Ryan was in the cafeteria having lunch with several of the cadets who’d been put in charge of overhauling the other ships. He’d been keeping them up to date on Amanda’s progress with the weapon. It was day three of Earth’s ten-day truce, and, needless to say, everyone on the base needed some good news soon.
Ryan was waiting to hear the results of the latest test. He was glad Jill and Nicole were on board with the plan. To his surprise, they had taken it easier than Paul and Tanner had. Something about wanting to avenge Nicole’s sister. He was looking at his watch when his personal communicator beeped. It was Amanda. Hopefully, this was the news he was waiting for. He clicked it on.
“Amanda?”
“Ryan,” she said, through a lot of background noise, “I need you to come to the engineering compound as soon as possible. We tried the test.”
Her voice sounded shaky, but he couldn’t make out whether it was joy or terror, and he could hear yelling in the background. Or was it screaming?
“Please tell me it’s good news,” he said.
“Yes,” she said. “It is! I’m rechecking the data as we speak, but it worked. Ryan, do you hear me, it worked! Hurry up and get here so I can show you the results.”
“On my way.”
Dammit, she actually did it! They all did.
Before leaving, he quietly told a few of the other captains the good news and asked them to spread the word. They were going to run the test a couple more times in the lab and then try it out on the Nimitz. If all went according to plan, he was hoping they could get all fifteen ships ready to leave within three or four days. The trip to Earth at full speed would take close to seventy-two hours. They’d be cutting it close, but if everything went perfectly, they’d just make it to Earth before the Altarran troop carriers got there.
When he arrived at the engineering compound, he could see his entire bridge crew celebrating, including Jill and Nicole. It looked like New Year’s Eve. Amanda turned around and ran to him.
“It worked!” she said. “We ran the test five times. Every single time we pulled enough electromagnetic particles and gamma rays to produce a solar flare. In fact, the last test we threw in a bunch of software, computers, and a small probe. And we fried everything!”
She was glowing. It had been a long time since Ryan had seen her like this. He held out his arms and she embraced him. As he looked down at her face beaming up at him, he couldn’t help thinking how wonderful it felt holding her in his arms. “We did it, Amanda,” he said, softly. “You did it. I knew you would. Never had a doubt.”
Over Amanda’s head, he could see Tanner looking at Paul. “Do you think the flare could separate those two?” said Tanner.
Nicole elbowed Tanner. “Can it,” she said. “Before we use the flares to fry your last remaining brain cell.”
Amanda let go of Ryan. Her face was red and she had a shy smile. Paul, on the other hand, was too busy going over all the data to be bothered with all the chatter. “It looks amazingly good,” said Paul.
“How soon can we set it up on the Nimitz and give it a go?” said Ryan, looking at Amanda. “Time’s running short, and we have to make sure it’ll work on a ship during actual battle conditions in deep space.”
“It’ll take us about eight hours to set everything up,” said Amanda. “While Paul and I are preparing the engine room, Tanner, Jill, and Nicole can start getting the firing system ready. I’d say we should be ready to test it on the Nimitz by 0600 hours tomorrow.” She glanced over at Paul. “Sound right to you, Paul?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “In fact, if we all ate on the ship and worked non-stop in teams, we could probably be ready by midnight.”
While Ryan was in a hurry to get the work done as soon as possible, he didn’t want to risk a tired crew. “I think 0600 is good,” he said. “Let’s do this once and do it right. Like a wise old man told me recently, we don’t get any do-overs here.” He glanced at Amanda and smiled. One day maybe she’d tell her dad he was actually listening when the admiral spoke.
One by one, they agreed and started setting the plan into motion. They grabbed their tools and gear and headed to the Nimitz.
Amanda caught up to Ryan as they made their way to the hangar. “This will work, Ryan. I know it. I just want to tell you, I’m really glad you believed in me. It means a lot.”
“It wasn’t too tough,” he said. “The minute you said you knew of a way to duplicate solar flares, I knew you’d find a way. That’s what you do, Mandy. You know, I remember when we were little. You could fix anything. Now, if all this works like we think, you could just end up being the person that saved Earth. How cool would that be? I guess your dad couldn’t complain about you being an engineer if we pulled that off, now, could he?”
“I guess not,” she said, smiling.
They entered the hangar and boarded the Nimitz. Things were starting to shape up. For the first time in over a week, Ryan believed they actually had a shot at pulling this off. Not a huge shot, but at least a chance. But more important, for the first time in three years, he felt alive. Truly alive. It figured he should feel this way at the very time they were about to come closer to death than ever before.
Chapter 25
Final Testing
Amanda finished running the mechanism for the kill switch from the light-speed generator to the main engineering console. The switch was needed in case they lost computer systems during an attack and had to manually stop the override. Hopefully, they would never need to use it.
She peered over at Paul. He was busy connecting the extra lead shielding needed to compensate for the overflow of radiation that would result from the overload of the reactor.
“How much longer until you’re done?” she said.
“When it’s done, I’ll know. I’d worry more about whether they’ll get the autopilot system working on time.”
Amanda checked the time. “Good thought. I better go check. When you’re done down here, give me a holler.”
“Nicole will love that,” he said. “She likes being interrupted when she’s in deep thought.”
“Now you sound like Tanner,” she said.
Amanda made her way out of the engineering section and continued to the bow of the ship. As soon as she entered the bridge, she knew something was wrong. She could hear Nicole talking to herself. One thing Amanda knew for sure about Nicole: if she was talking to herself, there was a problem.
Nicole’s feet were protruding from under the helm console, but her mouth was working just fine. “God darn, archaic autodrive systems. I don’t know how this crappy setup ever worked in the first place.”
“Problems?” said Amanda.
Nicole jumped and hit her head on the console. “Ow! Damn it, Mandy!” She crawled out from under the console rubbing her head and laughing.
Amanda reached out her hand and helped her up.
“Hey, at least I didn’t grab your feet like last time,” said Amanda. “Anyway, what’s the issue?”
“The issue is that this ship was retired from active duty ten years ago. And since these old ships are only used for low-orbital test flights, they never bothered upgrading the autopilot systems.”
“That’s crazy,” said Amanda. “Then why have us use it during the simulation?”
“That’s the problem,” said Nicole. “They figured the simulation would be enough. They never expected to actually need these ships for active duty. Of course, it takes next to nothing to maintain the systems properly, but no! Idiots! Fricking idiots!”
Tanner was listening at the weapons console. “Way to tell them, Nicole! I have to say that was eloquently put. I see Jill’s teaching you well.”
This time it was Jill who smacked Tanner.
“Hey! If you guys are really into double teaming me . . .”
“In your dreams,” said Jill.
“Hey,” said Tanner, “Walt Disney said dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.”
“I’m not hea
ring any of this,” added Nicole.
At that moment Ryan walked onto the bridge. Amanda had updated him while the others were talking. “I hear we can’t get the autopilot to work,” he said.
“Yep,” said Nicole. “The entire system is fried. And to make it worse, we don’t have any spare parts for these old units.”
“Well that screws us,” said Tanner. “So much for our test flight.”
“We’ll need to run it live,” said Ryan.
“Live?” said Tanner. “You mean test this thing with real people?”
“We have no other choice,” said Ryan. “We’ll just have to be that much more diligent in our simulations.”
Amanda was glad Ryan was holding strong, but even she was a bit concerned about this.
“If any of you don’t want to do the live test flight,” said Ryan, “now is your chance to back out. But either way, I’m going to be on that ship, even if I have to run all the positions myself. So, anyone want to back out?”
Amanda looked around at the bridge crew. No one said a word. One by one, they all went back to work.
She felt a lump in her throat. She knew what they must be feeling—too young to die and too scared to run. They must have been trembling inside just like her. But somehow they found it in themselves to focus, even on a makeshift plan that was one step short of suicidal. There just wasn’t any other choice here. To think how far they’d come in just a few short days. Something special was definitely happening, something that if they managed to survive all this, would bind them together forever.
She turned to Ryan, who looked equally touched. “I’m heading down to engineering,” she said, as if it were a normal work day. “I want to run one last check on the engines and the light-speed generator. I’ll fill Paul in on what’s going on.”
“Sounds good,” he said. “Let me know as soon as he’s done. Meanwhile, I’ll try to get clearance from your dad for our test flight. I’ll also ask him to launch a few communications satellites and see if we can fry them. Wish me luck.”
“You’ll need it,” she said. “Let me know if he gives you a hard time.”
He smiled. “But that’s my job, to give him a hard time.”
“Trust me,” she said, laughing. “Nobody can do it better than daddy’s little girl.”
She thought of all the hard times she’d given her father. If Ryan only knew the half of it. As she watched him walk off, she went in the opposite direction to head for engineering to see Paul.
When she got there, Paul was putting the welding equipment away. That was a good sign. It meant he was done with the shielding and they were ready to go.
Paul looked up. “We’re all set,” he said. “Now all we need to do is leave the ship and watch the absolutely perfect results from the safety of our monitors.”
“Well . . . not exactly,” she said.
“Umm . . . you care to explain to me what ‘not exactly’ means?”
Amanda started to pace back and forth. Her palms were sweating. Finally, she decided to just blurt it out. “Well, you see, it’s like this. The autopilot system doesn’t work and there are no spare units available . . . so . . . well, I’m sure you get the point.”
“Um . . . well . . . no. I don’t. You mean we can’t do the test?”
“Paul,” she said. “We’re doing a live test. Everyone’s in. Well, I’m hoping ‘everyone’ means you too.”
She watched as Paul stood silent and blank-faced, almost as if he were contemplating what to eat for dinner. It occurred to her he’d be great at poker.
“You know,” he said, “my mother always told me this would happen.”
“Your mother told you this? What, is she a psychic?”
“No.” He smiled. “She told me if I didn’t start going to church instead of trying to build and fix things all the time, God wouldn’t have my back.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Paul laughed. “Actually she really did say that. Anyway, when does our test start?”
“So, you’re in?”
“Of course. What the hell. We’ve come this far. If we’re gonna do this, then let’s do it.”
She forced a smile. Poor Paul was trying to keep it together, just like her. But inside, she knew he had to be as nervous about the odds as she was. Even with all the simulations and preparation, things somehow always managed to go wrong when in a live space environment. Hopefully this wasn’t one of those cases. Out of instinct, she held out her arms for Paul, and he came forward to hold her—just two scared kids comforting each other. No words needed to be said.
When she left engineering, she called Ryan to give him the news. He had news for her as well.
“Mandy?” he said. “Looks like it’s a go.”
“You mean you talked to my dad? He said yes?”
“Well, more like he didn’t say no. He said he didn’t want to hear any more and would be unreachable for the next thirty minutes. Then he proceeded to tell me all the things we’d need to do if we were going to do such a test. So, I take that as a yes. Sort of.”
Typical, she thought. She could never get a straight answer out of her dad.
“So what’s our next step?” she said.
“Well, we need to do a final systems check and take off within the next thirty minutes.”
Thirty minutes! Everything that had taken place in the last week ran through her mind in an instant. So much had happened. Suddenly all her calculations, all her testing, seemed inadequate. Now, her whole life—and everybody’s—came down to what would happen in the next hour. This must be how death row prisoners feel awaiting the electric chair.
Chapter 26
Uedf Nimitz, Live Test
Ryan was starting to feel the pressure. Commanding a live mission—especially one with so much at stake and so many dangers looming—was in no way, shape, or form like leading a crew in a simulation, or even on a critical maintenance detail. And this was no ordinary test flight. They’d barely had time to regret their decision when it had been time to take off. So far, so good, though. Despite everyone’s anxiety, the Nimitz had taken off without a hitch and all systems were running at one hundred percent capacity. The real test was yet to come. Soon they’d find out one way or another whether Amanda’s risky plan would work.
“This is your friendly weapons officer, Tanner Blackhart, reporting,” said Tanner, breaking the nervous silence. “I’m detecting several extremely menacing-looking communication satellites dead ahead, Captain.”
As long as Ryan had known Tanner, he’d always been like this. The more difficult or dangerous a situation was, the crazier he acted. Of course, in a simulation, it wasn’t too hard to do, but it was good to know that even in a live situation, he was still the same old Tanner. Ryan wished he could be like that sometimes, but it wasn’t in his nature. Besides, he was always too busy trying to hold the fort together.
“Target the satellites, Tanner,” he ordered. “When we get to five thousand feet, prepare to fire the solar disrupter.”
Tanner smiled. “Solar disrupter, eh? Why, thanks, Ry. You used my name. Told you it was cool.”
“Well let’s hope it disrupts.”
Ryan could see they were getting closer to their target.
“Locking the targeting sensors now, Capt’n,” said Tanner.
“Jill, patch me through to engineering,” said Ryan.
“Main engineering is on the line . . . Captain.” Jill was smirking, obviously mimicking Tanner.
“This is Ryan to main engineering. Do you copy?” He felt awkward being so formal, but he was sure Admiral Williamson was secretly listening to the test flight, and he wanted his acceptance.
“Engineering here, Ry—I mean, Captain,” said Paul. “We’re ready to engage overload within sixty seconds of target.”
Ryan looked to Amanda at the sensor array. “Say when, Amanda.”
“Paul,” said Amanda, “according to my sensor readings, begin overload in . . . ten seconds.”
“Copy that, Amanda. Overload in seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Engaging engine overload . . . now.”
Ryan could feel the vibrations run through the entire ship as the light-speed generator was set to maximum output. As the power surge continued, the vibrations got stronger, making his whole body numb.
“Steady as she goes, Nicole,” he said, his voice shaking with the ship’s movements. “Hold course and maintain speed.”
Nicole’s eyes never left her console as she replied, “Course and speed steady as she goes.”
The entire ship was shaking. Ryan was starting to sweat as he heard the sound of metal contracting. He thought he heard a bolt or two pop. “How much longer, Paul?”
“Thirty seconds until catastrophic overload. At ten seconds, I’ll be activating the automated timing system. That will shut down the overload with a tenth of a second cushion. Let’s all say a prayer. ‘Cause if this doesn’t work, we’ll all be blown into subatomic particles, in which case I’ll see you on the other side.”
Ryan was using all of his inner strength to remain calm. He could feel the tension on the bridge. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Paul. From all of us on the bridge, we truly hate you.”
“Seriously folks,” said Tanner, “you all need to calm down. Do you have any idea of all the things that can happen in one-tenth of a second? A hummingbird can flap his wings ten times. A laser can travel hundreds of feet—”
“Tanner, shut up,” said Jill. “You’re not helping.”
Ryan grabbed hold of his chair as the Nimitz rocked and the vibrations got stronger and louder.
Nicole yelled out from the helm. “I’m having a hard time holding her on course.”
Ryan had to yell over the noise. “Hold her steady, Nicole. Just a little bit longer.”
Ryan’s heart was beating out of his chest. He could barely hear Paul over his com link as he counted down. “Prepare to fire in five, four, three, two, one.”
The ship felt like it was about to fall apart, when suddenly the vibrations stopped. The bridge crew let out a loud cheer, as Ryan, with barely time to breathe a sigh of relief, yelled to Tanner over the noise.
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