by Ryk Brown
The force of the explosion rocked the ship, causing her stern to suddenly drop down sharply. On the bridge, it had nearly knocked them all off their feet. Nathan couldn’t help but wonder how Vladimir and his men were doing in engineering, which was far closer to the point of impact.
“Impact! Starboard edge of the drive section! Torpedo tubes two and four are damaged!”
“Propulsion is down!” Cameron alerted. “The impact is pushing us into a lateral spin! Attempting to compensate!”
“Bridge to engineering!” Nathan called out over his comm-set. “Vlad!”
“We’ve still got maneuvering!” Cameron added. “Course and speed are unchanged! ETA to safe jump, two minutes!”
“Captain! We’ve lost most of our rail-guns!” Jessica reported.
“That torpedo must’ve knocked out at least one of our reactors!” Nathan exclaimed. “Abby!” he shouted, spinning his chair around to face her. “Do you still have power!”
“Yes, all systems still show ready. I’ve almost got the sequence entered.”
“Captain!” Jessica reported. “Our torpedo! It took out their missile battery!”
Nathan looked at Jessica. “Nice shootin’.” He glanced at Jalea behind her, and noticed that Marak was no longer standing next to her.
“The last rebel ship made it through their defense perimeter!” Jessica announced. “He must’ve followed our last torpedo through the gap in their flak field!”
Nathan spun back around to face forward. He could barely make out the rebel ship as it plunged toward the Takaran warship. The enemy’s flak exploded all across the screen in front of them as they drifted closer, their main engines still offline.
“He’s making a suicide run!” Nathan exclaimed.
“Captain! Another rebel ship just launched from our flight deck!”
Nathan spun back around to look at Jalea. He thought he saw her nod her head slightly in confirmation, but it might have just been the violent vibrations as they began taking hits from the enemy ship’s rail-guns.
“We’re taking fire!” Jessica announced.
“Time to safe jump?”
“One minute!” Cameron answered.
Suddenly, the room lit up in a brilliant white light that came from the center of the main view screen. Seconds later, as the light began to die, Nathan thought he could see the last rebel ship, piloted by Marak, dive toward the Takaran warship.
“He’s using the detonation from the first ship to slip in undetected!” Jessica deduced. Nathan turned back to look at Jessica. “Clever little fucker,” she added.
Nathan wondered if they had planned it this way all along. “Time to safe jump?”
“Forty-five seconds!” Cameron announced.
“Jess, how long till Marak impacts the Takaran ship?”
“Fifteen seconds!” Jessica answered, tension starting to creep into her voice.
“Helm, quick as you can, show them our belly.”
“Pitching up,” Cameron announced, as she pulled the control stick back and slightly right.
The Aurora began to roll onto her right side as her nose pitched back. A few seconds later, she ended the maneuver, leaving the ship drifting forward belly-first toward the enemy.
“Impact,” Jessica announced. “Detonation.”
With their belly pointed toward the detonation, there was no blinding flash this time, just a good deal of turbulence as the shock wave from the nuclear detonation struck them.
“Kill the main view screen,” Nathan ordered. He waited a few more seconds for the shock wave to subside before giving the next order. “Abby, jump the ship.”
Abigail quickly tapped in the commands and pressed the execute button. “Jumping,” she announced.
The Aurora again seemed to glow a brilliant blue-white for a fraction of a second before disappearing in a bright flash of white light. The vibrations from the shock wave instantly stopped, leaving the bridge quiet once again.
“Jump complete,” she announced, having fully adopted Nathan’s parlance.
“Viewer on,” Nathan asked, turning back towards the front. The screen that surrounded the entire forward section of the bridge flickered back to life, resolving into a black star field, with a small star directly ahead of them that was significantly brighter than all the rest.
Nathan looked confused. “Are we facing the wrong way?” he asked Cameron. “I thought we were jumping into a system?”
“I took the liberty of jumping us to a point just inside the target system,” Abigail explained. “Considering how the last three jumps went, I thought it best that we didn’t jump into the middle of everything this time. I hope you don’t mind?”
“Not at all,” Nathan assured her. “Good thinking.”
“We are still adrift, Captain,” Cameron pointed out.
“Sir, Engineering reports the two scrammed reactors are coming back online, and main propulsion should be back up in approximately ten minutes.”
Nathan looked around the room, cocking his head in strange positions and looking about the bridge, as if he were looking for some sign of trouble.
“How far out are we?” he asked no one in particular.
“About two days journey,” Cameron answered. “Assuming we’re still only able to run the mains at ten percent.”
“Any contacts?” he asked.
“No, sir,” Ensign Yosef reported. “We’re the only ones out here.”
“Finally,” Nathan observed. “Some peace and quiet.”
CHAPTER 10
Nathan sat watching the surf crash onto the tropical beach. The sound of the waves as they broke over the reefs, the seagulls overhead-it was the sound of life to him. It was the sound of peace.
The peace was interrupted by the door buzzer.
“Enter,” he called.
Cameron entered the ready room. “Morning Sir,” she greeted.
“Would you knock of the sir, crap?”
“You are the captain,” she reminded. “Which means you out rank me by what, five steps?”
“Yeah, about that. I’ll make you a deal,” he said as he reached into his shirt pocket. “You promise to stop calling me sir, at least in private, and you can have these.” He tossed her a plastic packet containing something shiny.
Cameron caught the packet with ease and looked at the packet. It contained a pair of rank insignia pins. The rank was of a commander. A smile began to grow across her face. “It’s about time,” she muttered. Her smile was now fully developed, going from ear to ear.
“So you can smile, eh Commander Taylor?”
“I’ve got the crew roster ready.” She handed him the data tablet to look at.
“Well, put them on,” he insisted as he took the tablet and began to read the report. “We lost two more?”
“They were injured in the first battle out in the Oort cloud. Doctor Chen said they didn’t have a chance. She was surprised they hung on as long as they did.”
Nathan tried to put their deaths behind him. But she could tell that he had not yet developed that crucial command skill.
Cameron turned to look at the ocean view video displaying on the large screen that covered the forward-facing bulkhead of the Captain’s ready room. A beautiful and energetic little border collie ran out from the bottom of the screen, scampering out onto the beach to run freely and chase the birds. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing to the screen.
“It was in Captain Roberts personal documents file in the computer system. I think it’s the view from his beach house back on Earth. It’s a long file, probably at least forty hours worth. He must’ve run it while he was in here working, to feel like he was back home.” The two of them watched in silence for a moment before continuing their conversation.
“So, did you figure out a way to run the ship with a crew of forty?” Nathan asked as he picked up the remote and shut off the screen.
“We can fly it with forty, but if we get into another fight, we’re not going to
have anyone for damage control, let alone backups in case someone gets injured.”
“I guess we’ll just have to steer clear of any more trouble, then. Speaking of the crew, how are they taking the news?”
“They’re all pretty shaken,” she admitted as she sat down across the desk from him. “I mean, after what we went through, and now stranded so far from home? But they’re all well trained, and they all joined Fleet for the same reasons. So they’ll pull through,” she insisted. “How are you doing?”
“Leg still hurts a bit, but it was only a hairline fracture. It’ll heal in a few days.”
Cameron looked him in the eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”
Nathan leaned back in his chair, exhaling slowly. He had tried not to let himself wallow in his own emotions after the crisis had finally resolved. But he knew that it was going to catch up to him sooner or later. They were going to be away from Earth for a long time. And other than Vladimir, Cameron was the only other person on board he could trust.
“I’ll be honest, Cam. I’ve been better.” Cameron said nothing, waiting for him to finish his response. “Hell, I’ve been through more in the last few days than I expected to go through in an entire career.” Nathan felt his emotions bubbling up from deep inside as he looked down at the crew roster. “I look at this list, and I can’t help but wonder how many of them I got killed.”
Cameron felt sorry for him, but knew that coddling him wouldn’t help. “You wanted command,” she said.
Nathan chuckled. “Actually, no, I didn’t. I just didn’t wanna roll over and let you have it.”
“In that case, it serves you right,” she jabbed.
Nathan laughed even harder. “You really are a bitch, you know that?”
Cameron smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Hey, we all gotta play to our strengths.” Cameron stood to leave. “Listen, Nathan. If it will make you feel any better, truth be told, you did alright.”
Nathan looked up at her, a grin creeping across his face at her compliment of his performance.
“But I’ll deny ever saying that,” she added as she turned to walk out of the room, nodding at Jalea who was just entering the ready room.
“Good Morning, Captain.” Now that the situation had calmed down, Jalea’s demeanor had returned to the warmer, more soulful one that he had first met. Although he definitely preferred this persona, he doubted he could ever forget the other side of her.
“Good Morning. How may I help you?”
“I’ve spoken to one of our contacts in the system,” Jalea informed him as she took a seat across the desk from him.
“What did you tell him?” Nathan asked suspiciously.
“Only that we needed to smuggle in a ship to be repaired. It is not the first time we have made such a request of this person.”
“And this person can help us?”
“He is more of a facilitator,” she explained.
“Like a middle-man?”
“Yes. He will bring the proper transponder and codes out to us. We can then use these to travel throughout this system without raising suspicion.”
“When can he get here?”
“It will take him about two days to reach us. I would request that you take no hostile actions upon his approach. It might lead to unfortunate results,” she stated carefully.
“I’ll alert Jessica to expect him.”
Jalea respectfully nodded.
“Just one question, though. What’s it going to cost us?”
“These people are also repaying debts.”
“Life debts?”
“Correct.”
“But these debts are not owed to my people, Jalea. They’re owed to yours.”
“True. But we owe you far more than we can ever repay.”
“Is that why Marak sacrificed himself? To repay us?”
“Marak did what he felt was in the best interest of both our people.”
“And how is saving this ship in the interest of your people?” Nathan had been curious about this question for a while now.
“The name of your ship,” she smiled, “do you know what it means?”
Nathan was a bit embarrassed to admit that he did not. As far as he knew, it was the name of some pretty lights seen at the northern latitudes on Earth.
“No, I’m afraid I don’t,” he admitted.
“It means, ‘New Dawn’,” she told him.
Now Nathan smiled. “That’s just a coincidence,” he assured her.
“Perhaps.” Jalea turned and headed for the door. Before she reached the exit, she paused and turned back around to face him again. “And your name, Captain. What does ‘Nathan’ mean?”
“If I remember correctly, it means ‘Gift from God.’”
“Another coincidence?” she asked.
“Perhaps,” Nathan smiled.
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