Falcorans' Faith (23 page)

“Yes,” Tristan said.  “About three hours ago.  The Shearans have already given us a list of five areas that may be what we’re looking for.  Two are possible Doors, one a possible jump point, and two they are uncertain of.”

“Sounds good,” Faith said.  “How much time do we have before the rest of the task force joins us?”

“Most of the day,” Tristan said.  “We’ve mapped the marked areas, and estimate we’ll have just enough time to finish.”

“Well, I guess I better get busy then,” Faith said, putting her fork down.  She finished her juice and looked to see if Bubbles was done eating before putting her hand down so the
raktsasa
could climb up her arm.  Since the Falcorans had started eating earlier, they were ready to go when she was and they all stood to leave.  Faith felt a surge of relief once they were out of the cafeteria that the Falcorans picked up on.

“Why were you nervous in the cafeteria?” Jon asked.

Faith shrugged.  “Not used to a lot of people watching me, I suppose.”

“If you prefer, you can have your meals delivered to your room,” he offered.

“No, thanks,” Faith said, tossing a quick smile over her shoulder at him.  “I can’t hide in a room forever.  Don’t worry, I’ll get used to it.  Just give me a couple of days.”

“Certainly,” Jon said.  “But we do ask that if anyone aboard this ship does or says anything that makes you uncomfortable in the slightest degree, that you let us know at once.  Even if it’s just a look.”

Faith’s shoulders relaxed even as tears stung her eyes.  She nodded her head quickly. “I will, thank you,” she said, then cleared her throat and took several deep breaths to compose herself.  She didn’t notice the speculative frowns that passed between the men escorting her.

By the time they reached the Observation Deck, Faith had her emotions back under control.  Tristan opened the door for her and she stepped inside, her eyes going immediately to the huge viewport that covered the entire outside wall of the room from floor to ceiling.

“Oh, crappola,” she said, stopping so suddenly that Tristan nearly plowed into her.   

“What is it?” he asked, Jon and Gray crowding in behind them.

“Xanti ships,” she said, her mouth dry.  “Two of them.  Right out there.  There’s a Door between them.”

“It’s all right, Faith,” Tristan said, sensing her fear.  “You can see them, but they don’t know that.  That gives us the advantage.”

“It’s not much of an advantage when I can’t even tell you exactly where they are,” Faith said, frustration nearly overwhelming her. 

“That’s taken care of,” Jon said.  “Come on, I have something to show you.”

He led her to one of three new vid terminals that had been installed in front of the viewport.  Faith barely noticed that there were also several new panels of electronics in the room, taking the place of the table that had been there the night before.

“Won’t they be able to see us through the window?” she asked, trying hard not to panic.

“Absolutely not,” Jon replied calmly, feeling her tension rise.  “The outside of the viewport is coated so that we can see out, but no one can see in.  You’re perfectly safe.”

Faith took another series of deep breaths.  “Okay, what do I do.”

Jon picked up a strange looking object that was vaguely familiar.  She’d seen similar objects in the museum she’d worked in, but it took her a moment to dredge the name up from the recesses of her memory. 
Binoculars
, she thought.  Once used to see long distances. 

“I did some research and found a couple of instruments that are outdated, but that I thought would work if combined in the right way.  I sent the specs to the tele-fabricators in Badia and they made this up for us.”  He handed the strange binoculars to her and she studied them for a moment.  They were heavy, maybe five pounds, with lots of little dials on them.”

“These have been calibrated with the ship’s computer,” Jon said.  “When you look through them you’ll see several little lines and a center dot.  Go ahead and try it.” 

Faith raised the binoculars to her eyes and looked through them, seeing the little lines and dots he mentioned.  “Okay, what next?”

“First, align the center dot with the center of one of the ships you see,” Jon said.  “When you have it where you want it, tell me.”

Faith raised the binoculars again and lined the center dot up with what she guessed was the center of the nearest ship.  “Now,” she said.

She heard Jon press a button on his console.  “Good.  Now, see the line across the top?”

“Yes,” Faith murmured.

“Keep the center dot in the same place, and watch the top line.  I’m going to move it.  Let me know when it hits the top edge of the object you see.”

 “Now,” Faith said a few moments later.  They repeated the procedure with the bottom line, then Faith had to lower the binoculars.  “I’m sorry,” she said.  “They’re just too heavy to hold that long.  I need a minute.”

“I’m sorry, Faith,” Jon said, angry with himself.  He got up and went to the far side of the room, picked something up and came back.  “This is a tripod.  I should have set it up, I just got carried away.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Faith said with relief.  A few seconds later the tripod was up and Faith was able to look through the binoculars without holding them.  They made a few adjustments to the marks they’d already made since the location of the binoculars had changed slightly, then quickly finished the rest. 

“All right, now come on over here.”  Faith stepped back beside Jon and looked at the screen in front of him, which held a dozen or so images of Xanti ships.  “Do any of these match what you see out the viewport?”

Faith studied the images carefully, then shook her head.  “Sorry, no,” she said.   

“That’s all right,” Jon said.  “There are more.”  A moment later the screen held another dozen images, including a match for the two she saw. 

“Good,” Jon said when she pointed to the right one.  Now, let’s see if this works the way I hope.”  He typed a few commands into the terminal, then they all waited breathlessly to see what would happen. 

“That’s it!” Faith gasped as a three dimensional image of the Xanti ship and the
Eyrie
appeared on the screen in the same position and relative size as what she saw. 

“Excellent,” Tristan said, clapping Jon on the shoulder.  “We know exactly what it is, where it is, and how big it is.  Let’s do the second one.”

A few short minutes later they had the second Xanti ship plotted as well.  “Now we have to decide what to do about this,” Tristan said.  “Since we’re in Shearan space, we can’t fire on another ship without their approval.  At the same time, this is a good chance for the Gryphons and the Katres to experiment.”

“Experiment?” Faith asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.  But Tristan just smiled. 

“Don’t worry,” he said.  “It’s a new weaponless method of taking out ships.”

“Okay,” Faith said, lowering herself into a chair.

She watched as Tristan contacted someone on Sheara 3 and began speaking rapidly into his vox.  At the same time, Gray’s fingers were flying over a keyboard, sending a message to Jasan, she guessed.  Or maybe the other ships in the task force.  Jon was busy at his terminal too.  She didn’t know what he was doing exactly, and had no intention of interrupting him to find out.  Instead, she kept a close eye on the Xanti ships, just in case they decided to do something.  Like move.

Lonim Katre tapped his vox and turned to face Maxim, Ran, and Summer.  “The
Eyrie
requests that the
Vyand
jump as soon as can be managed.  Unblind has spotted two Xanti cruisers in Shearan space, cloaked with Blind Sight.  The Shearans have officially requested that the
Eyrie
neutralize them, but Admiral Tristan believes that such an attack would be dangerous for Sheara 3.”

“He’s right,” Maxim said.  “Jasan is at war with the Xanti, but it we can’t drag Sheara 3 into it, then leave them unprotected.  Has the
Ala-Lahoi
jumped yet?”

“Yes, they went about two hours ago,” Loni replied.

“Order the remainder of the task force to remain here until further notice,” Maxim said.  “Too many more ships popping in may cause the Xanti to behave defensively even though they can’t know we are aware of them.”

“Admiral Tristan has already so ordered,” Loni said.

“Good,” Maxim said.  He turned to Summer.  “Are you well enough to do this?”

“Of course,” Summer said, smiling brightly.  “I’m perfectly fine.”

“You weren’t fine a few minutes ago,” Ran said.  “You were quite sick.”

“Just a little nausea,” Summer said.  “It’s not a big deal.”

“It is for Clan Jasani,” Maxim said.

Summer nearly cursed out loud.  She hadn’t even thought of that!  Jeez.  “Well, whatever it was, its gone now.  Let’s get to the bridge so we can do our thing when the jump is complete.”

***

Aboard the new Clan Gryphon ship, the
Ala-Lahoi
, Rand Gryphon tapped his vox to disconnect and eyed Aisling carefully.  “We are to attempt to disable one of the Xanti ships identified by Unblind immediately after the
Vyand
arrives.”

“Are you sure this will not be too much for you?” Olaf asked Aisling.  She narrowed her eyes at her Rami. 

“Knock it off,” she said through gritted teeth.  “I’m pregnant, not sick, so stop treating me like an invalid.  Besides, all I have to do is stand there.  I think I can manage that without straining myself too much.”

“Stand there and channel enormous amounts of magic,” Rudy corrected. 

Aisling decided to change tactics and try logic.  “We’ve been practicing for weeks.  There’s no reason this will be any different.”

“Yes, there is,” Olaf argued.  “We will be very far from Jasan when we complete this jump.  We don’t know how difficult it will be for you to be so far from the source of our magic.”

“Princess Lariah has said that proximity is of no consequence,” Aisling reminded them.  “Why can’t you guys believe her?  She hasn’t been wrong about any of the rest of this.”

Olaf grimaced.  He had to be careful here or he risked criticizing their Princess, which would not be wise.  The Dracons doubted, but they were her Rami, and the Royal Princes of Jasan, so they could get away with it.  He could not.

“We are only concerned for you,” he said finally, taking the easy way out. 

Aisling grinned.  “Let’s get to the viewing deck.  What are you guys going to use?  Fire or Earth?”

“It would be wisest to use Fire as that is our greatest strength,” Olaf said.

“Yes, but fire also increases the possibility that you’ll end up destroying the ship, and you don’t want to do that, right?” Aisling asked 

“That’s correct,” Olaf conceded.  “What do you have in mind?”

Rand’s vox beeped and he reached up to tap it.  “Damn!” he swore, then disconnected. 

The Xanti have just opened fire on two of our cruisers,” he said.  “They’re still cloaked and Unblind reports they are shifting position after firing.”

“Our plans have changed,” Olaf said.  He swung Aisling up into his arms and stepped sideways.  Two seconds later they were standing before a large viewport.

“Start a fire in the ship,” Aisling said after Olaf set her back on her feet.  “Somewhere that isn’t filled with a lot of Xanti.  The cargo hold, something like that.  Then spread it fast through the electrical system, ducts, wherever it would be most difficult for them to find and get to.  That’ll take their attention off of firing on our ships, and give you time to find and blow the fuel cells.”

“Brilliant,” Rudy said.  A thin blue line appeared within the thick transparent material of the viewport, and they all watched intently as it quickly outlined the current locations of both Xanti ships.

“The near one is ours,” Rand said.

Aisling closed her eyes and relaxed, then reached for the flow of magic that she sensed emanating from Jasan.  It took just a little longer than usual for her to feel it begin to flow through her body. 

She opened her eyes, turned her head and smiled smugly at Olaf.  He grinned back, relieved that Princess Lariah had been correct.  He reached for the deep pool of magic centered within their Arima, feeling Rand and Rudy do the same, all of them in perfect sync with each other.  The three of them had always been close, but since their soul-linking they were truly as one at times like this. 

Their power combined and strengthened through Aisling, Olaf reached for the Xanti ship that could not be seen or detected by any instrument or eye they possessed.  However, knowing exactly where it was, thanks to the mysterious person known only as
Unblind
, allowed him to use Earth magic to locate the metal of the ship’s hull.  He traced that to the interior of the ship, following it as it led to a maze of structural supports, pipes, feeds, and engines.  It took only a moment to find what he was looking for.  He started to search for a cargo hold, but realized they didn’t need it.  Instead, he started a fire deep within the bowels of the ship’s electrical system.  He built it up carefully, then began to spread it upward through the ship.  After a moment he felt Rudy split off, taking the fire aft, while Rand split the other direction.  Olaf continued upward, using Earth magic to sense the metal in the wires, and Fire magic to set them ablaze.