'And the SASALs,' Bristol continued. 'Using a ship named the Saladin for that kind of atrocity. Saladin himself never murdered civilians. He was a decent, honorable soldier.'
'What I want to know,' Randy Diego asked, 'is why they did it? I mean, why kill those people? What was the point?'
Paul glanced around, but no one else seemed willing to answer the question. 'We don't know for sure, Randy, but best guess is that the SASAL leadership didn't want these settlers getting off easy. They wanted to make an example of them so no other groups would try to settle asteroids without oversight and monitoring.'
'So they tried to kill them all?'
'Apparently.'
Kris Denaldo made an angry face. 'Anybody else planning on setting up rogue settlements will know the SASALs are willing and ready to slaughter them. And they'll know we won't stop the SASALs from doing it,' she finished bitterly.
'We couldn't,' Paul insisted. 'You know that.'
'Sure. We had our orders. And those orders gave the SASALs a free hand. How'd they know?'
'They didn't-'
'Are you sure? Look at what they did. It's just like they knew we couldn't do anything, that we'd have to sit by and watch them fire on those guys.'
Paul scowled down at his food, not feeling the least bit hungry and unable to think of any response to Kris' statement. They couldn't have known our orders. But they sure acted like they did. They even stopped shooting when there was a risk of hitting us by accident, as if they knew that would allow us to shoot back.
'We saved two kids,' Ensign Gabriel noted.
'Is that supposed to cheer us up?' Kris demanded. 'Between the SASALs and the settlers' own suicide pact a lot more died.'
'I know,' Gabriel agreed helplessly. 'I just… I don't know. It's something.'
Mike Bristol nodded at her. 'That's right. Does anybody know if the captain's going to get in any trouble because of this?'
'Why would he get in trouble?' Kris asked.
'You know.'
'No, I don't.'
Bristol made a face. 'A scapegoat. What if they want a scapegoat?'
Paul shook his head. 'The captain deserves a medal for what he did, not any kind of reprimand.'
Randy Diego spoke again. 'But all those people on the asteroid did die. If the politicians need someone to blame-'
'They can't nail it on Hayes,' Paul explained with an outward patience he didn't real feel. 'I know for a fact that word's gotten around in the press that our ship was put between those SASAL ships and their targets.'
'But I thought we weren't supposed to do anything,' Randy insisted. 'If they need someone to blame and the captain did something they can claim was wrong-'
'Or didn't do something they can claim he should've,' Val Isakov chimed in. 'They could court-martial him. Make him the fall guy.' She smirked at Paul. 'You might get a chance to nail another captain, Sinclair.'
The fatigue and frustrations of the last several days boiled over inside of Paul. Only the straps holding Paul into his seat kept him from launching himself at Isakov, his hand clenched into a tight fist. Isakov's eyes widened, but before anything else could happen Kris Denaldo had reached across Randy and grabbed the front of Isakov's uniform. Randy stared straight ahead, his body rigid at being caught in the line of fire between Isakov and Denaldo.
'You stupid bitch,' Denaldo stated in a voice which seemed all the more menacing for not betraying any emotion. 'Paul Sinclair testified on behalf on Captain Wakeman. Nobody else had the guts to do that, but he did because he thought even somebody like Wakeman shouldn't be blamed for the things they couldn't control. Either know what you're talking about or keep your damned mouth shut.' Denaldo released Isakov's uniform and leaned back again, then unstrapped with quick, angry gestures. 'I'm not hungry, anymore.'
Val Isakov, her face still red with anger, watched Kris leave the wardroom, then unstrapped herself as well. 'By your leave,' she spat, then she was gone, too.
Silence settled. Paul rubbed his face, then found himself looking at the chair at the head of the table. Commander Sykes, the old supply officer, had sat there during the junior officer meal shifts. The new supply officer had chosen to eat with the senior officers, and no one else had stepped in to provide a steadying hand to the junior officers. Sykes would've kept that situation from blowing up. Sykes would have some good advice for us.
Bristol followed Paul's gaze and nodded in understanding. 'I miss him, too.'
'We're tired as hell and too strung out to think straight.' Paul pushed his own food away. 'We could use some calm center of gravity right now.'
'Yeah. The guy was almost a father figure. Of course, if we'd told him that he'd have said 'could be' and asked us who our mothers were.' Bristol sighed. 'It's hard having Smithe for a boss now. Sykes gave us plenty of free rein, but Smithe wants to know every time I need to push a button on my keypad so he can sign off on it first.'
'Ouch. My sympathies.'
'I bet you're looking forward to Garcia leaving.'
Paul grinned. 'You could say that. I haven't got a good feel for what Moraine is like, though.'
'She doesn't seem to have Garcia's distemper problem.'
Paul smiled again. 'No. But she seems sort of… twitchy.'
'Twitchy? Nervous?'
'Yeah. And every time she looks at me she has this expression like I'm another ship on a collision course with her and five seconds from impact.' Paul unstrapped. 'I've got twenty minutes left to grab some sleep.'
Instead of heading straight for his stateroom, though, Paul went by Kris Denaldo's quarters. She was sitting in her chair staring morosely at nothing, but she looked up as Paul knocked on the open hatch. 'Hi, Paul. Sorry I blew up at Crazy Ivana. Unprofessional.'
'It's not like you weren't provoked.'
'I'm turning into Jen.'
'Careful, that's my fiancee you're talking about. Are you calling Jen unprofessional?'
That brought a half-hearted smile to Kris' face. 'Perish the thought.'
'Besides,' Paul added, 'if Isakov had been within reach of me I would've beat you to her.' He grinned. 'Did you see the look on Randy's face when you reached across him to get at her?'
'No. Was it priceless?'
''Deer in the headlights' doesn't begin to describe it.'
Kris smiled again, then went somber. 'Three years is a long time to do this sort of thing, Paul. I feel burnt out and sucked dry. That's how I felt before the asteroid incident. Now it's even worse.'
'Will you be okay?' Airlocks were too easy to find for someone who thought they couldn't handle life anymore. It had happened on other ships to other sailors who couldn't handle their personal or professional pressures.
But Kris shook her head. 'I'll be fine. Me big strong Space Warfare Officer. Underway is the only way. Do I sound perky enough?'
'Try a 'hoo-rah.''
'I will not try a 'hoo-rah.' I'm not a Marine.'
'Hang in there, Kris. In two weeks you'll be walking off of this ship for the last time.'
'I'll believe it when it happens. Who's going to look out for you for Jen when I'm gone?'
Paul smiled. 'I'm a big strong Space Warfare Officer, too. I'll be okay.'
'Sure you are.' She waved him away. 'Go get some sleep.'
'Do I look that bad?'
'Frankly, yes. And before you tell me, I don't want to know how I look.'
'Watch out for that guy!'
