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Homesick

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 001, Sur Two, Saturday, Sol 45 (001.2.45)  10:01 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Tuesday, 19 April 2016  2:00 PM PDT 
  • Distance traveled:  191,960,712 kilometers   Time Delay:  4 mins 18 secs
  • Distance to Mars Rendezvous:  200,449,040 kilometers
  • Song of the Day:  Real Love (Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne)

Sam was standing in the Rex Bay looking at a monitor. The screen was almost a meter wide, and three meters tall. She was watching video of Yosemite Park in the early summer. It had no narration, it was just recordings of different sites in the parks from different viewpoints, including helicopter flyovers of waterfalls and granite mountains.

The Rex Bay was designed to be a place for the crew to go and relax, or gather and talk. It had food and drink available, and it served as place to celebrate events.

Zeke came down into the Bay and saw Sam. “Hey Sam, what’s up?” Sam didn’t respond. Zeke grabbed a drink and walked over to her. As he got close he saw she had been crying. Zeke said, “Sam, you okay?” She glanced at him and replied, “Yeah, I’m just being stupid.” Zeke said, “Stupid’s my gig, you’re going to have to find another ship.” Sam laughed a little.

Sam still watched the monitor. Finally she said, “Zeke, how do you do it? You seem to love space. All I can think about is how far we are from Earth.” Zeke said, “I don’t know. I’ve never felt like any one place is my home. I guess I just am a wanderer.”

Sam asked, “Where were you born?” Zeke said,

“Chicago, on the west side, near Garfield Park. I lived there until high school.” Sam said, “You’re a long way from home.” Zeke replied,

“And going farther. When I was about eleven or twelve I was starting to get into some trouble and fighting with my Mom. After school I would go and play basketball. My Mom put me in a basketball program and this coach saw that I was going to end up dead or stuck in nowhere. He got my Mom’s okay to take me on the ‘L’ one day. I hardly ever left my neighborhood and he took me all over Chicago. Every Saturday he would take me on different lines and to different places.

After a while, I became an expert traveler. I even taught my Mom what to do and what not to do. Both of us began to want more out of life than what we had in our neighborhood and she and I became a team of explorers. In a couple of years she found a new job and we moved to a better neighborhood. Eventually, we moved to Denver and I got in a great school, and she had a good job.

I went off to college and in my junior year she died. Not too long after graduation, ESEP began its Mars program, and I became fascinated with going to Mars. It was like a switch was turned on. I knew I belonged on Mars.”

Sam said, “But don’t you miss Earth…even a little?” Zeke says, “Earth is still there. It will always be there. But we’re on the ‘L’ train to Mars. I know I can go back, but right now I’m going to Mars.”

Sam smiled and said, “Man, you need serious therapy.” They both laughed and then Wendy climbed down into the Bay and said, “Can I join the party?” Zeke said, “Perfect timing. Sam says I need therapy.” Wendy looked at Sam and said, “Good diagnosis. I was looking for a new partner.” Sam said, “Actually, I’m the one whose been standing here crying.” Wendy gave a little smile and said, “I was wondering when it was going to hit you.”

Putin’s War

12 Tuesday Apr 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 001, Sur Two, Saturday, Sol 38 (001.2.38)  14:30 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Tuesday, 12 April 2016  2:00 PM PDT 
  • Distance traveled:  166,726,440 kilometers   Time Delay:  4 mins 12 secs
  • Distance to Mars Rendezvous:  225,683,312 kilometers

Within thirty minutes of Megan DeLuca’s arrival, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center was filled with ESEP Security and San Jose Police. Megan had three layers of vetted ESEP security around her and no one, not even the San Jose Police, were allowed close to her. ESEP administration ran background checks on any hospital staff that attended to her and once cleared, they were given provisional ESEP security badges.

Based on the tranquilizer given to Joseph on the Sagan, the attending physician quickly determined that Megan had been given something similar. She was given a drug to counteract the tranquilizer and she regained movement and speech minutes later.

The toll of the attack at the spa was heavy. Megan’s personal assistant, Emily, was killed. Two ESEP security people were killed in the subsequent bomb blast, and two were injured. Twelve employees and fourteen customers were killed in the blast, and over twenty were injured. ESEP managed to get Emily’s body, and the body of the FSB assassin out before the blast.

It was standard procedure to recover ESEP personnel and anyone harming, or threatening to harm ESEP staff whether they were alive or dead from a scene. Local law enforcement didn’t like the policy, and it was against the law in most countries, but ESEP was able to stretch diplomatic privileges in any situation that involved the security of the internationally operated Mars space program.

Ken gave a briefing to the Command staff of what had been learned in the past day. Ken said,

“…the masseuse had been hired by the spa last month after Megan had been promoted. Apparently the FSB knew she used that spa and set a plan into motion to assassinate her. Some of us believe that they might not have intended to kill her when they put the agent in place. FSB strategy has been to put people in places of contact with the intention of gaining the confidence of ESEP personnel, and then obtaining information, or in an attempt to influence them, but after the breach was discovered at ESEP, we believe the FSB, and most likely, Vladimir Putin, was seeking revenge.

Megan’s personal assistant, Emily, saved Megan’s life by sacrificing her own. She apparently heard the pop when the other masseuse was killed and raised the alarm, then walked in the room, forcing the assassin to deal with her. When the security team reached the room, the assassin was within a second of plunging the hypodermic needle into Megan’s heart.

The method of kill was also meant to send a message. It was the same method used to kill Joseph. Megan and Jessica’s tea was drugged, and the assassin had two syringes. It is believed she planned on killing Megan, and her friend Jessica. Putin wanted to make it clear who was responsible, and wanted to let us know that killing ESEP staff was not enough, but anyone associated with us.

The bomb was meant to be insurance that the job would be done, and meant to cover up any useful evidence that might be left behind. Fortunately, our security team pulled out the assassin and her bag before the bomb went off. We probably won’t gain much useful information on the assassin, because her existence only extends back for three years; however, we are building a solid knowledge of how the FSB plants agents into foreign countries. They have a consistent pattern that law enforcement agencies around the world are using to identify FSB agents.

Already the United States has discovered hundreds of potential FSB agents in the Republican party. Putin’s endorsement of Donald Trump was not a coincidence.”

Ken sat down and Jenna said,

“I think we can relax a little on the Sagan. We lost one of our Command sections, but we were able to recover both ICP drive sections. We will miss Jeramy, and work through that loss, but we can stand down. The likelihood of a FSB agent being aboard is remote. We have vetted all the Charlie One crew and they all have cleared the investigations.

Let’s start focusing on Mars, again. In a little over a week, we will be halfway to our rendezvous with Mars. With the added crew and equipment, our mission has new possibilities. I think we should move our current plan aside and start rethinking the entire mission. Let’s start discussing a new strategy at tomorrow morning’s briefing.

That’s all for now.”

The Command team broke up and began leaving, but Jenna kept Ken. When they were alone she said, “Putin’s not going to stop, is he?” “No,” Ken replied, “I have some ideas of how to deal with him, but I need to be Earthside.” Jenna’s eyes became wide, “We can send you back. We have a spare ICP Drive, but that means you’ll not be going all the way to Mars.” Ken said, “It won’t do any good for me to reach Mars, only to have more people die Earthside.”

Jenna said, “Make your plans and pick out a return crew. We’ll discuss this with the Command team at mess. You have an ideal window to get back. Mars and Earth won’t be this close for two years.” Ken responded, “I know. It seems bizarre that we’ve taken 48 Earth days to get this far, and it will take me a little over two weeks to get back.”

Ken then added, “We should not let Earthside know, yet.” Jenna nodded, “We can keep it quiet until Claude needs to know…Ken, is it as bad as I think?”

Ken said, “If you think we’re at war with Putin, it’s as bad as you think.”

Another Plan Delta

10 Sunday Apr 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 001, Sur Two, Wednesday, Sol 35 (001.2.35)  16:38 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Saturday, 9 April 2016  2:12 PM PDT 

Jenna then turned to Ken and said, “We’ve really screwed up. We may only have minutes.” Ken responded, “We would have seen Lars go to the Engineering and ICP sections.” Jenna said, “He’s been moving outside the ship and we have three ICP drives.

Suddenly, what Jenna said sank in for the Command team. The ICP drives for the QE II and Charlie One were attached along the core of the ship, and they were in ‘cold’ condition,’ meaning a person would need to be in a spacesuit to enter, unless they were powered up.

Jenna looked at her Engineering Director and said, “Roman, use the cameras at look for Lars on both of the stowed ICP drives.” Roman moved quickly to a workstation and began scanning the drives. Then Jenna said, “Anna, prepare to release both ICP drives, and Ken, as soon as Zeke and Jeramy are done with the booby trap, have them move to the spare ICP drives and prepare to tow them away from the ship.”

Roman came back and said, “I don’t see Lars on either drive, but both sections have wires running where they shouldn’t be. I think both are rigged.” Jenna said, “Damn! Roman, prepare to move the ship away from the ICP drives as soon as they’re clear.” Ken said, “What about Zeke and Jeramy?” Jenna replied, “As soon as they have cleared the drives from the ship, they can move clear of them. Assuming we’re still alive, we will send a ship back for them.”

In the next few minutes everything went as planned. After Jeramy dispensed with the bomb on the pod, he and Zeke attached to the spare ICP drives and moved them away from the ship. Anna and Roman used the thrusters to move the Sagan away from the rigged ICP sections.

And then they waited. If Lars wasn’t aware of the earlier activities, he would know something was up when the ship engaged the thrusters. He had to know the game was up and they knew he was on the ship. Five minutes passed and nothing happened. Then Anna exclaimed, “Charlie One Command section has just released.”

They looked on the monitor and saw the Command section slowly moving away from the ship. Anna regained her composure and said, “Close all hatches.” Then made a crew announcement, “All hands, all decks, prepared for impact and depressurization.”

Jenna was momentarily pleased that Anna was not waiting for orders, but using her own judgement to anticipate what was coming. The Jenna realized that within a few moments of proving her skills as a Captain, she might be dead.

The Command section of Charlie One had no main drive, but the thrusters on it could give it enough ramming speed to severely damage the Sagan. Ramming it into the rotating Hab sections would send out debris that would compromise most, if not all, pressurized areas. The ICP drive on the Sagan could put the ship far away from Lars, but it would take hours to prepare the drive for ignition. The Sagan was an easy target for Lars.

Anna then said, “Full reverse thrusters.” Jenna thought that Anna’s plan would be a desperate act, but it was better to force Lars to hit a moving target. They watched the Sagan begin to slowly back away from the receding Command ship, but Lars responded and rotated the section then began accelerating at the Sagan. He was aiming for the Hab Quills. It seemed like it was all in slow motion, but Jenna knew that by the time of impact the Command Section would be going at over a hundred kilometers per hour.

The mass of the Sagan made it sluggish, compared to the mass of the single core Command section that Lars was piloting. Lars was rapidly approaching and in seconds the Mars mission would be over.

Two pods suddenly flew into view and were aimed at Lars and the Command section. The first pod rammed into the Command section with explosive force. The gash was at least three times longer than the pod and atmosphere, debris, and a person were ejected into space. The pod was embedded in the section, and Jenna couldn’t determine how badly it was damaged. 

The other pod expertly grabbed onto the front of the section and began rotating it away from the Sagan. The thrusters were still active and the section began moving away. Anna commanded, “Forward thruster! Match previous speed.” Slowly the Sagan began slowing its relative reverse motion, then the ship began to move forward.

At the same time, Jenna and the rest of the Command team watched the wreckage of the other ship move off. The second pod released from the front of the Command section and moved down to the embedded pod. It grabbed the pod and reversed it out of the wreckage, then the second pod began towing it back toward the Sagan as Charlie One’s Command section became smaller and smaller on the monitor.

Jenna knew that Zeke was in the second pod. Few, if any, pod drivers could have grabbed a ship moving at a different relative speed and rotated it. They zoomed in on Jeramy’s pod and could see it was severely damaged. Jeramy would have still been in his space suit, but the collision was so violent that shrapnel would have blown through the cockpit.

As the pods got closer the camera was focused in on a gap in Jeramy’s pod and they were able to see the upper part of his space suit. The face plate was partly torn away, and Jeramy’s bloody face was briefly visible. He was dead.

To Catch A Boris

08 Friday Apr 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 001, Sur Two, Tuesday, Sol 34 (001.2.34)  17:04 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Friday, 8 April 2016  2:00 PM PDT 
  • Distance traveled:  152,306,856 kilometers   Time Delay:  4 mins 12 secs
  • Distance to Mars Rendezvous:  240,102,896 kilometers

Because Zeke was an expert on stowing away on a ship, Jenna used him as a resource to develop a plan to catch the alleged stowaway that came with the Charlie One ship. Zeke knew that it was too risky to hide in one of the Hab Quills. The combination of people and cameras in those areas would make it an unlikely hiding place.

Unfortunately, those are the areas that were under surveillance, in the belief that the FSB agent was one of the crew. Most of the cargo Quills were also poor places to stay for an extended period because they were areas of severely restricted life support. Some Quills had been sealed and had no life support. Others were under conditions that would be unbearable for extended periods.

One of Zeke’s first questions was whether or not a construction pod was missing from Earth Prime. Claude confirmed that one was missing. Once he knew that, he guessed that Lars Wilson used the construction pod to access Charlie One. This was how Zeke was able to avoid security and cameras to board the ESS Queen Elizabeth II.

New protocols had been put in place to avoid someone to repeat Zeke’s trick, but those protocols had been suspended because of the emergency. It was the next day after Charlie One undocked that a post-launch inventory discovered the missing pod, but since all personnel were accounted for on Earth Prime, the issue was put aside.

Zeke believed that Lars was using the construction pod to live in, and resupplying it from a cargo area. Using the cameras on the exterior of the ship, they determined that the missing construction pod was, in fact, attached to a cargo section that had been part of Charlie One.

When Zeke told the Command team he added, “This is the bad news. A construction pod can do a lot of damage. Just using it to ram a ship could create enough structural damage that the ship might not be able to fire up the ICP drive for fear of tearing the it apart. If Lars knows we’re on to him, and he’s on the pod, he has a weapon we can’t defend against.”

Ken said, “We could wait until he’s out of the pod, but he’s a threat every moment until we grab him.” Zeke said, “I have an idea, but it’s risky. I know Lars, and I’m a better pod driver than he is, so if I can come up on his blind side, and if someone is there to hook up a tow line, I can pull him off and keep him away from the ship.”

Jenna said, “You’re right, that’s very risky. If he got lucky, he could ram you.” Zeke replied, “I’m confident he doesn’t have the skill, and if we could cause a small breach on his pod he would only have seconds before he would be unconscious.”

Jenna said, “Any other ideas?….Okay, let’s see if we can catch him outside of the pod, first. Let’s not be too aggressive. Station people away from the cargo area, but close enough to move in behind him if he leaves. We’ll keep an eye on the area with our cameras. He he moves, we’ll grab him. Then if he doesn’t do anything, we’ll go with Zeke’s plan in twenty-four hours. Zeke, work out a detailed plan with Anna and Ken. Let’s keep this quiet until we’ve got him. I don’t think we have another FSB agent aboard, but let’s assume there is, and that he can contact Lars.” 

Another Rat

07 Thursday Apr 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 001, Sur Two, Monday, Sol 33 (001.2.33)  17:43 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Thursday, 7 April 2016  2:00 PM PDT 
  • Distance traveled:  148,701,960 kilometers   Time Delay:  4 mins 12 secs
  • Distance to Mars Rendezvous:  243,707,251 kilometers

Two days had past and they still didn’t know who killed Joseph Volkvo in the brig. Knowing there was a murderer on board was bad, but knowing that the murderer was probably tasked with sabotaging the mission meant that at any moment a catastrophe could take place.

The Director’s Mess was just about to start when Jenna, Ken, Naomi, Anna, and Wendy received a Priority call from Earthside. They all went up the Command deck to take it at Jenna’s workstation. Most of the message had been received, but because of the four-minute delay, the message was still downloading. Naomi started the message, which was a split screen image of Megan transmitting from ESEP in France, and Claude transmitting from Earth Prime in orbit around Earth.

Megan started to talk, “Director, Commodore Dubois has new information about who might be your murderer. Claude, go ahead.” Claude said,

“First, let me apologize. We should have caught this earlier, but this person is obviously good at deception. We had a worker, by the name of Lars Wilson…at least that is the name we have for him. When we lost transmission with you, he received news of a family issue that required him to return to Earth. We thought he left on a shuttle and was on Earth. After we discovered  the breach, we found several emails that indicated that he was either being influenced by a FSB agent, or he was a FSB agent. When we tried to track him down, we were told that he was camping in a remote area in Wyoming.

While we were trying to reach him, we also backtracked his movements and discovered that he did not arrive with the Earth bound shuttle. We interviewed the captain and he said that they had received word, before they left Earth Prime, that Mr. Wilson would be on a later shuttle. We now know that message to be fabricated.

We have done an extensive search of Earth Prime and he is not on the station. We can only conclude that he snuck aboard Charlie One and is now on your ship. Again, my apologies.”

All four were dumbstruck. They had thought the FSB agent was one of the known crew members, but now they learned that the murderer was a person hiding on the ship. Jenna tapped her pad and in a second a voice said, “Good evening, Director.” Jenna said, “Zeke, I need you on the Command deck now.”

The Understanding

04 Friday Mar 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Wednesday, Sol 60 (1.1.60)  16:31 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Friday, 4 March 2016  2:00 PM PST
  • Distance traveled:  26,135,496 kilometers   Time Delay:  84 secs
  • Distance to Mars Rendezvous:  366,274,256 kilometers

Zeke sat facing Jenna’s workstation in her quarters. On the monitors were Commodore Dubois and Director Castillo. In front of him were four other people. Rear Admiral Wade, Commodore Hart, First Officer Flores, and Wendy Stevens were all focused on him. For Zeke, it was Judgement Day.

Jenna started by saying, “Zeke, I’m think I know how you did it, but would you explain how you got from the brig on Earth Prime to the Sagan?

Zeke replied, “Yes, Ma’am. I was able to get out of the brig by detaching the storage locker in the room from the wall. The locker was locked, but if you lift it from one of the front corners and pull out at the same time, It will usually pop out. They don’t have a wall cover behind the storage locker so I was able to get into the wall. Once in the wall I could get almost anywhere on that deck.”

Jenna interjected, “Why did you come out where Security could see you?” Zeke replied, “I didn’t come out where they could see me. I had to go to the pods first and program the one pod and prep both of them. After that I went back to get their attention. I needed them to know I had escaped. I then worked my way back….”

Claude’s delayed question interrupted him, “How did you call Earth Prime from the pod that burned up?” Zeke replied, “I called you from the pod I was hiding on, but I routed the transmission through the other, sir.”

Jenna asked, “How did you get to the Sagan?” “I undocked at the same time Davis undocked,” Zeke replied, “I assumed that if anyone noticed they would think the two pods were leaving to chase the other pod. I held my position for a few minutes and then drifted along the structure and up the Sagan. I was docked, unloaded all my equipment, and settled in by the time the other pod burned up.”

Wendy spoke up, “What happened during acceleration? You were hit with more G’s than the human body was designed for.”

Zeke smiled, “I pulled some of the hab insulation out of storage and created a compression bed. It took a little time to rig it up, but I had the time. It was tough, but …”

Again, Zeke was interrupted by the delayed question, this one from the Director, “What was your plan if Jenna hadn’t figured out that you were already on the ship?” Zeke responded, “I wasn’t going to surprise them. I planned on calling them once the Sagan caught up to them.”

Jenna leaned forward, “Zeke, you understand that no one is condoning what you did.” Zeke answered, “Oh no, Ma’am. I expect to be punished.”

Jenna said, “Zeke, would you tell us about your role in the merger of the two ships.” Zeke looked confused and said, “Uhm, after we merged the hab sections I met up with the crew and I started talking to Keira…uhm, the pilot. I told her that at Earth Prime the engineer’s procedures were based on human docking practices and didn’t account for the computer’s capability of multitasking. The First Officer joined the discussion and pretty soon we were creating procedures on how to speed up…expedite the assimilation process. Anna, uhm..the First Officer showed our plan to Commodore Hart, who showed it to you.”

Anna interrupted, “Actually, Zeke says it was our plan, but it was Zeke’s knowledge of ship construction that helped lay out the new procedures. He had every procedure in his head and we wrote it down. In the end, he had not missed a step that needed to be done.”

Zeke looked a little embarrassed, and then said, “May I say something?” Jenna said, “Yes.” Zeke looked at Claude and said, “Commodore Dubois, I enjoyed working under your command, and I hope you do not think that I wanted to trick or deceive you. I’m sorry that I put everyone in a bad position, but I really hope that you don’t think I was ungrateful for the opportunities you gave me on Earth Prime.”

Jenna waited for a time in case Claude wanted to respond, and when he didn’t Jenna said, “Zeke, we have made it official that you are on our crew and under our command. Do you understand that you are obligated to follow our orders and abide by our rules?” Zeke nodded his head and said, “Yes, Ma’am. If I didn’t I might jeopardize everyone’s life.”

Jenna then added, “We appreciate your work you have done since you’ve been on our crew. You will have a work detail and expected to perform to the highest standards.”

Zeke said, “Yes, Ma’am” Jenna then said, “Zeke, thank you. You’re dismissed.” Zeke said, “Thank you, Ma’am.” and stood up and walked out of Jenna’s quarters.

Jenna turned toward Wendy and said, “Your assessment.” Wendy said, “Based on his history and his interactions with the crew, he genuinely wants to be a part of our team. I think his rebellion was not a rebellion, but a reach for a dream.”

Anna jumped in and said, “I was very skeptical about him, but his work and his understanding of our ships gives us an advantage on this mission I never knew was missing. He is a resource…” She was interrupted by Commodore Dubois, “Zeke was the….I’m sorry…I’ll go ahead and continue since I’ve already interrupted, I was going to say, Zeke was our best crew member in thinking outside the box. He could take the most difficult problem and come up with a brilliant solution. I will miss him; however, I suspect we will benefit from his work on your crew….again, sorry.”

Anna looked at Claude on the monitor and said, “No problem, I really said I’ll I had to say.”

Jenna said, “Nick, unless you have a problem with it, I think we burn his past. If he was a normal person I’d put him in a pod and say good luck, but I agree with Anna, he’s too valuable of an asset to waste time and worry about punishment.” Everyone in the room nodded, and then looked at Nick’s monitor for his response. A little over three minutes later Nick smiled and responded.

“Why are we still talking about this?”

Plan Delta

01 Tuesday Mar 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Sunday, Sol 57 (1.1.57)  18:27 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Tuesday, 1 March 2016  2:00 PM PST
  • Distance traveled:  15,320,808 kilometers   Time Delay:  48 secs
  • Distance to Mars Rendezvous:  377,088,944 kilometers

Jenna tapped the blinking icon on her workstation on the Command deck. It was the Comm Center. “Is it the Director?,” Jenna asked. Naomi said, “Yes. The message just came in.” Jenna asked, “Are you ready?” Naomi again said, “Yes.” Jenna looked over at Ken and he nodded to her. Jenna looked back at Naomi’s image on her monitor, “Okay, let’s do this. Run the Director’s first message and then set us up for concurrent transmission.”

The ESS Queen Elizabeth II and the ESS Carl Sagan had rendezvoused last night and the crew had moved the rotating hab sections over from QE II and merged them into the Sagan forward of the its rotating hab section. It had gone smoothly and within an hour the merge was secure. This left the QE II in two sections alongside the Sagan. Her Core Command section was about one hundred meters in front of the cargo and ICP drive sections.

The next step was to merge the rest of the QE II to the Sagan. As of last night the plan was to do it all today, which was considered to be a week’s worth of work. The Ken and Jenna had planned to begin again this morning, but instead after some discussion the plan was changed. The crew spent the day working out the details of the plan and now they were about to do something that had never been done before…and ESEP had no clue about the change.

The engineers at ESEP were already in opposition to the plan to do the rest of the merger of the ships in one day, but they could only advise, not make demands or restrict the crew or its command. In addition, the two ships had traveled almost 15 million kilometers in less than a week and the time delay in radio signal transmission was 48 seconds one way. The authority of the Admiral and Commodore were absolute by right and by reason.

Jenna could see Naomi tap her console and instantly Nick’s image was up at her secondary monitor. Nick said,

“Good evening, Jenna. I hope you got some rest today. Congratulations again on merging the QE II hab section with the Sagan. Our engineering team down here is reluctantly praising how quickly and smoothly it went. That said, they would like to see a formal plan of the rest of the assimilation, and they would like to advise a less ambitious schedule than trying to finish the job in one day. I’m assuming that you intended to begin tomorrow, but if you need another day of rest, that would be fine with everyone here. They have reminded me that you have three and a half months before you get to Mars. Also, the Counseling team is concerned about any mishap that might occur in a rushed schedule. They feel it might impact crew morale. As for me, do whatever you think is best and I’ll work it out with the people down here. I trust your judgement. It would help me if you send a plan so I can occupy them with something. Thanks!”

Nick’s image was replaced by a “Ready for concurrent transmission – time delay: 48 seconds,” which meant that she had an open channel to ESEP on Earth but the delay would be 48 seconds between her transmission and its arrival to Earth, plus the time it took for them to respond, plus the 50 seconds for their signal to reach her.

Jenna began to send her response to Nick,

“Good morning, Nick. We did sleep, but we’ve had a very busy day. As far as our formal plan of assimilation, Naomi is sending that to you now. It is a complete step-by-step process and has been reviewed and approved by the Command team. As for the ground Counseling team’s concern of our crew’s emotional state I asked Wendy and Dr. Summers to perform a crew readiness evaluation today and their reports are also being transmitted as I speak. You asked me to forewarn you when we might endanger the health of your engineering team, so please consider this your warning. In the report you have received you will learn that today the crew banded together to put into motion a different plan for the ship merger. As soon as I’m finished here we will announce a Code Alert for our ships and ESEP divisions concerned with the ship operations. We will then begin a continuous feed until the assimilation is complete. Our entire crew will be dedicated to this effort, so we have assigned Ms. Pierce as ESEP liaison. She will monitor and control all communications with ESEP. We are now on Priority Comm protocols. With that, Naomi, a Code Alert please.”

Naomi announced, “All stations, all hands, CODE ALERT from Rear Admiral Wade.”

Leap Day Interception

29 Monday Feb 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 56 (1.1.56)  19:05 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Monday, 29 February 2016  2:00 PM PST
  • Distance traveled:  12,623,747 kilometers   Time Delay:  36 secs
  • Distance to Mars Rendezvous:  379,786,005 kilometers

The aft camera was focused on the ESS Carl Sagan as it approached. At a hundred kilometers away it looked big. This was the first flight of this design and while both the Sagan and the Queen Elizabeth II consisted of the same elements, the Sagan only had one rotating Quill section and the rest of the Quills were cargo sections.

The Sagan was longer than the QE II, but the with the exception of the stowaway, Zeke Jackson, the Sagan had no crew. The QE II was meant to carry all the ‘organics’ including humans.

The QE II had fired its ICP drive and was now travelling 94 kilometers per hour slower than the Sagan. The QE II would now slowly increase its velocity using chemical reaction engines. When the Sagan comes along the QE II will match its speed.

As the First Officer, Anna was in charge of the final maneuvers and in charge of merging the two ships into one. She was also responsible for the new crew member, Zeke, that snuck on the Sagan and faked his death. Anna was not pleased with Zeke; however, he would make her work easier.

Anna called over to Zeke on the Sagan. He responded quickly to her call, “This is Zeke.” Anna asked, “Zeke, I’m showing all hab sections powered up. Did you do a line check on all the fluid lines?” Zeke got to know most of the crew while he was on the construction team, but Anna tended cold and impersonal. He was cautious around her. “Yes, Ma’am. I did a pressure check and visual of all the lines,…twice. I have one line in Quill 1B that I’d like to check again. It was damp and I wasn’t sure if it was condensation or a small leak.”

Anna was doubtful. When she did a line check it took her three hours. He was saying he did it in two hours and did a visual survey twice. She would check the tapes later. She suspected he was trying to ‘Biff‘ her, but for now she would play along.

Anna continued, “You can go ahead and disconnect couplings between Quill 1 and the Core Command section.” Zeke replied, “That’s already done Ma’am, and I’ve sealed the bulkhead hatches and tested them. They are ready for SEP as soon as you are alongside.” Again, Anna was doubtful, but this she could check right now. She pulled up cameras on both sides of the bulkhead hatches and in fact, they were closed and sealed. She checked the status of the seal, and it was a green light to SEP.

Anna was impressed…a little..and she said, “Very well.” Zeke then took a chance, “Ma’am, may I suggest something?” Anna didn’t like pushy people, but she also didn’t have a good reason to refuse him. Anna said, “Go ahead.” Zeke said, “The Sagan is ready for the QE II’s hab section. I know we’re into evening, but it would take less than an hour to integrate your hab section as soon as you are here. That would leave the Command section, the cargo section, and the ICP section to integrate, and I can get do them tomorrow.”

Anna was amused. This guy had no clue of what he was talking about. He was going to do a week’s worth of work in two days. Anna decided to let him down slowly, “Zeke, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but that is pushing our schedule too much. I will run it by the Commodore, but I’m pretty sure will stick to the recommended schedule.” Zeke replied, “It doesn’t hurt to ask.” Anna responded, “No, I guess not. I’ll check in with you when we are alongside.”

Anna ended her conversation, and then called up the video of the Sagan for the last few hours. She was able to condense all the video by sorting for movement and the file now showed every place that Zeke had been. She began skimming and watched him work. He was fast. He decoupled and sealed the bulkheads faster than Anna thought possible. He wasted no motion. His visual check of the lines was brilliant. He had a cloth or paper and a vapor tester. He ran the paper down the hoses and looked for moisture then scanned them with the tester. He was especially thorough around couplings where a leak was more likely. She watched him come back the way he came checking the lines again.

Anna was going to wait to talk to the Commodore about Zeke’s idea, but she decided that maybe they should consider his plan. She climbed down two decks to the Commodore’s station and saw him talking to the Admiral. Jenna saw her and asked, “How’s Zeke doing?” “Very well,” she replied. “He’s amazing fast in his work.”

Jenna said, “I think you’ll like him once you get to know him.” Anna continued, “About Zeke, he suggested, and I discouraged this, but he suggested that we move the hab section over immediately once were alongside, and then he said he could get the other three sections done tomorrow. I know that’s ridiculous, but I wanted you to be aware of his suggestion.

Ken said, “Does he have the Sagan ready for SEP?” Anna said, “Yes, and I verified his work.” Ken looked at Jenna, “Your thoughts?” Jenna said, “As long as we can have everything ready on our end, then it would be great to transfer the flag tonight and be already settled in.” Ken turned back to Anna, “Can we have our section ready?” Anna was a little amazed they were taking this idea seriously…and a little defensive about whether she could have ‘her’ ship ready. Anna stood up straight and said, “Yes, we can be ready by the time we’re alongside.” Ken said, “Excellent, let’s make that our plan unless somebody has an issue with it.”

He tapped his pad to call the Comm Center. Krista Parker was on duty, “Yes, Commodore?” Ken said, “Krista, give me a Code Alert and tie me into the Sagan, and ESEP.” Krista said, “Yes, sir…….All stations, all hands, CODE ALERT from Commodore Hart.” Ken tapped in and said,

“Crew of the QE II and the Sagan. We are considering merging the Hab sections of the QE II with the Sagan and transferring the flag as soon as we are alongside. That would give us about one hour to prepare the QE II. The Sagan is ready to receive us once we are there. The cargo sections, the ICP drive and the Core Command would be integrated tomorrow. In ten minutes the First Officer will call for a go/no go from all the crew. Thank you.”

Jenna looked at her pad and laughed. Nick had sent her a message. It said,

“ESEP engineers are having cardios. Warn me next time you’re going to try to kill my staff. :)”

Ken then tied into Keira and Zeke, “Keira and Zeke, are you good with this?” Keira replied, “Zeke and I have been discussing this. I figured it was a no go, but it is really easy peasy.” Ken continued, “Zeke, are you good to go out in a pod and tug us?” Zeke said, “Pod is ready and I’m good to go.”

Ken then turned back to Anna, “Okay, Anna. Put it into motion. Do the go/no go, but don’t wait until then to start prep.” Anna said, “You realize that if we actually get all this done by tomorrow, we’ll be a week ahead. 

Jenna said, “That’s it!” Ken and Anna looked at her. Jenna continued, “We’ve been trying to figure out what holiday to have for the first day of Sur 2. It is Assimilation Day, and we will have two days to plan it!

Number 29

28 Sunday Feb 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Friday, Sol 55 (1.1.55)  19:44 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Sunday, 28 February 2016  2:00 PM PST
  • Distance traveled:  9,089,555 kilometers

Anna replied, “Commodore, I can’t bring the lights up in that section.” Ken looked at Jenna and she said, “That rat bastard!……Anna, keep the lights up and Naomi, would you connected me to that section.” The Comm Director tapped a few commands on her tablet and monitor next to the one with Nick’s confused face on it came up black. Naomi said, “You’re patched in, Admiral.”

Jenna then said, “Zeke, what are you doing on my ship?” The black screen started to have patches of light on it, then they could see a gloved hand removing something over the lens. Someone gasped. Finally the monitor showed the bewildered face of Zeke Jackson in a low pressure suit floating in front of the camera. Zeke opened the faceplate of his helmet and you could see his breath in the cold, stagnant air as he said, “Admiral, ah…how did you know?” 

Ken walked away from the group as he was starting to laugh. Everyone else but Jenna was in shock. Jenna said, “JACKSON, I’ll be doing the talking! You are on my ship and that makes you part of my crew! You will report to the hab section in Quill 1C where Anna will assign you quarters! I want you fed and rested and ready for duty at eight AM tomorrow! Is that clear!”

Zeke looked more confused and then a smile began to grow until it looked like it might break his face. He said, “YES Ma’am! Thank you, Ma’am! You won’t regret this!” He then disappeared.

Ken said, “Anna, turn up the life support in Quill 1C and assign quarters to Zeke Jackson.” Nick tried to protest, “But we can’t let him get away with this.” Jenna smiled and said, “That ship has literally already sailed. He’s mine now for the next two years.” Nick said, “ESEP will still want to press charges when he comes back to Earth.” “Nick, I might suggest that ESEP begin looking at it as if it were our plan all along. Otherwise, the public might think we’re so incompetent that we let a stowaway get on board the first mission to Mars.” Nick suddenly realized the public relations disaster waiting for them, and said, “GOOD point. We can credit Mr. Duncan,….for this elaborate test of our security. Oh, this is going to kill him when he finds out.” Jenna laughed.

The Command Team had gathered around Jenna. She looked at Naomi and said, “Naomi, would you raise Earth Prime Actual. I need to talk to Claude.” Jeanna said to Ken, “Can you build duty schedule for Zeke? I’d like to put him under Anna for the time being.” Ken said, “We’ll have him wake up the Sagan for us.” “Good,” Jenna replied, “He’s a good asset and we want him working for us rather than against us.”

Jenna then looked at Wendy and Kayla, “Kayla, he just went through an acceleration that wasn’t designed for humans. You’ll need to check him out when we rendezvous with the Sagan. Wendy, I think I understand Zeke, but I’ll need your assessment to make sure I’m not being influenced by his charm.”

Jenna was now speaking to the entire Command team, “We now have 29 members in our crew. We need to assess what that means for the mission. As far as number 29, Zeke had straight A’s in his engineering minor, but was on a basketball scholarship. He didn’t have a chance for an advanced degree. Everything in his work record indicates he is a brilliant learner. We should consider him as a graduate student and use him as such.”

Jenna was interrupted by Naomi, “Admiral, I have Commodore Dubois.” Jenna said, “On monitor two.” Claude’s image came up on a monitor and he said, “Good evening, Admiral. How can I help you?” Jenna said, “Claude, we found your missing equipment.” Claude looked knowingly, “Yes. My apologies. We’re still not sure how it was left on the Sagan.”

Jenna smiled, “Oh, you’re talking about the pod. Yes, we know how that happened, too.” Claude looked confused.

Security Breach

21 Sunday Feb 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 49 (1.1.49)  00:13 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Sunday, 21 February 2016  2:00 PM PST

Jenna was still awake. In two days they would be leaving Earth orbit and the cord would be cut. There would be no turning back. It is what she had been working towards for years, but she had let the lack of issues during the last few months lull her into believing that they would be immune to last-minute problems.

The ship was in great shape. They were ahead of schedule on almost every checklist and if they had to leave a this moment, they could. What she didn’t expect was the personnel issues. Her crew was fine and had recovered from a last few days change in the pilot, but she didn’t anticipate a stowaway issue.

What really bothered her was that the stowaway, Zeke Jackson, was the type of person she would have selected for her crew….except she never saw his application because he only had a bachelor’s degree and it was in physical education with a minor in engineering. He also had barely passing grades…in his major, but straight A’s in his minor.

Zeke was on a basketball scholarship and apparently he was barely able to stay in school because he missed the workouts and sometimes practices. His coaches threatened to pull his scholarship if he didn’t focus on basketball. His distraction was his love for engineering, but they couldn’t offer him a full ride scholarship.

He graduated but getting an advanced degree was out of the question. He wormed his way into an ESEP job and quickly worked his way into space. His superiors always praised his work, but without at least a master’s degree he was lucky just to be on the construction crew. He was an expert in piloting several types of pods used in the construction of the ships, and was fully qualified for pressure suit work.

He was able to avoid detection when he was preparing the cargo section by using his skills as a pilot and his inch by inch familiarity with the ship. Zeke able to pilot a pod to the QE II using various structures to cloak his movements. He then docked to the cargo section and entered from the pressurized pod into the pressurized section.

Zeke only had one camera to fool, and once that was done he was undetectable. He was very careful and knew that if anyone suspected they might put a hidden camera in place. When Duncan had one installed in an attempt to catch him, Zeke recognized the fake component and created a new video loop of the scene from its perspective. He then used two tablets to fool both the original camera and the hidden one. Zeke’s only mistake was to think that the tablet blocked the motion detector.

Jenna realized that she hadn’t had anyone recheck the Zeke’s stowaway compartment to be sure everything was ready for departure. She was about to contact her Peyton Rhodes, her other reserve crew member who was on night shift, but then she decided she wanted to see it for herself.

She climbed up to the Command deck and checked in with the crew on duty, then continued up to the core. In the last section she was almost weightless, which is a relatively rare feeling on ships designed to have the crew work in a gravity environment.

The quill of the cargo section had been sealed, but she knew that it was still pressurized and heated so she opened the hatch and floated down into the quill. She noticed a light was on and someone was in the third section. She decided to find out why one of her crew was in the section, so she quietly approached. Zeke saw her staring at him as he turned around and he jumped and fell.

“How the HELL did you get away, and on board my ship???” she said with the best fake anger she could muster. He stammered, “I’m sorry, Ad..Admiral. I..I..did it the same way.” Jenna looked at him with genuine concern, “What did you do to the Security team?” Zeke was still rattled and said, “NOTHING, no nothing…they always stay outside the room…they don’t know I’m gone.” Jenna was relieved, and then said, “You are going to go right back and get in your bed. I am going to call them in thirty minutes and have them check on you. AND DON’T GET CAUGHT!”

Zeke couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He should be shoved out an airlock but the Admiral was giving him the chance to make this second violation go away without reporting it. He almost shouted, “Yes Ma’am!…and thank you, Ma’am!” Zeke began gathering up the equipment he’d brought over and when he looked up again Jenna was gone.

As promised Jeanna contacted the Security team and asked them to check on Zeke. In a minute the guard called back and said, “He’s sleeping. Do you want me to wake him up?” “Nope, but I would like one of you stay inside the room with him for the night,” she replied.

Rat Trap

19 Friday Feb 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Thursday, Sol 47 (1.1.47)  01:30 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Friday, 19 February 2016  2:00 PM PST

CODE ALERT! Text in three parts to follow:

CODE ALERT – PART ONE:  Closeout of ESS Queen Elizabeth II will occur today at 16:00 NST. All Earth Prime team members should have inspected and finalized all areas on the ship by 13:00 NST. No non-mission equipment should be left on the ship. Please account for all tools, suits, and other Earth Prime equipment and notify the Earth Prime Director’s Office of any missing items.

CODE ALERT – PART TWO:  All non-essential personnel should be off ship by 12:00 NST today. Final inspections of all cargo areas will occur from 08:00 to 11:00 NST and Hab area inspections will occur between 10:00 and 13:00 NST. Inspection teams will work from stern to aft closing out areas behind them.

CODE ALERT – PART THREE:  Security personnel will be at both entrance hatches at 12:00 NST today. All personnel must have proper authorization to enter the ship. At 16:00 NST all hatches will be closed and sealed. No one may enter the ship without pre-authorization of the Nick Castillo, Director of ESEP, Rear Admiral Jenna Wade, Commodore Ken Hart, AND Commodore Claude Dubois. Ship will depart from port at 10:35 NST on Sol 49.

The Code Alert was broadcast at 01:30 NST. It was now 05:34 NST and Jenna was rereading the Code Alert. She had read it yesterday after Duncan sent the final draft to her, Nick Castillo, and Claude Dubois. As she sipped the morning tea she wondered if it would work.

Early yesterday morning one of her crew had discovered evidence that someone was trying to stowaway on her ship. The person had left equipment in a cargo area that would keep him or her alive in an unheated and stagnant air environment.

In three days the ESS Queen Elizabeth II will leave the Earth Prime spaceport and because she will be under her own power, life support functions such as circulating air and heat will be shut down in some cargo areas. It was in one of these sections that equipment had been found that would keep someone alive for a few days.

Whoever was responsible was clever. They chose an area that none of the crew would have reason to enter. They had some type of quick attachment device that allowed them to put a tablet in front of the camera playing a loop of the cargo bay. A person would have to be the monitor to catch them putting the tablet in place and with almost 100 cameras in place, no one was going to catch it.

It took several replays of the video of the cargo area to catch the moment the tablet was put in place and it was not removed for 29 hours, so it was impossible to track down the person based on the time the camera was disabled. The person also managed to avoid all other cameras leading to that section. This person was good.

After the equipment was discovered yesterday morning, Duncan ordered it left in place. He had a hidden camera with a motion detector installed with a view of the equipment. Duncan left two security people hidden away near the cargo quill ready to arrest the person if they came back to check on the equipment. The perpetrator didn’t.

Time was running out. The person would likely board the ship just before departure from the spaceport. That would make him or her easier to catch, but it would mean the QE II would have to return and redock, which had never been done before. Ships are constructed with the first section already docked at the spaceport. Docking the mass of the entire ship would be nearly impossible. They had to catch the person before the QE II undocked.

Duncan decided to try to trap the person at the closeout. By having the inspection of the cargo areas end at 11:00, and the putting Security in place at the ship entrance hatch at 12:00, he felt that the potential stowaway would try to check on his or her equipment during the hour after the end of the cargo inspections, but before Security took positions at the hatches.

Jenna, Nick, and Claude all agreed, but now Jenna was having doubts. This person was not stupid and they had avoided detection on a ship covered in cameras. Somehow it didn’t make sense that they would fall for the trap.

Jenna dressed for the day and headed to the Command Commons area to grab some breakfast. Only Ken, Nick, Claude, and her knew about the plan to catch the stowaway. One of her reserve crew members knew about the equipment, but he was told to not discuss the situation with anyone. Most of the Command staff came to the Command Commons area while Jenna was there, but she kept the conversation on the closeout events, and avoided any hints that a significant security issue was overshadowing the day.

The morning kept the crew busy with the closeout procedures, but at 11:00, Jenna and Ken announced that they would have a working lunch in her quarters. The two of them climbed down to the Commons area to get a lunch ration, prepared it, then headed down to her quarters.

Once there she contacted Duncan and Nick and pulled up the camera feed from the hidden camera. Jenna knew that nothing had happened or else she would have been called. She looked at both of Duncan and Nick on the monitors and said, “You don’t mind if we eat, do you?” Nick said, “No.” Duncan was unresponsive. Jenna was concerned that if they didn’t catch him or her the departure schedule might have to be pushed back, but at this point it was up to Duncan, and she and Ken would just have to focus on their jobs.

Over the next hour Ken, Nick, and Jenna talked about mission issues. None of them were significant, but lately all their conversations had been about major issues. This was one of the rare times when they could chat about the mission rather than discuss the mission.

At 11:58 NST, Nick said, “It looks like our person didn’t take the bait.” Duncan replied, “It doesn’t make any sense. He has to know that his stuff could have been found. He should have come.” Jenna joined in, “May he’s changed his….” Jenna looked closer at the monitor and then said, “Mr. Duncan, what is that flashing icon at the bottom of the screen?” Duncan casually answered, “That’s just the motion detector icon.” Jenna tried again, “But why is it flashing.” Duncan thought for a moment, “Uhm, well it flashes when it senses….wait, we would see the person…unless….but he couldn’t have…he doesn’t….” Jenna interrupted him, “Mr. Duncan, he has fooled your camera and he’s there.”

Before Jenna had finished Duncan had sent the signal to his staff on board. Hopefully, it would not be too late.

Stowaway

18 Thursday Feb 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Tuesday, Sol 46 (1.1.46)  2:09 AM NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Wednesday, 18 February 2016  2:00 PM PST

Everyone at ESEP knows the Director of Security as “Mr. Duncan,” and only a handful know his first name is Edward. Mr. Duncan is a former Marine with Special Forces training who rarely lets his ‘all business’ persona down. He is not the type of man you would feel comfortable calling him by his first name. 

Duncan had wanted to send a Security officer on the first Mars mission, but that idea was declined. Instead he was allowed to train four of the crew in security and safety procedures that were above and beyond their normal responsibilities. They were also sent to a Special Forces boot camp for five weeks. The four were Anna Flores, the First Officer, Jeramy Prater, the Munitions Officer, Ian Banks and Peyton Rhodes who were both reserve members of the crew. 

It was just after 2:00 AM NST when he got a call from Ian on the ESS Queen Elizabeth II. He was sleeping, but he answered the call within three seconds, “Security Actual.” Ian said, “Mr. Duncan, I’m sorry if I woke you.” Duncan did not do pleasantries and said, “What’s the problem.” “It’s happened again,” Ian replied. Duncan was now completely awake and said, “Same place?” Ian said, “Not exactly, but the same section, and the same equipment. Should I wake the Admiral?” Duncan’s mind went into combat mode. He said, “No. I’ll set up a call for later this morning. Send me pictures of where it was and a report on how you found it. Be sure you give me the section number. I need it within thirty minutes….and then stand guard in that section until I send relief,” He ended the call before Ian could respond.

It was shortly before 6:00 AM NST that Jenna checked in with the Comm Center. Paige was on night shift again. Paige said, “Good morning, Admiral. How did you sleep?” Jenna smiled. Four days ago she thought Paige would be leaving the crew, but now Paige was the morale officer of positive emotions. Jenna responded, “Great actually. How was your night?” Paige said, “Good. Ian has some issue that came up last night. Mr. Duncan has set up a call with you and the Director to talk about it. I tried to schedule it for eight, but Mr. Duncan insisted it be at 6:30.” Jenna said, “No problem. I’ll get ready and come up.” Paige quickly replied, “Oh, Mr. Duncan wants you to take it in your quarters.” Jenna was now more concerned, “Alright. Where’s Ian?” Paige scrunched up her forehead and said, “He’s in one of the cargo sections. Apparently Mr. Duncan asked him to guard something.”  Now Jenna was really concerned.

Jenna showered and dressed, then went up to the mess and prepared a breakfast ration then returned to her quarters. She had made tea and was scanning her emails. She was tempted to contact Ian to find out what was going on, but she learned a long time ago that sometimes it’s better to let information come to you than to try to out maneuver the messenger.

At exactly 6:30, she was sitting at her workstation and the message icon began blinking. She touched it and the Director, Nick Castillo appeared on one screen and Mr. Duncan appeared on another. Nick and Jenna said, “Good morning,” but Mr. Duncan said, “I have Commodore Dubois and Commodore Hart on standby and I’d like them to join this call.” Jenna said, “I’m fine with it.” and Nick nodded. On two more screens Claude DuBois, the Commodore of the spaceport, and Ken Hart, the Commodore of both ships, appeared.

After they said, “Good morning,” Jenna broke in, “Mr. Duncan, would you care to explain why one of my crew is guarding an non-hab cargo section?” Jenna had not been accusatory, but everyone knew that Mr. Duncan had no authority to order any of her crew to do anything.

Duncan knew that he was on thin ice and did something he rarely did. He apologized, “Admiral, I apologize for my actions. I needed someone to keep a watch on the area and I didn’t want to wake you up to get authorization to put one of my people on board.” Jenna understood, but she knew she would have to talk to her crew about taking orders from others.

Nick said, “What’s the problem?” Duncan continued, “When we performed security sweeps four days ago on your ship we found some equipment that was not registered in one of the cargo sections. It was some oxygen equipment and a low pressure, thermal suit. I didn’t want to alarm anyone because there could have been several reasons for it to be there by accident. We logged it, removed the equipment, and I notified your security crew to check the section periodically and report anything unusual.”

Jenna asked, “What happened last night?” Duncan corrected her, “This morning actually. Ian was on night shift and decided to check the section. At about two AM he found another pressure suit and oxygen.”

Ken said what everyone was thinking, “We have someone who wants to join our crew.”