posted
The young Science Police Officer could have ridden the transport tube between his squad’s quarters and the Command Center in less than half of the time it took him to walk the same distance. But he couldn’t bring himself to waste the sightseeing opportunity. There was just so much to see on Legion World. It seemed like every passageway led to a new and exciting discovery. And the people he’d seen already, everyone who was anyone it seemed to him, eventually found their way to Legion World. In his short time aboard he’d already seen a vast array of the famous and infamous ranging from UP President Wazzo and multi-crime offender Ra’s Al Ghul to Holo-Vision Star Condo Arlik.
He glanced at his chronometer, he had ten minutes left before he was scheduled to relieve the watch and he didn’t want to be late, again. Half of the oncoming shift hadn’t even sat down for breakfast when he left the squad-room. But they would go directly from the squad-room to their posts. None of them would waste their time sightseeing. “Most of them are older than me,” he thought somewhat ruefully, “they’re veterans and they’ve seen it all before. But I just don’t understand people who show so little curiosity about a place this unique."
“Seen one Satellite outpost, you’ve seen ‘em all.” Sgt Dvron had snorted when he told him how excited he was about being posted here. The rest of the squad seemed to share the Sergeant’s attitude, they stayed to themselves and never ventured anywhere outside of the Science Police areas or the most direct routes to their various duty assignments.
“How can they be so blasé” He wondered half aloud as he checked his uniform just outside the door of the Legion World Command Center. “Why do all of the officers with a few years service seem so cynical?” He didn’t know the answer but hoped he could avoid that fate. Cheerful and inquisitive by nature, the prospect of becoming dour and reserved due to the stress of his career in the Science Police seemed inevitable at times, but he hoped to hold that off as long as possible.
Almost without realizing where he was, he arrived at the lower level entrance to the Command Center. The security scanner hummed slightly as a pale violet beam played over his uniform and equipment verifying that he was not wearing or carrying any non-approved items into the high security area.
After a another quick check of his reflection in the gleaming bulkhead, he nervously looked directly into the optical scanner and punched the open code into the keypad simultaneously. Failure to perform this simple operation flawlessly on the first try would result in an embarrassing imprisonment until the Legionnaire on duty and Sgt Dvron (or Sgt Chun if Dvron hadn’t relieved yet) chose to release the offender.
The pneumatic hiss of the door opening covered the sound of his relieved sigh. Ever since the day Lt. Cusimano blinked while entering the opening code; he lived in fear of making the same mistake. Not that he expected to receive the same good natured kidding that the beautiful and popular Lt Gigi Cusimano had patiently tolerated during her brief imprisonment. No, he feared the hours of verification testing that a rookie officer like himself could expect. After all, who – outside of Sgt Dvron and whichever of his squad-mates had to pull double duty – would care how long he spent proving his identity and free will after making such a basic mistake.
As he entered the lower level of the Command Center he noted with relief that most of his squad hadn’t arrived yet. He quickly took his station on the DSC (Deep Space Communications) Monitor and nodded to Officer Nolan as she switched the panel controls to his station. “Anything special today?” he asked while scanning the incoming traffic readouts. “Nothing here” She replied softly, “but something is going on over in the Tactical Area.” A slight head motion guided his eyes up to the Command Deck where three Legionnaires huddled with a pair of SP Lieutenants.
“A six blip disturbance in Hyper-Space, fifteen light years out, on course for the Neptune Colonies with an ETA of less than a week.” Her voice returned to normal as she tapped the last control on her section of the board and transferred the TitanNet monitor over to his side. “They picked it up at 1023 Zulu and transferred the data to Admiral Jesker’s Flagship at 1031 Zulu, Navy Deep Corp units are positioning for intercept if anything drops to Normal Space. You ready to relieve or am I gonna have to nurse you through the procedure, Rookie?”
Her abrupt question jerked his attention back to his board, three telltales blinked for attention and he quickly accepted the transfers while settling his cybernetic headgear in place. Instantly, he had full visual on his heads up display. All com systems read green, traffic flow was in normal routing, and priority channels were clear, whatever was causing the disturbance in Hyper-Space clearly didn’t raise any alarms with the big brass.
He nodded to Officer Nolan and flipped open his com channel to Sgt Dvron. “Shift Supervisor, this is DSC Monitor, Officer Nolan has been relieved, this is Officer Ron-Karr, I have the watch.”
posted
Very nice New Kid, love Ron-Karr as Sci Police rookie!
You have a good rhythm to your writing, it reads very smoothly. I particularly liked his fear of the door locking system - I'm sure we can all relate to something that simple causing that sort of panicky reaction - and it was a nice touch that he takes Gigi's popularity into account.
I'm looking forward to your next installment.
With so much incredible talent on this board I'm gonna have to work twice as hard to keep up!
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
From: here, more often than not | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
“Dean, have we eluded them?” Her voice sent shivers down his back, as it always did. He turned to look at her but as usual, she chose to stay in the shadows where the torture scars were less visible. She had been an exceptionally beautiful woman once. Before this journey started. Before the years of imprisonment on Antillian. Before those fraging insect bastiches started…
“And she is still beautiful – to everyone except herself.”
He turned and stared at the only other sentient being aboard the United Earth Starship Neptune Rising. “Was that my thought or yours?” he thought furiously, “I know what she is, who she is, and if I need to I’ll lay down my life to get you two back to the Neptune Colonies. Now stay out of my mind.”
As always, only silence answered him. He turned his attention back to the woman.
“There is an unbroken trail of seven lurkers behind us, Tamara; I think we may have finally lost them. At least I hope we have. But you know they’ll never give up as long as he is with us.” He pointed at the Podarian who stood impassively against the back wall of the control room, a roughly humanoid chunk of living crystal. “Why do they want him so badly? What kind of a threat could a single being – even with his impressive abilities – pose to an empire?”
“Please Dean; don’t insult it by using gender in relation to it. You of all people should know better. Podarians don’t have sexes. They are not born. They don’t die. They just are.”
Tamara’s rebuke caused him to flinch slightly. His eyes stayed on the alien form which neither moved nor spoke in response to his comments. As it had since their escape from the Council of Five’s prison on Antillian, it stood – as motionless and emotionless as a statue – and watched with only the flickering lights in its eyes (and the occasional stray telepathic thought) to tell them that it was still alive.
“She’s done it again.” He mused silently. “I ask a direct question, and she takes evasive maneuvers. It doesn’t care how we refer to it. But, she’s the Captain, even if she won’t let us call her that. If she wanted the rest of us to have that information she’d have told us long ago, I guess.”
He turned back to the Piloting Controls and punched up a navigational display.
“If Greene’s calculations are accurate we should reach the Sol System within a week.” Dean was anxious to change both the tone and the subject of the conversation. “All six ships have enough fuel to make the last leg and Hogath calculates that the time lag is less than we feared, only about three hundred years.”
Captain Tamara Frake gazed at him thoughtfully for a moment, and then in a very low voice replied “Will they remember us, Dean? After three hundred years, will they remember us?”
[ September 12, 2003, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: New Kid ]
-------------------- Just an Old, Broke-Down, Drunk, Bum!!
With a Power Ring...
From: Westerly Rhode Island | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Evil Queen
the eradication of all things good.....
posted
I am really enjoying this.
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Excellent & engrossing read right from the get go. Keep it up, New Kid.
I'm so impressed with the amount of artistic and literary talent we have here in such a relatively small group. Must be something in the water
-------------------- "Hey Jim! Get Mon out of the Zone!! And...when do we get Condo back?"
From: Paragon City on patrol | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
“It doesn’t make any sproking sense, Lyle! There hasn’t been a Hyper-Drive engine of that type built in the last three hundred years. At least by any race we know of… Has Brainy come up with anything in the Coluan records?”
Jazmin’s voice echoed throughout the Control Center, causing heads to turn on both the Command Deck and throughout the Operations Center. The hardcopy records she had been scanning bounced off of the Command Deck railing and landed on the DSC Monitor Board. Officer Ron-Karr gathered them up silently and passed them up to Triad Orange (who made quick shushing motions at him when it appeared he might actually say something about the report bouncing off of his station).
“No response has come in yet, is all his intellectual nibs will tell me, other than comments about suicide being legalized centuries ago, and doesn’t anyone besides him have real work to do?”
The speed with which Lyle Norg’s comments came out caused Ron-Karr to think of XS. She at least would talk to him – even if it did seem like she could have a five minute conversation in thirty seconds. She at least would not immediately shush him the way Triad Orange did. Keeping one eye on his board – Sgt Dvron would fry him on the spot if he missed anything – he looked around the OpCen. Maybe he could catch Triad Neutral’s eye, or Lt. Erin’s, either of them might listen.
“The other thing I don’t understand is… why are they aiming for Neptune for Grife’s sake? The colonies out there are mostly agro, there’s nothing of tactical value within several million kilometers.”
Jazmin’s voice again reverberated throughout the room. But this time the angry edge was replaced by a confused tone.
“Jazmin, that’s as close to the sun’s gravity well as that type of Hyper-Drive ship can be when it punches back into normal space. Back in the 28th Century the Neptune Colonies were the starting point for interstellar travel.”
Lyle spoke at a more normal rate now, and Ron-Karr stopped trying to attract attention. He listened to Invisible Kids words closely, maybe he didn’t need to call attention to himself, maybe Lyle already knew…
“And a few million sentient beings might not agree that they are of no value.” A new voice interrupted.
Ron-Karr returned his focus to the DSC Monitor; it would not do to have Chief Zendak notice that he had allowed himself to be distracted from his primary duties. A covert glance around the OpCen told him that every other SP Officer on duty felt the same way; including he noted with a small amount of amusement, Sgt Dvron.
“You’re right Chief, and I apologize if I seemed to imply otherwise, but I want to know who still uses that type of Hyper-Drive and nobody seems to be able to answer that question.”
“We may have been able to match the engine resonance patterns, but we won’t know for certain until they come out into normal space.” Zendak’s voice was strangely subdued as he spoke. “But the odds are, even if they are who we now think they are; they are not precisely the same people.”
Ron-Karr could feel the breath leaving his body and relief flooding in.
“He Knows”
[ September 12, 2003, 08:42 AM: Message edited by: New Kid ]
-------------------- Just an Old, Broke-Down, Drunk, Bum!!
With a Power Ring...
From: Westerly Rhode Island | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
“Neptune Rising this is Pathfinder. Horatio reports an unbroken string of twenty five, repeat twenty five lurkers. Trail appears clear back to previous Hyper-Space Insertion Point. Commander Nelson recommends attempting contact with the Neptune Colonies.”
“Pathfinder this is Neptune Rising. Captain Frake sends. Do not – I repeat, do not – break com silence outside inter-ship burst traffic. Wait for deployment of full lurker network.”
Legion World
Ron-Karr stood at the back of the briefing room, as close to the door as he could unobtrusively be, and nervously fidgeted as a score of legionnaires assembled to listen to Chief Zendak’s presentation. Already there were a few sidebar conversations going on as well as at least one loud argument, but trying to follow any of it proved impossible.
“What’s the sproking problem with Hyper-Space travel? Don’t M’onel and Shakiri travel in Hyper-Space all the Time?”
“How am I supposed to get anything important done…”
“What’s Zendak’s hold-up…”
“Did you see what she was wearing when she came out of his room?”
“His equations don’t take into account…”
“So where were her…”
“… the time lag alone…”
“soItoldhimtoscragthesproking…”
The solid banging of Jazmin’s gavel brought an abrupt end to the various conversations. Ron-Karr had to fight a sudden urge to flatten against the wall, as the various groups broke up and moved quickly to their assigned places. “Calm down” He told himself, “The Chief is going to do all of the talking. I’m only here to provide background information if necessary.” He suddenly found himself praying that it wouldn’t be necessary, that he wouldn’t have to say anything. The urge to slide under the door and run became almost unbearable.
Sgt Dvron’s light touch on his shoulder almost stopped his heart.
“Rookie,” the gruff voice in his ear was low but surprisingly reassuring, “just yesterday you were eager to see everything this place had to offer, you’re getting what you wanted, calm down.”
[ September 12, 2003, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: New Kid ]
-------------------- Just an Old, Broke-Down, Drunk, Bum!!
With a Power Ring...
From: Westerly Rhode Island | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
From: here, more often than not | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Great stuff, can't wait to see more, NK! Good work!
-------------------- "Hey Jim! Get Mon out of the Zone!! And...when do we get Condo back?"
From: Paragon City on patrol | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Wonderful story, New Kid. Your grasp of astronomical or astronomical-sounding terminology is very convincing.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I used to have time to write for hours, too, but then I found a job.
Take all the time you need to edit! We're not going anywere.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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