Loyalties (HMCS Borealis Book 3) by Madill S.J

Author:Madill, S.J. [Madill, S.J.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2017-04-19T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Eric pulled himself up the ladder from the hold to the crew deck. Jerry had called over the loudspeaker to tell them they were almost at the refugee meeting point, and Eric wanted to be on the bridge when they arrived.

The corridor on the crew deck was very narrow. Kitchen and docking hatch on one side, lounge and lavatory on the other, then two small doors to Maya and Jerry's cabins. Ahead was the door to the cockpit.

Sap was already there, leaning against the door frame. Maya and Jerry were in the pilots' seats, surrounded by the rugged, unsophisticated bank of displays and controls. Unusual for a ship this size, the normal segmented cockpit windows had been replaced by a single-piece bubble canopy. It was streaked and scratched, but the view outside was breathtaking.

The stretched lines of stars pulled by them on all sides: the longer lines, sliding by quickly, were the nearer stars. Stars farther away appeared shorter, and moved more slowly. For those most distant objects, the single pinpoints of light didn't appear to move at all.

Jerry tilted his head to acknowledge Eric. "Good timing," he said. "We're nearly there."

With a gentle creaking of the hull, and the momentary feeling of falling that passed as quickly as it came, the stars jolted to a stop.

On the console between Maya and Jerry, the navigational displays lit up. The small screens filled with dots that continued to multiply as a column of text scrolled upward.

Jerry's eyebrows crawled up his forehead as he leaned toward the screen. "Easy there champ," he said to the computer. He gave the console a gentle pat. The screen kept spattering new dots across the map, until it abruptly halted with a disgruntled beep. "Huh." Jerry tapped at the display. "It stopped at sixteen million. That's the maximum number of contacts it can track."

"Debris?" asked Sap.

"I bet it is. There's been a hell of a fight here."

Maya was leaning toward the side window, peering out. "Is the battle over?"

"Far as I can tell, yeah," said Jerry. "We're still a long way away."

"Take us closer. I want to see."

"Sure, boss. But whoever's left is gonna see us."

Jerry sat upright in his seat, and put his hands on the controls. With a murmur from the engines, the deck shifted under their feet and the ship began to move.

Sap took a short step into the cockpit, kneeling in front of the navigation display in the middle of the console. "I can set this to show contacts by decreasing size. It would help us understand what happened here."

Jerry shrugged. "Be my guest, buddy. No sense tracking every loose nut and bolt out there."

Sap's red fingers reached out and touched the screen. With a few taps, the system gave a conciliatory beep, and began redrawing the contacts. Large objects were individually labelled.

Eric peeked over Sap's shoulder, while Maya leaned in to get a closer look. She clamped her hand over her mouth. "Oh my god," she gasped.

Jerry was watching his own display, stealing an occasional glance at the centre screens.

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