“Six weeks,” Michael said to Vargev. “That’s a hell of a long time; I hope there is an E.D. F left to save.”
“So do I comrade, so do I,” Vargev replied.
Michael, Vargev and Kerulithar continued their stroll back towards Kerulithars apartment.
“Well that’s it; the Solarians are coming to…what do you call it…kick the Krenarans ass,” the ambassador pointed out.
Michael and Vargev laughed. “Something like that.”
Six weeks, Michael thought, I hope there will be an E.D. F left by the time we get there.
“When we get there, the war will be waiting for us comrade,” Vargev said, as if reading Michaels’ thoughts.
“That’s a bit of a turn around, you were all for taking the Liberty and using it against the Krenarans as soon as we captured her.”
“Let’s just say we have a bit better chance now. When the Liberty and the rest of the Solarian fleet start smashing into the Krenarans they’re not going to know what hit them.”
“And the Solarian government shouldn’t have too much trouble in maintaining popular support for our involvement. Krenaran attacks on our borders have been growing for some time and the government just needed an excuse, conveniently, you gave them one,” Kerulithar added.
Chapter 10
They arrived back at the apartment; Kerulithar ushered the two men inside.
“This calls for a celebratory drink,” the Solarian reached toward a cupboard which opened automatically and took out a bottle of a yellowish coloured liquid. He handed each of the two men a glass, and poured them each a drink, which the two men eyed with even more suspicion.
“Don’t worry; it’s not Atollos. This is Gimva whisky from Celius II; I was given it from the Governor there for helping to mediate a dispute between two rival terrorist factions.”
Michael and Vargev gingerly sipped from the glass. It was not like an ordinary whisky, this was smooth and slightly fruity, but it still had the warmth that traditional whiskies had.
They spent the night in Kerulithars apartment once again, Michael asked the ambassador the question he had been pondering all day, “why six weeks?”
“Solarian space is vast, there are 125 planets spread out across nearly 400 light years, six weeks is the minimum that the warhost could be mustered.”
“Now I understand,” Michael said feeling a little stupid.
Next morning they awoke and had breakfast, “I’m going to take some of this with me.” Vargev said as he ate the sorgrest mash with gusto.
“Unfortunately it only keeps fresh for a week.”
“Damn.”
“You might be able to find dried sorgrest on Omicron though. But the drying process takes some of the taste out.”
After they had breakfast they were making ready to depart back to Omicron.
“I wonder what gadgets they are going to put on the Liberty,” Michael thought aloud.
“The likelihood is they will explain what the technology does, and how it operates, then they will give you the choice of whether you want it or not,” Kerulithar said.
“The first thing I’ll want is all the controls in plain English,” Michael smiled. They arrived back at the Allathas spaceport again and despite the bustling crowds, managed to make it to pad ‘B’ where the shuttle was located.
Kerulithar opened the hatch once again, and all three of them went inside, the Solarian pressed a control and the hatch gently closed behind them, once Kerulithar had took up his position on the pilots’ seat he keyed in a few more controls and the shuttle began to gradually power up.
He contacted the Spaceport and requested clearance to depart. After a short pause while launch control checked that it was clear an affirmative came. The Solarian keyed in a few more controls and the gravitic engines slowly powered up with their customary whine; the shuttle began to lift off, quickly gathering speed.
Michael peered out the side window next to him and looked down at the shrinking form of Solaria city below. Feeling a slight sadness at leaving, at the possibility of not getting to experience the beauty and majesty of Solaria again, and he wished Jana and Theo were there and could see what he had seen. He also wondered if one day humanity could build something anywhere near as beautiful.
The shuttle punched through the cloud cover; soon enough they had achieved orbit of Solaris IV, the familiar multitude of vessels and facilities that crowded the orbit of the planet greeted them once again, and Kerulithar had to manoeuvre the shuttle around several large bulk transports and freighters, before they put enough distance between them and the planet to clear the throng of vessels.
The journey back to Omicron was once again an uneventful one; with the three of them swapping places again to take turns between resting and piloting. Two days journey later and they had arrived back at the Omicron repair facility.
It was slightly busier than usual. Already a dozen sleek Solarian battle cruisers had formed up in close formation near to the facility.
“It looks like they are also using Omicron as a staging point; more ships will be arriving soon,” Kerulithar pointed out.
He contacted the station requesting docking clearance, and it was heartily granted.
“Apparently the news of our deliberations with the council has reached here already.”
Michael and Vargev simply smiled, hey at least the good guys are finally beginning to get some support in this goddamn war, Michael thought.
The shuttle slowly glided into a hangar bay almost full of other shuttles and fighters all lined up; and it gradually touched down in an empty space near to the other shuttles. The hangar bay doors slowly closed behind the small craft.
Once the doors had closed, and the bay was re-pressurised, Solistis made his way across the hangar bay as they disembarked the shuttle to greet them, “Welcome back,” he said warmly. “Commander Ralavas has been expecting you.”
“No doubt he has,” Michael said with a smile as they walked with the Solarian officer once again.
“We heard what happened on Solaria; news is spreading fast throughout the Confederacy. An alliance with the Terrans and war with the Krenarans; repairs are also going well with the captured Krenaran vessel.” He said as he walked.
“The Liberty,” Michael corrected him once again; he wondered how many times he would have to do this. “As for an alliance; that is for our governments to decide between themselves, all we asked for was aid.”
“Of course, my mistake.”
“It does feel good to finally be able to take the fight to the Krenarans though,” Vargev interjected.
Eventually they arrived at Commander Ralavas’ Office once again.
“Ah, Michael Alexander and Nikolai Vargev if I remember correctly; welcome back to Omicron, I trust your stay on Solaria wasn’t too hectic?”
“Well apart from the council,” Michael replied. “You have one hell of a city over there.”
“Thank you. It’s one of our proudest achievements, though personally I have never been there.”
Michael was genuinely surprised at this news, a high-ranking Solarian Commander that has never been to his homeworld before, but then again being the Commander of a repair facility the size of Omicron; Ralavas mustn’t get out much.
“I have just received the repair report on your ship the Liberty.” The Commander continued, picking up a small display device. “Exterior hull damage is eighty percent complete; the primary sub-light drive however was damaged beyond repair so with your permission I would like to replace it with a Solarian negative Ion propulsion system.”
“What benefits would it give us, and how long would it take to fit?” Michael asked.
“Solarian propulsion units have been found to be thirty percent faster than typical Krenaran units, as well as being more reliable. However they do use more power, so we would have to upgrade the primary power source on-board,” Ralavas said.