The frantic face of Professor Hanniman appeared on the view screen for all to see. 'I don't understand!' he spluttered. 'It should have worked!'
A solitary slow clapping filled the cockpit, to a man the crew turned to Agent Smith.
'Bravo Professor, here I had expected Captain Jones to doom us all but it seems that you have beaten him to the proverbial punch.'
Hanniman scowled at him but was silent.
'Professor can you get us out of here on impulse?' Phil asked, already knowing the answer.
The man looked crestfallen, Smith's words had rang true and cut him deeply. 'I'm afraid we are doomed, Captain. I have failed you, I am sorry.'
Then it dawned on Phil what they needed to do. 'Professor, can you give us maximum impulse regardless? I have an idea.'
Smith groaned but unlike before nobody paid him any heed.
'RJ, as soon as those impulse engines kick in I want you to get us to a safe distance, then continue in a wider orbiting pattern around the star.'
'Captain I don't see how that could help any...'
'That's an order, pilot.' Phil said, cutting him off in the hopes that if they didn't think about it long enough then everything would be okay.
He could see the look in RJ's eyes, the trust was beginning to ebb away from them now. The crew really did believe that they were about to die and that Phil wasn't going to magically save them as the glove-wearer should.
The ship's engines roared into life, possibly coaxed into giving their last out of desperation from Hanniman down in Engineering. Phil hoped it would be enough, he'd know sooner rather than later. The view screen had been switched back to the pursuing Voravian vessel now that their attempts to hyperwarp out of the area had failed. It was closing in at a great speed with weapons primed and ready yet still Phil's plan had yet to come to fruition.
For the second time in their struggles it was as if Phil's thought triggered the event. A huge eruption from the surface of the star shot upward and engulfed the Voravian ship, sending large chunks of debris flying everywhere. He slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair and yelled in triumph, then pain, then horror.
A huge chunk of the Battle Cruiser was spinning directly toward them away from the wreckage, faster than they could possibly hope to move. Meanwhile the eruption from the surface of the star seemed to be spreading to a position directly underneath them.
'It was a good effort, Phil. We wouldn't have survived this long without you.' Annika said consolingly.
'Yeah Captain, you managed to take out the vessel that the flagship of our entire fleet couldn't handle. That's a mighty fine achievement if you ask me.' RJ added.
Smith was silent. Phil assumed that Hanniman's lack of input was due to him being embroiled in Engineering stuff.
They watched silently then as the remnants of the battle cruiser drew inexorably closer. It was going at some speed, faster than either their ship or the Voravians had travelled.
It was at that precise moment that Phil felt a strange tingling in his gloved hand. He didn't think to hope, if it was trying to send him a message he may well be too stupid to figure it out in time. As if it had realised this, the solution came to Phil immediately.
'Engineering, Hanniman, are you there?'
A weary-looking Hanniman covered in wires rose up to greet the holoterminal on Phil's chair. 'Where else would I be, Captain?'
Phil nodded. 'I need you to divert all power from the engines to the shields, then shift what's left of them entirely to the estimated point of collision.' he couldn't quite believe the words he was hearing as they tumbled out of his mouth, it all seemed so obvious now. 'We're going to bounce off the debris and use its momentum to carry us clear of the star.'
This produced a gasp from Annika. 'That's... brilliant. It might even work!' she started calling up strange looking trajectories and schematics, a mirror image of what Hanniman himself seemed to be doing. Neither of them could quite believe that Phil had come up with such a bold idea, let alone if it was feasible. For some reason, Phil knew that this would work. It had to.
An alarm started up, the computer helpfully began describing that their deaths were imminent and wishing them a nice day.
'We're out of time Engineer, you're just going to have to trust me. Turn the engines off, redirect them to the shields and prepare for collision. On my mark I want you to disable the gravitational simulator.' Phil wasn't entirely sure how he knew of the gravitational simulator, or how shutting it off was an integral part of the plan. He wasn't going to tell his crew that though.
The huge lump of smouldering wreckage was on the view screen now, it looked suitably lethal as per the computer's calculations. He just hoped that the shields would hold long enough to make a difference.
Once more the crew were stunned into complete inactivity as they watched their death hurtling toward them. If the eruption from the star didn't kill them, collision with something of this magnitude certainly would.
The debris came into contact with their outer shield with a horrible squealing noise of friction. 'Mark!' Phil shouted once more, resulting in his starting to float free of the seat.
They watched as the momentum of the debris batted them off into space after ricocheting with the shield, with no gravitational simulator to keep them in place they simply went with their potential destroyer and further away from the star.
A bright light that wasn't white yet caused a fright engulfed the spot they had previously resided in, unstable activity from the star's surface shooting up to greet space and devour anything within.
Then it was over, they had left orbit of the star and had been bumped clear from the path of most of the debris. Against all odds, Phil had actually managed to save them.
Chapter 10
Hat! Arrows! Tubes!
All eyes were turned on Phil once again. It was a feeling he would have to get used to if he planned on staying in this Captain's chair much longer. They had actually managed to survive solely because of him, he couldn't quite believe it. He stared down at the glove, okay, maybe not solely due to him.
'That was incredible!' Annika cried, completely in awe at Phil's miraculously guiding them clear of danger. She swivelled her chair to Agent Smith, who still remained silent and didn't appear to be in a celebratory mood. 'How can you not believe that he is the chosen one now?'
Smith straightened up in his chair and cleared his throat. 'Mr. Jones was... exceptionally fortunate in his decisions, some of which appeared to be baffling. Guiding us through this conflict does not guarantee that he is your chosen one though. There are many Voravian vessels out there, we may not be so... fortunate next time.'
RJ snorted in disdain and also turned to face Smith. 'Fortunate my hat! Captain Jones was incredible back there and you know it!'
'I agree with our pilot and Annika, Captain Jones was exceptional in the face of certain doom. Even you must admit that we wouldn't have come out of that alive but for him.' Hanniman supplied via intercom.
Smith did nothing of the sort, deciding to change the topic instead of attempting to change the minds of the rest of the crew. 'I would remind everyone that we were sent out here by Star Command on a rescue mission, our objective is to find out where the Scavanger is, not to engage the Voravians.'
Begrudgingly the crew agreed, celebrations could wait while other lives were still at stake. They needed to find out where the distress signal had emanated from and mount a rescue.
'Our ship is pretty beat up, it's going to take some time before we can navigate anywhere. Our scanners are still operational, so if you want to try and pinpoint the distress beacon, be my guest.' Hanniman said.
Annika brought up a series of complex consoles and started tapping in details to them, a large radar-like dial shot up on the main view screen and Phil watched as it attempted to locate the distress signal the Ensign had sent out.
'We can determine the flight pattern of the ship by triangulating the deviation of the signal location from the
start of the transmission to the end. After which we then plot the projected course and see if it intersects any planetary bodies.'
Phil nodded, his face blank. 'Uh-huh.'
'What she's trying to say Captain is that if we know where the signal went, we can find out where it's going to.' RJ supplied.
'Ah, yes, right, of course.' Phil replied, deciding that it was best to just let them get on with it.
He watched the view screen idly as it displayed a lot of information he couldn't hope to understand, then a small dot was picked up on the radar.
'Yes!' Annika said, fist-pumping the air much too vigorously. 'We have a lock on the signal, it looks like they crashed on a nearby planet in this system!'
Phil knew there was only one question that mattered at this juncture. 'Hanniman, how long will it take us to get to the planet Annika just pointed out?'
There was a pause then, whether Hanniman was trying to make a calculation or he simply didn't know how to break the news, Phil couldn't tell.
'Captain, I simply don't know. It's too early to tell what sort of damage running the engines like this has caused. My diagnostic is going to take at least six hours, until then we're going nowhere.'
'You have thirty minutes, Engineer.' Phil replied.
Silence again. 'Captain, with all due respect, I simply can't make the repairs happen in that time!'
Phil mused over this for a moment. 'Make it happen, Engineer.'
'Aye Captain.' The dejected sound of Hanniman replied.
'In five hours. Also, Agent Smith will help you with the repairs.'
Smith swiveled in his chair upon mention of his name. 'Mr. Jones. Captain. I have very limited experience with matters of Engineering, surely it would be better to send a more qualified...'
'Agent Smith you will find your way down there and you will aid our Engineer, is that understood?' Phil said, interrupting the man.
'Your orders are crystal-clear, Captain.' Smith replied, probably giving a murderous look under those dark shades of his that he never took off. With that he powered down his console and left the cockpit.
'I think I upset him.' Phil said, shortly after Smith had departed.
'You did what a Captain should do, sir.' RJ replied, 'the boy was growing too big for his breeches.'
Annika swivelled in her chair gracefully to face Phil. 'RJ is right Captain, but for you Agent Smith would probably have his own command, he just doesn't see what a great leader of people you are. You don't owe him any apology, you're the Captain!'
Phil didn't feel like a great leader of people, the last thing he needed when things got dangerous was for the crew to disagree with his decisions. Smith was undoubtedly still not sold on their previous narrow escapes and while he had been supportive during their last crisis, Hanniman wasn't too keen about all the work he had been assigned either. He couldn't have the crew split down the middle in their opinion of him, he needed them united and obeying his orders.
Assuming the orders he gave weren't the complete fluke that Smith suggested.
'I'm going to go down to Engineering.' Phil finally said. He didn't need to give his reasons, a Captain never did.
As he walked out the cockpit of the ship a strange realisation hit him. He had no idea what this vessel he had already saved from destruction twice was called.
'Computer?' Phil asked tentatively.
'Yes Captain Jones?' the helpful female voice replied.
'What is the name of this ship?'
There was silence then, as if the computer was frantically trying to search its database for an answer to the query.
'Due to extensive use of computational capabilities, I am unable to process your question at this time.'
Phil wondered briefly whether someone had asked it to make the perfect cup of tea.
'Who is using your computational capabilities currently, computer?'
More silence. Phil wouldn't have minded if there had at least been the reassuring chugging sound of a hard drive as it worked.
'Agent Smith.' the computer finally replied. Phil couldn't help but feel a little worried at that considering the mood he had last seen the man in. Was he secretly planning to overthrow him and take control of the ship?
'Computer, where is Agent Smith at this present moment?' he asked, waiting for the incriminating answer.
'Agent Smith is in Engineering.'
Oh. Well, it seems as if he was where he should be after all. Phil didn't rule out that the man could feasibly do a lot of conniving in that section when Hanniman wasn't looking.
He strode on toward Engineering with purpose in his steps, he hoped that Hanniman wasn't too engrossed in repairs to notice Smith's acts of subterfuge.
Stopping mid-stride and nearly toppling over, Phil realised that there was one minor problem with his plan.
'Computer?' he asked again, hoping that this would work.
'Yes, Captain Jones?'
'Can you...er... show me the way to Engineering?'
Instead of responding verbally, Phil spotted a faint blue glow coming from the floor. Fluorescent arrows were helpfully pointing him in the direction of Engineering. Well, that was handy.
With a renewed confidence that he at least knew where he was going, he made his way toward the inevitable conflict in Engineering.
'I told you already Agent Smith, if I remove that capacitor the whole system may blow. Now will you please stop interfering and let me get on with my work?'
Smith turned his attention to Phil as he came through the main doors of Engineering. 'Ah Mr. Jones, what a pleasant surprise. Our Engineer is not living up to his name, the systems appear to be non-operational.'
Phil gazed up at a the huge static coil of energy, it really was what he had been expecting of an Engineering room. Large tubes and wires littered the floor nearby as Hanniman continued to press a number of them together, presumably in the hopes of fixing something.
The Engineer looked up at him then, confusion on his face as to why his Captain would be down here.
'Captain. I wasn't expecting you. What can I do to help?'
Well, at least he seemed agreeable enough. Phil surveyed the scene and noted that Smith hadn't been accessing any hidden terminals that he knew of. It surprised him that both men seemed happy to help in spite of his intrusion. Perhaps his saving their lives had bought him more respect than he thought.
'Actually Engineer, I was wondering if there was anything I could do to lend a hand.'
Both Hanniman and Smith stared at him incredulously, though only one of them appeared to be trying to let him down softly.
'Captain, as much as I'd appreciate your...expertise, I'm not sure there's anything you can do right now.'
Agent Smith smiled. 'What Hanniman is trying to say is that he'd be marginally more effective at repairing the ship if it wasn't in pieces.'
Whether it was his second in command's goading tone or the intense wave of inadequacy that washed over him Phil couldn't tell. Next thing he knew he'd managed to roll the sleeves of his command uniform up and was marching toward them with a purpose.
'Captain, really I don't think that's a very good...' Hanniman started. That was when Phil tripped over the large wire and went crashing to the ground.
When he woke, he found the concerned features of Hanniman and the rather soured ones of Smith staring down at him.
'Whatever you do Captain, don't move.'
Phil stared at them. 'What happened? Have I broken something? Do we have a medic onboard?'
'No Mr. Jones, for some inexplicable reason that we're still trying to discover, your bumbling has completely restored power to the engines.'
Phil shot a glance at the glove on his hand and smiled bemusedly. 'Take us into hyperwarp and let's go rescue that starship!'
Chapter 11
Arm! Swat! Spear!
Ensign Trigger Hawkins stared aghast at Captain Darwin's suggestion. 'You want me to go out alone into the jungle sir?'
Darwin puffed o
ut his chest, as if challenging the murky line of trees to take its best shot. 'Of course not Cadet! That would be a damn foolish thing to do! No, you've nothing to fear my lad, I'll be coming with you!'
'But sir, none of the other search parties have come back yet, shouldn't we at least wait until they get into contact with us again?'
Darwin gave him a stern glare and Hawkins wilted, he wasn't going to be able to talk the stubborn man out of it.
'Nonsense Cadet, you're with the Captain of the flagship of Star Command, nothing bad could possibly befall us.'
Trigger looked back at the smouldering wreckage of the Scavanger but wisely chose not to voice his complaints this time. There was no way out of it, he had been the last possible choice for the Captain to send into the jungle, having seen the man systematically go through the survivors and demand that they scout the perimeter. Now the two of them were all that remained and it looked like they were about to witness the horrible fate that had befallen the rest of the crew.
'Hawkins!' Darwin barked, making him jump. 'Don't just stand there, fetch us a pair of blasters and then follow me into the trees.'
He rifled through the upturned supply crate and came up with two standard issue blasters, they were of little comfort to him. The teams that had ventured out prior to this and since vanished had been similarly equipped.
The Captain sucked in a deep breath of the thick forest air. 'Do you taste that Hawkins? That's the smell of adventure!'
Trigger didn't ask how the Captain could taste a smell, he knew the answer would make even less sense if he bothered. Darwin was a very difficult man to spend any length of time alone with, the less he spoke with him the better. He was just thankful that he wasn't female, he had heard the stories of the man's exploits.
'Into the jungle of life we go then!' Darwin bellowed, letting the world know that he was coming. 'Do keep up Cadet, we don't want any nasties finding you alone in the camp now, do we?'
Trigger instinctively picked up the pace, the Captain's smile suggested that he had cracked a joke but the missing crew made the man's jests seem all too realistic.
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