by Jerry Aubin
The civilian appraised them all before shaking his head. “I don’t think so. You by the hatch—go ahead and close that up for me good and tight. I’m going to call this in and find out what command wants us to do with you bunch.”
The civilian kept one hand on the blaster with his finger on the trigger and used the other to pull a small communicator out of his pocket. He was initiating a transmission when a blaster roared in the passageway. The shock forced Zax to close his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, the tall civilian had collapsed lifelessly to the ground with a blaster hole in the middle of his chest. The younger civilian had dropped her weapon and was running back in the direction from where she had originally come. A familiar voice boomed loud enough to pierce the ringing in Zax’s ears.
“CAG—don’t let her get away!”
Kalare broke into a sprint to catch the young civilian, and Zax turned his attention towards the opposite end of the passageway. Sergeant Bailee stood in a textbook firing stance with a mini-blaster aimed at the escaping civilian. Zax turned back around just as Kalare tackled the girl. The young civilian didn’t struggle, and Kalare helped the girl to her feet and guided her back with a hand gripped lightly around her bicep. Aleron had grabbed one of the civilians’ blasters and Mase had picked up the other by the time Bailee reached their position. Zax smiled as he spoke to the Marine.
“Where did you come from, Sergeant? You sure had perfect timing.”
“I was eating lunch when you lot stood up to leave. I wanted to keep an eye on you because something about your facial expressions and body language caught my attention. I heard about that idiotic civilian leader’s order while I was tailing you, so when this guy pointed his weapon at the CAG it was time for action.” Bailee turned to Kalare. “Thanks for the assist, ma’am. I couldn’t bear to shoot someone that young in the back, even if it’s just a civilian. Where are you all heading?”
Major Eryn spoke before Kalare replied. “Thank you for the quick action, Sergeant. The Boss ordered the CAG and me to go into hiding down in the sewage treatment cavern. Zax suggested it was safer to use the tunnels instead of the main passageways, and based on what just happened, he was correct. We should get moving again.”
The Marine raised an eyebrow at mention of the Boss. “Any idea why he wants you down in the cavern, ma’am?”
“Not a clue, Sergeant. I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”
Bailee was quiet for a moment before he replied. “With the major’s permission, I’m going to join your group. We need to finish cleaning this mess up first, though.”
The Marine raised his blaster and pointed it at the young civilian’s face. Kalare screamed as she jumped in front of the girl.
“Sergeant—no!”
“Step away, ma’am. We can’t leave her alive. She’s already heard our plans. If we let her live, we’ll have civilians crawling up our ass before you know it.”
“I don’t care. You’re not going to kill this girl in cold blood, Sergeant.”
“She’s just a civilian, ma’am. Her buddy had you on the wrong side of a blaster and wouldn’t have hesitated to pull the trigger. The rest of them are in the process of stealing our Ship right now. Why the hell do you want to protect her?”
Zax expected Major Eryn to step into the discussion and assert her rank to make the final decision, but the older woman remained quiet as she observed the exchange between Kalare and the Marine.
“I don’t care that she’s a civilian, Sergeant. They’re all as human as we are. She’s just doing the job someone ordered her to do. You had no choice but to take care of her partner before he used his communicator, but there’s zero reason to murder this one. The Others are eventually going to destroy us all, but I refuse to make things any easier for them by starting the killing early.”
“With all due respect, ma’am—”
“Sergeant—I’m not going to discuss this any further. If you don’t believe it’s safe to leave the girl behind, then we’ll drag her along with us. I’m making you personally responsible for her safety.” Kalare turned to the rest of the group. “Into the tunnel—now!”
Zax’s heart swelled with pride when Kalare exerted command authority over the shell-shocked Marine, especially given how she was doing the absolute right thing. He stood aside as everyone entered the access port and then followed behind Bailee as the Marine forced the young civilian inside in front of him. Zax shut the hatch and locked it behind him, but not before blaster fire echoed somewhere off in the distance.
7
I won’t let you down.
Kalare walked with her head held high, but her hands jammed in her pockets. Within the last few mins she had accidentally stared down the barrel of a blaster held by a civilian and then intentionally stepped in front of one held by a Marine. For someone who had spent most of her career battling from within a fighter, the up-close and personal nature of face-to-face conflict was surprisingly disconcerting. Footsteps approached at a quickened pace and then a hand squeezed her shoulder. Aleron. Kalare nodded acknowledgement of his gesture. When she didn’t further engage, he released his grip and fell back to join the rest.
A few mins later footsteps approached once again, and Major Eryn spoke softly as she drew even with Kalare.
“That was an incredibly brave thing you did back there, CAG.”
“Thank you, ma’am, but I’m not feeling the least bit brave right now. I can’t take my hands out of my pockets because they won’t stop shaking. I’m still terrified about what just happened, and now it’s even worse because I’m worried that everyone will see just how scared I really am.”
“You’re getting a critical lesson about command that you can’t learn out in a fighter. It’s perfectly OK to be afraid on the inside to help keep you focused, but if your team sees any fear on the outside they’ll amplify it tenfold with their own.” Eryn smiled. “Right now, there’s no trace that you’re scared. You’re doing great.”
“Thank you, ma’am. That means a lot coming from you.”
“What possessed you to put yourself between that civilian and the sergeant’s blaster in the first place? What’s one more dead civilian—especially in light of what they’re doing right now?”
Kalare took a deep breath. “By all rights I should want every single civilian dead. My first exposure to them left me gut-shot at their hands and abandoned to bleed out. Pour that fuel onto the fire lit by the programming all Crew receive that civilians are effectively subhuman, and I should have shot that girl myself without hesitation.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Imair. Rege had killed her by the time you became mini-Boss, but I had spent a lot of time with her prior to that. The Boss was mentoring me, so I was often alone with the two of them. I wanted to hate her. She killed a young, innocent boy right in front of me. During that time, I witnessed firsthand how hard she fought to make her people’s lives better and how much she cared for them. One day we were alone, waiting for the Boss, and I worked up the nerve to challenge her about the boy. It was obvious that she suffered from the memory of his death. She hadn’t meant to kill him, and the one thing that kept her sane was the heartfelt belief that his sacrifice was worth bettering the situation for millions of others.
“Eventually, she had me convinced about the injustice of the Ship’s society. She had persuaded the Boss as well, and I suspected they were working on a path to unite everyone on board. Then she disappeared, and I’m sure it was because Rege had her killed. That sociopath couldn’t care less about his fellow civilians. He uses his people as leverage to get whatever he wants, and then he bribes his lieutenants with the leftovers so they’ll have every incentive to keep him in power.”
Eryn raised an eyebrow. “Unite the Crew and civilians? Is that possible?”
“You’re well aware, ma’am, how I’ve always rebelled against the top-down rigidity of the Ship’s society. That attribute makes a goal like unification a lot easier than it otherwise mig
ht be. Almost everyone in the Crew will ultimately do exactly what they’re told. If the Boss and all you Omegas announced that the civilians are just as equal as the rest of us, then we’d believe it and act on it. If Imair had still been around, then I’m certain the Boss would have given the order years ago. He needs a true partner in civilian leadership to make it work, though, and unfortunately Rege will never be that partner.”
Eryn was quiet for a few extra beats. “I wasn’t aware of any of that, Kalare. Thank you. If I ever get the chance to discuss matters like this with the Boss again, I’ll be sure to bring it up. In the meantime, I’m going to lean on you to manage our tactical situation. I don’t know what the Boss has in mind by sending us down to the sewage cavern, but I trust that you have the best chance of leading us there safely.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I won’t let you down.”
Eryn nodded and then slowed her pace to fall back alongside the rest of the group.
Kalare closed her eyes for a moment and allowed her legs to churn forward on autopilot. The momentary quiet allowed her to notice that Mase was humming incessantly from somewhere behind her, but she was mostly able to ignore his annoying drone. The smell of the tunnels was impossible to ignore, however, and it brought her back to that first trip into the bowels of the Ship a lifetime ago. She wasn’t looking forward to the far worse odors which would be found at their destination, but until then she appreciated the momentary solitude. Footfalls approached once more and they were ones she recognized. She opened her eyes and spoke without turning around.
“I was about to call you up here, Zax. I tried accessing a map of the tunnels, but it appears Rege has shut down our Plugs. Are you able to connect to anything?”
“No. Mine’s dead too.”
“It’s been a lot of years. Are you sure you’ll remember your way through the tunnels?”
Zax grimaced. “It was many years ago for you, sure, but don’t forget it hasn’t been that long for me.”
Kalare’s face warmed from the flush of embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Zax. I’m such an idiot.”
“It’s OK, CAG. If anything, I try to take it as a compliment. The fact you look at me being this young yet still believe I’ve been by your side all these years is a good thing. As for the tunnels, I probably don’t have all of them memorized quite the same way I did when I worked in Waste Management, but I have zero worry about navigating us to the sewage treatment cavern. Two more turns and then we’re going to hit that string of ladders that descend forever.”
Sure enough, Zax was correct and after the final turns the group stood before the shaft that led into the depths of the Ship. Kalare spoke.
“I want Aleron going down first with his blaster. I’m going to take the mini-blaster and go next. Then the major, Mase, Zax, and the civilian. Sergeant Bailee—grab that blaster from Mase and come down last. Let’s move out!”
As it did years before, the smell of sewage became more and more pronounced the deeper they descended. The climbing was far smoother than it had been that first time given no one was wounded like the Boss had been back then. Kalare allowed herself a moment of rest once Aleron was within a few dozen rungs of the bottom, and she was shocked a sec later when the roar of a blaster shattered the quiet. Ten civilians were arrayed around the base of the ladder with weapons drawn and aimed up at their group. The man closest to the ladder who wore a bright red shirt shouted up at them.
“There’s nowhere for you to go. We have at least one weapon aimed at each of you. Come down slowly and don’t make any sudden moves. If you try to climb back up, or if anyone raises a blaster, the next shot will do more than just get your attention.”
Kalare called down. “We’re not interested in getting captured by civilians. We’ll just stay right here until you give up and kill us.”
“I sure hope not, Kalare. My orders are to bring you back alive.”
Kalare was momentarily speechless when the civilian used her name but quickly composed herself. “Bring us back where? And whose orders?”
“I’m bringing you to our headquarters by order of Imair.”
8
One way or another.
The Boss clenched and unclenched his fists slowly. Initial reports were that dozens of Crew had been killed in the outbreaks of violence that followed the announcement of the civilian takeover. Whether it was the Crew getting out of hand or the civilians drunk on their new power, the transition had been far from smooth.
“Doran—I would have hoped the discipline level of your Crew was sufficient to prevent this kind of violent outbreak. Are you as surprised as I by their inability to follow orders and peacefully return to their quarters?”
The Boss stood before replying. “Mr. President, from what I’m hearing it’s unclear what exactly has triggered this reaction. Perhaps some of your newly minted soldiers aren’t quite ready for this kind of stress and resorted to their blasters far too soon. I’m going down to check on what’s happening in the mess hall as that’s where the worst violence has happened.”
Rege shook his head. “I’m sorry, Boss, but my order that confines the Crew to quarters applies equally to you. I appreciate your willingness to assist, but I’m confident that my team can get everything under control. One way or another. In the meantime, you’re welcome to observe the situation from here or you may return to your quarters.”
It took all of the Boss’s self-control to tamp down his rage and maintain an outward appearance of calm. From the slight upturn of Rege’s mouth, it was clear some emotion had leaked on to his face. The Boss nodded and turned towards the hatch.
“One more thing, Doran. You’re about to discover I’ve disabled the Crew’s Plugs. Don’t worry—I know how much you’d be lost without your precious Alpha, so I’ve made an exception that will allow you to communicate with the AI. I’ll also be able to reach you in the unlikely event you have any information I need.”
The Boss nodded once more without looking back as he exited the Bridge. He considered going to the mess hall in spite of Rege’s prohibition, but he concluded it served no good purpose to get himself killed by disobeying the civilian’s orders. He needed to be smarter than that, so he focused on staying calm as he strode away.
Once the Boss reached his quarters and the hatch closed behind him, he let out a vicious scream and unleashed a flurry of punches against the bulkhead until one of his knuckles bled. The feeling of powerlessness had increased in the years since the civilians had taken command, but never had it pained him more. He sucked on the scrape for a few moments until the blood slowed, and then the Boss rinsed his mouth with water until the coppery residue was gone.
He sat down and reached for the cigar on the table next to him. In times past, the Boss would have long since discarded the sad remnant, but once the hopelessness of their situation became clear and the food rationing began, he had started to smoke them down until there was nearly nothing left. He relit the cigar and the taste of tobacco and smell of the smoke instantly calmed his nerves. He closed his eyes to savor a few moments of peace and then contacted Alpha.
“Did you expect I would be confined to my quarters, Alpha?”
“Good afternoon, Boss. I had identified that as a low probability outcome, but so unlikely that it wasn’t worth wasting your time with discussion of it.”
“Are there are any other low probability events that might be more relevant now that we’ve reached this stage of the conflict?”
“Are you frustrated with me for some reason, Boss? In all of our years working together, I’ve never encouraged you to believe that my analysis is infallible. I consider billions of permutations when I evaluate possible scenarios, and we focus our discussion on those that are most likely. Unlikely events will happen, they will just happen far less often than the likely ones.”
The Boss paused for another drag of his cigar. He admired the billowy dance of the smoke he exhaled until it faded away.
“My apologies, Alpha. Any frustration you s
ense is not intended for you. Is there anything we might have done differently along the way that would have prevented us from getting to this juncture?”
“We could have allowed the captain to vent the Ship back when all of this started during the Revolution. Short of that, probably not. Once the civilians achieved maximum leverage by controlling the FTL engine, our only hope was to influence the long-term outcome as best as possible. We’ve managed to keep the Ship and the Crew intact over more than a decade since then, and that is clearly due to your leadership and strategic capacity.”
“Thank you, Alpha. Of course, I would have failed without your guidance along the way. What’s going to happen now?”
“I will continue to manipulate Rege’s actions as best I can. He has long trusted the story that my programming required me to follow his bidding once he removed Imair and took full command of the Ship. He thinks he’s being clever in allowing you to remain connected so that I’ll trick you into following whatever guidance he orders me to give you. Of course, he’s unaware how my obligation to obey him was voided by the fact his authority stems from an illegal revolt. He doesn’t always follow my guidance, which is why we will still be surprised by his actions once in a while, but he does more often than not. I have great confidence that I’ll ultimately succeed in manipulating him towards our desired outcome.”
The Boss stood and paced as Alpha continued.
“Unfortunately, there are other factors at play here. If this was just a conflict between the Crew and the civilians, I could predict the ultimate resolution with reasonable certainty. The greatest unknown is our captors and what they might do next. Our current situation was so far down the probability stack that I had not given it any consideration whatsoever. Knowing the Others have technology far superior to ours and can destroy us at will, I’m unable to identify a good reason why they continue to wait.”