He looked away, eyes distant on the bulkhead he was staring at, as if seeing through it to some unpleasant memory. “No, that one's true. Although their story's going to be much different from what really happened.”
The captain paused, but Lana simply waited, sure he wanted to continue. And after several seconds of heavy silence, he did.
“Just before our side's final defeat, the Last Stand caught up to and disabled a Deek frigate called the Implacable, capturing its crew. Which was a serious fight, a light cruiser against a frigate . . . we'd been growing more and more desperate back then, and my ship was the only one we could spare for the hunt. In fact, capturing it intact instead of being forced to destroy it is probably the-”
He cut off, seeming to realize he was going off on a tangent, and cleared his throat before continuing grimly. “Anyway, the war had gotten vicious in those final years, especially on the Deconstructionists' side. The Implacable's standing orders had been to travel to any colony world guilty of siding with the Preservationists and rain atomics on their populations from orbit. They'd already killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, and we were tasked with stopping them at all costs.”
Lana listened in horror, hands involuntarily covering her mouth at what she was hearing. “One ship murdered so many people?”
Aiden clenched his fists at his sides, veins standing out in his neck as he fought to control his fury. “That's been the reality of war for most of humanity's tens of thousands of years in space. Our weapons are so unbelievably destructive, and our methods of protecting large vulnerable populations are so prohibitively difficult, that aside from shooting down enemy ships before they can attack a planet, its only defense is the human decency of the enemy.
“That's been enough, for the most part. No one with a shred of integrity would attack a planet or even a spaceport, aside from under the most extreme circumstances. And it's common sense, too, since two sides in a war resorting to such methods would eventually annihilate everything they were fighting for.”
He blew out a shuddering breath, turning to look at her again. “The Deconstructionists were the first established government in millennia who officially sanctioned and even ordered their armed forces to attack planets, but even then the Preservationists refused to respond in kind . . . we wouldn't stoop to their level. It might be why we finally lost the war, but I won't apologize for that even so.”
“What happened to the Implacable's crew when you caught them?” Lana asked quietly. “Is that when you executed them?”
Aiden shook his head. “Nobody would've said a word if we'd blown those monsters out of the sky, but when they surrendered we took them prisoner to bring them to justice. Even treated them according to Stag conventions for dealing with prisoners, much as we all would've liked to rough them up for what they'd done. We were ordered by Command to deliver them to the nearest fleet so they could be publicly executed for their crimes.”
He paused, then finished grimly. “But on the way there that fleet was destroyed, the Accords signed. Our leaders called for all Preservationist forces to lay down their arms, evacuate all captured enemy worlds and military bases, free all prisoners of war, and disperse.”
“They wanted you to free the people who'd nuked innocent planets,” Lana said quietly.
Aiden gave her a tight, bitter smile. “That they did. So we obeyed orders and freed them . . . out the nearest airlock into space.”
The silence returned, even heavier. “You've probably killed a lot of people, if you've been fighting for so long.”
“More than I can count, in my ongoing war against the Deconstructionist Movement. That's what happens in war.”
“And they were all Deeks?” she pressed. “All monsters like the crew of the Implacable?”
Aiden was slow to answer. “Even with your memory wipe, you still understand the definitions of all the words you knew before. Do you know what a collaborator is?”
Lana frowned. “In the context you're using it? A person who worked with the enemy in wartime.”
“Exactly!” the captain snapped. “A traitor. That's who we've gone after, Lana. Either enemy vessels, or the ships of those who work with and help them now.”
On the surface that made sense, but it still struck her as wrong. “But the war's been over for almost ten years. How can people who trade with Deconstructionists, now the ruling force in the universe, in peacetime, be considered collaborators? Aren't they just people trying to move on with their lives?”
Aiden went very still, looking at her through narrowed eyes. “The ones we go after are more guilty of helping the Deeks than most,” he finally said in a low voice. “And the war's not over while there's still people fighting. I'll never stop fighting.”
He turned on one heel and continued on down the corridor towards her room, and Lana allowed the conversation to die there as she followed.
But she couldn't help but think that it looked a lot more now like the Last Stand was engaged in simple piracy, like the wanted poster had accused them of. After all, if they were fighting a war then why weren't they going after military objectives? Waylaying trading ships didn't seem much like it would help them win a war, even if most of their targets were Deeks.
They were just one ship against the universe, with no clear objectives other than accumulate wealth so they could continue operating. No matter how supposedly noble their cause, it seemed to her like it could only end one way.
Common sense told her she should take Aiden up on the offer he'd first given her when she came aboard, let him drop her off on the next station they passed.
But for some reason, Lana had no desire to leave the Last Stand. And not
