The Ethos Effect

us to Gotland with all due haste.”
“Yes, ser.” Moran paused. “Gotland, ser? Scandya system?”
“That’s affirm.”
While Lieutenant Moran calculated, Van called up what background the shipnet had on Scandya, skimming through the data as quickly as he could.
Scandya system…orange five, plus six, trailing arm [O11145 Rel Galactic Center]…two planets with significant population: Gotland @ .93 Tellurian norm, 1.02 G at sea level…atmospherics within acceptability for nonmods…Malmot @ .72 Tellurian norm, .65 G…atmospherics at limit of acceptability [basic terraforming completed 1104 N.E.]…
Government…modified rep. republic, universal adult suffrage. Nonstandard meritocracy overrides…continent-based, single-house, parliamentary assembly, planetary executive with veto power, all executive functions operated and executed at planetary level, limited bureaucracy…two principal political parties, the Liberal Commons (LC) and the Conservative Democrats (CD)…considerable unrest, with local riots, for the past half century, until the election of the present premier [Erik Gustofsen (CD)]…skilled at mediating conflicts…
What in Moll Magee was a “nonstandard meritocracy override”? Van had never seen that terminology in a background section. And what had been the sources of the past unrest? Most planetary systems were well beyond that kind of dissent.
Economic…postextractive, belt-mining, and low nanoformulation technology…also large natural food sector…
Military…universal military service [unisex]…ground and planetary defense rated superior…in-system space defense limited capability…ten corvettes [equiv. Robartes class] and two cruisers [equiv. Gregory class]. No dreadnoughts or battle cruisers. No outspace fixed emplacements…
Van paused and rescanned the military data. Effectively, the Scandyans had no real defenses against out-system attacks. The universal military service meant that Gotland and Malmot could be destroyed, or, rather life on both planets could be, but that neither could be conquered—if the Scandyans maintained their resolve.
Political…Scandya system is the closest nonaligned inhabited system to Tymuri [orange five point five, plus six, trailing arm (O11157 Rel Galactic Center)]…Revenant “missionary” training base…
Van called up the multidimensional image of Orange sector, then zeroed in on Scandya system, as depicted in the shipnet representation. As he had suspected, Gotland and Malmot were the last nonaligned planets between the “outer” inspin systems affiliated with the Taran Republic and the Revenant systems. “Below” and “inward” of both lay the far larger Argenti Commonocracy, although the Argentis were really oligarchs of the old style.
…at present, during the government headed by Gustofsen, Scandyans are maintaining open trade and have requested that other systems respect their neutrality by maintaining no military presence in the Scandya system. “No military presence” has been defined as one military vessel and one courier…
The Collyns was a full battle cruiser, the first of the latest class. So why was the Fergus, antiquated by comparison, being sent to Scandya? Had something happened to the Collyns? Or had the Collyns been ordered out into some action against the Revenants, and the RSF needed a presence off Gotland?
The standing wave hadn’t said, for the obvious reason that standing wave was open to anyone, and, even with encryption, there was the possibility of the message being decoded. That meant that one Commander Van Albert had to read between the words of the message.
“Calculations complete and on the net, ser,” reported Lieutenant Moran.
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Van scanned, then checked her work. “Good. As soon as the accumulators are fully charged, you may begin the countdown for jump.”
“Yes, ser.”
The Fergus replacing a full battle cruiser in a pivot system at a time of increasing interstellar tensions? Van kept his frown to himself. While a full battle cruiser carried a crew of fifteen, the Fergus carried but ten—the commander, two other pilots, the comm officer, the engineer, two system techs, the weapons officer, and two weapons techs—and all were loaded down with auxiliary duties, most of which revolved around some aspect of maintenance on the aging Fergus.
“All hands, stow all loose items. Batten down all equipment. One minute to zero gee. One minute to zero gee. Three minutes to jump.” Lieutenant Moran’s voice filled both the shipnet and the ship’s speakers.
After scanning the prejump checklist, and the shipnet reports from each station, the lieutenant glanced at the commander. “All stations secure for zero gee, ser. Ready to collapse photon nets.”
“Commence zero gee. Collapse photon nets.”
Eeeeeee! The piercing wail of the zero-gee alarm filled the Fergus, then cut off.
“Entering zero gee,” Moran announced. “All hands remain secured. Two minutes to jump. I say again. Two minutes to jump.”
Van checked the screens, extending himself into the webs that drew in all the Energy Distortion Indications from the entire Galway system, trying to see if he could detect any EDI sources. There should not have been any, except for the single orbit station around Galway three, the one conducting and monitoring the terraforming project that, in a few hundred years, might yield another habitable water world for the Taran Republic. Even with the detectors set at full gain, he could find nothing, and closed them down.
“All detectors null, Lieutenant.”
“Detectors null, ser. Photon nets null.”
“Proceed to countdown, Lieutenant.”
“All hands. One minute to jump. I say again. One minute to jump.” Moran’s voice echoed through the Fergus.
Van watched as she shut down every operating system, one right after the other. Gravity had already gone. Ventilators and purifiers shut down.
At ten seconds before translation, Moran made the final announcement. “All hands. Ten seconds to jump.” Then she cut off the remaining systems, including the shipnet, except for the jump generator and the accumulators.
“Ready to jump, ser.”
“Proceed, Lieutenant.”
Moran pressed the large red stud—the one operation that was always manual.
Everything turned inside out. The blackness of the control area turned white. Van felt as though he’d been twisted inside out, or at least into some strange dimension, for that instant that seemed endless, yet remained unmeasurable by any device ever invented.
A searing flash of light and darkness, darkness and light, flared through the Fergus, and the jump was complete.
“Powering up, ser.” Moran’s fingers brought up the shipnet, and then her net commands brought all the systems back on-line, beginning with shields and nets.
The moment the detectors were back on-line, and the