J Mauldin - Final Solution

“Are you so sure?” I cut in with a voice like a razor, slicing his intentions in two. I raised the tablet and pointed at the screen. “Our most recent sensor data shows little radioactive material on board the Razor compared to the start of our mission. If they were carrying bombs, they’d still have high readings. But they’ve been firing often, haven’t they? More than what we would have expected. And each time they fire…”

“They have less radioactive materials,” Liberty finished, giving me an appraising look.

“There’s more to the message coming in,” Comm reported. “ You will not win a face to face conflict. Our vessel is a gunship, not a bomber like yours. We have confirmed this information to be valid, and we shall see you in hell. ”

The Axis never had any intention of bombing Mars, even if they had the means. Only in protecting themselves from the likes of us. We were the villains of this narrative and never knew it. The Captain had orchestrated this to see an end. He had been the one to set events in motion.

“You did this,” Liberty said, her nose an inch away from her father’s. “Why? Why! Were you aware they had no bombs? No weapons of mass destruction?”

“No!” he shouted, spit dribbling over his lips like an animal. “I wasn’t aware, and after what happened on Ceres, I wasn’t taking chances. As soon as you were safely aboard, a message was dispatched that we were coming for them. I took hold of a small window of opportunity where the planets were aligned just right, and forced us down a path leading straight at their home with Mars in its center. I had no intentions of slowing as we approached our home, but to try and take those bastards out before they hit orbit. But if they had had bombs or no bombs, it wouldn’t have changed a thing. All important personnel were moved into secret bunkers on the southern pole weeks ago. Let the Axis drop their payload and turn Arsia Mons to dust, we’ll finish off their only true foothold and return as heroes of the Brethren, soldiers of a righteous war. This system would then have been ours! Ours! And you, you would be safe. Safe from war and moral depravity. I might not could have saved your mother, but I thought I could save you.”

She slapped him across the face with an open palm. “Never speak of mother. She was a peacemaker, not some militaristic warmongering political puppet.” Liberty’s voice became deadly quiet. “It was about the future earnings, wasn’t it? You would let our people die for nothing, but for us to become murderers and corporate puppets. Let our children perish for dollars, only to put the bomb to theirs and eliminate the competition outright. There’s good reason the Axis hates us, and this is it. We push ourselves into places they’ve rightfully taken as their own, impose our moral and religious doctrine on the edge of a knife, forcing them into trade deals with Earth bound countries who wish to see us all suffer for their own profits.”

“Traitorous words,” William Fryatt growled, “from a traitorous daughter. But that’s a father’s love for you. Even if you’re not worth saving I still wished to try. I would burn the red world to see it done, even now.”

Liberty’s chin shook. “In the Crystal Caves you taught me that all life was precious, even those we don’t agree with.” She freed a necklace from beneath her shirt. My eyes went wide. She fingered the rubber gasket dangling from its chain. “What happened to that man?”

“He was a young, foolish boy. And that was why the world murdered him.”

She made a fist around the gasket charm, waving her free hand at Dour Face. “Take him away.”

William Fryatt didn’t struggle, he went willingly, resigned to his fate with silent stoicism.

After he was out of sight XO turned and saluted Liberty. “Orders, sir.”

“Orders?” She spun around and removed the necklace. “I’m not the Captain.”

“Under Section A-115 of the Brethren military code, the XO has the right to appoint the most fitting candidate as Captain until an official tribunal has convened.”

“But you’re the more experienced officer.”

“Good or bad, I would rather see a Fryatt at the head of this ship than myself.”

She nodded and unclipped the end of the necklace, removing a gasket and sliding it on her finger. A lump hung in my throat. She’d kept it after all.

“Fine, fine,” she said. “I haven’t come this far to die. If they’re hell bent on killing us, then we will have to fight back; there’s no choice. But that doesn’t mean we destroy Europa if we succeed. David, take Griffin and fix the engines. We have a target to reach.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied, getting up from my chair to give her a crisp salute.

“As for the rest of you, we have a close engagement to plan. I have a few ideas.”

It turned out Lank Hair was a better saboteur than I’d first expected. Not only had he cut the pipes which fed our ion engines’ electron guns with xenon gas, but he’d damaged several power relays connecting those tanks as well as four others to the navigation computer. His work was carefully hidden. He’d even tricked the sensors into thinking they were still operating. The little schemer had known what he was about, that was for sure.

“Thanks again,” I told Griffin as we worked, our bodies floating in the cramped space between the engine room and non-reactive fuel storage. “If not for you. I mean…”

She threw her arms around me and squeezed. I thought for a second my eyes might pop out of their sockets. “You would have done the same for any of us.” Her strictly platonic embrace went on and on—and on. She finally let go and shrugged it off. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I chuckled. “You’ve made me remember what it’s like to have a sister. You’re just like her in a lot of ways.”

She considered this for a moment, a single finger to her lips. When we’d first met she’d had a crush on me, clear as day, and so this comparison had to be a little strange. She nodded. “Never had a brother before.”

“First time for everything.”

“Here, let me hold that for you.” She slipped on her safety goggles and held up a fresh length of pipe. “Go for it.”

I began to work the piece into place, careful not to let the beads of liquid weld take flight in mirco-gravity and burn us. I wrapped the outside seam with a patch for safe measure.

“There we are.” I ripped off my safety goggles and tested the work with a push. “What do you say we ramp these thrusters up to full?”

In the engine room we did a final system’s check before hitting go. The thrusters came back to life, hurling ions out the back of our ship in a pale, blue stream. I’ve never sighed so hard in my life.

“Thank God,” I hissed, afraid the words might just undo our work. “Now that that’s over, we won’t go careening past Mars like a lost bullet. Fryatt might seem to think we’re aimed at Europa, but I’m not so sure his calculations are right.”

“We’ve got a chance to make this work,” Griffin replied. “I have a good feeling.”

I couldn’t help but consider our chances in close combat. My smile faded. We’d been damn lucky nothing had hit us but a fractured shot. That was likely to change when the gulf between our ships shrunk.

“Goddard, Griffin, to the bridge,” my watch called out. It was Liberty.

Griffin put the tips of her shoes to the wall and pushed off, turning a flip as she headed for the exit. “Best not keep them waiting. You comin’, fart face?”

“Taking a liking to this whole sister idea, ey?”