Just then, his communication link beeped. Finally, the call he was waiting for.
“Please tell me you have some good news, Morgan.”
“Nothing that will help us yet, Admiral,” she said. “We’re only halfway through these boxes. We did find a few filled with microfilm and microchips, but we don’t even have the equipment to decipher any of it. It’s ancient technology.”
Thompson sighed. “Damn it. I should have thought about that. I’ll have a team of experts on old military protocol there within an hour or two. That’s gonna cost us time.”
“Well it hasn’t exactly been business as usual, sir. It’s hard to think of everything.”
“Sure it’s hard,” he said. “But it’s the small details that’ll kill you every time and it’s my job to think of them. Anyway, I have a meeting with R&D in thirty minutes. Let me know when the experts get there.”
“Will do,” said Morgan. “Good luck, sir.”
“From your mouth to God’s ears, Morgan. Thompson out.”
He practically flew outside, where a transport was waiting to take him to the research and development buildings located on the opposite side of the base.
As the vehicle pulled off, his mind was racing. He was wracking his brain still trying to make sense of the bizarre message. He was good at puzzles, but he wasn’t getting anywhere with this one. He decided maybe the best thing was to put it out of his mind for a bit. Maybe then something would come to him in a sudden burst of inspiration. At least that’s how it always seemed to work for him in the past.
Within minutes, the transport had arrived at the research facility. As soon as he left the vehicle and made his way to the building entrance, he was greeted by Commodore Osaki, the lead engineer for the R&D department. With Osaki was one of his assistants, a woman who looked to be in her late thirties, with tied-up hair and glasses too big for her face, though she had a certain beauty about her.
Thompson shook Osaki’s hand, then the woman’s, and the three of them exchanged pleasantries and made their way toward the lab. “Any luck on the solar flare emulation?” said Thompson.
“Unfortunately, nothing of substance,” said Osaki.
The commodore’s assistant seemed to have another opinion. “If I may interject—” she said in an accent Thompson couldn’t quite make out but was pretty sure was French.
Osaki gave her a disapproving look and she stopped talking.
Thompson was in no mood to worry about hurting people’s feelings. There were more important issues at hand, and he wanted to hear what this officer had to say. “And you are?” he said.
“Captain Laurent, sir,” said the woman in a most certainly French accent. “Marie Laurent. I used to teach engineering at the academy. I just transferred here last month.” She took off her glasses and put them in her pocket, making her look even more attractive.
“Yes, she’s very new,” said Osaki, as they entered the lab, “so please pardon—”
“Can it, Osaki,” said Thompson. “I want to hear what Captain Laurent has to say. It’s not like we have anything else to consider at this point.” Looking back at Laurent, he said, “Please continue, Captain.”
Laurent stepped forward and gave Osaki an I-told-you-so look. “Admiral,” she said, “while teaching at the academy, I had a student—very bright, who was very much ahead of the other students. She wrote a thesis on resourceful artillery. We asked all new students to design a weapon using only auxiliary resources from our engines and other equipment.”
Osaki couldn’t help himself. “Captain, we’ve discussed this. Even you said that it was a dangerous and risky idea. If we—”
“Commodore,” interjected Thompson, “if you interrupt again, I will demote you to a lieutenant. I will not have another officer silenced when we’re in a code red situation. Are we clear?”
Osaki didn’t say a word. He just nodded and took a couple of steps back.
“Please continue, Captain,” said Thompson.
Laurent gave Osaki a smug look. “As I was saying, Admiral, this young lady wrote a brilliant thesis. And it was about the very thing you are asking. She theorized that a solar flare could be manufactured by overloading the light-speed generator and shutting it down milliseconds before detonation.”
Thompson was listening intently. He could see why Osaki thought it was risky. “And what was your take on it?” he asked Laurent. “Is it feasible?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “It could work, with slight modification. I just told the student that her shutdown time might be too early, but yes, it could work in theory. It’s very dangerous though. The odds—”
“Odds don’t matter right now,” he said. “Who was this student? Do we have her report?”
“I have the report. Amanda Williamson is the girl. Her father’s an admiral at the—”
“Yes, I know him well.” Thompson had to smile. He should have known it was Amanda. Without hesitation, he said, “I want the entire R&D department recalled. Nobody, I repeat, nobody is to leave this building. I want every resource this department has on this project.”
Osaki, who looked embarrassed, stepped forward. “I’ll get everyone recalled and on this immediately, sir.”
“Thompson had seen too many people like the Commodore over the years—brown-nosers and bureaucrats. Meanwhile, the R&D staff had wasted seven days spinning their wheels because Osaki was being too cautious in an urgent situation. “I wasn’t talking to you, Captain Osaki,” he said. “I was talking to the new department head, Commodore Laurent. You work for her now.”
He looked at Laurent. “Commodore Laurent, I want updates every hour on the hour. Understood?”
Laurent smiled nervously at him. “Yes, sir,” she said. “Every hour.”
Thompson nodded and left the lab to head toward the transports. He couldn’t get over the fact that Osaki had withheld an idea that was the one thing that could help them against the Altarrans. The entire facility had been tasked with only one thing—to find out how to produce solar flares—and a solution had been put right in the man’s pocket. Sure it was a long shot, but a long shot beats no shot. He thought he’d drilled that into every soldier’s head by now. It figured it was a student who came up with the idea. And not just any student. Amanda. He wasn’t surprised. She was brilliant. He’d always felt she should have gone into engineering, but he knew Jonas wanted her in command training. Well, if her idea worked, this would be a good a time as any to change an old friend’s mind.
Chapter 32
Change Of Plans
Ryan looked at the clock. If they left now, they would get to Earth maybe an hour or two before the cease-fire ended. But it didn’t seem they were anywhere near ready.
Paul and Amanda were working along with the other engineering cadets trying to install the solar disrupter on the last ship—the Churchill.
“How much longer until you guys are done?” Ryan asked.
“At least another eight hours,” said Amanda.
“We don’t have eight hours,” he said. “If we don’t leave in an hour—two at the most—we’re screwed.”
The way she jumped up from behind the sonic coils brandishing a thermal welder in her hand, he thought she was going to pounce on him. She lowered her protective visor.
“Listen, Ryan, we’ve working nonstop for the last three days and your interrupting us every ten minutes isn’t gonna make us go any faster. Don’t you think we know what’s at stake? We’ll be done as soon as we can.”
“Amanda, that’s what I’m saying. As soon as you can is too late.”
“So what do you want me to do about it?!”
Paul jumped in between them. “That’s enough. Everyone is tired and upset. I’ve got a better idea.”
Ryan looked at Paul. “What’s that?”
“Let’s switch ships.”
“Switch ships?”
“Yes, let the crew of the Churchill take the Nimitz. We’ll take the Churchill. We can make the Churchi
ll the flagship and we can work on the engine en route.”
“Are you crazy?” said Amanda. “It’s difficult enough to do this in a safe environment. You want to do this in space? While we’re traveling at light speed?”
“But you’re the one who gave me the idea,” said Paul. “You said that in the worst case scenario, it could be done.”
“Exactly. I said worst case scenario. I meant if we were already en route and something went wrong. It’s not something I’d plan to do on purpose. If we make a mistake or something goes wrong while we’re at light speed, we’ll all be space dust in seconds.”
“Is that anything like pixie dust?” said Tanner, who had just entered the room.
Everyone was too focused to even respond.
Ryan thought for a moment. As much as he was annoyed at Amanda, her idea made sense. In dire circumstances, sometimes you needed to take a chance, even if the odds were against you. It was something his father had drilled into his head from day one. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s do it.”
“Do what?” said Paul.
“Let’s do Amanda’s idea.”
“Hey, I was the one who brought it up,” said Paul. “She doesn’t even want to do it.”
“Don’t speak for me,” said Amanda.
“I’ll notify Shelby,” said Ryan. “He was assigned to the Churchill. I’ll have him and his crew take the Nimitz. We’ll switch the flag to the Churchill, and we’ll finish installing the solar disrupter on our way to Earth. Are we all together on this?”
Paul nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Sounds like fun,” said Tanner. “I’m in.”
Amanda took off her visor and packed away her thermal welder. “Sounds like suicide to me,” she said. “But let’s do it.”
“Ry,” said Tanner, “since we’re taking the Churchill, I better get over to the Nimitz and pick up Punch and Judy.”
“Well, you better get them now. I want to be ready to depart in two hours.”
“Your wish is my command. On my way, Ry.”
“Wait, who the hell are Punch and Judy?” asked Amanda.
“Just a couple of Tanner’s homemade torpedoes,” said Ryan.
The next two hours passed quickly. All fifteen ships were cleared for departure. Ryan was on the bridge with Tanner, Jill, and Nicole. Amanda and Paul were in engineering. Ryan decided now was a good time to address his crew. He motioned to Jill to switch on the internal mic.
“Okay, everyone,” he said, “it’s time to do this. I know we spent a lot of time on the Nimitz, but right now the Churchill is our new home. May it serve us well. While Admiral Williamson won’t be seeing us off, he’s privately arranged unofficial clearance for departure. So we’re on our own—only not. Now, it’ll be up to us as the flagship to lead this fleet through some pretty rough times. I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to die yet. So trust me when I say, we will win this thing. Let’s make it happen.”
“Let’s make it happen!” yelled out Tanner, as the others joined in and then went to their stations.
“Take us out, Nicole,” said Ryan. “Standard orbit until the entire fleet is with us.”
“Standard orbit. Engaging now.”
Ryan sat in the command chair and watched the viewer as the Churchill climbed into orbit, followed by the rest of the fourteen battleships and the two transports.
Ryan called to Jill. “Have all ships line up in a wing formation. Tell them to engage light speed on our mark. Then patch me through to engineering.”
“Sending message to the fleet now,” Jill said. “All ships acknowledged. Putting you through to engineering now.”
Amanda replied immediately. “Main engineering here. We’re ready to engage.”
“Confirmed,” said Ryan. He looked to Nicole at the helm. “Prepare to engage light speed in ten seconds.”
“Confirmed. Ten seconds.”
Ryan listened as the computer counted down. Five, four, three, two, one.
“Now,” shouted Ryan.
He waited for the initial kick of the engines. He was trying to remember the last time he had actually experienced light speed in the simulator and wondered how this would compare. As he clenched the sides of his chair and waited, it felt as if they were standing perfectly still. It was eerily quiet and he could hear the breathing of the other crew members. Then, in an instant, he felt his whole body being pulled forward with a jerk, and yet it felt like he was being stretched, as if part of his body didn’t want to move. He felt dizzy, much worse than in any simulation, and everything around him blurred into one big distorted view. He could actually see his own image reflected over and over, mixed in with images of the entire bridge for as far as the eye could see. Then there came a giant snap, like he was being catapulted forward by a huge slingshot. He felt like his stomach was in his mouth. Seconds later, everything was back to normal, although the residual effects were making him nauseous.
As he shook off the cobwebs, Ryan looked around. He could see by the looks on everyone’s faces that the rest of the bridge crew felt pretty much like he did. He called out to Tanner, who, with Amanda off in engineering, was manning the sensor station. “Does everything look normal?”
Tanner hesitated briefly. “Define normal,” he said. “We have a fleet of nauseous teenage cadets careening about space at light speed, on the way to use an unknown and never-before-used weapon to fight a formidable enemy that has far superior numbers. Other than that . . . yeah, pretty normal. All systems are running tried and true, Mon Capitan.”
“Thanks, I think,” said Ryan.
Ryan sat back and thought about what awaited them. Truth be told, he was scared to death, though he’d never show it.
He was almost knocked off his chair when the ship started to vibrate without warning. What the hell was happening? Alarms suddenly went off on the bridge. “What’s going on?” he called out. “Talk to me.”
“Ry,” said Tanner. “I’m detecting an overload in engineering.”
“Jill,” said Ryan. “Patch me through to engineering fast.”
“Right away. You’re on.”
“Paul, Amanda, what the hell happened down there?”
There was a slight hesitation. “This . . . this is Cadet Rawlings, sir. There’s been an explosion in the reactor room. Paul is unconscious. I’ve called for a medical tech.”
“An explosion! Where’s Amanda?” All sorts of things were racing through Ryan’s head.
“In the reactor room sir. She grabbed a radiation suit and ran in there. I couldn’t stop her, sir.”
“She what?” said Ryan. “Get her out of there now. Those doors will automatically lock, and if the problem isn’t fixed when the countdown hits thirty seconds, the core and anyone in that room will be ejected into space.”
“I know that, Captain,” said Rawlings. “But she outranks me, and she ordered everyone out of the area . . . and . . . well . . .”
“And what!” screamed Ryan.
“Well . . . um . . . the door’s already locked. Nobody can get in or out . . . sir.”
Ryan fell back into his command chair. Everything was falling apart before they had even started. He had to do something, but what? He jumped out of his chair and called to Tanner, “I’m heading down to engineering. You’ve got the bridge.”
Tanner stood up grabbed him as he tried to pass. “Ry, man,” he said, “there’s nothing you can do. In fact, if you’re too close when the reactor’s jettisoned, it could kill you.”
Ryan didn’t have time to even consider that. He broke free and was off and running. “Sorry, Tanner,” he said. “I can’t just sit here and let her die.”
He flew off the bridge, reality hitting him like a ton of bricks. He really did care about her, more than he’d wanted to admit. And he sure wasn’t about to let her die because of his orders . . . because of his impatience. He was also worried about poor Paul, but the only thing that could be done there was to wait for the medics. At least Amanda he had
a chance of saving. The question was how. He had to figure out a way. He’d already lost a part of himself and wasn’t about to lose another. It had taken all the inner strength he had to get past the nightmare of his mother’s death. If Amanda died because of his decision to work on the engines in flight, he would never forgive himself.
Chapter 33
Life And Death
Amanda knew she was running on borrowed time. The doors had sealed shut as soon as she’d entered the reactor room. To make matters worse, the mechanical voice of the computer kept blaring in her ears.
Warning. Core overload in ten minutes. Automatic ejection system will activate at one minute.
“Wonderful,” she said to herself as she looked around for the containment field mechanism. “I knew this was a bad idea. Sure, work on a light-speed engine while engaged in light-speed drive. Should have listened to me, folks.”
As the alarm blasted and she scanned the room, she couldn’t get Paul’s bloody face out of her mind. Luckily, he’d still had a pulse when she checked it. Now it was up to the medics. Just minutes ago she’d been working on the wiring when she’d heard a persistent whining sound, indicating that someone had failed to align the containment field properly. But before she could warn Paul, the explosion had hit. Poor Rawlings had tried to stop her from running to the reactor room, but to no avail. If she’d evacuated and the engines had blown, the whole fleet would have had to stop to help them abandon ship and the mission would have been lost. That was still a possibility, but if she could only find the containment field . . .
Just then, she spotted its glowing blue light peeking from behind a safety divider by the far wall.
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