Chapter 8: Who is in my pocket?

“Jason, please call me Jacob and by all means call Magoo, Grefel! This is an impressive battleship. Unfortunately, our engineers only had the opportunity to overhaul two of the four engines. They simply ran out of time and available parts. They tell me the other two are operating stably. The ship can operate on one engine but I too like to feel secure,” said Jacob Peck.

“Thank you for your help Jacob, it is greatly appreciated,” said Jason. “Before we reach the Azayal, I suggest we teach you the language of the Azayal and Empire standard. It will make your lives easier. You will need to spend a few minutes in the medical pod. We transition universes soon then travel for an hour. It is a good time then to use the pods to acquire the languages.”

Both accepted.

“Ship please arrange Azayal and Empire standard for our guests once we transition. Is everyone ready to go?” Jason asked.

“Yes, sire, the ships are in a satisfactory state to travel to Recta 6.” Ship replied.

“Very well then Ship, let us be on our way,” said Jason.

Fifteen minutes later Ship spoke: “Sire, we will transition universes in ten-seconds.”

“Excellent, thank you for informing us,” said Jason and then turned to speak to Jacob. “Very soon you will meet the Azayal. We are almost out of trouble!“

Suddenly the entire ship shuddered. Alarms blared. Jason found himself in the control room along with Jacob, Grefel and Jason’s group.

“I spoke too soon, “ said Jason. “There is a long way between almost safe and safe!”

“Sire, we are trapped in trans-dimensional space,” said Ship, “it is not because of engine failure, we are trapped by a system that is similar to the one Porquenta built. I am retuning the engines, but I detect hostiles in the distance.“

The holograms formed showing a fleet of ships approaching.

“Ship, provide me with an available weapons display,” Jason asked telepathically to keep the Una in the loop.

The display formed to show one type of cannon able to be used and two types of missiles.

“Fire missiles when in range and attempt to target the flagship. Prepare cannon for firing,” Jason ordered and targeted the ships that he wished to attack first in order of priority. “Are you able to use your psychic enhancer?“ Jason asked.

“Yes, sire I am ready and waiting, “ said the ship. Everyone looked at Jason frowning. The Una looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Do you have fighters you can deploy?” Jason asked.

“Yes, Sire, we have a thousand fighters recently overhauled and ready, they are being prepared for launch and will launch in thirty-seven seconds.“ said Ship.

“What happened to our other ships?” Jason asked.

“They were ahead of us and went through to Recta 6 unopposed. We cannot contact them quickly enough to be of help. Sire, we will be able to achieve a breakout in four and a half minutes. We have another thirty-nine thousand fighters available in an emergency. They have not been maintained. I cannot be sure how many of them will function,” said the ship.

“Launch the one thousand and prepare the functional ones for launch.” Jason ordered.

“Sire I am progressively launching our missiles. We will be in psychic range in eleven-seconds. I am providing targeting information to your heads-up display. The flagship is identified in the center of your field, on the hologram,” said the Ship.

“Sire, they are launching boarding craft ... I have evaluated the trap type. This trap was probably set for you. This technology is known to the Grork and has their signature, and the ships are identified as those of their allies, the Ordreg, in this dimension,” said Ship. “They used to be loyal to us.”

Jason concentrated and fired his intense beam towards the capital ship. The ship was enlarged in his hologram as he fired on it. It was a strange conglomeration of cylinders and boxes apparently randomly stacked together. He could see small craft leaving the enemy ship. His beam simply lit up the shield. He sent fireballs which exploded successively on the shield weakening it only slightly. He sent a large ice-spike which looked to be the size of a destroyer which crashed through the shield and struck the ship creating a huge hole. The shield collapsed and he sent through fireballs which exploded throughout the ship.

“Sire, there are hundreds more ships appearing behind the previously visible fleet. They will overwhelm us by sheer weight of numbers before we can escape,” said Ship unemotionally.

Jason saw Jacob gripping his chair so tightly his hands were white. He saw his group intently watching the holograms. Razza smiled at him wanly.

“Let me know when more than half are in psychic range,” said Jason calmly while he sent an ice-spike at a second battleship followed by fireballs the size of cruisers and did it again with another battleship.

“Sire, we are in psychic range of two-thirds of the fleet. They are preparing to separate to flank us,” said Ship, “I have broken their communications, despite the communications interference.”

Jason downloaded all his viruses to Ship and instructed ship to send them into the enemy systems.

“Engage full psychic power,” ordered Jason.

“Acknowledged, sire.” said Ship.

Jason braced himself and looked towards the fleet while envisioning his psychic wave moving as a slowly growing cone towards the fleet. He built it up in his mind until he felt as if he was bursting and then unleashed it.

Ship depicted the cone as Jason had imagined it and showed it moving slowly at first but accelerating towards the enemy fleet.

“Sire, we have incoming missiles, short-range and medium-range defense systems engaged. Two minutes to escape, one and a half minutes until boarding craft reach us,” said Ship.

“Show, missiles and boarding craft on targeting system,” ordered Jason.

He watched as his wave hit the boarding craft and enemy missiles en-route and moved on towards the fleet. Then watched as one third of the boarding ships missed by the cone re-formed their attack formation. He prepared himself to send a second psychic wave.

He watched his group get up and move to the room next door. He did not have time to ask what they were doing. Grefel looked as though he was going to be sick, while Jacob was looking white as a sheet.

Jason concentrated and sent a broader psychic wave to encompass all but one missile but every single remaining boarding ship, missed by the narrower cone. He saw the wave form and move much more quickly than the previous time.

He saw missiles from his ship hit capital ships of the enemy seconds before they were hit by the psychic cone of energy. Nothing appeared to happen for a few seconds, but one by one the ships exploded followed by the ships behind them. The wave continued unabated and smashed all but five ships that were now being approached by the fighters from his ship.

His second cone cut a swath through attacking missiles and boarding ships. He saw in the distance a second wave of boarding ships. He watched his fighters destroy the last five ships and begin moving towards the enemy boarding ships.

“How long before we can escape?” Jason asked.

“As soon as the fighters return to us, Sire, which will be in two minutes. The remaining wave of boarding ships is much further back and will reach us in four minutes sire.” said Ship.

“Move the fighters out of my field of fire and I will destroy the boarders,” instructed Jason.

He braced himself as he watched the targets form in his heads-up display and waited until the fighters moved out of his target zone. He then sent a psychic cone towards the boarders.

“Five incoming missiles destroyed,” said Ship flatly. One incoming missile will strike the shield in one-second. Jason saw a flare of light.

“Sixty seven seconds before we can move.” said Ship.

Jason put his head on his hands and promptly fell deeply asleep. Ship transported him to his wardroom and placed him on the bed.

***

Jason did not wake until four hours after they reached Merka. He dragged himself out of bed and asked Ship to transport him to the canteen. He felt too weak to walk. Azayal technicians were everywhere and he saw Azayal chefs in the kitchen. The technicians were very deferential and after they whispered amongst themselves, they all stood away from their tables and cheered Jason. He waved acknowledgment in the Azayal way while smiling weakly.

Two chefs walked towards him. “My Lord, what can we make you to eat. Lunch is in an hour. Would you like a snack now?” The shorter one asked.