Starship Eternal (War Eternal Book 1) (32 page)

"The New Terran's mining complex on Nova-12."

"What about it?"

"We're supposed to destroy it."

The room was silent, save for Anderson's laughter. "With a Knight, a Piranha, and this tub?"

"Exactly."

"Captain, that's straight out suicide," Shank said.

"Not necessarily. Not with Ares' S-17," Ilanka said.

"It's still only one more fighter."

"One more fighter that destroyed two Federation patrollers on its own," she replied.

"Enough," Millie said. "I brought you here because you're my senior crew. I don't need to ask you anything, but considering I'm signing our death warrants I thought I would put it up for discussion." Her eyes crossed each of them in turn. "Now, Mitchell has identified a person of interest on Liberty who may or not be one of the travelers, and who may have information about Goliath. In order to reach Liberty and question this person, we need to break mission protocol and go even more rogue than we already are. You all know the penalty for doing it, and how that punishment can be meted out."

"A person of interest?" Anderson said. "Someone who may have come across the Goliath, wherever it is out there?"

"Better than that," Mitchell said. "Someone who was on the Goliath the day it disappeared."

"How is that possible?" Shank asked.

"We don't know, and we don't have enough information to guess," Millie said. "We'll get to that. First, I want each of you to decide what you want to do. I need all of you in on this one, because I have a feeling its going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

"I'm in," Ilanka said without hesitation. "From what I've seen, we're going to die anyway if we don't stop those ships."

"Hell, I'm in," Shank said. "I think our odds of surviving Liberty are about as good as surviving Nova-12."

"I'm in," Singh said. "The whole idea of travelers from the infinite past... It's very exciting." There was no hint of excitement in her voice.

"Captain," Anderson said. "You know I'd follow you almost anywhere, but this..." He turned his attention to Mitchell. "Nothing personal, Captain. I respect you and where you came from." He looked back at Millie. "You've been infatuated with Mitchell since he boarded this ship, and it's clouding your judgment. I know what happened on Calypso, but the more I think about it, the more ridiculous this whole thing sounds. A clone from the future-"

"Past," Watson said.

"Shut up. A clone from the future? A lost starship? And now a person who was on the lost starship turns up on the very planet that this one came from?" His finger lashed out at Mitchell, betraying the idea that it was nothing personal.

"Not just from the same planet. She was my handler for the last few days before I ran," Mitchell said. "Do you think that was an accident?"

Anderson huffed. "Please. You think that makes it more believable?" He glared at Shank, then Watson, then Ilanka. "You've all bought into this bullshit without much questioning. Do you think there's nothing else going on here? Do you think this is all on the up-and-up? First she screws him and then she wants to make him XO?"

"Lieutenant!" Millie snapped, her expression taught.

"Executive officer?" Watson said. "Were you going to tell us about this, Captain?"

"Right after we decided whether to head for the rock or the hard place," Millie replied. "What I do during downtime isn't relevant to this conversation."

"Not relevant?" Anderson said. "Of course it is. This guy comes out of nowhere and in a couple of weeks he's at the top of the food chain, telling stories and convincing you to do whatever he wants. It's one thing when it's just your ass on the line. It's another when it's all of our frigging lives."

"He kicked your ass during the hazing," Shank said.

"He tricked me."

"No rules, remember? Look, Anderson, I'm usually on your side, but you need to take a breath and sit down. It seems to me you're pissed off because Mitchell got something you've wanted for a long time and weren't good enough to earn."

Anderson's face turned red, and his hands balled into fists. "You son of a bitch," he said. "I'll kill you."

Shank got to his feet. "Come on and try it."

Mitchell watched the two men close in on one another, heads down and ready to come to blows.

"Enough!" Millie shouted again, slamming her hand down on the desk. Shank and Anderson both turned their heads towards her. "You're way out of line, Lieutenant."

"I'm the only one here who's willing to say what everyone else is thinking," Anderson said.

"No one else is thinking like you," Ilanka said.

"No? It never crossed your mind, Shank? That maybe our Captain isn't thinking with her head anymore?"

"I didn't know the Captain and Mitchell had sexed each other," Shank said. "I don't really care either. Ares saved our lives at Calypso, and he's already proven he's more of a man than you are. If the Captain trusts him, then I trust him."

"Screw you, Colonel. What about you, Ilanka? I know you like our pretty-boy here, but can you honestly tell me you never wondered if he's out of his mind?"

"I'm wondering that about you right now. You know we're all criminals of some kind. Except Mitchell."

"He raped the Prime Minister's wife!" Anderson said.

Mitchell felt all eyes turn towards him. He hadn't told anyone but Millie that part of his story.
 

"How do you know about that?" Mitchell asked, working to stay calm.

"I have my ways."

"Is it true?" Ilanka asked.

"No," Mitchell said. "It isn't. I was set up."

"Please," Anderson said. "We were all set up." He laughed.

"If you were court-martialed for being an asshole, I doubt it was a setup," Mitchell said. He looked at Ilanka. "I didn't do it."

She nodded and smiled reassuringly.

"You've just opened up another point of discussion though, Lieutenant," Millie said. "Mitchell told me about that in the privacy of my quarters, and I didn't tell you anything."

Anderson's angry face fell, his eyes dropping. He realized he had made a stupid mistake.

"Well, Lieutenant?" Millie pressed. "How did you know?"

Anderson was silent, his eyes downcast. He wasn't going to tell. He didn't need to. Mitchell looked over to where Watson was sitting, silent during the entire exchange. He too had his eyes down, trying to avoid the confrontation.

"You can intercept signals if you have the right tools and know the encryption scheme can't you, Singh?" Mitchell asked.

She considered for a minute. "Yes, I suppose you could. Are you accusing me?"

"No," Mitchell said. "Not you." He had recognized that she and Watson were playing a game, trying to outdo one another. Now he understood that it had gone too far. "Watson?"

The big man kept his head down. The room fell silent.
 

"Watson?" Millie said.

"I just wanted to see if I could do it," he said. "It's not as easy as you make it sound. You need to build modulators to capture the signal, decryption tools, and a rig that can do the processing as well as the neural implant, which has the brain to help it along."

"How long?" Millie asked, seething.

"I didn't mean any harm. You know sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me. That's why I'm here anyway, because I hacked into confidential systems."

"That isn't why you're here," Millie said, her voice cold and even. "The MPs only discovered that after you got caught with that little boy."

Watson looked stricken to have his past announced to the gathered crew. His face flushed, and he made a strange whining sound that was somewhere between a cry and a howl. Singh pushed her chair back, putting space between herself and the engineer.

"Oh, grow a pair, will you," Anderson said. "You should be glad nobody told me you were a child molestor earlier, or I would have slit your fat throat already."

"Captain," Shank said. "Permission to throw this piece of dirt out of the airlock."

"Granted," Millie said. Mitchell saw it then. The bald reason, the easy calculation. She knew he was forfeit the moment she mentioned his crime. She'd always known. He was too valuable to waste, too valuable to let the truth come out. Until he had crossed her, and betrayed her trust. The reasons why didn't matter. Excuses were worthless.

"What?" Watson said. "Captain? No. You can't. You need me. You need me to keep the engines going. To keep medical running. To handle electrical and plumbing and-"
 

Shank grabbed him from behind, pulling him to his feet. "I'll learn to do all of it if it means getting you off my ship," he said.

"You might have to," Millie said.

"Wait," Anderson said. "That doesn't change the other facts."

"No, it doesn't," Millie said. "You knew what he was doing, and you didn't tell me."

Anderson paled. "I... You don't rat out your mates."

"I can't believe you just said that," Ilanka said. It was clear to Mitchell there was history - much, much more history - to this entire altercation than he could understand.

"Not when it suits you, is that it, Lieutenant?" Millie asked. "Not when it lets you get into my bedroom. Tell me, did you listen in while Mitchell and I were doing it? Did you jerk off?"

"I..." He fell silent. Was it an admission, or had he realized arguing was a lost cause?

"I'm going to take this shit to the airlock," Shank said. "We can finish up when I get back."

He started dragging Watson for the door, the man not fighting it, but not going easily either. His body fell limp in the soldier's arms.
 

"Shank, wait," Mitchell said, a sudden thought coming to him. "Watson, you said you built a system to intercept encrypted communications?"

"Yes. It's kind of a hack, and it isn't completely reliable."

"Could you use it to stop a kill signal?"

The engineer raised his head and started nodding. "I should be able to. I mean, it will take some work because the signal is much tighter and shorter than the standard ARR transmission, but the theory is all the same."

Mitchell turned to Millie. "Can we delay the order to have him jettisoned?"

"You want to keep this child molester on board?" Shank asked.

"I didn't say I wanted to. We're all here because we have valuable skills. Right now, we need his. If we can stop the military kill signal from blowing the ship, the odds get a little better."

"Ten-million-to-one to one-million-to-one?" Singh said.

"I can do it," Watson said. "Don't kill me, and I'll make it happen."

"Captain," Shank said. "I'd rather take my chances with the kill switch."

"No," Millie replied. "Mitchell's right. We need him. Sit him down, I'll deal with him in a minute."

Shank looked like he was going to argue again. His mouth opened, his jaw shifted. Then he reached out with one hand to grab a chair, and used the other to shove Watson down into it.
 

Millie circled the desk, coming around to where Anderson was still standing. She put herself right in his face. "As for you. I trusted you. I told you things that nobody else on this crew knows. I put up with your presence, your smell, your constant begging for a roll with me. I gave you more power than you ever deserved because you gave me something in return. Someone to talk to, someone to confide in. I was stupid. I should have known what I was getting into. All I ask of any member of this crew is respect. For me, for your teammates. Eavesdropping on my private quarters? Throwing it in my face as if you have some kind of rights to anything on this ship?"
 

She slapped him, hard with the bionic hand. The force sent him falling away, his neck making a sick, wet snap as his head twisted on top of it.

He hit the ground with a solid thud, his body shoving two of the chairs out of the way. He laid there motionless, his eyes open, his jaw shattered. He groaned softly, trying to speak, trying to move. Mitchell watched him there, feeling a strange sense of calm. She'd broken his neck along with his jaw, paralyzed him from the top down. The medical bots could fix it, but he had a feeling they'd never get the chance.

"Shank, take him down to airlock four," Millie said, her voice as calm as Mitchell was feeling. It had to be this way. They both knew it. He was sure Shank and Ilanka knew it. All it took was one dissenter, one teammate they couldn't rely on, and everything was put into jeopardy.

Anderson moaned, his voice becoming more strained and desperate as Shank approached. Mitchell glanced around the room. Ilanka was glaring at Anderson, no love lost between them. Singh and Watson were looking away, trying to pretend the whole scene wasn't happening.

Shank lifted the broken Lieutenant, dragging him from the room without a word. Anderson continued to groan and try to speak, his voice unheard in the aftermath.

"We're going to Liberty," Millie said. "Does anyone else have anything to add?"

"Now turn your wrist. That way. Snap it. Hard."

Mitchell snapped his wrist. The sparring stick crackled with energy, more for effect than anything. It held enough voltage to send a nice shot of pain through the target, but not enough to do permanent harm.