Friends in Command (Sons of the Starfarers: Book IV)

by Joe Vasicek

  On the table next to his bed, his wrist console chimed. He frowned and picked it up. It was a call from Lieutenant Nova, the intelligence officer. Didn’t she know it was the middle of his sleep shift? Still, no sense in refusing her if he was already awake.

  “Hello?”

  “Captain Deltana?” her voice rang on the console’s speakers. “We’ve found something that I think you’ll want to see.”

  “Can it wait, Lieutenant? It’s the middle of my sleep shift.”

  “Sorry, sir, but I think you’ll want to see this.”

  “Why?” he groaned.

  “Because it’s your brother.”

  Aaron’s eyes flew open, and his heart skipped a beat. “I’ll be right down, Lieutenant. Thank you.”

  * * * * *

  Mara woke up to the chime of an incoming call. She groaned and rubbed her eyes as she sat up in her small cot. The screen on the computer terminal showed that it was from Aaron. She strapped on her wrist console and transferred it there.

  “Hello?”

  “Mara, I need you in the command center immediately. How soon can you get here?”

  She checked the clock in the upper right corner of the terminal display. It read 22:43.

  “Stars, Aaron. What’s so urgent that you’d wake me in the middle of my sleep shift?”

  “We found the Medea.”

  At the mention of his brother’s ship, she perked up at once. “All right. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  What rash and crazy thing is he going to do now? she wondered as she splashed water on her face. She probably wouldn’t be able to get there before he made up his mind about what to do next. Then again, he was the captain, not her. At least he’d gotten rid of that damn neural stimulator program—thank the stars for that.

  She dressed quickly in the narrow confines of her quarters, pulling her hair back without bothering to check herself in the mirror. As soon as her uniform was on, she palmed the door open and stepped out.

  When she reached the command center, she found Aaron, Katya, and Mathusael already there. Mathusael’s face was grim, while Aaron’s was as pale as a ghost’s.

  “Captain,” she said, saluting. “You called for me?”

  Aaron looked up suddenly, as if he’d just noticed her. “Oh, Mara, there you are.” He returned the salute, but his hand was more than a little shaky.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “We found a transmission with a transponder code matching the Medea,” said Katya, her face beaming. Unlike Aaron, she was practically bursting with excitement. “It’s got an audio recording, too, and we just confirmed that the person on the recording is our missing operative.”

  Oh, no, Mara thought. She turned back to Aaron.

  “Are you all right, Captain?”

  “Let’s play it for you,” said Mathusael. He reached over and hit a key on the console.

  The room filled briefly with static, followed by the sharp sound of fingers running over the recording equipment made Mara cringe. The console adjusted for the sharp change in volume, but it still grated on her ears.

  “This chip will program your transmitters to emit a distinctive signal that the others have been told to watch for,” came a voice—Aslan’s voice. “Activate it every time you make a jump, and we’ll know to steer clear of you. But forget, even once, and we can’t be held responsible.”

  After a brief pause, a second voice came on, this one much quieter than the first.

  “Very well. So now we haggle over the price?”

  That’s Aaron’s brother, Mara realized. She glanced over at Aaron, who stood as still as a statue. His hands were clenched tightly by his side.

  “Not quite. First, I want to ask you some questions.”

  There was a brief pause. “What sort of questions?”

  “Your name is Isaac Deltana, and your ship is the Medea, yes?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Your birth star is in the Oriana Cluster, but your ship carries a Pleiadian name.”

  “My great-grandfather’s birth star wasn’t far from here?”

  The recording picked up Aslan rubbing his hands together. “Bethel Station’s records don’t show that you’ve ever passed through here before. Is this your first time in the Shiloh Rift?”

  “How did you get access to those records? I thought—”

  “I’ll ask the questions. Is this or is this not your first time passing through this sector?”

  Aaron drew in a sharp breath in the pause that followed. He stood so straight, it was almost as if someone had shocked him with a jolt of electricity.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Then what is your business here, exactly?”

  “I-I’m trying to escape the war. Things are a lot worse in the frontier systems than I bargained for.”

  “But why come this way, and not through the more lucrative trade ports in the New Pleiades? You’re a star wanderer, not a refugee.”

  “I’m leaving for the Far Outworlds. The situation is just too tense out here.”

  He’s lying, Mara realized. He’s lying, and Aslan knows it.

  “One last question,” said Aslan. “Are you affiliated with the Resistance?”

  Oh, shit.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Isaac with all the guile of a saint. “I came to the New Pleiades just a few months ago, through the Esperanzia-Vulcana corridor. Things were going well enough until the Imperials invaded. The whole star cluster is a war zone now, and I want no part of it. I just want to get back to the Far Outworlds where I belong.”

  There was a long, uncomfortable pause, both in the recording and among those gathered in the command center. Mara couldn’t help but bury her face in her palm.

  “Very well,” said Aslan. There was a loud click, and the recording ended.

  “Well,” said Katya, “what do you make of that, Commander?”

  Mara folded her arms. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Can’t believe what?”

  “That we’ve actually picked up the trail. Not only does this prove that Isaac came through the Shiloh Rift, it also tells us that he had a run-in with Gulchina’s Marauders before he disappeared. And if her agents were waiting for him at Ithaca, when he told them he was heading to the Far Outworlds…” her voice trailed off.

  Mathusael nodded grimly. “I gathered as much as well.”

  “This is a valuable piece of intelligence,” said Katya. “We—”

  “We should head for the fleet as soon as possible,” said Aaron, his voice low.

  Mara frowned. “You mean the main fleet stationed at the frontier worlds? Head there instead of returning to our post?”

  “It’s the fastest way to get this information to the people who need it. If Gulchina’s men have Isaac, they’re probably planning to sell us out. We need to warn the rest of the fleet immediately.”

  “I agree,” said Katya. “This new intelligence changes our mission entirely.”

  Mara thought of how Gulchina’s Marauders had integrated with the Outworld forces along the frontier systems where the Imperials would strike first. If they were responsible for the disappearance of Isaac Deltana and the Medea, that meant they were hiding something—potentially something big. And even though the transmission wasn’t proof that Gulchina’s men had captured Isaac, it certainly raised some disturbing questions.

  “I didn’t think I’d say this, Lieutenant Nova, but I agree with you. We need to alert the fleet at once.”

  “The Starfire is currently stationed at Bacca,” said Mathusael. “If we pump everything we’ve got into the jump drives, I can get us there in about four or five days.”

  “Then let’s go,” said Aaron. “And may the stars of Earth speed us on our way.”

  The Enemy Within

  Aaron tensed his arms and gripped his armrests as the hum of the jump drives grew to a high-pitched whine. One more, he told himself. Just one more jump, and we’re there.
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br />   A surge of almost reverse-claustrophobia—the fear of being in an open, unconfined space—swept over him as the butterflies in his stomach became agitated. He felt as if he were shrinking, while the room around him expanded at an exponential rate. Then, without warning, it flipped inside out, leaving him on the outside, falling. He gasped and forced his eyes open, but the feeling quickly passed. Except for a few lingering butterflies in his stomach, everything was normal.

  “Status, Apollo?”

  “We’re just inside the Bacca V gravity well, sir. Calculating trajectory and possible orbits.”

  “Good,” said Aaron. “Mara, bring the scanners up on the main screen and give me a picture of the fleet. Feed that to Apollo to help him calculate an orbit.”

  “Captain,” said Phoebe, “we’re receiving a hail from the Starfire.”

  “Put it on.”

  She switched the signal over to the bridge speakers. A moment later, a man’s voice came through.

  “Merope-7, this is Admiral Ulysses of the Outworld Confederacy. Why are you in the Bacca System? We issued no orders for you to come here.”

  Aaron rose to his feet and began to pace. “Admiral, this is Captain Deltana of the Merope-7. We’ve discovered some important information regarding a missing high-level operative and need to meet with you at once.”

  There was a long pause, during which the nervous silence on the bridge was almost palpable.

  “Deltana? Weren’t you supposed to be stationed at Ithaca?”

  Aaron clenched his fists. “I told you, Admiral. We have intelligence on a missing high-level operative. We’ll explain everything once we’re on board.”

  There was another pause, this one a little more tense than the first. Aaron glanced at Mathusael, who was staring intently at the main screen.

  “All right, Deltana. My men have been notified. You’re cleared to dock at your earliest convenience. Major Achilles will meet you at the airlock.”

  The signal cut out. On the main screen, the green marker representing the Merope-7 began to alter its trajectory, moving to match orbits with the Starfire.

  “Apollo,” said Aaron, “bring us in to dock as soon as you can.”

  “Already on it, sir.”

  A muffled roar sounded through the bulkheads somewhere behind them. Aaron returned to his seat just as the force of the acceleration hit him. Fortunately, the artificial gravity projectors were compensating just like they were supposed to.

  “Mara,” said Aaron, “I want you and Katya to accompany me to the briefing on the Starfire. I’ll leave Mathusael in command of the bridge.”

  “Understood, sir,” said Mara with a nod. Aaron turned to his other officers.

  “Apollo and Phoebe, make sure to sync our scanners with the orbital nav relays. Once we’re docked, see what you can do to catch up on what we’ve missed. Jason, I want you to stay on the bridge and assist them as much as possible.”

  The others nodded, but Jason stared at his screen as if he wasn’t listening.

  “Lieutenant Thetana? Did you hear me?”

  “Sorry, Captain. Something strange is developing with the fleet. I’ll sync with those nav-buoys right now.”

  Aaron frowned. “‘Something strange’? What do you mean?”

  “Well… the Tamerlane is behaving erratically. They’re altering their trajectory to match the Starfire’s.”

  “Are they charging weapons?” Mara asked.

  “Not that I can tell, Commander. But they’re too far out for our scanners to pick that up.”

  Aslan is on that ship, Aaron thought, hot blood rising to his cheeks. The bastard that’s responsible for my brother’s disappearance. And if Aslan had listened in on their conversation with Admiral Ulysses, he probably suspected why they were there. Aaron took a deep breath.

  “Charge weapons, Jason,” he said. “Keep a sharp eye on those pirate bastards. Apollo, how soon until we dock?”

  “About half an hour, sir. We’ll be docked long before the Tamerlane catches up to us.”

  Aaron nodded. “Good. Proceed as normal, but stay alert.”

  “Alert for what, sir?” Mara asked.

  He checked the holster at his hip for his energy pistol, just to make sure it was there. “For anything, Mara.” There’s no telling what those bastards might do.

  * * * * *

  The airlock doors hissed open, revealing a tall, broad-shouldered man with a salt-and-pepper goatee in an immaculately clean gray uniform. His arm bore the rank of a major, and the name ACHILLES was printed above his left breast pocket. He saluted sharply, and Mara, Aaron, and Katya each returned it.

  “Captain, Commander, Lieutenant,” said Achilles, nodding to each of them in turn. “Come with me.”

  He doesn’t seem happy to see us, Mara thought as they followed him at a brisk pace through the Starfire’s main corridor. Not that she blamed him. In the first place, Aaron had blatantly abandoned his post in the Ithaca system, and in the second, he’d interrupted the fleet’s normal routine to call an emergency briefing. Their information was good, but it would have to be really good to get them off the hook for this.

  As she walked down the long corridor, she couldn’t help but remember the last time she had been on this ship—at the Battle of Colkhia, where Fourth Platoon had captured it after a desperate, bloody gunfight. This corridor was not one of the ones they’d fought on, but it brought flashbacks all the same. The glassy floors and walls, the bright white lights—she blinked hard and forced herself not to think about it.

  “I see you’ve cleaned this place up,” said Aaron. Though he tried to sound casual, there was a tremor in his voice that told her he was having the same flashbacks.

  “The Starfire has been renovated considerably since you were last here,” said Achilles, both his voice and face unreadable. “Capturing her was a great boon for the Confederacy. There is a reason we station our most powerful capital ships on the frontier, and our smaller frigates to guard the rear.”

  That doesn’t bode well.

  “Major,” said Katya, “have all the top ranking officers in the fleet been assembled? Our intelligence is of vital strategic importance.”

  Achilles glanced over his shoulder at her and raised a gnarly eyebrow. “I assure you, Lieutenant, the highest ranking officers of the fleet are waiting quite impatiently to examine your intelligence.”

  They passed a group of technicians walking hurriedly in the other direction. Mara frowned—something about them didn’t seem right. They all had earpieces, and they were walking in the opposite direction of the bridge. She glanced back at them, but they soon disappeared around a corner out of sight.

  “If you’ll come this way,” said Major Achilles.

  He ushered them into a circular chamber just off the main corridor, with seats around the edges and a holographic projector in the center. The room was half full with other senior officers in gray uniforms. None of them looked pleased to be there.

  “Attention,” Achilles said, addressing the room. “We have here Captain Deltana and Commander Soladze of the Third Fleet, commanding officers on the light frigate Merope-7, and Lieutenant Nova of Military Intelligence.”

  The room quickly grew silent as the officers took their seats. More than a dozen eyes leveled like laser cannons at Mara and her comrades.

  “Thank you, Major,” said Aaron in his thick Deltan accent. “I know you are probably all wondering why we are here—”

  “That’s putting it lightly,” said a gruff old colonel from the doorway.

  “—but I assure you, we have brought you information that is absolutely vital.”

  He turned and nodded to Katya, who stepped forward. “At the Battle of Colkhia,” she began, “we sent a covert operative ahead of the Flotilla to infiltrate the system and activate a jump beacon, which would have allowed our forces to launch a surprise attack. That operative failed in his mission, and when the battle was over, he was missing, along with the jump beacon technology he carried.�
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  Heavy footsteps sounded outside in the corridor, then faded away into the distance. Mara frowned, but no one else in the room seemed to notice.

  “While patrolling the sector surrounding Ithaca,” Katya continued, “we learned that the missing operative passed through the Shiloh Rift. Consequently, we went into the rift to search for his trail. We found strong evidence that our operative was molested—and quite possibly captured—by pirates belonging to the band known as Gulchina’s Marauders.”

  “What sort of evidence?” a dark-skinned major asked. She frowned and lifted a hand to her chin.

  “We found an audio recording of Captain Aslan interrogating him,” Aaron said. “Katya, let’s play it for them.”

  Before they could, an explosion sounded somewhere off down the corridor. Heads turned, and a few of the senior officers began to rise. Mara definitely wasn’t the only one who noticed it now. More footsteps sounded in the corridor, followed by gunfire.

  Shit.

  Mara’s hand gravitated to her pistol as the briefing room buzzed with confusion. Aaron and Katya, who had held their attention just a few moments before, now stood disoriented.

  “What’s happening?” Aaron asked—in Deltan, not in Gaian.

  “I don’t know,” Mara answered. “But it sounds bad.”

  Just like the fighting from the last time we were here.

  At that moment, a squad of lightly armored soldiers and security personnel entered the room. They carried stun guns and assault rifles, and kept a guard on the door.

  “What the hell is going on out there, Sergeant?” Major Achilles asked.

  “We’re not sure,” said the squad leader. “From what little we can gather, it sounds like there’s a mutiny. But don’t worry, sir, we’ll have it under control soon.”

  Achilles frowned as the room buzzed with commotion. “A mutiny? On this ship?”

  “It’s Gulchina’s men, Major,” blurted a corporal. “They’ve taken control of engineering and are trying to fight their way to the bridge.”