SG Nova Roma, Chapter 3.23

23 – Meanwhile on Spera

(Spera – Alison Porter’s Quarters – Day 320, 1045)

Things had blissfully boring aboard Spera. They had arrived in this galaxy on schedule and had picked up their two Puddle Jumpers. As for supplies, they had stocked up before starting the crossing and again at the planet where the Jumpers had been. The pilots had been busy exploring that world, so they knew where to get the things they needed. After that stop, they had begun their jump to Novus Prime. It had taken Destiny months get that deep into this galaxy. But Spera was using her FTL-drive in what the crew had taken to calling Crossing Mode. And they were flying there in a straight line. So – if everything went as planned – their trip would be much shorter.

With the ship in FTL, there hadn’t been any off-world missions to go on. So Alison had been her spending time helping Nikita Aranov writing reports on everything they had encountered so far. Yesterday, they had finished the last of the paperwork. And now they were all caught up. Which meant that Alison was free to enjoy some down time. It was at times like this that she wished her quarters weren’t so cramped.

The problem was that the only way to have bigger quarters, was to expand the ship. And the only way to do, was to expand the Wraith expansion attached to Spera. But that was not an option, because the expansion would grow out of the FTL-field. And despite the New Asurans best efforts, the ship’s FTL-drive was simply maxed out. Furthermore, a bigger ship would mean a bigger draw on the life-support, which would lead to a whole host of problems. ~Less power to the Stargate, less power to the sub-light engines, and so on…~ Basically, they would have to make to do with their cabins.

Alison was reading when there was a knock at the door. Well, the flap that passed for a door to her cabin. She called for whoever it was to enter and Cinara came in, followed by G’Yal. The two of them were chatting away. Then the two of them turned to Porter.

“Hi, Doc,” Cinara said. “What are you doing ?”

“I’m reading one of the few personal belongings I was able to bring along. It’s a novel called The Count of Monte Cristo,” Porter paused. “So, what brings you here ?”

“Well,” G’Yal said. “We never really talk. It’s always about work on the ship, off-world missions, you know. Threat this, bad guys that.”

“Yeah,” Porter said. “And it’s not like there’s lots of entertainment on board this ship,” She put the book down. “Okay, we need to work to on that.”

“So, what is that book about ?” Cinara said.

“Have a seat,” Cinara and G’Yal both sat down on the floor. “This book was written centuries ago…”

As Porter explained the plot, Colonel Vale smiled outside the cabin. He had been passing the cabin on the way to the bridge and had overheard the conversation. It was good to hear that the crew was enjoying some down time together. And Porter and friends were not the only ones. Yesterday, Vale and several others had played a game of poker in the Mess Hall and the day before that he had walked into Hydroponics Bay 2 to find some of the crew engaged in a game of curling. Before he could ponder it further, he reached the bridge and made his way to the command chair, where Jennifer Hailey was running things.

“Colonel,” She began. “Sorry for pulling you away from your down time, but we got a report from Freedom Prime.”

“Let’s have a look.”

The report had come in through the Deep Space Internet, so Vale sat down at one of the consoles and activated the communications system. He punched up the report and began reading. ~What are the Goa’uld up to ?~ He was glad to hear that the Vicerant had been defeated, but the fact that the Goa’uld had saved the day worried him. From what he had read so far, this Pelops fellow was a sharp cookie. And he appeared to be far from your cliché Goa’uld. ~The game is afoot.~ And only time would tell what the Goa’ulds next move would be.

(Spera – Hydroponics Bay 2 – Day 351,0921)

Alec Colson and Frank Levine were inspecting the plants. Between the two hydroponics bays and the meat cultivation programs, Spera was in doing good on crops and other food. They also had plenty of water. So things were looking good in the bay. Colson finished inspecting his half of the bay, then turned to Levine.

“So, who is covering the bridge this shift ?”

“Grogan and Cinara,” Levine said. “Grogan needs to keep his skills up and Cinara needs to learn.”

“And how long until we reach Novus Prime ?” ~From what I heard, we’ve been making good time.~

“Two weeks according to the projections,” Levine said. “Which is fine with me. Because while I’m good with covering lots ground, I’m going stir crazy with no Puddle Jumper flying to do. And I’m curious how things are going on Novus Prime.”

“Yeah, from what I heard, they have issues,” Colson said with a nod. He had read all the reports on both Novus and the Vicerant. ~So, they will either welcome us, or start shooting as soon as we drop out of FTL.~ “May I ask you something personal ?”

“Let me guess, you want to know why I joined the Air Force ?” Colson had asked that question of several people during their trip towards Novus Prime. And Levine knew that. “My grandfather was in the Air Force during World War Two, and my father flew over Korea and Vietnam. They didn’t pressure me, but I liked flying and it felt like a good way to make a difference.”

“So, is there going to be a fourth generation of Flying Levine’s ?”

“Probably. My son Samuel wants to become a lawyer. He’s fourteen,” Levine smiled. “But my two eleven year old daughters Victoria and Jenna have caught the flying bug. Victoria is wants to become an airline pilot, while Jenna is dreaming about leading the Air Wing of a US Navy Carrier someday.”

“The Navy ? Really ?”

“Her grandfather was a Naval Aviator. And as long as she is happy, I don’t care.”

“So, how do you handle….”

“….Leaving them behind ?” Levine paused and looked at Colson. “I write them when I can. I can’t tell them much, but I can tell them little things. And I remember that I’m doing this to keep them safe. Not to mention that I’m helping people out here.”

Colson nodded. Everybody had his reason for being here. He had joined the Nova Roma Expedition because he believed in not leaving people behind. And while Destiny’s crew was secure on Freedom Prime, they still had the puzzle of the ship’s mission to solve. ~Of course, we need to get ship back first.~ But that was a problem for later. ~After we get Chaser off the ground.~ And that meant they had plenty of work to do.

(Spera – Mess Hall – Day 365, 1207)

Spera had dropped out of FTL a solar system relatively close to Novus Prime. There, she had recharged before jumping to the Novus Prime system. In order not to spook the locals, they had dropped the ship out at the edge of the system and were now heading in using the sub-light engines. Vale had read Young’s report on the planet before, but he was now reading it again. Of course, this report was a decade old and it was probably not entirely accurate anymore. He had just turned a page when Xander Henderson came in.

“Corporal,” Vale said.

“Colonel,” Henderson said. “We have begun our orbital insertion. Our best guess is that we should be there in eight minutes. So Major Hailey told me to go get you, sir.”

“Any signs of hostility ?”

“No, sir. No missiles, no ships and no transmissions so far,” Henderson paused as Vale closed the file and then headed towards the bridge. “Our scans show that it’s an advanced colony, sir. It’s just like the Tenaran City that Destiny’s crew visited when they went to Novus, sir. So the Major figures that they do have planetary defenses, sir. But they just haven’t used them.”

“That’s either a good sign, or they are leading us into a trap.” Vale paused. “Did they Major make an estimate of the population ?”

“No, we don’t know the exact number,” Henderson said. “But the density of the cities and towns made Major Hailey believe that all the People of Novus are living on this one planet. They probably figured that would make the chances of the command ships and the berserker drones finding them minimal. And they are probably looking for strength in numbers.”

Vale nodded as they walked onto the bridge. Henderson was probably right about that. But now the command ships and berserker drones were gone. Between that and Spera’s very existence, he got the feeling that this was going to be a very interesting conversation with the locals.