Ono stood in front of the lavatory mirror. She sighed—the stress of this mission was giving her more than a few wrinkle lines. Several days had passed since their madcap rescue of the other teams and they were still drifting above the moon base for no apparent reason.
The captain had spoken about wanting to give them all some time for reflection, to make sure that their mental states were okay. However, he didn’t seem to realize that it was having the opposite effect in some of them—most notably Sarker. The new lieutenant was practically spending every waking moment of her life working on that command post, pouring over the alien data. Quite frankly, she was obsessed.
“There’s gotta be a way to get Pete to let us go.”
Ono frowned as she turned to one of the stalls.
“No offense, but I don’t feel comfortable talking to you while you’re dropping a deuce.”
“I’m not doing that Tess.” Sarker shot back.
“What did I just say?”
“Fine.”
She leaned back against the sink and waited. A moment later, the toilet flushed as Sarker exited the stall. She walked to an empty sink and washed her hands.
“Feel better?” Ono facetiously asked.
“I need to know what’s on that base.”
“So you’ve said. About a hundred times now. But how? Cap’s already made it clear, it’s not happening without a consensus.”
Sarker turned off the faucet and shook her hands dry as she re-entered the conjoining comfort station. Ono followed her.
“This is true, but—what if there was a way to convince him to let a small group of us go instead.”
Sarker swiveled around, bringing them face to face.
“And risk losing more of the crew?” Ono shook her head. “I mean, let’s be honest, we both know Yuliya’s out. She just got Leon back and there’s no way she’s ever gonna go for them being separated again. And Quin, the good soldier that he is, is gonna do whatever Pete wants. So if the captain says no.”
“Then he’s gonna say no too.”
Ono placed a finger on her little nose. She had nailed it.
“And then there’s everybody else, who we just had to risk life and limb to rescue. You think they’d be down for another mission without any tangible intelligence, so soon? Really?”
She stepped away from Ono, rubbing her forehead.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
All of a sudden, Sarker’s head sprang backwards as she nearly leaped off the floor. She turned back to face Ono with the biggest smile. She was having an epiphany.
“Wait. What if—we took the two Lodricans instead? I mean, think about it. From what we know so far, they’re also looking for answers. Not to mention, we know for a fact that the Conesans stole some of their people as well.”
Ono shrugged. At this point, Sarker was determined to make this happen regardless of any objections put forth by her. Everything she had been saying that might be construed as to the contrary, was basically in one ear and out the other.
“You don’t think it could work?” Sarker continued. “He already doesn’t trust them. So what better way to get us to that base than using that to our advantage?”
Her logic wasn’t inaccurate, but her impetuousness was off the charts and rising fast. It wasn’t that Ono couldn’t relate, in fact—it was just the opposite. The very first time she piloted a StarForger was an experience she would never forget. That was a day she had achieved a lifelong dream—and days like that didn’t tend to come around too often. This alien stuff was Sarker’s dream come to life.
“Let’s say I follow you, which I still don’t—how are you gonna make it happen?”
“I’ll figure something out. I always do.”
Sarker smirked as she shook her head. The only thing that was going to stand in the way of her making this happen was the captain himself.