As the shuttle began to roll off the landing apron and into the hangar bay, a missile streaked overhead, no more than twenty meters above their heads just to the left of them.
Josh and Loki looked at each other. “Uh oh.”
The missile passed over most of the ship, skimming along until it struck the upper portion of the hull just forward of the primary bulkhead line. The force of the explosion was immense, sending pieces of the outer hull flying in all directions.
The bridge shook violently as the missile exploded. The entire room suddenly shifted to the right, taking the floor out from under anyone standing, as well as sliding the chairs right out from under anyone sitting. Everyone on the starboard side of the bridge immediately found themselves on the floor. Nathan and Jessica, who had been standing at the tactical station, found themselves in a pile just to the left of where they had been standing. Kaylah and the acting communications officer, both of whose consoles were on the port side of the bridge, found themselves slamming into their consoles face first. Cameron, who was partially standing and stretching to her left to try and reach the navigation console went toppling over the center console and into the navigator’s chair, ending up in a pile on the far side of the entire flight console.
The lights went dark, with only the illumination from the main view screen lighting the bridge. A few systems shorted and sparked, but the lights quickly came back on, and the crew picked themselves up. All but one.
“Abby!” Nathan called out. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she answered as she climbed back into her chair.
“Tell me you have a jump ready?”
“Yes, sir. I do.”
“Jump! Jump! Jump!”
As Abby initiated the jump, Jessica, who had just gotten back on her feet quickly killed the point-defense fire. The view screen darkened and a moment later the room was bathed by the blue-white flash of the jump.
“Cam, verify our position!” Nathan turned toward the helm, but Cameron wasn’t there.
“Sir!” Kaylah cried.
Nathan turned his gaze to the left and saw Kaylah dropping to her knees next to Cameron’s motionless body.
“Med-Team to the bridge!” Nathan ordered as he rushed over to Cameron’s side. “Is she?” He couldn’t bring himself to say the word.
Kaylah felt for a pulse at Cameron’s neck. “She’s alive, sir. But her breathing is very shallow, and I can barely feel her pulse.”
“Stay with her, Kaylah.” Nathan rose and immediately sat at the helm to assume the job of flying the ship. “Abby, start plotting me another jump out of here, just in case.”
Nathan scanned the helm displays as he took control of the ship. They were still on the same course and at the same speed. But they were five light minutes farther away from their last location than they should’ve been at their present speed. It wasn’t very far. In fact, Nathan hadn’t even realized that the jump drive could be used over such a short distance. It was, however, just enough to keep them comfortably out of reach of the Yamaro’s long-range missiles.
Doctor Chen and two crewmen entered the bridge and immediately went to Cameron’s side. Nathan kept looking out of the corner of his eye as the doctor struggled to keep his executive officer alive.
“Her right lung is collapsed, and her pressure is way down. She’s gotta be bleeding internally,” she stated as she finished her scan of Cameron’s body with her portable medical scanner. “Finish up that line and get her on oxygen. I’ve got to get her into surgery before she bleeds out.”
“Doctor,” Nathan said as he continued piloting the ship. “Is she gonna survive?”
“She’s in bad shape,” the young doctor admitted grimly. “I’ll do what I can.”
Nathan kept his eyes forward as they loaded her pale, motionless body onto the stretcher. She was a strong-willed, determined young woman, but now she was as limp as a rag doll. It crushed Nathan to see his friend in such a state.
Tug and Jalea entered the bridge in a hurry, obviously having rushed there directly from the hangar deck after they had landed. In their hurry, they nearly ran into the medical team carrying Cameron out on a stretcher. Tug’s expression immediately turned somber when he realized what was happening.
“Kaylah,” Nathan said calmly. “I need you back on your console.”
Kaylah looked at him. “Yes, sir,” she answered as she rose and climbed back into her chair.
“I need to know the position of that warship. I need to know if they’re still pursuing us.”
“Yes, sir. One moment.”
“Captain, I have an escape jump plotted to take us outside the system,” Abby reported.
“Engineering. Report,” Nathan called over his comms.
“No problems,” Vladimir reported over the comms. “All primary systems are functioning.”
“Abby?”
“We’re still good, Captain. Ninety-eight percent charged.”
“Jess?”
“Lost a couple rail guns along the port side, just forward of the primary bulkheads. But other than that, we’re good.”
“How about our point-defense rounds?”
“We can hold a field for maybe a minute before we run out. Still full up on kinetic rounds, and about ten percent of our explosive hull-penetrating rounds.” Jessica looked at Nathan. “Not much left to shoot with, I’m afraid.”
“Not that it matters much,” Nathan admitted. “With her missiles we’d never get close enough to be able to hit anything.”
“Captain,” Kaylah interrupted. “I’ve found the Ta’Akar warship, sir.”
“Is it still after us?”
“Negative sir, they’ve broken off pursuit. They’ve assumed a high orbit over Corinair.”
Oh God, Nathan thought.
“Captain,” Jalea began, “If they’re assuming a high orbit-”
“I know,” Nathan admitted.
“There are billions of innocent people on Corinair,” Jalea said.
“And there are millions of innocent people on my world as well!”
Josh and Loki peeked their heads in through the hatchway to the bridge, unsure if it was safe to enter due to all the shouting.
“Captain!” Kaylah announced. “The Yamaro is opening fire on Corinair, sir.”
“What?!” Josh cried. “Captain! We gotta do something!”
“Yeah, Captain,” Loki agreed. “They’ll be wiped out!”
“What can we do?” Nathan pleaded. “We’re just one ship. We’re not even heavily armed.”
Nathan looked in the eyes of his guests, and then in the eyes of his crew. Every one of them was scared: scared for the people of Corinair, scared for the people of Earth, and scared for themselves. All except for one. Tug’s eyes were sympathetic, as if he understood the pain than Nathan was going through. It was as if he had been through it himself.
Tug stepped forward, placing his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “Nathan,” he said softly. “I know that you are young. I know that this responsibility was not yours by choice. And I know that this task seems an impossible one. And you are right; you are but one ship, one small ship. But your ship has a miraculous device, the likes of which has never been seen. I know that you do not know how to use it just yet. But neither do they know how to defend against it. And that is your biggest advantage. Trust in me. Trust in yourself, just as we all do. Together, we can do this. We can save them all-both your people and mine.”
Nathan was more conflicted than he had ever been in his entire life. No matter which way he decided, he had both tactical and ethical justification. But none of that mattered to him at this moment. He knew that no matter what, he could not bring himself to jump away and leave billions of innocent people to die needlessly, even if it meant risking his own world.
Nathan looked at Jessica. “It seems that fate once again has me in its clutches,” he said, a slight smirk forming on the corner of his mouth. He turned toward Josh and Loki. “You two think you’re ready to fly this thing?”
“Hell yes,” Josh exclaimed, nearly falling over himself to get to the helm, Loki stumbling right behind him.