Fort Ticonderoga - episode 1 : Adrift

Cast of Characters ;

***

Name : Phillip John Irving Stephanie Graf

Rank : master - commanding officeholder

Call Sign : Pig

History : He was born on old earth in the area known as the Western district of magnetic north US. As a youth he was a problem maker this, being virtually unheard of in his C, forced the military to treat with him. He was given a choice. Join the United Planets public security keeping and research strength or be remanded for mental conditioning to fix his behavioural job. His career in the armed forces was a great instance of how not to advance. After XX years he was still only a lilliputian officer third class. That was when he was caught pulling off his worst misdemeanour yet. Fleet Admiral Tigrat caught him in bed with his wife, and both of his daughter, at the same time. Phillip was doomed to go back to understructure social status again. But instead the admiral made him an pass. Find a wife, get promoted to captain, with a ship, and go deep.

Description : He is six infantry tall, with jet nigrify fuzz and brown eyes. His body character is thin and muscular with tan skin tone.

Mate : Mrs Millishia Jaunu Steppen-Graves

***

Name : Mrs. Millishia Jaunu Steppen-Graves

social station : Commander - Ships science military officer and one-quarter in command

Call Sign : Marijuana

chronicle : She was born a simple farm girl in the midwestern United States district of magnetic north U.S.. She led an cautionary life, with no problems, until she came of age. Then she found she had a taste for bad male child. To try and inhibit her appetite for self destructive behavior, she joined the service. Her career was in commodity order and she was well-chosen after five old age but she longed to go deep. The lone trouble was you had to be married and no one was asking. There was also the trouble of Phillip ; she thought he was just dreamy. He was everything she wanted in a bad boy, but his vocation meant he would never even manage to take a crap it into distance. She only had one Thomas More social rank to go then she could go. That would take another six calendar month. Then she was broadsided by a doubtfulness she never thought any man would ask."volition you marry me I need a wife before I can go deep ?"

Description : She is a five foot six inch tall, blonde haired, blue eyed beauty, with metier sized white meat. Her body dash is lithe and athletic.

Mate : Phillip Irving Graves

***

gens : King James I Arthur Mitchell Penzo

social station : master copy gaffer Petty Officer - Chief engineer and mechanic.

phone call mark : Jazz hands

history : He was born on the emerald isle of Europe. He was a good kid and went to college. After school day he joined the service to set up a little nest egg. There he met his wife and fell in lovemaking. He had a promising vocation ahead of him, and then everything hit the fan. He discovered the medicinal effects of the engine solvent. Just a little nip of it could make any man felicitous. He stayed happy a lot after that. When he was found out, he was offered a choice, military separation or he and his wife go deep.

Description : He is five foot eight in magniloquent with dreary green middle and brown pilus. His body case is thick-skulled with just a svelte spare tire.

Mate : Leafa Tiski Mikia-Penzo

***

Name : Mrs. Leafa Tiski Mikia-Penzo

social station : elderly chieftain Petty officer - headman of off ship security.

shout Sign : Demoness

story : She was born on her indigen world of Liskia. She is unattackable and riotous and excelled in her career as war machine law, until her husband introduced her to the result. Everything still worked well for them until she was called out on an pinch while she was extremely happy. Six weeks later she boarded her new vas, The UP Ticonderoga.

description : She is six foot two inches tall. Her race has red tegument and hairsbreadth with light grey oculus. Many people say they look like the mythical demon, right down to the two tufts of hair on their foreheads that resembled saddle horn. Her body type is reduce and lithe with a fountainhead defined muscle tone.

teammate : King James Maria Mitchell Penzo

***
name : Malcolm Leroy Libbshitz

Rank : deputy junior ground level - xeno-biologist.

birdcall Sign : baby buster

History : He is a native of Ling, a human colony, joined the serving to go deep, he wanted the life of an explorer, he was also married and his wife joined at the same fourth dimension looking to ship out with him. He is an expert in xeno-botany and xeno-zoology and loves to study new species of both plants and creature.

description : He is five groundwork eight inches tall with mousy blonde hairsbreadth and disconsolate oculus. His consistence case is slim down and non muscular.

Mate : Melonie Michelle Russel-Libbshitz

***

figure : Melonie Michelle Russel-Libbshitz

membership : police lieutenant Jnr Grade - ships doctor.

Call mark : Melons

story : She is a native of Ling, a human colony, and was married to her college sweetheart. She joined the service to go cryptical with him.

description : She is five human foot six inches tall with platinum blonde whisker and very vauntingly breasts. He eubstance character is voluptuous.

mate : Malcolm Leroy Libbshitz

***

epithet : Lorka Dumont Willock

social rank : air force officer - security ship's officer, moment in command.

Call preindication : Mountain

History : He is a Tithian warrior. Born on Tithia and joined the armed service to get a chance to do fight in this time of peace. He is very popular with the ladies because his raceway believes that dear play should be as legal tender as war is violent.

Description : At well over seven feet magniloquent and four one C and fifty pounds of solid muscle he is by far the magnanimous member of the crew, except for his wife. His total darkness peel looks like a trace cum to life-time. The simply break in his darkness is his red eyes.

Mate : Tanka Lundt Cravis-Willock

***

Name : Tanka Lundt Cravis-Willock

Rank : Commander - Weapons officer, third base in command

call option Sign : Mt. Everest

chronicle : She is a distaff Tithian warrior. She joined the service with her husband, in the hopes of finding engagement. She is a foot taller than her married man, and a hell of a lot meaner.

Description : She is eight feet four column inch tall with shadow calamitous tegument and red eyes. Her body eccentric is extremely muscular.

Mate : Lorka Dumont Willock


-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

I stared at the blank aspect covert in nominal head of me. My ship had been adrift for three days. There was only one problem when you were deep ; there was no one to serve when you hit difficulty. The penny-pinching ship to us was two months travel away. It had taken us two class to get this far out.

"leaving deep"is a euphemism for getting lost. We were sent out here to find inhabitable planet that we could colonise or imagination we could mine for. The fun part, the pattern say the offset crewman to set infantry on a planet gets to make the planet.

The united races had managed to colonize or mining encampment every rock and roll for sixty unhorse years around earth. We were one hundred and twenty out. It took about a twelvemonth to travel sixty light years with the razz parkway as it was called. It got its name because the thing and antimatter blowup inside it made it sound like it was snorting. We could put up with the annoying auditory sensation to trip at sixty times the speed of light source. The job right now is our snorter had a stopped up nose.

I thumbed the communications panel on my chair to life story."Jazz men, What the hell is taking so long down there ? If you are nipping at the solvent again I'm going to select you off of easing rotation for two weeks."

"Not a chance, Pig, I am trying to repair the tinker's dam damage those cockbiter rats did to the engine wiring. The have intercourse fiddling beasties chewed through every lighting wire in the main fire control cabinet."

"How long before we have locomotive business leader again ?"

"Another day at least, we have over a G wires to replace in this cabinet."

"That is what you said yesterday, the day before, and the day before that, damn it, I want this ship moving by the end of this rotation !"

"sea captain, even if I get this repaired that is no guarantee we will be able to move. We have no mind what else they damaged before we could bolt down the niggling bastards. Go take a relief break and let me do my tinker's dam job."

I stalked off of the nosepiece. The damn rise were down so I had to climb down the access ladders to get to the crew decks. I guess we could send for ourselves favourable ; those little varment had not reached the living support equipment yet. Twenty cockbiter rats had managed to chew through our main baron command, lift control condition systems, helm command interlink, navigation, and railway locomotive fire command in less than twenty four hours. Twenty rats had crippled a ship, with bunch of one hundred mass on board. Only portion knows what else was damaged. Jazz Hands was right I needed strain relief ; it was sentence to head to the crew lounge.

There is a John R. Major set of prescript about going inscrutable. The first one is all crew members must be mated couple. The second rule is all relationships are open on the ship. When off duty personnel need stress relief any off obligation person of the opposite gender is usable to them, unless they are in their slumber cycle. Any Same sex amour are not forestall but are clear to be refused. Your quarters were kept monogamous, only you and your married person enjoyed that location. The lounge is where you go to fix up amour with former crew members. That is also where the"training"room are. There is one for just about every appreciation, from the pleasant to the downright kinky.

Rank has its privilege as well. bidding officers are allowed to shoot stress breakout during duty if there is no pressing pauperism for their attentions. As of right hand now, there was no pressing need for me. I could not command this ship to propel if I were a god.

I no sooner walked into the lounge when Melonie saw me and came over. I knew what she was after, she loved my oral techniques."Need some strain sculptural relief, captain ?"

"At least a week's Charles Frederick Worth, Melons."I said as I took her by the arm and guided her towards the bar."I believe the gentlewoman is drinking a cobalt breaker, and I would enjoy a calum tea."I told the bartender as I caressed melon abdomen. I always enjoyed her very large breast and today would be no exception.

When we received our drunkenness, she took a sip from hers then asked,"Floaty ?"

"That sounds like a wonderful theme,"I nodded towards the one of the zero-G way. When we entered the room I adjusted the control on the holographic showing to make it look like we were in the swarm. I had seen enough asterisk already today. All of them stars I couldn't reach. We attached the lid to our glasses so our crapulence would not float out and then I touched the activate button. Watching her white meat suddenly float upward as the somberness stopped was an awing kickshaw. We floated in the air together as I started to discase her. As was criterion when in the lounge, her clothing was dim-witted and easy to absent. She wore a pullover shirt and miniskirt with no panties on underneath. Her place were simple slippers very comfortable and quite attractive. The slight static charge caused by pulling her shirt over her head caused her hair to stand out like a hallo of atomic number 78 blond silk. By a lot of standard this woman would be considered overweight. She weighed about twenty pound sterling over nonesuch weight for her five base six inch frame. To me the extra gentleness just made her voluptuous.

Once her apparel were floating around the way like cast off feathers, she started to disrobe me. My uniform was a little more rarify to hit. It was a yobbo button up pants and shirt, with a jacket over it, all in black. The shoes were polished perfection in smutty instinctive leather. Underneath it all was my regulation underclothing, also fatal. Add the dark grey-haired bang and thorax bandoleer as well as my headwaiter's hat to the wholly affair and I looked like a rail monkey. Soon all of these clothes were floating around the room as well.

I pulled Melons to me and began to snog the skin of her neck and breast. This elicited several moan of delight. Her legs wrapped around my stomach and squeezed me intemperate enough to be slightly painful. She began to turn her hips rubbing her pert keister on the top of my dick. I was very tempt to take what she was offering right then but I had former approximation. Zero-G has one real advantage to making love on any surface. I guided her legs out from around me as she pouted with those to the full sassing that were just made for what I had in judgment. Once she was unfreeze I spun her in the air and brought her legs around to my face. There in front of my eyes was a low landing strip of platinum blond haircloth that pointed right to the object of my desire. I moved my head forward and inhaled the sweetness of her arousal. With deliberate slowness I extended my spit and began to make small circles through that sweet landing comic strip.

I felt her mouth as she started to lap and buss along the shaft of my cock. Her mouth and lips were delicious fondness on my hide. The quivering of her moan made my cock jump and vellication as I touched the tip of my tongue to her clitoris and flipped it quickly back and forth. I nearly forgot what I was doing when I felt my cock slide down her throat. She was so legato and hot on the inside. I moved both of my hands around her delightful bottom and started wetting my fingers in the dearest flowing from her tight pussy. When I felt her legs starting to tighten around my head, I slid two fingers from one paw into her blind drunk pussy. My halfway finger of my early manus pushed into her silklike asshole. I started pumping my fingers in and out of her at different speeds. Sometimes they would be moving in and out together, others they would be in a counterpoint rhythm.

I felt her belly Menachem Begin to tighten and hover against my chest of drawers. Then her legs slammed shut on my principal like a clamp. Her current was floating in droplets around my head as she orgasmed. While she was still vibrating and shaking through her orgasm I spun her through the air until I was behind her. I plunged the distance of my rock hard pecker into her from bottom. She let out a moan that was bordering on a riot. I began to pounding with all my might as we floated in the air. Then we both arched our backs as we thundered into our orgasms together.

Ten moment later we left the floaty room freshly showered. As we exited the room, I set the controls to clean and sterilize the room. I kissed melon and left her drinking and smiling at the bar. As I was walking out of the bar, the entirely ship lurched and then vibrated with a moan that sounded like it was dying.

I slapped the communication theory control panel at the doorway."nothingness manpower, are we moving ?"

"Yes sir, but not under our own power any more."James answered.

"What do you think of any more ?"

"We got the system online, and fired the engines up. They immediately shut down. It seems our inactiveness control organisation is down as well."

"Security I want every one of those shucks scab killed again."

"Sir, we have no arm restraint, would you like my married woman and I to shed rocks at their floating clay ?"mass said back facetiously.

"No, throw Buster at them ; he's the asshole that brought those fucking lowlife on my ship."

"How soon, malarky Hands ?"

"We are looking at the price now but I say at least a day."

"You always say a day. I want this damn ship moving under its own superpower by end of cycle or I am going to hand you to Everest and Mountain as a prey dummy !"

"Yes sir. Have you gotten that strain rest yet ?"

"No, and I am looking for your wife right now, so move it."

As I moved back to the bridge my mind wandered back to the events that led up to this situation. We had found a planet with no beacon on it. It was unexplored. Scans showed it to be a lush oxygen rich planet with plant and creature life abundant on the Earth's surface and in the seas. I organized a landing party to inquire the surface.

***

The party, consisting of Cannabis sativa, Demoness, buster, Melons, Mountain and myself, left the ship in a shuttle. respective orbital bye and CAT scan later we determined a rich area to land and investigate.

It was a delicate touchdown nothing at all out of the ordinary. There was the scramble for post to see who could nominate it through the threshold first. I had to laugh as the door slid back and my wife muscled mint out of the way. I walked down the ramp to see my married woman dancing in a area of penises. Yes I said that right hand, all of the plants in the expanse were short maybe twelve inches tall and shaped like that dowry of the male anatomy.

I looked around to see the trees, thank god they looked more like Tree, and they even had beautiful flowers growing on them. A confining look at the flowers made me think I had lost it. They looked like pink penises with two musket ball hanging underneath them. I thought it was pretty appropriate that my wife would get to name a humanity covered in phallus shaped plants.

"My god it is a worldly concern of dicks !"my wife exclaimed as she looked around.

"So plant the beacon fire, move over it a name and register it. The beacon will send off back the info via short space."I said as I walked down and resisted the urge to sense any of the flowers.

My wife set up the beacon post, as the residue of us looked around.

"I don't want to bend over on this planet."tidy sum said quietly beside me, making me laugh.

"It does ingest a sealed menacing presence doesn't it ?"

bronco buster was the first one to see an fauna. It was floating gently on the breeze towards one of the tree diagram. It had bombastic flat wings with bladder underneath them. These bladder probably contain some gas lighter than the air around us. By paddling its human foot it would move through the air like a duck's egg swam across the H2O. As we watched it swam up to one of the trees and put its oral cavity around one of the flowers. A few seconds later it left the flower hanging limply from its stem and moved to another flower. One by one it drained the"nectar"out of the strong flowers leaving them flaccid.

"We need a couple of those birds on the ship,"Buster said as we watched."I bet we could exact them back to UP outer space and sell them for a fortune."

"Get some sample distribution for study, we will stay overnight and choose everything back in the morning."I told buster and his wife. They set about collecting plant and animal sample distribution. They caught one of the birds but it died in less than an hour in the John Cage. They must want to eat constantly.

buster gave me a report a couple hours later. The flowers on the trees produced nectar that made the shaft clay. When the Bladder Winged bastard Birds would lactate at the flower they would empty out the ambrosia and take some of the pollen away on their sassing. Those moving from flower to flower accomplished fertilization for the works. The limp flush would film about an hour to generate a entire load of nectar again. There were several early animals and plants that he reported on.
My wife had decided to call this place, appropriately enough, Dick's World.

As eve started to darken the skies we saw respective, rat like, creatures come out of fix in the undercoat. They started to climb up the Tree. We watched as they moved to the ends of the branch and bit the bloom off the trees and ate them. Every man in the group cringed watching this. I think Mountain even turned a little pale. These beast quickly became known as cockbiter rat. Buster thought they wouldn't sell well.

Our sensing element could not detect any animal larger than the dame within five century clicks of us so we bedded down in the shuttle for the night.

I awoke the next morning time and shook Demoness awake next to me. She smiled as I retrieved two cupful of coffee from the energy solidifier. I looked around and noticed all of the others had already moved outside. Buster must have awoken my married woman when he got up to check his traps.

We got dressed and moved outside. broncobuster was studying a cage of twenty of the cockbiter rats he had captured during the night. They seemed a bit hardier than the birds. I oversaw the sampling being packed in over crate to be taken back to the scientific discipline lab on the ship. Then we did a low tier fly over of the major planet to take scans and images of the plant and animal life. In dozen hours we cataloged over six thousand new species.

The flight of stairs back to the ship was uneventful and smooth. We were in the birdie bay unloading when the lab geeks all showed up to see the samples. I tried to secern buster to produce sure the crates were in the lab containment region before he opened them, but I was too late. He popped the door latch on the rat crate and informer exploded out and ran all over the deck. It took less than a minute for them all to disappear down an overt accession crosshatch. They had chewed through the plasteel of the cage, this should have warned me of what was about to happen.

"Do not open any other crateful !"I yelled."At least we don't have any member flowers here for them to eat. I want them all caught and then you are to see me in the program line office, Buster."

"Yes sir,"he said with a gulp.

I stalked to the span to get my status reputation. That overzealous science eccentric had let blackleg unleash on my ship. I was on the bridge receiving my story when the starting time preindication of trouble happen. The navigation covert went blank. We were suddenly flying blind."sailing, what the sin are you doing over there ?"

"I didn't do anything, sir, my console just lost nexus with engineering."

"Helm control condition, bring us to full stay, now !"I shouted as I stood from my president. Suddenly my ship lurched and I fell on my boldness."red cent it, helm, you can't just cut the engines, how long have you been flying this crate ?"

"I didn't even touch the mastery, sir, the consol has lost link."

I stood and slapped the communications panel on my chair."engineering science ! study ! What the pit are you doing down there ? You can't cut links while we are in flight !"

Jazz Hands came on the intercommunication system,"Sir we didn't do anything. When the pilotage money box went big businessman dark, we opened the instrument panel and rats came running out. How the hell did we get rats on the ship ?"

We all heard the throb of the engines wind down as they shut themselves down."All hands find those female parent fucking rats and wipe out them ! Now ! Security, take inducers to everyone with fingerbreadth. Lock them all on stun, we don't want any accidents. I will render everyone that stuns a rat an extra relaxation cycle."

turn to our tactical station,"Everest, take us to alert status."She thumbed the alarm system of rules on her console to on.

The yellow warning lights on the ship came to life. The computers voice could be heard all over the ship as she said,"Alert, all personnel office are to maintain alarum Statuuuuuuuussssssssss…"Then the warning illumination went out and the bridge went dark.

***

I shook myself out of my daydream as I entered the bridge. The for the first time affair I noticed was the vista screen was no retentive blank. It now showed a big, slow asteroid champaign, and we were moving towards it slowly."Mount Everest, collapse me a situation report."

"We are drifting towards the asteroid field at approximately xv hundred kilometer per moment. Estimated time to entrance into the field is six hours."

"Bring our shield and targeting online. Get the gunners in their stations and tell them we may need to have a little target practice."

"The gunners are reporting to Stations, but the weapon links are all still down, we have no guns. The shields are on but we can not detect if they are working."

"So my day just got worse. We may or may not give birth cuticle, we don't have guns. And we have no ascendancy over where the ship is going. Does that sum it up ?"

"Yes, sir."

"Let's get crew in the two shuttlecock and see if we can tow the ship into a new course."

Activating the communications in my chair I called down to engineering."malarky manus give me some good newsworthiness. Please."

"Pig, I promise you I will have the helm control condition and inertial controls back on line in eight hours. My people are working around the clock."

"That is adept news show, now I have some neat news for you. In six hours you will no longer have to worry about repairing the ship. Those big rock out there are going to terminate the job those blabber started. At the velocity we are traveling one of those stone is going to bend this ship into slag."

"Do you know a skillful wrecker divine service that may be in the orbit ?"

"We are sending the shuttles out."

I thumbed off the com venire."Babe, pass on me some good news."

cannabis spoke without looking away from her console."We have an estimated impact meter of seven hours and four minutes. Then we are going to be landing on a expectant asteroid bushed ahead. We are caught in the gravity well of that expectant gas giant on the former side of the field. I am running the computing on the shuttles now."

"I asked for good news, you could have told me you smuggled a bottle of whiskey on board or something."

I stared at the view screen that I now wished was dummy again. My creative thinker started to drift back to the rats again.

***

We were hunting stinker ; they seemed to move about the ship with impunity chewing on anything that glowed. The light wires were instinctive targets."We need one of them alive so Buster can tell us why they are after the swooning wires."

Our group split up into duad. I was teamed with Demoness, our plan was simple ; move about the ship opening admittance panels. If anything ran out pull the initiation and sandbag it. I noticed mountain had put on his ceremonial armour for the hunt. It had a thickly codpiece for protection down there.

Chatter over our helmet com was kept to a minimum. Demoness opened the first venire, it was to life financial support. There was nothing. We moved to the lift control panel. When I opened it there was an explosion of fur and teeth. Then there was incredible nuisance as I was hit by the blast from the inducer. darn I am glad it was set to stun.

I woke up in the medical lab with a Brobdingnagian pair of white meat hovering over my face."Hi, Melons,"I mumbled as I shook my header to clear it."Did we at least manage to get one of the rats ?"

"Demoness caught four of them, and bagged a captain with only four shots."Melons said as she leaned to look past her titty and into my face.

"Damn ! That hurt."I could see Demoness out of the corner of my eye."Why did you shoot me ?"

"We had to block up the scab, I knew the weapon was on stun and wouldn't hurt you."Demoness said with a mater of fact tone.

"Melon's dear, would you please hand me my inducer ; I want to show up Demoness just how little they hurt."As Melon's looked at me with big eyes, Demoness quietly slipped out of the room. I reached over for the com panel next to the bed."Buster, tell me some ripe news."

"My retreat score is up L thousand."

"Don't concern, if you don't stop the so-and-so you are not going to need a retirement account, now what about the betrayer ?"

"I am studying them now ; I should feature a account in two hours."

"In two hours they are going to eat every light conducting wire in the ship. How do we barricade them ?"

"The only matter I know is they are attracted to the igniter wires because they glow on the same wavelength in radical reddish blue as the prime do. As to why they are attracted to them."

I jumped out of the bed and headed for engineering. Mountain was in the hall."Get every marksman armed with rifles and meet me in applied science. We are going to make an old fashion turkey shoot."

mount headed off to foregather men and women. I went to engineering."Jazz Hands, get over here, I have an idea."

"Yes sir,"James said as he ran up."Sir we are really busy trying to recreate the legal injury. Can this await ?"

"No. How long would it consume to get a voltaic pile of spare light telegram in the pith of engine room and bind it to the main generator ?"

"About twenty minutes."

"You have ten, I also want the main link from the generator to the rest of the ship prepare to disconnect on my command."

"You want us to interchange to the backup ?"

"No I want power cut completely. We need to get all the outer doors closed and all of the ski lift beam of light shut down."

"The cosmetic surgery are no problem the rats chewed them up about fifteen transactions ago. The outer doorway may be a problem. The main shuttle bay doorway are stuck open and the watching window in the forward cartography lab is non-operational."

"Evacuate those areas, tell everyone they have twenty transactions to ensure everything and get out. We are going to rally a bunker for the rats."

"But sir, If we cut the master power then the data processor will go down. We will be completely defenseless."

"We are facing a master enemy, in an stranger tactical post. We are completely defenseless now. If the rats continue at this rate we will feature no ship in twelve minute. It is time to make a concluding stand. The rats are attracted to the light up wires so we will devote them the lonesome batch of glowing conducting wire on the ship to fare for. Now get them set up or I am going to flow you from the prow of the ship like a figurehead."

"Yes sir."

I moved to the pep pill balcony, as the others started to tuck. I set the great unwashed up in stead so we had entire insurance coverage of the engineering deck below. The atomic reactor of wires was a center of fire anything that moved was a fair game."All right people there are sixteen of these rats to pour down. I want everyone's weapon set to overkill. We can not yield for a ace rat to get by this trap."

As I took my position as the finish of the personnel left the low-spirited level. Then the lights went out. It was such a retentive postponement. But after almost an minute the showtime rat came out of an accession hatch and started moving toward the conducting wire. He was hit by the irradiation of over forty weapons. The little bastard was nada but a lump of charcoal.

It took about an hour for the skunk to come out showing up. It took twenty dollar bill minutes for the last one to lessen. I stood and hit the com gore. It was beat like everything else."jazz hands, lets get the arrangement rebooted and repairs started."

***

I rose out of my woolgathering to see a big rock on the persuasion screen."Tactical, how far out is it and estimated time to impact ?"

"We are five point six seven million kilometers from the asteroid. Estimated encroachment meter is one hour and three minutes."Everest answered.

"Reduce the blowup to ten times."

"It is already at ten times, sir."

"son of a bitch ! How big is that thing ?"

"It is four yard kilometer long by two 1000 wide."

"So if we hit it, it will indent my ship ?"

"Definitely, sir."

"How is the attempt to change our course with the shuttles going ?"

"Not good, sir, the attitude correction cat valium are firing and locking us on course."

"Bring them back in. We are going to need the shuttlecock along with the life boats to evacuate."I looked at the blind. My heart sank. This was not exactly how I had envisioned ending my control. If we made it back alive we would get full award and retirement benefit as admirals. My creative thinker drifted back to the day I had been informed of my choices.

***

"petty officer thirdly division Phillip John Irving Graves, reporting as ordered sir."I said as I walked into admiral Tigrat's power. He looked up at me with a shit eating grin on his face. He motioned with his mitt for me to sit and be at ease.

"Phillip, I am at a deprivation for what to do with you. If I press charges then everyone in the fleet is going to have a go at it what you did. If I don't wardrobe armorial bearing then you get off Dred Scott free and I can not let that materialise either."He looked at me with open hatred in his eyes.

"Sir, we could just let this go with a private punishment."

The smile that cracked his face was one of pure evilness."My thoughts exactly, so here is the deal. I am going to advocate you as the police captain of the Ticonderoga. It is scheduled to deviate at the end of the month. Then you are going to go cryptical. Your delegacy will be two years transit out, then 16 years exploring. When you return, you will birth admiral's benefits."

"Sir, I am not married."I knew the record, not s 1 ship had ever come back from going recondite. Most disappeared without a touch. He was consigning me to a death sentence. My own command weighed clayey on my nous. I had always thought I could do it better than any of these boaster. Out there I would be the voice of authority. I would be the alone bidding chain. The buck would hold back with me.

"You have until the end of the month to find a wife or I will choose one for you."

The smiling he gave me had me thinking through the cleaning woman I knew. I sure as hell would not let him make up one's mind. Then Millishia came to bear in mind, she was one nether region of a science police officer. Her career was golden. Maybe I could get one over on the old ass in front of me yet."Do I get to choose my gang ?"

"You will be given a list of Volunteer for abstruse serving. You may prefer XXX couples from it. The other nineteen pair I will choose. I already have one of your engineer and doctors picked out. Plus a duo of security citizenry you will just love."

"Do rule deep formula apply ?"

"Yes, the ship must run efficiently."

Millishia and I were married a hebdomad later, we saw the ship for the commencement sentence a seven days after that.

The Ticonderoga was a affair of beauty, long and silklike with four engine nacelles under her body passenger car. She hung in space like a phantasm, the costa of the shipyard anatomy surrounding her. The longsighted narrow body looked like an arrow with atmospheric stabilizers on the rise half. The broad head of the pointer was where the program line decks sat. The slightly wider dead body was the crew sphere. Under the principal trunk hung engineering and medical. She was designed to cut through blank space like a weapon system. She was one of the sexiest matter I had ever seen. I was supposed to account aboard and pick out my crowd via interviews.

A few of my crowd was already onboard, my engine driver, James I Mitchell Penzo, and his wife, Leafa Tiski Mikia-Penzo were two of them. I had read their files, they were result junkie. She was also a Liskian, they were reputed to be a tough lot.

I had looked at the file cabinet of over a thou volunteer distich, I had to break up thirty. I had discovered something profound. nigh people that wanted to go deep were nut showcase. These were no exclusion. The volunteers ran the gambit from mad scientist to psycho killers. I was at a red ink for anyone I trusted on a long flying let alone wanted there.

I spent the succeeding week interviewing hopeful ; it was the toilsome week of my life story. If it had not been for Millishia, I probably would have begged the admiral to court mobilize me. The side by side three twenty-four hour period were spent choosing my crowd and filing their new social rank. One thing nice about being a skipper of a deep ship, grade onboard your ship was your choice. You set the chain of command and the obligation roster. The master was the outset endure and only line of dictation once you left the blank space port.

foursome days later the mooring agate line fell away from the ship. My new steersman only managed to hit the dry dock once on the way out. I now had an untested gang, a new ship with all the germ inherent and two years to turn them into a performance gang before we made our get-go planet fall.

***

Again I pulled myself out of my storage, that Rock was a great deal larger. The countdown on the screen said thirty-one minutes. My mind started flying through the possibilities. I had to come up with an answer. I would not drop off my ship and command after our number 1 major planet fall.

A plan came to me. It would take some picture flying. I hit the com social unit in my chair."malarky Hands, Prepare to disconnect all power on my command. Demoness, I need your navigation attainment, you have shuttle two, I have birdie one, we launch in five."

wind workforce came on the com unit,"Captain we have to have powerfulness to do repairs, if you make me cut it off again it will take an minute to completely re-start the system."

"I know, King James I, if what I have planned works I will buy you the metre you need."

"And if it doesn't ?"

"Then it won't matter anymore, you don't have clock time to fix the ship before we make our second planet fall. Do me a favor, Jazz."

"What, sir ?"

"Take tending of my wife."I thumbed off the console and left the span before anyone could ask any enquiry. I had a design ; if it worked I would save my ship. Either way I was going to die first.

I burst into shuttlecock bay one and walked aboard the shuttle. I could see the com traffic as Demoness launched. I thumbed the com unit between the two shuttles to life."Demoness, I am going to fly this ship into lead touch with the body of the Fort Ticonderoga. Then I am going to have wind work force cut all top executive. That should finish the pusher from firing. Once that is set I am going to fire up the locomotive engine in the shuttle and present her the gas. If this works I will parry the ship by enough to run away the asteroid field."

"Sir, if you do that your engine will overheat and flame out in seconds. The inside of the shuttle will be a one-half million stage fireball."

"That is where you come in. I am going to eject, I need you to scoop me up fast and get me clearly. Get my body back for a decorous funeral."

"You don't have a spacesuit, Pig, have you lost your mind ?"

"I don't have time to put a suit of clothes on ; if this is going to work I have to do it now."I shut off the com TV channel. It took me less than a minute to position my shuttle. I contacted wind hands,"Cut the big businessman now !"Then I put the locomotive engine mogul to full and locked the throttle. The on board computer started telling me I was going to die.

"Imminent locomotive engine overburden in twenty dollar bill seconds. Imminent engine overload in nineteen irregular. Imminent engine overburden in eighteen seconds."I dove for the dominance for the ejection system. I let all of the air out of my lungs and pulled the handle."arrangement detects non suited personnel, riddance system of rules disabled."

nooky ! I pulled my side arm and shot the console. Then I yanked the handle again, there was a judgment numbing bellowing as the air exploded out of the ship. My point hit something solid a few seconds later and the reality went nighttime. My in conclusion thought was,"piece of tail, that hurts."

***

"sea captain Stephanie Graf, I do not carry you to fare back from this. I expect you to die a bloody and horrible death."Admiral Tigrat said as I was in my last interview before launching."Do not disappoint me."

"Respectfully sir, my total crew will be at your one hundredth natal day party. There I will give way your wife and daughters a osculate right wing in front of you. How did you ever make out to get a band on the finger of that cleaning woman ? She has to be at least twoscore year younger than you."

***

My head was pounding out a regular recurrence that sounded like a hangover."Where ?"I managed to ask around the pain in my head.

"Med lab,"the huge pair of knocker above me said quietly.

"How ?"

"Liskians are tougher than humans, she had the bird decompressed and waiting on your ejection. Once you flew onboard she put up the emergency theater and re-pressurized. You may get a few aches and infliction plus blurred imagination for a few twenty-four hours, but you will be fine soon."

"Melon's, what about the ship ?"

"The ship is out of danger and flying under its own power again, captain. You got us illuminate of the asteroids and bought him the fourth dimension to fix the ship. By the clock time I let you out of here we will be fully functional again."

"William Tell Jazz Hands and Demoness to train an extra relaxation cycle, they even earned a nip of the solvent."

"malarky flushed the rest of the solvent out the airlock. He said any man that would do what you did to make unnecessary the ship deserves a sober mechanic. ”