Far From Home: The Complete Series (38 page)

Systems blew around them.

Rogers cringed at the shower of sparks raining down around them. “Engines are offline!” he managed to shout over the din.

The
Defiant
shook from bow to stern. The ship shivered in her bones.

This time she’ll snap,
Lisa Chang thought.

But then the ship stabilised. They’d ridden the worst of the energy wave, and the
Defiant
was left to coast through the last of it. She drifted forward from the residual thrust.

18.

“Captain Praror offers his assistance,” Ensign Beaumont told her.

Lieutenant Chang nodded. “Give him our situation and tell him we’ll gladly accept any help he can give us.”

Beaumont relayed the message. As she waited, Chang asked Jackson to try his systems again. The Lieutenant did so, then shook his head.

“Nothing.”

“Praror would like to attach grapplers to the front of our hull and tow us back to their planet,” Beaumont said.

“Agreed,” Chang said curtly.

“Makes us a load of spare parts,” Jackson remarked.

Chang shrugged. “That’s one way of looking at it. But then we will still need someone in here firing the manoeuvring thrusters and monitoring communications.”

“I guess so.”

“So who does that leave?”

“Me?” Beaumont asked, looking at the other two then back to Lieutenant Chang.

She nodded slowly. “I have something in mind for you, Lieutenant. It should be right up your alley.”

19.

“Take a seat, Commander,” Jessica told him. Greene perched himself on the edge of her bed.

“What is it?” he asked softly.

“I’ve not been honest with you, Del. And for that I’m sorry. As the second in command of this ship … and as my friend, I should have told you and I didn’t.”

The Commander frowned. “I don’t get it …”

“A little while ago it was revealed to me that Andrew was my Father,” she explained. Tears came, and she made no attempt to hold them back. “And that he had MS, Del. He knew all about it but never told anyone.”

Greene was shocked. “And he knew you were his daughter?”

Jessica nodded.

“And the MS …”

“I have it,” Jessica said. “And I’ve started to feel the effects of it. The doctor tells me that I may need a stick to help me walk.”

She broke down and started to sob into her hands. The Commander leaned forward and took her in his arms, held her tight against his chest and let her cry it out.

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered.

The door to the sickbay opened behind him, and the Commander turned in time to see Chief Gunn walk in.

She stopped short of the bed, unsure of what was going on. Greene patted Jessica’s back and then let go. She sat up, wiped at her eyes and nose.

Gunn grabbed a handful of tissues and returned. “Here honey. Here.”

Jessica took them gratefully and cleaned the mess off her face, sniffling.

The Chief rubbed her back as Greene explained all that had happened. He’d got a full report of everything following the explosion. “We lost Boi, Banks, Salnow,” he told her. “Ensign Rayne. Eisenhower …”

He looked at the Chief, who urged him on.

“And, uh, there’s another loss. But he’s not dead. Well, not yet,” Greene said.

“Who?” Jessica asked.

“Captain Nowlan. They took him,” he said incredulously.

Jessica shook her head in disbelief. “Our whole family has been torn apart. When will it end, Del?”

He opened his arms out. “I don’t know what to say, Jess. I don’t know what to say.”

“Maybe we should give the Captain some rest. Let her absorb everything. We’ll come back a bit later,” the Chief told her. “I’ll bring you something hot from the mess.”

Jessica smiled. “Thank you Chief.”

“And we’ll sort everything out, you just watch,” Greene promised her.

She smiled again and watched the two of them leave the sickbay. But when they left her smile left with them.

* * *

Outside the Meryl Gunn took Commander Greene’s hand in her own as they walked along the corridor. He looked at her in surprise but she made nothing of it.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Gunn said. She bit her lip, as if deciding whether or not to say what came next.

“I love you.”

The Commander gave her hand a good firm squeeze. “You know, I love you too. I think I always have.”

There was a moment, as they walked hand in hand, where they stared into each other’s eyes. It lasted only a second, but for the two of them lost in that moment, it stretched out for an eternity. Despite the doom and gloom around them, there was still the hope they found in each other. A love that had only grown through all they’d been through. Nothing else mattered. Whatever happened now.

“Soppy sod,” Meryl said with a chuckle.

* * *

Lieutenant Roland Beaumont checked the list on his data pad against the numbers Lieutenant Ken Dunham shouted back to him. The munitions section remained otherwise quiet; the battle over, all but relief crew had been sent to their quarters to get some much deserved rack time. That is, apart from the two Lieutenants tasked with doing a full stock take of their weaponry.

“I always wanted to be down here,” Jackson said, tired but happy. “You know, work down here.”

“It has its moments,” Dunham said. “You can add another batch of twelve to that list.”

Dunham clambered out from the firing tube and dusted his hands.

“So that’s it then,” Beaumont said. He signed off on the report and sent it away. It would make its way to the personal consoles of all the command staff.

They’d all know just how few Missiles remained.

“We keep getting into these scrapes,” Dunham said. “It’s running things low. Trouble is, it’s not like we have a resupply ship headed our way.”

“Yeah I get you,” Beaumont said.

“Hey, you wanna go grab a coffee? I know it’s been a long night, but I’m wired. I don’t think I could sleep if I wanted to,” Dunham explained.

Beaumont nodded. “Yeah come on. We can see if there’s any of that pie left.”

20.

The Krinuan’s homeworld loomed into view, and Lieutenant Chang breathed a sigh of relief.

“Approaching planet,” Rogers said as though she couldn’t see that for herself.

He’s just going through the motions,
Chang told herself.
Just like  all of us. Operating on auto pilot to just get through the day. It’s all we can do. All I can do, anyway.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Commander Greene stood there. He looked gruesome with his scabbed, burnt skin and bandages. If the
Defiant
had taken some knocks of late, the Commander had accumulated more.

“Lieutenant, how’re we doing?” he asked her. He looked around the cramped confines of the Emergency Command Centre. “Roomy in here, ain’t it?”

Lisa laughed despite herself. “You get used to it.”

“About to detach from the Krinuans and engage our own engines,” Rogers reported from the helm.

Greene nodded. “Good job people. No need to rush it though; take it easy.”

“Sir, I wondered if you’d mind seeing us in. I hoped to, uh …” Chang looked away.

“Get some rest. I understand.”

She shook her head. “Go see the Captain,” she said, looking back up.

Greene smiled weakly.

“I think she’d like that, Lieutenant.”

He watched Chang go. A wave of emotion broke and rolled over him, and Greene couldn’t help feeling that yet again, their predicament had cost them dearly.

He thought of Lieutenant Banks, Ensign Boi, Salnow … Olivia Rayne …

Commander Greene turned back to the viewscreen.

“Take her steady gents,” he said. “She’s been through a lot.”

* * *

Lieutenant Lisa Chang fiddled nervously with her hands as she stood over the sleeping form of Captain Jessica King. Somehow King sensed her presence. Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked up at the Lieutenant.

“Lisa,” she said. “Sit. Please.”

Chang did as she was told, and sat in a chair next to the bed.

“Captain. How are you?”

Jessica smiled. “I’ve been better.”

Chang looked down at her hands. She didn’t know how to tell her Captain about all that had happened. About the lives that were lost …

Jessica reached and took hold of Chang’s hands. “I know.”

“I …” Chang couldn’t say any more than that.

“Olivia saved your life.”

Chang nodded. She couldn’t speak. Jessica squeezed her hands.

“You’ll be fine,” she said softly. “I’ll help you through it. You don’t have to grieve on your own.”

Chang smiled. “Thank you.”

“I know it hurts, Lieutenant. But it will get better. She died so that you could live. So that we all could live. Never forget that.”

Chang nodded.

“I am so proud of you, Lisa. The ship was without a leader, and you stepped into that role and owned it. I couldn’t ask for more of you. Of any of you,” King said.

“And you heard about Eisenhower?” Chang asked her.

“Yes …” Jessica said.

“And they took Captain Nowlan. We have to find a way to get him back,” Chang said.

“We will,” King said and squeezed her hands again. “I promise.”

Silence fell like a veil around them.

“Captain, I’d better let you get some rest. I wouldn’t mind some myself, either,” Chang said.

“Of course,” Jessica said.

She watched Chang go, then she lay back staring up at the ceiling. Soon she fell asleep, but there were no dreams. Only the night side of her mind. Dark, cold, empty … and filled with ghosts.

21.
Meptin? Meptin cammow himmmmeeee?
Sounds. Incomprehensible sounds that at first came to him through a haze, and then slowly coalesced, forming themselves into words that he could understand.

Meptin? Meptin cammow hear me?

The fog of unconsciousness rolled back, and Hawk was aware of a huge pain in the centre of his head, as if from the worst hangover in history.
“Captain? Can you hear me?” that same voice asked him, but this time it made sense. This time it was clear, measured, recognizable …
Hawk opened his eyes and peered straight into the mirrored mask of General Carn.
He shook his head. “Can’t be.”
The General chuckled, dry, behind his mask.
“You’re dead …” Hawk said in disbelief.
“Evidently not,” Carn said. “Reports of my demise are grossly exaggerated. But believe me, Captain, you will soon wish that
you
were. Death will be but a sweet release from what I have in store for
you …”

Hawk licked his lips. They were cracked, sore. “Where am I? Where are you keeping me?”

General Carn came as close as he could. All that Hawk could see in that silvery, mirrored mask was his own weary reflection. His voice came as a hate-filled rasp, dripping venom; the whistle of mercury vapour over acid. Pure, unquenchable hatred and conviction.

“Hell.”

PART SEVEN

BALANCE

1.

Lisa Chang straightened her uniform on the way to the Captain’s quarters. The corridors were a jumbled mess of fallen wires and circuitry. Here and there a pipe had burst free from a wall panel. Fluid leaked onto the deck. The
Defiant
was in the worst shape Chang had ever seen her.

Privately, the Lieutenant wondered if they’d ever patch the old girl back together. She’d certainly been put through her paces, especially with the last battle.

Lisa signalled at Captain King’s door. A second later, the door opened and Chang stepped inside.

“Lisa,” Captain King said, about to get up from her sofa with the aid of a stick.

Chang bounded forward to help, but King waved her away.

“I have to learn to do this myself,” the Captain said. She grunted as she heaved herself onto her feet, using the stick for support.

“Looks painful,” Chang said.

Jessica nodded. “Yes. Yes it is.”

She’d discussed with Commander Greene whether or not to tell the crew about her MS, and they’d both decided against it. Knowing their leader had such a weakness may prove difficult in the long run. The crew might question her ability to command the ship and to command them. She couldn’t have that.

So they’d told the crew that she’d lost some use of her legs due to the accident.

It would do for the time being.

Jessica was more than aware that right now her crew needed solidarity, not weakness.

The show must go on,
King thought.

“Nice to see Commander Greene is on the mend,” Chang said.

“He’s tough as old boots,” Jessica said with a smile. She moved about slowly with the aid of the cane, stopping to stretch her legs one after the other as she spoke. “But I’d say that about all of you.”

“We do our best,” Chang said with no small amount of pride.

“Yes you do,” King said. “And that’s why I’ve asked you here. You performed admirably, Lisa. Above and beyond the call of duty, so to speak. When all seemed lost, you held your head above the water and did your job.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Which is why I have made the decision to promote you to the rank of Commander, bypassing the usual Lieutenant-Commander interim. Effective immediately, you are Commander Lisa Chang,” King said. She tossed a silver pin to her.

The colour flushed into Chang’s cheeks as she looked at the shiny new pin in her hand. “Captain, I don’t know what to say.”

“Say that you’re proud of yourself, because you should be,” King said. She perched herself on the edge of her desk. It brought temporary relief to her aching legs. “With what you’ve had to experience.”

Lisa looked down at the deck. “It’s been hard. We … were close.”

“I know you were. As your Captain, I’m always here for you. If you need to talk.”

Chang looked up. “Thank you.”

Captain King got back on her feet. Best to keep moving about. Perhaps it would help.