Abel III's Awakening - 9. Chapter 9 More Problems

Chapter 9

More Problems

The next morning I awoke determined to get through my general scans of the remaining military ship and hoped nothing would come of them. I hurried through my shower but did relieve tension and was soon dressed and heading to the dining room. I was surprised to find my grandfather and Drew there and it was clear they wanted to talk. Or should I say have a private telepathic conversation with me.

They were concerned that I was attempting to do too much and thought my high caloric intake was perhaps a sign of that. I thought it was more a sign of dealing with fifty percent gravity after being so acclimated to the normal twenty percent when we were underway. They also wondered about the modifications to my shields, as they no longer could get anything from reading me unless I was sending. Relying on just my body language made things harder for them to judge how I was doing or what was concerning me.

I telepathically filled them in on most of the shield modifications I had made, especially those after encountering JJ with the shared personality and interwoven shields and suggested we again retire to their cabin after breakfast. As usual the food was good and since it was December 31^st the cook had splurged and we had waffles, sausages, fruit compote and coffee. Some of the crewmembers on shore leave had checked back in overnight and the dining hall was livelier.

After breakfast, my dad was huddling with our chief of accounting one last time to go over the information for the lawsuits before the lawyer arrived on the second. Kade was busy with checking on systems, personnel questions as the crew reported into the ship and the ordinary business of running a ship. On a ship with a small crew like ours, the astronavigator was also the de facto executive officer as well.

All last minute supplies were subject to triple inspections in the shuttle bay before they could ever be brought further into the ship. We had gradually allowed some supplies on board and as it was apparent we were carefully inspecting everything, our suppliers must have got the hint as things were up to specifications without any extraneous items added.

Back in my grandfather's cabin, I told them I would open myself to them completely if they needed to reassure themselves about me. Of course I would be monitoring them closely and would shut them out if I detected anything amiss. We established the shared contact and grandfather with Drew following, was noting and probing all the changes made to my regular shields and then inspected the shields I also employed while doing my general scans. He was intrigued and since I noted that, I explained that they were layered and done based on some of the natural shields I encountered in my scanning so that mine would appear to be natural if someone managed to get that far.

I also further explained the subtle interwoven shields employed by JJ and how I had duplicated that which they found fascinating. They also took note of my apparent psychic vigor and how comfortably it seemed settled on me and they were impressed by its strength.

After their scan my grandfather said, “I think you are by far the most evolved and strongest human telepath to have ever lived. Everything about your talent appears well integrated into your persona. After examining you telepathically, I think your physical fitness, appetite, and joy in exercising are a reflection of your gift’s strength. Your emotional maturity is more than equivalent to a man with forty years of experience. I don't want to give you too much of an inflated ego, but you continue to amaze me on a daily basis and I am proud to be your grandfather.”

That was high praise indeed from someone who had been less than understanding about his own son's difficulty in adjusting. I wondered how my father would have been different if his pop and grandfather had treated him differently instead of with contempt when he started rebelling. Realizing the past was past; I vowed that if I was ever in a similar situation that I would be more helpful and less condemning. We finished our conversation and I decided to finish my scans of the military ships in my cabin and stopped by the kitchen for some bottled water and snacks to tide me over.

When I arrived at my cabin, I sat on my couch and put my supplies on the coffee table and leaned back and put my feet on the low table as well. I mentally put into place the additional shields I used when scanning and also tripped my psychokinetic ability to cancel out the buzzing sensation at my end and then began my scan on the next ship on my list. To my delight, my PK generated noise cancellation attempt worked after some frequency adjustment and the annoying buzzing was removed, which made my scans a lot less stressful.

I made good progress and finished the small and medium sized military ships and then started on the larger ships. These included the large supply and troop transports as well as the huge battle cruisers with their complements of hundreds of fighter class attack spacecraft. Due to the number of personnel these took a lot longer.

On a military ship, the crew was quartered in barracks like dorms with up to fifty men in a bay or room in racks sometimes stacked five high. Each man had only their rack and a locker. Toilet facilities, showers, dining halls, work out facilities and training facilities along with ready rooms were all shared spaces with almost no private space available anywhere. The officers had utilitarian cabins with some privacy but these were usually relatively small as well but did have en suite facilities and refresher shower units. Only the senior officers had cabins that were somewhat spacious or with any hint of luxury like rugs or sofas.

I found the military mentality less regimented than I expected, but also more deferential to authority and the chain of command. Like their civilian counterparts on commercial or cargo spaceships, they were dedicated to their ship and had some strong bonds with their shipmates. The military were all career oriented and very professional and I was impressed. They took their jobs seriously and none of them wanted to be the weak link in their organization.

As I scanned the many ships I saw the patterns repeat. There were different military concerns and possible mission objectives for the various ships but I did not detect any possible threats to the Silverspin or my family. That is until late in the afternoon when I was scanning the last military ship, which was the largest on station. It was the flagship of the commanding Admiral of the Home Fleet. It was the Sovereign Celestial Space Navy Battle/Carrier Orion.

It was the largest ship in the fleet staffed with extra layers of administration types. This ship had luxurious suites in flag country. It also had both military and civilian intelligence groups and the third ranking civilian intelligence officer was the person who authorized the bringing of the twins JJ to scope out our ship. Overnight, he had been informed that they were unable to telepathically scan anyone on our ship. Further, they reported that their scans were not exactly blocked, but deflected somehow. They had concentrated more than eight hours just on getting a small telepathic probe onto the Silverspin without any success and they could not see any reason for their failure.

The intelligence officer knew the military had done intense scans of our ship, which did not disclose any unusual power source or military grade electronics being aboard. He was also aware that efforts to put sensor and listening devices aboard had failed.

My scan disclosed the intent of this officer was to initiate a request for a physical inspection of our ship by the military as soon as possible. With the holiday, he did not see getting any action taken until January 2 at the earliest, which fell on a Tuesday. I sent a suggestion that he do it at once and telepathically monitored him as he went to his terminal and initiated the proper form through channels. When he got to the part of the form that provided an indication for the priority to be set, I saw that it provided for several options including urgent priority, high priority, medium priority or low priority and I suggested that he check the box for low priority while also telling him to believe he was setting the priority as high. I continued to scan him as he completed the form following my 'suggestions' and observed as he electronically signed it and sent it off.

I finished my scan of the ship and took one last peek at the intelligence officer and found he was looking forward to a New Years Eve party on the station. I sent another suggestion that he had been working hard and he deserved to have a good time and let loose.

I finished and headed to the workout room to work out the kinks from sitting all day with the vigorous exercises the machines provided. It was apparent that more of the crew had reported back aboard as the room was filled. Later the refresher unit was filled as well, with the group grope in full swing. It was good to be fit, healthy, pumped and primed. It didn't take long before the smell of cum was redolent until the mist of spray washed it away.

Supper was superb and the supper conversations were full of the planned party starting at 21:00 hours and lasting to 02:00 to be held in the dining area. Several skits were planned and an open mike for karaoke were the planned highlights together with view screens showing the scenes from Times Square in New York, and other major cities on the planet.

After supper the family again adjourned to my grandfather's cabin and we brought each other up to date on what we had been doing. I informed them about the planned inspection and what I had done, and that I expected it would not even start to get processed until late in the day on January third. My review of the military administrative process indicated that we would be departed before any operational orders were even cut for an inspection. I further informed them that I would be monitoring to insure it happened too late for it to be a problem.

Kade reported that more than half of the crew who were on shore leave, were now already aboard. Further, the men seemed to be happy to partying with their crewmates for the holidays instead of being the object of speculation at parties attended by friends of some extended family relations.

Dad mentioned that the shuttle was loaded with the material to be delivered to storage maintained by the law firm and he had talked to Kevin and his boys were all excited about heading up here on the second. January first would be a slow day after the late night party but there were things that had to be done including doing the preliminary start-up of the internal power systems as the ship was readied for when the umbilical connections to the station were disconnected. Dad had also informed my boss, Mark Spencer that I was being reassigned from accounting immediately.

Drew mentioned that money had been transferred from the First Sovereign Bank of Earth to their branch on the space station at Alpha Centauri to cover the costs of the planned refit. Additionally, he and Hal had been coordinating and scheduled a berth in dry-dock for the refit when we arrived there.

Grandfather also working with Hal and the chief engineer had discussed design changes and specifications for updating the various ships’ systems slated for the refit and mentioned that the specifications for the upgrade to Hal's core were being revised substantially. He also brought up that Hal had mentioned the upgrades some of our competitors were planning that I discovered from my scans and some of those were being cost analyzed and explored as well.

I sat there and realized that I was being included in discussions with the senior partners and owners of the company as an equal at the ripe old age of twenty-three and it felt good. The conversation continued for some time and then everyone decided they needed to get cleaned up and dressed for the party. Jeans and graphic printed tee shirts were our usual party clothes and we all headed to our cabins to change.

I changed into my black jeans and my black tee shirt painted with splashes of florescent colors in purple, blue, turquoise and magenta. I wore my soft soled boots and spiked my hair with gel and put my com unit on my belt. I headed out to the anteroom or foyer of the family area and soon was joined by dad and Kade. They both wore light blue stone washed jeans and white tees graphically painted with the logo of some obscure band from before I was born. While we waited for our elders, we joked that it took the old folks longer and they came out looking all flushed and with the scent of sex. We shared a laugh at their embarrassment and headed to the dining hall.

Streamers had been hung and a small stage set up at one end with George, the chief engineer acting both as the master of ceremonies and disc jockey. He had his own soundboard and a 32 track sound system and light system set up and synced up with his com unit where he kept his humongous collection of music. A bar was set up and manned by a couple of the guys from supply and maintenance serving drinks including both beer and a huge punch bowl filled with a light bluish liquid they called 'space juice'. The guys from food service manned a table with several kinds of snacks including pretzels, chips, dips, veggies, cheeses, and fruit. We all headed to the bar and got drinks.

I usually only drank beer and I stayed with what I was comfortable. The blue 'space juice' was the choice of the rest of my family and I could tell from their expressions when they took a sip that it was potent stuff. I did a light scan of my dad and discovered it was mostly several different kinds of rum with fruit flavorings. I headed to the snack table and snagged a small bowl with pretzels and I was set to enjoy the spectacle.

George announced a line dance and the guys all spread out on the dance floor in lines to dance and of course we all joined in the fun. Once he had us all up and dancing, George played several in a row and really warmed the crowd up. When the set finished he announced the first open mike for karaoke and several of the crewmembers went over to sign up and select their songs and in no time they started.

Competitions were held in groups of three. So after three guys sang, the crowd voted on who was the best and the person that won, had to prepare another song for the sing off at the end which could go several rounds too. I was surprised to see my dad and Kade sign up to do a duet and more surprised to see them do a creditable job on a country western classic. Our crew loved it.

The party continued and at midnight we did a countdown and then George played Auld Lang Sine with Robbie Burns' words up on a screen so we could all sing along. For a song that was almost a thousand years old, it still resonated. At the end everyone raised a glass and toasted friends past and present as well as the New Year. Hugs were freely exchanged and several kisses as well. A light breakfast buffet was then put out about 01:30 and afterward most of the crew started drifting away back to the their bunks as did I.

In my cabin, I stripped and headed to my shower and was feeling a bit melancholy. During the party I noticed how everyone was enjoying living in the moment, especially those with a special someone. It was at that time that I noticed that dad and Kade seemed to always have an open link to each other. When I looked at Drew and grandfather they did too. I envied their pair bonding. My rock show shower however did the trick, and I was able to release a huge load along with most of my tension. I did a little T'ai chi but felt the evening spent dancing had also helped my muscle memory.

That night I fell in another deep sleep and in my dreams noted the loneliness of the dark vastness of space with its spill of diamonds.