Stars in the Sand (10 page)

 “
Normally I would deal with a situation such as this within my department. I would suggest you reconsider taking her along.”

 He shook his head, then said, “Noted, but I’m still taking her. Race can keep an eye on her, and it will give me a good chance to monitor her performance.” Raising a hand, he continued, “Not that I don’t assume you know what you are doing, but I want to see for myself. Just transferring her to another command is a cheap way of solving the problem.”

 “
Sometimes it is the only way, sir. Move her to a less critical station.”

 “
Or out of the service altogether, if it comes to that. We’ve got her on board for six months anyway, so let’s see if she can shape up. Perhaps she is simply in the wrong department.”

 “
Perhaps,” he said, shaking his head. “I would still suggest taking someone else.”

 “
Aside from Race, she’s the only other person from your department to sign up, and I’ll say this, she was awfully eager to go.”

 “
And a volunteer is worth ten pressed men?” Mulenga said. “Perhaps it is so. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on her when you get back.”

 “
I’m glad you are assuming that I am coming back.”

 With a smile, he replied, “I don’t have any doubts that you will find a way to get through, Captain. Whether you are able to complete your mission is perhaps less certain, dependent on circumstances somewhat beyond your control, but you and your volunteers will return.”

 “
Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

 “
I envy you, you know. You’re going to see some very interesting things – not least a variable A-type star, close up. Make sure Race takes plenty of readings for me; I’ve given him a list. I wish we could upgrade the exterior sensors.”

 “
One day we might get a chance to send a proper research team.”

 “
I hope so. It...offends me that we have to sneak around the stars like thieves. We should be able to travel where we will, in peace. There is so much to see, to learn.”

 “
You’ve got the Shrouded Stars to look forward to, at least.”

 “
I’m already working on the scientific program. Sub-Lieutenant Carpenter’s going to be too busy working on the surface to handle it…”

 “
And besides, she isn’t a space science specialist.”

 “
I suppose I can’t criticize. As a cosmologist, I study whole universes. Individual stars should be rather small scale for that.”

 “
We’ll do some exploring on our way home. And the Cabal isn’t everywhere, as well. We might be able to get a pure science mission yet.”

 His face dropped, and he shook his head, “The odds of a battlecruiser being free to do such work while the Cabal are an extant threat seem all too remote, I fear.”

 “
The two of you are looking awfully serious,” Caine said, walking over. “This is supposed to be a chance for us all to not talk shop.”

 “
We weren’t,” Mulenga said. “Well, not any more, anyway.”

 “
Once was too often.”

 Marshall glanced around the room, looking for the volunteers. Weitzman and Spinelli were over in a corner with a group of shuttle technicians, playing some sort of card game where the rules seemed to change with the level of alcohol consumption, and Bradley was on the improvised dance floor with Cooper, demonstrating the Espatier’s clumsiness, by the looks of it.

 Orlova walked into the room, looking around, and snatching a glass of punch from a tray by the door. She made a bee-line for Marshall, glancing at the festivities.

 “
Sorry I’m late,” she said. “We’re still trying to get the new electronic warfare package to work. Convincing the communications system to cope with that much bandwidth is fun.” Glancing past his shoulder, she said, “Is there a buffet? I haven’t managed to eat anything for a while.”

Caine shook her head, then said, “I might as well give up on the ‘no shop talk’ rule.”

 “
Sorry, Deadeye,” Marshall said, “I guess we’re just a bunch of crazy workaholics.”

 “
Crazy’s the right word for it.”

 “
Well, what do you want to talk about, then?” Orlova said, nibbling on a hastily-procured sandwich. “You pick.”

 She paused for a second, shook her head, then said, “You know, I can’t think of anything.”

 “
Then we might as well talk shop. Have you had any thoughts on a replacement for…”

 “
Already taken care of. Ixia’s coming.”

 “
Who?” Caine asked.

 “
One of the Neander.”

 “
She’s a pretty good mechanic, good at damage control,” Orlova said. “Surely it’s a bit of a risk, though.”

 “
I was thinking about that,” he replied. “One thing she is likely to be is invisible; she can go places that we might not be able to get into. I tried to talk her out of volunteering, but she wants to do it.”

 “
Perhaps I should have a word with her,” Orlova said.

 “
Everyone’s made their choice,” Caine replied. “If she wants to go, and she knows the risk, we should let her. We’re all taking a big enough risk on this trip.”

 Marshall noticed another figure by the door, and walked over to his father, standing in the threshold, standing out in his Martian uniform from the rest of the crowd.

 “
I thought I’d come over and take a look,” he said, while showing no interest in entering the room.

 “
I’m glad you did.”

 “
So, what, eighteen hours to go.”

 “
About that.”

 “
Is there any way that I can talk you out of this? Let someone else go in your place?”

 Shaking his head, Marshall replied, “Not this time.”

 “
What you said, earlier.”

 “
It wasn’t fair. There was a war on, and…”

 “
No, you were quite right.” He looked around the room, at Hercules crewmen mingling with Alamo. “None of this is your fault. If anyone is to blame, I am. I took Hercules way off our patrol route, trying to find the Cabal.”

 “
And you did.”

 “
Look what happened as a result. My ship destroyed, my crew captured. All because, I suppose, deep down somewhere I didn’t want the War to end. You were at the front, fighting all the battles, son. I just got to roam around the stars, hunting down outposts and freighters. We had the fun.”

 “
Dad…”

 “
Let me finish. I know what I did, and I’m coming to know why I did it. Don’t make the same mistake as me. A lot of people suffered for my sins, son, and I don’t want you to go through
the hell I put myself through.”

 “
You saw a clear and present danger to the Confederation, and you decided to investigate it. If you’re going to take the blame for what has happened, take some damn credit as well. We’re out here, and we’ve accomplished a hell of a lot. I don’t know what they’ll say when we get home, but I can know that
what
we did matters. The information we’re getting fulfills the Commodore’s mandate a dozen times over, and if it wasn’t for you, we’d still be in the dark about the Cabal.”

 “
Maybe. I don’t know any more. I just know that I don’t want to lose you again.”

 “
You won’t. I’m coming home, all of us are, and then we can go back to Mars with our heads held high, our mission accomplished. Now come on. The two of us are going to follow Caine’s orders and enjoy this damn party.”

Chapter 10

 The painkillers were barely suppressing Cooper’s hangover. He couldn’t remember much about the night before, only that by the time he’d got to the dispensary they were all out of anti-drunk. Zero-gravity helped in one sense, though his stomach was churning; usually he prided himself on his iron constitution, but today he’d decided to skip breakfast and lunch, not wanting to send butterflies flying across the mess.

 He drifted out onto the bridge, and the Captain waved him to a vacant couch in the corner, over by the life support systems. It was strange to see everyone wearing civilian clothes, and obvious who had been forced to fabricate them in a hurry. Orlova looked right at home in a battered old flight jacket that had obviously seen better days, poking controls into the helm, but Weitzman was wearing his jumpsuit as though it was a uniform.

 “
We’re cleared for departure, skipper,” he said, looking across at the Captain.

“
Thank you, Otto,” he said with an obvious effort. It was going to be hard to get used to this, though he suspected that it was going to get even more difficult to switch back to formality again later on. Alamo was drifting past the viewscreen, and he looked over its battered lines; it felt like he was leaving home, even to the extent that he was feeling a little homesick.

 “
Cooper,” the Captain said. “Want to give the order. This is your charter.”

 He looked around the bridge, then mustered up, “Take us out, Maggie.”

 “
Aye,” she replied, working a series of controls and turning the engines to full. “I want to see what she can do, run her all the way to maximum acceleration.”

The force of two full gravities – six times the Martian norm they adopted on Alamo, pushed him back into his seat. The pressure crushed him down for a moment, before he slowly began to adapt, but he didn’t want to get up. After a moment, Orlova started to swear, and she cranked the acceleration down.

 “
Wilson, what’s going on down there?” she said into the communicator. “I just lost half my maneuvering thrusters.”

 “
I think we’re riding her too hard, Maggie,” a disembodied voice replied. “We haven’t got the processing power to handle running the engines at full and make course changes as well.”

 “
Are you trying to tell me that someone fitted a full-speed engine without bothering to make the computer upgrades?”

 
“
Hell, we got her for a discount price, Maggie,” Marshall said. “You’d have to expect some teething troubles.”

 “
Teething troubles my...what can I run her at without everything going out?”

 “
One-third, until I can put something together to fix it.”

 Shaking her head, she adjusted the controls, turned back to Marshall, then said, “Stepping up to two Mars gravities.”

 “
Don’t worry, Maggie, we’ll get there soon enough.”

 “
I wanted a baseline for handling performance.” With a snorted laugh, she continued, “Actually, I suppose I got it.”

 “
Better we find out now than when we have a Cabal cruiser at our back,” Weitzman said.

 “
Don’t joke,” Cooper replied.

 “
Who’s joking?”

 “
Thirty-one minutes to the hendecaspace point,” she said. “Assuming that works at the first try. I’ve got the first leg set up in the navicomputer.”

 The time passed slowly, Alamo and the station first shrinking into nothingness, then the planet itself visibly receding into the distance. Cooper silently watched while the rest worked around him, watched as the countdown slowly ticked down the minutes and seconds until they would be heading of into the unknown. He’d wanted this, he’d fought for it, but now, as they were on the threshold of launching his mission, all he felt was a strange feeling of dread. At one point, he caught a glimpse of Marshall’s face and knew that despite the show he was putting on, the Captain felt it as well.

 “
Coming up to the egress point,” Orlova finally said.

 “
You have the call, Maggie.”

 “
Fifteen seconds.” She threw a trio of switches, then shook her head and tapped a button by the side, and a mess of numbers and symbols flashed down the screen, letters in a text he couldn’t read.

 “
Damn. Language banks have re-set.”

 “
Do we need to abort?” Marshall asked, leaning forward.

 “
No, no, I can do it by eye. Two. One. Now.”

 A familiar blue flash enveloped the ship, but Cooper felt a strange, grinding sensation, as though some invisible force was attempting to tear him apart. He shook his head to clear it, his eyes briefly seeing double.

 “
That has to be the worst transition I’ve ever experienced,” Marshall said.

 Shaking her head, Orlova replied, “The dimensional compensators are on their last legs. They’ll get us there and back, probably.”

 “
Probably?”

 “
Might be worth investing any profits we get in an upgrade. We didn’t have the Cabal components to do the job back at Hydra; apparently they keep a tight hold on hendecaspace equipment.”

 “
Which means we’re going to have to go through that again every time we jump.”

 “
It might be a little easier when we emerge.”

 Cooper rose from his chair, his head swimming. “May I head back to my quarters, sir. After that…”

 “
I’d head down to the sickbay, if I were you. I made sure they stocked up properly before we left. Don’t hit it too hard, though; we don’t have a medical fabricator on board to make new pills.”

 “
Thanks, Skipper.”

 He unbuckled his straps, kicking around t
o
float down the corridor. He drifted past Manning, who was busy damaging some of his repair work to make it look like the rest of the wall, and swung into an elevator. It proceeded in fits and starts, slowly grinding down a deck – so slowly that he made a mental note to just use one of the shafts in future. Compared to Alamo, this ship was tiny, barely a hundred meters long. Floating around it would be a fast business.