No Safe Harbor: The Silver Liner

by Daniel Sullivan

  Tracht held up his hand cutting him off. “Whoa, Captain; I’m just telling you how it is. Whether or not I approve of it doesn’t change reality. Technically, I shouldn’t even be telling you any of this, so as far as anyone else is concerned, this conversation never happened. I see the look in your eyes and I know a man who wants to knock my block off when I see one. You have remarkable restraint; just another point in your favor. You know, Royce, I admire men with principles. It’s why we’re having this little chat.”

  Royce glared at him, but Tracht continued.

  “You coming back for us confirmed my hope. I thought you were a man of principle and by God, you’ve proven it.” Placing his hand on Kendrick’s shoulder, he added, “You’re going to need that where we’re going, Captain. What’s coming will test you like nothing you’ve ever experienced.”

  The car arrived at Pod Alpha and the two men exited the lift, Kendrick silently pondering the Colonel’s words and their horrifying implications. He now fully understood Joyce Keane’s desire to fight against the biotech industry a lot more clearly. He had to quell the sudden desire to pummel Tracht into something no longer recognizable as human.

  They entered the Med Bay, Terri greeting them, as Fiona was in Pod Beta seeing to Ms. Carlisle. The former traffic controller gave Tracht a wide berth, visibly fearful of the man. Cyrus waited expectantly as Kendrick escorted the colonel into the room.

  “Mister Freeman will make sure you don’t pull anything,” Kendrick warned. “My ship, my rules.”

  Cyrus nodded. “Can he do what we need him to?”

  “I can,” Tracht replied. “I’m no programmer, but I do have the command codes. May I?”

  “By all means, Colonel,” Cyrus said. “But remember; I’ll be watching.”

  Tracht chuckled as he took his seat. “I gain nothing by screwing you over, Mister Freeman. In fact, the happier Captain Royce and the rest of you are, the better; as far as I’m concerned.”

  “You’ve shown a remarkable lack of scruples, Colonel,” Cyrus said sharply. “So forgive me for not being reassured.”

  Tracht ignored him and began working. It took him about a half an hour of going to specific files, making certain alterations and entering codes that allowed him access, but finally, he closed the tablet and unplugged it from Lena.

  “There,” Tracht said, standing. “She should be back to her old self.”

  Indeed, Lena began to stir, her eyes fluttering open. She began going through various checks and self-tests, much as she had when Kendrick had first found her floating in space. Finally, she sat up. Seeing the captain, she smiled and stood, offering a crisp salute.

  “Ready for duty, Captain,” she said cheerfully.

  “Lena!” Kendrick embraced her and held her tightly for a very long moment, Lena responding in kind.

  “It’s good to be back,” she said. “But why is there a U.S. Space Marine colonel in our Med Bay?”

  “Sending you the file detailing what happened while you were out and our ‘deal’ with the good colonel,” Kendrick said as he fired off the attachment from his data pad.

  Lena nodded almost instantly. “I see,” she said. “You made the best choice, Captain. I approve.” She then stood, looking off into the distance momentarily. “Connection to the Selene reestablished. No Ai detected. Slaving Selene’s systems to my C.P.U. Putting us back on course for Earth. Accelerating to cruising speed of Mach 25.”

  “Thank you, Lena,” Kendrick said. “You’re the best.” He turned to Tracht, far less angry than he had been minutes earlier. “Thank you, Colonel. Now, Cyrus will escort you back to Pod Beta with Lena so that she can see to Ms. Carlisle and Fiona can return to the Pod Alpha Med Bay.”

  “Take care of her,” Tracht said to Lena. “She’s a good soldier.”

  “I always work at optimal capacity,” Lena replied coolly. “Unless hampered by a saboteur.”

  Tracht nodded. “Had to be done. Nothing personal.”

  “It never is,” Lena said. Then her brow furrowed and she added, “Perhaps it should be.”

  Fiona had just finished examining Commander Jax, Captain Gifford’s standing watch as she did. She instantly liked the tough female captain, but Jax was too big of a reminder of the misuse of her work to warm up to just yet. The man was in superb condition, though he bore scarring and showed wear and tear; Jax had been in the field for over a decade and had apparently gone through the most rigorous training program in the Marine Corps. She imagined that he could probably take on either Ronan or Cyrus and win, possibly against both of them at the same time.

  “The colonel hasn’t been forthcoming, Doctor,” Jax said, breaking the silence. “You know something that Captain Gifford’s and I don’t. Spill it.”

  “Sorry,” Fiona said. “I have a captain too and I need his approval before I tell you anything. Every interaction with you people needs to be run past him and if he found out I’d done otherwise, he’d be livid.”

  “Please,” Gifford’s pled. “We need to know. Jax is not just my first officer. He’s … close, someone I care about. You love the captain; he trusts you and he trusts you to do the right thing, not just to follow orders. Please … Joyce. We need to know.”

  “Firstly, I’m not Joyce anymore,” Fiona said. “I can never be Joyce again. But yes, I do love him.” She sat down, contemplating the ramifications of telling Gifford’s and Jax the truth. Finally, she decided that Gifford’s was right. “He’s going to be really angry, but I agree; you need to know.” Fiona led them into the office, away from the recuperating Ms. Carlisle and closed the door. “Commander, Captain, you both might want to sit down for this.”

  Jax and Gifford’s looked at each other. Gifford’s shrugged and sat down, the commander following suit. Fiona sat down across from them, making sure to phrase what she was about to say just right. Once she had her thoughts gathered, she spoke.

  “We faced Captain Lorgen on several occasions,” Fiona began. “In one of our encounters, he had used magnetic proximity mines to force us to stop.”

  “Makes sense,” Jax said. “The Enigma was no match for this ship’s speed.”

  “Exactly,” Fiona agreed. “He secured us and sent soldiers to board us. Lena’s consciousness was housed in a different platform; that of an assassin android called a G.A.I.S.F. She met the soldiers on their spacewalk and killed them by shattering their visors. Then, she boarded their ship and took out more in hand to hand combat before returning to the Selene, bringing with her three of the dead soldiers and files she downloaded from the Enigma on the soldiers.”

  “Personnel files?” Gifford’s was confused as to what personnel files had to do with Jax.

  “No,” Fiona clarified. “Project files. In conjunction with the Ness Corporation, the U.S. military had a program to produce vat grown super soldiers, grown with a programming interface already integrated into their brains, a port behind their ears. The process was based on my own work, which I tried vigorously to destroy when I realized what it was being used for. Lorgen’s soldiers, all of them, were not marines, but were these … clone soldiers.” Then she looked right at Jax. “And you look just like them.”

  “That can’t be,” Jax protested. “My parents …”

  Fiona held up a hand. “You probably were not vat grown. I’ve already examined you; there’s no port on you and no cybernetics either. I examined your gene sequences and chromosomes, and their length indicates that you are likely the first. Chances are, they made you before getting their hands on my work and you probably served as the template for the rest. Once my work enabled them to produce blanks, they began generating fully grown soldiers ready for combat … and sleeper agents like Heather.”

  “How do we know you’re not just making this up?” Gifford’s looked dubious.

  Fiona saw Lena enter the Med Bay. The doctor breathed a sigh of relief and left her office abruptly, embracing the gynoid. “Lena! You’re back!”

  “Doctor Kinsale,” Lena said as she
hugged Fiona. “It is good to see you. The colonel has reactivated me. I see you have guests; we can talk more when you are free.

  “Believe me, there’s a lot to talk about! I’ll see you later, Lena. I’m just glad you’re okay.” Fiona released Lena and returned to her office where Gifford’s and Jax were still waiting.

  “Come with me and see for yourself.”

  Gifford’s nodded and the two of them followed the doctor from the Pod Beta Med Bay to the lift. Fiona hated that she was about to cause Jax to question his very existence, but it had to be done. At least he’ll know the truth, she thought.

  They rode to the weightless Nexus, from which Fiona led Gifford’s and Jax to the cryo chamber, the three of them floating. The doctor noted how agile and adept the pair were in zero gravity and imagined that they would have been far more challenging for a G.A.I.S.F. than Lorgen’s troops had been. Fiona had only visited this room one other time; when they had placed the three clones on ice just in case. It seemed that ‘just in case’ had finally come along and the doctor was fairly certain that this revelation would earn the Selene crew a pair of advocates, if not allies, when dealing with Tracht.

  “Brace yourself,” Fiona warned. “This is not going to be easy.” Her guests both nodded and she opened one of the tubes, revealing a two-meter tall super soldier who looked just like Jax, though younger. “Take a good long look. I can open the others if you’d like; they’re identical. This is the legacy of my work … a perversion that I never envisioned. It was this very thing that I was trying to stop. It’s why I destroyed my research and joined the G.L.F.”

  “Holy shit,” Gifford’s gasped, her hands going to her mouth.

  Jax looked at the dead clone for a solid minute, reaching out at one point and touching the cold flesh of his deceased doppelganger. He lowered his head, his eyes closed and his jaw clenched. When he opened his eyes, Fiona was momentarily taken aback by the rage she saw reflected back.

  “Tell me you didn’t know about this, Carol,” he said in a monotone voice.

  “My god, Donavan, this is … this is insane!” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “No, I didn’t, but it doesn’t change anything between us. The colonel, on the other hand …”

  “Will answer every fucking question I ask him,” Jax growled. The massive soldier then whirled and propelled himself briskly from the cryo chamber, his destination no secret to either Gifford’s or Fiona.

  “I need to let Ken know what’s going on right now,” Fiona said. “I can’t help you chase down your XO, but I can call Father Ronan if you’d like.”

  “Thank you for telling us,” Gifford’s replied. “I think we’ll be all right. Good luck, Doctor. We’ll talk more later.”

  Commander Jax had retired to his cabin, seeking the solace of solitude, rather than confronting the colonel. He replayed the scene in the cryo chamber over and over in his mind. It made him crazy, so much so that he feared he might go too far if he confronted the colonel now. Did he owe Colonel Tracht the benefit of the doubt? Carol was angry with Tracht too, which made him feel justified in his own anger, but was he really justified? Perhaps Tracht had sought to shield him from the doubts and anguish he was now experiencing. What am I?

  That was the big question. What did his being a … a clone … mean? He was not even sure if clone was an accurate description, but what did it mean for his life? Was he literal property of the military? Was he even a legal person?

  As he wrestled with these questions, his datapad message alert sounded. He glanced at it and saw a message from Carol, reading, “Mind if I come over?” He responded in the affirmative and waited for the door chime to sound her arrival. Less than a minute later, it sounded and Carol Gifford’s entered his cabin. Jax stood and saluted.

  “Ma’am,” he said formally.

  “Donovan, I’m not here as your captain,” she said, saluting him back. “Please, relax; I’m here for you.” She took a seat and motioned for him to do the same. “Just talk to me.”

  Jax sat next to her and tried to relax in her presence. He felt that he should be able to tell her anything. On the other hand, she was still his commanding officer. He let out a sigh, knowing that he had to say something.

  “I don’t know where to start, Carol,” he began. “I just want him to tell me. I mean … if I’m a clone, technically, I have no legal rights. I’m not a legal person; just property of the government. I mean, what does that mean for me … for us?”

  “It means that I’ll fight with every fiber of my being to see this set right, Donavan,” Carol replied softly, but resolutely as she put her arm around him. “I’ve finally found the one I want to be with; to spend my life with. I won’t let anyone take that away, not even Starfleet or the U.S.S.M.C.”

  “Thank you, Carol; that means a lot.” Suddenly, their relationship had been taken to a new level. He had not realized how strong her feelings for him were and now, he wanted to be with nobody else but Carol Gifford’s. “I love you, Carol.”

  “I love you, Don. We’ll get through this like we always do; together.” She kissed him, then smiled mischievously. “You know, we do have a priest who could do the honors.”

  He snaked his arm around her and held her. “I’d like that, Carol, but I’d like to enjoy courtship too.”

  “Ooh,” she purred. “There’s a romantic heart underneath that wall of muscle after all.”

  “Yeah,” he laughed. “Who knew?”

  “I suspected, but it’s nice to be proven right.” Then she returned to the original topic. “Don’t worry; it will all work out. I promise you.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Chapter 19

  Identity Crisis

  Ronan had just finished setting up the Pod Beta chapel, just in case any of the Liberty survivors wanted to attend mass. Unlike the one in Pod Alpha, which was just a converted conference room, this one was actually set up as a chapel, though it lacked the warm touches that he and Fiona had given to the one in Pod Alpha. Given that Pod Beta was not all that hard to get to, he wondered why Kendrick had not mentioned the existence of a dedicated room last year, but he chalked it up to the captain having a lot on his mind. Earlier in the morning, with Terri’s help, the priest had set up the café for mealtimes and Kendrick had actually shifted the crew’s mealtimes to begin an hour earlier so that the café could be staffed. But spiritual food was just as important in his mind as physical nourishment and with so many lost aboard the Liberty, he wanted to be prepared to provide spiritual guidance. That meant establishing a welcoming presence, so that any who needed his help might be willing to seek him out. To his surprise, it was the gruff, balding Sergeant Gardner, who knocked at the frame of the chapel’s open door as the priest finished up in the chapel.

  “Got minute, Padre?”

  “Of course,” Ronan said. “I was just finishing up.”

  The sergeant nodded. “I hear you’re the one in charge of meals on this boat.”

  Ronan chuckled. “She’s much more than just a boat, Sergeant, but yes, I am.”

  Gardner simply nodded again. “No disrespect intended, but no matter how much you dress it up, and this one’s dressed up nice and pretty, at the end of the day, a boat’s a boat.”

  “I used to think as much, but not after spending time here,” Ronan countered. “But you didn’t come here to debate nautical terms, Sergeant.”

  “I most certainly did not. I came because I wanted to offer my services.”

  Ronan raised an eyebrow at this. “We don’t have any marines or ground troops aboard and security is hardly a consideration at this point …”

  “Oh, nothing like that, Padre. I went to chef school before I wore the uniform. Hated it, but I like cooking and kept the skills. Figure now’s a good time to put ‘em to use. Y’all plucked our sorry asses from the void. Least I can do is cook.”

  “I would never expect you to take that on by yourself,” the priest said. “But I would welcome the help. I might learn a thing or
two.”

  “Then it’s settled,” the sergeant said, shaking Ronan’s hand. “Let me know when you start preparing meals; and if you don’t mind, let me know when you’re sayin’ mass.”

  “Daily mass is at eight every morning,” Ronan offered. “Sunday mass is at ten. Meal prep is, oh, about now.”

  “Then let’s not waste any time, Padre!”

  Ms. Carlisle awoke in a different Med Bay, though she still lay on her back with her right leg in the air. She could see Doctor Kinsale buzzing around the Med Bay, setting things up and seemingly making things just so. The doctor must have noticed her patient awakening, because she turned and smiled.

  “Good morning, Ms. Carlisle. Feeling any better?”

  “Yeah … the pain meds are good.” She shook the haze from her eyes, but found that she had no energy. “Thanks for helping me.”

  “You’re welcome, Ms. Carlisle.”

  “Call me Melinda,” the ensign replied weakly.

  “You may call me Fiona,” the doctor said, pulling up a chair and taking a seat next to her. “Your legs will make a full recovery, by the way. Thankfully, your joints were not damaged.”

  “That’s good …”

  “Very good,” Fiona agreed. “Now, I will be splitting my time between this Med Bay and the one in Pod Alpha. When I’m not here, Terri will be. She’s not a doctor; she’s just here to intake patients and to monitor. She’ll call me if there’s an emergency.”

  Then, she asked a question to which she was not sure she wanted the answer. “Did … you find anyone else in the wreckage?”

  Fiona shook her head. “I’m sorry, but it appeared that Lorgen shot all the other pods. You had friends, I’d imagine.”

  Carlisle could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. “Yes.”

  Fiona placed a hand on her shoulder, nodding. “I’m sure they were wonderful people, Melinda. I am sorry for your loss.”