Go Humanity

Dustin strode down the long corridors of the upper floor of the starport. Why Axworth hadn’t opted to have this meeting via a call or on the Solar Ascent was anyone’s guess, but at least the walk allowed him time to reflect and get his thoughts in order as he gazed out at the curvature of his ship rising beyond the reinforced glass windows. There hadn’t been much time for reflection on the news that Sola would be effectively getting a carrier upgrade prior to that point - in the aftermath of their orgy he’d moved from spending time with one woman to another for most of the day, making sure that they were okay with the changes to the relationship and just getting to hang out with them even if it was only a half hour or so.

With six lovers, just checking in at any length occupied most of his time, and asides from meals (Naera eagerly making use of the smaller galley to whip up a gourmet spread for lunch) what little time he had left had been occupied with discussions with some of the junior staff. Thus, he arrived at the door to the meeting room Axworth had booked not out of breath, but far less prepared for whatever the General might throw at him than he’d have liked to be. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the door open and stepped inside.

On the far side of the door, the room had been set up in a way he recognized from his time training under Axworth before his mission had begun. A few rows of chairs in front of a low table off to one side, with the focal point of the room being a hologram currently showing the Star Command emblem hovering in front of the wall. What was different now however was that the chairs were occupied - there had to be about two dozen people crammed into the seats, with the only one he recognised being Sammie who was sitting on the front-most row. Nodding to the pilot, he was pleased to see that asides from a slightly worried expression she didn’t appear any worse for their discussion earlier that day - he had been serious when he’d said he needed her skills after all.

Deciding to play along with the idea that he didn’t know what the General was up to, Dustin walked forward before shaking Axworth’s offered hand. “General, I’m here as requested. What’s going on?” He asked, glancing around at the ranks of people in matching jumpsuits. “Ambassador, welcome. Alright, Coastwood, projector on.” Sammie picked up a tablet from the one empty seat next to her and tapped it briefly, at which the projector behind the General flickered into a display showing a seemingly random collection of information.

“As you are aware, Ambassador, Star Command monitors all your communications home quite closely. Sometimes, they have disagreed with me on the best course of action.” The General began with his usual irritated tone when speaking about his superiors. “However, in light of your recent reports, they have agreed to my suggestion of increasing the Solar Ascent’s combat and recovery capabilities. To that end, unless you disagree she will be retrofitted with a set of hangars for general purpose combat craft. Two wings, ten in total, with enough staff to keep them flying around the clock as well as a handful of extras to allow for injury.” He swung his arm around, indicating the packed ranks.

“We’ve only got the pilots here; ground crew come and go but the pilots in this room are the best my training program has to offer. None of them are half as good as Coastwood of course, but I’ll stake my reputation on them being the best in the fleet.” Dustin nodded thoughtfully, before shrugging. “With all due respect General, I absolutely hate this idea.” Before Axworth could say anything, he held up a hand and continued. “I also see the absolute necessity for it. I just wanted you to be aware of the fact that I dislike the need for it before I accepted.” Turning to the suddenly unsure looking pilots, he smiled at them. “Welcome to my crew, I guess. How much do they know about what’s been going on out there General?”

Sammie answered before Axworth could. “Not much, sir. I know a little more than them due to doing the additional course, and I’ve passed on what Axworth has told me I’m cleared to - so they’re more clued up than even your average Star Command pilot, but we’re all mostly in the dark aside from the idea that there’s something mean enough that EarthGov want ten fighter craft travelling with a diplomatic ship.” Her voice was clear and authoritative - this wasn’t a potential lover she was talking to, but her superior officer. Dustin relaxed quite a bit at that point, his concerns about a potential relationship causing conflicts with his squadron leader fading by the minute.

“Is this room secure, sir?” Dustin asked then, turning back to Axworth who nodded. “Indeed. I expected you’d want to brief them on the nature of your ongoing mission. Additionally, I have a surprise for all of you courtesy of the boys in the lab. Might not be fully ready before you leave Earth for the yards to get the Solar Ascent refitted, but it won’t be long after you arrive at Titan in the worst case.” Dustin nodded, then took a deep breath. “Space is not as friendly place as we were led to believe. Can I have that tablet, Squadron Leader? Thank You.” Tapping the controls for the holoprojector, Dustin logged into Sola’s databanks and pulled up the imagery from the encounter with the pirate asteroid.

“We encountered hostile forces, pirates more capable than we’d been led to believe as well as other entities…” another video feed - this time the helmet camera footage of the multi-limbed alien. “…attempting sabotage on colony worlds.” The footage of the fight where Trea’k and Yril’k nearly lost their lives played as he continued “…clear signs of hostile species attacking civilian craft…” and then finally the sensor data from the destruction of Naera’s home “…and even some with xenocidal intent.” He paused, eyes roaming over the massed ranks. Some of the pilots looked shocked, others had gritted their teeth - he remembered a conversation with Axworth about how he was recruiting from everywhere, not just the military and continued. “We believe - as do our friends - that the more unknown elements in these encounters may be linked. Our new mission from the council as a result is to find ‘evidence’ of these hostile agents and research them as best we can.”

Going back to the first of the images, Dustin began to fill in more detail, taking his time to go over as much as he thought important about each encounter. Reaching the end, he gestured in the vague direction of his ship. “Once aboard Sola, our security chief Yril’k and your Squadron Leader will make the full files available to you. If you have any questions on reviewing the data, please ask them - we’re one team on my craft, and I want to make sure all parts of that team are functioning to full efficiency in dealing with this threat.”

Axworth coughed at that point, and Dustin turned to him. “You want to add something, General?” The old man flashed him a grin, before reaching for the tablet. “Just want to share a little bit of news to you and the galaxy at large, Ambassador. This next bit is currently as confidential - if not more so - than the news about hostile alien forces. Ambassador, you do of course have permission to share it - with your chief engineer in particular, and the senior staff in general at your discretion; I’ve already been in touch with the Artificer-General regarding this.” Dustin blinked. What on Earth could Axworth have that would need to involve the leader of the Rabyth?

“Humans, as a whole, tend to take being told that a thing is impossible rather personally.” Axworth began, prodding the tablet into playing a video of images from history. “Crossing the seas, flight, reaching the moon, splitting the atom - all impossibles we made possible. Well, up until earlier this year, we were told that small-scale weave travel was one of those things. It required a massive amount of power to shift dimensions, so a minimum ship size to allow for the necessary reactor was needed.” Another image appeared, this time showing the same kind of fighter Sammie had flown. “As you are all aware, there is a large empty space built into these craft. Some of you have suggested it is additional storage to allow us to use them in times of peace as small cargo shuttles - and indeed, that is also possible. However, the main purpose…” here, the image shifted to one showing a strange framed orb-like machine being lowered into place by figures in hazmat suits.

“…the main purpose is to allow the craft to hold additional systems. One of which is this.” The picture cut to the orb-like machine. “Following on from Dustin’s encounter reporting that person-sized weave transmit was possible, we took a look at the design data the Velca government shared with us. Turns out, they’re right - you can’t make a drive the way they do without it being large. But - we’re humans. We don’t like impossible - and so some boffins in a lab provided us with this. Coastwood?”

Sammie stepped forward and gestured to the screen. “The prototype or mark one ‘Pluto’ class short-usage Weave-engine. This unit has a limited lifespan and shorter range than traditional engines, and can’t move as much mass. On the other hand, it can fit any space that’ll hold about four crates of beer and runs so power-light that the reactors in our fighters can spool it up to full jump capability - albeit slower than normal. Thanks to some clever charging circuits, we can power these things on our MW micro-fusions - but they take about two and a half times longer to drop in and out of the weave than a normal drive.” One hand was raised among the packed ranks - a short, wiry looking guy who looked barely old enough to have joined up. “So you’re saying we’ve managed to build something the science nerds thought was impossible? Fuck yea, go Humanity.” Sammie grinned before realizing she was in the presence of two senior officers and coughed. “Language, pilot. But yes, go humanity.” Dustin couldn’t help but join in when the cheer of “go humanity” echoed around the room.