The lack of planet rotation meant it was hard to keep track of day or night naturally, Solomon walked onto the bridge with his morning greeting from Eve, time was sometimes hard to track due to the constant darkness outside the portholes, Eve always was available to inform you if the little hand on your wristwatch was pointing to the seven in the morning, or in the evening. Once he eased himself into his luxurious chair with a mug of fresh coffee, the crew began to call out their routine readings. "Internal and external temperatures are normal, no ship accidents to report" called out the Engineering officer to Solomon's left. After a moment of the bridge crew busily working away at their stations, Eve's soft almost human voice appeared. "Lieutenant Solomon, Warp Travel will be ready to Jump Point Two and can commence within the hour, we are awaiting confirmation from all other vessels." Solomon acknowledged her announcement with a nod.
The next forty five minutes passed quickly to Solomon, his coffee cup almost needing its first refill when Kyril entered from the Captains Conference Room, rubbing the back of his neck, and his left forearm seemed swollen, "Well, Winslow is a spoilt brat and vanished, nowhere to be seen, he's probably sulking in a dark corner, nothing new there... but everyone else is ready to proceed to Jump Point Two. Damn him and begin the procedure." he said straightening up, his tired eyes showing more his age. The bridge crew followed the command without question, hurriedly preparing and calling out numbers over the room. Solomon sat in his chair with a smirk upon his smooth handsome face. After another ten minutes, Kyril stood beside Solomon, barking commands, and ordering the warp travel jump.
Solomon tensed as the ship smoothly eased into the faster than light travel, the black bridge viewpoint turned to a white blur from the stars moving at great speed. The force of making a jump wasn't strenuous and it felt much like a car accelerating but Kyril seemed weak on his feet, with a stumble and a sigh, he carefully directed himself around his chair, hand over hand until he was in front of it and able to slowly lower himself into the soft leather. Once the ship reached optimum speed, Solomon got to his feet and began checking the crew's reports before approaching Kyril. "Are you ok, old man?" he inquired, Kyril just smiled and said "Yes, Sol, just a dizzy spell. It's been a long night." He answered dismissively.
"Sir, we have a slight oil temperature in the L.R.W. it's all within regulations, sir, but I thought I should let you know, given the situation" said a nervous engineer with thin glasses on the second-tier. "Keep an eye on it, Geoff, thanks." replied Solomon, no sooner had the words left his mouth, the bridge suddenly jolted, shaking most of the crew, some of the second-tier engineers became thrown from their seats. Quickly scuttling back and began shouting out readings as they attached their harnesses.
"Sir, we are off course! All ships have been split from the jump lanes!" shouted Geoff the engineer, all the nerves had been knocked from his voice. Before Solomon had registered what Geoff had just said, Kyril barked out orders, "Take us out of warp! Find out where we are. Find the other ships and contact Earth and inform Frontier Command!" the crew acknowledged the command and responded quickly with slowing the ship down at an almost dangerous decline of speed, Solomon had to take a few steps forward to stop himself falling on his face.
Once the ship had stopped, a red light began flashing on the bridge. Solomon briskly reached his chair and pressed the buttons, dialling the medical bay. "All medical staff, prepare to receive any staff injuries from the abrupt stop. I want a report on any numbers that come in." said Solomon, without waiting for a reply he jumped over to the engineering tier again.
"Sir! We are thirty thousand miles from The Infinity. Unknown location of any other ships at this time!" shouted the bald helmsmen. Solomon cursed under his breath "is the Infinity okay? Hail them, arrange a rendezvous, at least they're not far." spat Solomon as Kyril still barked out his orders to the rest of the ship. Demanding reports from the engines, weapon systems and shield systems. After a few minutes, the Chief Engineer spoke loudly over the chaotic bridge, "Sir, no hull damage, we are good to go." Kyril nodded, sweat beading above his tense brow. The bridge becoming overwhelmingly hot, Kyril gave two more order before handing over the bridge to Solomon. "Turn that bloody heating down! Security Teams Alpha and Bravo, on me! We're going to the L.R.W.!" a puzzled Solomon saw the back of Kyrils head leave the room briskly as he went to the Last Resort Weapon's chamber to meet with the two security teams, his previous weakness now apparently disappeared, drowned by the adrenaline.
"Helm! Report." demanded Solomon, now calming his nerves as a young ensign brought him a sealed coffee cup. The Bald helmsman skipped around his station with a datapad as the secondary helmsman steadied the ship. "Sir, we are meeting with The Infinity here." he said hoarsely, pointing at a black chart filled with speckles of white stars. "This is the apparent location of The Pride of Lions. She has suffered damage from an unmapped asteroid and is unable to move, according to The Infinity. At current knowledge and speed it will take us three hours to reach her with The Infinity in formation." he broke off suddenly as if he had more to say. Solomon instantly picked up on the frown spreading across the Helmsman's round face. Gesturing him to continue.
"Sir, how can we have missed this? A bloody asteroid capable of taking down a star cruiser and knocking the rest off course? I'm not being funny, but that would have to have been, one heavy damn rock!"
"I know... space is very treacherous, but it does seem very unlikely something we would miss."
"Yes, sir... I don't like this, Lieutenant."
"Neither do I" replied Solomon
Solomon set down his coffee and pressed the All Communications button.
"All Military hands, Yellow Alert. Please stand by battle stations. This is a Yellow Alert."
Solomon knew that an asteroid capable of taking out a star cruiser mid warp jump could happen, but all their routes have been extensively mapped. His gut was tightening, telling him something was amiss. No weapon known to him could be an aimed threat to a ship during a warp jump unless they were extremely unlucky with a stray round, but who could possibly be fighting out here? There are no star systems even remotely close to their position. Solomon resisted the urge to bring his ship up to full red alert.
With the course not planned into the warp drive due to no information on the surrounding area. Solomon had given the order of full sub-light thrusters to the rendezvous point, at current speed, it will take them two and a half hours to reach The Pride of Lions. The Evergreen would arrive there half an hour before The Infinity, or three hours with the Infinity in formation
After two hours, The Evergreen was gaining more and more ground. Solomon sat in his command chair as Kyrils communication came through his earpiece. "Sol, the L.R.W. is fine, we are heading down to the Weapon Batteries to make sure they're still working. Take the ship from Yellow alert, it's slowing us down with all the procedures." said Kyril through a crackle of static. Solomon obliged the command and took the ship into normal running. "Eve. How lo-" Solomon was broken off by Eve's answer before he finished asking the question. "Sir, The Pride of Lions is under attack, requesting immediate assistance, an unknown group has opened fire on the ship. Multiple contacts." said Eve with her soft voice.
Solomon had to think fast. A single ship on its own could not survive an open attack when outnumbered and damaged. Solomon made a rash, daring and possibly regrettable decision.
"Take us to warp. The Pride of Lions needs us."