The Chance Encounter: The Linda Eccles Series - Book One

by Robert Woodard

  “Yes, Commander,” the Specialist responded. After a short delay, he said, “The Captain said to wait here until she gives further orders.”

  Bill sat in the command chair and waited patiently. He knew that she would send a message to Rapatine giving them the Privateer’s current situation, updating them on what occurred, and notifying them she was entering warp for the final leg home. Since the Privateer had unlimited permission to pop into Rapatine space without requiring confirmation, he doubted the Captain would await a reply.

  “Bridge, this is the Captain.” Linda was using the comm system without going through the comm specialist now.

  “Yes, Captain,” Bill responded.

  “Please have my message transmitted, and then get my ship moving again. Let’s go home, Commander.”

  “Right away, Captain,” Bill said. He noticed that Linda sounded wiped out, even over the speakers where her voice rained down at him. He wondered if she had taken up the Corpsman offer of the shot after all.

  When the tone indicating the comm connection dropped, Bill nodded to the Comm Specialist, who was looking at him in anticipation of orders to transmit the message. Bill would have loved to have known what was in the message Linda sent, but it was not his place to go snooping into her affairs. If she wanted him to know, she would tell him.

  He knew that once the message was received at Rapatine, it would provide the port commissioner with a projection of when the privateer would drop out of warp. They would clear the entry lanes, using a good margin for error, so the Privateer wouldn’t suffer any delays or risk coming into the shipping lanes before receiving direct entry clearance.

  “I found it!”

  Bill looked down at the lower level where one of the tech specialists had been trying to fix the nav controls for hours now. She held up what looked like a burnt glass vile and waved it around like it was a surprise birthday gift.

  “Good job. Now replace it, so we can get nav control on the bridge again,” Bill ordered.

  “Yes, Commander.”

  Bill found he could not hide his smile when she came off her knees with youthful energy and headed off the bridge for what he suspected was to obtain a replacement for the damaged part. He could envision Ein giving her the evil eye as he studied the damage part before giving her its replacement.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Jeftrick stood before the steps to the council building collecting his thoughts. After receiving a response from the Council to return immediately with the Slayer, he had left the other ships behind to make their own way back to Kracks. Having docked the ship and returned to the planet’s surface, he now stared at the very building where the Council would hand him his fate.

  Taking the steps and entering the coolness of the interior, Jeftrick continued forward to the next set of steps. As he took them to the second level, he could already hear the muffled shouts of the Masterlords arguing with each other. Jeftrick wondered how the Council ever came to a decision on anything with such nonsense.

  As he neared the top step, the council aide poked his head out of the chamber entrance, apparently having heard him approaching. When Jeftrick reached the landing and continued forward, he hesitated outside the arched opening, wondering if he should wait to be directed inside.

  When the yelling suddenly stopped, Jeftrick suspected the aide had informed them that he was there. Taking a couple deep breaths for courage, he continued into the chamber. It took all his effort to keep his tongue in check, and his eyes from roaming to each of the Masterlords in an attempt to gauge their mood.

  The chamber was so quiet that the only sound came from the clicking of his claws on the rock floor. As he approached the curved table, he could feel the eyes of every Masterlord upon him. Jeftrick took notice that no chair had been provided for him. He was forced to stand before the Council leader with the other Masterlords nearly surrounding him. Finally coming to a halt, he waited for the Council Leader to address him.

  “Overlord Jeftrick, you have been called before this Council to discuss the details of your report, and the information provided by the ship’s data capture,” Masterlord Quiver said. His deep, booming voice echoed in the relative emptiness of the oversized chamber.

  “I hope I can answer your questions to your satisfaction, Masterlord,” Jeftrick responded. He was unsure of what else to say.

  “In your communication with Overlord Sinska, did he not warn you of the ineffectiveness of the energy weapon on the prey ship?” Quiver asked.

  Jeftrick could hear the constant slapping of tongues flashing out and back in again with each Masterlord excitingly anticipating his answer. He nodded, and said, “That is true, Masterlord.”

  “Then why did you not listen to him?” Masterlord Triff shouted.

  With Triff on his right, Jeftrick rotated his protruding eye to focus on him. He kept his body pointed at the Council Leader, and his other eye looking forward. This allowed him to continue to recognize Quiver as the real leader of the group, while also acknowledging Triff’s question.

  “I took Overlord Sinska’s account into consideration when I approached the Prey Ship. I felt that while the Tail Whip’s fire was ineffective, it was only one ship firing one cannon. I was able to bring the combined firepower of three ships with multiple cannons onto that same shielding. By focusing my firepower on targeted regions of the ship, I was hoping to punch holes through the shielding that could then be exploited.”

  “But it did not work, did it, Overlord?” Triff asked, cutting Jeftrick off with his typical harsh, accusatory voice.

  This time Jeftrick did turn to face Triff. The advantage he held in this argument with Triff was that the Masterlord never served on a ship and had never even been in space. While he could argue tactics, he did not have Jeftrick’s experience.

  “No, Masterlord, it did not.”

  “Then why did you not use your rockets right from the start?” Triff pressed.

  Triff leaned back in his chair while dipping his head slightly in an obvious show of superiority. Jeftrick was not intimidated. While the Masterlord may be wise in his own right, he lacked wisdom when it came to commanding ships. Triff had failed to think through his accusation. Jeftrick was now going to educate him.

  “The directive from this very Council was to disable and bring this prey ship back. To do that required enough skill to disable the ship without destroying it—a lesson we all learned from Overlord Sinska and the first object. The Tail Whip does not carry rockets, so Overlord Sinska had no idea how their shields would react against them, nor did I. How many rockets should I have fired, Masterlord? One, two, perhaps all of them? I could have very easily destroyed that ship by taking too aggressive an approach in dealing with them. On the other claw, if I had fired too few rockets, the prey ship would be capable of firing back, effectively taking out my lead ships in the same manner as they did when I led with energy bursts. Considering what I knew at the time, I felt my approach was based on sound logic.”

  In a show of indifference to Triff, Jeftrick turned to face the Council Leader again. He kept an eye rotated toward Triff and noticed how the Masterlord was flicking his tongue in and out rapidly in agitation.

  “I believe that Jeftrick has made a good point,” Masterlord Klickest said. “He took a cautious approach with this prey, and as such, he brought back valuable information. While destroying the Prey Ship would have been preferable over letting it leave the system, it was not for a lack of effort that the ship made it out of the Remp system.”

  Jeftrick rotated his left eye toward Klickest, while bringing his right eye away from Triff and onto Quiver. Jeftrick found Klickest’s response comforting. It seemed like the Masterlord understood what really happened at Remp and having his support went a long way. He was happy to have it.

  “While both Klickest and Triff make good points, I believe the larger question this Council will be faced with is what to do about it,” Quiver said. “Overlord, do you have information you would like to
share with this Council that would highlight or add to the information already provided in your report, and the data captures?”

  “Yes, Masterlord,” Jeftrick answered, spinning both eyes to look forward. “I believe that this prey ship is not a prey at all, but another predator roaming in our territory. The commander of that ship showed a level of skill that went far beyond some cornered prey. Everything I witnessed out there tells me that we were two males fighting for dominance, not a predator trying to take down an equally large prey. They were quick to react, dangerously accurate in their strikes, and cunningly skilled in their ability to evade.

  “What bothers me the most, Masterlords, is their ability to learn and adapt. It did not take that commander long to determine how to defeat the clever use of the mines by Overlord Sinska. Nor did it take him long to figure out how to defeat the heat-seeking capability of our rockets. When I reviewed the Claw Plunge’s data capture, the maneuver the prey ship made to evade his rocket was nothing less than spectacular. This is a dangerous predator, Masterlord, and I fear we have not seen the last of them.”

  Jeftrick became quiet, and for a long time the Council Members failed to speak. His words had apparently hit home with the Masterlords, and Jeftrick hoped they took them to heart. How this ship so easily evaded his fleet seemed like nothing compared to what could happen if more of them returned seeking revenge. The silence that followed told him the Masterlords were coming to the same conclusion.

  “Overlord Jeftrick, I want to thank you for your insights. You have given this Council much to contemplate. You may go,” Quiver said.

  Jeftrick turned and gladly left the chamber. Behind him, he could hear the arguments starting up again before he even reached the steps.

  ◆◆◆

  “Enter!” Linda said, loudly, in response to the solid knock on her door.

  The door opened and Bill stepped into her cabin. Seeing him jogged her memory that she had asked him to come see her once the Privateer started the final leg for Rapatine. Linda suspected that Bill must have been recently relieved by Rebecca from bridge duties. Having elevated Rebecca to temporary bridge officer helped to shift some of the load off Bill. The thought became an unwanted reminder of Sharon’s death, which she quickly pushed back out of her thoughts.

  “How is Rebecca coming along?” Linda asked while also pointing for him to take a seat.

  “She’s learning,” Bill answered while pulling a chair away from the front of the desk and plopping into it. “She’ll do okay. You were right to elevate her to a bridge officer, even if only temporarily.”

  “You had doubts?” Linda said teasingly, raising her eyebrows as if he had questioned her decision.

  “Not at all,” Bill quickly replied with a smile.

  Turning serious, Linda dropped her hands into her lap. Leaning back, she studied Bill. His eyes seemed slightly sad, and she suspected that firing on those ships had taken a heavy toll.

  “I understand that you had a heart-to-heart conversation with Andrea.”

  Bill looked at her, displaying a little surprise that she knew of it. “Yes, I did, but I’m not sure how it came to your attention.”

  “You’ll learn that not much goes on within a ship that a captain is not aware. So, what did you tell her?”

  “I told her that I found her lack of respect toward a senior officer disturbing. I also told her that no captain would ever put up with an officer who refuses to keep senior officers informed of what is happening at any given time; especially in crisis mode.”

  Linda could imagine that Andrea must have felt like she was in the hot seat with Bill. Having someone of Bill’s caliber handling crew discipline freed Linda up from such things. Her instinct that he would make a strong XO was ringing true.

  “How did Andrea respond to that?”

  “I think she understood the point. She agreed never to let her emotions control her actions in the future. I told her that was all I could ask of her.”

  “Bill, since we are on the subject of openness, I have something I would like to discuss with you. I owe you a huge apology. I knew what was going on between you and Sharon, and I ignored it. She wasn’t fooling anyone by offloading her duties onto you, but I let it continue because I was selfish. I wanted Sharon off my ship, and I wanted you to take over as the XO on our next mission. She was force training you without even realizing it, and I let it go on because I wanted you to get that experience. It was a rotten thing to do to you, but I had my reasons.”

  “I suspected you knew,” Bill said while nodding his understanding and tilting his head slightly to the right. “Like you said, there is not much that happens on a ship that a captain is not already aware.”

  “Even so, it was a horrible thing to put you through. Since it’s behind us now, I hope you won’t let what happened on this mission deter you from continuing on with the Privateer.”

  Bill glanced up at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Linda. His lips pushed out, and he shook his head slowly. Shrugging his shoulders, which stopped the shaking of his head, he said, “I don’t have any other plans.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Linda said, sincerely. A sadness suddenly overtook her. “When I look back at how I treated Sharon, I am ashamed of myself. I was so focused on getting her off my ship that I failed in my duty to train her properly. I saw a spark of potential in her when she was with me on the bridge while we battled those alien ships. If I had put in the effort to point out and have her work on her faults…,” Linda shrugged, “Who knows. She may have made a great officer. I now wonder if her lack of skills came more from lazy officers who failed to work with her more than her own limitations. I never gave her a chance.”

  Bill opened his mouth a couple of times, but he seemed lost in how to reply. Linda wasn’t really looking for him to respond. She had to get that off her chest, and he made a great sounding board. It felt good to come out and admit her failure. She decided to change the subject before her emotions took over.

  “Now the other thing I want to discuss is my own future as Captain. That last message I sent out also contained a formal protest to the Maritime Review Board expressing my deep concern with the orders I was provided by the company. It is a formal protest of those very orders, the inherit risk placed on ship and crew, and the direct violation of Maritime Law by placing a civilian ship into an uncharted section of space.”

  Bill shifted in his chair, and Linda could see that he had become uncomfortable. Sitting almost sideways to her now, he turned his head her way, and said, “The UMU execs are not going to be very happy with you over that one.”

  Linda laughed, and it seemed like the first time she had since receiving orders to find the probe. The sudden stinging reminded her of her sore chin. Despite the pain, she found it felt good to laugh again. Regaining control, she nodded, and replied, “To say the least. I suspect that they are going to be downright angry with me. The Maritime Review Board will have to convene a hearing to address the concerns. I am sure the Shipping Guild is going to get in on the act by protesting the lack of oversight private companies are afforded in the activities of ships allowed to roam outside their control.”

  “You know that UMU is going to bring in all their top guns to head this off before it gets too far?”

  “They will, and I’m sure that when the smoke clears, I will be looking for another job. This entire ordeal has soured me to the company, worse than I already was, and now I have to live with the deaths of all those creatures, along with Sharon. Even if I survive the upcoming circus, I’m not sure I’ll stay on anyway.”

  Bill frowned slightly, and then said, “You know that the UMU board members will try to blackball you over this. You’ll be giving them a black eye, and they’ll want revenge.”

  Linda shrugged, and said, “Who cares. I’ve been with the company for over twenty-six years, and even UMU will be hard pressed to take away my Maritime benefits. I have enough credits built up to get me to retirement, and from there
I draw my captain’s pension. If I never worked again, it would not create any hardship for me. I would prefer to work, and losing the Privateer will hurt, but other options will present themselves. The shortage of qualified bridge officers works in my favor, so I suspect that even UMU will have a hard time keeping me grounded.”

  They both went quiet. Linda noticed how Bill’s eyes looked sad, and his face crinkled into a drooping frown. Something in him drew hard on his soul. She waited patiently for him to open up.

  “We will never forget all those we killed, will we?” Bill finally said. Sadness poured out through his words and tone.

  “No, and we would not be human if we did. Even though you pulled the trigger, I gave you the gun and pointed at who to target. We may never know how many creatures we killed in that system, but we can live with knowing that had we not killed them, they surely would have killed us. You and I will retain the scars for having kept the rest of the crew on this ship safe.”

  “Except for Sharon,” Bill said.

  The comment stung Linda. Cut short, Linda felt a deepening sadness building within her. While she knew that Bill was only making a comment, the reminder dug into her very soul. Like a cancerous cell, it slowly spread into a sorrow that rivaled what Bill must have been feeling.

  Shaking her head, Linda said, “Sharon’s death is a tragedy that will stay with me until the day I die. I treated her like crap, I schemed to get her off my ship, and then I killed her with an order that took her off the bridge. Nothing will ever reverse that or bring Sharon back. It’s a death for which I can never forgive myself.” Tears came to her eyes, and she let them flow.

  Bill, bless his heart, turned away to look around her cabin. His eyes seemed to focus on an old picture of the Privateer when it still served as a destroyer in the military. Reaching forward, Linda pulled a tissue from the box that sat in a cubby hole on her desk. She wiped her eyes and nose before tossing it into the trashcan.