Remember the Yorktown (Gravity Book 1) Read online

  Remember the Yorktown

  Book 1

  GRAVITY

  a sci-fi saga

  By

  Jeremy C Kester

  Revision 1: 2014

  Revision 1 ©2014 Jeremy C Kester

  Original Copyright ©2012 Jeremy C Kester

  Cover design by Jeremy C Kester

  All Rights Reserved

  For my loving wife Carla. My Gravity.

  Hey love

  I am a constant satellite

  Of your blazing sun

  My love

  I obey your law of gravity

  This is the fate you've carved on me

  Your law of gravity

  From “Gravity” written and performed by Vienna Teng

  20 August 2274: Julian calendar

  There is very little light out here. When you are this far out in space, there isn’t much to supply one with light. Even the Sun, as close as it may be relative to all other stars, can get lost in the background.

  Haden Rashid watched the emptiness closely looking for the only other sources that light could come from: vessels. His smuggling had taken him through this space on many occasions, but never before had he seen the Alliance out in this part of the solar system before.

  This territory was still under no legitimate rule. No one had claim on it except for scientists, colonists, smugglers, pirates, and only the most daring or wealthy of corporations. The outland colonies of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and beyond had long since shunned Alliance rule, and in doing so they now had to raid the black-market for supplies. Small tertiary governments existed, but nothing large enough to encompass any more than a small colony or station. Despite this, a small trade network had form. And small traders such as Haden now serviced these routes.

  Haden and many others have made careers as thieves, smugglers, and transporters taking great risks in procuring supplies and then running them into the outlands and vice versa.

  Pirates and other smugglers were the only concerns Haden normally had. Seeing Alliance ships was just unlikely, but Haden knew that it was their radiation signature that he saw. He had enough dealings with Alliance in the past to know that they were not venturing out on peaceful terms.

  How they were able to get so close before he noticed them was of great concern.

  With little hope of escaping otherwise, Haden switched off all systems as quickly as he could to eliminate his radiation signatures. He knew that with having all of the systems off he would only have some fifteen minutes of air… if he was able to calm his own nerves. Fifteen minutes wouldn’t afford him any success in evading the ship, but it was his only option. He cursed himself for not catching it sooner.

  In the complete silence he heard his heart pounding in his chest. Haden tried to calm it. This was unlike him; he was able to remain calm in even the direst of conditions. The strangeness of the situation only served to break his concentration.

  He held his breath and slowly exhaled. A few minutes later he felt his heart slowing. He was calm now. At least this way he could work to conserve some air. Haden wished that he hadn’t needed to use the emergency supply three days prior. If he had been able to save it, then he would have almost 6 hours of oxygen.

  Off in the distance he finally was able to see what he had feared. It was the Alliance. It was a larger vessel, like nothing that he’s seen before. Regardless of its size, Haden knew that he would be out-gunned and outmatched for speed. Retrofits and upgrading weapons cost money, something that he was generally short on.

  He debated what he should do. He had powered down his systems, and thusly there should be little radiation coming off of his ship. Radiation and heat was all that any ship could use to detect another without the ship being close enough for a visual sighting. Depending on the ship’s size, heat would dissipate quickly. Haden’s ship was smaller, only outfitted for one person to live. The rest of the space was dedicated to cargo. None of the cargo hold was conditioned in any way and with heat-sinks Haden outfitted the ship with years ago, heat was difficult to trace on his ship. Other radiation was not so easily dispersed though, and he was still at risk though from the traces left over from when his ship was running.

  Haden’s only hopes were that the Alliance had failed to see his radiation signature, confused it with celestial anomalies, or simply ignored it. Haden could then power up and make his escape when the vessel passed far enough away. But there just was no longer enough time to test that theory.

  Haden watched the vessel slowly change course closer to his position. To worsen his situation, he felt himself starting to get tired. Oxygen was already running low. Again, Haden started to breathe heavier in a panic. Survival meant he would have to power-up his ship.

  He had no choice.

  I’m fucking dead, Haden thought as he started the ignition sequence to his ship. The burst of radiation would surely alert the Alliance ship had they not appeared to already know.

  The very second that Haden’s communication console came online he was receiving a message from the Alliance ship.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Haden hissed as he waited for his ship to be ready to move. Immediately he switched on his weapons systems. That move would slow the readiness of his ship by diverting power from the engines, but he knew that he had to be ready for anything at this point.

  Again, his communications lit up. He switched to listen to the audio only.

  “Unknown vessel,” the audio said. “This is the DASS Yorktown. Our weapons are trained on your coordinates. Power down your engines and await further instruction. Please comply.”

  For a brief moment he felt some familiarity in the voice. He looked at a picture he kept above his control panel. The voice was not clear due to his poor equipment, but it felt like it was from the girl in the picture. “It can’t be,” he remarked out loud. The thought of her froze him in time for a moment. It had been seven years since he had seen her last.

  Snapping himself back to the moment, Haden remarked aloud: “to hell I will.” It was a futile response. Only the rail-guns were ready to fire. They were in no way strong enough to make any significant damage on the Yorktown, even with the ion charged rounds. He had much stronger fusion cannons, but they were much more delayed in readiness.

  But they were all he had at the moment.

  His ship was an older ship. It was originally used for short range trade, mainly between Earth, its moon, and Mars. Nowhere in its original design was it fitted for being this far out in the solar system. Those were all made with modifications later on. Equipped with the original design were the rail-guns. Their high-velocity projectiles were at one point strong enough to shred through the hulls of most other ships. Now magnetic fields, energy fields, and stronger hull designs made the rail-guns increasingly useless.

  His best bet would be to target the Yorktown’s plasma cannons and hope that the projectiles from the rail-guns caused enough damage and buy him some time.

  That is if he couldn’t negotiate.

  A plasma blast passed the bow of Haden’s ship. He watched as the energy passed and caused his instruments to flicker. With it came another message from the Yorktown. “I repeat,” the voice said more seriously. “Power down your vessel immediately. Comply and you will be spared.” It was a lie, Haden believed.

  Haden replied, “I’m sorry, my ship has been malfunctioning. I have been unable to gain control of my engines. I may have just finished my repairs.” It was a lie, but he hoped that it would work.

  “You will need to power down to dock with us,” the voice from the Yorktown said. “We have reason to believe you are smuggling Alliance goods.”

  “Fuck,” Haden yelled as
he punched the console. His fusion cannons were still offline. According to the displays they were lagging far behind the readiness of the engines. He wished that he had a better ship. “Sorry, my docking clamps are broken,” he replied to the Yorktown.

  The Yorktown was delayed a little in replying. “Your ship will tie to the Yorktown to accompany us to the nearest port. The Democratic Alliance is placing your ship under impound.”

  “Finally!” Haden exclaimed as his ship finally was ready for maneuvering. The remaining weapons systems were still powering up.

  He had no reasonable options left to him but to surrender, but he could not be taken by the Alliance. The Yorktown was too close making him sure that he could not outrun it. His ship was an easy target.

  Quickly, Haden swung the ship around to face the Yorktown. He fired a series of blasts from the rail-guns directed at the Yorktown’s plasma cannons. The projectiles narrowly missed and simply bounced off of the hull deflected by magnetic fields.

  “Shit!” Haden yelled. He was more than worried now. He was dead. The Yorktown was much more powerful than his own ship. If it was able to even get a blast off that even clipped his ship, he’d be dead. And at that moment, a plasma blast hit his ship’s hull. His skull reverberated from the hit. It took him a minute to regain his concentration. It was clearly only a warning shot.

  “You have been warned,” the voice continued over the comm. System. “Disable your engines and weapons systems. Prepare your ship for loading aboard the Yorktown.”

  Assessing any damage, he saw that only the center engine was functioning. If he was taken prisoner, he would not survive. This far out there is no taking of prisoners. Why take aboard another mouth to feed with only a limited supply of rations? Haden would be let out the airlock to drift aimlessly in space. He knew that they would even create a small, nearly unnoticeable leak in their victim’s suits, slowly tearing their body apart through decompression. That fate would be only if they failed to realize who he was. Suicide was an easier choice.

  Directing the ship at the Yorktown, Haden put the thrusters at full. It would be fast enough for what he had left to do. Maybe he could run at the Yorktown and hit its engines as he passed. If he could time it right, his fusion cannons would be online.

  Another hit was taken on his ship. All the systems went dead. The ship was still moving fast enough though. It was only about 10 miles from the Yorktown at this point. Another few seconds and the two ships will collide.

  Haden held his breath as he watched himself and his ship hurtle into the Yorktown.

  ***

  Alliance Station Mars Alpha “New Cambridge”

  17 days prior

  Adrianna stared at her next assignment. She was distracted. Her mind was sorting through the steps that got her there. The Yorktown rest ahead of her docked with the station. Just seven years ago she was looking at being discharged for behavior unbecoming of an Alliance Officer. Now she was set to be the first Executive Officer of what was rumored to be the most advanced ship in the fleet. Seven years ago was a long time. Especially at 26, seven years still felt a lifetime ago.

  The Yorktown was an inspiring sight. It was nearly 300 meters long and held a mass of several thousand metric tons. Much of the mass was based in the rear ionic fusion core, a newly implemented style of interplanetary propulsion. It was supposed to be the marvel of human aerospace engineering, though it was all that was ever listed for this ship.

  Others were gathered around her discussing, marveling at what was before them all. “The most powerful in the fleet,” a voice said off to the side.

  “I hear that it’s a black-ops ship,” a tall, lanky officer mused.

  “Can’t be. They’d never dock it here. They wouldn’t even list it as an active ship then,” another argued.

  “Well there’s nothing really about it anywhere other than engine specs.”

  “I wish that was my assignment,” still another bemused.

  It was all speculation, although it was everything to make Adrianna excited about this assignment. All of the work that she had been striving appeared as though it was paying off. Instead, she stood only saddened at her fortune. It was a strange feeling. Rather than focus on her fortune, she was thinking about him.

  “I wish you were still here with me,” she whispered to herself. She felt that this journey might allow her to touch his face again. It had been 7 years since he was lost to her. Facing her fears to never travel off Earth was the only way that she could be close to his spirit again.

  At her feet were all of her belongings. The military afforded little opportunity to amass any material wealth during service. It was small, enough to carry clothing and a handful of personal effects. All else that she would require would be handled onboard.

  “Commander?” a voice broke through to her side. “Commander Feyet?”

  Adrianna turned keeping her face stoic. “Yes?” she answered.

  A young marine corporal of about 6-4 sharply stood at attention and saluted. Adrianna returned the courtesy.

  “Sir, err, ma’am,” the young man stuttered. “I have been instructed by the Admiral to escort you aboard to meet with him.”

  “Proceed, Corporal,” she instructed as she dropped her hand from the salute. The young corporal then reached for her duffle bag. “No thank you, Corporal. I can handle this on my own.”

  Surprised, the young corporal stood back straight, saluted again, and then replied: “yes, ma’am.”

  Slowly, placing her eyes on the ship once more, she reached down and grabbed her duffle. The weight of it had a strange feel in space. Even with the artificial gravity systems, weight felt quite different than planet-side. Nothing felt quite the same as Earth. Even Mars, as close as its density is to Earth’s, still needed the aid of artificial gravity to more closely match it. It was all designed to help humans to better cope with interplanetary travel. No matter how similar it was supposed to be many, like Adrianna, could easily feel the difference.

  As her first step landed towards the ship Adrianne quietly muttered to herself: “I hope you’re worth it,” as she thought as to the reasons she was so willing to take this assignment.

  The corporal appeared not to notice her speak and continued on ahead.

  Steadily, the two walked down the gangway towards the vessel. As she grew further from the core of the station, Adrianna felt her steps become lighter. Shortly the gravity from the ship would begin to hold more effect than that of the station. Jumping-ship was the term that many of the sailors called the effect. Launching was another colorful term used to describe the small leap one had to make when trying to jump from a section of artificial gravity over to zero gravity in order to attain the small escape velocity.

  Transference was the official term.

  “Jumping-ship is the easiest I’ve felt so far,” the young corporal mused. “The size of the Yorktown and its more advanced grav systems more resemble earth than even the station does.”

  Often, a space-farer would stumble when moving from a ship to station. Adrianna was slightly amazed as to the smoothness she felt in the gravity shift. She kept her stoic demeanor however in front of her new report.

  Unnerved by his new commander’s silence, the corporal began to ramble as they continued into the ship. “I was excited to be selected for this mission. They hadn’t allowed anyone to request assignment here. Nothing of what this ship can really do is on record and no one so far really knows what we’ll be doing.”

  Nothing of what the young soldier said met with her ears. Adrianna instead only listened to the sound of her footsteps as she stepped from the gangway into the inactive airlock of the Yorktown. She found they resembled closely to the sounds her footsteps made in a distant memory.

  He was a distant memory.

  The interior of the ship was adorned with brushed-steel walls and clean black plastic-like trim. The flooring appeared to be a perforated metal grating that muffled the sound as Adrianna stepped upon them.

&
nbsp; Along the walls holographic monitors and control panels sporadically appeared and disappeared on particular sections as various members of the crew scurried about. Each display appeared to be coordinated with systems behind the barriers. As an engineer approached a panel, a small image of the schematics underneath appeared with another image of controls alongside. With a few swipes of his fingers, configurations changed and as soon as the engineer’s eyes left their focus, the images disappeared. Adrianna correctly asserted that those displays were coded to match with signals from each of the personnel’s specific requirements and access. Much of the ship was as such. The volume of technological controls and advancements were astounding.

  There was much activity surrounding her as one could expect for a vessel about to take its maiden voyage and for a moment Adrianna felt intimidated. Trying not to acknowledge it, Adrianna noticed several of the crew pausing to see her as she walked by. Undoubtedly there was considerable news regarding her arrival. She was apparently the final component needed prior to the ship’s launch.

  They passed doors with various codes written upon them. Adrianna presumed that they were critical areas for landing parties: weapons, the medical bay, and the marine crew quarters, all positioned closer to the primary airlock to enable swifter response.

  As they approached the center of the ship, the area opened up to a large control room. In the center was a large holographic image of the solar system. Facing it from one side was a large panel with two elevated chairs, undoubtedly for the commander and the executive officer of the ship. Smaller stations faced the perimeter including weapons, communication, engineering, and others. Navigation was in a smaller console right against the image display. Most ships now had a similar design for the control deck, so Adrianna paid it no more mind than to acknowledge that she had arrived in the right place.

  Walking up from the hologram was a short, stocky, older gentleman. Adrianna immediately identified him as the Admiral from the markings on his shoulder.