by Terry Mixon
For her, it wasn’t that important. She never expected to inherit the Throne. That was someone else’s job. She cared much more about her family bonds than her social status.
Did this change everything for her?
Perhaps not. Her father and mother loved her, and she loved them, even if she was furious with Mother right now. The doctor was right. If she ended up separated from an Imperial title it wouldn’t change who she was. Father wouldn’t toss her out the door. Based on how he treated Jared, the news wouldn’t alter his behavior one bit.
However, the Imperial Senate would strip Ethan of his position. She had no idea who they’d replace him with. Neither did they, she was sure. Although they might all refer to one another as good friends and colleagues, the fractures in the Senate were deeply divisive. A vote to remove the confirmed Heir would take a two-thirds majority. So would approving another Heir.
They might agree on removing a bastard from the succession, especially if he wasn’t the Emperor’s bastard. They’d never agree to a replacement that wasn’t the child of the Emperor. The conservative senators would staunchly favor one of their own, as would the social liberals. Since each had more than a third of the membership in the Senate, there would be no compromise. Goodness knows how long that stalemate would last.
Even if they did settle their grievances, they would probably install a Senator as the Heir. A disastrous precedent. A coup in everything but name. She’d spent her life learning that the needs of the Empire were more important than her own.
No good could come of letting the truth out. She had to keep the knowledge to herself. She couldn’t allow her father to know. He’d feel obliged to make the knowledge public. Just look at what he’d done with Jared for example.
Ethan would act out in some way if he found out. She knew it. He was entirely too impulsive and ruled by his emotions when he felt threatened or slighted. So she could never tell him, either.
Jared would probably keep the knowledge to himself, but she couldn’t be certain of that. He had his own version of honor and he hated being the Imperial Bastard. No, she could only trust herself…and Doctor Stone…to keep the secret.
“Ambassador Bandar, please report to the bridge.”
The voice from the console startled her. She touched the now glowing icon to acknowledge the page with an acceptance signal. The man who’d called would see that she’d responded.
The call likely meant that Jared was ready to fill her in on his plans. Or he’d talked to Stone about Carlo Vega. She’d find out soon enough.
Chapter Eleven
Jared had just finished giving his orders to Ramirez and was watching the ship begin moving toward the flip point as Kelsey walked onto the bridge. He gestured for her to join him at his console. He looked furious.
“Doctor Stone just left. She told me you know what she found.”
Kelsey’s expression darkened. “About Carlo. Yes. It’s horrible. Who would do such a thing?”
“We don’t know. Yet. You can rest assured that we won’t stop looking until we do. A destroyer doesn’t need a security department like Orbital One, but we have some qualified people. Since he ate breakfast with me on Best Deal, it may take quite a while to determine exactly what happened.”
Though Jared had a few ideas. He suspected the situation was more complex than it appeared. Since Kelsey hadn’t been spending time with him, she didn’t know one critical piece of information. Vega had brought a gift for Jared from the Imperial Family: candies from a specialty house. Unfortunately, Jared secretly hated coconut.
Or perhaps fortunately. At least for him.
He’d taken advantage of Kelsey’s absence to tell Vega to enjoy them with his compliments. He’d watched the man have one that morning. Now Jared suspected someone had poisoned at least one of the treats and that Jared had been the intended target.
Stone hadn’t been able to tell if the poison had been in any specific food and Jared had no proof that Crown Prince Ethan wanted him dead.
Allowing his suspicions into the record would have any number of negative consequences. Kelsey wouldn’t believe her brother was a killer. No loyal Imperial citizen would imagine the Heir to the Throne as a murder. Especially with nothing but the word of the Imperial Bastard.
Jared would let the investigation go forward and let it come to its own conclusions. He’d searched for any remaining candies, but Vega must’ve eaten them all. Based on how they were packaged, the fatal dose would’ve probably been in the last few pieces. No evidence left to link the poison to the true killer that way.
Maybe his people would find a surprise on Best Deal. Someone who secretly hated Vega. Not likely, but possible. That would be the best possible outcome. Otherwise, Jared would be watching his back for the rest of his life once they made it back home.
He pushed the thoughts out of his head. He had more pressing things to deal with. “In the meantime, we’re going through the flip point. The plan is to take Athena across and send word back via probe. They’re based on standard data drones, and still have the communication and data storage equipment installed.”
Communication drones routinely flipped back and forth at the major flip points throughout the Empire, accepting data transmissions and sending them on at the other side. They couldn’t do many flips without maintenance and recharging, so the Empire didn’t use them in less traveled areas. Though that might change if they found anything half as interesting as he imagined they might on this trip.
“I’ve got a cutter standing by to take you over to Best Deal,” he continued. “They’ll follow once Athena is safely over.”
Kelsey shook her head. “I’m assigned here and I’ll go across with you.”
Her answer set him back for a moment. She’d been so cooperative the other day that he’d forgotten how willful she could be. This was more like the Kelsey he knew.
“That’s not open to negotiation, Kelsey.”
“Ambassador Bandar in this case, Captain. I’ve reviewed Ambassador Vega’s orders. The Ambassador goes wherever this ship does. Those orders fall to me now. I’m sorry if I seem obstinate.”
He considered arguing, but he was honest enough to admit that she was probably within her rights. “Let’s hope we don’t regret that decision.” He raised his voice. “Zia, have the cutter pilot stand down. She won’t be needed after all.”
“Yes, sir,” she responded. “We’re inside the flip point.”
“Helm, bring us to a stop in the center.”
Lieutenant Ramirez touched his console. “All stop, Captain. Flip drive standing by.”
“Ambassador,” Jared said formally. “We are prepared to flip. Please strap in to one of the observation seats.”
Kelsey did so without any fuss. She sat facing the screen with her hands folded on her lap when she finished securing her belt.
Jared opened the ship wide channel. “All hands, this is the Captain. We’re about to flip to an unexplored system through an untested flip point. Secure your sections and report to operations when you’re ready.”
“Where is Commander Graves?” Kelsey asked.
“His battle station is in the operations center. On a destroyer, that means a three-man backup control room. If something disastrous happens to us, he’ll assume command. Otherwise he’s responsible for supporting us while we control the ship.”
On a larger ship, they’d have a dedicated staff to interpret the scanner readings and help keep the Captain informed about the tactical situation, but a destroyer really didn’t need that level of support. Admittedly, it would have been helpful in this case.
Perhaps a light cruiser would be a better choice for future missions. The improved command and control systems would be a plus. And more missile tubes never hurt.
“Bridge, this is operations,” Graves said over the communications link. “All departments report ready to flip.”
“Thanks, Charlie.” Jared nodded to Ramirez. “Give us a thirty second warning and flip t
he ship.”
“Aye, sir.”
The flip warning sounded from the overheads. The countdown went by silently until Ramirez spoke again. “Flipping the ship.”
A normal flip was over in less time than a person could detect, though it didn’t feel instantaneous. It disrupted people’s equilibrium for a few moments, which was why everyone strapped in before a flip. Once that effect passed, everything was back to normal before the helm officer announced they had made it.
This flip was anything but normal.
According to Jared’s inner ear, some giant hand picked up the ship and spun it like a top. As the ship reeled, he felt glad he’d strapped in. He would’ve fallen out of his seat if he hadn’t. The sensation persisted and he almost lost his lunch. Someone did, although he couldn’t to tell whom. The dull sound of them retching and the smell almost pushed him into joining them.
He forced himself to focus on his console. They’d completed the flip and were floating in a new system. Obviously. If they hadn’t made it all the way, he probably wouldn’t be feeling so terrible. The ship’s status was still green so the mechanical parts of the ship had made it just fine.
“Flip complete,” Ramirez gasped. “Holy God. I feel like someone kicked me in the…well, you know.”
Jared most certainly did. The nausea was actually very similar to that event, though the disorientation wasn’t. He pushed the feelings to the back of his mind and focused on his job. “Operations, I want a status on every person onboard.”
“Aye, Captain.” Graves sounded just as bad as Jared felt.
A glance over at Kelsey revealed that it had been her he’d heard retching. She sat bent over and holding her gut.
He unbuckled his restraint and staggered to his feet. He managed to make it to her side without falling over. “You okay?”
She looked up, her eyes not really focused. “That sucked.”
He chuckled ruefully. “Indeed. Chin up. It’ll wear off.”
Jared found some rags in the emergency repairs cubby and cleaned up the vomit. He could’ve called someone to take care of it, but his people had more important things to do. The rags went into the disposal bin. The life support system quickly whisked the sour odor away.
He held himself upright against the bulkhead and verified everyone else seemed to be recovering. He made it back over to his chair without mishap and sighed gratefully as he strapped himself back in.
“Bridge, this is operations,” Graves said. “All hands are accounted for. A few will be going to the medical center when someone can help them, but everyone is conscious and responsive.”
“That’s good, Charlie. Get to work nailing things down about our new location.”
He killed the circuit. “Zia, what can you tell me about the flip point?”
She studied her console. “It looks like it did in the probe scans. Obviously the trip through was a lot rougher than we normally see. It’s closer in to the system primary than usual, too. About the orbit of Avalon. The star looks a little dimmer and smaller than Avalon’s, so the habitable zone is probably smaller. I don’t have any more information on possible planets, but our location seems to be clear of debris.”
“What about that distress beacon?”
“I’m picking it up loud and clear. I have a direction, but I’m unsure how far away it is. We’d need to move perpendicular to it for a little ways so I can triangulate. I can tell you that it’s outside our orbit, so it’s not a habitable world.”
“Let’s wait until everyone can move around first. Now that we’re safely here, let’s recover.”
It took about ten minutes for the worst of the dizziness to fade. Kelsey seemed to be recuperating a little more slowly, but she had far less experience with flips than his crew did.
“What happened?” she finally asked him.
“That smaller flip point must mean it’s a more difficult ride, apparently. We won’t know for sure until the science teams get here. Zia, load the drone with all our scanner data and append a warning that it’s a bad transition. We don’t want them worrying for too long. Send it once you’re done.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Bridge, this is operations.”
“Mertz here. What have you got?”
“We’re still working on the system data, but I have a rough estimate on our location relative to known space. You know how Doctor Cartwright bet it would be a pretty short range hop?”
“Is it?”
Graves chuckled. “I hope you took him up on that bet, because we’re at least five hundred light years away from where we started.”
Jared felt his eyes widen. “That’s preposterous. The longest known flip is less than two hundred.”
“Not anymore.”
They were further away from known space than the new Empire was across. That counted the previously explored, but unclaimed space.
“Thanks, Charlie. Let us know when you have anything else for us.”
“Right. Operations out.”
“Pasco, take us on a perpendicular course from the distress beacon. I want to know how far away it is.”
Ten minutes passed as they shifted position. Doctor Stone reported in that a dozen people had come with exceptionally bad nausea. It looked like Kelsey wasn’t the worst hit. Stone expected them all to recover shortly.
Once he finished talking to the doctor, Zia called out to him. “I have a rough range to the distress beacon, Captain. It’s about three hours away at moderate acceleration. I don’t see anything at that location so it’s probably small. Nothing showing on the gravitic scanners.”
“We’ll go after it once Best Deal arrives and is ready to travel. After all this time, a few hours more won’t matter.”
He brought them back close to the flip point and they waited.
Without warning, the empty space inside it wasn’t empty anymore. Best Deal popped into existence half a dozen kilometers away. Zia reported it looked good from the outside so Jared had her hail them.
Their response time was long enough to worry him, but Captain Keller finally answered. “Wow. That is the worst thing I’ve ever felt.”
Jared chuckled in sympathy. “Agreed. Get a status on your people and get back to me. We have a team standing by if you need medical assistance.”
In the end, it took almost two hours to get the freighter ready to move under her own power again. Luckily, they also had no serious issues with the crew. Everyone made the flip in one piece.
Jared was about to order them to set course for the distress beacon, but a priority call from Doctor Cartwright made him pause.
“Captain,” the scientist said, “we may have a problem.” The older man looked like he’d taken a ride in a centrifuge. His skin was almost grey.
“What kind of problem, Doctor?”
“A detailed scan of the flip point shows instability. The gravitic field almost looks like a slowly spinning vortex. A whirlpool.”
“That’s not normal?”
The older man shook his head. “Absolutely not. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The motion was too subtle for the probe to pick up. I’d have sounded the alarm if I’d had any inkling about it.”
Jared felt his gut tighten. “An alarm about what?”
Cartwright shrugged. “I’m not exactly certain, but anything this different from the norm is of worth noting. I suspect that the rotating gravitic field is what caused such intense disorientation. While concerning, that isn’t my biggest worry. The field is weak. Even the other end of this flip point has a normal strength field, though it is smaller. Not so here. This end is only half the strength I would’ve expected.”
“What might that mean, Doctor?”
“I don’t know,” he said a bit crossly. “Perhaps nothing. The flip back might be worse than the one to get here. Perhaps the flip back won’t work at all.”
Jared’s heart froze. “Not at all? The probes made it back without any issue.”
“The probes are t
remendously smaller than our ships. I’m only hypothesizing and that is the worst case.”
“What would be the results of a failed flip? Would the ship go part way and break up? Be destroyed on the spot?”
“Doubtful. The most likely outcome is that the ship doesn’t go anywhere at all. The gravitic field could be too weak to open for a ship from this end at all. If so, then you’d hit the button and a lot of nothing would happen.”
That was better than blowing up. “Thank you, Doctor. We’ll figure this out shortly, so keep your scanners on the flip point. I want to know as much as possible when the time comes.”
He closed the connection and called Graves. “I want all non-essential personnel shifted over to Best Deal. Transfer any critical supplies as well. We’re going to make the transition back over to be sure we can go home.”
Jared turned his attention to Kelsey. “You’re going over to Best Deal with every single person I can do without. I’ll log your objection, but if this ship doesn’t come out the other side, I want you here with the rest finding another way home. They’ll need you a lot more than I will.”
He expected her to argue, but she nodded. “Of course, Captain. No objection.”
In the end, they shifted more than three quarters of the crew over to Best Deal. The skeleton crew left on board was just enough to operate the ship. The marines objected to him ordering them off the ship, but this wasn’t one of those situations where they could do much good. He manned the bridge alone.
Jared moved the ship back to the center of the flip point and signaled Best Deal that they were transitioning. He took a deep breath and activated the flip drive. The graphs showed the drive peaking, but nothing else happened. Best Deal still sat right there on his scanners.
They were trapped.
Chapter Twelve
Kelsey waited on Best Deal until everyone else had returned to Athena, taking the last flight back. The loss of their way home had hit everyone hard. She still couldn’t get her head around it. Too many shocks to her system, she supposed.
