Ash sat in the cockpit of the Solent, stunned. He was about to take a space truck into battle against an alien fleet, not alone of course, the battle hardened pirates were with him. There was a nuclear weapon in his cargo bay, his AI was scaring him, his hitchhiker may be a war criminal, and another alien fleet was on it's way to attack his allies before the battle.
I can't tell Volkov. I can't. If she finds out, she'll cut and run. We need to launch now.
"Captain Miller, do you read me?" Volkov crackled over the Solent's speakers.
"I read you."
"Lieutenant Commander Ruo has requested to stay aboard the Wraith to assist with the strategic situation, is that okay with you? Also where is your pilot? Are you ready?" Volkov asked.
Kate rushed in through the airlock and dropped her bag on the kitchen table. "Sorry, I'm here. Ash didn't do the preflight, give me five minutes."
"That is true. Yeah Volkov, Ruo's experience fighting the Sharlah could be of use to the fleet."
"Roger that. Is Charlie integrated into our comms?"
"I am here Captain Volkov. All systems are go. The beam cannon is operational and missile tubes one through eight are green. Shield is powered but offline until we clear the docking bay."
"Thank you Charlie. Can you see the operation at the fleet level as planned?" Volkov asked the AI.
"I have received access to the fleetwide sensors."
Ash couldn't hide his anxiety at the statement and Kate looked at him, puzzled. There was no way for him to communicate that wouldn't be noticed by Charlie. Except one.
"Kate, you're smelling kind of ripe." He said to her and her face turned red. "I know all of your stuff is still packed from training. Here, come with me, you can use my deodorant.
Ash hurried into the restroom and closed the door behind them before pulling out a pen and paper receipt from breakfast aboard the Wraith.
Charlie has been acting strange, I do not fully trust her judgement. She only cares for us. Nobody else. Syndicate coming for Volkov. Maybe Charlie's doing.
Ash let her read it and then flushed it into the ship's waste tank. Kate nodded and took a deep breath before mouthing the words
"My Father."
Ash nodded his understanding and they walked back into the cockpit.
"Jay, how are we looking."
"We're good Ash. We're as ready as we'll ever be." Jayden responded from the engine room.
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The human fleet was a staggering sight to see and Ash started to feel optimistic as they jumped into the rendezvous point several at a time.
"All ships are accounted for and will be given a short time to recharge their jump drives and set the final course to Dottir. Ash if you have anything that you need to do or say, now would be the time." Charlie said and he nodded.
He pushed the button to open a ship wide comm.
“No matter what happens today, I want you to know that it was a pleasure to be on this adventure with the two of you, even if it was under horrible circumstances" He paused for a moment before continuing.
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"We did what we could. We brought help for Dottir and gave her a fighting chance.” Ash said and reached out to hug Kate.
“Charlie, thank you for protecting us and for all that you’ve done. We couldn’t have done this without you.”
“You are welcome Ash. I am not done protecting you, the worst danger is still in front of us. We are jumping in 3 - 2 -1."
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The jump was a feat of pure precision. The Solent came into existence on the right flank of the stealthed group as Jayden activated the cloak and shut the ship down to the bare minimum requirements.
"We're running cold Kate, just make sure to keep your distance from the other ships to avoid the combined heat signature." Jayden said
"Where are they? They're not on our sensors. Charlie?" Ash whispered.
"That is correct, actively scanning the system would break stealth and alert them to our presence. Continue on the current course. The pirate vessels will sweep the system with a sensor pulse a few moments before they launch their hyperspace missiles. Then we will target the bulk of their fleet with the nuclear weapon." Charlie said.
"Won't they target the nuke before it gets to them?" Ash asked.
"They would, but it has been modified to work as a hyperspace missile as well. It will create it's own wormhole after it is launched and appear at it's destination a moment later. They can't stop it." Charlie replied.
For the next hour, the Solent was eerily quiet. Nobody spoke, nobody laughed, nobody moved from their seats. It reminded Ash of submarine warfare in a way. They didn't know where the enemy ships were, only that they were drifting quietly toward them before launching a surprise attack.
"Ash, we have a situation."
"What?" Ash blurted out as he was jarred from his thoughts.
"Volkov's scanners have detected a Callidus scout ship jumping away from the staging point outside of the system. I believe it was the Syndicate. I am currently blocking the ship's signature from her sensors."
"Charlie, I want to tell you that this is wrong, but I can't. If Volkov knows that the syndicate is here, she'll blow the operation and run."
"Yes, she will. I'm sending out the sensor... wait. Ash, I just received a message from the Syndicate. They are demanding that we cancel the attack and wait for their fleet to arrive."
"SHIT! We can't do that, we're sitting here with our asses hanging out." Ash slammed his fist down on the arm rest of his pilot seat.
"If we don't do what they say, they're going to jump in after the battle and clean up what is left of every side. It's what I would do. Checkmate." Kate said quietly.
"What are you suggesting? That we give up Volkov and hope the Syndicate feels generous?"
"No, I say we let them arrive and then hit them with the nuke." Kate said, turning toward Ash so that he could see that she was serious.
"Even with your help, Volkov cannot defeat the Syndicate. Ordering the attack now." Charlie blurted out.
"Wait! NO!" Ash yelled, but it was too late. A display appeared on the screen in front of him showing every ship in the system with the Sharlah in red and the pirates in blue.
The hyperspace missiles were targeted at the rear of the Sharlah fleet as planned to hopefully take out their hyper missile launchers. Ash could see that the impacts were successful and that the rest of the fleet was turning to face as their rear guard started winking out of existence.
"Charlie target this group of ships and launch the nuke!" Ash called out as he highlighted a cluster of Sharlah capital ships on the display.
"The launcher is malfunctioning, we should jump away now." Charlie said with a distracted tone.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked her, wide eyed, but she didn't answer. "Jay, get to the nuke, there's something wrong, it won't launch."
"Roger that, is the bay door open?"
"It is. Please be careful."
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Jayden rushed through the cargo bay hatch and hooked his safety line to the nearest handgrip as his boots left the deck. He pushed off from the wall and glided toward the massive nuclear missile launch tube.
"Mr. Cross, please do not tamper with the launch tube, it is too dangerous. We need to jump away from here, the Sharlah are closing the distance."
"We can't leave until we launch it, Volkov is counting on us, I just need a minute to see what the problem is."
"We have to drop our stealth shield to launch it, it's too dangerous now. The other stealth ships are about to jump away. Jayden please leave the cargo bay and close the door."
"Charlie, this is not up for debate, let me just take a look."
A white hot sound began erupting from Jayden's helmet. It was so loud that he barely noticed his helmet visor switching to the near black out sun shield as he held his eyes closed and tried to cover his ears.
"AAAH, CHARLIE HELP ME, MAKE IT STOP!" He said as he kicked his legs frantically and his body floated upwards toward the ceiling.
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"Jayden, I can't understand you, I'm going to close the cargo bay door" Charlie said over the ship wide comms so that Ash could hear what was happening. "Ash something is wrong with Jayden's helmet, we need to jump away NOW NOW NOW."
"Okay, do it! Close the cargo bay door and jump to the rendezvous with Volkov." Ash yelled over the terrible sound coming from Jayden's helmet as he tried to say something.