Kelsey laughed and then hesitated at the door, smiling flirtingly at Jeremy. “When we get back from this mission, perhaps we should give Angela a reason to have those ideas.”
Jeremy didn’t know what to say. He had strong feelings for Kelsey, but had decided to wait until they returned from the mission to explore them further. It made him feel warm inside knowing that Kelsey was feeling the same thing.
-
Major Maher looked around the group he had gathered in his quarters. There were eight people waiting to hear what he had to say.
“Today, our mission begins,” he stated, looking around the diverse group. There were five men and three women listening to him. “You all know the plan. If we do precisely as we’ve discussed, the New Horizon will be ours. There will be a number of visitors on board the ship this morning, including Admiral Strong, so be extra careful in what you say and what you are doing. I don’t want anything to look suspicious.”
“Do you think they suspect anything?” one of the women asked. Her name was Cynthia Pierce and she worked as a medical assistant.
“No, they do not,” Maher spoke in a cold voice. “And they are not going to. We depart later today, and will perform our FTL jump to Proxima Centauri after we clear the Earth and Moon’s gravity well. We will spend a few hours in the Proxima system doing routine scans and allowing the drive core to cool down.”
“That should take about six hours,” Ensign Bates commented.
“Sometime after that we will be making our jump to Tau Ceti,” Maher added. “Once we reach Tau Ceti we will pass out the weapons and then take over the ship.”
“Do we have to kill all the Command Center officers?” Cynthia asked. She believed in what they were doing, but she didn’t feel comfortable with cold-blooded murder.
“We have no choice,” Maher responded, his eyes cutting into Cynthia. “We don’t want to leave the crew anyone to rally around. The only exception will be Lieutenant Nelson. We may need him to plot some of our jumps, at least initially. Once we’re satisfied we don’t need him any longer, he too will be eliminated. Do you have a problem with that?”
“No, sir,” Cynthia replied, her eyes meeting Maher’s without blinking. “I believe in what we’re doing. If some have to die, then so be it.”
The meeting lasted for another thirty minutes as Maher outlined in detail what was expected of everyone when it came time for the takeover. “Let’s get this done. I don’t want any hesitation on anyone’s part, or you will have to deal with me.”
-
Katie exited the shuttle, sliding her small backpack on over her shoulders.
“What’s in the backpack?” Professor Styles asked as they walked down the ramp of the shuttle.
“My computer and a couple of notebooks,” Katie replied easily. “I am doing a report on the New Horizon mission, and I may need them to take some notes.”
“I would like to read it when you’re finished writing it,” Professor Styles commented. “I would be interested in seeing your take on Earth’s first interstellar expedition.”
Katie nodded and walked on down the ramp. She saw several other shuttles unloading and tried her best to blend in with the other students. It wouldn’t be good if Lisa or Jason saw her. She would also have to be careful on the New Horizon. She knew that Jeremy, Kelsey, and Angela would spot her instantly if they saw her.
Professor Styles gathered all the cadets together. There were eight of them total, including Katie. “We will be going on a quick tour of the spacedock first before we tour the New Horizon. Both tours will be short since the ship is preparing to depart later today. We will observe the departure from the observation lounge on the top level of the spacedock. It will give all of us a good view of the New Horizon as she leaves on her mission.”
“Will we get to see the Command Center on the New Horizon?” asked one of the female cadets.
“No, not today,” Professor Styles replied. “The Command Center as well as the Engineering decks are off limits. Maybe once the New Horizon returns, we can make arrangements for a more thorough tour.”
-
In the Command Center, Commander Tellson was going through the pre-departure checklist with the command crew. He had spoken to Admiral Strong briefly as he had stopped by the Command Center. The admiral had gone on, not wanting to interfere with the commander’s preparations.
“Navigation, do we have the first jump coordinates for Proxima Centauri plotted in?”
“Yes, sir,” the navigation officer replied. “Lieutenant Nelson loaded the coordinates into the navigation computer on his duty shift. They have been checked and confirmed. We should jump into the system 2.4 billion kilometers from the system’s sun.”
Commander Tellson nodded. He pressed a button on his mini-com, which would put him in contact with Engineering. “Lieutenant Jackson, are we ready to activate the subspace drive and then later the FTL drive?”
“Both have been checked, sir,” replied Jackson. “Sublight is standing by at your command.”
“Very well, we have a few hours yet; we want everything to function normally as we leave the spacedock. There will be a lot of people watching us today.”
Commander Tellson finished talking to the various stations confirming their readiness. He could feel a little tension mounting in the ship as the crew knew today was the big day. He leaned back in his command chair and let out a deep breath. In the back of his mind, he allowed himself to wonder what they would find. This voyage would go down in history. He hoped it would be remembered as a huge success.
-
Katie’s tour was almost over and her group was standing in the New Horizon’s flight bay. The group had divided into two separate groups as they were looking at the two small shuttles in the bay. Professor Styles was with the second group along with Lieutenant Nelson, pointing out some details on the other shuttle.
“I just saw the admiral and Lisa pass by in the outside corridor,” Katie casually mentioned to one of the girls in her group when she noticed that Lieutenant Nelson and Professor Styles had their backs turned. “Lisa said I could join them if I wanted. Maybe this way I can see the Command Center. Tell Professor Styles I went with Lisa and Admiral Strong and will be taking their shuttle back to the academy. Katie turned and rushed out of the open hatch that led to the corridor and quickly disappeared from sight.
The young senior cadet only shook her head in exasperation. It wasn’t her job to keep up with Katie. Katie should have been the one to tell Professor Styles. Turning back around, she joined the other two cadets as they looked over the shuttle.
-
Katie managed to slip back out into the corridor with no one noticing except the senior cadet she had talked to. She hoped that by invoking Admiral Strong and Lisa’s names there would be no questions as to where she had gone. Also, by indicating that she would be returning on the admiral’s shuttle, no one would be looking for her until after the New Horizon had jumped to Proxima Centauri, and by then it would be too late.
Katie walked a few quick steps down the corridor and opened a hatch on her right side. It was a small storage room, and she stepped inside and shut the hatch behind her. She would wait here until she felt the tour was over, and then go to her planned hiding place. A place she didn’t think anyone would look.
For what seemed like an eternity Katie waited, hoping no one would open the hatch and find her. If they did, then her plan to sneak aboard the New Horizon would fail. She tried to control her breathing and she could feel her heart pounding. Looking around the small room, she noticed that it contained spare parts for the flight bay.
There was no reason for anyone to check this room unless they had determined that she was missing. The only way that would happen would be if Professor Styles checked with Admiral Strong, and Katie doubted that the professor would do that. After all, she was Katie Johnson, and her family and the admiral’s were closely connected. Her leaving to join the admiral’s group probably wouldn’t c
ome as a surprise to the professor.
After what Katie deemed was a sufficient amount of time, she slowly opened the hatch to the small storage room, only to hear voices in the corridor. She quickly shut the hatch and waited another few minutes. Cautiously opening the hatch again, she saw the corridor was empty. Hurrying down the corridor, she slipped back into the empty flight bay and ran across the deck to one of the waiting shuttles. She quickly took off her backpack and pulled out her computer. Activating a program, she attached a connecting wire to the port on the shuttle’s hatch and the door slid open. Disconnecting the wire, she crawled inside and shut the hatch after her. Once inside, she leaned against the hull of the shuttle, trying to catch her breath. She could feel her heart racing, and she was breathing rapidly.
After a few moments, she felt calmer and made her way to a viewport to look out. There was no one else in the flight bay; she had made it into the shuttle undetected. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a diagram of the shuttle and its control systems. Ariel had helped her get this information so she could write in more detail about how the shuttles would be used to explore any habitable worlds the New Horizon might discover.
Ariel had never suspected the real reason Katie wanted the schematic. Katie did feel extremely guilty about deceiving Ariel, but she had to get aboard the New Horizon. She didn’t know how long she would have to be in the shuttle, and she wanted an idea of what was going on around her.
Going into the small cockpit, she sat down in the pilot’s seat and using her computer ran several wires to the connecting ports on the shuttle’s main computer. Activating several more programs she had written, she activated the shuttle’s life support systems and locked the hatch so no one could get in. She also used another program she had written to tap into the New Horizon’s communication systems and viewscreens so she could listen and watch what was going on. Now all she had to do was wait.
-
Jason was in the Command Center of the spacedock with a number of important people from Earth. There were representatives from all five of the countries that knew about the Avenger Project and what lay in Earth’s future. All had their eyes focused on the main viewscreen, which was focused on the New Horizon.
“The ship will be departing in ten more minutes,” Jason informed the small group. “Once the ship has safely maneuvered away from the spacedock, the New Horizon will activate its sublight drive to move away from the Earth and the Moon’s gravity well. Mission specifics call for the ship to place a distance of four million kilometers between it and the Moon before activating the ship’s FTL drive for its jump to Proxima Centauri.”
“Why not just do one jump straight to Tau Ceti? Why jump to Proxima Centauri first?” The delegate from the United States asked. “Isn’t the ship capable of jumping that far in one jump?”
“The ship is capable of making the jump,” Jason confirmed with a nod of his head. “However, due to the distance of 11.9 light years it would put some stress on the FTL core by generating a tremendous amount of heat.”
“Why does the FTL drive generate so much heat?” asked the British delegate, focusing his attention on Jason.
“It’s a byproduct of being in hyperspace,” Jason answered. “Hyperspace is not a natural state, so it is continuously trying to eject a ship traveling in it. The constant pressure on the drive to remain in hyperspace is what generates the heat. It takes a tremendous amount of power to travel in hyperspace, and one of the byproducts of the energy used is heat. It is contained in the drive core and then the core is cooled down after the jump. We estimate it will take six hours for the drive core to cool down sufficiently from a long FTL jump before it can make another. Even on the shorter jumps the New Horizon made on her FTL trials here in our solar system, we allowed the drive core to cool down for six hours as a safety precaution.”
Lisa listened to Jason explain in general detail how the New Horizon’s FTL drive functioned. Looking at the viewscreen, she wondered if they had made a mistake not inviting Katie to come up to the spacedock with them. Jason had been concerned that it might look as if they were showing favoritism to the fifteen-year-old, but Lisa wasn’t so sure about that. Katie was like family, and sometimes you had to place family first over everything else. Lisa knew that Katie would have really enjoyed watching the New Horizon leave to go on its mission.
Gazing at the New Horizon, Lisa wondered what Jeremy was doing. She knew that since he was still technically a cadet, he wouldn’t be involved with this part of the mission. More than likely he was in his quarters watching the vid screen like so many others on the Moon as well as down on Earth.
-
Lisa was correct in what Jeremy was doing. Kevin, Angela, Kelsey, and Jeremy were all in the quarters that Jeremy shared with Kevin, watching the vid screen. They had decided to stay together until after the New Horizon made its first jump to Proxima Centauri.
“This is so exciting,” Angela said breathlessly as she watched the vid screen, which was showing a close up of the New Horizon. “We are going to be a part of making history!”
“I’m just nervous about the FTL jump,” Kelsey mumbled. “This one will last much longer than the short ones we did earlier when we were testing the drive.”
“You’re just afraid of getting sick,” Kevin teased with a big grin. “I understand you got sick on three of the jumps.”
Kelsey felt her face grow warm. “I know now not to eat before a jump,” Kelsey replied defensively, glaring at Kevin. “I will be fine on this one.”
Jeremy chuckled and looked over at Kelsey. Kelsey and Angela were sitting on his bunk, and Kevin was sprawled out on his. Jeremy was sitting in the chair at the computer desk closer to the girls and watching the vid screen. “I’m sure you will, Kelsey,” spoke Jeremy, smiling. “The FTL jumps are something we are all going to have to get used to.”
“Proxima Centauri,” spoke Kevin, looking curiously over at Jeremy. “It’s a red dwarf star 4.2 light years away. I wonder if we will find anything there?”
“The astronomers have never spotted a planet,” Jeremy responded. He had read up extensively on Proxima Centauri. “It doesn’t mean there are not any, but if there are they’re probably on the small side as far as planets are concerned.”
“But we know there are planets at Tau Ceti,” Angela added, her eyes taking on an excited glint. “That’s why we’re going there. We know that at least one of the larger planets is in the liquid water zone.”
“The Goldilocks zone,” Kelsey added with a nod. “Not too hot and not too cold, but maybe just right.”
“Wouldn’t that be great to discover a habitable planet on our first time out?” Kevin said, sitting up and looking at the other three. “I wonder if we would get to name it?”
“I guess we will find out,” Jeremy spoke, his eyes turning back to the vid screen. “If we did discover a planet, I suspect Commander Tellson would be the one to pick out an appropriate name.”
“Yeah,” added Angela, grinning at Kevin. “I don’t think he will name it planet Kevin.”
Kevin tossed a pillow at Angela and then focused his attention back on the vid screen. It was time for the ship to depart the spacedock.
-
Commander Tellson was sitting behind the command console watching his crew. Everyone was working smoothly as they checked to ensure the New Horizon was ready to depart.
“All stations report ready,” Major Maher confirmed from his position at the plotting table. “We are prepared to depart the spacedock upon your command.”
“Release docking clamps and move us away from the spacedock,” ordered Commander Tellson, taking a deep breath. It was time for their journey to begin.
The New Horizon moved slowly away from the spacedock and began a slow turn. Shortly the ship was over one thousand meters away. It was slowly moving away on its station keeping thrusters.
“Activate sublight drive at five percent power,” Tellson ordered, once he was satisfied that they had put a
safe distance between the ship and the spacedock.
Major Maher passed the order over his mini-com to the helm officer.
A light blue glow appeared behind the New Horizon as it quickly accelerated away from the spacedock.
“Go to twenty percent power on the sublight drive and maintain it until we are clear of the Moon and Earth’s gravity well,” Commander Tellson ordered. He knew that back on the spacedock as well as on the Earth and Moon, all eyes would be on his ship. Everything needed to go smoothly and efficiently to ensure that future missions would be approved.
The ship continued to accelerate and soon was eating up the distance between the Moon and the border of where the Moon and Earth’s gravity well could affect the FTL drive the New Horizon was equipped with. Playing it on the safe side, Commander Tellson allowed the ship to continue on its sublight drive at twenty percent power until they reached the planned distance of four million kilometers from the Moon, safely outside of the Moon and the Earth’s gravity well.
“Standby to initiate FTL jump to Proxima Centauri,” ordered Commander Tellson, looking toward Navigation and the Helm. He knew that the jump coordinates had already been loaded into the navigation computer.
“Ready to jump,” Major Maher reported. He smiled inwardly to himself. Once they were out of the solar system, there would be nothing anyone could do to prevent him and his people from taking over the New Horizon.
“Initiate jump,” Commander Tellson ordered.
Major Maher instantly passed on the order.
On the main viewscreen, a blue-white vortex of swirling light appeared. The helm officer maneuvered the New Horizon into its center. The ship vanished and the vortex collapsed in on itself, disappearing. The ship entered hyperspace and was on its way to Proxima Centauri.
-
Jeremy felt a sudden queasiness, slightly more severe than the previous FTL jumps he had experienced. Looking over at Kelsey, he saw her face was extremely pale. He reached out, took her hand, and smiled in understanding. “I don’t feel too hot myself.”
Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (The Slaver Wars) Page 17