Frontiers 07 - The Expanse (35 page)

Nathan felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Cameron standing next to him. He rose from his chair and followed her out of the treatment room and into the corridor.

“How are they doing?” Cameron asked.

“They’re stabilized for now,” Nathan told her. “Loki was in and out of consciousness for a while. They sedated him so that the nanites could do their thing—something about them not being able to work on brain cells that were currently in use or something.”

“They’re both better off not being awake while the nanites are working. It was bad enough having them poking away at my insides. I can’t imagine what it would feel like in my head. What about Josh?”

“He is worse off. Abby thinks it’s because he was in the front seat. Most of the canopy around him was broken away, nothing but frames and a few shards of clear canopy. Loki, on the other hand, still had most of the canopy around him. Abby thinks that, because of this, Josh had more direct contact with the jump fields.”

“And that’s what injured him?”

“That, the cold of space, hypoxia, massive levels of CO2. Think about how much energy is dumped into those jump fields. I’m surprised he’s still alive.”

“So am I. We just finished reviewing their flight records. They used the new multi-jump algorithm that the Takarans came up with. They made one hundred twenty-two jumps in an open cockpit in under ten minutes. The last series was eighty-seven jumps, all at three and a half second intervals. It’s unbelievable.”

Nathan’s head dropped in shame. “I should have waited.”

“Nathan, they were three hours late. How long were you supposed to wait? You had to think of the mission, the crew. Everyone knows that, even Josh and Loki.”

“Perhaps.” Nathan lifted his head, looking toward medical. “I wonder if Marcus knows it.”

“I’m sure he does as well.”

“Any idea why they were so late to begin with?” Nathan wondered.

“We haven’t gotten that far back in the flight records yet.”

Nathan sighed. “How long until our next jump?”

“Jump sixty-four took place a few hours ago,” she said, checking her watch. “Sixty-five is a little over four hours away.”

“And that will put us one jump from Centauri?”

“Correct. I think it would be wise for both of us to get some rest before then. We know there are Jung in that area, so we should be ready.”

“I’d like a staff meeting before the next jump to review the ship’s readiness before we jump into a potentially hostile area.”

“I’ll schedule one to take place an hour before the next jump. Maybe you should get some rest.”

“No way I could sleep,” Nathan told her, “not now.”

“Maybe get something to eat then.”

“I’ll be fine, Cam,” he assured her as he prepared to return to the treatment room. “I’ll see you at the briefing.”

Nathan left the corridor and returned to the treatment area, again taking a seat across the room from Josh and Loki. He leaned back in his chair and watched as the Corinairan nanite specialist and his technician wheeled in the nanite control scanner and positioned it over Josh. Cameron had once described to him in great detail what it felt like to have the microscopic robots working to repair you on the inside. It had not sounded pleasant at all. He had to wonder why the Corinairan doctors were so insistent that one could not feel the nanites working inside when there was firsthand evidence to the contrary. Perhaps it was something unique to Terrans or to Commander Taylor herself.

Nathan closed his eyes to ease the burning. He had been awake for twenty hours now, and they had been stressful hours at that. He let his mind drift to other thoughts: to his family home in the hills outside Vancouver, to the lazy summer days playing with his friends, to weekend hockey games on the frozen ponds of his youth, and finally, to returning to everything he knew to be home.

CHAPTER TEN

“Loki should have a full recovery,” Doctor Chen announced. “He will need nanite therapy for some time and, therefore, will require constant monitoring, but we are confident he will fully recover.” Doctor Chen paused, looking around the briefing room. “Josh is in much worse condition. Due to his position in the cockpit, he was more exposed to the jump fields and suffered far more tissue degradation as a result. He has significant cerebral edema that has required constant management, and there is significant damage to the portion of his brain that controls voluntary motor control.”

“What is his prognosis?” Nathan asked.

“He is breathing on his own again, which is a very good sign. But we are keeping him in an induced coma to allow the nanites to work on the damaged areas of his brain. He may have to stay that way for weeks. Until then, we can’t be sure.”

“Has Loki regained consciousness yet?” Nathan wondered.

“He had some semi-lucid moments as his sedation began to wear off, but we’re keeping him sedated as much as possible as well, although not as deeply as Josh.”

“When will he be able to remain conscious for longer periods? We’d like to hear what happened to them.”

“A few days, I suspect.”

“We have gone through all of their flight records for the 72 Herculis mission. Of course, they only tell us what maneuvers they performed and what damage they sustained. It doesn’t tell us why,” Major Prechitt explained. “We still have to go through the Falcon’s video recordings and threat tracking logs. We should know a bit more after that.”

“What do you think happened to them?” Nathan asked.

“Based on the flight records, it appears they were ambushed as they passed between the inhabited planet in the 72 Herculis system and one of her smaller, closer moons.”

“How were they discovered?” Nathan wondered. “When she’s running cold and dark, the Falcon is nearly impossible to detect.”

“It appears they were forced to do a short burn in order to avoid an unforeseen moon. Based on the moon’s orbit and speed, I don’t think they were able to see it when they originally plotted their flight path through the system. Less than a minute after that burn, they dropped thermal decoys, performed some interesting maneuvers, went to full power, and made a run for it around the far side of the planet. I’m guessing they were trying to use the planet as a visual shield to hide their escape jump from their pursuers. However, they were forced to dive straight down into the planet’s atmosphere as more enemy contacts rose from the planet’s surface directly ahead of them. They managed to lose them in a series of canyons, but then things become somewhat confusing.”

“How so?” Nathan asked.

“Well, they had a sudden dramatic loss in altitude that, quite frankly, doesn’t match any aerodynamic forces or patterns that I’m familiar with. At the same time, they lost nearly all power in their turbines. Next, two of the turbines seemed to recover, while the other two kept threatening to fail.”

“Were they hit?”

“No, sir. As best we can tell, the two turbines failed because they were full of water.”

“A sudden rain storm?”

“That dumped large amounts of water in a single spot?” the CAG responded. “Unlikely.”

“Maybe they skimmed a lake or a river or something,” Cameron suggested.

“At the speed they were flying, I doubt they could have done that and remained airborne,” the CAG told her. “Besides, while that might explain the water, it doesn’t explain the sudden extreme loss of altitude. I did notice, however, that just before the sudden drop in altitude, Josh overrode the automatic thrust vectoring system, swung all four turbine ducts straight down, and brought them to full power.”

“So whatever caused the sudden drop in altitude, he saw it coming and was trying to counter it,” Nathan surmised.

“That’s what I thought as well. I think something forced him downward suddenly, perhaps into a lake or river. This caused them to take on water quickly which led to a crash landing. There was a lot of damage to the top of the Falcon as well, so maybe another ship rammed him from above in an attempt to force him down.”

“It does make you curious, doesn’t it?” Nathan stated.

“A few hours later, they lifted off again and quickly jumped away. With very little emergency oxygen in their suits, they were forced to make two multi-jump sequences. The first one to get to the rendezvous point, the next to get to the Aurora’s next layover point.”

“Why don’t those suits carry more oxygen?” Cameron asked.

“The Takaran flight suits were not designed to be used outside of the interceptor for long periods. They only carry enough oxygen to make an emergency transfer between two spacecraft in case they need to be rescued from a damaged ship. We looked at adapting the Corinari flight suits, but they require a much larger ejection seat that would not fit into the Falcon’s cockpit.”

“Thank you for your report, Doctor. Please keep us informed of their condition.”

“Yes, sir,” Doctor Chen assured him. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to return to medical.”

“Of course.”

“Captain,” Jessica began as the doctor left the briefing room, “I would like to point out that the Falcon’s mission has provided us with an amazing amount of intelligence. We now have ground images of surface civilizations, combat footage, and real-time flight dynamics data on Jung fighters. We even have the optical and thermal signatures of three Jung warships, as well as the signatures of their radar sets. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Fleet Intelligence is gonna flip when they see this stuff.”

“I agree, Captain,” Major Prechitt said. “My flight combat analysts are pouring over this stuff as well. Having never studied anything other than Takaran battle tactics, they are truly enjoying the new challenge.”

“Hopefully, the price of this intelligence won’t end up being too high,” Nathan commented solemnly. He turned to Vladimir, hoping to move the meeting along. “Lieutenant Commander, how are we doing with the upgrades to our weapons systems? Will we have the plasma cannon turret operational before we get back to Earth?”

“Doubtful,” Vladimir said. “We didn’t have enough power conduit available to run additional lines to power the weapon. Lieutenant Montgomery and his team are adapting one of the mini-ZPEDs to power the weapon directly. It should be ready for test firing by the time we reach Earth.”

“What about the torpedo tube upgrades?”

“The port upgrade in tube two is complete. We still have to install the separating bulkhead in the starboard bay before we can use the plasma cannon in tube four at the same time as conventional torpedoes in tube three. We have yet to start on the conversion of tube six.”

“And the rest of the weapons systems?”

“All rail guns are in proper working order.”

“Major Prechitt,” Nathan said, turning to his CAG next, “how go the training flights?”

“Quite well, sir,” the major answered proudly. “Both our launch and recovery cycle times have improved, and my pilots have been developing both their intercept and dogfighting skills. We have also been developing numerous defensive tactics for protecting the Aurora against enemy fighters.”

“What about attacking larger ships?” Cameron wondered.

“As the Talon fighters were originally designed to intercept and harass larger ships in orbit over Corinair, our pilots are already well versed in such tactics.”

“That’s good to hear, Major,” Nathan said. “It will be interesting to compare the flight tactics of the Corinari and EDF pilots.”

“My staff is looking forward to the exchange.”

“Commander Taylor, how is our propellant holding up?”

“With the emergency course change to rescue the Falcon, we’ve burned a bit more than anticipated. However, we should still arrive in Sol with more than enough to park her safely in orbit over Earth.”

“How will our recon of the Alpha Centauri system affect our reserves?”

“We’ve already made the course change to intercept the Centauri system,” Cameron explained. “The largest use of propellant, other than our final deceleration burn in Sol, will be when we leave Centauri. That requires a ninety degree turn. If the Falcon had not been damaged, we could’ve sent it in without altering our own course, thus saving considerable propellant.”

“I don’t suppose there’s any chance it could be flight-ready in a few hours,” Nathan asked.

“Not a chance,” Vladimir answered.

“I thought ship captains were supposed to be able to ask for miracles from their chief engineers,” Nathan teased.

“Only in the movies, sir,” Vladimir responded.

“Captain, we’ll be okay on propellant,” Cameron assured him. “If we weren’t, I’d let you know. We’ve come up with a flight plan around the Centauri system using a series of short jumps with small turns in between. In addition, since the jump to Earth is only four and a half light years, we’re going to perform a deceleration burn during each turn. By using a series of short, decelerating turns, we’ll only use half the propellant compared to performing the maneuvers separately.”

“That’s good thinking, Commander.”

“Of course, if we run into trouble and are forced to defend ourselves, it had better be a short engagement.”

“Noted,” Nathan said. “How long until we jump?”

“Jump sixty-five is scheduled for fifteen twenty.”

Nathan looked at his watch. “That’s in about forty minutes, people. Let’s make sure everyone’s ready. It’s our last mission before we hand the ship back over to Fleet, so let’s make it a good one.”

* * *

“Jump sixty-five complete,” Mister Riley reported.

“Verifying position,” Mister Navashee reported from the sensor operator’s station to port.

“Threat board is clear,” Mister Randeen added.

“Position verified,” Mister Navashee announced. “We’re at the first turn, two light-months outside of the Alpha Centauri system.”

“Begin the first recon series, Mister Navashee,” Nathan ordered.

“Aye, sir, beginning passive thermal, radio, and optical scanning.”

“Will the opticals be of any use from this distance?”

“Yes, sir. The Aurora had very good optical telescopes to begin with, but the digital enhancement the Takarans provided greatly increased its range. At this distance, we could pick out and ID a ship our size up to about four light-months.”

“Impressive. Too bad we couldn’t go farther, though,” Nathan said. “I’d love to have a look back at how the Jung took the system nine months ago.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Comms, record all broadcasts emanating from the target,” Nathan instructed Naralena at the comms station.

“Yes, sir,” Naralena answered.

“Mister Willard,” Nathan said, turning his attention to the usually unmanned electronic countermeasures station. “It’s good to see you back.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“How are the ECS algorithm experiments going?”

“Very well, sir. We may be ready for live testing soon.”

“I’m sure the EC community at Fleet will be very interested in your proposals. Meanwhile, with radar and scanner signatures, I’d like you to monitor and collect any signals you think might be indicative of jamming or other countermeasures coming from the Alpha Centauri system. We’ve only encountered a few Jung ships since returning to space, so the more information we can collect about their electronic countermeasure capabilities, the better.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Time to full charge, Mister Riley?” Nathan asked.

“Sixty-five was only an eight light year jump, so about four hours to full recharge, sir. After that, each layover will only be an hour as we work our way around the system.

“How soon will we be starting our deceleration turns?”

“Not until the next jump, sir. Then we’ll be doing a continuous deceleration turn as we work our way around the system, during all eight mini-jumps.”

“Very well,” Nathan stated as he sat down in his command chair. “Mister Randeen, put the system on the main view screen, maximum magnification.”

“Aye, sir,” Mister Randeen answered from the tactical station. “Using starboard camera number two.”

The main view screen shifted its view thirty degrees to starboard and zoomed in on the Alpha Centauri system. Nathan could easily make out the primary and secondary stars in the binary system, shining far brighter than any other stars on the screen. “Where’s Proxima?” he wondered.

“Proxima Centauri is currently passing behind the system’s primary star,” Mister Riley reported. “Besides, it’s more than six light-months away from us, and it’s not very bright, so I doubt we could pick it out clearly from this distance.”

“Of course,” Nathan said. “And Sol?”

“It’s off our starboard beam right now.”

Nathan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Hard to believe we’re almost home,” he admitted.

“It must feel good, sir,” Mister Riley commented.

“It does. I didn’t realize how homesick I actually was until recently. Seems the closer we get to Earth, the more homesick I become. How about you, Mister Riley? Ever get homesick?”

“We’ve only been gone a few weeks, sir,” Mister Riley answered. “I’ve made interplanetary runs that were longer.”

“Are you looking forward to seeing Earth?”

“In as much as it is the birthplace of humanity, yes, I am.”

“If you could go anywhere on Earth when you got there, where would that be?” Nathan asked.

“I’d like to see old Scotland, sir. The Celtic blood runs deep through the Corinairan people, so it’s sort of a homeland for us—the birthplace of our culture. I think a lot of us would like to go there.”

“I’ll see what I can do to help get you all there,” Nathan promised.

“Thank you, sir.” Mister Riley turned his chair to face the captain. “Have you ever been there, sir?”

“No, I’m afraid not. But I hear it’s beautiful. It’s not a popular tourist attraction, however.”

“Why is that?”

“It was completely wiped out by the plague: Scotland, England, Ireland, all the British Isles. Many escaped to the European mainland, but it was deserted for centuries. People only started migrating back a few hundred years ago, so it’s not as heavily populated as the rest of Europe.”

“A shame,” Mister Riley stated.

“One of many, really.” Nathan rose from his seat. “Mister Randeen, you have the bridge. I’ll be in my ready room.”

“Aye, sir,” Mister Randeen reported.

“Let me know if you spot anything interesting, Mister Navashee.”

* * *

Nathan walked into workshop number four in the Aurora’s engineering department. It was the only shop space left on the ship that wasn’t being used by Takarans working to upgrade different components on the Aurora. Of all his new crew, the Takarans seemed to be having the most fun. They greatly enjoyed taking the Aurora’s antiquated technology and making it more efficient. Some of their solutions were so simple, it was embarrassing for Vladimir at first. He had begun avoiding working directly with them for this reason. Eventually, he got used to it.