by Saxon Andrew
“Have you decided on the new name for this ship?”
“I have. It will be renamed Delilah’s Sword.”
Hefin smiled and said, “I also wanted to tell you that the crew on this ship is the best in the fleet. I hope you can keep them together. I know some are worried that you’ll reassign them.”
Sam was silent for a moment and then looked at Hefin’s Second-in-Command, “Commander Jeles, you are promoted to take command of the First Sub-Fleet on board the Flagship Killamed. I want you to make them the best in our fleet.”
The Cryan Officer nodded and smiled, “Thank you, Sir. I’ll do my best.”
Sam looked at Hefin, “As far as the rest of the crew, I do not plan to make changes immediately. I will need to determine their abilities before I do that. For the short term, I intend to get up to speed on how well they work together.”
“What about the officers of the ships in your former squadron? Are you planning to promote them?”
“Sir, when you originally took command of the fleet, you fired most of the Fleet Commanders under you along with eighty percent of the crew on this vessel. Do you think you did the right thing at that time?”
Hefin tried not to smile but didn’t pull it off. “I can see you’ve done your homework.”
Sam lowered his eyes, “You did that to make sure that those in command would follow your orders without question. I will make changes where I deem them necessary for the same reasons.”
Hefin stared at the young human male and smiled, “I apologize for speaking out of turn and you’re absolutely right to do so. I’m just unwilling to let go and that is something I have to do. I wish you success and again, if you need me, I’ll be glad to offer my assistance.”
Sam smiled, “Thank you, Sir. I wish you a long and happy life, Sir.”
Hefin stood up and Sam came to attention and saluted his superior officer. Hefin returned his salute and left the conference room with Jeles behind him. Sam sat down and Jek said, “I suppose one day you will sit in a room like this and ask the same questions of the officer chosen to replace you.”
“I understand why he did it but I think when that time comes, I’ll just turn everything over to my replacement and exit promptly.”
Jek stared at him for a moment and then shrugged, “You’re probably right.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No. You have to be willing to send ships into dangerous situations and if you’re too close to them, you’ll hesitate. You have to keep the big picture in focus to do the right things. The former Fleet Commander has allowed himself to get too close to those he commands.”
“What was all that about the Fleet Commander having bad thoughts about you?”
“He senses that I’m a killer.”
“Aren’t we all?”
“I suppose.”
Sam stared at Jek and slowly brew out a breath, “Try to keep it under control.”
Jek raised his left shoulder, “I’ll do what I can.”
“Let’s go meet the crew.” Jek stood up and followed Sam out of the conference room.
They entered the bridge and the crew came to attention. Sam went to his chair, reached over, and pressed the red button on his console. Immediately, red lights began strobing around the giant ship, klaxons began blaring at high volume, and the wall speakers began announcing, “Battle stations, all hands to battle stations!”
The bridge crew was stunned for an instant and then they went to their stations and began pressing buttons on their consoles. Sam sat down and pressed a stop watch on his panel and looked around the bridge. Jek took his chair slightly below and directly in front of Sam’s command chair. His expression showed no emotion as he listened to the thoughts of the bridge crew. After two minutes and forty-three seconds, Jek announced, “All sections have reported in ready, Commander.”
Sam stopped the timer, pressed a button on his console, and the lights, klaxons, and speakers stopped. He pressed a button activating the ship’s intercom. “I must commend you on your response. I thought it would take a lot longer to go to battle stations and you’ve surprised me. It appears Fleet Commander Hefin was right and he leaves me an excellent crew. I expect this time to be bettered the next time I sound battle stations and I will be doing it at random times for the foreseeable future.” He smiled and said, “Return to your normal activities.” He looked at the Eagan manning the pilot’s controls and said, “Take the ship out to the intersection.”
Rangel began entering coordinates into his panel and pushed the booster control handles forward. The giant Flagship quickly left orbit above Heaven, entered Under Space, and moved toward the glowing filament fifty-eight thousand miles away. Sam leaned back in his chair and watched the planet growing smaller in the distance.
Jek stared out of the forward view port at the distant glowing filament and marveled at the speed it was moving. Every star had one or more filaments moving away from it toward other stars. Heaven revolved around a Red Giant Star so it only had a single filament coming out of it. One side of the filament moved away from the star at super light speed and the other side moved back toward the star. It was the filaments that allowed the billions of civilizations to move around the universe at super light speeds. Some of the giant filaments that came out of galaxy’s central black holes moved at speeds that were almost unimaginable. Those filaments always connected to other black holes in distant galaxies and some of them were massive even for black hole filaments. The 440 filament was four hundred and forty miles wide and starships were forced to brace for extreme acceleration whenever they entered it. The black hole filaments were the superhighways that connected the galaxies. The billions of filaments often crossed each other forming what was called intersections that could be used to move to other parts of a galaxy. The intersection closest to Heaven had six filaments that intersected each other and if trouble was ever going to come to Heaven, it would have to come through that intersection.
Jek listened to the thoughts of the bridge crew and quickly heard their discomfort at his being on board. He showed no emotion and understood their feelings; having a Guyton telepath hearing your most secret thoughts was not something anyone felt comfortable with. He waited for Sam to speak and kept his expression neutral.
Sam stared at the view port and decided it was time to make an announcement. He looked around the bridge and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “Before we enter the filament, there is an issue that I feel needs to be addressed now. I know most of you are not comfortable with Jek being on board. I believe that over time this issue will resolve itself but for the moment, I want to clarify how Jek and I operate.” Sam saw he had everyone’s attention and he paused for a moment before continuing. “I have ordered Jek to not reveal anyone’s thoughts to me under any circumstances except those that involve the safety of the ship; your thoughts will remain your own. Jek’s benefit to all of us is that he can hear the thoughts of any starships we encounter and determine if they represent a threat or not. He was invaluable in finding the home world of the Huddes and he gives us a tool we need when confronting other civilizations. So relax.”
The crew stared at Sam and he knew they probably didn’t believe him. He looked at Jek and said, “Do you wish to say anything?”
Jek sat in his chair and said, “No.”
Sam smiled and said, “Most of you have been around Guytons on Heaven and you’ve seen they are polite and you’d never know they’re telepathic in your contacts with them. You can expect the same with Captain Jek. You may go back to your duties.”
Jek stared straight ahead and knew the Commander didn’t know about the human female commanding the scanner team. He’d find out soon enough. She might be one that needed to be transferred but she would probably request it and resolve the situation. He pushed her thoughts out of his mind and continued to stare at the rapidly approaching filament in the forward view port. He closed his eyes as the woman said loudly, “Fleet Leader, I request an immediate tran
sfer to another ship!”
Jek thought to himself, “Please don’t ask her why!”
Sam’s eyes narrowed, “Why do you want to transfer, Team Commander?”
Jek started shaking his head as the woman said loudly, “I will never serve with the son of a coward who betrayed my father.”
Sam’s eyes widened slightly and said, “Team Leader, report to my conference room immediately!” Sam stood up and said to Jek, “Come with me!”
Jek took a deep breath and stood up. He saw the woman’s entire scanner team follow her toward the conference room. She was just like her father.
• • •
Sam sat down in the front chair and saw the entire scanner team follow the woman into his conference room. This was close to a mutiny. They all sat down and he said, “I can assume that all of you are also requesting a transfer.”
The woman smiled, “Yes, we are.”
“What is your issue, Team Leader?”
“The woman sneered as she stood up and said, “During the last days of the war against the Huddes, your father ordered my father to attack a Huddes Mobile Blaster knowing the Huddes were leaving in a few days. My father was a challenger for the Leadership position in the warriors fighting outside Killamed. Your father sent him on a suicide mission to remove him from taking his rightful position as Leader of the Resistance!”
Sam stared at her for a long moment and then turned to Jek, “Do you know anything about this?”
Jek looked at Sam and said, “You should just allow them to transfer, Sir. I advise you not to pursue this.”
Sam stared at Jek and then said, “I asked you a question!”
The woman said, “Your assassin knows telling the truth will show what scum you come from. I believe like father like son!”
Jek saw the rest of the woman’s scanner team were highly uncomfortable with her tone but they stayed in their chairs not saying anything. That showed that they were loyal to their leader. Sam continued staring and Jek turned to the woman, “Team Leader, I am also going to advise you to let this go and not pursue it. You will regret not heeding my advice. You should just transfer and put this behind you.”
“You’re no better than the Olivers!”
Jek sighed, shook his head, and said, “So be it. I was present at your father’s death and saw everything that happened. I am going to share my memory of the events and every one of you will watch and keep your mouths shut!” He looked at the woman, “You got that, Team Leader!” The woman’s eyes narrowed and she sat down, “Yes, Captain.”
Jek said, “Our Leader was killed in a confrontation with the Huddes and the resistance fighters gathered to choose a new Commander. The two most popular choices were your father and Fleet Commander Oliver’s father. Your father lost the vote eighty percent to twenty percent. After the votes were totaled, your father and his three closest friends left the meeting and stormed off into the forest. I decided to follow them.”
The woman snapped at him, “Why would you do that!?”
“Because your father was angry at the outcome and believed he could still persuade the fighters to have another vote. He was of the opinion that the Commander’s father was not fit to lead and he had to prove it to the rest of the fighters.”
Sam interrupted, “Why did he believe that?”
Jek sighed, “Please, no more interruptions. He felt that Sam Senior had not attacked the Huddes on many occasions when he should have. I am going to share the memory of what I saw when I approached your father and his three friends at the edge of the jungle.”
Suddenly, everyone in the room saw though the Guyton’s eyes as he pushed branches aside and moved through the thick forest. Suddenly they heard, “The vote was rigged!”
“Bob, I was one of the vote counters and I made sure each warrior only put one vote in the urn. I was present when the urn was emptied and the ballots counted. The vote was not rigged.” The woman saw her father alive for the first time in the Guyton’s thoughts. He looked just like his picture on the wall in her family’s living room. The man who spoke saw her father’s expression and said, “If you’re going to accuse me of lying, our friendship is over now!”
Bob shook his head, “No, Jim, I would never accuse you of not telling the truth. How could the warriors choose that coward over me? They have to see he is not fit to lead us.”
“I really don’t know, Bob. But they did. The vote was valid.”
Bob’s eyes narrowed and he said, “We have to show them that they made a bad decision. The coward has ordered that the Huddes Mobile Blaster in the field outside the city not be attacked. We are going to go in and destroy it showing Oliver for the coward he is. I’ll then call for another vote.”
Everyone in the room heard Jek say to the three men startling them, “Before you make that decision, there are some things you should know.”
Bob turned and the people in the conference room saw him staring straight at Jek with a scornful expression, “Well looks who’s spying on us, Oliver’s little tool. Are you going to go and tattle on us to your master?”
“He’s not my master, he’s my friend, and you know I’ve been ordered to remain silent about anything that doesn’t involve the safety of the entire unit.”
Jim spoke up, “What things are you saying we should know?”
“The reason that Huddes Mobile Blaster is out in the open is because they’ve been ordered to leave the planet. They forced hundreds of our people to go out in the fields to gather crops to take on board their ships for the trip back to their home world.”
Jim looked at Bob, “Is this true?”
Bob sneered, “What if it is! I see an enemy of my people out in the open and I am going to kill them. Are you going with me!?”
The three men looked at Bob nervously and another man said, “Are you sure we should do this?”
“Are you a coward like Oliver!?”
“You know I’ll follow wherever you lead, Bob.”
“Then charge your blasters and move into the tall plants.” Bob looked at Jek, “Watch and see what real warriors look like.” The people in the conference room saw the four men move forward and then crawl into the edge of the field. They then saw Jek’s view move toward the tall Huddes Mobile Blaster sitting in the center of the large field. They suddenly heard the thoughts of a Huddes Warrior inside the Blaster, “I have detected four heat signatures moving into the field from the edge of the forest!”
“Target them and prepare to open fire.”
“There are many of the locals gathering crops in our line of fire, Sire.”
“What do I care? Prepare to fire.”
The attendees heard Jek’s thoughts to the four warriors, “THE HUDDES HAVE DETECTED YOUR PRESENCE AND ARE PREPARING TO FIRE ON YOU! GET OUT OF THE FIELD NOW!!”
Jek’s thought was followed by an immediate brilliant blaster bolt. The crops between the blaster and the four warriors were vaporized and all four men were burning on the ground. Jek followed the burned out crops back toward the Mobile Blaster and there were forty more bodies burning on the ground.
The conference room was silent and Jek looked at the Team Leader, “The reason the warriors chose Sam over your father was because they felt your father was reckless and took risks that needlessly endangered those under his command. The only time I ever had Sam scream at me was for not telling him what your father was planning. He made it clear that losing your father was a threat to the entire unit and I should have let him know so he could stop it. Judging by your behavior on the bridge, you are just like your father. You act recklessly before you think things through. You should have discussed this with the Fleet Commander in private before you were insubordinate.”
The woman had her head in her hands and was weeping. The other scanners on her team stood up and looked at Sam. One of them said, “Sir, we apologize for our behavior and we do not wish to transfer. We were misled in what happened.”
Sam nodded, “You’re dismissed.” The eight crewme
mbers turned and left the conference room.
The only sound was the woman weeping and Jek looked at Sam and said loudly, “You didn’t have to do this!! This officer is an outstanding warrior and you’ve now shown her that the father she’s worshiped as a hero…wasn’t. You should have just allowed her to keep her memories and leave along with the others that believe in her!!”
Sam stared at Jek and lowered his eyes, “You’re right. I should have listened to you but allowed my emotions to get the better of me. I wasn’t going to allow anyone to shame my father.”
“Your father doesn’t care one whit about what others think about his reputation! He blamed himself for years for Bob’s death! Now you’ve done harm to Bob’s daughter. Next time when I make a suggestion, empty the room and find out why I’m recommending something!” Jek stood up and stalked out of the room.
Sam stared at the weeping Team Leader and said, “I’m…I’m sorry. I’ll approve your transfer. I never intended to cause you this pain.” He stood up and left the conference room leaving the woman behind with her tears. He went to his command chair and saw the bridge crew discussing what had happened. He looked down at Jek and said, “You have the ship.” He stood and went to his quarters. This was the first time Jek had ever yelled at him. He was determined that it would not ever happen again.
• • •
Thirty minutes later, the scanner team went back in the conference room and after an hour had passed, they came out and went to their posts. The woman was no longer crying and she walked up to Jek, “Pease accept my apology for what I said.”
“It’s ok, Team Leader. I understand why you did and I accept your apology.”
The Team Leader paused and looked at Jek with her piercing green eyes, “I just have one question remaining.” Jek looked at her and nodded. “Why was my father given the highest award for valor and the truth of his actions never exposed?”
Jek paused and sighed before saying, “Sam’s father blamed himself, and me, for your father losing his life. Your father was the bravest warrior in our unit, almost to a fault. The award for bravery only recognized him for all the magnificent things he had done in the war. Sam ordered me to never reveal what happened and he told everyone that questioned him that he ordered the mission.”