by Tony Healey
Now it was Greene’s turn to look embarrassed. “You know I don’t mean that.”
“Well I guess those overalls aren’t very flattering …” Meryl admitted.
“You should dress like that more often,” he said.
“What? In a full dress uniform? No thanks. Too official for me I’m afraid,” Meryl said.
“No, I meant dress like a woman,” Greene said.
“Cheeky sod,” Meryl shot back with a grin.
* * *
Captain Jessica King didn’t have a drink. She didn’t have breakfast. A quarter of an hour before the service was due to begin she found herself sitting by the side of Singh’s casket, her hands in her lap and her head bowed down.
It was silent in there. It seemed odd to her that she could only hear herself breathing, despite there being two people in the same room. She looked in on him.
His hair had gone grey at the sides, and he’d gained a little weight around his face, but he was still the same man who found her all those years ago and offered a second chance. A shot at redemption.
She heard the door open behind her. She turned around to see Admiral Grimshaw standing in the doorway.
“Thought I’d find you here,” he said. “Hope I’m not intruding.”
Jessica stood, gave a quick salute. “Of course not, Admiral. I was just, uh -“
Grimshaw waved her down. “At ease, Captain.”
He stood next to the casket and looked in. Jessica noticed the glassy sheen of Grimshaw’s eyes, the slightly pale complexion. “Are you okay sir?”
Grimshaw looked at her and managed a smile. “When I got my first command, he was my very first number one. Did you know that?”
She shook her head.
“The finest officer I’ve ever had the fortune to serve with. I say that a lot. But in this case I really do mean it,” Grimshaw said.
“I second that, Admiral.”
She looked down into the casket too, took Singh’s hand in her own. His felt cold and heavy.
“He was like a Father to me,” she said.
Grimshaw did something unexpected then. He reached out and put his arm around her. He hugged her in close to him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I really am.”
“It’s okay,” Jessica said, a little taken aback by his show of affection.
Grimshaw let go of her and stepped around the casket. He held out his hand to her. “Here, give me your pin.”
She didn’t know what he meant. She took off her pin and handed it over. Grimshaw removed Singh’s Captain pin and replaced it with Jessica’s.
He stepped around the casket and pinned Singh’s pin on her. “There.”
She looked down at it. Scratched and worn, it had weathered decades of service. Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know what to say,” she said.
“You don’t have to say anything, Captain. Just remember where it came from. Remember what it stands for. Remember whose pin it was. And always wear it with pride, because you deserve it,” Grimshaw said.
“Yes sir,” King said.
* * *
The entire crew of the Defiant were present at Singh’s memorial service. With the addition of several Station crew who’d either worked with Singh at one time or another, or known him personally, there were close to a thousand people gathered in the reception hall.
Admiral Grimshaw spoke first, talking of his early experiences with Singh, how they became friends. After making the attendees laugh and cry, he welcomed King up on stage to speak. She hadn’t prepared anything. Nerves fluttered like errant moths in her stomach. When she took the podium, however, the words just came.
She thanked everyone for coming. She gave a little insight into what he’d been like as a Captain, and then a little of Andrew Singh as a man, separate from his rank and responsibilities.
“He was a friend of everyone. He was my friend. It will take me a long time to get used to the fact that he is never going to come back,” she said, her voice cracking. “But of course I will never forget him. He’ll always be here, with all of us.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The lid was placed atop of Andrew Singh’s casket and sealed tight. The flag of the Union was draped across it.
The assembled officers and crew stood either side of the casket as it was lowered into one of the Station’s firing tubes.
Admiral Grimshaw faced the giant view ports and held a formal salute. Everyone followed suit.
There were no words, no music. Just the sound of the firing tube closing around the casket. Then seconds later it was fired from the side of the Station.
Through her tears, King tried to watch it travel away from them as long as she could. But it was just a blur, eventually swallowed by the infinite blackness of space.
6.
There were drinks afterward, and King didn’t get a chance to turn one down. Grimshaw handed her a glass of ice suspended in yellow liquid and told her to drink it. She wiped her eyes.
“Is that an order, Admiral?”
Grimshaw’s face grew serious. “You’d better believe it.”
King wandered amongst everyone. She found Del Greene in a far corner of the room, chatting with Chief Gunn.
“Ah Jess,” Greene said. He leaned forward an unexpectedly planted a kiss on King’s cheek. She was taken aback. “Sorry.”
She grinned, straightened out her tunic. “A little out of the blue, but -“
“He’s had a few,” Gunn said. “And he’s been getting bit melancholy.”
“I have not. Commander, I’m so sorry about Andrew. I really am. I haven’t had chance to tell you that yet,” Greene said.
King shook her head. “It’s okay, Del. I know you’ll miss him, all of you.”
“Here here,” he said. He took a large swallow of his drink.
“Oh, and it’s Captain now,” King said, offhandedly.
Greene looked at her in surprise. Then he saw the pin. “Captain!”
She nodded.
“Congratulations,” Gunn said.
“Thanks,” King said. She looked at Greene. “That’s kind of why I wanted to see you, Del.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
Jessica took the drink out of his hand and gave it to the Chief. “Well, now there’s going to be a vacancy. You know, my old position as second-in-command. I was wondering if you’d -“
“Don’t even have to ask. I’m not going anywhere,” Greene said.
King smiled. She offered him her hand. “Then congratulations, Commander.”
Greene stiffened, straight back and chest puffed out.
He shook her hand firmly, as a huge smile lit up his face.
Gunn wiped her eyes. “Oh it’s all getting a bit too emotional for me,” she said. “So much happening in one day.”
“You know, it’s -” King started to say.
The emergency klaxons sounded throughout the Station.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around, the pulsating red glow on their faces like a highlight of concern.
“All hands, battle stations. Repeat. All hands battle stations. This is not a drill,” an echoing voice announced over the comm. system. Chaos broke out as people ran in all directions to get to their departments, the wake forgotten for now.
“What do we do?” Chief Gunn asked.
King looked at them both. She drained the last of her drink with a grimace and set the glass down on a nearby table. Gunn did the same with her drink and Greene’s.
“Come with me,” King said as she started to move.
7.
“Admiral!” King called across the hall. Grimshaw was talking to a member of the Station’s senior command crew.
He finished up then sent the man away. He turned to King. “Captain. You might want to get your people aboard the Defiant now.”
“What do you mean? What’s the situation?” King asked.
Grimshaw looked about at the people rushing to get out of the reception hall.
&n
bsp; “Several Draxx ships. One of them … the same ship you detail in your report, apparently,” Grimshaw said.
His words fell like stones. “My god …” King managed to say.
Grimshaw nodded. “Indeed. Walk with me. Quickly.”
* * *
King, Chief Gunn and Commander Greene followed Admiral Grimshaw out of the reception room. The Station tremored from a direct hit.
“I felt that,” Grimshaw said. “Whatever they’re firing, it must have got past the energy shielding.”
“That thing sure does land some heavy punches,” Greene said.
“Yes, but I’m afraid these are only warning shots,” Grimshaw told him. “Captain, the commander of the lead ship has demanded that we hand over the Defiant and her crew as prisoners of war.”
King turned to him as they walked the eastern promenade. At the end were the buggy bays. Several were already speeding off. “And what did you say?”
“I said we’d think about it. Now there isn’t time to waste. This Sepix or whatever the hell he calls himself will realise soon enough that we’re leading him up the garden path. You need to get the Defiant away from here post haste.”
“Yes sir,” King said. They arrived at the buggies. She moved aside for Greene and Gunn to climb aboard. “I’ll need access to the station PA systems, to alert my crews.”
“I’ll have someone take care of that. Your crew should have enough time to get on board before you get the hell out of here. We will fire back with what we have, cover you and buy you some time,” Grimshaw said.
“And what will you do?” King asked.
Another hit rocked the entire station. Grimshaw glanced around, as though he expected the roof to cave in. “Don’t worry about that. Get going, Captain, that’s an order.”
King saluted him before stepping onto the buggy. “Thanks Admiral … for everything. Until we meet again.”
Grimshaw saluted back. “Best of luck, Captain,” he said as it carried them away.
* * *
They heard the order issue from the overheads as they sped away from the centrifuge to the Defiant. It echoed in the large spaces of the Station.
“All crew of the Defiant are to report back to ship for immediate evacuation. Repeat, all crew of the Defiant are to report back to ship for immediate evacuation.”
“Do you think we’ll get out of here in time?” Gunn asked.
King stared dead ahead. “We’ll have to do a cold start on the reactor if we’re gonna make it in time.”
Gunn shook her head. “It’s risky, sir. I advise against it. If the reactor chambers crack …”
King turned on her. “Risk? Risk is our business, Chief. There’s no other choice,” she snapped.
Gunn nodded. “Aye aye.”
* * *
Jack Boi and Olivia Rayne were already going through the airlock when King, Greene and Gunn climbed out of the buggy. Banks ran through behind Boi and Rayne. Lieutenant Banks had looked pretty intoxicated at Singh’s memorial service. But then so had Commander Greene. She spoke into her wrist communicator as she ran through the ship to the bridge.
“Engineering, this is the Captain. Fire up the reactor. We need to get out of here now. The Chief is on her way,” she said. “Bridge, anyone there?”
A familiar voice answered her straight away. “Chang, Captain. I got here a minute ago.”
“Good. Lieutenant, as soon as I reach the bridge I want you ready to disengage the airlocks. We can’t afford to wait for stragglers,” King said.
“Aye Captain,” Chang said.
King glanced behind her. Gunn had already run the other way, to the engineering section at the heart of the ship. Commander Greene was close behind, his feet dragging a bit from his accident but otherwise following best he could.
“Keep up Del,” she said.
* * *
Lieutenant Kyle Banks slid into the pilot’s chair and immediately accessed the helm controls. The fog of the drink seemed to have lifted; the bubbling fury of the adrenaline and panic boiling away inside him pushed it away for now. His hands flew across the different functions like those of a concert pianist.
“Thrusters online. Gravitational axis stable. The reactor is coming online,” he reported to nobody in particular. The bridge had been in darkness. Now the lights came on. Boi and Rayne sat at their stations, Rayne covering weapons as he had before.
King strode onto the bridge, Commander Greene close behind.
“Do we have everyone?” King asked Chang.
“Trackers show crew making their way to the airlock, sir. I estimate a couple more minutes at least,” Chang said.
King grimaced.
Greene relieved Rayne from covering his station, and sat back in his old seat. He turned to King. “Captain, we should give them a chance to get here.”
King folded her arms across her chest. “Okay. They’ve got as long as it takes to polarize the hull plating then we’re off. We can’t sit and wait.”
Greene nodded appreciatively. “Aye.”
“Commander, ready the batteries to repel enemy fire. Try to shoot down anything targeting us,” King said. “Lieutenant Chang, go to red alert. Ensign Boi, advise all crew that we are going to be taking enemy fire.”
She gripped the side of the chair, where the leather was worn at the ends of the armrests. Then she looked at the pin on her jacket. Andrew’s pin.
The lighting changed to a deep red around her.
* * *
Chief Meryl Gunn monitored the reactor core as it reached 100% output. She walked to the nearest comm. unit and spoke into it.
“Bridge, this is the Chief. Reactor is at one hundred percent. You’re good to go.”
The entire engineering section vibrated and rattled with the amount of power being produced in the core.
“Thank you Chief,” Captain King’s voice replied. “What about the Jump Drive?”
“A couple of minutes. Standby.”
She closed the channel and turned to her crew who looked at her, waiting for instructions. “Come on boys and girls, what’re you waiting for? Get the Drive online!”
* * *
On the viewscreen they watched the Inflictor fire a stream of warheads at Station 6. The artillery guns aboard the Station stopped less than half of them before they struck. The Defiant was rocked by the resultant explosions.
“Chang, detach from airlocks. Equalise the pressure,” King ordered.
“Aye,” Chang reported back.
“Ensign Boi, patch me through to Admiral Grimshaw,” King said. “Banks, uncouple us from the dock. We can’t wait any longer.”
She waited as Boi made the connection. Her mind flashed to the men and women she was leaving behind on the Station. A lump of regret rose in her throat. She swallowed it down, fought it away. That was for later. Along with a lot of other things.
“You’re on Ma’am,” Boi said. “Audio only.”
“Admiral?”
There was a lot of static.
“Admiral?” she asked again. “Are you there?”
More static and then, “Captain, get the Defiant away. We’re evacuating. We can’t hold up to this kind of attack.”
“Admiral -“
There was a loud hiss of static and then the channel was closed. Ensign Boi looked baffled.
“We are equalised,” Chang reported.
There was a large jolt as the Defiant separated from the station.
“Uncoupled,” Banks said.
“Then get us the hell out of here,” she said.
8.
The Defiant pulled away from the Station. Explosions along the outer edges of Station 6 buffeted her as she veered away.
“Status on the evac of the station,” King requested, wincing from a bright fireball to their left.
“In progress,” Chang reported. “I’m monitoring it.”
“Noted. Full power, Mr. Banks. All thrusters,” King ordered.
“Aye sir,” Banks replied. T
he Defiant trembled as she reached full speed.
“Rear view,” King ordered.
The front viewscreen changed to an aft camera. The Station receded as they sped away from it. She could make out the huge Draxx ship, accompanied by several smaller ships. She watched as the Inflictor began to turn in their direction and move away from Station 6.
“The Inflictor is making pursuit,” Chang reported.
“I see it. Ensign Rayne, time on the Jump Drive?” King asked, not taking her eyes away from the front display.
“Drive currently inactive, sir,” Rayne said.
“Liaise with engineering. I want to know the minute it’s ready,” she said.
A second later she spotted the Inflictor fire something that spiralled away behind it in the direction of the Station. She turned to Chang to say “What was that?” when an immense white light filled the bridge. It lasted a full three seconds before fading, and when it did she couldn’t believe what she saw. Or didn’t see.
The Station was no longer there. It was a rapidly dissipating cloud of debris and flame.
Chang looked up from her readouts, horror etched onto her face. “Station 6, sir … it’s gone.”
Again King put everything to the back of her mind. She’d process it all later. Everything. She gripped the sides of the chair and looked dead ahead at the Draxx behemoth closing the gap behind them, her jaw set, her lips a thin white line.
9.
The first warhead that got through the battery fire brushed past their starboard engine mount and detonated just aft of the ship. Everyone was knocked forward.
“Where’s that Drive Chief?” King shouted into the comm.
“Give me a few minutes. We just need to -“
“We don’t have a few minutes Chief. I need it working now!”
Chief Gunn said, “Aye sir,” and closed the channel.
Another warhead blew itself out, this time much closer. Banks swerved the Defiant as best he could to avoid the shockwave. His face a tight fist of concentration as he battled to keep them alive.
“Banks, on my order I want you to brake, tip the nose, take us up and over the Inflictor. We’ll dip beneath them from behind, then make the Jump,” King said.