“Looks clear,” his XO said, finally. His voice hardened. “Unless it’s a trap, of course.”
Ted nodded. The aliens might not want to distribute starships randomly around the stars surrounding New Russia — they’d run the risk of being overwhelmed by a locally superior human force — but they wouldn't want to abandon New Russia without a fight. Leaving the door open could be nothing more than an attempt to lure Ark Royal into the system, with the aliens waiting until they were deep inside before springing the trap. But there was no way to avoid the risk. If they backed off entirely, they might as well surrender New Russia for good.
“Signal the flotilla,” he ordered. He couldn't push his doubts out of his mind, but he had to proceed anyway. “We will advance to the tramline and jump.”
Moments later, Ark Royal shuddered as her drives came online, propelling her onwards towards the tramline… and destiny.
The flight suits were supposed to be the most comfortable outfits in the Royal Navy, Kurt had been told. With inserted computer systems, each one cost upwards of a hundred thousand pounds, a price tag that never failed to make civilians sputter in horror. They were supposed to be comfortable… so why did he feel sweat trickling down his back?
Your first real combat jump, he told himself. The starfighter pilots were on alert, crammed into their craft and braced for immediate launch… if they ran into an alien ambush. He couldn't help thinking of the possible disasters waiting for them. What if the aliens had an ambush waiting for them that would blow Ark Royal away before she launched her fighters? Or what if… he tried to push the thought out of his mind, but it mocked him. He felt helplessly vulnerable. Outside, even in his fragile fighter, he would have a chance. Inside, he knew that he could die before the fighters were launched into space.
“All hands, prepare for jump,” the XO’s voice said. “I say again, all hands prepare for jump.”
Kurt braced himself, feeling tension running down his spine. All of the pilots probably felt the same way. Combat jumps were rare, even in exercises; now, they were performing one for real. If something went wrong… angrily, he forced himself to think about the series of v-mails he had recorded for his children. Of course, if the entire flotilla was wiped out, they would never receive them. It was one of the reasons the Admiralty insisted on all naval personnel recording farewell messages and rewriting their wills prior to departure.
He wondered, absently, what they would think of him after he died. Would they think of him as a hero or a man who had abandoned his family to play starfighter pilot? He hadn't had a choice, yet it might not matter. Part of Kurt still resented his father for dying, even though the old man hadn't had a choice either. Would Penny and Percy understand why he’d had to go or would they resent him for dying? God knew it wasn't as through the family could claim a proper pension from his former employers. He wouldn’t be old enough to qualify for the company’s pension scheme, if he died today. And the Royal Navy pension wouldn't be enough for the family.
Molly will hate me, he thought, morosely. And why not? Without his income, the kids would have to be transferred to a free school. Their education would suffer quite badly, he knew; he had no faith at all in government-run schools. And Penny would fall in with an even worse crowd than she had at her private school. But she’d probably be pleased. At least she wouldn't have to put up with Madame Capet any longer.
“Seconds to go,” Rose said, her voice breaking into his thoughts. She sounded suspiciously eager to come to blows with the aliens. “I love you all, guys.”
Kurt rolled his eyes as the other pilots made their replies, some of them dreadfully obscene, then cleared his throat loudly. “Maintain radio silence,” he reminded them. It was unlikely that the alien sensors were good enough to pick up the tiny bursts from the starfighters, at least while they were in their launch tubes, but he didn’t want to take chances. “And do try to be professional out there.”
“Ten seconds to jump,” the XO said. “All hands, brace for jump. I say again, all hands brace for jump.”
Understood, Kurt thought. He braced himself as best as he could. Five seconds to go…
Charles, wearing full shipboard armour, watched as the Royal Marines braced themselves for the jump. They were all brave men — no one joined the Royal Marines without being ready for anything — but none of them liked the idea of being helpless as their starship jumped into potential danger. On the ground, they were lions; in space, they fretted over the prospect of being wiped out by a random missile strike. If Ark Royal came under heavy attack, there was little they could do beyond assisting the damage control teams.
“Five seconds,” Sergeant Fred Miles said, softly. “Here we go.”
Charles gritted his teeth as he felt the strange sensation of the jump building up around them, a feeling that defied analysis. The scientists swore backwards and forwards that no one should feel anything, but there was still a vaguely unpleasant feeling as the starship made its jump. Perhaps it was just a product of their imagination, the scientists had observed, a reflection of their awareness that something had changed. And yet… even when someone was unaware of the exact timing of the jump, they still felt the effects.
“Yes,” he muttered, as the sensation faded away. “Here we go.”
Ted had half-expected to see missiles or plasma bolts screeching towards them as soon as they materialised, even though Kiev hadn't detected any alien starships within sensor range. Instead, nothing greeted Ark Royal as she flickered back into existence, all hands braced for immediate attack. Ted gazed down at the screen and saw nothing, apart from the gravimetric signatures of the tramline and the system’s planets. The aliens seemed to have missed their arrival completely.
“All clear,” Farley said. He sounded doubtful. “But they could be lurking under stealth and we’d never know about it.”
“True,” Ted agreed. As long as they remained in the tramline, they could jump out again at the first sign of an alien threat, but they couldn't remain in the tramline indefinitely. “Launch the first set of recon platforms, followed by the drones. I want them established according to the operational plan.”
He paused, then took a gamble. “And see if you can link into the Russian deep-space surveillance platforms,” he added. “Use the command codes the Russians provided.”
“Chancy,” Fitzwilliam muttered. “The aliens might well have destroyed it.”
Ted couldn't disagree. Like most interstellar powers, the Russians had established a sensor network to watch for illicit activity in their home system. Unlike multinational systems like Terra Nova, the Russians owned the entire New Russia System and refused to allow anyone else to establish settlements within their territory. It was easy enough to hide from such a system, but not without restricting one’s activity to the bare minimum. Besides, there were enough unclaimed systems for hidden colonies to establish themselves without the risk of being obliterated by the Russians.
The seconds ticked away as the passive sensors began to pick up traces of alien activity. A handful of signals seemed to be emitting from the direction of New Russia itself, while another handful seemed to be coming from the asteroid cloud surrounding the system’s larger gas giant. Ted wondered, absently, if the aliens had managed to capture the system’s cloudscoop intact, before deciding it didn't matter. It wasn't as if a cloudscoop was a difficult device to construct.