Eventually, the Navigation Department told me we would be able to cut the main engines and begin coasting in seventy-five minutes. This would allow us to begin a linear reduction in thrust in only five minutes. The net result was that assuming the pirate maintained his current acceleration and allowing for the relativistic effects, he would have less than a minute to target and fire on us before we were in a position to enter jump space. As part of their calculation they factored in the need for us to decelerate to enter jump so I immediately implemented their recommendations.
As it turned out, these measures were to save us in the end. By taking this course of action, we would also preserve additional reaction mass during the deceleration phase because we did not need to use the maximum thrust settings there either, we would be able to have the throttle set in the sweet spot further reducing our reaction mass consumption. We would still probably not have enough reaction mass to finish our cruise and dock at the station when we arrived but we thought we should still be able to maneuver in a limited fashion if needed to avoid something on a collision course and I’d already started to consider some ideas about how we could find other opportunities for ourselves when we reached the next system.
The hours ticked down as the throttle settings on the main engines were slowly reduced, till the engines were eventually all but silenced, operating just enough to keep the operating temperature within limits. We continued to coast, with only a slight, barely measurable deceleration bought about by the hydrogen and other microscopic debris that fills any star system impeding the forward motion of the ship. Of course, behind us, the pirate continued to gain on us but in this system we had such a big lead on him, he would struggle to be able to intercept us in time to have any ability to stop our escape, not unless he got lucky before we could jump and managed to disable us before the jump engines could be activated. I had to appreciate Einstein at this particular point in time or I at least I should say I appreciated the nature of our universe as he’d predicted in his theories. This meant the pirate would clearly be unable to maintain his current acceleration as his velocity increased. At some point, he could expend as much reaction mass as he liked but his velocity would simply not increase any further. That physical fact was going to save us from the pirates simply because their acceleration was already beginning to drop off as a direct result of these relativistic effects. They would now be expending reaction mass in a way that was becoming increasingly inefficient as their velocity continued to increase.
As I thought about our pursuer, the one thing I did find truly curious about him was his unwillingness to make any kind of attempt to contact us. We’d not received any contact or even an attempt to contact us, at least none we were able to detect, unless shooting at us could be considered an attempt at communication. There were no threats, no attempt to convince us to stop, no promises, no requests to give up something belonging to them they thought we had, just the dogged pursuit and of course the attempts to stop us by force prior to our entering jump and exiting the previous system. I idly wondered what was driving him, why was a chasing after us so single mindedly. Clearly, he was willing to take some fairly big risks to catch or destroy us.
From what I was told, Federation warships did patrol the system we were currently in on a reasonably regular basis but unfortunately, there were none here right now. The Federation did not have any of their ships permanently stationed here but they apparently entered the system at least once a fortnight, usually staying for somewhere between a few days and a week, cruising around looking for trouble before leaving till the next visit. In some ways, we were really quite unlucky there wasn’t one there when we entered the system. I was curious to see if the pirate would continue his pursuit into the next system because we were reasonably confident there would certainly be a significant Federation Navy presence there. I asked the communications operator if we were still broadcasting FNS Destiny’s correct identification signal, what western militaries called an IFF signal back home on Earth. He confirmed we were which I found reassuring as I suspected we would need that signal quite soon.
As time passed, I continued to consider the different actions we could undertake when we eventually down jumped into the next system. Of course, we were still keeping a close eye on our pursuer, constantly checking and re-evaluating the most probable time for him to be able to make an intercept. If anything, his velocity seemed to have pretty much maxed out by now so he was currently not gaining on us very much at all. Then the sensor operator reported to me he’d cut his drive and begun to coast the same as we were, still pursuing but seemingly content to just keep on coming.
Of course, he was still gaining on us because he’d achieved a slightly higher velocity than us before cutting his engines. I still had some concerns about him but whether he would be able to get a shot off at us now relied solely on when if at all he commenced his deceleration burn. This in turn would depend on whether he planned to pursue us into the next system. He’s lost a significant amount of time when he didn’t decelerate earlier in the previous system. That mistake effectively gave us an opportunity to escape him here.
I sat with the navigation staff while we considered all of the available options, coming to the conclusion that really, he could wait a little longer than us to begin his deceleration but could not afford to just keep going. While he seemed happy to take a risk, if he left it too late he would blow past the jump point and by the time he could turn around, he ran the risk of being blocked by Federation Navy warships and unable to escape without achieving anything at all. I felt reasonably certain that would not be something he would be willing to do.
I wondered how his reaction mass was holding up, whether he would need to break off his pursuit soon, I could only hope that would be the case. In only a little over a day it would be time to begin our deceleration burn. I checked with engineering on the current state of our reaction mass reserves and they told me we had used far less than they’d projected for this stage of the run across the system, they told me they were quite impressed with the conservation measures we’d been able to implement. I had to admit, this was good news because it gave me a few more options for what I could do after we exited jump in Cotoni system. At this point, it looked like we still had about eighteen days before we would be able to physically see safety. I just needed to find a way to make sure we could reach it. One thing though, my most immediate concern was to escape this system, the sooner we managed to do that, the better it would be for all of us.
For now, though, all we could do was to wait, and worry. This waiting was by far the worst part. I was reminded now about hearing something along the lines of war is ten-parts boredom and one-part stark fear. I realised this statement was absolutely true. I knew I needed some sleep soon but wondered if I would be able to manage it. I looked at the current sensor readings before coming to the conclusion I could afford to take a break for a short while at least. I decided to go for food, then after eating I should drop by the medical bay to see if Eri could do something, or give me something to keep me going till we managed to enter jump space.
I rose from my chair and turned over bridge control to Anne, who was still sitting in the Executive Officers chair. She acknowledged the change of control as I exited the bridge on my way to the mess for food. After eating, I made my way to the medical bay to see if Eri could, or would give me a stimulant, something to keep me going. Of course, when I asked her, she refused, asking me if we were about to come under attack from the pirate within the next few hours. I could not lie about this, not to Eri so I had to admit that no, we did not expect to come under attack over the next few hours. Instead she gave me a mild sedative and ordered me to go to bed after telling Anne what I was doing. They both promised to call me if anything drastic requiring my attention came up. Even if I slept for ten hours, I would still be awake in plenty of time to take us through the critical period and into jump. I reluctantly accepted the sedative Eri offered me, before going off to my quarters for
sleep. Once again, the crew allowed me to sleep till I woke naturally about nine hours later because they wanted me rested for what was to come.
As soon as I woke in my quarters, I checked with the bridge to be told everything was still as expected. The pirate was still catching up to us but the worst case scenario still had us arriving at the jump point only a minute or less after the pirate would be in range and able to target us. The crew could not believe the pirate would take the risk of overshooting the jump this time. I wasn’t quite willing to discount the possibility but had to admit, having them decelerate on the approach to the jump point made a lot more sense to me than the alternative. This pirate lost far too much time trying to return to the jump point in the previous system so he could enter jump space and continue the pursuit. He was consequently in a much worse position now than he could have been if he had started braking a little earlier and followed us into the jump. When we reached the next jump point, he really only had two options, chase us into the next system or give up the chase entirely and try to leave this system before the Federation Navy could pursue him. It seemed to me the Captain of this pirate really was a rather hot blooded if determined character. In all honesty, I expected him to chase us right to the end. I felt our best chance would be to run to the next system in the hope the Federation Navy were close enough to intervene because we would not be able to outrun him for long there.
I cleaned myself up before putting on a clean uniform then went to the mess. I’d very deliberately kept the clothing I wore simple. I did not try to copy the uniform Captain Carlon wore, only donning rank insignia at Anne’s insistence. Once again I lost track of what time of day it was. My day, really was centred entirely around when we would be in position to enter jump. Until then, we needed to keep running.
Finally, several hours later we began our deceleration burn. We used the most economical throttle settings we could and had planned the burn so we would only be at the maximum jump velocity for a few seconds before we entered the jump point. I made sure the numbers were double checked because we couldn’t afford the mistake we’d made when we exited the Zafar system. It wasn’t long before we could see the pirate beginning to gain on us though not enough to be of concern yet. We were decelerating, he was still coasting, so for him to be closing the distance was expected. Over the following few hours we continued to observe him as he slowly closed the distance. With a lot of help from Navigation, I’d deliberately plotted a course we thought would allow us to shift our course by five degrees, only thirty seconds before we entered the jump point. This course would efficiently place us on the correct entry vector at the correct speed for us to enter jump for the next system. Behind us, the pirate continued coasting, still closing the gap for nearly five hours after the point where we started our deceleration burn. He then began his own deceleration, quite a lot harder than ours. As soon as he started decelerating, I knew we would be out of the system before he could come close enough to fire on us.
As time passed, we continued our deceleration. We reached our final way-point where we needed to make our turn towards the jump point. The helmsman changed our entry vector, then as planned we continued on for thirty seconds before entering jump space. The entire exercise had gone down like clockwork, better than I could have dared to hope. I announced to the crew that we had now made our final jump and would be firmly in Federation space in seventeen days. This jump ended in the Cotoni system, our destination was the station carrying the same name. For now, though, we were safe. I called for a shift change because the current shift was exhausted by then, and looked it. We would all have more than enough time for rest before we exited jump space. I wanted all of us to be back on an even keel when we down jumped.
As soon as the replacement bridge crew arrived, I handed over control to the senior rating before making my way down to the mess, still with my security detail in tow. When I arrived at the mess, it almost seemed as if there was a party underway among the crew. Everyone was happy, I had more than one of the people who were there come to pat me on the back and thank me for all I’d done for them so far. I’d made them a promise, and so far, I’d been able to keep it, not once wavering from my goal of guiding FNS Destiny, and everyone aboard her safely back to the Federation and safety. I still had some of my promise I’d not yet fulfilled but I would do that in about seventeen or eighteen days or so I hoped. Once again, I found the reaction of this crew toward me to be so humbling. Anne was sitting in the mess, watching the crew with an amused look in her eyes. She already knew I was quite embarrassed by the attention I received and honestly couldn’t understand why they felt the way they did about me. On several occasions, she, and others tried to help me with this understanding but in hindsight I was simply too thick to get it. I obtained my meal, which looked and smelled surprisingly good to me before making my way over to sit near Anne.
When I looked at her, she still looked happy so I asked her what she had to be so happy about. I must have been feeling a little grumpy at the time because I would not normally speak like that to her, or anyone else in the crew for that matter. For her part, Anne demonstrated a complete and utter lack of concern for both my tone and my words as she turned her smiling eyes upon me and told me to relax. She told me to let everyone have this little piece of joy because home was almost close enough for them to touch. Of course I pointed out to her we still had to deal with whatever took place in the next system. For the first time since I sat with her she looked at me with a serious look, a look I have since learned means I am in big trouble.
She said, “Colin, I know you are stressed with what has been going on. I know you are not really angry with me or with anyone else around here for that matter. Please, let these people have this small release now. They deserve it and need it to release the stress and tension they have been subjected to, as do you. You have been carrying this ship on your shoulders almost single handedly for many weeks now. You cannot continue this single minded focus forever; you need to step back a little, even if only for a couple of days. I know we will have to make a lot of decisions about what we need to do in the next system before we enter it. Right now though, all of us, and that includes you, need to have some release. Actually, when I look at you, I think before you do anything else, you probably need to have some more sleep. When you found out I was actually an officer in the Federation Navy you recruited me to be your Executive Officer. As your XO, part of my job is to watch your back and make sure you look after yourself. You need to go and sleep for a while, then do nothing for a day or two, after that, we can go back to work.”
I just replied, “Yes ma’am. Going to sleep now ma’am.”
I did say that with as much of a smile as I could muster in the hope I could take some of the sting out of my words and tone of voice.
She looked at me seriously and said, “Right bed for you, now”
She rose and held out her hand to help me up off the seat. I suddenly realised just how completely exhausted I really was when I failed to be able to push myself up from the table without Anne’s help. I sheepishly took her hand and she hauled me to my feet. I thought to myself, she is surprisingly strong for her size. When I made it to my feet, I staggered a bit but she quickly took my arm, helping me gain my balance, then put it over her shoulder, supporting me for the trip to my quarters.
Since we first met, I have come to realise that Anne is an incredibly strong woman, both physically and mentally. There have been many times since our time on FNS Destiny when I’ve relied on her strength to help us get through a difficult situation. We left the mess as she helped me walk to my room and bunk before leaving me to sleep. Of course, as exhausted as I was, this time, as soon as my head hit the pillow, my mind snapped awake and I started to think. I had to admit, so far, my introduction to interstellar travel had been both terrifying and interesting. I wondered what else could happen before we were safe. Well, I’d always dreamed of traveling to distant worlds, exploring the universe, my wife would even tell everyo
ne I was an alien. Now here I was, actually doing it, to me, frankly, the whole idea really was surreal.
Eventually, I don’t know how much later, I finally managed to go to sleep. I could never remember any dreams from that night and when I eventually woke, I really didn’t feel at all rested, instead I felt like I had a thick fog clouding my head. It seems I’d slept too long and too deeply so it took a while before my brain began to kick into gear again. It was some time since I’d been able to do any exercise so I decided I should eat something light then go and do some exercise with the Troopers. While I did that, I would be able to try to hone the skills the Troopers were teaching me a little more, or at least keep them as sharp as I could make them. After a few moments of just lying there trying to force my brain to start working, I finally climbed out of bed. I showered and dressed before leaving my quarters to make my way to the mess. Ani was one of the Troopers on my security detail as I exited. As soon as she saw me, she commented on how terrible I looked. I explained how I’d slept too long and too deeply for my own good but would improve as I got my blood flowing and the dopamine was flushed from my system. I told her my intentions as she and her partner walked with me towards the mess. She agreed my plan was a good one.
Once I’d eaten, we made our way down to the squad bay where Ani ran me through some physical exercises with me. The physical workout finally cleared the fog from my head so I decided to follow the exercises up by indulging in a trip to the firing range for a little target practice. I finished the workout with some hand to hand combat training, honing those skills so I didn’t lose them. By the time we were finished, I felt better than I had in days. I thought about this as I walked back to my quarters to shower before returning to duty.
Star Man 1: Star Bourne Page 38
