Operation Hammerhead - 5. Capella Anchorage

Capella, or Alpha Aurigaeto to astronomers, has been known to humans since ancient times. Only forty-two light years from Sol, it is the sixth-brightest star in earth's Northern sky. Burning a bright yellow-white in the Northern skies, it was dutifully recorded by countless generations of astrologers. The Greeks named it- Capella or "the Goat Star" from which Zeus grew strong drinking her milk. The ancients Ptolemy and Ricciolli recorded it in their writings.

It wasn't until spectroscopic observation in 1899 that Capella was discovered to be a binary star. It was visually resolved using the 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson Observatory by an obscure astronomer named J. A. Anderson in 1919.

Astronomers continued to study Capella because its spectra was similar to Earths own G class Sun. Eventually, Capella was determined that it is a quadruple star system composed of two large, bright G and F class stars locked in close orbit circled at a distance by two M class dwarfs.

On exploring the Capella System, early pioneers were sorely disappointed. It had no useful planets to speak of. The tremendous tidal forces exerted by the close binary at its center worked to rip and tear would be planetoids to shreds or hurl them into distant orbits or interstellar space. The system was littered with belt upon belt of asteroids. Given its proximity to the core systems, Capella soon became a favorite destination for corporate miners and wild-cat operators. At its peak, the mines of Capella served as an important supply of all many types of ore.

After decades of mining, all the ore that was easy to get had been gotten. Capella became just another mined out backwater. Although it was mined out, Capella was a system with important infrastructure like a class 1 star port, shipyard and vast reserves of reactor grade hydrogen in easy reach. The Consortium that ran the Capella system handed it over to the Alliance military in 2311 for tax and commerce considerations.

Since the handover the Capella Anchorage became one of the Alliance fleet's largest bases in the core systems and an important jumping off point for traffic destined for the rim. Over the years, Capella Station had grown into a bustling port city with all the sleazy amenities favored by the crews of ships after long voyages. Since the fleet ran Capella Station, the brass kept a lid on things. Like any port city, there were a great many ways for visiting crews to be separated from their money.

The Task Force jumped into the Capella system at 01:30 hours on May 15th. Immediately upon entering the system, an automated beacon announced over the Guard channel:

Attention: this is a restricted system. Only Alliance Fleet units and designated contractors are allowed access. Any ships running without coded transponders may be attacked or seized without warning.

Over the TacCom feed, the voice of the Duty Officer on the flag bridge of the Repulse announced, "Capella Control, this is Task Force Hammerhead arriving. We request permission to enter the anchorage."

"Hammerhead, this is Capella Control. Permission granted. Stand by to receive system traffic instructions and mooring assignments via the fleet data link. Welcome to Capella."

Sokolsky received a coded text burst transmission from Capella Control on his navigation board that gave the Raymond T. Burke's approach vector instructions and berthing assignment at one of the Station's four massive heavy container handling docks.

It took almost ten solid hours of careful maneuvering for the ships of the task force to take up their assigned positions and berths. Capella Station was massive dwarfing even the kilometer long Raymond T Burke and her sisters. Scores of ships were already moored making traffic control a tedious and pains taking affair.

Finally, after a slow and intricate ballet of ships of all shapes and sizes, the Raymond T. Burke gently thumped its standard docking ring into place. Outside a crew of two yard-workers in bright orange spacesuits snapped several bundles of cables into place directly connecting Ole Stubby's systems to the station.

As soon as the ship was powered down and properly secured, Schmit picked up the 1MC and said: "Good job people. All hands, stand down. I'll see the officers and section heads in my conference room in an hour."

The majority of the bridge crew wandered off to the Officer's Mess and had lunch. Captain Schmit grabbed a sandwich and a cup of coffee and disappeared into his office.

The talk over lunch was on the possibility of shore leave aboard Capella Station with its many and varied diversions. Civilian crews rarely got to explore Capella prior to the outbreak of the war. Now it was a routine rally point for convoys bound towards the rim.

Chen asked, "Anybody been here before?"

Rivers replied, "I spent 6 months here- OCS and TacCom School. There's plenty to do- four casinos, a half dozen droid brothels and enough pubs, clubs and dives to satisfy every taste from highbrow to no class. Just don't get too rowdy - the Shore Patrol here is... enthusiastic."

Anderson grunted, "I'd leave the casinos and the pleasure droids alone unless you want to end up broke with rust on your bits."

Tom snickered and said, "Yeah, probably a good idea. I hear robo-clap is a real bitch. You got any plans Danny?"

Sokolsky sighed, "Get a haircut and do some shopping. Maybe find a decent restaurant. Got any suggestions Tom?"

"Well, there's plenty of that. There's a great steak house called Del Rio Roy's you should check out. There's a great place for barbecue called Olyde South."

Anderson asked, "How about Chinese?"

Rivers grinned and replied, "You'll want to try either Ming's or the Emerald Palace."

Sokolsky asked, "What are you going to do Tom?"

Rivers said, "I think I'm going rock hunting."

Danny asked incredulously, "You're going to do what?"

Tom pushed his chair back from the table. He leaned back in it with his elbows on the arms. "Well, I'm from Vega colony and the whole family has been miners back four generations. I've got a nose for finding gems and minerals that many others miss. They have tours, but they always go to the same places. I'm going to rent a shuttle and have a look around a rock that I've found productive in the past."

Anderson quipped, "I thought the asteroids in this system were mined out."

Tom said, "Well, for big corporations, maybe. They call it the point of diminishing returns; that's when mining operations can't generate enough ore to cover their costs. There is still plenty of good stuff to be had; you just have to look a little harder for it."

Chen quipped, "Umm... that pastime sounds far too much like work for me to spend my precious shore leave on."

"My last time out, I brought in 120K credits-tax free since I'm active duty", Rivers replied smugly.

That was enough for Anderson to whistle and Chen to raise an eyebrow.

Sokolsky asked incredulously, "What did you find?"

Tom nursed his coffee and replied, "I found a nice, fat vein of Sperrylite- I got about 40 Kilos of raw ore. When I cashed out, I thought the assayer was going to faint."

Everyone stared at River blankly. "Oh sorry- Sperrylite is the mineral that is processed to get platinum. What made that find so nice was that the impurities in that batch were Changchengite and Mayingite- minerals that form around Iridium. It is a lot like fishing - most times you don't catch anything, but you can score pretty big. In this case, the impurities were more valuable than the Sperrylite crystals."

Platinum and Iridium were two of the most important industrial metals to the Alliance economy. An alloy of the two rare metals is required for components of fusion reactors and jump engines because they could endure extreme temperatures without expanding, contracting or melting. Gram for gram, platinum is more valuable than diamonds. Its value has sent more than a few prospectors to their grisly deaths.

Anderson stood and put his coffee cup in the garbage. "Well gentlemen, whatever plans we have for shore leave depend on what the Captain has in mind. From the orders that I've got, it looks like my crew will be busy towards the weekend."

The officers took their cue from the senior man, disposed of the remains of their lunch and started migrating to the Captain's conference room.

When they arrived, Schmit and Harrison were chatting amiably with the few section heads that had already arrived. With the arrival of the rest of the crew, Schmit started his briefing early.

Schmit waited for everyone to get seated and then began his briefing. "Gentlemen- I've got word direct from fleet. Our layover here at Capella Station is going to last a week. Apparently, the task force is still gathering in stragglers for our jump to outer rim. We are going to offload about half of the containers that we have aboard, but that's a job for the yard workers."

"Since we have a long voyage ahead of us, I'm authorizing 5 days of shore leave for all hands. I want everybody back by Saturday at 11:00 hours."

There were smiles all around.

Schmit continued, "Now - that's the honey. Here comes the medicine. Sokolsky- you are to attend a meeting of fleet navigators on Saturday afternoon. Rivers - you are to attend a meeting of the fleet liaison officers. Before you complain too loudly, Harrison and I have to attend a conference of the fleet's command officers, so we all have our headaches."

"With the balance of the day Saturday, we expect to load the new cargo, slip our mooring Sunday night and jump Monday morning. Make sure that you take your ID card - Fleet is really squirrelly about security here. Any questions?"

Schmit looked around and saw nothing but smiles. "Good. Shore leaves starts now. Enjoy yourselves, and I'll see you back here Saturday."

Danny made a beeline for his quarters. He sat down at his computer and logged into Capella Station's Guest Information System and scanned the available hotels. There were some fine accommodations, but they were quite pricey. He picked a nice one called the University Inn and made a reservation.

He did a scan of the available recreation and restaurants, and it appeared as if Capella Station was a very efficient tourist trap. Casinos and brothels and arcades, oh my.

He sighed and gathered his clothes into a duffle bag and stored his personal computer in its carrying case. Just as he was finishing up preparations to get underway, he was interrupted by a knock on his cabin door. Danny opened the door to see Tom in his coal-gray fleet uniform with red trim with a duffle and a travel bag.

"Hey Tom come on in, I was just getting ready to get out the door."

He came halfway in and leaned against the door frame and said, "Have you figured out where you are going to stay?"

Danny shouldered his duffle, picked up his bag and answered, "University Inn. Know anything about it?"

They moved outside the cabin and Danny locked up. Tom said, "That's a good choice. It is one of the older hotels and the closest one to the U. of Capella and the local branch of the Alliance Fleet Academy. It's a much quieter area than downtown or the strip."

Danny sighed, "I was just hoping not to get between a few thousand drunken sailors, Jar-heads and the Shore Patrol."

Tom chuckled, "Smart plan."

The pair chatted affably on their hike through the ship's corridors and down three decks to the ship's primary airlock. They both swiped their ID cards at the airlock terminal which served to sign them out for liberty. The ship's air lock hissed and automatically opened onto a long gantry-way.

The gantry had long, narrow windows evenly spaced along the walls that offered a great view of the busy port in action. Small, powerful cargo handling shuttles, looking much like ants carrying boulders, were already off loading containers from the Burke.

Tom remarked, "They aren't wasting any time are they?"

"I guess they're on a schedule." Danny saw something out the window that stopped him in his tracks. "Wow; take a look those big mothers." He pointed out the thick Plexiglas window past the dock moorings to a line of four huge, dark gray ships bristling with weapons sitting menacingly off the station.

Tom gave the six massive ships a look. He had heard that Alliance Marines were building a new class of ships specially designed for Planetary Assaults, but he had never seen any of them. He sighed and grumbled, "Uh oh. It looks like the Marines have landed. It is a good thing you picked the University Inn. If that mob gets liquored up, they'll tear the Station apart."

"They can't be that bad, can they?" Danny asked; half afraid of the answer.

The pair resumed their hike down the long gantry way as Tom explained, "Since the war broke out and went so poorly, the Alliance has gotten earnest about winning. The Alliance Marines are our primary ground forces, and the enemy kicked their butts when the fighting started. The politicians have been putting a lot of pressure on the Corp to make the Marines a match for the enemy. The Brass has been giving their soldiers drugs that make them stronger and have better endurance, giving them various sorts of implants, conditioning them to be hyper-aggressive, resist pain; you know-super soldier stuff. They try to keep it quiet, but Fleet has to work with them, and they are hell on wheels."

Danny asked quietly as he shifted his duffle over his shoulder, "What are they like Tom, I mean the enemy? What do we even call them?"

"Let's get somewhere else to talk about that. All of it is classified and if somebody overhears me talking out of turn, I would get busted so fast..."

"Sorry Tom. Just curious is all."

The pair walked silently the rest of the way down the gantry. When they finally got to the end, Tom slid his ID card through a reader, and they entered an airlock. There was the familiar puff of pressure as the airlock cycled equalizing the pressure and allowing entry into the station.

Just inside were two armed guards who gave their credentials a once over and waved them through the checkpoint. Signs pointed them in the direction of the nearest tram station which was the only way to get around inside the station's independent segments.

Once they arrived at the tram station, they found a map showing the station's layout. There were sixteen hexagonal sections of the station, each almost 2 kilometers across with its own function. Their destination, the University district, took up an entire section.

The tram lines were color coded for the various destinations within the station. The University District was on the blue line, so they merely had to wait a few minutes for that tram to arrive.

The station wasn't unusually crowded. There were only about forty people waiting there-all crew members from ships moored nearby. Most of the people were Fleet, but Danny recognized a few crewmen from the Burke and her sisters who were moored close by.

The first tram to arrive was the red-line. Half the crowd embarked, and the tram hummed to life and sped away to its destination within two minutes.

The blue-line tram arrived five minutes later and Danny and Tom boarded along with about a dozen other passengers. The inside of the tram was as neat and clean as everything else. Fleet personnel knew how to run a base.

The passengers were greeted by a recording:

Thank you for using the Capella Public Transit system. The blue line tram stops in the Government District, the University district, military housing district and civilian housing district. There are public information kiosks available in every transit station.

For your safety, please remain seated while the tram is in motion.

Tom rolled his eyes and grinned at the corny recorded message.

When everyone was seated and no additional passengers entered the tram, the doors closed automatically, and the tram accelerated down its track.

Danny was a little stunned by what he saw when the tram car emerged into the Government district. The tram followed an elevated track through what appeared to be a busy city complete with a domed capitol building, office buildings, and parks with grass, trees and even ponds under what appeared to be a natural sky. How did they pull that off he thought to himself. Optical illusion or not, it was impressive.

As the tram car sped along its route, Danny realized that he and Tom had not even discussed staying together and their plans for the week were entirely different. Tom apparently had just assumed since they had struck up a friendship over the last few days that it was just assumed. For some reason, he was pleased.

The tram slowed and came to a gentle stop at the Government district station. It was larger and busier than the station where they had boarded. When the doors opened, a few people disembarked and a small stampede boarded.

Danny studied the new arrivals. There were plenty of uniforms, but most of the new arrivals were civilians. People going home from work, technicians on calls, a nurse, and kids doing whatever it is that kids do: all in all, just people living life.

The doors closed, and the tram moved out from the station. Tom appeared bored with the whole thing, but it was all new to Danny. Suddenly, there was a blur out of the corner of his eyes.

"There are birds here?" Danny exclaimed, pointing at a flight of several of silver-winged gulls flying lazily through the air. A few of the nearby passengers smiled at the newcomer's surprise.

Tom answered with a faraway look, "According to legend, gulls were the first owners of dawn." The tram moved into a tunnel between districts as Danny wondered what the hell that meant.

The University district spread out in front of his eyes green and lush with the sparkle of numerous small ponds and fountains. The tram line had emerged over the grounds of the Fleet Academy, one of several spread across Alliance space. Buildings were a curious mixture of red bricks, white columns and tasteful modern structures.

It was just a short minute and a half before the tram began to slow and entered the University District Station. Danny and Tom gathered their bags and exited the car.

There were scores of cadets and students waiting in the station to board the tram when a tall cadet left the boarding line and yelled, "Rivers, yo Rivers!"

Tom smiled and shook the hand of the cadet. "Hey Griff, I was hoping I'd run into you. Meet Danny Sokolsky- Chief Navigator for the Raymond Burke." Griff offered his hand and Danny shook it. "Danny, this is Travis Griffin, the worst poker player and best underclassmen in this joint."

"I'm a senior this year Tom." Griff complained, indignantly.

Tom laughed and said, "Well, I guess it had to happen eventually. What are you up to?"

"Well, there's a big fleet in, and they drafted a bunch of us seniors to do station orientation for Fleet personnel that have never been here before. What are you guys doing later?"

Tom answered, "Well, we're not sure just yet. We're staying at the University Inn. Give us a call when you are free."

"Will do Tom. Good to see you, got to run." Griff jumped into the tram just before the doors closed.

Tom shouldered his bag and said, "Let's get a place before the rest of the fleet mob shows up."

Danny was already glad that Tom had come along. It is always better to have someone along who knows their way around. "Sure, lead the way."

University Inn was a short block and a half from the station. In route, several people waved or said hello to Tom prompting Danny to ask, "Do you know everybody here?"

Tom shook his head and grinned. "Well, just a few."

The University Inn was an imposing structure at least five stories high. It was constructed of ornate gray stone. There was a short stairway up to a glassed in lobby filled with comfortable looking furnishings. As they entered, Danny got a sense that the place had been there for a long time. There were many pictures of the sports teams from the two Universities and a significant number of autographed pictures of dignitaries.

They approached the front desk as a dignified looking man in his late 30s was pounding away at a computer terminal and didn't notice Danny and Tom's approach. They stood there in a moment of awkward silence until Tom said, "How are you doing Crash."

The man looked up, saw Tom and smiled broadly. He stood up and extended his hand to Tom and said, "I'm doing as little as I can get away with Rivers. You must be in town with the Fleet."

Tom replied, "Yes sir. I thought I would try to get in here early before you got swamped. Danny, this is Crash McDonald. He was my flight instructor while I was here. Crash, this is Danny Sokolsky, Chief Navigator for the Raymond Burke."

Crash shook Danny's hand and said, "Nice to meet you Danny. I'm retired from being a fierce instructor, and now I'm the Day Manager for the University Inn." He turned back to Crash and said, "Are you just visiting or are you going to stay a while?"

Danny said, "I put in a reservation."

Crash turned to his computer and pulled up Danny's reservation. He looked up from his terminal and said, "Oh, this will never do." He clattered away at his keyboard and pulled two card keys out and handed them over the counter. He said, "Danny, you've got 520 and Tom you'll be in 521. I think you'll like them. You guys get the Crash-McDonald-was-my-flight-instructor-and-I-survived discount."

Almost by magic, a kid appeared in a bellhop's uniform and said, "Let me take your bags, and I'll show you up to your rooms."

Crash said, "Drake, take good care of my friends here."

The kid put their bags on a cart and said, "Yes sir. Right this way."

He led them through the lobby to the elevators. While they were waiting for one to arrive, the bellhop asked, "Sir, how did Mr. McDonald get his nickname?"

Tom said, "What, Crash?"

The kid nodded.

"Crash was a pilot and a pretty good one, but he had a knack for getting in trouble. He's the only guy you'll ever meet that crashed five fighters and lived to tell about it. After the last one, he was laid up for a long time and when he recovered, they made him an instructor."

Most of the time a fighter pilot's first crash is his last. "Sounds like they should call him Lucky." Danny quipped as they entered the elevator.

Tom gave him an icy look and said, "Crash is as good as gold. He's a great pilot. If he wasn't, Fleet would have washed him out long ago."

The elevator opened up on the fifth floor and the kid wheeled their bags into a hall and came to room 520. Danny used his card key and popped open the door to a nice, large room with a desk, several chairs, king-sized bed and bath. The bellhop showed Danny where the main features of the room were and then placed his bags in a closet adjoining the bath.

He then opened the drapes which revealed a sliding glass door and a balcony with a table and chairs and said, "These rooms are a suite which shares a balcony and a common room."

The bellhop then opened a door to the adjoining room. He walked around the common room to show off its features which consisted of a wet bar, entertainment center surrounded by comfortable couches.

Tom said, "Why don't you get settled in, and I'll be back shortly. Oh, yeah. Change into some shorts."

With that, Tom and the bellhop disappeared out into the hall. Danny looked around in the room and was afraid to know how much it cost. A suite like this would easily go for 200 credits a night. He hoped that discount the manager had talked about would apply to him as well.

Danny shrugged and put on some shorts, a casual shirt and some sandals. He made his way into the common room and turned on the entertainment center. The video was turned to an all-news channel that had several obnoxious talking heads discussing the Alliance Senates' response to the war.

Just a few minutes later, Tom entered the common room, sighed and shook his head when he saw what Danny was watching.

"Danny, for the next few days, there isn't a war, and we don't have any worries. We are to relax and have fun. Follow me; I want to introduce you to a strange Fleet ritual that an old salt taught me for shore leave after a long space flight."

Danny followed Tom up a long flight of stairs to the roof of the hotel where there was a very inviting swimming pool.

Tom walked to the edge of the pool and dropped his shoes. He sat on the edge and put his feet in the water and sighed. He turned to Danny and said, "Give it a try."

Danny's feet were wet in seconds flat.