A Show of Force by Ryk Brown

companions still inside the Scout ship, as she fastened her lap belt. She looked out the two, small forward portholes of the jump sub. Scout Three loomed over them, upside down and mostly to their right, as they were attached to her port maintenance airlock. She scanned the touch screen display in front of her, just below the window. The display was sealed in a water-tight container to protect its sensitive electronics from water when they flooded the sub for egress. Technicians from both Takara and Earth had worked together feverishly for the last three weeks to fit one of the Earth’s mini-subs with a jump drive. Then, with the addition of two more members to the mission, they had been forced to get even more creative in order to fit all three people into a cockpit that had originally been built to accommodate two. The results, of course, were rather cramped quarters.
    Jessica could hear Naralena as she moved into the seat directly behind her.
    “Closing the hatch,” Naralena announced as she reached up and pulled the hatch down tight and spun the locks closed. “Hatch is secure,” she added as she settled down into her seat and fastened her restraints.
    Jessica paused for a moment, scanning the display as she recalled the power-up sequence that she had rehearsed in the simulator, and then began powering up the jump sub’s systems.
    “What kind of sub did you say this was?” the sergeant asked from the back of the cramped cockpit.
    “DSWS,” Jessica replied as she mounted her comm-set and ran a quick systems check. The console was quite simple, with nothing more than a touch screen that allowed the user to scroll through various systems status screens, and a few controls for the jump drive as well as the communications gear.
    “A what?”
    “Deep Sea Worker Sled,” she explained. “It was used to take deep sea workers from ship to work site, then back again.”
    “I thought sleds didn’t have pressurized cockpits?” the sergeant commented.
    “They added all of this,” Jessica said, gesturing at the walls and ceiling around them. “Actually, it used to seat four, fully suited divers. They kept the sub’s maneuvering systems, batteries, and buoyancy control systems, and then gutted most everything else.”
    “What was left?” the sergeant wondered.
    “There were a lot of tank racks,” she replied. “I guess they changed tanks a lot while they were working. They used those spaces, as well as space where the last two seats were to install the mini-jump drive, energy banks, comm gear, and basic life support. The whole thing is controlled from the mini-computer built into this console here.”
    “How ‘basic’?” the sergeant wondered.
    “A couple hours at best,” she answered. “Oh, and of course the mandatory jump drive self-destruct package as well.”
    “Of course,” the sergeant replied uneasily. “Is this thing safe?”
    “You heard the lieutenant,” Jessica said as she tapped her comm-set. “Scout Three, Jump Sub One. We’re in and secure. All systems are green here.”
    “ Jump Sub One, Scout Three, ” Ensign Wells replied over the comms. “ We’ll be at the first jump point in one minute. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. ”
    “Enjoy the ride,” Jessica said under her breath. “We’re in a converted mini-sub… In space. I’ll enjoy the ride after it’s over.”
    “I thought you said this thing was safe?” Sergeant Weatherly said.
    “If everything works the way it’s supposed to, and we don’t hit anything while we’re jumping, then yeah, this bucket is safe.”
    “I don’t know,” the sergeant protested. “I once jumped into the ocean from about fifteen meters up… From a shuttle. That water was not soft.”
    “Relax, there’s nothing to worry about,” Jessica assured him. “As I understand it, it will be like we were dropped, nose first, from about ten meters above the water. It won’t be fun, but the sub will survive, and so will we.”
    “And you know