Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) (25 page)

Out
of view of the bridge camera, Heskan cautiously activated the Identify, Friend
or Foe, equipment.  A loud buzz emitted from the unit. 
Six seconds to ping
them,
Heskan thought. 
Then, six seconds for them to interrogate us and
six more seconds for us to reply.
 He looked nervously down at the IFF
gear. 
Do you have eighteen seconds of life?
  Smoke began to billow from
the seams of the unit.  Truesworth quickly waved a rag over it to help disperse
the acrid, grey cloud.

Vernay returned Heskan’s look of encouragement with an expression
of horror.  Next to Heskan, the IFF box had caught on fire.  Truesworth dropped
the rag and two more over the device.

“IFF confirmed,” Gwen acknowledged suspiciously.  “Why does your
signal identify you as a destroyer?”

Heskan deactivated the unit, stifling his coughs from the pungent smoke.

“Because
we share our identification with one,” Vernay said matter-of-factly.  She
snorted derisively before adding, “How do you think these missions are paid
for, Captain?  You think the Republic really spent all of that money just on
Cerberus?”

Gwen’s
eyes narrowed in consideration as Vernay pressed her advantage.  “Captain Gwen,
I’ve cited you the proper rules and regulations governing covert operations. 
You’ve undoubtedly authenticated my credentials as a Brevic officer.  I’ve even
submitted my command to IFF protocol confirming its status.”  Vernay let two
weeks of stress, hunger and frustration boil over.  “I am just two star systems
from completing my mission.  A mission that has been nearly thwarted at every
turn by security leaks, mixed orders, incompetent ship captains and one useless
system commander!”  She let the volume of her voice carry.  “Either let us pass
or kill me now because, frankly, my give-a-damn meter is running at zero right
now!”

Gwen’s
stunned, slack-jawed face stared blankly at her.  The patrol craft’s captain
blinked uncomprehendingly while moving a hand to her chair arm.  Her image
disappeared.

“Give-a-damn
meter?” Truesworth asked quizzically.

Vernay
flashed a smile at her friend while flapping the front of her uniform to help
her cool off.  She looked at the system plot. 
Kit
had yet to move.

“Are
they really going to let us pass?” Truesworth asked in disbelief.

“They
actually don’t have a choice, Jack,” Heskan explained.  “Everything Stacy said
was right.  We’re a properly authenticated military ship.  Gwen has to let us
pass.”

“Let’s
just hope she doesn’t follow us,” Vernay said.

“After
your unbalanced outburst,” Heskan replied tongue-in-cheek, “I’m not sure
I
want to be near you.”

Vernay
grinned at her captain.  “Yeah, I got inspired.  No food, hot-bunking with a
stranger and looming carbon dioxide poisoning can do that to a gal.”

Sitting
at the auxiliary control station, Lombardi asked, “What is next?”

Heskan
wiped his brow.  “I think it’s over.  That patrol craft is an old Fox-class
ship.  She’s slower than Brewer’s ship.  By the time Brewer dives in, we’ll be
too far ahead for Kit to catch us.”

“But
Envoy-Three might,” Vernay said.

“Yes,” he admitted. 
“Envoy-Three will catch us about two light-minutes from the Syrinx tunnel point
but it’s unarmed.  I’ve been on that ship a lot, including the bridge.  There
wasn’t a weapons station.”  He looked up at the system plot. 
Kit
remained
stationary at the tunnel point.  “And the two destroyers from New London won’t
come close to intercepting us by the time they dive in.”  He felt the burdens
of the last week lift from his shoulders. 
Have we really done it?

*  *  *

Ninety-four
minutes later,
Envoy-3
entered Bianca.  Three minutes after her arrival,
Kit
made way toward
Hussy
in symbolic pursuit despite the
unassailable distance between the ships.  Even at
Hussy’s
reduced
sailing speed of .14
c
, it was clear the margin between the freighter and
her pursuers would not be overcome. 
Envoy-3
, unwilling to wait for her
slower companion, surged forward unescorted.  The distance between adversaries
had shrunk to 5
lm
when the Republic destroyers finally dove from the New
London tunnel.  Four ships, varying from an unarmed transport to military black
space ships, chased
Hussy
from Brevic space.

Once
again, the great distance between ships asserted itself and time crawled by.  A
total of three hours and thirty minutes had elapsed between
Hussy’s
dive
into the Bianca system and
Envoy-3’s
overhaul of the freighter, closing to
a mere 5
ls
.  No hidden weapon turrets emerged from the sloop to fire upon
its quarry.  The only energy directed toward
Hussy
was in the form of a
communications request.

Lieutenant
Truesworth read the preface of the message and stated, “Message from Envoy-Three,
Captain.  It’s a private communications request for you.”

“No
doubt a personal plea from Brewer,” Lombardi surmised.

“Shall
I connect, Captain?” Truesworth asked.

Heskan
hesitated. 
Why would Sebastian Brewer want to speak with me privately?
 
Wouldn’t the safer political play be to openly rebuke me?
  Heskan
thought about his time with Brewer over the past weeks.  The elder statesman
had actually shown a good deal of trust in Heskan. 
Dare I say that he was
almost a mentor to me when he thought I was a loyalist?

Truesworth
stared at Heskan peculiarly.  “Uh, Captain, shall I connect?”

Maybe
I owe him this small courtesy.
 
“No,” Heskan decided.  “I’ll take it in my cabin.”  Heskan rose from the
creaking captain’s chair and turned to Lombardi.  “Komandor, would you
accompany me?  Whatever Brewer has to say to me, he can say to you.” 
There’s
no point in letting Isabella think I’m having second thoughts.

Once
inside his quarters, Heskan sat at his computer terminal.  Lombardi took a
position off to the side of the desk, out of view of the camera integrated into
the screen.  Due to the scant distance between the two ships, the communication
would play out close to a normal conversation with minimal lag.  The accept
button flashed impatiently at him.

Brewer’s
image appeared on the screen.  He was in his office, a beverage of dark liquid sitting
untouched on his enormous desk before him.  Brewer’s grey eyes bored into Heskan. 
To Heskan, they appeared… sad.

Brewer’s
voice seemed filled with remorse as he began, “If you’re anything like your
father, you think you’re doing the right thing.”

The
statement knocked Heskan immediately onto his heels.  “My father,” he corrected,
“was a machinist.”

Brewer’s
head shook slightly.  “No, Jacob was a lot more than that.  Your father served
the Republic… and he was my friend.”  Grey eyes misted over in remembrance. 
“Since his death I’ve watched over you like a son and you don’t know how hard
it is to see you like this now.”

Heskan
rocked away from the monitor shaking his head in disbelief.  “This is not the
conversation I was expecting, though I did expect you to lie to me.”

Brewer’s
smile seemed to take great effort.  “I have lied,” he admitted, “a lifetime of
lies, in fact.  Nevertheless, Garrett, I have never lied to you.  I knew Jacob
Heskan.  How many people know about the scar on his back?  I was with him the
day he got it.  We were good friends, and he asked me to watch over you the
week before he died.  Think back.  Do you believe it was a coincidence I chose
Derringer to transport me to Praxidike?  Or that after you languished for a
year on Chaldene that a starship command just suddenly fell to you?”

Heskan
felt his arms break out in gooseflesh at the implications.  He always held a
suspicion that someone with clout had given him a second chance after
Derringer
. 
He wanted to believe that it was someone with close ties to Captain West but
doubts now crept into his mind. 
What’s more likely, Garrett, that one of
West’s friends looked out for you after the mutiny or that this man has been watching
over you?
  Reluctantly, Heskan accepted the truth.  He swallowed hard before
speaking.  “You did all this because of Dad?”

Brewer
answered forcefully.  “I did so because the Republic owed his legacy more than what
it had given.”  Brewer raised a liver-spotted hand to his chest as he spoke.  “When
none would touch you,
I
chose, at personal risk, to breathe second life
into you.”

“I’m
not responsible for your choices, Mr. Secretary; just my own.”

Brewer
nodded.  “That is correct, Garrett, but the choice you’re making now is with
only half the information.  You’re unknowingly destroying everything your
father fought for, everything that he died to protect.”  Brewer closed his eyes
and inhaled deeply.  When he reopened them, there was an urgency that Heskan
had not seen in those eyes since the bridge of
Derringer
.  “We’re
running out of time, Garrett.  You’re running out of chances.  Please, don’t
dishonor your father like this.”

Heskan’s
throat tightened.  “Was he an honorable man?”

Heskan
saw Brewer’s eyes cast downward.  It was the expression of a man not searching
for the truth but yearning to make sense of it.  Finally, Brewer said, “I did
everything I could to prevent his undoing, Garrett.  I want you to know that.” 
His voice grew quiet.  “I failed him just as I am failing his son.”

The
monitor screen was getting blurry for Heskan.  His voice wavered, “Did he die
for what he believed in?”

Brewer
stared hard at Heskan as he considered the question.  “Your father died in
defense of the Republic.  His final sacrifice, just one in a lifetime of
sacrifices, strengthened the Republic to what it is today.  You’re destroying what
he fought to protect, everything that he, and your mother, gave their lives
defending.”  Wrinkled hands clasped each other in what may have been a plea.  “Don’t
betray the Republic, Garrett.  Don’t betray your father.”

Heskan
felt as if he were tumbling in space.  With his foundation thoroughly ripped
from underneath him, his thoughts turned to his only anchor.  “I can’t betray
the people I’ve saved.  They’re all I have left.”

“I
won’t force you to, son,” Brewer promised.  “Put yourself in a lifeboat.  I promise
on your father’s grave that the Republic will not search for your friends. 
Otherwise…”  Brewer frowned regretfully.  “Otherwise, I will have to find you,
all of you.  I may not be able to pursue you today, Garrett, but you haven’t
won.”

“Garrett,”
Lombardi whispered desperately at Heskan.  Her head was shaking forcefully,
eyes pleading.  “No.”

“I
know I haven’t won, Mr. Secretary.  This time, we both lose.”  Heskan looked
miserably to Lombardi for support; her joyless smile still buoyed him.  He
cleared his throat and regarded Brewer with a renewed strength.  “I would give
myself to you if I thought it served more than your best interests.”

“My
interests,” Brewer responded, “are the defense of the Republic… just like your
father’s were.”

Heskan’s
datapad chirped.  Lieutenant Vernay’s voice came through it.  “Captain, we’re
ready to dive.”

Heskan’s
shoulders slumped. 
Out of time,
he thought dolefully.  
What if this
man could answer all my questions?
  Fortifying himself with a deep breath,
he activated the bridge channel and spoke gravely to both Brewer and Vernay. 
“Sebastian, I believe you but I can’t trust you.”

Brewer’s
jaw dropped fractionally as a shiver ran through him.

“Stacy,
dive the ship.”

The
nausea mercifully supplanted Heskan’s turmoil.  As
Hussy
steadied
herself in tunnel space, Heskan cursed the subsiding disorientation.  The
penumbra of earlier emotion reasserted itself leaving him shaking.  It was
obvious to Heskan that his father had hidden much of his past. 
Why would he
do that?
Was he ashamed of what he did?  I thought my father was a man
of integrity.  How could he have worked with Brewer? 
Heskan retreated so
deeply into his mind that he jumped when a gentle hand touched his shoulder.

“Garrett,”
Lombardi whispered.

“None
of this makes sense,” Heskan confided.  “Maybe my father wasn’t the man I
thought he was.”

“Do
not let him shake your belief, Garrett,” Lombardi replied somberly.

“But,”
he protested, “Brewer wasn’t lying.  That much was obvious.  If my father
helped make the Republic what it is today, then I have truly disappointed
him.”  The words returned tears to his eyes.  He brought a thumb and index
finger to the corners of them and squeezed hard. 
Have I let you down, Dad?

“You
do not know that.”  Lombardi knelt beside him.  It was the first time Heskan
had ever seen the proud woman on her knees.  “But let me tell you what
I
know, Garrett Heskan.”  Her brown eyes never wavered from his as she gently reached
out to cup the side of his face.  “The man before me is one of strong
convictions.  He is a good man, Garrett, and because of this, everyone looks to
him for support.  This weighs heavily upon you but you are an honorable man who
shoulders more than his share of life’s burdens.”  She delicately traced his
jaw with a hand.  “Do not accept this new burden,
tesoro mio
.  Free
yourself.”  Her hand dropped to his collar where she clutched at him and drew
him close to her.  “And I know the father of Garrett Heskan must be proud of
such a man.”