Chapter 10 snippet (new writing)

Commodore Glen Anderson sat in his office, stewing on the information he had received. Almir hadn’t followed her recall order, he saw. There was no reason for her to not respond unless she was going to ignore it. Shaking his head, he hated how fast things were escalating.

That woman just doesn’t know when to quit, he thought, frowning.

Looking across his desk, his Chief of Staff frowned back. Earnest Bradford was a good man, the best person for the job he had. However, he too had the same feelings about Almir. While neither one of them had personally met Almir, her reputation proceeded her everywhere she went. A dangerous, stubborn woman, Fleet Command had placed her out in the middle-of-nowhere to keep her away from their plans.

Obviously that didn’t work, he snorted.

“It appears we have to go hunting for Almir,” he said.

“I, for one, don’t look forward to that,” Bradford said. “She’s got a speed advantage over us.”

“I’m aware of that,”

Bradford was right of course; her heavy cruiser was faster then his battle cruiser was. However, in a straight up fight, he could smash her ship to bits before she could hurt his. Rubbing his aching forehead, he didn’t put it past her to find a way to beat a battle cruiser too! She had managed to stop everything else that had been thrown at her!

“The problem is,” he said. “We have one hundred light years to cover and no idea where she is.”

“The last report that we received had her at the base at Beta Scorpii,” Bradford said.

“Which I want to check out first,” he said. “If she’s found the experimental subjects then all hell is going to break loose back home.”

“Christ what a mess,” Bradford cursed.
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said, shaking his head. “What bothers me is having to destroy another Fleet ship. I know we needed to test our weaponry against the Benham…but this is something different.”

“If Almir isn’t stopped,” Bradford said. “We run the risk of the entire movement being toppled.”

“I know,” he said, sighing. “Just get us to Beta Scorpii as fast as you can.”

“Captain Oliveras is on it,”

###

Passing the outer marker, Kate felt her pulse slow slightly. Now, she told herself, if no one appeared before they jumped, everything would be fine. There wasn’t a ship around she knew of that could track a ship in hyperspace. With all the tumultuous currents in h-space, tracking had always been impossible.

“Ion drive shutting down,” Williams said.

“Engine room,” Kate said, hitting the stud on her chair’s arm. “Are we ready for the jump?”

“The board shows green, Skipper,” Brooks’ voice filtered through the speaker.

“Bring up the hyper drive, Chief,” she said. “Helm, is our course verified?”

“Course computed and verified, Skipper,”

“The hyper drive is ready, Skipper,” Brooks said. “Transferring control to the helm.”

“Helm,” she said. “Ready when you are.”

“Jumping,” Williams said. “In five, four, ready, set, jump!”

The familiar feeling of nausea swept over her as they jumped. Feeling like her stomach was twisting upon itself, she gritted her teeth. Outside, the cruiser suddenly dropped from view. With an explosive, multicolored flash of light, she entered h-space. Behind them, a slight rippled passed through space, disrupting a small comet nearby.

“Jump complete,” Williams said. “Transition to h-space successful.”

“Thank you, helm,” she said. “ETA to Proxima Six?”

“One day, Skipper,”

“Steady as she goes, helm,” she said. “XO, you have the bridge.”