Duty Calls

The bridge of the Nightstalker was quiet.

The bridge crew sat at their stations. Jolt sat in the command chair, following the event journals as they prepared to free themselves from the thin layer of radioactive cobalt coating the hull. Thresher's torso was duct-taped to a chair in front of the engineering station. Although he seemed to be grievously injured and unconscious, he had patched his robotic voluntary nervous system to his station's command interface. He was rerouting electrical power in the maze of conduits beneath the hull to align their magnetic fields precisely.

The Eye kept watch at the helm. The star-ship's short range sensors were almost useless due to the intensely radioactive film of metal that clung to the outside of the ship, but she was able to use the interrociter to get usable data to feed the fire control and tactical maneuver systems. This allowed the Nightstalker a zone of control covering 10,000 cubic kilometers of space. Since the Nightstalker was quite literally going nowhere anytime soon, this was enough to ensure that they didn't run into anything or anyone until the crisis was resolved.

The First Mate stood next to Jolt's command chair, and reviewed the project checklist on an overhead monitor.

Behind him, Thresher lifted his head and said, "Electrical conduits aligned."

The First Mate gave the cyborg a curt, telegenic nod, and checked the box on the touch-screen with grace and élan.

Executive Officer Benito Franco was the youngest officer ever commissioned by the Corporate Drama Academy. He and Jolt turned to each other, and Jolt gave the order.

"Energize." Powerful electrical currents created a powerful magnetic field that enveloped the entire hull. The cobalt was strongly magnetically permeable. Magnetic domains aligned, and the thin film was quickly magnetized.

Jolt turned around the other way to face Thresher. "How long will we need to magnetize the film?"

"Not very long at all. I think it will be ready in a few minutes." Despite missing the lower half of his cyborg body, Thresher seemed surprisingly lively. "Once it's magnetized, we can reverse the polarity and send pulses of current down the conduits in the opposite direction. The magnetic fields will repel, blasting the metal off the hull."

Jolt smiled at Thresher. "Great work! I'm proud of you guys."

The First Mate peered at the overhead monitor. "Captain, there's an incoming transmission, encrypted." He poked at the comms interface. "Key signature matches Arsenal."

Jolt turned towards the static-filled view-screen. "What? Didn't they find a body? Put this on the main screen."

Peter lay face-down on a bed, partially covered with a thin sheet. Jinx, dressed in a robe, sat down next to him and touched a spot on his back. Peter lifted his head, grinned and began to hum.

Jinx giggled and then gestured towards the end of the bed. "Hey, your encryption thingy finally finished handshaking. I think you have a connection to the Nightstalker."

Peter looked directly into the camera, and quickly leaped up. Thinking quickly, he just managed to cover himself a little with the sheet.

Jinx leaned back and waved at the camera. "Hiya, Sparky!"

Peter put himself together as best he could. He looked straight into the camera with an air of forced disinterest and saluted.

Jolt was not impressed. She sank into her captain's chair and rubbed her temples. The Eye and the First Mate gazed into the view-screen. The Eye's expression was a mixture of amusement and disgust. Thresher seemed consumed by vicarious embarrassment. The First Mate was simply dumbstruck.

"Arsenal here. Did you receive my message? We have a second image from a fighter simulator -- with a little luck, we should be able to reconstruct the attack plan by analyzing M-Seven's simulations."

Jolt looked at the view-screen through the corner of her eye. "What, that huge message that crashed my Inbox?"

"Yeah. That was an executable image of the simulators they used to train the fleet. I've lost my copy, but if you guys could sync with us, we might be able to re-construct the entire attack plan."

"We calculated where the fleet might re-materialize. Sedgewick Station is within the first standard deviation of the target distribution, so we're pretty sure they're going there." Jolt studiously avoided looking at the view-screen.

She turned to the slack-jawed First Mate. "Ben, open a data session."

"Yes, ma'am."

The sync operation quickly compared the images. Streams of data flowed to and from the Nightstalker and Jinx's ship. Jinx looked straight into the camera. "So, our ship has M-Seven livery. We can join up with the attackers--"

Jolt looked at Jinx with a withering glance, and interrupted her. "Did I ask you to speak? I don't remember asking you anything."

Peter spoke up. "It's a good idea. Once we know what they have planned, we might be able to disrupt their operations at a critical point. Attacking from surprise--"

"Yeah, that's not bad. We'll be there. You should try to land on the first wave and assist the defenders."

"Understood, Captain." Peter nodded. "We'll be in touch in a few hours once we've analyzed the composite image."

Jolt scowled at the screen. "Good. Put some clothes on next time. Close transmission."

The crew of the Nightstalker paused for a moment. Jolt then got out of the command chair and turned to her First Mate.

"Ben, you take over. I'm going to go soak my brain in warm soapy water."