LIGHTNOVELONLINE 44. Return of the Squirrel
Me and my girlfriend were waiting at the docking gantry when the Ratatosk returned. I’d been on the station for a week and a half and had enjoyed every minute of it, but a part of me was ready to get back to work. After having worked nearly every day for the last decade of my life, I was entirely unused to having significant time off and while my month at Celeste and week of relaxation on Illume with Echo, I was getting restless.
Through the windows of the docking area, I was able to see the gigantic ship drifting closer to the dock. After taking some time during the last week to look over the specs for the ship I might soon be serving on, I was even more impressed by it than I was the first time I’d seen it docked at D’reth station. Ratatosk was truly a heavy freighter by all accounts, officially one hundred ninety-eight meters in length and forty-one meters at the beam with the overall height being similar at thirty-nine meters. Though superheavy freighters did get even bigger, for a chartered cargo vessel, Ratatosk was about as big as they came.
Beyond size, the ship was also equipped with some rather high-end components. The sensor suite, externally represented by the mass of antennas and dishes mostly concentrated on the bow-end, was not quite military grade but had better range and fidelity than most other ships I’d laid hands on over my years.
Ratatosk was propelled by a quartet of Galadyne-built impulse engines that could push the large vessel to a considerable fraction of c for sub-light travel. The four thrust-vectoring nozzles jutted out from the corners of the aft end like landing gear on an old earth rocket but the glowing nacelles suspended between each vertical pair ruined that comparison rather quickly. Along both sides, massive cargo doors could open to give access to the two internal bays that could each hold nearly twenty thousand tons of material. It made for a blocky and brutalistic looking ship, but none could doubt its capability.
With the quiet grace of a leviathan coming to rest, I watched as the docking ring of the ship lined up with the gantry. A hiss of atmosphere rushed through the airlock as the giant ship latched securely to a station that would have made Jules Verne blush could he see it.
According to the messages Echo had been receiving from her father, after making the trip all the way out to the mining station in the Fringe, part of their payment had been a load of raw ore. Captain Erickson had taken that ore to another station much closer to sell before finally making the gate jump back to Centaurus. The Ratatosk was only now getting back to its home port after a month-long deployment.
When the inner door of the airlock opened several minutes later, junior crew were the first to come out, no doubt eager to spend their latest paycheck. After the initial rush, Echo tapped at a comm panel by the door.
“Callisto Erickson and guest, requesting permission to board.”
Within moments, her father’s voice came back. “Permission granted, Miss Erickson. Welcome aboard.” Then, with a slightly more humored tone, he continued. “Although I hardly find it necessary to ask since you are a senior officer.”
Echo giggled and cut the line. “Come on Addy, let’s go say hi to Mum and Dad. They are probably in Dad’s office.”
I nodded and followed after the girl. All the way, I kept my head on a swivel. I’d really not gotten any sort of chance to look around the company ship, despite having been aboard a few times before. The first time I’d only been in the cargo bay to pick up the woman who was now my girlfriend and was entirely unable to see anything beyond. My second visit had been when the power was out and the emergency lighting didn’t really give much opportunity to see the ship, nor did the crewmate I’d followed to the galley during my third visit. This time as we walked the corridors, I was able to look around some. Echo seemed to notice my curiosity and was more than willing to keep slow so that I could. It was no grand tour, but I was able to lay eyes on a lot more than I had previously.
The Ratatosk was set up similarly to many cargo ships I’d seen over the years. Nearly the entirety of the amidship section was taken up by the cargo holds which were virtually identical to any other. The dorsal spine of the ship held the primary corridor for the ship that linked the forward and aft sections. I’d seen before that the engineering bay was in the aft of the ship and from what I was seeing now, I could tell that much of the crew quarters and recreational space was near the bow end.
While walking the ‘Spinehall’ as Echo called it, we passed by the lift that led to the bridge and then came up to the door of what I was able to remember being the captain’s office. Both of the parents were, as predicted, inside the comfortable office when we walked in.
Mikaela stood up to hug Echo while the captain hurriedly finished with whatever task he had been working on.
“Hey Momma! Welcome home!”
“Glad to be home, Callisto. That was a long run.” Mikaela looked tired. More than a month away from their home station, Echo’s other two parents and the crew deserved the rest. The woman broke away from the hug and looked to me. “Miss Matson, glad to see you up and about again. You look lovely.”
My cheeks colored slightly. “Thank you. I couldn’t be happier with the results. I wish the events leading up to all of that had been different, but I can’t argue with the results. Losing the Oxide still hurts, but justice is being served.”
“Rachel wasn’t kidding, was she?” interjected Marcus. “If not for you walking in with my daughter, I don’t know that I would have recognized you. You certainly look happier.”
“Well,” I admitted. “I’ve had some help with that.” My hand found my girlfriend’s and squeezed it lightly.
The captain smirked ruefully. “So I hear. Just remember, you hurt her and I hurt you, employee or not. I hope I make myself clear?”
Echo groaned at her father. “Dad, be nice. Adresta isn’t going to hurt me. I don’t think she has it in her.”
“Thanks for the confidence, Echo,” I told her. “Anyways, welcome back. I hope the trip wasn’t too bad? I’ve not been out to the Fringe except for one time on the Forge. Rough area as I recall.”
Marcus nodded. “Corps have a lot of influence out there. The independent systems can be decent, but not many have proper governments. We avoided the worst of it though. The folks at the mining station were just happy to get their supplies.”
His wife wasn’t silent on the matter either. “Can’t say I’m a fan of going out there. I’ve never particularly enjoyed having to carry iron when I walk off the ship. The crew don’t like being holed up on the ship though and it's good for morale to permit some shore leave on these longer runs.”
The laws within the Terran Union were somewhat strict regarding armed citizens. Sidearms were permitted generally when you weren’t in a major settlement but anything bigger was pretty heavily regulated and it wasn’t easy to get the permits necessary to own one. Merchant ships were often equipped with light armament to ward off piracy, but again, anything heavier was essentially outlawed. Those laws didn’t much matter past the borders though.
“I’m just glad you are all safe,” Echo responded.
Marcus nodded and swiped a few more times at his computer. “That we are. Alright, I’m finished with paperwork. Ready to go, Malaika?”
I didn’t recognize the word, but Marcus’s tone seemed to indicate a term of endearment to his partner. Said partner looked pleased with it though and smiled.
“Yes, I believe so. Why don’t we go home and see our third? I’m sure she will be just as glad to have us back.”
Rachel was indeed happy to see her partners again when we got back to the Erickson suites. She’d not been at the airlock like us, but she had been preparing dinner for the lot of us and didn’t want to leave the stove unattended.
The food, a batch of fresh samosas along with grilled meat and rice, was incredible. Rachel was obviously a talented cook which was a rare talent for many people not in the food business. The conversation was good too, with everyone catching up with eachother. Marcus and Mikaela were very interested in how Echo and I had finally gotten together and Echo was asking lots of questions about some of the places they saw in the Fringe. Once the meal was done, Rachel served some wine and a bit of dessert in the form of a kind of powdered pastry that was deliciously sweet with a hint of coconut.
Marcus, after brushing away some crumbs from his dessert, looked over at me. “So Adresta, are you about ready to get back in a cockpit?”
I nodded enthusiastically. “Absolutely! I love the time off, but I’m very ready to get back to work. What sort of flying do you have in mind? I’ve mostly dealt with cargo handlers but I’m able to fly just about anything you want.”
“Excellent,” he commented. “I’ll ease you into it at first, but I figure you can cut your new teeth on a yard tug until we head out again here in a couple weeks. I’ve got another run lined up, this one to the Luyten system, and I want you with us. It will be a good opportunity to see how well you operate on a haul. A simple job, but one that’s going to be hauling some major equipment. The handler we have on the Ratatosk is capable, but it’s going to take more than one to maneuver this thing into place.”
My eyebrows lowered with some concern. “What is it you are hauling?”
“A new reactor for the slipspace gate in the system. We will be jumping to a neighboring system and then cruising the last couple lightyears at warp. Should only be a week trip.”
Gate reactors were huge pieces of machinery. Having multiple tugs handling one was nearly a necessity. I hummed in appreciation. “Got it. Well, I think you’ll find me an eager and willing worker. I assume you have a spare tug available?”
He nodded. “Yes. I’ll be borrowing two from our yard operations here. I’d very much prefer for the recipients to offload that kind of valuable cargo, but the gate complex there doesn’t have their own service craft that are able to handle the load. The job demands a lot of skill from the pilots, so I figure you are a good fit.”
A smile graced my face. I was rightfully proud of my hard-won skills in the pilot seat and it felt good to have them acknowledged like that. “I’ll do my best, sir.”
“That’s all I could ask, Adresta. I’m just glad we’ll have you on the gate expansion project. Not many tug pilots have the interstellar starship experience you do; and even if they do, they are only pilots. You bring engineering experience as well and having extra skilled hands around a ship is always good.”
I took a deep breath. “I won’t lie, I am not exactly thrilled to be subbing in engineering, but if that’s what you need, I’ll do it. I can understand you needing me to have a secondary role on a long range ship. I won’t be flying all the time, after all.”
Though I referred to him as Captain, Marcus Erickson was still the owner of a serious company outside of his one ship. He needed to keep expenses and personnel low when possible. It didn’t make any sense to keep someone on a ship that only worked ten percent of the time.
He seemed pleased by my answer. “You are exactly right. I’m glad you understand. I doubt the captain of that ship will be pushing you too hard though, so don’t worry about it too much.”
Echo grinned. “I don’t know about that, Dad. I’m sure I can keep Addy busy somehow.”
We all laughed. It was a good night.