Shadow of the Blue Ring (27 page)

“James, say something, please.”

“I’m sorry I… I just didn’t see this coming,” James replied, “I wish you had told me before, I would have understood what was going on and I wouldn’t have been so hard on you.”

“I wanted to tell you,” Isha assured him, “I wanted you to know as soon as I found out but I didn’t want to distract you from the mission. If I had told you about this before, would you have pulled that stunt back on Sharstrom?”

“No,” said James, “no I wouldn’t have let you out of my sight and I certainly wouldn’t have pulled that maneuver off. I would have done everything possible to make sure nothing could hurt you, regardless of the cost.”

“And if you had done that we would never have made it off the surface,” said Isha, “we would probably be dead and the Hunters would have another piece of the Shadow Bringer.”

“I guess you’re right,” James muttered, “I guess I wouldn’t have done what was right, I would have opted for the safe course of action.”

“You’re not one for the safe course though, James,” Isha told him, “you forged your reputation from making the most of unlikely situations, you take risks and get the job done and save lives in the process. Captains who always follow the rules and safety guidelines without allowing flexibility are the ones who get more people killed because they don’t take measures to protect them.”

“So what about the rest of the mission?” James asked, “we’ve still got a lot left to do and I don’t want to put you in unnecessary danger.”

“I’m staying here,” said Isha confidently, “I’m not backing out now, I’m seeing it through to the end.”

“I can’t let you get in harms way,” James said to her, “you’re carrying my child, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him, “don’t worry about me, I’ll be able to take care of myself. You worry about getting the job done and saving us all from the Hunters, let me worry about this.”

It was impossible for him not to worry. There was no way he was going to allow her to come to any harm, no way he was going to lose his family. If she was going to be insistent on staying put on the ship then it would come as a major distraction to him and it was going to affect his decisions. Still… if she was close by him the whole time, at least it would stop him worrying as to whether or not she was safe in another location and he could keep a watchful eye over her.

Chapter
Eleven

A
n
Unlikel
y
Alliance

“Doctor Markova, how is he doing?”

No sooner had they set their course for Tolis, James was quick to make his way down to the medical bay to check on the condition of Saavoy. He had been very badly hurt in the fight on Sharstrom and things hadn’t looked promising when they had arrived back on the ship. James trusted his chief medical officer and her team to do a good job though, they were easily some of the best medical staff in the fleet. If anyone could keep him alive, they could. With Isha’s big secret out, she and James were now on good speaking terms again and the two of them had gone together to check on their wounded crew member.

“He’s alive and in recovery,” Markova stopped them at the door to the medical bay, “but he is still out cold. He lost a lot of blood but he is hanging on, we’re giving him drugs to stimulate increased blood cell production. We’re hopeful that it will make up for the loss now that we have stopped the bleeding and sealed the wounds.”

“Can you not give him a transfusion?”

“No, James, we can’t,” Markova said sternly, “as a Human ship, we don’t exactly have a plentiful supply of Malorian blood and as his people have a unique blood typing, no one on board is a suitable donor. We would do far more harm than good.”

“But he will pull through won’t he?” Isha asked worriedly, “you can keep him alive?”

“We’re doing everything we can for him,” said Markova, “if the drugs work and his blood losses are replaced, he should regain consciousness in a few hours. It’s experimental medicine though and so far it has only been tested with Humans, I don’t know how his physiology will respond to the medicine. No problems so far but we’ll keep a close eye on it.”

“And what of Loca?” James asked, “how is she doing?”

“She was far more fortunate,” said Markova, “she just fractured a bone in her ankle and we’ve already repaired most of the damage, she’ll be walking around again in a few days but you should tell her to take it easy. Even if we can heal these injuries at a miraculous pace now, it will still need some time before it is at a hundred percent again. You’re welcome to come in and see them if you want.”

Markova stepped aside and allowed James and Isha to pass. Saavoy was lying in one of the beds in the medical bay, unconscious, his oxygen mask still on and he was still looking pale. Morelli was at his side, still tightly gripping his hand, looking fairly pale herself too. Julio and Ansare had also come down to check on the two of them.

“I noticed that you two are on speaking terms again,” Markova said with an indication towards James and Isha, “I’m assuming she finally let you in on her big secret?”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t be so surprised, the signs were obvious, I could have spotted them a mile away,” said Markova, “I’m just surprised you didn’t spot them yourself, it’s not like you don’t spend enough time eyeing her up.”

“Thank you, doctor,” James stopped her there before she embarrassed him too much, “it’s all sorted out now, we’re all good again.”

It was a little bit of a shock though. James knew this day would come eventually and he would have welcomed it, it was just the timing of the news. It was the story of his life that everything always seemed to happen at the worst possible moments, even the good things tended to come at difficult times. Once this mission was out of the way, a lot of things would change, both for him, and also for the alliance, especially with the Blue Ring situation only likely to escalate now that they had a piece of the Shadow Bringer.

James and Isha made their way over the where Saavoy was lain. He had been cleaned up and the wounds were sealed but he was still out cold.

“It makes you wonder doesn’t it?” said Ansare, “this guy takes down Vulian soldiers in the hundreds, barely getting a scratch in return but when faced with half a dozen of these Hunters, he barely makes it out with his life. I don’t think any of us could have foreseen that we would be fighting an enemy like this.”

“I agree, it was a tough fight,” said James, “and I don’t think it will be our last one against them either. I think we just stirred up a hornet’s nest by taking that thing onto the ship. Loca, are you doing all right?”

“I’m fine,” was all she was able to say, although she definitely didn’t look it. Whatever had happened between her and Saavoy, it was all in the past now and Morelli was showing her true feelings, she clearly still loved him.

“So typical of him to do this to me,” she grumbled, “just when I thought we were all good again, he goes and tries to die on me. He won’t get away from me that easily though, he is going to pull through and if he doesn’t, I’ll kill him.”

“He’ll make it, Loca, he’ll make it,” Isha put a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Markova is a great doctor, if anyone can get him through this, she can.”

“You know he tries to act like he doesn’t care but I think he really does,” Morelli went on, “he’s just scared to show how he really feels about me.”

“He does have a difficult history with this kind of thing you know,” James reminded her.

“Yeah, I heard the stories,” said Morelli, “he was married before, even had a baby on the way, then his family was murdered by Vulian assassins sent by Sarkisian, everyone knows the story. I thought all the scars were healing though, I thought he was ready to put it all behind him and move on and then… he just left, never looked back.”

“He really never gave you a reason for leaving?”

“He didn’t need to, I know exactly why he did it. He’s scared that if he moves on then it will be an insult to the memory of the family that he lost but he’s wrong, it’s been thirteen years since then, he was barely out of the academy when it all happened. For all his courage in battle and his ability to lead his people, he is fragile and insecure about his past. I just wish he would snap out of it and move on, it’s too long to hold onto something that wasn’t his fault.”

“It’s easy to blame yourself for something like that,” said James, “I remember when Malaya died, it damn well felt like it was my fault and I blamed myself for it for a while.”

“You snapped out of it and moved on though,” Morelli reminded him, “it’s easy to feel like it’s your fault when someone close to you gets hurt or gets killed. I know he’ll probably blame me for getting him into this, I did drag him along after all.”

“It was me who roped you all into this, if its anyone’s fault then its mine,” said James, “I know he wasn’t keen on coming out here but if he hadn’t, who would have killed those Hunters and gotten us out of there safely?”

“I suppose you have a point there.”

The Malorian delegation on the council had only agreed to Saavoy’s participation in the mission on the condition that he be brought back to them safely once the mission ended. They would not be happy when they found out about his current condition and there wasn’t anything he would be able to do to stop them, his mission report would have to straight to the council upon their return. Therein lay his next challenge, what to say to the council?

James left the medical bay behind, Isha deciding to stay with the rest of the crew at Saavoy’s side. His report to the council would be interesting to say the least. Artennes had a fair amount of explaining to do once they confronted him with this information, however, like most politicians, James expected him to deflect the questions and cover the actual truth. His action in response to the Hunters would pose a potential problem, there was no way Artennes would not elect to start a military campaign against them to try and end their threat. It was fortunate that Kalmar was returning to Tolis with them, his knowledge of the Hunters and his experience of battling them would likely be key in persuading the council to come around to his way of thinking.

“Aha, there you are,” James had asked Kalmar to meet him on the command deck as soon as he was done in the medical bay. There were things that needed to be done before they returned to Tolis, steps that needed to be taken.

“You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, I’ve asked Connolly and Lucy to meet us both in the war room in just a couple of minutes. There is something we need to do before we reach Tolis.”

*     *     *     *     *

“We’re coming up on Tolis now sir,” James’s concentration in his study was broken as Ivanov’s voice came over the comm system. The journey back from the Blue Ring sector had taken several hours longer than the outward journey, Sharstrom being far further into the sector than the system in which they had found the missing Tolian and Churian ships. It had felt like an age since they had first set out but it had in fact barely been a couple of days… an eventful couple of days.

“On my way now,” James left his seat and began his walk back to the bridge. He had spent the last seven hours trying to figure out what to put in his report. Since his official place in the fleet had been granted to him, his reports had been on little more than routine missions and patrols but this was a different proposition altogether. The Hunters, the Adeans, the near death experiences and of course the Shadow Bringer… it made for quite a story.

“Disengaging warp engines now,” Daniels said as James arrived on the bridge, “we’ve arrived at Tolis sir.”

“Have we got a location on the council ship?” James asked, “I’m sure they will be eager to hear from us.”

“Picking up their signal on the far side of the planet,” said Ivanov, “should I set a course?”

“Yes, lets get this over with.”

It felt good to be back in Valoran space and back among the alliance races once more. It meant that they were safe, at least for now, the Hunters could easily come looking for them again but they had given themselves some breathing room. One Hunter ship, as powerful as it was, could not overcome the entire Tolian fleet or the planet’s many orbital defences. It would, however, be an entirely different story if they brought a few friends along.

“Getting a message from the council ship, sir,” said Elena, “putting it through now.”

“Captain James Tavarez, lord Artennes has requested your presence on board the council ship,” a woman’s voice was speaking, “he has asked that you and your crew meet him in the council chamber at earliest possible convenience.”

“We’re on our way over now,” James replied.

“Your superior officer will meet you in hangar bay seven, he will escort you to the council from there…”

They ended the message there.

“Are they always this straight to the point?” Kalmar asked, “you just returned, unharmed, from an incredibly dangerous region of space that no other ship in your alliance has ever returned from in one piece and this is your ‘welcome home’ greeting?”

“Welcome to the politics of the Freedom alliance,” James chuckled, “the best we can do is just go along with it and let the situation play out. I’m sure Artennes will be relieved to know that we did the job he sent us out there to do. He may be less pleased with what we decided to do afterwards.”

“So how much are we actually going to tell the council?” Isha asked, “are we going to let them know we actually brought a piece of the weapon back with us?”

“We have no choice,” said James, “the alliance will have to increase military operations now that the Hunters are likely to enter the sector. I also want to know for a fact that Artennes did not plan to use this weapon and simply wanted it for research purposes. Kalmar, I’ll need you to come with me, Artennes needs to know what he is dealing with here. Jaiden, Kaldun, I need you two with me as well and Kaydenne, you’re in the pilot seat again. Isha, you have command until I get back.”

“Just make sure you’re careful over there,” Isha warned him, “we don’t know how Artennes will respond to your course of action.”

“I’ve already taken precautions just in case Artennes gets any ideas,” said James, “we’ll be prepared should this meeting not go to plan. Come on, lets get over there and get this over with.”

James lead Kalmar, Kosare, Ansare and Melina off the bridge and once more down to the hangar bay and the Mantis flyer. Melina wasn’t going to risk overdoing it in front of the leaders of the Freedom Alliance, she flew very casually and carefully for probably the first time since the start of her racing career.

“I get the feeling you’re expecting trouble,” said Ansare, “do you suspect Artennes might be up to something dangerous here?”

“I honestly don’t know what to expect,” said James, “I just want to see how this all plays out. I don’t think Artennes counted on us finding out about the Shadow Bringer and I don’t think he will be happy when we confront him with this information. Kaydenne, make sure you back us up into the shuttle bay, and keep the engines running too.”

“Are you planning to make a quick exit?”

“Just want to be ready should this thing turn sour,” said James, “if I signal you during the meeting, you fire the engines and you get back to the ship as fast as possible.”

“I wont leave you all behind,” said Melina, “Isha would never forgive me if I left you here and made a run for it. Besides, what if they seal the doors and shut us in here? I can’t exactly fly through solid metal doors.”