Several years running a mining colony, after my time in the military, had given me a fairly good idea of what was involved in the "logistics" of running what amounted to a major project. Or so I thought. But Children of Earth wasn't a frontier mining colony or a covert operations unit. It was a starship the size of a downtown city block with a crew of four hundred thirty five people, all of whom I would be directly responsible for.
It was mostly a KHI project still, with their project management staff handling most of the details. But I still had things to keep track of through far too many aspects of the project. And as more and more of the ship's crew was finalized and came aboard, I found myself having to fully integrate them into the mission plans. Scientists. Technicians. Operational crew. Most of whom had been selected and in training for a good deal longer than I had. But they were only now coming together as a crew. And that's where my responsibilities really started.
While I still hadn't gotten a good handle on the Captain, aside from a vague feeling that he wasn't especially happy to have me as his XO, I had established a working relationship with most of the other department heads. Including the tactical unit we'd been assigned for 'mission security and other miscellaneous duties as required.'
I fully understood having a couple squads of specially trained soldiers aboard, even if their primary duties would be grunt work for the science and maintenance crews. There was the finite possibility we'd receive a hostile welcome on Earth when we arrived, and having some dedicated professional soldiers might make the difference between mission success and a bunch of dead scientists.
Of all the crew dossiers I had to read, theirs were the ones I understood. Each of them had been in one of the Alliance elite units. Drop troopers. J-TAC. Special Forces. All elite, hand picked, combat troops. All of whom had volunteered for this and spent most of the last year training to do all the other jobs they'd have to do aboard Children of Earth, while maintaining combat readiness in case it came down to it.
They'd been designated "Operational Reserve, Combat Auxiliaries," which promptly got shortened to ORCA. Operationally, they were answerable to the Captain, like everyone else, but their CO, Lieutenant Conner, answered to me. These, at least, were folk I would know how to lead.
Over in Medical, Belize appeared to be having an easier time of it. Socially, if not technically, since her job was so technical at this point. At least from my perspective.
There were two major stages to this mission that would take a doctor's care. The first, and longest in duration, if not in direct attention, would be Cold Sleep. Hibernation. There was a fifty odd year period at each end of the mission where the entire crew would be in suspended animation. The doctor's care going in, and coming out, would have a huge affect on the crew member's survival during that long period in the middle where the only thing watching them would be the ship's mainframe.
While Bel was a good doctor already, and well prepared for the other half of the job - maintaining the crew's health for the decade or so we were expected to stay in Sol system before coming home - cold sleep was something new. Or, more precisely, the kind of long duration hibernation systems we would be trusting our lives to were new. We'd dealt with people who'd been stuffed into Cryo more than once out on the Rim. But those were always short term, self contained, little freezer pods, intended to keep someone in suspension for up to, maybe, five years. This was a whole different animal.
On this end, leaving 34 Tauri, most of the crew would be in suspension before the sled pointed her nose at Sol and lit the torch. The doctors would have to worry about maybe fifty people to get safely to sleep before they, themselves, went into the tanks.
That was a job I didn't envy. There was some debate, still, as to who'd be the next to last person to go into suspension: me or the Captain. The last person to sleep, though, would be one of the doctors. They would have to put themselves into suspended animation. No one but the computer looking over their vitals as they settled in for the long sleep. No one to bail them out if something went wrong.
That would be scary. Probably the most alone a person could ever be.
For her part, I don't think I'd ever seen Sabrina happier. Since getting here, she and Elsoph had been almost inseparable. I would actually be worried if I was the jealous type, and I'd ever seen Elsoph show interest in, you know, a girl. But for 'Brina, this was like being a kid in a candy store. She was getting hands on with Children of Earth at a level that most of the people who'd worked on her hadn't. She'd been looking at specs for this ship for over two years at an academic level, and now she was up close and personal with a truly amazing piece of hardware.
She was making it her ship. She'd been Elsoph's baby, but now Sabrina was coming in to be the big sled's step mother. The good kind. Not the wicked, send to your room so the mice can talk to you in the dark, kind.
Her enthusiasm for the job was contagious though. We were both working crazy long hours, but when we got time together she could barely stop talking about all the shiny new things she'd gotten her fingers into, and how amazing the engineering was, and the mods she wanted to do but wouldn't have time for, and how tomorrow it would be the pre-nuclear framastatz decoupler, or something else that was only just within my comprehension. In contrast, I normally didn't want to talk about dealing with personnel issues away from the compact office I had as Executive Officer. Which usually resulted in my having to gently remind her that she was my wife, as well as my Chief Engineer, which subsequently led to both of us sleeping quite well, if not long enough.
All in all, things were coming together. As massive as the project was now that we were actually into it, I could see how it would all fit together. It was still overwhelming, to be sure, but it wasn't insurmountable.
And we still had another eight months left to go.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Arrivals: One of several
Our flight from Hale's Moon to Ariel was, ultimately, uneventful. We'd each made the flight, often together, many times over the last few years. The only real difference this time was the sheer number of waves we got en-route. I usually flew with an active Cortex feed going and this time, everyone and their brother seemed to want to send their regards.
What had the last few weeks been for? You'd think by now they'd be tired of wishing us well, and hoping we had a grand adventure, and missing us, and, and, and. I couldn't really blame them. Any of them. As far as most of the 'Verse was concerned we were about to be dead and gone. Literally.
We weren't gone, yet, of course. There were still months of preparation left to do on Children of Earth, and nearly as many months of training for us to become her crew. We'd become part of a project far bigger than I think any one ever expected, both in scope and duration.
Decelerating to dock at the orbital yard, we could see the massive shape of Children of Earth in her gantry less then her own length from the platform. Structurally almost complete, she dwarfed the IAV Huygens, docked for maintenance, in length, if not bulk.
While Sabrina and I had been aboard a number of times, and Belize had seen the big sled before they moved her to the platform, the sight was still awesome. Her fuel talks and drives overwhelmed the rest of the ship, including the massive long duration fusion pile and the life section for her four hundred odd crew. All told, she was one of the largest speceships, no, starships, ever built by Human hands.
"That is one gorram big ship," I heard Bel say softly as we slid past the sled's gantry and backed into our spot on the platform. "Aye. More living space in there than we had in buildings on Hale's," I replied, hard docking Wave Equation to her cradle. "She'll be our home soon, if we don't decide to back out."
Sabrina let out a little snort of laughter. "Back out? As if."
I managed to suppress a giggle myself as a familiar voice came over the local intercom asking us to please hurry up and open the hatch because Uncle Elsoph was so glad we were finally here and he had so much to say and hardly enough time to say it because there was just so much that needed to be done and we had to start getting ready and don't forget to breathe before you run out of air because you can't stop talking.
I loved my uncle. I always had. He was the beloved, crazy, gifted, brilliant, uncle who was often hard to follow because his mind could easily, and frequently, jump tracks and you had to hope you could somehow keep up. He'd designed the last three spacecraft I'd called home and, spiritually at least, fathered Children of Earth herself.
Sabrina practically tackled him when he came aboard. Since meeting her, Elsoph had treated her like the daughter he'd never had time to have. But more, he treated her like a kindred spirit. Another natural Engineer. Never mind she hadn't had that much formal schooling when they met. Invention was in her blood, and the formal schooling was something she'd been able to add later.
Elsoph wasn't the only one who wanted to see us when we arrived. My parents and a handful of friends had come up to the Yard, probably knowing it would be a while before we had any time to go planetside.
In fact, it would be almost a week before we managed to get planetside. While we spent most of the first day or so visiting with family and friends, we very soon got into the details of what our respective roles would be during the upcoming mission. Something you never quite know until you you start doing it.
As Executive Officer, my duty would be to the ship and her crew first, while the captain, a former Alliance cruiser captain by the name of Mathew Gill, would be in charge and have overall command of the mission. His resume certainly looked good. Results driven. Attention to detail. A history of successful command. There was just something in our initial meeting that put me a bit on edge. Nothing I could put my finger on, really. But there was something about the man I just couldn't quite pin down. Usually, I could get a read on someone in a matter of moments, but not Captain Gill. Figuring him out would take time. But time was something we had.
Belize would be one of three actual medical doctors aboard. The chief of staff, and flight surgeon, Doctor Bernard Olson, was a former emergency surgery professor in a teaching hospital, with a background in 'space medicine' - the sub-field of dealing with the fā kuáng tián sè people encountered in space and on other worlds. Bel seemed to hit it off with him instantly, which was fortunate, given their wildly different backgrounds. Still. Belize was a real doctor now. Board certified and everything. But it wasn't the board certification that brought her here. It was the experience on the Rim, in the Wastes and on Hale's and other Rim worlds, working minor miracles with not much more than safetly pins and duct tape.
Where my world would be Children of Earth and her crew of four hundred odd souls, Sabrina's world would be Children of Earth herself. As chief engineer, hand picked by the big sled's designer, she already knew more about the ship than half the people who'd worked on her.
Long before she'd decided to accept Elsoph's request, he'd been sending details and exchanging ideas with her, nurturing her natural machine empathy with toys and data she couldn't get out on the Rim. It didn't matter there were still a few gaps in her formal education, there was nothing in the sled's systems she couldn't fix given time and tools. I wasn't quite sure how she'd have an actual staff under her, being used to working alone or with one or two hands, but we would worry about that over the next few months.
The next few months. So much to do. Honing skills, finding our place in the mission, coming up to speed on the myriad details already worked out over the years of planning already in place. It was going to be a busy eight or so months.
But at least there was a pristine beach only an hour's flight away...
What had the last few weeks been for? You'd think by now they'd be tired of wishing us well, and hoping we had a grand adventure, and missing us, and, and, and. I couldn't really blame them. Any of them. As far as most of the 'Verse was concerned we were about to be dead and gone. Literally.
We weren't gone, yet, of course. There were still months of preparation left to do on Children of Earth, and nearly as many months of training for us to become her crew. We'd become part of a project far bigger than I think any one ever expected, both in scope and duration.
Decelerating to dock at the orbital yard, we could see the massive shape of Children of Earth in her gantry less then her own length from the platform. Structurally almost complete, she dwarfed the IAV Huygens, docked for maintenance, in length, if not bulk.
While Sabrina and I had been aboard a number of times, and Belize had seen the big sled before they moved her to the platform, the sight was still awesome. Her fuel talks and drives overwhelmed the rest of the ship, including the massive long duration fusion pile and the life section for her four hundred odd crew. All told, she was one of the largest speceships, no, starships, ever built by Human hands.
"That is one gorram big ship," I heard Bel say softly as we slid past the sled's gantry and backed into our spot on the platform. "Aye. More living space in there than we had in buildings on Hale's," I replied, hard docking Wave Equation to her cradle. "She'll be our home soon, if we don't decide to back out."
Sabrina let out a little snort of laughter. "Back out? As if."
I managed to suppress a giggle myself as a familiar voice came over the local intercom asking us to please hurry up and open the hatch because Uncle Elsoph was so glad we were finally here and he had so much to say and hardly enough time to say it because there was just so much that needed to be done and we had to start getting ready and don't forget to breathe before you run out of air because you can't stop talking.
I loved my uncle. I always had. He was the beloved, crazy, gifted, brilliant, uncle who was often hard to follow because his mind could easily, and frequently, jump tracks and you had to hope you could somehow keep up. He'd designed the last three spacecraft I'd called home and, spiritually at least, fathered Children of Earth herself.
Sabrina practically tackled him when he came aboard. Since meeting her, Elsoph had treated her like the daughter he'd never had time to have. But more, he treated her like a kindred spirit. Another natural Engineer. Never mind she hadn't had that much formal schooling when they met. Invention was in her blood, and the formal schooling was something she'd been able to add later.
Elsoph wasn't the only one who wanted to see us when we arrived. My parents and a handful of friends had come up to the Yard, probably knowing it would be a while before we had any time to go planetside.
In fact, it would be almost a week before we managed to get planetside. While we spent most of the first day or so visiting with family and friends, we very soon got into the details of what our respective roles would be during the upcoming mission. Something you never quite know until you you start doing it.
As Executive Officer, my duty would be to the ship and her crew first, while the captain, a former Alliance cruiser captain by the name of Mathew Gill, would be in charge and have overall command of the mission. His resume certainly looked good. Results driven. Attention to detail. A history of successful command. There was just something in our initial meeting that put me a bit on edge. Nothing I could put my finger on, really. But there was something about the man I just couldn't quite pin down. Usually, I could get a read on someone in a matter of moments, but not Captain Gill. Figuring him out would take time. But time was something we had.
Belize would be one of three actual medical doctors aboard. The chief of staff, and flight surgeon, Doctor Bernard Olson, was a former emergency surgery professor in a teaching hospital, with a background in 'space medicine' - the sub-field of dealing with the fā kuáng tián sè people encountered in space and on other worlds. Bel seemed to hit it off with him instantly, which was fortunate, given their wildly different backgrounds. Still. Belize was a real doctor now. Board certified and everything. But it wasn't the board certification that brought her here. It was the experience on the Rim, in the Wastes and on Hale's and other Rim worlds, working minor miracles with not much more than safetly pins and duct tape.
Where my world would be Children of Earth and her crew of four hundred odd souls, Sabrina's world would be Children of Earth herself. As chief engineer, hand picked by the big sled's designer, she already knew more about the ship than half the people who'd worked on her.
Long before she'd decided to accept Elsoph's request, he'd been sending details and exchanging ideas with her, nurturing her natural machine empathy with toys and data she couldn't get out on the Rim. It didn't matter there were still a few gaps in her formal education, there was nothing in the sled's systems she couldn't fix given time and tools. I wasn't quite sure how she'd have an actual staff under her, being used to working alone or with one or two hands, but we would worry about that over the next few months.
The next few months. So much to do. Honing skills, finding our place in the mission, coming up to speed on the myriad details already worked out over the years of planning already in place. It was going to be a busy eight or so months.
But at least there was a pristine beach only an hour's flight away...
Monday, June 1, 2009
Departures: One of several
"You look sad," I heard Sabrina say from the passenger seat just behind me. "I'm not, love. Not really. It's just this'll be the last time we do this," I replied softly, going through the preflight for Wave Equation's burn from Hale's Moon across the Black to Ariel. It was the last time most of the people here would ever see us and the last time we would see any of them. In less than a year, Sabrina, Belize, and I, would be in cold sleep on our way to Earth that Was. By the time we came back, if we came back, the 'Verse would be a very different place. The folks here would be another generation's honored ancestors, and the three of us would be footnotes in a history book.
"Hale's control, this is Wave Equation, requesting departure clearance." I said calmly, keeping the layers of emotion out of my voice. Looking out through my long suffering Matagi's ports, I could see a couple dozen people scattered around the ramps and on nearby rooftops. Over on top of the Sheriff's office, I could see a crew of three, a bit too far away to identify, holding a banner - "God's Speed, Children of Hale's!"
Children of Hale's? A pun on the big sled's name, but somehow appropriate. I'd come to Hale's Moon a damaged woman, with emotional scars hidden behind a calm, confident, veneer. This little slice of Heaven had changed me. This world and the people here had taught me I could love again, and could be loved. Taught me that Humanity wasn't restricted by form, that the shell didn't matter to the ghost within. Taught me that right and wrong were more important than legal or not. Taught me that I couldn't fix everything that was wrong in the 'Verse. That sometimes good people died and bad people lived, no matter what we had to say about it. It'd given me a family. And now? Now it was time to say good bye.
"Wave Equation, you are cleared for immediate departure. Safe journey, Miss Seana," came the reply. Krenshar's smooth artificial voice from the tower. It might have been imagination. Hard to say. But I thought I could hear emotion in his tone. A machine with the soul of a man. The one person who might actually live long enough to see us return.
"Thanks, Krenshar. You take good care of Lily, ok?" I said, loading the departure clearance into Wave EQ's nav system.
"Always, Miss Seana. Always."
I rotated the lateral drives and hit the throttles, launching us skyward, the colony we'd called home for over five years shrinking rabidly as I kicked the nose up and lit the main drivers. Wave Equation clawed sky as she had hundreds of times before, burning for orbit before turning towards Xuan Wu to take advantage of its gravity for the run in to Bei Hu and Ariel. At maximum burn, Ariel was barely a day away: the advantage of a Matagi's impressive performance. But somehow, I didn't want to make this trip short. While I knew we'd made the right decision to go, it didn't make it any easier to leave our friends behind. Going max thrust would feel like we were running from them, rather than going to embrace a new future.
Sabrina, and Belize lounging in the main cabin, left me with my thoughts for the few minutes it took to climb to orbit and swing around to burn clear of Hale's Moon's gravity well, before 'Brina drew my attention to the transponder. Two ships, with Alliance military idents, vectoring in on an intercept course.
Given things had been Shiny 'twixt us and the Alliance for months, I was a little confused. Then the comms lit up. "Wave Equation, this is Delta Two Niner. General Silvermane asked us to provide you an escort to the edge of the Kalidasa sector. You don't mind if we form up, do you?" said a voice I hadn't heard in nearly six months. Lieutenant. No. Lieutenant Commander now, Otsuka.
I could still remember the day we'd met the man and he'd taken up arms on our behalf, standing shoulder to shoulder with our militia to take on a nest of Reavers. He'd made a genuine effort to live up to the 'spirit of cooperation' then Colonel Silvermane had set for her compliment on the Sun Tzu. We'd done our part too. Treating fair with the Alliance soldiers as long as they treated fair with us. It was probably what saved us major pain during the Second Independence War, if you could really all it a war. We'd found a way to live peaceably with the Alliance forces on the Rim, but it took willing folk on both sides to make it work.
"Sidle on up, Commander. We're glad of the company."
"Thank you, Ma'am. The General sends her regards. Wishes you and yours luck."
For the next couple hours we talked to the Commander and his mates, holding our thrust back so the Alliance patrol boats could keep up. But eventually, it was time to go. Bidding farewell to our Alliance escort and, ultimately, everyone we held dear in the Black Tortoise system, I throttled up to vector for Ariel.
"This really is it," Belize said softly as the drive flares from the two Alliance escorts faded into the Black behind us. I just nodded, watching Sabrina give Bel a hug in the reflection from my console.
Behind us, lost in the actinic glare of Wave Equation's drives, Hale's Moon faded into the Black.
But never from memory.
"Hale's control, this is Wave Equation, requesting departure clearance." I said calmly, keeping the layers of emotion out of my voice. Looking out through my long suffering Matagi's ports, I could see a couple dozen people scattered around the ramps and on nearby rooftops. Over on top of the Sheriff's office, I could see a crew of three, a bit too far away to identify, holding a banner - "God's Speed, Children of Hale's!"
Children of Hale's? A pun on the big sled's name, but somehow appropriate. I'd come to Hale's Moon a damaged woman, with emotional scars hidden behind a calm, confident, veneer. This little slice of Heaven had changed me. This world and the people here had taught me I could love again, and could be loved. Taught me that Humanity wasn't restricted by form, that the shell didn't matter to the ghost within. Taught me that right and wrong were more important than legal or not. Taught me that I couldn't fix everything that was wrong in the 'Verse. That sometimes good people died and bad people lived, no matter what we had to say about it. It'd given me a family. And now? Now it was time to say good bye.
"Wave Equation, you are cleared for immediate departure. Safe journey, Miss Seana," came the reply. Krenshar's smooth artificial voice from the tower. It might have been imagination. Hard to say. But I thought I could hear emotion in his tone. A machine with the soul of a man. The one person who might actually live long enough to see us return.
"Thanks, Krenshar. You take good care of Lily, ok?" I said, loading the departure clearance into Wave EQ's nav system.
"Always, Miss Seana. Always."
I rotated the lateral drives and hit the throttles, launching us skyward, the colony we'd called home for over five years shrinking rabidly as I kicked the nose up and lit the main drivers. Wave Equation clawed sky as she had hundreds of times before, burning for orbit before turning towards Xuan Wu to take advantage of its gravity for the run in to Bei Hu and Ariel. At maximum burn, Ariel was barely a day away: the advantage of a Matagi's impressive performance. But somehow, I didn't want to make this trip short. While I knew we'd made the right decision to go, it didn't make it any easier to leave our friends behind. Going max thrust would feel like we were running from them, rather than going to embrace a new future.
Sabrina, and Belize lounging in the main cabin, left me with my thoughts for the few minutes it took to climb to orbit and swing around to burn clear of Hale's Moon's gravity well, before 'Brina drew my attention to the transponder. Two ships, with Alliance military idents, vectoring in on an intercept course.
Given things had been Shiny 'twixt us and the Alliance for months, I was a little confused. Then the comms lit up. "Wave Equation, this is Delta Two Niner. General Silvermane asked us to provide you an escort to the edge of the Kalidasa sector. You don't mind if we form up, do you?" said a voice I hadn't heard in nearly six months. Lieutenant. No. Lieutenant Commander now, Otsuka.
I could still remember the day we'd met the man and he'd taken up arms on our behalf, standing shoulder to shoulder with our militia to take on a nest of Reavers. He'd made a genuine effort to live up to the 'spirit of cooperation' then Colonel Silvermane had set for her compliment on the Sun Tzu. We'd done our part too. Treating fair with the Alliance soldiers as long as they treated fair with us. It was probably what saved us major pain during the Second Independence War, if you could really all it a war. We'd found a way to live peaceably with the Alliance forces on the Rim, but it took willing folk on both sides to make it work.
"Sidle on up, Commander. We're glad of the company."
"Thank you, Ma'am. The General sends her regards. Wishes you and yours luck."
For the next couple hours we talked to the Commander and his mates, holding our thrust back so the Alliance patrol boats could keep up. But eventually, it was time to go. Bidding farewell to our Alliance escort and, ultimately, everyone we held dear in the Black Tortoise system, I throttled up to vector for Ariel.
"This really is it," Belize said softly as the drive flares from the two Alliance escorts faded into the Black behind us. I just nodded, watching Sabrina give Bel a hug in the reflection from my console.
Behind us, lost in the actinic glare of Wave Equation's drives, Hale's Moon faded into the Black.
But never from memory.
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