Chapter 21: Critical Mass — Part 10

North opened communications, which was weak and filled with static. There was nothing visible from his side, his voice sounded distorted, even bruised, and he was tripping over words in his effort to speak them. “You win this round, Captain Storm. Enjoy your victory, for now.” Every word was laced with hate.

Shadow smiled savagely, surprised at her luck. She didn’t let even a hint of her surprise creep into her voice. “Next time we cross paths, you won’t be walking away.” Shadow took a gloating tone, careful to modulate her boast so it would seem winded.

“I’ll be ready for you, bitch.” North activated his tachyon drive, painting space with distortions of perception ranging from visual to causical.

One he was inside his own bubble of space and time, and the almost nostalgic influence of his damaged drive had diminished, Shadow began to assess the status of her own crippled ship, laying adrift and in space.

“He had us.” Roxy sounded exhausted. “I wonder why he left us here?”

“We must have hit him harder than we thought.” Xeti said.

“He probably suffered too many casualties to board us. I’ve crossed swords with him before, and he knows what he’s up against.” Shadow looked back at Xeti, who had regained visibility. “How bad did the engines look?”

“I don’t know. After the rear wall blew in I sealed the hatch and ran forward, one step ahead of the plasma fire.” Xeti said.

Shadow looked at the ship’s schematics, comparing them with sensor signals from the ship’s walls. “Cargo bay still has structural integrity. I’ll get a suit on, run back to the engines, and evaluate the damage. Ferret, get Didi to the medic station, and then check out the cargo bay. I’m going to work up here, getting the systems repaired.”

Three days adrift and the outlook proved grim. The Mercy had minimal power, massive structural damage, and the engine core crystal was cracked and would need replaced if they were going to make a long trip anywhere. Shadow could replicate any part on the ship but the pulse crystal. She and Xeti stared at the mess of wires and debris that had once been her engine room. The drones had repaired what they could of the outside of the ship, effectively restoring hull integrity, but Shadow was still in her pressure suit, had her helmet strapped to her hip.

She scratched her cheek, looking sidewise at Xeti, who had been trying for the past three days to repair the engines. “So, you think we can get one more tachyon pulse out of it?”

“Only one.” Xeti said.

“Then what happens?” Didi asked, curious.

“It’ll fizzle out, or blow up, maybe. Then we’ll be adrift — with nothing but thrusters. Any suggestions on where we should go?” Xeti was astounded by Shadow’s quick grasp of the situation.

“We’re still headed straight for Antans, We’re six months away without another tachyon pulse. We don’t have enough food to see us through more than a week. How long will the crystal pulse for?”

“3,000 oscillations max.” Xeti said. “That’s more of a guess, really, and a pessimistic one.”

“We don’t have room for optimism right now. It should get us close. We’ll have to chance it if we’re going to live.”

Shadow did some quick calculations in her head. She took Xeti out of the engine room, sealed it off. She confirmed the navigational pulse and set course for Antans. The ship’s crystal resonated itself to pieces, sort of fizzling, but mostly blowing up, stealing six and a half weeks of time and relative distance. A destabilization in gravity, time, and space put the Mercy closer to Antans, and in less time than expected. For the crew, only a few days had past. Unfortunately, they hit the solar system with no power, and on a gravity vectored path, straight for Antans. The Mercy was barreling down on Antans, hurtled out of a slingshot orbit around the local sun. When enough energy was lost, on its slowest approach to Antans, Shadow would use the last of batteries to pulse the thrusters and force a landing on Antans. Food and life support was already close to exhaustion, the water starting to taste salty and stale. They’d reach Antans with only a few days to spare before their air and water supply would be exhausted completely. Shadow hoped the natives would show her no hostilities.