Rimward Bound

[Joe Manning 0]

Joe was sitting alone in the back of the transport car thinking over his meeting with Dr. Phantos. The controls were being operated by another aide provided by the administrator. Phantos had provided quite a bit more. The pay for this Zoalus job was good, better than Joe expected it to be, and the colony was funding all mission expenses; for the first time in a while, Qob could comfortably resupply, and the paycheck waiting at the end of this one would let the crew live comfortably for half a year.

 

There was a downside, naturally. Zoalus was one of the rimward star systems, those systems between the densely settled Hyades cluster, pulsing economic heart of Bull's Head, and the Hydran Expanse that separated one arm of the galaxy from another. The rimward territories were not friendly places. An abundance of habitable but as-yet undeveloped worlds made the region a popular destination for settlers; the threat of raiders and the general tendency for said worlds to be unusually hostile to settlers made it unforgiving. Zoalus was one of the worlds from which surveyors always came back uttering that familiar rimward mantra -- 'very mysterious, very dangerous.' Rimward jobs, in short, were for mercenary crews both capable enough to meet its dangers and bold (or crazy?) enough to try; Joe wondered if all of his new recruits knew what they were getting into.

 

He tapped at his ODRI to access the briefing materials the colony had compiled. They included detailed reports of previous Xorax expeditions to Zoalus (only five were on record) as well as mission procedures that Qob was going to be expected to follow. Chain of command was going to be a complex arrangement. The commander of the Verbistul was going to have overriding authority over the mission; this authority would be deferred to the 'mercenary escort' in a crisis situation. In other words, this was a Xorax mission and Xorax was going to call the shots, but the mercenaries would be expected to take charge if and when things heated up. Unfortunately, none of the procedures mentioned the second mercenary ship that was going to be accompanying the expedition. They were going to be a problem, Joe just knew it.

 

Joe gathered up the relevant files and forwarded them to Chris and the department heads. He also composed a short message: "We've got two days to purchase supplies and equipment for the mission. The colony will be covering these expenses. Look over the briefing materials and get a shopping list together. The facilities here should be able to meet all of our needs."

 

Not two seconds had passed from the moment Joe transmitted that an incoming message flashed on his ODRI display. He tapped the receive control and an unfamiliar Vulcan face appeared in holo-image over the ODRI. "Captain Manning of the starship Qob?"

 

"Speaking," Joe answered. "What's this about?"

 

"There is a ... situation regarding your vessel," the Vulcan said. "It has raised shields without notifying the colony and is currently refusing to either depart from orbit or lower shields to allow our personnel aboard to return."

 

Joe blinked and shook his head as this flood of new information was thrown at him. Raised shields? Depart from orbit? Personnel aboard? "I've heard nothing from my crew on the ship. How serious is this?"

 

"One of your shipboard crew mentioned system abnormalities as well as an experiment requiring the shields," the Vulcan replied, a hint of skepticism in his voice. "We do not allow any signs of hostile activity from ships in orbit of this planet, and the use of passive defense systems does qualify; we have dispatched two of our planetary patrol vessels to Qob's location. We must insist that you come to the space-traffic control center immediately so that this situation may be resolved without incident."

 

Aw hell, Joe thought. "I'm on my way. Don't do anything stupid now, like firing on my ship. It's in bad enough shape as it is."

 

He turned the ODRI's comm off and looked up at the aide. "Change of course, kid. You know how to get to the traffic control center?"