“Put our boats on high alert. Let's hit him hard the moment he pops his nose up. Though I’d like to take him alive if we could.”
“Aye, commander.”
……
“Captain, the BG ship has a lock on us,” said Katy.
“Koba,” said Jolo, “window?”
“22 seconds.”
The BG ship began maneuvering. Slowly circling.
“Katy, keep our forward shields facing the cruiser,” said Jolo.
Then he looked at Koba.
“15 seconds,” said the scientist.
The BG cruiser came through the intercom. "Stolen Federation gunboat. I have authorization to use deadly force."
"Please hold your fire," said Jolo. "We are going to surrender."
"Why are my scanners picking up warp field generation signs?"
"We are having problems with the engines. And we have no engineer. Please just give us a moment to fix the problem. We will surrender to you."
Jolo looked at Koba again. And then Koba nodded. "We are in," he said.
"Why are you generating a warp field?" said the BG pilot. "I'm not going to wait to find out. No more stalling. Now you all will die." And then he closed the comm channel.
Jolo called down to engineering. “Hurley, engage the jump drives!” Then he sat down and gripped the edges of the arm rests, waiting for the jump.
But nothing happened.
Then Hurley’s voice came over the comm: “Can’t,” he said. “Ain’t got enough juice.” Jolo stood up again, took a deep breath.
“Koba, lower all shields,” he said. Koba hesitated. “Now!” Jolo yelled.
“Try again,” he said to Hurley, never taking his eyes off the BG cruiser.
A few seconds passed, Jolo still staring at the enemy boat, waiting for the jump drives to engage, and then the forward plasma guns on the BG boat suddenly went from gray to bright blue and for a second Jolo couldn’t see the black ship anymore, just a bright flash. The Jessica rocked and he was thrown to the ground. Then screams from the storage hold, as a burning smell hung in the tingling, crackling air around them. They’re going for the fuel cells, Jolo thought. The Jessica was designed to withstand a beating, especially from energy weapons, but a direct hit with no shields was another story. They couldn’t take another hit, Jolo thought.
“Katy, what’s the status?” But she did not reply. She was sprawled out the deck with a gash on her forehead.
The lights on the bridge dimmed, replaced by an orange pulse as the ship went into energy conservation mode. “Enemy ship is locked on,” the onboard computer announced. “Hull integrity compromised. Survival odds: one in seven. Further damage via plasma energy weapon will reduce survival odds to one in six hundred seventy two thousand…”
“Raise the shields!” yelled Koba, climbing back into his chair.
“No!” yelled Jolo.
Koba looked back defiantly, his glasses hanging off his face at an odd angle, then started to reach for the console next to him. “I’m raising the shields,” he said.
Jolo didn’t have time to grab the man so he did the next best thing: he shot him.
The bullet went right through Koba’s hand and shattered the console screen. Koba screamed and fell to the ground as both BG ships came into view. Jessica couldn’t take another hit.
And then his whole body moved slightly and the air around him changed. It was as if time had stopped—as if his breathing had stopped. And suddenly the stars in the view port were gone. He couldn't move and he couldn't speak. Was this the end? he wondered. The BG ships had fired the kill shots.
But there were no more explosions. No more screaming. And then he remembered this odd feeling in his body, this strange movement. He’d done this before. His body knew it. This was light speed. They were making the jump.
The ship came out of warp in the Marvis system as the Jessica’s onboard computer repeated, “Fire. Fire in lower deck, rear galley. Life support systems at forty-two percent.”
Jolo ran to Katy, who was still on the floor. She opened her eyes and he said, “We made it out.” She smiled and put her hand to her bleeding head.
“Greeley,” Jolo yelled through the comm, “send a med bot to the bridge.” He looked over at Koba, who was curled up under his burning console and said, “Check that. Two med bots.”
“Roger that,” the older Greeley said.
Jolo checked Katy’s console and located the fire.
“Uh, other Greeley,” he said. “There’s a fire near engineering in the rearward galley. Seal that area off so I can vent it out into space,” said Jolo.
“On it,” the younger Greeley replied.
Jolo could hear screams from the storage area where the refugees from Qualus were. “Everyone okay down there?”
“It got hot, but we’re fine,” came Berg’s voice.
“Keep them calm and I’ll be down in a minute.”
Then Jolo called down to engineering. “Hurley, you okay?” Jolo said.
“A little dinged, but still breathing.”
A few minutes later the Greeley’s had done their job and Jolo vented the fire into space. The warning lights went out and the bridge lights came on. The two med bots started working on Katy and Koba. Jolo stared out through the port screen.
It was Hurley’s idea to jump to Marvis. The thick gas clouds interfered with Fed scanners and would give them a little time to plan their next move. Jolo could see nothing but purple and orange. He checked Katy’s console and there were no ships in the area except for a lonely frigate on the edge of the scanner’s range, but it was gone in a second as it jumped to another section. They were alone and Jessica was still in one piece.
Jolo called down to Berg. “We’re in the clear for now,” he said. And then Jolo heard more yelling. “Everything okay?”
“Oh, we are
