Keryn wandered out into the hall, her flashlight barely cutting through the darkness. She thought about exploring, but figured the chance of finding anything left behind by the Terrans was slim. Instead, she decided to take Adam’s other advice and found a window. Standing on top of the shattered glass and piled snow next to the broken window, Keryn closed her eyes and let the cold wind blow over her. On the third floor, the blizzard crashed against the bottom of the building and billowed upward, catching her silvery hair in the updraft. Though cold, the air seemed relaxing as the tension began draining from her body.
Opening her eyes again, Keryn looked out on the bleak landscape. From her vantage point, she was able to make out the start of the jungle canopy. In the gloom, with only the stars’ ambient light illuminating the land, the ice-coated tree tops glistened like crystals in the darkness. Though she was sure that the planet would have been beautiful when it was lush and living, there was a serene elegance to the frozen world she now observed. Only the howling of the wind disrupted the peaceful solitude.
“I’ve got something,” Wyck called over the radio, breaking Keryn free from her mental vacation.
As she stepped away from the window, her radio crackled to life again.
“I’ve got something, Keryn” Tora sang over the static.
“Tora, hold fast,” Keryn replied as she activated the radio. “I’ll be with you in a second.” Switching channels, she keyed the microphone again. “Wyck, I’m heading to your position.”
Though she tried not to get excited, Keryn quickly found herself running through the halls of the outpost until she reached the control room.
“What have you found?” she asked, the cold air burning her lungs after her exertion.
“Everything,” Wyck said as he turned, a broad smile splayed across his face. “I told you the Terrans were terrible at technology. I have their chemical equations for curing the Deplitoxide.”
“That’s great,” Keryn said, unable to contain her excitement.
But the planet…, the Voice whispered, acting as the voice of reason.
Keryn stopped just short of hugging Wyck as she quickly understood what the Voice was saying.
“The planet is dead,” she said, voicing her concerns. “How are we going to experiment toward creating the cure? We don’t have any Deplitoxide to use as a base.”
“That’s not entirely true,” Adam said as he leaned against one of the exposed support beams. “At my last count, we have nearly a score of Deplitoxide rockets on board the Ballistae in one of the weapons bays.”
Keryn’s eyes sparkled in the dark. “You’re right. I inventoried them when I was examining the weapon systems on board. Adam, you’re a genius!”
Wyck coughed politely from his seated position at the computer.
“Don’t worry, Wyck. You’re not half bad either,” Keryn chided. Reaching to her microphone, Keryn activated it again.
“You still there, Tora?” she asked.
“Yes I am.”
“Do you have some good news for me too?” Keryn said.
“Not so much,” Tora replied. “We had guessed before that the Terrans were able to coordinate so complex an assault into Alliance space because their computers were all interconnected.”
Keryn remembered being briefed on something along those lines and said as much to Tora over the radio.
“I think our ship is still attached to that network,” Tora said flatly.
Keryn and Adam exchanged worried glances. “Is that a bad thing? Can they track us using the connection?”
“I’m sure they could, if that was their intent,” Tora explained. “But I think the main reason for this connection is to coordinate attacks. It has quite a few battle plans stored in its buffer.”
“Tora, can you send all that data down to Wyck’s computer?” Keryn asked as she turned toward the bank of computers. Wyck nodded, entering the code to receive a data stream.
“Absolutely. I’m sending it your way now.”
Keryn stood over Wyck’s shoulder as the he downloaded the files. As soon as it was done, she snatched the handheld console from his hand and began perusing the files. She scrolled through a series of battle plans as Adam stood by one shoulder and Wyck assumed his position at the other. In the corner of each tactical overlay, Keryn noticed a date imprinted.
“These have already happened,” she said, pointing at the dates. “I’m going to see if there’s any battle charts for current or future attacks.”
Scrolling past the outdated plans, Keryn finally reached one, the date of which told her that what she was watching was happening in real time. She stood, stunned, as she watched the projected strategy play itself out.
“They’re attacking the Fleet,” Keryn said.
“When?” Adam asked.
Keryn looked at the date. “Now, and not far from this galaxy.” She turned to the other two. “Grab everything. We need to get back to the Ballistae.”
As they ran through the halls back toward the front of the outpost, Keryn keyed her microphone to activate all radios on the planet simultaneously.
“Everyone on the planet, report immediately back to the transport ship. We are leaving orbit immediately!”
CHAPTER 30:
The ten ships accompanying the Revolution sped toward the gas giant for over two hours, a time which passed rapidly as Yen made constant adjustments to the life support and weapons systems onboard his fighter. Many of the systems he took offline to ensure his fuel would last longer, since he had no need for targeting systems for his small missiles and machine guns. He found long ago that his psychic powers could complete the complex targeting mathematics in a quarter of the time of his computer. He was a living weapon; there was no reason why his ship would be anything less than an extension of that power.
After two hours, he pulled away from the Cruisers, allowing them to advance toward the planet at a more rapid pace. His decelerations took him on a path that would skim the surface of the planet while the larger Cruisers descended into the thick clouds. Yen watched as they disappeared like whales beneath the surface of the ocean. Immediately after the Revolution disappeared from view, the speaker within Yen’s fighter crackled to life.
“This is the Revolution. Radio check, over,” the voice said. Though static permeated the sound quality, Yen was still able to hear the message clearly.
“I read you loud and clear,” Yen replied into the microphone. “Is everything safe with your descent into the planet?”
“Roger, Commander. Flying through these clouds is like pushing through syrup, but we’re making good progress to our position. We are deploying the fighters as we speak.”
“Tell them all good luck for me,” Yen said, feeling sorry that he wasn’t deploying with his men. “Requesting radio silence until Terran arrival, over.”
“Roger, Commander. Revolution, out.”
Yen was happier knowing that he wouldn’t be receiving constant radio updates from his Cruiser during the interval until the Terrans arrived. Over the past few days, he had found solace in his time alone and he was hesitant to give that up now. He turned on the forward display and the planets appeared in two dimensions in front of him, overlaid with distance grids. On the map, three other green dots signified the other three pilots who had been volunteered to be spotters. Yen felt sad for them. For those three, this truly was a suicide mission. Only he had a chance of actually surviving.
For a while, Yen examined the constellations, finding shapes in their fixed patterns in space. After a while, however, he grew bored. Opening the computer files, Yen searched for the one stored by Iana and Gregario, figuring their message would help pass the time. Smiling, he found the file labeled “daft” and opened it. As the forward display switched to an image of Iana and Gregario standing amidst a group of the Squadron members, Yen squinted against the suddenly bright glow of the screen.