"You have two minutes, Yugi. Make them count."
"Yes, ma'am." Yugi pushed wispy blonde hair back from her forehead and tucked a strand around her tipped ear. "Here's the thing, I know I haven't been in the Coalition for very long...only a year. Well, not quite. It's really more like ten months."
"Yugi, you're babbling. Get on with it or go back to the bridge. You know what? This is ridiculous. You're not a combat soldier."
"No, I know, but I am an Alaran."
"Excuse me? What's that got to do with anything?"
"Captain, she's my princess. I know I've never seen combat, but I need to be part of this. Besides, as a Coalition officer, I'm expected to take my turn on ship's missions just like everyone else."
Van didn't even have to think about it. "Not this time."
She started to walk away, her mind made up, but Yugi stopped her by grasping her forearm. Van was surprised by the strength of her grasp. Yugi quickly released her but tried to pursue her case.
"Please, give me a chance."
"No." Van was finished with the conversation. "You can get your feet wet some other time. This mission is too dangerous. No one is going to have time to protect you and I'm not going to take you along just to watch you die. That's final."
Van felt Yugi's stare boring a hole into her back all the way to the lift. As far as she was concerned, the navigator could be angry all she wanted. Van wouldn't allow any inexperienced crew member to put themselves in danger so thoughtlessly. Eventually, Yugi would understand.
She'd almost reached the shuttle bay when Van's wrist chronometer/communicator beeped and she heard her tactical officer's voice. "Ozal to Captain Swann. I've found something."
"On my way."
A few minutes later, Van entered the conference room on deck one. All of the crew members she'd handpicked for the mission had assembled. When Van first dreamed up the scheme to rescue Cade, her plans hinged largely on the hope that Cade was still alive. Now, as she looked around at the curious and eager faces, she felt they finally had some concrete proof. Yet, despite how the prospects were looking up, Van's first thought was, why is everyone always taller than me?
"All right, people. You've all had time to go over the plan. Any questions?"
"Yeah, when do we start?"
The seemingly insubordinate question masked a crewman's eagerness, but Van couldn't permit her people to become careless. "I appreciate the sentiment, Lieutenant Arwak, but I need all of you to pay attention. When I decided to go against orders and leave sector patrol, you were with me. You didn't have to be, but you were. Twenty-four hours ago, I made my decision based on a gut reaction, the feeling that Admiral Meryan is still alive. Thanks to Lieutenant Commander Ozal, we now have a glimmer of proof."
"What is it, ma'am?" Lieutenant Osborne waited patiently, hope shining in his eyes.
"Scans picked up traces of Coalition ore," Ozal answered. "The kind you find in military issue wrist communicators."
For a brief pause there was stunned silence before Lieutenant Bjorg said, "That's all? You found a trace of ore? No offence, Captain Swann, but that ore could be there from any time in the last hundred years. Andromeda forces landed on Gothos in the previous war. How do we know it's not left over from then?"
Bjorg was a young officer, but not inexperienced and he had a point. Van couldn't look him in the eye and lie to him. "The signal decay is too weak for that, Jason. Additionally, this signal is isolated on the dark side of the moon and it only lasted for a few seconds before it disappeared. I have a hard time explaining that unless someone deliberately tried to hide it. I'd really like for you to go with us. You have some exceptional skills that we could really use, but I don't want you if you have any doubt at all."
All eyes were on him while Bjorg made his decision. It didn't take long. "I have no doubt at all that if Admiral Meryan is there, we'll find her. I'm with you, ma'am."
"Good," Van looked around at everyone, "because this has become more than a rescue mission. If we're very lucky, we'll find the admiral without alerting the enemy to our presence. However, this is also an opportunity. The enemy doesn't know we're here and I intend to take advantage of that fact by crippling their fleet. Commander Ozal, are you ready?"
"Yes, ma'am. Lieutenant Arwak and I will take images of the compound and gather as much intel as possible. If the Gothoans are planning a full-scale assault, we'll find out. Chief Yosef and Lieutenant Bjorg will plant mines throughout the weapons depot and instill markers around the northern and eastern perimeters of the enemy fleet. Lieutenant Osborne and Petty Officer Slater will plant markers on the western and southern perimeters. When we rendezvous back aboard Pandora, we'll fire a full spread of octanitro charges and destroy the fleet from space."
"That might destroy half the planet, too," Yosef point out, but he didn't sound very upset by the prospect.
Van joined with the others in an unexpected moment of silence, an acknowledgment for the lives that would be lost. Maybe they could find a way to use the new transporters to carry the contingent of enemy military forces from the planet. Entertaining the possibility, Van knew it wasn't realistic. Pandora couldn't possibly hold the additional people without severely overextending their supplies. For all that, Van might have carried through with her half-baked plan despite the almost insurmountable problems it would cause. Then she thought of Cade and her decision wasn't difficult. The Gothoans had started this conflict and if the arms base were allowed to stand, Van would be just as guilty as the enemy if Coalition citizens were harmed as a result.
"Right. I want everyone prepped and in the shuttle bay in fifteen minutes. We'll use the Pemberton to transport and set down at the edge of the old city."
"Good thing the lifeboat has a cloak, too," Chief Yosef added.
"Glad you're so positive. You'll be our pilot."
"Captain, who are you partnered with?"
Although the question seemed innocent enough, Van's officer's looked first at Yosef and then at her, curious about her answer. "I go alone."
"But, Captain..."
"No, Chief. I appreciate your concern, but that's the way it has to be. I'm going after Meryan and it'll be easier to do alone." Van's heart made the decision and would not be dissuaded.
Commander Byra stood silently against the bulkhead throughout the meeting. He fell into step with Van when she left the room. The hopeless, numbing pain she had experienced over the last month had abated, but they had yet to return to their former closeness. Walking down the corridor, Van didn't know what to say to break the silence. The worst part was she couldn't remember exactly why she was angry with him anymore.
"Captain, are you sure this is such a wise move?"
Oh yeah.
"Are you going to try and talk me out of rescuing Admiral Meryan, again? You're wasting your time, Commander." Van's voice was pure ice.
She heard him blow out his breath in exasperation. "Permission to speak freely?"
Van glanced at him as the lift whisked them to deck one. Briefly, she considered denying his request. "You have five minutes."
Byra waited until the elevator stopped and then followed Van into her office. She allowed the silence to continue as she pulled up her computer in preparation of sending a message. There was no doubt they had noticed Pandora had left her post by now. Rather than let the Coalition wonder at her sudden absence, she felt she owed headquarters some type of explanation.
"I've accepted that I can't change your mind."
"Good. Then why are we here?"
Paul tapped a small metallic device against the palm of his hand, looking at Van and then back to his trinket. Finally, he handed it over. Van inspected a small, black square about the size of her pinky fingernail. Attached to the top was a curved plastic piece and a red light blinked near the bottom.
"Nice toy. What is it?"
Van tried to give it back to Paul, but he held up one hand. "It's for you. It's a homing beacon one of the science guys put together. Y
ou wear it around your ear."
"What's wrong with the wrist chronometer? The bio-signs detector performs the same function."
"True," Paul allowed, "but the Gothoans know about that technology. This thing is something new. I'm not even sure how it works to be honest. All I know is that Smitty says they won't be able to detect it. If you get into trouble, it might give you an edge."
Frowning, Van turned the monitor over in her hands to inspect the smaller details. She didn't really think much of this latest gadget, but she shoved it into her pocket. "Thanks. They could have made it smaller, but I guess it's okay as long as it works. Is that all?" She glanced down at the computer monitor hoping Paul would take the hint.
He shook his head. "How can you be so damned sure she's here, Captain? Bjorg was right when he said that palladium signature might be old."
Full circle. Van rested her weight on fists braced against the desktop. "She's here."
"But how do you know? Just because our instruments show that the ship that attacked us is on the planet, that doesn't mean Admiral Meryan is."
Anger and stress finally won out and Van snapped. "Because I can feel it. Don't ask me how because I can't tell you. I just know she's down there...waiting for me. And I won't let her down."
"Gut instinct, huh?"
"Yes, that's right." Van stared at him, daring Byra to try to prove her wrong.
"This isn't like you, Van. I've never seen you operate based on just a hunch before." The challenge vanished from his tone and the fire went out of his eyes. "If you're that sure, then I've got your back. Whatever you need, I'm here for you."
The tension in her shoulders suddenly eased and Van almost felt light headed. Until his acceptance and unexpected support, she hadn't realized how heavily their rift weighed upon her. "Thank you, Paul."
"You really love her, don't you?"
Van never hesitated. "More than I could ever tell you."
They shared a smile and he dared tease her a little. "The great charmer has finally fallen. What would all of your conquests have to say?"
"Let's not tell them just yet."
"We'll let them find out at the wedding."
"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself. Let's get Cade back before we make any future plans."
Paul nodded. "You're the boss. So what now, are you getting ready to send the standard ‘I take full responsibility and my crew was only following orders' message?"
Van looked again at the monitor, the screen waiting with the comlink set for Coalition Headquarters. Such a communiqué was procedure when a commander feared they might not return from a dangerous and unsanctioned mission. "Think the powers that be will believe me?"
"It doesn't matter. It's the captainly thing to do."
She did intend to send the message, but Van also planned to send a second transmission. Meant for Commodore Grier, Van would explain her rash actions. For a clandestine intelligence operative, such a move was unheard of but Grier was more than her superior officer. She'd taken a chance on a naïve young captain when few others would. Her opinion mattered and if something went wrong, Van wanted Grier to understand. Still, her sentimentality didn't make her foolish. Van planned to insert a twelve-hour time delay into the encoding sequence. If all went well, she'd be back in plenty of time to cancel the messages.
"I'd better get to it then. I've got a mission to lead."
Paul stood up straight and addressed her in the best military tradition. "Aye, Captain. We'll keep an eye on air traffic and warn you if anything looks amiss."
"Very good, Commander. Radio silence once the lifeboat enters the atmosphere. Report to the bridge."
Turning on his heel, Commander Byra headed for the command center. Van sat to compose her communications packets. Eyes on the screen, she heard Paul's curious question just before the doors closed.
"Where's Ensign Yugi?"
The doors slid shut and Van spent ten precious minutes recording messages. She felt each passing second like a thorn throbbing in her skin. Every cell in her body cried out for her to leap out of the chair and storm the planet on her own. Such a mission would be suicide and was unthinkable, but she couldn't deny her sense of urgency. Van had never met a woman who occupied her every waking thought before. Knowing Cade was alone on a Gothoan stronghold threatened to upset her military training. For the first time, Van understood why personnel were generally precluded from the rescue of a loved one. The irony wasn't lost on her and a smile crossed her face for a few seconds. Then Van logged off her screen, stood, tugged down the hem of her jacket and headed for the shuttle deck. It was time to get her lover back.
Chapter Twenty
LANDING NEAR THE old city on the dark side of Gothos Prime proved easier than Van thought it would. Part of her had expected enemy forces to fire at them as soon as the Pemberton entered the atmosphere. Instead, Ensign Yugi landed the lifeboat without as much as a bump. Still not happy that the young Alaran was along for the ride, she realized there wasn't any choice. After Chief Yosef suddenly took ill, Van needed a pilot. That she'd already denied Yugi's request to join the mission no longer mattered. Van stifled her sigh and concentrated on the objective. Her team assembled in the rear of the shuttle.
"I won't waste any more time explaining your assignments. Mark the time as 0100 Zulu. I expect everyone to finish up and return to the ship in eleven hours. Avoid contact with the enemy at all costs. I don't want them to know we were here until we detonate the charges from Pandora. Any questions?"
The time limit would return them to the ship before Van's encoded messages self-transmitted. She wasn't about to leave the planet without Cade or unless she found positive proof that she wasn't there, but she had to make sure her people made it to safety. She had already lost too many crew members in the past few months and she couldn't stand to have another life on her conscience.
No one had any questions. With cold weather gear already in place, the Coalition officers hefted packs of supplies and pulse rifles. Everyone, including Van, wore a blast pistol strapped to their thighs. Pulling night vision goggles into place, she nodded for Osborne to lower the ramp. Van spared one more look at Yugi's back, worried for the youngster but knowing that Lieutenant Bjorg would do everything in his power to keep her safe.
By twos, the officers exited the lifeboat and headed in different directions toward the terminus line marking daylight and darkness. Set in teams of two, they would be harder for the Gothoan patrols to spot. Van exited last and turned to close the hatch. She used the wrist controls on her arm to engage the Pemberton's cloak and set up a dampening field to avoid detection. Once the ship shimmered out of sight, Van struck off on her own toward the last known coordinates of the ore signature that Ozal had discovered. The cold breeze on the dark side of the planet carried a sting, but it was nothing like Van had experienced on Tokar. Here it was just cold.
The temperature made a vast difference, not just in her chances of survival if she couldn't get back to the ship. Here, Van didn't require a parka and had no need of an insulated head covering that would obstruct her vision. The coat wasn't as heavy either and she enjoyed the advantage of easier movement. Still, after walking three kilometers, sweat trickled down her temple and slid under the edge of her tunic. As she approached her destination, doubts finally began to intrude.
What if Byra was right and Cade wasn't on the planet? All of the engineers in the Coalition insisted the captain's yacht from Pandora had disintegrated in the explosion during their encounter and Van had seen that destruction with her own eyes. Had she defied orders and put her crew at risk for no reason? Van honestly didn't think so, but even if she had, she knew she would do the same thing again in an instant. What terrified her more than being mistaken about Cade being on Gothos Prime was the possibility that the rescue might come too late. Cade had been on the planet for several weeks and the enemy might have already discovered her and killed her.
Van rejected that possibility immediately. If Men
tis and his troops had located and murdered Cade, they would have broadcast the news on all channels, happy to incite chaos and fear throughout the Coalition. All of her thoughts led her back to the same conclusion. Cade was here and she was alive.
Her scanner beeped softly and Van glanced down at the readout. She had arrived. Heart suddenly thumping, she looked around the barren terrain. Through the greenish light of her night-vision goggles Van could only see boulders of varying sizes, a burned-out water truck and the mountain range she'd been walking toward for the last hour. Slowly, she turned in a circle. Nothing moved. Van headed for the water truck.
It was an old, overturned Gothoan water supply vehicle with a huge rusted cylinder still attached to the end. The hatch to the tank was thrown open, but heavy enough that the stiff breeze didn't move it. Van's eyes scoured the surface, looking for any signs that someone had been here recently. A boot print rewarded her search and she quickly squatted, propping the butt of her disrupter rifle against her bent knee. From the slickness of the imprint, she realized the print didn't belong to a Coalition military boot. She knew at the time Cade disappeared, she'd been wearing her uniform.
It wasn't Cade's print, Van allowed, but that didn't mean she wasn't still alive.
Van stood and slung her rifle onto her back. She reached overhead and grasped the edge of the truck to haul herself up. One foot on the undercarriage provided her with a leg up and she managed to clamber up over the side. The climb was made awkward because of her goggles, but Van was reluctant to pocket them in case she had uninvited company. Once she was mounted onto the side of the water tank, Van sat on the lip of the hatch opening and lowered her legs into the darkness. Bracing her hands on either side, she prepared to lower herself into the container.
"Byra to Captain Swann."
Van almost jumped out of her skin.
She had given an order for radio silence for the duration of the mission and hadn't expected to hear from her first officer. For him to call her now, it had to be serious. Preparing herself for the worst, Van tapped her ear bud and answered quietly. "Swann here."
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