Frontiers 07 - The Expanse (33 page)

“Maybe they’re nearby,” Josh said as he turned on his comm-set. “Mayday, mayday, mayday. Aurora, this is the Falcon. We are damaged and running out of oxygen. Requesting rendezvous. Repeating: mayday, mayday, mayday. Aurora, this is the Falcon. Do you copy?”

“It’s no use, Josh. She’s not out there.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I’ve scanned in all directions. She’s not there. We must be too late.”

“Maybe we’re just in the wrong spot.”

“I’ve checked our location three times, Josh. We’re in the right spot.”

“Maybe we’re early.”

“Doubtful. We’d have to be seven hours early. The Aurora is already at the next layover.”

“Fuck!” Josh screamed. “What are we going to do?”

“We keep jumping.”

“They’re ten light years away, Loki. What are we going to do, make another hundred jumps?”

“I’m thinking more like ninety.”

“I don’t think I can take ninety more jumps, not every five seconds.”

“Actually, it would be every three and a half seconds this time. We’ve only got six minutes of oxygen left, and we need at least a minute or two to land, maybe more.”

“Okay, it’s official now. This officially sucks!”

“Wasting oxygen, Josh. Wasting oxygen.”

“Fuck,” he muttered. For the first time in his life, he felt hopeless. “Let’s get this over with.”

Loki finished punching the new parameters into the multi-jump sequencing algorithm. “Josh, if this doesn’t work…”

“Shut up and push the button,” Josh told him as he dropped his visors again.

“Better kill the mains first, just in case we pass out,” Loki suggested.

“Good idea.” He pulled the throttles back to zero. “At least we won’t have to deal with that at the same time.”

Loki dropped his visors once more. “Jumping in three……”

“Thanks for sticking with me, Lok,” Josh said.

“Two……It was my pleasure……One……”

“Sorry for nearly getting you killed so many times.”

“No, you’re not.”

The Falcon jumped, then again three and a half seconds later. She kept jumping over and over again. Josh felt the tingling sensation return, followed by the lightheaded feeling, the nausea, and the throbbing headache. It all built up so much faster this time. He quickly lost count of the jumps. “Loki! How are you doing back there?”

“Fuck!” Loki cried in anguish.

“Fuck!” Josh cried back as he squinted his eyes even tighter. He crossed his arms and grabbed tightly at his flight harness, pulling his head down as much as he could in his helmet, as if he were trying to touch his chin to his chest. He felt as if his head were about to explode, and his stomach was being twisted into a knot. A few flashes later, he felt his nose start to bleed. His mouth opened and his stomach emptied into his helmet… not once, but twice. The stench inside his helmet was awful. He thrashed his head about, trying to get the chunks of vomit to stick to either his head or the inside of his helmet so that he wouldn’t suck them back into his lungs as he struggled to breathe. His eyes began to hurt. He felt like they were swelling up to enormous size. He screamed out in pain but couldn’t hear himself over the sound of Loki’s own screams coming over the comm-set in his helmet. Finally, Loki’s screams stopped as he finally succumbed to the pain and passed out. Josh envied his friend, praying for unconsciousness to take him as well. Eventually, everything went dark, and there was nothing but the agony. A moment later, his wish was granted.

* * *

“We know we were ambushed in the Oort,” Jessica said, from the couch in the captain’s ready room, “so we know that the Jung at least suspect that the Earth is trying to develop a superior propulsion technology. The fact that they only had two gunboats waiting for us suggests they didn’t know exactly what that propulsion technology was.”

“Or that they simply didn’t have any other ships in the area,” Cameron said.

“No, she’s right,” Nathan said. “Just before our first jump, Captain Roberts said that the Jung had invaded the Alpha Centauri system six months prior. They must have had ships in that area for several months beforehand. Even their slowest ships can do ten times light, so it’s only five and a half months to Sol.”

“Those gunboats can do twenty light,” Jessica pointed out. “Even their heavy cruisers can do fifteen. I don’t think they knew exactly what we were up to, and that’s why they didn’t commit anything larger than a couple of gunboats. They were saving everything they had in the area for the invasion of Alpha Centauri. If that test jump had taken place a few months later, we might have been staring down a couple of Jung battle platforms.”

“I thought those were just rumors,” Nathan said.

“Nope, recon confirmed them,” Jessica told him. “I saw them mentioned in the stuff that Fleet sent over for Captain Roberts, the stuff that was time and location locked.”

“Then perhaps she is right,” Nathan said to Cameron. “We need to recon the Alpha Centauri system on our way home.”

“I hope you’re not thinking about coasting through like the Falcon,” Cameron said.

“I was thinking more along the lines of standing off and collecting images from outside the system. Maybe jump around the outer perimeter to get images from different angles.”

“Still seems risky.”

“Isn’t risk part of our job?” Jessica asked.

“Of course,” Cameron said. “It’s just that we’re so close to home.”

“I, of all people, am anxious to get home and hand everything over to Fleet,” Nathan reminded her. “I just keep thinking that if Captain Roberts were here, he’d reconnoiter every damn system he could before returning to Earth.”

Cameron begrudgingly nodded her agreement. “I’ll work up a mission profile and run it past you before the next jump.”

“That’s in what,” Nathan looked at his watch, “three hours?”

“More like two and a half.”

“Better get on it, then,” Nathan told her.

“Aye, sir.”

“I’ll help you,” Jessica offered, rising from her spot on the couch.

“
Captain, Tactical!
” Mister Randeen called over the intercom. “
Contact!
”

All three of them instantly charged out of the ready room and onto the bridge.

“It’s the Falcon!” Mister Randeen reported. “She just jumped in about two million kilometers off our starboard beam.”

“Comms!” Nathan called as he made his way to his command chair. “Any word?”

“No, sir. No answer to hails.”

“We’re picking up their telemetry now, sir,” Mister Navashee reported. “She’s badly damaged.”

“Recommend general quarters, sir,” Cameron urged. “They may have been followed.”

“Sound general quarters,” Nathan ordered. “Helm, turn into them and slow to two hundred thousand kilometers per minute.”

“Turning into contact. Slowing to two hundred thousand KPH, aye,” Mister Chiles answered.

“Let’s get some fighter cover out there, Commander,” Nathan told his XO.

“Green deck,” Cameron ordered, “launch the alert fighters. Have them take up protective positions around the Falcon. Stand by the rescue teams and ready the deck for recovery.”

Nathan felt the Aurora make her turn to starboard as her speed reduced.

“Captain, I’ve got their bio-monitor signals: rapid and irregular heart rates, low blood pressure, low respiratory tidal volume on Loki…” Mister Navashee suddenly turned his head toward the captain. “Josh isn’t breathing at all, sir.”

“Comms, alert medical.”

Lieutenant Kakayee flashed his ready sign to the launch officer and grabbed the hand rails on either side of his cockpit. A moment later, the massive door in front of him dropped into the floor, and his fighter shot forward with incredible acceleration. Despite his inertial dampeners, he was thrown back in his seat as his tiny fighter hurtled down the launch tube. Two seconds later, he could see the outer door approaching him rapidly. His pulse raced and his breath quickened. He had gone through this launch cycle at least a dozen times on training flights over the last few days, but every time he wondered if that final door would open before he slammed into it.

The door fell away a moment later, opening the long launch tube to space, and the fighter shot out into the open, his main engines firing automatically as soon as he left the tube. “Talon One, airborne,” he reported.

“
Talon Two, airborne
,” his wingman called out as well.

Lieutenant Kakayee glanced over his right shoulder. His wingman, Lieutenant Mallard, was just behind him and to his right, having launched from the neighboring tube. He listened as the other two fighters announced their departure from the Aurora’s port launch tubes.

“
Talon One, Flight. Proceed to target
,” the flight controller instructed over the comms. “
Talon Three, establish outer perimeter and orbit.
”

“Talon One copies. Time on target: thirty seconds.” Lieutenant Kakayee looked to his left as the Aurora slid past his port side. He could see the other two fighters now as they pulled up higher relative to his own flight path. They would circle the Falcon at varying angles in order to provide cover in case another, possibly hostile contact suddenly appeared. Meanwhile, he and his wingman would intercept the Falcon. He had never met the Falcon’s flight crew, but he knew of them. Their actions at the battle of Answari had saved more than one of the lieutenant’s friends.

“What’s going on?” Marcus asked as he ran into the starboard fighter alley. He grabbed a deckhand that was running past him. “What’s going on?”

“They launched the alert fighters,” the deckhand answered.

“Why?”

“The Falcon, she’s back, but I think something’s wrong. I gotta go, Senior Chief.”

Marcus let the deckhand go and made a dash for the forward ladder that led up to the observation rail and flight deck operations. After shooting up the ladder, he ran down the catwalk, bursting into the operations room.

Master Chief Montrose was the first to notice the senior chief and immediately moved over to intercept him. Flight Ops was busy, and the last thing they needed was for Marcus to get in the way. Worried though he might be, his place was not in Flight Ops; it was down on the deck.

“Marcus, you shouldn’t be in here.”

“What’s going on?” he demanded. “What’s wrong with the Falcon? Are they all right?”

“We don’t know yet,” the master chief told him. “It just appeared. They’re not answering comms, and their life signs are very weak.”

“Whattaya mean ‘weak’?”

“We believe they are unconscious, and…”

“And what?”

“It appears Josh isn’t breathing.”

“What? Is he dead?”

“No, he’s got a faint pulse, but if he’s not breathing, that won’t last long.”

“Then get him down on the deck!” Marcus demanded.

“We’re trying to figure out how to do that right now…”

“Whattaya mean ‘trying to figure it out’? Activate the auto-flight system. It’ll bring him right down onto the same pad he took off from!”

“They didn’t have auto-flight systems in those old interceptors.”

“No shit! I had to install one myself!”

“Wait,” the master chief said, somewhat confused. “You installed an auto-flight system in the Falcon?”

“Yeah, back in Takara. It wasn’t an easy job, either.”

“I don’t understand. If they have an auto-flight system, why hasn’t it activated?”

“‘Cuz that stupid, little shit hates auto-anything! He never turns the damn thing on. That’s why I wired it for remote activation, so send the fucking code already!”

“What’s the code?” the master chief asked.

“It’s in the Falcon’s maintenance logs!” Marcus bellowed. “Don’t these stupid command types keep track of anything? It’s all in the Falcon’s spec sheets as well!”

“Stay here!” Master Chief Montrose ordered, pointing at Marcus. “I mean it.”

“Sir, flight reports Talon One has visual on the Falcon,” Naralena reported.

“Patch him through to me,” Nathan ordered. A moment later, Naralena nodded that the channel was ready. “Talon One, Aurora Actual. What do you see?”

“
It’s the Falcon, sir, but she’s pretty banged up. Lots of exterior damage. Looks like she crashed, maybe more than once. And her canopy is busted. Her cockpit is open to space. I repeat, her cockpit is open to space.
”

“Is there any movement?”

“
No, sir. I can see the flight crew, but they are not moving.
”

“
Captain, CAG!
” Major Prechitt called.

“Talon One, Aurora Actual. Stand by one.” Nathan quickly switched channels. “Go for Captain.”

“
Sir, the Falcon has auto-flight that can be remotely activated, but we need to be within close proximity to her in order to do so.
”

“Talon One is with her now.”

“
I know, sir. If the Falcon can still maneuver, we should get the Aurora as close to her and properly lined up as possible. Since we don’t know the state of her flight systems, the less she has to maneuver, the better.
”

“Copy that,” Nathan answered. “Mister Chiles,” he called.

“On it, sir,” the helmsman answered as he pushed the Aurora to the left to prepare to turn around and come up under the damaged Falcon.

“Major, we’re swinging wide to come around up under the Falcon now. As soon as we’re in position and close enough for you to activate her auto-flight, we’ll signal you.”

“
Yes, sir. The Falcon launched from the starboard pad, so that’s where her auto-flight will want to set her down again.
”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to set her down on the flight apron?” Nathan wondered.

“
Yes, sir, but we don’t know the extent of her damage. If we start trying to remotely manipulate her, we might cause more problems. Safest bet is to let the auto-flight put her back on the starboard pad. Besides, we can get her into pressure faster that way.
”

“Understood. Tell your fighters to back off and give us room.”

“
Aye, sir.
”

“Maybe it would be best if you let the rescue team handle it,” Master Chief Montrose told Marcus.

“What would be best would be for you to get the fuck outta my way unless you like having a broken nose,” Marcus said in all sincerity.

The chief of the boat looked the senior chief in the eyes. He knew his threat was serious. He also knew he could kick the senior chief’s ass without breaking a sweat. And he knew that if it was his kid, he’d feel the same way. “Very well, Marcus. Meet the rescue team on the gun deck. They’re gonna intercept the Falcon as she passes.”

“Thanks,” Marcus grumbled.

“They know what they’re doing, Senior Chief, so don’t get in the team’s way, or you could cost your boy his life.”

Marcus didn’t answer the master chief but turned and ran out the door on his way to the gun deck.