Kentauran date: Centauri 25, 76
05:22 horoj
Her Majesty's Spy Ship La Sabro, Komandato Albin Sørensen komandas.

The planet Kentaurus in the Rigil Kentaurus system has two natural satellites. The closer and smaller is Sedna, which contains facilities for government and commercial transportation, as well as the customs office.  Everything non-military making port at Kentaurus makes orbit at Sedna first.  The orbital period of Sedna is about sixteen and a third Kentauran days, or 18 earth days.

The farther and larger moon, Adlivun, houses the Kentauran Space Defense facilities and ship yards.  The orbital period of Adlivun is almost a Kentauran month, or close to 40 earth days.

La Sabro is making for Adlivun at subluminal speeds, decelerating at almost 25 standard gravities.  The best that Kanto de'l Vento can do is about half that.  And just in case something goes wrong, La Sabro's pilot navigates a course that will take the ship wide of the mark.  The last thing anybody wants is to have a piece of technology with the mass of a Boeing 747 and which uses anti-matter as an energy source crash into anything close to the home world.  The pilot, Leǔtenanto Sub-Ranga McDonnell, reminds herself that the total kinetic energy of a system is proportional to the square of the velocity.

"Kurse laǔ kvin decimalaj lokoj," she reports.

"Bona," says the crafts only other occupant, Komandanto Albin Sørensen. "STD has given clearance for orbital insertion."

McDonnell checks her program for the zillionth time.  If all goes in accordance with the program, at the end of the deceleration burn they will have to make a short orbital insertion burn.  As far as McDonnell is concerned this is sloppy piloting, but necessary due to the Kentucky windage required by Adlivun's Spac-Trafika Direktanto.

McDonnell also checks the stress and strain monitors.  Computers also check these, and will give a sharp alarm and even cut the engines if necessary in the case of a structural failure, but she wants to know how the joints and seems in her experimental craft are doing.  "Strukturaj fortoj nominalaj," she reports and thinks, Thanks to inertial damping fields, or we'd be flying apart at the seems.

"Lokomotivo ĉeso en dek sekundoj.  Sep, ses, kvin, kvar, tri, du unu. Brulado finiga.  Komencas orbitan enmetadan programon."


Adlivun Docking Facility
07:02 horoj

Every time MoonShadow visits the Adlivun Docking Facility it's different.  They are always adding to it, expanding and reconfiguring.  They had left La Sabro in high orbit in order to keep inquiring minds and cameras from blowing their cover.  Even the docking manifest listed it simply as an experimental boat assigned to Kanto de'l Vento.  An automated craft met them and brought them to the docking facility, dropping McDonnell in an area that was so new that it hadn't been painted yet.  She had to step around numerous work crews in a quest to find somebody who knew how to direct her to the Oficejo de la Dokestro.

"You're from the Kanto de'l Vento boat?" asks the enlisted woman behind the desk in the dockmaster's office.

"Jes, we just arrived."

"Momente." The woman requests while looking for information on her data screen.  "Somebody was here looking for you, and asked to be notified as soon as you docked."

"Kiu?"

"Mi serĉas.  Ah, here.  Leǔtenanto Ulagili.  Here's the contact info."

After taking care of business, MoonShadow makes use of the contact info to discover that Lt. William Ulagili, another officer and three enlisted ratings have orders to report to Kmd. Sørensen.

"Komandanto Sørensen of La Sabro," Ulagili says.

"I have never heard of that ship, Leǔtenanto." MoonShadow refrains from repeating it. "But I happen to know that Komandanto Sørensen is dining in the O club as we speak.  Shall we meet there?"

MoonShadow's anger over the tongue slippage grows after she disconnects.  It's this kind of lackadaisical attitude that gets people killed.  The last thing she wanted was some spook overhearing the ship's name in an innocent telephone conversation.

It takes nearly twenty minutes for MoonShadow to make her way from the transient officer's quarters to the O club on deck 3.  She can see immediately that Ulagili and the other officer have found Sørensen.

Sørensen and Ulagili are facing MoonShadow as she enters the club. But all she can see of the other officer is the back of her head, which is covered in thick black hair.  But there is something familiar about it.

"Ah, here she is," Sørensen announces.  They stand to introduce themselves.  The woman turns and MoonShadow's feet grow cold.  "Lt. Bill Ulagili, this is Lt. S.R. MoonShadow McDonnell. And this is Lt. S.R. Ravenhair Enrika."

"We've met," Enrika says with a smile.  They shake hands.  In the O club, everybody shakes hands.  MoonShadow sits uncomfortably between Bill and Ravenhair.

"Jes, in Vancouver, on Earth, wasn't it?  Some dive off of the space port." MoonShadow can't shake the cold feeling she got when Ravenhair dismissed her at that meeting.

"A pleasure to meet you again," Ravenhair says, and manages to convey a feeling of sincerity.  "Odd how you always keep meeting the same people in the service."

"Isn't it?" MoonShadow places the napkin in her lap in an attempt to hide her discomfort.

"Bill and Ravenhair will be rounding out the ship's compliment of officers, and they brought three ratings with them, bringing the total crew to ten." Although her superior officer, Sørensen is gentleman enough to pour MoonShadow a glass of Chianti. He raises his own glass for a toast, and everybody follows.  "To The Ship."

And with that toast, it was made clear that everybody should refer to The Ship instead of La Sabro.

"The Ship!" Everybody says in unison.

After drinking, Sørensen continues. "McDonnell is the chief architect and design engineer for The Ship.  She's also a skilled pilot.  Our crew is so small that we'll all have multiple specialties.  Enrika is also a pilot, but primarily she's a cultural specialist for the area.  She speaks several languages and has studied the cultural roots of the Hassurah.  She'll be a much needed lubricant for ingratiating ourselves to the locals.  Bill is tactical and weapons officer, as well as sensor analyst.  Three of the enlisted crew are also sensor specialists.  Three enlisted are actually immigrants from the Hassurah."

"You must be very proud of your ship, MoonShadow," Ravenhair smiles.  "You actually designed it?"

"That's a fancy way of saying that they let me loose in a scrap heap and I found a lot of good parts."

"Modesty does not become you, MoonShadow.  It would take talent to make a modern warship look like a renegade from a scrap heap."

"Thank you.  But it seems very easy compared to the Herculean task of learning the Hussurah culture on short notice."

Sørensen and Ulagili looked at each other, and then Bill said, "Okej, you two.  The mutual admiration society meeting is over.  Let's get down to business."