by Max Dane
Finn was surprised. He was expecting a new assignment and maybe a new ship, but this was more than he could have hoped for. “Jacob, that’s quite an offer, I- ”
Jacob didn’t hesitate, “But that’s not the only option you have, Finn. I have something else you might be interested in, and some people you might want to talk it over with.”
He clapped his hands once, and a door opened across the room. From the other side, Micha and Julian came walking in.
“Finn, how are you?” she said, running the rest of the way to hug him. “Have you accepted?”
“What?”
Julian shook his hand, smiling fiercely, “It’s good to see you, Finn.”
“I haven’t finished telling him,” said Jacob.
“Telling me what?”
Julian stepped back, “A new mission, you and me and Micha.”
Finn turned back to Jacob, “A new mission?”
“Yes, Finn, we’ve been studying the new system you located, the Almach system, where the dissident home worlds were based, in Andromeda.”
Julian looked very excited, “There’s another jump there, Finn. We think the dissidents must have used it; it seems likely that it’s how they first found the harvesters. There’s even good reason to believe they are the ones who infected Madras.”
“It jumps to a system,” said Jacob, “where we’ve found a giant metal sphere in orbit around the star. It’s the size of a planet, and it seems to be functioning.”
Finn was stunned, “The aliens who built the harvesters?”
“We think so, yes,” said Julian.
Jacob put his hand on Finn’s shoulder, “What do you say, Captain Holt? A promotion with a battleship under your command, or a mission with these two, off to meet the aliens who made the harvesters.”
Finn looked from Julian to Micha, and back to Jacob, “What about the ship? Would we be using the Athena again? Because she needs some work.”
Julian activated his wrist-comm, “It’s time; bring the ship around.”
They turned back to the window to watch as a huge silver ship slowly came into view. It was sleek, with a radical new design for the integration of speed, weapons, and research hardware.
“It’s the latest of the new cooperation between the Fleet Admiral and the Science Council Prime Director. It’s the best of both worlds, Finn. What do you say, are you in?”
Stunned, Finn said, “What’s its name?”
Julian glanced at Micha, “It doesn’t have one yet; we were hoping you would help.”
He smiled, “Yes, I can do that.”