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Tanlen made one final exaggerated holographic keystroke and smile proudly as he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his other hand.
“We are ready to jump!” he said with a good measure of joy and some relief.
It was none too soon as the communications dot on his neck crackled to life again.
“Jump Master report!” ordered Captain.
“Drive is ready Captain.”
“Very good Mr Tanlen, perhaps next time make it easier on yourself and don’t fiddle with the drive chamber beforehand,” replied the Captain sarcastically.
Tanlen cursed under his breath in a mix of anger and admiration.
“That old bastard is getting too smart, definitely time to retire,” he thought. “Yes sir!” he replied.
“Flight control is now being transferred to you Jump Master.”
A large tactical display suddenly appeared on one side of the drive room and Tanlen quickly immersed himself in the holographic controls.
“Confirmed, I now have control of the ship Captain.”
“Time to fleet jump is under 8 minutes and counting. I am expecting you to land us right on the bullseye.”
Paying close attention to the tactical readout and the position of the other ships in the fleet Tanlen slowly manoeuvred Abarath into a position he was happy with. He then stepped out of the controls and across to the drive console where Relv was already sitting at his station.
“Ok kid same drill as the calibration jump only this time you are about to have everyone you ever knew on Vaslus age thirty years. Half a life time is about to pass for them by the time you step foot back there again.”
It was a sobering thought and Relv’s eyes widened in that age’s old reaction when you suddenly realise that maybe you are about to do something you will later regret.
“Don’t worry Relv the first jump is the worst. After your third or fourth trip into the big black anyone you ever knew will be long dead and you won’t have any family or friends to pine over. It’s like being reborn again, you will get used to it.”
“All readouts green Jump Master, we are ready to jump,” he replied nervously.
“Drive room reporting Captain, we are ready to initiate jump.”
“Acknowledged. All stations prepare to jump. You are clear to jump at zero on the fleet timer Jump Master.”
“Aye Captain.”
Tanlen then counted down over the ships open communication channel which was projected all around the massive ship. He engaged the drive as the countdown reached zero and the ship launched itself into sub-space.
At that moment everything went into slow motion. Every thought seemed to take hours to complete, each blink of an eye seemed to go for days and every other physical movement no matter how small seemed to be never ending.
It was a trick of the mind however, merely a side effect of travelling in sub-space. With practiced concentration Tanlen was able to bring the world back into some normal perspective. It was difficult to master and despite all his jump experience even the slightest loss in concentration dragged him back into moments of slow motion.
He looked to his left to check on Relv. Not unexpectedly he was not fairing very well at all. The boy sat almost motionless at his station barely breathing.
Tanlen ignored the lad and tried to focus on the control console and that was when he saw it. The shock sent him temporarily back into slow motion and by the time he was able to drag himself out again the jump was over and the ship had entered real space again.
Beside him Relv wobbled in his chair then fell out of it. When he tried to pick himself up again he vomited everywhere. In any other circumstances Tanlen would have been concerned about helping the kid through his first bought of jump sickness, but instead he stepped over Relv and ran to the tactical station as alarms started blaring and warnings started to flash from just about every readout.
“Jump Master report!” yelled the Captain. “I want to know what the hell happened to drop us into orbit two weeks late!”
“I don’t know what happened Captain...I...I have to run some diagnostics.”
“Forget about diagnostics Tanlen and get us into a position to jump the hell out of here right now!”
Tanlen looked at the tactical navigation screen and his eyes widened. Scattered across various levels of low orbit were the debris of what had to be every other ship in the fleet! There was a sudden collision warning that was like a slap across his stunned face. He quickly threw the Abarath into a hard dive to avoid a massive piece of floating ship hull.
The artificial gravity could not keep up with the sudden change in direction and equipment flew from consoles and bench tops and skittered across the floor. Relv, who was trying to slowly regain his feet, slid across the floor and up against the hatch that lead down to the drive core. Just as he had avoided the fatal collision a new set of alarms started blaring away.
“Captain!”
“I see them! Revert navigational controls to the bridge now!”
Threat sensors started flashing up from multiple trajectories on the tactical display. They all had one thing in common. They all originated from the planet’s surface and they were all headed directly towards the Abarath.
“Sorry Captain, but there are too many incoming missiles to avoid. The only chance we have is for me to get us into jump position before they reach us.”
Tanlen ripped his communicator dot from his neck so that he had no way of hearing the Captain’s reply. Then he set the drive room into emergency lockdown. He plotted a trajectory that got them safely out of the debris field by the shortest possible route and gunned the engines like they had never been gunned before.
He checked the velocity of the approaching missiles and had the computer analyse the time to collision. The time to jump and time to impact were virtually identical. He only needed to be able to jump a few milliseconds before the impact. He wrung his hands in frustration, there was no way to tell what the outcome would be. It was just going to be too close to be sure so he slowly turned to Relv.
“Get your ass off that floor and get down to the drive core now!”
“I don’t understand, where did the missiles come from?”
“Let’s debate that if we get out of this alive, now move!”
As soon as Relv was down the hatch Tanlen locked it shut from the outside then fried the access control so the kid had no way of getting out easily. If his timing was out even in the slightest the sealed jump core being in the centre of the ship should survive long enough to jump regardless of what happened to the rest of the ship. At least there would be someone to tell the people of Vaslus what had happened.
Sparks started to splash through the main door to the jump room as an arc cutter started to slice through it. It looked like the Captain wanted control of his ship back. Tanlen ignored it. One way or another this was going to be over well before they made it through.
Tanlen raced about the drive console setting all the jump parameters as fast as he could for a return journey. It was rough and ready and relied on the automated systems to generate a lot of the drive settings that he would normally never trust, but for the moment any place was better than their current position. He was ready just seconds before the first of the missiles was due to impact.
The Abarath cleared the last of the debris field and was clear to jump just as the first missile kissed the outer hull...
END
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About the Author
Shane Griffin lives in Australia near the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. He is a part time author and full time scientist. He has been writing science fiction and fantasy since age 19. He has published over 20 short stories in magazines and ezines such as Potato Monkey, Antipodean Science Fiction, Ripples, Eclecticism and Masque Noir.
With stories like Accident Man, Border Patrol and the Duel proving popular with readers Shane is now focusing on e-publishing under his own label - Poupichou Press.
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Other Titles by This Author
Science Fiction Short Stories
Accident Man
Antipodean Collection
Antipodean Collection 2
Barkley's Body Swap and Pawn Shop
Border Patrol
Blue Pelagic
Cancer Stick Addiction
Cure Overdose
Deathday
Drifter
Generation Next The Real Thing
Heir Neekay
Long Odds
Manjac and the Nosebleed Section
Necrofairies
Necrofairies 2
Shady Hazy and the Subliminal Criminal
World War H
Fantasy Short Stories
The Duel
The Mercenary
Visions of Magic - The Kidnap of Gabrielle Ulan
Novels
Apocalyptica - Rogue Memories
Prominence - Jump Master Page 5