Chapter 38

MARK

  Eric was making his way over from the captured Saarkin-Cho with company. Any captured Kadeshi present on the other carrier would also be moved to the Imperator.

When Eric’s transport landed in the hangar, Mark, Isabella, and Arazis made their way over. Among the crowd he found his wingman, but the golden hair of the woman beside him stopped him in his tracks. “Eric, tell me I’m imagining things.”

As though in response to the look in Mark’s eyes, he attempted to explain. “She’s done a great deal for us. It’s her who we’re being guided into Taiidan territory by,” he said.

“And we should just trust her word for it?” Isabella added. “A Kadeshi I can sympathize with, a Taiidan though, Eric?”

She turned to walk away, but the Taiidan spoke. “We’ve already met. Go ahead, hate me. I’m not here for you to like me, it’s just the only place I’d be safe considering both you Kushan and other Taiidan prisoners want me dead, and likely it’s a mistake given my kind are the biggest fear among these Kadeshi.”

“Die then, why don’t you?” He wouldn’t stop her leave, he knew why she couldn’t accept it and barely saw Eric’s reasoning himself. And so Isabella left them.

“Keep quiet and we won’t have issues,” he said to her.

She nodded.

“Saiin!” Arazis shouted, having made eye contact with a Kadeshi transferee debarking. He ran over to them, and collided with her in a hug.

“You’re alive! Thank whatever gods made it so,” he said.

“I mean, I wouldn’t call myself a god but that would mostly be me,” Mark said.

“And you are who?” Saiin asked puzzled.

“Mark Soban,” she said. “He’s messing with you Saiin.”

“Oh. I see, then you have my thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. We’re not savages, usually. It’s just, well, a lot of Mothership’s crew are newly awakened sleepers only recently finding out about Kharak’s burning. I’m not gonna make excuses for their actions but maybe help explain why they’re so…”

“Evil?” Saiin added.

Arazis spoke up. “Violent is more the word I’d go for. These people aren’t evil. They’ve lost families, friends, entire lives. And they lost one Cryo Tray above Kharak housing a hundred thousand colonists. No, lost not evil.”

It was the Taiidan who spoke next. “No, evil would be my superiors.”

“So, you claim to be on our side,” Mark said. A silence fell around them until all eyes were on the two. “We’ll see one way or another. For now, I trust in Eric’s judgement. He’s a Gaalsi, his kind should have more reason than most to hate yours and yet here you are. Curious.”

She responded. “My kind have been lost in the outer rim for what, five years now with no return date? They’re just as lost as your Sleepers, for the most part. But hardened from the years of fruitless patrols. You did a good thing separating these Kadeshi from them and the Turanic. Feel how you will about me, it earns my respect.”

“It was more Fleet Command’s doing than mine, the Daiamid decides all things. I’m new to all this, really.”

“Makes two of us,” Arazis said. “Captain Jeremiah gave us our orders,” she said to a few nods around her. “Lost, so far from our home now. Is this it then? All we’re worth? No, this is just the start of something new as are all things.” She had the attention of all around exiting the ferries over from the other ships of the fleet. “The Codex states a day like this would come when Kadesh can no longer provide for all, one when we must leave her borders. Perhaps the coming of these other exiles was meant to be. Perhaps our meeting was inevitable, I don’t know. But now it is done. We fight for each who remain. We fight now for your kind,” she said looking to Mark. He nodded. “But this is not our war, only one on the way home. After all, Hiigara is a word known to all our kind. To us, the mythical residence of the Hands of Sajuuk, to you it is a very real goal. An ultimate goal. Then it will also be our goal, to unseat the pretenders and draw out the gods themselves if need be.”

Mark stood quietly as she addressed some familiar faces and reassured others. She was a natural at it, speaking to the hopeless masses. Something changed in their eyes when they saw hers. He felt the effect too. She had an air of being sure of herself; possibly it was all a show. Overall, he admired her. She brought light to the hundreds of onlooking eyes.

And it was hundreds. The hangar main deck was littered with bystanders exiting smaller ships and a support frigate had docked to offload others, this one a medical frigate. He could tell by the badge and S’Jet colour scheme. Half a dozen crew walked the rest down to the main deck before saying short farewells and leaving again. One ship after another. Four hundred and forty-one, Karan had said there were of these Kadeshi. Nearly a full compliment extra to the Imperator’s existing crew.

“Where to now?” Arazis asked.

The Taiidan spoke. “Well, my guess is they’ve decided on hitting the enemy back even if only a little.”

“What do you mean?” She said.

“There’s a research station hidden in plain sight around a nearby supernova. I’ve informed your command about it. It is on our way through to the core.”

“And command listened?” Mark asked.

“They have no reason to doubt my information, and I have no reason to lie. Based on what I know, this is an easy target. Might prove useful to update your computers with the station’s data. Even while on patrol my former carrier group wasn’t exactly in the know on a whole lot around these parts, but what I do know is their tactics. They would leave the station relatively unguarded, if not entirely inadequately prepared for the likes of this fleet.”

“I see,” he said looking her way. He trusted Eric, but not this golden-haired Taiidan. She would have to earn that. “Then I’m off!”

“Huh? To where?” Arazis asked.

“Comms. If we’re preparing for a fight I can incentivize new recruits to pay attention and actually show up to practice. I’ve already asked for potential pilots to be transferred aboard, it’s all paperwork and confirmations. Boring stuff, you’re welcome to stick around on the deck if you want.”

“No, I’ll come too.”

“Then so will I,” Saiin said.

“Saiin, you’re being transferred. You might want to figure our where you’ll be staying like the others.”

“Oh, right! I will see you later then, yeah?”

“Of course.”

They made their way off the deck and into the corridors. “I suppose a lot of the new recruits would be my kind,” she said keeping up the pace.

“Guess so, good thing I’ve got you to lead them into battle.”

“I don’t know about all that so soon, some of them lost a great deal and it will take time for them to come to terms with it. Not to say anything of the great purpose of this fleet’s journey. To reclaim the homeworld, somewhere only spoken of as a myth to us.”

“It’s real, and I’ve seen how they look to you for advice. They meet your eyes and theirs become at ease. It’s something my father was good at, not so much me.”

“They cheered your name, I remember. When I was being taken out of my swarmer. We have this in common, whatever it is.”

“Expectations, is a word.”

“Hope is all it is. There’s little of it to go around for them. To many, this is the End Times. An end of time far from Kadesh’s veil.”

“Eric might be better to discuss such things with being Gaalsien, I’m not particularly faithful. But I can say I’ve seen Hiigara, even if only in a dream. What we fight for is more than simply survival. We fight to live again out in the open. The wind, rain, and all that there is about life. We fight and die for Hiigara. Just a word scrawled onto the oldest tablet known to us. One word to begin it all, one word to end it all.”

“Hiigara,” she said. “The Garden houses many worlds within but none are to be touched by our kind. None as bountiful as the world from which we came, however. The radiation is greater the further in you go. My life has been spent confined by steel walls and aluminum glass even before my time on the Needle. No, my people only know the open air on Harvest and no other time. Perhaps we can learn from Hiigara and bring back what we discover.”

“Maybe someday. Look, I know it’s all sudden but I’d like your help with the training.”

“I can, but why not Isabella? Would she not be better suited to it?”

“Oh, she’s gonna be there too. The more help the better. It also assists me because they listen to you. Who am I to them but the victor of their last defeat?”

“Someone they can trust?” She echoed his words back to him.

“They just don’t know it yet.”

ERIC

Morning came soon. He saw out the viewport that they were in hyperspace once more. She laid beside him silent, eyes still shut. She had her own quarters but last night was the first one they had a chance to clear the air after the recent battle. For her, it was the start of a new chapter as she put it. She was likely still being surveilled, but the likelihood of running into issues was diminished being far away from both the Saarkin-Cho or Mothership. Johan gave her his word that like the Kadeshi, she too would be free to walk about among the crew as one of them. She felt that was a bit too far a stretch.

“Morning,” she said sitting up. “Miss something?”

“No, nothing much,” he said fumbling with the rest of his clothing. “Mark called a meeting of Red Squad on the deck. You can come if you want.”

“Should I? They’re your squad not mine. Besides, the woman hates me with a burning passion.”

“She’s mostly harmless. Is it any better hiding here pretending things are okay? The only way she’ll come around is if she’s forced to spend time with you.”

“Fine, I’ll come along. But I’ll leave if asked.”

Eric and Tristen made their way to the hangar deck from crew quarters. It was a much shorter walk than their previous one on the Taiidan carrier. The ship’s layout was far kinder on the legs. The other three were surrounding a single scout and a swarmer beside it.

“Now that I have a closer look at it, yeah, these small little balls of death look downright sturdy from inside,” Isabella commented head poking out the swarmer’s cockpit.

“Meant to take hits and dish hits out. If you want something real fun you’ll want to check out an advanced model. Thicker hull and double the damage. They could go toe to toe with swarms of enemies.”

“I’d believe it,” Tristen said.

“Eric brought his pet then,” Isabella said shooting them a look.

“So what’s the urgency, Mark?” Eric asked.

“None, just felt like getting the gang back together.”

“Well, we’re missing a few faces then,” he said. “Moment of silence for our fallen.” Mark nodded.

“Technically there’s still an open slot to fill, but who to fill it with?”

“Well we can’t spare anyone from Green Squad as they’re in for a new lead and wingman,” Isabella began.

Eric responded. “You guys do know she flew effectively the same ship, yeah? Probably knows her way around our units too if given the chance.”

“Fly with her? Like hell!”

“Whoa now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Mark said. “I’d need to see how she performs first. Even if in a sim.”

“Don’t tell me you’d consider it!”

“I’m in the frame of mind to consider many things,” he said looking to Eric. “He vouches for her. That’s enough for me. Besides, Eric tells me you saved his life after his last docking attempt.”

“I resuscitated him from the brink, the medical staff likely did more than I.”

“Still, you should have no reason to like any of us.”

“The irony is not lost on me either, you know.” Eric responded. “Besides, you can decide to have the Kadeshi girl as a wingman, why should I not get a say about who’s got me covered?”

Isabella took issue with his words. “If this is about last outing I’m sorry, there were too many targets and you were fogging up.”

“I don’t blame you, that’s not what I meant.”

Mark interrupted. “Like I said, it’s up to the simulator score, really. As for Arazis she’s already shown her skill in combat to us.”

“What!” Isabella now out of the swarmer walked up to him. “You can’t be serious, Mark. She’s Taiidan!”

“So what, I’m Soban and you Manaan, Eric’s Gaalsien, and Arazis a Kadeshi. Why not add a Taiidan to the mix?”

“Because they’re evil, Mark, or did you forget that? No, of course you haven’t. None of us can! That’s why we can’t sleep.”

“Enough! I’ll make my decision with or without your input. We can’t waste a useful set of hands and eyes. If she passes, she passes.”

“I assure you, I will.”

“Then welcome to the squadron, I guess?” Arazis said looking over to Isabella who was less than impressed.

“Don’t expect me to shake your hand. If Eric says it’s you, then I guess it’s you.”

“Fair enough.”

“And if he dies out there, you’ll be next.”

“Threaten me all you like, I know what side I’m on.”

“I suppose we’ll see,” she said before taking her leave.