Read Online Desperate Times (Lost Planet Warriors Book 1) by K. McLaughlin - Free Book Online
Authors: K. McLaughlin
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He was wrong, of course.
Tim and Kara were watching the exchange like we were a tennis match, their eyes popping back and forth between us. I watched Kara's eyes narrow when Aeron impugned her nav comp, but she kept her mouth shut. Truth was that she wasn't any happier about the direction of travel than he was.
"That would be true," I said. "If we didn't have a highly advanced navigational computer on board the Ariel right now."
"What?" Aaron spluttered. "Where?"
I looked pointedly at him, and he paled. I grinned wolfishly. OK, so I was enjoying this whole thing maybe a little bit too much, but the pilot's comments about our inferior tech were getting on my nerves. Inferior or not, it wasn't the Cymtarrans who'd come up with a plan to take down the enemy without blowing up their own ship in the process.
Well, I hoped my plan wouldn't blow up the Ariel. That was still a possibility.
"You can't use the shuttle's navigation system," Aeron said. "It won't mesh with your drive controls."
"Hate to agree with him, but he's right," Kara piped in. "Totally different computer system.
I tapped my console and pulled our course up on the screen. I'd plotted a twenty minute jump, going out for ten minutes and back for another ten. Basically a big loop. We were about halfway through the outward leg of the trip. If I could have, I would have made the trip even longer. The further we travelled, the more particles our wake picked up along the way. The more particles, the more damage we would do when we exited jump space. The limiting factor was the Cymtarran ship. The longer we were gone, the more likely they were to be blown to bits before we came back. If they were gone - if Bran couldn't get the Skree shields down at the right moment - then all of this would be for nothing.
There was more than one way of picking up extra particles, though. My course had us zipping through the Oort Cloud, which would help us grab some extra debris. And...
"Kim, this course," Kara said. "We're getting awfully close to the sun, aren't we?"
"Yup. Just inside the corona." Particles. All of the lovely particles you could ask for.
"We can't navigate with that much accuracy," Kara protested. "We're only accurate to about plus or minus a million miles. If we're off by that much, we could slam into the sun instead of passing through just the corona."
"True," I said. "The way I see it, you and Aeron have about ten minutes to figure out how to synch our computer systems so that we can use the data from his nav computer to course correct our drives. Better get on that."
"You're shitting me," Kara said.
"She's mad," Aeron said to Kara. "This is madness."
"You're telling me?" she replied to him. "C'mon, we'd better get to work."
She ushered him clear of the bridge. He was still mumbling something about madness as the doors hissed closed behind them both.
It wasn't insane. It was highly unconventional. The risk level was a lot more than I would usually have allowed. If anything short of the continuation of two species - one of them mine - was at stake, I would have looked for another way to roll the dice.
But this was pretty much it. Either we won this fight, or everyone I knew back home was toast. And the last Cymtarran battleship would be gone as well. Along with it any chance of humanity surviving the plague of the Skree.
They'd be coming our way. Of that I was certain. Oh, it might take a while. But if I was understanding what Bran and Aeron had told me, they'd already obliterated the main opposition in our neck of the woods. Humans might survive unmolested for a while, but we were nothing but a speed bump for a race like the Skree. Sooner or later, our turn would come.
If we managed to survive this fight, and united with the Cymtarrans, then it might be another story entirely. We had people, and raw resources. They had the tech we needed to even the odds. And I think we also had the sort of unconventional thinking to do the crazy thing, to take the
Tim and Kara were watching the exchange like we were a tennis match, their eyes popping back and forth between us. I watched Kara's eyes narrow when Aeron impugned her nav comp, but she kept her mouth shut. Truth was that she wasn't any happier about the direction of travel than he was.
"That would be true," I said. "If we didn't have a highly advanced navigational computer on board the Ariel right now."
"What?" Aaron spluttered. "Where?"
I looked pointedly at him, and he paled. I grinned wolfishly. OK, so I was enjoying this whole thing maybe a little bit too much, but the pilot's comments about our inferior tech were getting on my nerves. Inferior or not, it wasn't the Cymtarrans who'd come up with a plan to take down the enemy without blowing up their own ship in the process.
Well, I hoped my plan wouldn't blow up the Ariel. That was still a possibility.
"You can't use the shuttle's navigation system," Aeron said. "It won't mesh with your drive controls."
"Hate to agree with him, but he's right," Kara piped in. "Totally different computer system.
I tapped my console and pulled our course up on the screen. I'd plotted a twenty minute jump, going out for ten minutes and back for another ten. Basically a big loop. We were about halfway through the outward leg of the trip. If I could have, I would have made the trip even longer. The further we travelled, the more particles our wake picked up along the way. The more particles, the more damage we would do when we exited jump space. The limiting factor was the Cymtarran ship. The longer we were gone, the more likely they were to be blown to bits before we came back. If they were gone - if Bran couldn't get the Skree shields down at the right moment - then all of this would be for nothing.
There was more than one way of picking up extra particles, though. My course had us zipping through the Oort Cloud, which would help us grab some extra debris. And...
"Kim, this course," Kara said. "We're getting awfully close to the sun, aren't we?"
"Yup. Just inside the corona." Particles. All of the lovely particles you could ask for.
"We can't navigate with that much accuracy," Kara protested. "We're only accurate to about plus or minus a million miles. If we're off by that much, we could slam into the sun instead of passing through just the corona."
"True," I said. "The way I see it, you and Aeron have about ten minutes to figure out how to synch our computer systems so that we can use the data from his nav computer to course correct our drives. Better get on that."
"You're shitting me," Kara said.
"She's mad," Aeron said to Kara. "This is madness."
"You're telling me?" she replied to him. "C'mon, we'd better get to work."
She ushered him clear of the bridge. He was still mumbling something about madness as the doors hissed closed behind them both.
It wasn't insane. It was highly unconventional. The risk level was a lot more than I would usually have allowed. If anything short of the continuation of two species - one of them mine - was at stake, I would have looked for another way to roll the dice.
But this was pretty much it. Either we won this fight, or everyone I knew back home was toast. And the last Cymtarran battleship would be gone as well. Along with it any chance of humanity surviving the plague of the Skree.
They'd be coming our way. Of that I was certain. Oh, it might take a while. But if I was understanding what Bran and Aeron had told me, they'd already obliterated the main opposition in our neck of the woods. Humans might survive unmolested for a while, but we were nothing but a speed bump for a race like the Skree. Sooner or later, our turn would come.
If we managed to survive this fight, and united with the Cymtarrans, then it might be another story entirely. We had people, and raw resources. They had the tech we needed to even the odds. And I think we also had the sort of unconventional thinking to do the crazy thing, to take the
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