Return to Dakistee (A Galaxy Unknown, Book 8)

by Thomas DePrima

  * * *

  "It's a shame Donald allowed his opposition to Admiral Carver be so inflamed by his Flag Secretary that he lost control of his better judgment," Admiral Moore said to the other admirals as they ate lunch in their private dining room. "And we'll never know just how long it's been happening. Robledo might have been inciting aggression towards Jenetta and her sisters for years."

  "I think I'll almost miss his haranguing," Admiral Platt said. "It was quite tedious at times, but he often enlivened an otherwise dull afternoon."

  "I'll miss him," Admiral Hillaire said. "I often enjoyed his repartee on various issues."

  "Now that surprises me," Admiral Bradlee said. "You two always seemed to be ready to duke it out."

  "That was part of the fun. He'd get my blood boiling and I'd do the same to him. As Evelyn says, he usually enlivened things, although he could be tedious at times."

  "I suppose we'll have to prepare a slate of potential candidates to fill his seat," Admiral Ahmed said.

  "Perhaps not," Admiral Moore said. "I've been informed that things are finally moving ahead on Nordakia. As you know, the Academy there has reached full enrollment and all officers in the Space Force now speak Amer fluently. They are required to use Amer exclusively when aboard ship. Space Force officers who failed to commit the Space Command Handbook to memory have received a separation date. They'll be moved to the space merchant services. Once that happens, we'll be able to begin the merger of the Space Force with Space Command. Admiral Yuthkotl will join us here as a member of the Board."

  "It's been a long time coming," Admiral Plimley said.

  "Yes. It was a shame we couldn't have Admiral Carver take over the transition as we once planned," Admiral Ressler said. "I have no doubt it would have sped the process immensely."

  "It's a shame neither of her sisters had sufficient rank to take on the job," Admiral Woo said.

  "Speaking of Admiral Carver," Admiral Bradlee said, "perhaps we should consider bringing her here to fill Donald's seat, even though Admiral Yuthkotl might be joining us. None of us are getting any younger and we need to begin infusing some new blood into the Board."

  "The problem," Admiral Platt said, "is that she's still very much needed in Region Two. And since we've never assigned anyone to Region Three, she's handling that workload as well. I doubt we could free her up out there. Who else could hold that part of space together as well as she has?"

  "If we assigned someone to Region Three," Admiral Woo said, "we'd have to find them a fleet somewhere and we just don't have the resources for a third fleet right now. It's far better to have Jenetta in control of both territories for the time being. That way she can send her ships where they're needed. I see it as the most effective use of our ships, even if it does place an incredible strain on the Second Fleet and on Admiral Carver."

  "I received a note from her yesterday," Admiral Moore said. "She's on the way to Higgins to see her sister."

  "Is there any update on Commander Carver's condition?"

  "No. The last word from Admiral Holt was that she's still comatose."

  "Being comatose for two months is not a good sign," Admiral Hillaire said.

  "Her head wound was extremely serious," Admiral Plimley said. "The shoulder wound wasn't too bad, but the lattice wound to the abdomen had to be. Since it was under her ribcage, it had to have passed completely through her body. The blood loss from the torso and shoulder wounds, combined with the damage from the head wound, would kill most people."

  "Is Admiral Carver intending to come here?" Admiral Bradlee asked.

  "She didn't mention it," Admiral Moore said, "but I'm sure she will if we request it."

  "I think it would be good to get a personal update on Regions Two and Three. We haven't spoken in person since the start of the THUG war. I'd like to hear her personal assessment of the situation there now. There must be things we should know that she can't put into official reports."

  "Very well," Admiral Moore said. "I'll send her a note requesting she stop here before going back. She'll probably want an opportunity to see her family on Earth anyway after having traveled so far to see her sister."

  * * *

  Without requesting it, the Ares received a straight-in flight path by Higgins SCB Approach Control. It was just one of the perks always afforded to visiting admirals. Jenetta was on the Admiral's bridge with her aide, Lt. Commander Ashraf, in addition to a communications chief, a tactical officer, and navigator, but the ship was naturally being piloted from the Captain's bridge.

  As the ship drew near the docking ring, Jenetta had the tactical officer 'erase' the walls, overhead, and deck. It was like approaching the station in a glass bubble. Only the seating, consoles, and grid lines on the deck gave some perspective of where the floor actually was. It would be far too easy to get disoriented without the thin red lines on the deck, so even the tactical officer had no control over them.

  "I love this sensation," Ashraf said to Jenetta.

  "It makes you feel sort of god-like, doesn't it? I mean, it seems like you're whisking through the ice-cold vacuum of space without even an EVA suit."

  "Yes, it reminds me of when I was small and we kids would sit on the front fender of my grandpa's oh-gee truck on his farm back on Earth. No noise, nothing obscuring your vision, just the wind rushing gently across your face and through your hair."

  "I can get you a fan if you want," Jenetta quipped.

  Lori smiled and said, "That's alright, ma'am. I can do without. Besides, there's no wind in a vacuum."

  "True," Jenetta said, smiling.

  "Welcome to Higgins, Admiral," The affable face on the large monitor said, as the ship docked.

  "Thank you, Brian," Jenetta said from the command chair on the Admiral's bridge. "I hope you haven't arranged a pretentious greeting ceremony."

  "No more than what is minimally required for a visiting admiral who recently brought peace to the entire GA."

  Jenetta smiled slightly and accepted that some small ceremony was required. She would bear up and attempt to curtail it as quickly as possible.

  When Jenetta stepped from the docking platform into the docking ring proper, a small band began to play and spectators began to scream her name. She smiled and waved, although the worry about her sister kept her from getting into the mood. Still, she performed her role adequately and delivered a small speech, then thanked everyone for their enthusiastic welcome. Her security detail kept her admirers at arm's length because she had feared bringing her Taurentlus-Thur Jumakas, Tanya and Cayla into the throng. The hundred-sixty-pound cats were always nervous in crowds and their fierce protective nature could be problematic if someone not in a Space Command uniform got too close.

  When at last they could get away, she climbed into the open-topped limo and waved to the crowd as it sped away.

  "That was what you called minimal?" Jenetta said to Admiral Holt.

  "That was about as minimal as the PR office would accept. They cited me chapter and verse about the length of the speeches and the band size required in the regulations until I told them to go hang the regulations and cut everything in half."

  "Thank you. Now tell me about Christa. Your notes haven't given me any details. The news reports say she remains in a coma."

  "Wait until we're in my office, please."

  "Brian, what's going on?"

  "My office, please, Jenetta."

  "Very well."

  When they arrived at Admiral Holt's office, all he did was nod to his aide and walk down the corridor. Jenetta followed along behind and held her tongue until the doors had closed behind them.

  "Now, why all surreptitious behavior?" Jenetta asked.

  Holt took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Jenetta, it's my sad, sad duty to inform you that Christa died in that shootout on Dakistee. According to the doctor, she bled out in minutes. The man who shot her died just a meter away, allegedly by her hand. Her laser weapon caused massive internal injury to him and he probab
ly expired before she did."

  "Christa's dead?" Jenetta said as the shock reached down and took ahold of her. "But she's supposed to be in a coma here at Higgins."

  "I didn't want anyone to know until you heard the news first, in person. Even the Admiralty Board doesn't know she died. They still believe she's in critical condition, lying in a coma."

  Jenetta walked to one the overstuffed chairs that faced Holt's desk and sank down. "You know, when you've been in as many fights as I have and you always come out unharmed, or at least minimally harmed, you almost begin to believe you'll live forever. Thousands of people have died around me over the years— millions if you count the enemies of the GA, so it's a shock to realize you're still mortal. Christa was born in a unique manner, but I loved her as if we had shared space in my mother's womb and grown up together. I remember the hug we shared just before she left on this mission. I feel like a part of me has just died, which I guess it has since she was my clone. And now— I have to tell my family she's gone." Jenetta hung her head as grief took hold.

  Holt sat down in his chair behind the desk and tapped a button on his com unit. "Send her in," was all he said.

  A few seconds later, the door to the corridor opened and a Lt. Commander entered. Jenetta looked up, then jumped to her feet in surprise.

  "Eliza, what are you doing here? How did you get here?" Jenetta said.

  "Eliza? Sis, I'm Christa," the officer said.

  "But you're…"

  "I know, I know, I've been in a coma. But I woke up this morning and I feel great. The doctor told me I've been out of it for months, so I guess my brain kinda shut down to concentrate on healing my body. I can't argue with the results. My face and ear are as good as new, and you'd never know I was shot in the shoulder or the stomach. Boy, did that ever hurt. Ya know, I really thought I was dead when that Raider archeologist shot me. But my injuries are all healed, I'm as good as new, and I'm ready to go back to work. And you're not going to believe the things I'm going to tell you about Mikel Arneu and the events that have taken place on Dakistee."

  "Uh, Christa," Admiral Holt said rising to his feet, "Would you wait in the outer office until your sister and I have concluded some other business?"

  "Of course, sir. I'll be waiting outside for you, sis."

  Jenetta turned back to Admiral Holt as Christa left the office. "She doesn't know, does she?"

  "No, she doesn't."

  Jenetta sank back down into the chair as Admiral Holt did the same.

  "Did you intend to tell her?" Jenetta asked.

  "I figured I'd leave that choice up to you."

  "Tell me how."

  "How to tell her?"

  "You know what I mean."

  Holt grinned. "It was thanks to a lot of people, none of whom know anything about this."

  "I'm listening."

  "Admiral Moore authorized a black project fifteen years ago after you brought us the cloning equipment. He wanted us to learn everything we could about the process and also explore other possibilities."

  "Other possibilities?" Jenetta said, nodding. "Totally black?"

  "Blacker than black. I doubt that even half of the Admiralty Board members know about it. After the Admiral Elersey court-martial, things that were hush-hush went almost dead silent. Richard didn't want to take a chance on leaks because the project represented such a potential bombshell. Evelyn Platt and Roger Bradley know, and Shana Ressler probably knows because she's the budget person, but no one else had a need to know and probably weren't included in discussions."

  "Just four members of the Admiralty Board?" Jenetta said.

  Holt nodded. "The project was named Springboard. I have no idea how many people were on the inside track on this one, but I'm sure it wasn't more than a handful, other than the scientists who actually worked the project."

  "And this black project is still underway?"

  "No, it was wrapped up about four years ago after the funding ended but not before they accomplished their goal. They documented exactly how the clones are produced by the Dakistee equipment and how the clones acquire all the knowledge and memories of the host. And, they found one more thing. They discovered that if they can get to a host within one hour of death, they can replace him and provide all the memories he had at the time of his death."

  "But Dakistee is at least four days from here. That's well beyond the time which you say was required to recover Christa and all of her memories."

  "Yes, but the first physician on the scene had the good sense to put Christa into one of the stasis beds used by the Dakistians. Those beds are far superior to anything we have, or ever envisioned, because they preserve the subject in virtually the same condition they were in when they entered the chamber."

  "The attending physician on Dakistee knew of Project Springboard?"

  "No, but he'd heard the stories about your incredible physiology and wanted to get Christa to us in the same condition in which he found her in case it was possible for us to heal her."

  "So, bottom line, how many people are in the know on this use of the equipment?"

  "Only half a dozen know the whole story. A dozen more know that something important required them to perform certain tasks in complete secrecy but not what was involved."

  "For example?"

  "The two pilots who took Christa's body in a sealed container and ejected it so it would burn up in the star we orbit. They had no idea what was in the container. They were told it presented a possible environmental threat to the station and had to be disposed of in a permanent fashion."

  "So Christa's original body is gone and we have a clone who doesn't know she's a clone."

  "Well, she was a clone before, so she knows she's a clone. Her memories are complete up to the minute she blacked out from loss of blood."

  "You've put me in a tough spot, Brian."

  "I know. But if our places were reversed I would have wanted you to do it for me— and for the GA. The people of the GA and Space Command need their heroes, Jen, and Christa is a hero. She saved most of those Loudescott people and discovered the thousands of sleepers who were entombed in the bowels of the planet."

  "Yes, but you know how I feel about cloning. It's a slippery slope when you start justifying 'just one' and then 'just one more.'"

  "We'll have to see that doesn't happen— except in extreme cases like this one. Look at it this way— Christa was already a clone, so we didn't create another clone. We just replaced the body she previously occupied because it was damaged."

  Jenetta breathed in deeply and released it before saying, "I wonder what I would have said if you had asked me before you authorized it."

  "Maybe that's why I didn't ask. You can be a bit stubborn at times where moral issues are concerned."

  "Is this a moral issue or simply a psychological one?" Jenetta asked.

  "It shouldn't be an issue at all. We send people into the hospital to fix them, right? We use prosthetic devices to return their mobility and functionality. In this case, we're just using the resources we have on hand to repair a damaged body."

  "But where does it stop? Instead of replacing a damaged and useless limb, why not just create a clone with 100% functionality and dispose of the old body?"

  "Because we would have to kill the person with the damaged limb so there was only one unique individual. There was no decision like that with Christa because her body was already dead. We just restored her life force to a replacement body— what the Milori call a 'husk.'"

  "You knew that no matter how I felt about this, there's nothing I can do now. I can't order her to be killed to restore balance to the equation."

  "Ordering her death wouldn't restore anything, Jen. It would just rob us of an incredible human being."

  Jenetta nodded and stood up, facing Holt's desk. Holt rose to his feet as well and came out from behind his desk to stand facing Jenetta.

  "You knew all along I would object," she said, "but that I would give in."

  "I hoped
it would work out that way."

  Jenetta suddenly turned and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Stretching just slightly, she planted a kiss on his cheek and continued to hold him for a few more seconds. As she pulled back, he saw that both her checks were wet from tears.

  "Thank you, Brian," she said. "Thank you for everything. Thank you for giving Christa back to me, and thank you for sparing me the agony of making that decision."

  "That's what friends are for," he said with a kindly smile.

  ~ finis ~

  *** The adventures of the Carver sisters will continue ***

  Watch for new books on Amazon,

  check my website at www.deprima.com,

  or sign up for my free newsletter to receive email announcements about future book releases.

  * * *

  A Message To My Readers

  If you've enjoyed this novel, I hope that you'll take just a few minutes to leave a review on the Amazon site. They are much appreciated, as they often assist purchasing decisions by other readers.

  Thank you

  * * *

  Appendix

  This chart is offered to assist readers who may be unfamiliar with military rank and the reporting structure. Newly commissioned officers begin at either ensign or second lieutenant rank.

  Space Command Officer Hierarchy:

  Admiral of the Fleet (5 Star)

  Admiral (4 Star)

  Vice-Admiral (3 Star)

  Rear Admiral – Upper (2 Star)

  Rear Admiral – Lower (1 Star)

  Captain

  Commander

  Lt. Commander

  Lieutenant

  Lieutenant(jg) "Junior Grade"

  Ensign

  Space Marine Officer Hierarchy:

  General (4 Star)

  Lt. General (3 Star)