Shaking his head, he walked out of the compartment and down towards the flight deck. There was a spare simulator there, one he could use to review the records from New Russia. He didn't know if he would find anything, just by replaying them time and time again, but there was no harm in looking. Besides, Rose wasn’t the only one who wanted revenge. Kurt wanted to make the aliens pay too.
Chapter Eight
A civilian, Ted knew, would not have been impressed with Ark Royal’s bridge. The modern Royal Navy had wasted time making bridges look photogenic — naval crewmen joked that the consoles had explosive charges underneath so they could be detonated on cue — but that hadn't been a concern for Ark Royal’s designers. The bridge was nothing more than a collection of consoles, organised around a large command chair and a holographic display system. There wasn't even a chair for the XO, who would be based in the CIC. If something happened to the bridge, the CIC could take over.
He sat down and looked from console to console. They were a curious mishmash of systems; thankfully, all of them were British rather than produced outside the British Commonwealth. The engineers had worked them all together, but they had never really been tested in combat; now, Ted knew, they would find out just how well their jury-rigged modifications had actually worked. He sucked in his breath as he activated his console and checked the situation reports flowing up from the various departmental heads. Everyone claimed to be ready for departure.
“Begin power-up sequence,” he ordered.
A low hum ran through the ship as all six fusion cores powered up together. All of them had been tested, one by one, but there had been no need to power them all up while they’d drifted in the reserves. Now… he watched the readings, silently praying that everything would work properly without problems. In theory, they could operate with four fusion cores, but he didn't want to try it in practice. If nothing else, there would be no redundancy if one of the cores failed during battle.
Or was destroyed, he thought, remembering how effectively the alien weapons had sliced the modern carriers apart. What if we’re wrong about how effective our armour will be?
The thought made him scowl. Someone had released the recordings of the battle onto the planetary datanet, provoking panic. There had been riots in a dozen British cities, riots which had sucked away the attention of the military, making it harder for them to prepare for a possible invasion. If Ark Royal couldn't delay the aliens long enough to prepare additional defences, Earth itself might be invaded sooner rather than later. And who knew how the aliens would treat humanity’s homeworld?
He pushed the thought aside as Anderson called him. “All six fusion cores are optimal, Captain,” the Chief Engineer said. “Power curves are steady; I recommend we proceed with full power-up.”
Ted took another breath. “Do it,” he ordered. “Now.”
Ark Royal hadn't needed more than a tenth of the output of one fusion core to keep her essential systems running while she’d been in the reserves. The power requirements were minimal; Ted knew he could have reduced them still further, if he hadn't wanted to keep the starship in something resembling fighting trim. Now… inch by inch, his starship was coming to life around him. Section after section responded to the call and came online; sensors activated, sweeping space for hostile threats, while weapons systems prepared themselves to fire on potential targets.
“We have four sections that need urgent replacement,” Anderson said. Red lights blinked up briefly in the status display, then faded away. “I don’t think our work was up to scratch. I’ve dispatched repair crews now.”
“Good,” Ted said. He wasn't too surprised. Given Ark Royal’s age and the number of different components that had been worked into her hull, he’d expected more than a few minor problems when they powered up for the first time. “Are we ready for deployment?”
“Main drive system; online, ready to go,” Anderson said. “Puller Drive; online, ready to go.”
There was a long pause as Ted closed his eyes, feeling his ship coming to life around him. In the reserves, she had felt as if she were sleeping. Now… power was thrumming through her hull, her drives, weapons and sensors were online and her starfighters were ready to deploy. The oldest starship still in service, anywhere, was ready and raring to go.
He smiled. “Contact Nelson Base,” he ordered. “Inform them that Ark Royal is ready for deployment.”
“Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Annie Davidson said. The communications officer had not been best pleased to be assigned to Ark Royal, once she’d been called from the reserves, but she’d started to change her mind after hearing about the loss of two modern carriers. At least Ark Royal was capable of taking a beating and remaining functional. “Message sent.”
Ted nodded. Hardly anyone, apart from the First Space Lord and his staff, knew about Ark Royal’s mission. To everyone else, she was just another ancient starship, pressed into service to fight a dangerously powerful foe. Just like one of the civilian ships hastily being fitted with popguns, according to one reporter who’d been embedded on Nelson Base. Ted had been offended for his command, but the truth had to remain concealed. The reporter could be made to eat his own words later.
“They’re ordering us to proceed to our destination at once,” Annie said, after several minutes had gone by. “There's a classified data package for you, sir.”
“Forward it to my console,” Ted ordered. He looked over at Lightbridge. The helmsman was looking keenly determined, staring down at his console as if he expected to have to react within a split second. “Have you calculated an appropriate jump point?”
“Aye, sir,” Lightbridge said. “We can reach our destination in two jumps.”
“Then take us to the jump point, best possible speed,” Ted ordered. “But do not activate the Puller Drive without my specific authorisation.”
He settled back in his command chair and watched the updates from engineering as the crew scurried around, fixing the problems that had become apparent. If there was a real problem, he knew, they would have to hold position in the Sol System so that it could be fixed… but, thankfully, it didn't look as though there was any need to wait. The engineering crew had the tools and spare parts to replace the useless or burned out components. Anderson and his staff had spent the last two weeks scrounging up everything they could and stuffing every last compartment in the ship with spare parts. Ark Royal could, in theory, operate for several years without needing outside supplies.
“The computer cores are holding together, thankfully,” Anderson said. “I was worried they would object when we actually started to move.”
“I know,” Ted said. “Keep monitoring their progress.”
He scowled, knowing how tricky that was likely to be. The different generations of computer systems had never been designed to work together, let alone the ones that came from outside the Commonwealth. In hindsight, he suspected, the human race might have good reason to regret not establishing a few common standards for technology. Right now, a British carrier couldn't be repaired with spare parts from a Chinese carrier. If the human race managed to remain united — and without unity, they were surely going to lose the war — that was going to have to be fixed.
Assuming we trusted them not to play games, he thought. The Admiralty hadn't objected to Ark Royal’s crew using begged or scrounged Chinese components, but he'd always assumed that his superiors hadn't bothered to read his reports. His crew had always checked the systems carefully, yet it was quite possible that they’d missed something dangerous, something the Chinese could use to manipulate the carrier to their advantage. Would they try anything like that when the human race needed to remain united?