Jaunts of the Mantis Read online

  Jaunts of the Mantis

  Jim Henderson

  Copyright 2019 by Jim Henderson. All rights reserved

  In writing this book, I must acknowledge the 40+ years of science fiction books, movies, TV shows, and tabletop, role-playing, and video games that fired my imagination. Thanks to Ben Weilert for introducing me to the challenge that led to me writing this book and for insights as I went through the process. Thanks to all those who encouraged me in this effort and thanks to my beta readers for plowing through and providing feedback. Most especially, thanks to my dear wife Rhonda for reading the book multiple times and for her valuable feedback, encouragement, and patience.

  Tixaya System: … a moderately populated system near the edge of Republic space. The system is formed around a G V Yellow Dwarf star and contains 8 primary planets, 30+ dwarf planets, and a sizable asteroid belt. Total system population is around 3.9 billion, with most of that on the main inhabitable planet, Tixaya 2. There are also substantial populations on the larger of Tixaya 2’s moons, on colonies on Tixaya 3 and the moons of Tixaya 5, and in several stations in the asteroid belt.

  Tixaya 2 is located 0.9 AU from the sun, contains approximately 60% water, and has a diameter of 10,500 km. It houses a major KSF base, a minor naval base, a marine battalion, and the primary office of the regional governor …

  Kremnaya Encyclopedia*

  *All quotes from the Kremnaya Encyclopedia are taken from the 17th virtual edition published in 1211 I.E. by the Kremnaya Encyclopedia Publishing Co., Krax, with permission.

  Kremniy Scout Force (KSF) Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Ximon Sabo was a good-sized, middle-aged man, with thinning black hair. At 1.8 meters and 100 kilos and spending almost half his adult life at low-gravity or zero gravity, he had long fought a valiant struggle against a thickening waistline and KSF fitness rules. Nevertheless, he’d had his uniform ‘let out’ so it fit well to well for the occasion of his retirement. Well-groomed and in the black and gray uniform with the black, high-collared coat and numerous medals, he looked pretty sharp. He stood tall for his retirement ceremony, the recognition, nice words, and toasts by old acquaintances. It had all been very nice.

  However, the event, and especially the preparation, had gotten somewhat tedious. Besides that, he was very anxious to be somewhere else, seeing something else.

  During the retirement ceremony, he had been informed that he had been selected for the Auxiliary Reserve Command (ARC) and awarded the use of a surplus scout ship – the Kremniy Scout Ship Survey Craft (KSS SC)-1550-V.” That “V” made it an old Vanguard class craft. The Vanguard class ships were between 30-40 years old and the last ones had been withdrawn from service a year or two ago. He had hoped for any award but had really wanted a newer Explorer or Voyager class ship. Either would be 8-15 years newer than what he got.

  The KSF has a LOT of ships of various shapes, sizes, and age. However, by far the most common are the various survey craft. The Kremniy Republic never lets the KSF have as many personnel as it needs. Therefore, the KSF always has far more survey requests than it can handle and, more often than not, the limitation is personnel. A survey ship might last 40-60 years, but they only kept most people from 4-20 years. So, a few decades back the KSF had started “deputizing” a portion of its retiring officers, appointing them to the ARC, and awarding them the use of a surplus ship. That “award” came, of course, with strings attached. While in the ARC, the recipient had to maintain the vessel, produce the ship for inspection every 3-5 years, and had to be willing to share “exploration data” from its travels with scout bases and ships. Further, in case of a major war or other emergency, the ship was subject to recall to service, with or without its captain.

  The Kremniy Republic of Worlds (KRW) is a loose republic claiming approximately 250 star systems and a half trillion people. Its area can be described as a flattened sphere or a fat lens shape. Many of its 250 star systems are either thinly populated colonies or are completely unpopulated and undeveloped. Therefore, it has just under 100 member worlds with diverse populations, economies, and governmental systems. The KRW is a constitutional republic run by the Republic Senate, with a prime minister and an upper (Sage Court) and lower house (Congress). The capital is located on Krax, which it was relocated to 20 years ago to be nearer the geographic center of the growing Republic.

  Humans make up the primary inhabitants of the KRW, but there are several intelligent alien species represented within the KRW or its neighbors. These include multiple variations on the general human layout, but with divergent genes, appearances, and optimal light, height, and temperature ranges; Canids - bipedal humanoids descended from canine stock; Cetas – semi-aquatic mammals created in ancient times by enhancing intelligence sea mammals; and others.

  Portions of the KRW are former systems of the Interstellar Empire. When the Empire was rocked by civil war and severe economic and communications disruption, many star systems broke away. The losses in that civil war left the Empire seriously injured and too weak to try to re-assert control of former systems. What’s left of the empire is sometimes referred to as the “Rump Empire” or “Remnants of Empire.”

  The KRW is bordered by remnants of the Empire, multiple small kingdoms and alliances of kingdoms, a variety of independent states, the Federation of Free Worlds, and an area of very sparse star systems known as “the Vast.”

  The Kremniy Scout Force (KSF) is a branch of the KRW military focused on exploration, mapping, and interstellar communications. It has a fleet of several thousand ships, though most are small and lightly armed. In active combat, its forces can act as auxiliaries to Kremniy Naval forces or (less commonly) vice-versa.

  The other big “catch” was that, if you were awarded a ship, your retirement pay was docked as compensation. The amount varied with how new and/or advanced the ship was. So, not everyone chose to enter the “ship lottery.” If you did, you would “bid” on how new a ship you wanted, knowing that if you won, your retirement pay would dwindle. In Ximon’s case, his ship would cost him about 25% of his retirement pay. If he’d gotten one of the newer ships, he might have lost 40-50%.

  Anyway, regardless of its age, he was anxious to see “his ship.” So, he met the robocab he’d ordered and had it run him past the hotel he was staying at. There he changed quickly, hanging up his uniform coat for what he assumed was the last time. Then he caught another car to the KSF auxiliary ship yard, dock 34-B. On the way, he tried to picture what she’d look like.

  When he got to 34-B, the dockmaster checked his ID, said, “Congrats – it’s all yours – it should be keyed for you” and let him in. As he entered, the dockmaster reminded him, “Remember, you have to have her out of her within 30 days.”

  There, sitting in a dusty bay was KSS SC-1550-V – a ship clearly past its prime and in questionable repair. She appeared structurally sound, but he guessed it hadn’t flown in month as least. Her paint was faded, with a remnant of some nose art, and her hull pockmarked. He instantly loved her but was somewhat cautious in his affection – like getting to know a woman who looked good, but you wondered what kind of baggage she had.

  He tapped his tablet to the scan pad by the main ramp and waited. After a few seconds or so, the light turned a faint green and the port opened. He walked every inch of her.

  Though there were several different versions or classes, all survey craft were small, cheap, flexible vessels used for all manner of exploration and scouting missions. Most could jump 9-12 light years through ‘folded space,’ had pretty good acceleration in normal space, could mount a small weapons turret, some defensive weapons, and virtually any reasonable kind of sensor or experiments. The hull was also aerodynamic so it could enter most planetary atmospheres. Their engines were
very robust, and the ships were all equipped with skimming scoops that could suck up gases in the outer atmosphere of most gas giants to use as fuel.

  The Vanguard class was designed under the theory that a slightly larger survey craft would be capable of some missions that previous versions weren’t. Thus, they were approximately 30% larger than most earlier survey craft, displacing just over 130 tons. The concept didn’t prove to be that useful or cost effective in most cases so subsequent classes slimmed back down to an average displacement closer to 100 tons.

  KSS SC-1550-V had one of the more common interior layouts with a 3-seat bridge, 6 cabins, a common shower room, a decent sized galley / common room, and multiple optional sensor ports. She presently had no turret, no defensive weapons, and only had a basic sensor array.

  She was clearly old but seemed in decent shape. The capacitors held a stable charge, the computer was online and responded to voice commands, and the systems only showed a few warnings in a trial pre-flight check. All survey craft had moderately advanced artificial intelligence built in that can handle basic functions, provide a degree of auto-pilot, monitor alarms, do some basic planetary scans and medical diagnostics, etc. It’s a necessity when sometimes a single scout is operating light years from any assistance. Hers seemed pretty good, though somewhat outdated.

  He picked out what he thought would be his room, did various system checks, and started making a list of supplies and fixes she’d need. Then, he took a lot of images, keyed the ship to his comm link, customized a few settings, and headed home to plan next steps.

  As was so often the case with retired scouts, he had the ship, but no real plan. So, he needed to work on that, while getting the ship checked out mechanically. That meant he needed to hire a mechanic, at least to inspect her, and possibly to sign on for a while. Luckily KSF maintained a ready list of recently retired scouts who were willing to entertain work. So, he planned to start contacting some in the morning.

  He slept soundly and contentedly, dreaming of past service and potential space adventures.

  When Ximon awoke, he considered rolling over to sleep a lot more since this was his first day of “freedom” after having been in the KSF for two-and-a-half decades. However, after laying there a few minutes, he decided he was too anxious to get working on his ship to get back to sleep. He pulled up ScoutLink – the KSF’s platform for scouts, and former scouts, to stay in touch. He needed a mechanic and this was his first place to look.

  Ximon spent a while perusing profiles of ex-scout mechanics who said they were available for short-term or long-term work. He focused on people with extensive maintenance experience, including relatively recent experience on Vanguard-class craft. Partway through his searches, he had to expand his definition of “relatively recent.” The last Vanguards had been retired about a year ago and little maintenance had been done on them since then. Eventually he had 10 or 12 reasonable candidates and sent messages to his top 5 candidates. He asked about their Vanguard experience and their immediate availability for work of some duration. Then, on second thought, he sent similar messages to the next 3 or 4. Then, he had to wait.

  He spent some time daydreaming about ship names. Since they had so many, the KSF didn’t name most survey craft other than their designation, such as KSS SC-1550-V. That was their official name in the records. However, most ship captains named their ship something if they were assigned for more than a few months. That nose art remnant probably represented some recent captain’s name for her, but Ximon couldn’t make it out in the images. Since he and the ship were in the ARC, he couldn’t formally change her name in legal records or on its transponder. However, he could call her whatever he wanted and it had to be good.

  Then he studied the images he had taken the day before and started making a list of some supplies he knew he’d need to “take her out.” But he soon decided he needed to go survey the ship more to make a better list. So, he got up, got breakfast, made himself presentable, and headed to the dock.

  Ximon spent several hours surveying the ship, checking supply cabinets, tool racks, etc. In general, the supplies were pretty sad. He’d have a lot to buy, though he could do some of that over time. While looking, he received several short responses to his job messages. A couple weren’t actually available, one was in the hospital, a couple weren’t available for a month or so, etc. However, as the afternoon dragged on, he did get positive messages from two potential candidates. Both had good looking experience, including some relatively recent Vanguard experience, and both were available ASAP.

  He had brief video interviews with both, made sure their experience sounded legit, that they didn’t seem like jerks or slugs, and got their reactions to maintaining a Vanguard. In all, the two seemed pretty comparable. He reviewed their profiles in more detail and reached out to some old friends to see if they knew of either, but both were still pretty even.

  Ultimately, he called Elsbeth Petra on a virtual coin toss. Well, he considered it a coin toss. However, it did cross his mind that, if he ultimately signed her onboard, he’d rather share a ship with a decently attractive 40-ish woman than another guy in his 40s or 50s. He’d been on enough long trips in enclosed spaces to see some guys get REAL CASUAL and he had no desire to see guys walking around in their underwear. He was also a practical guy and he knew that many men (himself sometimes included) could be pigs and that was less likely with a woman.

  “Elsbeth, this is Ximon Sabo, would you be able to do a thorough inspection on that Vanguard in the next few days?”

  This had been notionally discussed in the interview so she was quick to reply, “Should be able to, but it depends on what you mean by thorough, on whether I can bring in a few other guys, and on the pay. If you pay me enough to bring in a couple guys, we can do a pretty good inspection in about 2 days. That’s nowhere near as comprehensive as a depot inspection, but it’ll tell you what you need to know. I can go deeper if you want, but it’ll take more time, manpower, and money.”

  He replied, “Sounds fair. Could we meet and set things up tomorrow?”

  “Sure, I can come by mid-day and exchange documents. I’ll start lining up a couple guys assuming that all works. Let’s see – it’s Tuesday, so I’ll try to have them ready to start Thursday.”

  That sounded good to him. “Ok, let’s plan to meet around 1200 tomorrow at the ship, dock 34-B.”

  “Wouldn’t make sense to meet anywhere else. I’ll be there and I’ll want to poke around a bit.”

  Ximon, “Roger. I’ll have the docs ready. See you then.”

  She arrived just before 1200 the next day. He greeted her and led her up the ramp to the small galley where he had a few images and a few beers and sodas ready. He noted that, though she was 40+ and certainly over KSF weight standards, Elsbeth was, indeed, moderately attractive, curvy with long sandy blond hair. That never hurts, especially when you might be flying with someone for weeks or months. Her record showed she was in the KSF about 20 years and had served on a variety of ships and spent some time on stations.

  Ximon showed her a few images of the ship, explained what he wanted in the inspection, and proposed an amount.

  She seemed unphased but said, “I’d like to walk around a bit. Give me 20 minutes.” Then she grabbed a beer and her tablet and started walking.

  After about 30 minutes, they met back. She had taken some images of her own and some notes.

  She led in, “She’s not going to win any races or beauty contests, but at a glance she seems like a decent ship. However, you’ve got no supplies or tools to speak of. It’s worse than many of these ARC babies. I’ll need 800 cr more than you proposed to buy or rent a few things. If that’s acceptable, I can start tomorrow around 9. I’ll have one guy then and another coming a little later.”

  Republic Money and Measurement:

  Money: … within the Republic the primary unit of currency is the credit. This is typically abbreviated as cr and is typically shown after the number. Larger amounts are typically s
hown as thousands of credits (Kcr), millions of credits (Mcr), or even billions of credits (Bcr).

  Measurement: The Republic uses the standard measurement system inherited from the Interstellar Empire. This system is based on an archaic measurement system known as the metric system that supposedly flourished on a semi-mythological “origin world.”

  Time: Similarly, the Republic measures time using an anciently derived system featuring seconds, hours, days, months, and years of a standard length. No one is quite sure why the lengths are what they are …

  He could see how his savings could vanish fast if he wasn’t careful, but he said, “OK. Give me just a minute to make the mods and I’ll send you the docs for certification.”

  They shook on that and it was a deal.

  Elsbeth arrived with a young technician named Jake and a cart full of supplies and toolboxes just before 0900 the next day and got right to work. Ximon tried to stay out of their way but couldn’t help but peak occasionally and had to act as another set of hands on a few things until another technician, Ivan, arrived that afternoon. As far as he could see, they seemed to be very thorough and pretty efficient. One guy was an older retired scout, the other a young technician with diverse experience, but no scout time. At one point, he even took off to go get some items to stock his room and the galley. With Elsbeth’s team working, he should have thought of the galley earlier, so he made sure they had plenty of snacks and drink additives.

  The next morning Elsbeth and team arrived around the same time and got to work. By mid-morning, she told Ximon that she’d be done by around 1800 that night and she’d present her report to him the next morning. She was good to her word and a little later she told him they’d be packing up shortly and she’d like to present her findings around 1030 tomorrow. The technicians wouldn’t be back, so he thanked them profusely when they left and kept their contact info.