Far From Home: The Complete Second Series (Far From Home 13-15) (22 page)

16.

"He's cleaning up out there," Greene said. "And by the looks of it, the
Jandala
's in a bad state."

There were hardly any hornets left by now. Dollar had made short, clean work of destroying them. Blasting them apart, one after the other. At no point had their enemy stepped in. In fact it looked as though they were now retreating.

Jessica watched the viewscreen. The
Jandala
limped away, into the nebula. She noticed faint trails of atmosphere and exhaust from breaks in her hull.

So, she got whipped too.

"They're hiding," King said.

Greene made a face. "Not a bad idea. We could do with hiding too."

"Agreed," Jessica said. "Banks, get us out of here. Back into the clouds."

"Aye Captain."

Rayne looked over. "Shall I recall Dolarhyde to the ship?"

"Better," Greene said. "His readings are probably through the roof by now anyway."

"They're not far off," Chang said. "Those little ships just don't have the shielding like we do."

Jessica gave Rayne the nod. "Do it. Get him back on the double."

*

"Dolarhyde, you are ordered to return to the Defiant,"
the voice on the other end said again.
"Captain's orders."

"Dammit!" Dollar shouted. He pitched to the right, released a heavy burst of cannon fire into the last group of hornets. "I was just havin' fun."

"You are ordered to return –"

"Yadda
, yadda, yadda, I got it. Nobody likes a Moanin' Myrtle."

He reluctantly turned the
Dragonfly
around and headed back to the hangar opening. The little ship had performed better than expected. For a Do-It-Yourself job, she was quick, fierce, and gutsy.

Should've called her Selena,
he thought with a smirk.

*

The clouds took them again. Cessqa stepped away from the holodisplay and stretched. Even a body filled with cybernetic enhancements and nanobots got the odd ache and pain.

"Gelvin, let us hide from the enemy momentarily. I will head down below and assist Risa with repairs."

"Yes, Cessqa."

She turned on her heel and left.

So, hornets are simply not enough,
she thought as she made her way below decks to where Risa was busily putting the
Jandala
back together again. Luckily for the three of them, the automated systems would handle the worst of it.

It's ship on ship combat they respond to. Leader against leader. A battle of intellects. She tasks me, this one. In my own time she would have been a worthy adversary, with whom I would have relished
such conflict . . .

17.

"Please forgive the shambolic nature in which we've organised this meeting," King said. Huddled around the table in the briefing room were Commander Greene, Dr. Clayton, Dr. Gentry, Chief Gunn, Dollar and Master At Arms Eisenhower. "Under better circumstances I'd at least have a coffee pot in here."

That produced a much needed chuckle from all assembled, apart from Gentry who appeared deep in thought.

"Anyway, on with business," she said. "I'm sure you're all aware of the situation, but for the sake of clarity let's have a little recap. Commander?"

She handed the floor to Greene, who stood and took her place.

"We've taken damage from the
Jandala
's attacks, but I think we got a few licks in there ourselves," he said.

"Damn straight we did!" Dollar remarked.

"So she's in the same boat as us, no pun intended. Damaged, flying blind and at increasing risk from the radiation of this nebula," Greene continued. "We're reduced to making visual contact with her until we can fire. And I'm sure the same is true for Cessqa."

"Is it even safe to be operating in here when we can't even see where we're going?" Dr. Clayton asked.

"No," Jessica said. "It's not. That's why I want to depart as soon as we can. There's also the matter of the radiation the Commander has already mentioned."

"Yeah, where do we stand with that, Doc?" Greene asked.

Clayton's expression was grave. "I'm afraid time is running out. There's simply no way for the
Defiant's
defences to keep that level of radiation out indefinitely. I'm starting to see levels rise in readings taken on decks closer to the hull. It's leaking through."

"How long?" King asked.

"A matter of hours. We need to leave here, Captain. There's no other option."

"I agree. The trick will be to get her out of here with us. Chasing our tail, preferably," Jessica said. "Anyone have any thoughts on that?"

"Reckon I might," Dollar said. "I could take the
Dragonfly
out again. Do some recon of the surrounding area. Give you a fix on her position."

"Out of the question," Clayton said firmly. "The jab I gave you for your last soiree outside hasn't even kicked in yet. Another half hour of exposure right now would kill you."

"I understand, Doctor," King said. She turned to Dollar. "He's right, you can't go out there again. I'm not willing to take that risk, or to let you either, for that matter."

Dollar slumped into his chair, deflated.

"A probe?" Greene suggested.

"It'd never find its way back."

"Fishing," Gunn said, her gaze distant, face lost in thought.

Jessica cocked an eyebrow. "Chief?"

She cleared her throat. "Sorry. Didn't mean to blurt it out like that. But why don't we go fishing?"

"I'm still not getting
–"

The Chief waved her hands. "No
, no, no. It'll work. I just have to rig harnesses for each probe. One off the bow and stern, one starboard, one port."

"Chief?" Jessica asked. She looked at the others, then back to Gunn. "Care to share what you're thinking?"

"We have grappling hooks on all four sides of this tub. Y'know, for hauling cargo. It's pretty old school, but they still fit them to even the latest ships because they're a good fallback. We attach the end of each one to a harness, which I'll mount to the probes, then let them fly either direction, searching for the
Jandala
yet still attached to the
Defiant
so we can reel them back in," Gunn explained.

"I see. So that's what you meant by fishing," Jessica said. She couldn't help but be impressed by the simplicity of Gunn's suggestion. The probes would act like the feelers on the head of a moth.

Tasting the air.

"Good idea," Dollar said.

"The limit of the grapplers is approximately two hundred kilometres a side. As you know they're powered by miniature thrusters on the claw end, to allow us to steer them. So there shouldn't be a need for the probes to fly under power," Gunn said.

"All they have to do is observe."

"Yeah."

"Doesn't the cable act as a communications line, too?" Greene asked the Chief.

"Yeah, that's what allows us to steer the claws where we want them. Otherwise you'd be firing blind, hoping it hits the spot. They'd be useless."

"Interesting
. . ." Greene said, his voice trailing off.

"Thoughts?" King asked.

"Not yet," he said cryptically.

The Chief looked away. "No change there, then
. . ."

Greene shot her a look, but at the sight of the Chief's subdued grin he wasn't able to maintain any expression of hostility. He blushed and looked down.

"Come sit back down, Commander," Jessica said, sparing him the looks of the others. She watched him sit opposite her. "So that's our plan. The Chief will make the necessary adjustments to the probes. How long, d'you think?"

"No more than an hour," Chief Gunn said.

"Good. Then we're ready for action. Who's the best at handling the grapplers?"

Master At Arms Eisenhower sat up straight. He'd obviously been waiting for his moment. "You're lookin' at him."

"I thought so," Jessica said. "You're confident that you can handle all four at once?"

He nodded. "Sure can. You didn't see me at the battle of Koenig Prime. I was like a card dealer, had 'em flyin' left
, right, and centre."

"Koenig Prime was a long time ago," Greene said.

Eisenhower fixed him with a cocksure stare. "Don't doubt the man who's done it, sonny Jim."

Commander Greene rolled his eyes. Jessica stood. "Okay everyone. We all know what we're doing. Let's get to work."

"Captain, I'll need support in getting the repairs underway while I deal with this," Gunn said.

Jessica was about to answer when Dollar tapped the Chief on the elbow. "If it's all the same to ya, Chief, I'd like to give
you a hand."

"Sure. I've seen your work on the
Dragonfly
. Follow me," she said.

Dr. Clayton and Eisenhower left. However Dr. Gentry remained behind.

"Doctor? Thoughts?" Greene asked.

Gentry rubbed the corners of his eyes wearily. "I've been doing what research I can," he said. "And I keep finding a reference to a Project Prometheus. And a partial record of something similar to the
Enigma
being detected in an uninhabited system. Of course, the record has been altered. By whom, I can only guess."

"What're you saying?" Jessica asked him.

"That things are being hidden from us. I don't know why. A Union team made a rendezvous with the
Enigma
some time in the past, I am sure of it. They went in there and abducted some of her crew. And Cessqa knows it."

"But I can't answer for their actions," Jessica said. "All I can do is respond to hers. We're in the dark here."

"Aren't we just . . ." Gentry said with a shake of his head.

"See what else you can drag up from the records, Doctor," Commander Greene said. "I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this. Whatever this is."

"Yes," Gentry said regretfully. The concern hung over him like a black cloud.

He
departed, leaving Captain King and the Commander on their own.

Jessica contacted the bridge.

"Anything?"

"No Captain,"
Chang said on the other end.
"Still no sighting of the Jandala."

"Okay, keep me informed," she said and closed the channel.

She sat back down. It was quiet in there now.

"Everyone supports the team
. . ." Greene said.

"Huh?"

He smiled. "An old saying from Earth. You've probably never heard of it. Doesn't matter."

She didn't press it. There were more pressing things on her mind than references to Earth's distant past – such as the alien menace out there right now, doing the exact same thing they were.

Hunting.

"I'm tired, Del," Jessica said. "Tired of all this."

She meant it. There'd been no chance at respite, it seemed. First the year away, exploring, and all that had happened while they'd been away. Then the quick refit of the
Defiant
so that she could explore the
Enigma
. And now this . . .

At what point were they to be cut a break? God, she felt like she needed one. It had taken
its toll on her. And not to forget that she'd experienced the loss of her Father, too. It all seemed fuzzy now, a kind of haze that prevented her from seeing everything that had happened with any clarity.

"I know how you feel," Greene said.

She shook her head. "No, I mean
really
tired. Like I need time off. Or a change."

He looked up. "A leave of absence?"

"Not quite. Maybe. I don’t know. When this is over, I'll be having a chat with Admiral Grimshaw. If we ever beat her . . ."

"We will."

"You sound cocksure."

He smiled. "Cause I am. This is the best ship, and the best crew in the entire fleet. If we can't beat her
. . . well, nobody can."

"I may love the
Defiant
, Del, but she's old. An antique. I wonder if even
she'll
be able to get us out of this one. Sure we got in a few good hits ourselves, but that woman's unrelenting. I've never known an opponent like her," Jessica confessed. "And she's got me worried. I don't care to admit it, but I fear what she's capable of."

"They lack humanity," the Commander said with distaste.

"No, that's the problem. They're all too human. Too full of everything we despise in ourselves. The way she disposed of those crew, as if they were nothing. Would she think twice about laying waste to a planet, Del? I don't think so."

Greene didn't say anything. Jessica could see the cogs in his head were spinning around as much as hers.

"We've barely made a dent in her defences. At least we hadn't until a short while ago. Not compared with what she's managed to do to us."

"But we do have a big advantage."

She looked at him expectantly.

His eyes burned. "You."

Jessica looked away. "I wish I had your confidence in myself. I think it will come down to a boxing match. Throwing punches at one another until one falls down. It'll be a test of resilience, is all."

"No," he said. "You're wrong. Sorry Captain, but you are. This isn't about brawn. This is about brains. Sure, she's one smart cookie. But she doesn't fight creatively."

She waited for him to elaborate.

"Even a computer can be beaten," he said. "It's just knowing which button to press
. . ."