Dark Space: Origin (12 page)

“Sit down, Mrs. Vastra, or I’ll have you thrown out.” Reluctantly she sat down, and Heston turned back to the medic and nodded. “Proceed.”

The old man whimpered as the needle went in. “Please . . .” he said.

Ethan glanced back down to the row of “witnesses” to see that Alara’s face was pale and stricken. She didn’t remember Kurlin as her father, but even Ethan was starting to feel sorry for the old man. As the medic withdrew, Kurlin began to sob. Ethan was next in line.

The admiral turned to him. “Last chance.”

Ethan watched the admiral’s gray eyes carefully, trying to read something behind the fire he saw burning there. “I don’t know what you’re expecting me to say. My name is Ethan Ortane. I’m an ex-con. I was arrested for smuggling stims and sentenced to Dark Space before the war even began. After the exodus I was released with the other convicts in order to—”

“What did you say?” Admiral Heston interrupted, waving a hand to cut him off.

“I said I’m a convicted felon. I was released because—”

“No, not that—your
name
. Who did you say you are?”

Ethan’s brow furrowed. “Ethan Ortane.”

“Yes, that’s what I thought I heard.” The admiral frowned and turned back to the one-way glass of the jury box. “I’m granting this man a temporary lenience. We will take a two hour recess as I consult with my advisers about how we should proceed. Thank you for your patience.”

REUNION

Chapter
9

R
oan’s plan to sabotage the
Valiant
had worked better than he’d expected. Using what the humans had told him about the ship, he’d managed to restart the reactor after severing the power conduits. In that way, the radiation from the core would cook the crew like mollusks in their shells, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. That was the plan, but then he’d seen radiation levels rise far beyond what his suit could shield, and he’d realized that he had to get off the ship before it cooked him along with the humans.

Now Roan sat inside an escape pod, trying to decipher the controls. He was about to contact Tova for help when he discovered the manual release for the pod. With a quick twist of that red lever, something
clunked
and he heard a sharp
hiss
followed by a sudden roar of acceleration. Glow panels flickered to life inside the pod, and Roan sat back with a smile.

Tova had explained the situation to him when she’d made contact recently. She’d told him that they were both at Ritan now, and she was being held prisoner aboard a station in orbit above the planet, while their human allies were leaderless and about to be taken over by Admiral Heston—the human who had refused to join their alliance.

All of that meant he and the rest of the Gors had to go to some extra lengths in order to preserve the alliance. Roan anticipated that once his escape pod was recovered, he would join Tova in prison, or maybe they would both be sent down to the academy on the surface.

After being cooped up on hot, stuffy human starships for so long, going to Ritan would be a vacation. It was a world not unlike his home world, Noctune. Roan watched through the small, round viewport in the front of the pod as he rocketed out over the dark exoplanet. Stars shone in the distance, and Roan remembered when he’d used to gaze up at those glowing points of light from the surface of Noctune.

Something inside the pod crackled, interrupting Roan’s thoughts; then he heard the confusing babble of a human voice. A translation echoed through the translator in his ear.

“Pod G426, this is Captain Cathrall of the
Destine
; please identify yourself.”

Roan hissed as he moved to answer the comm.

*  *  *

“Lenience?” Commander Caldin asked amidst the rising babble of discontent inside the trial room. She rose to her feet and shook her bound hands at the admiral as Ethan was released from his chair. “What is going on here?”

Admiral Heston turned to the commander with a thin smile. “That is none of your business, Commander.”

“It’s entirely my business! We’re sitting here in stun cords thanks to him! How are you going to discover the truth if you don’t probe him?”

“As I said, I will consult with my advisers about how we should proceed. Rest assured, justice will be done.”

Caldin stood there a moment longer, her jaw bunching and her eyes blazing. Ethan watched her gaze sweep up to him as he massaged his aching wrists. The manacles had begun to cut off his circulation.

A pair of sentinels grabbed Ethan roughly and escorted him off the stage. Hoff walked ahead of him, and all eyes followed them to the doors. As the doors swished open and they passed through, Ethan asked, “Where are we going, Admiral?”

Heston stopped and turned. Nodding to the guards who held Ethan, he said, “Bind his hands with stun cords.”

One of the guards produced a fresh set of stun cords from his equipment belt. Ethan held the admiral’s gaze as his hands were tied once more. Then Hoff took the electronic key which controlled the stun cords and nodded to the sentinels. “You two are dismissed. I’ll watch the prisoner from here.”

Now the guardsmen hesitated. “Sir, he could be dangerous. It would be better if—”

“It would be better if you followed your orders. Leave us, and stay here to guard the other prisoners.”

“Yes, sir.”

Now Admiral Heston grabbed Ethan’s arm and hauled him along. “This is not an easy situation for me, Ethan
Ortane
.”

The way the admiral emphasized his last name made Ethan wonder. “Do we know each other, Admiral?”

They stopped at a nearby set of lift tubes and Heston turned to him with a frown. “Not personally.”

Ethan frowned, wondering what that meant, but then the lift tube doors opened, and Heston shoved him inside before he could ask. The admiral turned and typed a deck number into the lift controls, and Ethan asked, “Where are we going?”

“Shut up and let me think. You’ll have your answers soon enough.”

Ethan gritted his teeth, but did as he was told—until another thought occurred to him. “What’s going to happen to the others?”

Heston turned to him. “Is that boy in there really your son?”

Ethan hesitated, wondering how the admiral knew that and whether or not he should tell the truth. “Yes.”

Heston took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll have to release him, too.”

“At least I know you’re not more than you seem to be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The lift tube stopped and the doors opened to reveal a luxurious foyer with muted gold lighting and a transpiranium dome roof which gave them a startling view of space. The admiral pushed him out into the foyer toward a broad, black door with gleaming gold inlay. Ethan saw that part of the gold inlay was text. It read:
Admiral’s Quarters
.

They stopped in front of the door, and the admiral turned to him before passing his wrist over the scanner. “Have you ever been in love, Ethan?” Heston asked.

Ethan’s brow furrowed. “Once.”

“Then you know it’s not a common thing, nor is it easy to find one who reciprocates your sentiments.”

“No, it’s not easy.”

“Can you tell me her name, please?”

“Why?”

“Humor me.”

“Destra Ortane. She was my wife . . . before the war.”

Heston’s sighed, and nodded. “That’s what I thought. You had a son together. His name was Atton, but the man in the trial room goes by Adan Reese. Is that an alias or is he another son of yours?”

Ethan shook his head. “How did you know his name is Atton?”

“You’ll see. I hope now you’ll understand that it’s not lightly that I introduce you to
my
wife and our
daughter
.”

Before Ethan could say anything to that, the admiral reached up and touched the door buzzer. A few seconds later they heard footsteps, followed by a woman’s voice coming through an intercom beside the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s me, darling—Hoff.”

The door was unlocked with a
clunk
, and then it swished open.

Ethan could have fainted when he saw the woman standing on the other side. All the blood drained from his face and his green eyes grew wide and glassy with tears. He shook his head. It couldn’t be.

That woman stared back at him with the same degree of shock.

“Who is it, Mommy?” came a young girl’s voice. A moment later the girl appeared standing behind her mother. “Hello, Daddy!” she said, smiling up at the admiral. She had his gray eyes, but her mother’s dark hair and button nose.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Hoff replied. “Are you enjoying your birthday?”

“Oh yes!” Atta’s gray eyes turned to Ethan. “Who are you? Are you a friend of my parents? My name’s Atta. It's my birthday today. I'm
seven,
” she announced proudly.

Somehow Ethan managed to smile at her. He blinked and tears ran down his cheeks. “It’s nice to meet you, Atta,” he said. “I’m Ethan. Ethan Ortane.”