by Kyle Larson
“Monitor Venus and report any change in the gravity shield,” Swoboda answered. His apprehension almost made it sound like a question.
“That’s right, ensign. That’s exactly what you are supposed to be doing. The only thing is I’m not seeing anything like that. What I’m seeing is a crew of my soldiers gathered around the monitors of their workstation like it’s a soccer game!”
No one spoke or moved. The bridge crew stared at their commander, terrified of what the consequences might be. It only occurred to a few of them that the reason for her outburst was because of the dead pilots. They’d all seen the lengths Aren had taken to avoid bloodshed, especially after their recent attack on the Mercurian security ships. The Empress could have cut those ships to shreds, but Aren held off. Some of the bridge crew shared the Colonel’s aggressive tendencies and wished their commander would allow them to destroy ships instead of letting them get away.
“Consider this your warning. There will be victories and there will be losses, but aboard the Empress, your duty is your only concern. You think they’re glued to their monitors watching us? No, they’re storming the flagship of Earth and getting ready to take on all of the Earth Navy. We have a job to do and it’s on the planet below us, not millions of kilometers away from here.”
Aren didn’t waste another breath on the crew. She turned and walked into her office. They were easy targets, but she knew she needed them more than ever. Not only did the Colonel’s actions draw a line for the Nine Kingdoms, but they also drew a line for the Wanderers. Aren and the rest of the Wanderers were already aware their beliefs were considered extreme, but now the Colonel would draw the extremists within their people to him. Aren could already sense the unease on the bridge. The division of the Wanderers had begun and she guessed that’s exactly what the Colonel wanted.
Her computer chirped a message notification at her. Aren sat down in front of it and saw the encryption was from a nearby relay that she and Riz agreed to use if they ever needed to communicate in complete secrecy. The relay was officially listed as non-functional, so there was no one likely to monitor it, even the Colonel’s crack team of hackers and cryptologists. Any time she and Riz spoke, she had to assume the Colonel might be trying to monitor her transmissions. If he was, it would take any group of hackers at least ten minutes to hack the transmission, so they let their discussions go on no longer than that. Aren and Riz hadn’t spoken since right after the incident in the Antioch Belt.
Aren accepted the transmission and Riz’s face appeared on the screen, just as strong and stern as she’d remembered it. There had been much tension between their failure to bring Kelvin to the Wanderers, each blamed the other. Aren thought that the one good order the Colonel gave was to separate them. Though Aren still didn’t trust Riz and knew he was potentially just as dangerous as the Colonel, a familiar face like his was welcome as she dealt with the shock. She could see the deaths affected him, too.
“Look, Aren, I know we’ve had our differences,” Riz started. “I know we don’t have a lot of time, but all I’m going to say is that I didn’t know. I didn’t think he’d do this unless he was pushed. From what we monitored, that squad of star divers was no threat to his ships. He did this as a demonstration.”
“I know, Riz,” Aren said. She couldn’t remember the last time her voice came out that soft. “I know what he’s doing. I hope you do, too. He knows the two of us are going to be a threat to him, eventually. This is his way of changing the game. Before it was disabling ships, now it’s killing people. He knows that’s our limit.”
Aren looked through the glass doors of her office onto the bridge, to make sure no one watched her.
“You’re out there. I’m stuck in a rusty shipyard, training new recruits and taking inventory of parts. You know what’s going on. What are you going to do?”
This was a moment where Aren had to calculate hundreds of possibilities in her head. Aren wasn’t worried about the Colonel attacking her since she had the weapon. She just had to make sure the Colonel would come to Venus so that she would use it on him. If she tried to take him out and failed, the Colonel’s hold over the Wanderers would only get stronger. What Aren calculated now is whether or not she let Riz know.
“I have a plan,” was all Aren was willing to say. “Can you send ships? Now?”
Riz shook his head. “The flight crews are still training. Too many new recruits. The artificials are helping, but we have to be careful about how hard we push them, otherwise, they think we’re taking advantage of their physiology.”
“Maybe if you stop calling them artificials, that would be a good place to start if you’re worried about them resenting you. They’re people.” Aren had taken note from her earlier conversations that the artificial beings needed to be given respect. Riz tried to excuse his ignorance about certain groups of people's identities as his views were from another time, but Aren wouldn’t have it.
“Look, do you want to tell me what you’re planning? Then maybe I can see about getting you some ships.”
“It’s not gonna happen, Riz. What I will tell you is that no one else dies, until we get to Jupiter. If you want to be a part of that plan –– a part of the movement you originally recruited me into –– then try to send some ships. Was that the only reason you contacted me? Find out what my plan is?”
“No,” Riz snapped. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. This shook me, and I’ve lost people before.”
Aren believed he was sincere. Still, Riz would use it against her later. In her early days of training, any moment of weakness was used against her. Riz had been a cruel teacher. He never hurt her physically, but the emotional damage took its toll. Aren was stronger now, but she never forgot the hell he put her through –– and her isolation and sadness in her first days of capture were what he liked to use. Riz had broken her, but now Aren was rebuilt whole and determined to beat the man who’d once been her teacher. Aren found her strength after being shown by Riz what it was to be shattered.
Aren would have to deal with the Colonel first.
Regret sometimes rose up in Riz and there was occasionally a hope that someday Aren would forgive him for how harsh he had been to her. Riz hadn’t thought much about his old planet Earth. What Aren had become was something he couldn’t reconcile with and he’d have to take her out of the Wanderers if he ever wanted to be their leader. Still, Riz wondered if he had done things differently if she’d not have been the perfect ally to help him lead. That thought was a useless one, though, because Aren would never fall in line for him again. The only thing in his head was the progress of the army he was building. He hadn’t even given much thought about the Colonel, even though he wanted the Colonel gone as much as Aren. These deaths and seeing Aren stirred up a lot in Riz. Aren reminded him so much of her father.
Riz thought of King Erelm often. They had been as close to brothers as he thought possible. The betrayal Erelm must have felt haunted Riz. It was as big a regret for him as anything, even though Riz knew it was necessary and didn’t shake his faith in the cause. For Riz, it was a betrayal when Erelm took the crown of Earth. When Riz and Erelm were young, they planned to eliminate their own monarchy, but Erelm changed his mind at the last second and betrayed every belief he claimed to share with his friend. Riz had put together a prospective government that functioned without a monarch and was prepared to present it to the people of Earth. Once Erelm became king, it changed everything.
Erelm appointed Riz as a military commander, against his wishes. Riz was good as a soldier, but he only functioned as that so he could someday be a leader in government. He planned to run for an administrative role, high in the government he would help build. It would have been up to the people of Earth to elect him, and Riz never doubted they would have. Riz wanted to be a senator or member of the Royal Council. Erelm took that life from him when he kept the crown and sent Riz back into space. Riz could never forgive him for that, but still, he didn’t wish harm on Erelm. He still hoped
his troubled friend could find peace one day after this was over. And maybe one day, Riz could find forgiveness.
“Go back to building your ships, Riz. I’m fine,” Aren said. “You’ll know what I’ve got planned. Don’t worry. You’ll be one of the first to know.” Aren enjoyed making veiled threats. It helped her by taking the anger out on Riz, knowing he must have reached out to her to find some comfort. Aren wouldn’t give him that.
The connection was severed, from Riz’s end. Aren poured herself a glass of water and took it down in a few gulps. As she felt it soothe her throat from the dead, recycled air of the Empress, she felt herself calm down and start to accept that death would follow her.
That death would follow them all.
Captain Ali shot through the hollow elevator shafts, mostly in darkness, with the entire crew behind her. They all had thruster suits and had trained for these maneuvers, spending time in the zero-gravity simulator. They had complete space suits on, in case they needed to exit the ship or in the event the Wanderers cut off the Monarch’s life-support. All their training had been for several scenarios, but what the crew did right now was something they’d hoped all along they’d never have to. They were abandoning the Monarch.
They flew through the narrow tunnels and corridors of the Monarch to avoid detection of the Wanderers, who had begun making their way aboard the ship. Despite several of the Wanderers’ shuttles being temporarily disabled, they’d been able to board the Monarch. Flight in the thruster suits was the fastest way for the crew to make it to their destination –– a secret hangar they’d constructed over the last few months they’d hoped they’d never have to use.
There were several shuttles in the secret hangar and it was completely disconnected from the rest of the ship. It would still have power and the shuttles would still be powered-up. The hangar had been part of the Monarch crew’s worst case scenario plan in case they needed to get off the ship undetected. The shuttles were equipped with radar blocking equipment, that would blind the Wanderers’ sensors. It would give them plenty of time to get away from the rest of the fleet and head for the Earth Navy ships that were on their way to Venus. Captain Ali anticipated the Colonel and his soldiers would be too busy trying get control of the Monarch to notice the shuttles, especially since they wouldn’t register on any sensors.
Most of the crew had bloodshot eyes from crying. Never in all of the scenarios did they expect to lose twenty-seven of their friends. The only person who hadn’t cried was Captain Ali. Eerika Ali knew if she started to cry that she would not stop for a very long time. There would be a time and place, but this was not it. All she could focus on at that moment was to keep her crew safe. It wasn’t about not being a victim, it was about being a captain.
The doors parted as they flew into the hangar and it lit up once they were in. As soon as the crew touched down, they sprinted to their assigned shuttles and powered them on. Captain Ali waited, making sure she saw every single person enter a shuttle. There were close to two-hundred crew members so it took a while, but she remained until there was only one other person standing there. It was Holloway.
“You didn’t think you were going back alone, captain? Did you?” Holloway said, taking off her helmet.
When Holloway received the signal that they were to evacuate the ship, the only reason she followed the orders was to make sure Captain Ali wouldn’t remain behind. She hadn’t abandoned her plan to get to the computer core, but she knew that Captain Ali would stay behind to try and get back the Monarch. It would be the two of them against the Wanderers, Holloway decided.
“If you’re not going to get to the computer core, then your shuttle, commander. That’s an order,” Ali said. That Holloway figured the captain would stay behind to try and disrupt whatever plans the Colonel had for her ship was not a surprise to Ali. She wasn’t going to try and waste her time arguing with Holloway if she insisted on staying.
“You’re going to need my help. If we’re going to get anywhere close to getting this ship back, you’re going to need me. You’re smart, captain, but not like me.”
Ali laughed at herself for a moment. Holloway was completely serious. It wasn’t meant to be snarky.
“You’ve got me there, commander. Come on then, let’s get these shuttles out of here,” Ali said.
Holloway put her helmet back on and turned on her gravity boots, as Ali did the same. There were several protests over the communications channel from the crew, saying they weren’t launching the shuttles until Captain Ali was onboard. She wasn’t going to give them a choice. Through the control pad on her arm, she opened the hangar doors, which forced the shuttle's engines on. It would give the pilots no choice other than to make a break for it or linger in the hangar and risk detection. Ali had no doubt they would act to keep the crew safe.
It took only a few seconds for the shuttles to blast into space and the hangar door closed quickly behind them. The captain and Holloway were relieved, knowing that it was very likely the shuttles would make it. The crew’s safety was out of their hands, and they could start to focus on how to stop the Colonel.
“Let’s focus on the computer core,” Ali said. The crew were not out of her mind, but she knew that time worked against them. “From what you said on the bridge, I’m hopeful they haven’t gotten into the Earth Navy network.”
“I don’t even think they bothered to get into any of the other databanks –– they just went straight for the engine and propulsion systems. If he gets the core online and he has the same group of hackers, with some time, they could access Earth’s network. In the event of the network being hacked, the standard protocol is for the encryption signatures to be reorganized every second on each end of the global and interplanetary transmissions; but, if Earth doesn’t know the Monarch has been compromised, they will establish a link with the Monarch, since they’re probably trying to figure out what’s happened since the attack. If we could get a signal to Earth Navy to block access from the Monarch we could at least keep the Wanderers contained,” Holloway said.
Holloway continued to speak in elaborate technical terms, leaving Ali’s comprehension far behind. Ali could understand some of the technobabble, but she didn’t need to know every intricate detail of how the computer systems were designed.
“Slow down, Holloway. Remember, I’m the dumb one,” Ali joked. “Just tell me what you need me to do. This is the only scenario we didn’t prepare for. I’m gonna follow you.”
“We need to get to the remote access point in the Royal Cabin. I’m going to bet that the Wanderers will head for the computer core once they get onboard, but they won’t know about the access point in the Royal Cabin. If we can get there, we can get control of the Monarch back, lockout access to the Earth Navy network, and establish a communication channel with the ships already en route to Venus.”
The problem was that the Royal Cabin was on the opposite side of the ship from where they were with no direct way to get there without risk of encountering the Wanderers. With the Wanderers flooding the ship, crossing the entire length of the ship would almost guarantee their capture.
“We can’t go through the residence promenade,” Holloway said. “The last thing we detected was the Colonel bringing over ships. They’re probably conducting a search for us right now.”
“So we go along the hull. We can get into the Royal Cabin through the observatory,” Captain Ali said. If they left the ship and used their thruster suits to fly to the other side, it was a better chance than they’d have to directly cross the ship. No one would notice them.
“We can’t use our thruster suits. They’ll detect the propulsion signature. We’ll have to walk on the hull.” Holloway pointed to her magnetic boots.
“That’s gonna take hours, but I don’t think we have a choice. You’re right, I didn’t think of that,” Ali said. “That’s a lot of time in the vacuum. Are there anti-radiation meds at the Royal Cabin?”
Holloway took out a vial of black liquid that was unmis
takably the anti-radiation medicine and handed it to the captain.
“There’s some there, but we should take this now. It will keep us safe in case we get stuck out there longer than expected,” Holloway said. They each took a sip of the smoky, harsh liquid.
Long exposure to the harsh radiation of space was not good for humans. The thruster suits offered some protection in deep space, but it was limited. Ali and Holloway knew they would be getting sick, but they also risked death or permanent injury. It was a huge risk, but Ali was prepared to do whatever she could to protect the Monarch. She wasn’t giving up the ship.
Holloway put her helmet on and activated the life support systems of the thruster suit. They could leave through the hangar, so Captain Ali opened the large door and programmed it to close behind them. The two of them walked to the edge and prepared to be completely disoriented. They took the first step down onto the hull, and in seconds, their bodies were flipped upright, away from the hangar and they now stood on the hull. They looked back, at the hangar, which now appeared as a deep pit. Vertical had become horizontal in an extreme way in just two steps. It made Holloway dizzy and Captain Ali tried to adjust her perspective.
“I’m not sure if you knew this or not, captain, but I didn’t do so hot on my zero-gravity training,” Holloway said through deep breaths. In all zero gravity training, all officers art taught the best way to cope with the dizzy sensation was to take deep, slow breaths to make sure the body gets enough oxygen. Holloway knew nausea and dizziness would fade away, but they were all she could feel in that moment.
“None of us did, except for Kelvin,” Captain Ali said. “Just keep your eyes down. Focus on your breathing. You’ve got this, commander.”
The two of them adjusted to their infinite surroundings and started to move forward. They had a long walk and it was just the beginning of a very difficult task. Whatever happened going forward, Ali and Holloway were grateful the crew got away unnoticed and would soon rejoin the Earth Navy.
