CHAPTER 43: BRIGGS

Joint Defense Fleet

Outer Earth Space

Sol

"It simply cannot be done!" Doctor Anders Søviknes exclaimed, his voice rising in exasperation for what felt like the hundredth time. As Admiral Briggs gazed resolutely locked on the relentless countdown of the mission clock, felt the pressure mounting as it ominously displayed a mere 10 minutes until contact with the enemy. A simmering frustration boiled within him; his bright idea to push the fleet away from Earth was meant to be a strategic maneuver, a desperate attempt to save their planet from impending doom, a noble thought that now felt more like a lead weight.

"Doctor, we have less than 10 minutes until we start exchanging fire with those who are actively attempting to destroy our world. We need this to work," he urged, his tone laced with urgency, each word heavy with the gravity of their situation.

"Admiral, we simply do not have the capabilities. Yes, our power output with the megalithic anti-matter reactors is ample for what you propose; however, we lack the drive coils and capacitors necessary to handle that kind of output. We wouldn't even be able to form a bubble large enough to push the Independence a few kilometers, let alone an entire enemy battle fleet." His voice trembled slightly as he delivered the unwelcome news, the weight of it pressing down on them both.

'Why the hell didn't I think of that?' Briggs mentally chastised himself as the glaring truth smacked him in the face. He glanced down at his terminal, the countdown now at 9 minutes, each second ticking away with a relentless finality. "Then what do you propose, Doctor? If not this plan, then what? We have no other option but to try. We have 2 Juggernauts and 3 different fleets, and somehow, that! Isn't enough. They outnumber us 15 to 1. Doctor Anders, I need you to make this happen!" The desperation in his voice was palpable, echoing in the confined space of the command room.

"You cannot change the laws of physics, Admiral!" Søviknes retorted, his frustration mirroring that of the Admiral's. But as he studied the face of the Norwegian engineer, he sensed a shift, a flicker of something in the doctor's eyes. "However, I can." The look of confusion that crossed the Admiral's face was a fleeting moment, soon to be replaced by curiosity as Søviknes continued, "I do have an alternative."

Briggs looked down at his console again; the timer now read 8 minutes, and he could feel his blood pressure rising dangerously high, the walls of time closing in around him. "What."

"I hesitate to even ponder it, or bring it up..." Søviknes began, his voice trailing off as he weighed the implications of his words, each syllable heavy with the potential consequences.

"What is it, Doctor!" The Admiral’s irritation bubbled to the surface, a boiling pot threatening to spill over as his composure battled with his rising anxiety, the urgency of the moment demanding answers.

"It's suicidal."

"Doctor, I need any and all information. What the hell is it!"

Anders flinched, taken aback by the Admiral’s palpable anger, a force so raw it threatened to tear through the very fabric of their tense discussion. He had never seen the normally calm and reserved Admiral like this; to his knowledge, he had never heard him utter a single swear word, let alone express such desperation. "I've been studying the alien ships during my downtime, particularly one of the wrecks we captured from Wolf 359. Their hyperdrive is almost identical to ours, so we could potentially use it against them. We could harness the anti-matter reactors to send a kind of power feed to every hyperdrive-equipped ship within a 10 AU radius. We trigger their hyperdrives to initiate a jump, and the power we feed into the capacitors of each ship will push them into the unknown." The words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of their dire implications.

Briggs looked down again, the timer now at 7 minutes. An immediate thought sparked in his mind as he quickly checked the fleet status, opening the fleet comms channel with a sense of urgency that felt electrifying in the room. "All ships, reduce deceleration to 3g, enter formation Hammer." He turned back to Anders, urgency etched into his features, each line on his face deeper than before. "Where will they go?"

"Anywhere, nowhere, somewhere. I don't know. Without the time to hack the enemy fleet's nav computers to input a destination, we cannot predict where we will end up," Søviknes replied, his voice tinged with a mixture of fear and resignation.

"You just said, 'We.'"

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"Yes, unfortunately, the pulse will not discriminate between friend and foe. Every ship within its effective radius will be triggered. It cannot be helped. Any hyperdrive will engage."

Chills raced down the Admiral's spine as the fog of understanding began to clear his mind, revealing the stark reality of their situation. "So we all jump to another system and finish the battle there, away from Earth and Luna. We save them and deal with the slaughter without putting our innocents in the crossfire."

"Not exactly. It's actually worse than that." Søviknes's voice trembled slightly now, a testament to the gravity of what he was about to reveal.

"5 minutes until firing range!" One of the operations specialists inside the Fleet Command Information Center (FCIC) interjected, snapping Briggs out of his spiraling thoughts, the urgency around them palpable and suffocating.

"We don't have time for games, Doctor. Keep it simple!" he barked, frustration bubbling to the surface once more.

"Each ship will wind up in a completely random point in space. It could be three feet from where they are, or three hundred thousand light-years away—completely random. Every ship will be in a different location in the universe from one another, and that's actually the best-case scenario." Anders took a deep breath, steeling himself before continuing, sensing the Admiral's impending interruption, his resolve wavering under the weight of the truth. "The amount of power we would be sending into each capacitor would likely overload its systems. Sub-capital ships are not likely to survive the jump. Capital ships, if they manage to avoid a catastrophic cascade, would likely be crippled. Whoever survives the jump would be stranded wherever they land."

"We can't control where we end up? Couldn't we just program a destination in our nav computers so our fleet winds up in, say, Alpha Centauri?"

"It's probable, but unlikely. Believe it or not, we actually don't fully understand how hyperdrives work. My current working theory is that the amount of power we dump into the capacitors will directly affect how far the jump will take us. I cannot say for certain we will end up where we want to be; I wouldn't even recommend trying, as it may complicate matters further. Besides, even if we could, we still can't get past that damned dampening field the aliens are producing. We couldn't get a good nav lock on the destination hyper buoy for a clean jump."

The Admiral glanced down again; the timer now read 2 minutes, each second passing like a heavy stone dropping into a deep chasm. The fog of understanding had cleared completely, and the reality of the situation settled heavily on his shoulders—the doctor was right. This plan was indeed tantamount to suicide. But it was worse than that; no one would even have a choice in whether they participated in their own final act. There was no time to evacuate anyone. An impossible choice loomed before him, one that would inevitably lead to the loss of countless lives on a scale no human should ever witness. He felt as though he had become a god, forced to decide the fates of so many, and the weight of that power threatened to tear him apart. He couldn’t afford to wait; there was no time to debate this in his head. Do or die; if he were being honest with himself, he didn’t need any time—he had already made up his mind. The decision was made, yet he desperately sought a way to talk himself out of it. Time slipped away relentlessly. Two minutes remained on the clock; this was it. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. "Do it, Doctor. Get your ass to wherever you need to go now. You have my full authority to execute whatever you need to. Don't wait for my order, don't give me status updates; the moment you can pull that trigger, take the shot."

"Aye, Admiral." Doctor Anders turned swiftly, nearly colliding with Captain Smith as she rushed into the room, her expression shifting from concern to alarm, the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Sir, we..." Olivia began, but she halted mid-sentence when she saw the Admiral. He was slouched over the fleet display holo unit, his eyes shut tight, traces of tears threatening to break free from beneath his eyelids, each breath labored as the weight of the moment pressed down on him.

After a moment, Admiral Briggs stood tall, quickly wiping his eyes and raising a hand to signal his Captain to hold, a silent plea for a moment of respite. "Ensign, get me Admiral Enki."

"Admiral Briggs, our fleet is re..." Enki began, but the Sumerian commander was cut off as Briggs interrupted him, urgency and desperation clashing in his tone.

"Admiral, forgive me for the interruption, but I must inform you of developments."

He felt a knot tighten in his stomach; he couldn’t bring himself to tell his alien ally what was truly happening. If he did, it would make it real, and he struggled to find the words, each one feeling like a stone lodged in his throat, too heavy to speak. But Olivia’s urgent voice pierced through his hesitation. "Sir, we have engaged the enemy!"

"Admiral, you must withdraw immediately. All of your ships must evacuate Sol at the fastest possible speed."

"I do not understand, Admiral. Your forces are almost certain to be exterminated if we leave now."

"I wish I had the time to explain, but I am about to do something that will almost ensure your destruction. This is a human fight; every human here has vowed to do whatever it takes to defend their nation. The Sumerians don't owe us anything, but we greatly appreciate your support."

"I understand, Admiral. Whatever it is you are about to do, I wish you the best of luck." Enki's voice carried a weight of concern that echoed in the air between them, a reminder of the stakes at hand.

"Thank you, Admiral. Now go out there, defend this galaxy from those bastards, and come check up on us from time to time. Our species will need that support." The words felt like a promise, a bond forged in the heat of battle.

"We will meet again, Admiral. I am sure of it!" Enki's holographic image flickered and fizzled into nothingness, leaving the weight of uncertainty hanging heavily in the air, a silent testament to the choices made and the lives that would be forever altered.