***
“Our engines have shut down.” Sarah looked up from the helm station. “And I can’t contact engineering. I think we lost it.”
“That’s probably a safe assumption,” said Calvin, tapping his armrest.
“Our current position is 6.1 light-years from Abia, 6.2 from Xerxes, sitting in open space, all stop. Not even a rock on our scopes.”
“I wonder how they breached engineering …” said Calvin.
“Does that mean we’re next?” asked Sarah.
“Over my dead body,” said Miles.
“I don’t think they’ll have any trouble with that.” Sarah shot him a look.
“The bridge is twice as secure as engineering,” said Shen, his arms folded. “So, no, I wouldn’t say we are in any immediate danger. Down in engineering the designers didn’t have enough space to put up as many defensive measures as on the bridge.”
“Well, at least that’s some good news,” said Sarah. “But we’re still sitting ducks.”
“I assume there’s no way to override the controls in engineering and get the engines back online from here, is there?” asked Calvin.
“Nope,” Shen and Sarah both replied.
“So it’s a stalemate,” said Calvin.
The comm switch beeped, and Sarah patched the message through the main speaker.
Summers’s voice came over the line. “Calvin, we have control of the whole ship apart from the bridge.”
“Well, the bridge is really the most important part,” said Calvin.
“Enough games, Calvin. You had your shot, and you blew it. Now the whole ship is against you, and we’re not going anywhere. There’s nothing you can do from up there, and you can’t hold out forever. The major and I urge you to surrender. Then we can put in our reports that you surrendered voluntarily. And you will be treated with dignity.”
“Dignity, my ass,” said Miles.
“We’re not going to surrender the bridge,” said Calvin. “For the same reason we started this whole thing. It has nothing to do with dignity or pride or anything like that. It has to do with defending the Empire. You’d see that too if you just looked hard enough.”
“You flew the ship off mission and let a condemned criminal get away. That has nothing to do with defending the Empire.”
“Don’t you see? That has everything to do with it.”
“I’m not going to argue. I’m just going to tell you. Either surrender the bridge or we’ll take it by force. Your choice.”
Calvin motioned for Sarah to cut the line. When she did, he spoke. “Other ships are certainly looking for us now, since they haven’t heard from Summers in a while. And, with the help of her beacon, they will find us eventually. But, in the spirit of being found as slowly as possible, let’s engage the stealth system.”
“Can’t they just shut that down too?” asked Sarah.
“Not from engineering,” Shen replied.
“It’s done,” said Miles.
The usual purr of the vents stopped abruptly, and, after checking his console, Shen confirmed that all ventilation to the bridge from life-support controls had been cut off. “But it’s not all bad news,” said Shen. “We have an emergency air supply for the bridge. I’d say we have at least six hours before we begin to suffocate.”
“So it’s a war of attrition,” said Calvin.
“With time not on our side,” Sarah added.
“If it takes us six hours to think of something to do, then we’re as good as dead anyway. We need to come up with something now. Who knows what’s in Abia and for how long?”
***
“ODB is prepped for phase two, requesting clearance to execute, over.”
“Clearance granted.”
The Phoenix Conspiracy Page 58
