19


“What is it, Path?” I asked, pausing in the middle of reassembling my HDK Dominator carbine.
“Can you come to the bridge?” he asked.
There was no explanation, nothing in the tone of his voice to suggest what was wrong.
But something was wrong, there had to be. This was the first time the sword saint had requested my presence on the bridge.
“I’m on my way,” I said, then quickly finished with the HDK to be stored in the armory.
“Fill me in, X,” I said.
“Of course, Reaper Cain. Path believes there is something following us in the slip tunnel. Neither I nor Jelly have been able to confirm his suspicion,” X-37 explained.
“I’m assuming Jelly has continued to unravel Henshaw’s stealth field detection methodologies,” I said.
“With little progress. I’m afraid that line of research is closed to us without Henshaw’s direct assistance,” X-37 said.
“Why can’t anything be easy?” I asked, nearing the door to the bridge.
“Define easy.” X-37’s short response sounded judgmental in my ears, which was unlikely, but I was only human.
Something else occurred to me. “Do you think Path could get information out of Novasdaughter or Randolph?”
“My analysis suggests he would definitely win a staring contest with either pilot,” X-37 said.
“I want one or both of them on our side. We need skilled pilots,” I said.
“We also need ships for them to fly,” X-37 countered.
“One thing at a time.” I entered the bridge and moved to Path’s side. “What do you have?”
“I was meditating,” he said.
“Of course you were.” My eyes methodically scanned the holo Path had pulled up.
“Don’t search it section by section as though it is on a grid,” Path suggested.
“The holo view is a grid, in three dimensions,” I argued. “Jelly, shade in the areas my vision has scanned so that I don’t miss anything.”
Path waited patiently as I followed the standard Union protocol for evaluating a sensor reading. One by one, the cubes of the three-dimensional grid were shaded in.
“I don’t see anything, Path,” I said, hiding my annoyance with effort—because I was that kind of guy, very considerate of people’s feelings.
He studied me for a few seconds, then resumed his observation of the holo view. A moment later, he pointed at one of the quadrants I had already examined. “That’s a ship, one of the spec ops carriers.”
“I don’t see it,” I said. “You’re imagining things. It happens when you’ve been on watch for too long.”
“You’re trying too hard, Reaper. Relax your mind,” Path said.
“It’s worth a try,” X-37 said to me privately.
And then I saw it. “Balls. You’re right, Path. It’s a stealth carrier, probably the Nightmare. The others were too far behind to catch us at the entrance to this tunnel.”
“Will it attack?” Path asked.
“No. Fighting in a slip tunnel is dangerous,” I said.
“I’m calling Tom to the bridge to help you monitor it. Don’t lose sight of it,” I ordered. “We need to know exactly where it is when we leave the tunnel. That is when Nebs will attack unless we can disappear first.”
“Of course. I look forward to Tom’s assistance,” Path said.
“Tom, Path needs you on the bridge. Help him track the Nightmare,” I said, broadcasting through Tom’s earbud but also the speakers in his workshop.
“On my way, Hal,” Tom answered.
“Elise, stop whatever you’re doing and get some sleep. I want you to be alert when we take the next shift. There needs to be two sets of eyes on Nebs’s ship at all times. I doubt he will launch an attack in the slip tunnel, but I’ve been wrong before,” I said.
“Isn’t that the truth,” Elise quipped. “I need to finish my run.”
“You need to follow orders,” I said, keeping my tone as reasonable as possible while remaining authoritative.
“Only a mile left on the treadmill. I’ll get plenty of sleep,” she said. The kid wasn’t even breathing hard.
“I tell you we’re being tracked through slip space by a deadly group of spec ops soldiers and you’re just worried about finishing your run?” I asked.
“Are they attacking the ship?” she asked, but didn’t wait for my answer. “If the situation allows for me to sleep, it allows for me to finish my workout. I’ll go straight to my quarters after that. That’s the best deal you’re getting from me. I’m not a soldier and you’re not my dad.”
“Fine,” I said.
“I’ll just sleep a little faster,” she added.
“You’re killing me, kid.”
“Not a kid.”
“Are.”
“Aren’t.”
I let it go, determined to take my own advice. The last thing I wanted was to sleep and have another nightmare, but I knew there wouldn’t be much rest for any of us once Nebs moved on us.
* * *
The slip tunnel opened. The Jellybird flew into the uncharted section of the galaxy the Bold Freedom seemed to have been trying to reach.
“Now, Jelly,” I barked. “Activate the cloak and prepare to accelerate at full speed.”
“Why don’t we just go now?” Elise asked impatiently.
“Wait and see,” I said. “Aim us toward the nearest cluster of asteroids—anyplace we can disappear with or without the cloak.”
“Right away, Captain,” Jelly responded.
Tom manned the weapons station. Elise monitored sensors and communications. Path observed, ready to offer what help he could or point out details he saw that we often missed.
I prepared to take manual control of the ship if Nebs sent his micro-fighters after us.
“The Nightmare has launched a pair of small fighters. Looks like a probe,” Elise warned. “We should have accelerated away from the slip tunnel opening immediately.”
“Go now, Jelly. They will have to retrieve the ships before they can pursue us far,” I said.
“We are accelerating, Captain,” Jelly advised. “The fighters are gaining on us but won’t be able to maintain capture speeds for long.”
“Shields up,” I ordered.
Tom raised the shields, causing the stealth cloak to flicker.
The fighters fired streams of kinetic projectiles, each round that struck the shield rendering us visible for half a second.
“More speed, Jelly,” I said.
“Of course, Captain. Do you wish to push the engines beyond redline?” Jelly asked.
“How far do we need to push?”
“A dangerous amount,” Jelly answered.
“Leave us some room. Balance the danger of getting caught with exploding. When apprehension is inevitable, we’ll gamble on pushing our speed to the next level.”
“Of course, Captain. I understand,” Jelly said.
“The Nightmare is launching additional fighters,” Elise reported, focusing her attention on her battle station.
"Are you ready, Tom?" I asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." The mechanic turned weapons officer appeared tense.
"One target at a time, Tom. That should get it done," I said.
Two dozen micro fighters accelerated after the Jellybird at full burn. They closed the distance rapidly.
"Give me an update, Jelly." My hands itched to take the controls, but I waited. Jelly was better at everything but actual combat when instinct and combat experience could make a difference.
"Union fighters will overtake us in approximately six minutes,” Jelly said.
"That's cutting it pretty close," I said. “Accelerate another one hundred units and hold. The farther we can draw them from their mothership, the longer it will take for them to recover the fighters. We will have a better lead if we survive."
"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Elise asked.
"Tom is going to give them hell with our point defense weapons, and I'm going to fly the ship like I stole it,” I said.
Elise laughed. "Let's do it!”
The micro fighters put on a final burst of speed to catch us.
“That’s the best I can do without risking the engines," Jelly advised.
“Everyone strap in. This is about to get stupid,” I said, taking my own advice. “Jelly, give me the flight controls.”
“Of course, Captain,” Jelly said.
The moment I had control, I flipped the ship one hundred and eighty degrees and cut the engines. We continued at speed.
“Open fire, Tom!” I shouted.
Rockets zipped away from the Jellybird. They lacked the destructive power to damage even the most lightly armored battleship but would take out a micro fighter if they scored a hit.
The closing speed was hard to calculate.
“No hits,” Elise reported.
Tom cursed.
“Brace yourselves!” I hit the thrusters, which were now facing the opposite direction, causing a braking effect.
The fighters shot past us, spiraling to avoid the rockets, strafing our shields with their light weapons, then spinning around just as I had with the Jellybird.
“Jelly, get ready to reset the cloak. Turn it off. But be ready to turn it back on."
I changed course, arcing away from the dogfight and trying to maintain as much distance as I could from the pursuing Nightmare. It was invisible, but I could guess its basic course.
“With our cloak suddenly gone, they’ll assume we took damage,” I explained as I steered for the gravity well of a planet still millions of kilometers away.
"Union micro fighters approaching in four groups of three, two groups in the center, and one on each flank,” Elise advised. “Sensors indicate they put all of their shield energy forward."
"Their shields can't be very powerful in ships that small," I said. "But they know we have nobody to attack them from any other vector. Tom, fire another barrage of rockets with time-delayed detonations. Aim one meter past them, do you understand?”
"I'll do my best," Tom said, typing calculations as quickly as he could.
"Fire!" I ordered.
"Rockets away," Tom said.
"Incoming enemy fire," Elise announced, her voice stern and loud enough to be heard but not panicked.
I twisted the controls, aggressively changing to a new vector. "Jelly, activate the stealth cloak right now!"
"Stealth cloak activated," Jelly advised.
I reversed course, pushing the engines as hard as I could without damaging them. Two of the Union micro fighters pursued me, but I wasn't sure if their pursuit vectors were intentional.
These pilots had seen action. If the Union has spec ops for pilots, that's these guys. They moved into aggressive and well-coordinated search formations the instant we disappeared. I was thinking that Nebs must have significant influence in the Union to have built such a truly elite carrier group.
"It's like they expected it," Elise observed. "Our sensors indicate they are still weapons hot. Ready to fire the moment they spot us."
"Keep those point defense turrets ready," I said.
Tom almost seemed embarrassed. We all knew that the Jellybird's defensive guns barely deserved the name turrets.
"May I make a suggestion, Captain?" Jelly asked.
"Go ahead," I said, gently altering my course to slide away from micro fighters in my wake. Second by second, I changed course until it was clear they hadn't detected my presence but had been following a predetermined search route.
"It won't take long for them to see through your tricks, Captain. You've done well, but this isn't your forte," Jelly said.
"Agreed," I said. "If you're going to tell me it's time to get clear of this sector, I'm way ahead of you."
"Way ahead of me may be an exaggeration,” Jelly said. “Shall I take the controls and head for a particular destination?”
“Slingshot around the next planetary gravity well. I want to hide in the asteroid belt and power down," I said.
"Great," Elise muttered. "I hate no-power drills. And this time, we have to deal with prisoners. Who's going to suit them up?"
"They're still in their flight suits," I said. "We just need to give them their helmets and guard them to make sure they don't try anything. X, can you jam their suits’ distress beacons?"
"I'll work on it," X-37 promised.
* * *
Several hours later, Jelly steered us into an asteroid field. It was so far from the system’s sun that the giant rocks were invisible to the naked eye. Only the ship sensors and enhanced optics allowed me to see them.
"Suits on," I ordered and watched Tom and Elise lock on their helmets and run to their system checks. Once we were all on bottled air, I checked on Path and the prisoners. "What’s your status, Path?”
"I've moved Captain Randolph into Lieutenant Novasdaughter’s cell. They will give me no problems. We are ready for the powerdown," the sword saint said.
"Do you have your blade?" I asked.
"Yes, Reaper. I showed it to them and made myself understood," Path said.
"Jelly, make us disappear," I ordered.
"Powering down," Jelly advised.
We couldn't see the Nightmare on any of our sensor boards, which only meant she hadn't deployed any of her ships. Cutting power and hiding in a field of asteroids was an old smuggler’s trick, predictable but still hard to defeat. There were millions of inert substances in this asteroid belt.
Finding us would be time consuming. Nebs knew me as an aggressive and impatient operator. He'd be forced to consider the very real possibility that I was already gone, increasing my lead hour by hour.
We floated in complete darkness, each of us thinking our own thoughts. Tom started talking and I told him to be quiet. Internal ship comms was the one thing I decided we would keep, but that didn't mean I wanted everyone to chatting like nervous rookies.
Our suits regulated temperature and we each had bottled air for an hour. This wouldn’t become necessary for several hours, but it was easier for X-37 and Jelly to monitor. I didn’t need a member of my crew hallucinating or slipping into hypothermia.
“I chose an organized debris field. Most of the objects in this area are following a similar path established over millions of years. I will need to activate steering jets from time to time to avoid collisions. The asteroids in this area are slightly larger than the Jellybird and are approximately five thousand meters apart, on average,” Jelly said.
“How long are we going to do this?” Elise said, her voice sounding tightly controlled.
“Could we have music?” Tom asked, the effect of isolation easy to hear in his voice. “I didn’t realize it would be this dark.”
A shiver went through me. I told myself it wasn’t that cold yet, that the ship’s insulation would keep out the coldness of the void for hours. The sensation was mostly psychological, but I understood each temperature change, no matter how slight, would feel like the hand of death.
“Play something calming,” I said. “Minimum volume and only through helmet speakers. Try visuals as well.”
“That might not be advisable. My analysis suggests the view would be alarming to organics,” X-37 said.
“I hate it when you call us organics,” I muttered. “Put visuals on my HUD before you share them with the rest of the crew.”
“How long has it been?” Elise asked.
“Four minutes and fifteen seconds,” X-37 answered via helmet radios. “I’ve consulted with Jelly and we agree that the chance of our enemies detecting communications internal to the ship is minimal.”
“What about lights?” Elise asked, her voice still rigidly controlled. “Why can’t we have lights?”
“My advice is to save battery power for a true emergency,” Jelly said.
“Like when we start to freak out?” Elise asked.
“Yes, Elise. That has been my experience. My previous captains have used this technique many times. They were all rebels and smugglers, very skilled at evading the Union,” Jelly said.
My chest felt constricted. The images Jelly put on my HUD weren’t reassuring. The resolution was poor and all I could see around the ship were dark shapes moving through darkness. Distant star fields were too bright to look at by contrast.
“The HUD visuals hurt my eyes. I can’t recommend them, but give everyone on the ship, including the prisoners, access if they request it,” I said.
“Right away, Captain.”
“That’s amazing,” Elise breathed, her reaction not what I expected.
Tom and Path remained silent. The prisoners didn’t have access to the communications channel. I couldn’t hear their reactions.
“Path, how are the prisoners?” I asked.
“Agitated,” Path answered.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“I feel like someone slipped a hallucinogenic tab into my drink,” he answered. “It’s not terrible.”
“Jelly, can you run a passive scan now?” I asked.
“I can see or hear what the Nightmare puts out, but cannot actively look for them,” Jelly answered.
“Do it.”
“Vice Admiral Nebs is broadcasting a message demanding our surrender. He’s rather long-winded, talking about the illegality of holding Union pilots hostage and what will happen if we don’t show ourselves immediately,” Jelly said.
“My analysis suggests he is bluffing,” X-37 added. “He sounds bored, like he is going through the motions.”
“Elise, Tom, get some sleep. It will make the wait easier,” I said.
Elise laughed a bit crazily. “Yeah, right. I’m totally not freaking out right now. A nap is just what I’m wanting, or better yet, powering up the ship and getting the hell out of here.”
“That wasn’t an order,” I clarified. “Just a suggestion.”
We waited and occupied ourselves with reports from Jelly and X. Time dragged, each minute feeling like ten.
“The Nightmare has come out of stealth mode. I believe she is going to fire missiles into the asteroid field,” Jelly warned. “Power signatures indicate she is preparing to fire.”
“Activate our stealth cloak and power up. We may need to move quickly,” I said.
“Right away, Captain,” Jelly said.
Interior lights came on slowly, giving our eyes a chance to adjust.
“The Nightmare is firing rockets,” Jelly announced. “I suggest we co-pilot this, Captain. I’m much faster and precise but lack human instincts and risk taking.”
I took the controls. It felt weird at first, feeling the steering yoke move on its own.
Rockets exploded against two large asteroids and it was immediately apparent we couldn’t stay here. We moved downward and away.
Debris shot past us, peppering our shields, which ruined the stealth cloak for a fraction of a second each time.
“I’m taking us around that large asteroid,” I said.
“Of course, Captain,” Jelly said.
“I’m tracking vectors of asteroid fragments and putting them on your holo view in orange. Red is restricted to enemy attacks, apparently,” Elise said.
“Standing by with point defense guns,” Tom said.
“We may need them, Tom, but hold fire for as long as possible,” I said, banking around an asteroid that blocked our view of the Nightmare at the edge of the asteroid field.
“The Nightmare is continuing her systematic firing into the field,” Jelly advised. “I don’t believe she has detected us.”
“She will,” I said, planning our next move. “Let’s traverse the asteroid field and exit on the opposite side from the Nightmare, then we need to make for the slip tunnel. It’s time to get those resources for the Bold Freedom.”
“Correct, Captain. We have less than twenty-eight hours. Under ideal conditions, we can make it in eight,” Jelly said.
“That’s plenty of time,” Elise said.
“Depending on what we find on this planet that the Bold Freedom was heading for and whether or not Nebs is able to block our return trip,” I said.
“You’re such a downer, Reaper,” Elise said.
“We’re clearing the field. Moving toward the slip tunnel. If the Nightmare has detected us, she’s showing no signs of pursuit. This is almost too easy,” Jelly said.
“Thanks for jinxing us, Jelly,” I said.
“What is a jinx?” Jelly asked.
“It’s one of Reaper Cain’s many irrational superstitions,” X-37 explained.
“You’re not helping, X,” I said, then focused on our escape.