by Geoff North
“Captain Drac,” Nash spoke again. “You’re forgetting Ambition’s fold drive.”
Rastaban looked down at him uncomprehendingly. “The fold drive is inoperable.”
“As a means of transport, yes. But there isn’t much holding the collapse chamber together in its present state. If half a dozen or more DMPs were forced through the column now…”
Gacrux finished for him. “It would create a collapse event much larger than anything the video drones were capable of producing.”
“How much larger?”
“Enough to pull in those ships and tear most of Oread apart.”
“It would kill all of us,” Vin said quietly. “And all the people living below.”
“That’s a decision we’ll let the Pegans make.” Rastaban called over his shoulder to Argus. “Open all lines to those ships. I want to inform them what will happen if they take one more shot at us.”
Chapter 66
The Pegans had drawn a net around and over the low-orbiting Ambition. Any one of them could destroy the crippled Sol ship with a single shot at such close range, but none attempted it.
Captain Rastaban Drac had issued a final ultimatum; unless all offensive actions against Ambition ended, the moon and its buried city of over a hundred million Pegan citizens would be sucked into a collapse event.
The attack had ended.
Rastaban chose to remain seated when visual contact was finally established. He turned his head slightly, revealing fully the purple scarred side of his face to the Pegan on screen. “There is no need for our two civilizations to end first contact this way,” Rastaban spoke in a low, menacing tone. Let the voice match the face. Don’t show fear. Inspire it. “You have us surrounded and outgunned. We are beaten and cornered. Do not force me to destroy the lives inside that moon. Return our people from the planet, and we will leave your system, never to return.”
Vin had informed him the Pegans were human, or at least a lot more human in appearance than the grey beings they’d passed themselves off for earlier in the conflict. Rastaban could read the face before him as the translation was made. The bushy eyebrows furrowed together, and the lines on his sweaty forehead deepened as he absorbed every word. His bottom lip protruded. He winced painfully and wiped at one eye. The Pegan ship’s bridge was filled with smoke. Ambition had inflicted heavier damage than Rastaban first believed.
“He looks confused,” Hal Gulum whispered. The doctor had remained on the bridge with Hail and the recovering Kella. “I get the feeling he isn’t in charge of things here.”
The view screen suddenly went black. The communication had been cut.
“Get him back up there,” Rastaban demanded. “Don’t let them take control of the situation again.”
“A second communication is cutting in,” Argus reported, “from the planet of Pega.”
Jule Adeen’s beautiful face appeared onscreen. “We agree to your terms, Ambition. An escort of four Pegan ships will see you to the outer edge of our system.”
“No escorts,” Rastaban snapped back. “We go alone—once all of our people are safely returned.”
The Pegan woman conferred with a small man dressed in red off to the side. She nodded after a few moments and spoke to Rastaban once again. “No escorts, but your people will remain here as hostages.” Jule paused, pulling at her bottom lip with her teeth. “Do not push us on this. The decision is final.”
Rastaban leaned back and studied the weary faces gathered around him. They were frightened. They were beaten. They were filled with despair.
But they were alive.
“On behalf of Ambition and her crew, I accept your terms. We will begin—”
“Wait!” Vin climbed up the dais steps and stood defiantly in front of her friend. “Return the body of our Captain—send Ly Sulafat home to us for a proper interment.”
The screen went black again.
Rastaban lunged up out of the chair and spun her around. “Damn it, Vin, what the hell was that? I made an agreement with them—I’d saved our lives! You’ve put everything back into jeopardy.”
“I won’t leave him behind like this… I can’t.”
A familiar voice sounded over the speakers. “You don’t have a choice, young lady.” Captain Sulafat was on the screen now. He appeared pale and weak, but very much alive, due undoubtedly to the mechanical device attached tightly around his chest and back. Jule Adeen was supporting him up on one side, Hadar Cen at the other. “It seems as though the Pegans have found me far more useful alive than dead.” The entire Ambition bridge crew was standing now, hanging on to every word from their resurrected Captain. “Emin’s side cannon blast passed through my chest, just inches above my heart.” He glanced down. “This… thing brought me back.”
“We call them healing braces,” Jule said. “It will rebuild your Captain’s damaged tissues and replenish all the lost blood. Six hours from now there won’t even be a scar.”
“Incredible,” Hal Gulum gasped. “Absolutely incredible.”
“I agree, Doctor.” Sulafat winked. “You could learn a lot from Pegan medical sciences.”
“Captain!” Vin could no longer contain her joy. “Come back to us! Come back and take us home.”
Sulafat shook his head. “I’m sorry, Vin. We’ve been negotiating terms down here as well. I’ve agreed to remain on Pega with the others. You will assume command of Ambition and take our family back to Earth.”
“Rastaban,” she choked the name out. “Rastaban has kept your ship together, sir… He should be her new leader.”
“Very well. Rastaban Drac… please step forward and raise your right hand.” Ly Sulafat swore the man in as Ambition’s thirty-first Captain. The other bridge officers closed in around him, silently offering their support and loyalty.
A few more rushed farewells were granted to the men and women that would remain behind in the alien star system the rest of their lives. Sulafat’s sad smiling face appeared last, his final words saved for the closest friend he’d ever known. “I know I’ve said this already, but it has been an honor serving with you, Nash.”
“And again, sir, the honor has been all mine. Take care of yourself and our people.”
The smile dropped suddenly from Captain Sulafat’s face. “We will see you on the flip side.”
Nash’s head tilted to one side. The main view screen’s image transitioned to a wide angle shot of deep space.
“The war is over,” Captain Drac announced. “Set a course for the Sol system, Kalin.”
“Course laid in, sir. Firing thrusters and breaking orbit.”
Rastaban turned his chair around. “Begin repairs on the fold drive, Gacrux. Let’s see if we can shave a few centuries off the return trip.”
“Right away, Captain.”
Vin was still standing on the platform next to him, motionless, silent. Rastaban took a hold of her hand. “I wish we could’ve brought him home.” He squeezed her fingers. “He’s alive, Vin. It’ll have to do.”
“Yeah… I suppose it will.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “At least my pompous, arrogant, self-centered friend has finally returned. I have a feeling command is going to suit you very well.”
Rastaban half-smiled, half-sneered back at her. “Is that any way for the new CS to address her Captain? Get the rest of these people to work, Vir. I want to see Earth before I die of old age.”
Nash remained standing in place a few minutes longer, his head still tilted to one side, considering Ly Sulafat’s final words.
Ambition started her long journey home.
Chapter 67
One week later
Too many lives had been lost to hold individual services. Captain Drac had arranged a single group ceremony in fighter garage 2 that more than six thousand crew members attended. Vin Vir stood above them all on the wing of a fighter and called out the names, starting from the highest-ranking officers—Sheratan Ries, Shain Agle, Geth Cules—all the way down to miluns Mosa Cyon, Be
tel Iham, and service mechanics Turus Scella, and Aten Cet.
But it didn’t end with the names of the dead being remembered. There were others still living that needed to be put to rest.
The following day
“We’ll be ready for the first faster than light jump in approximately eleven months,” Gacrux said as he and his brother accompanied the Captain throughout the dark corridors of the sciences section.
“Good to hear,” Rastaban replied. “You’ve cut a substantial amount of time from the original estimates.”
Ambition’s return trip home had barely begun. The battered ship was still traveling well within 51 Pegasi’s inner system somewhere between the orbits of the fourth and fifth planets. The sixth and final planet, Taranis, lay another four billion kilometers beyond their present location. It would be many more long months spent limping at space-normal speed before the mustard-colored bands of that gas giant’s atmosphere came into view with the naked eye.
“Reinforcing the damaged section of shaft on level three with a secondary column was what sped the entire process up,” Becrux added proudly. “I came up with that myself.”
Gacrux shot his twin an annoyed glance. “It doesn’t fix the original problem, but it’ll allow us to begin jumping while we continue work on the stabilization of DMP stacking.”
“Good, keep up the great work,” Rastaban mumbled without looking at either of them. “Any sign of Seginus Boo and our missing shuttle?”
“Nothing but silence,” Gacrux reported. “He could be well beyond the star system now with an operable fold-drive.”
“For all the good it’ll do him,” Becrux said. “He’ll be dead in six months once the shuttle’s emergency supplies run out.”
The Captain scowled. “No loss… It was a pity to lose Exodus, though.”
Gacrux was walking on the Captain’s ‘good’ side. He tried to avoid the scarred side whenever possible. It was unreadable, a permanent purple mask. “You seem a little distracted, Ras.”
They came to a stop at the entrance of the cryonics labs. “Can you blame me? The people waiting behind this door are war criminals… One of them is my distant relative.”
“We’re not putting them to death,” Gacrux said. “They’ll answer for those crimes some day.”
“There are still plenty of crew members that believe they were right—that their actions were justified. I was one of them until a short time ago.” Rastaban glared directly at Becrux for the first time. “I’m not asking for anyone’s forgiveness, and I sure as hell won’t apologize for doing what I know was right in the end. The best any of us can hope for now is to bury the past away again. Let some future generation deal with them.”
The door slid open and the three men joined up with the other section heads already waiting inside. They were milling about uncomfortably, speaking to one another in hushed voices. CS Vir stepped away from the observation window. “Dr. Gulum and his assistants finished the drug-induced paralysis process ten minutes ago. Their bodies will remain completely immobilized, but they’ll be conscious during the freezing.”
“Thank you, Vin.” Rastaban looked through the glass at the raised canisters. Seven sets of unblinking eyes stared back at him. The faces were expressionless, but their eyes were filled with fear. Chort Leo was laying in the third canister from the left, his eyes conveyed the most fear of them all.
I was with him not that long ago, Rastaban thought. I wanted to have them all brought back.
His eyes settled on the Admiral last. He didn’t appear as frightened as the others. There was much more going on behind Neil Lennix’s dark stare; contempt, hate… disappointment.
Rastaban turned away. “Will they be able to hear me announce the Baker’s Dozen decision?”
Vin nodded. “Loud and clear.” She clicked a button located on the wall console.
The Captain cleared his throat. “To the original command officers of Ambition—to the representatives of Ganymede Unlimited, Phoebus Mining, and Kuiper Belt Power… and to Chort Leo, son of Algen and Media.” He paused and reached for Vin’s hand. “This is not a sentencing. There has been no trial, no rulings of innocence or guilt. Your fate rests in the hands of whatever governing body awaits us back on Earth. Until then, you will remain frozen during the entirety of our long voyage home.”
Rastaban took a step back from the window. There were no goodbyes, no apologies. He nodded at Vin to end the communication. “Freeze them and lock this place down.”
Doctor Gulum initiated the process. The canister windows began to frost over, hiding the terrified eyes within. Rastaban left the room before it was over.
Chapter 68
Eight months later
“Nova Sa-Vela!” Kella announced proudly. “It works for either a boy or girl.”
Hail pushed his plate away and took a sip of wine. “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
“What’s there to think about? Nova—new, a new life born in the stars.”
“I knew a kid back in school called Nova. He used to bully me.”
Kella stood from the table and blew out the candle. “Our child won’t be a bully.” She started clearing the table. “If you have any better star names, share them now.”
Hail gathered the dishes and followed her into their tiny kitchen. “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought… maybe we should go with something more Terran.”
“We’re not back on Earth yet.”
He set the plates in the sink and wrapped his arms around her. The little bulge of her stomach settled against him. “But he or she will live on Earth. What about Adam?”
Kella giggled and rolled her eyes. “And Eve if it’s a girl? Come on, kid, we can be more original than that.”
He kissed her. “Dinner was wonderful, very romantic.”
She ran a finger softly down the side of his cheek. “It beats riding together in the back of excavation trucks and squatting over toilets.” Kella tapped thoughtfully on the tip of his chin. “Adam does have a nice sound. I like it.”
“And if it’s a girl?”
“Nova, and that’s final. Hopefully she won’t pick on you too much.”
***
“You’re a cheater,” Rastaban snarled.
Nash responded dispassionately to the accusation. “Robots do not cheat.”
Vin flopped her cards on the table. “I don’t know about any of that, but one thing’s for sure, he’s a better card player than me.”
“I’ve had more than six centuries of experience… I’m better than anyone.”
“You’re a cheater and a braggart.” Captain Drac rapped his knuckles impatiently on the table. “Give me another card.”
“Okay, Ras, enough is enough.” Ma tossed her cards on top of Vin’s, and emptied the remains of their whiskey bottle into the three glasses. She glanced at the clock behind the bar. “It’s after four in the morning. That’s way too late, even for a dump like this.”
“We haven’t completed the last hand,” Nash said as the others downed their drinks.
Ma rubbed her eyes. “Then take your cards with you and finish the game tomorrow. It’s bed time for the rest of us mortals.” A whistle sounded somewhere behind them. “Are you kidding me? Who the hell’s calling at this hour?”
Vin leaned back in her chair and groaned. “It’s that new night-shift bridge crew we’re training. Ras has them so wound up, they’re afraid to cough without permission.”
Black Hole’s proprietor went behind the bar and checked her communication console beneath the counter. “It’s the kids upstairs, alright. They want to speak to you, Captain.”
“Pipe it through down here, Ma,” Rastaban said, stifling a yawn.
A timid sounding voice began speaking. “Sorry for disturbing you, sir, but we’ve received a message from deep space.”
“A message, Atria?” Rastaban raised an eyebrow. Had the young woman fallen asleep at the communications station?
“Yes. It’s set on repeat, and
it’s definitely meant for us.”
“From Pega?”
“No, Captain… it’s from… well I don’t know exactly how to explain it.”
“Let’s hear it.”
There was a pause, a second of crackle, and then a male voice began speaking through a background wash of soft static. “To Captain Shain Agle of the Sol Ship Ambition—” a second blast of crackling interference cut off the next few words. “—Edmund, commander of the warship Retribution. Your distress call has been received. We are on the—”
A third round of blaring static sounded, and the message suddenly ended.
“Do you want me to play it again, Captain?” The young bridge officer asked.
“No,” Rastaban answered. “That won’t be necessary.”
Vin was staring at him across the table, her mouth hanging open. Nash laid his winning hand down on the rest of the cards.
Ma reached under the counter for another bottle.
Thank you for reading AMBITION, the first book of my Long Haul trilogy. I would love to hear your thoughts. If possible, please try and leave a review. It means a lot to authors!
The story continues in RETRIBUTION, available in March 2017.
Other Books by Geoff North:
Thawed (CRYERS Book 1)
Horror (CRYERS Book 2)
Lawmen (CRYERS Book 3)
Live it Again
Make Believe
Children of Extinction
Conspiracy Hotel
Out of Time
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Please visit my website at www.geoffnorth.com to see what else I’ve been up to.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5