Tom could tell the rest of the crew was wearing out, and he noticed Cedric trying to inch closer to Reeve, who was talking quietly with Commander Kan Shu. “How is he?”
“Kan? He has his mother’s instincts, but he’s still raw. His Academy grades were at the top of his class, but there are some things you don’t learn from books.” Rene smiled, and Tom remembered what had made him dote after her all those years ago.
Maybe it was the freshness of seeing Seda again, or the realization that he was over forty with no second thoughts of a wife and family, but Rene was making him wonder if there wasn’t still a spark left to explore.
“You’re right. Some things you must experience yourself,” he told her.
Rene glanced around the room, and Tom saw what she was doing: making sure no one was nearby and listening. She leaned closer and spoke softly. He strained to hear her. “We’re going to be heading into a serious battle, Baldwin. Maybe we should have a private strategy meeting.”
He raised his eyebrows, gazing at his half-full glass of Vina. He couldn’t. Not now. Not with Luci to protect in his suite. He pushed the drink away and stood, brushing crumbs off his pants and dropping the napkin on his plate. “I’d love to, but not tonight, Rene. Maybe… before we ship out.”
Tom saw the disappointment in her eyes, but it vanished quickly as she rose to join him. “Thank you for coming, everyone. I’m pleased you were able to attend, and strengthen our bond. We’re the first two of a new era of flagships, and together we’re going to make a difference, and strive to improve the Concord along the way.”
The executive crews from both ships were silent as she spoke, and they all raised glasses – some water, some empty – and Tom was glad to see everyone making an effort.
____________
“I don’t like them,” Brax told her. He wasn’t kidding either. His first impression of the captain was solid, and she had a way with words, but Brax also had heard about how reckless she was on missions, how she stuck her nose into business she didn’t need to, and how because of this, she’d been relegated to safer Border patrols over the last few years as commander of the Traveler.
“May I ask why?” Ven lifted his fork with his mind, and Brax stared at the floating utensil before replying.
“First off, you have a captain that’s never had a mission under her while wearing the red collar,” Brax said.
Ven’s fork lowered, and Brax followed it. “Captain Baldwin had never worn a red collar before Greblok.”
“Good point.”
“This was also my very first posting, much like the Callalay youth, and from what I gathered, he is very intelligent and analytical. A good combination,” Ven said.
Brax wanted to be annoyed with Ven’s commentary, but he was being truthful, and his assessment was logical and accurate. “What about Cedric? That guy is…”
“He has a decade of experience on executive crews and, from what I’ve read, is one of the Concord’s finest pilots,” Ven said, and Brax decided to stop trying to persuade the Ugna.
He opted to eat some of the breakfast on his plate and change the subject. “What are you doing while we’re on Earon?”
Ven seemed to pale, if possible, and Brax watched him closely as he replied. “I’m taking a couple of days to myself.”
“Is that so? Old flame? They seem to be popping up all around us,” Brax told him.
“Nothing so exciting, I’m afraid.” Ven continued eating, his gaze avoiding Brax’s.
He didn’t have to be a mind-reader to know something was off with his crewmate. “Do you want to discuss it?” Brax asked.
“No. I would rather not. What about you? What are you doing on the human world?”
Brax searched the mess hall and saw his sister eating with Harry near the exit. “We’re going to check out the lead on Curator Peters. He traveled to Aris during the fumigation at the archives, and we have reason to believe there might be a group of the Assembly hiding on the planet.”
“Be cautious,” Ven warned, and Brax told him he would. “We depart soon. Join me on the bridge?”
Brax drank the last of his lukewarm beverage and rose, heading to their shift with a bounce in his step. He was anxious to see what they’d find at Aris, and he was also glad Treena was going to join him on the endeavor, even though she claimed to need a day first.
That was fine with him. Aris was a coastal city, and Brax could use a day in the sun with the water lapping on the beach. He was looking forward to that part of the trip. From what he’d discerned, they were going to be leaving for their mission in less than a week, as long as the device from Leria was functioning properly. According to Reeve, it would work as planned, and he never bet against his sister’s assessments.
The bridge was a bustle of activity as Constantine prepared for departure from Earon. The last two days had been a whirlwind of tasks, meetings, interviews, and dining, and they’d left him exhausted. It was a good thing the trek from the station to the planet at localized speeds would only take an hour or so.
Shu was remaining at the station, and they were to return as soon as their business on the Founders’ home planet was completed.
The previous shift crew stood, allowing Brax and Ven to relieve them, and Treena smiled at Brax as he settled at the left edge of the bridge at his console. Reeve was nowhere to be seen, but she’d likely stay below deck with her Star Drive. It was hard on the best of days to separate the two of them, and today seemed to be no exception. Brax hoped she’d make time to head to the surface while they were at Earon, but he doubted she would once Zolin and Yephion arrived.
Captain Baldwin strode onto the bridge, looking like he’d had a long night, even though he’d returned from the dinner at the same time as them. The man had a lot on his mind and had probably had a restless sleep. Brax was glad to have the ability to sleep soundly under most circumstances.
“If everyone is here and accounted for, let’s begin our disconnection with the docking bay,” Baldwin said, taking his seat.
“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Darl said from beside Ven. “Releasing the clamps now.”
The ship shook ever so slightly and began to drift from the outstretched arms of the dock. Through the viewer, Brax saw Shu lingering in place as Ven backed them away from the station at a very slow pace. Once they were clear of the security drones that circled around the region from all angles, the thrusters were activated, sending their cruise ship toward their destination.
Brax sent off probes, using advanced technology to detect any remnants of dangerous materials or hidden vessels. Earon reminded him of Leria in the simplicity of its orbit. On Nolix, a transport freighter might wait an hour for clearance and a lane to enter orbit, due to the high-volume traffic.
Here, most of the business was done with the station acting as the intermediary. The closer you flew to the planet, the fewer spacecraft were nearby.
Earon was a recent colony, at least compared to the other Founders. Humans had begun settling it a few hundred years ago, and though there were huge cities like Aris and Tauros, there were a lot of spread-out villages and smaller communities. It was one of the draws for retired Concord fleet members to settle there. In the early years, Tekol would always retire on Nolix or the Zilph’i on Leria, but as time passed, more and more would seek varying homes among the other Founders.
Brax had no idea where he wanted to plant roots once his time was done, but at the rate he was going, he didn’t expect to live to the ripe age of retirement.
“Ease us in,” Treena said, and Brax realized he’d been staring at the screen for the last twenty minutes, his gaze idly running over reports from the probes, displaying nothing out of the ordinary.
The image of the planet below was beautiful, and he gawked at it from their current position. There was thick cloud cover along the magnetic poles, clear skies between, and a massive body of water separated two nearly identical continents. The Twins. He and Reeve had always wanted to visit them, and he to
ok a screenshot, shooting a copy to his sister in the boiler room, knowing she’d get a kick out of the inside joke.
Aris was along the east coast of the warmer Twin continent, and the capital, Tauros, was on the west coast of the other. They were at equal latitude, with over a thousand kilometers of ocean between them.
Ven moved them to orbit, far enough away so that they moved in pace with the rotation of the planet below.
The viewer buzzed, and Ven put through an incoming message from Tauros.
Tess Longshade appeared, a genuine-looking smile on her face. She wore a white robe over a Concord uniform, and spoke with an unplaceable accent. “Hello, Constantine. I hope your journey was peaceful.”
Thomas stood in the center of the bridge, addressing the human leader. “Yes, Chairwoman Longshade.”
“Please, Tess will do. Feel free to use your shuttles to venture onto Earon. We have approved all of your crew’s ID tags for entrance, so they have nothing to fear while on the surface. I look forward to our meeting today, Thomas,” Tess said.
“As do I. Thank you for the welcome,” the captain said, and the screen flashed, once again showing the image of the planet below.
Captain Baldwin clapped his hands together. “This is it, people. We’re going to be heading away soon enough, and some of you have important tasks to complete before we rendezvous with the Ugna fleet and Shu. Please, stay vigilant while on the surface.” He glanced at Brax, implying he was concerned about his operation to track down the Assembly cell.
Brax rose along with everyone else and headed to his quarters to gather his pack.
____________
The shuttle landed, and Ven was glad when the doors opened, letting fresh air inside. The space had been cramped, with over fifty of their crew opting to use their time to explore Zealand. The city was constructed along the coast of a tiny continent within the southern hemisphere, known for great food and idyllic temperatures.
Ven was there for another reason. Elder Hamesly had sent that message privately for a reason, and even thought the Ugna had shown some of their cards to the Concord, Ven suspected many secrets stayed hidden away.
When Baldwin had asked him what he was doing, Ven had only mentioned a private meeting with an old acquaintance. The intelligence in the captain’s eyes expressed that he understood it was related to Ugna business, and he hadn’t pressed any further.
Ven had never been to the human planet before, but he’d studied it as he’d studied each of the Founders’ history in the Academy. The race was the last to join the Founders, and Ven wondered if the humans ever truly felt at home on this colony planet, having left theirs behind, living in various settlements before determining Earon as their final landing spot.
Ven watched the crew members teaming up, walking away from the shuttle to smaller hovering transports, and he felt a stab of loneliness. It seemed everyone here had at least one other person with them, and he was once again relegated to solitude.
He’d felt different since his rebirth, staying in his quarters, meditating on his life, so he hadn’t done anything to help his isolation. But he did have friends now and considered Brax and Baldwin, along with the others, to be his new family, and that felt good to think of.
Ven slung his pack over his shoulder and searched the hovering vehicles for one heading to the Temple of Sol, but saw none labeled as such.
“Whatcha after, fella?” an older man asked. He chewed on something, his teeth covered in a brown liquid.
“I seek the Temple of Sol.”
“One of those nutballs.” The man looked Ven up and down, a sneer on his lip. “Shoulda figured. You’re gonna want the number nineteen. It’ll take you a couple blocks from there. Once off, you’ll have no trouble finding it.”
“Thank you,” Ven said, hurrying toward the parking lot. Some of the vehicles were already leaving, and he spotted the one labeled with the proper numbers on the side. The thrusters hummed and glowed yellow, indicating it was leaving, and Ven chased after it before it took flight.
The door opened, and a woman’s smiling face greeted him. “Welcome.”
He climbed on board, seeing no others from Constantine among the ten or so people inside. The transport lurched, propelling Ven into a seat, and it rose from the ground. It was midday, the sky bright. He stared out the window as they traveled a hundred meters above the surface, riding along the white-sand coastline toward their destination.
It only took twenty minutes, and they settled, the doors springing open. He said his thanks and exited, peering around for the temple. The obnoxious man had said it would be easy to spot, and when the hovering vehicle shut the doors and took off, the brightly glowing orb on the roof spire came into view.
This was it. With renewed energy, Ven hurried toward the temple, eager to find Elder Hamesly. The streets were quiet here, the roads paved and well-kept. He strode along the clean sidewalks, past rows of two-story residences with balconies facing the water. He’d been so enthralled with finding the temple that he’d forgotten how close they were to the ocean. Ven had grown up in the middle of a jungle, isolated from bodies of water greater than a river, and he was drawn to the sounds and smell of it now.
He diverted his path and moved to the sound of crashing waves, delighted to see people playing along the beach. This was where all the locals were. Children ran in the water, giggling and shouting as currents tickled their legs. He spotted some hovering craft in the distance, hanging directly over the water a short way out.
“Do not be distracted from your purpose, Ven,” he whispered to himself, and turned to walk the remaining block to the temple.
The entrance was grand, the doors ten feet tall, double wide atop the flight of steps that led into the main room.
“Can we help you?” a thin youth asked. He wore a white vest, a logo of a burning star on his chest.
“I seek the Elder,” Ven told him, and the boy’s lips sealed as he nodded quickly.
“You must mean the Father. Come with me.”
Ven followed the boy through the rows of seating, which all faced the podium and stage where someone likely preached their religious beliefs to a congregation. At this point, the temple was all but empty, and Ven was glad that was the case.
They found offices in the rear of the building, the door frames carved from a light wood that Ven expected to be from a local tree. It smelled hearty in here, like soil and vegetation somehow, and when his young guide knocked on the door, it opened in a hurry.
The man that greeted Ven was familiar, but a far cry from the Elder he’d known as a child.
“Welcome, Ven Ittix. It is wonderful to see you again.” Elder Hamesly reached toward him with hands too dark to be Ugna.
“What have you done?” Ven asked, appalled as he peered into eyes that were no longer red, but green.
Twelve
Smuggling the girl to the surface had been a challenge, but they’d somehow managed to do it. Treena and the captain waited until most of the crew had departed, leaving behind only enough people to maintain the ship for a few days.
Once the coast was clear, they’d brought Luci to the last remaining shuttle, and Tom piloted it while Treena sent a communication to her mother’s home. She didn’t respond, and Treena was anxious about surprising her with the news.
“What do you think?” the captain asked from the front seat. “Do we drop by now?”
Treena glanced at Luci, who was staring with wonder out the side windows at Treena’s old hometown below. They were in the middle of nowhere, farther from the coast and the warmth of the lower metropolises. When the world had been settled, they’d found the wood of this region to be the strongest and most durable to use among the salty coastal cities, driving a settlement to this area.
Treena had loved growing up here in Riverton, and happily gazed out the window at the tree coverage of the quaint logging village. In the distance, she looked at the deforestation regions, bereft of vegetation. Out the other window, sh
e saw a region that had been logged some time ago, the trees far beyond saplings and gaining strong roots.
“I can see where the name comes from,” Tom told her as they moved overtop the river that dissected their village in half. A long bridge crossed the bustling expanse of water, allowing foot traffic to traverse it with ease. She noticed a few people walking across it, strolling the cool morning away.
It was always chilly here in the north. When she was a young girl, she’d dreamed of living along the coast, feeling the sun on her face as she sat on a pier; but now, she found herself longing for this kind of quiet existence instead.
Treena wondered if the Concord would allow her to keep this artificial body if she left their ranks. That was at least a few years away, and she pressed the concerning thought from her mind.
“Keep going, and bank right after the town’s last store,” she said, remembering all the times she and her friends would hang out at the local restaurant, eating too much food and listening to live music on weekends.
The trip was quick, the town so much smaller than she’d thought it as a kid. Tom lowered the shuttle to the edge of her mother’s property and sent the door wide open. Luci’s face showed her trepidation, and Treena reached for her hand.
“This is where I grew up, Luci.”
“It is?” Luci asked, seeming to warm up to the idea of disembarking the ship.
“That’s right. See that house? That’s where my mother lives. My room was on the right. That’s my window.” Treena held the girl’s hand and directed her outside. The air had a chill, and she urged Luci toward the house.
“Should I come in?” Baldwin asked, and Treena laughed.
“Why wouldn’t you? This might actually go better with you by my side.”
“Why are we here?” Luci asked.
Neither of them answered the girl, and Treena wondered where her mother was. Karen’s vehicle was gone, but the yard was immaculate; sturdy yellow flowers lined the walkway up to the ranch-style house. It was built with the very wood they were famous for, and Treena saw that her mother had painted the shutters recently. Compared to their environment on Concord, the village felt so antiquated, but the people here had opted for the historical charm of their heritage. She had no idea where the influence originated, because Treena had never seen the style anywhere else.
Baldwin's Legacy: The Complete Series Page 70
