by PJ Strebor
His flash feed beeped: Whitney, following up on his original distress call. The only words Nathan could decipher were “caught, cannot break fr—”, then a wash of static tore the signal to pieces. He hoped Whitney sat outside of the distortion zone. Nathan sent a flash feed to Insolent.
“ETA to O/R Four is eighty-two seconds.” After a few seconds of lag time, the reply came through as scrambled gibberish.
“Outrider Four, report your condition.” A scream of static replied. Too far away. Closer to the rift he could sense its influence, like a hand slowly closing around his throat. Even with his forward holo panels pushed to maximum, the swirling mass of energy obscured any sign of O/R Four. Then he caught an energy spike and zeroed in on its location. “Oh, shit.”
Whitney had not only stumbled upon a Hylon rift, he had been sucked into it. Nathan reconfigured his comm to send a straight-band signal to Whitney, and by channeling additional power he hoped to overcome the massive interference.
“Outrider Four, reply to my signal.” Nathan caught snippets over his earpiece and boosted additional power into the band. “Outrider Four, this is Telford, reply to my signal.” The pull from the rift was no longer subtle. He would have to veer away soon or he, too, would be caught, together with the luckless ensign.
“Nathan, can you hear me? Nathan?” There was panic in Whitney’s voice. Panic that could kill him.
“Reading you, strength two. Report your status.” Fucked, by the look of it.
“It’s got me, Nathan, it’s got me. Help me, please help me.”
Whitney was beyond help. Even if Insolent were here right now, she would be powerless to save him.
“Whitney, use your main engines, and override the scram. Push your reactor to twenty percent over the red line and give it one major push. Throw in the thrust engines as well, and it might break you free.”
“Roger.”
Nathan’s suspicions were confirmed in short order. Whitney must have been right on top of the rift when it formed.
“Outrider Five, no effect,” Whitney said. “I’m slipping into the rift. Help me, Nathan. I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting. Please help me.”
No force in the universe could extract a vessel caught so deep within a newly formed rift. However, Nathan had been toying with an idea, and now appeared to be as good a time as any to test it.
“Whitney, this is Nathan.” He paused for a moment. “Who is the best pilot?”
“What?”
“Who is the best pilot out here?”
“You are.”
“Good. You have one chance of surviving this. Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then bring your boat around one-eighty degrees. Use your centering scanner to keep you clear of the walls, then apply full emergency power. Put as much energy reserves into your buffers as you can, then scram your reactor when it reaches critical.”
“Go into the rift?”
“Radical, isn’t it?”
“That’s crazy.”
“Perhaps, but if you do nothing you will be dragged into the rift and torn to pieces. All we’ll find on the other side is confetti.” Long, dangerous seconds ticked by. “Do it now or die,” Nathan snapped.
“Roger, coming about now.”
Outrider Four rotated through her axis, paused for a moment before engaging her thrust drives.
“Keep in the dead center,” Nathan urged.
“Thanks, Nathan. I’ll see you on the other side.”
“Hang in there. I will find you. I give you my pledge.”
Static scrambled Whitney’s reply as his tiny craft disappeared into the swirling death of the Hylon rift.
CHAPTER 26
Date: 29th February 322 ASC.
Position: Standing off the Triton Archipelago.
Status: Rescue operations underway.
Broad and focused active scans on every bandwidth had failed to find a trail of debris from Outrider Four. As such, conventional wisdom suggested the vessel and its pilot had egressed from the rift in one piece. His boat would have been totally disabled by the sudden transition, and after two hours the environmentals should be all but depleted. The search continued in the forlorn hope of at least recovering the body.
Adding to the problems faced by the rescue operations was the area of space Whitney had been flung into. The Triton Archipelago floated within a barren region of space containing nothing but debris from long-destroyed worlds. Among the millions of asteroids constituting its huge mass, ninety percent were composed of positively charged iron elements. Attempting to use their grav plating for maneuvering within such an expanse of magnetic interference would prove impossible. So the order had gone out to all fighters and landing boats to locate, but do not attempt to recover, Outrider Four, if it had fallen within the boundaries of the Archipelago.
Three light years from the nearest system, Triton was a black mass of turmoil.
Even so, a chance remained, albeit slight, of recovering their lost pilot. If he had indeed survived egression, and if his backup power had been contained in the buffers, and if his systems had not been entirely fried, and if.… Nathan sighed.
For two hours he had been scouring the perimeter of the archipelago. So far he and his fellow pilots had found nothing. Four fighters and three landing boats could do nothing to slow the steadily beating clock.
Nathan hugged Triton’s edge as close as he dared take his fragile craft.
“Outrider Five, FOO.” The flash feed transmission from Commander Chappell was scratchy and barely readable.
“Outrider Five,” he replied.
“Report your status.”
“Grid sections one-zero-niner through two-one-eight checked. No contact. Moving on to next grid.”
“Very well, carry on.”
Yes, carry on. Carry on in a vain attempt to find a lost fighter within an ocean of disorder. Nathan needed to find a way to tighten the parameters. It had been so much easier on Truculent. There his instincts were of some use, but here—
Nathan stopped the rotation of his fighter and pulled back from the edge of Triton.
On Truculent, his premonition pain, his Prep, had given him a considerable advantage. Could knowing where danger lay be of use in this situation?
Nathan closed his eyes and began the rhythmic breathing exercise designed to help him reach a focused meditative state. With his mind and body fully relaxed and approaching theta state, he would try to zero in on anything abnormal. He could sense personal danger, and briefly on Truculent he had detected danger to others. Perhaps he could do so again? Whitney might already be dead or unconscious. Could he read danger from an unconscious person?
Nathan rotated his combat chair slowly along an arc covering his search sector. After a few minutes he discovered nothing and moved to the next grid reference. By the time he examined the third grid reference, Nathan had started to doubt that his instinct would work in this manner. Then he caught the slightest of spikes. Edging back, a degree at a time, he zeroed in on it. An overpowering sense of danger straddled the border with sheer terror. That had to be Whitney.
“Insolent, Outrider Five. Have located O/R four and am investigating. Sending grid coordinates now.”
Nathan hoped the captain would approve of his action, since time was of essence.
Pushing the throttles full forward, he took his boat into the black mass of the Triton Archipelago.
***
“Flash feed from Outrider Five, Captain,” Reiffel said.
“Let’s hear it.”
“Insolent, Outrider Five. Have located O/R Four and am investigating. Sending grid coordinates now.”
Bradman bit back a curse as the transmission ended.
“Tactical, do you have a fix on O/R Five?”
“No, Sir, he disappeared a few seconds ago on a direct heading into Triton.” Vasquez kept her head over her readouts as if trying to avoid the captain’s livid expression. “I only have his last location.”
“D-O, how long since Outrider Four entered the rift?”
“Two hours and twelve minutes, Sir.”
So a chance still remained of recovering his pilot alive. “Put me through to the FOO.”
“Aye, Sir. Channel open. Two-second lag time.”
“Commander Chappell, I am committing this vessel to the search for our lost chick. Recall all fighters to guard the Kyushu Maru. Confirm.”
“Orders confirmed, Captain,” Chappell acknowledged. “Good luck.”
“D-O, I’m going downstairs.” Bradman strode to the centrally positioned combat chair.
“Helm, take us at flank speed to the last known position of Outrider Five,” he said as he strapped into the chair.
“Aye, Captain, coming about now.”
Bradman wondered if time would be on their side. He also wondered if he would have to bury two pilots instead of one.
***
Nathan threaded his way through the archipelago, both thrust engines running at flank speed. He had closed off his stealth engines and mag plating, which were useless within this charged environment. Back to basics, thrust engines and maneuvering thrusters only.
Triton’s outer core was a dense mass of asteroids, some as small as a grain of sand, some as large as a destroyer. His shields were being constantly struck by the invisibly small impacts, but he easily avoided larger ones.
Time and again he sensed Whitney’s position, only to lose the signal. Frustrated, he brought his boat to a dead stop. All around him, black rocks tumbled end over end, barely discernible from one another within the ebony background. His infrared helped, but only slightly. Nathan slowed his breathing and reached out with his senses. For a few seconds he sensed nothing, then a major spike, then nothing. However, the temporary acquisition gave him a starting point to focus on. After a few seconds, the signal returned briefly before once again disappearing.
“What the hell?”
Maneuvering around the tightly packed asteroids, he edged forward. The signal blinked at him, teasing, yet elusive. He could sense his quarry, close at hand. Directly ahead, a large slab of rock became the focal point of his search. Resembling a malformed rectangular slab, it rotated through its axis. Could the monolith be blocking the signal?
Navigating his Specter around the obstruction, he strained to discern anything within the chaotic blackness. With eyes closed, he made tiny adjustments to pitch and yaw until the spot between his shoulder blades flared with pain. He locked on to the heading and nudged his boat forward. Within Triton’s swirling bedlam, one object remained static: Outrider Four. From an outside perspective, the craft appeared undamaged. Nathan could not imagine how the Specter had survived the transition without being pummeled to scrap.
He lowered his undercarriage and clamped his skids on to the top of Whitney’s wounded craft.
“Outrider Four, respond to my signal.” He counted to three and tried again. “Outrider Four, respond to my signal.” Nathan recalled what oxygen deprivation did to a person: disorientation, lethargy and an overpowering desire to sleep.
“Whitney!” he shouted.
“Huh?” Everything else Whitney said came across as a jumble of incoherence.
“Ensign Whitney, snap to,” Nathan shouted. Keep him awake or he’ll be dead by the time I get him back to the boat.
“Outrider Four,” Whitney said.
“Whitney, it’s Nathan. Report your condition.”
“Nathan? Nathan is dat you?”
“Yes Whitney, it’s me. How are you coping?”
Nathan gave his thrust engines a tiny nudge and cleared the oddly shaped slab. The skids began to slip as he passed the huge, spinning rock. The big ones kicked out a lot of magnetic interference.
“Wrecked my boat, Nathan.” His words were slurred, but at least he was awake and talking. “Boss is going to be really pissed.”
“Your boat looks pretty good from out here. I’m sure your flight crew will have you back flying in no time.” No response. “Whitney, wake up,” he shouted.
“I’m awake, I’m awake. I’m so tired, Nathan.”
“I know you are, but you have to hang in there. We’re on our way back to the boat. We’ll be there in no time.” Nathan bit back a curse when the skids slipped from Whitney’s fighter. He retrieved it quickly, but this exercise was taking too long. It had taken minutes to enter the heart of Triton. Getting out at dead slow speed would take far longer. Perhaps too long.
“Nathan Telford, Nathan Telford. The big gun. Ellison trophy winner. King of the academy. So what’s he got against me anyway? He’s always pickin’ on me. My father would be proud of Nathan Telford. Yeah, he’s a winner. Always goda be a winner son. No one members second place. Got to be the best or no one’s gunna to respec ya. Never say you’re sorry. Never give in. Just like a good marine. Just like Dad. Be a man. Shit, I was five years old. What di I know about bein a man?”
Whitney would not last much longer. If he passed out again, Nathan doubted he could wake him again. He pushed the throttles forward another notch and immediately lost grip on Outrider Four.
“Shit!”
“What? Wadda you mean, Nath’n?”
Reacquiring Whitney’s fighter, he realized his LM was active. “Shit, Whitney, that sounds tough. So your old man was a marine. What outfit?”
“Eleventh marine division. Killers every one.”
“The eleventh, eh? Tough outfit. Where did he serve?” Keep him talking.
“Cimmeria. Two and a half tours. Lost a lung in the last one and got an honorable discharge and a pension. A career marine pensioned out, just li dat. He used to be a good man, Nathan. A stric father but fair. But when he got back from Cimmeria he’d turned into a real mean drunk. He couldn unersan dat I wash jusss a kid Nathn.”
A huge boulder swung unexpectedly into Nathan’s flight path. Its massive interference tore the two fighters apart. Whitney’s fighter tumbled under it. Nathan pushed his fighter over the top to avoid a deadly collision.
“Hey, wash dat?” Whitney said. Then his signal went dead.
Nathan pitched his fighter over on her back and plunged across the other side of the huge rock to where Whitney should be. In the blackness of space, the tractor beam struck out with claws. Shutting down his infrared overview, he blinked several times to remove the blotches from his vision.
By the time his eyesight readjusted, Outrider Four had been tractored into Insolent’s boat bay. Bradman, Nathan had heard, was the best boat jockey in the Corps, but how had he gotten a boat the size of a MEB through the outer debris field so quickly? Nathan could detect no impacts to Insolent’s shields or hull.
He positioned his Specter astern of the monitor to observe the operation. Safely past the environmental force field and into normal gravity and air, the fighter slipped onto a mobile cradle. The crew clambered over the fighter, rigging an umbilical to provide onboard power. Then, with a few commands, the undercarriage lowered and Whitney’s combat chair sprang into view. The doc and medic droids stood by and had his helmet off and oxygen mask on in an instant. Nathan awaited permission to come aboard.
“Outrider Five, Insolent,” Toni Reiffel said.
“Outrider Five.”
“We are leaving Triton and returning to the Kyushu Maru.” An unaccustomed pause from the boat’s operations officer. “You are to maintain your current position with Insolent and match speed and course exactly. Confirm.”
“Insolent, Outrider Five. Message received and understood.”
Well, you had to expect it, Telford. He had disobeyed orders, even knowing the skipper had been waiting for any opportunity to slap him down. So he would follow the boat back to the Maru and sit in her chop all the way. After enduring the lengthy and uncomfortable flight, he would trap aboard and the skipper would undoubtedly ream him to within a millimeter of his life.
CHAPTER 27
Date: 3rd March 322 ASC.
Position: Kyushu Maru convoy, traversing Bretish, Com
monwealth hyperspace.
Status: Alert Condition Three.
“Captain to the bridge,” Reiffel said. Standing directly behind the tactical officer, her gaze was fixed to the readouts.
Bradman strode onto the bridge. Reiffel stepped back to allow him to examine the readouts.
“What do you think, Vasquez?” he asked.
The tactical officer exhaled one enormous breath. “Might be a hyper echo, Captain.” She shook her head. “Or we could have company.”
“Assessment?”
“The object is nowhere near matching our harmonics, so there’s no immediate threat. And it could be an echo.”
“D-O?”
It pleased Reiffel that the captain followed procedure by deferring to her, but she still wondered if he trusted her opinion.
“I would err on the side of caution, Captain.”
Bradman nodded.
“Very well. Bring the boat to A-C One,” he said, “and put me through to the Kymu.”
***
Nathan leaned back in his combat chair and yawned. The pilot rotation had placed him in the alert fighter seat: four hours of bum-flattening boredom.
He flinched as the Alert Condition One alarm ricocheted around the boat bay. His fingers flashed across the controls, bringing his systems to life. He slipped his helmet on and dropped into the combat sphere.
“SMC, Telford.”
“SMC,” the computer replied.
“Begin full start-up procedures. I want maximum power allocation to the buffers. All weapons online. Real-time imagery to all holo plates.”
“Confirmed.”
While the systems powered up, Nathan tightened his harness. Within three minutes, he had completed his checklist. Now only the waiting remained. Two minutes later he caught his fingers strumming against the side of his chair.
“SMC, has there been any deviation to Insolent’s course?”
“Yes, Sir, there have been two minor course corrections in the last eight minutes. The monitor has rolled over and is conducting full braking maneuvers. Estimate cessation of forward momentum in twenty-eight point three minutes.”
