by GARY DARBY
The man held up both hands chest-high, his eyes locked on the L-gun. “Alena, take it easy, this is a mistake. I shouldn’t have—you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s not what you think. It’s over. Put the weapon down. I’ll handle it from here.”
Alena’s eyes became like stones, hard, unmoving. “A mistake? You trained me for this since I was a child and now you’re telling me it’s a mistake?”
The man opened his mouth to reply but before he could, Alena snapped, “Don’t say a word! I’m going to finish this—now!”
Dason looked from Alena to the tall Star Scout and back to the young woman. His mind whirled in confusion. “Alena, please,” he begged, “what is going on here?”
Gripping the weapon tighter, Alena swung the stunner back toward Dason. Her voice was hard when she demanded, “Was your father’s body ever found?”
“No,” Dason replied. “You know that. I told you what happened.”
He took a deep breath. “But is that supposed to prove anything? There are hundreds of Star Scouts who presumably died on missions and their bodies never recovered.”
He paused and then said in a shaking voice, “Just like Nase, and TJ, and Sami—and Shanon.”
They stared at each other, breathing hard, but neither speaking. Then Alena lifted her chin and through tight lips said, “Well, they found my mother’s body. Care for me to describe it? What the lizards left after they finished?”
She took a step toward Dason, the blaster held chest high. In a harsh voice, she said, “The reason they didn’t find your father’s body was because he deserted his team and then ran away—to save himself!”
Dason’s hands tightened into fists. He stared at the L-gun’s black maw directed at his midsection. He didn’t know if she had it set on stun or higher but right then, he didn’t care.
“No!” he spit out. “You don’t know that. I don’t know that. Nobody does.”
“No? Really?” Alena snapped back.
She gestured toward the tall, silver-haired Star Scout. “He was there the day my mother died and your father disappeared.”
In a flat voice, Alena went on. “He’ll tell you that after your father abandoned his team, he made it through a back cave and was eventually found by his scout unit.
“Because of the dishonor of his desertion, the disgrace that it would bring on Star Scout Command, they allowed him to escape off-planet and later covered his trail so that no one would ever find him.
“The corps has covered it up to this very day. The Veni report in the archives is a phony, and the actual report is so highly classified that only a few people in all of Star Scout Command can access it and learn the truth.
“The command couldn’t—wouldn’t let it be known that one of the most decorated Star Scouts in the corps turned out to be a coward and let his team die!”
Dason clenched and unclenched his balled fists. He sucked in a breath, almost a hiss, through clenched teeth. “Alena, that’s just plain crazy. Think about it.
“Star Scout Command would never cover anything like that up; too many people would know, there would be too many to try and keep such a monstrous secret. It just wouldn’t happen—it couldn’t happen.”
“So you say!” Alena shot back.
Nodding toward the Star Scout, she said, “He says differently. He tried to force the truth out in the open, force the command to acknowledge what actually occurred.”
She took a breath and sighed, “But failed.”
Her features turned hard again. “And since Star Scouts wouldn’t give my mother the justice she deserved, we decided to seek our own brand of justice.”
Dason didn’t know what to say to Alena’s assertions. He ran a hand over his mouth, tried to make sense of her allegations. He shook his head, before saying, “No, Alena, there is one huge flaw in your story.”
Running his tongue over his lips, he tasted the salt of his sweat. “My mother told me how much my father cared for his teammates, how loyal he was to them, how he watched over them on their missions. He agonized when one of them got hurt or injured.”
He straightened and looked Alena squarely in the eyes, never blinking. “And I know that he loved my mother very, very much.”
Shaking his head forcefully, he asked, “Do you actually think he would have allowed himself to be exiled for all these years without sending for her—for us?”
Alena stared at Dason for a long time, considering his assertions. Her reply was low and throaty, “Not if he thought that the backlash on his family would be so severe that unless he kept quiet and out of sight, the threat to hurt, or maybe even do worse, to your mother or to you was real and possible. Even to this day.”
She paused to lock eyes with Dason. “That would have kept him quiet and hidden for all these years, don’t you think? That was the one brave thing he did in all of this.”
Dason had tried to keep his temper in check, but now it boiled over into rage. “Alena, I don’t know what happened on Veni, you certainly don’t.”
He spun around to the Star Scout. “And, neither do you. I’ve read the report, talked with scouts who were on Veni, there are too many questions—way too many unanswered questions for anyone but my father to really know what happened.
“But, until I know the whole truth, I’m not going to let you accuse my father of being a coward—a deserter!” He took several steps toward Alena, ready to take her on, no matter the price.
“Don’t!” Alena commanded and snapped the gun up to level it straight at Dason’s head. Dason stopped, his fury barely in check, even with the black hole of a disruptor muzzle pointed between his eyes.
The two glared at each other for what seemed an interminable time, their hard eyes locked on each other, their faces rigid like stone. Then, Alena’s contours softened and she lowered the gun to her side. “The father may be a coward and without honor,” she choked, “but the son is not.”
She jutted her chin toward the nearby Star Scout and murmured to Dason, “He told me you were evil, like your father.”
Her eyes glistened as tears formed. “But you aren’t the monster he made you out to be. You looked after, took care of your team—your friends. Saved my life while risking your own.”
Her voice caught as she finished. “Stayed true to your oath . . .”
With a soft cry, she stopped. For long, long moments, Dason and Alena peered intently at each other, and then she dropped her gaze to stare at the ground.
Without hesitation, Dason marched straight up to her and lifted her chin so that he could look into her eyes.
“Alena,” Dason began, the anger gone from body and spirit. “I really don’t know who you are, or who he is. I’m sorry your mother died, truly, truly sorry. You lost your mother; I lost my father and my mother. I understand how it feels, how, even after so many years, it still hurts.”
Pausing, he gathered his thoughts. “I can’t explain what happened on Veni. At this point, it’s all so muddled that I don’t think anyone can. All I’m asking is for you not to judge.”
Lifting his head, his eyes took in the nearby hills held Shanon’s and Sami’s bodies, his lost friends and teammates. “If you have to judge anyone, judge me. Judge me for what I’ve done, what I’ve said, how I’ve acted. After all, I am my father’s son . . .”
He let his voice die, not knowing what else to say at the moment but hoping that she turn her hate aside, be the understanding, compassionate young woman who had treated his wounds back in the meadow.
Nodding slowly at Dason, she turned and faced the Star Scout. “And I guess I am who I am—my father’s daughter,” she answered somberly.
Dason looked from Alena over at the Star Scout, with a questioning expression in his eyes. “Father?” he stammered.
Alena let out a long sigh. “Yes, this is my father. Star Scout Colonel Ri Romerand, Chief of Staff of Star Scout Command.”
A shock, as if he’d been hit with a stunner blast, swept through Dason’s body as
he too turned to face the Star Scout officer. His eyes caught the man’s name tag, Colonel R. Romerand, COS, Star Scout Command.
Dason’s eyes widened in sheer amazement. This man was the Chief of Staff of Star Scout Command. He shook his head in disbelief. This can’t be, he thought, Star Scout’s second-in-command was in the Helix Nebula and he and his daughter were trying to kill him?
Between Alena’s fury, her revelations, and now this, it was almost surreal.
With hard eyes, the man met Dason’s stare, his lips tight and pursed before, without saying a word, he dropped his gaze to stare at the ground.
Alena shook herself. “I’m not sure that I can accept what you believe about your father,” she said almost with a sigh. “And I don't know if I ever will. But your actions speak loud and clear about who you are—and, that’s all I need to know.”
She brushed past Dason and moved toward the silent Star Scout. She uttered a throaty laugh. “And I suppose, the actions of my own father speak loud and clear.”
With a slight quiver in her voice, she questioned, “Father, just how did the Faction know I was out here? They were Gadions, weren’t they? So, how did they know where to look—know exactly where to find me?”
The scout jerked as if Alena had just slapped him hard enough to snap his head back. His cheeks took on a ruddy color, and his mouth sagged open.
Squaring herself to him, her manner turned icy and hard. “You were the only one who knew where I was, isn’t that right?”
Dason looked from daughter to father and back, “Alena, what are you talking about?”
Alena ignored him and took another step toward the older scout who now wore a pained expression. In a fierce manner, she repeated, “You were the only one who knew I was here, right, father?”
The scout shook his head, swallowed as he said, “Alena, you don’t understand—”
“Understand!?” Alena shot back. “You keep saying that but, oh, no, I get it all too well.”
Breathing fast, she harshly said, “I understand that you told someone and that someone sent a Gadion Faction hit team to my ship.”
Her voice rose in pitch. “Did you know what they were planning to do? That if we hadn’t crash-landed here, they would’ve spaced me into the nebula—without a suit!
“Think about it, father,” she said with a catch in her throat. “Your own daughter pushed out into space to drown in my own blood as my lungs burst from zero vacuum.”
“Alena, please—” the scout began, almost begging as he said, “I didn’t—”
With a savage chop of her hand, Alena cried out, “Stop!”
Taking a deep breath, she clenched and unclenched her hands. “Who was it? Who was it that you told?”
The scout worked his mouth several times before he said in a small, almost pleading voice, “Alena, please. I can’t. If I did, they would—”
Dason saw Alena’s body jerk as if a stun blast had caught her full in the stomach.
“So—it was you,” she gasped.
With a little moan, she brought a hand to her mouth, staring at the scout with disbelieving eyes. She began to cry. Her deep wrenching sobs caused her body to shudder as if she endured torturous and unending pain.
Dason wanted to reach out, to wrap an arm around her but refrained, knowing that this painful moment of truth belonged to father and daughter.
She wiped tears away, her lips quivered. “All these years I believed you, believed in you. You said that what we were doing was right, and now I know it’s all—just—lies . . .”
Alena stopped, struggled to speak, and then sucked in a sharp breath. Her eyes grew wide and gasping in sudden realization she said, “This wasn’t for Momma! This—this was all about you!”
The Star Scout stood rigid and motionless, staring at his stricken daughter. Alena whirled on Dason. “Oh, Dason, don’t you see? He was willing to sacrifice his own daughter to save himself.”
Shocked to his core by her allegation, Dason stood immobile, staring at her stricken face before, in anger, he snapped at the scout, “Is what she said, true?”
The scout stood mute, his face contorted by confusion, anxiety, even fear.
Dason couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe but by the very fact that the man refused to answer he knew it had to be true.
Turning back to Alena, who stood sobbing with a hand over her mouth, all he could do was mumble, “I’m so sorry Alena, I truly am.”
The young woman shook her head, and her body sagged as if she had no strength left. “There’s no need for you to be sorry. I’m just as terrible as he is.
“For years, I’ve hated you and your family enough to want to kill you on sight. What does that make me? No better than him.”
She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, leaving dirt smudges across her cheeks. With a final sniff, she turned to her father. “You’re right about one thing. It’s over. I’m through, and so are you.”
With a wave of the stunner, she said, “Let’s go. Back to the scouter.”
The Star Scout stood as if transfixed, glancing from Alena to Dason. He took a few steps toward Alena, one hand held out, his expression one of utter confusion.
Alena held up a hand to her father and barked, “No. Don’t try, just move—to the scouter.” Dason saw Romerand’s shoulders slump before he turned and began to walk toward the trees and the waiting ship.
Dason took a few steps to stand shoulder to shoulder with Alena, watching Romerand trudge up the hill. Neither spoke until Dason asked, “Alena, you’re a Star Scout, too, aren’t you?”
Alena sucked in a breath as she arched her neck as if someone had cracked a whip across her back. She turned her tear-stained face to him, and more tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m Star Scout Lieutenant Alena Romer,” she choked out.
She took several slow breaths before saying, “I’ve known for some time that my father and I were operating outside the oath, but I brushed it aside, rationalizing that we were doing it for the right reason, for our—family.”
Peering in the direction of her father, who had stopped to stare at the two of them, she muttered. “But this is something more, something much darker and more dangerous than I ever knew about.”
In a soft, almost pleading voice she said, “Dason, please, please believe me when I tell you that I didn’t know about the Gadions and my father’s connection to them.”
Shuddering at the thought, she whispered, “To know I was nothing more than a surrogate of those vermin and my own father . . .”
She worked her mouth as if her words had left a bitter taste. Then she hefted the L-gun up, and turned it over to offer it hilt first to Dason. “Here, you may need this more than I.”
Dason reached out and took the weapon from her. She met his eyes while saying, “I’m sorry Dason, I am so very sorry.”
Looking into Alena’s eyes, he saw nothing but honesty, but also grief beyond description. She had lost her mother on an alien world and now it had come full circle for she had lost her father too, on an OutLand planet.
She turned to follow her father, her head down, her arms folded across her chest as she took slow, almost painful steps up the hill.
Dason watched as Romerand waited for his daughter. The two stared at each other for several seconds, neither speaking before they turned toward the scouter. Dason considered Alena’s words, Something much darker and more dangerous . . .
What did she mean by that?
Dason wasn’t in any hurry to follow them. Now that he knew about Romerand’s intentions, he certainly couldn’t trust the man even though he held the L-gun and Romerand didn’t.
He tried to wrap his thoughts around the almost unbelievable concept that a Star Scout officer had attempted to have him killed and could be in league with the Faction.
It twisted his mind, sent it spinning like a super-rotating gamma-ray star. Moreover, this from a man who was supposedly there when his father vanished?
Reluctantly,
he plodded forward, oblivious to his surroundings, lost in contemplation of what he had just witnessed and heard. It took several seconds before Dason became aware of deep growls and snarls that pierced the air.
He spun on the balls of his feet just in time to see a surging gray-black flood, a pack of wolflike creatures bursting over the high knoll to his right.
Their lithe, striped bodies reminded Dason more of greyhounds, but their canine heads had every appearance of attacking wolves.
Almost in slow motion, Dason and Alena turned toward each other. To both, it was evident that the wolf things would be upon them before they could reach the scouter.
Alena screamed, “Dason! Run!” before spinning around to race toward the craft.
Dason raised his weapon and took aim at the charging beasts closest to Alena. From the corner of his eye, he saw Alena and Romerand sprint toward the scouter. He repeatedly fired at the snarling creatures, trying his best to keep the animals from reaching them.
One after another, they dropped, but there were too many.
The pack split and a growling, yelping larger group swerved toward Dason. He hesitated, wanting to help Alena but knowing that he was too far away and the beasts had cut between them.
With the raging beasts charging straight at him, he whirled and bolted back down the slope. Dason wheeled and fired, finding satisfaction in seeing several animals drop, but more rushed onward.
Spying a deep gulch to his right, he cut sharply toward the dip in the hillside. Sailing over the ravine’s lip, he hit, and rolled to his feet on the hard-packed earth.
He plunged headlong down the gravel bed. Behind him, the enraged pack flowed over the bank and into the narrow gorge.
Dason spun and fired again, then raced on. Two beasts appeared above him on the ravine’s bank. Dason fired off a shot. One snarling animal dropped in its tracks, and the other tumbled down the bank.
Stumbling on the loose stones, he caught himself, and ran farther. He tripped over an unseen log, rolled before coming to his feet. He stun-sprayed the leading wolf dogs, sending several flipping over each other.
