“No, I meant talk about how you got that fear.”
Well, crap. No, she did not want to talk about that. “I’m sure we have more important things to talk about.”
“Not that I know of.”
“Have they said when you’ll be able to return to duty?”
“Tomorrow. I’ll still have sessions with the counselors for the next several months, though.” He cocked his head. “You were pretty young when you decided not to trust, if my impression is correct.”
Her scar throbbed, and she remembered her dad laughing, singing merrily, having the grandest time.
Then something came through the windshield.
“Please, let’s talk about something else.”
“Patrice, you need to deal with this, face it full on.”
“Your food is getting cold.”
He shook his head, a sad chuckle escaping his lips. “You don’t even trust me.”
Icy fingers wrapped themselves around her heart. If he withdrew from her, she didn’t know what she’d do. She needed his friendship. She needed this person she could talk to about anything, this man she could be herself around.
She needed his love, even if there would never be a romantic element to it.
I’m fine! her dad had said. I can drive as well as anyone.
No, Dad, please. Let’s get a taxi.
Get in the car now, before I pick you up and throw you in.
“Not just trust,” Trel said. “This event affected your attitude about people who want you to obey them.”
“Trel, please stop.” Her eyes filled with moisture, and she didn’t want the tears to fall. It was not dignified, and she was still on duty.
“This is important,” he said.
So, that meant he wasn’t going to drop the subject. There was only one thing to do about it. She stood, grabbed one last piece of finger food, and walked out of the room.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The alert Klaxon awoke Mehta from a nightmare. She threw water on her face, swiped her toothbrush over her teeth a couple of times, then headed to the bridge.
The hall was full, people rushing around, everyone in a hurry. It was almost too much. Perhaps they needed to stagger their arrivals at their duty stations, so others could make it through the passages that much faster.
Jeez, you can’t be satisfied, can you?
The bridge was crowded, the air filled with purposeful chatter. The only numbers on the current operations board were from the previous drill, but a crewman worked to erase them.
Fmedg shouted at them, while somehow still looking dignified. “Engineering reports they’re at 74 percent.”
Mehta walked up to Pkrish, who stood behind Vril. “Where’s the enemy ship?”
“On its way,” Yagran said.
“Estimated arrival?” She made a mental note to tell Yagran that she should automatically include this information in any answer about enemy location. She needed to give the commander all the relevant information without her having to dig it out, pry it loose with her fingernails.
“Two minutes.”
She turned to Pkrish. “Do you think this is realistic? Do we often have a couple of minutes of knowing they’re on their way before they engage?”
“Yes,” he said. “We have good sensors, so we know they’re coming.” Then he smiled. “Actually, the shuttle is just getting ready to launch.”
She nodded. “Be careful.”
“All weapons have been disabled,” he said, “but we can get them back on line in a couple of minutes if we actually run into a real threat.”
“Good.”
“Shuttle is launched,” Vril said.
“I’m picking it up,” Yagran said.
Mehta could see it now in the main view screen, and her heart squeezed for a moment, knowing that Trel was out there, pretending to be Species X. The shuttle was heading away from them, going far enough that when it turned, it would be at the distance from which the Species X ships usually began engaging the Mralans.
Major Hiranaka burst into the room, then rushed over to helm. “Let’s move to our designated spot and start.”
Mehta sat in her chair and watched as her vessel ducked behind a comet, then swung around to try to strike the “enemy” ship.
“I can’t get around it!” Vril wailed.
“Move! Move!” The skin was crunched into three dark folds between Hiranaka’s brows. “More power to propulsion!”
“He’s too close!” Yagran said.
“Over there! Over there!” Hiranaka shouted, pointing to the asteroid that took up most of the screen. “Pull in there.”
Vril made a sharp turn, and again the force of the move tugged Mehta sideways. Suddenly, the shuttle could no longer be seen in the rear-view screen.
Mehta walked up to Ndrem. “Has he fired at us yet?”
“Twice. Two hits to quadrant thirty.”
She nodded. “Engineering,” she said. “Quadrant 30 shields are down. Send repair crews to fix them.”
Mehta turned and watched Hiranaka continue to direct Vril at the helm, now telling him to turn the ship around, so that they would be coming around the asteroid in a direction the shuttle was not expecting. “Weapons ready?” she said.
The problem for them was clear. Sensors could easily penetrate nebulae and gas clouds, but not solid rock. They didn’t know what turns the shuttle had made any more than the shuttle knew what they were doing. It could get tricky.
The undulating edge of the asteroid loomed in the screen, the craters on its surface disappearing beneath them as the ship made its way around. Suddenly, the shuttle appeared off the far-right edge. “We got him!” sensors shouted.
“Firing!” weapons said.
“Now turn again,” Hiranaka said, pointing helm toward a second asteroid that was several hundred kilometers away.
“Damage estimates?” Mehta asked.
“Likely, none,” Ndrem said.
“We hit him on the side!” Hiranaka said. “You’ve said yourself, Species X doesn’t always have all their shields on. If he wasn’t expecting it, we would have damaged it.”
Ndrem grimaced. “Maybe.”
“He’s coming after us,” sensors shouted.
“You see,” Hiranaka said, pointing to the asteroid ahead, “there are two of them. We want to get between them.”
“Engineering,” Mehta said, “what’s the status on the quadrant thirty shields?”
“About half way done.”
“We need to get to cover quickly,” she said to Hiranaka. “I know those two asteroids look good, but we should’ve gotten full shield status before leaving the protection we had.”
Hiranaka straightened, her face gone slack. “I’m not used to having to deal with a whole ship full of people...”
“Carry on,” Mehta said. She didn’t need to belabor the point. Hiranaka looked like she was about to melt into the floor, and she didn’t need any more criticism. And Mehta was certain Hiranaka would not make that mistake again.
Hiranaka turned back to the helm. “Can we turn the ship so that quadrant thirty isn’t facing the enemy?”
He tapped a few commands into his console. “Done.”
“He’s firing again,” Yagran said.
“Two hits,” Rbemfel said.
“More shields down,” Mehta said.
“Getting repair crews over there now,” Rbemfel responded.
“Another hit,” Yagran said. “We’re probably dead now.”
Mehta nodded. “Okay. Let’s end the exercise. Call back the shuttle, and then all department heads and staff meet me in an hour to go over what just happened.”
The silence descended on her with crushing force. Their faces hung in masks of defeat, their shoulders sagged. Opash looked like she had tears in her eyes.
“Then, after we go over everything, we’ll see how we can do it better, and we’ll try again.”
A few heads nodded.
The rest of them looked
like they thought they were dead already.
A beep at Fmedg’s work station interrupted her train of thought. This wasn’t part of the drill.
He looked at the screen on his control panel, then sat back and frowned. A moment later, he read it again, then shook his head.
“Fmedg, what’s wrong?”
He turned to her, a pained expression on his face. “We just received a communication from the Council of the Protectorate.”
Mehta tensed. “What is it?”
He squirmed. “You’re not going to like it.”
“Delaying is not going to make my reaction any better. It’s probably going to make it worse.
Fmedg closed his eyes. “I can’t deal with this,” he said.
“Tell me about it.”
Mlendish jumped up and pushed Fmedg away from the console, then read. “The ship assignment office has been trying to find another ship to take over sector five-fourty-seven, since Grindish’s ship was destroyed. Your ship is the only one …” His hands shook. “This can’t be right. There has to be another ship.”
“They’re all in repairs,” Fmedg said. “We have a difficult time with repairs.”
“That’s what it says,” Mlendish said. “But it can’t be right.”
Mehta swallowed. “It’s probably right. When are we supposed to go there?”
“Three days from today.”
“Three days,” she whispered. Three days, and they still didn’t have anything she thought would work.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The review of the exercise didn’t provide much in the way of ideas to make their tactics better. There were small improvements they could make, but not enough to change the outcome. Still, they were going to try it again.
“The big thing,” Mehta said, to help everyone feel positive about it, “is that Species X is not going to be able to react as quickly. That, just by itself, could make a big difference.”
Who the hell was she kidding?
She hoped no one was standing close enough to her to sense her doubts. It was a good thing that emotions had a maximum range, or the entire ship would be demoralized.
The big problem was that Aahliss was now following her everywhere, skulking in the background, waiting for a moment to jump in and relieve her. And who knew what she would tell everyone?
But Mehta had to keep trying.
She turned to Ndrem. “Keep studying them. We need to find a weakness.”
He shifted in his seat, and his shoulders moved like he was trying to get his muscles to relax. “Right.”
“And do we know where the next attack will be?”
“Providing they haven’t changed their sequence,” Ramirez said, “it’ll be in sector five-fourty-six.
“When?”
“We have a window of time,” Ramirez said. “It opens in six hours and goes through the next two days.”
“Six hours,” she said. The air abandoned her lungs. “Sector five-fourty-six is close to sector five-fourty-seven, where we’re going?”
“Adjacent.”
She turned to Vril. “How fast can we get there?”
He looked puzzled. “We’re not supposed to leave until tomorrow.”
“We have six hours. How quickly?”
Vril stood. “You’re not... we’re not going to attack them, are we?”
“Answer my question! How much time do we need to get there?”
“At least twelve hours.”
“Plot a course and get us moving, best possible speed.”
Everyone stared at her with disbelieving expressions while Vril shook his head. “We’re not scheduled—”
“Now!”
“But... but...”
She motioned to her enforcers to approach. “If you don’t follow your orders right now, I’ll have you confined to your quarters, and I’ll get someone else to do the job.”
Vril nodded, and his throat moved in a swallow. “Right.” He left the room.
“The meeting’s over. We could be going into action soon.”
The crewmen stood and began filing out.
“Major Hiranaka,” Mehta said, “you and Lieutenant Colonel Davis stay here. We have some things to discuss.”
In a moment, the room was empty, except for the two officers Mehta had asked to remain, and Trel, who had stayed in his seat, staring into the distance.
“Ma’am, our plan isn’t ready,” Major Hiranaka said. “We don’t know what we’re doing.”
“We need a new plan,” Mehta said. “Gather your planners together and I’ll meet you in your office in five minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, then headed toward the door.
Mehta looked at Davis. “I need you on the bridge, making certain the helm is following orders, and no one is fomenting mutiny.”
“Got it,” he said, then rushed out.
Now, only Trel remained, sitting near the back. She walked up to him. “You seem awfully quiet.”
“I don’t know if I can go through this again.”
She nodded. “There’s no way to make it easier, except more training.”
“Is the crew ready?”
Mehta looked away. “I don’t know.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
When Mehta got to the planning room, there were more than just the planning team there. Aahliss and Fmedg stood in the back, arms folded across their chests, dark expressions on their faces.
There was no time to deal with them. She turned to Hiranaka. “We need a plan to join the other ship in its battle. Something we can start rehearsing this afternoon.”
“What are you talking about?” Aahliss said. “If you do that, we’ll all be killed.”
Mehta turned to Opash, ignoring Aahliss. “We need to get to the site of the attack just after the Species X ship arrives. Timing will be crucial. If we get there too soon, we may alert them to the ambush. Too late and then probably all we can do is ram them.”
Hiranaka winced.
Aahliss stepped forward, her fists tightly balled. “You’re not saying we’re going where the enemy ship is, are you?”
Mehta shrugged. “We even have a term for it: it’s a meeting engagement.”
“We are not going anywhere near where the enemy will be.”
Mehta lowered her chin, hoping to make her expression as threatening as possible and not give away that Aahliss had the authority to stop her. “If you countermand me again, I’ll have you removed from the room.”
“But she’s correct,” Fmedg said. “If we stay in our own sector, we’ll be safe.”
“What are you? A bunch of cowards?” Only after her outburst did Mehta realize she’d yelled at them. She took a couple of breaths to calm herself, but she was shaking. “It’s your job to risk your lives, and it’s your duty to help the other members of the fleet.”
“But,” Aahliss said, her voice now timid, “if we go two against one, it’s not a fair fight.”
“My people quit fighting one-on-one five hundred years ago. Chivalry is dead.”
“I don’t understand,” Fmedg said.
“They’ve beaten you in every single engagement. Do you think they’re worried about being fair? They’re using every resource available to make sure they win, and we need to start doing the same.”
Fmedg frowned. “I just don’t know that I’m comfortable with—”
“We don’t have time for this,” Mehta said. “The decision has been made.”
“Your decision!” Fmedg said. “I cannot support this.”
“Then you’re relieved.” Mehta looked at Opash. “Get a replacement for him.”
Fmedg stared at her for a second, then Mehta motioned for her enforcers to come forward.
“No need for your dictatorial intimidation tactics,” Fmedg said. “I’m leaving.” With that, he rushed to the door, then stopped and turned to look at everyone else. “She’s going to get us killed. We could have survived, but now we’re headed to our deaths.”
&n
bsp; “Out,” Mehta said, pointing a finger at the door.
Fmedg stomped out of the room, and Aahliss followed him.
Mehta turned back to the others. “We also need to plan for assistance to the other ship once we’ve defeated the enemy. Medical and engineering need to have crews standing by.”
“Right,” Opash said.
“And have several shuttle crews ready, both to ferry help and supplies to the other ship and to gather as much debris as we can from the remains of the enemy ship.”
“I’ll make sure it happens,” Opash said.
“Plan a rehearsal,” Mehta said, “just in case we have enough time.”
Hiranaka nodded and moved over to another table with her main planners.
As Mehta watched the staff begin to work, she clutched her gut. They would be lucky if there was enough time to rehearse what they needed to do, not to mention repeated rehearsals until they got it right. Plans and orders and instructions were going to be handed out verbally, and if Murphy had anything to do with it, somebody would misunderstand what they were supposed to do and screw up on the actions they took.
Fmedg could be right. This might be the biggest mistake she’d ever made.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
As soon as she and her planning staff achieved even a skeleton of a plan, Major Hiranaka took it to Colonel Mehta. A flutter of fear zipped up her back when she handed the papers to the captain, who read over the document, then frowned. “Assuming we get a good hit on the Species X ship, it’s going to explode, isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How close will it be?”
Hiranaka bit her lip. Damn, she hadn’t thought of that. Shields would be down, because the plan had all the energy going into weapons. “I’ll add that shields have to go up as soon as we’ve fired.”
Colonel Mehta nodded, then went back to scrutinizing the document. What else was she going to find wrong? How many other stupid things had the planning team missed?
“I think you’ve got us contacting the other ship too soon,” she said then. “We don’t want to forewarn Species X.”
No Plan Survives Page 19