by Ryk Brown
“Lousy. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s why I can’t sleep.”
“Then surely you must have run a few ideas through your head, especially if you’ve been trying for six hours.”
“A few scenarios have run through my mind, yes,” Nathan admitted. “Unfortunately, they all suck.”
“Why?”
“They all end with me getting us all killed, or getting millions of people on Earth killed, or cracking a planet in half.” Nathan looked at Cameron, then at the others. “To be honest, I just don’t think I have it in me.”
“What are you talking about?” Vladimir asked in shock. “Of course you do.”
“No, I don’t, Vlad, and you know it. You all know it. I’ve been playing the part of captain for months now. I hated it, but in the back of my mind, I knew that, once we got home, it would all be over, and I could get back to my old life. But now, that’s no longer an option. I’m stuck here, and I don’t think I can handle it anymore. I’m just not the right man for the job.”
“And which of us is?” Master Chief Montrose asked. Nathan looked at him funny. “Seriously, Captain, which one of us is more qualified than you?”
Nathan pointed to Cameron. “She is.”
“How am I more qualified?”
“You’re smarter, you scored higher, you know the regs inside and out…”
“That just means I’m more disciplined than you are,” Cameron said. “Okay, I am smarter, but I am not better qualified.”
“How are you not more qualified than me?”
“Than I,” Cameron corrected.
“See?”
“Yes, I scored higher, and yes, I know the regs better,” Cameron admitted.
“You even know the ship better than I do,” Nathan declared.
“Yes, that’s true as well. But right now, Nathan, you’re probably the most experienced starship captain in the history of Earth. You’ve logged more light years, fought more battles, destroyed more ships… Hell, you even negotiated an interstellar alliance! One of questionable legality, yes, but you still did it.”
“There you go,” Jessica said. “There’s your silver lining.”
“What?” Nathan looked confused.
“Now you don’t have to worry about a court-martial.”
Nathan rolled his eyes.
“Look, Nathan, I’ll admit that when we first met, I thought I had you all figured out. I thought you were a spoiled, little, rich boy who was playing soldier just to piss off his father. I decided that was who you were and would always be, but you changed. You faced up to your responsibilities and accepted the consequences of your actions. And you did the right thing, even when others were telling you to do something different. That’s what a captain does; he makes the call. Don’t you see, Nathan? You are the captain of the Aurora. You may not have been handed your command by some brass hat, but you’ve earned it nonetheless. With every command you’ve given, with every shot you’ve fired, with every life you’ve defended, with every death that has resulted from your decisions. But also with every victory, and with every sleepless night. You are the captain. You’re our captain, more so than Captain Roberts ever was.”
“It doesn’t matter who is captain,” Nathan said. “We’re still screwed. The Earth is screwed. I screwed her.”
“What are you talking about?” Vladimir wondered.
“I should have gotten us back sooner. I should have headed home as soon as we escaped from Haven. Millions of people on Corinair would still be alive.”
“And we would still be under the rule of the Ta’Akar,” Master Chief Montrose said, defiance in his voice. “Our demise would have come either way. Without Na-Tan, eventually we would have been destroyed, our world remade to meet the needs of the Ta’Akar.”
“Nathan, when we left Haven, we didn’t have the propellant, the food, or the crew to make it home,” Cameron insisted. “Sure, we might have made it back in five or six months, maybe. But our chances were extremely poor. Believe me; if I had thought otherwise, I would have made a bigger issue of it.”
“She’s right about that,” Jessica agreed. “She would have.”
“You made that call because that is what captains do; they make the call. Right or wrong, they make things happen. And you did get us back, Nathan. It may have taken four months, but we made it. And we got back in better shape than we were when we departed.”
Nathan shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. We are still screwed. There’s nothing we can do.”
“We can fight,” Jessica declared. “At least, that’s what the people of Earth are doing.”
“How so?” Nathan asked.
“They sent us a message,” Jessica told him. “Someone risked their life to warn us, someone who knew who we were. They sent that warning because they knew that, as long as there was one ship out there fighting the Jung on their behalf, there was hope.”
“We have to give them that hope, Nathan,” Cameron insisted.
Nathan looked at her. “This isn’t going to be like it was in the Pentaurus cluster, Cam. The Jung are not the Ta’Akar. The Ta’Akar controlled maybe ten worlds and had a fleet of less than twenty ships. The Jung may control more than fifty worlds, at least half of which are probably industrialized.” Nathan laughed nervously. “Hell, to the Jung, twenty ships is not a fleet; it’s a battle group. No matter how you look at it, we are no match for the Jung. We have almost no propellant, limited ordnance, limited food, and limited crew. We’re limited in everything.”
“We have a jump drive,” Jessica stated.
“And a captain who knows how to use it,” Cameron added.
“And lots of cool advanced technology,” Vladimir declared. “And people smarter than us who know how to use it,” he added with a laugh.
Nathan looked at Cameron. She had been a thorn in his side since day one, always competing for his job, a job he had never really wanted in the first place. Over the months, she, too, had changed. He could no longer feel her nipping at his heels, looking for a way to show him up. She had become his trusted XO, his friend, and one of his biggest supporters. Without her, he knew he could not have accomplished anything.
He looked at Jessica. Her strength and courage in the face of danger always amazed him. She could jump into the fires of hell, all the while believing she could beat the devil himself and return unscathed.
Then there was Vladimir, his closest friend and loyal confidant. He once bragged that he could fix anything. Thus far, he had proven that to be true. His sense of humor was sometimes all that kept Nathan together.
“And what of the Corinari?” Nathan asked, looking at Master Chief Montrose.
“The crew will follow their captain,” Master Chief Montrose said, “without hesitation or regret.”
“Why?”
“Because you are the one. You are Na-Tan.”
“No, I’m not,” Nathan disagreed. He had used that moniker in order to gain the support of the Corinairan people to battle the Ta’Akar. But it was something he had never felt good about. He had only been able to live with his actions because he knew it was necessary. It was the Corinairans he was defending at the time.
“It is not for you to decide whether or not you are Na-Tan,” Master Chief Montrose explained. “Fate will decide that for you.” The master chief stood. “Order us to fight for the people of Earth, and the Corinari will do so, Captain.”
Nathan looked at the master chief. He was a good man and a fine example for his people. He looked at his friends, each of them, one at a time. The look on their faces as they waited for him to make a decision pulled at his heart, leaving him little choice. “One hour,” he finally said. “Senior staff in the command briefing room. We need to figure out our next move.”
“Yes, sir,” Cameron answered happily as she stood as well.
“Now everyone get out of here so I can take a shower and get dressed,” Nathan said, pulling at his robe. “This isn’t exactly regulation.”
Jessi
ca and Vladimir stood and followed Cameron and Master Chief Montrose to the door. Vladimir, who was last in line, stopped and turned back toward his friend, his captain. He raised his right hand, formed a perfect military salute, and held it.
Nathan looked at Vladimir who had sworn never to salute him. It had been in jest, a bit of good-natured fun between friends, and Nathan understood the significance of Vladimir’s gesture on this day.
Jessica joined Vladimir, coming to attention beside him and raising her hand in salute as well.
Cameron turned back, noticing Jessica and Vladimir’s gesture. She tapped the master chief on the arm to get his attention as she, too, fell in line and saluted.
“I will never understand your military,” the master chief mumbled as he joined the line and saluted.
Nathan rose to his feet and straightened his robe, his eyes locked on Vladimir’s as the big, Russian engineer cracked a smile out of the corner of his mouth. Nathan returned the salute. Today, he truly became the captain of the Aurora.
Thank you for reading this story.
(A review would be greatly appreciated!)
COMING SOON
“CELESTIA: CV-02”
Episode 8
of
The Frontiers Saga
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