I was so proud of Vee. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and she ate at the same tables as the rest of us in the mess hall. Unlike some of the commanders and captains I’d come across before Mum and I were exiled to Callisto, Vee wasn’t standoffish and unsociable, thinking she was too good for anyone who wasn’t of the same rank.
Aidan was a different story. After the first few days of sitting with us but not saying a word, he’d taken to chipping into our conversations with comments whenever he got the chance. The trouble was that most of his comments missed the mark or were inappropriate. He was trying too hard. And more than once I caught him watching me. No, not just watching me, scrutinizing me. Whenever I tried to smile at him to be friendly, he just continued to stare. Well, if that’s the way he wanted it then that was his business. But the staring was unnerving, verging on creepy.
The ship was still on yellow alert and Vee said there it would stay until we were out of Mazon territory. No one was going to fully relax until we reached the wormhole that would take us out of Mazon space.
So here we were, only a few days away from leaving Mazon territory for good and I was actually daring to believe that luck might actually be on our side for a change.
‘Nathan, when you’ve finished staring at Vee like she’s suddenly sprouted an extra head, perhaps you’d like to tell me what you’re doing on the bridge?’ said Mum.
Damn! I needed to be more careful. I didn’t realize I was staring.
‘Mum, I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me in the mess hall some night soon?’ I said to her as she looked at me expectantly.
Pathetic! That didn’t even convince me!
‘And you needed to ask me that at this precise moment?’ said Mum drily. ‘It couldn’t have waited?’
Behind me, Vee cleared her throat, but when I looked at her she was avidly studying something on the panel which made up one arm of her chair. Everything on there could also be called up as an image before her by manipulating the two command bracelets she wore on either wrist. With the slightest subtle hand or wrist movement she could display information from any panel on the bridge. She had very clever wrists. And hands. And—
‘Er . . . Nathan, I’m over here. I thought you came to see me? It’s interesting just how many times a day you come up here to see me about this or that, none of which is really important,’ Mum continued, looking from me to Vee and back again. ‘I’m beginning to wonder—’
The ship’s alarm began to scream. Any relief I felt at being saved by the siren was short-lived when I realized what the siren meant. The lights on the bridge kept flashing red.
‘Aidan, get in here,’ Vee called out. ‘And shut off the siren.’
A metal harness came over the back of the captain’s chair, pressing down on Vee’s shoulders and clicking into place around her waist.
‘What’s going on?’ Mum asked as she secured herself into her seat as did everyone else around me.
Vee studied her monitor. ‘We’ve got company,’ she said grimly.
The Mazon.
I ran to the environmental station and sat in the first available seat, securing myself in too. Aidan raced into the room. Anjuli got to her feet, looking shocked and ashen as Aidan sat in the chair she’d just vacated.
‘I didn’t . . . I didn’t mean . . .’ Anjuli wasn’t making any sense.
‘Aidan, report,’ Vee ordered.
Aidan studied his console for a moment, before his body stilled momentarily.
‘A Mazon patrol ship has locked onto our signal and is heading our way at speed,’ he said.
‘How the hell did it manage to lock onto us?’ said Vee. ‘We’re still scrambling our engine energy signature – right?’
‘We were,’ Aidan said pointedly.
‘I’m so sorry—’ Anjuli’s apology was a horrified whisper.
What had she done?
‘Anjuli sent the Mazon ship a signal from my panel. She’s alerted them to our presence,’ said Aidan. ‘Vee, we’re in big trouble.’
39
I must’ve misheard. ‘What?’
‘Anjuli sent the Mazon a signal,’ said Aidan.
Dahell? Much as I might want to leap across the bridge and kick Anjuli’s butt, I had higher priorities at that moment. But what the hell was she thinking?
‘Can we scramble our signal to lose them again?’ I asked my brother.
‘Not this time, sis. They’ll know what to look out for now. And besides the Mazon ship is closing in at maximum speed.’
‘How long before it reaches us?’
‘At its current speed, fifteen minutes.’
‘The closest star system?’
‘Over a day away,’ Aidan replied.
‘It’s just the one Mazon ship?’ I asked.
‘So far.’
‘One of the ones we encountered before?’
‘I can’t tell from this distance. I don’t see what difference it makes. Whichever Mazon cruiser it is, when it fires at us, we’ll be just as dead,’ said Aidan. ‘Anjuli, what were you doing? Why would you want to get us all killed?’
All eyes were on Anjuli. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she struggled to speak. ‘I w-was just trying to monitor their communications,’ she stammered. ‘I wanted to find out if there were any other Mazon ships between us and the wormhole. I wanted to help. Tell them, Aidan.’
‘Never mind that now,’ I said.
Accusations and explanations would have to wait.
‘Vee, long-range sensors indicate another three Mazon battle cruisers eighteen hours away and heading in our direction,’ said Aidan.
‘When the Mazon patrol vessel reaches us, I could try a phased-shift electron burst,’ said Darren from the weapons station.
‘That would only work if we hit their engine core straight on. With all the shielding the Mazon have around their engine, we wouldn’t do enough damage to tickle them, never mind disable them,’ I replied tersely.
‘Nathan, get over here,’ said the commander. ‘We need you at navigation.’
‘We do?’ said Aidan.
‘My son can fly this ship or any other Earth vessel ever made. Plus he’s studied the schematics of every alien ship Earth has ever had contact with,’ Catherine replied. ‘He was not only the best flight pilot on board my last ship but he also knows every bolt and rivet of every ship he’s ever studied.’
Nathan had told me that his mum had no idea of the full extent of his knowledge or interest in star craft. Looks like he got that one wrong. She sounded pretty savvy to me. I heard the sound of Nathan’s safety harness being uncoupled. He went over to the navigation board and sat at the panel between his mum and Aidan. I wasn’t about to argue. The monitor before Nathan immediately had his attention. Anjuli moved over to Nathan’s vacated seat at environmental.
‘Anjuli, don’t touch anything,’ I ordered. ‘D’you hear me? Not a damned thing.’
Anjuli nodded. I turned back to Nathan. If the worse came to the worse, at least I’d get to look at him one last time before—
No! Don’t think like that, Vee. You have too much to live for now. Figure something out.
Think, damn it. Think.
Nathan turned in his chair to look at me. I thought he might say something but he didn’t. He just looked at me and then turned away. Did my expression mirror his – grim and resigned? So much for all the time Nathan said we’d have to get to know each other. So much for the lifetime he’d promised me where we’d explore the universe together.
I turned back to my console, plotting distances and escape routes to the nearest star system where we might hide behind a moon or use the gravity of the local sun to slingshot us out of range of the Mazon weapons. Nothing doing. As Aidan had said, the nearest star system was over a day away.
The Mazon were only minutes away and closing fast.
40
‘Vee, it’s useless. We can’t outrun them or outgun them,’ said Hedda from tactical. ‘To stand any cha
nce at all, we need to surrender.’
‘That’s your plan? To surrender to them?’ asked Vee coldly. ‘D’you know what the Mazon do to their human prisoners? We’d be experimented on and tortured and they’d make sure to keep us alive for as long as possible for their own amusement. Is that what you want?’
‘Hedda, we are not surrendering,’ frowned Mum. ‘That’s not an option. If we go down, we go down fighting.’
‘Aidan, what’s our engine output capacity?’ asked Vee.
‘Making our way through Barros 5’s atmosphere depleted some of our engine’s power. We’re running at seventy-two per cent capacity.’
‘Vee, let me take command. I’ll make sure we put up a good fight,’ said Mum.
‘How about we try something a little less suicidal first?’ said Vee.
‘Like what?’ asked Mum.
Silence.
‘Aidan, how far are we from the Zandari ion storm?’ Vee asked.
As if rehearsed, every single person on the bridge turned in horror to stare at Vee – me included.
‘You want to try and hide in an ion storm? You’re not serious? D’you know what will happen to us if we get stuck in there?’ said Mum.
I cringed. Mum was taking a bad situation and making it worse, even if she was right.
‘Aidan, how far are we from the Zandari ion storm?’ Vee repeated, ignoring my mum.
Aidan swung round in his chair, a deep frown cutting grooves at the sides of his mouth as he faced his sister. ‘By the time we get there, the Mazon ship will be close enough to target us.’
‘We only need to out-manoeuvre them for long enough to enter the storm,’ said Vee. ‘You and Nathan will need to make sure they don’t get a lock on us.’
Oh, is that all? I thought with what I admit was a touch of sarcasm.
An ion storm. Did Vee know what she was doing? If we entered an ion storm, the ship’s engine power would drain away in less than a minute. The emergency reserves which ran the life support and other essential systems would last maybe half a day at most. We’d be sitting ducks. I wouldn’t have dreamt of challenging Vee’s decision in public but it seemed to me all she was doing was prolonging our agony.
‘Aidan, can you get us into the ion storm before the Mazon can attack?’ asked Vee.
‘I can try – but the probability of succeeding is zero point—’ said Aidan.
‘Never mind the maths. At this point, I’ll take any chance of success I can get.’
‘Vee, what you’re proposing is lunacy,’ argued Darren. ‘You obviously don’t realize that the ion storm will drain the power from the ship’s engine.’
‘Not only do I realize it, but that’s the essential part of my plan,’ Vee replied.
‘To leave us dead in the water?’ Darren said, appalled.
‘The Mazon have us in their sights now. Their primary objective is our destruction and they will follow us into hell itself to make that happen,’ said Vee.
‘All the more reason to turn and fight,’ argued Darren. ‘Hand over this ship to someone who knows what they’re doing.’
‘Look, I don’t have time to argue with you. We’re going to do this my way. If you don’t like it, there’s the exit,’ said Vee, exasperated.
‘You’re condemning us all to a slow painful death within an ion storm,’ Sam piped up. ‘I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy.’
‘We should surrender,’ Hedda insisted.
They were all doing my head in so God knows what they were doing to Vee.
‘For God’s sake!’ I snapped. ‘Vee’s the captain of this ship, not any of you—’
‘Stay out of this, Nathan,’ Mum ordered. ‘Olivia, I’ve checked the ship’s logs. You’ve never been in toe-to-toe with a battle cruiser and had to strategize your way out of a bad situation. I have. Let me take over.’
Vee studied my mum as she spoke, her unimpressed expression obvious. ‘Have you all quite finished?’
‘We need to do whatever is necessary to ensure our survival. If that means taking this ship from you by force, then so be it,’ said Darren.
‘No, Darren. We won’t do anything of the kind,’ said Mum. She turned to Vee. ‘Olivia, you must see the logic in letting me take charge. I’m asking you to let me take over.’
‘If you do, we’re dead for sure,’ said Vee. ‘Commander, I’m a survivor. I’m asking you to trust me.’
Mum and Vee regarded each other. No one on the bridge spoke.
‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ said Mum at last.
‘Catherine, you cannot be serious? You’re going to place our fate in the hands of that . . . that child?’ Darren leaped to his feet, beyond outraged.
‘Being younger than you doesn’t make me a child,’ Vee snapped. ‘And I’m sick up to the back teeth of you and your attitude.’
‘Like I give a shit,’ Darren hissed.
‘Sit down, Darren,’ Mum ordered. ‘I think I’m beginning to see what Vee has in mind.’
I’m glad Mum was because I sure as hell wasn’t.
‘Aidan, head for the Zandari ion storm. Maximum velocity.’ Vee was busy at her monitor, her fingers moving at speed as she checked over her calculations.
‘At maximum velocity, we’ll reach the ion storm in twelve minutes and eighteen seconds but by then the Mazon ship will be close enough to wave to,’ said Aidan.
‘As long as they don’t get a clear shot at us and they follow us into the storm,’ said Vee, her tone remarkably calm. ‘That’s all I care about.’
‘I still don’t see . . .’ said Aidan. ‘Oh!’ A slow smile crept over his face. ‘Oh, I get it.’
What?
‘For us lesser mortals who haven’t quite caught up yet, how about an explanation?’ I said, exasperated.
‘The Mazon will follow us into the ion storm and their engine power will drain just as quickly as ours,’ said Mum. ‘As Hedda said, they can outrun us and they outgun us. Vee’s trying to level the playing field. This ship is much smaller and Vee’s hoping to make that work in our favour.’
‘Nathan, I need you to position us as soon as we enter the storm so that we turn through one hundred and eighty degrees to face the way we came,’ Vee ordered. ‘If my calculations are correct and you face us the right way, even with no power our momentum means we should drift out of the storm after about one hour.’
‘Won’t the Mazon do the same thing?’ I said.
‘Not necessarily, but if they do and both our ships manage to drift outside the ion storm, it will only take fifteen minutes for this ship to recharge with enough power to get us moving again,’ said Aidan. ‘It’ll take the Mazon ship eighty-nine minutes before they can do the same and we’ll be long gone by then.’
‘And if we don’t turn the ship around in time or Nathan gets the calculations wrong?’ asked Darren, still not convinced.
He had to ask.
‘We’ll drift deeper and deeper into the ion storm with no navigation system to help us get out. Eventually our emergency life support system will fail and everyone will die.’ Aidan spoke as if it were no big deal.
‘The Zandari ion storm is this quadrant’s ships’ graveyard,’ said Vee quietly. ‘I don’t intend for us to be another one of its victims. Nathan, are you on top of this?’
‘Yes, Captain. Don’t worry. I’ll get it right,’ I said with a confidence I was far from feeling.
‘That would be preferable,’ said Vee.
‘Aidan, drop a location buoy just before we enter the ion storm, and whilst Nathan is turning us I need you to drop us three kilometres, co-ordinates zero, minus three point two, zero. OK?’ said Vee.
‘Drop us?’ Mum said sharply.
‘Descend, then. Aidan knows what I mean,’ Vee said impatiently. ‘I know there’s no up or down in space.’
‘Why are we going to drop?’ I asked.
‘We don’t want to be where the Mazon expect us to be,’ Vee explained. ‘Just in case they decide to try their luc
k at plotting our predicted course to blast us into nothingness before their power drains away completely. So we’re going to move about three kilometres below them.’
Darren sat down again. He wasn’t happy but Mum was willing to go along with Vee’s plan so he had no choice but to do the same. I turned to look at Vee but her head was bent over the panel in the arm of her chair. She had more important things to worry about than me at that moment, but I still needed to look at her, no matter how briefly.
‘Attention!’ Vee broadcast a ship-wide alert. ‘We’ll be entering an ion storm soon with a Mazon battle cruiser on our tail. Please don’t use any electrical devices that might leave an electromagnetic footprint or the Mazon will use that to track us – that includes not using the food and utility dispensers. This will apply until the ship’s engine recharges and restarts. That is all.’
No one on the bridge spoke as we raced for the Zandari ion storm. I kept a careful eye on my panel, checking and double-checking the timings of the manoeuvre I was about to attempt. I’d used a number of simulators and studied everything I could about Earth vessels before we were exiled. I’d even been allowed to sit as co-pilot at the flight panel of Mum’s old ship, but none of that had been anything like what I was about to attempt. I knew all the controls better than the back of my hand, but if I messed up, there was no reset button. Much as I wanted to turn round and look at Vee again, much as I longed to mouth a message to her in case we didn’t make it, I didn’t dare. I needed to concentrate and get this right for any of us to stand a chance.
The silence on board the bridge was a living, breathing thing. We hadn’t even entered the storm yet, but no one spoke. Anjuli moved to sit next to Darren, who completely ignored her. Everyone was ignoring her. When . . . if we got out of this, I had a few questions of my own for her, starting with ‘Why?’ and closely followed by, ‘Dafuq?’
The Zandari ion storm was now visible on the viewscreen of the bridge – and fast approaching. It was one of the most spectacular sights I’d ever seen. Spectacular and deadly. It was a vast green, purple and red gaseous entity which stretched on for many hundreds of thousands of kilometres, always shifting and changing. Some said there had to be a small star at the heart of it, creating its own gravity well, but no one had ever emerged from the ion storm to confirm that – at least as far as I knew.