She filled Starlet’s eating dish with a generous serving of cat food and water. If things were to go sideways and they all ended up dead, then this would be her last meal. Surprisingly, Starlet didn’t come rushing toward the smell of freshly opened cat food. Foster looked toward her window and saw why. The light of Sirius A beamed through, automatically dimmed by the windows to prevent one from going blind. Starlet had parked herself up on the windowsill, and looked at the bright star and its brilliant light, unaware that this wasn’t the first time she had done this. Foster caught Starlet on many nights back on Earth, gazing at the brightest stars in the sky such as Sirius. Now she was doing it again, only this time up close.
Foster stopped before the exit to her quarters and took a last look at all of her belongings, still unpacked, and made a promise to herself to open the seventeen-year-old packing boxes once this was over. That of course required her, the ship, and crew to not fail. And we won’t fail, we got this.
ESRS CARL SAGAN, Bridge
Near Sirius A corona, Sirius A system
May 23, 2050, 00:40 SST (Sol Standard Time)
The bridge slowly began to populate as the crew one by one emerged from the rear entrance amongst the zero-g. None of them showed any signs of fear or regret. Even Williams, as he peered over the data coming in from the hologram in the back, had a calm cool aura. Foster pushed and glided next to Chang and Pierce upfront, both diligently worked on their computer terminals. Sirius A was bright enough for her to shield her eyes as she looked at the windshield, despite the auto dimming features.
“Ready?” she asked the two of them as she hovered between them.
“As science officer, I would like you to know for the record. Your plan is madness,” Pierce said.
“As the one flying this boat,” Chang said as he performed one last look at his instruments. “This is going to be one hell of an item to put on my service record.”
Tolukei and Nereid, the final players in their plan, entered the bridge donning the modified psionic amps across the back of their heads. The two took their place at the psionic station with Tolukei taking the lead and Nereid standing with her Voelika firmly held in her hands. Foster’s understanding of the Voelika was that it enhanced the psionic powers of the person that used it. Between it, the amplifiers, and Tolukei’s assistance it should be enough for the Carl Sagan to get through this. And if not, well it would be an interesting science experiment that cost them their lives.
“Awesome, our gravity masters have arrived,” Chang said.
“If our plan is to work, we’ll need them to focus on everything but bridge gravity.” Foster glided back into her captain’s chair. She strapped herself in and faced the psionic duo as they assumed a comfortable posture in preparation for their deep trance. “You guys ready?”
Tolukei nodded. “I am.” And then looked down toward Nereid as she softly chanted strange words at her Voelika, a prayer to Tiamat, Foster figured. “As for her . . . we shall see.”
Proximity alarms began to beep and alerted the bridge crew to get their game faces on. Chang pointed to the top right corner of the windshield. “Captain, Marduk’s ship.”
Marduk’s ship dropped out of FTL and came into view in front of the Carl Sagan as it continued to plunge toward the blazing, hot surface of Sirius A. The mind shields of both ships rippled due to the constant bombardment of heat and radiation the closer they got.
“The final player has arrived,” Foster said, grinning. “All right folks, put on ya doom ’n gloom faces.” Foster gestured at EVE’s hologram. “EVE, if you will.”
“Please stand by,” EVE said as she contacted Marduk using the communication link the rogue EVE had used.
Marduk’s hologram materialized before the bridge’s crew, he shot a smug grin and gaze at Foster. “Captain, time is up for you and your gallant crew. Have you made your decision?”
Foster brushed back a lock of floating hair away from her face. “On behalf of myself, the crew, and the human race . . . Marduk, go fuck yourself.”
Marduk’s face grew angry, his mouth was about to open as EVE cut the connection. “You think that got his attention?” Williams asked.
“It better,” Foster said as she returned to her chair at the front. “Mr. Chang, let’s do it!”
“You got it, Captain!”
The Carl Sagan altered its course slightly. It sped toward the upper layers of Sirius’s corona rather than directly through it and onto its surface. Marduk’s ship veered and pursued them as its energy weapons discharged, streaking toward the aft of the Carl Sagan only to be deflected by their psionic overshields. The overshield barely flickered as the first salvo of Marduk’s attack arrived. The overshields were much stronger. The psionic duo with their new bag of tricks was holding up better than Foster had hoped, considering the amount of work they needed to do. It wasn’t just creating a powerful overshield to protect the ship they were tasked with, but also using their minds to help prevent the Carl Sagan from being dragged into the intense gravity well being produced by the massive star, and keeping said intense gravity out of the ship so that the crew and equipment didn’t crush under their own weight.
“Status?” Foster said.
“Overshield is holding,” Tolukei said, temporarily breaking his trance. “But, Captain, we require complete concentration during this maneuver, please refrain from speaking to us unless it is urgent.”
“Their abilities are incredible . . .” Pierce said as he eyed the reports being outputted to his computer. “It’s like there’s no gravitational pull tugging against the ship.”
The Carl Sagan plunged into Sirius’ corona, and waves of plasma energy splashed across their overshields creating a perpetual purple bubble around the ship. The dimming feature of the windshields struggled to keep the bright light out, basking the bridge and its crew in white light casting their dark shadows behind them on the floor. The surface of Sirius raged like a cauldron in hell, rays of light shining up from all angles across the horizon.
The heat, radiation, gravity, magnetic fields, none of it had an effect on the Carl Sagan so long as the overshields worked. Foster’s plan was coming together nicely, the playing field was even, and Marduk would have to force his psionic powers to enter a deep trance to follow, thus limiting his ability to command his ship. If it was too much for him, he would be forced to withdraw to a safe distance all while the interference from the star would make it impossible for sensor scans to work correctly.
The same applied to the Carl Sagan, as they ventured deeper into the corona. ESP was off the table. Both Tolukei and Nereid needed to focus on keeping the overshields up and strong at all times. Should the overshields fail, even for a second, it would mark the end of their journey. A direct hit via a solar flare or continual direct hits from Marduk’s ship could help bring that about. Not to mention their time within the corona was limited as their psionic duties slowly drained their mental energy. Marduk, of course, had to deal with the same challenges on his end, this was a battle to see whose overshields would fail first.
The Carl Sagan continued to drift through the corona for ten minutes, passing by alluring waves of plasma and radiation from the surface of the star. There was no sign of Marduk’s ship, as expected he had no reliable sensor data nor could he risk using his ESP. Both ships were effectively partially invisible to each other as they flew about looking for one another. The windshields became the only reliable means of seeing what was outside, even then with the insane rays of light that were shining through, it was hard, EVE was the only one who was able to look at the windshields without covering her eyes.