“He’s right,” Gambin said as he took a seat in the front row and turned around to face Alice and her new friends. “No one knew what to expect this time around, so this class had it the worst. I bet there are people who flunked out of quals today that are spreading the word about the initial testing. I know if I failed and had to enrol in the nine-month program, I’d be pissed. I’d start sharing tips, maybe charge for the info while I could. Anyway, the next applicants coming in will have it easier, they’ll have some warning.”
“You like to talk, don’t-cha?” Yawen said. “It’s all right, you’re nice to look at.”
Gambin fixed her with a confused look then shook his head as though rattling his brain back into place. “So, interviews, any thoughts?”
“There is little point in preparing,” Iruuk said. “We have no idea what they’ll ask.”
“I went over every scrap of personal history Triton Fleet might have on me, just in case,” Yawen said.
“In case of what?” Alice asked.
Yawen answered with a shrug.
“My point exactly, what kind of preparation can we do for a test when we don’t know the questions?”
“It’s an interview,” Alice said. “Not a test.”
“Oh? Do you know something we don’t? Your grandfather the Governor, slip you some information?” Gambin asked.
“Nope, here’s the last thing he sent me,” Alice said, holding up her command and control unit. Her grandfather’s message was simple: GOOD LUCK TODAY. I’M PROUD OF YOU NO MATTER WHAT THE RESULTS ARE.
“He doesn’t set the bar very high for you,” Gambin said. “My Uncle said this was my only way to a good future away from maintenance crawl spaces.” It was becoming very noticeable to Alice that Gambin paid all his attention to her, even if someone else was addressing him.
The front wall lit up with a list of five names and an arrow pointing to the right, Alice’s was at the bottom. “Interview time, off you go,” Yawen said.
Alice was relieved to get away from Gambin, even though she was nervous about the interview.
Chapter 26
The New Tribe
The III set down inside a massive carrier unlike anything Minh-Chu had ever seen. “You’ve had a lot of experience with Nafalli, right, Carnie?” he asked his co-pilot.
“Oh yeah, I love those giant fur balls. Well, most of them. I’ve met a couple who were more bully than anything, but no race is perfect.”
“Have you seen anything like this before?” Minh-Chu asked, making sure everything was powering down and locking the pilot’s station.
“Hell no,” Carnie replied with a chuckle. “I don’t know anyone whose seen Nafalli military. I’ve seen some convoys, but you could fit all the ships from all those convoys inside this ship.”
“All right, it’s time to meet the neighbours,” Minh-Chu said. “Calm and friendly wins more friends than being cocky and cold. Keep your head on a swivel, but assume these people are just trapped in the cloud like us.”
“Is it okay if I’m paranoid and jumpy?” Hot Chow asked as he looked at the display. There were at least two dozen Nafalli gathered around their ship.
“Just try to keep calm,” Minh-Chu replied.
The crew of fourteen left the III with Minh-Chu in the lead. The trio of skitters who had adopted him as their master watched from just inside the door. The whole crew were all still completely sealed in their suits. “I’m Wing Commander Minh-Chu Buu, but most people just call me Minh.” He introduced himself to the second tallest Nafalli he’d ever seen. There was a dark black stripe across the three-metre-tall giant’s nose and one eye, but other than that her fur was a dark caramel colour. To Minh-Chu the Nafalli race always reminded him of friendly looking shaggy dogs that had somehow stopped half way between bodily transforming into humans. He was sure that would be somewhat offensive to their hosts, so he kept it to himself. “We’re with Triton Fleet, our home port is Haven Shore, on Tamber in the Rega Gain system.”
“I am Loashi, Matron of the Iduoi Protectorate Tribe. Welcome to the Rahgha. We once called Prinn Allon home, but our world was destroyed by the Order of Eden.” She sighed and smiled, a gesture that was in no way small thanks to her long snout and expressive dark eyes. “I’m sorry we didn’t go to your aid. I saw that you turned and fought to keep the Order ships away, and I hope we can properly show you our gratitude. Hiding was an act of cowardice, it’s not like our people, but we had too much to protect.”
“I’m sorry,” Finn said, looking concerned. “You said the Order destroyed your world? I’ve never heard of them doing something like that before.”
“They landed in harvesting ships the size of large buildings and began by levelling mountains, drawing the life matter of hundreds of forests and jungles into the bellies of bigger ships, then they began to use weapons to vaporise useless rock by the kilometre so they could harvest heavier matter. We fought them, but our atmosphere was poisoned, our waters were fouled in a quarter year. There were millions there, but the people you see in these ships are who survived,” answered a shorter, younger Nafalli with a neat, shorter cut dark coat. She had a black stripe across the top of her head that looked almost like a scar, but it was similar to the Matron’s.
“Easy, Woone, they’ll know our story soon enough,” Loashi soothed. “What she says is true. We managed to damage many of their ships, kill millions of their soldiers, but then they brought men who could not die, and horrible diseases that only affected Nafalli. The best we could do was escape in our ships, but we did damage the thing that they were harvesting for – some kind of mobile ship yard. We didn’t kill their queen, which is what burns me. They called her Eve.”
“We know her,” Minh-Chu said. “We’re fighting the same war. Triton Fleet and Haven Shore are enemies to the Order of Eden, we were against them before they took that name.”
“Wait!” yipped an excited voice from the middle of the crowd. He looked like he was the same age as Woone, but had light blonde fur and very different features. “I know who you are!” he said excitedly as he pushed his way to the front. “Minh-Chu Buu, crazy pilot from the First Light! You were lost for years, adrift, alone, before you were rescued and then you escaped a hospital to re-join your friends.”
“Escaped is an exaggeration,” Minh-Chu said, nodding. “But that’s me.”
Loashi, the blonde Nafalli and several others spoke in their own language – a dialect that seemed like it was mostly vowels and soft consonants quietly sung, whined and growled. Minh-Chu’s translation system kept up with what was going on. “What are you talking about now, Yisher?” asked Woone.
“These people are heroes for freedom. I saw it in a big file of evidence that was transmitted to our archives before we left our world. They know everything about the formation of the Order of Eden, and have been fighting it all along. They’re refugees too!”
“We are not refugees, I hate that word,” Woone replied.
“Displaced, or whatever you want to call it. I’m telling you these people will help us. You’ve heard of Haven Shore before, even though you’re pretending you haven’t.”
“We don’t want to reveal too much too soon, young one,” Loashi replied. “I know many people in the tribes want to go there, but we have an opportunity to meet someone here who can tell the story of that place.”
“Hello, wait,” Ike said, trying to interrupt the Nafalli’s conversation. “I’ve been listening through a translator program we have,” he pointed to his helmet as though he expected the Nafalli to have difficulty understanding what a translator was. “Tells me what you’re saying. Just so you know, I don’t think we’d have room for you all in Haven Shore, I mean, we’d have to build –”
Minh-Chu turned and faced Ike Purdel nose to nose. “I need you to remember your place, and follow regulations right now.”
“Regulations? I was just –”
“Yes. When we’re communicating with a new group of people, you speak only to you
r commanding officer, not directly to the new contact. That regulation is there so people like you don’t misinform potential allies. Go back on the ship and get to work. You are not allowed off, you are not allowed to communicate with anyone outside of the crew. Go.”
Minh-Chu watched Purdel retreat up the Pursuer III’s ramp for a moment before turning around to face a number of amused Nafalli. “I’m sorry. My subordinate needs a lesson in manners. What he said is true, though. Our buildings are built so Nafalli can be comfortable there because we already have several families living there, but Haven Shore is still expanding. As one of the founders of Haven Shore, I can say that we want you there, but building shelters for you, keeping you fed would take time, but it’s something we’d want.”
“Not as refugees, not as a burden,” Woone said.
“No,” Minh-Chu said sternly. “You’d have a say in government, and if you wanted to govern your people your own way, I know we can accommodate you.”
“That’s good, but not what my niece meant,” Loashi said, her disposition still pleasant. “We are looking for good land, places where we can build our own settlement. There are one point four million of us in the convoy, so I’m sure we are getting ahead of ourselves by asking for anything.”
“No,” Minh-Chu said decisively. “Your people have nowhere to go, and I know for a fact that there are hundreds of hectares of beach, bare stone, and jungle surrounding our settlement. Give me time to get to know you while we fight our way out of the nebula, let me and my people here become friends with you, and if my instincts are right about you, I bet that you’ll be building your new home within sight of Haven Shore in a month. There is one condition though.”
“Oh?” Loashi and Woone didn’t seem disappointed at hearing that there was a condition, if Minh-Chu was right in judging their expressions, he would guess they were somehow eager, or at least highly interested.
“You’re not the only ones trying to protect their people while they escape the nebula.” Minh-Chu retracted his headgear and breathed the cool, fresh air before going on. “The people of Freeground, as proud as they are, and Triton Fleet need your help, and if you assist us you will earn your place on Tamber. We’ll owe you the good land you’re looking for.”
“Come, we need to speak,” Loashi said. “We’ll sit and talk over a meal then my people will help you fix your ship.”
“We might want to do something about the Order of Eden ship out there first,” Minh-Chu said as Loashi rested her long hand on his shoulders.
“Don’t worry, we’re jumping. It’s time to leave this cloud of iron behind. There are other hiding places in the nebula.”
“You have charts?” Carnie asked.
“Of course we do,” Woone replied, rolling her eyes. “We only ruled this quadrant of the nebula for two hundred twenty-seven years.”
Chapter 27
Damage Control
The software Jake finished the night before by pasting together pieces from other software packages began finding the spies aboard the ship as soon as he executed it. The thought of running any of the twenty eight suspects down himself filled him with an eager kind of malice, so he ordered Stephanie and her security teams to handle it. “Handle it with care, no unnecessary harm,” he told her.
“One of them trapped Ashley in her bunk,” Stephanie said. Whether it was to spur him into taking action personally or not, he couldn’t tell, but he took a deep breath and let the temptation to run that one down himself subside.
“You’re going to make a note on that one’s file,” Jake said. “Nothing more, no special treatment one way or another.”
“Yes, Captain,” Stephanie replied.
Ayan was waiting for him on the ramp leading down to the main bridge. “Most of the people we’re finding thanks to your program are fairly unskilled in terms of ship-board work. As far as spy craft, it looks like they’re all quite good. From what I hear, the majority of them weren’t suspected at all.”
“That either means they were good spies, or my software is leading us to the wrong conclusions. These encrypted files may not lead directly to the people who signed on to betray us. Stephanie will sort it out, we’ll know soon enough. What’s the situation with our new forward shields?”
“All the work we put in is gone,” Ayan said. “The damage to the nose of this ship is so extensive, we don’t have enough material aboard to re-armour the nose of the ship, let alone repair and complete the new shields. You’re going to have to use the field generator in the Dimension Drive, I’m working on automation for it so the shields function properly. You’ll gain at least three hundred percent strength.”
Jake led her into his quarters discreetly, only steps from the bridge. “So you’re going to let me send you back to Rega Gain.”
“I looked at how long it would take me to get there if we stretched the D-Drive to its limit, making a transit corridor that will get one fighter out of the nebula and most of the way home and I’m happy with what I’m seeing.”
“Ayan,” Jake said, tilting her chin up.
“Yes, I’ll go,” she replied, her eyes brimming. “Maybe you’re right, I have a grasp on this technology that’s too important to lose out here, and we could lose. I thought you were crazy when you took the helm, but if you didn’t, they would have circled us, picking us apart. Everything we learned by using the new technology would have been lost, and that would have been the end of us. The fleet we’re facing now seems more professional, someone out there knows what they’re doing. I want to stay so badly because I know you’ll need my help.”
“But fleet needs you more,” Jake said. “You know I don’t want you to go.”
“I know,” Ayan said, leaning against him.
He wrapped his arms around her. “I wish there was time, that’s all.”
“We’ll take it as soon as we can.” They remained together for only a moment later.
“We’re transitioning into normal space in two minutes, fifteen seconds, Sir,” Agameg said through his comm.
Jake started to pull away, but she curled her fingers into the front of his suit and looked up at him. “I feel like such a civilian saying this, but just make it home. We have a lot of time to make up.”
“I will,” Jake said, kissing her lightly.
She let go and took a deep breath. “I just need to finish the automation software, it’ll be rough but Agameg will be able to understand it, then teach it to a few more of the crew.”
The pair of guards opened the hatch leading into the bridge and closed it behind them. It was abuzz with activity, but the first thing he noticed was Ashley glancing back at him with a guilty smile. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here before, Sir. Someone blocked me into my bunk.”
“Glad to see you on the bridge,” Jake replied. “I’m sure everyone feels better knowing you’re at the helm.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Ashley replied, fully returning her attention to her station.
“How are our shields?” Jake asked.
“We have our standard emitter array functioning at sixty-eight percent,” Agameg replied.
“Let me guess, most of our nose emitters are completely gone.”
“Those and several surrounding our primary scanner array,” Agameg replied. “Now that we’ve recovered the missing skitter robots, we are formulating a plan to machine and install replacements.”
“Missing skitters?” Jake asked. “I missed that.”
“It was only becoming worrisome over the last twenty hours, when the number reached above one hundred. Security teams recovered them and two fresh crates of skitters when they arrested two alleged spies twenty minutes ago. We now have two hundred and ten more skitter robots above and beyond the ones we recovered. The crates in question were never entered into inventory.”
“That should help, just check their programming before you let them loose,” Ayan said. “The mivenite we had in the forward shield assembly was destroyed though, so we’re not going to build an adva
nced shield projector until we get more.”
Jake knew well enough to ask if they could make more, mivenite was a complex composite material that required a lot of time and rare materials to make. He doubted they’d find enough aboard the Triton to build a brand new Lorander style shield generator. “We’ll have to rely on our dimension drive to shield the front of the ship until we can get more emitters set up.”
“Emerging into normal space,” Agameg announced.
“Switching Dimension Drive to shield mode,” Ayan said. Jake peeked at her station and was relieved to see that she was working with a new graphical interface. It was basic, but the raw calculations, code and interactive power distribution diagrams were no longer on her main control screens. They were close at hand, surrounding the main controls she programmed, but the new software she was working on was finally in proper use. “We have full shielding, running at three hundred and nine percent of normal strength using forty-five percent of normal power.”
“Scan the area,” Jake ordered.
“We only have the tertiary array, Sir,” the sciences station reported. “They only have two modes, passive and quiet, or probing and loud.”
“Loud,” Jake replied. “We need to know what’s out here.”
“Fighters are reporting in,” Stephanie announced. “Three of three rescue missions complete, we didn’t lose any pilots.”
“Good, bring them home,” Jake replied. His tactical screen began to populate as the remaining fighters uploaded the results of their scans. There were plenty of places to hide in that small region of the nebula, he began highlighting several asteroids, two meteors and a mass that looked like a planet from intense scans. “Start plotting a D-Drive course for Waypoint Nine.”
“Yes, Sir,” Ashley replied. It would be the second time they travelled to the rendezvous point where they were supposed to meet Minh-Chu and the Pursuer III. Jake didn’t have the heart to tell her that it had to be the last time. If he wasn’t there, they’d leave a buoy behind with an encrypted message containing new coordinates.
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