They stepped into the observation dome and Jacob closed the doors behind them. The shields were closed, making the room nearly dark with the exception of the bright green emergency lights that created veins of illumination across the dome. He felt his way across the wall until he found the control panel and pressed the large button in the center. The panels of the shields parted, revealing the scattering of stars above them. Phaedra gasped when she saw it and Jacob felt a smile come to his lips at the accomplishment of his goal. He walked back to the center of the room with her and wrapped his arms around her waist, then drew her hand up into his, beginning to sway her gently in a tender, barely perceptible dance.
“We don’t have to just think about now,” he said to her. He kissed her on the tip of her nose and smiled wider at her grin. “We can think about what’s to come. There aren’t as many stars here as we’ve been able to see from Earth, but that’s alright. One day, I will dance with you under the brightest, most beautiful stars that you have ever seen.”
“You will?” she asked.
Jacob nodded, turning them gently.
“Absolutely. There is nothing that will keep me from being with you now and every day for the rest of my life.”
Their mouths were nearing each other and Jacob could feel the tightness in his belly when the door burst open and the pilot stormed in, his face red and tight with anger.
Chapter Five
“What do you think you’re doing?” Frederick demanded as he stalked into the room.
Phaedra stepped back away from him, her hands coming to her belly to hold it protectively. Jacob positioned himself in front of her, ensuring his body was in between hers and the visibly infuriated man.
“We came in here so that I could show her the stars,” Jacob said. “She was feeling nervous about being her on Penthos and I wanted to reassure her, not that I owe you any form of explanation.”
Jacob’s mood had gone from calm and contented to angry in the instant that the pilot invaded the quiet, private space that he had tried to create with Phaedra. The man stomped toward him, his eyes fiery, and he pointed into Jacob’s face.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Frederick shouted. “Do you know the danger that you’ve put this entire ship and everyone on it in by coming in here?”
He backed up and crossed the room in three long strides, slamming his hand against the button on the wall to close the shields over the observation dome again.
“What are you doing?” Jacob asked.
“I’m closing the shields,” Frederick said. “And you are not to open them again. Do I make myself clear?”
“Excuse me?” Jacob said. “I don’t believe that I ever gave you any sort of loyalty or told you that I was going to follow any commands.”
“I don’t care what you think that you’ve agreed to,” Frederick said. “By taking down the shields on the observation dome you removed the defenses of the entire ship. You made the vessel and everyone who is onboard completely vulnerable to anything and anyone who might be waiting outside on this planet. I don’t care who you are or what you think that you are doing here, it does not give you the right to put everyone in the ship in danger for your own selfish enjoyment.”
“Who do you think you are?” Jacob asked, taking a step toward Frederick. “Who do you think you are coming in here making demands of us? The only person who has been on this ship who has any semblance of leadership over the crew is Pyra, and though I have agreed to assist and serve him, even he does not have dominion over me.”
“That might be so, but the stupidity of your actions demonstrates just how much you need a leader with you every moment.”
“How dare you?” Phaedra said angrily, stepping out from behind Jacob and approaching Frederick. “How dare you say something like that to him. You have no idea who Jacob is, or what he’s done. You have no right to talk to him like that.”
“I have the right to talk to him in any way that I please. Like I said, it doesn’t matter who he thinks that he is or what he has gone through or done or even why he’s here, he needs to get it through his head that everything that he does while he’s on this ship, and even when he gets off of it, impacts everyone else around him. He can’t just think about himself anymore. He needs to realize, both of you need to realize, that this is not a game. This is not just a little stop off on some vacation that the two of you are going on. This is an extremely dangerous situation and you need to think about every action that you take because the bad decisions that you make aren’t just going to put you at risk. They are going to put every one of us at risk. Feeling like you are separate from everyone else might make you feel important, but it is dangerous. You need to wrap your mind around the fact that you are a part of something bigger than yourself. Even if you don’t want to think that you are, you need to straighten up and think about these refugees and the rest of the crew, both those who remained behind here and those who are out on the planet. What you do affects their safety, which means that you are responsible for every single one of them just as much as every single one of them is responsible for you.”
The man’s words cut through Jacob, but he was still angry. He felt himself bristle, resisting the demanding force that Frederick was exerting, as if digging his feet into the ground as he was being dragged.
“What gives you the right to tell me what to do? You are not the commander of this crew. You are a pilot who was chosen to bring this ship here to Penthos because we had little time and you were the only person we found who was available. Nothing more. If anyone else had been in that transportation bay that night, they would be the one who would have been asked to pilot. There is nothing about you that makes you important or that gives you power or control over anyone on this ship or anyone who has left it.”
“It doesn’t matter why I was chosen to pilot this ship. The circumstances that led to me being in this position have no application to the reality of this situation. What matters is that I was chosen to be the pilot of this ship and that means that while Pyra isn’t here, I am the leader of this ship and this crew.”
“You just said that these people are refugees,” Jacob said. “They aren’t members of the crew.”
“Even refugees need leadership,” Frederick said. “Any time that people gather, there is the need for a leader. I understand that all of you know and trust Pyra and that I am someone new and unknown to you, but this ship needs leadership and guidance. As the pilot, I am who falls into that role.”
“Just because you were chosen as the pilot when there was no other option for getting our ship here does not mean that you are in any form of control over us. If there was a way for us to get you back to Earth without compromising the ship, we would,” Jacob said.
“I have no doubt about that, and that alone illustrates even further why you are in need on my guidance. You seem to have some sort of belief that you would be a better leader than me. What is your background?”
Jacob bristled and he straightened, lifting his chin and squaring his shoulders.
“Anthropological research and excavation,” he said, then reconsidered the response. “With five years of specialized survivalist training.”
“Being able to dig up bones and make up stories about them hardly qualifies you,” Frederick said. “As for your survivalist training, as you call it, unless it was administered by the military, it has no merit. I have an extensive military background including training in emergency maneuvers and clandestine missions. I have survived experiences that make this look like one of the pleasure cruises that many of the people I have seen on this ship seem far more suited toward than any sort of wartime efforts. Above anyone here, I am the one who has the experience, the training, and the knowledge to protect this ship and everyone on it, granting you decide to put down self-congratulatory righteousness and agree to do as I say.”
Jacob and Phaedra exchanged glances. He could see in her eyes that she was just as wary of all of this as he was. He didn�
�t know what to make of Frederick and his sudden determination to lead the ship. In the time that they had spent sitting on the surface of Penthos, waiting for the rest of the crew to return or to somehow learn of the next planned maneuvers, Frederick had stayed to himself. He had interacted with them only in the most minimal ways, choosing to eat alone and spend the majority of his time in his own pod away from everyone else. Even as those who were wounded began to heal and made their way out into the rest of the ship for short periods of time, the pilot resisted the gatherings. Jacob had assumed that the gravity of the situation was settling in for him and he didn’t fully know how to process what was going on. He knew that they had offered Frederick very few details about the situation and could only imagine that he was confused and possibly even frightened by what was happening. Now, however, he seemed militant, driven as if a part of the mission from the very beginning.
“Why are you suddenly called to protect us?” Jacob asked. “What’s changed that has made you feel that you need to step in and herd us like your own little flock?”
Frederick stared at him, his eyes burning like embers deep in his face. He said nothing, but Jacob felt like the silence was cutting through him, digging into him more than anything that the man could have said. Remaining silent, the pilot turned on his heel and walked out of the room. Jacob turned to Phaedra again.
“I don’t know what to think about that,” she said, still staring at the door.
Jacob shook his head.
“Neither do I. Do you think that there could be some ulterior motive? Something that’s influencing him that we don’t know about?”
“What do you mean?” Phaedra asked.
“This is a man who had no idea what was going on when we came into the transportation bay and asked him to be the pilot for the ship. He has nothing to do with what’s happening. No stakes in it at all.”
“That we know of.”
“Exactly. We thought that we were just picking out a random person who happened to be in the transportation bay and can pilot, but what if that isn’t actually the case? We didn’t even question why he was in the bay to begin with that morning. He was just there. No explanation. What if he actually was there for a reason?”
“And us asking him to pilot the ship was exactly in line with that reason.”
Jacob nodded.
“I think that we need to talk to some of the rest of the crew,” he said. “If he does have something to do with this, they need to know too.”
They headed out of the observation dome and moved quickly toward the lounges. The first two were empty, but when they reached the one where Bannack and Loralia held their wedding ceremony, they found several of the women sitting at a table that had been replaced in the middle of the room. The small group turned to look at them as they hurried inside.
“Is everything alright, Jacob?” Samira asked, standing up as they approached. “Did something happen? Did you hear from Pyra and the rest of the crew?”
Her voice was frantic and Jacob felt a flicker of guilt for coming into the room so quickly without any greeting or explanation.
“We’re alright,” Jacob said. “We just need to talk to you about something.”
Samira nodded and gestured toward two chairs. Jacob and Phaedra walked to the chairs and he pulled one out so that she could sit down.
“How are you feeling?” Valerie asked Phaedra.
Phaedra nodded, looking slightly surprised but pleased at the woman asking about her. She ran her hands over her belly and then patted it gently.
“Doing fine,” she said. “The baby’s been really active today. I wish I knew whether that meant that I might go into labor soon.”
Valerie shook her head.
“Oh, no,” she said. “You’ve still got some time on you. You’re still carrying far too high to be delivering any time soon. Besides, once the baby is ready to be born, there won’t be enough room in there for it to be too active. You might feel a few little wiggles and the occasional kick, but if you’re still feeling that little one jumping around that much, you still have a ways to go.”
Jacob saw Phaedra smile and look down at her belly as if giving her approval to the child within.
“Well, I am perfectly happy to keep it there for as long as it wants to be,” she said. “I’d much rather not deliver here on the ship.”
Though it was the same sentiment that she had expressed to Jacob in the kitchen, this time the words held the hint of a laugh and he felt a sense of relief that she was feeling more secure and had the support of the other women.
“What did you want to talk to us about?” Samira asked, bringing the attention away from Phaedra and the baby and back to the reason that they had come into the lounge.
Jacob and Phaedra exchanged glances and Jacob took a breath. He explained what had happened with Frederick in the observation dome and the concerns that he and Phaedra had. When he finished, he sat silently, looking at the women and waiting for their response. Samira seemed to be thinking through what he had told them and processing what she thought about it.
“You heard what happened on Uoria with Ullie,” she said, not a question, but a statement.
“Briefly,” Jacob said, remembering the story that he had heard when they were still in the basement.
“What happened on Uoria?” Phaedra asked.
“There was a Denynso warrior who went rogue,” Samira said. “His name was Ullie. There was a war with a species called the Klimnu and in the midst of it we found out that Ullie was cooperating with a human woman to aid the Klimnu and infiltrate the Denynso.”
“Who was the human woman?” Phaedra asked. “Was it someone who was part of the exchange program?”
“No,” Samira said. “She was a flight attendant who was on the shuttle bringing people from Earth there. We still don’t know how she got in touch with Ullie or what she said to him to convince him to do what he did.”
“What happened to her?” Phaedra asked.
Her voice was tremulous and Jacob knew that she was afraid of what she might be told. Samira shook her head.
“That’s something that Creia, the King of the Denynso compound, handled. The rest of us weren’t a part of it.”
“Do you think that this could be a situation like that?” Jacob asked. “The way that Frederick was acting seemed so suspicious to me. He has no involvement with any of us, but then suddenly all he seems to care about is leading us and ‘protecting’ us?”
“It does seem odd,” Samira admitted. “It wasn’t that he was mean or standoffish or anything,” she contended. “It’s just that he didn’t seem to really want to know what was happening or get involved at all. It’s like he figured he would just hide out and this would all eventually be over and he could just go right on back to whatever he was doing when we found him.”
“That’s another thing,” Jacob said. “What was he doing?”
“He was in the transportation bay,” Samira said. “He must have been working.”
“But on what? Don’t you think that if he was getting ready for a mission of some kind, or even just preparing for a cruise or a research field trip, that he would have mentioned it? That he might have hesitated at least a little before agreeing to just leave without any idea of where he was going or how long he might be gone? Do you really think that someone would just walk away from their job and put their entire career at risk just to help someone he’s never met, of a species that he’s never seen?” Phaedra asked.
“He might have,” Jacob said. “We don’t know how much Pyra told him. Frederick said that he has military experience. If Pyra gave him the right details, he might have felt like it was his duty as a soldier to help. But even if that’s the case, you’re right. He probably would have mentioned another job that he was supposed to be doing, or would have tried to make other arrangements before we left. Instead, he just came. Then he sank away. He didn’t have anything to do with us until today when he lost it over us putting down the shiel
ds.”
“How did he know that the shields all over the ship went down?” Valerie asked. “Unless he was in the room with you and saw that you put down the shields over the observation dome, how would he know that the ship’s defenses were down?”
It was something that Jacob hadn’t thought about, but now the thought only worked to increase his suspicion about the pilot. He was starting to respond when he noticed Leia staring at him.
“What is it?” she asked.
Leia looked at him and shook her head as if she didn’t want to say anything, but then tilted her head.
“It’s just---" she hesitated like she wasn’t sure that she had put the words together properly in her mind. “What do we really know about him?”
“Nothing, that’s the point,” Jacob said.
“Exactly,” Leia said, “but probably not for the reason that you think. None of us knew anything about any of the other ones when we met. If we had relied entirely on assumptions, we wouldn’t have gotten this far. We never would have come together the way that we have and there would be many families that never would have formed. Samira, you know. You were there on the Denynso compound and then again in the Mikana kingdom and the human settlement. You saw what happened between Pyra and the Mikana men. He didn’t know anything about them and made assumptions that made him dangerous. I understand that the way that Frederick was acting seems strange and that all of us might be more prone to being suspicious and questioning anyone new who we encounter. But you don’t know what he’s gone through or what he’s experienced that might have made him act that way. Each of us has our own struggles in our past and our own challenges that we have to try to deal with every day. I’m sure that every one of us would seem strange in some way to someone else if they encountered us in certain situations. I know what it’s like to be on a ship that is hijacked. What I went through when I was on my way to Uoria was nothing short of horrific and there are times when I can still feel it affecting me. I know that I’m safe. I know that Gyyx will take care of me always, even when he’s not here on this ship with me, I still know that I’m safe because he will do anything that he can to guard me and prevent anything like that from ever happening to me again. Despite that, though, there are still moments when I can feel that same fear that I did when I was on that ship. I can still remember what it was like when I was in the prison before Elianna rescued me. Those are things that are never going to leave me and that I know will impact how I look at the world for the rest of my life.”
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