The Quantum Leap - Part 26

The doctor scanned Aaen again with a handheld device from head to toe and then looked at the data on the medical monitor near the foot of Aaen's biobed. Aaen noted three nods accompanying a slight grin, and a subtle deep breath followed by a gasp. “I was able to heal the bruising on your face. Looks like they weren’t interested in doing any . . . immediate permanent damage,” the doctor omitted what damage was inflicted gave clear hints that they could easily have done much, much worse if they wanted to, “The blade they put on your face didn’t even come close to breaking the skin . . . No broken bones or severe damage to the soft tissue or any internal organs—I think you’re okay to get back to your bridge, Captain,” this report was accompanied by eye contact and a notable grin. The doctor silently opined the first officer was doing as good of a job as could be anticipated under the circumstances—not entirely surprising, but it was still good to have the captain back where he was needed.

Aaen leaned upright, turned, and then stood at the side of the bed and looked around at the other security biobeds. For a moment, he wondered why there were multiple aliens—albeit unconscious—on his ship, then asked, “What about our . . ‘guests’?” The doctor looked around the room. Their expression straightened, “They’re under a high-yield stasis security barrier. I’ll let Commander Smith know when they wake up.”

Aaen nodded, accepting this assurance, brushed his hands over the front of his jacket to get rid of a few of the wrinkles and then proceeded back to his bridge . . . right where he left it, he grinned, appreciating the crew’s being so busy completing their duties, and the subtle sound of beeping computers circuitry. His ship was alive and doing well, as well as he would expect it to be. Aaen grinned slightly as he looked right, then left, eyeing his seat. His aches and pains suddenly seemed a lot fainter now than they had a minute ago. The thought immediately pushed to the back of his mind.

Connors saw her captain enter, smiled, then loudly announced, “Captain on the bridge!” The crew sharply turned and stood to show the proper military respect for their commanding officer and captain of this ship.

Aaen nodded acknowledgment as he sat in his chair, “At ease—you may be seated.” With that, Aaen turned to his viewscreen. Hayes promptly handed Aaen a holographic print. He scanned it while Jones watched the large spherical blanket around the planet shifting—the blockade was suddenly performing a tactical search pattern maneuver. She wondered ‘Why?’ as she entered search and scan commands into her computer.

Aaen processed the print as fast as he could, quickly realizing in it were new orders for Odyssey—a thought that took seemingly a fraction of a second to process. He felt a burning sensation in his chest as his thoughts seemed to burn against the membrane surrounding his brain. Anxiety coupled with a slight, silent sensation of panic made his blood feel like it was beginning to boil with anticipation. He reached to the computer to his right and activated a new captain’s mission log entry. Aaen’s first officer had done an excellent job of keeping the ship’s mission records up to date. The log entry would be immediately transcribed from speech-to-text in real-time.

“Captain’s log: supplemental. I have finally been returned to my ship. My command and authorization codes have been reactivated. Ship and crew are functioning very well. Odyssey has received new orders from New Horizon. The main computer has verified the flag-level codes on the new orders as authentic. I have opted to recognize the new mission orders as authentic. As of twenty-two-hundred-hours, Zulu, Odyssey has been ordered to pursue and capture—or kill, if necessary—the alien leader of the installation illegally established on this planet to prevent them from using a large and illegally-obtained supply of Olyphium, which we have been successful in determining is going to be used as a weapon against the people of The Union, provided action is not taken to the contrary. Further to follow.”

The air in the bridge felt electrified as Aaen tapped the screen command to end the entry. Several crew members took a deep breath, in part from fatigue, and anxiety. A blinking label confirmed the recording had been paused. Aaen locked the computer log with a thumb scan then faced forward.

Hayes turned to Aaen with a concerned look, covering her right ear. Aaen looked at her as she declared, “Captain, New Horizon reports they have lost the thermal—and infra-red signal of the subject.”

What? Aaen thought silently, looking over his right shoulder, “What about the ship where that bozo’s keeping the Olyphium?”

“It’s still there, along with the Olyphium,” Jones reported. “WOAH!—” she leaned into her computer screen with a shocked look, “That ship’s security systems just kicked-in. . .” she scanned the data filling the right-hand-side of her screen, “It’s completely locked down—What-the-heck! That ship’s life support systems have been completely deactivated. There’s no atmosphere, ANYWHERE in that ship, anymore.”

“Was that done remotely?” Smith asked.

Jones shook her head and then choked on her first thought as she replied, “No idea. There aren’t any life signs over there. Nobody’s over there, so I reason the command was most likely given by some type of remote means. Instrumentation is so-far unable to trace the signal to its source.” That shouldn’t be possible! she exclaimed in silence. “The thermal signatures inside the complex are increasing in activity.”

“They know something’s up,” Smith calmly, sharply said to Aaen.

Aaen nodded. “Alright, let’s maintain stealth mode. Helm: take us into the troposphere at full sublight, and then hold position. Jones: maintain passive and active sensor scans of the area. Let’s see if we can’t find that sonofa . . .” he paused for a breath, then continued, “Lieutenant-Commander Sandburg, activate the defensive matrix and standby all weapons,”

Each officer emphatically acknowledged their orders in turn—Aaen detected a little anxiety from the rest of the bridge crew, except for Smith, who seemed calm enough. Aaen told himself in the back of his mind it was going to be okay.

Odyssey rose out of the water with gradual ease—water smoothly rained off the outer hull—then the ship turned and accelerated as it began its ascent. Its exterior appeared as a faint distortion amid the dense rainfall.

“Holding position in planet’s troposphere,” Wilson declared.

An alert swept through the bridge—Hayes’ screen flashed; she was fixed on whatever message appeared.

“Lieutenant?” Smith asked directly, standing behind her seat and looking at her screen. She turned her head confusingly.

“We just got a long-range-message from New Horizon,” she declared with a squint, “they’re reporting ship-wide power failures . . . They don’t know what’s causing them . . . They want us to dock with them immediately—and they’re warning us about a likely, imminent loss of communication with them!”

“Dimitri, do you have any idea what might be causing New Horizon’s power failures?” Aaen asked loudly.

“It doesn’t make sense to me, Keptin! It would be wery helpful to get up there so we can find out, sir!”

“Very well. Commander Wilson: take us up.”

“Aye!—” Aaen welcomed the sound of the engines’ hum and subtle groan. The bridge crew subtly cleared their throats and held onto their computer stations to try to distract them from the feeling of the planet’s gravity competing with the artificial gravity—they felt like a vacuum was pulling them backward and toward the deck as they accelerated into the darkness.

In less than a minute, their destination became visible in the view screen.

“Commander, the armada of fighters and cruisers are changing position,” Jones declared.

“Keep an eye on them!”

“Yes, sir!” What-in-the-world are they doing?—And why? She wondered . . .

*****

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