by David Smith
‘Thank you Elders’ said Dave with a sigh of relief. ‘Er . . . Mr Hollins, are you ready to leave?‘
‘Yes we are. We have a few die hard Imperials who we’ll have to relocate on the way, but the majority of the crew will come with us. Katrin Mengele is coming with us and has decided she’ll attempt to construct a vaccine for the disease Alvari has spread through the Tana.’
The tall blonde nodded her agreement. ‘I will attempt to redeem myself. I will also care for Commander Cassini, who cannot make rational decisions for himself.’
Hollins smiled and continued. ‘We’ll be glad to have Cassini aboard. Engineering expertise seems to be in short supply around here. A few of the sisters are leaving with us too, including Sister L’Amour. I believe the rest have already asked if they can travel with you?’
‘Yes they have. They wish to continue their missionary work with the Sha T’Al.’ Dave paused. ‘Did Lieutenant Delgado speak to you?’
‘She did’ smiled Hollins. ‘When she first contacted me with a story about being from a parallel universe I thought she was a complete looney-tune, but she was just too useful to ignore. She’s a hell of an officer, and we’ll really miss her abilities. I hope you’ll find a place for her on your crew. I know I would’
‘I’ll do what I can.’ He leaned back in his seat. ‘Ok thank you everyone, I hope we’re all clear and happy with our decisions. Let’s make it all happen.’
As the assembly dispersed, Dave headed back to the Bridge to find an agitated Yeoman Sriwak waiting for him. Dave wasn’t sure if Sriwak was male or female, and couldn’t ask the Yeoman as he / she only spoke an obscure Thai dialect the universal translator couldn’t handle. In this instance he also couldn’t ask if the Yeoman was ok, as she / he seemed to be in some discomfort and holding his / her stomach and bottom.
Mute as always the Yeoman handed Dave a pad.
Dave thumb-printed the screen to unlock a message from the Captain.
‘Tell Chen I don’t need shaving, the Yeomen do it for me.
Ps. WTF is going on?
Pps. Does Mengele stock after-shave balm?’
Sighing, Dave uploaded the last month’s worth of daily logs, a couple of situation reports he’d prepared for the Captain and a couple of random 21st century sci-fi movies before handing the pad back to Sriwak.
As the Yeoman took the pad there was an ominous squelching, farting sound, followed by a deep-brown smell. Sriwak shrugged at Dave and waddled off, pad gripped between his / her teeth and both hands on his / her bottom in a vain attempt to withhold the contents of his bowels.
At least Dave didn’t have to ask O’Mara if she’d managed to rescue the Captain in time . . .
Chapter 20
They were in sub-light drive about twenty light minutes out from Todot Hahn, and Dave was sitting in the Captain’s chair when he took a call from ISS Tiger. His other self was sat in the Captain’s chair, with Yeoman Viera at the helm in front of him.
‘Commander Hollins, we’re leaving now. I just called to wish you good luck.’
‘Thank you Mr Hollins, good luck to yourselves too. I think things will change a lot in this universe, I suggest you keep a low profile and watch how things shake down.’
Hollins regarded him carefully. ‘You wouldn’t happen to have someone called Cassie Long on your crew, would you?’
‘Oh’ said Dave.
Hollins smiled. ‘Death, destruction, mayhem . . . that’s our Cassie.’
‘Well, I guess you’ve heard the bad news. I don’t know how seriously to take her . . . but something about her just makes me nervous.’
‘Me too, that’s why we’re leaving. While we’re on the subject, Long told me she’d seen me talking to a doppelganger . . . ‘
‘So she’s been right before?’
‘Actually, she reckons that’s still in the future. Looks like we’ll be meeting again.’
‘So this is “Until we meet again”?’
‘Looks like it. See you round Hollins.’
The comm-link closed and the view-screen switched to an external camera view. Dave watched as ISS Tiger turned and accelerated away from the rest of the fleet before disappearing in a relativistic flash. As he did so, his eye caught the countdown clock still in one corner of the screen. Less than thirty minutes to go.
He called his team aboard the Tana battleship. ‘ASBeau, how’re things shaping up?’
‘All transports are underway, sir, forming up on Rhino now. Deng tells me everything in the drive area is ready. We’ll be attempting the translation in about fifteen minutes.’
Dave watched impatiently as the clumsy transports slowly edged into positions only a few meters from the giant Tana battleship. All the while, the clock continued to countdown.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, ASBeau called.
‘We’re all set, sir.’
‘Ok ASBeau, whenever you’re ready’
‘Aye, sir. Crash, Drives on line.’
Dave heard a muffled reply off camera and ASBeau said ‘Ok, here we go. Execute!’
The view-screen shifted to an external camera view, and the Bridge crew watched as flashes lightning formed around the posse of ships, but before any excitement could mount the ships were gone.
‘O’Mara?’ asked Dave uncertainly.
‘Reading residual signature of a significant space-time fissure. I think it worked?’
‘Ok, our turn. Lyle, drives on . . . ‘
Dave was interrupted by a squeal of alarm from Janus. ‘Sir, major, major subspace disturbances a few light hours from Todot Hahn!’ He paused and took a series of readings. ‘Wow. Lots of mass, multiple tracks, must be more than two hundred vessels in bound.’
‘So the Third Fleet have arrived. Are they dropping out of warp yet?’
‘No sir, looks like they’re going right into the system.’
Dave caught his breath as he looked at the countdown clock. Less than five minutes. Either they knew something about that bomb that he didn’t or they were depending on the Magistrate to disarm it really, really quickly.
The countdown clock kept ticking, and when it was down to seconds, Janus shouted ‘They’re dropping out of warp right on top of Todot Hahn sir! Registering lots of energy discharges . . . they’re destroying the Sha T’Al ships we left in orbit.’
Dave switched the main view-screen to a telescope view. They were a long way out now, but could just about make out the tiny shapes of hundreds of ships taking orbits around Todot Hahn. Tiny flashes marked the launch of weapons and larger billowing glows marked the demise of the Sha T’Al’s rag-tag transport fleet.
The clock kept ticking. They must have sent someone down to the surface to disarm the bomb by now. Surely?
‘Well there’s nothing for us to see, prepare to translate . . . ‘
The clock reached zero.
On screen a white dot appeared on the surface of the planet, growing at frightening speed. They watched, transfixed, as a hypersonic shock-wave spread across the surface of the globe, but the dot grew serenely.
The ships in orbit began to glow in the reflected light of the dot, and Tiger’s crew could only watch in horror as a scene of unimaginable devastation unfolded before their eyes in slow motion.
Each of the ships glowed brighter and brighter and then exploded themselves, tiny white blossoms lost against an ever expanding white-hole of non-existence.
Within seconds the camera view was just whiteness and the telescope software dropped down an order of magnification, and then another as the whiteness spread.
As the view changed the whole of Todot Hahn disappeared beneath the terrifying white disc and Dave barely noticed one of Todot Hahn’s small moons being vapourised by some invisible force before it too disappeared beneath the whiteness. The camera angle widened again, and then again, and still the white disc expanded.
In a sudden moment of panic Dave realised they weren’t far enough away. ‘OH CRAP!!! LYLE, O’MARA TRANSLATE N
OW!!
Tiger’s warp engines surged then faded, and space was black again.
Down in the Chart Room, Cassie Long was sat on her own in the dark, watching the room’s three-dimensional representation of the sub-elementary blast. In a trance like state, Cassie softly said ‘So falls the Terran Empire . . . ‘
Chapter 21
‘I'll have Tiger on station just as soon as I can. It'll be good to get back. Hollins out’ said Dave.
Izzy sat in silence as the comm-link broke and her terminal went silent. It had been good to hear a friendly voice, but she could hear the worry in his voice as he’d terminated the communication.
She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, least of all Hollins, but she was scared.
The face-off between the Tana and Sha T’Al was right on their door-step and if things kicked off they’d be sitting ducks. She’d tried talking to Joynes about it, but he’d been off his face as always.
Admiral O’Connor had offered little more than moral support, but Izzy knew that was because he couldn’t do much else, not because he wouldn’t.
At least talking to Hollins had been a comfort. She missed having him and the crew of Tiger around her. The life of a diplomat was one of politics and working relationships. She felt terribly lonely at times.
At least she knew they were on their way back to Hole where they belonged. It was just unfortunate that the trip would take them three months. She just prayed that she’d still be around to greet them when they did get back.
She was about give in for the day and leave her office when she got a call from PO Boston in the Shipping Control Office.
Sounding nervous and confused, he said ‘Sorry to bother you Commander, but I’d like your presence in the Shipping Control Office immediately.’
‘What’s up Steve?’ asked Izzy who wasn’t used to being summoned like this.
‘Frankly Ma’am I don’t have a clue. All I know is that a dirty great Tana battleship has just appeared out of nowhere, and she’s surrounded by a whole gaggle of Federation transport vessels.’
--------------------
A few minutes later, Izzy was in the control room, staring aghast at the huge bulk of the Tana battleship, which dwarfed even the huge assault transports that huddled around it.
‘Any comms yet?’ she asked nervously.
‘No Commander.’
‘Where the hell did they come from?’
‘No idea Commander. They literally appeared out of nowhere. No subspace disturbances, no warp-signatures. Nothing. They just appeared.’
Izzy slumped into a chair. ‘What the f . . . ‘
‘Incoming call, Commander.’
‘Is it from the battleship?’ Izzy asked trying to keep a note of panic out of her voice.
‘No, Ma’am, it’s from another ship that’s just appeared out of nowhere. Ident tags say the call is from USS Tiger’
‘WHATT??’
PO Boston put the incoming call on screen.
Izzy gaped as Commander David Hollins appeared. ‘Hi Izzy! You ok? I did say I’d have Tiger back on station as soon as I could.’
The Crew of USS Tiger will return in
Tiger: Crusade