StarFight 1: Battlestar (24 page)

“Now you’re hopping!” she said happily.

They danced and danced. They got drinks and sweet snacks. She allowed him to feed her a tortolino and he allowed her to stuff a blueberry muffin into his mouth. They stayed with drinking beer, in the interest of remaining vertical. It went on like that, her smiling, him laughing now and then, until the music stopped. He had not realized it was midnight until the overhead lights dimmed and the baritone at the bandstand announced the end of Dance Night. Daisy took his left arm and guided him toward the exit, which was crowded with dozens of other late revelers.

“Jacob, this was fun! You’re fun.”

He smiled, marveled at how earlier she had pulled him close and kissed him, and now hugged his arm close to her side. “You’re more than fun. You inspire me. Never knew I could do a samba!”

She laughed as they went down the hallway of the Habitation Deck, other couples and groups ahead of and behind them. “Well, your foxtrot was pretty decent.” She paused as they stopped before the grav lift, sharing the space with four other couples, none of whom he knew and all of whom were not the slightest bit interested in the fact the ship’s captain stood among them. Daisy looked up to him, her warm brown eyes fixing on him. “You wanna have a drink in my place? Got a nice
pinot noir
bottle that my mom gave me as a graduation present.”

Would this invite lead to something more? Did he want more? Silly questions the mind poses. “Sure! Would love to taste your red wine. And hear about your mom the super scientist!”

She laughed, followed him into the grav lift, then laid her head against his left shoulder as the metal box rose slowly. “She really is a wonder. Got me my first flying lessons. Stood by on the runway when I soloed. And took a backseat ride with me in the jet trainer that I qualified on. Plus she taught me to play chess early on.”

Jacob had heard some of these details during their flight out to Kepler 22. It was clear that Daisy’s mom was both her role model for achievement and the sole family link she had. “I am very very glad she got you those piloting lessons. Otherwise, we might not have met each other since you were originally assigned to Navigation Deck.”

She squeezed his arm, then walked close to him as they stepped out onto the hallway of Command Deck. The grav lift’s door hissed shut behind them. No one else was present in the hallway. She turned and looked up to him.

“Kiss me.”

Bending down a bit and pulling her closer, he kissed Daisy Stewart with all his heart, all his hopes and all his wishes that they would survive the future. Being the master of a Battlestar starship was fine, but except for the crazy AI Melody, there was no emotional return in doing his duty. Being with Daisy was so much better than sitting atop a seat in the middle of the Bridge and being at target center for all the worries, problems and crises that came with being a ship’s captain.

“Let’s have some of that wine,” he whispered to her as his lips separated from hers.

Her face showed caring and kindness and . . . was that love? Perhaps too soon for that. But Daisy was showing him a side of her that was beyond special. She was inviting him into her heart.

“Wine sounds good. Along with other nice things. Follow me,” she said, turning and pulling him along after her as they headed for her quarters.

Jacob followed willingly.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Daisy watched the holos in front of her XO seat, waiting for the front wallscreen’s color to change from gray to black filled with white sparkles, and maybe the yellow dot of Kepler 10’s star. That should happen in eleven minutes, according to the time clock notation in the corner of her situational holo. Her ship cross-section holo showed everyone at their combat duty posts, ready to fight the second after their arrival if needed. She had listened to Jacob’s comment earlier, on the neutrino link with the group’s other ships and captains, as her friend said there was a possibility the wasp alien stardrive might get them to Kepler 10 before they arrived. Willard at Science kept quiet, but she knew the man did not believe that was possible. More likely, according to Lieutenant Branstead, was an arrival of the wasps some hours, or even a day after their arrival. Branstead, or Alicia as Daisy now thought of her, had shared this with Jacob during an all deck chiefs video conference. Alicia was convinced it would take the wasps some hours to convert their triangulation readings into an exact vector track. The wasps would easily see, early on, that the nearest G-type yellow star was Kepler 10. But they would have to discuss whether the
Lepanto
was headed there, or to another G-type star further along that vector track. Behind her the slidedoor that gave access to the Bridge hissed open.

“Lieutenant on the Bridge,” called out Willard, looking beyond Daisy.

She turned in her seat. It was Alicia, wearing her woodland camo outfit. That was what everyone on the Bridge now wore, except for Jacob, who was dressed formally in his dress blues. The woman stood in the open doorway, her amber eyes looking to Jacob, her right hand lifted to her brow in a salute.

“Permission to enter the Bridge requested,” she said tightly.

Daisy’s holo that showed an overhead view of the Bridge had Jacob turn in his seat, stand up and salute her back. “Permission to enter granted. What brings you here, Lieutenant Branstead?”

The stocky Aussie marched quickly to the room’s center, her expression thoughtful. She stopped in front of Daisy and looked up. “Acting captain, I wish to be present here when the
Lepanto
exits Alcubierre space-time. Our emergence will be quickly detected by the base. Someone there will contact the ship. I wish to be present to lend my support to your report to the captain in charge of the base.”

Daisy’s feeling of worry eased. She knew Alicia supported Jacob as the ship’s new captain. The woman had made that clear during the discussion in the admiral’s conference room. Was something else going on? Now, anxiety filled her as she hoped the woman held good news for the man she had come to care for deeply.

Her holo showed Jacob sitting down and locking his straps. He looked down. “Your assistance and the assistance of Science Deck are always welcome. We have nine minutes. Is there anything you wish to share with me before we emerge?”

Alicia’s high-cheeked face grew a small smile. “There is. My discussions with every deck chief has resulted in them all agreeing with me that you should continue as the captain of the
Lepanto
. Only Lieutenant Commander Bannerjee declined to join our consensus view.”

In the holo, Jacob nodded. “And you wish to convey that news to the base captain?”

“I do.”

“Thank you.” Jacob sat back in his seat. He looked ahead. “Communications, open an All Ship vidcom line to the rest of the ship. Melody, establish a neutrino comlink with the other ships in the battle group.”

“All Ship comlink activated,” said Andrew from where he sat near the middle of the front row of function posts.

“Neutrino comlink established,” the AI said, her tone now sounding distracted to Daisy. What was it with this AI’s algorithms?

“All personnel, all ships, move your ship status to Alert Combat Ready. Put on your vacsuits, though the helmets may be left unsealed,” Jacob said in that command voice she was coming to appreciate. “Battle group captains, prepare your ships for enemy fire. It is possible the wasp aliens arrived here before us. As for the Star Navy base contact, I will speak to it on behalf of the battle group. Acknowledge.”

The lights went to blinking red as the speakers gave out a high-pitched siren, Acknowledgments came from every ship captain, including Mehta on the
Salamis
. She wondered just how loyal the man might be to Jacob. During the Alcubierre transit the man had responded to every signal from the
Lepanto
, and he had participated in Jacob’s all captains conference call to discuss ship repairs, fuel levels and recycling functions.

“All captains, upon emergence we will assume formation Alpha Hammerhead.”

Brief acknowledgements followed.

Daisy’s mind filled with an academy lesson on the formations that were official Star Navy combat arrangements. Hammerhead meant the battle group would form up in a series of lines, one after the other. The Battlestar, flanked by the two cruisers, would form the hammerhead. The three destroyers would form the middle line. The three frigates would bring up the rear as the third and last line. The last two lines would be tilted to give those ships a clear field of fire. It was a formation aimed at presenting maximum forward firepower. To her, it made sense due to the fact they would exit Alcubierre space-time with their nose aimed at the yellow sun of Kepler 10. The other battle group ships would materialize to either side of the
Lepanto
, since that was their formation upon departure from Kepler 22.

Reaching down to the side of her seat, she grabbed the folded up vacsuit and flexible helmet, released her seat straps and donned her vacsuit. To her right Richard was doing the same. Willard had handed Alicia a vacsuit and the woman was donning hers. Behind them Carlos and Lori were putting on their vacsuits. Up front, everyone at the function stations was also donning a vacsuit. Soon enough they were all seated again and strapped in. She briefly wished the straps were not standard regs, but then her memory provided an academy video of a pig being smashed against the side wall of a spaceship as the ship’s inertial damper lost power during a sharp sideways thrust change. Inertial dampers rarely failed. And grav lifts almost never failed. But that history did not prevent the Star Navy from installing seat straps and adding access ramps to connect each ship deck in case grav lifts failed to operate. There were even old-style fire extinguishers bolted to hallway walls, despite the modern fire suppression systems built into each spaceship. She liked that kind of redundancy.

“Lieutenant, please occupy the seat I had installed beside CWO O’Connor,” Jacob said calmly. “You should be able to participate in my discussion with the base from that seat.”

“Thank you,” Alicia said and moved to sit in the seat.

Daisy had wondered why a new seat had been added to their central cluster when she’d arrived on the Bridge four hours earlier. Now she knew. But how had Jacob known Alicia would want to be present on the Bridge?

“XO, what is the status of our decks?” Jacob said.

Feeling her nerves drain away as normal routine took hold, she answered him. “Acting captain, all decks are secure. All pressure hatches are sealed. All deck control centers are occupied by deck chiefs and assistants. There are three crew residents in the Med Hall. All other personnel are awake, on duty and prepared to perform.”

“Good. Weapons, what is the status of our weapon stations?”

Ahead of her, Oliver looked to his holo. “The antimatter cannon has a full four shots in its magfield reservoir. All front and back CO
2
lasers on both outrigger pods are energized and ready to fire. The proton lasers at spine, belly and both flanks are operational. The belly and spine plasma batteries are functional, though the belly unit may not hold up to sustained output,” he said, the excitement in his voice clear to Daisy. “All railgun launchers have full Smart Rock loads, and the eight stern silos are filled with missiles. Half of the missiles carry x-ray laser thermonukes while the other half carry multiple independently targeted and mobile thermonuke warheads set for three megaton yields. Sir.”

“Thank you,” Jacob said calmly. She could not believe how relaxed he sounded while hearing they possessed enough weaponry to destroy a small planet. “Engines, Power, Navigation, Gravity, Life Support, Communications, Science and Tactical, report your status.”

She sat and listened to the reports from the chief petty officers and chief warrant officers who operated the Bridge function posts.

“Two minutes,” called Louise from her nav post.

Daisy sat up straighter in her seat, all too aware that every action and every word by everyone on the Bridge was being recorded by the AI, and live transmitted to the other ships and to folks on the other decks. She had early on appreciated Jacob’s decision to provide live vidcom imagery of everything that happened on the Bridge. Later he had explained it was his way of building confidence in the
Lepanto’s
crew while also keeping them informed, rather than guessing and worrying. The crew had lost the senior officers they had served with for four years. That loss would unsettle any crew. Jacob’s move to command the Battlestar was surely a surprise to most crew. It had surprised her, and she was his friend. A member of the small group of people who he felt at ease with. Well, that open sharing policy was now about to get a new airing, this time with the captain in charge of the Star Navy base.

“Twelve seconds,” Louise said.

She looked ahead at the gray wallscreen and hoped the captain would be reasonable. After all, they were survivors of Earth’s first encounter with aliens, an encounter that had quickly turned deadly. This captain, the base, the colonists and Earth needed to know what had happened. And hopefully, support Jacob as the
Lepanto’s
continuing captain.

“Transition completed.”

♦   ♦   ♦

Aarhant sat in his control center for Navigation Deck and watched the wallscreen that repeated every image from the Bridge. This openness policy of the whelp allowed him to see and hear everything that happened. And to make his own record of any mistake Renselaer made. He laid his right hand on his seat’s armrest, feeling the neutrino comlink activation stud. It was Star Navy regs for every deck’s control center to have neutrino communications independent of the Bridge neutrino comlink. The reg was there in case a part of the ship was disabled or lost power. He had used the comlink to talk to Mehta. Which had not helped his cause. His contacts with other deck chiefs had been rebuffed, thanks to Branstead’s active lobbying of the chiefs to support Renselaer. What blindness!

Well, he was ready to send his own signal to the captain in charge of the base. Whomever the man might be, surely he would listen to a lieutenant commander calling from a combat-damaged starship!

The wallscreen image that showed the view from the rear of the Bridge now showed the people as they put on their vacsuits. Something he had ordered his people to do ten minutes earlier. More waiting followed. Then the front wallscreen on the Bridge lost its gray portrayal of Alcubierre space-time.

At last!

♦   ♦   ♦

Jacob blinked as the wallscreen went from gray to deep black. The white streak of the Milky Way stretched over one corner of the image, while the yellow star of Kepler 10 was centered in the middle of the screen. Hundreds of white, red, yellow and blue dots filled the space between the two. His holo with the cross-section of the
Lepanto’s
decks showed Green normal. The right front holo with its true space image repeated what the front screen showed. The upper left holo held multiple sensor images that reflected multi-spectral input from the ship’s sensor arrays. The left side holo was the situational holo that showed an overhead plan view of the star system, its seven planets, and their nine ships at their arrival point in the cometary belt of Kepler 10. Two AU inward was planet seven, a Pluto clone with several small moons. The sight of the other eight ships showing Green normal status was a relief.

“All ships, eject Smart Rocks on sideways vectors,” he said, recalling his plan to leave an intelligent minefield for the enemy. “Let’s leave the wasps a bothersome calling card!”

The destroyers and cruisers acknowledged his order. As did Oliver at Weapons.

“Incoming neutrino comlink from the Star Navy base,” called out Andrew from Communications.

He sat more upright and looked straight ahead. “Display signal on the front wallscreen.”

The image of an Asian male ensign wearing his Service Khaki uniform now appeared to the left of the yellow star. He sat at a table in a room filled with flatscreens, radar and lidar arrays and three control panels. He sat before one of them. The man looked surprised.