Voyage of the Valkyrie

by Robert Horseman

  “You sound confident, but I want medical cuffs ready anyway,” said Mac, “just in case something goes wrong.”

  Cale said, “There should be a stash in the bay’s medical locker. I’ll be right back.”

  “Thanks.”

  As Cale strode away, Mac looked around the cavernous bay, found the Captain, and walked over. “Captain Horne?”

  He looked up into her face, but there was no sign of recognition this time in his slack demeanor. Perhaps the nanite’s drug cocktail was at a higher concentration in his system now. She hoped that was the case. The alternative was unthinkable. “Come with me please, Sir. We’re going to help you now.” She took his hand and led him to the middle of the floor.

  Cale returned with a half dozen medical cuffs, which he placed on a cart next to Rae’s eradication unit. He stared at the device, then back up at Mac. “Mac, I know you could order me to do the deed, but there’s no way I’m pointing that thing at anybody.”

  Mac stepped over to the cart to get her first look at it, and flinched. Rae had been telling the unvarnished truth about adapting a pulse rifle design. It still looked exactly like one.

  She swore under her breath. “Rae, did you have to make it look like a pulse rifle?”

  “It was convenient.”

  “Right, I’m sure it was.” She hefted it, and found that it was perhaps thirty percent lighter than a standard pulse rifle. That didn’t make her feel any less like an executioner though. “I’ll do it. I can’t ask either of you to do something I wouldn’t do myself. Rae, please scan the Captain for any metals.”

  Rae turned toward the Captain and extended a thin sensor arm in his direction. “No metals, all clear.”

  “Cale, be ready with the cuff. I want it on him the moment I’m done.”

  “I’m ready.”

  “I wish I was. Okay, here goes.” Following Rae’s instructions, she aimed just above the Captain’s head, took a calming breath, and pulled the trigger. The Captain winced, but when nothing happened he relaxed and Mac released the trigger.

  “It’s not working.”

  “Yes, it is,” said Rae. “When a standard pulse rifle is fired, you see the plasma. The magnetic aiming field is invisible.”

  The constriction in Mac’s chest relaxed a bit at that news, and she took aim once again. She depressed the trigger, and walked it down the Captain’s body. “Rae, can you detect any nanites?”

  “I am detecting a small residual field. I suggest one more treatment.”

  Mac sighed, and repeated the procedure. “How about now?”

  “No readings above my detection threshold. I recommend going slower with the next crewmember.”

  “Right. Get in there, Cale. Make sure he’s okay.”

  Cale had the cuff around the Captain’s arm in a moment, and peered at the readouts. “He looks normal, aside from the nanites’ drugs.”

  Mac breathed a sigh of relief. She was pretty sure the Hippocratic Oath still taken by medical doctors said something about doing no harm, and even though she wasn’t a doctor, she had been petrified of harming the Captain. Over the next three hours, they treated all the crewmembers without implants, put the others in stasis sleep, and returned them all to their staterooms.

  Chapter 22, Homeward Bound

  “Cale, I’m sure this is obvious, but they are all going to be reviving at about the same time. Unless I miss my guess, they’ll feel hung-over and none too happy about it. Let’s lay low with the crew at first, at least until I have a chance to brief the Captain. Rae is going to alert me when the Captain recovers, and I’ve left an alert on his pad to contact me. I’m sure he’ll have a million questions, and I want to give him a briefing before he dives into the logs.”

  They were sitting in their navigation seats on the bridge, both with their feet up on the com panel. Mac sighed and took hers down. “This brings an end to our recent leisurely attitudes, Ensign Davis. I won’t tell if you don’t.”

  He sighed as he also took his feet down. “Tell what, Ma’am?”

  “Good answer. Whatever happens, Cale, I’m not going to hang you out to dry for any of it. You were following my orders, and did a fine job at that. Using the mining drones was all my idea, and I was the one who told you about Rae’s true origins. Keep all that information to yourself, by the way, unless it comes up at a board of inquiry. You also saved my life on the first platform, and that’s not something I’m likely to forget anytime soon. If it becomes necessary, I’ll make sure the powers that be know that.”

  “I never thought any different, Mac. Do you want me there? When you go to the Captain, I mean?”

  She pursed her lips. “Thanks, but this is something I have to do alone. I am going to miss our little partnership, though.”

  “It’s not over, is it?”

  “I feel a black hole coming. I hope I’m wrong, but we may never see each other again after we get back to Serenity. Hell, the Captain could confine me to quarters for the rest of the trip. He’s done it before.”

  “Don’t forget that the entire crew owes you their lives, Mac, the Captain included.”

  “That may be true, but they may never be told, and good wishes do nothing to mitigate violated regulations.”

  He stood and offered Mac his hand. “We have a few hours left, right? Shall we make the most of it?”

  Her heart began to pound as her Synesthesia painted him violet. She smiled, stood, and took his hand. “Definitely. Where are we going?”

  “There’s this little spot in the forward sensor suite where there’s a terrific outside view. There’s not much headroom, but we won’t need any.”

  She put an arm around his waist. “Sounds perfect. Lead on.”

  ***

  Mac tossed and turned, her dreams a wild assortment of disturbing images. A stealth-suited Cale bouncing off a platform as she tried desperately to grab for him. A chime from her audio implant brought her gasping to wakefulness. She sat on her bunk for several minutes, processing the fragments of the dream. Like most dreams, though, the more she tried to remember the further it slipped away, leaving the vague feeling of personal loss behind.

  She put her head in her hands. A feeling of dread had come over her, dread of the hours, days and weeks to come. There was nothing she regretted doing, and would do it all again to save the crew regardless of the consequences. Still, she had worked for years to get to her current position, lowly as it might be, and shuddered at the thought of losing it all.

  “Mac?” said Rae through her implant. “The Captain is reviving, and is currently dressing. You might try bringing him a breakfast tray. I can have it ready for you by the time you get up to the B-deck officer’s mess.”

  “Good idea. Make it a breakfast for two. I’m starving. You know what we both like?”

  “Of course.”

  “Give me ten minutes.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  She looked at the wall clock. It had been twenty-two hours and change since the treatment, so it wasn’t just the Captain coming around, although as the first one treated it made sense that he would be one of the earliest. She hurriedly dressed, pulled a brush through her tangled hair, and grimaced at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Dark circles under her eyes attested to the challenges of the past few days, as well as overuse of stims. She ran a small dermal rejuvenator over the areas, and while it made her look a bit better it did nothing to quell her nerves.

  She tubed up to the B-deck mess, where a few people sat bleary eyed at the tables, mostly staring at nothing. The double breakfast Rae had arranged included coffee, pancakes, and grapefruit halves for her, a banana, applesauce, and yogurt for the Captain. She recognized the dietary elements of easily digested food Rae had chosen for the Captain, something academy students learned after spatial disorientation training. There was also a medical cuff on the tray. She placed it in the small service dumbwaiter, sent it up to A-deck, then tubed herself up and retrieved it.

  Outside the Captain’
s quarters, she balanced the tray on one hand and placed her other on the announcement panel.

  “Yes, who is it?” The Captain’s voice sounded an octave lower than normal, something she had seen many times in male hangover victims.

  “Ensign Pickett, sir. I’ve brought you some breakfast, and I’d like to brief you about the past few days if you’re up to it.”

  “Enter.”

  The door slid aside, and Mac stepped into the Captain’s day room. He sat behind his desk wearing a rumpled uniform, his chin cradled on braced forearms. He glanced up, then motioned for her to put the tray on his desk. She did so, then picked up the medical cuff. “Sir, this should help if you’ll permit me.” He nodded, and she fitted it around his upper arm. It made beeping noises for several seconds, then the audible hiss of a drug injection.

  As she sat down opposite him, he picked up the banana, peeled it, and took a careful bite. He chewed for a minute in silence as the light came back into his eyes.

  “That was thoughtful of you to bring me day-after food Ensign. We might as well get to it, as I can see you are itching to brief me. I can’t seem to remember a damn thing since we lost power.”

  An unexpected wave of relief washed through her, and tears welled in her eyes. “Sir, it’s damn good to have you back. I have quite a tale to tell. First though let me say this: The crew is all back aboard and accounted for, and we are headed back to Serenity.”

  “Back aboard? I think you’d better tell it all, Ensign.”

  “Yes sir. “

  She spent the better part of two hours walking the Captain through the actions of the past few days, leaving nothing out, and bringing up excerpts from the surveillance logs and recordings where words could not do justice to events. Rae, speaking through the ship’s audio system, filled in the blanks on the Valkyrie when Mac and Cale hadn’t been aboard.

  When she finished, he sat back in his chair and regarded her in silence. “Thank you, Ensign Pickett, for saving the lives of myself and our crew. I think I speak for everyone when I say that it’s a debt we’ll never be able to repay. You deserve a lot more than I can do for you, which makes what I’m about to say all the more unpleasant.”

  The Captain’s lips formed a thin hard line, and Mac felt her heart sink. She looked down into her lap. “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”

  “I’m afraid so. Regulations leave me no choice, as I’m sure you are aware. If it were just telling Ensign Davis about Rae, I’d be able to put in a good word for you and that would be that. However, mining drones are tightly controlled tech, regardless of how they are used. I have no doubt that there will be a board of inquiry when we get back to Serenity, and between now and then it is my duty to ensure that evidence is not tampered with or lost. Given the extreme service and risks you took for the Valkyrie and our crew, I am not going to confine you to quarters. However, regulations require that I relieve you of duty, and impose restrictions on your ship access. You will not be able to enter any command and control stations, including the engine room and bridge, your data access will be limited to public channels, and you must not discuss the events of the past few days with anyone. Your data access and audio implant will be monitored, and if you violate those restrictions you will be confined to your quarters until we arrive at Serenity. Is that understood?”

  Tears welled in Mac’s eyes. This was the end of her brief UDA career, just as she had feared. Her voice trembled as she replied in a near whisper, “Yes sir, I understand.”

  The Captain stood, walked around the desk to stand directly in front of her, came to attention, and saluted. Mac rose to her feet.

  He said, “It’s been my sincere pleasure and honor to serve with you, Ensign Pickett, and I hope one day to have the privilege of doing so again. That is what I intend to tell the board of inquiry. You’re dismissed.”

  Mac returned the salute, did a smart about-face, and marched out of the room. The door slid shut behind her, and she collapsed onto the floor as the dam holding back her tears overflowed. She looked up when a hand landed on her shoulder, and saw Cale standing above her, his face pinched with apparent concern.

  “That bad huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m up next. The Captain called me in for a briefing. No matter what happens, I’ll stop by after to see how you’re doing. You’ll be okay, I promise.”

  When he helped her up, Mac impulsively hugged him and whispered in his ear, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  Chapter 23, Board of Inquiry—Two Months Later

  The voyage back to Serenity had begun poorly for Mac, as her relieved-of-duty situation was known throughout the ship. At first she had seen many furtive glances and ceased conversations as she made her way around the ship. As a relieved officer, all associated courtesies had been abandoned, and depression had set in. No doubt speculation had been rampant. A week into their return voyage, however, something miraculous happened. It started with a single salute exchanged in a corridor with Lieutenant Stone, the Damage Control Officer. Then another with Chief Engineer Reynolds. Then every officer was stopping to salute, and not just the sloppy salutes exchanged without breaking step. They stopped, came to attention, and saluted. Mac returned all their salutes, until Cale shared the gossip with her. Apparently, someone had let slip some vague hints about the events at the rogue planet. There weren’t many who knew anything, and Cale had told her that it had not been him. Perhaps the Captain himself had let it slip. When she eventually crossed passed with Rayna Briggs, her former temporary navigation subordinate, Rayna had saluted, then hugged her as tears streaked down her face. No words were ever spoken, but whoever had orchestrated the leak had her undying gratitude.

  Since their return to the operations base on Serenity, she had been kept busy reviewing meaningless quartermaster records, interspersed with intense debriefings from half a dozen senior officers. It was pointless to hold anything back, as the logs pretty much told the entire tale. Most questions focused on the mining drones, and how they had behaved as an activated group. It was obvious the brass was more interested in the restricted tech than her situation because it held so much promise from a military perspective. Her use of them had apparently driven the point home like nothing else on record.

  Some questioned her decision to use the drones in the first place. She must have known the prohibitions, and had used them anyway. Explaining that their circumstances and the lack of other resources had forced her hand didn’t seem to satisfy them. Several times she had been asked the question she most dreaded: “If faced with the same situation again, would she use mining drones?” It was tempting to say, No sir, of course not sir, but it would have been an obvious lie. There had been no other options, short of leaving the crew to perish in some distant mining colony. She had answered truthfully, knowing it might cost her that which she most cherished, her commission. So she said, “Yes sir, all other options were unacceptable. My duty was to do everything in my power to rescue the crew, regardless of personal risk and risk to my career.” She had thrown in that last phrase out of desperation, and in one case had received a grunt and a nod in response. Her case was hopeless though, and she knew it.

  The night before the board of inquiry was to render their decision, Mac sat at her quarter’s dining table staring at her data pad, rereading the summary legalese her assigned military lawyer had prepared. It was impenetrable to her. It just seemed like a series of endless run-on sentences with far too many conjunctions to make any sense. She hurled it at the wall, hoping for the sound of shattering electronics, but it simply bounced and tumbled to the floor.

  Her door chimed. “Mac, are you there? It’s me, Cale.”

  She stared at the inside of her door for a long moment before getting to her feet and walking to it. She felt numb as she touched the panel and his face appeared. “What is it, Cale? I’m not at my best right now.”

  “I was worried. I wanted to make sure you’re okay. May I come in?”

  She touch
ed the pad again and the door slid aside, but she blocked the entrance, her arms folded over her chest. Her emotions were in chaos, anger at him for not calling since their return, longing for him, and a deep fear of the immediate future. She had no idea what to say, but her mouth took over of its own volition. “Where the hell have you been? Not a word since we landed. I needed your support, and I thought you’d be here for me. What the hell, Cale?”

  He stared at his feet. “I wanted to come. I hope you believe that. They’ve been investigating me too, and my lawyer told me to stay away.”

  “Why, because I’m tainted?”

  His face became pinched. “He said it could jeopardize my career. Now I’m not even sure I want it anymore. Not if it means I can’t support my best friend.”

  Mac replayed his last words over and over like an echo, until a tear overflowed onto her cheek. He looked up, and Mac let go of her anger. She pulled him inside, slapped the door panel, and pulled him to her. He put his arms around her, and after a brief hesitation she closed her eyes and brushed her lips on his. He kissed her then, hard and deep, their tongues intermingled and intimate.

  When at last they parted, she said, “Damn, I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too. I’m sorry Mac. This has been really hard for me too. How’s your case looking?”

  She sighed. “My lawyer thinks it’s leaning eighty-twenty for dismissal from the service, with a thirty percent chance they will make it dishonorable. I’ve given up hope. How about you? I didn’t know you were under investigation too. I assumed they just wanted your story.”

  “For a while I thought I’d end up in my own board of inquiry. I was lucky though, because the logs recorded our conversation about using the mining drones. According to my lawyer, I did my duty to question orders that I thought violated regulations. The preliminary investigation adjourned yesterday without action, so I’m in the clear.”