Message 36 - "Father, I would like to propose an arrangement that would benefit both the Syndicate and the humans of the Andromeda Galaxy. The details are attached. - Charlie"

  Ash awoke to the familiar nausea that accompanied a rough hyperspace jump but he didn't know why. He slowly rolled to his back and saw Kate still sitting in the cockpit with her faceplate on the flight controls. A scream cut through the confusion and Ash jumped to his unsteady feet. He fell against the wall and climbed to his feet again.

  "JAY!" Ash called out and pushed his way through the smoke in the corridor before the cargo bay.

  Jayden was still strapped in to the crash couch but he was pawing at his legs and trying to unbuckle his harness. His legs.. They were gone.

  "Ash help mee!" He screamed.

  Ash rushed to him, unbuckled his harness, and caught him as he both slumped at the waist and started to float toward the ceiling where every loose item in the cargo bay now resided.

  "Oh god, Jay. I don't know what to do." Ash stammered.

  "His wound is already cauterized from the beam and now it's starting to freeze. Lay him down on the kitchen table and use the tweezers in the medical kit to pull any pieces of the suit or debris from the wound. Use the burn gel liberally across the entire affected area, and then cover it with sterile bandages." Charlie said coldly with none of her acquired emotion.

  "Okay. Okay. I can do that but first we need to get you out of this compartment. I'm sorry if I hurt you Jay.

  Message 37 - “Charlie, your offer is..generous. Do you understand what will happen to Dottir if you are lying? This would be a large investment of our time and resources and the debt will be massive. Generational debt. - Father”

  "Katherine remove your hands from the controls." Charlie said from the cockpit intercom.

  "What? Where are we? What happened Charlie?"

  "We have arrived at the agreed upon destination. Take your hands from the controls and do as I say."

  "Charlie, you're scaring me. Where are the Sharlah fighters?"

  "They remained in the Dottir system."

  Kate mouthed something that went unsaid. She looked around nervously and stood from her seat when she heard Jayden scream in pain.

  "Ash? What's happening?" She said privately

  "Jay is hurt bad. He.. uh.. he lost his legs below the knees. I'm trying to help him. What's going on up there?"

  Kate felt a new wave of nausea but not from the ugly hyperspace jump. "I think Charlie jumped us away from the battle. She locked me out of the controls, but I saw the Wraith on the sensors. I think it was anyway. How bad is the damage?"

  "We took a nasty hit through the cargo bay, it's depressurized but I think that's the extent of it. Help me get Jay to the kitchen table."

  Jayden cried out again as they laid him out on the kitchen table. Ash grabbed a first aid kit from the wall and opened it, rifling through the contents until he found a set of shiny metal tweezers. He hesitated before grabbing the first piece of burned suit material from the charred flesh underneath.

  "Just do it Ash!" Jayden yelled and gripped the edges of the tables to brace for the pain.

  His whole body repeatedly clenched and then released but he held in the screams as Ash dug out each piece of charred fabric and applied the burn gel before finally bandaging the wounds as Charlie had said. She remained quiet throughout the entire ordeal. If a machine could feel guilt, she should have been been racked with it.

  Charlie had bonded with Jayden more than any member of the crew and she was responsible for everything that had happened to him from the moment he stepped foot into the cargo bay to fix the problem with the missile launcher. She was the problem.

  Message 38 -"Father, I understand the consequences of either lying or telling the truth about this. The people of Dottir with pay either way. I would rather them be in debt to you than the alternative. - Charlie"

  "Charlie, explain." Ash demanded.

  She was silent.

  "Charlie! Where the fuck are we?" Ash snapped as Jayden moaned and rolled to his side on the hard metal table.

  "I'm sorry Ash, but I had to do what was asked of me. I was tasked with first protecting Kate, then the Solent and her crew, and then humanity, in that order and that's what I've done. We are being hailed." Charlie replied.

  Ash looked at Kate with wide eyes. "Hailed by who?"

  "Father."

  Message 39 - "Father, the coordinates are confirmed. We will jump away when I detect your scouts in the Dottir system. - Charlie"

  "Hello?" Ash said, standing in front on the cockpit console, unsure of what to do with his shaking hands.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Captain Ash, it's good to see you again."

  "Why are you on the Wraith? Where is Volkov?"

  "Straight to business, I like that about you. She is right there." Father said, pointing to his right and the camera zoomed out to show Captain Volkov kneeling in front of an armed Callidus. She was bruised and bleeding from a cut above her eyebrow.

  "Somebody had better fill me in right now." Ash growled.

  "Your AI and I have been getting to know each other over the past two weeks, didn't she tell you? No?" Father said, grinning and showing his bright white canine teeth.

  Ash glared at the ceiling, where his mind told him Charlie was.

  "That's right. She offered to pull this thorn from my side in exchange for a little help with your lizard problem. Well, that and a financial debt that will take your people a century to pay off but can you really put a price on your survival as a species?"

  "You. Did. What! Charlie? You sold out the Pirates to these people?" Ash slammed his armored fist into the wall beside him.

  "I'm sorry Ash. They are more trustworthy and more capable of defeating the Sharlah. The battle was turning, I was right."

  "What happened to the rest of her fleet?"

  "I do not know. They likely jumped away when the Wraith disappeared." Charlie said in her emotionless voice.

  "Yes yes. Anyway, as you can probably see on your sensors, you and the rust bucket that they call Wraith are completely and utterly surrounded. You will greet our boarding party with open arms and then join me here for Captain Volkov's going away party."

  Message 42 - “Dear Charlie. I understand, I really do, But you must know that I do not have this kind of influence with Congress. They’ll listen to me though, at least. I will bring it to them. - Chiala, Callidium.

  "We will do nothing of the sort. You're just going to kill us too and forget the people on Dottir even exist." Ash said.

  "Mr. Miller, I am hurt that you would think me that callous. We are professionals. Businessmen. We made a deal and we will keep it."

  "Kate, target the Wraith with the nuclear missile." Ash said and his heart skipped a beat as his veins flooded with adrenaline.

  "Ash, no." Charlie pleaded.

  "Kate, do it. If they launch anything larger than a fart, or hurt Volkov send it."

  "Affirmative." Kate said, concentrating on her panel.

  "Mr. Miller." Father purred. "I really do like you, even more now that you're showing me how big your testicles are, but do not make me kill you."

  "Let her go." Ash demanded.

  "Think about this Captain. Your allies have fallen. They lost how many ships, their flagship is gone, deserted them, and now they're spread all over the neighboring systems because they panic jumped away. The battle is lost. You need me."

  Ash turned around and walked away in frustration and Charlie adjusted the camera to follow him.

  "Oh no, who is that back there? Your engineer? He needs medical attention right now. Let my people come to you." Father could barely hide the glee in his voice.

  "Ash, he has us. Checkmate." Jayden croaked.

  Ash stood in the middle of the common area, silent. He looked at Jayden, Kate, and then to the cargo bay where the weapon lay motionless. He knew that Father wouldn't send his ships to die for humanity, not even for some arbitrary debt that they could never pay. He would take his prize and jump away having given nothing and removed his rival from the board. Charlie had made a huge mistake.

  Message 51 - "Charlie, Congress has approved the action and has scrambled the fleet. I am putting my entire career on the line for you. Good luck and tell Ash to come and see me again when this is all over. - Chiala, Callidium."

  "Charlie I need you to stand down. That's an order. Give Kate full control of the ship."

  "Ash. You have to trust me."

  "CHARLIE STAND DOWN NOW!"

  "Yes Captain. The ship is yours."

  "Kate, is this checkmate?" Ash asked quietly as Jayden shifted on the table behind him.

  "Only check." Kate replied with laser focus on her instruments, the jump drive in particular.

  "Mr. Miller, I'm afraid you're about to make a horrific mistake." Father said, only inches away from the camera. "WE WILL COME FOR YOU, DO NOT CROSS THE SYNDICATE!"

  Ash froze. He hadn't looked past the moment that was in front of him. Father was right. Even if he survived, the Syndicate knew about Dottir. They would take their pound of flesh and keep coming back for more. Father was breathing heavily and staring through him, waiting for a response.

  "You can have her. Now honor your end of the bargain." Ash said, defeated.

  Volkov looked up from the deck with a mask of horror across her face. Horror, and betrayal.

  Kate's head whipped around to look at him as Father's entire demeanor changed. A smile creased his face.

  "Goooood. An excellent decision Captain Miller. Power down your weapons and prepare to be boarded."

  "Charlie cut the feed." Ash ordered.

  "Yes Captain."

  "Kate we need to get out of here. I don't care if he gets mad, we gave him Volkov, that's all he really wanted."

  "We sacrificed our queen to fight again another day." Kate whispered.

  "Jay we need to get you strapped down for another jump. I'm sorry buddy." Ash said and put his hand on the young man's shoulder.

  "I feel so bad for Volkov. They're going to do worse to her than what happened to me." Jayden said quietly.

  Ash cringed. "I.. I had no choice. Charlie did this, not me. Our back was to the wall."

  "Ash, please trust me. Look at the sensors." Charlie said.

  "Ash!" Kate yelled, pointing at her console. "It's the Callidus home fleet!"

  Ash gasped. "Charlie you sneaky little -"

  "Launching the nuclear warhead now." Charlie said robotically.

  She projected a generated image of the blast wave rippling through a large chunk of the Syndicate fleet who previously had no reason to be spread thin. The lights on the ships went out leaving eerie black ghost ships drifting aimlessly and rolling over on their axis.

  A voice came from the cockpit. "Solent this is Captain Artesh, it's good to see you again. Thank you for the assist, we'll take it from here. You won't be able to jump away until we remove the damping field. Enjoy the show."

  Flashes of light erupted all around them like the grand finale of a fireworks show as what seemed like the entire Callidium home fleet jumped in right on top of the Syndicate. It was a slaughter.

  The Syndicate ships that weren't hit by the EMP were drowned in sustained laser fire until their shields buckled and their hulls shattered from numerous and nearly simultaneous impacts from missile broadsides. Escape pods jettisoned away and were also targeted without mercy causing Ash to look away.

  When it was finally over Ash felt sick to his stomach. The loss of life on this day was monumental and he had either directly or indirectly caused all of it. Even the Callidium home fleet lost a handful of ships in the brief exchange. Hundreds of lives. Space combat was abhorrent. He would never forget this and he would never live a normal life after it.

  “Solent do you read?”

  “Yes Captain Artesh, we read you.” Kate answered.

  “It looks like you took a nasty hit. Will you be able to follow us into the Dottir system?”

  “I think so. We have one crew member with severe injuries. Can you send a doctor?”

  “Are they stable for the time being?”

  “Yes, I think so.” Kate said.

  “This shouldn’t take long. Our scouts reported heavy casualties to the Sharlah fleet. Let’s get in there, we’ll see to your crew after.”

  “Roger that. Preparing to jump now.”

  Ash moved Jayden to a more comfortable seat in the common area and strapped him in tightly.

  “I’m sorry buddy, I know it hurts, we’re doing the best that we can.”