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—-
I WATCHED AS THE LAST Phelb ship disintegrated under a final barrage of fire from Shockwave. The big dreadnought seemed to take a deep breath and sigh as it’s pockmarked, and blackened hull fell back to fall in behind Eternity as we assumed a patrol route around Earth.
“We win, motherfuckers.” I said, pumping a fist into the air. There was a massive cheer throughout the bridge and papers, tablets, and other electronics flew into the air in celebration. “Open a channel to the surface and order the Phelbs to stand down.”
“They are refusing, Commander.” Davie said. Her face was pale, and her eyes looked sunken. None of us had slept in the last ninety or so hours, as a dozen of our ships were destroyed, Eternity had nearly fallen into the gravity well with the damage sustained.
“Good, deploy the rest of the Night stalkers and kill them all.” I said. “And find out where Vearse and his team are. I want my husband back.”
I walked off the bridge and down the long access corridor to the deep bowels of the ship. The citadel of Phelb ships lie in this place, but in our vessels, this was the brig, where no vital components ran and could not be hacked into.
I strode in and nodded at the guard, who rolled his eyes at Venlent.
“Yeah, you’re not going to get out.” I said simply, looking at her. “Because you abandoned a superior officer to capture and possibly death. That’s an offense punishable by execution on Vandor, in case you forgot.”
Venlent glared at the Sergeant and he rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “Commander Valentine, we learned enough on our mission that to lose any data would be a massive loss to the Vandorian people. I could not risk myself, Corp...”
“You couldn’t risk yourself!?” I exploded. Unlike my husband, I am indeed given to hysterics and my anger has a high flash point. “I’m sorry, what makes you so fucking special that you have to protect yourself at all fucking cost?” I walked up to the cell and punched the bars in fury. “Did you, or did you not, upload all of your data on the Cetoplin at Novela?”
Venlent blinked. “I did, but...”
“Let me tell you something, you stupid bitch.” I snarled. “Destota Valentine is the stupidest, most irritating man I have ever met in my entire life. And he is also our best chance to win this entire war that has been going on for more than six thousand years, remember that part? Where we’ve been fighting for our lives for all these years in an endless war brought on a bunch of murderous religious fanatics?” I raised my brows. “Sound familiar?”
“Commander...”
“No, you shut your mouth. This is where the Commander talks and the Lieutenant listens. You did an outstanding job locating a seemingly random convergence that led you to the planet of the Cetoplin. We have analysts going insane on it, and it’s going to yield some awesome new information in our evolution. Great work. Now, I’m not going to get to judge you. The council will judge you harshest and best so you’re going home, you lucky little twat. You get to go home and see them, and I absolutely love that idea because maybe I can arrange you to fall into one of those mysterious black holes you reported. That would just be wonderful wouldn’t it?”
The Sergeant stepped closer and cleared his throat, then spoke quietly into my ear. “Excuse me, ma’am, but we shouldn’t question her until she has legal counsel. Those are our laws, if you will excuse me saying. I would not want any charges she has put on her to be refused due to an exception of her rights.”
“I agree Sergeant,” I replied calmly. “But I am not questioning her. Do you question her guilt?”
“Oh no, ma’am, please don’t misunderstand me.” He drew back and spoke at a normal volume. “If you can arrange her to fall into a black hole, I will pull the level to launch the escape pod. But if she is to return for judgement, then I would like her to be punished properly.”
I grinned.
“Lieutenant Venlent,” I said, turning back to her. “Ah, Sergeant, could you record this, please?” He nodded, I continued. “You are hereby relieved of your command, and you are remanded into custody of the Night stalkers until such time as you can be transported back to the council to be tried for your crimes against the Vandorian people.”
I turned. “Wait, Mallory!” She cried.
“Fuck you.” I replied, flipping a middle finger over my shoulder as I walked out.
—-
