Resist the Red Battlenaut

by Robert T. Jeschonek

  "So it's down there running wild?" said Scott. "Not good."

  "We'll hunt it down later," said Perseid. "If the quadrant's still here then." With that, he headed for the exit. "Now get your ass to the medicenter. I've got to call Command."

  Scott watched him go, then left the landing bay himself...only he wasn't heading for the medicenter as ordered. Not this time.

  *****

  When Scott rushed onto the Command Deck, Rexis called out to him immediately. "Corporal!" Clearly, she was busy as hell--the whole place was--but she still spotted him right away. "Get to the medicenter!"

  Scott stopped in his tracks. Perseid must have figured out where he was going and called ahead...not that Scott was going to let it distract him from the question he'd come to ask. "The Red ship. What happened to it?"

  "Gone from the system," said Fong, who was floating in his antigrav harness nearby. His hands danced over the holo-controls fanned out around him as he spoke. "Course unknown."

  Scott scowled. "What are you talking about? Didn't you follow it?"

  Fong didn't say a word. Instead, he shook his head and slid his gaze toward Rexis.

  Scott took the hint and turned his glare in her direction. "You mean you didn't? You let the Red ship get away with the Commandant?"

  "We didn't know they had her," said Rexis. "You were the only eyewitness, and you were completely off the comm. Everyone else on the surface was in a state of chaos."

  "Unbelievable." Scott rubbed his temples. "You didn't think there might be a good reason for going after them?"

  Rexis stiffened. "For all we knew, they were trying to lead us into an ambush. Or they might have been trying to lure us away from our ground forces. I decided not to take the chance."

  "Then you made the wrong call." Scott was on thin ice and he knew it--but he didn't care. Let her court martial him if she wanted; it wouldn't change the fact that she'd lost Bern to the Reds. "You let them take her."

  Rexis narrowed her eyes. "You saw what they did to the Sam Nicholas and the Augustus. Do you really think the Sun Tzu would have done any better?"

  "I guess we'll never know, will we?" said Scott.

  Rexis stormed over and stopped in front of him, her face centimeters from his own. "There were other considerations, Corporal. All hell is breaking loose, in case you didn't notice. Someone has to get word back to HQ before the Reds make their next move." She lowered her voice. "Not that I have to explain myself to you."

  Scott almost pushed it too far. Even with her icy gaze locked on him, and the force of her anger pressing against him like a weight, he opened his mouth to say something that he damn well knew would put him in the brig.

  Then, he closed it again. He was deeply upset, so worried about Bern that he almost couldn't stand it--but pissing off his commanding officer wouldn't solve his problems. It wouldn't bring back Bern.

  So, instead, he nodded. "Understood."

  That seemed to take some of the fire out of Rexis' furnace. "I know how you're feeling." Her expression turned sympathetic. "But she's a tough woman. She'll get through this, and we'll get her back."

  "Right." Scott nodded, but he wasn't sure he believed her. The Reds could have taken Bern anywhere. "But we definitely didn't get a bearing on their course out of the system?"

  Fong spoke up again. "Sensors tracked them as far as the sixth planet, and then we lost them. The Reds used some kind of reality-distortion drive that turned local space inside-out, and then they were gone."

  Scott took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So no trail, then?"

  "Correct," said Fong. "No trail."

  "Okay then." Scott nodded. "Thanks for the update." He wasn't being sarcastic. As disappointing as the news was, they'd told him what he needed to know. They'd made it clear what he'd have to do next.

  Seek guidance elsewhere.

  Turning, he headed for the door. No one said a word as he left.

  *****

  When Scott entered Lab Five, Trane was in the process of hugging Beauchamp and letting out a whoop of delight.

  "You did it!" Spinning Beauchamp around, Trane caught sight of Scott in the doorway. "She did it!"

  With a cool, feline smile, Beauchamp gently freed herself from Trane's hug. "The A.I. trackers did most of the work, actually. But yes, it is true. We have done it."

  "Done what?" asked Scott.

  "Traced the genomes of the Red viruses," said Beauchamp. "The catalyst virus and the pieces of the firewall virus that did not match the engineered virus from Project Lethe on Archibald."

  Scott's heart beat faster. "You've found their source?"

  Trane nodded and brushed orange sand from his black uniform. He'd beaten Scott back to the Sun Tzu but hadn't cleaned himself up from the battle yet. "Absolutely, unequivocally, yes."

  Scott raised his eyebrows. "That's pretty definite." He knew Trane wasn't prone to undue optimism.

  "The Project Lethe trail led nowhere, thanks to the data block," said Trane. "But Monique kept the A.I. trackers searching the genetic databases while we were on Oberon. By the time I got back, they'd finally made a positive match."

  "The viruses clearly belong to a species found only on Dornick VII," said Beauchamp. "They represent unique strains of a pair of symbiotic, quantum-entangled viruses that attack the parts of the brain that control the senses."

  "Dornick VII." Trane laughed and slammed the palm of his hand down on one of the metal counters. "Now we know where the Red bastards are hiding."

  Scott frowned. "Or maybe they just manufacture the viruses there."

  Trane grinned and shook his head. "But it's the perfect hiding place. It's probably swarming with the Red-blindness viruses. To anyone infected with the firewall virus, the planet would be practically invisible."

  "But the strains that cause Red-blindness aren't native, are they?" said Scott. "They had to be engineered to perform that specific task, right?"

  "I think it's safe to say that the Reds would let the engineered strains loose," said Trane. "Especially if it meant hiding the whole damn planet."

  It made sense. Scott looked at Beauchamp, and she nodded in agreement.

  As for Trane, he flew over and slapped Scott on the back. "Now we know where to go to get your grandma back. Now we know where to go to smash the damn Reds once and for all!"

  "Sounds good to me." Even as Scott said it, his stomach clenched. What if Dornick VII wasn't the Reds' center of operations? The evidence was persuasive, and the logic was sound, but something about it still gave him a bad feeling in his gut. Maybe it was intuition, warning him of a possible mistake.

  Or maybe he was just worrying too much. The stress kept getting stronger as the clock kept ticking, and Bern--wherever she was headed--was getting farther away.

  "Don't worry," said Trane as if he'd been reading Scott's mind. "We'll get her back before you know it." He winked at Scott and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

  "Thanks." Scott managed a smile in spite of the bad feeling in his gut. "I hope you're right."

  *****

  When Scott left Trane and Beauchamp in Lab Five, he headed for the medicenter--then changed his mind when he got halfway there. Swinging around a corner, he aimed for the brig instead. He would just have to wait to check on Donna and get the once-over ordered by Perseid. At the moment, with Bern's time ticking away fast, the twelve Red prisoners were much more important.

  As Scott whipped around the last turn before the brig, he saw that the place was under heavy guard. Four Diamondback men in full body armor, complete with helmets, stood outside the door...two on either side, all carrying big rifles.

  The two guards closest to the door stepped forward when Scott approached. "Hold it," said the younger of the two. "We're on lockdown here, sir. Nobody gets in or out."

  "I'm cleared for that." Scott tried to push past, but the guard and his partner blocked him.

  "Like I said, sir." The younger guard shook his head. "It's a lockdown situation."

/>   "Are they interrogating the prisoners?" Scott tried to push through again and failed. "I'm telling you, I've got ultra-top secret clearance."

  "Actually," said the younger guard, "we were ordered specifically not to let you through."

  Scott stared at him in disbelief. "Ordered by who?"

  "Major Perseid, sir," said the guard.

  Scott backed away. "Perseid? Where the hell is he?"

  The guard bobbed his head toward the door of the brig. "Inside, sir."

  "Then tell him to get out here. I want to talk to him." Scott felt a wave of anger rising in his chest. The Reds on the other side of the door knew where Bern was, they had to...but he couldn't get to them.

  At that point, the older of the two guards spoke up. "Major Perseid left orders not to be interrupted. You'll just have to wait to talk to him, sir."

  "Also," said the younger guard, "he left orders for you to go the medicenter."

  "Right." Scott glared at the two guards for a moment, then turned and marched off down the corridor. The brig was a dead end, at least for the time being.

  The question was, why? Was Perseid afraid Scott would come on too strong in an interrogation? That he'd take it too far because of Bern?

  Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe Perseid was the one going too far, and he wanted to keep the Commandant's grandson out of it.

  Whatever the reason, Scott didn't like it. He wanted to confirm Trane and Beauchamp's findings and beat the drum to race to Dornick VII as soon as possible. He wanted to make the bad feeling in his gut go away.

  Or, maybe, find out the reason it was there in the first place.

  *****

  Chapter 32

  Finally, Scott went to the medicenter. He had his orders, and he had nowhere else to go. He couldn't get to the Red prisoners, so he might as well get his checkup out of the way.

  The door swept open and he crossed the threshold. Looking to his left, he saw the privacy curtain around Donna's bed, pulled all the way around.

  On the far side of the room, Nurse Tourmal looked up from a patient and grinned. "Corporal Scott!" He adjusted the antigrav I.V. bag floating alongside the patient and hurried over. "Good to see you, sir. Glad you could make it."

  Scott wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. "I didn't have much choice. Major Perseid and Captain Rexis both ordered me down here."

  "I'm sure they had a good reason, sir." Tourmal kept grinning and rocked on the balls of his feet. "I think you'll understand soon."

  "I already understand," snapped Scott. "They wanted me out of the way."

  "I'll bet it was for your own good," said Tourmal.

  Scott was getting annoyed. "You think so?" He cocked his head to one side. "Is that your expert opinion?"

  Tourmal caught on and raised his hands in front of him. "Well, it is, but that's not...what I mean is..."

  "Forget it." Scott slashed a hand through the air, cutting him off. "I'm done here." He was sick of Tourmal, sick of the medicenter, sick of being there instead of the brig...and he felt his temper rising. If he didn't leave, he might say or do something that he'd regret later.

  Whipping around, he headed for the door.

  "No, wait!" Tourmal chased after him, landing a hand on his shoulder. "You've got to stay!"

  Scott shrugged out of his grip as the door swept open. "Like hell I do."

  Then, suddenly, a soft voice called to him from behind the curtain. "Solomon?"

  And Scott froze.

  "Solomon?" said the voice...a woman's voice, weak but familiar. "Please stay."

  Scott's heart pounded in his chest. He turned from the doorway, and his eyes flew to the curtain. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard and what it meant. "Oh my God."

  Tourmal grinned and slapped Scott on the back. "See why everyone kept trying to get you to come down here? It was for your own good, after all."

  Scott pushed past him like he wasn't there. He felt like he was in a daze or a dream, drifting toward something that was wonderful and impossible at the same time.

  Stepping forward, he took hold of the end of the curtain at the head of the bed. As he slowly pulled it aside, the metal rings clattered along the antigrav track, clacking together as the curtain bunched up.

  And there she was, just as he remembered--except her eyes were open. And she was smiling.

  And speaking with that voice he'd once thought he might never hear again. "Hello, Solomon. Long time no see."

  Scott stepped through and pulled the curtain shut behind him. Then, without a word, he bent down and kissed her softly on the forehead.

  When he pulled back, her eyes were closed, and he felt a twist of panic in his chest...but then they opened again and lighted upon his face. "Did you miss me?" she said.

  "Yes." Scott didn't even have to think about it. "I missed you a lot."

  Her smile widened. "I already knew that." The cuts and bruises that had littered her face after Shard were all healed now. She still looked fragile, but she had a pale glow and a sparkle in her eyes. "I hear you stopped by a bunch of times while I was out."

  Scott shrugged. "I needed to get away from Trane and Abby's snoring."

  Donna giggled softly. "I think I heard it in my coma, even."

  Impulsively, Scott took her hand and kissed it. "We should've moved them in here from the start. Then maybe you'd've woken up sooner."

  "Or just gone down deeper," said Donna. "Though I was pretty deep already."

  "So you weren't just pretending to be comatose to get out of duty, then?" Scott kissed her hand again. "Because that's what everyone was saying."

  "They were right." Donna winked at him. "That's exactly what I was doing."

  "Well, I'm glad you decided to end the fake coma," said Scott. "I'm glad you stopped being so damn lazy."

  Donna watched through half-lidded eyes as he kissed her hand once more. "Oh, Solomon." Suddenly, the snarky tone was gone. "I feel like it's been a hundred years."

  "I know." Scott held her hand against his lips and breathed the words between her fingers. "Me, too."

  "I wish I could...I didn't..." She looked over at the green crystalline cast on her left arm, then the one on her right leg, both suspended from antigrav nodes. "I wish this hadn't happened." When she looked back up at him, her eyes glistened with tears.

  Scott felt a shiver along his spine...a shiver not of warning but of strong emotion. Then, though he'd kept her at arm's length for so long, though he'd doubted his feelings and tried so hard to avoid complications, he leaned down over her without a word and did something he'd never done before.

  It was something he hadn't done in all the hours they'd spent together or all the nights they'd shared a bed. It was something he'd thought about but not that day, not with everything that had happened.

  But as soon as he did it, he knew how utterly right it felt. He wished he'd done it sooner.

  Because, as his lips touched hers for the first time, every bit of doubt in his heart and mind was burned away instantly like fog in the light of the sun.

  She kissed him back without hesitation or reservation, as if she'd been waiting forever for this outcome. Her lips pressed against his like the petals of a rose, soft and moist and fragrant.

  When they parted, she beamed up at him with an expression of pure joy. "Now that was nice. Much nicer than being in a coma."

  "Or fighting my own armor," added Scott.

  Donna's expression darkened, becoming sadder. "I heard about what happened on Oberon." Reaching up with her right hand, she touched his cheek. "I'm so sorry they took your grandmother."

  Scott nodded. "I'll get her back, don't worry."

  Donna frowned. "Do we have any idea where they took her yet?"

  Scott shrugged. "Trane and Beauchamp traced the Red viruses to Dornick VII, but I don't know. Just because the viruses' genomes originated there doesn't mean it's Red HQ."

  "And that's the only possibility?"

  "We have prisoners," said Scott. "Pers
eid's interrogating them now."

  "Good." Donna smiled warmly. "Whatever they know, he'll get it out of them."

  Scott looked away. "I hope you're right."

  "I know I am." Donna pressed his cheek with the palm of her hand, turning him to face her again. "Because now that we're together, everything has to work out." With that, she guided him down and kissed him again.

  This time was better and more intense than the first. Scott wanted to believe so much in what it meant--that they belonged together, that Bern's rescue and everything else would work out--that he focused every bit of his hope and faith and desire on the touch of her tender lips.

  He had waited so long for her to wake up, had wondered so often if it would ever even happen. Now, like a miracle, there she was...like a sign that Bern would come back to him, too.

  They parted again, and Donna had more tears in her eyes. "I knew all along." She ran a fingertip along his jawline. "About you and me."

  Scott turned his head and kissed her finger. "You were there for me right from the start."

  "I never gave up on you, Solomon," said Donna. "And I never will."

  A thousand things to say rushed through Scott's mind. There were so many words he could say, so many promises he could make...but the future was uncertain. War was everywhere, chaos reigned. Who knew if they'd survive long enough to live up to a single promise made in that moment.

  So, instead of saying anything, he simply kissed her again. He felt the warmth of her love radiate into him, felt the comfort of the connection they shared growing stronger in the midst of all the madness.

  And he knew he'd been a given a gift, one that would make it possible to face whatever the Reds had in store for him and so much more besides.

  *****

  Hours later, Scott left her there, asleep in the medicenter, and went to the mess to get some coffee. Now that his romantic interlude was over, he needed to get back to work. And as far as he was concerned, he had only one job to do.