He looked over at Commander Wolfe. She was leaning forward in her chair, elbows rested on her knees, blue eyes studying him, looking for a clue as to whether he was on board.
He knew without her saying so that she had already heard the Captain’s speech and agreed. He saw it in her face, and posture. Under normal circumstances that would’ve surprised him, but after what he heard about her drawing on Tallos, he figured it was probably her only option. Was it his only option?
The Captain looked relaxed. He went over the details calmly, explaining how he saw things and what he thought their next move should be.
He wanted Kevin’s support. Kevin knew the Captain took it for granted. He knew it should have pissed him off, and with anybody else it would have, but they had been through too much together. He was his commanding officer, but he was also a fellow brother, and Kevin wouldn’t hesitate to take a bullet for him. He knew the Captain would do the same in return.
“I’m in,” he said, not wanting to prolong things any more than needed.
Commander Wolfe smiled, took her elbows off her knees and sat back in her chair. The Captain smiled as well and gave him a ‘thanks buddy’ nod.
“So where do we go from here?” Kevin asked.
“First we need to patch up the ship,” Jon said. “Then we jump back in and finish the job we started.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.”
“We have more of an advantage now. We know they can separate, but now that we’ve taken out two of their ships, can they connect into a larger ship again? If not, then we only have four ships to deal with.”
“That still makes us the underdog, Sir.”
“Yes, it does. It wouldn’t be any fun otherwise, would it? Were you able to analyze the data you retrieved from the captured Kemmar ship yet?”
“The AI has been analyzing it and we’ve gained a lot of intelligence as a result. We’ve learned a fair bit about the Kemmar Empire and their capabilities.”
“Good, that will help when we cross the gate into Kemmar space. Was there anything else of strategic value there?”
“Not too much. We’ve taken their ammunition and any weapons that might be useful. There are still engineers on board looking over their systems and retrieving any equipment and materials that we might be able to use.”
“Good. Commander, where are we with repairs?”
“Propulsion and weapon systems are ready to go,” Wolfe said. “The reality is the Kemmar gave us a good pounding and on top of the hull breach, the armor plating throughout the ship has been weakened substantially. We need to reinforce it before we jump back in and fight the Kemmar.”
“How long will that take?”
“We will need a few days at least.”
The Captain was quiet for a few moments. He seemed to be calculating his options. “Ok, you have forty-eight hours. The Kemmar will hopefully need more time than that to find the colonists.”
CHAPTER 46
Breeah was already feeling better. She couldn’t believe how fast the biobots worked. They not only repaired the damage inside her body, but also administered internal medicine directly onto the injury, greatly accelerating the healing process.
Back home, even when proper medicine was available, a torn ligament would take weeks to recover from. The biobots had done the same in a fraction of the time.
She sat up on the side of the bed and rotated her leg to test the knee joint. No pain. She opened and closed her mouth. No pain there either. So far so good.
She wondered how much weight her knee could support. Looking down at the ground she contemplated stepping down from the bed to test it out.
Anki was up and watching her intently. When Breeah looked over at her Anki nodded her head with a mischievous smile, telling her mother to go ahead and give it a try.
Not wanting to show weakness in front of her daughter, she stepped down onto her good leg and then brought the other down as well.
Slowly, gingerly, she transferred weight from her good leg to the injured one. Still no pain. Soon she had shifted all her weight onto her bad leg. It held. Amazing. Anki smiled and started clapping.
Breeah gave her daughter a relieved smile in return. Time to see how well she could walk. She moved slowly, holding the side of the bed with her right hand for support. Here she noticed a little weakness that hadn’t been there before the injury. The joint still wasn’t one hundred percent, but the amount of healing that had occurred impressed her nonetheless.
“You’ll still need a couple days to completely heal, but as you can see most of your mobility has returned,” Doctor Ellerbeck said from behind Breeah, surprising her. She turned to face the Doctor.
“These biobots, as you call them, are incredible. I would never have imagined healing in such a short time.”
“They are extremely versatile. This technology has virtually eliminated the need for invasive procedures such as surgery. In essence, the surgery is conducted on the inside without collateral damage to healthy tissue.”
Breeah just shook her head. The wonders on board this ship seemed limitless. “Did the Diakans give you the biobots, too?”
“Most of our technology is Diakan based, although much of it has been altered to suit our needs. Much of our technology base had been destroyed when the Juttari conquered us. Our infrastructure has been built around whatever technology we managed to keep from the occupation, and the technology the Diakans gave us. But we are an inventive species. Once we understood the technology we began making our own advances in all areas of science. The alien technology is a good foundation, but we had to learn how to adapt and customize it to serve our needs.”
Breeah knew something about adapting to a situation. She realized that these people, even with all their miracles, were not much different from the Reivers.
The real difference between the two was that these people had subjected themselves to alien rule, first as slaves, and now as citizens of an alien empire.
Her people, however, had always chosen freedom. Even though that meant living under difficult conditions, it was better than submitting to alien masters.
No amount of comfort or luxury can replace your freedom. This was something she had been taught since she was a child. It was something taught to all Reiver children. Your freedom is sacred.
Breeah’s thoughts returned to the Diakans and their attempted takeover. She again wondered what would happen now that the Diakans on board had been defeated. The question would have to wait. “Doctor, when can Anki and I return to our quarters?”
“Right now. Just take it easy and I will follow up with you in a couple of days.”
CHAPTER 47
When Breeah arrived at her quarters she couldn’t believe the damage the battle had caused. So much for taking it easy, she thought, and started picking up furniture and putting it back where it belonged.
She had Anki sit off to the side until she managed to get at all the broken glass and make sure there were no hazards lying in wait for her to step on. Then she allowed Anki to burn off some energy.
The little girl was more than happy to oblige, and she danced around the room, singing, and spinning, and acting as if nothing had happened. To her it was probably all ancient history by now anyway. Breeah was in awe of her resilience.
She turned back to her work and was soon interrupted by the computer’s announcement that the Captain requested entrance. She told the computer to let him in and walked to the door to greet him. When he entered, she noticed there was something different about him, but she couldn’t place it.
“Hello Breeah,” Jon said.
“Hello Captain.”
Anki noticed his entrance and ran over to him, giving him a big hug on arrival. The Captain smiled and rubbed her back with one of his large hands.
“Hey kid,” he said, looking down at the little girl.
“Hi,” she replied, looking up at him with a beaming grin.
Done with her greeting Anki ran off t
o resume her play. Soon she was spinning around the room and singing songs again.
“I wanted to see how you two were doing,” he said to Breeah. “I’m sorry about everything that happened with the Diakans. You shouldn’t have had to go through all of that. It must have been terrible.”
“No Captain, it is I who is sorry. I am afraid if not for us you would have never been put in such a position. Our existence has caused you no shortage of problems.”
“Nonsense. It’s not like you made them take you hostage. They saw you as an easy opportunity to gain leverage against me.”
“They miscalculated.”
“Yes, they sure did,” he said laughing. “The way you defended yourself against Kinos is remarkable. It’s not like he was a pushover.”
“He underestimated my abilities. A costly mistake. He should have bound my limbs like he had done with Chief St. Clair. Then I would have been helpless against him. He gave me the advantage of surprise and that cost him his life.”
“Even with the element of surprise, you were fighting a Diakan security expert, trained in all forms of combat. Defeating someone like that is no small task.”
“All Reivers are trained in armed and unarmed combat since childhood, Captain. We are all security experts. Still, I’m afraid I have put you in a difficult position.”
“Don’t worry. I never liked Tallos much anyway.” He said, smiling.
“What will you do now?”
“Well first we’re going to go back and rescue your people.”
Breeah was shocked. “But Captain, you can’t be serious.”
Jon shrugged. “I’m very serious. This is not a fight I am walking away from.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was this man trying to get them all killed? “Captain, I told you before, you do not need to concern yourself with my people.”
“I’m sorry Breeah, but I’m not doing this for you. Those are people out there. Humans. I can’t just leave them to be slaughtered like a pen full of hogs. I have to help them. And I’m going to need you to give me the coordinates of the colony.”
Breeah studied him trying to decide if he’d lost his sanity. She realized there was nothing she could do to stop him. Even if she held back the location of the colony, he would still go back and engage the Kemmar. This man did not change his mind easily.
“What of the Diakans?”
“You don’t need to concern yourself with them anymore. They are safely locked away and won’t bother you again.”
Sighing she relented. “Very well, Captain, I will give you the information you request. But I must tell you that what you are doing is madness.”
Jon shrugged. “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”
CHAPTER 48
The smoke seared her nose and throat when she inhaled. She tried to cough as much of it out as possible, but it was too thick. She kept breathing the fumes in, coughing in violent spasms with each breath. She clenched her eyes closed to stop the stinging, but the pain didn’t go away.
She often pretended to disappear by shutting her eyes. She hoped it would happen now and she would be transported anywhere else. But the smoke was still there, and she buried her face in her pillow to try and keep it out of her lungs.
Outside the loud sounds began again and their force made her bed shudder more each time. She held onto her bed rail with all her strength, afraid the bed would jump up at any moment and throw her across the room.
She tried again to open her eyes and see, but they couldn’t penetrate the heavy fog that had filled her room, and the salty tears blurred what little was still visible.
At least her bunny was still there beside her pillow. She reached for it and held it close, pressing it against her cheek. Its soft white comforted her. She whispered to it, “Don’t worry bunny, I’ll keep you safe.”
Suddenly there was another loud bang, this one seemingly right outside her window. Her bed now shook violently forcing her to grab onto the bed rail once more.
There were more loud bangs. They came quickly, one after the other, and her bed was practically hopping across her room. She squeezed the pegs of her bed rail with all her strength until it started to wobble and she worried that it would break.
“Lynda!? Lynda!?” She heard her mother calling. Her voice was muffled but she still recognized it and the mere sound set her off, screaming and crying.
“Mama! Mama!” she wailed.
Her mother rushed into her room, crouched low, holding a cloth across her mouth, and fighting a coughing fit. Lynda pulled herself up onto her knees, shot her arms up, fingers stretching as far as they could, still crying, but relieved now that her mother was there.
She saw the cloth drop from her face as her mother’s arms reached down for her, scooping her by the armpits and hoisting her up from her bed.
She was in her mother’s arms now and finally felt safe. Her mother turned and headed back into the fog, but where was her cloth? Lynda looked back to see where it fell and realized she had left her bunny on the bed.
“Bunny!” she called, but her mother kept going. She watched her bunny explode into flames and screamed.
Commander Lynda Wolfe gasped, and her eyes opened. For a few seconds she was disoriented and instinctively covered her mouth. Looking around she realized where she was and dropped her hand onto the bed.
She lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to calm her racing heart. She took several deep breaths, in through her nose and out through her mouth, until her pulse slowed back to normal.
She rolled over and reached across her bed for the glass of water on her side table. Sitting up she took a long drink. Her throat felt dry and irritated, and the cool water felt good going down. She kept drinking until she emptied the glass.
Setting the glass back down she pulled herself over and swung her legs around, dropping them off the side of the bed. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and forced herself to get up.
Still groggy she looked over at her clock. It verified that yet again she didn’t get enough sleep. One of these days this is going to catch up to you, she thought.
She slowly walked into the bathroom, undressed, turned on the shower and walked in. The water was hot, almost too hot, but she liked it that way. The steady stream pulsed over the back of her neck, loosening the tense muscles perennially knotted there, and helping her focus.
She ran through mental checklists, planning out the day and prioritizing duties. She ran over each of the ship’s departments in her mind, remembering their status, and preparing for her morning progress report.
She liked being busy. She didn’t want any idle time. It made her think too much and she only wanted to think about her duties. Maybe one day when she was too old for active duty she might let herself do some thinking, but that might prove dangerous. She imagined that even when she was retired, she would still find things to keep her body busy and her mind occupied.
Finishing her shower, she stepped out and stood in front of the mirror. The dark circles under her eyes were becoming a permanent feature. Her mother had dark circles under her eyes too. At least that was how she remembered her. She wondered how accurate her memories were. Did she still remember her, or was it something her mind made up?
“Stop it,” she said, chastising the mirror. Her eyes looked angry now and the dark circles gave her a fierce look, like she had war paint on. Better, she thought, nodding to the reflection. She picked up her toothbrush and went back to her mental checklists.
When she finished brushing her teeth and drying her hair she stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to one of the walls. It slid open to reveal a hidden closet containing a row of pressed uniforms. They used to be so important to her. She spent her whole life working towards the right to wear those uniforms. And now? What was the point? They meant nothing.
You’re just full of self-pity today. Snap out of it, she thought.
Shaking her head, she pulled the nearest uniform off the hanger and dre
ssed. The uniforms were still important. They had to retain their structure. Without it there would be no order, and everything would fall apart. She knew that. Cursing at herself for being so self-indulgent she finished dressing and headed for the door.
Turning before walking out she looked back at her bed and thought about her bunny. Why did she remember it so clearly? Even in her dreams, in that smoke filled room, she could make out every detail. Yet she always saw her mother with a cloth on her face. Even when she dropped the cloth her face wasn’t visible. Why?
There’s that self-pity again. Forget the damned bunny.
If only it was that easy. She must have seen that bunny a million times in her dreams over the years. Maybe one day, after she had retired, she would go see a shrink and have them explain to her how the bunny represented the day the child in her died, or some bullshit like that.
Maybe they’d tell her that it stood for her mother. If they were really ambitious they might convince her that it was some side of her personality.
Enough already. Get your shit together. Clenching her teeth, she straightened her uniform, swept a hand over her hair, turned and walked out the door.
The corridors were busy as usual. The crew went about their duties as though nothing had changed. As far as they knew, that was the case.
She was sure that none of them had considered the fact that they probably wouldn’t see the Sol System again. They couldn’t tell the crew that part. At least not yet.
Would they continue with their duties if they knew? Would they still wear their uniforms? They would have to if they wanted to stay on board the Hermes. Then again, it wasn’t like they had much of a choice. They had no way of getting back home without the Hermes.
No, the real fear was mutiny. She didn’t think they would mutiny, but anything was possible. After a few years out here, they might get all sorts of ideas. A bunch of treasonous officers in the brig might look pretty good to them. Perhaps they would free the Diakans and head back to Sol with their tails between their legs?
The Pike Chronicles - Books 1 - 10 Page 18
