by M. R. Forbes
He made his way over to her, Diaz hanging close at his side.
"What's going on?" his mother asked. "Why did General Rodriguez bring us all together?" She glanced at the gun. "I can guess it isn't anything good."
"Things are going to get rough, Mom," Donovan said.
"We've done rough before. We'll do it again."
"Yeah, we will." He turned his shoulder with the bundle under it to Ehri. "Your bek'hai clothing. Rodriguez wants you to wear it for whatever protection it can offer."
"Why?"
He looked at his mother again. "Some of us are leaving. We have a chance to deliver one of these guns to the space forces. To someone who may be able to decipher the technology."
"Ehri's coming with you?"
"Yes. General Rodriguez wants you with us."
"He believes I can be of use?"
"Maybe. Would you help us if you could?"
Ehri looked at Wanda, and then back at the children. Donovan could see the conflict on her face. She had come to observe, not to help. Except she had started this in the first place by leading them to the weapons. Confident in her kind's success or not, she had to know she was at least partially responsible for what was happening.
"Attention!"
Colonel Montero's voice echoed across the room, bringing the assembled soldiers to attention and silencing the non-combatants. He also spared Ehri from having to answer the question.
General Rodriguez entered the cafeteria a moment later. Donovan couldn't help but notice how old he suddenly looked.
"I'm sorry to bring you all here under these circumstances," Rodriguez said, not wasting any time. "We have a report from Sergeant Yung that the Dread forces are heading this way in a number that suggests they intend to do whatever they must to find this base."
He waited a moment while the crowd reacted.
"I have a plan. Two plans, actually. First, Major Peters and the t-vault squad are going to be heading out following this meeting. Their mission is to deliver one of the captured alien weapons to a member of the space forces that we have been communicating with for all of these years. Both their General and I are of a belief that together we can find a way to defeat the alien armor and start fighting back against the Dread for real."
"Why don't we just offer them their clone back in exchange for our safety?" someone said from the back of the room.
Donovan glanced at Ehri. She didn't seem phased by the comment. In fact, she looked intrigued.
"Yeah. If we had never brought her here in the first place, this wouldn't be happening," someone else said.
"Yeah," one of the women right behind them said. "Why did you have to come here, anyway? Go home you alien bitch. You don't belong with us."
Ehri's face froze at that comment.
"Be quiet," Rodriguez shouted, quieting the crowd. "Are you all loco? This has nothing to do with her, and if you think the Dread give a crap about one wayward clone when they have hundreds more just like her, you're really out of your mind. In case you've forgotten, this is a rebel installation. A military base, dedicated to continuing the war with the Dread. Have you all gotten so comfortable here, you've gone soft? Do you think you have a right to question any of the decisions I make? You know how to get out if you do."
The people were silent.
"Now, here's the second part of my plan, and I need your help to make it work. We're going to leave a small number of soldiers here along with the mothers of the children, or fathers if the mother isn't with us. Everyone else is going to pack up everything they have and we're going to make a run for it. With any luck, the evacuation will lead them away from the base and keep its location secret. Except we won't be evacuating. We can double back once we've split up and lost them."
The crowd was silent this time, but a thick tension was heavy in the air. The plan wasn't that much of a plan at all, and everyone in the cafeteria knew that it meant many of them were going to die. At the same time, they also knew there was nowhere else for them to run to. There was nowhere to go that was as safe as it was down here. In a sense, the idea was brilliant in its simplicity. Some of them would escape and make it back.
Some was better than none.
"Major Sharma and Sergeant Wilcox are going to organize you into groups. Everyone needs to head in a separate direction for this to be believable. I'll be bringing the bulk of the soldiers with me, and we'll do everything we can to draw them away. Understood?"
The room remained silent. Even the soldiers were too shocked to reply. Everything had happened so suddenly; it was hard to digest.
"I said, understood," Rodriguez repeated in a drill sergeant tone.
"Yes, sir," came the reply, loud and strong.
"I'm proud of all of you. Major Peters, gather your team and meet me on the first level immediately."
"Yes, sir," Donovan said.
Rodriguez strode confidently from the room, while Sharma and Wilcox began moving through the gathered crowd.
"Mom," Donovan said, turning to his mother. "I-"
"Shh," Wanda said. "You be careful. Stay alive, and finish this mission. This is bigger than the people here. It's bigger than me. I love you, and I'm proud of you."
Donovan hugged her. "Thanks. I love you, too."
"I know."
He let go and looked at Ehri. She was standing stiff and distant. He knew the Dread didn't value one another as a whole the way humans did. He wondered if they could ever be as downright mean to one another.
"Goodbye, Ehri," Wanda said, approaching her. She wrapped her arms around the clone, hugging her. "I know you want to learn," Donovan heard her say. "Sometimes fear makes humans say and do terrible things, but that's all it is. The fear coming out in words. They don't really mean it. None of this is your fault."
Ehri's face softened, and she raised her arms and hugged Wanda back.
"Now, don't keep the General waiting," Wanda said.
SIXTY-SEVEN
"Diaz, go round up the others," Donovan said. "I need a minute with Ehri."
Diaz almost covered up her displeasure before he noticed. "Yes, sir."
"We can talk in here," Donovan said, leading Ehri to one of the offices.
"Your General won't be happy when you're late."
"I know. Are you okay?"
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"The things the people were saying. I know they must have hurt."
"No. Not at first. Only when Carol turned on me. I thought that we were friends. I watched her son every day."
"My mother was right. It was only fear."
"I know that now."
"I need to know if you're with us, against us, or neutral."
"Major, I don't know."
"You have to know, Ehri. I have to know. Rodriguez wants you with us because he thinks you can help us. You helped Diaz and me back at the bek'hai mothership because you knew this day would come, though I don't think you imagined it would come this soon. You knew the Dread would find us and crush us sooner or later, and then you could go back to your life as a slave."
Donovan bit his lip. He hadn't meant to say slave. After all he had heard of her life as a member of the lor'hai, it had spilled out.
"I'm not a slave," Ehri said. "No one owns me."
"Do you have freedom?"
"I'm here, aren't I?"
"Yes. Here you're free. What about back there? What will happen to you then?"
"I will be Si'dahm to the new Dahm in charge of my team. I will continue to study human culture, and I will write my own discourse on what I have learned of humans in these last few days."
"And then what?"
"What do you mean? That's all."
"Do you think you'll enjoy watching fifty year old videos of humanity, after you've experienced the real thing? Will your work even matter when the Domo'dahm gets his wish and all of us are gone? Will they even need you anymore?"
"Of course. There are always things to study and to learn."
"Really? And t
he pur'dahm will have a use for an aging clone whose field of science is obsolete? I've been to all of your interviews with Doctor Montoya. You're lying to yourself if you think that will happen."
"I'm not a traitor, Donovan."
Donovan couldn't help but laugh at that. "You gave us the guns. The key to this entire war. You handed them over without a second thought."
"You know why."
"You helped Diaz kill Klurik."
"I did not."
"Come on, Ehri. You distracted him while she aimed her shot. You could have told him she was there."
"It had to be done in order for me to continue my work. That is an acceptable reason in bek'hai culture, and I will face no punishment for it."
"It was more than that, wasn't it? You didn't like Klurik. That much was obvious."
"You're saying I wanted to kill him?"
"Maybe. You didn't like the way he treated you. It made you feel like you were nothing. That's what you want to go back to?"
"There is more to it than that. I miss my sisters."
"You're lying."
"I am not. How do you know when I'm lying, anyway?"
"Your nose wrinkles. It's kind of cute, to be honest with you."
Ehri paused, staring at him. "Donovan, I'm scared."
He hadn't expected his simple, silly compliment to be the thing that drove down her defenses. "Why?"
"I." She shook her head. "I don't know who I am, anymore. I don't know what I am. I followed what Tuhrik taught me. I did what I believed he would have wanted. Only it didn't give me answers, only more questions to go with experiences I never believed I would have. Children." She smiled sadly. "The bek'hai are not evil, Donovan. They seek to survive, like all living things do. Like your people are trying to do now."
"I know they aren't. But they messed up their world. They don't have the right to ours. Don't you understand that?"
"Yes. I do. That is why I'm scared. I understand that they're wrong. I understand that they use me, as they use all lor'hai. We aren't slaves, but we aren't free, either. I feel guilty for hating them for that, the way I hated Klurik for how he treated me. Like a thing instead of an intelligent being. I am alone here, Donovan. The only one of my kind. My DNA may be fully human, but as much as you might accept me, I'll always be set apart. I'll always be different."
"You aren't alone," Donovan said. "I'm here."
"For now. Until they kill you."
"Then help me stay alive. If you know the bek'hai are wrong, maybe together we can do something about it. Maybe we can fix things for everyone, including the lor'hai."
"I'm only a scientist."
Donovan remembered what Rodriguez had said about Juliet St. Martin. "No. You're more than that. You proved that when you helped us escape. You're proving that right now."
"I. I don't know. I-"
Donovan didn't think about what he was doing until he was doing it. He wrapped his free arm around her, pulling her to him, leaning his head down and finding her lips. He kissed her, trying to pour every ounce of his desire for her to stay and help them into it.
She didn't resist him. She melted in his arms, her lips responding awkwardly. She had never kissed anyone before.
"Please," Donovan said. "Help us. Whatever happens, we can do it together, as free people."
She pulled her head back to look into his eyes.
"Please," he said again.
She nodded. Her entire body was trembling.
Donovan wondered if he had just done the right thing. He had no idea how this mess was going to turn out. He could barely believe how quickly they had ended up in it to begin with. He wanted Ehri on their side. So did General Rodriguez. But had he kissed her to win her over, or simply because he wanted to?
He wasn't even sure of that one himself. One mess at a time. It wouldn't matter if he were dead twenty-four hours from now.
"Come on," he said. "We have a delivery to make."
SIXTY-EIGHT
Gabriel felt a massive sense of relief as first the planet Mars came into clearer view, and then the starship Magellan appeared ahead of it. It was a black speck at first, a mote of dust against the red planet.
He had never been more grateful to make it back.
It hadn't been easy. The Dread ground defenses had been tight, and only some fancy flying that he couldn't even believe he'd managed had gotten him out of harm's way and back into space. He had seen the two Bats slam into the trees and vanish from his HUD. It had been his last ditch effort to lose them by taking advantage of his fighter's more Earth-friendly design and agility. Fortunately, it had worked.
He didn't know if the resistance forces had received the message. He wouldn't know until he was back on board the Magellan and Guy could check the logs of the equipment. He was almost sure he had caught a flash of movement from the ground and seen someone there in a green uniform, but everything had happened so fast it was just as likely a figment of his imagination.
He hoped not.
He tapped his control pad, activating his comm. "Magellan, this is Captain Gabriel St. Martin. Do you copy?"
"Captain St. Martin," his father's voice replied a few seconds later. "This is Magellan. We hear you, son. Welcome home." He paused again as if trying to decide whether or not to break protocol. "I knew you could do it, Gabe," he continued, throwing protocol aside. "I'm just about pissing myself that you made it back to us."
Gabriel smiled. "Thank you, General," he replied. "I don't know if the mission was a success or not. The enemy position is pretty strong down there."
"Understood. Bring her in and we'll see what we've got."
"Roger. Captain St. Martin, out."
Gabriel navigated the fighter to the waiting hangar, bringing it into the first bay and waiting while the system re-pressurized it. As soon as the light turned green, he popped out of the cockpit, climbed down, and headed to the airlock. A crowd was waiting to greet him as he opened it and stepped through.
"Welcome back, Gabriel," Miranda said, hugging him.
"Nice work, Captain," Soon said, also giving him a hug.
"Gabe," Colonel Choi said, squeezing his shoulder.
Gabriel suddenly found himself face to face with Guy. The scientist looked different, and Gabriel was taken off guard because he was smiling.
"Welcome home, Captain," Guy said, extending his hand.
They locked eyes for a moment. It was obvious to Gabriel that Guy still didn't like him, but he had made the decision to be a team player.
"Thank you," Gabriel said, taking the hand.
"We're glad you made it," Sarah said, hugging him.
"Your father said to go clean yourself up and then to stop by his quarters for a debriefing," Choi said.
"Yes, ma'am," Gabriel replied.
"We should have the logs analyzed by then," Guy said. "Colonel, I'll send the report up to the General as soon as I have it."
"Thank you, Guy."
The crowd dispersed, each member of the crew returning to their duties. Gabriel made his way back up to his quarters with Colonel Choi at his side.
"How is it down there?" she asked.
"Not good," Gabriel replied. "It looks worse from close up."
"This whole thing is such a long shot."
"It's worth it."
"Don't get me wrong, Gabriel. I agree completely. The fact that you're here proves that we can still fight back. We don't have to be victims."
"No, we don't. How is the General holding up?" He couldn't ignore the fact that his father had been bedridden up until two days ago.
"I convinced him to sleep a few hours. He seems twenty years younger to me since we boarded this ship. He's acting it, too."
"He's in his element out here. A man on a mission."
"A man of war."
"Because he has to be. We all have to be. You saw what the alternative is. The kind of people we become."
"It helps that you're with him."
"You, too. You've always been t
here for both of us."
"How could I not, Gabriel? I can still remember how hard you used to kick me." She put her hand on her stomach. "I've never been more proud than to help give Theodore and Juliet their son, after what they did for me."
They reached Gabriel's quarters. Gabriel was going to salute Colonel Choi. He decided to embrace her instead. "Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome."
SIXTY-NINE
"Captain St. Martin reporting, sir," Gabriel said as the door to his father's quarters opened. He was greeted there by Sergeant Diallo.
"The General will be with you in a moment," she said. "Welcome back, Gabe."
"Thank you."
His father's quarters were twice the size of his own, leaving room for both a sitting area and a conference table, in addition to the bed. Gabriel started moving toward the sofa until he heard Theodore coughing from the bathroom and the soft splash of water. Was his father vomiting?
"Is he okay?" Gabriel said, taking a step in that direction.
Diallo moved in front of him. "He's fine. He said it was the pain medication. It makes him nauseous sometimes."
Gabriel wanted to go and check on him but resisted. If Theodore had asked Diallo to keep him away, he would respect that. He went to the sofa and sat.
His father emerged from the bathroom a minute later. Gabriel stood as he rolled over, noting how pale his face was. Colonel Choi had mentioned how much better he looked not twenty minutes earlier. Did she know the pills were making him sick?
"Gabriel. Damn glad to see you again, son. Damn glad."
Gabriel saluted him. His father returned the salute.
"Now, don't ever do that in here again," Theodore said. "In here, we're father and son, you hear me?"
"Yes, sir," Gabriel said. His father glared at him. "Okay, Dad," he said in correction.
"Good man. Go ahead and sit, son. I got word from Guy and Reza. They'll be bringing the report up any minute now."
