He Who Dares: Book Two (The Gray Chronicals 2) (58 page)

“Yes, sir, if I strip one down and install missile engines instead.”

“We need it to come back as well.”

“No problem, I just program in a circular course, so it comes right back, then stops.”

“Have a course plotted, Skipper.”  Janice said, looking up from for portable comp unit.

“Let's have it.”

“We’ll pass the orbit of Venus tomorrow, from there to Mercury it’s 66,566,508.2240 nautical miles, which should give us a good speed measurement.”

“Any problem with running her at flank for a long period, Adam?”

“No, sir, shouldn’t be, but a test is a test, and this should prove how well the fusion reactor and generators hold up.”

“Good, log it in for the fore, watch tomorrow morning, Pete.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”  It had been a long day, and Mike retired after that, leaving them to make final arrangement for the test run.

He didn’t sleep for a while, but lay there thinking about his last night with Ann, seeing her body, smelling her perfume again.  What the future held for them he didn’t know, only that he was totally in love with her.  He fell asleep at last, hearing her voice whispering in his ear, sweet soft sounds of love.

*  *  *  *  *  *

“Coming up on the waypoint, Skipper.”

“Ops – bring meteor and rad shields to Max.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper, shields to Max.”

“Nav – anything I should be concerned about?”

“Nothing to worry about, Skipper.  I’ve checked ‘Notice to Mariners’ and except for a minor solar flare, we have a clear run.”

“Excellent.  Helm, take us to flank speed to the nav point.”

“Aye-aye, sir, flank speed it is.”  Conner answered.  If anyone expected some dramatic event when the Chief signaled for flank speed they were disappointed.

Other than an increase in incoming information from the sensor, such as gas and micro meteor density, there was no outward sign they were now streaking across the solar system close to light speed.  Even so, it still took time, 6.6274898 minutes to be exact to cover the distance between the two nav points.

“Wow, I make that 92.05237 percent light speed, Skipper.”  Janice breathed in awe.

“Log it in, Janice – Helm, re-calibrate your helm controls to mark the new setting.”

“Aye-aye, sir.  Re-calibrating, now.”

“Engineering!”  Mike keyed his comm unit.

“Engineering, aye!”

“How’s she running, Adam?”

“That’s about max, Skipper, but she’s running fine.”  Which meant Adam was keeping a little something in reserve for some future emergency.  Mike smiled slightly.  He couldn’t fault him for airing on the side of caution.

“Thanks, Bridge out.”

“You realize that we have just broken the speed record, Skipper.”  Janice commented, looking up from her board.

“We did, what was it?”

“The last record run was point 83.5 light, but that was in a specially built racing ship fifty years ago.  No one’s come close since then.”

“We’ll have to put that in the record books' one of these days, for now, let's head for Sol South warp point and get on with the first part of our mission.”  Janice gave the helm the next waypoint, and Conner brought her round onto the new heading.

“Heading for Solar warp point South, sir, at three quarter speed.”

“Thank you helm, steady as she goes.”

They did pass three picket ship, all at long range, and the coating lived up to expectation, and then slipped passed without raising suspicion.  A few days later, H.M.S. ‘Nemesis’ reached the Sun’s Southern warp point, and like all warp point, there was nothing visible to see except the naval sensor platform and traffic control station, but the sensor told a different story.  They slipped past both without raising a hint of suspicion they were there.

“Ready to transfer, sir.”

“Excellent.  OX, inform the crew  we’ll transfer in,”  he looked at his crono, “three minutes from now.”

Pete broadcast the warning, seeing a nod from each of the Bridge stations that everything was in order and they were prepared for the translation.  The three ‘Warshousky’ sail pylons rose from the deck, as the warp transfer alarm sounded for the final time, glimmering slightly like gossamer wing as power increased along the cross spars.  A few moments later the universe turned itself inside and the disorienting effects of dim, multiple version of yourself stretching away in all directions ruled.  Mike wondered briefly how his two new crew members were taking their first jump, as by now, the rest were old hands at this.  What felt like an eternity subject time only lasted a fraction of a second and the entered the stray gray twilight of
n
th space.  After a while you had to ignore it to function properly, and most went about their normal duties as best as possible. They did see other ships at a distance, and some made you look twice.  Odd-looking ships with something like sails all over them.  Mike supposed it was the way that particular race found a way to use
n
th space, or some radical new form of propulsion.  Mike also realized that space and time were different here, and that what they were seeing could be a ship that passed this way a thousand years ago.  This time, the days passed without comment or care and no ghost ship came close enough to really be seen.

“Coming over the hyper wall in one hour, Skipper.”  Jan called.

“I’ll be on the Bridge, in half an hour, Skipper out.”

This time, instead of the usual blaze of stars, this area of space was dim, almost devoid of star systems, and the local sun was a brown dwarf with just two wrap points close to the surface that didn’t lead to where they wanted to go.  The place was so uninteresting, few ships if any stayed around very long.

“Nav, give us a course to the next system - full speed ahead if you please, Mr. Blake.”

“Aye-aye, sir, full speed ahead it is.”  Empty space stretched around them, and only by stepping the screen magnification up to maximum could they see the dim band of star that made up the Milky Way.  If astronomers of old thought Earth was out on the rim, they should see this part.  The first star system they passed didn’t even have planets to speak off, just three small lifeless moons and a dust cloud for company.  The one consolation was that their transit time to the next system was shorter than the original scout vessels.  They’d taken almost three months to get there.  This was the boring part of being in the Navy, long day, and even longer night with little to do except read, play cards or watch videos.  Mike did call several unexpected battle drills, but kept them to a minimum, as too many they sometimes had the opposite effect of dulling the crew reaction time.  Education was the key to killing time, and he began to cross train the crew in other departments to help in the case someone became injured, or disabled.

“Coming up on way point, Skipper.”  Pete called down to Mike cabin.

“Thank you, Number One, I’ll be up to the Bridge shortly.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

Taking his seat, Mike looked at the board, picking out four planets and several moons.  It didn’t look promising, but better than the last system.

“What do we have, Janice?”

“From what I can make out from this distance, Skipper, we have three warp points around this star.”

“Even guess as to which one we should try first?” Pete asked. Janice tapped her long fingernails in the hard surface of the consult a moment, biting her lower lip.

“The one on the far side of that star, Skipper.”  She indicated a point on her star chart.

“Any particular reason?”

“No, sir, just a feeling, it also has the strongest reading and get us further from Earth.  That jump point will take us to the Endocrine systems and from there we’ll have eight warp points to choose from.”  She knew this was all misdirection, as anyone following them would have no clue as to where they were actually going.

“That’s good enough for me - helm.”

“Aye, sir, setting course.”

“At least we will know where to go from there.”  Pete murmured.

“Yes, we should only need one, or two jumps to get to Avalon from there.”

“Set course for the warp point, Janice.”

“Aye-aye, sir, course plotted and laid in.”

“Helm, engage at three quarter speed.”

“Aye, sir, three quarter speed it is.”  Cindy answered, and rang for engines.

After that, the trip was mostly boring, jump and wait, jump and wait until at last they reached the last WP before the ‘Rift’ and the Avalon’s system.  Here, Pete brought her to a full stop.

“Instructions, Skipper?”

“Yes, make sure our stealth shield is off and locked.  Don’t want someone firing on us before asking questions.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper.”

“All weapons off line in standby mode, Gable.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

Mike took one last look around the Bridge, mentally ticking off a checklist.  All personnel were in uniform, and all weapons systems on standby.  The last thing he wanted was some trigger-happy ship Captain to start firing due to mistaken identity.

“Comm, make sure our IFF and transponder code and correct and working.”

“Aye, Skipper, check and re-checked, and ready to send.”  She answered.

“All right, Pete, take us thought.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper, initiating warp transfer.  Helm, when you are ready.”

“Aye-sir.”  Pete hit the warp transfer alarm.  Giving the crew the required 60 seconds to prepare.  Then the universe did its dance and they were through the final warp point and entered the Avalon corridor.  This jump would be short, a matter of hours before they came over the hyper wall, and for him, home.  The moment they exited and activated their transponder, half a dozen war ship's came barreling towards them, and began broadcasting warning messages.  Nothing unusual to Mike, he was expecting it.

“You have entered Avalon space, please state your business immediately, or leave!”  The message was terse and not exactly friendly, but seeing they were a warship rather than a freighter, not unexpected..

”Skipper, my sensors shows those ships have powered up their weapons.”

“Acknowledged.  This is Captain Mike Gray of H.M.S. Nemesis, to whom am I speaking?”  Mike signaled the comm tech to put it up on the big screen so the opposing Captain could see who he was talking to.

“This is Captain, Clark of the patrol ship ‘Henley’, of the Royal Avalon Navy.”  The broad face of a young, red headed man filled the screen.  His expressions anything but friendly, not surprising when a strange looking warship drops into your home system virtually unannounced.

“Captain Clark, would you relay my compliments to President Tregallion, and tell him a King’s Messenger has arrived.”

“Sir?”

“Please relay the message.”

“Who is this?”

“As I said, Captain Gray of his Majesties Royal Navy.”

“Hold station, Captain Gray and do not attempt to leave or maneuver your ship.”

They waited in silence while they relayed the message, and knowing it would take time, Mike ordered up coffee and donuts for the Bridge crew while they waited.     The weapons on the six warships remained trained on the ‘Nemesis’, but mainly they were just for show.  Hidden out of sensor range lay three Battleships, and at least one superdreadnaught.  If that wasn’t enough and someone actually tried to negotiate the ‘Rift’ without permission, the Rift itself offered some very nasty surprises.