G-Pol Ch. 11

Chapter 11

It took Vinny less than half a day to lead them to an even better test area than they'd had before. During the trip, Natasha had been thinking about much the same things Karl had. The man would probably appreciate some company. There wasn't much room over there from what she'd seen... She turned to the others. Does anybody have a problem with me inviting Vinny aboard? He's probably dying for some human company."

When nobody objected, she sent the invitation. Vinny was more than pleasantly surprised. His voice became much more formal, and took on a much more cultured accent that Natasha couldn't place. "Whah ma'am, Ah'd be delaaghted! Please allow meh a few minutes tuh put maaself togetha, and go EVA, and Ah'll be raaght theyah!"

"Well hell!" Karl chuckled, "You don't hear that accent very often anymore. It looks like our friend Vinny grew up in the South." At Natasha's questioning look, he continued. "From the sounds of him, his family probably lived in the part of old America known as the South. You know, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, the Carolinas? Supposedly, you can tell which part by the specific sound of the accent. There aren't many people around there. A lot of it's semi-tropical swamp and low mountains. From what I've heard, most of the people around there get by fishing the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, hunting and fishing in the swamps themselves and growing rice and cotton. My history lessons told me they used to be able to grow sugar in the south-eastern parts of the old United States, but when Hammerfall caused the global temperature to drop, it changed all that. Oh, the cane still grows, but not well enough to make commercial sugar farming profitable. I knew a guy from that part of the world when I was still in the CAF. He didn't talk about it much though. The only thing I really did know was, the old stereotypes really pissed him off.

As promised, a few minutes later, a human shape emerged from the other ship in what looked like a bulky old fashioned space suit. It wasn't because the man couldn't afford body armor like that worn by those on the Czarina, but because that suit had been designed and built to serve in the deadly vacuum, deadlier frigidity, and absolutely lethal solar radiation of deep space for hours, or even days on end without harm to the wearer. Suits of the type had been made for expressly what Vinny was using it for, surviving the rigors of working brutally hard for hours or days safely and efficiently in the most hostile environment known to man. The thing would be at least the size of Karl's newly issued CAF spacial power armor, and likely heavier. It would be powered of course, and brutally strong. In fact, probably far stronger than Karl's power armor. It's main disadvantage in a fight though would be it's slow movement. Human like reflexes just weren't needed in a null-G environment. Over quick movements could get a person in real trouble in space, potentially sending them spinning away from where they wanted or needed to be. If they were spinning too quickly, it could be impossible to get one's orientation back enough to figure out where one was. The only thing that could save someone in that situation was an automatic emergency stabilization system. Some of the more advanced and expensive suits had them as an additional safety feature, but that wasn't the norm. It was generally considered safer to just keep the movements to a manageable speed.

Military power armor pilots didn't usually have that kind of trouble, or the option of slow movement either. They were specifically trained for such eventualities, and could thus perform aerobatic and acrobatic maneuvers in microgravity. In addition, military suits all had built in and highly advanced stabilization systems. Most of those had to be specifically set not to correct a seeming loss of control, and that setting could be changed instantly with a voice command. Even so, people still got killed at it on occasion, and not always in combat either.

Karl smiled as he watched Vinny's approach on the vid screen. He was carrying a drop case almost identical to Karl's own, except the color. Vinny's was bright yellow to make it easy to spot from a distance. He wondered what was in it. A darker part of his mind thought he aughta be worried about that case, but his instincts were telling him there wasn't anything to worry about.

He followed the rest of the crew out of the bridge deck and moved to follow Natasha down to the garage deck because that would be the easiest place for Vinny to park and get out of his suit. The airlock on that deck was also larger, in order to accommodate things like that suit and similar small vehicles and cargo. This deck was also the same place he kept both his suits of power armor when they weren't in use.

Karl's original suit had been small enough to easily move about the ship, even on the living deck. The new, larger suit could do so as well, but it would be close to the ceiling on the living deck. A minor skip or a very light hop would probably run the suit's helmet and rail gun mount into the ceiling, probably hard enough to do damage to one or both. With the force shield active, he would have to duck to move around. Vinny's suit wouldn't be able to walk around up there at all without ducking considerably.

Once Mike, Janice and Rachel had been reassured that everything was okay, and that there was no sign of any hostiles out there, they elected to get out of their armor. Knowing to expect company, they hurried to change into something that would preserve their modesty while allowing them to be comfortable.

When the time came, Natasha would take the Czarina on a run through the cluster to do fly-bys as they'd done before in their interrupted initial tests on the other side of the system. Lisa's goal was to get consistent one-hundred percent kill hits on the rocks first. To accomplish this, they would probably have to do a bit more tweaking and adjusting of the lasers, the turrets and the targeting program. If things went well, they hoped to be finished in about a day.

Once they had everything up to snuff, they would try the system out on the practice missiles. Karl, Natasha, Lisa and Vixi would be going EVA to set up the practice launchers on a couple of the available larger rocks. This would much more accurately simulate a real missile attack, and hopefully conclude their tests. With things going the way they were, they wouldn't have much more time. G-Pol, and humankind in general couldn't afford to have Mallory running loose.

When the airlock door opened to admit Vinny, Natasha was actually surprised at just how big the mining suit was! It was massive and almost featureless, its legs looked like plain columns, just over a half meter wide. Its torso was just as wide in proportion. The thing was mislabeled! That wasn't a suit, it was a robot! There was no way a man inside that thing could even reach into its arms. True, the legs were close enough together to allow a human leg to fit inside easily and comfortably, but even they had to be practically filled with robotics, insulation, armor and shielding. It looked like a gigantic grey version of a bread doll she'd been given for a Christmas gift by a teacher in pre-school as a child. The thing had to weigh tons!

The sound of Vinny's voice and deep drawl coming out of that monstrosity was almost enough to make Natasha burst out laughing. "Wheyah would ya like meh to pok this thin?"

She guided him over to the opposite side of the airlock door from where Karl's power armor units stood. The ponderous machine moved slowly, but elegantly to the assigned space, turned its back to the wall, and set down the drop case. Then it rose to its full height of three meters and seemed to freeze in place, until the front half of the torso and head sections seemed to split from the rear half and tilt forward. The front half of the torso tilted away from the rear, and the interior surface broke apart to become a set of steps for the pilot to exit the robot. The man they'd seen on the vid screen stepped up and out of the robot's leg and onto the narrow landing atop the stairs, then used this step to lift his other leg free and stand erect. He then quickly strode down the steps and onto the deck and bowed. "Muh'Laideh," he turned to Karl, "Suh, Ah'm ahnuhd to've ben invaotud aboad yoa sheeip." At Natasha's bemused glance, he quickly cleared his throat. "Sorreh about that. Been thinkin a lot about home lately. When ah do that fer too long, ah start driftin back, if ya know what ah mean? Armeh thought they broke me of it, but guess not."

At Karl and Natasha's understanding smiles, he smiled back and turned toward his drop case. "Ah brought some guest gifts." He popped the case's seal and flipped the lid open. From inside, he pulled out a pair of somewhat heavy looking bags. Both were padded and insulated, and one was obviously made to hold a selection of booze. They couldn't tell what the other one was from its shape. "Suppeh's on meh tonight." Vinny announced happily, "Ah wasn't sure how many there'd be, but Ah brought enough fer ten! Oh, an, mind if Ah cook? don't get to cook for otheh people much. This's an old recipe from home. I promise, you'll all like it!"

Glancing at one another amusedly, both Karl and Natasha nodded their agreement. Now that Vinny was so close, Natasha could tell the old man was perfectly harmless. She and Karl approached the man as he stood up straight with the bags. It was then that Natasha saw just how tall Vinny was. The vid hadn't prepared her for that. Karl was tall, about a hundred-ninety-one centimeters, but Vinny was easily over two meters! He had at least twelve or thirteen centimeters on Karl. He was probably only a few kilos heavier though, even with all that height. He wasn't skinny, but he wasn't even close to average for his size. The way he moved though told her the man was definitely still strong. She couldn't tell much more through his loose comfortable clothes, but he moved with a casual grace and ease. Much the way Karl did in fact. So, he was strong too.

The couple led their guest up to the top deck, passing the open stairwell doorway to the gym deck on the way. Vinny obviously slowed down to glance around inside as they passed. "Now tha'ss a rahght nice setup y'all got theyah!" he commented, his drawl escaping his control for the moment. He'd obviously been impressed.

When they arrived in the living area, Karl and Natasha introduced Vinny to Mike, Janice, Rachel, and Bona. And of course, Demeitri didn't bother to wait for the humans to introduce him. He immediately popped up on his hind legs and started pawing the newcomer, making Vinny laugh.

The visitor's eyes though went immediately back to Bona. "Well, hullo pretty laduh!" he obviously knew what she was. "I served mah one and only Army tour in central Africa. The CAF and the Enclave were workin tahggethah on that one, and we had a Wolfpack squad assigned to us. Those guys and gals saved are asses so many times I lost count! Jungle fightin in the middle of monsoon season is the worse hell ah can ever imagine. If it weren't fer those guys and the Killhounds both, Ah think most of us'd ended up getting eaten by sumthin, or drowned. If the jungle didn't get us, the gahs we were huntin would've without them. So, who's you're bondmate darlin?"

Natasha couldn't help smiling. "That would be me."

"She's also Captain of the ship." Vixi chimed in smiling. She liked this guy.

Vinny smiled back at her. "Well, thayat only leaves one question. "Which ways the kitchen?" he held up the bags.

"This way." Natasha replied. She took Vinny's arm and led him where he wanted to go.

Looking around the well-appointed kitchen, Vinny smiled happily. Captain..."

"You can just call me Tasha." Natasha interrupted with a laugh, "Everybody else does, and we're all friends here."

Vinny grinned, "Kay Cap'n Tasha! This's a pretty nice kitchen! Ah could probably do the whole thing heya mahself if Ah wanted, but I figured out how to do it just as good in the autokitchen!" he opened the first bag and started pulling out items. The first was what looked to be two large plastic bags of solid frozen fish filets! What followed were about a dozen large brown potatoes, a pair of single serving beer bottles, several large onions, a container holding a dozen real eggs, a medium sized opaque container, another bag of what looked like flour, another of a yellowish material that could've been corn meal, and several obvious spice bottles. Out of the other bag, he pulled a pair of unlabeled full whisky bottles, a clear glass canister of what was probably raw sugar, A thick glass jar of real honey, and a small basket of what turned out to be live mint leaves! The identity of the final item was betrayed by the rich scent of fresh mint that flowed throughout the entire deck.

Vinny smiled at Natasha's surprise at the fresh mint. "Grow it mahself over on the Jessup! Love me a good old fashion mint-julip! Gotta have it done rahght too. That mint syrup they use in all the cheap bahs just don't cut it in mah book. Ah grew up on these."

Looking around, Vinny produced a stainless mixing bowl from a cabinet, then he unwrapped the two packages of frozen fish and shoved them into the autokitchen. He rapidly programmed the unit, apparently doing so from memory. In the bowl, he quickly measured out a portion of dry flour, then added various amounts of the different spices. He opened the two beers which he allowed to breathe as the faint clouds of carbon dioxide mist vaporized, showing just how cold those bottles had been, then he cracked the eggs and added them to the bowl. Using a wire whisk, he immediately began stirring the beer into the flour and egg mixture until he'd used it all. After that, he began programming more instructions into the autokitchen before finally adding the bowl's contents, onions and potatoes to the unit's ingredients hatch.

Several of the others had come in by this time, some looking for the source of the mint smell, others just curious. Vinny glanced around at them all. "Who wants a before dinner cocktail? There now! That's bettah, mah propah English is coming back! In case you're wonderin, I make the best mint-julips in the system! Mah family distills the whiskey themselves back home. The sugar's raw pure cane and like Ah told Tasha, Ah grow the mint fresh mahself on the Jessup. Oh, and dinner's gonna be beer-battered-bass and catfish fresh outta the rivers and cricks back home, onion rings, tater wedges and sweet cornbread, with lotsa sweet cream honey butter. A real, good old fashioned hillbilly fish fry! Ya can't ask no better'n that!"

They all looked at one another curiously. None of them had ever experienced anything like what Vinny was offering. Still, they all agreed it did sound good. The mention of the sweet cream honey butter also clarified the contents of the as yet unopened container sitting on the counter.

Lisa was the first to volunteer, though not for want of trying. "I'll take one of those. I've always wanted to try a real southern Mint-Julip. I've heard they're a lot different from what you usually get."

Not to be outdone, the rest except Vixi and Bona each asked for one of their own. Vinny set out eight of the Czarina's rocks glasses from another cabinet, and meticulously crafted each drink. He produced a solid glass pestle, a twenty-centimeter-long thick rod with flattened round knobs on both ends from the same bag as the liquor, and used it to hand muddle the mint and sugar together before adding the whiskey.

Rachel was immediately fascinated at the mention of Vinny's family's hobby slash tradition. By the time he'd completed the second drink, she had him deep in conversation about drink recipes and a variety of related subjects, not the least of which was life in the south. Soon, Mike too was joining in as he contributed his own questions experiences and anecdotes, but the conversation over the next hour or so was definitely dominated by Rachel and Vinny.

Noting the evening's theme, Karl ordered the computer to play a variety of music often referred to as hillbilly or southern rock in many parts of the pre-Hammerfall world. Natasha playing along, lowered the lights enough to simulate a comfy tavern. Furthering the game, Rachel set about performing her working function as bar maid, pouring and serving beer from the supply Natasha kept on tap for the times she had company or just wanted a beer. It was of course a light German brew, rich and flavorful. Vinny heartily approved.

Everyone noticed Rachel's apparent interest in Vinny. No one was sure what it meant, but there was no doubt there was something there. Even Vixi with her wide open, nearly unprotected mind couldn't be sure whether or not that interest was friendliness or something more. Natasha was certain this was because Rachel herself didn't know yet, and was just going with the flow.

With the fine liquor and beer smoothing the way, not that any smoothing was needed, the group sat down to an early dinner with their house guest. Not unexpectedly, Rachel took the place next to Vinny at the table, allowing them to continue their conversation during the meal. The food was excellent, even better than any of them had thought to believe. There was more than enough for everyone too. Lisa had planned to program a dessert she'd loved as a child, but didn't bother because everyone had been stuffed by the feast. Anyway, the sweet cornbread and butter, with a little honey with their meals made more than a fine dessert too.

Afterward, the group moved out of the formal dining room and into the sitting area to let their food settle. Vinny had turned out to be a charming and quite entertaining guest with a sense of humor that had them all in stitches. They all discussed little bits of their histories, happier memories and whatever else came to mind. It was an impromptu bonding experience and a good time was had by all.

Their meal complete and the after-dinner conversation finished, it was time to get to work. At Natasha's suggestion, Vinny went down to the garage deck and climbed back inside his suit. From there, he accessed the Jessup's remote command system and piloted the vessel to a spot behind a large asteroid. This would protect it from any stray laser shots that missed their targets during the testing.

In later tests, Natasha would be sending the Czarina into a controlled tumble to simulate hard maneuvering during space combat. In such a situation, no one could predict where a shot might go. On the first couple of runs, the Jessup wouldn't be in any danger since the Czarina would be cruising relatively straight, picking off targets as they flew past, much as they'd done in the previous tests. They'd all agreed it was better safe than sorry. A class three laser hit probably wouldn't do irreparable damage to the Jessup, but any damage at all was better avoided. Vinny agreed wholeheartedly. That ship was his livelihood after all.

Natasha let Vinny select their targets since it would be him taking advantage of the damage their shooting would be doing to the asteroids in this section. They were assuming that Czarina's radar wasn't as precise as Jessup's, but it would be more than adequate to select his targets based on density and signal resonance factors. Thinking about it a second, he quickly asked Natasha if it would be okay if he moved the Jessup out from behind her asteroid shield in order to use her higher resolution receiver to gather more information. All it would take for this to be practical was for him to adjust his receiver's frequency and modulation to take advantage of Czarina's higher output. His request made sense, and Natasha agreed without having to think about it.

Vinny hurried back down to his suit and moved the Jessup. After another moment's thought, he decided to take the remote unit with him. He could easily disconnect it from his suit and plug its power supply input into Czarina's com system and control Jessup from his place in Czarina's cockpit. Then he wouldn't have to keep running back down here to make any changes he dreamed up later. When he returned to the cockpit and explained what he wanted to do, Natasha agreed and helped him hook the unit up.