by Brian Mansur
He awoke much later feeling relaxed, as if he’d slept a warm night by Gita’s side. He kept his eyes closed against an overhead lamplight he supposed she’d turned on. Was it time for work or was this the weekend?
He breathed deep to clear his mind and noted that the musculature along his ribs felt tight, but not painfully so. The mattress felt glorious, like he floated on it. At last, he grasped he was in zero-gravity, or rather something close to it. His grin faded as memories returned.
Gita. The girls. Zeus.
Rafe’s eyes burst open. A pretty young woman with a heart-shaped face and pink hair smiled over him. Her eyes had the unaccountable effect of soothing his growing anxiety.
“Welcome aboard the Tsunami, Commander Hastings,” she said. “I’m Lieutenant Sarah Riley. I’ll let the doctor and captain know you’re up. How are you feeling?”
Rafe swallowed against a dry throat and asked, “Can you tell me if my girls are all right? They were on Zeus Lifeboat 19 headed for Vishnu.”
The marked decrease of Sarah’s smile froze his heart.
A minute later, all Rafe could get out of anyone, including the Tsu’s A.I., was that a ship had been dispatched to pick up his kids. There had been no word about Gita.
Both Apple and Sarah urged Rafe to relax. Retrieving the girls, however, hadn’t been part of the plan. He feared something had gone wrong. Only the doctor’s solemn promise that the captain had invited them all to an imminent briefing prevented Rafe from storming off to the CIC for answers.
Apple redirected him by asking, “How does it feel having your old face again?” He held up a mirror for Rafe to see.
The spy touched a cheek. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I can barely feel the swelling.” He added a belated, “Thank you.”
“The Wardens did it,” Apple said. “Make sure you eat with care. Even with the microscopic suturing, your body needs time to heal.”
The medical ministrations concluded, Lieutenant Riley gave Rafe a uniform to change into.
“Donated by our ops officer, Lieutenant Merrick, sir,” she said. “I noticed you two were about the same size. He offered to share a few sets. The XO loaned the rank.”
Once Rafe changed, the doctor and nurse escorted him to a conference room. Within moments, the captain arrived, followed by an entourage of mid-level officers and enlisted crew. The first thing Rafe noticed about Paulson was the look of five-kilogram sandbags tugging at her face. Doubtless, the captain had slept little in the past few days while she corralled their decimated fleet.
By an extreme act of will, Rafe endured a round of pleasantries before asking, “Ma’am, what is going on with my family?”
“Lilith claims to have redirected the life pods away from Vishnu toward Lakshmi,” she said.
The words struck Rafe’s psyche like a bomb. I could have gone to them. I could have, and I chose to… He cut the thought off as fruitless. He needed to know more first.
Paulson continued her briefing, saying, “The empress also made the craft dump their remaining propellant and fusion fuel so they will need a tug-ship to stop them on arrival. The only means of propulsion they have left are attitude jets.”
“But the Capable will reach them before they get to Lilith, right?” He heard himself and wanted to curse the weakness his tone implied, but after all he had endured, the numbing sensation overcoming his body felt worse than anything Lilith and her goons had done to him.
Paulson said, “Unfortunately, Lakshmi has sent the frigate Godavari to intercept the lifeboats. Every time the Capable ups its acceleration to arrive first, the frigate adjusts to guarantee an engagement.”
On hearing this, Rafe’s insides squeezed into a singularity of anguish. He wanted to scream. If only he had asked to go to the Capable instead, he could have rescued Karen and Anna. He would still have had time to use his immunity to protect much of the fleet. But of course, he couldn’t have known what would happen to them. And besides which, he reminded himself, he had a job to do. A million children like his might die if he didn’t stop Lilith.
“It’s like we spoke about before, ma’am,” Rafe said, sounding to himself like an automaton. “We’re in some sort of system-wide game, complete with special attacks that only Lilith seems to possess.”
A lieutenant to Paulson’s left spoke up. All eyes shifted to a man whose name tag read “Merrick.”
“Then everyone is agreed the Wardens are toying with us?” he said.
Paulson replied, “Most media outlets and many heads of state at Belia have said they believe so. Unfortunately, from what Hastings here has told us about that Henry Wilkinson, the Celesians are going along with it.”
Rafe asked, “Are we at war with Celes yet?”
“No,” Paulson said. “Officially, they’ve declared themselves neutral and offered to mediate between Lilith’s new government and Mykon.”
The prospect of what might happen to Anna and Karen began to haunt him. He tried to ignore it by asking, “Has there been any attempt to negotiate with Celes? They can’t like being played with any more than we do.”
“More to come on that,” Paulson replied, falling back on the age-old stand-in for “I don’t know.” She rubbed at the bridge of her nose and said, “Right now, we need anything else you can give us. The Capable may have to fight off the Lakshmian frigate headed for the life pods.”
Rafe felt heat rising in his cheeks—this was not what was supposed to happen. He pictured his girls caught in a space battle, blown into vacuum. “I’ll share everything I can think of, Captain,” Rafe said. “In point of fact, it might be best for the Capable to tempt Lilith to use more of her new weapons.”
What the hell are you doing? his heart screamed.
“That way our attack force will know more about what it is getting into,” he said.
And what about your girls? If Lilith gets a hold of them—
“You took the words out of my mouth,” Paulson said, calling up a map on the room’s viewing wall. She gestured first to the flotilla of twelve ships converging on a point some distance from Lakshmi. Then she highlighted the colony and its three defenders. “Except for the Godavari, which is advancing toward the lifeboats here, Lilith’s ships are keeping station near the colony.”
Rafe shook his head to clear it and asked, “Ma’am, before we go on, I have to know. Will we make it to Lakshmi before the lifeboats do?”
Captain Paulson regarded Rafe with an emotionless expression. After a moment’s pause she said, “No, we won’t.”
Restraining his anger at himself, Rafe studied the map. With him aboard, the Tsunami could defend their forces while they gathered. Otherwise, the Lakshmians might try to snipe the remaining Mykonian warships. They simply could not risk racing ahead to the lifeboats.
“At least the fleet is almost in position,” Rafe said, straining to form coherent thoughts through his reeling emotions. “There’s some good news though. If Lilith had the means of destroying all of our ships, she would have done it by now. She would have put Arbiters on fast yachts to let her shoot Casabas from them. She could have sniped us all at extreme range. Since she didn’t use them in her initial attack, I don’t believe she has many to spare.”
“A good point,” Paulson said. “Once we rendezvous with the fleet,” she continued, “we’ll interlink with the other ships to share the commander’s immunity. It will be tricky maneuvering, but it can work. And once we get there…” The woman called up a mission concept slide and signaled their operations officer, Lieutenant Merrick, to walk them through it.
Eventually, Paulson said, “Commander Hastings, anything to add?”
Rafe’s head snapped to the captain.
Rafe’s heart throttled, aching for his children. He was trembling. He opened his mouth. Then, without warning, Claire spoke.
“Priority Warden communication, Captain.”
Paulson rolled her neck. “What is it this time?”
“Ma’am, it’s addressed to you and Commande
r Hastings. And I recommend it be reviewed privately.”
Nothing short of someone holding a gun to his head could have further spiked Rafe’s adrenaline as those words did. For a moment, the senior officers stared at each other. Each suspected such a Warden missive would mean terrible news for at least one of them.
Paulson spoke with firm solemnity. “Everyone but Commander Hastings: clear the room.”
When they hovered alone, Rafe swallowed against a dry tongue then asked, “What’s the message?”
Claire said, “Effective immediately, MSV Tsunami functions are controlled by Commander Rafe Hastings and his designees only. End of message.”
For a stunned instant, neither Paulson nor Rafe could speak. Eventually, Rafe stated the obvious. “That’s not a coincidence.”
His inner demon hissed about how for the next 22 hours, he answered to the Wardens alone. He could go get his children.
A long moment passed before either of them spoke.
“They are playing with us,” Rafe said at last. He shut his eyes. “They know I’m going through hell because of my girls, and they’re tempting me.”
“It might not be that simple,” Paulson said, her voice detached. “The only reason the Tsunami isn’t in Lilith’s hands is that another Warden override freed our systems at the last moment.”
Rafe opened his eyes again. “What?”
“We didn’t save ourselves, Commander. The wipe and re-installation fix for the computers worked to clear Lilith’s overrides on the rest of the fleet, but the Tsu hadn’t finished the process before being released. The Wardens must be operating under some arbitrary rule set: playing for at least two sides. Otherwise, they’d make us surrender to Lilith outright.
“Then the fact I’m being given a choice at this exact moment means what? That we can win? That we should withdraw?”
The demons within called again for him to abandon the attack on Lakshmi and save his girls.
Paulson kept her peace. He could guess why. No doubt she was waiting to see if he’d agree with her plan on his own.
“Perhaps,” Rafe said. He broke off then repeated the word. “Perhaps…”
He yearned to give in with an intensity beyond anything Henry or Markem had been able to inspire. He started to shake his head.
“How can I…” he gasped, “let…”
Another part of him told himself to stop. He was a commander in the Mykonian Space Forces, and they were at war.
“I can’t…” Rafe said, his composure cracking. He only then realized with horror how far he’d slipped: how broken he’d become. He knew he’d take his kids’ place in an instant, but how could he live with himself knowing he’d let Lilith torture them?
He sensed his deceitful heart deciding for him.
His conscience mounted its final defense. Was he or wasn’t he a warrior?
Rafe’s face fell. He remembered something his father had taught him long ago: the only things he would ever truly own were the moral choices he made. It was time to make the right one.
His heart breaking, his body shaking, Rafe said, “We should attack ma’am. It’s our best chance. Claire!”
“Yes, Commander?”
“Tell the Wardens this ship doesn’t belong to me. Return control to Captain Paulson.”
“Acknowledged,” Claire said. “Done.”
The shipmaster put a hand on Rafe’s shoulder. Inside, he wondered how he'd be able to live with himself if something worse happened to his children.
21
Location: Lilith’s private estate, Lakshmi Colony_
At a break between meetings, Lilith retreated from the throngs of Dalip’s prickly administrators and headed down to her private command bunker. Henry followed, discretely, to ensure he would get to speak with her alone.
It’s time you answered for some things, he thought.
After giving her a minute, he stepped inside the control room. He found the empress’s hourglass figure silhouetted by the glow of the wall-sized displays. A three-dimensional grid map depicted Lakshmi colony and the vessels around it. Henry saw her focused on one icon in particular.
She said, “Rafe hasn’t altered the Tsunami’s course.”
Henry stepped forward, unsurprised he hadn’t snuck up on her. His hand traced a lazy circle. “That is an awfully large number of Mykonian warships coming our way.” He angled to regard her. “I could have told you diverting those escape pods here wouldn’t change things.”
Lilith gave Henry a sidelong glance. He didn’t know she had not been the one to alter their course. “Have you come to pick a fight, Henry?” she asked. “You don’t seem grateful for the treat I gave you last night.”
“This is serious, Lilith.”
“Alright. Then seriously, I think the Wardens thought the maneuver was worth a try. Otherwise, why would they have given control of the Tsunami to Rafe? They must have wanted him to go after the lifeboats. Almost certainly, somebody he cares about is on one of them.”
Henry made an exasperated sound. “We don’t know that the Wardens are acting in our best interests. Whatever this war game, I thought that at least you were their favorite piece. But then Rafe happened.”
Lilith folded her arms. “What’s really bothering you, Henry?” she asked.
Henry’s gaze narrowed. “Just for once, don’t play coy, Lilith. You waited till I’d gone to sleep to redirect those escape pods. I can’t advise you if you won’t consult me. Bringing those refugees here used up gods-know-how-many-more of your cache resources. Then, you forced Dalip to commit a badly needed ship to intercept the Capable. That’s a battle which needn’t be fought. And for what?”
At last, Lilith turned to Henry. A cold fire burned in her eyes. “I’m testing my weapons, taking out one more enemy ship, and above all, keeping the pressure on.” She huffed. “It’s one of the little lessons I learned in the brothels. If inflicting pain doesn’t solve your problems, then you simply aren’t using enough of it.”
“Pain didn’t work so well on Rafe,” Henry said with disdain.
Lilith said, “I didn’t have enough time with him was all.” She tapped a menu on the display, and the view skipped to the MSV Capable. “At least the Mykonians are finally showing some balls for us to slice.”
“That was never a problem,” Henry countered. “They have over a dozen warships at Belia on their way to shoot it out with Lakshmi’s four. You’ve admitted you don’t have enough Casabas to fight off a determined assault.”
Lilith stomped her foot and said, “I didn’t fiddle with those lifeboats, Henry. The Wardens did.”
The Celesian stared at her for a full second. “What?” he breathed.
“Yes,” she said with acid. “We’ll soon see how important the refugees are. But after Rafe escaped, do you honestly think the Mykonians wouldn’t have come after us?”
Henry paused, put his hands on his hips, then allowed his chin to dip. “Of course, we both saw that coming.”
“And we would have done something about it sooner,” Lilith added, “if we didn’t have to contend with that dithering General Parashar. I can’t understand why Dalip lets him head the military.”
Henry acknowledged the point with a grunt. He tried forcing a smile. It wasn’t easy at first, so he thought back to the night before. Tempered by his erotic reminiscences, Henry slid a hand around to the small of Lilith’s back.
He felt her body stiffen, so he told her, “Knowing that the Wardens are still helping certainly casts this in a new light. Just please trust that I have your best interests in mind. We have to be careful not to get caught in a weakened position should the Wardens start giving the Mykonians some special toys too.”
“I know,” Lilith said, smothering her annoyance. “I know.”
“Good,” Henry muttered. “Remember, your failure is my failure. Your success is my success.” He raised the back of Lilith’s hand to his lips and added, “My empress.”
Lilith regarded the gesture with a s
oftened, almost surprised expression. Despite their games of mutual exploitation, Henry suspected the flicker of vulnerability in her face was genuine.
“I appreciate your help, Henry,” she said. “I mean it.”
About damn time, he thought. Now, if only you’d start listening to me.
Their quarrel abated, Lilith turned her head back to the display. A crease broke over her brow. “Tell me honestly, are you still confident the Mykonians don't have an Arbiter of their own at Belia?”
Please, don’t start obsessing about your Achilles heel.
He said, “You know we can’t be sure, but I don’t believe so. Celesian intelligence thinks they may have one or two at Mykon. It will be three months, at least, before they can send any here.”
Lilith nodded and uncrossed her arms.
She said, “That’s time enough to gather our strength.” Pinching her fingers, the image before them widened to encompass the cluster of nearby space habitats. “The real question then is what to do about the other colonies. I don’t think wooing my subjects is an option now. Not after the hope that Rafe’s escape gave them.”
“Yes,” Henry said. “All of the leadership is waiting to see how this fight with the Tsunami’s fleet plays out. It’s too late to stop them invading.”
“Then we’re agreed. Everyone’s attitude needs adjusting,” Lilith said.
The spy nodded solemnly. He anticipated that the empress’s next words would most likely mean a horrific death for many, many people.
They both knew if no one else joined Lilith’s new empire they would have to wait for the reinforcements she had purchased from Celes. But those ships wouldn’t arrive for months. And if the Mykonians had an Arbiter of their own, it would only be a matter of time before they brought it to Belia to let them fire on Lakshmi. She needed a stronger defense.
In an off-handed manner, Lilith told him, “I noticed the president of Ganesha has been particularly sour about my ascension to power.”