by David Smith
ASBeau shook his head. ‘No good, the scouts can out-run us. If they manage to slow us down even slightly, the two cruisers will get close enough to engage us, and it’ll be a running battle.’
‘Crash, take us to warp soon as we’re ready. ASBeau, what are we up against?’ asked Dave nervously.
‘A pair of ‘Sawyer’ class scouts, one ‘Constellation’ class light-cruiser and a ‘Excelsior’ class heavy-cruiser.
Damn, thought Dave, they were out-numbered and definitely out-gunned. This was going to get messy. ‘Red Alert, battle-stations!’ he shouted and the Bridge was bathed in flashing red light and filled with the strident tone of the Red Alert klaxon.
The two scouts were closing quickly now and looking to get on the far side of Tiger. It was a classic interception technique and Dave knew they’d soon launch torpedoes to try to get Tiger to take evasive action. Their aim was not to necessarily damage the ship, but to get her to change course, slowing her down enough for the two chasing cruisers to get close enough to engage.
‘Clear of station, engaging warp!’ said Crash, and with a flash, they were gone.
On the screen, the scale of the tactical layout increased to take account of Tiger’s sudden acceleration beyond light speed, but the red dots didn’t seem to be following them.
Confused, Dave asked ‘Are they going to warp ASBeau?’
No reply.
‘ASBeau?’
‘Uh . . . ‘
‘What are they doing ASBeau?’ asked Dave, still confused.
‘They’re going . . . er . . . back to the station?’ said the Tactical Officer, obviously as confused as Dave.
There was an audible slap of hand against fore-head as O’Mara finally understood what was happening: ‘Ah! Yeah, got it. They’re not going backwards, we are.’
‘WHAT??’ said everyone on the Bridge apart from the Science Officer.
Turning her seat to face them she explained as if to a class of five-year-olds. ‘It’s the warp-drive.’
All eyes turned towards her and she seemed to wilt as she remembered what she was wearing. She turned bright, bright red and hunched up trying to cover as much of her body as she could before continuing. ‘We still have a warped warp -drive. Crash engaged the drive at full power and it’s warped space in five dimensions. We’re moving forward through space at huge speed, but backwards through time as we do so. Those ships we’ve just left behind would have seen us just disappear completely, as they’re looking for us going forward in time.’
There were some blank looks around the Bridge, so she simplified the issue. ‘It’s all good, we’ve got away scot-free!’
Not everyone looked entirely convinced, but they could all see the red dots scurrying back to the Star-base, and this was enough to ease the tension.
Dave could feel the adrenalin draining out his system and slumped back in the chair. What a mess! He pressed a button on the arm of the chair opening a ship-wide comm-link: ‘Senior staff to meet in the Officer’s Mess in thirty minutes.’
Chapter 7
The Steward of the Officer’s mess had a large pot of steaming coffee waiting for them, and Dave indulged himself before sitting down and beginning the meeting.
‘I’m not gonna lie: I’m at a bit of a loss.’ Dave felt as tired as he ever had. ‘We’re in alien space. The aliens concerned seem to be versions of ourselves. But the space we’ve just come from is being prowled by Sha T’Al ships that have a ‘shoot-first, ask questions later’ mentality.’
‘We still don’t know where we actually are in relation to our own universe and we’re no closer to finding out how to get back there.’
There was an awkward silence before O’Mara, now more comfortable in her own uniform, spoke up. ‘We have managed to collect some more data. We’ve not yet had the time to decrypt all the cores we recovered from Hole, but while Susan was running the Star-base’s systems, Park and Sato managed to download another wadge of data from their computer. As everything was heavily encrypted we had to lift files pretty much at random. We’ll just work our way through it, presumably starting with the stuff that’s most heavily encrypted as that’s likely to be of most value.’
‘Ok, but don’t let that take priority over trying to work out a way back to our own space’ warned Dave.
‘No chance of that,’ grumbled O’Mara ‘after wearing that bloody outfit, I don’t want to spend a second longer in this freaky universe than I have to.’
ASBeau spoke up next, as he couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer: ‘So how come we have two Mengele’s and they’re both in the Brig??’
Dave cleared his throat. ‘When we went to rescue Commander Mengele, we found her being . . . interrogated but there was some confusion as to who was our Commander.’
‘I’d have thought it would be easy to work out who was interrogating who’ added Crash.
‘The . . . er . . . interrogation technique being used left enough room for doubt that we thought it best if we erred on the side of caution.’
Both ASBeau and Crash looked confused and O’Mara was bright red. Dave hastily changed the subject: ‘So if we can’t risk staying in Fed . . . Empire space, and we won’t be welcomed with open arms by the Sha T’Al, where do we go?’
ASBeau controlled his curiosity and gave an answer. ‘I guess that logically we head into the area the Sha T’Al have ceded and see if we have any more luck with the Tana. Or the remnants of the Sha T’Al in that region?’
‘Or we hope the data we’ve got is enough and head into treaty space?’ contended Crash.
Dolplop spoke up ‘Unfortunately, we don’t currently know if there is such a thing as “treaty space”. With the Empire being as aggressive as it is, it seems unlikely that they’d leave open territory unclaimed.’
‘Good point’ agreed ASBeau ‘They wouldn’t have colonized everything, but they’d almost certainly have a military presence just to prevent anyone else staking a claim.’
‘Is there any way we can find out?’ Dave asked.
O’Mara scratched her head and said ‘I can check some low-security files, things like logistics records and the like . . . ‘ She crossed the room to a small computer terminal tucked away in one corner and tapped a series of commands into the console. After a few seconds she had her answer. ‘Wow. It looks like there’s an Imperial presence on nearly a hundred systems that were completely unexplored in our universe. They’ve really gone for the land-grab! I don’t think any of them are massively fortified, but it’ll make it really difficult for us to hide out.’
Dave sighed. ‘Ok, that makes life a little difficult. If we assume that the Empire will attempt to capture us for their own purposes, we can’t stay safely in their territory. On the other hand, it would seem that Sha T’Al held territory, including Sector 244, is also off-limits.’
ASBeau looked concerned. ‘I’d suggest we could head for Todot Hahn or Cho-Dal-Far, but it’s almost certain that it’s disputed territory. We don’t know who’s in control of which system, or what the various forces are planning.’
‘That’s ideal!’ said Dave, ‘It’s no-mans land. They’re all fighting over it, but no-one is actually in control of it yet.’
ASBeau shrugged. ‘Yeah, I guess that’s true. There won’t be significant forces within that area, all of the combatants will build a base in the space they actually control and gather their forces there.’
‘My thinking exactly. I think it’s the place least likely to have an aggressive presence . . . and there’s something I want to check out in that area.’
There were confused glances around the table, and Dave could sense their unease.
‘When I was captive, our Commander Mengele indicated that her counterpart in this universe had been involved in the development of bio-genetic and biological weapons that the Empire has deployed in the disputed area.’
The confusion was replaced by shock, and the room fell completely silent.
‘It’s probably not the safest co
urse of action, but I need to know if that’s case. If it is, the Empire has a lot to answer for.’
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They set a course for Cho-Dal-Far, as this was the inhabited system furthest from the depredations of the Sha T’Al and Tana and from the records they’d managed to de-crypt so far, it seemed to have been abandoned by the Empire too.
From their location inside Sector 212 this was a fifty-five light-year trip, but faced with a long slow haul at speeds which made them vulnerable to interception, Dave elected to ignore issues with temporal propriety.
He authorized the use of the Tana warp-coils and they brought Tiger’s ‘warped drive’ to its full cruising speed, travelling at over four thousand times the speed of light, but accepting that in doing so, each day they travelled also pushed them backwards in time nearly two and half days.
Once they were underway, Dave was able to sort out a couple of matters that had been pushed aside in their frantic escape from Sector 212.
Firstly, he visited the Brig.
Standing with a member of the security team either side of him, he stood looking at two versions of Katrin Mengele, in adjacent cells. They were identical in every respect, except that one was still dressed head to toe in figure-hugging rubber, while the other was naked apart from a flimsy doctor’s house-coat.
Dave tried not to stare at the black-clad dominatrix, some sub-conscious memory making his bowels tense every time that he did. For all that, it took some effort of will not to stare at her lean, firm, athletic body, more naked than naked, covered as it was in skin-tight, form-fitting black rubber.
He was unsure how this would work out, and started by simply asking the question ‘Which one of you two ladies is the Doctor that travelled here from the Federation?’
‘I am’ said the dominatrix.
To Dave’s surprise the other version of Mengele admitted ‘She is.’
He was speechless for a few seconds ‘Is that it?? No “I’m the real Mengele” speech?’
The version of Mengele in the house-coat cast him a withering glare. ‘What value would there be in such a deception? I’m stranded on my own on your ship and you can easily ascertain who is your Doctor by asking questions to which I couldn’t possibly know an answer. You must be of limited intelligence to have not ascertained which of us you wanted before we left the Star-base!’
Dave smiled ‘Or I could’ve played safe, and made absolutely sure we definitely took the correct Doctor Mengele, whilst at the same time taking the opportunity to reduce the Empire’s ability to conduct bio-genetic warfare by removing a key member of their development team?’
The Doctor blushed. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Well in that case, I apologise sincerely for kidnapping you, Doctor, but I couldn’t condone your actions by leaving you to continue unhindered’ said Dave earnestly.
‘I understand’ said the Doctor.
Dave was taken aback. He’d expected her to demand her freedom, as he felt sure his own Commander Mengele would have done.
The alternate Commander Mengele saw his surprise and confided ‘For all my faults, I am still a Doctor. Whether you believe me or not, I did not willingly assist in the preparation of those weapons. Having witnessed what effect my works have had on the Sha T’Al, I have done what I could to forestall the development of similar weapons for use against the Tana. Unfortunately, it seems Crewman Michael Alvari is particularly adept in biological technology and not nearly as principled.’
‘The Empire has deployed a biologically based weapon??’ asked Dave.
‘ISS Tiger headed into the disputed zone some time ago. I believe she was carrying a prototype weapon. However, due to the Magistrate’s concerns regarding my loyalty I am not privy to such information, it is merely supposition on my part’ she said calmly. Almost as an afterthought she added ‘Are you going to kill me?’
Dave was stunned by the bluntness of the question. ‘No! NO!!’ He paused. He hadn’t given any real consideration to what he would do with the alternate Mengele when he’d made the snap decision to abduct her, but killing her had never been an option.
He decided to be honest. ‘I hadn’t considered what I would do until now, but please believe when I tell you that execution is not an option. We may look like our Empire equivalents, but such a course of action would be unthinkable in the Federation. I’m afraid you will have to stay in the Brig until I can find some way to ensure you can’t endanger our ship, but rest assured you will come to no harm by me or any of my crew.’
‘Will you interrogate me?’ she asked.
‘Not in the way that you would expect from your society’ promised Dave.
‘Oh. Good’ she said, failing to hide her disappointment.
Dave looked questioningly at the Dominatrix in the other cell, who blushed crimson.
Dave nodded to the Security man who released the Dominatrix version of Katrin Mengele. Unsure what to say, he looked her over and said ‘You’re out of uniform Doctor.’
She was totally unconcerned by his observation, and replied ‘If you do not require me, I will return to my post, First Officer.’
Dave nodded. ‘Of course Commander. Could I ask you to furnish our guest with more suitable attire? I imagine your clothes will fit her perfectly.’
The Doctor nodded and turned to leave the Brig. Despite his best efforts, Dave couldn’t help but gaze longingly after her perfectly formed behind. The things I have to put up with . . . he thought.
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Dave stopped at the Engineering Deck on his way back to the Bridge. He checked with Commander Romanov that the Engines and warp-core were behaving and stopped to pass his thanks to Lieutenant Sato and PO Park.
‘Thank you Sato, thank you Park. The ship owes you a huge debt of thanks and the whole crew owes their freedom to your actions. I will, of course, be making suitable commendations when we get back to Federation space.’
Sato grinned broadly. ‘Thank you, sir!’
PO Park looked ever so slightly less worried and simply said ‘Oh. Ok.’
Dave smiled. He was quite fond of the quirky little Korean. He was about to leave when he remembered to ask something that had been bugging him since he’d escaped from the Star-base’s Sick-bay: ‘By the way, how did you shut down the Star-bases shield’s when we left?’
Park very nearly smiled when he said ‘We didn’t. While we had control of the Star-bases systems, I replaced the computer’s personality files. I uploaded copies of some engrams from Susan into the computer core and programmed the engrams from both Dr Chandrakar and Dr Dahlgren to run all base systems at maximum efficiency and to reduce power consumption to the minimum possible. Their conflict and subsequent failure was . . . well . . . inevitable?’
‘Well whatever happened, it saved my skin. And the ship, too. I don’t think the Star-base managed to get any instructions at all to the local flotilla. I’m pretty sure they just acted on instinct but were too slow to stop us’ added Dave.
‘They probably still aren’t sending messages: I’ve reviewed the conflict messages from when we asked Susan about that worm-hole. Those guys must have really hated each other’ said Sato shaking her head.
‘Well that’s all good news for us. And it’ll give the Magistrate something else to worry about other than chasing after us. We could really use that breathing space.’
By the time Dave got back to the Bridge, Yeoman Barnes was waiting for him. With her usual sunny, but slightly vacant smile, she passed over a pad.
Dave opened the orders from the skipper, written in the economical style to which Dave had become accustomed.
‘Grosvenor has flipped her lid. Throw her in the Brig. I’ll deal with her later.’
‘Ps. Call me when we get to Hole.’
‘Pps. You have the Bridge.’
Dave sighed, shaking his head as he uploaded a full set of status reports and logs before handing the pad back to Yeoman Barnes. ‘Does the skipper not know
that Commander Grosvenor left the ship over six months ago?’
Barnes looked perplexed ‘Who’s Grosvenor?’
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The next few days passed blissfully uneventfully.
ASBeau kept the ship’s scanners set for maximum range, and as they moved further away from the Star-base, contacts from Empire ships became more and more infrequent.
Dave had time to relax a little. He was in the Officer’s Mess ruminating on something that had bothered him ever since his first interview with Magistrate Grosvenor when the Steward of the Mess, Chief Butler, offered him coffee.
‘Penny for them sir?’ said the Steward, obviously aware of Dave’s pensive mood.
Dave was stirred out of his contemplations by the comment and the comforting smell and sound of good coffee being poured into his cup. The Steward was both discreet and intuitive, and was a good sounding-board for sensitive topics. As no-one else was within ear-shot, Dave decided to voice his concerns.
‘Thank you, Butler. I was just pondering a comment the Magistrate made whilst I was in the Brig of thew Starbase. She said that the “real Tiger” was in the disputed zone on some kind of secret mission . . . ‘
The Steward stood up and thought about this. ‘So I presume you’re concerned that we may run into this other Tiger, and find that it’s crewed by versions of ourselves?’
‘Yes, but more than that, it’s who those other people might be’ sighed Dave.
The Steward put down the coffee pot and sat down opposite Dave. ‘The difference between the Magistrate Grosvenor that we observed and the Commander Grosvenor that we know was quite astonishing, wasn’t it?’
‘Absolutely. From what I’ve been told, Lieutenant-Commander O’Mara’s double was equally frightening, and my counterpart seems to have led a failed rebellion that cost hundreds of thousands of lives’ added Dave. ‘Are we all monsters in this universe? Are there no decent persons here?’
‘We have only encountered a small cross section of the Empire, sir’ cautioned the Steward.
