Chapter 3

The next hour Ziv came to terms that he was going to spend a long time here. The world outside was the same as before. No one was moving or sound playing. The whole ship was a picture to Ziv. Nothing would change that until he worked out this problem.

First thing Ziv thought about was what needed to be done. The portal was closing and there wasn't enough time. Engines were destroyed. He needed to get the ship to stop moving and get into the portal.

With their first two ideas, he started there. Firing the ammo would produce recoil that would slow their momentum. Then dumping out supplies would help, even by a little, to reduce the mass of the ship.

He took notes. He went over the whole ship design to see if there was anything he could use. He took note of the drones and the small fighter ships in the hanger. The starship held a lot of them and they all could help slow down the main ship.

"Wiltner can you categorize everything, none essential that we can dump from the ship?"

"Yes, Sir."

Frakiasn had the right idea. Based on the speed they were thinking, things weren't going great for them. Time was a resource they needed and this was the right moment to have all the time in the world.

Early on he had set up a timer to give him a sense of time. It just passed a week of constant work. He moved to the ground and laid there for a while. He was tired and wanted to sleep, but he needed to keep working. It was important, even if he had all the time…

---

So he was coming up with a design that could be made within their time limit.

Essentially he could have these smaller ships and drones sent out to push the main ship into the portal. Without the main engines on line, it was all he could see that would work.

It needed to fit the machines and let them be flown in time. The drones could be left behind, but the jet-like ships need pilots. If they weren't in the ship, they would be left behind, so they needed to be able to disengage it from their ships.

The math proved it to work. Wiltner even helped make sure it was all right even if they were doing it from the same computer source.

"I don't think that will work Ziv."

It took a while, but Wiltner was getting to be less formal. Calling him Ziv instead of Captain and Sir. He was really liking him as a friend. He noticed that Wiltner was starting to care for the crew rather than the cold hard facts had suggested. It made Ziv feel better. The old Wiltner that he barely had the chance to meet had said he cared for the crew. It was nice.

About a month into the work, Ziv noticed that time wasn't as frozen as it had appeared. When they first entered this frozen time, Frakiasn's mouth was shut. Now he had it barely opened.

So he got back into it with renewed fervor.

---

Ziv received the report from Wiltner. They were both moving at a similar speed. Ziv stuck with a workstation to visualize his ideas, while Wiltner stuck with his normal way. So the report took account of all the personal items, cargo, scientific equipment, and any other non-essential items. Wiltner even sorted between things that could absolutely be taken off the ship between something that is best to be kept. He even kept the soldier's personal items in mind.

It was a good start, but the plan ran into a snag. Based on the locations for the items, the amount they needed to get rid of, routes conflicted. He could send someone to get rid of a room, but they might need to wait for a larger item to pass by. Ziv was running simulations with Wiltner… It was going to take more time.

Another snag in the plan showed up later. The chunky metal objects could be made to connect to the jet-ships. Technically they were called Stingers… The receivers, to unlock the Stingers so they could get back in the starship, were missing components. He was able to find the materials to make them, but then he saw another opportunity.

So Plan A was pushing the starship with Stingers. Plan B came up when he was thinking about how the ship needed to slow down. Fire the weapons on the ship, slow it down. Throw out the unnecessary items, then send out the Stingers to move the ship.

"Wiltner, what do you think about detonating explosives in front of the bow? Far away from this ship of course."

"It might work…"

That leads them down another line of thinking. The bow wasn't as damaged as the Starboard or Stern. So they thought of using that to stop the ship. It might work and help them along.

So they worked on that idea.

---

Two months into the project Ziv wasn't seeing any way they could increase their velocity enough to make it in the portal. Their plan was to full stop the ship then force it back into the portal. At first it was a great idea, but as he learned more about the ship and crew… things weren't as simple.

Time was a factor. Then as they were designing routes for people to follow and do what needed to be done, Ziv forgot to increase that time predicted. Wiltner had told him early on, but he had totally forgotten. Only after a bit of time did he get reminded. They were both busy and after the first month were doing a lot on their own. Each of them getting lost in their projects.

"How will we get there in time!" Ziv screamed in the room.

"Calm down Ziv."

"We've been working non-stop for…" He looked over at the timer, "Seventy-four days. I need a break."

"We could play that game from your memory, chess was it?"

"I told you not to look at my memories."

"I know. I just remembered it after I saw it."

"Alright."

---

"I see you moving over there Wiltner."

"You have quite the barricade. Of course I'm going over there."

"It could be a trap… Are you sure that's a good idea?"

They both laughed and after a moment something caught Ziv's attention.

"Wiltner, how good was the port side?"

"We had only lost 9% integrity during the last encounter."

"What if we kept the ship moving. Push the ship from the port side and turn the ship around. We can keep our momentum and then detonate explosives along the stern pushing us forward."

"It could work. Keeping our current speed at least would help a lot. The biggest issue is after, but we would make it through."

"These designs for the Stingers could be used to grab scrap metal from the fight on the other side of the portal. That would speed up our recovery and rescue operations."

"Ziv, ready to get back to it?"

"Yea."

---

Wiltner was a huge help. Honestly he was doing the most of the heavy lifting throughout the whole ordeal, but their plans took time to finalize. It was nearing six months before they could even see the end. They looked at past footage from the last fights and simulated how likely enemy reinforcements would be, debris, and where survivors would be located.

After the initial plan to turn around was finalized, the rest of their time was spent on that. They had gone through reports about where their own reinforcements might come from and how long it would take them to arrive. As soon as they went through the portal, they needed to send everyone out of the ship to get what they needed. They were going to be fortifying their position and they needed raw materials for that. At least until the engines were fixed.

Just like Ziv needed a break, they couldn't overwork these people. They needed to place risk prone soldiers out of the main parts of their plan or they could lose time. They also took in account any survivors they might find. Actually they expected to find at least one-thousand-five-hundred survivors out there.

A tricky situation, but they ended up doing it.

So once they exited to real-time, everyone would get a message on the ship. It would tell them exactly what to do, how to do it, and where to do it. If everything in their plan succeeded and the people followed it to the letter, they could make it through the portal with a few minutes to spare.

"Ziv are you ready?"

"I am, but I'm scared we missed something."

"We both rechecked everything for the past month. Everything is fine, we got this alright."

"I do."

"Transfer authority to Frakiasn."

---

"Trust me Jushslan." Frakiasn looked towards his Second-in-Command. He knew that he wasn't sure about the idea, but it had to work.

Then a message popped on his screen. Wiltner caught his attention first before he could read it.

"Captain Ziv wishes to transfer his authority to Frakiasn, do you accept?"

He was caught off guard, but he still replied, "yes."

"Captain Frakiasn, welcome aboard. It's nice to talk to you again."

He looked towards the holographic table seeing Wiltner and Ziv standing together with huge grins plastered across their faces. It hurt a bit to see Wiltner so different, but he wasn't as formal as a freshly reset AI. That begs the question, how long did they spend working on their idea…

He looked over the details and he had to say it was a crazy idea, but it would definitely work.

"Wiltner give me comms to the ship." He saw him smile and gave him the signal that everything was ready. "Everyone, you will have received instructions. Stop what you are doing and follow them to the letter. No matter what we must do this. Get to work everyone, we have a lot to do."

That was the first step he needed to do, it was already planned. They went deep with it even working on what they would need to do once they passed through the portal. In his seven years with Wiltner, he had never seen anything like this. One could say it was out of a child's imagination.

---

The mesh like system being built on the Stingers was moving along. Others were dumping non-essential items out. There were a few mishaps that some of Frakiasn had to listen over the comms from his subordinates, but it was all handled by everyone on the bridge coordinating efforts.

Once it was ready to start, the Stingers were sent out to start pushing the Starship from the port side around. Mini-detonators placed on drones were sent out to help give them the extra boost to turn. The rest were on standby waiting to be used for the final push. The port thrusters were helping along.

The best part about the explosives, was that they didn't use up all the ammunition. It would be needed if they spotted an enemy.

After the turn around, the drones left the hanger and then the Stingers landed. They detonated pushing the ship forth in chunks, each stage pushing the faster and faster.

As they were about to the portal, Ziv looked at the count down timer for it. Just under a minute. They did it!

"We did it Wiltner!"

He jumped up and over to him, giving a big high-five.

"We really did!"

Ziv heard a few chuckles because they were both on the holographic table. He didn't care about that, but he was still nervous. Mainly over his plan and how effective it was. The numbers told him everything would be alright. Would it though? Reality could have been so different if one person didn't do their job. Their plan even included some of the medical staff helping out as well.

"Entering Wormhole." One of the bridge crew members called out.

They would lose some hull integrity, but it shouldn't be too bad. The engines were going to need to be rebuilt completely either way, so if they broke off the ship, it didn't matter.

"Exiting Wormhole." The same crew mate said.

"You think we should go into slow-mode?" Ziv asked Wiltner.

"You can't join me if you aren't the Captain."

Wiltner probably tried to do it right then and there, but it didn't work. It wasn't ideal, but Wiltner was more than capable. Their extended time together really brought them together.

It's been a while since Ziv really had time to think about home. He could rely on their plan together to work. He didn't really need to make adjustments. If anything Wiltner could spend that time… alone.

"Will you be alright?"

"Don't worry Ziv. So far everything is within our predictions."

"Okay."

---

The next day everyone worked over time. As they started receiving survivors, people were given time off. To sleep, rest, or mess around. Ziv remembered being in a similar mess after his mother died, so he could understand overworked individuals.

"Cheer up Ziv."

"You're right Wiltner. If I remember her, she isn't really gone."

"That's right."

The time Ziv and Wiltner spent together he had eventually openly shared his memories with him. His parents actually helped them both out. Their advice, strength and memory helped keep them sane and together. It was wonderful, but sometimes he wished he could go back. To hold them in his arms, but now he was a new family. In a way.

He started to see Wiltner as a pseudo older brother. He knew most of the crew like the back of his hand by now. He had to go through all their files. As the Captain he had free access to them. He could get them without it, like now. He was going through some of their files. It kept him busy and helped out. He thought it did.

Ziv noticed that Jushslan got back from his off-time. It was time for Frakiasn to take a break himself.

"I want to see you both in my quarters."

It did catch Ziv off guard that he was being called, but it made sense. He probably had some questions about their plan or maybe the future.

---

Wiltner was standing next to Ziv on the table. They both were waiting for Frakiasn to come into his own room.

"After they get the engines built, want to play some chess?"

"I would love that Ziv." Wiltner ruffled his hair. Having his senses simulated was funny to think about.

Frakiasn entered the room and practically flopped into the chair. He was exhausted, it was to be expected.

"Let's get this over with. How long did it take to come up with that plan?"

"What?" Ziv asked as he didn't expect that.

"One-hundred-eighty-seven days. We took into-"

"I've been a Captain for a long time. Whenever an AI came up with a plan, I always thought they were just fast. I really never considered how long it might take to come up with those ideas. So as long as I'm Captain, you are not allowed to do that again."

"What do you mean?" Wiltner took the words right out of Ziv's mouth.

"I don't want either of you spending that much time alone."

"Sir, we need to do it. All AI do it, we are no different." Wiltner was speaking for Ziv. Actually at this point, he didn't care if he was not human anymore. He loved being a part of something as big as a spaceship and if he needed to be an AI to do it, then fine. Sure he wasn't an artificial intelligence in a normal sense, but he literally just appeared on the computers here. How did his mind get transferred? Was he even real to begin with? Were all his memories a lie?

"Alright, fine. Just try to limit the amount you do that then. In emergencies you can have free reign. But we need to talk about when we get back to the shipyard."

"We know."

They all turned towards Ziv for this next part. "If they decide to get rid of me, I understand." Ziv turned towards Wiltner. "As long as you remember, it's not like I'm really gone, right?" He said it with a huge smirk on his face.

---

Frakiasn was tired. He really needed to sleep. When he heard what Ziv said right there, he thought about the old Wiltner. Yes, he remembered the guy. Strong, caring, arrogant… A good friend. It seems he kept his caring side thankfully.

Those two were a team. They spent so long working on that plan. It went smooth. Anything that could have gone wrong, they had essentially already planned for. It was great, they were great. He couldn't be happier as he fell asleep at the table.