Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1) (46 page)

After
a short discussion, a unanimous decision set their course for
the
third destination. It was also agreed, upon Gantarro's request, that
before they departed, the Freedom would fly escort to the Princess
Hedonist until they were clear of the present sector. Once clear,
the two ships would part company and continue on to their separate
destinations.

The
door from the bridge swished open at about the same time Jack
called
for the computer to turn up the lights. Alité strolled
through the door with a tray full of sandwiches and beverages. Fritz
sauntered in behind her. Her hair was pulled back severely in a
tight bun and she looked nothing like the woman Jack had spent the
night with. She distributed the drinks in silence but smiled warmly
at Jack before leaving, her eyes lingering on him. The men watched
her go without a word.

The
men thought about their first task and sipped quietly, some
taking
sandwiches from the platter. Suddenly Brian looked up at Jack and
smiled. "No..!" Everyone turned to look at him.

"No
what?" asked Mike.

"That
was her!" exclaimed Brian. "Did you see the way she looked
at
him?"

Paul
wasn't convinced, "The Ice Princess? Nah, couldn't be..."

"That
had to be her!" insisted Brian. Jack tried to look innocent but
it
wasn't
working. Despite biting the inside of his cheek, he cracked a half
smile. Primarily because he couldn't help thinking about last night.
"Look at his face," urged Brian, "it's written all
over his face!"

"I
don't get it," grumbled Mike, "I've been watching her all
week,
I
can't get her to even look at me..."

"Shows
she's got good sense," volleyed Jack, still leaving Brian's
accusation unconfirmed.

"Ouch!"
said Paul sympathetically.

The
meeting deteriorated to rolling banter and jokes before Jack was
finally
able to bring it back to order. "We need to talk about crew
assignments and placements. First, I think we'll give navigation to
Ragnaar. Any objections?" There were none.

Ragnaar
bowed. "Thank you, sir, I am honored. I will do my best."

Jack
nodded then turned to the Professor. He was the only person in
the
room, not in uniform. He stood to one side and puffed on his pipe,
dressed in a comfortable brown tweed English sport coat. Jack
studied him for a moment and tried to remember which hand was real
and which was mechanical. "Professor, first I want to thank you
for all your assistance on the software for the Freedom..."

Professor
Edgars waved his pipe. "Don't mention it, old boy, t'was
rather
enjoyable."

"Well,"
continued Jack, "I can't imagine you not being around and
I'd
like you to stay on with us... as the ship's first officer with the
rank of Commander."

His
eyes widened, "I say!"

"Look,"
added Jack, motioning to the others, "we're all pilots. We
can
do our best for this ship, sitting in the cockpit of a fighter. But
we need to know she's in capable hands while we're gone. We need to
know we'll have a ship to come back to..." The others all
nodded their agreement. "Besides, I can't imagine it'll be
boring..."

The
professor tamped the tobacco in his pipe. "Sounds absolutely
smashing!
And you know me, anything for a bit of adventure... I must say
you've taken me a bit by surprise. I was going to ask to tag along,
but this is more than a man could wish for. I'd be delighted!"
They welcomed him to the crew with a toast.

Thinking
of the night before and the all too memorable hangover,
Brian
rolled his eyes. "Let's not start
that
again." It bought a round of chuckles and light laughter.

"What
about ship's security?" asked Paul.

Jack
sipped his carbonated fruit juice. "Mmm, Raulya and Myomerr
have
the clear advantage there, they've served on this ship before. They
will share responsibilities of internal security and weapons
systems." Ragnaar made a sour face and Jack ignored him.
"Well," concluded Jack, "I'll need a list of
recommendations for gunnery positions, helmsmen, etc."

"I
think I could do most of that," volunteered Ragnaar.

"I
can give him a hand," added Trigoss.

"Good.
How many people do we have now?" asked Jack.

"Sixty-seven,"
answered Trigoss. "We might pick up a couple more
before
we leave tomorrow... adventure seekers." Several of the newest
crew members were former passengers on the Princess Hedonist.

"It's
far from a full crew," admitted Steele, "but it's a start.
I
think
it would be wise to teach the women some of the other positions."
He could see Ragnaar making another face. "Look, I know there
are some of us who think women only belong in the kitchen, but the
truth is, there might be a time, when an extra hand or two could
make all the difference in the world. So do me a favor Ragnaar..."

"Oh
please, sir," he said, retreating, "anything but that!
Torture me,
give
me the hardest duty, ask me to sacrifice my life... but don't ask me
to work with the women!"

Jack
was almost in tears trying to hold his laughter. "For crying
out
loud, relax, Lieutenant! I just want you to pick someone to
interview the women and find if any of them already have any talents
or experience."

Ragnaar
stared at the floor. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

Jack,
laughing, waved it off. "Forget it." He dismissed the
meeting.

"Oh,
one more thing," said Trigoss, as the others filed out. "We
managed
one more generator."

"That's
great! How'd you do it?"

"Well,
don't thank me yet. It's built from all the parts we could
salvage
from the burnt units. It only operates at about half capacity, and
I'm not sure for how long."

"That's
Ok," conceded Jack, "every little bit helps."

■ ■ ■

Alone
with Fritz in the darkened ready room, Jack Steele stood in
front
of the conference table and studied the three dimensional holochart
floating above it. Instead of each point of light representing a
particular star, planet, or Genesis Gate, like on the previous chart
they had plotted, on this, they represented entire solar systems.
And there were thousands of them. A pale blue cube at one end
represented millions of miles of space, their present sector. It was
only about an inch square, in a chart over eight feet long. A blue
line snaked away, perhaps seven inches to a pale green cube of the
same size, the place where they hoped to get parts. From there, a
green line departed for the other end of the table, sometimes
completely obscured by the lights of alien solar systems. It ended
in a pale yellow cube almost eight feet away. Fritz was sitting in
one of the conference chairs at the far end of the table. Jack moved
closer to him and the yellow cube. "Y'know what that is, kiddo?
That's snowy mountain peaks, green forests, blue oceans and warm,
sunny, golden beaches. That's home, Bunky. That's what that is."
The Shepherd wagged his tail. He vaguely remembered running in the
water. He wasn't sure, but he thought it may have been fun.

It
was difficult, even with the chart illustrating it, to comprehend
just
how far away home really was. But never the less, Jack programmed
the table to show the most direct route home at any given time. It
seemed to be a good way to keep that fine tenuous thread from
breaking and leaving him emotionally adrift and homeless in the
starry void.

A
general announcement came over the comm, informing all crew
members
that engineering would begin main engine warmup momentarily and that
all unnecessary power consumption must cease until morning after
main engine startup. Jack nodded to himself and switched off the
holochart, watching the thousand-plus points of light disappear.

He
strolled from the ready room onto the bridge. The operations
officers
and technicians were busy shutting down the computers, sensors, work
stations and anything else that wasn't required. With full generator
power, it would not require more than a few short hours for engine
warmup, and that was with systems running. But, as it was, the ship
would require most of the night to warm up the engine cores. Jack
and Fritz left the bridge to head to the officer's garden before
retiring for the day as nothing else could be done with all the
systems off line. Besides, tomorrow would probably prove to be a
full day.

The
garden was nowhere near as large as the Ecosphere on the
Princess,
but it was sizable enough for a fair stroll among the trees and
flowers. Jack enjoyed the sweet smell of the air and Fritz seemed to
remember about the joys of rolling in the grass. Sitting under a
tree, he watched the Shepherd run and frolic, noticing how much more
fluid he moved than just the day before. The dog appeared to be
regaining more of his old self back and this made Jack very happy.
Fritz found a stick and brought it to Jack, dropping it on his lap.
They played fetch for awhile until it became obvious the dog was
tiring. "That's enough, dog. Don't want to do too much too
fast." Jack stood up and walked towards the garden's port
entrance, the German Shepherd trotted at his side, still proudly
carrying his stick.

Ragnaar
met them at the elevator. Jack and Fritz were going up, the
Lieutenant
JG was going down. "Here, sir," said the former pirate,
"the info you wanted on personnel." He handed Jack a data
disk.

Jack
took the disc. "Your choices for helm and science stations...
are
they sound?"

"Yes,
sir."

"No
favoritism?"

"No,
sir. Just the best for the job."

Jack
believed him. "Ok, Lieutenant, thank you. Please inform the
first
shift you have chosen that they are on duty for start up and pull
out tomorrow morning. We'll discuss gunnery positions after we get
squared away and under power."

"Yes,
sir." Ragnaar saluted smartly. Instead of taking the elevator,
he
turned and hustled down the corridor, presumably to notify crew
members of their duty status.

■ ■ ■

The
lighting in the corridors was muted to save power and the
corridor
partition doors were fixed open, the system off line for the same
reason. The low droning hum of the engine blowers was a new and
different sound, a contrast to the silence of the past three and a
half weeks.

Jack
stepped through the doorway and into his quarters, to discover
not
one, but two women waiting for him. Maria and Alité. No
sooner did he realize this, then he spun on his heel toward the
door.
Uh
ohh...
he thought.

"Freeze!"
yelled Maria, jumping to her feet. "Where do you think
you're
going to, Mister?" Her speech always slipped into Spanglish
when she was upset.

“
I
uhh..." he couldn't think of anything believable, "nowhere,"
he
mumbled.
The dog stood next to him, not quite sure what to do or where to
sit.

"I
thought we were going to spend the night together. Where did
you
go?" She stood with her hands on her hips. Alité sat
demurely on the sofa, adjusting the slit of her casual evening
dress.

"
You
,"
said Jack, defensively, "were
unconscious
!"

"So
what? You couldn't wake me or wait till morning?"

"
Wake
you
?
Are you
kidding
?!"
Jack moved to the bar to get something
to
drink. "I carried you over my shoulder, from the galley to your
quarters. I completely undressed you. I even tucked you in. And the
only word you said the entire time, was
gribnitz."