“Well, obviously you’ve lost your mind.”
“That’s what I said,” Jessica added as she plopped down on the couch.
“How could you have possibly thought it was a good idea to start using civilians-aliens no less-as crew?”
“Jesus, what is it with you two?” Nathan sat in his chair behind the captain’s desk. “I asked them to cut up some molo, and you’re both acting like I gave them the keys to the nukes!”
“It’s just that you’re too trusting, Nathan,” Cameron insisted.
“Look, you and I both know that there is no way we can run this ship effectively with what little crew we have left. We don’t even have one full shift staffed, Cam. And most of the crew has had less than a full night’s rest in nearly a week. Hell, we’re going to have to start using one-man watches in each department pretty soon or else we’re going to have people dropping from exhaustion.”
“But these people don’t have any training-”
“Which is why I’m not planning on using any of them in critical areas, Cameron. I might be impulsive, but contrary to popular opinion-amongst the women in this room-I’m not stupid.” Nathan looked past Cameron who was standing in front of him, making eye contact with Abby, who had come in a moment ago and was sitting on the other end of the couch from Jessica. “Present company excluded, Doctor.”
“Nathan-” Cameron tried to continue her argument, but was cut off when Nathan raised his hand.
“The decision has been made, Commander,” he warned in a more official tone.
Cameron was slightly taken aback, as was Jessica. It was uncharacteristic of Nathan to pull rank on anyone, let alone the two of them. She took a deep breath and swallowed hard, letting her breath out slowly as she composed herself.
“Now, can we start this meeting?” Nathan asked in a more unofficial tone.
Cameron took a seat in one of the two chairs facing the front of Nathan’s desk. “Yes sir.”
“I’ve called this staff meeting so we can decide on a course of action,” Nathan explained.
“Captain, I’m not a member of your staff,” Abby pointed out.
“You are now,” he explained. “Since the jump drive is currently our only means of interstellar travel, every strategic decision now involves you.”
“But I’m a civilian.”
“It’s not like I’m drafting you, Doctor. I just want your expertise available during any discussions that might involve the jump drive.”
“Of course.”
“What about medical and engineering?” Cameron asked, still fuming over Nathan’s rebuke.
“Doctor Chen still has her hands full, and other than her department’s state of readiness, she would have little to add to this discussion.”
“And Vladimir?”
“He’ll be here momentarily.” Nathan leaned back in his chair, taking a breath and trying to relax for the first time since he had made it back on board from the surface of Haven.
Cameron could see his frazzled nerves becoming more apparent now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off. “What happened down there?” she asked, in a surprisingly sympathetic tone.
“We got ambushed,” Jessica explained.
“When Tobin came to pick us up, he surprised us with a team of Ta’Akar assault troops,” Nathan explained.
“I never did trust that skinny little shit,” Jessica added.
“If it hadn’t been for Vlad and Jessica, they would’ve taken us completely by surprise.”
“They must’ve attacked you at the same time they attacked us,” Cameron surmised. “They got on board using one of the cargo shuttles. We thought they were just returning from their run to the surface.”
“Yeah, well, it’s obvious that Tobin was in on the whole thing,” Nathan said.
“What about Jalea and this Tug fellow?” Cameron asked. “You think they were in on it as well?”
“Doubtful. Danik was killed in the attack, and Tug lost his wife.”
“Jesus,” Cameron exclaimed.
“Yeah, and Tug was about to get executed, until we capped the remaining three all at once,” Jessica bragged.
“Really?”
“Yeah, you should’ve seen it. Captain even put one right in the middle of one of their face plates. Blew the back of his head clean off.
Cameron looked at Nathan in disbelief. She knew that there had been some sort of battle on the surface, but until now, she had no idea how serious it had actually been.
“Yeah, I was just as surprised as you are,” he admitted.
“Surprised by what?” Vladimir asked as he entered the room.
“Nothing,” Nathan said, not really wanting to relive the event just yet. “Have a seat.”
Vladimir took the remaining chair, pulled it away from the desk, and moved it over toward the wall so as not to block Nathan’s view of Jessica and Abby on the couch. He spun the chair around and sat down, his arms resting on the chair back.
“Before we start, I want you all to know how much I appreciate the tireless job that you’ve been doing. I wish I could say that we’re almost done, but I’m afraid we may have just gotten started.” Nathan looked at their faces, each of them showing signs of stress and fatigue. Even Vladimir, who normally was stoic and smiling, looked beat. And poor Cameron, who always looked military perfect, looked like she had slept in her uniform, and for a very short time at that.
“When Captain Roberts placed me in command, his last orders were to get the jump drive back to Earth. At the time, I didn’t understand the urgency of his request, but I learned a bit later-and correct me if I’m mistaken, Doctor-that this particular unit is not only the sole prototype in existence, but that all research in regards to this project are currently stored in the project’s mainframe on board this ship. There is not a shred of evidence to be found anywhere on Earth that would reveal this project had ever existed. In fact, other than the researchers who came on board with the prototype, there were only a handful of people on the entire planet that were aware of its existence. That’s how important this project was to the security of Earth.”
“That is unbelievable,” Vladimir exclaimed.
“That’s exactly what I thought,” Nathan agreed, “at first. But think about it. If the Jung ever got their hands on this research, there would be no stopping them. That’s got to be why Fleet was so secretive.”
“You are correct, Captain. And the paranoia of our leaders went far deeper than you could imagine. The few that knew about this project were willing to sacrifice their careers, even their very lives to protect it. We even had suicide devices implanted in our teeth, in case of capture.”
Nathan stared at her, asking with his eyes if that included her.
“Yes, Captain, I have one as well.”
“Does this mean we have to get them as well?” Jessica asked halfheartedly.
“I’m pretty sure medical doesn’t carry suicide pills,” Nathan assured her.
“Captain,” Abby warned, “you do realize that if this drive were about to fall into enemy hands, you would be expected to destroy the ship and the crew in order to maintain its secrecy.”
“I’m afraid the secret is already out, Doctor. The Ta’Akar have already seen us jump away on several occasions. I suspect they’re hunting us for exactly that reason.”
“Then we need to get out of this region of space as quickly as possible,” Cameron insisted.
“Five or six jumps should put us well out of range of even their fastest ships, Captain,” Abby estimated. “We could be out of danger and well on our way home in a matter of days.”
“But earlier you said that you had no way to tell how much longer the jump drive would continue to function. Has that assertion changed?”
“No sir, it has not. But I also have no reason to suspect that it would not continue to function as designed. When I made that statement, I was doing so to warn you about the risk of assuming the jump drive would always be available to get you out of danger.”