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Logan eyeballed me as I entered the control room the following day. After seeing what he needed to, his face split into a grin and he slapped my shoulder.
"You're doing okay, Joe."
I slipped into my seat. "Maybe."
I triggered the Jump countdown and sat back. My busted-up hand was covered with another MediSkin patch, but the split had torn so unevenly I'd backed it up with a roll of tape, making it feel like I was wearing a boxing glove. McDole had marched off after our encounter with no explanation, leaving me wondering what had made her react that way. That said, it seemed to have knocked some sense back into me, and I wasn't thinking about airlocks anymore. Or at least not for now.
GJ 3379, more recently and presumptuously renamed Buang's Star by an Atoller who'd surveyed it, was under five light-years away from our current position. It was another dwarf star with little to distinguish it, other than it happened to be the nearest star in the constellation of Orion as seen from Earth.
From a colonization perspective, dwarf stars weren't great candidates. But they were more numerous than sun-like ones, and nothing we knew precluded them from having habitable planets, which made surveying them important. And if nothing else, they were useful stepping stones to other systems.
But, following Aurore's logic, many of them would be good candidates for large-scale orbital or free-floating habitats. It also occurred to me that as binary stars tended to have large debris fields, they'd make for easier access to raw materials too. If you're already in space, moving resources around costs next to nothing—the expensive part is getting things in and out of a gravity well. And that was true even with the Elevators and the other orbital technology we had available.
I'd taken the opportunity to get a solid six hours of sleep, so not only did I feel more rested, the darkness that had surrounded me had lifted to an extent. I could still feel it lurking at the back of my mind, but at least it had dropped away enough to allow me to function somewhat normally.
By now, the Jump seemed almost routine, and after cruising for half a day to recharge, we executed the same pattern of Jumps we'd taken around Ross-614. With no secondary star to complicate matters, the process was shorter this time. Buang may have attached his name to it, but as far as star systems went it was about as welcoming as a seat in a cactus patch.
After the analysis came up empty again, it was time to move on.
We jumped to GJ 3454 with at least some sense of optimism. Although this was another dwarf star, there was a PAC station located there. The system was known to have a number of planets and also held the most extensive debris belt yet found. Like Buang's Star, it had been labeled Learmonth by the Atolls, and the PAC had recognized this by naming their station after the new designation.
The Jump was short, so we had some power reserves, and I used them to bring us closer to the station. If the Sacagawea had gotten this far, the PAC would have almost certainly detected it. The star had a planetary system somewhat similar to Sol's with one substantial rocky planet, two small gas giants, and several smaller planetoids. Learmonth base was relatively close in, orbiting at around ninety-million kilometers in order to capture the star's feeble solar radiation. This also gave it easy access to the inner edge of the vast Etts debris field. As we approached, we picked up signals from a second source. It appeared the station had visitors already—a PAC vessel that identified as the PTN Kunan.
Most of the system was nestled within the one A.U. limit, which complicated our approach. I took the ship high above the equatorial region to find a route with less potential for debris then dropped back down once we were nearer to the station. By the time I'd finished we were close, but it wasn't what anyone would call convenient.
"Sixty-million kilometers. Comms lag about seven minutes round trip." I frowned at Logan. "Sorry, boss. Best I can do without risking a Jump problem."
Logan clasped his left hand around his fist. "Nature of the business. Send them a canned message that we intend to approach and will dock if they're willing."
He left with Hernandez, discussing other possible search strategies. I sent the message then set course at maximum speed and groaned when I saw the ETA.
"Three days." I shook my head.
"You'd think with all the power this ship has"—Aurore thumped the arm of her chair—"there'd be some way of getting around faster."
"If you think of something, be sure to let me know." I stood and stretched my back, feeling in need of another session with BRUCE. "I'm going to grab some food. Want to join me?"
"Might as well as my man seems to have abandoned me."
"He has a lot on his mind."
"Don't defend him, Joe. He's a big boy and can take care of himself." She grinned. "And so can I."
Sullivan and Dan were in the wardroom, sitting either side of the large display. They were playing a game of ZHexChess, and from the pieces left on the boards, Sullivan was losing badly.
He nodded at us, his concentration almost entirely focused on the chess board. After a pause, he moved one of his Marauders and leaned back with a confident glow on his face. But before his spine touched the seat, Dan worked his controls and one of his Reapers moved to lock onto Sullivan's Star Destroyer.
"Check and mate," Dan murmured. "That's another drink you owe me, kid."
"Damn it!" Sullivan slapped the table next to the screen. "You're impossible."
I waited while Aurore selected her meal and then grabbed one myself. She'd chosen some of the Atoll supplies, while I'd picked a laughingly named roast beef on rye sandwich that had never seen beef, and I was suspicious about the "rye" designation too.
Dan ambled out, leaving Sullivan with his head in his hands. "How does the old bastard do it?"
I opened my sandwich and waited for the steam to clear before taking a bite. "You on a losing streak?"
"Don't tease him, Joe." Aurore nibbled on her food.
"Every goddamn game. Whether it's chess, poker, or Jerundra Clash, he always does it." Sullivan slashed his hand at the controls to close the screen down. "I owe him a week's supply of booze now."
"Maybe you should challenge him at something you're good at," I said.
"Yeah, right." Sullivan clambered off his seat and headed for the door. "I was level seventy Jerundra during boot camp."
With that, he was gone too.
Aurore shrugged. "Sounds like a sore loser."
That might be true. But there was also something odd about it. I could see Dan winning at poker and maybe even chess—if you give credence to the idea that old age and treachery always beats youth and enthusiasm—but Jerundra was an alt-real twitch combat game. "If Sullivan's level seventy, then he's in the upper ten percent from what I know."
Aurore pursed her lips. "You're right. That's pretty much a semi-pro rating."
"How could someone Dan's age touch him?"
"Maybe Dan got lucky or the kid had a bad night." Aurore sipped on a tube of juice. "It happens."
I finished off my unsatisfactory sandwich and washed it down with some water. I wanted to be well hydrated for my intended workout, not riding a caffeine buzz.
"Time for me to do a robot beatdown," I said.
Aurore sipped from a tube of herbal tea. "Do you ever manage that?"
"Don't tell anyone, but I'm hoping to work up to a draw someday."
I was almost at the wardroom door when the main alarm sounded. I glanced at Aurore, then we both bolted up the corridor to the control room.
I dropped into my chair and checked the diagnostic screens as Aurore slid into her own seat. There was no sign of damage or malfunction.
Logan barreled in with Hernandez only steps behind him.
"What have we got?" Logan said, pulling up his own displays.
"Everything's in the green," I said. "Not even a power fluctuation."
"Check tactical," said Aurore. "I think there's something there."
"Huh?" I activated the display and everything looked normal at first glance. Then I saw it—a blip on the edge of the screen, barely inside our sensor range. "Is that a ship?"
"I think so." Aurore manipulated the sensor data. "No. Make that two."
"Transponder signals?"
I overlaid the sensor information on the main screen, combining it with the system map. The star was highlighted, surrounded by the glowing orbital paths of the planets and brighter tracks showing the location of the station and Kunan. Our position was at the center of the volume, while off to our starboard at long range two dots flashed red, with the designation "No-ID."
"I don't like this." Logan rubbed his jaw. "Light 'em up, Joe. Just in case."
I flipped several controls, arming the weapons and point-defense systems, then opened the ship-wide comms. "All hands, battle stations. Strap down for high-g and unpredictable maneuvers."
Logan looked at Aurore. "Anything?"
"Picking up transponder IDs." She hesitated. "They're showing Atoll designation numbers. No names, only serial numbers."
"Atoll ships? That's crazy, why would—" He turned to Hernandez. "Get downstairs and make sure your people are ready, and send McDole up here. If she doesn't want to come, bring her."
The ID information transferred to the screen and tagged the two distant ships. They were AF-11 type cruisers—the same as the Yukawa. "Definitely returning Atoll IDs, and from what other data we have so far they match the profile," I said. "But they don't look like they're collecting for the Red Cross."
"Any orbital information?" Logan said, his eyes fixed on the screen.
"Too soon," Aurore said.
"Comm lag?"
I checked the distance. "Four minutes round trip."
"Send a signal."
He faced the main optical pick-up, and I opened a transmission. "Unidentified Atoll ships, this is Captain Twofeathers of the USN Shokasta. We are searching for a missing vessel and plan to dock with Learmonth Base. We are on a peaceful mission, but we are armed. Please inform us of your intentions."
"Anything on their trajectory yet?" Logan said.
"Still too early. One may be heading toward us, the other to the station." Aurore slammed her hand into the console. "I need more data."
"This doesn't make any sense. Why would the Atolls send two warships here?" I stared at the system map. "Are they after us or the PAC station? They might not like us much, but the PAC is their main terrestrial supplier."
"Could the PAC be responsible for the loss of the Wright Atoll?" Aurore's words were almost a whisper. "Are we getting caught up in a war between them and the Atolls?"
"If that were the case, they'd be responsible for the Sacagawea and the RD-627." Logan tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. "The PAC is ultra-competitive and desperate, but they're not crazy enough to start a war with everyone."
McDole hastily strapped herself into the starboard seat. I hadn't seen her since she'd slapped me, and she looked tired, but her face was a mask showing no emotion.
"There are Atoll ships out there?" she said, her voice flat.
"We think so," I said. "They're showing Atoll transponder IDs but no names and appear to be AF-11 cruisers."
McDole's eyes widened. "Can you put me through to them?"
"Broadcast only," I said. "Response time four minutes."
She nodded, and I opened the transmission again.
"This is Commander McDole of the Atoll Defense Force onboard the USN Shokasta. I order you to identify yourselves and make your intentions known. This is a special order—Priority One. Override all other orders. Identification Code: Papa Foxtrot Whiskey Delta Golf Kilo Juliet Five One One Nine."
I cut the transmission, and silence filled the control room like a sack full of marshmallows in a half-liter cup.
Logan pointed to the screen. "Any idea who they are, Commander?"
McDole shook her head. "We have no ships operating out here that I know of. And we don't have many AF-11s. Two running together like this is... curious."
The clock was ticking for a possible response, and I felt increasingly nervous. "Is there anything we should know about their capabilities? Armaments, defensive systems?"
"They can be configured in many different ways." McDole lifted her hand up to forestall any objections. "I'm not being awkward or hiding anything. I don't know how these particular ones have been loaded."
The transmission indicator lit up. I glanced at the timer. It couldn't be the Atoll ships—not enough time had passed. I played the transmission on a secondary screen. A long-faced man appeared, smiling like he'd found his long-lost teddy bear.
"This is Lieutenant Matsudo, commanding Learmonth Base. Welcome to Learmonth, Shokasta. It would be a pleasure to have you and your crew come aboard." He spoke with a refined accent that reminded me of an old-style British actor. "We're rather starved of visitors out here, so your visit is a pleasant surprise. It will be some time before you get here, I see. Once in easier communication range, we can agree the—"
Matsudo had paused his broadcast, and it didn't take much to guess why. "Looks like he cut off transmission. No idea why."
"Could they have been attacked already?" Logan asked.
"Not unless the Atoll ships have some kind of faster-than-light weapon."
"We don't," McDole said. "That would be impossible."
The transmission light flashed again, and Matsudo reappeared.
"Captain Chandra on the PTN Kunan has informed me that two more ships have entered the Learmonth system. Are these vessels with you? This is all highly irregular. The station isn't equipped to deal with large numbers of visitors.
"As a precautionary measure, the Kunan is going to make its way to a neutral stand-off position. I'm sure you will understand. I look forward to an explanation for your presence."
Matsudo and Chandra weren't fools. They'd recognized the potential threat and were taking action to strengthen their defensive options and minimize their risks. "Why would the Atolls attack the PAC?" I turned to McDole.
"We wouldn't. We don't start hostilities. We're not aggressive," she said, coldly.
"Tell that to Dan's shipmates," I snapped. "Those are Atoll ships, aren't they?"
"Circumstances have changed. At that point, we felt we needed to act to preserve peace for our communities. Now Earth has the Jump drive, there's no point in continuing hostilities." McDole's gaze was fixed on the screen. "And if we're the aggressors, who destroyed Wright Atoll?"
"We have to assume they're hostile for now." Logan nodded. "Send a signal to the station."
My hand hovered over the controls. "The cruisers will pick it up as well."
"I'm counting on it," Logan growled.
He waited for a moment. "Lieutenant Matsudo, this is Captain Twofeathers on the Shokasta. We have detected signatures from the other ships suggesting they are Atoll vessels. They are not related to our mission, and we have no information on their intent. We have a high-ranking Atoll official on board who has ordered them to stand down, but they have not yet acknowledged. We're ready to render assistance to both your station and the Kunan as required. We will, of course, defend ourselves from any belligerent acts. To this end, we will make a small Jump to place our ship between Learmonth base and the other vessels."
Logan gripped the arms of his seat. "Do it, Joe. Damn the risk."
I switched to the Jump controls, programming a position roughly equidistant between the station and the closing Atoll ships. It was difficult to set up a clean transition, and I had to tweak the destination to balance the space-time curvature. I hoped that would minimize any potential difficulties, but it was far from certain. We could as easily disappear into oblivion for all I knew. When finished, I fed the data to Aurore for a sanity check.
It didn't take her long to work through my solution. "Looks as good as it can be, Joe."
Logan nodded, and I activated a ship-wide broadcast. "Jump in thirty. Hang on—this one might be rough."
The engines built to peak energy, and when the countdown hit zero the Jump engaged. My stomach felt like it had wrapped itself around a high-speed gear, and a shock of purple-blackness ripped through my brain. I might have yelled, but my senses were so overwhelmed that I couldn't be sure. When my eyesight returned, bright streaks of distortion streamed from the edge of my field of view, adding to the wave of nausea that almost doubled me over in pain.
My hands shook as I reached for the controls to check our position. After confirming it, my head had cleared enough to attempt speech. "Everyone okay?"
McDole didn't respond, and I look across at her. She was hunched over in her seat, her body racked with spasms.
I reached for my harness buckle. "McDole?"
She drew in a wet breath. "M'okay..."
I turned to the controls. "We're right between the ships and the station."
Aurore's voice was shaky. "The Kunan is moving away from the station. It looks like they're heading for a defensive position."
Logan turned around to face McDole. "Is there anything else you'd like to try before I give the order to fire, Commander?"
Tears gleamed on McDole's cheeks. "They're not answering to my orders. Take whatever action you feel necessary."
"They're your ships." Logan held his hands open, palms up.
"They may be our designs, but that doesn't mean they're under our control. If they were commanded by ADF officers, I would know about it. Your duty is to protect your ship. I understand that."
"We're in missile range," I said. "It's extreme."
"Target both ships." Logan waited until I confirmed. "Fire."
My hand moved to press the button but never got there.
"Wait!" Aurore stabbed at her controls. "They're gone."
"They Jumped?" Logan said.
"I'm not sure." Aurore flipped through the sensor data. "They must have."
"Could they have recharged their Jump drives in that time?" I looked at McDole.
"I can't answer that," she said.
"Can't or won't?" barked Logan.
His tone told me he wouldn't have believed either. I kept my eyes fixed to the sensor information. The ships could have Jumped to another system, or perhaps they'd taken a strategic risk like we had and moved in closer. A few seconds later I saw a blip, but before the system could make any sense out of the data, it was gone.
"Never seen anything like that," Aurore said. "Sensor glitch?"
After another short delay, I saw another pulse. "Right... and there's its twin brother."
I waited and spotted another spike of seemingly random data from the sensors. I filtered out the best location estimates of each burst and threw them on screen. They formed a line carving ever nearer to us.
"Are they doing micro-Jumps to close on us?" My voice came out more of a whisper than I intended.
"Micro-Jumps?" Logan turned to me. "How can that—"
The lighting flashed red several times, and a warning siren cut him off. "Incoming missiles detected," I shouted.
"The Atoll ships are behind us," Aurora called out.
"Emergency maneuvers," said Logan.
I triggered a pre-programmed sequence of jinking movements designed to break a missile lock or make it difficult for ballistic weapons to track. The room spun and twisted around us as the CASTOR system triggered. I fought to keep my eyes on the screens, but the movements made it almost impossible.
Aurore's voice warbled unsteadily over the siren. "The missiles are heading for the station."
"Target the ships and fire," Logan ordered.
They were inside our weapons range now, and I launched missiles at both, followed by a stream of railgun fire. We had a slim chance of hitting them, but hopefully it would distract them if nothing else.
A faint vibration ran through the ship as the missiles launched and streaked toward their targets. The location of the missiles tracked on the screen. The scale of the display was so large they seemed to crawl, even though they were traveling at thousands of kilometers a second and still accelerating.
McDole took a sharp breath. "They are not Atoll ships. We would never fire on a research facility."
"The evidence doesn't support your claim." Logan kept his voice low and level. "Perhaps you should wait in your quarters, Commander."
I paused the ship's crazy movements. "You have five minutes."
"Am I to consider myself under arrest?" McDole unlocked her harness and stood awkwardly.
Logan didn't look around. "You're our guest. And for the purposes of this encounter a civilian. I'd hate to have things get discourteous."
McDole sniffed then turned abruptly and left.
"They've fired again," Aurore said. "Tracking shows two separate volleys. One targeted on us, one on the Kunan."
"Point defense is tracking." I watched the timer. McDole had three more minutes. "Holding position."
I killed the warnings, and a throbbing silence filled the control room. It was a risk, not re-engaging the avoidance routine, but if I triggered it before McDole was strapped in, she'd be dead on the next maneuver. A trickle of sweat ran down my temple and neck, soaking into my shirt collar. Logan stared at the large screen showing the incoming weapons tracks, the muscles in his neck as taut as cables.
The comm system beeped. "Secure."
It was McDole, and I slapped the buttons to restart the evasive maneuvers. The ship bucked, and my neck cricked from leaning forward. Lights flashed as the point defense system triggered, spraying a cloud of railgun rounds and small interceptor missiles to screen us from the incoming missiles.
"They're gone again," Aurore said.
I couldn't believe the enemy ships could recharge that fast. And the idea that they had such large power reserves made almost as little sense. Whoever they were, they were more than a step ahead of us. And I didn't think the PAC was in a better position to fight them.
I focused on the sensor displays, fighting to keep my eyes steady despite the roller coaster motions. "They're at long range again. Looks like they're going for the Kunan."
"They hit the station," Aurore said. "Looks like several missiles got through its defenses."
It wasn't too surprising. As a scientific establishment, Learmonth was likely equipped with minimal defenses. Who'd spend a fortune to defend a bunch of research scientists in the middle of nowhere?
"Survivors?" Logan whispered.
"Impossible to say." Aurore glanced across at him. "Unlikely."
"You got anything, Joe?" he said.
"Looks like they've damaged the Kunan too. I'm picking up uncontrolled energy leaks." I filtered the data to focus on the PAC ship. "They're showing an energy surge—could be about to blow. Or maybe Jump."
"The Atoll ships have Jumped again. They're closing on the Kunan." Aurore's voice became a rough croak. "And they've fired."
It was two against one—the PAC ship didn't stand a chance. I hoped they were on a build to a Jump—otherwise, they were dead. The screen flashed red with warnings, and I changed displays. The Atoll ships were within weapons range of us again.
"Incoming!" shouted Aurore.
I activated the next Jump, not knowing if we'd make it or not. The counter clicked up on screen and ticked down as the Casimir generators built to maximum power. The defense systems kicked in again, and volley after volley of railgun rounds blasted out at the missiles accelerating toward us.
"Prepare to Jump!" I yelled into the comm system.
The last seconds ticked down, the ship lurched, and the lights went out.