Mitchell's Revenge

The date was set for the pylon race. They decided it was to take place on the evening before the junior ballroom championship on Tiberion. That night, before his father was to return to Covington, Jake sat in the shipyard canteen staring into his beer. Tim arrived for something to eat. He took one look at Jake’s despondent face, poured himself a glass of wine and sat down next to his son.

“You look like it’s the end of the world,” he said gently. “What’s wrong? You’re usually so positive.”

“We need a bloody good reason for pilots to enter the race,” Jake stated flatly. “I don’t know that we have one. Other than the reputation that goes with winning, why would they come all this way at such short notice?”

Tim grimaced. “You’re absolutely right. Why would they?”

“We have no resources left to put up prize money. So what’s in it for us? Other than using it to separate the Zond’s crew when they come back into the system, there’s got to be something else.”

Tim took a long gulp of wine. They sat silently, each involved in his own thoughts. Tim placed his glass on the table top in front of him. He swivelled the stem between his thumb and index finger. The remaining wine nearly spilled out.

“I think I know what to do!” he said. Jake stared at his father. Tim continued. “We can use it as an opportunity to let everyone know that U.S.E. is still building reliable, state of the art ships. If we provide one of our race craft to each of the pilots who enter and charge an entry fee, then that can provide the prize pool, and we’ll give one of our race craft to the winning pilot. That’ll bring them here, for sure.”

Jake looked at Tim in astonishment. “That’s brilliant Dad! But can we afford it? Giving away a race craft?”

“Things can’t get much worse,” replied Tim. “I don’t see why not. We’ve got several craft due for completion in the next few weeks. It’s part of the military contract. Training craft for the base at CX9. We can use the race as the testing ground for the craft before we hand them over. Not that we’ll tell anyone that of course.” He rubbed his eyes. “I think this could work. I’ll need to talk to Erik, but I think it will.”

Jake smiled. “I know I’d be entering to win one of those craft. The money would just be icing on the cake!”

“Keep it to yourself for now,” advised Tim. “I need to clear it with Erik first. When we announce the date of the race, we can announce the prize for the winner. It should get some attention.”

Tim finished his drink. He stood and squeezed Jake’s shoulder. “We have to believe we’ll be OK. We’ve survived bad times before. We can do it again, provided we all work together.” Tim smiled at his son as he left the canteen.

Meanwhile, Grabb registered Lucy as a ballroom dancing competitor and then entered them both in the adult ballroom events. He managed to get hold of a rough copy of the proposed program for the five day championship. The final program and competitor list would not be available until closer to the date. He and Lucy and Lou pored over it. They wanted to be able to move freely around the arena whilst blending in with the general group of competitors. A plan began to form in Grabb’s mind as they discussed the best approach.

A week after Tim and Sibil returned to Covington, Grabb, Lou and Flex followed them down to the surface of EQ2. Lucy stayed at the shipyard to help with the repairs to Mitchell’s Revenge and the Guardian Angel. Em also stayed at the shipyard, alternately sleeping and keeping Lucy company as she worked. When they were done, Lucy’s next job was to teach Rufus how to fly the pylon course.

Flick worked alongside Bolter. Lucy worked with Lauri. Both pilots were very interested in what was being done to their ships. Information was shared between the technicians. The ships were fitted with brand new FTL drives from the reinstated software supplier. Jake had taken Mitchell’s Revenge out that morning for testing in its final stage of repairs.

While he was gone Lucy wandered over to repair pod three to watch the progress of work on the hull of the Guardian Angel. It was almost done. The collision with the shipyard wall simply added to the damage the ship already had.

The fuschia coloured salvage vehicle had been unlashed from the rear of the Angel and was positioned against the wall, out of the way. Lucy wandered over to it and studied it. The exterior coating was peeling in places and damage to its surface was evident. It was one of the ugliest, but most practical vehicles she had ever seen. She wondered which of the Angel’s crew was responsible for cobbling it together.

Lucy turned and walked towards the bow of the Guardian Angel. She studied the internal wiring through its skin. She could see several hot spot points of weakness that the technicians had missed. It was not as intact as Bolter thought after all. She pinged Bolter on her headset.

“Bolter, would you come round front?” she asked.

“Hey Lucy, what’s up?” he replied.

“There are some weak spots in your internal wiring in the bow,” she replied. “I’d like to point them out to you.”

“Flick’s on the tarmac already,” he said. “You can point them out to her.”

Flick appeared in front of Lucy as Bolter finished his sentence. They sized each other up for a moment. Flick didn’t like Lucy very much. They were both strong women used to being in charge. They had developed an uneasy relationship in the working environment and Flick couldn’t bring herself to fully trust Lucy. Lucy didn’t understand the other woman’s reticence.

“What’s the problem?” Flick asked as she turned to look at the hull.

“You’ve got some weak spots in your internal circuits in the bow,” said Lucy. She walked forward and indicated several points on the hull.

“How do you know that?” asked Flick. “We’ve checked and cross checked every single one of them. Nothing’s showing on our sensors.”

“Believe me, you’ve got weaknesses,” Lucy replied. Flick looked sceptical.

“How can you possibly know that? Have you got x-ray vision or something?” she asked sarcastically. She was becoming annoyed by Lucy’s certainty.

“Actually, yes,” Lucy said quietly. “I can see through the skin of your ship. My eyes register an infra-red image of anything warped or damaged.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” snorted Flick. “Nobody can see through exterior alloy like that!”

“I can, and I do,” said Lucy. “And I can assure you now that if you don’t attend to those circuits, your first jump with your brand new FTL drive will put so much pressure on the hull your ship will explode. Bye Bye Guardian Angel!”

“I don’t believe you.” Flick was getting agitated and turned to face Lucy. She looked hard into her hazel eyes. She had to admit Lucy’s eyes were rather unusual. Flick wondered if it really was possible that she could see into the ship.

“You’re going to have to peel back the skin in the places I’ve indicated,” Lucy went on. “You can’t get at the damage to those circuits from the inside.”

“Don’t you tell me what to do!” Flick’s temper flared.

She grabbed Lucy by the collar of her ship suit and pulled her close in front of her. Lucy slapped her hands away and stepped backwards. Flick’s fist flashed forward towards Lucy’s face in a full blooded punch. Lucy put her right hand up and caught Flick’s hand so fast it stopped her in her tracks. She held Flick in a vice like grip at arm’s length. Em appeared silently at her side, poised to pounce, and snarled at Flick.

“What is the matter with you?” she asked quietly. “I’m only trying to help.”

She let go of Flick who staggered backwards. Em stalked towards her. By this time Bolter was running across the tarmac to break up the fight.

“Stop it!” he shouted. “What is the matter with you? Flick, step away. Take a breath.” Em paused her approach but didn’t take her eyes off the other woman.

“She says she can see through the skin of the ship,” replied Flick, rubbing her hand. She rocked from foot to foot. She glanced at the panther. “Reckons we’ve missed some circuits in the hull. What bullshit!”

Bolter studied Lucy. “You’re sure?” he asked. Lucy nodded and indicated the points again.

“Only one way to prove it,” he said. “Let’s take a look.” He moved to the lowest point that he could reach and applied his universal tool kit to the surface. The skin peeled gently away, exposing minor damage to the circuit, something that his instruments could not pick up.

“Lucy’s right,” he said. “Show me the others.” Bolter marked the points on the hull as Flick stomped back towards the boarding ramp, muttering to herself as she went. Em lowered herself to the floor as she watched Flick depart.

“She doesn’t like me very much, does she?” Lucy observed to Bolter. Bolter smiled.

“Another competent woman on her patch is what she doesn’t like,” he replied. He gazed at Lucy’s face for a moment.

“Bionic eyes?” he asked. Lucy nodded.

“How can you tell?”

“Seen them before. Back in my military days. Highly experimental then. Obviously they’ve ironed out the bugs if a civilian has them. What happened?”

“Accident on the pylon course. Software fault in the ship I was testing. The steering failed.”

Bolter stared at her. “Was this the same manufacturer that supplied the FTL drives?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’ve got an even bigger problem,” he said quietly.

“We know. I’m very glad you’re joining our technical crew for a while. We’ve got at least four ships with issues that we need to repair before the pylon race. Six months isn’t very long. The sooner we’re out of the shipyard the better!”

Bolter nodded and turned back to checking the points that Lucy had indicated. Jake appeared in the repair pod access way.

“I heard that Lucy,” he said as he approached them. “You’ll be staying here when the Guardian Angel’s finished. You have to train Rufus, remember?” She stared at him.

“So who’s going to co-pilot Mitchell’s Revenge? You can’t go without me!”

“I’ve come to find out if Flick might be interested in the job,” he said.

“What?!” exclaimed Lucy. “You can’t just replace me.”

“I can actually,” said Jake. “Flex suggested it while you get Rufus trained up.” Bolter turned around to face the two of them. He grinned at Jake.

“That’s a bloody good idea,” he said. “Those two need to be kept apart. Flick attacked Lucy a few moments ago.”

“I know,” said Jake. “I saw it on the vid feed as I was coming back in. They’re behaving like neighbourhood cats, each protecting their patch.” Em snarled at Jake who laughed at her.

“I didn’t hurt her,” protested Lucy. “She attacked me. I know she doesn’t like me.”

“And as Bolter so astutely pointed out, keeping you apart is going to be the easiest solution for now,” replied Jake. “You’ve got two jobs to do before the pylon race. Get Rufus competent, and learn to dance.”

“Not you too,” Lucy sighed. “You’re sounding more like your father every day!”