“Then I cannot make Valiant available for your wild goose chase, XO.”
“Captain with all due respect, I must quote the Vanguard Proclamation Peace Accord. Directive number two states any ship’s captain who willfully fails to act on a direct request of an executive intelligence officer, may be detained by the intelligence officer and forfeit his command of the vessel.”
“I don’t need you to remind me we’re all Vanguard puppets. But we’re not behind desks at Earth Admiralty central command. I command enough firepower to lay waste a planet. Twenty five thousand crew lives depend on my decisions. Many billions more on Valiant’s success in maintaining the peace. You can invoke a technicality to take command, but have you got what it takes to command Valiant in a fire fight, XO?”
Dax sighed.
Got you, hook, line and sinker! Now to reel you in...
“OK, Captain, you win. My source is an operative working undercover in a rebel group. They’ve been ripped off by a rogue Ursu gun runner and we have their coordinates. That’s all I can say.”
“A name, Dax.”
Here goes... “Fyre, of House Von Rha.”
Hannibal blinked, but showed no other visible signs of surprise. “Vanguard?”
“Indeed.”
Hannibal rolled his eyes. With a final flourish of intense scratching at his beard he forced his hands into his pockets.
“You’re right, XO,” Hannibal said. “I don’t wish to know any more.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Except answer me this: you trust your source do you, XO? With your life?”
“My life?”
“If it comes to it, the lives of the entire crew. Twenty five thousand souls may live or die on the word of your Vanguard informer. So I ask you again, do you trust them?”
Dax hesitated. Do I trust a half crazed vision? Especially one as beautiful as Fyre of House Von Rha.
“I have no reason not to, Captain. But more importantly I trust your judgment to lead the crew safely through any trouble.”
“That’s a politician’s answer, XO,” Hannibal spat. “You’ll do well climbing the greasy pole of Admiralty. Very well, on your head be it. Proceed with your intercept coordinates. Find this dumper.”
Dax saluted and left. Outside he found Oksana waiting for him.
“Enjoy the show?” he asked.
She looked at him with eyes of disdain and said nothing.
“Lieutenant Blok, you look like a woman who’d pay for a chance to see me lay down my head in the jaws of defeat.”
“When an XO screws up, we all suffer, Dax.”
“Could be you get my job sooner than you planned.”
She swallowed hard. “If any of us live that long.”
He wasn’t sure if she meant that as a veiled threat or a statistical probability. “You think this could lead to war?” he asked.
“Don’t you?”
CHAPTER 17 - CODI’S DILEMMA
Subject: Cruise ship Hermes. Location: Rings of Saturn.
Codi knew he was dreaming. It was the same dream he’d had every night for a year. Reliving the Doone’s last day together as a family.
The journey in the car had been full of hope.
“So when I get the all-clear,” Codi had asked his parents. “Can I enroll with Fleet Academy in the fall?”
“We’ll see...” his father said and his mom winked.
It was the only thing keeping Codi going. The only thing making all the days and nights of vomiting from the medication’s side effects worth it. Without the hope he’d one day be captain of his own starship, he might as well give up and allow the disease to hollow him out. Kill him off quick now.
The doctor flashed a pin light into his eyes. Codi recoiled in pain. The doctor nodded.
“So, I’m OK, right?” Codi said. “I’m cured. I can go to Fleet Academy?”
Doctor Greene sighed and glanced at Vincent and Jean Doone. Her eyes welled up with tears. Vincent clenched his hands into fists and turned his back on Codi.
“The blood tests show only a partial remission, Codi,” Greene said.
“What’s that mean?” Codi said.
“Let the doctor finish, Codi,” his mom said.
“Mom, it’s my life,” Codi snapped, “not yours.”
She swallowed hard.
Codi instantly felt terrible for snapping at his mom. It’s not her fault, but she won’t let me be...
“Don’t talk to your mother like that Codi,” Vincent said with barely contained rage.
Dad never gets it... he’s always too scared of life. He never dares to dream big...
“It’s OK, Vincent,” Jean whispered and touched her husband lightly on his wedding ring.
“Jean,” Vincent said, “I can’t...”
“Can’t what?” she said.
“I can’t do this anymore. Sorry.”
Vincent Doone couldn’t face Codi. He stormed out of the Doctor’s room. Slammed the door behind him.
Jean Doone turned to his doctor. “I’m sorry, Doctor Green,” she said with a mix of anger and fear at her family disintegrating before her eyes. “My husband’s feeling the strain...”
“I understand,” Greene said. “Perhaps you’d like five minutes to be with your husband while Codi and I discuss this man to man.”
Jean seemed to jolt at the thought that her ten year old son was being treated like an adult. She nodded.
“We can discuss how Codi’s condition will affect the whole family when you return shortly,” Greene said.
Jean silently nodded and left to find her husband. Codi felt Jean’s hand gently caress his face like a dying summer breeze. Codi felt like telling her that his father was no doubt wandering the hospital corridors or out in the healing gardens and cursing God for the day Codi was ever born. But he said nothing. He needed time and space from them.
Doctor Green sat down beside Codi.
“Codi, prognosis for a normal life is good. You’ll most probably live to a ripe old age. Or at least old by twentieth century standards.”
“But this is the twenty third century,” Codi said and held Greene’s gaze for longer than was comfortable for them both.
“The medication I can prescribe will stabilize your condition to its current level.”
“Will I spend my days and nights puking up my guts?”
“There’s medication for that too.”
“You said ‘normal life’?”
“Such as the life your father and mother lead, yes.”
Codi felt a flicker of hope. A reason to live pulsed through him. “So I can join Fleet Academy in the fall?”
“Normal life, Codi, not extraordinary life.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You can live well enough, enjoy most if not all life has to offer,” Greene said. “But your body will not be able to withstand the abnormal pressures and demanding standards of Space Fleet Academy.”
“How can you say that without letting me try?”
“The decision is not mine of course, Codi,” Greene said. “But Fleet command will request your medical reports and...”
“What about the war?”
“What about it?”
“Everyone will call me a coward.”
“They will understand, Codi,” Green said. “Besides, young man, there is talk of peace. You’re ten years old, now, yes?”
“Almost eleven.”
“War may well be long over by the time you turn eighteen.”
“What if they discover a cure?”
Green sighed. “Your condition is extremely rare...”
“Too rare to bother with finding a cure.”
“I’m not saying that... but, OK, maybe in twenty years or so.”
There was a knock at the door. Jean and Vincent entered. Her eyes were puffy. His looked like death warmed up. Codi laughed to himself. After all, he was the one living with death as his new soul mate.
Green reiterated everything he
’d spoken to Codi about. They left his office and took the car home. Codi felt like his life would be trapped inside a constant loop of explanation and excuses for failure to achieve his dreams.
Vincent rubbed his eyes as he drove. “Why don’t you let the car drive us the rest of the way.
“I’m OK,” Vincent said and glanced over his shoulder at Codi. “Codi, your mother and I have to speak with you about something. I want you to know it’s not about you. It’s me.”
“You’re leaving us?”
Vincent swallowed hard. His eyes seemed unable to focus on Codi.
“I’m going away for a while. With all the traveling from my job, you’ll hardly notice any difference. But I’ll visit you and Bron every weekend.”
“Coward!” Codi spat.
Jean screamed.
“It’s OK, Jean,” Vincent said. “He’s... he’s a man now.”
But Jean wasn’t listening. She was pointing out ahead of them.
Vincent whipped around. Codi leaned forward.
A spaceship dropped out of the sky. A spiral plume of smoke trailed from the ship. It seemed to be fighting to correct its erratic course.
“It’s Lupos Raider class vessel,” Codi shouted.
“Holy mother of God,” Vincent shouted and swerved the car into the oncoming lane.
The spaceship hit the eight lane highway and chewed up the traffic. Tearing up a deep groove in the highway. Heading towards the Doones.
“Oh my God,” Jean screamed. “It’s going to--”
Codi woke up at the same point he always woke from the dream. In a pool of sweat and burning up with the frustration that he could never alter the outcome. He sat up in darkness.
He shielded his eyes from the expected light of the motion detectors. He remained in darkness and remembered he had disengaged the auto lights. They hurt his eyes more than usual.
He sat for a moment regretting the last thing he said to his father. His chest felt like a truck was sitting on it. He fought against the instinct to reach for the inhaler sat on his bedside table. He’d learned to hold out for a full minute before the crippling tightness made him panic and reach for life.
Beat it. Beat it. Or die trying...
His body began to convulse.
Beat it... Beat it...
He felt the chill of a familiar shadow offering him a shroud of blackness. Like a dark angel beckoning him to accept death on the tail of its siren call. It placed the shroud over his face, blinding him.
Another few seconds and I’ll win... or I’ll die.
He felt the icy grip of the dark angel clench his wrist. He reached out to the dark angel and pushed it away.
He rolled over and reached out for the bedside table. His numb fingers fumbled with his inhaler. He sucked it in and within a moment or two felt the drugs ease the tightness so he could breathe.
Lucky this time. Or unlucky. Depends on your point of view.
He climbed out of bed and drank a glass of water.
There was no way he’d go back to sleep again. Not with all his muscles aching like he’d just run a marathon.
He watched the dark angel step away into the shadows of his imagination. But the siren call was real. Voices. A thousand strong choir.
He ran out of his bedroom to rag on Bron for playing weird music like the freak she was, when he realized she was asleep on the living room couch. Drunk again.
The voices tugged at a place deep inside his stomach. A place he hid the sensation of his most heartfelt dreams. The secret place he hid his alternative future. The one where a boy called Codi was strong, fit, healthy and already enrolled at Space Fleet Academy.
Where he was rising like a shooting star to the top of his class. Streaking across the radar of his tutors and forcing them to accept him onto their rapid advancement program. The place called hope he kept buried deep inside.
He thought about calling out to his aunt.
She’ll be hitting the casino. Throwing away my inheritance.
Now, he felt tugged by the siren call of voices, that no one, but him, seemed able to hear.
He followed the singing. Out of the cabin and down Hermes’ corridors. Until he came to the vast glass dome of the observation deck. At the far end stood a man with his back to him.
Codi felt unable to resist the pull and approached the tall man.
“Who are you?” Codi asked with forced confidence.
The man turned to face him. Codi jolted at the sight of his blue skin.
“You’re Vanguard.”
“I am Sol Morlok,” the man said and knelt before him.
“What do you want?”
“To help you, Codi.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I’ve been watching from far away, Codi,” Sol said. “I know your secret.”
“I don’t have any secrets, Mr.”
Sol Morlok placed a heavy hand on Codi’s shoulder. It felt cold. Like death.
“What do you want, Mr?”
“Your illness is progressing faster than the doctors led you to believe.”
Codi’s eyes popped wide.
“How did you know?”
“I can cure you, Codi,” Sol said. “Give you the life you want.”
“You’re lying,” Codi snapped. “No one can cure me. It’s too rare for anyone to bother with.”
“No one on your world cares,” Sol said. “But on my world genetic problems are of the utmost importance. It is child’s play to re-sequence your genetic disorder.”
Sure... what’s the catch?
“No catch,” Sol said.
You can read my mind?
“I am inside your mind, speaking from my world, Codi.”
“There’s always a catch.”
“I offer you your dream to pilot your own starship,” Sol said. “Here, allow me to show you your dream as a reality.”
Sol snapped his fingers and the observation deck vanished. Codi was standing on the bridge of a starship. By the shape and size of the holographic projection floating above the floor, he was on the bridge of a new Fleet warship. It was surrounded by smaller ships. Three to starboard. Three port side. One at the bow and one at the stern.
Sol was nowhere to be seen.
The Navigator, a young woman, turned to him. “Captain, Doone, the fleet is destroyed. The enemy has us surrounded. What do we do?”
All eyes were on him.
Codi felt a strange sensation. The mercilessly aching, screaming pain of his bones had eased. His nausea had vanished. He could breathe without his rib cage feeling like it was about to pop. He felt taller. Slimmer. His reflection in the command console possessed a rugged, mature and handsome outlook of a stranger.
Is this really me in the future?
“Captain?” his navigator said.
“Captain, we’re being hailed to surrender,” the ship’s comms officer said.
I can go anywhere... Be anybody... Do anything with a ship this powerful.
For the first time in years he felt a smile ease across his face without any pain.
“We live to fight another day,” Codi said. “Weapons specialist, prepare a full spread of torpedoes. Everything we’ve got. Launch wide, but concentrate firepower on the lead ship. Navigator, plot us a course taking us directly through the enemy’s lead ship.”
“Captain, won’t we collide?”
“On my count prepare to fire and get us out of here,” Codi said.
“Aye, Captain,” said the navigator and nodded to the pilot.
The pilot glanced across to him. “Ready, Captain?”
Codi nodded.
“Acceleration is brutal, Captain. Your command chair, Captain?” The pilot said.
His legs felt like giant redwoods. Codi shook his head. “I’ll stand, if it’s all the same to you,” he said. “On my mark. Three, two, one, fire.”
A wide spread of twenty torpedoes launched and spread out. The enemy ships fired on the torpedoes, but the torpedoes changed
direction and converged on the lead ship.
The lead ship astern exploded.
“Now, pilot,” Codi shouted. “Give it everything she’s got.”
The ship lurched forward and dived through the explosion.
A moment later they came out through the other side.
A cheer rose up from the crew. “You did it, Captain.”
“We did it,” Codi said. “We did it.”
The bridge dissolved into a thousand tiny stars and he was back under the glass dome with the Vanguard stranger.
“That felt real,” Codi said. “It was me. In the future? It is my future?”
Sol smiled. “Your destiny. And in exchange I wish only one thing from you...”
Codi burned with desire to experience that sense of freedom and power for just a few more seconds. “Yes, anything?”
“Kill someone who hates you.”
“Kill?” Codi said and shook his head as if he heard wrong.
“Yes.”
“Kill who?”
“Your sister, Bron.”
“Are you mad?” Codi shouted. “I can’t... Why would I?”
“Bron hates you.”
“She’s not my biggest fan, but she don’t hate me.”
Anger flashed across Sol’s face. He rose up and towered over Codi.
“Bron blames you for your parents’ deaths. She hates you for it. Take off your blinkers. See it for the truth it is.”
Somehow he knew it was the truth. Bron... hates me.
Sol sighed. “Difficult choices are made easy when the truth tears the lies from our eyes,” Sol said. “Bron’s destiny commands her to stop you becoming the man you must become to save the galaxy. Bron must die, Codi. Now decide...”
CHAPTER 18 - I DON’T TRUST HIM
Location: Captain’s Quarters, USF Valiant.
“OK, Hannibal, so you’ve removed the invisibility cloak on the rare stuff,” Doc Ransom said, coveting the ancient whiskey bottle with relish. “Must be important. I’m all ears.”
Hannibal took back the bottle and poured whiskey into two glasses. He handed one to Doc Ransom. He took a hit of the warm, amber nectar and savored the burn in his chest. He waited for the elusive feeling of peace to visit.
They sat opposite in battered old twentieth century green leather armchairs.
“I don’t trust that new XO they stuck us with,” Hannibal said. “I need to keep an eye on him.”
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