Honor Bound

table at Admiral Patel, Captain Minishimi and their staffs, as well as the surviving Marine officers, Vinnie Mahoney, Commander Villanueva and Konstantin Mironov. They were gathered in the spacious conference room on the Sheridan, located conveniently in the ship’s gravity drum, to discuss their next move.

Patel and Minishimi shared a laugh at the thought: the last time the two of them and McKay had sat down in a situation like this was during the war, when what remained of the Fleet was gathered in the asteroid belt and the Protectorate forces had taken control of Earth.

“Well, at least things aren’t quite as dire this time as they were then,” Minishimi pointed out. “We’re on their doorstep instead of the other way around.”

“The question is,” McKay said, “where do we go from here? As I see it, we have two priorities: we need to get the information that Konstantin has given us back to Fleet HQ, but we also need to follow through on that information before Antonov has a chance to react.”

“We also have an issue with fuel,” Minishimi spoke up. “The Decatur dumped her antimatter and we weren’t able to recover much of it. If we distribute the Sheridan‘s stores evenly, we won’t have enough for either ship to go into combat, if need be. Hell, we don’t have much of a margin for error just to get both ships back to Earth. I don’t know that we can follow through, unless you want to leave the Decatur here.”

“I had a thought on that, Captain,” McKay said. “What if the Decatur didn’t need any antimatter to get back to Earth?”

Patel looked back and forth between McKay and Mironov. “You can get the ship back to Earth using the wormholes?”

“Of course,” Mironov said with a shrug, his English halting. “The route from here to Earth is easy… just a few jumps and the systems are not normally monitored. You need a way to trigger a fusion explosion though… it is necessary to open expand the gate, you see. You need the… the, what’s the word? The burst of electromagnetic energy, focused in the right place, it opens the way.”

“You know the precise amount?” Minishimi asked.

“Yes of course, it is my job,” he told her. “You know, it might even be possible to use your gravimetic focusing technology to do this… we could try it.”

“Hmmm…” Admiral Patel mused. “Let’s do that, but with this ship. Here’s what I’m thinking: Mr. Mironov here shows Captain Minishimi’s engineering crew how to navigate the wormholes and gives here the coordinates to the gates that will take her back to Earth. But he comes with us and we scout out what we can reach using the gate locations he has memorized and working out a way to use the Eysselink field to open the gates.”

“I think I see where you’re going with this, sir,” McKay said with a trace of excitement in his voice. “If we can actually find Novoye Rodina, by the time we return, Captain Minishimi could have the Fleet marshaled and ready to move.”

“And when they do move, Colonel,” Patel confirmed, “they’ll be able to make it in days instead of weeks or months, using Antonov’s wormhole matrix against him.” He looked around the table. “Comments? Additions? Objections?”

“Sir,” Commander Villanueva spoke up, “will my birds be going with you or with the Decatur?”

Patel considered the question for a moment, unconsciously cracking his knuckles as he often did when he was thinking. “Unless Captain Minishimi has any objection,” he finally answered, “I’d like to keep your squadron with me, Commander. We are bearding the lion in his den, as it were. The extra firepower might come in handy.”

“No objections from me,” Minishimi said, raising her hands palm up in acquiescence. “We still have our landers; that should be enough for the trip back to Earth.”

McKay saw Commander Villanueva grin with satisfaction. “Thank you sir, ma’am,” she said. Then he saw her glance quickly-so fast he almost missed it-at Vinnie, and saw Vinnie wink at her surreptitiously.

Damn, he thought, amused, didn’t see that one coming. But then, he never would have imagined Tom Crossman as a family man, yet there he was, still married to the emigrant household maid he’d met on Aphrodite at the governor’s mansion six years ago.

Hell, for the first few months he’d known Vinnie and Jock, he’d have sworn they were a couple… he remembered how hard they’d laughed when he’d finally asked them about it. And how hard Shannon had laughed when he’d told her.

“Also,” Patel went on, “I want the Marine reaction platoons with us, and of course your Special Operations squad, Captain Mahoney.”

“Hoo-rah, sir,” Vinnie said, impressing McKay by managing not to sound ironic while being both cool and gung ho at the same time.

“Mr. Mironov,” Admiral Patel said to the Russian, “how long will it take you to get the Decatur‘s engineering crew up to speed on how to use the gates?”

Seeing the look of doubt in Mironov’s eyes, McKay quietly repeated the question to the man in Russian and he smiled with comprehension. “No more than… perhaps a day, maybe two to put together the fusion triggering devices, Admiral.”

“Excellent. Captain,” he said to Joyce Minishimi, “prepare your crew to launch for Earth in 72 hours. I’ll send over my chief engineer and navigation officer to sit in while Mr. Mironov is explaining things to your people… that should save some time. Commander Villanueva, see to getting your shuttles, equipment and personnel transferred to the Sheridan. I will also leave it to you to liaison with the Marines and Special Operations units to transfer them over here as well, if you don’t mind.”

“My pleasure, sir,” she assured him.

“Captain Minishimi,” Patel said, “if you need any supplies or personnel to help ready your ship, please let me know and I will see personally that you get them immediately.”

“Thank you, Admiral,” she replied with a nod. “We’ll get it done.”

“Then if there are no further questions,” he stood and the others all stood with him, “this meeting is adjourned and you are all dismissed to your tasks.” As McKay turned to leave, Patel put a hand on his arm. “Colonel, if I could speak with you for a moment alone…”

“Yes, sir,” McKay said, standing aside as the others began to file out of the room.

“Have a seat,” Patel invited once the last of them was out and the door closed, sitting back down at the head of the table. McKay sat kitty-corner to him, waiting patiently. Patel looked him in the eye, a frown crossing his face. “Jason, I need to know: do you trust this Konstantin?”

“To a point,” McKay responded with a shrug. “We slipped him a tranquilizer with his dinner and then fed him the truth drug and an amnesiac. Under the drug, he confirmed what he’d said and that he had no loyalty to Antonov. He’s scared shitless of him.” McKay looked uncomfortable. “I felt kind of bad doing it, but it’s all our lives and millions more… and he doesn’t remember any of it. I think it would be wise to check the wormholes with a shuttle before bringing the cruiser through, though.”

“It’s your job to be paranoid, Jason,” Patel commented with an appreciative chuckle. “Don’t feel guilty about it.”

“Yes, sir. Well, to answer your question, I trust Mironov to the point where I’m willing to test his trustworthiness. Beyond that… well, to game the drugs, he’d have to be hypno-imprinted pretty deeply. And while I wouldn’t put anything past Antonov, it would take a damned psychic for him to know that particular guy would get captured.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Patel acknowledged. “At this point, we don’t have much choice. It’s either trust him or head straight for Earth… or leave the Decatur here and hope we can get fuel back to her eventually. Neither of those options appeals to me, and since I’m the admiral, they don’t appeal to any of you either.”

McKay laughed. “Not that they would have anyway, Admiral. But I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“We’ve waited five years for this, Jason,” the Admiral said with a sigh, sitting back in his chair. “Let’s not fuck it up.”

* * *

“Assault One, this is Decatur,” Esmeralda Villanueva heard the transmission from the cruiser over the cockpit speakers. “The fusion device is in place and the countdown has begun. You may commence your burn.”