Ortiz smiled tightly and took his foot off the table, but he remained standing. “Okay. Fine. We got a whole lot of us on these mess decks. I doubt you could take more than ten or so before we make you eat that stick, Chief. But I’m no rabble-rouser. I’m a man of our people.” He looked around him. “I figure we have a quorum here. Who votes we continue and finish this thing?”
Hands shot up, but Benno waved them down. “Wait a minute! Everybody! Just wait, okay? Listen to me first. Please?”
He stared down the crowd until they lowered their hands and their weapons. They grumbled, but Benno still waited. At last, only the hum of the ventilation and the buzz of the charge-lances sounded. He nodded and turned his back on Ortiz to look at the prisoners and the crowd threatening to condemn them.
“We’re not different people now than we were before all this. And just because we’ve been driven to extremes, doesn’t mean we need to embrace every other extreme. We did something unconscionable, mutinying against our own. We did it for the right reasons, and we have to defend our case and bear the consequences of it, but that doesn’t mean the next step is killing every person who doesn’t agree with us. These officers and the other loyalists were our shipmates only a few days ago. We fought alongside one another! Don’t throw that away if you don’t have to!”
The crowd rumbled. “You shot the CO and Ops in cold blood, Benno!” one voice shouted back. “Damn hypocrite!” shouted another.
Benno’s face flushed with anger and shame. “You’re right. I took out the skipper and that asshole Johnson. We also killed others in the takeover, but that was out of necessity. It was part of the mutiny. Was there some payback there? Did I pass a snap judgment on them and execute them out of nothing more than anger? Yeah. Okay, I did. They were going to have me killed and let god-knows-what happen to my little girl…and they taunted me about it. So, yes, I succumbed to my demons at that moment, and I’ll eventually accept the cost for that. But this isn’t that moment anymore. And the XO isn’t the CO. She isn’t OPS either. We all know her. We know her and the CHENG, and WEPS, and SUPPO, and CMC, and everybody else you might be planning to bring up here. They may have pissed you off in the past. They undoubtedly do condemn you and me for the course we’ve taken, and they may well try to stop us if we give them half a chance, but they are not our enemies. They’re not the ones who invaded the Lost Six, and they’re not the ones who abandoned them. They’re caught up in this just like you and I.”
The crowd was silent. Some still appeared angry and dissatisfied, but the tide had turned. The vast majority looked shame-faced and could not look Benno in the eye. Benno turned and looked behind him. Chief Wan appeared angry, but he said nothing. Instead, he stood, left the table, and pushed through the crowd, refusing to take part anymore. Petty Officer Johnson appeared embarrassed and lost.
Ortiz just gave him a smirk, a nod, and sat down at last.
Benno exhaled loudly and turned back to the crowd. “Let’s get these people back to the brig. All of you, please go back to your duties. We have to get out of this system, today, in case the fleet sends a cutter or a frigate back to check on us. After that, we’re system hopping and getting ready for battle with almost zero intel. We should be transitioning into Paradiso and fighting for our lives in less than a week.”
The crowd broke up, the cooler heads taking the line of prisoners back to the brig, and the angriest among them storming away, most headed off in Chief Wan’s wake. Benno wondered if that might become a problem later, but before he could ponder it for long, a more immediate problem presented itself.
Ortiz stepped in front of him, so close their noses almost touched. Benno stood his ground, though, and they glared at one another in tense silence, until both heard the slow approach of MAC Dufresne and her charge-lance.
Raoul smiled and rocked back slightly. “You’re a lucky penny, Warrant. Heads-up every time. That can’t last though. Sooner or later, that luck’s gonna flip.”
“Will it now?” Benno growled.
Ortiz stepped backward and clapped Benno on the shoulder in mock friendship. Grasping Benno’s arm, he squeezed tight, digging his fingernails into the chief warrant officer’s flesh. “You can’t have it both ways, Benno. You and I? When we took this ship, we opened a box that can’t be shut. We released all sorts of demons, and they won’t be satisfied until there’s blood. Too many years of too much mistreatment, these folks want payback. And if one of your loyalists does manage to set us back, or even if you can’t do all you’ve promised…it won’t matter how many pretty speeches about tolerance you give. These aristos will pay, and it may not stop there.”
Ortiz released Benno’s arm and turned. He nodded to Chief Dufresne and left the messdeck, destination unknown. Benno shook his head and looked after him. Saying nothing, Dufresne nodded at Benno, then followed Ortiz.
Benno looked around the messdeck. A few hangers-on and a single dressed-out master-at-arms remained, along with one other person: the XO. Commander Ashton had pulled herself up to a sitting position and looked at Benno with a wry half-smile. Fresh bruises bloomed across her face, and it pained Benno to see how she had been treated. She did not deserve this.
He approached and held out a hand to her. She reached up, in evident pain, but took his hand anyway. He pulled her to her feet, throwing his arm behind her to help support her weight. Some of the others left on the messdeck looked at the pair of them, but no one made a move to stop him or help her.
Benno angled the XO toward one of the compartment’s doorways and helped her walk out slowly. Once they were clear of possible eavesdroppers, he leaned toward her and said, “I’m sorry this happened, ma’am. This was never what I wanted.”
Commander Ashton chuckled with no discernible humor whatsoever. “You broke it, you bought it, Benjamin. All that follows from that first act of treason is on you.”
Benno grimaced. “I know, I know, but it’s still not what I want. You may not believe it, but I’m trying to defend the Alliance, to save my home and my family. I don’t want to see it fall, nor its people killed, and I don’t want my people to lose any more of their souls than they have to. I stopped your lynching.”
“If you expect me to thank you, you’re in for a long, long wait.”
He nodded. “I don’t blame you. In the fullness of time, though, I hope you’ll look back on this and see that I was right, that we had no other real choice. Besides, I didn’t just save you out of altruism. You all represent a great resource. If you do finally realize what we’ve done was necessary, I hope you’ll help us free our people. They’re your fellow citizens, too. They matter just as much as aristos do.”
She stopped in the empty passageway and looked at him, her eyes narrowed. “Did you ever, for one instant, pause and think that the situation with the Lost Six didn’t sit well with us either? You hurl ‘aristo’ like an epithet, as if how or where we were born is all that we are, like we’re not just other people. No sane person wanted to abandon those worlds. There are things we can do something about, and things that we hate but still have to accept! This fleet can’t just stop its offensive into Terran territory. We went on the offensive because it’s the only way to stop their encroachment upon the Alliance, an encroachment that’s affected a hell of a lot more than six colony worlds and their relatively low populations. So, yeah, it sucks, but we accept our mission, we soldier on, and we take faith in the humanity of our fellow officers and leaders that they won’t allow this situation to stand for long. Did the Navy screw up by not patrolling those systems? Hell, yes, but you don’t see whole squadrons going rogue and turning their backs on their obligations.”
Benno nodded, but the argument was not done. “Those are nice platitudes, and I don’t disagree entirely, but what about me in that brig? What about the sentence on my head that was about to be carried out? Look at me and think about what I was facing, what the rest of this crew and I were put through, knowing our families had been left to rot…and then remember the ma
n you served. Think of all of that and tell me you wouldn’t have done exactly what I did!”
The XO looked at him, her expression unreadable, and let the question rest. She began walking again. “Take me back to the brig, Warrant.”
They walked on, this time in silence, though he still supported her weight. They passed many crew members as they walked aft and down to the deck the brig was on. Some stared, and some glared, but no one interrupted them.
As they rounded a corner on the brig’s deck, the secure doorway loomed. Commander Ashton suddenly reached out and grabbed Benno’s uniform collar. He jerked back and put his hand up to ward off a blow, but she was not trying to escape. Instead, she tugged him over to the side of the passageway, still weak, and pulled his ear down to her lips.
She whispered urgently. “I have to put my faith in you now, Benno, and hope that you do plan to release us. And if that’s your plan, it behooves me to make sure we survive this assault on Paradiso. I’ve got a husband and a couple of brats on Centralis that I want desperately to see again.”
He nodded. “Okay. What are you offering?”
“Two pieces of advice,” she whispered. “First, you may be the de facto captain around here, but you’re just a techie. You qualified Tactical Action Officer in order to stay competitive for advancement, but your knowledge of how to fight this ship is rudimentary at best. I’m not sure who all is on your side or who stayed loyal, and you’ve got em locked up in that hull section, but if you have senior enlisteds from the Ops, Intel, or Fire Control rates, leave the warfighting and tactics to them. Hold a war council and get their help planning your attack right. Delegate to the people that know what they’re doing.”
His inadequacies called out, Benno’s cheeks grew red in embarrassment, but he urged her on. “Fine. Good idea. What’s the second piece of wisdom?”
“Kill Ortiz.”
He jumped in surprise, but she drew him back and continued. “You have an enemy on board, but it’s not those you’ve locked up. It’s him, and you better believe he’s gunning for you. After all, once you put mutiny on the table as a viable option, how far off can the next one be?”
“Raoul and I disagree—vehemently—but I don’t think we’re to that point yet.”
“No? Well, you were late to the party. He was doing a pretty good job of campaigning for the position of Commanding Officer before you showed, and your leadership was absolutely a subject under discussion. He’s drawing together the like-minded, and once there’s enough confusion, enough plausible deniability, or enough overt support, he’s going to stab you in the back—both figuratively and literally. You have to get him first.”
Benno shook his head. “I kill Ortiz, and I invalidate every single principle I’ve been preaching to these crewmen. What do ‘shipmate’ or ‘honor’ mean if I straight up murder a rival?! It doesn’t matter how I justify it, I’ll still be seen as a dictator abusing my power. And there’s no guarantee his cronies would shape up after I martyred him.”
Amanda Ashton shrugged. “Yeah, because cutting the head off a snake has never been a valid method of pest control. I don’t give a shit how, when, or why you do it. Just get it done, and don’t let indecision be a weapon against you. Hell, make it look like an accident. An unfortunate casualty of the upcoming battle, maybe? That’s likely what he has planned for you, though I wouldn’t put it past the son-of-a-bitch to shoot you right in front of everyone. He’s bold and reckless.”
Benno frowned. “And you could be advising this to undermine the mutiny…”
She nodded. “Yeah. It’s a real bitch when you can’t trust the people under your command. Do what you will…it’s just that I’d like to be breathing on the other end of this journey. My chances are better with you in charge.”
With that, she walked forward and staggered into the brig under her own power, with no further assistance from Benno.
He looked at the empty doorway, and he thought, long and hard.
* * * * *
Chapter Twelve: Mio
Mio dropped the cup into the soapy water, and a splash of suds shot straight up, hitting her in the face and getting into both eyes. The homemade soap was enormously caustic, and her eyes were immediately on fire. Tears poured down her face as her body tried to get the burning to stop. That’s just perfect, she thought, I can’t even do dishes anymore without hurting myself. No wonder they won’t let me go on a raid.
Two weeks had passed since she had qualified as a raider, but still, no one took her seriously. Would she ever get her chance?
“I don’t like doing dishes, either,” a male voice said, “but it surely ain’t worth crying over.”
Mio opened one eye a crack. Harry stood in front of her smiling warmly.
“It’s not the dishes,” Mio said; “I just splashed soap in my eyes.” Blinking rapidly, she finally cleared the soapy residue and was able to open her eyes again. She did her best to smile. “Not that I like doing dishes, because I don’t.”
Mio took a closer look at the man. Where he had been thin before, he was now gaunt and looked like he might fall over at any moment…and there was no chance of him surviving a stiff breeze. “Should you be up?” she asked.
“The medic said I could move around a little if I didn’t overextend myself,” Harry replied. “I wanted to come say thanks for saving my life.”
“Sure,” Mio said. “I was just trying to do my part like you told me to…although I ended up back here again, anyway.”
“I know it’s hard on you, but you shouldn’t get upset about being back on dish duty.”
“Oh, yeah?” Mio asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking up defiantly at the taller man. “Why not? I got qualified to raid, but I never get to go with the rest of the folks.”
“Because everyone needs to do what they can do to help the group. Most of our missions right now are scouting. What do you know about scouting?”
“Well, not much,” Mio admitted, looking at the ground.
“See? So let the people who know how to scout do the scouting, and you do what you know how to do, which is the dishes.”
“But that’s not fair!” Mio exclaimed. “Someone could train me to be a scout—I’m a fast learner—and then I could do that, too.”
“True…but you won’t have the experience of the professional trackers…just like they don’t have your experience with dishes.” Harry smiled. “I know it’s hard to be patient, but you never know who’s watching you or why.”
“What do you mean?” Mio asked, her brows knitting.
“I mean that our leaders need people who are disciplined. When you followed our group to the warehouse, you disobeyed an order to stay at the camp.”
He held up his hands to forestall the argument he saw coming. “Trust me, there’s no one happier than me that you did. If the stories are true, you saved my life not once, but twice. But—and here’s a big but—you violated orders. It turned out well, but it might not have. What if you’d been caught, then been forced to give away the location of the camp? Since no one knew you were at the warehouse, we wouldn’t have known the Terrans were coming and would have been unprepared when they attacked the camp.”
Harry sighed, then continued, “It wasn’t such a big deal then because you weren’t trained and didn’t know much, but now that you’re a qualified raider, people expect you to follow the rules.”
“What does that mean?”
“I suspect you’ve been put back on dish duty to see whether you’ll follow orders and do it, or whether you’ll disobey again and follow another patrol.”
“So I’m being tested?” Mio asked, a small smile on her face. “I may get to do more of the big things if I show I can follow the rules on the little things?”
“Exactly,” Harry said. “Don’t let it get you down. Show the leaders you can excel at any task they give you; do your best in all things, and you’ll move up…even if it might not be as fast as you’d like.” Harry met her eyes. “Can you
do that?”
“Yes, I can,” Mio said, attacking the dishes with a renewed vengeance. She had a hard time controlling her eyes; she wanted to look around and see who was watching her. “Thanks,” she added in a conspiratorial tone. “Thanks for explaining it to me.”
“My pleasure,” Harry replied. “It’s the least I could do. You really did save my life.”
“I don’t know about that,” Mio said, thinking back to that night. “The Terran trooper might not have killed you; he might have taken you back to their base instead.”
“If he’d taken me back, I’d certainly be dead now!” Harry exclaimed with a level of vehemence Mio had never heard from him before. He took a deep breath and blew it out, and his eyes took on a faraway look, as if watching something only he could see. After a couple of seconds, he shook his head. “Sorry, there’s no way you could have known.”
“Known what?”
“That I used to be a Terran trooper myself.”
Mio dropped the cup she was holding and jumped back in alarm. “You’re a Terran spy?” she asked loudly as the cup splashed into the soapy water.
“Easy, easy,” Harry replied, making a patting motion with his hands. “I’m not one now, nor did I ever want to be one. I grew up on a planet in the Terran Union, and all I ever wanted was to be a farmer.” He sighed. “That didn’t happen.”
“Why not?”
“The Terran Army showed up at the farm one day and said that I’d been drafted. They said they’d put my wife in jail and my daughter in an orphanage if I didn’t go with them. So I went to space and became a Terran Union missile tech.”
“You used to work on missiles?” Mio asked. “Like the ones they brought down to Adelaide to shoot down our ships?”
“Not quite like those,” Harry said. “It was some time ago, and I worked on an older system. This system replaced the one I used to work on, so it’s similar…but different.”
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