Chapter 1 (A Fresh Start)
Traeger stood on the observation deck looking out over Docking arm Two of Vincent Station. It was bittersweet to stand on the station again. He hadn't been there since the Trinity decommissioning ceremony. The warship had been his home for over six years, but due to battle damage, her Hull had been added to the station and reconfigured to be a permanent secondary Hull. The ceremony was beautiful. The fleeters had shown great honor and respect to Colonel Hune Bear, his flag ship, and the men and women that served aboard her. The remainder of the crew were reassigned to new and amazing ships, but none held the power or awe inspiring prowess of the Trinity. Of course he was a bit biased.
Now he stared out of the port windows at the large yellow and rust colored mining Ship that he had registered as the Free Mining Ship Sunshine and chuckled. The modified Action IV Bulk Freighter had been reconfigured to be a mining ship with two hard Docking ports, one other mid dorsal region of the ship, and one on the forward ventral section. Each of these Docking ports had airlock to allow access to the ship, but were also designed with a crosswork of reinforced struts like arms that could grab onto an asteroid and hold it in place for transport.
The Aft cargo bay could be used to bring in asteroid sections cut apart by a single point laser system and brought aboard by three short range Tractor Beams. There was also a secondary bay just large enough for a small emergency shuttle just above the main cargo bay. The crew had no shuttle pod, only the larger 578-R Transport Shuttle which could hold up to 10 people and had its own small hyperdrive rated for 5 ly per starfall. The two vessels look like they were made as a matching pair even though made by different companies. Traeger had the techs on Vincent Station modify the dorsal Docking bay modified to accommodate the 30.1 meter shuttle.
Both ships had somehow been painted the same school bus yellow when they were manufactured and even the design lines were similar. When Traeger had seen the sunshine, even as old and battered as it was, he knew it was the right ship for them.
A message was written by the previous crew on the side of the ship. It read: Sunshine's Fire Burn All Who Let Go. Both the graffiti artist and the meaning of his motto were unknown to all persons involved in the sale of the ship. It was written from stern to bow on the starboard side taking up nearly all of the ship's 100 meter length. The end of the sentence was punctuated by a stylized smiling sun. All of this had been done with white paint, giving it the look of a child's sidewalk chalk drawing.
Traeger barely noticed a flicker of movement outside the port windows before he heard his comms unit chime. He raised his right arm to chest height then used his left to activate the device. " Go for Traeger," His gruff voice called out, slightly echoing in the empty observation deck.
"Traeger, it's Zack. I'm coming in for Docking on the Sunshine."
"Yeah, I see you Zack. Don't scratch my bus on your way in." Traeger imagined his pilot rolling his eyes at the comment. The young man was new to The team, having only joined one year ago, after the Trinity's escape from the Ithkon and joining the fleeters to found the Second Galactic Concord. Zack was a human from the Planet Delassia where he was a struggling shuttle pilot unable to climb out from under his parent's life debt. Rather than being shipped off to a Remote colony in indentured service, Treager had scratched together enough to pay off the debt and join his team. They had been mercs and salvagers ever since.
"It's not like you would be able to tell. This shuttle had been beaten like a red-headed step child before you ever laid eyes on it. This thing has more scratches and dents than that old dumpster behind my last apartment building".
The shuttle, a large craft, twice as long and tall as a double decker bus, buttery yellow, and damaged by what looked like several close calls and even some light weapons fire swooped in on maneuvering thrusters only and began lowering itself into the teeth of the asteroid stabilizers on the top of the ship. Over the comms, Trager heard the metallic thud of the Docking clamps and the airlock seal. The crew could now use the floor hatch on deck two of the shuttle to enter the Sunshine.
"The Short Bus has landed. We'll meet you onboard." Zack had made a face when he said the shuttle's name. Treager heard it in his voice. They had argued a few times about it, but considering the small size of the shuttle and the color it was painted it made sense to Traeger. "Besides, with the average level of emotional maturity of her crew, it makes perfect sense". That had received a sarcastic moan from Eli Barrons and Bryan Ngaru, a guffaw and being flipped off by Terin Caspo, and a hopeless shake of Zack Riffin's head. Traeger had known the other three since basic training back on their homework, the planet Col. Bear's ship had gotten its name from, but he was glad to see that Zack hadn't taken offense to his comment. There was no room for people to get butt-hurt in this small crew.
"I have to sign off on our last minute supplies. You radio ahead to confirm Sunshine's slip on Concord One. I don't want to waste two weeks in transit if we can make it to Norellis Drift by tomorrow."
"Eye-ey Captain." Zack's voice dripped in sarcasm this time. Traeger was listed as Captain in the registry for the Sunshine, but all five men had equal stakes of ownership on the title. Traeger had been the one to find the ship, negotiate a price and convince his friend William Rion to give the crew a large enough loan to buy the ship, license and supplies to start the venture. So, the crew voted him Captain. No one said they couldn't give him shit about it though.
"It's good to have connections", Traeger thought to himself as he turned to move towards the turbo-lift. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Shit." he said under his breath. Standing in his way was a young Lieutenant in a fresh, crisp StarForce uniform. Emily Jameson was the Dockmaster on Vincent Station. She was also a gorgeous, perky blonde with bright blue eyes, perfect hair, and a smile that occasionally registered on the megawatt scale. In all, half the men Traeger knew on the station fantasized about her regularly, even some of the non-human ones.
"Hello, Captain Traeger. It looks as though you will be leaving us soon." Her voice was set and sweet, but not child-like. She stood straight backed, which accentuated her top heavy form, her hands clasped behind her. There was a twinkle in her eye, but that was nothing unusual. It was the way her lips were bowed in a barely perceptible smile that struck him. She knew something, and he wasn't going to like it.
"Yep." Traeger fought the urge to salute her. He wasn't in the service anymore. Even when he had, they would have been the same rank. With his right hand, he brushed back his dark hair, then felt the stubble on his slightly cleft chin. He knew he was more scruffy than last time they had met. When Traeger left The Concord military, he and his team had signed on to a House Dunsidan Cargo/salvage ship heading to sector three. He had even earned enough money to buy the "Short Bus" on Chargon Station and pay to have it brought back.
"I know you didn't come all the way down here to see me off. Did I forget some regulations or not sign some paperwork?" as beautiful as she was, Traeger knew she wasn't here to see him in a personal capacity. She wasn't his type, and he wasn't hers. There had never been anything personal between them.
Jameson's smile climbed a few notches and she shook her head slightly. "Not on my end, but Admiral Headvidge wants to see you before you leave."
"Double shit!" The comment was in his head but Traeger was unable to hide the feeling from his face. Jameson noticed right away and giggled. There was no bad blood between Traeger and Rear Admiral Renee Hedvedge. Just the opposite. Hedvidge was a former black ops team member in the (insert name here) until she had injured her knee on a dark mission. Then she transferred to Mech pilot on the Trinity. They met onboard, and man did he have it bad for her. She was the most bad assed woman he had ever met. At the time, she had been twenty one (only one year younger than him) beautiful and single. They were the same rank back then too. And of course she didn't want anything to do with him at all.
While Traeger's career had become dormant, Renee had excelled. It only took her four years to rise in ranks and become Captain of a Battlemech Star. Then, when The Trinity joined forces with the fleeters, She was promoted to Major. It didn't take long for her to take over Vincent Station and she rose to Colonel. Of course, the hard charger that she was, the President of the Concord Council had personally asked her to take command of Sector One and promoted her to Rear Admiral.
And it was too…admirable, he thought. Renee was definitely a woman he could get behind in more than one way. He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts. "Tell her I can't right now. As soon as I finish business on the lower decks, I will come see her." He moved around Jameson and stepped onto the lift.
"She's not going to like being kept waiting. She expects results when she gives an order." Again with the teasing smile. Traeger couldn't figure it out. What was going on here?
"Then remind her that I'm not in StarForce anymore and I will see her as soon as I can." The doors to the lift closed and he felt the slight sensation of moving down to the cargo and supply area of the station. He was mildly surprised that Emily didn't order the lift to halt and stop him from leaving but he got away and fully intended on finishing his business so that he could get off the station.
Being a civilian ship, the sunshine couldn't get all of the supplies that Traeger had requested. Even being former military, he couldn't requisition any kind of weapons or ammunition. He also couldn't get any of the unique technology the Concord used in their very shiny ships. He was able to order several crates of MREs and enough food cubes to make up the rest of their supplies so that they wouldn't need to bring on more consumables for at least 4 months. That wasn't very long in the grand scheme of things, but depending on where they went and how much credits they made, it seemed doable. The MREs seemed like a seven course meal at a five-star restaurant in comparison to the very Bland food cubes. They were solid cubes and rectangles of concentrated vitamins, protein and sugars that were just nutritional enough to keep a crew member alive. Well maybe it was more surviving because that's not what Traeger considered living.
Six DrD's (dedicated repair droids) and zero unit (a bipedal worker droid) were the next things to be loaded. Then came the four Arc rifles that were basically large tavern guns that were safe to use on a ship without risking a Hull breach. And finally there was the physical media and entertainment units they had each ordered. The upgraded computers and software had already been installed, but they would have to upload all of their personal data by hand. Even the software upgrades for the zero unit would be in Ngaru's skilled hands.
At the moment, Ngaru was busy doing final checks on the ship's Info-trader systems. Outside of Concord military and government agencies, almost no one had FTL communications. Mass Transceivers were used to send vital information from one star system to each other by opening micro fissures into Hyperspace and beaming said information at the speed of light to another fixed point, much like Making Starfall and then Starrise at your intended destination in a starship. Since not everyone could afford, or even have access to a drive-sat (Drivespace Satellite), Info-traders were hired to carry secured data from one system to the next. Mostly things like entertainment programs, video and text based mail, and advertisements were sent in this fashion. Even more important was Galactic news. Info-traders helped the galaxy feel like more of a society than far-flung worlds alone in the night.
Info-trader systems onboard a starship were isolated tamperproof computer and communication networks that the crew could not directly access. Massive amounts of data are uploaded into the system by the local grid and sealed. Then when the ship arrives in the designated star system, the new local grid automatically connects to the info-trader system and begins a download. The crew is automatically paid for the delivery and everyone is secure in the knowledge that they are male was not tampered with.
Bryan Ngaru was amazed as he ran diagnostics on the new computer before giving the green light to Station command. Once they arrived on the Norellis Drift, the crew would be paid without having touched a single crate or cargo pod. Nor would they have to strip down any asteroids for metals or minerals. It was a great way to earn a more passive income. At each port of call, when they registered a flight plan, if the local grid had an info-dump going their way and the Sunshine's system could handle it, the crew would receive an offer.
Ngaru rubbed his hands together in excitement. It was finally time for him and his friends to set out on their own. The Sunshine was originally set up to house a crew of twenty eight. The Bridge crew each had a cabin of their own, and five cabins housing four crew members each. Since there were only five of them on board, he wouldn't even have to share a room with anybody for a while, which was a major improvement over Terin"s music playing all night or Eli's snoring.
Bryan thought back to his childhood, after his parents escaped from the Draconis Combine and ran to the Periphery where they were hired by the 242nd Light Horse under Col. Bear, it had been starport housing, shipboard housing or Starbase housing. He had never had a place of his own, sharing everything like a member of a commune. Now he was free, an equal partner. He missed his family, but they had died in Clan Jade Falcon's attack on Planet Trinity long ago. There was Noone to return home to, even if it were possible. The men of his team were his family now.
Finished with his testing of the Info-trader system he pulled his Zphone from his pocket and thumbed the screen to activate it. He scanned the system's display and sent the activation code to Station command. The all clear signal and station pinging the system would automatically show up on the bridge as well, so he didn't bother calling it in. It would be several hours before they hitched a ride with Concord One to the Norellis Drift, so Ngaru turned his attention to the next task. He was remotely linked to the Zero unit's internal computer and brought up the initial menu. Finding what he wanted, he selected the V.I. menu (virtual intelligence, a limited version of an AI, but not sentient). The menu cycled and gave a fresh prompt: Please select the basic personality profile you wish to load for your zero unit.
Ngaru smiled. "This should be fun".
Down in the Aft cargo hold, Eli Barrons went through the supplies they had already found left behind on the Sunshine. Some equipment they expected, like the Medium sized, automated drilling rig they could walk out on its six hydronic legs and use to burrow very precise holes in an asteroid for core samples and air shafts. Eli was surprised to see the manual for the rig claimed it could drill nearly any surface Short of neutronium (the super dense metal refined from materiel found on the surface of a neutron star and used for starship armor).
Other equipment he found in storage lockers were surprising, like First aid kits, pharmaceuticals, six trauma pack I's, 4 trauma pack II's, 10 spare jumpsuits, 10 respirator masks, 12 emergency e-Suits (soft) with vacuum masks and flashlights. Added to the equipment they already carried and some minor tool kits Traeger was picking up and they seemed to be in good shape for their maiden voyage.
More than anything, Eli was looking forward to Docking with Concord One. The itinerary available on the grid said that the massive star carrier had just returned from a trade mission with the people of Eldora, a water world. This meant that he could use some of his personal credits to get fresh seafood for the eleven hours they traveled with her.
Normal travel through Drivespace took roughly five days, no matter how far you travelled. A ship's stardrive had two functions. First it covered the ship in an envelope of tachyon, then it opened a rift that the ship "fell" into. Thus a starfall. In this subspace realm, the tachyons allow the ship to move along rivers and eddys of exotic particles similar to a wormhole. The tachyon field degrades over five days. When the field can no longer support the ship, the stardrive opens another rift, allowing the ship to emerge. Thus a Starrise.
Since the Sunshine can only move 10 light years per Starfall, and the Norellis Drift is farther than that, Sunshine would have to "jump" twice to get there. In-between jumps, the Stardrive has to recharge its tachyon particles, which takes about fifteen hours. In total, it would take Sunshine ten days and fifteen hours to get to the Drift one way. That entire time, the ship could not change speed or course. Because of this, star carriers, with a capacity for up to 50 light year jumps tend to have Docking collars that allow smaller vessels to piggyback on these massive ships.
When the fleeters arrived and took over the star carrier now called Concord One, they realized a very simple component of their unique technology allowed them to do something remarkable. A piece of their very advanced engines known as a time/space drive coil, originally designed to generate a subspace field (the so-called warp field or a warp bubble) which distort space-time and propels the bubble and spaceship in the bubble forward, allowed physical objects to move at near light speed in drivespace much like data signals from a drive-sat. When used in conjunction with a stardrive, Concord ships could now move through drivespace in only eleven hours. Concord One can travel farther in eleven hour than the Sunshine can do in a month of travel.
In addition, Concord One is massive, measuring just over eight kilometers long and housing up to two-hundred and fifty thousand sentient beings. The ship has entire communities on board with hotels, entertainment, restaurants and even shopping unique to each one. Eli had heard that the Eldoran sector had amazing food. He had also heard that many crew members from the Trinity and the Loxley had taken up residence in part of the ship. He intended to look up a few people while he was there. The Zphones used by the crew of the Sunshine were compatible with communications on Concord One. That should make things easier.
In the Aft compartment of deck one of the Sunshine, there was a small shuttle bay that housed no shuttle. Terin Caspo had taken to the space immediately, christening it the "garage". It had taken some doing and the bulk of his personal credits, but he had found an old speeder bike on Delassia and had it shipped to VincentStation, then loaded on board the Sunshine. With tools he had made in the replomat on the station, he planned to rebuild the speeder bike and restore it to prestige condition. To complete the atmosphere of the garage, he had even ordered a pin-up calendar from Delassia featuring bikini clad human females and a few aliens alike.
When Traeger had asked Terin how he planned to get the speeder from orbit to the surface of a planet to test or ride it, Caspo had replied, "Who the hell cares! The point of a speeder is to work on it and look cool to chick's! I'll learn how to ride it later."
"You mean you don't even know how to ride one?" Traeger was treated to a lazy shrug. The Captain left the garage without another word.
As soon as Zack slid down the ladder from the dorsal hatch, he took a deep breath as his boots hit the deck plating. In his mind, that would be the moment he would realize he had arrived in his new home. Unfortunately that's not what happened. Instead, he immediately began coughing. His lungs took in the dust and machine oil smell of the mining ship and were instantly overwhelmed. He covered his nose and mouth with the sleeve of his flight suit and slowed his breathing. I guess we need somebody to take a look at those atmospheric scrubbers.
That seemed very curious to Zack. He had grown up in the slums of Delassia. Poor air quality was a leading cause of death in the lower city. Had only a few weeks of living on a Concord Space station spoiled him that much? Obviously there were no fleeters on the repair crew Traeger had hired to work on Sunshine. They would never have left the environmental controls in this shape. No biggie. He would acclimate.
Zack shook his collar length blonde hair free of his flight suit and headed towards the bridge. In only one year he had gone from owing his parent's life debt to being a partner in the ship's LLC. Soon, he hoped to save enough to pay off his brother-in-law's debt to free his sister and his nephew from that same type of crippling debt.
He arrived on the bridge and immediately sat in the pilot's seat, initiating preflight protocols. It made him a little sad when it occurred to him there was no one he needed to say goodbye to.