The Begining (The Navigator Book 1) (18 page)

"A tech sent here from Darkwater to help with the upgrades, Prime. He tagged along to explain what he'll be doing to the power systems," the man explained diffidently.

What that told Joe was that Jarad had a camera in the corridor and was watching the hallway. Joe had expected that, after all Jarad was paranoid.

"Has his identity been verified?" Jarad asked.

"Not completely, Prime. Only that there was someone sent from the station for this project that matches his and the other men's descriptions. There was a shift change before our person there could finish the verifications," the man explained.

"We don't have time for this crap! Navigator Smalls, you wanted to see me, let's get on with it! You know how this environment affects us. Every moment you delay with this paranoid crap is one moment closer to my people making a mistake that could hurt someone. Let's get on with it, or let me get back to work!" Symms demanded.

"Very well, Doctor," Jarad replied. It was clear he was pissed and barely controlling his anger. "Get in here and bring your Darkwater flunky with you!"

The door slid open and one of the men led the way through the hatch. Doctor Symms followed him and Joe moved to follow Symms. As he crossed the threshold he purposely tripped and dumped the folder of smart sheets all over the floor.

"Idiot!" the Guard behind him said. "Pick that up and get fucking moving!"

Doctor Symms also turned when Joe fell and bent down to help him gather up the scattered plastic sheets.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Jarad yelled.

"The idiot from Darkwater tripped over the door and dropped his files. We'll be with you shortly, Prime," the first Guard said and turned back into the short corridor to assist getting the sheets picked up.

When the man bent down, Joe was ready. He pulled out the pistol hidden in his coveralls and shot Jarad in the forehead, killing him instantly. In a fluid motion, he turned and brought the butt of the pistol down on the back of the neck of the guard behind him, knocking him out. But when he completed a full turn, he found himself looking down the barrel of gun in the first guard's hand.

"You're a fucking idiot, Anderson. The Prime recognized you when you got off the shuttle, you failed," the man said sneering.

"I think you should look behind you, Your 'Prime' has an extra hole in his head," Joe replied.

The man chuckled. "You see, that was where you fucked up. You just killed a double. A replicated body that looked like him. He's safely escaping on a shuttle as we speak. What the!" He quickly dropped the aim on his gun down to where Symms had been sitting on the floor, Joe jumped the doctor and disarmed them who fell to the floor like a rag doll.

Joe checked on Symms to see him putting the cover back on a syringe before putting it in his pocket. "A paralytic agent. It won't harm him, but he won't be moving around very much."

Joe moved back over to the man. "Dumb fuck, you should have just pulled the damn trigger!"

"It doesn't matter, we're all gonna be dead in a few minutes anyway," the man replied weakly and tried to laugh.

"Oh fuck! Symms! Get back to the shuttle as fast as you can and get as many people as you can on it," Joe said. "Tell Shana to launch as soon as she's full regardless if I'm back by then or not."

"But what…" Symms began, but Joe interrupted him.

"Now Doctor! We don't have time! Move! This place is going to self-destruct!" Joe all but yelled as he moved to Jarad's desk and pushed the clone out of the chair.

He quickly took out his Council Authority card and slid it into the slot. He was immediately granted access to the computer system. The first think he did was open the intercom to the whole station. "Attention all Citadel Navigators, this is Major Joseph Anderson of the Terran Defense Force. Jarad Smalls has fled the station but set it to self-destruct. By the authority of the Council, I am ordering all personnel to abandon the station immediately! This is not a drill. Get to the nearest escape pod as quickly as you can. I repeat abandon this station immediately!"

Shutting down the intercom, he tried to access the power systems of the station. When he got to the power systems, he found them to operating normally with no self-destruct activated. So if the power core was stable, then how was Jarad planning on destroying the station?

Joe stepped around the desk back to the paralyzed man on the floor.

"Hey, dickweed! How was your insane boss planning in destroying us? Or was he so fucked in the head he couldn't figure out how to blow the reactor?" Joe asked.

The man was in a euphoric, almost dreamy state. "We're going home. We're returning to that in which we came. Only the brightest burn the longest."

What the fuck did that mean?

Joe went back to the terminal in Jarad's desk and opened a comm to the shuttle. "Shana can I talk to Dr. Symms?"

"Sure, what's taking you so long?" She asked but Symms came on the line before he could answer her.

"What do you need Major?" Symms replied.

"Doctor, Jarad did not set a self-destruct, but he did do something before he ran. All I could get out of that guard was 'We're going home. We're returning to that in which we came. Only the brightest burn the longest.' I have no clue what that could mean, do you have any ideas?" Joe asked.

"It could mean just about anything depending on what the person that said it believes. Some believe we came from the stars themselves, others would see Earth as our home. Really it's far too ambiguous to guess," Symms replied, but he was clearly thinking as hard and fast as he could.

"Who the fuck cares! Just get back here!" Becka yelled from behind Symms.

"She's right Major, the Citadel is empty, get out of there and let whatever happens happen," Symms said. "Shana's sensors say that everyone is evacuated."

"Okay, I'll head back, but if it goes to hell you make that girl launch, do you understand, Doctor?" Joe replied.

"Yeah, I do. Good Luck Major," Symms said and cut the comm.

Joe grabbed his ID out of the terminal slot and ran for the door.

"You can't figure it out, can you?" Jarad's voice said over the comm system. "I guess I am smarter than you are. All that vaunted power and not a lick of intelligence."

"I know what I need to know. You're insane and I'll eventually kill you, nothing else really matters," Joe replied, but kept moving.

"You're not going to make it you know. The landing bay is too far away for the time you have left," Jarad replied giggling.

Joe came to a stop at a remote terminal and slid his ID into the slot. He used his nanobot control system to interface directly with the computer.

:PriCom/> Admin Override: Disable all access for Smalls, Jarad. Effective immediately.

:CtdlCom/> Override accepted. Smalls, Jarad - command access suspended.

:PriCom/> Admin Override: Terminate all existing command functions issued by Smalls, Jarad in the last thirty days.

:CtdlCom/> Override accepted. Command Functions terminated. Error- Hyperspace event command unable to terminate - event in progress.

"What's this? You're cyberkinetic? Interesting. I'll have to look into that. Too bad you won't be here to see my final ascension to power," Jarad gloated. "That was a smart move, locking me out of the computer, but I'll get back in once we get to where were going. There is nothing you can do to stop what's about to happen. I'm going to win no matter what you try to do. You have failed."

:PriCom/> Admin Override: Emergency Launch of shuttle docked at bay two-bravo. Execute immediate.

:CtdlCom/> Override Accepted. Emergency Launch protocols accessed. Launch in progress. Delay Hyperspace event until cleared? Y/N.

:PriCom/> Y ; Status emergency escape pods from Citadel.

:CtdlCom/> All launched pods are clear of Citadel event. On course for Centauri Station; E.T.A. three hours, twenty-one minutes. Life support function nominal.

:PriCom/> Status; remaining pods.

:CtdlCom/> Two pods remain. Status: ready - standby.

:PriCom/> Admin Override; Delay hyperspace event until Citadel evacuation complete.

:CtdlCom/> Unable to comply. Hyperspace event in progress. Extended delay will cause jump instability.

:PriCom/> Admin Override: Display current jump plot.

The computer displayed the plot graphic on the small screen. It showed the Citadel jumping from its current location and landing…

…in Tokyo, Japan on Earth. Joe didn't know what would happen to the surrounding area, but it sure as hell couldn't be good.

:PriCom/> Admin Override: Current plot is illegal. Destination contains significant mass. Jump calculation is flawed.

:CtdlCom/> Unable to comply. Event in progress. Recalculate plot. One minute thirteen seconds to event execution.

Joe knew that wasn't enough time to recalculate the nav. It took at least ten minutes just to set up the entry point. But he didn't need to reprogram the entire nav, just the destination. He had the computer display the nav plot and he lowered his personal shield so he could hear what needed to be changed.

The first thing he did was delete the destination information. The nav sounded like a cacophony of noise and he briefly wondered how Jarad had ever managed to get the computer to accept this insane plot. By deleting the destination, the loudest part of the offensive noise stopped, so he saved it. At least that would save Japan. Since the computer accepted the change, he took off running for the remaining escape pods.

"What are you trying to do Anderson?" Jarad asked. "There is no way you can get clear of it now. It's too late!" Jarad said and laughed.

"I actually didn't have to do anything, Jarad. You see, I know you're still here, on the Citadel. So I thought I'd just let you go ahead and make the jump," Joe replied as he jumped down into the pod.

He quickly accessed the pod's terminal.

:PriCom/> Admin Override: Emergency launch all remaining life pods.

:CtdlCom/> Override accepted. Launching.

"You see, Jarad, all I did was delete the destination from your plot. I don't know how you got the computer to accept it, but it accepted not having a destination even easier. Enjoy your trip, asshole," Joe said as the pod shot out of the Citadel and into space.

"What? No! You couldn't!" Jarad screamed.

Behind Joe, the Citadel jumped. The pod had not made it far enough away from the mass of the station, so was pulled back into the event horizon and disappeared into hyperspace.

Ben Winston (1965 - ?) was born in Iowa and grew up in Minnesota on the family dairy farm. Upon reaching adulthood, he joined the United States Army as a communications technician. Before getting out of the military, he decided to go to school for computer electronics.
Shortly after getting out of the military, and after getting a new job with an over-seas company, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. A month after beginning the new job, he was laid off due to budget over-runs on the project he was hired for. Upon returning to the United States, he had difficulty maintaining employment because of the chronic illness.
He began writing as a form of stress release, from being home bound and not being able to work, and found he liked writing erotica. Ben wrote a trilogy called the Talosian Chronicles (Currently in rewrite to remove the graphic sex and finalized his vision of the story). The first book, Star Dancer, won awards and was nominated for many others by the online communities where it was posted.
Ben Winston returned to school for literature, after completion, he began writing professionally. Being an avid fan of science fiction he focused on this genre. He was, and still is, influenced and inspired by Gene Roddenberry, Anne McCaffery, David Weber, Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury. Some of his favorite movies and TV shows are; Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Andromeda, Star Trek, Firefly, Star Wars, and many of the B-rated movies that were actually box-office bombs.

Ben Winston

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