seemingly lost in thought. A D'ha'ren who slept peacefully upon her bed. Th'han'dra placed her hand upon the fellow D'ha'ren's forehead and whispered something. It could have been a prayer or just a promise. Mak waited. She looked up at him and he knew she was to ready to go. They headed to the door then into the quarantine area where they were scanned before being allowed back into the main part of the secure area. They nodded to the guards and exited through the security door where Suth and Brahms waited.
"Anything we missed?" Brahms said.
Mak shrugged. "Somebody's going to a lot of trouble to play games, sir."
Brahms stroked his shaggy beard. "I'm afraid they certainly have."
"I don't think they're finished, sir," Th'han'dra added.
"I hope you're wrong," Suth said grimly but his face said he agreed.
There was Normal Space. Then there was Jump Space. Mak didn't like Jump Space. He couldn't fly in it. And it was dangerous. Journeys over long distance were accomplished by a series of small Jumps. No more than three days in Jump Space. The physicists hadn't yet figured out something about traveling faster than light via Jump Space. That something was the Jump Error. Sometimes ships would Jump out exactly where they were predicted to. More often than not though, a ship would Jump out in a position slightly different from the calculated position. A correction would be made in normal space then another Jump. A big chunk of change waited for the person who could figure out what caused the Error and how to predict it. That's why the exit point of the Jump was usually not close to anything. Jumping into something solid would ruin a person's day permanently. Watching a Jump was also very strange. A ship would be there, then it would wink away. When a ship Jumped out, it would just wink back into existence. There was no sudden movement or forewarning. Jump in. Jump out.
Somebody had the brilliant idea of deliberately Jumping something into something else. Like a bomb into a planet. Unfortunately, when things tried to Jump out into solid objects, they tended to not show back up again. Ever. Or at least not where somebody could detect them. The weapon guys had to stop salivating at that one.
There was one more odd thing about Jump Space: People didn't always react well to it. For the lucky few, it was no different from normal space. Most felt something. Mak always had a faint headache which persisted as long as they were in Jump Space. Some people just slept the time away. Others suffered insomnia and mania. Depression was common. Feelings of isolation and despair were magnified. Claustrophobia would creep into people's thoughts. Suicides weren't unheard of. A little hallucinating, a touch of paranoia, and suddenly there was a new poster boy for Jump Fever. The med staff were always ready with the drugs.
There were no windows on the X. But he'd heard looking out wasn't such a good idea. All the Hammers and Raptors kept their windows shuttered with security locks. One of the launch crew Mak had known swore he could "hear things" brushing up against the outer hull. Didn't matter there was nothing out there to brush up against. The guy would spend all of Jump time as far away from the hull as possible. He even managed to convince others they could hear stuff too. Once, and only once, Mak thought he heard something or somebody whispering through the hull. He kept away from the outer hull as much as he could as well.
Sick bay was deep inside the X. But he hated it there. Now he just wanted to get back to the dorm. One night in the hospital was more than enough. He moved slowly along the corridor wearing some casual fatigues the meds had given him. Hopefully, the Factory would have a new flight suit waiting for him in his quarters. He had persuaded Ives to release him early but now he wasn't so sure that had been such a great idea. Other people squeezed by him as he tried to not get in their way. He didn't want to impose on the pilots to help him carry his stuff back to his quarters. Not that he had a lot of stuff to carry. Still, sweat was dripping into his eyes, making it difficult to see in the dim light. Maybe turning around was a pretty good plan after all. The path, though, was clear now. There was one more corridor to go down and then the lift. He could make it. The grav plates here seemed to be putting out way more gravity than necessary. He turned the corner and was glad it was empty as he made slow progress towards the lift. At least his head wasn't hurting as much. There were some pills in his bag which he looked forward to downing.
He looked up. There was somebody at the lift. The gravity here definitely felt heavier. His bag was cutting into his shoulder. Maintenance would have to come and adjust the grav plates. The empty corridor meant at least no one would see him struggling along like some old cripple. The man at the lift stood stiffly at attention. Mak thought he looked familiar. Finally, panting with exertion he found himself beside the man. Oddly, none of the buttons were pushed.
"Which way you heading?" Mak asked the man, as he pushed the call button.
"Mak," the man said. It wasn't just the way he said it that froze his blood. Mak recognized the voice.
"Brenn," Mak said trying to sound calm. "I thought you were back in sick bay with the rest of Gold Ghost."
He fumbled in his bag trying to find his comm. Gold Ghost Leader's face was turned away from him.
"Mak," he repeated. "I have a message for you."
"Wouldn't you like to give it the Captain as well?" Found it. He tried to flick it on but it was dead. Figures. "I'm sure he'd like to hear it."
"There is great danger ahead."
"Yeah, well, we kinda figured that one out on our own. Do you have any, you know, specifics in mind?"
He expected a lot of things but not what he got.
Laughter. A warm chuckle of real amusement. Not some creepy crap. Sounded just like Brenn too.
"Now wouldn't that be easy?" Brenn mused, relaxing a little. "What would you like?"
"Who are you? What happened to Gold Ghost? Where is this danger coming from? Things like that would be a good start."
"I'm almost Brenn. Not quite but very close. We were taken then returned here. The danger is outside and in."
Brenn had been turned away the whole time. Mak had started to back away. The corridor was completely deserted. He needed to get to a working comm. A ship's comm was a mere ten feet away.
Brenn started to turn. There was something wrong with the light though. Mak couldn't make out his features.
"Some of us have taken an interest in your little piece of the universe," Brenn continued. "It is not a good thing. Having only one enemy is a luxury you no longer enjoy."
The lift doors opened and Brenn walked on. People walked off. One stopped, concerned.
"Hey, bud?" the crewman asked, reaching out to steady the Blue Box pilot. "Are you alright?"
"That man, did you see him?" Mak asked, trying to keep from shivering.
"What man?"
Damn. Was this some stupid hallucination? He couldn't tell whether the pounding in his head was from the Jump or the crash. "Lend me your comm, please. Mine's not working."
The crewman handed him his comm.
"Security, this is Mak, uh, Blue Box Leader. The leader of Blue Box squadron." If he'd flipped out, he'd just go right back to sick bay. He just wouldn't mention he'd been having imaginary conversations with abductees. The meds would keep him off duty forever.
"Go ahead, sir."
"Is Gold Ghost Squad intact?"
"Standby, Blue Box Leader."
Mak suddenly knew he wouldn't be returning to sick bay.
Alarms wailed all over the ship.
In the Captain's Ready Room, he felt better sitting down with some pills in his stomach and a cup of hot chocolate in his hands.
Suth stood, scowling at the monitor on the wall. They'd played it for what seemed like the hundredth time. One frame all of Gold Ghost were on the sick bay beds, the next frame there were only seven.
The Security Chief, Jamaal, was bent way out of shape. None of his men had noticed the disappearing act. And worse, he knew their elaborate security precautions were worthless. Brenn had simply winked out. Further, there was no sign of Brenn anywhere on the ship.
"We've injected the others with trackers if they decide to go for a walk," Brahms said. But his shrug said it all. Whatever or whoever these people were, they would hardly be fooled by something so simple.
"So why talk to you?" Suth asked again. Mak knew better than to say anything. They'd been over this a dozen times and the answer had finally come down to "because".
Suth wanted to confer with the rest of the Battle Group but as long as they were in Jump Space, communication was impossible.
Mak sipped his hot chocolate. The warmth and sweetness helped ease the tension from his bones. This was one of the few things on the Exeter he truly loved. The tradition of hot chocolate. Real hot chocolate. In his opinion, the best reward for those seeing more than the usual amount of action. It should've been waiting for him in the dorm, but somebody had been crazy enough to bring it to him here in the captain's Ready Room. He felt better. The recuperatives in his system were doing their work and he was sure he'd be battle ready when they exited Jump Space.
He listened to them argue the finer points. Why not appear right next to Mak? Why take the lift? Where did the clothes come from? What was the purpose of such a cryptic warning? How would it affect the mission ahead? This Brenn was purporting to be some powerful being with information. Or was he? Maybe it was an elaborate subterfuge by the Kyrzal.
Finally, Suth said, "We notify Cobra Command as soon as we exit Jump Space. We plan on