Starlight Cavalry (Sentinels Saga Book 4)

by Linn Schwab

  “Filter for entries related specifically to the mission log timeline.”

  After viewing the results it was obvious to her that someone had intentionally erased part of the log.

  “Computer, is there any deleted data still present in your memory buffers?”

  “Negative, Commander. All deleted data has been purged.”

  Suzanne crossed her arms and sighed in frustration. It seemed Sheri had been unexpectedly thorough in her efforts.

  “Are there any voice transmissions stored in the communication buffers?”

  “Negative, Commander. All voice transmissions have also been purged.”

  Frustrated and out of ideas, Suzanne gave up and returned to the captain’s console, disappointed that she’d come away without any answers. But as she reached for her key something clicked in her mind. There was one more system that might yet yield some clues.

  “Computer,” she said, “access automated ship to ship fleet roster update, and display all entries on the overhead monitor.”

  A list of ship names appeared on the screen. Every Sentinel vessel the Cricket had ever encountered was listed there for her to see.

  “Limit results to mission ACAP–‌1127.”

  The list of ships grew substantially shorter, but there were still more than forty names on the screen. Too many for her to waste her time checking up on. It seemed she was running out of options again.

  “Computer,” she said in a last ditch effort, “are there any entries on that list that have recently been altered?”

  “Yes, Commander. There is one entry that fits that description. The CVS Triton was recently restored from ‘missing, presumed lost’ to ‘active’ status.”

  “That’s interesting,” Suzanne mused, speaking mostly to herself. “Computer, search records for information on CVS Triton prior to its most recent status update.”

  “One entry found. CVS Triton, Amazon–‌class battleship. Previously reported as ‘missing, presumed lost,’ current time minus one hundred eleven years, seven months, three days, sixteen hours, forty–‌two minutes, and twelve seconds.”

  Suzanne was certain the computer must have misspoken. One hundred and eleven years! That can’t be right! She pulled the records up on the overhead display and verified the entries with her very own eyes.

  One hundred and eleven years! That’s before the virus! The significance of that fact was not lost on her. Could there actually be survivors on that ship? she wondered. Though it seemed unlikely, she decided there must be. It was the only explanation that made any sense. Virginia and Robin were clearly trying to cover something up, and they obviously felt they had a very good reason.

  “Computer, access service records for CVS Triton. Restore current status to ‘missing, presumed lost.’” If we’re gonna hide this ship, we’d better do it right, she decided.

  “Accessing service records, CVS Triton.”

  When the status was restored, Suzanne retrieved her key and walked toward the doorway at the rear of the bridge. There, she paused and looked back for a moment, with a sense of accomplishment and a nascent spark of self confidence. For the first time since being promoted to commander, she actually felt as if she might have a knack for the position.

  VOICES 114

  Uncertain what had brought her back to this place, JoEllen wandered past the silent buildings that Karl had found so captivating. To her they were little more than empty shells, like the ones she sometimes found washed up on the beach after the creature that once lived inside had perished. But Karl had described them as places where people came together, to engage in various activities. And if there was one thing she’d learned from the few days she’d spent with Karl, it was how much she truly missed human companionship. She longed to return to her friends at the academy. But she could only do so if the voices would allow it.

  Alone, she wandered past the glass entry doors, the overgrown planters, the tattered canopies. She’d known all along why the people had left here — and why the outpost they’d slept in had been abandoned, as well as so many other buildings on Valhalla. But she’d kept it from Karl until the very end, so he could enjoy his final days oblivious to his fate.

  For a time, she dared to hope that the virus wouldn’t kill him. That he was somehow immune to its deadly effects. There was so much more she could have shown him — so many questions they could have sought answers to together. Not the least of which were the voices in her head, though she hadn’t been completely honest about them either. When Karl asked her to try communicating with them, she only pretended to make the effort. Though she truthfully didn’t know who the voices belonged to, she could sense they wanted something from her. Something that was very important to them. But without some understanding of what it was that they wanted, she was not about to open her mind up to them, and allow them to foist their desires upon her.

  A gentle gust of wind swirled around her, tugging at her hair and the folds of her shirt. With the sun beating down at its full midday strength now, the breeze felt like a cool kiss on her skin, and almost seemed to be coaxing her to keep moving forward. Fabric canopies fluttered as she passed them by, rising up with the wind then settling back down, as if waving, or perhaps reaching out to her. In the distance, the frog pond waited. It was calling to her, trying to lure her in closer, with the soothing sound of her mother’s voice:

  “Don’t get too close to the water, Amy.”

  “I won’t, mother.”

  JoEllen stopped in her tracks. What is this? she wondered. I don’t have a mother. And that wasn’t my voice answering her.

  In her mind she saw the frog pond suddenly transform from a weed–‌choked mess to a beautiful fountain. A pair of giant hands held a bronze globe aloft while streams of clean water sprayed upward from below. Though her eyes continued to tell her the truth, her mind was clearly deceiving her. What she was seeing inside her head wasn’t real. It was a memory. But it wasn’t JoEllen’s memory.

  As she watched, a few people walked by in front of her. A seagull floated in the air above the fountain. All around her the marketplace came to life. Men and women, boys and girls, walked to and fro, seemingly without a care in the world. The buildings were restored to their former glory, the overgrown planters were properly maintained, and fabric canopies stood taught and firm over baskets of fruits and vegetables. The sounds of people just walking and conversing made the vision in her head seem surprisingly real. But it wasn’t real. And it wasn’t her memory. Yet somehow it was seeping into her mind.

  She turned toward the ocean. The vision faded. It was time for her to face the voices at last. Determined to finally put an end to the uncertainty, she left the marketplace, walked straight across the beach, and waded out until she stood waist deep in the water. She took a deep breath as Karl had taught her, then relaxed and reached out with a simple question.

  Who are you?

  The ocean trembled. The gate had been opened. The invitation to speak with her would not be declined. The voices rushed in and tried to fill her head with the memories of thousands upon thousands of Sentinels. She felt herself reeling from the unexpected onslaught. It was too much for her brain to process all at once. She tried to shut them out, but the damage was done. Blood spouted from her ears, and her nose, and her mouth. Her body went limp and slipped beneath the surface, pulled downward by the tug of a gentle undercurrent. As the remnants of her self awareness receded, her optic nerves gave her a parting glimpse of ripples of light dancing on the sand beneath the waves.

  DEPARTURES 115

  While the rest of her squad ran through their morning exercises, Robin sat in the cafeteria with Sheri, watching her devour a second helping of rations.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” Sheri asked, looking down at Robin’s tray. “You haven’t eaten a single bite yet.”

  “I guess I’m just not in the mood,” Robin said. “But it looks like you’re eating enough for both of us.”

  Sheri frowned and looked at what was
left on her tray. “The doctors told me I should eat extra for a while.”

  “So you’re not eating because you’re hungry?”

  “Oh, yes,” Sheri declared. “Whatever they did to me makes me hungry all the time.”

  “They turned you into a human furnace,” Robin said. She held a hand up to Sheri’s forehead. “All that food you’re eating is feeding the fire.”

  Sheri grabbed Robin’s hand and smothered it in warmth between her own. “My fire is burning hotter while yours is going out. If you don’t start eating a little more, the rest of us are going to mutiny on you and drag you to Cumulus so the doctors can fix you. I’m sure they’ll know how to make you hungry. But I can tell you it’s not the most pleasant procedure to go through.”

  Robin slowly broke into a grin. “Who are you, and what have you done with Sheri? You’re not the same person you used to be. The Sheri I knew never would’ve had the courage to lecture me.”

  “My brain is working faster now. I see things more clearly. Even though they told me I’ll never be a pilot, they said I could still finish the training with my squad. You’re part of my squad. I want to keep it that way. If you won’t eat for yourself, then eat something for me.”

  Robin chuckled and reached for her spoon. “I like the new Sheri. She just takes some getting used to.” While she was eating, she heard footsteps approaching. Members of her battalion she hadn’t seen since returning filed through the room toward the serving window. Before getting in line, they all stopped at Robin’s table and told her how relieved they were to see she’d made it back.

  “Where have you been?” she asked them.

  “We were on a mission,” Christy told her. “Commander Eldridge sent us out to look for stranded patrol ships.”

  “Did you find any?”

  “I’ll tell you about it later. Commander Eldridge wants to see us as soon as we’re finished eating.”

  Robin watched as the other girls headed for the serving line, and suddenly remembered she had some unfinished business that up until now had slipped her mind.

  “I have to go talk to someone,” she told Sheri. “If anyone asks for me, tell them I went down to the hangar.”

  After riding the lift down, Robin walked across the hangar and headed straight for Genevieve’s office. When she arrived, she found Commander Eldridge inside, along with Janine and the technician named Brandi. Surprised, she stopped just inside the door and looked at Commander Eldridge in confusion. The three women were discussing a piece of disassembled equipment that was laying on the top of Genevieve’s desk.

  “Yes, Captain Starling?” the commander said, shifting her eyes up from the equipment on the desk. “Are you looking for something?”

  “I was hoping to find Genevieve,” she explained. “I haven’t seen her anywhere since we got back.”

  The commander exchanged a quick glance with Janine. “I guess that means no one’s told you, then.”

  “Told me what?” Robin asked.

  Commander Eldridge sighed and stepped toward the door. “Come with me,” she said.

  Robin walked alongside her. “Where are we going?” she asked. The commander said nothing, but it quickly became apparent where the two of them were headed. The cold storage room was directly in front of them. Robin felt a sudden, looming sense of dread. Through the window she could see a single wooden box, which she knew most likely contained a body. “No,” she whimpered, and ran straight to the window. To her horror, the box had Genevieve’s name stenciled on it.

  Devastated, she stood there staring at the box, hoping with all her heart that Genevieve hadn’t died because of her. “What happened to her?” she asked the commander.

  “We’re not exactly sure. She was found lying on the floor at the bottom of the station.”

  “Was she in the map room?” Robin asked, almost certain of the answer.

  Commander Eldridge seemed caught off guard by the question. “As a matter of fact, she was. Do you know something about this?”

  Robin lowered her head and nodded. “I was curious what that room was meant to be used for. I asked her if she could find out for me.”

  “That’s interesting,” the commander said.

  “She’s dead because of me.”

  “Not necessarily. I’m told she went down there to check on a faulty transformer. At the very least, that’s sufficient to make it unclear that your request had anything to do with her death. She might very well have ended up in there anyway, regardless of your involvement in the matter. And for what it’s worth, that device has all of us stumped. It’s important that we find out how it affects us. Things may not have worked out so well for Genevieve, but her death may be what helps us unravel this mystery.

  “One more thing, Captain Starling,” the commander continued. “Did she say anything to you about what she was doing? We found some equipment inside the room with her. Something she apparently just cobbled together.”

  “She was trying to find out how the map device works. She said she thought it might be amplifying something. That’s all I remember.”

  “Thank you, Captain Starling. Since I may not get another chance to speak with you before I leave, let me just give you one last piece of advice. Try not to be too hard on yourself. Your instincts about looking into that device were correct. While it’s unfortunate that someone may have died as a result, there was no way you could have known for certain that would happen. And based on what I’ve seen since I arrived here, I’m convinced this would’ve happened sooner or later. If it hadn’t been Genevieve, it would’ve been someone else.”

  Robin closed her eyes and listened to the footsteps as Commander Eldridge turned around and walked away from her, leaving her to grapple with her sense of guilt alone.

  On one of the monitors Veronica was watching, a shuttle had just taxied to the center of the hangar and appeared to be waiting to depart from Volaris. The commander’s shuttle was preparing to leave again. It almost seemed like that was a daily occurrence. How many times had it already left the station while Commander Eldridge remained behind? Often enough that she didn’t even bother to wonder if the commander might actually be leaving this time.

  “Lieutenant Marlowe,” a voice said from somewhere behind her. “I need to speak with you for a minute.”

  When she turned around she saw Janine standing there, beckoning her to the corridor. Remembering the last time the two of them had spoken in private, she reluctantly got up and walked toward the doorway, dreading what Janine might ask her to do.

  “What are you up to?” she asked when they were both outside the control room.

  “We’re just trying to clean up a few loose ends before we go.”

  “You’re leaving?” Veronica asked in surprise.

  “There are urgent matters elsewhere that require our attention. It’s time to restore the station’s link to Command–‌net. There’s no longer any reason to keep it disabled. I assume you know how to enable it, right?”

  “Yes. I’ll take care of it as soon as my shift is over.”

  “Good. I appreciate your help with this matter, Lieutenant. Thank you for putting your trust in me.”

  “Will you and the commander be coming back here soon?”

  Janine grinned and cocked her head to one side. “I may have some questions for you about this communications cipher that’s supposedly obscuring our radio transmissions. But for right now we’re focusing on something more important. So don’t worry. You’re safe for the immediate future.”

  The door to Suzanne’s office was open, as usual, so Commander Eldridge walked in at her normal brisk pace without bothering to knock or announce herself. “Commander Carillo,” she said, “before I leave, I just wanted to touch base with you one last time, and fill you in on where certain matters stand at the moment.”

  “You’re leaving?” Suzanne asked, getting to her feet.

  “Yes. Janine and I will both be departing shortly. As you know, this station is still severa
l kilometers from its designated coordinates. One of the first challenges you’ll be faced with is moving it back, and I would urge you to make that a high priority. Particularly with what we now suspect about that lens.

  “Also, on the matter of the lens, I suggest you keep your personnel away from it until you receive further instructions from me. We have scientists who are more qualified to study this device than anyone who’s currently stationed on Volaris. Unfortunately Miss Winston learned that the hard way. Let’s not take a chance on losing anyone else.”

  “Alright,” Suzanne said. “I’ll make sure no one goes near it again. About moving the station, though…”

  Commander Eldridge nodded. “Your maneuvering thrusters still need to be refueled. We did receive some propellent before that fog interfered, but the tanks aren’t yet full enough to complete the operation. You’ll have to wait for additional shipments to arrive.”

  “How difficult will it be to reposition Volaris?”

  “Leave that in Lieutenant Marlowe’s hands. She’s proven herself to be quite capable. I’m confident she’ll get you where you need to be.

  “Now, one more thing. Our forces may be stretched more thin than usual at the moment. That comet certainly didn’t do us any favors. We already know the Gecko was destroyed, with the unfortunate loss of her entire crew as well. There will be other losses. I’m quite sure of that. It may be some time before we have an accurate accounting of how many casualties we actually suffered. Adding in the other losses we’ve recently sustained here, by my count you’re now down to four destroyer crews standing between you and the enemy forces.

  “I hate to say this, Commander Carillo, but until we get things sorted out again, you may have to lean heavily on your trainee crews to plug the gaps left by our recent losses. You’d be well advised to get them some additional experience. Keep them busy. Accelerate their training if you can. I’ve already arranged for ECHO 6, 7, and 8 to deliver some fighter munitions to the Zephyr. Afterward, you may want to put them on lookout for a while, to give your more seasoned crews a little time to rest.”