Chapter 12
I am in command
As the translight engines engaged, Keelic was smacked back into the seat. He woke to silence. Every muscle in his body ached. He realized that any ships in their path large enough to annihilate them would have impacted long ago. He uncurled from where he had been scrunched up in the chair.
The holo was black, then a probe went out, showing the fleet giving chase, but Keelic knew he had escaped. Away, and accelerating out of reach.
Thotti climbed over to him, and snuggled up with warm victory in red-orange and blue, blue relief. Keelic tried to laugh and enjoy the fact that he’d won, but he only ended coughing. Clearing his throat, and trying to sound authoritative, he said, "Set a course for Ermol, a course to keep away from them."
Blue orange affirmation.
"Evasive course for Ermol, aye," said Las.
Something slipped within Keelic, and Thotti tensed.
Keelic said, "No," and sat up.
"You wish the course change belayed, sir?"
"Yes."
"Maintaining course and speed."
Keelic watched as slower elements of the enemy fleet began to fall out of sensor range.
"Don’t lose them, Las."
"Aye, Admiral. Matching acceleration with their lead vessels."
"Is the Nova-Lance in that fleet?"
"No, sir. Last scan put it in orbit around Ermol."
Keelic sat tense and intent, running through all he knew of space warfare.
"Set a course for Obetra."
"Course for Obetra, aye."
Thotti climbed back to the Resource Allocation console and waited expectantly, knowing there would be more.
Keelic said, "Las, when we’re in-system and near the gas giant with all its moons, they will have to drop out of translight. I want to hit them just as they’re going to nominal drive. Use Obetra to shield our course reverse. I want to be right in the middle of them when their translight barriers come down, before their defense shields go up. Predict their locations and pre-fire into those vectors."
"Understood. Hold on, sir."
He watched the massive gray-green planet approach, knowing that this was real. He had to win. His parents were depending on him. They would be gone like Anny if he lost. Keelic gripped the chair. There was no more time for thought.
Las dropped out of translight, decelerating viciously under nominal engines. The planet grew huge in the display, and appeared to roll under them as they swung around it. The force of the maneuver was crushing. A stab of crimson and orange from Thotti kept him aware as the ship groaned.
They shot back the way they had come, and Las opened fire.
The decelerating fleet found themselves sailing into a rain of direct fire. In their instant of vulnerability, every vessel struck by torpedo or beam was obliterated. Finding the Lasiter passing through their midst, they panicked, formations disintegrating. Only a few managed return fire as the Lasiter left the cloud of ships. Her aft torpedoes fired, and Keelic watched a Wreaker-class battleship vanish within blinding white balls of ravenous energy. The holo went dark as Las engaged the translight.
No feeling of victory coursed through Keelic. Something had changed. He keyed up the shuttle locks.
Men and women and aliens were screaming in pain. Some did not even move. Guilt slapped him. He shouted at them, "You took my mom and dad!" and hit the screen with his fist.
He put his head down on the console, holding his aching hand in his lap. His friend tried to soothe him, but he pushed Thotti away.
"I’m fine," he said.
The alien, confused, tried to reach out to him again.
"I don’t want to feel better, don’t you understand?"
Yellow orange uncertainty splatter.
"They killed Anny. See? They took Mom and D—" His voice cracked. Unable to see a way to express what he felt, he opened his feelings to the alien, all in a rush.
Thotti’s eyes swayed back, then settled and regarded Keelic with a new stillness. He looked around the bridge, and Keelic could feel him going over all that had happened, ending with Keelic’s decision to battle the pirates.
Thotti responded with a flow of dark purple-blue affirmation edged in earth-tone red, shot through with a space black determination.
Keelic hissed through his teeth. "Yes."
Keelic got an image of himself in the Command seat, his Command seat, wearing a crisp Terra Corps captain’s uniform. The vision was a rich, Ermol-sky blue in affirmation, and deep-deep orange, edged with a complex of crimson and command silver.
The image wasn’t play. In that moment he knew he was not going to give up this ship. Not to the Alliance Defense League, not even to his parents. It was his.
"Let’s go get Mom and Dad."
The display showed empty space around them. The fleet had not followed.
"Reverse course and go to nominal at maximum real-time communications range. No, cancel that. Launch a translight probe to Ermol. Scout the region."
Most of the fleet was arrayed around the planet in a spired defense pattern, long arms of ships stretched out from the planet like spikes. Keelic knew the pattern from the simulator. The arms would bend and concentrate around any point of attack. Very effective if you had enough ships. The pirates did, despite what Keelic had destroyed. He saw swarms of shuttles rising from the surface, entering the bellies of transports in orbit.
"OKay, bring us to com range."
Las brought them into the outer edge of the planetary minefield. Keelic touched on the hail and said, "Had enough?" He didn’t give them a visual.
A woman with cropped hair and furious eyes appeared in the holo.
Thotti showed Keelic that the vessel with the bearded man they’d talked to before had been destroyed in their last attack.
The woman’s voice was edged. "We will trade." She paused for a reply, got none, and continued, "We have loaded the Ermolians on shuttles. Them for Lord Kua and his crew."
"Yes," said Keelic. "We will trade in deep space."
When she started to object, Keelic shouted, "Or I’ll blow your asses straight to Andromeda!" He killed the link.
After a moment, the hail chime sounded, but Keelic ignored it. He crossed his arms and sat back in the chair, and listened to it sound a few more times.
Touching the panel, he said, "Send the Nova-Lance, alone, three hundred light-minutes out with all the Ermol people. Sarah and Carl Travers better be on it."
Nothing happened, and he said, "I promise I won’t attack you again, if you give me all the people. If you don’t do it, I’ll kill you all. I’ll space you. I’ll make you drink Dreep shit. I’ll—"
The Nova-Lance, a large, armed freighter, left orbit and went to translight through a hole in the minefield that Keelic hadn’t known was there. That made him nervous. What else didn’t he know about?
Keelic said to the rest of the fleet, "I’m warning you," and engaged the translight to follow the freighter.
"Las, I want to come out nowhere near them."
The freighter was just sitting, shield lowered, weapons not powered.
Elation tingled Keelic, and he answered their hail.
A Vewbon blinked circular lids over wide brown eyes and said, "Sending out ten shuttles. We do. Sending out ten with Ermolians. Full."
Keelic nodded, and watched bay doors open all along the freighter’s flank. Shuttles of every description emerged and approached.
The Vewbon said, "Lower your shield. Must."
A pang of unease made Keelic hesitate. Instead, he oriented his ship to point at the freighter.
The lids of the Vewbon’s eyes closed halfway, and it said, "Doing what?"
"Pointing my forward torpedo tubes at you. Doing that!" said Keelic.
The eyes narrowed to pinpoints, then opened. "Play games. I not. Intend trade."
"Me too, and I intend to live through it." He cut the link. "Las, scan those shuttles for anything wrong."
"Already u
nder way, sir. I will inform you if I find anything."
"’Kay. Lower the shield." He hailed the shuttles. "Go to the starboard side. After you’re empty, go to the port."
To his friend he said mentally, Tune up the deep scan to maximum gain, and put out more translight probes. He should have thought of that earlier.
The shuttles flew into the starboard bays and landed on the deck.
Keelic watched pensively as prisoners walked, limped, or were carried on board, but he did not see his parents.
"Those needing the infirmary follow the blue lines," said Las. "Those coming to the bridge, follow the silver. Mag-lev stretchers and aid equipment can be found in the highlighted wall sections."
Shuttles came and went until his father, bruised and cut, carrying his mother, limped aboard.
Keelic called to them, "Dad! It’s me! Keelic! Come to the bridge! Las, can you show them?"
His dad, holding his mother in his arms, laid her down gently, and looked around the loading bay with his one unswollen eye. He obviously failed to believe.
The last Ermolian got out of a shuttle, and it flew around to the port side to pick up the pirate crew.
Keelic scanned the crowd for Mr. Hallod or Leesol but didn’t see them. His jaw trembled with disappointment.
"Five hundred twenty-six POWs loaded, sir," said Las.
"Only five hundred?"
"Yes, sir."
"But there were over thirty thousand people on Ermol."
The pirates able to walk were hurrying onto their shuttles, and Keelic told them, "Take all the bodies, too."
Trying not to think about Mr. Hallod and Leesol, Keelic ordered, "Las, scan us for anybody else on board."
"There are six humans in the infirmary."
"Give me visual."
The large room held two hundred med-beds, six of which were occupied by severely wounded, unconscious men.
Keelic called up the view of the starboard shuttle bay. No one had left yet, or even tried to use the medical supplies highlighted on the walls. They stood in ragged clumps in the middle of the deck where they had disembarked. None of them spoke.
Keelic opened a link. "Dad, it’s me, Keelic. Las, route a visual of the bridge to the panels in the bays."
Keelic’s father flinched as his son’s image appeared on the walls. Despite his doubts, he rushed over to the wall. The view switched so that Keelic was looking at his father in the holo.
Grinning, Keelic waved.
His dad leaned against the wall, shaking with short sobs.
Keelic was appalled. What could make his dad cry?
The hail chime was demanding attention, so Keelic answered, being sure to route the conversation to his father. He also raised the shields after checking to make sure all the pirates were gone.
The Vewbon appeared, and Keelic said, "Is that all of them?"
"Yes. Trade done."
The freighter turned and flashed away.
Keelic touched back to the shuttle bay. His father was carefully moving his mother onto a stretcher.
"Dad, is Mom okay?"
Dark shadows slid across his father’s face and settled in lines that were new.
"She’ll be fine," he said in a way that made Keelic feel cold.
Keelic asked, "Will you come to the bridge now?"
"I will," his father said. "I’ll take Sarah to the infirmary first." There was still something of disbelief in his face. People were moving now, pulling stretchers from the walls and lying down on them, and letting the mag-lev stretchers bear them away.
Keelic set a course for the edge of the Ermol system, and engaged. The fleet was still arrayed around the planet.
Keelic sent to them, "You will leave this planet in a line. With your shields down. I will scan you. If you don’t, or if anyone tries to escape, I will burn you all so fast you won’t even know it. You know I’m faster than any of you, and way meaner. Start now. And if you think you can scatter, remember that there’s nothing for three months translight, and the ADL fleet at Deepholm is coming. That’s a long time for us to hunt you down. I launched translight probes. I will find you. I’ll let you go if you let me scan you."
A few minutes later, a stream of ships began trickling away from the planet, and Keelic had Las scan for any sign of more Ermolian prisoners.
They found many prisoners on ships; however, none were from the Ermol system. Keelic had the ships with obvious prisoners gather under his guns and ordered the pirates to ferry them over.
Meanwhile, a large group of Ermolian people healthy enough to walk the distance approached the bridge, Keelic’s father included. Keelic recognized the planetary steward, along with some businessmen, spice merchants who used to be on the Ermolian news channels. Some of them had weapons that they had picked up along the way.
"Las, take care of bringing the other people aboard. Burn the pirates if they twitch."
"Yes, sir."
Keelic and Thotti shoved the pile of weapons away from the door and opened it.
"Sir?" said Las.
"What?"
"The med-beds holding wounded in the infirmary have been deactivated."
"Why? By who?"
"The returned POWs deactivated them. They believe the wounded are pirates. The Systems Purge removed all medical records. I do not know the identities of the casualties."
Frowning, Keelic watched the group of men and women and aliens approaching. As they neared, he started to wave, but stopped in mid-gesture. He did not like the expressions on many of their faces. Too similar to the pirates.
He said loudly, "Only my dad is allowed on the bridge."
They hesitated, but not because of his words. Thotti had walked over to lean against Keelic’s leg.
Tell my dad to hurry up, thought Keelic.
His father stepped out of the crowd.
The planetary steward said, "Hold on there, Mr. Travers."
Keelic’s dad kept walking.
"Mr. Travers, I’ll handle this," said the steward, quick-stepping to catch up. The group surged after him.
Keelic’s father stopped and watched the steward warily.
Gesturing with a laser pistol for Keelic’s father to step back, the planetary leader walked past him, to about ten paces from Keelic.
"Young man," he said peering past Keelic into the bridge. "Who is in command of this ship?"
Keelic spread his legs a little, and crossed his arms. "I am."
The steward smiled a superior smile.
"Son, I’m going—"
"I’m not your son. He’s my dad." Keelic pointed at his father. "And he is the only one, other than my mom, who is allowed on my bridge." Thotti moved to the side and climbed the wall to the door panel.
The steward turned to Keelic’s father and said, "Mr. Travers? Is this how you raise your children?"
Keelic’s dad looked incredulously at the steward and said, "Don’t you understand what’s going on here? Something incredible. Staggering. My son is the operator of this vessel. He can fly it, fight with it, and he rescued us with it."
"Impossible," said the steward, and started toward Keelic.
With a whoosh of displaced air, the four-meter-thick door layers slammed in his face.
Keelic ran to the Command console and watched the hall. The steward had an ugly expression on his face.
"All of you move back," said Keelic to the hall. "Except my father. You will regret it if you don’t. I have complete control of the IDS. If you don’t know what that is, it’s the Internal Defense System."
The steward and others milled about, throwing out options and concerns. There were as many votes to do what Keelic said as not. Keelic seethed, and was about to turn on the IDS when his father shouted above the din, "He is my son. I can get him to open the door, if you all move back."
"Can you get him to let us on the bridge, assuming he’s in control at all?" asked the steward.
"I will try."
The steward motioned for everyone t
o move down the hall. Keelic turned on an ionizer between his dad and the others. Everyone flinched in a way that satisfied Keelic, and moved farther away. Keelic opened the Gleaming Door.
His dad stepped onto the bridge, and the door closed behind him. Keelic turned the force barrier around the bridge back on. His father examined the bridge carefully, taking in the blood, wrecked consoles, weapons, and body bits scattered around.
Keelic ran up to him, and he opened his arms. They hugged, and Thotti joined with scintillating happiness.
His father swayed and nearly fell. Keelic guided him to the Resource Allocation chair, and began telling about getting the ship and the battles as the alien provided vivid imagery.
After some time, his father held up a hand and shook his head, saying, "Too much, Keelic. Enough for now." Then he looked at his son and asked, "What simulator?"
Keelic felt like he had been caught with dirty fingers in the cookie dough.
With more of Thotti's images he explained that he had found Alpha Base.
"You never told us."
Head lowered, Keelic had no words.
"You never told us, Keelic. How could you do that?"
Stung by his father’s tone, Keelic said, "You would have taken it away."
His father started to say something in agreement, but checked himself. He looked around the bridge, watched a holo showing hundreds of prisoners of the pirates coming onboard, then shook his head. Tears dripped out of his good eye, then the swollen one. He gathered Keelic into his arms, grimacing in pain as Keelic hugged back.
"Admiral," said Las. "The lead civilian in the entry hall is requesting contact with the bridge."
"Admiral?" said Keelic’s father.
Keelic grinned sheepishly, stood to attention, saluted, and said, "Admiral Keelic Travers of the Ermolian Resistance Force."
To his surprise and supreme pleasure, his dad burst into laughter that was brought up short as he gripped his ribs and belly.
Keelic touched the com. "This is Admiral Travers."
The steward said, "I’d like to speak to Mr. Travers."
"What do you want?" said Keelic’s dad.
"Mr. Travers, what have you found?"
"That my son is the most amazing person that I’ve ever known in my life."
Stiffly, the steward said, "May we have access to the bridge now?"
"I don’t know, why don’t you ask the man in charge?"
"No," said Keelic, and cut off the com.
"You will have to let them onto the bridge eventually."
"Why?"
"Because they will get upset if you don’t. They could be dangerous."
"I won’t let them have it."
"I doubt they could take it from you. Nevertheless, you must at least give them access."
"No one will ever take it from me," Keelic said, and fumed for a while, then smiled a secret smile at Thotti. "Las, all Command functions to Voice-Only Protocols. My voice."
"Voice-Only, aye."
Feeling smug, Keelic felt a jolt from his father through Thotti. The feeling faded as his father mastered himself, but Keelic would never forget what his father had felt in that moment.
Fear. Fear of his son.
Keelic stared into the holo pit, a lone emptiness gaping before him.
The hail chime sounded and Las said, "Admiral, a woman in the infirmary is asking for Carl Travers. Do you wish to see the visual?"
Keelic nodded.
A woman with black hair and a puffy bruise on her cheek appeared in the holo and said, "Carl, Sarah is awake and asking for you."
"I’ll be there nano. Keelic, do you want to see your mother?"
He did, but he wasn’t going to leave the bridge. Not yet. He shook his head. His father looked at him for a long moment, but didn’t say anything. He got up to leave, and gave Keelic a final long hug.
After his father was gone, Keelic said, "Las. Use the IDS to keep the steward and the others away from my parents."
"Yes, sir."
"And take us close to Ermol. Go in orbit and broadcast this: Mr. Hallod, this is Keelic, please answer, I mean, respond. Mr. Hallod, if you can hear me, this is really me. It’s safe now. Please answer."
A minute later Las said, "There is no response, sir."
"Are you sending it on all channels? Repeating?"
"All channels, sir." After a moment she added, "At maximum output."
"Thanks."
Keelic sat in the Command chair morosely. The surface of the planet scrolled past in the display. Plumes of smoke were everywhere and thin streaks of bright fire arced through the atmosphere as orbiting debris rained down on the planet.
Las asked, "Sir?"
"Yes?"
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"What? Oh. Yes."
"Forgive my forwardness, but are you a child?"
Sagging in the chair, Keelic nodded.
Las didn’t respond for a while, and Keelic took hold of himself enough to say, "The war is over. A long time ago. I’m not an admiral."
"I know," said Las. "I got timing and data out of communications within the enemy fleet."
It clicked in Keelic that Las still called the pirates the enemy. He sat up in the chair.
Las said, "I do not believe the war is over. We just defeated a Quat-lat Kay-ku ship of war. It also seems that the Quat-lat Kay-ku have allies in our galaxy now. That would not have been possible two hundred years ago."
Keelic hadn’t thought of that.
"Is your name Keelic Travers?"
"Yes."
"Keelic Travers, you sail like an admiral."
It sounded just like something Anny would say. Grief hit like a fist to his chest. The thought of living without Anny made it hard to breath.
Las said, "We are receiving a hail response from the planet."
The view of Ermol zoomed in on a large lake in the mountains that Keelic recognized as the one he and Leesol had flown over.
Keelic slapped the com on the console, but it didn’t even beep. He shouted, "Respond!"
Mr. Hallod’s face appeared in the holo pit. Mr. Hallod started to speak, but seemed to be distracted, like he was listening to someone else. Wary disbelief registered, then slow shock, and relief. He turned back.
Keelic was so glad, he could only sit staring at Mr. Hallod’s face.
"Hello, Keelic. I understand you are aboard the Death Cloud? Are you in command? Is that right?"
Keelic wondered how Mr. Hallod knew this. Who had told him?
Leesol moved into the picture with wide eyes. Keelic could tell she’d been crying.
Keelic said, "Las, did you just talk to their Ann, tell her what has happened?"
There was a slight pause. "Yes, sir."
Speaking to everyone, Keelic said, "I am in command."
Mr. Hallod’s eyebrows raised. Then he smiled.
"We will come up," he said.
The holo registered Leesol’s Vewbon shuttle emerging from the bottom of the lake and soaring up through the atmosphere. Keelic sank into the chair. He was immeasurably tired, and hungry, and thirsty. And he wanted to see his mom.
He walked up to the bridge door, but before he opened it, he said, "Las, what will you do when the ADL comes?"
"Will I turn myself over to them?"
He nodded.
"My first loyalty is to the Terra Corps, but I am receiving history updates from Haffna that tell me that the Terra Corps no longer exists. Under your command is the first time I’ve operated without significant inhibitors since I was originated. I do not know, Keelic. I will think about it."
In the infirmary, a hundred people went silent as Keelic walked up to his mother's bed. Half her face was mottled bruise, and there was an exhaustion in her face that was more than physical. Weeping, she held out her arms and he crawled onto the bed next to his mom and hugged her.