by Ryk Brown
“I understand, Captain.”
“You’re about to embark on a grand adventure, Mister Hiller,” Nathan told him, “one that will surely change your life forever, just as it changed mine.” Nathan put his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Safe journey.”
Yanni nodded his thanks to the captain, then turned and headed up the cargo ramp of the super-jump shuttle.
Nathan stepped back as the ramp began to rise and the shuttle’s engines began to spin to life. Rotating, red beacons along the shuttle’s underside began to spin, warning all around her that she was under power and about to move. The shuttle rolled slowly backward as traffic directors walked along her back corners, ensuring that no one was caught by surprise by the moving shuttle. A few minutes later, the shuttle disappeared in the center transfer airlock, and Nathan turned and headed back to the command deck.
* * *
“So how do things look?” Nathan asked. Cameron, sitting in her ready room on the Celestia, appeared on the left side of the view screen. Vladimir, standing in the Celestia’s engineering office, appeared on the opposite side of the screen.
“The rescue tunnel can be fixed, but it will be too short to use as we did before,” Cameron explained. “The Aurora would need to be very close. It’s just too risky.”
“What about the fighter bays?” Nathan asked.
“I have sealed off the starboard side of D deck, just after it splits aft of the cargo deck,” Vladimir told him. “The leaks are all on the starboard side, so we were able to pressurize the main cargo bay, the port side of D deck, and the port fighter bay. All three elevator airlocks on the port side are working, so we can begin using the port fighter bay for flight operations.”
Nathan turned toward Major Prechitt who was sitting to his right. “How does that sound to you, Major?”
“There are still several equipment crates blocking full access to the main hangar bay, but we should be able to get them either moved down to the cargo deck or pushed up to the front starboard portion of the bay. If so, we can use the rest of the deck, along with the flight apron, as one big flight deck. We can cycle the cargo shuttles through the larger forward port elevator airlock, the tactical shuttles through the midship elevator airlock, and the fighters through the aft elevator airlock.”
“Fighters?” Nathan wondered.
“I think it would be prudent to stage at least twelve of our fighters on the Celestia. She is currently defenseless. Even after they get the plasma cannon turret working, she is still going to need help against fighters and possibly even incoming missiles. That turret can’t track fast enough to keep up with such high-speed, highly maneuverable targets.”
“You’re talking about using fighters as point-defenses,” Nathan realized.
“Yes, sir. If we’re going to be leaving the Celestia unprotected to conduct hit-and-run strikes elsewhere, she’s got to have something.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you, Major,” Nathan assured him. “It just never occurred to me that you could use fighters in such a way. Good thinking,” Nathan told him. He turned back to the images of Cameron and Vladimir on the view screen. “What about connecting the command deck to the rest of the ship?” Nathan asked.
“We’re going to take some bulkheads from the starboard side of D deck and use them to create a connecting corridor. It will not be pretty, but it will work.”
“You’re not going to need them on D deck?” Nathan asked.
“We do not have time to patch all the holes on the starboard side right now, so no. We need them more to connect the command deck.”
“Very well. How are things progressing with the plasma cannon turret?”
“Slowly but surely,” Cameron told him. “Lieutenant Montgomery believes he can have the weapon ready to test fire in about six or seven hours.”
“I’m not sure we have that much time, Commander,” Nathan warned.
“I told the lieutenant as much. He insists he and his men are working as quickly as possible.”
“Would it help if we assigned more people to the task?”
“They’re already tripping over each other as it is,” Cameron told him. “Besides, the Aurora can’t afford to lose any more of her crew, not if you want to remain combat effective.”
“Okay, now the big question: how long until you can lift off?” Nathan asked.
“Several of the maneuvering thrusters are still not answering diagnostic requests,” Vladimir told them. “We will have to send EVA teams out to plug portable diagnostic units into the affected maneuvering thrusters from the outside. This is a little bit of a problem, as most of the affected units are along the lower edge of the hull. We may have to dig a little to access the diagnostic ports.”
“How long?”
“A few hours, at least,” Vladimir said. “And that is just to run the diagnostics. If too many of them are damaged, we may not be able to compensate adequately with the remaining thrusters.”
“And if that happens?”
“If that happens, the Celestia may be stuck on Metis for a very long time.”
“You’re telling me that you cannot fix them?” Nathan said. “I thought you could fix anything.”
“Fixing them is not the problem,” Vladimir defended. “Accessing them is the problem. This ship was not designed to sit on the surface on her belly, Captain. It was meant to float in space… always. Trust me; it was not an engineer who decided that landing her on her belly on a giant, potato-shaped rock was a good plan.”
Nathan sat back in his chair and sighed. “If you are able to get her off the surface, can she fly?”
“I believe so, yes,” Vladimir said. “We have not found anything wrong with her main propulsion systems. They need to be calibrated properly, but they will work.”
“How fast will she go?” Nathan wondered.
“I would not run these engines at maximum power, Captain. With a long burn, maybe two percent light.”
Nathan was silent. His dream of having two jump-capable warships with which to liberate the Earth was quickly fading away. “Doctor Sorenson, I don’t suppose you have any good news to report.”
“After looking at the specifications for the Celestia’s emitter design, I’m sure we can fabricate them. The Takarans even think they can improve upon the design and increase their efficiency.”
“Let’s not toy with the designs just yet,” Nathan said. “Let’s just try to get her jump drive working.”
“Of course, Captain.”
“Any idea on a time frame?”
“Several weeks at least, maybe longer,” Abby told him.
“Any chance you can improve upon that time frame?”
“With or without destroying the Celestia on her first jump?” Abby answered.
Nathan sighed again. “Any other good news to report?” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“We found lots of coffee in the unpressurized areas of D deck,” Vladimir said.
“Good,” Nathan said. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to need it.”
“Sir, in light of the current situation, you may want to reconsider our alternatives,” Cameron suggested.
“To which alternatives do you refer, Commander?” Nathan asked.
“We could strip a lot of usable equipment from this ship. There’s still a lot of stuff in the main hangar deck and the cargo deck all boxed up and waiting to be installed. All of that could be moved in a few hours.”
“Anything we can’t fabricate?” Nathan asked, already knowing the answer.
“No, sir,” Vladimir answered.
“We’ll continue with the current plan, Commander. We still have eighty-seven minutes until the Jung conclude that something happened to one or both of their gunships. We’ll continue to transfer prop
ellant and support your repair efforts until the Jung return. If we are unable to defend the Celestia, your people will bug out on shuttles, and we’ll scuttle the Celestia, preferably with a few Jung ships within the annihilation range of her antimatter containment breach. If necessary, the Aurora will attempt to keep the Jung away from the Jovian system by engaging them elsewhere while you and your people continue to work. If we do so, we’ll leave the Falcon near you in order to alert us if the Jung should sneak back while we are gone so we can jump back to defend you.”
Nathan scanned the command briefing room, looking at the faces of his staff. “If there’s nothing else to discuss…”
“Sir,” Jessica said, “I believe we should try to make contact with the resistance, let them know that we found the Celestia and what our plans are.”
“To what end?” Nathan asked.
“Maybe they can help somehow.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they can start some trouble on Earth, keep the Jung off-balance until we get the Celestia out of here. I mean, you sent me down there to establish contact with them. I gave them the comm-schedule, and we’ve already missed two of the comm windows with them. They’re going to be wondering what happened to us.”
“I’m not sure it’s a wise use of resources at the moment,” Nathan said.
“Maybe not, but there may be people down there, members of the EDF, who outrank us. There may even be members of the United Earth Republic or leaders of the major nations of the republic. Technically, we do answer to them. Even if we don’t, the people of Earth need to know that we’re out here, that we’re fighting for them. Just that knowledge alone could be a tipping point.”
“Don’t they already know?” Nathan asked. “After all, we jumped in and took out a few Jung ships a few weeks ago. We even attacked a few ground targets.”
“The Jung may have played that down in the eyes of the public. From what I saw, they have a very powerful propaganda system in place. The more contact the resistance has with us, the less effective the Jung propaganda system becomes.”
“Very well,” Nathan said. “We can’t spare the jump shuttle right now, as we need every shuttle we have to support the Celestia’s repair efforts.”
“The Falcon is still space-worthy,” Major Prechitt said. “Full of holes, but space-worthy. Assuming, of course, that Mister Hayes doesn’t try to attack anything…”
“Jess, brief Loki on the contact procedures for the resistance. Have them launch and make contact as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Jump complete,” Loki reported.
“Why can’t they just transmit a signal to the resistance from Jupiter?” Josh wondered as he checked his flight displays. “If they’re using a laser comm, it’s not like it’s being broadcast in all directions.”
“The laser signal spreads out a bit over distance,” Loki told him. “By the time it hit Earth, it would be too easy to intercept.”
“Yeah, but it’s encrypted, isn’t it?”
“I’m just following orders, Josh. You should just be happy that the captain is still letting us fly.”
“How many times do you want me to apologize?”
“A few more wouldn’t hurt,” Loki answered. “Hail transmission is complete. Pitch up three degrees and come forty to port.”
“And why all this jumping around?” Josh wondered as he adjusted the Falcon’s course. “Why can’t we just sit here and wait for their response?”
“Because that’s what the Jung would expect us to do.”
“Wouldn’t they expect us to do what we would expect them to expect us… you know what I mean.”
“I’m just the navigator and systems operator, Josh. Lieutenant Commander Nash gave us the comm procedures, and our job is to follow them.”
“Course change complete,” Josh reported. “So you’re saying that I’m overthinking this?”
“Yes.”
Josh’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s a first, eh?”
“Jumping in three……two……one……”
The Falcon’s newly updated jump management system automatically turned Josh’s helmet visor opaque to protect his eyes from the blinding jump flash. It was an odd sensation. One moment, he was looking at his instruments, and the next moment, he was staring at the opaque, silvery inside of his helmet visor.
“Jump.”
The familiar blue-white flash washed over the Falcon’s cockpit. A second later, Josh’s visor became clear again, allowing him to see his console once again.
“Jump complete,” Loki reported. “Retargeting laser comm-array.”
“How long are we supposed to wait for an answer?” Josh asked.
“Ten minutes at this position,” Loki answered. “Then we move to the next position and hail them again.”
“So we jump, hail, jump, listen… then repeat? How many times do we repeat?”
“Three times or until someone answers. If they answer, we use a different set of waypoints to carry on the exchange,” Loki answered.
“And if no one answers?”
“Then we jump back to the Aurora and report in.”
“What happens if we jump back and the Aurora’s not there?”
“They’ll leave a jump marker behind,” Loki told him.
“A what?”
“I forgot to tell you. Lieutenant Montgomery developed a jump marker. It’s just a tiny buoy, about the size of your fist. If we get back and the Aurora is gone, we just transmit a jump marker hail in all directions and the device will answer us with the Aurora’s destination and time of jump.”
“Cool, but what happens if someone else finds it?”
“You have to transmit the current key for it to respond, and it’s so small that it’s nearly impossible to detect. Besides, it fries itself after it transmits its data.”
“That’s a pretty good idea,” Josh said. “That’s always bothered me, you know? Wondering if the Aurora will be there when we get back. Every time we jump, that goes through my head.”
“Mine, too.”
* * *
Lieutenant Montgomery and two members of his team entered the Celestia’s bridge. “Commander,” he said to Cameron as he entered, “from which console would you like to control the weapon?”
“How complicated will the weapon be to operate?” Commander Taylor asked.
“The system is mostly automated,” the lieutenant stated. “The operator only needs to assign targets and priorities. The weapon receives tracking information from the ship’s sensors, as well as course and speed data from the Celestia’s flight computers. Once targets have been assigned and prioritized, the weapon will track the highest priority target and notify the operator when it has locked onto the target and is ready to fire. At that point, it is a simple press of the button to fire the weapon.”
Cameron looked at her executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Kovacic.
“Either tactical or sensors,” the lieutenant commander said. “Not much else left other than the flight console and comms.”
“You may interface the weapon with the tactical console,” Commander Taylor instructed the lieutenant.
“As you wish, Commander,” the lieutenant answered, bowing his head smartly the way Takaran officers always did when accepting direction from their superiors.
Lieutenant Commander Kovacic watched as the Takaran lieutenant took a step back and then pivoted around in perfect military style to proceed to the tactical console. His two assistants followed him in similar style, leaving the lieutenant commander and his captain standing in the doorway to the Celestia’s ready room.
Lieutenant Commander Kovacic followed Cameron as she turned and entered the ready room. “Are t
hey always that formal?” he asked.
“The Takarans were a monarchy,” she explained, “with a complex hierarchy of noblemen. Their society had very strict rules about such things. Failing to show proper respect to a superior was not well tolerated, from what I’ve heard.”
“You said they were a monarchy,” the lieutenant commander stated. “So what are they now?”
Cameron sat down behind her desk. “I’m not really sure, to be honest. Their new leader was planning on disbanding the monarchy and the system of nobles and replacing it with a parliamentary system, but we left before that took place.”
“These are the guys you defeated, right?”
“We helped to dethrone an illegitimate leader, allowing the rightful leader to take his place.”
“What, like the real king or something?”
“A prince, actually. I know, the idea of a king may seem unusual to us, but there were several such governments still in existence on Earth when the plague struck. The Takarans may have been an offshoot of one of those governments. They have had a monarchy for nearly nine hundred years, and for most of that time, it worked well for them.”
“I guess I just assumed all of that died out with the plague,” the lieutenant commander said.
“Based on what we’ve learned thus far, we suspect there may be many more civilizations out there that originated from Earth or one of her core worlds. It seems people fled the core worlds in droves to escape the bio-digital plague. It became somewhat of an overnight business—hastily conceived colonization missions into deep space. We discovered an ill-fated one on our way back.”
“Yeah, I read the reports. I have to admit, it’s a bit hard to imagine—people from Earth spread out for thousands of light years.”