Inside the officer’s mess, Jeremy, Kelsey, Kevin, and Angela were all sitting at their table under guard. There were two armed men in the room keeping a careful watch on the people inside. Occasionally, others would be brought in and ordered to take a seat. They were told that if anyone stood up they would be killed.
“What’s going on?” Angela asked with a frightened and confused look in her eyes. “Why do they have guns?”
“They’re taking over the ship,” Kelsey spoke quietly, keeping her eyes on the two armed men at the door to the officer’s mess.
“This is bad,” Jeremy said as he watched another woman crewmember being shoved into the room. She had several bruises on her face, and it was obvious she had resisted the takeover.
“What are we going to do?” asked Angela, looking expectantly over at Jeremy. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“I don’t think we have any choice at the moment,” Jeremy replied as he saw Matt Barr come into the room. It didn’t surprise him to see Barr holding a pistol. Rafferty was right behind him.
“We have taken over the ship,” Barr announced, his eyes looking over the room. He noticed there were about twenty crewmembers sitting at the tables, many in shock over what was happening. With a wolfish grin, he looked over at Jeremy and the other three cadets sitting with him. “If you do exactly as we say, no one else will get hurt. Major Maher is now in charge of the New Horizon, and we are going on a different mission. If you refuse to obey us, you will either be shot or tossed out the airlock. The choice is yours.”
Barr looked over at Jeremy and walked toward him with a purpose. “What do you think now, daddy’s boy?” sneered Matt, gazing down at Jeremy. “You will obey me now or you and your friends will end up dead!”
Jeremy said nothing. There was nothing he could say, and he didn’t want to make the situation even worse.
Barr looked over at Rafferty, who was standing behind him. “Take these four to their quarters and lock them in. I don’t want them wandering around the ship.”
“With pleasure,” replied Rafferty, gesturing for the four to stand up.
All four cadets stood up and started walking toward the door. Rafferty shoved Jeremy in the back, nearly knocking him down. “Come on Strong, you don’t want to get hurt do you?”
They walked to their quarters in silence. Even Rafferty was silent. Reaching their quarters, Jeremy and Kevin went inside and heard the door lock behind them.
“Now what?” asked Kevin, whirling around and trying to open the door. It was locked securely and wouldn’t budge.
“We wait,” replied Jeremy, going over to his bunk and sitting down. His mind was racing as he thought about the ramifications of what was happening. “They have all the weapons and control of the ship. We don’t know what has happened to the ship’s officers. I doubt if the majority of the crew is involved in this.”
“We’re helpless,” Kevin muttered as he came over and sat down on his bunk and looked over at Jeremy. “How could they do something like this?”
“I don’t know,” answered Jeremy, feeling anxious for the girls. He hoped they would be okay.
Kelsey and Angela were standing in front of their quarters preparing to go inside. Kelsey was worried about Lieutenant Nelson and what had happened to him. If there were any way possible, she needed to talk to him.
“You know Angela, you have a cute ass,” commented Rafferty, gazing at the young brunette. “If you’re nice to me this whole thing could go a lot easier on you.”
“If by being nice means what I think it does, you can forget it,” Angela responded defiantly, her face taking on a deep flush. “You’re the last person on this ship I would ever consider sleeping with!”
“We shall see,” Rafferty commented with a leering grin. “I might look a lot better in a few days when you get hungry enough.”
Kelsey grabbed Angela’s hand and pulled her into their quarters, hitting the button on the wall to shut the door. Behind them, she could hear Rafferty laughing. Then she heard a loud clicking noise as the door was locked from the outside.
“What now?” Amanda wailed in fright as she walked over to her bunk and collapsed upon it.
“We wait,” replied Kelsey, wondering how they could get in contact with Lieutenant Nelson.
She knew that he would not have been a part of this takeover plot. Kelsey just hoped he was still alive. If Nelson were alive, then there was a good chance they could still get out of this mess. There were things about Nelson that no one else on the ship except Kelsey was aware of. Kelsey went over and sat down next to Angela. Taking a deep breath, she looked around their quarters; she had a sinking suspicion they were going to spend a lot of time in this room.
Lieutenant Nelson was sitting in front of the navigation console. Major Maher stood above him with his pistol pointed at Nelson’s back. “It’s very simple, Lieutenant,” Maher spoke in a cold and deadly voice. “Do what I say and you will live. If you disobey me one time, then I will start killing your little cadets. Or maybe I will turn Kelsey and Angela over to my people. Several of the men have already indicated an interest in the two. If you want them to remain unharmed, you will follow my orders.”
Nelson drew in a sharp breath. He had been stunned when he had entered the Command Center to find most of the command crew dead and Major Maher holding a pistol. Maher in a cold and commanding voice had told him that his group was taking over the New Horizon.
“What do you want?” asked Nelson, knowing he needed to be careful and not antagonize Maher. He needed to bide his time. There were a few things about the New Horizon that not even Maher knew about.
“Plot a jump to these coordinates,” ordered Maher, placing a piece of paper in front of Nelson with some numbers on it. “We’re leaving this section of space so Admiral Strong will never be able to find us.”
Nelson looked at the coordinates. “That’s a jump of nearly ten light years, I’m not sure the FTL drive will handle that without overheating the core.”
“It will handle it,” Maher replied confidently. “We will be making four jumps in rapid succession, allowing just enough time for the core to cool. After the fourth jump, we will be making some adjustments to the drive core.”
“What type of adjustments?” Nelson demanded. He knew how important the drive core was as it held all the excess heat generated from the FTL drive.
“Don’t worry about that; just get us to where I want to go.”
Maher turned and looked over at the Helm where one of Barr’s fellow cadets was sitting. “Turn us around and accelerate to forty percent sublight. I want to get out of this system as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir,” the ensign replied without hesitation.
The New Horizon slowed to a stop, turned around 180 degrees and began accelerating away from the two Earth like planets. The ship’s engines glowed a bright blue as the ship rapidly accelerated to forty percent power on the sublight drive.
Maher returned to the command console and sat down, feeling satisfied with how everything had gone down. Looking around the floor of the Command Center, he realized he needed someone to clean up all the blood on the deck. He dispatched one of his trusted people to fetch a couple of crewmembers to take care of that. Leaning back, he knew that the next order of business was to select several command crews that he could depend on.
He thought the different duty shifts could be handled by Rafferty, Barr, and himself. As long as the only armed members of the crew were in the Command Center and Engineering, he could easily maintain control of the ship. His gaze wandered back to Lieutenant Nelson. Nelson was the only ship officer that was not in his group that had been spared. If not for Nelson’s navigation skills, he too would have been eliminated as being too dangerous to keep around.
Lieutenant Nelson carefully plotted the next jump as he thought about his options. He wasn’t sure how many of the crew were involved in this takeover. It had to be a quite a few, or it wouldn’t have worked. L
etting out a deep breath, he knew his best bet was to bide his time. At some time, Maher would make a mistake, and that was when he would make his move to retake the ship. He had a secret ace that no one knew about. He would just have to be careful about when and how he played it.
-
Katie was in the shuttle, literally shaking in fear. Her face was white, and she felt terrified over what she had witnessed on the shuttle’s small viewscreen and heard over the com system. There had been a mutiny on the New Horizon and a group of armed terrorists had taken over the ship. She had searched frantically, switching the viewscreen, trying to spot Jeremy or Kelsey. Katie had been relieved when she had spotted them being led down one of the corridors that led to their quarters. At least they were safe for the moment.
There was now no doubt that she would have to remain hidden. There were enough supplies in the shuttle to last for several months, but she couldn’t imagine staying in the small shuttle for that length of time. They would surely find her if she was forced to stay in the shuttle. There was a com system in the shuttle, but she knew that it couldn’t reach Earth. It would take years for a message traveling at the speed of light to reach home.
Getting up, she walked back into the shuttle’s main compartment, making sure once more that the hatch was securely locked and secured from the inside. Opening a small storage locker, she took out a bottle of drinking water. Stepping over to one of the small viewports, she gazed speculatively over at the other shuttle.
Should she move the supplies from the other shuttle into this one while the terrorists were still organizing themselves? She shuddered knowing that if she were caught, Jeremy and Kelsey would not be able to protect her. She could end up killed or thrown out of the nearest airlock. No, it was better to stay hidden in this shuttle for the time being. She could use the shuttle’s systems to keep track of what was happening on the New Horizon. It was fortunate for her that she had created all the programs on her handheld computer that allowed her to tap into the New Horizon’s systems. She just hoped no one detected what she was doing.
Going back into the cockpit, she sat back down in the pilot’s seat still holding the bottle of water. She intended to keep a careful watch on what was happening on the New Horizon. Her future, as well as Jeremy and Kelsey’s, might very well depend on it.
-
Jason was in the Command Center listening to an angry Greg berate Ariel over the transgressions she had taken with Katie and the security of the Avenger Project. Listening to Greg, Jason almost felt sorry for Ariel.
Ariel was doing her best to keep her eyes up and focused on Greg. The words coming out of his mouth were something she had hoped never to hear. What was even worse was the fact that she knew she deserved it.
“I thought we were friends,” Greg was saying in an irritated voice, his eyes looking sharply at Ariel. “I told you explicitly that you were not to ever speak to Mathew without my permission. How could you possibly think that it was okay for you to speak to Katie? She’s only fifteen and highly impressionable. An AI with your abilities would be like a dream come true to her, as fascinated as she is with computers.”
“I’m sorry,” Ariel said in a pleading voice, sounding almost like a child. “I made a serious error in judgment. I promise it won’t happen again.”
Greg strolled over to the main computer console and gazed down at it. He glanced back at Ariel. “I am almost tempted to open up this panel and jerk out all of your processors. How can we ever trust you after this?”
“Please, Greg,” begged Ariel, starting to feel frightened. “I just wanted a friend.”
“What are we?” asked Greg, gesturing toward Jason and Lisa. “I thought we were your friends.”
Ariel was silent for a moment. “You are,” she said, knowing that Greg was extremely upset. If he opened up that panel, she wasn’t sure that Jason or Lisa would stop him. “But over the years, we have all grown apart. You had your children and all three of you were talking to me less and less. I needed a friend and Katie was my last and best hope.”
Greg strolled back to stand in front of the main viewscreen where Ariel’s avatar was prominently displayed. “You saved my life once,” commented Greg, recalling the time that Lisa and he had become trapped behind a sealed hatch on the Avenger. “I owe you that. Once Katie is safely back we will discuss this, but I will not be talking to you again until the New Horizon returns safely and I have my daughter back in my arms.”
Greg turned to leave the Command Center, knowing that if he didn’t he might say or do something he would regret later.
“Stop, Greg,” Ariel suddenly said her face turning pale. “I am getting an emergency message from Clarissa.”
“What is it?” demanded Jason, taking several stepped closer to the main viewscreen. “Does it concern the New Horizon?”
“Yes,” Ariel replied with a look of confusion on her face and in her dark eyes. “The StarFury is reporting that the New Horizon has jumped out of the Tau Ceti system.”
“What!” uttered Greg, turning around and gazing at Jason in surprise. “Could they have discovered Katie and are bringing her back?”
“I can’t imagine Commander Tellson scrubbing the entire mission over a stowaway,” Jason replied, doubtfully. “Ariel, contact Admiral Anlon and ask him to send a scout or a light cruiser to the Proxima System and see if they jumped back into that system. Something is going on, and I don’t like the feeling I’m getting.”
Ariel passed on the orders and then looked back at Jason. “Clarissa reports that both light cruisers are being dispatched to the Proxima Centauri system in case something has gone wrong on the New Horizon. Admiral Anlon wants to know if they should contact the New Horizon if they find her there.”
Jason hesitated for a moment. If either of the light cruisers contacted the New Horizon, the cat would be out of the bag as far as Ceres and the Federation survivors were concerned. But he knew there was another reason that Admiral Anlon had asked that question. His daughter was on board the New Horizon. She was one of the ten cadets that had been chosen to go on the mission.
“Yes,” Jason finally said. “With Katie, Jeremy, and Admiral Anlon’s daughter all on the New Horizon, we can’t take the risk of any of them being harmed. The cruisers have permission to make contact with the New Horizon.”
Greg walked back over to stand next to Jason. “Jason, I’m sorry, but it’s the right decision. If something has happened on that ship, we need to find out what it is.”
“This could change everything,” added Lisa, reaching out and taking Jason’s hand. “Earth isn’t ready to find out about Ceres and the people living there.”
“It was going to happen eventually,” said Jason, letting out a sharp breath. “It may just have to happen much sooner than we had planned.”
-
In the Proxima Centauri system, two blue-white vortexes of swirling light formed. Out of each, a Federation light cruiser appeared. Each cruiser was 600 meters in length and heavily armed. As soon as they arrived in the system, the two cruisers began using their long-range sensors to search for the New Horizon. If the ship was in the system, the two cruisers would find it.
After nearly two hours, the commanders of the two cruisers were stone faced as they realized the simple truth. There was no sign of the New Horizon. Wherever she had jumped to, it was not into the Proxima Centauri system. They both communicated that disappointing information to Ceres.
-
“There is no sign of the New Horizon in the Proxima Centauri system,” Ariel reported, her face taking on a look of deep concern. “Clarissa says the two light cruisers are being directed to check out Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B.” Ariel was silent as she received another message from Clarissa. “Admiral Anlon is also sending orders to Admiral Barnes at New Tellus. Two of the system’s light cruisers are being directed to join the search effort as well as the Battle Carrier Tellus. They will be deploying ten stealth scouts to jump to all the nearby systems.”<
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“There are fifty-six star systems within sixteen light years of Earth, and nearly 200 within twenty-five light years,” commented Jason, knowing it was going to take a while to search all of those star systems.
“Jason, what do you think happened?” asked Lisa, worried about Jeremy. If there had been an accident on the New Horizon, she hoped and prayed that no one had gotten hurt.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Greg spoke with a growing frown on his face. “I’m going to contact General Greene down on Earth. This threat we had to the New Horizon mission several months ago may have been more serious than we had thought.”
“You think the ship might have been sabotaged?” Lisa spoke, her hand going to her mouth.
“I’m starting to wonder,” replied Greg, hoping that Katie was still okay. “We had a few names to go on, but all the rumors vanished several months ago. General Greene felt that it didn’t need to be followed up. Now I’m wondering if we didn’t make a big mistake.”
“Make your call,” said Jason, indicating the com console where an ensign from Ceres was sitting. “We need to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. We need to find the New Horizon.”
Chapter Ten
For the next forty-eight hours, Jason literally lived in the Command Center of the Avenger, waiting for news on the New Horizon. Federation scout ships and warships were searching all of the nearby stars for any sign of the missing ship. Time after time, they came up empty. After each report, Jason’s confusion grew. Where were the New Horizon and Jeremy?
“That’s it,” Ariel spoke as the Battle Carrier Tellus sent in its latest report. “All the star systems within twenty-five light years of Earth have been scanned. There is no sign of the New Horizon. Wherever they have gone, it’s nowhere close by.”
Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (The Slaver Wars) Page 20
