Slipspace: Harbinger Read online

  “The Alliance Civilian government always used civilian medical staff. They feel it keeps the military out of medical decisions and reduces the risk of compromising medical ethics. As a civilian, you fall outside of my chain of command and would not report to me. I still maintain final authority on matters of ship’s business, as would you on matters of medical protocol, but beyond that, consider yourself an independent contractor. It’s simple, really.”

  Nira sighed. “It’s never simple...” She paused as Cody began nibbling at her ear. “It’s never that simple, and you know it.”

  “We can make it work. You’d be on board even if you didn’t take the job. But if you didn’t, you’d just be the Captain’s wife: a civilian with limited access to the ship. If you took the post you’d have something to do beyond just hosting dinner with the officers.” He nibbled a little more before he continued. “Your medical license is up to date. You’re qualified for xeno-medical practice and your genetic memory gives you a wealth of historical knowledge on which to draw.”

  “All Lura have genetic memories, Cody.”

  “That’s not the point,” he whispered as he held her close, his tongue flicking her earlobe. “I don’t want just any doctor- Lura, Human, Inkar or otherwise. I want you. You’re up to date, qualified, vetted, and cleared. And you’re at the top of every list I’ve seen.”

  “How many of those lists did you write yourself?”

  Cody gave no answer, his kisses making their way down her neck and chest. The warmth inside her grew despite her best efforts to stay focused on the conversation. There would be plenty of time for play later. But Cody pressed on.

  “Say you’ll do it,” he said, placing each word between kisses.

  Things were never as simple as they sounded, and this proposition was a big risk and gamble, but it was one she would take. She felt her pulse quicken as Cody turned his attention to her breasts. Her hand snaked up his back and closed around a tuft of hair which she used as leverage to lift his head so his eyes would meet hers.

  “This, dear husband, will not stand. Toying with me while asking me to make this decision is manipulation, to say the least,” she said, her voice darker and seductive.

  “I know,” he teased as she released him. He looked up to her. “But you wouldn’t let me do this to you if you hadn’t already made up your mind, would you?” To his credit, he stopped and let her think.

  She should put on some clothes and sit down with him to discuss this. The idea left a knot in her stomach. She belonged in a hospital with solid ground beneath her, not up there on a drab warship. But if she stayed on Lumo, she would be away from him and their plans for family and future would be put on hold. That would not work for her. She had to go with him. They both knew that. But she could do no one any good sitting in her quarters all day. There was only one place where she could do what she did best and Cody was offering her the opportunity.

  “Sign me up, my Captain.”

  He kissed her again. “Glad to hear it. You’ll have to select staff and make sure that the medical inventory is up to par. Mjöllnir’s a big ship so I can’t imagine that...”

  Nira cut him off, rolling to her right. He fell off her and rolled onto his back as she found her new position on top of him. “I don’t care. All that can wait until tomorrow. But for now,” she tapped a playful rhythm on his chest. “For right now, let’s leave the ship and the Alliance outside. It’s just the two of us on our anniversary. We should make the most of it.”

  Cody looked up at his wife, his head resting on the pillow. He reached over to her side, grabbed a handful of rose petals and scattered them over her shoulders and back. Without another word, she lowered herself down to kiss him.

  CHAPTER TWO

  October 10, 2832

  05:10

  Lyros Shipyard – Mjöllnir

  VIVINE MELOR CURSED for the eighth time in the past five minutes as she continued to struggle with the internal circuitry of the Mjöllnir’s primary power regulators. From her position, laying on the deck, she could see the problem. But her hands were too damned big and she simply could not reach in far enough to fix it. She pushed the calibrator up into the panel and tried again to get her reading, but it jammed where her hand hit the bracing. She poked the device forward, further compromising her grip on the tool with each motion. As she made her last effort to connect the scanning port to the circuit, the tool slipped out of her hand, and fell into the board with a loud crack. The panel sparked in protest before it fell into a separate line, which broke free of its housing and sprayed lubricant all over. Melor’s arm shot up to grab the hose and reconnect it, but by the time she had, she had been coated in the gray grease. She flicked the goop off her arm, but most of it had already started to mix with the sweat slicking her green skin. She sighed as her arm and head dropped to the deck in defeat.

  Piper stood over her and stifled a laugh as she tossed a towel down to her. “I told you not to work in a tank top.”

  “You think I’m sweating now,” she said, “you should see me in engineering coveralls.” She took the towel in her lower left hand, passed it up to her upper right and wiped herself off. The towel only smeared grease and sweat further across her body. Tossing it away she turned to her assistant. “Get me a torch, we’re going to have to remove the bracings from their mounts so I can clean up in there.”

  “Why didn’t you do that before you started?”

  Melor sighed, “didn’t think it’d be needed.”

  She set to work cutting through the welds. After ten minutes, the bracing sat on the deck next to her as she wiped the assembly down, cleaning off the grease she had spilled. Once finished, she retrieved the calibrator and set back to work. With her four arms working in tandem, the process took no time. When she finished, she shifted to make room for the flashlight in her lower right arm.

  “Shit. This whole panel is routed through a GX-7 regulator.”

  “Yeah, so? That’s on spec.”

  “Not my specs. Get me a GC-10,” she said as she pulled the entire assembly out of the housing.

  “Lieutenant?”

  Melor sighed and folded her upper arms across her chest as her lower set found their places on her hips.

  “This assembly is the main regulator for the entire engine power distribution system. A GX-7 is spec, but it has a very low tolerance in cases where extra power needs to be shunted in. The GC-10 has a better tolerance and I’d rather have it installed so we can reduce the chance of regulator blow out in emergency situations.” She paused. “Now are you going to get it, or do I have to shuffle over to the parts closet myself?”

  Piper sighed and stepped away. While she was gone, Melor took a pass at cleaning the GX-7. When Piper returned with the requisite part, Melor pulled components from the old board, pugged them into their equivalent ports on the GC-10 and passed the inferior unit back to Piper.

  “Get this into a solvent bath. Once the grease is off, clean it up, seal it, and return it to inventory.”

  “Right away,” Piper said, taking the board.

  Melor finished attaching the components to the GC-10 before activating it. She ran the calibrator over the sub-assembly before she snapped it into place in the housing and bolting it down. The device thrummed to life, ready to take whatever punishment it would be dealt.

  “Looks like you’ve created quite the mess.”

  Melor turned at the sound of a new, yet familiar voice on the scene. She was not surprised to see the face of Lieutenant Commander Timin Aler, the Mjöllnir’s weapons chief. He crouched on his haunches, watching her, his eyes drifting up to her work before dropping back to her as if her job meant nothing to him. Her throat tightened as she slid out.

  “What can I do for you, Commander?”

  Aler returned to his full height and extended an arm. Judging him to be one of the few on board ship who were strong enough to actually help her, Melor took the offer in her left pair and nearly stumbled over herself as he pulled her
to her feet.

  “You can tell me when my cannon charge coils are going to be aligned.”

  Melor sighed. “As I told you an hour ago, I’ve got an engine that needs to be ready for a test in five hours. When it’s ready, your guns are next on my list. Now, if you’ll excuse me Commander, I have work to do.” She started to shuffle away, but Aler caught her arm with his beefy hand, stopping her in her tracks. She turned, at the waist, but her feet did not follow and she lost her balance.

  Aler’s arms under her upper shoulders stopped her and offered support while she re-centered herself.

  “Sorry, Lieutenant.”

  “Nothing to apologize for. Verasai are not the most agile.”

  “Lieutenant, regarding the charge coils, I need to have all six cannons online and ready for test firing in two hours. I can’t do that without the coils in alignment. Now, you’ve been tinkering with an engine that’s undergone all its checks and is ready for...”

  “It’s not ready,” Melor interrupted. “I just had to install a higher capacity board to the power regulator, and I’ve got to go through the entire...”

  “After you align my charge coils, Lieutenant.” Aler interrupted. “Lieutenant, I know we haven’t had a chance to get to know each other, but I like you. I know how difficult life on Varem was, and...”

  “How the hell would you know, Commander?” Melor snapped.

  “I grew up on Varem. I know. As tough as it was for you, at least you didn’t stand out as an outsider,” he said, indicating her green skin and the bifurcations at her shoulders and shins. “One of the only things that kept me alive was my species’ natural instincts.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard about your race. You’re an Inkar, right? Masters of cause and effect, or so you claim,” she grunted.

  “Something like that. Regardless, I understand you want to do things your way and in your own time. But I am on a schedule. Please don’t make me order you to do the work.”

  Melor glared at him. “Commander, do you know why engineers hate being micromanaged? You guys up in OpCom have no clue how this ship works. Sure, you understand the broad strokes. But when it comes to the finer details, you’re clueless.”

  “Your point, Lieutenant?”

  “Sir, your precious cannons draw energy through my engine. This allows them to charge faster and amplifies the destructive force of the weapon. By fine tuning the engine, I’m making your cannons that much more efficient.”

  Aler hesitated. “I... I didn’t realize...”

  “I’m well aware of the weapons test and I know you need the coils aligned. But to align the coils before determining the magnitude of power they’ll be receiving from the engine would be a waste of time.”

  “Why didn’t you explain this before?”

  “You didn’t ask.”

  Aler let out a breath. “Lieutenant Vivine Melor, you are going to either be the best engineer I’ve ever had the privilege to work with, or the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever had to deal with.”

  “That will depend on your ability to trust your colleagues.” Gathering her tools, she shuffled for the exit. “I’m heading down to the cannons now. Care to join me?”

  October 10, 2832

  12:25

  Lyros Shipyard

  CODY AMADO TAPPED his fingers against the console. There were only so many times he could read through his command roster and preliminary status reports before the words blurred together and stopped holding any meaning.

  “Thank you, Traffic Control. Transport 216-Alpha proceeding on course,” the pilot said into his headset.

  “Are we finally cleared to move again, Lieutenant?”

  “Yes, sir. We are. Traffic Control apologizes for the delay.”

  Cody sat up in his seat. “An hour and a half. Must have been one hell of a situation.”

  “Apparently the Mjöllnir declared an emergency. Traffic control had to halt everything.”

  “I see. Well then, I suppose you ought to get us there as soon as possible.”

  “Aye, sir. We’re on our way. “

  The pilot turned back to his controls, putting the dropship into motion once again. Amado turned back to his own console. “Transport 216-Alpha to Mjöllnir.”

  “This is Mjöllnir. Go ahead 216-Alpha.”

  “This is Captain Amado. Please put me through to Commander Amado.”

  There was a pause.

  “I’m sorry Captain,” the comm officer replied, “but Commander Amado is unavailable.”

  He made a mental note to have words with his sister. One did not refuse to speak to their commanding officer when they called. He closed the comm line. The Mjöllnir’s docking berth had come into view while he had been calling in. They would arrive soon enough and he would find out what happened. Now that they were on approach, now was the time.

  Cody found Nira sitting in a compartment amidships, her head leaned back against the headrest, her eyes closed.

  “This is crazy, Nira,” she sighed to herself. “Medical Chief of Staff working under your husband as commanding officer. Talk about bringing your work home with you.”

  “I told you,” he said, “you won’t be working under me.”

  Her eyes met his.

  “I have no authority to tell you how to run Medical Services. Hell, if anything, you’ve got more authority than me. With justifiable medical reason, you can relieve anybody on board ship of duty. Even the Captain.”

  Nira’s mouth slid into a wry smile as she stood up and sauntered over to him. “Don’t you forget it.”

  His cheeks flushed as his breath escaped his lungs. In all the years they had been together, he could never keep his composure when she turned seductive. She lowered his chin with two fingers, reached up, and kissed him.

  He reciprocated and for the moment it was just the two of them. The moment, like so many before, didn’t last quite long enough. He never could get his fill of her.

  “I thought you’d want to know we’re on approach. If you want to see her, now is the best time.”

  Nira nodded. “I swear, if I lose you to her in some torrid affair...”

  He guffawed. “Never going to happen.” He took her hand, led her to the forward compartment, and pulled the seat for her.

  She sat and focused her attention on the ship, still in berth, growing in size as they approached.

  “TCS-47,” she read out loud as they passed the ship’s stenciled registry.

  Cody nodded. “Theater Control Ship. It designates the Mjöllnir as a command and control unit on a battlefield.”

  “A human was the architect for the main hull, yes?”

  “How did you know?”

  “Only a human would design an aerodynamic nose on a ship designed to operate in a vacuum.”

  Cody laughed. “It’s what we know. We’re comfortable with it. It’s worked in the past. It’s aesthetically pleasing. Plus, it gives the ship a nice line.”

  “You humans and your aesthetics. It looks like a bottle opener to me.”

  He took another look at the ship and for the briefest of moments, he saw it. Between the main hull, its tapered nose and the perpendicular aft section, he could see it. At least he could if he ignored the four flight bays in the aft section, and the six heavy weapon cannons mounted onto the ship.

  “Captain, we’re being diverted to bay five. Apparently the other four decks are at capacity at the moment,” the pilot said.

  “Very well.”

  The dropship turned and vectored towards the large pod that had been mounted above the dorsal hull, the home of Gryphon squadron.

  “Why is the fighter bay open on both sides, where the other four only have one access?” Nira asked.

  “Bays one through four are intended for normal operations traffic. Transports, dropships and the like. However, bay five is optimized for combat operations. The double access will allow us to both land and launch fighters simultaneously. We don’t need that capacity in the other four.”

&
nbsp; “I see,” Nira responded. “What about that? Don’t tell me its more aesthetics.”

  Cody followed the direction of her pointed finger to the aft arch that connected the port and starboard wing edges and the flight pod.

  “That’s our ECM system and slip cutter.”

  “It’s an impressive ship, Cody. Bigger than I anticipated.”

  “Over a kilometer long, almost eight hundred fifty meters port to starboard and two hundred and eighty meters from her ventral hull to the top of the flight pod. Nine hundred support vehicles and just under ten thousand souls on board.”

  The drop ship continued on its course.

  “Dockmaster, this is transport 216 Alpha with Captain Amado and party on board. Requesting clearance to the grid.”

  There was a momentary silence on the channel before it crackled to life. “216 Alpha- Dock-master, you are green light to the grid at bay five. Traffic pattern is clear. Welcome to the Mjöllnir.”

  “Thank you, dock-master. 216 Alpha proceeding on course.”

  Cody reached his arms around Nira, hugging her across her chest and shoulders from behind as she sat. Her heart fluttered under his hand.

  “This thing is a monster,” she muttered. “It’s a giant metal monster and I’m little more than a spec to be swallowed up.”

  He gave her a reassuring squeeze. “You’ll do just fine, Nira. I won’t let you get consumed.”

  “What about yourself, Captain?”

  The punch in her voice stuck with him and for the first time since accepting the assignment his breath caught. As the bay grew larger in their view, the reality set it. Up until now it had all been on paper. In a moment, it would be real and if he was not careful, Nira’s fear of losing him to the ship would be justified.

  The transport set down with a thud as the mag locks engaged and pulled them down from the flight deck into the Mjöllnir.

  October 10, 2832

  15:00

  Lyros Shipyard – Mjöllnir