Hetmwit felt sick.
He was looking at the data for the frigate and the corvettes.
Just the realspace engines were far beyond his understanding. Capable of high acceleration, deceleration, and manueverability. He had brought over some data from the Star and the frigates and corvettes were more agile and faster than aerospace strikers from his own nation. The battlescreens were capable of putting out more power than his people had ever considered being possible without harnessing an entire star for energy.
But it was the weaponry that made him want to vomit.
The frigate was a hull wrapped around something called a C++ Cannon, with engines strapped to it and a set of missile pod launchers that launched something called an nCv Pod. The corvettes were wrapped around 'spooky particle hydrogen compressor cannon' and could launch torpedoes.
He had never looked at the weapons for the large starship he had boarded.
These 'light' ships were horrible.
He closed his eyes, then opened them. He doublechecked the robots, which he had loaded up with modified VI systems that normally handled the weapons, then activated them.
They moved into the correct areas and went to standby.
Hetmwit looked up from the console he was sitting at.
"Robots are ready, Captain," he said.
The Captain nodded, standing next to the holotank in the power armor. "I would prefer you don a light powered vac-suit, Number One. I had the creation engines forge you up one."
Hetmwit nodded slowly. "I will."
"While you do that, I will determine if the coordinates must be preloaded into the rewind drive or if I can input new ones," the Captain said.
Hetmwit stood up. "I'll get ready."
"Very good, Number One," the Captain said.
Hetmwit went down to the berth that the Captain had assigned him.
The armor had been built for him by the 'fabrication lab' deeper in the frigate. Lasers had scanned him, his medical information had been loaded, and ninety seconds later the vac-suit had slid out on a belt conveyor.
He put it on slowly, several times stopping to get his breathing under control.
The helmet was last. He stood there, staring at himself in the mirror. Like the Captain, his people had flat faces. He could see himself through the visor. His eyes were wide and frightened. He kept licking his lips in nervousness.
He activated the armor.
The visor polarized, hiding him. The face shield closed, leaving him looking at Pagrik skull.
The startup messages flowed by. The catheter and the waste plugs inserted. He felt the needles jab into his back over one of his kidneys and the liver opposite. He felt the needle push into the base of his skull and the dull burn of the armor synching up.
For a moment he was afraid the armor would crush him as the internal pressure sleeve inflated.
Then the moment was past and he stood in front of the mirror.
The armor was matte black. Power assist for strength. Made of some kind of armor laminate. After a few moments he was no longer aware of the pressure sleeve.
He moved slowly at first, then more comfortably, as he returned to the bridge.
It was a short walk. Barely one hundred and fifty meters from midships to the forward bridge.
He knew the two dropship bays were on either side of the magazine for the C++ cannon, above the engines.
The whole ship was just wrapped around the gun and the drives strapped on.
To Hetmwit it seemed to almost vibrate with a terrible purpose.
When he entered the bridge, the Captain was sitting in the Captain's throne, his helmet in his lap.
It startled Hetmwit slightly that the Captain still looked the same, even though he had a tube in his left nostril.
"Inform me when you are ready, Number One," he said.
"The coordinates for the rewind drive are loaded in?" Hetmwit asked.
"Indeed. As soon as the ships are ready, I'll activate the rewind drive," the Captain said.
"Where will we be going?" Hetmwit asked.
The Captain sat for a long moment. "I'm not sure," he gestured at the forward screen and holotanks. "But we'll find out."
Hetmwit entered the commands, then looked over at the Captain. "Everything is ready. Laser communications repeaters are ready. Pings are good. Low latency."
The Captain nodded. He leaned back.
His face shield closed.
Hetmwit copied him.
"Engage," the Captain ordered.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Part of Hetmwit felt it should be more than what it actually was.
He tapped the icon.
The signals went out. The robots cleared first. Then the emergency power systems.
"Emergency reactors coming online," he said.
The emergency computer cores spun up. Executed the commands.
"Firewalls and malicious code sweepers coming online. Computer cores are coming online," Hetmwit said, feeling the tension ramp up.
"Excellent, Number One," the Captain said.
"Secondary and backup systems are coming online," Hetmwit said.
The lights brightened. Consoles beeped and came online. The holotank put out a test pattern then cleared, the same with the viewscreen at the front bulkhead of the bridge.
"Primary systems are coming online," Hetmwit said.
There was a sudden slight vibration. The sounds of high density capacitors charging filled the air. There was the sound of an electric engine starting up and moving to speed.
"Primary systems and computer cores are online," Hetmwit said.
He tensed as the drive cores started drawing power from the reactors.
"Drive systems are charging," he checked the board. "Frigate and corvette charges match."
The Captain just nodded.
"Drive cores stable and charging," Hetmwit blinked at one readout. "Chronotron core reports field stable and charging."
The Captain put the stubby SMG in his lap. "Get ready, Number One," was all he said.
"Rewind drive charging," Hetmwit said. He could feel his butthole literally puckering as the tension mounted. He reached out and unlocked the plastic shield over the big red button that said "DO NOT PRESS" in white letters. "Ready to engage."
"Prepare to engage rewind drive," The Captain said.
Flipping up the cover, Hetmwit put his fingers on it lightly. "Ready."
The lights dimmed to a dull yellow.
"Chronotron drive charged," he said. "Rewind drive charged," Hetmwit reported.
"Engage!" the Captain snapped.
Hetmwit pushed the button, unsure of what was going to happen.
Everything suddenly streaked away from him. In the center of his vision was the pinpoint horizon, with everything at the edges of his vision streaking away from him and toward the pinpoint. He looked around and the pinpoint moved with his vision. His body turned to vibrating tightly woven strings in his sight. It felt like his nerves were pulled free of his body and doused in burning fire.
Either he suddenly spaced toward that pinpoint or it charged him.
He turned inside out for a split microsecond.
Then it was over.
Hetmwit's hand shook as he pulled his hand from the button.
"Jump successful. Sensors coming online," he managed to gag out. He had the strangest feeling of his body slowly melding back together.
"Excellent," the Captain said. "Let's find out where we are."
-----
Hetmwit sat in the small dining room, which was designed for only fifty officers at the most. It was much more cramped than the dining hall aboard the Locker, everything feeling more compact.
The frigate, the CSFNV Little Nell Columbia, had a maximum complement of 150 crew and 100 special forces. It needed a minimum of five crew.
There was only him and the Captain, and robots.
"We're a long way from my home," Hetmwit said quietly.
"Not really," the Captain said. "The ship and the corvettes all have a cruising speed of nearly one-hundred twenty-five thousand C."
That made Hetmwit shake his head. "How?"
"Upper hyperspace bands," the Captain said.
"Hyperspace is dangerous. Many ships that enter arrive at their destination with the crew dead, if they are ever seen again," Hetmwit said.
"According to the computers, hyperspace shades can be prevented from boarding. We'll engage the shade protections and jump to hyperspace," the Captain said.
"Then what will you do?" Hetmwit asked.
The Captain looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "I'll return to TerraSol."
"How long will it take?" Hetmwit wondered.
"Eighteen days relative shipboard in hyperspace," the Captain said.
'Your people knowing where mine are makes me nervous," Hetmwit admitted.
"I understand," the Captain said. "We sit at the edge of the Sargasso Sea, having escaped its confinement, and now wonder if we, men from two different nations who did not know of one another's existence before our arduous labors, can trust one another not to betray our nations to their own."
Hetmwit nodded. "Your people are at least as warlike as mine. Who knows what the politicians and leaders will decide?"
The Captain shrugged. "It will be what it will be."
"How can you trust me not to reveal vital information to my own government?" Hetmwit asked.
"If your government chooses to commit suicide via the Confederacy, that is not my concern. While it is yours, as they are your people, it is not mine. My star nation has a peaceful approach," the Captain said.
"I worry," Hetmwit admitted.
The Captain nodded. "As is proper."
Hetmwit frowned. "You aren't going to try to convince me that everything will be fine?"
The Captain shook his head. "No. You will base your decisions upon the stimuli already experienced. My words will carry little weight to your concerns."
Hetmwit just nodded.
"We will wait for the drives to charge, then we will begin out journey," the Captain said.
Hetmwit sighed. "I'm ready."
The Captain just smiled. "Your need of assistance will be ended soon."
Hetmwit wasn't sure what to think of that statement.
-----
Just over two weeks and Hetmwit had decided that he didn't like hyperspace in a vessel like the Nell.
Near the hull, he could see traceries off of his body. Silver threads and streaks left behind by his motions. Sometimes he could see hyperspace energies leak through the hull, glimmering on the bulkheads.
The Captain wasn't concerned, pointing out that the hyperspace integrity field was stable.
The Captain's assurances that the ship wouldn't dissolve into sub-atomic particles was little comfort.
The red was another thing. Every surface was red, with silver edging. The holograms and screens were red with silver. The lights were yellow and harsh, sodium lights. There was a constant taste of rust in the air.
But it was almost over.
Hetmwit and the Captain had chosen on of the frontier worlds, which the database Hetmwit had copied from the Star stated was mainly gas giant refining and resource extraction from two worlds, with only a few million people and a light military presence.
The Captain had agreed, understanding Hetmwit's reluctance to enter a heavily populated system.
Just over two weeks in hyperspace, and Hetmwit was ready to drop to realspace for good. There had been five drops into stellar systems to reorient and ensure that a floating point error hadn't thrown them off by hundreds of light years.
Each drop into realspace had made Hetmwit's anxiety peak and he didn't know why.
Which is why Hetmwit felt gratified that the Captain had ordered him into his armored vac-suit for the flotilla's exit from hyperspace.
The countdown was down to minutes as Hetmwit sat at the Executive Officer's station and watched the countdown on the screen, which was displaying a computer generated approximation of hyperspace.
"I want shields up and weapons ready as soon as we drop from hyperspace. Full stealth," the Captain ordered.
Part of Hetmwit wanted to protest. It felt aggressive to enter one of the periphery systems of his star nation cleared for action. Almost wrong. Like he would be declaring his intention to attack one of the worlds of his birth nation.
But the Captain had insisted.
"Stealth systems engaged," one of the robots, Dummy, stated from the proper station.
"Ten seconds," Smiley said from the navigation station.
"Weapons and shields on standby," Hefty assured everyone.
Hetmwit felt his stomach tighten.
"Five. Four. Three. Two..."
The streaks suddenly ended as the holotank data and the viewscreen went to hash.
There was the sound of an electric motor winding down.
"Sensors clear. Incoming data," Goofy stated from where the robot sat at the sensor systems station.
"Weapons online, Captain!" Fumbles called out.
"Shields up, Captain!" Hefty called out.
"Engines ready!" Smiley stated.
Hetmwit tensed.
The viewscreen cleared.
The flotilla had exited hyperspace in the middle of the system. Just past a gas giant and toward one of the colonized planets.
Hetmwit stared in horror.
The gas giant was burning.