Act Two

Babel Falling

Part I

SES Babel, Decyn 13th, 3729.

“That last round of flights went spectacularly, don’t you think?”

Uriel didn’t want to say ‘yes’ to that question. There had been quite a few flights – Adygar back to Zero Zero Seven, Zero Zero Seven back to Adygar, Adygar to Gallad, Gallad to Vydallia, Vydallia to Clarent…

But still, he knew he had to admit that Freume was right, at least if he was being honest – the Babel had flown like a dream every time, with a smoother ride through Underspace than any that he had ever had through a standard shunt drive. And he couldn’t deny, there was something oddly appealing about the beauty of that white space, black stars streaking past the ship. The few technical issues that had cropped up in their first two flights had been completely resolved by flight three, and they had seen nothing but the proverbial clear skies.

Still, he felt… uneasy.

For one thing, Freume was smiling at him with that sort of expectant, smug grin that made Uriel want to punch him. For another, there was an odd feeling in his gut, a feeling of…

… of what, exactly? He frowned. This is all too damn simple. We’re flying an engine that takes us into literal hell, and so far we haven’t so much as stalled.

“Captain?” Freume asked, his skin turning a slightly paler shade of blue. “Are you alright?”

Honesty, Uriel. “I’m not as convinced as you are, Professor.”

“That much has been clear since we began the experiments, Captain,” Freume retorted, smiling again. “But I don’t hold that against you.”

How nice. Uriel took a deep breath, calming his nerves.

“This engine’s a big risk,” he finally said. “And a month of light space duty and short hops isn’t enough to convince me that she’s working on anything more than luck.”

“Ah, of course,” Freume said, nodding. “For something this big a risk, you’d rather be certain she’s up to the task before making a full recommendation?”

‘A full recommendation’, indeed. Uriel frowned. The brass were waiting on his recommendation before even considering installing Underspace drives into starships beyond Babel herself. Freume had been nagging for almost a week now – “it’s been a month, Captain, surely enough to make a decision!” – but no matter their successes with the drive, Uriel wasn’t prepared to commit until he was sure.

“My suggestion,” Freume said after a moment, “would be a long-range journey.”

Uriel frowned at that. “‘Long-range’? How long-range are you suggesting?”

Freume pursed his lips, his skin darkening thoughtfully. Unlike most Sevine Uriel had met, Freume’s skin never varied from blue, and usually never seemed to do anything but go slightly lighter or darker. It made him difficult to read compared to most of his species.

“I would advise a short series of long Underspace jumps to take us across the breadth of the Empire,” he finally said.

Uriel blinked, unsure what to make of that suggestion. He blinked again. A third time. Finally, he laughed.

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“The breadth of the Empire,” he repeated, slightly breathless from the laughter. “You want to go across – what, sixteen thousand light years?”

“The intent of the Underspace drive is to make that journey shorter and make the defence of the Empire more tenable for core-fleet craft,” Freume pointed out in that all-too-reasonable tone. “If we do not test the drive’s feasibility for that purpose, there will be no point to these experiments at all.”

“No point to – look.” Uriel took a deep breath, trying to keep from snapping at Freume. “I’m happy to take risks. But we haven’t gone further than two parsecs at a time with this engine, and for good reason.”

“That’s just it, Captain!” Freume rejoined. “We need to go further than a parsec at a time! We need to push this engine as far as she’ll go.” He sighed, his skin turning even darker in patches. “You know as well as I do that it is in extremes that the flaws in ship designs become most apparent.”

Unfortunately, he was very right about that.

“I’ll consider it,” Uriel finally said. He knew he couldn’t keep it from happening, much as he might want to. Still, he didn’t have to be happy about it.

***

“It should work,” Kyrali said when she sat in his office half an hour later, her yellow eyes and softly-furred face crumpled into a concerned expression.

“It should work,” Uriel repeated, matching her tone, “except that you look like someone just stepped on your tail.”

Kyrali winced at his tone. “That obvious, sir?”

“‘Fraid so,” Uriel said, leaning back in his chair. “So come on, Kyrali. What do you really think?”

Kyrali sighed. “Captain… I don’t know. I don’t… this…”

She trailed off, looking at her clawed hands and flexing them nervously. Uriel frowned.

“Something the matter, Commander?” he asked her. “You look… a little…”

“Out of my depth, sir?” Kyrali cut him off.

Uriel paused, frowning slightly. “We’re on a difficult mission, Commander. There’s no shame in feeling a little lost, but -”

“What am I supposed to feel like, Captain?” Kyrali asked, cutting him off again.

Uriel paused again, blinking at the sudden outburst. Judging by Kyrali’s sudden abashed expression, she realised that she had crossed a line. She took a deep breath before speaking again.

“I was your weapons officer six months ago, sir.” She twitched her nose. “This change… was not one I expected.”

Uriel frowned. “The promotion, the engine, or the switch to science corp?”

“Yes.” Kyrali was not smiling.

Uriel nodded slowly, thinking over the best way to reply to her point.

“The engine is its own issue,” he said after a moment. “But the promotion was my idea – I wanted an officer I knew, not another blue-jacket with their head up their ass.”

“Yes, sir,” Kyrali said. “I’m just not sure I was the best officer you could have picked.”

Uriel took a deep breath. “Commander…”

“Sir,” she began, before taking a breath. “Sir… I know you enjoyed a good working relationship with Commander Rackham, but -”

“Commander,” Uriel said, speaking firmly but gently. “I asked for your opinion. When I do that, it means I value your opinion, and I would like you to share that opinion with me.” He took a breath. “This isn’t an ideal mission for any of us, but it’s the mission we have. When it’s over, I fully intend that we be transferred out of this, and if possible have the ship retrofitted back to a standard shunt drive.”

Kyrali nodded, taking a long, deep breath.

“Rationally, I know there should be no need for such a retrofit,” she said slowly. “The device works. But…” She closed her eyes. “Sir, I don’t trust the thing. I can’t explain it rationally, so I have no idea how I could ever explain it to you. But I don’t trust it at all.”

“No,” Uriel said slowly. He took a deep breath. “Neither do I, Kyrali. So that’s that.”

“Sir?” Kyrali asked.

“Freume won’t like it, but we’re not going ahead with the long-form trials, at least not yet,” Uriel said, standing up. “I’ll deal with him.”

Kyrali nodded. “If you say so, sir. But I really don’t think he’s going to be very happy with you for that.”

“I find that I really don’t care whether he’s happy or not,” Uriel retorted. “He’s on my ship. And even if this damn thing’s all about his damn project, on my ship, you follow my rules.”

Kyrali smirked at that. “If you say so, Captain. Though I’ll pay good money to see the look on his face.”

***