Bright Horizons

Chapter 16

27 June 2044

“It’s all set,” Sergeant Ranke said over the com channel. “That’s as stable as I can make them and still make sure they blow when you hit the switch.”

The Ellison Station dry-dock was in orbit around Jupiter. It was from there that this operation would launch. The Fitzgerald Warp-Field Tug, more commonly referred to as a sled, would tow the Geneva into the Helku system. There the Iltia’cor would be waiting with their gravitational weapon. Once the Iltia’cor activated their weapon, the Geneva would break apart and it’s payload of fusion bombs would destroy the enemy weapon. If all went as planned.

The Helku system was 127 light-years away from Earth. Kyle still needed a calculator to figure out how long the warp engines would take to get there, but for the last three weeks, he had checked the figures every few hours it seemed. It was three days, twelve hours and forty minutes, no matter how many times he checked. That’s how long they would be in a stable warp field with enough explosive power to destroy a small moon. That thought did not calm Kyle’s nerves.

Alex fidgeted beside him. “Are you sure we can’t automate this thing?”

The Fitzgerald hung there waiting for an answer. “No,” said Kyle “We can’t afford to lose a sled, not when we can bring it home again.”

“Just thought I would ask in case no one considered it,” Alex sighed wistfully. “I guess I’ve been through worse things than being stuck with the two of you for three straight days.”

Alex turned and walked away from the observation deck.

“What do you think, Carl?” Kyle asked

“I trust Ranke. If he says the charges are stable, they are stable. Everything will go fine, sir. Like Ramirez said, the hardest part will be living with you two,” Williams said. His voice sounded as light as his words, but his eyes carried the heaviness of worry and concern.

Kyle looked up at the chains holding the massive structure. From a distance, it looked like a fragile vessel, so easily snapped or broken. But when you were here, just a few hundred feet away from it, the size was over whelming.  At over 400 meters high and close to 2200 meters long, it dwarfed any ship that Earth had ever put on her oceans.

The crew of the Fitzgerald was normally twenty four, so there would be plenty of space and supplies, although Kyle assumed they would probably stay on the bridge for most of the voyage. After they dropped the Geneva off, they would rendezvous with another sled and be relieved of command.

“I have never been more anxious to be done and over with a mission as I am right now,” Alex said.

Kyle turned and saw Alex had walked back out onto the observation deck.

“We have twenty minutes until the Geneva gets in position. I guess we need to board the Fitzgerald,” said Alex as he motioned back to the briefing room.

Kyle and Williams took one last look at the Fitzgerald before turning and walking back into the room. A few seconds later, the alarms in the dock area started ringing. Yellow lights started flashing, letting anyone in the area around the ship know that they were going to decompress in ten minutes.

At the two minute mark Kyle, Alex and Williams started walking across the sealed causeway to the bridge of the Fitzgerald. Just seconds after they secured their hatch, the lights in the dock area turned red and the huge vents started slowing sucking the precious air into the compression tanks. Kyle and his team had already started all systems and were settling into their seats on the bridge when the large doors below them began to open and the vacuum of space finished the decompression.