Ep.#15 - "That Which Other Men Cannot Do" (The Frontiers Saga) (58 page)

“I don’t know. Our crew, I suppose. Russia, maybe? I don’t think I have ever considered this question.” Vladimir took another drink. “What do you think about?”

“Beaches.”

“Beaches. Why beaches?”

“I don’t really know,” Nathan admitted. “But I also think about dogs, running on the beach.”

“You or the dogs?”

“The dogs,” Nathan replied. “I’m just sitting there, my feet up, drinking a beer or something.”

“Perhaps that beach represents something?” Vladimir suggested.

“Like what?”

“Freedom? Life? Solitude?” Vladimir suggested. “What do you think it represents?”

Nathan thought for a minute, taking another bite of his sandwich while he pondered his choices. He took the bottle back from Vladimir and took another drink. “Happiness,” he finally said. “No responsibilities, no dangers, no work to do… Just sitting there watching the dog run around on the beach, and listening to the seagulls squawking, and the sound of the waves crashing.”

“I think I understand,” Vladimir said, trying to imagine it for himself. “I have only been to the ocean one time in my life.”

“Really?” Nathan said, surprised.

“
Da
! I know! I have been to the other side of the galaxy, so to speak, but I have only been to the ocean one time. And it was cold.”

“Then I guess my beach image doesn’t work for you.”

“
Nyet
.” Vladimir thought for a moment. “But for me, it would be the forest. One with a river winding through it, or a lake.
Da
, a lake. A
dacha
by a lake, high in the mountains, surrounded by forest. No one for kilometers. Hunting, fishing, cleaning, and cooking your daily catch, a good woman to keep you warm at night. And a massive stone fireplace, with a roaring fire every night.” Vladimir took another drink. “But it would have to be self-cleaning. I hate cleaning up fireplaces. Very dirty work.”

“You know what? That works for me too,” Nathan said. “Even the self-cleaning fireplace. But I’d want a seaplane to be able to fly in and out from the lake. And a sail boat, so that I could spend windy days crisscrossing the lake in the afternoon sun.” Nathan placed the last piece of sandwich into his mouth and leaned back in his chair. “But we don’t really fight for
those
things, do we,” he observed. “We fight for the right to
have
such things, just the way we want them.”

“
Da
.”

Nathan sat there, staring at the gray ceiling of his quarters. “After all that has happened over the past two years, after all this time in space, what do you miss the most?”

“Russian women,” Vladimir said. “Actually, any woman who isn’t wearing a uniform and carrying a gun or a data pad.”

“Why am I not surprised,” Nathan laughed.

“What do you miss, Nathan?”

Nathan thought for a moment. “You’re not going to believe this, but I miss my parent’s place…the place I grew up.”

“I thought you joined the EDF to get
away
from your family?”

“So did I,” Nathan admitted. “But after all this time, and after everything that
has
happened, I realize now how much a part of me they all were. Even Eli.”

“This is true,” Vladimir agreed. “We are all products of our upbringing, both good and bad.” Vladimir picked up the bottle and finished off the last bit of beer. “
Konyets.
Wait here. I will get another bottle.”

“Don’t bother, Vlad,” Nathan insisted. “I’ve gotta get some sleep anyway.”

“Are you sure? I could get more dollag as well?”

“No, I’m good. Just burp me and put me to bed.”

“I am not your mother,” Vladimir said with a dismissive wave as he rose and headed for the door. “I will let you sleep.”

“Hey, Vlad,” Nathan called after him. “Have I told you recently how much these talks mean to me?”

“
Nyet.
”

“Good, because I hate lying to friends,” Nathan said, a smile creeping onto his face.

“
Spakoinoi nochi
, Nathan,” Vladimir said as he reached for the door.

“You’re supposed to salute your captain on departure, you know!”

“I told you, Nathan, I will follow your orders, but I will not salute you.”

“I could have you thrown in the brig, you know.”

“Here, how is this?” Vladimir asked as he exited, flipping his middle finger at Nathan.

“There’s still room for improvement!” Nathan yelled as the door closed. He took in a breath and sighed. “Good night, my friend.”

* * *

“Are all these guards really necessary?” General Bacca asked as he met Nathan and Jessica at the entrance to the Aurora’s bridge. He looked at Jessica. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure,” he said.

“Drop dead,” Jessica replied immediately. She glanced at Nathan, half expecting a scolding gaze, but received none. “I still don’t think we should let him on the bridge. He’s full of nanites, you know.”

“Of course I’m full of nanites, young lady,” the general said cheerfully. “They keep me healthy.”

“And make you into zombie spies.”

“The guards stay, General,” Nathan said, turning to the Ghatazhak sergeant. “He makes one false move, you shoot him…dead. Understood?”

“Beyond doubt,” the Ghatazhak sergeant replied.

General Bacca ignored the Ghatazhak sergeant’s menacing tone, and leaned in toward Jessica. “Just between you and me, the nanites work all sorts of wonders in the body, if you know what I mean.”

There was a sudden, high-pitched whine. It went from a low pitch to a higher one in a few seconds, and then disappeared completely. The general felt something poke him in the groin, and slowly looked down to find the barrel of Jessica’s energy pistol against his crotch, and her finger on the trigger. He looked back up at Jessica’s face as a smirk came across it.

“I’ll take this to mean you’re not interested, then.”

“Good read, grandpa,” Jessica replied. She switched off her weapon and holstered it, then stepped through the outer hatch into the port bridge airlock corridor.

Nathan grinned. “You’d really better hope this works, Bacca, or getting tossed out an airlock is going to seem like heaven.” Nathan turned to follow Jessica into the airlock corridor. “Bring him.”

Jessica stepped through the inner hatch onto the Aurora’s bridge, followed by Nathan.

“Captain on the bridge!” the guard announced.

The Ghatazhak escorted General Bacca onto the bridge, as Jessica went to her tactical station, and Nathan went to his command chair. The Ghatazhak moved the general into the space left of Naralena’s comm station, just in front of the entrance to the captain’s ready room. Two of the Ghatazhak stood close on either side of the general. The other two took up positions on either side and slightly aft of the captain, facing the general so as to have a clear shot at him should the old man somehow manage to overpower the two Ghatazhak standing next to him.

“We’re on course and speed for the jump,” Mister Riley reported as Nathan took his seat. “Insertion jump into the Patoray system is plotted and ready.”

“Set general quarters,” Nathan instructed. “Shields down and weapons cold,” he added, just in case Jessica had forgotten the plan. He also wanted to make sure that General Bacca knew the ship was going into the Jung home system in as non-threatening a posture as possible.

“Do you think that’s wise, Captain?” General Bacca said.

“Do not speak unless spoken to, General,” Nathan instructed, his right hand up with his index finger pointing upward.

“Pardon me.”

“Mister Riley, Mister Chiles,” Nathan began. “Same standing orders as last time. Should you see our escape route becoming blocked, do not wait for me to give you orders to maneuver. Furthermore, if we are about to be hit by anything larger than medium-sized rail gun fire, do not wait for me to give the command to jump, just jump. While we’re on the subject, Mister Riley, all our escape jumps should take us
outside
the Jung home system, unless instructed otherwise. We don’t need to jump
into
trouble when we’re trying to jump
out
of it, is that clear, gentlemen?”

“Aye, sir,” Mister Chiles acknowledged.

“We know the drill, sir,” Mister Riley assured his captain.

“Yes, you do.”

“All departments report general quarters, Captain,” Naralena announced. “XO is in combat, and the chief of the boat is in damage control.”

After a few seconds of silence, Nathan turned around slowly to look at Jessica.

“Yes, all shields are down, and all weapons are cold,” Jessica reported. “Still say this is a stupid idea,” she added under her breath.

“Broadcast ready?” Nathan asked Naralena.

“Yes, sir.”

“Start broadcasting the moment we come out of the jump,” Nathan reminded her.

“Yes, sir.”

Nathan took a deep breath. “Very well. Mister Riley, you may execute the insertion jump into the Patoray system.”

“Executing insertion jump in five seconds,” the Aurora’s navigator announced.

Nathan tried to breathe normally as his navigator began the countdown.

“Three…”

Once again, he was about to take his ship deep into the Jung home system.

“Two…”

Only this time, his ship would be defenseless…

“One…”

And they would not have the element of surprise on their side.

“Jumping.”

The Jung would be ready to attack.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported as the jump flash subsided.

“Incredible!” General Bacca exclaimed, witnessing an actual jump for the first time.

“Transmitting message.”

“Multiple contacts…”

“Something in our jump line…”

“Turning two degrees to starboard…”

“Battleship, two cruisers, four frigates,” Mister Navashee continued. “The frigates are launching missiles…”

“How many?” Nathan inquired.

“Thirty-two missiles inbound!” Mister Navashee replied. “Closest one will impact in fifteen seconds!”

“I can intercept them with point-defenses,” Jessica reminded Nathan.

“Keep those weapons cold!” Nathan ordered.

“Five seconds!” Mister Navashee warned.

“Mister Riley!”

“Escape jump!”

The jump flash immediately washed over the bridge, as the Aurora jumped clear of the Patoray system.

“Jump complete.”

“Sensors are clear,” Mister Navashee reported. “No threats in the area.”

“Jesus!” Jessica exclaimed. “A few more degrees to starboard and I could have taken out two of those frigates!”

“That was absolutely amazing!” General Bacca declared in excitement. “All those missiles right on top of you, and you simply vanished. I must say, I’m surprised you didn’t manage to destroy every ship in the system last time you were here! I might also add, that is the fastest I’ve ever seen any Jung ship open fire. Your Alliance must have really made an impression on them during your last visit.”

“What part of
don’t talk
did you
not
understand?” Jessica barked.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” the general apologized. “It’s just that, well, it was quite exhilarating.”

“Shut the hell up, Bacca!” Jessica snapped.

“Comms, were you broadcasting the message?”

“Yes, sir,” Naralena assured him. “Every frequency, every language, and at full strength.”

“Helm, bring us about. Let’s try this again,” Nathan instructed.

“Coming about, aye.”

“Mister Riley, put us in a different part of the system.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Mister Navashee, did you get a snapshot of their ships’ locations?”

“Yes, sir, I did.”

“Great, give Mister Riley a location with the least number of Jung ships nearby.”

“That’s not going to be easy, sir,” Mister Navashee warned.

“Well, let’s at least jump to somewhere we can hang out long enough for the entire message to get out before we’re blasted all to hell.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If you’d just let me use the point-defense systems,” Jessica begged.

“No way,” Nathan said, cutting her off. “We are not firing a single shot.”

“Maybe we can just send in a jump comm-drone?” Naralena suggested.

“They’d just destroy it even faster,” Nathan said. “Besides, there’s no way I’m sending an unmanned jump-enabled vessel anywhere near them.”

“Turn complete,” Mister Chiles reported from the helm.

“Insertion jump, plotted and ready,” Mister Riley added.

Nathan took in another deep breath and sighed. “Let’s try this again, people. Jump us in, Mister Riley.”

“Jumping in three……two……one……jumping.”

“My God, that never gets old, does it?” General Bacca exclaimed.

“Jump complete.”

“Multiple contacts,” Mister Navashee reported.

“Transmitting message,” Naralena announced.

“Three cruisers, eight frigates, all within firing… FTL signatures!” Mister Navashee exclaimed. “Three of the cruisers just… Wait! All three cruisers just came out of FTL! Two kilometers and closing fast! They’re firing rail guns and missiles! Five seconds!”

“Jumping,” Mister Riley announced as the jump flash washed over them.

“Damn it!” Nathan cursed. “You’d think they would at least respond with a ‘drop dead’ or something.” Nathan turned to Naralena. “Were we in there long enough for them to receive the message?”

“It’s a burst transmission, Captain. It only takes a few seconds to transmit a ten minute recording.”

“You’re transmitting digitally,” General Bacca realized. “She’s right,” he said, pointing at Jessica. “This is a stupid plan.”

Nathan scowled at the general.

“Don’t you see, Captain? They’re not going to allow a digital signal from a known enemy ship to enter their systems,” General Bacca explained. “They think you’re trying to transmit a virus or something, so you can take down their shields, or take their weapons offline so that you can easily destroy them. If you want them to hear you, you need to transmit an
analog
message.
Radio
. You do have
radio
transceivers, don’t you?”

Nathan looked at Naralena for an answer.

“We do,” she told him. “But an analog message will take a lot longer to send. Ten minutes, if we transmit the entire message.”

“Can you edit the message?” Nathan asked. “Maybe just transmit the portion in Jung?”

“Which dialect?” Naralena asked. “There are thirteen of them, that I know of.”

“Actually, there are more than forty,” the General corrected. “But only three that are used here. Besides, you only need one to speak with the caste leaders. May I?”

Nathan looked at Jessica, who shrugged. Nathan shrugged toward Naralena as well. “Give him a comm-set.”

Naralena handed a comm-set to the Ghatazhak soldier between her and the general, who then handed it to General Bacca.

“Shall I just start talking after we jump, or would you like to prerecord the message?”

“Prerecord it,” Nathan instructed.