“I’m sorry, Ensign. But it seems there’s been a slight change in your orders,” the officer reported.
“Sir?” Although this kind of thing was not uncommon, it still caught Nathan by surprise.
“You’re still scheduled for departure, but not to the Reliant.” The officer looked up at Nathan, smiling. “You’ve been reassigned to the Aurora.”
“The Aurora? But I thought she wasn’t even in service yet.”
“They bumped up her trials. She’ll be underway within a week or two. That’s probably why you got reassigned. She needs crew and the next class won’t graduate for six months.”
Nathan wasn’t sure what to think. He had been studying the specifications on the Reliant for weeks. He had even spent extra time in the simulator familiarizing himself with her flight characteristics. He didn’t know anything about the Aurora, as most of her specs were still classified.
The duty officer noticed Nathan’s dismay, and tried to help. “Hell, you should be happy. The Reliant’s a slow old girl. She can barely make half light. I hear the Aurora’s FTL’s will get her up to ten times light. You’re going to be traveling faster and farther than anyone has in nearly a millennium!”
“Yes sir,” Nathan responded, bewildered by the thought. He had wanted to get away from Earth, and this would surely do it.
The Orbital Assembly Platform was the largest structure to be constructed in space since the recovery began. Positioned in high orbit, the platform was capable of building or repairing two ships simultaneously. Nathan remembered that the facility had been constructed more than a decade earlier, just after the Earth had learned of the Jung Dynasty’s take-over of the core systems. Since then the platform had produced six ‘Defender’ class warships, starting with the Reliant.
Those ships had since seen a few upgrades, including improved sub-light propulsion systems as well as more powerful rail guns. Many had wanted to fit them with the new faster-than-light propulsion systems that had been constructed using designs found in the Data Ark. But giving the heavy warships FTL capability was a hotly contested issue on Earth these days.
The compromise had been the construction of two new ships, the Celestia and the Aurora. Both were in the final stages of construction, and were due to begin their shakedown cruises within a few months. These new ‘Explorer’ class ships, while still well armed, were designed to serve as ships of exploration and diplomacy, as well as providing defensive support if needed. It was believed that this new class of ship would appear less threatening than the older Defender class ships. Hence the United Earth government felt more comfortable giving them the ability to travel at superluminal speeds.
It had taken several hours for the passenger shuttle to climb up to the platform’s orbit. For Nathan, it had been a difficult, and uncomfortable journey. Besides being slow, these older shuttles were cramped, poorly lit, and poorly ventilated. And the ensign next to him still smelled much like the spirits he had consumed during the previous night’s Founders Day celebration. The only way Nathan had to pass the time was to stare out the view port at the Earth below. And to make matters worse, the shuttles were not equipped with artificial gravity plating, since they spent no more than a few hours at a time in weightlessness. Despite numerous zero-gravity training exercises, Nathan had never quite gotten used to the sensation of floating, and neither had his stomach. Luckily, he had managed to make it through the flight without having to use his emesis bag. And he was quite relieved when the shuttle touched down on the flight deck and rolled into the hangar bay, the familiar sensation of gravity sweeping over him.
As Nathan entered the boarding area, he could see his new home, the Aurora. She was smaller than the Defender class ships, by as much as a third. He could only see the upper half of her from this deck, but he could already see that she was far more sleek in her design. Nathan found himself drawn to her, moving away from the boarding line to stand closer to the large view ports where he could gaze upon her more closely.
She had a long snub bow that spread out in a gentle curve on its way aft. Around her middle, her lines tapered inward briefly, before flaring back out to make room for her over-sized main propulsion section. Nathan could not help but notice that her disproportionate drive section looked like it had been stolen from a larger vessel and slapped onto her stern.
Starting at her bow, the topside of her hull rose at a gentle slope, angling upward on its way aft, and up from her sides towards her centerline, until she abruptly became flat on top. It was like a gentle hill with a flattened summit. And on the aft side of this hill was a sharp drop, into which the opening to the flight deck was situated.
“Reporting for duty?”
“Huh?” Nathan turned around and saw that everyone else had already boarded and he was left standing alone.
“Are you reporting for duty, Ensign?” the officer at the boarding desk repeated.
“Oh, yes sir. Ensign Scott, Nathan R.” He saluted smartly.
“Ah, yes. A member of our freshly appropriated crew.” The officer checked his display before continuing. “Very well, Ensign Scott. Your quarters are on C deck, cabin one fourteen. I suggest you stow your duffel and report to the quartermaster on E deck to pick up your duty gear. There’s an orientation meeting in the main briefing room on B deck at fifteen hundred. If you hurry, you should have time to grab some chow before then.”
“Yes, sir.” Nathan instinctively went to salute again, but the officer held out his hand instead.
“Welcome to the crew, Ensign.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Nathan picked up his bag and headed through the large open hatchway onto the boarding ramp. The ramp was enclosed in a tube that extended from the platform out to the Aurora’s main boarding hatch. The upper half of the tube was clear, giving Nathan an unobstructed view of the ship outside as he approached.
Like most ships in the Fleet, the Aurora’s undersides were dark-gray and her uppers off-white. As he walked through the dimly lit tube, Nathan could see dozens of workers floating about outside in the vacuum of space. Clad in bright-red spacesuits, they went about performing various assembly tasks on the exterior of the ship. In addition to the workers, there were several work pods, each looking like large coffins with windows and arms. Attached to the ends of long, spindly, articulated arms, they moved pieces about the ship to be fitted into place by the floating red workers.
As he neared the end of the boarding tube, he could see the hull of the ship around her boarding hatch. To the left of the hatch was the ships name and registry number, ‘UES AURORA, CV-01.’ Nathan paused, staring at the name, feeling the need to appreciate the moment.
“Touch her,” someone said from inside the ship.
“Excuse me?” Nathan looked through the hatchway and saw a stern looking master chief, watching him from just inside. He was dressed in combat fatigues, with Special Operations patches on his shoulders and a gun belt around his waist.
“Touch the outside of the ship, before you set foot on her,” the master chief explained. “It helps remind you what she is, makes her real.”
Nathan looked at the master chief like he was crazy. “Are you kidding me?”
“Hell, no! Every soul serving on this ship has to touch her outsides. It’s bad luck if you don’t.” The chief paused, waiting for Nathan to follow his advice. “Go on!” he said abruptly, startling Nathan, “She ain’t gonna bite ya!”
Nathan reluctantly touched the hull of the ship just below her name. He didn’t actually believe the master chief, but figured it couldn’t hurt to play along. The hull was smooth and cold to his touch, its finish perfect and untarnished. And surprisingly to Nathan, it did seem more real after touching her, like she was alive.