“I understand that part,” Maddox said.
“I shouldn’t have shot you.”
“No,” he said.
“To pay for my… action, I’ve decided to help you more directly,” Meta said.
“You decided this after Sergeant Riker shot the doctor?”
“I did,” Meta admitted. “I don’t expect you to trust me now.”
“You’re wise to realize that,” Maddox said.
Lieutenant Noonan cleared her throat.
Maddox tore his gaze from Meta. “What is it?” he asked the lieutenant.
Valerie pointed at her view-screen. “I think you ought to look at this, sir.”
In two strides, Maddox reached her station. He squinted as he examined her screen. “They’re moving fast.”
Keith craned his neck to get a look. The destroyer had accelerated from its Laumer-Point in the inner system, heading out here. Now, the Saint Petersburg’s exhaust had lengthened farther behind itself then any of them had ever seen before.
Why are they coming so fast all of a sudden? Keith wondered.
The Geronimo had traveled to the edge of the outer system, past the T dwarf and its many moons. They’d reached the system’s back comet cloud. There were a lot of them out here. An unstable Laumer-Point waited even farther out. According to the professor’s star chart, that tramline would take them into the alien star system.
“We’re over three billion kilometers from the Saint Petersburg,” Valerie said. “Even at their velocity, it’s going to take the destroyer a couple of days to reach here.”
“I can see that,” Maddox said.
“I still don’t think we should use our fusion thruster,” Valerie said. “We’re cloaked, drifting at our present velocity. Before the Saint Petersburg entered the system, we braked with the fusion engine. We still need to slow down even more.”
“We can use the gravity generator,” the captain said.
Keith winced. He hated the way dumping gravity waves shook the ship. The Geronimo had taken far too much stress throughout the voyage. He was afraid they might shake something permanently loose. If they did, no one was coming to rescue them. This was deep into the Beyond. They were so on their own it wasn’t funny.
Rubbing his hands together, Keith knew fear and excited elation in the pit of his stomach. This was the reason for existence: doing the crazy thing. They’d been waiting for this moment for months of travel.
“We can hide from the Saint Petersburg,” Valerie told Maddox. “Any of those comets would make an excellent spot. After landing, we shut down almost everything and become a dark object. Of course, it would be even better to land on the right comet.”
“Which one is that?” asked Maddox. “It could take years of searching to find Professor Ludendorff’s stash.”
“That’s where my apology comes in,” Meta said.
The captain straightened, regarding her. “You can tell us which one it is?”
“From hints Dana dropped,” Meta said. “Yes, I think I know which comet. I only have one request.”
Maddox said nothing.
“When all is said and done,” Meta told him, “you spare the doctor.”
Keith wondered what the captain was thinking. The man was proud, and Dana and Meta had beaten him. Slowly, Captain Maddox nodded.
Drawing a deep breath, Meta told the lieutenant the needed coordinates.
“Ensign Maker,” the captain said. “We will use the gravity generator to continue deceleration. Then, you will land the scout on the comet.”
“With our wounded generator,” Keith said, “that won’t be easy.”
“Are you capable of the task?” the captain asked.
“Oh, yes, Captain, sir,” Keith said, puffing out his chest. “It’s the reason I was born.”
Maddox grinned. Keith liked that about the man. He could be a stuffed shirt and then change into a cunning devil.
“I’m glad to hear it,” the captain said. “Lieutenant, plot the exact course. Then we’ll see if our scout can slip onto the comet without the Saint Petersburg noticing.”
Later, after the second use of the gravity generator, Keith flexed his fingers. He sat with a straight back in the pilot’s chair. His focus was glued to the flight screen.
For the umpteenth time this trip, he wished he were in a strikefighter. Piloting wasn’t as enjoyable locked in the same room with everyone else. To float alone among the stars while popping his head next to the fighter’s canopy was far more freeing.
Keith double-checked the scout’s velocity and its relation to the approaching comet. Behind them, one hundred million kilometers away bulked the massive T dwarf. Its pull affected them more because the ship dumped gravity waves. If he’d maneuvered with the thruster…
Keith cracked his knuckles. “Ready, sir?” he asked.
“Take us down, Ensign,” Maddox told him.
Grinning from ear to ear because he felt nervous, Keith began to use the gravity generator with greater flexibility and control than he’d done before. “A bit at a time, sir,” Keith explained.
The ace eased the Geronimo lower toward the comet, which traveled around the T dwarf in a giant elliptical orbit instead of around the system’s star. The comet was a dirty snowball, composed of ice, rock and bits of miscellaneous debris. For its size, the thing didn’t have a lot of weight. What he didn’t want to do was land so hard it cracked the snowball. Even worse would be to break it into pieces as if hit by a billiard ball. That would be a dead giveaway to the destroyer where the scout had gone.
“Easy does it,” Maddox told him.
“No worries, sir,” Keith said. “This will be a piece of fluff.” He didn’t feel that in his gut, but why let them know. This was his specialty. He would see them through.
“Baby, baby, baby,” Keith whispered under this breath. “Now we’re going to see.” He applied more power.
The gravity generator shook the ship. Metal groaned.
“Let up on the generator!” Lieutenant Noonan shouted.
Keith did no such thing. This was the final approach. His panel shook before him. The gravity generator clacked with strain. It could break any second, and maybe the smart thing to do would be to let it rest. He kept it running.
“Ensign!” shouted Maddox.
The generator began to make even worse screeching sounds. Keith winced. His chest erupted with fear. If the gravity generator blew up—the game would be over. The others kept shouting at him. He ignored their pleas. This was just like strikefighter combat. The man with bigger balls won these. He continued to use the overburdened generator, dumping more gravity waves.
“Sir!” Valerie pleaded with Maddox.
Keith studied the approach. They still came down too hard. He tapped his board. The overburdened generator roared with complaint. The entire scout shook. So did Keith as he sat in his chair. He refused to stop, though. Either the generator lasted or— The Geronimo gently settled onto the snowball. A few ice particles broke off and drifted into space. That wasn’t good. But the comet held, and they had survived the landing.
With another tap on the board, Keith turned off the gravity generator. It whined down the scales, at last going silent before it stopped running. The ace waited in his chair for his nerves to settle. Finally, he looked around and laughed heartily to show them he was the pilot extraordinaire.
“Nothing to it, Chaps,” Keith said. “It was a lovely piece of fluff, just like I told you it would be.”