Part 3 Version B - Without the Bridge incident

Chapter 3:



I woke to the gentle voice of SHIP. “ Captain, I am sorry to distrub you, but the Swift Profit is powering up and power distribution indicates she is about to leave.”

I still felt tired but swung my legs out of bed.”Who has the Conn.?”

“Lt. Three Four, Captian.”

“Give me the bridge.”

The Com link light went green. “Good motning, Lt.Three Four. There are indications the Swift Profit is about to leave?” “Yes, Captain. They have completed fuel transfer and told Brahma Port they are planning to leave in 40 minutes.”

“Alright, keep me posted, I will be on the bridge in ten.”

I glanced at the time display and grunted. “That is the disadvantage of keeping Union OTT. When he said he will leave in the morning, he obviously didn't mean 0200 OTT in the morning.”

“No Captain, the Swift Profit chronometers running after Kaliment time.”

“And you know that how?”

“The Swift Profit has send five TLFAX messages since we are here and each message carries meta data, including a time stamp. This is neccesary for communicaton devices and methods that are not instantaneous like ours, Captain.”

“Makes sense of course. I am glad Ididn't ask this with Narth or Shea present.”

While I went to my bathroom facilities, SHIP's voice followed me.

“No one aboard would ever disrespect you.”

“I know but my friends, and especially those two like to point tthose things out always reminds me, that underneath it all I am still an ignorant hick from Nilfeheim.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Since I am your SHIP, I have digested any information I could find on Nilfeheim. If I corelate all this with focus on you, I can clearly say you are not ignorant, Captain.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">I went under the shower and enjoyed the first moments of ice cold water. “But you still think I am a hick, right? I should have said “Narth, Shea and you!”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">--!!--

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<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">I found Two-Three holding the Conn, as he was the Watch Officer for the middle watch. He got up and repeated his earlier greeting. “Good morning Captain. The Swift Profit has completed refueling and her main energy source has gone from standby to full power.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Good morning Lieutenant.” I also acknowleged the rest of the Middlewatch and sat down in the Command Chair.

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Should I call the Senior Officers to the Bridge?” He asked.

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“No not yet, let them sleep.” Of course I knew the names of all my officers aboard but with the exception of Three Four and TheOther manning Communications I knew little about them. As I turned to see who was at the engineering console, I could not completely stop the smile that crept into my face. “Mr. Warner, are you pulling double shifts? Haven't I seen you on First Dog watch too?”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“I wasn't on duty then, Captain. Sobody was.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“I see. Well Mr, Warner since you are the engineer on duty. Begin to buttom her up. We are leaving.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Aye Captain.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">Sitting at Shaka's station was a very tall Andorian. Accordig to his personal file he had completed his Midshipman year just a six month prior to us on the USS Boney Hoo. Unlike Shaka he was unable to use the Virtu Helm system, but had a high Helm rating of 503. Other than that he was more or less just a face to me. “Mr. Rohmor stand by for undocking manouvers.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Standing by, Ma'am.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">TheOther rised one of his hands. “Captain we are being hailed by the Swift Profit.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Put him on, audio only.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">Swift's voice said. “Not feeling sociable, Captain Velvet? No visuals?”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“I am still getting myself representable, Swift. Ready to leave?”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Women, you are always fussing about your looks. A shame you hide yours, anyway that is why I am calling. We're leaving for Sin 4 and if you haven't changed your mind, fire up your engines and let us fly together. If we are lucky there might be am opportunity or two as well on the way, and with two ships we might even try one of the bigger fish, if you're game.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Lead the way, Captain Swift. We are right behind you.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Let's see if your rusty Karthanian can keep up with my nimble Profit. Isah pots and all your's is a big one with lots of mass to accelerate. I an sending you the coordinates to my first stop, just in case.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Just get going, I will try to keep up.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">I gave TheOther the signal to terminate.

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">Warner reported. “We are spaceworthy captain. All boards are greem,”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">Three Four now sitting at OPS said. “The Swift Profit is moving.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Mr Rohmor follow the Swift Profit and keep accellerating just 5 percent slower than them.”

<p lang="en" style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">To Three Four I said. “What kind of ship is that anyway?”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Lt. Hi suspected it to be a custom refit of an Ongloran armed post ship but that is hardly possible as the Ongloran Federation was destroyed 2000 years before the Union was born.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">The being at the Science Console was a Leedei and that he was Ensign Fivcheer, other than that I had seen him several times during our weekly department meetings. His file mentioned that he had served with the Science Corps for five years before he decided to join the Fleet. I blinked his file up while I said. “Ensign Fivcheer any ideas about the other ship?”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Material composition appears to be of multiple sources. S|ome Karthanian, but there are Togar metals used as well. Energy source is consistent with a Nogoll Arguwaid Matter anhiliation reactor. Much less efficient than compareable reactors from Togar or Karthanian manufacture, but able to process solid matter. For easy fuel handling and storage it appears it is converted to Mol Gas. Mass versus energy calculations and the type of the Nogoll version of ISAH pods. We think she can reach 500 klicks. We could read 178 life forms, while they were docked. Shield projector nodes point to modern Kermac Shimmer type shields.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“What about his offensive capabilites?” I directed my question to the female human Ensign manning Tactical. “Three Kermac FTL Line Cannons 1 Megawatt per pulse. From the power layout not energy independent. Still serious weapons to anyone not having Union Para or TransDim Shields. We also noticed 4 missile doors but we do not know what type.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“How far to his first stop?”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">The human Ensign at the Navigation console, I knew came from the Kingdom of New Siam answered. “122 light years and with the anticipated translight speed of these engines of approximatley 4500 times light, about nine days, Ma'am.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Thank you Mr. Shinawatra. And I thought Tiny Tim freighters were slow.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">The Leedei said, “Captain, that ship is TL 7. Union average is TL 8 and the Tigershark is beyond that. Given the fact that over 90 percent of all known non Union civilizations are of TL 7 or less, this is quite fast in relation.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Mr. Fivcheer you sound just like Lt. Schwartz.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“That, Captain is a great compliment, thank you.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">The Helmsman said “We could technically fly to Richter, have a cup of coffee and come back and he still be on his way to his first waypoint. ”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">“Well a cup of coffee sounds like a good idea. Mr. Three Four you have the Conn. I am having breakfast.”

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<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">--””--

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">I actually contemplated to return to bed, as I walked past my quarters. While I suspected Swift to try something, I was quite certain he would do it with a good distance between us and the station. I was no psychic and could not reald minds. I knew however he had heard about me selling two space ships. The heavy loads of Iridium Ingots we received as pay had not been a secret either, I was certain that was the real reason he wanted to fly together.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">His Swift Profit was a well armed ship, but the simulated Karthanian with our Froth Casters was a number to big for him in a direct heads on attack. So I expected some sort of trickery, some way of him boarding us.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">With those thoughts I decided against sleeping but was not in a particular hurry.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">I was relaxed but still noticed a crew member, down the corridor changing direction very fast as I approached.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">Now it could have been coincidence, but I somehow had the distinct feeling, that Crew member didn't want to run into the Captain.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">Instead of taking the IST, I followed the Corridor further. There wasn;t much more here on the command deck. Har-Hi's quarters, a second conference room, the upper Armory filled with the latest Union weaponry, most of it still prototypes or test units. There were twelve so called VIP quarters behind thant, Finally there was senior officer's mess and officer's lounge. I had never used any of these facilities, I just knew they were there.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">Command deck was the smallest deck and all the way on top of the ship. Most civilizations built their bridge or command center deep within the bowels of a ship, to protect this vital part, but Union planners always had Translocator cannons in mind and to these weapons it mattered little where the bridge or engineering was. While no known adversary of the Union had Translocator technology, it was always considered that this secret could be stolen or some unknown species used something similar.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">In case of an emergency the entire Command Deck could be seperated from the Tigershark and turn into an independent space craft with FTL engines. It was called rhe Captain's Yacht.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:0.58cm;">One of these days I planned to run a drill of seperation and re uniting the Yacht, but that would have to wait until we could be our selves.

While I was thinking all this I went down the slightly curved corridor to catch up with that captain avoidng crew member. Initially I had not noticed more than a movement, but now almost caught up coming around the corriodor bent I saw a human female with blue skin and shyny coppery hair slip past the doors of the Officer;s mess.