by Jason Kent
"Can it get us back to the Fleet, sir?" Sergeant Ross asked.
"It could," Garrett looked over at the Sergeant. The pilot rubbed his jaw and glanced at Kate and Sparrow, as if weighing how much he should say.
"Well spill it, flyboy," Sparrow urged. "Don't spare the gory details. There's a big 'but' in there if I ever saw it."
Stripped of her useless armor, Sparrow turned out to be a small woman with short white hair. Like Kate, she served as a tech specialist to Georges' assault team.
"I could jump if you could tell me where the front lines were located." Garrett explained. "Before the Fleet ran off, I got one last intel update to the nav computer."
Georges his shook his head and said, "This wasn't the only attack that was going south fast."
Kate looked down at her dead datapad and let the news sink in. The dark pad reflected the shine from her eyes. Kate found herself lost in the glow of her reflection. Her eyes reminded her of two flames, blue-white but cold, distant, like stars Kate would reach for in the dark, outside her parent's farm. These were not unreachable stars though, her bright eyes were just the outward manifestation of changes deep within her. Changes Kate was only beginning to comprehend. She thought about their options and the tendrils of a new path formed in her mind.
"We can't join the Fleet," Kate announced, her voice cracking. She looked up to find everyone in the shuttle staring at her. Kate felt a flame of heat rise in her cheeks. Georges, Garrett, Ross, and Merrick were soldiers and did not expect her to offer tactical advice on their next move. Kate took a deep breath and explained. "We could end up in the middle of another graveyard."
Ross cursed under his breath.
"Could you get the comm unit back online?" Garrett asked. "We might find a safe jump point back to our own forces."
Kate thought a moment. She was the EMTEC system expert. If the equipment could be fixed, she would be the one to do it. Kate's knowledge of network schematics and associated communications gear settled to the back of her mind. After meeting Javin, she discovered much more relevant data bouncing around in her head. Knowl continued to flood her with data. As she focused on a single question, the answer rose to the surface of her roiling thoughts. She just...knew things. Kate shook her head.
"Whatever took out our suits back in the cruiser seems to also have scrambled most of the gear on this shuttle." Kate waved a thin hand around at the red emergency lights providing their only dim source of light in the interior of the bay. "The blast wave from the power supply on the ironclad has left us with only basic, hard-wired systems. Anything as complex as the radios has been fried."
"Makes sense," Garrett remarked. "I was barely able to get her away from the hull."
"So, we've lost...what?" Sparrow asked, jumping into the conversation.
Garrett scratched his head and bit his lip as he considered the question.
Two nervous tells at once from the pilot, Kate thought, this will not be good.
"Everything," Garrett admitted. "Whatever was on-line when we were attached to the cruiser is dead. And I don't think it can be repaired with anything on board."
"How long?" Georges asked.
"About two hours of air in the reserves," Garrett replied. "More if the back-up scrubbers were working."
"Might as well forget that 'if'," Ross noted.
Kate felt a breeze on her cheek. She looked up and saw her fellow castaways in a field of grass surrounding a massive tree in the distance. She caught her breath. Kate blinked and she was back in the shuttle again. She knew what they needed to do.
Merrick looked up when Kate caught her breath. He met her eyes and raised his eyebrow in a silent question.
I'm fine, Kate thought. She wished Merrick could read her mind. She held the sniper's gaze. Their suggested move needed to come from someone besides her. Kate knew if someone else put them on the proper path, things would go quicker. She did not have time to argue about how she knew things she should not...could not know. The others were still uncertain of her glowing eyes or her new talents. Once the move was suggested, she would guide them to their destination.
Merrick kept his eyes locked on Kate's and spoke up. "We should jump."
"Where?" Ross grumbled. "Tral. What battle do you want to jump in the middle of next?"
"It'd be suicide," Garrett declared. He gestured to the windows and the gutted hulks floating dead in space. "Odds are we'll find more of that."
Merrick just stared at the marine pilot.
Garrett looked away.
"We go in," Kate offered. "Core-ward."
Everyone looked at her.
"In?" Georges spoke slowly. "To Tallinn space?"
Kate closed her eyes and nodded as she tried to keep the image and the feel of the soft breeze alive in her mind.
"There's somewhere I..." Kate paused and corrected herself, remembered the image of all of them, and a few others she did not recognize, standing under the massive tree. "...there's someplace we need to see. Maybe something we need to do."
'Ancient truths...'
Kate sighed. Javin's voice in her head was not going to help her win over the others. She looked around, making sure each could get a look into her luminescent eyes. She needed them to see what she was seeing. How to make them understand, though?
'...ever near...'
"I met someone called a Watcher back on the ironclad," Kate explained. "I don't know how he did it, but he... his name was Javin, was able to predict how the battle would unfold. He was the key to the Tallinn victory. Before he died, he managed to...well, I'm not sure how to say this, but—"
"He could see the future?" Ross asked. "And now you're saying you can, too?"
'...calling you...'
Kate locked eyes with the Sergeant. She considered how to respond and finally thought, what the tral.
"Yes," Kate responded, "yes I can." After a moment, she broke the stunned silence by saying, "I can't control it...comes and goes, you know?"
"No," Garrett said slowly, "I can honestly say I don't know how that works."
"Right." Ross tilted his head to one side and leaned close to Kate. "Did you bump your head when were on the Tallinn ship?"
Kate rolled her eyes.
"We've heard rumors," Georges interrupted, "about some special class of Tallinn planners or battle commanders. But, the opportunity to question one in person has not presented itself." He looked hard at Kate then to Sparrow. "If it is Tallinn territory we need to head for, I think we know a place."
Sparrow pulled herself closer to the others. Kate noticed the red emergency light reflecting off circuitry embedded under her scalp. With her helmet off, Kate could make out the gleaming tracings over her left eye. The pathways continued from her brow back up and over her ear where it disappeared under her short white hair.
Kate recognized the pattern.
Link sprite. Not many underwent the procedures needed to integrate. Embedded full-immersion gear tended to turn your brain to goo if not done very, very carefully.
"Transom," Sparrow stated.
'Rare flower...'
Kate closed her eyes. There were few sprites. Rare indeed.
"Colony world," Garrett commented. He tugged at his ear. "One problem. The Tallinn's took Transom and the station there more than a year ago."
"Anything closer?" Georges asked his companion.
The sprite shook her head. Her circuits caught the lights and flashed in the dimness. "Transom's our best bet. We have a solid contact there."
"It's at the far range of our jump limit," Garrett said, thinking aloud. "We might be able to make it though."
"Might?" Ross grunted. He mumbled something about crazy pilots and lunatic Tallinns then fell silent.
"Just Sparrow?" Kate asked the sprite. She figured if they were likely to die in an emergency jump, she should at least know who was about to share her coffin.
"Liana Colt...originally." She gestured at the circuits visible beneath her scalp. "Since all this, j
ust Sparrow."
"Sparrow it is then." Kate thought for a moment then turned to Garrett.
"You said the Tallinns controlled the system. When you get us there, won't the Tallinns just shoot us out of the sky?"
"Probably," Garrett admitted with a tug at his ear.
"Better and better," grumbled Ross.
Kate glanced at the marine. He shook his head as he checked his weapon again.
'Save your concern.'
The voice in her head was trying to tell her something about Ross. Kate did not know what it could be. She watched as he absently cleaned the new spare rifle claimed from the weapon rack. Kate realized Sergeant Ross was not nervous about the jump, he merely preferred a stand-up fight to waiting around for something to happen to him. She suddenly was not worried about the man becoming a problem. He now moved into her asset column. She was pretty sure they would need a warrior for her plan to succeed.
Georges picked up on Kate's line of thinking about the Transom jump.
"Sparrow can spoof their sensors."
"Tallinn mech is a pain to jack with," Kate remarked. "Clockwork and springs don't exactly do Wi-Fi."
"Even Tallinn's mix it up with a little hi-tech," Sparrow explained. "The EM spectrum's all you've got for certain jobs like sensors and comm. Plus, if the Tallinns are camped out in Fleet's old station above Transom, they're bound to have plugged into existing transmission and reception systems. It'd be simpler than rebuilding everything. Last time we—"
"Last time we heard," Georges interrupted, cutting off Sparrow. Kate could not miss the sidelong glance at the sprite.
"Speaking of comm," Garrett interjected, "ours is off-line, remember?" He rapped on the hull. "Ms. Colt...sorry, Sparrow won't have any way to get a link."
The unnatural metallic sound of the pilot's hand hitting the hall rang in Kate's ears, searing her raw nerves. She screwed her eyes shut and fought to stop the swirling in her head. When she opened her eyes, Kate found Merrick staring at her. Her pulse quickened. She looked away and focused on the conversation. Sparrow tapped at her circuits.
"Get me close enough and I can take care of the rest."
"They'll blast us before we can get you within range," Garrett replied.
"I think you underestimate Sparrow's abilities," Georges stated. "And yours. We can jump right onto Transom Station's doorstep."
"Not your standard exit point," Garrett mused, "but possible."
"Exactly how long do we have before we run out of air?" Kate asked.
Garrett pushed off to the rear of the passenger compartment. He tapped a few of the glass-covered gauges and adjusted a valve slightly. He sighed and tapped the gauges again.
"Well?" Sparrow pressed, "The suspense is killing me!"
"An hour and thirty-five minutes," Garrett reported with a shrug. "Give or take fifteen minutes depending on how deep we breathe and the accuracy of the analog gauges."
"If we're going to do something, we need to do it soon," Ross noted.
"Jumping is our primary option," Georges remarked. He looked around the group of survivors. "But, another alternative is to surrender to whatever Tallinn forces are left in this system. Given the rate of Tallinn victories, I'm sure our time in a Prisoner of War facility would be minimal."
"Right," Sparrow snorted. "As if."
Ross ground his teeth, his jaws clenched and unclenched. "Never imagined myself spending any time in a POW camp."
"It would be the safest option," Georges added.
"Snipers don't fare well in the camps," Merrick said, "or so I've heard."
"As have I," Georges agreed, he locked eyes with Merrick then shifted to the others. "Just wanted everyone to be aware of the choices."
"Check," Ross stated. "Consider us aware." The muscles in his jaw continued to work furiously.
"So, surrender is off the table and I don't intend to stay here until our air runs out," Georges said. He tilted his head to Sparrow. "Which leaves us where?"
"The plan, as I have gathered, is," Sparrow began and counted off the steps on her delicate fingers, "first, we use the back-up jump drive, which we're not entirely sure will work, thanks Garrett. Two, we need to get into an enemy space station after spoofing their sensors. That's actually two and three. Four, we will need to finish the rest of the plan later, but as I understand things, it involves some sort of mystical advice from a dead Tallinn now talking to..." She nodded toward Kate.
"Kate, Kate Thompson."
"...now lodged firmly inside Ms. Thompson's head," Sparrow concluded. She held up a hand with all five fingers spread out. "And then there will also be the matter of finding a ship, avoiding Tallinns, getting off the station again, etc. Sorry, I lost count when I got to the station. We'll just be making stuff up from then on out anyway."
"Agreed," Georges said. "We need to get to Transom to escape our immediate predicament. We can address the other issues as they arise. I open the floor."
"Jump," Merrick replied.
"What the Tral," Ross remarked. He thumped the aft wall which separated the cabin from the engine compartment. "Let's test this baby out."
Sparrow nodded.
Everyone looked at Kate.
"I'm not spending the night in a POW camp," Kate declared. "Jump."
"Pilot," Georges said, "lovely Transom, if you please."
Garrett took a long look into Kate's glowing eyes then returned to the cockpit.
Kate settled into her seat and buckled in. She avoided eye contact with anyone, even Merrick. Still, she felt his eyes on her. She was not sure why, but she knew he would support her no matter what. Kate did not want to look up in case there was any trace of doubt on his face. She did not know what their ultimate journey would bring, she just knew they needed to go to Transom next.
Knowl was calling.
Kate had taken the first step of her chosen path.
"Tell Knowl we're on our way, Javin," Kate whispered.
Chapter 6
Transom Station
"Everyone tighten those straps," Garrett called back from the cockpit. With his electronic systems all but dead, the pilot worked the manuals and checked the gauges which glowed with a ghostly phosphorescent light. Garrett consulted a binder then entered the coordinates for Transom into a set of rotary wheels. He rechecked his numbers then lifted a plastic cover outlined with red hash-marks and dire warnings. Under the cover was a large lever. Garrett paused and looked back at Kate once more.
"Transom, right?" Garrett asked.
"If you can find it," Kate replied and smiled back.
Garrett gave a lop-sided grin and winked then turned back to his controls. He took a deep breath and glanced once more out of the cockpit windows.
"Lord, please let this work," Garrett prayed.
Amen, thought Kate.
"Go," Georges ordered. He settled his head back against his chair.
"Tral," Ross grunted.
"Three...two...one...jump." Garrett shoved the emergency jump lever forward as far as it would go. He pressed back into his seat and grabbed the flight controls on either side of his chair. As the engines spun up behind him, Garrett begged, "Come on you piece of tral. All you have to do is work just this once."
Kate's stomach dropped away as the shuttle's tiny back-up translation drive unleashed its full power. She took a deep breath as she and the others were suddenly being pulled across unimaginable distances of space.
Kate shut her eyes against the disorientation and swallowed down the nausea that threatened to overwhelm her. The symptoms were not unusual for some during jumps but this was a first for her. Kate tightened her grip on the seat harness as the disorientation worsened when she found herself...somewhere else...beyond the shuttles dim, cramped bay.
...a thoroughfare jammed with people and traffic, wetted by a drizzling afternoon rain...colony world...smell of farm animals, both working and butchered...exhaust from vehicles pushed far beyond their design life...in the middle of the street a young girl tu
rned and looked right at Kate...she dropped the basket she was carrying, its contents of green apples spilled out on the paving stones...the girl opened her mouth to shout...
...humidity pressed in on Kate, if not for the packed dirt underfoot, she would have almost thought she was underwater as the near-liquid atmosphere forced itself into her lungs, her eyes, her pores...sounds of life erupted from the triple canopy jungle which crowded the flanks of a muddy river...Kate was on a rutted trail which led down to a sluggish river of brown water... the building morning heat was oppressive already as the sun beat down on the steamy scene...out in the river, a boy strained at the oars of a raft as it crossed the river, he was intent on landing the cargo tied to the center of the barge to the rough pier built into the high banks...he paused in his labor and looked up at Kate...
...blowing sand...pitted and dulled paint on the truck's hood visible through a dust-encrusted and cracked windshield...the truck crested the rocky ridge, the engine revved and a tire spun for a moment before it found purchase...an endless panorama was revealed, more red hills, exactly the same as the last, marched off to the distance until the hills were lost in the haze of the atmosphere at the horizon where triple moons hung low in the sky...Kate looked from her vantage point in the passenger seat to the driver...the prospector, on this world for more than ten years, looked back at her with eyes ringed with wrinkles gained from squinting into the red sky day after day, year after year, his eyes barely registered any excitement at her presence, nothing surprised this man...
...another city packed with people Kate never met but knew all the same...
...reptiles emerging from rudimentary homes...life forms humanity would someday encounter, Knowl knew them, so Kate knew them...
...a world-spanning Ocean teeming with life and death struggles...
...rolling farmlands...a herd of colonial gene-engineered bison grazed peacefully...
...a panoramic view from a crumbling skyscraper...snow covered buildings, all abandoned, empty for longer than Kate could comprehend...Kate closed her eyes, she did not want to download and relive the catastrophe but was unsuccessful, in a moment she saw the disease, the death, the desperate last stand...
