by Drew Bell
Chapter 37
The Admiral faced silently out of the bridge’s panoramic view; Phlasia was indeed a remarkable beauty, far better than his memories would have led him to believe. He could almost stare out at it for days; its warm glow seemed to fill his stomach and heart. A cold voice broke his concentration;
“They will soon reach the bridge.” Doctor Melric approached.
“I know.” The Admiral tried to refocus on the planet.
A female crew member spoke up:
“Admiral Sir, we are picking up a strange vessel signature…” She was interrupted.
“Sir, unless you act now you will lose your opportunity.” The Doctor spoke loudly over the female crew member, the Callos busy at their consoles stopped to watch the reaction of the Admiral; he had never been second guessed.
“I have decided against abandoning Phlasia. I have allowed enough pain, I have failed the Convoy. We will harvest as planned.” The Admiral responded.
“But, unless we continue past Phlasia, after the harvest you risk complacency.” Melric tried.
“Our people rely on Phlasia, to simply move past would be foolhardy.” The Admiral turned.
“What then will you do about Captain Barras and his insurrection?” Melric’s voice was raised, he began to quake with anger. A female Callos crew member hurried her pace off of the catwalk to hide at her console, getting out from between them.
“I have decided to call off my soldiers; there is no reason for infighting. I am not too stubborn to admit I was wrong.” The Admiral confessed.
“Sir!” Melric shouted, storming towards the Admiral, “You are making a mistake!”
“No. I am done hiding the truth. I need to tell the Convoy the truth, show them the human. It’s not right!” The Admiral shouted in response, the Callos crew now stopped everything to watch the Admiral.
“I am the Convoy! I decide what is right and what isn’t!” Melric snapped as he pushed the Admiral from the catwalk on top of a frightened Callos navigator. The whole bridge fell silent; the bridge’s soldiers remained still.
The Callos in the room began to stir.
“Get out! All of you!” Melric ordered all of them; the Callos crew emptied out of the bridge, two soldiers remained at the door.
“Arrest him!” The Admiral shouted at his soldiers.
“No, they answer to me.” Melric hissed from above, he jumped down to the Admiral’s level. “Because I am the Admiral now!” he sneered.
“You’re insane.” Admiral Latarr spat as he jumped to his feet and swung a punch at Melric. Two of Melric’s teeth fell unto the floor, Melric swung his arms back and kicked the Admiral in the stomach; he fell back into a navigation console, his gun skittered across the floor.
“What good are you without your title?” Melric chuckled, kicking the Admiral in the gut, “None.” He answered.
“Bring it here!” Melric shouted to the soldier at the door holding a metallic case.
“Do you want to know something?” Melric asked the Admiral.
The soldier brought the metallic case and undid the latches, a keypad sat in the protective foam around it.
“All I ever wanted was your respect.” The Admiral tried to swing a punch, but Melric stepped on his groin; crippling him. “But you made a stupid mistake; the human was of extreme value. I began to think; how can I use this situation to get the respect I need, when I decided; to get such respect I needed to be Admiral!” Melric laughed.
“I did it!” Melric continued, holding the Admiral by the collar; “Your rash decision to attack the Aurrus angered Barras and his crew enough for them to stage a coup. When they get here, I will have arrested you. I will be placed in command.”
The Admiral’s eyes shifted to the metallic case, Melric laughed:
“Oh, this is the trigger to the Idinium weapon you made. Quite ingenious, I must say. Alas, you felt the need to use it on Phlasia too.”
Melric reached his hand into his pocket and pulled a key, which he twisted into the miniature console, he typed in his passcode.
“Activate.” He said as he pressed the green button. The whole vessel shuddered; metal creaked and a bright streak of blue shot from the belly of CLERGY 1 at Phlasia.
“Take this for me to the Council Chamber.” Melric calmly directed the soldiers, “I will meet you there shortly.”
The two soldiers left the room. The Admiral and Melric were alone, the enormous wide window in front of them a panoramic view of Phlasia’s destruction.
“It will freeze over. In the chaos they will turn to me. You will go down as the most notorious villain in the Convoy’s history.” Melric explained putting his face close to the Admiral’s.
The Admiral head-butted Melric who fell to the floor; the Admiral then reached for his gun and leveled it at Melric’s head.
“Looks like you made a mistake.” He said looking down the sight, “Only the winner writes history.”
“Don’t shoot me. You need me to type the deactivation code.” Melric warned, “It was an intentional safeguard.”
“Fine. You and I both will head down to the Council Chamber. You deactivate the weapon. I should never have believed you, the human was right; you were using me.” The Admiral said with a mixture of anger and betrayal.
“Believe me. The human is very dangerous; he will kill all of you!” Melric tried.
“Your lies won’t work on me, I see now that you are the monster.” The Admiral ushered him to the door, it hissed open; Captain Barras and Yelric stood in the corridor. Both raised their guns at the Admiral who had Melric in front as a shield.
“Release him!” Barras shouted.
“No. He is a traitor!” The Admiral shouted, “He has a human!” He tried to explain.
“Admiral Latarr, release your hostage.” Yelric ordered.
“I am the Admiral, trust me. He betrayed the Convoy!” The Admiral explained.
“Let him go. The human isn’t dangerous, he hasn’t betrayed the Convoy.” Captain Barras tried to explain.
Admiral Latarr then understood; the Captain thought that he alone was trying to kill the human. The Captain didn’t understand that Melric did not only have the human, but intended to kill him.
But Melric was too fast, he blurted out a lie:
“I am protecting him, Miles. The Admiral fired the Idinium weapon at Phlasia; he has lost it entirely.”
The Admiral was caught off guard; “No. That’s not true.” He released Melric in an attempt to prove he was telling the truth, but he made the mistake of raising his gun too high. Yelric fired defensively at the Admiral.
The Admiral collapsed to the floor, clutching the wound through his chest.
“Thank Phlasia, you saved me.” Melric gasped, clinging to Captain Barras.
Yelric stooped over the Admiral to check his pulse, he was alive.
“Doctor Melric, I need you to remain with me.” The Captain began holstering his weapon, “I have reason to believe you were apart of a conspiracy to kidnap and kill an alien species.”
Melric looked into the Captain’s eyes with concern:
“What gives you that idea?” But he knew; either Lalia Tarrus or Garth Linarr had lived.
“Sir, the Admiral is still alive.” Yelric informed him.
Melric pulled Barras’ gun and ran down the corridor, turning at the first corner before Yelric could fire a shot.
“Damn. What do we do?” Yelric asked, “He could escape on a pod.”
“What is the status?” Lalia’s voice scratched over the communication device.
“Where is he going?” Barras crouched to ask the Admiral, he cradled him and asked again: “Where is Doctor Melric going?” He held the communication device to the Admiral’s lips;
The Admiral hoarsely said: “Council Chamber.”