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I felt adrift in a sea of confusion. How could I? How could I turn on Pete's friends like that? Didn't Pete rescue me and give me a place to live and a job? Without Pete here, I'm that same pile of garbage that he found me on. I was dead. I should go back... back to the garbage chute and throw myself in.
"Commander, she's coming to." The light shining in my eyes was blinding, "I think we got to her in time."
In time? What was Dr. Farn doing in the... wait, where were they again?
"Captain, Captain. Can you hear me?" that was Barona. Why wouldn't she let me sleep?
"Get up Kid." Came Pete's voice. "There's shit to do."
"Pete? I killed everybody."
WOOSH!
I woke up sputtering and coughing. I was soaking wet, and the water was so cold.
"Sorry Captain," Said Cmdr. Barona, "You were freaking everybody out talking to the dead. I had to snap you out of it somehow. That Sarqua really did a number on you."
"The what?"
"Sarqua is the name we use for humans who have gained a little telepathic ability. Usually they are mostly harmless. They can maybe sway emotions so that you are more prone to like or dislike someone. We thought Grace was one of those. We were wrong. Grace was one of the more advanced telepaths. She woke up from that sedative the Doctor gave her a lot more quickly than we expected and attacked. Fortunately Lt. Cmdr. Dorn is a little sensitive himself and noticed something was going on, so he put an end to it."
"What did he do?" I asked.
"Sorry Captain, I didn't know what else to do, so I put a bullet in her head." Lt. Cmdr. Dorn seemed ashamed.
"You did the right thing Dorn. She was attacking your Captain." Cmdr. Barona said.
"She was just an unarmed little girl." Dorn started crying.
"What?" Dr. Farn questioned. "Grace? She wasn't a little girl. She was a nice little old lady. The kind that makes cookies and pies."
"I guess that means she wasn't a beautiful goddess either then." Said Lt. Tarn. "I suspect she was playing everyone the whole time. I had a grandmother like that. I'm sorry I didn't see the signs sooner."
"Well Captain," Cmdr. Barona said "Let's get you cleaned up, no sense in the crew seeing you like that."
Like what? Barona helped me up and I went into Pete's... my... bathroom and looked in the mirror. I had smeared, partially dried blood that looked like it was coming out of my nose and ears. And there was blood on my new uniform! I saved those two rat's lives. I didn't know what angered me more. That Grace tried to kill me, or that she made me bleed on my new uniform.
The whole thing was just so ridiculous that I had to laugh.
By the time I was all cleaned up and in a fresh uniform, Hauley was in place in the formation and the shuttle from the Baskins had arrived to pick up Al and Grace's body. I wasn't sure why they still wanted it, but I was glad it was no longer my problem.
"Captain, comm incoming from Admiral Thomas. It's marked as direct. Do you want to take it in your quarters?" Shelly said.
"Sure, send it in."
"Captain Petra, I hope you are feeling well. I read the report that your empath turned out to be a full telepath and she attacked you. I'm sorry, if I had seen any sign that she was more dangerous than a simple empath, I would have alerted you."
"It's ok Admiral, the Doctor assures me that the blood squirting out my ears was a purely natural phenomenon, and I'll be just fine in a few hundred years or so."
The Admiral paused. I think I surprised him. After a moment, the Admiral smiled, and continued on.
"Ah, very well. In the mean time, we have investigated the remains of Otford Station. It is how you said, destroyed, but you already know that." The Admiral continued. "We've seen enough evidence to conclude that it actually was 'rus weapons that were used. Yes, I know, you told us that too. I was just hoping you were wrong and it was someone pretending to be 'rus. Our next stop should be the 'rus homeworld if you are still willing to take us there."
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" I really was confused. I said I would take them and that's what they were paying all this money for, so why wouldn't I?
"I spoke with Cmdr. Barona while you were recovering, and I read the full report from the Path to Paradise on the incident with Captain Gregorious. With that telepath bouncing around in your head and what Gregorious told you, I wouldn't blame you for having second thoughts."
"And third ones, and fourth ones." I replied. "Captain Pete himself on many occasions told me: Kid, Pick a direction and move. Don't just sit there. Even if it turns out to be the wrong direction it's much better to be a moving target than a sitting duck. Well, Admiral, the direction I've picked is to throw in with the people who I haven't caught lying and trying to manipulate me. So I'm ready to go whenever you are."
"Excellent. Would you be more comfortable having the Haul-o-caster to take point and we'll follow, or would you be more comfortable feeding the next set of coordinates to the Hecktor C. Baskins so that you can stay nice and safe between the carriers?"
Now that was an excellent question. I really could just give them the whole course plan and they could fly off to the 'rus homeworld without me. Pete made sure not to save the coordinates on the nav system's drive when we went there, but I'm sure he knew that I saved them encrypted in my personal filestore. On the way back through, I'm not even sure why I followed Pete's example and didn't save them on the system that time either. Still, I didn't even have to go to the encrypted filestore to get the data, I had it all in my head.
"I'll transmit coordinates to the Baskins." I said after a few seconds thought. Hauley may have been built from a military landing craft, but she really didn't have all that much armor. The Baskins and the other Morganite warships would all have armor designed to stand up to ship-to-ship weapons fire. Hauley's armor was more designed for small arms and other atmospheric weapons. Hauley would be toast if a fight broke out with the 'rus.
The Admiral seemed surprised that we would be taking the jump point so close to where Otford Station had been. It didn't feel like he didn't believe me. It felt more like "huh... we've been looking for this and it ends up being right here?"
Once again, the Polly Bont had the honor of scouting.
"Commander Barona, it seems unfair for the crew of the Polly Bont to always have to be the ones that scout the jump points."
"Are you kidding Captain?" Cmdr. Barona replied. "The Polly Bont was purpose built for the job. She has triple the graviton shielding as any ship in the fleet, and while she's destroyer size, she has hull plating like a main line Battle Cruiser. Yes, that makes space tight aboard her, but she only has a crew complement of seven. Each crew member has their own living quarters bigger than yours, and they have cutting edge experimental hyper-jump couches that make even the worst jump just like flying in realspace. There is a waiting list to even apply to be crew on a hyper-jump scout ship, and only the best of the best are selected. They get the sexiest uniforms, and the best food. On top of that, the hyper-jump scout pay is incredible."
"I take it you are on one of those waiting lists?"
"Oh heck no Captain. Why would I do that. Those guys are insane!" Cmdr. Barona laughed.
"Hauley could totally do that job." I said, and I meant it too. "Pete and I have taken the Haul-o-caster through some of the longest, hardest hyper-jumps in existence. I wonder what the Polly Bont would think of some of those jumps.
The next leg of the journey was to the unknown - at least to most people as far as I knew - jump point that would take us to the 'rus home system. Or at least that's what Pete and the monks seemed to think it was. A short while after I transmitted the coordinates to the Baskins, I got a call from the Admiral.
"Are you sure that's where the jump point is? My people are saying it's an odd place for a hyper-jump point. I'm an Admiral, not an Astrogator, so my gravitation physics may be a little rusty, but it even looks like an odd place for a jump point to me."
"That is where we found it." I replied, "Maybe that's why nobody seems to have found it before now. Nobody looked in the right place."
Apparently, the Admiral either accepted that was possible, or thought I was leading the Morganite Fleet into... what exactly? As I have pointed out before, space is big and expensive. This was easily the largest fleet that anyone had ever seen. The battleship alone out-massed most worlds whole fleets. Add in the Battle Cruisers and the Carriers and I was surrounded by more firepower than most people could imagine. I guess they would just have to believe it when they see it.
The whole questioning thing worried me though. I know these are the right coordinates, I saved them into my encrypted datastore myself. It bothered me enough to take a gander through the encrypted log that I had the nav system create, just to make sure. Sure enough, there the coordinates were in the log, just like I remembered them.
"Mr. Tarn, what would you think if someone gave you these coordinates and said there was a jump point there?" I sent him the coordinates.
A few minutes later Lt. Tarn got back to me, "Captain, those are some odd coordinates. My first reaction was to say impossible, but I do not get the feeling that you are the kind of Captain that asks something for no reason, so I dug into the matter further. I do not believe a hyper-jump point would naturally occur at those coordinates, however with a little bit of funky math and a significant amount of power, I believe a jump point could be induced there."
The only times I had ever heard about anyone creating - or inducing as Lt. Tarn termed it - a jump point was part of a scam. That scam was a popular one among the shysters years ago, but almost nobody falls for it anymore.
"Mr. Tarn, I didn't fall off the transport yesterday. I've seen people run that scam."
"No Captain, that's not what I'm talking about." Lt. Tarn replied. "When I was with my people, we did a lot of research into gravitational physics, looking for the truth about the hyper-jump points. We did not believe like everyone else that the system of jump points are naturally occurring. It's one of the things that my people were persecuted for."
"What? Just for believing something different than other people believe?" I replied, "Seems like a weird thing for people to get all spun up about."
"You don't understand. The leaders of my people openly spoke against the Morganite doctrine that says the Good God created the hyper-jump points for the good of all peoples." Lt. Tarn explained. "In my incarceration, I came to embrace the Morganite dogma on this, but if there truly is a jump point to the 'rus homeworld at these coordinates. I just don't know. I haven't thought about these things in a long time. Captain, I am sorry to report that I am having a crisis of faith."
I looked across the mostly-empty bridge - there was no reason to have ever station manned when traveling through deep space - to see Shelly staring at Lt. Tarn in shock. She managed to shake it off after a few seconds, but I definitely saw it.
"Captain, as the highest ranking Morganite on the bridge, other than Lt. Tarn, I must relieve Lt. Tarn from duty. Lt. Tarn, with all due respect, please go secure yourself in the brig. Commander Barona and the Mother will be along as soon, I am sure." Said Shelly. I could tell she was nervous, and didn't like what she was doing, but I could also tell she really believed in it.
"Very well. My apologies Captain, I stand relieved." Whit that, Tarn left the bridge.
"Shelly, please explain what just happened." I asked, "And tell me why we have a brig on the Haul-o-caster that I don't know about."
Shelly was almost in tears. "Captain, I would love to be able to obey that order, but.. I don't know how much I can say. Please ask Commander Barona, or Lt. Commander Dorn. I'm sorry Captain, I wasn't prepared for this, I should have realized this might happen."
"This what?" I asked.
"Morganites who work Outside are usually trained to resist temptation and the apocryphal beliefs from the outside." Shelly really was crying now. "I'm sorry, I like Lt. Tarn and to see him question the one true faith... it's very upsetting to me."
Ok, I had started to think people exaggerated when they talked about Morganites. Guess I was wrong again. Morganites really are weird.
"Shelly, are you going to be able to pull yourself together?"
"Yes Captain."
"Very well, could you get on the com and ask Commander Barona to come see me in my office?"
"Yes Captain."
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