It was a much repaired Orion that prepared to exit Hyperspace three days later and a much brighter crew that sat at their stations. The repairs were more aesthetic than anything and the big ship would need weeks in the dock to repair the massive damage she had sustained. However Nathan sat in the first officers seat and smiled as he looked up as Captain Walker entered the bridge from his office.
The Captain sat down and looked at his readouts on the arm of his chair.
He then pressed the intercom button, "Crew of the Orion, this is Captain Walker. I would like to thank you all for the hard work you have put in over the last few days. The Orion is looking more like her old self. However, we are about to exit NSpace back at Earth and we have no idea what we will find. We have been out of contact for the last three days so we do not know what has been happening. So please report to your stations and be prepared for any eventuality. Captain out."
Nathan looked at Gordon, "Captain, do you really think that the aliens have got this far?"
Gordon shrugged, "I have no more idea than you to be honest, however I cannot afford to take any chances. I will not allow this ship to finally make it back to Earth, only to get destroyed in sight of home because we were not prepared."
Nathan nodded, "Agreed sir. Should we go to battle stations?"
Gordon shook his head, "Let us not worry the crew too much. It is one thing to be prepared, it is quite another to be scared. After what they have been through, let us at least give them that."
"Three minutes to emergence from Hyperspace." Chris said as he watched his chronometer count down.
The minutes ticked down and then there was the usual momentary feeling of disorientation as they emerged back in to normal space.
No alarms sounded and Nathan released the breath he had not realised he was holding and looked at the scanner for traces of enemy ships. Nothing appeared and Gordon looked up.
"Karl, scan the area for anything out of the ordinary. Rob, get me command."
"Yes sir." Karl replied.
There was a momentary pause and then Robert answered, "I have command on the comms, sir."
Gordon nodded, "On screen."
The main view screen flicked from a view of space to Admiral Johnstone who wore a huge grin. "Captain Walker! Welcome back. We were worried when we lost contact with you, but when the Bristol returned with news we were very relieved. We have a berth ready in the orbital platform. Get here as quickly as you can and come to my office for a debrief. Once again, welcome back Orion."
"Thank you Admiral," Gordon said with a smile, "We are glad to be back. It was touch and go for a while. I will be with you as soon as I can. Orion out."
The screen flicked back to the external view and Gordon turned to Chris.
"Chris, take us to the Orbital Platform and get us docked."
"Yes sir!" Chris answered enthusiastically.
The great ship turned and the main engines lit up and it blasted towards Earth.
Nathan sat back and watched as the Orbital Platform came in to view around the green and blue planet and then sat forward.
"What is going on?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Gordon asked.
"Look at the Orbital platform sir. Is it normal to have that many ships around it?"
"Karl, Please zoom in on the platform."
The Orbital platform seemed to jump forward and everyone could see what Nathan meant. There were hundreds of ships gathered in stationary positions around the platform.
"There are far more than I have seen before. I agree that something strange is happening." Gordon said.
"They cannot be here to welcome us home, so something must have happened. I can only assume that more attacks have happened as they must have gathered most of the fleet back here." Nathan said.
"I will find out when I meet with Admiral Johnstone. Until then, I will leave the ship in your hands, Commander." Gordon turned to Captain Donaldson, who had been standing at the back of the bridge, "Captain, would you care to accompany me to the Admiral's office? I am sure he will wish to hear what you have to report."
Captain Donaldson nodded, "I agree, Captain Walker."
Gordon pressed a button on the arm of his seat, "Captain to shuttle bay, Please prep a shuttle for immediate departure."
"I will see you later sir. I will stay on board when we dock to help oversee the start of the repairs." Nathan said as Gordon stood.
"Understood. I will inform you what I discover."
Nathan moved to the Captain's chair and sat back and watched the Orbital Platform move closer as the Orion limped towards it. Various ships of all shapes and sizes buzzed around trying to get pictures of the battered ship, that would be sent speeding out to all corners of the Confederation to show the state of the flagship. Some would be sending reports that showed the bravery of the crew and some would be used to show the uselessness of the military. Nathan did not worry too much about them as they were safely out side the ship and he knew that the Admiralty would never allow them in to the military areas of the Orbital Platform. Anyway, he was immensely proud of his crew and knew that they had performed miracles to get them home.
That the ship had survived the journey through Hyperspace was testament to the skill of the crew on board. They had worked tirelessly to keep the systems running, repair the most badly damaged parts of the ship, patch holes and access the cut off parts of the ship. Nathan knew that Captain Gordon was planning on commending each and every member of the crew for bravery and duty above and beyond. Nathan himself was immensely proud of them and would be seconding anything that the Captain suggested. That was why he was willing to stay on board for the initiation of the repairs rather than find his wife as soon as possible.
As the Orion approached the Platform Chris spoke in to his microphone, "Orbital Platform, this is Orion. Requesting permission to enter bay doors."
Chris nodded as the Orbital Platform granted access and he skilfully manoeuvred the ship through the doors after they opened. His fingers flew across the controls as he guided the battered ship through the vast interior of the Platform to the berth that had been assigned to them. With a sure hand he brought the ship around and docked it perfectly with the gantry and the docking clamps connected with an audible clunk.
"Ship docked and secure sir." Chris said as he sat back with a sigh.
"Well done and thank you Chris. You have performed miracles these last few days, all of you have. Unfortunately I need you all to stay on board for a little while longer as you will be needed to coordinate the repair crews starting the repairs, however I promise that as soon as they are underway, you all will be able to go on extended shore leave. Keep me updated on the progress of the repair crews."
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Nathan pressed the button on the arm of the captains chair. "This is Commander Scott. You have all performed way beyond what the Confederation expects so you all more than deserve your extended shore leave. All section leaders please coordinate with the repair crews and keep any crew members that you require on board. However, any not immediately required can leave and will be contacted as soon as possible with orders as soon as we receive them. Commander out."
The ship was soon swarming with crew members leaving and repair crews loaded with equipment entering and the Nathan sat in the captains chair and went through the damage reports on a PDA.
No one else was on the bridge as they had all gone to report to their respective repair crews. Nathan turned as he heard the bridge doors whisper open. He smiled as Beth Fletcher walked through and looked around.
"Rather a mess up here, is it not?" she smiled back.
Nathan nodded, "Yes it is, although it is considerably better than it was a couple of days ago."
Beth sat in the first officers chair, "It seems strange to be home again. There have been a number of times over the last week, when I never expected to see Earth again."
"It must have been frightening waiting in the wreckage for someone to arrive."
"It was. Do you know the strange thing though. The thing that kept me going was hoping that you would be the one to find me."
Nathan looked surprised, "Me?! Why me?"
"Maybe my feelings for you have not gone as much as I thought." Beth answered, "But you were the thing that I realised that I was going to miss the most."
Nathan closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them Beth was gazing at him intently. "Beth, you know my feelings for you have always been strong, but I am married. I love my wife very much and I will not do anything to hurt her or jeopardise our marriage. I am sorry."
Beth smiled, "Oh I know that. I have met your wife and she is a wonderful woman. However, I thought I owed it to myself to let you know how I felt and still feel. To, I don’t know draw a line under it all I guess." She reached out and placed her hand on top of Nathan's, "Do not worry, I will do nothing to jeopardise your marriage as I want to keep your friendship and I hope your love."
Nathan smiled, "I will always love you Beth, and I will always be your friend."
The sound of the bridge door opening interrupted them and Beth snatched her hand back, however Karl and Chris were deep in conversation so did not notice anything. They started when they noticed Nathan and Beth.
"Sorry Sir." Karl said, "I did not know you would be here."
Nathan smiled, "That is alright. I am just going through the damage and trying to prioritise the repairs. How are your departments doing?"
"The repair crews are assessing the damage at the moment. Once they have an idea of what can be repaired and what needs to be replaced, they can give me an update on where to start. There is so much damage that it is taking time."
Nathan nodded. "I understand. It is taking me a long time to assess all of the damage and try to get my recommendations in to the system."
"If you want my recommendation sir, then Comms and Tactical are not high on the list." Chris said, "Our departments are not as important as the engines or weapons."
Nathan smiled, "I have to say that I agree. However, we have been given the highest priority in terms of manpower from the Confed. That means we have pretty much as much resources as we need. So we can repair almost everything at once."
Beth looked confused, "Even with an alien race attacking our ships, we have been given top priority? Surely we have too much damage to make it possible for us to be repaired in time."
"On the contrary, apparently the Admiralty wants to make us another example and get us up and running in record time. Once again, we are the very public face of the Confed military. We are being used to help public perception of the attacks. They think that as we survived an attack, we will improve morale if we are out there again as soon as possible."
"I can see the logic to that." Beth said, "But they clearly do not know that we only survived by pure luck. If that ship had not received some damage somehow, then we would probably now be in a million pieces."
"Talking of the damage," Nathan said, "Karl, do we yet know what happened?"
Karl shook his head, "No sir. Sam and Orion have been working on it, but what with the repairs we have not been able to dedicate very much time to it. Now we are in the Platform, we should be able to use their systems to take on most of the repairs and concentrate on the problem."
Nathan nodded, "Very well, carry on gentlemen. Keep me updated on your progress and please ask if you need anything."
"Yes sir." Both Karl and Chris turned back to their conversation and moved over to their consoles.
Nathan stood and he and Beth walked over to the bridge doors and walked down the short corridor, "I think it is time for me to go and see Richard in main engineering. Then I am done here for now and badly need to go and visit my wife. What are you planning on doing Beth?"
Beth paused as they entered the lift, "As you know I do not have any family on Earth. However I do have a couple of friends from the academy that I may call upon. Otherwise I will find somewhere to stay on the Platform and see where I am next posted. Maybe we will see each other again soon?"
Nathan smiled, "I hope so. Maybe I can get you posted to the Orion?"
Beth laughed, "I really do not think that is a good idea. Confed human resources spent years keeping us apart, I am not sure they will change their minds now."
"Yes but I know the first officer on the Confederation flagship. I have friends in high places. It would be nice to fly alongside you again."
They exited the lift and Beth reached out and tenderly touched his arm, "I would love to fly with you again. But let us not hope. I will see you around Commander." With a cheeky grin she stepped back and saluted him. Then leant forward and kissed him gently on the cheek. "Take care of yourself."
She then turned and walked away. Nathan gazed at the sway of her hips and grinned. He loved his wife dearly, but he could not help but wonder what his life would be like had he stayed with Beth.
He shook his head and turned to walk to main engineering.
