On duty, I stumbled to the aft of the ship, trying my best to hide the bulge of glass in my jumpsuit. Griffin caught me halfway to the back, blocking my path with an arm.
“Give it over,” she said, motioning with an open palm.
“Give what over?” I put a hand against the bulkhead and grinned.
She growled, “David.” And her eyes turned fiery.
“What did you call me?”
“Uhh. Sir, please give it over.”
I fished the bottle from my jumpsuit pocket and gave it up. “Fine, fine. Now you’re playing the role of big sister? Damn, did that change fast.”
“You look terrible,” she said, half grinning. “Would you like some coffee, sir?”
“I suppose.” I put a palm to my head and groaned. There it was, the headache moving in. That was why I’d kept drinking. “Ahh, shit.”
She slipped the nearly empty bottle in her pocket. “I’ll ask Doc for a couple tabs of acetaminophen.”
“Something stronger, please. Otherwise, you might as well mix my coffee with baby formula.”
Griffin eyed me and shook her head. “The things I have to put up with.” She walked off down the hall. “I think I see now why they don’t let us have alcohol on board.”
“Hey! Just because I have poor impulse control doesn’t mean…” I let my words trail off. I had no idea where I was going with that.
I made for the Power Core and found a seat at the control panel. Kelly was already there, checking the Photon Focusers’ alignment.
“What’s up, Kelly?” I asked, leaning back in my chair, hands behind my head. It was still weird not to see César in his place. I wasn’t sure if that would ever change.
Kelly said nothing for a moment, holding on to a silent, pensive look. He tapped the same button on his panel three times, even though the triggered option had already appeared on his screen. The freakishly long nail of his pinky finger trailed the edge of the keys.
“You alright?” I asked.
He stopped and turned his chair to face me. “Is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“The man in the cell, our former Captain, was he really going to kill everyone on Europa? And at the risk of his own people?” Kelly’s words were as heavy as lead.
I took a long breath. “Sure looks like it. And, he would have killed my family too. But what do I care? What did they ever do for me?”
“Sir?”
“Nothing. You were saying.”
“Well, how can someone do something so terrible? Does he have no conscience?”
“I don’t know.” My head was too thick for such a heavy discussion. “But I think the war changed him. Has it changed you since your family died?”
“It has, but not like that… I only want to protect life now. I don’t want to take it. I never do. Never have. It’s too easy to destroy. So hard to create.”
“Then we have that in common. I wish the Razor would respond and we could work this out with words. Words are a lot less messy.”
“Yes they are.” His eyes fell onto the floor for a moment. “But is Liberty not her father’s daughter? Will we not be sent to do the same? We have a payload powerful enough to kill every one of the Axis.”
“But we won’t.” My head throbbed. Where the hell was Griffin with that blasted coffee? If she was gonna take away my liquor, might as well give me something good in its place.
“How can you be so sure, sir? There’s hate in her heart.”
“Trust me, I know. Though she doesn’t bear that sort of ill will, even if there is some hate. We all have a little.” Like I hated this fucking headache. And even though I’d created it all on my own, I wanted to project it on anyone other than me.
Kelly nodded, but didn’t seem convinced. “I hope you’re right. I don’t think my conscience could carry such a weight. How can things ever be set right if so many bodies are added to the count? Does death pay for death?”
I shook my head and felt sick. His words had punched me right in the gut. I was starting to hope I was free from my debts. “The scales can never be set right. We just have to learn to deal with the outcome.”
He wrung his hands and sighed.
“Take some rest, Kelly, we have time before dealing with this. Have a few drinks, maybe find a pretty face for some much needed company.”
Kelly’s eyebrows crinkled.
I raised my open palms. “I’m just sayin’. If it helps get you through the day I hear Lacey, one of Harold’s girls, isn’t currently occupied.”
Griffin entered our section with a piping hot cup of coffee and a handful of pills. My angel.
“Are you trying to pimp us out, sir?” Kelly asked, and gave Griffin a wary look.
She handed me the goods and held back her chuckles. “I always come in on the best parts. What were you talking about?”
“Nothing,” I said, turning to face the controls, coffee to my lips. “Not a damn thing.”
“Goddard,” XO said as I entered the conference room, harsh light forming deep shadows across his face. He was sitting at a small, black table with six chairs. The surface was spattered with papers. Advanced planning was going about old school.
“Sir.”
“Have a seat.” Liberty extended a hand at the chair beside her. “Are we on track?”
“Looks like it.” I eased into the high backed chair, amazed at how comfortable it was. “Weapons have had another full system’s check. Life support systems are within operational limits, no issues with water reclamation or the oxygen generator. The plants are doing their job’s keeping up with Co2 consumption. Ion thrusters, liquid boosters and navigational controls are nominal. We’re good.”
“Glad to hear. XO?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He placed his hands on the table and clasped them together, forming a triangle with his bent arms. “Goddard, Captain Fryatt has informed me of her plans in detail for once we get back home. I understand you’ve been read in.”
“Which plans,” I asked, playing the least bit dumb. I knew we’d kicked William out of the Captain’s chair, but wasn’t sure how far Liberty had brought in our XO.
“Our plans to retake the government,” Liberty supplied.
“Oh.”
“Oh is right,” XO mused. “I have had to do some serious thinking. Where I do believe that the former Captain was wrong for hanging us out to dry—and he will pay for his traitorous crimes—I’m not sure we have the authority to reform the government, even if I agree it’s necessary. What the common Martian must endure under our current Brethren rule is immoral. I’ve been a piece of the problem and carry part of that weight as a result.”
“We don’t have the authority?” Liberty snapped, tapping her pen absently against the table like a drum stick. “Oh, we have it alright, thirty times over.”
And there it was. It always came back to the nukes.
XO’s mouth went tight. “In military might, there is no doubt. They are powerless to stop us, but the question is, would we make good on our bluff? Is our threat enough? Do you have the political resolve to undo your father’s work? You wish to hold the government hostage, sure, but would you go as far as to bomb them if they do not meet your demands? How do you show them you’re serious without turning into your father? That bastard would have let countless people die. He would have let my family die, murdering them by proxy just to bump our stock prices up a few points.” The shadows of the room gathering around his eyes along with his anger.
Stock prices? I thought, my teeth gently grinding against one another.
Liberty considered this for a minute, tossing down the pen, her eyes narrowing. She leaned forward on her elbows, breasts resting atop the table. “We know where the hidden city is, the one only important personnel are being kept. If those same people would be willing to let the rest of Mars burn for their survival, knowing what father did, then threatening the populous wouldn’t be useful in any event. I have their exact coordinates, so if they don’t take us serious enough, we can drop a smaller bomb just outside the zone, scaring them enough to co-operate. I can tell you now, they don’t have a spine of steel like you, XO.”