Starship Engineer

Chapter 64 Gwen

The transport was headed to Bastille to unload the prisoners. I had already processed Gwen’s, Francis’, and Hanno brother’s paperwork and paid the fees. I wasn’t sure how long the turnaround would be so I commed Suruchi.

Suruchi was still on the planet but she was functioning as my lawyer so I asked her to inquire about the prisoner transfer. She was very congenial and said she would get right on it. Two hours later my PerCom beeped.

A timeline was written out. The new incoming prisoners would be processed in the next 24 hours. Then my three emancipated prisoners would board a shuttle with others and arrive at the station in 5 hours. I commed her back, so I had to wait another 29 hours.

Suruchi said I could always interview them as Abby wanted in the interim. Or if I was that impatient I could hire my own transport to pick them up. They could be expedited to be ready to depart in four hours…maybe five.

I told her that wasn’t a bad idea and I cut the comm to a surprised Suruchi. She probably thought I would take the Void Phoenix to get my friend. I had another, faster option. And I had crew aplenty to help. I commed Eve and told her we were going out for a spin. I was shocked when she said she would remain on board to keep an eye on her sister, Celeste. I commed Zoe and Elias next. I needed their skills. I told them to meet me at the access to the courier ship in the lower cargo bay.

Zoe was wired when I got there. Her enthusiasm to pilot the modern ship was bleeding through her excitement. Elias was just grinning at Zoe’s excitement. They knew the ship was there but I hadn’t let anyone on board. I know they had been in the simulator for the Sapphire fighters and had been begging to get them out into space. That wasn’t going to happen while we were in the Empire’s space.

I made the gesture to indicate, ‘right this way.’ I unlocked the access hatch and we went down the stairs in the access tube, a few more steps and we were inside. Elias was the first to speak admiring the luxury before him. Zoe pushed passed him to the cockpit and slid into the seat and caressed the controls.

Zoe asked what did she need to do to get one of these ships? She was talking to herself and not to me so I didn’t answer. It was a very pretty ship. A problem I didn’t foresee was the cockpit only had two seats. Elias took the other seat and together they started a coordinated action of doing preflight checks. They were good together. Elias seemed to anticipate Zoe’s needs and soon the ship was brought to life. I sent the override from my PerCom to open the belly doors.

The doors were completed and sheathed in the new alien hull plating. I watched a video of the doors opening. I made some notes…the mechanicals was too slow. It took almost three minutes to fully retract. With some changes to the motors and cables, I should be able to get that down to around 20 seconds. I also made a few notes to add ballistic hinges. This would allow the doors to be blown off in case the hull got damaged so badly that the mechanisms didn’t work.

Zoe had released the scaffolding clamps and the ship dropped out with a touch of thrust. She turned to me and called me boss instead of captain and asked where to? I told Elias to get a flight plan to Bastille. We were going to pick up a few new crew members on Bastille.

Twenty-three minutes later and we were moving out to space lane Alpha Gamma 6. It was a slightly elliptical path that changed due to the planetary orbits but Elias quickly made the adjustments. I was impressed. If I had been in the copilot seat it would have taken me four or five times as long. I watched their view screen in the cockpit as our little ship quickly swung and aligned on a new vector. Zoe didn’t wait before maximizing thrust. Zoe said this little ship could really move!

I watched the fuel gauge and was about to say something but held my tongue. Who cared about fuel efficiency ratings? Or the fuel cost? We could refuel on Bastille…I panicked and checked. It took a minute to find the military/civilian station orbiting the planet. They did have the specialized fuel for this ship but it was more than double the cost where the Void Phoenix was docked.

Elias looked back at me and asked me if I wanted his seat. His job was done until we approached the planet in…209 minutes. He called me ‘Cap’, short for captain. Zoe preferred to call me ‘boss’. I hadn’t made a point to correct anyone and was sure I probably had a dozen nicknames among the crew. Of the crew I think only Abby, Buckie, and Haily knew my real name, everyone else thought of me as Deven Wellspring. Why was I thinking about this now? It was my subconscious…Gwen knew my real name as well. Best to make sure she didn’t reveal it. Abby had already given that memo to Haily and Buckie personally.

I nodded and took Elias’ seat. He went back to explore the ship. I started talking with Zoe as I brought up the system navigation data being relayed to us. Her first question caught me off guard. She asked if I was a robot like Eve. I laughed but to her utter horror, I made my laugh seem robotic with a locked jaw and halted chuckle. She whacked my arm and said not funny. We talked for a bit about our childhoods and Elias came back and gave us both drinks…some fancy ale in a glass bottle. He left and continued his exploration of the small craft.

Zoe said it was bad luck to pilot a ship without a name. So, what did I plan to call this craft? The pirates removed all prior ownership computers and markings. It was basically a blank slate. The Caladrius I said. It was a mythical bird from ancient Earth and meant unblemished and free from sin. She nodded and said that was a good name.

I had been checking plots of other ships for the next hour. I was just comparing our speed to others, trying to see if anything out here could match us. And the answer was only two unmanned transports from the mining belts exceeded our acceleration. I guessed due to their small size they were precious metal transports.

Bastille was now on our forward screen and I gave up my seat to Elias. He was using the gravimetric shear to aid in our deceleration to conserve fuel. Unfortunately, this small ship only had a very small engineering terminal in the aft storage compartment. The ship was designed to be serviced in a drydock. The planet was brown, and gray and had a few spots of blue to indicate water bodies. The plot showed dozens of ice asteroids inbound to seed the planet but it was a long way off from having oceans. The north pole had a cap of white which was either snow or ice.

We zoomed in on the surface and there were numerous massive circular structures bellowing gases into the atmosphere. So much effort to create a planet habitable for humanity. The screen shifted and the station we were going to dock at appeared. We closed rapidly and a panicked flight control officer yelled at us. Zoe just grinned before cranking the deceleration. She was being awfully hard on my ship. I should say something? I formulated a response. I finally said she could be as hard as she wanted on the Caladrius but if she broke something it was coming out of her salary to fix.

When she looked at me I smiled ruefully. Hopefully, she couldn’t tell that I was not being serious. Elias started to make adjustments and I could feel the ship relax…engineers just had a feeling for these things. We were directed to a civilian dock at the station and I started transmitting my clearances for the prisoner releases.

The civilian side of the station was dull. Only one in six vendor stalls was open and they didn’t sell anything good. Elias tried meat on a stick and nearly gagged at the spicy nature of the meat. We waited for forty minutes before Francis Pineda was brought to us with two guards behind him. I went through the process of completing the transfer. We went and sat in a crappy bar and got drinks. The prisoners from the transport were still being processed on the military side of the station. Francis asked when Asher and his gang would be released.

I sighed. I told him that would happen when the Void Phoenix left port. I showed him the paperwork and the total amount of credits held in escrow by a lawyer on the planet. It had been an extremely difficult decision for me. I eventually caved and set up their release via an anonymous payment to the lawyer that Suruchi suggested. They would be transported to the planet. They would not be given any credits or allowed to call their grandfather until after they were released on the planet. It was a bit petty of me but it did take the sting out a little of wasting so many credits on releasing a batch of assholes.

We were on our third drink, a dark beer that was too much foam but it was the only thing the bartender recommended. Francis asked what his job would be on board. My eyebrow quirked. Abby hadn’t told him? I went to my PerCom and the notes from one of the morning meetings. I reviewed the notes and told him Abby planned to have him on the security staff as the ship’s detective. He chuckled.

Francis explained that he was a bit of a reader. He loved ancient detective novels. The alcohol had given me a buzz and loosened my lips. I asked about Sherlock Holmes, had he read those novels? He nodded and we dove into an in-depth conversation. Zoe and Elias were quickly lost and ordered some fried potato sticks and ignored our lively conversation. By the end of the conversation, Francis was anxious and eager to join me in my VR simulation as my Watson.

My PerCom beeped. Our two transfers were being moved across the station and should be here in less than thirty minutes. I stumbled out of my seat. How many drinks had I had? At least four…maybe five. My entire party was very tipsy. Zoe was by far the loudest but we made our way to the entry hatch that my PerCom indicated. This was where I was to take the transfer. A short 5-minute walk and we waited by the hatch guarded by two marines. The hatch opened a short while later. A man I recognized as Titus Kinkade from his picture was flanked by two marines. He had a black eye and seemed angry. He was swearing and seeing us didn’t calm down. A dark-skinned woman was behind the group with a single marine guarding her. She looks confused and a little scared as well.

I waved to her and noticed her face. It was bad with one side looking scarred and red. An implant I recognized as a pain deadener flashed on her neck. Her eye was a solid black sphere, a fake. She was not in good shape. I smiled and recognition still had not hit her. Her eyes had been darting between members of my drunken party and she was fixated on Zoe who was drawing attention to herself by hitting on the Sapphire marines with slurred speech.

Titus asked what the fuck was going on? My haze cleared a little…oh the marines hadn’t told them that they were being released. It must be a joke they were playing on Titus and Gwen. Or maybe they had just forgotten. No matter.

I said Gwen’s name to draw her attention to me. She looked and some recognition came over her. Then I noticed the issue. One eye had been replaced with a black orb…the other eye was cloudy and unfocused. She couldn’t see very well. I told the marines I would sign the documents. I told Titus his sister had freed him. I told Gwen a friend had freed her. I could see her trying to place my voice. I didn’t sound the same as I did two years ago.

With the paperwork done we headed back to the courier. Titus was having a lively conversation with Zoe. I moved next to Gwen. She said I know who you are. She said it took her a while but she figured it out. Thought you were dead she said, glad you are not. When she asked where we were going I told her we were headed to my ship and I had a doctor who would regrow her eyes and her burned flesh.

I took her hand and squeezed it. That is what friends did, physical support and assurance. I could see tears in her goodish eye were forming. I told her she didn’t need to worry. She was safe now and once she was healed she would be free to choose her own destiny.

On the trip back to the Void Phoenix I sat with Gwen in the main cabin. We talked about our time at the academy and the war. She wasn’t sure what happened to Nila. She had been on the battleship Bastion’s Shield. That battleship had gone missing and was presumed to have fled with the fifth fleet. The fifth fleet had taken the remnants of the Union navy to reestablish itself far into the outer rim. Gwen was fuzzy on the details but at least four carriers and three battleships were rumored to be part of the exodus. She heard a number of the crew had tried to mutiny rather than flee and there had been a blood bath. That was all she knew. I hoped Nila was all right.

I told Gwen in broad storylines that I had found a deep space abandoned supply depot and sold the materials I found there to buy and refurbish a passenger liner. I was now trying to make a go at profiting from transporting people from system to system. As I talked Gwen leaned into me and fell asleep. I guess my story was boring…or maybe she was exhausted. Titus was still bantering back and forth with Zoe. He definitely had that bravado charisma that I lacked. Francis was on a data slate across from us tapping away. It felt good to have Gwen close again. I hoped Doc could do everything I promised for her.