HW Story by blink
Published on Kiith Iopia on date Unknown
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Chapter 1
Piithik Naabal stared blankly at the view screen embedded in the wall of his office, his mind wandering. He no longer had to pay attention to the mining operations going on outside, as had been required before. It was his own fault really - he helped design the system that made this station what it was - an almost totally computer run mining operation. Sure, the resource collectors were still piloted, but the computers handled the traffic control, the docking procedures, and the transport of material to and from the station, along with just about everything else. He allowed a smile to play across his face. There hadn't been a lot of advances in computers in the 16 years since the mothership had left Kharak. It made him proud to know that he had helped build this state of the art system. The smile left his face quickly as he thought of why it had been necessary.
Piithik let his thoughts wander some more. He had felt proud before. He remembered the day when the mothership had started its journey towards Hiigara. All the Kiithid rejoiced at the news of the successful hyperspace jump. There were joyous celebrations everywhere. He remembered the excitement being so thick that he could hardly breath. That happiness had lasted many months. Everything seemed to be going right during that time. The divisions between Kiithid almost vanished. Space exploration and seeing Hiigara were all people could talk about. They spoke of the day when their fellow Kushan would return for them and take them to their homeworld. But that had been ages ago.
The excitement had slowly died out. But the Kushan that remained on Kharak still looked toward the sky, toward the day when they believed their brethren would come back for them. In fact, this belief was so strong that no one really made any permanent plans beyond a few years anymore. His fellow Kushan seemed almost apathetic towards doing anything constructive. Space exploration had virtually stopped, advancements in technology occurred very rarely, and efforts to make Kharak a better place to live had slowly ground to a halt. Piithik shook his head. As best he could figure, some word should have been heard from the mothership or Hiigara years ago, but nothing ever came. Well, that wasn't exactly trueโฆ
Piithik remembered how the Kiith Manaan had grown tired of waiting and had started pushing out into space again without the support of the other Kiithid. Since most of the resources on Kharak had been used up building the mothership, off-world sites had to be mined to build vehicles. The Manaan Kiith weren't especially adept at building space stations and so they had encouraged other Kiith to come with them, particularly Naabal Kiith. Piithik couldn't remember why he had decided to come along. Perhaps it was his own restlessness or maybe he was just trying to get away from the apathy he saw all over Kharak. Whatever the reason, he and some of his Kiith had come out here to build the station. It had a name - Spatiik, after a beetle that could live in the desert for months without any food or water - but no one here ever called it that. They simply referred to it as the station. He was proud of this place that he had helped create. Like the Spatiik beetle it was almost completely self-sufficient, it had to be. It wasn't the furthest mining station from Kharak or the most remote but that didn't mean that the few transport ships that visited them each year could fulfill all their needs. The station could build its own resource collectors, had a self sustaining drive torch, and could refuel 8 ships at a time. It wasn't anything special really, except for the computer system.
This time Piithik didn't smile. In fact he felt a bit nauseous. Usually it was easy for him to overlook the reason why such an advanced computer system needed to be built in light of his achievement in helping build it. He remembered a day 14 months ago that explained it all. He had been working in central control along with Isibaat Manaan the station's communications expert. The communications system had picked up some faint signals one morning. They weren't understandable and it wasn't anything much, but life on a mining station wasn't exactly exciting, as Isibaat was fond of saying, and so she decided to try and filter out as much noise as possible from the signal and see if she could understand what was being said. What finally came out made the hair on their arms bristle. The signal was a distress call from someone claiming to be the captain of the assault frigate "Shrike." In the background Piithik had heard what sounded like the twisting of metal just before the signal terminated. It didn't take them long to get the message to the station manager who had listened and then ordered them not to tell anyone about it.
More signals had come in the following weeks, some of them in a language we had never heard. Those that could be understood told a tale of conflict. From what Piithik could tell, it appeared that a fleet of Kushan ships was under attack. He wondered how long ago this battle had taken place. The radio chatter they had listened to could have been traveling in space for years. As much as he wanted to believe that the Kushan ships he had heard were sent back for those left on Kharak, he hoped that they had been far away when they had been attacked. Whoever or whatever had attacked those ships had emerged the victor.
Piithik leaned back in his chair and sighed. The news of this had certainly been kept quiet. He would have thought that the station manager hadn't told anyone if military officers hadn't started showing up at the station. In fact, it was the military that requested he and the few other Naabalii on board to help construct the computer system. That system needed to be able to supply and refuel up to 80 corvette class vessels in less than an hour, track up to 1000 individual targets and assign attack vectors to them, run normal operations, and handle emergencies. Basically, the station had turned into a jumping off point for patrols along the asteroid rim, and that made it a prime target.
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Chapter 2
Piithik looked at the display again. It was almost time to attend the daily meeting with the military officers assigned to the station. He shook his head. How he hated attending these meetings! The military had been running simulations for the past month looking for any bugs in the station's programming that could cause problems. Any issues brought up by the simulations were talked about in the meetings. Piithik wasn't the head programmer on the station and so he rarely had the chance to say anything. He just sat there bored. The only reason he was there in the first place was in case the military had any questions about the computer system itself, and that never happened. Piithik respected the military - he had, in fact, been a part of it at one time - but he didn't put a whole lot of confidence in their ability to run things. After all, the military had just started taking shape again. There hadn't been any fighting on Kharak for well over 200 years and in that time the military had become almost like a club, and a shrinking one at that. Discipline, tactics and hand-to-hand combat skills were still taught in the military academies, but the chain of command had dissolved away and now no one really knew who was in charge. That had probably caused a lot of infighting over the last 14 months, Piithik thought. That is not what worried him most though. What worried him the most was the fact that all the strategies and tactics taught in the academies dealt with armed conflict on the ground, despite the high probability that the next one would occur in space.
A chime sounded interrupting his thoughts. The meeting was starting. Piithik pushed a button and the display changed to show the faces of all those that would take part in the meeting. He noted with unease that the two officers that ran the meetings looked grim.
"We have some news I think you should know." one of the officers stated, skipping the usual greetings. "This morning, one of our patrols discovered a ship of unknown origin along the asteroid rim." A few gasps were heard over the intercom. The officer continued "Now there is nothing to be alarmed about," - apparently not every one else agreed, as quite a few of the Naabalii looked rather alarmed - "But nevertheless a squadron of interceptors has been ordered to join us. They will be escorting a transport here within the next two days." A diagram of the asteroid rim popped up on the screen, replacing the faces.
"The ship was detected in roughly this area." The second officer stated as a circle appeared on a small section of the diagram. Piithik noted with relief that the spot was relatively far from the station. "We don't think that the ship carried any weapons, but it is hard to be sure." The officer paused and took a breath. "But a craft of that size couldn't go very far on its own without a larger ship to support it." Nobody said a word. If the display wasn't taking up the whole screen Piithik knew he would be able to read the concern on their faces.
"In light of this," the first officer said taking over again. "We advise that the Spatiik be moved here." A dot appeared on the display indicating the position the officer was referring to. Thankfully that position was farther away from the spot were the unknown ship was sighted than the station currently was.
The rest of the meeting went normally and ended with the usual warning not to tell anyone what was discussed. Piithik turned off his view screen, leaned back in his seat and blew out a long breath of air. No one had suspected anything like this would happen so soon. He wasn't much of a conversationalist by nature, but he wished he could talk to some of the other Naabalii on board and listen to what they thought about the situation. He sat there mulling over what he had just heard. Worst case scenario: the ship that had been detected was a scout. If that was true, it probably would have already reported its findings. It was probably lucky that the patrol had detected the thing at all. Being a scout it would be able to nimbly maneuver through most of the asteroids and thus elude detection or pursuers. Best case scenario: it was a Kushan scout that was off course and somebody got excited and thought it was something else. Piithik doubted the officers would have moved the station unless they were sure it wasn't something like that. A question repeatedly entered his mind โฆ "Now what?"
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Chapter 3
Piithik stood in the forward observatory two days later watching the transport unload. It had arrived a few hours earlier along with its escort of 20 interceptors and five scouts. The scouts hadn't been mentioned in the meeting and the station commander wasn't too happy about that for some reason. Piithik didn't know what that reason was, but it didn't concern him at the moment. He stood admiring the scene that was spread out before him. The transport was preparing to open its outer bay doors. It was bigger than most he had seen, quite a bit bigger. And to his surprise he could even see two turrets and several sets of docking clamps. He figured the military must be really concerned if they were sending an armed transport out. As he watched, the bay doors opened and another ship of some kind emerged. Maybe the term ship wasn't the right word. The thing roughly looked like a cube, but had thrusters mounted to one corner. As the strange box crept away from the transport, it began to slowly unfold. He stared at it with rapt attention as each piece folded out and locked into place. When its transformation was complete it looked even stranger. Now it appeared to be some kind of a communication satellite with two boxes attached to its sides, and thrusters toward one end. The boxes looked sort of like those used to house small rockets. It had a communications dish and what appeared to be four solar panels. Piithik had no idea what it was for. He couldn't figure out why anyone would need a satellite this far from Kharak.
During his next shift in Central Command Piithik was given a color-coded security badge. He wasn't thrilled with the new accessory. It told him that things were about to get a whole lot more tense around here. Once he finally arrived in the command center Piithik sat down with a sigh. He looked around to see who else was there. He noticed Isibaat Manaan staring at her display. She seemed unusually focused upon some task. Piithik walked over to her station. Apparently Isibaat hadn't even noticed his arrival because she jumped when Piithik spoke to her.
"Find something interesting?" he asked.
Isibaat quickly looked around and then back at Piithik. She appeared to be debating whether or not she should tell him what she was doing. "I am trying to figure out what that strange ship was." She said quickly, referring to the ship that the transport had brought.
Piithik felt she was lying but couldn't be sure. "What do you mean 'was'?" he inquired.
"It went into the asteroid rim with the scouts about an hour ago." Isibaat said continuing to look at her display. "Whatever it is, it is definitely sending back a lot of data."
"Anything you can decipher?"
"No, not yet anyway. It's encrypted."
She sounded annoyed at all his questions, so Piithik nodded slowly and went back to his station. Something was going on here but he didn't have the slightest idea what it was. About that time the station manager hurried into the center. He seemed to take a more casual pace when he saw Piithik. He glanced around a few times then walked over to Isibaat. They held a hushed conversation for a few minutes and then the manager left the room. He came back in a few moments and again had a whispered conversation with Isibaat. Piithik wondered why he was being left out of this, seeing as there was no one else in Central Command, but didn't want to interrupt whatever it was that was going on. He noticed that the station manager looked anxious. Isibaat said something and the station manager glanced up to Piithik. He stood looking at him for a few seconds and then motioned for Piithik to come over to where he was. When he spoke, he did so in a low voice.
"I guess I shouldn't keep you out of this Piithik." He said solemnly. "Isibaat already knows about this and I guess you should too. Now listen up. I don't have time to explain all of this to you so I am just going to give you the most important info. That strange ship you saw yesterday is some kind of sensor array and relay station. It carries a bunch of probes in those two boxes mounted on the sides. The military is flying it through the asteroid rim as we speak. Once on the other side it will launch those probes, which will send data back to the sensor array, and the sensor array will send it here.
Piithik nodded. He didn't see what the big secret was. The military was looking for wherever the unknown ship came from. That was perfectly logical. Knowing where it was would provide vital information - the foremost being, as far as Piithik was concerned, keeping the station out of harms way.
The station manager took a deep breath and continued "Now I know it seems like the military is just looking for the scout ship or whatever that thing was. But the truth is they already know where it is." Piithik froze. He was going to ask a question but the manager cut him off. "The probes are to determine how many ships there may be and if those ships are armed. The sensor array will then track how ever many ships the probes find."
"And if they are armed?" Piithik asked?
"It depends on which direction they're headed. Only problem is that when a bunch of probes start flying by them, those ships might just turn around and try to find out who is watching them."
"And if they head straight for us?"
"Then the military gets to decide what it is going to do on its own because I plan on getting the station out of here."
"They aren't going to like that." Piithik said.
"No they aren't." said the station manager said testily. "The station is big, but it doesn't have any armor or weapons and it isn't fast. I'll be damned if I stick around for a fight!" He took a breath and looked as if he was trying to get a hold of himself. "I don't want you to breathe a word of this conversation to anyone Piithik. I am the only one who is supposed to know about this. But I may need your help in the near future and I know you are someone I can trust."
Chapter 4
Piithik had met with the station manager and Isibaat one more time the following day. He learned from his "boss" - what everyone on the station called the manager when they addressed him - that the military was giving out sensitive information to "authorized personnel" only, whatever that meant. Apparently the manager was considered authorized because an officer had briefed him that morning. Unfortunately he hadn't told Piithik anything except that the military would need the station as a repair and refueling platform, and that he could expect more ships to arrive within a week. The later part of that had certainly come true. Military vessels had arrived for several days and then suddenly stop coming at all. Mostly they were corvettes, the mainstay of the military's space fleet, but several squadrons of fighters also came along. To sustain all of these ships, quite a few support frigates had arrived as well as several assault frigates. Piithik was sure military planners were frantically trying to learn how to build larger, more powerful ships and were probably kicking themselves for not having done it sooner. The lack of drive to find new technologies after the mothership had left was coming back to haunt them. But for now they would have to rely on the ships they had available. All in all there were over 140 corvettes, fighters and bombers, 18 support frigates and five assault frigates. Piithik had felt almost positive that most of the Kharakii fleet was here.
The following day had brought an unpleasant surprise. The station manager finally told Piithik and Isibaat all that he had been hearing in the briefings. "I know I haven't been very forthcoming with information lately." he had said. "But I don't want the military to get suspicious. As you know, last week the probes were launched to discover how many ships were in that unknown fleet and if any of them were armed." The manger's voice had trembled, "Well, I was told that there were at least 15 ships, of varying sizes, but most were bigger than the station. They didn't tell me if they were armed or not, but I am assuming that they are, because if they weren't, I know the military would have been sure to tell me there was nothing to worry about." That was not good news. The station, though not much bigger than an assault frigate, was still the biggest ship out here. "What's worse," the station manager had bleated "is that they stopped when they detected our probes and now they are just sitting there."
A chill ran through Piithik. That had been days ago, and since then nothing had happened. It was almost as if one side was waiting for the other to move. He remembered his boss telling him that the unknown fleet probably didn't know where they were. The asteroid rim was supposedly dense enough that it would clutter up their displays and keep the Kharakii fleet hidden. Piithik thought there was a little too much at stake to make such a supposition, but then he wasn't the one making the decisions. There really wasn't anything to do now except wait. And he was getting sick of this waiting.
A voice suddenly came over the intercom "All operations personnel please report to the command center. All operations personnel please report to the command center." Piithik was the systems engineer and thus was part of operations. He donned his uniform and headed toward Central Command. When he got there he shot the station manager a questioning look.
"The fleet is moving." Was all he got for a reply.
"About time." Piithik whispered under his breath.
A chart of the asteroid rim was on the main view screen. Piithik studied the path that the fleet was supposed to follow. It went along the asteroid rim away from the sensor arrayโฆand from Kharak. He looked at his boss again questioningly, but got no response. He saw Isibaat at communications. She gave him an uneasy look and went back to work.
After the station was well underway, Piithik motioned for Isibaat to follow him. She handed over her headset to someone else and trailed Piithik out the door. He didn't have to say anything to her before she spoke up. "The other fleet is moving." He immediately knew what she was talking about.
"Which direction?" he asked.
"Toward the sensor array." Isibaat responded. "According to the boss, the military thinks that they are trying to communicate with it."
"With the array?"
"Yes. They probably don't know what it is yet."
"I wonder what they will do when they find out?" Piithik said, mostly to himself. Isibaat gave him a worried look. "Has the military tried to talk back?"
"No." was all she could say.
"Is there anyway they could use the array to find out where we are?"
"I don't know, I certainly hope not. The last thing we all want is a standoff."
Piithik could think of something he wanted less than that.
Chapter 5
The following hours passed slowly. Piithik sat at his station long after his shift was over. He looked around. Just about every space available in Central Command was filled with crewmembers, most sitting on the floor, but some still standing. This was technically a breach of the recently ordained security measures given by the military. But the station manager felt that everyone aboard was in this, and so they might as well know what was going on. Piithik knew all those here were waiting for some kind of news from the flagship "Vruulajt" but so far there had only been silence. There was some light chatter going on in the command center, but most were either staring blankly in front of them or trying to get some sleep. They had little else to do. No transmissions were allowed to Kharak and the mining of asteroids had been suspended until further notice. Piithik's thoughts turned toward Kharak. He felt sure that the military would have given some kind of announcement back home by now. After all, the asteroid rim was at the very edge of their solar system. Should the unknown fleet decide to come through, it probably wouldn't take them long to find Kharak. He imagined what would happen when that announcement was given. Panic? Despair? Anger? He assumed many would see the error of their ways. See that the they had wasted all this time waiting for those that had gone to Hiigara to come back and take them away, when they should have been planning, building, advancing. He just hoped it wasn't too late.
It had been almost 10 hours since the unknown fleet was supposed to reach the sensor array, when someone shouted, "Look!" All eyes turned toward the main viewscreen. Barely visible in the lower left-hand corner, five scouts were seen leaving their docks on a support frigate. The station manager issued a command and the viewscreen centered on the scouts and followed them till they went out of site. The scouts were headed in the direction from which the fleet had just come. The chatter grew in the command center until the manger had to shout and tell everyone to quiet down. It was then that Piithik noticed that Isibaat was talking with someone over the comm.
She looked at the station manager and said "It's vice admiral Roak Sjet aboard the Vruulajt. He is going to give a fleet wide address."
"Put him on the loud speaker." The station manager ordered. Isibaat did as she was told. For several seconds there was just static, and then a booming voice spoke.
"As no doubt many of you have seen," the vice admiral said, "five scouts were launched a few minutes ago. These scouts were sent to intercept an unknown craft that has emerged from the asteroid rim." No one said a word. Piithik was not sure that some of them were even breathing. "We believe this craft to be nothing more than a probe. Unfortunately we do not know the capabilities of this probe and so we must not let it pass by. Our only option is to destroy it. Yes, this action may give our unknown friends the idea that we are hostile. But we cannot allow them to discover Kharak." Piithik was finding it hard to breathe himself. He knew that by destroying the probe, it would only increase the chance that a fight could break out. The vice admiral continued "This is obviously a very chancy move. We have no idea what kind of response our actions could bring. In light of this, I want to put all combat craft on a condition yellow. I will make sure more information is given to you all when it becomes available to us. That is all."
The transmission ended. The station manager was the first to speak "Isibaat, can we listen in on the scout's communications?" Everyone in the room turned to look at her. She shook her head.
"Not unless they are operating on the general communication frequencies." She said. "And that is highly unlikely considering the nature of the mission."
"Great," the station manager said sarcastically, "out of all the ships in these fleet, we are the only ones who can't listen in on what is going on."
It didn't take long to figure out what had happened though. Within a few minutes the scouts returned, one of them doing a victory roll. Piithik did not see many smiles. Everyone was aware what might happen now, and being on the only unarmed ship in this fleet wasn't a position most wanted to be in.
"Alright everyone, listen up." The station manager said over the intercom. "I am going to start organizing all of us into details within our normal shifts. I want all of us to know what we are supposed to do in case of an emergency. I may be calling upon some of you to fulfill duties that you are not used to. I will try to put you in areas you are familiar with but that may not happen. I expect each of us to do our best over the next few days. Now I want all of you not on the night shift to go get some sleep."
Most of the crewmembers in the control room started slowly filing out. Piithik joined them. He was glad that the station manager was giving them something to do. It was better than sitting around contemplating what could happen in the near future. He had never really thought much of the station manager's abilities until recently. Now he was glad to have someone like him in charge.
Chapter 6
The following day was a busy one. The station was humming with activity. An overhaul was being done on the stations propulsion system, mechanics were busily working on the resource collectors, and the station manager had damage control teams being trained. There was an atmosphere of tension in the station, but despite that, everyone seemed relatively calm.
Piithik entered the command center bleary eyed from a restless sleep. He looked around and saw with some satisfaction that he wasn't the only one who looked tired. Just about every one in Central Command looked like they had had trouble sleeping. The station manager looked particularly exhausted. He sat slouched in his chair, his uniform disheveled, his face bleak, his eyes staring blankly off into space. Piithik watched the former shift leave. They walked off wearily, giving each other a nervous look as if they shared some uncomfortable secret. Just watching them, he knew something had happened.
"May I have your attention please." The station manager said in a solemn voice over the ship-wide intercom. All over the station work stopped. An eerie silence replaced the usual morning noises as everyone focused their attention on what the manager was going to say. "Early this morning another probe passed through the asteroid rim. The military sent some scouts to intercept and destroy it as before. Unfortunately, not everything always works as planned. The scouts were ambushed by some unknown craft and one of them was destroyed. A group of interceptors was launched to help deal with the threat but before they could reach the area the unknown attackers had retreated back into the asteroid rim. The interceptors then chased down and destroyed the probe. According to a statement issued by Vice Admiral Roak this morning, we are to consider all unidentified craft hostile until further notice. All military forces have been placed on high alert. In accordance with law, the station has been placed under direct control of the military."
Piithik looked around. Everyone in the room had a stunned look. He could almost feel the weight of the situation pressing against his chest. "Vice Admiral Roak has assured me that he will try to integrate his people and ours seamlessly." The station manager continued. "Effective immediately, four officers will be assigned to the station. Until they get here, I will remain in direct control of this ship. Once the officers are on board, I will turn my command over to them. However, should the military place this station directly in harms way, I will override this decision." - Piithik didn't think that last part was in accordance with law, but it brought a smile to his face anyhow - "Should I be forced to take such action I will need your help. I know there are several different Kiith on this vessel, but from this moment we need to act all as one Kiith. We will need each other to survive. That is all." Piithik looked around him again. He saw the stunned looks of those in the room slowly fade into looks of determination. No one spoke as they went back to work.
It only took a couple of hours for the military officers to arrive. Two of them Piithik remembered as giving the weekly briefings. He had seen them only a week ago but it seemed a lifetime. "I don't suppose you are here to give the weekly briefing are you?" said the station manager dryly.
"No sir." Said one of the officers. That was really all that needed to be said. The station manager gestured for them to follow him and left the command center. Piithik wasn't sure he liked having the military running the ship. Still, he was glad that he knew two of the officers. He hoped it would make things more comfortable for everyone on board. He looked at the main viewscreen. He could see some fighters and corvettes practicing. The corvettes were escorting a supply frigate and the fighters were trying to attack it. Piithik was not sure how the craft knew when they were destroyed, but from time to time he would see them leaving the mock battle and not returning.
Over the next several hours Piithik was busy monitoring the automatic docking procedures. Many of the fighters and corvettes that needed refueling would come to the station so that they could get used to the different docking procedures. He was glad to see that the computer system was working perfectly. He took the opportunity several times to chat with some of the pilots as they docked. Most of them didn't seem like they wanted to talk, but a few would tell him about their jobs. He figured that they were probably all shocked by what had happened the previous night and rightly so. The scout pilot who had died out there was one of them.
Towards the end of his shift the station manager re-entered Central Command with the four officers trailing him. One of the officers that Piithik didn't know went over and turned on the ship-wide intercom. "Crew to emergency stations. Crew to emergency stations. This is a drill." The officer repeated the command a few more times and then waited for each emergency team to report in that they were ready. It took a total of 6 minutes for all the teams to report. The officer looked at the station manager. "The response time needs to be cut in half by the end of the week." He said grimly. The manager nodded slowly. Piithik figured he would be happy if he even lived to see the end of the week.
Chapter 7
Piithik was jolted awake by the sound of a voice over the intercom. " โฆ three alert. This is a level three alert. All crewmembers report to your emergency stations. This is not a drill. All crewmembers report to your emergency stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is a level threeโฆ" Piithik hastily put on his uniform as the alert continued to give out instructions. He looked at the time and was thankful to see that he had been able to sleep for several hours. As soon as he was done he rushed toward the command center. The passageways were crammed with others trying to get to their emergency stations. Piithik was amazed that he was one of the first to arrive. The station manager was there but the four military officers assigned to the station were noticeably absent. Piithik waited while the rest of the operations team hurried in. When they were all assembled the station manager spoke.
"A few minutes ago several ships began emerging from the asteroid rim." The station manager motioned toward the main view screen and paused for a few seconds so that everyone could look. Piithik could see what appeared to be a group of nine or ten ships sitting motionless along the asteroid rim. If it were not for the sun glinting off their hulls he probably wouldn't be able to see them at all. "Since they emerged they have maintained their position. The fleet has been put on condition red, but so far no interceptors or corvettes have launched. The officers assigned to this station are currently in a fleet wide briefing. Since we aren't military personnel we get left in the dark." The station manager said testily.
"Now what?" the station's navigator asked.
"We wait and see what happens. Now everybody get to your stations. I am going to try and get us something to eat. We could be here for a while." The manager then exited the command room. Everyone just looked at each other dazed, and then slowly took their positions. For a few seconds no one spoke a word as the realization of what could happen settled in. Then a few quiet conversations broke out. Piithik looked up toward Isibaat. She was staring at her console looking deep in thought.
A few minutes later the station manager returned. With him was only one of the officers, apparently the senior one. Unfortunately it wasn't one of the two that Piithik knew. The manager spoke "This is Captain Noraak Sjet. He will be giving the orders now, so listen to him. I want your full cooperation, as we can't afford to have any insubordination now."
The captain donned a headset and sat in the command chair. He didn't look very comfortable but Piithik attributed it to nerves. Another officer joined him a few seconds later and reported that their companions were in Propulsion. The captain nodded. "Ship status." He asked.
Piithik looked at his display. One half showed the condition of the station's systems and the other tracked ships in the immediate vicinity. "The station is fully operational. All systems are nominal." He said.
"All emergency teams have reported in. Communications are open." Isibaat said in a business like tone.
"Fusion drive is functioning normally" a voice from Propulsion reported.
"Very well." Captain Noraak said.
Piithik focused on his tracking display. On it he was able to see the position of most of his fleet and some parts of the asteroid rim. While he was panning around the fleet someone nearly yelled, "They're moving!"
Piithik looked at the main view screen. The fleet of ships had suddenly lit up. He could see their navigation lights flashing and other lights illuminating their hulls. "Any word from fleet command?" he heard the captain ask Isibaat.
"None yet." She said shakily.
As Piithik watched, the other fleet started changing formation. The ships started lining up vertically and horizontally in a square like pattern. He could see now that there were eleven ships total.
The fleet address system suddenly crackled to life. "All ships, man your battle stations! All ships man your battle stations! Stand by to launch all corvettes and interceptors."
When the other fleet had finished changing formation, they were stacked in a square four high and three wide, with the top row having one less ship. Piithik could see a bluish light start to emit from one of the ships in the center.
"Zoom in on the bluish ship." Captain Noraak said.
The display zoomed in. The bluish ship appeared to be a transport of some kind, but it was huge. Piithik could see several smaller ships launching out of it. The hair on his arms began to bristle as he realized what was happening.
Chapter 8
"Launch all fighters and corvettes! Launch all fighters and corvettes!" the Vice Admiral nearly screamed over the fleet-wide address. Piithik watched, enraptured, as the small ships started dropping off the support frigates and assumed formation. They streaked toward the incoming swarm of small craft.
Suddenly a strange sounding voice boomed over the stations comm system. ""We Taiidan. Put down your defense and surrender. If you do, we will not damage you or your space ships. If you do not, we will hurt your bodies." If the message did not have such terrifying implications, Piithik felt he would have burst out laughing at it.
"Comm! Cut that off." The captain ordered.
"Done." Replied Isibaat.
"Systems. Can you tell me how many enemy ships there are?" Captain Novaak said to Piithik.
"No sir, they are still out of range. I won't have that information for you until they are within the boundaries of the fleet." Piithik answered.
"Very well. Give me a number when you are able."
"Yes sir."
Piithik looked at the main view screen again. It was obvious that the group of Taiidan craft rushing in were tremendously outnumbered. But come they did. The Kharakii fighters and corvettes waited for them at the very edge of the fleet. And then the two groups collided into an indistinguishable swarm of twisting and turning ships. The battle was too far away and the craft too small to be able to tell exactly what was going on. Piithik saw a few Taiidan craft break from the fight and head into the Kharakii fleet. They began firing on the support frigates and whatever else came into their sites. He looked at his tracking display. "Six Taiidan craft have broken off from the main battle and have headed into the fleet sir." Piithik relayed to the captain.
"Understood." Was all the captain said in reply.
In a minute's time, one of the Taiidan ships had been destroyed and one was in trouble, spiraling out of control. The rest turned to try and escape from the fleet but were cut off by two multi-gun corvettes, which rapidly tore them to shreds. It appeared the battle was going well. Piithik noticed that the few surviving Taiidan craft were starting to flee back toward their fleet. The Kharakii interceptors were pursuing while the corvettes continued guarding the forward edge of the fleet. The entire fight had taken only ten minutes and it appeared that the Kushan had won an overwhelming victory. Cheers erupted in the command center.
"Settle down people!" Captain Novaak barked. "It isn't over yet."
Another look at the main view screen confirmed this. Piithik could see two groups of bombers heading toward the Taiidan fleet. The interceptors formed up with them as an escort. The Taiidan vessels, which had continued to close on the Kharakii fleet during the fighter battle, made no attempt to turn around. Instead they plowed resolutely ahead. Piithik was awed at the size of the ships. The smallest of them were the same size as an assault frigate and the largest was around twice as big as the station. The command center filled with tension once again.
As the bombers approached, two of the larger vessels suddenly unleashed a huge volley of missiles. The interceptors and bombers twisted and turned, desperately trying to get out of the way. But the missiles caught most of them, damaging or destroying nearly a third of the assault force. Everyone in the command center looked at the viewscreen in horror, their eyes staring in disbelief. Still, to Piithik it looked as if there were enough craft to seriously hurt the Taiidan fleet. The interceptors dived toward the fighter-carrier and began strafing it. But inexplicably, the bullets didn't seem to be hitting it. "Can we zoom in on that?" the captain asked. The main viewscreen zoomed in on the carrier. Piithik could see the tracer fire rip through space and then bounce away as if it had skipped off the surface of something. A few of the rounds managed to get through, but most of them ricocheted away harmlessly. Some kind of field was protecting the carrier. The interceptors continued strafing but for the most part the Taiidan seemed to ignore the attacks. Rather their ships plodded on toward the Kharakii fleet.
One group of bombers focused on a large Taiidan vessel that had huge turrets and what looked like spines along its "back." The turrets ravaged the bombers as they flew straight over the ship, but fortunately most of the bombers were able to drop their loads on the behemoth before being destroyed. To Piithik, it appeared to be a lost cause. The ship was too big and missiles and turret fire were bringing down strike craft far too rapidly for them to destroy it before it reached the Kharakii fleet. He also knew that the assault wouldn't be able to last much longer before ships would need to start refueling. A bright flash caught his eye. The surviving bombers had regrouped and had targeted what appeared to be a frigate. The frigate had evidently been damaged enough that it had been forced to drop out of formation and was being left behind by the main body of the Taiidan fleet. Bombers and interceptors were swarming all over it. Another huge explosion rocked the frigate, and then the whole thing was engulfed in a bright flash - the explosion blowing it apart and sending debris hurtling in all directions.
Piithik felt a growing anxiety rise up in his throat. The two fleets were almost on top of each other. Soon there would be direct ship-to-ship fire. He looked nervously at the captain, hoping he would order the station out of the area. But the captain only stared at the viewscreen. Piithik looked back in time to see the first shots being fired between the larger ships of the two fleets. The Vruulajt led the charge for the Kharakii fleet. Suddenly a huge beam shot out from a frigate-sized Taiidan vessel. It smashed into the side of a support frigate, blowing a huge hole in the ship. It was joined by another beam and in less than a minute the support frigate exploded. Piithik stared open-mouthed at the sight. More beams shot from the Taiidan fleet hitting assault and support frigates. A support frigate near the station launched a contingent of four repair corvettes. They raced toward damaged vessels in an effort to repair them.
A few of the returning interceptors and corvettes began docking with the station. The computer system automatically guided them in and set about refueling them.
Suddenly Piithik heard a crackle over the comm. "Mayday! Mayday! This is echo wing to the Spatiik. We have run out of fuel. Request assistance." The sudden communication sounded loud in the nearly silent room.
"What is your position, Echo wing." The captain asked.
After Echo wing had relayed their position the captain brought it up on the view screen. There, in the midst of some of the heaviest fighting sat four interceptors, motionless. Piithik was amazed at how calmly they had asked for assistance in light of their situation. He shook his head. There was no way the station could get to them before they were destroyed. And even if they could, the station would be an easy target.
The captain opened his mouth. What Piithik expected to hear and what Captain Novaak said were two different things. "Navigation, set a course for those interceptors." The captain said grimly. Piithik froze in shock.
"WHAT!" the station manger yelled jumping out of his chair. "Navigation, ignore that order!" He turned to the captain. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, trying to keep control of his temper.
Captain Novaak looked calmly at the station commander. "Navigation. Plot a course for those ships and don't listen to your boss. He is not in charge here." he said sternly.
The station manager took a deep breath, swallowed and then looked directly past Captain Novaak and his aid at Piithik. He nodded, and said slowly "I am afraid I can't let you do that captain. If we go in there we will be destroyed and all of us on this station will die. We will never even make it to echo wing. Our deaths will be for nothing. I admire your courage, but I will not allow the station to go into harm's way." Piithik got the hint.
"If you take us in there you will be wasting the lives of everyone on this station. We cannot save those people."
Piithik looked back at the main viewscreen to see what was happening in the battle. He could see that most of the Kharakii fleet had been destroyed. Several Taiidan vessels were gone as well. A few support frigates could be seen speeding toward the asteroid rim. Piithik scanned the battle for the Vruulajt, figuring that if it were destroyed then all semblance of an organized retreat would be out of the question. He saw it limping toward the damaged Taiidan carrier. When the frigate didn't turn away, he knew what was about to happen. He watched in horror as the frigate plowed into the carrier causing them both to explode in a brilliant white flash. Several Taiidan interceptors flew by the station. Piithik knew they would soon be in the thick of the battle. "Navigation." the station manager said, "Head toward the asteroid rim. Isibaat, try and see if we can get any other ships to follow us.
Suddenly the station shook violently. Piithik raced back to his seat and checked the station's systems for damage. "We lost the long range communications array." He reported grimly. He looked at his tracking system, trying to find what attacked them. He could see one of the beam-firing frigates approaching. Piithik focused the main viewscreen on it. "If that thing gets to us, we are in big trouble." He said.
"ETA to the asteroid rim." The captain asked hoarsely.
"Four minutes, thirty-eight seconds." The navigator responded.
The captain flipped on the intercom. "Resource collector crews to your ships. I repeat, resource collector crews to your ships." He turned the intercom off. "I have try and save as many people as I can." He muttered to himself.
Piithik's eyes continued to watch the approach of the enemy frigate. It appeared intent on attacking them. Isibaat spoke up. "I've got two support frigates to follow us out. They have some interceptors and corvettes with them that they are going to launch at that ship." She said, gesturing at the frigate on the viewscreen. Piithik looked at his tracking display. The interceptors appeared nimble enough to keep out of the way of the light-beam the frigate fired at them. Even though they weren't doing much damage, it was delaying the frigate and buying the station precious time. Isibaat spoke again, this time in a shaky voice. "I am getting a distress call from the support frigates headed toward the asteroid rim. They say it's a trap. There are four Taiidan vessels waiting for us there." Piithik heard the navigator swear in a voice that sounded close to panic. The rest of the crew in the command center sat silent in dismay.
"There is no way out of it then, is there? The station manager said in a near whisper. He looked around at the faces of everyone in the room, then spoke into his headset. "All resource collectors, you are free to launch. All resource collectors, you are free to launch. May Sajuuk be with you." He paused. Piithik could tell he was having trouble breathing. "Navigation, stay on course for the asteroid rim. How long have we got?"
"Three minutes, twelve seconds."
An enemy fighter strafed the station. Piithik could hear the bullets rip through the hull. The far away sound of escaping gas let him know air was leaking from the station. An alarm went off. "Automatic Decompression Response initiated." The computer said in a low voice. Emergency doors closed over Central Command's two entrances, sealing the crew inside. Piithik looked sadly at the station manager. There would be no way to get him to the infirmary now. The Taiidan fighter was turning to make a second run, when one of the resource collectors the station had launched moved in close to it. The fighter changed its course to attack the collector, but never got off a shot. The resource collector turned on its Phased Disassembler Array and the fighter practically dissolved. Piithik was struck speechless in amazement. He tried giving a victory yell, but he couldn't make a sound. The resource collector then turned away from the asteroid rim and headed back toward the station. Another one followed it back. The remaining two made straight for the asteroid rim.
All was silent in the command center. Isibaat had a first aid kit and was trying to patch up the station manager's wound. Piithik continued looking at his tracking display. The main battle was all but over behind them. The Taiidan were cleaning up the last few ships still offering resistance. Ahead of them a smaller battle was raging. The four support frigates that had made it to the edge of the asteroid rim were giving the enemy a tough fight. They had destroyed one of the enemy frigates and damaged the two others, but still had to contend with the larger ship. Piithik knew they would soon be destroyed unless they were able to evade the enemy and get into the asteroid rim somehow. But even if they were destroyed, some good would come out of it - the fight they had given had drawn the four Taiidan vessels away, giving the station a chance to escape. Piithik was relieved to see two of the resource collectors enter the asteroid rim and disappear from his tracking display. The remaining two stayed with the station.
"ETA" the station manager wheezed, painfully. A timer was on the main viewscreen giving just that information.
"One minute, forty-two seconds." The navigator said, confused. Piithik knew what was happening. The manager was losing his vision; he would not live much longer.
The beam-firing frigate that had tried to attack the station earlier was still coming toward them. Piithik studied it. The frigate appeared to be somewhat damaged, but was ignoring the interceptors and corvettes in an all out attempt to get to the station. The computer estimated it would be in firing range about thirty seconds before the station entered the asteroid rim. The two support frigates fell out of formation with the station in order to engage the enemy ship, but it ignored them as well. This did not look good. Unexpectedly, the two resource collectors fell back toward the Taiidan frigate as well. "What is going on?" Piithik whispered to himself. He wondered if there was something wrong with the communications as he was unable to talk with the collectors to find out what they were doing. Just then the enemy ship fired, hitting one of the resource collectors. He was amazed that it wasn't destroyed. He looked at the main viewscreen. The asteroid rim loomed dead ahead, drawing ever closer. Piithik looked back at the tracking display. One minute to go. He changed the main view screen to show the asteroid rim on one side and the approaching enemy ship on the other. All eyes in the command center focused on the images. In the right hand corner, the timer dwindled down past 30 seconds. Piithik instinctively grabbed onto the arms of his chair as he waited for the enemy ship to fire. The station suddenly shook violently. Sparks showered from the lights as they exploded. Debris shot across the room cutting Piithik's arms and face and toppling him from his chair. The navigator was thrown from his seat. The ceiling collapsed in several places crushing those below it. And then the shaking stopped. The room went dark and with the darkness came silence. Piithik could smell smoke and hear the pop of shorting electric cables. A few of the emergency lights came on. He crawled over to his station and looked at his systems display. He was sure that the station would not survive the next shot. His display showed a gaping hole at the bottom of the Spatiik where some of the crew quarters had been. Piithik hoped there was no one in them, while at the same time realizing that it probably didn't make any difference as they all would be dead soon anyhow. He looked at his tracking display. It was flickering badly, but he could make out the enemy frigate being attacked - by a resource collector. He blinked and looked again. It was the same resource collector that had destroyed the Taiidan fighter. It had turned on its Phased Disassembler Array as it silently closed on the enemy ship. It appeared the frigate knew what was about to happen as it tried to dodge the collector but it was too late. They collided a second later. Both ships exploded into an orange fireball, flinging twisted metal in all directions. Piithik hoped it would be the last sacrifice he would ever have to see.
He looked at the main viewscreen. It showed nothing but static.
Smoke drifted through the command center. Piithik slowly turned around, truely taking the scene in for first time since early that morning. How things had changed! Where there had once been a fully operational Central Command, there now was a mess of strewn wiring, smashed equipment, and shattered glass. He could still hear the crackle of electricity as it sparked along some severed electrical cables. He could faintly see Isibaat weeping, her head in her hands, through the haze of bluish smoke. The station shuddered again. Another small chunk of asteroid must have hit them, Piithik thought as he gazed at the destruction. They were lucky to be alive. Somehow they had been able to escape into the asteroid rim. But even with luck on their side it had cost them dearly. If it hadn't been for the brave crew of that resource collector the station would be nothing more than lifeless wreckage. He looked at the barely functioning navigational display. They were safe for now. He had managed to plot a course between the bigger asteroids where it should be fairly clear of debris. Amazingly, it didn't appear that any Taiidan were following them. Piithik hoped that somehow some other ships from the fleet had escaped besides the two that were following the station through the asteroid rim. But even if they had he wasn't sure how they were going to find them. The whole reason they had gone into the asteroid rim in the first place was because it cluttered up the tracking display so bad, thus making it nearly impossible to track a ship.
Piithik went over to the navigator, the only other surviving member of the operations team besides Isibaat and himself. He was still unconscious, with a nasty cut on the side of his head, but appeared to be breathing steadily. Piithik had already done everything he could for him. The three of them were trapped in Central Command until the emergency teams could pressurize the main hull. And he didn't know how long that was going to be.
Piithik went over to Isibaat to check on how she was doing. She appeared to be ok physically, though she had been crying off and on ever since they had reached safety. That had been hours ago. Piithik put his hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him for a second, tears in her eyes. She had tried several times to talk to him during the course of those hours, but she had never managed to speak a word before a new wave of sorrow would wash over her. Piithik knew there was nothing he could do for her. A lot of her Kiith had died today, many of whom she was very close to. Only time could heal those wounds.
Piithik sat down in the command chair. He had never sat in it before but there was no reason not to now. For all practical purposes he was in command. After all, the station manager was dead, as was Captain Novaak and his aid. Piithik wondered if the two officers who used to run the weekly meetings were still alive. He had talked to the Propulsion team after the station had entered the asteroid rim but they had said nothing about the officers, except that they had been captured without a struggle.
Piithik leaned back in the chair, letting images of the day flash through his mind. He thought back to the start of the battle when the Taiidan had demanded the fleet's surrender. It had been a simple message. One that showed that they had not quite mastered the Kushanii language, though Piithik knew it was better than anyone on Kharak could have done if they had tried to speak the Taiidan dialect. He wondered if the strange communications they had intercepted almost two weeks ago originated from the Taiidan. For all he knew those bastards had destroyed the ships sent back from Hiigara to rescue those on Kharak. Of course, that was assuming the mothership had ever reached Hiigara. He was beginning to question that more and more now.
Piithik's mind drifted back to the problems at hand. There were certainly a lot of them. The long-range communications array had been destroyed, which meant that they couldn't send a message to Kharak. Ship-to-ship communications were unreliable at best; making it hard to talk and coordinate with the two support frigates that had come with them. The tracking and navigational systems were badly damaged, life support was shorting out in some parts of the station, the docking facilities had no power, and a gaping hole was were the crew quarters used to be. The station needed some serious repairs. Piithik new they could eventually repair it themselves but it would take a lot of time to do that. And right now that time was being used to put distance between the Taiidan fleet and themselves.
Piithik felt confident that they would be able to return to Kharak if they could only remain undetected while they made repairs. They still had one remaining resource collector to gather material, though it was pretty banged up. So far the other two collectors that had entered the asteroid rim before the station had not been heard from. He hoped that they would run into them somehow, and soon. The station could build another collector if necessary, but they didn't have a crew to pilot it.
Piithik leaned forward and tried to clear his mind. There would be plenty of time to worry about all of this later. Right now he just wanted to think about those that had not made it this far - the station manager, Captain Novaak, the crew of that resource collector - and wonder why it was that he had been allowed to survive.
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PART II
Chapter 10
Two weeks had passed since the run in with the Taiidan. Piithik sat in the command chair, his head supported by his hand. It was late at night. The second shift operations crew would be heading out pretty soon he thought, their time in Central Command over for the night. He had had trouble sleeping as of late and he found the command center as good a place as any to wait until exhaustion overtook him. Little anxieties continuously nipped at his mind, making him restless. When the station had been under repair there had been plenty of things to do to keep him busy. But now the repairs were wrapping up and the crew was waiting expectantly for him to take some course of action. The longer he waited to make a decision, the more unsettled they would become. He knew they just could not sit out here in the asteroid rim forever.
Piithik was sure that most of those on board wanted to head straight for Kharak. So did he for that matter. But the Taiidan were still looking for them, according to the commanding officers of the support frigates, and they had blocked off that route. Piithik knew they could never outrun the Taiidan and they would probably only lead the Taiidan right to Kharak if they tried.
If they stayed in the asteroid rim the Taiidan would eventually find them. The captains of the support frigates had said as much. The Taiidan were slowly drawing a noose around the group and soon escape would be impossible. They could try to hide but he knew that unless the Taiidan had some solid hope of finding them they would have given up the search already.
This only left one option - to go in the opposite direction, away from the asteroid rim and Kharak. This certainly was not a good idea since they would be losing all cover, but something had to be done and soon. Piithik was beginning to regret being in command. At one time he knew he had dreamed of being in charge of a vessel this size. But that was before any of the recent events had taken place. Now he was stuck with the position, though he knew it was his own fault. He had taken responsibility for the station after the manager had died, and in all the commotion after the battle he had not given anyone else the chance to take charge. Now everyone just assumed he was in command. He wished he could dump all the tough decisions onto someone else and still be in control, but that was not how it worked.
Piithik reluctantly forced his mind to stop wandering and focus on the problem at hand. Kharak was on the far side of the sun right now, so it was safe from discovery for a while. It would be another four months before it reached its closest point relative to the station's current position and by that time he hoped to be long gone. The thought of heading out into the void frightened him somewhat. No one really knew what was out there. But he couldn't think about that. He knew the station had to be clear of Taiidan sensor range by the time they emerged on the other side of the asteroid rim. He would be sure to contact the military offices tomorrow morning and see what they had to say. He hoped they had some other plan. Not that he would really trust the military's guidance anymore. His experiences with them during the battle had not instilled much faith in him of their leadership abilities. That meant he would have to trust his own judgement and perhaps take his chances alone, leaving the two support frigates to make their own way. Not something he wanted to do, but it had to be considered none-the-less.
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The following morning was a busy one for Piithik. After touring the station - checking to see how the final repairs were coming - he sent a transmission to the two support frigates stating that he needed to talk to their respective captains. The meeting turned out to be a long one. Piithik was dismayed to find that the captains could think of no other options for getting out of the predicament they were in. At Piithik's suggestion that the only choice left was to head away from the asteroid rim and Kharak, the officers nodded grimly. They seemed much more prepared to face the situation than he had been the night before. He could do so now only after a good nights sleep. That was the strange thing about sleep, Piithik thought. It had a way of making you accept the inevitable.
It took a while to work out a reasonable plan for escape. But when it was done, Piithik had a whole new respect for the captains. The two of them were from the same Kiith though they had not known each other until after the battle with the Taiidan. One was named Tuulof Sjet and the other Indec Sjet. Both had been in the military since before the departure of the Mothership. Tuulof had actually been selected as one of the crew of the Mothership. But an incident involving a member of the Kiith Gaalsien, which had made several attempts at sabotaging the hyperdrive project, had left him wounded and unable to make the journey. A huge scar on his face marked the encounter.
The plan was so simple and elegant that for the first time since the battle Piithik actually felt he had a good chance of seeing Kharak again. The plan centered around the station's one-shot hyperspace module. This system was meant for smaller ships that did not have the three industrial fusion plants necessary to provide power for the wavefront. The module carried its own fuel but could be used only once. After the jump into hyperspace all the fuel was expended. Since there was no known method at the time to get new fuel, the designers left much of the shielding off the module, which caused its circuitry to burn up on completion of the jump. Thus the hyperspace module was considered useless afterwards and was forgotten about.
Most of the remote mining stations had been brought out to the asteroid rim using these; the station included. Piithik had been quick to point this out. However Captain Tuufol knew the method for refining the fuel used by the hyperspace module and he assured Piithik that his propulsion engineer could repair the module's circuitry given a little time. While the station's lone resource collector mined the asteroids for the materials needed in creating the module's fuel, the hyperspace module's circuitry would be repaired. Captain Indec figured it would take two days to do this if everyone worked around the clock. Once the resource collector had gathered enough ru's, the group would begin to move cautiously toward the outer part of the asteroid rim. They would use the larger asteroids for cover until they reached empty space on the far side of the rim. While they were moving, the fuel for the module would be created from the ru's and refined. It would hopefully be ready by the time they reached open space. At this point the group would engage their hyperdrives and leave the area. The Taiidan might detect them jumping out, but they would not know where they were going.
The group could only go about two light years, as the one-shot hyperspace system did not have much of a range, but Piithik figured it would be far enough. The nearest star system was only 1.7 light years away and there were sure to be some resources there for them to gather. They would then wait until the Taiidan had left, all the while making more fuel. And when they felt it was safe the group would jump back toward Kharak. It would be that simple.