by B. V. Larson
I waved airily. “I’ve given Marvin complete freedom to repair everything as fast as he can. I’m sorry if that steps on your toes, Chief, and it’s no reflection on you or your people, I assure you. Now please, could you coordinate with Miss Turnbull as she runs the factory? Materials are already coming in.”
Sakura looked as angry as I’d ever seen her but controlled herself with an effort and turned on her heel, heading for the factory room. I couldn’t do anything about her mood if I wanted Marvin to find out what I needed to know.
We stayed in place for two days, long enough for the most critical repairs to be completed. Marvin performed wonders as one would expect from a multi-tentacled cybernetic being that never got tired. I checked in with him every few hours, but he always put me off with some excuse. I hoped I wouldn’t regret assigning him to investigate Valiant’s brainbox and systems—more than I already did after hearing his confession.
It appeared none of the three races in the system had seen us or maybe none of them cared. They stayed well away from our ring and though we spotted plenty of military power, all of it seemed to be oriented toward each other. None had even directed a transmission in our direction, which seemed incredible. I wasn’t going to spurn such the gift this breather represented, and I kept all our communications on tight beams, not wanting to attract attention.
It proved surprisingly difficult to collect information about the system’s inhabitants. It was as if they were deliberately trying to hide their electromagnetic emissions. No broadcast television or radio could be located, only indecipherable spurts of beamcast radio and a lot of encrypted lasers. In fact, I had to divert Marvin from his other duties in order to decrypt enough to give us basic information about them. He promised to provide a summary in a day or two.
I also assigned Valiant the task of trying to find the Macro seed-ship, but it had disappeared into the system among the many asteroids, comets, moons and ships that swarmed the inner realms. If it had shut down all thrust and power emanations, it would be almost undetectable.
On the third day I assembled the crew for a combination memorial and wake, inviting the Raptor officers as well. We held it in the factory room, the largest space on the ship. After explaining our customs to the birds, we eulogized all of our dead and those of the Raptors as well, liberally heaping on the praise. Everyone was honored for their sacrifice and courage as best we were able.
I gave Fuller’s eulogy myself, as well as making the closing speech. Then I kicked off the wake, opening up the bar to all. The Raptors sampled our drinks politely, after making sure none were poisonous to their biology. I even let out the crewman who had shot me back in the maze after determining he’d done so from fear and stress rather than a clear desire to assassinate me.
The next day I called for another assembly. This one was without much warning and for Valiant’s people only. I didn’t want to give the crew time to wonder what it was about or have to pull out their dress uniforms again. Once they all stood in loose ranks around the factory, I climbed up onto a crate I’d dragged from the hold for this purpose and spoke.
“I’ve called everyone here to do something that’s overdue. We’ve all been busy, working our asses off after coming very close to achieving what my father and the whole of Star Force was unable to do—wiping out the Macros. There’s still one more of their seeds out there, and we’ll keep looking, but that’s not why you’re here today. Would the following people come up to the front: Hansen, Bradley, Sakura, Cornelius, Kwon, Turnbull, Achmed…and Marvin.”
The seven humans filtered up to stand in front of me. Marvin squirmed off to one side. Everyone backed away from him, as he was back to his normal ground-car dimensions again and decorated with heavy power tools.
I jumped down with a handful of insignia in my hand. “When we get home, I’m sure everyone will have several medals awarded to them. As captain, I don’t have the authority to approve those, but I can promote people under my command to acting ranks that will probably be confirmed without difficulty considering the extraordinary hardships everyone here has faced. This ship’s been too long without commissioned officers, and right now I’m going to fix that. Chief Hansen, front and center.”
When Hansen stepped up to me and saluted formally, I placed insignia on his epaulettes, watching as they melded to the smart cloth. Then I plucked his warrant officer’s bars from his collar. “I hereby promote you, Nils Hansen, to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and appoint you formally to the position of executive officer and second-in-command.”
The crowd broke out into spontaneous applause along with some hoots and whistles with me clapping the loudest. The big bald man grinned and saluted once more and then turned to wave the crew’s noises down. I leaned over to whisper in his ear, “You’re the man I want backing me up, but I still need you to train your best pilot to be as good as you are.”
Hansen nodded to me and moved off to retake his position next to Sakura, who briefly reached out to squeeze his hand before resuming her usual stoic stance.
“Now the rest of you pirates—except for you, Corpsman Achmed—line up facing the crew,” I said, waving the others into a row. “I hereby promote you each to Lieutenant, with dates of rank and priority in the chain of command in the order I called you and you’re standing. If anyone has a problem with where they fall, tough luck. I discussed this with my XO and we both agreed.”
Hansen gave me a nod of support, and the crew applauded again. Then I turned to the medic.
“Achmed, we need a medical officer, and you’re the best qualified military person. I hereby promote you to the rank of Ensign. I expect you to work closely with Doctor Kalu and Valiant’s database to put together a course to make you an M.D. as soon as possible. Think you can handle it?”
“With Doctor Kalu as my teacher?” Achmed said with an uncertain look.
“She does have a doctorate in biology. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the hands-on laboratory work.”
“Oh, yes, sir. I’ll work hard, sir.”
“Very hard, no doubt.” Hopefully, Kalu would take him into her bed as an up-and-coming officer and she would be out of my hair. If not, I still expected her to do a good job teaching the kid if only to work herself out of the hole she was in with me and the crew. She may have done nothing criminal, but sucking up to Sokolov had ruined her reputation.
Then I turned to Marvin.
“Marvin, front and center.” He slithered to the fore, his cameras pointed this way and that to watch the people looking on.
“Am I to be promoted too?” he asked.
“In a manner of speaking, Marvin. I’m publicly confirming the promotion to Ensign that I gave you before.”
Marvin’s tentacles drooped slightly and stirred like snakes in a windstorm. “I had hoped to retain parity with the rest of the officers.”
“You’re the only acting captain among my officers, Marvin, so that should compensate.” The robot brightened once I reminded him of that and even more when I led a round of applause for him.
Once Marvin moved to the side, I hopped up on the box again. “Noncom promotions for the rest of you will be posted through the regular information system, and your new officers will pin on your ranks. I see a couple of new warrant officers and a few new chiefs among you already.”
This time the cheers were deafening, and I had to wave and yell several times before I could be heard. “Everyone back to work!” I bellowed with a smile. “Valiant isn’t shipshape yet, and nobody’s getting any more new stripes or bars until she is!”
The crowd dispersed quickly after that. There was a quick round of handshakes and congratulations. Adrienne slipped her arm through mine and led me back toward our cabin. “Now that I’m a lieutenant, are we still allowed to cohabit? According to Star Force regs, I mean.” She made a stern face at me, but couldn’t hold it for long before giggling.
“If any regs have been broken, Lieutenant Turnbull, what do you think the punishment should be?”
“Hmm. I’m not certain, Captain Riggs. Perhaps a sound spanking?”
“For you or me?”
“We can take turns,” she said, slapping my ass as our door shut behind us. “Me first!”
* * *
After mind-blowing lovemaking and a well-earned nap, I sat down at the suite’s desk and called up the briefing on the system, browsing through the thick files of facts, figures and graphics Marvin had sent.
The inhabitants of the complex brown dwarf system turned out to be of a sort I’d seen before. They were a monstrous race, all curving fangs and spines with exposed teeth. They were nightmarish in appearance, and I couldn’t imagine they were anything other than carnivorous and cruel. Sometimes appearances were deceptive—but I didn’t think this was one of those times.
The most interesting thing about these monsters was the fact I recognized them. Two of them had been in Sokolov’s lair back inside the cubes. They’d been trapped there and preserved frozen inside their timeless capsules. At least I knew now where they’d come from.
Their ships were familiar to us as well. Some of the captured vessels inside the golden planet had matched these local vessels. No wonder they’d started shooting the moment they’d come to life trapped inside that hollow space.
The next race lived upon a cold methane world circling the triple-star group. They were gas-giant dwellers. These creatures were clearly different from the Blues despite having been spawned by a similar environment. Rather than diaphanous aerogels, they seemed to resemble floating whales that moved in schools or herds in their natural state. They formed cities made out of materials that were lightweight enough to float in their soupy atmosphere, yet strong enough to weather their vicious storms. They had manipulating tentacles sprouting from their bodies and wore harnesses that allowed them to carry technological items and tools. Their spacecraft were large, for obvious reasons, although not so large as the Lithos had built.
On the third planet, an Earthlike world, lived the last technological race and the one that caught everyone’s attention—except perhaps Marvin’s. To him, one biotic was much the same as another, all equally interesting, unless of course they were weak and helpless enough to become his test subjects. Then they became fascinating.
This race had ships with half-familiar lines. I couldn’t identify them for certain, but there was something recognizable about them. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. The same held true for their oceangoing ships, their aircraft, their cities and the buildings within them. I saw roads and farm fields, lighthouses and castles, amusement parks and skyscrapers, balloons and sleek fighter craft.
Skimming downward through the files, I pulled up a representative picture of the creatures. When it opened on my display, my mouth dropped open in shock. One male and one female were shown facing the imager, and then in profile.
Bipedal. Two legs, two arms. Feet and hands. Two ears, two eyes, one nose and one mouth, one chin. Rich, dark hair, both of them, along with an olive skin tone that made me think of classical Greeks, Persians or Croatians.
In fact, they reminded me very much of Natalia and the Adonis in the Ancient specimen boxes.
They were undoubtedly, unquestionably, indisputably human.
The End
From the Authors: Thanks Reader! We hope you enjoyed EXILE. If you’d like to see more stories in this universe, please put up some stars and a review to support the series. Tell us what you’d like to see next!
-BVL & DVD
STAR FORCE SERIES:
(in chronological order)
Swarm
Extinction
Rebellion
Conquest
Army of One (Novella published in Planetary Assault)
Battle Station
Empire
Annihilation
Storm Assault
The Dead Sun
Outcast
Exile
More Books by David VanDyke:
Plague Wars Series:
(in chronological order)
The Eden Plague
Reaper's Run
Skull’s Shadows
The Demon Plagues
The Reaper Plague
The Orion Plague
Cyborg Strike
Comes the Destroyer
Visit DavidVandykeAuthor.com for more information
More Books by B. V. Larson:
The Undying Mercenaries Series:
Steel World
Dust World
Tech World
Visit BVLarson.com for more information