Beyond Mars Crimson Fleet (42 page)

“And?” Boosy’s curiosity grew.

James turned and looked at the auburn woman. “They
didn’t answer.”

“That’s it?” Boosy was surprised.

“That’s it,” James validated.

“Where’s Rich now?” questioned Boosy.

Again James paused. “Officially, he’s inspecting the
ship. Unofficially—he’s in the chapel.”

Boosy was taken back. “That’s one place I thought
he’d never go in,” her voice went soft.

Randall frowned. “I guess he has a lot on his
mind—and needs to talk to someone about it.”

“Thanks,” Colette said as she rushed away.

* * * * *

There was an ancient adage that the older, more
experienced Martian Marines acknowledged as pure truth; “There are
no atheists in a foxhole.” This axiom was reflected in the thinking
of the vast majority of Martians who were followers in the
Christian faith. In these waning moments before the battle, all
prayed for their deliverance from the Crimson Fleet. But this was
not the first plague cast onto the Martians by the Earth’s
government.

Although the main reason for
immigration to Mars was due to monetary gain, a developing harrying
by the state’s growing nondenominational sponsored church made the
decision of relocation quite easy. In the name of peace and
harmony,
The Order
carefully manipulated men and women to join in the same
belief system that
The Order
considered as correct and suitable—their own.
This was to help rid the human race of internal strife and
conflicts as well as any dissent within the masses. It became the
mantra of the one world government as all religions were slowly
targeted for elimination. But many still practiced the values they
were brought up in, regardless of the growing danger.

The Martian fleet Commander was no different in
this. Somewhere inside, he still believed in the God he was brought
up to respect and love. Driven by the innocent child within,
Richard Wakinyan knelt humbly before the altar of his ship’s chapel
and the large crucifix that was raised behind it. With the hatch
closed, he came to face both his demons—and his Creator.

Richard’s
doubts grew in the time he had left the
Mariner
, giving
way to an undeniable realization. Regardless of how furiously
the Martians fought the next day, the battle was beyond his
control. Furthermore, what Paladin had said came to pass: all eyes
were upon him now, seeking salvation from certain death. But
Wakinyan knew that he, their deliverer, was not able to bequeath
this from his own skill and cunning alone, nor from bravery of his
fleet. It was going to take someone bigger than all of them
combined to grant victory, and rescue the Martians from their
plight.

It had
been many years since Richard had uttered a single word of prayer.
Not since before the death of his uncle and his friends aboard
the
Soaring Eagle
had he sought consolation with the Lord. For Wakinyan had
blame God for their deaths, and questioned why good people had to
die so horribly. It had been a question he saw no answer to, save
but one: if God wouldn’t protect the helpless and destroy the
wicked—then he would.

The Lakota fought tenaciously as a fierce and
rampaging tiger, ripping his enemies apart and watching them
perished before him. Yet, with each small victory, more foes came
to replace them, for evil filled the universe with its minions. And
in the end, Wakinyan realized that he was still but a mere man
whose limits were quite evident in the lives he could not save.

Yet in the dawning of every new day, Wakinyan’s eyes
were opened a little wider. He was not alone in this struggle.
There were many like him, men and women who stood against the
menacing and immoral at their own peril. Perhaps, these men and
women—like him—were God’s solution to the vile that plagued the
cosmos, helped occasionally by miracle or two. However, it was a
miracle or two Richard needed now.

With bowed head, Richard prayed as he had never done
before. He prayed until tears rolled from his eyes; he prayed until
his soul lay bared and emptied before the Lord. For the weight of
the leadership he never wanted, fell heavy upon his shoulders, and
all that was important to him now were the many precious lives that
he had been entrusted with. Abandoning all pride, he begged and
pleaded with God for every one of them. And from the genuineness
and love in his own heart, he readily offered up a sacrifice: his
own in exchange.

Finally, he ran out of words and waited, hoping for
some sign—anything. But in the many minutes that passed, none came,
and slowly with every passing second, he felt more and more
foolish.

Suddenly, Richard heard the hatch behind him open
and he quickly wiped the wet sorrow from his face. After blessing
himself with the sign of the cross, he stood up and turned in a
military manner to face the intruder. It was Boosy.

She wore a thin cloaked smile, but seemed afraid to
approach. “Am I interrupting something?” Colette was
respectful.

Richard smiled. “No. Not a thing,” he lied.

Colette walked up to him and kissed him on the
mouth. “I was wondering what it would take to get you in here with
me,” she tried to joke.

But Richard cast his eyes down for a moment as his
jaw tightened.

“Sorry,” she apologized and kissed him again. Boosy
then hugged him as hard as she could. “I know you have a lot on
your mind—but I didn’t want to leave things unfinished between
us—in case something happened.”

Wakinyan’s arms encircled her in a loving
embrace. “Nothing is going to happen,” Richard tried to sound
upbeat.

Boosy kissed him a third time. “I think—it’s out of
your hands, Commander,” the words stumbled out of Colette’s mouth.
“I have a feeling that—that I’m not going to see you again!”

“What do you mean?”

For a moment, Colette looked away from him as her
eyes filled with tortured distress. “I don’t think I’m going to
live past tomorrow!” she said near to tears.

Richard felt her fear reach up into him and touch
his soul. It was as if a black shroud surrounded the woman and
entwined her in its shadow, and this impression of death chilled
his spine.

“Boosy, I won’t let
anything happen to you! I won’t let you die! I’ll stop them! I
swear it!” Richard honestly promised with a renewed vigor and
determination to defy the premonition.

His noble selfless chivalry and his love delighted
Colette’s heart. “You’re many wonderful things, Rich—but you’re not
God! This is something you can’t stop!”

However, Wakinyan became
angry. “I won’t have you believing in a self-fulfilling prophecy! I
am giving you a direct order! You are to remain with the civilian
ships!” he demanded.

“If it’s going to happen, there is no way you can
protect me—and I will not leave my squadron!”

But Richard was insistent, as his voice began to
waver. “You will do as you are told!”

“No!” Boosy cried back softy. “I won’t!”

Suddenly, Richard’s eyes expelled a few tears. “Damn
it!” his voice trailed to a whisper. “I don’t want to lose you too!
I don’t want to lose you too!” as his hug quickly tightened.

“You won’t!” Boosy comforted in return, “I’ll always
be with you!”

The two frail human beings then kissed—and loved
each other in a lasting farewell as the minutes ticked by.

* * * * *

It was
some time later that Boosy walked into the sickbay of the
Crazy Horse
. Medical
specialists hurriedly sped passed her to board the last departing
shuttles.

A nurse, however, called backed to Rhianna, “Doctor,
we’re all packed and leaving!”

“Good!” Rhianna said as she packed the last of her
things. “I’ll join you there in a few minutes.”

It was then that Colette decided to step in front of
her. “Going somewhere, doctor?” she asked.

Rhianna looked up and was
surprised to see the auburn woman whom she knew as Richard’s girl
friend. The blonde, however, took it in stride. “Your
Boy Scout
has just
decided to commit suicide with his ship. But at least he has the
decency to order all non-essential personnel off,” the doctor
gloated.

For a minute, no other
words were exchanged. Boosy, however, seethed silently in anger as
the doctor finished packing.

Rhianna closed her case
and stood up. “I hope all you soldiers have a nice little war. I’ll
be sure to drink a toast to your memory—when I’m back on Earth!”
she added nastily.

As Rhianna began to leave,
Boosy suddenly grabbed the surgeon by the arms and pushed her down
on an examination table.

“Doctor,
you aren’t getting back to Earth!” Boosy loudly articulated point
blank. “While Rich was busy rescuing those colonists from Cramer’s
World, he managed to pick up a few deserters from the enemy’s
flagship. One of them was Commander Trager, the
Quinton’s
first officer! And he
brought us some interesting news. The Earthers are going to wipeout
this entire fleet—and that includes you!” Boosy informed the woman
as shock and fear filled Rhianna’s eyes.

“Isn’t it ironic; the very
people you’ve ridiculed and insulted over the years are the same
ones you need to save your precious little neck!” Colette
continued. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think anyone is going to
live through this. But I’ll be damned if I let you walk out of here
without telling you what I think!”

From a pocket, Colette
pulled out a memory wafer and tossed it upon Rhianna’s chest. “I
stumbled across that about a year ago. It’s a letter of resignation
from the service by Richard. He wrote it just before you filed for
divorce,” Boosy’s face was flushed with indignation. “Go ahead,
take a look at it! To please you, he was going to give up all the
things he loved the most! And you know why—because he loved you
even more!”

With a shaky hand, Rhianna
reached out and picked the wafer up to study it.

But Colette gave her no
respite. “You self-centered little bitch, that is one hell of a man
out there! You know what he’s about to do? He is going to pump all
of the air out of every warship in the fleet and fight in space
suits! That’s so the fleet will be able to take a tremendous
pounding while inflicting the most damage it can—before it’s
destroyed! Better to lose the entire Martian Battle Fleet than to
have every man, woman, and child slaughtered. That’s why he’s
emptying this ship. He’s giving you and as many people as he can a
chance to live. This, while sacrificing his own life in
return.”

Rhianna looked up into
Colette’s face and saw an expression of pure hate.

“Well, I guess you better
get to your shuttle before it leaves,” Colette snickered. “But if
you ever get to make your toast, remember this; Richard Wakinyan is
a damn fool! But not for the reasons you think. It’s because deep
down inside, he is still in love with you! And whatever he sees in
you—is surely blind to the rest of us!”

Boosy then departed as
quickly as she came, leaving Rhianna alone in the sickbay. For a
moment, the woman seemed unfazed by the squadron leader’s speech,
but unexpectedly, she began to sob.

“What have I done?” Rhianna
finally saw the truth in her own contemptible actions. Suddenly, an
immense stabbing pain struck her in the back of her head like a
sharp knife. In a short scream, the doctor reeled and fell to the
floor in agony. Mercifully, however, she slipped into
unconsciousness.

* * * * *

As
Wakinyan wandered unto the bridge of the
Crazy Horse
, James saw the irritation
on the Lakota’s face. Wakinyan’s eyes were slightly squinted and
angry, while his body was tense like a wound spring. Randall
immediately recognized his friend was in a foul mood, but James
pretended not to notice.

“Kind of quiet up here,”
Randall tried some small-talk to lighten things up.

“It won’t be for long!”
Richard’s stern voice promised retribution for the hated Earthers.
“What do you have to report?”

James rubbed his eyes in
tiredness. “Well—the fleet’s getting there. However, it doesn’t
seem like there’s enough equipment, personnel—or time to go
around.”

“As for
us, repairs from our
previous
adventures
are still ongoing. Marcus has
just laid the last of the redundant control cables. All spacesuits
have been checked and declared functional. The magnetic reflector
shield plates have been mounted on the bow and all other critical
areas of the ship along with being covered with a heavy coating of
Aerogel to improve heat resistance and scattering of any laser
energy. The ion field generators are also in place. Should we be
targeted by any electron-accelerator cannons, the entire hull will
be highly charged to their negative polarity and hopefully slow or
dissipate most of the energy of their blast. But just how much
protection that’ll really afford us is
debatable.”

“What about the
lasers?”

“Per your orders, all rods
for both the main gun and secondary lasers will fire at once, their
power cables have been tripled to accommodate the increased load,
and the safeties have been removed for sustained fire. But that
worries me; they’ll be drawing a lot more power, which means
they’re going to get really hot! If any of the laser rods burn out
or crack from the heat under combat—they’ll be no way to repair
them.”