by James Palmer
“You did good, Captain,” Silver said. She had not expected sincerity from the doctor, but he had surprised her yet again. He had a habit of doing that she noted.
Captain Harmon let out a deep breath then plotted a course toward her ship. “Let’s get back to the ship, then we can get out of this sector.” Even as she said the words, the shuttle’s flight path took them around the far edge of Space Lab’s corpse toward the Pegasus’ last known position.
She easily piloted around various chunks of floating debris, avoiding a collision as the small craft cruised away from the dying husk of Space Lab.
And straight into a war zone.
“Out of the frying pan…”
Chapter 53
50
Alliance Starship Pegasus
“Don’t move!”
The tall, thin man in the main firing control room stopped dead still. Deputy Marshal Dexter Freeman raised his rifle at his soon to be captive who slowly turned to face the new arrival.
Then, Lt. Allen entered the tiny room as well.
Their eyes locked, a fierce hatred passing between them like a spark. “Mr. Thomas,” he said, his words dripping venom as he pulled the pistol the deputy had given him and pointing it squarely at the traitorous engineer before him.
Dexter Freeman quickly held up a hand behind him at the Pegasus’ senior officer. It meant to hold his fire and stand down. Dexter hoped the man understood.
He did, but did not much like it. He said as much.
Harry Thomas laughed. “You people make me sick,” he said. “You have to play by the rules! Well the rules are illegal this time! Can’t you see that? We are trying to save a world and innocent lives and all you want to do is stop us! Don’t you see that you’re the villains here?”
“And you want to start by killing innocent civilians that have committed no crimes against you?” Allen said, choosing his next words carefully. “No crime except for being wealthy.”
“Wealthy?” The traitor laughed again. “They are nothing but greedy, self serving hypocrites. They talk and talk about wanting to help their fellow man, but in the end all they care about is protecting their small sliver of the cosmos. We - you and I - are not even worthy to step foot upon the very ground that we - and others like us - have died to protect. Is that fair?”
Dexter grabbed the traitor by the uniform shirt and snatched him to his full height. “Will you shut up?” he growled. Obviously his threat had fallen on deaf ears.
Harry Thomas continued to stare through Marc Allen. “Well,” he continued. “Is it fair, Mr. Allen?”
“No,” Allen answered reluctantly. “It’s not. That planet out there could solve a whole lot of problems. I don’t like what they’re doing any more than you do, but it’s not my call to make.”
“Isn’t it, Marc? Isn’t it?”
Allen shook his head. “You are correct about one thing, though, Harry,” he said softly
“And what’s that?”
“They want to protect what’s theirs. Earth is theirs whether we like it or not.” He looked down at the gun. It seemed so large in his hands. In his many years of service he had never had to pull a weapon on anyone, much less a member of his own crew. It was a record he hoped would stand until his retirement. He had hoped to never face a situation like the one before him now.
He looked between the pistol and the traitor to his ship. “You’re wrong about one thing though,” he said after a second of silence as Dexter Freeman placed the saboteur in restraints. “We’re nothing alike, you and I.”
Then, Lt. Allen did something he had never done before in his life. In one fluid motion, he punched Harry Thomas square in the jaw, knocking the traitor to the deck.
Dexter Freeman regarded Allen with a crooked grin, obviously surprised by what he witnessed. “He had it coming,” the deputy marshal said.
“Yes he did,” Lt. Allen agreed, trying not to laugh. He failed.
“I’d a shot him,” Freeman said.
“I know. That’s why I hit him first.”
Dexter reached down and grabbed the traitor. The three men made their way back to engineering. “Let’s go,” Freeman told his prisoner.
“By the way,” he said to Lt. Allen. “Nice punch.”
“Thanks,” he answered, rubbing his sore hand.
“Let’s get this crate moving.”
“Right behind you,” Lt. Allen said.
Four minutes later, they entered engineering. Mr. Thomas was thrilled by his handiwork, smiling, and offering a giggle of triumph at the carnage he caused in the name of humanity. Somewhere in the man’s scheming he lost sight of what he was fighting for. The constant pressure must have been more than he could bear. Finally, all of his life had become dedicated to the cause that nothing else mattered.
In the end, it drove Harry Thomas completely insane.
“Report.” Dexter’s deep booming voice echoed above the silent engines.
Alliance Military Engineer Charles Shepard faced his commanding officer with a shake of the head. “I have no idea what he did to this ship,” he admitted. “I can’t restart the engines and we are starting to enter the moon’s orbit. There’s nothing I can do. This ship is going to crash. I’m sorry.”
“Then we evacuate,” Freeman said. “Mr. Allen, sound the evacuation alert. Get your people to the escape pods or to our ship at the emergency evacuation port. Do it now please.”
Lt. Allen complied, moving off to complete his task while trying not to notice the bodies of his newfound friends and crew mates, many of whom he had not gotten the chance to know, lying dead on the cold steel floor, dead because of a madman and his delusions.
“Let’s go,” Deputy Freeman ordered. He tapped the communicator strapped to his wrist. “Freeman to Bondeski. Report.”
The officer from the deputy’s squad answered via the ship’s internal communicator. “All clear, but the Bounty’s Pride took a beating from those blasts we fired at her. Is the situation all clear down there, Dexter?”
“It is now,” he said, sneering at his captive.
Led by Freeman, they made their way back to the deputy’s ship, dragging the restrained Harry Thomas with them. “Bondeski,” Freeman called. “We’re calling for a full EVAC. See to it all decks above our landing site are clear, then meet us back at the ship.”
“Yes, sir.”
The transmission ended and the group moved with dispatch down the corridor toward the shuttle.
“We have ten minutes,” Shepard said, urging them to move faster. “Maybe less.”
“My lucky day,” Dexter said. “My lucky day indeed.”
# # #
It took nearly nine full minutes to evacuate the Starship Pegasus.
Thankfully there was only a skeleton crew aboard, not to mention the dead engineering staff, or it would have taken longer. A full crew compliment would never have made it off in time. Lt. Allen waited at the hatch to the emergency shuttle. Once he was sure there were no straggles left behind he closed and locked the hatch.
“We’re clear, Deputy,” he shouted over the noise of the Pegasus’ crew crammed in the shuttle.
Those that were able managed to get away in the escape pods. The people that occupied the shuttle were unable to reach the pods in time. The crew pressed together in the small shuttle. It was uncomfortable, but they were alive.
At the helm, Deputy Marshal Dexter Freeman navigated the shuttle away from the Pegasus as the newly christened ship began its long descent toward Earth’s lone moon and the Alpha Colony waiting on the surface.
“We’ve got to warn the colony, Deputy,” Allen said as he took the seat next to Dexter. “Now that we’re away from the corrupted communication circuits, maybe I can get a message through to Alpha Colony.”
“Do it. I’ve got to get us back to the Bounty’s Pride. Maybe they can fire a grapnel and tow Pegasus out of the gravitational belt.”
“Understood, Mr. Freeman.” Quickly, the Pegasus’ communication�
�s officer patched into the high band transceiver and broadcast an all points bulletin to Alpha Colony, warning them of the impending danger. He ordered an immediate evacuation.
“I just hope they get this in time.”
“Me too,” Dexter said as he maneuvered in for approach to the Bounty’s Pride.
“Me too.”
# # #
Alliance Starship Pegasus Shuttle
“Oh my God.”
Virginia Harmon gasped in astonishment as she witnesses a starship captain’s worst fear. Her ship was dying and she was powerless to stop it. Before her, the Starship Pegasus tumbled out of control toward the surface of the moon, its hull battered and scorched, its crew gone. It was like watching the end of her career before it truly had a chance to begin.
Her heart broken, she was thankful the crew had escaped. Even as the Pegasus hit the low pressure of the moon’s gravity well she could see escape pods blasting away from the dying ship.
She opened a communication channel. “Harmon to Lt. Allen,” she called. “Harmon to Allen. Report. Lieutenant!” She waited, listening to static as her only reply. “Answer me, dammit!”
“We’re here, Captain,” Marc Allen’s calm voice announced over the shuttles receiver. “We’re on a shuttle inbound for the fleet’s command ship. Where are you?”
“We were able to jettison from Space Lab, but Pegasus is going to crash. What is your status?” she asked.
“She’s a total loss, Captain,” the lieutenant’s voice wavered slightly. “We have evacuated and are even now trying to evacuate Alpha Colony.” A long moment of silence passed between them.
Dead air.
“I’m sorry, Captain,” the lieutenant said after a few moments.
“Yeah,” Virginia Harmon whispered. “Me too.”
“Captain Harmon,” a new voice said, deep in tenor it echoed in the small pilot area. “This is Deputy Marshal Dexter Freeman, Captain. If you would be so kind as to form up on our flank, we’ll lead you to the Bounty’s Pride. We’ll be better able to protect you from there.”
“I understand. We also have several wounded aboard. Have your ship’s medical staff ready to receive us?”
“I’ll see what I can do, Captain,” Freeman sighed, not fully aware of the extent of damage done by Harry Thomas’ cowardly attack on the Bounty’s Pride. Surely, the marshal had things under control, but it did not keep him from worrying.
“Thank you. Oh,” in the excitement, she had forgotten about the problems with the Space Lab’s core. “Deputy?”
“Something else, Captain?”
“You need to get all of your ships to pull out of here. Space Lab’s core had started to go critical just before we pulled out. I’m not sure how much time we have before it blows.” Even as she delivered this piece of bad news, she maneuvers her shuttle into position behind and to the right of the deputy marshal’s shuttle. “Formed up,” she announced.
“Good. We’ll dock with the marshal and then see about getting out of here.”
“I’ve got no problem with that.”
“So glad you approve. Follow us in please, Captain.”
“Right behind you.”
Chapter 54
51
Marshal’s Office Starship Bounty’s Pride
“We need quiet in here please!”
The marshal’s voice instilled an air of authority, which was soon followed by an all consuming silence that filled the bridge of the Bounty’s Pride like a thing alive. The emergency lighting had kicked in, but not all of the ship’s systems were back on-line.
The marshal stepped to the front of the bridge, next to the pilot’s station. “I need everyone focused,” he said. “Our priority is to get this ship under way. We have people out there that need us. We aren’t doing them much good just floating around. I want the engines and communication up first. Pitch in wherever you can. Tactical stays put. You are our eyes now.”
“Yes, sir,” the tactical officer answered.
The marshal leaned over the main pilot station. “Mr. Walker?”
Chris Walker was busily rewiring the underbelly of his station. He knew what his commander wanted to hear. “I’m working on it, sir,” was the best answer he could give.
The marshal simply said, “Good. Be faster.” Leaving the pilot to his work, he moved to communications. “Talk to me, Nat.”
“I can get you a grainy signal at best. We seem to have entered a dampening field in this sector.” She tapped in a command for the appropriate frequency. “Listen.”
Static filled the air, then Grady’s voice crackled into focus. “Thank God, Marshal. Are you guys alright?”
“We’ll make it, Grady,” he said. “Progress report.”
“The enemy has begun a run toward the planet, sir. I can’t see us doing much to stop them either. They have several large ships that have already passed us and made a run for Earth. Our large freighters are pursuing, but I don’t hold out much hope.” Another shot of static crackled around her. “We may have to concede this one, I’m afraid. Grady out.”
“Damn,” the marshal snarled. This is not turning out how I had expected.”
“No kidding,” Natalie remarked.
He ignored her. “Signal the others to do what they can. If they can’t stop them, then I guess we’ll leave this one up to the politicians to solve, eh?”
“Oh-kay.” She dragged out the word and her father noticed, grunting in response. Embarrassment blushed her cheeks a bright pink. He had been able to do that to her since she was five. She grumbled silently. “Signal sent and received,” she said after a moment.
“Now, what were you saying about a dampening field?” he asked.
Using her hands, Natalie tried to explain the way a radiation burst caused severe communications disruption in any given area. She could not fully impress upon him how strong a field it had to be, partly because she did not know for certain herself. All she had was a theory, one that fit the facts as they had been presented. She hoped her hypothesis was wrong, but deep down she doubted it.
“We’ll all have to be tested for radiation poisoning after this mission is ended,” she said.
“I know,” he father said.
A light on her console blinked green, drawing her attention away from thoughts of contamination. Enough time to worry about that later, she decided. She opened a channel as the marshal consulted with tactical.
“There is a ship on an intercept course with us, Marshal,” the tactical officer reported.
“One of ours?” he asked.
“Unknown. Wait a moment. There are two ships. They are flying in standard Alliance military formation. They could be ours, sir.”
“Could be,” he echoed. “Or it could be the coup de grace. Be sure.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Mr. Walker, I need good news.”
“You got it.” The pilot leapt over his station into the chair. “We are back online. We have partial power to all systems.”
As if on cue, the lights brightened.
“Divert all unnecessary power to the engines. We need all the speed and shield power we can get. On my mark, Mr. Walker...”
“Wait,” Natalie interrupted the command. “I have Dexter on Tac-2. He has the Pegasus survivors and is escorting Captain Harmon and the Space Lab survivors on board. They have wounded and request medical assistance.”
The marshal tapped a key on his command console. “Medical team to docking bay two,” he said, the announcement resonating through the ship. “Mr. Walker. As soon as our guests are aboard, set a course for Earth. Best possibly speed.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Dexter also reports that the space stations core is reaching critical mass. He is uncertain of how long we have before it detonates.”
“How long?”
“Unknown, but our ships are still inside the blast radius. They’ll be destroyed,” she said, voice trailing off.
“Orders, boss?” Walker asked.
“Sir?” Chris Walker repeated.
“Natalie, get those ships out of there. Warn everyone, Scavengers included. Also warn the Alpha Colony. They should be prepared. Tell Grady to get her pilots to the nearest ship and pull out.” He turned toward the pilot as Natalie began her task. “Mr. Walker. Plot a course to take us as far away from that tin can as possible. How long until Dexter and the captain have docked?”
“They are docking now, sir,” tactical answered. They will be in lock down mode in fifty-five seconds.”
“Tell them to hurry. We’ll be leaving any minute now.”
“Yes, Marshal.”
“Natalie, status?” He swiveled to face her.
The young woman looked up from her board. “All ships have received your orders and are complying. Alpha Colony has already been ordered to evacuate.”
The marshal was clearly as confused as his daughter. “Who ordered the evacuation and why?”
“Evacuation order delivered by Lt. Marc Allen of the Pegasus, at the behest of Deputy Marshal Dexter Freeman and Captain Virginia Harmon.” Natalie verified the information. “Confirmed,” she said. “An evacuation is already underway.”
“Did they give a reason?”
“Yes.” Natalie paused, reading off the screen. “They have lost all control of the ship and cannot regain operational control before...” her voice trailed off.
“What?” he asked, concern furrowing his brow.
“The Pegasus. It’s going to crash into the colony.”
The marshal was on his feet in a shot. “On screen.”
The Bounty’s Pride’s forward view was quickly replaced by another angle. A horrifying sight filled his vision. The Pegasus dropped toward the moon’s surface like a brick, its body raked by laser fire and what looked to be radiation scorch marks. He wondered how they could have gotten such marks, but then he remembered Natalie’s theory about a radiation burst causing the communication dampening field.