A new beginning I
CIC, INS Gift
2966
Color came back to my life as I slowly regained consciousness. I groaned and felt like I had been drinking to much yesterday. And the three days before. It felt like the worst hangover of my life. My mind slowly realized, that that what had happened fit mostly the description of some of the jump accidents that I had studied back at the academy.
I let my gaze wander over the CIC crew that was in various states of groaning and waking up. I couldn’t identify any serious injured at the moment and hoped that that was true for the rest of the ship too. I had seen the pictures of ships after jump accidents. Men and woman that were burned all over their bodies, some melted to consoles and walls, some ingrained into the floors in agony, nobody able to explain why they were still alive. And that were the ships that were found. Most ships just vanish, never to be seen again.
I grabbed over, packed Tirso’s arm and shook him to get him lively again. “Oi, Triso. Are you good? Try to get me a status report.” He nodded with a pale face. His age didn’t exactly helped with recovery.
I hit the buttons on the armrests of my chair like a mad man to get the first information directly. The engineering pane looked good. No sensors for fire, hull breach or similar were triggered. I switched over to the sensor and navigation pane. Passive sensors were clear. No ships anywhere close to the Gift. The star systems body’s also looked fine. All the planets and moons where present we were where we were supposed to be. Yet something felt off. I pulled up the map of the Sigdio system that I had studied prior to the jump. All the system maps were kept up to date by the computer to account for the position of the systems bodies as they rotated around the central star. I compared the sensor data to the map. The planets weren’t where they were supposed to be.
I gulped as I had a horrible suspicion and spoke silently into my headset. “Gerhard, simulate the future orbits of the Sigido system based on our maps until the planets location are matching the current sensor data.”
Yes Commander… calculating.
I watched the map change in high speed as the AI calculated all the future positions of the systems bodies. At the top side of the map there was the date for when the calculated constellation would become reality.
1. January 2967
1. January 2968
1. January 2969
I watched in powerless anger as the number for the year increased further and further.
1. January 2970
1. January 2971
1. January 2972
I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to know. After all what we have been through, this couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.
I opened my eyes again and was greeted by the blinking result of the calculation. 24th March 3087… 121 years. I froze, not sure what to do. Were this calculations sufficient proof? Were they even correct? Did this really happen? Or am I just having another nightmare and will wake up any moment? Then it hit me like a truck. If this is true, then my wive is dead. So are my kids. Everyone I ever knew that wasn’t on the Gift would be dead. Even my dog would be gone. Tirso snapped me out of my doldrums when he began to report and with a button push I minimized Gerhards simulation.
“No damage to the ship, Commander. No serious injured. Seems like everyone experienced the same as the both of us.” he reported.
“And the Horizon?”
“Not here. We can’t even detect debris.”
The Horizon was gone. We would have needed her for any rescue operations after we got reinforcements but with the time jump? I didn’t matter to me where the debris were anymore. Whether the wreckage was in Strunlek or here in some other system or in a different time didn’t concern me anymore.
“Why did she explode? We checked the wormhole generator and the location was more than suitable for the jump.”
“We are not sure, Sir. The explosions started in engineering, far away from the generator. What ever happened, the jump was likely not the direct trigger.”
Whatever had happen didn’t matter anymore. We were home. Well, or at least back in charted space. But how should I deal with my time travel concerns? The crew deserved to know but at the same time I had to prevent a panic or mutiny. “Colonel, order all high ranking officers to the conference room.”
---
I sipped from the tea I had treated myself to. I wasn’t sure if I had made the tea because I liked the taste, wanted its calming properties or if just wanted some more time to delay the inevitable. Probably all three. I was sitting in one of the Gift’s conference rooms at the head of the table. With me were Colonel Costa, Major De Mulder, Lieutenant Gater and Chief Gattiker.
Not finding another reason to delay I put my cup down and started to speak. “Comrades, I have bad news for you. When we entered Sigdio I noticed a discrepancy between out maps and what our sensors showed of the system. Gerhard, put the simulation on the projector.”
The projector on the middle of the table spun to life and spawned a floating hologram of Gerhards simulation over the table. Like the first time when I had seen the simulation, the planets started to rotate faster and faster around the sun while the date increased. It once again stopped when reaching the 24th March of 3087.
An uncomfortable silence spread as they all stared in disbelieve at the hologram. Gater was the first to find his voice. “What exactly is the meaning of this, Commander?”
“To me it seams we have been transported into the future by a faulty wormhole generator. 121 years to be precise.”
“Are we sure about that?” Asked Tirso.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“From what I can say the simulation looks good.” replied De Mulder while typing on her data pad.
“Well, fuck me sideways.” cursed Tirso, he always had a hang for a more vulgar language, especially in situations that he didn’t like.
“Thanks, I'll pass. Maybe Gater is interested?” De Muler answered which elicited the one or other chuckle.
“Yet the Colonel is right. There is no way for us to confirm without doubt if really 121 years have passed. If it is true… I will be honest. I have no idea what to do if this is true. For now, we keep this under the lid as best as we can. News like this could rile up the crew. De Muler, make sure your sensor techs are inaugurated. If I can figure this out they could too. We will set course to Achenbach station as planned. At least the station is still there… As soon as we are in com range we will know more. Until then, we continue as we have before. De Muler plot a new course to Achenbach station as the one we prepared in Strunlek is now void.”
“Of course, Commander.”
“Anything else?” I asked into the round and Tirso replied
“I’d like to run some unscheduled maneuver exercises for the next days. Make sure the crew is back on its feet and we need to properly integrate the newcomers.”
“Good idea, keep me in the loop. On that note, Gater, check in with Doctor Cottle and make sure no one takes it easy on the physical exercises after the time in cryo. Anything else? No? Dismissed.”
I left the conference room and went to my ready room. I wasn’t needed in the CIC. De Muler would calculate the course and send us on the way to Achenbach station. The journey will take at least over a week. I brooded for just a moment in my chair until I decided to take my own advice for some physical exercise.
I changed into my training clothes and entered the ships gym. The Gift’s training rooms weren’t exactly spacious and well stacked. This was a warship after all. Yet exercise was essential for every spacer. Cryo or missing gravity will not go unnoticed by the human body. I spend some time with the rowing machine. Its one of my favorites. A single exerciser that trained most of the bodies muscles. I followed up with punching bag action. In the middle of it I was approached by a young woman in sports gear.
“Care to share?”
I didn’t knew her, or at least I couldn’t remember and I was quite sure I would. She was large for a woman. Maybe around 1.90, just a bit shorter than me, with an athletic body. Her casual tone surprised me a bit, yet I gestured for her to go ahead. Training is always more fun with someone else. So we took turns beating up mister punching bag while the other held our victim in place.
“How about some partner exercises? Just some simple strike sequences.” I asked after a few.
“Sure, I start with jab, cross, hook, okay?”
I nodded as a reply. She was fast. Way faster than I expected. I managed to evade the jab but the cross and hook I had to block. I had always been slow when it came to evasion and leg movement. I immediately countered with a jab, cross, hook combination of my own.
She was good. She was very good. Her technique was excellent. Better than mine as I had to admit to myself and she was was more fit than I was. We changed to more and more complex combinations. Her kicks turned out to be even more deadly than her punches. A good flexibility paired with high speed. I only had my weight advantage. Which turned more and more into a disadvantage the longer we trained.
“Okay, okay. Enough. I surrender.” I waved her off and fell to the ground next to my water bottle. “You win.” I added out of breath.
She also let herself drop to the floor and grabbed a bottle of water. “Thanks, for being my trainings partner today. I really needed that with all the shit that is going on.”
“Yeah, me too. The last months have been hard on all of us. Glad to have someone in my size. Most partners are way smaller than me.”
“I got the same problem. Training with small people becomes just weird when the size difference is to big.” she replied.
“Small people are weird. Generally speaking. Can you imagine not being able to reach the top shelf in a store?” I shuddered at that imagination.
“Don't short people have to take more steps than tall people to cover the same distance? Does that mean they need new shoes more often?”
“I should ask the quartermaster to provide some statistical data!”
We both couldn’t hold it in any more and started to laugh. It felt good. Laughing that is. I can’t remember the last time I laughed. It was definitely before the Strunlek battle. Probably before I went on that damn journey. When I was last with my family. Seven months ago. 121 Years ago I corrected myself and the good mood disappeared as quickly as it had come. We remained silent for a bit, catching breath and drinking our water.
“You are from the Gift’s original crew, right? How long have you been serving on her?” she asked me.
“Yes, as original as it gets. I was on the Gift when she left the wharf for the first time two years ago. So, you are one of the survivors we managed to pick up?”
“Lieutenant Emilie Steyer, second marines, INS Legion, at your service.” She said while giving me a mock salute.
I grinned at that. Felt like ages since the last time I had seen a mock salute in my presence. “Well then, welcome aboard Lieutenant.”
“Well, thank you kind sir.” She took a sip from her bottle. “We should do this again. When are you free?”
“I could do tomorrow. Same time?” I asked her.
“Sure perfect.” she hesitated a bit. “Hey, can I ask you some questions about the crew? I am new here and don’t want to step on any toes. Or not more at least.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“What can you tell me about the higher officers? I haven’t met any of them besides Lieutenant Cutler. He seemed irritated at a marine having the same rank and had me banished to guarding the empty brig so far.”
Ah, Lieutenant Cutler. My chief of security. Highest ranking marine on board. The Gift had only a small marine compliment for over all security. She wasn’t designed for large away parties, or exploration missions. It hurt to think it but in the end she was a glorified picket ship. Cutler made a good job. Well, at least we didn’t have any security breaches so far. A by the book kind of guy. No mistakes, no flexibility on the rules, no creativity.
“Yeah, Cutler can be a bit, how can I put this... he has a stick up his ass.”
“Oh, yeah. He definitely has.” She confirmed.
“Third officer is Lieutenant Gater and second Officer is Major De Muler. I haven’t had much to do with either of them. They seem like good officers, haven’t heard anything negative. Colonel Costa is the first officer. An old grumpy spaniard with a hang for swear words who should have been retired by now. He is a hardass but fair. As long as you don’t screw up you are fine.”
“What about the Commander? To me it nearly seems like the crew deifies him for saving their asses.”
“Don’t know, never met the guy.”
“You are on his ship for over two years and never met the commander?” She asked in disbelieve.
She looked over to the wall mounted clock and jumped up. “Crap, my watch is starting, have to run. Thanks for everything. See you tomorrow!” She already wanted to run when she turned back and asked “What is your name by the way?”
“Commander Rayko Hauck, INS Gift, at your service.” I said as grinned and performed a mock salute. Her face made my entire week!