“Abby, start plotting me another jump out of here, just in case.”
Nathan scanned the helm displays as he took control of the ship. They were still on the same course and at the same speed. But they were five light minutes farther away from their last location than they should’ve been at their present speed. It wasn’t very far. In fact, Nathan hadn’t even realized that the jump drive could be used over such a short distance. It was, however, just enough to keep them comfortably out of reach of the Yamaro’s long- range missiles.
Doctor Chen and two crewmen entered the bridge and immediately went to Cameron’s side. Nathan kept looking out of the corner of his eye as the doctor struggled to keep his executive officer alive.
“Her right lung is collapsed, and her pressure is way down. She’s gotta be bleeding internally,” she stated as she finished her scan of Cameron’s body with her portable medical scanner. “Finish up that line and get her on oxygen. I’ve got to get her into surgery before she bleeds out.”
“Doctor,” Nathan said as he continued piloting the ship. “Is she gonna survive?”
“She’s in bad shape,” the young doctor admitted grimly. “I’ll do what I can.”
Nathan kept his eyes forward as they loaded her pale, motionless body onto the stretcher. She was a strong-willed, determined young woman, but now she was as limp as a rag doll. It crushed Nathan to see his friend in such a state.
Tug and Jalea entered the bridge in a hurry, obviously having rushed there directly from the hangar deck after they had landed. In their hurry, they nearly ran into the medical team carrying Cameron out on a stretcher. Tug’s expression immediately turned somber when he realized what was happening.
“Kaylah,” Nathan said calmly. “I need you back on your console.”
Kaylah looked at him. “Yes, sir,” she answered as she rose and climbed back into her chair.
“I need to know the position of that warship. I need to know if they’re still pursuing us.”
“Yes, sir. One moment.”
“Captain, I have an escape jump plotted to take us outside the system,” Abby reported.
“Engineering. Report,” Nathan called over his comms.
“No problems,” Vladimir reported over the comms. “All primary systems are functioning.”
“Abby?”
“We’re still good, Captain. Ninety-eight percent charged.”
“Jess?”
“Lost a couple rail guns along the port side, just forward of the primary bulkheads. But other than that, we’re good.”
“How about our point-defense rounds?”
“We can hold a field for maybe a minute before we run out. Still full up on kinetic rounds, and about ten percent of our explosive hull-penetrating rounds.” Jessica looked at Nathan. “Not much left to shoot with, I’m afraid.”
“Not that it matters much,” Nathan admitted. “With her missiles we’d never get close enough to be able to hit anything.”
“Captain,” Kaylah interrupted. “I’ve found the Ta’Akar warship, sir.”
“Is it still after us?”
“Negative sir, they’ve broken off pursuit. They’ve assumed a high orbit over Corinair.”
Oh God, Nathan thought.
“Captain,” Jalea began, “If they’re assuming a high orbit-”
“I know,” Nathan admitted.
“There are billions of innocent people on Corinair,” Jalea said.
“And there are millions of innocent people on my world as well!”
Josh and Loki peeked their heads in through the hatchway to the bridge, unsure if it was safe to enter due to all the shouting.
“Captain!” Kaylah announced. “The Yamaro is opening fire on Corinair, sir.”
“What?!” Josh cried. “Captain! We gotta do something!”
“Yeah, Captain,” Loki agreed. “They’ll be wiped out!”
“What can we do?” Nathan pleaded. “We’re just one ship. We’re not even heavily armed.”
Nathan looked in the eyes of his guests, and then in the eyes of his crew. Every one of them was scared: scared for the people of Corinair, scared for the people of Earth, and scared for themselves. All except for one. Tug’s eyes were sympathetic, as if he understood the pain than Nathan was going through. It was as if he had been through it himself.
Tug stepped forward, placing his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “Nathan,” he said softly. “I know that you are young. I know that this responsibility was not yours by choice. And I know that this task seems an impossible one. And you are right; you are but one ship, one small ship. But your ship has a miraculous device, the likes of which has never been seen. I know that you do not know how to use it just yet. But neither do they know how to defend against it. And that is your biggest advantage. Trust in me. Trust in yourself, just as we all do. Together, we can do this. We can save them all-both your people and mine.”
Nathan was more conflicted than he had ever been in his entire life. No matter which way he decided, he had both tactical and ethical justification. But none of that mattered to him at this moment. He knew that no matter what, he could not bring himself to jump away and leave billions of innocent people to die needlessly, even if it meant risking his own world.
Nathan looked at Jessica. “It seems that fate once again has me in its clutches,” he said, a slight smirk forming on the corner of his mouth. He turned toward Josh and Loki. “You two think you’re ready to fly this thing?”
“Hell yes,” Josh exclaimed, nearly falling over himself to get to the helm, Loki stumbling right behind him.
Jessica stepped up next to Nathan. “Don’t get me wrong-I hope Cameron’s gonna be all right and all-but it’s a good thing she’s not here right now, because she’d probably relieve you of command.”
“You’re right. She would,” he admitted. “And what about you?”
“Hey, you know me, skipper. I’m always ready to kick some ass.”
Nathan turned back to Tug. “What can you tell me about the Yamaro?”
“She’s a heavy cruiser, and she operates several squadrons of short-range attack fighters. She is armed with long-range missiles and short-range energy weapons, of which she has many. But her biggest strength is her shielding. She can project a shield barrier bubble at least two kilometers in all directions. She normally does this to allow maneuvering room for her fighters as they are launched and recovered.”
“How do the fighters get past the shields?”
“They can open and close small holes in the shields to let them in. But the shields are one way. That is, they only keep what is outside from coming in. They do not stop what is inside from getting out.”
“Is it possible to knock her shields out?”
“Not from the outside. You would have to be inside her shield perimeter. Then, it would be rather easy. Just take out enough of her emitters. She would not be able to maintain a proper shield and it would completely collapse. But there is no way to get close enough to even try.”
“I have an idea about that,” Nathan said as he moved closer to Abby and Deliza. “Abby, you said before that the new computer core that Deliza installed makes it possible for you to jump closer more accurately?”
“Yes, considerably so.”
“Does that mean you can jump closer to another object?”
“Yes, but-”
“How close?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Less than, say, two kilometers?”
“Less than one, I would think.”
“Could you jump us to say, five hundred meters off that warship?”
“Yes. I believe so.”
“Would that ships energy shields get in the way?”
“Not at all. When we jump, we are traveling in a different dimension. So matter from this dimension would
