"Damon," Captain Nel Foster called from the cockpit of Symphony a few minutes after their second jump ended. It had been dangerously long. However, they'd come through the test physically intact but not completely unscathed.
Eric Rodgers checked his Captain's calculations for their third and final jump, halving the number usually required for such an extensive voyage. It would be the most audacious yet, aiming to shave yet more time off their 2000 light year journey. Beside him, Nel finally managed to get a visual contact with their sister ship.
"I've got Captain Zhao of PSS Harmony on the main screen," she stated as Damon entered the cockpit. "He's currently docked on PTS Chorale and approaching the heliopause of Arus."
"Captain Zhao," Damon addressed the older Chinese gentleman when he appeared on the secondary montor. "I trust you've had a safe journey. Unfortunately, I have new orders for you and your crew. The diode the Primus Elect ordered is to be unloaded and placed in the care of PTS Chorale's Captain Kissin. Harmony is to proceed directly to Earth by the fastest possible route."
Nodding his understanding, Zhang Wei asked, "our orders once we return to Terra, Sir."
"Primus Ó Raghallaigh is to be transported to Arus with all possible haste. I have alerted his medical team who insist both a doctor and nurse must accompany him on this journy," Damon frowned. He had not wished to have this information distributed among Prime employees but could not find a way to avoid it.
"How," Wei requested, wondering if he would lose his pilot on the return voyage to Arus. While these vessels could be handled by a single crew member, ensuring the correct jump vectors required double human redundancy at this early stage of development.
"One of your crew cabins will be retrofitted with a special jump bed for the Primus and an extra jump seat for the medical officer. The unit is under construction and will take less than three hours to install once you land at the Primus's personal airfield. I'm afraid room will be tight as you are to host a fourth passenger. D'Liea, High Priestess of Alter is required to travel with the party," Damon finished.
"Very good, sir," Wei responded in a professional tone, obviously unhappy. His ship would be perilously overloaded, his wife who acted in the capacity of the ships crew, dangerously fatigued, they'd have to discard most of the emergency supplies but the lack of armaments traveling this far into Drule territory displeased him the most. The three Scout Ships had virtually been in constant motion since coming off the drawing board six weeks earlier. This last week, they'd completed several round trips to Arus with two extra crew to man the weapons system due to the increasing skirmishes with Doom forces in the systems surrounding Terran federated space. Captain Zhao's current orders would not be easy to achieve.
"Captain," Damon watched the man as he calculated the journey and danger associated with his orders. "This is of the utmost importance and I trust your discretion. I would not ask you to push PSS Harmony, it's crew and passengers to the limits of its abilities without due cause."
Understanding the imperative nature of Damon's command, Captain Zhao asked, "what time frame?"
"Twenty-four hours," Damon frowned, "less if possible. I'll have Captain Foster send you data on the longer jumps we have been attempting between Andar and Arus. PSS Melody and Symphony will arrive to the Arus system heliopause in four hours. We left Andar ten Terran hours ago."
Taking in a sharp breath, Wei knew this mission must be of the upmost important for the CEO of Prime Electronics to take such chances with his life and two of the most innovative ships in the universe. Damon signed off, handing the com to Captain Nel Foster. The captains needed to speak in a language he didn't understand to achieve what had never before been attempted. If D'Shimma were to be believed, Primus Elect Keith Kogane's life depended on it.
"Damon," Nel called when she'd finished her conversation and sent the data to Harmony. "We've checked and rechecked the jump calculations with Melody's crew. Both ships have aligned and the countdown has commenced. We're at T minus five minutes. I just wanted to know if you have any further orders for Captain Kissin while I'm still in the Chorale's communications range. They're coming up on the heliopause of Arus's home world and expect to make landfall in two hours."
Shaking his head, Damon went to inform A'T'kira to take her position in the cockpit. On board PSS Melody, Captain Gamst ordered T'M'Ky and the acolyte they'd collected from the Temple to take their jump seats. So far, the ships had entered normal space only long enough to calculate their next jump and avoid the gravity wells of encroaching star systems. The crew of both Melody and Symphony were exhausted. Yet they'd set new records in space travel.
The jump, when it came, caused all eight to feel nauseous and hear a constant, high pitched ringing in their ears. The effects lasted longer than the few minutes they spent in the artificial wormhole created through normal space. The consequences of three such transitions in under nine hours played havoc on the auditory and balance systems of the inner ear.
"This is why," Eric grumbled, "we have a six hour minimum between jumps."
"Quit complaining, Rodgers," Nel attempted a smile at her pilot. "That last jump took us further than we've ever been before. We're only an hour outside Arus's heliopause."
"Are we in communications distance of Arus," A'T'kira requested from her seat behind the cockpit crew.
Her anxiety for her son, now he lay dying, shocked the woman with its intensity the closer they came to the planet he'd called home for the last year. She cared little for H'ray'N's censure or loss of her place within the Imperial Court. Even her ties to the Royal House meant nothing if her son were to pass from this world without knowing the depths of her feelings. With the death of her daughter and loss of her husband, Kira's world crumbled. Still, K'G'ne had always been out there, somewhere in the Galaxy.
Finally, she understood P'T'ck's obsession to give K'G'ne a normal Terran childhood. If only I had valued my son earlier, there would not have been this distance between us. K'G…Keith, the word came slowly, hesitantly, I am fighting my heritage, as are you. I wish to see you once more, for I cannot lose another child, even if you are only a son, you are my only son.
"In about half an hour," Nel reported, watching the woman lost in thought, "the heliopause system will be able to detect our approach. It'll be patchy for visual, so I'd use data squirts. The Primus Elect has set up an encryption system for all Primus Ships entering the Arusian Airspace."
"I shall be in the main room," A'T'kira unbuckled her belt. Leaving the cockpit rapidly, she could not allow these Terran's to see her emotions. Once again, she tried to find humour in the situation, I am proving to be a product of my culture. It is something that must change on Andar, if we are to move forward as a people and join the Alliance.
I am a product of my world, T'M'ky gloated as she imagined her first meeting with K'G'ne and how she would claim him for her husband. On the main screen in the cockpit, the clock counted down the time to landfall on Arus. Beside the blue skinned woman, dressed in a virginal white cloak and cowl sat the High Priestess's acolyte. The Priestess had yet to show her face to any onboard the vessel.
She cannot be more than fifteen, T'M'ky guessed, the age at which postulants enter the temple for assessment. Yet she does not wear the blue gown, nor the white of a novice, demonstrating she has passed the initial tests and dedicated her life to the energy. So long as she is an acolyte, she can carry out the rite of marriage. I should have preferred a full Priestess with a red cowl to stand witness to my joining with K'G'ne, and to do so in the Royal Reception Chamber before all of Andar. Arus and this excuse will have do!
Beneath the hood which covered her face, the very young Priestess smiled serenely. The energy this far out from a living planet, proved enough for her to sense the thoughts of her fellow passengers. T'M'Ky's emotions swirled around her, making it hard for the acolyte to ignore the selfish woman and her perceived needs.
There is a reckoning coming for you, T'M'Ky, D'laigh communed with the energy and comprehended what she would soon be called upon to do. I maybe young, but I have lived my entire life at the Temple. I answer only to the energy and it's needs. The High Priestess of Andar knew what the energy required of me. That is why I have to come to Arus, to fulfil a most ancient prophecy, for there is more at stake than your need for power.
