An Endless Voyage continued ch 15
"What brings you to the lower decks, Admiral?" Amy questioned. "Out for a late night walk?"
"Actually Ah'm takin the Admiral's yahct down t' the surface t' try an' persuade some a' the inhabitants t' join us." Maya told the skunk. "They wadn't keen on goin' through the transporters, but seein' as they got atmospheric jets an' orbital craft Ah reckon they might be less fearful a' flight."
As Maya spoke, Tom, Hank, Karen, Belle, and Agnes stepped into the room carrying equipment for an awa team of six. They boarded the Admiral's yahct, and Maya followed suit moments later. The hatch closed and the small ship pressurized, as Amy went back to her duties, making routine security rounds as one of a dozen officers assigned to patrol the lower decks.
THe Admiral's yahct was about twice the size of a troop transport shuttle, hyperspace capable, and posessed powerful octa-helical shields and 40" rotary autocannons. It was similar to the ships used by pirate raiding parties in many respects, but it had been heavily customized to serve a multitude of roles.
"Agnes, co-pilot's seat, Karen, Navigation, Belle, engineering console, Hank, tactical station, Tom, gunners rig." Maya said as she fired up the engines, and prepeared to disengage from Excalibur's hull as a section of Excalibur's dorsal hull plating slid apart revealing the hidden docking bay.
Once everyone reported ready, Maya disengaged the docking system, and the small ship dropped free of Excalibur. "Bin a while sence Ah took the helm." Maya commented as she throttled up the sub-light engines, setting a tight sub-orbital course along a trajectory for atmospheric entry.
"Adjust our heading three degrees to port." Karen informed. "There is a meterological survey satellite along our current heading."
"Understood." Maya said, making the necessary correction to avoid the satellite.
Maya made several more minor corrections to avoid debris from the discarded rocket sections of orbital capsule flights, and finally alligned the ship for atmospheric entry. "Shields up, polarize the hull." Maya instructed, and Hank quickly carried out her orders.
The ship shook violently as Maya brought the nose down in a 45 degree decent vector. The shields cackled with electricity as they came under the stress of the heat of atmospheric entry. Outside a raging inferno burned brightly engulfing the bubble their shields created.
"Shields are holding Admiral." Hank informed.
"Hull temperature is rising but well within tolerances." Belle added.
"We should be through the thermosphere in twenty seconds." Karen informed.
"Understood." Maya said. "Belle, adjust engine baffles fer Atmospheric flight, stand bah t' deply the wings soon's we're through the thermosphere."
"Yes Admiral." Belle replied. She worked the engineering controls then added "Engines configured for atmospheric flight."
Maya fought to keep the ship steady as it plowed through the upper atmosphere. The fireball outside their shields slowly subsided, replaced by thin clouds and the night sky. "Deploy the wings." she said.
"Yes ma'am." Belle said.
The turbulence smoothed out, and as the wings fully extended, Maya eased the throttles back slowing the ship to cruising speed as she continued their descent. Karen located the city they'd visited before, and transferred coordinates to Maya's HUD.
Maya made several circles of the city, easing the throttles back to bleed off airspeed in preparation for landing. Finally she engaged the descent thrusters, extended the landing struts, and set the ship down with a gentle bump in the middle of a large parking lot for some sort of shopping center. She shut down the engines, and hit the controls to open the hatch, then led everyone outside to meet with anyone who had heard the broadcast she'd sent prior to leaving Excalibur and were willing to hear what she had to say.
They were all a bit surprised to see over a thousand canids of various breeds had turned up to hear what Maya had to say. If even a tenth of that group joined up it would be a significant increase. Excalibur had room for over 2000 warriors in addition to the command staff, and at present only 600 people lived aboard Excalibur.
Maya stood before the crowd and began to explain the situation. Many of those who had come were simply curious about the offworlders, but when Maya spoke, only a fool wouldn't listen.
"Ah realize y'all b'leave ah'm here cause a some prophecy, somethin bout savin y'all from the Xians...well Ah fully intend t' stop the dickheads but that aint why ah'm here. h'm here cause Ah wanna offer y'all a chance fer the adventure a' a lifetime. t' travel with me, sail the stars, an' put a end t' the pointys fer good. Think about it carefully, joinin the aces 's a lifelong commitment, there's no goin back. Ah caint promise it'll be easy, they'll be hardships, but ah kin promise we'll make the xians pay. If'n y'choose t' come with me, ya'll be trained t' be one a' us the thangs ya'll see'll be incredible, but so will the danger. Now anyone interested, step forward."
Maya watched the crowd. they all seemed to be thinking things over for a minute, then a little over 400 of them, various breeds, all took a step forward. It would be a tight squeeze to fit so many into the Admiral's yahct, but seeing as they only had to leave the atmosphere and return to excalibur, the strain on the life support systems was not an issue. The weight however, would be. Nonetheless at Maya's instruction they all began to board the small vessel, where Tom and the others helped to organize them into the cargo space and limited bunkspace avalible. Then once they were all aboard, the little ship crammed full like a can of sardines, Maya went back inside, closed the hatch, and pressurized the ship. she returned to the pilots seat and fired up the engines.
Maya had to push the sub-light engines to full afterburner just to get the ship moving at all, and Belle worked to recalibrate the inertial dampers to account for the weight. The ship shook as it slowly accelerated. the hull groaned under the stress. Maya eased the stick back, and it struggled into the air. The turbines whined louder, struggling under the strain, but slowly the ship gained altitude.
"Velocity 8,000kph and accelerating." Karen announced "Altitude 12,000 and climbing."
"Engine temperature is still increasing ma'am." Belle said. "I have increased the coolant pressure but it is still nearing critical."
"Jus keep 'em together long enough t' git us home." Maya said.
"Yes ma'am." Belle said. "I'm purging the primary coolant and replacing it with the secondary reserves that should cool things down for a bit."
"Altitude 40,000 velocity 12,000kph." Karen announced over all the noise. The shaking grew worse as the ship climbed through the stratosphere, but the colder air did help cool the engines a little at any rate.
"Good enough." Agnes said.
"Agreed." Maya said. "Ah'm bringin the hperdrive up. we're gonna make a 1 milisecond jump in t' orbit."
The ship groaned louder, and sparks flew from several consoles, but it made the brief jump to hyperspace nonetheless. an instant later the shaking smoothed out as it was flying free and clear in space. fortunately no one got hurt, and Maya piloted the ship back to Excalibur, where everyone was more than happy to disembark. The flight had been unpleasant to put it mildly, but everyone was glad to be home.
Maya and Agnes gave the newcomers a tour, while everyone else returned to their duties. The newcomers were all awestruck with everything on Excalibur, and very excited to see what came next.
The rest of the day was spent on orientation, getting them all settled in.
The following day was spent on medical checkups and innoculations for all the newcomers.
The day after that, Maya spent sexxing them all in and making them all take the blood oath.
The following morning all four ships broke orbit, and made the jump to hyperspace, heading toward the thick anomalie cluster. "30 hours" Maya said. "30 hours t' the anomalie field." She need not say more. Everyone knew full well what she meant, and nobody was looking forward to it.