The Key

by Brian Fisher

  Chapter 63

  Kamira rolled over for what must have been the hundredth time. It didn't matter what she did, there was no comfortable position to sleep in. Maybe it was thoughts of T'Sula, or Corin, or maybe it was her thoughts of Jason that kept her awake. In the end, it really didn't matter why she couldn't sleep. The fact remained that she was wide awake.

  She watched her husband as he slept. Jason was snoring a little, but that wasn't what was keeping her awake. A tear rolled down her cheek as she realized that she had come so close to defiling her marriage, and Corin had had the restraint to keep their friendship plutonic. In doing so, he had protected not only himself, but also her, her husband, and her marriage. She loved him for that. She loved him more than she would ever let anyone know.

  Kamira pushed the thoughts of her friends and family out of her mind, and tried to focus on a bigger problem. She had seen some of the data from the battle over Olcai, and it was bothering her. Redemption should have been able to withstand the onslaught from the Ta'Reeth, possibly even from their gravity well generator. She had seen her ship do that before. Something was wrong. She just didn't know how to fix it.

  Frustrated, Kamira threw off her covers and got up. The oversized red flannel shirt that she had worn for a nightgown clung lightly to her body as she walked over to her computer station. She tried to be quiet, so that she wouldn't wake her husband. He had fought hard to save not only her life, but the lives of everyone on Olcai. Jason had earned a rest, and she was going to do her best to give it to him.

  Kamira quickly ran her fingers through her tangled mess of hair as she sat down at her terminal. "Angel, I need to see all of the data from the battle." Kamira whispered. Almost instantly, a hologram of Redemption appeared above the desk. Streams of ship's data streamed by the three dimensional model. As the battle progressed, she could see the damage inflicted on her ship.

  "Angel, what caused this damage?" Kamira asked when she saw Redemption slowly being ripped apart.

  "That was caused by an artificial gravity well generated by a Ta'Reeth ship." Angel's voice came to her from the dark.

  "Alright. We can't allow this to happen again." Kamira thought for a moment. "Angel, run a simulation. I want you to augment the shields, by running them through the hyper-drive. See what that would do against this gravity well generator."

  "Understood. One moment please." Angel reset the hologram and began the simulation.

  Kamira watched the simulation unfold. Redemption withstood the gravity well for a few more seconds, but it still wasn't enough. Redemption's bow was still destroyed, along with the forward third of the ship.

  "O.k., that didn't work." Kamira muttered to herself. She started to think about another alternative as she got up, and went over to the food station.

  The menu gave off a pale blue light as she scrolled through it. Finally, she found what she was looking for. She had recently acquired a taste for tea. It wasn't simply any tea, but a tea from old earth. Kamira had to have Goji Berry Pomegranate Green Tea with just a touch of honey, nothing else would suffice.

  Once she had her cup of tea, Kamira wandered back to her computer. She savored the gentle aroma as she took a sip, letting the subtle amounts of caffeine seep into her body. Her mind was awash with possible ideas for combating the gravity well generator. It was a formidable weapon, and if she failed, she knew in her gut that she, along with her entire family, would die.

  "Alright Angel, what if we put all available power into the shields?" Kamira asked sipping at her tea. She had given up trying to sleep, and figured that the caffeine might help her to clear her head enough to solve this problem.

  "It will have no affect Commander." Angel’s voice was soft, as if the A.I. could feel her desperation. "I simply do not have enough power to withstand the gravity well on my own, for more than a few seconds."

  "Power. More power." Kamira whispered to herself. "We need an energy source. An energy source with as much power as a black hole. Hmm."

  Kamira stared into the darkness. Her husband was out there, lying in their bed, waiting for her. She owed it to him to find an answer. She owed it to herself to find an answer.

  "Wait a second. Angel, would it be possible to siphon the energy from the gravity well?" Kamira could barely keep her voice down. She felt that she was close to finding the answer to her problem. She could feel it.

  "I could reconfigure my matter gathering arrays to collect pure energy." Angel replied. "They would probably burn out within a couple of minutes, but that may be enough to drain the gravity well generator of energy."

  "If we could redirect the energy into different systems, like weapons, and shields, we may be able to bleed it off as quickly as we absorb it." Kamira pursed her lips in concentration. She knew that she was onto something. She just needed to find a way to make it work. "What would we have to do to make this possible?"

  "Commander, the amounts of power that you are talking about, will burn out every circuit on the ship. It's too much." Angel's voice quietly reminded Kamira of the immense amount of power that they were dealing with. "It's not only the power generated by the gravity well generator, Commander. It's also the gravity itself."

  "Angel, just how much gravity are we talking about?" Kamira ventured. She had a rough idea of the amount of force that she was dealing with, but she needed to hear it from Angel.

  "Commander, the Ta'Reeth have been able to create, and sustain a black hole on scale with a collapsed yellow star." Angel waited for Kamira to respond before she continued. When she didn't, the A.I. pressed on. "It won't simply be a case of redirecting the energy."

  Kamira frowned as she absently drummed her fingers on the desk. She was so close; she knew that there had to be a way to make this work. There had to be.

  "Alright, let's run this simulation." Kamira thought for a moment more. "Run the primary circuits, along with the first stage backups, on the matter gathering arrays, and all affected systems. We run a triple redundant system, so we'll still have a back up if those burn out. Channel all of the incoming power into shields, weapons, and thrusters."

  "Yes Ma'am." Angel said as she began the new simulation.

  Kamira watched intently as the simulation unfolded before her eyes. She could see the Ta'Reeth cruiser unleash its terrible weapon on Redemption. The hologram of her ship floated lazily above the desk, flickering as the simulation continued to run. After ten minutes, Kamira double checked the readings. Everything was right, and the simulation was running in real time.

  "Angel, I think that we've got some work to do." Kamira smiled. She couldn't contain her excitement any longer.

  "Kam?" Jason's groggy voice came from the bedroom. "What's going on? Are you o.k.?"

  "Honey, come here! I have to show you this." Kamira practically screamed. She waited until Jason was almost to the computer station before she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his muscular torso.

  "What is all this?" Jason asked, seeing the hologram of Redemption floating above the desk.

  "I couldn't sleep, so I came over here, and started working on a way to beat that gravity well generator. Here look at this." Kamira showed him her new figures. "If we reconfigure our matter gathering arrays, we can siphon off the energy of the gravity well, and use it against the Ta'Reeth!"

  "You're kidding me right?" Jason instantly lost any indication of being tired. His wife had found a way to guarantee his complete attention, no matter how tired he was. He took his time and carefully reviewed Kamira's data.

  "Kam, you're a genius, and I love you." His smile was infectious as he pulled his wife close and kissed her. "You may have just saved all of us."