by Eric Warren
A new voice came over his comm. “Robeaux, get in there and do what needs to be done!” Greene said.
“Yes, sir!” Cas replied. With the Destroyer out of the way he had a straight shot for the Achlys. He gunned the engines, causing the dampeners to fail momentarily and pull him back into his seat.
“All ships, fire on that small one, don’t let him get close!” Veena’s voice screeched. But it was too late, he was too close. She had let her overconfidence get the better of her and now it would cost her everything.
“Really enjoyed the job, Veena,” Cas said, “But if you don’t mind…I quit.” He cut the comm and focused all his attention on plowing the Reasonable Excuse right into the side of the Achlys. Soon this would all be over.
***
“You’re not going out there,” Xax said, running down the hall behind Evie.
“The hell I’m not, who else do you know who could get out there and save his wretched ass?”
“Someone not missing part of their upper arm!” she yelled back.
She spun on the doctor. “Am I in danger of losing the arm? Right now? Will I lose it?”
Xax took a step back. “Well no, I’ve stabilized it but that doesn’t mean—”
She held up her hand and resumed running down the hall to Bay Two. Cas was out there making a suicide run and she wasn’t about to have another dead man on her conscience.
Evie reached the main doors which opened for her, revealing the large Bay. Glancing to the side she saw the firefight outside the ship. Greene had brought Tempest through a short undercurrent to catch back up with Cas once he’d blasted out of the Bay. She should have known he would try something stupid. Had she not been injured she never would have left him alone in his ship. At least he’d had the decency to leave Box behind, which told Evie everything she needed to know. He was going out and he wasn’t coming back.
“Clear the way, I need a Spacewing ready,” she yelled. Two crewman looked up from their jobs and hurried over to the small fleet of vehicles stashed on the side of Bay Two. They were designed to operate short-range only, but they were highly maneuverable and carried a large complement of offensive weapons. They could also fly in a planet’s atmosphere, and thus they were more aerodynamic than most Coalition ships.
They had been her favorite ship back at the academy.
“It will take a moment to warm, ma’am,” one of the crewmen said, beginning the startup procedure and popping the access hatch.
“I don’t have a moment, emergency startup,” she ordered, climbing the ladder and hauling herself in with some difficulty, given her arm wasn’t functioning right. As long as it could hold a stick and push a button, she’d be good. The other hand was the one she needed for navigation.
“Just what the hell are you doing with one of my ships?” A harsh voice said from below. Evie looked down to see Chief Master Rafnkell with her hands on her hips.
“I need this. For just a minute,” she replied, flipping on all the startup procedures.
“Commander, you’re not authorized—”
“Chief, don’t. We’ve got a man out there and I’m not leaving him.”
“Then let my squad do it. We can have him—”
“No time,” Evie interrupted. “Executive order. Now move.”
Rafnkell watched her for a beat then took a step back, working her jaw. The Spacewing hummed to life under her as Evie yanked the hatch back down and hit the “seal” button on her console. She tapped the top of her hand.
“Put me through to Cas on the Reasonable Excuse,” Evie said into the onboard comm.
“It’s locked down,” Page replied. “And if you haven’t noticed, we’re a little busy up here.”
“Page, shut up and put me through to his personal comm. That one won’t be active.”
She heard her colleague grumble but he did as she asked and the small beep around her told her she was connected.
“Hello?” he asked. He sounded surprised.
Evie dropped the moorings and hit the main thrusters, pulling the ship into a direct line of launch from the Bay. “Cas, you don’t have to do this.” She hit the accelerator and the ship blasted out of the hangar bay.
“A little late to back out now,” he replied.
Just as she suspected, his course was locked on the Achlys. “No, it isn’t. Take the last hab suite. Get out of there.” Idiot thinks he’s going to be a martyr.
“It’s better this way, Evie, trust me. I don’t belong in the Coalition any more than I belong with the Sargans. This solves everyone’s problem.”
She shook her head, yanking the ship around into a pursuit course. She wasn’t sure if she could catch him in time. The Excuse had more powerful engines than the small Spacewing. “Including Rutledge?” she challenged. “You dying would be his greatest gift. Don’t let him win, Cas. Don’t give him the satisfaction. The only way this won’t happen again is if you speak out against him. You’re the only one left who can.”
He didn’t respond. She pushed the accelerator harder, willing it to move faster even though she knew she was at full speed. She checked her instrument panel which told her Tempest was engaging both the destroyers. The dreadnought still hadn’t moved. And Cas was headed directly for it. She needed to be more persuasive.
“Cas, please. The Coalition may have failed you, but that doesn’t mean you give up on the rest of us. Some of us still believe in this institution and it needs people like you who are willing to fight the corruption for it to survive.” If he was right and there was a thread of corruption running through the Coalition, his death would bury it forever. Without him any hope of bringing Rutledge to task would be destroyed. Plus, she had to admit to herself she didn’t want to see him die. He was a good person who deserved better.
She waited, trying to think of something else to say while the Excuse only flew closer to the Sargan ship. If he’d already made up his mind she needed to turn back now.
“I’m on my way,” Cas finally said.
Thank Kor. Evie leaned forward, urging the ship to move faster, all the while checking her surroundings to make sure there weren’t going to be any surprises. Her arm throbbed in pain, but she pushed past it. Why wasn’t the Dreadnought firing at Cas’s ship? It was like it was just sitting there, dead in space. Had something happened?
Evie watched as the last hab suite detached from the rest of the ship. But due to the inertia it didn’t slow down, only kept pace with the Excuse, flying right beside it. She adjusted her heading to match the new object, hoping she hadn’t done all this for nothing.
“Evie, you better be able to grab me,” he said. “This is gonna be close.”
She watched his ship inch closer and closer to the Achlys, flying at full speed. The impact would not be pretty, not at these speeds. The hab suite was just out of reach. Evie reached down with her damaged arm and readied the grappler. As soon as the reticle turned red she fired, the grappler digging into the side of the hab and jerking it back. She immediately reversed thrust and whipped the ship around, throwing all her power into heading away from the Achlys. On the panel to her right she pulled up a visual of the ship as the Excuse grew ever closer to its target. She only had seconds to get out of range. A bright blast filled her screen. That was it. The shockwave would hit them any second now. She could only hope they were far enough away.
Evie braced herself.
37
From the bridge of the Tempest Greene watched the tiny ship plow into the Achlys, obliterating both ships. The resulting explosion began a chain reaction in the dreadnought. “Report!” he yelled.
“It’s a massive shockwave explosion, sir, whatever was on the Achlys had more destructive power than I’ve seen from—from anything,” Zaal said.
The weapon, Greene thought. “How far away is Commander Diazal?”
“Forty-thousand kilometers, sir,” Page replied.
“Will she make it out?”
“Not before the shockwave hits.”
/> Greene turned to Zaal, knowing the answer to his question before even asking. “Can a Spacewing survive that kind of destructive power?”
Zaal shook his head. “No, sir. Neither can the hab suite she’s towing.”
His crew may have been fresh compared to some of his other shipmates in the past, but that didn’t mean they were worth sacrificing. There was no choice, he had to try and save them, even if one was a convicted criminal. Cas had tried to sacrifice himself for the Coalition, despite everything they’d done to him. And Greene wasn’t about to let them get away with it.
“How long until it hits them?” he asked, watching the screen with intensity. The waveform was massive, closing in on his executive officer’s ship. He’d never seen anything like it either. Whatever this weapon on the Achlys had been, he was glad it was destroyed. Watching the destruction he couldn’t help but wonder how long it would spread before it could dissipate. Even supernovas didn’t generate this kind of power.
“Thirty-two seconds, sir.”
Greene turned to his helmsman, his mind made up. “Ronde, you did an excellent job last time enveloping Mr. Robeaux’s ship. Think you can do it again?”
“We’re too far away, sir. If we were closer—” Ronde said in an uncertain tone, frowning.
“Ensign River, plot an undercurrent course to the commander’s ship,” Greene said. “And make it quick.”
“Aye,” River responded with an unsure voice of her own. He watched her hands move over the controls faster than any normal human could. Despite her lack of confidence, she was talented. Greene had to admit, if he’d had a non-augmented officer at the navigation station this maneuver probably would not be possible. But that was the beauty of the Coalition. Anyone could become an officer.
“Course plotted,” River replied.
“Lieutenant Ronde, if you please,” Greene said, staring at the screen on the far wall. He braced himself. This was definitely off-book as far as standard rescue procedures were concerned.
The image turned into a blur for a split second before re-pixelating to show the commander’s small craft directly in front of them, the shockwave closing fast. Her ship then moved past the image of the monitor out of view. Greene barely had time to appreciate the beauty of the wave itself. It was as if someone had spun paint and oil in water and lit it all on fire.
“Got them!” Ronde whooped.
“Blohm, full power to engines and punch it,” Greene ordered. The ship made one fluid motion around and within an instant they were in an undercurrent.
“We’re clear,” Zaal said.
“Well done everyone,” Greene said, tapping a pad on his chair. “Xax, prepare to receive wounded.”
“Oh, I’m already waiting,” Xax replied causing Greene to smile.
“Ensign River, set course for Starbase Eight. Full speed ahead.”
38
“Oh look, he’s coming out of it.”
“He might be better off sleeping a while longer.”
“He only likes extra sleep when he’s hungover.”
Cas opened his eyes. Box stood in front of him, his yellow eyes blinking approval. Cas groaned and turned over, his body responding to the movement by sending a surge of aches and pains through his system. “You better not be recording this,” Cas said.
A small circular device landed on the bed beside him. Cas picked it up, examining it between his forefinger and his thumb. “Sargan tech.”
Box shrugged. “It wasn’t buried deep. Sesster was able to get it out without much trouble.”
Cas squinted. “And I’m assuming because I’m sitting here talking to you I made it out okay.” He tossed the device on the small table beside him.
“That depends on your definition of okay,” Xax said, siding up to him as if from nowhere. She stared at Cas with her six black eyes, as if she were staring into his soul. “You sustained a concussion and three broken ribs which I have since repaired. But you may experience some vertigo over the next twenty to forty hours.”
Cas sat up and in response the room did a quick three-sixty before settling again. He rubbed his temples. “Thanks,” he said, swinging his legs off the side of the bed. “What about…?”
“Over there.” Box pointed to where Evie lay on one of the beds, a med droid beside her, stitching new muscles and skin together inside a self-enclosed chamber.
“We had to reconstruct her arm from scratch,” Xax said. “She re-injured it rescuing you. She’ll be out another twelve hours until her immune system has healed enough to prevent any infection.”
Cas got on his feet, the floor wobbled under him but he managed not to fall over. That was a beginning at least. “Box…what happened?”
“I was in shut down. But from what they told me you decided to make a suicide run.”
“I know that part, what happened after that?”
“Oh,” Box said. “Well, Evie went after you, because she secretly has a crush on you, and then Captain Greene went after her because he secretly has a crush on her.”
“Box—”
“And then I woke up under the care of the engineers because they secretly have a crush on me!”
Cas coughed. “People don’t rescue other people just because they have crushes on them, you know.”
“But it makes it that much more plausible, doesn’t it?” Box said. “The girl going off to risk everything to save the man she loves? It makes my servos flutter.”
Cas rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay. What happened after that?”
“You managed to plow my ship into the heart of the Achlys, which caused a cascade reaction completely destroying both ships. I watched the footage. Veena’s dreadnought was obliterated in the subsequent explosion. As in, atomized. Turned to dust. Kaput. So, you don’t have to worry about her anymore.”
Cas caught Xax giving him a look, but it was hard to interpret. He wasn’t fully versed in Yax-Inax body language. If he had to guess he’d say the doctor wasn’t too happy about the loss of life on Veena’s ship. But the universe was a better place without her.
“Which means you now owe me one ship,” Box finished.
“I never said I’d give you the ship. I said I’d give you quarters. And I kept my word.”
“What good is a hab suite if it isn’t connected to a usable ship?” Box complained.
“Guess you should have been more specific in your request.” Cas made his way to the door as Box grunted behind him.
“The captain wants to see you,” Xax said. “As soon as you’re able.”
Cas nodded and exited sickbay, taking one last look at Evie, lying unconscious on the table. He wouldn’t forget what she’d done for him, she had saved his life. And he wasn’t going to let it go to waste.
***
The doors of the hypervator opened on the bridge. Much to Cas’s relief he saw much of the damage had been cleared away. The viewscreen on the back wall still served as the focal point since the central display was still in dozens of pieces. It would need a full replacement. All of the stations—save the two sunken into the floor—had turned to face the display. But because navigation and helm control already naturally faced that direction, those stations didn’t need to turn. Cas noticed Ensign River now occupied Ensign Blackburn’s post permanently.
Greene wasn’t on the bridge. Cas cleared his throat and Page glanced back at him and Box, dismissing them with his eyes. “He’s in the command room,” Page said, turning back to his work.
Cas ignored his urge to go and punch the man again and instead led Box to the command room door, entering only when given the all-clear from the captain on the other side.
“Feeling better?” Greene stood as they entered.
“Alive is better than dead, so yes. Much better,” Cas replied.
Greene stuck out his hand for Cas, which caused Cas to gape at him for a moment. “You were willing to do what was necessary. That’s a trait I respect,” Greene said.
Cas took the man’s hand and gave it a fi
rm shake. “Thank you, Captain.”
“I’m curious. Why did you change your mind?” Greene asked, his eyes penetrating.
He’d almost gone through with it. But then Evie had reminded him there were more important things than sacrificing yourself for a cause. Sometimes it was more important to keep fighting. “Ev—your first officer reminded me I wasn’t done yet. And I didn’t want to give the admiral the satisfaction.”
Greene nodded. “Which brings me to why I’ve asked you here. Please take a seat.”
Box sat in the seat directly across from the captain. Cas couldn’t hide his smile as he took the other. Greene was momentarily flustered but turned his attention to Cas. “You have a problem, Mr. Robeaux.”
“I think the Coalition has a problem,” Cas replied.
“I agree. And you are the only one who can help us remove that problem. You are the last eye witness to a terrible atrocity that never should have taken place. And I want to make sure the man responsible for it is taken into custody and punished for his crimes.”
“I would love to do that, sir, but without any evidence it’s like I told Evie—”
Greene held up a small data recorder. It was exactly like the one he’d taken off Maddox back at Devil’s Gate. Standard-issue. “Commander Diazal had the forethought to download the Achlys logs while you were over there. I’ve taken some time to examine them and some of the crew’s personal logs back up your story. It seems a few of your fellow officers weren’t happy about what Rutledge did to you, but were too afraid to speak up.”
“Their personal logs, sir? Aren’t those protected?”
“Not when the subjects are deceased. They become Coalition property and I have every right to review them in order to seek out and end an injustice. With an eye witness and corroborating evidence, I don’t see any reason Admiral Rutledge will remain at his post much longer.”