by Angie Arland
“That was fast.” The human nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Message reads: new directive, recover data from command core of Terudithan cruiser. Above all, stay safe. Keep fighting forward. Fleet Command, out.” Flea hoped the woman didn’t notice the quiver in her voice. Why would the foolish humans send them to their deaths? No one ever returned from a Terudithan vessel, human, dinnarei, or otherwise.
“Send confirmation, and continue tether deployment,” the captain commanded.
Flea didn’t respond; instead, she sent the message and returned to the tactical table. “I’ve pinpointed TC-32’s location,” she said. “There isn’t much left of it. The crew seem to be gathered in the lander bay. If the ship were at least partially intact we could use the tethers, however….”
The human swore. It meant nothing to Flea, just another confusing alien word to her ears. It seemed to soothe the humans, using made-up words to convey their mood, something Flea never understood.
“All right,” the human said, gnawing her bottom lip. “I need to think…”
Flea decided to help the human rescue her people. The exercise would aid her reputation with her superiors and improve her standing among the dinnarei. After all, she was a traitor’s daughter.
Thirty-two cycles ago, her father warned the humans of the Terudithan threat. In the process, every crewmember on his ship was slain—all but one. It is a night forever frozen within Flea’s limbic system. Humans shot down their vessel and, as they emerged from their craft, dinnarei scouts killed her family one by one. She would have been killed as well, yet a soldier took pity on the young ‘kintai’—or child—and withheld from energizing his weapon. It didn’t matter. Others atomized him before her eyes and dragged her away to face a lifetime of suffering, all thanks to ungrateful, insidious humans.
She regarded the one opposite her across the tactical table and smiled. “It is fortunate I took the opportunity to serve with you, captain. I have learned much.” She lowered her eyes and studied the asteroid on the volumetric display. In time, she would end them all. But first, she had to gain their trust. “I have an idea how to extract your…them.”
“I’m glad you’re here, too, cendent. What’s your idea?” The human had a habit of wetting her lips with her tongue.
A shiver ran down Flea’s spine. She found the woman’s habit disgusting. “We can use a low burst of ions to ablate the remaining hull around the lander bay, then use the tethers to pull their Land Crawler into our cargo hold.”
“We can do that without damaging the LC?”
“Yes. I believe so.”
The captain fidgeted with the sleeve of her uniform and tucked her frizzy black hair behind her ears. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
“Eve,” Flea hailed the ship’s computer, “calculate a trajectory into the asteroid’s proximity and bring us into alignment with TC-32’s starboard.”
“Calculating. Ninety-six percent probability of debris,” Eve responded.
“How much debris? Enough to damage the ship?”
“Calculating. Negative, a course can be plotted for minimal impact, maintaining all systems. Damage to hull less than two percent with no breach.”
Flea still didn’t like the sound of that. Were these humans worth two percent’s worth of damage?
“Eve, proceed with that course,” the human said before Flea could speak.
“Affirmative, Captain Leigh.”
The ship altered course, emitting a slight vibration under Flea’s combat-boots before smoothing out. As they neared, Eve altered course around large chunks of broken asteroid. Particles of debris pummeled the hull, and they gripped the edge of the table for support. “Perhaps we should secure ourselves until we reach the scout ship?”
“Agreed,” the captain said, moving to her Command chair.
Flea secured herself into the Navigation console chair and waited for Eve to continue course alterations to compensate for the debris field. Less than two ems later, Eve notified them they were in position. Flea rose from her chair and returned to the tactical table.
“Eve, expand the ion pulse beam to encompass an area twenty feet in diameter and lower the yield rate to fifteen percent,” Flea instructed.
“Affirmative, Cendent Lan’rei.”
“Fire ion pulse beam at these coordinates…” Flea traced a path with her finger around the TC-32’s hull on the volumetric display. “Launch a three-second burst followed by an integrity report. Commence firing.”
“Affirmative.”
Inert particles impacted the ship.
“Hull integrity is now approximately sixty-eight percent.” Eve held the ship steady just above the surface of the asteroid.
“Eve, launch a six-second burst.”
“Affirmative.”
“Let’s hope Aiden and his crew are wearing their EVA suits,” the captain said, still seated in her command chair and watching the display.
Short ion bursts fired. The TC-32’s hull ablated, a twenty-foot diameter section sheared away, and its lander bay was exposed to asteroid dust and the vastness of space.
Twenty-Two
The ship came apart around them.
With each panicked breath, Aiden mentally prepared for his final moment…or at least tried. At best, he hoped a large chunk of asteroid would crush them; a quick death, rather than being pushed into space by the kinetic energy wave only to suffocate slowly alongside his crew. He looked at Spero. The golden retriever lay across his boots, as though it was the most natural thing and the world wasn’t literally coming apart. What he wouldn’t give to be a worry-free dog at that moment.
“Sir! Should we deploy support anchors?” a voice came. He wasn’t sure who said it.
“No! We don’t want to be attached to—!”
A thunderous roar ripped through the crawler. That got Spero’s attention, the dog lifted her head at least. Aiden gripped the Land Crawler’s support handles as they hove away from the bay floor.
Aiden closed his eyes and steadied his breath. “Hold on, people!” Even then, he pretended to manage the unmanageable, to let them know their C.O. had it under control. It was all pretend, every bit of it. This was no time for jokes or false pep talks. The crew would all be lost in their own beliefs and, soon, he would join his wife and son in whatever afterlife they were in—he didn’t care where or which.
The crawler swayed and moved, swayed again. The remains of the lander bay fell away. TC-32 was gone, replaced by the image of his wife and son. He didn’t have to pretend anymore, to be fearless, in command, responsible…. A calm feeling overtook Aiden as the LC became still. He wondered if they were floating off the asteroid or if, in fact, they were dead and not aware of it just yet.
Someone lifted his hand. He opened his eyes to see Ryder next to him, her hand in his. A bright light filled the LC, and Ryder looked toward the rear hatch. Aiden followed her gaze. A glow of white light shined over them.
Aiden’s heart thumped. Strange how he had felt no pain.
Something moved into the light, but still no one spoke.
There is nothing left to say, a little voice in the back of his mind said. Who knew death would be such bliss?
He closed his eyes, allowing exhaustion to swallow his soul.
Twenty-Three
Aiden tried to blink away the dinnarei’s face, just a few inches above his own.
What the hell type of afterlife is this?
He pulled something away from his nose and mouth.
The dinnarei spoke over her shoulder. “He awakens.” A female from her tone and slender form. She took the oxygen mask from his hand.
“Awakens? I’m not dead?”
The dinarrei didn’t answer, but instead, disappeared from view. Aiden propped himself up as a door opened and closed. A hand on his shoulder pushed him back down to the bed.
“Nope. You’re not that lucky.” Another voice, human, female, familiar.
Aiden squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. Hi
s eyes felt like they were filled with sand.
Kellanie Leigh frowned as she leaned in to inspect his eyes.
“Kell?”
“Yep. You are that lucky.”
“I…I don’t…the crew? Did they…” Aiden felt as though his airways had been seared.
Kellanie held a cup of water to his mouth. “Drink.”
He lifted his head and took a few sips, choking. He tried to recall what happened, how he got here. His mind was a blur of jumbled events.
She placed the cup on a small table beside the bed. “Your crew is fine, all in about the same shape as yourself. Spero is sleeping in my cabin. The only reason she survived was because you shared your O2 with her.”
“I did?” Aiden sighed with relief. They had a close call, too close.
Kellanie pushed her frizzy hair from her eyes. “Some of your crew are already up and exploring the ship.” She put her hand on Aiden’s arm. She stared at him with incredulous eyes. “What the hell were you thinking, Aiden?”
His heart lurched. Beautiful eyes, just like his wife’s. “I wasn’t, obviously.” Aiden cursed his carelessness. “Terudithans were hunting us. We had no way of outrunning them. The crew performed well, considering the circumstances.”
“Performed well, did they? You put them at risk for what?”
“Oh, and you don’t? Every time you leave the fleet with your crew? Of all people, Kell, you know the risks we take out here.” Aiden pushed up to a sitting position. He wasn’t going to face his sister-in-law while lying down.
Kellanie pulled her hand away and stepped back. “I thought we had put this behind us. It was six cycles ago. Haven’t I apologized hundreds of times? Do you want me to get on my knees? Grovel for forgiveness?”
“Actually, seven cycles. Today. And don’t bother groveling. Nothing you do will ever change things. Maybe it’s easy for you to forget about your sister and nephew…I lost my whole world that day.”
Every time I close my damn eyes.
Kellanie let them slip away through sheer carelessness. He looked at her now, she looked so much like Lauren it ripped his heart apart. Especially when she was angry, like now.
Kellanie’s sudden glare narrowed and she pursed her lips. He could tell she was making an enormous effort not to spit something back at him, and maybe he deserved it. She had just saved his crew, his dog, and, not to mention, himself from certain death. But rather than say anything, to her credit, Kell gave a small nod.
“We have work to do,” she said. “Let’s keep it professional, nothing more.”
“Fine by me.”
He had to remind himself, Kellanie may look a lot like Lauren, but they were night and day, those two. Except Lauren was gone.
Aiden swung his legs over the side of the medical bed. Kellanie was right about one thing, they had work to do. Dredging up the past wasn’t going to help their situation. “Thanks for the save. This your new ship then?”
“Yep. As commanding officer, I welcome you to the AEV Mark-I prototype scout ship.”
“Fancy.”
“We happened to be scouting for unusual atmospheric filaments on a planet of the inner rim when we detected you, clinging to an asteroid, no less.” Kellanie’s face turned dark. “Your incredible luck continues. I’m not surprised. Your O2 reserves were depleted to less than one percent. You wouldn’t have lasted another two ems.”
“I still don’t…how did you…?”
“Eve maneuvered our ship into the crater, what was left of it. I just dished out the orders. After we picked up your life-signs, it was Flea’s idea to ablate the TC-32’s hull and extract the LC on tethers.”
“Flea?”
“You briefly met her just now. You’ll meet her again. She’s a real ‘people person.’”
“Well…dinnarei.”
Kellanie shrugged. “Not really. They’re like us, some friendly, some not.” Aiden might have imagined her inflection on ‘not.’
“I’d like a tour, if you don’t mind, but I need to see my crew first.” Aiden searched the small medical bay. The room held five empty beds, but he saw no equipment or medical apparatus, and the walls were pristine white. “This sure doesn’t look like a Fleet vessel.”
“Quite different from the medical bays we’re used to, isn’t it? It’s actually a multi-purpose room. If required, it can be used as a decompression chamber, an operating theatre or, like now, a medical bay.” Her face darkened. “Aiden, there’s something else. Mister Finnegan is in bad shape, and he’s refusing further treatment.”
“Of course, he is.” The old man never made anything easy. “How far are we from the fleet?” Aiden would have a lot of explaining to do once they got home, especially regarding the loss of TC-32. At least the crew was safe. That mattered more to him than a ship, though he wondered if Fleet Command would feel the same.
Kellanie shook her head. “Flea and I have a mission before we return.”
Aiden nodded, understanding they weren’t headed toward the Fleet, and he’d have to deal with Mister Finnegan rather than dump him off to fleet medics. “Can you brief me?”
“It’s not confidential. Besides, I’d like your help. It’s a recovery mission…” Kellanie hesitated a second. “To the Terudithan cruiser.” She fidgeted with her uniform sleeve.
“So, our readings were correct, their ship is destroyed?”
“In part. An implosion tore the cruiser in two, and–”
“And Command want the data?” It was starting to make sense, the enemy weren’t firing on them directly after all. “Can’t say I blame them; we’re losing a war here. So, they put you in charge?”
Kellanie nodded. “Aiden, I know there’s animosity between us…but we need to work together on this. I’ve honestly never been on a Terudithan cruiser, and we’re a crew of two. I could do with someone I trust to watch my back.”
“That surprises me,” he said.
“That only two people can run this ship?”
“No. That you trust me.”
She nodded, her face grim.
“The feeling isn’t mutual.”
I can never forgive you, even if I want to.
Kellanie looked away and blinked a few times, then gazed back at him. “Help me with this, and you’ll never have to see me again.” Her eyes were bright with tears. “I promise.”
“How so? You’re transferring out of scout division?”
“I’ve been offered a position in Fleet Command as liaison between the dinnarei and the Engineering Corps. I’ll be overseeing the remaining scout upgrades.”
Aiden couldn’t imagine Kellanie keeping her cool while working alongside the Dinnarei engineers. She had a short fuse and, from his experience, took reckless chances. “Good luck with that,” he said. “You’re going to need it.”
She nodded and dashed away moisture from her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
“So…I’m guessing the fleet’s older ships aren’t getting this upgrade…”
“No. This is a special project between our people. The dinnarei only agreed to ships of their design. Human-built ones and all,” she said, as if that excused the dinnarei.
“Oh yeah, wouldn’t want them to have to touch one of our clunkers. I guess you’ll have to give me a tour of this one.”
“Later. I’ll give your crew some time to rest and recover, then we’ll alter course. Flea is running continuous scans for life-signs among the wreckage. We don’t want any nasty surprises.” Kellanie crossed her arms. “Terudithans don’t recover their people or their ships, so there’s no need to worry about their vessels turning up.”
“Son of a bitch…I…” Aiden silently cursed himself.
“What?” Kellanie furrowed her brow in confusion.
SigsOp Harper had picked up a distress signal before the blast. Aiden assumed it had come from something other than the Terudithans. No one was being hunted! The Terudithan vessel had already been wrecked somehow, and it was sending out an open-channel, decoded SO
S. The evasive maneuvers—hiding on the asteroid, shutting down all systems—ended up costing him a frecking ship!
Aiden’s angry breathing became a sudden coughing fit. He doubled over to catch his breath. Kellanie stepped forward with her hands toward him, but he waved her off. “I’m fine.” He was anything but fine, but he didn’t want her help. He straightened and swallowed.
“Eve is running continuous long-range scans,” she said, “so we’ll know as soon as anything within range crops up.”
“Eve? As in Everything?” Aiden hoped like hell she didn’t mean the next-gen AI program that ran the fleet’s main data-core as well as the V-Rep system.
Kellanie nodded. “Dinnarei engineers assisted with updating the program. Like I said, this is a prototype, and we’re in testing phase. This mission is a chance to show Fleet Command the full capacity of the Eve system core with the first stable quantum particle drive.”
“Why are we upgrading to Em Drives when we could all have this new quantum engine?”
“The Dinnarei people have only agreed to one ship. But we’ll change their minds soon enough.”
“That’s why you took the new job?”
She nodded. “I want to be a part of it.”
“Your ambition has no limits, does it?” Aiden walked over to the door but saw no panel.
Kellanie came to stand beside him. “Eve, Captain Aiden Lomax…is to have full autonomy over ship controls.”
“Dual identity confirmation and Commanding Officer authority passcode required.”
“This is your ship,” he said to her. “There’s no need for that.”
“Two is better than one, besides I can’t pull this mission off alone.” She smiled at him and, again, he saw Lauren’s face. “Proceed body scan, Leigh, Kellanie; Lomax, Aiden. X Q four dash one-nine-zero-seven-seven dash K L F C zero zero one.”
“That’s a long passcode.” He looked at her.
