Captain Cosette (15 page)

The screaming of the wind died away, replaced by the shriek of metal as the underside armor tore away layer by layer.  The cruiser rotated until they were sliding backwards
, the forward camera displaying a shower of sparks and debris.

They could do nothing but hold on and pray.

They hit something and the cruiser bucked and turned.  Then they hit more things, and the grinding sound changed.  

They were off the concrete, sliding on dirt. 

The forward camera showed a brief glimpse of brush sliding past the front of the cruiser before the camera was ripped from its moorings.

Moving slowly now, the cruiser tipped, swung around one more time, and stopped.

The lights went out.

Silence.

No shrieking wind, no grinding metal, nothing but the ticking of cooling metal, the guttural cursing of Lieutenant Garale, and the gasps of Cosette trying to uncoil the tension inside of her.  Points of emergency lighting came on and in the dim light she could see her hands trembling like leaves in the wind.  She clasped them tight and looked back at the cabin.  Mercifully it was intact, and the men were still in their seats.

“
Thank you,” she whispered to Alena.  “There’s no way I could have landed this thing without your help.”

“
That was well done,” Alena whispered back, putting her hand on Cosette’s arm.  “I never thought we could restart this ship and make it down.  You’re a captain in my book, I’ll tell you that.”  She turned and reached into a side pocket.  “Now, if you would…” 

She pulled out an ion disruptor pistol and aimed it at
Cosette.  “Please go back and release Lieutenant Garale.”

“
You….you….”  Cosette stared at the pistol with disbelief. 

“
I meant what I said, but you are not the captain of
this
ship.  Now go back and release Lieutenant Garale.”  She raised her voice.  “And Cadet Rasora, you will give that pistol back to the Lieutenant or I will shoot Cadet Cosette.”

*

Cosette sat between Rasora and Major Dyson feeling thin and washed out, like a rag that had been laundered too many times.  In happier circumstances she would have been delighted to be tucked in between the mysterious Rasora and the handsome Major Dyson.  Now, with Garale and Alena holding pistols and conferring in whispers, she felt morose and weary.

She didn’t want to be a captain.  She didn’t want to fight for the Union or the Alliance.  All she wanted to do was
to go home, although she had no idea where home was, no idea of what her father and mother looked like. 

It was still night outside.  After kicking open the damaged cabin door and passing the bracelet key to Alena, Garale made a brief foray outside.  He returned to announce that they were in the middle of scrubland and that he couldn’t see a thing.  They would have to wait until dawn before venturing out.

The dim emergency lighting made it easy for Cosette to close her eyes.  She took hold of Rasora’s arm, laid her head against his shoulder, and fell asleep.

*

People were talking, and it was rude of them when she was trying to sleep.  Her pillow was too hard, and she had trouble sleeping sitting up.

Then she realized that her pillow was Rasora’s arm, and that the people talking were Garale and Alena, telling them to get up and go outside.  Alena had her pistol holstered, but Garale was waving his weapon around and
Cosette could see that he had finally remembered to take the safety off.

Did
I
actually
sleep
? 
I
hope
I
didn’t
drool
.

Rasora helped her to her feet as Major Dyson stepped out the cabin door and into the
predawn gloom.  She followed, still holding on to Rasora’s hand and stepping carefully over broken brush.  The cruiser had stopped rotating with its nose pointing towards the plowed destruction of their landing. 

A bird chirped in the broken brush.

Major Dyson rested his back against the rippled skin of the cruiser, and motioned Rasora and Cosette to do the same.

Odd
. 
Why
doesn’t
he
head
to
the
pathway
our
ship
dug
?

Garale stepped out of the cabin. 
“Don’t just stand there,” he said as he helped Alena out.  “Let’s head back to the landing strip and try to find civilization.”

Major Dyson grasped
Cosette’s wrist and held her in place.  At the same moment, several figures rose from the surrounding brush, holding rifles.  “Don’t move!” someone shouted.

Soldiers
! 
But
from
which
side
?

Lieutenant Garale squinted at the soldiers, his mouth open, but Alena swiftly drew her pistol.

A ball of energy struck her mid-section and hurled her backwards into the ship.

Why
did
she
draw
? 

Why
did
they
fire
?

Garale dropped his pistol and raised his hands.  A man with dark pants and a khaki shirt stepped forward and picked up Garale’s weapon. 
“Don’t be so trigger-happy!” he shouted at his soldiers, and a woman yelled back, “She drew on us!  I wasn’t going to wait for her to shoot!”

The man turned back towards them and gestured with his rifle. 
“You, with the Alliance uniform.  Step forward.”

“
I can’t,” said Major Dyson.  “I’ve got a bracelet, and the woman you shot has the key.”

“
All right, let’s do it this way.  You,” he pointed his rifle to Garale, “you sit down.  You, soldier,” he pointed to Cosette, “You go inside and fetch that key.  If she’s got the disk that opens the bracelet, get that also.”

Cosette
looked up at Dyson, who nodded at her.  She stumbled back to the cabin entrance and climbed inside.

Alena lay on her back, her legs twitching. 
Cosette knelt beside her, trying not to look at the charred ruin that was Alena’s stomach.  “Stupid,” Alena whispered, “I was so stupid.”

“
I’m sorry,” said Cosette, sitting down and cradling Alena’s head in her lap.  “I didn’t want something like this to happen.”

“
I know.  You’re…”  She clutched Cosette’s arm.  “I can’t feel anything below my chest, just cold.  I’m so cold.”

Cosette
held her as best she could, trying to comfort her.  The door darkened, and Major Dyson stood at the entrance.  He looked at them, and then turned his head to speak to the soldiers outside.  “That woman you shot isn’t dead.  Just stay where you are.  That’s an order.”

Alena shivered. 
“I’ve got you,” said Cosette.  “You’re going to be okay.”

“
No,” said Alena.  “I can tell.  I will not be okay.”  She breathed in a shuddering breath.  Her eyes drifted and she coughed blood.  “My mother used to hold me like this when I was sick.  She would sing lullabies to me.” 

Do
I
know
any
lullabies
? 
Did
I
ever
have
a
mother
,
and
did
she
sing
to
me
?

She wanted to do something, anything, to comfort the woman who lay dying in her lap. 

From somewhere, finding its way out through the blanket that still covered her early memories, a melody bubbled up in her mind, a little song, and she began singing in a quavering voice. 

“
Come, little bird, and rest your head,

“
Day is gone and the sun is red,

“
Settle in your nest so soft and deep,

“
Stars in the sky and it’s time to sleep.”

I
remember
my
mother
singing
that
. 
I
can’t
quite
see
her
face
,
but
I
know
I
had
a
mother
,
and
she
would
sing
that
song
to
me
. 

Alena’s grip on her arm relaxed, but
Cosette continued. 

“
Sing no more, you’ve done your best,

“
Fold your wings and take your rest.

“
Morning comes, once more you’ll fly,

“
Up in the clouds in the sunlit sky.”

After her song ended,
Cosette continued cradling the head of the dead woman in her arms, not knowing what to do next.  Major Dyson knelt beside her and touched her shoulder.  She looked up into his eyes, his kind eyes.  “You need to take the key from her pocket,” he whispered.

Cosette
carefully lifted the burnt edge of Alena’s hip pocket, removed the cylindrical key, and put it into her own pocket.  Dyson slid his arms under Alena and lifted her up.  “Well done, Captain Cosette,” he said quietly.  He carried Alena’s body out into the sunrise.

Chapter Ten

Cosette followed Dyson into the sunlight.  She carried the key, so she would have to stay close to him until the bracelet was removed from his wrist.  Rasora walked beside her.

The man in charge of the Alliance soldiers spoke as they stepped from the cruiser.  “Major Dyson, you shouldn’t have to deal with that.  Private Riling, take that body from him.”

“
Treat her with respect,” said Dyson.  Private Riling, a short dark man with heavy eyelids and a patched uniform, received Alena’s body and carried her to the back of a truck. 

“
Yes, sir,” said the man in charge, “if you insist.  She was an enemy soldier, but we’ll have a proper burial for her.”  He extended his hand to Dyson.  “My name’s Cogshank.  You don’t know me but I served under you once during the Hephestus war.”

“
Sergeant.  Pleased to meet you again.”

“
You recognized when I chirped at you from the bushes!  I saw you pick it up.”  He waved his arm at the soldiers around him.  “Sir, you’re looking at what’s left of the Alliance on Aquataine.  I’d heard they were going to do a prisoner exchange, but by the burning gates, how did you wind up landing here?  What happened?”

“
Some Union battleships crashed the exchange and fired on both cruisers.  It was a setup.  They destroyed the Alliance cruiser, but Cosette here managed to evade their missiles and get us down.”

Cosette squinted in the bright morning sun.  She was on a new world for the first time in her life; the air was tangy and the sunlight more golden.  The broken shrubs around her smelled like paint. 

They were in the hands of the Alliance, and she was a Union soldier.  They had already killed Alena.

Will
they
kill
me
next
?

Sergeant Cogshank looked different than any man she had ever met.  His dark face looked like he couldn’t grow a beard if he wanted
to; his cheeks were round and his chin narrow.  Curly black hair covered his ears, like Major Dyson’s brown hair. 

Maybe
that’s
an
Alliance
hairstyle
.

She looked at the woman who had shot Alena.  Her hair was shoulder-length also, but she was tall and pale.

Cosette realized that Major Dyson was speaking to her.  “What?”

“
I said, let’s get our duffel bags from the cruiser.  We’re going to their graveyard to bury Alena.”

“
Right now?”

“
We don’t have time for funerals and coffins, miss,” said Cogshank.  “Wartime, you know.  Private Riling, help this girl get her duffel.”

“
I can carry it,” said Cosette.  She went back into the wrecked cruiser and pulled the duffel bags out. 

Spinner
is
probably
still
back
in
the
engine
room
,
but
there’s
no
reason
to
let
these
Alliance
soldiers
know
he’s
on
board
. 
I guess Major
Dyson
didn’t
notice
him
when
I
was
restarting
the
core
. 

She carried her own bag even though it was the heaviest
because of the gold.  No reason to make someone curious about its weight. 

Lieutenant Garale was herded onto the back of the truck at gunpoint, and then Cosette and the rest of the survivors climbed on.  Sergeant Cogshank also got into the back of the truck, keeping his rifle and his gaze on Garale and Rasora, but not Cosette.

He
thinks
I’m
not
dangerous
. 
Is
it
because
I’m
young
and
small
? 
Maybe
he
won’t
kill
me
,
but
he’s
foolish
to
underestimate
an
enemy
soldier
. 

The woman who had shot Alena climbed into the driver’s seat, with Private Riling taking the passenger side.  The truck, showing much rust and repair, bounced over the broken shrubs, crossed the broad concrete runway, and traveled past the wooden military buildings on the other side. 

They arrived at a crudely fenced graveyard.  Riling and Dyson carried Alena’s body to an unused gravesite.  Riling went into a nearby shed and returned with a gray funeral cloth, which he put over Alena’s body.  Another soldier brought some picks and shovels.

How
strange
. 
They
don’t
cremate
their
dead
,
they
bury
them
in
the
earth
like
…
like
…
I
don’t
know
,
it
just
doesn’t
seem
proper
. 
But
I
suppose
it’s
proper
for
them
.

“
We don’t have time for a funeral,” said Sergeant Cogshank, “but does anyone know this dead soldier’s religion?”

Dyson looked at Garale, but the lieutenant stared at the ground in stony silence.

“No?”  Sergeant Cogshank cleared his throat.  “Then we’ll use mine.”

He gave a short prayer consigning the dead woman’s body to the grave and her spirit to the afterworld, stopping half-way through his prayer to ask again what her name was. 

They left Private Riling and another soldier to fill in the grave, and they walked to the nearby barracks.  “Drop your duffels by the door,” said Cogshank.  “We need to settle a bunch of things fast.”

Cosette dropped her bag and sat on a cot by Rasora.  Everyone crowded in, the Alliance soldiers keeping their rifles at the ready.  Cogshank frisked Garale and found the disk that unlocked Dyson’s bracelet.  He removed the bracelet and then snapped it around Garale’s wrist.  He took the key from Cosette and tucked it into his own pants pocket, and then turned to Dyson and saluted. 
“Major, you’re the ranking officer here.”

Dyson saluted back with easy precision. 
“You’re doing fine, Sergeant.  Carry on.”

“
Thank you, sir.  You say there are battleships in orbit?”

Dyson nodded. 
“I expect they’ll also move in a space station for support.  They can do that.”  He glanced at Cosette, who dropped her eyes.

He
knows that
because
I
let
it
slip
. 
I
have
to
remember
that
I'm
still
naïve
,
even
though
I
know
so
much
.  

“
So,” said Cogshank, “we could get a visit at any time.”

“
I don’t know,” said Dyson.  “We flew in on a radio signal playing music.  You haven’t got any military traffic here, as far as we could tell.  I doubt they’ll feel a need for a show of force.  However, I did see some fighters parked out front as we drove by.  They can see them from orbit and they might want to wipe them out.”

“
Doesn’t matter,” said Cogshank.  “Those fighters can’t fly.  If they could, they’d be gone with the fleet.”

“
The Union doesn’t know that.  If I were up there, I’d send a force down to take them out.”

“
Private Tiebout,” said Cogshank to the tall woman, “go do some monitoring.  Nothing hot, don’t let them know you’re watching.  You see something coming down, give a holler, we’ll rail out of here.”

“
I’m on it,” she said, and left the room.

“
Sir,” Cogshank said to Dyson, “we’ve got three enemy soldiers here, one of them an officer.  What do you recommend?”

“
Keep the bracelet on the Union Lieutenant there, especially if we need to duck and run, and keep your eye on him.  These two, though,” Dyson pointed to Rasora and Cosette, “they’re cadet rank and were pressed into Union service.  I don’t think they’re dangerous.”

“
We’ll see.”  Cogshank turned to Rasora and Cosette.  “You’re wearing the uniform of the Union of Planets.  They’ve got control of this planet right now, so if they land and take over, they’ll shoot us and not you, probably.  On the other hand, we could use some more soldiers if you’re willing to join us, and it sounds to me like they just tried to blow you out of orbit.”

Garale glared at Cosette and started to speak, but the soldier guarding him jabbed him in the shoulder with the muzzle of his rifle.

“I don’t care either way,” said Rasora.  “I only got involved with the Union because I promised Cosette’s father I would protect her.  I go where she goes.”

Cogshank peered at
Cosette’s nametag.  “Cadet Nicholas, I offer you the opportunity for a career in the Alliance.  Care to switch uniforms?”

“
I don’t know.”  Cosette felt the pressure of all eyes on her, especially the hatred from Garale.  “I don’t remember why I chose to join the Union – my memory’s a bit damaged, I’m afraid – and I’m not happy with it, but I don’t know why the Alliance would be any better.”  Her face grew warm, and she prayed she wasn’t blushing.  “I’m just a maintenance worker, not a soldier.”

“
She’s not just a maintenance worker,” said Dyson.  “She’s a trained pilot and she knows considerable detail about both Union and Alliance technology.  Whatever she decides, in or out, we need to keep a watch on her.  I’d say she’s more valuable than I am.”

“
Hah!” snorted Cogshank.  “With respect, sir, I doubt that.  Okay, right now I’m holding the key for the Union Lieutenant here.”  He held the cylinder up and waved it at Garale.  “If we run, you better run with us or you’ll hurt so much you’ll wish you were dead.”  He looked sternly at Cosette and Rasora.  “You two cadets, there’s worms and stilts out there, so don’t even think about wandering off.  If the Union comes down to wipe out this base, stick with us.  We know where the hidey-holes are.  Until then, one of us will be guarding both of you at all times.”

Worms
and
stilts
?

Cogshank
slipped the key back into his pocket.  “We’d better eat lunch fast – it’s too late for breakfast – and be ready to head for the hole any moment.  Major Dyson, they built this base with a deep tunnel and rail cars for escape.  If anything comes down, follow us.  Even if they go nuclear, we can be twenty kilometers away before it hits.”

“
Don’t we have any defenses?”

Cogshank looked like he wanted to spit but thought better of it. 
“Nah.  Fishing villages and farms aren’t worth investing credits to defend.  Our assets were all out in space, and they’re gone.”

The dining hall was large, and they gathered at the tables next to the kitchen.  Rasora sat down beside Cosette
, and Major Dyson sat across from her. Private Riling joined them, his hands still damp from washing up after burying Alena.

Two soldiers on kitchen duty served sandwiches of a
chewy brown bread with thin slices of fruit and a nutty spread.  Slabs of dried fish lay on the table and a brown spicy dip filled a center bowl. 

A soldier put green ceramic mugs in front of each of them, and Cosette sniffed hers with suspicion. 
“What’s this?”

“
Chocolate,” said Cogshank, slurping his noisily.  “Ground cacao bean, milk, sugar, some other stuff, I guess.  They don’t have chocolate where you grew up?”

She shook her head.

“They grow cacao here on Aquataine, but it's not native,” said Dyson.  “Someday you’ll have to visit my home planet and I’ll show you what a really good cup of chocolate is.”

Cosette sipped her chocolate.

I’ve
tasted
worse
things
,
I
suppose
. 

“
It’s delicious,” she said, putting down her cup and smiling at Dyson.  Rasora snorted and slid his cup away.