CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Commander Ratmire and Grunt were busy re fitting the engines for what they may be required to do in the next two hours. Grunt had been noticeably quiet after he had told the commander about how much time they could stay in the conduit.

“Grunt how is it that you have come to have knowledge of such things.” The commander asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Grunt said in his usual gruff tone.

“Look! We do not know what is going to happen from one moment to the next. I am sure you believe that you believe you are too stubborn to die, however if you do, you may take all our hope with you.”

Grunt continued silent for a bit, but finally let out a series of colorful metaphors,

“Everything I am about to tell you, has been buried so far in our military records, that I don’t believe there is anyone alive today that could access them.”

Grunt paused for a moment.

“I have not thought about this for an exceptionally long time. It was almost forty years ago. I was a brand-new crew man assigned to the engine room of the Magacourt. Our first assignment was the Kelp mission.”

“Grunt the official record…”

“Stated, all on board were killed. That was because several mistakes were made by not only the Captain of the Magacourt, but also several officers, that could have corrected those mistakes. I was one of the youngest, least experienced, crew members, but I had enough horse sense to know that the decision being made would spell disaster. My problem was, even if I had an alternative solution, which I didn’t at the time, I knew no one would listen. The only thing I did right was to convince several crew members to join me in escape pods, seconds before the conduit crushed the Magacourt, The Magacourt did manage to open the time block long enough for our escape pods to slip through but shut back tight seconds later. The Magacourt was crushed by the conduit on its side of the block. Our three escape pods were blasted out of our side by the concussion wave set off by the crushing of the Magacourt.”

Grunt shook his head.

“I have had thirty years to not only think about all the things that were done wrong that day, but to produce several tested better solutions. Now, from what I have heard, you have let those of your officers that have had good ideas, proceed with what they believe will work. I am not an officer, because I hate white uniforms, besides several other good reasons, however, I know what we will need to do, and I know it will work.”

“Commander! I have the Exon’s signal! Skylar reported excitedly.

The Commander looked at Grunt.

“Follow that signal out of the corridor, When the time comes to get us back through, I can make that happen.”

“Milton! Lock on to that signal and take us out of the corridor, I want us fully cloaked and all defenses on full as soon as we are out. I am on my was to the bridge,”

Commander Ratmire looked at Grunt again.

“You better be right about this!” The Commander said and left the engine room.

“If I am not, no one will be left to throw me in the brig,”

Grunt chuckled a little.

“There won’t be a brig to throw me in.”

By time the commander reached the bridge officers had their hands full trying to muster enough power to exit the conduit. It was a flurry of activity for the next twenty minutes. When the carrier ship Mystic cleared the conduit, there was a sigh of relief. That relief disappeared instantly when all the ships power, short of life support, shut down.

“Grunt! What is going on down there?” Commander Ratmire yelled.

“All our Import Hollows are clogged with Jersey fluid. If everything weren’t shut down, not only would the Hollows burn up, so would the rest of the ship.”

“Then get them clear”

“I would be happy to If I had four Climate Scrubbers, unfortunately those are mot standard issue on Carrier ships now a days.”

“You have to do something, we are sitting ducks right now, besides risking losing the Exon’s signal!”

The Commander thought a moment then continued,

“Grunt, you should have standard Elke scrubbers, use those,”

That will take some time, and totally destroy them If we have a clog in the…”

“We will have to take that risk, we need full power! Grab some crew members out of auxiliary to assist you.”

Commander Ratmire shut off communications to avoid hearing the rant that he knew Grunt would make. Grunt restored enough power for the Mystic to cloak and bring all communications on line.

“Sir, a message from the Exon. They requested to know what our flight path would be.”

The Commander at first had a concerned look on his face. It did not take long for that to change to a broad smile.

“Give Captain Majors what he requested and add that we will be at one quarter power.”

“Adaria, what is the status of our shielding?” The Commander asked.

“We are only at forty percent.” Adaria responded.

“Inform me when they are at one hundred percent and be read to drop all shielding on section twelve, on my command,”

“Yes Sir,” was Adaria’s reply, even though we was quite confused about the order.

“Sir, you want to drop the shielding in the forward section?” Milton asked quietly.

“That’s right. Captain Majors may is offering to give us a tow.”

“A what?”  Milton asked.

“Never mind! You have your orders.”

“Yes Sir,”

“Captain, A message coming in from the Mystic,” Sargent reported.

The Captain read the message and let out a sigh.

“They burned up a lot more power than they had anticipated. Chart out that flight path they sent, and line it up where we need to meet up with them.” The Captain ordered.

He then pulled up a screen of all the tents and other equipment that all the concert goers had scattered all around where the ship was.

“Captain, how are we going to be able to take off with all these humans around?” Private asked.

“I don’t know, but it has to happen. The Mystic needs us, and we need them.” The Captain answered.

“Captain, I overheard that the promotors are planning a fireworks show tonight. If we could coordinate our take off with the fireworks…” Sara started out

“They would think it was part of the show, that’s perfect! The Captain stated.

When night fell, and the fireworks began, the Exon’s take off was the most spectacular part of the show.

Private lined up their flight pattern perfectly with the signal they were receiving from the Carrier ship. When the Exon was about ten miles from the conduit. He put the Exon in a holding position.

“Why are we stopped?” Sara asked.

“If we were simply going to link up with the Carrier ship, we would not have stopped, but because of us might needing to help power the ship, timing is extremely important.” Private explained.

“Alright crew, everything is going to be very tricky from here on out. You all know what to do, however, you will need to be prepared to adjust on the fly. Commander Ratmire is going to signal us when they are two miles from the exit. He will also give us there exact course and speed.”

 The Captain now looked at Sara.

The three of us are going to be quite busy trying to keep us from dying. This machine will deploy our, um tow rope. Stand ready here and flip these three switches in this order when Private gives you the word. This is especially important, do you understand?”

Sara shook her head yes.

 “Good. As soon as you flip the last switch, grab hold of something tight, for it will be quite a bumpy ride for a while.”

The Captain got the signal from Commander Ratmire.

“Okay crew, here we go.”

Everything was going smoothly for a bit, then Private almost chocked on his sandwich he was trying to finish.

 “Captain, this flight program is crazy, our Nava-guider can’t handle these kind of maneuvers.”

“Private, your classification is Pilot first, then engineer/mechanic! I need my pilot to make whatever adjustments necessary, however, the program is to be followed as closely as possible. If you fly this ship half as good as you put away food, this will be a breeze, Now do it!” The Captain shouted. Sara moved over to see if she could do anything to assist Private.

 “Percy, If I can assist you in anyway…”

“No, really this is a job for one. I do appreciate the offer. Don’t worry about the Captain’s tone. He as well as the rest of us are under a lot of stress right now. I will be fine.”

“I know you can do this, I have faith in you, and obviously the Captain does also.”

“No, I do not believe the Captain has faith. He only has military training that says, if I don’t do this, we are toast. Speaking of toast, I have faith that I can do this if you would get me another sandwich.” He said with a wink.”

Sara slapped his shoulder and got him his sandwich.

“Captain the Mystic is loosing speed at a faster rate than they expected. At the rate they are slowing they will not have the necessary speed to clear the conduit.” The Sargent reported.”

“Captain, If they can not clear the Conduit, there is no way I…”

“Shut up Private! I need a moment to think,”