by S. H. Jucha
A warning came to the Rêveur from Barren Island. Flight crew, who had hidden during the takeover, now broadcast a message that the renegade troopers were lifting in a shuttle. Alex linked to his officers and Julien.
The Admiral’s shuttle and Ellie’s Dagger landed safely at Prima and were met by the TSF Captain and a full contingent of troopers armed with plasma rifles. Overhead shot four Daggers with angry pilots, who were daring anything or anyone else to lift off the planet and endanger their Admiral.
Before disembarking, Alex knocked on the pilot’s hatch. He stood absolutely still, waiting for it to open, despite his agitation. Finally, the hatch motors hummed and it slid open. Edouard stood aside to let Alex enter. Miko sat in her copilot seat. Her knees were drawn to her chest and tears trailed down her cheeks. When she started to rise, Alex laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry for the loss of your brother, Miko. It should never have come to this, but know that your brother gave his life so that others would live.”
“No, Admiral, don’t say that!” Miko cried out. “My brother gave his life so that you could live. Hatsuto came to believe humanity faced a horror, and you were the one to stop it. He died for you. Make sure he wasn’t wrong,” she said, anger firing her final words.
“I’ll do my best, Miko,” Alex said sadly.
“One more thing, Admiral,” said Miko, unbending from her chair and standing to face him. “Word is that when we’re done, you’ll leave New Terra with the Librans for a new home. Is that right?”
“Yes, it is,” Alex said.
“Make sure you take me with you,” Miko replied.
“It would be my honor, Miko,” Alex said, touching his hand to his heart and nodding.
Miko acknowledged his word with a nod of her own.
Étienne replied.
-14-
Alex’s meeting with President pro tem Maria Gonzalez was short.
“I’m going to Libre,” said Alex, blood pulsing in his neck’s extended arteries. “I hold you personally accountable for the safety of my people while I’m gone. When I’m done in Libre, Madam President, I will gather my people and we’ll leave this system. The Méridiens may not know how to defend themselves against an alien horde, but at least they don’t go around killing their own people.” Alex spun around and stalked out of Maria’s office without allowing her to respond.
Maria took a few moments to gather her emotions before preparing to meet with the government’s judiciary counsel. We may have lost your faith in us, Alex, but I will make the culprits pay—every last one of them, she thought.
* * *
Alex returned to the Rêveur and immediately boarded a smaller shuttle for the Money Maker. Edouard and Étienne hurried to keep pace with him. When Alex disembarked aboard the carrier-freighter, he made his way along the spine to the forward-most bays, one of which held the meal room. On his orders, Sheila had assembled the pilots to meet with him.
The pilots snapped to attention as Alex came into the room. “Please be seated,” he said after returning their salute. He searched out Ellie. She was easy to spot … the young woman with the red-rimmed eyes. “For many reasons, today should never have happened. If I had been thinking, we would have kept up a show of force to dissuade people from this course of action. I take full responsibility for the death of Lieutenant Tanaka.”
Sheila ached to object but decided this was not the right time. If there is blame to be assigned, she thought grimly, I need my share.
“All of you have trained to fight the silver ships; you did not train to kill your fellow humans. If any of you wish to return to civilian status, I will completely understand. You need only speak to your Commander,” Alex said, indicating Sheila.
Ellie Thompson stood up and waited to be addressed.
“Yes, Lieutenant?” Alex said.
“I have a question and a favor to ask, Admiral. I understand we had to fight today to prevent our own deaths, but why did they do that?”
“The New Terrans are not like Méridiens, Lieutenant,” Alex replied. “They are not directed since birth to cooperate with their fellow humans. The extent to which our society grants freedom to individuals allows some to seek power, to gain it by any means possible. Days ago, we removed a corrupt man from office, and the people who still support him wanted his influence and power reinstated. They believe I am an impediment to their plans and thus they sought my death.”
Ellie thought about the Admiral’s words, the concept foreign and yet familiar. “Hmm,” she mumbled, “no better than that monstrous sphere.”
Alex recalled Ellie’s first statement. “You had a favor to ask, Lieutenant.”
The Admiral’s question shook her from her reverie, and she was embarrassed to have kept him waiting. “Yes, Admiral. I would like to attend evening meal aboard the Rêveur and speak for Lieutenant Tanaka.”
“Commander, please arrange transport for the Lieutenant and any crew of the Money Maker who wish to attend,” Alex said and departed.
* * *
When Alex returned to the Rêveur and exited the starboard-bay airlock, he was nearly bowled over by Renée. She threw her arms and legs around him and held him as tightly as she could. The shuttle crew politely edged their way around the couple.
Alex held Renée until her limbs relaxed, and then he set her down. She hadn’t said a word. They walked with arms around each other down the corridor to take the lift back to their cabin.
Alex had time for a refresher and an hour to review the status of their flight preparations. As he touched base with his key people, their opening statements were sentiments of gratitude for his safe return and sorrow for the loss of Hatsuto. The contrast of the two sentiments left Alex conflicted. What had begun as a simple rescue operation of some lost cousins had morphed into a fight for the human race. That fight was still critical to him, but the safety of the quarter-million people under his care had become his central desire. Now he was forced to protect them from their fellow humans. Can this get any more complicated? Alex wondered. His chronometer app chimed for evening meal, interrupting his musings, and he rose from his desk to offer Renée his arm.
Meal was a subdued affair. The room was at capacity, with the pilots and flight crews from both the Freedom and Money Maker making the trip. Tomas, Lina, Eric, the Captains, and the Commanders had come as well.
When crew removed the serving dishes from Alex’s and Renée’s table, he sat back, folded his arms, and sought Ellie’s eyes. She was waiting for him, and he nodded to her.
As Ellie stood up, she cleared her throat, and the audience turned toward her. “I have never spoken at meal for an individual,” Ellie began. “It is my hope this evening I do
no disservice to Lieutenant Tanaka, whom I wish to honor. After the fight today, I could not make sense of many things. I spoke to my fellow Independents … I mean, Librans … and found that they, too, were confused by the events of today. Humans attacking humans, and a man sacrificed his life. What are we to make of these strange events? The Admiral spoke to the pilots this afternoon, and it caused me to think much on his words. We are humans from different worlds, fighting to save the human race, but what society will we create for ourselves one day—one that preserves life at any cost and imperils itself … one that grants freedom to the extent that individuals imperil one another? This evening, I would honor Lieutenant Tanaka, who exemplifies how our new world might behave. He was New Terran, and he valued his freedom, his independence, but he did not value the sanctity of life above all else. He held a greater belief, and when the future he believed in was threatened, he took action. He fought those who tried to destroy that future, a future without silver ships. And when the only thing he had left to give was his life, he did so. Today I sought only to survive. Lieutenant Tanaka sought to ensure all of us would survive. I will live my life in honor of his memory.”
Alex was the first one on his feet, offering Ellie honor for her story in the Méridien fashion. She could barely make him out through the tears that coursed down her face. As her peers stood, they obscured her view of him. She nodded her thanks for their tribute and sat down. Hands reached across the table to touch her and comfort her.
When the audience had taken their seats, Alex remained standing. “A brief memorial for Hatsuto will be held tomorrow at 7 hours in the starboard bay, and it will be broadcast by the SADEs to all ships. There will be no star service. TSF has informed us that no remains were recovered. The ships returning to Libre tomorrow will be underway at 18 hours. All preparations should be finalized by 14 hours. Please report any issues through your Captain, who will inform the SADE. We will exit outside of the Arnos system and remain outside until my plans may be actualized.”
Alex glanced at Renée, who rose, and the two of them left the meal room.
* * *
Samuel Hunsader and Clayton Downing sat ensconced in a salon at the CEO’s palatial home. Downing had settled his portly bulk into a luxurious armchair chair while he delivered the news to Hunsader of the death of his nephew and the failure of their plot. Hunsader paced in front of Downing, his footsteps muffled by the thick pile of the hand woven carpet.
“Sit down, Sam, relax,” Downing said. “Enjoy some of this marvelous o’bour you’ve procured. We’re in the clear. As you know, all the participants are dead. Our Strikers were wiped from the sky and—” Downing paused. “Sorry again, Sam, about your nephew. He was a brave boy. But to my point, when that upbraided Captain lost his temper, he removed our remaining people aboard that shuttle he’d shot down. In our favor, he destroyed the three Strikers parked on the shuttle apron at Prima’s secondary terminal. Can you imagine loosing missiles on a city terminal? He’s certifiable. By my count, that’s ten of our fighters, a shuttle, and over forty of our people. We can use this against him—paint him in the media as having gone alien, a man who no longer cares about his own people.”
Downing would have said more, but four TSF troopers with plasma rifles, led by a Colonel, burst into the salon. For a brief moment, Hunsader wondered how they had gotten past his security, both electronic and personal. He would soon be shocked to see how many TSF troopers waited outside on the grounds, pinning his security people face down on the ground and securing their hands behind their backs.
“Samuel Hunsader and Clayton Downing,” the Colonel announced, “it gives me the greatest pleasure to inform both of you that you are under arrest.” While the Colonel’s shoulder-mounted vid recorded his pronouncement of their rights, the troopers roughly secured the two men, despite their vocal objections.
“You have nothing against us, Colonel,” Downing said. “That silly excuse for an Admiral made sure of that.”
“Oh, I see,” the Colonel replied. “You’re confused by that media announcement of the downed shuttle full of TSF troopers … the one that actually was forced to land at Barren. The same one that was full of people who turned evidence to avoid life sentences. It seems they implicated people who in turn produced proof of your involvement.” As Hunsader started to object, the Colonel shoved him out the salon’s doorway, saying, “Save it for your trial.”
* * *
In his suite, Alex worked through final preparations. He ordered Andrea and Sheila to transfer six Daggers, pilots, flight crew, and armament to the Unsere Menschen.
Alex’s next comms were to Director Stroheim, the liner Captains, and the Captain of the remaining freighter.
Alex released the Captains from the comm but kept Eric on, sending,
Alex made two final calls, the first to his family, which was uncharacteristically short as Alex’s mind was elsewhere, and a second call to the President.
Maria could sense the anger still simmering beneath Alex’s words. That their relationship had reached this state saddened her. “Admiral, I want you to know that Hunsader and Downing will be prosecuted and more than likely will receive life sentences in prison.”
“I wish to personally apologize to you, Alex, for not being more proactive. We failed as a people to protect our society and our values. The lesson has been learned. My hope is that you trust us again someday to deal well and fairly with your people.”
After they signed off, Maria recalled Alex’s last statement. He had called her by her first name. She held that small gesture close in her thoughts.
-15-
The flotilla left New Terra for Libre with little fanfare. The Money Maker led the way, setting the limit of the flotilla’s acceleration. The Freedom and the Rêveur, with the Outward Bound attached, shadowed the freighter.
Alex had been assured by President Gonzalez that she had absolute control over the Strikers stationed on Niomedes, Cressida, and Sharius. Nonetheless, Alex had Sheila stand by, ready to launch at a moment’s notice. Now that Alex was responsible for the lives of so many, trust existed in short supply.
When the flotilla cleared the orbit of the gas-giant Seda, the system’s last planet, without an incident, Alex called a strategy meeting with his officers. Sheila and Lazlo participated via comm while Mutter mirrored the Rêveur’s
holo-vid display, which Alex, Andrea, and Tatia had gathered around.
