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"Captain, this is a Morganite matter. You aren't involved." Cmdr. Barona said. As requested, Shelly sent her to my office/quarters. She arrived with Mother Ahmisa quicker than I expected.
"Like hell I'm not involved. Lt. Tine is my Astrogator, and I have need of an Astrogator at the moment. Shelly, whatever rank is Shelly anyway? Whatever it is, I don't believe it outranks a Lieutenant, does not have the authority to order him to the brig, and just when did Hauley sprout a brig anyway? I sure don't see a brig on the design schematics. If there was a brig, that asshole Al, and probably Grace too, would have complained about the facilities. I don't remember them complaining about any facilities other than the VIP quarters." Yes, I was rambling. I don't like surprises and Shelly sending Lt. Tine to "the brig" that I didn't know I had qualified as a pretty big surprise in my book.
"It's a Morganite matter." Cmdr. Barona unhelpfully repeated.
Just as I was about to start ranting again, Mother Ahmisa interjected.
"Captain, I understand that some of the more esoteric practices of Morganism is unfamiliar to you. Please, allow me to reassure you, this is not as crazy as it seems."
"Ok fine. You can get with the reassuring whenever you are ready, because all I saw was one of my crew struggling a little when reality didn't fit his expectations. Heck, the idea that someone, or something, managed to create a hyper-jump point somewhere one don't belong is a bit of a shock, even to me, and I have the advantage of not knowing the math, so I got no idea how possible or impossible that is. Anyone tries to put me in this invisible ghost-brig over it is gonna have a fight on their hands."
Cmdr. Barona scowled. Mother Ahmisa, smiled.
"Nobody will put you in the brig Captain. First, you aren't a Morganite. Feel free to believe that moons are made of cheese or that hyper-jump points are made of soup if you want. Secondly, I always hated calling it 'the brig', but no one listens to me, I'm just the morale officer." Mother Ahmisa explained, "This so-called brig is a facility in cargo hold one. Please feel free to visit it Captain. It doesn't even lock the person in. It's just a quiet, comfortable place to sit and contemplate on Morganism and what it means, where nobody will bother you. Well, except me of course, but I only do that when I feel I am wanted or needed."
"So, Lt. Tine is off contemplating religion, because he saw coordinates for a jump point that shouldn't exist according to Morganite doctrine?" I asked. "I'm sorry, and I mean no disrespect Mother Ahmisa, but that's crazy. The world is what it is. If Morganism is so weak that it falls apart as soon as something doesn't agree with it's worldview, I'm surprised you guys are still around."
"Is that what he is struggling with? Sorry Captain, I didn't have a chance to familiarize myself with the situation before coming to talk to you. Shelly made it sound like you were angry enough to start spacing people." Cmdr. Barona said. "I'm sure that, given time, Lt. Tine will work his way through this crises and get right back to duty."
Mother Ahmisa gave Cmdr. Barona a look of frustration.
"Captain, I don't believe in keeping my Captains in the dark like this. I believe that Morganites bring a lot of persecution upon themselves by not being more open about their beliefs. Lt. Tine comes from a sect of Morganism that they could discover the will of the Creator through the application of pure science. Two hundred years ago, very idea of it seemed blasphemous. The church leaders believed that everything we needed to know about the Creator could be found in the church's teachings."
"Mother, I must insist you stop at once. The Captain is of the Outside!" Cmdr. Barona seemed to be getting upset. "We shouldn't be exposing the Church's failures to someone from the Outside!"
"That is why I am Mother, and you are a mere Commander." Mother Ahmisa said, consolingly. "The Captain is concerned for a member of her crew. That member is a Morganite. Do you understand how rare it is for a non-Morganite Captain to care about the internal struggles of a Morganite crew member? I believe that what Lt. Tine needs right now is the understanding of his Captain, and this Captain is willing to listen and understand. You will not place yourself in the way of that."
"Yes Mother." Cmdr. Barona said with resignation.
Mother Ahmisa turned back to me. "In order to escape the Church Leaders of the time, the scientists sect took to space in huge multi-generational science ships. Until recently, those ships were savagely hunted by the Church. It was that conflict that spurred on much of the Morganite advancements in ships and technology. The Church hunters would take a Scientist ship, kill or arrest everyone on board, and strip it for every bit of new technology they could find. The Scientist ships in turn were supplied through underground Morganite sects who disagreed with the Church's policy of hunting them."
"And through piracy... don't forget the piracy." Cmdr. Barona helpfully added in.
"Yes, and through piracy." Mother Ahmisa agreed exasperated. "Never let us forget the alleged piracy."
"Are you secretly a Scientist Mother?" Cmdr. Barona gasped.
"No, I am from one of the Hunter Sects. To my shame, it was my people who hunted the Scientists to extinction. I remember the day the Hand of the Creator caught and destroyed the Electron. The Church had banned the hunting of the Scientists for over twenty years, but that did nothing to stop two hundred years of hate. When the Electron was destroyed, there were celebrations and parties. I was just a child at the time, all I knew is that one of our Hunter families fought the evil foe and prevailed, all glory to the Creator. It wasn't until college that I saw the footage of that battle. The Electron was almost three hundred years old. It was already outdated when the Scientists bought it. Sure, it had all the technology the Scientists invented, but still it wallowed like a pig. It wasn't a threat to anyone. So I started researching the Electron's supposed pirate activity. Nothing I found stood up to a hunter's eye. Ships would sight the Electron and flee, then report it as if they bravely fought off a heated pirate attack. Other ships that actually were attacked would claim it was the Electron, but I could easily see the trademarks of other pirates on those attacks. The way the Death Stalkers swarmed their prey with smaller ships. The way the Hammer of Fate would lie in wait and use it's enormous inertia cannon to take out the ship's engines. I was not surprised at all when I saw the video evidence that exonerated our Mr. Tine."
"So what does this all have to do with Lt. Tine being in the brig we don't have?" I asked. The history lesson was fascinating and all, but I didn't see how it was getting me my Astrogator back. I don't want to sound cruel or heartless, but in my opinion getting Lt. Tine functioning again and back at his job was probably the best thing for him. I know that when I get upset, doing some preventative maintenance or rebuilding some spare component usually snapped me right out of any funk. Although, I probably would have to smuggle something into my office to work on these days. Any time one of the crew caught me actually doing anything around here, someone took it away and did it for me.
Mother Ahmisa answered, "When Lt. Tine was convicted and sent to prison, he believed that he was being punished for questioning the Creator's wisdom. He turned his back on science and his people and adopted the beliefs of traditional Morganites. When he was finally exonerated, he was cast adrift. The Scientists are gone, no other sect wants him. Out of desperation, he joined the fleet, but the only rate he qualifies for is Astrogation. When you told him of a jump point where everything in his traditional Morganite beliefs says is impossible, but he knows it isn't because you wouldn't lie to him and he himself once wrote a paper theorizing the possibility. So his old beliefs are conflicting with his new beliefs."
"Oh, I get it. I think" I said. "Maybe I should go have a talk with Lt. Tine."
I found "the brig" right were they said it would be. From the outside, it looked like a big shipping crate, with a door in the side. A door in the side of a shipping crate isn't all that unique, lots of shipping crates have them. I knocked lightly on the door. After a few moments, Lt. Tine opened the door.
"Captain, I... I don't know what to say."
"Then don't say anything Lt. Tine. Just listen." I said, "Mama Ahmisa has tried to fill me in on what's going on. Can you explain to me why a wayward jump point can cause you such a problem?"
"Because it shouldn't exist. It brings into question the existence of the Creator."
"Does it really? Because it seems to me like it only brings into question your understanding of the Creator. If the darned thing is there, and I assure you it is, do you really think it's there in spite of the Creator's wishes? Do you really think, as a mortal man that you're so intelligent, that the Creator would be incapable of intending something outside of your understanding?"
"I've never thought of it that way Captain."
"Mr. Tine, it is your job as the Astrogator on the good ship Haul-o-caster, to understand these things to the best of your ability, so I, as Captain, can make decisions. I was given to understand that you are uniquely qualified to do that."
"Yes Captain."
"Far be it from me to intrude on your religious observations. We've got a week before we'll really need you on the bridge. Feel free to take that time and contemplate existence or whatever you all do sitting alone in a big box in the cargo hold, but I need to be able to count on you when we get where we're going. Can I count on you Mr. Tine?"
"Yes Captain."
An hour later I was sitting in what was becoming my favorite place on the Haul-o-caster, the Captain's chair, when Lt. Tine walked in and took up his place at the Astrogation station.
"Captain, I apologize for my behavior."
"What behavior would that be? As far as I'm concerned, you just saw something weird and needed a bit to get your head around it. When you've been in as many places as I have been in, you'll realize that happens to all of us sooner or later."
"Thank you Captain."
Lt. Tine's reservations aside, when the fleet reached the coordinates the jump point was indeed still there. I don't know why I was expecting it not to be. Maybe I let Lt. Tine's doubts effect me more than I thought. Yet, there it was in all it's glory.
"Would you look at that?" Came a surprised exclamation from Lt. Tine, "Captain, I was expecting Bardoen Radiation as well as the Gravitonic Radiation that usually surrounds a jump point, but it isn't there. Instead there is something else. The Haul-o-caster's sensors can't quite give me a good enough look to tell what it is."
After a moment of - I hope well hidden - anger that Lt. Tine would disparage Hauley like that, I calmed myself down. "I've been through this jump point twice. Once each direction, and I didn't feel any ill effects. Are you saying that it isn't safe Lt. Tine?"
"No Captain, I'm saying there is something in the Creator's design that I, as a mortal man, do not yet understand." Then Lt. Tine smiled. It looked a little odd coming from the pocked, tattooed, usually somber face, but it was nice because it looked genuine. I think Lt. Tine has finally gotten his groove back.
"Comm, get me a line to the Polly Bont." I requested.
In a few moments a slightly plump, excited face came up on my comm screen. "This is Polly Bont Actual. Nice to finally meet you Captain Petra." After all that happened with Gregorious, the name Petra didn't sit well anymore, but that was a battle for another day.
"I hear you have a bunch of fancy sensor equipment over there for looking at Hyper-jump points. Can I have my Astrogator send you some readings to get your opinion?" I replied, "And I have a gift for you."
"Sure thing Captain." Polly Bont's Captain replied.
"Lt. Tine, send over your readings and whatever they need to take a further look into what you found. I'm sending over a data packet to also include.
I wrapped up everything from Hauley's two jumps through this jump point into a packet along with a request to please keep my Lt. Tine up to date with what they found, and sent it over. Turns out, they would have plenty of time to look it over because Admiral Thomas called a halt for a few days in order to give the fleet a few days to get everything in order.
The next day, we got a call back from the Polly Bont. I had Shelly at the communications station put it up on the main viewscreen so everyone could see and hear.
"Captain, I would like to thank you for embarrassing my Astrogation team." The Captain of the Polly Bont said laughing. "Those guys really needed something to deflate their egos, it was getting hard to shoe-horn them through the hatches. The readings that your Lt. Tine brought to our attention appears to be a new form of radiation. If it has been seen before, we surely can't find any reference to it. My guys missed it completely. Might I suggest we call it Tine Radiation?"
Lt. Tine practically choked.
"Lt. Tine, you did discover it, so unless we can find a previous claim, by tradition you get to name it." Said the Captain of the Polly Bont. "I have to say, we've already been calling it Tine Radiation, and we like that name."
"Very well," Lt. Tine said, "Tine Radiation it is. I sure hope it doesn't turn out to be something horrible that I just put my name to."
"So far, it doesn't seem any more dangerous than the Graviton Radiation that we usually find surrounding a Transition Matrix, but we've been experimenting and have some updates for our gravitonic shielding that will also keep it out just in case." Polly Bont's Captain replied. "And Captain, thank you for the transition data. I admit that I usually get a little bit of a thrill transitioning through a new matrix blind, but this one frightened me a little. It's nice to have data for the trip and for the other side."
The fleet took an extra couple days upgrading everyone's shielding. Hauley's shield generators were a bit different from the Morganite generators the other ships used, having been patched in at some point in the past as an expedient repair. Luckily, or more like because of good planning, Hauley carried a spare, so it should have been child's play to get the spare updated and swap them out. I peeked at the update proposal when it came in from the Polly Bont, and it didn't look too difficult. Hey, I had to let the engineers have all the fun of doing the maintenance, didn't mean I was going to let them make changes I didn't approve first.
After what seemed like too much time, I finally got an unexpected call from the good Chief.
"Captain, I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I'm at a loss."
"What seems to be the problem Chief Williamson? Most of the fleet has already signaled the flag that they have the updates installed. You wouldn't want Hauley to be last would you?" Yes, it was a little mean to be was poking at the Chief like that, but it was all in good fun.
"Captain, PO Smart and I are having problems understanding these generators. We haven't seen anything like them."
"Of course not." I said, "They are from a reaction mass mining vessel used practically on the other end of the galaxy." Now I admit, it took me years of sifting through junk piles and scrap yards on dozens of different worlds to finally find a match to the one installed on Hauley. Until then, I had a couple generators lined up to replace Hauley's generator should it have failed, but thankfully that never happened. The generators from the mining vessel were far superior to anything else I could find. With them we could - and actually had a time or two - take Hauley into the top layers of a gas giant. AKA hiding from pirates and/or government patrols. We couldn't go very deep mind you and we definitely couldn't fly through the core and survive, nothing could do that besides pretend ships in movies with particularly bad plotlines.
"I'll be down to help in a moment!" I said excitedly.
I hate to admit how sad I was when I saw how much my workshop, more correctly called the ship's Engineering Section, had changed in the few short weeks since Hauley got it's new crew. I almost cried, but managed to keep it to myself. Somehow.
It sure was nice finally doing something with my hands again. I had the whole operation planned out in my head as soon as I saw the update recommendation from the Polly Bont, so I knew it was possible. I also knew it would take some skill and fabrication to get it all to work right. Chief Williamson and PO Smart had the spare generator torn down further than it needed to be, and I could tell from all the numbered parts and notes that they were doing their best to document what they were doing so they could get it all back together when they were done, but it was also clear that they didn't understand the basic operation of the device because they were basing their assumptions on how the Morganite Fleet's generators worked. All of which makes perfect sense. Before I came down, I debated with myself whether I should just send them the schematics and let them work on it. Now I'm glad I didn't.
As we worked on getting the backup generator updated and put back together, I talked my way through what I was doing, the theory of operation as I understood it, what the differences between this and the Morganite units were, and the troubles we might encounter with them. To my delight, the Chief had a couple ideas of his own to mitigate some of those possible issues that we added to the design.
All too soon, we were done.
"Thankyou Captain. I think PO Smart can take care of installing it. Then I would like it if you would allow PO Smart and I to update on the other unit. I want both of us to have familiarity in case we ever need to repair one of these. I assure you, we will ask for help if we run into any problems we can't figure out."
"Very well Chief, I enjoyed getting to work with you." I said, and I meant it.
The next morning, the Chief visited me in my office. He brought up design specs and blueprints on the screen that matched our new gravitonic generators for my approval. He also brought up some drawings for a new gravitonic generator that he was designing based upon what he learned. It was an incredible design. I could see a number of places where the new design fixed issues we had to work around in our existing generators. This design would be lighter, more efficient, and as far as I could tell probably more reliable than the mining ship generators.
"Captain, I would like to submit this to the Morganite Fleet for consideration. The gravitonic generators used by the fleet are pretty good, but they don't hold a candle to this design, and if I haven't missed something, this design should be able to scale much better than the current design." The Chief continued, "I would also like permission to put in a request that the fabrication lab on the Fleet Tender fabricate a couple prototypes. PO Smart thinks we can install one on top of the existing generator and rig a relay so we can run the new one for testing, but still have the existing one standing by in case we need it."
"Sounds good."
It felt good to be giving back to the Morganite fleet after all they had done for me, and I'm always looking for ways to update Hauley's systems to something better, so that was an added bonus.
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