Carefully easing herself into the captain's chair Susan turned to face the bow, grateful she could finally take the weight off her still sore leg. The ship's doctor, Amanda Taylor, had checked her over carefully, and reported that despite a small strain it was not badly injured. Dr Taylor had then advised her to rest up for a while and not take the stairs if possible. When Susan had told Amanda that she didn't really feel like taking the lifts the doctor had only laughed, and told her instead to only take lifts that were not being worked on by Kozlowski at the time.

She now felt a little annoyed with herself, after letting her temper get the better of her and for blaming Kozlowski for the accident. She should have checked first before activating the lift. Had she known that he was working on it, she would have taken the other one instead or maybe the stairs. She felt a little embarrassed that she had let herself become that angry and when the doctor had come into Medlab she had apologised to him. Fortunately, he had forgiven her, and even claimed it was his fault and he should have informed the central computer that he was working on the lift so it could have been shut down. Susan was hopeful that there would be no further mishaps like this on in the future.

She rubbed the painful section of her leg to try to work some of the stiffness out of it. Dr Taylor had given her a painkiller so she could still walk around, but her leg still felt a little uncomfortable. Ignoring the distraction of her injured leg for now, Susan tapped the control to activate the viewscreen, anxious to get under way sometime today. After flickering once, the holographic screen lit, showing her a view of space around the Rasputin's bridge. She could see the flare of he thrusters on the Admiral's shuttle retreating into the distance, almost about to dock with the research station. The construction dock around them, which had been dark and lifeless this morning, was now lit up brightly, and Susan could see several large spotlights shining down on the girders, pointing out the location of the massive arms of metal.

The bridge was also now busy with noise and action as members of her new crew scuttled about making pre-flight checks and starting up various systems. She was still not familiar with any of the control systems, except the viewscreen which Philip Moore had been kind enough to explain to her as they had gone back down to the shuttle bay earlier. Still her crew, all of them having been trained at the research station seemed to know what they were doing.

Looking down Susan recognised what looked like a communication console, with a very pretty, red-haired lieutenant in charge. "Lieutenant," she asked, making the young woman jump slightly at being addressed. "Are we cleared to depart yet?"

The lieutenant quickly scanned her console before replying. "Yes Captain, Neptune-Beta flight control is giving us a green light for departure. Admiral Kiernan's shuttle is currently docking with the station and there is no more traffic is registering on my screens. Flight control reports our immediate flight path is clear of all civilian and military traffic and they are advising that we can depart when ever we wish."

"Good," Susan said, as she leaned back in her chair. "With all these ceremonies and speeches we seem to have missed lunch and I want to be on our way to Mars as soon as possible so we can all get something to eat. Is everything secure on board, no loose shuttles or errant doctors making final adjustments to our systems?"

The young communications officer glanced across the room at another of the bridge crew who shook his head. She then turned back to Susan and said, "Everything reads as secure, Captain, we can depart on your orders."

Susan nodded and turned her chair back towards the front of the ship, addressing the helmsman. "Helm set course for the local Jumpgate. Keep it slow for now though, we can expect a fair amount of civilian traffic out there, and we don't want to hit anything on our first voyage."

"Yes Sir," came the low voice of the Rasputin's helmsman. "Directing main power to the engines now, all system are operating within parameters and fuel injection is go."

Far behind them, the fuel valves on the six huge engines opened and the ionised hydrogen fuel began to flood in to the ignition chambers. Even on the bridge, over five hundred metres in front of the engines Susan could feel a faint shudder run the length of the ship as they ignited. Then, ever so slowly the massive warship began to move forward, sliding out of dock. It was slow at first, but ever increasing in speed as it began to clear its moorings. Despite their incredible power, on the bridge there was little sign that the engines were operating apart from the movement that could be seen on the holographic viewscreen, and a very faint vibration in the railing around the Captain's station. With the viewscreen operational though, it was possible to see the vast girders that made up the construction dock slowly falling behind the ship as it picked up speed and left Neptune-Beta behind it.

"We have cleared the dock Captain," the helmsman reported. "Setting course for the Neptune Jumpgate now. Although if you don't mind me asking why aren't we using our own jump engines. It is a thirty-minute trip to the Jumpgate at this speed, if we went to hyperspace here we could save some time. Regulation do state that we are permitted to use our jump engines once we are outside near planetary orbit."

Susan scowled down at him, making note of the name on his uniform. "I don't think I need to be informed about regulations ensign Marino. Our orders from Earthforce are that we stick to the Jumpgate this time. After all we don't have a full crew on board yet, and we wouldn't want to see any accidents would we now?"

"No Sir," he responded, properly chastised. "I didn't mean to question you Captain, I was just trying to help out a little."

"I am pleased to hear that ensign," Susan said, a brief smile on her face at the eagerness of the ensign to please her. She realised that this was probably his first posting, but had no intention on making it easier for him, after all it hadn't been for her. "I think you should be concentrating on your console though, not chatting with me. I don't want us to smash up the ship during its first flight."

The helmsman quickly turned back to his computer, and tried to look busy. In truth the updated systems on the Rasputin could handle the flight quite easily and did not even need his supervision, but he wasn't about to tell the captain that. He had heard many stories from some of the other crew about Captain Ivanova, and how she was meant to be a real tyrant when it came those under her command. He didn't want to get on the wrong side of the Captain on the very first day of her command, or he was in for a rough time. Even now, he could feel her eyes on him, probably watching everything he was doing, and looking for any mistake.

Susan smiled faintly to herself at the ensign's discomfort, remembering how she had been when she had first signed up, a day that seemed almost another lifetime ago now. So much had happened in between, and despite the odd good memory, a lot of it hadn't been pleasant. 'It wasn't likely to get much better either,' she thought, with her typical pessimism. She tried to dismiss those thoughts though and concentrate on commanding her vessel. After all this was her new life, and there was no reason it had to be like it had in the past. All she had to do was stop herself falling in love again, either that or shoot anyone who showed any interest in her.

The portside door opened with a faint hiss as it released its pressure seals and the chief engineer walked in, carrying a small stack of papers. Susan spun her chair around to face him, and looked at him with a questioning glance. "You have something for me Lt-Commander?" she asked, at the same time eyeing the stack of paper suspiciously, hoping it wasn't anything that involved her, or the a pen he was holding. She had experienced more than her fair share of official paperwork back on Babylon 5 and wasn't keen to renew her acquaintance with that particular enemy.

"Just the crew lists from Commander Petrov," Philip replied, dropping the pile of documents down on her console. "He thought you might like to take a look at them while we were in hyperspace to Mars."

Susan shuffled through the papers, looking as though she wished that they would just crumple up and vanish. She sighed softly and looking up at the engineer said, "Tell the commander I will take a look later. Where is he by the way, I thought he would be up here on the bridge by now."

"He's headed down to engineer to see Dr Kozlowski," Philip answered. "I met him down on deck eight where we've been checking up on the status of the repairs. The commander said he was going to be a while longer and asked me to pass on the crew lists for him. I think he was a little concerned about what happened earlier."

Susan nodded remembering the way the Russian commander had rushed to her side when the lift doors had been forced open earlier. "Well that sounds like a good enough reason to me. I want him with me when we arrive at Mars though, so don't let him get lost down there."

"I won't Captain," the engineer said, a little distracted as he noticed something he hadn't seen when he first entered the bridge. He peered curiously at the viewscreen for a moment, noticing that the research station was already falling behind them, and that the ship seemed to be headed for the Neptune Jumpgate. "Um Captain why aren't we in hyperspace yet. Wouldn't it be quicker to use our jump engines instead of going all the way to the Jumpgate? It could save us around thirty minutes."

The Captain looked faintly embarrassed at that question, especially when the helmsman turned his face to look up at her. She narrowed her eyes and gave the young ensign a glare, which quickly had him furiously scanning the console in front of him, very busy all of a sudden. She turned back to Philip and said, "don't you remember Lt-Commander, Earthforce has asked us to use the Jumpgate instead of our generator."

Philip Moore looked confused for a moment, then seeing the message in her eyes, he suddenly realised what she was up to and let a wide smile light up his face. "Of course, I must have forgotten all about that Captain. I guess I have been too busy with last minute repairs and adjustments to read all the memos from Earth Central properly. Yes I remember quite clearly now that they said something about not using the jump engines. I don't remember exactly why though, but it was a good reason."

"Yes the memo," Susan said, pleased that Philip was as intelligent as he first appeared. "Earthforce decided that we didn't want to take unnecessary risks without a full crew on board to handle any repairs or sudden emergencies."

"Indeed, it is a good policy Captain," the engineer remarked, careful not to let his amusement show too much. "Anyway I had best get back down to the engineering and keep an eye on Kozlowski. We wouldn't want him to start pulling everything apart, would we now. I will relay your message to the commander."

"You do that Lt-Commander," Susan said, turning her chair to face the stern, where she could just see the incomplete superstructure of the third Warlock class destroyer being erected in its dock. It appeared to be months away from completion if she was any judge, but even from this distance, she could see movement along the hull as its construction continued at full speed.

Seeing the Captain's attention turn away from him Philip gave a quite salute and spun around on his toes, walking quickly towards the door. Just after it opened again and he was about to leave, he paused though and turned back to the Captain. "That small joystick on your left-hand console gives you precise control over the viewscreen zoom Captain. You should be able to get a good view if you zoom in closer, although I am not sure what the museum authorities will think of us, after all we are hardly your normal sort of tourist ship are we now."

Susan turned to glare at him in annoyance, but the chief engineer had already fled and the doors were closing behind him. She felt the eyes of the helmsman on her again and she glared back at him. "Ensign Marino, I thought I told you to keep an eye on the helm, not me. If you can't keep your eyes on your work I will have to think about replacing you with someone who can."

"Sorry Captain," he blurted out, quickly turning back to his console again. Around him, he could almost feel the amused smirks of some of the other bridge crew, before they too suddenly seemed found themselves occupied with their work as the captain turned to glare at them as well. It was not him they are smiling at though, but rather the Captain, realising from the chief engineer's words that he had deduced that she was only taking the Rasputin through the Jumpgate so she could pass by the museum on Triton as they exited the system. The museum, which was dedicated to the first meeting between Humanity and the Centauri, was supposed to a ship bring good luck. At least that was how the old stories went. Ensign Marino couldn't help but be a little surprised himself, not realising that Captain Ivanova had a sentimental side. Still it was good to know she was not the bloodthirsty tyrant the rumours he had heard had foretold.

Susan sighed in annoyance, realising that the crew knew why she was taking the Jumpgate now. She thought about ordering the jump engines online, but quickly dismissed that thought. Not only had she already told them it was not permitted, but also she would miss her one chance to see the museum, albeit only from space. All her life she had wanted to come to Neptune and visit the museum, but always something had stopped her from making the trip. Now here she was in a ship orbiting Neptune and she would be damned if she was going to give up the opportunity to see it, no matter what the crew thought of her. What Earthforce would think of the waste of thousands of credits of fuel needed to travel the extra distance though was another matter entirely; she could only hope no one told them.

Trying to look less guilty, she picked up the papers Philip had bought her and began to shuffle through them. As she did, the Rasputin finally cleared Neptune-Beta's sphere of influence and began to accelerate towards the Jumpgate. Touching the control to switch the viewscreen to display only the forward view, she watched as the dark sphere that was the planet Neptune began to move closer as the ensign Marino trimmed a few minutes off their flight time by cutting closer to the planet's gravity well. She examined his new route carefully, but soon realised that he was well within safety limits and regulations, so allowed his modification to the flight plan pass without comment this time.

Actually, she was very pleased with the young ensign so far. Not only had he shown initiative but he also questioned her orders. If she could make him respect her command a little more then he would make a fine officer in the future. He also seemed to be a damn good starship pilot, as not many would have thought of the short cut he had made, not even her, and she been at the controls of more than a few starships in the past couple of years.

She noticed the sun beginning to rise from behind the planet, nothing more than a bright star out this far, but a welcome sight after having spent the past day in the darkness behind Neptune. Then the lights from the gas mines came into view, shining brightly against the blackness of space. Finally, she could see the dark bulk of Triton high over Neptune and with it the lights of the Jumpgate and the ships waiting in high orbit for cargo or passengers. It was a beautiful sight, and one that reminded Susan yet again why she had remained with Earthforce after the Earth-Minbari war. This was only one planet, and there were many more out there to see. Worlds, alien civilisations, and hundreds of other wonders, all things she would never have seen if she had left Earthforce and stayed on Earth like her father had desired.

Susan watched the planet's atmosphere slide away below them for ten minutes, mesmerised by the swirling clouds of dark gas, lit only by the faint light from the sun, and the occasional small craft or gas mine that passed beneath them. She had never really taken the time to just sit and watch a planet from space like this before. Always she had been too busy watching instruments, or scanning space for enemy vessels. Now she could take the time to do so, and let someone else worry for her. Anyway, here above Neptune there was not likely to be anything in the way of raiders or other enemy vessels so she could spare the time at last to just sit, watch, and enjoy.

Then she noticed that their course looked like it was finally taking them above Triton, rather than below where the Museum was located so she quickly examined the viewscreen for an excuse for a quick course change. She noticed the large, unlit shapes of two JMC bulk tankers, here at Neptune to collect fuel from the private mines. They were close, but still well within safety range. 'Good enough,' she thought as she turned back to look down at ensign Marino. "Ensign, it looks like there are few civilian vessels between us and the gate. Perhaps it would be best if you directed our course below Triton, and away from those tankers. You never know what a civilian vessel is going to do, especially when they see a warship like this passing near them. We don't want an accident now do we."

"Already on it Captain," Marino responded, no trace of any argument at her request in his voice this time, and if anything there was an edge of excitement. "Just programming in the final changes now."

He quickly completed the calculations and typed them into the navigation computer, which accepted them and the Rasputin slowly changed course again, dipping down towards Neptune again. It was now flying just above the tops of the collection of giant needles that were the gas mines, and had slowed considerably, as the Rasputin now had to loop about Neptune's largest moon instead of flying straight above it. Susan sat back and tried to look interested in the crew lists, all the while peaking up occasionally to look at the gas giant slip beneath them, and Triton begin to grow large in the viewscreen. It was a losing battle though and the papers were soon sitting forgotten in her hands, as she craned her neck, looking for some sign of the vast mural that marked the location of the museum.

Just as the warship began to leave Neptune and move closer to Triton the door leading into the bridge opened again and this time it was Commander Petrov who entered the bridge, along with the Chief Engineer. They both crossed over to stand by Susan's chair, leaning against the railing that prevented them from falling into the sunken area that held the bridge, and watching the viewscreen as carefully as she was.

"Good of you to join us Commander Petrov," Susan said as they reached her side, still not taking her eyes away from the screen. "How goes the repair work?"

The commander shrugged, also watching the viewscreen. "I think everything is working fine now. Nothing down there is like anything I have even seen before though so I'll be damned if I can tell for sure, I just have to trust what I'm told."

"It has all been fixed Captain," Philip Moore added. "I shipped Kozlowski off to the engineering decks to run some tests on one of the reactors so the repair crews can do their work. He was muttering something about turning off the AG system off so he could add some new circuit or something when I got there. I didn't think that would be a good idea though, and told him to wait until we were safely in orbit around Mars."

Susan looked pained at the thought of losing artificial gravity in mid flight. "He isn't going to cause any more trouble is he. If he is, I will be tossing him off the ship at our first stop. I can still feel the bump on my head."

Philip shook his head, "I don't think we have to worry about him. Nathan is a brilliant scientist; he just tends to live in his own little world most of the time, separate from everyone else. I think he was even kept in an institution as a child or something like that. Then, when they realised what he could do, they let him out and he has been shuffled around the various R&D sections for the past thirty years. As long as you have someone to keep an eye on him, he is fine. He didn't mean to cause the accident in the lift this morning you know."

Susan mused on this for a few seconds before asking, "I realise that it wasn't really his fault. Do you think he will work out ok here though? This is a warship after all, not a research station. We can't have him pulling up parts of the deck all the time to update systems. That isn't going to make things run very smoothly."

"We can't do without him," Philip answered without hesitation. "There are parts of this ship that only he knows about. I know, I have been working on them for the past two years, and still don't have a clue how most of the technology around here works, especially the storage cells and those new power relay circuits for some of the weapons."

Susan glanced towards Petrov, silently asking him for his opinion. He quickly supplied one, "I agree with the Lt-Commander Captain. We need Kozlowski. From what I was told there isn't anyone else in the fleet who knows how to run half the systems this ship has. Of course, we have full technical manuals on everything, but until our crew is used to the new systems, the manuals can only help so much."

"Very well he can stay then," Susan said, with a tone of resignation in her voice. "I want him supervised at all time though, just in case."

"I will set something up later today Captain," Philip said, consulting a notepad he pulled from his pocket. He quickly scanned the pages, before shutting it down and slipping it back into his pants pocket. "I will assign him an assistant to keep an eye on him. A few young recruits are being attached to engineering among those who are coming aboard at Mars, so I will give a couple of them the job of looking after the doctor while I keep the more experienced staff with me."

"Sounds like the best idea. I don't really want to have to do this, but based on his actions this morning I want him kept out of trouble. Make a list of the new systems we need his input on and see if you can't organise a few sessions where he can explain their function to our crew. We might as well put him to good use while he is here, and it wouldn't do for him to get ill before we know how to run those systems without him. We would be stuck in the middle of space with no-one to repair any problems, not the most pleasant prospect as I'm sure you will agree."

"I will get right on it Captain," the engineer said, pulling out his pad again to make some notes in it.

Susan was about to continue with the discussion when she was interrupted by the voice of the navigation officer. "We are just coming up on Triton now Captain. We will passing over the museum, I thought you might be interested."

"It might be worth a look Lieutenant," Susan responded, careful to keep her excitement at seeing it for the first time out of her voice. "Zoom the viewscreen in a bit as we pass Triton, so we can all see it."

"Yes Captain."

The young lieutenant flipped the view from the Rasputin's external cameras so it was showing the surface of Triton in the main viewscreen, instead of the space ahead of the warship. Then she zoomed in on the area of the moon where the museum had been built. Once this was done the lieutenant turned her eyes to watch the screen as the warship powered past the planet, along with everyone else who was on the bridge at the time.

Susan soon became aware that the rest of the bridge crew behind her were standing up out of their seats and were peaking over the raised section where the Captain's station was, most just as anxious as she was to see the Museum. Then it came into view, a small, bright dot of light on the moons surface, surrounded by the well lit shape of a vast mural covering the ice plains of Triton.

Shortly after the meeting of the two races, artists from Earth had worked together with Centauri artisans to construct possibly the largest mural in existence. It was carved deep into the methane ice of Triton with lasers, and then the ice was dyed permanently with chemicals that had been obtained from the Centauri. Lit by spotlights, which were set into the ice along its whole length, Susan could now see the form of the Earth Alliance symbol, along with the peacock like crest of the Centauri Republic. One of the sights that everyone on Earth wanted to see, Susan had only seen it before in vids or on ISN or one of the other networks. The experience of viewing it from space in person was something completely different.

The bridge was perfectly quiet, and it was even possible to hear the faint throbbing of the distant engines as the warship slowly glided above the surface of the moon, everyone attention focused on one of the most famous monuments in Earth Alliance history. It was a symbol of Earth's past, a time when humanity had thought that the stars held only wonders, a time before the wars and the troubles of recent times. It also marked the beginning of Earth's expansion onto other worlds, and to most people, especially those in Earthforce it was a place to visit at least once in a lifetime, to celebrate what they all strived to achieve.

As the moon slowly drifted past, Susan wished that she had the time to go down to the museum itself. There was contained a collection of some of the greatest Centauri and Human art works, although for the most part only copies. But as the originals were now kept locked away under guard all of the time it was the only way most people could get to see some of earth's greatest masterpieces. She dismissed this wish with a sigh, knowing that she would likely not get to see Neptune again for many years. It was possible that she could take a trip here by commercial liner for a holiday or something, but the current prices meant that it was cheaper to travel for a week to Disneyplanet that to stay in the hotels on Triton for a day. Despite what everyone thought the salary of an Earth Alliance captain did not tally up to that much.

Then they were past Triton and the Rasputin was into open space heading towards the Jumpgate. Susan sighed contentedly, pleased that she had finally been to Triton, a place she had wanted to see for so many years. She had passed by before of course, but that was always in a shuttle or one of the older warships and she had never been able to see the planet. Around her the bridge crew, who had sat quietly watching, headed back to their stations and the normal activities of the Rasputin's bridge began to resume.

"Quite a sight wasn't it Captain," asked the voice of Philip Moore. "Is that the first time you have seen it."

Susan nodded, "I have always wanted to visit, but never could find the time or money for the trip."

Philip nodded understandingly, not wanting to say anything more to break the moment though. He had been past Triton several times in the past two years, taking a shuttle from the Research station, but even then, the amazing sight of the mural still moved him, especially when he thought about the effort that had gone into its construction. He knew that eventually it would disappear, covered over by the constant ice eruptions from beneath the planets surface, but was determined to enjoy it while it remained.

"Captain we are ready to enter the Jumpgate," said the helmsman, interrupting the thoughts of all on the bridge. "Activating Jumpgate sequence in twenty seconds."

Susan and the rest of the crew gripped their chairs a little tighter. Even Philip was a little apprehensive. Despite all the tests that had been performed on the Rasputin, this was the first time the ship had been into hyperspace. There proved to be nothing to worry about though and the Rasputin shot into the vortex with barely even a shudder, smoother than most of the Bridge crew had expected.

Once they were in hyperspace bound for Earth Susan got up from of her chair and picked up the crew lists. Petrov looked at her and asked, "Do you want me to take over here Captain?"

"Yes Commander," Susan replied. "I will be in my office if anyone needs me. I want to have a quick look over this list before we arrive at Mars."

She turned to leave, and was just about to exit when a shudder ran through the whole ship and it began to slow suddenly. Then gravity of the bridge began to fade, dropping to around half Earth normal. Commander Petrov looked concerned, although Philip Moore looked more annoyed about the situation that anything else.

"Report," Susan ordered. "What is going on?"

The bridge crew were already scanning their consoles looking for the problem, and it wasn't long before one of them realised what the trouble was and relayed her findings to his commanding officers. "It looks like reactor's five and six have been taken offline for some reason. Those are the two experimental reactors. I'm not registering an actual fault though, it would appear they have been shut down on orders from engineering."

Susan glared at her chief engineer hoping he knew what the problem was. Philip was already way ahead of her and was rushing towards the door. "Don't worry Captain," he shouted as he ran off down the hallway to the lifts. "I will check to see what is going on. It may have something to do with the tests Dr Kozlowski is running."

"If it's his fault again then throw him in the brig and toss away the key," she yelled after the chief engineer who was sprinting towards the lifts to the lower decks.

Susan threw up her hands in frustration and walked off the bridge towards her office and quarters, which were at the front of the command deck. As she walked, she was imagining several very nasty tortures she could inflict on the ships designer if the power loss was due to something he had done. Nothing permanent seemed to be wrong though, for before she had even reached her office the gravity quickly returned to normal as stored power was re-routed into the artificial gravity system.

Susan soon forgot all about the trouble as she sat with her feet up on her desk, and a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, reading through the crew lists that Commander Petrov had drawn up for her. She knew that there was bound to be a few problems with a new vessel, but after nearly being killed this morning in the lift, and now with the reactors going down while they were in flight she was a little bit concerned. Reading through the records of her new crew did take her mind off the problems for a while. At least long enough for the rest of the short trip to Mars to pass by smoothly with no further interruptions.

The space above Mars was crawling with space going vessels as the EAS Rasputin came through the Jumpgate and entered a high orbit above the red planet. From his position on the bridge, Commander Petrov could see at least ten Omega class destroyers sharing their orbit as well as a large number of Condor troop transports, commercial liners and other private vessels. This region of space was considerably more crowded than he remember during his last visit several month ago so when he ordered the Rasputin into orbit it was well away from the Jumpgate and the flight paths of any other vessels.

He was just getting ready to call the Captain when she came in through the pressure doors. He quickly surrendered his seat to her and then as she sat down asked, "where to from here Captain? Do we have any orders yet?"

The Captain quickly scanned to latest readouts on her console before answering, "I just an uplink from Mars High a couple of minutes ago. We are both due on the station for a meeting with several senior staff from Earth tomorrow. Apparently, they want to see us to discuss some changes to the Rasputin's testing schedule. We are also to standby for delivery of not only the rest of our crew, but also the majority of our supplies. I'd expect the resupply to take a day or two at least on its own."

"That sounds about right captain," Petrov agreed, scanning the console in front of Susan, to check that everything was running smoothly. "I wanted to thank you as well captain, for taking that detour past Triton. That was the first time I had been past triton, and I am sure the rest of the crew appreciated it as well."

"Well I always wanted to visit," Susan explained, interrupting the chorus of agreement from the bridge crew. "I have never had a chance before, and that was probably the last chance I would have for a long, long time. Ever since my mother told me about it when I was a little girl I wanted to go there, to experience it for myself."

"Perhaps it will bring us good luck," Petrov said. "I have heard that some of the Centauri consider the site lucky, and that a visit will impart that luck to all who venture there."

Susan's thought quickly turned her thoughts away from her mother, and what had happened to her. "I doubt it, still we can use all the luck we can get, if today is anything to go by."

"I am sure things will work out fine." Petrov said. "All new ships have a few teething troubles, and I would not expect this one to be any different. One last thing Captain, will we have a chance to go down to the surface of Mars at all?"

"Probably, I will ask at the meeting with the command staff tomorrow. For now our orders are to stay in orbit around Mars, so I don't want anyone leaving the ship until I hear otherwise."

Petrov nodded. "If we do get a chance to go planetside, I would like permission for a short trip. It shouldn't take more than a day at the most. Perhaps even tonight if at all possible."

Susan examined his face noticing the worried frown there, a frown that was almost becoming a look of longing. "Well, if you check in with Mars High command to confirm our exact orders, that should be possible. Keep in touch with the Rasputin at all times though, just in case and I want to see you back here by the time I am ready to depart. I'm not that keen on walking into that meeting alone, so be back here by mid-morning at the latest. I gather that you have someone down there waiting for you."

Petrov's face showed only the briefest flash of a smile. Still it was more than she had seen from him so far. "I hope so Captain," he said. "With the civil war and everything, I haven't really had time to visit, and the link to Mars has been very erratic. I can only hope that she is still waiting for me down there."

"Well I hope you have better luck than me then Commander," Susan said, her impassive face hiding the pain she felt come pouring back as she thought again about Marcus' death.

"Me too Captain," Petrov said softly, think about the woman he had left behind on Mars. "Me too."

For a brief moment, they both were silent, thinking on their lives and their loves. Then Petrov returned Susan to the present by asking, "So what do you want done about Kozlowski Captain. I know he nearly caused a very bad accident this morning, but it wasn't his fault."

Susan moaned, she had almost forgotten about the errant doctor. "I guess I will have to speak to him. Do you know where he is?"

"Lt. Commander Moore is with him down in engineering I think."

Susan smiled at the thought of the engineer, who was probably fussing over the engines, trying to find out what had gone wrong with the reactors earlier that day. "I might go and speak to him right now, is everything secure up here?"

"Yes Captain," Petrov said as he moved to look over her shoulder at the console. "We have achieved a stable geostationary orbit and Mars High C&C has just confirmed our position with navigation, so they know we are here, although I imagine we are a little hard to miss. If we keep to this orbit, we should be right here for a few days at least, although there is a lot of traffic out there at the moment. They are keeping to normal space lanes, but I'll have navigation keep a close eye on our neighbours. I think that the movement have something to do with the withdrawal of Earthforce ground troops from the planet."

"Yes that sounds likely. I know we are getting some of the marines that have been stationed on Mars. I am not too sure about having them on board, they do have bad reputation, and what they did on Mars during the war certainly didn't help anything."

"I am sure they will be fine," the Commander tried to assure her. "These are elite marines after all, not the thugs you can find in the ground forces. Besides I know the Major personally and can vouch for her, she is a reliable and trustworthy soldier, one of the best."

"I certainly hope so," Susan said, still not really convinced. "We can worry about that when Major Logan comes on board. Right now, I think I'd best go and have a chat to Dr Kozlowski and Lt. Commander Moore and see if we can't discover what is wrong with those experimental reactors. I don't want the ship to start falling apart on me, especially after I have only had it for a day."

"That certainly wouldn't look good on our records," Petrov agreed. "Shall I get someone to take over for me here. I can order Lt. Commander Schmitt up to the bridge if you think it necessary. Despite his desire to familiarise himself with his new command, he doesn't have anything of significance to do until his fighter pilots arrive."

Susan shook her head slowly, "Well I don't think that will be necessary, one of the bridge crew should do fine. I won't be long down in engineering, and I am sure Mr Schmitt has plenty to do at the moment."

"As you wish Captain," Petrov said, turning to the lieutenant who was in charge of navigation. "Lieutenant Heneker, take command here until the Captain returns."

Satisfied that the ship would be well looked after until she got back Susan left the bridge, determined to discover what exactly was going on in Engineering, and what part Dr Nathan Kozlowski had played in it. After the accident in the lift, she had been willing to forgive him, especially as she now realised that it was partly her fault as well, but if he was responsible for the trouble with the reactors as well then she might have more than a few harsh words to say to the good doctor.

Engineering was a hive of activity by the time Susan arrived. Several huge, looped coiled pipes, replacement fuel conduits as far as she could tell, were scattered across the metal grating that passed for a floor in this section of the ship and several of the engineering crew were dragging replacement sections of pipe through one of the pressure doors. Avoiding the floor where fuel had leaked from one the old pipes, Susan looked around for the chief engineer and soon spotted him and Kozlowski busy supervising some the work.

"What the hell is going on here Lt-Commander," Susan asked brusquely.

Both the Philip and Kozlowski looked up and seeing their captain tried to hide looks of guilt that came unbidden to their faces. Susan however noticed them and asked suspiciously, "Everything is working all right isn't it. This isn't a major problem is it?"

"Um," Philip began. "Not really Captain, just a minor oversight during the initial construction phase. It is nothing serious or life-threatening, and we should have the experimental reactors operational within a two hours at the latest."

Susan glanced around at the crewmembers, now busily replacing several of the main fuel lines. "Let me guess, something to do with the fuel system."

Dr Kozlowski nodded quickly. "Yes that is all Captain, just a minor problem, nothing to worry about really."

Susan eyed both men, still suspicious more going on here that she was being told. She wasn't going to leave here until she heard the truth either. "Well what is it then. I think as Captain I have a right to know what is wrong with my ship."

Philip sighed in resignation, "Well as the doctor said it is only a minor problem. We forgot to change over the fuel lines from a new variant we were testing a month or so ago back to the standard system. The new design, while improving efficiency, still has significant problems with leakage when placed under especially high pressure, which is why we were returning to the standard. Unfortunately, with the rush to get this vessel operation no one got around to actually doing the replacement. Then as we entered hyperspace the lines to reactors five and six began leaking and I am sure you realise what sort of trouble that could have caused if leaking fuel had come into contact with the reactor."

Susan involuntarily shuddered as she realised how close they had come to disaster. "The reactors could have blown, taking most of the ship with them."

Philip nodded, "that's right, fortunately Nathan was here to notice the problem and switch them off in time. Once they were off-line we could begin repairing the damage."

"Do we have enough spare fuel conduits to replace the damaged ones?" Susan asked.

Philip looked over at Kozlowski who quickly consulted a data pad before responding. "Yes it seems as though both the replacement parts as well as the normal spares were in storage. They were never installed though for some reason. I'll make a report about the incident to send back to Neptune to ensure this sort of incident never happens again. We have dragged them out now anyway and have nearly finished replacing the fuel lines on the two affected reactors. We can bring both reactors back online as soon as we check the connections and clear up the spilt fuel. It shouldn't take more than two hours at the most."

Susan nodded slowly as the scientist gave his report before saying, "good work then, both of you. I will get back to the bridge. Oh and if you get some time off later I will buy you each a drink."

"I don't think we are allowed alcohol on board Captain," Kozlowski said.

"Well we will have to drink coffee then. See me on the bridge when you are finished here."

Susan turned away and walked back to the transporter to the rest of the ship, pleased that she had been wrong about Kozlowski and it had not been his fault with the reactors. If anything, the balding scientist had saved the ship from certain disaster. She had seen often enough over the past few months what happened to a ship when its fusion reactor blew. Plenty of Earth vessels during the civil war had been destroyed in just that way, and she wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, especially herself.

Stepping off the transport near the computer core, she paused for a moment and thought back on what Petrov has said about good luck. Perhaps he might be right after all, if the doctor had not noticed the fuel leak then they could have been dead by now, so that was certainly a stroke of good luck. Susan could only hope now that her luck continued to hold out, especially if today's events were a guide to how the first few weeks of her new command were going to pan out. A little apprehensive about the future, she headed for the stairs leading up to the command decks and the officer's mess, hoping that she could at last get her long delayed lunch.