BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 29
 

Almost two weeks had passed since Captain and crew made planetfall and Elias, Cerise, Sander, Stram and Rovi sat or lounged on the bridge of the Guiding Angel as it sat in dry dock at the Okami yard she had been birthed from. A Wolf with dark brown and black fur, his muzzle shot with white was smiling as he talked.

  “To be honest, there really wasn’t much we had to do the old girl. Even after all of the action that she’s seen, you and yours have been taking very good care of her.”

  “We’ve been trying, Mister Macklin,” Stram said around one of his ever present sticks of meat jerky. “I think the major factor is that you and your people built a right fine ship for us.”

  “We tried Mister Molson. We did go over the systems that you mentioned in your reports. Captain Elias, if you’d look on page three of your folder? The first was the small problem with the engine mounting bracket? We discovered an area where the insulation was a little thin, completely our fault, mind you. That caused some minor arcing from the energy dissipation from the shields and over the hull. We’ve taken care of that and scanned the rest of the interior of the hull and found no other problems.

  “We’ve made some adjustments to the elevation and traverse servos of the laser turrets. You should see greater response and sensitivity to them from now on.” He flipped a page on the folder he carried, one that everyone else had copies of. The wolf ran a finger down the list of things that his engineering team had provided, serviced, and gleaned from Stram Molson and the rest of the crew of the Guiding Angel.

  The wolf’s finger stopped and he looked up at Cerise. “Mistress Tivnan, you made some modifications to the sensor and communications suite, and enhanced some of the programming with the help of…hmm, let’s see, a Miss Kefflin. We would like permission to utilize these modifications on new ships being built, if we may. You, of course, will get a two percent royalty from this modification to any ships built, and a point five percent royalty on all refits. This is average for non Okami Industries persons that contribute to our product line. Would this be acceptable to you?”

  Cerise was caught off guard, and looked to Elias who could only shrug, but when she turned her head to look at her father and Sander, she saw both of them nod. She looked up at the wolf. “I think that would be fine, Mister Macklin. When did you want to handle the paperwork?”

  “We can meet tomorrow for lunch if that’s all right. We’ll set the details when we’re done here. Now then. The failure of the shields. Unfortunately even the units that we build have limits. One can only push certain things so far before they give out. We have installed breakers with higher tolerances, but that’s about all we can do. Is there anything else that we need to address?”

  Sander stood. “I think that about covers it, Jak,” the lion said. “That the Guiding Angel has done so well is a testament not only to her crew and Captain, but to the work you and your team have put into her.”

  “Thank you,” the wolf said with a slight bow. He gathered up his papers and slid them into an expensive looking leather briefcase. “As we have maintenance facilities on almost every world of the PA, if you run into any problems, don’t hesitate to put in at them. The ship’s registry number is on file as priority status. Which also reminds me. We’ll be adding a few new items to the Guiding Angel’s onboard inventory in the way of three Flobots. They’re tasked for security and maintenance protocols. They’re also becoming standard inclusions on all Okami built vessels.”

   “Aw, crud!” Stram groused. “Not that they aren’t handy, Mister Macklin, but they do have a tendency of gettin’ in the way.”

  The wolf chuckled. “I’ve heard that from a number of others, Mister Molson, and it is something that our engineers have taken into consideration. As it is, unless specifically tasked with a job, the units will nominally stay out of the way of the crew. Each of the units is also equipped with voice recognition programs, so they will respond to limited vocal commands from each of the crew. If need be, they can be deactivated at any time through any of the ship’s computer terminals. Once deactivated, the units will return to their charging stations until either reactivated, or if an emergency arises. Does that make you feel better about having them onboard?” he asked the badger.

  “Well, since you put it that way!” Stram smiled. “I’ve had a few of them go berserk on some of the ships I was on before, and the only way to shut them down was with a very large hammer.”

  Jak laughed. “That was one of the complaints we’d heard as well. There are also hard-wired program circuits that will send the Flobots to their charging stations if their operational programming is in any way compromised, corrupted or damaged. Plus we’ve given the units greater operation capability and range for functions outside of the ship.”

  “It couldn’t hurt to have them able to patrol the perimeter while we’re on the ground,” Elias mused. “An extra set of eyes is always helpful.”

  “That was our thinking as well. Chances are with your mission parameters you’ll be landing in unsafe areas fairly frequently. And programming custom protocols is much easier now. And these are nothing compared to the designs that we’d like to implement if we can get design permission from a rather brilliant engineer that sent us his schematics. Mister Jared Porter is an absolute genius. I just hope we can persuade him to sell us his design before a competitor gets them.”

  “Porter? Jared Porter?” Elias asked with a grin.

  “Yes. Do you know him, Captain?” Jak asked.

  “We’ve met a time or two. Talented individual,” Elias smirked. “Saved some of my crew’s lives in the Scimitar incident. Nothing major.”

  Jak Macklin shook his head. “You certainly have a flair for meeting interesting people, Captain Tivnan.”

  “I’m lucky that way,” Elias said as he slid his arm around his wife’s shoulders.

***

  The crew had reassembled at the Okami ship building facilities and had finished prelaunch checks of all the systems. A total of sixteen days had passed since they had arrived on Dennier, and each of them was anxious to get back into space. They had a farewell party with Cerise’s family, and the Tambors had come to see them off one last time.

  Sharan had come to care about all of the crew of the Guiding Angel, and looked at each as if they were extended family. She made sure that each individual had something from her and Rovi to take with them, with promises that there would always be a place for them at the estate. She and her husband stood at the foot of the ramp to the personnel airlock with their daughter and son-in-law.

  “If you can’t manage to get back here for another visit, let us know and we’ll try to meet you,” the elder vixen said, trying very hard not to get emotional.

  “Dear, you know that might not be possible,” Rovi informed her with a shake of his head.

  Cerise took her mother’s hands. “Momma, we’ll visit when we can. I promise. Daddy’s right, though. Some of the places we’ll be…well, that’s just not possible.”

  Sharan nodded. She knew her husband and daughter were right, but she didn’t have to like it.

  Not far away, Keena stood near Lemuel, the two of them talking quietly.

  Elias wasn’t about to try and eavesdrop, though he was curious as to what they were saying. He watched as the tiger looked earnestly at the russet vixen, talking quietly, saying something that caused Keena to smile at and nod agreement to. When Lemuel turned to head towards the ramp, Keena stopped him, turning him around to give him a hug and kiss on the side of his huge head.

  “Just promise that you’ll be careful out there,” she said as they drew near the others.

  “I will. And you take care as well. I’m very pleased to have met you, Keena.”

  “And I you. Goodbye, Lemuel,” the young fox said.

  The tiger smiled, then strode up the ramp and into the ship without looking back.

  “It’s time we got onboard as well,” Elias said.

  Cerise gave each of her parents a long hug then stepped back. Elias shook Rovi’s hand, accepted a quick kiss on the side of his face from Sharan and joined Cerise. Keena held back, then darted forward to her sister.

  “I have to agree with Momma. Comeback as soon as you can.”

  “I’ll try, Sis. It was good to see you.”

  Keena smiled. “You, too. I…I love you, Cerise.”

  The black furred vixen felt tears welling up in her eyes. “I love you, too, Kee. Take care of Celia and Gey for me.”

  The other nodded, not trusting herself to speak as tears also started to well in her eyes.

  “Let’s go, Love. The others are waiting,” Elias said.

  They waved once before the airlock closed, then made their way to the lift and then the bridge. Elias slid into the pilot’s seat while Cerise took her position at the communications and sensors console, automatically strapping in even as she ran a check of her equipment.

  “How are we looking, Saul?” Elias said as he looked over his instruments.

  “Clear sky, and fine weather, Captain. All stations have reported ready for launch and we are go!”

  The fox looked to his right at the jaguar. “You’re awfully chipper today.”

  “Just ready to get back to it. Shore leave is fine, but I want to get out there and get back to work. Or maybe I’m just nuts,” Saul said with a grin.

  “Then that makes two of us. I feel the same way. Cerise, are we clear around the ship?”

  There was a pause as the vixen did a quick scan around the dock with instruments and cameras both. “Affirmative. Bay is clear and all personnel have evacuated. Okami control says skies are clear and clearance from Dennier ATC has given us permission to launch.”

  Elias grinned wickedly. “Love, do you think your father’s watching the launch?” he asked as he craned his head around to look at his mate.

  Cerise gave him a look that indicated that she thought the question was rather foolish. “What do you think? He’d be up here with us given half a chance!”

  The white fox’s grin grew even broader. “That’s what I thought.” He turned to his navigator. “I think it’s time for that full power take off we were talking about.”

  Saul’s smile was every bit as large and mischievous as his Captain’s. “Affirmative!” The jaguar toggled his headset to intercom. “Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is the First Officer speaking. We’d like to thank you for choosing Pirate Smasher space lines. We’re setting up for our lift off in just a few minutes and I would like to ask all of you to please buckle up and return your trays to their upright and secured positions. Today’s lift is going to be a full power take off, so some of you may want to cinch your belts a little tighter. Should you lose your stomach, our good Doctor will be more than happy to put it back in once we’ve hit our cruising vector. That means you, Treena. Bridge out!”

  Elias was chuckling as he cracked his knuckles before taking a hold of the control yokes. “You’re a bad person, Saul. A really bad person.”

  The answering grin from the jaguar was toothy and wide. “I know!”

  “Engine’s are in the green,” Elias said. “Five…four…three…”

  “Shields up. Inertial dampeners on line, internal pressure is go,” Saul said as Elias counted down.

  Two…one…”

  Pushing the maneuvering thrusters to full, Elias took the Guiding Angel up out of the bay, and once clear from the confines of the sunken facility, pulled back on the yokes, standing the freighter on its tail. It hung there for a split second, sunlight glinting from the green body and silver wings. Then the fox pushed the throttles for the main engines all the way forward and past their gates. The whole ship shuddered for a moment before lurching skyward.

  “Whoooooohooooo!” howled Saul as the ship climbed, shrugging gravity off as the engines poured out more thrust than ever.

  It was exhilarating, and Elias grinned the entire time, though his focus was on the sky before them and the readings from his instruments. In a quarter of the time it would take another vessel, the Guiding Angel passed the last vestiges of Dennier’s atmosphere and glided smoothly into the hard vacuum of space. Still accelerating, Elias threw the ship into a spinning roll as they headed into the dark between the stars.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.