Tempest Rising

by Eric Warren

  “There,” he said, only it was too far away. He’d have to re-engage the fuel locks before he reached it, but if the fighters kept their distance…

  Cas adjusted the course to match the old current so he’d enter right were Tempest had come out. Checking the rear monitor all three fighters were still there, hanging as close as they dared. It was a good bluff. People thought he was half-suicidal as it was, this would just confirm everyone’s prejudices.

  He ran back to the panel, counting down the seconds before he could re-engage the locks. He needed as much time as possible. “Eight, seven, six,” he counted to himself, his hands over the controls. One false move or one incorrect entry would mean his death. But performing under pressure had never been a problem for Cas. And it wouldn’t be one now. “Four, three, two,” he said. At the same time he re-engaged the locks and shunted the additional material back to the holding units. The alarm on the system quieted. Jumping up Cas sprinted to the front and pushed the accelerator to its limit. The fighters were closing again.

  “Here we go!” he yelled, initiating the undercurrent drive and the emitter at the exact spot Tempest had left. The undercurrent opened with ease, allowing the small ship into the tunnel and launching him millions of kilometers away from the fighters.

  Cas slumped back in his chair. Now for the hard part.

  20

  He didn’t. He couldn’t have. It wasn’t possible.

  “Commander,” Greene’s voice snapped Evie out of her thoughts and she turned to him, his face burning. “Tell me you didn’t know about this.”

  “He never would have left my sight if I had,” she replied, just as angry. But she couldn’t show her anger, not like the captain could. He had to be up to something. Caspian wouldn’t betray them, not after everything he’d been through. She glanced over at Page who was doing a very bad job of keeping the smile off his face. He would never let this go now. Not after all of them watching that shuttle disappear into the undercurrent despite her and the captain’s repeated attempts to contact him. She didn’t have a choice, there was only one way to settle this.

  “I tried to warn you,” Page said. “The other day when I had to pull him off Izak. I tried to tell everyone. Once a deserter always a deserter. He was a security risk from the moment he stepped on this ship. He’s probably on his way back to them now with a shuttle full of tactical information to sell to them. We might have all just been pawns in his game to defect to the Sil. You should have let me blow him out of the sky.”

  Greene only shook his head.

  “You’re not that stupid, Jorro, so don’t pretend like you are,” Evie said. “The fact was Cas was ordered on this mission by Admiral Sanghvi. He was coming whether anyone else wanted him to or not.”

  Page’s eyes flashed but he returned to his duties.

  “I don’t believe he would defect,” Zaal said from ops. “He was too insulted by—” Evie cut him off with a hard stare. “He is no longer a deserter.”

  Evie locked down her station and made her way to the hypervator doors. “I’ll get a shuttle prepped. And I want to bring some of the infantry soldiers with me. In case.”

  “Stay where you are, Commander,” Greene ordered.

  She screwed up her face, planting her feet. “You can’t suggest we just let him go? I need to go after him. Tempest’s engines won’t be back online for another two hours and he could be anywhere by then. If his trail degrades for more than a few minutes…”

  “I’m aware,” Greene said. “May I see you in the command room for a moment?” His voice sounded calm and measured. Too calm considering what had just happened.

  They made their way to the command room, Evie taking another look at Page and giving him the meanest scowl she could muster. Not only was it bad enough he’d been questioning her judgement ever since she’d been sent to retrieve Cas back in Sargan territory, but he’d made his concerns public to some of the other officers behind her back. And the last thing they needed was to lose confidence in their commanding officers. Had it not been against protocol she would have decked him already.

  The doors closed behind them and she was so focused on her anger at Page she didn’t realize the captain still hadn’t said anything. He only stood, looking out his small window at the stars and planetoids of the system beyond.

  “I need to go after him, sir. Unless you’re willing to write him off as a deserter.”

  “He is a deserter,” Greene replied, clasping his hands behind his back. “He abandoned the Coalition five years ago.”

  “Because of a crime he didn’t even commit!”

  “No, he committed it. He disobeyed a direct order, regardless if it was the right thing to do or not. He still committed a high crime. And he had to pay the price when he returned to the Coalition. But instead of serving out his sentence like he was supposed to, he ran, abandoning the institution he’d sworn to protect.” Greene didn’t move, only remained staring out the window.

  “He was afraid Admiral Rutledge would do something else to him. Can you blame him for running?” she asked.

  “Yes. I can,” Greene replied. “Because serving the Coalition isn’t just about living on starships and exploring the galaxy. It also means owning your mistakes—all of your mistakes—when you make them. Caspian made a mistake. Some could argue the bigger mistake was accepting a position from Admiral Rutledge in the first place. I looked it up. The terms of his parole were that he work on Axis Five, performing menial tasks six hours a day. For three years. That was all he had to do and he would have been free. Not exactly a hard job.”

  “But Cas was grounded. He couldn’t leave. He’d just exchanged a small prison for a large one. If you knew—”

  Greene turned and held up his hand. “We all live in prisons of our own making. Do you think it was any better he became indebted to a Sargan overlord? He was still in ‘prison’.” He paused. “No, if he’d finished out his time on the Axis Five facility and been cleared then I would be more inclined to send you after him. But I’m not about to lose my XO because a civilian decided to desert.”

  “Sir, you can’t seriously believe he’s leaving for good? He’s crucial to this mission, maybe he’s—”

  “Spare me the excuses, Diazal. You aren’t responsible for defending Mr. Robeaux from the rest of us. Do I think he’s stolen a shuttle and gone off to live on his own? No. From what I’ve seen of Caspian Robeaux that seems very unlikely. But I can’t ignore the fact he modified certain systems and injured a crewmember in his attempt to…do whatever it is he’s doing. And based on his past behavior, there is a real possibility he’s gone rogue.”

  Evie clenched her hands. If she could just go after him, she was sure she could convince him to come back. “So, what do we do?”

  “He made it very clear he wanted to do whatever he’s doing alone. And I’m not willing to sacrifice any of my crew to retrieve him. But I do want to know what he knew before he left. Something made him jump and I need you to find out what it was.”

  She pulled her lips between her teeth, concentrating. “Sir, wouldn’t Lieutenant Page—?”

  “The lieutenant’s objectivity has been compromised,” Greene said. “I couldn’t trust his report unless I read it with my eyes closed. I realize you’re on the other side of the coin, but I hope your objectivity hasn’t been compromised. I would hate to find out you covered up evidence that supports a case of desertion.”

  She stiffened. “I’d never do that, sir.”

  He nodded. “I know.” The chime on the door rang, indicating someone was outside the door.

  “Enter,” Greene said.

  The doors opened to reveal Chief Master Rafnkell, her helmet still in her hands. “He faked a generator breach, Captain,” she said, storming in. “We had to back off. There was no telling if it was real or not.”

  Rafnkell commanded the Spacewing fighters and had helped provide invaluable assistance during the encounter with Veena, though Evie’s only encounter with her had be
en when Evie had absconded with one of the Chief’s ships to rescue Cas. From what she’d read of her record, Rafnkell was a brash woman, often charging head-first into a situation rather than waiting for the go-ahead. It made her an effective tactician if not something of a wildcard. But she was good at her job. The fighters tended to keep to themselves and weren’t technically crewmembers as they each “captained” their own ships. But they did have duties on Tempest.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Chief, the fact you got out there as quickly as you did—”

  Rafnkell winced. Her short, blonde hair was plastered with sweat to her skull. “I’m sorry I didn’t wait for your orders sir, but we couldn’t let him take the shuttle like that.” She turned to face Evie. “You should have contained him.”

  “That’s enough,” Greene said. “Get your ships in order, Chief. If we’re going back into Sil space we may need them, though…” he trailed off. Greene knew as well as anyone short-range fighters wouldn’t do a damn thing against the Sil ships. If a Dragon Class starship couldn’t even hold her own what were a series of smaller one-person fighters supposed to do?

  “Don’t worry, sir, we’ll be ready with our teeth out. If you need us, we’re prepared,” she said.

  “Thank you, though I hope none of this is necessary. Diplomacy is still my highest priority.” Rafnkell nodded, out of things to say. “Dismissed,” Greene added. She turned without another glance at Evie and left the two alone.

  “How can we hope to go back in there without Cas?” Evie asked once she was gone.

  Greene sighed, taking a seat at his desk. “I’ll talk to Laska. I don’t see we have much choice, do you?”

  “I guess not,” she replied.

  21

  “Give me a diagnosis,” Xax said. “And be quick.”

  Box examined the young woman lying on the bed before them. They’d brought her in from Bay One, some sort of accident with a shuttle. Box hadn’t heard the whole story as the room had been a flurry of activity when the emergency unit brought her in. All he knew was it involved blunt-force trauma.

  “She’s unconscious,” Box said, leaning over her to examine her closer. “She may have a cranial fracture from this bruising pattern and her breathing is shallow which is indicative of a head injury. She may not be getting enough oxygen to the brain.”

  “I agree,” Xax said. “Begin the full body scan, let’s make sure we’re not dealing with something else here.” She waved Nurse Jimmy Menkel over to assist.

  Box glanced up at the monitor over the bed, watching as the scanner covered Crewman Zorres from head to toe. “What happened? She was obviously struck but…”

  “Unscheduled shuttle launch,” Jimmy said. “They said it was your friend.”

  Box glanced over, taking his optics off the scanner. “What friend?”

  “The traitor. Robeaux.”

  “He stole a shuttle?” Box asked. That didn’t make sense. He’d been so invested in making sure these negotiations went well.

  Jimmy shrugged. “That’s what they said.”

  “None of that matters now,” Xax interjected. “Crewman Zorres could become critical at any minute. We need to take care of her before worrying about what’s happening on the rest of the ship. Box, take note. The patient comes first, no matter what.”

  This should have focused Box but he still couldn’t comprehend Cas stealing a shuttle. He couldn’t even pilot! Why hadn’t he told Box about it? He could have helped. Though his time in sickbay had been pretty good so far. If Cas had asked, it would have meant giving up everything he’d built here.

  “Scan complete,” Jimmy said. “Looks like you were right, Box, she’s not getting enough oxygen to her brain. We need to halt the processes otherwise she’ll lose a good portion of her brain function.”

  “Prep for surgery,” Xax announced moving over beside the crewman. Two more nurses joined them as Box set a tray of standard tools beside Xax. “I’m going to open her up here and remove the broken cranial bone,” she said, indicating with one of her arms. “Go ahead and put her in temporary stasis.”

  Jimmy reached over to the bed and adjusted some controls. “Engaging stasis now.” A blue glow emanated from under Zorres and the effect on the monitor was immediate. Her breathing all but stopped and her pulse slowed to two beats per minute. All of her natural functions had been slowed.

  Xax picked up the incisor and made a cut around the bruised area of her skull, right above her left eye, peeling back the skin and discarding it. She then examined the fracture. “It’s indented alright, like a bulkhead. Box, give me the solution.”

  “Remove the affected bone, examine the brain for injury and reconstruct the skull using calorcium growth to prevent rejection.”

  “Very good,” Xax said, leaning down and not taking her eyes off Zorres. Humans were such fragile creatures, yet in other ways they were so resilient. Box found it fascinating. Xax took another tool, this one larger, and made an expert cut directly into the skull itself, taking great care to remove the broken bone. Beneath was Zorres’ brain, but there was what looked like a blood clot in the center of the area they’d cut away.

  “Regenerator.” Xax held out her lower left hand. Box placed the regenerator in it, which was passed to the upper hand and held over the center of the clot. “Here’s hoping we don’t lose anything important,” she said. As Xax waved the device over the clot it gradually disappeared until it was gone completely. “Give me another scan.”

  Jimmy tapped the button beside the bed and the monitor scanned Zorres again. “No indication of any more damage, doc.”

  “Then let’s regrow this bone and get this woman back on her feet,” Xax said. She placed the tip of a tube to the edge of the cranium and pushed, a small amount of gooey liquid coming out. Box watched as the liquid shuddered slightly until it was the same color as Zorres’ skull then stretched to cover the affected area. It reminded him of a spider building a web. A strand would cross the center, then move around the circular opening and cross the center again, eventually making a tangled web covering the incision. Within a minute it had been completely covered.

  Xax tapped it with an instrument. “It’s cured.” She held up one last device, running it over the edges of the skin she’d cut away. It stimulated the edges of the skin, making them grow at an accelerated rate until they had recovered the affected area. After a few minutes Box couldn’t even tell there had ever been an injury. “Deactivate the field,” Xax said. They turned to Box. “Here’s the rough part, don’t hold your breath.”

  Box stared at her, his eyes blinking.

  “That was a joke. It helps to have humor in here.” Jimmy deactivated the field and Zorres’ breathing returned to normal. Xax watched the monitor closely. “Looks like everything is back within acceptable limits …let’s wake her.”

  Box leaned over with a mental stimulator and pressed it to the base of Zorres’ neck, activating the device. Her eyes fluttered open and she jerked.

  “Easy,” Xax said, her arms up. “It’s okay, crewman.”

  “Where…?” She glanced around agitated at first, but began to calm down quickly. “Doctor?”

  “How do you feel?” Xax asked.

  Zorres touched her head with her hand, feeling the area. “Okay, I think. What happened?”

  “You were in an accident. Nurse Menkel is going to take you to perform some mental tests to make sure everything is working correctly. Okay?” she asked.

  Zorres nodded, feeling her head again. Jimmy helped her up and off the bed. She wobbled for a moment, but gained her balance and followed him to another section of the sickbay.

  “Not bad,” Xax said. “You obviously don’t have a problem retaining information, and you also seem to be applying it correctly.” She replaced all the tools back on the tray and moved it back into its sanitizing alcove.

  “I find it fascinating. Organic life is—”

  The doors to the sickbay opened revealing Ronde, a big grin on his face.
r />   “Lieutenant,” Xax said. “Is there something we can do for you?”

  “I just need to take him,” Ronde said.

  Box glanced between them. “Why?” he asked, accusation creeping into his voice. There was no reason not to be suspicious after what Ronde had already tried to pull. And though he hadn’t attempted anything since that day, Box had the distinct feeling Ronde was just waiting for another opportunity.

  “Captain has ordered the machine confined to quarters,” he replied, his grin even wider.

  “Why?” Xax asked.

  Ronde took a few steps forward. “His partner-in-crime stole a shuttle and took off to who-knows-where. The Captain feels this machine could be a liability or even some kind of infiltration unit and until more information is known, he’s to be confined.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Xax said. They continued arguing but Box had quit paying attention. All his focus was on picking up Ronde and tossing him across the room like a doll. They thought he was a traitor? The concept was ludicrous. As if they could stop him. And now that he’d found something he truly loved the Captain was going to take that away from him too?

  “—esn’t matter. For the security of the ship, he’s coming with me.” Ronde was saying.

  “Where is Lieutenant Page? He’s the head of security, why isn’t he here?” Xax asked.

  “He’s occupied with other matters regarding the traitor’s departure. He asked if I would be willing to help him with this.”

  Xax crossed two of her arms. “And he doesn’t have any other security personnel who could do this for him?”