BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 52
 

The fleet pulled back a safe distance from the planetoid and every single sensor and camera was aimed at the unassuming rock when the reactors blew, having the secondary effect of detonating the nuclear charges that had been set. From access points and areas where the crust was thinnest, gouts of atomic fire erupted looking like the colorful flames from the fireworks that were so popular with so many children across the Planetary Alignment. The combined forces from twenty two nuclear devices and Siilv enhanced fusion reactors proved too much for the hollowed out rock to contain and cracked the body like the egg it resembled around the entire circumference of its equator.

  As the different beings of the fleet looked on, representatives from every world, every culture and species of the Alignment, there was a sense of relief that such a dangerous threat had finally been dealt with. As everyone watched, the venting gasses threw the planetoid into a slightly different orbit around the little proto star. Computer models showed that in a decade or so it would actually collide with the weak little sun, further ensuring that anything remaining of the legacy of Ganlin’s Legion would forever be consumed and their atoms scattered across the universe.

  Some beings celebrated, touting Elias as a hero, others simply did their jobs until their next assignment. On the Eridani-class cruiser SPF Righteous, most of the personnel were simply ready to go home save the ship’s Captain who excused himself from duty for a full cycle and thought about what had happened.

  As he sat in the dark of his cabin, even going so far as to lock the hatch to prevent his wife from entering, Elias contemplated events. There was no doubt that Roric Ganlin and his rogue mercenaries had to be stopped. Their entire history had been one of excessive violence and predation on others. Their views of the strong should rule the weak ensured that the day of reckoning, when it finally came, would leave no quarter to be asked nor given. They had engaged in piracy, mass murder and atrocities that would take years to fully sort out.

  Thinking, Elias was able to determine why what had been done tore at him. Before, whenever he’d been forced to kill, he had always looked the individual in the eyes. He hadn’t even laid eyes on the self proclaimed Colonel, Roric Ganlin. Oh, he’d studied him and his exploits, from his early days in the Mainor Academy of Military Sciences to his discharge from the Mainoran Defense Force for violations of the Laws of War and the establishment of the mercenary group that had grown into one of the most feared and bloodthirsty in Known Space. Elias had read all of it. But not once did he look the lion in the eyes.

  It felt to him like a hollow victory and the suddenness of the way things had ended left Elias feeling numb and detached.

  Shaking himself mentally, Elias got up and stripped down out of the jumpsuit he’d worn for the mission and dropped it into the garbage chute for incineration. It made him feel a little better. Then he realized that the Legion was truly gone. There would be no more attempts on his family, his wife or his children. The people that he cared the most about were no longer carrying deathmarks, and that helped lighten the emotional burden considerably.

  With a sigh he stood and staggered to his shower and let the hot water blast him clean for almost a full hour, and even after that he felt soiled and unclean. The dryer removed the dampness from his fur with a blast of hot air that felt mildly soothing and afterwards he made sure his fur was immaculately groomed. He stepped to his wardrobe and pulled out a fresh dress uniform and put it on, making sure that his tail hung properly from the flap and that his trousers were neatly bloused and tucked into his boots.

  When he stepped into the corridor outside of his cabin, several SPO’s stared at him in surprise. Rumors had been floating throughout the ship for several hours that their Captain had possibly snapped, and while the officers did what they could to quash those whisperings, even they wondered if there was some truth to them.

  Elias nodded to one of the ratings. “Have a steward bring me my usual coffee to the bridge,” he instructed before turning sharply on his heel and heading to the nerve center of the ship.

  No sooner had he entered the ‘U’ shaped deck than Odette Daniker saw him and jumped to her feet at attention.

  “Captain on deck!” she bellowed, her words so loud that her own teeth vibrated slightly in her jaw.

  Every single person on the bridge jumped up where they stood, also going rigid in the position of attention. “As you were,” the fox said crisply.

  He gave Cerise a small wink and smile as he passed seeing the relief manifest itself and the pinched tightness to her eyes and mouth fade. “Status, Mister Reese?” Elias asked crisply as he took the Captain’s chair.

  “Nominal for flight, Sir. Awaiting your order to leave the nebula,” the jaguar said as he gave his friend a curious look.

  “Make for the quickest exit,” the fox ordered. “Then lay in a course for Joplin.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Saul replied. “Cadet Brees! Make for home, all due speed!” he said to the pilot’s cubicle.

  “Aye, Sir. Home and all due speed,” the female repeated from the speaker tied into the pilot’s capsule.

  While the others on the bridge went back to their tasks, the jaguar stepped up to Elias’ side and leaned a little closer. “Are you alright? We’ve been worried and Cerise has been beside herself.”

  “Not yet,” the fox said in not quite a whisper. “In time…maybe. Right now I just want to see my kids.”

  Saul put a comradely hand on the other’s shoulder and nodded.

  The steward finally arrived with Elias’ coffee and the fox took a long, appreciative sip. “By the Maker that’s good.” He looked at the young tuxedo cat that had served him and did a double take, thinking for a minute it was Rutger Fallon. He shook his head and realized that it wasn’t his second engineer from the Guiding Angel, nor even male. “What’s your name?” he asked the female with a smile.

  “Anya Meridia, Sir,” she replied snapping to and saluting.

  “Anya, from now until Joplin you are the only one to make my coffee. I don’t know what you’ve done, but this is unbelievable. And just the right amount of cream and sugar, too.”

  “Thank you, Sir. I have a third cousin who taught me, Sir.”

  “And who is this cousin?”

  “Her name’s Ivy Sparks, Sir. Or was. She got married a while back and now she’s Ivy Carlton, Sir.”

  “Tell you what, SPO Meridia, if you tell me what the secret is, you can have a two week leave once we reach Joplin with a twelve hour pass at any planet we may stop by,” Elias said as he took another sip, his ears relaxing in pleasure.

  The secret was surprisingly simple and Elias made a note of her leave time on his log so that he wouldn’t forget. As the steward exited the bridge, Elias continued to sip the coffee, noting many of the covert looks that he was getting from the crew. He let this continue until he was finished with his beverage and pressed the all call control.

  “All hands, all hands. This is the Captain speaking. I’m sure that at the moment there are a number of rumors running through the ship regarding my dispensation and absence from among the crew. The reason for this is quite simple.

  “Almost a year and a half ago, I engaged a Legion ship named the Shiva. The very same ship that we encountered, and defeated, eight and a half days ago. My first encounter resulted in the loss of the ship that I was on and many of the crew, including my Captain, a person that I admired greatly. That ship was the SPF Scimitar, a patrol sloop. I’m sure a few of you will recognize the name.

  “Since that time, in the mission that I was next assigned to, I and my crew at the time encountered Ganlin’s Legion again and again. The Legion was able to identify my crew and myself from one engagement and sent an assassination team after all of us, their targets also including my wife and our newborn children.

  “Yesterday marked the end of over a year of fear and frustration. And it also included the death of many individuals on both sides of the conflict. Because of the manner that Colonel Roric Ganlin and his command staff chose to dispatch themselves, I required some time to myself to fully digest the ramifications of past events and my own actions over the last year. I am not proud of what happened, and there was certainly nothing honorable in it. In the end, I performed a necessary role that will most likely haunt me every day of my life. I have fought and I have killed and watched friends pay the ultimate price. Taking life is something that should never be considered lightly.

  “That is not what the Spatial Police Force exists for, and that is not why we serve. I believe, and I’m sure many of you will agree, that the SPF exists to protect the lives of the citizens across the worlds of the Planetary Alignment. For those of you that decide to make this your career, I pray to the Great Maker that you never have to make the same decisions that I did. I would rather that all of you be noted for dedicated service, or performing a miraculous rescue than for your combat prowess.

  “However, despite my wishes, there are those out there that would do harm to the people and things that matter most in our little corner of the galaxy. And I know that you will be there to meet it, to put yourself between the danger that threatens others, to protect the faceless masses that you will never meet, that may never even know you exist. Because of that dedication, the service that many of you have exhibited, the long hours and the sacrifices to personal comfort and safety, I am proud to say that I have served with finest crew in the SPF Fleet and have made notations for Commendations of Valor in every individual’s file that is listening to my words.

  “Being Captain of this ship, of leading this fine crew, is the culmination of a career of service that began when I was barely of legal age and joined the Alexandrian Space Navy. In that time I have met brigands and pirates, smugglers and slavers. To counter that I have also met some of the finest individuals that have ever existed. A great many of them are right here, right now, perhaps the person you just passed in the corridor, or the next individual you see when you go to mess, even the face in the mirror. One cannot ask for better people to serve with and I hope that you will carry yourself with pride well earned.

  “And as I can’t ask for a better assignment after this, upon reaching Joplin I plan on tendering my resignation of commission. Just know that I leave the Spatial Police Force with my head held high and as a far, far better person than I was for having served with all of you.

  “This is the Captain. Signing off.”

  Elias looked up and saw that every single individual on the bridge was looking at him, some with moist eyes, even Jenna who stood on the seat in the open hatch to the pilot’s cubicle. His attention was then drawn to Saul who stepped forward and turned crisply to face the fox.

  “Bridge!” Saul yelled, all of the crew snapping to. “Salute!”

  As one entity the hands whipped up as every single crew member rendered an absolutely precise salute.

  A lump started to form in Elias’ throat and he gave it a moment to pass before standing, snapping to attention and returning the gesture. As soon as he lowered his arm, so did the personnel around him.

  “Bridge! Return to stations!” the jaguar said releasing the individuals around them. He returned to stand by the fox and smiled slightly. “And thus Elias Tivnan goes down in the annals of the SPF history, getting out while his name’s still shiny and his tail’s still intact!” Saul whispered.

  “To blazes with history. I want to spend time with my wife and my kits and in far less interesting times,” Elias admitted and wondered if he could get another cup of coffee.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.