Martial Law 1: Patriotic Treason Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Christopher Nuttall
Tags: Science-Fiction
Progress from preventing the unification of the human race. We can and will do anything that is required to prevent them from deserting the human race in its hour of greatest need. You will learn, as we go on, that they have sacrificed their rights because of their insistence on placing themselves in front of the rest of humanity…”
He went on for hours. By the time he had finished, we were all headachy and confused. Lieutenant Hatchet, surprisingly, allowed us to go back to our cabin and sleep, instead of taking us to start drilling. We all needed our rest.
The day afterwards, we began drilling in earnest.
Chapter Three
The UN would prefer to deny it, but there are far more complicated issues regarding pirates and piracy than it allows its people to recognise. The pirates that appeared in the wake of the UN’s first attempt to assert its authority over the outer worlds were driven by a mixture of motivations, ranging from revenge to greed and the desire to set up new independent colonies. Despite the UN’s claims, there are hundreds of pirates known to be at large…and, owing to the difficulties of intercepting them, they may be at large for years to come.
-Thomas Anderson. An Unbiased Look at the UNPF. Baen Historical Press, 2500.
“Ensign,” the Captain said, “prepare to take us out of the wormhole.”
I found myself tensing, again. I had practiced the manoeuvre endlessly in the simulators, under far worse conditions, but this was real. The memory of some of the more spectacular failures, where a single moment of inattention had cost me the simulated ship, lingered in my mind. I couldn’t help, but be aware that the Captain probably remembered them too. I had earned those demerits the hard way.
“Yes, sir,” I said, running my hand over the console. In theory, there’s no point in manning the bridge while the starship is in the wormhole, but the Captain insisted on having all stations manned at all times. We’d learned quickly that there was no such thing as enough practice and simulations. The First Lieutenant had drummed it into our heads often enough. “I have the Jump Drive online and ready to open the terminus.”
I didn’t understand the theory behind the Jump Drive – few people did, according to Lieutenant Hatchet – but we had practised enough so that I understood the practicalities of the wormhole it generated. It formed a link between our departure point and arrival point, but it also created a whole separate universe, containing nothing, but the starship. We had to open the wormhole terminus at the far end to escape. No one was quite sure what would happen if we didn’t, but no one felt that it was worth the risk of trying to find out.
“Excellent,” the Captain said, leaning back in his chair. I wasn’t fooled. I had respected the Captain from the start and the month since we had joined his crew hadn’t altered that opinion. He was watching me like a hawk. “Confirm arrival point.”
I winced inwardly. This was the tricky part. “Arrival point…confirmed,” I said, carefully. The Jump Drive was many things, but accurate it was not. “Terminus point confirmed as preset destination to within seven million kilometres.”
“Let’s see, shall we?” The Captain said. “Helm, take us out of Jump Drive.”
My display altered slightly as the wormhole terminus blossomed open in front of us, revealing stars for the first time in a week. The Captain’s course had given us four chances to practice egress from the wormhole, but this was the first time we had opened a wormhole in an inhabited star system. The UN safety regulations insisted that all wormholes had to be preset to locations within range of explored stars, but the stars we had used as waypoints were uninhabited. If something had gone wrong, we would have been stranded light years from any possible rescue.
“Sensors, confirm clear
He went on for hours. By the time he had finished, we were all headachy and confused. Lieutenant Hatchet, surprisingly, allowed us to go back to our cabin and sleep, instead of taking us to start drilling. We all needed our rest.
The day afterwards, we began drilling in earnest.
Chapter Three
The UN would prefer to deny it, but there are far more complicated issues regarding pirates and piracy than it allows its people to recognise. The pirates that appeared in the wake of the UN’s first attempt to assert its authority over the outer worlds were driven by a mixture of motivations, ranging from revenge to greed and the desire to set up new independent colonies. Despite the UN’s claims, there are hundreds of pirates known to be at large…and, owing to the difficulties of intercepting them, they may be at large for years to come.
-Thomas Anderson. An Unbiased Look at the UNPF. Baen Historical Press, 2500.
“Ensign,” the Captain said, “prepare to take us out of the wormhole.”
I found myself tensing, again. I had practiced the manoeuvre endlessly in the simulators, under far worse conditions, but this was real. The memory of some of the more spectacular failures, where a single moment of inattention had cost me the simulated ship, lingered in my mind. I couldn’t help, but be aware that the Captain probably remembered them too. I had earned those demerits the hard way.
“Yes, sir,” I said, running my hand over the console. In theory, there’s no point in manning the bridge while the starship is in the wormhole, but the Captain insisted on having all stations manned at all times. We’d learned quickly that there was no such thing as enough practice and simulations. The First Lieutenant had drummed it into our heads often enough. “I have the Jump Drive online and ready to open the terminus.”
I didn’t understand the theory behind the Jump Drive – few people did, according to Lieutenant Hatchet – but we had practised enough so that I understood the practicalities of the wormhole it generated. It formed a link between our departure point and arrival point, but it also created a whole separate universe, containing nothing, but the starship. We had to open the wormhole terminus at the far end to escape. No one was quite sure what would happen if we didn’t, but no one felt that it was worth the risk of trying to find out.
“Excellent,” the Captain said, leaning back in his chair. I wasn’t fooled. I had respected the Captain from the start and the month since we had joined his crew hadn’t altered that opinion. He was watching me like a hawk. “Confirm arrival point.”
I winced inwardly. This was the tricky part. “Arrival point…confirmed,” I said, carefully. The Jump Drive was many things, but accurate it was not. “Terminus point confirmed as preset destination to within seven million kilometres.”
“Let’s see, shall we?” The Captain said. “Helm, take us out of Jump Drive.”
My display altered slightly as the wormhole terminus blossomed open in front of us, revealing stars for the first time in a week. The Captain’s course had given us four chances to practice egress from the wormhole, but this was the first time we had opened a wormhole in an inhabited star system. The UN safety regulations insisted that all wormholes had to be preset to locations within range of explored stars, but the stars we had used as waypoints were uninhabited. If something had gone wrong, we would have been stranded light years from any possible rescue.
“Sensors, confirm clear