by Mark Tufo
We were on the cusp of something. What specifically…I didn’t know. Asuras could have one of his men hit a button and tell the crew they were under attack and we would be overpowered in a matter of minutes; we didn’t have the manpower to sustain a fight. Paul would be forced to lock them out of the controls, effectively giving Asuras a floating brick, then the two ships would show and take Paul out of the equation completely. It would then be open season on Earth as the Stryvers and Progs once again fought over a parcel of land to call their own. By being so heavy handed I might have just doomed us all. I blamed Paul for this precarious position. Who the fuck in their right mind puts me in a position of diplomacy? It’s like asking a gorilla hopped up on sugar to do brain surgery. In theory, he has all the tools to do it, just not the know how to pull it off.
“How many of your people are on board?” Asuras asked rhetorically. He already knew. “Two hundred and ninety-six. Want to know how many soldiers I have on board?”
“Sure, if it makes you feel better.”
“Nearly a hundred and fifty thousand.”
“That a lot more than two hundred and ninety-six?” I asked.
BT and Dee both shook their heads. At least Tracy didn’t have a smart ass comment for me. However, she did brace herself. The next few seconds were going to be touch and go.
“You yourself have professed to being a foot soldier, so you have knowledge of tactics and odds. Yet you stand there arrogantly assured of your victory should I choose to defy you. Now the question is why? Why are you so confident?”
Nobody said anything for long seconds. I didn’t want this to drag on for too long or he could eventually circle around to discovering the why.
“I’ll give it to you in a nutshell, Commander. There are twenty of your officers on this bridge right now, but none of them are combat soldiers. Then there are twenty-five of us, including your champion, Drababan, and myself, the Earth Champion; every one of us has had significant battle experience. We are armed, ready, able and willing to do whatever it takes to win. How long do you think it would take for us to wrest control of this bridge? Don’t answer that—I actually know. It’d be less than a minute, given what we know about Progs when the bullets start flying. A few of you would die; it’s just the nature of a hostile take-over. The rest we’d hold captive. Wouldn’t be overly messy. Then before any of those thousands of troops could get through the doors, which are specifically designed to keep a hostile force out, I would figure out a way to completely disable this ship, making it nothing more than a tomb.”
“You would do no such thing,” Asuras said.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You just pointed out your superior numbers. I would be killing Progs and mutes at a rate of nearly one thousand for every one of us. I’d be a damn national treasure when it was through. There would be a statue of me in every city.”
“Don’t doubt his resolve to go completely off the rails,” BT said.
“Amen,” Tracy echoed.
“What the Humans are saying, Commander, is that the colonel is not above doing all that he can to ensure a victory even if there is minimal logic in his approach to getting it done.”
“Wow, not sure if that was a compliment or not,” I said.
“Merely a statement of fact,” Drababan intoned.
“Appreciate the clarification.”
He nodded.
Asuras looked to the rifle, then to my eyes before communicating to his helmsman in their native tongue. Dee didn’t look alarmed but I still wasn’t a fan of communication going on around me that I could not translate.
“He is telling the navigator to move into the position you requested though he is using too many words to do so. If it is a code of some kind, I have not yet deciphered it.” Drababan said as Asuras finished up.
“How is your place among the Humans, Drababan? Do you find yourself to be an outsider?” Asuras asked.
“I am more at peace with them than I ever was with the Progerians, Asuras. I am allowed to live my life as I see fit; I have been accepted into and am cared for deeply by those around me. I have a godson that I would do anything for, including dying for his home world. Is that what you mean, Asuras? Or should I beg to be back under the oppressive Progerian regime where I would be forced to, once again, fight and kill all those unfortunate enough to have been placed in front of me? Because if that is what you are advocating, let me know. For I might just as well start with you.”
“How dare you!” This from the sub-commander.
I raised my rifle up, his forehead perfectly silhouetted in my sights.
“Sit,” Asuras told his man. He could sense that the situation was rapidly descending into an unrecoverable place. Once a death occurred, our relationship, such as it was, would be forever altered.
“What’s going on?” Paul had come on to the screen, he was talking about our movement. He would have had to be blind, in a dark room, wearing a bandana over his eyes to not see something was going on here as well. “Mike?”
“We’re in the midst of a mild disagreement. I’m thinking we should have a nice Pinot Grigio with dinner and the commander here thinks a blush rosé pairs better,” I said.
Paul looked to me. I nodded curtly.
“May I ask the reason why your ship is moving?” he asked.
“We were hoping for a better view out the port windows to go with our spread,” I told him.
“The colonel wishes to use us as shield for the Guardian should incoming fire come from the Dreadnaught and the other cruiser, Kiltari. He is not as confident as I that they will listen and ultimately feel that war is not necessary between us.”
“The commander does not understand quite how dire our situation is and that I will not leave something so important with so many unknown quantifiers.”
“Whatever. Get your seating arrangements and your drink list figured out now. That first ship will be arriving shortly,” Paul said.
I let my rifle down, though I did not place it against my back again. “Captain Firth, I would like you to relieve Sub-Specialist Greikin.”
The Prog officer looked to Asuras, he did not move until he got a response from his commander.
“Far wall, please,” I told him. Again he waited for a command. “Captain Firth, reprogram the bridge blast doors not to open unless you direct them to do so. New pass-codes with a circuitry self-destruct if there is any attempt to override.”
“We could starve to death if something happens to those doors,” Asuras said.
I swear, it slipped right past whatever filter I might have; when a perfect setup comes... “Don’t worry, we won’t. Alligator tastes a lot like chicken.” Drababan looked over to me. “Not you buddy, you’re too tough and probably overly salty.” I hoped I’d appeased Dee; Asuras looked as offended as an alligator possibly could.
“It’s done,” Firth informed me.
“Well, it looks like we’re going to settle in for the long haul together. I really wished I had showered last week; probably going to get pretty ripe in here.”
Drababan, Tracy, BT, and I went to a far corner to make sure we were all on the same page.
“Is it necessary that he is present?” Drababan asked of BT.
“Aw, what’s a matter buddy? You a little jealous of my new friend?”
“I am not jealous, Michael Talbot. I feel sorry for any poor man that has cast his lot in with you. I was offering him a way out.”
“He stays.”
“Don’t I get a say?” BT asked. “If he thinks I should go, maybe he knows something I don’t.”
“Of that I am sure,” Dee replied. “Michael, there is a level of trust that must be established.”
“Are you asking if we can trust him?” I asked.
“Him’s right here,” BT said.
“I trust him a hell of a lot more than Paul,” I said.
“Yeah, that’s not saying much,” Tracy interjected. “Paul’s on par with Asuras, as far as I’m concerned.”
> “Gee thanks, Mike,” BT answered.
“He’s fine Dee. There are very few people I trust with my life, and the vast majority are here with me now.” I said.
“That does not clearly specify whether you believe this Human is among those that you would trust with your life,” Dee said.
I sighed, BT looked like he was going to launch at Drababan.
“What the fuck is frog-man’s problem?” BT asked.
“Frog? Frog?! I am not an amphibian!” Dee’s voice thundered.
I got a good indication of just how big BT was; they weren’t exactly face to face, but it was close, with Dee’s snout hanging down a bit and BT’s neck curved back they were just about in each other’s face. Next, would come the chest thumping.
“This can’t be happening right now. Can it?” I asked my wife. “They’re fighting over whether one of them is related to a fucking frog.”
“You’re the commanding officer—maybe you should start commanding.”
“You want me to get in the middle of that? They could kill me by accident and then not even realize they’d done it.”
“Colonel!” Tracy shouted. That actually got Dee and BT to stop their bickering.
I cleared my throat. “Ahem. Uh, yeah.”
“Holy shit, how do you outrank me? Stop that shit you two. BT is completely trustworthy and Drababan’s evolutionary chain can be traced back to reptiles, not amphibians. Can we move past this now?”
“Yeah sure, I can. Not sure about the swamp man, though,” BT said.
Drababan growled. “When we have an opportunity we are going to meet in the ring.”
“I look forward to it,” BT grinned.
“Fuck me. I’d pay for that. Screw it, I might set up a pay per view event. I could retire.”
“The fate of Earth is literally in our hands right now and you three are talking about a wrestling match.”
“We’ll get back to that, but yeah, she’s right. Part of me wants to trust Asuras; that would make this so much easier. I feel like we’re just getting the same deal we are with the Stryvers. We’re all friends until the other enemy is gone, then business as usual. I am starting to think we should get them off of the bridge and into holding cells. Aside from that seeming, err, hostile, can any of you give me a valid reason why I shouldn’t?”
“Major Gennaro?” Tracy asked.
“Yes, ma’am?” the man turned.
“How is the training going on the weapons system?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I feel like a monkey trying to learn calculus.”
“Thank you, Major.” Tracy turned to me.
“Shit.”
“If the Stryver’s come now, I have no doubt Major Gennaro would do his best, but right now he would fail miserably and I don’t believe he’s the only one in that boat. The general didn’t do us many favors with the personnel he sent. In all fairness, there is not a plethora of starship trained recruits to begin with, but the ones he sent us from the Guardian are mostly third shift—meaning they don’t have to do much more than monitor the equipment. This is up to you, Michael. You have got to get Asuras to the point where we all trust each other, or we’re sunk.”
“How the hell am I supposed to do that, Tracy? I don’t trust him…or maybe it’s not so much him as his ability to make happen what he says he can. We might be better off having Gennaro fumble around trying, instead of a sub-commander thwarting or even actively going against us.” Of course, we got to watch as at that exact moment Gennaro dropped his bottle of water and it spilled across the floor.
“You sure about that?” Tracy asked.
“Fuck.” It came out in a sigh. “Asuras, it has been brought to my attention that we are going to have to trust each other. And I’m going to begin by telling you everything.”
“Everything?” Tracy had caught up to me as I crossed the bridge.
“I have a great desire to use you like I’m thinking you want to use us. I want to kill the Stryvers, obviously, then—well, I wouldn’t lose one goddamned second of sleep if you were next. I don’t trust you or your kind as far as I can throw you, which in terms you might understand, means not at all. Unfortunately, the people I have here that are trying to learn your systems just aren’t there yet, which means for now, I need you.” I looked over to Gennaro who was on his hands and knees cleaning up his mess.
Asuras was watching me intently; there were things he wanted to say that he kept to himself.
“You want me to continue.”
“Yes,” from him.
“Well, here we come to the cogent point. No matter how many times you tell me it’s all good, I honestly don’t think you can deliver on the words you’ve given me; it is too big a leap to make from the field. I think the moment you utter your orders to those other ship commanders you lose all credibility and we’re fucked. Me, and the general, thought that as well. That’s the reason this ship is booby trapped.”
“Mike—Colonel!” Tracy shouted.
I held up my hand. “I am the commanding officer here. You thought that I should forge solid paths of trust through the shifting slag we have been afforded, and that is exactly what I am doing. This is the commander of a battleship. He knows something is going on; how could he not? He will hold back his complete compliance as long as he has the slightest misgiving.”
“You can’t!” Tracy pulled out her sidearm and cocked back the hammer; it was less than three inches from my skull. “This is bigger than you, Colonel; bigger than us.”
“Is she not your mate?” Asuras asked.
I nodded very slowly.
“Yet she would end your life over the words you wish to speak?” Asuras asked.
“It would appear that way.” I had my hands midway up. “Major, hon, put the weapon away.”
“You are jeopardizing everything here. I will not allow it. We have our, my son to think of.”
“Put the gun down!” Drababan ordered. He was fast approaching.
“You take a step closer and I’ll blow what little amount of brains he has all over the bulkhead.”
Drababan stopped short.
I would have thought with how hyper-aware I was, that the next few things that happened would have appeared to move in slow motion; that was not the case. I could barely keep up with them. There was a whoosh like maybe the sound of a bird taking flight from a tree; Tracy let out an oomph. I turned in time to see her eyes roll up into the back of her head—maybe I saw a blue arc of electricity—or I imagined it, but there was the definite smell of burning ozone, then I grabbed her pistol holding hand and supported her as she fell to the floor. Sure, she’d been threatening my life, but I was about to go into berserker mode if she was injured.
“Electrical charge. She will be fine. Sore perhaps for a few days,” Drababan said.
“How?” I asked from the floor.
Dee held up an alien version of a taser, although this one looked like it could take down a charging rhino.
“She’s going to be alright?” I asked again, getting nut-punched by an elephant looked preferable to getting stunned by that thing.
“She had to be stopped. Unfortunately, Colonel, you are the key if we are to create a lasting peace between our worlds.”
“You always make me feel so good inside,” I told him.
“Drababan is right. What we have begun, Colonel, may yet be salvaged. The fates of both our races depend on what happens here. I have been given an opportunity to end the suffering of my people. We are facing extinction through a war that until now had no end in sight; though our rulers have refused to acknowledge the full cost of this unending conflict. It has fundamentally changed who we are as a species, how we treat our closest relatives.” He turned to Drababan. “We were a great civilization once. I wish for us to return to that; I am not alone in this.”
“You knew about the virus installed in your software.” I said.
“Already eradicated,” Asuras told me.
“Then
you can bypass the doors?”
Asuras nodded to the door and it opened.
“Huh. I guess we don’t have much to talk about then.”
“You have said enough,” Asuras said. “By insisting on complete honesty, even faced with execution by your own mate, you are proof that our species can coexist, that we can thrive, that we can form strong bonds; that we can rebuild. This is the dawn of a new age.”
“I am one man, Commander. There are many more like my general that want nothing more than to kill all of you, take your technology, and destroy everything that is not Human.”
“Yes. That is where we stand, you and I. You will convince him; I will persuade my people. We shall hold to the accord we made together.”
“Can I get some medical attention for my wife?”
“I’ll stay with her,” BT said as a crewman placed her on an oversized gurney; making her look like a child, which didn’t help matters.
“Thank you,” I told him.
“I’ll see if they have a gurney for you.”
“I’m okay,” I told him quizzically.
“Naw—I mean to help you wheel those balls around.”
I laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.
“Can we keep this dialog between us for now?” I asked. “If the general finds out we’ve had this conversation, he’s bound to finish off what my wife wanted to; and with way fewer misgivings.”
“Would she have...?” Asuras seemed genuinely curious.
“That female Human has a single-minded determination not rivaled by many. If she truly thought Michael was hurting Earth’s chances at survival, I believe she would have done it. In fact, if she’d had a non-lethal weapon to hand, it would be the colonel laying on that gurney now,” Dee replied.
