This Starry Deep (24 page)

Chapter 43 - Jonah

THEY RECALLED OUR FLEET from the front lines, a skeleton crew going off to replace us until the next wave of escort crew arrived. I packed the lock boxes again, putting most of our equipment away. We still wore our thinsuits - even Mud, I was pleased to see - but most of the weaponry had gone back into storage. I thought of home. Abruptly I wondered if I’d locked all the doors and laughed at even having the urge to check.

Hodges came up to me, a big smile on his face. “The Council has, of course, agreed to the plan,” he said, nodding at the three of us, standing on a loading dock. Maybe he didn’t realize our weapons were in easy reach still.

“Well, we didn’t give them a choice, did we?” I asked him, and I started to turn away. I couldn’t look him in the eye without wanting to shoot him.

“Jonah,” he said, “you came through for all of humanity once again. I can’t begin to thank you for—”

“Hodges,” I said coldly, “this entire thing could have been avoided without a shot fired if you’d only thought to talk instead of shooting first.”

“A fine thing to say given
your
history,” he sniped back. I felt Shae tense at my side and I put a hand down to hold her off.

“True enough,” I admitted, “but that doesn’t make it something to be proud of, now does it? Mass death, kidnapping - you did everything wrong from the word go, Hodges. And now, what, you’ll walk out of this with a promotion, smelling of roses?”

“I understand you hate me, Jonah, but I did what I thought I had to, and everything worked out in the end.”

He was right. I did hate him. As soon as I got home I would ensure he lost his commission. No point in giving him warning, though. Let him think he would get out of this clean, then destroy him through the channels he so dearly seemed to enjoy falling back on when convenient. And then, maybe, hunt him down and beat him into the ground, just to prove a point. It wasn’t my normal way of dealing, not given what he’d done, but killing him outright seemed pointless.

“Furthermore,” he continued, “I’ve been asked to offer you your old job back.”

“I retired, remember?”

“And we’re asking you to reconsider. Jonah, this wouldn’t have happened with you and your family if you’d stayed. We all know it. Even I know it, all right? It would be a shame to lose you again.”

“You have to get used to it. Even if I said yes, some day I won’t be here. Then what? Get used to flying solo, Hodges. You need to move the best people up, like Mills. Not keep them down, tied up with protocol.”

“So help us ensure that happens.”

“I’m retired.”

“So that’s it? You’ll go back home and pace like a lion in captivity?”

“Actually, Shae and I thought,” I said with a grin, “we’d travel. Not for the Government, but for ourselves. See the universe without having to blow it up for a change.”

“Don’t do this, Jonah. You’ll have full pick of your own crew and support staff. You can even have a liaison with the military of your choice. We need you.”

“No, you don’t,” I told him, drawing close. To his credit, he didn’t flinch. “But I do know what you need. I’m even willing to help with it.”

Hodges raised an eyebrow, not sure if I was setting him up. “So you’ll help?”

“Sort of,” I reared back and head-butted him, spreading his nose across his face like paste. “I’ll help you find a med tech to fix that up.” I kneed him in the gut and dropped him on the floor.

But his words rang in my head. Would Shae and I ever be happy retired, sitting at home? Probably not. Even touring the galaxy might not work. We could visit the Tsyfarian planet, be the first humans to do so. Tslakog had offered. I didn’t know if it would ever be enough to quench the occasional fire that lay in both our guts. Maybe Hodges was right. Maybe we should sign back up.

I looked to Shae, as the three of us stood there over Hodges’ whimpering, bleeding form. “Maybe we should discuss this,” I offered. She nodded and we started to walk off, looking for a quiet room to talk.

Mud stood there, not sure if he should follow or get Hodges help or just leave for his own ship again. “C’mon, kid,” I called out to him, “you’re a part of this discussion, too.”

He grinned and caught up with us.

Chapter 44 - Epilogue

A RADIO CALL WENT OUT. Five communicators flashed a signal. Unsurprisingly to anyone else on the command carrier, they were together, seated at a table, talking and eating. They weren’t elitist or exclusive, but left to their own devices each of them sought the others out.

At the call, they put down their drinks and cleared the table, rising to leave. Each one went to their own quarters to change. Within fifteen minutes, the five people were walking across the hanger deck. They picked up their conversation from where they’d left it around the table, never missing a beat.

They walked to a unique ship. Painted black with only a single symbol gracing its lines: five arrows forming an upside-down V. The same symbol each one of the five carried on their thinsuits. Each suit was the same as well: black, with blue coming up along the outer side of the legs, rising until it turned at the waist to slide up their backs and curve over their shoulders, coming back down their chests and ending at the bottom of the ribcage.

The ship itself was a mix of human and Tsyfarian technology. Engines from the Tsyfarians, giving it more speed than anything else in the sky, trailed down a teardrop body, elongated to hold up to ten crew rooms. Slim, hidden armor plating along the crew sections and engine compartments allowed them to sleep safely, knowing they could fight off anything they might run across with minimal damage. Weapons gleamed along the clean lines of the hull, looking like they’d grown there. A hybrid of speed and power, the ship was known throughout the fleet as the
Arrow
.

The hatchway opened and the pilot climbed on board. Though he wore a thinsuit identical to the others, his Tsyfarian bird helmet still sat proudly over his head. He went directly to his chair and fired up the consoles, putting the engines through pre-flight.

Behind him came the navigator, a Trasker Four native who’d found he had a gift for keeping up with the data sets needed by the Tsyfarian while in flight. He kept the name he’d earned in the gangs back home, refusing any other call sign.

Next through the hatchway was the science officer, from Bercuser. He mixed science with his own predictions, carrying with him two jars of fog from his home world so that he could predict both the past and future for the crew of the
Arrow
as needed.

The engineer, also from Trasker Four, entered, running her hand along the side of the ship as she did. She loved the
Arrow
, considered it the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. There was a part of her that wanted to fly the ship some day, but she still couldn’t force herself to sit behind the controls. When she tried, all she saw was her friend, dead, in the seat next to her. She checked the hull integrity and readings from around the ship, sending a green light to the pilot. The
Arrow
would, as always, fly true.

Lastly came the leader. He walked slowly, still not sure this was the best choice he could have made, while at the same time knowing his choice was not only right but wonderful. He sat down in his seat and adjusted straps to buckle in. A call came in not long after.

“It’s Mills,” the voice on the other end of the communications unit said through their earpieces. “You’re cleared for takeoff. Deep Water will escort to the edge of the fleet.”

“Sounds good to me,” their leader said, reaching down to run his fingers across the butt of the Acadian blaster that hung heavily along his right thigh.

“It’s just a small revolution on the largest moon around George Six. If you need backup—”

“Deep Water will be there on call for us as always. Thanks, Mills,” he said, giving Chellox the signal. The ship rumbled to life, a caged beast in a tiny hanger, waiting for its chance to roam free once more.

“Good hunting, Mud.”

With that, the
Arrow
took off, plunging far and fast into the dark space between stars once more.

COMING IN
2017...

Oh God, oh God, oh God, Mud’s leading the team this time. Aw shit. Duck.

Stepping into his parent’s boots, Mud Madison (Please stop calling him Newt) is still breaking in his new Insertion Team. Everything is going smooth enough, until the answer to a long standing mystery forces them to deal with a multiversal incursion that no one was prepared to even accept as possible.

It’s five against the impossible. Luckily they have each other. And gravity packs. And blasters. And grenades.

THE ENDLESS SKY

ALSO BY ADAM P. KNAVE

PROSE

Crazy Little Things

Stays Crunchy In Milk

Strange Angel

NYCWTF

I Slept With Your Imaginary Friend

COMICS

Amelia Cole

Never Ending

Artful Daggers

Laser Joan and The Rayguns

Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam P. Knave has been telling stories since he was a small child. He never stopped, and hopes he never will. A New York native, he self-exiled to Portland, Oregon, not long before his fortieth birthday and now spends many evenings on his patio, whiskey in hand.