Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation
Page 40
“I am confident your people will restore her to glory,” the lieutenant said.
“I hope so.”
“And what of her captain?” the lieutenant asked.
“Pardon?”
“How are you doing, sir? It has been a difficult time for you as well.”
“I will be fine, Lieutenant,” Nathan assured him. “Will there be anything else?”
“No, sir.”
“You’re dismissed then.” Nathan paused, then added, “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
The lieutenant did not move for several seconds, which was also something he did not regularly do. Nathan looked at him. “Something else?”
“You did the right thing, Captain.”
“I hesitated.”
“As any brother would,” the lieutenant insisted, “including me.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Nathan said. “Had you not been there, I would probably be dead.” He turned back to the reports on his monitor in an effort to avoid the conversation.
Lieutenant Telles stood and turned to exit the room. He paused for a moment, then reached into his uniform breast pocket and pulled out a misshapen bullet. He turned back to the captain and placed it on the desk in front of him.
“What’s this?” Nathan asked, picking up the bullet and looking at it.
“The cause of death, pulled from the chest of your brother.”
Nathan looked at the bullet for a moment. “I’m not sure this makes it easier.”
“The truth seldom does,” the lieutenant said as he backed away, turned, and departed the ready room.
Nathan stared at the bullet for nearly a full minute, then placed it in his desk drawer.
* * *
Yanni was escorted down the long corridor by four heavily armed guards. He had been shadowed and shuffled about by such men since his arrival on Takara hours ago. Although everyone had been polite thus far, there was a palpable tension everywhere he went. The people on this world were worried, unsure, distrusting. It did not seem the wonderful place described to him by Captain Scott only a few days ago.
The massive doors at the end of the corridor opened, and Yanni was led inside. A well dressed man, many years his senior, stood and came out from behind the desk, his hand extended.
“You must be Yanni,” the man said.
“Yes, sir,” Yanni answered, shaking the man’s hand. The old man’s hand was rough, not the soft touch he might have expected from the leader of an entire world. “Are you…?”
“Yes, I am Prince Casimir of Takara.”
Yanni felt a wave of relief wash over him. “Finally.”
“I do apologize for the delays. These are difficult times for the Pentaurus cluster.”
“Captain Scott expected as much,” Yanni told him.
“Tell me;” the prince said eagerly, “how is my friend, Nathan?”
Yanni handed the prince the data pad given to him by the captain. “I was instructed to give this to you, and no one but you. It contains records of the Aurora’s journey home, as well as the events that followed.”
“I take it by your dour expression that things in the Sol sector are not going as the captain had hoped.”
“No, they are not. I’m afraid we need your help, sir, and badly.”
Thank you for reading this story.
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Episode 11
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The Frontiers Saga
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