by Charles Lamb
“Gentlemen, might I suggest you take this conversation elsewhere as I have a ship to run?” Kola supplied, generating a few snickers from the bridge crew and a smile from the captain standing nearby.
“As you wish,” Bank responded as he led Ivan out the main door and into the passageway beyond. The two could still be heard arguing in the distance.
“Thank you, Kola,” came the comment from the captain.
“You are welcome.”
Chapter 4
Sara was doing her absolute best to put a smile on her face as Sandy and the kids dropped by for a visit. Jake’s idea of placing Sandy in charge, as guardian of Jon and Padma, had been brilliant in concept. In practice, Sandy ran with it much like everything else she did and the results were over the top.
She decided to move from the Texas facility to the Nevada location because ALICE-1 had the best schools, in her opinion. Jon, who is about eight, was studying to be a doctor, and Padma wanted to be a facility commander. All according to Sandy, anyway.
To Sara, they looked like two happy kids, content with Sandy doting over them. In taking this role, Sandy had relinquished all of her former duties and obligations, including those intimately tied to Jake. Sara felt no guilt in her part of that. Especially since Sandy had made that decision on her own.
As Sara was seeing everyone to the door, with parting hugs and kisses for Auntie Sara from both kids, she wondered if the same thing would work with Becky.
----*----
Working with the rotation of the moon, they waited until they were visually hidden from the NeHaw ships and then dropped the cloaking so people could see what they were doing. Jake had several of the crew now scouring the outside of the ship, removing as many of the insects as they could find while he checked on the NeHaw destroyers. As he looked over Hannah’s shoulder, he could see the two ships in a stationary location just outside the system, as the sensors didn’t need line of sight to work.
“Colonel, sensors indicate we still have bugs on the hull. If we don’t go to space soon we are going to be in a spot of trouble,” Hannah replied with a worried tone.
“Ok, get everyone inside, guess we need to make a run for it,” Jake answered as he took the empty pilot's seat. Checking that everything was still green for the FTL drive and cloaking was off, he waited for the all clear before engaging it. He did one more check and then slowly powered up the drives. As the ship gently rose from the moon's surface, Jake left the landing gear extended.
As they passed through the clouds, still on the far side of the moon from the NeHaw, Jake moved particularly slowly to insure he created as little a disturbance as possible. Soon, they cleared the last of the atmosphere and slowly reentered the blackness of space. Suddenly an alarm sounded on the bridge.
“Sir, we have several small hull breaches. Activating self-patching systems,” Hannah announced.
Jake was aware that the ship had a hull patching capability, intended to address small meteorite strikes and other minor injuries to the pressure hull. He had just never had to use it.
“All signs of life are gone from the outside of the ship. I believe you may retract the landing gear if you like,” Hannah announced finally.
“You might hold on that, sir. Both NeHaw ships are scanning the area and the power surge might tip them off,” the Marine in the copilot’s seat declared as he worked the controls on the panel before him.
Checking his own displays, Jake could see both NeHaw destroyers floating ahead. His instruments indicated several sensor scans in progress, but not specifically directed at them. He dialed back the ship’s power until he was only using enough to hold them clear of the moon’s gravity.
With that, the three continued to wait and watch.
----*----
DeFor was staring at the sensor display, trying to make sense of the readings. Since General KaLob had taken power, it was not a smart thing to ignore unexplained phenomena. One of the few ship’s commanders to still retain his position, he was constantly expecting to receive that order stating he had been replaced. That meant death.
Therefore, when the latest order came through telling him to take JeGot and search this sector for signs of saboteurs, he sped with all haste. He had seen the report of the attack on S-12653, describing the devastation there. He could only assume that those responsible were the focus of the search. It was with that in mind that he selected this interstellar crossroads to begin his search.
He was very aware of the human guile and ruthlessness. He had lost several comrades to their attacks in the past. That was why he was currently so confused. Surely the attack on S-12653 had been executed by a superior force consisting of many ships. How else would they overcome and obliterate the entire base, exterminating every last being there.
However, instead of locating a massive energy signature hiding among the planets here, he was getting a transient energy reading. It was as if something were slipping in and out of reality, hovering at the edge of existence.
On a whim, DeFor ordered his tactical officer to link with his counterpart on JeGot’s ship and see if they couldn’t cross-reference the sensor shadow.
----*----
Jake had everyone turn off all nonessential power systems as he slowly nudged the Phantom out of orbit. His order had been, if it’s not essential to live, shut it down. Once free of the moon’s gravity, he could kill everything but the cloaking unit. Moving in irregular bursts, he tried not to set any pattern that might be detectable to the NeHaw as artificial.
He would watch the displays as he maneuvered the ship, waiting for drops in the scanning intensity before executing his next move. Several times, he had to cut his move short, lest he prolong the power surge in the drives.
Finally, they reached the point where, if they had working FTL drives, they could have burst away. Showing two green lights, the ship said it was good to go, but Jake had seen that on the way in. When they had originally dropped from FTL, they were well outside the star’s effects, but the FTL had still not worked. The trip to the moon had been lengthy because of where the FTL failed, not due to the stars influence.
“Now we wait,” Jake announced as he killed everything but life support and cloaking.
----*----
DeFor was sure there was something out there. Even though it had not registered on any of his ships sensors for more than a few microcycles, both his and JeGot’s ships were seeing the same readings. Without more information, though, he felt it unwise to sound the alarm and call in more ships.
With the sensor reading fading, DeFor ordered JeGot to start moving away, while they headed in opposite directions. The hope was one of the two ships would pick up the readings again.
----*----
Jake could see the two destroyers were starting to drift apart. On one hand, that was a good sign as it meant they had not locked onto the Phantom’s location. The bad part was one of the two was heading in their direction.
Resisting the urge to move the ship, Jake had his hand hovering over the stasis shield button. Should the destroyer get too close, the shields would prevent the ships from making contact and possibly damaging the Phantom. Unfortunately, it would absolutely give their position away.
Jake did a mental inventory of the guns on board and dismissed the thought of fighting his way out. While the shields were as good as any in the Earth’s fleet, the guns were NeHaw standard for a small ship like this and would do little against the combined assault from the two destroyers.
Returning his attention back to the encroaching vessel, Jake’s hand floated over to the stasis shields switch again. In a few more minutes, the destroyer would be blocking their access to open space. If they didn’t move soon, they were going to be in a tight situation.
Almost as a distraction, Jake checked the navigation settings for the FTL and hit the button one last time. There was a sudden sensation as the inertial dampeners reacted to the leap into faster than light, leaving the bridge crew in stunned silence.
JeGot had called asking if he had seen the energy spike. DeFor acknowledged the call and confirmed both the spike and the total loss of signal. Whatever they had been chasing, it had departed the area without a trace.
DeFor debated his next move, taking great care in considering his options. In the past, they would have ignored the incident and moved on to their next tribute collection point. Those ways, and the commanders who excelled in them, were gone.
Taking a deep breath, DeFor composed a report and once he was satisfied of its accuracy, he transmitted a copy to the High Command and one for JeGot. Once complete, he ordered JeGot to follow as they continued their search of the sector.
----*----
Jake had everyone on the bridge do a complete systems check before allowing anything else on the ship to be reactivated. One by one, they reanimated the various systems they had shut down, waiting to see which may have been the culprit in killing the FTL drive earlier.
They were a good two hours into the flight when they turned the last of the systems back on.
“Well, that’s it then? No other systems are still off line?” Jake asked the assembled bridge crew.
“That is it sir. Everything is up and running. Maybe the insect damage fixed the drive issue?” Hannah replied, with the Marine nodding in agreement.
“Well, I guess we will never know? Let’s go get something to drink,” Jake replied. No sooner had everyone started to rise from their seats, when the Phantom dropped out of FTL once again.
“No, no, no!” Jake shouted as he once more went over all the settings on the pilot’s console.
“Sir, we are still in NeHaw space, but have dropped out of FTL in a very remote area. The scope is clear and I see no other ships in the vicinity,” Hannah reported, anticipating the request.
“Closest planet of any kind?” Jake asked, thinking about a place to hide.
“Not within days, sir,” Hannah replied somberly.
For the next hour, the bridge crew went back over all the ship's systems, resetting the various power and drive systems without success. Finally, Jake stood up in exasperation.
“I’m taking a break. Keep us cloaked and powered down until I get back,” he said as he walked out of the bridge without looking back.
----*----
Brian was conferring with his analytics team off to one side of the massive bridge that ALICE-3 called her human brain trust. Even though ALICE-3 could fly the ship she called home all by herself, the ALICE/Human combination had shown time and again that the union proved far greater than the parts.
The focus of their attention was the data they were receiving from the drones they had been asked to dispatch in the search for Jake and the Phantom. As the closest ship to open space, they were able to send automated pilotless FTL capable drones to various possible locations, searching for signs of the lost ship and crew.
Each drone was programmed to fly in FTL to a predetermined location. Once there, they would attach to the nearest NeHaw network node, and relay their findings upon arrival. Once connected to the network, they could be remotely directed in a detailed search, based on the initial readings.
The drone assigned to the original target was able to confirm the destruction of the alien base as well as record several NeHaw destroyers in the area before it was discovered and attacked. Its destruction was confirmed as the live feed transmitted the convergence of two NeHaw ships firing before the signal was lost. The last message from the drone was the self-destruct confirmation.
“So, other than the drone we lost, still no signs of the Phantom?” Brian asked the analysts pouring over the inbound data.
“No sir, not the Phantom. We have, however, noted an exceeding high number of NeHaw military vessels everywhere we looked. We have been able to keep the drones hidden from them, but we suspect they are looking for something as well.”
“That’s good then. It probably means they are searching for Jake. However, that also suggests they might have damaged the Phantom as they retreated from the fight?” Brian said thoughtfully.
“Yes sir, or possibly an encounter after the attack, we can’t be sure,” the lead analyst replied.
“Be sure to forward this all to Earth,” Brian said as he turned away to deal with other less interesting but more pressing matters.
----*----
Linda was reviewing the information ALICE-3 was forwarding to them from the drones. Her current obsession was the data from the original target, the base they had attacked. They had captured quite a bit of data and imagery before the drone was destroyed, and she wanted as complete a breakdown of that engagement as possible.
Her hope was they could find an indication of a definitive reason for the Phantom’s disappearance. The lack of wreckage in space or on the surface of the planet gave them hope that the issue lay elsewhere, and was not critical.
The fact that the planet seemed to be getting the once over from the NeHaw as well gave support to the theory that the Phantom had escaped and was held up elsewhere. Scanning the room, she could see a dozen analysts all doing the same as she.
----*----
In his own world, Jake had left the bridge and headed straight to the galley, where he grabbed himself a beer from the ship's stores. After taking a sip, he took stock of his surroundings for the first time as his head had been elsewhere as he entered the room. The galley had fallen silent and everyone was watching his every move.
“As you were,” Jake said while raising his bottle to the assembled crew, and then turned to leave them to their own devices. Proceeding down the passageway, he descended down into the cargo hold. Here, ALICE had converted the open area to half barracks, and half general use area.
Jake could see Marines and SAS troopers intermingled throughout the open space. As he wandered, his head was not on his location, but was tracing all the systems and circuits that he knew made up the ship’s drive systems.
Having performed the same exercise multiple times already on the bridge, he hoped a change in scenery would jolt his memory. He stopped and scanned the room, noting that most of its occupants were paying him little attention. Some were on their bunks reading or talking to one another.
Others were exercising or servicing their gear in the large open space beyond the bunks. Jake noticed one lone female Marine sitting at the far end of the bay with a large stack of recovered alien hardware spread across a workbench. Crossing the room, his curiosity getting the better of him, Jake approached the woman. Waving her back into her seat as she started to rise from the stool she was using, he pointed at the stacks of equipment on the bench.
“What’s going on here?’ Jake asked after taking another sip of his beer. He used the bottle as a pointer, directing it toward the various piles spread around her.
“Since we have been delayed in returning home, I decided to use my free time to identify and catalog as much of the equipment we recovered as possible,” the Marine replied.
“Those over there are pieces of the communications gear we pulled from the wreckage of the ships and the command hooch. That bunch there is weapons control and navigation. Most of the rest is memory cores and data storage that we will need to get back to Earth if we want them read,” she replied with a tone of frustration.
Jake laughed to himself at the reference of the “hooch.” The term was familiar to him as slang from the Viet Nam war. He had encouraged all his marines to study military history, as it helped gain perspective on the challenges they had yet to face.
“Are you qualified to be doing this?” Jake asked, trying not to insult the woman, but concerned that misidentifying some of these items might delay much-needed Intel.
“Oh, yes sir. Before boot camp, I was trained as an analyst. I also spent some time in Patti’s Pit, doing military intelligence work.”
“Well, I would say that qualifies you as well as anyone on board. What is that you are playing with,” Jake asked, indicating the small piece of hardware she
had hooked up to a power source. It looked like a small cube, several inches square. He could see an indicator light showing it was active, but no other controls or displays were present.
“I have no idea, I’ve been playing with this thing off and on since we left the planet and I can’t seem to find its purpose. We pulled a couple off the wrecked ships, but as best we could tell, not all the ships had one. I was thinking it was some kind of communicator, or even an IFF unit, but the analyzer there doesn’t show any known communication transmissions,” she explained.
Jake knew that the IFF reference meant Identification Friend or Foe. On Earth it was used to help prevent friendly fire incidents. By transmitting known identifiers, combatants could distinguish those on their side by the signals received.
“Well, good luck,” Jake replied and started to turn when he stopped in his tracks.
“When did you first power that thing up?” he asked, returning to the bench.
“Oh, I don’t know for sure Sir, maybe an hour or two after we bugged out,” she replied.
“And has that thing been powered up the whole time since?” Jake asked pointedly.
“No Sir, I pulled it off the power supply when we landed on that moon. I just repowered it up a little while ago,” the Marine replied, growing concerned at Jake’s intensity.
“Shut it down,” Jake ordered without explanation.
“Yes Sir,” she replied without hesitation and pulled the leads connected to the cube.
“Bridge, do you hear me?” Jake asked over his communications link.
“Yes Sir,” the Marine in the co-pilot’s chair replied.
“Go to FTL,” Jake ordered. He swore he could feel the ship lurch as the FTL drive was activated.
“We are a go on FTL Colonel, what did you do?” Hannah asked from the bridge.
“I’ll explain later, just take us home,” Jake replied, cutting the link to the bridge.
