“But we’re on the charts—”
“We are now,” the ship interrupted dryly.
“Walk with me,” Marianne commanded as she stalked toward the bridge. “What are your plans?” she asked as the girl fell into step beside her.
“Plans?” she asked with a small frown.
“Well, I presume you have some,” the captain snapped.
“I had gotten as far as getting us home—” she began, only to have her companion cut her off again.
“Meligorn?”
“Earth,” Stephanie told her and decided two could play at being blunt. “But since we’re closest to Dreth and I need to know what has happened in the last twenty-seven years, I thought I’d start there.”
Rawlins’s gaze sharpened. “Do you think there’s trouble?”
“I had…” Stephanie hesitated. A dream sounded silly now that she faced the captain. “A vision,” she finished lamely.
Instead of the mockery she’d expected, the woman frowned. “What kind of vision?”
“I saw the gravesite of my best friend.”
She didn’t add that she’d heard Becca’s son screaming her name to the sky. Marianne read her hesitation and pressed her for more.
“And?”
“And I heard someone shouting her name. He sounded young.”
“A child?”
“No. More like a young man or a…a teenager.”
“Did she have children?”
Sadness rippled through her. “Not when I left, but…”
The words trailed off and she shrugged. They both knew she didn’t need to spell it out. It had been twenty-seven years, after all.
“I hear you,” Marianne told her, “and her being dead means things have gone wrong on Earth because?”
“I don’t know,” Stephanie admitted, “but she was fine when I left her—in a good job and not sick. There’s no reason—”
“Except that she was the childhood friend of the Federation’s First Witch,” Marianne concluded. “The one being whose name they were trying to blacken so they could take control of Earth’s government.”
The girl paled. “I didn’t think—”
Marianne laid a hand on her shoulder. “You thought she’d be safe if you were gone?”
She nodded and misery flooded through her.
The captain squeezed her shoulder and released it as she turned to open the door to the bridge. “She should have been—except in all but the worst-case scenarios.”
“So something has gone wrong, then?” she asked, as much to hear that she wasn’t alone in her assessment as to know she wasn’t going crazy.
“It’s not much to go on,” Rawlins told her, “but it’s a good indication. I’ll need the analysts to be on deck to be sure.”
Stephanie shook her head. “We don’t have anything for them to analyze and I want to keep people in their pods until I know we can make it somewhere safe.”
“Like Meligorn, you mean?”
“Or Dreth,” she told the captain. “Somewhere we have allies. And a little breathing space while we get our bearings.” She caught the shift in her companion’s expression. “What?”
“What makes you think this universe will be that kind to us, girl?”
“I can live in hope,” she told her and her companion smiled grimly.
“As long as you hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”
“Always,” she reassured her.
Marianne looked around her empty command center. “Do I get a pilot?”
“Wattlebird’s on deck.”
Rawlins groaned and rolled her eyes in a “Why me?” kind of way, but the door slid open before she could complain. The smell of hot coffee and donuts wafted into the area, and she pivoted to face the new arrival.
“The replicators are on-line,” he announced and showed her the tray he carried. “I bring sugar, carbs, and caffeine for three.”
“A peace offering?” she asked. “Already? What have you done?”
The Knight’s primary pilot gave her a cheeky grin.
“Nothing yet, Captain, but I’m bound to do something before we hit the racks so consider it an advance.”
She frowned at the tray as he placed it on the edge of a console. “What were the rules about—”
“Not eating before a shift?” Wattlebird snapped before she could finish. “I don’t know, captain, but my guess is you’re fresh out of the pod and you haven’t…”
He let his words trail off as she waved him to silence.
“Fine!” She crossed to the tray, took a cup, and sipped it as she looked at the entry consoles, a faraway look on her face.
Stephanie knew the expression. The captain was processing and when she stopped, she’d know exactly what she needed done. Until then, she might as well make herself as comfortable as she could in the circumstances.
“Is one of those for me? Or do you want me to take it to Engineering?” Stephanie asked.
The pilot looked alarmed.
“Please don’t tell me Cameron needs more coffee already,” he protested.
“You didn’t know?” she teased and tried to keep a straight face.
“No.” He sighed and made as if to return to the mess.
“Stay!” Rawlins’s snapped command halted him in his tracks. Her voice softened. “I need you here, Jonathan.” She turned to Stephanie. “Does he need more coffee, and do you have time?”
The Witch shook her head. “He doesn’t, but I’m heading there anyhow. I have to see if there’s anything I have to do to the engines. How long do you need?”
To assess the situation was what she meant, and to decide who she needed on deck and how long it would take before she was able to brief her on what she’d found and needed to do next. The captain would understand.
Rawlins’s gaze swept the empty command center again.
“I’ll work it out while Cameron runs his checks.”
Chapter Two
On Earth, John expressed a faint echo of those who woke on the Knight.
“How long did you put me out this time, Remy?” he asked as he left the medical pod.
“Five days,” the compound’s AI answered.
“Five?” He was horrified but Remy was unrepentant.
“There was still a considerable amount to repair.”
“But—” John sputtered.
“And you needed to sleep in order for your brain to assimilate what has happened.”
“But—”
“How do you feel, John?”
He closed his mouth on another protest and thought about that. How did he feel?
This was his third time to emerge from the pod since he’d returned from defeating the two Talents sent by the Regime to hunt him.
“Join the Regime or die.” It had been the only option they’d given him, and he’d chosen death. Fortunately, it hadn’t been him who’d done the dying.
He’d thought he’d killed them both until one had followed him to the compound and Remy had used the wall-mounted autocannons to shred him.