“Jalea,” Nathan called as they headed toward the hangar bay. “Will you escort Tug and his family to medical?”
“Captain on the bridge!” the marine at the doorway announced as Nathan entered, appearing more confident than ever before.
“Report, Commander?”
“We’re down to eight rail gun turrets, and we had a few more chunks taken out of our hull. But as we took them head on, main propulsion and power are both fully operational, as is the jump drive.”
“I’ll bet our underside isn’t pretty. Nice move, by the way.”
“Thanks.”
“Where are we?”
“Thirty-eight light minutes from Haven, on a course headed out of the system at quarter light. As best we can tell, the enemy ship has not yet detected our new position. Theoretically, it should take at least another twenty minutes before we will appear on their sensors.”
“But we can’t be sure of that,” Nathan pointed out.
“Sir?” Cameron asked, a bit confused.
“We don’t really know their sensor capabilities.”
“But the speed of light is constant, regardless-”
“Yes, of course. But let’s just assume that they have much better detection capabilities. Better to err on the side of caution at this point.”
Cameron was shocked. It was the first time she had ever seen Nathan take the safe route. “Yes, sir.”
“Abby, how soon can we jump again?”
“We’re at ninety percent capacity, Captain. And I already have a jump plotted that would take us back to the point where we originally entered this system. We can jump at any time. Up to nine light years if necessary.”
“Very well.”
“Captain,” Jessica interrupted. “The Ta’Akar are obviously actively pursuing us. If Tug’s right about this Caius guy-”
“Ready room, Jess,” Nathan ordered, pointing toward the back of the bridge. “Cam, join us?”
Jessica immediately realized that although she had been relatively free to disagree with Nathan on Haven, on board, decorum dictated otherwise.
“Who’s Caius?” Cameron asked as she followed Nathan and Jessica into the captain’s ready room. “And who are the Ta’Akar, for that matter?”
“The Takarans,” Nathan told her. “Apparently we were mispronouncing their name.”
“And Caius?”
“I’m pretty sure he’s some kind of leader. A dictator, or a king, maybe?” Jessica explained. “If what Tug was saying is true, then the Ta’Akar will stop at nothing to find us and capture our jump drive.”
“Who is Tug?” Cameron asked, feeling more and more out-of-the-loop with each passing moment.
“The farmer we bought the molo from,” Nathan answered.
“I’m pretty sure he’s more than a farmer,” Jessica added.
“Apparently he was a fighter pilot at some point,” Nathan explained to Cameron as he sat down. “Damaged in battle, drifted, ended up stranded on Haven and became a farmer.”
“Oh, I think there’s more to him than he’s lettin’ on,” Jessica insisted. “I was in his kitchen, just after they captured him and killed his wife.”
“What?” Cameron was getting more lost by the minute. “What the hell happened down there?”
Jessica continued, ignoring Cameron’s remarks. “I heard them talking about how they would be decorated for capturing him alive. ‘By Caius himself,’” she explained. “Now tell me, how would the capture of a simple fighter jock warrant a personal commendation by their exalted leader?'
“You think he’s somebody important?”
“I think he’s at least somebody they want captured or killed, that’s for damned sure. And that leads me to my next question,” she added. “Was there a reason Tug was the guy we ended up doing business with?”
Nathan looked at her. The thought had crossed his mind more than once over the past few hours. But until now it was nothing more than an unsubstantiated suspicion. He reached over and hit his comm-button. “Comm, call medical. Have them send Jalea and Tug up here, ASAP.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And send Abby in as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you need Abby for?” Cameron wondered aloud.
“Tug told us something about a power source that was being developed by the Ta’Akar. Something that could provide limitless power. He said they have nearly finished it.”
Abby entered the ready room a moment later. “You asked to see me, Captain?”
“Yes, Doctor. Once before, you said that the range of the jump drive was only limited by the amount of power we were currently able to put into it. Is that true?”
“Theoretically, yes. If given enough power, as well as the ability to accurately calculate a long distance jump, you could jump between galaxies as easily as you would between stars. It would be a bit more difficult in practice, however. Why do you ask?”
“Theoretically, if we had access to a power source that was say, a hundred times more powerful than what we’re currently using, would that help get us back to Earth any faster?”
“Yes, if it could be properly interfaced and calibrated to work with our systems. It might be of use.”
“How much use?”
“You’re asking me to make a lot of guesses, here, Captain.”
“Indulge me, please.”
“With a hundred times more power, we might be able to get back in a few jumps. Maybe even one.”
“So, home in days or weeks instead of months, correct?”
“If everything went correctly, yes, it is possible.” Abby looked at him for a moment. “Are you saying you have access to such a power source?”
“We have intelligence that suggests there may be something of this nature in existence out here,” he admitted.
“Captain,” Abby urged. “If we could find and utilize this power source, the advantage that the jump drive would provide the Earth would be increased exponentially.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Nathan told her. “Thank you, Doctor. That’s all for now.”
Abby looked in each of their eyes as she turned to leave. There was obviously far more going on than she knew about. But the news of a potential power source gave her hope for the first time in a week. Hope that she might still return to her husband and children once again.
“Nathan,” Cameron started after Abby left. “That might explain why we came out with so little damage-and why they didn’t fire any nukes this time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“They wanted to capture us,” Jessica interrupted. “To get our jump drive. They know about the jump drive.”
“Then Tug was right,” Nathan said, plopping down in his chair.
“You are sure they will be well cared for?” Tug was not happy about having to leave his daughters in the care of strangers, especially after having just lost their mother.
“They are good people,” Jalea promised him.
“You have only known them for a handful of days, Jalea,” he reminded her as they left medical en route to see the captain.
“Yet in that short time, we have been through much together.” She noticed Tug looking back to medical as they left. “The doctor is well trained, and their injuries are minor.”
“But their technology is primitive,” he worried.
“Not all of it,” she reminded.
“Yes. This jump drive the captain spoke of. Does it really work as he claims?”
