by Jacen Aster
Litliea leapt to her feet, rapidly tapping away at a device on her wrist. A holographic screen popped out, clearly marking it as a portable computer of some kind. “Send me the information.” Symbols unknown to the humans, save perhaps Lore, flashed rapidly across the holoscreen and Litliea’s face fell.
Xian'x, still seated, but looking at her with something that might have been akin to dread, asked her, “Can we help them?”
She despondently shook her head. “There's just no way, sir. With the travel time on both ends of the Rings, we're at least two weeks out. The civie ship's orbit will decay below the zone for even a high-risk evacuation in just over one and a half.”
The pain on the captain's alien face was obvious even to the Nova crew. “And no one else is in range? There is nothing they can do to buy more time?”
“No and no, sir. Next nearest ship is five days farther out, and the survivors are completely cut off. Only one section has life support and it’s been severed from the engine room. Even if they had more than emergency power, they couldn’t reach the engines to use it.”
“Escape pods?”
“Only drifter pods. No real engines. They'd be pulled in even faster than the cruiser.”
Closing his eyes, the Aoreli captain took a deep breath before issuing orders. “Prepare a transmission for them. We can accept any final letters or goodbyes they wish to give, at least.”
“Yes si—”
Sam cut off the response. “Captain, wait!”
Startled, apparently having nearly forgotten the humans, the Aoreli all turned to face her.
“I apologize Captain Matterly, but this must be dealt with quickly. I beg your indulgence for a few hours. I know it's not really the politic thing to do....”
Sam shook her head firmly. “It's not that, Captain. I understand completely. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing we could do to help. Perhaps our ship is faster. Could you show us where this ship is in relation to us?”
The Aoreli engineer answered before the captain could. “The Terlian is a Ring scout, Captain. I seriously doubt your ship is faster, and even if it is, our Ring systems are almost certainly different. We'd never adapt your ship fast enough to make a difference. Not to mention we could blow the Jump Ring and ship both to bits if we get it wrong.”
Sam looked blank. “Ring system?”
The engineer frowned. “Did that not translate correctly? Your space folding Rings, or Gates, whatever it is you call them, that allow you to travel faster than light.”
It was Lore that spoke up this time. “We don't have anything like that. I mean sure, folded space has been theorized forever, but we've never figured out how to do it.”
The alien engineer looked baffled and floundered for a moment before responding. “But...how do you achieve superluminal flight then? That's the only known method across dozens of species!”
It was Lore's turn to flounder, opening her mouth to explain several times, but utterly failing to come up with an easy explanation for the infinity drive.
Henry rescued her. “Brute force. We convert increased mass at high c-fractional speeds into energy and simply muscle our way over the light speed barrier.”
The engineer spluttered and all the Aoreli looked at Henry with disbelief that needed no translation. “But...but…. That's not possible!”
There was dry humor in Henry's voice as he replied, “Then you are obviously all having a mass delusion and our ship isn't really here.”
“Henry!” Samantha cut in, looking a bit mortified. “I'm sorry about Henry. He can be a bit acerbic at the most random times.” She managed to straighten her face and continued, “Still, he is, in essence, correct. Now can you give us that location? Perhaps we can help.”
Captain Xian'x only hesitated a moment before waving his first officer forward. “Give it to them.”
“Captain?”
“On my authority, Litliea.”
There was a long pause before his first officer uttered, “Yes, sir.” Strangely nervous, Litliea stepped forward, then looked around uncertainly. “Erm, is there a console or….”
Samantha grinned and waved Henry forward. Henry obligingly stepped up to the table between them, flipping up a hidden panel and activating its holo matrix. A few simple commands brought up a basic nav program. As Litliea quick-stepped to meet him, he addressed her, “I'm afraid we can't exactly translate the ship's systems reliably into your language yet, so this might not be quite as easy as it sounds.”
“It shouldn't be an issue.” Punching buttons on her wrist device, Litliea brought up a series of numbers, or rather squiggles that quickly translated into numbers. “This is the distance between our current position and this system's sun in our standard units. We use a base ten system, same as you, so a comparison will give us a quick conversion.”
Henry nodded and rapidly tapped at the hidden console for a few moments, making and double-checking the conversion. “Alright, that should be good. You have coordinates?”
Litliea tapped her right hand to her forehead and then brought up a new series of floating numbers from her wrist device. Seeing the humans looking at her oddly, she blushed, apparently with the same meaning as a human blush given that she sounded a bit embarrassed when she spoke again. “Er...sorry, this,” she tapped her forehead again, “means ‘yes.’ Ah, so here are the coordinates.” She nearly shoved her wrist into Henry's face.
“Ah, like a nod, I guess.” Leaning away slightly, resulting in another blush and a stammered apology, Henry quickly tapped in and converted the stellar coordinates. After a few more precise commands the rest of the projectors came online. A three-dimensional projection of their position, and the relative position of the damaged ship, appeared hovering over the table. This brought a gasp from the Aoreli.
“It's beautiful,” came a whisper, surprisingly from the Aoreli engineer, Lanteen.
The humans looked confused, but recognition quickly dawned as they saw the Aoreli staring at their projection. A swirling 3D galaxy map hovered over the meter-by-meter display point, with a section cut away to show a magnified image of the two star systems in question. It really was a beautiful image in retrospect, but so common that the crew never thought about it anymore.
Shaking off her bemusement, Sam broke into their reverie. “Henry? Give me an ETA at best speed.”
“Best safe speed is too slow, worse than the Aoreli, two and a half weeks.”
Catching his phrasing, and the question she knew was implied, she firmly asked, “And the best speed, Mr. Harper?”
Her emphasis finally broke through the Aoreli captain's interest in the star map. He looked sharply at Sam, quickly gesturing for the attention of his two crew members, who silently rallied their focus.
“Best speed is one week, two days, four hours, and thirty-seven minutes, ma'am!”
“Very good. Instruct the computer to set course.”
Captain Xian'x broke in. “Am I to understand you can reach the ship in time, but not safely, Captain?”
Sam nodded firmly. “That is the gist of it, Captain. As such, I must ask if you are willing to take all of our non-essential personnel aboard your ship while we render aid. I warn you that it may be several weeks before another of our vessels can reach this system if something should happen to us.”
“We can't possibly ask you to do this. Our species have just met!”
Sam smiled grimly. “There are sentient beings in danger. We are not asking if we can help, we are informing you that we are going to help them and asking that you do us a huge boon by looking after our people, Captain. I know it is asking a lot of such new acquaintances. I will understand if you won't help us.”
Henry looked on with high amusement as Sam's unique take on the situation reduced their previously self-confident alien captain to incoherent sputtering.
The first officer was in no better shape, looking like a wide-eyed fish. It was the Aoreli engineer that stepped up to save his two superiors. “If you c
an really save those people, I'm sure the captain is perfectly willing to take on as many of your crew as you need us to. Particularly considering that you'll need the life support capacity for the survivors. They likely outnumber your total crew, even if only a fraction are still alive.”
Litliea whipped around. “Lanteen! We can't—”
“No.” Xian'x had regained his metaphorical footing and cut his first officer off with a word. “If these Humans are willing and able to save hundreds of Aoreli lives, we will aid them in any way they need. Arrange to take on all their non-essential crew. Then prepare to transfer command of the Terlian to yourself. I will be going with them to represent the Aoreli. If that is alright?”
This last being obviously addressed to Sam. Her brow furrowed and she frowned slightly. “Transit will be very dangerous, Captain. You can send a representative, a volunteer representative, if you wish, but shouldn't you stay with your ship? Are you not responsible for it and all aboard it?”
“I am, but I am breaking a great many first contact rules to accept this aid, Captain. In fact, I must apologize to Litliea as I am putting her in a very false position by causing her first service as a captain to be in such a way. It might well end her career.”
This seemed to anger Litliea. Showing far more fire than before, she lit into her Captain. “No, sir! You will not apologize to me for doing the right thing! As for my career, I give it up willingly if it spares those people. Now, let's get to work.”
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
That had apparently been that. The Nova's crew was stripped from one hundred twenty-seven to twenty-six in less than an hour. The remaining hundred and one were, along with some basic necessities, ferried to the Terlian. Each shuttle left with cargo and crew and returned with Aoreli specific food, medicine, and four of the Terlian's medical staff.
Lore's voice reached the bridge speakers from the docking bay, where her particular gifts had been used to keep track of the anarchy. “Captain Xian'x is aboard, Captain, as is Lanteen for advice on the rescue op. All personnel and supplies have been exchanged. We are ready to leave.”
Sam looked up from the navigation console, where she and Henry were doing their best to make this trip survivable, mostly by integrating Aoreli survey data and launching FTL drones to report on their route. By far, the greatest danger to them, traveling at their soon-to-be speeds, would be uncharted debris they could not react to in time. Shields might protect them from small particulate, but anything larger would rip though any shield ever made if they hit it while traveling at superluminal speeds. “Thank you, Lore. Report to engineering. Henry has placed you in charge there for the duration.”
A startled choking noise came from the speakers. “Ma'am, I'm sorry, but could you repeat that?”
Henry grinned and waved Sam off before triggering his own comm. “You heard her right. Congratulations, Lore. You are now Acting Chief Engineer.”
There was a long moment of pause before Lore's voice came back, dry as a desert wind. “That is crazy, sir. You are obviously the best choice, sir. Mr. Amaril chose you for that position personally, sir.”
Samantha's voice was equally dry but tinted by mirth as she answered, “Yes, he would be the better choice Acting Chief Engineer. However, as the Nova is supposed to be navigated purely by computer, we don't have anyone aboard besides Henry who really knows the systems well enough to handle emergency manual input if the scout drones warn us of something in time. This situation isn't supposed to exist. In point of fact, it's a bloody miracle that the system can actually do it at all. As such, I need him on the bridge.”
A much longer pause came as Lore processed this. Reluctance was clear in her voice as she replied, “Very well, Captain. I am on my way to engineering. Xian'x and Lanteen are headed for the bridge.”
“Good girl. I shall order you an extra cookie. Two cookies if you have the safety interlocks offline in less than ten minutes.”
A disgruntled noise came from the comm. “Yes, ma'am.”
Stepping away from Henry, Sam settled in the command chair. “Get us moving as soon as Lore reports ready.”
Henry grinned. “Sure thing, boss lady. You do know she's going to snap one of these days and attack you with the nearest blunt object, don't you?”
Sam just chuckled and waved him off.
Their Aoreli companions joined them a few minutes later, rounding out their party. Nine minutes and thirteen seconds after her acknowledgment, Lore's voice came through the comm again. “Safety interlocks offline. All engines report optimal. All primary and backup compensators engaged. Ship is prepared for maximum acceleration.”
“Two cookies it is! Everyone, cross your fingers. Punch it, Henry!”
“Yes, ma'am!” Henry flourished his hands, waggled his fingers...then anti-climatically pressed a button before leaning back in his seat.
“Really, Henry?”
“What! The process is automated. I suppose I could have locked the console and hit a few random buttons to make it look more epic for your moment.”
Shaking her head, Sam turned to the two extremely confused looking Aoreli. Whatever she intended to say was lost, however, when she saw that they had their fingers crossed. “Er...you can uncross your fingers now. It's just an old superstition for luck.”
Xian'x looked intrigued for a moment. “I see, but do we not still need luck?”
Sam made a so-so motion with her hand. “Possibly down the road a bit, but if we haven't already blown up, then we're safe for at least a few hours.”
Lanteen looked startled. “Blown up? Does that...happen often?”
Henry cracked a grin. “Not often, no, but no manned ship has ever pushed their engines to their theoretical maximums before. It's only been done on drones.”
“Why?”
“Simple. If any of the inertial compensators fail under normal cruise speeds, there are backups to prevent us from all becoming bloody smears on the bulkheads. At maximum, all those backups are used to augment the main systems. If anything fails at this output level, we would be dead before we even knew there was something wrong.”
Lanteen grimaced a little. “That's a cheerful thought. I begin to see why you offloaded most of your crew. Still, it's never been done before? Even in an emergency?”
Sam fielded that one. “No, the infinity drive hasn't been around that long. Really only about four years of manned flights. We're also the only ship that has ever been out this far before, or been capable of quite this much speed either, for that matter. The Nova is a prototype of sorts.”
Captain Xian'x looked shocked at this. “Four years? Does that mean you've only had FTL capability for that long?”
“Yep. Lots of in-system ships before that, of course, but FTL only became possible for humanity within the last five years. You're also the first alien species we've encountered. That's going to cause quite a stir back home.”
“And yet, here you are, risking what is likely one of only a handful of FTL ships for strangers? And it’s likely your newest and fastest ship too.” He paused to properly process that. “If you and your people are a good representation of your species, Captain Matterly, I do believe the Aoreli have gained much by our accidental meeting this day.”
Sam gave a genuine smile. “I hope it is not so rare for species to place a higher value on life than on objects, Captain, but I understand your meaning. I cannot promise that all humans are like us, but I do not believe we are anything particularly special, either. This is simply the right thing to do.”
“Indeed. It is perhaps not rare as an ideal, Captain, but as a practicality, that is something of a different matter. Whatever happens, you have the gratitude of myself and my entire crew for risking yourselves and your ship for people not your own. As I am likely to lose my captaincy for this, I'm afraid that is all I can offer.”
“Your thanks are more than enough Captain. Indeed, the thing itself is its own reward.” Clapping her hands together, she added, “Now! Let’s get you tw
o some quarters. Henry can handle things here for now.”
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
The Nova rather stunned everyone aboard. The Aoreli, Lanteen in particular, were simply amazed at its speed, power output, and many of its support systems. Henry, on the other hand, swore he'd take back every unkind thing he'd ever said about the ship up to that point. While some minor errors had crept in, they were easily adjusted for, and no serious issue was had throughout their entire transit. He did predict that the main compensators would likely conk out the moment they reduced power, as several of their regulating components had fused from continuous use. Thankfully, that only mattered when they needed to stop, and their emergency systems would protect them in that case by venting energy to shielded energy sinks. Hopefully. All crew, and their alien passengers, were on edge as they prepared to decelerate.
“Deceleration in thirty seconds.”
Henry's calm countdown update was the only sound on the half-empty bridge. Sam sat poised, leaning forward in her command chair, professional mask on in full as she held herself ready to react. Two additional human crew, the only remnants of the bridge crew retained for the rescue mission, frantically worked to keep pace with multiple jobs at once. The six Aoreli on board waited with desperate hope at the back of the bridge, skills of no use on this human ship.
Henry was the only one matching Sam's cool calm as his fingers flew across his patchwork terminal. He’d added onto it piecemeal over the last week, allowing him to remotely control many of the ship’s normally crewed engineering functions. Quiet cursing could be heard over the open comm to engineering, as Lore worked a similarly patchwork console on her end.
“Infinity drive disengaging. Braking engaged.”
A few tense minutes passed before the ship slowed enough to take in real-time visuals of their environment. Everyone started to relax before a loud bang was heard from the comm and the ship shuddered.
Even before the shuddering stopped, Sam barked, “Lore, status report!”