CHAPTER 3

     Lauren Bowers did not appreciate having her orders disobeyed.

     She sat at the circular conference table in War Room B aboard the Ares with a stern, reproving look on her face as she stared at the two young corporals standing at-attention across from her.  The first, John Flint, was a member of the tech maintenance department, responsible for keeping the machinery aboard the ship functional.  The slender and attractive young woman at his side, Celina Dugan, was a security officer.  Dugan occasionally glanced down at her stomach, which was tossing and turning at the present situation, and hoped everything would turn out all right.

     Two of Dugan’s fellow security officers stood guard on either side of the sealed doors as Bowers addressed her and Flint.

     “Pregnant,” the captain said heavily, and shook her head.  “I’m very disappointed in you both.  When we began this mission, I gave strict orders that male and female personnel were no longer allowed to fraternize socially in non-public areas.  Do you know why?  So that we could avoid complications like this!”  She pointed an accusing finger at Dugan’s belly, which had not yet begun to show signs of her pregnancy.  The young woman sniffled slightly, her eyes watering at being placed in the humiliating position of being dressed down by her own captain for falling in love and wanting to have a child.    Flint saw the pain in his girlfriend’s eyes and wanted desperately to hold her, comfort her―but he didn’t dare, not in front of the captain.

     “I knew something was wrong when Doctor Yan reported you missed your gynecological exam last month,” Bowers said, as she stood.  “But you swore up and down it was scheduling problems, making sure the ship’s targeting systems were aligned, and so forth.  So we let it slide.  Then you missed this month’s exam―scheduling problems again.”  She paused a moment, then added accusingly, “Do you think I enjoyed having security escort you to sickbay?”  Her anger was growing as she moved around the table, stalking toward Dugan until the two women were nearly nose-to-nose.  “You knew what our timetable was for carrying out this mission, Corporal.  Did you think that somehow that time frame was going to expand to nine months, and that you could get out of showing up for your exams for that length of time,”  Bowers snapped at her, fists clenching and unclenching, eager to hit something.  “Did you think no one would notice, and all of a sudden one day you’d be standing at your tactical console, breastfeeding a baby?”

     Flint couldn’t take it any longer.  He had to say something in Celina’s defense.  “Captain, you can’t put it all on Corporal Dugan―”

     “Shut up!”  Bowers yelled, making Flint jump in spite of the fact he was a whole foot taller than her.  Beside him, Dugan broke down, tears streaming her face as she struggled to remain at-attention.  Bowers showed no mercy, and eyed the younger woman with a cold contempt as she said, “Corporal Dugan...are you actively trying to foment a mutiny aboard my ship?”

     Dugan looked at the captain wide-eyed, amazed that she would ask such a question.  When Bowers initially told the crew what she intended to do to the Calvorian home world, Dugan was one of the first to get in-line with her plan.  Now, she was accused of being a traitor to the cause!  She tried to deny the charge, but no words would make it past her trembling lips.  “I can’t hear you, Corporal,” Bowers said evenly, waiting for a verbal response.  Nothing less would satisfy her.  Dugan tried to answer again, but her vocal chords remained defiantly constricted, refusing to emit sound of any kind.  “Speak up,” Bowers said sharply, growing annoyed with this soldier’s lack of discipline.

     “N-no, m-ma’am!” Dugan finally blurted through her tears.  The young woman threw herself into one of the chairs, and laid her face on the table like a schoolchild in detention, as she sobbed uncontrollably.  Her anger still not sated, Bowers moved in front of Flint, blocking his concerned view of his co-conspirator.  “As for you, Corporal Flint...you’re lucky I don’t space you, like I did Diviner Thompson and the other traitors who wouldn’t go along with us,” she said coolly, locking eyes with him in a manner which made his testicles crawl up into his stomach. “I’m not stupid,” Bowers continued.  “I know what your part is in all this.  But the point is, she should’ve kept her legs closed, like I ordered.  The two of you could’ve used protection, or had her tubes tied, or had a vasectomy.  Any of those options, I would’ve approved, if you had come to me like responsible adults and told me how much you loved each other and needed to be together.  In spite of my earlier order, I’m not heartless.  But the two of you chose to be selfish.  You’ve created a life which is now growing inside Celina, a life which won’t have a chance to come to term and live in the peaceful world we’re going to create.”

     Bowers turned away a moment, disgusted with him, but then turned back sharply on her heel.  “What were you thinking,” she yelled at him.  “You know our timetable, you know the plan!  Even if I wanted to, I can’t turn back and drop you off at one of our colonies!  I can’t even put you two in a transport and send you back.  If the Calvorians didn’t get you first, Earth Security would interrogate you both until you cracked and told them everything.  When we went into seclusion, Earth Force had new ships about to come off the assembly line with more powerful quantum drives.  Those ships could make the trip out here in hours instead of days.  Don’t you know the last thing this crew needs is to have to face off against their brothers and sisters, who may not understand what we’re trying to do, and have orders to stop us?  Would you want to put this crew through that?  The both of you need to think about someone other than yourselves for one damn minute!”

     The captain covered her face in her hand, trying to calm down before these two gave her a headache.  Flint’s eyes watered now, as the shame of what he had done began to bear down on him.  Yes, he truly loved Celina―but that didn’t give him the right to interfere with the captain’s plan to bring peace to their world; a plan the entire crew, including him, had agreed

to go along with.  “I’m sorry we let you down, Captain,” he said finally in a small, childlike voice.  Bowers removed her hand from her face to look at him in a soft, almost maternal manner.  She reached up, and gently rubbed his shoulder.  “I know, Corporal.  I know.  But that doesn’t make it any easier.”  She motioned to the two guards, who stepped forward.  “Get them out of here.  They’re each confined to their own quarters until this mission is complete.”  The guards nodded and drew their side arms.  Their guns whined in readiness as they released the safeties, and a tiny packet of charged antimatter slid into each of their chambers.  One of the guards took Flint by the arm, leading him out of the room while the other pulled the still-sobbing Dugan roughly to her feet, exiting with her as the captain exhaled in frustration.

     A few minutes later, Bowers stood at one of the bay windows in War Room A, looking out at the nebula in which the Ares had taken refuge the previous day.  The nebula, comprised mainly of blue-and-purple-tinted interstellar gases with occasional flecks of golden light from a nearby star trying to shine through, was awesomely beautiful...yet it did little to ease the troubled stirrings within her heart.

     She turned at the sound of the doors parting, and her first officer, Robert McKinley, entered.  He was a handsome man, with smatterings of gray beginning to show in his dark hair and a manner of walking which exuded self-confidence, no matter the situation.  In all the time they had served together, Bowers and McKinley had rarely disagreed on any of her command

decisions; in fact, he was the first person she had told about her plan to eradicate the Calvorian home world.  He agreed whole-heartedly and, in turn, was the one to suggest they space those few malcontents aboard ship who didn’t fall into line with her vision.  For years, McKinley had been Bowers’ rock; he was the one person she could always count on to be there when she really needed him.

     “How’d it go,” he asked as he joined her at the window.

     “Fine,” she replied wearily.  “I decided not to terminate Dugan’s pregnancy after all.  Instead, I confined her and Flint to separate quarters until it’s all over.”

     McKinley nodded his assent.  “Good call.  It’ll give them and everyone else something to think about.”

     “Everyone else?”  she repeated, suddenly worried.  “Have there been other problems?”

     “No, no,” he answered quickly.  “I just mean, it’s good to set examples.  As stupid as Flint and Dugan’s actions were, in a way it’s a good thing it happened.  Sometimes the crew needs to see that any disorderly action will be dealt with swiftly by their captain.  That’s all.”

     Bowers nodded, somewhat reassured, and went back to gazing out at the nebula.  A wistful sigh escaped her lips.  “I don’t know why it’s so hard for them, Bob.  They’re not children …they’re soldiers, trained to follow orders.  I try to lead by example.  I show up for my exams, right on schedule.  God knows, I could use some good sex as much as the next woman, but I’ve never asked anyone―anyone―aboard this ship to do something I’m not willing to do myself.  And I think abstinence isn’t a lot to ask for.”

     “It’s not,” he agreed.  “I just think the tension’s starting to get to some of them, is all.  I think for some personnel, the actual scope of this mission may just now be truly sinking in.  I mean, think about it, Lauren:  this isn’t a normal combat situation we’re going into, where chances are fifty-fifty we could die fighting the enemy.  We are willingly taking the Ares into the heart of Calvorian territory, with the intent of blowing it up in their home world’s atmosphere.  When your chances of dying jump up to a solid hundred percent...well, people just start getting twitchy.”

     Bowers looked at him.  “You don’t think anyone’s planning on trying to back out, or throw a monkey wrench into the plan, do you?”

     McKinley shook his head as he placed a calm, reassuring hand on her shoulder.  “The crew is behind you, Lauren, all the way...and so am I,” he said confidently.  Bowers smiled and patted his arm, grateful for his candor.  She gestured to the rectangular conference table and they walked over, sat down beside each other, comfortable in the familiarity of their friendship.  “How’re the engines doing,” she asked, pleased to be getting back to business.

     “The deuterium transfer from the backup engines to the primary quantum reactors is almost complete,” he reported.  “We’ll be able to get underway in about an hour.  The primary problem, as Chief Emerson pointed out at our last meeting, is

converting the nuclear deuterium to function at the level of output needed to power the quantum engines’ injectors.  Our trip into Calvorian territory’s bound to be bumpy.  Plus, the more we use weapons and shields, the faster our power levels will fall off.”

     “Will we still have the necessary energy to pull off the final job?”  Bowers asked, her concerns resurfacing.

     “Oh, yeah, that’s not a problem,” McKinley answered earnestly.  “The amount of deuterium in the reactors has little to do with misaligning their LaPlacian Lattices.  Once they’re misaligned, the quantum implosion we expect will definitely occur, and the Calvorians can kiss their planet goodbye.”

     “Good,” she said, partially satisfied.  But then she sucked her teeth angrily.  “I should’ve paced us better.  It was a mistake, relying on the quantum engines to stay in hyperspace at top speed for an entire day!  We should’ve used the Alcubierre backups, traveled through normal space, even if it meant we might be detected.  I can’t believe I jeopardized the mission like that!”

     “The mission’s not in jeopardy,” McKinley assured her.  “The trip through enemy space is going to be long and rough, but we’ll make it, Lauren.”  He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently.  “We’ll make it.”