Lee turned to see ASC Fleet Admiral Markus Katahl enter the bay.
Everyone snapped salutes.
“Admiral,” Lee said from beneath a bladed hand.
“At ease,” Katahl said.
Lee was pleasantly surprised when another man hobbled into the room. Fairly tall and slender, he wore plain clothes and rimless glasses. He walked with a cane and had a bit of a limp.
“Jon Reiser, as I live and breathe!” Lee said. “Man, it’s been a dog’s age since we’ve seen you out here!”
Reiser smiled and extended a hand. “Great to see you again, Lee. It’s been entirely too long. In point of fact, I was just telling the admiral the other day how badly overdue I was in connecting with you all.”
Lee patted the man’s shoulder. “Don’t sweat it, Dr. Reiser. Your company is front and center in the race to build us some new defenses for use against the Kurgorians. You’re busy. We get it.”
“Hey, Dr. R.” Link pointed to Reiser’s cane. “What’s up with the walking stick? Artificial knee giving you more problems?”
Reiser flushed. “It’s my fault, really. I tweaked it during a run with your sister last week and never took the time to have med corps examine it. Turns out, I fried a couple of the primary pathways.”
“Can’t they just fix it like before?” Mac asked.
“Not this time,” Reiser said. “I need a replacement, and I just can’t spare a week for recovery right now. So, it’s back to the cane I go.”
Lee looked around. “Speakin’ of Katie, where is your interim head of biomedical research? I thought she’d be here.”
“She went to the flight deck to meet up with Wyatt and Layla before coming over,” Katahl said. “They should be along shortly.”
Mac ambled over. “So, Admiral, we miss anything special while we were gone? Like, I dunno, the war ending maybe?”
Katahl frowned. “Sadly, no. I was glad, however, to hear that at least your mission went well.”
The group parted to reveal Danny standing in front of the hatch. He looked up. “Admiral, Dr. Reiser.”
A sudden awkwardness filled the air as glances were traded around the bay. “Welcome home, Sergeant Tucker,” Katahl said. “It’s been a long time.”
Danny’s gaze met the deck. “It’s just Danny these days, sir. As I hear it, Sergeant Tucker died ten months ago on Coralin 3.”
Katahl’s dark-skinned forehead wrinkled atop thick silver eyebrows. “That is the rumor.”
Danny scratched at his temple. “At the risk of digging my own grave here, you got any thoughts on how we’re gonna handle that moving forward?”
The admiral let the question hang, his trademark stoicism never faltering, and Lee could all but see Danny squirming in his skin.
“Not entirely, no,” Katahl finally said. “I’ve been a part of this fleet going on forty-one years now, and I think I can safely say we’ve never had anyone return from the dead before. That makes this new ground for us.”
Apparently content for the moment with that answer, Danny managed a chuckle. “Yeah, well, I always was one to buck a trend.”
“Indeed you were, son.” Katahl let slip a wry smile of his own. “Indeed you were. Keith Noll sends his regards, by the way. He’s on deployment right now in the Thawnose system, but he promises to be in touch.”
“And how is the command sergeant major these days?” Danny asked.
“Ornery as ever,” Lee grumbled.
“Why am I not surprised?” Danny said. “And President Wylon—how’s he doing?”
“He’s in a meeting right now, but he’ll talk with you shortly.” Katahl’s smile faltered. “You should know, Danny, that he was happy as hell to learn you were alive. It was hard enough on him to lose Madisyn the way he did, but to lose you, too? That was a pretty bad day for him…for all of us.”
Danny’s eyes returned to the deck.
Footfalls sounded outside of the bay, and Lee turned to see the Praetorian’s chief engineer, Kris Wyatt, enter the room. He was trailed by Link’s wife, Shannon—Layla to everyone else—and Lee’s sister, Katie, who threw her arms around Danny’s shoulders.
“Thank goodness they found you,” she said.
“Good to see you, too, Scragly.” Danny gave her a squeeze then let her go. “What in the world are you still doing here?”
“Same thing as everyone else, I guess.” Katie shrugged. “Came for a vacation, met some new friends, found a bit of a calling. Yada, yada, yada.”
“Nice.” Danny aimed a thumb at Reiser. “So, you’re working for this bum now, huh?”
She nodded.
“Watch out for him,” Danny said. “He’s a great guy and all, but he can be a bit of a task master when he wants to be. Just ask your brother.”
Reiser took the jab in stride.
“This a permanent thing or what?” Danny asked.
Katie shook her head. “No, just for the time being while they need me. Once the war’s over, I’m headed back to the operating room.”
“In Seattle?” Danny asked.
Katie raised her slender shoulders. “We’ll see. A lot of that’ll depend on Oliver. He’s on summer vacation right now with my folks, but once that’s over, I’ll have some decisions to make.”
Danny nodded then shook hands with Wyatt. “Hey, Chief. How’ve you been?”
“Breathing, thanks to you.” Wyatt laughed. “Danny, you ought to know that Masterson and his Beyonder goons had us dead to rights at Coralin 3. But that stunt you pulled with that alien ship? It bought Simpson and me the time we needed to jumpstart the mains and get everyone out. That wouldn’t have happened without you.”
Danny rubbed his nearly bare scalp. “Yeah, well, I had help.”
More footfalls sounded in the corridor, and Lee craned his neck when two Auran soldiers appeared, escorting Nate Briggs away from the next bay over.
“Speak of the devil.” Danny frowned upon seeing Briggs’ restraints.
“Mattingly’s all set, Lee,” Briggs called out. “She took a few dings to her portside armor during our dustup with the destroyer, but otherwise, she’s fine.”
“Appreciate ya lookin’ out for her, Briggs,” Lee said. “I owe ya one.”
Briggs nodded then raised his hands, restraints jingling, to mock a boo! motion at the guards.
Their weapons jerked up.
Briggs chuckled. “Come on, minions. Let’s go.”
Danny watched them leave then returned his attention to Katahl. “He doesn’t deserve that. You can trust him.”
“Not my call,” the admiral said.
“Pardon, lads.” Hamish stepped in. “I hate to break up the reunion, but Kris and I have an engineers’ briefing in two hours, and I’ve been gone for the last seventy-two. I need him to bring me up to speed.”
Danny moved aside. “Yeah, no sweat. Go.”
“We still on for dinner at your place later?” Wyatt asked Katie.
“Lasagna’s already prepped,” she answered.
“Fantastic.” Wyatt kissed her on the cheek and started for the door. “See you at 1900.”
Once they were gone, Danny traded looks with Katie. “Met some new friends, huh?”
She tried to save face, but her blushing sold her out.
“Hey, Crockett—me and Shannon are gonna take off, too.” Link unwrapped his arm from his wife’s waist and extended a hand. “I’m itching to see my kids, but I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Sure, yeah, I get it,” Danny said.
Link and Layla saluted the admiral on their way out.
“Major, Lieutenant,” Katie said.
Lee felt a nudge at his arm from Danny, who leaned in to keep his voice down.
“Wasn’t Link a lieutenant commander when I left?”
“He was.” Lee frowned. “When everything went to hell at Coralin 3, Hastings had to shuffle the deck with his pilots. He sent Layla to the front but kept Link in the rear.”
Danny’s face twisted. “Le
t me guess: that went over like a fart in an oxygen tank with our favorite hotheaded bomber captain.”
Lee nodded. “Link got to stay on Layla’s wing, but it cost him his rank and his command when it was all over. Now he’s a junior LT on the Keystone.”
“Jeff Hastings.” Danny grunted. “That frickin’ jarhead always did have a power complex.”
Admiral Katahl stepped forward. “Excuse me, Danny, but at what point do I get to meet your crew?”
“Oh, right.” Danny whistled back to the hatch. “Come on out, fellas. It’s all good.”
Lee turned as, one by one, Overlook’s crew emerged.
“Reegan, you know, obviously,” Danny began. “This is Tynako Remson, Wade Shotzel, and—”
“Dr. Obadiah Khard.” Reiser’s look was that of glacial stone. “What an unexpected…surprise it was to hear your name again.”
Doc froze outside of the hatch and looked at Danny, who nodded as though to say it was cool.
What the hell? Lee’s eyes darted from man to man.
“Jon,” Doc said with all the cordiality he could manage. “It’s been a long time. How’ve you been?”
“Clean.” Reiser straightened on his cane. “You?”
“The same, thankfully.”
Lee thought he heard a pin drop.
“Kuh…kuh-kaw!” Remy cringed. “Sorry.”
“Dr. Reiser,” Katahl said. “I need to know right now if this is going to be a problem.”
Reiser cut another glare at Doc. “I can’t say, Admiral. I guess that depends entirely on my former colleague here and whether or not he can be trusted in my lab.”
Doc raised a pair of surrendering hands then pointed to a nearby storage alcove. “With your permission, Admiral, perhaps the three of us could discuss this in private?”
Katahl pulled the two men aside.
“Don’t suppose you wanna tell me what that’s all about?” Lee mumbled to Danny.
“Not particularly, no.”
The last vestiges of Lee’s patience waned, and he spun to face his friend. “What are you doin’ with these guys, Danny? They’re all misfits and criminals, and that ain’t you. Or at least, it didn’t use to be.”
Danny blew out a sigh. “Good ol’ Lee, flexible as ever.”
Lee smirked.
“Not to pick sides here, Danny, but I’ve got to go with my brother on this,” Katie said. “In the year I’ve known Jon, I’ve never once seen him respond like that. What gives?”
Danny made a face. “You guys get that not everything in life is black and white, right?”
“Their records sure were,” Lee said.
“Really, you’re going with that?” Danny snorted. “Take it from an ex-cop. Rap sheets aren’t everything they’re cracked up to be. And besides, Doc doesn’t have one.”
Lee folded his arms. “Fine, then out with it. What’s his story?”
Danny’s stare met the ceiling. “Remember that gene therapy they adapted for use in the Mimic Project? The one Reiser told us was totally innocuous for their people but got us high?”
Lee nodded.
“Doc, there, designed it.”
Lee opened his mouth to speak, but Danny went on. “This time a decade ago, Obadiah Khard was one of the premiere medical minds on Aura. He had a practice in Retaun, he did gobs of work with the ASC, and he was a major contributor to Aura’s biomed research scene. About four years before we got here, though, a man died during one of Doc’s clinical trials.”
Katie’s blond eyebrows knit. “Okay. That’s never a good thing, but depending on the nature of the trial, it’s not unheard of, either.”
“It wasn’t that the guy died during the trial that set everyone off.” Danny pursed his lips. “The fact that Doc was stoned out of his skull on pain meds and stimulants when it happened, though—”
“Whoa!” Katie drew back.
“Yeah, that sort of did it,” Danny concluded. “Doc was disbarred after that.”
Lee rubbed his eyes. “How is something like that not on his record?”
“The medical board requested it be sealed, out of respect for Doc’s accomplishments,” Danny said, “but he lost everything just the same. His practices, his home, his research, even his family who, to this day, want nothing to do with him. He lost it all.”
Lee cut a glare at the old man in the alcove.
“Easy.” Danny caught his shoulder. “Safe harbor, remember? That was the deal. Doc’s a part of my crew now, in addition to being the closest thing to a real doctor kids like Remy will ever see. Plus, there’s the whole bit about him saving my life.”
Lee looked back at his friend.
“The first time I used the armor to get Zier and Briggs off of the Axius, it carved me up like a Christmas goose. I was in bad shape when I left here, man, and even worse by the time I crashed down in Detron. Doc found me and patched me up. He and Remy have been with me ever since.” Danny looked Lee dead in the eye. “Let him be, Lee. He deals with demons every day that you or I couldn’t possibly fathom and, Heaven willing, won’t ever have to. Doc’s done his time, so let him be.”
Everyone quieted when Katahl, Reiser, and Doc rejoined the group.
“You crazy kids gonna play nice now?” Danny quipped.
Doc and Reiser traded grudging looks but eventually nodded.
“All right, then.” Danny rubbed his hands together. “So, where do we go from here?”
“First things first,” Reiser said. “I’m going to need everything you have on your armor. Specs, development notes, everything.”
“That’s muh-muh-me,” Remy said.
Whether it was because of the kid’s youth or quirky demeanor, Jon Reiser looked totally baffled at that statement. He shook it off and moved on. “Danny, I understand you’ve come up with some kind of interface and that there’s a chemical component to the operating system.”
Danny nodded. “That’s all Doc. Talk to him.”
Reiser turned to the old man. “I need your data, all of it. Study notes, sim results, sample lists, everything.”
“You’ll have it within the hour,” Doc said.
“Excellent.” Reiser pointed to Katie. “Make sure Dr. Summerston is copied on the message. She’s my right hand in this, and I want her looped in on everything.”
Doc bowed his head. “Of course.”
“What do you need from us, Dr. Reiser?” Katahl asked.
“Is Boxler Field at Fort Manning in use tomorrow morning for drills?”
“At 0600 sharp. Why?”
“I need that field, Admiral,” Reiser said.
Katahl’s brows furrowed in confusion.
“I can study data and assay sims all day long, but we can’t really know how to defend against this technology until we’ve studied it in action.” Reiser pointed to Danny. “Having him here gives us the chance to do exactly that. Tell your people they’ll have to train somewhere else. It’s just for tomorrow.”
Katahl nodded. “Anything else?”
“Yes,” Reiser said. “Tell the watch commander to alert all base personnel that we’ll be utilizing the quad and the surrounding hillside as well as the actual field. No one is to enter those areas until we clear out.”
Lee swallowed. “Good grief, Reiser, what’s up with all of the real estate? You plannin’ on pittin’ Danny against a full battalion or what?”
“I need to see how Danny’s armor performs in multiple theaters.” Reiser removed his glasses. “That includes in the open field and an urban setting. As for his resistance, he won’t be facing a battalion. Just you.”
Lee and Mac did a double take. “Sorry, what?”
“For the purposes of this exercise,” Reiser said, “Danny will be going up against the Renegades.”
* * * * *
Chapter 11: Man in the Machine
The next morning, Danny awoke in his bunk on Overlook, drenched in a cold sweat. Just another night. He rolled from the sopping sheets, rubbed his face, and began
prepping for his day. Part of him actually looked forward to facing off against Lee and the others. In a lot of ways, it’d be like the old days. Still, another part of him—the bigger part—couldn’t wait to get it over with so he could leave. Danny didn’t like being back here, and, great as it had been to see his old crew, there was still a lot about this place—the Praetorian, Fort Manning, Aura—that he wasn’t yet ready to be around. There were just too many memories.
Danny caught himself staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Pale, marked-up skin, buzzed hair, and a grimy three-day-old beard—he looked so very different now. He was so very different, and so was his purpose.
You’ve got a mission to get back to.
He glowered at the man in the mirror as if he were the one reminding Danny not to forget the ultimate goal.
Finish this and get back to it.
Danny threw on a T-shirt and started for the door, but he was halted by the sight of an envelope on the corner table. It’d come via courier the evening before, but in all of the fuss of his return, he’d forgotten all about it. He picked it up and tore through the seal.
Danny’s heart jumped into his throat when his fingers touched a familiar knitted fabric inside. Reluctantly, he pulled the garment free and flipped it open.
It was teal and orange with the number thirteen embroidered in white on the chest and shoulders. Danny didn’t have to read the jersey’s name to know what it said. Marino.
“Just so you never forget where you came from.” Those had been his mom’s words when she’d given him this on his way off to college at Florida State. A native Miamian and a lifelong lover of the Dolphins, Vera Lynn Tucker would’ve just as soon seen her boy become a fulltime panhandler as a Jaguars or Bucs fan. And rightfully so. She’d been there in seventy-two when the Fins had gone undefeated.
A slip of paper dangled from the envelope, and Danny grabbed it to read the inscription.
“Got this from the quartermaster when they cleared out your stuff. Figured you’d want it back one day. With love, Mac. PS: Even Jeff Hostetler won a Super Bowl. Just sayin’.”
Danny shook his head and put the jersey to his nose. Frickin’ New Yorkers.
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