The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (The Battle for the Solar System)

XXIV - Friends Like These

"Captain."

Parks looked up from his musings, to see Liu swing around in his chair, wearing a relieved expression.

"Scanners are indicating that CSN Ifrit has just jumped into the system and has started making its way toward our position. Based on their current velocity, they'll be with us in a little under thirty minutes."

Parks joined the helmsman by his console. Sure enough, the medium-range radar was showing a green triangle moving towards the centre of the display.

"Thank God," Parks said. He felt some of the pressure that had been weighing down upon him starting to lift. In the hours following the Knights' departure, Parks had overseen the crews' efforts to bring the ship back up to a manageable, working condition. It had not been easy, but with a lot of effort they had managed to restore shields, engines, jump drives, and some weapons systems. And whilst they would not be able to fend off any major attacks or launch fighters, they were at least in a position to return home.

With the advent of Ifrit's arrival, all that now remained was to await the Knights' return and they could at last leave Phylent and begin the journey home. Parks may not have managed to secure the recapture of Dragon, but he would have prevented valuable information from falling into the hands of the Enemy. That, at least, was something to be thankful for.

He turned to Weathers, who had taken the place of O'Donnell on the bridge. "How are the comms systems?"

"They should all be functioning correctly, sir," Weathers said. "We are still experiencing limited performance with shielding, weaponry and engines, but communications are operating perfectly."

"Good. Once Ifrit is close enough, send them a welcome message on short-range broadcast only. Relay our current situation to them and let them know we are ready to leave as soon as the White Knights return."

"Yes, sir," Weathers said.

Parks returned to his seat to await Ifrit's arrival. Their fellow Confederation carrier was travelling towards them head-on and, from his seat, out the main viewport, he was able to see various aspects of the ship springing into detail the closer it grew to them.

But as Ifrit bore down on Griffin's location, Parks started to grow uneasy and could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. The carrier was well within visual range, now less than about twenty kilometres out, and devouring the distance at a rapid pace. From the looks of things, it would be on top of them much sooner than Liu had at one time predicted. He subconsciously sat a little more upright and further forward in his seat.

Parks looked to Weathers, "Karen, has Ifrit acknowledged our HELO?"

"Not yet, sir. Should I send it again?"

"No," Parks shook his head. "First, recheck the comms systems. Mr Liu, perform a full system diagnostic. Let's be sure that our message was transmitted in the first place before we begin bombarding them with repeat broadcasts."

"Yes, sir," Liu said, then a minute later, "All tests have completed successfully."

"Comms are still functioning correctly, Captain," Weathers added. "Though, it might have been a glitch in the system."

Parks wasn't so sure. Something wasn't right. "Send the greeting again," he said.

Weathers complied, but there was still no answer. Ifrit's form continued to grow larger as it closed the distance between the two carriers, showing no signs of slowing. It was barely a few hundred meters from them now.

As Parks rose from his seat and walked to the front of the bridge, he heard consoles up and down the deck begin to whine, and knew right then that his worries had been confirmed. He looked to Liu at the same moment the man turned to him.