The first thing Admiral Lynton did when John agreed to destroy the Kintark base was to supply him with the location of his target. As his exceptionally gifted Tactical Officer had already deduced, they were tasked with travelling to the Mar'Katrach Nebula to seek out and eliminate the hidden resupply station. John had bid Admiral Gabrielle Lynton farewell, and with her assurances ringing in his ears that they weren't going to be facing significant defences, they were now on their way.
The Nymph turned the Invictus towards the Nav Beacon, flying the ship at one-quarter speed to conceal the power of their Trankaran engines. As they approached the Nav Beacon, she carefully plotted a course to their destination, then entered it into the Nav computer to check her calculations. When they cleared the system's local gravity wells she engaged the Tachyon Drive, and the ship was shrouded in a field of blue particles before it surged into hyper-warp a few seconds later.
John had remained quiet, staring at the Sector Map while Jade guided the Invictus out of the Iota-Leonis system. Calara and Alyssa stopped what they were doing, and turned their chairs to face him, waiting for him to break the silence that had descended on the Bridge.
"So, they've finally declared war," he finally said, sounding subdued as the enormity of that announcement sank in.
Alyssa had been listening to his thoughts, hearing him relive some of the brutal battles he'd experienced during his time as a marine. The large scale battles had been bloody, and the flashbacks were hard for her to follow, with John recalling chaotic scenes full of frantic combat, explosions, and the loss of his comrades.
Studying his pained expression, she said soothingly, "The situation's different now. You've retired remember? The Military can't force you into their wars any more. You're a good man, and you fight when it's the right thing to do, like rescuing us damsels in distress."
He was coaxed from his troubled introspection by her well-meaning words, and he smiled at her in gratitude as he asked, "Still keeping me from dwelling in the past, honey?"
"Always," she replied, giving him a loving smile.
He looked down at Calara where she sat at the Tactical Station, and saw that her face was furrowed with worry. When she realised his attention was focused on her, she met his gaze, and said in a sombre voice, "The situation with the Traitor just got a whole lot worse."
With a firm nod, John replied, "We've got to take Norwood out before that bastard can do any serious damage. The conflict with the Kintark is going to escalate rapidly now, so the stakes are much higher."
Calara's pensive expression told him that she was thinking the exact same thing. Her voice was taut with stress as she said, "We've got to stop him as soon as we can, John. This invasion could easily turn into a disaster with a traitor in High Command, and my Dad and Mateo are both caught up in it."
"Don't worry," John replied, sounding confident. "We'll be meeting Buckingham in a matter of hours, and I doubt Norwood will have a chance to betray the Terran Federation forces this quickly. Trust me, we're going to bring that traitor to justice before he can cause any more harm."
Alyssa also sought to reassure the Latina, and said enthusiastically, "We've been in far worse situations in the past and pulled a miracle out of the bag. We'll sail in there and really fuck up Norwood's day. Don't worry, it'll be fine!"
The brunette's spirits were buoyed up by the absolute conviction in John's voice, and Alyssa's unflagging optimism. She gave them both a lovely smile as she said, "You're right, we can do this." Letting out a small sigh of relief, Calara turned back to her Tactical Console.
Alyssa gave him a grateful smile, then turned her chair to face him fully, and asked, "What are your thoughts about Admiral Lynton? She seemed to know a lot about you, and the 'broken' video comm seemed a bit suspicious. Could she be working for Norwood? Is she sending us into a trap?"
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and replied, "Edraele pointed out that we've not made any real effort to conceal our hyper-warp speed. Anyone looking into our exploits in the Iota-Leonis system could have traced our route back to Olympus, and would realise exactly how fast we can go."
Calara spoke up and said, "I spent a lot of time studying Admiral Lynton, and she's a cautious woman, reluctant to over-commit her forces. She's in charge of defending the Dragon March, so keeping her ships in reserve, and sending us off to assault this base does fit with her strategic thinking." She paused, then hit a couple of buttons on her console that recalled the holographic image of the dreadnought. Studying it again, she continued, "It looks like her ship took a couple of hits from plasma torpedoes, and it has sustained minor damage near the comms relay."
John frowned as he asked, "There definitely wasn't anything incriminating on her in all the comms traffic you studied?"
"Nothing," Calara confirmed for him with a shake of her head. "She spoke to Norwood and Santini fairly frequently, but you'd expect that, with the three of them running the Dragon March campaign. There was nothing suspicious in any of her communications with either of the Admirals."
John shrugged, and said, "I guess we'll have to give her the benefit of the doubt until we see what's waiting in the nebula. If it's a trap we'll know for sure." Looking at the Nymph sitting in the Pilot's Chair, he asked, "Jade, how long until we reach the Kintark base?"
Jade twisted in her chair to look up at the Command Podium and replied earnestly, "We'll arrive at the Mar'Katrach Nebula in five hours, fourteen minutes."
Alyssa plotted the course out in her head, running through dozens of incredibly complex calculations, and applying her warp-tunnelling technique to further increase their hyper-warp velocity. She compared her final journey time with Jade's, and was justifiably proud of her capable student when the figures were nearly identical. Smiling at the green-skinned alien girl, she said, "Nice one, Jade, I couldn't have done it better myself."
John was smiling too, but more at the Nymph's raw enthusiasm, and eager professionalism. "Impressive work," he said to her encouragingly. "It looks like you're both better Navigators than me now."
Jade looked delighted to receive the warm praise from both of them, and she flashed him a lovely beaming grin, as her emerald eyes glittered in the glow from the Sector Map. He gave her a warm smile in return, then suddenly stifled a yawn, as he felt the persistent pull of psychic energy being drained from him to heal Sakura.
Alyssa looked at him with concern, and asked, "Why don't you go back to bed?"
He frowned as he replied, "I think I'd struggle to get any sleep. I'm not mentally tired, and I've slept a lot these past twenty four hours." Rising to his feet, he added, "I'll relax in my Ready Room for a while instead. Care to join me?"
The blonde girl gave him a sparkling smile that match the gleam in her eyes, and replied, "I'd love to."
