Half of them seemed to relax a bit at his statement. Their programming was incredible. Lieutenant Moon was even rubbing his temples. It was almost a shame that there wasn’t any booze on board because this bunch could have done with a stiff drink at the moment, although it probably wouldn’t have had any actual effect on them.
“No offense, captain,” Jezden said, his feet up on one of the consoles, “but I doubt you could hook up two hundred push-ups, and for us it was nothing.”
“Your point?”
“Just that I’m not sure you’d be any better at protecting us than we’d be at protecting ourselves.”
“I’ll admit that you are all physically stronger than me,” Harr said.
“And faster,” Curr said.
“And smarter,” Middleton pointed out.
“And less prone to injury,” Jezden noted.
“And—”
“Enough,” Harr said and then pushed himself up from his chair. “I get it, already. Yes, all of those things are true. Each of you can outperform me on basically every conceivable test. But that begs the question of why you asked me to remain in charge?”
“Because you’re the most qualified, sir,” Sandoo said.
“In what way, specifically, Commander?”
“Yeah,” Jezden said, “how?”
“He thinks outside of the box,” Sandoo replied matter-of-factly.
“Precisely,” Harr said with a smile. “That’s not a slight on any of you at all. You weren’t programmed that way. You’re hemmed in to a particular pattern of thought. In those specific areas, you’re fantastic, and I would wager that the majority of humans would give up a lot to be able to focus and succeed the way that you can. Your sights are laser-guided. You see a hole and you fill it.”
“That’s true,” Jezden agreed.
Harr scratched his chin. “But you still see things in a very linear fashion. You can’t wriggle out of bad situations the way I can. Your survival instinct, while strong, is infinitesimal compared to mine.”
“Or mine,” Geezer chimed in over the com.
“True,” Harr said with a nod. “Geezer’s is probably more powerful than all of ours combined.”
“Thanks, chief.”
Harr was pacing back and forth now, using hand gestures and everything. “So, while you can all certainly do better than me in known situations that require speed, agility, and number-crunching, I can weasel my way through trials that would cripple your logic circuits.”
At this point they were all nodding.
He took this time to glance around his ship. Their ship. The crew had patched her up so well that she was as good as—if not better than—when he’d first stepped aboard. There were still a few burn marks on the panels that had caught on fire, but that only served to bring more character to her.
“That, folks,” Harr added, “is why you asked me to remain as captain of this vessel. And I take your faith in me seriously, which is why, again, I will do my best to use the conniving skills that we humans are ingrained with to protect you to my fullest ability. All I ask in return is that you watch and learn because I’m not going to be here forever.”
Jezden leaned back, sighed, and said, “Gay.”
VOOL
Frexle was in the midst of a late dinner when an underling approached and informed him that the Lord Overseer wished to see him again. He’d just left the man’s office not an hour ago, but when the boss calls, you go. He dropped his head and brought his tray to the recycling line while chewing his last bite of stringy beef. A couple quick sips of water helped wash everything down as he walked the corridor back toward Veli’s wing.
The click clack of his shoes on the marble floor echoed down the hallway, reminding him that it was late. Everyone had already gone home for the evening. This was usually the time he’d get to spend catching up on paperwork, of which there were mountains. Sometimes one of the senators stayed late and assumed Frexle had stuck around in case they needed him. More often than not, they were correct. Frexle wasn’t a fan of senators doing anything unsupervised. But it was a rare thing for the Lord Overseer to stay beyond normal hours. Or, if he did, he certainly didn’t tell anyone about it.
Frexle rounded the final turn and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
“Yeah.”
He stepped inside and moved to a position behind the two chairs that sat before Veli’s enormous desk. As always, Veli could not be seen.
“Sit down, Frexle.”
“As you wish, Lord Overseer.”
“I’ve been thinking about things since you left,” Veli said in a tight voice. Frexle glanced to the right and noticed a pile of bones that marked the remains of Veli’s dinner. “I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like leaving things to chance.”
“Sir?”
“Regardless of what this HadItWithTheKillings group wants from us, we still have a job to do, and I want to ensure it gets done correctly.”
“I understand, my lord,” said Frexle, biting his tongue. “May I ask what you had in mind, sir?”
There was a buzzing sound from Veli’s desk. “Send her in.”
Frexle turned to see a humanoid female walking in through the secondary entrance. Not very many people were allowed through that door, either in or out. Definitely not Frexle.
He recognized her face at once. It was hard to miss, as was the rest of her. Long blond hair, stunning purple eyes, and a body to die for. That was fitting since that was precisely what she was known for: killing. There wasn’t a person in the upper echelons of government who hadn’t utilized her skills at one time or another. She had no fear. She had no conscience. Or, if she did, she was damn good at hiding it. Worst of all, though, she was blunt.
“Vool, sir?” Frexle said with a concerned look on his face.
“Is that a problem, Frexle?”
“Well, my lord, it’s just that she’s…” Frexle paused, recognizing the irony of what he was about to say, “not very tactful.”
“Stuff it, Frexle,” Vool said before plopping down in the chair next to him.
“See?”
“She’ll do fine,” Veli said, sounding less than convinced, himself. “Besides, she’s not afraid to do what needs doing in the event that things need to get done.”
“Huh?”
“Forget it,” Veli grumbled. “Vool, I expect you to be on your best behavior.”
“Whatever.”
“You won’t kill unless instructed to do so.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“You will be reporting to this Captain Harr Don fellow,” Veli continued, his voice grating more and more with each sentence.
“Captain Hard-on?” Vool said. “Like him already.” She looked at her nails and furrowed her brow. Then she bit what appeared to be a hangnail before looking back up. “So, same job as always, right? I kill everyone on board this stupid ship and then we blow up some planet.”
“No,” Veli said tersely. “That’s not even remotely what I just said, Vool. Now, pay attention. You are not to kill anyone unless expressly instructed to do so. Are we clear?”
“If I’m not killing anyone, why am I here?”
“Because it may come to a point where we want you to kill someone,” Veli explained.
“Sir,” Frexle said in a moment of inspiration, “I could go with the Platoon F crew and watch over things.”
“I’ve already thought of that, Frexle. The problem is that you’ve got a conscience. Everyone knows it. Some members of the executive council even think you’ve lost your stomach for killing.”
“Who?” said Frexle while rising in his seat.
“Me, for one,” Veli replied directly.
Frexle slouched back down. “Oh.”
“Vool,” Veli said, “again, you’ll do this job and do it right. No killings unless I say so, and only if I say so. There will be no mistakes about this.”
Vool just rolled her eyes and refocused on her nails. How she was
still living after treating the Lord Overseer as such, Frexle couldn’t say. The first thought was that she was a daughter of Senator Menlorze, but the more likely answer was that she was good at what she did.
“This new crew that Frexle has put together is going to try for a—it pains me to say this—diplomatic resolution.”
“That sounds horrible.”
“I agree, but according to Frexle, the people are starting to feel that we’re nothing but a murderous bunch of monsters.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, from where I sit,” Veli said, “but politics are what they are. We have to put on a gentler, more understanding face for a little while.”
“Damn liberals,” said Vool.
“That’s what I said,” Veli agreed.
“Why don’t we just kill them, too?”
“I suggested that as well,” answered Veli in a defeated tone. “It turns out that they aren’t easy to track. It’s mostly just an idea that’s taking storm among the populace.”
“Ideas are stupid,” Vool said.
“Right, well, speaking of ideas,” Veli started, “I want you to do something else for me before you destroy Frexle’s crew.”
“You mean if they don’t succeed—right, Lord Overseer?”
“What’s that? Oh, yeah, sure, right. Frexle’s right.” Veli coughed. “Only if they don’t succeed.”
“What do you want?” Vool asked.
“I want you to find out where they got all that technology on their ship.”
“What technology?” Vool asked with a tilt of her head.
“They have instantaneous travel, cloaking, and time travel,” explained Veli.
“Shouldn’t we kill them immediately?” asked Vool as if it weren’t nearly as dire an issue from her perspective as it had been to the council.
“Yes, but again, we’re not going to. Just find out about the technology.”
Frexle sat forward. “We could just ask them, my lord?”
“Ask them what?”
“About their technology.”
“Honestly, Frexle,” Veli said with a huff, “sometimes you are exceedingly naive. People are very close-mouthed with their information. You could put thumbscrews to those people—which you should certainly try, Vool, assuming the mission is a failure and all—and they wouldn’t tell you a thing. And even if they did tell you, it would be a lie.”
“They seemed pretty forthright to me, my lord.”
“I’m sure they are,” Veli said, “about things such as the types of food they like, the kind of movies they watch, and their favorite places to shop, but we’re talking about military things here.”
“But they’re in our military now, sir.”
“Exactly,” Veli said loudly, “and that’s why I want to know where they got that technology.”
“I—” Frexle stopped himself. There was really no point continuing the argument. It didn’t matter what he said at this point. Veli’s mind was made up. “We’ll do it your way, of course, Lord Overseer.”
“Yes,” Veli said, “we will.”
MISSION DETAILS
At the core, it was probably a good thing that these Overseers had appeared when they did. The reality was that running a crew without any real goals or purpose is quite a challenge. Harr had spent a lot of time after leaving Segnal trying to figure out what exactly the crew was going to do. He’d considered becoming traders, hopping from world to world, bringing new and exciting technologies and foodstuffs and creatures, but then realized that he’d not only be messing with societal infrastructures, he’d also be introducing new bacteria and viruses. He’d had no interest in playing god. There was always the possibility of finding a grouping of worlds that had caught up with each other’s technology, or maybe there was a system where explorers had branched out from their originating planet and kept the supply chains going. With his troop of androids and his advanced technology, he could only imagine that the Reluctant would be highly competitive wherever they set up shop.
Now, though, they were part of a new military, awaiting new orders. Part of him wanted to rebel against this, seeing that he’d just left this party, but another part of him liked the structure of things. Fact was that while he felt that he was growing into the leadership role that was dumped on him, he still preferred having someone above him who kept the missions coming. Wriggling out of situations was in his DNA; coming up with situations to wriggle out of, was not.
So when Frexle showed up on the bridge and slipped into the command chair, Harr had to admit that he’d felt a bit of relief. And now that Frexle was again sitting in that chair, detailing the upcoming mission, Platoon F’s sense of structure was reengaged.
Harr’s only concern was the person whom Frexle had brought along with him. She seemed cold and callous, not to mention seriously lacking when it came to tact. The only person on the Reluctant who found her interesting, of course, was Jezden.
“The world is called Kallian,” Frexle said while displaying a floating, three-dimensional map. “It’s in the Nebemus sector, at least according to your computer’s files. We have it listed in the Carbellis sector, but we didn’t want to confuse you.” Nobody replied. “You’re welcome.” Again, no reply. “Well, anyway, the Kallians are in the process of developing warp technology. We need that stopped.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Harr said, “but what is warp technology?”
“You can’t be serious, Captain. Your ship has instantaneous travel and you don’t know what warp technology is?”
“I sure don’t.”
“Fascinating.”
Geezer, who had come up the lift to be part of the meeting, said, “Are you talking about that space bubble stuff from those TV shows years back?”
“Space bubble?”
“Honestly,” said Vool with a sigh, “we should just kill them all now.”
“What?” said Harr.
“She’s kidding,” Frexle said tersely, giving Vool a sharp look.
“No, I’m—”
“Anyway,” Frexle interrupted, and then brought up an image of a ship zooming through space, “warp gets its name from the concept of warping space around an entity. It allows for velocities that are faster than the speed of light, but it does so without greatly impacting time dilation.”
“Yeah,” Geezer said. “Space bubble. Same thing, different name.”
“Good,” Frexle said, returning to the map view. “Now that we have a point of reference, we need you to stop the Kallians from succeeding with this technology. If they are successful, they will be deemed a serious threat, and that means their world needs to be destroyed.”
“So you want us to sabotage their test.”
“Correct, Captain. Get in and blow up the place, or do whatever you have to do. Just make sure it fails.”
“I don’t like the concept of killing innocents, Frexle.”
“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, Captain.”
“Hey,” Geezer said, “that’s a line from the TV show that had space-bubble technology.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The show was called Stellar Hike. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”
Frexle seemed to be searching his memory, but eventually he shrugged. “Sorry, no, but I’ll be sure to look it up. Always in search of a decent show to watch.” He turned back to Harr. “Are we clear on what needs to be done, Captain?”
“Seems straightforward enough,” Harr replied.
“Excellent,” Frexle said with a clap of his hands. “Now, since this is your first mission, the Overseers have elected to send along one of our operatives.”
“I assume you mean her?” Commander Sandoo asked without a trace of malice.
“Aren’t you astute?” Vool rolled her eyes.
“Yes,” Frexle answered Sandoo. “Vool will be taking notes on the things you do. However, Captain, you are still in charge of this mission. We’re not here to interfere, but rather to jud
ge.”
“Thir,” asked Lieutenant Moon, “if we are unable to stop the Kallians from thucktheeding, what will happen to them?”
Frexle evaluated Moon for a few moments before saying, “I’m sorry, but what do you mean by thucktheeding?”
“Um, you know, thir, if they’re thuckthethful.”
“Thuckthethful?”
Harr stepped in and said, “He’s asking what happens if we can’t stop the Kallians from making their technology work?”
“He?”
“Long story.”
“Right,” Frexle said, looking Harr over once more before continuing on. “What will happen is that we’ll destroy Kallian and all of its inhabitants.”
“And then,” added Vool, “we’ll kill all of you.”
“What?”
“Sadly, she’s correct. Failure is not an option, Captain. Make sure you succeed.”
“Okay,” said Geezer, “you’re sure you haven’t watched Stellar Hike?”
“Was that another quote?” Frexle said, looking sincerely interested.
“Not precisely,” answered Geezer, “but you’re using that same type of speak that they use.”
“Interesting. I’ll make it a point to watch a few episodes while you’re away. If you succeed, we’ll have to talk about them; if not, well, then I guess we won’t.” There was no response to that. “So, are there any other questions?”
“Just one,” said Harr. “How long do we have?”
“Ah, yes,” Frexle said with an enthusiastic smile. “The Kallians are scheduled to start testing in two days.”
“Swell,” said Harr.
KALLIAN
After Frexle had left the Reluctant, the crew got busy with preparations. There wasn’t a ton to do, but Harr wanted to make it look good since Vool was there. Fortunately, nobody questioned him in front of her. He deemed that simultaneously odd and pleasant.
Geezer had headed back down to his station and Harr pulled him up on the intercom.
“Coordinates plugged in, honcho.”
Harr signaled Geezer to activate the switch and grinned as Vool held on to the console with a look of uncertainty.
Platoon F: Quadology: Missions 6, 7, 8, and 9 (Platoon F eBook Bundle 2) Page 5