Mission Origin View (Final Days Trilogy) (41 page)

“
Glad to have you back, Lieutenant, and I’m sorry for the loss of your team member,” Mary said as she returned his salute, “Debriefing in my quarters in an hour.”

“
Yes, sir,” Gideon said.

“
Anna, tell Commander Steward to depart the system as soon as possible,” Mary ordered her Anna.

Part Five: Destination Observation Point

QMAC, Mission Control Center, SRS
Stephen Hawking

0900
—February 29, 2372

“
Captain Bowser, thank you for your briefing of the marine rescue missions and current ship status,” Admiral Frank said. He paused a few seconds as he reviewed another holographic report that appeared on his conference table console and added, “Lieutenant Klaxton?”

“
Yes, sir,” Gideon said as he stood alongside Mary at attention.

“
I was just officially notified that my request that you be permanently promoted to first lieutenant has been approved. I’m also pleased to tell you that the medal recommendations submitted by Captain Bowser have been approved. Petty Officer Sipes, Lieutenant Klaxton, and Captain Neubauer have been awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. The recommendations for Purple Hearts have also been approved for everyone that has been wounded or killed in action. Also, inform your marines they have all been permanently promoted one grade,” Admiral Frank said.

“
Thank you, sir,” Gideon said.

Admiral Frank
’s serious facial expression relaxed and he smiled, “You all deserve it. Everyone did an outstanding job of acquiring the three doctors who will ensure the success of Mission Origin View. And a personal thanks for the valuable intelligence information you gathered on the weapon systems being used on Leonis.”

“
Yes, sir,” Gideon said.

“
That is all I have,” Admiral Frank said and asked, “Anything else, Captain, Lieutenant?”

“
No, sir,” Mary and Gideon answered together and then sat down.

The QMAC communications device then focused on
Dr. Layton, who was seated at the table with Admiral Frank. Layton smiled and said, “I want to welcome Doctor Kastriva, Doctor Bailey, and Doctor Qasim to our team. My apologies for the way we had to recruit you. The United States used the proper diplomatic channels to request your assistance with this project, and the responses we received from your governments led us to believe you were all being held against your wills. It was decided that, as part of this mission, we would rescue you and allow you to decide if you wanted to be part of this historic mission. I’m glad you have all decided to help.”

“
Speaking for myself, and I think I can speak for the other doctors as well”—Dr. Kastriva looked at Dr. Bailey and Dr. Qasim, who were seated to his left. Both doctors nodded their agreement as Kastriva looked back at the QMAC display of Dr. Layton and continued—“we’re happy to be a part of this mission and want to do everything we can to make it a success. This is a scientific project that will go down in history, and we’ll be known as the men and women who confirmed how life on Earth originated.”

“
I’m glad to hear that, Doctor Kastriva,” Dr. Layton responded and directed a question to Dr. Harper. “Doctor Harper, have you given our new team members a complete briefing of the mission and familiarized them with the technology they’ll be using?”

“
Yes, Doctor, I have. I’ve already tasked Stephen to create several Earth simulations so the doctors can use the sensor arrays and applications that will be used when we reach the observation points,” Dr. Harper said.

“
Very well, it sounds like everything is going as planned,” Dr. Layton said with a big smile and turned his attention to Mary. “Captain Bowser, when do you expect to reach the first observation point?”

Mary pulled up a holographic display,
studied it for a few seconds, and answered, “I’m going to perform a complete ship’s systems inspection and perform thorough testing for the next two days. After I’m comfortable that all systems check out, we’ll enable the HPS drive on March the third at zero six hundred hours. At one hundred percent power, we’ll arrive at the first observation point on April the first at sixteen forty-five.”

“
Excellent, Captain. That concludes our meeting today. Our next contact will be immediately after the
Stephen Hawking
arrives at the first observation point,” Dr. Layton said and paused. “Does anyone have any questions or comments before we drop our communication channel?” After waiting several seconds for someone to speak, Dr. Layton said, “Good luck. We will meet again on April the first.”

A second later the QMAC connect
ion closed.

Marine Armory, SRS
Stephen Hawking

1643
—February 29, 2372

Gideon sat
at the ship’s marine detachment commander’s desk, putting the final touches on a duty roster. Though he had only four marines who could technically be assigned duty, his detachment was still responsible for maintaining the ship’s security and guarding the nuclear weapons in the marine armory. The schedule had his marines working sixteen-hour shifts with eight hours off for the duration of the mission. Because of his injury, Corporal Gault was assigned permanent duty to the armory since it was a limited area to guard. The other marines would rotate duty stations on the bridge, engineering, and walking security. Gideon had also assigned himself to daily eight-hour guard duty each night, adding to his administrative duties, to make sure his marines would get a good night’s sleep at least once a week.

“
Anna, please send the duty roster to the platoon,” Gideon said.

“
The duty roster has been sent,” his Anna responded, and then added, “Petty officer Sipes will arrive in a few seconds.”

“
Thank you, Anna. Unless Captain Bowser needs me, please see I’m not disturbed until I’ve finished with the petty officer,” Gideon said.

“
Of course, Gideon,” Anna said.

Several loud knocks on
Gideon’s office door announced the arrival of Joseph.

“
Enter.” Gideon said.

Joseph
entered, stood at attention in front of Gideon’s disk, and said, “Sir, Petty Officer Sipes reporting as ordered!”

“
At ease, Sipes, and have a seat,” Gideon said as he closed some other holographic files on his desk that he was working on. Joseph sat down and looked at Gideon, trying to figure out why he had been ordered to his office.

“
Sipes, there’s something I have to tell you,” Gideon said. He paused for a moment, recalling exactly what Mucha had told him. “Before Sergeant Mucha died, he asked me to tell you something.” Joseph’s eyes widened as Gideon continued. “He said to tell you he read the book and it saved his life. He also wanted you to know that’s why he sacrificed himself to help save the lives of the prisoners.”

Joseph sat there for
a few seconds, looking puzzled, and then said, “Sir, I’m not sure what that means. Do you?”

“
Afraid not, Sipes,” Gideon said, hoping Joseph knew what it meant. “I can tell you this, Sipes. He died as peacefully as I’ve ever seen anyone die before. He had a smile on his face, and for a moment I think he looked forward to death. That’s the best way I can explain it.”

They both sat for a few seconds
, saying nothing, and Gideon finally said, “You did a great job on the mission, Sipes. If it wasn’t for you, we would have loss Gunny Xia and Manelly, not to mention several of the civilians.”

“
Thank you, sir,” Joseph said. He paused a second and then added, “If it wasn’t for Michael, I couldn’t have done it. He really helped me.”

Gideon thought for a second and recalled how
different Michael seemed to treat and talk to Joseph. “What do you mean? What did he do to help you?”

“
When we were on that hill next to the little building, I was really scared. I didn’t think I was going to live, much less think I was going to save anyone else like my grandma told me I would in my dreams. Then Michael spoke to me and guaranteed me that I’d be okay and that we’d all get back to the ship,” Joseph explained.

“
Sipes, you…” Gideon stopped. He was going to tell Joseph that Michael was just giving him a little hope and Michael couldn’t really have guaranteed he’d survive. Then, remembering what he himself had witnessed that day, Gideon just decided to let it go and let Joseph believe what he wanted. There were still a lot of things that had happened that day that couldn’t be explained.

“
What were you going to say, sir?” Joseph asked a few seconds later.

“
I was just going to say I want you to be part of the burial of Sergeant Mucha when we get back to Earth. The sergeant’s record shows he requested to be buried close to his home on Earth. I think he’d like you there,” Gideon said.

“
I would like that,” Joseph said.

Sick Bay
,
SRS
Stephen Hawking

1930
—February 29, 2372

After dinner
, Mary, Commander Steward, and Gideon decided to check on the sick and wounded in the sick bay. As they entered the sick bay, Gideon saw Hospital Corpsman Wong changing a nano bandage on one of the children in a bed close to the door. When Wong looked up and saw the officers, Mary quietly said, “Carry on, Corpsman. We just want to visit for a few minutes.”

“
Yes, sir,” he responded as he continued with the bandage on the child’s left thigh. Although there was a little pain associated with changing a nano bandage, the child lay there, not moving or making a sound. “I’ll get Doctor Pettway for you when I’m finished here, sir. I think she’s with another patient at the other end of the ward.”

“
No need,” Mary said with a smile directed at the child, who was now looking at Mary.

“
What’s your name?” Mary asked as she walked toward the child. The little girl had very short brown hair and dark brown eyes, and she looked to be about seven years old. She was very thin and was connected to several IVs that supplied nourishment directly into her bloodstream. The little girl said nothing and continued to look at Mary with a blank stare.

“
We don’t know her name yet,” Corpsman Wong said. “She hasn’t talked. I think the cat has her tongue,” Wong added with a smile as he patted the child on the head.

“
Captain, I’m done here. If you’d like, I’ll show you around and give you a brief status on our patients,” Wong said as he covered the little girl with a sheet and tucked her in.

“
That would be nice, Corpsman,” Mary said.

Corpsman Wong gently stroked the little girl
’s head again, turned, and led the Captain, Gideon, and Commander Steward down the main aisle of the sick bay. The aisle was lined with beds on both sides, and each bed was separated with curtains. The aisle ran along the length of the ship and was about forty yards long. At the end of the aisle were two operating rooms, one diagnostic room, and one supply room. It was a standard size bay for a frigate-class vessel.

The small group followed Corpsman Wong down the aisle
until he stopped and pulled a curtain open. They walked in. Gunny Xia lay on the bed, attached to several IVs; nano bandages had been wrapped around his right shoulder and right arm. His left leg had been placed in a sealed nano tube that ran from his foot to his upper thigh. The tube contained a special nano solution that would speed up the repair of his crushed leg.

“
Gunny Xia is doing much better. We took him off the respirator this afternoon, and he has been breathing well ever since. Doctor Pettway has placed him in a controlled coma until his leg, shoulder, and arm have healed a bit more. We’ll probably keep him out for two weeks,” Wong said as he read a medical report from his handheld medical analyzer.

“
What’s his prognosis?” Gideon asked, looking concerned.

“
He should be able to return to light duty in six weeks,” Wong answered. “Doctor Pettway told me if his leg would’ve been under that crate for much longer, we would’ve had to amputate. He’s a lucky man.”

“
It wasn’t luck, Corpsman; it was a big man who wanted to save him,” Gideon said.

Just as Gideon finished speaking, Joseph walked
through the opened curtain. “Sorry, sirs!” Joseph said in a surprised tone, then stood at attention.

“
At ease, Petty Officer. What are you doing here?” Mary asked.

“
I was going to sit with Gunny for a while and read to him. Doctor Pettway said it was okay,” Joseph explained as he relaxed. “I’ve already read to him several times today.”

“
Very well, Sipes. Carry on. We were just leaving,” Mary said.

“
Yes, ma’am,” Joseph replied as he stepped aside to allow them to leave.

E
xpecting the Captain to remind Sipes to address her as “sir” or “Captain,” Gideon was surprised when Mary walked out of the curtain-walled room without saying a word. Commander Steward and Corpsman Wong followed as Gideon stood there, surprised.

When they had left, Gideon leaned over to Joseph and whispered,
“Sipes, don’t address the Captain as ‘ma’am’ again.”