by Brown, Ryk
“Yeah, they wouldn’t be expecting that, would they,” he chuckled. “Then I guess that’s our destination. At the least, it might give us enough time to get maneuvering and propulsion back online.” Nathan turned his attention to Ensign Yosef, monitoring the sensors from her sciences station. “Ensign Yosef. How many rebel ships have landed so far?”
“Only two, sir.”
“Two?” Nathan quickly activated the comm. “Jessica! What’s taking so long down there?”
“These ships are bigger than we thought, Captain. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to fit them all in here!”
“Well, leave one in the airlock and one on the apron, if you have to! Just get them on deck! How long before they can fire on us?” he asked Cameron
“Five minutes, maybe,” Cameron answered. He knew she was guessing. They knew nothing about Takaran weapons and technology.
“Jalea,” he asked, drawing her away from Doctor Sorenson’s side. “We need to get your ships on board more quickly, there’s not enough time.” She looked puzzled. “Not enough time,” he repeated. “Go faster.” Suddenly, she understood what he wanted, and began communicating the problem with Marak. A moment later he heard Marak’s voice giving a rather important sounding command over their communicators. He didn’t understand what he was saying, but from the tone of Marak’s voice he was pretty sure that if he had, he wouldn’t have liked it.
“Nathan,” Cameron called. “Two of the rebel ships have reversed course!”
“What?”
“They’re on an intercept vector for the incoming Takaran ships.”
“What are they doing? They’ll be destroyed!” Nathan spun back around to face Jalea “What did he tell them to do!”
“Need more time,” she explained. “They give.”
“They give? You mean they give their lives?” Nathan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Do they know this?”
“They know,” she answered, with no emotion showing in her voice.
“The rebel ships have fired on the Takarans, and they’re changing course, heading away from us.”
“Did their fire…”
“…No effect,” Cameron reported. Nathan was now standing next to her at the tactical display, watching the engagement. “The Takaran ships are changing course, pursuing.” They watched for less than a minute, until the two Takaran ships caught up to the rebels and obliterated them. “The rebel ships are destroyed,” Cameron reported. “They’re resuming original course. ETA six minutes, weapons range in one.”
“How many people were on those ships?” Nathan asked Jalea coldly.
“Six,” she answered in much the same tone.
Nathan couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. Six people had just sacrificed themselves for nothing. At the most, it might have gained them an extra minute.
“They’re firing!” Cameron reported. “Missiles inbound, tracking four, all nukes! ETA thirty seconds!”
“Bridge! Hangar Bay! The last of the rebel ships are on deck!”
Nathan stood there staring intently into Jalea’s eyes. She didn’t blink, didn’t look away. Where he had once seen strength and compassion, he now saw only a cold ruthlessness that he wasn’t sure he could understand. And he knew he didn’t like it.
“Captain!” Cameron begged.
“Kill the view screen,” he ordered calmly. “Doctor Sorenson, it’s time to go.”
CHAPTER 7
“Transition complete,” Doctor Sorenson reported with just the slightest hint of relief in her voice.
Cameron immediately switched the view screen back on, revealing a sea of asteroids of varying sizes. Nathan couldn’t help but marvel at the view. He had never seen an asteroid field, and by his understanding, this one was far more dense than most. The field of stars before them had an unusual twinkling quality, as the numerous asteroids too distant to see with the naked eye passed in front of stars, causing them to blink off and on. His gaze was fixed on the screen for at least a full minute, so long that Cameron was beginning to wonder what he was staring at.
“Anything on sensors?” he finally asked Ensign Yosef.
“No Sir, just rocks.”
Nathan wasn’t sure he could believe it, not after the previous two jumps. “What? No Jung patrols? No mammoth Takaran warships? No rebel hoards?”
Cameron just gave him a sideways glance, unimpressed by the timing of his sarcasm.
“I’m just checking,” he defended.
Jalea exclaimed something in her native language, astonished at what she had just witnessed.
“How is this possible?” she finally asked in English, her eyes wide.
“I really don’t know,” Nathan admitted. “But lucky for us, it is.”
“Captain, suggest we start a plot of all the nearest asteroids?” Cameron suggested. “Just to be on the safe side.”
“Good idea.” he agreed.
“Just so you are aware, Captain,” Doctor Sorenson interrupted, “the transition system’s energy banks are now down to less than ten percent.”
“And that’s bad?” he asked. There was still so much he didn’t know about this new system.
“It will take at least a few hours to charge the energy banks enough to execute even a short transition. That’s assuming we’re able to run our reactor at one hundred percent the entire time.”
“Understood, Doctor. When time permits, I think we’re going to need a full briefing on the capabilities and limitations of your, what did you call it?”
“Hyperluminal Transition System.”
Nathan mumbled it to himself, giving up halfway through the name. “You know what? Let’s keep calling it a Jump Drive for now.”
“That’s not exactly accurate,” she protested.
“Maybe not, but it’s a lot easier to say. Besides, that other one will never catch on,” Nathan added as he opened a comm channel to engineering. “Engineering, Bridge.”
“Yes!, Go ahead,” Vladimir responded, sounding more than a bit annoyed at being bothered again.
“Can you run the primary reactor for the jump drive at one hundred percent?”
“What is this, jump drive?” he asked, having not heard of it before now.
“Doctor Sorenson’s little project?”
“Of course, I should’ve known.” Nathan could hear the change in the tone of Vladimir’s voice. “Yes, this I can do. But please, for no longer than is necessary.”
“Understood,” Nathan acknowledged, switching off the comm.
“Captain,” Ensign Yosef warned, “if the Takarans come looking for us, that reactor is going to be like big sign pointing out our location, regardless of all these asteroids.”
“How long does it take to shut down an antimatter reactor?” he asked Cameron, embarrassed that he didn’t know.
“Ten to fifteen minutes, I think.”
“Actually,” Doctor Sorenson interjected, “we rewrote the shutdown procedure to satisfy our abort protocols. We can have the reactor off line in about three minutes, and the core would no longer be emanating any discernible energy output within seconds of starting the abort process.”
“Excellent, problem solved then.” He turned to Ensign Yosef, “If you pick-up any signs of a Takaran ship, don’t go through us, just tell Doctor Sorenson and she’ll shutdown the reactor. Okay?” Nathan looked at each of them to make sure everyone understood their part.
“Nathan,” Cameron said in a hushed tone, “I think our jump drive has made quite an impression on the locals.” Cameron looked toward Jalea, who was now standing by the port exit in the back corner of the bridge facing away from them as she excitedly conversed with Marak over her personal communicator. It was obvious that the jump had taken her completely by surprise. Nathan could understand how she felt, as a few short hours ago even he had not known such a thing existed.
“You think this is going to be a problem?” he asked Cameron.
“I don’t know, but I think it certainly h
as the potential to become one.”
Nathan thought about it, wondering how it would affect their relationship with these people. Would they insist that they share the jump drive technology with them? Would they try to take it by force? How would they use it? If they were engaged in a rebellion against superior numbers, then this would certainly give them a tactical advantage. And how far would they be willing to go to obtain this advantage.
“Maybe we should make sure all of our weapons lockers are properly secured. And make sure the jump drives are still under guard as well.”
Cameron nodded her agreement, then walked over to the ensign handling communications, quietly passing the instructions to be put into motion.
“Captain!” Ensign Yosef called, alarm in her voice. “I found one! An asteroid with a trajectory that shows a ninety-eight percent collision probability.”
“How big?”
“Big enough, Sir.”
“You see? I knew it!” Nathan exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration. “I knew it was too good to be true!”
“How long do we have?” Cameron asked the ensign.
“Estimate impact in forty minutes.”
Cameron turned to Nathan, who was looking like he had reached his limit in crisis-management for the day. “Okay,” she offered, trying to offer support. “Let’s just work the problem.”
Nathan looked back at Cameron. Although she had been as shaken as the rest of them after the encounter with the Takaran warship, she was back to her old self again—cold and calculating.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “Work the problem.” Nathan raised his hands and locked his fingers behind his head, trying to think of a way to avoid the collision. “We can’t jump, and we’ve got no maneuvering or propulsion.” He looked at Ensign Yosef. “I’m assuming it’s too big to blow apart with rail guns, correct?” Ensign Yosef simply nodded, saying nothing. “No matter, they’re not working anyway,” he reminded himself.
“Torpedo? Maybe one of the nuclear ones?” Cameron offered.
“We already shot all four forward tubes, and the auto-loaders aren’t installed yet. I doubt we could get them loaded in time.”
“I don’t think a nuke would make much difference with this one, Sir,” Ensign Yosef reluctantly admitted.
“That big, huh?” Nathan asked rhetorically. He looked back to Cameron. “Got any ideas?”
Cameron simply shrugged. “Maybe you can blow something up again,” she suggested, half-heartedly.
“Don’t tempt me,” he warned. “I haven’t ruled that one out yet.”
“Well, how far do we need to move to avoid the collision?” Cameron asked, making her way back to Ensign Yosef.
“One moment.” Ensign Yosef began running the calculations. After a few moments, she answered. “Not that much. If we could just speed up or slow down by as little as a few hundred meters per second, we’d just miss it. But we would have to do it before we get too close to the asteroid, or it’s gravity will pull us in.”
“Well how do we do that without propulsion?” Nathan asked.
“Captain?” Jalea interrupted. “You need to move ship?”
“Uh, yes. Why?”
“We can do this, I think.”
“How?” Cameron inquired.
“With our ships. This we do, many times. When we capture ships. Or to bring broken ships home.”
“A tow?” Nathan wondered aloud. “But your ships are not that big.”
“But they are very strong,” she assured him. “Marak agrees, this can be done.”
“Have you ever towed a ship this big before?”
“No,” she admitted. “But a first time, there must be for everything.”
“I don’t know about this, Nathan,” Cameron warned.
“Would you rather I blow up the stern docking thruster pods?”
Within minutes of receiving their orders from Marak, the four rebel ships had made their way out of the hangar bay and back into space. The Aurora, like any other ship in the fleet, had numerous hard points located on her hull. Normally used for mooring purposes, these points had direct attachment to the underlying frame of the ship, and would be more than strong enough for the tow operation.
The rebel ships were equipped with powerful grappling claws designed to grab a ship and punch through her hull if necessary. In this case, the rebel ships simply grabbed hold of a mooring point, and then started standing off from the ship, reeling out their tow lines as they moved away.
Nathan stood behind his previous station at the helm, gazing out the view screen that surrounded the front third of the bridge. By now, they could see the approaching asteroid. It had started out as no more than a speck against the blackness, but within minutes had grown to fill half the screen. Three of the rebel ships were in position with their tow lines running from their top side down to the ship. Each ship was at least a few hundred meters away, angling out at about forty-five degrees from the Aurora, and were keeping their tow lines taught with weak but steady thrust while they waited for the last ship to get into position.
“The last ship is moving into position now, sir,” Ensign Yosef reported.
“How much time,” he asked.
“We’ve got five minutes to get up to speed before we’re too close to escape its gravity well, sir.”
Nathan turned to Jalea. “You know, they all have to burn in unison for this to work.”
“Controls for one ship, will control all ships,” she explained.
Nathan understood what she meant. Fleet tugs used a similar method, slaving the flight controls for all tugs into the bridge of the ship being pulled, thereby using the tugs like they were external propulsion pods. It had been one of the simulations he had been required to pass during his flight training, and it had been a difficult one to master. Luckily, in this case, someone else would be doing the piloting.
“Prepare yourself,” Jalea warned as the voice on her communicator completed what sounded like a countdown, albeit in another language. Nathan could hear the voices of the rebel pilots as they chattered back and forth over Jalea’s communicator. The countdown ended with the last word being spoken louder and more urgently than the ones proceeding it.
On the view screen, The main engines of the two visible rebel ships began to glow a faint amber. As he heard the voice of the lead rebel pilot over Jalea’s communicator, he could tell that he was announcing his increases in thrust. They watched as the rebel engines thrust ports faded from amber to yellow as their levels increased. As the thrust levels increased, so did the stress level in the lead pilot’s voice.
“Three minutes,” Ensign Yosef announced.
The main thrust ports on the rebel ships again changed, going from yellow to a brilliant bluish white. The lead pilot’s voice was now yelling.
“They are at full power,” Jalea announced.
“Jesus,” Cameron exclaimed. “She wasn’t kidding about those little buggers being strong. Look at the amount of thrust they’re putting out.”
“Two minutes to impact,” Ensign Yosef updated.
The asteroid was now filling more than half the upper side of the main view screen, its horizon sinking farther and farther down the screen on its way to the floor. The lead pilot’s voice yelled another announcement, and the rebels engines became pure white, expanding their radius somewhat and taking on a blinding brilliance.
“What are they doing?” Nathan yelled.
“Their engines are burning much more than normal,” Jalea exclaimed. There was more yelling over the communicator, but this time from some of the other pilots.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Engines very hot now,” Jalea explained.
“They can’t keep that burn rate up for long,” Cameron warned.
“Sir!” Ensign Yosef interrupted. “Our velocity is climbing! It’s working!”
Nathan could hear more excited voices over Jalea’s communicator, as the rebel pilots realized they were starting
to move.
“Impact in…,” Ensign Yosef suddenly stopped mid sentence, watching her sensor display as it updated. “We’re going to miss it, Sir!” she announced, obvious relief in her voice.
“Tell them to reduce their engines before they rip themselves apart!” Nathan ordered.
Jalea began yelling instructions into her communicator. An inquiry came back from the lead pilot.
“Captain, the pilot wants to know if you would like them to go a little longer, maybe help you away from rocks?”
“What do you think, Cam?” Nathan asked.
“This field is pretty big sir. They’d have to get us a lot of velocity to clear it in anything less than a few days.”
“That’s okay, Jalea,” Nathan apologized. “Please ask them to turn off their engines.”
“As you wish.”
Having avoided yet another catastrophe, Nathan hoped they might finally have a chance to regroup. It was the first time since they left the orbit of Jupiter that there wasn’t some immediate calamity about to befall them.
He had watched the entire towing operation standing behind the helm station. And now with the immediate threat averted, he dropped into the captain’s command chair without even realizing the significance of where he sat.
