Duty, Honour, Love
Chapter 23

A hand shaking his shoulder woke Mark from a dreamless sleep. He looked up to see Jane crouched over him her had on his shoulder. The lights were on and there was noise all around him. He must have been tired to sleep through without being disturbed.

“Number One what’s up?” he asked still groggy from his sleep.

“We have a problem,” she answered taking her hand from his shoulder and helping him to rise.

He immediately saw what she was on about. Several of the crew were restraining others. Or to put it truthfully they were restraining Danielle from throttling the two she had by their throats. A third crew member was on his knees two of Mark’s crew had him pinned there. Mark recognised them as the troublemakers Karasena had warned him about. He regretted his words to her, words that he should have apologised for.

“Captain on deck!” Someone shouted.

The crew came to attention.

“What’s going on here?” He didn’t really have to say that it was clear they were trying to escape. The bundles at their feet mute testimony to that.

“These dickheads were trying to escape,” Danielle said with a growl.

Mark turned his attention to the escapees. “Escape to where?” he questioned them carefully. “Even the locals can’t get off this world how on Earth are you going to do that?”

“It’s our duty to!” one of the escapees protested.

Mark winced at that. “That’s true,” he had to admit. “But what you don’t realise is that it’s pointless.” He gave the escapee his eye. “Do you really want to put the rest of us in a worse situation?” He noted the majority of his crew approved. “I hate to say it but the Confeds have been generous so far. They are even treating our wounded well?”

“Where is the Doc?” a second escapee asked.

Mark had no words for that. “She went with the civilian doctor from the hospital. Who else knows about our wounded as much as she does?”

“We don’t know that?” The third queried.

“Look if it settles your minds I’ll speak to the Confed Captain and see if she’ll let me have access to our wounded. She has no reason not to?” Mark was sure that Karasena would let him. For some odd reason his heart trusted her.

Danielle groaned. “Shit! Do I have to release these two?”

“I’m afraid so Strong,” Mark told her

“Can’t I just beat them up. They’ll not be trouble after that?”

“No, Strong,” Mark warned her. He looked up to see several Confed guards lining the railing of mezzanine floor. He recognised the human Confed sergeant whose hand hovered on the butt of his AR 32. “In hand sergeant,” Mark said.

“If it’s alright my squad will keep watch. The captain wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

Mark felt warm inside but he shouldn’t have they were prisoners a fact he had to keep reminding himself of despite of everything. “Could I put in a request to visit my crew and medtech at the hospital?”

“Sure I’ll comm the captain straight away.”

“No don’t disturb her,” Mark said quickly. “Leave it to the morning.”

“Right oh sir.” The Confed sergeant saluted him. “Have a pleasant rest of the night.”

Mark thought it odd but before he had a chance to try and figure it out Jane spoke.

“Right everyone back to bed.” She pointed directly at the three troublemakers. “You three are on clean up duty. Am I clear or I’ll get Strong to shove you’re heads down the head,” she warned them using naval parlance.

“I’d be delighted to LT,” Danielle said with a sadistic grin.

Jane ignored Strong and turned to Mark. “Captain?”

“Number One you’re in charge.”

“Yes sir,” Jane snapped a salute her hand to her chest not the one the Confeds used.

Mark headed back to his bed in hopes that there would be no repeat. There wouldn’t be a chance of that with the Confeds shadowing their every move.

Sergeant Fox watched as the Terrans settled down for the night. It had been a close thing he was glad their officers had intervened. He for one didn’t want to fill out the paperwork if he had shot one. He considered what Nanyo had suggested earlier. She stood beside him watching the Terrans. “I think you might be right,” he conceded to her. “He‘ll be ideal for the captain. It’s a pity he’s on the enemy side.”

Sergeant Nanyo snorted. “I really don’t see what the problem is, they are a perfect match. Now Lieutenant Dareia she’s going to be more problematic.”

“So we concentrate on the captain for now?”

Nanyo nodded. “You head off I’ll take the rest of this watch.”

Nanyo waited until Fox had gone before turning her attention to the Terrans below. She like Fox didn’t really class them as enemies, Just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Lights out Captain Stillway and have a good night.”

Mark stared at the T’Arni sergeant thinking. “These Confeds are crazy?” With that the lights dimmed.

Karasena woke to the shrill bleat of her comms. She was glad of the distraction her dreams had been downright erotic. She shuddered at the dream which had ended with her rubbing a belly swollen with a child and smiling inanely at Mark. It had seemed a little too prophetic. “Yes?” she answered her comms.

“Ma’am urgent message from Com Ops!”

That had her fully awake. “Put through,” she answered.

“Best you come up to the Comms Room,” a second voice told her.

Dareia was that voice.

“Ok I’ll be there.” Karasena hurried out of bed pulling on her skinnies just in case she had to don her combat armour. She didn’t even bother to brush her hair she just tied it up.

Ino was seated at the comms console Dareia hovering close by. At least she had dressed in her uniform.

“Dee?” Karasena queried her friend.

On the holo screen was an unfamiliar face. A Human with short dark hair and with a colonel’s flashes on the collar of his dress tunic. She made a gesture to Ino and she vacated her seat for her she was wearing beads in her purple hair today.

“Captain Karasena commander of the Erikino Listening Post,” she said formally with a crisp text book salute.

“Captain you are to execute any and all Terrans from the crashed ship immediately!”

Karasena stared at the screen. “What did you just say?” anger wavered in her voice.

“Are you deaf!” The colonel snapped back his face going red. “You will execute the Terrans!” He took a deep breath. “Destroy any data you have acquired and remove all traces of the ship or do I have to have you arrested.” He took another deep breath. “Do remember we are at war you can be executed for mutiny!”

“Cut the comms!” Dareia ordered. She didn’t need her telepathy to see how distressed Karasena was.

Karasena stared at the screen for several minutes. She got out of the seat and stood in the corner of the room facing the wall. Dareia went across to her. It was difficult with all the distress spiralling out of Karasena’s mind.

“I can’t do it, I can’t do it!” She sobbed. Suddenly she straightened and pointed to Ino. “Get me a connection to General Pitney!”

“Yes ma’am!” Ino responded instantly.

“We’re T’Arni we don’t execute anyone no matter what they have done!” Karasena said determinedly. Every T’Arni learned from the womb of the centuries of slavery to the Rhosani and the despicable things that were done to them. Instant execution for no reason had been was what the Rhosani did.

“Asshole!” Dareia suddenly said. She’d caught the thoughts of the soldiers in the Comms Room. They we all thinking the same whether they were Human or T’Arni. It was a pity that she couldn’t communicate with Karasena directly to reassure her that her command thought the same.

“Ma’am?” Ino said directly to Karasena.

“Ino?” Karasena replied sounding calmer.

“I can’t raise General Pitney and it looks like all our comms are being diverted.”

“But whom?” Karasena demanded.

“By the ‘Asshole’ as the LT names him?”

“We can’t call anyone?” Karasena asked him.

“Not in Com Ops,” Ino replied.

“I can’t kill them and I won’t let this lie!” Karasena said.

Dareia sensed Karasena’s internal struggle. She’d rather be called a mutineer than hurt Mark. “There might be someone we can call?”

Karasena turned to Dareia her mind full of hope. “Who?”

“We were an item before I went to Hyren Shai.” Dareia hoped he was still be open to talking to her. She walked away and went to Hyren Shai with the rest of her Division. There she been wounded and had awaked her telepathy. Once she had been trained she’d be given a choice resign or be exiled. She had chosen exile. “Perhaps,” she thought as she looked around they were all exiles in one way or the other. “I have his private comms number and he’s with Spec Ops.”

“Special Operations?” Karasena asked.

“Yeah he had a fallout with Com Ops over a mission that went wrong. A lot of good people, his people got killed and he blamed duff info from Com Ops for it.”

“Do so.” Karasena hoped that Dareia was right about this.