Just at that moment Caleb appears with Syn and Rooke. Caleb, seeing everyone before him stares at them confused, asking, “Are we really having a meeting about loaning me the drones?”
Ismail, who up till know has been silent answers, “No Caleb, we were just told about your need for the drones a few minutes ago. Our original reason was to warn you about the approaching energy trails that appear to be Super Carriers heading to your exposed position.”
Caleb looks to his daughter in disbelief, asking, “So I see you take after your Mother on remembering things.”
Carla grins briefly, answering, “I always thought I took after you.”
Syn interrupts, stating, “I am aware of the Carriers approach but I need those drones as soon as possible to accelerate our repairs. I can send over my plans that will allow you to connect one of your portable shift system directly to your power core, thus allowing you to transfer over at least one-hundred drones.”
Abe, who as always is able to calculate answers to complex problems in his head states, “Even by doing that we will need to coordinate a shift lock between our ships that would need to be near absolute perfection with a margin of error of less than point zero nine. The stress of such a shift would kill a human being but the drones should be able to sustain the shift without any issue.” Abe, still calculating the shift in his head points out, “Our portable shifter will only be able to stretch at most a day, which means your taking your ships shifter off line to cover the additional four days. This will leave you exposed and without an escape route until it can be reconnected and that should still take the better part of a day, which you don’t have time for. No Syn, we will need a different course of action”
Ismail, recalling what had happened back on the Yorktown asks, “Abe, you were able to modify a fighter to shift almost a week away can’t you do that again?”
Abe quickly realizes the time parameters as he smiles, answering, “No, it took me a few days to modify just one fighter and I ended up destroying the shift drive in the process but I think I have an alternative idea.”
Carla looks over to Abe who he sees looking over at Zeta Seven and says, “No way am I going to allow you to try that.”
Ulysses finally speaks up, noticing Abe’s attention towards Zeta Seven and says, “I may have an alternative plan to offer, which is far less risky. I have the Salem on board and we can shift closer to you and act as a bridge between the two ships.”
Ronin responds, “Commander Ulysses, although you will be able to traverse a great distance from us it will only place you a day and a half ahead of us as our current speed, which is far greater than that of the Salem.”
“That will work!” Abe smiles, stating, “That will work as I can bring the drones with me on the Salem and interlock them all with Zeta Seven and then I can do an extended shift from the Salem to Paladin in under six hours, using the Salem’s shift drive energy the same way Syn was going to use Paladin’s shift drive.”
Ulysses grins, stating “And Ronin can pick us up as while we travel towards Paladin.”
Carla alarmed yells, “No way! That’s far too dangerous. You just said that kind of shift would kill a human.”
Syn interrupts again, “It would if he was not protected in an armored battle suit.” Syn pauses, studying the Zeta unit and smiles, stating, “You had built a suit like that in the alternate timeline. Many components in my design are from that.”
Frasier stands up and states, “Ok let’s get this plan into motion now.”
Carla now infuriated yells yet again, “I said no way am I allowing Abe to risk his life on this crazy shift!”
Kalen, who always considers his own needs first states, asking, “I would agree with our resident Demon Queen here. If we let Abe go then who will keep her from blowing the ship apart when next she goes off into one of her wild outings against the other Demon Queen?”
Caleb stares intently at Kalen, stating, “I see Rachel and I see Gabriel in your appearance. I know not how you came to have such noble lineage in your DNA and yet remain so petty and selfish. The Demon Queen is before us not with you. My Daughter is the only hope our race has to survive and you may not like that fact but you better come to terms with it.” Caleb looks to Abe and asks, “Is there another way you can send the drones without you?”
Abe looks towards Carla and answers, “I’m the only one that can pilot around the time distortions in null space. It has to be me.”
Carla looks down in rage as she knows Abe is right.
Ulysses gets up and says, “Then we have very little time to waste.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
RACING THE CLOCK
Within an hour over one-hundred drones are loaded into Salem as Abe begins working on Zeta Seven, interlocking all the drones with tow cables as he prepares two energy conduits, one connected to main power core of Salem’s and the other to Salem’s shift drive.
Ulysses enters the engineering section, seeing Abe’s work he asks, “You do know we need our shift drive to get us there first?”
Abe, who remains focused answers, “Yup, I’m fully aware of that but Zeta Seven has a more advanced shift computer than the Salem and I’m going to use that to extend your shift.” Abe pauses as he finally looks up to Ulysses and says, “It will take me six hours afterwards to hook up the Salem’s shift drive energy directly to Zeta Seven and then I’ll use that energy to navigate the rest of the distance to Paladin.”
Ulysses, aware of Carla’s concern asks, “You know your wife is very upset with your plan here, don’t you think its better that you spend a few minutes with her before we go?”
Carla suddenly appears before Ulysses as her astral image and says, “Thank you for your concern Ulysses but we are still discussing this.”
Ulysses is surprised at Carla’s appearance, stating, “My goodness I didn’t even sense your psychic presence.”
Carla smirks, responding, “I’ve been working on being more stealthful since encountering the Meli.”
Abe shakes his head in clear annoyance, stating, “Carla for the last time this is not up for discussion, we both know I’m the only person that can navigate through null space in time.”
Carla stares down at Abe as her emotions begin to overwhelm her. She vanishes as Abe finally stops and stands straight, saying, “We need to go now if we have any chance of reaching Paladin in time.”
Ulysses can clearly see the stress Abe is under as he shakes his head reluctantly, announcing, “Salem take us out and shift as soon as we are clear.”
Abe jumps into Zeta Seven as he prepares to navigate through null space. The Salem launches as it takes all its thrusters to clear the edge of Ronin’s outer launch deck before shifting.
For almost an hour the Salem traverses around the multiple time streams within null space until the Salem’s shift drive can no longer handle the stress and reenters normal space.
The Salem reports, “Our shift was successful but our shift drive is off line until it cools down. I estimate that will take two days.”
Abe responds coldly as he begins calculating his next step, stating, “That wont matter Salem as all I need is your energy to push us through null space.” Abe jumps out of Zeta Seven and quickly begins hooking up all the conduits to Zeta Seven.
Elsewhere, back on Ronin Carla looks out at the holoscreen as the Salem appears on Ronin’s scanners. Ronin announces, “The Salem has exited null space and appears to have extended their shift to be within eighty-four hours from Paladin. They are still cloaked.”
Frasier asks, “How long until we over take them?”
Ronin announces, we will be able to overtake their position in seventy-eight hours. Approximately six hours before we reach Caleb.”
Noah looks up towards Carla and asks, “Mistress Carla may I accompany you on your scouting mission?”
Ismail who is ever present when Noah is around looks at him in bewilderment, stating, “Carla is not planning any scouting missions.”
&nb
sp; Noah looks towards Ismail, declaring, “Not one that you are expecting but I can sense her emotions as she is preparing to delve once more into the psychic plane.”
Carla grins as she turns towards Noah and responds, “I don’t have time to babysit you Noah. I was just going to poke my head in and see what is out there.”
Kalen, who is standing next to Frasier eyes go wide as he points out, “And if your head becomes at risk while you’re poking around just whom do you think is going to be able to keep this ship together. I mean we still have not fully recovered since the last time and your husband is off to help fix Paladin.”
Ismail groans aloud, stating, “Carla as much as it pains me to agree with Kalen he has a point, just stand tight until we can get the ship back together.”
Ronin reports, “We will be fully operational in thirty-seven hours and eighteen minutes.”
Carla’s head drops as she relents on her unscheduled trip into the psychic plane and pulls herself out of Ronin, becoming physical. She storms back towards the lift that leads to her quarters above the Bridge, stating, “I’ll just go sit with my children and try to remain patient.”
Kalen scoff aloud, “Fat chance of that happening.”
Carla glares at Kalen, leaving the Bridge.
Back on Paladin Syn races from system to system as he hurriedly tries to repair Paladin both inside and outside the ship.
Even Caleb is involved in repairs as he wears a space suit, moving the damaged pieces of the super structure back into place. The entire crew races against the clock as the four Super Carriers close in on his position.
Rooke, who remains on the Bridge coordinates the repairs and announces, “We have multiple hull breaches sealing themselves as soon as the parts come into contact with each other but we are still moving to slow.”
Caleb asks, “What is our time frame?”
Paladin reports, “I have detected the Salem and calculate that if Master Abraham is correct, he should be here with in five hours and twenty-four minutes. At this time and using Syn’s program I’m showing the four Carriers will be here in twenty hours and eleven minutes.”
Rooke asks, “Can’t we just shift away again?”
Paladin reports, “The shift drive is at full power but the conduits are still recovering from near critical levels. We will need another day till it is operational.”
Syn notices one of the crew standing on the edge of Paladin’s deck, doing nothing but starring out into space. He alerts Caleb, “Perhaps we could get the entire crew involved in repairs.” He points at the crewmember as Caleb turns and notices.
Caleb pushes his body towards the crewmember to see it is nonother than Elise. Caleb concerned asks, “Elise just what are you doing out here?”
Elise turns to Caleb void of any emotion and says, “I shouldn’t be here. I should be gone from this place.”
Caleb looks at Elise in confusion until he sees her holding a plasma grenade and reacts as quickly as he can. Caleb shifts to her, grabbing her swiftly as he shifts once more, knocking the grenade from her hand and into null space, and just as quick he shifts back to Paladin all in the span of a single breath.
Elise collapses as she becomes unconscious.
Caleb confused asks, “Paladin what the hell is going on?”
Paladin reports, “Cale several of my psychic deflectors are damaged and I have extended the remaining ones to cover the rest of the ship but there are area’s that the Meli may be able to pierce.”
Caleb clenches his fists, stating, “Okay, I’ll focus on repairing those deflectors before she causes something worse to happen.”
For the next few hours the repairs on Paladin proceed without a glitch as Caleb is able to get most of the deflectors repaired.
Finally, Ulysses contacts Paladin, reporting, “Master Abraham is ready to shift. You will need to lower your shields so that he may pass.”
Rooke, who is still on the Bridge responds, asking, “I will lower the shields. How long will I need to keep them down?”
Ulysses responds, “Abe reports that the shift will take anywhere from eleven to thirty minutes. Provided he doesn’t hit a time rift.”
Rooke sighs heavily as he announces, “All crewmembers return to the ship.”
Caleb, aware what is going on because of his symbiot connection with Paladin sighs heavily as he looks across the ship still seeing the damage.
Caleb immediately shifts to the Bridge where he sees Rooke at the scanners. He asks, “Where are our guests?”
Rooke replies, “Well there still half a day out give or take a few hours but that’s not what’s concerning me. What’s concerning me is that we are in shift range of there fighters and with our shields down we are sure to be a tempting target.”
Syn appears as he hears Rooke’s lasts statement and suggests, “Our cloaking field is operational now. I propose we activate the cloak and I will release an energy pulse into null space, this should give their scanners the appearance that we shifted away, thus reducing our risk.”
Caleb sighs as he states, “Except the Meli will know we are still here.”
Syn replies, “According to your last report the Meli overloaded her ships power grid battling your daughter and should be absorbed in its repairs.”
Caleb sits down as he removes his space helmet and gloves, saying aloud, “We also have a psychic bomb left onboard but I don’t want to use it unless it’s the only option left.” Caleb takes in a deep breath as closes his eyes and says, “Considering with our psychic deflectors being damaged the Meli probably could have done a lot more damage so you could be right. Okay we’ll go with Syn’s plan for now.”
Rooke cloaks the ship as Syn releases an energy wave, simulating null energy.
Paladin reports, “The Carriers have stopped. They appear to be awaiting orders.”
After a few minutes Paladin reports, “I’m scanning several energy readings coming from the Carriers, which appear to be null energy.”
Syn quickly reviews the scan and states, “It looks line ten maybe fifteen different signatures. If they shifted to our location, they will be on us in fifteen minutes.”
Caleb looks towards Rooke and says, “Keep your hand on the shields, we will try and give Abe all the time he needs.”
Ten additional minutes pass as Caleb slowly counts his seconds. Finally, Paladin reports, “I’m detecting null energy.”
Caleb stands up as he looks to Rooke with his hand up in the air. Suddenly Zeta Seven appears directly in front of Paladin’s Bridge, piloted by Abe as over a hundred drones follow through, hastily surrounding the damaged Paladin battleship.
Caleb sits back down in relief as he grins, asking, “Can we please put our shields back up now?”
Syn looks over the data screens quickly and responds, “We should be able to, all the drones are within the perimeter of our shields.”
The drones instantly start working on the ship as Caleb asks, “Now can we get my son-in-law inside so I can properly greet him?”
Abe appears on the holoscreen. He grins, saying, “Nice to finally meet you sir. I’m going to coordinate the drones from out here for a few minutes and then I will be in to see you shortly.”
Caleb returns the smile as he replies, “Look forward to seeing you son.”
Paladin reports, “I’m scanning several null space energy breaches all around our ship. Currently, I show eighteen separate breaches.”
Caleb pauses as he studies the data on the holoscreen, asking, “Weapons and defense status?”
Syn hastily reports, “The drones had already begun repairs at an accelerated rate. We have shields at near full strength and most of our Medium Cannons are operational and one of the Heavy turrets should be up in a few minutes.” Syn pauses as he becomes alarmed, reporting, “Sir, Abe must have detected the null energy as well, he just cloaked and is passing through our shields.”
Caleb stands up alarmed, asking over the holoscreen, “Abe, what the hell are you doing?”
Abe responds quickly, “Give me a minute and I’ll let you know.”
Abe scans an energy trail and isolates one of the cloaked fighters as it maneuvers into a firing solution. Abe deduces that all the fighters are cloaked and therefore have no shields up and hastily has Zeta Seven shift directly onto the fighter as he punches through the fighter’s cockpit, killing the pilot. Within a second Zeta taps into the fighter’s controls and access the ships data and gets the cloaking frequency and is able to lock onto twelve of the eighteen fighters within visual range. Abe hastily gains full control of the fighter and locks its weapons along with Zeta Sevens weapons onto as many fighters as possible, launching a surprise attack. The fighter strikes two other fighters, damaging both while Zeta Seven fires all its missile launchers at the other ten fighters. The surprise attack exposes the fighters to Paladin’s targeting sensors as they take heavy damage being cloaked and unshielded. Abe moves at blinding speed as he tries to lock onto any other fighters.
Paladin reacts with simultaneous speed firing all her light cannons at the damaged fighters, destroying them. Caleb clearly upset yells, “Abe get your ass back in here now!”
Abe shifts away from the fighter as he drops in a thermite grenade into it before leaving, destroying the fighter. Abe exits null space directly in front of Paladin’s forward shield and uncloaks. Paladin opens a split-second opening for him to pass through, sealing it almost instantly behind him. Abe takes Zeta Seven to the hangar deck and as he passes through the atmosphere shield he lands on the deck. Abe hastily opens Zeta Seven and jumps out of the massive armored battle suit, ordering aloud, “Zeta Seven defense mode drone.” Zeta Seven promptly transforms back to its maintenance drone appearance as Caleb and Syn both race to the hangar bay down from the Bridge.
Caleb stands in front of Abe in awe as he shakes his head and chuckles aloud, “Son what you did was just plain crazy and perhaps one of the ballsiest maneuvers I’ve ever seen in my life time.” Caleb pauses as he looks over Abe and adds, “Do me a favor and try not to get yourself killed until after I’m dead.”
Enemy Myself Page 20