They were now making their way forward and heading toward a DeckPort. Lom looked pleased by Ricket’s inquiry. “We would love to have a smart scholar such as you take a look,” Lom said to Ricket, giving Granger a reassuring nod.

  Ricket could see the DeckPort was active, which meant the AI was probably still online. He used his nano-devices to make his first low-level inquiry. Ensuring that he used a pseudonym-login, Ricket quickly accessed the Minian’s core processes—evaluating the state of the ship’s spaceworthiness.

  They approached the DeckPort and Gaddy, again overacting, tried to look tentative about walking through the opening.

  Lom took Gaddy by the arm, and then took Ricket’s as well. “Let me show you how this is done.” He escorted them through the DeckPort where they immediately exited out onto another deck level. “Keep in mind, this is all highly classified. What you’re seeing here tonight cannot be discussed with anyone.”

  “We understand,” Gaddy said.

  They were approaching the bridge. Perfect, Ricket thought. This would be the deciding factor as to the likelihood of absconding with the ship, and if it was even remotely possible for him to do so.

  Ricket saw Lom slowing down. He’d yawned more than once and it was only a matter of minutes before he’d want to head back to the comfort of the palace and his awaiting bed.

  They entered the bridge. Nearly twice the size of that of The Lilly, it was a shock to see. Ricket’s hopes fell. Much of the bridge was torn apart. Consoles were dismantled—optical cable and phase-junction wires were hanging loose, like scraggly vines.

  Even Granger looked surprised by the mess. “It’s hard to picture what this normally looks like, but this is the ship’s bridge,” Granger said.

  Both Gaddy and Ricket wandered around, mouths agape. Lom moved close to Ricket. “How would you like to work right here, on this amazing ship?”

  Ricket paused, then regarded the Craing acting emperor. “You mean, like a job?”

  “Well, that’s up to you. We have the finest Craing minds working to unravel the mysteries of this wonderful vessel. You’ll be in good company. She is the most important technological discovery in Craing history. But we need help. From what Granger tells me, after only a few minutes of your speaking together, he knows you have the high level technical mind we need on our team.”

  Ricket looked over to Gaddy, who looked overjoyed, both hands balled up into fists and a smile from ear to ear. “Can you imagine, Ri—”

  Ricket quickly cut her off before she continued uttering his name. “Yes! I would be honored and, of course, gladly offer my services, to assist you in any way possible.”

  Ricket wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw Granger do a double take. Had he now figured out who he was? That something wasn’t right? Ricket looked at Gaddy, who had quickly turned away, looking at something on the bulkhead. He saw that the back of her neck was somewhat flushed.

  “It’s getting quite late for me,” Lom said. “I’m not young like the rest of you. Nelmon, I want you and Granger to meet again in the morning. Talk. I’m hopeful you will be the expert to crack this vessel’s AI.” He joined Gaddy and put an arm around her waist, and together they headed for the bridge exit.

  Granger was quiet, introspective. He took in a slow, long breath. “Yes, yes, yes … Nelmon, we should meet first thing in the morning. How does that sound? I’m sure we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

  Ricket said, “I’d like that. I can’t wait to talk to the ship’s AI.”

  Granger put a reassuring hand on Ricket’s shoulder and together they followed Gaddy and Lom toward the DeckPort. Ricket’s mind was not on Granger or Lom or Gaddy, he was fully interfacing with the Minian’s AI and bringing up the necessary systems that would take her into space.

  Chapter 18

  The Lilly and the convoy of seven U.S. spaceships were now safely hidden on the surface of Allaria. Jason had phase-shifted onto Her Majesty and had arrived on her bridge twenty minutes earlier. Ricket began transmitting, via his recently altered nano-devices, POV visual and auditory feed during acting-Emperor Lom’s two hour long dinner party. They watched as the evening events unfolded on the primary display. During the less interesting dinner conversations, Jason had time to bring Brian up to speed on the dire events taking place in Allied space, and the Allied fleet’s dwindling numbers. Brian said he was up to date on some of this from earlier ship-to-ship communications.

  “How did Dira react to news about Jhardon?” Brian asked. “She must be going crazy worrying about her parents … hell, her home planet.”

  “She wants to return home. She’s frustrated she can’t do more for her people. She was able to connect and speak briefly with her father and mother. Both were off-planet during the attack but returned to find near total devastation. Some areas are uninhabitable due to radiation; others were leveled, with zero life-sign readings. I’ve promised I’ll get her home as soon as The Lilly is freed up here.”

  “Talk to me about those dreadnaughts,” Jason asked, pointing to a smaller display above the console where Perkins was sitting.

  “Yeah, we’ve been watching them move in from all directions over the last thirty-six hours. Makes you wonder. Where are they manufacturing them? I think we’ve underestimated the Craing’s military might.”

  “You think?” Jason responded sarcastically. “You’re sure the cloaking device on this ship is totally failsafe?”

  A voice came from behind them. “Nothing is totally failsafe,” Bristol answered, entering the bridge. “We’re lucky this monstrosity of a ship hasn’t taken a dump before now. But the one thing that I’m fairly certain will keep working is the toric-cloaking device.”

  Apparently the dinner party was breaking up and Ricket was seen talking directly to Granger on the display. Jason followed the conversation and was encouraged by both Granger and Lom’s apparent interest in Ricket, Nelmon’s, impressive technical, artificial intelligence, background. Truth was, Jason hadn’t had much faith the plan would ever work. There were just too many variables. But now, listening to Ricket speak, he was encouraged. His knowledge was vast and it was obvious to anyone he met he was not only a genius, but sincere and humble about it. Jason’s biggest fear was he would come across as too perfect a fit—filling more than their needs demanded—that having so much knowledge could bring on suspicion.

  The bridge went quiet as everyone watched, from Ricket’s POV, the group’s trip from Terplin, to the space station, to the Minian. Jason and Brian looked at each other and smiled.

  “We’re on the ship … we’re on that damn ship!” Jason barked, sounding astonished. The display changed to a split-view—one side showing Ricket’s POV, the other a code of some kind … thousands of lines of meaningless, scrolling, code.

  Bristol walked up closer to the display and turned toward Jason. “The little guy has interfaced to the Minian’s AI—he’s talking to her, bringing up her systems.” Bristol continued to stare at Jason, then made a flabbergasted face. “Don’t you get it? He’s doing it now! He’s stealing that big fucking ship … stealing it right now!”

  “No, look, they’re leaving the Minian,” Perkins interjected. Granger and Lom were indeed heading off the ship and onto the scaffolding, with Ricket and Gaddy following close behind. Then Ricket reached a hand out for Gaddy, getting a grip on the back of her gown. She turned, surprise in her eyes, which turned to confusion. Ricket stepped back, pulling Gaddy back into the ship with him. Both Granger and Lom turned around, smiling and looking like they hadn’t a care in the world, then watched with confusion as the Minian’s forward starboard hatch slid shut right before their eyes.

  “Captain,” came Ricket’s voice through his NanoCom.

  “I’m here, Ricket.”

  “I didn’t think I’d get this opportunity again.”

  “You did the right thing. Can you phase-shift the Minian out of there?”

  “No, Captain. That function is offline. Almost everything’s offline.”

  “I don’t understand. How were you planning to get the Minian away?”

  Ricket didn’t answer for several beats. “The only thing I can think of is The Lilly. Phase-shift her into the Minian’s hold and together we’ll phase-shift both ships to open space.”

  “Can The Lilly even do that, phase-shift both—”

  Bristol, now standing close to Jason, shook his head in irritation. “That’s not going to work. Far too much mass for The Lilly to compensate for. Can’t generate that kind of power.”

  Ricket was speaking at the same time as Bristol and Jason wasn’t tracking what either said. “Wait. Hold on, Bristol. Go ahead, Ricket.”

  Ricket said it again. “There’s more than enough power being generated by the Minian. Get The Lilly on board and I’ll interface the two ships.”

  Jason conveyed what Ricket said to Bristol, who thought about it for a second and slowly nodded, answering, “Yeah, that might work.”

  Bristol sat at a console tapping at a terminal, and soon Ricket’s voice could be heard by those on the bridge.

  “There’s one more minor problem,” Ricket said. “Two problems, actually. One, getting The Lilly in close enough to phase-shift. Two, getting the Minian separated from the two scaffolding constructs. They extend out from the space platform and completely surround the Minian’s hull.”

  Brian said, “Ricket, there’s hundreds of dreadnaughts and other warships all around us in surrounding space. We’re talking twenty, thirty thousand miles of tightly packed warships. Multiple phase-shift jumps with The Lilly will surely be detected and there goes our element of surprise. As of right now, Granger and Lom are probably thinking something abstract’s happened. I doubt they’ve put two and two together … that you’re actually planning to steal the Minian.”

  “Yeah, who’d be that stupid,” Bristol threw in, without looking up from his console.

  Jason continued, “We’d have limited time to deal with the scaffolds, not to mention those security forces on the space platform. No, we need to get The Lilly into the Minian without triggering suspicion or alarms.”

  Betty put a new diagram onto the main display, which depicted the location of Terplin and the space platform, as well as surrounding formations of other space vessels. “So look,” she said, “I’ve plotted a course through the dreadnaught formations. It would be tight, sometimes no more than one hundred yards clearance, but Her Majesty could probably get in fairly close to the Minian. Close enough to eventually phase-shift The Lilly from one ship to the other.”

  “That is, if you don’t first crash into one of the fifty or sixty dreadnaughts along the way,” Bristol answered, giving her a lopsided smile.

  Brian scowled. “Wait … okay, you’re thinking since we’re cloaked we can hide The Lilly on board and deliver her in close?”

  “Yup, just like UPS,” Bristol said.

  Betty nodded and brought up the schematics of Her Majesty. “Sorry, Brian, there’s not one single hold large enough to phase-shift The Lilly into. But here and here,” she pointed, “there’s adequate space, if we think creatively. It’ll still be tight.”

  “Terrific. Go ahead and ruin a perfectly fine ship.” He looked over the diagram. “I see the two adjoining forward holds, but that area there … those are the officers’ quarters and over there is the ship’s mess. You’re talking about destruction of nearly three entire decks.”

  “It looks like a one-way trip for Her Majesty anyway, Brian,” Jason said apologetically. “Hell, what are our chances of making it through that maze of dreadnaughts anyway?”

  Chapter 19

  Her Majesty was piloted back to Allarian space and was currently in high-orbit around the dark and desolate-looking planet. Ricket’s impromptu actions aboard the Minian moved their timetable up—everyone was scurrying around, double-time.

  Jason finished securing his helmet and watched as the familiar, glowing, three-dimensional HUD came alive and hovered before his eyes. Stepping over to the bulkhead, he passed Rizzo a multi-gun from the armory’s equipment rack and then selected one for himself.

  “What kind of defenses are we talking about, Cap?” Rizzo asked.

  “From what I saw on the feed, and from what Ricket has relayed to me, the emperor’s security forces are all over the place. They’re well armed and we can expect them to be better- trained than the typical Craing combatant.” Jason paused a beat before walking out of the compartment. “Don’t underestimate the Craing; that’s bitten us in the ass more than once. Remember, securing that platform is paramount. We’ll need time to uncouple and take the Minian.”

  “Got it, Cap. We’ll get it done.”

  Jason made his way down to the mess, where Billy was inspecting his team of one hundred and twenty men—all outfitted in the latest hardened battle suits and carrying a multi-gun. About half the armed men were Navy SEALs and this new mission was just one of the many ops they’d been called up on while serving aboard The Lilly. Jason stood back and watched Billy move through their at-ease formation, stopping periodically to speak to someone, then moving on down the ranks. Many, Jason recognized, including Chief Petty Officer Woodrow, who looked no worse for wear. The others were hand-selected by Billy, from the thousands of new recruits who’d recently come aboard the convoy, at the Pentagon. They were mostly elite Delta Forces personnel—all eager to join the action in space—training at what was previously the EOUPA, but now solely a United States base in the Chihuahuan desert.

  Heads turned toward Jason as he walked to the front of the assembled men.

  “Some of you fought side by side with me on Earth, and in space, over the past year. To you, I say thank you for your service and continued commitment to fighting the Craing. Others of you are certainly not new to combat and have fought for your country with honor, and no less a commitment, to defending first your country, and now planet Earth. If there’s one piece of advice I can give you today it is this: Don’t underestimate the enemy. They tend to let others do their fighting for them, preferring to hide in the background. But that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. They’re cunning and will stop at nothing to secure all known space for themselves. The planets they don’t annihilate—turn into space dust—they invade, and subjugate the inhabitants into either slavery, or fighting for the Craing Empire—under threat of destruction of their homes and families. I want you to know the importance of this mission, what’s at stake. Recently, five Allied planets were singled out and destroyed; another is on life support. We’re talking billions of people dead, in a matter of hours. The Craing are looking to make an example of what happens to a world when they go up against Craing tyranny. The Alliance is a mess. Worlds we thought were allies have decided it’s safer to leave and go it alone … hoping to stay in the Craing’s good graces. Others, such as the Mau, have taken their fleet home to defend their own planet. The Mau withdrew four hundred advanced warships, and we’re seeing similar actions from others. Recently, the Craing obtained a vessel of such technological superiority that it’s unthinkable what devastation may come about as a result. This ship, the Minian, just might be our single best hope in defending not only the Allied worlds, but all known space.”

  Jason, while addressing the men, had observed others from around the ship filing into the rear of the mess hall, including bridge, engineering, medical, security personnel, and others, until crewmembers were overflowing into the adjoining corridor.

  “They say the darkest hour is just before dawn. We have arrived at that darkest hour. What dawn will look like completely depends on us—individually, and as a team. Team leaders, prepare for battle.”

  Jason walked over to where Dira was standing, at the back of the room, and saw Boomer and Petty Officer Miller standing there as well. Dira looked tired, but brightened as he approached. Their eyes met and Jason smiled. Boomer looked up at her father and said, “That was super depressing. Aren’t you supposed to motivate your soldiers?”

  “Yes, I’m supposed to. Not so good, huh?”

  “Give your dad a break, kiddo. I thought your talk was plenty motivating, Jason.” Dira gave him a half-hearted smile and a thumbs up.

  Miller wore a pinched expression and rested a hand on Boomer’s shoulder. “You’re not thinking of keeping your daughter on board while you go into battle, are you, sir?”

  “What you’ll find is there’s really no perfectly safe place in war. Even back on Earth … it’s only a matter of time—”

  “I don’t accept that. Captain, I’d like to keep Boomer on one of the convoy ships. It’s all a matter of degrees.”

  Boomer squirmed away from Miller’s hand and stood next to Jason. “I’m going where my father goes. Why don’t you stop sticking your big nose in other people’s business?”

  Jason held up a hand. “Hold on, little one. Where The Lilly’s going you won’t be safe. You can stay with Petty Officer Miller. I’ll contact the Cutlass, one of our cruisers. If all goes well, we’ll be back before you know it. That work for you, Petty Officer?”

  “The truth is … it should have been your suggestion in the first place. But yes, that will do.”

  * * *

  Jason stood on The Lilly’s bridge and waited for Brian’s final confirmation that all was clear for them to phase-shift into the bowels of Her Majesty. He felt bad for his brother. The only time Brian had been given his father’s trust and the heady responsibility to captain his own ship. Now he’d be forced to watch as his ship was gutted and piloted off to all too imminent destruction.

  Up on the wrap-around display, Jason could see Brian standing with his arms crossed, looking somewhat resigned. In the background, never far away, the hopper lurked—keeping its protective vigil.