Chapter 6: Resurrection and Return to Space—Phase 2
July 27th, 2808
An odd sense of
normalcy pervaded the ship. The air was clean and pure, and the temperature was
warm and comfortable. The crew was playing cards in the lounge, and giving each
other grief. Without warning, Amazona stood up, and just listened. There was no
obvious reason for this.
“Fascinating,”
Chimera said. “I’ve only seen this in textbooks as the Cantilian 6th Sense. I think we’re in for an interesting
day.”
Seconds later,
alarms sounded all over the ship. There was incoming traffic approaching!
Misha looked out the
viewport and said, “My God, they sent the Royal Repair Crew! And a new engine!”
Misha immediately
went looking for a private conversation with Curt. They met in the hall.
“You could have told
me about this.” Curt said.
“Actually, I
couldn’t. There are huge aspects of this that are classified, and I didn’t hear
about this ahead of time.”
“OK, so what’s this about?”
“Behemoth is going to be space worthy and
battle ready before your ESF buddies arrive. Cost is no object.”
“Forgive a poor old
space jockey, but I don’t know what ‘Cost is no object’ means. Help me out
here.”
“Did you look
outside? They have a new engine for us. NEW!
That shiny ship you see is the Royal Repair Crew, with ten chimeran
technicians. Do you have any idea what ten
chimeran technicians can do with five terawatts running at full power? These
folks are serious!”
“Hmmm…looks like my
life as a pilot/engineer is over, and my life as a politician has started.”
“Suck it up, kid,
but I’ll be there to help every step of the way.”
Misha jumped on
Curt’s neck, and they just thought for a bit.
An hour later, Curt
was a little nervous as he got on the shuttle to meet Captain Keri. Chimera,
who was with him, assured him the guy was great, but it was still weird. After
all, he hadn’t met an Ancient at all until a couple of weeks ago! The docking
went without incident, and the two were escorted to the Captain’s office.
“Chimera, you old
space dog, how are you?” Keri said.
“Well, sir! Thanks
to this Modern, I’m at least alive, but my ship is pretty messed up.”
“Well, maybe we can
help with that. Captain Jackson, welcome aboard! I have heard amazing things
about you…not all believable.”
“I do what I can,
sir. I want to convey my extreme gratitude for your deployment of these
resources. We were doomed otherwise.”
“Politically, that’s
for sure. We’re here because your ship can’t be fixed before the conference
otherwise. Oh, you didn’t know there was a conference? More on that later then.
The discovery of an Ancient ship has caused quite a stir in the Modern world.
With you dead in the middle of it. So, let’s cut the bullshit. Can you handle
that?”
“I guess we’ll see,
won’t we?” Curt said. “As always, I’ll do the best I can. But, I can say
this--I don’t rattle easily.”
“OK. Chimera, give
me the straight story. What’s this guy like?”
“With only a few
possible exceptions, Captain Jackson is the most honest, capable, and competent
officer I have served with in 2000 years.”
A long pause.
“That’s a pretty
strong endorsement. How does he deal with the time issue?”
“Well, he’s only had
to deal with that issue for a few weeks
or so, and that under conditions when I was still pretty slow moving. He’s
still shocked, but that will pass. Now, if you would help me train him…?”
“Captain Jackson,”
Keri said, “You know that we Chimerans are….different…when it comes to time.
You’ve had some small exposure to this. A great many Normals can’t handle it.
Is this going to be a problem for you?”
Curt replied,
“Chimera and I have worked together for a couple of weeks now. She plays time
tricks on me at least twice a week (Chimera: Who? Me? I do not!). But she works hard, is fast beyond my
comprehension, and most of the time, she’s actually entertaining. We’ll be
fine.”
“Then let’s get this
ship back into space! How long do we have?”
“About two weeks,
sir.”
“Dammit…can’t those
folks at home ever give me an easy
job?”
July 29th, 2808
The coordination of
the repair of Behemoth by the Reagan went well. Tasks were identified,
problems solved, progress was made.
Until all Hell broke
loose.
Every alarm in the
complex went off. By coincidence, Captain Jackson and Captain Keri arrived at
the site at the same time, and their simultaneous command of “Freeze!” was
hugely effective. Chimera was in the center engineering stage. Bleeding
slightly, but not seriously damaged. Grinning, almost. A cadet from the Reagan was on the landing, doing much
less well, with three limbs missing. Jackson gave the nod to Keri to manage the
incident.
“Ensign Philip.”
“Sir!”
“What’s going on
here?”
“Sir, Lieutenant
Chimera gave an incorrect instruction, which I refused to follow.”
“Oh, she did, now,
did she? You are aware, of course, that insubordination is a terminatable
offense?”
No response.
Captain Keri took
his time to look at Chimera, and Capt Jackson, and just consider his options.
“Ensign Philip, do
you know who you’re dealing with?”
“Uh, Lieutenant
Chimera, sir?”
(A long pause, and
then an even longer laugh). “You silly kid. She’s playing with you, son! She always was a smartass. She could kill
you any microsecond she wanted to. Did you notice that she has six limbs
attached, and you have only three? And the only reason for that is that she
didn’t want to embarrass you by leaving you helpless on the ground.
“Ensign Philip, meet
Senior Technical Commander Chimera, Captain rank in the Ancient Imperial
Service. She outranks me by at least two grades; I’ve lost count of how many at
this point. She also has battle experience you will hopefully never see.
Captain Chimera, how long would it take you to kill Ensign Philip in battle?
Eight nanoseconds?”
“Well, I’m getting
old, sir. Probably ten nanoseconds.”
“Ensign Philip…do
you get the idea? You may hurt, but she was just playing with you. You would be
dead, if she wanted you dead.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Do you still want
to serve in this unit?”
“Yes sir!!”
“Very well.
Lieutenant Wakemen, please patch Ensign Philip back together, and assign him
ten extra watches. Ensign Philip.”
“Sir!”
“This opportunity to
learn from Captain Chimera only happens once in a lifetime. If I ever have to
deal with you for insubordination again, you will not like the results.”
For the entire
duration of the repair, there was not a single additional discipline incident.
Later, back on Behemoth, Curt said, “Captain Chimera, a
word, please.”
(Chimera: Oh, shit,
I knew this was coming….)
“Captain Chimera? And you were going to tell me this when?
You’ve been my superior ever since I got here, and never bothered to mention
it? Hell, if you outrank Keri by two grades, you’re my superior now! You were
only semi-conscious for the first day or so, so I’ll give you that for free,
but after that….what the hell?”
“Permission to speak
freely, sir?”
“You damned well
better!”
“Sir, I hate management and administration with
a passion you can’t imagine. Chimerans generally suck at management. I was
unconscious after the crash, and when I woke up, you had things so obviously
well in hand, I figured ‘What the hell, I’ll just do what he needs done!’ I
want to do things, sir. I want to
make things work. I don’t want to mess with paperwork or personnel stuff.”
“You seemed to
handle Ensign Philip pretty well today.”
“Punk kid. Smart
kid. Smartass. He should actually do well.”
“Captain, let’s make
a deal. I won’t give you any administrative assignments of any kind, if you
agree to handle every personnel issue
regarding a Chimeran that comes up during our mutual term in office. Agreed?”
“Agreed, sir!”
“Also, it might be a
little weird for me to refer to you as Captain
in public all of a sudden. Would you be offended by the term Commander instead? We’ll work up to
Captain later.”
“Not in the
slightest. In fact, I’d prefer it.”
“Very well, then.
Back to work for both of us.”
July 30th, 2808
Lifting day!
The plans were all
done, and the crews were ready.
“Captain Keri, are
we ready to go?” Chimera said.
“Absolutely!”
“200,000 tons. You
know that, right?”
“Not a problem. With
the engines at full power, we’ll have plenty of reserve.”
“Then let’s get this
done.”
(Reagan: Well, this
is the big day. You ready?)
(Behemoth:
Absolutely. With Chimera running the show, I couldn’t be less concerned. Your
Captain Keri seems like a pretty sharp cookie as well.)
(Reagan: Yeah, I
guess)
(Behemoth: You
guess? How old are you, son?)
(Reagan: A little
less than 1000 years)
(Behemoth: Aha! I
thought that was water I saw behind your ears! Trust me, you’ve got a good one
with Keri. They won’t all be that good)
(Reagan: So….what do
you do with the bad ones?)
(Behemoth: You do
what you’re told, and if they’re really bad, sometimes you’ll die. But you
can…influence them.)
(Reagan: How?)
(Behemoth: We’ll
talk later, kid. Things are about to get interesting!)
The final alarm went
off throughout the complex.
“Attention all crew.
Lifting is about to begin!”
“Captain Keri, are
you ready?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Behemoth, are you
ready?”
“Ready and eager,
ma’am!”
“OK, to review the
plan, the Reagan will ramp up to full
rated power, and the tractors will lift Behemoth
approximately 100 feet off the ground. The technicians will install support
struts as appropriate. This whole process should take about an hour. Any
questions?”
Silence.
“Then let’s do it! Reagan and Behemoth, commence now!”
From a short
distance, the view was simply awesome. A 100 yard diameter ship, lifting a 200
yard ship off the ground! There was a blur of activity as the technicians
installed the supports. You literally couldn’t see them. Once the supports were
in place, the Reagan set Behemoth gently down on the supports,
and moved away.
“Hey old man,”
Chimera said. “I’m obviously going to win our bet about getting you back into
space. Want to up the ante?”
“Captain Chimera, I
am never going to bet against you again.”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Uh, yes, ma’am.
Sorry…”
Once the lifting and
set down were complete, Curt went back to the bridge and said: “Behemoth?”
“Sir!
“Captain Chimera?”
“Oooops…”
“Yeah, ooops. OK, I
never explicitly asked, so I can’t beat you up for that, but it’s time for a no
bullshit conversation. Your explicit instruction in this conversation is to
give me the information you believe I would find most useful, not only the information I explicitly
ask for. Are we clear?”
“Clear sir!”
“OK. Give me a quick
summary of the experience of all the crew members.”
“Captain Curt
Jackson, age 58, formerly of the Earth Space Force.”
“You know what? I
knew that. And actually, I retain my commission in the Earth Space Force. I
have a dual commission.”
“Can you do that??”
“I guess we’ll find
out, won’t we? Anyway, update your records to reflect my continued commission
with the ESF. Next?”
“Starship Behemoth, Grand Imperial Class,
approximately 12,000 years old. Oldest operating Imperial class ship in the
fleet.”
“Ahh, but what you
might not know, is with this new engine, you will also be officially the fastest Grand Imperial in the fleet. You
like that idea?”
“Uh, sir, this is
the first I’ve heard this. Hell yes, I like the idea!”
“Well, that’s the
spirit I like. Next?”
“Captain Misha,
about 12,000 years old. Captain Misha supervised my initial construction. She
is also a former Chairman of the Council of Guardians.”
“Damn! You two have
known each other for 12,000 years? No wonder you were so happy when
I told you she was still alive.”
“Sir, words can’t
even begin to describe it. And then, when you brought her back to life…you have
a dedication from me beyond any conceivable military obligation.”
Captain Jackson, not
easily embarrassed, blushed at the response.
“OK--next?”
“Senior Technical
Commander Chimera, Captain rank, 4th grade. They’ve tried to promote
her to Admiral three times now, but she threatened to resign if they did. Her
agreement with the service is that she gets whatever assignment she wants as
long as she stays on. She chose this assignment because she wanted the oldest
ship there was.”
“Why am I not
shocked by that? Next?”
“Senior Lieutenant
Amazona, Chief Security Officer. She took this position as a promotion to an
Imperial class starship Security Officer. Bad call, huh?”
“Oh, I don’t know.
Do you think so?”
“Actually, I don’t.
Thank you sir! Next is Lieutenant Cygnus. New kid, but as you saw from the
battle in space, very good. Any more
questions, sir?”
“No, that will do
for now. Thank you. But Behemoth.”
“Sir?”
“As a standing
future order, your instruction is to tell me what you think I need to hear, in addition to any specific information
I ask for. Are we clear?”
“Clear sir!”
July 31st, 2808
“Chimera! I trust
you are well?”
“Very well indeed,
sir! The repairs are moving along well ahead of schedule. That Royal Repair
Crew is just astounding. The structural repairs are complete, and we should
actually be ready for a flight test in a few days!”
“Actually, about
that. I need your help, Captain.”
“Captain, eh? I
don’t like the sound of that.”
“I need you to
accept your promotion to Admiral.”
“What? I’ve successfully resisted that
for over 1000 years, and now you expect some snotty nosed Modern kid to change
my mind? Forget it! Sir.”
“Chimera, I need
your help.”
Chimera, shrugged,
and relaxed. “Well, you did save my
life after all, so, I guess I owe you something for that. But why me? And why
this?”
“Captain, what’s
your clearance level?”
“Level 20, sir.”
“Level 20, that’s
interesting. I’m only a Level 12, so I guess that won’t be an issue here. I
assume you’ve heard the Guardians and the AIS are going to become active again
in this sector? The debate has gone on for centuries, but the discovery of
Behemoth by the Moderns has kicked them into action.”
“I’ve heard rumors,
sir, but nothing specific.”
“Well, it’s real.
Working with AIS, they are going to kick off a squadron of three Grand Imperial
class starships, to keep order and peace in this region of the galaxy. A
squadron of that size requires an Admiral to run it, and Misha got a full
ration of shit just to get me approved as a Modern to Captain an Ancient
Starship. There’s no way they’ll let me run this.”
“You want me to run
a squadron? Buzz off! Sir.”
“No, of course not,
you don’t have to run it. I’ll deal with all that. I’ll find good Captains for
all the ships. I’ll continue in daily command. You won’t have to do any admin,
none of that. Just the technical work, which you’ve been doing so superbly well
already. Oh, there will be some state dinners and such, but I can handle almost
all of that.”
“Hmmm…no admin
work?”
“None!”
“And you’ll handle
all the politics?”
“Like I say, there
will be a few official functions you’ll need to attend, but other than that,
I’ll deal with it all.”
“Hmmm…let me think
about this.”
“You’re a chimeran.
That means you should need, what, about ten seconds to think about it?”
“Smartass!”
“So…you’ll do it?”
“Yes, dammit, I’ll
do it! I never thought I’d get sucked into this.”
“Well, things
change. Life is different for all of us now. And Chimera…thank you!”
“Grrrrrr…”
August 1st, 2808
“Admiral Chimera,
good morning! I trust you slept well? (Captain Keri was way too cheery for
Curt’s early morning disposition).”
“News travels fast,
I see. Captain Keri?”
“Yes ma’am!
“Would you like to
be assigned latrine duty for the next month?”
“Uhhhh, no, ma’am,
that wouldn’t be my first choice.”
“Then I don’t see
any need to discuss my new assignment any further, do you?”
“Uh…no ma’am.”
Chimera sat down,
and relaxed. “Look guys, I just don’t want things to be different. I understand
the need for public formality and all that. Curt and I talked about that before
I ‘agreed’ to this assignment. But when it’s just us in private, I just want it
to be us, getting things done as always. None of this Sir and ma’am crap. Can we do that?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Captains Jackson and Keri said spontaneously together.
There was a brief
moment of tension, and then an outburst of laughter. “We didn’t plan that,
Chimera, we really didn’t. Of course
you’re still one of us. Part of the engineering strike team, as always. And, I
won’t hesitate to call you on it when you’re wrong,” Curt said. Then, he felt
an odd tingle, and noticed that his left index finger was severed, and lying on
the floor.
“Uh, sorry about
that,” Captain Keri said. “We’ll get that fixed for you straight away.”
“Oh, just give it to
me,” Chimera said. “No need to involve others in this.”
Curt’s finger was
re-attached and working in about six seconds.
“That’s amazing!”
Curt said, flexing his finger. “I knew it worked in theory but…this is real.
You guys can really do this!”
“You wouldn’t want
us to let you get bored, would you?” Chimera said with an evil smile.
“OK,” Curt said, “So what’s this ‘conference’
about?”
“Well, it’s
annoying,” Captain Keri said. “Some dipshit at Earth Space Force command leaked
that an Ancient ship had been found, and now, every species in the damned
sector wants to check it out.”
“Great. This is just
great.”
“It’s worse than
that. Did you know that Earth Space Force command intends to take possession of
Behemoth?”
“Never happen,
Captain. I’m clear on that. Although, this is going to give me more than a few
political headaches.”
Chimera smiled.
“Captain Jackson, your clearance level just went up to 15.”
August 2nd, 2808
Flight test day!
The new engine was
installed, the critical flight systems all checked out, and Behemoth was ready to go. The new
shields didn’t work yet, and there were numerous smaller systems that still
needed to be repaired, but basically, he was ready to fly.
“So, Behemoth,” Curt
said, “You ready to fly, and lose that bet with Chimera?”
“I am vibrating with
anticipation, sir! If these are the results I get, I’ll need to bet against
Admiral Chimera more often.”
“Remember not to
call her that in public. You know she
hates that.”
“Uh, yes sir!”
“Actually, I have a
question for you. Where did you get your training in spacecraft design?”
“Uh, training sir?”
“Yes, the Phoenix, for example. Smoothest damned
ship I’ve ever flown. Where did you learn to do that?”
“Well, sir, to be
honest…I have no training in spacecraft design. The Phoenix is the first I’ve ever done. I just sort of looked at the
requirements, designed it in my head, and printed out the results.”
“You’ve never designed a spacecraft before?”
“No sir. I just did
what needed to be done.”
“Hmmm…clearly, you
have too much unused capacity. We’ll speak more of this later.”
The flight test was
flawless. If anything, the performance of the new engine exceeded design specs.
The Grand Imperial
Starship Behemoth was back in space!
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