She had asked the Doctor to elevate her upper body on the biobed so that she could meet Kim at eye level. Searching his eyes now, she saw how guarded he was. Mistrust? It hadn’t occurred to her until now that she might bear some specific responsibility for what had transpired. She did not remember the attack or much that preceded it, but it was possible that she had miscalculated at a critical moment once it began. Was knowledge he possessed coloring his estimation of her?
Defensiveness cut through the miasma, providing a burst of adrenaline and newfound focus. “The Doctor has briefed me on our current circumstances as best he can. It seems that in my absence, you have effectively assumed command of my ship.”
Kim nodded. “It wasn’t anything formal, Captain. I just knew we needed to get power restored and Lieutenant Conlon was the only engineer available for that task. I made a plan, and no one questioned following it.”
“Formal or not, I am assured that my crew now continues to follow your orders. I am curious to know why you chose not to defer to Lieutenant Velth, who was the ranking officer when you regained consciousness.”
“He didn’t ask, Captain. Frankly, we worked together. I suggested he help Conlon restart the fusion reactor, and once that was done, he, Conlon, Barclay, and I met to figure out our next priorities.”
“But you ordered him on the EV mission that claimed his life, did you not?”
Kim straightened his shoulders a bit. He appeared to be readying himself to accept a blow. The ruddiness that surged into his cheeks suggested embarrassment, but when he spoke again, struggling to keep his voice even, she recognized that he, too, was grieving Velth’s loss. “He volunteered without question to be Conlon’s eyes and hands when she outlined the scope of the work. Without another capable chief engineer on board, none of us felt that we should risk her. Without Conlon, we really are in trouble, Captain. Nonetheless, I do take full responsibility for the events that led to Velth’s death and am willing to accept any disciplinary action you feel appropriate.”
Glenn had internalized Kim’s initial appearance, assuming as most people did that it had something to do with her. She chided herself, understanding now that he was every bit as frightened as she was. The playing field was level, but it couldn’t stay that way.
“I understand the challenges you all faced, and I commend you for rising to them as best you could. But as I am sure you are aware, starships function best when the chain of command is observed. I intend to resume command of my ship effective immediately. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Of course not, Captain,” Kim replied.
Compassion followed quickly on the heels of insight.
“When was the last time you slept, Lieutenant?”
Kim smiled faintly.
“Something funny?”
“No, Captain. It’s just, I asked Velth the same thing yesterday and ordered him to hit his rack for a few hours, over his objections.”
Now it was Glenn’s turn to smile. “Sounds like Ranson.”
“He was a good man.”
“He was much more than that, Lieutenant. He was also a devoted brother and somewhat reluctant uncle to two rowdy boys, a world-class skier, whose favorite poet was Robinson Jeffers and favorite band was the Beatles. He hated yoga, despite my many attempts at conversion, and never hesitated to get his hands dirty. He treated our emergency security holograms as he would any fellow officer, despite the fact that not one of them so much as cracked a smile at his jokes. My helmsman, Ensign Ben Lawry, worshipped him, and Ensign Selah has been nursing a crush on him since the day we launched.”
“I didn’t know any of that, although Nancy, Lieutenant Conlon”—he corrected himself automatically—“did tell me that his jokes were pretty dumb,” Kim admitted with a regretful smile.
“Of course you didn’t. You couldn’t. But I don’t have that luxury. He was my friend.” At this, Glenn’s stress response spiked, threatening to overwhelm her. She took a moment, a few deep breaths, and continued, determined to shift to the safer ground of practical matters. “What is our current status? Is the communications array functioning?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Have we attempted to contact the rest of the fleet?”
“We are over forty-seven thousand light-years from our previous position and twenty from our nearest comm relay. Unless the fleet moves much closer to us or that particular relay, we will not be able to contact them for a very long time.”
“Then we should make restoring power to our engines our primary concern.”
“Due respect, Captain, we don’t have any antimatter, dilithium, or benamite. All of them were lost or destroyed during our transport here.”
“Transport?”
Kim shrugged. “I don’t know what else to call it. Sensors weren’t functioning, so I can’t confirm that theory, but it’s the only one that accounts for all of the evidence at hand.”
“And apart from killing Velth, the aliens haven’t attempted to make contact with us?”
“There’s a case to be made that they didn’t kill Velth intentionally. They might have been curious and unaware that their actions would harm him.”
“They attacked us.”
“They brought us from our former position, where we had engaged technology they might classify as proprietary, and while we suffered tremendous damage when they did that, it is still not clear that they intended to harm us.”
“Upon what do you base that speculation, Lieutenant? Other alien species had been experimenting with that technology long before we arrived. Why are you so determined to give them the benefit of the doubt here?”
Kim sighed. “Because any other supposition means we are probably all going to die sooner rather than later.”
This simple statement
