by M. R. Forbes
His father had yet to make a public appearance. He had remained in hiding, secured behind the barrier of Diallo and Hafizi, who refused to let anyone into the quarters, not even to make sure Theodore was still alive. They insisted that he was. That was all the information they would give, even to him.
He had made a promise to his father that he would keep quiet, but it was getting harder to do with each passing day. There were whispers among the crew that his father had lost his mind, deteriorated to the point that he couldn't lead them, or had flat-out given up on the mission and abandoned them completely. Fortunately, that was the rumor that was least believed. Most felt he was in bad shape, an unfortunate casualty of war.
Even Gabriel was beginning to think that way.
The other thing that had him worried was Guy and Reza's lack of progress on the weapon they had recovered. In the first week, the pair had spent eighteen out of every twenty-four hours down in the laboratory, trying to crack the mystery of the device. It had proven to be harder than they had expected. By the second week, that time had been reduced to twelve hours. Now nearing the end of their third week, Colonel Choi had sent Gabriel to find Reza, who hadn't made an appearance in the lab in three days.
Gabriel wished General St. Martin would return to the bridge to pull them together. Sometimes, he even prayed that he would. A pall was being cast over the ship, despite the repair crews getting most of the damage shored up, despite their proximity to a slipstream that would finally get them back into the fight. The entire mission, the entire war, was beginning to come unglued by inaction, the cracks forming at the seams. He knew Theodore could fix them with one round of sharp commands cracked off in his signature Cajun accent.
But he also couldn't rely on it.
It was a hard thing for him to accept. His father had always been so dependable. He felt sick at the idea that this was a fight the General couldn't win. That after years of promises that he would get the planet back, he would fall apart over something as small as a pill. It was such a human thing, and he had never seen his father as human.
Reza's quarters weren't far from the central hub. He had been given a larger berthing than some of the other crew members, to allow him space and privacy and the ability to think without distraction. Gabriel had spoken to Miranda before heading down, trying to determine where Reza had been for the last three days. As part of operations, she was supposed to know where every crew member was when they were on duty. She had told him that the scientist had been spotted in the mess a few times each day, often with Sarah Larone at the table with him.
It was a worrying development for Gabriel. Guy was smart, but he was also a hothead, and if anything was happening between Reza and Sarah, it had the potential to explode. In a closed environment like theirs, it only took one detonation to cause a chain reaction of bad morale.
And morale was already down. They couldn't afford to let it get any worse.
He reached the scientist's door and banged the side of his fist against it. He knew the control pad was non-functional. Reza had rigged something to get himself in and out, and most of the time that was good enough.
Nobody answered.
"Maggie, connect me to Spaceman Locke," Gabriel said, asking the ship's computer to patch him into her station.
"Yes, Captain," it replied, the voice seeming to come from everywhere.
"Captain St. Martin," Miranda said. "How can I help you?"
"I'm at Reza's door, but nobody is answering. Can you verify he's in there?"
"Give me a minute, sir," Miranda replied.
He knocked again while he waited for her to get back to him, again receiving no response.
"I asked around. He isn't in the mess or the lab. Nobody has seen him in a while."
Gabriel wished the doors on the Magellan were a little less thick. "What about Sarah?" he asked, unhappy that he even needed to question.
"One minute, sir."
Gabriel waited again while she pinged the senior officers, asking after Sarah Larone's whereabouts.
"She hasn't been seen in awhile either, sir," Miranda said. "Guy said that if you do find her, he would appreciate a minute alone with his wife so they can talk."
"How did he sound when he said that?"
"Angrier than usual."
"I don't have a good feeling about this."
"No, sir."
"Have you tried to contact Reza?"
"Yes, sir. His comm is set to private."
"Sarah?"
"The same."
"Bad to worse."
"Do you think they're messing around behind Guy's back, sir?"
"Messing around? Yes. Behind his back? Not nearly far enough."
Gabriel sighed. Colonel Choi was doing the best she could, but she didn't want to get involved in people's private lives. His father would have never let this become an issue. He blamed himself for not doing more himself. Reza and Sarah were civilians, but they were on a ship at war, and they had a duty to conduct themselves with more tact.
"Maggie, connect me to Reza Mokri, please," Gabriel said.
"Reza Mokri has set his communication status to private," Maggie said.
"Command override," Gabriel said. "Captain Gabriel St. Martin. Reason: mission critical communication."
"Override accepted."
"Reza," Gabriel said. "It's Gabriel. I'm standing outside your door. You have ten seconds to open it before I get a tech to open it for me. I'm not usually a violent man, but if I have to do that, I will be."
TWENTY-NINE
He stood facing the door, tapping his foot to count off the seconds. He had reached five when the door slid open.
Reza had a pair of pants on without a shirt. His wild hair was even more wild than usual. He caught a glimpse of Sarah Larone in the background, sitting in bed with the blankets covering her.
"Gabriel," Reza said.
Gabriel grabbed him by the arm, tugging him from the room.
Reza hit hard against the bulkhead, his door closing behind him. Gabriel didn't want to be violent. He didn't want to be angry. He was angrier because of that.
"You do recall that we're at war, do you not Mr. Mokri?" he said, getting up in Reza's face.
"Gabriel? I... uh..."
"It's Captain St. Martin," Gabriel snapped.
"Uh... Yes, okay," Reza replied, still stunned.
"Yes, what?" Gabriel shouted.
"Yes, sir," Reza said.
Gabriel let him go, backing up a step and pointing a finger at him. "I don't want you to say a damn thing. I don't want to hear any excuses. What you do with your free time is your own business, as long as it doesn't impact the operations of this ship."
He paused, giving Reza a chance to try to speak. The scientist remained pressed against the wall, his eyes frightened.
"Number one, you don't have any free time on this ship. Number two, what you're doing with what you don't have is impacting our operations beyond my capacity to understand how you think it could possibly be acceptable."
"Colonel Choi," Reza started to say.
"Colonel Choi was giving you a chance to use some of your intelligence to figure things out for yourself. Apparently, you're incapable of doing that when there's a woman added to the equation. A woman who is married, I might add. A woman who also helped get you tossed into prison, by the way."
"Sarah's not like that. She was just trying to-"
"Trying to what? Save half the settlement? And suddenly that's okay for you, too?"
"Uh... No... Gab- Captain St. Martin, sir. Please. I can explain."
"I don't want you to explain. I don't want either of you to explain. I don't care if she came on to you, or you came on to her. I don't care if she's misunderstood, or you're misunderstood. I don't care if the two of you having sex with one another helps one, or the both of you think better." He paused. "Unless you can tell me that you have a solution to our problem with the Dread weapon that resulted from your romantic interlude?"
"Uh." Reza looked at the floor. "No, sir."
"Do you think that Guy is stupid? Do you think he has no idea what's going on with you two? I have three scientists on this ship. Three scientists that are supposed to be reverse-engineering an enemy weapon so that we can get our planet back from the Dread, which in my estimation is a little more important than a few minutes, hours, or days of physical pleasure. Now those three scientists are going to be impossible to get to work together with any kind of cohesive effectiveness. Do you get where I'm going, Mr. Mokri?"
"Yes, sir. I wasn't thinking-"
"I know you weren't thinking. Neither of you were thinking. If you were thinking, maybe you would have solved the damn problem already, instead of making a bigger one."
Reza swallowed hard. "I'll get back to the lab. I'll put in extra time. I promise."
"I'm not about to work with this little piece of shit," Guy said.
Gabriel turned to look at Guy, who had approached unnoticed in the middle of his tirade. Guy looked almost as haggard as Reza, though it was likely from stress and lack of sleep. The scientist's hands were balled into fists, his face beet red.
"I'd like nothing more than to beat the living snot out of him and you, Captain St. Martin. This is your fault. You and your father. We don't belong out here, trying to win an unwinnable war. The weapon? All it has served to do is prove it. I've scanned the entire thing in and virtually disassembled every component. There is nothing about it that offers any clue as to why it can defeat the Dread armor when nothing else can. You've hindered our chances to reach the New Earth with this folly, and if that wasn't enough, you've destroyed my marriage as well."
Gabriel barely heard any of the other words that Guy had spewed. Nothing? There was nothing? He had seen the Dread plasma rifle pierce the Dread armor. There was something. There had to be. Why had the scientist been unable to find it?
"There has to be a difference," Reza said. "You aren't looking at it right. But then, you don't look at anything right, do you? You think everything and everyone is against you. Even your wife."
Guy's face contorted in anger, and he lunged for Reza. "Don't you dare say a thing about my wife," he snarled.
Gabriel stepped between them, pushing Guy back. He ducked aside as Guy took a swing at him, dodging it before punching the scientist hard in the gut.
Guy doubled over; the wind knocked out of him. Then he started to sob.
"I wanted to get us off that damned rock," he said. "To give humankind a chance to start over, to grow and expand. Why does that make me the bad guy? I don't want others to die, but there was no other way to make it work. Sarah said she understood. She supported me. And then we came here, and she turned on me so quickly. She came over to that crusty old man's side without a second thought. She betrayed me once, and now she's betrayed me again. What did I do to deserve that?"
Gabriel looked at Guy, finding himself almost sympathizing with him. The anger was fading from him quickly. He needed to get both Guy and Reza back on track, their attention refocused on the Dread technology.
Reza's door opened again, and Sarah came out, fully dressed. She glanced at Gabriel and then looked away, embarrassed.
Guy looked up at her, his eyes red, tears on his face. Her expression turned more distraught when she saw it.
"The weapon is useless, Captain," Guy said softly. "The Dread are too advanced. We don't have the means to break down what they've done into something we can use. I'm sorry. I've tried to play along, to be part of the solution. I tried to work it out. I failed. I'm sorry I failed."
Gabriel realized Guy was speaking to Sarah when he said that. Tears were beginning to flow from her eyes as well. He looked at Reza, who was slouched against the bulkhead, looking small.
"What do we do now?" Reza asked.
"You get dressed and get your ass down to the lab," Gabriel said. "I need to know if what Guy is saying is true. Guy, Sarah, whatever you need to figure out, figure it out. I need everyone operating-"
Gabriel was cut off as the lights began flashing around them, and a voice sounded from the speakers.
"Captain St. Martin to the bridge," Colonel Choi said. "All other crew to your stations immediately. This a red alert. I repeat, this is a red alert."
"What's happening?" Reza said.
Gabriel did his best to keep himself from tensing. "It means the enemy has been spotted."
THIRTY
"Captain, take the pilot station please," Colonel Choi said, the moment Gabriel arrived on the bridge. Sarah and Guy weren't far behind, taking their places at their station without comment.
Reza had returned to his quarters to find some clothes.
"What's the situation, ma'am?" Gabriel asked on his way.
"Maggie, release steering controls," Choi said.
"Releasing," the computer replied.
"You know what Red Alert means, Captain," Choi said, glancing over at the Larones. She didn't look happy.
"Yes, ma'am."
Gabriel took his seat, bringing up the sensor view to see for himself. The shape of the Dread fortress was unmistakable. He checked the distance. It was still a good ten minutes away from their position. At least they had a little time to prepare.
"How did they find us?" Guy asked. His eyes were still red, but he had regained his composure and was pointedly ignoring his wife. He didn't even flinch when Reza finally made it to the bridge and joined them.
"They must have followed the stream," Reza said. "They knew which one we took, and they would have understood the likelihood that we were dropped at the terminus. The real question is, how did they get here so fast?"
"There were no streams from Earth to here," Sarah said. "They would have had to make multiple slips."
"That would make humans ill," Choi said. "Do you think it affects them the same way?"
"I don't know," Reza said.
"What should we do, Colonel?" Gabriel asked. He had control of the Magellan, but no idea what to do with it. He checked their surroundings. There was a small planet not far from them, but it would offer limited cover.
Then again, limited was better than none.
"Head for that planet," Choi said, sharing his thought. "We'll figure the rest out when we get there."
Gabriel took the controls, adjusting the main thrusters and vectoring thrust to begin to bring the Magellan around. He tensed when the Dread fortress released the first volley from its main plasma cannon, sending a huge stream of molten energy spewing toward them.
Gabriel deftly adjusted course and speed, rotating the Magellan and turning it belly up. The plasma continued past them, missing by a wide margin.
"They're trying to keep us from the planet," Miranda said from her station.
"Clearly," Choi agreed. "Captain St. Martin, we need to make it to the other side. It's our only chance to delay them."
"Yes, ma'am," Gabriel said. He was surprisingly calm, despite the fact that the Dread were closing in, and they still had no means to fight them.
He got the bow of the Magellan pointed toward the planet and drove the mains to full thrust. The direction put them moving away from the Dread fortress, exposing their rear and their engines. It was a dangerous thing to do, but they didn't have a choice. He put a hand to his chest, whispering a prayer and tapping the crucifix beneath his shirt. He needed his mother's divine intercession now more than ever.
A second plasma blast launched from the Dread ship. Gabriel followed it closely on his screen. He shifted the Magellan, rolling it and dipping like he would if he were in a fighter. The larger ship was slower to respond, the size making it less maneuverable. He cursed at it for being slow before breathing a sigh of relief as the plasma cleared the top of the ship by meters.
"Too close," he said.
"They're closing the distance," Reza said. "We can't outrun them."
"We'll make it," Gabriel said, monitoring the two distances.
A third plasma stream streaked toward them. Gabriel adjusted course, mak
ing every effort to avoid the attack. The Dread fortress was closer, the Magellan too slow to change position, or maybe the enemy had guessed their direction. The plasma skimmed the edge of the left QPG nacelle, tearing the side of it away in a shower of quickly snuffed out sparks.
"Damn it," Gabriel said out loud. He wasn't used to piloting a ship like this, and they were going to die because of it. He knew it, and by the hushed silence around him, he was sure the rest of them knew it too. "Where the hell is my father?"
"Locked and loaded, my boy," Theodore said, rolling onto the bridge. "Sorry I'm late, but I needed to pee first."
Gabriel felt the change in the air the moment he did, the feeling of tense desperation turning in an instant to one of true hope. He was amazed by the effect his father had with nothing more than his calm, confident presence.
"Colonel Choi, you are relieved of command," Theodore said. "If you don't mind stepping away from my chair?"
"Of course not, General," Choi said.
"Captain St. Martin, head on down to the hangar and get your fighter crew ready for launch. I'll take the reins from here."
Gabriel stood and turned around, setting his eyes on his father for the first time in three weeks. General St. Martin had done more than clean himself up. He had transformed himself. He was freshly washed and shaved, his hair tight against his scalp, his uniform crisp. There was no sign of pain as he lifted himself into the command chair. There was no sign of weakness.
"Don't just stand there staring at me like you see a ghost, Captain," Theodore said. "We've got couillons to confuse."
"Sir?" Gabriel said. "You want to launch the fighters?"
"Are you questioning my command?" Theodore yelled. "I know we can't hurt them, but that don't mean we ain't going to try. I bet it's the last thing in the world they expect."
"Yes, sir," Gabriel said, reaching the command chair. His father didn't look at him; his focus was already dedicated to evading the Dread attack. "It's good to have you back, sir."