by Ryk Brown
“Old light,” Lieutenant Yosef said, using the decidedly nonscientific term the captain had coined long ago.
“Precisely,” Nathan said. “We head toward the Earth, starting at four light months out, and start collecting everything we can: news broadcasts, comm-signals, long-range optical images, you name it.”
“One problem, sir,” Cameron said. “We’d have to come about. We’re already more than two light years away from Earth, and we’re headed away from her. Unless you plan on waiting for two and a half years for all that light to catch up to us, we’re going to need more fuel.”
“I was thinking about that,” Nathan said. “Mister Riley, do we have enough fuel to make small course corrections? Say, a few degrees off our current course?”
“Yes, sir,” Mister Riley answered, “as long as we don’t do too many of them.”
“What about changing our speed, going faster or slower by a few percentage points?”
“Possibly. Again, as long as we don’t have to do it too often, or to any great degree in a single maneuver. I’d advise avoiding such burns however.”
“Find us a star,” Nathan said, “preferably a close one that is no more than a degree or two off our current course.”
“What did you have in mind?” Cameron wondered.
“We jump our way to the star, slingshot around it, and get back on a course for Earth,” Nathan said. “Then we just jump our way back to the point where we want to start collecting signals.”
“At our current speed, it might be better if it were a large planet,” Mister Riley said. “To be close enough to a star for a slingshot maneuver to work, we’d get cooked.”
“Then find me a star with a large planet,” Nathan said. “Last time I checked, they were pretty common.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It’s a good idea, Captain,” Cameron agreed, “but with recharge layovers, jumping our way to a properly positioned gravity assist target could take a while.”
“That’s okay, Commander, we need time to prepare anyway.”
“That will work for a while, sir,” Jessica said, “but sooner or later, we’re going to need more propellant, especially if we have to keep making minor course corrections to slingshot around gas giants.”
“Lieutenant Montgomery?” Nathan called, remembering the conversation the two of them had shared during the trip back from the Pentaurus cluster.
“I reviewed the designs in your database for fitting the Aurora with the capability to harvest raw materials from gas giants in order to process her own propellant. It’s an interesting design, and it would work. However, there are some problems. First, it will take a lot of resources, more than we currently carry, I’m afraid. We’d not only have to build the systems for harvesting, but the processing systems as well, not to mention the storage systems for the harvested raw materials, most of which are volatile. In order to do this properly, we would need to establish a mining operation on an asteroid that contained the appropriate materials, harvest those materials, and then use them to build the onboard infrastructure needed to begin propellant production and higher levels of harvesting. All of this would take time, and resources, and manpower…”
“And propellant,” Nathan finished for him. “How much time are we talking?”
“Months, sir, maybe longer.”
“We have nearly a full load of spacecraft propellant on board for use in our fighters,” Major Prechitt said. “Could it be used in the Aurora’s main propulsion systems?”
“Theoretically, yes,” Vladimir said. “But additives would be needed in order to make the conversion.”
“And those additives would also have to be gathered from somewhere,” Lieutenant Montgomery pointed out.
“Captain, the Jung obviously need propellant,” Jessica said. “They probably have production and storage facilities located all over the place, maybe even in every system they control. Why don’t we just steal it?”
“First, we’d have to find it,” Cameron pointed out. “We don’t have the propellant for that either, let alone a full-on attack on a Jung-held system.”
“What about the Falcon?” Jessica asked.
“It will take at least a few weeks to repair the Falcon,” Vladimir insisted, “maybe longer if we have to fabricate a lot of replacement parts.”
“It will take us longer than that to collect the signals from Earth,” Lieutenant Yosef said.
“Make it a priority,” Nathan ordered Vladimir. “Even if we weren’t planning on looking for a Jung fuel depot, we need the Falcon.”
“Captain,” Major Prechitt interrupted, “we also need another crew to fly her.”
Nathan looked at Doctor Chen.
“Loki should be ready to report back for duty within a week,” Doctor Chen reported. “We still don’t know if Josh will fully recover. Even if he does, it will probably take months.”
“Even if they were both fit and ready for duty, we’d still need another crew, Captain,” Major Prechitt said. “The situation has changed. You said it yourself. We’re going to need a lot of recon. That means a lot of hours in the cockpit of the Falcon, more hours than is safe for one flight crew. Without at least one relief crew, our ability to fly recon will be severely limited.”
“Understood,” Nathan said. “Pick two additional flight teams. We’ll figure out how to train them.”
“Captain,” the master chief said, “with the Falcon undergoing repairs, we will not be able to plug a sim-bubble into her like before.”
“Can you build a mock-up?” Nathan asked.
“Maybe, but it won’t be easy.”
“I can concentrate on the cockpit repairs first,” Vladimir said. “Other than the canopy, there is not much damage to the cockpit itself. The problem is that many of the repairs will require cockpit access, not to mention testing the system afterward.”
“Work something out,” Nathan said, “a schedule of some sort, so the flight crews can get in some sim time in the Falcon while she is being repaired.”
“Yes, sir,” Vladimir answered.
“There’s another way to find out where the Jung store their propellant,” Jessica said. “We can ask the resistance on Tanna.”
“Tanna?” Doctor Chen wondered.
“The planet Josh and Loki crash-landed on,” Jessica explained. “Captain, if that guy, Garrett, is part of a larger, organized resistance, chances are he’d know where the Jung propellant depots are located.”
“Maybe they have even blown up a few,” Vladimir joked.
“How do you propose we get in touch with him?” Nathan asked.
“We use the jump shuttle to get there. Loki said Garrett told him they use that cave for surveillance on a regular basis. So we park our butts in that cave and wait for them to show up.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Vladimir said. “The jump shuttle is still torn apart.”
“Then put it back together,” Jessica told him. “You’re an engineer, aren’t you?”
“How long would it take to get it working again?” Nathan asked.
Vladimir looked at Lieutenant Montgomery, as it was his men that were using the shuttle as a test bed for their attempts to make the mini-jump drive work with the mini-ZPED. “A week or two?” Lieutenant Montgomery nodded his agreement with Vladimir’s assessment.
“That will give Loki plenty of time to recover before we go then,” Jessica said.
“Whoa, you’re taking Loki with you?” Nathan asked, a bit surprised.
“Garrett already knows him,” Jessica said. “He’s more likely to trust us if I bring one of them along, and Josh surely isn’t going.”
“I’ll take it under consideration,” Nathan finally agreed. “Meanwhile, let’s get the jump shuttle back online. If we’d h
ad it working all along, Josh and Loki would be sitting in on this meeting instead of lying in medical.” Nathan looked at Mister Riley and Mister Chiles sitting along the wall. “Nothing personal, gentlemen.”
“I’ll get my people on it immediately,” Vladimir promised. “I’ll need your people to remove their equipment first, Lieutenant,” he told Lieutenant Montgomery.
“Of course.”
“Sir,” Major Prechitt said, “I was wondering. Has anyone considered sending the jump shuttle back to the Pentaurus cluster to ask for help?”
“A thousand light year journey in a shuttle?” Nathan wondered aloud. “Shuttles only jump one light year at a time, Major. Granted, they don’t have to recharge, but that’s still nearly a thousand jumps.”
“Eight hundred ninety-seven, sir,” Mister Riley corrected.
“That’s still a lot of jumps for one flight crew to make.”
“It will probably be a bit more than that,” Abby said. “They’ll have to jump around that black hole.”
“Yes, she’s right,” Nathan said. “Black holes and God knows what else. And we’re supposed to ask someone to make that trip in a shuttle?”
“Captain,” Lieutenant Montgomery interrupted, “we might be able to improve their chances for a successful voyage.”
“How so?”
“I still believe it is possible to run a jump drive using the ZPEDs to power the drive directly.”
“That didn’t work out too well last time we tried,” Nathan reminded him.
“I wasn’t referring to the Aurora’s current jump drive, Captain, nor was I referring to the current shuttle’s jump drive. I believe the problem is in the materials used to manufacture the jump drive, or at least many of its core components.”
Abby leaned forward, intrigued by the lieutenant’s words.
“Abby?” Nathan called, noticing her interest.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it, Captain,” Abby admitted. “However, I am intrigued.”
“If we could construct a new jump drive, one designed specifically to work with the mini-ZPED as its sole power source, we might be able to increase its jump range dramatically.”
“How dramatically?”
“The jump shuttle uses the same type of emitters as the Aurora,” Abby said. “They’re just smaller. However, they can handle the same amount of energy being dumped into them at once.”
“Are you saying that they could jump as far as we could?” Nathan asked. “Without recharging?”
“If the lieutenant is correct in his theory about the materials being the cause of the problem, it is possible.”
“Even if we can double the range, it still improves their chances,” Major Prechitt said.
“Still, that’s a long time in a shuttle,” Nathan said, “and that’s a lot of jumps for one crew.”
“Then use two crews,” Cameron suggested, “or three.”
Nathan had not considered that. The shuttles were certainly big enough to accommodate several flight crews in relative comfort, and they could easily be fitted with the necessary amenities to get them through their journey. “Assume you had two crews working in regular rotations. How long would the trip take?”
“Even if they took five minutes to calculate each jump,” Cameron said, “which they won’t, it would only take them a little less than four days to reach the Pentaurus cluster.”
“Four days,” Nathan said in disbelief, “to travel a thousand light years.”
“Eight hundred and…” Mister Riley began before Mister Chiles bumped him to shut him up.
“Assuming all went well both there and back, they could be back within a couple of weeks,” Cameron added, “maybe less.”
“But would the Takarans or the Corinairans be able to help us?” Nathan wondered aloud.
“At the very least, the Corinairans could send propellant,” Major Prechitt stated. “They were outfitting ships with jump drives when we left. Surely they have at least one jump-capable cargo ship in service by now.”
“While I doubt that my people would have a jump-capable warship available, at least they would know that assistance is needed,” Lieutenant Montgomery said. “That knowledge and time to prepare and deliver said assistance could make all the difference.”
Nathan looked at Jessica, then back at Lieutenant Montgomery. “It could at that, Lieutenant, but I’m not willing to bet all our money on a single horse. Can you build and install your new ZPED-powered mini-jump drive in another shuttle?”
“It would take longer, as we would have to fabricate and install another jump drive control console, but I see no reason why we could not.”
“Captain, they’re going to need to fabricate everything for the new jump drive from the ground up. That’s going to slow down repair of the Falcon,” Vladimir pointed out.
“Lieutenant Montgomery, the Falcon’s needs take priority over your jump drive project.” Nathan could see the lieutenant posturing to object. “We need the recon abilities of the Falcon far more than we need to send a call for help back to the Pentaurus cluster, especially since it’s likely that help will be a long time coming. We are almost out of propellant, people. There’s no way I’m going to let us end up adrift.”
Nathan looked about the briefing room. “Any other business to discuss? Very well. We have a direction for now. Let’s all get to work.” Nathan watched as his staff rose from their seats, talking among themselves as they filed out of the compartment. As usual, Cameron stayed behind, waiting for them to leave so she could talk privately with him.
“Are you seriously considering letting Loki go back to Tanna?” Cameron asked.
“I’m considering it, yes.”
“Maybe it would be better for her to take someone like Waddell or one of his men.”
“Jessica had a good point about them being quicker to trust Loki.”
“Yes, but if she gets into trouble, Loki’s not much for backup.”
“I’m sure Jessica has thought of that as well, Cam. She can handle herself. Trust me.”
“I hope you’re right,” Cameron said. “It just seems like it would be safer to wait and see what kind of help we can get from the Takarans and the Corinairans.”
“Cam, I spent a lot of time on Takara with Tug while we were being repaired. He’s got a lot on his plate right now. I doubt he can spare a single ship. The nobles were not happy when we left. They did not want to give up their lands on conquered worlds. If Tug is unable to convince them otherwise, he could be looking at his own war.”
“Maybe Major Prechitt is right,” Cameron suggested. “Maybe the Corinairans could send us some propellant.”
“Even if they could, it would take weeks, if not months. I’m not willing to run on empty for that long. In fact, I’m half tempted to slingshot around and head back to Tanna ourselves to save time. Problem is, we’ve got a very small window of time to collect those old signals from Earth. If we miss it, most of them will be too weak for us to make out, and we need that intel as well.”
“And if the Tanna resistance is of no help?” Cameron asked.
“Then we start jumping the Falcon around looking for fuel depots ourselves while we wait to hear from our allies. Worst-case scenario, we set up shop out in the fringe and start our own little mining and fuel production colony. If that’s what it takes to fight this war, then that’s what we’ll do,” Nathan insisted. “There is no quick-win scenario with this one, Cameron. We all know that.”
Cameron took a deep breath and let it out with an uncharacteristic sigh. “I know. I just can’t stop thinking about what might be going on back on Earth right now.”
“I know what you mean,” he told her. “But we really are it this time, Cam. We can’t afford to make a single mistake.”
* * *
“Once Major Prechitt gives me an estimate on the number of simulator hours it will take to train a new flight crew, I’ll be able to work up a rotation schedule with the Cheng so that no one will be stepping on someone else’s toes,” Cameron told Nathan as they approached the entrance to the bridge.
“I don’t imagine it will take them too long,” Nathan said. “All his pilots are well trained, and the Falcon’s technology is outdated even by Corinairan standards.”
“I spoke with Vladimir, and he thinks he can rig a data pad to act as a cockpit simulator for the purpose of testing their repairs as they go.”
“How is that possible?” Nathan asked.
“Captain on the bridge!” the guard announced as Nathan stepped through the hatch.
“Does he have to do that?” Nathan whispered to Cameron.
“We talked about this, sir,” she whispered back. “We need tighter discipline. We’re going to war, after all.”
Nathan nodded, indicating his understanding and recalling their earlier conversation.
“Anyway,” Cameron continued as they headed toward the center of the bridge, “he’s going to reprogram a data pad to send the same control signals as the Falcon’s cockpit controls, as well as receive and display the same data about the ship’s systems that the cockpit display would show. If it works, the flight crews can train as much as they’d like without interfering with the repairs.”
“That’s a really good idea,” Nathan said as he stepped up onto the small command podium at the center of the bridge. “That man is smarter than he looks.”
“It wasn’t actually his idea,” Cameron said. “The Corinari flight mechanics use a similar device during maintenance. It saves them from having to climb up into the cockpit or have a second person do so.”
