Two days ago:

The watch officer saw a blip towards the outer system, near the further gas giant.

A tiny ripple in gravity.

She thumbed a button on the laser link to the station above All Mother "Command? Watch station three. I have a jump signature near Smithy. Coordinates follow." It was not unheard of for ships to visit, but Scouts always jumped in much closer. This was something else. The Patrol would look into it.

She went back to her duties.

----

Seeker of Hidden Truths sat in the command seat for Divessen Station. The only reason she was seated here was because all the command staff were in a briefing with the Council.

Many, many years ago her ancestor had met and bonded with a Scout whose ship had been destroyed by the raiders that had plagued their planet. That had led to the destruction of the raiders, and a vague alliance with the Scouts.

Sixty years ago, her great-grandmother had left to join the Scouts. Her return saw the building of the station, the establishment of the Patrol, and much more.

Now, she served as an apprentice. But, when no-one else was available...

A message came in - an arriving ship, near the gas giant Smithy. That was the behaviour of either someone taking a shortcut, in which case no harm, or a raider. And for them they had a special welcome.

"Findottier, this is Command. Jump sign at these coordinates. Monitor and investigate under stealth if no departure in eight hours" she transmitted to the newest of their patrol boats.

Seeker then sent a copy of the information and the orders to the Council.

---

An hour later she was summoned to Council. She walked in, and bowed to the elders. "I am Seeker of Hidden Truths, I come as summoned."

"You have done well, Seeker" came a familiar voice from the assembled Elders. It was her great-grandmother! "We have determined that you are to maintain command of this situation until it is resolved. Do you accept this commission?"

Seeker took a moment to find her voice "I ... I accept the Council's commission."

"Very good. Remember that even in command, you are not alone."

"Thank-you, Elder."

"To your duties, Seeker"

And with that, she almost ran back to the command centre.

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Now:

Under the watchful gaze of the patrol ship, Athena docked with the orbital spaceport above the fourth planet.

By this stage they had a full accounting of the damage. Number 2 turret had a jammed canister in the launcher, the tiny 6-seat launch had a score of shrapnel holes in the hull, there were gaping holes in both the cargo hold and the engine room. Two reactors were inoperative. One of the reaction drives was wrecked, and the hyperspace jump coils had been mangled.

The only miracle was that the actual cargo appeared undamaged.

As they had approached, it became clear that this was in no way an uninhabited system. The space dock had an almost constant stream of craft of all sizes coming and going. What their equipment did not show was any sign of ships making the jump to hyperspace, and the distinctive gravitational ripple it caused.

"All hands secure stations" the all-crew channel crackled.
Then on Alaine's private channel "Alaine to the bridge." That was the Captain.
"Aye, Captain!" was his prompt response.

When he arrived, the Captain pointed to his PDU. "You've seen the damage assessment?"
"Yes Captain!"
"If your family's yard had us in, how long to fix it?"
"At a rough guess, a couple of months."
"And here?"
"I don't know. I've seen the report that no jump traces have been seen. If they don't have that, we could be here a very long time."
"And yet they speak our language, and have our frequencies."

Alaine was about to reply, when the ship's radio crackled to life again "Heavy Trader Athena, this is Divesen Station Control. You are ordered to present all able-bodied crew to the Station Council. If you have non-ambulant crew, they will be attended by our medical teams. Your ship will be held under seal until you return from your meeting with the Council."

"That did not sound friendly," Alaine observed.
The Captain grimaced "No, but by the same token, it was not unfriendly, either. At the very least they are offering medical aid. Not that we need it."
"But Captain, all of us?"
"You know the first rule, Alaine?"
"Local customs must be observed."
"And now we have to learn them."

--------- End Part One -------

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One day ago:

The all-ship intercom chimed "All hands, all hands, stand by for re-entry into normal space."
The announcement was an old tradition going back to the first days of hyperspace travel. Alaine was in his bunk, and put down his PDU. While there were a handful of people who reacted badly to the hyperspace transition, most could not even detect that it had taken place. As a result spacers often tried to see if they could tell when the transition took place.

A few moments later, the intercom chimed again "We are now in normal space. Resume duties." Alaine had not felt a thing. He shrugged, and looked at the clock. On duty in 30 minutes. He got up, had a wash, and went to the galley.

Dyani the second gunner and sometimes passenger steward looked up from her bowl of spicy soup. He'd tried it once, and it had nearly taken his head off. "Hiya kid. You got your calcs for a gas giant worked?" she asked.

His final assignment the night before had been to work out optimal fuel scooping trajectories for either of the two gas giants in the uninhabited system they were heading for.

In the year that he'd been aboard, his days had been 8 hours work, 8 hours study, and 8 hours sleep. And snatching the odd bite on the fly. But that was what it took if he was going to pass any exams when they next hit a Board testing centre.

"Yes, Ma'am" as a junior, everyone was "Sir" or "Ma'am" to him. Or "Captain".
"Good. Eat, and run it by Suri."
"Yes, Ma'am." And he got himself a small bowl of dried fruits, nuts, and flakes of grain. He had no idea what any of them were, but they combined to make something that was almost familiar.

He was just finishing his breakfast, when the lights went red. "All hands, all hands, we are being painted with a targeting radar. Suit up, and prepare to take fire."

Pirates? Here? Why would they be hanging around in an uninhabited system? Then Alaine realized. Someone at the last port had figured out what they were probably going to do, and had arrived to lay in wait for them.

He suited up, and went aft. Sparks the engineer was waiting for him. "OK, kid. We check the gauges, run the diagnostics, and then come back to the airlock. They'll probably target the engine room first, so we don't want to be in there if it gets hit."
"Yes Ma'am!"

He could feel the two turrets firing off chaff and pebble canisters.

The two of them completed the checks, and reported to the bridge that all was good. Then they retreated to the airlock, and closed both doors.

Several minutes passed.

Then the explosions started.

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Now:

By the time the mystery patrol ship Findottier was in visual range, Sparks and Alaine had got the deck gravitics up and running - not perfectly, but good enough for the ship to run at 1G and for the floor to be the floor.

The bridge sent an image of it to all the displays aboard, in case anyone recognized the class. It was certainly unusual.

Unlike themselves and all the common classes of ships, this ship did not have any visible turrets. Instead it appeared to have missile tubes along its sides, like an ancient sailing ship. And there were no visible laser mounts at all.

"Well, Alaine, you grew up around a shipyard, ever see anything like that?" Sparks asked.

Alaine studied the wedge shaped craft. "In layout it sort of reminds me of a Scout, but much, much bigger. And I've never seen a weapon setup like that before. I wonder where they - oh, look!" He pointed at some barely visible patches on the hull. "The laser mounts must retract!"

The Captain's voice came over the radio "All hands, make secure. We are instructed to make our way to the fourth planet, which appears to be the primary. There is a space dock and repair facility there. ETA 22 hours." Then, on the engineering channel "Alaine, if Sparks can spare you, please assist Engle and Yaani in assessing damage to the cargo."
"Yes, Captain!"

Five hours later Alaine was exhausted - he, like the rest of the crew had been up for over a day. Engle, the First Mate, had sent him off to eat, and to get a few hours sleep.

It took him some time to get to sleep, despite his exhaustion. But once there, he slept hard. Eventually he awoke to the sound of his alarm going off. Six hours sleep.
"Alaine?" It was Yaani.
"Mm, yeah?" he still wasn't completely awake.
"Captain wants you on bridge. You're backing Grendel as co-pilot."
"Grendel? Isn't she on guns?"
"She's got an in-system licence. You're to back her up."
"Right." Alaine shook himself awake, pulled on a new skinsuit, and put his pressure suit on over it, helmet folded back.

He stopped by the little galley and made himself a drink to take with him. The rich, slightly sweet aroma filled the tiny space. He made one for Grendel as well, adding a pinch of spices, as was her preference. Capping the mugs, he entered the bridge. He could see Suri and the Captain standing, waiting and Grendel in the pilot's seat. "Good, you're here Alaine. Take your place."
"Yes, Captain. I have co-pilot."
"Very good. Grendel?"
"I have the con."
"You have the con. Buzz my cabin when we are one hour out."
"Acknowledged."

Alaine handed Grendel the drink he'd prepared.

"Thanks, Alaine. You'll see multiple incoming ships on the display. Our new friend says they are the local search and rescue teams, checking for survivors from the pirate ship."

"After it got nuked?"

"They say they have to check."

(reposted into thread)

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One week ago:

Alaine was on the bridge, shadowing Suri the navigator. She was only a couple of years older than him, but still called him "kid" like everyone else aboard.

"OK kid. Let's see your plan" she held out her hand for his PDU.
He handed it over asking "Why head for an uninhabited system, though?"
"There's a good market for the fabrication units just beyond. We could stop off at a couple of other planets first, but if we take the short-cut, we can arrive in time for a big industrial fair at their capital."
"So we stop off once, refuel from an iceball or gas giant, and carry on."
"Yep. OK, look at my calculations now" Suri pointed at her screen.

"I think I must be getting the hang of astrogation. That looks identical to mine!" Alaine exclaimed excitedly.
"Not so fast kid" the screen changed "This is the calculation I did last night."
"Wait, so what was the other one?"
"That was what I thought you'd do."
Alaine's face fell "I'm not getting it am I?"
Suri grinned "It isn't too bad, kid. You made the same mistake I would have made two years ago. Wencell, the navigator before me pulled the same trick on me. Off you go, and compare the two. Tell me where you went wrong over dinner."
"Yes Ma'am."

Alaine went back to the cabin he shared with the other spacehand, Yaani, and sat at the desk, going over the calculations. After about half an hour he found his error - he'd gotten the mass wrong for one of the outer planets. A minor error, but one that would have placed them light-weeks away from their intended destination. Not a fatal error, but it would have cost them most of the time they were trying to save.

Yaani came in, all 80 kilograms and 110cm of them. Yaani could also bench over 400kg, having come from a high-G world. "Whatcha got there, kid?"
"Suri's nav calcs for the next jump. I was shadowing her."
"She put up what she thought you'd do?"
"Yeah. I'm to tell her where I went wrong at dinner."
"You got an answer for her?"
"Yep."
"Good on ya. It took me nearly a week when she did that to me. I just ain't got the head for astrogation."
That made Alaine feel a little better. Mind you, Yaani had an almost instinctive sense for cargo packing, and was usually working with Engle, who acted as the Load Master.

He wrote up his error in detail, ready for dinner.

(reposted into thread)

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