The Legend of Corinair Read Online Free Page A

The Ta’Akar have already seen us jump away on several occasions. I suspect they’re hunting us for exactly that reason.”
    “Then we need to get out of this region of space as quickly as possible,” Cameron insisted.
    “Five or six jumps should put us well out of range of even their fastest ships, Captain,” Abby estimated. “We could be out of danger and well on our way home in a matter of days.”
    “But earlier you said that you had no way to tell how much longer the jump drive would continue to function. Has that assertion changed?”
    “No sir, it has not. But I also have no reason to suspect that it would not continue to function as designed. When I made that statement, I was doing so to warn you about the risk of assuming the jump drive would always be available to get you out of danger.”
    “So you think it could make the hundred or so jumps back home without any problems?”
    “I have no reason to suspect otherwise. But admittedly, I have no evidence to suggest that it could , either.”
    “Which is exactly why we’re not going to head home just yet,” he announced.
    “What?” Cameron wasn’t surprised by his announcement, as she had suspected this would be his plan all along. “Nathan, it’s not safe to stay in this region of space. You said so yourself. The sooner we start jumping home—”
    “Cam, we don’t know what lies between here and Earth,” Nathan told her. There could be other inhabited worlds—maybe friendly, maybe not. They could be even worse than the Ta’Akar. Or there could be nothing but empty space. That’s more than a hundred jumps—any one of which could be our last. We could easily end up stranded in a far worse situation than this. And I’m just not prepared to commit to such a risky plan, at least not without more information.”
    “And if the Ta’Akar manage to hunt us down?” Cameron wasn’t backing down this time, not without a fight.
    “Well, we can always start jumping away then, can’t we?”
    “It may not be that easy, Nathan. They underestimated us once, maybe twice. They probably won’t make that mistake again.”
    “According to Jalea, they’re not that bright when it comes to tactics,” Jessica recalled.
    “You want to bet your life on that?” Cameron asked.
    Jessica said nothing, but her expression told Cameron that she did not.
    Nathan was getting tired of arguing with Cameron. It was beginning to feel like their days back in the training simulator. And he was exhausted. He’d been shot at all afternoon, and had been bounced around in a tiny spaceship that crash-landed on the Aurora’s hangar deck. He had too little energy left to waste it arguing with his XO. “Cam, I’m just saying I want to find out more before we make a decision one way or the other. That’s all.”
    “That’s all?” She was sure there was more to it that he wasn’t revealing just yet.
    “And maybe spend some time fixing a few things along the way, if you don’t mind.” Nathan knew that he didn’t have to get her approval. He was in command, after all. But the nature in which he had ended up her superior officer had never sat well with her, and he knew it. Furthermore, he needed her on his side. Her unique organizational skills and attention to details, as well as her uncanny knowledge of procedure, made up for his weaknesses in those areas.
    “Of course not,” she assured him.
    “And while we’re doing all that,” Jessica interrupted, “maybe we can find out a little more about this power source?”
    Nathan was quick to jump onto the new topic, wanting to leave the debate with Cameron using any excuse possible. “Exactly. At the very least, we need to verify its existence. I mean, if it really is as great as Tug implied, couldn’t we use it to increase our jump range?”
    Abby realized that his last question was aimed at her. “I suppose it’s possible. But I’d have to know a bit more about it before I could give you a definite