“Ugh!! KCHH!! Hhuuuugh… KCHH!!!” Fizz was in a 9g felt reversal, her target had taken it into the vertical, reference to the planet below them, and was cashing in for the shot. She held her turn as long as she dared until she was forced to slam the stick over to dodge her enemy fire as it pulled lead, she juked, slapping Concord into profile to minimize her presentation as Her HUD showed her just how close she had come to dying. She slammed her throttles into differential thrust and reversed her rudder, spinning Concord’s nose in the opposite direction as she reversed her roll and slammed down on the stick. Her single spiral negative G pirouette got her seeing red just for a moment before she pulled back into the positive. She snapped her throttles back in place and slammed them both forward. Concord leaped to her commands, but she had only neutralized the engagement. She saw no tracers, only the HUD’s sensors were telling her when her enemy took his shots. She fought on. The spiraling, crossing, spinning dance of death. She couldn’t quite get her nose around, and she could tell she was fatiguing quickly as she snapped a reversal again to force the 1 circle. ‘Shit, defensive again. Gatta juke the nose an……’ a TAKATAKATAKA sound of impacting rounds on metal and blaring alarms broke her concentration before blackness enveloped her.
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“So… what did we learn…” Mac asked as he helped Lyrian out of the sim. Mac had been impressed by the artificial gravity-based full motion simulators that the Delmar used. He had requested a pair of them and had installed them in the back corner of the living room. They shared the space with their small gym area and had become part of their daily workout. Mac had downloaded Jarvis’ entire flight profile of Concord into both sims before isolating them from any outside connections save for each other. Sim time had become both essential training and exercise as Lyrian continued her quest to become “earth ready”. Mac had bumped the gravity in their home up to 2.0 Delmar G, and Lyrian had taken to marking off the occasions on the wall next to the dial in mini celebrations.
“Don’t fight humans… they’re crazy…” she grunted, leaning on him moderately, her legs were a bit wobbly from the fight. It still took everything she had to keep up with Mac in a merge. Her ‘Beyond Visual Range’ training was almost complete, and she could match Mac fairly consistently until the merge. He was still victorious more times than not, but she had finally forced him to exert himself properly in BVR fights.
“Well, other than that” Mac chided gently as Lyri’s body recovered and she stood up tentatively on her own.
“The overshoot, I spent too much energy... then you used your crazy human gravity skills on me.” She finally answers more seriously.
“That’s my girl. Congratulations, by the way.” Mac smiled.
“What for getting my ass kicked again?” Lyrian accepted a water bottle with a bright blue liquid in it. Her father had taken Mac’s energy/electrolyte drink and reverse-engineered it to be more Delmar compatible. Doc was going to make another fortune on that bit of intellectual brilliance.
“No, you set a record. 9.1Human G in that last reversal. That’s the upper limit of Human capability without advanced G suits and inertial dampening.” Mac congratulated.
“But I’m using both the suit and the ID’s.” She protested.
“Love, your average human passes out at 4 to 5, suit or no suit.” Mac chided, “Would you like to do the honors?”
“Now, really? Are you sure I’m ready?” Lyri asked.
Mac just nodded, and they both walked over to the gravity controls... lyri took a big breath and began to move the dial: 2.1-2.15-2.2. She felt the added weight settle into her bones. It was moderately uncomfortable, but not unbearable like the first time she had experienced it in Mac’s room for the first time.
She bounced, somewhat heavily, on her toes and moved her arms around. Lyrian began walking in a slow circle and finished by sitting down on the couch and rising again. “I think I’m ok. Do we have plans today? I’d like to take some time to adjust.”
“Sure, a lounge day it is,” Mac scooped her up easily, even on this gravity as she giggled at him before he walked over to the couch and sat down with her sitting in his lap. Lyrian wiggled down until she was on her back with her head on his lap looking up as he stroked her hair.
“You know, now that the freighters are on-voyage for the season, I believe you owe me some Delmar culture. Tell me, what do i have to look forward to?” Mac asked. He could feel her breathing was slightly labored, but he initiated the conversation anyway. Weights and workouts could only do so much. For Lyrian to survive earth, her cardiovascular system needed to learn to pump heavier blood, and her pulmonary system needed to learn to breathe heavier air. He was working on the latter by getting her to talk to him.
“Well, the fall celebrations will be in about a week. It’s a tradition built on the tribe presenting what they have stored for the winter and celebrating the end of the gathering season. Big feast, some competitive events, mostly for the little ones...” she paused with a pinch of sadness.
Mac responded to her by gently rubbing a circle on her stomach before placing his hand there, “We knew it might take a few tries. We are compatible, just not perfectly so. Your father thinks that the more we try, the more your body will figure out what it needs.” Delmar females were not born with a fixed number of potential embryos like Humans. The Delmar female produced them one at a time for each attempt at conception. The claiming allowed the female's body to automatically adjust to her mate's genetic makeup to ensure further generation. Her father had warned them that it may take several tries before Lyrian would conceive. It still hurt a little every time she was told “Not yet”.
“I know. I’m ok, I promise.” she smiled up at him before continuing, “Once winter sets in, things get pretty quiet. It won’t get that cold for you, but we tend to slow our manufacturing and agriculture and focus on family and staying warm. The coldest day of the year has a tradition though. We collect all of the driftwood along the Hilisti coast and make a giant driftwood tree. We set it on fire and do a ritual dance to ward off the cold and Harold the arrival of summer. It’s our oldest tradition. No one remembers which religion started it, but some pray to the gods of the void still. It’s a special celebration for them Akin to the Human new year that you told me about. That’s about 6 ‘months’ away.”
“Hmm so Christmas, Yule tide, and New Year’s all rolled into one. I think I’ll like that.” Mac had not moved his hand from her stomach and was absently, and gently rubbing his thumb back and forth.
“In the meantime, what did you do as a little one. Before…” she asked. Mac smirked down at her.
“When I was really young, getting into trouble. Summer vacation was spent on my family's sailing yacht, well sort of. Her name is Eliana and she’s a 12 ‘meter’ Bristol cutter-style boat. Her keel was laid in 1908, and she was rebuilt and maintained by the Mackenzie clan for generations, first as a workhorse, then later as a pleasure craft. She was finally rebuilt with modern synthetic Timbers in 2150 as natural lumber became more expensive. I spent my childhood on her many a year. We sailed up and down the North American east coast and Caribbean. When I was 15, my father, Uncle Martin, and I sailed her to Scotland and back over that summer. It was a tradition in my family as a rite of passage.” Mac finished. It felt good to think of before his world went to shit.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I’m not familiar with this boat. What is a ‘Bristol cutter’ “Lyrian pronounced it slowly.
“A ship that is powered by the wind alone. They used to be used to bring harbor pilots, like you get every once in a while when you enter a tricky system, to the big freighters to guide them into a tricky port. In this case, the port was Bristol Bay, and the ships built carried their name.” Mac began, “We had an engine. But we rarely used it. We plied wind and current alone to travel thousands of ‘kilometers.” Mac paused, “do you have wind-powered watercraft?”
“We haven’t used a wind-powered water vessel since we developed fusion”. Lyri responded, “Why?”
“I miss sailing. And your seas are mostly what humanity would consider ‘sheltered waters’. It’s perfect easy sailing conditions.” Mac mentioned, “I wonder if I still have Eli’s plans…”
Mac noticed Lyri settling in and felt her snuggle into the couch and his lap. He decided to put on a movie on the wall viewer. It sat above a wood-burning fireplace. Mac thanked whatever gods might be out there that Delmar knew what a fireplace was. Lyrian stayed on his lap, resting. It was the usual routine when they added gravity. It took Lyri a couple of days to get used to it, and she usually moved to indoor workouts for about a week to cement the new gravity into her body’s muscle memory.
Mac smiled as he flipped through his collection, settling on “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.” ‘Oh, the Irony’.
He hit play.
——————————————————————
Admiral Gwen looked up from her morning coffee as her chief of staff and fleet commander, Commodore Clint Stevens knocked on her door.
“Come!” She answered. The door slid open, and Clint stepped through
“The second Beacon is away admiral, we confirmed it through Handshake.”
“Have there been any data of note?” Gwen asked her nephew.
“None, Admiral. The first beacon appears to be in deep space. The second is still under power, possibly establishing an orbit or stationary location.”
Admiral Gwen nodded. The beacons had a twofold job. Their primary job was to establish themselves in a stable safe position by either maintaining station keeping in the deep black; or, in what appeared to be the case with the second week's beacon, to establish a stable safe orbit should its sensors detect a Star. These beacon locations could be adjusted or replaced later, but the first seeds of exploration would be essential for proper expedition ships who’s keels were being laid as Gwen and the other task forces were trail-breaking. They had 5 and a half months to travel in total and 23 beacons to drop. Each, of the other task forces, would have a little more than one beacon a week of travel on board. Slowly they would build a network. The other half was an experiment. Drones were being built on Mars. They would be sent away from Sol in the other direction. Some would be at sublight speeds. The Scientists of both worlds were trying to figure out if they could overcome the navigational requirements for both subspace and slip space travel. If that could be solved……
“Thank you, Clint, how are your studies coming?” Gwen asked more informally.
“They are coming, Mac had it easy with the immersion aspect, but I think I can get to fluency in Galactic Common at least. Delmar is proving to be a bit tricky” Clint admitted.
“I’m having trouble getting my head about GU. Delmar is beautiful though. I am enjoying it.” Gwen chuckled.
“Maybe we can compare notes, we need to get these two down if we are going to be any use at our jobs.” Clint nodded.
“Indeed, how about a working dinner tomorrow, Cartography has been up my ass since the first beacon. I guess I need to go see to that.” Gwen’s rueful smile made Clint laugh.
“Good luck, see you tomorrow.” Clint waved a salute.
“Tomorrow dismissed Commodore” Gwen liked poking Clint with his rank. She knew he hated being upper command. Such was Duty.
She stretched for a moment after He left. Long voyages never suited her in cramped ships. Luckily, one of the first transmissions from Delmar gave them the secret to Gravity plating. The scientists of Sol were embarrassed they had not figured it out after seeing the information. All the deep space Task forces were outfitted with first-generation artificial gravity. It wasn’t much. Only the living quarters, Engineering, and the Bridge had gravity, but it helped keep the crew healthy, as the Exercise room in each ship was also gravity-plated. She stepped out of her office into the zero-G hallway and departed for cartography.
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Jakruth grimaced at the older notification on his console again... Another Barge had reported overheating issues with its subspace drive... it was struggling to not fall back into normal space... They were not stopping, they could not; but Jakruth did not like losing firepower… He was forced to refuse to slow, as servitude demanded it. He looked over his charts again. They were still months out, and he had time to plan his attack.
Delmar Tribal Space was a unique nut to crack. They were not UGN, they had their own tactics. Their ships were slightly sturdier because of their planet of origins gravity being some of the highest in the known galaxy. While their freighters were only averagely armed, and with proportionally more of the less effective kinetic point defense flak kannons, most average pirates would have significant trouble with a ship armed as such. Delmar Defense forces were another story. They flew and operated no standard UGN technology and have not been engaged in over a century. No one really knew what their capabilities were. Captured pirate survivors handed over to the UGN had claimed a stuttering laser of some kind and plasma cannons on the Delmar fighters that they faced, The Inquisitorum had questioned these prisoners, but could not verify their veracity.
The engagement over Argorania was also a wash of useless information, even though Maximar had sent him the recovered data, such as it was. Jakruth had also pulled the data from the Black Kar and compared the two. It was obvious that the Delmar Sorte had not fired. And the damage data matched more with the weapons reportedly used by the Demon. No, The Void’s Revenge Pirates were going in blind. His console beeped again, and he swore silently. The stricken barge had succumbed to her ailments, her subspace drive had overheated, and she had breached before breaking up and falling into real space. He wondered if it would hit anything. Maybe the living dead in that hulk would have the honor of killing something with their corpses... It mattered not.
He turned back to his hologram of the Delmar system. He was down 3 capital ships... He needed to change his strategy... a piercing strike… at the heart of the Delmar species... yes, he would hit Delmar itself, dealing as much damage as he could before they called for UGN aid. That was the plan after all. He had time to plan. ‘We will die well’ he thought as a K’Claram version of a smile crept across his features. It was not a pleasant expression.
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Captain Silu was sitting in his chair on the bridge. They were currently dealing with the aftermath of a rag-tag group of pirates that had jumped the Lucid Traveler on her way into Gurelir 2. There had been a surprise in store for Silu when he went to combat stations. Mac had been holding out on him... The moment he called for battle stations, his Klakson had rung with Jarvis speaking in Delmar.
*Battle stations, battle stations, this is not a drill, repeat. Battle stations, battle stations, this is not a drill*
Not only had this freed Silu up to do other things but the warning had auto shut off as soon as all gun stations reported in and extended themselves from their storage positions as the Traveler bared her teeth. Then a further surprise revealed itself. The entire bridge lighting dimmed to black minus the backlit consoles and controls. The darkness was quickly replaced with a holographic dome of tactical HUD data that appeared around his command chair. Another around Marge’s station and another around the Con’s station. Each station had separate data. Marge was basically tactical, she could call out any individual target to any individual gun as priority and it would pop up on the gunners HUD as such. Silu was shown a better overview. He didn’t have every target on his HUD, but he had the most dangerous ones as well as damage data and trajectory read-outs. Con had a cone of information fore and aft. As well as the ability to pulse individual engines with a voice command.
Two wings of pirate fighters had engaged them from an unknown command ship. Possibly hiding in the shadow of an interplanetary body. Only one wing made it to Flak Kannon range. Silu and Marge had been able to coordinate the forward laser batteries. While their range was limited, they had greater range than more scatter-shot designed Flak guns. 6 laser beams had streaked out the moment the fighters were in range. Not a single enemy was hit by more than one gun. That was the point, all 6 were smoking venting hulks before they passed by Traveler in their attempt at a head on. Gunners then started reporting that they had some sort of aim-assist function. The laser gunners could lock individual targets and the turrets would follow the target on their own, leaving the laser gunners to fine tune their aim instead of chasing rates and specks in the sky. Through the HUD the flak gunners were getting lead indicators from Jarvis on anything they locked. They two were also getting the auto chase function making shooting significantly easier.
It was over in 4 minutes... two remaining pirate fighters fled in the aftermath of Traveler’s wrath. She had left molten metal and quickly freezing bodies in her wake, and when Silu canceled Battle Stations Jarvis shut down the HUD’s, returning Travelers bridge to its normal operation configuration.
“Well, that was... something…” Marg sat there for a moment.
“I’m going to have a talk with Mackenzie...” Silu growled, but his heart wasn’t in it. “He could have at least warned me that it was going to become this easy. I’m not even sure where he managed to hide all of the emitters!”
*Traveler come in, Lucid Traveler, do you read us! This is Gurelir Sector Security. We received reports of weapons fire in your area and have two pirate snubs on radar outbound. Do you require assistance? * A voice came over the headphones of the Com station.
“Sir. Gurelir Security are contacting us, they are asking if we require assistance” The young woman said.
“Well, I guess we better respond then.” Silu chuckled.