Chapter 3

26 July 3046

New Circe Star System.

By Cliff

Beta By Nathan

Reviewed by Hotpoint.

Robert was able to hop a Colonial-made Raptor to his next destination. It would take him for his first intersystem Jump from low orbit spot over New Circe to the Zenith jump point, where the Styx was waiting for him. The Raptor was only a fifty ton or so craft, and it only held eight others going to the small transfer station located there at the edge of the star system.

The transfer station was the hulk of an old Merchant class JumpShip which had cracked its jump core on the last jump to this system in 2950. It had slowly been turned into a short term housing and cargo transfer station when it needed to be. The 40m grav deck was always in use. The six hundred tons of cargo space was small but had made life a lot easier when transferring cargos. To the few ships that left this star system, it was great. When nothing was scheduled the transfer station was shut down and left un-manned.

To his surprise. The command crew of the Raptor were both Wolverines and the ship was marked in SLDF colors rather than the markings he studied of the Colonial navy. He thought that their presence made it more likely he'd be able to get a Raptor design to his mission. He might as well ask. What was the worst that could happen? They might say no?

"I will have put that on my list." He said aloud, as he floated out of the hatch and out of the AG field the Colonial craft had.

Hearing the oldster say something. The young crewman in charge of the cargo bay did not know if it was directed at him or not. Robert was wearing a SLDF uniform with a Ship Captain's rank on the shoulders. You did not want to be accused of ignoring a senior officer.

"Did you say something Sir? Query-Affirmative?"

Robert made a face that he made certain was gone when he made eye contact with the crewmember. There was no need to bite the young lady's head off. She was only being polite.

"Yes, I did," said Robert. "I was going over the list of things in my head I have to do before my next mission. I just realized I had forgotten something, which I should have added to it before". Robert exited the craft.

The Raptor was small enough ship that it could fit in one of the two the Small Craft bay the former JumpShip had been built with. Robert had that stomach turning event again when he went from normal gravity to zero g in a single step. He held on to a hand rail this crew had attached to the low slung wing of the transport vessel. He noticed that that there was a second Raptor in the same bay. That was odd, because normally one small craft or fighter took a whole bay by itself, no matter how much it massed.

The young Raptor crewman standing near the end of the wing saw the look. He had a good idea of what the old timer was thinking.

"Sir, we have regular services out here. That one will be leaving in about forty minutes, for the return trip in system. If you forgot something they can bring it back out in about a day, if you need it badly and it's not too large."

"That's convenient," Robert said.

The Raptor crewman shrugged. "I do not know how much long we will be doing it. I know that we have been doing it for a few weeks now. I have heard there will be some changes. They are going to start moving all the mothballed ships, support structures, and whatever else are all the way out here. They want them closer in system, and away from the old jump points. It is supposed to make them easier to defend, as well as cut down on fuel and travel time to keep checking on them. Well, that is what they said at the brief yesterday. I just go where they tell me, when they tell me."

Captain Copeland looked back at the small craft crewman. "Thank you. I will have to keep that in mind. What will they come up with next?"

Then Robert let go of the temporary hand rail with a push, and he slowly drifted to the hatch door. That led the rest of the way through the ship. He had to get to the second craft bay to catch his ride to his new home, and he did not want to miss it. A ship's Captain should not be late for his first ride to his command. He was meeting his new crew, and first impressions were important.

The Modified Tramp-class Jumpship Styx

A cheerful "Welcome aboard Captain!" greeted Robert as he exited the S-7A bus in the small craft bay of the Tramp class JumpShip. A familiar face was behind the greeting, and Robert was glad to see it.

"Well good to see you, Jules! I cannot believe you gave up a Reserve Captain's rank to take this job."

Robert gave a sly grin. "What? Your daughter could not find something you liked better?"

Jules Vaun, ex-captain, was the father of the current Lord Protector Jennifer Vaun. Jules was proud of that fact, but also in his own abilities. Jules Vaun would have been livid at an implied accusation of nepotism from anyone else. From Robert he knew it was only teasing.

Jules let a very fake looking image of shock come to his face. "Are you kidding me? This is the only way they would let me off the planet again." They both were heading out of the small boat bay. They were swimming side by side, as they made their way to the bridge with practiced memory. It was even better than going back to your childhood home.

Jules kept talking as they moved through the ship. "You will recognize almost everyone on board. Everyone, except the crew to mother the new engines, were on the last run into the wilds with us. We have almost the same group of personnel. There will be four officers, fifteen enlisted, four gunners, and ten bay personnel. The other two officers and seven of the total Enlisted are assigned to maintain both jump engines that we are currently packing. We are finishing up some work and will start buttoning up all the panels on the ship tomorrow, maybe about mid shift. Then we can get down to knocking the rust off of the crew".

Robert nodded. He'd known all of this from the briefing documents he'd gotten from Higher Command, but information redundancy was a way of life in the Merchant Marine.

"Sounds like a plan," he said. The door closed on them. Then another one was just starting to open up on a bigger universe for all of them. It was only a question if they would live to see much of it or die trying.

Most of the time in space would be spent on drill, after drill, after even more drills. Safety redundancy was a way of life in the Merchant Marine as well. Space was a dangerous place.

6 Aug 3046: Station office of External Supply Office

"The Station" New Circe Star System

A small, speedy vessel like the Raptor made it much easier to have meetings deep in the system. It did not mean those meetings were productive. It was just easier to have them, whether you wanted to attend them or not. Robert had hopped a Raptor from the Jump point make the meeting with Commander Xi just as he had been ordered to do, in person. He was setting in her office now cooling his jets, waiting for her to finish reading a report he had written.

Commander Xi looked up from her computer screen and made eye contact with Robert. She gave her subordinate a level look that could have frozen helium. "So, Captain Copeland. You have said in your reports that you are ready to launch Part One of Phase 1. That is a six hundred light year journey. That is still so, Query-Affirmative?"

It was needlessly formal, and Robert wanted to give a less than polite response to his superior. Instead he went with the old standby.

"Affirmative. Ma'am, we are ready. The crew has done very well on all of their tasks and have passed all of the required tests. Both of the jump engines have passed all tests. The trial jumps have been made between the solar poles using both types of engine. We have been fully supplied in consumables and our supply of Tylium topped off just before I came here. I have done everything I can without leaving New Circe controlled space."

Commander Xi did not smile. "That is good to hear, and you are area a full week ahead of schedule. I knew you were the right person for the job when I saw your name on the proposed plan. Based on the pattern of your previous reports I cut orders three days ago for your assigned support ships to leave orbit today."

She smiled at the now quiet, and for once still, Captain. "You will be taking the Buccaneer-class transport White Skies. She is carrying the repair crews, tools, some spare parts that might useful for the next step. The Elephant-class tug Hard Hat will also be with you. She will be doing any of your heavy lifting, as well as performing as security. She just came out of refitting. And before you ask, No. She does not have a Colonial jump drive, anti-gravity plates, or Class 5 HOD's. Also, the Titan-class jump-dropship light carrier Themis will go out with you. After checking things out, in the system you're working in. She will patrol the neighboring systems while your command does its job. No matter what you think, she is not under your command. Do not even think about tasking them."

Commander Xi held up her hand to stop what she saw as a percolating comment from Robert. "We are doing it this way for a reason. We want to ensure her Captain does not embarrass himself, again, with the Munchkins." She was about to say more. The she decided that she did not want to poison the well. This was a last chance mission, for that ship's master.

The Hard Hat was a legendary ship for the last defenders of the Star League. There were now three active tugs in the star system working, on a long list of projects. The Hard Hat was the oldest ship that this Clan had built. She had not been built in clan space, the old Star League, or even near New Circe.

She was the first dropship built by the fleeing clan. It had been launched when they stopped over a planet that was 22.7 light years coreward fromMcEvedy's Folly. She was one of the main reasons that Clan Wolverine still had a working space fleet at all. Before the arrival of the surviving Colonials, only one of the tugs were in use. One tug had been mothballed for future needs and one of the other two tugs was always dirtside for services, but it was a very low priority. Only one ship of this class was in operation, at any one time. Now there was talk of starting to build a new one to help with the work load that the three were falling behind in supporting.

The 15,000 ton Elephant-class dropship was an odd bird of a dropship. She was part tug, and it could tow any spaceship up to and including the Zug. It was also also were part cargo ship, and could carry over 2,000 tons of cargo. That was about the same as the Buccaneer class dropship Captain Copeland were going to be hauling that was attached to his JumpShip. It also was part ground assault ship, with heavy weapons, mechs, tanks and infantry compartments within her hull.

It was the perfect multi-mission craft. It was a jack of all trades, and a master of none. If they ever put a colonial jump system into it, it would be the perfect raider. That is if Clan Wolverine were so inclined to do something like that.

"So, what did they do to the Old Lady?"

He was not going to ask about the Themis. He would wait to see if he needed to ask about the Captain of the Titian. Robert thought that he must have done something bad. He also had been in the wrong, to have upset both the Colonials and SLDF High Command. Enough things had happened between the two cultures to have caused major waves. So far no one had lost their command over it. The Cylon POW issue and the ship nicknamed the Beast both came to mind.

In each of those incidents the higher Commands had backed up their people on the ground against the Colonials. It meant that a certain ship's Captain must have stepped on his crank rather badly to be need a second chance. Maybe Robert could try to use the trip to work on some leadership development for the escorting carrier's young commander. It could save a promising career or be the final proof that said captain was a waste of skin and oxygen. The Clan did not like to waste anything, which also included effort for a lost cause.

Commander Xi did not seem to notice that the Captain in front of her had more going on in his mind than the question he had asked her, or did she?

"All of the medium class lasers and 10 tube long ranged missile launchers have all been removed from the Tug," she said. "The lasers went into storage at Frank Hallis Airbase for now. In the near future, they will be either are to be sold to the Colonials for their 10 ton Viper fighters, or held as a strategic reserve for a later need. The LRM systems are sitting dirtside waiting either to go into a bunker defensive point or into the turret of a new hover tank."

The Commander was looking down at the notes and shook her head from side to side slowly. "We had wanted to put a few of the LB 5 UACs or HODs into her. There are not enough of them to go around yet, so that is one upgrade that will have to wait for a while. Maybe we will do it after you get back and go into your supplemental refit."

Robert raised his eye brows. "What about the putting a colonial jump system in her and her class mates?" he asked. "I would think that she would be about perfect in picking up anything the other scouts found that needed to be brought back home. My other question is: why bring the extra parts for the Scout class? Why not just grab her, and come home? I looked in my orders and briefing papers. That was one of the things that was never explained."

"Both of those are good questions, Captain. I will start with the first question. The Colonials only have about sixty odd transport ships. And that is what they had in total, when they stumbled onto us. We have bought or will have access to maybe ten of those ships. So, call it about 1/6th of their total fleet at best. A large part of their government and population are worried, about the Cylons coming back. They are afraid that they will be found helpless. They want to keep as many of their ships jump worth and ready go as possible. Given what they been through I am surprised we got as many ships as we have. For what it is worth, I suspect our Ancestors would have been just as ready to flee during their Exodus from the Clans."

Commander Xi had to shake her had to clear an image from her mind of mushroom clouds over her home. She then continued.

"The answer to the second question is that any work they can complete on that small JumpShip before you return will speed up the mission. The workers will at the very least perform an inspection of the vessel while you are on route. They will have completed or mostly completed drawing up lists of repairs need on that ship by the time it gets back to us. That alone will cut down on the timeline getting your ready for the Phase 2."

She looked at her chrono. "I do not mean to rush, but are those your only questions. Query Affirmative?" She said as she cocked her head to one side waiting for a response.

"Affirmative, Ma'am," Roger replied. I think that is about it. Thank you for your time."

Robert did have more questions, of course. He knew better to ask them of Commander Xi. When he got back to the Styx he would just ask the COB to see what he could find out through other than official means. The senior enlisted personnel on the ship had, by tradition, had his own unofficial information network to farm for data a ships commander might need. A Captain who had a good relationship with his chief non-com could expect to tap into that network from time to time.

Commander Xi opened up her calendar after checking her notes. "Good. Your two tagalongs should be at the jump point, on the 14th or early on the 15th of August. Once they have attacked to the Styx it is up to you to start your mission."

She passed to Robert a data storage device. "Here is a copy of the crew files for each of the dropships. It also has a copy of all the orders that could impact your mission. This will include what had been given to the Captain of the Themis, just in case."

Robert nodded, thinking about the Carrier captain. Whoever it would be wouldn't be under his orders, but the inclusion of the carrier's itinerary meant that Xi at least expected them to work together.

Commander Xi continued. "If you are not back by twenty five days post-jump then we will send out a ship to check on you. If you run into anyone, review the cover story before communicating with them. It has been updated since you last reviewed it, but only on the fine details. The gross story is the same one you are already well familiar with."

She stood and saluted, signaling the end of the meeting. "Good luck, Captain. I look forward to seeing you in less than twenty five days. The faster you get back and complete your second trip the better it will be for the security of the all of the human race." Robert also stood, and saluted. Then the two officers went their separate ways. Only one stayed in the office and the other left the room, but both had a lot of work to do.

15 Aug 3046

New Circe Star System

"Sir. All ships are secured. All stations report ready to jump," called out the XO of the Styx to her Captain and rest of the bridge crew.

"XO. We will be using the standard jump engines for a thirty light year jump. Please check the target coordinates. If they are correct then you may start the jump clock at a ten minute countdown and start the countdown. Please let the Dropship Captains know when we have started the jump count down. They should provide us a go or no-go no later than the two minute warning." These directions were standard across all of the reaming ships of SLDF in Exile. It was used for every non-combat jump.

This was a well-worn procedure, and well known between the long time professionals on all three ships. Under normal circumstances it would have been entirely route. This time however was a bit different.

This was the first full range test, of the old K-F jump drive. The Styx had jumped between the polar jump points in-system, but this would be the first multi-light-year test of the K-F drive with the Colonial drive installed alongside. There was still a nervous energy among the crew, who knew just how badly a mis-jump could go.

"Coordinates match," reported the XO. "The Clock is Set and counting down. All dropships report ready for jump."

The space around the Tramp-class ship was empty. The old ship had used its station keeping drives days ago to push it over 5,000 Km from the any object larger than a basketball on the odd change the object's mass could cause an issue with the test jump. That was likely an excessive amount of caution, but no one on the crew had complained. Mis-jumps were often fatal to an entire crew.

What happened next was amazing, and routine. It happened fast, and in the space of two seconds an invisible field first engulfed the ship and then started to expand. The Styx and her passengers at first slowly faded and then disappeared totally from the New Circe system. In the space of less than sixty seconds a ship that was almost 300,000 tons and holding cargo and people, had successfully been moved thirty light years.

A lone star shone brighter than all the others. They were in another system. After a moment the XO spoke.

"Jump complete. We are on target in the target systems. All crews secure from jump."

There was no audible sigh of relief from the crew, but the tension eased. They had passed their first hurdle and now knew that they could jump to a star system with no more than the usual amount of danger.

As the long lost feeling of the jump started to wear off of the crew Captain Copeland checked his display screen. "Tell engineering to inspect all systems. Do not deploy the sail. I want a report in four hours. Let me know when the Themis jumps in system please. I want to launch the "Series A" of jumps with the Colonial engines in eight hours. Let's get to it people."

It was the word of God and in a hand full of seconds over thirty people jumping or floating to their jobs, checking for any damage that the jump might have caused on the three different ships. Robert felt his own tension drain from his shoulders. He had made hundreds of jumps, but the presence of a second jump core had made this more stressful than most.

Four hours later the operator for the FTL detection systems station called out contact. "Target. Colonial or Cylon jump drive system. Range 10,000km. emergence in 1 minute."

The operator flipped up a cover and pushed a large red button hard enough that if they had not been strapped into the chair they would have floated off of their seat. Throughout all three ships everyone reacted to the General Quarters alarm. Gunners hurried to weapons stations, thick metal blast doors closed, and damage crews started putting on protective suits in case of a hull breach. There was not an ounce of panic.

Captain Copeland knew approximately when the fighter carrier was supposed to enter the system. It was supposed make sure that there were not any issues with the first full scale jump using the old K-F drive. If there were any issues the little fighter carrier was to rendered aid, or jump out of the system and get help it things went REALLY wrong.

Copeland and his XO had not notified the crew of the impending arrival of the Themis, and were using it as a way to test the crew on how well they react to a surprise attack. Attacks on JumpShip were rare, but rare was not the same thing as never. They did happen, especially in light of the appearance of the Cylons.

"Talk to me." This came from the voices from two different people floating in from two different doors at the same time. It was the XO and the Ship's Captain making their way to the bridge. It had been planned that both men would not be on the bridge when their escort might be coming in. It was good training for the crew to have to respond to emergencies without having a command officer immediately available.

"Sir, it is the Themis," reported the sensor tech. "She is sending a drill code."

An icon flashed on the tech's console. "Sir, we had a statues update! Six smaller craft separating from the main target. Looks like they are forming up into an attack formation. They are moving toward us and picking up speed."

Robert nodded. "Pass the word that we will be doing a drill. Notify all gunners, on all ships, to set their weapons on simulation mode only. They are to defend their zones. We do not want to put holes into our Fleet's ships."

Captain Copeland then settled in to his command chair. It was time to let his crew work as their training told them. Copeland let his crew fight the ship. A fighter raid from an incoming DropShip was a standard type of engagement for a JumpShip to have to deal with. This was the sort of engagement that his crew right felt they could handle by routine. He was waiting on that to change. It just was a matter of time.

A few minutes later an enlisted woman from across the bridge called out "Statuses change! The fighters have...jumped? HOW CAN THEY DO THAT?!" after a moment she regained a bit of composure.

"I still have the Titan on long range system," she reported.

Robert watched his bridge crew closely. He knew about the jump-fighters even before he was recalled, and so did his crew. But there was a difference about knowing data and having to fight against it. All of the testing to counter an attacker had been focused against an Inner Sphere tech or Clan tech attacker. The new wrinkle of jump-capable fighters was something many in the SLDF-In-Exile's navy had yet to adjust to.

"Sir," the sensor tech reported, "They are on us. 10 klicks off the bow, making an attack run."

The squadron of hundred-ton Kirghiz aerospace fighters had used their surprise jump to good effect. They swooped down on their prey, spitting marking lasers. The Styx's gunners found themselves looking the wrong way, and took a moment to re-orient themselves on the new position of their targets. They were out-gunned, and out-maneuvered. Robert knew the simulation report for this was going to be ugly.

The more massive JumpShip only had the firepower equal to two of the fighters, and very thin armor made up her skin. The Styx was a cargo transporter that was over two hundred years old, and not a weapon to use on the front line of a war. It could find itself there, but it only had enough weapons to keep smaller fighters back. At least until it could jump to safety. The dropships would be harder to kill, but without a way home they also would have been in trouble.

The computer reported four of the fighters were "destroyed" before the computer noted that the JumpShip was inoperable and "destroyed" also. The gunners might be older, and they had been surprised by the tactical jump. But they knew how to track and hit targets from years of experience doing this job for real. The log book was full of the kill markers she had earned threw out her long life.

"Well that went better for us, then it should have." Lt Vaun said.

His flat, emotionless voice said a lot about how this little combat training had gone today. He had to fight to keep a snort from passing his lips.

Robert turned to his comm tech. He kept any comments he might have had to himself. The crew knew how things had gone, and there was time to remedy their issues later.

"Communications," he ordered, "Please contact the Themis' Commander. Pass along my congratulations to him on his victory, and ask him to come over for an After-Action Review in two hours. I will be in my cabin."

With that Captain Copeland rose from his chair and pushed himself off the bridge like an old spacer should. He had his own AAR to write. Some changes, it seemed, were in order.

2 hours later main briefing room SLS Styx

LT Vaun completed his briefing to the two ships' Captains. Benedict was the Captain of the Titian carrier, and he did not look like he cared for the computer results of the drill. He also did not like being in Zero G, just like the Styx's briefing room was in. His face and his bearing communicated his displeasure.

In short, he was acting like a pain in the butt. Captain Copeland was taking mental notes on the other man. When the XO had finished his briefing he strapped the report down on the table so it would not float away.

"Those pilots!" griped Benedict. "They should have broken formation down into smaller units. They have forgotten even the most basic attack maneuvers. I will note that in their records. And I will have them drill until they get it right. Losing four out of six fighters is unacceptable. You are only civilian JumpShip. Maybe I should head back to New Circe and get a new set of pilots. Ones that are not so green."

The carrier captain stopped talking for a few heart beats, then started up again. "They lack discipline. They are almost as bad as the Munchkins."

He had just dug a hole for himself and he did not even know it, yet.

Robert knew the man's type. Benedict had been an aerospace pilot before taking command of his own ship. He had primarily been based on planetary surfaces, and still thought about space combat in atmospheric terms. He was so uncomfortable in microgravity that Robert was certain he was the sort of captain to use up reaction mass just to maintain acceleration to mimic gravity.

Captain Copeland decided that he had heard enough. He knew who had planned this attack. It had not been the fighter pilots. He also knew what orders they had to follow during the attack. He had listened to a copy of the transmission between the fighters and the Captain of the larger ship.

"Was it really all the fighter jocks fault, Captain? Yes, they should have had more spacing between the fighters during the attack. You were the one that sent fighters configured for long-range combat into knife-fighting range. Your pilots were disoriented by the jump, but reacted quickly and changed formation. We were the "Baseship" in your plan of attack. You sent just six fighters after a capital ship that had DropShip support, without their own support of any kind. Where were you, with that up-armed carrier and the dozen Visigoths still in their bays? You never leave your fighters without support when attacking larger vessels."

Robert was on a roll. "Captain that is Tactics 101. I know because I taught the course. I know the first wave of fighters asked for support, when you order them to jump and attack. I have a copy of the intercept if you need a little refresher."

Captain Copeland decide right then to be old school, to snap the other captain into shape. Benedict might not be under his command, but Robert still had seniority over the man.

"Captain you are arrogant. Confidence is good for an assault dropship or warship captain, but you have to have skills to back it up that confidence. Skill is the difference between confidence and arrogance. You are not superior simply due to your station. All you will do is get a whole lot of good people killed."

Robert stopped talking and waited to see who the other officer would react to his verbal slap. It could go one of two ways. One was that the younger officer would take the hint, and accept help fixing himself. The other was…

Benedict practically exploded in apoplexy. "YOU CAN NOT TALK TO ME THAT WAY! YOU BOTH ARE NOTHING BUT JUST A PAIR OF JUMPED-UP TRASH HAULERS. I SHOULD DEMAIND A CIRLCLE!"

Benedict was literally livid. He had forgotten this ship was in zero g, and the blood had started to pool in his face when he began to shout. He tried to jump from his seat as he yelled with the full force of his modified lungs.

He suddenly found himself floating in the middle of the room away from any kind of surface. All he could do was fail around until the moving air current pushed him close enough to grab the large desk. Only then he could pull himself back to his seat. It did not improve his mood any. His face was still bright red with rage.

"Benedict."

Robert did not raise his voice. But the dropping of the rank of the other officer was a dead giveaway that he was not happy.

"Get ahold of yourself. If you cannot control yourself I will have you escorted off my ship. In fetters, if necessary."

Benedict looked like he was about to start shouting again. Robert forestalled him by indicating the man's rank flashes.

"You are a ship's Captain. You had better start acting like one. Your name was not pulled out of a hat, so you are supposed to be smart. I do not know what you did on your last mission, but I will say that if you do not get your head out of your four points of contact you will not have the Themis for long. LT Vaun and I both have been ship's Captains longer than you have been alive. You might want to listen to us. We have been around the block. We have been there, done that, gotten the t-shirts, and wished we could give them back. And we have the scars to prove it.

He shrugged. "Or do not listen. It's up to you."

He hoped the lecture might get through, but he saw something in the younger man eyes. This was not going well.

"On second thought," he said, "You may leave my ship. Now. By the time you get to your ship you will have our coordinates for the next four jumps. We will see you at the last set. Good day!"

Both Robert and Jules left the room, showing the younger captain how real spacers handled zero g. It took a few minutes to make it to their command chairs. They did not talk as they traveled. As the two officers entered the bridge of the JumpShip, the COB made eye contact with them.

He floated over, and in low voice said "That Frakker's Bus has left the bay. And he did it without scratching the paint. I did not know that he had it in him. Maybe he could go back to be a pilot of some kind. He sure can't command a dropship with a damn."

"Thank you, Chief. Is everything ready?" Robert didn't really need to ask, but tradition was tradition. If there had been any issue the COB would have given Robert the heads up himself.

"Sir, all departments report ready to jump. We had no reports of damage or anything else of concern. Engineering reports the drive is good to go and is in good working order, and I concur. I have signed off in the ships log that she is ready to proceed."

That was high praise from the COB, who had helped tear down and rebuild that old engine twice until it had finally met his standards. Per SLDF regulation the COB had veto power on any jump made outside of combat conditions, and he took that right to heart. The man was fanatical about the condition of "his" ship.

Robert floated to his command chair and made sure the small craft from the carrier was well away from the JumpShip. He pitched his voice so that the whole bridge could hear what he was going to say.

"XO. I believe the next test is a rapid set of jumps using the Colonial tech jump engine. I want four jumps of varying distances plotted out. Allow for about one hour between each jump. We need to keep to the plan, so the last jump must put us at our planned first day target location."

The COB looked at each of the senior officers as he turned from his anchoring slippers. He had to ask a question now so that the rest of the bridge and then soon after the whole crew would know. He hoped that it would stop any of the more wild rumors from getting traction on the JumpShip and her two attached dropships. This mission was dangerous enough to not have to have something worrying the crew.

"Sir. I assume that we will not be having an escort?"

Captain Copeland knew what the senior enlisted man was driving at, and he agreed with his intention. "Captain Benedict's orders say that he must be at certain jump points, on given times, and dates. We will keep to that schedule."

Robert did not speculate as to whether Captain Benedict would keep to the schedule. Commander Xi had obviously wanted Robert's evaluation of the man, and he would provide it to her in time. With supporting documentation.

"XO, I want a copy of the drill and a video copy of the AAR all on a drive. We will turn it in to command when we get back home."

It would have been nice to be able to transmit his initial findings now. Unfortunately this ship was not equipped with the mobile HPG he'd gotten so used to on his last command.

A pity, he thought, but he had other things to worry about now.

"XO, you have the ships. I will be in my cabin working on my reports. Transmit our jump schedule to the Themis as soon as you have it plotted."

Unfortunately for him, what he had to worry about now was planning and paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.

"Sir," said Lt. Vaun, "I have the bridge. I will see you at shift change."

The XO had not even looked at the Captain, because he had expected that statement to come any minute. The XO already had the jumps planned out and loaded into the computer. They were timed out and unless something came up they would be leaving this system in less than three hours.

It was right on time, by the ships clock. And after a double check of the systems the command was given again to move between the stars. In the blink of an eye the long ship disappeared as the Colonial drive pulled it out of one location and put it in another location, just like it had done with the Colonial ship the drive had originally been built for.

This location was in the deep space in the cold of between stars. It was not a standard location to want to be at the end of a jump. Inner Sphere ships almost never wanted to be in such a place, if they could help it. They would be so far from a source of cheap power to recharge the jump drives that they depended on for day to day operation. Then the only way to recharge the drive, historically, would have been to power up the fusion power plant that burned through some of a JumpShip's limited fuel supply.

Most JumpShip Captains tried to keep enough fuel on board for at least one jump charged, that way for emergencies. But keeping that much fuel on hand could mean the difference between making a profit and losing their ship. Some Captains had chosen poorly in the past and lost their shirt on a bad shipment. Or worse, had found themselves short on reaction mass without the ability to get more.

The modified JumpShip sat floating in the space between stars for exactly sixty minutes. An hour was just long enough for the engineering team to check over the engines again and report any problems. None were found, and the go-ahead was given for the next jump. After another hour the next jump was made, and so on until the last jump had been made.

The SLS M/V Styx was in her planned end of day location. It was with some relief the crew noted the end of their jump chain. They had made it to a place where, if they had an issue, someone in the SLDF-In-Exile's Navy would know to look for them. Other than Captain Benedict, of course.

This system was a twin Class-F star system, with only three major planets. All of them were of the rocky type and close to the star bigger F3 star. There was no life in this system, not even the famed Star League could have terraformed this hunk of real estate to support human or even planet life.

It was a good navigation point for longer trips, and the twin stars would help recharge a jump drive quicker than other systems in the local stellar group. They were now a little over a hundred light years from the New Circe system. Even if the Styx had her lithium-fusion battery, and she had used the second jump capability that system would have allowed, it would have taken closer to three weeks to make it to this system safely from there, rather than the one day it had taken using the Colonial drive.

The Styx had entered the system far out from the core of the system, in the null gravity zone that formed around the twin stars. This was for safety as much as it was out of habit. The Styx did not have gravity plates installed in her hull. Those allowed the Colonials to jump closer to planets at a much reduced risk. Most of the command staff and engineer staff had read that the Colonials could even jump into the atmosphere around those planets. That had its own dangers, but the fact they could seemed nearly unthinkable.

Those plates seemed like the future of the Wolverine Navy, and Robert found himself thinking about Benedict. The man seemed completely incapable of understanding how microgravity worked. Robert wondered if those plates would lead to future generations of Captains who simply couldn't think in Newtonian terms. The Third Law of Motion was understood by any spacer who had spent their life in zero-g.

While Robert was thinking about the pros and maybe long term cons of one of the Colonial supplied the heading of the 660m long ship slowly changed so that it was pointed at the twin stars. They would be spending the rest of the 24 hour cycle here, before moving closer to their target system for this part of the shakedown cruise. The next day would give the crew a rest, and allow them to settle into the routine of a normal space deployment.

"Sir," came the voice of the XO through the intercom. "We have arrived in our target system. I have directed all engineers to run their post mission checks on both drives, and to start the sail deployment."

Robert picked up the handset to reply. "Thank you, Jules. I will be there in a few minutes. Good job."

Robert disconnected the line so that he could finish his report. He did not need a lot of time type out his thoughts on Benedict. The after action report for the combat drill would be clear enough.

About half an hour before he was to take his shift, Robert entered the bridge to get a status update. As soon as he slid his feet into the floor mounted slippers he stated getting an update from his staff. It seemed that everyone was already sliding back into familiar habits. It was a good, almost homecoming like feeling.

"Captain," reported a briefing crewman. "The Engineering Department reports the Colonial jump drive spun down and in safe mode. The jump sail is deployed, locked, and has taken over supplying power to the ship's power grid. The reactor is powered down but is on a ten minute restart protocol."

The two old enlisted crewmen read from their displays. If Robert had stayed in the active service after the last supply mission he would have been near mandatory retirement age, just like these two spacers. There were times when he wished he had, but now he had considered that had he retired he would never have been allowed to participate in this mission. "The world works in mysterious ways," he thought as he finished receiving the reports.

Robert looked to his old friend and gave a professional and knowing smile. "Jules, I think we will start shift change ahead of schedule. I will be here for a few more hours. Why don't you call it a day? I still have to re-read and finish my reports from the home system."

"You don't have to tell me twice Captain," said the XO. "I've been short on sleep ever since I got recalled." The last was called over the XO shoulder as he floated out of the bridge. He had already started making his way to his quarters for some much deserved rest.

Several hours latter

Well into Robert's shift, the sensor operator called out.

"Sir, I have detected a jump signature. It was very weak and on a bearing towards one of the rocky planets. I picked it up on light speed systems, so it has been there for at least a few hours."

The enlisted operator was nervous, but he had done this before. It was just a matter of knocking off the rust and getting into the pattern of things again. He had transferred in from the Zug when he had found out that the Styx was coming out of a refit cycle. He had just been a small craft bay person, even if a senior one, on the last trip out. This time he did not have a million tons of warship between him and the crazy robots that wanted to destroy all human life.

Robert checked his monitors and then the time. It might be the Themis, but there was no way to be certain.

"Stay on it," he ordered. "Let me know if it moves. Please make sure that our emissions control protocols are being followed."

He shrugged. "We are one small dot in a big-ass sky, as long as we do not make noise. Whoever it is will have to come looking for us. The odds of it being Cylons on this side of our space and in this system are very small, but we will play it safe"

Captain Copeland gave the enlisted man a sly smile and pitched his voice to carry to the rest of the bridge. "I will bet you a bottle that Benedict is playing games with us."

The sensor operator was the closest to where Robert's chair was mounted, so he was able to turn to look at his captain. He met his captain's grin, but a hint of uneasiness showed around his eyes. He was very careful and pitched his voice a little lower. He did not want to embarrass himself, at least not this early in what should be a long mission.

"Sir, are you starting the board early?" he asked. "I am still not going to take that bet. But if you want the score board put up I will let the COB know. I think we can have it set up by the end of next set of jumps."

The External Supply Fleet had a tradition of posting a fleet wide matrix of bets. It listed who owed who, what, and what each of the bets was about. The senior enlisted person on each ship had supervised it so that it did not get out of hand and to monitor any problems that might come up. It was a public notice of debts that must be settled when the fleet returned home and not before.

The most popular currency used in the betting, was measured in bottles of Scotch whisky. Those were rare, only available in the Inner Sphere. It was not the only commodity bet, but it was the most popular. That was because of the resale value, when they returned to the hidden system, they all called home.

Robert had to fight to keep a sly smile from coming to his face. "I think we will hold off on the betting boards, for now. We don't know exactly who will be going on the main run. I will remind you that we might not be going on one after these shake down cruises."

The pleasant conversation was interrupted by an audible warning from the sensor console.

"Jump detected!" said the operator. "50km starboard side… very small. Colonial or Cylon type… IFF code coming in. It's one of ours!"

Captain Copeland could see the systems operator visibly relax when the IFF confirmation showed the contact as friendly. His hand was almost to the exposed GQ alarms when the threat icon had gone from white of unknown to green of a friendly ship. The Green icon was just as quickly joined by a name of the "Friendly" vessel. It was about as Robert had expected and he was not surprised by the small craft.

Copeland looked at this screen and nodded to the radar operator. "That is what I was waiting on. If you would contact the fighter and say 'hi' please."

The Captain had been keeping an eye on the time. It had been getting close to the time that their escort had to be in place. Or their absence would signal an abort of the mission with an emergency return to home port. Robert was thinking that a certain Captain had been pushing as near to the deadline as he could without breaking his orders. That was a very fine line that very few experienced ship's commanders could pull off for long.

The communication station operator's head came up and her hand flew to the headset coved ear. "Sir, Message coming in. Putting it on Speaker." He hadn't asked for that, but she had worked with him before and knew how he worked. More importantly, she knew what he thought was important.

From speakers around the room, a young strong male voice come out. "Styx this is Hammer 7. Do you read, over?"

Robert pushed a button and activated his helmet-mounted microphone. "Hammer, this is Styx Actual. It is good to see you. So, is that your ride hiding in system near one of the rocks?"

Robert could hear the catch in the voice of the fighter. Robert could tell that they younger man did not want to cause trouble between two ships' captains. Those can be very deep and predator infested waters.

"Yes, Sir. Captain Benedict has been using the Colonial-built scanning systems to look for any Tylium deposits closer into the solar masses. I was sent out to let you know that we were in system. If you run into trouble, all you need to do is call out on "Guard". He is expecting the scanning of this system to take all cycle using the Colonial's "outdated systems".

Robert could hear the quote marks on the last set of words. It seemed to him that the Themis' captain was not winning over his crew.

"Hammer this is Actual," he replied. "Thank you for the heads up. You and your people have a warm roost whenever you need it or if you need a break. Styx Actual out."

Robert knew this invitation would be passed along, to the other aerofighter pilots. It would go a long way to show that there was no bad blood between him and the crew of the Themis. It was just their ship's Captain on his target list. Of course, that could be bad enough.

There was a moment before the pilot's reply. "Actual, Hammer. Thank you for the invite. I will pass it along. Good luck. We will see you in another twenty four hours, or so. Hammer is out of here."

The fighter turned on its main axis and fired is massive aft mounted engines. It was a showy way to add some km between it and the larger JumpShip after it had drifted closer. It was not necessary, but it was it was a nice safety measure of distance. Its Colonial-made jump engine spun up, and then it disappeared. The drive ripped the hundred ton fighter out of the area in a flash.