Chara and the Planet

Chapter No. 35

Chapter No.35

When Ryan entered the command deck, he assumed everything was going smoothly, but that was not how it was.

"I have detected another vessel in our warp bubble," Chara reported.

"How is that possible?" Ryan asked.

"They must have gone to warp simultaneously with us after we escaped from the explosion," Chara said. "Maybe they were waiting on the other side of the planet for us,"

"Do you think that it's a Space Command craft?"

"Yes. I think they were waiting for us to fall into their trap."

"That doesn't make any sense. If we were destroyed, they would have lost all of the androids they needed to take over Earth."

"I think they are no longer concerned about that. They only want revenge."

"I assume they will blast us as soon as we come out of warp," Ryan said. "Maybe we can do something that would defeat that plan. If they entered warp with us, then it might be possible to drop out of warp and get behind them at the same time."

Chara's eyes moved around for a moment before she replied. "It would take perfect timing."

Ryan smiled. "You are the one to do that. Your timing is impeccable."

"I will arm a missile in the forward tubes," she said. "If I am successful in getting behind them, I will launch it before they can react."

Ryan nodded, but he was uncertain if this trick would work. Even worse, could they get behind the vessel far enough to avoid being caught in the explosion. He was betting on Chara's precise actions to pull this off. One microsecond off and he and the ship would be toast.

He held his breath while Chara did her thing, which was not exactly what he expected. She dropped out of warp a minute before arriving at the planet she was headed to. This caused the other vessel to drop out in front of her. She was able to fire the missile and then go to warp within a microsecond. Then she dropped back out of warp far out of range of the explosion, which scattered debris all over space near the planet.

Ryan started breathing again. "Nicely done," he told her. "That was one of the coolest moves I've ever seen."

"Thank you," Chara replied without any emotional response to the miraculous trick she had just pulled off.

"There has to be a responder on this vessel that allowing them to trace us," Ryan said. "Is it possible that one of us has it embedded in our body?"

Chara turned to Alma. "Do a scan for a quantum entanglement beacon."

Alma started the search, and it wasn't long before she located it. "It is in her," she said, pointing at Martha.

Martha eyes ballooned for a second before she settled down. "I don't know how that go into me."

"It makes sense," Ryan said. "They sent you to the planet to see what was going on. What better way to trace us if we left the planet."

"I have deactivated it," Alma said.

"Good. That should keep them off our backs, at least for the near term."

Chara turned the Avenger around and plotted a course back to the planet. She decided to avoid going into warp again just in case there was another Space Command vessel around.

"Hopefully we've stopped Space Command from trying to destroy us," Myra said. "I'm tired of this nonsense."

"We all are," Ryan said. "But I believe this is building up to us going back to reform them once and for all."