by M. R. Forbes
"I wouldn't call it nothing, sir," Donovan said. "I would call it hope."
Rodriguez smiled. "You keep going like you are, Major, and you'll have my job soon."
"If I survive."
"I'm not making you go, Donovan."
"I know, sir. Consider me volunteered."
"Me, too," Diaz said without hesitation.
"Sir, if I might," Colonel Montero said. "I'd like to volunteer as well."
"Are you sure, Jose?"
"Yes, sir. The bigger the team, the better the chance we can pull this off. Besides, I'm getting soft sitting on the sidelines and watching cadets beat each other up."
"Very well. Harpreet, do you want to throw in as well?"
"I would sir, but we all know I would be more hindrance than help with this bum knee of mine." Major Sharma turned to Donovan. "If there's anything else you need, I'll do whatever I can."
"Thank you, Major," Donovan said.
"We've got three weeks, people," Rodriguez said. "Donovan, if you can stay behind for a moment? The rest of you are dismissed."
"Yes, sir," they said, filing out of the room and leaving Donovan alone with Rodriguez again.
"About the prisoner," Rodriguez said.
"Her name is Ehri," Donovan replied.
"I wasn't sure if I should say anything. I'm not even sure if it's important or not."
"What is it, sir?"
"The clone. Ehri. I've seen her before."
Donovan could tell the General was uncomfortable with the subject though he had no idea why. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what you're talking about."
"I was there. Did you know that? In New Mexico during the invasion. I was only a Private then, a freshly minted soldier put on guard detail. It was a boring job for the first three months. Every day, I would head in and stand in front of a pair of locked doors leading to the biggest underground hangar you could ever imagine." He smiled.
"I've heard this before, sir. You were stationed in New Mexico, guarding the Magellan."
"I knew the Captain who was in command of her. Not well, but I knew him. Theodore St. Martin. They called him the Gator because he was from an old Louisiana family, and because he was an incredible pilot. They said that once he got something in his teeth, he never let it go. He also liked to curse in cajun."
Rodriguez's eyes were distant as he recounted the memory.
"I knew his wife, Juliet, too. She was the sweetest, most kind-hearted person I've ever met in my life. Compassionate, sensitive, devout. They don't make a lot of people like her.
"Anyway, the invasion had been going on for three days when the order came to round people up to evacuate on the Magellan. She wasn't fully ready for travel, but they didn't have a choice. The top brass chose who would go. Military mostly, with training in every discipline they thought would be useful to a new world, plus their families. I wasn't invited.
"The Dread found out about the Magellan the second they fired up the reactors. They couldn't see her because she was underground, so they didn't get the position precise. That's the only reason she made it off the ground in the first place. Like I said, I wasn't invited, so I was doing my best to help the others on board. The problem was that they weren't ready, and the Dread attack turned the whole thing into chaos. They had to leave in a hurry, and they were going to wind up with only half a boat full of people.
"Then Captain St. Martin's wife, Juliet, appears out of nowhere, running through the base and screaming at the admins and the janitors and everyone she could find to get the hell on board. She yelled the same to me. I had a choice then, Donovan. A choice to leave or to stay. To die right then and there, or maybe live a full life out in the stars. You know which choice I made. I stayed with Juliet, helping her get people onto the ship. I stood next to her on the surface and watched the Magellan get off the ground. I watched how Theodore piloted that behemoth like it was a schooner on a lake of glass. I've never seen anything like it. The plasma flumes were so heavy into the pit, and somehow he got the Magellan around them. It was like he knew where they were going to be before they got there."
His eyes refocused, and he stared at Donovan.
"We escaped from the base in New Mexico, heading south. We got caught in one of the Dread's round ups. I escaped. Juliet was taken."
"Ehri is a clone of Juliet St. Martin?" Donovan said.
Rodriguez nodded. "I don't know how much of her originates with her creation by the Dread, and how much comes from her genetic relationship with Juliet St. Martin. If she's anything like her template, she may be way more important to this war than those rifles could ever be."
FORTY-EIGHT
Gabriel put the gun down on the bed. "You can't be serious. You're seventy-eight years old. She would be eighty. Living on Earth. No medical care. Being hunted by the Dread."
"You didn't know your mother. Pick up the gun."
"Why?"
"Because I need my hands to roll the damn chair. Pick it up, Captain."
"Don't start using my rank on me. You aren't enlisted anymore, remember?"
"I'll tell you where you can put that piece in a second. That wasn't by choice."
"You crashed a fighter into a transport and killed four people because you were so afraid you had lost your touch. You had to get out there and prove you could still do it, and guess what? You couldn't."
This was an old fight. One that had been continuing whenever Theodore was alert enough to have it.
"It was a damn mechanical failure," Theodore said.
"The engineers said-"
"Engineers? They said what they had to say to cover their own asses. Don't you get it, son? This is the way things work. Just like General Cave and that bitch, Rouse."
"The investigation didn't turn up anything."
"Because the investigator had to rely on the engineers. Pick up the damn weapon."
"Why? To do what, Dad? Go and kill General Cave?"
"That traitor should get off so easy. He knew I would fight his decision, so he had the doc jack me up so full of shit that I could barely think. All I could do was sit here and die. He didn't know I recognized Rodriguez. He didn't know what that meant to me. He thought I was inconsolable. He left, and ten minutes later Sabine comes in and says I've been ordered a higher dose of meds. It took every ounce of strength for me to tell her no.
"Vivian, bless the woman, came by an hour later. I was in and out the whole time, but after seeing Rodriguez, I wasn't going to let anything in the world stop me. I told her what I saw. She told me everything that Cave didn't. I ain't a highly educated man like them scientists, but I ain't stupid either. I told her I needed to get clean, and I couldn't do that with Cave trying to keep me quiet. So when they came with the IV, she followed up and swapped it out for a placebo."
"Sabine told me you were in a bad way."
"Withdrawal from the meds. Damn near killed me, for sure, and my stumps hurt like a son of a bitch. I've got a couple of bottles of pills to help keep me going insane from it, but I have to say, drugged ignorance was bliss. Will you pick up the damn gun now?"
"No," Gabriel said, eyeing the weapon. "I still don't know what you want me to do with it."
"Why'd you come here, son?"
"What?"
"Why did you come to see me now, at this particular late hour?"
"I wanted to see you. To apologize-"
"Don't try to bullshit me, boy. I've been able to tell when you're lying since you were in diapers. What's the real reason?"
"I had a meeting with General Cave. Rouse and the Larones were there, along with Vivian and the scientist who said they lied about the math, Reza Mokri. Cave basically said that it doesn't matter if half the colony dies to get to Eden, we're going to Eden."
"Instead of heading back to Earth," Theodore said. "Fifty-percent casualties for a half-promise. Or we could be going home."
"We can't fight the Dread."
"You can't fight slipstream equations either, son. That isn't stopping
them from trying. Besides, those are the words of a quitter, and I didn't raise a damn quitter. I know what happened next because as much as you hate it, you're still too much like your old man. You told Cave off and stormed out, didn't you?"
"Yes."
Theodore laughed. Gabriel couldn't remember the last time he had heard his father laugh. "And then you came here. Why?"
"I wanted to talk to you, to ap-"
"Don't bullshit me, boy."
"I wanted your advice. I wanted to know what you would do with everything I've learned."
"Now we're getting somewhere. Pick up the gun, Gabriel. You want to know what I would do? That's step one. I knew you would be by once you couldn't take it anymore. Once you saw Cave for the worm he's become. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but we've just about run out of reasonable options."
"Come to what?" Gabriel said, reaching for the gun again.
"I made two promises to your mother. I promised to keep fighting, and I promised to take care of the people who made it out because she didn't. I ain't letting them break those promises. I ain't letting them kill thousands on a wing and a prayer, and I ain't giving up on Earth without a fight."
Gabriel wrapped his hand around the grip and lifted the weapon. His father was putting into words everything he had been feeling. The difference was that his father had the experience to have already guessed it would be up to them to do something about it.
"So what are we going to do?" he asked, putting his other hand over the crucifix around his neck.
"I knew you wouldn't let me down, son. You're everything good about your mother, and everything bad about me." He laughed again. "The Magellan was given over to my care before we ever left Earth. As far as I'm concerned, that means the old girl is mine.
"You and me, we're going to take her."
FORTY-NINE
"You want to steal the Magellan?" Gabriel said, his grip on the gun loosening slightly. "We'll be executed for treason."
"Like I said, it ain't stealing. Maggie is mine, placed into my care by General Tomlinson fifty years ago. I'm still on the docket as the registered CO. Idiots never bothered to take my name off because the old girl isn't going anywhere. At least, they don't expect it to be going anywhere."
"That doesn't mean you can lift off without permission. Like it or not, you aren't commissioned."
"Which explains why I was waiting on you. According to Choi, it's a legal gray area."
Gabriel was surprised. "Choi knows about this?"
"Hell, yeah, boy. I told you; she was swapping the spit for me."
"I know. She knows you plan to take the Magellan?"
"She knows. She wasn't too keen on the plan, but I think she'll have a new opinion after your little meeting with Cave. Come on."
Theodore rolled his chair toward the living area. Gabriel grabbed the back of it, holding him.
"Wait a second, Dad. If we do this, we're going to leave everyone here stranded. There aren't enough materials in this system to print another Magellan."
"Then I guess we ought to bring her back in one piece, eh? If we succeed, everyone lives. If we fail, at least everyone gets stuck together. Why the hell do we want to perpetuate a race of backstabbing, immoral, idiot babies? All or nothing. That's the only way to play it."
Gabriel couldn't stop himself from smiling at that statement. It was a classic comment from his father, and he had missed it.
"Now, either let go of my damn chair and be part of the solution, or give me the gun so I can shoot you myself. I'm not going to have my only son be part of the problem."
Gabriel let go of the chair. At the same time, the tone for the front door of the apartment sounded.
Gabriel slipped around the front of Theodore, rushing to grab Sabine's arm before she could respond to the tone. "Wait a second."
Sabine turned around, surprised and angry. Her eyes began to tear when she saw Theodore roll out into the room.
"General St. Martin," she said, hurrying to him and bending over to give him a hug. "You're awake."
"No thanks to the garbage they were poisoning me with," Theodore said, tapping Sabine's back in a more cordial embrace. "You're fired, by the way. I won't be needing a nurse anymore."
"What are you two planning?" Sabine asked, noticing the gun.
The tone sounded again. Gabriel trained the gun on the door. Theodore commanded it to open.
Major Choi stood in front of it, clutching Reza by the arm.
"Gabriel." Her eyes fell on the gun. "I see you talked to your father." She looked past him. "We don't have a lot of time, sir. I talked Cave into letting me deal with Gabriel, but when we don't come back he's going to get suspicious."
"I'm ready to go," Theodore said.
"Where are we going?" Reza asked.
"You wanted to save people?" Choi asked.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Now's your chance."
Gabriel led his father out of the apartment, tucking the gun in the back of his pants and covering it with his jacket. He couldn't believe everything that was happening. First, his father was awake and in relatively good health, and now he was on the verge of stealing the New Earth Alliance's only starship. It was crazy and exhilarating at the same time.
"We can't fly the Magellan with four people," Gabriel said as they hurried across the upper level to the elevator.
"I've got a plan for that," Theodore said.
"Fly the Magellan?" Reza said. "Wait a second. Are you serious?"
"Vivian tells me you're an engineer, and that you have a specialty in slipspace. Is that right?"
"Yes."
"Do I look like some damn teenage girl or your friend from astronomy class or something?" Theodore snapped. "Yes, what?"
"Yes, sir," Reza said, his face turning red.
"Good. You're exactly the kind of person we need."
They reached the elevator and rode it down to the main concourse. Once there, they began moving across it together, drawing stares from the few residents who were still awake. They probably thought they saw a ghost to see General St. Martin crossing the space in his wheelchair.
They were halfway to the loop station when a pair of MPs entered the concourse. They were each holding a plasma rifle, and they took up a guard position on either side of the station entry.
"Damn," Choi said. "I guess he doesn't trust me, either."
"Or Sabine told him what was going down," Gabriel said. "You shouldn't have been so obvious in front of her."
"Me?" Theodore said. "You're the one holding the gun."
"Have you looked in a mirror, Pop? The fatigues don't exactly say 'out for a stroll.'"
"How do you want to handle this, General?" Choi asked.
"My eyes are still a little fuzzy from being half-dead. Do you know the soldiers?"
"Hafizi and Diallo," Choi said.
"I don't know Hafizi. I know Diallo. Gabe and I will handle this."
They approached the loop station entry. As they neared, the two soldiers blocked the way. "Captain St. Martin. We're under orders from General Cave to bring you back to Space Force HQ."
Theodore cut Gabriel off before he could speak. "Lucy. It's been a while."
Diallo shifted her attention to him. "General St. Martin? I thought you were sick."
"I'm feeling much better. I'm afraid Gabriel can't come back to HQ with you. I'm a frail old gator, and I need his help."
Diallo laughed. "You don't look that frail to me, sir."
"You're right. I lied. The truth, Sergeant, is that General Cave is a yellow-bellied couillon, and if he wants Gabriel he'll have to come and get him personally. Now, me and mine are heading over to the Magellan so we can win the war General Cave is afraid to fight. That leaves you with two options, Sergeant. One, shoot us. Two, help us. What's it going to be? And don't take forever to decide. We're on a tight schedule."
Diallo glanced over at Hafizi, who looked uncomfortable with the whole situation.
"I said no loll
ygagging, Sergeant," Theodore said.
Diallo shifted her rifle, leveling it at Hafizi. "I'm with you, sir. Ali? Come along or hand your rifle over to Captain St. Martin."
Spaceman Hafizi hesitated for a few seconds before shouldering his weapon. "I'm in," he said. "I never served under you, sir, but your reputation precedes you."
"Good man," Theodore said.
"This is outright treason," Reza said nervously.
Theodore spun his chair on one wheel to face the scientist. "Treason, boy? Treason is breaking promises to thousands of people stranded on Earth. Treason is poisoning your best friend to keep him quiet. Treason is making up numbers to support personal goals, and treason sure as shit is giving up ten thousand souls for the sake of a new home world. This ain't treason, son. This is justice."
Reza's face was red again, but he nodded in agreement. "Yes, sir."
The growing group entered the loop station. An empty pod entered less than a minute later, and they filed in, with Hafizi helping Gabriel get his father into the transport.
"You sent a message to Sturges?" Theodore asked.
"Yes, sir," Choi replied. "He's passing the word on to the crew on Delta that he trusts."
"Delta?" Gabriel asked. "What word?"
"Boy, you sound like a parrot," Theodore said. "As you were so kind to point out, you can't fly a damn starship with four, nay, six crew members. And we sure as hell can't run reconnaissance on Earth without any starfighters. We need people that will follow you and me, and that means Delta."
"Me?" Gabriel said. "I'm just a Captain. I'm not anything special."
"That's your mother talking again," Theodore said. "To which I say, bullshit. You're the most decorated pilot in the NEA. You've survived over sixty-eight sorties. You're the only one ever to do that. You could be sitting pretty on Alpha making babies with any lady in the universe, and instead you're still going back out there. Where I'm from, that's called having balls, and people respect men with balls."
Gabriel smiled. His father had that special way with people that few others possessed. He knew exactly what to say to build a person up or tear a person down.