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WITH THE VIMY RIDGE preparing for patrol, the crew had been recalled and Radko had done his best to greet them each as they’d returned to duty. Most of the crew were the same people who had been with him since Echo Station, with some additions and some replacements for those who had been unable or unwilling to return to the front lines. He couldn’t blame the unwilling. There were times when he wondered how he managed to continue and to not let himself become overwhelmed by the idea that the human race was facing extinction.
Maybe there was something wrong with him. But if there was, it had chosen the perfect time to manifest itself.
"Commander Radko."
Standing at the sand table reviewing the patrol route they’d be taking, Radko turned and smiled.
"Lieutenant Commander Owens."
The two men shook hands heartily. Owens, who had been the logistics officer aboard the Vimy Ridge, had been forced into the role of Radko’s XO against his own protests. The man had since been promoted to Lieutenant Commander and been given command of his own ship, a gunboat called the HMCS Haida Gwaii. With the Haida Gwaii undergoing major maintenance work and scheduled to be in dry dock for several weeks, Owens had volunteered to fill in for the patrol mission in his old role as logistics officer, a spot left vacant by an alcohol-fueled head injury to Owens’s original replacement.
"You’re looking well, Sir," said Owens. "A little grey around the temples, though?"
"Yeah, maybe a little. Good to have you back."
"Good to be back, though I met your new XO on the way in. I think she might be feeling a little territorial."
Radko sighed.
"No, she’s really just... kind of like that. Excellent at her job, but a stick so far up her ass I don’t think she can sit down."
"Understandable, given the circumstances," said Owens.
Lieutenant Commander Amira el Bahari had come highly recommended and in fact directly assigned by Admiral Mahoney, but she had once commanded a ship of her own – the command and communications boat HMS Lord Wellington. Her experience would no doubt be a great asset, but it also made for some awkwardness, with el Bahari being demoted in responsibility if not rank. The Lord Wellington had been badly damaged as el Bahari guided it back to Thor’s Hammer and by the time she arrived, every space-worthy ship already had a commanding officer. When the music stopped, she’d found herself without a chair and so, after commanding a CCB for nearly two years, she’d found herself assigned as executive officer aboard the Vimy Ridge. Given the ship’s reputation, it was an assignment many officers would have been excited to receive. El Bahari was clearly not one of them.
"I know," said Radko. "And don’t get me wrong, she really knows her stuff, we just have very different ideas of how to run a ship."
Owens nodding his understanding.
"It’s always good to have different perspectives," said Owens, shrugging.
"Commander," said the young communications technician, raising her hand like a schoolgirl to get his attention. "Azrael’s Tear is signalling that they’re ready for departure whenever we are."
"Thank you, Specialist Traynor. Advise Captain Singh we will be ready to disengage from Thor’s Hammer within thirty minutes."
She nodded and relayed the message. A moment later she came back to Radko, clearing her throat uncomfortably.
"Captain Singh has asked why it’s taking us so long, Sir."
"Advise Captain Singh that if my ship was as small as his, I’d be ready too."
"Um. Really? You want me to say that?"
"Yes. Those exact words," said Radko.
As the young woman scurried off to relay the message – no doubt worried about how it would be received – el Bahari stepped onto the command deck.
"Lieutenant Commander el Bahari," said Radko. "Have we passed your visual inspection?"
Standing as rigidly as ever, her uniform immaculate, el Bahari glared at Radko.
"A provisional passing grade," she said.
"Sounds like my time at the Royal Military College," said Radko. "Commander, get us ready for departure in..."
He trailed off, turning to Owens.
"I told Singh thirty minutes, right?"
"Yes."
Nodding, Radko turned back to el Bahari.
"Commander, get us ready to depart Thor’s Hammer in exactly forty-five minutes."
There were a few chuckles around the command deck and for a split second, Radko thought he saw the normally immovable facial muscles of Amira el Bahari twitch slightly.
The Vimy Ridge got underway right on schedule – Radko’s schedule – and not without two further complaints from the pirates. He’d put on a bit of a show in making the Azrael’s Tear wait, but the truth was he was just as anxious to get underway as they were, he just couldn’t show it. What they were about to do was not exactly above-board, and Radko had to insulate as many people as he could from the inevitable fallout.
The ships travelled along side by side and they were just past the halfway point of the journey to Muriel’s Moon when Sigurdsson joined Radko in the command deck observation dome.
"So. Heard a rumour about you," she said.
Radko, who had been watching the Azrael’s Tear, glanced at Sigurdsson for a moment before turning back to the dome. He wasn’t certain what rumour she was referring to, but he had a hunch. After all, it's not like he'd made any attempts to hide his multiple visits to Cagliari's lodgings.
"Don't believe everything you hear."
"No shit," she said, leaning up against the dome beside him. "But it was a good call. You can certainly pick the right people, that’s for sure."
"Um. Thanks, I guess."
"Weird as it sounds, it’ll be good to fight alongside them again."
Frowning, he looked up at her.
"What?"
"The icarans. It’ll be good to fight alongside them again. You made a good call bringing them in," she said, her brow also creasing in a frown. "The hell did you think I was talking about?"
"Cagliari," he said after a moment’s hesitation.
"Oh. Yeah," she said. "Well, I heard that one too."
She looked uncomfortable, but was trying hard to hide it.
"Wasn’t going to ask about it."
"Nothing happened," he said, lowering his tablet and trying to meet her gaze.
Sigurdsson continued to look out into space.
"Finn, it's none of my business who you sleep with."
"We didn't sleep together. I mean, I guess we did—we fell asleep in the same bed—but I mean we didn't sleep together. It was a cover."
Turning to face him finally, Sigurdsson cocked a brow.
"We needed to plan this thing, so we needed a reason why she and I would spend that much time together," said Radko. "A reason that wouldn't make anyone suspicious. I guess she had a reputation before the invasion, so she suggested we make it look like we were..."
"That's actually pretty good," said Sigurdsson. "But I'm kind of pissed you didn't even tell me what was going on."
"Well..."
Radko fell silent as el Bahari approached and cleared her throat.
"Sir, the MediCorps doctor is looking for Miss Sigurdsson," she said.
"Yeah, I guess it’s about that time," said Sigurdsson, slapping Radko on the shoulder. "We’ll chat more about this later, yeah?"
"Can’t wait."
She headed off down the ladder to the main command deck, then out, Radko and el Bahari watching her go.
"I don’t like having civilians on the command deck, Sir," said el Bahari, her brow furrowed as usual.
"It’s a temporary situation – she’ll be disembarking at Muriel’s Moon."
El Bahari nodded, still staring down into the command deck. Owens was busy at the sand table and several crew members were milling about, tablets in hand.
"Have you met the doctor?" she said. "The brill?"
He shook his head. He hadn’t had the opportunity – the brill’s addition to the crew had been very last minute. It had apparently invoked some rarely-used sub-clause in the MediCorps Act invoking its right to remain with a patient requiring ongoing care while on a Commonwealth Naval vessel. Radko had never heard of it, and in fact had a feeling the brill made it up, but he wasn’t going to argue if the doctor’s presence was going to help Sigurdsson.
"I did," said el Bahari. "It’s unsettling. Speaking with it, knowing that the ‘it’ you’re speaking to is actually a small creature nestled inside the chest cavity of the bipedal robot."
Radko nodded. He knew exactly what she was thinking, but he allowed her to continue – partly because it was the first time she’d ever spoken to him about something that wasn’t strictly business.
"Ever since I first saw that autopsy video, I’ve been uncomfortable around brill," she said. "Even the brill doctor assisting Doctor Khaifa said it – there are a lot of similarities."
"The icarans and the udukiin walk around on two legs like us. Doesn’t make us the same."
"I know. It’s just a hard image to shake."
"It’s the same brill, by the way."
She turned to him, her frown deepening.
"From the autopsy video," he said. "It’s the same doctor we have aboard the Vimy Ridge."
"Our universe has become very small, hasn't it?"
"It has."
They stood in silence for a moment before Radko, rubbing his eyes, spoke again.
"I have some intel reports to review. You're in command—I'll be in my office if anything comes up."
After a nod from el Bahari, Radko headed down to his office, set an alarm for forty-five minutes, put his head down on his desk and fell asleep almost immediately.
When Radko returned to the command deck, el Bahari was up in the dome, standing ramrod straight, hands clasped behind her back. When he stepped up beside her, she glanced briefly at him before returning her gaze to the shadowed side of Muriel’s Moon.
"Sir," she said. "LiDAR has detected another vessel on the dark side of the moon. They believe it is icaran."
"They’re not sure yet?"
"I’ve ordered a heavy LiDAR scan – we should have the results momentarily."
Explaining the rendezvous with Elgrapharr and his commandos had always been expected to be tricky. Between he, Cagliari and Cortez, they’d come up with a plausible story and it was now time to see if it would pass muster.
"LiDAR scan ready, Commander," said the LiDAR operator.
Radko snapped his fingers and pointed to the secondary sand table in the observation dome and a second later a holographic ship appeared, slowly rotating. It was clearly an icaran vessel, but Radko and a select few aboard the Vimy Ridge had known it would be.
"Owens, get me Captain Singh," he said.
"Should we not be broadcasting to the icarans, demanding to know their purpose for being here?" said el Bahari.
Radko shook his head.
"First, we’re outside Commonwealth space. We don’t have any claim here to start making demands," he said. "Second, we know some pirates have done trade with the icarans. Singh didn’t really want us as an escort and I’m wondering if this is why."
She nodded, but her frown remained fixed.
"This is Captain Singh," came the hollow-sounding voice, piped through the command deck speakers.
Being an older model ship, the Vimy Ridge didn’t have the same universal video feed capabilities as other ships in the Commonwealth fleet, meaning that in many instances Radko had to rely on voice-only transmission when not in the immediate vicinity of larger comm networks. Many had complained about it, including Owens, but Radko actually preferred it. He could focus solely on what was being said and how it was being said without being distracted by visuals.
"Captain, this is Commander Radko," he said. "I trust you’ve noticed that we’re not alone here."
"Yes," said Singh, his voice much, much deeper than Radko had expected. "We have detected the icaran transport. You need not be alarmed, Commander, this was arranged."
"Captain, this is Lieutenant Commander Amira el Bahari. Do you mean to say that you have set up a meeting with this icaran vessel? If so, for what purpose?"
"Artefacts, Lieutenant Commander el Bahari. My crew had salvaged some icaran artefacts from a derelict vessel some weeks ago. They had no value to us, but cultural significance to the icarans and so we have arranged to return them. Does this satisfy your curiosity?"
The pirate captain injected some hostility into the last sentence. The man was a decent actor. El Bahari stiffened slightly.
"I suppose it does."
"Captain," said Radko. "Can I make a request?"
"I make no guarantees that I will grant it, but yes."
"I’d like to be involved in this," he said. "It’s no secret that we need allies. If a Commonwealth officer were to be involved in returning cultural artefacts, it could help our cause if the Prime Minister ever asks for icaran support."
There was a long silence as Singh pretended to consider the request.
"That could be dangerous, Commander," whispered el Bahari. "We don’t know the disposition of the icarans toward the Commonwealth right now."
"Risk is part of what we do, Amira," he said, pretending not to notice her twitch at being addressed by her first name. "We put our lives on the line for the good of the Commonwealth."
Whatever response she had was silenced by that of Singh.
"I will allow it," he said. "You will come aboard the Azrael’s Tear and we will meet with the icarans here. We will open our shuttle bay. The icarans will be here in fifteen minutes."
With that, the connection was terminated.
"All right," said Radko. "It looks like I’m playing ambassador for a bit. The ship is yours, Commander."
El Bahari nodded and Radko was fairly certain he saw a twinkle in her eye, an excitement at being placed in command of the Vimy Ridge and in that moment, Radko knew without a doubt that she was gunning for his job.
"Good luck," he said with a smile. "Owens, have Sigurdsson and the brill meet me in hangar one for immediate departure."
By the time Radko reached the hangar, Sigurdsson and the brill doctor were already there, their gear loaded onto the Flamingo shuttle. Back on Thor’s Hammer, Cortez would have received her code from Owens – a specific turn of phrase in an otherwise mundane report – to begin setting in motion her part of the plan.
The trip over to the Azrael’s Tear was short, but to Radko it still felt like an eternity. They were so close to getting their two plans underway—his and Cagliari's—that he was beginning to get antsy. Sitting in the shuttle, he had to force himself to stop bouncing his knee and then after that, to stop drumming his fingers on his armrest.
Looking down at Muriel's Moon, an ugly little pock-marked planetoid, didn't help and he only regained some measure of calm once the shuttle rose into the belly of the Azreal's Tear.
"Well," muttered Sigurdsson. "Let's get this started."
Disembarking, the group from the Vimy Ridge was greeted by Cagliari and two pirates – one of whom was very clearly Singh. While not overly tall, Singh cut an impressive and imposing figure. Beneath his white turban, a pair of bushy eyebrows shadowed dark eyes. His long, full beard was shot through with grey and his long coat was a rich purple, embroidered with gold. Around his middle, over the impressive coat, was a wide leather belt, his Kirpan strapped on his left.
"Welcome aboard the Azrael’s Tear," he said in his deep voice. "I am Captain Jagat Sohal Singh."
"A pleasure, Captain, and thank you again for taking part in this," said Radko as they shook hands. "Finn Radko."
Though Radko would have loved to speak with Singh at length about his ship, particularly about the anti-LiDAR shielding, the small icaran shuttle entered the Azrael’s Tear and settled into its landing zone. A troop of six figures exited, all wearing the traditional and somewhat unsettling faceless battle helmets of the icaran commandos.
As they marched up to the gathering of humans, the lead icaran removed his helmet. Like most icarans, his skin was brightly patterned, fading from a deep forest green to almost white, and speckled with spots of orange and stripes of bright yellow.
"Captain Elgrapharr," said Radko, smiling.
"Commander Radko," said the icaran, extending his hand in a traditional human handshake. "It is good to see you once again."
"And you. This is Kestrel Cagliari, the woman behind this little adventure, and Captain Jagat Sohal Singh, the man who’ll be getting you there."
"Captain Singh. Miss Cagliari."
"And, I think you already know this one," said Radko as Sigurdsson stepped up beside him.
"Indeed I do," said Elgrapharr, surprising Radko by giving Sigurdsson a hug.
"Oh, and this," said Sigurdsson, waving the brill forward. "Is Doctor Frankenstein."
"I am pleased to meet you, Doctor Frankenstein."
Both the brill and Radko looked back and forth between Sigurdsson and Elgrapharr multiple times. It was the brill who spoke first.
"The pleasure is mine, Captain. I have the utmost respect for the icaran people."
"And we for the brill. I understand it was you, Doctor Frankenstein, who performed the operation on Sigurdsson that dramatically improved her appearance."
Radko did a double-take. Icarans were not known for their humour. The brill – who was now, thanks to Sigurdsson’s joke, apparently answering to the name Frankenstein – didn’t miss a beat.
"Yes, it was a very interesting procedure to perform and I am pleased with its results so far."
"So," said Radko. "The icarans are okay with it? Using parts of your deceased this way?"
He was fairly certain Sigurdsson shot him a dirty look, but he ignored it. He had to be in leader mode and not friend mode – he had to know that Sigurdsson’s presence wouldn’t upset the other icarans and possibly jeopardize the mission.
"We do not treat death as humans do," said Elgrapharr. "There is no ceremony around the carcass of the deceased, no putting the remains on public display. That is... somewhat unsettling to us. Morbidly staring at a carcass."
When put that way, Radko was inclined to agree with the icaran.
"For icarans, when the body dies it ceases to be anything useful. It is refuse to be discarded," continued Elgrapharr. "Once the body dies, the individual lives on in their song. The body is nothing. We do not have fields where we bury remains and mark their location with stones – we simply incinerate them. Or, should the carcass be in a condition that allows it, we place it in stasis and have it sent to the brill for use in their medical research. So it has been for centuries and so it will continue. For any icaran, it would be an honour to know that after death, their physical remains were used to help heal another. So no, Sigurdsson’s surgery will be an issue for none of us. Had it been possible at the time, I would have gladly allowed Aeltheer’s remains to have been so used."
Radko nodded respectfully. He knew from his many long talks with Sigurdsson while she recovered after returning from Von Daniken’s Landing that Aeltheer had been the other icaran commando Locaris had sent with Elgrapharr and the rest of the reinforcements to assist Fort Hathaway. She had died a fairly gruesome death at the hands of the ril-galas horde. And she had been Elgrapharr’s wife.
"Understood Captain. Understood and greatly appreciated," said Radko. "Though I’m not supposed to say things like this, I really wish my government would get its head out of its ass and reach out to your people. I think you’d be a good influence on us."
Not for the first time and probably not for the last, Radko wished Locaris had been there.
Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Radko turned to see Sigurdsson looking at him intently, frowning slightly.
"You okay?"
"I’m fine," he said. "But I should go."
After wishing everyone luck in their mission, he turned back to Sigurdsson before stepping back onto the shuttle.
"You be careful," he said.
"Don’t worry about me," she said with a grin.
"Freyja, I’ve been worrying about you ever since I got that first call from Fort Hathaway."
"Yeah," she said, the grin fading. "Yeah, ditto."
As they embraced, Radko spoke again, quietly.
"Seriously, take care of yourself."
"You too," she said, giving him a last squeeze before they released each other.
She stayed in the hangar until Radko’s shuttle had departed for the Vimy Ridge.
"He’s a good man," said Caligari.
"Yeah. No one I’d rather have in my corner, that’s for sure," she said.
"That’s not what I meant," said Cagliari with a small chuckle. "But okay."