Cassandra's Challenge

by M. K. Eidem

  “Should be here any minute.”

  William looks at the clock, picks up his headset calling Hutu. “I’m going to be late, go ahead and deliver it though. I’ll call when I want mine.” The Admiral listens. “That would be fine.” He hangs up.

  Quinn looks at him. “Dinner plans?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Look Will, we go back a long way.” He voice is low.

  The Admiral looks at him. “What’s up Quinn?”

  “That’s what I want to know. There’s been some thing going on with you ever since Earth.”

  William stares at his friend and second in command. They’d been through many a battle together but he isn’t ready to share Cassandra with him yet.

  “Nothing I’m ready to discuss with you.”

  “You’re having meals in your quarters.”

  “I’ve always had meals in my quarters.”

  “Usually for one.”

  “My business Colonel.” The Admiral’s eyes go hard.

  “Yes sir.” Quinn lets it drop as the Regulian translation is delivered. It’s short and to the point.

  “No agreement until no light.”

  “That’s it?” Quinn asks.

  “That’s it. Whoever the traitor is knew we were going to be attacked. Knows we were able to repel it. They have access to our reports at command.”

  “That’s not possible, that would make it…”

  “Someone very high up, someone with a lot to lose.” William finishes. Looking at Quinn he makes a decision, opening a drawer he hands him the report he’d written up on everything he’d learned last night. “That’s why I didn’t send this to command.” Leaning back in his chair he waits.

  Quinn’s face reveals nothing as he reads the report. “You trust this information?”

  “Yes.”

  “It would explain the Regulian attack. But why would they want the child?”

  “Victoria.”

  “What?”

  “Her name is Victoria, she’s nine, extremely smart, and has been through hell.”

  “Ok so why Victoria? What makes her so special?” Quinn asks.

  “It has something to do with this light. It’s a threat to someone.” The Admiral looks at the clock he’ll only be an hour late.

  “Tell communications I want to know as soon as they receive the reply to this.” He holds out his hand for the report. “This stays between us for now Quinn. There’s something big going on. I want this traitor.” Leaving the bridge he heads for his quarters.

  Cassandra raises her head from the book she’s reading at the buzzing at the hatch. Victoria looks at her. They hadn’t discussed if she should answer his door. There are lots of things they hadn’t discussed. Getting up she goes into the ready room. The buzzing sounds again.

  “Mam, it’s Hutu with dinner.” Cassandra opens the door.

  “Hello.” Hutu greets her carrying two covered plates on a tray, he waits while she secures the door. “The Admiral asked me to inform you he is going to be late and to not wait on him. Can I take this back to his quarters?”

  “Yes, thank you Hutu.”

  “It’s nothing, hello there little one how are you today?”

  “Good finishing my homework. Is it cnaipini sicin again?” She asks in a hopeful voice.

  Hutu takes a cover off, “It certainly is, by the Admiral’s request.”

  “Yes!” Victoria says with a fist pump. Cassandra smiles at Hutu.

  “You’ve made her night. Thank you.”

  “Anytime, I’ll secure the door on the way out. Have a good night.” Cassandra waits until see hears the locks secure then turns to Tori.

  “So should we eat?” Sitting down Cassandra takes the cover off her plate, smiling that hers was the something she recognized. William has thought of both of them.

  “Hey you’ve got Ranch!” Tori exclaims as she reaches for the small bowl on Cassandra’s plate. There hadn’t been one last night. Quickly dipping her nugget into it she takes a bite.

  “Don’t you think you should ask first?” Cassandra laughs at her, Victoria used to dip everything in Ranch. Tori just grins then makes a nasty face.

  “What?” Cassandra asks. Swallowing Tori shoves the bowl back at Cassandra.

  “That’s not Ranch! It’s really nasty!” Tori lets go of the bowl reaching for her glass before Cassandra can grab it. As it falls it flips over splattering across the table.

  “Tori!”

  “Sorry Aunt Cassie,” Tori says still drinking her water. “But that was bad!” Getting a towel Cassandra cleans up the spill.

  “Let’s see if we can eat without any more spills what do you say?”

  Eating Cassandra looks at the time 1830, she wonders how long William would be, if they should stay. Looking at Tori she sees she’s cleaned her plate.

  “That was fast. Did you even chew?”

  Tori grins at her. “It was good.”

  “You know I talked to Amina’s mom today. She says the food on Deck F is much better than on G. Want to try that tomorrow?”

  “Sure.”

  “Alright we’ll try it. Do you want some of mine?” She gestures to her plate.

  “No, I’m full.”

  “Ok let’s clean up these dishes then I want to talk to you about something.”

  “Okay.” Once the table is cleared Cassandra sits on the couch facing Tori.

  “You know how you said last night that you could hear voices but didn’t know what they were saying?”

  “Yes.” Tori whispers.

  “What if there was a way for you to understand them?”

  “What?” Her eyes widen.

  “Well I was thinking. You are so good at learning other languages, how many do you speak now?” She waits knowing the answer.

  “Nine.”

  “That’s right nine, how about if you learn a new one?”

  “What one?”

  “Regulian.” Tori just looks at her.

  “You know lots of languages.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t hear what you did. Do you want to know what they were saying?”

  “What if it’s bad?”

  “Then you’d at least know, but Tori what if not? What if they were saying something that they didn’t want you to know? If you know it, then it would be like beating them.” Cassandra watches Tori think.

  “So it would be like me finding out secrets they didn’t want me to know?” Her eyes take on a fierce look.

  “Yes.”

  “How do I learn Regulian?”

  “I’ll ask the Admiral.” Cassandra starts to get up when Tori stops her.

  “Aunt Cassie… I don’t feel good.”

  Cassandra starts to laugh then really looks at her. She’s starting to look green. Grabbing her she makes to the bathroom just in time.

  “Oh baby, you shouldn’t have eaten so fast.” She holds her forehead as another spasm hits her, stronger then the last, getting a wash cloth to wipe her sweaty brow.

  “Aunt Cassie, make it stop.” She pleads as she’s racked by another spasm. Cassandra’s beginning to realize this isn’t eating too fast. Something is wrong.

  “Come on baby, we’re going to get you some help.” Lifting the now limp child she rushes out of the bathroom straight into William.

  “What’s going on?” He looks into Cassandra’s frantic eyes, then down to Victoria.

  “She’s sick. All of a sudden, she just started throwing up.” William takes the unconscious Tori from her and can immediately tell there’s something seriously wrong.

  “Get the hatch! We’re taking her to medical.”

  Dr Bliant is just getting ready to leave medical when the Admiral bursts into the room, carrying a very pale limp child.

  “Put her over here. What happened!” He immediately demands.

  “We don’t know.” William replies.

  “How long has she been like this?” He looks at Cassandra.

  “She started vomiting maybe fifteen mi
nutes ago, she was fine before. We’d just finish eating.”

  “What’d she eat?” He demands.

  “Cnaipini sicin, some water.”

  “Nothing else?”

  “No! Wait, there was some type of side sauce on my plate, she thought it was ranch tried it and thought it was nasty.”

  “How much did she ingest?”

  “She dipped part of a nugget in it, ate that bite, that’s all.” William goes very still beside her.

  “Did you have any?”

  “Me? No. Tori spilled it giving it back. I just cleaned it up.”

  “Where did you put it?” William demands.

  Cassandra looks up at him, “I cleaned it up with a towel from the counter then put it on the food tray. Why?”

  “Stay here.” He looks at Bliant

  Cassandra watches William leave, her mind trying to catch up. Bliant starts hooking all sorts of machines up to Victoria.

  “This isn’t just food poisoning is it?”

  “It’s some type of poison. I need to find out what!” As Bliant leaves to get more equipment Cassandra moves to Tori’s side picking up her hand, leaning down to kiss her forehead whispering.

  “You hang on Victoria Lynn, I’m here, I’m not leaving, fight!” Bliant returns moving to the other side of the bed.

  “You should wait outside.” He tells her.

  “You and what army is going to make me?” She replies in a lethal voice, causing Bliant to look at her. What he sees in her eyes gives him pause. There’s anguish and fear, but also steel. He’d seen enough in his cycles of medicine to know who would stand and who would crumble in a crisis, she would stand.

  “Fine.”

  William returns with the clear bag containing the towel and remaining sauce. Bliant immediately takes it to analyze. Cassandra’s still at Tori’s side holding her hand. She looks at William but doesn’t speak.

  The look in Cassandra’s eyes tightens William’s throat. He knows there is nothing he can do for her right now.

  “It’s Xyphrine! At about 1000 times the lethal limit!” He states as he rushes to Tori’s arm giving her an injection.

  “Xyphrine.” William repeats looking first at Tori, then Cassandra. While Cassandra didn’t know what Xyphrine is she can tell by William’s eyes it isn’t good.

  “That’s the antidote?” She finally asks Bliant.

  “Yes, if we’re in time.” She looks at him.

  “Tell me.” She demands looking at Victoria so still on the bed. Bliant looks to the Admiral who nods.

  “Xyphrine is a level D drug,” He starts but at Cassandra’s furious look stops. “It’s a nasty drug. At low dosages it helps with some attachment issues but at these levels… It’s fast acting when ingested, causing seizures, coma and death.”

  “She didn’t have any seizures. Within 15 minutes of eating she was vomiting. There couldn’t have been much absorbed for the little amount she had.”

  Bliant looks at her. “That maybe, but she’s also little.”

  “When will you know?” Cassandra forces herself to ask.

  “Know?”

  Cassandra takes a deep breath looking up at him. “If the antidotes working.” William walks up behind her putting a hand at her lower back.

  “I honestly don’t know. As little as she is and with such a high concentration, I gave her a double the amount of antidote to try and compensate, but I truly don’t know.” Bliant leaves them alone.

  William pulls a chair to the side of the bed. “Sit.” He tells her putting his hands on her shoulders to ease her down.

  “Who would do this William?” She asks still looking at Tori’s face. “Who would do this to a child?” William realizes she hasn’t thought it through. The dish was on her plate not Tori’s.

  “I don’t know but I’ll find out. I promise.” Cassandra lifts a hand to squeeze his. William leans down kissing the top of her head. They wait. Dr. Bliant is in and out several times checking the machines. Tori doesn’t move.

  “Admiral,” Colonel Quinn draws his attention. He’d been standing in the doorway long enough to observe his longtime friend with the woman from Earth. There is some type of connection there. It would explain the Admiral’s behavior over the last few weeks. “Interviews have been completed.”

  “Report.” Quinn looks at Cassandra.

  “She has the right to hear it.”

  “Yes sir. As ordered all kitchen personal were interviewed to see who had access to the plates of food. It was narrowed down to four with only one having the opportunity to poison the sauce. Hutu sir.”

  “That ridiculous.” Cassandra replies flatly before William can.

  “Excuse me?” Quinn replies in a sharp voice.

  “Hutu would never hurt Victoria. You need to do a better investigation if that’s all you can come up with.” Cassandra’s eyes clashed with Quinn’s.

  “Who do...” Quinn starts only to have the Admiral cut him off.

  “Enough! Both of you,” William looks at Quinn. “She’s right. Hutu wouldn’t do this. Not to Victoria, not anyone. Something’s been missed.”

  “Would you like to re-interview yourself Admiral?” Quinn says stiffly.

  “Maybe, I know I want to talk to Hutu.” He looks down at Cassandra. “I’ll be out in a minute Quinn.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Cassandra, I need to leave for awhile.”

  “I know. It’s okay.” She stands, turning to William, still holding Tori’s hand with one of hers. Reaching up she touches his cheek.

  “Time to be the Admiral, we’ll be fine.” William leans down to kiss her gently.

  “There will be a guard posted at the door. No one gets in.” She nods.

  “William,” Cassandra takes a deep breath. “You need to let Lucas know.” He realizes he’s forgotten all about his son and his connection to Tori.

  “I’ll let him know.”

  “Ok.” Sitting back down, she gives all her attention all her strength to Tori.

  Neither man says a word as they walk the corridors of the Retribution to the Admiral’s quarters. Once inside William goes to his comm center.

  “Close the door. Communications I need to locate LT Lucas Zafar immediately! I’ll hold while he’s located.” The Admiral impatiently taps his thumb on his desk as he waits.

  “Zafar here,” Lucas comes on the line.

  “Where are you?”

  “Dad? I’m on G Deck. What’s happened?”

  “Get to medical, Victoria’s been poisoned with Xyphrine. Cassandra’s there. It’s not looking good Lucas.” William needs to prepare his son.

  “What!” William can hear the break in his son’s voice.

  “Lucas, keep it together. You’re no help to either of them otherwise.”

  “Yes sir.” Lucas disconnects. Quinn waits until the Admiral puts down his headset.

  “What the fuck is going on here, Will! Planetary destruction, Regulian threads, traitors in Carina. Now poisoning a child? Then there’s you cozying up with some woman while we’re on tour!

  “Be careful Quinn, be very careful.” William’s voice reveals his barely contained fury.

  “Shit, it’s not like she’s your life mate or…” Quinn trails off. “Is she? No she can’t be she’s not from Carina.”

  “Is there some rule about that?” Will raises an eyebrow.

  “Well no but…Will…You’re sure?” William just looks at Quinn. “Of course, you’re sure. You wouldn’t have gotten involved on tour otherwise. What a mess.” He sits down. William reaches down into the same drawer his son had the night before and pulls out two glasses and the bottle. Pouring he hands one to Quinn.

  “What are you going to do?” Quinn asks taking a sip.

  “I’m going to protect what’s mine while finding out who’s betraying the Coalition.

  “You realize they’re part of it. The thread was in Victoria. She’s been poisoned.”

  “I don’t believe the poison was meant fo
r Victoria, and once Cassandra’s head clears she won’t either.” William takes a drink.

  “She’s the target? Why?”

  “I don’t know but she’s right Quinn. Hutu wouldn’t hurt Victoria. He has a soft spot for her.”

  “And Cassandra?”

  “He has no reason. There is a reason for this.” It pisses him off that he can’t see it.

  “Your instincts are rarely wrong Will, but are you too involved this time?”

  “I’m fully involved Quinn. That’s going to be my advantage.”

  “Okay, can I see your report again?”

  “What are you sniffing?” William asks pulling the original out of a drawer.

  “Something’s been bothering me.” Quinn scans the report. “Here, if we assume this Glitter Man who she says is really big, is Carinian, why not just take her then?” It’s a thought that has crossed William’s mind before. He doesn’t like his conclusion.

  “What if they weren’t sure, if they were waiting to see?” William poses the question.

  “Weren’t sure they needed her, or that she was the one they wanted?”

  “Maybe both, but there is something there, Cassandra says grandmother was abducted when she was young. She described them, they were Regulian.”

  “Two in one family?” Quinn questions.

  “Yeah, I know. One Regulian, one Carinian.” It seems farfetched, but William believes Cassandra.

  “Quinn, I need you to find out what happened here tonight. I know it wasn’t Hutu. Same as I know it wasn’t you.”

  “Okay, I’ll dig further.” Quinn raises an eyebrow. “Why aren’t you spearheading this?”

  “Because if I’m right, someone just tried to kill my life mate, if I get to them first…” William trails off as Quinn watches the rage in his friend’s and Admiral’s eyes.

  “Understood, you don’t think she realizes it yet?” He asks.

  “No, if she did she’d be racking herself with guilt.” William picks up he’s headset. “Hutu, report to my ready room.”

  The friends’ finish they’re drinks in silence. Quinn opens the hatch at Hutu’s knock. Hutu stands in front of the Admiral’s desk.

  “Sir, how is she?” His voice is urgent.

  “Stable for now.” The Admiral gives him a hard look. “Did you put the bowl of sauce on the plate Hutu?”