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| SEASON 1: EPISODE 5: "THE ICE SHELF." |
13. HOME PORT.
“Here we go Skipper.” Frank handed over the small plate and Jones took it with a big smile. “Egg banjo’s, just the ticket, thanks Frankie.” He exclaimed, and sipping his coffee anticipated the delights to come. Lilly took her plate from Frank and lifting the top slice asked: “Why on Mars are they called ‘banjo’s’ Frank?”
"It’s a really old military term apparently; anything put between two bits of bread was called a ‘banjo’.” The Chief answered and eased himself onto the pilot’s seat, to check the Navicom, he looked up and sighed: “There they go, talk about being late for your own funeral.” Through the windscreen of the bridge, they watched as the canisters containing the three bodies recovered from Valley La Mort trundled past, being pulled by a small ‘beaver’ drone.
The MSV: Marshal Alexander awaited them in Dock Bay No.3, then a long journey back to Taylor.
I think the Chief is in error here, only a fried egg sandwich was referred to as a 'banjo' - I have this on good authority from a couple of friends in the Army.
W.A.S.
“It was a recorded message, Stanner must have left his answer-phone on and the Acme Home Insurance Company used the opportunity to pitch for a sale.” Jones took a bite from his fried egg sandwich and smiled to himself: Miss Carol Dyer of the Acme Home Insurance Company was now dust, even the Company itself folded some forty years ago and I bet Stanner didn’t sign up for any policies, considering what he was planning.
“Odd though, that woman sounded quite young, now she’s dead, life can be strange.” Lilly sighed and nibbled at her sandwich.
“When’s the wedding Lilly?” The Chief sat back, satisfied that the Navicom was functioning correctly, he also smiled to himself, to say that he was surprised by the events of Bella’s pregnancy was an understatement – he was bloody amazed!
“They have nothing in common you know, not really, but they have arranged the big day for our next leave – in three weeks time. Her parents are on the way already, they want to meet Kazza.” Lilly was grinning, she loved a good wedding and Bella had made it clear that all the crew was invited, Bella and Eve had spent the first day back in the Home Port, looking for a suitable wedding dress.
Captain Jones had managed to persuade Weather Control to stand the Thor down for the day, but Vice Admiral Dr. Chan Di-Luk had insisted that the crew wear Number One dress for the occasion, the only exception being the bride, since the wedding was basically taking place on Military time.
“Kazza had asked the Skipper if he would be best man, but the Captain talked him into picking one of his brothers – keep it in the family and friendly like.” Lilly added, dabbing her mouth with a paper handkerchief, she really did like ‘egg banjo’s’ now; “Bella’s parents – Grace and Gustov, have booked a flight down here.”
Frankie whistled through his teeth; “No expense spared then.” Civilian flights were few and far between and really expensive; he cleared the plates and cups from the bridge and pointed to the windscreen: “Skipper, I think you have visitors.”
Jones looked to the dock side and saw Colonel Le Strade stepping onto the deck, accompanied by another officer, he recognised Vice Admiral Everest Kellamann at once – he had been one of Jones’s Instructors at Fort Benjamin, when he was a Major in the Engineering department there.
“Shit! Only bridge crew stay here, the rest of you head for cover, that’s Vice Admiral Kellamann with Le Strade.” Jones stated, and apart from Lilly, Troy and himself, the bridge emptied on his command.
Leon opened the external pressure door for the pair and saluted; “Captain Jones is on the bridge Sir.”
“Thank you.” Kellamann said simply and returned Leon’s salute. The two officers made their way to the bridge where Jones greeted them with a salute and handshakes. “Sorry to drop in without notice Pic, but I was here about the three bodies, so I thought I’d deliver the message myself.” Kellamann shook Jones’s hand firmly and Jones wondered what message was so important that a Vice-Admiral turned up in person to deliver it.
“This is Ensign Blissford Sir.” Jones introduced the nervous looking Lilly to the pair;” She’s on Communications presently.” Lilly saluted and both men shook her hand. Troy also saluted and stood smiling by a Pilots seat.
“Just the young lady we’ve come to see.” Colonel Le Strade spoke directly to Jones; “Would you call the crew to the bridge please Pic.” The Captain motioned to Lilly to announce the crew call, which she did with some authority in her voice – that did make Jones smile.
It took a couple a minutes for the crew to assemble with very little chatter and Jones apologised for Peter’s absence, since he had been granted a couple of day’s liberty to sort out a domestic matter. The Vice-Admiral just nodded; "Your call Pic, you know the man’s story and if you think he needs it, then it’s fine by me.” Le Strade clapped his hands and called for silence, announcing Vice-Admiral Kellamann to the crew. They stood in silence whilst the Vice-Admiral pulled a document from his briefcase and with a smile upon his face read out:
“I have great pleasure and pride in announcing the award of the Silver Star to Ensign Lillian Mary Blissford, Staff 4221 for an act of bravery upon the Martian surface on Week 13, Sol 130 in the Year 323. Ensign Blissford displayed courage and great strength of character in rescuing a fellow crew member during a violent storm, keeping a cool head and acting in the fine traditions of Mars Military Officers, she managed to seal his damaged survival suit and give him oxygen, thereby saving his life, so it’s well done Ensign!” Vice-Admiral Kellamann started the applause which lasted for nearly a minute, with many shouts of: “Well done Lilly!” from the crew. Lilly went quite red and thanked everyone for their kindness and Eve gave her a big hug and whispered; ”Well done Lilly, see our Captain was right about making you stay!” Lilly gave a shy grin and nodded her agreement.
Vice-Admiral Kellamann held up a hand for silence and continued; “Ensign Blissford will be awarded the Silver Star in a ceremony to be held at the Rossington Governor’s Palace in three weeks, the medal will be presented by Gaylord Prentiss, the Vice-President of Mars!”
The Chief whispered to Jones and Eve; “The VP is down south to open the new rail terminal and he really does like publicity.” Jones nodded, the new rail terminal, build into the North city wall had taken five years to complete and the tracks [when finished] would connect Rossington with the two other major cities of Southern Mars: Kiev and Dayburgh. If successful, more tracks and cities would be added in coming years, The North already currently enjoyed a good rail service with five terminals and thousands of kilometres of laid track.
Whilst everyone was congratulating Lilly, Vice-Admiral Kellamann and Le Strade took Jones to one side and spoke quietly. Le Strade made it clear that he was not happy about Jones’s failure to inform him about the contents of the phone videos. The Captain could do no more than apologise, but Vice-Admiral Kellamann shrugged his shoulders and sipping coffee that Sunny Yelstin had passed him said; “ Don’t worry about it Le Strade, I’ve stopped plans to give that traitorous bitch a military funeral, she’ll be resurrected in a quiet little part of Taylor and forgotten. We will leave her name on the War Memorial, removing it would draw attention, as would scratching out Stanners. But the boy has descendants that claimed him; apparently a great, great grandson called Lester Huggins has arranged a family resurrection in his old home town of New Paris. The local military will provide an escort for the body, that’s the least we can do for him.”
“What about the unknown one, what happens to him?” Jones asked accepting a coffee from Leon.
“The ‘John Doe’ has been handed over to a military research station for medical use. Good quality corpses are hard to come by for authorised medical research, He’ll be put to good use I’m sure – after all, there is no family to object.” Le Strade raised his coffee cup and added; “To our ancestor’s and what they fought for.” Jones, Kellamann and Leon raised their cups and said together; "Salute!”
Jones noticed the look on Eve’s face, she had clearly overheard the conversation, he raised his cup to her and shrugged his shoulders – the matter was out of their hands and they both knew that.
“You’re well prepared for a trip onto the ice-shelf Pic?” Le Strade changed the subject with little subtlety; "Most of your crew have done ice time?” Jones pointed out, that only four members of the crew had ‘ice-time’ under their belts: himself, the Chief, Kazza and Troy, but he also pointed out that his crew were well trained and would cope professionally with the conditions.
“Weather Station Seven should be manned the whole time, it’s far too vital for the Deep South to drop off line for any reason.” The Vice-Admiral placed his cup upon the tray that Frankie was holding and touched Jones on the shoulder; “Now the second reason for our visit.” Le Strade called the crew to order and the Vice-Admiral addressed all hands and what he stated amazed everyone. “Oh bugger!” muttered the Chief dourly and Jones couldn’t agree more with that statement.
14. AN EXPEDITION TO THE EASTERS.
“Morning Skipper.” He called, stepping through the bridge door from the upper deck, he noticed that Jones and the Chief were huddled in front of the large bridge monitor with Colonel Le Strade – he knew at once they were looking at the Easter’s Mountain Range.
“Nice of you to join us Lieutenant.” The Colonel gestured for Peter to join the group; “We’ll bring you up to speed with this little adventure.” Le Strade outlined Vice-Admiral Kellamann’s proposal to recover the weapon lost in the cave system under the Easter Mountains.
The plan was quite simple; a three rig convoy would depart Rossington and make for the cave entrance that Jones and his crew had found in Valley La Mort. It would consist of the Thor, the MSV: The General Westmoreland under his command [Le Strade’s] and MSV: The John Garfield – a Military supply rig with some scientists aboard, borrowed from Fort Benjamin Weapons Directorate. The convoy would camp out in the valley and conduct a search of the cave system, hopefully finding and recovering the lost weapon. The Thor would leave the other rigs in Valley La Mort and continue onto the Ice Shelf to complete the service detail on Weather Station 7(S), they would then re-join the convoy when it departed for home.
The expedition would be commanded by Vice-Admiral Kellamann with Colonel Le Strade as Second-In-Command. Since it would take about ten days and nights to reach the Ice-Shelf and the same for the return journey, Bella was advised to remain in Rossington so that her wedding could go ahead – obviously Kazza was advised to do the same!
But Bella wanted the crew at her wedding and so the date was pushed back some four weeks and with Vice-Admiral Kellamann’s support, Weather Control (South) agreed to the re-arranged date.
Jones was quite happy with Bella and Kazza’s decision, he really didn’t want a new Meteorologist and Systems Specialist on board with a trip to the Ice Shelf around the corner, with that settled, he and crew could concentrate on getting the Thor ready. The other problem now on the horizon was Peter’s personal life – his long term boyfriend had walked out on him for another man and Peter was clearly devastated by this turn of events.
Jones knew that Peter was trying to hide his distress, and not very well, so he resolved to have a quiet personal chat with him as soon as possible. Peter for his part, threw himself into the preparations underway for the trip down to the Polar Cap.
“I have to admire his character, not letting that terrible heartbreak to interfere with his duties. I see young Peter in a different light now.” The Chief confided to Eve who agreed with Marcus, they didn’t agree on many things, but they did on this subject. “I’m beginning to see why they made him a Lt. Commander at such a young age; he’s starting to look like a future Rig Captain.” Eve commented.
Jones would have agreed with the pair, but his attention was now with another couple of visitors to the Thor – the two weapons experts had arrived by military flight and would stay onboard until their ride; MSV: The John Garfield docked in two days time. Leon was assigned by Peter to bring their luggage aboard and show them to the bridge, they would have cabins to themselves befitting their rank and status. So Lilly moved from her cabin to share with Eve in the medical suite, whilst Kazza and Bella were given permission to cohabit, leaving Tom, who normally bunked with Kazza, ending up with Frankie.
Peter expressed his surprise, as did the Chief, that the two scientists were not placed in a local hotel. “Maybe the Military High Command doesn’t want the pair having contact with other civilians.” Mussed Troy, as he helped Leon bring their baggage to the allotted cabins, but Jones knew that was exactly the reason they were here and he studied the pair as they came on the bridge.
Professor Solomon Jacobson looked like an undertaker!
He wore a neat black suit and white shirt with rather strangely; bright red athletic shoes. He was tall and thin, having a very pale complexion with big hands and a head of white hair. But had a firm handshake and clear green eyes, the Professor was probably about 27 years old [almost 50 in Earth years]. But it was the voice that everyone noticed, it didn’t belong to that body – it was deep and firm, he could have made a fortune doing talk over’s for advertisements and movie trailers.
The Professor noted the muted surprise at his vocal’s by the crew; “When I was attending Kennedy University as a student many years ago, I was an amateur Tenor with the ‘Presidential Footlighters’, a little group of artist’s that performed plays and music, we once performed for the then President Silvester Pullman. I sang ‘Amazing Grace’. He’s dead now, but I’m sure it was nothing to do with our show.” He smiled broadly and everyone laughed.
“Well, next time we’re closed down by a storm you can entertain us with a few songs.” Peter commented and the Professor agreed with some enthusiasm.
“I already like him.” The Chief said quietly and Eve had to agree with him again – twice in one day would have to be noted in the Rig’s log, Jones thought and smiled to himself, then the Professors assistant squeezed through the deck pressure door and announced herself.
"I’m Doctor Hillary Margot-Jones, I’m far too fat and very loud and I must have a cabin to myself because no-one else would fit in. If I bent down to tie my shoes, the poor soul would fly out the door!” She laughed out loud, like a Hyena with the giggles; she had a bright red and green scarf about her hair and was covered with a shawl that was so colorful, that it could have illuminated a coal mine. Everyone noticed that she was African in descent and her name was ‘Jones’, everyone also turned to the Captain with the same question in mind.
But it was the Chief who had the balls to ask it.
“This is Captain Jones, he commands the Thor and are you two related?” The Chief was desperately trying not to laugh, as he introduced the big colourful lady to Jones, who stood with a strange grin upon his face and mouth open.
Hillary clearly liked the look of Captain Jones and didn’t shake his hand, but grabbed him by both shoulders and planted a kiss upon each of his cheeks. “You darling boy!” She exclaimed; “You’re a Jones too, how wonderful!”
The Doctor clapped her hands together and with some unbridled joy in her voice declared; “And you’re black too!”
There was an embarrassed silence for a few seconds, then Captain Jones smiled and nodded; "Yes, I only noticed it this morning when I was shaving, the shock almost turned me white and I’m still not over it!” Pointing to his face, Jones laughed and shook her hand with some affection.
The bridge exploded into laughter and Lilly whispered to Eve – between giggles – “Can we now call him Captain Darling?” She asked, grinning broadly. Eve said no quietly and had herself a fit of giggles.
The Thor’s guest’s were shown to their cabins, after Hillary was prized from the Captain’s arm by Eve and Lilly, who escorted the wonderful Doctor to her birth, but not before she had kissed Jones again and promised they would have a real chat about possible relatives. “Oh such a darling boy!” She informed the girls as they left the bridge – much to the Captain’s relief.
“Coffee please Frankie.” He whispered and slumped down upon the Captain’s chair and ran both hands through his hair; “I must keep telling myself it’s only for two days!”
The crews evening meal was punctuated with raucous laughter and everyone agreed that Peter had summed up the visiting pair perfectly; “They are Mar’s answer to Laurel and Hardy!” He stated, clearly in a better mood than of late.
“They must be related in some way; otherwise it’s a hell of a coincidence.” Tom offered his opinion to Kazza and Bella, who held hands under the dining table and smiled a great deal at each other. “Frankie took the Captain dinner in his cabin and I think Eve may have to prescribe tranquilizers!” He added, starting the laughter up again.
“The Captain will be fine, he’ll cope, he always does.” Lilly said, feeding Dallas ice-cream with a spoon while he sprawled across her lap; “I have to admit she’s a real character, especially for a scientist that’s a weapons expert.” She rubbed his neck and wondered how much bigger this cat could get - he seemed to have doubled in size over the last few weeks.
Eve sipped her coffee and couldn’t argue with that deduction, two quite colourful characters that made their living creating death, they certainly didn’t fit anyone’s idea of Military Scientist’s, no matter how hard you tried. Eve noticed that Troy was reading his PA for the third time with a quizzical look upon his face; “What’s so interesting Troy?” She asked.
Troy looked up and smiled; “Just reading about Professor Jacobson, he is one intelligent bloke, he has two degrees from Kennedy University – one in weapon systems and the other in a subject I’ve never heard of and will struggle to pronounce.”
Eve smiled and gestured Troy to hand her his PA; “Let me have a look.” She read the page and handed back the device with a strange expression on her face. “What else is he qualified in, apart from blowing up people.” Leon pushed his empty plate away and gulped down some cold fruit juice; “I bet it has nothing to do with fashion.” He laughed to himself.
“Archaeology, he’s an Archaeologist.” Eve spoke quietly and placed her cup upon the table. Only Troy didn’t know the meaning and Lilly had to explain it to him.
“But there’s sod all to dig up on Mar’s, except some of the early settlements that failed or some of the abandoned farms or mines, there’s nothing really ancient on Mars.” Troy reasoned and wandered off with Leon to relieve the bridge. Peter and Eve exchanged glances; they both had the same thought – what was an Archaeologist doing on board a Military vessel?
15. CONVOY.
The small city of Little Moscow had been left to the elements after the people had gone. History informed Jones that the water supply had dried up and that the great storm of 62 had caused serious damage to its infrastructure. The government decided to evacuate the residents to the new city of Kiev, which was then under construction. He also noted that the old city was an ideal training ground for the new discipline called ‘Archaeology’.
The Chief picked up the paper and nodded; "Now that must be another big coincidence – I don’t think.” The first coincidence that the Chief referred to was finding out that the Doctor Margot-Jones was not related to the Captain – A check with Mar’s Human Archives Service had confirmed that the two Jones’s were not descendants of the same family. But the finding did not deter Hillary from referring to Captain Jones as ‘her darling boy!’ during her two day stay aboard the Thor. Jones for his part, simply seemed to disappear whenever she appeared, the rumour was that Dallas had shown him several hiding places around the rig. A new saying amongst the crew was; "where's the Captain?” to be answered by; "Ask Dallas!” Jones didn’t mind – it made the crew laugh and lifted moral.
One occasion had the crew somewhat mystified; the good Doctor was on the prowl again and Lilly, with Bella and Kazza, was seeking the Captain for the Rig’s Chandlers, to approve the new engineering stores delivery. They came upon Dallas sitting in the lower cargo corridor and for a further laugh, Kazza bent down and asked the cat;” Where’s the captain?” They all laughed until Dallas wandered up the corridor and sat by the door to the Engine room office. They followed and with some trepidation Lilly knocked on the door. Captain Jones opened it and asked why they looked so surprised – he also gave Dallas a pat - the cat disappeared inside.
So the new rumour sweeping the rig was that Dallas understood Martian!
Certain members of the crew were now having one-way conversations with the cat. When an amused Jones explained to the Chief, Marcus held up both arms and shook his head;” For Mar’s sake! What will happen when old Lionel finds out the crew is talking to a fucking cat! He’ll have us all thrown in Lake Placid nut house.”
Dr. Lionel’s is the head Psychologist for the Mars Military and known for no sense of humour whatsoever – His hospital located at the small settlement of Lake Placid, on the North/South border, is considered the top clinic for treating mental health issues.
W.A.S.
The clock was ticking and Jones sat on the bridge watching through the windscreen, Leon was at a Pilots seat checking his controls with the Chief. Lilly was on the Communications desk talking to the MSV; The John Garfield about the convoy and Bella had appeared on the bridge with the latest weather reports from Weather Control [South]. She explained that the route had clear weather until it reached the Ice-Shelf proper; then it changed to “AT RISK” with a couple of big storms floating around the place. She and Jones chatted about the baby for a few minutes and Bella returned to the small weather office in trailer No.2, quite happy.
When the bridge clock showed 17.10 hours CST Jones was now seriously concerned and told Lilly to get Vice-Admiral Kellamann on the radio, he may be able to find a last minute replacement for Peter. Maybe one of the Officers, on either of the other two rigs, had their Master’s Certificate because going on a twenty day mission with just him and the Chief would be a considerable strain on them both. Military Regulations demanded that the bridge was always manned by a qualified officer and that would mean doing twelve hour shifts between them. But the thought of exposing Peter’s absence weighed heavy on his mind – it would mean the end of Peter’s career and possible discipline procedures.
“Are you alright Captain?” Lilly asked with real concern, when Jones asked her to make the call. “I’m afraid that the Vice-Admiral is still in a briefing with the Weapon specialist’s, but he’ll be free in about fifteen minutes. Colonel Le Strade is on the bridge of the General Westmoreland, shall I call him?” Lilly shuffled her papers about nervously and then adjusted her headset as another call came in.
“Oh Captain, there’s a call from the Dockyard Peace Guard, Lt. Gravestone has just arrived at the South gate, they are going to have one of their mobile units run him up to the Thor, otherwise he won’t make it on time – apparently Peter owes them a bottle.” She smiled, but didn’t notice the look of relief on Jones’s face.
“Cancel my call to the Vice-Admiral please Lilly and get Troy to meet Peter on the deck, so they can get his gear aboard quickly, we depart in forty-five minutes.” Jones pushed back in his seat and managed to smile.
“Chief, the departure will be as planned. The Westmoreland will lead with the John Garfield taking up the rear; we’re the meat in the sandwich.” Jones issued instructions to the bridge crew and the Chief made his way to the Engine room with his apprentice Sunny in tow. The bridge was now a hive of activity, with last minutes checks and a flow of messages from the Dock Control room, Le Strade called to say that departure would be on time and wished everyone ‘good luck’.
Peter made the deck pressure door with nine minutes to spare and Troy stowed his baggage in his cabin, as the Dock crew sealed hatches and removed power cables, air and water pipes from the Thor – she was now ready to depart.
Through the internal bridge door came Peter, still in civilian dress and he looked quite dishevelled and tired. He tried to apologize to Jones, but the Captain waved that aside and told him to get to his cabin, clean himself up and get into uniform – and get some hot coffee down his neck.
“We’ll have a chat about things once we’re underway, the Chief can cover.” Jones smiled at Peter and tapped his shoulder; “You have some very good friends on the Thor and they will want to help.”
Peter nodded and went to answer, but stopped and managed to smile, he had clearly been crying and his distress was obvious. “Come on Pete, Frankie has brewed some great coffee, let’s go.” Eve took hold of his arm and walked him away to the Galley, she turned back to Jones and mouthed; "I'll look after him.”
"The Westmoreland is on the move Captain.” Lilly announced and Jones returned to his Captains chair and watched the rig pull from Dock No.3, despite being quite an old rig, the General Westmoreland was still quite impressive in her Military Colours [various shades of red and grey] she was camouflaged to blend in with the Martian surface and being a battle rig, she boasted some serious and deadly hardware including rockets and pulse cannons, with turrets front and rear.
As she passed the Thor, Jones thought how her silhouette resembled those pictures of old battleships that Earth’s navies had many centuries ago.
“Steel castles, that’s what my old Granddad use to call them.” Leon spoke to Tom as they watched the Westmoreland pass; “He served on the old Admiral Kemp for many years, they were based In Cydonia, he met my Grandmother there, her parents had a small farm and she came aboard during an open day and that was that.”
“Captain, Transit Control has given the green light.” Lilly tapped away on her keyboard and Jones ordered the Thor to depart Rossington for the Ice-Shelf.
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| FOLLOW THE ROVER TO EPISODE 6; "WEATHER STATION 7(s)." |
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"William Alexander Stephens."
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W.A.S.
Copyright © 2011-2021 Stephen Williams. No reproduction of any part without permission.
