by Rob Colton
Bradley shook his head and snorted as his lips turned up in a smirk. “You’ll never get to the council.”
Yoruba turned towards one of his security officers. “Lieutenant, escort Commander Brimley to the brig.”
The officer grabbed Bradley by the arm and dragged him out of the room.
The Captain turned back to us. “We have seventy-two hours before cryosleep. After you have been checked out in sickbay, get some rest.” Yoruba turned to Yates. “You are off-duty for the next seventy-two hours as well, Ensign.”
Yates nodded. “Thank you, Captain.”
I parroted Yates. “Thank you, Captain.”
* * * *
After the medics cleared us, Kane put his hand on my back and escorted me to the shower room. We stripped and stood under the hot running water.
“This feels so good,” I moaned. “I could stay here until it’s time for cryosleep.”
Kane came up behind me and started massaging my shoulders. I closed my eyes and let him work out the knots in my neck. When I felt his erection brush against my ass, I pushed back against him.
“We need to stop by your quarters to get your things,” he said into my ear as he slid his cock into the crack of my ass. “I don’t plan on letting you out of my sight or out of my bed for the next three days.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
Chapter 15
After coming out of cryosleep, the mood was tense as we got dressed. The Cassini crew had come out of sleep before us and we were already supposed to be on course to Union Council Headquarters, located on Sargan III.
From this point, I could only put my trust in Captain Yoruba and the rest of the crew.
As Kenji and I followed Kane out of the cryochamber, a klaxon blared and the Captain’s voice rang out over the comm. “All hands, battle stations.”
The ship abruptly lurched to starboard.
“We’re under fire,” Kane shouted as he took off running towards the turbolift.
We ran after him and we headed directly for the ship’s bridge.
“What’s going on?” Kane demanded as soon as we stepped out of the lift.
“A Union Navy battle cruiser has intercepted us,” the Captain said over his shoulder. “Strap yourselves in and stay out of the way.”
I quickly got myself situated at one of the empty duty stations and pulled the chest straps over my shoulders and buckled myself in. Kenji did the same at the station next to me.
“Ensign, evasive maneuvers,” the Captain ordered. “Get us out of the Scorpius’s weapons range.”
“Yes, sir,” Ensign Yates acknowledged. His fingers flew across the control panel and the ship banked.
I brought up the external sensors. The U.S.C. Scorpius was a top of the line Union battle cruiser. The beast of a ship was heavily armed and it was firing phase weapons on the Cassini, which was clearly no match for the battleship.
I couldn’t believe that another Union Navy ship was firing upon us. It was just toying with us. These were warning shots.
A comm signal from the Scorpius blared over our ship’s speakers. “Cassini, stand down, full stop. Prepare to be boarded. This is your final warning.”
Yoruba cursed under his breath. “Get our comm system online,” he barked. “Return warning fire.”
“Yes, sir!” the security officer called from his duty station.
“I’m on the comm,” I called out.
I brought up the comm system diagnostics and I immediately noticed that all outbound communications were being jammed. A message to the Union Council had been queued up, but it had been jammed even before we got into range.
The ship took a hard hit. This time it wasn’t a warning; it was direct hit to the hull. The ship lurched. The sound of metal shearing was the only warning before one of the overhead bulkheads snapped. A titanium ceiling panel fell, slamming into the head of the security officer manning the weapons station. He dropped to the floor, dead on impact.
“Shields at thirty-two percent, Captain,” Kenji called out. “We have a hull breach on deck three. Emergency bulkheads are in place.”
“Fuck,” Kane muttered. He pushed the dead officer’s body aside and took over. “Returning fire!”
The Captain ordered Yates to outrun the other ship and keep out of weapons range, but we were taking heavy damage. This old bird was no match for the fire power of a modern battleship like the Scorpius. It was only a matter of time—and not much time at that—before we were either crippled or destroyed.
As the rest of the crew struggled to keep us alive, I worked feverishly to unblock the comm system. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a communications expert, though I did have some training on the subsystem.
Kane managed to land a direct hit to the Scorpius with a pair of torpedoes and it interrupted the jamming signal long enough for me to get a communications burst through. I could only pray that it was enough to be picked up by the Council or any other ships in the vicinity.
Just as we were about to cross the Sargan solar system boundary, a massive hit from the battleship caused a power fluctuation, stalling our engines. It was immediately followed by another direct hit.
My computer screens went bonkers while the internal electronics crackled and popped. I pushed back from my panel just in time as it erupted in an explosion of sparks and fire.
“Holy crap,” Kenji screamed as he shielded his face with his arms. His station exploded as mine did.
“Status report,” the Captain called out. He cradled his left arm, which was burned and bleeding.
I swiveled back towards my computer screen, which was smoldering and smelled like burned plastic. I jumped when a fresh round of sparks erupted from the cracked glass. I glanced at Kenji’s computer and it was in worse shape than mine. Everything was dead. “Uh… Everything’s…”
“Fucked,” Kane offered. “Everything is fucked.”
Everyone grew quiet, save for the beeping in the background and the pops of short-circuiting computer panels and circuit boards. We were all aware that one more hit would the last.
I looked over at my lover and he gripped the edge of his computer panel and just stared ahead, resigned to his fate. My chest tightened at the thought of losing him. In just a short time, my feelings for him had deepened significantly. For me, our relationship had become much more than physical lust. So much more. I could not let him die without knowing how I felt.
Releasing my chair straps, I got up and walked over to Kane. Giving me a sad smile, he put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “Kane,” I whispered quietly, only for his ears. “I love you.”
Kane jerked me tight to his body and kissed me. He didn’t return the words, but I could feel the emotions in his kiss.
From the comfort of his arms, I looked around the bridge. Captain Yoruba, Ensign Yates and Kenji were the only ones left alive besides Kane and myself.
“It’s been a pleasure serving with all of you,” the captain said, proud but somber.
That final blow never came. With sensors and the main viewscreen offline, we had no idea what was going on outside of the bridge.
Several moments passed.
Ensign Yates swiveled in his chair and looked back at the Captain. “Sir?”
The comm channel buzzed loudly. Static screamed over the system, but between the bursts, a voice came through. “Cassini, this is the Artemis. Prepare to evacuate.”
The entire room let out a sudden breath of relief.
“Like hell,” Yoruba muttered. He slammed his fist on his computer a couple of times until the comm system opened the return frequency. “Artemis we thank you for your assistance, but we have everything under control.”
A chuckle came over the comm. “Understood, Captain. Artemis out.”
After sending a repair crew over to get us up and running, the Artemis escorted our ship to Union HQ. We limped along the entire way, but we got there on our own steam. We weren’t about to abandon the ship, not when she had gotten us thi
s far.
Chapter 16
By the time the Cassini docked on Sargan, I was sick to my stomach. My heart was pounding.
I didn’t want to leave the hybrid embryo behind on the ship, but I didn’t have time to transfer it to a more secure location. Captain Yoruba assured me that it would be safe and he said that he had assigned Ensign Yates along with security to guard it.
Before we left airlock, the captain pulled us aside. “Let me do the talking until we get in front of the council. Right now, you are all members of my crew as far as the Union is concerned.”
I deferred to the captain. “Yes, sir.”
The Captain led me, Kane, and Kenji down the spaceway. When we reached the docking ring, we were intercepted by a Navy captain and two other officers.
“Captain, I am Captain Bragman, commanding officer of the U.S.C. Artemis.” He turned to Kenji and nodded. “Lieutenant Kanataka.”
Kenji returned the gesture. “Captain.”
Captain Yoruba shook Bragman’s offered hand. “I am grateful for your assistance, Captain.”
“My orders were to escort you to the council. I suggest we get underway. They are already expecting us. We can have someone check out your arm before we enter the chambers.” Bragman turned to one of his officers, who turned away and spoke into his comm-link.
Standing in front of the Union Council was very intimidating. I had never imagined that I’d have an audience with the council that governed the entire Galactic Planetary Union.
The large Council chamber was circular, with the president’s chair and podium sitting in the center of the room and twelve seats on each side, arranged in a semi-circle. The emblem of the Galactic Planetary Union was embedded in the center of the room’s floor, twenty stars arranged in a circle, overlaid on top of a stylized depiction of our galaxy.
In addition to the representatives of each military branch, there were representatives from each of the Union’s twenty founding worlds. In all, there were twenty-four representatives plus the council president. The back wall held stadium-style seating reserved for diplomats from the remaining worlds that made up the Union membership, including Earth.
President Sylenas was a Sargan. Characteristic of his species, he was tall and thin. His skin was smooth, tinged a pale shade of blue. His hair was long and silver, pulled back into a ponytail.
“Come forward,” the President requested.
Captain Yoruba moved in front of us. With his left arm in a sling, he bowed respectfully before standing ramrod straight. “My name is Captain Samson Yoruba, commanding officer of the U.S.C. Cassini. We have just returned from Research Colony RC-8460, operating in the outer rim on planetoid XP-8460. To prevent you from learning what we found, my ship was attacked by another Union Navy vessel, the U.S.C. Scorpius, as we crossed the border into Sargan space.”
The various Reps exchanged looks with each other over that detail and several of them glanced in the direction of the Navy rep, who did not react at all.
“We were sent there by order of Navy Admiral Bolander and Research Director Carson. To discuss what we found, I would like to turn over to Lieutenant Aron Adler.”
The Navy representative interrupted. “Excuse me, Captain. But Doctor Aron Adler was discharged from the Union Navy.”
“I beg your pardon, sir,” I interjected. “I was reinstated by Admiral Bolander for this mission.”
The Navy rep looked down at his screen before returning his gaze back to me. “I see no record of reinstatement.”
Captain Yoruba cleared his throat. “I received the order myself before we left dock, sir.”
The Navy rep looked annoyed, but he did not interrupt further.
I pulled the data extractor and my comPad from my pockets. “If I may?” I nodded towards the large glass panels that hung around the room.
The President nodded his approval. “Proceed.”
Relieved that I wasn’t about to be thrown into the brig right from the start, I connected my comPad to the data extractor and synced my display to the glass panels. I brought up the schematics for the cybernetic sentries.
“These sentries were the first we encountered when we arrived at the research colony. They managed to wipe out most of our landing party. To create these cyborgs, the research employees fused biological organs to their electronic systems. This was just the first step.”
I changed the display to an image of the hybrid cyborg. There were murmurs among the crowd. They had no idea what was coming. “This hybrid employed a more advanced intelligence than the sentries. It moved like a humanoid, it thought like a humanoid, it looked like a humanoid.”
One of the reps interrupted. “This is all well and good, Doctor, but I do not see why any of this concerns the council.”
“I beg your pardon, Representative. If you will indulge me a moment longer.”
With a touch of my finger, the displays switched to an image of the embryo.
“This is a Human-Degan hybrid embryo. It is currently in a cryo-frozen state. In clear violation of Union law, the researchers extracted its stem cells, injected modified DNA into them and grew biological implants for the sentries and the humanoid cyborg. They were in the process of assembling dozens of these. We believe that Commander Bradley Brimley was intimately involved in their development. He is currently being held in the Cassini brig.”
The murmurs of the crowd turned into full-blown cries of outrage.
The Marine’s representative, a red-skinned Regulan, banged his fist on his podium. “Silence!”
The crowd noise quickly died down and I glanced up at Kane, who stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring straight ahead, his face unreadable.
The Marine rep looked past me, to Kane. “Corporal Kane Robertson, please step forward.”
Kane moved up to my side. “Sir, yes, sir.”
“Can you corroborate this story?”
“Sir, it was exactly as Lieutenant Adler described. And more.”
The President looked very disturbed. “Are you absolutely positive, Lieutenant?”
I bowed my head humbly. “Yes, Mr. President. There is no doubt. We have all of the data on this extractor.”
He let out a soft sigh and turned to the man on his right. “The Degans will have to be informed. Our treaty with the Degan Federation is already strained. We have already had one incident that tested our relationship. I am afraid that this may be a breaking point.”
The Navy rep took the opportunity to speak up. “Mr. President, I suggest we launch an immediate investigation. If we have rogues operating inside the Navy and Research branches, they must be found immediately.”
The President stared back at the Navy rep for a moment. “I agree. I am most disturbed by this information. We will appoint a sub-council to oversee this investigation. Highest priority.” He turned back towards Yoruba. “Captain. We thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. On behalf of the entire Council, we thank you for your service.”
After we were dismissed, we returned to the ship. Before we boarded, the Navy rep stopped us. He informed us that it was Bolander who sent the Scorpius to intercept us. No surprise there. The Navy rep was the one who sent the Artemis to investigate.
Bradley was delivered to Navy Security and he was taken into custody.
The Navy rep assured us that Director Carson and Admiral Bolander were going to face court-martial. They, along with the rest of their conspirators, were going to be looking at the insides of a prison cell for a long, long time.
Chapter 17
I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped onto the Luna Space Dock causeway. Hell, I almost dropped down to my knees to kiss the deck plating. Damn, it was good to be home. I looked up at Kane and smiled. We walked side by side rolling our footlockers down the causeway. I looked back over my shoulder through the glass at the ship that brought us here.
The Cassini was a mess. Scorching scarred the already worn cruiser’s outer hull. There were many missing hull plat
es and a large section of the aft ventral hull was gone in its entirety. It was a certainty the old and busted ship would finally be scrapped. It was long overdue. Hopefully the Captain and his surviving crewmen would be assigned a better ship, one that would befit such a fine group of men and women.
Kane and I stepped through the airlock doors into the space dock, where we were greeted by two Union Navy officers.
The elder officer stepped forward and dipped his chin in greeting. “Lieutenant Adler. Corporal Robertson. I am Commander Sameer, chief operating officer of Luna Space Dock. I am told you are on R and R for the next two weeks pending reassignment. I have taken the liberty of assigning the both of you quarters on the station for the duration of your stay. If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to let me or my crew know.”
His assistant stepped forward and gave us our assignments and directions to the habitat wing.
“This is me,” I said, stopping in front of a door.
Kane raised an eyebrow at me. He grabbed my hand and tugged, pulling me along beside him. He stopped in front of his assigned door and pressed his hand against the scanner. The scanner turned green and beeped and the door opened.
Kane motioned for me to enter. “This is where you’ll be staying.”
I smiled at him and entered the room. The door shut behind us and I looked around the spacious suite. This was the type of room reserved for VIP guests, not rank officers.
“This is really nice,” I said. “Nice and roomy. Obviously not what we’d typically get at our rank. We must have done something right.”
“Must have.”
Kane grabbed me and pulled me into the bedroom.
* * * *
If I thought the Navy jumpsuit was uncomfortable, it was nothing compared to the Navy dress uniform. However, I did not complain. I was proud to wear the uniform for this occasion.
I stood at attention at Kane’s side for the memorial service. We were there to honor our fallen comrades. We had lost many good men on this mission:
Sergeant Willis, Corporal Green, and Privates Villanova, Razix, Frost, Asmar, and Thomason.