Authors: Jessica Miller
“Captain! Captain! I know you can hear me. How dare you tell a diplomat of the Alliance to stand down. It is my job to diffuse any war footing situation and shutting me out of any alien contact is against protocol! Captain I demand you answer me!”
The voice was that of Ambassador Churlish, who was on board our ship to handle diplomacy with the Mucusto. Somehow, the pompous bastard had found some way to communicate with the bridge. We gritted our teeth. Captain Merlock muted the Diplomat and pointed at Johnson. He sent two security men out, presumably to shut the Ambassador up. We all looked at Katake and he had his hands spread staring at his control panel.
“What the hell!” I heard him whisper savagely. Then I glanced over to Jewel as did the Captain. Jewel was intently studying something on her screen. Suddenly she pointed to the main screen. I spun back to facing forward and saw the small ships on the screen looking bigger. Their course had changed, they were coming toward us.
“Captain, we just received a full scan. We’ve been seen. They’re arming weapons,” Jewel said.
“Light her up!” the Captain barked.
I began working my controls. The engine was starting up and it would be a minute before I could move us anywhere. Weapons too had a start-up time. I could hear the systems coming online with a comfortable hum. The bridge lights lit up, and the bridge was once again how I preferred it. Almost.
“Diplomat Churlish, you have just broken silent running and as result, we now have a very large number of alien vessels training their weapons on us. Please stand by, I am busy!”
The Captain muted the speakers again.
“Jewel, are they really training their weapons on us?”
“Yes sir.”
“Loneway? Talkner?”
“I am plotting several escape courses sir,” Tara told him. “I believe there was an asteroid belt not far back and we could be there in minutes at top speed. Routing navigational information to Pilot.”
Her figures reached my console and I studied them and realized there were few possibilities with that huge alien armada in front of us.
“Loneway?” the Captain questioned.
“Working on it sir. Engineer how long before I can have full power? Anything less won’t get us away in time.”
I heard him grunt in response.
“Ah...one minute until I can give you full power,” he replied. That worked for me although it was cutting things close.
“Loneway?” The Captain questioned again. “They are getting close Commander.”
“Yes sir. I can go as soon as the power is fully online, sir.”
I did my own course plotting and realized what I was going to have to do.
“Let me know Labrowski,” grunted the Captain.
I glanced at Labrowski. He was paying attention to his control panel, just like the rest of us. I set everything I needed to preset so all I would have to do is little bits of steering, hopefully. Glancing up I could see the ships on the screen getting bigger as they got closer. Those were not small ships. I could see the weapons ports clearly now and they looked deadly. I glanced at the countdown. It was almost time.
“All yours Lieutenant!” Labrowski called.
“Got it, going, hold on!” I called to everyone as I jammed the throttle controls to maximum and twisted the whole ship on its side, pointing down spatially speaking. The inertial controls were strained and we all jerked to the side and then back as we shot straight down. I did a slow count to three, keeping us corkscrewing, avoiding plasma fires an. Then I completely swapped the directional engines. The ship flipped, pointing back up, and shot straight at the bellies of the strange alien crafts. Those ships were frantically trying to get out of the way.
“Fire weapons!” the Captain yelled.
“Weapons firing!” Commander Tello returned. It cleared the way and we shot through the crowded space. They were now completely disorganized and unable to target us, so we continued spinning as I brought us to even keel, shooting back along our path. We soon were far ahead of any pursuit, and moving along Tara's course to the asteroids. I kept us steady for the few minutes it took to get there, as the other stations all were shutting down the alarm whistles that had gone off with my unexpected maneuvers. Engineer Labrowski was cursing.
“The engines are too new for that kind of stress. What were you thinking Loneway?”
I remained silent continuing my flight.
“Go down and check on the engines, Chief. Let me know how we stand,” the Captain told him in a firm voice.
I checked the screen and there was no pursuit close. I sighed and allowed myself to take a deep breath. Tara shot me a look and kept herself busy.
“Ok, we bought ourselves some time,” said the Captain. “I want to stay close enough to keep on eye on them without risking ourselves. We are the only ship out here and need to be cautious.”
I felt that last part was directed at me. I was just getting my heart rate back to normal, but I couldn't help smiling inwardly. I’d pulled off the Tornado Twist. Another thing off of my bucket list!
“Set up a tight wave to Star Dock HQ and relay all information and keep your ears open,” said the Captain. “We are going to partial silence. I do not want to get caught without power again, understood people?”
“Aye aye Captain,” we all answered.
“Good. Pilot I want a word. Tello take the chair. I will be going to have a conversation with the Ambassador. If anyone needs me, feel free to please interrupt.”
He got a chuckle out of most of the bridge crew. I kept my mouth shut. I sent for a backup and one came from the pilots’ ready room. I stood.
“Relieving Pilot,” I said meeting the new pilot’s eyes.
“Pilot relieved,” he answered.
I followed the Captain to his office looking at my feet. I was actually glad my hair was loose. It covered my face.
*****
The door shut behind me.
“Have a seat Loneway!” the Captain said. His voice was rough and sounded angry. This wasn't the first time. He paced across his office a few times. It was a nice office. Chairs in front of his desk and a couch with book shelves and a wide viewing pane behind his desk. I noticed several of his books had come off the shelf. Oops.
“Interesting maneuver Loneway. Is that the one they call the Twist?”
I shook my head.
“No sir, not completely,” I said. “The Twist would not have worked in that situation. It is called the...” I hesitated but I had committed myself. Someday I would remember to not open my mouth. “It is called the Tornado Twist, although I changed it somewhat because I was afraid they would still be a few who could target us when we blew through them.”
“Ah yes, if I remember right that has never been tried before, has it?” Oops again. I did not know he kept up on pilots, navigational manuals and simulation tests.
“Not in real time sir, only simulations, I did not see any other way out,” I told him honestly.
“That is because you think in extremes. Did it occur to you that if you had merely dropped us down and shot behind them with our superior speed we could have circled around and made it here with less stress and muss.”
I nodded.
“Yes sir.”
He was still looking out at the asteroids that were drifting past and then I saw his shoulders shaking slightly followed quickly by him laughing. I had never seen him laugh so completely and freely. I smiled but kept myself from laughing. I still was not sure how much trouble I was in. When he calmed down he turned, and caught his breath smiling.
“Ah, much better,” he said. “I could not hold it in any longer. You should have seen the look on Chief Labrowski's face when you flipped us back up. I will remember that for a long time.” I allowed myself a grin as he sat at his desk.
“Ok then Loneway, I did not really bring you in here to chew you out. I would prefer, however, if you let me know before we do something like that again please.” I agreed since I was not in trouble.
“As I mentioned I have to go visit our resident Diplomat and I want you to come with me.”
The sudden, complete shift in topics threw me for a second.
“Me sir? Why me?” I said. He sighed and began going over his desk, looking over notes.
“I noticed at the reception we had for the christening of the
Star Light
that the Ambassador is, at least a little bit, smitten with you. I need a distraction for him. Despite our situation, he will be able to cause some problems for all of us.”
I was startled to say the least. The Captain looked embarrassed. He continued. “I do not like using these tactics but Ambassador Churlish is a man who firmly believes in his own righteousness and also believes our duties are overly violent and a waste of resources. I would not ask you to do this, but I need some breathing space. Especially with this situation.”
I sat silently thinking about it. The Captain had not given a direct order, he was asking for my help and that was a whole other thing. I was touched he would trust me with something as diplomatic as this, but I was not sure what I was supposed to do. As I thought about it he went to the food dispenser and had some coffee made. He got me a cup and gestured to the viewing pane. I got up and joined him. I accepted the coffee and began sipping it. The Captain always had the best coffee. We stood side by side and gazed out at the stars and asteroids together. It felt comfortable, calming and right. The warm fuzzies were building in me and I shoved them aside for a minute.
“What exactly would you like me to do sir?” I said.
He looked startled.
“Nothing but accompany me to his quarters to speak to him. You do not have to act like you are attracted to him. Just be yourself and let him do the distracting in his head. Unless of course there is something about him that you do like...”
My eyes widened.
“With respect, sir; give me some credit. No I am not interested in him in that way. Jeez.” He broke out laughing again and this time I did join him. Our shoulders touched as we almost leaned into each other. I cherished that moment.
“So, just tag along, even take notes if you want. I often have other officers with me when I talk to him so he won't find it strange.”
OK, I thought, that I could do. We finished our coffee and were on our way. I missed that closeness, but felt we would have it again.
We walked the corridors to the Diplomat suite. The Captain smiled and said hello to everyone. He knew every person's name, rank and department. With over three hundred people serving under him that was a feat I could not match. I saw the two guards at Churlish's room. We stopped in front of them.
“Did you gentlemen find out how he broke into a silent communication system.”
One of them nodded.
“Yes Captain, he had a small device he claims is handed out to diplomats for personal use. As far as we could tell it is a listening device that he switched the wiring on to talk onto our systems. The Chief has it now and we shut down all but minimal power to his room.” The Captain nodded and we went in. I pulled out my pocket tablet and pretended to be busy.
“Has the situation been explained to you Ambassador Churlish?” said the Captain. “We were not in a position to explain things when it broke loose.”
The Ambassador was a big man. Not necessarily fat, but on the edge. He wore expensive clothing as befitted his station and his short, steel-gray hair was swept back from his forehead. He wore a small mustache of the kind that I found vaguely annoying. I looked up from my tablet and gave him a professional smile. Upon our entrance he surged to his feet as if to begin haranguing the Captain. But when he spotted me, he blustered.
“I understand it was a difficult situation Captain, but these are the sort of situations I am on board for. You could have at least sent someone to inform me more thoroughly.”
The Captain paid complete attention to the man and nodded thoughtfully.
“Yes, you are correct,” said the Captain. “That was a mistake on my part, but I was in a hurry. I will try and not to let that happen again. I wanted to let you know we have notified command about what is going on and I imagine we both will be getting orders soon.” I noticed the Ambassador's gaze did keep shifting over to me. Not necessarily my face either. I then remembered I was still in civilian clothes and showing more than I usually do on duty. Not to mention my hair was a wild mess. I sighed inwardly, doing my bit for my ship and crew.
“Indeed Captain. Do you have any idea what those orders might be?”
The Captain shook his head.
“I can honestly say I have a very hard time gauging what command may want in situations such as this. I try hard to exercise patience.” The Ambassador smiled at the Captain’s answer, then turned to me.
“And you, Lieutenant Loneway? What do you think about our situation?” His voice was toned differently than it had been for talking to the Captain. Smoother and gentler, almost charming
“Well Ambassador it could go several different ways. It is a bit above my pay grade though so I don't worry about it much. I just fly where I am told.”
The man smiled warmly and nodded.
“Like a little while ago? That was some flying my dear.” I raised an eyebrow and shrugged. I noticed his eyes flicked down to my chest when I did and back up. I looked him the eyes.