Atlantia Series 3: Aggressor (42 page)

‘What wasn’t?’ Mikhain asked.

‘Betrayal,’ Idris replied. ‘Qayin knew that Kordaz had risked his life for us more than once. What happened was cold-blooded treachery, an act of vengeance of some kind, and I need to know who did it.’

Mikhain frowned.

‘Captain, with all due respect Qayin was seen fighting to the death with Kordaz, and would have been killed if one of our pilots had not intervened.’

‘Teera Milan,’ Idris identified the pilot. ‘That’s very true, and it was she who confirmed Qayin’s abandonment of his men, and us, in battle. What bothers me is the fact that Kordaz was betrayed before Qayin ever got to the surface and that nobody told Qayin that Kordaz was down there. He wasn’t in the loop.’

Mikhain held his nerve.

‘Somebody else must have passed the information on,’ he suggested. ‘Maybe Taron Forge or one of Qayin’s lackeys? There were witnesses to the launch of the shuttle that carried Kordaz to the surface.’

‘No,’ Idris shook his head. ‘Nothing quite fits when you think about it. I think that somebody else aboard Atlantia betrayed Kordaz and they may have had the best intentions when they did so, but they condemned a brave warrior to death. I want to know who did it, Mikhain, and I want to know that you’re going to help me.’

Mikhain lifted his chin. ‘Of course, captain.’

‘Good,’ Idris said. ‘Now, tell me why you were so against Andaim Ry’ere commanding Atlantia?’

Mikhain swallowed thickly, acutely aware of the command crew listening in.

‘I didn’t know at the time that your promotion the commander was designed as a deception,’ he explained.

‘No. But that’s not what I asked, is it?’

Mikhain sucked in a lungful of air. ‘I felt that he was too young and inexperienced for a full command, captain, and that the choice may have endangered the crew and compliment.’

‘And that you should have been chosen in his ‘stead,’ Idris added.

‘Somebody more experienced in command, captain,’ Mikhain replied. ‘Not necessarily me.’

Idris moved to stand before the XO.

‘Mikhain, in the last twenty four hours you have done nothing but question my every command. You have played Devil’s advocate on numerous occasions, have opposed many of my ideas and orders and have frequently spent far too much time fraternising with junior officers in an attempt to curry favour at a grass roots level.’

Mikhain opened his mouth to protest but Idris forestalled him with an open palm as he went on.

‘You have directly attempted to undermine my command on the bridge in front of fellow officers, and have flagrantly disobeyed my orders on numerous occasions when you have seen fit to do so. You represent the most powerful force working against my command and thus a danger to the continued team-work of our personnel both on the bridge and within the wider service aboard this ship.’

Mikhain felt his eyes sting and he tried to speak, but the captain’s stern gaze silenced him.

‘You leave me absolutely no choice, Mikhain,’ Idris said finally, ‘but to permanently remove you from your position aboard Atlantia.’

Mikhain felt as though his guts had dropped several decks below him. Tears welled in his eyes and his legs felt as though they had turned to rubber, but somehow he realised that he had only himself to blame. He could not bring himself to admit to the captain what he had truly done, but nor could he deny that this was a suitable and just punishment. From somewhere within he excavated sufficient courage to maintain his bearing and lift his chin, his voice sounding weak in his own ears as he replied.

‘I understand, captain,’ he rasped.

‘Good,’ Idris replied with finality. ‘I didn’t want to have another argument here on Atlantia’s bridge. I would be relieved if you would do me the honour of handing over your Executive Officer’s shoulder insignia and leave this bridge immediately.’

Mikhain’s chest felt hollow. He reached up to his shoulders and removed his insignia, and then handed them over to the captain. Idris snatched them briskly away and tossed them across the bridge as though they were nothing more than trash. Mikhain stood in shameful silence, the eyes of the entire command crew burning into him.

The captain reached out and patted Mikhain on the shoulder with a sympathetic smile.

‘Dismissed,’ he said. ‘You are to report immediately you reach Arcadia’s bridge.’

Mikhain worked his jaw and managed to dredge his voice back. ‘What will my duties be?’

Idris grinned and rolled his eyes as he nodded toward Mikhain’s shoulder.

Mikhain looked down, and through blurred eyes he saw a Captain’s insignia now adorning his shoulder, emblazoned with Arcadia’s logo. He almost lost his balance as his head snapped back to stare at Idris and his jaw gaped open.

‘You should see your face,’ Idris smiled. ‘You looked like you’ve been slapped. Congratulations, captain. Your new command awaits.’

A burst of applause crashed through the bridge and Mikhain staggered to one side and gripped the rail as relief flooded through him. He looked at Idris and shook his head, his jaw aching as a smile spread wide across it.

‘Damned old fool, you nearly gave me a heart attack.’

Idris clapped him on the shoulder again.

‘Good, you’ll get a lot more moments like that now you’re in command, Mikhain. Be ready for them.’ Idris gripped his shoulder tightly. ‘You held Atlantia in position and protected everybody on the surface from a Veng’en bombardment for almost an hour, Mikhain. You never wavered and you’ve never been afraid to question my judgement. I know that you have my back, just as the Admiralty had ours back in the day. We’ll have yours here.’

Mikhain worked to dislodge the tight knot of shame that suddenly clogged his throat.

‘Aye, cap’ain.’

Idris stood back and snapped off a quick salute. ‘Now get the hell off my bridge and get back to work.’

Mikhain smiled broadly and returned the salute, then turned and marched off the bridge to the applause around him. Moments later he was gone, and Commander Andaim moved alongside Idris.

‘You sure he’s ready for this?’ Andaim asked. ‘Sit-rep shows he was almost overcome during the battle.’

‘Almost,’ Idris said, ‘but not quite, and I can’t command both ships. Mikhain’s the most qualified for the job and he was obviously keen to gain command of Atlantia. This is the best I can do to keep him onside.’

‘You think he’s a threat of some kind?’

Idris turned to Andaim and spoke softly so that nobody else on the bridge could hear.

‘When I was on Arcadia’s bridge with Salim, the pirate addressed Mikhain by his name,’ Idris confided. ‘Yet Mikhain never revealed himself on our bridge nor was his name spoken in Salim’s presence in this entire engagement.’ Idris’s eyes bored into Andaim’s. ‘How could he have known the XO’s name?’

Andaim’s featured cracked like thin ice. ‘You should have him arrested immediately,’ he hissed.

‘No,’ Idris insisted, and sighed softly. ‘These are difficult times Andaim, and they’re testing us all. Mikhain may have sought control of Atlantia, but he also fought to protect her and all of us too. He’s conflicted, but we cannot do without him.’

‘You could have given Arcadia’s command to somebody else!’ Andaim snapped.

‘Or I could extend the opportunity to win Mikhain’s loyalty back while removing the motivation which drove his betrayal, his jealousy and desire for command. That’s why I’ve got you here,’ he said. ‘You’ll command the Raython’s aboard Arcadia and report back to me.’

‘This is a dangerous game,’ Andaim replied. ‘If Mikhain goes AWOL with Arcadia…’

‘Keep an eye on how the new captain goes about his duties and if he gets out of hand we’ll have ample warning. And keep an eye on those damned Marines of Bravo Company too.’

‘You’re sending
them
over there? I thought you’d send Alpha and keep some loyal blood aboard Arcadia.’

‘I wanted to,’ Idris replied, ‘but I also want Mikhain’s hand weakened a little. I don’t want him becoming a Fleet Commander, just a captain.’

‘Divide and conquer,’ Andaim said.

‘Indeed,’ Idris replied. ‘Now, get over there with your pilots and leave Atlantia to me. While repairs are under way we’ll be vulnerable, so I want a full fighter escort and patrol sweep in action until we’re ready to depart.’

‘Aye, cap’ain,’ Andaim replied, and walked away.

***

The Arcadia’s sanctuary was filled with over two thousand souls, Atlantia controlled via the Arcadia’s bridge as the remains of humanity gathered together in one place for the first time since the apocalypse that had enveloped Ethera and the populated core systems.

‘Been a long time since I’ve seen this many people in one place,’ Teera noted.

Evelyn nodded, looking at the sea of civilians behind them, punctuated by the occasional looming bulk of an Ogrin.

She was seated along with the pilots of Reaper Squadron at the front of a raised dais situated in the heart of a tree-lined valley. It was deceptively easy to believe that the horrors of the past three years were all just the remnants of a particularly bad dream and that in fact they were all seated on Ethera on a warm summer afternoon.

Nearby sat the pilots of the Renegade Squadron, along with the entire compliment of Marines under the command of General Bra’hiv. The military contingent was arrayed before their civilian charges, and in front of them stood Captains Idris Sansin and Captain Mikhain. Sansin’s voice echoed out over the crowd as he spoke into a microphone, his words amplified by speakers arrayed around them.

‘Ladies, gentlemen,’ Sansin began, ‘Ogrin, Hybrid and Denesian, welcome. You are slaves no longer, and will be welcome to share with us the freedom of our ships.’

A clatter of applause and a few cheers went up from the gathered civilians as they learned officially that they were no longer subject to piratical tyranny. Evelyn watched them as the captain spoke, but found herself wondering about Commander Andaim and Taron Forge. The CAG was not present, leading a patrol to protect the two frigates, and Taron was already long gone, having blasted off as soon as he was cleared to leave.

‘By now you will all have learned of the major events that have occurred recently aboard Atlantia, and her engagements against the Legion and other species it has infected,’ Idris went on. ‘Our mission is, somehow, to build our strength and take back the worlds that belong to us, to crush the brutal machine that has taken so many innocent lives and ensure that it never, ever happens again.’

Idris looked them over silently before continuing.

‘We have formulated the opinion, based on the experiences of others who have travelled before us, that our best means of defeating the Word is to obtain technologies that it cannot defend against. To do this we must locate and learn to deploy devices that we have never before encountered, and to find them we have no choice but to travel to places that no human being has ever seen.’ Idris paused. ‘We must travel beyond the Icari Line into uncharted space and endeavour to find a way to defeat the Word.’

A rush of whispers and gasps of astonishment broke out among the crowd and a number of voices cried out.

‘You just saved our lives and now you want to get us all killed?’

‘Nobody knows what’s beyond the Icari Line!’

‘They put it there for a reason!’

‘Nobody has ever come back from there alive!’

Idris raised his hands for calm and let the speakers amplify his voice, keeping his tone level.

‘We know all of this,’ he said, ‘and as such we cannot compel you all to follow us. I have been convinced by my fellow officers that as passengers aboard Atlantia and Arcadia, you have a say in what happens to us. If we go into battle, then by your presence here you go with us, and now that need has been addressed. You all have received the chance to vote on a new councillor, a voice through whom you may speak and voice your concerns. I understand that the results of the ballot have been counted. Captain?’

Mikhain stood up, and Evelyn noted a soft but notable ripple of applause from some quarters of the audience for the former XO as he stood and held aloft an envelope.

‘Almost a thousand votes from Atlantia’s civilian contingent,’ he said, ‘each cast for a selected number of candidates. The military and command were blocked from voting, allowing the civilian contingent an unhindered choice of candidates and anonymity in your votes.’

Mikhain ripped open the envelope and retrieved a small slip of paper. Evelyn saw his eyes widen as he looked at it, and then he glanced over his shoulder.

‘The candidate chosen to represent the people of this fleet,’ he said, ‘is Doctor Meyanna Sansin.’

More applause burst out among the civilians as Meyanna got to her feet and smiled brightly, although clearly surprised at being the first choice, and Teera leaned in.

‘Not surprised, she’s been treating people ever since we left Chiron. She’s probably the most popular person aboard Atlantia.’

‘And the captain’s wife,’ Evelyn pointed out. ‘There are going to be some unhappy voters out there.’

As if on cue, a ripple of moans and shouted accusations of vote-rigging tainted the scene. Idris Sansin stepped up to the microphone.

‘Believe me,’ he said, ‘if this vote had been rigged, I’d have rigged it to have anybody other than my wife as councillor. I never get my own way when she’s around,
ever
.’

A ripple of laughter swept across the gathered civilians and drowned out the complaints with ease as Meyanna approached the microphone to speak softly but clearly.

‘Thank you, everybody, I really wasn’t expecting this. I’ll do my best to accommodate the new role alongside my work in the hospital and speak for you when you need me to.’ She glanced at her husband. ‘And he’s right, I do always get my way.’

More chuckles, and Teera shrugged.

‘I don’t know, I think this could work out really well.’

Evelyn glanced at Mikhain, who was clapping along with everybody else but wearing a thin smile that looked anything but earnest.

‘Yeah,’ she replied. ‘But for who?’

Captain Sansin returned to the microphone.

‘As of now, and for forty eight hours, Atlantia and Arcadia are officially stood-down but for a skeleton crew and fighter patrols. We have a long way to go ahead of us, so enjoy this moment of peace while you can. Dismissed.’