by Ryk Brown
“And you said there was no one,” Erik replied.
“Because I didn’t know Nathan was alive,” she said. “Now, I may not know for sure what Nathan will do with this technology, but I do know that I trust him far more than Michael Galiardi. And I cannot, in good conscience, do something that I strongly feel will be detrimental to the human race.”
“Oh, don’t put yourself on such a pedestal, Abby,” Erik insisted. “You know damn well that if you don’t create a stealth jump drive for Galiardi, someone else will.”
“You’re right,” Abby agreed. “But there is something I can do about that. I can create one for Nathan and the Karuzari. I can help them maintain the balance of power in the Pentaurus sector…until they figure out how to drive the Dusahn out of the sector.”
“Who the hell are the Dusahn?” Erik said, throwing his hands up, becoming even more aggravated.
Jessica glanced up at the hill. “They’re coming this way, Nathan,” she warned. “We need to wrap this up.”
“We need a decision, Abby,” Nathan insisted.
Abby looked at him with pleading eyes, then looked at her husband. “Erik, please…”
* * *
“You see? That didn’t hurt at all, did it?” Kenji said from the copilot’s seat.
“Don’t be a smart-ass,” Aiden replied. “We should probably run that sequence again.”
“Damn right we’ll run it again,” Kenji agreed. “Wait,” he said, noticing a warning light on his side panel. “I’ve got an open hatch light, ventral side.” He quickly switched on the exterior cameras.
“Is that Char?” Aiden asked, leaning over to better see the view screen to the right of Kenji.
“And Sari.”
“What are they doing up?” Aiden wondered. He looked at the local time display. “It’s zero two twenty.” He unbuckled his restraints and climbed up out of his seat to go meet them.
Aiden made his way aft, past the sensor and engineering stations, into the airlock that separated the cockpit from the aft section of the gunship, arriving as Charnelle climbed up the access ladder. “What are you guys doing here?” Aiden asked, reaching down to take her hand, helping her up into the ship.
“I saw the lights in your cockpit windows from the head,” Char explained. “So I thought I’d see what you two were doing.”
“You can see gunship row from your bathroom window?” Kenji asked as he joined them in the airlock.
“My room faces south, so yes,” Charnelle said.
“Yours too, Sari?” Aiden asked.
“No. She woke me up,” Sari called from the tunnel below. “Take this,” he added handing a bag up to them.
“What’s this?” Aiden asked, bending over and taking the bag from Sari.
“Polkies,” Charnelle said. “I bought them in town yesterday. I thought you two might be hungry.”
“Yes,” Aiden exclaimed, reaching into the bag and pulling out one of the pastries.
“Pass that bag over here,” Kenji insisted.
“There’s more,” Sari announced, his hand holding a large beverage cylinder.
“Oh, please tell me that’s coffee,” Aiden begged, taking the cylinder from Sari as he climbed up into the airlock. “Where’d you get it? The mess hall doesn’t open until six.”
“I have a coffee maker in my room,” Charnelle said.
“I thought we weren’t allowed to have food or drinks in our rooms?” Kenji said.
“Polkies either,” Charnelle replied, smiling. “But as soon as you finish, you get right back to it,” she demanded. “Sari and I will act as your evaluators.”
“Deal,” Aiden replied, his mouth full of polkie.
* * *
“Excuse me, Doctor Sorenson,” one of the escorts said as they approached. “Are these people bothering you?”
“It’s okay, we’re old friends,” Jessica said, stepping toward the two officers.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you both to leave the area…”
“It’s alright, officer,” Abby assured the two men in uniform. “These people are my friends.”
“It didn’t appear that way,” the officer said.
“Oh that?” Jessica said as she continued toward them, playing the innocent female…in a bikini. “We were just arguing about where to go for dinner tonight…” Jessica pretended to suddenly trip in the sand, stumbling forward toward the surprised officer. She grabbed his uniform as he caught her. “God, I’m so clumsy,” she apologized, right before she pulled on his shirt, butted her head into his nose, and rammed her knee into his groin.
The guard doubled over in pain, his nose bleeding. The pain was short-lived, as Jessica’s fist drove upward into his jaw, knocking him backward.
As the first officer fell, the second one came charging to his rescue intending to subdue Jessica. She immediately went into a squatting position, spinning around in the sand and sweeping with her outstretched leg, catching the second guard’s leg, sending him tumbling forward.
Nathan was immediately on the second guard, punching him hard in the back of the head as he tried to get up, knocking him unconscious. Nathan turned and looked at Jessica, who was falling backward, driving her elbow into the stunned first guard, knocking him out, as well.
“Are you two crazy?” Erik exclaimed. He turned to look at his children who had been approaching, but stopped ten meters away when the attack began, unsure of what to do.
“If there aren’t others nearby, there will be soon,” Jessica warned as she rose to her feet. “Hit the recall button, Nathan. We’ve got to go now.”
“You need to decide, Abby,” Nathan insisted as he pulled out the remote control, pointed it at the ocean, and pushed the button.
Abby looked at the two downed officers, her mind racing a mile a minute.
“Abby, if you thought you were on a tight leash before, you’re definitely going to be on one now,” Jessica warned as she searched the officer.
“Thanks to you two!” Erik exclaimed. “This is what I’m talking about, Abby. These people are nothing but trouble!”
“Because they are willing to do what needs to be done?” Abby replied.
“Abby,” Nathan began.
“You were supposed to help me talk them into going, Nathan, not scare the hell out of them!” Abby exclaimed.
“You knew he was going to be here? Is that why you suggested we go to the beach today?” Erik was furious. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew you’d object, Erik. And once your mind is made up about something, there’s no convincing you otherwise!”
“They’ve got body monitors built into their comms, Nathan,” Jessica announced, searching the officers. “That means backup is on the way.”
“Abby, we don’t have time for this,” Nathan urged. “I’m sorry we’re putting you on the spot here, but with or without you, we have to go…now.”
Abby turned back to her husband. “I need to do this, Erik. I know it isn’t fair to you, or the kids. But it isn’t fair to me, either. You can’t ask me to stay here, knowing how I feel about it. You just can’t.”
“Abby…” Erik started to plead.
“I’ve had enough of this shit,” Jessica decided, moving back toward the group. “Abby, do you want to go or not?”
“Yes, but…”
“That’s all I need to know,” Jessica said as she walked past her. “Erik, you’ve got two choices,” she said, staring at him intently, face to face, “you can be a good husband and stand by your wife while she does the right thing, or I can knock you out and drag your ass back to the PC. Either way makes no difference to me.”
Erik stood there, staring at a determined looking Jessica, unsure of how to respond.
The jump sub broke the surface and drove itself up onto the beach.
“What’s that?” Abby asked.
“Our ride,” Nathan replied. “She’s not bluffing, Erik,” Nathan warned.
Erik looked at the two unconscious guards, then at his wife.
“Erik,” Abby begged.
“Kids!” Erik called out. “We’re taking a little ride!”
“Good choice, Erik,” Jessica said. She winked at him, then headed for the jump sub.
“We’re leaving, just like that?” Abby asked, her head spinning from all the excitement.
“Just like that,” Nathan replied. Nathan noticed distant sirens. “We’ve got to get going, Abby,” he urged, taking her arm.
“Follow your father,” Abby ordered her children as she and Nathan headed for the water.
Erik herded his confused children toward Jessica, who was already splashing through the surf to get to the jump sub. Once she reached it, she began pushing it back into the surf to turn it around. “Give me a hand!” she ordered Erik.
Erik joined her, helping her push the nose of the small watercraft around so that it was facing outward.
“What’s going on?” Abby’s son, Nikolas, asked as they ran toward their father and Jessica.
“We have to go,” Abby explained. “It’s not safe here anymore.”
“Are the Jung coming again?” her daughter asked.
It nearly broke Abby’s heart to hear the fear in her daughter’s voice. “Take my hand, sweetie,” she insisted, taking her daughter’s hand.
Abby’s daughter looked at Nathan as they walked quickly into the knee-deep surf. “I know you,” Kirsten said. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
“I got better,” Nathan told her as they ran into the surf.
Jessica already had the jump sub’s hatch open and was climbing inside. “Abby goes behind me, kids in the middle row, then you and Nathan in the back,” she instructed Erik.
“Got it.”
Jessica slipped down into the jump sub, immediately noticing that the controls had been completely upgraded. A light flashed on the annunciator panel at the upper middle of the console. “Sweet,” she commented, noticing the added sensor display. “We’ve got incoming drones!” she yelled.
“Hurry up!” Erik urged. By now, he realized that he had no choice. For the safety of his family, he had to cooperate and, deep down inside, he knew his wife was right. Galiardi could not be trusted. “Drones are coming!” he warned Nathan and Abby.
Jessica grabbed an energy rifle tucked in between the single pilot’s seat and the side wall of the narrow bow of the jump sub. “Hand this to Nathan,” she ordered Erik, passing it back toward the open hatch.
Erik reached down inside and took the rifle. “Oh my God,” he exclaimed, realizing what was in his hands. “Nathan!” he called out.
Nathan held up his hands, and Erik tossed him the rifle.
“Come on!” Erik urged his family. “Abby, you have to get in first!”
Abby splashed up to the sub, now thigh-deep in the surging surf, clutching her daughter tightly. Her son, Nikolas, grabbed his sister’s other hand, holding onto the side of the sub to steady himself in the surf as his mother climbed up onto the bouncing jump sub.
Nathan turned the energy rifle on, spinning around to face the shore as the targeting screen on the weapon came to life. A second later, three small icons appeared, all of them about forty meters above the ground and heading toward them. The words ‘select mode’ flashed on the screen in Takaran. Nathan quickly scrolled through the selections, settling on ‘SGSPR’, which he knew stood for ‘self-guided, self-propelled rounds’.
Abby climbed down into the jump sub, slipping into the single seat directly behind Jessica. “Is this thing…”
“Jump-equipped?” Jessica said, finishing Abby’s question for her. “You bet.”
“Incredible,” she said as Kirsten dropped down into the seat behind her and to her right. A moment later, Nikolas came down and slid into the seat next to his sister. “Help strap her in, Niko,” Abby instructed.
“What’s going on, Mom?” Nikolas asked as he helped his sister with her shoulder harness.
“I can do it myself,” Kirsten insisted.
“I’ll explain it to you later, once we’re safe,” Abby promised as her husband came down the hatch and took his seat at the back right of the compartment.
The drones were less than a half mile away now, and the targeting system indicated that two of them were armed. Nathan selected all three targets, raised his rifle skyward, and pulled the trigger once. A small projectile only a few centimeters in length, leapt from the secondary barrel at the bottom of the weapon and streaked skyward on a tiny trail of thrust. Nathan pulled the trigger two more times, sending additional projectiles skyward. He didn’t wait to watch the projectiles wind their way up to their targets, instead turning and splashing his way through the surf to the jump sub, and climbing up onto it.
Nathan stepped into the hatch, pausing to look toward the drones just as three small explosions appeared in the sky just above the abandoned picnic that Abby had been setting up for her family.
Jessica turned her head, checking that Nathan was aboard, and then gunned the throttles forward. “Close it up!” she ordered.
Nathan handed Erik the energy rifle and slid down into the seat next to him, pulling the hatch above them closed and locking it. “Hatch is secure!” he told Jessica, taking the rifle back from Erik to stow it properly.
“Taking her down!” Jessica announced, adjusting the sub’s dive planes. Water splashed on her forward windows as the jump sub submerged. The water was clear, and the visibility was good enough that she didn’t need the terrain-following sensors at this point. “Engaging the auto-flight systems,” she reported.
“This thing has auto-flight?” Abby wondered, surprised.
“You really think they’d let me drive this thing if it didn’t?” Jessica replied.
* * *
“For someone who is so good at hand-flying, you’d think you’d be a lot better at piloting a ship using auto-flight,” Charnelle teased.
“Very funny,” Aiden said. “Just give me the straight critique…and without the wisecracks, if you don’t mind.”
“Aren’t you touchy?” she teased.
“Are you kidding me?” Kenji said, looking at his view screen. “We’ve got more company.”
“What?” Aiden leaned over again.
“Who is it?” Sari wondered.
“It’s our crew,” Aiden realized. “It’s only zero four forty-five; they shouldn’t be here for at least three more hours.”
Again, Aiden unbuckled himself and climbed out of his seat. “I’m never going to get any practice in if this keeps up,” he complained as he headed aft. Aiden moved past Charnelle and Sari, into the airlock, as Sergeant Dagata came climbing up the ladder.
The sergeant paused when he looked up and saw his captain standing above him. “What are you doing here, Captain?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing, Dags.”
“Uh, we’re fueling the ship, remember?”
“I thought all the gunships were fueled last night?”
“Ash didn’t tell you?” the sergeant said as he finished climbing up into the airlock. “Ours had a bad seal on the starboard tank so they had to replace it. By the time they finished, the fuel crews were off duty.”
“So you’re fueling at five in the morning?” Aiden wondered.
“Oh, five fifteen, actually,” the sergeant corrected. He spotted Kenji in the forward hatchway. “Morning, sir.”
“Morning, Sergeant.”
“How many of you does it take to oversee a refuel?” Aiden asked, annoyed.
; “On the surface? All four of us, sir. The chief oversees the juice jerks, I watch the systems, and Ali and Ledge are on fire watch.”
“Standard procedure, Aiden,” Kenji reminded him.
“Of course.”
Sergeant Dagata noticed Charnelle and Sari behind Kenji. “Sirs.” He looked at the captain. “Probably none of my business, Captain, but what are all of you doing here this time of night?”
“Just going over some flight procedures,” Aiden admitted. “I want to make sure we shine from the moment we launch this thing.”
“Yes, sir.” The sergeant moved forward. “If I could just squeeze past you all, I have to be at the engineering station during the refuel.”
“We can’t practice while they’re fueling us up, Aiden,” Kenji said.
“What are we supposed to do in the meantime?”
“The mess hall opened early for us and the juice jerks,” Sergeant Dagata told them, overhearing their conversation.
Aiden looked at his friends. “I could eat.”
* * *
The sub slid along smoothly through the depths of the Atlantic, heading swiftly for her launch point. They had been in the cramped little sub for nearly an hour and, during all that time, only a few words had been spoken, and none of them by Erik or Abby. In fact, most of the talking had been by her children, both of whom desperately wanted to know where they were going, and why.
Nathan wanted to answer them, to explain everything that was going on and how much he and Jessica needed their mother’s help. But it was not his place, it was their parents’.
“Coming up on the launch point,” Jessica reported. “Depth is three hundred meters, speed is forty KPH. Jump plot is loaded; jump drive is charged and ready. Pitching up in three……two……one……”
The jump sub’s nose began to rise as the tiny submersible headed for the surface at a twenty-degree angle.
“Here we go,” Jessica announced, “in three……two……one……”
The jump sub’s only windows up front turned opaque. The slight rocking motion of their underwater motion suddenly ceased, and the occupants of the jump sub suddenly found themselves in a weightless environment.