Part 25 (1/2)

”Display something else!” Rogers said. ”Maybe something to do with them attacking us!”

The image changed again.

”That's a h.e.l.l of a display,” Klein said.

It was, actually, nothing. Open s.p.a.ce. Not a single thing on the screen.

”What is this?” Rogers said.

”It should be where the attack is coming from,” the display tech said. ”I took the data from the computer. This is where it's telling us to look.”

”Never believe computers,” Rogers said. ”Slew the camera around. See if you can't find something.”

”The light's not going off!” the defensive array technician said.

”Probably because they haven't finished attacking us,” Rogers said. He stared at the image as the screen moved around, the stars blurring in the background as the outboard camera swopped silently across open s.p.a.ce. The whole bridge seemed to be holding its breath.

In fact, the whole bridge was holding its breath. Rogers was surrounded by people going blue in the face.

”Everyone breathe,” he said, and was answered by a huge, collective sigh of relief. ”It looks like a false alarm. Maybe there's something wrong with the-”

Something silver blurred past the viewscreen just before a huge explosion rocked the s.h.i.+p.

I. He wasn't kidding.

The Military Never Said Anything About War ”What the h.e.l.l happened?” Rogers said as he picked himself up off the floor. The explosion hadn't knocked him down, but it was amazing what a full-grown admiral could do with a dive tackle while screaming, ”Save me!” That man was just not cut out for combat. The fact that it took Rogers several tries to get to his feet because of his shaking knees told him that he was also probably not cut out for combat.

”Can't tell you, sir,” the display tech said. ”The systems are down. I can't even get a damage report.”

”Get Communications on the line,” Rogers said.

”I already did. They told me to reboot.”

”The light went off,” the warning tech said, pointing to the THEY'RE ATTACKING US b.u.t.ton. ”We're saved!”

”Let's not jump to conclusions,” Rogers said. ”Did anyone else see that thing before we were hit?”

”I saw it,” the Viking said. ”Looked like a little s.h.i.+p to me.”

Rogers walked over to Belgrave the helmsman, feeling dizzy and disoriented. He was nearly positive all the blood in his body was in his ears, they were ringing so loudly.

”What about the targeting computer?” he said. ”Didn't that pick up anything?”

Belgrave looked up at him and frowned. ”But you told me to turn it off so you could clean-”

”That was days ago!” Rogers cried. ”Are you crazy? You're telling me the targeting computer has been off the whole time?”

”I just didn't want any s.p.a.ce bugs on it,” Belgrave muttered.

”Sweet mother . . .” Rogers said, pulling hard at his beard. ”Turn it back on already!”

Belgrave gave him a dirty look before flipping a couple of switches on the computer in front of him. There were a couple of perfunctory beeps and squeaks before the display in front of him came to life, along with an increasingly familiar voice.

”Congratulations on activating your targeting computer! You are ent.i.tled to one free lobster dinner-”

”Lobster dinner?” Rogers said.

”Just kidding,” the computer said. ”You are ent.i.tled to one free balloon to be redeemed at any of the many Snaggadir's Sundries locations available across the galaxy. Remember: whatever you need, you can Snag It at Snaggadir's!”

The targeting display blossomed to life, showing blue dots where the friendly s.h.i.+ps were, and a few yellow dots where civilian craft that happened to be transiting the sector were.

”There,” Belgrave said, pointing at a fleeting orange blip on the display. ”Something just entered Un-s.p.a.ce, but there's not enough data for me to tell what it was. It could have been anything.”

”d.a.m.n it,” Rogers said.

”We don't need to know what it was,” the Viking said. ”It was the Th.e.l.lies.”

McSchmidt shook his head. ”That doesn't make any sense, ma'am. They don't behave like that. Why send one s.h.i.+p? Even if they were testing our defenses, it would have been a squadron full of Strikers followed by a larger force. One s.h.i.+p popping out of Un-s.p.a.ce and firing at us isn't like them at all.”

Rogers frowned. He agreed with McSchmidt, but something about the situation felt wrong. Like he'd seen it before.

”Admiral,” Rogers said, walking over to the man who was still muttering about confiscating a balloon. ”Aren't you going to do something?”

Klein looked a little shaken, but he was doing a good job of covering it up, aside from the dive tackle when the blast had hit. He'd recovered and was now sitting in his admiral's chair, tapping his fingers nervously on the armrest.

”I can't think of anything to say,” Klein said quietly.

”Maybe instead,” Rogers said, ”think about something to do. And if you can't do that, consider trying to calm everyone down while we figure out what happened. Everyone felt that explosion; they need to know that we're not about to get torn in half by Thelicosan plasma cannons.”

”We're about to get torn in half by Thelicosan plasma cannons?” the admiral half shouted.

For some reason, Klein's words echoed through the PA system. Everyone on the bridge stopped for a moment.

”Whoops,” a starman first cla.s.s said from behind his terminal. ”Should I not have turned on the All Personnel Address System? I thought you said the admiral was going to tell everyone something.”

Lights started to flash on the dashboard from all the incoming calls from the other areas of the s.h.i.+p, everyone wondering what the h.e.l.l was going on.

”Klein,” Rogers said in a warning tone.

”I can't,” Klein whispered. ”You and I both know that I don't know what I'm doing. If I can't talk to the Thelicosans, I can't do anything about it. I don't even know who to talk to, never mind what to say. Is there any chance of them having a meeting about this? I can deliver a killer slide show presentation.”

”Probably not,” Rogers said. ”You need to take command, Admiral. This is your fleet.”

Klein's countenance broke for a moment-the man looked like he was about to sob again, and Rogers didn't know if he could handle that-but he pulled it together. ”I can't. I can't.” He looked at Rogers, his face brightening. ”I have an idea. You do it.”