BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 33
 

Elias exited the lift as the doors opened on the rec deck, typing in commands on the small computer and sending the electronic data to the terminal that sat next to a cloth covered recliner at the far end of the large space, near the aft viewports. Before sitting down to review the data he’d been working on, the fox retrieved a cup from the carousel that sat next to a large, stainless steel coffee urn. Doctoring the dark liquid with cream and sugar, he took a sip, then grabbed a pastry from the ever present plate of snacks that his friend and comrade, Melise, made sure was available at all times.

  Thus fortified, he ensconced himself in the recliner and began going over the data that he’d collected. The encounter with the Shiva, both of them, saw his ship and crew the victors, but there had been something about the battle that had bothered him. It wasn’t until a few hours later, as he lay sound asleep next to his wife, that he snapped awake to figure out what it was that was nagging at the back of his mind. Sitting bolt up-right, Elias rolled out of bed and flopped down in front of the computer terminal in his and Cerise’s cabin, silently cursing the sluggishness of the machine as it booted and connected with the primary core of the Guiding Angel.

  He set the machine to collect all available data on his first engagement with the Carrack class vessel, then the recent encounter, and compile all video data. As the machine churned away at the request, Elias got dressed, telling his mate to go back to sleep when she murmured something at him, then headed for the rec deck.

  It was late enough in duty rotations that he doubted he’d run into another of the crew. The need to work through an idea that would not let him go or fall back to sleep was too strong. The terminal beeped at him, letting him know that all of the data that the fox had requested was ready. Taking another sip of steaming coffee, Elias typed in more commands and let the machine percolate his request.

  Looking up at the far bulkhead, as he normally did when on the third deck, Elias saw that someone had added another silhouette to what the rest of the crew jokingly called the ‘Wall of Glory’. Each of the silhouettes depicted the class of ship that they had encountered, the name of the vessel, date and location and the pirates, raiders, or slavers that had been neutralized.

  In bold red script was the name Shiva under the latest, followed by a large number 2.

  At first Elias had wanted the wall repainted, but the crew had voiced their opposition to this idea.

  “I’m tired of just having the names of our people plastered on to the Wall of the Fallen back on Joplin. It’s time we kept our own tally. It reminds us that we really are making a difference out her, El,” Melise had told him.

  Sandy had seen the wall on one of his infrequent visits and smiled when his eyes fell upon the documentation. “You know, this is a far better summation up what you and the others have done than a file full of reports, son,” the lion said.

  Because of all of the vocal input, Elias let the ‘Wall of Glory’ stay.

  There were fifteen ships on there that they had captured, put out of action and stopped. All in the space of eight months. Fifteen pirate crews, slavers, smugglers and brigands that were serving out sentences on one of the five penal worlds that the SPF used. Some of the criminals apprehended were transferred to Planetary Alignment worlds where there were outstanding warrants for crimes that took precedence over the charges that the Spatial Police Force leveled at them, but they were still out of the game.

  It had taken a while, but Elias was now pleased when he looked at the decorated wall that tallied their successes. Cerise, Odette and Melise had even started a scrapbook of sorts that listed all of the places that they had been, complete with pictures, including some of the fox himself, and he didn’t remember them being taken. The vixen’s argument for making the book was to show their children what they had done, not to mention her father, a retired SPF officer himself, enjoyed looking over their exploits.

  The computer beeped a signal informing Elias that it had finished the task he had set it to, and decided to put his research on the aft viewport that doubled as a vidscreen. Near invisible circuitry imbedded in the transparent glassteel material provided an extremely high definition picture and Elias was able to study the images in relative comfort.

  In sequence were images of the two ships that they had fought just days previous. The last was the Shiva that had been the reason for the destruction of his previous vessel that he’d been posted on, the SPF Scimitar. The Scimitar had been a patrol sloop, with what should have been adequate protection and firepower to handle the Earth made vessel turned pirate. That had certainly not been the case, and Elias and five others had been lucky to make it to Dennier alive. The encounter had cost the lives of several crew members, including the Captain of the sloop, an individual that Elias had very much admired.

  Captain Karl Ivanovo had been an inspiring man and had taught Elias many lessons about what it meant to command a ship. The human male had been fair, and taught the fox that a captain might be in command of the ship and crew, but it didn’t preclude that same said officer from having to work with the individuals below him. A captain had to be many different things at once, and while it might be rewarding at times, it was never, ever easy. Command required that one had to be firm, but compassionate, strong, but never lose sight of what the crew was going through. While there were times that a commanding officer had to act as a judge, sometimes delivering harsh punishment, the crew had to be molded into a family of sorts. Their lives depended on each other and it was paramount that they all trusted one another, with their captain being both mother and father.

  They were lessons that Elias had tried his best to copy. As it was, he had a crew that not only got along, they performed their tasks admirably. He was proud of the individuals under his command, with his ship, and the life he led with his wife.

  Taking a long sip from his mug, Elias continued to study the images. There had been something different between these last two ships and the first Shiva, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear the lift doors open, and when Lena spoke he started.

  “Whatcha lookin’ at, Cap’n?”

  Jerking upright, Elias spilt half of his coffee on his legs and crotch, closing his eyes momentarily against the pain, then took a deep breath.

  “Oh no! ‘m sorry, Cap’n!” she exclaimed.

  Biting back a few choice swear words, Elias set his mug down and got up to retrieve a towel from the counter that looked into the galley. “It’s all right, Lena,” he told her gently. He did what he could to salvage his trousers, but it was no use. “What are you doing up?”

  “Couldn’ sleep. ‘m hurting a little, but didn’ wanna take another pain pill. They make my head all fuzzy.”

  Elias gave her a smile remembering what she had been like in the infirmary. “I can understand that. Doc has some pretty potent stuff in that bag of his. Do you want me to get you something?”

  The rabbit shook her head with a frown. “Not gonna have you wait on me, ‘Lias. It isn’t right.”

  The fox chuckled. “And how, pray tell, are you going to get anything with your hands wrapped up like that? Come on. What would you like?”

  “A soda, if you don’ mind.”

  He smiled at the doe. “Coming right up.”

  Melise kept certain things close to the entry into the galley, knowing that it was better to do that than have the rest of the crew getting into certain supplies and had a refrigeration unit stocked with accessible snacks and drinks specifically for raiding. Grabbing a sparkling fruit flavored drink that Elias knew the rabbit liked, he returned to find her staring at the pictures on the screen intently with her wretched looking eyes.

  “These two are the same. This one on the end is differ’nt. It’s bigger,” she said as he drew alongside.

  “What?” Elias asked with a frown.

  “The third one. It’s bigger. Look,” she said, trying to point with her bandaged right hand. “See this part of the hull? On the other two the first set of portholes are closer to the bow. On the third they’re further back. Same with the sensor blister here. The last one is a bigger ship.”

  “Here you go,” Elias said as he held out the soda.

  As soon as Lena wrapped her hands around the bottle, Elias moved to the computer terminal and typed in several commands, then turned to the screen to look at the results.

  All three ships were rendered into wire frame designs, and the computer used relevant data and the specifications for Carrack class vessels stored in its memory banks to generate a size comparison. The first two ships were identical in all aspects and differed very little to the stock vessels that were manufactured on Earth in Australia. The third, though, was substantially larger. There were also areas of the hull on the third vessel that didn’t correspond with the other two. Elias sat back, feeling a sudden chill run up his spine.

  “Wha’s it mean, Cap’n?” Lena asked .

  The fox continued staring at the images. “It means the Shiva is still out there.”

— NEXT CHAPTER —

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