The Edge

off so much he'd even taken it to the captain and it just died."

  "Died?"

  "Well, he said that Security came around to show what a bunch of lazy bastards they are and that was it. Said that it was a miscount or a computer glitch. He's moved on. I'll bonk him a couple more times in case he's got anything else. But just so's you know, I don't think he's got nothing. About the missing stuff I mean."

  She shrugged at their stares. "What?"

  Mak cleared his throat in the silence.

  "So this is pretty much what we got so far," he said. "Something is going on, the listening devices sort of prove that. Whatever it is, it's pretty much well hidden. Not a lot of people know about it. So far we haven't found anything to do with D'ha'ren and Hellborne. There might be a tie in with, you know, the Academy. But you know, the D'ha'ren and Hellborne have Academy graduates. Somebody might have made off with some explosives and we might guess the Captain and Security are involved since they don't give a damn."

  "I don't see how this correlates with the Gold Ghost disappearance," Th'han'dra mused.

  Mak stifled his urge to jump up and pace around. "Me neither. But that means nothing. Anything new on that?"

  Mak looked at Dakota who had been following it up.

  He just shook his head. "Science gets particularly tense if you inquire upon that subject. They know the proverbial crap about what's going on. And they're getting a little peeved having to continuously repeat that small nugget of pure, unadulterated rubbish."

  "They're useless," K'hon said contemptuously.

  "Sure like to know where the pilots are," Zin Zin said wistfully.

  Jerry sighed.

  "Are we going to be the recipients of another Hellborne saying?" Dakota asked.

  "Not this time, my alien friends," Jerry said standing suddenly. "It's actually a Hellborne legend and much too dark for you youngsters. I don't want to be responsible for giving you nightmares."

  Battle Group Cobra started to take Jump positions. Jump was in one hour.

  A single ship Jumping, that was easy. Two ships Jumping together, that was a little more interesting. This was a Battle Group Jumping, thirty ships. The end of a Jump was the time the BG was most vulnerable to say nothing of what would happen if there was too much imprecision in the Jump itself. A bad miscalculation and they'd all end up in a big ball of metal junk.

  Soon, the X would recall Blue Box, White Wolf, and Orange Orb to their bays. Rumor said this was the last Jump before their objective. Hopefully, the brass would finally clue them in about whatever their mission was supposed to be. If the Kyrzal home world was the objective, then the BG appeared to be taking the scenic route. Somebody calculated they should've been there a few Jumps back even taking into account a more stealthy approach. Seemed like Zin Zin's information was accurate.

  An alarm beeped on his comm. He yawned. This must be the recall though why they were using an alarm before the communication puzzled him. He waited wondering what was holding up the show. Jump had to be soon.

  "All Exeter squads, this is the Exeter, we are on lock down. All Exeter squads maintain position."

  What the hell did that mean? He listened to the chatter discussing it, guessing what the problem was. He didn't join in. They'd find out soon enough. Just as long as they did the recall. Soon. What was taking so long for the order?

  He scanned his position again but nothing seemed different. The other ships continued their reconfiguration to Jump positions.

  Nobody had anything on their scopes. A lockdown out here? It made no sense. That usually meant an intruder alert. But they weren't even in combat.

  Squad Ops was silent and he watched the time tick down. The other ships suddenly moved very quickly into Jump positions. Still, there was no recall for them. He watched some of the other pods dance a little. Pilots were getting anxious. Why was the fleet suddenly increasing their speed to the Jump point?

  "All X squads, all X squads, Jump position stat. Repeat, all X Squads, all X Squads, Jump position stat."

  Mak swore. Under normal circumstances, they'd let the ship's computer guide them into the bays when they were on approach. Now, there'd be no time for normal docking procedures. The pilots would have to perform their own dock maneuvers.

  "Blue Box," he said calmly into the comm. "Get cozy. We're going in hot. Watch yourselves."

  White Wolf and Orange Orb were forming up as well.

  "Battle Group Cobra, this is Battle Group Cobra Command, Jump in five minutes. Repeat, Jump in five minutes. Warszawa has the ball."

  The comms exploded with expletives. Moving up the Jump was the reason for the big rush. This was going to be close. Why? The Jump hadn't been scheduled for another fifty minutes. And now, the entire Jump was tied to the Warszawa. Individual ships no longer had control of the Jump.

  The squad would take almost five minutes just to get to the X.

  "Blue Box," he murmured. "Double time, please."

  They were the furthest out from the X. White Wolf had already docked and Orange Orb was on approach.

  He felt rather than saw Blue Box falling in behind him. They accelerated well beyond attack speeds. He realized their flight path intersected with the M'hin'rah. He didn't change course. Seconds ticked away. The engines of the big ships were starting to glow in preparation for the Jump. They weren't going to wait for them. The M'hin'rah started to grow from a small speck to a very large ship. A proximity alert started to glow yellow.

  "Blue Box Leader, this is the M'hin'rah." The voice of the Comms Officer sounded tense.

  "M'hin'rah, this is Blue Box Leader, we've got you."

  There was a short silence. "At your discretion, Blue Box Leader. Captain Quo'heyl extends her regards and requests you to not scratch the paint."

  "Just going to buff up the shine, M'hin'rah. Blue Box Leader out." He grinned. "Blue Box, tighten up, please."

  He sensed Th'han'dra dropping back a little to shepherd the newer pilots closer in, coaxing them to cut their spacing. The M'hin'rah was now very large, eclipsing the X.

  The proximity alert glowed red. He silenced the alarm pinging out the painfully obvious.

  "Blue Box, this is the X, one minute to Jump, we've got hot chocolate waiting for you. Don't let it get cold."

  "Squad Ops, make sure there are marshmallows."

  He vibrated from the engines straining at maximum speed.

  The M'hin'rah's nose got closer and closer as she too picked up speed her engines glowing white hot.

  Blue Box dove right on top of her. The pods were virtually one object.

  "Oh God," he heard someone mutter but he couldn't tell who.

  If they hit, the M'hin'rah would hardly notice it. They'd be a bug on the windshield.

  A little voice in him said they were going to hit, they were going to hit. He could see the seams on top of the M'hin'rah's hull. The white plates shone dimly.

  Pull up, warned a little voice, pull the hell up.

  It was going to be close. It was going to be very close. And he silenced the little voice with that fact. Close didn't mean collision. At least he hoped not. The M'hin'rah was immense and just getting bigger.

  Time suddenly slowed for him as he was suddenly in front of the Hammer class cruiser. He flicked his eye to the starboard window. The big ship bore down on the them so near he swore he could see pock marks on the hull. The pods shuddered from the M'hin'rah shields. Windows flashed by, shuttered with their blast doors. How many decks did this ship have? His pod juddered violently then even more violently, then with his mind filling in a whoosh, they were by. And time snapped back to normality.

  "Wooooo hooo!" shrieked Zin Zin. He could feel the relief gasping through the Blue Box exclamations.

  "Blue Box," he said, his voice hardly shaking at all. "Break for home."

  They split up and raced to their stations. There was still time to get to the X and settle down. He slowed. He should be the last. And he would have been but he watched in horror as Sha spun to back i
n then suddenly brushed the X's hull. She careened out of control. Then hammered back into the hull. She was unconscious.

  He didn't think. He slammed into full acceleration and grappled her pod. They zoomed away from the X. Wrong way. He spun the pods around and dashed at her bay. Her pod was still firing thrusters and it bucked and squirmed as if it was trying to wrestle out of his grasp. He corrected as best he could, overpowering her movements with his major engines. Pods were supposed to dock backwards. And the bays were meant for one pod. Oh well. He'd always suspected they could hold more. Time to find out. He heard the count down to the Jump. If they weren't inside, the Jump would kill them. The two pods slammed into the bay doorway tearing pieces from their fuselage. The tortured sound of shearing metal wrenched through his head. His body pounded against his restraints knocking every air molecule out of his lungs. Something broke free and smashed into his side. Air howled through some breech. They were wedged, half in, half out. The emergency doors would truncate the pods killing them instantly. He jammed ahead forcing the pods into the opening, rocking them back and forth, until finally, they burst free hammering into the back of the bay. His teeth felt like they were embedded in his visor. His ears rang from the impact. Blazing hot smoke blackened his cockpit on its way out through the hull breech. Red liquid splashed down around him. Something was bleeding. Only one of the four restraining clamps had grabbed Sha's pod. It held them suspended for a second. Then with an agonized groan, it failed. They were falling. He twisted the pods