Three
The Sonntag Nebula, 2257 C.E.
“This has a familiar ring to it, but still – they’re heading for New Albion,” The Exec said.
Indira Krishnavarna had taken over the Scanning panel to track the cloaked Grugell ship. Nobody objected; the entire company of the Shade Tree was well aware of the Exec’s expertise with the scanning systems, and tracking a cloaked Grugell ship in subspace was a tricky business. She had been at the panel at the very beginning of the Grugell War when they had tracked a Grugell task group on their way to invest New Albion with an occupation force.
“New Albion?” Jean frowned. “That’s disconcerting. They’re still rebuilding from the war there, most of Glengarry is still in ruins from the Grugell occupation. Hell, it will be a century before the radiation in the Crow Ridge Mountains dies down enough for settlers to move back up there again.”
“And the locals won’t react at all well to the idea of any Grugell within a parsec of their system. The occupation troops did nuke about five-sixths of their population.”
“Hate runs deep after a time like that,” Jean agreed with her Exec. “And New Albion has some pretty decent orbital defenses, too, because of the war; I shouldn’t doubt that their defense satellites might pick up a Grugell ship even through cloak.”
She thought hard for a moment. “Should we follow and confront, or just send a message ahead to let New Albion know they’re coming?”
“Diplomatic incident either way,” Hector Gomp said. Jean looked over at him; he was smarter than his rough-hewn appearance let on, and his thoughts on military and political issues carried some weight with the privateer captain. “But then, if we catch them, why, we’re just private citizens in a private ship – just concerned citizens showing our displeasure over an illegal intrusion into Confederate space. Now if the New Albionese fire on a Grugell ship, well, that’s an action by the government of a Confederate world. The Grugell are still just as wrong, but it gives the Emperor and the Grugell Ambassador on Tarbos a little more reason to squawk. Not much, but a little.”
Jean thought hard for a moment, weighing the risks.
“Always the chance to stop and board them, Cap’n,” Gomp added, an avaricious grin on his red-stubbled face. “If it’s a new ship, we may even come away with something the Navy might pay for.”
“All right. Indira, get course and speed, send to Helm as soon as you can. Helm, give us an overtake course. Let’s go get them.” She walked back to her Bridge chair, and as she sat down, another thought occurred to her. “Oh, and Weapons – let’s run diagnostics on all our shield generators, missiles and pee-beam emitters. Just in case.”
***
Earth, 2248 C.E.
Five crewmembers hired, and Jean Barrett still found herself alone on the ship’s Bridge. She was anxious to leave port, to put to space, but she still lacked enough crew to leave the pier.
She was, in fact, alone on her Bridge, when the yellow light on the Signals panel indicated an incoming message.
Jean walked over to the Signals panel and pressed a contact to receive the incoming call, a local real-time from Earth below.
“Shade Tree,” she announced. “Who’s this?”
“Indira Krishnavarna, calling from New Delhi,” answered a cool, elegant voice with only a faint accent. “I hear you’re hiring a crew.”
“That could well be,” Barrett answered. “What do you do?”
“I am – was – a doctoral candidate in advanced physics at Cal Tech, until last month. I was working on development of new scanner filters and protocols. You will need scanner crew. I’m the best you’ll find.”
“Strikes me that you’d do a lot better working with Intertek, or one of the shipbuilding consortiums here on Earth, or on Tarbos or Halifax. Why would you want to sign on with a private ship?” The girl sounded overqualified to be a scanning tech on a privateer – Jean doubted she would stick around for long.
“You’re going out there,” the cool voice answered. “I want to go out there.”
“Navy doesn’t appeal to you?”
“If they did, would I be calling you?”
Barrett thought about that for a moment.
“I’ve already sent my CV to the contact you craigslisted,” the cool voice added.
“Shall I ask why you left Cal Tech?”
A short pause. “You might, but the answer will take some time. Fact is, I was asked to leave. That changes my claim not in the slightest, Captain; you need a scanner crew. I’m the best.”
“Very well, we’re docked at the International Station. Be at Pier Fourteen, Level E, zero-nine on Friday,” Barrett said at last. “Let’s see what you’ve got.” Overqualified or not, she sounded determined.
The girl showed up that Friday at zero-eight-fifty-eight, by the ship’s clock. Captain Barrett met her at the docking port.
“Indira Krishnavarna,” the girl introduced herself after asking and receiving permission to come aboard. Jean was surprised at her youth; she was no more than twenty-five. She was tall, a good ten centimeters taller than Jean herself. Olive-skinned, raven-haired, Indira was a true daughter of the Subcontinent, as Indian as Jean was Irish.
“You’ve looked at my CV, then,” she said.
“I have. Follow me,” Jean ordered, and led the girl to the Bridge.
“There’s the primary Scanning station,” she said on their arrival. “Have a seat. Show me what you can do.”
Indira sat down. She looked the panel over. “Good stuff, this,” she said. “Intertek 6500G primary panel, polyphasic signal boost, broadband reception, laser-comb primary filters, wave-trap analyzers. Forty-eight gig receivers, four forward, two aft, visual receptors at primary points. Will you be carrying any proxies?”
Jean laughed. “I wish I could afford some proxies. Maybe later. No, for now we’re stuck just with the scanners on the ship itself.”
“Very well.” Krishnavarna looked at the primary screens and watched the scrolling diagnostics for a moment. “You’ve got some custom programming in the decrypts – did the manufacturer tell you they’d help track subspace transits?”
“Hinted they might,” Jean agreed.
“Maybe,” Indira said, tapping more contacts. “With a little reprogramming. This is reasonably clever, but a bit simplistic.” Her fingers flew across the board. “That might work better. Let’s see…” She bent over the panel.
“Well?” Jean asked.
“Five ships left orbit in the last forty-eight hours. One Mk IV Gellar drive, two Mk III’s, a II and an old I with a bad number four drive ring. Destinations look like three for Tarbos, that’s the Mk I, the II and the IV, one of the III’s is heading to Forest, the other to Corinthia.”
“Is that all?”
Indira swung away from the panel and looked up at the Captain. “No. You’ve got a loose anti-matter injector on the number two converter ring, and there’s a funny little man up in the view port on Level F who is using binoculars to look into the port across the corridor from what I presume is your stateroom.”
Jean laughed. “So, why do you want to ship out with a privateer, anyway? Sacked from Cal Tech or not, your CV is bloody marvelous. You’d have no problem getting on board with OWME or one of the big passenger lines. Pay would be better, and the chance of getting shot at would be a lot less.”
Krishnavarna waved a hand at the Scanning panel. “What I just did there, changing some of the filter protocols? Strictly off-limits on any of the big corporate ships, or in the Navy for that matter. Those people have no imagination. I would much prefer, Captain Barrett, to be on a small ship, where I can run this panel my own way, and where I’m judged by the results of my work – not by how closely I follow the written procedure.” She leaned forward, a humorous twinkle in her dark eyes. “Isn’t that why you are the master of your own ship, Captain, rather than working for one of the corporates?”
“Indira,” Jean said, “You’ve got yourself a job.”
***
To see more of Animal’s writing, visit his page at Crimson Dragon Publishing or Amazon.
Links, in case you need them:
Thanks for the story. I always enjoy these.
I have been enjoying the split time line.
Has it been established what color the pee-beams are?
Depends on how much water in in the system.
I guess it depends on the particles making up the beams. I was thinking of a Mountain Dew colored beam weapon. Extreme P Beam
Nice.
I have to say I’m really enjoying the fiction. Mo, UCS, and Animal make quite the trio.
Hear, hear!
[Bangs mug on table!]
I am so sorry
Brilliant.
That is ridiculously funny. “…broke dancing…” “breaking dance’
I was trying to eat a ham sandwich which I now have to wipe off of my screen.
I never have watched the ….thing….with that woman. The short clips were so cringy I cant bring myself to. Given the rest of the olympic shenanigans I am surprised they did not give her a gold for that.
Ozzy Man is a sarcasm machine.
But he seemed genuinely embarrassed.
Who wouldn’t be? Hell, I am embarrassed.
Fine tuning
The layoffs, including roughly 600 jobs at GM’s tech campus near Detroit, come less than six months after leadership changes overseeing the operations, including former Apple executive Mike Abbott leaving the automaker after less than a year in March due to health reasons.
“As we build GM’s future, we must simplify for speed and excellence, make bold choices, and prioritize the investments that will have the greatest impact,” a GM spokesman said in an emailed statement. “As a result, we’re reducing certain teams within the Software and Services organization. We are grateful to those who helped establish a strong foundation that positions GM to lead moving forward.”
——-
The cuts come as automakers attempt to reduce costs and, in many instances, employee headcount amid fears of an industry downturn — and as they’re spending billions of dollars on emerging markets such as all-electric vehicles and so-called software-defined vehicles.
Dead ends and blind alleys are not “sustainable”.
software-defined vehicles
They can fuck right off.
I Googled the term.
https://www.ibm.com/blog/the-software-defined-vehicle-the-architecture-behind-the-next-evolution-of-the-automotive-industry/
Eek. No.
More and more consumers now expect their vehicles to offer an experience no different from that offered by other smart devices.
Most people are stupid.
now expect their vehicles to offer an experience no different from that offered by other smart devices
The same way East Germans expected a knock on their door from the Stasi.
The economy is so great 600 people could afford to take a sabbatical! /The left, probably
Remember when Obama was President and the unemployment rate went up and there were stories about how great it was to have more free time?
Funemployment
Good. It was a guy from Apple, trying to out-think Apple and Google on their simple, easy to use car interface. Just Hell no. Fire them all, bring back Car Play and Android Auto for navigation and some music options and back away from the “software in everything” B.S.
Software, specifically monetizing it, has been a major focus for automakers, including GM, as it eyes recurring revenue opportunities such as subscriptions to boost profits.
The software and services division covers a wide variety of areas for the automaker, including infotainment, its OnStar brand, and emerging areas such as subscriptions and other vehicle features and development.
Complexity for its own sake is a big selling point.
Cars become loss-leaders where the money is made on the upkeep.
“I’m sorry, sir, but by taking your vehicle to a third-party maintenence facility, you have violated the terms of your End User license Agreement on this vehicle and we are now going to repossess it.”
I won’t subscribe for anything automotive related*.
No in car wifi, no paid apps, no Sirius/XM radio. Nope, nope, nope.
These car manufacturers can fuck off.
*I did, briefly, do a sub for in car wifi for my A3, which was before I relented and got a smart phone. And the sub was like $10 a month.
I pay for SXM. But that’s it.
“We’re pleased to offer you speedometer, odometer, gas gauge, and maintenance warning lights via subscription for your convenience.”
Y’all need to think bigger. Ultimately the subscription is for the software that makes the car functional, not add ons.
We’ll call it “leasing”!
Y’all need to think bigger.
I know exactly where this is going. The OEM gets to extort money from the owner, and the government gets to control where, when, and how the vehicle is used.
I get reimbursed for my SXM in the plane… I argued for years that I can’t use it in both my car and plane, I would get a 50% discount.. but had to renegotiate every 3-6 months.
Once I had native Carplay I dropped the car. I’m trying to get bluetooth audio in the plane, but I’m having a problem with the USB power thingy..
“Here is a car that costs one year’s salary and has to be replaced every 4 years. You have no control of the vehicle…it is self driving and every function is controlled by software that you must pay a monthly subscription fee for. What’s that? You say no? You will buy an older car that you will own outright and have complete control over? Not to worry friend, our lobbyists are working on fixing that problem right now. ” – Fascist Motors Inc.
I need to buy another old car and add it to the fleet.
Still driving my “05 Saab.
When it dies, I will be looking for something similar.
“We’re sorry. You are out of monthly carbon credits to start vehicle. Please enter a credit code or wait until Sept 1 to enable.”
I have a piece of shi… I mean a fine older automobile I’d love to sell you Kinnath.
as it eyes recurring revenue opportunities such as subscriptions to boost profits
Somewhat related, we went out to dinner with a few other families over the weekend and split into adult and kid tables. There were electronic tablets on the tables to pay the check with. The kids found some games on the tablets and played checkers with each other. Basically an electronic version of Cracker Barrel’s triangle.
We get the checks and each had a “table entertainment fee” included. I’m sure Chili’s marketing dept thought handing kids tablets to rack up hidden charges was a genius move to boost revenue, but I wasn’t amused. We had the charges removed and won’t be back.
Yeah, this was exactly why I decided to never, ever again go into a Chili’s.
Made them take it off the bill, which they did, but seriously, how terrible do you have to be at customer relations to do something this stupid?
I had a subscription to “premium connectivity” when I had a 1 hour commute (each way) to the nuclear test site, but for my short drives now, not really worth it.
“Software, specifically monetizing it”
Fuck them. I’m not subscribing to my damn car. If I want to lease a car, I’ll lease a car.
Toyota has a couple of subscription services on my Highlander. The only one I signed up for is the push button emergency response service because we use it for long road trips. But that’s an add-on and not part of the functionality of the car.
On X, Jack Posobiec is undercover in Chicago interviewing protesters. He’s just wearing a face scarf and sunglasses. Guy’s got a bit more balls than I do.
I wouldn’t go near Chicago at times when it wasn’t flooded with violent imports.
This is why you don’t have X followers.
😉
Keep them coming Animal. I will be buying your books.
Curious, are the Barrett’s Privateers stories collected in print? Or is Animal writing these just for for us unworthy slobs?
I believe he is providing us with some sneak peaks. His other book series are in the link at the bottom of the story.
Given the VP’s statements, can Trump work in that he is the undefeated candidate? The problem is you can’t criticize them on the definition of undefeated and take advantage of it at the same time.. perhaps other people can do it..