“Thanks,” Kelsey replied with a weak smile. “I guess this is just going to take some getting used to.”
“Look at the vid screen,” spoke Kevin, excitedly.
All four looked at the vid screen and were surprised to see the screen covered in deep purple as well as numerous other dark colors that seemed to be in a constant state of flux.
“Hyperspace,” Kelsey uttered, her blue eyes glued to the vid screen. “This is what hyperspace looks like.”
“How long will we be in hyperspace?” Angela asked intrigued by what was on the vid screen.
Kelsey recalled the calculations that she had helped Lieutenant Nelson with for this jump. “Nearly forty-five minutes. Then we should arrive at Proxima Centauri.”
“We’re on our way,” Angela spoke, her eyes wide. “The Earth’s first interstellar mission has begun.”
-
On the spacedock, Jason nodded his head in satisfaction. Everything had gone off without a hitch. He breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone in the delegation from Earth had been quite impressed with what they had witnessed. Jason and Lisa had then escorted the Earth delegates back to their waiting shuttle, wished them a safe trip, and promised to keep them informed as soon as anything was heard from the New Horizon.
As Lisa and Jason entered their own shuttle and took their respective seats, they both could feel the tension of the last few hours evaporate. Talking to the delegates, explaining what was going on and what they hoped to accomplish with the mission, had been trying at times.
“They’re on their way,” Lisa spoke evenly, her eyes looking over at her husband. “Once they arrive at Tau Ceti and find the two habitable planets in orbit around that gas giant in the liquid water zone, a new era will dawn on Earth.”
“This should be an exciting time for Jeremy and Kelsey,” responded Jason, reaching out and taking his wife’s hand.
Jason allowed himself to relax and think about all that had been done to reach this point. Once he reached the Avenger, the first thing he needed to do was contact Greg. But for now, he just wanted to relax and enjoy the ride back down to the Moon.
-
On board the small shuttle on the New Horizon, Katie staggered out of the compact restroom in the back of the shuttle. She closed her eyes and shook her head. The jump into hyperspace had made her sick. It wasn’t a good feeling to see your lunch make a reappearance. Walking back into the small cockpit, she sat down and looked at the largest viewscreen on the instrument panel. It was now showing the same view as the one in the Command Center of the New Horizon.
Katie was ninety percent certain that no one would be able to detect the program she was using to tap into the ship’s systems. She rotated through a number of the viewscreens, but nowhere did she see Jeremy or Kelsey. Katie assumed they must still be in their quarters, and that was one of the few areas that she couldn’t see into.
Leaning back in the pilot’s seat, she prepared herself for a long wait. Ariel had furnished Katie with the flight plan for the New Horizon, and she knew it would be a while before she dared to reveal herself. Once the ship arrived at Proxima Centauri, there would be a six to ten hour wait for the drive core to cool down and for the crew to take detailed scans of the system. After that, they would make the longer jump to Tau Ceti where the actual mission would begin. Katie knew that it would be wise on her part to wait until the crew was highly involved in their research before she made an appearance.
It also worried her that on the Moon, Ariel would soon realize that something was wrong when she didn’t return on any of the shuttles. It would only be a short matter of time before Jason and Lisa realized what she had done. There was no doubt in Katie’s mind that shortly after that her parents would know.
-
A blue-white vortex formed in the outskirts of the Proxima Centauri system, and the New Horizon suddenly made an appearance. The vortex vanished, leaving the ship alone.
“We’re at Proxima Centauri,” spoke Jeremy, seeing the red dwarf appear in the center of the vid screen. The screen color enhanced everything to show it as it should look.
“We made it,” Angela breathed with an excited smile upon her face. “We’re the first humans that have ever been here.”
“Don’t forget that the Avenger came from somewhere.” Kelsey reminded Angela, looking over at her close friend.
“We don’t know where though,” said Angela, shaking her head in denial. “For all we know, the Avenger came from Atlantis and crashed on her first flight. That’s something that’s still a mystery.”
“Next stop will be Tau Ceti,” commented Kevin, gazing with interest at the screen. “I wish we could go to the Command Center.”
“The command crew will be doing everything today,” said Jeremy, also wishing he were in the Command Center so he could experience all of this first hand.
“I think watching everything from here for now will be just fine,” added Angela, sliding back on the bunk and leaning against the wall to get more comfortable.
-
Jason and Lisa had made it back to the Moon and were on their way to the Command Center on the Avenger. They wanted to check on the current status of the mission. A Federation light cruiser was stationed in the Proxima Centauri system and would report to Ceres as soon as it detected the New Horizon exiting hyperspace.
Entering the Command Center, the first thing Jason noticed was Ariel’s avatar on the main viewscreen. Ariel had a look about her like nothing Jason had ever seen before. It was as if her best friend had just died. He knew with a sinking feeling in his stomach that something was horribly wrong.
“What’s wrong, Ariel?” asked Jason, growing concerned. “Has something happened to the New Horizon?” Jason felt ill and was almost afraid to hear Ariel’s reply. Had something disastrous befallen the mission?
“No, Jason,” responded Ariel, lifting her dark eyes to gaze at Jason and Lisa. “The light cruiser StarFury has reported that the New Horizon has safely arrived in the Proxima Centauri system.”
“Then why the forlorn look on your face?” asked Jason, feeling confused. “Is there something else wrong?”
“Yes,” confessed Ariel, knowing she was about to get into a world of trouble. “There is a stowaway on board the New Horizon.”
“A stowaway!” Lisa cried her face turning pale. “How can that be possible?”
“The stowaway had help to get on board,” Ariel said slowly. If she were human, Ariel knew she would be crying. “It’s all my fault. I wanted a real friend, and I let my guard down.”
“Who is the stowaway?” Lisa demanded, a growing suspicion forming in the back of her mind. She prayed that she was wrong.
“It’s Katie,” confessed Ariel, trying to meet Lisa’s eyes. “Katie is on board the New Horizon.”
“Katie!” Jason exclaimed with anger crossing his face as he stared in shock at the AI. “How is that possible?”
Ariel was silent for a moment, and then began explaining her relationship with Katie. Ariel spent several long minutes covering how they had met and everything she had told the young teenager. When she was finished, both Jason and Lisa were looking at Ariel as if they couldn’t believe what they had just heard.
“You told her everything?” spoke Jason, trying to keep his voice calm. He couldn’t believe all of this had gone on underneath his nose. Not even Lisa had suspected.
“Yes,” Ariel confessed, her voice quivering. “She knows about Ceres, the Hocklyns, the Federation, everything.”
Lisa sat down in the command chair. She felt faint as she wondered how she was going to explain to Elizabeth that Katie was no longer in the solar system.
“Where is she on the New Horizon?” demanded Jason not ready to forgive Ariel for this unbelievable indiscretion. “Do you know where she’s hiding?”
“I believe she is hiding in one of the two shuttles in the flight bay,” responded Ariel, knowing that Jason and Lisa were both extremely upset and disappointed in her. “From so
me of the questions she has asked me recently, I now believe she intends to stay in one of the shuttles until the New Horizon arrives in the Tau Ceti system. At that point, she will reveal herself to the crew.”
“How could she do something like this?” Lisa spoke, feeling stunned at what had happened. She had thought that she was keeping a good watch on the young teenager. How could something like this happen?
“Who knows,” replied Jason, looking over at his distressed wife. “She’s a teenager and probably looks at this as a big adventure. She also probably feels that since she is Greg’s daughter and close friends with Jeremy and us, she can get away with it. I know one thing, when Commander Tellson finds out he is going to be one extremely upset commander.”
“Will he end the mission and bring her back?” asked Lisa, looking up at Jason.
“No, I don’t believe he will. Katie will be safe on the New Horizon. I imagine he will give her to Jeremy to worry about and tell Jeremy to keep her out of his sight. That young girl is going to spend the majority of this trip locked in Jeremy’s quarters and not allowed to roam around the New Horizon. This isn’t going to work out as she had hoped.”
“Jeremy’s not going to like this,” added Lisa, knowing how her son would feel. She knew he would be livid when he found out what Katie had done. Gazing at Jason, she continued. “We need to contact Greg and Elizabeth and tell them what’s happened.”
Jason nodded his head in agreement. This was one call he was not looking forward to. How was he going to tell his best friend that Katie had managed to stowaway on Earth’s first interstellar mission? Shaking his head, he walked slowly over to the com station, thinking about what he was going to say.
Ariel watched Jason and Lisa, not knowing what to say or do. She hadn’t felt this way since she had watched the majority of the Avenger’s crew die from the flu and the crash over a hundred years ago. What Jason and Lisa would do to her was also worrying her. She knew that she deserved to be punished. But even more importantly, Ariel just hoped that Katie would be okay.
-
On the New Horizon, Commander Tellson gazed around the Command Center. A little over six hours had passed, and the FTL drive core was completely cooled back down. They were finally ready to make the jump to Tau Ceti.
“Coordinates are loaded into the navigation computer,” Lieutenant Nelson reported. He had come into the Command Center and taken over at Navigation for this important jump.
“Very well,” replied Commander Tellson, gazing at the large viewscreen on the front wall.
“Major Maher, take us to Tau Ceti.”
Major Maher nodded and gave the order. Almost instantly on the main viewscreen, a swirling blue-white vortex appeared. It grew closer as the helm officer used the ship’s thrusters to maneuver the New Horizon into its center. A few moments later, everyone felt the familiar queasiness as the New Horizon entered hyperspace.
At the plotting table, Major Maher stood with his hands clasped behind his back with a pleased look upon his face. In just another few hours, he would launch his plan to take over the New Horizon. With the weapons he had hidden, there was nothing anyone could do now to stop him. Very soon, the New Horizon would be his.
Chapter Nine
In the Tau Ceti system, a blue-white vortex of swirling light suddenly formed. From the vortex, a 400-meter spaceship appeared. The New Horizon had made it to the Tau Ceti system, completing the longest FTL jump of an Earth built spaceship. As soon as the ship cleared the vortex, the swirling blue-white space anomaly vanished, leaving the New Horizon floating alone in empty space.
“Status,” barked Commander Tellson as he waited tensely for the sensors and viewscreens to clear of static. It always took a few moments for the systems to come back on line after a jump. For those few precious seconds, the ship was completely blind.
“All departments are reporting that all systems are functioning normally,” Major Maher replied as he listened to the reports coming in over his mini-com in his right ear. “Engineering states the FTL core is hot and will require six to eight hours to cool back down before we can make another jump.”
The main viewscreen suddenly cleared, and numerous stars appeared. The scanner and sensors screens started receiving data at the same time.
“Not picking up anything in the initial scans,” the sensor operator reported as he watched the data come in over his screens.
Commander Tellson nodded his head as he listened to the report. They were pretty far out, and he hadn’t expected to detect anything initially.
“Navigation, plot us a course inward toward the liquid water zone,” ordered Tellson, wanting to get the exploration part of the mission started. “Helm, as soon as Navigation has a course, activate the sublight drive and move us in system at a speed of ten percent sublight. Once we’re satisfied that there are no navigational dangers, we will increase our speed to thirty per cent sublight. As hot as the drive core is, we won’t be using a micro-jump to take us in closer.”
Major Maher could feel the excitement in the Command Center as he looked over the crew. They had arrived safely at Tau Ceti. He had expected no less. In another few hours, he would launch his takeover attempt and the New Horizon would be his. Then it would be time to launch the mission that his handpicked group had planned.
“We made it, Major,” Commander Tellson spoke with a satisfied smile on his face, glancing over at his second in command. “Now let’s find out what’s in this system.”
-
Jeremy and the other three cadets stared at the vid screen in rapt excitement. They were in the Tau Ceti system. The com system sounded, and Jeremy reached over and picked up the phone from the computer desk. He listened for a moment and then put it back down. With a big smile, he turned to face the others.
“That was Lieutenant Nelson. We’re to report to the Command Center in two hours to relieve the command crew so they can get some rest.”
“Fantastic,” Kevin uttered, his eyes glinting with excitement. “I can’t wait to report for duty today.”
“Who knows what we may find,” Angela added with an excited look on her face. “We’re going to see things no one from Earth has ever seen before. This is history! We will all be remembered as being on Earth’s first interstellar mission.”
Kelsey smiled at seeing everyone’s excitement, and then passed on a warning. “Just remember, everything we do will be scrutinized by the commander, and particularly by Major Maher.”
The group calmed down as they all realized they had jobs to do. Jobs that would be extremely important to the mission as the planets in the Tau Ceti system were explored.
“We have two hours before we need to report to the Command Center,” spoke Jeremy, realizing that Kelsey was right, particularly about Major Maher. The executive officer had really been keeping an eye on them recently. “Let’s go get something to eat and then return to our quarters to get ready for our duty shift.”
“We’re going to make history,” Angela commented with a big grin. “Maybe we will find a habitable planet on our shift, and it will be named after one of us.”
“Planet Angela,” uttered Kevin, shaking his head in disbelief. “I don’t think so. That sounds worse than planet Kevin.”
“We’ll see,” replied Jeremy, shaking his head at Angela’s enthusiasm. She was so certain they were going to find a world that could be colonized. He hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed if the system was a bust.
-
Katie was staring at the small viewscreen on the instrument panel of the shuttle. That had been the second jump, and from what she could overhear on the com channel, the New Horizon had arrived safely at Tau Ceti. She breathed a deep sigh of relief knowing that she had successfully stowed away on Earth’s first interstellar mission without being caught. Now all she had to do was stay hidden for another day or so, and then she would reveal herself.
She felt nervous and a little frightened about what Jeremy would say when he discovered what she h
ad done. Katie also wondered if there was any way she could find Jeremy or Kelsey first before any of the other crewmembers found her. Taking a deep breath, she knew there would be trouble and anger when it was discovered what she had done. Thinking everything over now, Katie realized that she might have made a big mistake in stowing away on the New Horizon.
Before she had done it, the idea had sounded like a big adventure and extremely exciting. Now that she had succeeded in stowing away, she was starting to realize just how upset the ship’s commander was going to be. She was worried about what they would do to her. She just hoped that considering who her father was and knowing Jeremy’s parents would be enough to prevent her from being thrown in the brig. She didn’t know if the New Horizon had an actual brig, but she knew that on the vid shows she had watched that was what was done to people who committed crimes on spaceships.
Getting up, she went back into the main cabin of the small shuttle. Rummaging through a small storage compartment on one of the walls, she looked for something to eat. From what Ariel had told her, the shuttles had enough food and water to last six people for two weeks. Therefore, food and water shouldn’t be a problem if she had to stay in the shuttle longer than she planned. The only bad thing was the food was more like emergency rations and wasn’t particularly tasty. At least most of it wasn’t. She had found some chocolate bars in the emergency rations. Picking a self-heating meal, she sat down and pulled out the small table set into the wall. Once she was finished eating she would return to the cockpit so she could see more of what was going on. Perhaps now that they were at Tau Ceti, she would be able to see Jeremy or Kelsey on the viewscreen.
-
On the Moon, Jason had just finished talking to Greg. To say that Greg had been upset was an understatement. How do you tell your best friend that his daughter had stowed away on Earth’s first interstellar mission?
“How did it go?” asked Lisa, knowing that Elizabeth was probably in shock right now. Lisa felt terrible over what had happened. She was supposed to be in charge of Katie. How would she ever get Elizabeth to forgive her? Katie hadn’t just managed to sneak off, she had stowed away on a spaceship!
Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (The Slaver Wars) Page 18