An Unproven Concept (Kraken Edition) (The Vergassy Chronicles) by James Young

Author:James Young [Young, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

Bridge

Titanic

1945 SST

“It was the strangest thing,” O’Barr said, her voice still full of wonderment. “They all just broke off the attacks and started heading aft.”

The security officer stood just to Abraham’s right, her face covered in soot, grime and caked blood. As she finished her report, she took a long pull of water from the canteen that was attached to the bandolier cinched across her chest. With a start, Abraham realized the bandolier was completely empty, meaning her last clip of ammunition was inserted into the battle rifle she held.

“Why didn’t you pursue them?” an arch voice asked from beside Abraham.

Sweet Jesus I wish someone had just overdosed him, Abraham thought as O’Barr turned to fix Mr. Federov with an icy glare. The Czarina Lines executive was floating just beside Abraham’s chair, having lashed himself to its back with his suit jacket and belt.

“I can point you in the direction they went,” O’Barr replied.

The lack of a “Sir” or “Mr. Federov” probably wasn’t an accident, Abraham thought. Just like my not correcting her is completely on purpose.

Federov waited a couple of moments as if he was waiting on Abraham to say something, then continued in a near snarl.

“Well that’s fine, I’m sure they’re not going to break anything critical wherever they’re going,” Federov replied. “I mean, there’s only engines, life support and, oh wait, passengers aft of us.”

“Mr. Fedorov, I think even you can understand that Ms. O’Barr can’t necessarily chase an enemy who outnumbers her when she’s got wounded,” Abraham snapped.

“All I see is a pair of people who forget what they’re paid to do,” Federov snapped in response.

“Captain, I’m getting a strange sensor reading…” Coors interrupted, his brow furrowed.

“Strange?! Is that idiot for—” Federov started to say. His imminent diatribe was stopped cold by O’Barr producing a knife.

“I believe the Captain understood Mr. Coors,” the security deputy said simply.

Looking at O’Barr’s face as she uttered the words, Abraham realized that Federov’s life was literally at a knife’s edge. Lacking the desire to try and talk O’Barr down, Abraham turned to doing his job.

Wow, apparently Federov does have a survival sense, he thought as the executive kept his silence.

“What do you have, Mr. Coors?” Abraham asked.

“The sensor arrays around the system have suddenly started pulsating in a rhythm. I can’t quite figure out what it says, but it keeps repeating,” the sensor officer replied, his brow furrowed.

“Loudspeaker,” Abraham stated. A moment later, Coors’ computer had converted the incoming sensor signals into a mixture of deeper and higher tones.

“It’s Hanoverian Morse,” Titanic’s captain said after a moment, referring to his homeworld. “We teach it to all of our Rangers and Guides.” After listening for a few moments, Abraham’s eyes grew wide in shock.

“Help is coming, Dad. Hang on,” Titanic’s captain said, tears beginning to well in his eyes. “My God, it’s the Fleet. They’re in system.”

Constitution

1955 SST

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