“Status of the Quix fleet,” Julie inquired at the operations table. PHOENIX arrived back at the nebula only a few hours ago.
“Cadri Voluspendicanari signals his ships are in place,” reported Tim, referring to the Quix ship commander in charge of the fleet.
“And the Screen?” asked Julie.
“Long range sensors still show a fleet of forty-two Screen vessels inbound directly to our position,” reported Jacks. “The Quix are reporting no Screen vessels on their sensors.”
“Just as we expected,” commented Julie. They had already surmised the Screen had somehow come up with a way to disguise themselves from the Quix’s sensors, which gave them motivation to return to try and trap the Quix back in the nebula. “Patch our sensor feeds to the fleet and notify all cadris to go to battle condition.”
Down in medical, Doctors Myers was reviewing a patient’s bio-readings. “Well, Maria. You’re dilated at five centimeters already. You’re on track to deliver this baby. Are you feeling any discomfort?”
Maria shook her head. “The medication’s working.”
Myers looked at Doctor Velni and Nurse Pavlenko. “The baby’s readings are within normal tolerances. Continue monitoring and notify me when she’s reached six centimeters.”
Both Velni and Pavlenko nodded their heads. For the Aldarian doctor, it would be the first time for him to witness the birth of a human child, and he was looking forward to witnessing the process.
Myers left the main surgical area and headed to his office. As he did, he spotted John entering medical. Myers had learned from Chris that John had apparently recovered and had heard that the captain had been seen walking around Central.
John saw Myers and headed over to him, which the doctor found surprising. For nearly a year John had avoided any contact with Myers unless it had to with ship business.
“Hey, doctor,” said John in a nervous voice.
“Captain, you’re looking good. How are you?”
“I’m ok. Do you have a few minutes?”
“Battle alert,” announced Vish over the internal speakers. “All personnel to stations. Repeat, battle alert.”
Myers looked over to ensure the main surgical bay was being secured, which Doctor Velni and Nurse Pavlenko were in the process of doing.
“I heard Maria Hernandez was ready to have her child,” said John, who spotted her in the surgical bay.
“She’s proceeding nicely,” said Myers. “I do have a few minutes to spare.”
“I came here to apologize to you,” said John. “I blamed you for my sister’s death, and that wasn’t right.”
“Captain…,” started Myers, but John held his hand up.
“Please let me finish. I wanted to make someone pay for Nicole’s death. Johnson wasn’t here and I had to blame someone. I know you did what you could to help the admiral. I realize you weren’t aware to the extent he was willing to go to complete the EXODUS Project. I’m sorry I threw our friendship away.”
They heard the sounds of weapons impact on PHOENIX’s shields, but Myers ignored it as he placed his hand on John’s shoulder. “I never considered our friendship lost. I beat myself up wondering what I could have done differently to prevent the admiral from doing what he did.”
“There’s only one person to blame for Nicole, and that’s the admiral,” said John. “You’ve done nothing but help me since I joined the crew.”
“I’ll always be there for you,” said Myers. “You’ve never been just a captain to me, but a friend.”
“Doctor Myers,” called Velni from behind him. “Maria is at six and a half centimeters.” More sounds of weapons impacts could be heard.
John motioned for Myers to go. “Go ahead. I think I’m just going to hang out here for awhile.”
“They senior staff could use your expertise in the battle,” said Myers.
John slowly shook his head. “No, it’s ok.”
Myers knew what John meant as he went back to the surgical bay. The captain wasn’t ready to face his other peers yet. The doctor wasn’t surprised when John stood outside the surgical bay to watch Maria give birth to her child. It would be an opportunity for John to experience something he could never have with Alex’sis.
Up on the command deck, Julie analyzed the disbursement of ships that were engaged in battle. As expected, the Screen attacked as soon as they exited their jump. Julie had half the Quix fleet join PHOENIX in engaging the enemy and had the rest stay back to protect the nebula.
“Sixteen Screen vessels have been destroyed,” reported Tim. “The Quix are reporting only moderate damage to three of their ships.”
“Our shields are regenerating to full power,” added Jacks. “No structural or system damage to PHOENIX.”
Suddenly, the operations table beeped and Tim checked the readings. “I’m picking up a Screen battleship. It’s located at the far end of the nebula perimeter.”
“Are there any Quix ships near it?” asked Julie as she motioned to Kevin and Jufo to alter PHOENIX’s course to intercept.
“None,” answered Tim.
“Commander, I am reading an unknown biomatter compound in one of the battleship launch bays,” reported Korifluxinina. “My initial analysis indicates it will cause a destabilizing reaction in the nebula.”
“Time to intercept?” asked Julie.
“Twelve minutes,” replied Tim. “But the battleship’s already at the perimeter of the nebula. If they fire the biomatter…”
“Understood,” interrupted Julie. “Maximum sub-light speed.”
“Already done, commander,” reported Jufo.
None of the command staff seemed overly worried about the situation. Julie waited calmly as PHOENIX raced towards the Screen battleship.
“Commander, enemy vessel has launched a projectile into the nebula,” reported Tim.
Just as Julie suspected. The Screen were doing exactly what she anticipated. “Prepare starburst when we’re in range.”
“Reading a cascade reaction within the nebula,” reported Korifluxinina.
“On viewer,” said Julie. The image of the nebula appeared over the table. They watched as it seemed to react violently and spread everywhere.
“The reaction has created a dense bonding effect within the nebula cloud,” reported Korifluxinina. “The bond is sufficient to prevent any ship from traveling any appreciable distance through it. However, the shield successfully held. The reaction was only limited to the exterior perimeter. It will have no impact on our vessels traveling through it.”
It worked. The Quix had managed to get the shield system up and running earlier than expected. Based on how the Screen came roaring in like they did, they never detected the shield system was already up.
“We’re within weapons range,” reported Tim, but the Screen battleship had already turned around and was making a run out of the area.
“Fire starburst at close angle near the ship,” ordered Julie. She didn’t want to disable it, just get it to take off so they could track it.
PHOENIX fired the starburst and it passed close to the battleship. Seconds later, it jumped out of the area.
“Enemy vessel has departed,” reported Jacks. “I am tracking it on our sensors.”
“Do it for as long as you can,” advised Julie. She looked at Tim. “How’s the Quix doing?”
“They’re mopping up the remaining Screen ships,” replied Tim. “Only one Quix ship sustained heavy damage and are requesting aid.”
“Return us to the fleet and notify the lead cadri we’re available to render aid,” ordered Julie.
Down in medical, John watched as Nurse Pavlenko placed Maria’s newborn baby girl in the incubator. She was already fast asleep, the trauma of being born having sapped her energy.
“Amazing,” whispered John to Myers, who joined the captain to admire the new baby. “In the middle of battle with the threat of annihilation, a new life comes into the universe. No matter what, life endures.”
The i
ncubator beeped and the baby’s name appeared which read “Susanna Alex’sis Drix Hernandez.”
“It’s a beautiful name,” commented Myers as John looked over to Maria, who was still laying in the main surgical bay. She smiled and nodded to John.
“Yeah, it is,” said John. Myers left him to be alone. John looked back down at the baby girl. “Welcome aboard the PHOENIX, crewman.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
For the first time since PHOENIX launched, the Stardust Café was closed. Julie, Bret, Kevin, and Davers were sitting at one of the tables in the patio. The mood was somber, each of them here as a way to pay their respects.
“I told him he needed to take better care of himself,” said Bret. “He ate bad and needed to lose weight. But he always said he was going to live the good life no matter what.”
“A lot of people told Mario he needed to go to medical for a check-up,” said Kevin. “Maybe if he was on medication he’d wouldn’t have had that heart attack.”
“I know,” said Davers. “Who the hell has a heart attack in this day and age.”
“Mario was stubborn,” Julie reminded them. “We all wish he would have taken better care of himself. But it’s like you said Bret, he lived exactly the way he wanted to.”
“Excuse me.” The group turned to see Mu. “I do not mean to bother you while you are in mourning. Chris Anne told me it is normal for humans to grief the loss of a friend together.”
Julie pulled out a chair for the Rifva. “It is. Why don’t you join us.”
Mu was honored to be included in the human mourning process. “On my world, individuals mourn for the passing of a close one in solitude.”
“I heard that it was you who found Mario,” said Julie.
Mu blinked his three eyes as confirmation. “He did not show up to the café yesterday to open it, which deviated from his established pattern of activity. That is why I went to his quarters. Doctor Howl said there was nothing that could be done to revive him.”
“Is there going to be a memorial?” asked Bret.
Julie shook her head. “Mario’s will explicitly stated he wanted no funeral. But Chris Anne is throwing a huge party tonight in his honor.”
“You’d think Mario would want that?” asked Kevin.
“I said the same thing,” said Julie. “But as Chris put it…if Mario doesn’t like it, he can kiss his patootie.”
The group chuckled except for Mu, who was confused. “Excuse me, but what does patootie mean?”
“We’ll tell you later,” said Davers, whose demeanor quickly changed as he saw someone approaching the group. “Commander.”
Julie turned around and saw John. It was the first time she had seen him in over a month. He looked like himself again, except that he was wearing civilian clothes.
“Hello, everyone,” John said.
“Captain,” the group replied.
“I heard about Mario’s death over the ship’s news feed,” said John. “I wanted to give my condolences and find out if anyone’s doing anything to remember him.”
“Chris’ throwing a party tonight at The Lounge,” said Bret. “It’d be great if you were there.”
“I might do that,” replied John, not wanting to make a promise he felt he might not keep. In truth, he felt uncomfortable around the crew. Although everyone he spoke with since recovering had treated him well, in the back of his mind he worried that they no longer regarded him as they once did. “Commander, do you have moment?”
“Of course,” said Julie. “I’ll see you all later,” she said to the others as she got up and joined John for a walk down the street.
“Do you know when the café will reopen?” Mu asked the remaining group.
“That’s up to you,” said Kevin. “Mario thought so highly of you he put in his will that if anything happened to him that you should take over the café.”
Mu was caught off-guard by the statement. “But I do not know how to run a human establishment.”
“Not according to Mario,” said Kevin. “He told me countless times how well you learned everything he taught you. If he didn’t believe in you he wouldn’t have put it in writing.”
Bret nodded in agreement. “That’s true. He talked about you all the time.”
Mu had heard through the human rumor mill about the positive things Mario said about him, but the Rifva was also told not to believe everything spoken as a rumor, so he dismissed those comments as untrue.
“I would be honored to run this establishment,” said Mu.
John and Julie were now a couple of blocks away from the café. Neither spoke a word the first part of the walk. For Julie, although she was told by Chris and Thresha John had gotten past most of his issues, she still worried about his state of mind. For John, he was worried that Julie no longer respected him given the horrible acts he committed.
“You look well,” said Julie, breaking the ice.
“Thanks. I feel better.”
“I heard you chose to stay in the apartment down here.”
John nodded. “I have. There are too many bad memories in my old quarters. Down here, I feel I can be closer to the crew.”
Julie didn’t ask about the bad memories John was talking about. She decided to leave it up to him whether he would ever talk about it. “I’m glad to hear that you buried the hatchet with Doctor Myers.”
“I wanted to talk to you first, but I wasn’t sure…” his voice trailed off as he stopped walking. “I don’t even know where to begin explaining what I did to those Screen.”
“You lost so much,” said Julie. “For anyone to cope with what you went through would be impossible.”
“It’s no excuse for killing a sentient alien.”
“John…”
“No,” interrupted John. “It’s ok. I’ve got to be honest with myself. I murdered a Screen, and would have done the same to the others if you hadn’t stopped me. This is something I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life.”
“You changed so much after we left Earth,” said Julie. “I was amazed how well you handled taking command of this ship with no experience. And you still amaze me. For you to acknowledge what you did…, I don’t think many people could do that.” Julie took John’s hand and held it. “I just want my best friend back.”
John was glad to hear he hadn’t lost his best friend either. “I miss her so much, Julie. I’m still not sure how I’m supposed to go on without her.”
“I miss Alex’sis too,” replied Julie. They resumed their walk down the street. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear how you two started your relationship.”
John smiled, remembering the first time he felt a connection with Alex’sis. “I was in the botanical gardens watching the koi swim in the pond…”
For the rest of the day John debated whether to attend Mario’s party at The Lounge. In the end, he felt he needed to go, despite his nervousness. His worries quickly evaporated when he arrived. Everyone was pleasant to John, telling him how good he looked and they were glad he was doing better. He saw Julie near the stage talking to some of the attendees. He was about to head her way when he spotted Chris Anne sitting by himself in a corner table near the bar.
“Max,” John called to the bartender. “You have a bottle of the ’19 merlot?”
“Sorry, captain. I’m all out. I have a ’23. Eighty credits.”
“That’ll work. Two glasses also.” Once he had the bottle and glasses in hand, he went over to Chris’ table. “Join me for a drink?”
Chris looked up and gave only a weak smile. “You don’t like red wine.”
“But you do and it looks like you could use some cheering up.” John filled both glasses halfway and pushed one towards Chris.
The singer took a small sip. “22 or 23. Not cheap.”
“Hey, what’s wrong?” asked John, seeing Chris’ mood wasn’t improving. “Is it about Mario?”
“No, it’s just…” Chris’ voice trailed off. “I failed you. I wasn’t able
to do anything to help you.”
“Hey.” John patted Chris’ hand. “You have no idea how much you helped me.”
Chris perked up a little. “Really?”
“When I was going through my depression, I had a small bit of comfort knowing that you were there and wouldn’t leave me. I may not have shown it, but I don’t think I could have made it without you. You have no idea how grateful I am for you standing by me.”
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” Chris meant that, not just that John was a close friend, but also because of the growing feeling Chris was developing for him. But Chris couldn’t admit to it. Loosing Alex’sis had been overwhelming for John. His heart still belonged to her and Chris had to accept that for now.
Chris raised his glass and John did the same. “Welcome back, captain.”
Julie watched from afar and was glad to see John getting back to his old self.
“Excuse me, Julie Olson,” said Korifluxinina.
“Enjoying the party, Unarnu?” she asked the Quix science officer.
“It is interesting that humans go through so much effort for a deceased individual.”
“Really? What do the Quix do with their dead?”
“We feed the bodies to derfinates on our world,” replied Korifluxinina.
“What’s a derfinate?” asked Julie. She vaguely remembered a Quix freighter wanting to offload a derfinate onto PHOENIX, but John handled that issue and never clarified what it was.
“They are the largest non-sentient creatures on our world.”
Julie almost coughed up her drink. “You feed your dead to animals?”
“Yes,” said Korifluxinina. “I am a little surprised none of the other alliance races have a similar practice.”
Now she realized why the Quix wanted one on PHOENIX. It was a little disturbing.
“Is the captain to resume his duties anytime soon?” Korifluxinina asked her.
“I…I don’t know.” The subject hadn’t been brought up, and John hadn’t asked about resuming command.”
“I assume that now he is recovered he will resume his position,” said the Quix.
“We’re just going to have to wait and see on that one,” answered Julie.
Fury Of The Phoenix (Exodus) Page 8
