Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation (11 page)

“Yes, sir,” they answered together.

“Mister Hayes, report to medical. I want your nanites checked and updated after every flight.”

“Captain, I…”

“I wasn’t asking, Mister Hayes.”

“Yes, sir,” Josh answered. He exchanged glances with Loki, then turned and exited the ready room, closing the hatch behind him.

Nathan relaxed slightly in his chair, looking at Loki and thinking. “You know, you and Josh remind me of Commander Taylor and me. We were a good flight team. I was reckless, flying on instinct instead of logic and process. She was the opposite, always calculating and analyzing everything before making a decision. You know what made us a good team?”

Loki shook his head. “No, sir.”

“We were a good team because she would always tell me when she disagreed with me. Hell, she still tells me when she disagrees with me.”

“I did try, sir.”

“I know you did, Loki. But you have to do more than try. If I were about to fly the Aurora into a wall, she’d likely knock me out and take the controls from me. You have a set of flight controls in the back of that ship. When he refused to listen to you, you should have taken control of the ship and locked him out. That’s what we call ‘forceful backup’, a concept that I suggest you familiarize yourself with. Hell, you should have reached up and smacked him upside his helmet, for that matter. He’s your pilot, Loki, not your superior officer.”

“You’re right, sir,” Loki admitted. “It’s just that Josh has always been pilot in command, and I’ve always been second seat.”

“Damn it, Loki, you’re not in a harvester anymore! There’s more at stake here than scooping up rocks, and you know it!”

“Yes, sir.”

Nathan paused to take a breath. “Josh is a great pilot—we all know that—but he lacks discipline, and he needs to learn how to follow orders. Not just because it’s his duty, but because others are depending on him to do so. In some cases, their very lives will depend on it. Therefore, their lives also depend on you making sure that Josh follows his orders.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I know it’s not fair, but that’s the way it is.”

“Don’t worry, Captain,” Loki said. “I’ll make sure he follows orders from now on.”

“Very well. Now, report to the hangar deck and help your crew chief repair your ship. I need you guys back out there as soon as possible.”

* * *

Yanni’s stomach felt like it was tied in knots. He stood looking at the super-jump shuttle, the ship that was about to carry him a thousand light years away. It seemed so small a ship to him, much too small to be making such a journey. The Aurora was built to travel faster than light, and her propulsion system composed more than half her mass. Yet the ship that was to carry him so far away from home in only a few days fit easily inside the Aurora.

“Are you all right, Mister Hiller?” Nathan asked from behind.

Yanni snapped out of his thoughts, startled by the captain’s question. He turned and looked at him. “Not really, no.”

Nathan looked around the main hangar bay. It was a massive space, full of activity. “It is a bit overwhelming, isn’t it?”

“It’s not that,” Yanni told him. “I just can’t help thinking that I may never be coming back.”

Nathan sighed. “I’m not going to lie to you, Yanni; that is a possibility.” Nathan noticed the change in the young man’s demeanor. “Do you have any family on Earth?”

“A sister,” he said. “Our father died when we were young. Our mother passed nearly ten years ago. I haven’t seen my sister in several years, though. Only occasional conversations over the net. I don’t even know if she survived the invasion.”

“What’s her name?”

“Addy. Addy Greber. She lives in Basel.”

“If we’re successful in liberating Earth, I’ll make sure she knows what became of you.”

Yanni looked at the captain and smiled ever so slightly. “Thank you. She probably won’t believe you, but thank you anyway.” Yanni looked at the shuttle again. “They tell me that Takara is a nice place. Have you been there?”

“Yes, I have, several times, in fact. Their ruler is a personal friend. That’s why I’m here, actually, to give you this.” Nathan handed Yanni a data pad. “This contains all the intelligence information about our current situation and what our immediate plans and needs are. I’ve instructed your flight crew to make sure you and the data cores are delivered directly to Prince Casimir of Takara. I ask that you give this data pad to him personally.”

“Of course.”

“It also contains personal messages from those of our crew who are from the worlds of the Pentaurus cluster. They are for their families, to let them know that they are alive and well. More importantly, it is to let them know that it may be some time before they return to their homes.” Nathan looked at Yanni. “This is very important to me and my crew.”

“I understand, Captain.”

“You’re about to embark on a grand adventure, Mister Hiller,” Nathan told him, “one that will surely change your life forever, just as it changed mine.” Nathan put his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Safe journey.”

Yanni nodded his thanks to the captain, then turned and headed up the cargo ramp of the super-jump shuttle.

Nathan stepped back as the ramp began to rise and the shuttle’s engines began to spin to life. Rotating, red beacons along the shuttle’s underside began to spin, warning all around her that she was under power and about to move. The shuttle rolled slowly backward as traffic directors walked along her back corners, ensuring that no one was caught by surprise by the moving shuttle. A few minutes later, the shuttle disappeared in the center transfer airlock, and Nathan turned and headed back to the command deck.

* * *

“So how do things look?” Nathan asked. Cameron, sitting in her ready room on the Celestia, appeared on the left side of the view screen. Vladimir, standing in the Celestia’s engineering office, appeared on the opposite side of the screen.

“
The rescue tunnel can be fixed, but it will be too short to use as we did before,
” Cameron explained. “
The Aurora would need to be very close. It’s just too risky.
”

“What about the fighter bays?” Nathan asked.

“
I have sealed off the starboard side of D deck, just after it splits aft of the cargo deck,
” Vladimir told him. “
The leaks are all on the starboard side, so we were able to pressurize the main cargo bay, the port side of D deck, and the port fighter bay. All three elevator airlocks on the port side are working, so we can begin using the port fighter bay for flight operations.
”

Nathan turned toward Major Prechitt who was sitting to his right. “How does that sound to you, Major?”

“There are still several equipment crates blocking full access to the main hangar bay, but we should be able to get them either moved down to the cargo deck or pushed up to the front starboard portion of the bay. If so, we can use the rest of the deck, along with the flight apron, as one big flight deck. We can cycle the cargo shuttles through the larger forward port elevator airlock, the tactical shuttles through the midship elevator airlock, and the fighters through the aft elevator airlock.”

“Fighters?” Nathan wondered.

“I think it would be prudent to stage at least twelve of our fighters on the Celestia. She is currently defenseless. Even after they get the plasma cannon turret working, she is still going to need help against fighters and possibly even incoming missiles. That turret can’t track fast enough to keep up with such high-speed, highly maneuverable targets.”

“You’re talking about using fighters as point-defenses,” Nathan realized.

“Yes, sir. If we’re going to be leaving the Celestia unprotected to conduct hit-and-run strikes elsewhere, she’s got to have something.”

“I’m not disagreeing with you, Major,” Nathan assured him. “It just never occurred to me that you could use fighters in such a way. Good thinking,” Nathan told him. He turned back to the images of Cameron and Vladimir on the view screen. “What about connecting the command deck to the rest of the ship?” Nathan asked.

“
We’re going to take some bulkheads from the starboard side of D deck and use them to create a connecting corridor. It will not be pretty, but it will work.
”

“You’re not going to need them on D deck?” Nathan asked.

“
We do not have time to patch all the holes on the starboard side right now, so no. We need them more to connect the command deck.
”

“Very well. How are things progressing with the plasma cannon turret?”

“
Slowly but surely,
” Cameron told him. “
Lieutenant Montgomery believes he can have the weapon ready to test fire in about six or seven hours.
”

“I’m not sure we have that much time, Commander,” Nathan warned.

“
I told the lieutenant as much. He insists he and his men are working as quickly as possible.
”

“Would it help if we assigned more people to the task?”

“
They’re already tripping over each other as it is
,” Cameron told him. “
Besides, the Aurora can’t afford to lose any more of her crew, not if you want to remain combat effective
.”

“Okay, now the big question: how long until you can lift off?” Nathan asked.

“
Several of the maneuvering thrusters are still not answering diagnostic requests
,” Vladimir told them. “
We will have to send EVA teams out to plug portable diagnostic units into the affected maneuvering thrusters from the outside. This is a little bit of a problem, as most of the affected units are along the lower edge of the hull. We may have to dig a little to access the diagnostic ports.
”

“How long?”

“
A few hours, at least
,” Vladimir said. “
And that is just to run the diagnostics. If too many of them are damaged, we may not be able to compensate adequately with the remaining thrusters
.”

“And if that happens?”

“
If that happens, the Celestia may be stuck on Metis for a very long time
.”

“You’re telling me that you cannot fix them?” Nathan said. “I thought you could fix anything.”

“
Fixing them is not the problem
,” Vladimir defended. “
Accessing them is the problem. This ship was not designed to sit on the surface on her belly, Captain. It was meant to float in space… always. Trust me; it was not an engineer who decided that landing her on her belly on a giant, potato-shaped rock was a good plan
.”

Nathan sat back in his chair and sighed. “If you are able to get her off the surface, can she fly?”

“
I believe so, yes
,” Vladimir said. “
We have not found anything wrong with her main propulsion systems. They need to be calibrated properly, but they will work
.”

“How fast will she go?” Nathan wondered.

“
I would not run these engines at maximum power, Captain. With a long burn, maybe two percent light
.”

Nathan was silent. His dream of having two jump-capable warships with which to liberate the Earth was quickly fading away. “Doctor Sorenson, I don’t suppose you have any good news to report.”

“After looking at the specifications for the Celestia’s emitter design, I’m sure we can fabricate them. The Takarans even think they can improve upon the design and increase their efficiency.”

“Let’s not toy with the designs just yet,” Nathan said. “Let’s just try to get her jump drive working.”

“Of course, Captain.”

“Any idea on a time frame?”

“Several weeks at least, maybe longer,” Abby told him.

“Any chance you can improve upon that time frame?”

“With or without destroying the Celestia on her first jump?” Abby answered.

Nathan sighed again. “Any other good news to report?” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“
We found lots of coffee in the unpressurized areas of D deck
,” Vladimir said.

“Good,” Nathan said. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to need it.”

“
Sir, in light of the current situation, you may want to reconsider our alternatives
,” Cameron suggested.

“To which alternatives do you refer, Commander?” Nathan asked.

“
We could strip a lot of usable equipment from this ship. There’s still a lot of stuff in the main hangar deck and the cargo deck all boxed up and waiting to be installed. All of that could be moved in a few hours.
”

“Anything we can’t fabricate?” Nathan asked, already knowing the answer.

“
No, sir
,” Vladimir answered.

“We’ll continue with the current plan, Commander. We still have eighty-seven minutes until the Jung conclude that something happened to one or both of their gunships. We’ll continue to transfer propellant and support your repair efforts until the Jung return. If we are unable to defend the Celestia, your people will bug out on shuttles, and we’ll scuttle the Celestia, preferably with a few Jung ships within the annihilation range of her antimatter containment breach. If necessary, the Aurora will attempt to keep the Jung away from the Jovian system by engaging them elsewhere while you and your people continue to work. If we do so, we’ll leave the Falcon near you in order to alert us if the Jung should sneak back while we are gone so we can jump back to defend you.”

Nathan scanned the command briefing room, looking at the faces of his staff. “If there’s nothing else to discuss…”

“Sir,” Jessica said, “I believe we should try to make contact with the resistance, let them know that we found the Celestia and what our plans are.”

“To what end?” Nathan asked.

“Maybe they can help somehow.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they can start some trouble on Earth, keep the Jung off-balance until we get the Celestia out of here. I mean, you sent me down there to establish contact with them. I gave them the comm-schedule, and we’ve already missed two of the comm windows with them. They’re going to be wondering what happened to us.”

“I’m not sure it’s a wise use of resources at the moment,” Nathan said.

“Maybe not, but there may be people down there, members of the EDF, who outrank us. There may even be members of the United Earth Republic or leaders of the major nations of the republic. Technically, we do answer to them. Even if we don’t, the people of Earth need to know that we’re out here, that we’re fighting for them. Just that knowledge alone could be a tipping point.”

“Don’t they already know?” Nathan asked. “After all, we jumped in and took out a few Jung ships a few weeks ago. We even attacked a few ground targets.”

“The Jung may have played that down in the eyes of the public. From what I saw, they have a very powerful propaganda system in place. The more contact the resistance has with us, the less effective the Jung propaganda system becomes.”