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  “I am doing my job. The safety of this ship is in peril and I must fully understand the situation if I’m going to help resolve it. What did you do to him?”

  “Nothing.” Captain Marchant sat in his chair. I sat beside him after half a pause. It was awkward to spend so much of my time sitting next to a man who detested me.

  “Captain,” I said much more quietly than I had before, lowering my voice after I got his attention so he would be more likely to respond. “You need to tell me, I can help.”

  “I will do nothing of the sort.” The captain raised his voice. “Are all the torpedoes loaded?”

  “Yes, sir,” Redding said. “The break in fire gave us the opportunity. We can fire as soon as you wish.”

  “Captain,” I said shaking my head, “are you sure that is wise?” I didn’t have to tell him that our wimpy torpedoes would not do any damage to the Plethki ship. Their armor was so sophisticated that our weapons would have the equivalent effect of a pea shooter. “The Plethki are a prickly people. Even under such odd circumstances, I doubt they will take well to us shooting at them, particularly when they are in such great numbers. Perhaps Sawyer is hoping we’ll provoke them into destroying us.”

  “I’ve had enough of you,” Marchant said loud enough for all to hear. “Always challenging my authority, questioning every last action. I don’t have to explain anything to you. Why are you still here? I would’ve thought that after our little altercation you would want to get going. You know what I’m gonna do, Commander? I’m going to recommend you for a transfer. Yes, that’s what I’m gonna do. It is time you find somewhere else to serve. This ship is just not a good fit for you.”

  “That would be fine. Please make sure you send that directly to the Admiral as my assignment came from him, it would be only by his leave that I transfer.” It was not often I brought up my father, but Marchant’s words were just about as empty a threat as he could make, so I did not have a second thought in suggesting he send it to my father. He would never do that, of course, he was just trying to get me to leave of my own volition.

  Marchant leaned in. “How about you just go? If you request a transfer, I’ll make sure to give you a good word. You could have your pick of any ship in the fleet.”

  Instead of answering, I pulled out my screen and tried to figure out where the cloaked ship had gone, not an easy task but far preferable than dealing with Marchant. The Plethki cloaking capability in some of their earlier vessels was flawed and if you knew how to look you could find them.

  Sawyer’s face had looked familiar, but I was unable to place it, my gut told me I’d seen it in a recent news report. After several moments of trying to make a mental match, nothing came back, so I started perusing FEDE fugitive lists.

  He wasn’t on any of the big ones.

  “That man looks familiar, Captain,” I said quietly. “Who is he?”

  Captain Marchant spun on me. “I told you to stop asking questions. That was an order.” His voice was quiet now, so only I could hear. “Want me to have you arrested for insubordination?”

  I return his glare with one of my own, knowing that it was not likely he would carry through with the threat because he would have to file paperwork. And if he filed paperwork, I would have to file paperwork. If I filed paperwork I would feel obligated to report everything I had observed and seen so far about our present situation. That would bring uncomfortable questions for him, even if Sawyer’s accusation proved baseless.

  Marchant wanted to avoid an investigation.

  The ship rocked.

  “Another torpedo, sir,” Redding said. “I tried to isolate the cloaked ship’s position but they moved after— Two more inbound, brace for impact!”

  The ship shook again as both torpedoes detonated at the same time.

  “Captain, I am trying to help you here,” I said. “You have obviously got yourself into a situation, let me—”

  “This is not your concern.”

  “This is my concern, the ship is under attack by a man who has convinced the peace-loving Plethki to attack us because they owe him something. If that isn’t a situation within the purview of my duty, I don’t know what is.”

  “Shut up and let me figure it out. This is above your paygrade, boy.”

  I frowned at the derogatory words. This was the first I could recall him ever calling me “boy,” at least to my face. He was usually a stickler for formality, this Sawyer guy must really have got under his skin for that to slip out.

  The captain called out to Redding before I could respond. “Get the Plethki ship back on screen now.”

  Redding’s voice was tight. “I will try, but the Plethki never answer when they are cloaked.”

  “Tell them to uncloak so we can have a conversation.”

  “I will, sir.” Redding did not sound hopeful about a peaceful resolution.

  I shook my head, wishing that I had thought to take a picture of the man’s face so I could do an image search on him.

  Sawyer popped up on screen again, answering our hail as the Plethki ship uncloaked right in front of us.

  “Captain,” Sawyer said in a jovial voice. “I understand you want to talk again, are you ready to meet my demands?”

  “If you don’t back off you will pay—”

  “Payment,” Sawyer said, “I need payment. Unless you’re ready to pay, we’re wasting our time. I am rather fond of these torpedoes we’re sending your way. Eventually, they will start doing damage to your ship and that’s when things will get interesting.”

  “Sawyer, this is not the right way to go about solving this problem.” Marchant’s voice was shaken and his face was red.

  “Of course, this isn’t just all about money. This is also personal or did you forget about that part? The money you owe me is one thing, the other issue is how you left my sister high and dry. The skeptical man in me believes you got close to her to make a play for my money.” Sawyer stepped closer so that we had a better view of his face. “Tell me, Captain, is that so?”

  Sister? Close to her? I glanced at the captain whose face was stoic.

  “My relationship with your sister has nothing to do with this. Nothing at all.” Cracks formed in Marchant’s demeanor and he was starting to turn red.

  “I have a hard time believing that. I have her here, is there something you’d like to say to her?”

  An attractive older woman appeared on the screen. I could not help but look between her and Marchant, wondering what had possessed her to be interested in him.

  Maybe it was the uniform.

  It looked like she was reluctant to chat but she scowled at Captain Marchant. She was about ten years younger than he, but that still put her at about twenty years older than me.

  “Tell you what Captain, you can either make up with my sister and take her back,” Sawyer said with an evil smile, “or you can pay me back. The choice is yours.”

  “No to both.”

  The woman’s demeanor changed, from reluctant to angry. She pointed a finger and started to say something, but Sawyer cut her off, earning an angry look from her. It was hard to tell who she was more upset with, Sawyer or Marchant.

  “As you can see, she is still just as angry with you now as she was then. I highly recommend you pick one of those two options. Hmm... How about I present you a third? You can lower your shields and surrender your ship. I’ll give you a moment to think about it.”

  The man disappeared.

  4

  This time I had managed to snap a quick photo of Sawyer and his sister using my screen. After cropping out the woman I sent his picture into our image recognition database. Captain Marchant looked over at my screen.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Finding answers since you’re unwilling to provide them.”

  “No, I command you stop that search right now.”

  “Arrest me,” I whispered. It was one thing for him to give me unlawful orders in front of everybody else, it was another thing for me to challenge him. I had to be very careful about how I proceeded. “If the ship wasn’t in danger I might turn a blind eye, but he is firing at us. I would be derelict to my sworn duty if I did not do everything in my power to resolve this situation. I have no choice but to disobey your command because it goes against my higher commitments. Or you can feel free to read me in on the situation anytime you want, but until that time I am going to work to keep the ship safe with every means at my disposal.”

  The captain glowered in response and turned back to Ensign Redding. “Hail him again.”

  “Captain, they are not responding.” A pause, “They have fired another torpedo, this one is coming head-on.”

  I looked up in time to see our screen light up. Our ship rocked worse than the last time and I grabbed on to my armrest to keep from toppling out of my seat.

  “Damage report?” Captain Marchant screamed, getting up from his chair which was the last thing he should’ve done because we were hit by another torpedo and he fell to the floor right in front of me. When he pushed himself up and looked right at me, I was not quick enough about hiding a smug look.

  He scowled and balled his fist, looking as though he was about to strike me as soon as he was on his feet. After he stood, he turned his back as if to remove the temptation.

  “Damage is still minimal,” Ensign Redding said. “Though that one was twice the size of the last. Our shields took the brunt of it, but one side of the ship has suffered light damage that we could repair in a couple hours, assuming we sustain no further damage.” Redding paused while she continued to tap away at her console. “He might just be doing this to get your attention, sir, but I fear he’s going to up his game until we sustain real damage.”

  “Yes,” Marchant said in a bare
ly contained voice, “it would appear that way.”

  I was glad Redding gave her read on the situation because he wasn’t going to take it from me.

  I’d been so distracted by what was going on that I had not noticed the results had returned on my screen. I stared at the man in front of me. He was named Sawyer Randall Smith, and it appeared he was a conman of some sort. His sister was Mina Smith Hopper. While he was not technically a fugitive at the moment, he had done time in the past and it appeared he was on the verge of being indicted for new crimes, if the news reports on him were any indication.

  I clicked on a story, remembering now why his face was familiar. He was accused of conning the elderly back on earth of their retirement by convincing them to invest in an off-world colony.

  A colony that didn’t exist.

  “Captain, they are hailing us,” Redding said in a neutral voice that I could tell was an act. She was scared.

  “On-screen.”

  “Captain,” Sawyer said. “It is my intention to destroy your ship unless you acquiesce to my demands.”

  “Never.”

  “Let me put this in simple terms. If you don’t surrender your ship as payment for your debt, or find some other way to pay me, we will destroy you. Eventually. I’m going to have a little bit of fun first, but everybody over there will die. How many people do you have onboard the Red Survivor?”

  “Stop this madness,” Marchant said. “I’m willing to meet with you in private to work this out. It doesn’t have to be here and I won’t go onboard your ship.”

  Sawyer shook his head. “I don’t trust you as you have given me ample reason not to.” He licked his lips and smiled, leaning forward towards the screen. “It’s funny, you know? Here I am, the one who’s about to be indicted, but it’s you who is the worst between the two of us. You hide behind your uniform and station to escape justice. I have never in all my time done anything like what you did to my sister and me.”

  “I have no idea what you mean.”

  “Because you pretend not to.”

  “How about we meet in the middle? I bring a transport, you bring a transport, we’ll meet connecting the two via a hatch. I will bring five with me as my security detail, you can do the same, we’ll just talk through open hatches with each on his own turf.”

  “Nah,” Sawyer said with a gleeful grin, “I’m having fun tossing these torpedoes at you guys.” His smile grew. “I directed them to randomly put a fully armed torpedo into the mix, capable of completely obliterating your ship. Where is it? No one knows. I guess we’re about to find out.”

  “I will meet whatever demands I can as long as they involve me personally and don’t put my ship in jeopardy.”

  “How about you turn yourself over? I’ll let the Red Survivor go free.”

  “No, the future of the ship depends upon my presence here.” He gave a sideways look at me as if to imply that he did not have confidence in what the leadership of the ship would be like after he left. “I am critical to the day-to-day operation. They cannot survive without me.”

  “Oh, typical Captain Marchant, always thinking he’s in the middle of everything, that he’s the most important cog in the machine.” Sawyer leaned forward. “You are not as vital as you think. If I were to talk to the people on your ship, I would probably learn that a lot of them don’t like you. There are likely even those of your direct reports which would be happy to see you go.”

  Sawyer looked right at me, apparently assuming from my position on the ship bridge that I was second-in-command.

  “Tell me, Commander, what do you think of your Captain?”

  I didn’t hesitate as I got to my feet. “Fine man, honorable, dependable. I’m sure that whatever this is about, it’s all one big misunderstanding—”

  “Talk to me like he’s not here. Tell me the whole truth about him. I am desperate to know what he’s truly like.”

  “Just as I was saying, he is—”

  “No, no, no! Now tell me the truth or I may demand your head as well.”

  “I must protest—”

  Sawyer turned his attention back to Captain Marchant. “The very fact this man is unwilling to answer the question tells me all I need to know. Your presence would not be missed. In fact, I daresay, the ship would be greatly improved by your absence.”

  “How about we choose neutral ground planetside,” Captain Marchant said through clenched teeth.

  Sawyer started to shake his head but then reversed course as if relenting. It all looked like an act to me.

  “Now that I will agree to, provided that you come prepared to surrender your ship.”

  Something about the way Sawyer responded told me he’d been hoping for a planetside meeting with Captain Marchant all along.

  “The ship is off the table.”

  “Then you have nothing to offer.”

  “Don’t be so sure. I will make it worth your while to meet me.”

  Sawyer studied Marchant for a long moment before nodding. “Very well, but rest assured if there is any foul play I will give the Plethki orders to destroy your ship should I be killed.”

  “Ensign Redding please locate the nearest planet—”

  “No,” Sawyer cut him off, “we will find a different way of selecting this planet.”

  “I will name five different places,” Marchant said, “and you will select the location. That should be suitable for you as I had no prior knowledge of your actions today and suitable to me because you will not have the opportunity to assemble an ambush.”

  Sawyer’s eyes glinted. “Fine, Captain, I believe this to be a fair way for us to meet and discuss our differences. Please also take my acceptance of this unusual gesture as a sign of good faith that we are trying to resolve the situation.”

  I could tell Sawyer was happy with how things were going.

  This is what he wanted all along.

  Why?

  “Karelia Five, Saturnius Two, Plutonus Six, Betelgeuse’s Sister One, and Jacob Six.”

  “My, my, Captain, you sure did come up with those pretty quick, didn’t you? Jacob six. It has been a long time since I heard that name and I’ve always wanted to go. I will see you there in two hours. Don’t bring any more than five people.”

  “See you—”

  The communication cut off and Captain Marchant stood there looking like a fool in the middle of the bridge. When he turned to look at me, I studied my screen, reading further about the charges that were expected to be filed against Sawyer.

  It appeared that in the past he had run a pyramid scheme of some sort as well but he’d already served time for that. The details were sparse in the news article but I started to suspect that Sawyer and his sister had probably met their match when they tried to con Captain Marchant.

  “The con gets conned?” I muttered under my breath.

  “What was that?” Marchant demanded through clenched teeth.

  “Nothing, sir.”

  5

  Jacob Six was an inhospitable planet capable of supporting life but was it a harsh environment that had not yet attracted human colonists despite having a decent location. Friendly alien colonists that had joined the FEDE didn’t want to settle here either. Sawyer had sent over the planet’s GPS location for where he wanted to meet while en-route and upon arrival, Redding scanned the site to make sure there was nothing untoward about it.

  “Captain, as near as I can tell everything appears to be in order down there, but is it wise for you to meet up with this guy, sir?” It was telling of just how flustered she was by this situation that she was so bold to ask him such a question.

  Captain glared at Redding in the same way he usually looked at me but only for a moment. He shook his head and muttered something as if correcting himself.

  “It will be fine.” He looked at me. “You’re coming. Pick a team of four more.”

  I looked around the bridge and called Security Officer Charles Watts and Ensign Jane Redding over, along with two others: Ensign Tim Smith, and Ensign Juan Valdez. We all boarded the lift with the Captain. As we rode down to the shuttle bay, Marchant stood in front with his back to us, bristling with anger, his posture almost daring us to ask any questions about what was going on.

  I understood what Sawyer was accused of by the news, but I did not see the connection between him, his sister, and Captain Marchant, at least not in of any of the reported events.