Homeward: The Ship Series // Book Three

by Jerry Aubin

  The Boss left. Major Eryn smiled at him from the opposite seat.

  “Well done, cadet. Well done. I’ll take care of post-flight. You should go get ready. You and Kalare will accompany the Boss while Mase and I remain with the shuttles.”

  The major’s tone was so shockingly warm that Zax feared he was blushing. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  Zax was walking through the shuttle to grab his kit bag when his name was called. His heart sank when he turned and discovered Aleron.

  “Hey, Zax. Great job flying.”

  Aleron stared at him expectantly, and Zax was so taken aback that he answered automatically.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m glad I ran into you. I know it’s a crazy time right now for what I’m going to say, but I’ve been trying to catch a moment alone with you and it almost feels like you’ve been actively avoiding me. Kalare will kill me if she knows I talked with you about this, but I’m going to trust you to do whatever you feel is best with that knowledge. I realize you don’t have any reason to believe anything that comes out of my mouth, but I need you to put that aside right now and hear me out.”

  Zax shrugged noncommittally and Aleron continued.

  “She hasn’t told me what drove you two apart, but she’s talked about the result a lot. She’s torn up. She doesn’t know how things can be fixed, but she wants to figure it out more than anything.”

  “Huh? She sure isn’t acting that way. I keep extending peace gestures, and she shoots them down instantly.”

  “I know, Zax. I know. She’s confused. She cares about you an awful lot, but she says you guys have some huge differences.” Aleron paused before adding the rest. “I’m guessing that one of those might have to do with how she’s become friends with me. If that’s true, and if me pushing her away would help the situation between you two, just say the word.”

  Zax was momentarily speechless. “What’s going on here? Have I fallen through a black hole and entered some strange dimension where you’re an actual human being?”

  “Yep—I deserve that. I agree you shouldn’t trust me. And yet—here I stand asking you to trust me.”

  “Why?”

  “Simple—because I owe you both. I finally managed to track down those officers who the Boss sent off during the Revolution. They’re dead. I would be too if I had gone with them, and you two are the reason I didn’t. I know you don’t think I’m all that bright, but I’m smart enough to recognize the debt I owe.”

  “Cadet Zax—why are you making us wait for you?”

  Sergeant Bailee’s voice boomed through the empty shuttle. While Zax turned to acknowledge the man, Aleron walked away in the opposite direction without another word. Zax was stunned by such a generous offer from his lifelong foe, but he didn’t have time to consider it any further with the Marine barking at him. He sprinted to where his kit bag lay and lifted it up off the deck with both hands. His growth over the last two years meant its weight didn’t nearly tip him over this time around, but it was still crazy heavy. He ran to where Bailee stood tapping his foot.

  “My apologies, Sergeant.”

  “That’s the best you can do when we’re almost twenty secs past our planned departure time because of you?”

  There might have been a glimmer of humor in the man’s eyes, but it was gone in a flash if it ever really existed. Zax cranked up his pace and ran out of the shuttle to where the rest of the landing party had assembled. The Crew from Flight were off to one side quietly talking amongst themselves. The Marines of Charlie Company were arrayed by platoon around the landing pad. They bristled with a fearsome energy and were clearly prepared for their mission—whatever it might bring.

  The Boss pitched his voice loud enough to silence everyone.

  “Today, for the first time in the Ship’s history, we will make contact with the descendants of our colonists. We don’t know what this experience is going to be like for them given we are many generations removed from anyone who knew the Ship first hand. I want you to remember the briefing and treat the colonists with caution, but don’t lose sight of the fact we’re about to encounter human beings. Whatever happens, I want you to exercise the utmost care and only harm any of the colonists if they represent an immediate and significant threat. Major—”

  “Thank you, sir.” Major Odon turned to his Marines. “I want Second Platoon to evaluate the southern half of the colony and Third Platoon to check the northern half. First Platoon will stay with me and our VIPs as we head into the main administration area. Stay sharp, Marines!”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” thundered Charlie Company.

  The platoons dispersed as directed, and Zax fell into step behind Sergeant Bailee. The Boss walked near the front of the formation with Imair on his left and Kalare on his right. They were surrounded, albeit unobtrusively, by a protective detail commanded by Bailee. Zax assumed this group included Marines hidden in ChamWare, though he had not yet seen any indications they were more than a rumor.

  Zax tried to appreciate the beauty around him. Unlike his last sortie on a planet, Zax walked unencumbered by the sealed, sterile experience of ChamWare. There were also no man-eating trees to worry about this time around. Only a beautiful, near-perfect planet with abundance as far as the eye could see. He basked in the sweet smell of ripe fruit on the gentle breeze, the call of the animals from the trees, and the warmth of the sun on his face. He was legitimately tempted to run away from all of his frustrations back on the Ship and disappear into the jungle never to be seen again. Zax’s reverie was interrupted when the Boss called for a halt in front of the colony’s central building.

  “Major Odon—send in a team to evaluate the administration building. It’s probably going to be the same as every other abandoned colony we’ve visited. I’d just as soon spend as much time as I can outside.”

  Odon nodded and with a flurry of hand signals dispatched a squad of Marines along with a team from Engineering into the building. Zax was relieved to remain outside as he had zero interest in exploring a creepy, empty building. He breathed deep and spied from a distance as Kalare appeared to do the same. She caught his eye for a moment and then pointedly turned away. Zax considered approaching but ultimately held off to see if a better opportunity presented itself. A few mins later the group returned and reported there was nothing of interest inside the building. The Boss nodded and then spoke to the larger group once more.

  “We’ve heard from the other platoons, and the entire colony is as boring as this building. It’s time to head into the jungle and find the colonists. We know they’re in there somewhere even though something about this vegetation is preventing our sensors from getting a precise lock on their position. Be ready for anything!”

  The group plunged into the dense jungle. The darkness created by the thick canopy descended like a massive weight and threatened to suffocate Zax. As they moved deeper and deeper into the trees, the sounds of animals became more and more sporadic until finally they were surrounded by eerie silence.

  Crack!

  The snapping branch was off to Zax’s left. He concluded it must belong to a Marine in ChamWare since he spun his head instantly and found nothing. He stopped and listened.

  Lub-DUB, Lub-DUB.

  Lub-DUB, Lub-DUB.

  Lub-DUB, Lub-DUB.

  Zax’s heart pounded in his ears so loudly it threatened to render him otherwise deaf. His eyes had finally adjusted to the gloom, but the lack of light bathed his surroundings in monochromatic uniformity. The jungle was so thick it almost obscured the other people who were nearby. Until—movement off to the side!

  THWACK!

  A female voice screamed in pain. The jungle lit up with blaster fire. Zax ducked behind a tree, and a couple secs later the Major called a halt to the fire.

  “What is it? Who has eyes on a target?”

  No one spoke. Once again, the jungle was flooded with silence.

  Zax peeked around the tree. He was about to step out when he saw them. Eyes! They were
clearly human and yet somehow wildly foreign. They stared out from the face of a boy who was the same size as Zax. The boy was almost entirely camouflaged against the jungle backdrop, and it was only the darting back and forth of his eyes which had betrayed his position. He held a blade in one hand and some form of stringed weapon in his other. Zax froze and pinged Bailee on his Plug.

  “Sergeant—there’s a human boy almost directly at your six. He’s facing away from you toward me. Next to the tree with the notch three meters off the ground.”

  On the other side of the boy, Bailee turned and looked toward Zax. He continued to watch, and Zax assumed the man was communicating with someone via his Plug. Five secs later there was a rush of noise and the boy had been disarmed and was floating upside down with his head half a meter above the ground. He struggled furiously for a few secs until his head suddenly snapped back and he was knocked unconscious. A disembodied head materialized as a Marine raised the visor on his ChamWare.

  “I’ve got him, Sergeant.”

  Zax was trying to fully process the sight when the Boss cried out.

  “I need a medic—the President is down!”

  31

  She's practically gone!

  “Kalare—come here now! I need another pair of hands!”

  She had already been on the move when the Boss called for a medic, but the tone of his voice made Kalare sprint the last ten meters to his position. Imair lay on the ground, sprawled on her side. Even in the gloom of the jungle, it was clear the civilian was in extreme pain. She had been impaled by a wooden shaft that was carved to a point on one end and had colorful feathers affixed to the other. The sharp end dripped blood after entering a few centimeters to the side of Imair’s navel and exiting her back at an angle. The Boss had removed his shirt and used part of it as a compress to stanch the bleeding of the exit wound. He hollered at Kalare as she approached.

  “Grab that other part of my shirt and compress it around the entrance wound! She’s bleeding heavily in the back, and we need to keep as much blood in her as we can.”

  Kalare did as instructed. There was nowhere near as much bleeding from the entrance wound as there was from the exit, but the shirt was quickly soaked through nonetheless. The Boss called out again.

  “Where’s my medic?”

  Bailee showed up and evaluated the scene in silence before addressing the Boss.

  “Sir—we’ve captured the shooter. It was a young boy. He’s unconscious right now but can be revived whenever you’re ready to interrogate him.”

  “Where’s the medic? She’s going to bleed out!”

  Imair continued to writhe in pain, but the Boss’s words caught her attention. She opened her eyes and looked up at Kalare.

  “Is it really that bad, cadet?”

  Kalare smiled at the civilian. “Ma’am—we’ll get you patched up quick and you’ll be as good as new.” She didn’t think it was a true statement based on the amount of blood seeping onto the ground, but she wanted to help calm the woman. A min later there was less blood coming out of the entrance wound, though Kalare didn’t know if the change was due to the pressure she had applied or to the fact that Imair didn’t have much more blood left to lose. It was more likely the latter given how the woman had stopped her struggle against the pain and descended into unconsciousness.

  A Marine medic finally arrived. She approached nonchalantly and tapped the Boss on the shoulder. The Omega looked up at her and yelled.

  “Where the hell have you been, Corporal?”

  “My apologies, sir. One of my squadmates twisted an ankle diving for cover when the shooting started. I assumed the civilian should wait while I took care of him first.”

  Kalare had been around the Boss enough to recognize the man was enraged by the Marine’s response, but he moved aside to allow the woman to evaluate the situation. She put her pack on the ground next to Imair and removed a medkit. It was identical to the ones back on the Ship except for being shrunk down so as to be portable. The medic extracted the diagnostic wand from the device and waved it over Imair’s body starting at the exit wound on her back and moving around to the entrance wound on her belly.

  Red symbols flashed on the display which Kalare understood to mean the civilian was in dire condition, and yet the Marine moved without urgency. The corporal configured the medkit by attaching two identical rectangular devices to it via transparent hoses which plugged into identical ports. The Boss appeared to become more and more agitated by the medic’s slow and deliberate movements. The Marine eventually turned to the Omega.

  “Sir—she has a punctured kidney. I have to remove the shaft before we can stop the bleeding. I need you and the cadet to hold her down. She’s out cold now, but as soon as I start pulling this thing out, she’s likely to wake up screaming.”

  The Boss nodded in agreement. He gestured for Kalare to hold the civilian’s legs, and he pinned down her torso and arms. The medic counted down.

  “Three—two—one—now!”

  As expected, Imair’s eyes went wide and she struggled furiously when the medic pulled the shaft out of her body. It took all of Kalare’s strength to keep the woman’s legs on the ground. The entrance and exit wounds, which had previously slowed to a seep, once again spewed copious blood. The medic placed her face in front of Imair’s and spoke with a sharp tone.

  “You need to stop moving! You’re making the bleeding worse, and I won’t be able to stop it!”

  The Marine’s words got Imair’s attention and she stopped struggling, though her legs continued to shake under Kalare’s grip. The civilian’s eyes, which a moment earlier had gone wide in terror and pain, started to dull. An alarm bleated on the medkit, and the Boss glared at the medic.

  “Get moving, Marine! She’s practically gone!”

  The corporal placed one of the rectangular devices against the entrance wound, and it formed a seal. She repeated the process around the exit wound with the other device and then initiated treatment. Instead of the green liquid that Kalare remembered being used to treat the Boss during the Revolution, the tubes filled with a bright yellow solution. It must have included some form of anesthetic because Imair’s legs instantly stopped shaking. Kalare relaxed, and the medic signaled for her to release her hold. There were now a few more people around the scene. Major Odon stood next to Bailee, and Rege stood off to the side behind them. The male civilian observed the scene intently, though his expression was impenetrable.

  The Boss released his hold on Imair and rose from the ground. He took the clean shirt Bailee held out to him and spoke once he put it on.

  “Major—I need you to supervise the remaining treatment. I will hold you personally responsible if the President doesn’t survive. Bailee—let’s go find out why this boy decided he needed to shoot at us without asking any questions first. Kalare—come with me. There’s no sense in you hanging around here any longer since the Marines finally have the situation under control.”

  Kalare followed the Boss and Bailee into the jungle back the way they came, and a min later they encountered a bizarre scene. A Marine in ChamWare had removed his visor but otherwise remained invisible. His face hung all by itself in the air two meters above a boy who was slumped unconscious on the ground. Zax was off to the side, leaning against a tree. He caught Kalare’s eye with a tentative smile, but she turned away without acknowledgement.

  Deep down Kalare wanted to let things get back to normal with Zax, but she found herself keeping him at arm’s length. Their final argument was fairly innocuous in hindsight, but it was the culmination of a long line of disagreements about the Boss and conspiracies involving the man which Zax imagined were hidden around every corner. Kalare’s experience with the Omega had been nothing but positive in all the time she had dealt with him. Her feelings about the man’s character were only strengthened by what she had just witnessed. The Boss had just fought to save a woman he otherwise should have wished dead. Zax refused to listen to any reasoning that might conclude the man
was innocent, and Kalare found it exhausting.

  She didn’t want to sit back and watch Zax throw his career away again, but that was the most likely outcome given his behavior. If Kalare was unable to save him from himself, then why should she risk the immense pain of being up close while he self-destructed a second time? Even with all of that clear in her mind, she still didn’t want to give up on him. Not without at least one more run at trying to get his head right. Maybe a better outcome was possible if Kalare focused more on how her frustration wasn’t about defending the Boss but rather about wanting to protect Zax. He just might listen to that. She had to try and resolved to do so soon.

  The Boss and Bailee approached the young colonist. The sergeant hefted the unconscious form and held the boy upright with his arms pinned behind his back. The Boss reached out with the knuckles of his right hand and dug them vigorously into the boy’s sternum. The pain forced the colonist to stir and then struggle, but his strength was no match for the Marine who restrained him. The Omega stood back and allowed the boy to shake off his disorientation.

  He wore animal skins and had painted his skin to blend into the jungle, but otherwise the young colonist looked just like any other boy. That assessment changed when he finally opened his eyes. They contained dark brown irises so huge they barely left room for any white within the sockets. Dominating each iris was an equally massive, inky-black pupil. Kalare assumed it was all a genetic adaptation to living in such dense and dark jungle, and it signaled how the colonists must have abandoned their more traditional living arrangements many generations ago.

  If the Boss was as shocked by the appearance of the boy’s eyes as Kalare, he didn’t show it. He stared intently at the boy and gave him a warm smile once it was clear the young colonist had regained full consciousness.