Cain also seemed to greatly appreciate their extracurricular wrestling matches. She tried to put her foot down, demanding that he get a bed as the acceleration chair was not built for two. That lasted for four nights before he showed up at her door, the former recreation room, which gave Ensign Ellie the largest quarters on the ship. Jolly, being sentient but not human, tried but failed to understand why Ellie wanted Cain to have access to her quarters at any hour.
Leaper watched Ellie as she worked through her thoughts. He couldn’t understand why she was smiling. It was Leaper’s understanding that when humans separated, they were both supposed to be miserable. His two friends, who had been happy before, seemed even happier now.
Humans.
‘Briz, you’re going to get a second platinum Space Star,’ Leaper told them.
‘Okay. Whatever,’ Briz said as he dug into the Wolfoid’s vocalization device, waving one small Rabbit hand dismissively, before adding, “and you tell them they can’t make me go anywhere!” he said out loud, hostility registering clearly. Leaper yipped as he saw the humor in Briz’s statement. The commander was going to be pleased.
‘Ellie,’ Leaper said in his thought voice, ‘can you help me with the rest of the crew? Imagine how the commander will feel if everyone told him that they were staying, no matter what, and that there’s no other ship they’d rather serve on. I think he needs that. He’s in his quarters right now writing sympathy letters to the families,’ the Wolfoid said sadly.
‘Cain! Get up here, we need to go see the commander,’ Ellie “yelled” over the mindlink.
‘Your timing couldn’t be better. I just finished. Be there in two vibrations of a hydrogen molecule,’ he told her.
She finished her work on the systems alignments, concurring with Briz’s calculations regarding the amount of improvement, and closed her terminal. She was learning more and more every day, from Briz, from Jolly, from other members of the crew. She was comfortable with herself. She thanked Cain for that. She gave him her freedom and he took it, although not as much as she thought, but then he gave it all back to her. She hadn’t realized what she had tried to give up until it was given back to her.
The hatch opened and Cain walked in, disheveled and looking like he’d slept in his SES-issued jumpsuit. She ran to him, punched him in the chest, then continued past. He followed as they headed for the stairwell. Once there, the mood darkened.
“Daksha’s not taking this well,” Ellie said. Cain stopped climbing the stairs.
“We lost eight people, every one of them was somebody he cared about. He takes it personally. And we talked him into going to the planet,” Cain said, his head hung low.
“Yes, we did. No buts. We did, and we have to live with that. Next time, we’ll do better. You’ll make sure of it. There isn’t another person on all of Vii who is more experienced in combat than you. Think about that. Now let’s go see the commander and tell him that we’re staying.”
Cain nodded abruptly, lips still pursed. How many mistakes would the SES overlook? He wanted to stay on the Cygnus-12, but in the dark corners of his mind, he expected them to clean house, kick everyone off the ship, and start fresh.
“Let’s tell him that we believe in him,” Cain clarified.
They finished climbing the two flights of stairs and walked around the long corridor until they arrived at Master Daksha’s quarters. “Jolly, can you let the commander know that he has visitors, please,” Cain said to the closed hatch.
It opened almost immediately. The commander was on the other side of the sparsely furnished room. The furniture they could see was mostly for visitors. Once inside, they found that a quarter of the room was covered in sand, with extra lights shining on it to make it hot. Master Daksha floated serenely over this area, looking at a large monitor beyond the heat of the Tortoid’s desertscape.
“Good afternoon, Commander,” they said in unison. Daksha looked up from his work and greeted them. He blinked slowly as he hovered higher, away from the comforting warmth of the heated sand.
“How can I help my two favorite ensigns?” he asked gently.
“I expect you tell that to all the ensigns,” Cain quipped. “The only thing you can help us with is whatever it takes to keep us on board the Cygnus-12.”
The Tortoid stopped blinking as he stared at the two ensigns looking expectantly back at him.
“And there’s no one else we’d rather explore deep space with,” Ellie added with a vigorous nod.
It took Daksha so long to answer that they felt they should check to see if he was still breathing. But when he finally spoke, it was worth the wait.
“I was born north of White Beach, with your great-great-grandparents watching. My father told me that my birth interrupted Braden’s lunch of fresh venison, which earned him a course correction from President Micah. He fed me personally of that very same venison. I was told that I had a voracious appetite,” the Tortoid said, bobbing his head as he recalled the humor in his own story.
“Master Aadi said then that he wanted his children to travel, see all that there was to see. All six of Aadi’s children have been free to do that, encouraged, nurtured, and trained. Six when there should have been ten, but Vii used to be a more dangerous place. Even then, there was a price that we had to pay to take the message of peace to the people, fight those who would take our freedoms away.
“The Concordian leadership is filled with those kinds of people, ones who cannot be allowed to command others. Not only did we do what we had to do, we’re going to do it again. Again and again, until we can all live freely in peace. We need you and everyone like you who isn’t afraid. You get a bloody nose, and you get back up, get back into the fight.
“I couldn’t be happier that you want to continue as members of this crew. We need you all. I’m going to recommend that we go back and you, Ensign Cain, I want you to lead a military force against the Concordians, clear the rats from the nest, and free the people of Concordia,” Master Daksha ended on a high note. If he could have swelled with pride, he would have, but he was a Tortoid, his shell unmalleable.
“I don’t know what to say,” Cain stammered. “I hope the SES sees it your way and we can go back. Those people deserve to be free.”
“I’ve sent a message to Dr. Johns and Admiral Jesper personally, separate from the usual data. We will know shortly after we enter the gravity well what he thinks of the idea. I don’t see how he’ll be able to say no,” Master Daksha told them.
“I can’t speak for the rest of the crew,” Ellie said. “But I suspect that all of them, even Beauchene and Allard, will ask to remain as members of the crew. I, no, we will do everything we can to make sure that we return to space as one.” She approached the commander and looked into his eyes. “We do this for you, Master Daksha.”
The Tortoid floated higher and started swimming toward them. Cain slapped his shell. “So you interrupted one of my family’s meals. I’m surprised he didn’t force you to wait until after he finished.”
“He would have, Ensign Cain, but President Micah was there and from the way I hear it, Micah gave him a rather robust punch for whining about a delayed meal.”
“Indeed,” Cain said as he bowed slightly and turned to leave. Ellie thanked the Tortoid one last time and headed for the exit.
“No,” Commander Daksha told them both. “Thank you.”
Take Us into the Well
After seeing the commander, Cain and Ellie stopped by the command deck to tell the captain the same thing. Since the crew was so small, the captain never questioned when someone stopped by, which was a rare occurrence. What he’d found out was that the crew was nothing like people he’d worked with before. They embraced the motto “the ship is life” like no others. He didn’t worry that tasks would get done. The crew did what they had to to keep the Cygnus-12 fully functioning. With Jolly’s help, no one forgot anything important.
The captain saw how efficiently the ship could run, even without a quarter of it
s crew.
“What brings you two delinquents up this way?” Captain Rand asked casually, absentmindedly stroking his new arm.
“We just wanted to tell you that we have no intention of going anywhere,” Ellie replied. The captain looked at her oddly. Pickles stopped what he was doing and turned to watch. “Briz said you can’t make him leave and if you try, he’s going to get his laser pistol. I didn’t want to tell you that, but Briz insisted that I pass it on.”
The captain leaned back in his chair and laughed, a full belly laugh, the likes of which he hadn’t had since they left the Cygnus heliosphere six weeks prior. When he finished, he turned serious.
“Death is a part of life. We can lament its embrace, or shrug it off and carry on with our business. Eleven names on that bulkhead. There were three when we started this mission. Now, every time we return to space, they’re going with us. The only way they won’t is if we stop exploring. I was against going to the planet, but it was the right thing to do. And it’ll be the right thing to do next time, too. We need a better SOP, more firepower. Yes, this is me saying that we need to be better armed. I fought against the few blasters we had on board. The old saying rings true–better to have it and not need it. I will pray that we never need them, but seeing the Concordians here, trying to steal my ship, made my blood boil.” The residual anger drove him to his feet. His hands were clenched. He looked at his fists as if they weren’t a part of his own body. Rand forced a smile.
“I guess we’ve all got some issues to deal with, huh?” The captain sat down and raised his eyebrows indicating that unless the ensigns had something else, he wanted to get back to work, do something that took his mind off the past. “You two better get back to your posts. Jolly, prepare to activate the EM drive.”
He opened the ship-wide communication system. “Secure your posts and get into your acceleration chairs. It’s time to go home. Jolly, when the board is green, activate the EM drive and take us into the well, five gravities actual, if you please.”
Cain and Ellie heard the announcement in the corridor and then in the stairway. They would have liked to stop by sensors and visit Tandry, but they ran out of time. When they hit the engineering level, Ellie turned to head through the hatch, when Cain grabbed her arm. Her pulled her close for a long hug, then held her face in his hands as he looked into her eyes. The kiss started softly, lips brushing, but Ellie gripped Cain’s back fiercely, unable to let go. The temperature in the stairway seemed to rise exponentially. Their teeth clicked together as Cain pulled her hair.
They finally let go after hearing Jolly make a strange noise over the comm system.
“I love you,” Cain blurted out.
“I know. Me, too. Better get going, you insulbrick,” Ellie told him as her hand lingered on his, before casting it away and running off, laughing. She jumped through the engineering hatch where Briz was already in his acceleration chair, tapping his big foot against the wall.
“I will never understand humans,” he said, shaking his head.
Ellie jumped into her chair and strapped in.
‘That was well done,’ Carnesto interjected. ‘We had time, you two could have, you know, right there in the stairwell. You knew everyone else was strapped in. That could have been your only chance. Shame you missed it.’
‘You are such a cretin. As soon as we’re done accelerating, I’m coming up there to give you a good petting!’ she teased.
When Cain reached his space, he ran through his checklist, securing a toolbox on its shelf before settling into his acceleration couch, hoping the g-forces would be light enough that he could get some sleep. He was exhausted in all ways. He spoke to the microphone in the overhead, “I suppose I’m last again, aren’t I, Jolly?”
“Yes, you are, Ensign Cain, but I’m not sure we’d have it any other way. It’s either you or Briz. On a different subject, I look forward to talking with you more about what kind of military force you envision. Holly has an excess of materials on the subject. I will talk with him before we dock and hope to have some recommendations for you,” Jolly said without Cain having to ask for help.
“You’re thinking that they’ll let me organize the group?” Cain asked.
At the same time he heard the captain over the loudspeaker. “Activating the EM drive. Take us through the heliosphere, Jolly, into the well, and home.”
‘I like that you want to require Hillcats. Carnesto and I will help you. It will be good,’ Lutheann told him.
“I think it will be more than that, Master Cain. I think you’ll not only organize it, you’ll find the recruits, and then you’ll train them. There can be no other way. You will establish what everything that follows will look like,” Jolly said prophetically.
“Everything that follows,” Cain proclaimed. “I guess I better get it right, then.”
A Memorial
The captain was in a hurry, but didn’t want to push the ship. He maintained five gravities actual, two and half felt by the crew for three hours. By the time they shut down the EM drive, the crew was ready to escape their acceleration couches.
After using the head, Cain ran through his checklist of likely system upsets. He personally inspected each point of potential failure and this occupied his entire focus until he was too tired to keep standing. He fell asleep in his acceleration couch, in his clothes, once again.
Briz took a nap during acceleration. Ellie watched him in amazement. The only thing she could do was be physically miserable and think about her confusing relationship with Cain. She wasn’t looking forward to telling her parents. Maybe she wouldn’t.
The crew went about their business as the ship raced through the edge of the heliosphere and into the gravity well on a nearly direct heading for the De’atesh shipyards at the edge of the asteroid belt. They’d slow the ship well before then for final maneuvers through one of the charted gaps, but also to limit any damage from small, rogue space rocks.
The commander asked Leaper to set up the hangar deck for a memorial, forgetting that there was no room because they carried the Concordian shuttle. They moved the memorial to the mess deck and the corridor outside. They’d make it work. Stinky set everything up, enlisting Tandry’s aid since her secondary duties aboard the ship involved stocking and supplies. They put out a small spread of food, both fresh and from the fabricators.
On a separate table, they placed a nametag for each of the lost crew and a single Shooting Star award for those injured in the line of duty. There was an uncomfortable stack of other Shooting Stars to be awarded, almost one for every crew member. That wasn’t one that anyone wanted to win. It was worn mainly as a reminder of how dangerous it was to work in space. Every legacy member of the Cygnus-12 crew had one for the malnourishment they suffered on their last voyage. The captain paid for his second with his arm. Briz, Cain, and Ellie earned theirs in the fire following the rupture of the containment tank that cost Strider his life.
“I have a hard time looking at this stuff,” Tandry said. Her Hillcat Mixial rubbed against her leg, anxious because her bonded was upset.
‘Didn’t we open the way to Earth?’ Mixial asked.
“Kind of,” Tandry answered, curious how the usually aloof ‘cat knew about the strategic victory of the costly mission. “We have to go back that way, but we now have a current star chart with all the planets that have been colonized. We have a modern map with a way to Earth.”
‘Then it was a victory,’ the long-haired calico said simply. ‘Sometimes you have to sacrifice to get what you want. We’ve already sent our mission data, right? So the victory is complete. The sacrifices have been made and mourned. Time to move on. I’m going to the garden deck,’ Mixial said dismissively.
Tandry wondered about Mixial as she used to be much more empathetic. “Those other two are a bad influence on you, Mixi!” Tandry yelled after the ‘cat. Leaper looked at his list and recounted the Shooting Stars.
“Am I on there?” she asked Leaper.
‘Of course
,’ he said in his though voice. Briz had not yet returned his vocalization device.
“Why?” Tandry was confused. She hadn’t been injured.
‘Neurological trauma. The med bots confirmed it.’
“But Mixial helped me through it. The ‘cats are special that way,” Tandry countered.
‘How you recover is irrelevant to the award. You were injured and your recovery and continued service is a benefit to the Cygnus-12 and the SES.’ Leaper sounded like he was quoting the awards manual.
“That’s a pretty sterile answer.” She picked up a small sandwich and threw it at Stinky’s head. He deftly caught it in his mouth and ate it, chuckling.
‘I’m reading the award note using my implant,’ he confessed.
“It would pain me greatly to think that you’d become a bureaucrat.” She tried to keep things light, but the table display kept her attention. The name badge “Katlind” drew her in. She touched it gently. “She would have been a great explorer.”
‘She was great and that’s how we’ll remember her, that’s how we’ll remember all of them. Now stop it. This is a celebration of life and the future. We’ll raise a glass to them and then figure out where we’re going next. I expect Cain will have some words for the crew, maybe even Briz. We’re the most junior members, but I think when those two speak, everyone will listen,’ Stinky concluded and waved Tandry away.
Black Leaper wanted to howl to honor his lost crewmates, but he didn’t want to set off any alarms. ‘Jolly, can you secure this room for me. I will mourn in my way, but I don’t want anyone to worry.’
Cygnus Expanding: Humanity Fights for Freedom (Cygnus Space Opera Book 2) Page 3
