
Subj : New Beginnings
To   : All
From : Skyhawk #1
Date : Tue Jun 27 1995 04:10:58 PST

                            New Beginnings
                        By Daniel C. Harrison.(Skyhawk)
     
     As she exited the cargo area she took one last look at Carnigan. The short
fat man was shouting orders and trying to look important again. She smiled
inwardly. Like a lazy old bull..trying to reclaim his territory after getting
bumped out of it. Well, too bad. She would deal with him and any other mess she
had to once she reached her new home. Till then, she was in charge. Right now,
her main concern was that of Kevin. She moved deeper inward to the infirmary.
It was well protected here should an object slam into the side of the ship and
that gave anyone init the best chance of survival. There was also an auxiliary
control room next to it should something happen to the main bridge.
     "Dr, Grayson?" she stepped through the airlock door and looked around. 
She could see Kevin lying on a bed. He was still out. Grayson was nearby, his
face buried in some sort of test he was doing. "Excuse me, doctor."
     Grayson looked up. "Ahhh yes. Captain, come in. Your engineer is going to
be fine but, he took some internal damage. I'm going to have to
operate..repair his spleen."
     God. That was wonderful, that's all she needed to hear."So that means
you'll have to stay out of cryo with the rest of us. I can't have him monitored
by machines, not in this unstable condition. How long will it take him to
recover?"
     "Several weeks." Grayson sighed. "Sorry. best I could do. I'll try to
return him to full duty as soon as I can but, I won't risk his health."
     "Wouldn't want you too." She leaned over Kevin and kissed him lightly on
the forehead. "Take care Kev..your gonna be okay." She stood up again and
turned to Grayson. "Since you'll be out of Cryo, you'll need a place to bunk.
I'll have Jerry make room for you. He has the most room currently. I'll have
him come down and show you where it is."
     "Thank you, Captain." he smiled. He was a younger man but, she could tell
he knew his stuff."I've never been in space before. This is all new to me so,
if I get in the way let me know."
     "Call me Candar. Were going to be together for awhile..and I'm going to
need a few friends since I plan to disembark and stay on your new world."
     "Really?" she could tell he was excited. "That's wonderful. What made you
decide to do this?"
     "I'd decided it long ago. I'll chat with you later when I have more time.
Take good care of Kevin, okay?"
     He nodded and she left the infirmary and headed toward the engine room. It
was a cramped space. Only three men were present. Two looked like rejects from
hell. They had stringy long hair and wore dirty coveralls. She looked them up
and down. The third stood nearby. He was balding at the top and had a mustache.
"Which of you is Sam?" she said.
     "I am." the man with the mustache looked her up and down, grinning. "Your
the Captain?" his mind was obviously in the gutter.
     She ignored it. "Kevin is badly injured..I want to know why those
dampeners malfunctioned. Because of this, you are Lead Engineer now. I'll need
all the help you and your crew here can give me. Any questions?"
     "Yeah." he looked away from her and spat chewing tobacco on the floor.
She was disgusted. This had to be one of the worst crew's she had ever worked
with. These men looked like vagrants that had signed on at the last minute.
Maybe the company didn't give a damn after all. Sam Boil grinned at her. "Since
our lead man is out of it, I assume that means I get more pay for doing his
job?"
     "Of course. At the appropriate contract rate. Check your guild rules to be
sure." she started to leave..
     "Excuse me, Captain." she turned around. He was looking at her
expectantly. "What the hell does the guild have to do with it?"
     Candar swung around hard staring him down. She looked quickly at the
other two men who had gotten up to stand beside him."Didn't you men get hired
through the Engineer's Guild? Aren't you contract agents?"
     "I saw a job in the paper advertising for help. Wanted a mechanic. I
signed up." This had come from the man on the right, one of the younger guys
who had a scar on his cheek. Just great! "I was told any high tech stuf would
be handled by the man in charge." he turned to Sam Boil, "Guess that's you
sport."
     Boil shrugged. "We'll get by."
     Candar almost fell over. "Are you telling me that none of you here have
never spaced before? Not even you, Boil?"
     He grinned, "I did time on station Mars for a bit. Worked on old magno
flux cars and cargo drones. Is there a problem?"
     Candar's heart was racing. They were out in space in an old hulk that was
passing for a colony ship. Her lead engineer was critcally injured, Jerry was
being a pain and, this idiot had the gall to ask if there was a problem? She
fought back the anger. "Have you worked on matter conversion drives before? Or
intertial dampeners. Know anything at all about hyperdrive systems?"
     "What I don't know, I can look up in the computer or the specs. Shouldn't
be too difficult. We'll manage."
     This wouldnt do. She was getting scared now. "Have you ever functioned
under emergency crash procedures? Or do you know about the QMR-20 guidance
system?"
     His blank look spoke volumes. "Uhh no, not really."
     "Great." she walked past him and picked up a manual. Walking back she
threw it in his face, forcing him to duck. "You have little time. In two hours
I'm going to take this thing to hyperdrive. We will either have a smooth
transition or, we'll fly apart..your choice. I hope your a fast learner. The
First Officer is pretty competent, I'll send him down to help. Get on it!" 
     She stormed out of the engine room, her fear rising. What was she going to
do? The safe thing would be to take the ship back to earth. But, they were
surely out by Jupiter by now, or damn close. If she turned it
around the colonists would riot! Why did this have to happen to her?      
Particularly on her last trip! It's almost as if someone had it in for her. 
Stacked the deck, so to speak. Not even Crawford would endanger her like this
or anyone else, for that matter. Was this just dumb fate? She raced through 
the corridors and clambered up the ladder to the bridge. Jerry turned quickly
as she entered, "Where's the fire?"
     "In my head." she gasped, out of breath from running. She could see 
Jupiter approaching as they continued the buildup to hyperdrive."We have a
major problem. We have a crew in engineering that doesn't know a damn thing!"
     Jerry's eyes widened..."I hope your kidding."
     "No, Jerry." she whispered in fear. "I'm not..."
                                              
