Euthara (33 page)

“You’ll stand down as the Primus asks, until the Matriarch wakes,” Gabriel said. Jon hadn’t seen him walk on to the bridge until he was standing next to him.

“General,” Istanca said. “I respect your authority but you know…”

“You will do as I’ve said,” Gabriel said. “I alone have command of the whole Ga’sahde fleet and as such you fall under that command. Or should I find someone to replace you?”

Istanca balked at the question and bowed as she spoke, “Of course not General, it will be as you ask.”

“I would like to make one more point that you should heed,” Gabriel said.

Istanca looked up and raised an eyebrow.

“In my dealings with the Primus and the matriarch, I’ve found that their agendas don’t fall far from each other. The Matriarch has made it very clear to me and others that the Primus speaks with her voice on all matters even if she’s not present,” Gabriel said. “They are, of course, brother and sister and have the same goals. I’ve learned to trust his orders to be in alignment with the agenda of the Ga’sahde, you would do well to do the same.”

“Of course,” Istanca said. She turned to Jon and bowed. “My apologies Primus, I’ll give you the time you ask for.”

“I want you to take your ships and set up a system patrol while we affect repairs on our ships from the recent battle,” Jon said. “You can coordinate with ADF command at the station.”

“As you wish,” Istanca said.

“I’ll contact you if I need anything else or when the Matriarch wakes,” Jon said. Jon made a motion for the link to be disconnected and the screen blinked off before Istanca could reply.

Jon turned to Gabriel and gave him a fleeting smile as he spoke, “Thanks for the back up.”

“My pleasure,” Gabriel said. “Istanca is a by the book person and sometimes that gets in the way of where her duty really lies. So, don’t be too hard on her. She’s just trying to do her duty to the Matriarch.”

“To be honest,” Jon said as he sighed and sat down in his chair. “I don’t know if I have the energy to be too hard on anyone. I just found out my second in command might be dead or missing in action. Not only that but he was one of my best friends. I’ve known him for a very long time. Now I have the pleasure of telling his sister and fiancé he’s missing or dead.”

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. The truth showed on his face in the form of sadness for Jon.

“It’s ok, something I have to get used to,” Jon said. “What I’m trying to figure out right now is why you’re here?”

“Oh, I was checking on the Matriarch and decided to see how you were doing,” Gabriel said. “Andy asked me to let you know that Oojoung and the Matriarch are improving by the hour and she doesn’t see any complications or long term effects.”

“Good, that’s the best news I’ve had since I woke up,” Jon said. Jon’s spirits lifted a bit at the thought of his sister and Oojoung being ok. He knew Sam would be very happy to hear of Oojoung’s status.

“I also figured I would deliver my report in person since I was here,” Gabriel said. “The Wrath’s Revenge and her escorts as well as the Titan have docked at the station. The ships are currently at the top of the queue for repairs and upgrades. The personnel from those ships are being treated for various injuries and most are expected to make a full recovery.”

“Good,” Jon said. “Since you didn’t mention it, I’m going to assume that Captain Hawkins wasn’t among those recovered.”

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. “Admiral Breq has requested an audience with you as soon as possible. I’ve told him I would relay the request and that if medical and you cleared him I would have him transported down.”

“Do it,” Jon said.

Gabriel nodded as he spoke, “As you wish.”

“Bring all forces up to high alert for the time being,” Jon said. “Double system patrols and have a patrol set up to coordinate with the factories on the other planets and moons. I want to give the civilians as much coverage as we can. Without their supplies coming in our repair and rebuilding efforts would grind to a halt.”

“Oh, Euthara IV has sent their first shipment of raw ore to the main foundry on the station,” Gabriel said. “Trans Orbital Refinement and Processing CEO has also received his first shipment from the Castanian people. The industrial side of Euthara is starting to pick up as you expected.”

“Guess I should check my stocks huh?” Jon said. He gave a brief smile as Gabriel chuckled.

“Sir, call coming in from Kelly Martin,” the Com officer said. “She’s requesting to speak to you.”

“Give me ten and transfer it to my ready room,” Jon said as he stood up.

“Yes Sir,” the Com officer said.

“One more thing,” Jon said. He turned to face Gabriel as he spoke. “If any more of these Crystari ships show up in system do not engage them unless absolutely necessary. I want them monitored and their actions recorded. Get as many readings on them as possible while staying undetected. If a ship does get engaged, standing orders are to flee and regroup at the station. Euthara is now a refugee planet and I want complete scans of any ship before it is allowed anywhere close to the station. Have them rally incoming ships at one of the moon bases. Once they're cleared we’ll figure out what to do with them from there. One thing I want is all combat ships to be ready at a moment’s notice. If the Captains of the incoming vessel have a problem being under the ADF space command at the station tell them they can vacate the system and fend for themselves. I’m not going to protect people who don't want to protect themselves.”

“Yes Sir,” Gabriel said.

Jon stopped just before he walked through the door. “One more thing contact Ghost Station, report what’s happened here and have them on high alert too. Dispatch two additional ships to their location, one Drovasian ship and one Invaru ship, for added security at the station.”

“Ok,” Gabriel said.

“Carla you have the bridge,” Jon said. “Contact me if I’m needed.”

“Yes Sir,” Carla said.

Jon settled behind his desk and prepared himself for the call. Not that anything could prepare him for it. He hoped that Bill was just MIA and he would get a call soon saying he had been picked up. He would soon find out that his fears were about to be confirmed.

Kelly’s face appeared on the screen before him. She had been crying, her red puffy eyes were proof enough of that. Jon felt his spirits fall as he looked at the screen. His heart jumped and went out to Kelly.

“Jon…” Kelly started to say. Her sobbing interrupted her as she tried to gain control.

“Kelly he’s ok,” Jon said. “He has to be, he’s on one of the shuttles or pods we haven’t recovered. Or even on the ship, SAR teams are on their way there.”

Kelly shook her head slowly as she spoke, “No, I was on the com with him when the ship went up. He’s goneeeee.” Kelly began crying again as tears poured from her eyes.

Tears fell from Jon’s eyes and down his cheeks as his heart went out to her. “Kelly, I…” Jon started and stopped. He had no idea what to say to help her through this time.

“Jon he loved you and believed in what you were building here,” Kelly said. “You know that don’t you?”

“I, yeah I guess I did,” Jon said.

Kelly reached up and held her hand to the screen. “It was very important to him you be the one to marry us. Do you know why?” Kelly said.

Jon wiped his eyes and then held his hand up on hers. “No, I just knew it was very important to him. I still remember the day he came to ask me to do it. He begged me to do it and I really didn’t want to. I finally caved when he said it would brighten your day to be the first people married in the ADF and by me no less.”

Kelly gave a small smile as she pulled her hand from the screen and wiped her face. “He said that?” she said.

“Oh yeah, melted my heart even though I was scared to death of the idea,” Jon said.

“Bill would do anything for me,” Kelly said. “It was mainly him that got the idea in his head. I had mentioned it in passing that it would be nice if we were the first union in the ADF and that if you could do the ceremony. But, I would have been happy to just get married. Having you agree to do it was just a bonus for me.”

“That’s Bill,” Jon said.

“You know he worked very hard to be the best Captain in the ADF,” Kelly said. “It was very important to him that he measure up to your standards.”

“He was well past my standards,” Jon said.

“He told me once that you gave him purpose, a sense of being,” Kelly said. “He was happy with the way things had turned out. Not at first he wasn’t, he wanted to be back home. Then you showed him how to make the best of a bad situation and it gave him purpose.”

“Kelly, I never knew,” Jon said. Tears threatened to spill again as Jon tried to hold himself together.

“Now the light of my life is gone,” Kelly said. She started crying again which made Jon start crying.

“Kelly, I’m sorry,” Jon said. “According to the ADF data base you two have been married for a while now.”

“How?” Kelly said as she wiped her face again and calmed herself.

“I filed the paper work on Bill's behalf in case something happened to either one of you,” Jon said. “You weren’t supposed to know, but now it doesn’t seem that important. All it needs is your signature to be official.”

“He knew,” Kelly said. “He had been pushing me to resign my commission until after the kids were born.”

“I don’t think he knew,” Jon said. “It was more he was worried and wanted things to be in place.”

“He wants you and your family to be the god parents of the kids,” Kelly said. “It was one of his last wishes.”

“Then I accept and I’m sure my family will agree,” Jon said. “I want you to come live on the
Atlantis
as second in command. I’ll be basing out of her for the foreseeable future and I would like you to be close at hand. Bill would never forgive me if I didn’t watch out for you and the kids.”

“I can do that,” Kelly said. “I could use the support and I really don’t want to be alone right now.”

“I’m sending a shuttle right now so pack up and I’ll see you in a bit,” Jon said.

“Uh, ok,” Kelly said. Kelly stood up and waddled away, which made Jon grin, from the screen as she set off to pack.

Jon hit the button and disconnected the link. He sighed as he leaned back a bit, tears fell from his eyes as he said, “God Bill I’m so sorry.”

Atlantis appeared next to Jon and said, “Admiral Breq is on his way down Captain.”

Jon wiped his eyes. “Good, when he arrives show him to some quarters and let him know I’ll be with him as soon as possible,” Jon said.

“Are you ok?” Atlantis said.

“I’m fine,” Jon said. “Do me a favor and have Andie report to my ready room. You’re dismissed.”

“Yes Sir,” Atlantis said. She faded out as Jon reached up and put a call into Mark.

Mark’s face soon filled the screen, he was wearing his combat armor and the area behind him was a swarm of activity. Mark saluted as he spoke, “Sir.”

Jon returned the salute. “How are things going Mark?” Jon asked.

“Pretty good, most of the Euthara military has been processed,” Mark said. “I did as you asked and ran complete background checks on all the Dukes through the Eutharan data bases. As far as my intelligence team can see they all check out.”

“Alright, but keep an eye on them, I don’t want any surprises,” Jon said. “What about the site.”

“We’re still excavating the site but I can tell you it was no storage site,” Mark said.

“Any idea what it was?” Jon said.

“Got me,” Mark said as he shrugged. “I have the tech boys going over it as we work but they have yet to report anything significant.”

“Well, keep me informed,” Jon said.

“Will do,” Mark said. He took a second to look Jon over. “How are Terri and Oojoung doing?”

“They’re fine,” Jon said. Jon’s eyes welled up as he fought the emotions.

“Then what’s wrong?” Mark said. “I don’t think I have ever seen you look so sad.”

“We lost the Earth’s Revenge,” Jon said.

“What? How?” Mark said. Mark’s face showed his astonishment at the announcement. Several people in the background that was close enough to overhear stopped what they were doing and looked up in surprise.

“Another battle with the Crystari that were pursuing Admiral Breq and his ships,” Jon said.

“How many lost?” Mark said. He knew how Jon took the loss of life.

“We’re still counting,” Jon said. “Invaru losses were heavy, twenty-three ships and their crews.”

“Holy shit in a hand basket!” Mark said. “These guys mean business.”

“That’s not the worst of it,” Jon said. A tear fell down his cheek as he spoke. He wiped it away with his sleeve. Mark sat waiting for him to continue as Jon tried hard to compose himself. Jon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We lost Captain Hawkins.”

Mark stumbled back a few steps as his face paled and he blinked a few times. Mark wasn’t very close to Bill but he respected him and the few times he dealt with him had been pleasant. He knew what the men said about his command and not one of them said one bad word about it. Mark knew it was a heavy loss for the ADF in terms of a competent commander. “I’m sorry,” Mark said. “I know he was a good friend of yours.”

Jon’s door buzzed and he looked up as he spoke, “I’ll let you know when the memorial is. I have to go Andie is here.”

Mark nodded and said, “If you need someone to talk to holler.” He hit the button and disconnected the call.

“Enter,” Jon said.

Andie stepped in through the doorway and started in on Jon right away, “Now look, your sister and Oojoung are doing fine. You can’t be calling me away just to give you a report on their condition. I do have other patients you know and besides I told you I would call if anything was wrong.”

“Andie sit down,” Jon said. He motioned to the chair next to him.

“What’s wrong, did I do something?” Andie said as she sat down.

“No my dear,” Jon said. Tears started pouring from his eyes.

“Jon you’re scaring me,” Andie said. “What’s wrong? Is Deatra ok?”

“Andie,” Jon said. He gulped as his throat dried out suddenly. “Your brother is dead.”

Andie sat back as her face paled and she worked to get words to form.