Of Silver Wings Of Mourning

Posted on Wed Mar 13th, 2019 @ 7:00pm by

2,394 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: S1:4: A Murder Of Crows
Location: Shuttle Bay
Timeline: MD 62 19.15PM

"It's cold," Kella said as the pair stepped into the open expanse of the shuttle bay.

Jolani shuddered slightly, the cold not phasing her as much as the excitement to share her joy for flying. Dismissively she replied, "It will be warmer once we get into the shuttle. Repair teams have not finished with the temperature regulators in here. Had they finished, I might give you a more detailed tour."

"No, it's alright. Reminds me of home. No offence but your ship's enviro systems are set to the hot side for my liking," she said. "So, you're the tour guide. Guide."

Without further adieu, Jolani led Kella to the nearest shuttle and said, "This is the USS Voyager." Jolani frowned, realizing that this not going to be the most fun shuttle to show. "Voyager is a Type 8 personal shuttlecraft. It is about 6.2 meters long and has a mass of 3.47 metric tons. It has two type five phasers and can get up to Warp 4. It isn't bad but this, as you can see is more of a small cab. It can take two pilots and up to 6 crew." She shrugged. "This is not the kind of shuttle one would take for speed, but it has some nice comforts."

She opened the back of the shuttle to allow Kella to go in and take a look. She raised her arm towards the inside and said, "If you would like to have a look, Kella...."

"Warp 4? 4 times the speed of light?" Kella whistled, running a hand along the leading edge of one of her horns. She stepped into the rear cargo/passenger compartment and looked around. "The Suma was nearly a thousand tons of dead weight theoretical physics and it could just about do lightspeed. And this shuttle is larger than the common area for the crew."

She walked to the cockpit, reaching a four-fingered hand out to touch the glossy blacked out LCAR's panels. Yellow warning symbols flickered on them, blinking back protestations of 'unauthorised user'

"Two years training for the Warp Jump, putting my career in the Caladon Defense Force on hold. Putting everything else on hold..." she poked at one of the warnings tell tales, and then turned around. "And I find out I'm flying the next best thing to a toki. You have those right? Three wheels, kid's roll them down hills..."

"A tricycle?" Jolani offered with a shrug. "I do not mean to make you feel inferior or like your life has been wasted. There was a time that all of our races were where you are. Just imagine where you can go." She put her arm around Kella and asked, "Would you like to see how far you can go? I can show you something very special."

"If you can show me something special, I might well forgive the heaping spoonful of condescension that helped that bitter pill go down," Kella said gaurdedly.

"I'm really sorry. I just love my ships. I do not mean to come across so. But, I suppose it would be hard not to hear matters that way, regardless, since our technology for the time being is greater than yours." Jolani sighed, realizing that she was digging her grave even more deeply. There really was not a good way out other than to show Kella the ship.

"Follow me," Jolani told Kella, shutting the door on the Voyager once Kella got out. "What I am about to show you is called a runabout." She started walking past numerous ships, as she talked, her hips swaying with confidence as she moved inside the shuttlebay. "It is larger than a shuttlecraft, like what you saw, but smaller than Traveller. Consider it a hybrid of sorts...."

"A Corvette class?" Kella asked. "Some of our larger air ship's carry parasite vessel's to act in guard or scout roles. Not quite full-scale warships, but a nice force multiplier for small sorties or larger engagements. And don't worry about speaking well of your ship, it's a beautiful design. The Suma was a ten-year project to build something practical. It looked like a caf can spinning on the end of a weighted string. But the Traveller...that looks like it was meant to go faster than light."

The Zheng'he rested in it's slip at the back of the shuttlebay. Sleek, and as Kella had pointed out fast looking, the Arrow class runabout was a departure from the ruggedness of the Danube. But it's graceful lines and racers build did not take away from its functionality and power, as a group of Engineering tech worked on removing the dorsal phaser turret with the aid of a spider-limbed drone.

"This beauty," Jolani puffed proudly, "is the Zheng'he. It is an Arrow class runabout. It has retractable dorsal and ventral phaser turrets, an interchangeable mission module, and runs like greased lightning. It can hold up to 14 passengers and for specifics has a cruising speed of warp 5. I could punch it up to 7 or 8, I'd bet, in an emergency."

"Greased lightning? Nice to know there are some sayings that are just universal," Kella said as she stepped closer to the runabout. She stepped under the fuselage and reached up to place a hand on the hull. The moment her hand came into contact with the hull, the smart paint began to burn to life: highlighting nearby inspection ports and sensor apertures in red and blue boxes. She didn't flinch, instead traced one of the lines to an inspection hatch and grinned.

"She's a pretty girl," Kella said. "LIttle bigger than the Skriv I used to fly, looked more powerful too. Then again this thing can outpace the Suma and go trans atmospheric. Definitely beats an air superiority fighter. So what does it run on? Atomic's? Hydrogen?"

"Dilithium crystals and a matter-anti-matter reaction, just like the rest of our ships," Jolani answered simply.

"Antimatter? Heard about it, but you must bankrupt your economy making it. Back in the Caladon Federation, we were able to make a few nanograms of the stuff over ten years, hardly seems practical as a fuel source," Kella said. "Of course by telling me that you've revealed your material sciences are well in excess of anything the CalFed has. If you're able to power this craft with anti matter, without it blowing up from the reaction event...you must be the dominant power in your neck of the woods."

"No," Jolani replied simply. "And even if we were, might is never right. Our Federation believes in peace and exploration. That's what landed us out here in the first place. It was one of many risks that we have taken to further our knowledge and exploration." Jolani shifted uncomfortably. "There are many terrifying powers out there, but just as many who are more powerful and kind."

"See? Not so different," Kella said with a grin. "On Chadria we have three nation states that pretty much dominate the global stage. The Caladonian Federation, the Peoples Republic Of Lishst and the Protectorate of Hilgard. The Lishti are religious fanatics, cover their flier's in scripture runes and verse and enjoy nothing more than flying their bomb-filled fliers into the sides of CalFed cruisers. Hilgardian's are better, if only by the dint they make this fermented wine thing that can strip paint. For the last fifty years the Lishti have been at war with the Federation and the Protectorate. Then the Space Race started, the dream of a faster than light starship united us."

She shook her head sadly.

"Met my first Lishti, face to face, during that time. Biabrul was his name. Looked like he took the prize ring at the Four Corner's," she chuckled. "But then the Lishti's governing church had one of its periodic episodes of internal rearrangement. This Speaker got murdered, or poison, or took their own life, ad it was used as a sign that the creation of the Light Ship was an affront to the Sword Of Kaz. And before you know it me and the rest of my fighter wing are flying CAP on a fuel production facility for the Light Ship, shooting Lishti suicide fliers out of the air like it's raining hail."

Kella pointed at two recessed ports set under the canted wings of the Zheng'he.

"You speak a good game about being warriors for peace, but I know a missile tube when I see one. Speak the name friend, but carry a big stick."

Jolani turned to a frown and her voice became more pointed. "It is not like that at all. Would you go into the woods without a weapon to defend yourself? Would you let a vicious beast just gut you? Just because you're going somewhere to enjoy yourself does not mean that you should not be aware of danger and protect yourself from it. We never fire first. We try not to kill. We value all life. The weapons are for defence or utility. Nothing more."

"'They were building ships of war, a preemptive strike was our only option to reduce the loss of life'. You've never heard that line come out of the mouth of one of your politicians or commanding officers? Hey, I'm not judging: I'm just pointing out the similarities." Kella said, holding her four-fingered hands up. "I'm proud of who I am. Every sortie I flew protected the crew of my carrier ship, civilian workers on the ground or cities too close to the border. Did I like putting my life on the line every time I got into the cockpit of my Skriv and took to the sky knowing I was either going to die, or kill someone else? No. And like every other person in the uniform you get past the second thoughts really quick when they can get you killed."

She said something indelicate under her breath.

"And here I am, speaking philosophy, and I don't even know what's going on back home."

"You don't seem to understand," Jolani shook her head. "We do not preemptively strike." She shook her head again. "Perhaps I am not the best person to explain this all to you. And, why do you not know what is going on back at your home?"

"My brother and I were part of the crew of the Suma, our first warp ship. Abborax appeared in system and blew it up, the fact we survived was a lucky break. We just happened to be in the surface lander running a pressure test, so not only were we in a little tiny spaceship but we were in vac suits. First warning I got something was happening was the lander's hatch closing, and Commander Joltar blowing the decoupling charge to throw the lander clear. Got a lovely image in my mind of the Suma receding into the distance before blowing apart. Abborax 'rescued' us, had us nearly convinced we'd been saved after the ship's warp drive overloaded..." Kella's voice trailed off. "Well, that was a year ago. And I have no clue where in all the stars of the sky home is from here. From what I've learned of the Myriad, they could be doing a lot of evil to my home."

Nodding sadly, Jolani replied, "This is true. We were rather fortunate to have survived our encounter with him, as well." She circled around Kella and said, "Thankfully, we have a good Captain, a good science team, and I could fly this ship on a bunch of mini warp jumps with pinpoint accuracy. We got much of our computer core back but it is scrambled and under repair. What I wouldn't give to give Abborax a taste of his own medicine." She balled her hand in a fist and clenched it.

"Then why aren't you?" Kella snapped, slapping a hand against the hull of the Zheng'he. "You have the technology, and the expertise, to make a difference out here! I was on Abborax's ship for a year, and I visited a dozen worlds all of them under Myriad occupation. Collaboration governments acting as mouthpieces to their rule, enforced crackdowns. I've watched the skies of a planet burn twice! That could be my home one day! You say you act defensively, well what about when others need defending?"

"His technology appears to be superior. He pulled our computer core out of our ship. I had to fly manually. While that's exhilarating, I cannot normally take those risks with the crew. We had no other choice. How we got it back, I'm not fully certain. But it is not intact. Perhaps when it is fixed.... Either way, the Captain makes these calls, not me."

"But you could speak to him, take the case that Chadria is under the heel of Myriad occupation but only recently!" Kella pleaded. "Think of it like this: you want a tech-savvy power in Messier 4 ready to aid you? The Caladonian Federation put the lions share into the Suma. With your tech and guidance, we could be of great help to you here. Having a safe port and an allie in the stars must be of some benefit to you?"

"I do not deny the advantages that you offer. But are you the person that can really offer them?" Jolani asked sensibly. "I'm not much for deep thoughts," she continued. "I fly and I can squeeze every ounce of dilithium out of the Traveller to get what the Captain wants done. I probably would bleed into the chamber if I thought it would help. My duty is to the ship and the Captain." Before Kella could plead further, "But I will present your proposition. Lord knows that the Captain and I have had our disagreements before."

"And what do you think he'll say?" Kella asked.

"I don't know," Jolani confided in Kella. "He constantly surprises me."

"Yeah..." Kella said, turning to look back at the sleek miniature starship. "...I was afraid you'd say that."

Jolani was not about to tell Kella that the Prime Directive might prevent them from helping. However, that schmuck attacked them and stole their computer core. Perhaps there was a loophole or a way to skirt it. She did not know; however, she would advocate on behalf of Kella.

 

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