CHAPTER TWELVE
Commander Ratmire was busy trying to work on some reassignments of his officers when an urgent call to the bridge came in from his communications officer.
“Never A dull moment.” He mumbled as he got up and made his way to the bridge.
When he arrived a saw his other senior officers crowed around Skylar, the communications officer’s station.
“Report!”
“Sir, I do not know what the crew of the Exon did but look at the signal that we are now receiving from them!” Skylar stated.
The Commander took a close look at the readings on her screen. It was Milton that spoke first,
“That certainly changes a few things.”
“I’d say, for the better.” The Commander added.
“Yes Sir! I will make the adjustments and send the altered plans to all stations!” Milton said excitedly.
Two hours later, everyone was ready to attempt the flight that would still be considered impossible for a ship their size, but at least some of the risks had now been reduced, Commander Ratmire now addressed the crew.
“All of you are aware of the risks we are about to take. Your loyalty to me, your stranded crew members, and the oath in which we all swore, has been noted in my report. If we are successful in this rescue mission, what lies in wait for us afterwards could prove to be an even bigger challenge. I am certain, as proved by your actions today, that whatever is ahead of us will be overcome by the strength in character that each one of you show.”
The Commander paused a moment. Over the course of his career, he had not had to give many inspirational speeches. Yet he knew that many of his crew did not have much experience in what they were about to attempt. Carrier ships were usually assignments given to newer ones. He was fortunate enough to have senior officers that had chosen to stay in the roles they were in.
“Success for us all!”
He turned off the intercom and looked at Milton.
“I will let you know when I am ready in the engine room.”
The Commander laid it on the line with Grunt as soon as he saw him.
“If we are going to get Milton what he needs, we are going to have to work together on this. If you cannot handle taking direct orders from me, I will have security lock you up until this mission is done. I would much prefer you here, but that is up to you”
Grunt did his usual spouting off of colorful metaphors but did not relish the idea of being in the brig.
“I hate orders, but I want to be in a place where I can repair all the damage that I am sure you are going to cause to my engines,”
“I expected nothing less from you Grunt. However, I intend to surprise you on how much I can do without causing any harm to your babies, just stay out of my way, and follow orders.”
“All stations are now linked into yours Milton,” The Commander signaled.
“Milton made one final check to make sure all the links were secure, He then tied in a message link to all stations.
“From here on out things are going to happen quickly. As you are aware timing is everything. Watch your screens, listen for my instructions and be ready to make quick adjustments.”
Milton took a deep breath.
“Okay Skylar, I need as good of a view as you can give me on the conduit and integrate the signal from the Exon. Adaria, move all our defenses to waterfall, start with panel zt1, and work backwards. Make sure you stay alert for a command to shift the balance.”
Milton paused as he made a slight adjustment.
“Lars, you loaded everything you could find on unstable conduits, into my guidance program?”
“Yes, everything including a few unproven hypothesis.” Lars replied.
“Commander, you know that we will need everything and then some from those engines.”
“Milton, you worry about steering this ship, Grunt and I will give you everything you can handle.”
“All right crew, here we go.”
Milton aligned the ship with the conduits’ entrance.
“Commander, I will have to feather the engines at first, but I will need everything you got at a moments notice.” Milton stated.
“You can’t do that!” Grunt yelled.
“Not on program mode, but if you remove the Deron resister, you go to manual mode,” the Commander told Grunt with a wink.
“You blow up my engines…”
Grunt started out.
“And none of us will be here to complain about it,” The Commander told him.
“Now we need to focus,” he added and carefully watched his screens.
Grunt did what Grunt does best, and let out several choice words, before working his magic on keeping the engines cool.
“Adaria, panel GT2 is not deflecting as it should!” Milton called out.
“I see it, I’ll make the adjustments.” She replied.
“Skylar, the Exons signal is degrading, I need to have it one hundred percent at all times!” Milton called out.
“We are entering a phase lock, I will try to boost the Kalin’s on our end.” She replied.
The first five minutes of traveling through an unsteady time conduit went about like expected, especially considering the conduit was never designed to have a carrier ship fly through it. Other than a few scrapes and bumps the ship was doing okay. That is until Milton’s screens showed up something that he was not prepared for,
“All stop, all stop, brace for impact.” Milton called out and did everything he could to stop the forward motion of the ship.
After all, had pulled themselves off the floor. The Commander lit into him.
“Sir, it is nothing none of us could have predicted. Someone planted a conduit block.”
“Milton, are you sure? Those were outlawed decades ago.” The Commander pointed out.
“Yes Sir, but there is no doubt, that is what we are facing. The Exon would have never made it out alive.” Milton replied.
“Now what? Adaria asked.
“Basically, we have about ten minutes to figure out something or this whole conduit will fold in on itself.” The commander stated.
“That’s okay, I only need five,” Grunt grumbled as he began opening panels.”
“What are you talking about? The Commander asked.
Without moving his head or hands out of the panel he was working on, he replied.
“Either you did not read all my records, or the money I paid to have some of them destroyed worked. Tell the defense officer to reverse the polarity on all her front shielding 100%, the shielding on the right side of the ship by75%, the left 50% and the rear shielding 25%. Then tell your pilot to fly at a 45-degree angle toward the weakest part of the block and leave all engine controls to me.”
No one spoke for what seemed like a long time. Finally, the Commander told the crew to follow Grunts directions. When Grunt finally shut the panel, he was working on he shut it and faced the Commander.
“It is ready when you are.”
“Did you copy all that crew?” The Commander asked.
“Yes sir, Grunt is there anything else we should be aware of?” Milton asked.
“When you get close to contacting the blocker, the shield pressure will spike, then drop quickly. The target is 4x1z. If it drops below that you will need to adjust the pitch to bring the pressure back up to that mark.” Grunt stated,
“We are running out of time crew, execute his plan now!” The Commander ordered.
Milton again checked with all stations to make sure everything had been reconfigured correctly. He then proceeded according to Grunts suggestions.
“Angle set at 45%. Adaria, give me a call out on those pressure readings.” Milton ordered.
“7x1, 6x8, 6x1,5x1, 4x3, 4x1.”
‘Target, lets hold everything steady.”
After a bit of silence, Milton spoke again.
“It’s working, we are breaking through.” Milton said in an excited voice.
“DONE! We are through! Commander, I need everything you can give me!”
Grunt protested in his normal polite manner, but he was to busy plugging holes and tightening tubes, from what he had to do to get them through the block.
The Commander had trouble getting some of the units to respond fast enough, so with Grunt busy, he by passed many of the safety protocols to get them to respond faster.
“You keep that kind of renegade action going, and there will not be enough chicken tape in the universe to patch up your mess!” Grunt yelled.
He then did something rarely seen by anyone, he smiled.
“Commander, It appears that one day you and I are going need to sit down and have a long talk over our dark secrets.”
“We survive this Grunt, and I would find that most fascinating.”
The Carrier ship, due to its mere size and mass, was one of the smoothest fly vessels in the fleet. However, the concussion waves caused by a ship of it’s size breaking through one of the sturdiest time blocks ever built, caused an amazing effect. It was as if the ship had turned into one of the bottles, you by that requires vigorous shaking before you use it. Nothing that any of them tried made it any better. Then, as sudden as it started, it stopped. It took a moment for everyone to gather themselves. Questions came flooding to their minds. Were they out? Where were they? When were they? Where was the Exon?
“Milton, have we cleared the conduit?”
“No sir, we need to re-establish contact with the Exon. If we exit and this is not the right time, or right place, we will never locate them, and we might have doomed ourselves as well.” Milton stated.
“You also know that a ship this size cannot sit Idle in a steady conduit for long, much less one that is unstable, and now has bits of a broken blocker floating around in it.” The Commander pointed out.
“Two Hours,” Grunt stated.
“What are you talking about?” The Commander asked.
“I will give it to straight. I have broken through more conduit blocks, than you have eaten meals. You know I know what I am talking about, otherwise you would not have followed my advise before. We have at least two hours, before we will be forced to make a decision.” Grunt said in a confident voice.
The Commander was silent. He let out a deep breath.
“Very well. Milton hold our position, Everyone due what they can to assist Skylar re-establish the Exons signal. I am on my way back to the Bridge, and I am going to want multiple back up plans.” The Commander stated, and off.
As he was leaving, he looked at Grunt.
“You better be right about this.”
As he was on his way back to the bridge and was beginning to wonder if he had turned over to much control to the members of his crew.
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