Dalton, Tymber - Bightmares [Deep Space Mission Corps 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (21 page)

Eckhart’s left eyebrow shot up. “Really? Is that so, Dr. Hypatia?”

“It’s an allergic reaction to certain proteins, triggered by the baking process.” She could bluff with the best of them. “It only reacts to postpubescent adult men with brown eyes, because of the melanin.”

Eckhart’s own brown eyes narrowed. “You have proven this?”

“Absolutely. Come to the surface. We’ll show you. We haven’t prepared the final reports yet, but I can demonstrate.”

Emi felt a nearly overwhelming wave of relief from Eckhart’s bridge crew. They didn’t want to kill innocent people, especially not on their first mission. That would also work to her advantage.

Eckhart smiled, but the gesture didn’t touch his eyes. “If you think you’re getting me down to the surface, Dr. Hypatia, you’re crazy.”

“What are you scared of, Captain?” Rob said. “Your mission is officially over, according to your own words.” He glanced at the bridge crew, five men Emi felt would not defend their captain, then back to Eckhart. “Exactly what did you do to the trans-satellite relay anyway?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Emi felt the lie, and Eckhart’s surprise. He didn’t realize they knew about his involvement in the relay’s failure. “My mission ends when I say it ends.”

Rob turned to the navigator. “Your ship’s first jump put you at the trans-satellite relay for this region. Now it’s not working. What happened?”

The man looked stunned. “He said we had emergency orders to do maint—”

“Shut your mouth!” Eckhart roared. “All of you! Do not answer his questions!”

“Who’s the first officer,” Rob asked the men.

They looked at another young man standing on Donna’s far side. The man spoke.

“Me, sir. First Officer Smith.”

Emi spoke up. “Captain Eckhart, in accordance with ISNC and DSMC joint council regulation 10-2, I hereby relieve you of duty on the basis of mental unsoundness. I am declaring you medically unfit for duty and placing this vessel under the command of Captain Robert Elloy of the
Kendall Kant
, pending a hearing by the—”

“You cannot do that!” Eckhart screamed. “I am the captain!” He reached for one of the guard’s stunners. Before he could get there, Emi intercepted him and jammed the hypo into his arm. He limply fell to the deck with a sickening thud.

She turned to Smith. “What happened to your med officer?”

Stunned, he shook his head as he stared at his captain’s prone form. “Captain said he fell in cargo and hit his head while securing supplies. They were down there alone.”

“Convenient,” Rob snarked. “He was the only other officer on board with any experience and the absolute authority to relieve the captain of his command. Eckhart knew he’d get overruled once we found the connection, regardless of a cure.” He pointed to the guards. “Energy shackles on him. Now, before he wakes up. Take him to the lander. That was smart thinking, Emi.” He turned to Smith. “You answer to
me
, even while I’m not on board, unless I turn command over to someone else. Do you understand?”

The man nodded.

“Is this your first mission?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Welcome to space, kid. How’d you guys get so lucky to pull a mission like this?”

“Captain Eckhart is our Academy trainer and volunteered us for it. We were doing routine patrol training.”

Rob looked shocked. “You haven’t even graduated yet?”

“No, sir. We’re four months from receiving our official commissions.”

Rob swore. “I didn’t know that. I’ll send one of my men over to relieve you. He’ll be acting captain. Regulations say I can’t leave someone without a commission in charge unless it’s an absolute emergency.”

“Yes, sir.”

Rob shook his head. “No offense, but why did the ISNC let a crew of underclassmen go on a mission like this?”

“I don’t know, sir. Captain Eckhart kept us in the dark about a lot of stuff.”

“Again, convenient for him.” Rob slid into the command chair and tapped into the computer. After a few minutes, the front vid display lit up. “There,” he pointed. The display showed the
Petrovis Skye’s
journey from the Ganymede sector to the colony, with a stop at the relay. He activated the in-ship com link. “Attention all hands, this is Captain Robert Elloy of the DSMC vessel
Kendall Kant
. Dr. Emilia Hypatia has formally relieved Captain Eckhart of duty on medical grounds. I am now in command of this ship. We have taken Captain Eckhart into custody and will transport him to the planet’s surface for treatment. We’ve also isolated, identified, and treated the colonists’ infection, so your orders to evacuate and sterilize the planet are hereby suspended. While I’m off-ship, First Officer Smith is in charge until I send a replacement. Elloy out.”

He handed the command seat over to Smith. “I’ve deactivated and locked down the plasma cannon, just for your information. What you guys didn’t know is that your captain has a personal grudge against Captain Lucio and his crew.”

“I kind of suspected there was something going on. I didn’t think a guy could seem so happy about killing people.”

Rob clapped him on the shoulder. “Unfortunately, you’ll see more like him if you stay in long enough, believe me.”

* * * *

Rob had to go to the
K-2
to pick up Sam so he could run him to the
Petrovis Skye
. “Take these guys and jump back to the relay,” Rob told him. “See if you can get it started again. If you can, send an emergency update to the DSMC and request backup. I want an official stand-down order from them.”

“Right.”

The dose Emi gave Eckhart was more than enough for them to get him to the surface and securely locked down in the colony’s brig. When he finally came to, he immediately thrashed against the energy shackles and started screaming.

Emi stood by the cell gate and stared at him, reading him. “Why did you do this?” she quietly asked.

He sneered at her. “Those lying bastards ruined my life! Their lies got my father murdered! They killed my mother!”

Emi had glanced at Eckhart’s service records while he was still unconscious. “Your mother chose to kill herself. No one is denying that you have suffered horrible tragedy in your life. However, Aaron Lucio and the crew of the
Wayfarer
Margo
didn’t ask to be pulled into your father’s vendetta.”

“It’s all a lie! My father didn’t do what they said he did! They murdered him!”

Aaron walked over and laid a hand on Emi’s shoulder. “Come on,” he quietly said. “He’s crazy. Don’t talk to him.”

He led her away as Eckhart screamed at them. As the hallway door shut, cutting off his angry voice, Emi shuddered. “What’s going to happen to him?”

They stood in the conference room and watched Eckhart through the observation window. Aaron had muted the com into the cell as well as changed the glass to a one-way setting. Eckhart couldn’t see or hear them.

“You, Rob, and I will have to meet with the joint council. We’ll recommend Eckhart lose his commission and be institutionalized.”

Emi watched Eckhart screaming in the cell. Without sound, it was a pathetic pantomime of rage and delusional pathology.

Something bothered Emi. “This is just too coincidental. This is a big frakking universe. How did the guy who hates you and wants you dead, with a ship full of undergrad cadets, get assigned to a mission like this?”

“We’ll figure that out, too. I have a feeling he knew people. More worrisome to me is how a man who is an Academy trainer, not an experienced deep space captain, was assigned to an extremely sensitive security mission from the start.” He sat at the conference table and patted his lap. “Come here,” he quietly said.

She went to him, relieved, comforted. No, they didn’t officially have a cure yet, but she knew with the new information it was only a matter of time before John and his men came through. Sam had a nearly two-day jump to reach the trans-light relay. With Eckhart safely locked up, their worries were over.

She hoped.

Chapter Fourteen

Eckhart’s mental condition worsened in confinement. He didn’t need to eat anything to fly into a rage. Because of Emi’s expertise in psychology, Sascha let her take the lead directing Eckhart’s treatment regimen. That evening, she ordered a cocktail of drugs she hoped would stabilize him, or at the very least make him more manageable. Dr. Martinez helped Taber administer them. Within an hour, Eckhart lay quietly on his side on his bunk and stared at the wall.

His internal rage still seethed, unquenchable. Emi sat down and took a long look at his detailed personnel records and family history. His mother died by suicide a month after her husband’s execution. James Candling Eckhart’s name had been changed by his uncle, who was then an ISNC commodore.

That probably explained his connections.

Raised in military boarding school, he excelled in his classes, although his instructors noted he wasn’t very social. His skills and high grades earned him an early graduation and position in the Academy’s training staff at his uncle’s recommendation. He’d been leading training missions for seven years. Before now, he had an unblemished service record. He had, in fact, earned several commendations and letters of recommendation in his record from superior officers.

She made sure to record her session with Eckhart for evidence. “How did you locate Captain Lucio and his men?”

Eckhart didn’t roll away from the wall, although a wave of sedation-subdued rage washed across the cell toward her. “I’m tapped into the assignment rosters. I’ve kept track of Lucio and his fuck buddies for years. Once they hit the DSMC, I knew it was just a matter of time before they’d be sent on a mission needing ISNC backup. I had to take the chance when it came up. I didn’t know when I’d get another one.”

“Your uncle green-lighted your assignment?”

“Yep. He thought I showed great initiative in volunteering. He didn’t realize Lucio was also assigned. I didn’t tell him that. He signed off on it without even looking. He assumed it would be an easy monitoring mission, that you all would get it figured out before we even got here. Give the kids a safe shakedown jump cruise, a little experience.”

It’d been that and more, unfortunately. The drugs she’d given him also made him tell the truth. At least, the truth as he perceived it.

“How did your med officer die?”

“He saw the official itinerary and questioned why I’d changed it, why we were stopping at the trans-light relay. I couldn’t risk him interfering.”

“You killed him?”

“Yes. I hit him in the head when his back was turned in cargo.” His emotionless voice shocked her. That wasn’t just the drugs. She felt it in him, a bottomless black hole, a lack of compassion and empathy for anyone.

“So you didn’t care that you committed murder and were sentencing innocent people to death?”

He rolled over and looked at her. “
Innocent
? My father died because of their lies. I never got to know him. My mother
killed
herself because of their lies! Why should they get to live a happy life when I never got that?”

Emi wanted to rage a little herself, scream at him that his father had been an unfaithful animal without a conscience who sent an innocent woman to her death and nearly got Aaron killed in the process. She bit her tongue. It wouldn’t do any good. Only Eckhart’s uncle’s hand on his career got him to this point in the service.

“Did you view the hearing records?” Emi asked. “Read the transcripts and reports?” Emi had scanned through them after Aaron unlocked them for her. In an attempt to save his hide, Candling had thrown himself on the mercy of the court and claimed he was mentally ill. He admitted to everything, claimed he’d gone temporarily insane with jealousy.