lot worse.”
“Sure could,” Gran put in. “If you hadn’t used the quickfirers the damned thing might’ve brushed the bridge, or living quarters, or the hold. That was quick thinkin’, sir.”
Kas shrugged. “Not quick enough. A little sooner, and it might have missed us altogether.” Toj snorted, but made no other reply.
Kas permitted everyone to unseal their helmets but insisted that they remain in suits until they were out of this system, provoking a round of grumbling.
Normal in-space routine called for a single bridge watch, but Kas ordered that two people man the bridge at all times while in this system. Sensors were set to maximum as they crept carefully toward the jump point.
Nerves were stretched thin by the time that Tera announced that it was time to once more brave the plane of the ecliptic.
Kas nodded. “All right. Dead slow, shields and all sensors at max.” He took a deep breath and keyed in the coordinates. As they re-entered the ecliptic, the shield monitors again registered load due to dust particles and micrometeorites. Silence reigned on Starhopper. Everyone’s attention was riveted on their progress.
Tera and Kas stared at the instruments that indicated their agonizingly slow advance. Lady Jane hung over Kas’ shoulder. Rom and Edro monitored the sensors, alert to the slightest quiver. Toj, Gran and Lar huddled in Engineering, their suits festooned with tools and damage control gear, poised to race to any part of the ship at a moment’s notice.
Time crawled, but no one could relax. They remained glued to the sensors until sheer exhaustion drove them to a few hours’ fitful sleep. A lifetime later, Tera pronounced herself satisfied with her computations, and they began steering for the jump point, still dead slow.
The entire crew breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief when they entered Jump. Once supralight, they need no longer worry about encountering a solid object. Kas suspended the normal underway watch. The stress had left them all exhausted, and they all caught up on badly needed sleep.
Chapter 7
The next morning, Kas reestablished normal routine, and was once more all business. He called a crew meeting.
“All right,” he began, “The next time we emerge we’ll be in the system where the Rekesh is located. There is no longer any need to pretend to be something we’re not. Effective immediately, Starhopper is again a Fleet ship, and we are all Fleet officers. That means that all the usual Fleet courtesies, customs and traditions will be observed, and we can lose the accents. Toj,” he added as he turned to the big man, “I want you to whip up some sort of rank insignia for us. We won’t have access to uniforms until we can get at the Rekesh ’s stores, but I want some sort of insignia that can be worn on shipsuits.” Toj nodded.
“Why bother?” Kas looked around. It was Lady Jane, of course. “I mean, what the hell does it matter?”
Kas sighed. “It matters more than you think. For one thing, we’ve all spent more than a month trying very hard to ignore those customs and courtesies, and to cultivate various planetary accents, in order to convince people that we aren’t military. We need to get back into our proper personas, and we’re going to need time to practice.”
“For another thing, once we arrive in the Rekesh ’s system, we’ll begin waking our passengers. Those who are military will expect the stability of a military environment. Those who aren’t military, well, we’ll need to be able to enforce discipline. And that can best be done by establishing a rigidly military system immediately.”
Kas eyed each crewmember. Tera was visibly relieved to be able to resume her military identity. Gran’s relief was less visible, but still obvious. Toj and Edro seemed unaffected, but Rom was suppressing a scowl. Kas reminded himself that his Exec had spent five years building his nonmilitary persona. It wouldn’t be easy for him to resume a military personality. Kas hoped that Rom would try, and try hard.
Oh, once they began awakening their passengers, Kas could replace Rom, if necessary; but Rom was an effective officer, and at least Kas knew that. The officers in cold sleep were largely unknown quantities.
He asked Toj, Edro and Rom to remain after the meeting, and dismissed the rest.
“Toj,” he began, “I know no one can work outside during Jump, but I’d like a complete report on the damage. How bad is it?”
“Pretty much like I said, Sir,” Toj replied crisply, in his best military manner. “The worst damage is to the landing jack sponson and the jack itself. The other damage is minor.” The odd Bulworth accent was gone. Toj was an engineering Commander on duty again.
Kas nodded. “Will you be able to repair the jack with the tools and equipment on board?”
The big man frowned thoughtfully, then shook his head. “I doubt it, Sir.”
“Damn!” Kas cursed. “We’re going to need Starhopper badly!”
Toj shook his head again. “I don’t see the problem, Commodore. Once we get Rekesh on line we could even haul Starhopper in one of her cargo bays!”
Kas shook his head. “First, we don’t even know whether we’ll be able to make Rekesh spaceworthy — and if the med team can’t isolate the plague and produce a vaccine, we may still have to push her into the system’s sun.”
“Second, we may not be the first to reach her. What if someone else has gotten there first and moved her to another system? Starhopper could be all we have.”
“And finally,” he concluded, “Even if we’re the first to reach her and the med team does their job, the Empire’s diplomats still have to arrange passage for her through the independents and the Alliance, so we can get her back to Empire space.”
“We’re the ones that have to let the cookie pushers know we’ve reached Rekesh, and that they should begin negotiating. Which means sending Starhopper to the nearest planet with an Empire embassy or consulate. Remember, the reason we had to go through this whole charade was the fact that you can’t send military vessels unannounced through other peoples’ space. It’s called invasion, and causes wars.”
The big man frowned. “Sorry, sir. I still don’t get it. If we had to sneak out here because nobody would let a military ship pass, why should they let us through now?”
Kas shrugged. “They’ve nothing to lose, now. The only reason they’d have delayed or refused passage for a military ship outbound was the chance that they could find Rekesh first. Once they know we’ve found her, and that the Empire’s been notified, they no longer have a reason to deny the passage.”
“After all,” he continued, “the Empire didn’t ask for passage outbound because we didn’t want to tell anyone that didn’t know that Rekesh had been found, and we didn’t want to give those that did know any hints where to look. So all these systems that have been frantically scouring space for the derelict will now be putting on an innocent face, and loudly proclaiming how happy they are to assist the Empire.” He shrugged. “At least, that’s the theory.”
Toj shook his head in disgust. “I’m glad I’m just a Fleet officer. That political stuff would give me fits.”
Kas shrugged. “I know what you mean. At any rate, it’s important that we get Starhopper repaired. As soon as we can get a medical clearance and begin work on Rekesh we’ve got to send Starhopper to notify the Empire. It’s our insurance policy.”
Toj brightened. “Sheol, sir, I clean forgot! Vir Rekesh is a battle cruiser! She has complete machine shops. And, since Starhopper is military surplus, she’ll have all the prints and templates.” He straightened and grinned. “Don’t worry, sir. With the stuff available aboard Rekesh, I could practically rebuild Starhopper.”
But Kas didn’t share Toj’s excitement. “Don’t forget,” he warned, “ Rekesh is still a plague ship. And she’s dead. Even if you get medical clearance you’d be working in the dark, in zero gee, in a suit. Her AI’s even been shut down so you’d have no comps to help, and you’d have to run power for the machines over from Starhopper.”
Toj’s excitement faded. “Yeah. I’d forgotten about that.” He shrugged. “I still think I could do it if I can get aboard Rekesh.”
Kas shrugged. “That’s up to the medics. Right now I have a higher priority for you.” He turned to Edro, including him in the conversation as he continued.
“I’ve been thinking about how we surprised that Glory because he wasn’t in sensor range of the jump point.
