he adventures of the Star Traveler Andromeda that started in Among the Stars, Beyond the Farthest Planet, and So Far From Home, continues in the final chapter The Voyage Home.
CHAPTER 10 A
Kacey stepped off the lift and onto the Bridge to take her seat. The stars in the view screen were a blur as the ship hurried to get out of the way of the storm.
"Well done, lass."
"Thanks dad. I am glad it worked."
"Was there ever any doubt?"
"A little until we actually got underway. There were a lot of things that could have gone wrong."
"Ah, but they did not."
"We managed to go almost seventeen million kilometers since yesterday." Rhea informed her. "Those masses are no longer on our sensors."
"I hope it was enough. I have the troops prepping the ships and Hanger in case that storm shifts and we get bounced around."
"Were you able to get any sleep?"
"Not a whole lot. A couple of the guys spent their down time cutting a few cords of wood. I think a busy saw mill would have been quieter."
Kate winced. "My first roommate at the academy was like that. I ended up having to request a room change. I mean this woman was so loud that nothing worked. I tried everything earphones, ear plugs, even noise redactors and nothing helped."
Kacey laughed. "I lucked out with Mike. He did not snore, picked up after himself, even put the toilet seat down. He was a great roommate." She stated. "How long before we know that we are in the clear from that storm?"
"Two hours to be on the safe side." Anya responded.
"Are you planning on going back out?" Kate asked.
"No I have the mechanics going through the shuttles to make sure towing Andromeda did not put any strain on or blow any systems."
"How about joining me for a coffee?"
"If you are buying, I am drinking."
"Commander you have the Bridge." They walked off the Bridge and into the Ready Room. Kacey noticed the breakfast tray on the desk. "Anya brought me breakfast this morning because I slept here." Kate held up her hands. "I wanted to be close in case there were any problems. I should have known better. You pulled off another one little sister. Well done."
"Thanks Kate."
"Tell me, at any time other than the permission jitters, did you doubt it would work?"
"Yeah, when we could not go over warp 5. According to all the calculations we should have been able to hit and maintain warp six. I spent some time during the night when I was unable to sleep thinking about that. I think the problem was that the shuttles were not in the exact places they should have been to get the maximum results. Even having just one shuttle off by half a centimeter made the calculations worthless.""
"What the Hell are you talking about? Why are you being so critical of yourself. We managed to get almost seventeen million kilometers away."
"I overlooked something. We could have gone further. Should have been able..."
"Kacey stop. Your plan worked. We were able to put a great deal of distance between us and who ever the Hell they are. We now have close to a three weeks lead. If this storm continues on it's trajectory it will erase all traces of our old propulsion trail. I believe it is safe to say that we escaped them. Be happy with the results. I certainly am."
"Is that an order Captain?"
"If I have to make it one I will." Kate stated with a smile. "Now finish your coffee and get some sleep."
"I have to write up my after action report first."
"The report can wait. Listen, stretch out on my couch for a couple hours then you can write your report." Kate went to the closet and pulled out the blanket and pillow she used earlier. Kacey hesitated until an arched eyebrow told her it was a lost battle. She finished her coffee and leaned down to remove her boots. Kacey walked to the couch and sat down.
"Only for two hours, Kate."
Kate pushed her head down on the pillow and pulled the blanket up. Kacey closed her eyes. Kate watched her for several minutes until the slow steady breathing told her Kacey was asleep. She quietly left the Ready Room.
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Kate sat behind her desk working on her never ending reports when the restless tossing, told her Kacey was waking up. Kate brought her a coffee as her eyes opened and she stretched before she sat up.
"Thanks Kate. What time is it?"
"Fifteen forty hours."
"What? Damn it Kate I said no more than two hours." Kacey complained.
"Why? There is nothing going on. We left the storm far behind. It is clear flying. Your pilots are out and everything is under control. You managed to get some sleep, so no big deal. Suck it up Colonel." Kate ordered.
"Are we really in the clear?"
"According to our sensors we are. Those masses are long gone and that storm headed right for them so it wiped out or at least scattered our last propulsion trails." The chime sounded. "Come in." Natalia walked in carrying a covered container which she placed on the coffee table in front of Kacey.
"Thank you sweetheart." Her stomach rumbled. She blushed. "I could not face the thought of survival rations for breakfast this morning." She removed the cover and began to eat lunch.
"Anya has our course plotted and our way is still clear." Natalia stated as she sat next to Kacey.
"That is welcomed news. I am ready for a few quiet days." Kacey said between bites.
"Does a video conference fall into that category?" Kate asked.
"When?"
"Tomorrow eleven hundred hours."
"I guess it is to be expected now that we are on our home turf. Guess that means I have to get all my reports finished today."
"Does that mean you will be late tonight?"
"No, I can work on them from our quarters."
"Then do not be late, I am making your favorite for dinner." Natalia ordered and left the room.
"Sounds like the boss has spoken." Kate joked.
"Oh yeah." Kacey laughed. "Besides you are one to talk. I know for a fact that you check your rank at your door."
"Very true and I am not ashamed to admit it."
Kacey finished her lunch, before she put her boots on. "I had better get started on those reports before the conference tomorrow. Thanks for the use of your couch." She picked up her tray and headed for the door.
Kacey dropped the tray off in the Mess Hall before she continued to her office. She stopped briefly to check the flight board, then continued her journey. The lights came on when the door opened. She ordered a coffee from the replicator and turned her computer on before she went into the bathroom to take care of her personal needs and slap cold water on her face.
Back behind her desk, she sipped her coffee as she waited for the reports file to open. Kacey started with the after action report of their last effort. She worked steadily for the rest of the afternoon, stopping only for bio breaks and refilling her coffee cup. She sent the completed reports to Kate and the Joint Chiefs. She checked the time, grabbed the folders she would need to finish her reports and headed to her quarters.
CHAPTER 10 B
"Good morning sirs." Kate said, as the faces of Admiral Tacher and General Millhouse filled to monitor."
"Good morning Captain." The Admiral stated. "Colonel."
"Sirs." Kacey said, from her seat next to Kate.
"It is good to see you back in this quadrant. From your reports your have had a very successful and exciting mission."
"It has not been dull Admiral." Kate stated. "My only regret was there was no habitable planets after we left Brin to place a communications tower and that Ceres was unavailable."
"You needed to leave something for future flights, Captain. If that is the only part of your mission not completed, do not worry. We already consider your mission to be a success. Our scientists and engineers have been working on a communications satellite for outside the belt."
"Thank you Admiral."
"Now let's get the unpleasant business out of the way first. I have looked into the backgrounds of Alistair and Albert Devoe. You were correct. Albert did take his brother's place on your crew. What made you suspicious that you had the wrong brother?"
"It was Colonel O'Malley who initiated this investigation. I will let her explain."
"Admiral we had problems coming through the Kuiper Belt which knocked out our sensor and navigation boards. I did a quick repair job as a temporary fix to get us through the belt. Once we were through and could stop to make full repairs, I instructed Ensign Devoe to replace all the wires going to those consoles. He only wanted to replace the damaged wires, I marked all the ones to be replaced. He argued against replacing everything as it would take a few hours to complete. Even after I pointed out that just because the insulation was not damaged did not mean the wires were whole. It took a direct order from Captain Jensen to get him to work." Kacey paused. "I must stop in this narrative to tell you that I am partially to blame for what happened next because I did not check that the task was completes to specification."
"So noted, Colonel. Please continue."
"We came under attack which caused some minor hull damage and took down our shields over the infected area. The wires overheated and ultimately caused a fire which melted the insulation. This caused the wires to arc against each other and resulted in an explosions. The explosion injured Captain Jensen, Lieutenant Commanders Torino and Jensen, Ensign O'Malley, which resulted in there being held in Sick Bay over night. In addition the explosion injured Commander O'MMalley as well as minor injuries to several other Bridge Crew."
"I do not understand Colonel. According to the after action reports from Captain Jensen and Commander O'Malley, you were in no way responsible for the explosion."
"It was an oversight on my part sir. I should have taken the time to check his work. I had Lieutenant Colonel Anderson pull every part of the damaged consoles. He brought in two civilian electrical engineers and together they went over each and every centimeter of the consoles and wiring. They discovered that Ensign Devoe did not change all the wires as ordered."
"You know this for a fact Colonel?" General Millhouse asked.
"Yes sir. As I stated earlier, I marked all the wires. When I checked under the console right after I came back on board after the explosion, I checked the damage and found the marked wires. That was when I called in Lieutenant Colonel Anderson Anderson. Let me backtrack for a minute. I called Lt Colonel Anderson after I yelled at Ensign Devoe when he showed up on the Bridge to help with the repairs."
"What made you suspect that the Ensign was not the right one?" Admiral Tacker inquired.
"He was one of the people sent to the Bridge to make repairs. As I said, I yelled at him, called him incompetent and ordered him off the Bridge. When the examination proved that the wires were the cause of the explosion, I thought that it was strange that Kate allowed him on the ship. I pulled up his academy records and found that he was one half of a set of identical twins. I brought all the information and my suspicions to Captain Jensen."
"Captain what are your plans concerning Ensign Devoe?"
"We will hold an informal hearing, now that we are away from our attackers. I have been told that Colonel O'Malley and her people have set up some sort of test to prove his actions are responsible for the explosion."
"How did he manage to last so long without getting caught?"
"He kept a very low profile and never brought attention to himself. He never went out of his way to do anything. That is the reason he is the last original Ensign on Andromeda."
"Captain you have the ultimate authority to handle this situation as you see fit."
"Thank you sir."
"Now what about this latest report we received. Did the shuttles actually tow Andromeda?"
"Yes sir they did. We have sent video evidence of it."
"How did this all come about?"
"We were suspicious of the masses as they had the exact make up as a race we ran into in our first year."
"That was the Xenophobic race?"
"Correct Admiral. What made them go from a pacifist race to an aggressive race, we have no way of knowing. They followed us, slowly decreasing the amount of distance between us. They had moved their ships to cover three sides of Andromeda. Colonel O'Malley had her people take the ships that were equipped with cloaking devices to investigate them. What they were able to find out was the masses hid war ships that had fusion pulse canons that were electron charged. Our shields could not withstand that sort of fire power. They also possessed chronoton shielding that our weapons would not be able to penetrate. I made the decision to bug out. We could not wait until all the shuttles and stingers landed due to the one shot they were able to fire. We left the area and rendezvoused when it was safe. Unfortunately it was then the consoles exploded. Once Colonel O'Malley was able to land, she made the decision to land on a planetoid to make repairs. Colonel O'Malley found that they were tracking us using our propulsion trails and came up with the plan to install exhaust scrubbers on all the smaller ships, shut down Andromeda's engines, closed the blast shields and tow the ship."
"We had help also sir. An ion storm came between us and them." Kacey added.
"Colonel you have a really bad habit of not taking the full credit for your accomplishments." General Millhouse stated. "That is something you really have to work on."
Kate laughed. "I tell her that frequently, sir."
"I cannot take credit for something that is a group effort. Everyone from Captain Jensen to the lowest crewman helped pull this off."
"Never the less, take credit for coming up with the ideas."
"Yes sir, I will work on that." Kacey stated.
"From this point, what is your schedule?"
"We will stop at Athena for at least a week, then for another week on Eternus before we make the final push for home. By my calculations, that will bring us to Earth by the end of June."
"Take a few extra days, Captain and aim for four July. The third Star Traveler is set to launch on thirty June."
"Certainly sir. We will be able to see the launch if we time it right."
"A fitting send off Captain." Admiral Tacker stated. "When do you expect to land on Athena?"
"Barring no problems in approximately four to five weeks."
"Let's schedule our next conference for then."
"Certainly sir."
"Between now and the time you return to Earth, think about where you want to go in your careers. General Millhouse and I can almost guarantee any posting you choose."
"Thank you sirs." The said together. "We will definitely give it some thought." Kate added. We will let you know the exact date that we will land on Athena."
"Very good Captain. Is there anything more we need to discuss General?" The Admiral asked.
"I believe we have covered everything for now."
"Very well. Any other topics you want to discuss Captain?"
Kate looked at Kacey who shook her head no. "We are set here Admiral."
"Then have a continued safe journey." The screen went dark.
Kate poured them each a coffee from the carafe on her desk.
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The Space Agency building was a gleaming edifice to the tenacity of the human race. The main conference room where the Joint Chiefs held court, only had two occupied chairs as the conference call ended.
"Tuck, we cannot let those two leave the service." Admiral Tacher stated.
"That is true Charles. This country, Hell this world needs more officers like that."
"I am ready to submit my recommendation to the President."
"I will set up the appointment.
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Kate sat next to Kacey after the conference ended.
"Did you get the feeling that they were angling for something?" Kacey asked.
"Angling? What do you mean?"
"We have had, what, at least thirty of these calls and this is the first time they have mentioned anything about life after this mission is over."
"Maybe or they are just trying to decide what to do with us after we get home."
"Are you still thinking about retiring?"
"I am undecided. Anya on the other hand is definitely leaning that way. Dad has already said he is. You?"
"I still want a training command, but who knows. That may change if we decide to have more children.
Kate's jaw dropped.