Chapter 5

Colin settled into his command chair and took a look around the bridge. Adele was scanning the control board for the weapons system, running what he hoped were dummy runs against targets of opportunity. Zara had her attention split between the sensor net and the navigation control stations, the two stations that were her areas of responsibility.

Rosie was shimmering between the two of them and keeping an eye on Yana, who was sat at the environmental control board. Yana was only keeping one eye on the board; the other was locked on Colin.

One change that had occurred in the set up suggested by his Grandfather was that Rosie managed the communications duties as well as keeping an eye on the engineering section. This had come about because Colin had found it embarrassing to talk on the radio for some reason.

“OK, Rosie, let’s get out of here,” said Colin.

“Aye-aye, Captain,” responded the AI, “disengaging from the station now.”

A slight shudder ran through the ship as she broke free from Tagliana’s docking clamps and became free. All ship systems were checked as she hung there in space waiting for the instructions to move off.

“Tagliana control has approved our flight plan,” reported Rosie. “The flight controllers have wished us ‘bon voyage.’”

“Thank them for their assistance,” instructed Colin as he relaxed in the command seat. “Set a course for the first jump point and ramp the speed up to fifty zeks.”

Around Colin the two bots functioned smoothly, working with the AI to ensure that the Rose’s progress was smooth and safe.

They’d been moving for nearly ten minutes when Zara glanced towards Colin, “You were right,” she reported.

Colin shrugged, “It’s not surprising,” he said, “I’d have done the same thing.”

Earlier he’d sent a message off to his father reporting the conversation he’d had the previous day with Angus Graham. He and his crew had then watched as Angus had departed the station, followed ten minutes later by a House Graham frigate. The frigate didn’t follow exactly the same heading as the scout ship with Angus on board but it was close enough for the military vessel’s sensors to track the smaller scout vessel.

Now a pair of House Graham corvettes had broken away from the station and were tracking his own course in the same manner, not exactly the same but close enough for them to keep an eye on him. As his ship was fitted with a similar sensor suite he could see the corvettes as well as they could see him.

“We can go stealthy as soon as we jump,” suggested Zara.

“No point,” said Colin, “That would just reveal our capabilities and I want to keep them in hand in case I need them later. Besides, I’ve told everyone where I’m going and I’ve no intention of changing the flight plan so we’ll just let them tag along if they want to.”

“I wonder if they know we can watch them as clearly as they can see us?” mused Zara as she made a couple of adjustments to her control board.

“Thirty minutes to jump point one,” reported Rosie.

Because of the vagaries of hyperspace the trip to Tor was six jumps long with a possible danger point at jump four. The total trip would take nearly two weeks using the class two hyperdrive fitted to the Red Rose. The corvettes that appeared to be following them could do the same journey in just over eight days if they needed to.

“How fast are those corvettes moving?” asked Colin.

“Fifty zeks,” replied Zara simply.

Colin nodded silently; it looked like he was going to have a shadow. The only question left now was for how long? Would they be following him indefinitely or just until he reached Tor? At the back of his mind was a niggling suspicion that they were there to do more than just follow him.

“If they start to close up let me know?” he ordered, giving in to his suspicions. As he’d once been told, ‘it’s not paranoia if it turns out that they are out to get you.’ He didn’t fancy trying to slug it out with a pair of corvettes but with only a five-zek speed differential he’d have to be pretty alert to out run them if they came after him.

“Aye-aye, Captain,” responded Zara.

“Ten minutes to jump point,” reported Rosie. “All systems are primed and ready to jump,” she added.

Colin breathed deeply and closed his eyes for a moment. “We’ll drop back into the same watch keeping routine that we used on our way here as soon as we’ve jumped into hyper,” he said.

On the two week journey from Dundaff to Tagliana the crew of the Red Rose had adopted a very loose watch keeping system in that Colin or one of the bots had to be on the bridge when they were entering or leaving hyperspace. At other times the system watch was left to Rosie, who’d been given strict instructions to call Colin if there were any problems. This had caused a few chuckles as he was the least qualified person on the crew with the possible exception of Yana, but as he’d pointed out, if it went wrong it was he who would carry the can for it, not the AI’s, especially those who didn’t officially exist.

“Two minutes to the jump point,” reported Rosie.

“I wish we could jump without all this build up,” said Yana.

“Me, too,” said Colin with a smile. “I know a hyperspace transition is as safe as houses but the build up does tend to put your nerves on edge, doesn’t it?”

Yana nodded and tried to smile back at her master.

“Transition,” reported Rosie.

The only change on the bridge was a couple of lights turned red as the sub light drive shut down and another couple turned to green as the hyper drive kicked in.

“Well done, Rosie,” said Colin.

“Those corvettes translated at the same time we did,” reported Zara who paused for a couple of seconds before adding, “they’re maintaining separation.”

Colin relaxed, “I doubt that they’d try anything this close to Tagliana, after all the station is supposed to be a neutral zone.”

“That’s only between the Great Houses,” said Adele softly.

Colin turned to her, “Did you have to say that?” he asked.

“I’m just stating the truth,” Adele responded.

“She’s right,” said Zara.

“I know,” said Colin, “I was just speaking rhetorically.”

“Of course,” said Zara before she threw her eyes to the ceiling.

“I was,” insisted Colin.

“Yes, Captain,” said Rosie, “Now do you want to drop down to a cruising watch.”

Colin huffed, “I suppose we’d better,” he said looking from one bot to the other, “before I have to deal with a mutiny.”

“I have the watch,” reported Rosie, “now get off my bridge,” she ordered.

The first leg had been completed safely and the transition into normal space and back into hyperspace had passed without incident. The two corvettes were still tailing them, maintaining a constant distance between his ship and theirs.

Colin sat alone on the bridge with a data package in his hands, contemplating its contents. The question facing him was whether he should use it or not.

“Rosie,” he called and waited whilst she generated her image before him.

“Yes, Colin?” she asked when she appeared solid.

“Whilst we were on Tagliana I had a meeting with Master Graham of the Scouts’ and Explorers’ Guild,” began Colin. “He presented me with this package and told me that it was an update for a ship’s AI.” Colin paused, “He assured me that when it was installed it would have no effect on the current AI’s personality.”

Colin looked at Rosie who was regarding him calmly.

“Is there any way, short of installing the system, that we can check out this package and find out one way or another whether he was telling me the truth?” asked Colin.

“You believe that the Master was lying?” asked Rosie, her voice showing a hint of surprise.

“I don’t know one way or the other,” admitted Colin. “He may be a Master but he is also a Graham and with the problems we have been having with their house I wouldn’t want to compromise your abilities if it could be avoided.”

“Did he say that this was specifically for you and me?” asked Rosie.

“Master Graham claimed that he was offering this upgrade to all scouts who were heading in the same general direction that we are,” replied Colin. “He also added that Angus didn’t need this upgrade because he had a better system already.”

“Let me check the records and see what I can find,” said Rosie. She stood there with her head down for over a minute before looking up.

“It seems, going on AI registration codes, that perhaps a third of the scouts leaving Tagliana in the last twelve months have upgraded their AI’s in some way. Of those who didn’t at least half have gone missing,” she declared.

“That many?” exclaimed Colin, “What about those who took the upgrade?”

“It looks like about a quarter of those have gone missing,” Rosie shrugged, “I say missing but they could just be refusing to make contact. The numbers actually lost for good will be a good deal lower than those currently unaccounted for.”

“The question remains,” said Colin, “Do we risk applying this upgrade, knowing that it comes from House Graham?”

“We can give it a good look over and see if there is anything obviously wrong with it,” said Rosie. “If we can’t find anything unusual, then we can make a decision as to whether to apply it or not. Did he say what enhancements it offered?”

“He implied that it would increase your capacities substantially in military matters,” said Colin.

“That is one area where I am particularly out of date,” admitted Rosie as she looked at the package in Colin’s hands.

“Which is just the sort of bait to dangle to make us rush into something,” said Colin. “Run what checks you can on these chips, if you can’t find anything we will run a full backup on your current set-up and isolate it. Then we’ll get Zara to apply the update to you. If there are any problems we’ll flush the system and put you back the way you were.”

“OK, Colin,” replied Rosie and watched as Colin inserted the chips into a databank.

“Let me know what you find,” said Colin, “and don’t be afraid to ask Adele or Zara for help if you need it.”

“I’ll do that,” replied Rosie, already lost in her inspection.

Colin grinned, “If you need me I’ll be in my cabin.”

Colin relaxed in his cabin and looked around, taking stock of his ship.

The Red Rose was fitted out as a Scout ship, which generally meant she spent her life doing all sorts of different tasks, most of which could be considered contradictory. In an ideal world she’d be a fully armed scientific research vessel about the size of a cruiser, with teams of scientists as well as military men to fight her and diplomats to negotiate if the need arose.

Instead she was an old, much modified freighter with little in the way of scientific equipment and room for only a small crew. A total of six cabins, including the Captain’s cabin provided accommodation for that crew.

At the moment Yana was using one of the cabins and Adele and Zara were sharing another. The two bots didn’t really need the space and if a full human crew were recruited they’d end up using one of the storerooms that the ship was fitted with.

In addition to the cabins the ship had a small brig and an armoury that currently held the body armour and personal small arms that Colin had received as presents before his departure. The weapons and sensor fit had taken up much of the available storage space that a Sirius class freighter would normally have which left the ship with only a small hold for goods.

Colin’s cabin was more of a suite than the cabin he’d occupied on the journey from Montrose to Dundaff. It had a comfortable sitting area as well as a king-sized bed. A separate cubicle had been fitted with a shower, whirlpool bath and toilet facilities for his comfort.

Apart from a family picture the only other item that could be considered decorative in the cabin was the silver dirk he’d been presented with as he departed Dundaff. After checking up on his family’s history he’d given the ancient weapon a place of honour on one wall.

The two dirks had been in the family since before Culloden in 1746 and had been saved from the ignominy that followed that defeat. The aftermath of that battle had been brutal for the Scots and earned the victorious general the name of “Butcher” Cumberland. The English had gone on to make several new laws after the rebellion that attacked the Highlanders’ clan system, and they included outlawing the tartan, the traditional dress of a clansman.

Since that time the two dirks, their honour untarnished had been presented to the sons of the Laird of Clan Hadden; the golden dirk being presented to the oldest son and heir, whilst the silver dirk had gone to his younger brother. Now, nearly four hundred years later the silver dagger had been presented to Colin.

Eyeing that weapon Colin remembered another gift he’d been given before his departure, a gift he’d yet to use.

Thinking on the matter only served to increase his frustration, a frustration that the gift was meant to alleviate.

Calling to mind what his brother had said concerning Yana, Colin hit on a plan.