CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle Two: A Captain's Journey

92 ∞ Illegal Request

Shortlisted – Week 169

Suppressed excitement filled the air of the military shuttle. The Seven were on their way to the space station, wearing their full dress uniforms. From there, after a layover, they would all take an LS shuttle to their respective Living Ship docked at the LS station.

Gareth glanced around at the other Seven. Uncomfortable with the others, he'd never really built relationships with any of them, not just because the project team encouraged them not to. He could see their assessment of him in their eyes.

He was the one who'd been chosen by his ship, the one who'd used the Hierarchy bond to steal a Living Ship, the one who became Captain just to benefit his wife.

The first to take and survive the Emergency Navigation System installation, the daredevil show-off who volunteered for the riskier ENS, the widower who sought glory while his wife died in bed.

Rumors were hard to contain, and good captains always listened to the rumors, trying to find the nugget of truth within. Gareth saw the calculating thoughts behind their eyes when he talked to them. Harlin's captain, Lanesh, had set Gareth on edge every time they met. He could tell right away that Lanesh was an authoritarian, a by-the-book, black-or-white kind of person.

But Gareth was the first of the Seven—for whatever reason—and the other six Captains gave him the respect due, even if it was at a distance. Thankfully, that meant Gareth had his entire row of seats to himself. It was odd, but he found himself noticing Harlin's absence.

Gareth glanced at the computer in his lap, but he just couldn't focus on the personnel files for the civilian crew anymore, or the ship floor plans. He looked out the viewport again and saw the space station swing into view as if arcing over them. Its circular shape, comprised of multiple rings, often reminded him of a bullseye. The shuttle was on approach and getting into position.

The excitement in the air climbed a notch when the LS station with its seven silver-gray ships came into view. Gareth imagined the crews in the other compartment all crowding around the portholes for a glimpse.

The attitude engines fired, and the shuttle started its tight orbit around the station. Gareth stowed his device as the gravity built up from the centrifugal force to one G. The thrum of the attitude engines was constant as the shuttle matched the spin of the station. Outside the viewport, the Universe of stars spun around them. For a brief second, the LS station would flash by. He only had to wait a few minutes before he heard the magnetic cables clamp onto the outer hull above his head.

For the other Captains and their crews, there would be a week of settling into their new homes. But since Gareth had completed the ENS installation so early, Mayfine had handpicked the crew so they could begin training immediately. The training for Gareth and his crew had been more extensive and longer, which reduced their ship orientation time. The LS Canaisis would be the first to launch and break orbit, and the first to return if things went to plan. The other ships were going further out to other star clusters.

The LS Isra, traveler of the night, was Harlin's ship, and would be heading to Trappist-1. An ultra-cool red dwarf in the Aquarius constellation, it held great potential with seven planets. Four of them were in the Goldilocks zone, but would most likely be tidally locked due to their close orbit to their sun. The red dwarf star was 7.6 billion years old, older than Sol, so there had been plenty of time for life to develop. With one side always facing the red dwarf, any life there would be interesting. While it was 40.7 light-years away, there was a slim chance that the LS Canaisis and the LS Isra would meet again, some forty Earth-years from now. When they returned to Earth.

The airlock doors slid into view as the shuttle was pulled into the space station, and Gareth cleared his head of daydreams.

Debarking into the station proper, the Seven were guided down a doorless corridor by an aide. Up ahead, a passageway led to the left, at the end of which the Aide opened a door. Gareth let the others lead the way when applause broke out. He looked past the four dress uniforms ahead of him and saw a glass-sided footbridge leading across the station's concourse.