Chapter 28: Power Plays

“Status?” Deckert ordered from the command chair of the Gladius.  Abigail had noticed he’d finally sat down in the chair after the Praetorian had disappeared in a ball of fire plunging into the planet’s atmosphere.  In the few hours since the battle, the repair teams aboard the Gladius had been working at breakneck paces to finish the repairs and get the Gladius fully operational in order to take the Praetorian on again.

They’d arrived just in time to see the Praetorian enter Falldown’s atmosphere, and leave a long streak of fire across the northern hemisphere.  Most had said the plane had not survived, but Deckert had disagreed and ordered the ship to maintain full alert status.  Abigail had her own duties to attend to and had been sitting at her station poring over her sensor holo the entire time looking for any signs of their quarry, but the awful ache in her neck was all she had to show for it.

“Repairs are nearly complete,” Dawson said from his station next to Abigail.  “We’ve recovered Lieutenants Marizaka and Renar and the remains of their Lancers are being repaired.”  He paused to glance at Abigail, and she gave him a slight shake of her head.  “And there has been no sign of the target.”

“So they’re still on the planet, then?” Deckert asked in a way that made Abigail’s skin crawl.

“All of our information points to that conclusion,” Dawson confirmed. 

“We must have wounded them more deeply than we had thought,” Deckert said, mostly to himself.  “Helm, set a course for low consumption atmospheric entry.”

“Yes, sir,” Abigail responded sharing a sideways glance with Dawson.  Deckert didn’t miss it.

“You question my decision, do you?” he asked from directly behind her.  He’d somehow stood and moved the five steps behind her silently.  Abigail felt a chill run up her spine. 

“No, sir,” she said quickly.  “It’s just…”

“Just that we saw the Praetorian burn up,” Dawson finished for her.  Abigail looked at him with a wide-eyed mixture of shock and worry.  He was already in hot water with Deckert from earlier, and she didn’t want him to make things worse, especially on her account.

“We did indeed,” Deckert said icily.  “But, you see Ensign, our orders are specific.  We must either reclaim the Praetorian which is apparently impossible for this crew,” Deckert said with a sneer, beginning to pace behind them, “or we must destroy it.  Should we destroy it, we need proof of the ship’s demise.”

“The scanners recorded the fire trail…” Dawson said before thinking.

“Not enough!” Deckert shouted.  “Not enough by half!  I need pieces!  I need to see the wreckage of that plane smeared across the landscape!  We will search through the atmosphere until I find it!”

“Sir, if the plane burned up on reentry…” Dawson started again adamant about trying to talk some sense into their slightly crazed acting-captain, but again he was cut off by an outburst from Deckert.

“Impossible!  The Praetorian is a miracle of Military engineering!  It wouldn’t fail against the likes of mere atmosphere!”  He wiped his hands on his pant legs as he paced, breathing in long, slow breaths to calm himself.  “Helm, follow my orders.  Take us in.”

“Yes, sir,” she said quickly as she entered the commands into her VI interface.  She didn’t dare to look at Dawson.  She could barely see him swing back disgustedly to his panel in her peripheral vision.  She had a flash of concern for her crewmate.  Deckert was obviously not fit to command, but in his state, and without assistance from the crew, Deckert was far too big a threat to handle alone.  She worried Dawson might just be weighing the odds on such an action.

The VI bleeped at her catching her attention.  The atmosphere reentry program was complete.  She pulled up the ship-wide vox channel and announced imminent reentry.  The crew quickly moved to secure anything that might come crashing down when gravity returned and signaled the bridge when they were ready.  It didn’t take long, and Abigail watched her board go green.  She turned back to Deckert, “Ship is ready for reentry, sir.”

“Excellent.  Proceed, ensign,” he said with a wave from his chair. 

 Abigail secured her harness and with a quick glance to Dawson seeing him do the same, she punched the VI control on her holo-display.  She used the manual controls to guide the ship as the RCS thrusters along the length of the Gladius fired to decelerate them, and the winged craft began to dip into the atmosphere.  Now came the part that Abigail hated the most.  The Gladius was completely in the hands of physics at this point, and all she could do was simply hold on as the atmosphere breathed fire all around them.  The hull trembled.

Three and a half minutes later, the Gladius was gliding across the green skies of Falldown.  Abigail, still shaking slightly, popped the five-point harness buckle and sat forward in relief.  Dawson reached over and patted her on the shoulder; a simple sign of gratitude for not frying them all.

“Well done, Helm,” Deckert said from the captain’s chair behind them ruining the mood.  “Begin scanning for any sign of the Praetorian.”

“Yes, sir,” Abigail said as she laid in a meandering course crossing over the lush jungles stretching out below them.  She then activated the long-range sensors, scanning outwards in long sweeps of several miles. 

“I will be in my quarters if you need me,” Deckert said suddenly, standing up from his chair as if bitten.  Dawson and Abigail shared a long look as Deckert disappeared down the hook-ladder at the rear of the bridge.

Abigail allowed for several minutes to pass before she said anything, but finally spoke up.  “Dawson, what the hell are you doing?”  She kept her voice low, just in case.

“That man is mad,” he said simply.  “I’m not going to die for his fanaticism.”

“Dawson,” she pleaded.  “If you don’t stop, he’s going to kill you.  You won’t have died for anything.”

“Abby,” he said, shaking his head.  “If I don’t do anything, he’ll kill us all.”

“There’s another way, there has to be.”

“There might have been, if the Major was still here,” Dawson said, his features hardening.  “You probably don’t know, but I served with the Major before, along with Martian and a few others.  We were assigned to one of the fighter wings stationed aboard the carrier Indomitable.  The Major was the XO then, and he was a great man even then.  Everyone respected and liked him.  He looked after his people; he looked after us.  He never would have abandoned anyone.  If he were here, he’d knock Deckert into his place.  But he’s not.  He may be dead for all we know.  I believe that, if he were here, this is how he’d want me to act.”

“Dawson,” Abigail said softly.  “I can’t imagine he’d want you to throw everything away in facing Deckert.  It’s not worth it.”

“He killed the Major, Abby,” Dawson said heatedly, allowing his personal fear to cloud his judgment.  “He attacked the Praetorian knowing the Major was still aboard.  He didn’t even wait to hear from the Major.  He just attacked.”

“You don’t know he’s dead,” Abigail corrected. 

“No,” Dawson said, swallowing.  “You’re right.  He may be alive.  You need to find out, Abby.  You need to find if he is still alive, before anyone else dies to this madman.”  Dawson suddenly got up and turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Abigail asked worriedly.

“Nowhere,” Dawson said.  “I just want to talk to Martian now that he’s back aboard.”

“Please don’t do anything foolish,” Abigail said, her voice flushed with concern.  Dawson had been her mentor and friend since she’d graduated from the Academy.  He’d been only a few years before her, but after his tour on the Indomitable he had returned to the Academy to mentor trainees, and had been assigned to her.  They’d been fast friends since, and she knew him well enough to know that his dislike for their commanding officer could only come from a deep, biding respect for the man he’d usurped.

“I won’t, Abby,” he said as he stepped off onto the hook-ladder and disappeared down the shaft.  Abby turned back to her scanners and concentrated on finding the Praetorian.  Dawson’s life might very well depend on it.

“Leader,” the helmsman called from just forward of Tenner’s chair. 

“Report,” Tenner growled, closing down his d-com.  They had been in slipspace for the past several hours, and should be nearing Falldown soon.

“ETA to Falldown, ten minutes,” the helmsman reported.  “We’ll be leaving slipspace in one minute.”

“Excellent,” Tenner barked.  “Inform the fleet, and get crew to battle stations.  There’s in all probability a Military hyena nosing around our kill, and we’ll need to chase them off.”

“Yes, Leader,” acknowledged the helmsman.  Red lights came up slowly around the bridge, staining the darkness a blood red; the color of the Hunt. 

“Fleet response,” the communications officer spoke up.  “They’ll be exiting slipspace moments behind us.  Looks like the Pack has gathered.”

“Very well.  Let’s go hunting, gentlemen,” Tenner said sitting back in his chair.  The crew nodded eagerly from their stations. 

Abigail jumped as her scanner started wailing at her.  She looked at it confused; the display was still blank.  It wasn’t picking up any trace of the Praetorian.  She quickly flicked to another scanner, checking the broader bands and a chill ran up her spine.  Passive long-range sensors had picked up multiple slipspace exits near the planet.  Her mouth dropped as she saw the number of blips appearing on the screen, and they kept coming.

“Martian!” Dawson pleaded angrily.  He’d expected Martian to be more sympathetic, but the man before him was merely apathetic.  Of all the people on board the Gladius, Dawson would have thought Martian would understand.  But reality was apparently quite different.

“I’m sorry, ensign,” Martian said, reaching into the ankle access panel of his Lancer and torquing a bolt down.  “I know it’s not what you wanted to hear, but now is not the time.  Deckert is a little stressed, but the situation called for action.  The signs are that the Major is still alive, so just have some faith and get back to your post before the commander notices you’re missing.”

“Martian,” Dawson tried again.  “The man is mad.”

“Would you shut up with that?” Martian hissed angrily as he looked around the bay.  Most of the technicians were across the bay absorbed in repairing the other mecha.  “There is a time and place for everything, ensign.  Learn to read the signs.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dawson shot back.  “The signs couldn’t be missed by a dreadnought!”

“Look, ensign,” Martian said quietly as he stepped in close to Dawson.  “If you don’t return to your post in the next two seconds, I’m gonna haul your ass to the brig myself.  You hear me?”

Dawson looked at the man with a mixture of betrayal and anger.  If he couldn’t get Martian signed on, then they were all lost.  Couldn’t anybody see what was going on?  Couldn’t they see their commander was a lunatic?  Not only that, but there was more!  Dawson didn’t want to give away that little ace up his sleeve quite yet, but the files he’d hacked out of the computer were enough to give him nightmares.  The Military itself seemed to be toeing a dangerous line and setting a frightening precedent.  Everything he’d witnessed from Deckert confirmed that suspicion.  But if he couldn’t find any allies, he was without options. 

A sudden claxon broke the silence and Abigail came over the landing bay speakers.  “Command staff to the bridge, I repeat: command staff to the bridge.”  Dawson forgot what he was about for a moment at the strange tone in Abigail’s voice.  She was afraid.  He needed to get back to the bridge at once.  Dawson took a step back to leave when Martian’s hand shot out and caught him by the sleeve.

“A time and place for everything, ensign,” Martian whispered conspiratorially.  “Now is not the right time.”

Dawson stared at him a moment, not daring to hope that Martian had a greater plan already laid out, but nodded anyway.  Martian released his sleeve and turned back to his access panel.  “Better get to it, ensign.”

“Sir,” Dawson said, saluting.  He spun on his heel and ran back to the hookladder shaft.

“So I can stay?” Hughes asked hopefully as Kella walked back into the room. 

“For now,” Kella said as Gavin’s camera remote floated beside her.  “But if you do one thing that so much as gives me a whisper of doubt, you’ll be thrown out the nearest airlock.  Clear?”

“Clear, ma’am,” Hughes said faking a salute.  He came forward and held out his hand.  Kella hesitated a moment, remembering his speed and strength, but pushed those thoughts away and clasped his hand.  The grip was firm, but not unpleasant.  “So now that’s out of the way, what I can I do?”

“Beg pardon?” Kella asked, caught off guard.  Hughes seemed to have a knack for saying things she wasn’t expecting.

“Well, since it appears I’ll be leeching off of your supplies for a while, it’s only right that I make myself useful in return.  I’m no stranger to hard work.”

“Uh…” was all Kella could get out before Gavin interrupted them.

“We’ll get to that in a second, kids,” he said with a foreboding edge to his voice.  “For now, get to the bridge.”  The camera remote zoomed off back the way it had come.  Hughes and Kella shared one look and then followed.

“I’ve got some bad news,” Gavin said over the bridge speakers as they walked onto the bridge.

“The Gladius?” Hughes asked at once.

“Strangely, no,” Gavin said.  “Although that is a topic I need to discuss with you later on.  Actually, I’m reading something else.  A lot of somethings.”

“What?” Kella asked, sitting down at the captain’s station and pulling up the holo-displays.  She pulled the sensor VI over to her main display and looked through it.  It was only a moment before she saw what Gavin was referring to as it was rather hard to miss.  The sensor showed dozens of ships, some still in the process of exiting slipspace, forming up above the planet.

“Who are they?” she asked.

“I can’t get an ID,” Gavin said looking at the IFF data.  “They’re not broadcasting anything.”

“Could be Military,” Hughes said from behind Kella’s shoulder studying the sensor data.

“No,” Kella whispered as sudden terrible recognition washed through her.  She tried to fight though the sudden tightness of her throat.  “I know this formation.” 

Gavin’s camera remote turned to look at her with its lenses and waited for her to speak.  Hughes came around to stand next to the camera.

“Deep Wolves,” she said distantly.  Her time was up.  The Bastard of Proxy had finally come to claim what was his, and not only that, the Praetorian was damaged.  His prize was damaged.  His wrath would be swift and brutal, and there was nothing she could do to escape.  They were already caught in his net.  From the looks of the sensor data, he’d brought nearly the whole damned fleet. 

“Wait, aren’t they a mercenary outfit?” Hughes said, not aware of Kella’s affiliation.  Gavin, on the other hand, was well aware and said nothing.  The remote turned away and landed softly on the helm’s chair. 

“We need to get out of here Gavin,” Kella said, standing.  She completely ignored Hughes as he looked between her and Gavin’s remote with an expression of confusion. 

“I wish I could,” Gavin said, running a quick system’s diagnostic.  “Repairs are just now getting underway, but even so, only two of the PDEs are operational.  We can’t even achieve flight with that.  Not while we’re stuck in this mud pit, anyway.”

“Someone want to fill me in?” Hughes said, lost.

“Gavin, they know we’re here.  We have to do something,” Kella said desperately.  “They’ll swarm us and overpower us.  Once they’ve captured us, they’ll be sure to torture and maybe even kill you.  Tenner is too smart; he’ll find your hidden Life Tube.  Hell, even he found it,” she said, jerking a thumb towards Hughes.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s not panic, Kella,” Gavin said evenly.  “We’re not defeated yet.”

“No,” Kella said sorrowfully.  “But that will change.  The Pack is too strong.  I know this.  I worked with them for years.  I know how they operate.  We can’t win.”

“Kella,” Gavin said in admonishment, not wanting to give in to her despair.

“Well,” Hughes interrupted.  “There is something we can do.”

“What?” Kella asked, fighting the sour feeling growing in her stomach.

“We’re not exactly alone out here,” Hughes hedged.

“You want to call the Military?” Kella asked realizing what he was talking about, her anger taking hold.  “I knew you couldn’t be trusted!”

“No, that’s not what I meant.  Well, not exactly anyway,” Hughes said, shaking his head.

“Brilliant,” Gavin said suddenly.  “Bloody fekkin’ brilliant.”

“What are you talking about?” Kella asked, now bewildered.

“We’re going to do what the Major suggested,” Gavin answered.  Kella imagined a giant smirk plastered on his face.  “We’re going to let the Military know where we’re at, and see which side wants us the most.” 

“Are you mad?” she asked.

“No,” Gavin chuckled.  “Hopefully, it’ll give us the time we need to complete repairs.  Major, can you operate a loader?”

“I trained in Hummingbirds,” he responded. 

“Close enough,” the remote nodding in the seat.  “There’s a loader in the top bay.  I need you to take it topside and work with the maintenance bots I’m running outside to repair the PDEs.  We can worry about the other damage later, but without at least four operational PDEs, we’re can’t gain flight.  Oh, and make sure to grab a breather, the atmosphere’s toxic.”

“Got it,” Hughes said, leaving the bridge.

“Is it ok to trust that guy?” Kella asked moving next to the remote after Hughes had gone.

“I’ll trust him over those Wolves,” Gavin said.  “I think we have to.”

            Kella didn’t respond, but merely nodded.  She had been hoping the current situation would never come to be, and now that it had, she was at a loss for what to do.  In orbit was the only family she’d known growing up.  She’d hated them and had hated the life, but they’d still been a family to her.  Now, they were probably going to kill her and accomplish what she hadn’t.  They’d return Gavin to the misery of the Military.  On the other hand, Gavin was the only true friend she’d ever known, and even though she’d only known him for a few weeks, she’d give anything to stay with him on his crazy adventures.  He’d never harm her; she knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt.   She fought back the tangle of emotions and took a deep breath steeling herself against the onslaught that was to come.