Abel III's Awakening - 18. Chapter 18 General Quarters!

Chapter 18

General Quarters!

My dreams were shattered at 4:30 when the General Quarters alarm sounded and Hal was suddenly doing a general broadcast to the family:

{A Naval Intelligence officer and a unit of Marines are about to blast through the security hatch at the docking entry way. As soon as they do, I am going into silent mode and following the protocols we previously discussed. Good luck!}

Grandfather sent, {Let's dress and shut off that damn alarm. Abel Jr. get on the horn and tell the crew what is happening and to meet us well outside the main entryway. Everyone lock down your shields, and let's go meet our guests.}

I then sensed though our shared link that he used his com and called the branch office of his law firm on station and left a message to have a lawyer come to the Silverspin immediately.

We dressed in a hurry and hadn't made it to the main hatchway yet when it was blown. Fortunately, no one had gotten close and no one was injured. The blast resistant inner hatch door was in one piece, and was laying just inside our ship. The only damage done to it by the expert shape charges set by the Marines was to sever the locking pins and hinges. When docked, the outer hull hatch door was locked open into the entryway of the station. It was larger and opened outward and most of the umbilical connections to the station were through an eight feet tall access panel along the side of it.

Grandfather, Dad and Kade had arrived and we arranged themselves as a greeting party as the Marines filed in to either side of the blown hatch and the naval officer came striding in looking all self-important.

Before he could say a word, Grandfather barked, “You could have contacted us and we would gladly have welcomed you aboard. What is the meaning of this and why at this hour of the morning, or do you just like to make your Marines roll out early?”

The naval officer cast a calculating eye at us and our crew, which was gathering.

I was busy scanning him and the Marines. There was no telepath among them. The Marines were trying to maintain a professional attitude in the face of the withering sarcasm in my grandfather's voice and really had no idea why they were here. The naval security officer was a different matter entirely. He had heard the scuttlebutt about the turbulence our ship encountered in intra-space, which made our ship unusual. Additionally, an alert had come through from Magellan just six hours earlier detailing how the Silverspin had abruptly left that station apparently to avoid an inspection ordered by the deputy civilian intelligence officer of the fleet. Finally, just within the past hour, a break-in to the secure library archives on Starview was traced back to this ship. Separately those items may not have provoked the decision to board us by literally blowing our hatch, but with all three things, he was taking no chances. We definitely had some explaining to do.

With a firm voice, the intelligence officer announced. “Everyone on this ship is confined to quarters. You are to go there now, no exceptions. We will be conducting a thorough inspection of the ship and its records. You will be advised of any charges that are filed when they are filed. You are all dismissed, except I need to see the owner and captain of the ship right now!”

While he was making that announcement, I was filling in my family and Dennis what I had learned except that Steve and Bill were not in our telepathic loop. Meanwhile, our crew shuffled off to their quarters to comply with the order.

Grandfather replied to the officer, “This is a family business which is owned through interlocking trusts by myself, my husband Drew, my son Abel Silversmith Jr. who is the captain, his mate Kade, my grandson Abel Silversmith III and his fiancée Dennis Klein and my two other grandsons Steven and William Brown. What can we help you with?”

Instead of having to face one or two people, the officer found himself facing our phalanx of eight men, all looking at him like he was an ogre. He studied our group for a minute trying to determine just how he should proceed. Finally he turned to Dad and said, “Captain, I need to see your ship's logs and computer records and I suspect I will have to bring in some computer experts to sort them out.”

“What are you looking for, perhaps we can be of assistance,” replied my dad in a very accommodating tone of voice.

“It seems your ship has been acting suspiciously and I intend to find out why,” he replied.

“Perhaps, I can clarify things for you. We put into Magellan before the Christmas and New Years Holiday, as it is our homeport. We don't get much time there and haven't for the last several years. While there my father recruited his two youngest grandson's to come work in the family business. We planned on being there for a while and do some moderate upgrades to our systems. However, we received ordered parts that were not up to specifications. We also received supplies that contained listening devices and tracking devices and we became worried about industrial espionage. On our arrival at Magellan we delivered some materials needed for a high tech company and were warned that there were elements that would try to interfere with that delivery. As many of our crew are from Earth and familiar with Magellan, we received word of some rumors that some old business associates of ours were out to do us harm. As a result, everything we received at Magellan was inspected and re-inspected. We found enough problems to have our lawyers initiate a lawsuit against some of the suppliers and decided not to do the re-fit there and left there rather abruptly to come here and have the refit done here.”

“During our journey here while in transit through intra-stellar space, our ship had some strange electromagnetic readings along the port engine. I routinely deployed a creeper drone from the cargo tug bay to crawl out along the outer hull plates to see if there was an anomaly on the outside of our ship's engine causing the readings. It was at that time that we experienced the severe turbulence, which lasted fairly long. Military intelligence surely has heard of our experience with the turbulence as my crew has been discussing it ever since and I am sure they have asked around about it.”

“I too tried to find out anything I could from the station archives to see if in our long history of making the transits through intra-stellar space whether any other ships had a similar experience. The public records were all silent regarding any such event. So I decided to see if I could get a look at the really old records going back to the beginning and despite some roadblocks, I managed to find some interesting records from when mankind first went into transit points and found it was not all smooth sailing. Just as I thought I was making progress, my access was cut off. That happened just last evening and I suspect that is part of the reason you are here so early this morning.”

That was the longest and most convincing speech I ever heard my father make. He spoke clearly and without stress like he was talking to a friend and was projecting sincerity the whole time. I was amazed at how facile he spoke with a bit of charm too. When I scanned him deeper through our private link, I found this was the cover story he and Hal had worked on last night after the rest of us had retired.

The officer replied, “I assume you have records to back this all up?”

My Dad nodded and replied, “I will have our accounting chief bring you a copy of records we turned over to our attorney to initiate the lawsuit. I will have a table set up on the bridge and you can look at them there. Our ships logs are available on computer screens also available on the bridge. You are invited to look at anything you like. I just hope this doesn't set our re-fit back too long. We have workmen coming today including Dennis' father and brother who own Space Controls Ltd. here on Starview. They are due to arrive at 9:00 with equipment and supplies. Our business is hauling cargo and every day sitting in port is a day we are not making any money.”

The officer left half his contingent of marines to guard the entryway with orders to call him on his com should anyone try to enter or leave the ship. He then followed my Dad to the bridge with the rest of the marines. My dad called Mark Spencer and informed him that he needed to bring a copy of the paper files we sent to the attorneys for initiating a lawsuit. A marine was dispatched to Mark's cabin to escort him to accounting so he could bring the papers. The rest of the family was told to return to the family quarters with a marine detailed to keep watch over us. Two other marines were told to start inspecting Engineering after locating George Heigel.

Grandfather was not one to be sitting idly by and was on his com talking to his lawyer and wondering what was taking him so long to get here as it was already almost 5:30 and he called almost an hour ago. He then contacted my dad via his com and asked him to get the naval officer to allow the food service people to go to work getting breakfast ready or we would be severely delayed, as they would usually already be at work. After some haggling it was allowed and Grandfather got them going.

Meanwhile I was busy monitoring my father and the naval officer to see what was happening on the bridge. It seemed my dad's charm offensive was working and the fact that he was readily providing any and all data that the intelligence officer asked for was easing the situation dramatically. The records to substantiate the problems with the supplies we received to include the scare that some of the food supplies may have been infected with nanites were all carefully documented and our response including all the emergency medical scans. My father emphasized that the safety of his family and crew was his primary responsibility and that as the problems were discovered together with the breadth and depth of them that it was hurriedly decided to make other arrangements for he refit.

He further explained that as they made the decision to do the refit elsewhere and picked Starview, that they plotted the course and became aware of the fortuitous alignment of transit points and wanted to take advantage of that as it saved several days of travel time. However, their experience in transit through intra-stellar space had the unexpected encounter with turbulence, which greatly worried everyone. He related that twenty-five crewmembers had provided notice of their intentions to leave the ship and seek berths elsewhere and showed the officer the records to substantiate that fact. That, he explained was his desperate motivation to find any evidence of prior transits with problems hoping he could find something that would rationally explain it so he could relate that to the crew and allay their fears.

While my dad was busy selling the story to the intelligence officer, I was busy monitoring him and his reactions. He had some natural shields but nothing that could not be easily evaded without detection. His name was Peter Bowman and internally, he was starting to sweat. In short he was worried. The evidence appeared conclusive to him that the Silverspin was not engaged in suspicious behavior but had been forced to take the seemingly odd actions due to outside forces. The only violation was a security violation in evading the security protocols in researching the station's vast library archives. Unfortunately, access to them as a Human Cultural Resource Site was governed by a contradictory set of regulations and laws and any good lawyer could get the security violation citation overturned fairly easily. All this meant, that his ordering the marines to blow the entry hatch without giving the owners or captain of the ship a chance to explain was not going to be upheld as necessary, despite the seemingly apparent probable cause. He was sweating because he could then be personally held responsible for the repairs to the hatch, which could run several thousand Sovereigns.

I sent that all to my grandfather and had another surprise. He had already surmised that the security violation of evading the security protocols in researching the station's library archives was the only immediate threat and already had his lawyers working on preparing a motion to quash any citation that might be issued.

Breakfast occurred at 8:00 and it already seemed like an endless day. Dad and his intelligence officer remained holed up on the bridge where the officer was futilely looking for any evidence of a crime that could result in charges. The marines joined us for breakfast at my grandfather's invitation and ate quickly in shifts. Those guys could really pack in the chow too. Even a casual observer could tell they thought our mess hall fare was far superior to what they were used to as they ate with gusto and made several comments about how much they enjoyed it. We finished breakfast and Kade announced he was going to the bridge to see if we could get our normal workday started.

Dennis and my cousins had been worried, but relatively quiet the whole time but as I read them I could tell the tension was starting to get to them. They had eaten breakfast but it was mechanical and not done with their usual enthusiasm. We retired to my cabin and I brought them up-to-date on what I had gleaned from the intelligence officer and what I had learned from my grandfather. While we were discussing all this, Dennis' com chimed and it was his dad on the line who asked, “What the hell is going on and why are marines blocking us from entering the Silverspin?”

Dennis didn't know what to say and looked at me with the question in his eyes. I reached for his com and he gladly turned it over to me and I gave Chuck a brief summary of our eventful morning. I asked him to stand by while I contacted my dad to see if Kade had made any progress in getting us permission to start our normal work routines. I then placed his call on hold.

When I opened my telepathic links with my dad and Kade I found them both to be sexually occupied. Dad and the naval intelligence officer were eagerly involved in a hot sixty-nine while Kade was plowing the officer's very receptive ass. In order to hurry things along, I gave the officer's libido a psychic nudge and he began to experience the most earth shattering anal orgasm that began in his prostate and overwhelmed his balls and penis which shot out such a huge glob of semen that my very experienced father almost choked. Of course his orgasm provoked reciprocal orgasms in Dad and Kade and they lay spent for a few minutes in a sweaty post orgasmic fog.

In their weakened state I sent both Dad and Kade an urgent message to get the officer to agree that normal work routines to include the refit could commence and for the officer to contact his marines to inform them of the decision. I mentioned that the Kleins were at the entrance to the ship waiting entry even as I was sending to them.

I then turned my attention to those in my cabin and explained what happened. It provoked the first real smiles of the day from them. I took Chuck off of hold and told him the marines should be getting the word shortly that they could enter with the material and equipment they had brought.

Soon after that, my dad made a general broadcast over the internal public address system that everyone was to return to their normal work routines as soon as possible. We gave a small cheer and left to do our appointed tasks.

As we had only had about three hours sleep and a very stressful morning, Dennis and I found the day to be very long and we had to be extra careful as we were both showing the strain. However, I continued to monitor my family and found the intelligence officer had copied everything he could think of to his special com unit as well as recordings of my dad's statement and explanation of the events since we arrived at Magellan in December. He and his marines had left the ship shortly before 11:00.

Dad had ordered the maintenance crew to remove the now worthless inner hatch, drill out the locking pins remaining in the inner hull walls and remove the remains of the blown hinges. I found that deep in the bowels of the ship we had a new inner hatch door in storage that was fabricated at the same time as the blown one when the hatch was redesigned and made larger during the major refit in 2700. They were a custom job and it was just smarter to construct two at once and have one backup than have to be worried about finding someone who could manufacture a custom one in the future if it was needed.

Lunch came and went in a daze and Dennis and I somehow made it through the end of our shift doing a minor install of some back-up vacuum control modules for the liquid waste lines. In low gravity all drains had to have a negative vacuum to suck any moisture toward them. We met up with his dad and brother when we went to the bridge to see what they had accomplished. They had taken out the old holographic projectors from each workstation and had prepared the power lines, fittings and data cable connections for the new ones as the new ones used more power and of course none of the connectors for the older models were compatible with the new ones.

My dad and Kade told Chuck and Travis they were welcomed to stay for supper but Chuck begged off because he wanted to spend time with his wife. Travis also had plans to meet up with the elusive Rebecca. Dad and Kade asked if we were ready for our workouts and Dennis and I begged off for the day and hurried to our cabin for a rejuvenating shower before supper and perhaps a short nap.

The shower worked wonders, but we never did get to take a nap. We made it as for as the bed, but then I remembered I was supposed to have been awoken with mad passionate lovemaking this morning, and I exacted my payment vigorously. Suffice it to say we certainly got exercised, especially our love muscles. We got so carried away that Hal interrupted us to warn us that if we didn't grab a quick shower and dress soon, that we would be late for our supper.

We arrived last and barely on time. Once again everyone at the family table had to make a comment about how satisfied we looked with knowing winks and smiles. Dennis was getting used to my family and simply said, “We enjoyed our workout in bed. Isn't it amazing how much a good workout can relax you?”

As my face turned a bright red, I could only nod in agreement, afraid to add any comment to possibly fuel the conversation further. Thankfully, Grandfather announced, “There is a family meeting in my cabin after supper to go over what happened today and what was learned.”

After that, we all dug into our food and enjoyed it. When my cousins came around to replenish our serving dishes my grandfather told them the meeting would be at 20:00 sharp and to not be late.

We finished a leisurely supper and had a wonderful dessert of gooey butter cake squares with coffee. Dennis and I then returned to our cabin where we removed the sheets from our bed and put them in the refresher unit and then remade the bed with clean linens. We then sat in companionable silence on our couch and just shared telepathically for the next hour and a half. It was nice to be able to just really get to know each other and discover all the little mannerisms, quirks, likes, dislikes, and feelings in general on all sorts of topics. Dennis kept marveling over my sexual hiatus as the “Ice Prince” without any sexual contact for seven years, especially compared to the fine lover I was becoming. In contrast I kept marveling over the wonderful childhood and adolescence Dennis had, despite the upset from when Travis came into his power. It made me question whether I still preferred to use the route my father used to produce a child.

We arrived at Grandfather and Drew's cabin just before 20:00 and they made us welcome. Dad and Kade arrived shortly thereafter and they both gave us hugs. We settled into our seats and Steve and Bill came in just at the top of the hour. More hugs were exchanged and we all were looking forward to putting this day behind us. Grandfather and my dad then went over everything that happened and what was learned from the intelligence officer and grandfather's consultations with his attorneys. I realized this was mainly for Steve and Bill's benefit as they were not privy to the telepathic sendings the rest of us had shared during the day.

The meeting finally ended and we wished everyone good night, as we desperately needed a good night's rest. Dennis and I made it back to our cabin, stripped and were under the sheets and in each other’s arms in less than a minute. We kissed goodnight and I turned my back to Dennis as he spooned me and gathered me in his arms. I was in heaven and slept like a babe!