by Ryk Brown
Tug began translating Nathan’s previous statements.
“I am the official translator for…”
“Then do your job, Mister Briden!” Nathan insisted.
“Captain! I demand that you…”
Tug was already raising his voice in order for his translations to be heard and understood by the Prime Minister over the objections of Mister Briden.
A moment later, Sergeant Weatherly burst into the room, his hand on his sidearm. He looked around quickly, expecting trouble but finding only a room full of four men, all of which appeared angry. “Sir, I heard yelling.” Behind the sergeant were two of the four Corinari guards. Mister Briden took notice of the three men, each of them ready to draw their weapons in an instant. While Mister Briden knew nothing of the Aurora’s sergeant, he was well aware of the Corinari’s reputation for accuracy.
“Mister Briden,” Nathan began in a calm tone, “if you would be so kind as to speak in a volume and manner that Mister Tugwell can hear and understand, we can avoid such misunderstandings in the future.”
Mister Briden did not respond until urged to do so by his superior. “Of course, Captain. I apologize for speaking outside of my position,” he added, clearing his throat as he regained his composure. “These are difficult times for all of us, and I was only trying to do what is best for my people.”
“As are we all,” Nathan agreed. He turned his head back toward Sergeant Weatherly who was standing in the open doorway behind him. “Thank you, Sergeant. That will be all.”
“Yes, sir,” the sergeant answered as he backed out of the room and closed the door behind him.
After a moment, Nathan spoke. “Now, where were we?” he said, a smile forming on his face.
* * *
The Corinairan shuttle rolled slowly into the Aurora’s main hangar bay, coming to a stop in the middle. It had taken longer than normal for the shuttle to clear the secondary security inspection due to the number of first-time visitors carried by the shuttle, despite the Captain’s presence among the shuttle’s passengers.
As soon as the ramp came down, Sergeant Weatherly was out the door and on the deck, checking the security of the area before his charge disembarked the shuttle. As soon as he saw Jessica and Abby coming toward him, his demeanor relaxed slightly.
“Any problems, Sergeant?” Jessica asked as she approached.
“We had a few interesting moments,” the sergeant confessed.
“Yeah, there usually are whenever our captain goes to the surface,” she mumbled. “Any idea why he asked you here?” she asked Abby.
“None at all.”
Jessica snapped to attention along with everyone else as Nathan came down the shuttle’s boarding ramp with Tug following behind him.
“Attention, all hands,” a voice said over the loudspeakers. “Aurora, returning.”
As soon as the captain approached, Jessica snapped a salute which he promptly returned. Her brow furrowed slightly as she noticed a string of scholarly looking men emerge from the shuttle.
“Nice touch,” Nathan commented as he finished his salute. “You’ll need to get comm-units registered and distributed to all these men, ASAP.”
“Yes, sir,” Jessica responded, her smile turning into a look of curiosity. “Who are they?”
“They are the brightest scientific and technical minds from the city of Aitkenna—at least the ones that could be rounded up on short notice. They’re on loan to us from our new allies.”
“Our what?” Jessica stumbled.
“Group A will need a ride over to the Yamaro. Send Ensign Willard with them to show them the fabricators,” Nathan ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Jessica responded, a look of confusion on her face.
“Doctor Sorenson,” Nathan continued, turning his attention toward Abby as they walked, “group B will be with you. I want you to show them everything they need to see about the jump drive, including full specs. I want you to give them a complete copy of all data about the project, understood?”
“Captain, you’re talking about highly classified information.”
“Not anymore, Doctor. I’ve exercised my rights under article what-ever-the-hell-it-was in the EDF regulations to enter into a formal Alliance with the Corinairans and the Karuzari. They now get to know everything we know, and vice versa. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Abby answered, looking somewhat concerned.
“Captain,” Jessica interrupted, “the Karuzari aren’t a government. Hell, they don’t even have a world.”
“They do now,” Nathan told her as he reached the forward exit. “And I suspect that Mister Tugwell is going to need a ride there.”
“A ride where?” Jessica asked.
Nathan stopped at the hatchway leading from the forward end of the main hangar bay into the main central corridor and turned around momentarily. “To their asteroid,” he said with a smile. “Where else?”
“Captain,” Abby called after him as she followed him into the corridor, “may I have a word?”
“Of course, Doctor,” he answered as he continued down the corridor.
“With all due respect, Captain, I’m not sure that I can follow your orders.”
“I assure you, Doctor, regulations do grant me the authority to make such decisions.”
“I am sure they do, Captain. However, we were told never to reveal anything about the project to anyone without the express consent of the director.”
“Well, I’m sure if the director were here he would agree with my decision.”
“Perhaps, but he is not here and our instructions on the matter were quite clear.”
Nathan stopped at the base of the ramp that led up to the command deck. “Doctor Sorenson, we are standing on a vessel that is one thousand light years away from home, and our jump drive is damaged. The most powerful empire in the area is hunting for us, and there are armed Corinari troops guarding this ship. If they decided to take the jump drive from us, we probably couldn’t stop them. I don’t think they realize that just yet, so I’d prefer not to give them a reason to consider that option. Better to make a new friend than another enemy. If we offer the technology to them as a condition of the alliance, we get the help we need right here, right now, and we get back to Earth sooner rather than later—maybe even soon enough for the jump drive to make a difference back home.” Nathan stared at her as she contemplated his words. “So what’s it going to be, Doc?”
“Can I get something in writing?” she asked half-heartedly. “I don’t want to end up rotting in some cell for the rest of my days.”
“Write up whatever you like; I’ll sign it,” Nathan promised.
Abby sighed in resignation. “Very well, Captain. I’ll do as you asked.”
“Great,” Nathan said, “because I sure didn’t want to go behind your back,” he added with a smile.
“You couldn’t have,” she reminded him. “The files are all encrypted. They would have deleted themselves.” Abby smiled right back at him.
“All right then,” Nathan said as he started up the ramp.
“Does this mean I can have the suicide implant removed from my tooth?” she asked.
Chapter Two
“Attention all hands. Aurora, returning,” the loudspeakers blared in the background over the noise in the hangar bay. The cavernous main bay was bustling with activity now that shuttles were constantly coming and going as they ferried technicians, materials, and supplies between the Aurora, the Yamaro, and the surface of Corinair below. Between the Aurora and the Yamaro, there were a few hundred people aboard them at all times, at least a third of which were working as security forces under Lieutenant Commander Nash. Jessica had even gone as far as to keep the ship compartmentalized, with the main pressure doors constantly closed and locked and a pair of armed guards on each side. If anyone did sneak on board, they wouldn’t get very far.
Nathan came down the boarding ramp of Corinari shuttle two-two-five, which had become known as ‘the capta
in’s shuttle’ over the last few days as it constantly flew him back and forth between the Aurora and Aitkenna for negotiations over the terms of the proposed alliance. He was tired, hungry, and had not slept well in days. To make matters worse, he seemed to be spending all his time in negotiations, which to him was just as bad as politics.
“Captain,” Vladimir called out as he jogged across the main hangar bay to catch up to him.
“Cheng,” Nathan answered as he continued walking. Now that his friend was the official Chief Engineer of the Aurora, Nathan had taken to addressing him by the commonly used acronym. It was one of many military acronyms that had carried over into the Earth Defense Force over the years. “How go the repairs?”
“Very good, sir. Life support, artificial gravity, and inertial dampeners are all working normally again. Propulsion and maneuvering are not quite one hundred percent, but they are functioning well enough.”
“That’s promising. How about the reactors?”
“The containment bottle on number four still will not stabilize,” Vladimir admitted, “but I managed to convince Doctor Sorenson to loan me one of her Corinairan scientists to help us solve the problem. I am hoping he can figure it out.”
“Let’s hope,” Nathan agreed as they exited the hangar bay through the forward main doors, returning salutes from the Corinari guards as they passed them by and headed down the corridor for the main ramp.
“We are also taking advantage of the down time to run new power and control lines to all emitter points. The Corinairans have this wonderful cabling that has almost zero resistance, so it generates very little heat and has almost no power loss in the transfer. It may even increase our jump range a little.”
“Did you run this past Abby first?” Nathan wondered aloud. He didn’t imagine that she had been too receptive to the idea.
“Yes, and it was not easy to convince her, but I won her over with my devastating charm.”
Nathan smiled for what was possibly the first time in days. “Yes, I’m sure that’s what did the trick.”
“And how are the negotiations going?” Vladimir asked.
Nathan’s smiled instantly disappeared. “Awful. Well, that’s not really true, I guess. They’re going fine; I just hate the process. Endless discussions about the smallest of details. I swear, the Corinairan politicians want to discuss every possible eventuality, regardless of how unlikely it actually is. It’s mind numbing, and it feels like it will never end.”
“Come, have lunch with me. You will feel better,” Vladimir promised.
“I can’t. I have a meeting with Abby in fifteen minutes. Another time,” he offered as he started up the ramp to the command deck.
Vladimir turned and started down the opposite ramp, heading for the lower deck in order to return to engineering. I am glad I am not the captain, he thought as he descended the ramp.
* * *
“Captain?” Abby inquired as she entered his ready room. She held up two clear containers that held lunches prepared by the Corinari mess on Aitkenna, who had taken it upon themselves to feed the crew of the Aurora as well as the Corinari on board.
“Come in, Abby,” Nathan told her, noticing the containers. “What do you have there?”
“Corinairan root salads,” she told him as she approached his desk. “Vladimir told me to feed you.”
“He did, huh?” Nathan was hungry, but in his hurry to wash up before the meeting, he had forgotten to stop by the mess. “Is it the marinated kind?” he wondered. “I love those,” he added as he accepted a container from her. He immediately opened the box, picked up one of the slices of deep red root , and popped it into his mouth. It was slightly sweet, with a contrasting bitterness when bitten into that was delightful. He also suspected that it was far healthier than the emergency survival meals they had been consuming up until a week ago.
Nathan chewed his slice of root and swallowed before talking. “How is it going with the emitters?”
“More quickly than I expected,” she told him as she opened her meal container. “We have already finished fabricating all the components. We just have to finish assembling them. I suspect we will begin installation tomorrow, after they have all been bench tested.”
“So quickly? It seems like you only started on them yesterday.”
“Actually, it was four days ago,” she corrected.
“Really?” he asked in disbelief as he tossed another slice of root into his mouth. “Guess I lost track of time.”
“I do have some concerns, however,” she admitted as she began to eat. “There are some minor differences in the materials used for replication. It may affect the output of the new emitters.”
“Will that be a problem?” Nathan asked between bites.
“I hope not. If the variances are minor, then the other emitters in the array should be able to automatically compensate. However, if the variances are too great, we will have to recalibrate the entire array, which would also require that we rewrite all the transition algorithms.”
“Is that difficult?”
“No, it is mostly automated. It is just time consuming, as the algorithms are quite complex. It would take at least a day or two to rewrite them, and then several more days to complete validation.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Nathan said. “We only have five days left before that comm-drone reaches Takara and begins transmitting.”
“So, is that why you asked to speak with me, Captain?” Abby asked. “To get an update on the jump drive repairs?”
“Not exactly,” he admitted as he finished the last of his root salad. “I meant to speak with you a couple days ago, after our status briefing, but I’ve been busy.”
“How can I help you?”
“Have you had much time to examine the Takaran FTL comm-drones?” he asked.
“Not really,” she admitted, “but they appear to use the same mass-canceling fields that this ship was originally designed to utilize. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I was wondering just how much kinetic energy one of those comm-drones would have if it struck another object while at FTL velocities.”
“I’m not entirely sure, Captain, but it would definitely be more than this ship could withstand, if that’s what you were thinking.”
“I wasn’t thinking about this ship, Doctor. I was thinking about Takaran targets.”
“You mean, like a faster-than-light missile?” she asked, a bit surprised by the concept.
“In a manner of speaking, except it would be more like a projectile, as there wouldn’t be any way to significantly alter its course while at FTL speeds. I’m just wondering if the mass-canceling fields would rob the projectile of its kinetic energy as well.”
“I do not know,” she admitted, “but I would expect that at the moment of impact, the mass-canceling fields would collapse, and the drone’s original kinetic energy would be conserved.”
“And that would be enough to take out an enemy ship?”
“It would be enough to take out an entire planet, Captain,” she corrected, shocked at his understatement. “However, you do not need FTL velocities in order to accomplish your goal. Any significant fraction of the speed of light would provide more than enough kinetic energy to do the job. In fact, the only advantage the FTL velocity gives you is that the target cannot see it coming. The problem is in the timing. To intercept a moving target using an FTL drone would require extreme precision.”
“Not if they were flying directly toward the incoming drones. You said so yourself in the meeting a few days ago,” he reminded her. “That’s where I got the idea. If we launched the drones toward the target, then jumped in and engaged the target, getting him to chase us, we could lead him directly into the path of the incoming drones. All we have to do is jump clear at the last second. Hell, we could even put a small explosive device in the drones to blow them apart a few seconds before impact, so the debris would spread out and be more likely to hit the target.”
; Nathan looked at Abby, noticing that she seemed apprehensive about his idea. “What’s wrong? You don’t think it would work?”
“No, it probably would, as long as the timing was correct,” she admitted.
“Then what is it?”
“Nothing really. I just do not believe this was what my father meant when he said the jump drive would change everything.” Abby looked down at her hands which now lay in her lap, remembering her father. “He was never a fan of weapons research,” she added in a soft tone. “He felt that such efforts usually resulted in a subversion of science.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, we’re not actually using it as a weapon, just as a means to utilize another weapon. Besides, I’m sure your father knew that the technology would be used in such fashion, sooner or later.”
“Yes, of course,” she admitted. “But he had such dreams for it. Exploration, colonization, communications—he imagined humanity colonizing the entire galaxy, maybe even the universe someday. He would spend hours theorizing on its myriad applications, none of which ever involved death or destruction.”
Nathan felt a little guilty over his enthusiasm. “I’m sure that will all come in time, Abby. But for now, we have allies to defend and a war to fight, and we have to use everything at our disposal in order to do so. Right now, you and that jump drive are our biggest assets. In fact, that and surprise are the only two things we have going for us right now. And I’m not entirely sure the surprise factor is still with us. So as much as it pains me to do so, I have to ask you to start thinking of ways that we can utilize the jump drive to our tactical and strategic advantage.”
“I know very little about such things, Captain.”
“Maybe, but you do know about the jump drive and what it can and cannot do. I’m confident that if you, Tug, and Jessica put your heads together, you’ll come up with a few ideas.”
“I’ll do my best, Captain,” she promised.
* * *
Nathan made his way down the main corridor of the command deck, heading aft toward the ramp. The command deck had been one of the first decks to get a good scrub-down thanks to the first group of unskilled Corinairan volunteers. The Aurora’s dwindling crew had not had time to keep their ship clean during the preceding weeks. Nathan hadn’t even noticed the buildup of dirt, as he had been too busy trying to survive, but now that it was clean he could certainly see the difference. They had even replaced damaged lighting panels in order to rid the corridors of its gloomy shadows, which had given the ship a dismal ambiance.