by AM Scott
And that’s what they’d be—space junk. Lightwave was in no position to fight any Galactica ship. All they could do was run. And he would run, even if it meant all the Sisters dying. The survival of his crew, his family, meant more to him than any of those women or even the little girls. He’d feel horrible about it later, but he’d make sure his crew escaped. It wouldn’t do any good to die with them, and that was the only possible outcome.
Grant turned to him, one eyebrow lifted. Ruhger nodded in return, and yelled, “Tyron, Katryn, let’s go. Discussion time.”
Tyron flung up a hand in acknowledgment, but Katryn didn’t. She was probably too angry to hear or see anything but the threat in front of her, one of her biggest weaknesses. Tyron countered her latest attack, then stepped back rather than engaging. Katryn came after him. “Katryn, hold!” he roared out. She ignored him and kept attacking. Tyron countered with a grappling move, taking her to the ground, enduring a hard hit to his inner thigh to avoid her kick at his nuts. Ruhger winced, along with Chief and Grant. If Katryn was going after Tyron’s balls, she was completely lost in rage. Ruhger put a hand on his stunner, ready to take her down.
Tyron flipped Katryn face down, lying across her, locking her legs and holding both wrists crossed behind her back, pulling them up behind her neck. She kept twisting, trying to throw him off. “Katryn, hold!” His words finally penetrated, because she stopped, collapsing below him. Releasing her arms, Tyron slid up her body, wrapping around her and twisting them both to the side, whispering in her ear. Ruhger smiled grimly and turned away, heading inside. He’d give them a little privacy now that she was back in her right mind.
Chief followed him in. “She really needs to control her temper. Getting lost in rage is counterproductive.” He slapped his wrench into his palm, over and over.
Ruhger huffed out an unamused laugh. “A little ironic, don’t you think, Chief?”
“Why do you think I work so hard to control myself, Ruhger?”
“Yes, but at least Katryn waited until we were safe. I’m pretty sure she’d hold it together under a real attack, unless Tyron was killed. Probably even then.” He looked out of the corner of his eyes at Chief. “I’m never sure when you’re going to fly out-orbit.”
Chief snorted, but didn’t say anything else. He knew Ruhger was right.
Sitting in the pilot’s chair, Ruhger spun it around, Chief doing the same in the co-pilot’s seat. Grant and Loreli sat in the observer chairs. It wasn’t long before Katryn and Tyron joined them. The dust of Gliese covered the floor, but Ruhger knew it would get worse before it got better.
Ruhger sighed. “So, that sucked like a giant black hole. I know we’re all going to be furious about this for a long time, but for now we need to put the anger behind us and figure out what we can do, and more importantly, what we’re willing to do. What I’m not willing to do is take on the Inquisitors directly in any way, shape or form. Agreed?” Looking at each of them individually, he wasn’t surprised by their nodding agreement. “At this point, I don’t want to defend the Sisters’ compound either. If they choose to stay and fight, they can do it on their own. I already said we’d get them off-planet. I hope you agree and I didn’t overstep my bounds as Captain. Thoughts?”
“I say we take the girls and get the suns out of here. Let the Sisters rot,” Katryn hissed.
Turning toward her, Tyron grabbed her shoulders and shook her once, hard. “Katryn, get over it. Start thinking. And if you can’t get past your anger, then shut up and let the rest of us plan.”
Katryn looked at him, shock clear on her face.
Ruhger was a little shocked himself. Tyron was usually conciliatory and careful with Katryn. For him to tell her so bluntly and publicly to shut up was way out of character. Ruhger considered Tyron. His face was cold, all business, but now that he looked, Ruhger could see the rare signs of intense anger. Step in or stay out?
Katryn’s eyes narrowed in fury, her fists balled and she rose out of her seat.
Guess he didn’t have a choice.
“Both of you, sit down and shut up. You’re both too angry to think.” They turned their glares on him, but Ruhger just stared back at them with as little emotion as possible. Without looking away from Tyron, he said, “Chief, you go first.”
Tyron sank back down, pulling Katryn down with him, and nodded once in agreement.
Chief waited until they were both in their seats, but the stranglehold he had on his wrench contradicted his calm. “I believe your offer is more than generous, probably too generous, but I hate to think of the fate of those girls if the Inquisitors get their hands on them. We should plan for evacuation and how to defend the compound during the evacuation. How many people do we need to take and how many can we actually accommodate? How many trips to Lightwave will it take? Where will we put them? How will we keep them fed and hydrated? What about sanitation? Where do they want to go? How many others from the planet will want to go? Can any of them pay us? Can we take anyone but the Sisters? Can we get help from Cygnus-Prime or Secundus?”
Ruhger held up a hand. “Yes, those are all good questions, but all I want to know right now is what you’re willing to do and not do. So, your vote is help evacuate, and defend during evac, correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Ruhger nodded at Chief, then turned to Grant. “Grant?”
Grant’s face was uncharacteristically blank. “I mostly agree with Chief. I’m a little iffy on defense of the compound. Depending on the final numbers, if we plan the evac carefully, leaving the adults to the end, then we shouldn’t have to defend anything but ourselves. We can rig the shuttle cargo holds for personnel, so we should be able to get everyone in a couple of trips with both shuttles or double that with one shuttle.” Grant nodded once, sharply, then his face morphed into a furious glare. “And if the Sisters still have a shuttle, they can get their leadership out at the very end and play rear guard. If the Klee-humpers get blown to bits, I’m not shedding any tears,” he said, biting off his words.
Ruhger just stared for a moment, shocked at Grant’s vehemence. Obviously the Phazeers weren’t the only ones struggling with extreme anger. Loreli reached out an arm and hugged Grant, but he shrugged her off. She looked at Grant, hurt clear on her face, then down at the floor. Loreli brought her head back up, looking at Ruhger with no expression at all, also unusual. He nodded for her to speak.
“I agree we should evacuate the Sisters. I agree that minimally defending them until we leave is necessary for our safety as well as theirs. Food and water will require careful rationing and depend on how far they want to go.” Loreli raised both hands palm up, a questioning look on her elaborately made-up face, her long lashes black with a red shine today. “We may need to purchase additional stores. We should charge them for purchases made on their behalf and their travel—they may not be able to pay now, but they need to own the debt.”
Ruhger nodded thoughtfully at her. “Good input. Thank you, Loreli.” He looked at Tyron. He was almost as blank-faced as Grant, which told him Tyron was furious, but holding it together for now. “Tyron?”
“Agreed. We need to find out where they want to go. I don’t think we should take them far. We also have an obligation to Ursuine to consider—we have to leave a shuttle bay empty for him, and we need to prioritize his next destination.”
“Excellent point, Tyron. Thank you. Katryn?” Her face was still incensed, but he needed her input. He could always cut her off again if necessary.
Katryn took in a deep breath, visibly trying to rein in her anger. “Agreed. We can test some of the older girls and younger Sisters as additional security personnel once they’re onboard. None of the Sisters’ leadership should be allowed to test, even if they want to.” Katryn’s brittle surface calm shattered. “Not even Lashtar. She could have told us what was going on and chose not to.” She spit out the words, clearly unable to maintain even a shred of sympathy.
“Katryn, that isn’t fair to Lashtar. S
he couldn’t go against Mother Ferra once the decision was made,” Chief said.
Ruhger turned to him, surprised. He’d been about to say the same thing, but for Chief to say it? That was unexpected. Interesting.
Katryn was clearly about to fire back, so Ruhger preempted her, raising both hands and his voice. “Enough,” he commanded. He waited for her to acknowledge him, then continued in a normal voice. “So, the consensus is we evacuate and defend during evacuation. That alone will be a big challenge. When Security Fold Transport first brought them here, there were only twenty-two women, they had two shuttles, and they brought supplies. I know at least one of those shuttles is gone, destroyed in the Security Fold massacre, and I don’t know what shape the other is in, if the Sisters still have it.”
Ruhger turned toward the co-pilot’s seat. “Chief, assuming the Sisters decide evacuation is the best course, you’ll coordinate with…Danile on finding out if their shuttle exists and getting it working if it needs maintenance.”
Turning back, he continued, “Loreli, you’ll work with Navarr on food and water. Grant, you’ll work with Ani on a personnel evac plan, including numbers and order, and where we’ll be billeting them on Lightwave. And how many billets we’ll have for the Havenites. Tyron and Katryn, you’ll work with Lashtar on defense during the evac.” He looked straight at Katryn. “I know you’re angry at her, but she’s got the most expertise.” Ruhger waited for her acknowledgement, then scanned the group as he spoke. “I will work with the new Mother, whoever that is, to coordinate the overall plan. If that is one of the Sisters I’ve already named, which is fairly likely, then you’ll work with whoever they name as a replacement.” Ruhger stared at Katryn. “If you can’t work with that person for whatever reason, let me know.” Katryn nodded once, sharply, her expression calming some. Good—she was back in some sort of control. “Now, we need to contact our current passengers and see how helpful or not they are willing to be. I think, if they’re willing to be helpful, we should offer a bonus fold after their contracted year is up. Any disagreement?” He looked at each of them—no one spoke up. “So, stand by.”
Turning to the shuttle main screens, he swept up the comms, selecting the addresses for the Scholar and the Al-Kindis’ shuttles, and sent a request for conference. The Scholar’s face appeared almost immediately, but the Al-Kindi shuttle didn’t reply. Perhaps they were on the far side of the world or in transit? There weren’t many comsats in orbit around Gliese. Or they could be in atmospheric reentry blackout.
“Thank you, Scholar Sessan, for joining us. Since we have a long-term contract with you, we need your input. As you heard, I offered to evacuate the Sisters. Depending on where they want to go, we may have to ask for some…concessions on your part during their transit. In exchange, we’re willing to offer you an additional fold after our contract is complete. What are your thoughts on the matter?”
The Scholar nodded slowly. “Well, I have no issue making concessions and an extra fold is acceptable compensation, depending on how long we’ll be transiting with all those additional women. That could be quite the challenge.” She gazed at him inquisitively, then continued, “I see the Al-Kindis haven’t joined us yet. His input was ‘leave, leave now,’ and beyond that I don’t know.”
“Are you willing to help with the evacuation to Lightwave, Scholar?”
Her pretty face twisted then smoothed. “Certainly. I don’t have much passenger room on my shuttle—it’s configured for living quarters—but if people are willing to sit on the floor, then we can use my cargo bay.” The Scholar shrugged. “If you have strapping, we can rig up some harnesses to secure them to the floor. There’s plenty of tie-down points under the plas.” She shrugged again. “My shuttle is configured oddly, Captain. It’s been used for many different research projects, so the interior isn’t standard.”
Al-Kindi appeared on the right side of the screen, Nari at his side. “Captain, Scholar Sessan told me about the threat on-world. The sooner we leave, the better. Although there are some very good possibilities here, they are just that: possibilities. With the Inquisitors, death is a certainty. We must leave immediately.”
“I agree, Gentle Al-Kindi. I will make you the same offer I made the Scholar. In return for an extra fold after your contract is complete, I ask your patience and consideration while we evacuate the Sisters of Cygnus, assuming they decide to go, and any of the other colonists we can fit onboard. Is that agreeable?”
Al-Kindi’s eyes narrowed while he spoke. “I don’t like the delay. Make it two folds. If there’s any sign of attack, we must leave immediately. Agreed?”
Ruhger stared back at him, considering. “If the Sisters want to go past Cygnus-Prime, or if there’s an attack during evac, then you’ll get two. We’re still going to evacuate everyone we can. Otherwise, one fold.”
Al-Kindi nodded sharply. “Done. It’s agreed.”
“One more request. Can you help with the evacuation?”
He shook his head. “I doubt it. Even accommodating Nari was a struggle with all my equipment.”
“Only for transport to Lightwave. They’d be billeted on Lightwave itself.”
Al-Kindi frowned. Nari whispered something in his ear and he turned a look of fond exasperation on her, then turned back to him with a resigned sigh. “My wife insists we can.” He turned and bent around Nari’s enveloping robes, clearly surveying his own shuttle, then turned back to him again. “I will get back to you, but I believe we could shuttle eight adults.” He frowned. “Perhaps a few more. Women and children only—I won’t expose Nari to strange men. Let me—” Nari tugged on his sleeve and he looked down at her, then turned back with another sigh “—us work on it and I will let you know.”
“Thank you, Gentles. Your help is appreciated. I believe we’ll be here through tomorrow evening at least. The townspeople are throwing a jamboree, a gathering with singing and a shared meal, and we’ve told the Sisters they need to tell the townspeople what they’ve discovered during or before the jamboree. It will probably turn into a town meeting instead. I plan to attend. If either of you would like to return to the Lightwave now, I can send one of our shuttles up with a couple of our people.”
“I definitely want to be off-world, Captain. Nari’s safety is paramount for me. I can leave her on Lightwave if you need me for the evacuations, and therefore, I’ll have an extra seat,” Al-Kindi said. Nari glared at him a bit, but he met her stare with calm resolution and she bowed her head.
The Scholar said, “I will stay, Captain. If something happens in the next day, I can take off quickly and maybe bring a few people with me. I’m assuming your Beta shuttle will be coming back down, so you can bring me harnesses for my tie-down points. And I can stow my living quarters, as much as I can, on or off-world, so I may as well save the fuel.”
“If either of you need to refuel for the evac runs, you can pull from Lightwave.”
They both nodded in acknowledgment. Ruhger said, “I don’t have anything else right now. Let me figure out who’s going up now, and I’ll get back to you with a takeoff time, Gentle Al-Kindi. Thank you.” He nodded. “Lightwave Alpha Shuttle out.”
He turned back to his crew. “Well, that’s good. Now, who’s going up? Loreli, I assume you need to survey our food and water stores, correct?” She nodded. “I need Chief here if the Sisters still have a shuttle. One of you—” he pointed at the Phazeers “—should go up. Grant, you can stay or go at this point. Once we actually get to the evacuation, Tyron will fly Beta, I’ll fly Alpha. Chief will command Lightwave and the operation. Katryn will be security and loading for me, Grant for Tyron. Loreli will stow personnel and supplies on Lightwave as each evacuee boards. If we’re attacked during the evac, Loreli, you’ll control some of Lightwave’s weapons.” Loreli nodded.
Grant said, “I need to go up, look at the cargo and see what we’ve got to make harnesses and how to rig the cargo bays and the rest of the Lightwave for passengers. I’ll task Ani with making a plan once I tel
l her how many we can take at a time.”
He’d noticed the Phazeers whispering while Grant was talking. Tyron said, “I’ll go up, Captain. It’s been a while since I flew pilot-in-command in combat. I need the practice. And I need to drill Grant and Loreli on Lightwave’s defenses and weapons before I come back down.”
“Excellent points, Tyron. Thank you.” Ruhger turned to Katryn. “You’ve had your venting time. Lock it down and save it for the defense, understood?”
“Yes, Captain.” Katryn’s face was still a study in fury, but she was thinking now, not just reacting.
Ruhger sighed. “Tyron, coordinate launch with Al-Kindi. Let us know when you’re locked on Lightwave and if there’s any issues. If you see any unidentified objects in orbit, let us know. We will return to Lightwave at the first sign of trouble, evacuation underway or not. We can’t take on Galactica; they’ll outgun us for sure. I’ll leave a message for Lashtar with our overall plan. Each of you leave net messages for your assigned contacts in the Sisters. If they want you to work with someone else, just go with it unless it’s someone you know doesn’t have the capability.” Ruhger checked the time. “I imagine they’ve finished their worship, meditation, whatever-thing, and are in the middle of yelling and screaming from the rank and file.” He chuckled a bit, but there still wasn’t anything funny about any of this. “I’d guess that will continue for another hour or so, then an hour for the Sisters to do real planning. That will give you enough time to leave atmosphere, maybe reach Lightwave. Holdouts?” Ruhger looked at each of them, but no one had anything to add. “Good. Shuttle Beta crew, get moving.”
“Ruhger, I’m heading back to the Sisters,” Chief said. “I’ll take the lift bike, my tools and my kit. If there’s a shuttle there, it should be easy to find. I’ll check it out and catch a few hours of sleep there. If there isn’t one there, I’ll come back.”
“Security?”
