“Baseline?” Rake asked. “How far’s that?”
“Not far enough,” Jackin answered.
Cavalon raised an eyebrow. “How far is ‘far enough’？”
“Kharon Gate.”
Rake glared at Jackin.
“What?” Jackin shrugged. “He was your idea. He can’t help us if we keep him in the dark.”
Cavalon’s face scrunched. Her idea? It sounded so disparaging, like he existed merely as a means to an end—some begrudgingly conjured solution. However, the more he thought about it, the more he realized it meant they actually needed him for something. Even if only to answer weird questions.
With an effort, Cavalon wiped the scorn off his face and refocused his confused displeasure on their decidedly odd line of questioning. “Kharon Gate? Why not Eris?”
Jackin shook his head. “Kharon’s closer. By a lot—probably four or five hundred times.”
“Really?” Cavalon asked. “That’s not the one I came in on.”
“No?” Rake’s brow creased, and Jackin scratched his short beard with both hands.
“No…” Cavalon said. “We came in at Eris Gate, then limped our way here at warp speed, ate through quite a pile of cores. Took three weeks. Seemed like the long-ass way around to me.” Rake sighed, and Cavalon’s face warmed. “Sir,” he added. But that didn’t appear to be why she’d sighed.
She squeezed her temples with one hand. “Maybe Kharon’s just overbooked.”
“Yeah,” Jackin said with a scoff. “Except there’s about two things you can get to from that gate, and we’re one of them.”
“Off topic, Optio.”
“Yeah, boss. Sorry.”
Cavalon chewed the inside of his lip. Why in the universe did they need to get to an Apollo Gate? He took a breath and pushed the thought aside. He should just give them the information they wanted, then quietly return to his endless task of single-handedly spit-shining the entire dreadnought.
“So, is it possible to refuel it?” Rake asked.
Cavalon nodded slowly as he considered the options. Though he didn’t have a truly eidetic memory, he’d gone through enough schooling that recalling facts on a whim had become second nature. “You have missiles?”
“Missiles?” Rake asked.
“Yeah, bombs? Warheads? In case the ghosts of the Viators show up? So you can blow them out of the sky? Sir.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes. Why?”
“Missiles use acium to fuel their thrusters.”
Jackin scoffed. “That’d never be enough to fill this thing.”
“Not from one, but this is an alpha-class dreadnought. You should have at least a few dozen fusion missiles. Right?”
“We do,” Rake said.
“If you combined the acium from all of them, you’d have enough to warp to Kharon.”
Jackin nodded. “Yeah, it’s possible.”
“A single warp?” Rake asked.
“You only need to get to the gate,” Cavalon said. “You can refuel there for the trip back.”
“Okay. Let’s do it,” she said. “Cavalon, take whoever you need to Octo Sector and pull those warheads.”
“Me?” Cavalon scoffed. “Fuck, what? I’m just the idea man—”