cross the galaxy to tell him, then maybe that shadow of him I see on the Newsnets could find its way. Maybe he could have a better life.”
Laura let a few tears fall as she looked into her friend's eyes. “All you've built here, the team, it'll suffer.”
“The politics of Fleet Command are doing what they think is right with our work, but there's no focus, no purpose to any of it. It's not really improving anything for anyone just trying to live a normal life on Freeground. They're using it for military and leaking other technology out slowly, so the privileged get first crack at the benefits. What's any of it worth if it can't make us happier, healthier?” she closed her eyes for a moment and let out a shuddering sigh. “Please, I need to see him.” Ayan whispered. Her chin was quivering, tears streamed down her face. “One last time.”
Laura gently took Ayan into her arms. “Alright, but you're not going alone.”
“Oh thank God, I was afraid you wouldn't get here in time and I'd have to stay awake for the next week,” Ayan sighed with a little chuckle.
“You know I love you Ayan.”
“I know. Love you too Laura,” Ayan whispered. “Can I lower my nerve sensitivity now?”
“Yup, I'll take us out.” Laura replied, knowing that Ayan must have been in constant pain. It was the trade off for mobility and mental acuity.
Alarms sounded across the Freeground Home Fleet as one of the most advanced ships ever built carrying the most sophisticated combat and logistics computer known in that part of the galaxy launched from a small bay and entered its own wormhole. The Silkstream IV, as intelligence would report to Fleet Command later on, was equipped with the first effective combination faster than light drive. Once it entered a wormhole it would generate a hyperspace field around itself, altering its mass and how it interacts with the universe so it could travel many times the speed of light.
Combining wormhole technology and hyperdrive technology had been done successfully on three ships. The first and fastest of which was the Silkstream IV, a small prototype, and nothing in the known universe could catch it. At its top speed it was fast enough to cross the milky way in under two months. It would be able to reach Jonas Valent in the Enreega system within days while only expending a small portion of its fuel.
For all intents and purposes, Ayan Rice and Laura Everin were permanently out of reach. Considering they were trying to make contact with the one man they had been forbidden to reach by threat of war, Freeground Intelligence put efforts in place to cover up the incident and disavow ownership of the Silkstream IV. All but one restricted copy of its schematics were deleted the next day.
New Arrivals
The bridge of the Triton was alive with activity. Liam was showing the crew members at each post how to access the documentation and training materials for their stations. It looked like he had already educated half the bridge staff already, and had just finished working with Frost when Stephanie walked in. He looked up at her only briefly, too distracted by the massive database associated with the tactical stations. Most of the crew knew the basics of operating their stations but the particulars, the fine tuning and more detailed instrumentation was difficult to access and seemed unwieldy at first. Sol Defence ships were developed in ways that were foreign to most of the galaxy and even though operating them seemed simple and user friendly on the surface, finer details were difficult to grasp without specific training.
Unknown to Jacob Valance, anyone on board, and even Lucius Wheeler, there was a database of tutorials and operation manuals buried in the core software. Knowing where they were, being able to reference them at a moment's notice was making a difference already. The tutorials would help later, when there was more time for the crew to learn independently.
The difference between a dedicated crew member and a jobber will be pretty obvious soon. I'm going to end up taking tutorials and running practice simulations for months but at least I have a place to start. Stephanie thought to herself as she walked to the right hand seat beside the command chair, it adjusted to her height and shape as she sat down. She listened in as she checked the ship status screen.
“Whenever you're looking at a system you enter in the code one, two, three and your name and the training directory will come up. Anyone with command access at their station can bring up the information at any time. Passengers and other non-crew will only be able to access the bare minimum. Like entertainment, materializers and how to operate different fixtures in quarters.” Liam was telling Ashley, Captain Valance and the navigator.
Stephanie saw a red line leading to one of the generators from the upper berth and brought up the explanation pertaining to the marking. After reading through the details of how to interpret what she was seeing her eyes went wide. “Captain, we have a critical power drain from our generators leading to the materializers on deck nineteen, sections G9 to M12. They're using the materializers for a lot more than food.”
Everyone at the helm turned to her. Liam walked across to the diagram she was examining. “Ever take an engineering program?” he asked.
Stephanie shook her head. “Good instructions.”
“You're a quick study. She's right Captain, our power reserves are gone and if they keep it up they'll start burning out power lines.”
“First Officer to deck nineteen security detail.”
“Aye, Leland March here.”
“What's going on down there? It looks like everyone is using the materializers all at once.”
“They are. Materializer usage isn't free where most of these people come from, so they're making everything from jewellery to toys.”
“It's not free here either. We're about to lose power in several sections if you don't stop them.”
“Hey, you try stopping eleven hundred people from scrambling for the materializers. Someone just finished making a quarter ounce of platinum and half the place went nuts.”
“Oh my God, that must have drawn a tenth of our reserve power,” Captain Valance commented as he followed Liam to the engineering station.
“God dammit, if you don't put a stop to it, the whole section will lose power!”
“Then get down here and stop them yourself Steph! I'm not mixing it up with this mob!”
Captain Valance joined the conversation. “Start stunning people if you have to, just break it up.”
Liam tried to cut the power to the materializers. The screen turned red, warning against a security violation. “Captain, I don't have access to your systems yet. You'll have to enter me into your systems as a crew member before I can do anything.”
Captain Valance hurriedly cleared the security violation. He went on to work at the problem and managed to cut all power to the affected sections. “Okay, now I'll enter you into the system so you can make the changes we need. Just cut materializer usage down to low density food and simple liquids.”
“Steph! What the hell did you do up there? All the power's gone and people are going nuts!” shouted Leland.
“Get control! Get their attention and tell them that we'll have the lights back on in a minute. Reassure them, that's all they need.”
“I'm getting the hell out of here. Take care of it yourself,” Leland retorted.
Stephanie looked to Captain Valance, who nodded. “Take care of it, we'll have the lights back on in a couple minutes.”
She started for the main entrance to the bridge and stopped as the massive doors parted. Trade Minister Lorne stood in the center flanked by four soldiers. He was fit, his hair trimmed square and he stood ready with his hand on his sidearm. “When I arranged for you to sign with us I never expected you'd do so well Captain. On behalf of my government and all Aucharians, I thank you. We'll see that you're fairly rewarded, now please transfer command to me.”
Everything on the bridge stopped dead except for Liam, who was quickly working to set up a power up sequence that would limit materializer use as soon as the lights, heat and air circulation came on in the darkened sections of the ship.
