by Damon Alan
She swiveled to face Captain Sheffaris. The Captain engaged the weapons officers, preparing to return fire on the enemy. Sheffaris's uniform was stained with blood.
Training kicked in, Sarah began to function. She activated the emergency holographic controls on her console. “Captain, I'm assuming all navigation functions at my station. Ensign Karden is dead.”
“You have comm too, they're all gone,” Sheffaris answered. His voice still echoed confidence and calm, Sarah didn't know how he did it.
Sarah looked at the foredeck of the bridge. Black lines etched into the consoles, as if massive electrical forces had arced through the lower compartment. The crewmen who manned those consoles were dead, burned and torn open by the unrestrained fury of electrons. She, the three weapons officers, the Captain and the First Officer were all that remained.
“Aye, sir, I have comm,” she answered.
“Ensign Sachelle, move to navigation. Assist the Lieutenant,” Sheffaris ordered as a side note.
Sachelle moved to nav. The XO came forward to help Sachelle remove Karden from his gravity couch. Together they managed to get enough leverage to bend the fallen conduit away from the station.
The ensign looked at the blood soaked console with bits of Karden clinging to it, then strapped herself in. “Ready for duty L-T,” she said.
Wow…
“Can you check the status of the singularity?” Sarah asked.
Sachelle paused as she looked over her new station. “I'm rusty. Give me a minute.”
Sarah transferred comm functions to her station. “I'm going to contact the fleet. They must think we're dead.”
Sachelle tapped her radiation badge, also flashing red. The message was clear. They were dead.
The Captain barked orders at the weapons station, appearing more interested in a retaliatory strike than flying the ship at the moment. Sarah checked velocity and orientation. The ship was in stable flight.
The XO spoke in Sarah's earbud. “If you can, spin up the singularity and prepare to rotate space. We need to leave as soon as the Captain launches what we've got left. We're out of this fight.”
We're retreating? The Queen…
A deep breath. “Wilco, sir. Sachelle is checking the integrity of the FTL drive right now. One minute,” Sarah replied.
“Let's hope we have a minute,” the XO answered. “Are the sensors working for you? Sensors section is dead.”
“No, sir, not responding,” Sarah said. “Last I looked at tactical the fire of the enemy fleets was still at least ten minutes out… but I don't know how long I was out.”
The XO gave her a sympathetic look. “You weren't out long. EMP must have taken the sensors down… if the other two enemy fleets were ten minutes out… I'm guessing we have about five minutes until the next round of enemy fire is here. Snap to your duties.”
Sarah pushed events from her mind to interrogate the fleet ships. “Third flotilla, this is the RKV Chimera. All ships respond with status.” Only two ships answered, two light destroyers.
Sarah couldn't believe it. “Captain, only two fleet ships responded. Light destroyers both.”
The Captain shook his head regretfully. “Tell them to get in the bubble, Lieutenant. We're out of here.”
Sarah gave the destroyers their orders and took a quick damage control report from each.
As Sarah finished the status report from the second ship, a familiar voice called her name on the radio. “Sarah?”
Sarah's heart leapt into her throat. “Vonn? What are you doing on frequency?”
“The Villotte is hit, Sarah. The bridge crew are dead. We took a hit in the passenger compartment that punched the hull… but we're not losing air. The warhead injected a gas into the ship. I'm in auxiliary control with Jac and another crew member.”
Oh no... oh please no…
“Jac?”
“He's alright. I'm keeping him by my side.”
Tears filled Sarah's eyes. She struggled to keep despair out of her voice.“Vonn, I'm going to talk to the Captain, see what we can do for you. Stay on that radio.”
Sarah slung her gravity couch around. She tried to maintain her professional detachment, but her voice came out shrill and desperate. “Captain!”
Everything on the bridge stopped, the remaining crew stared at her. The Captain studied her, then worry lined his face. “Dayson?”
She broke loose, tears flowed. “My husband and son are on a passenger ship, sir. The Villotte. It's been hit by the Hive. They're infected.”
The Captain's eyes darted back and forth for a moment, his face otherwise set in stone. “Lieutenant, control yourself and return to your duties.”
Rage filled her. She'd saved his career. “No sir, I won't,” she growled. “What I need you to do is target one of those weapons you're preparing to launch on the Villotte.”
“We hit military targets, Lieutenant,” the Captain replied, his look of concern growing. His hand moved to his sidearm.
The XO pushed over to Sarah. “Pull it together, Dayson, they're dead. We all lost our families today. You can't do any good losing it now. Fight on.”
Sarah cried in wracking sobs. Her family was why she... “I fucking know they're dead, you asshole. Do they get to sit for days, helpless, and feel it coming? Or do we end them now when we can? What would you want for your child?”
Sarah's voice overwhelmed every other noise on the bridge. Everyone except Sachelle and the XO tried to ignore her.
“Sarah, we're warriors,” Sachelle whispered. “We lost. Hitting the Hive back is all we have left. Don't deny yourself that.”
Sarah snapped at Sachelle. “I'm an officer in the Korvand navy. I swore to protect those people, including my family. And now we're running away and they're all going to die horribly.”
The XO's human side broke through his military veneer. He embraced Sarah. “You're right. But we have a mission. Pull yourself together. I don't want to, but if you make me I'll relieve you of duty.”
“Launch everything but tube forty-two,” the Captain said. His voice was resigned. The bridge fell quiet except for Sarah's weeping on the XO's shoulder. “Dayson, we'll target forty-two on the Villotte. You sacrificed as much for this Navy as I did. I'll do this for you. It'll take a few minutes to get the targeting solution ready.”
The XO looked toward the Captain, agitated. “Sir. We don't have a few minutes.”
A series of shudders rolled across the bridge as dozens of nuclear tipped missiles exited the Chimera on gouts of flame. Only one tube remained green on the weapons board.
Sarah's breath shuddered as she drew it in.
This isn't my personal military. We all lost everything today. My family is dead either way.
Her next decision changed her forever. “Captain, the XO is right, sir. We don't have the time.”
The Captain looked at Sarah, pity on his face. She hated that look. The XO squeezed her shoulder in support.
Sarah knew exactly where her duty lay. She had the power to make the right choice. The Captain gave her that power.
“Select a military target, Captain. It's our duty,” Sarah said.
The Captain's look transformed into pride and he changed the order. “Launch forty-two on the original target.”
The XO looked deep into Sarah's eyes as she stared back, hoping to show her resolve. “She's fit for duty, Captain.”
Sarah looked at the floor and steadied herself as the XO returned to his station. Returning to her grav couch, she picked up the radio and transmitted. “Vonn, you still there?”
“Yes. What's the plan?”
“There is no plan, Vonn. You and Jac are going to die. I love you both so much. If you can get to an airlock, open it and expose the ship to vacuum. It will be easier on all of you.”
“Are you crazy? I can't just kill…”
“Vonn, you're already dead. That gas is Hive nanites. If you don't end things while you still have control of your body, you and Jac will be...�
� She couldn't say it.
“Mom?”
Sarah's tears burst forth again, Sachelle tore off part of her bloodied uniform and handed it to Sarah as a handkerchief.
“Jac, I love you. I love you so much.”
“It's okay, Mom. I love you too. Dad… well, Dad can't talk right now. But I'll open the airlock Mom. I promise.”
Sarah's seven year old son was promising her bravery, helping her go on. Her tears floated in the air around her. “I'm so proud of you. You're my son, Jac. You always will be.”
Sachelle had tears rolling down her face.
“I know Mom. Here's Dad.”
A long pause followed, during which she heard tube forty-two launch. “I'll talk to the crewman here… I'm sorry, Sarah. The Villotte had mechanical troubles on the ground. We should have left sooner. When you said.”
In the background Sarah heard the Captain question Sachelle. “Ensign, is the drive ready?”
“Yes, sir,” Sachelle replied.
The captain pushed onward, Sarah's final moment with Vonn loomed before her. “XO, you've selected the course?”
“I have sir,” the XO replied.
Sarah bit her lip to maintain control. “Vonn, if you can't open the airlock, I understand why. But let Jac do what needs to be done.”
“Jump the ship,” the Captain said.
Sachelle flipped a holographic switch and Vonn's voice disappeared forever.
“I love you,” Sarah said, too late for Vonn to hear.
Chapter 23 - It Never Happened
22 MAI 15319
Sarah gripped a handhold in Captain Sheffaris's office. She made an effort to stand as close to attention as zero G would allow. Her magnetic boots no longer functioned after the nuke.
The Captain's skin was blistered heavily, and his eyes looked sunken and black. “That was quite a show you put on yesterday.”
Sarah spent the previous evening in her quarters at the Captain's orders. She'd vented her emotional energy during those hours. Her roommate, Marta Bendalla, was dead, her body in cold storage. Sarah tried to assist in damage control, but Sheffaris threatened to post a guard on her.
“Yes, sir. I was completely out of line, sir,” she answered
Sheffaris coughed and wiped blood into a towel. “We lost everything,” he replied. “Everyone wanted to scream at me, you just had the balls to do it.”
“Or the stupidity, sir. I had a lot of time to think confined to my quarters. I have nothing left but the military now,” Sarah said. “If I'd been thinking, I wouldn't have risked that.”
“That was your family, Sarah. I'm not sure I wouldn't have lost it myself.” Sheffaris opened his cooler and pulled out a pouch of soda. He tossed the drink to Sarah, who caught the foil pouch as it floated past. “We got our asses completely kicked yesterday. At least a quarter of the ship is unusable, and we're limping away from battle licking our wounds. I can't afford to have you confined to quarters.”
Sarah's heart pounded. “I know, sir. Any disciplinary action you wish to take is justified. I will perform my duties as you need until we reach port. I'll accept punishment for my actions there. I want to help make this ship whole again.”
Sheffaris laughed. “You have been listening to me, right?”
“Yes, sir. You need all hands right now.”
Sheffaris smiled at her, a fatherly smile, understanding and warm. “You gave me the chance to be on that bridge, Sarah. You and Sachelle. If not for the two of you I'd be on Korvand in a cell… or dead. There will be no charges against you. There will be no record of the incident. I've ordered the XO not to log it.”
Sarah's eyes misted over and she was embarrassed. She looked uncomfortably at the floor. “I'm grateful, Captain. I'm not sure I'm worthy, but as I said, the military is all I have now.”
“We all need each other. The ship is going to need you to step up,” the Captain said. He pointed at Sarah's radiation badge. “You got lucky.”
Sarah looked at her arm. The badge pulsed yellow. She was shielded from much of the radiation by a coolant tank behind her bridge console.
She felt guilty. “I was lucky, sir. I want to take this badge off and throw it away, so I don't have to see people with red badges looking at me like they do.”
“Ignore them,” Sheffaris counseled. “You're going to save their asses when they're in the medbay in a two days and you're one of the few who can still function.”
Sarah involuntarily gulped. The coming days terrified her. “Is it that bad sir?”
“It's not good. We had eleven hundred souls on board when that bomb detonated. Now we're less than half that, and the doctor says it could be a tenth by the time we reach port.”
Sarah didn't know what to say, so said nothing. The thought of over nine hundred dead on board numbed her.
Sheffaris smiled at her again. Sarah thought he seemed at peace. “You're my second officer now. I need you to step up to be XO once I'm…”
A look of horror spread over Sarah's face. “Sir?”
Sheffaris smiled. “The doc gives me four, maybe six days. The last two I probably won't know my own name.”
“My—”
“Your badge is yellow, Sarah. You're going to have to be watched for tumors, but you're going to live. Once we get to our destination you'll undergo gene therapy. You're going to live, so keep your mind clear because I need you to be able to command.”
“That's not what I was going to say, sir,” Dayson replied.
“Spit it out then,” Sheffaris said and coughed more blood. The towel floating near him was bright pink.
Sarah considered her words, she wanted the Captain to be at ease with the idea of her as XO, or even as acting captain. “My actions on the bridge weren't up to your standards, sir. You didn't deserve them, but you were going to violate military standards for me. I'll never forget that, and I'll follow your orders no matter what the cost. After my husband and my father, you're the greatest man I've ever known.”
Captain Sheffaris stared at her a moment. He seemed prideful that Sarah thought so much of him. “I was willing to do what I did because you stuck your neck out for me like family. I was more wrong than you to even consider your request, but I figured we were all dead anyway. But some of the crew, like you, were more shielded than others. I'm glad you and the XO kept me from sticking around, because some of the crew are going to live to kill more Hive. Remember me when you do.”
Tears streamed down Sarah's face. “I will, sir. Memories are all I have.”
Sheffaris chuckled. “What you have is your life, and I expect you to make it count. But staying in the military is up in the air, L-T. On the recommendation of the XO, we're headed to Mindari to turn over the Chimera and the two ships we managed to drag with us to the Alliance.”
Sarah's jaw dropped. “But the monarchy isn't part of the Alliance.”
The Captain snorted. “The monarchy isn't part of anything now. If it had been, we might have…” Captain Sheffaris looked toward the floor and swallowed audibly. “No, I'm not going to play the “what if” game. The fact is the Hive rolled us. They're rolling the Alliance too, but slower.”
“The Queen?”
“Dead,” Sheffaris replied as he shook his head. “I looked at the sensor data last night. Her ship was hit along with her fighter escorts as they lifted off. The Hive nuked the capital after the second wave reached Korvand.”
Sarah slumped a bit. Her oath was to the Queen and the monarchy.
The Queen said I was her friend… Technically I'm not even in the military now…
“I know what you're thinking, and you're right. We are no longer Navy, at least in any legal sense.”
“So that's it? We just turn over the ships to the Alliance and go our own way?” Sarah asked.
“The Alliance Navy has taken in military members from other non-Alliance systems in the past. I don't see any reason they won't accept Korvandi stragglers.”
Sarah wiped her tears and struggled
with the bitterness filling her. “We're reduced to this. Beggars, asking for a spot in the Alliance hammer mill.”
“You can take it as you like, Sarah. I advise you to find the bright side. The Alliance is the only way that can happen. You said all you have left is memories. What you have left is the chance to make a difference.”
Sarah nodded at Sheffaris. “I'll do my duties until we get to port, Captain, and until we turn over the Chimera. After that, with no Navy to serve, I'll choose a path that suits my purposes. If I have any.”
“Lieutenant… you'll have a choice to make. I hope you make the right one. I'm proud of you. Think about what you'll do if the Alliance offers you a position.”
Tears flowed again as the Captain mentioned his pride in her. “I'll do that, sir.”
“Take that soda with you, there won't be too many treats between here and port,” Sheffaris said. “All the cooks are dead, so we're on cold rations. Dismissed. Send in Ensign Sachelle when you leave.”
Sarah's didn't envy the Captain. It was Sheffaris's duty to tell every soul on board they'd lost their families, the Kingdom, their Queen, their career. The survivors would be cast adrift on a world they didn't know. Useless and lost unless the Alliance military took them in.
Sachelle was waiting in the gangway, anxiously looking at Sarah. “Oh galaxy, you look like shit.”
“Thanks,” Sarah said. “I've been waiting for a compliment like that all day.”
Sarah noticed Sachelle's eyes move to the yellow badge on Sarah's sleeve. Sachelle had removed hers. Even without the badge it was obvious Sachelle had been dosed. Her hair was starting to fall out.
Sarah had come to think of Sachelle as a rough and tumble sister. “You don't seem to be as sick as most, Sachelle.”
“I don't have time for sick.”
“What do the doctors say?”
“Fifty-fifty I'll make it,” Sachelle replied. “I bet fifty drenna I'll survive. Safest bet I ever made. Medbay is running a pool if you want in on the live or die action.”
“No thanks, that's a bit morbid for me.” Sarah gestured toward the hatch to the Captain's quarters. “Go on in. I think you'll want to hear what he has to say.”