Atlantis Rising (34 page)

“It made no difference how often
we got told we were on the same side, that we needed to cooperate and learn to
work together. That’s when Mr. Oojoung and Mr. Anspach instituted the mining
base duty requirement for anyone, or any unit, caught not getting along. To be
honest it was the best thing that had happened to most of us. Every person
under my command will tell you they’re better for the experience. It teaches
you very quickly to work together and to trust each other. I, for one, am glad
to be a part of the ADF. I will do everything I can to live up to the ideals of
the ADF.”

“What do you think the ideals of
the ADF are Captain?” Deatra said.

“Ma’am that’s easy for me,” the
Captain said. “The ADF is about the various races in this galaxy working
together for peace and harmony, and to build a better place for everyone.
However, each person has a different view on what the ADF means for them.”

“How so?” Jon said.

“For some it’s about having
freedom to do what they want. For others it’s about being part of something
they want to fight for, and not part of something they just fight for,” the
Captain said. “People are starting to realize there doesn’t have to be constant
war to live. They’re starting to realize not everyone is the enemy, and it is
possible to live together.”

“I’m afraid, Captain, that the
war has just started,” Jon said. “We have a long road ahead of us and we will
have to fight to get to the end of that road.”

“That is a fight we’re ready to
fight,” the Captain said. “Most of us want our kids to grow up in a world
without conflict. Besides, how can we fail when we’re following the Weaver of
Worlds?”

Jon moaned and everyone chuckled
at him.

“I think people put too much
stock in me being this Weaver of Worlds,” Jon said.

“And we think you put too little
stock in it,” the Captain said.

“Maybe,” Jon muttered.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about
it,” Deatra said.

“Well, I do,” Jon said. “Everyone
expects so much from me. I’m afraid I’m going to fail everyone if I can’t live
up to their expectations.”

“See, that’s your problem,”
Deatra said. “No one expects anything from you but to be yourself, and to
continue what you’re doing. You’re doing a good job, so don’t worry about what
people think you are. Just do what you think you should do.”

“Every time I turn around, people
are staring or talking about me being the one the prophecies speak of,” Jon
said.

“That is because it gives people
hope to believe in something,” the Captain said. “It’s like the glue that holds
everything together. It makes a person work harder when they have something to
grasp, and that something happens to be you.”

“Never thought about it that
way,” Jon said.

“That and… well… you have
fulfilled some of the prophecies,” the Captain said. He winked at Deatra who
giggled as Jon moaned. “I’m just yanking your chain, Sir. I would say relax and
let things go as they will. You’re doing a fine job. You should be proud of
what you have accomplished here, in this short time.”

“I agree, Bro,” Terri said. “You
need to loosen up some and accept how some of the people are going to view
you.”

“I guess you all are right,” Jon
said. “I’ve just never thought about it that way. I was just afraid of letting
people down.”

“It’s okay,” Terri said. “The
Weaver of Worlds should be relaxed and calm at all times. I mean, we can’t have
an uptight Weaver of Worlds can we?” Terri fluttered her eyes at Jon and he
glared back.

There were chuckles all around as
Terri flashed Jon a big smile.

“Ass,” Jon muttered.

“Is the Weaver of Worlds
displeased?” Terri asked.

“Okay, you can stop, now,” Jon
said.

Terri fell to her knees, “M’Lord,
please forgive me! Please don’t have me thrown in the brig and lashed to
death!” Terri grabbed one of Jon’s boots and began sobbing as she continued on.

The traffic in the corridor had
just about stopped while people stared at the spectacle, whispering between
each other. Jon’s face by now was beet red in embarrassment as he tried to get
his sister to stand up. Deatra and the rest of the small group were laughing as
they watched.

“Terri!” Jon said, as he nodded
and smiled at a wide-eyed Eutharan. “Please, get up, you’re scaring people.”

“Please, M’Lord,” Terri cried.
“Don’t beat me. Think of my kids what will they do when mommy is dead?” She
reached up and grasped his pants leg as she poured on a new round of crying.

“Terri, please,” Jon said
desperately.

Terri looked up at Jon and
whispered, “Are you sorry?”

“Huh?” Jon said.

“About tickling me like you did,”
Terri whispered.

“You’re evil,” Jon said.

“You know it,” Terri said. She
grinned at Jon.

“Fine. I’m sorry,” Jon said.

Terri jumped up and grabbed his
arm, “Okay, let’s go.” She had a big grin on her face as she tugged Jon down
the hall.

“Evil!” Jon said. This caused a
renewal of laughter.

“Looks like the Weaver of Worlds
is going to have a new rumor spread around,” Deatra said.

Jon gave her an evil look as he
spoke, “Hush, you, or you get no dinner tonight and go straight to bed!”

Several of the Eutharans gasped.

“Promises, promises,” Deatra
said.

Jon blushed as the Captain
laughed.

“I can’t win,” Jon said as he
threw his hands up.

Both Deatra and Terri spoke at
the same time, “Now you’re learning.”

Jon started muttering to himself
about women, and how evil they are.

“Just a little bit longer,” Terri
said.

“Yep,” Deatra said. “We almost
have him house broken.”

This caused Jon to renew his
muttering as both girls began to chuckle.

“I feel for you, Sir,” the
Captain said.

Deatra looked at Terri and both
of them looked at the Captain and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re next, Captain,” Terri
said.

Deatra nodded.

“Um,” the Captain said. “I think
one of my guys is calling me. I’ll be back when I can. It was nice speaking
with you all.”

With that the Captain quickly
made his way up to the front of the group. Even Jon chuckled as the Captain
made a hasty retreat.

“You both need to stop scaring
people.”

“But it’s so fun,” Terri said.

Deatra smiled as she leaned into
Jon.

“Oh, I see how it is,” Jon said
as he wrapped his arm around Deatra. “Break me down and then build me back up.”

Deatra nodded, “That’s how the
training works, M’Lord.”

Jon moaned, “You are going to be
the death of me.”

“Hey, what about me?” Terri said.

“Nah. You’re just going to give
me an ulcer,” Jon said.

Terri rolled her eyes,
“Whatever.”

Jon stood on the bridge of the
Atlantis
watching his crew take their positions for launch. Deatra sat in
the chair to his right. Terri was down inspecting the launch bays, before they
launched. Mike stood next to the Engineering console, and signaled he was
ready.

“Ship wide,” Jon said.

“Aye-aye, Sir,” the Com officer
said.

“We will be taking the
Atlantis
out for a small shakedown cruise as we bring Atlantis back
online,” Jon said. “All stations secure for departure and report ready.” Jon
made a slashing motion across his neck to close the channel. “Mike, are you
ready?”

“Yes, Sir,” Mike said.

“All right,” Jon said. “Do it.”

Mike reached down and touched a
few buttons and moments later Atlantis appeared in front of Jon. She slowly
opened her eyes as Mike walked up and stood next to Jon.

“Command authorization?” Atlantis
said.

Mike and Jon both relayed their
command codes.

“Accepted,” Atlantis said.
“Initializing memory, and all subsystem routines.”

“How long?” Jon asked.

“Shouldn’t…” Mike started.

“Finished, all systems online,”
Atlantis said. “Orders?”

“Wow, that was fast,” Jon said.

“We upgraded her memory and
CPU’s, to the newer designs the Buranis engineers had in their ship,” Mike
said.

“Orders,” Atlantis said.

“Resume duties,” Jon said.

“Thank you, Captain,” Atlantis
said. “It’s good to be back.”

“Good to have you back,” Jon said
as he smiled.

“I can see there have been
several upgrades to my systems,” Atlantis said. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get
familiar with them. I also need to run a diagnostic check.”

“You’re excused,” Jon said.
Atlantis disappeared as Jon turned to face Mike. “What about her code?”

“We cleaned it up. It was a mess.
We cleaned out all the things we didn’t need or were redundant. Then went
through and rewrote large chunks of it to be a bit more efficient,” Mike said.

“How do we know?” Jon said.

“We don’t,” Mike said. “There’s
no way to query if we got it all, but I think we did. We’re doing the same to
the other AI systems, now. The
Titan
is almost finished and the
Earth's Revenge
is being done before we bring it online.”

Jon nodded, “Good. Keep me
informed, please.

“Sir,” the Tactical officer said.
“We’re green across the board.”

“Okay, take us out,” Jon said.
“When we pass the outer markers make our first fold.”

The
Atlantis
slowly left
her berth making her way towards the outer markers as she picked up speed.

“All systems green, Sir,” the Con
officer said.

“Signal the station that we’re
making our first fold,” Jon said.

“We’ve got the green light from
the station,” the Con officer said.

“Initiate fold,” Jon said.

Several things happened all at
once.
Atlantis
disappeared in a flash of light as the conning station
exploded and a second explosion shook the ship. The explosion threw the officer
at the conning station across the bridge, as the lights on the bridge dimmed
and turned red.

‘Warning, fold drive offline.
Hull breach on deck twenty, dispatching repair crews,’ Atlantis’ voice echoed.

“Switching Con controls to
Secondary Bridge,” Mike said from the Engineering station.

“What the hell is going on?” Jon
said.

“The fold engine is offline and
we have major damage to that section. Medical and repair crews are responding,”
Mike said.

One of the crewmen attending the
downed Con officer looked up at Jon and said, “He’s dead, Sir.”

“Damn it,” Jon said. “I thought
all systems checked green. Con, bring us about and head back to Ghost Station.”

A holographic crewmember turned
towards Jon, “Sir, I’m not getting a response from the Con.”

“Com, relay our situation to
Ghost Station and request support,” Jon said. Jon stood up and stepped down to
the planning table. “Tactical bring up our position please.”

“Sir,” the Com officer said.
“Something is interfering with our transmissions.”

Jon sighed, “Tactical our
position please.”

“Sir,” the Tactical officer said.
“I can’t get a fix.”

“What the hell is going on?” Jon
said. “Bring up the main viewer.”

Blackness filled the screen.

“Is there something wrong with
the main viewer?” Jon said.

Tactical turned back and checked
a few things, “No Sir, it’s operational.”

“Well, where the hell are the
stars?” Jon said.

Everyone on the bridge looked at
the screen, as a white-faced Mike stood up and spoke, “We’re stuck in fold.”

“What?” Jon said. “I thought
Folding was instantaneous.”

“It should be,” Mike said. “I’m
still reading a fold event surrounding the ship.”

“Atlantis, to the bridge,” Jon
said. She should have appeared when this happened it was protocol. Something
was wrong when she didn’t appear right after his request. “Mike where’s
Atlantis?” Jon said.

Mike reached down and touched a
few keys, “She’s, uh, what the hell?”

“What?” Jon said.

“She’s offline,” Mike said.

Something beeped at Mike’s
station, and he looked down to check it out.

“What was that?” Jon said.

“It seems we have a bit more
trouble,” Mike said.

Jon raised an eyebrow.

“The fold event is weakening,”
Mike said.