“Well done, Ensign! Now, stand by for flank acceleration, if you don’t burn off your momentum, you’ll destroy us with your tail.”
“That would seem to be a terrible way to kill my Commander, slapping him in the face with my ship tail. It would probably also kill my reputation for being the best pilot in—”
“Don’t get cocky, Flaps—stand by!”
Three. Two. One.
“Now, Ensign, punch it!” he said, as he initiated an emergency deceleration on Star Runner.
At a very specific point, obviously calculated and triple checked by the human operators with assistance from the computer, Phoenix began hard acceleration and Star Runner fired a hard deceleration. By the time the two ships were within a thousand kilometers of each other, they had matched speed—for a brief moment, before Phoenix began to accelerate away. A few further adjustments on both ships and Star Runner docked in the single auxiliary craft bay located on the stern ventral section of Phoenix.
If the calculations had been more than a few seconds off, the prototype ship would be a prototype slag of metal.
Miroslav’s voice filled the deck again. “Welcome aboard, Commander!”
“Nice to be here, Ensign. Flank speed for the heliopause. Fire a few warning shots from the aft railgun at that destroyer, just in case he’s thinking about pursuing.”
“Aye, Commander!” the Ensign acknowledged.
“Somehow,” Rachael said to Aaron, “after what he just saw, I don’t think he’ll be very eager.”
“Commander,” Miroslav called over the comm, “I have a message for you from Supreme Commander Shepherd. It wasn’t much, sir, but he said to inform you your timeline has drastically shortened. Two days ago, an Imperial warship was destroyed by USSF ships when it crossed into United Star System space claiming to be responding to a distress call from a registered Imperial civilian ship. Another Imperial battle group is preparing for deployment. Destination—Atlas Prime—estimated time of arrival is thirty-three days. USSF is responding accordingly.”
Thirty-three days.
It would be thirty days at high warp to the Frontier. That left three days to do what little they could. Their timeline hadn’t drastically shortened.
It had shattered into a million tiny pieces.
Chapter 13 – Honor Guide Us
Imperial Warship Phalanx
Interstellar Space
Quintus squinted at the disheveled appearance of the figure on the monitor.
Brother, I barely recognize you!
“Platus,” he said instead, “you have seen better days, brother.”
Platus blew out a heavy breath, the comm interference gave his voice a gritty sound. “I’ve felt better on those days, Quintus,” he said, swiping his wispy dark hair from his eyes.
“What happened on Rigel?”
Platus paused a moment to compose himself.
“As you know I attempted to make contact with the United Fleet’s team here when another group attacked them. Quintus . . . those agents, they’re good. I never spotted the Imperial counter surveillance on me. I don’t know the status of the USSF operatives but I know they were injured, and they eliminated some of the agents.
“Some crazy operative then dropped a high-speed courier right on top their position and extracted them. Never seen anything like it. Whoever ordered that maneuver is just as reckless as you, Quintus, remember when you—”
“Brilliant, Platus . . . the citation on the award from the Emperor said brilliant, not reckless.”
“Right,” Platus said, ignoring the correction. “I’ve been tracking the USSF operatives from Rigel, there’s no doubt any longer, they are indeed heading to Atlas Prime. Just as your source indicated. Unfortunately, I have been unable to identify them.”
“Despite that, Platus, you did good. My contact in the USSF has not revealed the team’s identity to me. You need to find them on Atlas Prime before the Imperial fleet arrives and warn them about their own people’s treachery. Make best speed for Atlas Prime,” Quintus said.
“I should arrive shortly before them. For some reason they are not warping at high speeds. Another thing, Quintus,” Platus said, as his eyes shifted from the screen. “The ship the United Fleet operatives are aboard. I got a decent scan prior to its departure from Rigel and my ship’s computer does not recognize the design.”
“Very interesting indeed, Platus. Forward the data through the link. I will have Intel over here analyze it and see if they can provide any useful information about it or its origins.”
“Sending the data now. Honor guide us, brother.”
“Honor guide us,” Quintus said, and closed the link.
Chapter 14 – No Shenanigans!
Lower Orbit—Midea Prime
Aaron didn’t flinch.
“Fine,” the miserable doctor finally said.
Aaron didn’t think it was possible the irate physician could be any more sullen than he already was. Mainly because it seemed the skilled medical practitioner already embodied the aura of a grouchy old medicine man.
“Great!” Aaron said, smacking the doctor’s shoulder.
Dr. Max Tanner looked at Aaron over his reading glasses. “I’m just going to come aboard your rusted bucket of bolts, fix your man and I’ll be off. No shenanigans you hear me?”
Aaron nodded. “That’s all we need. No shenanigans.”
****
Aaron strode along deck three, accompanied by Max. Similar to the bridge, sickbay was located near amidships, which offered the most protection. A far more ideal location than having one of the nerve centers of ship operations—the bridge—sitting on the outer hull where it could be used for target practice. He never understood why early starship designers had exposed the bridge to such dangers. A few vaporized bridges later—they’d reconsidered.
Initially, Aaron planned to deliver Lee into the care of a United Systems hospital, however, the best one was five days off their current course setting. They couldn’t afford to delay their arrival at the Border Worlds any longer. The leading bionic surgeon in the USS, Max Tanner, was attending a conference on Midea Prime. Aaron would have preferred not to guilt Max into helping, but this wasn’t for him. It was for Lee.
And the deviation to Midea Prime would only alter their ETA to the Border Worlds by two days and Lee deserved two days. They rounded the middle corridor and into the medical bay where Lee lay hooked up to machines, which monitored his condition, and kept him sedated. The sight made Aaron’s chest hurt each time. Aaron set down the unknown package he’d been carrying as Max placed his equipment bag on a nearby station and began unpacking immediately.