It has been fourteen days since the boarding action when a message comes in from the Capitalist’s vessel. Alexis is summoned to the Bridge to get the message, it seems the mutiny attempt has done some damage to the cabin's communication relays that were being fixed. It takes her a few minutes to get there since she waits for the Warborg to come with her. She enters the Bridge going right to the Captain’s chair. “What is it?”
The communication technician looks over, another new face. “We have a call from the Conformity.”
“I wonder what they want to talk about now. Put it in the tank.”
The image of the old Captain appears. The man seems to be humming a tune before speaking, “This is Captain Harry Smith of the Explorer ship Vanguard II to the Classless Society. We are to far away for rapid communications so I will rattle on a bit and expect you to do the same.” There is some mirth to the man Alexis has to say. He continues with his talking, “You most likely do not know why we are here. The Vanguard is a construction ship as you know of the RX… Something line. Instead of carrying supplies for a colony we carry a disassembled Wormhole Gate. Once built we can instantly travel back to the Sol system. It saves us decades of travel and the need of supplies for such voyages. We still got a month or two before its operational.”
The Bridge is silent, the information has stunned the crew.
Alexis herself is feels a sense of relief. The danger of traveling for a hundred years with people who could pull the plug and kill her has weight heavily on her mind.
The man had never stopped talking. “It should be fully ready by three months after the tests, no need to rush thought and have something broken. When you are done with your flights to the planet you can come over. We will wait for you since you owe us. Communicate your estimated time when you get around to it. Vanguard II out.”
Alexis is not the first one in motion after this as it sinks in. One of the navigation team that has been quiet most of the time breaks the silence.
“Captain it will take us a four weeks pushing it. A safe burn could get us there in ten days.”
Alexis thinks for a moment, “Talk with Engineering on what they consider is safe with our current structure.”
“Yes Captain.” The man turns to the task at hand.
The general mood on the Bridge is much brighter with everyone smiling.
Alexis leans back thinking. Her metal hand going up and ends up by her ear as she remembers she doesn’t have hair to twist. The thought comes over her of how her hair will get caught in the metal hand.
Alexis is still musing over it when one of the crew comes up with a dataslate. The woman offers it to her, “These are the estimates Captain.”
Taking it Alexis can see they list the danger level for each speed to get to where the Classless Society, and the huge construct, is located. The woman looks over to get the name of the crewman, “Navigator Slader, get the plot for a 2 month travel time to them.”
The man nods taking the command. The woman hovers next to her for some reason.
“What is it?”
“Captain you might want to alert the crew of the intention to start the main engines.”
Alexis blinks and nods realizing what that would do if they were not prepared. She hits keys on her chair to open communications and sets it for ship wide. “Ship’s crew were are planning to burn the main engines. You will be told before hand when we start them, but for now put up stuff not needed.”
The woman leaves from the position she was and Alexis sighs in relief. She looks over to see Tirallo changing in to the Communications and smiles. “Tirallo, contact the Classless and let them know we will be planning to arrive at their location in an estimated 60 days.”
“Yes Captain.”
At least with Tirallo Alexis feels she has someone who she can trust in the ship crew. She has yet to put it to the test but feels the woman after what they were though would be on her side should more trouble occur.
Alexis decides to offer any crew the option to go down to the world to act as colonist. With the Wormhole thing allowing fast returns the world could quickly be needed by the great country so it can blossom once more. She is surprised at a number agree, mostly those first ones who were around during the mutiny, and allows them to go down with starting base gear. This trims the crew number and so defrosting of more personal is needed.
Later in the day after the last shuttle is returned the main engines are lit. Alexis gets to learn why the woman wanted others to know. The way the ship travels it always has had gravity. Not as strong as Earth’s but with massive thrust caused by the huge engines the gravity shifts dramatically and painfully heavy. The thrust is heavy as it builds up vector to the construction.
Alexis deals with it using the pills. Most of the other crew ends up going to the medical office for help themselves.
Once they have built up speed the ship once more goes ballistic reducing the feel of the gravity to a manageable level. The general mood of the crew is of relief they are going home.
Repairs keep going on at a much slower pace but the vessel has gotten close to as much as they could do without a dock and full shutdown.
With the extra time many have read the history that was brought over. The general consensus is that it is just propaganda and the country is just as strong as it ever was. The thought of it falling is just not something they can emotionally accept.
Alexis reads much of the military texts, more of slimming it as she reads she just knows it like schoolwork. She has Groerge summoned to her cabin. Unit Four has to let him pass but that is the security that Alexis feels she must accept now.
Groerge, “You called for me?”
Alexis looks from her reading. She slides back for a minute before speaking. “Yes, I want you to reset all the passwords on the ship and the shuttles.”
The man blinks surprised, “But isn’t that a bit extreme? I thought you had everything in control now.”
“Now yes. But if the Capitalists or crew try something again I might not have warning. This is just a layer of protection.”
“You are sounding paranoid.”
“Our government wanted to dump us in space and the crew trying to kill me makes thinking that way pretty reasonable.”
Groerge takes a step back from her venomous response. “Your… Point has been taken.”
“Have you sanitized the records?”
“They are.”
“That is one thing off my mind.”
Groerge steps back up, “It that rough?”
“Groerge I am in a nightmare of juggling dangerous objects. Drop one and people die. I can not trust another to do it.”
“You got a way out?”
Alexis dodges the question, “I am making sure it is my orders so you will not be arrested for anything you do. I am fine with what all I am doing. I could not sleep at night otherwise.”
Groerge nods and leaves the woman.
Alexis goes back to reading the military protocols and rules. A pain pill helps her feel better. She mutters, “Ghim I could really use you in my bed.”
The Classless Society lags behind the Conformity as they travel to the huge construct in space. Alexis decided to take it on more conservative approach then otherwise could have done has more then the age of the vessel. Its fuel reserves while should have been easy to travel back to Earth are actually very low due to the loss over centuries of constant need as it waited for them to awaken.
The RX-39 design was to bring huge loads of materials to a new colony from Earth and the Capitalists used it for another purpose. There are two large cargo holds located at the Zenith and Nadir points of the station. The construct it brought is a vast space station in the shape of a huge metal ring with solar panels spreading along its outer edge from it. Sensor arrays dot the out edges at the base many of the solar panels. The hole in the middle is over a kilometer in size allowing any of the RX series spacecraft to fly right through it.
Reading from the disk it is eye opening how the system of exploration has changed. The new way of exploration is to send out the massive RX-39s with what is an artificial wormhole generator to a system with a construction crew. They build the massive station and then will use it to return home. Other ships will come though the built gate to explore the system and use it as a short cut to go deeper in to the galaxy. The RX-38s would go in to populate. All systems are said to have a few personal to work the gate and scientists to scan the system. She finds it minorly amusing that all vessels still use the basic frame of the design her country made even if they are made later.
Alexis has little time to relax as she reads on the military manuals. While she knows she never read such before just looking over brings the information to the fore of her mind. Trying a weapons manual she finds she knows all the parts to the diskshooter as she reads and how to use them.
Once back to Earth she has to make a choice, the easier is to run. Her own sense of patriotism keeps her from planning such in the hopes she can do more good in the great country then as a traitor to it.
Groerge makes visits at times and this time he comes with some damning evidence. “They intentionally set you up.”
Alexis looks up from the reader, “Set me up for what?”
The man holds out a dataslate. “They kept the calls from the Vanguard II from you as it approached before the boarding action.”
The shorter woman sits straight up and grabs the dataslate. She hits the keys and listens. The recordings go on for 10 minutes. Alexis nearly smashes it at the end. “They knew and kept it from me. People died for nothing.”
“The ones who covered these up you left on the planet.”
The metal hand moved gripping only air as Alexis fights her rage from lashing out. Groerge backs up a few steps almost casually to make sure he is out of her reach.
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Control comes and she looks up, “Well I can not do anything to them right now, tempted as I am to turn around. It cost us a lot of good people and equipment.”
“Well it did save lives with those drugs.”
As much as Alexis would like to argue that point she can’t. They would never have been near the Fascists and many would have died before it was learned and more till they could have gotten close enough to get the medicine.
“Anyways Groerge, it is to late to do more to them. I doubt half of them will survive till the next ship arrives.”
“You are taking it better then I thought. I expected you to hop in the shuttle and fly back to bomb them out of existence.”
Alexis sighs, “The thought was there but I have more concerns.” She looks to the man. “Concerns you are best to not know.”
“I can handle…”
She cuts him off, “You can’t handle it! You had a life more sheltered then mine. Even with what you learned on the computers.”
The 3 months it takes to get to the destination goes by way to fast for Alexis. The rest of the crew is abuzz as she comes back on to the bridge. The holotank shows the scale of the ring to their ship and it is startling. Someone put up a camera view of it and Alexis stares at it amazed at the size.
Tirallo breaks the spell on her with some question. Alexis looks over as the woman repeats her question. “Captain, did you want to talk to them?”
“Who?”
“Captain Smith of the Classless.”
“Oh. Put it in the tank.”
The large central holotank has the Capitalist captain appear. Alexis is surprised as the man is clean-shaven and looks respectable instead of the previous times.
Captain Smith smiles, “Captain so nice to see you.”
Alexis nods, “I have something to tell you first before I can do pleasantries.” She continues having expected communication lag. “Several of my crew had deliberately hid your messages you sent when you thought us derelict from me. They caused the deaths of both our crews.”
Smith has yet to receive her message but the crew has turned around staring at her. They all are stunned at the news.
Alexis is still talking to the holotank. “I have dealt with them, some permanently. Oh, and hi.”
Smith’s face goes through expressions from amusement to a darker look as he gets the full message. Alexis waits for the man to scream at her. The rest of the crew is still quiet looking to find out what happens now.
Smith purses his lips and then finally speaks after a pause longer then the communication lag would warrant. There are voices of outrage from his side but not in the view. “Thank you for telling me this. Will you us to put them on trial for their actions.”
“The trial they will have is for their attempted mutiny. A number have already been sentenced.” She leans back and sighs. “What they did with the communications was not illegal but was standard respond and protocol of messages from you.”
Smith’s image frowns after the few seconds lag. “You are saying what they did is not a crime? All the lives lost!” He raises his voice in the end then the communication freezes.
Alexis tries to keep her own rage out of her face but it shows to those around her who can tell her moods after being so close. “It was a misunderstanding.” She emphasizes the past tense. “To those dead it was more but it was an accident that both sides are sorry for.”
The man on the other end takes a while to unfreeze. He looks a bit dishevel. “Sorry for my delay in responding but there was a minor argument here about how much you really should be held responsible for. Some of my crew wants justice. I looked up the history of rules from your era and you are correct that your side had a unilateral disconnection of contact with the outside world. So I will agree it was a misunderstanding turned tragic. I would like to have a record of what happened to those responsible for it.”
Alexis ponders his request before deciding on an answer. “I will not tell you everything that happened to them. But I executed four of them myself.”
The crew around her gives her more of a birth remembering what happened with her words. The clean up by her cabin took many hours to get all the blood.
Smith gives a nod, “That is… satisfactory. On to what the current situation is.” The man relaxes a bit. “We completed the tests and the gateway is fully operational. I have sent you the data on how to use it. We will be going through shortly.”
“Is there anything special we should do to handle the transition?”
The man smiles, “Transition affects each person differently. Most of the time it is negative.” He rolls his eyes. “Pull out the barf bags.”Alexis looks puzzled. “Barf bags?”
The man looks at her then smirks, “Regurgitation containers.”
Alexis flushes slightly, “Oh. I believe we have those.”
Smith chuckles. “Yes, you should. The vessel should wait at least 2 hours after we go through to make sure we have cleared the other side. I do not expect issues but it will keep both vessels safe.”
The communication lag makes the conversation take a while but Alexis does not have an issue with it. The crew around her is settling back down after the earlier comments.
“You will be going through shortly I take it? We are still a few hours out so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“We are going to be longer but we should be out of here well before you get in close.”
Alexis moves her metal hand still no hair to twirl moves it to her earlobe almost self-consciously. “Can I ask what the trouble is?”
“It is just the crew, I want them well rested before we go.”
The man makes sense to Alexis. She freezes the viewer. “I think he has a point. Make a plan for such.”
The crew gets to work on a new timetable of schedules as she goes back to the holotank.
The woman returns the feed to live, “Sorry there. I was talking to the crew to plan a similar arrangement.”
Smith nods, “No disrespect seen by me. Sadly I should cut this, as I need my beauty sleep. We will let you know before we leave. Vanguard II out.”
Alexis does not catch the laugh as it bubbles up. She does cut it short hacking a bit. “Good night Captain Smith.”
The holotank disconnects after Smith gives her a smirk.
The crew is busy with the new task along with their own giving Alexis time to think about what was said.
The Captain’s cabin is one of the most private rooms in the whole ship. It also have a lot of electronics and relays allowing the occupant almost as much information as the Bridge but lacks the control apparatus it has.
Alexis has been sleeping for three hours. The woman does not sleep in much, but often has something on the metal arm so it doesn’t bother her with its temperature differences touching her. The power pack to it is pulled out to recharge and also so she doesn’t grip and crush anything when sleeping, a very real danger.
The communication unit buzzes and has a flashing light waking up the woman. Alexis fumbles with her organic hand to hit the respond button and the holotank comes to life showing one of the Bridge communication techs. “What is it?”
The communication tech responds. “Pardon the interruption but it looks like it is happening.”
The cabin’s holotank lights up blinding Alexis for a moment as it shifts to a display of space from the man’s face. It shows a huge power spike around the construct. The other vessel is moving toward it just disappears from all sensors. The energy slowly bleeds off from the massive ring.
Alexis turns off the holotank, “Thank you. I will want a report on observation of what happened in 4 hours when I wake up.”
“Yes Captain.”
The connection ends returning Alexis in to silence. Shifting the arm hurts causing her to grunt, “Damn it, it still hurts.”
She reaches and pulls out a pill case taking one to help her. Setting the alarm takes the last of her effort before the pill returns to her to sleep.
The sleep and the refresher helped Alexis when she returns to the Bridge hours later. The crew has been cowed but the Warborg still follows her in. The crew is busy enough to show no reaction to it. The central holotank shows the huge construct in more detail then her tiny one could.
Alexis sits down in the Captain’s chair and starts pulling the displays out to look over pressing information. It takes her 15 minutes to get that out of the way. She smiles slightly seeing all the crew around so diligently working on the same things they were when she arrived. “I believe it is time for me to ask. Are we ready?”
The crewmembers turn to look at her and many start to respond they are. She almost giggles but stops herself at how rushed they are.
“Ok, we are.” She touches a key sending an all hail through the ship. “This is the Captain. Shortly we will use the Capitalist devise to get back to Earth. They informed us there could be side effects to the crew so I will want all to be in pairs or groups for safety. Common occurrences are nausea and discomfort but there can be serious or no effects. Remember I want you to watch out for another, we are all citizens of our country. Captain out.”
There is a murmur on the Bridge around her. She cuts through it with her next commands. “Communications send the activation codes. Navigation I don’t think I need to say this but double-check the plot for going through that ring.”
The crew gets to the tasks. The holotank changes catching Alexis’s eye.
The ring shows a charge like St. Elmo’s fire rippling along the inner part. She watches the display fascinated as the ring gets more of a light display with electricity striking across it. A few others have stopped to watch as the hole in the middle shows some bulge that is not physical but gravitational. The electricity seems to flow in to the middle of the hole and just disappears. It grows more and more violent till a black void appears and grows to the size of the hole. The lightning flows continuously just to disappear in to the black hole.
The ships icon is getting closer to the ring in the holotank. Alexis is shocked out of the mesmerizing when there is a tremor in the ship. There is a lot of talking she had zoned out on earlier.
Alexis asks, “What was that?”
One of the crew calls out, “Gravity coming from the ring is increasing. We are gaining speed.”
The lead navigator, “It is still within parameters sent to us. Make no adjustments.”
Alexis blinks hearing that and pulls up the display for herself. The ship is indeed increasing in velocity and it is constantly increasing.
The Classless Society keeps hurtling and in the holotank has it almost one and the same.
Alexis grips the chair, her metal hand cracking some of the old plastic. The holotank goes out all the sudden.
One of the crew calls out but Alexis does not get what was said before the ship turns at an impossible corkscrewing angle ahead of her. Her vision goes black, then white and nothing for a second.
The transition through the manmade bending of space and time goes on without any issue to the ship. The crew on the other hand suffers a number of different symptoms.
Alexis barely gets the regurgitation pouch up to her mouth. The acids in her stomach well up her throat. It flows from her mouth and nose causing a burning sensation when she inhales afterwards.
When Alexis comes around from her own transition sickness she looks to the bridge crew. Two of them are passed out and all but one is sick. Tirallo is the only one present wasn’t effected adversely.
Alexis tries to give a command but her throat is painful from the acids that just pasted through it. She takes a sip of a drink that helps sooth it before trying again. “Tirallo get the status of all stations. Medical personal respond to those that need it most.”
The raven haired woman nods and starts a ship wide hale, “All stations report status and if medical need is required”
Alexis looks to another station that is not in as good shape, “Navigation where are we?”
The two over there has one with blood dripping from his nose and is out of it. The one in better condition of the men there is hitting some keys, “Status is pending as the system gathers information. We are currently at zero zero speed. There is the ring behind us.”
“We are at zero speed?”
“What the systems are saying. Bringing up holotank… We... planet lock… Its Saturn.”
The holotank comes up with a large scale showing them and construct near the vicinity of Saturn’s orbit.
Another crewman exclaims, “We really are home!”
Alexis smiles as many give cheers, a few turns to groans as the sickness still is effecting them. The woman types in her own station trying see where Conformity has gotten.
Tirallo interrupts Alexis’s seeking. “Captain we have multiple hails. One is priority, the ring controller is sending us telemetry for us to leave this area.” The dark haired woman gets a bit of disgust on her face, “There are some from Capitalists asking to buy the ship. Lastly Captain Smith sends his congratulation on our return.”
“Send the telemetry to navigation. The rest I will have the dubious pleasure of going through. Most will have to be sent to our government, as I cannot sell it. Is there anything from our government?”
Tirallo shakes her head. “None with the correct pass codes.”
“Hold on all responses other then those for traveling to Earth. We do not need the Fascist Capitalists trying to twist our words.”
“Understood Captain.”
Alexis looks through the messages and is disgusted by the amount of offers for stuff from the various powers and even some of their decadent news agencies. There are a large number of advertisements for repairing and outfitting the ship. Then there are the advertisements for other products and services, many of which just disgust her with their offers of excesses. She transfers them to a folder to send to the government for them to look over. It takes her nearly an hour to get through the initial run of messages.
The crew on the bridge has been busy cleaning up and rotating healthy people in so once more it’s working properly.
“Tirallo put all messages selling or asking us to buy in a fold for government to see. You might need another one at communications to deal with the outside messages. Navigation give me an estimate course for Earth.” Alexis turns to the engineering section. “Yevette status of the ship after that.”
Tirallo gives her a thankful smile, “Will do.”
Navigation informs the course and that it will take at least four months to safely do so.
Yevette looks over having not spoken to Alexis since the loss of Curitti during the boarding action. She grits her teeth and is obvious her dislike of Alexis is strong. “All systems are nominal.”
Alexis nods, “Navigation and Communications give Sol System Control the information of our flight plan and speed.” She turns on the all ship button. “Attention crew. As you know we are back in the Sol system. Main engines will be used shortly to head us to a destination. If we did straight course there is a current estimate 4 months to travel to Earth. We might have to ask some to go back to sleep. I am not trying to punish anyone but we have been running the ship systems close to the edge. Those that volunteer for it should report it to their section leader. We are almost home and our country will hail our return.”
There is cheering all around and Alexis leans back in the chair feeling at least for now it is safe.