Author Archives: Bob

I’d been covering the bridge for most of the night into mid-morning, trying to doze in my captain’s chair for short periods. Izzy had been to her state room for several hours, as had Tim. Nolan retired earlier. I was hoping he got plenty of sleep. We were going to need him sharp.

“Anything happen, Captain?” Izzy asked as she walked onto the bridge.

“No. Did you sleep enough?”

“I did about as well as normal,” she said. “It’s rare that I get more than five and a half hours. How about you?”

“Dozed a little up here, but I also slept in my room before I got back.”

Nolan showed up, looking refreshed. “Good morning.”

I nodded at him. “Did you get my request about Valla Cappos?”

“I did, I’m afraid.”

“Uh oh, what’d you find out?”

“Valla Cappos has a very long orbit around it’s star, which is…

We were on the bridge, reading the bulletin from the Central Authority off the big screen.

“Was Vermillion involved in something he shouldn’t have been?” I asked JJ.

“Not that I know of, Captain,” she said. “It’s not like he tells me everything, though. I didn’t know about the holographic COMM unit, for example.”

I laughed. “Well, we’re in the same boat there. I didn’t know about the Tristar’s enhanced weapons and shields. I thought it was mainly just a speedster with cloak capability.”

“Treason’s a pretty stiff charge,” Nolan said. “One that still carries the death penalty.”

“They wouldn’t dare,” JJ said.

“The Central Authority is being controlled by the Overlords,” Nolan said. “That’s why I’m fighting them. I considered Vermillion to be an ally, but I never trusted the Corporation at large.”

“Put the Overlord’s document up there,” I said.

Nolan sent it to the screen. He laughed…

JJ came back to the bridge after a couple hours. “Let’s run the last phase of the tuning, Nolan.”

Nolan nodded, and JJ took Izzy’s chair again. They ran through the procedure as I watched.

“Sir, still not seeing traffic,” Tim whispered, trying not to disturb Nolan and JJ. “You don’t think there’s some new weapon out there, do you?”

“Who knows? I don’t want to spend much more time here. Ensign Daniels was onboard when we were here before. Whoever he was working for probably knows to watch.”

“Maybe they don’t think we’d dare come back here,” Tim said.

“That’s what I’m counting on, but it might be giving me a false sense of security.”

I watched silently for about fifteen minutes as JJ and Nolan worked their procedure.

“There, done,” JJ said. “This was easier than most of the tests I ran on the Tristar.”

“We’re good?” I…

JJ and I took the spiral staircase down to the crew deck. The halls were smaller, the floor an industrial matting with magnetic capability in case of gravity failure. Deacon’s large frame appeared from the right side. He motioned us over.

“Deacon, JJ Ostermann,” I said as we got to him.

“It’s a pleasure,” Deacon said, extending his hand. “Glad he left the paging system on.”

“How advanced is this device?” JJ asked, lines of worry on her face.

“You’ll have to be the judge of that,” Deacon said. “It’s right down the hall.”

We got to the door of crew barrack three, following Deacon inside. Caraway was there, guarding the scene with a spiker in his hand. I nodded to him.

“Hello, Captain.” He stood aside so we could look in the locker, with its door hanging open.

JJ glanced at me. “May I?”

“Please,” I said, watching as…