by Ryk Brown
“Nicely done, by the way.”
“Thank you,” the commander replied. “We must move quickly, in case the general’s concern of discovery was correct.”
“I’m right behind you,” Jessica said as she slipped on her civilian attire, a satisfied look on her face.
* * *
“Anything?” Josh begged.
“Not yet,” Loki replied, his eyes glued to the sensor display.
Josh looked at the time display on the console. “We’re smack in the middle of the rendezvous window,” he said. “You’d think they’d be here by now.” He looked at Loki in the seat to his right. “You don’t think something went wrong, do you?”
“Josh.”
“Sneaking in and out of prison on the Jung homeworld, carrying a Nifelmian brain scanner?” Marcus grumbled. “What could go wrong?”
“They should be here by now,” Josh repeated.
“Dumbest plan I ever heard of,” Marcus added. “Let alone participated in.”
“At least we’re out here, where it’s safe,” Josh commented.
“Safe?” Loki looked at Josh in disbelief. “You call cold-coasting in the outer reaches of the Jung home system safe?”
“I meant in comparison,” Josh defended.
“We’ve been out here for two hours,” Loki continued. “If there is a Jung ship patrolling anywhere near here…”
“We’d already have picked them up on passive,” Josh interrupted, “and you know it.”
“What if one happens to pop out of FTL nearby?” Loki asked. “Did you ever consider that?”
“Oh, come on, Lok…”
“You two argue like an old married couple,” Marcus said wearily. “Are you always like this?”
“Pretty much,” Josh admitted.
“Somebody’s got to force him to think things through,” Loki added under his breath.
“Just because I don’t analyze the life out of every decision before I act…”
“I think I got something,” Loki said.
“…doesn’t mean I’m not thinking… What?”
“Really small, but it was definitely an energy spike. It could be a jump flash.”
“Is it them?”
Loki looked at Josh again, dumbfounded, then turned to Marcus. “See what I mean?”
“What?” Josh wondered.
“Who the hell else would be jumping in out here?” Loki pointed out.
“I meant, are you sure it’s a jump flash!” Josh defended.
“I don’t know yet. Slow us down a bit so we can close the distance faster.”
“Assuming there’s something out there,” Josh commented.
“Assuming there is, yes.”
“But I thought we were cold-coasting?”
“Josh!”
“Just sayin’! If I’m firing thrusters we’re emitting an increased heat signature.”
“Just do it!”
“I just don’t want you to accuse me of not thinkin’.”
Loki wasn’t paying attention, his eyes still fixed on the sensor display. Josh applied reverse thrust to slow the ship down slightly.
“Anything?” Josh asked.
“Not yet,” Loki replied. “But if they’re running cold like they’re supposed to, we won’t pick them up until we’re almost on top of them, at least not with passive sensors.”
“Mission plan says to flash them,” Josh reminded him.
“Flash’em?” Marcus said, unsure what Josh meant.
“Light ourselves up. Do three jump field test bleeds, so they can spot us on their passive,” Loki explained. “That way, they know it isn’t a Jung ship, and they can hit us with their directional beacon so we know it’s them.”
“It’s like flashing our lights, but lights that only we can have,” Josh added.
“You wanna light us up? Make us visible to everyone, including the Jung?” Marcus said. “Yet another stupid plan.”
“My idea,” Josh announced proudly.
“Like I said,” Marcus commented.
“It’s the only one we’ve got,” Loki replied. “And I’m pretty sure that was a jump flash.” He reached over to the jump drive control console and activated the first test bleed. “That’s one,” he reported, as he initiated another. “That’s two.” Loki pressed the emitter test button one more time. “That’s three.”
“Now what?” Marcus wondered.
“Now, we either pick up their beacon, or we get painted by a Jung ship locking their weapons onto us.”
“Jesus,” Marcus mumbled. “I should’ve stayed on the Aurora.”
The three of them continued watching the sensor display, holding their breath, until finally an icon appeared on the screen.
“Yes!” Josh declared.
“Is it them?” Marcus asked. “They’re alive? They made it?”
“The response isn’t automated, so yeah, they’re alive!” Loki replied with excitement.
“I’ll be damned!” Marcus said. “I would’ve bet a year’s pay against them!”
“Good thing we’re not getting paid,” Josh replied.
“Okay, I’ve calculated their course and speed,” Loki announced. “Line us up for intercept and recovery.”
“You got it!” Josh replied.
“You’d better head aft and prepare to recover them, Marcus,” Loki said. “We’re less than five minutes out.”
“On my way,” Marcus replied, turning to exit the cockpit. He suddenly looked back. “Wait, we’re not getting paid for this?”
Marcus entered the Mirai’s empty cargo bay through the midship hatch, closing it behind him. He quickly climbed down the short ladder and made his way across the deck aft, pulling the face shield down on his suit helmet as he approached the door controls. “At the controls,” he reported. “Depressurizing the bay.”
Marcus activated the depressurization sequence for the cargo bay, then reached into the equipment locker next to the control panel and pulled out a safety tether. He hooked the tether to the overhead track, and deactivated the cargo bay’s artificial gravity. “Killing the gravity,” he announced. “Depress cycle fifty percent complete.”
“Jump sub is one minute out,” Loki reported over the comms.
Loki checked his displays. “Be ready to fire forward thrusters to match their speed,” he warned Josh. “We don’t want them ramming into the cargo bay’s forward bulkhead, you know.”
“I got this, Loki,” Josh insisted. “Just give me the aft-facing cargo bay camera, will ya?”
“Coming up,” Loki replied.
“Depress cycle complete,” Marcus reported over the comms. “Opening ramp and inner doors.”
The image on the center console display switched from the passive sensor data to the aft-facing camera located at the forward end of the Mirai’s cargo bay. They could see Marcus standing off to the left side of the bay, peeking around the edge of the cargo doors as they finished retracting into the bulkheads.
“I can see the jump sub,” Marcus reported. “They’re closing fast.”
“Copy that,” Josh replied, adjusting himself in his seat to prepare for the recovery.
“One hundred meters,” Loki reported. “Target is high and starboard, closing at one meter per second.”
Josh manipulated the docking thruster controls, translating the Mirai upward and slightly to starboard.
“Ninety meters. A little more to starboard.”
The port docking thrusters hissed again.
“Eighty meters.”
Josh squinted, trying to make out the jump sub on the center display, but couldn’t see anything. “You sure it’s out there?” he mumbled.
“I’ve
got them on passive,” Loki assured him.
“I can see them from here,” Marcus insisted.
“Seventy meters,” Loki reported. “They should turn on their lights at fifty.”
Josh said nothing. He kept staring at the display, his hands ready on the docking thrusters.
“Sixty meters,” Loki reported.
Four flashing red lights suddenly appeared on the display in the center of the console.
“I’ve got them,” Josh announced.
“Fifty meters and closing,” Loki reported. “Still a little low.”
“I’ve got it now,” Josh assured him as he fired more thrusters.
Marcus leaned out from the side of the cargo hatch, gazing at the large, ominous-looking silhouette of the jump sub as it floated toward them, its marker lights blinking in unison every other second.
“Forty meters,” Loki reported over the comms.
“Are you sure this thing is going to fit?” he wondered.
“It’ll fit,” Josh replied.
“Barely,” Loki added. “Thirty meters.”
Marcus felt the ship lurch slightly, the vessel accelerating slightly as Josh fired the forward thrusters to slow their rate of closure with the jump sub. The thrusters fired again, this time causing the ship to slide to starboard.
“I’m not so sure about this,” Marcus warned as the jump sub grew nearer.
“Twenty meters, half meter per second.”
“Guys?”
“It’ll fit!” Josh insisted.
“It’s coming in awfully fast!” Marcus warned, pushing himself back behind the edge of the hatch frame.
“Ten meters,” Loki reported.
The thrusters fired again, causing the ship to lurch once more. Two more squirts of thrust brought the approaching jump sub right through the middle of the cargo bay hatchway.
“Five meters.”
Marcus floated just inside the hatch frame, holding onto the overhead rail, wanting to stay out of the way.
“End of ramp,” Loki reported. “Threshold.”
Marcus’s eyes widened as he watched the jump sub slide into the cargo bay. “Rotate thirty to port,” he instructed, when he noticed the jump sub was not oriented correctly.
“Rotating,” Josh replied.
The jump sub began to rotate as it continued entering the cargo bay, only a meter above the deck. “Activating gravity,” Marcus announced, reaching the cargo bay’s artificial gravity controls. “Bringing it up slow.”
The jump sub began to descend, ending its rotation. The Mirai lurched again as Josh fired the thrusters one last time to prevent the jump sub from making contact with the forward bulkhead.
Marcus’s feet touched the deck, as the slowly increasing gravity pulled him down. A moment later, he felt the reverberations of the jump sub contacting the deck as well. “She’s down!” he reported happily.
“Is she all the way in?” Loki asked over the comms.
Marcus looked around the back of the jump sub, making sure that its aft end was inside the yellow warning lines on the deck. “She’s clear of the inner doors,” he replied. “Closing her up!”
“Yes!” Josh exclaimed over the comms.
“Nice going, kid!” Marcus congratulated him. “Starting the repress cycle,” he added as the inner doors finished closing.
“Told you I had this!” Josh bragged.
Two minutes later, Marcus had his helmet off and was cracking open the hatch on top of the jump sub. The hatch slid back, revealing the face of Commander Telles looking up at him. “Welcome back!” Marcus greeted, reaching down to help pull the commander up through the hatch.
Commander Telles climbed out, then turned around and pulled the knapsack containing the Nifelmian device out of the sub.
“Did you get it?” Marcus asked. “Is the captain’s brain in there?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes,” the commander replied, reaching back down into the sub to pull Jessica up.
“Amazing!” Marcus declared. “Welcome back, Jess!”
“Thanks,” she replied, obviously relieved.
“Are we good?” Loki asked over the comms. “Did they get him?”
“They got him!” Marcus replied. “Let’s get the hell outta here!”
CHAPTER NINE
Jessica stood next to her mother on the tarmac at the Porto Santo spaceport, holding baby Ania in her arms, watching as Jessica’s father and brothers loaded the last of their belongings into the cargo bay of the Mirai. A distant screech from the sky caught her attention, causing her to turn and look skyward as a jump shuttle appeared on the horizon just offshore.
Jessica and her mother watched as the shuttle came in low over the base, turned, and descended smoothly onto the tarmac a hundred meters away, its engines spinning down as soon as its gear touched the pavement. The boarding hatch opened moments later, and Captain Taylor and Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy came down from the shuttle.
She watched as they approached, her focus jumping back and forth between her approaching friends and the infant in her arms.
“You know them?” her mother asked, noticing her divided attention.
“Yeah, I know them,” Jessica replied. “Here, take her inside,” she said, handing the child to her mother. “I’ll join you shortly.”
Jessica’s mother took the child from her daughter and headed up the Mirai’s cargo ramp, following one of her grandchildren who was pulling an oversized bag up the ramp.
Jessica turned to face her approaching friends, unsure of what to say.
“You were going to leave without saying goodbye?” Vladimir asked in an accusatory tone.
“Not much choice, really,” Jessica replied. “Now that I’m no longer in the Alliance, transportation to orbit is a bit more challenging.”
“Are you sure about this, Jess?” Cameron asked with concern. “I mean, it’s the Ghatazhak.”
“Yes,” Vladimir agreed. “They have no sense of humor.”
“That’s why they need me,” Jessica replied. “To liven things up a bit. Besides, I think Telles is right. I need them. It’s the only way I’ll be able to move on.”
“You could always date a handsome, Russian man, with a great sense of humor,” Vladimir suggested helpfully.
“I think she’s better off with the Ghatazhak,” Cameron commented. “Are you sure you can handle it? The Ghatazhak training, raising Ania, living on an entirely different world, in an entirely different sector?”
Jessica laughed. “Funny, two years ago we were doing whatever we had to just to get back here. Now I can’t wait to leave. It’ll be fine. I’ll have my parents, my brothers, and their families. I suspect my mom will be doing most of the work when it comes to Ania. She never lets her out of her sight. And, I’ll have the galaxy’s greatest soldiers to protect me.”
“And put you in harm’s way, I’m sure,” Cameron reminded her.
“Not for some time, I imagine,” Jessica assured her. “The Sherma system is at least a hundred light years from Takara, well outside the Pentaurus sector. The most dangerous thing there will probably be a bar fight, or some local pirates. It’ll be a cakewalk compared to the last two years.”
“The Ghatazhak? A cakewalk?” Cameron couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Did they reprogram you, as well?”
“Trust me, Cam,” Jessica said. “This is what I want. This is what’s right for me.”
Cameron sighed. “I’m going to miss you,” she finally said, stepping up and embracing her. “You sure you don’t want to stay for the memorial service?” She asked as she pulled away. “It might bring you some closure.”
Jessica smiled. “Trust me, I got all the closure I needed. Besides, I’ve got to get my family settled
before the Ghatazhak move in. They’ve secured a pretty nice tract of land near the base site. They’re going to become farmers, and grow all the food for the base. Can you believe it?”
“So, I guess the next time we see you, you’re going to be some kind of Ghatazhak, tough-girl?” Vladimir wondered, stepping forward to embrace her as well.
“What do you mean, going to be?” Jessica said, hugging him tightly. “Keep them hands high, big guy,” she joked as they embraced.
“Be safe, Jess,” Vladimir said as he let her go.
“You, too,” she replied. “Both of you,” she added, as she turned and headed up the Mirai’s boarding ramp.
When she reached the top of the cargo ramp, she turned and waved goodbye to them both as the ramp began to rise.
Cameron and Vladimir moved back a few steps as the Mirai spun up her engines and slowly rose from the tarmac, drifting quickly away from them. Once her gear was off the pavement, it retracted into her hull as she rotated to her departure heading and continued to climb away. A minute later, she disappeared behind a flash of blue-white light.
Cameron and Vladimir stood staring at the sky for several seconds.
“I can’t believe she is gone,” Vladimir said.
“Neither can I,” Cameron said, patting him on the shoulder. “Neither can I.”
* * *
Doctor Sato stood in the middle of the makeshift cloning lab that her newly formed team had slapped together in only ten days.
“What’s wrong?” Doctor Megel asked, noticing her hesitation.
“Maybe we should wait until we have something resembling a true and proper lab?”
“Michi, that will take months, perhaps even a year. Half of the components needed are not available on this world, and have to be fabricated from designs. Designs that have to first be converted to Corinairan manufacturing standards.”
“But what if you are not able to get the full-size bath ready in time for the transfer?”
