"Thank you, Lieutenant. I'm happy to be back. It looks like you had a bit of trouble out here."
"Sydnee?" she heard from the door as Milton entered the bay."
"The prodigal daughter has returned," Sydnee said as she walked down the ramp. "I see you've been doing a little redecorating since I've been gone."
"Yeah. Just don't joke about it in front of the Captain or he'll bite your head off. Literally."
"Envelope merge went bad?"
"Yeah. The Clidepp destroyer helmsman tried to keep us from hitting his temporal generator and twisted his ship just as we were about to merge envelopes. We don't know which ship was more badly damaged because we've been dead in space since it happened. Come on, we'd better get you up to the bridge before the Captain comes down here to see what's holding us up."
"Catch you later," Sydnee said over her shoulder to MacDonald as Milton hustled her out the door.
"How did you find us?" Milton asked as they rode the lift to A deck.
"I went to your last reported position. Failing to find you there, I began a standard grid search. We got lucky and DeTect'ed the three ships on just the third pass."
"The Clidepp destroyer took us on a merry chase when we tried to catch him. The Captain did everything he could to get them to surrender peacefully and finally gave up when it became apparent that wasn't going to happen. The envelope merge was the final option. It was either that or give up. The Captain doesn't like to give up."
"We thought you folks were dead and we'd be stuck on Diabolisto for the rest of our days."
"So you stole a tug?"
"I needed to know what happened out here."
The doors to the bridge slid apart to let the two officers enter as they stepped into the sensor area.
"The tug was piloted by Lieutenant Marcola, sir," Milty said as they crossed the bridge to the command chair.
Lidden turned and looked at Marcola. "I'm surprised to see you out here, Lieutenant."
"Yes, sir."
Lidden took a deep breath before saying, "In my briefing room, Lieutenant." Sydnee stepped out of the way as Lidden climbed down from the command chair. "Milty, you have the bridge."
"Aye, sir. I have the bridge."
Sydnee followed Lidden into his briefing room and stood in front of his desk while the Captain took his seat behind it.
"Okay, Marcola, tell me everything."
Over the next twenty minutes, Sydnee related the highlights of everything that had happened since they left the Perry in the MAT. "That's pretty much it, sir."
"And you're saying that Lieutenant Kennedy decided on his own to attack the rebel base camp?"
"He believed that destroying the stockpiled ordnance was imperative when we lost contact with the Perry. He feared that the rebels might have intended to use the ordnance to start a civil war within the Clidepp Empire."
"And after he was killed, you took command and led an attack against the rebel forces."
"They had us pinned down, sir. They left us no choice. We were forced to fight."
"Because you killed six of their sentries during the attack on their camp."
"We didn't have stun weapons, and Lt. Kennedy believed our safety lay in a stealthy operation."
"And then you planned another raid, and killed a senior officer when you stole the tug."
"We created a diversion to distract everyone in the hope we wouldn't have to kill again. Colonel Suflagga wasn't fooled and discovered what we were doing. He was about to kill Sgt. Morales and myself when I acted, sir. He left me no choice. I recorded the entire attack with my helmet cam."
"Lieutenant, would you like to transfer to the Marine Corps?"
"What?"
"I asked if you'd like to transfer to the Marine Corps. You seem to think you're a Marine officer rather than a Space Command officer. Your job was to ferry a platoon of Marines down to the surface of a planet, not lead charges through enemy fire and play deadly quick-draw games with retired military officers."
"I only did what I felt was necessary for the survival of myself and my people, sir."
"They're not your people, Lieutenant. They're Marines. From this time forward, you will leave Marine operations to the Marines. Am I clear?"
"As crystal, sir. But what happens if I'm again the only surviving officer?"
"We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen."
"Yes, sir. Sir, I'd like permission to return to the planet and bring back the platoon."
"How many do you think you can squeeze into that tug?"
"Um, only about eight per trip, but I'd like to retrieve the MAT. Then I can bring everyone home in one trip."
"Negative. We need the tug you brought because it has an IDS transmitter. We haven't been able to report to Space Command since the collision." Lidden sighed and said quietly, "We'll get those people off the planet, Marcola. I promise. Go get some rest. You've had a far rougher time of it than we have. You need some down time. You're off duty until notified."
"Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
Sydnee left the Captain's briefing room and crossed the bridge without making eye contact with anyone. She knew they all wanted to question her, but she wasn't in the mood just then.
Once in her quarters she quickly stripped off the armor and headed for the shower. As she relaxed in the warmth of the hot spray, she felt almost at peace for the first time in weeks. Thoughts of Rett Kennedy's death and the deaths of the others on both sides would haunt her for some time to come, but for now, for just a few hours, she would do her best to forget the pain and misery she'd experienced on Diabolisto.
Wanting to forget and actually forgetting are quite different things. Sydnee's sleep was restless and troubled as her unconscious mind refused to relax its tight grip on the recent memories.
Chapter Twenty-Two
~ Mar. 12th, 2285 ~
"You look terrible," Kelly MacDonald said in the officers' mess that afternoon.
"Thank you," Sydnee replied.
"Couldn't sleep?"
"Barely. I seemed to sleep fine while I was on the planet. Perhaps I was just so exhausted at the end of each day from crawling through swamps that I would have slept through a GQ drill. I was happy beyond words to climb into my rack this morning, but mostly all I did was toss and turn for seven hours. Every time I fell asleep, I saw Rett die again. Seeing the bodies of the rebels didn't bother me half as much. I suppose I might have felt they deserved it for killing someone close to me."
"You and Rett were close?"
"Um, no, not in the way you mean. I meant that we were comrades in arms, not lovers. As you once said, Rett was a little stiff— and at times he was intractable— but overall he was a nice guy just trying to do his best in a difficult situation. He was a good Marine, all the way."
"Yes, he was. He'll be missed."
"Do you know why he was here? Aboard the Perry I mean."
"He would never talk about it, but I heard that it had to do with an incident on Earth. Allegedly he was hurrying to a staff meeting and bumped into a visiting general."
"That's all? He bumped into a general?"
"He was carrying a pitcher of scalding coffee at the time."
"Oh."
"Yeah. I heard that his transfer orders were in his hands within an hour, and he was off the base and on his way to the Perry in two."
"Wow."
"Yeah. This is the brass's dumping ground. Land on someone's shit list and you wind up on the Perry."
"I still have no idea why I'm here. I didn't spill a pitcher of coffee on a general— or an admiral. I didn't repeat sordid stories about a superior officer. I didn't have people under my command die from negligence. I didn't do any of the things that I've heard others did, or were simply accused of doing, to wind up here."
"You'll probably find out eventually."
"I hope so. I really want to know who I pissed off so much that Supreme HQ would ship me off to a space-going gulag."
&n
bsp; * * *
"Marcola," Sydnee heard in her left ear as she sat on her bunk a few hours later thinking about the people she had left behind. She touched her SC ring and said, "Marcola."
"This is the Captain. Come to my briefing room. Lidden out."
"Marcola out."
Sydnee jumped out of her rack and straightened her uniform, then checked her appearance in the mirror. Satisfied, she hurried to the bridge. She crossed to the Captain's briefing room without stopping for conversation and stood at the door until it opened.
"Lt.(jg) Marcola reporting to the Captain as ordered," she said as she braced to attention in front of his desk.
"At ease, Marcola." Gesturing to an overstuffed oh-gee chair he said, "Have a seat."
It was the first time she had been invited to sit in the briefing room and she didn't know what to make of it, but she did as ordered, sitting stiffly on the front edge of the chair.
"Relax," Lidden said. "When you're invited to sit, you're not in trouble."
Sydnee sat back in the chair and tried to relax, but none of her previous visits to this office had been exactly cordial.
"This command owes you a debt of thanks. By bringing that tug to us, we were able to contact Simmons Space Command base and apprise them of our situation and location. It lifted a great weight from my mind. The Pellew had been sent to search for us, but by now his captain has been informed of our status. He will proceed directly here to assist us, but unfortunately he won't arrive here for two months. I say unfortunately, because I believe the situation will worsen substantially in that time."
Lidden paused for a couple of seconds, then said, "Would you still like to return to Diabolisto?"
Sydnee wasn't sure she heard right, so she hesitated.
"There'll be no repercussions if you request to remain here."
"Um, yes, sir. I would like to return to the planet. As I said, I think we can retrieve the MAT now that we have a tug."
"Since the MAT doesn't have FTL, there's no way you can return the Marines to the Perry. It might be best for everyone to remain on Diabolisto anyway."
"Sir?"
"The Perry is even more badly damaged than might appear from outside observation. When the lower three decks were crushed, control systems were damaged so severely that we may not be able to get them functional again unless we get the Perry to the Mars shipyard. Following the collision, there was some concern that we might not even get life support systems operational again, but our engineers have done wonderfully under extremely trying conditions. The main issue seems to be that the Perry is so old that its systems just won't integrate with the replacement parts in inventory that were sent to us but weren't needed until now and so were never tested with the old systems.
"Presently, we're sitting fifty thousand kilometers from a Clidepp military ship held by rebels. A freighter has arrived, apparently to assist in their repairs, but we cannot allow the destroyer to leave before the Pellew arrives. All tac officers and watch commanders have standing orders to prevent that from happening. If there are any indications that they're attempting to build their envelope, this ship will immediately fire torpedoes with the intent to stop or even destroy the rebel ship.
"I probably don't have to tell you what the consequences could be. We're essentially dead in space. If we fire on the destroyer, they could turn and attack us. Without the ability to maneuver, we may just be a sitting duck. We do have about fifty percent laser array capability. If the rebel ship comes closer than twenty-five thousand kilometers, we'll use it to best advantage, or we'll use it for knocking down her torpedoes. But if they determine where our weaknesses are, they can maneuver to our weak side and destroy us.
"I'd like you to go back to Diabolisto and look after those people. Your chances of survival are better there. If you can raise the MAT, you'll all be able to join the Pellew when it arrives. They'll know we left people on the planet and will come to find you."
"Do you really believe the Perry will be destroyed, sir?"
"I hope not, but it's very possible. We have to do whatever it takes to keep that destroyer from getting away, despite the fact that we're ill-equipped to respond to an attack on this ship."
"But why not just let it go, sir? Let the Clidepp Empire worry about it. I'm sure that all the rebels want now is to get out of GA space."
"We can't just turn our backs on a terrorist act that occurred inside GA space. It's our job to do whatever we can to bring these people to justice. There is no second option."
"Yes, sir."
"A return to Diabolisto must be voluntary, Marcola."
"Yes, sir, I volunteer. May I ask a favor?"
"You may ask."
"I'd like to take Sgt. Morales, Lieutenant Weems, Lieutenant Caruthers, and Lieutenant MacDonald with me."
"That tug only has four seats on the flight deck."
"Yes, sir, but someone can sit on the deck at the rear and strap themselves to the rear bulkhead when we reach the planet. Now that we know where you are, a direct route is only three hours."
"Why Weems and Caruthers?"
"We went to a lot of trouble to get this tug. I don't want to just leave it if we resurrect the MAT. Weems can pilot either ship, and Caruthers can at least fly the tug if needed."
"Very well. You can take them if they volunteer to go. Weems, Caruthers, and MacDonald are all O-2 like yourself but are all senior to you in time in grade. However, given that you were in command when you left the planet, you'll continue to take the lead. I've had engineering prepare some shovels for digging the MAT out and several oh-gee sleds with an open-topped box for transporting the dirt. As the box is filled, a remote control will allow you to raise it up over the lip of the sinkhole and dump it away from the hole. They'll be mounted on the hull so they won't require any of your limited interior space. "
"Yes, sir. And speaking of limited interior space, I'd like to bring as many emergency food packs as we can fit into the tug's engine areas, the exterior tool boxes, and the oh-gee sled boxes. We should have at least three months' worth because I don't know what's going to happen to the rebels there. We destroyed a lot of their supplies and we might have to share our food when their ride doesn't arrive."
"Very well. Is that all?"
"Um, yes, sir."
"You'll leave as soon as your team is ready and the food is loaded. Carry on."
"Yes, sir," Sydnee said as she stood up, braced to attention, then turned to leave.
"Good luck, Sydnee," Lidden said before she passed through the door.
She stopped, smiled, and said, "To you also, sir."
"Let me get this straight," Lt. Weems said, "the Captain has authorized your voluntary return to Diabolisto, and you requested that we accompany you?"
The three officers she had requested— Weems, Caruthers, and MacDonald— were sitting with Sydnee in the conference room on A Deck.
"Yes. I need help recovering the MAT from a sink hole, and I need at least one more pilot. Two would be better in case something happened to one of us."
"What could happen?" Caruthers asked.
"We're going to try to recover a MAT from a very deep sinkhole on an alien planet with dangerous indigenous life forms. I'd say a lot could happen. But this mission is important. We left people down there and we need to recover them."
"I'm ready," MacDonald said. "I expected to be there already."
"We all hold the same rank. Who's in command?" Weems asked.
"Given my experience with the situation on the planet, the Captain has named me to lead the team."
Weems looked at Caruthers and said, "You have a problem with that? You're senior in time in grade."
"No problem. It a simple, straightforward recovery project of very short duration."
"Um, not exactly," Sydnee said.
"What's that mean?" Weems asked.
"The Captain wants the team to remain on the planet until the Pellew arrives in two months."
"Two months?" Caruthers
said in surprise. "Why should we wait on the planet for two months if we get the MAT out? Isn't the planet a miserably hot mud ball?"
"What I'm about to say now is confidential. You can't tell anyone."
Sydnee looked at each and held their gaze until they nodded.
"The Captain expects to engage the rebel destroyer at some point. I believe he doesn't expect the Perry to survive."
No one responded for a full thirty seconds. Finally, Weems said, "I'm not really surprised by that information. I've had my doubts that the Perry would survive an encounter while in this condition. So the Captain is using this as an opportunity to save part of the crew?"
"I believe so. If he had more ships available, I believe he would send all non-essential personnel to Diabolisto. He seemed to be looking for excuses. He even said that if I got the MAT out, I couldn't use it bring the platoon back here."
"That's not an excuse, it's true," Caruthers said. "The MAT doesn't have FTL."
"No, but the tug does. I could fill the MAT with Marines and then tow it here using the tug."
"Uh, that's true. I wasn't thinking of it like that. Ya know, I can't say that I've felt very useful lately. We sit on the bridge and stare at the big monitor all night, watching for any sign of life from that destroyer. I know the tac officers have standing orders to fire on the destroyer if it starts to move or build a temporal envelope. Those instructions are posted in the pass-down log."
"So, assuming we get the MAT out," Weems said, "and don't attempt to bring the platoon home, where do we stay? I mean, we don't want to be near the rebel camp after having attacked them twice and killing so many when they attacked."
"We found a nice little cave where we can live in relative comfort. We'll stay there."
"Cave? Relative comfort?"
"Relative to living in the open. Outside, the insects are so bad that you have to keep your armor sealed at all times. I don't know how the Yolongi do it. They have no armor, just ordinary fatigues. They must have some insect spray or something to keep the bugs off."
"Or they have a natural immunity."
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