Exodus Of The Phoenix

by Robert Stadnik

  “So far, so good. But ask me again after the launch.”

  The doctor laughed. “Keep that sense of humor and you’ll always weather the bad days. A good ship commander needs an outlet to release the stresses of command.”

  “What do you think about our chances getting out of the system?” John was asking that question to any crew member he spoke with. They all seemed to have complete confidence in the EXODUS’ abilities. It was as if they all knew something John didn't. He had read about many of the ship's capabilities to see if he could find that one thing that could explain their confidence, but couldn't identify anything. Well, there was the shield system, but it was unproven and untested against the Screen. The crew had this devotion to the ship that both intrigued and troubled John.

  “I believe we will have no problem in eluding the fleet, but I do have some reservations about the Screen. As you know no ship has ever survived an encounter.”

  “Then why are you here? Everyone else seems pretty sure we’ll get through.”

  “Alex’sis told me you don’t like to dance around the issue,” remarked the doctor. Great, John was already getting a reputation amongst the crew. “I’m just the ship's chief medical officer. I don’t have the technical knowledge of the ship to say with certainty it will withstand a Screen attack. But the admiral and I have been friends for many years and if he says we have a chance then I trust his judgment.”

  “That’s an awful lot of trust to put your life on the line.”

  “You haven’t known the admiral long enough to know why he has such loyalty amongst the crew.”

  John smiled. “I’ll take your word on it doc.” He looked around at the medical bay. There were a lot of computer stations and monitors lined up all along the walls. In the center there was a surgical area, surrounded by an observation glass. The area provided immediate quarantine protection.

  “The ship’s weapons and shields were designed based off data collected on the Screen ships that have attacked in the past. Do we have anything on their physiology?”

  “Unfortunately, neither the sensor net or any TERRA or civilian ship has ever been able to penetrate the hull of a Screen vessel. We have no information on their organic makeup. The EXODUS’ sensors are designed to scan the interior of a Screen ship. However, we won’t know if they’ll work until our first encounter.”

  “Have you been able to establish any guidelines regarding the capture of a Screen?”

  “I’ve only been able to come up with a set of general protocols. Putting the Screen aside, we’ve never encountered any alien life form. So I have no point of reference to draw from in establishing guidelines.” The doctor walked over to the surgical area. “Any Screen or alien would be brought here for immediate isolation. This area, as well as the entire medical bay, has its own life support system separate from the ship. From here we would run a battery of tests to learn more about an alien's anatomy. Other than that there is not much more that can be done until we actually have one on board.”

  “And that will be one of our goals,” said John. “We need to learn everything we can about the Screen: their bodies, technology, what their home world might be like. If we ever have the opportunity to capture a Screen you’ll need to devote all your resources to examining one.”

  “I understand the need to learn all we can about them and I will do what I can. However, there is something I’d like to bring up.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I will do everything I can to help this mission succeed. The Screen is an enemy and our survival is paramount. However, I will not engage in any research to develop a biological weapon of genocide against them. I am a doctor and will not use my skills to exterminate a species.”

  “What if genocide winds up to be our only option?” asked John. He appreciated the doctor's honesty, but things could change once they learned more about the Screen.

  “Then commander, it will be your job to have options available other than genocide,” replied the doctor.

  “Fair enough doctor,” agreed John. He hoped that it wouldn’t come to such a decision. He personally wouldn’t want to be making the order to wipe out the Screen race, if such a thing was even possible. But if it came down to it, John would not hesitate to make the call. He decided not to share his position with the doctor.

  “I better get up to the command deck, got a ship to launch. I’ll see you later, doc."

  “If you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to see me,” said the doctor. Despite their differences about how far they were willing to go to stop the Screen, John took an instant liking to him. Myers seemed to come across as a genuine individual.

  Over the next couple of hours both John and Julie were thrust into a frenzy of activity as the ship's launch crept closer. Both tried to get familiar with all the ship’s systems to be fully prepared for liftoff. To facilitate the remaining time the admiral had them briefed by all the department heads. They would not have a comprehensive understanding of the ship's systems, but at least they would have a rudimentary knowledge of its capabilities.

  John spent most of the remaining morning going over the weapons systems. One advantage of being listed as a classified operation, the EXODUS Project did not have the prying eyes of the command council watching over it. As the project director Admiral Johnson had complete control over the flow of information to and from the project. The command council was apprised of activities in the EXOUDUS Project via progress reports submitted by Admiral Johnson. Of course the reports were fabricated in order to hide the true nature of the project.

  Scientists had been analyzing data on past Screen encounters acquired over the years and developed systems based on the data in order to develop defensives to counter their technology. The systems allowing EXODUS to be a habitable deep space explorer were finished long ago so the last few years were spent on developing the ship's offensive and defensive capabilities. John was shocked to find the energy defense shield wasn’t just a theoretical model, it had actually been developed and tested. This one critical defense system would go a long way of improving the ship’s chance of surviving a Screen attack.

  Julie was busy becoming familiar with the ship’s propulsion systems. Despite its bulk, EXODUS’ sub light propulsion system was so far advanced compared to those on TERRA frigates and capital ships that EXODUS could easily outrun any ship in the fleet. The true gem was the hyper-drive. Abandoned long ago by TERRA and commercial ship makers, as their development and manufacturing were illegal, the EXODUS Project had continued the work started by Francis DuBois nearly eighty years ago and subsequently by the ISA to perfect the technology.

  It was nearly 6:00 PM before Julie and John met up again at what was now John’s office on the command deck. John was lying on the couch, trying to get some rest. The boundless amount of energy he had this morning had evaporated as the day wore on. He could have easily nodded off to sleep on the couch if Julie hadn’t startled him by walking in unexpectedly. John made a mental note to change the entry parameters on the door as he hoisted himself into a sitting position.

  “Every theory I learned in my last four years at the Academy has been made obsolete with everything I’ve seen on this ship,” said Julie as she entered the office.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty remarkable what they’ve been able to accomplish,” replied John. “I think we have a really good chance of pulling this off.”

  “So you’re not worried?”

  “No. I know I should be, but the more I see of this ship the more convinced I am that we can defend ourselves against the Screen. The crew is confident we'll make it and they've been working on this ship for years.” Julie could see in John’s eyes that any hesitation was now gone. He was prepared to get this ship lifted off into space and show what it was capable of.

  “Just remember this isn’t about you,” she reminded.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” John became annoyed with her. She sounded like a parent correcting their child. It was a
characteristic John hated most about her.

  “A lot of people have spent their lives working on this ship to make it a reality. You have to think what’s right for them and not do what you want for yourself.”

  “I don’t believe this,” said John as he rolled his eyes. “I haven’t issued my first command and already you’re criticizing me. You could at least wait until we actually get off the ground.”

  “I’m just saying that you’re so excited about getting into space that it might cloud your judgment,” replied Julie harshly, becoming equally defensive. She felt she could never make a critique to John about anything because she wasn't good enough in John's eyes to judge him.

  “Isn’t it on the books somewhere that insubordination is a punishable offense?” he commented.

  “Hey, if you bothered to read anything at the Academy you would know that a good executive officer questions the ship commander. I’m just trying to be a good executive officer for you.”

  “No, what you’re doing is being a bitch. So why don’t you do me a favor and keep your opinions to yourself until they’re actually needed...or even wanted.”

  That last comment really got Julie’s blood boiling. Leave to it John to go to the lowest common denominator. Mad as she was, she decided to be the bigger person and not get into a fight with him.

  “If you don’t want to listen to me, fine. But the crew will only put up with an incompetent commander before they take action and replace you. So you better take this seriously.”

  “How nice. Now we're talking about mutiny. Well, I guess as long as they replace me with you all will be fine and dandy.”

  Julie knew they weren’t going to get anywhere but into a fight if this kept up so she decided to change the subject. John was too stubborn to acknowledge anything she said might have the hint of truth in it. He would rather spend hours arguing with her before admitting she might be right about something.

  “What time are we meeting the admiral?”

  John was only too happy to oblige her in changing topics. It was ridiculous for them to fight before the ship had even launched. He had no doubt they would butt heads many more times but he was hoping they could put their disdain for one another aside at least until they left the solar system. It was hard though; Julie could really piss him off, although he would never let her know it.

  “Eight o’clock in the hangar,” he answered as he got up and moved behind his desk.

  “Have you had a chance to review the departure plan?"

  “No, I figure I’d just wing the launch,” he replied with a sarcastic tone. He had to have the last shot. He was wiped out by the day’s activities and was short on patience, but knew he needed to go over the details of the launch plan with her. “Of course I’ve reviewed it.” As Julie sat on the other side of the desk, John brought up a holographic image of the solar system on his desk showing the ship’s flight path.

  “The ship’s central computer will be linked up to ground control allowing them to control the ship's propulsion while we ascend off the planet,” explained John. “The ground station will be using the thrusters on all the towers and EXODUS. At 11:05 PM, the four towers will detach from their base moorings. Once free, ground control will fire all thrusters simultaneously. The towers and EXODUS will head up into low orbit around Earth. Once we leave Earth’s gravity the antigrav field will deactivate and the towers will head back down to Earth.”

  “One of the advantages of being a classified project is there’s a communication blackout for the entire area around our liftoff path,” said Julie. “But once the ship is detected in orbit the command council will be notified. They’ll realize something’s wrong and send a garrison after us.”

  “You thinking the patrol from Luna Station?”

  “Yep.”

  “Can we get the ship moving fast enough before they could intercept us?”

  “Surprisingly enough we can. The hyper-drive keeps the entire ship enveloped in a low level hyper-active field.”

  “Really?!” John was surprised. The main engine was one of the systems he didn’t have time to get familiar with and only had basic knowledge of it.

  “They discovered that they could keep the engine core active and use minimal power to keep the ship surrounded in a field. It reduces the effect the mass of the ship has on its ability to move. EXODUS can take off and stop relatively quickly. Once the patrol sees us they’ll assume it can’t move too fast to escape their smaller ships until it’s too late.”

  John nodded. “Good, I don’t want to directly encounter the fleet if we can avoid it.”

  “I’m surprised to hear that. I thought you’d be itching to go through a brawl with the fleet.”

  “Our enemy is the Screen. As much as I hate what TERRA did to me, I have no interest in hurting anyone in the fleet. When we take off we make sure no one who comes after us gets hurt.”

  “This ship is technologically superior to anything TERRA has in the fleet. We should be able to just keep our defenses up and race out of the system.”

  “Good, because I won’t fire on our own kind.” John got up from his desk. He could handle being called a lot of things, but he refused to be called a murderer. Whatever it took, he would not harm another human being.

  “I’ll inform Lieutenant Brandus and Jacobson,” said Julie. “I’d suggest we both get a couple hours sleep before the launch.” John agreed with her suggestion. They were going to be up for awhile once the ship launched. John didn’t say anything until Julie left the office and was out of earshot.

  “Stupid bitch.”

  Time passed by swiftly as eight o' clock crept closer. John spent the remaining time in his office going over the ship’s schematics before heading to the hangar bay. He took a seat in one of the parked Interceptors in the hangar bay. He arrived for the admiral's departure early, taking the opportunity to look over one of these new fighters that had caught his eye when he first came on board. But checking out an Interceptor was just an excuse to get some time alone to think about the events that had completely changed his life.

  Admiral Johnson could have chosen amongst thousands of officers, but he selected John. This was a man who zeroed in on John's good qualities while everyone else seemed eager to point out his faults and weaknesses. TERRA saw John as a nuisance but the admiral only saw his potential. Now that he was leaving, John realized how fortunate he was that someone was willing to give him a chance to realize his goals. In their brief time together John had grown attached to Admiral Johnson and didn’t want him to leave EXODUS. John wanted to succeed not just because he believed he could, but to prove to the admiral he made the right choice. For the first time in his life John wanted to make someone proud of him.

  While John was musing over his impending loss Julie entered the hangar bay, escorting the admiral to his shuttle. Julie met up with him at his quarters and they spent the time during their walk discussing last minute details of the launch. Julie wanted to send the admiral off in an official military ceremony, but he wouldn't hear of it. He had already said his good-byes to the crew and didn't want the publicity of a ceremony.

  "There's one more detail I don't want you to forget," said the admiral as they entered the hangar bay.

  "What's that?"

  The admiral stopped and faced the young woman. "John is a good officer. He may not be the ideal TERRA officer, but he has many positive attributes. Keep that in the back of your mind when you're having a disagreement with him. You know him better than anyone else. He's going to need you just as much as you and the crew will need him. This will work."

  Julie smiled. "I'll keep that in mind." She wasn't convinced of the admiral's praise about John, but she respected him to give his opinion the benefit of the doubt. The admiral looked over at his shuttle and spotted John in the cockpit of a nearby Interceptor.

  "Julie Olson, this is where we depart," he said. He wanted to bid farewell to John privately and knew the young man would feel more apt to open up to him wi
th Julie absent. Julie was about to salute the admiral, but he grabbed her hands and gently squeezed them affectionately. "I do not think you'll ever know how grateful I am that you agreed to do this."

  "Admiral, it's me who's grateful. You rescued me from a mediocre future. I can only hope to repay you someday."

  "You already have." The admiral smiled and unexpectedly gave her a hug. Julie was caught off-guard and didn't know how to respond, so she just stood there with her arms hanging limp. Before she knew it the admiral released her and headed towards John, never looking back at her. A bit bewildered, Julie composed herself and headed out the hangar bay. If she stayed any longer she felt she might break down and cry. Her emotions seemed a bit frayed since she spoke to her father and she wasn't up to going through another crying session.

  "Commander Roberts, you look quite comfortable in there," said the admiral. John was so far off in his thoughts that the admiral's muffled voice through the Interceptor’s window caught him by surprised.

  "I didn't see you come in," said John as he opened the cockpit hatch and hopped out of the fighter. He looked around for his executive officer. "Where's Julie?"

  "We've already said our good-byes," replied the admiral. "Commander Olson was kind enough to give us some time alone."

  "Oh," was all John could muster. He felt rushed saying good-bye and wanted more time to prepare himself. This was the last opportunity John would have to say what he wanted to the admiral.

  "You seem speechless, my boy. That is not like you."

  "It's just that there's so much I want to say, but I'm not sure where to start," said John.

  "How about at the beginning," advised the admiral. John looked at him with sincerity. He knew exactly where he wanted to start.

  "Come with us," he said. "We need you here. If we're going to have half a chance of making it we're going to need someone with your experience."

  The admiral shook his head. "We've already gone over this, my boy. My place is here. I was never meant to go with the EXODUS."

  "But what if I'm not ready..."