G-Pol Ch. 11

The four crew members put on enough clothing to keep things sanitary and comfortable on the bridge deck. For Natasha and Lisa, this included a sports bra to support their larger mamaries, while Vixi was able to get away with a light cropped tank top which she'd split to tie just beneath her b cup breasts. All three women elected to go with the briefest of thongs, thus maintaining a minimum of clothing. Karl chose his usual skin tight bike shorts and a lightght t-shirt that accented his slim muscularity. Janice commented, and Rachel had to agree, that what little his clothes covered only increased his alure. Of course Janice also observed that the three women were drool-worthy in their own brief garments, to which Mike and Vinny were quick to agree in earnest. Vinny was forced to borrow a pair of shorts from Karl since he'd not been wearing underwear when he'd arrived.

As they enterd Czarina's bridge deck, Natasha was looking around with understandable pride. She was glad her parents had left the large area, rather than reducing it as they'd originally planned. As a light long range freighter, the Czarina had carried a larger than normal crew for the long range shuttle she'd been built as. This had been necessary to accommodate the three additional crew and their equipment and other needs the new function had demanded. With the newer, more modern equipment that took up so much less space, the bridge deck was now a roomy, comfortable and high tech work space that would've been considered ideal for use in a light warship! In fact, it also had most of the functionality and capability of a scientific vessel as well, with its advanced sensory and communications systems. The only thing the Czarina lacked for the military application was the heavy armor and additional weapons systems. She wasn't about to make those kinds of major structural changes either. She liked Czarina too much the way she was now.

Lisa took her usual spot at the Engineer's station that also doubled as one of the two Gunner's Stations, Karl took the Communications station that served as the second gunner's station, Natasha of course took the Commander's slash pilot's station and Vixi took the Copilot's station. That left the fith, Sensory Officer's Station that doubled as a secondary communications station for Vinny. From there, he would be monitoring what he could of the effects of their shots on the asteroids. Lisa quickly set about recalibrating the antimissile system to accommodate the physical changes they'd made as Natasha set them up for their fourth run. Once they were ready to move into position, she turned the controls over to Vixi. She would be piloting on this run as part of her pilot training.

Vixi was excited by the opportunity to be doing some real flying. This wouldn't of course be just a straight through flight since they were in an especially dense asteroid field. In such a place with so much material so close together, a pilot would have to make small adjustments to avoid larger bodies that could potentially damage the ship, even with her more powerful than usual force shield for a vessel of her class and type. There wasn't much real danger of course since the navigation system and autopilot would be engaged in safety mode to prevent accidents, but the challenge was enough to be exciting.

Vixi was so focused on what she was doing, she didn't have time to pay attention to the display showing What was happening during the test. She was almost surprised into making a potentially fatal mistake that would've required the safety system to take control, when Lisa and Natasha let out a raucus cheer.

"A perfect score!" Lisa crowed happily, "Twenty-four hits, and twenty-four kills! It looks like we got the bugs worked out! If we can do this again a couple of more times, we'll be ready for the next big test, the tumble."

"And after that," Natasha added, "the real test, the practice missiles. We can hope this might not take as long as we thought. That'll give the guys waiting for us back at the station les time to brew up trouble. If they are still waiting for us anyway."

After that, Natasha and Lisa planned out another ten runs with Vixi's and Vinny's help. Vixi's in setting up courses as part of her training, and Vinny's in selecting targets using some of the newer sensor data he'd accumulated and sorted through so far. At the same time, Karl also worked with Lisa and Natasha, double checking the laser system's calibration and programming to be sure there were no more improvements that needed to be made. They found a fewe very minor ones, and it was a matter of only a half hours work to get them squared away. After that, all ten runs went perfectly for the system. Vixi had a couple of incidents where the safety measures had to make corrections, but they were early on. The last several runs were perfect for her too.

For the tumbling run, Nataasha had to be especially careful to find a relatively wide open and straight path through the field. Otherwise, the chances of an accidental collision would be greatly increased. In a tumbling flight like that, even the automated system would have trouble avoiding anything that might be in the way. The random spinning twisting nose over tail tumble would seriously decrease sensor accuracy which would limit the autopilot's ability to maneuver in time to avoid potential collisions. Not only would this be a serious test of the autopilot and navigation systems, it would also test the potential reliability and combat effectiveness of the sensor and self defense systems. This would be the most dangerous part of this entire test flight.

The tumble test would require the greatest amount of preparation. Before they'd even come onto the bridge deck, Natasha had set the cleaning and maintenance robots to securing everything and anything that could be, to prevent it becoming a projectile that could injure one of the crew or passengers or damage any part of the ship or simply make a mess. The seldom used containment cover was placed over the swim spa, and Demeitri was put into his safety harness and buckled into his transport carrier. He'd been trained to not make a fuss when he was put into it, but he was definitely showing his concern when he was locked inside. He looked as if he thought he was being punished and he didn't understand why. He became even more concerned when he saw all the humans strapping themselves into seats, which he'd never seen before. He began a pitiable nervous whining as natasha and the rest of the crew disappeared into the bridge deck where he couldn't see them or follow. This was going to be the most distressing for him.

Natasha had programmed the autopilot to set up and control the tumble. Karl and Lisa, with Vinny's help had selected the two hundred targets for the weapons systems, excluding only the missile systems so as to not waste ammo. This test would include both the lasers and the particle beams and all their turrets, since this test was also intended to be sure of all the zarina's combat capabilities. True, the particle beams would potentially vaporize some valuable materials, but they would also punch deep holes into much larger targets that Vinny might be able to take advantage of to find said valuable materials.

After their last run, Natasha had ordered Vixi to take them out a hundred thousand kilometers beyond the field to give them room to accelerate for this run. Now everything and everyone was secure, Natasha began it. She set the Czarina's newly upgraded power plant to its maximum acceleration. It had been a respectable three G's, now it was three point five! That was a substantial increase which translated to more than a twenty-five thousand KPH increase in speed by the time they reached their target zone. Lisa's modifications were really showing their worth already!

Natasha activated the autopilot and told it to initiate the tumble. This was when another of Lisa's upgrades, the more powerful maneuvering thrusters made themselves felt. The result was worse than any rollercoaster ride ever devised by man. The centrifugal forces were almost extreme enough to cause not only the passengers, but the crew to regret their breakfasts. It definitely made them all glad they'd elected to wait on lunch until after this run! When the ship settled back into normal flight, Demeitri was howling in misery. Even Bona commented, "Okay, let's not ever do that again!" to which their passengers all agreed wholeheartedly.

Surprisingly, the combat computer reported a total of one-hundred-ninety seven hits out of two-hundred! Of those, one-hundred-ninety four were kills! That was far better than any of them had any reason to expect! It actually far exceeded military point defense system standards. That was more than enough for all of them and they all let out exuberant cheers that echoed out into the living area where the others were curiously awaiting the results.

Natasha set the autopilot to bring them to their next stopping point, and they all unstrapped themselves. When they emerged into the living area and Natasha moved to Demeitri's safety cage to release him, Janice was the first to speak up as usual. "You guys sounded happy. I take it that means good news?"

Vixi was nodding so enthusiastically, Rachel half expected her head to bounce off. "Way better than we expected!" the pretty blonde practically cheered, "Those pirates're gonna get a nasty surprise if they try to jump us again!"

They celebrated as they helped Rachel pack her belongings for her move to Vinny's ship. Natasha couldn't think of a better place to hide the little woman if she were actually under threat from Mallory's people. To assure her safety, Natasha intended to only report that she was hidden in a safe place, not even a clue as to where she was. They'd been gone long enough for them to have taken her just about anywhere in known space to hide. The fact that she was in the asteroid belt and that she was on a prospecting ship would be known only to the people on this ship. By the time she showed back up, Mallory's people would most likely have forgotten about her. That, and they would never expect someone like her to show up in company with somebody like Vinny. Sometimes people's stereotypes could be very useful tools.

As a parting gift, Lisa presented Rachel with a selection of lesbian porn copies from her collection. At Rachel's questioning look she commented, "Its for in case you wanna keep working on breaking that conditioning. Personally, I think you should. If for nothing else, then to stick it in the eye of those fuckers who did that to you. Oh, and that's from both of us." She indicated vixi who nodded smiling.

Rachel was surprised to find a tear rolling down her face. "Thank you Lisa. Thank you vixi. Thank you all. I owe you all so much."

"You don't owe us anything." Bona interjected, "We're friends, and that's what friends do." Both Karl and Natasha were nodding vigorous agreement.

"What Bona said." Janice added. Mike just nodded his agreement. "And don't think this is goodbye either. We'll be keeping a lookout for you, so don't be shy kay? We wanna see you show up at the gym whenever you're in town. Oh and bring Vinny with you too. Like Tasha said, you're both part of the family now. That means you have to check in once in a while!"

Once all the packing was finished, vinny used the rmote to bring the Jessup close enough for them to make the transfer quickly and easily. Then everyone but Janice and Mike were suiting up to go EVA. Natasha watched amused as Vinny helped Rachel into her armor for the trip over to the Jessup. That would make the transition as easy as possible for the couple. The girl had never been in a weightless situation before, and that first experience could be both frightening and disorienting. The shorter the trip, the less likely she would panic at the alien sensations, or lack thereof.

Rachel's luggage was placed in the drop case Vinny had used to bring the gifts over. There was more than enough room inside for all she'd brought and quite a bit more in fact. All of her work clothes had been left behind in her apartment back on the station, and she'd only brought a selection of soft stuff that was also of course sexy. She'd wanted to make an impression on Karl. Now Vinny would be the beneficiary of that largess.

The spot Natasha had chosen to park was the site for the first of the practice missile launchers. Six individuals left the Czarina, led by Vinny in his prospecting suit. Four of the six were in enhanced armor which made them larger and heavier looking than ordinary humans. The last was Rachel in her civilian version of the standard G-Pol issue combat armor. Natasha had insisted everyone on board be issued these suits as a safety precaution in case the Xzarina was attacked. Rachel was glad she had. Next to the others and Vinny in his massive suit, she thought she probably looked like a child. She felt like one too when the gigantic robotic hand took hers to guide her over to the Jessup.

Interestingly, while weightlessness did feel a little strange, she didn't feel the disorientation the others had warned her about. She could understand why someone could get disoriented with no way to tell which way was up and which down, but she didn't feel the panic that lack caused in so many others. Maybe it was just because she'd been warned about it ahead of time, or maybe it was the fact that the Milky way seemed to form a wide visible band she could use to orient herself. She didn't want to overthink the situation. That she knew, would bring on doubts that would eventually lead to what she was trying to avoid. They'd all assured her that she would get used to the feel of microgravity and soon it would be as natural as walking down a city street. If, that was, she spent much time outside in the void.

That was about all the thought she had time fore, as Vinny was opening the jessup's lock and handing her forward and into the ship's gravity. A moment later, Vinny was stepping in behind her and the view of the stars outside was cut off by the closing door. She could actually feel the atmospheric pressure as it rose and compressed her armor. She'd never realized how much difference there was between the pressure of an atmosphere and the vacuum.

The other thing she noticed was the return of sound from outside as the air pressure increased. She'd been told about how silent the void was, but she'd never understood until now. She decided that if she did spend any time outside, she would definitely be bringing her music player at least. Silence could be a good thing when you wanted to think, but it could drive someone mad if it lasted too long. In fact, wasn't sensory deprivation used as a torture technique? Being locked out there for a length of time could become a form of torture in a hurry!

As the inner lock door opened, she found herself in what could only be the Jessup's cargo bay. It was a long rectangular room with a door at either end. The door to her left was a heavy steel thing, obviously intended to seal away whatever was behind it, the other to the right was a slightly sturdier version of the interior doors aboard Czarina. The rest of the room was filled with floor to ceiling shelves carrying a variety of supplies and equipment, huge bins that looked to be mostly empty, and at the right, to either side of the door, were large refrigerated compartments she assumed were for storage of perishable food items. The neat organization of the space made her feel right at home immediately. Apparently, Vinny was as obsessed with organization as she was. This was a good start.

Vinny's gigantic suit stepped out of the airlock behind her and maneuvered into a parking position obviously left clear for it. There it set down the drop case and stood up straight before opening up as she'd seen it before Vinny climbed in for the trip over here. The transformation from vaguely humanoid machine to ungainly construct was almost startling. Then Vinny was climbing out and unpacking her belongings from the drop case. She accepted her personals bag and Vinny took the larger and heavier bag containing her clothes. He led her toward the door to the right.

As she came through the door from the cargo bay, she saw that the view via the com display hadn't done the Jessup's interior justice. It was far more comfortable and homey than she'd expected, especially for what would have to be considered a bachelor's pad. It was true that no one was going to be running laps in this place, but it was roomy enough. Best of all though, was the living green smell that came from the hydroponic garden covering all of the rear wall except for the two doors, one of which she'd just come through. It was actually a lot bigger than the kitchen slash living slash dining area of her apartment back on the station. True, there was a lot more stuff in it, but it all made sense, and none of it was wasting space.

Vinny led her to the other door through the garden wall as she was beginning to think of it. This led to the ship's lav. It wasn't the compact space she was expecting though. The layout was wide open, with a shower stall with plenty of room for them to share, a relatively spacious vanity featuring a large mirror and plenty of drawers and storage cabinets, and a separate toilet area with its own door. Opposite the door they'd just used was another she knew would lead to the bedroom. She set her personals bag down on the vanity before she followed Vinny through that door.

Vinny had told her his bed had plenty of room, but she hadn't expected what she found. It had obviously been built for someone of his height, and apparently, designed to allow him to sleep comfortably whichever direction he happendd to fall in. It looked to be perfectly square and more than two and a half meters along each side. There was a double row of drawers along each side of the base and a full width padded bench at the foot. Finally, she could see the closet at the back of the room was a walk-in design with plenty of empty space left inside. It wasn't very deep, but it ran almost the whole width of the room. What cut it short was a short hallway that ended in another of the steel doors she'd seen at the back of the cargo bay.

"What are those steel doors for?" she asked curiously.

"Those lead tuh the engine room." Vinny answered, "Thayat's wheyeh the fusion coe iyis an the grav drahve. Those dohrs're dessahgned ta protect us from radiation if the core is damaged enough to crayack eht open. Theh's also some big storage capacitehs back theyeh in case thayat does happen. That weh we hayave a chayance to get bayack to the station if somethin goes wrong. Thayat was somethin the ship cayame wiyith. Eht's a pretteh expensive safteh featuh mos prospectin shiyips doan hayav. Eht makes meh feel betteh knowin ehts theyeh. Ah neveh lahked the thought of not havin a weh to get home if somethin happened to the shiyip's onleh powah suppleh."

"Me too." Rachel agreed shuddering at the thought of being stranded in space with no one around for millions of kilometers.

Vinny's embrace washed away the chill that thought had sent down her spine. "Ahve gotta move some thens aroun," he whispered, So whah don't ya stot in the closet an the layav, an Ah'll get thayat done. Ah got all mah stuff in the rahght sahde draws of the vayaniteh, so ya've got the whole leyeft sahde to yuhself."

Comforted, she nodded her agreement. He walked her into the closet and set her bag down on a changing table inside the door before turning back into the bedroom and moving toward the side of the bed closest to the lav. She was surprised when he began pulling the drawers completely out of the underdresser and moving them around to the other side of the bed. There he pulled out the apparently empty drawers and replaced them with those containing his own clothes. He was apparently giving her the side of the bed closest to the lav. That made her smile at his thoughtfulness. Most men she knew would've complained at least if a woman asked him to do what Vinny was doing without even having to be asked. She turned to her own task, knowing she wasn't going to be going back with the others. This little tryout was only a formality as far as she was concerned. If she had her way, she was staying!