One side of her face twisted. “Iguess not. So where are we going?”
“To see Anthony. This old girlneeds major repairs.” He spoke affectionately about the ship. “And take iteasy with that stuff. It could be a while before anyone gets back up here. Idon’t want to see you rolling around the floor drunk.”
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Chapter twentyfive
The hours dragged; the rumhelped. John’s headache eased but was replaced by a stuffiness that onlyseemed to get worse. It wasn’t just his head. The warmth he was experiencinghad nothing to do with the rum or McReidy’s company. He ran a finger aroundthe inside of his collar and wiped the back of his hand across his brow.
The bridge was quiet; the crewwere taking well deserved breaks. Sick bay and engineering were working flatout. He talked freely with McReidy. Communications were linked to securityand they were running through navigation and he kept glancing at the console.
“There’s nothing out there,” sheassured him.
“We can’t lead anything back tothe jump gate.”
“If anything was going as slow asus, they’d take us out,” she feigned lightness.
He rolled his eyes.
She turned serious. “We woulddeserve it.”
“Yeah…” He glanced at theconsole again and leaned back in his seat.
“We’ve got life support back.” Kowalski’s voice over John’s communicator seemed out of place for a moment inthe closed atmosphere of the bridge.
“Thank you, Mister Kowalski.” John breathed a sigh of relief. His voice was calm, as though he had expectedthe outcome all along. It showed the confidence he had in his engineers. Anydoubts he had were well hidden. Except from McReidy – or so he was beginningto suspect.
“Only problem is,” Kowalskicontinued, “we’ve lost climate control and these engines aren’t going to holdup.”
“Meaning?”
“It’s going to get pretty hot inhere. Engines are overloaded and we blew a few crystals. They’re going tohave to be replaced. But look on the bright side.”
“What bright side?” John wasimmediately suspicious when Kowalski sounded so chirpy.
“At least you didn’t melt thecore like you did with Magellan.”
John caught McReidy’s smilebefore he answered. “Just get on with it,” he growled.
* * *
It was several hours later beforeany of the crew returned to the bridge. The bottle of rum, which had alreadybeen started on another occasion, was nearly half empty. As John heard thebridge door open, he grabbed it and stuffed it inside his jacket before anyonehad time to see.
“Want to finish it off tonight?”he whispered to McReidy.
“Only if you’ve got some Coke togo with it.”
“I can find some.”
He was glad to be relieved by afully alert crew. Giacomo’s eyes were clear and the colour had returned, Tan wasas staid as ever and Gillespie rarely looked rattled. Humphries and Hartford hesitated just inside the bridge door.
“Helm… navigation,” John pointedto Humphries and Hartford in turn.
The both acknowledged and tooktheir positions.
“Giacomo, you’re in charge.”
“Yes, sir.”
John knew better than to allowhimself to become intoxicated. That was something he intended doing off duty. He wondered, as he left the bridge, if any of the crew suspected anything. Hecould hear the rum sloshing around in the bottle with each step he took. Noone had any reason to suspect anything. Even if they did, they weren’t braveenough to say so.
He needed a good look at hisship. She’d taken a battering, but so had the crew. He left the bottle in hisquarters and headed to sick bay.
It was quiet – the way he likedit. Beds were full – the way he didn’t like it.
Case was asleep, one arm bandagedfrom his fingers up past his elbow. Gunston was helping Lynn off a bed andonto her feet. She slumped as she tried to take her weight and he caught her.
“I’m okay,” she tried to brushhim away.
Brenda was sporting a stickingplaster on her forehead as she read North’s chart and pushed his chest backdown as he tried to sit up. A few others were in various states ofconsciousness or injury.
He made his way to Case – andshouldn’t have been surprised that the doctor came up behind him.
“Solder burns.”
John nodded.
“He’s the worst.”
“Permanent?” John dreaded to ask.
“Ugly scar, but doesn’t seem tobe any real nerve damage. I won’t know until it heals properly.”
“I’ve gotta get back to work,”North insisted, his voice carrying across sick bay.
“You’re not going anywhere for atleast another hour,” Dunlop told him.
At the doctor’s glare, North gaveup and flopped back onto the bed. Brenda smirked at him and he folded his armsacross his chest and looked away.
Dunlop turned his attention backto John, his voice quiet. “What happened?”
“We got jumped.”
Putting it into words, Johnrealised it wasn’t anyone’s fault. As much as they could strategise and plotenemy ships, they simply had no way of knowing where anything was. The enemy’sforces were still unknown and Fleet and its allies were relying on fragments ofinformation. Natural phenomena, unpredictabilities and alien technologiesbeyond their own only added to the lack of knowledge.
“I’ll leave you to it.”
The doctor moved away as silentlyas he’d approached.
John took another look aroundsick bay before heading to engineering. They were working around the clock inshifts. Red had things under control. Kowalski was having a catnap, curled upin a corner relatively out of the way. Lorraine was sitting against a wallwith her knees up. An elbow propped on one knee and her cheek was resting inher palm.
“Lorraine,” Red caught sight ofher. “I told you go and get some rest.”
Lorraine lifted her head andthrew her arm towards the core. “Anna can’t do it on her own.”
John followed her movement towhere the science officer was wiring something together.
“I’ll talk her through it,” Redinsisted. “You go and get some rest.”
Lorraine looked to John. Hewasn’t going to override Red.
“All right,” Lorraine lifted herhands in defeat. “I’m going.”
She sat there for a moment, sheerexhaustion taking its toll, before she moved.
“Hartford’s on the bridge,” Johntold Red. “I can swap him out with Anna.”
He could have suggestedGillespie, but with McReidy and himself off the bridge, he didn’t want to leavethem short.
Red shook his head. Sweat wasbeginning to bead and sprayed off him. “Nah, she’s doing all right. She’sbeen in here a bit and she’s
