more than half. But the external comm array is damaged, so I am missing status information on at least half of the emitters.
“Well,” Nathan said, “I guess the next question is, how do the Takarans treat prisoners?”
“No prisoners. Takar execute all rebels.” Jalea answered solemnly.
“I don’t like the sound of that either,” Cameron added.
“Rebels?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah, I was getting to that,” Jessica explained. “Seems these people are part of a rebellion against an oppressive regime. Nasty people, from what she tells me. They’ve been fighting them for decades, and have nearly lost everything. I’m not sure, but it sounds to me like we arrived just in time to save their butts. They had lost twenty ships before we jumped into the middle of it and took out that warship.”
“When did you…” Nathan began to ask.
“…We talked on the way up,” she interrupted.
“Well, that explains why they want to help us,” Nathan realized.
“Yeah, they want our ship for their little war,” Cameron said under her breath. She wasn’t sure how well Jalea understood English and didn’t want her to be aware of her suspicions.
“Or maybe they’re just looking for an ally?” Nathan offered.
“To be honest, Sir,” Jessica interrupted. I don’t think they knew what to expect when they came aboard. They tried to hail us first, but got no answer.”
“Comms were down,” Cameron reminded him.
“Is there enough room in the hangar bay for the rest of the rebel ships?” he asked Cameron, an idea brewing in his head.
“Yeah, I think so, If we park them tight, they’re a bit bigger than a fleet tactical shuttle, but they should fit.”
“Doctor, will the additional mass of those ships affect your jump calculations?”
“Not at all. The transition system uses the same mass canceling technology as the FTL system.”
“Jalea, have all your ships land in our hangar bay,” Nathan told her.
“This is not a good idea,” Cameron warned him. “You heard what she said-part of the ship might jump?”
“Better than all of us being executed,” he argued.
“I’m with her, Sir,” Jessica agreed. “Besides, I don’t like the idea of taking on who knows how many more rebels.”
“How many people on your ships,” Nathan asked Jalea.
“Twenty, I think. But I not understand,” she added.
“Twenty? I can’t watch twenty of them,” I’ve only got six guys right now, and four of them aren’t even combat trained.”
“Keep them in the hangar bay for now. I doubt they’re going to want to keep all their ships bottled up for long after we jump anyway. I know I wouldn’t,” Cameron explained.
Nathan looked at Jessica, who finally resigned to the inevitable. “You’re the boss.”
“You can have my two marines, if it makes you feel better?” Nathan offered.
“Naw, better you keep’em, in case something goes horribly wrong,” she advised.
“Why you want ships here?” Jalea asked again, confused.
“If you bring the ships here, I can get us all far away from the Takaran ships,” Nathan explained.
“I must speak with Marak,” she told him, pulling a small communication device from her pocket. Nathan indicated to her that it was alright, and she began explaining the situation as best she understood it to Marak. Although they could not understand what was being said, it was obvious that Marak was not enthusiastic about the idea.
“Marak, he not want do this. He not understand why?” Jalea told him.
“Trust me, I can get us out of here, like that,” he told her, snapping his fingers.
“How? Your ship not move,” she insisted.
“It’s complicated,” he told her. “Hell, I don’t even understand it myself,” he mumbled. “You just need to trust me.”
She said nothing, only looked into Nathan’s eyes.
“We’re going, with or without your people,” he warned. “In?” he asked, turning to Cameron.
“Thirteen minutes.”
“Thirteen minutes,” he finished. “So if you don’t want to go, you and Marak better leave now, before it’s too late.”
After another pause, Jalea resumed her argument with Marak over her communicator. Only this time, she seemed to be arguing in support of Nathan’s plan. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she switched channels on her communicator, apparently giving instructions to the rest of their ships.
“They will come,” she assured him.
“Great!” Nathan exclaimed, happy to have a plan to act upon. “Jess, get some people down to the hangar bay to guide them in. And keep them all there.”
“Yes Sir,” she acknowledged as she turned to head for the exit.
“Captain,” Doctor Sorenson interrupted. “It might be safer if I actually had a destination this time.”
“Can you plot a jump that quickly?”
“It’s not really a plot,” she explained. “I have to write an algorithm that will control the entire process so that our jump is for the correct distance. The course will have to be plotted by your navigator.”
“I guess that would still be me,” Cameron volunteered, knowing that there was no one else available.
“Well then, can you write the algorithm that quickly?” Nathan asked the Doctor.
“I can write it, yes. But there will not be enough time to verify its accuracy.”
“I can live with that. Jalea,” Nathan asked. “We need somewhere to go, a place to hide while we make repairs. Somewhere close. Do you know of such a place?”
“I think, yes. Korak,” she told him.
“Korak?”
“KOO-rahk,” she corrected.
“Great! Don’t really care how you say it,” he mumbled. “Show her,” he told Jalea, pointing toward Doctor Sorenson. “Kaylah, can you help them figure it out?”
“It looks like we’re currently in a system that’s part of a five star cluster,” Cameron explained, pointing to a chart displayed on the tactical station in front of her and Nathan. It had taken a few minutes to figure out what Jalea had been describing. But with Kaylah’s help, they were able to put together a rough plot. “It’s pretty small, considering. Only about eight light years in diameter. And if I’m understanding her correctly, there’s gotta be at least a dozen inhabited worlds scattered throughout the entire cluster.”
“I’ve never even heard of such a system,” Nathan commented. “Where the hell are we?”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Cameron admitted. “I know one thing, we sure aren’t in the core.”
Nathan had come to the same conclusion the moment that Jessica had told them about the rebellion. That was surely something that Fleet intelligence would’ve known about. And to their knowledge, the entire core and most of the fringe worlds were controlled by the Jung Dynasty. And they would not have allowed someone like the Takarans to rule over such a system in their own backyard.
“Do we have a destination?” he asked.
“Well, we’re currently in the primary component of a binary system,” she explained, pointing at the display. Over here is the secondary component, Korak, about one point five light years away. It’s small, only one gas giant orbiting a red dwarf. Dozens of moons, one of them inhabited, some sort of mining colony. The system is mostly an asteroid field beyond that, and a pretty dense one so it’s a good place to hide. She says that if we’re lucky we can hide out there for at least a few days. There are one or two Takaran ships in that system, smaller ones, like the ones that are inbound now. But Jalea says that it would take at least a couple of days for word of us to reach them. I guess they have some kind of really fast comm-relay probes that can go like a hundred times light or something. But, at least there won’t be anyone looking for us for a few days. And since the asteroid field is so dense, unless they’re watching for us, they’re not likely to notice when we jump in.”
“Yeah, they wouldn’t be expecting that, would they,” he chuckled. “Then I guess that’s our destination. At
