Aaron didn’t want to do it, but he paged the station’s security office via video com. “This is Captain Aaron Lucio from the Tamora Bight. Do you have one of my guys there? Maybe sleeping one off?” Wouldn’t be the first time MPs had brought Ford or Caph back.
“No, Captain. Sorry. Why, you missing someone?”
Aaron didn’t want to admit it, but he’d run out of options. “Yeah, my first officer’s missing. It’s not like him to lose contact like this.”
“What’s his name?”
“Ford Caliban.”
“Hold on a minute.” The security officer looked something up. “I have record of his pass going out to C level, staying there for a while at one of the bars, then returning to the hangar over two hours ago.”
What the fuck? “Two hours ago?”
“Yeah.” The officer’s expression turned serious on the video com. “You’d better patch me in to your personnel chip array system.”
Aaron did, allowing the security officer emergency access to the frequencies on their chips. “I’m seeing you and a Caphis Bates on board your vessel. No Ford Caliban on your vessel. But…” The security officer frowned. “Who’s this other one?” he asked.
“What other one?”
“This other chip. Dr. Emilia Hypatia. We only issued you three security passes. Why wasn’t she listed on your crew roster?”
Aaron swallowed back a dangerous lump that threatened to choke him. “She is…was our wife and med officer.”
“Captain, that’s a serious security breach. You’re required to have all ship’s personnel registered with the dockmaster’s office. Regardless, she’s with Caliban. Well, they’re on the same vessel, anyway.”
Aaron couldn’t suck in air. “What?”
“Yeah.”
“Impossible.”
“Not according to my sensors. And…wait. Ford Caliban and Dr. Hypatia are no longer on the station. I’m catching a faint blip of his and Dr. Hypatia’s chips. Damn. They just left range.”
Aaron forced breath into his lungs. “What? That can’t be. She’s been gone for months.” He felt pain in his hand and looked down to see his fingers digging into the arms of the command chair. He let go and flexed his fingers.
On the video screen, Aaron watched the security officer shake his head. “I’m showing Dr. Hypatia was in the station for several hours. She got here before you did, according to our security records. Never left the ship. She stayed on board the whole time, but departed when Ford Caliban did. Same vessel.”
Aaron’s composure fractured. Control escaped him. “She’s dead!” he screamed. “We lost her five months ago! What kind of sick fucking joke is this?”
“Calm down, Captain. She can’t be dead. The chip was active, although now that I’m looking at the readings, it looks like it might have been removed from her. But no doubt about it, it’s her chip.”
“Where. Is. Ford?” he demanded through clenched teeth.
The security officer checked his screen. “Looks like…oh fuck. Only one vessel it could be.”
“What?”
“Well, based on Dr. Hypatia’s time of arrival and on how they both left range together, they must be on the B’autachia.”
Caph, roused from sleep by Aaron screaming at him over the ship’s intercom, came pounding onto the bridge. “What the fuck? What’s wrong?”
“Prepare to leave. Now.” Aaron punched the com link to the dockmaster’s office. “This is the Tamora Bight. We need to depart now. Emergency.”
“Whoa, Captain. Cool your jets. You’re not scheduled to go for another hour.”
“Do not argue with me, dammit. We have to leave. Now. I don’t have time to explain.”
“Sure, calm down. We’ll get you unhooked. I’ll dispatch a crew. Give us fifteen and give the ’tude a chill, why doncha?”
Caph slid into his chair, set Bucky on the console in front of him, and started going over his assigned preflight checklists. “Where’s Ford?”
Aaron didn’t answer him as he overrode Ford’s terminal and frantically punched commands into the ship’s computer in preparation to depart.
Caph turned to him. “Aaron, did you hear me? Where the fuck is Ford?”
How do I tell him? That apparently Ford ran off on some sort of wild chase? It couldn’t be a coincidence that Emi’s chip was sensed on the same ship Ford left on. He couldn’t tell Caph that, not when the big guy was finally showing signs of coming out of his grief. “I think he cracked under pressure, got drunk off his ass, and found his way onto the wrong ship. We have to go after him.”
“Oh, fuck. What ship?”
“The Beyant battle cruiser.”
Caph stared at him for a moment, jaw gaping. “Holy fuck.”
Aaron and Caph quickly got under way. It took them two hours to catch up to the convoy’s trailing security vessel. “Pan, pan, pan. Emergency hail. This is Captain Aaron Lucio of the DSMC Vessel Tamora Bight to the rear ship in the Beyant escort security crew.”
A few seconds later, a man responded. “Tamora Bight, this is Commander Jared Logans, ISNC Vessel Praunglia. What can we do for you, Captain Lucio?”
“I’ve got a missing crewman who apparently found his way onto that Beyant battle cruiser. I need to get him back ASAP.”
Aaron heard a flurry of garbled talk before the commander returned to the com link. “Um, sorry, no can do, Captain. I doubt that happened, but even if it did, they’re untouchable until we get to Mars.”
“It did happen, because the station security office tracked his chip. And what do you mean they’re untouchable until Mars? I’ve got to get my man back.”
The other man’s voice grew hard. “They are not officially a treaty race yet. To prevent any misunderstandings they are required to maintain radio silence and be in a no-contact status, unless they have an emergency on their vessel requiring them to ask for assistance. Meaning only in the case they need to abandon ship. Likewise, we are not allowed to contact them for anything other than official communiqués. If you’ve got a runaway crewman, he’s stuck there until Mars. All we are allowed to do is transmit navigational info, coordinates, and docking info to them via official and secured channels.”
Aaron felt a tension headache threatening. A dangerous throbbing pounded behind his eyes. “How long until we get to Mars?”
“At this speed? Nearly four months. You’re welcomed to tag along behind our convoy, Captain. Or go ahead and meet us there, if you’ve got jump-cap. But be warned, if you try to interfere with this convoy in any way, we will be forced to disable your vessel and take you into custody.”
Aaron signed off and pounded on the arm of the command chair. “Fuck!”
Chapter Eighteen
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
Yanna sat across the mess hall table and smiled with amusement as Erin closed her eyes and slowly chewed, savoring the Terran food.
“This. Is. Heaven,” she whispered.
“Good?”
“Great! You are the best big brother ever.”
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
“You can’t remember if you had a big brother or not. How do you know there’s not one better than me?”
“Any brother who would do this for me has to be the best ever.” She finished her food and let out a burp. “Excuse me.”