by Ryk Brown
The soldier entered the room, followed by two more wearing the same futuristic armor. After looking around, he asked, “Are you Malcolm Fortune?”
“Uh, yes.”
“What is your wife’s name?”
Malcolm’s eyes widened. Partly in hope and partly in terror. “You know of my wife? Where is she? Is she alive?”
“What is her name?” the man asked again.
“Lynne,” Malcolm replied. “Her name is Lynne. Please, no one has told me what happened to her. I have to know.”
“My name is General Lucius Telles of the Ghatazhak. Your wife is well. My men and I are here to bring you and your child to her.”
Malcolm felt as if he would cry. “Are you serious?”
“He’s always serious,” one of the other soldiers assured Malcolm.
“When?”
“Now, if you’d like,” General Telles replied.
“Just let me get my son,” Malcolm said, rising from his chair and heading toward the bedroom.
* * *
“This is not good,” Josh commented as he looked out of the side windows. Outside, the battered Aurora, still and dark, orbited the Earth at a cockeyed angle.
“How does she look?” Captain Stettner asked over comms.
“Like she was beaten within an inch of her life,” Nathan replied solemnly.
“She saved our asses,” Stettner admitted.
“That was likely her last act,” Nathan said.
“She was a damn good ship,” Captain Stettner stated respectfully. “With a damn good captain.”
“And a good crew,” Nathan added. “Are they being rescued?”
“Most of them made landfall safely. They’re scattered across South America. Recovery has good locator beacons on all of them, so they should be picked up shortly.”
“How is your ship doing?” Nathan asked.
“We’ll have partial shields up within the hour, and our jump drive later today. Everything else is cosmetic, thanks to Taylor.”
“Sorry it had to happen this way,” Nathan told him.
“Once this is all over, I’d like to buy you a drink,” Captain Stettner offered. “I’d sure like to hear how it is you’re still alive, and how all of this came to be.”
“I may take you up on that,” Nathan told him. “But we’ve still got some unfinished business back in the Pentaurus sector.”
“Well, if you need any help with that, you know where to find us,” Captain Stettner said. “Cape Town, out.”
Nathan reached up and killed the transmission, still staring out the windows as his battered ship drifted by to starboard.
“Bridge rescue trunk hatch looks to be intact,” Jessica reported from the starboard auxiliary station.
“Will our docking collar mate up with it?” Nathan wondered.
“We installed a universal adapter back on SilTek,” Marcus assured him. “It’ll mate up with any hatch that will fit inside its docking ring.”
“Josh, think you can dock us up?” Nathan asked.
“Of course I can,” Josh insisted.
“Cam?” Nathan called over comms.
“I’m here.”
“The only way we can get to you is by docking to the bridge rescue hatch on your topside. Can you get to the trunk?”
“The ready room is clear, and the rescue trunk is heavily reinforced, so it should be intact,” Cameron replied. “Just don’t scratch the paint.”
“Seriously?” Josh snickered. “At this point, I’m pretty sure no one would notice.”
“That bad?” Cameron wondered.
“Yup,” Nathan replied. “See you in a few.”
“I’ve got an incoming vid-call from the Mystic,” Jessica reported. “It’s the kor-dom.”
“Tell him to stand by,” Nathan told her. “I’ll take it in my quarters,” he added, heading around the ladder rail.
* * *
Nathan entered his cramped quarters on the Voss, going directly to the small desk along the outboard bulkhead. Similar to the simulated window in his original quarters on the Aurora, the window in this compartment served both as a view screen for communications and as the room’s computer interface. The only difference was that, when not activated, this window really was a window.
Nathan took his seat, pausing for a moment to let the events of the past thirty minutes settle. Coming down from the combat-induced adrenalin high was one of the worst things for him, since it always resulted in considerable fatigue. He wondered how the Ghatazhak managed to mitigate the effect. Someday, he would need to learn their secret.
Nathan switched on the window, activating it as a vid-screen. Kor-Dom Borrol immediately appeared.
“Congratulations, Captain,” the kor-dom began. “I must admit, I did not believe you would be successful.”
“I suppose that’s why you didn’t bother to tell us about your cloaking technology?”
“I honestly did not know that it was operational until today,” the kor-dom insisted.
“But you did know of its development.”
“Our military operates differently than yours,” Kor-Dom Borrol explained. “They rarely share details of their weapons research and development with other castes, especially the leadership castes.”
“Yet you did know about it,” Nathan asserted.
“I have my spies, yes,” the kor-dom admitted. “I would offer my apologies for the deception, but they would be insincere, and I believe you understand why I did so.”
“In case we failed to remove Galiardi from power,” Nathan surmised. “The caste in charge of those battle platforms would have sent cloaked ships down to Earth to steal jump drive technology.”
“And they would have kept it for themselves,” Kor-Dom Borrol stated. “Giving them the leverage they would need to control whatever rose from the ashes of Nor-Patri.”
Nathan didn’t entirely believe Kor-Dom Borrol but decided that chastising him further on the matter served no purpose. “How did you convince them?”
“I simply pointed out that there was just as much honor in laying down one’s sword to save others as there was to die with it in hand.”
“I’ll have to remember that one,” Nathan replied. “Where did the battle platforms go?”
“To a predetermined staging point, where they will remain hidden for the time being.”
“You still don’t trust me,” Nathan surmised.
“You expected otherwise?”
“I suppose not,” Nathan admitted with a sigh. “You know, we’re going to want you to share your cloaking technology with us.”
“That may prove difficult,” Kor-Dom Borrol stated. “As I said, our military is quite different from yours. Besides, now that you know it exists, I am certain you will figure out a way to defeat it. Your people are quite clever.”
“Still, it’s going to be a point of contention.”
“Are you prepared to share your shield-penetrating missile technology with us?” Kor-Dom Borrol challenged.
“In time.”
“Precisely,” the kor-dom replied. “How is the Aurora?” he asked, hoping to change the subject. “I trust she can be repaired?”
“It’s too early to tell, but it’s not looking very promising,” Nathan admitted.
“Will that put a kink in your plans to deal with the Dusahn?”
“It’s not ideal, but we have other ships.”
The intercom in his quarters beeped.
“One moment,” Nathan told Kor-Dom Borrol, muting the vid-call. “Yes?”
“We’ve got hard dock with the Aurora,” Jessica reported over the intercom.
“I didn’t even feel it.”
“Yeah, I guess Josh can have a light touch when he wants to. I’m headed for the airlock.”
“I’ll be there shortly,” Nathan replied, ending the call and unmuting the vid-call. “I’m going to have to cut this conversation short, Kor-Dom. We’ll send a shuttle to pick you up later.”
* * *
“How are we doing?” Nathan asked as he joined the others in the corridor between the Voss’s command deck and her common room.
“Hard seal is verified. Skirt pressure is holding,” Marcus replied.
“How many people are still on board?”
“Cam only knows of the four of them on the bridge, and the Aurora’s AI has lost half of her sensors, so she can’t get an accurate count,” Jessica explained. “I did a full sweep of her interio, and didn’t find any other vital signs but those on the bridge. I put in a request with Fleet Command for a head count from all her escape pods. I’d ask for search and rescue teams, but she’s losing altitude as we speak.”
“How long?” Nathan asked.
“About an hour until she starts to heat up.”
“Then we’d better get moving,” Nathan stated, stepping through the hatch into the topside airlock trunk.
Jessica entered the airlock as well.
“You want me to go with you?” Marcus asked.
“Stay here for now,” Nathan instructed. “We still don’t know for sure if the rescue trunk is fully operational. We may need some gear to get through.”
“I’ll be here if you need me.”
Nathan pressed the button, causing the inner hatch to close.
“We’re upside down in relation to the Aurora,” Jessica reminded Nathan. “But her rescue trunk doesn’t have any gravity, and it’s wide enough for us to flip over inside.”
“I’m well acquainted with the rescue trunk,” Nathan assured her as he opened the hatch above them.
“You are?”
“During my first tour, I used to go there when I couldn’t sleep. Zero-G is the best sleep ever.”
“How come I didn’t know that?” Jessica wondered.
“I never told anyone,” Nathan replied as he headed up the ladder.
“What about the night watch?”
“They probably just thought I was sleeping on my couch,” Nathan told her as he punched in the code on the exterior hatch controls. After a moment, the red light on the small panel turned green, and the hatch retracted into the hull slightly, then slid to the right, disappearing.
The long tunnel leading to the airlock above the captain’s ready room loomed above them, dark and foreboding.
“Shouldn’t the emergency lights be on?” Jessica wondered.
“You’d think so,” Nathan agreed. “Hand me a light.”
Jessica opened up the gear locker, pulling out a small lantern and passing it up to him.
Nathan turned the lantern on, then gave it a gentle push upward, sending it floating up the rescue tunnel. “It looks to be intact,” he decided, following the floating lantern into the tunnel. As soon as his upper torso crossed the exterior hatch, he began to feel himself becoming lighter as he climbed out of the Voss’s artificial gravity fields. Once he was all the way through, he pulled himself along, floating up the tunnel in pursuit of the ascending lantern.
A minute later, the narrow tunnel widened, and he found himself inside the inner rescue trunk airlock, just above the captain’s ready room. “I’m inside the inner airlock,” he reported, catching the lantern after it bounced off the deck of the compartment.
“I’m coming up,” Jessica called as she climbed up the ladder and launched herself into the tunnel above.
Nathan moved to the side, looking up at the tunnel exit as Jessica crested the threshold. In a smooth motion, she grasped the handrail around the tunnel edge, tucking into a ball to reverse her body orientation. As she came out of her flip, she stuck her legs straight out and let go of the rail, touching down gently with her feet and grabbing the side rail to hold herself in position.
“Nice,” Nathan commented, impressed by her zero-G prowess.
“I’ve had seven years’ more training than you.”
“Apparently,” Nathan replied, tapping the airlock controls. The hatch above their heads slid closed, and a moment later the hatch in the deck between them opened. Nathan leaned over the open hatch, spotting Cameron below. “Need a lift?”
Nathan positioned himself over the opening, then pushed himself downward, letting the gravity fields inside the Aurora pull him through until he was hanging from the opening in the ceiling of the ready room. He let go, dropping to the deck. “Looks like someone had a wild party in here,” he commented, looking around the disheveled compartment. He looked at Cameron, who looked as shaken up as the ready room. “How are you doing?”
“I’ve had better days,” Cameron admitted.
Jessica was next, again transferring far more gracefully than Nathan. “Busted up another ship huh, Cam?”
“Funny,” Cameron replied, leading them out of the ready room.
Nathan’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open when he saw the bridge. “Damn, you’re lucky to be alive.”
“Not all of us made it,” Cameron corrected, looking toward several bodies lined up neatly in what little uncluttered area there was of the deck.
Nathan looked at the bodies of the two young officers. “Where’s Kaylah?”
“The wounded were evacuated to medical before the corridor collapsed and cut us off,” she told him.
Vladimir appeared from the equipment room door in the starboard foyer, carrying a large data module.
“What’s the verdict?” Nathan asked his chief engineer.
“I’m sure I could fix her if I had more time,” Vladimir assured him.
“Any chance we can tow her to a higher orbit?” Nathan asked.
“You’d need at least four tugs pushing and pulling, and even then, she might break apart from the tow,” Vladimir insisted.
“Could we deploy the jump nets?” Jessica asked. “Use the jump tugs?”
“It would take too long to deploy and synchronize the nets,” Cameron told her. “I’ve already had her run the numbers.”
“Her?” Jessica wondered.
“Our AI,” Cameron explained.
“Oh yeah.”
“I’m afraid there’s no way to save her,” Cameron stated.
Nathan looked around the battered bridge. “It’s strange to be in here without the entire view screen dome working. The last time that happened was…”
“The day you became captain,” Jessica said, finishing his sentence.
“I feel guilty,” Cameron admitted. “It’s the second ship I’ve lost. I just couldn’t let the Cape Town get destroyed. Not because of us.”
“You made the right call, Cam,” Nathan insisted. “Besides, she died protecting Earth. That’s why she was built.”
“She was built to explore, to make contact with the core worlds of Earth,” Cameron corrected. “To establish diplomatic relations with the Jung, in the hopes of achieving a lasting peace. That’s why I wanted to be assigned to her.”
“Well, I’d say she accomplished her mission,” Nathan decided. “And she did so with you in her command chair.”
“Thanks,” Cameron replied, appreciating his kind words.
“Besides, I doubt she’ll be the last ship to bear the name Aurora,” Nathan added.
“Still, I feel like I barely got to know her,” Cameron insisted.
“You were her CO for seven years,” Jessica reminded her.
“I meant her AI.”
“Don’t worry,” Vladimir told them, holding up the data module. “I backed her up.”
“Captain?” Loki called over Nathan’s comm-set.
“Yes, Loki?”
“The Cape Town called. They’ve analyzed the Aurora’s descent trajectory and structural condition. They say there’s a sixty percent
chance she’ll come down in one piece, but she’ll do so in the middle of Bogata. They recommend she be destroyed in orbit within the next twenty minutes. That way, what’s left should burn up on the way down.”
“Great,” Nathan stated, shaking his head and sighing. “We’re on our way,” he assured Loki. Nathan looked around one last time. “Aurora?”
“Yes, Captain?” his ship’s AI responded.
“Thank you.”
“I did very little,” the AI replied. “Perhaps on the next Aurora, I will be able to do more.”
“Well, thank you anyway,” Nathan insisted.
“You are welcome.”
Jessica looked around at their forlorn expressions. “It’s a computer program, people.”
* * *
Nathan, Jessica, Cameron, and Vladimir entered the Voss’s aft cargo bay, followed by Lieutenant Yuati and Ensign Keller. Along either side of the bay, the majority of the Voss’s crew stood at parade rest.
“The Orochi have confirmed readiness,” Loki reported over the intercom.
“How much time do we have left?” Nathan asked.
“Eleven minutes.”
“Send the strike order,” Nathan instructed.
“Aye, sir,” Loki replied solemnly.
“Attention on deck!” Marcus barked from the bay door controls on the port side.
All those aboard snapped to attention, their eyes on the large cargo ramp hatch on the aft wall of the bay as it began opening.
Nathan watched as the door slowly opened, the pressure shield emitters around the opening’s edge glowing pale blue.
“Two minutes to impact,” Loki updated.
Nathan waited until the door had cycled completely open, giving them all a clear view of the Aurora as she began to glow from the upper atmosphere which was now flowing over her battered hull. “The Aurora was a legendary ship,” he began. “Not because of her design or her purpose, but because she brought us home every time she sailed. But she was only a ship. It was her crew that made her special. And it will be the crew of the next ship to bear her name that will make that Aurora equally special.”
The Voss and the Cape Town flew side by side, orbiting the Earth less than a kilometer apart. Below them was the Aurora, glowing more brightly with each passing second as the air rushing over her hull thickened.