The Asking Price of Stars Page 3

  Auntie Tara thought you should see a Premier Class suite!

  Three hours later Auntie Tara, Light and, Shadow were all reclining in seats in the observation dome. The room was filled with rings of reclining seats.

  Auntie Tara told the twins, “If you recline back and look straight up you will be looking out the nose of the ship. Passengers can reserve seats in the outer two rings. The control area in the center is blocked off from the passengers by the low ring wall.”

  Light thought, within the wall there appears to be 20 crewmembers most likely officers.

  Her years of experience as a bar girl had taught Light how to identify an officer. Each of the inner rows of reclining seats inside the wall had numerous controls, displays, and instruments in a swinging module. Once seated, the module would be swung in front of the person. In the very center of the circles were just five seats.

  Light asked, “Who are all those people in the control area? Is the woman with the gold cap The Commander? Or is the man with the dark blue cap The Commander?”

  A steward serving drinks to the passengers replied, “The lady in the gold cap is the Chief Time Wave Navigator and the Commander is the gentleman in the blue cap. Two other Time Wave Navigators and the Chief Engineer will fill the other three inner seats. The others are power engineers, sensor engineers, communication specialist, life support engineers, and subsidiary technicians.”

  Half an hour later the Blue Lightning using control jets, pushed off from the dock and turned outward. As soon as she was 100 km out the Commander fired the main plasma engine. The ship soon reached one standard gravity of acceleration. The Chief Engineer turned off the gravity field and they felt the pull of one standard gravity. At 100,000 km. out the Commander fired the dark matter engine and cut the plasma engine. They accelerated to ten Gs’. The Chief Engineer reversed the ships gravity field and brought it up to negative nine Gs’ keeping the perceived acceleration within the ship to one standard G.

  Twenty-six hours, an excellent dinner and breakfast later, Auntie Tara, Shadow, and Light returned to their seats in the observation dome. Aunt Tara pointed out the three filled navigator positions.

  As the ship approached critical speed the Commander said, “You have control CTWN. Start the Time Wave Drive whenever you wish.”

  “Thank you, Commander. I have full control and I am initiating TWD on my mark - Now!” She ordered.

  Light only felt mild disorientation as the ship rode a wave of compressed time and space. Auntie Tara told them, “The ship is now well above light speed. We will cover the two and a half light years to Vista in about a week.”

  From watching Vid shows and hearing talk in the bars, Light knew with the slightest navigation error the ship could disappear and never be seen again.

  Chapter Seven

  - Space Port- The Main Base for FSF on the Planet Green Four, 06-27-517

  Nirabella and Cici sat on the patio of the Noncommissioned Officers Club; it was warm and humid on the big island near the equator of Green Four and the ice-cold beers were a welcome relief at the day's end. So far, they were scoring zero in finding new ship board assignments. Nirabella and Cici spent days at the base headquarters talking to various officers and then finally to Major Samuelson the Chief of Personnel.

  The next day Samuelson sent them to the Green Fleet’s Executive Officer Colonel Harrison Chung, who in turn told them to wait. Nirabella yelled, “With all due respect sir, wait for what? That big black and red c-cat of yours is more active than Green Fleet.” The c-cat was sleeping on a table in the corner with his paw on a half-eaten motan.

  Colonel Chung replied sharply, “Ladies you will maintain Space Force discipline! Until General Bridgeford returns I am just as much stuck here on Green Four as you are. The Republican Lady returned to their home base. Green Fleet is now without a battleship or battle cruiser. I am here at the Space Force ground base arranging supplies and repair parts for the ships that remain in orbit. Within the next eight standard weeks, I expect the General to return from Freehome with two rebuilt long range battle cruisers. If you two would like to volunteer to assist in arranging supplies and parts, it would certainly help me. I cannot promise you assignments to Green Fleet. However, it would demonstrate your sincere interest in the fleet.”

  Nirabella asked, “When can we start sir?”

  Chung replied, “Now would be an exceedingly good time!”

  By the end of the day, Nirabella discovered that the process of ordering medical supplies was a disaster. The doctor in charge was a brilliant surgeon who could replace a heart blindfolded. However, as an administrator, he was a total disaster. He had let everyone run wild. What was on the order lists did not match the ship’s doctor’s requirements and even those few orders which were the correct items were the wrong quantities. She thought no wonder Colonel Chung needs help. She began putting together a plan to fix the major problems. It would require twelve hour days and on Green Four the days were only twenty hours long.

  At the same time, Cici found the ordering of food supplies was also plagued with problems. The local suppliers on Green Four wanted to supply food to Green Fleet. The supplies met or exceeded Space Force standards but for some unknown reason many of the food supplies were ordered from off planet, at great expense. The civilian buyer running the effort was more concerned about going home rich than the needs of the fleet. “Someone is getting dreadfully rich on this and I know who it is,” Cici told Nirabella. Tomorrow she would inform the Colonel and recommend they shoot the civilian parasite.

  Nirabella and Cici knew they would have plenty of work for the next eight weeks.

  Chapter Eight

  - Freeborn Farms on the Planet Vista 08-14-517

  It had been five weeks since Light and Shadow arrived at Freeborn Farms and they were mentally and physically exhausted. Auntie Tara had driven them through five weeks of intensive training. Now, Light and Shadow rested on the edge of the pool enjoying a beautiful spot. The large round pool was built into the deck in front of the rambling farmhouse. Sweeping views opened to the entire valley below. It was midsummer in the South of Vista, fields of Aki-Aki, wheat, corn, and imperial beans filled the bottom lands. The hills which rolled up to the house were covered with a dozen types of fruit trees. As the twins relaxed for the first time in five weeks, they watched two brightly colored c-cats hunting rats or motans in a rock pile near the deck.

  Auntie Tara appeared with Ms. Jamison the housekeeper. Aunt Tara announced, “I have a tray of Rackiy Nuts and Ms. Jamison has ice tea.”

  Light was amazed because she had heard of Rackiy Nuts. On Freehome they were imported and dreadfully expensive. She had only seen them on the Vid. Light took one, bit into it and as the outer shell cracked, she bit into the white worm inside. The white worm squealed as it died. The rich, wonderful and unique flavor filled her mouth. She took another nut.

  Auntie Tara told them, “We grow them here at Freeborn Farms and export them all over the League of Free Stars. The trees and worms only grow here in the Southern Mountains of Vista. They are one of the few crops expensive enough to warrant the cost of shipping off planet.”

  When the last worm had squealed Auntie, Tara asked, “Are you two ready for the tests and evaluations in four days?”

  Light spoke, “I believe we are ready for athletic evaluations and most classes but we are still weak in history.”

  Auntie Tara asked, “Who will give me a quick overview of human history?”

  Shadow answered her, “I will give it a try.”

  Shadow continued, “Home Planet was a blue green ball. We humans lived there in farming societies. Only the simplest manufacturing existed. Over 1,000 years ago a Trocnavar trader in a long range armed merchant ship discovered Home Planet. When he sent down lifters, the Trocs found us humans who looked to a great extent like Trocs. However, we are totally unrelated to Trocs. Humans are taller, thinner, with eyes that are just a little closer set. Of course, the humans had dull black, brown, and
blonde hair with only a few red heads. The Trocs loved the red heads.

  The Troc trader jammed as many humans as possible into his ship. As soon as he was back in the Trocnavar Empire he sold the humans for bound laborers and went back for more. The trader then built a much larger ship. Over the next 90 years, tens of thousands of humans, their farm animals and wild animals were taken and sold. Many plants and seeds were also brought back. Finally, the trader’s granddaughter and her ship disappeared and the location of Home Planet was lost forever with her.

  The Trocs found humans worked exceptionally hard and could live on any planet that the Trocs could live on. Slowly over the next two hundred years the Trocs came to use humans in their military as servants and in low clerk positions. Many of these humans were unbound and freed. A small population of free humans developed within the Empire.

  From the Trocs point of view, human’s major fault was that they were prone to revolt. Each revolt was brutally suppressed. Many humans were killed; the Trocs would wipe a planet clean of humans to stop a revolt. Any human who revolted were captured and faced a slow and painful death. Still, the humans continued to dream of freedom and home on the blue green planet with its ring and four moons.”

  Auntie Tara stopped Shadow by saying, “Very nice job nephew.” Turning toward Light she said, “You may continue the history later. But now it’s time for Field Ball. Ms. Jamison, please have my mini lifter brought around.”

  “Dear ones what is the two most important things to remember in Field Ball?” Auntie Tara asked.

  Light and Shadow answered in unison, “The goals move at random speeds and in random directions and the goal’s aperture changes size at random times.”

  ******

  Dinner was semiformal that night as it was most nights. Auntie Tara planned to hammer upper middle class manners into the twins. After dinner that night Auntie Tara, Shadow and Light gathered on the deck near the fire pit. The night was cool and the fire's warmth pleasant. Auntie Tara said, “At the game today you both played well. You two are naturals at the Runner position. But, allow me to change the subject. Earlier today I asked Shadow to outline our early history, Light would you continue?”

  Light continued the narrative, "As Shadow said we humans were prone to revolt. 520 years ago, a mutiny broke out on a transport. It was an old ship and except for the Troc officers the crew was human. Six Troc officers and a free human crew of forty manned the ship. The ship carried 210 bound humans and supplies that were being shipped to a mine on a planet at the edge of the Empire. Robert Smithson, a free human, led the mutiny. He and others of the crew had been planning mutiny for months. The mutineers took control and pushed the officers out an airlock. Janet Guderian, a mutineer trained in Time Wave Drive, set a course far out of the Empire.

  Three years and a 1,000 light years later they found the planet we now call Freehome. The star was in the center of a cluster of stars and hidden away. The new planet was lush and green with seas covering more than half of it. The gravity was 95% of imperial standard. They set down the first settlement at the mouth of a great river flowing through a fertile valley. Robert named the settlement New Haven. The date was set at year one day one of freedom. We are now, of course, in year 517.

  Four years later Robert, Janet and a crew of volunteers took the ship back to Empire and captured two more ships. Next, they raided farms and towns on outlying imperial planets. Within another four years 5,000 freed humans were settled on Freehome. The Next year Janet and Robert married. However, Janet kept the Guderian name and her independence. She began raising the first of their five children. Ten years later Robert and his crew disappeared on a raid, Janet was home with family. She and their five children lived on to establish the Guderian dynasty.

  The Free Star Group continued to raid the Empire and bring back people, ships, farm animals, plants and supplies. Much of Freehome was settled. Mining and industry developed and cities were built. Ships were built and more planets settled. A group moved to a planet orbiting a nearby star. They called it Vista.

  The League of Free Stars grew over the years without the Empire being aware it existed. The League of Free Stars developed into a group of planets loosely governed by a Parliament and the Prime Minister in the Capital of New Haven. The League was populated by humans and by a miniscule number of Trocnavar, taken of their technical knowledge.

  The Free Space Force was formed in the year 162. It was an amalgamation of pirates, private warships, and merchant warships. Wars were fought with two invading alien fleets. Each time the Free Space Force gained victory. They were exceedingly costly victories.

  Two hundred years ago the major event in our history occurred. Ships from Free Space Force met a group of long range ships from the Imperial Fleet off the planet Morgan's Abode. The contact quickly developed into the 1st Battle of Morgan's Abode. The Free Space Force was barely victorious. A truce was signed and League remained free. Long periods of both peace and war followed.

  In the next years, the League grew to fifty-four planets and while the Empire expanded to over one hundred and fifty. Three times the Empire and League combined to drive off invading aliens. Twice they fought deadly wars against each other. The Free Space Force grew. Both of the Imperial and League built ships comprised our fleets. Some Imperial ships were given to the League when we fought a common enemy and some were captured when fought each other and some were bought in times of peace.

  An uneasy peace was broken thirty years ago with the 2nd Battle of Morgan's Abode. The fleets of the Space Force destroyed the Empires’ fleets. Again, it was a costly victory. Once more an armed truce restored the uneasy peace. Today we live in a period of peace as fragile as a striker fish's egg.

  "Thanks Light, it is a good summary of our Human history. I believe you two are ready for the next step of the plan," Auntie Tara affirmed.

  Chapter Nine

  – The Battle cruiser Lady Delapasse at the FSF Space Doc Above Freehome 08-07-517

  Six weeks after General Bridgeford had selected them, Tracey and Peter crawled through the main wiring tube on the rebuilt battle cruiser Lady Delapasse checking the new wire harnesses installed during the rebuild. The battle cruiser had just undergone a complete rebuild from hull up. The ship’s hull was old, built over 140 years ago and this was her third rebuild.

  Tracey reflected, new electronics, new rail guns, new missile racks, new life support systems, new plasma engines and new dark matter engines, both of the old imperial Time Wave Drives were overhauled. The Lady’s’ old TW drives were superior to any drives currently manufactured by suppliers in the League of Free Stars. The Lady was originally the imperial battle cruiser Vermillion Empress who at some point was captured by, sold to, or given to the Free Space Force. Exactly how the transfer happened depended on the state of relationships between the League and the Empire at the time.

  Tracey focused on the task at hand. She thought Peter, the team and I have kilometers of wiring to check. Tracey, Peter, and six crew members and two sergeants were visually checking thousands of connections in the wiring. The computer tests had already confirmed the wire cables were OK, but the Chief Engineer Major Sasha Kedrova wanted visual confirmation. The team had already found several connections that were good electrically but were poor mechanical connections that could break under high G forces or vibrations.

  Tracey looked at Peter as he worked and observed that he was short, stocky, clumsy, bungling, ugly and unkempt. But she also thought that the words “strong” and “smart” described him to a tee. He was grown not born, the product of Trocnavar genetic manipulation. Peter was far from their best effort. He had the body of a Troc and his head was a mix of Troc and human except for the turquoise and lime green spotted hair. He kept his hair so short that it was hard to determine the colors. His right eye was surrounded by fine scars. It was said his stepfather and mother paid for three replacement eyes. Finally, the third one functioned correctly.

  Peter did possess two valuable qua
lities. Number one, he aced advanced math, wave navigation, and drive classes with the best scores in the last five years. General Bridgeford pointed out the second quality when he told Tracey that he selected Peter because he never, never ever gave up. All Bridgeford told her was true; however, now Peter was going to be trained as a TWD Navigator.

  All the gods together could not save us if he ever guides us in a Time Wave was Trace’s estimation.

  Chapter Ten

  –The Battlecruiser Lady Delapasse in orbit above Freehome 08-10-517

  Kat, riding in the gunner’s seat on the lifter was awe stuck by the sight of the great battle cruiser Lady Delapasse. She was very different from the spherical ships the League constructed. The Empire built their ships long and lean. The Lady was 280 meters long and shaped like a striker fish with a pointed nose. The control center was the “upper” side. The two launch tubes for medium missiles could be seen below the nose and aft twenty-five meters. The control center was shaped like a half tear drop and set into “top” of the hull fifty meters from the nose. It was covered with view ports, antenna and sensors that could be withdrawn into the hull during combat.