Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) (28 page)

Me
too,
he reflected. 
“I am, Stacy.  Maybe it just hasn’t sunk in.  Maybe part of it is that I have
no idea what’s next.”  He looked into his companion’s eyes.  “I feel, for the
first time, that we have no future.”

Panic
shot rapidly through her cerulean eyes as she looked at him earnestly.  “Don’t
say that!  Do you really think you can get rid of your first officer that
easily, Captain?”

Her
expression melted his heart. 
That’s Stacy, loyal to the bitter end.
  “I
didn’t mean it like that,” Heskan assured.  “I meant that I feel like I can’t
offer
my crew a future.”

Vernay
exhaled with relief and then shrugged without apparent concern.  She rapidly readjusted
one of the thin slices of material running down her chest.  “Don’t worry,
Captain.  Just like with this dress, one door closes, another opens.”

Heskan barked a laugh
and the pair resumed their pace.

*  *  *

Once
introductions were made, Heskan took his position at the banquet table. 
Lombardi had invited all of Heskan’s crew and her own officers.  Chairman Lukas
Nikitas was hosting the event although it was clear Lombardi was running the
show.

Lombardi
had stunned Heskan as she entered on the arm of the elder gentleman.  She had
declined an evening gown in favor of the mess dress of the Hollaran Navy. 
Heskan had no idea how she obtained the uniform in Syntyche but judging by the
immaculate tailoring, it was possible it had been handcrafted over the last several
hours.  Seeing Lombardi in her uniform returned much of the woman’s military persona. 
The vulnerable, caring temptress gave way to the predatory mien of a lethal
ship’s captain.  A sadness touched Heskan when he first caught sight of her
even as her dazzling appearance took his breath away. 
I’ll never wear my
uniform again,
he reflected morosely.  The single thought threatened to
crush him.

After
two weeks of unending hardship, the banquet’s decadence was nearly overwhelming. 
Food was abundant, cup bottoms refused to be exposed.  The sweet music from a live
string quartet lent a dreamlike quality to the evening as Heskan dined with scarcely
contained gusto.  Nikitas talked to Lombardi most of the evening, catching her up
with polite news from the Commonwealth after offering profound condolences over
the loss of her uncle.  Heskan had witnessed such condolences given and
accepted before but never by Republic enemies.  It was yet another bizarre
sequence in a night filled with them.  Eventually, conversation turned toward
what would happen next for
Hussy
.

“We
will suffer a mutiny if we order all two hundred of my crew back aboard that
tiny ship,” Lombardi jested.

“That
will, of course, not be necessary, Izzy,” Nikitas promised.  “I have negotiated
a private charter for your crew to return to the Commonwealth.”  He gaily waved
a hand and continued, “The ship will arrive from Terra Mater in about a week. 
Until then, please know that you will all be treated like family in Syntyche.” 
He eyed Lombardi pointedly.  “We treasure our dearest ally, Izzy.  I hope
Samanta knows this.”

Lombardi
did not miss the gentle prod.  “She does, Lukas, and I am sure she will be
grateful for the way you and Humex have treated us.”

The
tacit agreement made, Nikitas eased to the back of his chair with a contented smile.

Heskan
asked quietly, “Isabella, is this where we say goodbye?”  He did not want that
moment to come, but knew it might anyway.

“No!”
she answered emphatically.  She leaned over the enormous table to draw closer
to him.  “You promised you would return me to Hollara, Garrett.”  Her face
tightened into almost a plea.  “You must keep that promise!”

The
surge of relief he felt both nurtured and scared Heskan.  Outwardly, he tried
to remain dispassionate.  “Then what do you suggest?”

“We
have a ship,” she stated.  “We can return home in it, just with a more
appropriately sized crew and a more suitably provisioned hold.  Lukas, can we
transform one of Hussy’s holds into something more amenable for travel?”

Nikitas
nodded eagerly.  “Of course, I will put my best men on that immediately.”  He
pecked at the screen of his datapad.  “Might I suggest a good cleaning of the
interior while they’re at it?”

“Oh
God, please, yes!” Vernay interjected.

Beside her,
Truesworth begged, “And for the love of all that is merciful, can I
please
get a datapad?”

*  *  *

The
crowd broke up after dinner.  Following several energetic hugs, Nikitas excused
himself to travel back to the surface of Tuxevi.  Before leaving, he assured
Heskan that his freighter would be “spaceworthy” by the following evening but
he was welcome to enjoy the Syntyche sights for as long as he wished.

Lombardi,
Vernay and Brown congregated to speak via datapad with the Humex representative
outfitting
Hussy
.  Heskan monitored the conversation but knew Brown’s
thirty years of experience would far supplant any advice he might have for
provisioning.  As he wandered away from the group, he stood near a wall screen
and stared at the planet below them.  It looked a little like his home planet, with
a large supercontinent riddled with winding rivers.  The southern hemisphere seemed
to have more surface water than Dione but the brilliant brown and green of the
continent interlaced with blue lines made Heskan homesick. 
Odd,
he
considered. 
I haven’t thought about Dione for years, except on Archer
during those virtual rows I took from the orbital toward her moon.  I’ve always
considered space as my home. 
Heskan held no illusions about a career as a
freighter captain. 
Now where am I going to live?

Lombardi’s
voice returned him to the dining hall.  “It is a spectacular view, no?”

“Yeah,”
Heskan murmured.  “Looks a little like the planet I grew up on.”

“Are
you ready to see
my
home?”

“Hollara. 
Is it safe for my people?”

“Of
course,” Lombardi replied.  Then, she said after further consideration, “Well, I
hope so.”

The
nine days of travel through the Terra Mater, Picus and Kujata systems passed
quickly.  As
Hussy
neared the Hollaran Commonwealth border, each day seemed
to distort into mere hours for Heskan.  The pressure placed on
Hussy’s
environmental
systems eased with only her standard crew of thirty-five on board, comprised of
the Brevic pilots, Heskan’s inner circle, Komandor Lombardi, and enough
Hollaran volunteers to fill out
Hussy’s
needs.  Kapitan Romano had
stayed on the Vox station to lead the remaining one hundred ninety-four Hollarans
during their transit home.

Hussy’s
middle hold had been transformed
while docked to Vox.  The cargo compartment had additional living quarters installed
using quick-setting foam construction walls.  A recreation room had also been
created with large wall screens connected to the latest entertainment systems. 
Hussy
had superficially become a real luxury ship containing even a tiny
gym erected in the corner of the compartment.  In essence, the elderly tramp had
been treated to a makeover.

When
Hussy
dove into tunnel space toward the frontier Commonwealth system of
Dea Dia, Heskan proposed a change of command to Hollaran authority.  Lombardi
adamantly resisted his gesture and insisted that Garrett Heskan would be the
captain of the ship that brought her home.  She agreed, however, to speak on
behalf of
Hussy
while traveling through Commonwealth space.

Similarly,
it was Heskan who balked when Lombardi suggested they travel through to Hollara
proper under their guise as a standard, tramp freighter.  It seemed an
unnecessary ruse when Lombardi could easily announce who she was at Dea Dia and
be escorted back to Hollara with an honor guard.  It was only when Lombardi
privately expressed the depth of her concerns about revealing
Hussy’s
true
identity that Heskan withdrew his objections.  The profound concern in her
voice convinced him that Lombardi’s discretion might be more reasonable than his
own valor.

He
had been thinking of his own Republic as the enemy on this mission and had
nearly forgotten his Brevic crew were still enemies of the Commonwealth.  This
realization cast him even more adrift as the moment he simultaneously hoped for
and dreaded finally arrived.

“Attention,
crew of Hussy, prepare for tunnel dive in ten seconds,” Selvaggio warned.  The
chronometer counted down and Heskan reflexively squeezed his eyes shut. 
Familiar queasiness passed through him and he swallowed several times to resist
the urge to deposit his stomach contents onto the deck.  When he could, he
opened his eyes to look upon Hollaran space.

Dea
Dia’s only habitable location centered on the moon of a gas giant.  The
system’s F3IV star burned much hotter than Sol, creating a goldilocks zone farther
out from the star.  All of the interior terrestrial planets were broiling
infernos, but the largest moon around the second gas giant contained an atmosphere
suitable for human life.

Dea
Dia’s shipping lanes thrived with activity.  Freighters of all shapes and sizes
traveled in orderly sequence under the watchful eyes of nearly a dozen system
defense ships.  A large weapons station orbited with the Kujata tunnel point. 
The platform, while impressive, was not nearly the size of the defense citadels
Heskan’s task group had encountered in Helike.  Compared to those behemoths,
the station 4
ls
from
Hussy
looked like a child pretending to be a
sentry.

A
descending warble from Truesworth’s panel indicated an incoming voice message. 
“CSV Hussy, this is orbital control.  Welcome to Commonwealth space.  You are
cleared to navigate out of the tunnel point pattern.  Please declare your
intended travel route.”

Lombardi
answered matter-of-factly, “Greetings, control, this is Hussy.  We will transit
the system en route to Vica Pota with a final destination of Hollara.  Request
clearance to the Latana tunnel point.”

Minutes
later, the request was granted.  “Acknowledged, Hussy.  I am embedding your
route into your beacon.  Please notify the nearest controller if you change
your destinations.  Understand that all non-Commonwealth traffic is subject to
inspection at your first port of call.  Safe journey.”

“
Tenente
,
please follow the prescribed route into Hollaran space.”

“It’s
a heck of a lot easier this time around,” Selvaggio mumbled as she used the
freighter’s thrusters to orient her toward Latana.

“Seems
too easy,” Heskan agreed.

“Do
not fool yourself,” Lombardi countered.  “We will be watched and scanned by at
least one defense ship while traversing the system.  When we do dock at an
orbital, our ship will be thoroughly inspected not only for contraband but also
for invasive organisms, and some of the crew could be selected for random
health checks.  Hollara’s borders are open to trade but that does not mean we do
not take security seriously.”

“Yeah,
but to just tunnel in and say, ‘We want to go to Hollara,’ seems wrong,” Heskan
confided.  “No secret handshakes or passwords needed, you know?  This could be
a Republic system if not for the accents.”

Lombardi
looked at Heskan with an arched eyebrow.  “Is it really so surprising?  Both
the Commonwealth and your Republic use the same constructs of interstellar
commerce as the Federation.  Why should our procedures be so different from
yours?”

“Good
point,” Heskan admitted.  “I’m beginning to regret staying up well past my
bedtime to witness this.”  He yawned.  “I think I’ll turn in.”  He checked the
wall chronometer quickly.  “See you in three hours, Isabella.”

“
Buona notte.
”

*  *  *

If
Dea Dia had been a letdown, the dead system of Latona was an utter bust. 
Hussy
merely tunneled in, requested permission to continue toward Vica Pota and drove
her replenished engines to .15
c
.  After two more days of the quiet of
tunnel space,
Hussy’s
arrival at the Vica Pota system was met with an
equal, casual indifference.  This time, tunnel point controllers questioned if
Hussy
would be docking in-system.  When Lombardi politely informed them she would not
and wished to continue to Hollara, the controllers seemed almost happy to let
the freighter pass through their space unhindered.  Judging by the incredible
number of civilian ships swarming about in the district system, Heskan could
understand the eagerness to remove one responsibility from their burgeoning plate. 

Hussy
reentered tunnel space toward
Hollara proper after spending eight hours and twenty-two minutes crossing Vica
Pota.  Her second to last dive gave Heskan chills for he knew that when the
freighter next emerged from tunnel space, the heart of the Commonwealth would
lay before his eyes.  A fitful three nights of sleep haunted Heskan and most of
the Brevic crew, each withdrawing inside themselves as they waged nightly
battles with indoctrinated fears.