Road to nowhere, Arc 4 of "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 46 Field Recovery

Make and Mend

By now the Citadel was established at Earth's second Lagrangian point, with a pair of its own frigate-capable conduit relays. "Inbound" (E-2) linked back to E-1, the primary Earth conduit, in geosynchronous orbit. The stealth frigates would not be taking that. Theirs was an outbound supply run; their holds were full, not least of real food. Accordingly, Normandy, Peacemaker, Pegasus, and Overlord headed for the Citadel's outbound conduit E-3, linking to E-4 in orbit around Pluto. E-3 could also link to L-2, also a Pluto relay, at short notice if E-4 were down for maintenance.

So far that had not been necessary, and at approximately four-minute intervals (heavy loads) they filed out of E-4 in alphabetical order (much to Yoof's annoyance, but Toombs had said Don't even think about it ). Twenty minutes later they passed S-1. All were unstealthed for now; no-one wanted to risk a collision, however unlikely.

On the other hand, running the first few links on the chain to the Horsehead Nebula was now considered routine; crash restraints were not called for. Accordingly, informal groups gathered around commissary tables, played cards, and chattered.

The pilots and co-pilots were able to keep up an amiable chatter of their own at zero risk of interception. TBS was fairly busy as the "boats" left S-2 and approached H-1, the start of the Horsehead chain.

"Talk Between Ships" was not radio; each TBS set contained two QEC nodes, so paired with two other TBS sets. A flotilla's TBS sets could thus be looped; information originating at one vessel would eventually pass through the TBS of the destination vessel. That network protocol was centuries old, technically a token-passing ring.

Meanwhile in the Overlord lounge, crew were continuing training:

– Goldstein, assembling a compact M-11 pistol under the watchful gaze of Toombs.

– Prangley was carefully putting the finishing touches to a satin-varnished wooden box for it, laminating green baize against a polystyrene mold.

– Hadley had spent some time with a fab unit, creating a gun harness and clip for the gun just like Miranda's stylish gear, but for a slightly smaller person.

Goldstein finished first.

High fashion

Toombs watched the kid carefully wipe the blued surface with gun oil, then a dry cloth, and set it down on a square of baize.

"Have you ever used this one in a real fight, sir?"

"It's not mine, Jenny, but as it happens, yes. Why?"

"I thought I knew about these, sir, but this has some ceramic, sintered tungsten and titanium parts where I was expecting vanadium and nickel steel."

"Good eyes, kid," said Hadley. "It's lighter, no? Supposed to be a heavy pistol, but…"

"Sure. It has a floating barrel now, beautifully balanced. It could be a target pistol. Also… the power bus has a room-temperature superconductor element. That's not standard, and it's godawful expensive. This tiny thing could do real damage."

"It did. In Shanghai," reminisced Toombs.

"It's semi-silenced, sir…"

"It was a holdout pistol to get me past bad guy security so I could let the others in."

"I thought that was illegal?"

"No-one was left to complain. And if rules like that prevent me from doing my job, I'll keep doing it till they make me stop. That's the Bailey philosophy, young lady."

Finally, Hadley finished, and Prangley's curiosity got the better of him.

"Who's this pseudo-leather for, sir?"

"It's for the owner of the gun, Jason. And no, I'm not telling. It's a present. Name's on a need-to-know basis at least till she gets it."

"So the box is for her too? There's no room for the harness."

"Prangley, think." (Goldstein)

"She might wear the belt with a different gun, Jason. Mind you, with this person that's not likely. But we can make the belt a separate gift. Goldstein, can you try it on? You're about the right size."

"Sir."

The harness did fit well, but… "It really needs a skinsuit, doesn't it."

"Yep." (Lawson)

Low slung

"Captain on deck!"

"Relax, everyone. Jenny, not you, stand at attention over here."

Miranda's vulture circuit was a little disconcerting but a little flattering too.

"Mm. Richard, can you do another of these for Jenny?"

"I actually did a spare set of parts, captain, in case I stuffed up. I only have to secure and mold them together."

"Good man. Do you have time?"

"I'd help." (Jason Prangley).

"Thank you. Jenny, go off duty and come with me for a bit."

She followed Miranda to the lift, then the loft. "John, are you decent?"

The door opened. Brevet Captain Shepard stood in track pants and an N7 hoodie, holding a small blue dumbbell in one hand. "Just finished, actually. Evening, crewman."

Lawson pulled a set of plastic packs from the bottom of her armor locker and opened them to reveal a couple of skinsuits, one white, one black.

"Try on the black one."

"Are these your old ones, Ms Lawson?"

"It's Miranda, in here. And no, I got these for my sister when she was younger. She never had the chance to put them on. Maybe never will, now."

Shepard looked very concerned. "You haven't heard from Oriana?"

"Not a peep." She wore a tight face again. "I was going to ask to visit Noveria. Then I'll know. Maybe she couldn't get to a QEC."

"Noveria! I thought you'd have her squirreled away somewhere on the Citadel, after that business on Horizon."

"The Citadel was legally dodgy until I became useful to Hackett, and a dangerous place with Cerberus still in business. Also it was going to be a Reaper target. Mainly, I wanted her somewhere that wasn't in Citadel space, where we could both hide from anything like law or the mob."

"And Noveria Development Corporation was it?"

"Yes. Port Hanshan."

"I'll go with you. We're passing by on the way to Cronos anyway. We should look into Firebase White also. Might be remains."

Miranda stared at him. "That's… very kind, John. But no."

"Is this still something you have to handle by yourself?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way. But mainly, you won't be ready for months."

Shepard sighed. He wasn't going to win this, and Goldstein was looking back and forth between them. "Anyway, I can shower off later. Shall I go get coffee?"

"Yeah, do. Let us know when you're back, I'll want your opinion. Come on, Jenny. Let's try these on you."

Some time later Shepard and Lawson escorted Goldstein, now wearing the black skinsuit, back to the lounge. When they entered, everyone's jaw dropped. Toombs clapped. Hadley looked in shock at first, but recovered fast and emitted a wolf-whistle.

Goldstein blushed furiously, but otherwise kept her composure. Jack grinned.

"Mr Toombs, the white suit should be presented along with the harness."

"Yes, ma'am. Captain Shepard, you couldn't get me another couple of those little guns, could you?"

"Something might be arranged, Toombs. Meanwhile, crewman, do wear that one."

War and Pax

Following the installation of the very last H conduit relay a matter of days previously, the planet Veles had an incoming relay at the south pole and an outbound (to Anadius) relay at the north.

There were some significant fleet elements at the Pax relay, including two cruisers. It had taken them nearly a year to lay relays and ready a probe of Pax and Anadius.

At the end of this mission the cruisers would be mothballed in place and the crews evacuated by shuttle and frigate. It would take four months to deploy back to the citadel. Better to get back the trained crews and build another ship using plentiful Eezo cores still in Earth parking orbits.

The frigates first offloaded half the supplies and matériel for the flotilla from their maintenance holds to the cruisers, reducing their mass by nearly a fifth and clearing a runway for the Kodiak shuttles.

At that point they could have proceeded to Anadius as planned. Didn't happen.

Shepard called a conference of military officers on the Alliance cruiser Nairobi – this meant Lemaes, Zabaleta, Garrus himself, and Williams. There were some issues.

"Gentlemen, there has been a slight change of plan. We will first proceed with one cruiser making like a rock towards Noveria, while two frigates – Overlord and Peacemaker – send away teams to Lagrangian points, just in case something's hiding."

Nairobi's captain demurred: "I haven't heard about this, Commander, and can't approve. We were told to remain in silent running."

"It's Captain, Captain. As of two days ago. I appreciate the difficulty, and have orders for you." Shepard passed over a paper envelope containing a hologram of a holograph written by the Admiral of the Fleet… and countersigned by the human Councilor.

The captain of the Nairobi perused the orders and placed them back in the envelope with an air of resignation.

"May I enter the digital ink in the ship's log, Captain?"

"Please do."

Normally, sealed orders were paper, not digital ink, and destroyed after reading unless special circumstances existed. These, being a digital holograph, were a revision intended as a permanent record.

"Will you be assuming command on board this cruiser, Captain?"

"No. You know your ship best. My intention is that you support the ground teams, which will not include me, as your military judgment dictates. I will be co-ordinating frigate actions. I hope not to need fire support such as the loads we just delivered, but there may be remnant Reaper opposition."

"So, the Nairobi looks like it's dragging a broken wing…"

"Exactly, and one frigate accompanies it to above Firebase White. Others take up station while stealthed, ready to inflict Sakharov mines, directional gamma nukes, and whatever else might help if a Reaper destroyer erupts from the ground."

"Is that likely, Captain?"

"We think not. Theory says the Reaper sapient constructs were uniquely vulnerable to the soliton grid generated by the crucible and mass relays as they died."

"But it can't hurt to allow the Reapers to think our reconnaisance force is weak, right?"

"Just so. They may be tempted to show themselves, to put an end to a derelict cruiser and a tiny frigate. If so, you are to engage as best you can, but should opposition be so heavy as to risk the ships, they are to leave the system and rendezvous at Anadius. Clear?"

"Absolutely."

"Have you detected any radio activity in-system?"

"No, Captain, we have not. Not even automated beacons. But the NDC may have slaved them to a VI which only powers the beacons when it detects Council ships."

"Very well. You have the movement orders. We go in one hour."

Next chapter: #47, "Learning experiences"

Sunday, July 26, 2015