BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

BRIGLAD

Quest - Chapter 4
Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Quest try's out it's new propulsion system. However there is a slight problem.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2531    RATING: 10    SERIES: FIREFLY

Disclaimer: Joss, Fox, Universal Own em’. I’m just playing. No money being made. The situations come from my own twisted mind as do my original characters.

-

-

AN: The new propulsion system works, but there's a hitch...

-

Quest-Chapter Four

-

Sara sat in her chair and took a deep breath. In less than five minutes, she would either be dead or remembered along with Einstein or Hawking. 'Time to get this show on the road,' she thought.

“Status report?”

“Engineering is go,” stated Becca. It was too dangerous to keep personnel in the engine room when operating the FTL system. Everything could be controlled and monitored from the bridge. There were even several remote manipulators and robotic arms she could control from the console to make any repairs.

“Computer cores are stable and on line. Finishing the calculations momentarily,” Melissa said after a moment.

“Sensors ready,” said Rachel next.

“Helm is ready. Navigator awaiting final course from the computer,” Jeff answered for himself and Virgil.

“All weapons on standby. No threats,” finished Meghan.

“Very well,” Sara replied, “Begin charging the pods.”

“Charging,” Clay replied from his seat next to Becca.

Outside, the four large lozenge shaped pods between the main hull and the engines began to move. Extending from their stowed position, they moved to the precise distance needed to generate the artificial singularity.

As they locked into position, the constructs began to glow with a golden light. Building up the charge that would hopefully lead to Quest traveling faster then the speed of light.

“Pods rigged and ready. System is charging,” said Becca.

Sara grinned and turned in her chair to face her best friend. It was almost time. Sara touched the intercom pad on the arm of her chair, “This is the Captain. Everyone not on the bridge, strap in and hang on. We're jumping in three minutes... mark.”

Things were happening quickly now. The computer had calculated the proper trajectory and velocity for the ship to use. Sara's theory of Hyperspace travel counted on the idea that the ship making the jump had to be moving. It would enter and exit the jump with the same velocity and heading it had entered. To 'navigate' you had to be pointed in the right direction and under way before you 'jumped'.

“Course laid in. Ready to break orbit,” Virgil stated.

“Jeff, bring us about. As soon as we clear orbit, I want full burn.”

“Copy,” Jeff replied. When they were on the bridge, they were professionals, not necessarily husband and wife. The affection was still in their tone of voice though.

“Londinium orbital control says we are clear and wishes us good luck,” Virgil said with a grin.

“One minute,” Becca interjected.

Sara turned in her chair to her two guests sitting in the jump seats next to her, “You ready, Commanders?”

Lt. Commander Baxter nodded nervously and Commander Olsen just grinned.

“Thirty seconds,” intoned Becca.

Near the aft end of Quest, the pods were glowing brightly. The waste energy transmuting into the visible spectrum. The ship was ready.

“Full burn initiated... on course,” Jeff said.

“Fifteen seconds.”

“Computer has the helm,”

“Ten seconds.”

Sara looked forward and gripped the arms of her chair. Jeff looked over his shoulder and grinned at her. He mouthed the words, “I love you” Sara blew him a kiss.

“Five.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two,”

“One.”

“Jumping!”

Outside Quest, it was an almost non-event. One second, quest was burning hard and the next it was simply gone. A simple flash of light was all that could be seen.

On board it was quite different. Time seemed to slow down for a moment. Outside the bridge windows Londinium's moon, Colchester had been visible. After what seemed like a frozen moment in time. A blazing star appeared and a blue white planet replaced the moon. Something wasn't right.

Sara felt a wave of nausea roll through her body and she tried hard not to throw up. Behind her she could hear Melissa losing that battle.

Looking out the windows Sara had trouble believing what she saw. “Where the hell are we? That doesn't look like Daedalus...”

“That's because it's Hera,” Virgil said as he regained his equilibrium.

“Cao!,” Sara swore, “Jeff, get us slowed down and into orbit.

“What happened?” Commander Olsen asked.

“We overshot,” Virgil explained.

“Shenme?”

“How long was the jump?” Sara asked, already running numbers through her head.

“System says it was right on the money. One tenth of a second.”

“Then why are we half a system away from where we were supposed to be?”

“Working on it Sara,” Virgil replied.

“Okay. Systems check. Everyone call in,” Sara ordered.

After a few minutes checking, everyone was all right and feeling no ill effects other than some lingering unsettled stomaches. The ship was functioning just as it had before.

What had happened?

XXXXXXXXXX

“Where are they?” Zoë asked. Her nervousness obvious.

“I don't know.” Allan replied as he scanned the space around Free Bird. All he could pick up was the Dortmunder two hundred miles to port at the far end of her patrol pattern and Heracles fifty to starboard.

“Did... did something go... wrong?”

Allan shook his head, “Can't think like that,” he replied, even though fear was beginning to grip him as well.

They both nearly jumped out of their skins when the incoming wave alert chimed. Allan let out a huge breath he didn't know he had been holding when he saw that the call came from Quest.

Sara's face popped onto the small screen, “Hi Dad.”

“You okay?” Allan asked.

“We're fine. Just... overshot a little.”

“How little?”

“Sixty one AU.”

“Sixty one?” Allan asked incredulously.

“Yeah, we're in orbit around Hera.”

“Not like you to be that far off in your math, Daughter o' mine,” Zoë said.

“Hey, Mom. I know. We're working on it.”

“What's the plan, Captain?” Allan asked his daughter.

“We're staying here while we do the post jump checks. Then we'll head back your way.”

Sounds good. Any ETA?”

Give us an hour to do the checks. Then at best speed, twenty hours. I don't want to do another jump until we get things sorted out as to why we over shot.”

Allan was grinning ear to ear by now. Even Sara hadn't quite realized what they had accomplished. Dealing with the overshoot problem.

“We'll save the champagne for when you get here then,” Allan replied.

“Champagne?”

“You do realize that you did it, you know,” Allan grinned.

“Huh?” Sara replied. Behind her, Allan could hear chuckling.

“You did it, Princess.”

Sara suddenly broke out in a wide grin herself, “We did... didn't we.”

“That's my girl,” Allan replied.

“See you in the morning Dad,” Sara smiled just as Jeff came into camera range and kissed her.

Allan cut the wave and looked over to where his wife sat in the co-pilots seat. Unlike Serenity, Free Bird was laid out with the pilot's seat on the left, rather than the right. Zoë was smiling just as wide as her husband.

“She did it,” Zoë said after a moment.

“They did it,” Allan replied. “It was a team effort.”

“That it was, Husband. That it was.”

“So... what are we going to do for the next twenty one hours or so?” Allan asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Zoë smiled wider, “What d you have in mind?”

“I'm thinking a little one on one time with the gravity shut off...”

Zoë reached up and toggled off the artificial gravity, “Get over here and tear my clothes off.”

“Yes Ma'am,” Allan replied as he threw the seat belts off and floated across the small bridge.

XXXXXXXXXX

“Gaaah! I can't believe it was that simple,” Sara exclaimed as she looked over Virgil's shoulder.

“That's why we missed it the first twenty times we did the calculations,” the navigator replied.

Sara shook her head, “And go figure. It was my barely genius brained husband that figured it out...”

Jeff was just grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat. “What? Just because the acceleration in hyperspace is cubed rather than squared...” Jeff replied.

“You are so going to get it tonight,” Sara grumbled.

“Can I dig out the leather then?” Jeff snarked back.

Virgil lost it and began laughing his head off. Melissa rolled her eyes and Rachel made gagging motions after seeing what imagery the comment had caused to pop into Sara and Jeff's heads.

Even Commander Olsen, still sitting in the jump seat cracked a grin.

“Keep it up and you won't get nothin,” Sara growled.

Jeff continued to smile. Knowing that Sara's threat wasn't likely to be carried out.

“Think we can do another jump safely?” Sara asked her navigator.

“With the data we have now? I can almost put us in the Dortmunder's docking bay.”

Becca and Clay entered the bridge after doing their inspection, “We're good to go, Sara” Becca stated.

“No problems?”

“She's running A-okay.”

“Good,” Sara stated, “Start the clock. We're jumping to the original co-ordinates in ten minutes.”

The crew of the Quest scrambled to get the ship ready.

XXXXXXXXXX

“Well... that was certainly... interesting,” Allan panted as he tried to catch his breath.

“What? You ain't never done it... in zero G... before?” Zoë replied, equally out of breath.

Allan chuckled and pulled his floating and very naked wife closer, “Not that I recall.”

“Me and Wash did it a few times, In one o' the shuttles. Hard part is getting the traction. And never use any oil. You end up loosin grip and bouncing off the walls.”

“I take it you had... experience in that regard?” Allan chuckled.

“Maybehaps,” Zoë grinned. Without the pressures of Allan running Blue Sun or her former job job as police chief in New Edmonton. She and Allan were enjoying their retirement. Even though Zoë herself was almost sixty and Allan pushing eighty in a few years. They both still enjoyed each others company in the physical sense. As often as they could.

Not having their daughter around the house made things a bit easier in that regard too.

Zoë nestled herself in Allan's arms as they floated behind the pilots seats on Free Birds bridge, both staring out at the stars. In the distance they could see the blob of light that was the Cruiser, Dortmunder. There to keep the riff-raff away from the testing.

Allan held Zoë tighter and kissed the side of her neck, “Hungry?”

“Maybe,” Zoë admitted, “We did burn off a few calories.”

“That we did... holy...”

The bridge lit up with a flash of light. Less than a mile away, Quest suddenly appeared.

“Damn kids,” Zoë muttered, “Always showin up at the most inconvenient times...”

Allan chuckled as he pushed off the overhead so he could reach his floating clothes, “Leave it to our daughter to interrupt us trying to have sex.”

XXXXXXXXXX

The light on the shuttle bay bulkhead changed from red to green. There was now air outside Free Bird.

Zoë was still straightening out her shirt when the hatch opened.

“Hey! You two decent?” Sara's voice called out.

“No!” Allan and Zoë chorused.

Sara giggled, “Too bad,” she said as she entered her parents small ship.

Zoë pulled her daughter into a fierce hug. Not to be outdone, Allan lifted his daughter off the deck, spinning her around when it was his turn.

“Congratulations, Princess,” Allan smiled as he kissed Sara on her forehead, “You did it.”

“We did it, Daddy. You did half the work. I just finished the calculations.”

“And then you and Becca designed it. Have you waved Simon and Kaylee yet?”

“Becca called her folks just before we jumped back. Jeff is sending a wave back to Uncle Mal right now. Rachel's calling her folks.”

Zoë hugged Sara again.

“So... where are you going to display your Nobel Prize for Physics?” Allan grinned.

“Dad...”

“I mean it. Faster than light space travel had been the dream of mankind for centuries. And my little girl's team took my hen scratching and turned it into a viable propulsion system.”

“I think this little event deserves a party,” Zoë said still smiling.

“My thinking exactly, Mom.”

XXXXXXXXXX

Allan had brought a case of Chateaus de Tam '28. Some of the finest and most expensive Osiran Champagne in the 'Verse.

Of course, it didn't hurt that the vineyard was owned by Simon and Rivers parents. Hence, a huge discount.

As glasses were filled everyone from the crew of Quest along with guests from the Dortmunder and Roberta Sutherland who was captain on Heracles, Allan raised his glass.

“A toast. To Dr. Sara Jane Bryant-Reynolds. Scientist, captain, pilot, daughter, wife and brat,” Allan grinned.

“To Sara,” the group chorused.

Sara raised her glass as well, “To my parents. For always being there to support me. Protect me. Encourage me. Save me. And most of all, love me.”

Allan grinned as everyone cheered.

“Okay... enough with this go-se. Time to party!” Sara yelled.

The crew and guests began to mingle. The Dortmunder had sent food over for the reception. As everyone dug in, Allan found himself sitting next to Commander Olsen. Zoë was off conversing with Melissa.

“Dr. Bryant,” the officer said in greeting.

“Commander... Olsen? Is it?”

“Correct. You must be very proud.”

“Always have been,” Allan replied.

“Do you know what will happen next with the project?”

“Some,” Allan admitted, “There are a few more FTL tests as well as the weapons testing. Then we're hoping to do a little exploring.”

“Where?”

“With government approval. We hope to mount a mission to Earth.”

The Commander looked shocked, “Why... there?”

“Like the old adage for climbing mountains. Because it's there. Also, I know I want to lay eyes on the planet where I was born, one last time.”

“So you are going?”

“Of course. They will need a guide.”

“What about Ms. Forbes?”

“Know about that, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Melissa was seventeen when she was placed in cryo. That was a hard time back then. I'm old enough to have been alive before even the Alliance was formed.”

“It is all a bit hard to take in.”

“Try being me sometime. I expected to come out of cryo as the first one in the system. Instead I showed up three hundred years later than I had planned.”

The commander nodded in agreement.

“What did you think of my daughters handling of the whole situation... as an outside observer.”

“For her age? Sara is a skilled ship handler. As is her husband. I feel there is a certain lack of... experience, however.”

“That's why I will be going along if we go to Earth. Sara will be captain but she will listen to her father... when necessary.”

“What do you hope to find?”

“Worst case... a dead world. Either from the war that we know that had broken out shortly after the exodus left or to resource depletion. Best case, a thriving society that just decided to leave us alone.. My best guess is something in the middle.”

“One can only hope.”

Allan raised his glass, “I'll drink to that.

“The technology itself,” The Commander said, changing the subject, “Can it be... adapted?”

“Eventually. Right now, Quest is both the smallest and largest ship the system can be used on. There's no going out and refitting the Unification class ships like Dortmunder with an FTL drive. Same can be said for fitting the system to an ASREV like you fly. Whole new ship classes will have to be built. That is one of the reasons Quest is armed. It's a test bed.”

“All built by Blue Sun?”

“Most likely. Once the patents run out, others can build an FTL drive ship. Or they can pay the license fees and start building sooner. It's just good business. I may be retired but I still hold more shares than anyone else.”

“You mentioned government approval...”

“We'll need someone with diplomatic training to accompany the trip. If there are people back on Earth, by using ships like Quest. Lines of communication can be laid. Even cortex links, now that the cortex can also transmit at FTL speeds.”

“You have it all planned out.”

“I personally own one eighth of this ship. My daughter one quarter. The rest is spread out among other investors ranging from Blue Sun to individuals. This project has been underway in one form or another for over four years. Even before Sara got her PhD. Since I retired, I've had lots of time to figure things out.”

“I can imagine so.”

TBC

COMMENTS

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:18 AM

FREEVERSE


Back to earth, huh? This will be neither simple nor straightforward, in the diplomatic sense. I'm seeing some tension around Quest within the military/between military and researchers on this one!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 9:58 PM

JANE0904


They were lucky they didn't end up in the middle of nowhere and next week! Still, I bet there's a few more bugs to be ironed out, even before they reach Earth. And that is going to be a whole other ballgame, right?


POST YOUR COMMENTS

You must log in to post comments.

YOUR OPTIONS

OTHER FANFICS BY AUTHOR

I Choose You - Chapter 2
A Scoobie joins Serenity's crew

I Choose You - Chapter 1
My first foray into the Buffyverse/Crossed over with Firefly. 500 years from now, two nearly immortal Slayers, a powerful Witch and the Immortal Key struggle with the same thing they always have. Love, Family and Vampires. Willow/River pairing.

Discovery - Chapter 8
Mal and John Henry discuss Time travel and Sarah Connor Realizes she isn't in Kansas (or California) anymore.

Discovery - Chapter 7
Back in my FF/T:TSCC crossover verse. John Connor and the crew of Serenity go out to a bar. The inevitable occurs.

Undying - Chapter 4
On Santo, the crew sees to supplies while River, Zoe and MacLeod meet with two of Mac's oldest friends.

Quest - Chapter 32
Done!!!!! Last chapter in this story arc. The Allanverse will continue at some point, however.

Quest - Chapter 31
Some more fluff as I finish off this arc. The extended Serenity families relax on the beach while waiting for the rest of the wedding guests to arrive.

Little Girl Lost - Chapter 2
Chapter 2 of my AU River story. River meets someone on the trip to Persephone who will changer her life forever.

Tales of the Rangers - Chapter 14
Back in the present, the crew has a little downtime. Relationships are strengthened and after a teenaged tantrum, Jessie finds herself (and Inara ) in a situation

Little Girl Lost
Yet another plot bunny that attacked. What would happen if River didn't go to the Academy? Drama at home leads to her running away. Will eventually include all the characters from the show but don't expect a rewrite of Season 1. Totally AU folks