Danny and Tom returned to the asteroids surface four times. Each time they returned to the shuttle, their sample containers were jammed full. The shuttle had simply run out of room for cargo and they would have to wait to evaluate their samples. Tom had assured both Crash and Danny that their time had been well spent.
The crew settled in for a meal of Crash’s “Nietzsche rations” and fruit juice before returning home.
Tom asked, “So have you guys got the fever yet?”
Crash said, “I can see the appeal but it’s a lot of hard work for an old retiree.”
“Somehow I don’t think that it would be nearly this easy without someone who knew what they were doing,” Danny said as he was crunching on a ration bar.
Tom grinned and said, “I’d better be able to find the good rocks. I’m a third generation rock-rat and my degree is in planetology.”
Danny asked, “I’ve heard the term rock-rat before but I’m not sure what it means.”
“It goes back a couple hundred years. When humanity really got a foothold in space, it was driven by the mineral wealth that was there for the taking. There were two types of early miners — the operations run by big corporations and the independent operators. There was a lot of animosity between the two camps. We could always find ore and the corporate operators were taking orders from people light-years away. The corporate people called us independents rock-rats. It was supposed to have been an insult but we took it as our very own. Our family ship is called the Vegan Prospector. When I was 14 I painted the big cartoon rat in a space helmet with a pick axe on our fan tail.”
Crash laughed and said, “I’ve gotta see that.”
“I thought that my Dad was going to blow me out an airlock but he kept it,” Tom said. “There are a lot of risks that go before the rewards. You have to be smart and careful all the time. It only takes one second of complacency to kill you. Even if you’re careful it can still kill you. I never thought it would get Dad but it did.”
Danny asked in a hushed voice, “What happened?”
Tom said, “Cancer. He fought it for years but it finally got him while I was in my sophomore year at the Academy. Genetic augmentation is commonplace now but before, people who lived and worked in space knew that the potential for wealth came with a substantially shortened lifespan.”
Crash said, “The main reason that I finally got grounded was because I had exceeded the Fleet’s MaxRad (Maximum lifetime Radiation dosage) regulations by a couple of hundred percent sitting in a damaged fighter waiting for SAR to pick me up. I could have gotten away with the broken bones or the limp but exceeding MaxRads will wash you out in a heartbeat. The design specs for us old fashioned humans just don’t hold up so good out here.”
“Working in Zero-G is harder than it looks. I’m exhausted,” Danny said.
Crash stood up, stretched and said, “Ready to head to the barn?”
“Might as well. All of our containers are full. Unless we store samples in our socks or something, we’re done. You want me in the co-pilots seat,” Tom asked.
“Sure kid. I’m amazed you didn’t become a pilot. You’re a great stick. ”
Tom followed Crash down the short hall to the cockpit. He said, “I am a pilot. I just like driving the big iron.”
Crash sniffed indignantly, “Line officers. Hump. You can’t even feel the G’s in those big clumsy ships.”
As he took the pilots seat, a red message light was blinking on his control panel.
Danny sat in the flight engineers seat as Crash and Tom strapped in and started the pre-flight checklist.
Crash said, “Danny, check our mail will you?”
Danny powered up the communications panel and found a plain text message waiting.
To: Shuttle Sierra442
From: Air-Flag, Hammerhead
Please stand by your position to rendezvous with Alliance destroyer Summers.
Please acknowledge.
Crash looked at the transmission and said, “This might be interesting. Looks like my old buddy Rattler wants to talk. Send: We acknowledge and are standing by. Then send our position.”
As Danny was keying in the text transmission he said, “Who is Rattler”?
Crash laughed and said, “The second craziest pilot I ever knew. His name is Hiro Tanaka”.
“Admiral Tanaka,” Tom asked?
“The one and only“, Crash said. “I used to be his CAG when he was skipper of the Halsey”.
Tom said, “That was the battle…”
Crash sighed. “Yeah. That’s the one I got splashed and roasted by radiation until I wasn’t up to fleet specifications.”
Danny said, “What happened?”
“You’ve heard of Omicron Ceti?”
Danny said, “Yeah, it’s the fleet base on the corridor out to the Carina arm. It’s the only way in or out. It’s where the fleet drew the line: this far and no further. We’ve fought at least a dozen big fleet engagements there. I was there for four of them. The last one was three years ago.”
“We were escorting a convoy of supply ships to the base at Omicron Ceti. We jumped right in the middle of the biggest firefight that I’ve ever seen. When we jumped in, we were twenty light minutes from the action.
We covered the merchants as they jumped out and then our task force formed up and joined the battle. We rolled out everything we had. Fighters, fighter/bombers, strike craft, electronic warfare birds: we cleared the decks. I was flying an old FB-68 Kestral leading an attack squadron. We lined up on a group of targets, released our missiles and went back to the carrier to reload and rearm. I got hit on my third pass at the enemy formation. Never saw what hit me. It was probably big chunk of debris; I didn’t get a missile lock warning. It sheared off my starboard wing at the root and my engines and avionics went dead. The shock of it knocked me unconscious and broke my right arm and leg. It sent me into a long flat spin that took me away from the battle area at full military power because my last speed had been afterburners.”
Danny noticed that Crash was sweating and his hands began to grip the control yoke much tighter than necessary.
“When I woke up it was all over. The Halsey was so badly shot up that they had to scrap her but she fought all the way to the end of the battle. It took search and rescue 36 hours to find me. I had been out there for so long that I was getting radiation sickness. We won the battle. Our Task Force turned the tide. Tanaka made Admiral and got sent back to get the new fleet carriers in shape. I got a medical discharge. I can’t complain really. I stayed on with the Academy as a flight instructor. I still train nuggets and I’m making a killing off the hotel.”
Tom said, “Is that what they gave you the Alliance Cross for?”
Crash said, “You know about that?”
“Of course, you’re a legend,” Tom replied. “That’s deep blue hero stuff. Everybody wants you as their flight instructor.”
Crash laughed bitterly and said, “All the heroes in this war are dead kid. The rest of us are just survivors. Between the hard radiation and the hard vacuum, surviving takes a lot of work and a lot of good luck.”
Danny was watching the sensors at the engineering station and said, “Jump point forming 335 degrees, Z+20 degrees 10 kilometers out.”
They all looked out just into to see a brand new battle destroyer, fleet designation BDD, jump into real space. She was big for a destroyer, even at this distance; sleek and armed for bear.
The shuttles voice communication system crackled to life, “Shuttle Sierra442, this is the Alliance destroyer Summers. Please dock in our number two shuttle bay and accompany us back to Capella anchorage.”
Crash grabbed a head set and keyed the mike, “This is Shuttle Sierra442. We’ll be docking momentarily. Thanks for the lift Summers.”
Crash leaned back in his seat with his hands behind his head and said, “Ok Nugget. Make an approach and landing on Summers that’ll make your flight instructor look good.”
Tom powered up the shuttle and said, “Aye sir.” His hands moved expertly over the shuttles controls as he masterfully banked the shuttle to the left and lined up his approach.
Crash keyed his mike and said, “Summers, this is Sierra442 on final approach.”
“Roger Sierra442, you are clear to land.”
Tom piloted the shuttle into the bay and gently touched down on the pad. The shuttle bay doors closed and bay status board flashed pressurizing.
As atmosphere filled the shuttle bay, Crash asked, “Has anyone got any clues why a two star admiral would send a destroyer after us?”
Tom shrugged and turned to look at Danny who was blushing. Tom asked, “Danny?”
Danny said, “Well maybe. I don’t know. If somebody read and understood my doctoral dissertation but I’d almost given up on that.”
The status board turned green and crewmen began entering the shuttle hanger.
Danny simply stood up and said, “Let’s go see.” He headed down the short access corridor and began to cycle the airlock.
Crash gave Tom a puzzled look and said, “Junior is a doctoral candidate?”
Tom unsnapped his 4-point harness and said, “Danny’s pretty sharp.”
Danny was waiting for Crash just inside the open airlock and said, “It’s traditional for the senior officer to take the lead.”
Crash rolled his eyes and went through the airlock followed by Tom and Danny. What they found astonished them.
The crew of the Summers were in dress uniforms standing the rails in the hanger deck saluting. The ships’ small compliment of Marines was assembled in dress blues and their commander was wearing his ceremonial sword. The Bosom’s Mate announced, “Distinguished veteran arriving!” He then used a Bosom’s pipe to render the traditional piping the side. Several officers in dress uniform were assembled in a reception line.
The first of the officers said, “I’m Lt. Commander Enright, Executive Officer of the Summers. Welcome aboard Commander McDonald and party.”
Crash looked a little bewildered and felt conspicuously out of uniform in his utility grays. He decided to roll with it and asked, “Permission to come aboard Mr. Enright.”
Enright said, “Permission granted sir. Commander Hardy requests your presence on the bridge sir. If you will please follow me, I’ll take you there.”
The party followed Enright’s lead and several officers fell into line. One of the other officers said, “I’m Commander Haley. I’m the XO of the Saratoga. Admiral Tanaka sent me to round you up.”
Crash said, “He must have been in an awful hurry to have you gentlemen jump into the system to pick us up.”
Haley said, “That’s part of the reason that we’re here. One of the scientists at the fleet academy read Lt. Sokolsky’s research paper and decided that micro jumps were indeed possible with the mathematics that he provided in his paper. Summers had the honor of executing the very first controlled micro-jump in history to come out here and collect you.”
Crash said, “Micro-jump? You mean you guys jumped here from the anchorage?”
“Yes we did. We’re making history here. That’s why the ships company is so pumped up.”
Crash laughed and said, “Mr. Sokolsky, you are just full of surprises. Micro-jumps. Wow. That changes a whole lot.”
Haley said, “I can’t wait to show the enemy our new trick.”
Crash said as they got in an elevator, “It will be a big surprise. So I guess this is all about Lt. Sokolsky?”
Haley said, “No sir. The Admiral is going to ask you to come out of retirement and be our CAG on Saratoga. The guy who was penciled in is a fine squadron commander but we need someone who can run the big show.”
The idea was still rattling around Crash’s head when the elevator stopped and opened onto the Summer’s bridge. He stepped out onto the spacious bridge and said, “They sure don’t make destroyers like I remember them.”
A barrel chested officer approached Crash with his hand out, “I’m Commander Hardy of the Summers. We’re pleased to have you aboard Commander McDonald. Lt. Sokolsky, we thought you would like to be on the bridge when we jump back to the anchorage. I understand that you are a fine navigator. Would you like to stand the station?”
Sokolsky said, “Aye sir,” and took position at the helm console.
He looked at the computer screen and saw that everything was in order. He said, “Commander, course is plotted and we have a valid solution. We are ready to jump.”
The officer standing the engineering station reported, “Jump engines are charged and standing by.”
Commander Hardy asked, “Is the ship ready to jump in all respects?”
Enright answered, “Aye Sir, give the word.”
Hardy ordered, “Jump.”
* * *
The Summers jumped right into her assigned berth in the anchorage. Her crew promised to take good care of McDonald’s shuttle and the party transferred to the Saratoga on a bigger personnel transfer shuttle that was waiting for their arrival.
There was more pomp and ceremony on arriving aboard the Saratoga. Admiral Tanaka and Captain Carter were waiting to greet them. Crash saluted Admiral Tanaka and said, “She’s a little bigger than the old Halsey.”
Admiral Tanaka said, “You don’t know the half of it Crash. Welcome aboard.”
The Admiral led the group to a spacious conference room where he said, “What do you think Crash? Do you want to come back?”
Crash said, “I’ll need a deputy.”
The Admiral said, “You have anybody in mind?”
Crash said, “I couldn’t do better than young Mr. Rivers here. Fifth in his graduating class, smart and a great stick. What more could I ask for? What do you think Tom?”
Tom said, “I’d be honored sir but I’m sure there are more senior officers.”
Crash said, “We’ll all be learning and you’re a quick study.”
Dr. Philip Richards of the Fleet Academy approached Danny and said, “Your paper was brilliant. Why… why weren’t you screaming to have your dissertation accepted?”
Danny said, “There are probably only a dozen or so mathematicians in the Alliance that could follow it or would be interested in it. I knew that it would work. I proved that it worked mathematically. I had faith that eventually the right people would catch on.”
Admiral Tanaka said, “Mr. Sokolsky, the next time you make a discovery critical to the military and commercial interests of the Alliance, please speak up. We got lucky that our people were paying attention. The capabilities that your discovery has unlocked will be critical to the success of our mission. Well done to you, Dr. Richards and Captain Carter and his crew for giving us this critical capability. ”
Danny blushed at the praise and said, “Thank you sir.”
Dr. Richards said, “The Fleet Academy has accepted your paper. It will be published in our next quarterly edition of the Fleet Science Journal. The Fleet Academy has awarded you a PHD of Mathematics Doctor Sokolsky.”
Admiral Tanaka said, “The fleet needs you. Saratoga will be the Flag plot for our upcoming operations. I hereby offer you a commission in the Alliance Fleet at the rank of Lieutenant. As a PHD holder in the Sciences, you also qualify as a Science Officer which bumps you up to Lieutenant Commander.”
Danny looked shocked. He said, “What about my contract with Argos Transit?”
The Admiral said, “We have already worked that out. Argos has a replacement assigned to the Burke and Captain Schmit has, reluctantly, given his blessing to the transfer.”
Danny was speechless for a moment and said, “I’ll give you my best Admiral.”
Tanaka said, “Your former Captain said you would and that we’re lucky to have you. Welcome to the Alliance Fleet Mr. Sokolsky.”
* * *
Director Grissom was waiting in his office for the call.
He looked out his office window at the domed city that had been built to serve as the capital of the Alliance. It was a compromise to a complex political question. Almost everything about the Alliance was. The frontier worlds wouldn’t accept the capital on one of the core worlds and the frontier was too far away to be practical. So Parliament was built on a planet that no one else wanted in a system that no one had claimed sitting astride critical shipping routes from the core to the rest of humanities far flung cousins.
HR7898 was a nondescript G8 dwarf with six planets and a host of asteroids. Once construction had begun, the system had proved itself to be rich in resources. Construction went quickly and continues on a daily basis as the only thing to grow faster than cancer is bureaucracy. One hundred and five years before, the planet had become home of the Alliance senate and the ministries, bureaus and agencies that went with it.
Some forty years past due to abuses by some, the fears of others and a host of religious pressure groups, the Alliance passed the Human Genome Protection Act. It was one of the most controversial acts in Alliance history and enforcing it was like having a tiger by the tail.
Grissom had lasted twenty-two years in office. He had been appointed by the senate and by all accounts seemed to keep all of the competing forces happy. If they were not actually happy, at least they were not openly mutinous.
The Human Genome Protection Act was an attempt by the Alliance to regulate the advance of genetic engineering of humans. For many years it had been considered a matter for local authorities and had been left to system governments. That decision had been disastrous.
Some corporate run worlds had bred low IQ slaves to work on high-G worlds. Other worlds where religion groups were politically powerful actually oppressed people who had been genetically manipulated in even the most minor of ways. Citizens were pulled off of ships and jailed and there were even massacres. The senate was forced to act and created the Human Genome Protection Act in response. It wasn’t perfect and hardly anyone was happy with the new law so it was a perfect compromise.
Human genetic engineering was strictly limited to health and welfare modifications. Nothing was allowed that would give people “super-human” capabilities. Companies were allowed to remove genetic diseases, improve the immune system and make people more resistant to radiation. They were not allowed to make test-tube geniuses or super athletes. Anyone born with genetic modifications were marked at birth by a tattoo on their right calf. The tattoo had the company that performed the procedures logo and a12 digit hexadecimal number that gave the precise details about the modifications.
The Bureau of Genome Integrity was created as a division of the Ministry of Justice to enforce the law. The corporations were easy. They were so competitive and engaged in so much spying on each other that they couldn’t get away with any gross violations of the law. It was greedy individual scientists and the desire of so many parents to give their children a genetic edge that had evolved into his most difficult problem.
The technology was well known and wide spread. A gene-jacker could be found on almost any colony. Worst still, the progeny of this illegal enterprise were growing up. Some of them were so gifted that it was only a matter of time before the press would be running scare stories about homo superior taking over the galaxy and the backlash from conservative forces would be… unfortunate.
Gene-jackers weren’t all ruthless mercenaries. Some of them saw it as a calling to provide the Alliance with gifted scientists, engineers and artists. The Bureau’s oldest case file and most wanted gene-jacker was a Doctor Ava Bruckner. A brilliant geneticist in her own right, she had started out working for GenTech creating perfect babies for young couples. She knew that she could do so much more.
Dr. Bruckner started out on earth in the European Consortium when she went to work for GenTech. Everywhere that she worked, she did mostly legal work. In a few cases she implanted embryos that she had specifically engineered for greatness. After a few years she would move on. Vega Colony, Titus Prime, Mars, Greenhaven — everywhere that she went, she left behind a trail of geniuses.
It took the Bureau years to figure out what she had done. It was a computer algorithm searching through Ministry of Education data looking for unusual clusters of gifted children. When too many questions were asked, she simply disappeared into the frontier. Once they figured out the genetic signature of her modifications they were able search through the Health Ministry’s database and find all of her children.
There were thirty-two from each of the locations where she worked: Earth, Vega, Mars and so on. At each cluster the children were spread over a three year period.
Finally the communications panel chimed. He looked at the caller-id and saw that it was an interstellar call originating in the Capella system.
He accepted the call and answered, “Grissom.”
The face took a moment to resolve. It was always video that slowed down interstellar calls. “Director, its Agent Barrett. Is our line secure?”
Grissom saw that the green light indicating that the line was encrypted was lit. “We’re secure. Go ahead with your report.”
“We’ve got a problem.”
“Elaborate.”
“Subject Vega-25 and Mars-07 have met. By all accounts, they have become fast friends and are even assigned to the same ship.”
“What? How is that even possible? Mars-07 works for the Merchant Marine and Vega-25 is Fleet.”
“Mars-07’s doctoral dissertation got discovered and the Fleet brass are ecstatic about it. They pulled strings to get him transferred and gave him a promotion. He even got bumped up to Lieutenant Commander because he qualified as a science officer.”
“Great. How many more of our subjects are in that fleet?”
“Six.”
“They can’t meet.”
“Don’t sweat it boss. Chances are we’ll lose at least half of them. The fleet’s going on a big offensive and we know how well those have gone so far.”
“Anything else?”
“Mars-07, Vega-08 and European Consortium-22 got security checks just prior to the Fleet’s big operation and they all passed with flying colors.”
“At least they are all still working for us.”
“For now. If they discover the truth, there’s just no telling.”