Ryk Brown - Aurora CV-01

“More so than any of us,” he pointed out. “So, you’ll take the job?”

Jessica smiled at the idea of the extra responsibility. Even if it was only temporary, it would still look great on her service record.

“Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir,” she said as she snapped a salute.

“Great,” he exclaimed, returning her salute half-heartedly. “Then I’ve got a job for you,” he explained, gesturing to her to follow him.

They walked over to Jalea, who was helping Ensign Yosef try to figure out where they were in relation to Earth. It was turning out to be considerably more difficult than expected.

“Excuse me, Ensign,” Nathan apologized. “But we need to borrow Jalea for awhile.” Ensign Yosef nodded and returned to her work as Nathan led Jalea away, heading toward the back of the room.

“What may I do for you, Captain?” Nathan noticed that Jalea’s pronunciation was getting a little better, as was her syntax. He had a feeling that she had spoken the language quite well at some point in her life, and that it would not be long before she became fluent once again.

“Earlier, you said that it would take some time for a message to get here? What did you mean by that?”

“When you escaped, the Takarans would send message to all ships. All ships must look for you, near them.”

“And it would take a couple of days for a message to reach the ships that are here, in this system.”

“Yes,” she confirmed, nodding.

“How the hell can they get messages between systems that fast?” Jessica was shocked at the news. If true, it created a new tactical twist that she would have to pay close attention to in the future.

“They have some sort of communications relay, a drone or a ship maybe. Apparently it can go over a hundred times the speed of light,” Nathan explained. “I was hoping you could learn a bit more about that, and anything else you can.”

“When message arrives, ships will look here first,” Jalea interrupted.

“Yeah, so would we,” Jessica agreed.

“Listen, Jalea, would you mind if Jessica asked you some more questions? We could really use some more information about the Takarans, the rebellion, and this whole system,” he explained. “It would really help us a lot.”

“Please, I must check with Marak on this,” she told him, pulling her communicator from her belt.

“Of course.”

Nathan and Jessica took a few steps away, moving closer to the entrance to the captain’s ready room to give Jalea a moment to confer with her commander.

“If they can get messages between systems within days instead of months or years, that gives them quite an advantage. Especially if these people cannot,” Jessica explained.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” he agreed.

“I wonder what else they have?” Jessica added.

“Captain?” Jalea had finished conferring with her commander. “Marak says I can do this, mostly. But some questions, maybe I cannot answer.”

“I think she means there are some things she is not allowed to tell us,” Jessica mumbled.

“Yeah, I got that,” he answered. “That should be fine,” he assured Jalea as he led her into the ready room. “I’m sure anything you can tell us will be very helpful. Let’s go in here where we can talk more privately,” he added, motioning her to follow Jessica into the ready room. “I’ll join you in a moment.”

Jalea followed Jessica into the captain’s ready room, as Nathan stepped over to the temporary communications station that had been configured at the port auxiliary station just in front of the port exit. “Ensign, connect me to engineering, please.” A moment later, Vladimir’s voice came bellowing across the comm speaker.

“Yes! Bridge, go ahead!”

“Vlad, I hate to tell you this, but you’ve only got twenty-four hours to get this ship ready for combat.”

“I’ll do my best, Nathan!” Whatever else Vladimir said after that was unintelligible to Nathan, as it was mostly in Russian. But Nathan was sure it wasn’t for polite company.

“I don’t think he’s happy,” Nathan decided.

“No, sir,” the ensign handling the communications station agreed.

The first thing that Nathan noticed as he walked into medical was that it was less chaotic. It was still full of patients, and there were still at least a dozen non-medical personnel helping to care for the wounded. But everyone had a place to recuperate and all appeared to be receiving proper care.

There had only been two doctors, two nurses, and one medical technologist on staff when they had departed Earth. For a crew of only one hundred, it had been more than enough. And unlike many other parts of the ship, the Aurora’s medical facility had been completed and fully stocked prior to departure.

Every member of the crew had basic emergency medical training while at the academy. Nathan himself had completed the course in his first year, but had never cared much for the simulations. He had always felt the requirement unnecessary. Every ship in the fleet had top-notch medical facilities and staff, a necessary luxury for ships that routinely spent several years away from home.

Despite it being less chaotic, the main treatment room was still a mess. There were bloody bandages and linens piled in every corner, and the floors were stained nearly everywhere you looked. There were even blood splatters across some of the walls where some of the more serious injuries had probably been treated. But those that were not directly involved in patient care were trying to help out by cleaning up the room as best they could. Nathan even noticed one of the civilian scientists from Doctor Sorenson’s team, the same one that he had helped in the corridor earlier, following people around with a data pad as she frantically tried to keep notes on every patient’s treatment for their medical records. It made Nathan feel good about the people on this ship. When everything fell apart, they had all come together to try and pull through, as a team. He couldn’t help but wonder if all the people of Earth would behave in the same fashion, should the Jung invade their home.

As Nathan made his way across the main treatment area, he could feel the stares of his shipmates. At first, it made him uncomfortable, as he didn’t understand why they were all looking at him. Then he realized that they were staring at him, because he was wearing captain’s bars on his collar. The very same bars that Captain Roberts had bestowed on him earlier in this very room, just before he surrendered to his injuries. These people were no longer his shipmates, Nathan realized. They were his crew. And they would be looking to him to get them out of this mess-to get them home.

A wave of nausea began to wash over him once more, and Nathan tried to quicken his pace without looking too obvious. Was it all the blood splattered about the room that was making him ill? Or was it simply the sudden realization of the enormity of his new responsibilities? Unable to think clearly, he headed for the same utility room where he had heaved up his breakfast an hour ago. At least in there, no one would be staring at him.

Nathan again found himself hunched over the sink. Luckily, he had nothing left in his stomach to expel. But he still felt dizzy, and he definitely did not want to go back out there and face all those stares again. He had only just graduated the academy three weeks ago. And his command simulation scores had barely been passable. It had only been his natural instinct for flying that had landed him the helmsman position on the Aurora. And even then only by the grace of Captain Roberts, who for some strange reason saw potential in him. But what if he was wrong?

“Some captain,” he mumbled to himself.

“What’s that?”