The Coming Storm_A Pax Aeterna Novel

by Trevor Wyatt

The guard ran his eyes over the aircar, looking for signs of trouble. It wouldn’t be the first time an officer was kidnapped and forced to clear the security gate. He finally nodded and opened the gate, waving Flynn through.

  Dangerous missions were Jeryl’s bread and butter. Flynn himself thought his talents were better served in Armada Intelligence, and now was as good as any to test that theory. He immediately felt guilty for that thought and mentally kicked himself, then acknowledged that it was true.

  As selfish as it was, Jeryl’s success would inflate Flynn’s ego.

  Flynn sat at his desk, chewing his nails. He reached for the power button on the slipstream and pulled his hand back several times. Straightening his shoulders, he let the nail-bitten hand rest on the desk and fired up the slipstream. He put on his sternest face as he waited.

  Jeryl flinched in shock as he came into full view. “Whoa, what happened?”

  “I know, Jeryl. I’ve seen myself in the mirror earlier, thanks.”

  “Back to boxing these days?” Jeryl replied as his mouth curved into a slight smile.

  “Yeah, I mean it’s the perfect way to let off some steam. And don’t be fooled by this bruise—I can assure you that I knocked out the other guy.”

  Jeryl chuckled and shook his head. “I’m sure you did, sir.”

  “Of course. Now, Jeryl…” Flynn started, his tone growing serious. “Was it really so difficult to obey my order? You’re lucky we both haven’t been court-martialed.”

  Jeryl’s smile slowly faded, and he momentarily looked away from Flynn. “We didn’t have a choice, sir. And I’m fairly certain that the Tyreesians have something to do with this. They have to be mining for—”

  “I believe you,” Flynn muttered. “There’s something happening that could spill over onto our territory.”

  That was an understatement. The conflict had already spilled over, with improbable Udenar coming out in full battle mode to chase down a woman and her baby. Maybe his age jaded him, but he smelled a conspiracy.

  Jeryl looked at him with wide eyes, clearly surprised that Flynn was finally seeing his side on the matter. “We can’t just walk away and pretend like everything’s fine, sir. There’s clearly something off here.”

  “I agree. This stays between us. Go find us some intel we can use.”

  “Wait—what?” Jeryl certainly expected to be ordered to get out of that sector and let the Human Confederation self-destruct on their own.

  “This is strictly black ops. If there’s a threat to us, I want to know about it.”

  “Admiral, I’m glad that we’re finally taking a step into this. But...this is too risky. Maybe there’s another way to—”

  “There could be, but it will take a lot of time. And we certainly want to know what’s happening here as soon as we can. Now, come up with a plan and brief me before you go.”

  “Sir, I—”

  Flynn powered down the slipstream before Jeryl could continue his sentence and stood. He had preparations of his own to make. He picked up his tablet and composed an encrypted message.

  Orders given, was all it read.

  Tapping the send button, he hoped that he hadn’t just sent his best friend to his death on orders he didn’t agree with. If a war started or Jeryl died, Flynn would only be allowed to blame himself. Armada Intelligence would see to that.

  He knew that Jeryl was apprehensive about them as well. Who could blame him? He might as well refuse this order like he did the last one, but Flynn didn’t think so. Flynn knew the order was ignored for a valid reason—Jeryl never did anything for the hell of it. Above all else, that man was too curious for his own good. That alone would drive him to sneak across the border. He would succeed.

  Now he had to get his affairs in order in case anything went wrong. With any luck, he would only be reprimanded. More likely, he would be court-martialed and sentenced to prison.

  Armada Intelligence always made sure their hands were clean. Flynn would be the only one to go down should The Seeker be destroyed. Worse, he would be forever known as one who sent Jeryl Montgomery to die on a whim. He accepted that and made sure his bank accounts were secure, his apartment taken care of, and a go-bag in case he decided to take vengeance.

  Two hours later, the slipstream came to life.

  “This is dangerous for all of us,” Jeryl said, his eyes reflecting his anxiety. “I’m putting everyone at risk. Again.”

  “I know, Jeryl. But you stumbled on something and followed your instincts. Now we need to know exactly what we’re up against. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

  Jeryl let out a long sigh and nodded. “I know, sir.”

  “I’ve noticed that life-changing events revolve around you. It’s enough to make an old pragmatic like me believe in fate. I believe fate has chosen you.”

  Jeryl shrugged. “I guess fate never gets tired of choosing me for things like this.”

  Flynn smiled. “You can deny it all you want, but it’s true. You’re a shit storm magnet and you know it.”

  Jeryl let out a slight chuckle and scratched his head. “I hope they put that on plaques and medals too. I’ll come up with a plan and send you the details.”

  “Be as safe as possible.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Flynn powered down the slipstream with a sad smile. Jeryl always found new ways to surprise him.

  Coming to another decision that could condemn him, Flynn made a copy of all the files on his tablet. If Jeryl’s mission ended in disaster, he would track down the anonymous Intelligence officer that gave the order and kill him slowly.

  Ashley

  “Flynn must have gone crazy.”

  Taking his eyes off the hologram atop his workstation, Jeryl looked at Ashley and cocked an eyebrow.

  “What?”

  “I can’t believe he authorized this mission,” Ashley continued, her eyes still focused on the hologram of Galea’s star system. “An unsanctioned black-ops in Human Confederation territory? Don’t get me wrong, Jeryl...I like crossing the line as much as you do, but this isn’t like the Admiral.”

  “High stakes...high risks,” Jeryl said with a shrug. Sighing heavily, he sank into his chair and closed his eyes; he rubbed them with his thumbs and threw his head back.

  Ashley couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Jeryl this tired. He had been awake for close to 48 hours now, pouring over every single piece of information they had on the Udenar and Galea’s star system.

  The Seeker’s top officers had been briefed on the mission, and all had contributed to the details of it, but the burden still fell on the captain’s shoulders. He was the one that had to make sure that every single move they did was a calculated one. Failure could mean more than his crew’s death—it could mean an all-out war between the Human Confederation and the Terran Union. And, hell, if there was something everyone was tired of...it was war.

  Moreover, if the Tyreesians were really involved...well, that was a whole new can of words, just waiting to be opened.

  “Let’s check the coordinates one more time,” Jeryl finally said, opening his eyes again and sitting straight on his chair. He tapped a few buttons on his workstation, zooming in on an asteroid belt close to Galea.

  “Again? We just went over it, Jeryl,” she protested, and this time she was the one sinking down on one of the chairs in their private quarters. Ashley had been by his side throughout the whole time he’s awake. She was so tired that it almost seemed someone had been pouring concrete into her muscles. It felt as if they had gone over the plan a thousand times; and if it were up to Jeryl, they’d go over it a thousand more. “It’s no use going over it again.”

  “I know. It’s just...we can’t fail, Ash.”

  “We won’t fail,” she assured him, reaching across the workstation with both hands. She clasped Jeryl’s hands in hers, her thumbs brushing against his palms, and offered him a tired smile. “Look, we know the details. Every single detail. Hell, I can recite all of the coordinate
s from the top of my head.”

  “I can’t,” he smiled back at her. “But then again, I’ve never been as good with numbers as you are, Ash.”

  “And that’s exactly why I’m here with you. What would be of you without your gallant First Officer, Captain?”

  “I can’t even imagine,” he laughed, squeezing Ashley’s hands for a second. It felt good to hear Jeryl laugh. More often than not, he was so preoccupied with The Seeker that he barely had the time to do that. She knew how deeply he cared about the ship and its crew, but sometimes she just wished he could turn the ‘I’m-the-Captain’ button off, even if just for a couple of minutes. She was his wife, and she wanted him to be her husband.

  Anyone could be her captain...but only Jeryl could be her man.

  “We got this, Jeryl,” she whispered, a smile still on her lips. “We’ll jump into Galea’s star system, close to the asteroid belt, and we’ll use that as cover. With some luck we’ll go undetected, and then it’s just a matter of getting a small shuttle or raider across Udenar lines. We’ll get some boots on the ground, and then we’ll figure this riddle out.”

  “You make it sound so damn simple, Ash,” he sighed, and even his words seemed to be weighed down by worry.

  “That’s because it’s a simple plan. The hard part is the execution,” she told him in a soothing voice. “But we’ve done the best planning we could do. It’s time to act on it.”

  “You’re right,” he conceded, and then reached for one of the side buttons on his workstation, powering it down. The moment he did it, the hologram between them vanished. They sat there, looking into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity. “I’ve missed you, Ash,” Jeryl finally said.

  “I’ve always been here,” she whispered, but she knew that wasn’t entirely true. Sure, Jeryl was so obsessed with running The Seeker that inevitably he had grown distant from her...but what had Ashley done to bridge that chasm between them? She had acted out and behaved like a spoiled kid. Instead of acting as her First Officer and wife, she had chosen to spend most of her time aboard one of the Hunters, preferring the loneliness of space to the company of her husband.

  “And that’s where I want you, Ash—here with me.” He squeezed her hands tighter, his eyes never leaving hers. “I need you, Ash. Always.”

  “Then…” she whispered softly, running her tongue between her lips and getting up from the chair. She went around the workstation, threw her arms around Jeryl’s neck and sat on his lap. “Why don’t you show me exactly how much you need me?”

  Without saying a single word, he tangled his fingers on Ashley’s hair and pulled her close, crushing his lips against hers. To be kissed like that...how she had missed it!

  Before she knew it, they were tearing their uniforms out of each other's bodies and stumbling their way across the room. When they finally landed on the bed, with Ashley pinned between the mattress and Jeryl’s body, he took a moment and stared into her eyes.

  “I love you, Ash. You know that, don’t you?”

  She took a moment to let his words sink in, the warmth of his skin on hers enough to make her forget about how tired she was, and only then did she reply.

  “I do. I’ve always known…and I won’t forget it either…” She whispered, and then averted his gaze. She bit down on her lower lip, and then mustered the courage to look into his eyes again. “I love you too, Jeryl, and I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry? About what?”

  “I know I’ve...been acting differently. Ever since you came back as captain. And I’m sorry for that. I truly am. Out of all people, I should have known how hard it is to command a ship like The Seeker…and I simply haven’t been there for you.”

  “Ash…” There was a smile on his lips as he pressed one finger over her lips. All words and apologies died in her throat, and then she simply surrendered both her body and her very soul to him. For a moment, time became nothing more than an abstract concept.

  An hour later and they were lying in bed in silence, a thin sheet covering their naked bodies as they stared out into space. The captain’s private quarters had been built in a way that right over the place where the bed was, an outer fuselage panel could be moved sideways into a partition, allowing whoever was on the bed to have a view.

  “It’s kind of romantic, don’t you think?”

  “What is?”

  “To be here, together...a million miles away from civilization, just the two of us among the stars,” she said, looking for his hand under the sheet. When she found it, she laced her fingers on his.

  “It doesn’t matter where we are, Ash,” he told her, turning his head to look at her. “Whatever happens, I’ll always love you.”

  “Whatever happens,” she repeated, and then drifted off to sleep, still holding his hand.

  Jeryl

  “Sir, permission to speak freely?”

  “Granted.”

  “That’s...that’s a suicide mission,” Jensen said, hesitantly shifting his weight from one feet to the other. He was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the other Hunter pilots, and in his face was the same look of incredulity everyone seemed to share whenever Jeryl briefed them on the plan. It was a solid plan, Jeryl knew that, but it was also a risky one.

  “It’s not a suicide mission, Jensen, and I don’t appreciate the term. It’s just a dangerous mission,” Jeryl replied, doing his best not to let his frustration show. “And that’s exactly why I’m asking for a volunteer and not assigning this mission. You’ll be flying without any kind of backup, and The Seeker won’t be able to help you if you’re spotted by the Udenar. I know all that, and I’m aware of the dangers involved. But we must do this.”

  He couldn’t help but feel bad about the whole situation. If he could, he’d just pilot one of these damn Hunters down onto Galea’s surface, kick all the Udenar bastards in the face and head back to The Seeker in time for dinner. But, as things were, he simply couldn’t leave The Seeker without its captain...especially during a covert mission. As such, he had no choice but to delegate.

  Delegation—now that was a word he had never liked, no matter how hard he tried. If Jeryl could, The Seeker would be a one man-show.

  Allowing his words to sink in for a moment, Jeryl looked around the deck. The pilots and a few officers were all standing on the flight deck, but none of them seemed ready to step up and volunteer. Which was exactly what Jeryl feared, because that meant…

  “I volunteer,” Ashley said, confirming Jeryl’s deepest fears. She took one step forward, her hands clasped behind her back. She was looking straight at Jeryl, but there was no defiance in her face. In fact, Jeryl was actually surprised she had taken this long to volunteer.

  Before Jeryl could protest, Ashley continued to speak.

  “I’m the best Hunter pilot The Seeker has, Captain. It has to be me.”

  Jeryl swallowed down whatever harsh words were making their way up his throat, and then just nodded.

  “Very well, Commander,” he said, each one of those words feeling like a thorn on his mouth. “We need one more.”

  “Sir, if I may,” Tira started, taking one step forward and joining Ashley, “I’d like to volunteer.”

  No fucking way, Jeryl thought. How the hell was he supposed to allow a rookie on such a dangerous mission? Tira was just an inexperienced kid, after all. Sure, she was probably one of the most promising officers in the whole ship—Jeryl knew about all the time she spent in the simulation room, and he had even watched her there sometimes. She also had kept her cool during their run-in with the Udenar, figuring out that the Confederation fleet had lost their FTL drives...which led to Jeryl realizing they were surrounded by FTL mines.

  If it weren’t for Tira, The Seeker and its crew would be having a state funeral by now.

  But acing simulation scenarios and keeping your cool inside the comfort of CNC...well, that’s extremely different from being down on the ground, completely cut off from any backup and nothing but your guts to fall back on. />
  “Officer Tira, I know you mean well, but—”

  “You’re mistaken, Captain,” she said, her tone so confident and steady that it surprised Jeryl. “I don’t mean well. In fact, I don’t mean anything. I just want to do my job.”

  “Your job, huh?” Jeryl whispered to himself, once more looking around the flight deck. Tira Avae, nothing more than a novice fresh out of the Academy, was volunteering to go on an extremely risky mission—a ‘suicide mission’, in Jensen’s words—while grown-ass men cowered in fear.

  Well, he had to give her some merit: the kid had guts.

  “Have you ever flown one of these things?” Ashley asked her, patting the door of her Hunter with one hand.

  “No, but I’ve logged my fair share of hours on the simulator. I’m more than capable of being your second, ma’am,” Tira said, her voice not faltering once. Jeryl wasn’t sure if the girl was confident, delusional, or just batshit crazy.

  Whatever it was, he was starting to like her.

  “Well, that’s settled then,” Jeryl forced himself to say. The last thing he wanted was to send his wife down onto a planet overrun by the Udenar with a rookie as her only backup, but there was nothing he could do about that. Of course, knowing that the Tyreesian were probably lurking somewhere didn’t exactly ease his mind.

  He had badgered Flynn about Galea, and now he had gotten what he wanted. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to pay a steep price for it.

  “Alright, come here the two of you. As for the rest...dismissed,” he said, walking toward Ashley and Tira. “You understand that this is a covert operation, don’t you? The President of the Terran Union has no knowledge about it, and the higher-ups in the Armada will deny any involvement if this thing goes south. You’ll be on your own down there. You understand?”

  “I do,” Tira said, her eyes never leaving the captain’s. The girl was smart enough to understand that Jeryl’s little speech was meant for her and her alone. And she didn’t even appear to mind one bit—she seemed to understand that she’d be seen as a novice until she proved herself, and Jeryl was sure the girl was eager to show the world what she was made of.