‘close-in-arrival’ would be, to us or to any nearby objects.”
“Don’t worry, Doctor. I have no intention of finding out,” he assured her as he turned to go to his ready room.
The skies of Corinair were thick with air traffic, as ships of every possible size and design darted back and forth between the surface and her orbital platforms.
“Is it just me, or does it seem like there’s a lot more traffic than there was yesterday?” Loki observed.
“Yeah there is,” Josh agreed. “I’m actually glad they use auto-landing systems today. I’d hate to have to try and navigate through all of this.”
“Yeah, and most of it is outbound,” Loki added. “In fact, nearly all of it is outbound.”
“I don’t like the looks of this,” Marcus commented from behind them. He had been looking between their seats out the front windows for the last few minutes.
Josh looked over his shoulder. Despite the old-timer’s many failings, he had grown to trust the man’s instincts about such matters. “You think something is bugger?”
“When this many people react the same way, it’s usually only one of two things,” Marcus said. “Something really good, or something really bad.” Loki also turned to look at Marcus. “My money’s always on bad.”
“Yes?” Jalea answered into her comm-unit.
“Jalea?” Loki called through the unit. “Is that you?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“We’re in the upper atmosphere now. Should be touching down in about half an hour.”
“The supplies are already there waiting for you. We’ll be there by the time you finish loading.”
“Copy that. You got any idea what the hell’s going on down there?”
“What do you mean?”
“Ships are leaving the surface in swarms! But not many are returning by the looks of it.”
“I do not know, but I will attempt to discern the cause.”
“Just be sure you get to the port quickly. I have a feeling that we don’t want to be hanging around when whatever is about to happen actually happens.”
“Agreed,” she said, as she unceremoniously ended the call and replaced the comm-unit into her jacket pocket.
“What was that all about?” Tug asked.
“We need to hasten our departure from Corinair,” she told him, trying not to appear overly concerned.
“Why? What has happened?”
“I do not know. But I suspect we will soon find out,” she told him as she quickly gathered her few things.
Nathan stepped quietly into the ready room. As the comm-officer had guessed, she was asleep on the couch. Between her, Cameron, and himself, that couch was going to wear out in a hurry. He moved silently over to his desk and sat, after which he activated the small monitor on the corner of the desk itself.
First he checked the reports. As usual, the most thorough and informative reports were the ones submitted by Cameron. As suspected, she had turned out to be a fine executive officer, always staying on top of every detail of the ship’s operation. From her reports, he knew that all of the rail guns were not only operational, but their rate of fire and rail velocities had also been improved. However, with the increased rates of fire, their ammunition levels were more dangerously low than before. The commander’s estimates showed that, given the average length of each engagement thus far, they only had enough point-defense rounds for one engagement, maybe two if they were relatively short. This reality greatly troubled Nathan, since it meant that they could not maintain a toe-to-toe slug- out for long. The good news was that, as far as solid kinetic rounds went, they had plenty. In addition, their relatively simple design meant they could manufacture additional rounds in respectable quantity if needed. Nathan suspected that the raw ores left over from their harvesting operation in the Haven system would provide the materials needed.
The bad news was that, although two of the four torpedo launch tubes were again operational, there were no more torpedoes left for them to shoot. Despite the rather adaptable design of the tubes, they were unlikely to acquire ordnance to launch from them.
With no shields, no long-range standoff weapons, and little more than kinetic rounds for the rail guns, Nathan didn’t see how they could ever hope to take on anything more powerful than a patrol frigate. And even then, only if they were lucky. The only trick he had up his sleeve was the jump drive, and that trick might get old really fast.
Nathan just didn’t see how he could justify involving the Aurora in the fight against the Ta’Akar, despite the potential benefits to Earth should the Karuzari actually win the war. Even worse was that he didn’t know how he was going to break the news to Tug. He could tell that the old warrior was counting on him to at least give them a fighting chance once again. Although they had not yet talked about it, Nathan felt sure that using the Aurora’s jump drive to capture a Ta’Akar vessel of at least the size and firepower of a frigate had to be the rebel leader’s first objective.
Nathan also suspected that he would not have to tell Tug. The man was a seasoned veteran of armed conflict. In fact, he had considerably more experience than Nathan, as did everyone else for that matter. He wondered if Tug would even ask him to do such a thing, considering the reality.
Looking at Jessica asleep on his couch, he also wondered how the only true one-night stand he had ever had ended up to be one of his most trusted officers, and friends. The young ensign was probably the toughest woman he had ever known. In fact, she was one of the toughest people he had ever known. She had in fact saved his ass, as well as the ship, on more than one occasion.
Having her on his side definitely made him feel better as he finished reading the status reports and started skimming through the video files collected by Sig-Int once again.
Tug and Jalea found the walkways more crowded than expected. There were groups of people standing around talking energetically. Some were even arguing. There were people huddled together, crying. And there were more than a few people carrying large makeshift signs, with phrases like ‘The Legend Has Come True’ or ‘The End Is Upon Us’.
Tug grabbed Jalea’s hand and led her through the crowds, weaving between the different groups of people. As they made their way, they were nearly pulled into a melee between a group of followers of the Order and a gang of young men, all of which were supporters of the Doctrine. They managed to pull away and escape just in time to avoid being swept up in a mass arrest as armed riot police began to descend upon the crowd from troop carriers hovering overhead.
After much difficulty, they managed to make their way up the stairs to the monorail platform. Once at the top, they could see that there was little hope of getting through the crowd of people waiting to get on the next car headed toward the spaceport.
As the next car approached the platform, Jalea, who was pushed up against the side railing, pulled out her small handgun, pointed it in the air and fired off three quick shots, sending energy blasts across the heads of the crowd. Before anyone could see where the shots were coming from, she dropped the weapon over the side, letting it fall into the bushes below.
The crowd panicked, making a mad dash for the exit. By the time the car arrived, most of the crowd had fled the platform for the ground below. Tug and Jalea quickly made their way onto the car, along with the few members of the crowd that had not fled in panic. Even with most of the crowd pouring down the exit stairs, those remaining quickly filled the car to standing room only by the time the doors closed and the car sped away.
“Stay near the exit,” Tug warned her. “Do not let them force you off until we reach the spaceport.” Jalea nodded agreement. Luckily, the car operator understood the dangers of the crowded platforms and only opened the doors on the left side of the car, which opened to the exit side of the platform where there were no crowds. It was a pointless exercise, however, as it appeared that no one planned to get off the car until it reached at least the outskirts of the city.
One stop at a time, the operator let people off but did not take on any more passengers. Jalea quickly
