First Week
© 2020 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  rabbi-tom


Nearly a week into the shakedown period, things aboard the A Quiet Life were going fairly well, although several problems had been identified. Apart from part of the hyperfield emitter network, one cargo manipulator had been installed backward, one RCS quad had failed, and the secondary engine coolant loop (the source of all the hot water) had abruptly failed.

Nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Kucherova was keeping careful records of all problems.

There was only one test left to run before the freighter was returned to the yards to have the various glitches fixed.

“Target asteroid, mark,” Jax said, and Meredith could feel the crew tensing up a little. The weapons pod had been powered up several times, but this was its first real test. She felt a little on edge herself.

“One hundred thousand and closing.”

“Weapons charged,” the senior engineer said, “shields raised.”

Kucherova looked up from her padd. “Pattern J is best for your present course, Helm.”

“Got it.” The ship went through a number of contortions, twisting and tumbling to enable its shields to spread out the effects of incoming fire. The pod traversed over the freighter’s hull to keep the weapons locked on the target. “Closing to firing range . . . firing.”

With no atmosphere, the beam wasn’t visible, but the effect was; a portion of the asteroid flashed to vapor, while fragments flew away from the point of the beam’s impact. “Good hit,” the minkess remarked. For the next several moments the ship danced around the asteroid, taking shots at it; all three helm officers and cross-trained members of the crew would be taking turns over the course of the day.

As Jax sat back from completing the weapons test, Meredith said, “First Officer.”

He twisted around in his seat. “Ma’am?”

“I relieve you. Take the Captain’s seat, please.” The rodent and the golden palomino mare swapped places, and Meredith flew the A Quiet Life to the starting point for the exercise. As the Captain, she had to know all of the crew’s jobs. She’d been all over the ship since the shakedown started.

Now she flexed her fingers before taking the controls, and Kucherova’s ears perked when the mare said, “Computer, transfer helm controls to manual.”

“What?”

Meredith glanced over her shoulder. “I thought you’d heard about the Kiss Me in the Dark’s encounter with the Ublyudok.” Jax winced, and the engineers flinched and started watching their displays intently. “I want to see how tough this ship is.” She shoved the engines to maximum thrust and twisted the ship so radically that torque and shear warnings began to appear on the engineering boards and the artigrav flickered.

Kucherova put out a paw and grasped the back of the captain’s chair as the ship flipped end-for-end, twisting left and right, dodging an imagined enemy while returning fire. “Did you actually do this?” she yelped as the ship slewed left, the off-axis thrust setting off a stress warning in the craft’s frame.

“Not me personally,” Meredith said through gritted teeth, “but yes.” As soon as the weapon pod’s targeting sensors reported a lock, she diverted power from the hyperdrive and fired. The computer warned that the surge would damage the weapon if there was sustained fire.

Still, it did what Meredith had intended; by the time she was finished, the asteroid sported seven glassy craters on its surface.

Meredith nulled the ship’s motion and the engineers, one shaking his head to clear it, started assessing the freighter’s condition. The senior engineer sighed in relief as she noted that the maneuvers, while radical, had been within the ship’s design flight envelope, so there was no damage to the frame or hull.

The mare stood up and moved aside. As Jax resumed his seat, Meredith said to the minkess, “That was fun.”