Warrior One - Fleet Action Pt. 07

"Hey Gillian, how you doing this fine day?" Pat asked in his harshest Irish brogue, as he sat down across from her.

"Where's your counterpart?"

"Nolan? He's up in ops getting the lay of the land. We are in our fourth jump. Still not close enough to see anything, though."

"The records say that ship is huge. Over two thousand meters long."

"But we're still a long way away from the ship."

"I thought the ships were jumping at five thousand light years... "

"They decided to cut it down to twenty-five hundred for some reason. Even at five thousand light years the ship still needs an hour to recharge. Seems the new warp drive isn't as great as promised. At least for big ships," Pat told Gillian in a whisper.

"Ah."

"Ah what?" Nolan asked as he sat down with a tray of food.

"Nothing." Pat coughed as he looked away from his commander.

Gillian just stared, that thousand-meter stare, she had perfected over the years. Nolan smiled and sat next to his subordinate and started shoveling his food into his mouth. Gillian grunted and stood.

"If you will excuse me Commander, Pat," Gillian said, then spun around and walked away without waiting for an answer.

She was not fond of Nolan Tóla. He was always gruff with her when other ears were not listening. He rubbed her the wrong way most of the time. When Pat was around, Nolan was courteous. After all, she was not only a woman but a fellow officer. She headed back to the quarters assigned to her while on Warrior One.

Ezra was sitting in his chair on the bridge. He was a little miffed after finding his new warp drive didn't live up to its specs. They had just doubled the number of jumps they would have to make and increased the number of days it would take. Only by one day, but hell, with the historical ship they were trying to catch, one day could make a difference.

Progenitor? A lot was known about the ship and the people who embarked on it, way back when. Almost two centuries. It was what their ancestors called a generation ship. The ship would take ten generations to complete its trip. In the hundred and ninety-eight years, it had been gone, eight generations had been born on earth. They had enough food and space to plant food to last them twenty generations.

Ezra wished he knew what was happening on that ship. He really hated to go in blind. Once they were close enough they could make radio contact. If they received no response, he was ready to send over some of his marines and crew to see. They also had a hyperdrive engine for them to make their life easier on their journey or to return to Earth if they so desired. He just didn't know what they would find and that worried him.

Gillian was lying in her bunk in her assigned quarters. She was now able to tell when they made a jump. The queasy feeling in her stomach wasn't as bad with this new hyperdrive, but it still jumped when the ship jumped. She figured they were jumping every two hours now. So far they had made three jumps since she woke. With only one failed jump prior to that, they were way less than halfway there.

"Lieutenant Saraid?" the intercom squawked.

"Yes," she called out.

"Yes ma'am, we need to get into your ship please."

"Is this to install the new hyperdrive?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Be there in five," she said sitting up.

"Thank you, ma'am."

She smiled. She always smiled when someone called her ma'am. Or sir for that matter. She pulled on her uniform and boots. She was out the door of her quarters and almost running down the corridor. She made it to the upper shuttle bay in three minutes. The maintenance crew was in a standoff with her ship. She could see the shields shimmer in the well-lit bay.

"Oh for crying out loud," Gillian yelled. "Cass, knock that off," she told her ship.

"Yes Captain," the ship said as the shields dropped.

"Now, into maintenance mode."

"Maintenance mode, aye Ma'am," the ship replied.

The hatch opened and all the lights inside shone brightly.

"Now, open your hyperdrive bay. They are going to give you a new go engine."

"Yes, Ma'am." The bay opened and the old drive lowered to the bay floor so it could be worked on.

"Do I have to stick around or are you going to behave yourself?" Gillian asked her ship.

"I'll behave Ma'am."

"You better or I'll shut you down, you hear?"

"Yes Ma'am," Cass responded.

"She's all yours Chief," Gillian told the maintenance chief.

"Thank you, Ma'am," he replied nodding at his men and look strangely at Gillian.

Gillian stopped in the hatchway, turned and watched as the maintenance crew worked to remove the old hyperdrive. Nodding to herself, she turned and headed back to her quarters.

Chapter 121

Ezra sat at his console on the bridge. Candle was behind him to his right standing in front of his console. The main screen was dark, except for the single blip, now only three thousand light years ahead. Warrior One and Tór were now traveling close to light speed. It had taken them longer than they thought it would, but now they would be traveling as fast as the Progenitor when they came out of hyperspace in twelve hours time.

"Candle, how many more jumps?" Ezra asked even though he could figure it out for himself.

"One more after this one we are in, sir."

"Our current delta-v?"

"Warrior and Tór are at 94% of light speed."

"Are we secure from acceleration?"

"Yes, sir," Candle replied.

"Very well. Are we close enough to get a visual when we drop out of hyperspace?"

"Not yet, sir. One more jump will put us five hundred lights out."

"Thank you, Candle."

The bridge was packed. It seemed every department head and their second was present. Gillian, Nolan, and Patrick stood beside the Admirals chair watching the main screen.

"Dropping out of hyperspace in three, two, one," Candle shouted to the room.

It took a while for the screens to start filling with real-time images. There was a groan as the image finally settled down. The ship, still a long way off, was just a tiny spot in the middle of the huge screen up front.

"Candle, can we get a better look?" Ezra asked.

"The image processors are currently working on it. It should give us an enhanced image in just a couple of seconds... ah, there it is."

The image on the screen changed. The blob was slightly bigger and clear. It looked like a big whitish gray brick. The image showed the back end of the ship. The engines were softly glowing slowly pushing the ship to ever increasing speed.

"And to think that brick is over a mile long," Gillian whispered to herself.

"It is," Ezra replied. "And the engines are still working."

"Sir, with each jump we will be able to see more detail."

"Thank you, Candle. Everyone, listen up! Gillian, you stay. Everyone else, except duty personnel, clear the bridge."

People began to move toward the doors. Gillian felt a little nervous, being singled out as she had been, as Patrick and Nolan turned and left. Ezra waited until only duty personnel were left, then turned to Gillian.

"Candle, raise the Admirals console please," Ezra said.

"Yes, sir."

Gillian shivered.

"I want you doing what you do best... watching the space around us and the Progenitor. Candle will take you through the system on the Admiral's console. Go. Go do what you do, Scout."

"Sir. Of course, Sir," Gillian snapped to attention, turned sharply and quick marched to where Candle was standing as a console rose up out of the floor to the left and behind the Captain's console.

"Now Lieutenant, please sit and I will go over the console's systems with you. At any time, you can type the word help into the keyboard and the console will display the systems diagram. Touch the system you want and the screen will change to that system and show where on the console to find it... "

"Ah, scanners, visuals, weapons... "

"You won't be needing those... "

"Of course. I will possibly need the targeting visuals, their resolution should be a magnitude higher than the visual processors."

"Hmmm, you're right... " Candle tapped several keys on the weapon system section. "There, now you have access to the visual processors, but not the weapons themselves."

"Thank you... "

"Candle will do."

"Candle then. Thank you, Candle. I think I have this."

"Very well... "

"Gillian."

"Very well Miss Gillian."

"Oh, I like that. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Candle turned and went back to his console.

Gillian started pressing buttons. Quickly a picture started to build on her primary monitor. It was a little sharper than the one on the big screen. Switching to another monitor, she had four large ones just above eye level, she started building a picture of the sensor readings. This one just showed the ship as a blip. Then out to the right of the ship she saw several hyperspace trails. Running the sensor readings back over the last couple days, she saw they had been in hyperspace a long time. They weren't heading toward the Progenitor, but they were running what looked like a parallel course. Switching back to the current pictures the studied it intently.

"Captain," she said softly.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"We have three hyperspace tracks parallel to the Progenitor, they are several degrees up from Progenitor's projected level, though."

"Show us," Ezra told her.

Gillian pressed several buttons and the main screen and the Admiral's main screen displayed hers.

"Sensors?" Ezra said loudly.

"Sir. I... I... "

"Get on it, Ensign Carlson."

"Aye, aye, Sir," Samuel Carlson replied.

Ensign Carlson was beside Gillian within seconds.

"Show me how you saw those, please Ma'am?" he asked.

"By using the weapons sighting sensors and the ship's sensors, you can increase the resolution of the Warrior's sensor capabilities."

"What? You can't do something like that... er... you shouldn't be allowed to do that... "

"Really?"

"Admiral?" Carlson said.

"What is it, Mister Carlson?"

"What... Lieutenant Saraid shouldn't be able to do what she has done?"

"Why not Mister Carlson?"

"She is using two different sensor system at the same time."

"And... what? You never thought of it?"

"No, because, she's using the weapon's sensors which isn't allowed."

"Hmm... Candle?"

"I gave her permission to use the sensors and visual imaging of the weapons array. She made an argument about increasing the resolution of both systems."

"Would you please give Ensign Carlson the same privileges."

"Of course Admiral." Candle beat Ensign Carlson to his console and had finished the process before he could object. Slipping back into his chair Ensign Carlson started to punch keys. Gillian could see his screens go through several changes in rapid succession. Then they all settled on three images.

"Sir."

"Yes, Ensign?" Admiral Nichols queried.

"The tracks are three Gar scout ships. They have been in hyperspace a little over ten years. The point of origin is deep in Gar space. They aren't really on a parallel course, but a course that will put them in position to strike the ship some thirty light years beyond where the Progenitor is now."

"Well, we'll have to see about getting the Progenitor past that point long before those zombie ships get there."

"Zombie ships?" Carlson asked.

"You don't think the pilots are still alive, do you?" Ezra asked.

"Uh, no, sir."

"Gillian, you keep doing what you do. Mister Carlson, any more question on sensor handling, you ask Lieutenant Saraid. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Carlson said a little sheepishly.

Chapter 122

Warrior One and Tór were on their last fifty light year jump. When they came out of hyperspace this time they would only be about ten light years away. Close enough to get a really good image of the ship. They would also be jumping right away to come out trailing the ship by about six thousand kilometers. No need to scare them. Ensign Carlson had been over just once since his Captain had scolded him. Gillian had been polite and answered his few questions as completely as she could.

The images of the Progenitor were amazing. She was bigger than any ship Gillian had ever seen and she had seen the AMV Chicago, which was just shy of sixteen hundred and ten meters long. The records had the Progenitor at two thousand five hundred and fifty meters long. Almost double the size of Chicago. From what she could tell from her images, the Progenitor was a little rough around the edges. Gillian would have to wait until they were closer, but there were several spots on the top of the ship that seemed out of place.

As they popped out of hyperspace Gillian was pounding away at the keys in front of her as was Ensign Carlson. His images were up on the big screen. While Gillian kept hers on her own monitors, for now. There was a gasp as the screen up front showed the gaping wound on the top of the ship. There was only one, where Gillian had thought there to be two. The second one was a glassed over forest. Well, it was a forest now. It might have started as an atrium when the ship first started out.

Gillian had the gash in the top of Progenitor magnified on her center screen. She could see it had been sealed up. There was a section of the front corner that had probably been used to seal the corner and the hole in the top.

"We will hold here for a while. Gillian, suit up, I want you to jump ahead and reconnoiter for us. Try not to draw attention to yourself. If you are challenged, jump. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir." Gillian was up and on her way off the bridge. It only took her three minutes to get to her ship.

"She's ready for you Ma'am," the maintenance chief told her.

"Thanks, Chief," she replied as she climbed the ladder to the hatch.

"Good luck, Ma'am," the Chief called out.

Gillian stopped and turned and saluted the chief. Smiling he saluted her back. Then the hatch was closed and the engines were humming to life.

"Cass, we'll be going awfully fast when we exit. There will be no stopping, just jumping to get out of the way of things. Clear dear?"

"Yes, Sir." Gillian smiled.

"Do you know where we will be jumping first?"

"Yes, Ensign Carlson transmitted the coordinates."

"Show me."

The display in front of her lit up. She shook her head. Carlson had her coming out almost on top of the damn ship.

"No. Too close. Dial them back about a million klicks."

"Aye aye, Ma'am," Cass replied showing the change on the screen as the small ship exited the shuttle bay and ducked out from under Warrior's shroud.

"That's much better, jump."

Her stomach got queasy for just a moment. Then the ship was much bigger in her sensor screen. She checked to see how they were relative to the big ship. Sensors showed Caster was going just a little faster than Progenitor. Not much, just a few thousand kilometers per second. She also looked behind her. Warrior and Tór had jumped closer so as to be in communication range with Caster if the need arose.

"What's the shortest distance we can jump with this new drive?" Gillian asked her ship.

Gillian had just started talking to her ship. A while back, she had asked a question but hadn't typed it in. The ship had responded via the com-system. Scared the hell out her when it did. After about two hours of talking, Gillian found that all ships were capable of talking as the ships AI's were the same model as the Ships Androids. She also found out that not many scout pilots talk to their ships, but the ships talk to each other when in port.

"Current jump distance from here is half a million kilometers."

"Good. Set it up and Jump."

Everything blinked out. Then they were almost on top of the Progenitor.

"I wonder if they can pick up our jumps on their sensors?"

"I am detecting no EM emissions from the ship," Cass said.

"Are we dark?"

"We are."

Gillian was now watching the ship through her viewport as they got closer and closer. She gasped as she saw the dark spots, on the hull plating, were actually holes. She was moving over the top of the ship. There was only the one big gash up front, but there were any number of smaller holes in the hull. Maybe that was why they moved down out of the cloud of the galaxy. Her sensors had no readings of the standard space debris that filled the space between systems. Back in the day, they had called it dark matter. When they found it was just plain matter the science guys had to do a rethink.

Soon they were over the large gash. From what Gillian could tell it had only gone down into the ship ten decks or so. And it looked like they had made the repairs pretty well. Then Caster was past the bow of the ship. The front looked undamaged. Gillian spun her ship around.

"Cass, slow us down relative to the ship."

"Yes, Ma'am."

The thrusters fired. It was a long burst. They were now dead in space floating in front of the giant ship. Gillian moved her stick and the ship started to sink. There it was, right in front of her. The bridge.

"Cass, bring us closer without hitting the bridge."

"Yes, Ma'am."

The rear thruster fired. A short burst. Then the front thrusters fired. Gillian was now close enough to see the inside of the bridge. It was empty. Except for the body of one crewman. It was actually just a skeleton in a uniform of some type. She could see that the hatch to the bridge was wide open and what looked to be an arm on the floor in the corridor. The rest of the body must be out of sight. Gillian hoped it was out of sight. She sat there just staring into the great ship. No movement interrupted her thoughts.

"Cass scan for life signs. We can do that, right?"

"Yes Ma'am we can. Scanning. I have some intermittent signs in the aft part of the ship. In the forest. Maybe if we were over the forest I could tell you."

"Move us there then."

"Moving."

The little scout ship floated up the face of the bigger ship, then the big ship was flowing past under them. The scanners were working overtime mapping all the damage the ship had taken. Then they were over the blue tinted glass of the forest.

"I see ten people, seventeen cows, three dogs, twenty-seven sheep, and ten horses. There are several cats in the small barn where the animals are kept. I can also detect a carriage and two wagons to be pulled by the horses. I also see any number of firearms appropriate to the time period which the ship left from. Most seem to be in working order."

"Any other life signs?" Gillian asked her ship glumly.

"Yes. Around two thousand in cold sleep. I'll have an exact count in just a few seconds."

"What? They had cold sleep capsules?"

"It would seem they did."

Gillian started to type.

"You know you can talk to them from here."

"I know, but just in case."

She continued typing, then pressed the send button. The com-system came to life and then went back to sleep.

Chapter 123

"Comms, message from Caster."

"Let's hear it."

"She burst-mode it. Transferring to your screen."

"Thank you."

Why did she send a typed message? Maybe it was just what she was used to. As his screen lit up, Ezra began reading. His guts started to flip-flop as his mind tried to grasp what Gillian had sent. Not only was there text, but pictures as well. Along with sensor readings. He couldn't believe his eyes. For all intents and purposes, the ship was dead. Even though the engines were still operating, there was doubt about the survivors knowing how to operate the ship. Gillian said as much in her text message.

"Helm, prepare to jump to the coordinate given."

"Helm, aye."

The ship jumped. The viewscreen was filled with the Progenitor. Warrior was gaining on the big ship.

"Helm, slow us down a little. Match speed with them, but put us next to Caster."