Chapter 8

By Cliff

Beta and Clean up: Dan (Do to real life he was not able to complete. Being my Beta reader is very hard and time-consuming work)

Reviewed by Hotpoint.

1 Nov 3046

L1 around New Circe

From orbit? The object looked like an old-style shotgun, just huge but also a lot uglier than any shotgun that had ever been made. The Barrel was made up of the JumpShip SLS Styx that was 660m and underslung or strapped to her outer hull. It was the Scout class JumpShip that was "only" 273m long. Three smaller bumps were sticking out from the side of the long ship called Styx, which did not have a shotgun analog. Those bumps were the Leopard class CV Hobgoblin, the Mule class cargo ship Lisbon Maru, and the Trojan class blockade runner that was now called the White Rabbit. They all were ready for the jump, which would launch this mission.

This massive stuck together piece of modern art metal was at the L1 point around a cold but habitable planet. It was now the home of two cultures, one running from the group calling themselves the Clans and the other running from a group of thinking robots called Cylons. Both groups of enemies would have wiped out the people living below on the planet. All without a thought of mercy given to anyone on that might have gotten in the way.

This null gravity point was not the busiest area of activity around the planet, but there was a strong sense of a mad rush. Today was the big day for the group at L1, The Station, and the major military bases on the planet. The equipment had completed all of the required testing. And it had passed, or it had failed. Then the failed equipment had been replaced and tested, again. The crew drills were complete, and if one of them had failed the tests? They were replaced with someone who could do the job required, and at the required skill level. Now they were ready for the real test, which would not only risk their lives, but all of the lives of their families remaining back home.

The last two small craft that docked with this abomination were the most important. The first one? It was a modified Mark VII landing boat that was only about 20 years old. Still it had been reworked into fuel tanker, which could carry 28 tons of the not so user-friendly fuel called refined Tylium. The Styx did not need the whole full load the little craft was carrying. The Styx only needed a topping off her newly made fuel tanks, before she started the supply run.

When the little craft left the small craft bay again, she would be 15 tons lighter. This special fuel would have to last the Styx and her convoy, the entire trip to and from the area called the Inner Sphere. A last-minute meeting had called the ship's Captain and XO back to The Station a few thousand miles away. But they were returning now, and they were in the last small craft docking to the odd-looking mass of metal, plastic, and organics.

Captain Copeland, Lt Vaun, and the pilot were the only people on this last flight. While the two officers were in their meeting, the resourceful pilot had taken the opportunity to pick up a few more cases of perishables food to bring along on this trip. So, the Mark 7 was filled with items that had a very short shelf life, before they went bad. The running joke on the long ship, was that they were not going to be able to use the shower for weeks. At least not until they eat their way to the device first, by eating through the stores.

Captain Copeland gave the pilot a change of orders at the last minute, and the little 150ton ship altered course. It did a close flyby of the mother JumpShip. It had starting from the Stern just forward of the great energy collecting sail, and then started working its way forward towards the bow of the ship. This might possibly be the last time; he would be able to have this view of his command for a very long time. That is unless something catastrophic happened, then the ship would not look as good as it did now.

As they glided down the length of the modified Tramp class ship, Captain Copeland could pick out the little details of his command. While they had run the last set of tests on her components. Even the whole ship had been freshly painted, from bow to stern and the jump sail. It was not a shiny or flashy paint scheme, but it had been artfully done anyway. It was meant to look, well used. So, there where various kinds of marks on the hull but was only for show. Someone would have to be walking on the hull, to know that it was not real damage or wear marks on the outer hull. And that was one thing, which Robert was not planning to let that happen, if they were not part of his crew.

As the small craft came to the rounded bow. They could see the name of the great ship in letters several meters tall, gone was the prefix SLS. In its had been replaced with the letter's M/V, it was the naming conventions used by all Houses in the Inner Sphere for nonmilitary vessels. It was a holdover from the days before the Star League had formed. The letters simply stood for Merchant Vessel, and under the rules of combat, she should be safe from most attackers. Below the name in large letters was still saying Styx, in slightly smaller letters than the ships name, was name of this operation and owners. It announces Copeland Supply, Salvage, and Resale and listed them as the owners of his ship. Robert could not help but feel the heart in his chest thump loudly.

The landing craft entered the small craft bay and settled down on the metal deck. When the great metal bay doors closed, and a breathable atmosphere was pumped in to fill the space. The craft opened and the crew could leave without the use of space suits. When the docking bay was safe to enter, the bay crew entered and started to tie down the craft as the occupants exited it. There was not enough time to do just one thing at a time, not today.

"Robert, I know it is spilled milk but, it still would have been nice to have the capital grade DRADIS to go along with HPG system they put in, I think their just pinching pennies on us." Groused the XO, as they floated their way to the bridge of the large interstellar vessel.

"I know, but they were right. We only had room for one, and they looked at it from all sides. You and I both, saw the final report, if they had put in a DRADIS system that would be able to detect any Tylium deposit, that far out form a star? It would have been massive. We would have lost all of the little cargo space we have left on the Styx. That just happened to be what we are using for food or fuel."

Robert gave his longtime friend smile and slipped into the proper usage. "I don't know about you, but I like the idea of having fresh greens for a few months. Maybe we can have a Raptor on one of these trips, if they work out. They are small enough that they could get in close into each of the systems we pass. Then they could have a look around without being spotted by any locals." The Raptor's small mass and odd construction made them a little harder to detect than an aero fighter of similar mass at least in a powered down condition.

The two officers stopped talking as they floated into the bridge of the ship together. The two officers split up upon entering the bridge and the hatch silently closing behind them. They would check on every position for an update, before they return to their seats and started strapping into their seats. It was not "safe" to be floating around when you moved light years in almost a blink of an eye.

Robert looked around the bridge of his ship, after the last strap was clipped into place. "XO, COB are we ready to jump?" He was using his "command voice" when he was acting as the Captain of the great ship.

Both men replied, one after the other and they stuck to a well-rehearsed script. "Sir! All systems are green. All stations report ready for jump, and all attached vessels report ready to jump. We can jump on your command."

With that bit of stage work done, it was time for the next bit of the play to start played by him. "Communications, please contact Traffic Control and let them know, we are ready to jump. We are wanting to set the clock for a jump in sixty minutes. If we need to hold the jump? They need to let us know."

The Captain was just fallowing the rules, for when a ship was this close to the planet. Sometimes a second ship would stray too close to a ship preparing for jump in the high traffic area. When something like that happened? It was bad news for both ships, and the SLDF could not afford too many accidents like that to happen. It was Traffic Control's job to make sure this type of event did not happen. It was just too bad that JumpShip's crew would be the ones to also pay for it, if they failed to do their jobs.

The countdown clock in the Traffic Control, and all the ships that were tied together slowly worked down to zero. One second the ship was there, and then next? It was gone in a flash of light and released energy. On the positive side, by using the K-F drive, this area of space was now free of obstructions even to sand sized objects in a large bubble of area.

Very few people noticed it when the oddly looking ship had left that spot of space. The few people who did see or notice the ship jump. To them? It was just another ship on a supply run, to support the effort to combat the Cylons. One of the intelligences in the local area that did notice them jump. Only it was a warship, that likes to watch and to figure out puzzles. At least that was what she like to do in her off time. Sometimes that was a good thing, and sometimes it was sooooo not a good thing. Only time would tell in what category this was going to fall into.

SLS Nike had been casually watching the Tramp class jumpship since the day it had jump to the L1 point. She had been gathering information about the ship, her crew, and cargos going to it on her "free time". She filed all the information away, for when she had time. She would work the problem only then. Right now? She was reviewing the repair and upgrade plans for her body. After that? If she got bored enough, she would revisit this puzzle. She did put a mark on the file, which said it was a worthwhile puzzle for her to try to figure out. It would be looked at sooner than other projects she worked in her free time.

The trip was planned on the idea, that they would travel about a hundred light years every day. Just as with the other shakedown runs had been planned. The Styx would stay in the voids between the stars as much as possible, until the last jump of the day. The end of day jump would put them in a system, which was not supposed to be inhabited. Or at least those systems had been that way, in last the report as not having ben inhabited. This would speed up their journey. Everyone would stay together in one mass of moving life supporting structure, until the convoy commander gave the order to split off from the larger ship.

On the beginning of the twelfth day, they were 1100 light years from home. The pattern had to change the afternoon on the eleventh day. That was when they had passed the milestone of the point on the star map that high command had given Copeland. It was the point, which they had reached the farthest any scout SLDF had been in a dozen years. Every system after this one would be an unknown quantity, and it in increasing levels of danger.

From now on. The Styx would do four of the twenty light year jumps, and then wait in the deep of space. The Hobgoblin would detach from its mother ship, and then jump on her own to the star system they had planned to say for the rest of the day. It was now going to start slowing their progress to the Inner Sphere, but only a little bit. The security this proved was well worth the time, and the use of some of the limited special fuel.

The Hobgoblin mission was to jump in at a nonstandard point stay hidden and scout the system for any threats. If it found any signs that humans might be able to detect the arrival of a jumpship at a jump point? It would have to get stealthy back to the Styx and warn them away from that threat star system. No one must know about the Colonial tech jump drive, not all cost.

On Day twelve this turned out not to be an issue. But on day thirteen? The Hobgoblin jump into a system, and it picked up a jumpship at the zenith jump point, with its sails fully deployed. From the broadcast between it and a Union class dropship burning towards an inner planet. The Merchant class jumpship was identified as a member of ComStar and operating under the Explore Corps flag. The Hobgoblin used it low energy thrusters to put a gas giant between the two ships, and itself. Luckily the modified carrier had started moving, as soon as its passive sensors picked up the intruder.

She then spun up her jumpdrive to get out of the area, without anyone knowing it had been there. It took a few additional hours for the Hobgoblin to find a system, which was not inhabited for the group to spend the required down time. The stress level started to rise, as the one ship convoy now had proof they were almost to the Inner Sphere. It now was no longer a thought exercise. It was now all very real.

On the fourteenth day of traveling. The end system was known to have a very small colony on the only habitable planet in system. This was where scramble started again, to find a safe harbor. It would seem, that the scout found that the colony had grown since the last recorded visit by the Star League in Exile. Then there also was a little problem of a jumpship was at a pirate point near the planet. Three additional star systems were check by the modified Leopard, before a suitable system was found that the next phase of this mission required.

Robert noted in his log. That was getting to expensive in the Colonial supply fuel to keep going like this for much longer. They still had to get back home. They still had the "normal" jump system, but that would add years to the trip home.

After arriving at the zenith jump point of that unnamed system. The Leopard CV dropship did not reattach itself to the Styx, again. They were now acting as an outer line guard, while the rest of the ships worked to compete their tasks. These tasks had to be done, before they could start the next part of their mission. They had just spent the last eight hours traveling, instead of the almost 18 hours of traveling. Now it was time for the heavy lifting, hard work, and long hours to begin. One of the Mk 7's landing boats left a small bay on the Styx and angled, so it could approach the one small craft bay on the smaller Scout class jumpship.

This maneuver had been planned out for weeks, and they practiced every day. This was only done after the training traveling had been completed. This time, and for the first time. A remote access code was sent to the smaller jumpship. The battery system activated, and the door to the small craft bay opened to allow the craft to access the ship at a simple command. The 10-person skeleton crews in space suits exited the small craft and began the job of bring the ship back to life. While the new crew of the smaller jumpship was boarding and waking up their new home.

A second and larger group of space suited individuals started to exit the Styx, to work on their tasks for the day. They started the working on removing the entire set of tiedown shackles and lines, which had kept the smaller ship inside the jump field generated by the larger jumpship. It was tough and dangerous work. But by the time their work sifts had ended? There was some distance between the two interstellar ships. The distance would slow grow as the weak thrusters steadily worked on the mass of both ships.

It took eight days for the Scout to be checked out and her jump engine charged for use. Most of the time was spent just waiting for the massive engine to charge. After a day off, the new crew of the Scout went to work on running training test on themselves and their new home. With one more check. The word was given, and both ships pulled in the 1000m wide jump sails. While that was still going on? They started the countdown clocks for both ships, to jump to the next star system. A star system that was occupied by man and had been for hundreds of years. That was their next stop on this supply run. It was now time to start acting, like there cover.