Ringship Discretion Page 7

  The captain asked "How does that play into our time table?"

  "Well that Big Sis Cruiser won't arrive at Io station until two full days after us, so we theoretically have time to get away. To where I don't know, be we can worry about that later. The other cruisers are going to overshoot just like the BB ship."

  On day 13 after leaving the wreckage, Amelia announced "The BB ship has begun its deceleration burn. They are falling into our trap perfectly!"

  Three days before their ETA with Io Station the captain sat up in bed. "I can't sleep!"

  Amelia ran her hand up his back and then sat up. "It will be OK. They are doing exactly what we predicted they would do. They still think they are going to be able to intercept us, and as long as they think that, they don't have any reason to change their plan."

  Attie looked at her. "I know, but there are so many variables, plus we don't even know what to expect when, and if, we actually make it to the station." Then Attie's face changed and he stared at Amelia.

  She looked back with a chuckle "What?"

  He ran his hand up through the back of her hair, rubbed his cheek against her and kissed her below the ear. Amelia sighed and she started kissing him back on the neck. Then somehow their lips met and both of them began letting out small sounds of pleasure. His hand ran up her belly until it cupped her left breast and they both fell back. She rolled over and backed up against him. She lifted her leg slightly and pushed back. The light of Jupiter, now taking up a large part of the side view port, lit up their bodies as they became one.

  The next morning everyone was nervous. Ben said "OK, Captain, we are as ready as we are ever going to be."

  Amelia looked at Attie. "12 minutes till we begin our orbital insertion 'mag' burn."

  Attie looked back at her with desire. "What's the status of the BB ship?"

  Amelia looked at the sensor display. "The ionization is really screwing with our sensors and I sure wish the radar worked, but it looks like they will be at the Io Station in 30 hours at their current direction and deceleration. Ten Minutes 'till our burn."

  The captain got on the intercom. "OK everyone, this is it. We are not 100% sure what to expect here, so everyone get strapped in and make sure everything is secure. Make sure you don't have anything metal on, as we discussed earlier"

  Amelia said "Two minutes!"

  Attie, strapped into the copilots chair, put his hand on hers. "I love you!".

  She grabbed his hand and held it tight. "Me too."

  Attie asked Ben "Do you think they will figure out what we are doing, once we start to decelerate really fast?"

  Ben said "Probably, but there won't be shit they can do about it!"

  Amelia said "One minute!"

  Ben said "Damn, I'm hungry."

  Both Amelia and Atticus looked at him. "We're being hunted by every major power known to man while whipping around Jupiter doing a untested maneuver in a ship that's jury rigged to hell and you're thinking about a chicken sandwich?!"

  Ben thought for a second "Well, it was more of a meatball sub, but .." Amelia interrupted "10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1..engaging".

  Everyone felt the new force pushing them further down in their seat and then sky began to rotate. Amelia yelled "Shit! We're spinning, the field is rotating us! I thought I took that into account! Within seconds, Jupiter filled the entire front window. Everyone was being thrown against their straps and then they were light in their seats. Jupiter disappeared again and they were thrown the other direction and back to being heavy . She yelled out "It's accelerating and then decelerating us! Ben, can you adjust the field strength of the modules to make the field more even?"

  Ben punched on his pad which he had linked to the MFG's. "I'll try!"

  Amelia said "OK, I am going to try to get more thrust out of the new plates to counter the rotation."

  The captain spoke up "We may have to just shut it down!"

  Amelia yelled "No! I'm getting some effect from from the grav plates"

  The rotation began to slow. Then Ben said "OK, I decreased power to the back up number 2. It seemed to be the one that was creating an uneven field."

  With that, the rotation stopped, but again Jupiter was taking up the whole window. Amelia looked up "Oh, that's not right!" and within a few seconds Jupiter receded back off to the right.

  Amelia let her head fall back into her chair "There! That should do it".

  Everyone sat in their chairs for a few minutes just breathing. Atticus pointed out the window. "Wow! Look at that glow!" Everyone leaned forward and they could see a purple glow from the intense ionization.

  Amelia smiled. "Its so beautiful! Look how it comes and goes in waves. You can actually see our field lines!"

  Attie asked "So are our 'field lines' working like they should?"

  Amelia looked at her display. "Actually, it's working better than I expected. We are decelerating faster than expected and we will have to turn off all drives early. That will put us into a slightly lower but faster orbit than Io and we will just catch up with it."

  Attie asked "What about radiation?"

  She looked at the sensors "Well, almost all of it is going through the center of the ship, but we are getting slightly elevated levels in here. Mainly because we aren't using the MFG's like we are supposed to; but the levels are still safe."

  Attie, watched the beautiful colors out the window. "How long till we reach Io Station?"

  Amelia replied "About 36 hours. But that could vary depending on the field strength as we circle Jupiter."

  Attie looked at Ben and Amelia and laughed "Haha! We did it! That BB ship is going to pass right by 6 hours before we even get there!

  Amelia punched in some numbers "That puts our closest approach to the BB ship at about 188,000 km."

  Ben said "No way they can hit us from that range. At least not long enough to do any damage."

  Amelia spoke. "And as I predicted, we will have about two days lead time on the Big Sis ship that is decelerating."

  Attie asked "What about the other Big Sis Cruisers?"

  Amelia looked at him. "Um. Hmm..We were thinking they were going after the BB cruiser, but what if they took a shot at us? Is that what you are saying? Well, they are going to pass very near to us while we are at the station, but our closing velocities will be something really high. I don't think we are going to have to worry about them."

  CHAPTER 5: The BB Cruiser

  As my crew and I,

  run across the sky.

  A ring around our neck,

  trying not to become a wreck.

  Thirty hours later Amelia came over the intercom. "We are coming up on closest approach to the BB cruiser."

  Attie said in frustration, "I can't see crap on the sensors with all this radiation and EM interference." Then the sensors cleared for a second. "Oh shit! There he is! He's only 25,000 km away! What the hell?!"

  Amelia responded. "He must have figured what we were doing and changed course, but he's going like a bat out of hell! And.....that's it, he is receding away from us now. So long sucker!"

  Ben came up to the bridge "What's going on?"

  Attie looked up at him. "That BB ship was a hell of a lot closer than we anticipated, but he's going away from us now and going overshoot by a week!"

  Ben leaned up to the window "Guess he's too far to see, huh?". Ben turned, but felt a burning sensation on the back of his neck. There was yelling. The captain yelled "Don't look out the windows! They're firing on us. They haven't done any damage, but that beam could destroy your eyesight." With the push of a button from Amelia, the main view window went black The captain looked at Ben "You OK Ben?"

  Ben, with his hand on the back of his neck said, "Yeah, I think. I sure felt the heat though. Damn! Whoa! I think our little BB friend is pissed!"

  Amelia, in a high pitched voice, "They hit us again. Thermal sensors keep spiking, but the beam isn't hitting us long enough to do any damage. They have hit us at least 3 times, which is amazing con
sidering how many kilometers per second our difference in velocity is. But, each time they hit us, the beam is weaker, although it makes contact longer."

  The captain looked at the sensors "Must be because they are translating from an orthogonal to radial velocity relative to us. Which means they can hit us easier, but lucky for us they are receding away so fast that the beam is not only red-shifting, but it spreading out, although not at the square of the distance, since it's a laser."

  Ben looked at the captain "Umm..sure. Whatever you say Captain."

  Amelia leaned over and whispered. "I got you Attie, and you are right." She winked at him. "There the beam goes again!"

  Attie asked "How long are the bursts?"

  Amelia looked at the panel "That last one was 2.03 milliseconds, but the previous one was 1.56 and the one before that....umm..1.04." The power is dropping, but at a slightly lower rate. If he continues to fire on us, in 94 minutes, he will deal us maximum damage."

  Attie looked concerned. "Will it actually hurt the ship?"

  She ran some numbers. "Yes, it might!"

  Attie thought. "So we have to get away from him as fast as we can. I assume you took our deceleration into account in your calculations?" Amelia nodded. Attie continued "Well, don't we have an extra 6 hours that we don't need to be decelerating for?"

  Amelia said "Yes, right. I see where you are going. I am cutting the MFG's now and we will re-engage them seven hours from Io Station or so, when we are well out the BB ship's range. Let me rerun the numbers. Give me a minute." She raised her hand to block communication from Attie.

  Attie looked at Ben. "Well, at least our drive plates will be safe, since they're facing away from the BB ship." Ben nodded and looked back a Amelia trying to comprehend what they were talking about.

  Amelia looked up "OK, well this looks better. With us no longer decelerating as fast, we will be out of the BB's ships range much faster. He should reach maximum damage at 40 minutes, but I don't think it will do much. Just don't look out the windows, and get anything flammable away from top facing portals."

  Attie got on the intercom. "Listen up. Do not look out the windows because of the laser fire, but everyone check all the top portals around the ship and remove anything flammable or, or 'meltable'?"...He looked at Amelia questioning. She said back "I don't know..disintegratable?". He pushed the intercom again "disintegratable ..yeah, remove anything that is disintegratable ". By then the whole crew was on the bridge watching him and they all started to laugh. Ben stood up "You heard what the captain TRIED to say, so get to it!" This made everyone bust out laughing even harder.

  Over the next 35 minutes, laser blasts kept hitting the ship. The captain walked up to Amelia, who was still in her pilot's seat. "Status? It is starting to get warm in here."

  She said "The ship is getting hot, especially the upper plating, but nothing that is going to damage anything. We could.." The fire alarm began to blare and lights flashed red.

  The captain looked at the panel and got on the intercom. "Fire! We have a fire in the quarters...Amelia's room!" Amelia looked up at him with her mouth open. He said "Go!". She ran back through the galley to her quarters. Doc, Helen and AJ were all at the door. She squeezed through, and Ben came out with a burned cylindrical object. Amelia looked at it curiously. "What the hell is it?"

  Ben smiled "You left your TP in front of a window!"

  She bit her lower lip. "Oops."

  Then the captain came over the intercom. "What's going on back there?!" Ben hit the nearest intercom to respond. "It's nothing Captain, Amelia just used up her ration of toilet paper for the week."

  CHAPTER 6: Io Station

  Sulfur dust of yellow.

  Trade that's not on the level.

  Io below continuously reborn.

  Hoping that pay is not forlorn.

  Seven hours before reaching Io Station, Ben knocked on the captain's door. "Captain, we are coming up on seven hours till arrival. I woke up Amelia and she's getting ready for the final mag burn."

  The captain replied "OK, I'll be there in a second". He got up and walked into the galley, scrounging for any kind of snack, when Helen tapped him on the back. "Here ya go Cap'n" and she handed him a chocolate bar.

  He looked at it. "Perfect! Breakfast of Champions! No better time to eat something creamy and delicious then when your mouth tastes likes it's dead." He gave her his best smile and ripped into the bar. He then grabbed a milk-like product and headed to the bridge. "What's happening fellow humans?"

  Amelia, Ben and AJ turned and said "Mornin' Cap'n" and Ben went on to add "Well, you look like hell".

  The captain smirked and raised his beverage. "Thanks, I try."

  Amelia said "Well, we are just about to restart the MFGs. This will put us in two hours sooner than our original estimate."

  Attie sat down, still munching on his chocolate. "Well, we should probably try to contact someone over there, so we can get our money."

  Ben sat up. "Right! Good idea."

  Attie at Amelia: "What's the contact frequency and code?"

  She pointed. "Right there, and its secure, just push that button when you are ready to talk."

  Attie downed his last swig of the milk substance and pushed the talk button. "This is Captain Atticus Elliot with a delivery. We will arrive in approximately seven hours. Awaiting instructions, over".

  About 30 seconds went by and over the comm came "Dock at airlock 26W. It will be on the side of the station facing away from Io. We will exchange the goods at the airlock. Once you acknowledge receipt of this transmission, we won't contact you again. Over."

  The captain turned to Amelia. "Send the acknowledgment. Ben, what do you think?"

  He thought a second "I'm suspicious, but then again, I always am."

  The captain nodded. "I am too, especially with all these ships after us. They have to know that we were followed, but they didn't say anything or try to alter the deal. Amelia, can you bring up plans for the station?"

  Amelia did a few searches and brought up the schematics with photographs. "OK, these are a couple of years old, but I doubt they've changed much."

  The captain looked at Ben. "Take a look over those and put together a contingency plan. I am going to take a shower and try to feel alive."

  Ben looked at the captain. "That's the best idea I've heard all morning." and smiled.

  Fifteen minutes later Amelia's voice came over the intercom. "Everyone strap in, we are going to start our mag burn in 1 minute.

  Thirty seconds later the captain came running in, his hair still wet. "Just a second! I'm coming."

  He jumped into the co-pilots chair and Amelia counted down. "9..8..7..6..". The captain snapped his last buckle. "There!" "..2..1..engaging!" Everyone felt the extra deceleration as they sank into their seats. Amelia made some immediate adjustments to prevent the spinning of the previous time and the ship settled into a smooth, but heavy, deceleration. Attie looked over at her "Wow, nice job, much better than last time." She looked at his clothes and his clean shaven face and smiled. "Same goes for you!".

  Two hours later, Ben came into the galley with maps, sketches and charts. "OK, I have a plan".

  The captain sat up. "Good. Let's see it."

  Ben pointed to airlock 26W on the space station schematic and on the photographs. "OK, I think our best bet is for me to suit up and walk over the 'top' of the lock while you guys are docking. I will place C7 explosive charges between the station airlock door and the docking tube station-side airlock door. They try anything and boom! They're breathing vacuum."

  The captain looked at his idea "Well, that sounds pretty good, but how will we know that they are up to something before a few of us are already dead? And how do we keep from getting vented ourselves?" The captain thought for a minute. "Well we could just open our hatch and invite them to exchange there." Then the captain felt his chest. "We have already seen how fast our hatch slams shut. However, we still need to know if they are up to anything before it happe
ns."

  Ben agreed and was thinking when AJ said "I have an idea".

  The captain turned to him. "Again?! Excellent. Let's hear it!"

  AJ cleared his throat. "Well, you know those brain scanners we took from the BB ship. Couldn't we scan them to find out their intentions or what they are going to do?"

  The captain smiled. "Damn, that's brilliant. Even if they have implants, they won't know they are being scanned, and their thoughts should be about what they are going to do against us. Hmmmm...But how to get it close enough to scan them without them knowing?"

  Ben said "Well, I could just carry one with me and put it up to a window near one of them."

  The captain thought. "Hmmm..I don't know. You will barely have time to plant the charges"

  Amelia stepped closer. "I can do it."

  Attie said "No, you're the best pilot and we need you most"

  AJ raised his hand. "I'll do it."

  The captain looked at him, then Helen and Doc. Helen started to object, but Doc said "He is part of this crew and it was his idea. All our lives are on the line here, so if he wants to, I am going to let him." Helen looked at Travis, a little shocked, but then realizing she couldn't really say anything, she turned and hugged AJ.

  The captain nodded. "OK, its settled then, here is the plan...."

  As they approached the Io Station Amelia said "This isn't going to be easy. Without thrusters, I am going to have to slow using the plates and turn to line up the hatch at the last second." Attie patted her on the back "You're a damn good pilot, you'll do fine!" and he tapped his head comm and thought "Ben and AJ, How are you doing?".

  Ben replied "We are ready. We are both strapped onto the ship and when she hits, the momentum should throw us over. Hopefully not too hard."

  The captain looked at Amelia. Amelia finally said "Speak! Stop trying to think to me!"