Chapter 469

Deep Space – The Alien Ship

The Captain stood before the big screen in the front of the bridge, his usual scowl adorning his countenance. Suddenly turning to the First Officer who was sitting in the “Second Seat,” the Captain demanded, “How long must we sit here doing nothing?” Then without waiting for an answer, he went on with his tirade. “We are barely a fifth of the way from the asteroid belt to this Earth, but we have to stop yet again.” Glaring at the First Officer, the Captain continued. “My having been saddled with an incompetent command structure would have been bad enough, but I am assigned an even more incompetent engineering crew led by their chief idiot. I should execute every last one of them.”

The First Officer made sure the Captain saw his (the First Officer’s) hand drift down to seemingly caress his sidearm.

“In all due respect, Sir, if the Chief Engineer was so extremely incompetent in his profession, we would still be sitting astride that asteroid belt, by now, probably having dispatched a message torp asking for assistance. And might I point out, Sir, that if the High Command bothered responding to our distress call at all, they would, most probably, send a replacement captain along with the tow.”

The Captain hesitated, but snarled back, “I would not be in this position had my engineering department...”

The First Officer blatantly interrupted, “The Chief Engineer is suspicious that the warp engines were sabotaged, Sir.“ Before the Captain could respond, the First Officer continued, “Might I point out that prior to our leaving, the engines were supposedly completely reworked by the repair facility. Had the Chief Engineer not been as observant as he continues to be, this ship and everyone aboard would have been scattered over light years of space and probably more than one dimension when the warp coils blew.”

“That is preposterous and obviously a cover-up for his incompetence,” the Captain snarled. “And ... he is proving that incompetence every shift by our continuing to limp toward our objective. The objective that by now should have been well on its way to producing a revenue flow of gigantic proportions. I am certain the sale of Earth females alone would make me rich, and once we update the planet’s industry, I will have a never-ending source of wealth. The crew will share in a portion of that wealth, of course,” he quickly added. Somehow, though, none of the other four officers on the bridge appeared to be at all impressed.

Glaring at the First Officer, the Captain snarled, “Do you still have your ‘feeling’ that something is watching us – despite your near-constant searches?”

“As I have repeatedly stated, I am extremely suspicious of the anomaly in the asteroid belt. I am almost certain that energy release was not caused by two asteroids ramming each other. That energy was recorded, but this energy, though lasting for only a very short period of time, seemed to be of a different type altogether.”

“I thought you said it was barely recordable? If it was so unnoticeable, how could it be a danger to us?”

“It was almost unnoticeable, but it did not fit with the background energy. I freely admit that it was barely recognized by our sensors, but still it did show. Anything out of the ordinary intrigues me, so...”

“So, you have wasted energy and crew time on searches, and have even left vessels lying in wait for this supposed energy source, then had to drop out of warp and wait for them to catch up, or go back to pick up our vessel. And what did your searches find?” he asked with another scowl.

“Nothing,” the First readily admitted, “but it was not wasted time. It has been excellent training for our crew. They become bored and lose their edge on long voyages – as you well know, Captain. Drills are essential both for morale and to keep our crews at top efficiency.”

“That will not matter with respect to this Earth. Other than a few satellites in low orbit, they have no space travel, and they are still using those absurdly crude chemical rockets of theirs for what little space travel they manage. They will not be searching for an enemy to enter their system, and they will certainly not be lying in wait for us. Their technology is not capable of that.”

“Still,” the First Officer insisted, “it never hurts to be ready, and it gives the crew something to do.”

Although it certainly went unsaid, the First Officer had subtly reminded the Captain about keeping the crew busy so they would have less time to think about a mutiny, and with the way he had treated this crew, that was certainly a possibility. In addition, the blatant defiance exhibited by the First Officer made the Captain worry about a mutiny even more. “Uh, I suppose that is true. But I still say that the Chief Engineer is either using this breakdown as an excuse for his incompetence, or else he is openly defying my orders.”

“And,” the First Officer snapped back, his voice hard, “we are alive today because of his genius, and I will be very displeased should anything untoward happen to him – accidental or otherwise.”

This time, the First Officer’s hand openly gripped his sidearm, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind on the bridge just what he meant.

“Fuck you,” the Captain snarled. “I am the Captain of this vessel, and I say who is competent and who is not.” He continued to stare at the First Officer, the Captain’s hand hovering just above his sidearm.

Do not do it, the First Officer thought. I do not want to be the Captain and have to face the High Command – or go rogue. But I will not allow you to bluster about the Chief Engineer until your temper pushes you into attacking him. He is my friend, and is the one who will ultimately save us from being stranded out here in the middle of nowhere.

“If you touch that weapon, I will kill you,” the First Officer calmly said. He had detected the Second Officer’s subtle shifting behind his console, and knew that he was standing, weapon in hand, ready to back up the First Officer. Then calmly continuing, the First Officer spoke again, “You will remain Captain of this vessel as long as you control your temper, but as I have already promised, the next person you kill will be your last. Again, I tell you, I do not want to be Captain of a rogue vessel, but I will kill you and assume that title if you force me.”

“And... if something mysterious happens to the First Officer, you will still die,” the Second Officer raised his voice to say as he stepped back a pace to show that he was holding his sidearm.

“And before you think of it, dropping a message torp telling the High Command that you have a mutiny will prompt me to relieve you of your command,” the First said as he tapped his own weapon, not mentioning that he and the Chief Engineer had rendered the message torps useless after removing a vital component.

As the Captain stormed off the bridge, the Second holstered his weapon and approach the First Officer. “Why do you not kill him and get it over with? We have already discussed this. Every officer, save the Paladin commander, will follow you without question. This voyage is not going to end well, no matter what we do. He,” the Second said as he motioned toward the doorway the Captain had left through, “will report his version of what has happened, and at a minimum, you, all the primary bridge crew and the Chief Engineer along with his subordinates will be executed. You know that High Command always sides with the Captain of a vessel. We might as well go rogue and get it over with. At least, that way, we stand a chance. Going home to face the High Command is certain death.”

The First Officer let out a sigh. “I understand your points, and agree with them, but let us wait, at least until the Chief has our warp engines back to one hundred percent. Do you want to go rogue with a ship that can barely maintain two lights? You know that sooner or later the High Command will send out vessels to search for us. Once they detect us, with the engines operating as they are now, they could run us down with ease, and death would be a certainty. We lose nothing by waiting, and might well lose everything by acting presumptuously.”

“If he kills...” the Second began.

“Then he will also die at that time. And lest you worry, there are certain ... precautions that have been enacted to prevent the... untimely death of the Chief and myself.”

The Second Officer seemed to relax somewhat, but after a moment asked, “Sir, do you really think the Chief will ever be able to repair our warp engines? I mean, fully repair them?”

The First Officer grimaced when he took a swallow of his cold stim. “Second, I just ... do not know. That is the primary reason I have been trying to convince the Captain to try something different with this planet the inhabitants call Earth. We have advanced technology, and they have a planet full of resources. Why could we not trade with them? Particularly should our warp engines not be fully repairable – at least out here in the middle of nowhere.”

The Second frowned, “But we have always used our superior technology to enslave any race we have found. It is a system that has been refined until the approach works flawlessly. Why should we change our tactics?”

The First Officer walked over to the dispenser, dumped out his cold stim and refilled his cup. Glancing back at the Second Officer, the First continued, “Maybe because our main weapon – our ship – is limping along at barely two lights, and might well strand us at any time. I have spent considerable time observing these Earth creatures. And unlike our esteemed leader, I spent that time exploring something other than the Earthling’s porn. As I have mentioned before, they are warlike in the extreme. Even though they lag far behind us in technology, it goes unsaid that they will fight with what they do have.

“Oh, we can destroy or greatly reduce their military machine, but what if the Chief is not able to fully repair our engines? Do we sit in orbit above this Earth for the rest of our lives? Pissing off the inhabitants by killing a few thousand or a few million of them would most certainly make later visits to the planet very harrowing experiences – indeed. I do not like the thought of being outnumbered millions to one. But no matter how we conserve, we will eventually need air, water and the base materials for our food processors. Considering our present capabilities, we stand no chance of reaching another planet rich in the items we will eventually need – all of which this Earth has in abundance. If we bombard them and make our demands, we had better be in a position of power to back it up once we are on the ground. And not only that, but we will need to be able to maintain that position for a lifetime, because this Earth might just be our final destination should the Chief not be able to bring our engines to full operational efficiency. Oh, we could sit in high orbit and systematically destroy the planet, but that would also destroy or greatly reduce the source of the commodities I just mentioned.”

“So, you think the Chief will not be able to repair the engines?”

The First Officer let out a long sigh. “He says he can, but it is certainly taking longer than he estimated. And before you ask, yes, I am beginning to worry. Worry enough to seriously consider preventing the Captain from ordering a bombardment when we finally reach this planet, and for the reasons I just mentioned.”

The Second stared at his superior. “Then you will have to kill him. He will never agree. He is too greedy to ever consider another way. You might just as well kill him now and get it over with. At least the timing would be yours instead of waiting for his temper to drive him crazy and attack you.”

“Crazier,” the First corrected with a grin, emphasizing the last of the word. Then, changing the subject, “Get Engineering on the com and ask the Chief if I have time to run an exercise involving the Paladins.”

Fighting to hold back his laughter, the Second commented, “The Captain is going to be really pissed with you doing this right after your, uh, conversation.”

“Oh, my. I guess he will just have to endure it, though,” the First Officer said with mock earnestness and the accompanying laughter of the primary bridge crew.

The Prison Planet

... Morales took a breath before scolding himself mentally. Probably just a slip of the tongue. She just said it without thinking. It doesn’t mean anything. Can’t. I’m just a fucking prisoner, but I wish... He shook himself mentally, but his thoughts went on. Get that off your mind. She’ll be with you for awhile. When she has all the material she needs for her doctorate, though, she’ll be gone forever – forever for you being as long as you manage to survive on this planet, that is.

Jasmine seemed to glance casually at Morales’ face as she brought a forkful of potatoes to her mouth, but the glance wasn’t casual at all. She had been very intently watching for his reaction to her having called him “Baby”, and a smile touched her face at what she saw outlined on his.