Chapter 402

Deep Space, the Alien Ship

... The absolute quiet of the bridge officers made the normal background sounds of the electronics seem overly loud as the pause dragged out. Then, at last, “Very well, then. Carry on,” the Captain snarled before whirling around and marching out.

The Second Officer stepped over to a nearby console for a moment, and a small section of the big screen showed the Captain walking rapidly toward his quarters.

The First Officer could have sworn he heard several of the bridge crew give the races’ equivalent of a snigger.

A little later, he stood watching the big screen as the Paladins swept through the asteroids they were using for targets, the First Officer well pleased with their accuracy as the crews competed with each other. The Second Officer grinned over at him, then said loudly enough for all the bridge personnel to hear, “They are endeavoring to make you proud of them, First. They have never performed this well in the past.”

The First Officer frowned. “But why...”

“Uh, Sir, the recording of the bridge incident involving the Captain was accidentally broadcast to all the Paladin crews.”

The First Officer, his face dark, turned to his Second, ready to reprimand him verbally, but reason asserted itself before he could open his mouth. Instead, “It was accidentally broadcast?”

“Uh, yes, Sir. As you are aware, First, a touch of the wrong control and the accident happens – sometimes.”

The First Cleared his throat, “Well, let us be certain that particular accident does not happen again.”

“Oh, I am certain it will not. I have spoken to the individual at fault. He assures me that he will be doubly vigilant in the future.”

“See that he is.” Then with a grin, he winked at his Second.

Nodding to the screen, “Call them in and send out the second half squadron.”

“As you order, First.”

The Chief Engineer stepped onto the bridge, a rare occurrence for him.

“Chief,” the First Officer said from the command seat, noticing the weapon the Chief Engineer was openly wearing.

The Chief stopped to stare at the big screen that showed the Paladins making a strafing run on a group of asteroids, then walked over to the First Officer. When the Chief stopped to stand without saying anything, the Second Officer quickly came to his feet, mentioned something about checking on the next Paladin half squadron, and quickly walked away.

“You may speak freely in here, Chief. The bridge officers have all sworn allegiance to me.”

The Engineer frowned. “Are you certain?”

“Absolutely.”

“So, you are taking command after all?”

“No ... I am only performing my duties, but without some of the – shall we say – interference I have encountered in the past. I do not want to be a rogue Captain.”

“Nor do I wish to be the Chief Engineer on a rogue ship, but do we have a choice – really?”

The First Officer sighed. “Hopefully, our Captain will come to his senses, but his killing spree cannot continue if we are to carry out our assigned mission. To that end, I will endeavor to continue to train our people that we might accomplish our goals,” he said for the recording. “So, to what do we owe this rare occurrence of your presence on the bridge?”

“I came to report that my crew and I have managed to tune our rebuilt coils to their specified tolerances. I have dismissed them to a full rest cycle, leaving only a skeleton crew in attendance. After the rest cycle, we shall run our static tests one more time. If everything still checks out within parameters, we will be ready for a brief warp hop to make certain of our drive. After a few more cycles of tests, we should be ready to continue our journey – with frequent stops to make certain our new drives are continuing to function as they should.”

“Well done, Chief,” the First Officer responded. From the smiling faces of the bridge crew, it was obvious that they had heard. I shall inform the Captain.”

The Chief Engineer’s countenance changed. “Please inform him that the sequence of events I have outlined is the only way that I can reasonably assure him the drives will not fail catastrophically as they did before. Frequent testing and any tuning necessary must take precedence, otherwise, the whole ship might well be what is scattered across light minutes of space instead of just the engines as happened before.”

“I will inform him, Chief, and I can assure you that I will adhere to your suggestions precisely.”

“Very well. My crew is eating now and I am on the way to join them. After we rest and perform a final check, we should be ready to engage the drives for a short test jump. I will inform you when the warp engines are ready for that.”

Turning, he left the bridge. As soon as the hatch closed behind him, the Second Officer returned. “You know that the Captain will want to start immediately for this Earth.”

“But we will not, “ the First said, emphasizing the word. “We will adhere to the Chief Engineer’s schedule. He will tell us when his warp engines are ready. Why overrule him when he is the authority? The Captain will understand,” the First finished, grimly, as he unconsciously touched the butt of his weapon. “I shall see to it.”

Deep Space, the Scout Ship

With their scout snuggled against an asteroid slightly bigger than itself, Arlene and Ann had watched as the big ship disgorged a number of the tenders. Their assignment soon became obvious when they began using their tractor beams to nudge asteroids away from the swarm.

“It’s time for us to move farther back,” Arlene said, even as she took the controls to gently slip their ship away from the asteroid. “It would be a real bitch for them to decide to use our cover for target practice.”

While keeping her energy expenditures well below what their shields could blanket, Arlene continued to move away from the big ship. Ann, now sitting in the copilot’s seat, kept watch with passive sensors as the alien ship continued to diminish in size on their screen. Arlene didn’t stop until the alien monstrosity was only a tiny blur that was difficult to distinguish in the starfield even under maximum magnification. Even then, she snuggled them against another asteroid to give their cloaking a better chance of blending them into their background.

When they were again settled in, Ann commented as she nodded to the screen. “I wonder what brought this on.”

“Well, we haven’t seen the ship doing its shimmer in quite a while, and the thing is absolutely pouring out energy emissions. Obviously, they aren’t wanting for energy anymore. Now with those attack craft practicing, I think it’s time we headed home as fast as we can get there. Daddy and Ship need to know about this.”

“Yeah,” Ann agreed. “It seems reasonable to assume that they have their engines repaired, if that’s what was wrong to start with, and with all that’s happened, it’s hard to believe that it was something other than that.”

“And with Earth so close,” Arlene continued for her, “it stands to reason that they’ll be on their way soon – if they are coming at all. And I would bet my last dollar that they are.”

“That’s one really big ship,” Ann agreed. “Without anything to compare it to, it was hard to realize just how big it is, but when all those things bristling with gun turrets, came out, it gave some perspective to the ship. It’s huge. It scares me to think about what that thing could do to Earth.”

“So, we’re agreed, then?”

“Yeah. Let’s go home and warn them that it looks like we’re going to have company soon,” Ann agreed.

Arlene detached from the asteroid, and keeping as much of the belt between their scout and the alien ship as she could, she slipped them away. When they were a full two light minutes from the aliens, she double-checked the course Ann had laid in and went to warp.

The Retreat

Jeff, having made love to his women, went to the bathroom to pee, then stopped by the vanity area where he flopped his cock over into a sink to clean up a little.

“My Prime,” ship sent.

“Yes,” Jeff sent back, straining to project that far.

“Arlene and Ann’s scout has just broken out of warp.“

“I’m on my way.”

Feeling there was something wrong, he didn’t wait for them to come to him, but quickly dressed, his enhancement giving him plenty of light from the dim nightlights of the bedroom.

“Honey?” Diana said worriedly as she sat up.

“Go back to sleep. Ship just told me the scout has broken out of warp.”

Hearing the worry in her husband’s voice. “I’m going, too,” she said as she slid out of bed and quickly pulled on her clothing.

In moments, they were hurrying down the hallway.

The Prison Planet

After arriving at the wheat field, Morales retrieved his scythe where he had left it hanging in a tree, and cut a swath down the side of the field. When he thought he had a load, he began picking up the cut stalks. Remembering the pictures he had seen, he tied the stalks into conveniently-sized bundles ready for threshing. After only a few times, he had developed a rhythm: grab two handfuls, slam them together, then pull a long straw out. Wind the straw around the bundle, tie a single knot and tuck the ends under. After dropping the tied bundle, he grabbed more straw and repeated the process.

Shit, he thought as he stood to take a drink from his canteen, this would have killed me when I first got to 2214, and it’s still a bitch, but every bundle I tie is food in my belly.

Looking around, he saw his partner, alert, sitting on a big rock a couple of hundred feet away. Damn. He’s the most loyal friend I’ve ever had. I damn sure trust him more than any of the guys I used to work with. If I’d had friends as loyal as he is, I would never have gotten into trouble, but nooo, studying was too sissified. I had to run with the macho gang, then when I got out of school, I wound up guarding an asshole instead of having a real job. If I had it to do again, I would be the loner who studied his ass off.

He hung his canteen on his belt, stretched his back, and started anew.

When he had all the bundles tied, he loaded them into one of the cases, this time being more careful to stack them properly. When he was done and was pulling the hide over it, he decided that his loading of the tied bundles had allowed a third more in the case than last time.

After hooking the cases back together, he turned to call Lobo and almost stepped on his foot. “Damn, Boy. You’re quiet,” he told the wolf while absently scratching behind his ears. “Let’s stop by the cornfield. Gertrude and her brood have to have food too.”

A couple of hours later, because of the rocks in the stream, he separated the cases to pull first one, then the other across the wide shallows. I need to spend some time clearing rocks out of the way here, too, but the water isn’t nearly as deep as it is below the cave, and it makes a convenient place to cross – if I can maneuver between the rocks. At least in the summer when I don’t mind getting my feet wet. With one case, the rocks are just irritants. With two cases linked together, they become a real hassle.

After he had both cases across and hooked back together, he trudged on, sweating. This time, he had loaded the second case completely full of corn and it was heavy – damn heavy. When he neared the slope where the cave was located, he gave up and separated the cases. After taking the case with the wheat on inside, he sat to drink more water and give himself a breather. “Next time,” he muttered, “I’m going to stop with a half-full case of corn.”

Eventually, he did get the case inside and dumped on his corn pile. “Gonna be a lot of work pulling the husks off all those ears. One of the articles I read called it shucking the husk off, or shucking the corn. Is it husking or shucking? Hell, I’m a city boy. I have no fucking idea, but whatever it is, there is a lot of it to do. Guess I’ll save the husks just like I’m doing the straw from the wheat. I have virtually unlimited room in the cave. If I run out of wood, I’ll burn the husks and the straw for however long they last. And that reminds me. One more job to do. I need to get back to stockpiling wood for winter. I damn sure don’t want to have to go out in deep snow and bitter cold to cut and split wood. Shit, more and more on my ‘to do’ list. If I had a list. If I had paper to write it on. If I had a pen. Oh, fuck it. I damn sure can’t forget it, anyway. I guess I could make a list on the computer, but I can’t print anything out so I could have it ready to hand.”