21 Hours Later. CNS Memphis Ship Time 02:25 Bridge

John was sitting in the captain’s chair. The bridge, if it could really be called that, was made up of John’s station and one more in front and to the right of John. Richard Olson, a petty officer, was the lone bridge crew.

Rich could sense John’s anxious energies along with his annoyance for the station traffic manager. The traffic controllers in the tower gave them clearance to leave an hour ago. Then the delays started just as they were ready to push off.

“Rich, dare I ask?”

“Not that this makes you feel any better sir, but I believe there are at least twenty-three other captains that are as annoyed as you are.”

John shook his head, “Where are we in line?”

“Armstrong Tower, CNS Memphis, requesting a status check.”

Rich had innocently started a wave of new requests. He felt a little bad for the controllers, but then they were at fault for the mess that they are dealing with now. After another five minutes of waiting the controller was able to gain control of the channel.

“CNS Memphis, Armstrong Tower. You will be receiving departure clearance in five minutes.”

“Understood tower, Memphis out.”

John smiled, “Kori, how’s the core?”

“Warmed up and raring to go,” Kori said over the intercom.

“Excellent, we’ll be leaving shortly.”

Rich forwarded John departure’s amended departure request. At this point, John would have accepted vectors that result in an atmospheric departure. They were now heading to the L5 LaGrange point for their shakedown. It wasn’t a big enough change to raise a stink over, and there was less traffic there so he quickly approved it and filed it into the navigation system.

“Rich, check navigation before we finish undocking. There are new vectors for you to follow.”

“Understood sir.”

John sent off messages to the Winnipeg and Las Palmas. The sooner they put in their requests to shove off the better. There was at least a six-hour delay by now between request and departure. After sending the message he reviewed the plan for the rest of the shift. He’d bypass drills today but would make up for it the rest of the week.

Clearance was mercifully received that allowed them to get underway. The umbilical was pulled back into the station and the clamps let go of the ship. Maneuvering thrusters were firing pushing the ship away from the station. Slowly, but surely, the ship was moving into the location where the main drive could be brought online.

“Captain, we’re in position sir,” Rich said.

“Punch it,” John said smiling.

“Aye aye.”

The inputs Rich put in caused the main core to power up from its idle state. Energy levels ramped up and the energy itself was sent to the engines. The ship slowly moved forward. Their rate of acceleration sped up and they eventually reached their scheduled speed.

06:10 CNS Memphis – Dining Area

John was standing in front of the terminal. He was impatiently waiting for the communications to connect. He was multi-tasking by also looking through the communal meals and trying to find something to eat.

“Hey John, how’s it going,” Kristin was smiling on the screen.

“No complaints. We’re shaking her down in the L5 point.”

“We’re over a hundred ships deep in the queue and for now they are wanting us to head to the L4.”

“Damn, that’s awful,” John said with little emotion.

“Five hours is the latest guess. I talked to Joeng a half-hour ago. They are five ships between us.”

“That was going to be my next question. I’ll make sure you guys are aware of where we are. But we’re going to head out to Mars after the shakedown is done.”

“We’re a little behind but we’ll be starting wolfpack operations before most of our peers push off. Patrice’s crew isn’t taking their tests for another couple of days.”

“Scuttlebutt is Terry isn’t taking the test until Tuesday. The flip side is they spent eight hours in the sim yesterday.”

“I hope for his sake he doesn’t go all obsessive-compulsive like last time.”

“Ooh, beef stroganoff," John exclaimed as he had found his meal, "I concur, if he wants to succeed here, he’ll need to change. Anyways, I’m gonna call my wife and eat. Then do some homework. Stay safe and good luck.”

“Thanks. Safe travels, we’ll catch up to your ship soon enough.”

The connection was terminated. John went over to the screen and sent a message to the Las Palmas. The microwave was opened, and the entrée and appetizer were both put in. The communication was accepted, and Alice appeared in it.

“Hi. I miss you already,”

John smiled, “Love you too. How are things?”

“I can’t speak for long, I’m on duty. But things are going well so far. The medical facilities are very interesting. They are way better than we had on the Marcinko.”

“Ain’t that the truth. Well stay safe and keep up the good work.”

“Love you,” Alice waived to the screen before the communication ended.

Andern walked into the room and placed his meal, one he selected and was storing in his private cooler, in another free microwave. He placed his glass in the drink mixer and selected a soda. When the microwave dinged, he pulled out the meal and set it down across from John.

“Hey, bud. So far so good right?”

John took a bite of his meal, “This ship is weird. It’s like an upgrade and downgrade at the same time.”

Kori set her tray down next to Andern, “But John, the rooms we have are so much nicer, and there’s actually room here.”

“That is true. I think the main downgrade is the food. These prepared meals don’t touch a candle to what a chef can do.”

“I’ll agree. But these meals aren’t all bad. Way better than the MREs we had back during boot camp,” Andern said after taking a bite.

“Engineering is actually modern which is glorious,” Kori said.

“The Memphis isn’t a big ship, but I think it’ll be a fun way to spend summer.”

Andern grunted, “I’d rather spend it back home or relaxing someplace warm.”

“So, what are you guys doing the rest of this shift?” Kori asked.

“Homework, then relax a bit in the rec room. The sooner I start that crap the sooner I can be done with it.”

“Damnit. I forgot about our classes. I don’t want to start,” Andern signed heavily.

“The sooner you start, the sooner you get done. If you spend three hours a day you’ll be done in six weeks,” John said with a smirk.

“Ok mom,” Andern said sarcastically.

“You know, he’s right,” Kori said with a smirk.

“I know, but I don’t want to listen to him right now.”

The trio continued to chat until their meals were done. When they did they split up. John headed back to his room, which had a nice desktop with a terminal where he could study. Tori headed to one of the meeting rooms. Andern slowly trudged behind her toward that room as well.

01:30 Bridge

“Rich, take us into visual range of the ‘Selfish Diva.’ Message them that we’re doing a general inspection, but finish long-range scans on them first,” John said as he was reviewing the tactical display on his armrest.

“Aye sir, adjusting course. Should I let Mars control know about this?”

“File an amended flight plan. After we’re done with the first ship lay in a course to the transport ship ‘Atlas IV.’”

“Will do sir,” Rich said as he began typing into his terminal.

“Captain got time for a personal question,” Andern said over the intercom.

“If I said no, would it stop you from asking it?”

“No. How come I didn’t hear about you whining about your taxes this year?”

John groaned slightly, “Alice told me I’m not allowed to complain about it this year. That I pay as much as I do because I’m an idiot. It did not help my mindset any though.”

“Cool, that’s all I had. Systems are all in the green here.”

Andern’s connection was terminated. John was shaking his head but then returned to his paperwork. Rich slowly turned his chair to face the captain’s chair.

“Is he always like that sir?”

“Yeah. Eventually, you just get used to it.”

“Understood,” Rich said as he swung his chair back to face his terminal, “We will be in visual range of the ‘Selfish Diva’ in five minutes sir.”

“Match her speed when we’re inside of five hundred kilometers.”

The Memphis was flying towards an intercept with the friendly transport. They got on a parallel path to the ship. The engines shut off and the ship lazily rotated over. When the engine cone was pointed correctly the engines fired up to arrest their speed. When it was matched the engines cut out and the ship rotated over once more.

John pulled up the ship on the main screen. Their target was a transport vessel that was two or three generations old. It appeared to be carrying a light load as it only had four transport modules attached to it. The radiation scans came back negative, as expected given its manifest. The last thing John checked was when they were last boarded by the Navy.

“Rich, flag her for inspection. Head towards our next target.”

“Aye aye sir,” Rich said.

After the ship was well underway to the new ship John had ordered a fresh batch of drills. The rest of the shift consisted of two more flybys and more drills. As with most time spent on duty, it was rather dull and boring. Simple days like that weren’t the worst things in the world. Besides, this experience was necessary to help John and the rest of the cadets understand the realities of being in the Navy.

09:15 Rec Room

John had used one of his first premium meals after the shift was finished. The bun for his Philly cheesesteak was less than stellar. But the meal overall was pleasant enough. John then finished six lectures after his meal.

John was trying to get comfortable on the couch, but it was proving quite difficult. He was watching a replay of the Canadian Grand Prix. John had a standing bet with Thomas that Ford would beat Ferrari. Nine races in it looked like John was going to lose that bet, and handily. But there were still fifteen races to go.

“Captain, message for you.”

“Send it through here,” John said.

“Hello John, the captain wanted me to say that we will be rendezvousing with you in fourteen hours,” Jessica said.

“What about the Las Palmas?”

“They are an hour behind us.”

John smiled, “Nicely done, we’ll be seeing y’all tomorrow.”

John refocused his attention on the race. Ferrari was in the lead but Ford was running an off-strategy. All they needed was a safety car and the race was very likely in their hands. John scooted up to the edge of the couch and watched as lap after lap went by.

Andern walked into the room and shook his head, “That was a dumbass bet you made.”

John muttered while staring at the screen, “Your face is a dumbass.”

“It warms my heart that you can be both that petty and childish as the rest of us,” Andern said smiling and he sat down on a chair, “Doesn’t change the fact that Ford is way behind Ferrari on the power delivery.”

“’Murica,” was John’s response.

“Ok fair, but you weren’t even born in America.”

John paused and smirked, “I’ll concede that, but I was born at a U.S.-based colony and raised at one too.”

“Calling Alpha Centauri as an American colony is idiotic these days and you know it,” Andern said as he watched the race.”

“’Murica,” John then jumped off the couch and shouted, “SAFETY CAR. Fuck year.”

One of the Porsche cars had run wide on a turn. Normally that doesn’t end poorly but the front right tire dipped onto the grass and lost traction. But the driver overcorrected their steering. The back end of the car whipped out putting her into an uncontrolled spin. The poor car ended in a tire barrier.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”

John smirked, “What wins a race, win’s a race. I’m totally fine with ugly wins. Except when they involve me.”

“Well naturally, right? Have you heard when we’re going to meet up with the other ships?”

John sat back down and was smiling as he said, “Yeah, we should meet up with Kristin’s ship towards the end of our next shift. Joeng is an hour or so behind them.”

“And then four weeks until shore leave,” Andern said as he leaned in.

“We have a short stop to restock before we leave for Jupiter. Tempted to work out an eighteen-hour leave. We have a three-to-five-day lead on the rest of the ships.”

“I have to ask about that because it’s been bugging me since last year. Are all of us that much farther ahead, or is it a lack of abilities?”

John smiled as he leaned back on the couch, “When leadership doesn’t lead with confidence, it trickles down to the crew. I think the biggest issue is that most of my other peers don’t do a good job in inspiring the cadets from the other divisions.”

“Then it takes that much longer to trust that what they are doing is accurate and working.”

“Pretty much. Even if you are doing the right things, you won’t have the proper reinforcement for it.”

“Did you get many requests to join your crew?”

John shrugged, “Not as many as you’d think. Just a handful of requests. Only one that I thought was uncalled for.”

“Uncalled how?”

“They didn’t like how their CO worked.”

“That’s something we all had better just understand to deal with it.”

“Bingo. That applies to me too, though my smartass mouth sometimes gets me into trouble.”

“Sometimes?” Andern spat back sarcastically.

The friends laughed and continued to watch the race. Ford would eventually pull off the improbably and finish in first and second. Ferrari would only have one car that finished in the points. Despite that result, Ford was still well behind in the Constructor’s championship. John smirked as he sent off a message to Thomas, which included spoilers just in case he hadn’t watched.

Thomas would respond minutes later. The response was short and simple. ‘One race doesn’t win the championship.’ That wasn’t entirely true. One race could prove pivotal in the championship. Whether or not this would prove pivotal was anyone’s guess, but it was more likely an exception and not the rule.

16:30 Captain’s Quarters

John was sound asleep. His quarters were set to his perfect sleeping temperature sixty-two degrees. Something he does not get when he’s with Alice. While he deeply loves and misses his wife, sleeping in a bed that is that comfortable temperature-wise and one where he won’t be kicked or punched awake is bliss. Unfortunately, Andy Miller, one of the third shift’s operations cadets would ruin that bliss that John was in.

The communication alarm chimed multiple times before Andy spoke, “Captain, apologies for waking you up.”

“Fuck,” John rolled over in his bed and reached up to the blinking button and pressed it, “What’s up?”

“You need to come to ops sir. We found a missing ship.”

“Understood, I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

John tossed the sheets back and slid his legs off the bed. He stood up and walked over to the dresser. He changed into his duty uniform. He placed his shorts and shirt in the basket in his closet. Before he left the room, he made up his bed hastily.

16:35 Operations

John was not going to get used to seeing where operations were located. Effectively in the main hall between the dining and rec rooms. What was so weird about its location was that it was out in the open. If you were having dinner, you could the on-duty crew working there.

“Sir, take a look at this,” Andy said as he brought up an image.

“The RFC Orion. Why didn’t scans pick up the wreckage?”

“Because of this,” Andy showed John an image of burn marks, “She was attacked in slip space and had an uncontrolled transition back to real space.”

“Any atmosphere or residual power in her backup systems?”

“Negative on both accounts. We’re going to send drones over.”

“Do so, direct one of them to take scans of the weapon impacts. Then cross-reference the signatures to known pirate vessels. Failing that compare it to common weapon systems used by the different navies.”

“Understood. Who do you think did this?”

“I’m not sure. The Royal Freight Company has done a great many things to piss people off all over the place in the last few months.”

John walked over to another terminal and pulled up the Orion’s flight plan. This ship has been dead for between eight and nine days. Whoever was responsible for this would be long gone. John then watched as the drones entered the other ship.

The drones were able to confirm that all eight crew members died due to void exposure and a loss of atmosphere. John noted that in his report. Another drone was plugging in a small generator to power up the ship’s computers. When that was completed the Orion’s logs, sensor data, and navigational information was transmitted.

They began pouring through the data. She was in fact attacked while in slipstream space. That’s not an expected place to be attacked, which rules out the naval powers. They all had agreed that they would not attack other ships in slip space. Penalties for doing so have been heavy-handed and incredibly harsh in the past.

“Andy, let Mars Control know about the location of the Orion. Please also inform Sol Command that we found her. Nothing appears to be stolen but a thorough inventory of her cargo hasn’t been done. We’ll stay here in position until we’re relieved.”

“Aye aye.”

John continued to review the sensor logs. There was a convergence in the slip bubble they were traveling in, but as soon as that had happened the external sensors began malfunctioning. Likely due to loss of power.

He shook his head, there didn’t seem to be any reason for this ship to be attacked. Their manifest didn’t have them haul anything overly important. The ship’s crew was pulled up, and like most freighter crews, they long list of petty offenses committed and dozens of stations across Confederate space.

“This has to be an honor killing of some sort.”

“Some pirates just want to kill everyone, sir.”

“I disagree. If you research pirate attacks they kill or steal to enrich themselves. The morals and ethics of what they do always tie back to two things: money or respect.”

“I’m not sure I buy into that sir,” Andy said shrugging.

Ten minutes later the initial scan on the weapons came back with positive identification. Andy’s jaw dropped when he read the results. John shook his head when he saw them.

“Honor killing it is. The ‘Folly of Icarus’ doesn’t randomly kill people. Now mind you, I don't trust them at all, but they have their own code.”

“I’ll take your word for it, sir. Can’t say that I’m a fan of pirates.”

“Nor I, but yet here we are. Keep up the scans. Check with the bridge to get an ETA on our relief. I need to let the task force know there’s been another attack.”

John then walked into the conference room. He walked over to the nearest terminal on the wall and recorded a brief summary of what was found. There would be a formal draft of his report sent within the next eight hours. There was another confirmed attack on a shipping vessel by the Folly of Icarus and that it happened in slip space, a first for the pirate vessel. John relayed that he suspected it was honor-related but nothing in the crew's official and unofficial records suggested any ties to the pirate vessel.

John sent the message and muttered to himself, “Who did I piss off in a previous life to deserve this bullshit?”