Duty, Honour, Love

Dee gave a mostly full account of what she had read from the Terran’s minds. There were certain things she kept from Karasena things she need to further think on before she took action, things involving Jane.

“So most have accepted their lot?” Karasena asked her.

“There are three notable exceptions, and no, your captain is not one of them.”

Karasena bit back a reply knowing that Dee would read the truth from her mind. She sighed. “And you recommend?”

“If isolated from the rest they will be unable to stir the others up. I suggest we sort this out in the morning. I need to rest my brain is pounding.”

“Hopefully we’ll get a reply from Com Ops,” Karasena said she agreed with Dee she could do with a rest and get out of her combat armour.

Dee snorted. “Given their recent track record responding we’ll need something more tangible than your report.”

“So that means we’ll need hard evidence,” Karasena sighed. “That means we’ll have to go back to the Terran ship.”

“I think it would be wise if we brought a few Terrans with us. They know their ship and we don’t.”

“You are sure Mark…” Karasena hastily corrected her mistake and continued, “ah Captain Stillway will go for it.”

“Certainly,” Dareia replied with a half smile.

Karasena ignored Dee’s expression. “And my report?”

“Send it when we have all the info Com Ops can’t ignore the evidence.”

“What worries me is the beast coming back?”

“There have been no traces of it on the WM sensors.”

“Yes and that worries me,” Karasena stated.

“Get some rest,” Dee practically pushed her to the elevator.

On reaching her quarters Karasena could finally relax she stripped out of her armour and piled it in a corner and wandered into the shower. Despite her worries sleep came easy to her.

Mark sat on the edge of his bed the one closest to the stage. The Confeds had been frank which kind of surprised him. He sat there in a white emergency suit the kind that was issued to someone without proper clothing. Still it was better than a dirty uniform. His was currently in an industrial size washer dryer as was most of the crews’. No one wanted to carry on wearing dirty clothes. Looking across the confines of the hall it looked to the world like a snowman convention. With a hot meal and shower Mark felt the best he had for what seemed an age. He struggled to keep is eyes open. Down the hall three of the crew were talking he couldn’t hear what was being said but from the hand gestures they were having an argument. These were the group that Jane had labelled troublemakers.

“Number One,” he called out softly.

Jane had put her down and just closed her eyes when Mark called her. “Sir?” she responded grumpily.

“Keep an eye on those three,” he said to her.

“Yes sir,” She glanced across and frowned. Trust them to kick up a fuss.

“How are things otherwise?” he asked her relying on her to have her fingers on the pulse.

“As well as can be expected in circumstances. I am worried about Allie?” She looked across to Allie’s bed the youngster was curled up on her bed. At least she wasn’t crying now.

“Aren’t we all,” he replied regret filled his voice.

“Can you get the Confeds to help her?” An image came to her mind of a young girl who had pleaded for help and never got it. “No it doesn’t matter they won’t,” she said bitterly.

“I can and will ask, the Confederacy captain has been reasonable,” Mark reassured Jane it looked as if his time from now on would to be reassuring his crew that things would be fine. His eyes flicked to the three talking together. It would probably work he hoped but only time will tell.

“She’s getting herself worked up into a tizzy,” Jane said her eyes on Allie.

“Who is?” Mark was confused.

“Allie,” Jane said with exaggerated patience. “She left Mr Bear behind in our scramble to evac the ship.”

Mark understood Allie’s stuffed toy was the only thing keeping her sane. He should have thought about at the time but the sudden appearance of the Confederacy soldiers had thrown his plans in disarray. He glanced up to see Danielle and Jaye approach and knew instantly that it would be trouble.

“Danielle, Jaye?”

Both women saluted. “Sirs?” they said in unison.

“What is it?” he looked at Jane who shrugged obviously she didn’t know.

“We may have a problem,” Danielle said to him.

“Or several,” Jaye added.

“And?” Jane snapped.

Mark knew she was a stickler for regulations at times often when she was worried about things. “Peace Jane, Danielle please continue.”

Danielle waved her hand at Jaye. “I need to power down the reactors and Jaye here needs to secure the ordinance.”

Mark leaned forward controlling his alarm. “What?” he said though clenched teeth, “Why the hell did you not do it when we landed?”

“Sorry sir,” Jaye said with a nod to Danielle. “An oversight on my part. Loader Cain pointed out that we needed to deactivate the torpedoes. Then the Confeds could secure the warheads. I could also code lock the railgun bays.”

Mark glared at the two. “This is serious how could you be so irresponsible!”

“Sorry sir,” Jaye apologised. “I’ve got no excuse I was so glad we’d landed that it went straight out of my head.”

Mark sighed he couldn’t be angry with them it had been his fault he should have checked. “No we’ll get it sorted out. The Confeds should have a guard on the ship. I doubt they’ll let us go wandering out at this time of night.” He gestured to the two women. “Get some rest.” He nodded to Jane. “You too Number One. We’ll discuss this in the morning. I’ll ask our guards to contact their captain.”

Mark watched the three women return to their beds. He rose and called to one of the guards on the mezzanine floor unsure if they would pass on his message. It didn’t take too long before he had a reply. The Confederacy captain would see him in the morning. With that he went to bed and for the first time in weeks he got a good night’s rest despite the looming problems on the horizon. Day came too fast for some.