by Ryan Krauter
Loren sat there for quite a few minutes, as he dealt with everything and tried to compose himself so he could leave the office. The fear, anger and desperation gave way to relief and joy, and he decided he needed to get to the bridge and find out how fast Elco was going to try to get to Toral.
Loren was on the bridge minutes later in his chair across the walkway from the captain, ready to ask Elco about the chances of Avenger making a speed run for Toral. Elco beat him to it.
“I have a fleet update which includes some good news for us, XO,” Captain Elco said in a more positive tone than Loren would have been expecting. “Admiral Illam is taking the Ninth back to Confed space and the first shipyard he can find. Fleet HQ is going to rotate in some other ships in our place. Considering our Priman captive, the Admiral has ordered Avenger to head straight away for the Delos system so we can turn him over to our intel specialists. In light of our current state and need for fuel, he suggested we stop in the Toral system to top off our tanks as well as offer what data and vaccine we’ve managed to produce to whomever is in charge of working on the DNA weapon antidote. We should be there tomorrow morning, which leaves us with nine days to produce and distribute the cure.”
Loren was still having trouble processing what was going on. He’d been shut down and disheartened so many times, he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. He half expected to hear that Avenger’s reactors had crashed again or some other similar bad news, but it never happened. He had resolved to not get his hopes up too high, though, lest they be crushed again. He didn’t know if he could take that, not this close to the end.
“You will have a few minutes to send a message before we enter hyperspace, “Elco prodded. “You might want to hurry.”
Loren bolted upright, then leaned forward and gritted his teeth as his injuries spoke up and told him sudden movement was a bad idea. He smiled, saluted as best he could, and hobbled back to the rear of the bridge and the lifts. He was back in his stateroom in record time.
Loren tapped his boot on the deck nervously as he watched the icon on his display. It was attempting to connect to Cassie’s comm location, but she wasn’t answering. It was late evening, and she should have been at home. If not, her comm unit should have simply starting making noise. That meant it must have been off or not on her. Worry struck him, but he beat that thought down mercilessly. He didn’t care if it meant getting his hopes up; he could almost feel her in his arms, it was so close. She was probably at her parents’ home; that had to be it. He hoped they were alright, too. He leaned back in his chair and let his arms fall into his lap as the unit showed a screen where he could record his message for delivery.
“Hi dear,” he began, and he realized he was smiling as large and goofy a smile as he’d shown in longer than he could remember. “We’re done with that mission I told you about and headed through the Toral system on the way back. We’ll be there early tomorrow morning with a surprise. I’ll see you soon. Love you.”
Avenger was running a noticeable vibration in hyperspace. He didn’t know what damage had caused it, but the ship thrummed and occasionally a rolling vibration picked up and then died down. He looked carefully at the water glasses that sat on his desk and saw them vibrating as well, ripples dancing on the water’s surface. He knew Elco was running Avenger hard to get her to Toral as quickly as possible, for they didn’t know if anyone else had made the same discovery that Doctor Elrad had yet. On the off chance Avenger was far ahead of the curve, they needed to get there as quickly as possible so they could send out instructions on how to manufacture and distribute the cure. Avenger still had something left to give, and Loren urged his ship on.
In the meantime, he needed to see two people who would be getting off at Delos.
Both people were Primans, and as a result were in the brig. He checked in and saw Krenis Terek first.
Krenis was waiting in the interrogation room when Loren entered, having just finished another round with Ensign Roxis.
“You don’t look well,” Krenis said to Loren as he sat down across from the Priman.
“The last few days have been, trying,” Loren said. “I’ll admit, I could use a vacation. I thought I’d take one on Toral when we get there in a bit.”
Krenis looked at him as though he were waiting for the rest of the story.
“Our doctors brewed up a cure for your DNA weapon,” Loren said evenly.
“It wasn’t my weapon, Commander,” Krenis said defensively. “Not all of us are barbarians.”
Loren studied him. “No, I don’t think all of you are. I do believe you, Krenis. To tell you the truth, I’m in a great mood. If we were on a planet somewhere, I think I’d be inclined to let you go. I won’t get that chance, however, so I did the next best thing. I amended our report on you to say how you cooperated with us and you denounced the DNA weapon. I also said that you’d been valuable to us, and that Avenger and a certain special forces operative would be needing your services again. It will let me keep tabs on you to make sure you don’t disappear. The woman that was with us, Halley, will be watching out for you as well. For what it’s worth, we will make sure you’re treated well. The rest of your crew also, of course. I just wanted to say that I will hold up my end of the bargain. Take care.”
Loren got up and walked slowly out of the room. Now, it was on to Velk.
Loren had to wait for a minute for Velk to be brought in. Velk was placed opposite the table where Loren sat. Loren told him the same thing he’d told Krenis- that the DNA weapon had been conquered, and they’d be testing it on Toral in a few hours.
“I cannot honestly say I’m disappointed,” Velk admitted.
“You know, you’re the second person today to tell me that,” Loren replied.
“The fact remains,” Velk continued. “I believe our destiny in this galaxy will be met, but to do so by wiping out all those who oppose us gains us nothing. We need to convince you that ours is the right path. Defeating the DNA weapon is not a loss I will mourn.”
Captain Elco had received a private message from Admiral Bak just before they’d gone into hyperspace and had gone to C3 to view it. He’d given several passwords and a retinal scan to the program, and it finally opened the video file and played it on the main viewer. He sipped at a cup of much needed stim-caf as the message started.
“Sirian,” the image of Admiral Bak began. “I hope you’re ready to take the warnings about privacy and secrecy to heart, because I have to tell you a few things.”
Elco didn’t like one bit the way this was going, and set down his cup as Admiral Bak went on.
“I hope you remember the times in the past when I’ve confided in you regarding my thoughts on what we need to do in order to win this war. I’ve asked you to do some things that I know you had to wrestle with. Now I’m going to bring something up again. I’m concerned about Senator Dennix, Captain. There’s a lot of rumbling around here about what’s going on in the Senate chambers on Delos, and I’m afraid most people don’t know the whole story. Senator Dennix is essentially the Senate right now. He’s picked or approved almost everyone in power. That’s a lot of authority for one person to have. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but you can see what’s happened under his watch. Our military and resources have been mishandled, we’re on the verge of hostilities with the Talaran government, and we have concerns that someone has started exerting influence on the Senator lately.”
That last part actually seemed to mesh with what Captain Lazaf had told him about the Senator’s new advisor. Apparently Admiral Bak was spying on the Confed government as well.
“Some of us are concerned, Captain,” Bak went on. I’m asking you to keep your eyes open and let me know if you hear anything. We can’t fight a war if we’re also going to be fighting our leadership. I’ll leave you with that; I know you’re busy. Good luck on Toral, Captain. I’ll talk to you again soon.”
Bak’s image faded to be replaced by the standby image of the Confed logo. Elco
checked the message buffer and saw that the video file had deleted itself, rewriting that entire section of storage so it couldn’t be recovered.
Great, Elco thought. The Admiral thinks Senator Dennix is out to get him, maybe the whole military in general. Actually, after thinking about it for a few minutes, he wondered if that was such a ridiculous idea after all…
Tana Starr walked through the outer office and through the doors leading to Senator Zek Dennix’s inner office proper.
He’d gotten used to her manner and intrusions, and could only tell himself that it was something he wouldn’t have to put up with forever.
She walked up to his desk and stood there, eyes smoldering as he gave her his attention.
“And what is wrong now?” he asked with exasperation.
She drew a knife and was across the desk in a heartbeat, one hand on his shirt pulling him and his neck against the blade in her other hand. Her face was inches from his. “You would do well to show the proper level of deference, Senator, especially if you want to live in light of recent developments.”
They both knew what she was talking about. Not only did Confed have Avenger’s DNA research and detailed files on the vaccine, but most of the Confederation knew about it as well. People were staging rallies in the streets and praising the Navy and government for their perseverance.
“I have done everything you asked,” Dennix said with a measure of hostility. “I gave your orders to the fleet; I even had them call in the Crusaders so you’d have your chance to wipe out the data and Representative Velk. It’s not my fault they lived and are on the way here. They’re going to be more popular than ever, so much so that I doubt the Navy would put that ship in harm’s way anytime soon. Why kill me when I followed your orders?”
Starr relaxed a bit, and finally released him, drawing herself back to her side of the desk and making the knife disappear.
“So be it,” she said finally. “You can still be of use to us. When Representative Velk and any other captured Primans arrive here on Delos, you will have them transferred to a base on the surface near this city. I want access to them, and sooner or later you will find a way to get the Representative back in Priman hands.”
“Fine,” he replied testily. “Now, if you’re done, I have a speech to make so I can convince the people of the Confederation that I had a hand in this event. It’s no good having you promise me control over Confed if the people would rather launch a revolution to get rid of me.”
Velk was watching Senator Zek Dennix’s speech on the monitor in his cell. The intel types must have thought it was funny to give him that to view, but he found it useful. Never turn down a chance to study your enemy, he thought, and so he watched and learned.
Of course, he knew the Senator, had known of him and his ambitions since his operative Ples Damar had infiltrated the Senator’s staff and turned him for the Primans. Velk had watched as Ples groomed the Senator to be the Priman mouthpiece in the Confed Senate, then watched how Damar had improvised and turned the Senator into an underground broadcasting voice when the two of them were trapped on Delos after the Primans captured the planet. He’d been saddened to learn Ples Damar had died in the following battle, and had taken heat for the Senator’s change of heart and lack of communication once he’d gotten back to power. The man had more ambition than Damar had led him to believe.
Now here he was, reveling in the power that the Priman people had helped him to achieve, and so very obviously loving the opportunity. He seemed to be enamored of the sound of his own voice as well, as he rattled on and on about the gallant Navy and the noble sacrifices of the Confederation citizens. He was buttering them up but also dropping clever hints that he had much to do with today’s events. He was obviously going to try to take a large share of the credit, and it would probably help his power base, Velk had to admit.
He started to become annoyed, and hoped the intel people didn’t notice. Then, he saw something. As the Senator folded his hands, he saw a ring on the man’s finger. Velk couldn’t help himself; he leaned in closer and studied the ring. It was Priman. Not only that, Velk would bet the mothership he used to command that it was Ples Damar’s ring. Damar would never have given that ring away, so it was just another confirmation that the Senator had something to do with Damar’s death. The Senator had no idea what he’d gotten himself into.
He thought of Senator Dennix again, and the man’s plotting, scheming, and career-building. Then, Representative Velk started to chuckle. It got louder, until it was a full fledged laugh.
The intel people could only wonder what their captive found so funny.
Avenger finally reached the Toral system and spent the next hour and a half running in to Toral itself at a slower than normal rate due to her destroyed port side sublight engine. There was a small flotilla of Confed ships about, mostly destroyers which were enforcing the blockade of the planet. After passing the outer pickets and displaying the proper codes, Avenger was allowed into high orbit next to a large hospital ship that had been serving as the headquarters for finding a cure to the DNA weapon.
“Helm reports locked in formation with the hospital ship Redemption,” the officer called out to Captain Elco from the front of the bridge.
“Good,” Elco replied from his chair as he studied some reports on his screen. “Comms, send them our regards and ask if there’s anything they need from us.”
Elco looked up so see Loren coming up the stairs from C3. The XO walked over to his chair and offered a datapad, which Elco took.
“Those are the latest repair estimates, Captain,” Loren said. “As long as we’re stationary, we’d like to get a handle on the actual damage to the port sublight engine by sending out some crews in repair vehicles from the starboard maintenance hangar. Captain Sosus also asked if she could get our fighters doing some light CAP to clear out the hangars while they clean them up a bit.”
“Sounds fine, XO,” Elco replied. “Have you been able to contact your wife yet?”
“No, but I’ll keep trying.”
Loren had commed Cory to give her the go-ahead for her patrols. He had also ordered the Vipers maintenance personnel to get his Talon out of deep storage, something made easier by Cory’s request. He was going to have to take his fighter out for a spin. One stop to be made before he got to the hangar, though.
“Commander,” Doctor Elrad said with a smile as Loren entered Sickbay. “How are things?”
“Things are looking up,” Loren replied. “Have you tested the antidote yet?” he asked hopefully.
“Not myself personally, but it has been done,” she replied. “The Redemption had some people in quarantine, and when they got our directions, they had plenty of volunteers lining up. I was just reviewing the data, and it appears to have worked just like we thought it would. The people are fine, no permanent damage, and the DNA virus seems to be breaking down rapidly. The only problem is that, at least for now, our only delivery mechanism is a direct injection. We’re working on an aerosol or perhaps adding something to the water supply. Either way, we should have plenty of time. It worked, Loren,” she said with a smile, which was only that much larger because she knew about his wife on the planet down below.
“So this is what will save everyone, eh?” he asked conversationally as he looked at several rows of small hypospray dose cartridges.
“Yes. Each module is enough for two people. Again, this is just the first batch; we’ll find a way around all this soon enough.”
Loren looked at her. “Thank you, Doctor.”
Elrad looked him square in the eyes. “No, thank you, Commander. It was your mission that brought us everything we needed. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work.”
She smiled and hurried off to her office where she sat down and started tapping commands onto her screen.
Loren left as well, heading down to the hangar bay. Nobody noticed that a lone hypospray was missing from the rack.
It was a bit unusual, but not out of bou
nds for Loren to have his fighter brought up and serviced for flight. Merritt and Web noticed it, though, and were milling around it when Loren showed up dressed in his flight suit.
“I’ve definitely been out of this for too long,” Loren said lightly as he walked up to the other men.
“You’ve got that right,” Web added. “It doesn’t even smell at all. We can all tell you haven’t worn it in a while.”
Loren smiled. The fighter wings had been flying so often that it was not uncommon for a flight suit to still be just a bit damp from the sweat of the previous mission, even if the pilot rotated two or three suits. It was a testament to their high operational tempo, and worn as a badge of honor by those who defended the ship.
“You just go and stink that suit up, then,” Merritt smiled.
“You’re in good spirits,” Loren commented.
“Well, don’t take this the wrong way,” Merritt replied, “but if Avenger’s going to be in the yards for a while, Cory and I have a decent chance of actually sneaking off and getting married.”
“Good for you,” Loren said with sincerity. He reached out and offered his hand, which Merritt shook. “Go someplace nice, and don’t come back too soon.”
“You sound like a guy who’s going somewhere himself,” Web said cautiously.
Loren looked at him, then over at Merritt. “If I was, would you try to stop me?”
“Absolutely not,” Web added. “In fact, I was going to suggest a way to get the entry vector you’re looking for.”
Chapter 17