Once the jump was completed, the bridge was momentarily thrown into darkness. The backup systems kicked in, but the sensors were still out.

“Position?” Chase asked hesitantly.

“Stand by” replied Wokoma. “Sensors are not giving me anything.” There was an alert from her console, and she pulled up another menu before turning back to Chase. “Incoming signal, it’s The Mary Rose.”

“Well, then,” replied Chase, “We must be in the right place!”

They made contact with the Mary Rose and Harding signalled she was coming aboard.

Mary Rose came alongside them and docked. Chase went down to the docking bay to make contact. The airlock cycled through and the inner door opened. Harding looked nonplussed; Chase figured that was standard for her.

“Lieutenant Commander, good work so far,” she said unemotionally.

Chase took it as high praise and did not question it.

“I got a good view on the way in. This ship is magnificent,” said Harding.

“It certainly is,” agreed Chase

“What’s the situation in the Alpha Persei Cluster?” she asked.

“Not good. Marengo Station’s been destroyed,” said Chase.

She stopped walking and turned to look him straight in the eye.

“Destroyed?” she asked.

“I’m afraid so, ma’am,” replied Chase. “We can show you the records. Several squadrons of fighter craft swarmed in before we arrived, after a devastating missile attack.”

“Just like Hemera,” she replied.

“It seems that way,” Chase agreed. “We evacuated who we could and transferred them to medical facilities, but we’re dealing with a vastly technologically superior enemy, and we don’t know their motives,” said Chase.

Harding thought for a moment. “Thank God we’ve got this ship,” she replied. “Specifically, this engine. How does it function?” she asked.

“It works,” said Chase. “We were back at Marengo in an instant. It feels a bit weird the first few times, but it’s function over form, I guess. The recharge time is quite considerable, but we managed to get that down again.”

“Lieutenant Commander, nice work,” said Harding. She was still rather frosty, but he wondered if she was warming to him. He didn’t want to push his luck.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he replied.

The bridge was bustling with activity. “We’re trying to repair the damage to the outer hull. The armour held, but there’s still a lot to do,” said Chase.

Harding walked over to the Executive officer’s chair. Chase expected her to sit in it, but she remained standing, studying the small touchscreen on the armrest. He wondered what she was doing for a moment before realising she was in awe and looked at the empty spot next to it.

“This is where Captain Wellesley sat,” she said, and she was smiling. “I’ve seen the pictures, but this is something else,” she said.

“It certainly is,” agreed Chase.

“Where is the captain’s chair?” she asked.

“He had it moved to his home on the colony.”

Chase did not know what was going on here. He was used to the ice queen, not the fangirl. “Shall I take you down to the engine room?” he asked.

“Very good,” she replied, and they headed off the bridge.

Chase hit the panel for the elevator to take them down to Deck Thirty-Six. Harding stroked one of the lift panels with her right hand. Chase assumed she was checking for dust as part of an inspection, only to realise she was thrilled to see the historic ship in such good condition. She noticed him watching and snapped out of it.

“What is your weapons complement?” she asked.

“We still have forty-seven torpedoes left on board, but we could do with more.”

“Right. Any, Obviously they’re not an exact match, but any I can spare from the Mary Rose, I’ll get transferred over.” She pulled out her communicator and sent a message with those instructions. “There,” she said. “Done.”

“I appreciate that,” said Chase.

“How long is the recharge time on the engine?” Harding asked as they stepped into the main engine room with its cathedral-like heights and the bright colours and patterns of the primary drive.

“Approximately twenty-four hours at the moment,” said Chase. “We’ve used the cooling agent. It works much better, but there is limited supply.”

“We are going to need to get you back to the cluster as soon as possible,” said Harding. “Check in with command. They’ll be able to take advantage of the miracle of this engine. Whoever this threat is, whilst they have a lot of advantages, they don’t have one of these.”

“I agree, ma’am. It is our biggest advantage at this moment in time,” said Chase.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Although that doesn’t mean we don’t have to protect it,” added Harding. The lift doors opened and Chase led them down the maze of corridors. “A ship like this gives us the ability to make a precision strike against the enemy. We are looking into ways to install a conventional drive.”

***

It took a few days, but the Trafalgar was finally prepped for a return to the Alpha Persei Cluster. Chase was in the engine room. One of the new transfers nodded as he walked past. Chase was attempting to learn all their names, even though Wokoma mocked him for his optimism.

Before the return jump, the engine room had been filled with cables hanging out of panels where crewmembers were half buried in the workings of the ship trying to get things operational. Now Dryden had the engine room in much better condition. Dryden himself was currently working in a chair with a mug of coffee.

“How are things looking, Mr Dryden?” Chase asked.

Dryden handed a slate to one of his technicians, before he turned around and walked over to meet Chase.

“I’m not sure about this,” he said.

“What do you mean?” replied Chase, looking at the concern on Dryden’s face.

“I don’t think we should jump right away,” Dryden said. “The engine’s in good nick and we need to keep it that way.”

“What do you mean? We’ve done two jumps in fairly quick succession, and we’ve been fine.”

“But it’s a risk. This is a historic piece of engineering and needs to be preserved. I respectfully suggest we get the Mary Rose to tow us back to the cluster so we can be retrofitted.”

Chase noted Dryden’s uncharacteristic deference.

“Afraid not,” said Chase. “Orders from on high. We need to jump, and we need to do it today whilst we can still be of assistance. Everything in the books shows that it should be fine.”

“Does it, Chase? I’m not at all sure that’s a good idea,” said Dryden as they stepped into the small office that had been assigned to the chief engineer and which Dryden had set himself up in.

“Come on,” said Chase. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“I most certainly am not,” said Dryden. “We have to be careful with this engine.”

“We are being careful,” said Chase. “We’ve been in communications with command. They’re going to have more coolant waiting for us. That will allow us to get our time to calibrate the engines down to a matter of hours, not days,” said Chase. “Come on, that would mean we could use the ship for precision strikes, get in, jump, and get out before we’re even noticed. You know what we’re up against. What that means—”

“It’s great on paper,” said Dryden, “but if we jump in and the engines fail, what good is it? We’ll have thrown away our greatest asset.”

“Are you telling me that this engine cannot handle a jump today?” asked Chase. Dryden shook his head.

“No, my engine won’t let you down. It’s in perfect working order, but you really should try to keep it that way.”

“Not my call,” said Chase.

“Fine,” said Dryden. “You’re the CO. You can pull rank.”

Chase didn’t want to have to do that, but if there was no other choice, he wasn’t about to stop the mission on that alone.

“Mary Rose is already making ready to get underway,” said Chase. “We have the majority of their crew complement on board here. Changing plans and returning conventionally would delay us by the best part of two or three days beyond the week of travel time. You saw the state the cluster is in. They don’t have time to wait.” Dryden said nothing to this. He looked livid. “They need this ship now, and I am ordering you to jump as soon as possible,” Chase finished. Dryden got to his feet and threw a salute.

“Yes, sir,” he said coldly and left the office. Chase followed, taking a look at the engine core. Usually bright, the colourful formations of shapes were dim and grey in its powered-down state.

“We can be ready in five hours,” said Dryden.

“Very good, Mr Dryden,” Chase said equally curtly. “Five hours.”

The repairs to the hull meant the armour was strong enough to withstand another attack. He wasn’t sure what command had planned for them, but that had to be sufficient. It would allow them to stand up to another battle like they experienced at Marengo Station, and that was enough for Chase now. He wasn’t overly keen on diving straight back into combat, but he was prepared for it.

He returned to the bridge. Wokoma announced, “Captain on the bridge.”

Technically, under command, he was captain, but he didn’t feel right going by that title. He would wait for someone in command to say he’d earned it, and not before.