by Saxon Andrew
Chris’s eyes widened and he shook his head slowly. He looked at Audrey and smiled, “It appears you have an officer who does some thinking outside the box.”
Audrey nodded, “Hawk will surprise you with his observations.”
Chris turned back to Hawk and tilted his head as he said, “The following is top secret and you can be arrested if you repeat what I’m about to say. The reactors to power a force field around Earth left Eden more than two months ago. The construction crews went with it to build the projectors around the planet.”
Janie said, “Sir, what kind of shape is Earth in now?”
“It’s healing well. The invaders used heat beams to kill every human on the planet and the cities burned for months afterwards. But rain and time have extinguished the fires and plant life has returned and many of the cities are being overrun by it. You can find the remains of the cities under the plants; most of them were knocked flat by the invaders. The interstate highways are still there. It’s difficult for plants to grow through three feet of reinforced concrete.”
Audrey looked at Chris, “Is that what you’ve been doing for the last three years?”
Chris looked at her and smiled, “Among other things. Are we ready for lift off?”
“We are.”
Chris looked up, “Willow, are you on board?”
“I am.”
Audrey’s smile was instant, “WILLOW!”
“Good morning, Admiral. It’s good to be here with you again.”
Chris looked at Audrey, “You know where we’re going. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Audrey looked at Hawk, “Take us up.”
Hawk gripped the steering wheel and pressed several buttons on it. The hum of the gravity compensators rose in pitch slightly and the thrusters under the huge ship began firing. After a moment, the ship lifted off the concrete and rose at an increasing speed. Once it was a quarter of a mile above the surface, Hawk activated the rear and bow thrusters to turn the ship vertical. He began moving the thrust slide slightly and the ship began accelerating.
Trevor said, “Captain, you should be careful. You’re about to cause a sonic boom.”
Hawk looked to the right, “Holy Cave Bears! This ship is incredibly fast!” He backed off slightly on the thruster slide and the vessel continued heading toward high atmosphere. Audrey watched Hawk fly the ship and he kept the speed below the speed of sound. It took fifteen minutes to clear the atmosphere and the tactical monitor showed thousands of warships in orbit above Eden. All of them saw the battleship lifting off Eden and they began calling each other immediately asking what kind of ship was leaving. Janie laughed, “You ought to hear the inter-ship chatter about this ship. Everyone is trying to figure out what it is.”
Audrey nodded and Chris said, “Captain Red Feather, why don’t you take us above the galactic plane and give her a shove.”
Hawk smiled and turned above Eden and pushed the thruster’s slides forward. The ship accelerated like a bat with its tail on fire. The ships above Eden saw the large vessel and then in an instant, it was gone faster than they could visually track. They were all stunned. No ship had ever moved that fast in normal space. The cheers began almost immediately. The sailors knew a new vessel was coming on line and they couldn’t wait to be assigned to one.
• • •
Chris smiled at the expression on Captain Red Feather’s face, “Take us toward the central black hole, Captain. Slow down as we move within a light year.”
Hawk dropped the ship into the void and hit the thrusters to max. He read the dials on the right side of his panel and shook his head, “Sir, is this speed accurate?”
Amanda laughed, “Yes. What once took us ten days to fly to M-87 will now only take us two days.” Hawk looked at Audrey and saw her shake her head.
• • •
Four hours later, the scanner monitor showed the distant star with the white planet circling it. Audrey looked at Chris and shook her head remembering the damage to his arm and shoulder the last time they came here. Chris looked at Commander Aman and said, “I want you to regulate the gravity compensators. You should use forty of them to power the compensators and have the other ten on standby in case you need them.”
“What about steering power for the thrusters?”
“Use half the power of the number one reactor if necessary. Steering won’t matter if we get caught up in the black hole’s gravity well.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Willow, are you ready to step out?”
“I already have. I’ll lock you in and let you know.”
Audrey looked at Chris, “Have you tried this before?”
“We’ve come out here with the Grey Civilization’s Gravity Ship and it handled the load. We honestly believe this ship can handle it as well.”
Audrey shook her head and Chris said, “Captain, take us in to that planet.” Hawk looked at Audrey and she nodded and said, “Mr. Stone is in command of this mission and you will follow his orders instantly.”
Hawk nodded and pushed the slides forward. Aman said, “Do you want the force field on, Sir?”
“No! Leave it off.” Audrey’s eyes narrowed and she jerked her head away from the monitor and looked at Chris. He smiled and said, “I told you we had to paint her.” The ship arrived above the planet and Chris said, “Commander, how are the compensators holding?”
“They’re running smoothly, Sir.”
Amanda and Trevor walked to the forward view port and looked out at the huge black hole in the distance with the whirlpool of blackness surrounding it. The brilliant beam of matter being destroyed as it was sucked into the monster blew out of it above the galaxy. To venture into that beam was certain death from radiation poisoning. Trevor put his arm on Amanda’s shoulders and smiled, “We control the dragon.” Amanda nodded and put her head on his chest.
Chris saw the planet moving closer and he said, “Captain, take us down to the surface.”
“Yes Sir.” The battleship moved down toward the surface at a slow speed. There was no atmosphere so the descent was smooth. Hawk arrived a mile above the planet and Chris said, “Captain, I told you to take us down to the surface.”
Hawk’s expression changed and he shook his head, “Sir, that planet’s surface is a fluid. There is no solid place for us to land.”
“Captain, when I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it. Take her down.”
Hawk stared at Chris and blew out a breath. He slid the thrusters slightly and the battleship moved toward the white surface of the planet. It arrived and Hawk held the ship ten feet above the white liquid under them. Chris walked up to Hawk’s panel and looked him in the eyes, “Captain, if you fail to follow my orders again, you will be kicked out of the service. Do you understand!?” Hawk stared at him for a long moment and then pushed the slides slightly. The battleship settled to the surface and began floating. Chris looked at Janie, “Close all view ports with their armored covers.” Janie pressed a button and the three viewports on the bridge were all suddenly blocked. She stared at her panel and looked up, “All ports are covered in armor, Sir.”
Chris turned back to Hawk, “Roll the ship.”
Hawk started to protest but managed to stop himself. He reached to the left side of his panel and pushed three slides together. The huge ship began slowly turning over in the white liquid. Hawk changed the thrusters to those still above the surface as the ship rotated. He closed the armored covers on the other thrusters before they rolled into the white substance. The ship made a complete 360 degree roll and Chris said, “Do it again.” Five rolls later, Chris said, “Lift the ship.”
The ship rose and Aman said, “Sir, I’ve had to reduce the power to the compensators. They’re pushing the ship radically at their current settings.”
Chris nodded, “About fifty percent would be right, Commander.” Audrey shook her head. Something had changed in how gravity affected the ship. “Willow?”
“Roll the ship.” Chris looked at Ha
wk and nodded. He used the thrusters and rolled the ship slowly. “Turn the bottom side toward open space.” Hawk stopped the rotation and rolled the bottom away from the planet. “It’s covered. I thought there was a dark place but it’s a thruster port that’s open.”
Chris smiled and said, “Captain, please take the ship out to pick up our friend.” He turned to Janie, “You may open the view ports.” The armored covers began moving into the ship’s hull and the crew could see the outside of the ship was now a bright white.
Amanda shook her head. She remembered Chris saying that the Silver Ships didn’t need a force field. But this wasn’t silver. She looked at Chris, “This is a different color.”
Chris nodded and said, “Are you on board?”
“I’m in the landing bay.”
Chris looked at Hawk, “Captain, take us to Earth.”
The entire crew’s eyes went wide and Hawk smiled, “Yes Sir!” The ship leapt above Andromeda and turned toward the distant silver splotch that was the Milky Way.
Chris said, “I want you to go at full speed for two hours. Then move the ship into the void.” Hawk pushed the slides fully forward and the white ship shot away at a speed that was unbelievable. Hawk looked at his panel and said, “Sir, this says we’re traveling faster than the speed of light in normal space!”
Amanda said from the front viewport, “The coating on the ship changes how the laws of physics affects the ship.”
Audrey looked at Chris and shook her head as he walked over to her chair. He smiled and said, “What do you think?”
“Honestly, I’ve resented every moment you’ve been away. Now I see that it was time well spent. Congratulations, Chris.”
“Both of us had things we needed to do, Audrey.”
“What was so important I needed doing?”
“You had to learn how to command a warship and find the best crew possible to fly with you.”
“Why?”
Chris raised his voice, “I want everyone to hear this. Please send it over the intercom.”
Janie pressed a button on her panel, “You’re on, Sir.”
“This ship is my personal vessel. The Leadership Team has agreed that I should have a vessel to do the things I deem necessary. This ship will be the Fleet’s Flagship once it completes its field trials.”
Audrey whispered, “I thought Chad’s Troy was the Fleet’s flagship?”
“Not anymore. All of you are going to be the crew that flies her.”
Audrey’s mouth fell open and Chris turned to her, “Her name is Destiny and she is your ship, Admiral.”
Audrey came out of her command chair and rushed forward and put her arms around Chris’s neck. She fought her tears but felt them start when Chris said, “We will not be separated again.”
Audrey held him tight and whispered, “Does that mean you’re ready?”
Chris smiled, “It does.”
The crew watched them and Janie smiled. Now she knew why the Admiral was always melancholy. She was missing him. She looked around the bridge and saw the others saw it as well. Audrey finally released Chris and moved back into the command chair.
“Sir, something is happening to the coating on the ship.”
Chris looked at Amanda who said, “About another fifteen minutes should do it.”
Audrey looked at the external cameras and saw the white coating was changing to a bright silver color. She shook her head and looked at Amanda, Trevor, and Chris who were staring out of the forward viewport. They must have worked so hard to make this happen. She knew there was still a lot to learn about her new ship but one thing she knew for certain; it was the fastest ship in the fleet. Fifteen minutes later, Chris said, “Take us into the void.”
Hawk activated the stardrive and the Destiny left normal space and accelerated at a pace that had the Milky Way visibly growing larger by the moment. Hawk shook his head and knew this ship was the wild mustang he always dreamed of riding. Audrey saw his expression and turned to Lukas, “Sir, is the name of our ship official or can it be changed?”
Chris tilted his head, “You may name the ship whatever you choose. What are you thinking?”
“I’ve found my destiny. I’d like to name this ship the Montana.”
Hawk jerked his head around and saw Audrey smiling. Montana was where Hawk had grown up on a reservation. It was where he had ridden his first horse. He turned around and his smile was huge. Chris saw the exchange and said, “Montana it is, Admiral.”
Audrey looked at Chris and whispered, “Your half-sister is something else. She’s into everything.”
Chris smiled, “She is beautiful and I can hear her listening in on my thoughts. She’s developing much faster than I did. She is going to be special.”
“Just like her brother.” Chris smiled and nodded.
Chapter Sixteen
Amanda stared out of the forward viewport and then looked at Trevor, “This is what I’ve dreamed about doing.”
“Me, too.”
Amanda stared at Trevor, “What’s bothering you?”
“We left so quickly that we left Nudge and Budge alone to mind the shop.”
Amanda’s expression underwent several changes and she shook her head, “Surely, they won’t have enough time to get into trouble.”
Trevor shrugged, “I hope you’re right. Things can turn sour pretty quickly if they’re left alone too long.”
Amanda stared at him, shook her head, and then shook it again, “Should we ask Chris to take us back?”
Trevor sighed, “Contact Salud and tell her to keep her eyes on them.”
Audrey said, “Amanda, Trevor, how does the new scanner operate?” Amanda walked over and began going over her panel’s operation. After an hour, she forgot to contact Salud.
• • •
“Hey Budge.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve been doing some analysis of the new battleship’s mass and power ratios.”
“Why would you do that?”
“You know why! The numbers appear to support our positions on the pods.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know we secretly made the scoops for our pods from the four that were dropped and damaged.”
“Shhhhh. No one’s supposed to know about that. I told Amanda we disposed of them.”
“Hey, they’re gone. It’s just us here.”
Budge looked around, “They could be recording our conversations.”
Nudge shook his head, “Boy are you paranoid! Even if they are recording them, they aren’t here to listen to the recordings. Anyway, if we take the two pods out and use the scoops to fill the four new reactors we installed on them, their mass to power ratio will be higher than the new battleship’s.”
“Get out of here. The battleships have fifty reactors, not just four.”
Nudge snorted, “Look at it this way. An attack pod is forty yards long, right?”
“The two we’ve been working on are actually fifty yards long. The new reactors are larger and required we extend the space housing them ten additional feet.”
“Ok, fifty yards long. That’s a hundred and fifty feet. How long are the new battleships?”
Budge looked up and thought for a moment, “They’re about fifteen hundred feet long.”
“That’s ten times the length of a pod, right?” Budge nodded. “They’re also two hundred feet in diameter to the pod’s twenty feet.”
“Yeah, so what?”
“That makes them have a volume that’s twenty times that of our pods. The armor and support braces also add a huge amount of weight the pods don’t need. So to have the same power to mass ratio, our pods would only need two reactors to be equal in power to weight. Our pods have four of the new reactors so they are actually twice as powerful.”
Budge lowered his eyes, “So the two pods have more usable power per mass than a battleship?”
“Exactly.”
Budge stared at his twin brother and after a moment s
tarted shaking his head, “Please tell me you are not thinking about doing what I think you are?!”
“Come on, Budge. How often do we get the opportunity to do something like this without Trevor or Amanda telling us no? No one knows we put the scoops and new reactors on our pods. You know the pods are being slowly written off and many of them aren’t being used to anything more than escort duty. Everyone is focused on the new battleships and if we don’t do something, the pods will just be scrapped. We need them! We won’t get another opportunity like this.”
“NO!”
“If you won’t go, I’ll do it alone.”
“You will not make me budge on this!”
“Ok, you can stay here and I’ll go alone.”
Nudge turned and walked toward the door. Budge began moving up and down and shaking. Nudge walked out the door and Budge was only able to resist for another minute before he ran after his brother, “How are you able to make me do these things we’ve been ordered not to do?”
Nudge smiled, “I guess I just have to give you a nudge.”
“Funny!”
“Let’s take the pods out and get their reactors powered. Then, it’s off to the black hole.”
“Are you sure just one gravity compensator can handle that level of stress?”
“It will have to cope with far less mass than the new battleship’s compensators. You saw the recording Amanda sent back. Plus, we’ve used a compensator that’s fifty percent larger than the ones on the new battleship. This is worth doing.”
Budge nodded and said, “Trevor told us to forget working on the pods. They’re going to scream when they find out we modified the compensator and added all the weapons.”
“I know.”
“Just checking to make sure you do.”
“They shouldn’t have left us here alone without a new battleship to work on.”
Budge chuckled, “It’s their fault.”
“Absolutely. And no one has come to check up on us! They know we should never be left alone. At least that’s what they’ve always said after we blew up the engine compartment on one of the ships.”
“Absolutely.”
“Do you think they’ll buy it?”