“You wish to speak with me?” Jalea called from the doorway.
“Ah, yes, Jalea, please come in,” Nathan told her. He stepped out from behind the desk and pulled up a chair for her. “I thought we might talk a bit,” he explained, returning to his seat. “I would like to know more about you and your people.” Nathan began opening the two lunch kits that Cameron had sent in earlier. “Are you hungry?”
Jalea nodded tentatively, unsure of what the packages contained. “What do you want to know?”
Nathan handed her one of the open kits and a small bottle of water. She looked at the contents of the kit. It contained several different vegetables in varying shades of green, red, and orange, along with some small pieces of fruit, and several slices of some type of meat and cheese. She watched as Nathan picked up one of the red vegetables from his kit and popped it into his mouth. She picked up the same red vegetable from her kit and placed it carefully between her teeth and began to bite down.
“Be careful, those can…”
Jalea bit down on the small tomato, which split open, juice squirting out onto the desk and down her chin. She tried to catch the dripping liquid with her hand, but was too late.
“…squirt a bit,” he finished. “Yeah, it’s better if you pop the whole thing into your mouth.” He watched as she chewed her small tomato and swallowed. She gave no indication as to whether or not she liked it.
“So, where are you from?” he asked as he continued eating.
Jalea watched Nathan, waiting for him to eat something different before she tried it herself.
“Parule. My world is Parule."
“Is Parule far from here?”
“Yes, it is far. Not in Takaran space.”
“It’s not? How did you end up here then?” Nathan had already noticed that she was only eating what he was eating, and purposefully tried everything at least once so that she would be more comfortable. So far, other than the radishes, she seemed to like everything.
“My husband is from Takara. I came to be with him.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were married.”
“He died, many years ago.”
“I’m sorry. How did he die?”
“He fought like us. He died bravely.”
“He fought the Takarans?” Nathan felt like he was starting to get somewhere.
“Yes.”
“Why do you fight them?”
“The Takaran leaders, they are very bad.” Jalea thought for a moment, trying to decide how to express her thoughts in English. “They want only for money, power. If you have money, you can pay, life is very good for you. If you do not have, if you not pay, life is very bad for you. They are…” she struggled for the right word, mumbling what Nathan assumed was the appropriate word in her language.
“…Corrupt?” he offered.
“Yes, corrupt. They only want money. No right, no wrong, only money.”
Nathan smiled. “Yeah, that’s the definition of corruption on our world as well.” He took a drink of water as he watched her pick out what to eat next. She was quite an attractive woman, with long black hair and olive complexion. And her eyes were so captivating, they just sucked him in. But he had seen a cold, dark side to her just before they had jumped away from the incoming Takaran reinforcements. And despite the fact that her eyes seemed softer at the moment, that side of her still worried him.
“It is same on your world?” she asked him as she tried a piece of cheese.
“Sometimes. Not as much as before, but still some. Is that why you fight? You fight corruption?”
“We fight to be free,” she corrected him. “We fight to remove them from power.”
Then it is a rebellion, Nathan thought. “How do you fight?”
“We steal weapons and ships to fight with.”
“Ships, like this one?” Nathan asked, afraid that he might not like the answer.
“No. Such ships are very difficult. This is how my husband died.”
“Trying to steal a large ship?”
“Yes. It is very dangerous to steal such ships. So we only take small ships, much easier. But not so strong. So we make better.” Nathan noticed a hint of pride in her last statement.
“How do you make them better?”
“We take to secret places,” she explained. “Places where we can work on ships. Better, stronger, faster.”
“Like a base of operations?” Nathan was becoming quite interested.
“No. Not so big. Usually on farms, in shelters. Sometimes inside mountains. Even rocks in space.”
“But where do you live? What do you eat? Where do you get supplies?”
“The people, they give us food, shelter, clothing, what they can to help. But they afraid of Takaran soldiers.”
Nathan leaned back in his chair, taking another drink of water as he thought about what Jalea had revealed to him. The rebels were fighting a guerrilla war rather than a large scale organized conflict. They were stealing ships and supplies, making changes to them to fit their needs, and getting covert support from the locals. They certainly sounded like freedom fighters rebelling against a corrupt and repressive government. But Nathan had been a student of Earth history. And he knew that there was often a fine line between revolutionaries and terrorists. And more often than not, the difference only became apparent after it was too late.
“So how did you hear of Earth?” Nathan felt it was time to change direction, and he had been curious about what she knew of his home.
“On my world, there is legend. Long ago, our people came to Parule from another world. The legend says, the people on that world once came from Earth,” she explained. It was apparent by the tone of her voice that she had never truly believed the legend. “But, it was only story, told to young children. Many believe. Many still speak Angla and teach children. My father was such man.”
“Really?” Nathan had finished his lunch and closed up the container. “And what did your father teach you of Earth.”
“Earth is where all humans came from. But long ago, they leave quickly. Terrible evil on Earth. It came to all her worlds. So people, they go to stars. They hope evil will not follow.” Jalea ate the last piece of food in her kit and followed it with a drink of water before continuing. “Sometimes, parents tell children to behave, or evil will find them too.”
“Does the story say what kind of evil?”
“No, but it is only story. No one truly believes this,” she asserted.
“But you believe it?”
“Maybe a little,” she confessed, a tiny smile on her lips.
“Do many others believe?”
“Some. But they not say, they afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Takarans not believe. They say all come from Takara, not Earth. If you not believe as Takarans, you not live.”
Then they are fighting against religious persecution. Suddenly, they were starting to look more like terrorists than revolutionaries. He was beginning to wonder how far he could trust them. Perhaps Cameron had been correct. Perhaps these were not the kind of people they wanted as friends.
“Do others in your group speak Angla?”
“Yes, some. Those from other worlds. But Takarans not learn Angla, not safe.”
“What about on Parule?” Nathan was hoping to find a world where they might be able to communicate without having to use the rebels as an intermediary.
“Yes, most people on Parule learn Angla. It is language of all worlds.”
“A universal language, of course.” Nathan remembered from history that English had been the standard language spoken throughout the core at the time the bio-digital plague had struck.
“Is this not why your people speak Angla?” Jalea looked intrigued.
“Sort of, I guess. There are many different languages spoken on Earth, but we all learn English so that we can all communicate…” Nathan stopped in mid sentence, noticing the look in her eyes had changed.
“Then you are from Earth?” Nathan didn’t notice that her English syntax had suddenly improved.
“Well, yes, I thought we explained that…” Nathan stopped in mid sentence, noticing another change in her eyes. The intrigue had suddenly vanished, replaced by that same cold determination he had seen earlier on the bridge.
Jalea relaxed slightly, leaning with her elbow on the arm of the chair in which she sat. “Then I must ask you, Nathan. Are you evil?”
Her question had been asked in near perfect English, and Nathan felt a chill go down his spine. So overwhelming was the sensation that Nathan was startled when Cameron entered the room with Abigail hot on her heels.
“Nathan, we need to talk,” Cameron insisted. She noticed that Nathan seemed a bit shaken, yet Jalea was calm and relaxed. “Nathan?” she repeated.
He looked up at Cameron, seeing the urgency on her face. He looked back at Jalea, recomposing himself. “If you would excuse us a moment, Jalea?”
Jalea bowed her head respectfully, rose from her chair and strolled out of the room. Cameron watched her curiously as she exited, wondering what she had interrupted.
Cameron was about to start talking when Nathan held up his hand indicating that she should wait. Finally, when he was sure that the door was closed and Jalea was out of ear shot, he spoke. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ve calculated our position, Nathan. And it’s not good.”
“And I’m supposed to be surprised?” he responded sarcastically.
“You will be,” Cameron promised him. “We’re more than a thousand light years from Earth.”
There was a moment of silence. Nathan looked at Cameron with disbelief. He looked at Abigail, and then back at Cameron again. “You’re kidding, right?” Cameron didn’t speak, but her expression gave him his answer. “No, I guess you wouldn’t be, would you.”
“Certainly not about this,” she assured him.
“A thousand light years?” he repeated.
“Yup.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” Nathan exclaimed. “Please, Cam! Tell me you’re kidding me?”
“Sorry.”
Nathan couldn’t believe his ears. After all that they had been through, to learn that they were so much farther away from Earth than anyone had ever thought possible.
“There’s gotta be some kind of mistake here,” he pleaded. “I mean, come on, a thousand light years?” Nathan turned to Abigail, “Abby, how the hell could we jump a thousand light years?”
“There’s no mistake, Captain,” Abigail apologized. She felt that it was somehow her fault that they were stranded so far from home. “I checked the calculations several times. We are one-thousand and seven light years from Sol. Of that I’m sure. As to how, my best guess is that it had something to do with the shock wave from that antimatter explosion. Maybe it somehow added additional energy into the fields? I just don’t know yet.”
“Well, now how long is it gonna take us to get home?” He already knew he was not going to like the answer.
“That’s at least a hundred and ten jumps, maybe more. If everything goes well, maybe three or four months. But…”
“…Fat chance of that!” Nathan squawked. “I mean, considering how our luck has been so far!”
“You have to remember, Captain, that this is only a prototype model. I cannot guarantee that we’ll get ten jumps out of it, let alone a hundred.”
Nathan thought hard. There had to be a way out of this problem, he just had to think of something. “What if the FTL field emitters were operational? How long would it take us then?”
“About a hundred years,” Cameron reminded him, knowing that he should already be aware of that fact. “We’re only rated for ten times light, remember? Besides, it would take weeks to get those emitters back online. And we’d have to take the jump drive off line in order to do it.”
“What about the comm-drones the Takarans use? Jalea said they can do a hundred times light. Maybe we could adapt their technology into our systems?”
“That’s a bit of a reach, don’t you think?” Cameron was getting tired of Nathan’s desperate scramble for an immediate answer. “You might as well face the facts, Nathan. We’re stuck out here for a while.”
“There has got to be a way to get back,” he insisted. “I mean, we got here in a single jump. So there must be a way to get back in one. Isn’t that right, Doctor?”
“If our assumptions about how are correct, then yes it is possible. But figuring out how to do that could take even longer than it would to make the hundred jumps home.”
Nathan leaned back in his chair, thinking. He was the captain now. And his last orders had been to get the jump drive back to Earth as soon as possible. Not only was the fate of his crew resting on his shoulders, but also quite possibly the fate of his entire world as well. He hoped his lunch wasn’t going to come back up.
“Nathan,” Cameron began. “If we’re going to get through this, we’re going to have to get organized, we’re going to need a proper chain of command. And I hate to admit it, but we’re also going to need help, and lots of it.”
“You’re talking about Jalea and company, right?” Cameron just nodded. “I don’t know, Cam. I’m starting to think you might have been right about them after all.”
“Well, until we find somebody else…”
“…Better the devil you know, huh?” Nathan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Who all knows about this?”
“Only the bridge crew,” Cameron assured him.
“Not Jalea?”
“No, she was in here with you when we figured it out.”
“Good, let’s keep it that way. In fact, let’s not tell anybody just yet. I’ll figure out when to tell the crew.” Nathan rose slowly from his seat as if standing tall to face the new challenge. “Very well. Doctor Sorenson. If you could devote all your attention to keeping the jump drive operational, it would be greatly appreciated. Until we find a way to get our FTL systems functional, that prototype of yours is our only way to get around.”
“Yes, Captain,” Abigail answered.
“And if you can find the time, I wouldn’t mind if you did a little research into possibly increasing the range of that prototype.” Abigail nodded her agreement.
“Ensign Taylor,” he said, addressing Cameron in a more formal tone than usual. “I’m going to need a full damage assessment, as well as a proposal for a working crew roster as soon as possible. You’ll have to prioritize positions, and maybe even retrain a few people. But one way or another, we need to be able to fly, and maybe even fight with this ship. It looks like the Aurora is going to be our home for a bit longer than we expected.”
“Yes Sir,” Cameron acknowledged. Despite the fact the she had never thought Nathan was fit to be in command of anything, let alone the entire ship, she was happy that he was stepping up to the challenge.
“And one last thing, I’m going to need to meet with Jalea and Marak as soon as possible. And make sure Jessica is here as well,” he added as he sat back down.
“Yes Sir!” Cameron stood at attention as Abigail left the room, raising her hand in salute. After a moment, Nathan looked back up at her. “Oh please,” he protested as he returned the salute. “Dismissed.”
Jessica entered the captain’s ready room, assuming a slightly relaxed stance in front of the Nathan’s desk. “You wanted to see me, Sir?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid the situation has changed somewhat.”
“How so?”
“You might want to sit down, Jessica,” he warned her. Nathan rose from his seat and walked around to the front of his desk, sitting on its edge in the same manner as Captain Roberts had always done. “It seems we’re a bit farther away from Earth than we originally thought.”
“How far?” she asked suspiciously.
“About a thousand light years.”
“No fuckin’ way,” she responded without thinking, quickly adding an embarrassed “Sir.”
“Yeah, that was my reaction too.”
“How the hell are we gonna get home?”
“We don’t know yet, we’re working on it. But it could take some time. So we’re going to need to start making friends out here. We’re gonna need help, and lots of it. At least until we get the ship up to snuff. So I’m gonna need you to handle intelligence as well as ship’s security. You up to it?”
“Hell yes, Sir.”
Nathan noticed she was grinning more than expected, considering the news. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking about how when I first got assigned to this ship, I thought it was going to be a boring tour of duty.”
“Funny, that’s exactly what I was hoping it would be,” Nathan chuckled.
“Then I guess we were both wrong.”
“Listen, Jess. In a few minutes we’re going to be meeting with Jalea and Marak. I’m gonna need to negotiate some kind of an arrangement with them. We need a safe harbor to make repairs, and right now they’re our only option.”
“I’d advise proceeding with caution, sir. I’ve got a hunch there’s more going on with these people than they’re telling us.”
“Yeah, I got the same feeling,” he said, remembering his last conversation with Jalea. “I can’t tell if they’re revolutionaries or terrorists.”
“Exactly. So don’t give them any more information than necessary. The less they know about us and our situation, the weaker their position.”
“Makes sense. Anything else?”
“And watch what you say around them. I’m pretty sure Jalea speaks our language a lot better than she lets on. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they all speak Angla for that matter.”
Nathan had already realized that Jalea spoke English better than he had originally thought. But he hadn’t considered the possibility that the others spoke it as well. “You’ve got a suspicious mind, Jessica,” he complimented her.
“It helps when you’re in spec-ops.”
The comm beeped twice, and Nathan pressed the button to answer. “Yes?”
“Jalea and Marak are here, Captain,” the communication officer reported over the comm.
“Send them in.” Nathan got up and went back behind his desk, Jessica rising to stand beside him as their guests entered the room.
Jalea entered, looking more poised and confident than she had since he last spoke with her. Marak was close behind, the difference in him being that he was a little more unkempt after several hours working on damaged engineering systems. Nathan noticed Marak’s appearance and chose to use it as his opening.
“Looks like you’ve been hard at work, Marak. How is it going in Engineering?”
Jalea translated Nathan’s words to Marak. Nathan wondered if Marak really didn’t speak English, or if they were just keeping up a front. If they were, then they obviously were not ready to reveal that fact just yet, so Nathan would have to cautiously play along.
“Marak says that everything is going well. And that your chief engineer is a very clever man.”
“Yes he is. Please, have a seat?” Nathan waited for his guests to sit down before taking his seat. Jessica remained standing, leaning slightly against the counter behind her.
“What may we do for you, Captain?” Jalea was again speaking far better English than before, apparently feeling that the charade was no longer required. And her sudden improvement did not go unnoticed by Jessica.
“Your English has improved, Jalea,” Nathan commented. He wanted her to know that her sudden improvement had not gone unnoticed.
“It is all coming back to me now,” she lied, a polite smile on her face. Nathan had a feeling that she was probably very good at deception, especially with her hypnotic eyes. Nathan wondered if she had been chosen for this assignment specifically because of her unique attributes. He wondered if she had abruptly changed her personality after realizing that playing the beautiful, demure widow with broken English wasn’t going to get her what she wanted. Yet in this role, she was just as convincing, if not more so.
“I’m sure it is.” Nathan thought for a moment, unsure of what to say next. He could dance around the issue, as Jessica had suggested, or he could come clean and lay his cards out on the table. Keeping in his usual character, he chose the latter.
“Look, I’m not going to waste your time dancing around the table here. The fact is, we are a long way from home, and our ship is in need of repair. We need a place to hide out for a while. A safe port, if you will, where we can make repairs, and maybe pickup some supplies as well. Once that’s done, we plan on returning to Earth as quickly as possible. So my question is, what do you require from us in exchange?”
Jalea was still translating Nathan’s question to Marak as Nathan finished. He looked over to Jessica, who was glaring at him, obviously not happy with his straight-forward negotiating tactics. Jalea finished her discussion with Marak and then returned her attention to Nathan.
“Marak only wishes to repay his life debt to you, Captain,” she stated coldly. “He will see to it that you receive all the help that you need in order to get you started on your journey.”
Nathan stared at Jalea, unsure if he could believe her. It had been a precisely worded response, which made him suspicious. “That’s all?”
“Yes.”
Nathan wasn’t sure if they were telling the truth, or were the universe’s greatest liars. But he wasn’t going to give them the chance to take advantage of him.
“Look, Jalea. No disrespect intended, but I find it hard to believe that it’s that simple. I mean, by your own words, you people are fighting a war. And from what I hear, you’re losing. And all you want is to repay a life debt?”
“I understand your reluctance to believe us, Captain. You do not understand us. So I would not expect you to take our word so easily. You would be foolish to do otherwise.”
“Then you won’t be insulted if I don’t fully trust you right now?”
“Like I said, you would be foolish to do otherwise.” Jalea could tell that Nathan was having a difficult time believing her, and decided to offer more of an explanation. “Captain, your ship saved us not once, but twice. First, you appeared as if by magic, to stand as a shield between us and our enemy. Then, again as if by magic, you carried us all away to the safety of this asteroid field. In truth, you saved us not once, but twice. So indeed we owe you much. Probably much more than we can ever repay.”
Nathan looked them both over before deciding that he had little choice but to take them at their word for now. And he had no doubt that Jessica would keep a close eye on them while they were on board. “Very well,” he stated as he rose. “On behalf of the Aurora and her crew, I thank you for your help.”
“Just as we thank you for yours.” Marak spoke a few words to Jalea as he rose. “Marak wonders if he might return to continue his work with your chief engineer?”
“Yes, of course. Jessica will accompany you.”
Jessica took the cue from Nathan and led Marak out of the room, leaving Nathan alone with Jalea.
“Captain,” Jalea spoke. “I offer you another bit of information that might ease your concerns?”
“Please do.”
“What you said before is true. We are losing our war with the Takarans. In fact, had they defeated us this day, it is likely that the few remaining ‘Karuzari’, or ‘rebels’ as you call them, would’ve disbanded forever, and the revolution would be over. So you have done far more than saving our lives this day. You may have also saved our cause.” Jalea bowed her head slightly, then brought her eyes back up to his, their fierce determination showing brightly. “It is for this that Marak feels indebted.”
“Thank you for sharing that with me.” Nathan looked at her intently. “Is there anything else?”
“You should understand, Captain, that a life debt is a very serious thing to the Karuzari. And Marak would gladly sacrifice his own life to honor that debt.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Nathan stated in a tone that indicated he had nothing further to say on the matter.
Jalea bowed her head again, took a step backward, then turned and strode confidently out of the room, leaving Nathan alone.
“Captain to the bridge!” the comm officer’s voice called over the comm. Nathan immediately rose and followed Jalea out of the room.
“What’s up?” he asked as he entered the bridge.
“We’ve got a contact, Captain,” Cameron reported. “It just left the Takaran outpost on one of the gas giant’s moons. It’s headed toward the asteroid field.”
“Did you power down the reactors?”
“The moment they appeared,” she assured him.
“Are they headed for us?”
“Not yet. They appear to be headed to a different part of the field.”
“Let me know if they change course,” Nathan ordered before turning to Abigail. “How much of a charge did we get?”
“Eighty-seven percent.”
“So we can jump what, maybe eight and a half light years?”
“I would try to keep it under eight, if possible.”
Marak and Jessica entered the bridge, having turned back when Jessica heard of the contact on their way to engineering. Marak immediately began talking excitedly with Jalea in their language.
“Comm, find out how much longer until we get maneuvering and propulsion back online.”
“Captain?” Jalea interrupted. “Marak has told our ships to monitor all transmissions from the Takaran ship. We will provide translations of any communications that we intercept.”
“Thank you.”
“Captain,” the comm officer called out. “Engineering reports maneuvering is restarting now, should be online in a few minutes. Main propulsion will take longer.”
“So we can crawl out, but we can’t run.”
“We do have rail guns back up. At least we’ll be able to fight back,” Cameron suggested, hoping to alleviate some of Nathan’s frustration.
“I do not believe they will find us,” Jalea assured him. “The rocks are an excellent place to hide.”
“She’s right sir,” Ensign Yosef chimed in. “With all the metal in these asteroids, and the distortions and echoes caused by their gravitational fields, they’d have to be able to actually see us in order to find us. I’m having a hard time tracking them, and our sensors are pointed away from the field.”
“Okay. What else can we do?” Nathan was getting anxious.
“We can pre-load the forward torpedo tubes,” Cameron suggested.
“Yeah, but we can barely turn the ship toward the targets,” Nathan reminded her.
“They do have their own guidance systems, Nathan,” she explained. “If they come so much as thirty degrees of our bow line, we can fire on them-as long as they’re in range that is.”
“Okay, make it happen.”
“Might I suggest that you take steps to reduce any signals coming from your ship, Captain,” Jalea advised.
Nathan did not yet fully trust Jalea, but as long as she was on the same ship as them, their immediate motives were still the same-to survive.
“Ensign Yosef, please see to that,” Nathan ordered, distracted by the continuing conversation between Marak and Jalea.
“Yes Sir.”
Jalea broke from her discussion with Marak to speak to Nathan. “Captain, I do not understand. Can you not do as before? Can you not bring our ships on board and then simply disappear?”
“But to where?”
“Captain,” Abigail interrupted. “We’ll need to get clear of the gravitational influences of the asteroid field before we can safely jump.”
“How clear?”
“Well clear, I’m afraid.” Nathan didn’t much care for the thought of wandering out into open space with a Takaran warship out their looking for them. In their current state, he doubted they would stand a chance.
“What would happen if we jumped from here?”
“I really do not know,” she admitted. But Nathan could see on her face that she didn’t want to find out.
“The minute we run, that ship will come after us,” Cameron warned him.
“But they’re not coming toward us now.”
“No, but that could change at any moment,” she reminded.
“Well, let’s not wait around for that to happen. Work with Jalea to find us a new place to hide. Preferably somewhere within eight light years. And let’s start moving those rebel ships back inside. No use in waiting until the last moment.”
Marak suddenly received another communication from his ships, and immediately began giving Jalea instructions.
“We have intercepted a message,” Jalea translated.
“From who?” Nathan’s gaze was focused on the two of them, as if staring at them would make him able to understand what Marak was saying before she translated it.
Jalea listened in on Marak’s conversation with their ships, translating what she heard. “From another Takaran ship, directed to the first one, the one that is searching for us,” she explained. “They will soon join them.”
“How soon?” Nathan asked.
“Contact!” Ensign Yosef reported.
“That soon?” Nathan exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
“Just dropped out of FTL! Transferring track to tactical!”
Cameron studied the tactical display. “It’s another Takaran ship, Sir. About the same size as the first one. The must’ve sent the message just before they arrived.”
“There is more to the message, Captain,” Jalea warned. “More ships will be arriving to join in the search.”
“I’m afraid to ask how soon,” Nathan admitted.
“The next one within the hour.”
“Great,” Nathan mumbled.
“Every ship they add to the search increases their chances of finding us,” Cameron pointed out.
“Really?” he replied in a sarcastic tone.
“Marak, says we must leave now,” Jalea warned, interpreting Marak’s words as he spoke, “or we will not leave this place alive.”
“Damn it!” Nathan swore. “We can’t crawl out of here, they’ll be on us in seconds!” Nathan looked around the bridge. His outburst had startled more than one of his crew, and he knew that he shouldn’t have lost control that way. But frustration had gotten the better of him. “We’re gonna have to jump from here,” he resigned.
“Nathan…” Cameron began.
“…Captain,” Abigail interrupted, standing to protest. “I cannot allow that! It’s too risky!”
“I don’t see that I have much choice, Doctor!”
“You don’t understand, this system is the only one in existence.”
“Don’t worry, Doctor. I’m sure that Fleet will start building another one as soon as they figure out we’re overdue.”
“No, they won’t,” Abigail disagreed. “You don’t realize how secret this project has been. There is no evidence of its existence anywhere on Earth. The research it was based upon was erased from the Data Ark, and we brought all of our research with us when we came on board. Our leaders could not take the chance that it might fall into the hands of the Jung. Captain Roberts even had standing orders to destroy the entire ship if captured. There are only a few people on Earth who even know that the project exists. If we don’t get this system back to Earth, they will have no defense.”
Nathan stared at Abigail. Other than Jalea’s constant translations to Marak, the room was quiet. Nathan Scott had come aboard the Aurora as an ensign fresh out of the academy just three weeks ago. Since then he had become the primary helmsman, a lieutenant, and now he was Captain. And not only was his ship badly damaged and half his crew dead, apparently now his entire homeworld was depending on him to somehow quickly cross a thousand light years in order to save them from invasion. And he had hoped that this would be an easy assignment.
But at least now he finally understood things more clearly. This had been the reason that Captain Roberts demeanor had changed so drastically during their flight to Jupiter. This is why he had attacked that Jung patrol ship in the Oort without provocation. And this was the reason he had so adamantly ordered Nathan to get the jump drive home. It was their only hope.
After what seemed like an eternity, Nathan looked at Cameron. She was always so calm, so confident. But now, he saw something different in her eyes. She was looking to him to decide what to do. They all were. And for once in his life, he was determined not to let anyone down.
“Alright,” he started calmly, “we’re going to need a diversion. We need to draw them away from us if we’re going to get far enough out to jump safely before they open fire.”
Marak began speaking into his communicator.
“Captain,” Cameron reported. “Two rebel ships just began accelerating away from us. They’re on a course out of the asteroid field.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Nathan sputtered at Marak, forgetting that he didn’t understand English.
“Marak is sending ships to draw the Takarans away from us,” Jalea explained.
“Are you crazy? They’ll be slaughtered! Tell him he cannot do this!” he ordered.
Marak continued speaking to Jalea as she spoke for him. “We need a diversion, you said this yourself. This is the best way to achieve both our goals.”
“You’re just going to send them to their deaths?”
“It is what soldiers do,” she translated.
“You fuckin’ bastard!” Nathan screamed as he violently grabbed Marak by his tunic with both hands, quickly drawing him in closer, and yelling in his face, “you can’t do this!” In the blink of an eye, a small but deadly blade appeared in Marak’s right hand, pointed at Nathan’s throat. Just as quickly, Jessica, who had been quietly observing, had her sidearm out, safety off with the weapon sighted on the back of Marak’s head. Both the marine guards at the doors had done the same with their close-quarters weapons.
“Drop it!” Jessica ordered in no uncertain terms. “Or I drop you!”
Jalea translated Jessica’s warning to Marak, repeating the translation at least two more times before he began to relax and bring the knife slowly away from Nathan’s throat.
“He was only defending himself!” Jalea insisted. “It was a reflex! He will not harm your captain!”
As Marak’s right hand slowly withdrew from Nathan’s neck, Jessica stepped up and swiftly snatched the blade from his hand.
“We’re clear!” she instructed the two marines, holding the knife up high for them to see. “It’s all over, everybody just calm down.”
Marak said something else, in a tone that could only be described as arrogant.
“What did he say?” Nathan asked after releasing his hold on Marak. Jalea was hesitant want to answer. “What did he say?” Nathan repeated more sternly.
“He said, it is already done.”
Nathan continued glaring at Marak, who stood confidently beside Jalea. He could tell by the rebel leader’s steely eyes that he was not one to back down when challenged. Nathan knew that the man had made his decision and there was nothing he could do to change it. The only question was, how he could make this work in their favor?
“Is there another place we can go?” Nathan was asking the question of Jalea, although his eyes were still locked with Marak’s for the moment. “Some place where we can make repairs? Get some supplies?” Jalea translated his request to Marak. For a moment, Nathan sensed that Marak was pleased that Nathan still sought his assistance. He had no doubt that Abigail’s words had been clearly and accurately translated to him by Jalea. And now had to wonder if Marak somehow felt like he had power over them because of their desperate situation. However there was nothing in Marak’s expression or demeanor that might reveal his intent.
“There is a world,” Jalea translated, “that still supports us. Not openly, but covertly. They are just beyond Takaran space. We have contacts on this world. Through them, we may find the assistance you require.”
“Please give the location of this world to Doctor Sorenson,” Nathan requested coldly.
“As you wish,” Jalea nodded, turning toward Abigail.
Nathan stared at Marak a moment longer, until the tension was broken by the communications officer.
“Sir, message from engineering. They can give us limited forward propulsion, but no more than ten percent thrust.”
“Thank you, Ensign.”
“That should be enough, for now,” Cameron noted.
Nathan finally broke eye contact with Marak, turning to Cameron instead. “Can you handle both helm and navigation?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem, especially not at that speed.”
“Good. I’ll back you up on navigation if I can.”
“Thanks, but I’ve seen your navigation skills,” Cameron jabbed, finally getting a smile to crack Nathan’s serious expression.
“Jess, I assume you trained for tactical at some point?”
“You bet,” she answered. Spec-ops was a branch of the Security division. And all spec-ops applicants had to have graduated as rated security officers before they could get accepted into the spec-ops training course. Jessica stepped up to the tactical station and looked it over like she was being reunited with a long lost favorite toy.
“What’s the plan, Skipper?” Jessica asked, giddy at being back behind the tactical console.
“First, we get the hell outta here and jump to someplace safe,” Nathan explained. “Then we beg, borrow, or steal whatever we need to get our ship fixed. Then we find a way to get this ship, and that jump drive, back to Earth as quickly as possible. If that means we have to deal with the devil, then so be it.” Nathan stepped away from the tactical station and moved forward, taking a seat in the command chair directly in front of the station. Cameron traded looks with Jessica before taking the helm directly in front of Nathan.
“Sound General Quarters.”