Sol Shall Rise (The Pike Chronicles Book 1) (20 page)

When Breeah arrived at her quarters she couldn’t believe the havoc that had been wreaked on them. So much for taking it easy she thought, and started picking up furniture and putting it back where it belonged. She had Anki sit off to the side until she managed to get at all the broken glass and make sure there were no hazards lying in wait for her to step on. Then she allowed Anki to burn off some energy. The little girl was more than happy to oblige, and she danced around the room, singing, and spinning, and acting as if nothing had happened. To her it all was probably ancient history by now anyway. Breeah was in awe of her resilience.

She turned back to her work and was soon interrupted by the computer’s announcement that the Captain requested entrance. She told the computer to let him in and walked to the door to greet him. When he entered she noticed there was something different about him, but she couldn’t place it.

“Hello Breeah,” said Jon.

“Hello Captain.”

Anki noticed his entrance and ran over to him, giving him a big hug on arrival. The Captain smiled and rubbed her back with one of his large hands.

“Hey kid,” he said, looking down at the little girl.

“Hi,” she replied, looking up at him with a beaming grin.

Done with her greeting Anki ran off to resume her play. Soon she was spinning around the room and singing songs again.

“I wanted to see how you two were doing,” he said to Breeah. “I’m sorry about everything that happened with the Diakans. You shouldn’t have had to go through all of that. It must have been terrible.”

“No Captain, it is I who is sorry. I am afraid if not for us you would have never been put in such a position. Our existence has caused you no shortage of problems.”

“Nonsense. It’s not like you made them take you hostage. They saw you as an easy opportunity to gain leverage against me.”

“They miscalculated.”

“Yes, they sure did,” he said laughing. “The way you defended yourself against Kinos is remarkable. It’s not like he was a pushover.”

“He underestimated my abilities. A costly mistake. He should have bound my limbs like he had done with Chief St. Clair. Then I would have been helpless against him. He gave me the advantage of surprise and that cost him his life.”

“Even with the element of surprise, you were fighting a Diakan security expert. He would have been trained in all forms of combat. Defeating someone like that is no small task.”

“All Reivers are trained in armed and unarmed combat since childhood, Captain. We are all essentially security experts. Still, I’m afraid I have put you in a difficult position.”

“Don’t worry. I never liked Tallos much anyway.” He said, smiling.

“What will you do now, Captain?”

“Well first we’re going to go back and rescue your people.”

Breeah was shocked. “But Captain, you can’t be serious.”

Jon shrugged. “I’m very serious. This is not a fight I am walking away from.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was this man trying to get them all killed? “Captain, I told you before, you do not need to concern yourself with my people.”

“I’m sorry Breeah, but I’m not doing this for you. Those are people out there. Humans. I can’t just leave them to be slaughtered like a pen full of hogs. I have to help them. And I’m going to need you to give me the coordinates of the colony.”

Breeah studied him trying to decide whether or not he hadn’t lost his sanity. She realized there was nothing she could do to stop him. Even if she held back the location of the colony, he would still go back and engage the Kemmar. This man did not change his mind easily.

“What of the Diakans?”

“You don’t need to concern yourself with them anymore. They are safely locked away and won’t bother you again.”

Sighing she relented. “Very well, Captain, I will give you the information you request. But I must tell you that what you are doing is madness.”

Jon shrugged. “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”

The smoke seared her nose and throat when she inhaled. She tried to cough as much of it out as possible, but it was too thick. She kept breathing the fumes in, coughing in violent spasms with each breath. She clenched her eyes closed to make them to stop stinging, but the pain didn’t go away. She often pretended to disappear by shutting her eyes. She hoped it would happen now and she would be transported anywhere else. But the smoke was still there and she buried her face in her pillow to try and keep it out of her lungs.

Outside the loud sounds began again and their force made her bed shudder more each time. She held onto her bed rail with all her strength, afraid the bed would jump up at any moment and throw her across the room. She tried again to open her eyes and see, but they couldn’t penetrate the heavy fog that had filled her room, and the salty tears blurred what little was still visible.

At least her bunny was still there beside her pillow. She reached for it and held it close, pressing it against her cheek. Its soft white fur provided some much needed comfort. She whispered to it, “Don’t worry bunny, I’ll keep you safe.”

Suddenly there was another loud bang, this one seemingly right outside her window. Her bed now shook violently forcing her to grab onto the bed rail once more. There were more loud bangs. They came quickly, one after the other, and her bed was practically hopping across her room. She squeezed the pegs of her bed rail with all her strength until it started to wobble and she worried that it would break.

“Lynda!? Lynda!?” She heard her mother calling. Her voice was muffled but she still recognized it and the mere sound set her off, screaming and crying.

“Mama! Mama!” she wailed.

Her mother rushed into her room, crouched low, holding a cloth across her mouth, and fighting a coughing fit. Lynda pulled herself up onto her knees, shot her arms up, fingers stretching as far as they could, still crying, but relieved now that her mother was there. She saw the cloth drop from her face as her mother’s arms reached down for her, scooping her by the armpits and hoisting her up from her bed.

She was in her mother’s arms now and finally felt safe. Her mother turned and headed back into the fog, but where was her cloth? Lynda looked back to see where it fell and realized she had left her bunny on the bed.

“Bunny!” she called, but her mother kept going. She watched her bunny explode into flames, and screamed.

Commander Lynda Wolfe gasped and her eyes opened. For a few seconds she was disoriented and instinctively covered her mouth. Looking around she realized where she was and dropped her hand onto the bed. For a few moments she lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to calm her racing heart. She took several deep breaths, in through her nose and out through her mouth, until her pulse slowed back to normal.

She rolled over, and reached across her bed for the glass of water on her side table. Sitting up she took a long drink. Her throat felt dry and irritated, and the cool water felt good going down. She kept drinking until she emptied the glass. Setting the glass back down she pulled herself over and swung her legs around, dropping them off the side of the bed. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and forced herself to get up.

Still groggy she looked over at her clock. It verified that yet again she didn’t get enough sleep.
One of these days this is going to catch up to you
, she thought. She slowly walked into the bathroom, undressed, turned on the shower and walked in. The water was hot, almost too hot, but she liked it that way. The steady stream pulsed over the back of her neck, loosening the tense muscles that were perennially knotted there, and helping her focus.

Instantly she started running through mental checklists, planning out the day and prioritizing duties. She ran over each of the ship’s departments in her mind, remembering their status, and preparing for her morning progress report. She liked being busy. She didn’t want any idle time. It made her think too much and she only wanted to think about her duties. Maybe one day when she was too old for active duty she might let herself do some thinking, but then that might prove dangerous. She imagined that even when she was retired she would still find things to keep her body busy and keep her mind occupied.

Finishing her shower she stepped out and stood in front of the mirror. The dark circles under her eyes were becoming a permanent feature. Her mother had dark circles under her eyes too. At least that was how she remembered her. She wondered how accurate her memories were. Did she still remember her, or was it something her mind made up?

“Stop it,” she said, chastising the mirror. Her eyes looked angry now and the dark circles gave her a fierce look, like she had war paint on.
Better
, she thought, nodding to the reflection. She picked up her toothbrush and went back to her mental checklists.

When she finished brushing her teeth and drying her hair she stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to one of the walls which slid open to reveal a hidden closet containing a row of pressed uniforms on hangers. They used to be so important to her. She spent her whole life working towards the right to wear those uniforms. And now? What was the point? They meant nothing.

You’re just full of self-pity today. Snap out of it
, she thought.

Shaking her head she pulled the nearest uniform off the hanger and proceeded to get dressed. The uniforms were still important. They had to retain their structure. Without it there would be no order and everything would fall apart. She knew that. Cursing at herself for being so self-indulgent she finished dressing and headed for the door.

Turning before walking out she looked back at her bed and thought about her bunny. Why did she remember it so clearly? Even in her dreams in that smoke filled room she could make out every detail, yet she always saw her mother with a cloth on her face. Even when she dropped the cloth her face wasn’t visible. Why?

There’s that self-pity again. Forget the damned bunny
.

If only it was that easy. She must have seen that bunny a million times in her dreams over the years. Maybe one day, after she had retired, she would go see a shrink and have them explain to her how the bunny represented the day the child in her died, or some bullshit like that. Maybe they’d tell her that it stood for her mother. If they were really ambitious they might convince her that it was some side of her personality.

Enough already. Get your shit together
. Clenching her teeth she straightened her uniform, swept a hand over her hair, turned and walked out the door.

The corridors were busy as usual. The crew went about their duties as though nothing had changed. As far as they knew, that was the case. She was sure that none of them had considered the fact that they probably wouldn’t see the Sol System again. They couldn’t tell the crew that part. At least not yet, anyway.

Would they continue with their duties if they knew? Would they still wear their uniforms? They would have to if they wanted to stay on board the Hermes. Then again, it wasn’t like they had much of a choice. They had no way of getting back home without the Hermes. No, the real fear was mutiny. She didn’t think they would mutiny, but anything was possible. After a few years out here they may start getting all sorts of ideas. A bunch of treasonous officers in the brig might look pretty good to them. Perhaps they would free the Diakans and head back to Sol with their tails between their legs?

None of that mattered today, however. And she wasn’t a fortune teller. The truth was nobody knew what would happen over the next week, never mind the next year, so there was no point worrying about it. The less the crew knew the better. The best thing for them was to focus on their duties, not to ponder ‘what ifs’.

The most important part of her duties right now was to make sure the Hermes was ready for the next encounter with the Kemmar, so her first stop was Engineering. The visit wasn’t entirely work related, though. She hadn’t seen Raj since Sol, and missed him. With all that had happened, she needed to see his face.

When she arrived at Engineering she found Raj standing by one of the giant reactors reading a report. As usual, he was so immersed in what he was doing that he didn’t even notice her approach.

“Good morning, Raj,” she said.

Her voice startled him, making him jerk his head up from the report. He looked at her with wide eyes, which then settled once his mind registered who had spoken.

“Good morning, Lynda,” he said.

She smiled at him, already feeling better about everything. He didn’t return her smile. Instead a look of concern spread across his face.

“Is everything ok?” she said.

“No, I don’t think everything is even close to being ok. Lynda, what is going on? Why did the Marines shoot and kill the Diakan Engineering Adviser?”

Wolfe frowned. She needed to bring Raj up to speed. “Can we discuss this in your office?”

“Yes, follow me.” Raj led her to the back of Engineering. A door opened and they entered a cluttered room. There were a couple of chairs and a desk. The door closed behind them and Raj turned to face her, not bothering to sit down. “So what is going on?”

“The Diakans tried to take over the ship.”

“What? Why?”

“They didn’t like that the Captain picked a fight with the Kemmar.”

“But they are only advisers. It is not their place to question command decisions.”

“Apparently they were more than advisers. They produced a Space Force command chip which gave them mission oversight. It also gave them authority to take command of the Hermes if the mission was threatened.”

“Their actions were legal?”

“No. They overreached their authority, and they took hostages to coerce the Captain into surrendering.”

“I see. So the hostages weren’t enough to convince the Captain?”

“Oh they were. They weren’t enough to convince me.”

“Oh no, what did you do Lynda?”

“My job. I’m responsible for the Captain’s safety. The Captain had surrendered, but I refused to let them take him or the ship.”

“But if he had surrendered?”

“The only way the Captain would surrender control of the ship would be under duress. Their actions were illegal, so I stopped them.”

“And may I ask who they had taken hostage?”

“The Reiver woman and her daughter. They had Chief St. Clair as well.”

“They took a mother and her child hostage?”

“Yes.”

“You did the right thing. That was unacceptable, even for a Diakan. But why did they kill Boufos?”

“The Marines were going to arrest him, but he ran. We hadn’t found the hostages yet and needed to prevent any contact with whoever had them. The Marines were authorized to use deadly force.”

“I see. Did you recover the hostages?”

“Yes. They are safe.”

“Good.” Raj studied her with those analytical eyes. “You look tired, Lynda.”

“I didn’t sleep well.”

“The nightmares again?”

“Yes.”

Raj gave her a sympathetic look and shook his head. “So what happens now?”

“The Diakans are in the brig, where they’ll stay, and we’ll continue on with our mission.”

“And Space Force? How will they see all this?”

“The Diakans acted illegally.”

“Yes, but will Space Force agree?”

Lynda paused, unsure how much she should say. Raj looked at her and nodded.

“Space Force will side with the Diakans, won’t they?”

Lynda looked into his eyes, trying to see how he felt about what he said, but found no clues. “Yes, Raj. We believe that Space Force will side with the Diakans.”

Raj nodded. “So we will not return to Sol.”

The way he said it stunned her. It wasn’t a question. There was no emotion at all. Rather, it was like he had just solved a math problem.

He didn’t wait for her to answer. “This must be devastating for you. Space Force has been your life for as long as I’ve known you.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

But she knew he saw right through her. He knew she was far from fine. And when he took a step closer and wrapped his arms around her she couldn’t hold back any longer. All the emotions she had struggled to keep bottled up inside came pouring out.