

“One ability I expect to emerge will be something like we experience on the bridge within our clan. This will give us an overview of all operations which will aide us in supporting each other.”

“Anything else on operational issues?”

“Our reconnaissance drones should be back about the time we return from these operational training exercises,” said Alison. “Our long range survey shuttles are ready to leave, as soon as we select a destination.”

“I see it is nearly dinner time,” said Sarah, “so over the next week let’s work out a detailed plan for our exercises and then get together again. The idea behind this is to try and make sure we cover all aspects.”

“Agreed,” said the group.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if we have visitors before we are ready to move,” said Aoife.

“Who? When? Are you sensing a threat?” asked Sally in a rapid volley.

Aoife paused for a few moments, before replying, “I am not certain.” Then after a few moments added, “The first will likely be, but the arrival of the other visitors doesn’t seem to bring with it any active threat. Even though it will be before our move, it appears to be quite a ways in the future, and I think we all know how quickly the threads of time can change.”

“Yes,” replied several.

Sarah’s Clan watched their monitor as Phoenix and Eagle prepared to depart Mars orbit on their month long exercise. In finishing up the Dóchas class ships they had run into a number of nagging issues. None were serious, but everyone felt that taking their time to prepare for reaching this milestone was the right thing to do. Several times an opportunity was seen to shorten this time, but after careful consideration it was decided to make sure the issues were correctly resolved. If there had been a significant reason the preparation could have been shortened. This decision provided extra time for the Badb Cruisers crews and Star Fighter pilots to become proficient in operating from their ships. The other advantage was that it gave their support units more time to work out their procedures.

Initially their plan was for just Eagle and Phoenix to move to another part of the solar system for the exercises, but as they were making the preparations, they decided that since An Clochán had added several defensive installations, Dóchas would also. To them, being able to exercise together for part of the time was worth the risk. This was even though they thought the increased activity in the solar system would be detectable.

The monitor on Dóchas’ bridge flickered then showed Siobhan’s Clan on Phoenix’s bridge. Alongside Siobhan stood Brigit and Conan as she said, “Dóchas Command Staff, Phoenix requests permission to depart Mars station.”

“Permission granted,” replied Sarah. “See you in 20 cycles, and may the Gods and Goddesses be with you.”

“Thank you, and may you too be so blessed.”

Sarah’s Clan watched the monitor, as the image divided to show both Eagle and Phoenix. It was a few minutes before they saw Phoenix begin to veer away from them. They watched as Phoenix slowly accelerated toward her destination, which was close to Uranus on the other side of the solar system. It wasn’t long before Phoenix was just a small white dot on the screen. On another monitor was a map showing this solar system, the planets and their ships.

“It is amazing how different Phoenix’s departure looks from those we saw in movies when we were growing up,” said Alison.

“Yes, it is,” replied her spouses.

“Dóchas Command Staff,” said Maureen, as a view of Eagle’s bridge appeared on the monitor. “We see Phoenix is on their way. Eagle is ready to depart.” The view showed Creidne and Brandan standing beside her in the center of Eagle’s bridge. “We intend to hold our departure until Phoenix is well away.”

“Acknowledged,” replied Sarah. “Any particular reason?”

“Basically, we want to see how they do before we begin,” replied Maureen. “We want to learn from them, and they will monitor us.”

“You’re not going to do anything fancy are you?” asked Claudette.

“No ... Well not this time,” replied Maureen with a grin.

“Good. I don’t think I am ready for the anxiety of seeing you do another barrel roll.”

“We are going to use slightly different departure parameters to those that Phoenix used. Another barrel roll is possible, but not until we know more about our ship’s responsiveness, as we have considerably more mass than we’re used to.”

“Agreed.”

“It is a maneuver we need to explore at some point,” replied Conan, with Creidne nodding in agreement.

“We can see your point of view and agree. Our data shows that Phoenix used departure parameters only slightly more aggressive than we have used while moving Dóchas in the past.”

“Ours will be considerably more aggressive,” replied Colleen.

Maureen said, “Now looks like a good time. Dóchas Command Staff, Eagle requests permission to depart Mars station.”

“Permission granted,” replied Sarah. “See you in 20 cycles. May the Gods and Goddesses be with you all.”

Dóchas Command Staff watched the monitor as Eagle veered slightly away from Dóchas, then rapidly disappeared from view.

“Wow, that was more aggressive,” said Joyce.

“Yes,” replied Sarah. “Jill, how does the data coming from them look?”

“On initial acceleration, Eagle showed some slight amount of strain, but it quickly disappeared. All the readings are well within design parameters. When Phoenix departed, there were no indications of any strain.”

“Joyce,” asked Rusty, “are both following their expected flight paths?”

“Yes. Phoenix will arrive at their exercise position ahead of schedule. Based on our initial data Eagle will be even further ahead of schedule. Actually, Eagle will arrive at her destination before Phoenix does.”

“Terry,” asked Sarah, “beyond their identification signal do you see any indication of their activity in the solar system?”

“Only a very slight ripple in solar gas flow. Our sentries are not seeing any anomalies.”

“Aine, what are we missing?” asked Rusty. “Shouldn’t Eagle and Phoenix cause a larger ripple in the solar gas stream than we are detecting?”

“Your detection systems are functioning correctly. If you had simply duplicated the original design of Dóchas, then yes, the ships would create a larger wake. Your family is to be commended for taking the original designs and incorporating more recent data from the library along with their Earth-based aerodynamic knowledge.”

“So, you’re implying aerodynamics is important even in space travel?”

“Yes. The significance is not as great or obvious. In Earth’s atmosphere, aircraft use differential air pressure to obtain the necessary lift to fly. Using an efficient aerodynamic design is an important criteria but it usually creates a lot of RF reflective surface. For military aircraft this becomes an issue as they need to reduce RF reflection to minimize detection. Even so, detecting aircraft with RF works because the speed of the RF signal is so much greater than the aircraft’s speed. On the other hand, in space aerodynamics isn’t very important with respect to flight efficiency, so it is usually not considered in the design. By factoring in aerodynamics in these modified designs, there is very little disturbance of the solar gas due to your ships movement, which diminishes your visibility. In space, RF reflection is not a good detection technique because the speed of an RF signal can be similar to a space craft. We detect space travelers in several ways, and one of those is by looking for unnatural disturbances in the solar gas flow. When we cloak our ships detection becomes even more difficult, but not impossible.”

“This leaves our propulsion system as the primary means of detecting us.”

“Yes.”

“Based on the information in our library,” said Jill, “our propulsion engines will only be visible if we exceed 20% power.”

“But, the library information is quite old.”

“Yes, it is,” replied Jill, “in our analysis we took that into account. We also evaluated our emissions when we made moves between here and Earth orbit. That data indicates that the 20% power limit is conservative.”

Rusty was quiet for a few moments, and then said, “That could be a distinct advantage to us. Nice work.”

“I will pass your comment on to the engineers.”

“Well, are we ready to depart?” asked Sarah.

There was a chorus of affirmatives from the staff. Looking at the indicators from her position, she saw that all consoles were in a green state. “Breacadh, please advise Amy’s Clan that we are departing for our exercises.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Dóchas,” said Amy, as her image appeared on Dóchas’ monitor, “see you in 40 cycles or sooner. May the Gods and Goddesses be with you.”

“Thank you.”

With that, Dóchas departed Mars orbit toward Jupiter to a position 1 deciparsec from Mars. As soon as Dóchas reached its new position, Sarah had Star initiate their planned exercises. Command Staff watched as the crew prepared to launch four cruisers and two squadrons of Star fighters.

“I’ll be damned,” exclaimed Kathryn loudly, when she saw Jasmine enter the dining room on Dóchas. “I wonder how that bitch managed to get here. Our Staffing department really should have higher standards.” Her comments evoked expressions of shock from the other members of her group. Kathryn walked toward Jasmine. As she approached, Jasmine turned toward her.

“Well I’ll be,” said Jasmine when she saw Kathryn, her expression turned dark and to one of intense dislike, “if isn’t the campus slut. How’s tricks slut?”

“Slut? You’re a fine one to be calling anyone a slut,” snarled Kathryn back. “What perverse sexual tricks did you perform to get here? It had to be more than just spreading your legs so something could use your well-used cunt.”

“Look, Bitch! I heard those stories you were spreading about me. I didn’t get accepted to the sorority by licking my way through the sisters.” As she spoke, she got louder, her long restrained anger boiling to the top. “It wasn’t I who was the sorority’s whore. I didn’t spread my legs for the football team. I am not going to let you trash me again.” As Jasmine spoke, those around her could see her anger rise while her body tensed and turned a crimson red. Her hands clenched and her arms tensed as if she was going to hit Kathryn, until Ellyn put her hand on her shoulder.

“Bullshit! I have never said anything about you. Even after I heard about the stories you were spreading about me. I know you started those stories about me participating in lesbian orgies. I am sure you were behind the stories of me being an ice queen, and the one about me living and working in a whorehouse. Who did you get to dress up like me at the local strip club?” Kathryn’s voice never rose, but her icy tone turned the room very cold. “I trusted you. You were my first intimate friend. You betrayed me. You fucking bitch! Now, you stand here trying to make it my fault. Maybe I should have done the things you claim I did in those stories, then you wouldn’t need to lie.” Kathryn took a deep breath and then softly said, “Bitch, you don’t know how much pain those stories caused me. It took all I had to keep attending class so I could finish school.”

“Slut, you are full of shit,” snarled Jasmine. “So full of it, your eyes are brown. You seduced me. Bitch! Then you told everyone I was a lesbian whore. Who wrote the material for you? You’re too stupid to create those stories about me.”

“I did not. Sorority row slut. I heard you were the favorite slut of all the fraternities. I heard they even crowned you as their slut queen. I am surprised you graduated, what with all the time you spent on your back with your legs spread.”

Jasmine and Kathryn quietly glared at each other, their clans standing around them with amazed looks on their faces. None of them could believe the anger or accusations their friends were throwing at each other, although they knew from their mind-link about the incidents. Kathryn broke the standoff of hard stares, and tears filled her eyes as she whispered, “I loved you and you humiliated me.”

“Kathryn,” replied Jasmine, with tears also streaking down her cheeks, “I loved you. Why?”

“Oh, my,” they both said together, as they stepped toward one another, hugging each other as the tears flowed and their barriers began to crumble. It was then that they both realized that they were the victims of others. Quite spontaneously they each opened a mind-link with the other, and held each other for a long time. After a few moments, the two groups linked arms around Jasmine and Kathryn, drawing them into a tight group hug.

“Jasmine, I am so sorry that I didn’t seek you out,” said Kathryn, after a few moments. “I felt so humiliated when I heard the stories. There were times I wanted to die.”

“Kathryn, you cannot be any sorrier than I am. In spite of everything, I have never stopped loving you. What we had, was so precious.”

“I know. I have never stopped loving you, either.” Kathryn drew back, and looked into Jasmine’s eyes for a long moment. Their groups could see the adoration they felt for each other. They felt the strength of their emotions for each other when their lips touched. Everyone in the two groups felt their kiss as if it was their own. Through Kathryn and Jasmine’s mind-link, the two groups began to share resurfaced memories from college.

“Come on, you two love birds,” said Vickie of Jasmine’s group, “we need to eat dinner.”

Jasmine and Kathryn nodded in acknowledgment, then, after a few moments, turned with an arm linked around each other toward their groups. Together they said, “Yes, we need to eat, but first let us assure you this will not diminish the feelings we have for each of you. As you have seen through our mind-link, we met in college, roomed together the first year, and became very close. The second year, Jasmine joined a sorority. It was after she became a sorority sister that the stories began. Both our reputations were soon trashed. Needless to say, we couldn’t stand the sight of each other.”

Kathy walked up to the group and said, “Gosh, I thought you would be eating by now.”

“We were delayed by a personal matter,” said Kathryn.

“I hope, it wasn’t serious,” replied Kathy, with a concerned expression on her face.

“We thought it was, but it seems like we were played.”

“Played?”

“Jasmine and I went to college together. Apparently, someone did not like us. Stories were spread around campus about each of us that were humiliating, to say the least. The stories supposedly originated from whichever one was not in the story.”

“That’s ugly. It is amazing how small people can be sometimes. So, I take it Jasmine and you were played off against each other.”

“You know Jasmine?”

“Yes. She helps out in the clinic at times.”

“I almost didn’t recognize her. She looks so different now.”

“I didn’t recognize you until I heard you call me bitch,” replied Jasmine. “You look a lot different to the woman I made love to so many times.”

“I don’t think many of the people we knew in college would recognize us now,” replied Kathryn with a smile. “Think about it: I am a good foot taller now, my bust is considerably larger and my shoulders are broader. Those are changes you just don’t expect to see happen to an adult.”

“Kathryn, on Earth you would be an intimidating person, just because of your size.”

Kathryn laughed, and then said, “True. All of us would have that effect on many people from Earth. It is really more than size though, since size only comes into play when you are near another person. From a distance it comes from one’s image, in terms of appearance, confidence and grace.”

As Kathy, Jasmine and Kathryn were talking, their groups had moved through the serving line. When they sat down together they switched to a telepathic exchange, so everyone in their group could share in the conversation. They had just started to eat when Kathy noticed two men looking for a place to sit. She looked questioningly at Kathryn and then Jasmine. When they nodded, Kathy waved them over. Everyone shifted a bit to make room as the two walked over.