Tideline

Chapter Fourteen

Caspian had hoped they would be able to get through this without seeing one Rahky ship. But luck wasn't on their side and less than a month had passed before their long-range sensors caught sight of a Rahky ship.

"Do they know we're here?" Caspian studied the moving red dot outside the solar system.

"We set up probes along the edges of the solar system as sort of an early warning system, so chances are they don't know we're here. Yet," Serra said.

Caspian knew they only had minutes at most for him to make a decision before the Rahky spotted them. "Take us into the energy field surrounding the planet," he ordered.

"Sir?" the lieutenant at the helm swallowed nervously.

"Do it, we need to hide and if that thing can hide a planet, it can hide one ship."

"Aye sir."

The Sojourner swung around and dipped into the debris. Immediately the planetary rubble vanished, and a world covered in swirls of blue-green and white appeared. Alarms began to go off all over the bridge as the power drain started. Caspian remained calm, knowing that the crew would look to him for confidence and direction. He couldn't, wouldn't panic.

"How much time until systems reach critical status?"

Serra studied her console intently. "We have a few hours, sir. But there's a problem. The energy field is messing with our sensors. I'm having trouble reading anything outside of the field."

"So, we won't know if the Rahky are still out there or not," Caspian said.

"Precisely, sir."

"Then we wait, we'll wait as long as we can. Power down non-essential functions, I want remaining power diverted to essential systems. That might give us another hour."

"Aye sir," Serra said as she began working on his plan.

They waited, and Caspian could see how agonizing the wait was to the crew. People were nervous, fumbling almost, as they worked to keep the ship powered as the energy field steadily drained their engines. He didn't blame them. The war was over, but people remembered, and for some it was only a memory. He was certain for many of this crew the Rahky were just holo images and stories. Now they were facing the possibility of battle with the Rahky.

They waited as the ship alarms continued to notify them of the power drain. Caspian kept to his seat, trying to maintain an air of calm even though his nerves were stretched taut to the point of snapping. A science vessel full of babies was no match for a Rahky ship, and here he was as the babysitter facing that possibility. The alarms started to bore into his ears, and he wanted to shut his cochlear implants off but that was simply not possible at this time. Maybe later, if there was a later, he would be able to rest in pure silence.

Several hours later and he had to order them out of the energy field. "Take us out," Caspian said.

The ship protested as it struggled out of the field with its drained power, but they managed to make it. Caspian held his breath as sensors searched for the Rahky ship and found nothing. The ship must've moved on. He allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief. They had gotten lucky; they had seen the Rahky before being spotted. Hopefully this would be the last they would see of any Rahky in this sector. Caspian ordered the crew to keep a close eye on long-range sensors and kept his fingers crossed.

The rest of his shift was uneventful. Serra quietly notified him that she had made progress in readying the ship for potential battle, but both of them knew that it would take more than preparation to survive and what they really needed was sheer luck and the blessings of a thousand gods. Not that Caspian expected to receive any of that. If the events of late had proven anything it was that he was supremely unlucky.