Quast 2
Quast had asked for a minute to talk with Jerry and had left the conference room to talk.
"Opinion?" Quast asks his friend.
"At the very least maybe they could ship us some supplies, except what we really need is a long term option. We can't live on these ships for the rest of our lives. Provided we can continue to avoid all the radiation filled clouds.
And that men on the submarines worry me the most. The rotation to one of the carriers is the only thing keeping them sane." Jerry tells him.
"His even contacting us is likely to get him into trouble." Quast mentions. Getting Jerry to agree. "I noticed."
"If we take him up on his offer, we need people who can help us fight for our future." Quast tells him.
"You are the obvious choice. You've gotten us this far and you are the ranking officer." Jerry tells him knowing he has to go. He's the only one with the authority to talk for all of them.
Quast knew he would say that. "I still need two people to go with me. Someone to help see questions and give advice, even if I don't take it."
"We can do a search of all the people we have. We can even add the people on the cruise ship, maybe we will get lucky." Jerry tells him.
"You go find me 2 people, I'm going to go accept his offer. Maybe you can have the chaplain start praying for us. Maybe He'll listen this time." Quast tells him and heads back to the conference room.
After Quast re-enters the conference room. "We accept your offer. We will need some time to find someone to go with me and make sure everyone in the fleet knows what's going on since I'll be gone a little over 2 months."
"Not a problem, we can return to our ship and come back later. Would 3 days be enough time for you?" Roy offers a little time.
"That should be fine, we will expect you 3 days from now." Quast was willing to take the time to find the right people to take with him.
Quast opens the conference room door. "Robertson, escort our guests back to their ship on the flight deck. Make sure they get there uninjured and not intercepted by anyone." Quast orders.
"Aye sir. …. If you'll follow me." And Robertson escorts them to their shuttle.
Quast goes in search of Jerry to help with the search.
"We need someone who might understand what it takes to live and work on a space ship. Someone who has some kind of engineering skill maybe." Quast offers.
"Well since we don't have space ships, …. still it is surrounded by a vacuum. Making it sound like a submarine sort of." Jerry offers.
"We have 9 submarines as part of the fleet. Maybe one of their engineers" Quast offers.
"You want to choose one I'll start looking at the people on the cruise ship, maybe we'll get lucky." Jerry tells him.
Quast was still going over all the engineers on the submarines when Jerry knocked and entered.
"I've got someone on the cruise ship that you might like.
Kip Stephen Thorne (born June 1, 1940) is an American theoretical physicist, known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. A longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, he was the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) until 2009 and one of the world's leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein's general theory of relativity. He continues to do scientific research, and is reported to work on the 2014 science-fiction film Interstellar.
He contributed to the theoretical understanding of black holes and gravitational radiation; co-founded the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory Project (LIGO).
"He was traveling with his second wife, Carolee Joyce Winstein, doing a cruise tour of the Hawaiian islands at the time." Jerry sounded excited. He thought they just got lucky for once.
"Excellent, find him and get him and his wife over here, we need to talk to him." Quast tells him and went back thru the submarine engineers he had to choose from, finally selecting one.
Abhish Shivam, 33, a chief engineer working The USS Michigan (SSGN-727). A cruise missile submarine is a submarine that can launch cruise missiles (SLCMs).
A submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) is a cruise missile that is launched from a submarine (especially a SSG or SSGN). Current versions are typically standoff weapons known as land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs), which are used to attack predetermined land targets with conventional or nuclear payloads. Anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs) are also used, and some submarine-launched cruise missiles have variants for both functions. Brahmos is the fastest cruise missile currently developed, and has land-attack and anti-ship variants.
Four US Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) were converted to be able to salvo launch up to 144 Tomahawk cruise missiles from their modified vertical launch submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) tubes, as opposed to launching cruise missiles from torpedo tubes as is done from attack submarines. The advantage that the submarines have over guided missile destroyers and cruisers is the ability to remain undetected and launch while submerged. Tomahawk was deployed on US Navy attack submarines beginning in 1983, originally in LACM and ASCM versions, but the ASCM version was withdrawn in the 1990s.
Stephen Thorne was all for going. The chance to be out in space and end up on another planet was something he just was not going to pass up.
His wife however was not thrilled about him being gone; she just was not interested in the big picture. Quast didn't understand how she could be so shallow married to a man like him.
However it seems Stephen was the one who wore the pants in the family so he was in.
Abish was equally interested and since Quast wasn't ordering him to go, he volunteered.
True to his word Roy with detective Cain came back down 3 days later and picked up their passengers and their luggage. They had to have something to wear for the next few months.
Quast was offered the co-pilot seat while Roy flew and the others sat in the back with detective Cain.
As they got closer. "THAT is your ship?" Quast was impressed.
"Yup, that is the Sun Rises. It's an explorer class. Almost no armor to speak of, very light armament. She does however have the latest in scanning gear and is capable of long ranges.
Your accommodations are not likely to be what you are used to. A luxury liner she is not." Roy warns him.
"If it saves us, I'll travel on a garbage scow. … What is the disk on the aft section. Assuming that is the aft section." Quast was curious.
"That is part of what helps us create the field necessary for FTL. Our first week of travel will be to get out of the gravity well of your system before we can go to FTL." Roy points out.
Quast's eyes light up. They had to get out of their gravity well first? That was not something he had thought of having to do. Good thing he had Abhish!
Quast saw the flight deck door open and Roy backed their shuttle on board. "We need to wait for there to be an atmosphere in the bay once the outer doors close." Roy explains why they are waiting.
"So you don't have an energy force field holding the pressure in." Quast notes.
"It is not like in your Star Trek, no." Roy was grinning, though he was sure there was someone somewhere on Tellus working on it.
"You know about Star Trek." Quast didn't know what they had downloaded, only that it was a lot according to James.
"Yes, it has gotten to be quite popular back at home." Roy gets a green light and opens the door. Once inside his ship past the airlock. "I'll let detective Cain show you to your quarters and give you a tour of the ship, so you'll know how to get around. He also needs to take you to medical. I'm afraid a physical is mandatory for all personnel. I'm headed for the bridge so we can start out journey.
Roy walks off one direction. "Gentlemen if you'll follow me."
"He called you detective." Quast points out.
"Yes, there are a limited number of us. Detective Beckett, now detective Castle is likely the one you know about. Using her knowledge of your planet, you can think of me as a cross between a Jedi Knight and a Shaolin Monk. We keep the peace and are trained to hunt down those that need to be." Cain partially explains.
"So you know how to kill a person in a hundred different ways no doubt." Quast questions.
"Actually killing is something we try to avoid. Only our military and detectives like myself have had any training in combat techniques. However you are correct, …. I do." Cain tells them all without smiling or pretty much any emotion. He is not like Kate. Just equally well trained.
"This is your room. As you will note it says D 14-9. This is deck D, section 14 of deck D, room number 9. If you get lost just keep that number in mind and anyone of the crew can help you find your way here.
You are allowed to go anywhere you choose, however you will find that some doors will not open for you. That is for a reason, so I suggest you try to stay out of them, or you will be given different quarters for your stay. There are security cameras everywhere that are monitored at all times." Cain warns them. Since his own version of Lucy is connected to the system.
"Please unpack and I will wait outside to give you that tour and take you to medical." Cain stands off to one side after pressing the button to open the door.
Inside they are greeted by the common room on board ship. Bunk beds on either side with curtains for privacy.
"Well this looks familiar." Abhish notes since it looked exactly like the quarters on board the Michigan.
"Comfy cozy are we." Stephen notes.
Once unpacked and back outside Cain took them on a tour then dropped them off at medical.
From there the three found their way to the dining area. Not exactly what they were expecting.
After watching a few of the others do it they get in line and take their bowl of 'Pudding?' to one of the tables.
"What is this stuff?" Stephen wasn't sure what it was. Then they watch Roy come in and go thru the line and then sit with them.
"I know this isn't a cruise ship, but seriously?" Stephen lifts up his spoon and lets the 'pudding' fall back into his bowl.
Roy is just chuckling. He's heard it all before. "It has all the nutrients you need based off of the physical you just had. Otherwise you wouldn't have that little food card you carry.
And no, it's probably not what you are expecting. It kinda grows on you after a while and the taste changes every few days. Rick affectionately calls it "baby food"."
"Rick Castle, the man with this Katherine Beckett you picked up out of New York." Quast remembers the name.
"Correct Admiral. Him and his family have done a lot for us over the years. Likely the council will explain it all to you, provided they are willing to listen." Roy really was taking a risk.
"We appreciate your help Captain no matter how it works out." Quast wanted to thank him now since if things went south he would be too mad to do it later.
It was 2 months later:
Quast, Stephen and Abhish had been talking with various members of the council for almost a month now, still uncertain what was ultimately going to happen.
When they were not talking with council members, they were allowed to look around.
They had all seen the Russian city tower that had their mouths hanging open. They were still amazed how people got around without individual cars. They were all impressed with the GETS trains.
The entire planet seemed to have been planned. They had asked people a number of questions, like how they generate power? Where they get their water? How they feed everyone with so much desert.
It was only then that they found out that Tellus had 4 colony planets and that 2 of them were shipping food into Tellus while a lot of their population was moving to one of the colonies.
Quast and the others were back for another round of talking. This time however there were three of the council members instead of just the one, and one of them was one Quast already knew about before coming here. Paul Nantz! The guy who didn't trust them.
"Gentlemen, shall we get started. As you are aware by now, our population is not nearly as homicidal as your planet was or still is. Wars are not something we have any experience with, thankfully." Paul tells them, still not convinced.
"If you are correct this interstellar war you say is headed your way is going to change that." Quast warns. Wars are messy.
"We are aware of that, which is part of what we want to you talk about." One of the other council members mentions.
Quast and the others wait since it was all out of their hands anyway.
"We have reached a decision on your future provide you accept a caveat to our decision.
One of our colonies is an all water planet except for a tiny section of land. We are presently working on building a floating city. Two of these cities are planned. Each will hold several thousand people each.
The first city however will not be complete for approximately another 3 years.
We have agreed to relocate your people to this city. As your population grows we can add more modules to expand the city. However you will be living here on Tellus in what you would call a tent city for roughly 3 years for some of you.
We would offer better temporary lodging but our manufacturing base is already stretched to the breaking point."
Quast, Stephen and Abhish were all smiling. "You mentioned a caveat." Quast wanted to know what it was going to cost them.
"In a way there are three. First we cannot allow you to transfer any of your weapons with the move. We have a very strict weapons policy that is enforced. If you are given weapons they have to go thru our testing to determine if they will be allowed to wield them." Paul tells them.
"That doesn't sound like much of a problem. While all our military ships are armed only the Marines on board are armed" Quast explains.
"Second, as you have been told there is a war headed our way. We are not asking you to fight it for us or with us. However we would like to have access to your experience to discuss combat techniques and training. Since you will now be a part of our colony your people are free to enlist in our military that is expanding. That is up to each individual." Paul tells them.
"Since most of us are already part of the US military, most are likely willing to remain in the military. Also I have a number of pilots that are not likely going to like being grounded. Pilots like to fly." Quast points out.
This gets the three council members to start talking to each other.
"If we adjust the city design to add an air base would this be acceptable?" One of the council members asks.
"I doubt you're going to be able to relocate any of our planes, what do they fly?" Quast was curious how that was going to work.
"We could transport parts to build our fighters for your pilots to learn to fly, provided they enter our military." Paul tells them.
"And what exactly do you fly?" Quast knew it might help him sell it.
"We can send pictures and some schematics with you for your pilots to go over. If it helps, do you remember the time when we sent our message? We sent three of the fighters to deliver the darts that held our message." Quast's question is answered. "One was sent as a back-up in case it was needed."
Quast remembered those ships/planes. They were flying above mach 3.5 using ground hugging. That was impressive. He knew his CAG alone would dearly love to get his hands on at least one.
"You mentioned three items." Stephen asks.
"This might be the biggest sticking point for you. You have 6,000 people per carrier alone. Another 4,000 or so on your cruise ship. Plus the thousands more on your other ships.
We do not have troop carriers to move large numbers of people. What we do have are two cruise ships, however each only has rooms for 1,500 people at a time." Quast's question is answered.
Quast instantly tries to do the math in his head, while Stephen's mouth falls to the floor.
That was 12 trips alone just for the carriers, at 24 months or 2 years. "I don't see how that will work. That would be 12 trips at 2 months per trip just for the crew of the 3 carriers." Quast was instantly deflated.
"We are aware of the logistics problems associated with this idea. However our cruise ship concept that we started roughly 3 years ago has become extremely popular. There are presently 2 more cruise ships of the same size that are under construction. They should both be completed in about 6 months." One of the council members tells him.
Quast started re-doing his math. "That would get everyone off the smaller ships leaving the three carriers and the cruise ship in roughly one year. A little over 1 year to transfer everyone else. The carriers and the submarines are the only ships that are nuclear powered. All the other ships require fuel. If we empty the smaller ships first we can transfer all their fuel and food to the cruise ship.
It will allow them time to move to avoid the radiation filled clouds." Quast tells the people who came with him.
"Your military personnel may be willing to wait, but the civilians are already moaning even if it is a cruise ship. People feel trapped when they are used to more space." Stephen points out.
"We could empty the cruise ship and move people off the submarines." Abhish offers.
"Perhaps, but they will be trading in the luxury of a cruise ship for tents, for at least a year or more." Quast points out.
Stephen was forced to nod his head. As places go he thought it was better than what any of the military personnel had now. Even those on the carriers.
"As we decrease personnel the food we do have will last longer. Still it is likely to be a stretch." Quast had to add while they still talked amongst themselves.
"We can help solve that problem." One of the councilmen speaks up. "We use cargo ships to move food around now. We could send one back with you or a few weeks behind you depending on when the next one is full."
"We can't stay Admiral. Even if the clouds are now radiation free from all the rain, that rain is getting into the oceans. Everything will be polluted eventually. And we can't stay on ships for generations to come. Our children may adapt to the confinement, but the rest of us never expected to live on ships forever." Stephen points out. "Even your crews expect to get shore leave eventually."
"Plus it will give everyone hope for a future." Quast adds softly.
"We accept with one exception." Quast answers for the three of them. While the three councilmen wait for his exception. Not like he has much to stand on to start making demands.
"I would like for you to do a survey of the planet. If you find other people we want you to pick them up too." Quast only knew the Pacific mostly.
"You will be going back with the Moon Shines and Captain Zhukov. He can perform the survey as requested." Paul responds.
"Zhukov. …. It sounds Russian." Quast had a distaste for Russians. They were part of what got them all into this mess. Not that the US was blameless totally.
"Captain Zhukov's ancestors were from Russia, yes. As you have found even Tellus still has areas that are primarily based on where our ancestors came from. However everyone here speaks two languages so we don't really have the divisions you are used to." Paul was starting to suspect this was a bad idea. These people were never going to change.
"It should be fine, if we all agree." Quast responds. He may be an Admiral but if he didn't learn they were never going to get along together. He had a lot of work to do when he got back on his ship.
"Captain Zhukov is presently in orbit. He will pick you up in the morning and take you back to Earth. We will start setting up your temporary residence during the next two months. We will send you a cargo ship as soon as the first one is loaded.
We will get to work on getting the two cruise ships ready. It should take about 2 days to load the cargo and make them ready. Six months from now the other 2 cruise ships should be done and completed flight testing. Then 2 days to load them with cargo." One of the councilmen tells them.
Quast had more than he could have ever hoped for since he saw them all dying in about 9 months.
"How do you get colonists to your colony planets?" Quast didn't understand.
"Our colonies are established with very few people. Well under a hundred people at first. Our two explorer ships are used to transfer another 50 people each trip when the colony planet is ready for them. ... We've been using the cruise ships to transfer larger numbers of people lately." Paul explains. Doing this was going to slow down the transfer of people from Tellus greatly. He was hoping this was worth it.
The three of them were taking a shuttle up to the Moon Shines with captain Zhukov doing the piloting. "What's that?" Quast points.
Zhukov tries to figure out what he is pointing at since there was a lot in orbit at the moment. A cargo ship was just finishing unloading its cargo of food before going back to Ariel. There were 2 cruise ships and the 2 cruise ships that were under construction. Plus one other ship that was under construction. And then there was his ship.
"That is the first of our destroyer class of warships. It's about 3 years into a 7 year construction cycle." Zhukov explains. "We had 6 warships that you would classify as being a gun boat. They are being salvaged to help us build other ships."
"You're taking the threat of this interstellar war real." Quast points out. Not sure if he's impressed or scared. Or both.
"We do. Very seriously." Zhukov even sounded serious and turns to look at Quast that sent a chill down Quast's spine. These people knew something. He didn't know what or how, but they knew something.