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breaks through the enemy force field. He can’t do that effectively and work the weapon controls as well.”
    Kenny said, “What weapon controls? He just fires a fusion missile and that’s that.”
    “That’s true, but what if the ship he’s attacking is surrounded by enemy ships where multiple numbers can fire on him when he exits? He needs to choose a place to leave before he fires the missile. I know the new force field will stand up to one ship but will it survive the attention of ten or more?”
    The three Admirals and Mikal were silent as they thought about what she said. Then she dropped the bomb, “Besides, I know how we can escape.”
    Mikal jerked his head up, “How!”
    Loree smiled and said, “The black hole’s jet.”
    RV laughed out loud, “How long did it take you to make that intuitive leap?” Loree’s face turned red. RV said, “Come on, Captain. You made him confess.”
    Loree took a deep breath and said, “I’ve been struggling with the thought of Mikal dying and I just had a major problem with that thought.” She looked at Mikal and said, “I don’t want to lose him. He’s made me laugh more than I have in ten years.” She looked back at RV and said, “Then it occurred to me that you and the Connors had gone into M-87 safely. Why couldn’t the same process be used to exit?”
    Mikal said, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
    “The jet that erupts out of M-87’s black hole extends more than a hundred and twenty thousand light years. That jet is too powerful for most ships to even think about entering. However, this new ship has a force field three times stronger than any we’ve been able to develop. It might be able to jump into that stream, accelerate away from the black hole until the stream weakens, and enter Sierra Space from there. There’s no way the ship could be tracked from there except visually. Any pursuing ship would have to enter the stream right behind us.”
    RV said, “How do you know that?”
    “I pulled the report from your escape and I took a look at the Sierra Space that your George Communicator was operating in. You were a light year away from that jet and it was roiling and boiling even that far away. Any trace of a jump would be erased instantly inside the jet. The jump location would have to be visually plotted.”
    “How do you know you can jump from Sierra Space that is being distorted that much, even at the end of the stream?”
    Loree smiled, “I don’t know for certain but this offers hope. Nothing else does; it’s worth the effort. Someone is going to have to make the jump into that jet at the outer edge.” She looked at Mikal and said, “You’re going to be too busy to do that while fleeing from any pursuers, right.”
    He stared at her and said, “What do you mean by do it right?”
    “You should not jump into the center of the jet. You must jump in just outside the center. I’ve talked with Dr. Hendricks, who is our best physicist, and he says there may not be Sierra Space where the center of that jet is located. It will require two jumps; one to just outside the jet where readings will be taken and then a jump into it. This is the only chance of you surviving this mission and I’m going to be there to make it happen.”
    RV took a deep breath and said, “We’re going to leave the two of you to discuss this. Let us know what you decide.” RV looked at Bob and Kenny and nodded toward the door. They followed him out of the room.
    Once they were outside Kenny said, “RV, she is too valuable to lose on this hair brained mission.”
    “This mission is more important than anything she’ll do as an admiral, Kenny. How many attack craft do we have in our fleets?”
    Kenny thought a moment and then said, “You’re right, as usual. She would have to lose an entire major fleet to come close to those that would die if this doesn’t work.”
    RV smiled, “Those two in that room figured that out before we did. He was the first