Ep.#5 - "Rise of the Corinari" (33 page)

“The entire implementation was approached with the single pilot concept in mind, Captain,” Abby explained. “Much of the interface was designed by Deliza and her team and will eventually be implemented aboard the Aurora, as we discussed.”

“You should be proud of your daughter,” Nathan said to Tug.

“I have always been proud of both of my daughters,” Tug stated.

“So what’s next for the new jump interceptor?” Nathan asked.

“I will be conducting a solo jump to the Savoy system in order to establish contact with Jalea. It has been three weeks since she was inserted into Ancot city. She may have something to report by now.”

“Why solo?” Jessica wondered.

“The system was designed to be operated by a single pilot,” Tug reminded her. “It is also possible that Jalea may already be in need of extraction, in which case I will need an empty seat.”

“Well, let’s hope that’s not the case,” Nathan stated. “Cheng, how are things coming along in your neck of the woods?”

“All ship’s systems have been repaired, Captain, and we are nearly halfway through installing the systems that were still crated up and stored,” Vladimir reported proudly. “The Corinairans have been most helpful. In fact, all crates that were stored in the fighter alleys have either been installed or moved into the cargo bays.”

“Excellent, but don’t let up,” Nathan said. “We’re going to need those cargo bays to store additional ammunition and consumables. How are things coming with the forward compartments?”

“I am happy to report that the forward section will be ready for habitation in a few days.”

“That’s good news,” Nathan stated. “We still have two more shifts of volunteers waiting to come aboard. The flight crews have been bunking in the Karuzara dorms so they can take turns using our flight training simulators, but we really need to get the rest of the volunteers on board so they can get trained.”

“Well, at least the galley is fully functional now,” Jessica commented. “Maybe now we can start eating a normal meal once in a while.”

“You know, Jess,” Nathan started, “with most of the crew being Corinairan, we’re probably going to be eating more like them from now on.”

“Oh, are you kidding me?” Jessica protested. “They don’t even know how to make a decent sandwich. They wrap the meat and cheese up in some dough and bake it. That’s not a sandwich.”

“Oh, da!” Vladimir exclaimed. “It is like perazhok! It is wonderful!”

“Wonderful my ass,” Jessica disagreed, “there’s no lettuce or tomato in it.”

“Well, wonderful or not, you’d better get used to it,” Nathan warned. “Maybe if you’re nice to the cook, he’ll let you make your own sandwich.”

“Can’t we just install a mini-fridge in my quarters and let me keep my own food in there?”

Nathan smiled. “Master Chief, how go things on the flight deck?”

“Nicely, Captain. As Cheng said, the fighter alleys are clear, so we finally have a chance to start getting organized in the main hangar bay. Since Marcus has been pretty much running that deck since you took him on board back in Haven, I have been allowing him continue to do so. He is not exactly Corinari issue, if you understand my meaning, but he is a good enough fellow, once you get past his gruffness. Besides, he has taken that hangar bay on as his own, which I believe is good.”

“Do you anticipate any problems once the Corinari aerospace groups start moving in?”

“Maybe a few, Captain, I am not going to pretend otherwise. I expect it will be difficult for many of the Corinari to take orders from a civilian like Marcus, despite the fact he seems to know what he is doing.”

“Would it help if we enlisted him and gave him a rank?”

“Captain…” Jessica interrupted.

“Perhaps,” Master Chief Montrose agreed, “but you would have to make him at least a chief. And since you people have the peculiar custom of assigning people to seemingly arbitrary ranks, why not just make him a senior chief so he will out rank most of the Corinari that might be working under him?”

“Oh come on,” Jessica disagreed. “Marcus? A senior chief?” Jessica threw up her hands in resignation, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms to wait until someone decided what to do.

Vladimir smiled as he watched Jessica unravel before his eyes. “I think it is very good idea. I like Marcus. He is very reliable, in my opinion.”

“Has everybody lost their minds?” Jessica wondered aloud. “Captain, you do realize that you’re stepping way outside regs here. There’s no way Cameron is going to go for this.”

Nathan turned and looked hard at Jessica. “Commander Taylor will be fine with it, Lieutenant Commander.”

Jessica straightened up slowly in her chair. Her captain’s tone made her realize she had crossed a line.

“Ensign Willard,” Nathan continued, purposefully leaving the topic of Marcus, as he considered it decided, “I hear you are leading your shipmates in their efforts to integrate the Yamaro into her new home within the asteroid,” Nathan said. “How is that going?”

“Quite well, Captain. The men are happy to return to their familiar quarters. Many of them are still performing the same functions as they were when the Yamaro was a space-faring vessel. Those that cannot do so have taken on new roles, such as construction, fabrication, and even mining.”

“Mining?” Nathan asked.

“Yes,” Willard answered. “Although the asteroid was considered fully mined and ready to be de-orbited to Corinair for harvesting, there is still a considerable amount of material left within the asteroid. We expect to be able to harvest a few more metric tons without destabilizing the outer shell of the asteroid itself. That material will go a long way toward the expansion of our interior spaces within the asteroid, as well as the creation of additional fabricators.”

“And how is the refit of the asteroid going?”

“Fine, sir. We have closed off the entrance to the inner chamber and now have a tunnel from the exterior that leads directly into the Yamaro’s starboard hangar bay. We have also removed the bulkheads between the starboard and port bays, making it into one massive bay. We have sealed and pressurized the interior of the asteroid’s main cavern, and have begun to assemble a construction platform that extends out into the inner chamber from the port hangar bay airlock.”

“So you have a pressurized, micro-gravity shipyard?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, sir,” Ensign Willard answered. “It will greatly speed up the refit of shuttles and other small spacecraft.”

“Impressive,” Vladimir stated. “I must visit this and see it for myself.”

“How are things going with the fabricators?” Nathan asked.

“Rather than remove them from the Yamaro, we have been using them to construct new fabricators. Once the Yamaro’s weapons systems have been removed, there will be room to create additional fabrication shops. We have created two more pairs of fabricators, both large and small, and another pair is nearly complete. One of the new pairs has been shipped to Corinair. I believe they have tasked it to continue making new pairs to increase their production capacity. The other one we have tasked to do the same, allowing us to start utilizing the existing pairs to begin the production of mini-jump drives at the request of both the Corinairans and the Karuzari.”

“We feel it is imperative that we get an early warning system in place as soon as possible,” Tug elaborated. “Advanced notification would greatly increase our chances of successfully defending this system against another attack.”

“What about the third pair?” Vladimir asked.

“As soon as they are completed, they will be delivered to you, Lieutenant Commander,” Ensign Willard promised.

“
Da!
” Vladimir exclaimed, slapping the table triumphantly. “
Harasho!
”

“How long will it take to fit these Corinairan shuttles with mini-jump drives?” Nathan asked.

“Using one pair of fabricators, it takes about one week to create the parts for a mini-jump drive,” Ensign Willard explained, “and another week to assemble and install it. I would imagine that it would require another day or two for testing as well.”

“Two weeks, huh?” Nathan wondered aloud. “So it will take some time to get a reliable early warning system in place.”

“At least a few months,” Tug stated. “However, even a single ship jumping about and taking scans can provide us with at least a few hours warning. It is not much, but it is better than being completely taken by surprise.”

“Agreed,” Nathan stated, wanting to wrap up the meeting. “We’ll be taking the ship out of Karuzara in a few hours to conduct our first test launches of a Corinari interceptor using the launch tubes. If it works as expected, we’ll have at least a wing or two of fighters on board within the week. Master Chief, round up Marcus and meet me in my ready room as soon as possible. Lieutenant Commander Nash, please remain. Everyone else is dismissed.”

One by one the attendees filed out of the room, all off to begin their work for the day. Nathan waited until they had all left before speaking. The guard looked inside the room, and Nathan gestured for him to close the door.

Nathan looked at Jessica, who was leaning back in her seat, nice and relaxed. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked.

“With me? What the hell is wrong with you?” she retorted. “You can’t just snap your fingers and make people members of the fleet. Come on. Marcus, a senior chief?”

“Straighten up, Lieutenant Commander,” he barked. Jessica immediately sat up straight in her chair. “I’m the captain of this ship, and I’m the highest ranking member of the Earth Defense Fleet in this area of space. I’ll enlist and or promote anyone I damn well choose. Hell, I signed an alliance between the Earth and a government nobody back home has ever heard of before. I even shared top-secret technology with them. You think I’m worried about the repercussions from a few questionable field promotions? Hell, if that had been an issue I wouldn’t have promoted you or Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy.”

“I was just trying to…”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass what you
thought
you were trying to do, Lieutenant Commander,” Nathan interrupted angrily. “If you have a problem with my decisions, you are more than welcome to take it up with me… in private. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well, Lieutenant Commander. Dismissed.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jessica responded in perfect military fashion. She rose from her chair, saluted, turned, and left the room. Inside she was fuming. It had been awhile since anyone had dressed her down in such a fashion. Coming from Nathan Scott, despite the fact that he was the captain, made it all the more difficult.

Her anger continued to boil as she left the briefing room and headed to her office. She couldn’t stand the idea of Marcus becoming a member of the Earth Defense Force, let alone a senior chief. She had known a few chiefs in her short time in the fleet. Each of them had been incredible individuals to be feared, respected, and listened to. Those men had years of experience and unimpeachable honor and commitment. Marcus didn’t deserve to wear the same rank as those men. He hadn’t earned it, and she doubted he ever would.

Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it. Nathan had been right about one thing; he was the captain, and technically, he had the right to make such decisions. She had no doubt that command back home would highly disapprove of Captain Nathan Scott’s actions, but that was of no matter now.

She had to admit one thing, however. She had been out of line arguing with her captain in front of others. For that, she felt embarrassed. She also felt grateful that he hadn’t dressed her down in front of the others. It was sometimes hard for her to think of Nathan as the captain, but one thing was obvious;
the captain
was exactly who he was becoming.

* * *

Marcus looked nervous as he stood before the captain’s desk. He had never been in the captain’s ready room until now. In fact, the only time he had ever been on the bridge was just after they had stormed it to take the Aurora back from de Winter and his men. Since then, most of Marcus’s time had been spent on the flight deck, in his quarters, or in the galley.

As he was standing next to Master Chief Montrose, Marcus was pretty sure he was in trouble. Exactly what kind of trouble, he wasn’t certain. He and the master chief had gotten along pretty well considering the difference in their backgrounds. They had argued, surely, but they had also swapped a few stories and shared a few meals together as well, which was a sight more than he had done with most of the crew, short of Josh and Loki.

Marcus had seen it coming, though. He knew that soon the Corinari would be taking over the flight deck. He had run the deck for more than a month now—not because he was the most qualified, but because there had been no one else to do the job. So he had taken it upon himself to keep the deck in working order, and to tend to any spacecraft on his deck that needed attention. He had figured that, as long as he continued to do so, he might have himself a place to sleep and some food to eat. He had no delusions of ever getting back to Haven. To be honest, he had never really liked that place much to begin with. Even if he did find a way back, his old employer would probably blame him for the loss of two cargo shuttles and a ring harvester. It would take him the rest of his life to pay off that much debt. Besides, Josh was staying put. That much Marcus was sure of, and Josh was really the closest thing to kin that Marcus had, having taken the boy in and raised him since his mother was killed more than a decade ago.

“Marcus,” Nathan began, “Master Chief Montrose has been telling me what fine care you’ve been taking of my hangar deck.”

“Just trying to help out where I can, sir,” Marcus stated.

“I’ve been talking to Josh and Loki about you as well,” Nathan added.

“I wouldn’t put too much stock in what Josh tells you, Captain,” Marcus protested. “The boy's been bounced around the cockpit a bit too much, if you get my meaning. Some things have been shook loose up there.”

“Josh tells me you can fix just about anything. He says you taught him everything he knows about fixing spaceships,” Nathan said.