by Rick Bentsen
“Good,” K’Itea smiled at him. “You deserve it. And I am sure all of our people will feel safer having you in charge.”
K’Alan gazed at his family, lost in though. He had had a lot dumped on him in a short amount of time and he was doing his best to deal with it all at once. Having the people he loved most in the galaxy on the ship with him made it easier.
“I’m going to move my quarters into the City with the rest of you,” he said after a while. “I think it’s only proper.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” his sister said. A smile spread across her face as a thought entered her mind. “It would be good for you, Kit and Elam to finally spend time together as a family.”
“I don’t like him,” Elam whispered in S’Era’s ear.
“Elam Jarron Bryce,” S’Era admonished him in a stern voice. “In time you will grow to like your father. He is a very good man.”
“If he’s such a good man, then why has he never once visited me?” Elam shot back.
The words hit K’Alan like daggers. He knew why Elam was so angry, but it did not make it any easier for him to hear it. He hoped that there would be, someday, a way for him to make those ten years up to his son.
“Because I never told him that you were alive, my son,” K’Itea’s words were soft, but did not cut K’Alan any less than Elam’s. “He did not know to visit you.”
K’Alan’s gaze caught his son’s, pain mirrored in eyes so much like his own. “Elam, had I known I would have been home long before now.” K’Alan’s voice was soft and, he hoped, comforting. “I would have never wanted to hurt you. I’m sorry I never met you before now. I am so, so sorry.”
“Yeah. Sure you are,” Elam snarled at his father. The boy stormed out of the room.
“Elam,” K’Alan called after him. He turned back to K’Itea when she squeezed his arm. A single tear rolled down his cheek.
“Let him go, Kal,” she said, her voice sad. “He will come around in time.”
“I hope so.”
“Commander Bryce to the bridge, please,” the voice of Katherine Yeuid floated into the isoroom over the shipcall.
K’Alan looked up at the speaker and sighed. He thumbed his wristlink. “On my way, Kath,” he said. “Actually, it’s Captain Bryce now.”
“Sorry, Captain,” came back the quick reply. “Didn’t know.”
“Don’t worry about it. The official announcement isn’t until 2000 hours.” He thumbed his wristlink off and looked at his family. “I don’t want to, but I have to go. Duty calls.”
“I understand, my love,” his wife smiled at him. “I will be here when you are done. I doubt I am going anywhere anytime soon.”
2.1.2136
1700
SLS White Knight
The Bridge
Thala sat at her station on the bridge. It would be the last time she would sit in the command chair of the White Knight. Even though it was her decision, she hated the thought of leaving. She felt like she had lost something. It was not the first time she had felt that way when it came to K’Alan Bryce.
She was checking over some of the controls on her station when he walked onto the bridge. She watched him walk to his station, check some controls and then head for her.
“I hear you’re leaving,” he said when he got to her station. He kept his voice soft out of respect for her. It would be touching if he hadn’t driven the knife into her back one more time.
“I hear you’re taking over for me,” she replied in a terse voice. “Congratulations.”
“This is not exactly what I had in mind to get a command of my own,” he shook his head. Damn him for looking sad! “In fact, I want you to know, I protested strenuously at first.”
“I’m sure you did.” Her voice was distant. She was already trying to figure out what she was going to do next. “I suppose it is time for me to go.”
“Captain, I relieve you,” he said in a quiet voice. He’d snapped to attention as the custom dictated.
“I stand relieved,” she sighed after a pause. After a moment, she clapped her hand on his shoulder. “Good luck, Captain Bryce. I know you will succeed in your mission to bring M’Bek Tarmos to justice.”
“Good luck to you as well, Captain Ker’sal. I hope you find what it is you’re looking for.”
Thala strode off the bridge. She was fighting tears as she walked. She would not cry in front of him. She had never cried in front of him, and she would be damned if she did now. She could feel his eyes bore into her back like daggers all the way off the bridge.
2.1.2136
1837
SLS White Knight
Soran’s Bar
Captain K’Alan Bryce was halfway to the bar to get a drink when he heard his name being called from a different part of the bar. He recognized the voice right away, and changed his course from the bar to where Mario was sitting with his father.
“The captain’s bars look good on you, Kal,” Mario smiled at his friend.
“Not the way I wanted to earn them, Mario,” K’Alan grunted.
“Well, congratulations anyway,” Mario laughed.
“It’s well deserved, K’Alan,” the admiral added. “I did not give you the promotion lightly.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence from both of you,” K’Alan shared a weak smile with the two men. “Listen, Mario. I’m going to be leaning on you quite heavily over the next couple of weeks.”
“Of course, Kal,” Mario nodded. “Anything you need.”
“I was hoping you would say that,” K’Alan’s smile grew. “Now, here’s my plan…”
2.1.2136
1925
SLS White Knight
Flight Bay Alpha
Commander Erin Lyn Sykes stepped off a shuttle from the Gamma Epsilon Station and grunted. She looked around the flight bay, impressed with the size. Her kit bag was still slung over her shoulder. When she heard running boot falls, she looked over to the entrance to the flight bay and chuckled softly to herself as she watched K’Alan come running on the flight deck at full speed.
The two had been friends for years and had served together several times. Still, there was a distance that Erin had never understood between them. It was a shame, because she had always counted him amongst her friends. And she did not have many. She could ill afford to have one of her friends walk out of her life.
“Commander Erin Lyn Sykes reporting for duty as ordered, sir!” she barked a she snapped a crisp salute to her new commanding officer.
“Welcome aboard, Commander,” K’Alan returned the salute. Then his stance softened and he smiled at her. “I’m glad you’re here, Erin.”
“Thank you, K’Alan,” she returned the smile. “I must say, I was quite surprised when I got the call from Admiral Bonetti ordering me to report to you as your new XO. I rather got the impression that you didn’t want me around.”
“If you’re referring to the way that I keep pushing you away whenever you get too close, you need to know that I am married and am very faithful to my wife.”
“Ooooooh.”
Well, that wasn’t what she had expected. Ten years of friendship had just come into focus for her with that statement. She now understood all the distance he had put between them. More, she could not say that were their situations reversed that she would not have done the same.
“Besides. It was always Tom Keevan that was interested in you.” K’Alan broke into a merry laugh. “You know that as well as I.”
“How is Swamp Rat?” Erin asked. “I have not heard from him in a while.”
“Last I heard, he was good. Just took command of the Creighton three months ago.” He motioned towards the entrance to the flight bay. “On to business. Allow me to give you a quick tour of the ship while I give you the rundown on the situation.”
“That would be great,” Erin nodded. “I take it, the situation is bad.”
“Yep,” K’Alan nodded.
He led her out of the flight bay and do
wn a corridor. The corridors were shiny and new with muted grey carpeting. They were wide enough for three people to walk side by side comfortably. The walls slanted down slightly from the ceiling so that the floors ended up about a foot wider than the ceilings. It was an odd shape for the corridors, but she had seen it on other Star League ships.
“I’m going to be depending on you on the bridge a lot, Erin. I’m going to be retaining my position as strike leader.”
“Is that wise, Captain?” she looked at him with a concerned look on her face. “Part of my duties are keeping you safe, after all.”
“No need to Captain me in private, Erin. We are old friends after all,” he chuckled at her. “And it’s not a matter of whether or not it’s wise. I’m the best damn pilot we have and I will be damned if I am going to stop flying just because Admiral Bonetti decided I’d look better with captain’s bars on my chest.”
“I can see our command styles are going to clash a bit, K’Alan,” Erin suppressed a chuckle.
“That’s all right. I’m used to that. My command style clashed with the last CO too.” He pointed down a side corridor to a large hatch. “Down that corridor is a city.”
“A city? On a spaceship?”
“When Duterius Prime was destroyed, we brought the survivors on board this ship,” K’Alan explained. “This area is where they live. It’s a small self contained city.”
“How many survivors are we housing?” She did not want to know the answer, but she had to ask the question.
“Just over fifteen thousand,” K’Alan said, his voice racked with pain for his people.
“My God!” she exclaimed. “I assume the Star League Defense Force is sending someone after whoever was responsible?”
“They are,” K’Alan nodded. He guided them back down the hallway to the lift. “Us. That’s our first mission.”
“Great,” Erin nodded. She was enthusiastic for the mission. A woman of action, she would have hated to have been on the sidelines for a mission like this. “Who is it?”
“M’Bek Tarmos.”
“Wait,” she put her hand on his arm and turned him to face her. “We’re going after the Supreme Commander of the Brentax Military?”
“Yes. We are.”
“Oh, hell,” she said, starting to walk down the corridor again. “I didn’t want to live forever anyway.”
“This will be a simple insertion and retrieval mission,” he shrugged. “Nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t like the way you said simple, K’Alan,” she looked at him sideways. “Nothing like this is ever simple.”
“True enough. But this mission is actually very simple. I can promise you it has been well thought out and no one should be hurt or killed during the insertion or retrieval process.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, K’Alan,” she admonished. “No one can guarantee that no one will be hurt during a mission.”
“True,” he said again. He pointed at a door they were passing. “Medbay. Important to know where that is.”
“I must say, you have inherited quite the impressive ship, K’Alan,” she smiled at him.
“It is indeed,” he smiled proudly. “Just wait until you see the bridge though.”
2.1.2136
2000
SLS White Knight
The Bridge
When K’Alan walked onto the bridge, most of his alpha shift crew were at their stations even though they would normally be off duty at that time. He looked around at the assembled crew. His crew now. He knew that he had inherited the best crew. He’d spent some time looking over all their files after he’d first come aboard, but it would take some time to truly learn all of their capabilities.
His eyes locked on Admiral Bonetti’s at the command chair when he was finished scanning the bridge and nodded once. He made his way over to what was now his station on the bridge.
“Captain Bryce,” John acknowledged when he got there.
“Admiral Bonetti,” K’Alan bowed his head just slightly in respect.
“Captain K’Alan Ilan Bryce, do you now accept the responsibility of this unit?” the admiral asked, his voice loud and clear so that it carried through the now silent bridge.
“Yes, Admiral. They are now my responsibility,” K’Alan nodded once.
“Good.” John pressed a button on the command console. A soft whistle followed. “Let it be known that on this date and time, I, Admiral John Bonetti, do bestow upon Captain K’Alan Bryce the command of the Star League Defense Force unit known as Gamma Strike.”
“I accept command,” K’Alan said, his voice firm but grim.
The bridge broke into cheering. K’Alan had to wonder if they would have cheered like this for Thala. He did not think, as good an officer as she was, that she could command this kind of respect from the crew.
John shook his hand warmly and smiled at him.
“Good luck, Captain.”
“Thank you, Admiral.”
John lowered his voice and leaned in so that the conversation would be between only himself and K’Alan.
“As soon as the Creighton gets here, I will be off your ship,” he said.
“How soon?”
“They’ll be here in about two hours,” John said after checking the chrono. “Then you will be free to embark on your mission.”
“Do me a favor, John?” There was a twinkle in K’Alan’s eye. “Tell Swamp Rat that I swiped his girl. He’ll know what I mean.”
“I will,” John laughed. Then he turned serious. “I can’t tell you how important it is that you bring M’Bek Tarmos in alive. The plan you have is good. You just need to be careful.”
“We’ll get him, Admiral. I swear it.”
2.1.2136
2111
SLS White Knight
Hydroponics Bay 1
Elam sat quietly on a wooden bench in the hydroponics bay. His eyes were closed and thoughts swirled in the boy’s head.
He had finally met his father after ten years. He wanted to like K’Alan, but he could not get past the fact that there had not been one visit in his entire life. Why had it taken such a monumental disaster to get his father to visit him?
He did not see Mario Bonetti walk into the hydroponics bay. Nor did he see Mario walk over to him. So it took him completely by surprise when the ship’s morale officer spoke to him.
“Elam?”
Elam’s eyes snapped open and his head whipped around to see who had called him. When he saw who it was, he snarled.
“Get away from me.”
“Elam, I want to talk to you,” Mario said, his voice calm.
“I don’t know you,” Elam growled. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“I want to talk to you about your father,” Mario continued in his calm voice.
“Did he send you?”
“No,” Mario shook his head. “K’Alan doesn’t even know I am here.”
“Good,” Elam crossed his arms and turned away from Mario. “Then if I send you away, he won’t care.”
“But he does care, Elam,” Mario walked around to be in the boy’s line of sight again. “Give him a chance. Let him be the father he wants to be.”
“He had ten years to be a father!” Elam shouted. He let all his anger out on this friend of his father. “Ten years. But he’d rather roam the stars than care for a kid. Where was he all those years? Why couldn’t he come visit before now? What was so important that he did not care about me?”
“Elam, he did not know about you,” Mario shook his head. “I’ve known your father a long time. Longer than he’s been married to your mother. I know that he’s always wanted a son. And I know that, if he had known you were his son, he would have made the time to be with you. He may even have resigned from the service.”
“You don’t really believe that,” Elam scowled in accusation.
“Actually, I do. He told me some time ago that he would love to settle down with a family. I mean, he’s always had your
mother, but he has always wanted to settle down with kids.”
“He really told you that?” The boy furrowed his brow. This man could claim to know his father’s wishes all he wanted, but Elam still wasn’t convinced. He wouldn’t be convinced until he heard it straight from his father’s mouth.
“Yes, I did,” K’Alan said. He came out from the tree he’d been behind while watching the conversation. Elam had never noticed him standing there. The boy watched as his father walked across the hydroponics bay and knelt down in front of him. “Your aunt and mother thought they were doing the right thing by not telling me about you, because they knew that I would have resigned from the Defense Force and come home to settle down with you. They didn’t want to let me put my family over my career even though I would have in a heartbeat. But I guess now it doesn’t’ really matter.”
“What do you mean by that, K’Alan?” Mario asked. The morale officer creased his brow. “You’re not thinking about resigning too, are you? I’d hate to have to break in yet another commanding officer.”
“No, I’m not,” K’Alan smiled. It was a very sad smile, but it was a smile just the same. “But now I can have my career and have my family close to me. I can’t think of too many silver linings in this tragedy, but I think that’s one.”
Elam almost believed him. But he was afraid. He knew that it was too good to be true that he finally had his father around. He was afraid that something would happen and K’Alan would be snatched from his life again.
“Promise me that you’ll never leave me again,” the boy whispered to his father.
“I wish I could promise that, Elam, but I can’t,” K’Alan sighed softly. It wasn’t what Elam wanted to hear. “With my job, there is never a guarantee that I’ll be able to stay here all the time. But I can promise you that I will do the best I can to make up for all the time that I was not in your life.”
Elam knew that it was the best promise he could get from K’Alan. And it was enough. He slowly stood up and walked over to his father. He buried his face in K’Alan’s shoulder and started to cry, letting all the pain and anger that had been building out.
