by Martin Perry
“No, we don’t,” Maur agreed but contempt in his voice. “Captain, are we going to make it to Earth?”
“The ship is doing fine, we’re engaging near-quantum in the next few minutes and nothing indicates that she’ll have any trouble. The launch was always going to be the hard part, we’re good to go. Of course the engineering teams will have to be on constant alert. Repairs will most likely be continuous.”
“However Maur,” Champion continued, “I have concerns about your mother’s safety and I can't help but feel like I should apologise again..”
“What difference would it make if you did?”
There was an unpleasant pause.
“Shouldn’t we tell the local police force?” Thom suggested.
“That doesn’t strike me as a good idea,” said Yazram. “Partly for my own benefit as I would prefer to stay well away from government sanctioned bodies of any kind. More importantly, and less selfishly, I do not believe we can safely assume that the Free Man Nation will not have already infiltrated the police and other bodies. Everything we have learned about them strongly suggests that their influence is intergalactic, but given their motivations it is very likely that their strongest presence will be on Earth.”
“I believe you’re right Yazram,” said Champion, presenting his support to Beta Crew and the others on the command deck. “The best outcome we can hope for is that they do not mobilize Earth based forces against the farm before we arrive. Of course, their forces may be spread more thinly than we expect. Your guess about their presence on Earth is just that, a guess, as is everything else we come up with. Given that Maur is of such considerable value to them then it would also be reasonable to assume that the majority of their force is currently in pursuit of us.”
“As one ship, shouldn’t that worry us more than there being ground troops?” Thom asked.
“No,” replied Charles, stepping forward. “We’re better equipped to deal with a chase scenario than facing a large volume of infantry. If we make it to the farm first then we can prepare, we can give ourselves every advantage possible.”
“We’ll need to land...” Kerra halted her sentence to let out some some unpleasant smelling gas, Maur slightly taken aback by the her depleted feminine standards. “We'll need to land with as little fuss as possible then.”
She unhooked the arm from around Maur’s shoulder and looked a little sheepish. The drugs were wearing off, clearing out her head, only for it to be clouded again by the situation in front of them.
“Hmm, yes,” mused Champion. “Although I wouldn’t expect the quiet to last long. The odds are stacked against us, but Maur is part of our family, a family that has suffered loss and heartache at the hands of the Nation. He, and his own, deserve our support until the very bitter end.”
“Thanks. Try not to stick me in an airlock when you next do me a favour though, alright?”
The days that followed were difficult for all aboard the Jump Cannon. Everybody felt an affinity toward the cause, every crewman diligent in ensuring that they came to the rescue of Maur’s mother as quickly as possible. The engineering crews started doing double shifts, struggling to optimise the near-quantum drives and boost them on further. Command deck staff tried to improve the efficiency of their route. The soldiers and weapons teams held briefings to further prepare themselves.
Maur appreciated all of this, and tried to smile in the presence of others to show his thanks for their efforts. He spent the waking hours of the first two days of flight with Kerra, and they finally started to put their relationship in order.
“I know this is difficult for you Maur,” Kerra said, sitting next to him on his bed. She was wearing dirty overalls and the grease stains on her face to match. When she wasn’t working on battle plans with the other soldiers aboard, she was down in the engine rooms using her limited medical training to keep the exhausted teams going.
“It’s difficult for everybody, I’m not the only one in danger. My mother isn’t the only parent that will be worried about their kid right now.”
“Of course not, but the Free Man Nation have made a victim out of you,” replied Kerra sympathetically.
The notion of being a victim didn’t make Maur feel any better. Instead it made it seem as though he had already been beaten, like the Nation had already taken his pride from him. Ever since finding out about the people who kidnapped him in Cirramorr, he had positioned them in his mind as the enemy. Now it crossed his thoughts that that enemy might already be victorious.
“We can’t give up...” he mumbled.
“What? I didn’t mean it.... like that,” Kerra stammered.
“Yes you did, and you’re right. They’ve taken the lives of my fellow crew, they’ve nearly taken the lives of my closest friends, and worse they have pushed me away from them. Were it not for mom there would be no reason to fight, I’d be just as well handing myself over to them.”
“Aren’t we worth fighting for? Charles, Thom, even Champion... and me?” Kerra asked.
“Always, of course, but I don’t understand why you would keep fighting for me. You’ve made it clear how you feel, I’ve stepped over the line and it doesn’t seem like the damage can be undone. I should have never said what I said, it was wrong to put you in that situation - I shouldn't have kissed you either,” Maur said, staring ahead to avoid having to look into her eyes.
“It wasn’t wrong,” she said as she placed a hand on his cheek. Turning his face around gently she forced him to make eye-contact. “I feel the same way you do. I love you Maur, it was just hard to admit.”
“Don’t do this to me. I don’t need charity, I don’t need you to try and make me feel better. It won’t work out if that’s the only reason you’re saying it...”
Kerra leaned in and kissed him softly. The pressure bearing down on them, the looming battle, brought about feelings about how much she would miss him were he gone. There was every chance that in even the best of circumstances that either she or Maur might lose their life on Earth. In the few days they had before landing, she wanted to live and breathe her love for him, confident in it now.
They spent that night together. It was the first time that Maur had ever wanted to wake up next to a woman. As the low flickering light of passing stars glimmered into his cabin, he looked at her sleeping face and felt an overwhelming desire to share every remaining second of his existence with her. She slept in his arms until the next shift alarm sounded, signalling her to return to the engine rooms. Kissing her again in the doorway of his cabin, he felt renewed.
Champion had declined to give him any set tasks during the week long trip to Earth. Maur certainly understood why, the stress was preoccupying and might lead to mechanical mistakes that the ship could ill-afford. Still, the invigoration of spending the night with Kerra and the consuming boredom got to him by the third day. He found Charles in the locker room, his armoury descended from the ceiling.
His rifle was lain out on the ground in front of him, cleaning tools being worked on the barrel as Maur walked in.
“Champion given you some time off?” Maur asked, sitting down on the nearest empty seat.
“I wouldn’t quite call it that,” came the reply. “It’s just that the assault teams can only plan so much. We won’t really know what we’re up against until it arrives and over-planning can lead to mistakes in the heat of battle.”
“Yeah, I guess,” said Maur, feeling awkward that his rhetorical question had received such a frosty response.
“I haven’t had a chance to say before now, but I apologise for participating in the plot that saw Langthorn kill himself. We should have told you beforehand, but time was, and remains, absolutely of the essence. If I had the time again though, I would have found an opportunity to fill you in.”
“Don’t worry about it, but yeah, prior warning would be good next time you want to hold a pretend trial,” Maur said.
“Hah,” Charles forced out a chuckle. “You have my word. Is there something I can help you with? I’
m guessing you didn’t come find me just to chat.”
“Oh come on, I can’t just come and talk to one of my best friends?” Maur said, starting to joke.
“Less sarcasm please, out with it.”
“Fine, you got me Charles, I want something. I want to spend the next few days doing two things. One, I want to spend every moment I can with Kerra.” Maur showed a wide grin, bringing one to Charles’ face too as he realised what was being suggested. “ And two, I want to spend every remaining moment in the sims with you. I need to be the soldier you’ve said I can be, I need to be able to kick the crap out of these fucks from the second they put their feet on my family’s soil.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear you are so interested in both. I will have to clear it with Champion, although I’m sure he will understand.”
The final days of their journey blended a mass of emotions together for Maur. Unshakeable fear that his mother might come to harm, joy that he and Kerra were finally together and the calm anger that his training with Charles always afforded him. In moments of clarity he would consider the Free Man Nation, he would think of his importance to them, still mystified, but above all he would feel the desire to rid their influence from his life by any means necessary.
Annie faced few setbacks, and despite her impaired function the crew achieved more from her than anybody would have thought possible. The target time of a week passed by a full day, but in light of the damage that Langthorn’s sabotage had inflicted upon them, this was a truly incredible feat. A memorial was held for Natalie within the last hours of their near-quantum travel, the men and women who worked closest to her finally able to down tools without guilt. She had seen them free of the planet where they had crashlanded, and her body was ejected from the ship, in accordance with her wishes, just as they went into orbit around Earth.
From his place on the command deck, Champion looked down on his home, unable to feel the warmth that returning there should have brought. Back on Pura he had longed to see Earth, but now with such deadly peril ahead, he wondered if it might be the last time he would see her from space. Staring at the vast oceans and landmasses, he prayed that he and his crew would outlive the coming battle.
He walked down to his quarters, finding Marc 14 waiting for him as always. He thought about how long he been keeping their relationship secret from the staff, and wondered if this had ever been the right thing to do. They had been partners for years now, for almost as long as he had owned the Jump Cannon. Champion vowed to himself to see the man safe, to keep him out of the reach of the Free Man Nation, who would no doubt see 14 dead. He imagined that a relationship between a human and a lunark would disgust them, and the Captain took pleasure from that.
“We’re here. I need you on deck to assist with the re-entry,” Champion said to him, running a hand across 14’s face, sitting together on the sofas.
“You can do this,” Marc 14 said sensing his partner’s concern. “You can lead us to victory.”
“I’m sure, but at what cost will victory come? Please, lets just get back up there...”
“I have not assembled you here because I believe you to be the best crew for this ship, I have assembled you here because are the only options available to me. Should any of you die over the course of this journey, or any other, your body will not be returned to your family. It should be enough to know that whatever minor progress you assisted me in making was for the benefit of the Free Man Nation. Board, anybody still on the ground in five minutes will be executed.”
A short speech made by The Gentle Reminder in acceptance of the Cathode Ray.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ulalo’s new cruiser was of considerable size, capable of housing five-hundred men and women with a good degree of comfort. This was not a concern of her captain, nor the ship’s owners, and as such the Cathode Ray was currently housing six-hundred and change, unlucky lower level recruits being forced to sleep on the floor space beneath the sparse bunks.
This was not to say that the Cathode Ray was a ship lacking in comfort and technology. For those deemed worthy of such treatment, individual cabins were assigned with all the comforts they might be expected to enjoy. Generally speaking, the more senior staff were not subject to any regulation regarding contraband and this extended as far as personal assistants, or slaves as they might more appropriately be called.
She was purposed for war though, the Cathode Ray's primary objective not being to house a crew but instead an army. Extravagances that you might see aboard the Jump Cannon, such as the mood sensitive flooring and large entertainment room, were absent in place of further armoury and a wider hangar for the Cathode Ray’s much larger squad of combat ships.
As a whole she was at least five times the size of the Jump Cannon, with the difference between the two used primarily for arms storage.
The combat ships themselves ranged in age and technological advancement. While Ulalo had not been afforded the transformable and bleeding-edge EBAC-150s, her designated pilots would not trail far behind. It was evident that The Thirteen had elected to give her the best of what they had, and RAITT turrets being retrofitted to a squad consisting of four of the incredibly speedy ERO-9s, two of the more brutish and heavily armoured Kubals and a further six EBAC-80s, an ancestor to the ships aboard the Jump Cannon. Despite their more antiquarian technology, the size and diversity of this team would surely make mincemeat of the two fighting craft that Champion had in his possession.
However, Ulalo had no intent on fighting this battle in the air.
Her soldiers, the bulk of her staff, were equipped with standard issue armour and projectile-based rifles along with fragmentation grenades. Ulalo had her own custom-purposed equipment, but the Nation would not afford those same luxuries to the men and women who might end up face down in the soil of Earth. The engineering and support staff, totalling less than fifty, would be given this equipment as well and sent out into the fight if it were required.
Ulalo didn’t expect this to happen however, and was feeling happy, much to the surprise of the men and women on her command deck.
She had set the simulation platform to display a wild forest, bright flowers and shrubbery bursting from the plain grey flooring of the Cathode Ray. She set the projection as wide as possible, and a few vines hung just by her head. Sitting at the side of the platform in a sheer black leather chair, angular in design with a slight backwards leaning that gave the impression it was moving, she was turning a finger through her hair as she listened to the briefing being given to her by the navigation team. They were standing in the projected grass of her garden, making her wonder if she might be afforded leave when they had captured Maurice Rosewell.
“We estimate that we are less than a day behind them, based on the adjusted trajectories that you ordered upon receipt of Langthorn’s transmission,” said one of the insignificant humans that stood in front of her, his greasy black hair grasping the brown material of his cloak. “We are on track to reach Earth within the next three. It is unfortunate that we were not able to intercept them on the planet...”
“Quite, although I don’t recall asking for opinion within my briefing,” Ulalo said, loosely spinning her words with a degree of care in her tongue that only just concealed the veiled threat within.
“Apologies, Gentle Reminder, I will continue without such comments.” A bead of sweat rolled from his forehead, but allegiance to the Nation kept his head cool despite the terrifying thought of finding himself on the wrong side of The Gentle Reminder. “All systems are operating in an optimal fashion, and there have been no deaths aboard within the last twenty-four hours.”
“None at all?” Ulalo asked.
“No, The Gentle Reminder will be pleased to hear that all duties have, in the last day at least, been completed without incident.”
“Quite,” replied Ulalo once more, obviously not entirely happy that there wasn’t a fresh corpse to play with in her downtime. “That is positive. Well, I am safely assuming that th
e Jump Cannon will not be headed to port as they originally planned for their return journey, but will instead react to the threat of familial harm as Langthorn broadcasted. When they do, I have no doubt that our ground forces will quickly overwhelm the small opposition that Champion is capable of launching. Regardless, I would prefer if our orbit was timed as to not immediately alert those international forces that we are unable to control. Am I understood?”
“Absolutely, for the Nation!”
“Good, you are dismissed,” Ulalo waved a hand towards her navigation team and sent them away from her view of the garden.
Her confidence was absolute, and she was readying a speech for the rest of The Thirteen to ensure that she joined her forces on the ground. In large part, she blamed the ongoing freedom of her target on the fact that she had not been permitted to secure him in person. She would not have attempted to hold him in Cirramorr, where the rest of the Jump Cannon crew was still present, nor would she have chosen sabotage. Instead, she would have pursued the man herself, separated him from his comrades and tortured him to the point of fatality before even asking the all important question. It would have been fun, and she had been denied that.
Now though, there was no more time for clever plans and devious traps. He must be seized immediately, before Earthbound forces could become involved. Her knowledge of the Nation’s influence was far more complete than Champion’s, and as such Ulalo would have been able to correct his assumptions regarding their strength within police and military forces on Earth. While they might be able to delay any reaction to illegal activity, the Nation were not yet above reproach, and they were certainly not in direct control of any government funded forces.
She knew herself to be effective enough for this not to matter. It was not a cause for concern, as far as she saw it, that the Jump Cannon and her crew had been able to escape them up until now. Once she was directly involved, once she was the one giving chase, she believed only in the idea of her succeeding. Finally and forever sealing her place within the high command of the Free Man Nation.
