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“Status!” barked the Captain as he came through the bridge doors. He was in civilian clothes like the rest of us and looking highly irritated as he sat in his center command chair.
“Communications silent. I have runners positioned for any essential messages,” Katake snapped out. He was the communications specialist.
“Engineering silent. It is set for me to rev the Star Light up from here sir. If need be,” Labrowski said.
“Science department is silent, sir,” Jewel stated from her station. I was next in line.
“Silent, position holding so far sir,” I reported. Natural currents of space would slowly cause us to start drifting, without thrusters to correct us. The Captain knew that of course. I saw him nod to himself as I reported.
“Running multiple course projections, nothing locked in sir,” Tara reported.
“Weapons off line, security patrolling the corridors. Set silent running security level 2 sir!” Johnson reported.
“Ok then what do we know? Jewel, anything?” said the Captain.
Jewel nodded slightly. She was very dedicated to her job and providing information for the rest of us to use was her passion.
“Well sir, we cannot do any scans because they might be noticed. But the basic standard magnification can tell us a lot. I had the computer take a still from the images on the screen and enlarge it.” The Captain gestured towards the screen and the live shot of the enemy was replaced with a close-up of one of the ships.
“Firstly, these are not Mucusto ships. This is something new. Now, from the design, my guess is the whole back half is engine. I have not seen something like this before but it speaks to a waste of space, thus a lower technology engineering wise than the Star Light,” said Jewel.
I almost snorted. Of course it was not as good as the Star Light.
“Look at these shadows here, and here, on the hull,” said Jewel. She continued highlighting the sections she meant. Commander Johnson Tello spoke up.
“Am I getting old or are those weapons ports?” he said. “I have never seen them so economical.”
Jewel nodded in response to the engineer.
“That is the analysis I have so far,” she said. “The design of it and these other spots here and here, look like smaller versions of weapons ports. So if we are correct and those are weapons ports, they have a lot of them.”
Great, I thought sarcastically. Tara and I exchanged a nervous look.
“Thank you for your work Jewel,” said the Captain. “I know with everything on silent running we have very little information to go on. Let’s look at what we have: Their ships have cheap engines, but expensive weapons. Risky idea to us, but what could that mean?”
There was silence as we considered. I considered it stupid to have such uneven capabilities in a ship’s design. Katake cleared his throat.
“I see it a couple of ways Captain. They are either uninterested in how bumpy the ride as long as they can do some damage when they get to their destination; or they have had bad experiences with other races and have become paranoid enough to go around armed to the teeth. Neither is a comforting prospect.”
The Captain looked at him a long moment.
“Like those ranchers on the Rim planets?” he said. “The ones who have been raided so many times they have built up armories for self-defense?”
Katake nodded. It was an interesting thought. Unfortunately without more information we could not be sure.
“Katake I want you to prepare an information capsule back to the nearest star dock. Include everything we know and the packet I gave you,” said the Captain. Katake nodded.
“Of course sir. I already have it ready to go as soon as—”
Suddenly, a loud voice interrupted over the speakers.
“Captain! Captain! I know you can hear me. How dare you tell a diplomat of the Alliance to stand down. It is my job to diffuse any war footing situation and shutting me out of any alien contact is against protocol! Captain I demand you answer me!”
The voice was that of Ambassador Churlish, who was on board our ship to handle diplomacy with the Mucusto. Somehow, the pompous bastard had found some way to communicate with the bridge. We gritted our teeth. Captain Merlock muted the Diplomat and pointed at Johnson. He sent two security men out, presumably to shut the Ambassador up. We all looked at Katake and he had his hands spread staring at his control panel.
“What the hell!” I heard him whisper savagely. Then I glanced over to Jewel as did the Captain. Jewel was intently studying something on her screen. Suddenly she pointed to the main screen. I spun back to facing forward and saw the small ships on the screen looking bigger. Their course had changed, they were coming toward us.
“Captain, we just received a full scan. We’ve been seen. They’re arming weapons,” Jewel said.
“Light her up!” the Captain barked.
I began working my controls. The engine was starting up and it would be a minute before I could move us anywhere. Weapons too had a start-up time. I could hear the systems coming online with a comfortable hum. The bridge lights lit up, and the bridge was once again how I preferred it. Almost.
“Diplomat Churlish, you have just broken silent running and as result, we now have a very large number of alien vessels training their weapons on us. Please stand by, I am busy!”
The Captain muted the speakers again.
“Jewel, are they really training their weapons on us?”
“Yes sir.”
“Loneway? Talkner?”
“I am plotting several escape courses sir,” Tara told him. “I believe there was an asteroid belt not far back and we could be there in minutes at top speed. Routing navigational information to Pilot.”
Her figures reached my console and I studied them and realized there were few possibilities with that huge alien armada in front of us.
“Loneway?” the Captain questioned.
“Working on it sir. Engineer how long before I can have full power? Anything less won’t get us away in time.”
I heard him grunt in response.
“Ah...one minute until I can give you full power,” he replied. That worked for me although it was cutting things close.
“Loneway?” The Captain questioned again. “They are getting close Commander.”
“Yes sir. I can go as soon as the power is fully online, sir.”
I did my own course plotting and realized what I was going to have to do.
“Let me know Labrowski,” grunted the Captain.
I glanced at Labrowski. He was paying attention to his control panel, just like the rest of us. I set everything I needed to preset so all I would have to do is little bits of steering, hopefully. Glancing up I could see the ships on the screen getting bigger as they got closer. Those were not small ships. I could see the weapons ports clearly now and they looked deadly. I glanced at the countdown. It was almost time.
“All yours Lieutenant!” Labrowski called.
“Got it, going, hold on!” I called to everyone as I jammed the throttle controls to maximum and twisted the whole ship on its side, pointing down spatially speaking. The inertial controls were strained and we all jerked to the side and then back as we shot straight down. I did a slow count to three, keeping us corkscrewing, avoiding plasma fires an. Then I completely swapped the directional engines. The ship flipped, pointing back up, and shot straight at the bellies of the strange alien crafts. Those ships were frantically trying to get out of the way.
“Fire weapons!” the Captain yelled.
“Weapons firing!” Commander Tello returned. It cleared the way and we shot through the crowded space. They were now completely disorganized and unable to target us, so we continued spinning as I brought us to even keel, shooting back along our path. We soon were far ahead of any pursuit, and moving along Tara's course to the asteroids. I kept us steady for the few minutes it took to get there, as the other stations all were shutting down the alarm whistles that had gone off with my unexpected maneuvers. Engineer Labrowski was cursing.
“The engines are too new for that kind of stress. What were you thinking Loneway?”
I remained silent continuing my flight.
“Go down and check on the engines, Chief. Let me know how we stand,” the Captain told him in a firm voice.
I checked the screen and there was no pursuit close. I sighed and allowed myself to take a deep breath. Tara shot me a look and kept herself busy.
“Ok, we bought ourselves some time,” said the Captain. “I want to stay close enough to keep an eye on them without risking ourselves. We are the only ship out here and need to be cautious.”
I felt that last part was directed at me. I was just getting my heart rate back to normal, but I couldn't help smiling inwardly. I’d pulled off the Tornado Twist. Another thing off of my bucket list!
“Set up a tight wave to Star Dock HQ and relay all information and keep your ears open,” said the Captain. “We are going to partial silence. I do not want to get caught without power again, understood people?”
“Aye aye Captain,” we all answered.
“Good. Pilot I want a word. Tello take the chair. I will be going to have a conversation with the Ambassador. If anyone needs me, feel free to please interrupt.”
He got a chuckle out of most of the bridge crew. I kept my mouth shut. I sent for a backup and one came from the pilots’ ready room. I stood.
“Relieving Pilot,” I said meeting the new pilot’s eyes.
“Pilot relieved,” he answered.
I followed the Captain to his office looking at my feet. I was actually glad my hair was loose. It covered my face.