by J. J. Green
He lowered himself into the seat, wondering who the fourth was for.
“After your recent behavior,” said Colbourn, “I argued long and hard against your inclusion in the operation we’re about to discuss. Unfortunately, due to your history and unique position, I was given no choice.” She paused, looking at him sourly. “I hope I don’t need to impress upon you the importance of keeping the information you’re about to learn to yourself?”
When Colbourn didn’t like you, she really didn’t hold back. He was insulted by the insinuation of distrust but only replied, “Of course not, Brigadier.”
“If I might explain?” Merlin asked.
Colbourn’s expression hardened further, but she nodded.
Turning to Wright, the alien said, “I’ve proposed another mission to strike at the heart of the EAC, and we need your help.”
Ignoring Merlin, he asked Colbourn, “The Dwyr again?” It would be the Alliance’s third attempt on her life.
“Yes.”
“Brigadier, isn’t this getting a bit old hat? We tried twice already, at the cost of many lives.”
“Not that you’re in any kind of position to be questioning orders,” Colbourn seethed, “but the Alliance is in a precarious state. We barely managed to retake Jamaica, and now we’re holding onto it by the skin of our teeth. The offensive in the Caribbean cost us heavily in personnel, armaments, and other infrastructure we will struggle to replace. If we can remove Dwyr Orr from the equation, it will bring the war to a swift end and save lives.”
What she said made sense, but Wright had the weirdest impression from her words. It was like it wasn’t really her speaking. As he paused, uncertain how to respond, Arthur spoke.
“You know Taylan well. We need you.”
Ellis?!
“When we left the BI,” Merlin said, “I was happy to leave Taylan there for the time being. I was unsure where Kala Orr would go. There was a chance she would return to her castle, in which case, Taylan’s location was convenient. But the Dwyr has chosen to play it safe and remain on her flagship, the Belladonna. I was wondering how things would play out, waiting for the sign that would indicate which way to move, when I learned something significant about the Gallant.”
Colbourn folded her arms over her chest. “The ship has a cloaking device,” she interjected, in the tone of getting something out of the way. “A prototype the Space Fleet was fitting and testing prior to the Battle of the Bres. It’s why the Gallant was held back.”
“When Admiral Yorkson informed me of the ship’s special capability,” Merlin said, “everything slotted into place. The way forward became clear.”
“Merlin proposes the Gallant approach the Belladonna while cloaked,” said Colbourn. “We board the ship, take over control, and kill the Dwyr.”
“But, specifically, it must be Arthur or Taylan who assassinates the Dwyr,” Merlin explained.
The brigadier rolled her eyes. “I don’t think it matters, but who am I to—”
Her office door opened, and Lieutenant-General Carol entered.
Wright and Colbourn got to their feet and saluted.
“Brigadier, Major, at ease,” said Carol, parking himself in the empty seat. “Where have you got to?”
“Major Wright knows the operation plan,” Colbourn replied.
“Ah, good. It’s a risky enterprise, I have to admit. But if we can succeed, it should put an end to the war entirely. I’ve always believed the fanaticism the Dwyr generates has been our greatest foe. Once she’s out of the way, the EAC will fall apart. Most of her followers are ignorant and easily led. They just want something to believe in. If we remove the Dwyr and give them something more benign to latch onto...divine herbs or reading the future in compacted trash, something like that...our problems will disappear.”
“Or someone else to believe in,” said Merlin.
“Yes, perhaps we can give them another charismatic leader to follow. I know just the person.” Carol patted Arthur’s back. “But that’s a discussion for another time. For now we need to focus on removing the Dwyr.”
“If I might ask something...” said Wright.
“No need to stand on ceremony, Major,” said Carol. “You have permission to speak freely.”
“How is Taylan Ellis supposed to factor into this? She’s no longer a Marine, and she’s desperate to find her children. I doubt she’ll agree to take part in a mission.”
“She must,” said Merlin. “Her presence is essential.”
“Why?” Wright growled. “I know she’s good—excellent, in fact—but we have plenty of—”
“She’s essential,” Merlin shot back.
The silence that followed was uncomfortable. No one would meet Wright’s questioning gaze except Arthur, who, after a moment, said, “If Merlin says we need her, we need her, T.J.”
The alien said, “I would explain—”
“Great,” said Wright, “because I’d love to hear an explanation.”
“But it would take far too long,” Merlin concluded. “You’ll have to trust me.”
Wright snorted at the notion of having a smidgen of trust in him. “Rightly or wrongly, Taylan Ellis is discharged. She’s a free agent. We can’t compel her to do anything.”
“That’s where you come in, Major,” said Carol. “Brigadier Colbourn informs me you have a special relationship with Ellis.”
His eyes widening, Wright looked at the brigadier. She stared stonily back at him.
Did she think he’d discharged Ellis because they were hooking up?
“I’m sorry,” he said to Carol acidly, “but you’ve been misinformed. My relationship with Taylan Ellis is, and has always been, entirely professional.”
“Now, now,” said the lieutenant-general, lifting his hands as if to forestall an argument, “I wasn’t casting aspersions on your professionalism, Major. But you were her CO for most of her service, and you did act...shall we say, prematurely...in discharging her.”
“The woman met the criteria,” Wright retorted. “She’s the only remaining parent to two young children. I don’t know how she was even recruited in the first place. I guess the sergeant wanted to make his quota. Ellis deserved her discharge, and though I didn’t go through the appropriate steps, it was because the situation didn’t allow it. I’ve received a warning that’s gone on my record, and that’s it. The end. She’s gone and she won’t be coming back.”
“Unfortunately,” Carol said, “it isn’t the end. We require her abilities again. Due to the unusual circumstances of her discharge, her comm implant wasn’t removed, so we tried comming her, but—”
“She’s in hostile territory!” exclaimed Wright. “The Crusaders could have picked up her location. You risked her life!”
“This was her reply,” said Colbourn tersely, sliding an interface across the table.
He read the response, blanching a little at the cursing. He’d heard some rich language in his time in the Royal Marines. Ellis’s was up there with the best of them.
“I’m not surprised,” Wright said. “She probably guessed it’s him who wants her back.” He glared at Merlin. “The alien we’ve welcomed with open arms, not knowing what he is, where he’s from, or why he’s here.”
“Wright,” Colbourn warned.
“Brigadier,” he replied, “Lieutenant-General, you know as well as I do the massive risk we’re taking in allowing an unknown entity to influence the actions of the Britannic Alliance. It’s madness.”
“That’s enough, Major,” ordered Carol.
So he couldn’t speak freely after all.
Merlin sat passively, expressionless. Arthur had his head down.
Wright clenched his jaw so tightly his teeth ground together. Colbourn agreed with him! He knew she did. Yet she wouldn’t speak her mind in front of Carol or any of the other higher-ups. Something needed to be done about Merlin. He was hell bent on controlling the BA and eliminating Orr. Why? What did he care about human affairs?
“So that’s why I’m here,” Wright said dully, sudden weariness and a sense of powerlessness hitting him. “You want me to find Ellis and ask her to take part in the mission.”
“Exactly,” said Carol. “Communication with the West BI Resistance is sporadic and unreliable. The most recent report we had stated she’d left the group you met on your mission there. Then I asked the brigadier to try quickly comming her, with the result you’ve seen. We need someone to speak to her face to face, persuade her of the urgency and importance of the task we have in mind.”
“She’ll be searching for her children.”
“Whatever she’s doing,” Carol said, “we need her to come back.”
Wright sighed and shook his head. “And what if she’s found them? You want me to ask her to abandon them again?”
“I’m sure she’ll be able to find someone to leave them with while she’s gone.”
Wright looked into the lieutenant-general’s eyes. The man’s callousness was appalling.
“Look at it this way,” Carol went on, “if she kills the Dwyr, the EAC will fall, her homeland will be free, and her children will be safe forever. Tell her that. I’m sure you’ll be able to convince her.”
“If I find her.”
“I have every confidence in you,” said Carol. He rose, saying, “Take twenty-four hours to recuperate before you set off. I’ll leave the brigadier to brief you on the mission details.”
After he’d left, tension hung in the air.
Wright felt trapped, almost as badly as he’d been at the barricade in Kingston. He couldn’t imagine anything in the world he wanted to do less than attempt to drag Taylan Ellis away from trying to find her kids, unless it was to explain it was all Merlin’s idea. Yet what could he do? The order came from the Lieutenant-General himself.
Eventually, he said, “If I’m to do this, I want to take Arthur with me.” If he had to find Taylan, he could take the opportunity to remove Arthur from Merlin’s influence. It was Arthur the Alliance leaders were in love with, based on his history. If he was physically separated from the alien, he might begin to understand Merlin was dangerous and he shouldn’t go along with whatever he said.
“You aren’t in a position to dictate conditions,” said Colbourn icily.
“We can come to the BI with you,” said Merlin, “if that’s what you want.”
“Not you, just Arthur.”
“Out of the question,” the alien said.
“Then I won’t do it.”
Colbourn’s eyes blazed. “Are you refusing a direct order?!”
“I’ll resign.”
“You know that isn’t how it works!”
Wright slammed her desk and leapt to his feet, reckless insanity racing in his veins. Feeling as though he was watching himself from a corner of the room, he said, “You want me to persuade Ellis to put her life in danger and risk leaving her kids orphaned in hostile territory. All on the whim of a goddamned alien! Something’s up with you. Since when did you become his puppet?” He jabbed a finger in Merlin’s direction.
“I don’t want to do this,” he went on through clenched teeth. “It’s wrong! You know it’s wrong too, but you’re going along with it, just doing what you’re told without question. Maybe it’s about time we started questioning things, Brigadier!”
Colbourn stared at him for a cold, hard minute.
“Your request is granted. Arthur and only Arthur will accompany you.”
Merlin shrugged.
“However,” continued Colbourn, “before you set out, I want you to undertake a psych evaluation.”
When Wright went to protest, she cut in, “That’s an order, Major.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lorcan pushed back his covers and climbed wearily out of bed. He’d been sleeping badly, and he didn’t think he’d slept at all the previous night.
Despite the many years that had passed since he’d begun living permanently aboard the Bres, he still preferred to use the term ‘night’. Naturally, there was no night or day on the ship or on her sisters, Balor and Banba. Work on all three vessels continued round the clock. However, it was convenient to have the majority of his office and supervisory employees carrying out their duties at roughly the same time.
He looked up and left, activating a clock display in his vision.
Eleven-thirty AM?
He had slept, after all.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he padded to the bathroom.
The staff in the control center would be wondering what had happened to him. It was strange no one had checked on him. Or maybe they had and his implant had reported he was asleep. Or perhaps they hadn’t, not caring whether he was okay.
He began his morning ablutions.
Things had changed since Iolani Hale had arrived. The atmosphere had lightened. He didn’t like it. Building humanity’s first colony ships was serious work. Leaving the Solar System and traveling to new, habitable planets was humankind’s greatest endeavor. The names of the people who worked with him would go down in history along with his own, both on Earth and in the new civilizations they helped to found.
Their work was not supposed to be fun.
Didn’t they understand the risks of losing concentration? The smallest error would be magnified thousands of times once the ships were underway. A little thoughtlessness, a simple mistake, could spell disaster for millions.
Despite Hale’s shocking and harsh criticisms of the Project he had, on reflection, grown to somewhat appreciate her attempts to set them on a better path to success. But this new cheeriness, this conviviality, had to stop. She might know her stuff when it came to science, but he was the expert on workplace attitude and culture.
After the blower had dried him off, he got dressed, picked up a snack bar from the stash in his living room, and left for his two-minute commute.
When he reached the control center, the doors opened on a shocking scene.
No one was working. Rather than being hunched over their consoles as usual, his management team was standing around in small groups. What was worse, they were holding what looked like alcoholic drinks and were chatting to each other.
It beggared belief, but his staff had taken advantage of his unexpected absence and was holding a party!
“Lorcan.” Iolani separated from a group and wove her way through the throng to join him. “I’m glad you decided to come.”
“What...” he spluttered, hardly able to speak, “what the hell is going on?!”
“Didn’t you get my message?” She was looking up at him, confused. Then she appeared to register his surprise and outrage. “You didn’t. I see. Well, this is awkward. It’s probably best I speak to you outside.”
“You are not speaking to me outside or anywhere! Everyone, put down your drinks and get back to work immediately.”
Hale’s dogs suddenly bounded out from somewhere and loped over to Lorcan. After a cursory sniff, they stiffened, backed off, and softly growled, lifting their lips from their long teeth.
“Dogs in the workplace?!” Lorcan yelled, his voice lifting almost to a shriek. “Lock them up in your cabin now or I’ll put them out the nearest airlock myself.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Hale retorted. She signaled to the animals. They lay down on their stomachs, though neither took their eyes off Lorcan. “If you refuse to speak to me privately, I’ll have to explain in front of everyone. Two valued colleagues of mine arrived this morning, and I was holding a short, informal gathering over an early lunch to welcome them and introduce them to the team.”
“Without my permission?!”
“I sent you a comm at eight o’clock. You didn’t read it. How was I to know you were going to have a lie in?”
“That’s irrelevant. Why on Earth would you think holding a party on office time was appropriate or acceptable? Do you think I pay you to socialize and get pissed?”
“I just explained, we’re taking an early—”
A man approached. Mi
ddle-aged with white hair and a pepper-and-salt beard, he had to be one of Hale’s newly arrived colleagues.
“Ua Talman, I apologize for the mix up. If I’d known Iolani’s reception would cause a problem, I wouldn’t have agreed to it.”
“It’s fine, Anders,” said Hale. “This isn’t your fault.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the person whose fault she clearly thought it was.
Quiet conversation had started up around them.
“Maybe it would be better if we continued this discussion elsewhere?” Anders suggested.
“But Lorcan insists we broadcast the misunderstanding to all and sundry,” Iolani countered sarcastically.
“We can continue the discussion when my employees are back at their consoles and your dogs are safely locked up!”
Anders gave a small cough. “Iolani...” He looked at her, his expression pained.
“Oh, all right.” She gestured at her dogs, who rose and trotted to her side. “This is for you, though,” she said to her friend, “not him.”
As she was on her way out, Lorcan announced to the room, “Everyone back to work. The festivities are over. You will all make up the time lost today before you leave.”
Groups of people began to disperse with soft grumbling and unfriendly glances in Lorcan’s direction. He couldn’t care less. He was their employer, not their friend. Over-familiarity with staff bred laziness and sloppiness.
“While we’re here,” said Anders, “might I introduce you to another of Iolani’s friends who will be helping with the Project?”
“Please do,” Lorcan replied. “Let’s get the formalities out of the way.”
The person in question was already walking toward them. This second unfamiliar face in his control center was more pleasant to Lorcan’s eyes than the first. She was around the same age as Hale, though she couldn’t look more different. She was almost as tall as him, her dark blonde hair was swept into a pleat at the back of her head, her features were even, and she moved delicately, like a doe.
Her smile was warm as she held out her hand. “Sorry about the kerfuffle. I’m Camilla Lebedev.”
