Far Horizon (Juggernaut #4)

Sixteen

The Brunel swung into view as the crew transport turned in from its parallel course to make its final approach to the shuttle bay.

It was Malachi's first time seeing a warship up close and in profile. It looked odd compared to the civilian and utilitarian craft he had worked on in the past. It looked like an extruded octagon which had been pinched at both ends. The stern of the ship housed the four main engines in a square formation. The prow was tipped with scanners and pylons and blinking red lights, and Malachi could see the long barrel of one of the main guns bulging almost the full length of the dark grey ship. Any other weapons the frigate contained were concealed and decommissioned. The Brunel was not an active warship.

There were no windows and no sign of a bridge, although he had expected that. Internal bridges were common design features. It meant the most vital part of the ship, her crew, would be most protected.

The longer a ship was intended to be out of port, and the greater the risk of a breach, the more crew spaces were designed to be fully contained. Of course, a warship would be built this like this, with the bridge constructed within a secure citadel, a hardened bubble of composite steel and ceramic designed to protect the people and systems inside from any physical, biological, chemical or electronic attack.

Not all ships were designed like this. Malachi knew of cruise ships that internalised the core systems so the passengers could occupy the outer hull and see the stars with the naked eye, but even these were often no more than portholes through thick hulls filled with water as part of the radiation shield.

Communication systems ringed the hull fore and aft and stood proud from the surface, sweeping the sky for chatter. Between them, blinking patterns on the hull guided the transport to the shuttle bay amidships, below the centre line, which glowed with a welcoming light.

Nina pushed Malachi's face away from the window with her head.

"That's the dream, right there," she said, admiring the scale of the warship.

"You want a warship?"

"Imagine the commission if I could broker a deal like that? Or the markup on milspec hardware. Even the code alone would be worth a fortune. If I stripped that ship down for parts I would never have to work again. I could live anywhere."

"We're here to fix it, not sell it."

Nina nodded hungrily. "You're right, it will be worth more once we've repaired it."

"Well, yes, but I still don't think it will be for sale."

"Everything has a price, Mal."

"Nina, you can't sell a broken warship. It's not ours."

"Maybe I could broker a lease for a while?" she murmured hopefully to herself.

"No."

"You're no fun."

"I'm here to learn. What could be more fun than that?"

"Learning is fun for you?"

"Of course!"

"You're so complicated, Mal."

The transport glided into its assigned bay and came to rest. The inner and outer space doors closed behind them, and they disembarked with the handful of other passengers the shuttle carried.

Now they were forced to interact they traded awkward smiles of greeting with the other cadets as they passed through the airlocks into the ship proper.

One officer was there to greet them. At least, Malachi assumed she was an officer. Her badges of rank were lost among the sleeves of a jacket that was tied around her waist, exposing a sleeveless green shirt, bare, broad shoulders and a breathtaking scar of pink and white rivulets that ran the length of her left arm from shoulder to fingertips. A slim datapad was held under one arm. She lifted the brim of the cap she wore and resettled it on her head at a higher angle, and critically surveyed the team before her.