by Ryk Brown
“Nathan,” Jessica mumbled under her breath. “What the hell are you doing?” She could imagine Cameron’s reaction when she heard what he was proposing.
“Captain,” one of the workers began. “I’m afraid that none of us would be much assistance in the accomplishment of your goals, whatever they might be. Perhaps you might see your way fit to put us off on the next inhabited world you come to?”
Nathan was a bit surprised. “You don’t wish to return to Haven?”
“I’m afraid I’m forced to agree with our former supervisor, here. If indeed the Ta’Akar consider you associates of the Karuzari, then they would probably look upon us in much the same way. As you said, it is doubtful they would allow us to pass unimpeded.”
“And what about your contracts?”
“The terms of our contracts become null and void upon our deaths, or by an inability to perform our duties, in whole or in part, due to reasons beyond our control.” The worker grinned. “I believe this qualifies as beyond our control.”
“Let me guess, you were a lawyer?”
The worker nodded.
“Very well, if that’s what you all wish, then we’ll let you off at the earliest safe opportunity.”
“If there is anything we can do to help, in the meantime, Captain, we would more than happy to do so,” the man added.
“Captain, if I might make a suggestion,” Tug interrupted, “there is a rather large amount of molo that should be cleaned and prepared, in order to keep it safe for consumption. Perhaps these good people could assist us in that rather pressing task?”
Their overall lack of food had slipped Nathan’s mind during the commotion of the last few hours. Nathan looked at the male worker who had been speaking on their behalf, waiting for an answer to Tug’s proposal.
“Of course, Captain. We would be happy to help.”
“Thank you.” Nathan turned his attention to Marcus. Despite his having been the most vocal one of the bunch, he had yet to state his intentions.
“What?” Marcus asked when he noticed Nathan staring at him.
“And how about you, Marcus?”
“Don’t get me wrong there, Captain. I’m happy to help out and all. But about all I’m good at is drinking, yelling, and getting in fights. If you need any of that done, then I’m your man. But I’m sure as hell not a freedom fighter.”
“Marcus, you’re a pretty fair mechanic,” Josh insisted. “And someone’s gotta help us keep the shuttles flying. Hell, you can be my crew chief.”
“And take orders from you?” Marcus snorted. “Not likely, squirt.”
Satisfied that they had all come to an understanding of sorts, Nathan prepared to conclude the discussion. “I think I should warn you all, that just being on board this ship presents an element of risk. We’re not looking for trouble out here. But so far, trouble is about all we’ve found.”
“On a ship from a mythical world, equipped with a magical jump drive, and carrying the leader of the freedom fighters?” Marcus laughed. “What kinda trouble could we possibly get into?”
“What the hell are you doing?” Jessica demanded as they left the briefing room and headed down the corridor.
“Keep your voice down,” Nathan hushed.
“Cam’s gonna come unglued when she finds out,” Jessica continued in a slightly more subdued tone.
“All I did was hire a shuttle and a crew to fly her. It’s not like I asked them all to enlist in the fleet or something.”
“Nathan, you can’t just give these people the run of the ship. We don’t know anything about them. Hell, we don’t even know most of their names.”
“Need I remind you, that half those people just put their lives on the line for us?”
“They were just trying to save their own butts.”
“As I understand it,” Nathan defended as he stepped through the hatchway into the next corridor, “Josh and Loki volunteered to fly us outta there.”
“The teenagers in flight suits? Please, gimme a break. They were just looking for some fun.”
“Regardless, they got the job done. And they’re right, we are going to need that shuttle and someone to fly it. And you know it.”
Jessica could tell that she wasn’t going to be able to change his mind. Nathan was impulsive, making decisions on the spur of the moment. She liked that about him, even admired it in some ways. And thus far, his command style had gotten them by. But as much as she enjoyed his direct, impulsive approach, she feared he might be taking it too far this time.
“Fine, you can keep the testosterone twins,” she acquiesced. “But at least let me monitor them. I can give them all comm-sets. That way I can track their every move.”
“What?” Nathan wasn’t sure he liked the idea, as it seemed dishonest somehow.
“I can attach names to comm-set ID numbers and keep logs of their movements throughout the ship. I can even program the system to alert me if one of them ventures into a sensitive area. And I can assign them to the auxiliary channels only, so they won’t muck up the command channels.”
“I don’t know, Jess.”
“Come on, Nathan. I don’t have the manpower to keep an eye on them. And for all we know, one of them could be a Ta’Akar spy.”
Nathan stopped at the bottom of the ramp that led up to the command deck. “Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that.” He was a little embarrassed that despite all that had happened, he still wasn’t thinking in such terms.
“Of course not. That’s why you hired me, remember?”
“Very well. Pass the comm-sets out,” he agreed as he started back up the ramp.
“I’ll get right on it.”
“No, send someone else,” he insisted. “And have them inventory all of their skill sets, in case we might need them later.”
“Okay. But why not me?” she asked, a puzzled look on her face as she followed him up the ramp.
“We’ve got another meeting,” he explained as he started up the ramp, “with Cameron. And I need you there to keep her from strangling me.”
“I think we should call Doctor Chen,” Cameron said as she followed him into the ready room. “So she can declare you unfit for command due to mental disease or defect.”
“Hmm, sarcasm. I should’ve seen that coming,” Nathan said as he walked across the room to his desk. He had expected her to react poorly to the idea of using the locals to help out in a pinch. But he had hoped that she would at least object to the decision of her commanding officer in a more professional manner. But he knew it would take time, just as Vladimir had warned him that morning.
“Well, obviously you’ve lost your mind.”
“That’s what I said,” Jessica added as she plopped down on the couch.
“How could you have possibly thought it was a good idea to start using civilians-aliens no less-as crew?”
“Jesus, what is it with you two?” Nathan sat in his chair behind the captain’s desk. “I asked them to cut up some molo, and you’re both acting like I gave them the keys to the nukes!”
“It’s just that you’re too trusting, Nathan,” Cameron insisted.
“Look, you and I both know that there is no way we can run this ship effectively with what little crew we have left. We don’t even have one full shift staffed, Cam. And most of the crew has had less than a full night’s rest in nearly a week. Hell, we’re going to have to start using one-man watches in each department pretty soon or else we’re going to have people dropping from exhaustion.”
“But these people don’t have any training-”
“Which is why I’m not planning on using any of them in critical areas, Cameron. I might be impulsive, but contrary to popular opinion-amongst the women in this room-I’m not stupid.” Nathan looked past Cameron who was standing in front of him, making eye contact with Abby, who had come in a moment ago and was sitting on the other end of the couch from Jessica. “Present company excluded, Doctor.”
“Nathan-” Cameron tried to continue her arg
ument, but was cut off when Nathan raised his hand.
“The decision has been made, Commander,” he warned in a more official tone.
Cameron was slightly taken aback, as was Jessica. It was uncharacteristic of Nathan to pull rank on anyone, let alone the two of them. She took a deep breath and swallowed hard, letting her breath out slowly as she composed herself.
“Now, can we start this meeting?” Nathan asked in a more unofficial tone.
Cameron took a seat in one of the two chairs facing the front of Nathan’s desk. “Yes sir.”
“I’ve called this staff meeting so we can decide on a course of action,” Nathan explained.
“Captain, I’m not a member of your staff,” Abby pointed out.
“You are now,” he explained. “Since the jump drive is currently our only means of interstellar travel, every strategic decision now involves you.”
“But I’m a civilian.”
“It’s not like I’m drafting you, Doctor. I just want your expertise available during any discussions that might involve the jump drive.”
“Of course.”
“What about medical and engineering?” Cameron asked, still fuming over Nathan’s rebuke.
“Doctor Chen still has her hands full, and other than her department’s state of readiness, she would have little to add to this discussion.”
“And Vladimir?”
“He’ll be here momentarily.” Nathan leaned back in his chair, taking a breath and trying to relax for the first time since he had made it back on board from the surface of Haven.
Cameron could see his frazzled nerves becoming more apparent now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off. “What happened down there?” she asked, in a surprisingly sympathetic tone.
“We got ambushed,” Jessica explained.
“When Tobin came to pick us up, he surprised us with a team of Ta’Akar assault troops,” Nathan explained.
“I never did trust that skinny little shit,” Jessica added.
“If it hadn’t been for Vlad and Jessica, they would’ve taken us completely by surprise.”
“They must’ve attacked you at the same time they attacked us,” Cameron surmised. “They got on board using one of the cargo shuttles. We thought they were just returning from their run to the surface.”
“Yeah, well, it’s obvious that Tobin was in on the whole thing,” Nathan said.
“What about Jalea and this Tug fellow?” Cameron asked. “You think they were in on it as well?”
“Doubtful. Danik was killed in the attack, and Tug lost his wife.”
“Jesus,” Cameron exclaimed.
“Yeah, and Tug was about to get executed, until we capped the remaining three all at once,” Jessica bragged.
“Really?”
“Yeah, you should’ve seen it. Captain even put one right in the middle of one of their face plates. Blew the back of his head clean off.
Cameron looked at Nathan in disbelief. She knew that there had been some sort of battle on the surface, but until now, she had no idea how serious it had actually been.
“Yeah, I was just as surprised as you are,” he admitted.
“Surprised by what?” Vladimir asked as he entered the room.
“Nothing,” Nathan said, not really wanting to relive the event just yet. “Have a seat.”
Vladimir took the remaining chair, pulled it away from the desk, and moved it over toward the wall so as not to block Nathan’s view of Jessica and Abby on the couch. He spun the chair around and sat down, his arms resting on the chair back.
“Before we start, I want you all to know how much I appreciate the tireless job that you’ve been doing. I wish I could say that we’re almost done, but I’m afraid we may have just gotten started.” Nathan looked at their faces, each of them showing signs of stress and fatigue. Even Vladimir, who normally was stoic and smiling, looked beat. And poor Cameron, who always looked military perfect, looked like she had slept in her uniform, and for a very short time at that.
“When Captain Roberts placed me in command, his last orders were to get the jump drive back to Earth. At the time, I didn’t understand the urgency of his request, but I learned a bit later-and correct me if I’m mistaken, Doctor-that this particular unit is not only the sole prototype in existence, but that all research in regards to this project are currently stored in the project’s mainframe on board this ship. There is not a shred of evidence to be found anywhere on Earth that would reveal this project had ever existed. In fact, other than the researchers who came on board with the prototype, there were only a handful of people on the entire planet that were aware of its existence. That’s how important this project was to the security of Earth.”
“That is unbelievable,” Vladimir exclaimed.
“That’s exactly what I thought,” Nathan agreed, “at first. But think about it. If the Jung ever got their hands on this research, there would be no stopping them. That’s got to be why Fleet was so secretive.”
“You are correct, Captain. And the paranoia of our leaders went far deeper than you could imagine. The few that knew about this project were willing to sacrifice their careers, even their very lives to protect it. We even had suicide devices implanted in our teeth, in case of capture.”
Nathan stared at her, asking with his eyes if that included her.
“Yes, Captain, I have one as well.”
“Does this mean we have to get them as well?” Jessica asked halfheartedly.
“I’m pretty sure medical doesn’t carry suicide pills,” Nathan assured her.
“Captain,” Abby warned, “you do realize that if this drive were about to fall into enemy hands, you would be expected to destroy the ship and the crew in order to maintain its secrecy.”
“I’m afraid the secret is already out, Doctor. The Ta’Akar have already seen us jump away on several occasions. I suspect they’re hunting us for exactly that reason.”
“Then we need to get out of this region of space as quickly as possible,” Cameron insisted.
“Five or six jumps should put us well out of range of even their fastest ships, Captain,” Abby estimated. “We could be out of danger and well on our way home in a matter of days.”
“But earlier you said that you had no way to tell how much longer the jump drive would continue to function. Has that assertion changed?”
“No sir, it has not. But I also have no reason to suspect that it would not continue to function as designed. When I made that statement, I was doing so to warn you about the risk of assuming the jump drive would always be available to get you out of danger.”
“So you think it could make the hundred or so jumps back home without any problems?”
“I have no reason to suspect otherwise. But admittedly, I have no evidence to suggest that it could, either.”
“Which is exactly why we’re not going to head home just yet,” he announced.
“What?” Cameron wasn’t surprised by his announcement, as she had suspected this would be his plan all along. “Nathan, it’s not safe to stay in this region of space. You said so yourself. The sooner we start jumping home-”
“Cam, we don’t know what lies between here and Earth,” Nathan told her. There could be other inhabited worlds-maybe friendly, maybe not. They could be even worse than the Ta’Akar. Or there could be nothing but empty space. That’s more than a hundred jumps-any one of which could be our last. We could easily end up stranded in a far worse situation than this. And I’m just not prepared to commit to such a risky plan, at least not without more information.”
“And if the Ta’Akar manage to hunt us down?” Cameron wasn’t backing down this time, not without a fight.
“Well, we can always start jumping away then, can’t we?”
“It may not be that easy, Nathan. They underestimated us once, maybe twice. They probably won’t make that mistake again.”
“According to Jalea, they’re not that bright when it comes to tactics,” Jessica recalled.
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“You want to bet your life on that?” Cameron asked.
Jessica said nothing, but her expression told Cameron that she did not.
Nathan was getting tired of arguing with Cameron. It was beginning to feel like their days back in the training simulator. And he was exhausted. He’d been shot at all afternoon, and had been bounced around in a tiny spaceship that crash-landed on the Aurora’s hangar deck. He had too little energy left to waste it arguing with his XO. “Cam, I’m just saying I want to find out more before we make a decision one way or the other. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” She was sure there was more to it that he wasn’t revealing just yet.
“And maybe spend some time fixing a few things along the way, if you don’t mind.” Nathan knew that he didn’t have to get her approval. He was in command, after all. But the nature in which he had ended up her superior officer had never sat well with her, and he knew it. Furthermore, he needed her on his side. Her unique organizational skills and attention to details, as well as her uncanny knowledge of procedure, made up for his weaknesses in those areas.
“Of course not,” she assured him.
“And while we’re doing all that,” Jessica interrupted, “maybe we can find out a little more about this power source?”
Nathan was quick to jump onto the new topic, wanting to leave the debate with Cameron using any excuse possible. “Exactly. At the very least, we need to verify its existence. I mean, if it really is as great as Tug implied, couldn’t we use it to increase our jump range?”
Abby realized that his last question was aimed at her. “I suppose it’s possible. But I’d have to know a bit more about it before I could give you a definite answer.”
“Deliza seemed to know quite a lot about this research,” Vladimir added.
“Really?” Nathan was a bit surprised to hear that Tug’s teenage daughter was so well versed in the subject.
“Yes. She is actually a very smart young lady. I do not think she gets out much.”
“What did she tell you about it?”
“Only that it is based on the principles of zero-point energy.”
“Captain,” Abby interrupted. “There are references in the Data Ark to such research. In fact, we were very close to developing something similar on Earth just before the plague struck. It was one of the research and development proposals being considered in the defense of Earth after the Jung threat had been recognized. Had it not been for our accidental discovery of the spatial transition effect, it might even have been pursued.”