First Transit
Technicalities.
I gained passage on this ship, Wavedancer, away from the quite possibly deadly turmoil following the loss of Windhome system by Nkutla, on a technicality.
Her Information Trader captain – who was, of all things, a Gaian – had talked his way into onto Nkutla proper, holding the high ground in orbit around Windhome, because he held a commission from Salaska University, on a Cerean research grant.
I was a lone Liason from Ceres at Nkutla, ambitious to acquire experience in backward First Colonist systems that would stand me in good stead in the Ceres Outsystem Watch. Nkutla was every bit as backward as required, and I gained valuable experience indeed.
Which meant I was Senior System Liaison. I was also Junior and Every Rank In Between System Liaison, but the Senior status was the important one. It conferred the right to appoint someone into the vacant, and never actually intended to be filled, Mission Liaison position to oversee Wavedancer's contribution to the research grant.
Dying amidst a Second Colonist uprising in support of a change in First Colonist occupiers would have wasted all of that experience, so I appointed myself.
And so we headed out of Windhome System, formerly of Nkutla's Reach, running cross-ring to a dead system with a fuel rich Jovian.
A laden Combine Merchant vessel might have made the traverse to the Verus system in a subjective two standard turns, and from there to the closest First Colony in the next Ring in another turn and a half. As I well know, having taken several runs like that on Combine Merchants to arrive at Nkutla's Reach.
But Wavedancer was a converted fuel diver, with impressive legs and Gaiain radiation shielding augmented by Other technology. She could climb more quickly and higher up Stein's ladder than any Combine Merchant vessel, and the trip to Verus should have been less than a subjective turn, and to my point of debarkation under two.
Should have been ... would have been ... except that I hadn't counted on a technicality.
I took the run to Verus at higher stasis than physically necessary. I would have needed 80% stasis anyway, for safe passage with the delta vee we were pulling. But that would have been over a hundred watches trapped in the stasis couch in each of the four pulls of heavy delta vee. So I took most of the traverse at 96% stasis, setting my nanites to alter me to the start of our pull out system. Twenty or thirty watches was a much better stretch to take in a stasis couch.
I had an abundance of time to finish my Mission Liaison report when Wavedancer finished the hardest part of her climb up Stein's ladder and delta vee dropped down to half a spin, so I stretched my sleep watches during that part of the stasis by sleeping in stasis as well.
And of course, the delta vee of the transit was only a fraction of the delta vee while diving the Jovian at Verus system to refuel, so I planned ahead and took the transit of Verus in 99% stasis, setting my nanites to alert me to the start of the next transit, or anything unusual.
The transit where Jem Cullins, Gaian captain of the Wavedancer, encountered an unknown branch of humanity. When I had though the spinning of a side ring at Windhome System was a big deal. But which my nanites had not been aware of, given how very clever the ship system is.
The transit where a department of Salaska University was in transit as well, and confirmed on his way outsystem an amendment to Wavedancer's commission, a swap of which failed terraformed system she was going to collect data from.
The transit where we pivoted well Upring, with the ship system informing me later that the direct run to a settled system had become six turns to the next settled system.
