“Second thoughts?”
“No, I just wish we could talk to them first and avoid all this.”
“Amanda, we don’t get second chances here. And—”
“I know,” she said. “I get it. We’re outnumbered.”
Ryan was surprised by her response.
“What if we took out half their ships and then tried to talk?” she said.
“We’d be talking to some pretty pissed off aliens.”
“Yes, but we’d have the upper hand.”
Ryan took a deep breath.
“Why don’t we first figure out how we can take out the first batch?” he said. “Then let’s see if we’re still even alive to talk to anyone. Agreed?”
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“Now,” said Ryan, “how are we gonna get the timing right? If we’re a second late, we could end up either crashing into Earth or overshooting them by hundreds of thousands of miles. It still sounds like we’re pretty far from a realistic plan here.”
“Trust me,” said Amanda. “I got us this far, didn’t I?”
Ryan laughed. “I suppose you did.”
“I can calculate the speed and distance with Nikki. Then we can run the numbers for each ship. If we do this right, we’ll be there and gone before they know what hit them.”
“Sounds good if it works,” said Ryan, “but it’s the ‘doing this right’ part that has me nervous. About how long are we talking from Mars to Earth at light speed?”
“Hard to say. We’re over eighty-seven million miles from Earth at least, but the distance varies. Plus, we have to account for the relative velocity of time dilation.”
“Care to say that in English?”
“The longer the distance, the more we have to account for the movement of both planets. The computer will crunch it though.”
“Let’s say we get the numbers right. Can we use autopilot?”
“Well, that’s another issue,” she said. “For some ships, yes, and even those will need some work to get them up to speed. But more than half of our ships’ autopilot systems aren’t even operative.”
“And what do we do for those?”
“That’s where you come in.”
“Me?”
“What I need you to do is find out which ships don’t have a working autopilot. I’ll need to contact those ships and explain to them how to synchronize their navigational computers with their helm controls.”
“Will do,” said Ryan. “Meanwhile, you and Nicole go do your thing. How much time do you need?”
“Two hours,” said Amanda.
“Got it. We’ll touch base then.”
Ryan turned toward the weapons console. “Hey, Tanner, how many more times can we attack before we run short of torpedoes?”
Tanner did a quick tally. “We’re good for at least two more runs at them,” he said. “Will that do?”
“It’ll have to.” This didn’t leave room for any error, but then again everything else had been down to the wire, so it was par for the course.
Paul called the bridge from engineering. “Ryan, I’ve run a full diagnostic on the engines. Best case scenario, we can run the overload sequence two more times before we fry them. Worst case, we may only get one more shot. After that, we’d be screwed because all we’d have left would be sub-light drive and our maneuvering thrusters.”
“Then we damn well better make each attack count.”
By the time he had identified which ships lacked autopilot systems and forwarded the names to Amanda, an hour had gone by. He was waiting like an expectant father for another hour when he heard the doors to the bridge open. Amanda and Nicole entered.
“I could really use some good news about now,” he said.
“We have the data,” said Amanda. “I’m downloading the calculations into the helm. I’ve also sent all the information to each ship in the fleet. We should be all set to go in ten minutes.”
Ryan nodded. Ten minutes. All the planning and all the events over the last few weeks, and it all came down to ten lousy minutes.
“Okay,” he said. “Jill, inform the fleet that we move in exactly . . . nine minutes. We need to time the takeoff perfectly so we arrive together.”
It felt surreal watching the crew go about their business looking like real pros. To think that just a few short weeks ago their biggest worry had been passing exams. Things sure had changed. It amazed him how quickly they’d all bonded and how far they had come in such a short time. He remembered reading that a study of the most elite teams showed that they all shared four beliefs: a belief in the mission, in their leader, in themselves, and, most of all, in each other. If that was true, then this was the most elite of teams, with the granddaddy of all challenges: how to survive another day and save Earth. Yes indeed, a far cry from his life just three weeks ago.
After a few short minutes, Amanda called over to him. “We’re ready to go, Ryan.”
“Jill, put me through to Paul,” he said.
“Patching you to engineering now.”
“Paul, full power to engines. Prepare for light-speed drive.”
“Engines hot and ready,” said Paul. “We’re good to go.”
“You heard the man, Nicole. Punch it. Light speed, now.”
“Engaging light-speed drive, Captain.”
Ryan gripped his chair. He wasn’t sure if he was more worried about the light speed transition or what was waiting on the other side. Either way, his stomach rose up into his throat as soon as the jump began.
It was hard to believe they were traveling at one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second. No matter how many times Ryan tried to grasp it, he still found the idea mind-boggling.
He was watching the clock. One fraction off and they could end up on the wrong side of Earth, or worse, crash into the planet. Not only did they need to have pinpoint accuracy, but their timing had to be perfect. Hoping for the best but still anxious, he could feel his stomach tightening.
At exactly eighteen minutes into their flight, the computer activated the overload in the reactor and the now-familiar vibrations started. The closer to the sixty-second countdown it got, the more violent the rumbling became. With the count at fifteen seconds, the braking thrusters were activated and the ship came to a screeching halt. The internal gravity slammed Ryan forward against his restraints. It was like a roller coaster ride on steroids. But now the real hell would begin. The moment of truth.
Over the roar of the braking thrusters, Ryan could hear Tanner yelling, “Firing solar disrupters. Targeting systems activated. Firing torpedoes.”
It was like chaos, with everything happening at once. From the sensor station Amanda yelled out, “Incoming weapons fire.”
“Hard about,” ordered Ryan. “Prepare to bug out.”
Suddenly the ship lurched violently. Alarms were blaring on the bridge. “Were we hit?” asked Ryan.
“Near miss!” yelled Tanner.
“We dodged a bullet,” said Nicole.
“Get us outta here, Nicole. Now!” yelled Ryan. He knew it would be a few minutes before they regained light-speed ability, but hopefully the disrupters had done their job on the enemy.
As the ship bucked with Nicole’s maneuvering, Ryan tried to look at Amanda’s console. “Did we hit any?” he said.
Amanda was deep in concentration. Finally, she yelled out, “We got them!”
Ryan noticed sparks coming from Amanda’s console and sprang into action, running from his seat and jumping in front of her just as the device erupted into flames and shorted out.
As he pushed her out of harm’s way and to the floor, the console blew up with a deafening sound. The force of the explosion threw Ryan into a bulkhead, ramming his head against it and knocking him to the ground. Dazed, he could see that Amanda was all right even though she was lying next to him on the floor.
Fighting to maintain consciousness, he could see the crew working to put out fires from short circuits around the bridge. Amanda was tryi
ng to say something to him. Her mouth was moving, but all he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears.
He noticed that her amulet had broken open and was lying on the floor next to him. Something had fallen out of it. Ryan struggled to move his finger and managed to point to it. He tried to speak, but he couldn’t. Then the room started spinning and everything went dark.
Chapter 38
Contact
Amanda felt like she’d been hit by a freight train. One second she was watching her sensor array, the next she was lying on the floor. Everything seemed to have happened at once. She knew they’d barely escaped the direct hit. Then she’d felt herself being tackled and the next thing she knew, there was an explosion. She crawled toward Ryan, who was passed out face-down on the floor. God, please let him be okay.
Tanner and Jill came running over.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Go call the medics.”
She kept calling Ryan’s name, but he wasn’t responding. She went to turn him over, but noticed her amulet on the floor next to his hand. It had broken open and there were two small flat black objects beside it. The necklace must have fallen off during the explosion, unless it was from when Ryan tackled her. Poor Ryan was probably trying to get to the amulet after he fell. She turned her attention back to him, praying he was alive.
He was unconscious, but he was breathing, though his breaths were labored. His shirt was torn and he appeared to have burns on his chest and arms. As she turned his head, she could see that he was bleeding from a deep gash on his forehead. She quickly forced herself up to grab a first aid kit and sat down on the floor next to him. If not for him, it would have been she who had suffered the brunt of the explosion.
“Damn you, Ryan,” she said, choked up. “Oh God, please don’t die.” She was about to apply pressure to the gaping wound above his right eye when the bridge doors opened.
She jumped up and saw the medical team. “Over here!” she yelled.
They rushed over and Doctor Basha checked his pulse and looked into his eyes. She then felt around his head and neck and examined the burns on his chest.
“Was he like this when you found him?” she said.
“Yes . . . well I turned him over,” said Amanda.
“Never do that. If he had a spinal injury, you could have made it worse. They covered that in your emergency medical training.”
“I’m sorry. Is he okay?”
“His pulse is steady,” said Basha. “Some second-degree burns. Internal injuries are always a possibility. I’ve got to get him to the infirmary.” The tech helped the doctor put a neck brace on Ryan, and they immobilized his back so they could put him safely on the gurney. Then they whisked him away.
It dawned on Amanda that with Ryan out of commission, she was next in command. Funny how all she had wanted before was to beat him, and now she’d give anything to have him back in command. Or to have him back, period. She didn’t even want to think about losing him.
She was tempted to go to the infirmary, but she knew she was needed on the bridge. As she scanned the room to survey the situation, she noticed that a damage control team had arrived and was trying to put out some small fires.
“Jill, I need a damage report from all departments,” she said.
“Damage reports are just starting to come in,” said Jill. “I’ll get them to you ASAP.”
“Thanks.” Amanda made her way to the helm console and put a hand on Nicole’s shoulder.
“You okay?” said Nicole.
“I’ll live. I’m just hoping Ryan’s all right. Do we still have full flight control and light-speed ability?”
“Somehow it looks like we do,” said Nicole. “I’m waiting for confirmation. For now, Ryan ordered me to head back to Mars. The rest of the fleet is supposed to meet us there.”
“Okay,” said Amanda. “Stay on course.”
She looked around. The damage control teams were preparing to leave the bridge when Cadet Rawlings approached. “The sensor array is shot,” he said. “We’ll need to repair it. I just wanted to let you know before I run.”
“Run where?” said Amanda. “How long will it take?”
“I need to go help Paul run a diagnostic on the reactor and the light-speed generator. I’m guessing that’ll take an hour, and then another hour for the sensor array. See you soon, Amanda . . . I mean, Captain.”
“Amanda is fine,” she said.
As Rawlings and his team left the bridge, Amanda thought, You wanted a chance to try and end the fighting. Well, here it is.
Another two hours went by, and finally all the diagnostics were run and repairs made as needed. Amanda used the time to think of options, and one in particular was making more and more sense.
“All systems are go for light speed,” said Nicole.
“All stations ready,” said Jill.
Amanda strapped herself in to get ready for the light-speed jump and closed her eyes. She was so focused on Ryan and the mission ahead that she barely noticed the jump this time. Once they reached light speed, her thoughts drifted off as she thought about the events over the last few weeks.
In practically no time, she was brought back to reality by a beep from the bridge.
“We’ll be at Mars in ten minutes,” said Nicole.
Amanda looked around and everyone was up and busy.
“Jill,” she said. “Do we have confirmation from all of our ships?
“We still haven’t heard from the Zhukov,” said Jill. “The Kennedy reported heavy damage and said the survivors were abandoning ship and heading toward Pluto. All other ships are accounted for.”
“Do we have a number of verified kills?” asked Amanda.
“Thirteen,” said Jill.
“Odd,” said Amanda. “The Zhukov must have overshot their target or run into some type of trouble. Check for their automated distress beacon. It should have ejected if something happened.”
“Activating the search sequence now,” said Jill. In seconds, she let out a gasp.
“What?” said Amanda.
“I found it. The beacon data shows there was a failure in their autopilot system that took them off course.” Jill paused and turned to face her. “It’s not good, Amanda. They crashed.”
“Crashed into Earth?”
“No, according to the coordinates, they collided head on with 1999 RQ36. You know the size of that asteroid, Amanda. There’s no way there could be any survivors.”
“Damn these old ships! Just great. The asteroid just misses Earth, courtesy of the UEDF, and then they have to hit it.” Amanda couldn’t believe they’d lost another ship. And more classmates. It didn’t make her feel overly safe on the Churchill either. But it didn’t have to be this way. Nobody else had to die. This convinced her of it. It was time to put an end to this violence before any more cadets lost their lives.
“Nicole,” she said. “Take us around to the other side of Mars. I want to get into position to contact the Altarran commander.”
Tanner approached Amanda. “Permission to tell it like it is?”
“Don’t you always?” said Amanda.
“Listen,” said Tanner, “you have lots of really good ideas, I’ll admit that. But this ain’t one of them. If you contact them, they just may track the transmission and find our ships. Then we’re screwed. We can’t outrun them in these freakin’ floating trashcans.”
“You know something, Tanner? That was very diplomatic, and it actually makes sense. But don’t worry. I’ve got it covered.”
“Covered how? This I can’t wait to hear.”
“The fleet will be moved to Saturn. I’m going alone.”
“Oh. Well, then,” said Tanner. “Why didn’t you just say so? That’s much different. Suicidal much?”
“I’ll be less of a threat.”
“Oh, I’ll say,” said Tanner. “One little transport ship against twenty-two advanced battleships. What could happen there, right? That’s an awesome plan. I love this plan . . . I’ll put tha
t on your tombstone, ‘She was less of a threat.’”
“Tanner, it’s not like I’m going to waltz in there by surprise. When I tell them about the amulet, I’m betting they’ll talk.”
Tanner was staring at the broken amulet with the two black objects that Amanda had gathered in a box. “I’m sure they’ll love the fact that it’s broken. Where’d those come from?”
“Those black things? I think they were inside the amulet. But I have no idea what they are. Here. Take a look.” She put the two small black objects into Tanner’s hand.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “I’ve seen stuff like this before, in the archives library with Jill.”
“You have? What are they?”
“They’re some type of information chip. Micro-something or other. Jill would know.”
Amanda called Jill over.
“You ever see anything like this before?” said Amanda.
Jill examined them closely. “How old is this amulet?” she asked.
“Not really sure,” said Amanda. “It’s been in our family over a hundred and twenty-five years. I have no idea how old it is.”
“This one looks like an old-style microchip,” said Jill. “The other one, I’m not really sure. That one’s a little different. It could be a microfilm. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything on board that I can use to read them. Back at the academy in the old archives library, they did. The only reason I remember is because Tanner and I did a thesis about the evolution of military information storage.”
“Let me take them to Paul,” said Tanner. “Maybe he and I can figure something out.”
No sooner had Tanner left with the objects than Nicole called out. “We’ve reached the other side of Mars,” she said. “We have a clear communication path to Earth.
“Jill,” said Amanda. “Can you find any unusual frequency channels? Something that might be foreign?”
“Searching,” said Jill.
Amanda waited as Jill fiddled with the controls.
“I’ve detected a frequency that could be them,” said Jill. “It’s off any of our normal ranges.”
“Okay, here goes,” said Amanda. “Let’s see if we can open a channel to the Altarran fleet.”
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