Stonerager Chronicles
By 2Charlie
This is a science fiction series that happens to include occasional erotic scenes. If you have not yet read previous chapters of this series, I highly recommend going back to do so before you read this chapter.
All characters in this story are of the age of majority.
Chapter 12
*****Ship's Time: 1230, Day 60*****
Pheebs recompiled the sensor data yet another time, applying a slightly different set of filters for this attempt. The result was a minor improvement in the resolution of the image, allowing her to make out the main sections of the vessel. They could make out an elongated, dual-hull primary section that flared out like an arrowhead, only to taper back and transition to a mammoth propulsion block. One of its engines was longer and broader than the Odyssey, and this beast sported six engines.
Studying the historical records of this type of vessel contained within the records Tao gave them two months ago, she compared the features from that data to the images from the scans. There was little room for doubt. This was a Tao warship, intact, but it might as well have been across the universe, given its current location. Nothing in the amassed data that she and Prime could access suggested any means by which a vessel, having crossed the event horizon of a black hole, could ever return.
Deciding to try a different approach, Pheebs shifted her analysis to the tau particles themselves. Per their observations, the behavior of the particles was unaffected by the enormous gravitational forces being exerted on everything around them. Light photons were unable to escape the effects of the black hole's gravity, but the tau particles' path of travel seemed uninfluenced whatsoever.
The tau particles did not seem to interact with any of the other types of particles flowing around them, other than when they encountered objects with mass, which caused a 'scintillation' in their aspect - a minor variance in their spatial alignment which Pheebs likened to how laminar flow of fluid was interrupted by a change in surface tension.
Sitting back in her seat, Pheebs puzzled over the data. The Tao vessel appeared to be in a stable orbit around the black hole, neither sinking deeper nor climbing out from the gravity well. She could not fathom any way in which such a stable orbit could have been achieved naturally. The careful balance between capture and escape was too precise to be an accident. Something aboard that vessel was maintaining its position.
The two immediate questions that came to her in rapid succession were 'how?' and 'why?.'
****Cestus, Rigellian Moon, RDF Shipbuilding Facilities****
"We'd be very pleased to host you and your crew at tomorrow's commissioning ceremony for the first of the new ships, the Aurora Dancer," Chief Shipwright Thornton Tyce apprised Dutch as he led their small group across the boarding tube to the Quarterdeck of the fourth of their new Odyssey-class ships, the Boundless Voyager. The previous three builds were in the middle of crewing up for their shake-down cruises, which would likely commence within the next few days.
Dutch was taking in the similarities and differences between the new ship and his own. The boarding hatchway was large and square, approximately 3 meters along each side, with the hatch itself recessed into the bulkhead. The airlock was not a visibly separate chamber, but rather integrated into the space, with a far hatch capable of sealing off the quarterdeck from the passageway beyond. On his Odyssey, there were two hatches as part of a tandem pair bounding the airlock, each was round, closer to two meters in diameter, and swung inward on a hinge. The airlock itself was only 3 meters in depth, and jutted inward into the quarterdeck space.
Along the aft bulkhead of the quarterdeck, Dutch could see several tall lockers with clearplaz doors, and hanging within were sleek, minimalist exosuits - much less bulky than the environmental suits aboard the Odyssey. He recalled that the exosuits were not only pressure suits capable of enabling the wearer to function in most hostile environments, from alien atmospheres to the vacuum of space, but they were also equipped with an integrated exoskeleton, enabling the wearer mobility in high-gravity environments.
Turning his attention to Tyce, Dutch nodded, "We'd be honored to attend, of course."
"Excellent!" the Chief Shipwright exclaimed. "I'll have my assistant forward you the details when we've finished here today."
Pulling his pad from the pocket inside his uniform jacket, Dutch captured images and details of interest from the quarterdeck, and moved to follow the Chief Shipwright and his assistant, Senior Engineer Jordon Pennet.
The two made for an odd pair. Tyce was an older man - age was measured differently on Rigellia, but the man looked to be much closer to retirement age than middle age, was lean, with ruddy skin and rugged features, and wore a multipocketed jumpsuit, looking for all the world as if he'd just stepped off an assembly line. Pennet was shorter by half a head, appeared to be middle-aged, eschewed makeup or other feminizing adornments, and wore her hair in a short cut, tapered around the ears and the neck. Her hands were rough, her shoulders were broad, and her clear, icy blue eyes could cut diamonds quicker than a laser. The word handsome came to mind as Dutch appraised her appearance.
As they approached the bridge, Dutch grinned as he saw a pair of doors silently slide into the bulkhead on either side, reminding him of twentieth and twenty-first-century science fiction entertainment from his youth. Stepping onto the bridge, he stopped and looked around, taking it all in. The bridge itself appeared larger, but he came to conclude that the space was the same size as on his ship, but was used more efficiently, and the various stations were much more appealing in their smooth simplicity. Instead of viewscreens at each station, he saw holographic imagers, opening up the space while adding to its utility.
The positioning of the watch stations was as ubiquitous as on his ship, aside from the NAV/HELM positions, which appeared to be interchangeable on the newer vessel, and the command chair, which maintained its isolated position in the center of the bridge. The remaining stations formed a semi-circular ring running around the edges of the bridge, each having a smooth, glossy console butting up to a curved holographic projection surface.
The front wall of the bridge was clearplaz, deck to overhead, offering a one hundred and twenty-degree view forward. The decking was covered by a deep blue synthetic material that was cushioned as well as sound absorptive, adding comfort to the space, and the lighting was recessed and indirect, allowing for a more relaxed feel to the space.
Dutch was impressed with the overall effect, and admitted as much to his two companions.
For the next hour, Tyce and Pennet led Dutch on a comprehensive tour of the rest of the vessel, demonstrating how their variant was designed with a larger crew in mind. Dutch was often surprised by the notion of stationing crew regularly in the engineering spaces, given that his ship was more self-sufficient, with many of the machinery spaces not designed to be manned.
The holo-chamber was of special interest to Dutch. There were limited instances of holo-technology in use aboard the Odyssey, but the entire chamber here was designed to be a highly versatile space, intended to be used for rest and relaxation. Dutch found himself wondering what area aboard his own ship he might be able to reconfigure to make room for such a space.
The hangar bay redesign was a definite improvement over the original. On the new ships, the hangar bay was about the same size as on his Odyssey, but the shuttle craft nestled against the exterior hull on either side of the bay, blending into the hull when docked, and accessed via a portal within, allowing the shuttles to be used without the need to open the bay doors. The hangar itself could be used to bring aboard another small craft, or other similarly sized object, for access within a pressurized environment. Also, a quarantine chamber was nestled conveniently between the hangar bay and medical, making it much more convenient for a shuttle crew to go straight into quarantine if needed when returning from a dangerous environment.
Another impressive difference between the original and new design was the medical bay. On the Odyssey, the med bay was a small, confined chamber with a single examination bed. On this ship, the med bay was a larger chamber, with four examination beds, room for another four beds which folded out from the bulkhead, and a separate isolation chamber and surgical suite. A small space isolated from the med bay by a clearplaz wall contained an office for the ship's medical staff.
All in all, Dutch was impressed by the innovation that factored into the improvements, and each change was being made from the start with the intention of supporting a full crew, rather than as an afterthought.
As the small group headed back to the quarterdeck, Chief Shipwright Tyce probed Dutch, "Well, sir, what do you think of our ship? Isn't she a beauty?"
"You and your team have done a fine job, Mr. Tyce," Dutch openly admitted. "I'm quite impressed with some of the innovations, and I may steal some ideas from you to apply to the original."
"I was hoping you'd feel that way," the aged shipbuilder admitted. "I was giving some thought to your Odyssey, and while I'd think that several of our updates could be made at your leisure anytime in the future, some might be better made in a shipyard facility. I'm thinking of the upgrades to your bridge and medical bay, specifically."
"I won't deny that either of those upgrades would be very challenging outside of a spaceport," Dutch admitted, scratching his chin in consternation. "But I agree that many of the other modifications could be something we'd assign to the ship's droids if it came down to it."
"I agree," Tyce nodded, then stopped to look Dutch dead in the eye. "So, what if I offered to do a major upgrade - including the bridge, med-bay, hangar bay, and all hatchways - in 60 hours? Possibly less? Would that be of interest to you?"
Dutch considered the offer for a moment. "In return for?" he eventually asked.
"Nothing. You've already done a lot, and more to come, if I'm not mistaken," the elder shipbuilder responded. "Giving us the design for the ship, the weapons, the Stealth systems, the fucking reactor - shit, man! That was no small gift, and what I'm offering doesn't offset it by a tenth! Plus, the way I hear it from Director Philson, he'd like you to stay local for a few days anyway while his team tackles the comms problem, so we'd maximize the utility of your time, to my thinking."
"Assuming I agree, when could you start?" Dutch hazarded.
