by Ken Lozito
Mills shook his head. “I was about to.”
Connor glanced at Mallory. “The only thing he told me was to ferry a team of engineers to a dig site past the frontier boundary. Are you in on this too?”
Mallory looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“When we landed, Sean kept bringing up Lenora and some find at her new dig site. I assumed—” Connor stopped speaking, suddenly feeling foolish.
“As interesting as you think your personal life is to the rest of us, I can assure you it has no bearing on this request,” Mallory said.
Connor looked away and shook his head. Sometimes he walked right into trouble. “Alright, I’m done being an idiot. What’s so special about this site?”
“Oh, you mean beyond Dr. Bishop being there? I so wish you guys had stuck together,” Mills said, his voice going high.
Reisman snorted, unable to keep it in anymore.
“Look, I have a shuttle waiting for me. Seriously, what’s this all about?” Connor asked.
“Lenora may have found another city,” Mallory said.
Connor frowned. The last time Lenora had found the ruins of a city, they’d set off some kind of auto-protect protocol that signaled the ryklars to attack them. The ryklars had demonstrated intelligence beyond that of normal predators and many people had died.
“She said this city appears to be larger than what they found seven years ago, but the real find that applies directly to you is an intact power station in the ruins. Lenora knows better than to tinker with what she found. Her team took some preliminary readings, and they look quite promising,” Mallory said.
“I still don’t see where I figure into all of this,” Connor said.
“Oh, it’s not you personally; it’s just the combat shuttle you’re flying around in. It’s much faster than our troop transport vehicles. You can drop the engineering team off at the site in half the time it would take one of my carriers,” Mills said.
“Well, that’s good for you. What’s in it for me?” Connor asked.
“How about some gratitude?” Mills said.
“Now who’s a pain in the ass?” Connor said.
“Connor,” Mallory said. “I want you to take a quick look before you head off to Titan Space Station. Our engineers learned quite a bit from the alloy they found at the last ruined city. They’ve perfected it since then and we’ve obviously used it in the construction of Sierra. What if we find something similar in terms of the power station? New fuel for our reactors that has a higher energy output. Can you think of nowhere that would be useful?”
Connor drew in a breath and nodded. “I get it. Definitely worth a look.”
“I’m glad you agree,” Mallory said.
“I guess I’m the pain in the ass now,” Connor said.
“What’s this about you stealing the governor’s car?” Mallory asked.
Connor’s eyes widened. “I didn’t steal his car. I had the driver give us a ride here.”
Mills palmed his face and shook his head.
“He’d already denied my request for Titan for a year,” Connor said.
Mallory’s PDA chimed an incoming message. He glanced at it and the edges of his lips pulled upward.
“What is it?” Connor asked.
“Kallie’s with the doctor. I’m going to be a father again,” Mallory said with a wide grin.
Connor shot out of the chair and shook Franklin’s hand, offering congratulations.
“I guess Lars will be an older brother. Where is Lars stationed these days?” Connor asked.
“He’s heading up the remote Field Ops centers in the other settlement. He’s due to be a father soon, too,” Mallory said.
Connor couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Lars Mallory, who was nearly twenty-five years old by now.
“Doing your part for procreation, I see. You’re making the rest of us look bad,” Mills said.
There was a general colony campaign promoting the importance of having children and how crucial it was to the colony’s survival beyond a few generations. Connor felt something cold in the pit of his stomach. He’d left a son behind on Earth. He’s always intended to reconnect with his son, but never had the chance.
“I’m sure all three of you will do your part,” Mallory said while pointedly looking at each of them.
A wave of fear stole across Reisman’s features.
“I’m a bit old—” Mills began.
“Don’t talk to me about age. I’m over a hundred years old. Prolong treatments more than double a person’s lifespan. There’s no excuse for any of you not to start families of your own,” Mallory said.
Mills cleared his throat. “About that ride for the engineering team.”
“Right, just send them to the shuttle and we’ll get them there,” Connor said.
Mallory grinned. “You guys are a pair, I tell you.”
“I’m happy for you. I really am. But we all know something’s coming and the buoys are not just going offline because they’re at the end of their lifecycle,” Connor said.
Suddenly, the warmth felt like it was being sucked out of the room and the smile fled from Mallory’s face.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Mallory said and left.
Connor made as if to leave but Mills asked him to stay a moment longer. Reisman, sensing the dismissal, left to wait for Connor outside.
“Sometimes you really don’t know when to keep that mouth of yours shut. We’re all aware of the danger, and we don’t need you to keep shoving it in our faces,” Mills said.
Connor felt a pang of guilt warm his cheeks, but his iron will choked the life out of it. “I know, but we can’t afford to get distracted.”
“Distracted! The man just found out he was going to be a father again and you couldn’t let him enjoy it for five minutes without bringing up that damn crap from Earth.”
Mills was right. Connor was being a jerk.
Mills held his hand in front of his chest. “I know you’re not doing it to be malicious or cruel, but even you’ve got to remember that the men and women serving under you have their own personal reasons to fight. Let people like Mallory have his few moments of happiness, even if you won’t allow it for yourself.”
Connor chewed on the inside of his lip. “You’re right. I’ll go apologize.”
Mills frowned. “Honestly, the best thing you can do right now is just go. Franklin is going to be with Kallie today. In layman’s terms, he’s taking the day off,” Mills said and leaned toward him. “Remember what those were? Now get out of here. And thank you for taking the engineering team.”
Connor left Mills’ office grim-faced and feeling more foolish than ever. He walked in silence for a few minutes, then glanced at Reisman. “Do you think I drive you guys too hard?”
Reisman’s eyes widened in shock and then he laughed almost uncontrollably.
Connor shook his head and quickened his pace. “Forget I asked.”
Chapter Five
A short while later, Connor was back at the CDF airfield. He sent a message to Mallory, congratulating him on becoming a father again and apologizing for being such a killjoy. The message would be waiting for Mallory whenever he checked his inbox. After he’d sent it, he pushed all thoughts of Mallory’s blossoming family out of his mind.
They entered the CDF hangar, and Connor saw Sean supervising the loading of equipment onto the combat shuttle. Seven passengers were waiting to board, one of whom he immediately recognized.
“Coming out of retirement, Bones?” Connor asked.
A ripcord-thin man with black hair turned around and saluted Connor.
“I’m still with Search and Rescue, sir. Let me introduce you to the team,” Joe Ramirez said and presented the team of engineers that was traveling to the archaeological dig site. The engineers seemed friendly enough, but they were quite reserved with him, as if they weren’t sure how to act around Connor.
“Those of us with engineering backgrounds also consult on p
rojects,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez had been part of the alpha class to go through Connor’s first Search and Rescue training program. Some of the graduates of that first class had stayed in Field Ops, while others, like Sean Quinn, joined the Colonial Defense Force as soon as it was ratified.
Connor looked at Sean. “How much longer until we can be under way?”
“This is the last of it, so just a few more minutes, General,” Sean said.
The engineering team walked up the loading ramp and checked their equipment containers.
Connor saw Ramirez checking the seats and Connor grinned. “I won’t be dumping you out mid-flight this time.”
An engineer named Dave Rogers became pale and his gaze darted to Ramirez. “Please tell me that was a joke.”
Connor kept walking.
“He only does that to the people under his command,” Ramirez said.
“He’s the general of the CDF. Doesn’t that mean you’re still under his command?” Rogers asked.
“That’s right,” Connor called over his shoulder. “Rarely do I dump people out of my ships twice, but in Ramirez’s case I might make an exception.”
Never one for riding as a passenger when he didn’t have to, he headed up to the cockpit as Ramirez coaxed Rogers back into his seat.
Sean joined him in the cockpit and sat in the copilot’s seat.
“Do they really think I’m going to just toss them off the ship?” Connor asked.
Sean pressed his lips together in thought. “Let’s just say you’ve developed quite a reputation over the years. Go for preflight, sir.”
Connor sat in the pilot’s seat and set about going through the preflight checklist. Lieutenant Frook entered the cockpit and sat in one of the rear seats. Connor engaged the engines and withdrew the landing gear. He eased the combat shuttle out of the hangar and thrust the stick. The main engine’s power output spiked and the shuttle sped forward. He set a heading for the coordinates of the dig site.
Connor opened a comlink to the rear of the shuttle. “Attention, all non-CDF passengers. We’ll reach the dig site beyond the frontier border in a little over an hour. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts securely fastened at all times. In the event of a sudden loss of pressure in the shuttle, I will click the eject button and jettison all of you to safety,” Connor said and brought up a video feed of the passengers. “Unless you’re sitting next to Joe Ramirez. In that case, you might not survive.”
Connor grinned as he watched Dave Rogers check his seat belt and then decide to change seats. He heard Ramirez’s hearty laughter coming from the rear of the shuttle.
Connor glanced at Sean. “What? I’m just lightening the mood.”
“Whose mood would that be?” Sean asked.
Connor opened the comlink again. “Pay no attention to that last bit. This combat shuttle is a Falcon III and survived a two-hundred-year journey through space to get here. She’s been flight tested and approved for flight by top Colonial Defense Engineers. Pilot out,” Connor said but left the comlink open. “There, see, I took it back. Everything’s fine. Oh, did you make sure the power coupling for the mid-tier inertia dampeners was replaced?”
Sean glanced at him, his mouth hanging open. He glanced at the open comlink and smirked. “I submitted the request to the repair technician when we landed. Let me just check their comments . . . hmm, that’s strange.”
“What’s that, Captain?” Connor asked.
They heard Ramirez shouting from the passenger area that they could hear them.
Sean could barely contain himself. “They were replaced, but the diagnostic is showing they’re defective. Sir, we’re going to have to make an emergency landing or anyone sitting in the middle of the shuttle could fly out of their seats . . . Oh no, sir. That’s the master alarm.”
“You’re right. That inertia dampener is throwing out all kinds of errors in the logs. That’s strange. They all have Ramirez’s name on them,” Connor said.
“It makes for a much more interesting ride,” Ramirez shouted.
Connor grinned.
“In all seriousness,” Sean said, “the ship is fine. Relax and enjoy the flight.”
“Aw crap. I’m showing all kinds of cargo failures now,” Connor said. “They could be cut loose at any moment. Do you think that team knows their chief engineer is so incompetent he hardly made it through graduate school? It’s no wonder he was kicked out of Search and Rescue. Wait a minute, is that a coolant leak being reported?” Connor said.
Sean closed the comlink and they all burst out laughing, including Lieutenant Frook, who’d never seen his general act this way.
Connor blew out a breath. “God, that was so much fun. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. Remind me to have Reisman tell you what we did to Colonel Douglass after one of our missions.”
Connor glanced at the video feed from the back of the shuttle and saw that Wil Reisman was fast asleep. Typical. That man could sleep anywhere, any time.
Less than an hour later the nav computer displayed an alert that they were nearing their destination. They’d been flying over a large grassland area for the past fifteen minutes. Connor magnified the view and saw the research base up ahead.
“How does Dr. Bishop even find these places?” Sean asked.
Connor peered at the heads-up display. “She hardly sits still for more than a few minutes, for one. Plus, she’s really good at her job.”
Connor watched as they closed in on the research base, which butted up against a vast dig site.
“Sir, would you like me to land the ship?” Sean asked.
“No, I’ve got it,” Connor said.
There was an area of flattened grassland that looked to be the designated landing area for supply runs. Connor set the combat shuttle down there. He shut down the engines and set the shuttle’s computer systems to standby, then climbed out of his seat and left the cockpit. Connor didn’t get to fly all that often, but when he did, he always experienced a longing to return to the pilot’s seat again. Generals weren’t supposed to fly their own ships, but oh how he missed flying sometimes.
Ramirez grinned when he saw Connor.
“That was quite the show,” Ramirez said.
Connor gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. “All in good fun. It was really good to see you again, Joe.”
Most of the engineering team was much more at ease now that they were on the ground. Dave Rogers gave him a friendly nod.
They lowered the loading ramp and were met by a woman with short brown hair.
“General Gates, I’m Martha Campbell.”
Connor shook her hand and stepped off the loading ramp. His internal heads-up display showed that the temperature was a comfortable seventy degrees with ten percent humidity. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Only the pale rings that surrounded the planet were visible along the southern horizon.
The engineering team began offloading their equipment, and Martha directed them to where they should go. Sean and other members of Connor’s protective detail began securing the area.
“At ease, gentlemen. There are no predators around here except for the ones with guns,” a familiar voice said.
Connor turned around and saw Lenora, and he felt his lips pull upwards into a smile. Lenora’s eyes widened for a moment and she started to smile, but then her eyes narrowed in annoyance. Her long auburn hair hung freely and the soft breeze toyed with the ends.
“It’s good to see you, Sean,” Lenora said, her gaze softening when she looked over at the young man.
Lenora looked back at Connor. “Do you still have Noah way out on the outskirts of the star system at that space station?”
Connor frowned. “Nice to see you too.”
Martha, who’d been standing quietly nearby, gave Lenora a meaningful look.
“I’m sorry,” Lenora said. “Thanks for coming out here. Franklin was insistent that you see what we’ve found.”
Lenora gestured for Connor
to follow her. He noticed that everyone else seemed to give them some space.
“How did you find a city way out here?” Connor asked.
“Survey flights, and I noticed several structures less than half a mile from where we’re standing. Ground-penetrating scans revealed a lot of vast structures under the ground. I assembled a team and we came back out here. We started to survey the area, marking places to dig. That was when we detected the power station,” Lenora said.
“Mallory was pretty impressed with your initial report,” Connor replied.
Lenora frowned. “That’s what I don’t get. Why would the CDF be interested in a thousand-year-old power station?”
“Is that how old it is?”
“Tough to say. There’s some radiation in the area, which can throw off some of our equipment. And before you ask, the radiation is within acceptable levels,” Lenora said, clipping her words as if she were swatting an annoying fly.
“Alright then, why don’t you show me what you’ve found?” Connor said.
“Of course, right this way, General,” Lenora said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Connor stiffened. She walked ahead of him and he supposed it could have been worse, but not by much. The last time they’d spoken to each other they’d ended up doing more shouting than talking. They hadn’t spoken since.
Lenora led them toward a pair of all-terrain vehicles. A large brown ball of fur came from around one of the vehicles and howled. Connor drew his pistol and charged in front of Lenora.
“Don’t shoot!” Lenora shouted and ran in front of him.
The berwolf ran gleefully into Lenora’s outstretched arms. A large pink tongue lolled out of the blocky head with a mouth full of impressive teeth. The berwolf had a muscular body, but judging by the size, this one was a juvenile. Its black claws could still rend through steel, however. The berwolf nuzzled its head into Lenora’s middle and she used both her hands to scratch his thick brown coat.
Lenora glanced up at him. “This is Bull. I found him as a cub.”
Connor holstered his weapon and Lenora gestured for him to squat down.
