Far From Home: The Complete Second Series (Far From Home 13-15) (36 page)

22.

When she got to the Command Deck, Chang found Captain King had already dismissed both Banks and Hawk. She sat at the helm console, observing the ship functions. "Ah, Lisa," she said, looking up as Chang walked in.

"They've gone already?"

"I thought I'd be okay up here on my own for fifteen minutes," Jessica said. "Anyway, they've done the hard part already. All we've got to do is make sure she flies straight."

"Oh, well," Chang said. She took up a seat next to her at the helm. "We should be in for an easy couple of hours."

Jessica crossed her fingers, held them up. "All digits crossed, please."

"Yes Ma'am," Chang said with a grin.

The
Defiant
purred underfoot. "You know, I don't often think back to old operations, old missions. But I have to admit I've been thinking about the Sun Hammer a lot since Gentry pointed out the connection."

"Really?"

"Well in all fairness, it's never been the easiest of the lot for me to forget," Jessica said. "You were there. It must be the same for you, right?"

"Oh yeah, sure. It's pretty hard to put something like that to the back of your mind," Chang said.

"I used to wonder how we ever conceived of such a device," Jessica said. "And now we know. It all circles back."

Chang regarded her for a moment. "Captain . . . are you okay?"

"Yes, of course," Jessica said. "I'm just a little tired, to tell the truth."

"Feeling the strain."

"Something like that, yes."

Captain King checked several of the readouts, eyes scanning over the displays to see there were no sudden surprises. Nothing out of place. All systems checked out.

"We orbit the past . . ." she said, looking up at the viewscreen, her gaze distant. "It comes back around, over and over again. Sometimes it feels like you can never escape it. And you’re right. You can't."

"I remember when that happened," Chang said. She looked down at the helm console. At all the flashing lights. "I used to think I'd never sleep again after seeing that. But you know, eventually you do. And it's a sounder sleep than any you've ever known."

Jessica smiled weakly. "That's poetic."

"I mean to say I think you find a way of putting it out of your mind," Chang said. "That's what I did. Forgot about it."

"Until now," Jessica said.

"Yeah. Till now," Chang said.

Jessica looked across. "How long till we cross the Kaseem Ring?"

The Kaseem Ring was a systemwide barrier of dust and ice particles they would have to cross before reaching Zac'u IX. It meant slightly slower speeds and minute course corrections.

"Six hours," Chang said.

A long time to think about things,
Jessica thought.

*

Dr. Clayton sat in the gloom of his office, feet up on his desk. He sipped scotch from a tumbler and relished the burn. He closed his eyes.

I never expected it to go like that,
he thought, revisiting his conversation with the Captain earlier. But she had to know. I had to tell her.

She had asked him how he could keep such a thing from her. How he could keep it a secret all those years, and Clayton had found himself unable to answer her. Not right then, not with anything she would understand.

She's angry. Everything will sort itself out,
he assured himself.
Once we get there, she can ask her questions for herself.

He opened his eyes. Drank some more scotch. It caught in his throat and he coughed, bent forward on his chair till it passed. "Damn," he croaked.

The ship felt so empty, so devoid of life. The steady rhythm of the vessel around him was the only indicator they were going anywhere.

With every minute, we get closer. What must she be thinking? What must she be feeling?

He looked down at the glass in his hand. Empty. Time for another.

23.

"I couldn't stop thinking about what the Sun Hammer was capable of," Jessica admitted. "And to have that kind of power at our disposal. It was a terrifying idea, especially after seeing it firsthand."

"Amen," Chang said. "I remember it all clear as day. We were coming back to base. The Captain gave the order. 'Slow to full stop,' he said. Just as he always did."

"The same way every time," Jessica said. "Everyone has their way of doing things, a routine they stick to, regardless of the rules. My Father was no different . . ."

Several Years Earlier . . .

24.

"Slow to full stop," Captain Singh ordered. "Banks, standard docking procedure."

"Aye," First Lieutenant Banks said.

The Captain turned to Commander Jessica King. "Are we good to go?"

She nodded. "Ready when you are, sir."

"Good," Singh said.

Jessica finished up what she’d been doing with Lieutenant Chang, then headed for the exit.

Captain Singh left the command chair and stepped down to the helm. He rested a hand on Lieutenant Banks' shoulder. "You know the protocol. I’ll leave her in your hands."

"Aye Captain," Banks said.

Commander King waited for the Captain at the threshold of the exit. They walked along the adjoining corridor. "Greene has the men ready?"

"Just as you asked," King said. "I’ve gotta say, I still don’t get the skulduggery."

"Neither do I, Jess. But those were the orders. Proceed here at maximum speed, maintain communication silence, and be ready to accept new cargo," Singh recited their directives from command.

"It’s odd," King said.

The Captain shrugged. "Always go on the assumption that you’re the last to know anything."

*

Lieutenant Commander Greene stood waiting by the airlock with four other men.

"Ready to go, Del?" Singh asked him.

"Aye sir," Greene said. "Any idea what it is we’re bringing on board?"

Captain Singh shook his head. "For all I know it could be the Commander in Chief’s birthday cake, a monolith of Victoria sponge with jet black frosting."

Jessica chuckled. Singh turned to her, his face deadpan. "You laugh, Commander, but I’ve known stuff like that to happen."

Lieutenant Commander Greene accessed the airlock controls, and they watched the lights turn from red to green. The airlock hissed open, and they walked through the decontamination jets. On the other side, the awaiting station remained silent. Singh had expected to find a welcome party but the reception area was empty.

"Huh?" King asked. "They know we're here."

Captain Singh put his hands on his hips and frowned. "You’d think –"

The door at the other end opened and a whole team of people filed into the reception area, led by an Admiral bearing more decorations than a Christmas tree.

"Attention!" Singh snapped. King, Greene, and the four other officers from the
Defiant
stood at attention as their Captain strode forward to shake the hand of the approaching Admiral.

"Arthur!" Singh said with a grin as he clasped the older man’s hand.

"Good to see you, Andrew. I wish it were under different circumstances," Admiral Clarke said.

Singh turned to introduce his people. "This is Commander Jessica King, my right hand. Then Lieutenant Commander Del Greene, and Ensigns Garcia, Fox, Holloway, and O’Quinn," he said.

Admiral Clarke shot them a salute. "At ease."

They relaxed a little.

"So, uh, what’s all this about, Arthur?" Captain Singh asked.

"Walk with me. Bring the Commander along, too," Admiral Clarke said. He led them past the entourage that had followed him into the reception area. The Admiral stopped to talk to one of the men, then continued.

"That was Rafferty, the commander of the station. I told him to work with your crew in getting the cargo stowed properly in the
Defiant
's hold," Clarke explained.

"What sort of cargo?" Singh asked.

Clarke looked around, tapped the side of his nose. "Not here."

The station was an older model, all ladders and gangways. Small and compact, it functioned as little more than a whistle stop in deep space. The Admiral moved fast for someone of his age. Andrew Singh and Jessica had to keep up.

Eventually they came to an office. The doors sensed Clarke’s bio-signature and opened for him.

"Come in; take a seat," he told them.

The Admiral settled in on the other side of a long desk. Captain Singh and Commander King sat. They watched as Clarke removed his thick glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. He slid the glasses back on before continuing.

"I’ve had hardly any sleep in the past thirty-six hours," he explained. "So forgive me if I appear to be a little tired."

Singh sat forward. "What’s going on here?"

"Top secret shipment, Andrew. I’ve only just found out what it is myself. Orders came straight from the President," Admiral Clarke said. He let what he'd just said sink in for a second. "It seems the fleet's research division has opened Pandora’s Box."

"What do you mean?" Singh asked.

Clarke looked from Singh to Jessica. "Commander King, what you are about to hear is highly classified. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that if you breathe a word of this to anyone, you’ll spend the rest of your life rotting in a penal colony somewhere out on the frontier."

Jessica swallowed. "No, Admiral."

Singh raised his hands. "Arthur, with all due respect . . . what’s good to say in front of me is good to say in front of Jess."

"Then I’ll defer to your judgement, Captain," Clarke said. He drew a deep breath. "Two days ago I received an encrypted communiqué from the President. Apparently they’ve been tinkering with something . . . and they didn’t expect it to work."

"What are we talking about here?" Singh asked.

"A weapon," Clarke said. "A weapon of such destructive force that it can destroy an entire system with only one shot. One shot. Can you imagine?"

Captain Singh slumped into his chair. "My God . . ."

"Admiral, is that what’s being put in our hold right now?" King asked.

Clarke nodded. "Yes."

Jessica looked from one to the other. "Well, is it safe?"

"We believe so, yes," Clarke said. "I’m afraid you don’t have the luxury of deciding whether to take it or not, Commander. It’s a done deal. Normally a starship would have a right to refuse a shipment it deemed potentially volatile. But not in this instance. The order comes from the top. It couldn’t possibly come from any higher."

"How did it get here?" Singh asked.

"The William Tell dropped it off about twelve hours ago," the Admiral said. "But as you know, she's just a light cruiser. We need a ship with some real defensive capabilities. And a Captain we can trust."

"So, you said it’s a weapon. What kind?" King asked him.

Clarke crossed his arms. "They call it a Sun Hammer. It’s a kind of canon that fires a specific type of catalytic energy. When that energy strikes the kind of material at play in the heart of a sun, the reaction is . . . explosive, to say the least."

"Go on . . ." Singh said.

"The weapon is fired. The star explodes, goes supernova," Clarke moved his hands as he explained. "It expands. The reaction destroys everything in its path, then the sun shrinks back rapidly. As quickly as it’s begun, the reaction is over. It shrinks to nothing. Collapses into itself. Gone, as if it never existed."

"That’s . . . unbelievable . . ." Jessica said.

"It’s unthinkable," Singh said, just as awestruck by the implications of such a device.

"Both of those and more. It’s more than a weapon of mass destruction. It’s more than anything we’ve had before in our arsenal. Not even the act of obliterating the surface of a planet is in the same league as destroying an entire star system. The President himself explained the Sun Hammer as an 'abominable weapon of total destruction.' And you can quote me on that one," Clarke said.

"So let’s get this right," Captain Singh said. "They messed about with this technology, then when they realised what it was they’d created, they decided to hide it away somewhere."

"Correct."

"Why not just destroy it?"

"To be honest, they don’t know what will happen to the type of energy source inside if it’s detonated in any way," Clarke said gravely. "Which is why we’ve taken the utmost care in how it’s been transported. As a wise scientist once said, 'Any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'"

"Why not assign it first to a battleship. Why start with the William Tell at all? Surely it would've kept things simple. Why the complicated plan?" Singh asked.

Clarke shrugged. "Captain, you know I have my orders too. This is the way they wanted it. I just go with the flow, as we all do. I’d assume the change is for security reasons. Possibly there are concerns the weapon could be the target of forces in opposition to the Union."

"Admiral, if I may," Jessica said. "Where are we taking this thing?"

"Good question," Clarke said. He got up and walked to a holographic display at the centre of the room. He activated it and called up a star chart. It moved past a dozen systems Jessica recognised from memory and even more that she didn’t. The Admiral brought the display to rest on a distant star system, several days travel from any civilised systems. "Here, in the Takei System. We have a secret underground facility on the third planet, guarded by several battle cruisers in orbit. There are only a dozen people within the Union aware of its purpose, including the two of you."

"So what are our official orders?" Singh asked.

"Captain, you are to proceed with haste to the Takei System. You are to observe a complete communication blackout during the journey. Your course has been carefully plotted to avoid any possible encounters with Draxx forces, however, it will take you through several heavily inhabited systems. You are not to stop while in transit. Just keep going until you reach your destination."

"Understood."

"I’ve assigned two of my people to the
Defiant
to assist in the transport of the device. One of them, Doctor Grissom, knows more about its inner workings than anyone. He travelled here on the William Tell. Doctor Grissom will be responsible for making regular checks of the Sun Hammer to ensure it is stable."

"And the other?" Jessica asked.

"The other is Doctor Russell. He’s one of my own. He’s to assist Doctor Grissom with whatever he needs. Show them both full co-operation," Clarke told them.

"Aye," Captain Singh and Commander King said in unison.

The Admiral showed them to the door. "Good luck, the pair of you. Captain, you’ll find a copy of the orders in your quarters upon your return."

"Thank you," Singh said and shook Clarke’s hand.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Commander," Admiral Clarke said to Jessica as he saw her out.

"If I could ask one last question, Admiral?" she asked.

"Go on," Clarke said.

"Was the weapon tested?" she asked. "Are the consequences of firing the Sun Hammer purely theoretical? Surely it hasn’t been fired on a sun for real . . ."

Clarke looked down at his shoes. When he looked back up, she could have sworn she saw regret in his lined face. And knowledge.

"Until we meet again, Commander," he said, and shut the door.