The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

Seventy Two

They were clear of the fleet, back in open space at last. The only activity on the scanners was behind them. Had they turned around to look, they would have seen a graveyard in motion. A fleet less whole than the one they found. Light cracked and bubbled through the expanding shell. The explosions and chaos of the battle had left it's mark. The fleet was slowly tearing itself apart. It might take weeks or months, but it's second, final death was here, bathed in the red light of the star.

Tila could see the scanner but that wasn't enough to satisfy her. She stood up and pressed her hands against the cold transparency of the Jubilee's cockpit. She needed to see her friends with her own eyes.

Ellie's Valkyrie was the closest and on Ellie's left was Malachi. Malachi was too far away to see clearly, but the fact that she could see him at all - see them both - was enough.

And I used to think I needed more.

Without taking her eyes off her friends, Tila reached down and fumbled for the transmit button. Grace saw what she was trying to do and reached over to toggle the switch for her.

'Speak,' said Grace, softly.

'Ellie? Mal? Are you both okay?'

Malachi said nothing but his head moved slowly up and down. He was close enough for Tila to recognise that gesture. Even as the colour returned to his face his knuckles stayed white where each fist crushed the HOTAS controls as if he could eke more speed out of his ship.

Ellie said nothing. She looked at Malachi, then at Tila, and pressed her own hand against the canopy. Fingers splayed, as if Ellie was close enough to lace her own fingers in return. Words were sometimes too much, while gestures could be just enough.

Tila nodded and let out a small, shy, relieved and guilty smile. Then she dropped into her seat and fell asleep.

Ellie pulled her hand back to the flight controls. She breathed deep, glowing in the rush of a race just won. Her aching fingers relaxed against the throttle. There was no more speed to be had out here in wide ocean of space. The dead fleet was already far behind. The beacon was far ahead, their destination locked into the navigation system. The ship could fly itself from here.

Malachi was safely to her left, Tila to her right.

In front of her was home.

All was right with Ellie's world.

The beacon pulsed and added the shifting mass of the solar system to it's jump calculations in real time. Four hub satellites took note of the sub-microscopic differences in their orbits. Laser range finders measured picometre changes in their relative distances.

Ring laser gyroscopes measured rotation in microradians. The mathematics of quantum certainty and newtonian approximation resolved multi-dimensional equations into one coherent sum. The Nexus supercomputer received the data, compensated for relativistic distortion and re-transmitted the correct information to the Jubilee's jump drive.

The portal opened. Blue lighting surged around the perimeter and the event horizon calmed.

Two places became as one.

They jumped.