Crucible by James Wittenbach

Author:James Wittenbach [Wittenbach, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction And Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure
Amazon: B00DO3HJNG
Publisher: Booktango
Published: 2013-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Pegasus – Command Suite

“So, how do I do all that stuff I said I would do?” Keeler asked Alkema when he was done swearing.

“Removing Lear from Lexington Keeler? ” Alkema gave the requisite low whistle. “She’s isolated herself in the Secondary Command Center. If she doesn’t come willingly, that won’t be easy to get to.”

“How would it look to the crew if I had to send a squad of warfighters to drag out my former first officer?” Keeler snapped. “Half the crew thinks I’m a fool on a good day. If Lear says I’m incompetent, there’s more than a few who are going to nod their heads. How do I contain that damage?”

Alkema disagreed. It was a quarter, a third of the crew at most. He had never thought the commander cared. “Handle it like you always handle it. Stand tough and finish the mission.”

Keeler sighed, “If I had known this many people would be killed and there were no survivors on the Lexington Keeler, I probably wouldn’t have started the mission.”

“You had no way of knowing there were no survivors without going to the ship,” Alkema reminded him. “And if you back off now, you’ll just hand her a victory.”

“I can’t have that,” Keeler said. “Not here, not now, and not ever.”

A thought occurred to Alkema. “Get all the Core Chiefs together, show them who’s in charge, and show them you’ve got everything under control.”

Keeler warmed to the idea immediately. “Right. I’m in charge. Everything is good. We’re fixing Keeler. The ship is safe. We’ve got landing teams exploring the planet. Right,… good…

Make it happen,” he ordered Alkema.

Then a moment later, he added, “But also make sure we can get her out of there… if it comes to that.”

Pegasus –Office of the Watch

Tyronius Octavius Fitzgerald Sukhoi was one of the leaders of Pegasus’s Ship’s Watch. Since Pegasus was an almost entirely law-abiding ship, and because the ship was seldom threatened by intruders, there weren’t that many in the full-time watch. His sub-specialty was machine maintenance. This took him frequently into the UnderDecks, which he knew as well as Queequeg’s new friend Hunter whom he, in his alternative identity as the Centurion Constantine, had been trying and failing to capture for most of the previous five years. As Sukhoi entered Chief Churchill’s office he saw Technician Third Class Arsanjani Kong, leaving. Kong was also known by the name of Invictus when he wore the shadow-black armor of The Notorium. The last time Churchill had called the Centurions individually to his office had been on the planet Winter, when they were charged with hunting down a suspected Aurelian infiltrator. Ipso facto, some major operation was afoot. Sukhoi took a seat without being asked.

“You heard Executive TyroCommander Lear’s conversation with Commander Lear,”

Churchill asked.

“I’m afraid I didn’t,” Sukhoi said. “Not in real time, anyway. But I saw the playback. Her criticism of Prime Commander Keeler was… very strong.”

“Right, but that’s unimportant. Under the main transmission, Lear sent a very discreet, encoded signal, authorizing us to implement the 22nd Sanction.

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