The Lost Prince (26 page)

Gary thought a moment and said, “I really don’t know.”

“Does Ian outrank her?”

Gary thought again and said, “Ian is the mission commander.”

“Ok.” Gary sat there staring at Abby and she said, “What is Andi’s rank?”

“Alright, alright, you’ve made your point.”

“Just wanted to make sure that you left because you decided to do so and not for any other reason.” Gary sighed and Abby said, “I’m not being mean.”

“You’re not.”

“Nope, I didn’t call you a moron.”

Gary started laughing and said, “You’re right.”

“They’re my two favorite words.” Abby continued eating and when she finished, she picked up her plates and stood to go to the kitchen. Just before she exited the bridge she said, “Do you still hate me?”

Gary stared at her and shook his head. Abby smiled, “Just checking.” She turned and left.

Gary stared at the port and sighed.

• • •

The six were on their displays when Ian said, “Who wants to start?”

Andi said, “Abby should go first.”

Abby shrugged and said, “Pease stop me if you see something I miss and I ask forgiveness in advance if I react harshly.”

Andi nodded and said, “I wish I had developed that ability.”

Abby looked at her with lowered brows and said, “Why?”

“I think I finally understand what you’re doing.”

“We’ll please tell me, because I don’t.”

“When I’m really focused on something and someone interrupts my thought process with an idea that I know is wrong, I have to stop and explain why they’re wrong which really throws me off my original thoughts.” Abby pursed her lips and nodded. “I suspect that you process what they’ve said and know they’re wrong but don’t want to lose your train of thought so your subconscious just tells them they’re wrong and you keep on processing. Am I right?”

“Yes, but I’ve said some things that are pretty hateful.”

“What would happen if you told them in a nice way that they were wrong?”

Abby thought a moment and said, “I suspect they would defend their point of view.”

“The result would be you’d be thrown off track. Now what if you really insulted them?”

Abby’s expression changed to understanding, “They would storm off and not speak to me again unless forced to do so.”

“I don’t think it took your subconscious long to learn that behavior works. In the future, if you insult me I know I need to take another look at my position to see what I’ve missed.”

Abby thought a moment and said, “It’s still not good behavior. I could take the time to listen and work my way back to where I was.”

Gary said, “If you possessed patience, you could do that; under stress you would revert to your survival behaviors.”

Abby looked at Gary and said, “I didn’t call you a moron.”

“I know, forget that.”

Abby stared at him and turned back to the display, “I have great respect for everyone on this mission and the last thing I want to do is cause you to not want to work with me.”

Drey said, “Have you ever been wrong about a suggestion you rejected?”

Abby thought a moment and shook her head.

“Then I agree with Andy. I hope you do call me an idiot.”

Abby smiled and said, “Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Drey said, “What have the two of you learned?”

Abby said, “Their ships are just as strong as ours. Our force fields are slightly stronger and will hold up for a few more moments than theirs and that’s good if you’re only fighting one ship. If two are firing at us, it’s a very iffy situation.”

“That’s how I see the data as well.”

“Andi, did you factor in the time of their beam?”

“I don’t have a clue as to how long their blasters can fire. I’ll have to make that determination after we see one of their ships in action.”

Gary said, “That ship Drey killed fired one of the heavy blasters at him.”

Andi and Abby looked at Gary and he nodded. Drey said, “Gary told me that one of the blasters on the bottom of the FTL ship destroyer fired at me as it rolled.”

“E, do you have a recording of that?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t.”

Gary said, “Doc should have it.”

Doc said, “Hold on.” After a moment he said, “I have it.”

Andi said, “Please show us what you have.”

They watched their display as the image of the giant ship appeared with Drey’s ship running around the hull. The recording started and the bright beam flashed just above Drey’s ship.

“Abby, do you think that’s the maximum duration?”

“I think if they could have held that beam any longer it would have hit Doc. It went out just as the ship turned far enough to hit it. I believe that’s the limit.”

“Did you get a time?”

“Two seconds.”

Ian looked at the two women staring at each other and started to ask what that meant, but Violet put her hand on his arm and shook her head. He settled back in his chair. Gary saw Abby’s eyes focused on something very far away and waited.

Andi said, “There’s good news and bad news.”

Ian said, “What?”

“We can take two hits simultaneously as long as they don’t hit the same place on the force field. The bad news is that if another beam hits, the force field will be penetrated.”

Abby came back and said, “I see the same thing, but I believe there is a way to prevent that happening.”

The five looked at her and she said, “Remember when Gary dropped out of normal space to allow you to fly past him?” Ian and Drey nodded, “If we set our ship’s systems to drop out of normal space as soon as a second beam hits, they should be able to come right back and continue the fight. That drop will allow the force field to regenerate to its maximum strength.”

Drey said, “Gary, the only way I saw that you had left normal space was to slow the recording down to super slow motion. It appeared to me that you just suddenly stopped.”

G said, “The entire process took less than two hundredths of a second. Your sight doesn’t function that fast.”

Drey looked at Ian and Gary, “We need to follow this doctrine in any ship battle we have.”

Gary said, “G, can you program this into your sensors and do it automatically.”

“I’ve already put it in.”

“We have as well.”

Abby said, “I think I may have a way to kill them with one shot.”

Andi said, “I was wondering about that.”

“There are some changes that would have to be done, but I think they would work.”

“How would you feed the accumulators?”

“They would pull it in from the leading edge of the force field.”

“They would empty rather rapidly.”

“That is the one drawback I’ve seen.”

Gary said, “What are you two talking about. There are others here.”

Andi said, “Their force fields do not slow the Higgs particles.” Gary looked at Abby and she nodded.

Drey said, “How do we use that to our advantage?”

Abby said, “We convert two of our blasters to fire the Higgs. I think one on each wing tip would be the best place to make the conversion.”

Abby looked at Andi and she said, “I was thinking of the front edge, but I’m not as knowledgeable about flying tactics.”

Gary said, “Our main efforts are to keep the enemy outside our wings and only present a flat surface for them to attack.”

Andi nodded, “Then the wing tips would be best.”

“Do we have to take the ships back to the Union to make this change?”

E said, “No, Ian, I think we could do it here. Andi are you saying you need the FTL Field to be routed so that the particles it collects are fed into the blaster’s accumulator?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know at what pressure they can be stored?”

“No but don’t you have a gage that tells you when it’s overloading?”

“I do, but will they power a blaster at the same pressure as pressure from the reactor?”

Andi looked at Abby and she said, “I have no idea.”

Gary said, “The only way to find out is to make the change and give it shot.”

Abby said, “We have to find a habitable planet to do it.”

“Why?”

“Because we need to put a red coating on the blaster’s lens to change the color of the beam.”

Everyone looked at each other and Gary said, “Ok, I’ll bite; why do we have to change the color?”

“What happens if this thing works and the aliens see a blue beam hit their ships? They’ll know it has the distinctive color of a FTL field and start developing a similar beam. Our ships are also vulnerable to the Higgs; we have to throw them off.”

Ian said, “First things first. We’ll jump to Hellhole and make the changes. We’ll trial the beams on an asteroid and come back for Drey to have his meeting.”

Gary looked at Drey, “I hope you’ve practiced.”

“Oh, I have. But first, the beams.”

• • •

Five days later the ships were back at the main alien planet. Drey said, “Doc, are you sure about following one of their ships?”

“We’ve learned a lot about the other space. Those vibrations we felt when we first came here can be tracked and as long as we enter behind the ship we want to follow, we should be able to track it to its destination.”

“I’m looking for a single ship.”

“Well, if it jumps to a place where they have more than one ship, we’ll just have to come back and try again.”

“Are you able to listen in on their communications?”

“I can, but I’m assuming they’re not being completely honest.”

“For the purposes of this exercise, assume the ship’s destination is the only thing not true.”

“Why?”

“There wouldn’t be any need to lie about the number of ships if they assume we can’t follow them.”

“If you say so.”

“Trust me; I’m a scientist.”

“No you’re not; you’re a warrior.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot.”

• • •

“I have one.”

Drey straightened up in his chair and said, “Everyone light up the drives. What do you have Doc.”

“I have one of their Ship Destroyer Battleships backing out. The computer assigned it a system to search for us. The Commander asked who his partner was going to be and was told he was going to have to go alone. The second ship would join him as soon as a faulty relay was replaced.”

“I want the two of you to stay close but don’t break cover.”

Doc said, “Here we go.”

The battleship disappeared and the three Union ships dropped into the wake it left behind in the other space. Drey went to the desk off screen from the bridge and put on the holographic controller’s helmet. Andi said, “Why did you pick that?”

“They’ve always fascinated me. They’re also somewhat fearsome.”

“Now that’s an understatement.”

The three ships arrived in a star system and Drey said, “Doc, you have the controls. Take us out two miles from the alien.”

The Battleship commander looked at his main display and saw the furthest planet from the star ahead. It didn’t look like much. Suddenly all the alarms started blaring and he saw a giant white ship two miles off his port side. “Man your weapons.”

Suddenly the Commander saw a creature appear on his display and heard, “You really don’t need to do that. I’m just here to talk.”

The Commander saw the reptile with rows of sharp teeth reach up and scratch its head. He yelled, “Hold your fire until I give the order.”

The strange creature said, “Now that’s good.”

The Commander knew that the huge white ship could have already fired but had not done so. He looked at the large carnivore and could sense it was deadly. “What do you want?”

“I just need some information and I’ll send you on your way.”

“I’m here looking for you.”

“Well isn’t that great. We both found what we’re looking for.” The creature paused and leaned back in its chair, “Why did you kill that planet with all the crashed ships?”

The Commander pushed a button and the Hub Computer was brought in on the conversation. “I don’t know?”

The creature sat up straight and said, “Now it’s not good to start a relationship with falsehoods. Then tell me why you’re going around attacking everyone you meet. You attacked us and we didn’t do anything to deserve it but run away.”

Andi looked at the Raptor sitting in the chair and swore it was alive. Drey raised his hand and scratched his ear and the Raptor did it perfectly.

“We don’t allow any advanced civilizations in our domain.”

“Really? Why not?”

The Hub Computer said, “I’ll take it from here. Who are you to ask?”

The Raptor smiled, “Ah, the real personality emerges. It appears to me that you’re just an aggressive life form that attacks everything it encounters.”

“And just what are you? Your shape gives away that you’re a carnivore.”

“Yes, we have our faults, but we try to only eat the bad ones. It appears that you might end up on our menu.”

Doc said, “They’re sending in ships.”

The Raptor said, “I really hate that you’ve called in others. I was enjoying this conversation.”

The Hub Computer said, “There is nowhere in this galaxy you can hide from us.”

The creature smiled and said, “Now who said I was from this galaxy?”

The white ship rotated and disappeared at an incredible FTL speed straight up from the ship. “Did you get a track?”

“It left at an angle to the galaxy. If it holds that track, it will arrive in Andromeda.”

“Why didn’t you fire on it?”

“My sensors show that I would not have penetrated its force field. I was hoping you would send more ships.”

“Next time, take a shot.”

“I will.”

Sixty Battleships emerged into normal space and surrounded the lone battleship. The computer started to order the ships back to their former locations when three of the huge white ships emerged and opened fire on the alien fleet. Ships started exploding as the battleships returned fire and began pursuing the three ships.

• • •

Ian said, “They’ve brought in sixty more ships. We might as well determine where we stand in comparison; prepare to attack.”

Gary looked at Abby, “If you see anything…”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Gary, you come in at the center; I’ll go left and Drey you go right. Hit them hard and stay on your edges. Ready…go.”