Fleet Scout

"It's going to be okay, sweetheart."

"I believe you. There's nothing else, you can go back to sleep if you want."

"Wake me up about half an hour before dawn? I want to go to the Sun Welcome."

"Will do, Finn."

Finn closed his eyes again. He drifted off, hand still on the silver rectangle next to the bed.

|1.2

The next morning, Finn walked over to where the Pioneer ships had parked. It had rained again for most of the night but the downpour had finally stopped a couple of hours ago. There was a heavy, knee-high mist covering the ground and he stayed on the plastcrete runway rather than risk tripping over something. Ahead of him loomed the Pioneer ships, Conestoga class that were called Connies by their crews. They were much larger than Addie and looked very different.

The Scout ships had been designed to be efficient in the atmosphere, often there wasn't a plastcrete runway waiting. Usually, it was just a clearing big enough for the ship since Scouts were the first to land on newly discovered worlds. Addie's hull was a sleek, curved chisel shape with sharply raked swing-wings that adjusted their geometry moment to moment to changing conditions.

However, the Pioneers were anything but sleek. From the blunt nose to the aft thrusters, they were eighty-four meters long. The main section of the ship was generally the shape of a somewhat flattened cylinder, fifteen meters high. There were four massive sets of pivoting fusion thrusters, in addition to the large gravity engines set into the ventral line. The combined power could easily lift a fully loaded ship into orbit, although they required refueling once they were there. There were also two sets of large swing-wings that were deployed to get the massive machines back down to the ground.

Instead of a streamlined hull, the skin was covered with hatches and attachment points. Finn had never seen a Pioneer with less than three cargo containers bolted on and the three in front of him were fully loaded with twelve each. Conestogas were even more ungainly looking sitting on the ground. The landing gear was huge, four extended pylons with giant tires. It let the ship land with a line of cargo boxes underneath but gave the ship a decidedly goofy look. Without cargo, there would easily be enough room to park a scout ship underneath.

The wings on the three were fully extended on all three ships to provide some shelter from the elements. A few dozen people were gathered under them, looking up at the lead gray sky. It was hot and just as humid as yesterday, Addie had predicted another day of heavy storms.

As he got closer, the Pioneers, mostly auburn haired Ta'avi, left the shelter of the wings and formed a crescent shape. He joined them at the center of the crescent and several people looked curiously at him but smiled and nodded all the same. No one said a word, the only sound was shuffling feet and a couple of coughs.

But it wasn't just the Ta'avi here. They happily lived and worked with other races, especially the Terrans. Those that could keep up with them anyway. A blonde woman holding a small baby next to him smiled shyly and ducked her head. The baby was less shy, if the gurgling and fist waving was any indication. There was a thick headband around the baby's head and the woman tugged it into place over the infant's ears. The precaution was just in time, a low droning hum began and spread through the group. Finn hummed along as best he could, but human throats were no match for the Ta'avi voice box.

It got marginally brighter and then a single ray of sunshine made it through the trees, looking almost solid and turning the morning mists into swirling patterns of gold. A group of Ta'avi voices rose into a soaring melody. Finn felt a hitch in his throat, Sun Welcome always affected him the same way. Before everything had ended, he'd attended them every day that he could manage.

The shaft of sunlight faded and disappeared, but the melody got louder as more and more singers joined the chorus. The last of the droning sound died away completely and Finn covered his ears. Next to him, the woman put her hands over the baby's ears as the song erupted in a thundering shout that echoed against the distant tree line. Finn was amused to hear a few rebel yells from the crowd as well.

As the echo died away, the Pioneers began greeting each other, shaking hands and hugging.

"I am Elaine, and this is Lily," the blonde woman said with a heavy Slavic accent.

"I'm Finn, blessings to you both."

"And to you."

She smiled and nodded her head before being lost in the crowd. The end of the ceremony part had gotten uncomfortable after Earth, but he put a fake smile on his face and said hello to everyone around him. A few times, he shook hands, not wanting to be rude but avoided hugging anyone. He began to head back to Addie, happy to escape the press of people.

"Holy Hell! Is that really you, Pirate?" someone bellowed.

Finn stopped short, trying to figure out who had called him that. A heavily muscled man ran toward him and before Finn could move, the Ta'avi had grabbed him in a bear hug. Then Finn recognized him.

"Tyohac?"

"Who else?" the burly man demanded. He let go long enough to pound Finn's back before hugging him again.

"You maniac, take it easy," Finn wheezed.

"You're a big delicate crybaby," the other man said. "Now come and see your family!"

Finn had little choice, Tyohac had been stocky when he'd flown alongside Finn but it looked like he'd spent all his time lifting weights since the last time they'd seen each other. The arm felt like an iron bar pushing him along.

"Your Redtail never came through the Slingshot. I figured you'd burned in," Tyohac said as the crowd thinned.

"Yeah, Lucky 13 was in pretty bad shape by the end of things. She ejected me next to a Gyr corvette. They picked me up but were headed to Long Axis instead of Hub. So, it took a while to get back to everything."

"I'm damned glad you made it. Good thing I taught you all you know, right? We should have a drink."

"No, we should not, it's early morning for me."

And, like always, Tyohac ignored him. He let go of Finn in the middle of a group of Ta'avi Finn didn't recognize and started introducing him around. It was far too fast for Finn to absorb and his head spun a little. Someone pushed a mug into his hand and Finn took a cautious sip. It was just beer and he was relieved. Tyohac had fancied himself a moonshiner back on Earth and Finn had been victimized by some of the "taste tests."

Tyohac, never a quiet soul, was bellowing for people to come and meet the second-best pilot he knew. As his name spread, everyone began to press closer. They started off shaking his hand but then someone hugged him and the rest followed suit. The Ta'avi were an affectionate bunch, they only wanted to welcome him but Finn was getting overwhelmed and finding it hard to breathe.

Then someone took his arm and dragged him toward one of the ships, laughing and yelling for people to make a path. He was guided to the edge of a Connie's ramp and he bent over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Whoever had rescued him sat down on their heels near him.

He looked up to see a pretty young woman watching him. She had raven-black hair and green eyes.

"You going to be okay?" she asked.

He nodded. "Little too crowded for me."

"I'm Leah Jones, Fleet Scouts."

Finn wanted to disappear into the ground. His new partner wasn't Ta'avi, her hair and eyes made it pretty obvious. Then she stood up and he saw her "Neil Armstrong School for Wayward Youth" shirt that had been popular around Echo.

"Finn Morgan, same," he said, straightening up.

"I heard Tyohac mention that," she said. "It looked like you needed an extraction from that mob."

Finn looked away. "Thanks for that. I can get kind of claustrophobic."

"But you were a Redtail pilot?" Leah grinned at him, teeth very white in her tanned face. "C'mon, I've seen those cockpits. Your profile did mention something about PTSD though."

He stood up, embarrassment flashing into irritation. "It's not that bad. Why did you have access to a confidential profile?"

She stared at him. "That's standard protocol whenever you join a crew. When would be a good time to come and meet Atalanta?"

He shrugged, struggling to keep his resentment down. "Whenever you want."

"Walk over with me?"

He nodded and they skirted the edge of the group. Tyohac and several others were standing above everyone else, calling out insults as they named people to tasks. For their part, the combined crews yelled back cheerful abuse in return. Finn didn't know if that was a Ta'avi thing or a Tyohac thing. The man had certainly flipped him enough shit in preflight briefings.

Finn smiled, like always, when he saw Addie. This morning, the ground fog hid her landing gear, making it look like she was floating above a cloud. The dark gray ship had a blunt nose that angled downwards and was studded with the ships sensors. Behind her nose, Addie's hull tapered out to form a sleek wedge shape that widened out into a boxy looking tail that held her main engines.

Addie had opened out her wings while he'd been gone. They were lined with microscopic solar cells, she was trying to grab whatever energy she could from the sunlight, before more clouds rolled in.

Leah stopped to look at the ship and Finn was surprised to see that she was nervous.

"What's wrong? It's the same class of ship that you arrived in."

It was her turn to be embarrassed. "And I've been studying the Hero class ships since I was accepted into the Scouts and I've been running simulator drills for almost as long. It's different though, she's real."

Finn smiled at little, in spite of himself. He'd been the same way when he'd seen his Super Warthog. The aircraft's basic design was ancient and the first one he'd climbed aboard had been in service since before he was born. Still, realizing that he would soon be flying it against a real enemy, it was like seeing it for the first time.

"She's just as nervous as you are," he said to Leah. "Maybe more. She's never had the benefit of a Leah Jones simulator."

"Funny. You know, you're a minor legend with the Ulthira working at Hub. There's lots of stories about how you wouldn't let them touch her and got her back online by yourself."

He rolled his eyes. "I had a lot of help, mostly from the Ulthira. They're just amazed by anything outside of their individual experience."

She shrugged and they began walking again. "The translators put emotion tags in the stories they told and they have a lot of respect for you. You might be the first human they actually respect. It sounds like you didn't get any of my records?"

Finn shook his head. "Exxo-brain told us that someone had been chosen but we were already on the Pathfinder and nearly to the first gate. I don't think there was time to stream your data over."

"That makes me kind of nervous. I can stay aboard Third Sparrow until you both have a chance to go over my data."

Finn shrugged. "Wouldn't really matter, Exxo says you're a good match and I'm not going to argue with anything that has that large of a brain. Uhm, how old are you though?"

She gave him a hard look that made Finn feel a little better about her. "Twenty-two and you're thirty-six. Why? Are you ageist or something?"

"Kitt, my partner...I was just hoping that there would be someone with the same skill set and experience she had."

"I had access to her profile as well, she must have been amazing to work with. And you two were together for a long time."

"Back before all this started, we flew in the same Air Force ground-attack squadron. We ended up deployed together every time there was a flare up in the Sand Box. The Project even recruited us at the same time."

Leah stopped walking again and turned to face him. "Look, I didn't fly with you in the bad old days but I won't feel bad about it. You and your partner were together for a long time, and I really respect the bond you had. But I grew up at ArcLight Southern and it was every bit as intense as training at Echo, or any other facility. I've trained all my life for this kind of role, so at least give me a chance here."

Finn rubbed his face. "I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted was to come off as an asshole the first time we met. But I'm embarrassed that I can't really deal with large groups of people anymore. And even more embarrassed that you had to rescue me from my own family."

Leah looked pointedly at his black hair and green eyes. Finn shook his head.

"No, I'm human. But Flame Bridge clan adopted me and I take it seriously."

"Oh. Well, you should, that's a big honor. Look, if you're going to get all pissy every time I help you out, we're going to have a rough time."

He snorted a laugh and held out his hand. She grinned and shook with a grip as hard as his own. They resumed their walk down the runway. After a few meters, Leah covered a yawn.

"What time is it for you?" he asked.

"Way after midnight but I'm fine. What's the plan for today?"

He shook his head. "CRA for you."

"Oh, thank Mercy."

Leah yawned, in earnest this time. Crew Rest and Acclimation was required after every planetfall. While ships were in transit, clocks were synched to the cesium clocks on Hub. Once they'd reached their destination, crews took Wide-Awakes or Sleep-Fast to get their bodies used to the new rhythm of local days and nights.

"And you have nothing to be ashamed of," Leah said. "PTSD is trauma damage, the same as getting shot."

"I tell him the same thing, but he never listens," Addie said as they walked under her wings. "Hello, Captain Leah Jones. Welcome aboard."

Leah's face bloomed into a wide grin, her exhaustion chased away for the moment. The sleek charcoal gray ship was even more intimidating and beautiful in close quarters.

"Hello, Scout Atalanta, please call me Leah. You're absolutely beautiful!"

"We're going to be very good friends," the ship said. "Would you like the tour?"

Finn left Leah walking around the ship talking to Addie and went in to get coffee going. He had a meeting scheduled with Owen Lykos and there were still the landing strut seals to deal with.

|1.3

"I was going to wear a uniform but it's too hot."

"Finn, you never wear a uniform," Addie said. "Go to your meeting."

They were both speaking quietly. She'd tried to stay awake but Leah had finally muttered something unintelligible and went to find her bunk.

"You're sure you're going to be okay?" Finn asked.

"Yep, I think I like her," Addie said.

"I won't be far if you need me."

"You're very cute when you worry. You won't be far, so relax. Have some fun."

"This isn't that kind of meeting. I'll see you soon and we'll fix the struts."

The hatch opened and the humid air flowed in, a wet blanket wrapping around him. Finn climbed down and began to walk up the long slope toward the tan geodesic domes of the outpost. By the time he'd reached the first one, there was an annoying bead of sweat running down the center of his back. He'd debated wearing at least a uniform shirt for the meeting and was glad he'd gone with a light t-shirt and shorts.

The habitat domes were laid out in a semi-circle, like most places. Usually the administration and community center was placed in the middle of the circle. The large geodesic was in the usual place, but Owen had said that the space usually used for the outpost's offices had been voted by everyone to house the brewery. Owen's predecessors had taken the much smaller dome that had been slated as a brewery and water distillery. Finn was all in favor of beer, but he thought it was kind of silly. Utopianists did all sorts of strange things like that.

When the attack on Earth began to heat up, there was a tsunami of evacuees suddenly headed for Hub, humanity's only major colony. All of the careful plans for expansion had gone out the window, in favor of rapid expansion, wherever possible. Before the flood, Hub had consisted mostly of construction workers, engineers, or planning staff. In the old system, Settlers bound for their new colony worlds would have only been temporary residents, there for equipment and training before going on to their colony.

But when the flood of humanity began to arrive at Hub, no new worlds were ready for colonists. Eden had been closed to further settlement and the handful of tiny outposts were still relying heavily on Hub for support.

The waiting lists of carefully chosen personnel with critical skills had also been abandoned. Transports had landed wherever there was room and taken anyone that wanted off the planet. They'd managed to get roughly nine million souls off of Earth before the end. They'd kept flying evac missions, even as the bombardment of the planet had begun. Once the Swarm landers had disappeared, his squadron's primary mission had changed from planetary defense to covering the evac ships as they ran for the Slingshot gate and the safety of Drive Space.

FInn had had an idea of the chaos overtaking Hub. With the sheer volume of panicked refugees, any emergency plan would have failed. But it had been more of an academic exercise, until he'd finally arrived at Hubworld. The rioting was only just being dealt with. There were still widespread fires and a pall of smoke hung in the sky over the arrival facility.

Fleet, the entity responsible for human security, had deployed everyone available to Hub's surface to help with the uprising, but they had been quickly overwhelmed. An urgent request for help had been sent and the day after Finn had returned to the living, Commonwealth landers began to arrive with reinforcements from their sister planets.

At the same time, warships from one of the Commonwealth's senior members began to enter Hub's orbit. These older races were referred to as the Archreylen, but the humans knew nothing else about them. The new arrivals remained silent, but when a strange looking ship appeared, it was obvious what they had been waiting for. The ships closely guarded the newcomer as it moved into a very low orbit. Human sensors had detected hints that there was some kind energy being radiated, but no one had a clue what it was supposed to accomplish.

But then the storms began. Cold rain and high winds had driven the now frightened rioters back to the modified cargo containers that served as temporary housing. Hub Administration took advantage of the unexpected pause by quickly recruiting former leaders on Earth to form a coalition government. Slowly, stability returned to Hub. A day later, the mysterious Archreylen ships had disappeared back through one of the gates.

It was only a temporary fix. On the surface, the civilian leaders were quick to create permanent positions for themselves in the new and evolving government. And, just like always, the people they claimed to represent were fragmented into various factions. One of the first movements had been that of the Utopians. Started by a cabal of scientists, free thinkers, and sci-fi writers, the movement was all about using the opportunity they'd been given to usher in a new age of plenty, where technology and progressive values could provide a better life.

The developing, and mostly dictatorial, factions had soon recognized the threat this represented and had brutally attacked the Utopians, both politically and physically. Hub's administration had done what they could, but the movement had evaporated like cotton candy in a thunderstorm. There were a few diehards left, not enough to worry any of the other remaining factions.

Finn was sympathetic to the idea of a leaderless society, but decades of pointless wars had provided a more cynical view of humanity. When he'd started reading the situation reports from the Erewhon outpost, Finn had been surprised that there were enough Utopians left to set up their own outpost, let alone that they'd been permitted to colonize a new planet on their own.