by G J Ogden
“At least we have some spare parts in case she gets injured again,” said Banks, gesturing to the robot warriors below them.
“I’m already wondering whether to just have Razor tear them all down for scrap,” replied Sterling. He wasn’t joking; the idea had crossed his mind.
“Think of it this way, these things will either make life easier for us or they’ll murder us in our sleep,” Banks said, with a fatalistic nonchalance that Sterling found unsettling.
“I hadn’t considered that they might murder me in my sleep,” Sterling admitted. “I thought they might tear me apart while I was fully conscious, but being murdered by them in my sleep is a new thing for me to fret about, so thanks for that.”
“Don’t mention it, Captain,” Banks replied, nudging Sterling with her shoulder. As usual, his first-officer had forgotten her own strength and almost toppled Sterling over.
“How are the repairs coming along?” Sterling then said, once he’d regained his balance. Jinx adjusted her position so that she was once again resting against Sterling’s boot. Sterling didn’t mind this time – he was just eager to move the conversation away from rampaging murder bots.
“Razor is in her element, as you might expect,” Banks replied. “I swear she likes it when the ship gets beat up, just so she can fix it and correct all the mistake she says Fleet engineers have made.”
“Don’t knock it, we need her,” Sterling hit back. “We’re a long way from any repair dock, so without her mechanical wizardry we could be stranded out here forever.”
“There’s a cheery thought,” said Banks.
“You mean like robots murdering me in my sleep?” Sterling countered.
“Touché…”
The captain and first officer continued to peer down at the Obsidian Solders for a while longer. Neither felt the need to speak. They were comfortable enough in each other’s presence that these silences were not awkward. On the contrary, Sterling found them peaceful and he enjoyed sharing the calm with his first officer. His mind wandered and suddenly Captain Blake’s comment about Sterling having no friends entered his thoughts. In truth, it had been playing on his mind for some time. The comment hadn’t hurt his feelings; Sterling had never felt the need for close acquaintances. Even so, Ariel Gunn had been the closest person to a friend he’d ever had. That was until Mercedes Banks had come along. Whether what they had was friendship or mere camaraderie he didn’t know. He didn’t even know if there was a difference between these two relationship states. What he did know was that he liked it more when Banks was around than when she was not. And that – at least for Lucas Sterling – was a unique feeling.
“So, if we do get stuck out here forever, what, or who, would you miss?” Sterling asked.
It was a roundabout and fairly clunky way of trying to get to know his first officer a little better. Sterling realized that beyond her service record and Omega Directive test, he knew barely anything about her.
“No-one,” replied Banks, with a brusque shrug of her shoulders.
“There has to be something, surely?” said Sterling, surprised by her curt response.
“You’ve read my file so you already know my story,” Banks replied. She then cocked her head to the side and shot Sterling a quizzical look. “Why are you asking?”
“I don’t read the personal stuff in the files,” Sterling admitted. “I’ve never really considered any of it relevant.”
“So why is it relevant now?” said Banks, still regarding him with an inquiring eye.
“I don’t know,” Sterling replied. In essence, that was the truth. He didn’t really know why he was asking. “Just humor me, okay?”
Banks shrugged. “Okay,” she said, pressing her lips into a pout and suddenly appearing deep in thought. “I was born on Shepherd Colony in G-Sector,” she began, now staring into space at nothing in particular. “There’s not much to do on a farming colony so I got into trouble a lot.”
“That figures,” Sterling replied, receiving another nudge for his trouble, though this time it was a little gentler.
“My father left when I was still in single digits, I don’t really remember when,” Banks continued. “My mother took it hard. She stuck it out for a few more years until she took too much Warp and fried her brain.”
Sterling scowled. “That’s some kind of drug, right?” he asked. He vaguely remembering reading about the narcotic, but knew little about it.
Banks nodded. “It grew like wildfire on Shepherd Colony. Almost everyone was into it, but not me.”
“I’m proud of you, Commander,” Sterling said, sarcastically. He realized he should probably have given a more sincere reaction, but personal conversations made him feel awkward. He remembered that was why he never had them.
“So, I ended up in the system, moving between foster homes and juvenile detention centers until I was old enough to join,” Banks went on, either not hearing or ignoring Sterling’s earlier comment. “Understandably, Fleet recruiters were more than a little wary of me until I aced the entrance tests. Then they discovered my unique abilities and I got bumped to officer candidate school. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“Sounds like a lonely upbringing,” commented Sterling.
Banks shrugged again. “People never wanted to be around me because of my strength and my temper,” she went on. “On an inner colony world, I’d have been in a jail somewhere by the time I was fourteen. On the outer colonies, if you can’t fight you don’t survive.”
Sterling nodded, though in truth he didn’t really understand. His own childhood had been completely different in most respects.
“The captain’s console was always in my blood,” Sterling said, after another period of quiet reflection. “I grew up on Mars. Both my folks were career fleet, like their folks before them. All of them died on the bridges of their ships before they were thirty-five.”
Banks glanced over at Sterling. “How old are you again?” she asked, with a twinkle in her eye.
“Not quite old enough to break that particular curse,” replied Sterling. He managed to see the funny side, though Banks’ comment only reminded him that, traditionally, the Sterling family had not been built to last. “And the way things are going, I doubt I’ll be setting any records for the longest surviving ‘Captain Sterling’ in my family,” he added.
“The other Captain Sterlings didn’t have a Mercedes Banks at their side,” Banks said, nudging Sterling for a third time. Jinx stirred momentarily then went back to sleep on his boot.
“Then that makes me the luckiest Captain Sterling that ever lived,” Sterling replied, shooting a smile at his first officer. Banks smiled back and for a few seconds they held each other's gaze, until it quickly became awkward and both had to turn away.
“Captain, Commander, am I disturbing you?”
Sterling looked around to see Lieutenant Razor on the walkway behind them. She was holding James Colicos’ PDA and had activated her own computer on her left wrist.
“Not at all, Lieutenant, what is it?” Sterling said.
“I’ve been studying Colicos’ initial research from Far Deep Nine,” Razor began. The engineer appeared to be practically fizzing with energy. “The man was brilliant, truly. Even his initial observations and ideas were insightful and…”
“Yes, he was a very smart man,” Sterling interrupted. The last thing he wanted to hear was a eulogy about how great James Colicos was. “But for a bona-fide genius he was also an idiot,” Sterling went on. “What have you found, Lieutenant?”
“Colicos took my neural firewall design, the one I used to hack into the mind of the Sa’Nerran commander without being turned,” Razor went on. Then she stopped and reconsidered her words. “Well, at least not turned yet, anyway.”
“Lieutenant, if you don’t get to the point soon, I may just press the nuke button on your brain and be done with it,” Sterling commented. Banks smiled, though Razor appeared neither amused not offended.
“He took m
y design and within a couple of hours had made it orders of magnitude more efficient and effective,” Razor continued. “He also figured out a way to program the firewall into our neural implants. It’s a simple procedure that would take me no more than a few minutes per crew member.”
Sterling pushed himself off the railings. Razor had just got his attention. “What sort of protection will it offer, Lieutenant?” Sterling said. He noticed that Jinx was still asleep on his boot. The act of him springing off the railings had not woken the dog.
“At this stage, I can’t be certain, sir, and honestly the only way to know for sure is to test it,” Razor replied.
“Test it?” Banks cut in. “You mean someone has to get turned to know how effective it is?”
“Basically, yes, Commander,” Razor replied, bluntly. “But based on how my initial firewall worked and the many improvements Colicos has made, it’s a fair guess to say the firewall could protect someone from the effects of the control weapon indefinitely.”
Sterling clapped a hand over his fist. “Good work, Lieutenant!” he said, feeling like things were finally going their way. “Refine the procedure then when you’re ready to test it, inform me directly.”
“Aye, sir,” Razor replied.
Razor was about to leave when Sterling had a thought. “Lieutenant, wait,” he called out to her. The tall, white-haired engineer stopped and turned, standing to attention. “This firewall, will it have any additional benefit to your condition?” he asked.
“Negative, Captain, it will not help to undo the neural damage I’ve already suffered,” Razor answered. There was no sadness or regret in her voice. She was merely answering a direct question with direct, factual response.
“I asked that asshole scientist to study your condition too,” Sterling went on, hopeful that there was something more they could do for her. From a purely selfish point of view, this was because he needed his chief engineer. However, he also liked Razor. He liked her directness and her efficiency. “Is there anything on that pad that can help you too?”
This time Razor seemed less certain in her response. “Perhaps, Captain, though I have not yet had time to examine that data.”
“Make sure you find the time, Lieutenant, that’s an order,” Sterling hit back. “Enlist Commander Graves to help. I’ll make sure he understands it’s a priority.”
“I will sir,” Razor replied. “Thank you.”
“Thank me when this is all over and we have a dozen medals hanging from our chests, Lieutenant,” Sterling replied.
“Being discharged from the service and having enough time left to enjoy life outside Fleet is all I ask, Captain,” Razor replied.
Sterling nodded, remembering his engineer’s unique motivation for excelling. “If there’s anywhere left for us to go when this war is over, I’ll see to it that you get the freedom to choose. Until then, I need you in engineering, doing what you do best.”
Razor was about to leave when Banks stopped her. “Hold up, assuming we retake the Vanguard, don’t Fleet regulations require an officer with a minimum rank of Lieutenant Commander to run the engineering section of a dreadnaught?”
Banks was smiling, which suggested she had made the comment in jest. However, Sterling realized his first-officer had a point.
“That’s actually true,” Sterling said, straightening his tunic in readiness to give a field promotion to his engineer on the spot. “But that’s a problem I’m happy to rectify right now.”
“I appreciate that, sir, but no thank you,” Razor replied, politely. “All I want is to be discharged, not promoted.”
Sterling smiled. “As you wish,” he replied, returning a respectful nod to his engineer. “You’re dismissed.”
Lieutenant Razor departed, again leaving Sterling, Banks and a sleeping Acting-Ensign Jinx alone on the balcony overlooking the horde of robot warriors.
“Well, that was surprising,” said Banks. She cocked her head toward Sterling and shot him another of her mischievous smiles. “You can promote me, if you like?” she added. “I'll be captain, and you can be a commodore.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works, Mercedes,” Sterling hit back. “I can’t just promote myself.”
Banks shrugged. “Technically, we’ve been disowned by Fleet, anyway, so perhaps it’s time we started making our own rules and ranks?”
“In all honesty, I think we’ve been doing that since the very beginning,” replied Sterling. He then slapped his first-officer on the shoulder. “Come on, there’s a number twenty-seven in the wardroom with my name on it. Care to join me?”
“It’s a date,” said Banks. “As long as I get to eat your crusts.”
Sterling laughed. “It’s not like I can stop you.”
He invited Banks to lead the way and followed at her side. However, they’d barely made it to the door leading off the cargo bay when Sterling felt a neural link forming in his mind. And from the look on his first officer’s face, Banks had received the connection too.
“Go ahead, Lieutenant,” said Sterling, accepting the link from his weapons officer.
“We’ve picked up the Vanguard, Captain,” Shade said. If she had been pleased by this fact, Sterling could not detect it in her voice or emotions. “It’s right where Griffin projected it to be, though it’s a few weeks out at our current best speed.”
“That’s closer than I expected,” Sterling admitted. After Razor’s warning that their rebound-surge could send them way off course, he was half-expecting to be months away from the Vanguard. However, he sensed that something was bothering his weapons officer. Shade was an expert at hiding her emotions, but the link between their minds also cut a hole through her armor. “Is there something else, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, Captain,” Shade replied. Sterling felt a darkness fill his mind. “There is another ship on long-range scanners, sir. It’s too far away for us to get a clear reading, but we can tell where it’s headed.”
Sterling cursed. “Let me guess, it’s heading toward the Vanguard too?”
“Yes, Captain, I believe so,” replied Shade.
“So, here’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, Lieutenant,” Sterling went on, glancing at Banks. “Who is going to get there first?”
There was a moment of pause before Shade answered. “At the moment, sir, they will.”
Sterling cursed again. “Thank you, Lieutenant, log that ship and monitor it closely,” he replied. “If it changes course or pings a scan in our direction, I want to know about it.”
“Aye, sir. Shade out,” the weapons officer replied. Then the link went dead.
“Looks like boosting our engines is another job to add to Lieutenant Razor’s growing list of chores,” said Commander Banks, folding her powerful arms across her chest.
“I’ll get her right on it, along with the dozen other things she’s already doing to keep us alive,” Sterling replied. “First, though, let’s eat.”
“Now you’re speaking my language,” said Banks, hitting the door controls.
The door swished open and Banks was about to step outside when she stopped and looked around her feet. Glancing back toward the balcony, Sterling spotted that Jinx was still asleep by the railings. Banks let out a sharp, shrill whistle and the dog pricked up her ears and came bounding over to them.
“There’s a good little doggy!” said Banks, bending down and rubbing the Beagle’s ears. “Grumpy Captain Sterling has some nice grilled ham and cheese for you. Would you like that? Yes, you would!”
Sterling shook his head at his first officer in dismay. “I don’t know what it is about that dog that turns you into a gibbering fool,” he said, as the three of them set off along the corridor.
“Come on, admit it, Captain. Jinx has been our lucky mascot,” Banks hit back. “We’d have been stabbed to death, incinerated, blown up or had our heads blasted off a dozen times by now if it wasn’t for Ensign Jinx’s influence.”
Sterling was far from convinced that the B
eagle had provided any material benefits, other than improving the mood of his first officer. However, that achievement was worthy enough in itself, he realized.
“Fine, but it’s still not getting any of my grilled ham and cheese,” Sterling said, glancing down at the dog, which was merrily trotting along at their side.
“Aye, Captain, whatever you say,” said Banks, raising an eyebrow at him.
This time Sterling took the lead, moving through the ship toward the wardroom, nodding and saluting at the crew members he passed by in the corridors. He knew their faces, if still not all of their names. More importantly, he knew that they had served their ship and its captain with distinction. This was despite the heavy price their mission had exacted – a price that was only set to get steeper. He knew not all of them would survive. He knew he would likely have to send some of them to their deaths. He would not do it lightly, or with casual disregard for their lives. He was cold, but not reckless. Whatever sacrifices they still had to make would be necessary, no matter how hard the decisions were and no matter the personal cost. In truth, Sterling had already considered himself lost, yet right at that moment he felt more purpose than he’d ever felt in his life before.
Out in the darkness lay the Fleet Dreadnaught Vanguard; a weapon capable of destruction on an apocalyptic scale. However, another ship was aiming to beat them to this prize. Sterling would not allow that to happen. The stakes were simply too high.
The Sa’Nerra meant to destroy Earth, and with the fall of F-sector they had come one step closer. Fleet had been on the run for years. For years the aliens had pushed back their lines, destroyed human colonies and turned human against human.
Now, it was payback time.
The end (to be continued).
Continue the journey
Continue the journey with book five: Dreadnaught. Click the cover to learn more.