In the Presence of My Enemies (5 page)

   Shawn turned slowly to the Kafaran officer. The two let out mutual groans of dissatisfaction.

   “Lieutenant Commander Kestrel is not who I would consider the best pilot for this mission,” Krif began, but was silenced when Hansen raised a firm hand. 

   “I didn’t say
lieutenant
commander, Captain Krif. I said
commander
,” Hansen corrected, “Effective immediately, I might add.” He then turned to face Shawn. “Commander, when can you be ready to leave?”

“…Oh, save me. Save me from tomorrow.

I don’t want to sail
with this ship of fools.”

—Quoted lyrics from unknown musical ensemble,

Old Earth, unidentified century (possibly 22
nd
).

   As the door to his cabin slid open, Shawn was greeted by Melissa. Happy to see her walking about the corridors of the ship once more, he was nonetheless at a loss for words, her sparkling eyes and beautiful face catching him momentarily off guard. He smiled at her, wordlessly stepping aside and giving her room to enter the compartment. She stepped silently into the center of the cabin, and Shawn watched as her head tilted toward his chaotic suitcase.

   “Melissa, I’m sorry I didn’t—
,” he began, but his words were cut off as Melissa whirled on her heel and slapped him smartly across his cheek.

   “That’s for not coming down to the brig after I was arrested!” she snapped.

   Shawn tried to rub away the sting. “Look, I was about to say I was sorry. The last twenty-four hours have been fairly chaotic around here, if you hadn’t noticed. After your father was arrested—”

   She quickly slapped his other cheek.

   “What the hell was
that
for?” he asked, stunned.

   “Same as before, but that one came from my father.”

   Now rubbing both his cheeks, Shawn stepped back in fear of another attack. “I should have seen that one coming,” he muttered, then turned to get a glass of water. “Anything else?” he asked after taking a sip.

   Melissa seemed to ponder it for a moment, her eyes
narrowed and menacing, her cheeks flushed. “Unfortunately, nothing I can think of presently, but I’m sure you’ll give me a reason soon enough.”

   “So, was coming down here business or purely pleasure?”

   Melissa rolled her eyes, then snatched the glass from his hand. “Both,” she said, then finished his drink. Looking back to the suitcase, she noticed half the clothes were struggling to get out, like rats abandoning a sinking ship. “You know, you’d get those to fit—”

   “I know
—if I folded them.” He flashed her a brilliant smile as their eyes met. “We’ve had this conversation before.”

   She harrumphed. “I guessed we have.” Sitting herself down on the bed, she watched as Shawn slid a chair beside her. “I’m sorry I hit you,” she said sheepishly.

   “It’s okay. You were right. I should have found the time to come down.”

   “More disobeying of orders?”

   Shawn smiled as he nodded. “Krif told me how you got yourself thrown in the brig. I’m impressed.”

   Melissa
snorted. “You know, I should have just punched him when I had the chance. At least I would have felt better.”

   “And it would have made a better story for you to tell your kids someday.”

   She shot him a sideways glance, opening her mouth to speak, but then changed tactics mid-thought. “So it appears I’ve been detached from my current duties.”

   “Right,” Shawn replied slowly. “That other guy
. . . Agent what’s-his-name . . . Valerie—”

   “Mallory.”

   “The guy—”

   “Senior OSI Agent.”

   “He’s really taking over for you on board the ship?”

   Melissa cocked her head. “So it would seem.”

   “You think it’s permanent?”

   She shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I don’t see why not. I mean, my primary mission was to find my father and to discover what had happe
ned to the
Valley Forge
and her fleet. With both of those things accomplished, I see no reason for me to stay on board.”

   “You don’t think a conspiracy and attempted cover
-up at the highest levels of the Unified government is reason enough to continue your mission?” he asked. “Not to mention that there’s a spy on board the
Rhea
—one who broke into both my cabin
and
my ship and stole highly classified Unified data.”

   The sarcasm of his tone wasn’t lost on her. “Of course it’s important, Shawn. But I think my talents are better suited to our current diplomatic mission. Besides, Agent Mallory can more
than handle the
Rhea
from here on out. I’ve read his record. It’s impressive.”

   “You’ll forgive my lack of faith in Agent Celery.”

   “Mallory.”

   “I know. That time it was on purpose.”

   She slapped him gently on the shoulder. “In any event, my original mission is over . . . as far as the OSI is concerned. Time to move on.”

   “And it seems we’ll be doing so together.”

   She smiled, her cheeks reddening despite her best efforts otherwise. “Someone must think we’re a pretty good team.”

   “I’m starting to agree with them.”

   Melissa leaned in, kissing him. “I can’t think of a better pilot to get me in or out of trouble.”

   He smiled, leaning in for another kiss. Melissa held her finger to his lips, slowing his lunge until it was all that separated them. “We have a mission briefing to go over.”

   “We do?”

   She smiled. “I’d say it’s a rather informal one. Because I’m the intelligence agent assigned to protect Ambassador McDermott, and because you’re the one who’s going to protect me, I thought I’d go over everything I’ve learned in the last hour.”

   “What do you know about McDermott?” he asked, his eyes still on the ship outside.

   “A great deal, actually. Despite his young age, the Ambassador has been instrumental in a number of border disputes between member and non-member worlds in the Unified government for quite a long time.”

   “What type of disputes?”

   “Mostly territorial, often when scarce natural resources are involved.”

   Shawn turned to face her. “Has he ever done anything like this before?”

   “If by
‘this’ you’re asking me if he’s ever negotiated between two
warring
cultures, then I would say no. The ambassador’s efforts have a tendency to diffuse hostilities before they become an issue.”

   “I don’t suppose you learned anything about our other passenger?”

   She shrugged. “Colonel Tausan is a bit of a mystery, which I know you’ll just
love
.”

   Shawn folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not a big fan of surprises, no.”

   There was a knock at the door, and Shawn watched as Melissa admitted William into the room. The admiral looked worried as his eyes shifted from Shawn to Melissa.

  
“What’s going on?”

   “I just got off the comm channel with Commodore Savath. He’s informed me that one of the Kafaran border worlds near Unified space has just been attacked by the Meltranians. No survivors. Everything on the surface is lying in ruins. A passing Kafaran cargo freighter spotted three Meltranian collector ships, similar to the one that was destroyed here, heading
toward Unified Space.”

   Melissa shook her head in shock. “How close is the nearest Unified colony?”

   “Osa’Mara is roughly a week from the border. I’ve sent a message to the planetary governor, warning them to be on guard. Sector Command has also dispatched as many vessels as we could to ward off any attack, but our number of ships in the nearby sectors is pretty sparse. I don’t think they’ll be able to hold off the Meltranians for very long.”

   “What about the
Rhea
?” Shawn asked.

   “Due to the damage suffered during the battle with the Meltranians, the
Rhea
will remain on station here at Second Earth for the time being. A repair tender is on route to our coordinates and should arrive within the next thirty-six hours. After the major repairs are completed, we should be able to jump into the Damara Valala systems slightly ahead of the Meltranians, but we’ll still need more firepower.”

   Melissa looked to her father expectantly. “Do you really think the Rugorians are going to help us?”

   “It’s Ambassador McDermott’s job to make sure that they do. And it’s your job—both of yours—to make sure that he and Colonel Tausan get there safely.”

   “Do I need to watch my back around him?” Shawn asked.

   “Tausan follows orders, and has a knack for coming up with inventive solutions to problems,” William said. “I’ll be honest with you about one thing, though: the Colonel seems to have a chip on his shoulder about something.”

   “Could you be more specific?” Melissa asked.

   “He wasn’t overly pleased to be working directly with humans.”

   “I’m not overly pleased to be working with him, either
,” Shawn retorted.

   “I think it’s a little deeper than simple bigotry, Shawn. As I said, I can’t put my finger on it. Be cautious, be vigilant, but avoid unconcealed mistrust. Remember, the Unified government and the Kafaran Alliance are loose partners when it comes to defeating the Meltranians. They need us as much as we need them. Don’t forget that, and I want you to make it your personal responsibility to make sure our friend the Colonel remembers it as well.”

   Something in William’s tone with how he ended his statement gave Shawn a smile. “Of course, sir.”

* * *

   The doors leading into the
Rhea
’s hangar bay opened to admit Shawn Kestrel into its depths. Catching the gleam of the overhead lights on the forward view ports of
Sylvia’s Delight,
Shawn exhaled a sigh of relief as he approached the old craft. Running his hands along the uneven hull plating of the Mark-IV, he felt an immediate sense of ease come over him.

  As he rounded the stern, Shawn was glad to not only see the loading ramp folded down, but to see Trent Maddox hard at work. Despite Trent’s constant upkeep,
D
seemed to require more and more maintenance these days, and Shawn had to wonder how much longer the craft would remain spaceworthy. After all, there were only so many patches and shoestring repairs that one could perform on a craft that was constantly being asked to keep out the dangers of outer space. Shawn sighed heavily at the thought of ever retiring his faithful ship, and the noise seemed to draw Trent’s attention from what he was doing.

   “What’s going on, Skipper?”

   Shawn wrapped his hand around one of the cargo ramp struts. “It’s just that whenever I look at her, I start to feel out of place again.”

   “I know the feeling,” the mechanic replied with a soft smile. “That’s one of the reasons I’m down here so often. Makes me think of the old days, you know.”

   “Yeah.”
The old days. About a million years ago.
“Is she fit to fly?”

   Trent nodded, then looked up
at the ship lovingly. “As a fiddle, Skipper.”

   “We’ll be taking on some passengers for the trip. I assume you got the manifest for the modifications?”

   “If by
passengers
you mean that Kafaran, then yes. I installed that alien gizmo per specifications sent over by the Kafaran technicians.”

   “That gizmo is his food processing unit. Kafaran
s don’t eat the same things we do. Anyway, how did you get it hooked up so fast?”

   “What do you mean? They sent me the schematics.”

   Shawn shrugged. “Sorry. I just didn’t know you knew how to read Kafaran schematics, that’s all.”

   “The laws of physics are pretty universal. After deciphering some of those scribbles they call nomenclature, it was pretty strai
ghtforward. There was a little guesswork, but I got it all figured out.”

   “Did you test it?” Shawn asked skeptically.

   “You should see what came out of that thing when I turned it on,” Trent said with a shudder. “Disgusting. Looked like baby food . . . smelled like baby—”

   “I’ll take your word for it. Let’s just hope you got it hooked up right.”

   Trent looked over Shawn’s shoulder and nodded. “Looks like we’re going to find out.”

   Shawn turned and followed Trent’s gaze. Colonel Tausan stormed across the hang
ar, stopping only when he was within spitting distance of Shawn. He let out a guttural barrage of clicks, pops, snaps, and a smattering of gurgles, which Shawn knew was their native language, and the small computer at the Colonel’s side interpreted the mess of sounds.

   “You call this a spacecraft?” the digitized bass voice boomed. “I have seen more spaceworthy hulls floating in a garbage dump.”

   Looking past the Kafaran, Shawn could see both Melissa and Ambassador McDermott approaching—with the Ambassador a little too close to Melissa for Shawn’s liking. In an effort to quell interspecies hostilities, Shawn forced a thin smile. “It’s what we’ve got, Colonel.”

   Tausan grunted in disgust, then regarded the Mark-IV once more. “If we are engaged in combat, you will kindly show me to the nearest airlock. If it were discovered that I died in such a craft, it could bring great dishonor on my family.”