A civilian, Ted knew, would not have been impressed with Ark Royal’s bridge.  The modern Royal Navy had wasted time making bridges look photogenic – naval crewmen joked that the consoles had explosive charges underneath so they could be detonated on cue – but that hadn't been a concern for Ark Royal’s designers. The bridge was nothing more than a collection of consoles, organised around a large command chair and a holographic display system.  There wasn't even a chair for the XO, who would be based in the CIC.  If something happened to the bridge, the CIC could take over.

He sat down and looked from console to console.  They were a curious mishmash of systems; thankfully, all of them were British rather than produced outside the British Commonwealth.  The engineers had worked them all together, but they had never really been tested in combat; now, Ted knew, they would find out just how well their jury-rigged modifications had actually worked.  He sucked in his breath as he activated his console and checked the situation reports flowing up from the various departmental heads.  Everyone claimed to be ready for departure.

“Begin power-up sequence,” he ordered.

A low hum ran through the ship as all six fusion cores powered up together.  All of them had been tested, one by one, but there had been no need to power them all up while they’d drifted in the reserves.  Now ... he watched the readings, silently praying that everything would work properly without problems.  In theory, they could operate with four fusion cores, but he didn't want to try it in practice.  If nothing else, there would be no redundancy if one of the cores failed during battle.

Or was destroyed, he thought, remembering how effectively the alien weapons had sliced the modern carriers apart.  What if we’re wrong about how effective our armour will be?

The thought made him scowl.  Someone had released the recordings of the battle onto the planetary datanet, provoking panic.  There had been riots in a dozen British cities, riots which had sucked away the attention of the military, making it harder for them to prepare for a possible invasion.  If Ark Royal couldn't delay the aliens long enough to prepare additional defences, Earth itself might be invaded sooner rather than later.  And who knew how the aliens would treat humanity’s homeworld?

He pushed the thought aside as Anderson called him.  “All six fusion cores are optimal, Captain,” the Chief Engineer said.  “Power curves are steady; I recommend we proceed with full power-up.”

Ted took another breath.  “Do it,” he ordered.  “Now.”