Ep.#3.6 - Evolution , page 2
“A very practical attitude.”
“That’s me. Practical to the end.”
“I do appreciate the company,” Robert assured her.
“I was bored, anyway. Not much to do now that the fleet is parked. And it will be a few more days before Dominic can give us a full report on what needs to be overhauled, and how the process should be prioritized.”
“Coming up on one five seven,” Robert commented, studying his sensor display again. “Plenty of flat land. A nice big river running right through the middle of it, and it eventually joins the main branch that skirts the settlement site, so we could use the river to ship fresh meat to you.”
“It’s nice,” Cameron agreed. “And there’s a mountain range to the northeast that will shield it from weather.”
“Good thinking,” Robert agreed as he peered out of the windows at the range below. “We could build the main complex right at the edge, nearest the edge of the range, tucked in against the foothills.”
“You don’t want to put it in the middle of the range?” Cameron wondered.
“Oh, hell no,” Robert insisted. “I want to be able to sleep with the windows open and not smell dollag dung.”
Cameron laughed. “Good point. I’d like a little place for myself right over there, next to the river.”
“Really? I figured you for a lifer.”
“I am,” Cameron admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t have a place to get away, now and then. And I’ll have to retire someday. It may as well be here.”
“Then I guess we’ll be neighbors,” Robert said.
“Maybe.”
“Just promise me one thing. That you’re not going to come over and try to tell me how to run my ranch.”
“You know I will,” Cameron admitted.
* * *
Nathan entered the Aurora’s medical treatment ward, which was packed with wounded from the cargo ship they had just rescued. Although a few of them were in bad shape, most had been lucky, coming in with only minor sprains, bruises, lacerations, and a few broken bones. Considering the number of patients, his medical staff seemed to be handling the situation quite well.
“I’m looking for the captain of that ship,” Nathan told one of the med-techs.
“Sitting next to bed one,” the med-tech replied, pointing.
Nathan went over, finding a woman in her late forties sitting next to a younger man who was unconscious and appeared to have multiple injuries. “Ma’am?” Nathan asked. “Are you the captain of that cargo ship?”
“I am,” the woman replied, eying Nathan suspiciously.
“Nathan Scott, captain of this ship.”
“Tapani Helder,” the woman replied. “But people just call me Tap.”
“A pleasure to meet you.” Nathan looked at the man in the bed. “Is this man someone close to you?”
“Remi. My chief engineer. Kind of like a son, I guess.”
“Is he going to be alright?”
“Doc says he should recover. Probably take a few weeks, though. Don’t know how I’m gonna get the ship running again without him.”
“I’m sure we can help you with that,” Nathan told her.
She didn’t acknowledge his words. “I need to find a way to get him home, so he can rest.”
“He is welcome to stay here as long as necessary. You both are.”
“That’s generous of you, Captain. But we wouldn’t want to put you out. You’ve done enough already. Those bastards would’ve executed every last one of us, and left the Traverna adrift, just to send a message.”
“To whom?” Nathan wondered.
“To anyone thinking about trying to navigate this region of space.”
“Well, they may be thinking twice about pulling something like that again, at least around here,” Nathan insisted.
“Don’t bet on it,” Tap replied. “There’s no shortage of people who are willing to die rather than work for a living.”
“Hopefully we’ll be able to change that.”
Tap looked up at him. “What ship did you say this was?”
“I didn’t. It’s the Aurora.”
“Bad enough that your parents saddled you with a notorious name, but then you go and name your ship Aurora?” Tap laughed. “You’ve got balls, kid. I’ll give you that. Wait till I tell the other captains back on Peredine that I was rescued by Captain Scott and the Aurora.”
“Maybe it would be better if you didn’t,” Nathan suggested. “You might chase business away.”
“You’re probably right.”
“How many did you lose?” Nathan asked.
“Two crew, but no civilians.”
“Well, you should be proud of that,” Nathan insisted.
“Nothing to be proud of. We just got lucky.” She cast a suspicious gaze Nathan’s way. “How did you know we were in trouble?”
“You put out a mayday.”
“My pilot, Torga must’ve done so. Still, it’s lucky you were in the system.”
“We weren’t,” Nathan told her. “In fact, we were about eight hundred light years away when the communications officer on Tunc alerted us to your mayday.”
“Then how the hell did you get here so fast?”
“Eight hundred light years is well within our single-jump range,” Nathan explained.
“Then I guess you don’t care about damaging the interdimensional barrier?”
“Why would I care about a lie?”
Captain Helder shot Nathan an odd look.
“We’ll talk later,” Nathan told her. “If you don’t mind, I’m sending an engineering team to check out your ship and see what needs to be done to get her safely down on Tunc.”
“Thank you…I think.”
Nathan smiled, then turned to depart, nodding to Doctor Barra as she passed, headed for the Traverna’s wounded engineer.
“Your friend was very lucky,” Doctor Barra said as she studied the bio-monitor screen on the wall at the head of the bed.
“God takes care of drunks and fools,” Tap said. “So, he got help on two counts.”
“I see.”
“What was that man’s name?” Tap asked, nodding in the direction Nathan had departed.
“Captain Scott?”
“So, that’s really his name? That’s a cruel thing to do to a kid.”
“I’m pretty sure his parents didn’t know his name would become infamous when they gave it to him,” Doctor Barra insisted.
“Huh?” Now Tap was staring at Doctor Barra, confused.
“He really is Nathan Scott, and not just in name. He’s the Nathan Scott.”
“As in the one who died five hundred years ago,” Tap confirmed, extremely skeptical.
“That’s the one.”
“So, you’re in on it too, then,” Tap surmised.
“Yeah, I didn’t believe it at first either,” the doctor admitted. “Don’t worry, you’ll come around,” she added as she left.
Tap looked around, a different look on her face. Finally, she turned to her unconscious engineer. “These people are daft.”
* * *
“She’s out of Easton,” Jessica said as she and Nathan walked down the corridor. “A mid-sized colony in the fringe, about three hundred and eighty-seven light years from Tunc.”
“That’s kind of a long haul, isn’t it?”
“Well, that may be where she’s based, but that’s not where she’s been spending most of her time, lately,” Jessica continued. “Seems our good Captain Helder is a bit behind on her mortgage payments. I have a feeling she’s staying as far away from Easton as she can.”
“So, she’s skipped out on her ship loan, then,” Nathan surmised as they entered the elevator.
“That’s how it looks.”
“How are you getting all this?”
“I cracked her logs, both ship and personal,” Jessica bragged.
“Not very nice of you,” Nathan commented as the elevator doors opened.
“Fuck nice. I’m protecting this ship,” Jessica insisted.
“Any idea why she was headed for Tunc?”
“All I know is that she picked up the run on Pykamay a few days ago. And someone paid her double the going rate.”
“For what, I wonder?” Nathan said as they entered the bridge.
“I don’t know, yet. We scanned all her cargo and didn’t find anything suspicious. There are a few sections of the ship that are shielded, though, so those may be smuggler’s bays. I didn’t want to tear them open until I spoke with you.”
“That’s uncharacteristic of you.”
“I’m feeling lazy today.”
“I’ll speak with Captain Helder again later today and see if I can squeeze more details from her.”
“We need to know if this was a random attack, which would indicate that the Morten are testing to see if the Brodek are still around or not, or was a targeted attack, and they were looking for something specific.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Nathan promised. “What about the passengers?”
“I’ll be interviewing most of them later today, once Doc Chen clears them.”
“Very well,” Nathan agreed, heading into his ready room without her. He went to his desk, calling up the data they had collected on the Traverna, looking it over in the hopes that something would stand out to him. But nothing did. As best he could tell, it was just a standard cargo ship, old, like every other ship operating outside Alliance space. Like most ships in this century, it was slow, barely able to accelerate much past orbital velocity without burns lasting weeks. And their jump logs showed at least an hour between each ten-light-year jump, indicating that they needed to recharge between each max-jump event.
“Nathan?” Vladimir called over Nathan’s comm-set.
“What’s up?” Nathan replied.
“You and Jessica need to come to the Traverna. There’s something you need to see.”
“What is it?”
“Just come.”
* * *
Nathan and Jessica stood in the Traverna’s compact engineering compartment, looking down at the small window on the large container that Vladimir had pulled out of the cargo ship’s reactor compartment.
“And this container was in the reactor compartment?” Nathan asked.
“Directly under the reactor,” Vladimir confirmed.
“Why?”
“Probably because it would just look like part of the reactor to anyone scanning the compartment from outside,” Vladimir theorized. “The only reason I even opened the compartment was because I was curious. I’ve never seen this reactor design.”
“How is she still alive?” Jessica wondered, pointing to the radiologic warning placard on the door to the compartment.
Vladimir looked at the sign, waving it off dismissively. “There’s no radiation in there,” he insisted. “Not unless the reactor fails, in which case this whole section would be in trouble. Besides, the container is shielded.”
“So, it’s just an SA pod, then?” Nathan said.
“Pretty much,” Vladimir agreed. “A nice one, but nothing unusual about it.”
“Any idea who she is?” Nathan asked.
“Nyet,” Vladimir replied. “No markings of any kind.”
Nathan sighed. “Well, I guess I’d better speak to Captain Helder again.”
“If that’s her real name,” Jessica commented.
* * *
Cameron stepped out from the Celestia’s forward cargo ramp toward the newly arrived shuttle from the Anastianus, just as a middle-aged woman stepped down from its boarding hatch. The woman was dressed in a uniform similar to those worn on the other ships owned by Jakome Ta’Akar, and she wore it well.
“Captain Taylor?” the woman asked Cameron as they approached one another.
“Captain Klim, I assume,” Cameron replied, offering her hand. “I was surprised when I got your hail. I thought you had only just arrived at the gate.”
“That is true,” she replied, looking around. “Beautiful spot Doctor Goff chose.”
“It is,” Cameron agreed.
“The positioning of your ships changes our deployment plans,” Captain Klim stated.
“We positioned them to better support one another during the refit process,” Cameron explained. “We can move them, if you need us to.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” the captain insisted. “I’m sure we can make it work.”
“I understand your entire ship is to be broken down and used to create the settlement. I’d love to see the specs on how that’s done.”
“It’s not all that impressive. At its heart, the Anastianus is really just a barge pusher, built with a post-mission utility career in mind. It’s the design of the cargo modules that’s key.”
“How long will it take you to get broken down and through the gate?”
“A few days, I expect.”
“Is this your first colonization mission?” Cameron asked.
“Fifteenth, actually,” Detta replied. “First one I’m not going home from, though.”
“You’re staying on Libertara, permanently?”
“I’ve been flying colonization missions for thirty plus years,” Detta explained. “This is by far the furthest out I’ve ever hauled, and even if I continued hauling for another thirty years, I doubt I’d surpass it by much. So, I figure this rock has my retirement written all over it.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Cameron agreed, “but not for another decade or two.”
“Do you have any decent food on your ship?”
“Surprisingly good, actually.”
“Then I’ll make you a deal. Feed me, and I’ll explain to you just how the Anastianus will be turned into a colony.”
“You’ve got a deal,” Cameron replied, smiling.
* * *
“In the reactor compartment?” Captain Helder questioned. “That can’t be.”
“It is,” Nathan replied. “Where is your engineer?”
“In the medical scanner.”
“So, you’re saying you know nothing about this stowaway on your own ship?”
“The Traverna is hardly my ship,” Captain Helder insisted.
“We know about your mortgage problems,” Nathan told her.
Captain Helder looked at him, squinting. “Someone’s been going through my personal records.”
“I apologize, but there is too much at stake.”
“I wasn’t referring to the mortgage.”
“What, then?”
“The Traverna was my husband’s dream,” Tap explained.
“Where is your husband now?”
“Gone.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“Don’t be. The asshole ran off with some slut and stuck me with his failing business, and a fucking mortgage that’s been sucking the life out of me for five years now.”
“Good reason to take up smuggling,” Nathan pointed out.
“I wouldn’t even know how to begin,” she admitted. “Hell, I don’t even know how to fly that damned thing. And the only thing I know about the reactor compartment is that there’s a big red warning sign on the hatch telling me to keep out.”
Nathan wasn’t sure how much of what Tap was telling him was true, but at this point it didn’t matter. His main goal was to learn the identity of the stowaway, not Captain Helder’s life-history. “What about your engineer?” Nathan asked. “Could he have arranged to take on this stowaway?”
“I suppose,” Tap admitted. “But why not just bring the stowaway on with the rest of the passengers? And why in SA?”
“People in suspended animation don’t return life-signs on most sensors, and by putting the SA pod so close to the reactor, the device would appear to be part of the reactor itself,” Nathan explained. “So, you can see why we might assume that your engineer had a hand in this.”
Captain Helder had no response.
“How well do you know your engineer?”
“Pretty well, I suppose. When my husband split, his engineer quit. Remi was just a loader, but he was pretty handy with systems, so he just, sort of, took over the engineer’s position. He’s become like a son to me.”
“Do you think he’s done this before?”
“You’re assuming that he did. There were two more people on my crew.”
“You mentioned your pilot last time we talked. How long was he with you?”
“A little over a year, I’d say.”
“What about the other crewman?” Nathan asked.
“Iros Bandura. This was his first trip.”
“What was his job?”
“Loader, basically a grunt. It’s an entry-level position, and we seem to have a pretty high turnover. I guess no one likes being the low man on the totem pole.”
“How much did you know about him?” Nathan wondered.
“I didn’t,” Tap admitted. “My last loader got arrested in port, and we needed someone quick. This guy just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Nathan thought for a moment. He was starting to believe the Traverna’s captain. Her answers felt quick and real, so if she wasn’t telling the truth, then she was very well rehearsed. “I understand your engineer is awake?”
“Yes.”
“See if he knows anything about this woman in SA, and then let me know.”
“The stowaway was a woman?” Tap asked, seeming surprised.
“Late twenties, early thirties. Had to have some resources to arrange an SA pod like that. So, it makes me wonder who she’s sneaking away from.”
* * *
“You weren’t kidding,” Captain Klim said after her first bite. “You eat like this every day?”
“We didn’t at first,” Cameron replied. “Luckily, the Navarro had staff on board and a fully stocked pantry when she was taken.”
“I can’t believe you guys stole three ancient warships. Seriously, who does that?”
