{"id":181,"date":"2012-06-03T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-06-03T04:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=181"},"modified":"2012-05-31T22:34:21","modified_gmt":"2012-06-01T02:34:21","slug":"chapter-twenty-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=181","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Twenty-Three"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

My name is Alana Chase, sirs, and I have a right to be here because I swore I would protect Commander Channing\u2019s daughter with my life.\u00a0 You can have everything I ever gave to the Compact, including my body\u2026and my soul.<\/h3>\n

— Alana Chase to Marshals Aidan Church and Adam Windsor, c. 5231<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

11 Novem, 5249 PD<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>The double click on the comm had come almost an hour before.\u00a0 Ezra stared out the viewport, hand on the pistol she\u2019d given him, trying not to worry.\u00a0 Should it be taking this long for them to get out?\u00a0 It didn\u2019t look like the installation had gone on alert.\u00a0 Thunder growled in the distance and Ezra exhaled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d\u00a0 America asked softly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just keep thinking that it\u2019s taking too long,\u201d Ezra murmured.\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cProbably just being paranoid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably.\u201d\u00a0 America grinned at the betrayed look he shot at her.\u00a0 \u201cIt always seems like it\u2019s taking too long when you\u2019re the one doing the waiting.\u00a0 Believe me, I know.\u00a0 My husband has a penchant for that kind of stunt.\u00a0 Sometimes I think he did it to punish me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra blinked.\u00a0 \u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor not going with Rachel and Grumpy.\u201d\u00a0 America\u2019s smile faded a little, then she shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cBut I couldn\u2019t leave him to fight alone.\u00a0 They\u2019d be safe without me.\u00a0 If I stayed, I could make him safer.\u00a0 I wanted him to see his daughter again someday.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t confident that would happen if I didn\u2019t stay with him.\u201d\u00a0 She stood up slowly, unsteady, and limped to him at the console. \u00a0She stared out the window into the shadows born of a gathering storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s angry,\u201d she murmured after a few moments, \u201cbut they\u2019re all right for the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bond?\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded, the muscles in her jaw tightening.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s good to feel him again.\u00a0 Even if he is<\/em> angry.\u00a0 I wonder about what.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t know,\u201d Ezra murmured, then sighed.\u00a0 He caught sight of movement a few seconds later. \u00a0His breath caught in his throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere they are,\u201d he finally said as the two forms moving through the woods became more clear.\u00a0 \u201cWake Brendan.\u00a0 See if he can fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

America nodded and shuffled back toward the bunks.\u00a0 She shook Brendan gently, but he tried to ward her off anyway.\u00a0 He groaned as he came awake, shivering slightly as he cracked one eye open, then the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d he rasped.<\/p>\n

\u201cEzra wants to know if you can fly,\u201d America said quietly as she sat back down on the bunk.\u00a0 \u201cAlana and Grant are on their way.\u00a0 Do you think you can do it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendan coughed into his elbow as he slowly levered himself upright, eyes focusing slowly.<\/p>\n

Ezra watched like a hawk as his friend slowly stood with only a trace of unsteadiness and made his way to the pilot\u2019s chair.\u00a0 Brendan took his time settling in, taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly.\u00a0 Ezra frowned.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sure you\u2019re up to this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Brendan said after a moment of just sitting in the chair before he started to wake the ship, flipping switches and touching controllers.\u00a0 \u201cThe kelteminaphine\u2019s cleared, I think, and whatever you gave me instead is taking the edges off.\u00a0 I can see straight and my hands aren\u2019t shaking.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra nodded slowly, looking back toward the figures approaching them quickly through the trees.\u00a0 He was starting to be able to make out Alana\u2019s face, locked into a grimace.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong?\u00a0 Is she hurt?<\/em>\u00a0 He squinted, pressing closer to the window to try to see. Damn her for wearing black!\u00a0 I can\u2019t see anything.<\/em><\/p>\n

He pulled back, chewing at the inside of his lip for a moment before he headed for the hatch.\u00a0 One way or another, I\u2019ll find out in a minute.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh man,\u201d American murmured softly.\u00a0 \u201cIs he ever<\/em> angry about something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendan glanced at America, frowning, then mumbled a curse at himself and focused on the controls.\u00a0 Ezra shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that unusual?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMm.\u00a0 Depended on how the war was going on any given day.\u201d\u00a0 America perched on the edge of her bunk, eyes on the hatch.\u00a0 \u201cToward the end, he was upset a lot, but not angry.\u00a0 Not like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comm clicked three times.\u00a0 Ezra hit the hatch control, cycling it open.\u00a0 Alana propelled a tall, broad-shouldered figure into the craft before she stepped in after him, her expression a thundercloud matching his.\u00a0 Ezra blinked, staring at the two of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in,\u201d Alana snapped and hit the hatch control.\u00a0 \u201cGet us the hell out of here, Cho.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as you lock down the hatch, Alana.\u201d\u00a0 The engines hummed to life. \u00a0A shiver ran through the ship.\u00a0 \u201cGuys are going to want to strap in.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure we\u2019re going to avoid that spot of weather that was rolling in when we landed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra glanced at his friend.\u00a0 \u201cHow long do I have before we hit it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot very long, Ez.\u00a0 Five minutes, tops, and then your ass had better be tied down to something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight.\u201d\u00a0 Ezra turned to the man he presumed was Grant Channing and pointed to the space on the bunk next to America.\u00a0 \u201cYou, sit, now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant wasn\u2019t listening.\u00a0 He was glaring at Alana, who was strapping herself into a seat near the pilot\u2019s console.\u00a0 \u201cYou put my daughter in danger.\u00a0 What the hell<\/em> were you thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n

Alana stared straight ahead, saying nothing.<\/p>\n

Ezra\u2019s brow furrowed.\u00a0 What the hell is this?<\/em> \u00a0\u201cCommander Channing?\u00a0 Please sit down.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was ignored as Grant continued his tirade.\u00a0 \u201cI asked you to protect her!\u00a0 To make sure nothing happened to her!\u00a0 And you decide to come gallivanting out here looking for me<\/em> after I expressly told you not<\/em> to attempt a rescue at any cost!\u201d\u00a0 Grant leveled a finger at Alana.\u00a0 \u201cHow dare<\/em> you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Alana looked at him squarely.\u00a0 \u201cShe and Rachel both told me to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if Rachel and my daughter told you to jump off a bridge, would you?\u201d<\/p>\n

What the hell is this?<\/em>\u00a0 \u201cCommander, sit down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell?\u00a0 Would you?\u201d<\/p>\n

The ship began to shake, buffeted by winds.\u00a0 \u201cStrap in,\u201d Brendan warned.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not going to be responsible for bodies flying around the cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra grasped Grant by the shoulder as the turbulence increased.\u00a0 \u201cSir, I don\u2019t want to have to hit you, but I will if I you make me.\u00a0 Sit down<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ship bucked and Ezra caught himself against the bulkhead as Grant was tossed down onto the bunk with America, who grasped his arm tightly.\u00a0 The ship rattled and lightning knifed past the viewports.\u00a0 Bracing himself, Ezra looked at Brendan, who was white-knuckling the controls.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow bad is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBad enough!\u00a0 Hang on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ship seemed to drop abruptly, then nosed up and started to rapidly climb.<\/p>\n

Ezra stumbled sideways, slamming into the bulkhead and sliding to the deck.\u00a0 Alana\u2019s hand grasped his shoulder and held him in place as the ship continued to shake.\u00a0 It grew worse the higher they seemed to climb.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost there.\u201d\u00a0 Brendan\u2019s voice was tight.\u00a0 Ezra squinted.\u00a0 Was he shaking, or was that just an optical illusion born from the ship\u2019s shaking and the pilot\u2019s seat shaking out of sync with each other?<\/p>\n

The shaking stopped abruptly agonizing seconds later.\u00a0 Clear skies full of stars filled the viewport and the ship realigned, angling upward and to the left to stay out of a satellite\u2019s scanning radius.<\/p>\n

Brendan laid in a course with one hand.\u00a0 It was shaking.<\/p>\n

So it wasn\u2019t an optical illusion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ezra picked himself up from the deck, starting to move toward his friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe the risk you took, Alana,\u201d Grant growled.\u00a0 \u201cAnd broke the promise you made to me while doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it.\u00a0 <\/em>Ezra bit the inside of his cheek and turned slowly toward Grant, who was starting to rise even as America tried to hold him down.\u00a0 \u201cCommander, sir, let me make something abundantly clear to you.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to have to punch you, but I will if that\u2019s what it takes to get you to knock it the hell off.\u00a0 You should be grateful<\/em> to Alana.\u00a0 She\u2019s put her entire existence on hold for Lindsay.\u00a0 She\u2019s doing this for<\/em> her.\u00a0 Not in spite of her.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t have even come if Lindsay herself hadn\u2019t said that leaving you two in captivity wasn\u2019t an option, and I still<\/em> had to talk her into it.\u00a0 I had to point out that the alternative was the two of you dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alana cleared her throat.\u00a0 \u201cEzra.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra waved her off.\u00a0 \u201cThough talking her<\/em> into it was easier than talking Brendan into it.\u00a0 Talking your son-in-law<\/em> into it.\u00a0 So I guess you could say that she\u2019s here protecting Lindsay through his Bond to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEzra.\u201d\u00a0 There was a note of pleading in her voice.<\/p>\n

Again, he ignored her for the moment.\u00a0 \u201cAnd another thing\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEzra.\u201d\u00a0 Alana jerked on his arm and pointed at Brendan, whose shaking was becoming more pronounced, starting to tip toward convulsion.<\/p>\n

Shit<\/em>.\u00a0 Ezra spun fully toward Brendan and headed to the console.\u00a0 Brendan\u2019s eyes were glued to his board but a trickle of blood oozed from his nostril.\u00a0 \u201cBrendan?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust let me finish,\u201d Brendan whispered, lips barely moving.\u00a0 His knuckles were white on the control stick, fingers of his free hand twitching arhythmically over the jump control.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m almost finished.\u201d\u00a0 His face was pale, eyes more bloodshot now than they had been before.\u00a0 He was twitching, though he didn\u2019t seem to notice it, or the shakes.<\/p>\n

I shouldn\u2019t have put him back into the pilot\u2019s chair.\u00a0 <\/em>Ezra touched his shoulder.<\/p>\n

Brendan\u2019s hand came down on the jump switch half a second later.<\/p>\n

The ship shivered and accelerated before the screens went gray in front of them.\u00a0 The ship settled into its pace, the gray fading into hyperspace.<\/p>\n

Brendan\u2019s eyelids fluttered and he slumped into Ezra soundlessly.\u00a0 Ezra cursed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlana, help me get him back into the bunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra shook his head as he got Brendan by the shoulders.\u00a0 \u201cSomething tells me I shouldn\u2019t have let him fly this thing.\u201d\u00a0 They hauled Brendan over to his bunk and laid him out again.\u00a0 Ezra mopped up the blood coming from his friend\u2019s nose and murmured another curse under his breath.\u00a0 What the hell is this, Brendan?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d\u00a0 Grant\u2019s question was practically a demand.\u00a0 Ezra ignored him as he started assessing whatever further damage Brendan had done to himself.<\/p>\n

America touched her husband\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cCalm down, Grant,\u201d she murmured.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s a pilot. During the first leg of the run, while they were getting me out of Corp space, he had to manually deactivate his implant so they couldn\u2019t take control of the ship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cManually deactivate his implant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stabbed himself in the implant, Commander.\u00a0 Twice.\u00a0 It actually took the second time.\u201d\u00a0 Alana swiveled the pilot\u2019s chair back toward the bunks.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s one of the best pilots Marshal Windsor has, if not the <\/em>best.\u00a0 And he\u2019s Bonded to your daughter.\u201d\u00a0 Alana glanced at Ezra.\u00a0 \u201cIs he going to make it?\u00a0 Lindsay will kill you if he doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not even sure what just happened,\u201d Ezra muttered, tearing open another patch and slapping it against Brendan\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n

Alana grimaced, glancing back at the boards.\u00a0 \u201cWell, you\u2019ve got some time to figure that out.\u00a0 We\u2019re locked in for a direct line back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBack home?\u00a0 No correction point?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGuess not.\u201d\u00a0 Alana shook her head, looking at America and Grant.\u00a0 \u201cI suppose he wanted to get them home to Lindsay as quickly as he could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe.<\/em>\u00a0 Ezra frowned.\u00a0 Brendan\u2019s vitals were slowly stabilizing.\u00a0 Could it have been a side-effect from stabbing his implant?<\/em>\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure and had no literature at hand to check his theories.\u00a0 Exhaling a sigh, he turned to Grant and America.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s have a look at you, Commander.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant arched an eyebrow.\u00a0 America smirked a little and squeezed his arm.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t worry, dear.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be gentle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The onetime commander of the Psychean Guard\u2019s remnant looked like he didn\u2019t believe her.<\/p>\n

Ezra smiled.\u00a0 \u201cFirst, do no harm.\u00a0 Lie back, Commander.\u00a0 Time to see how badly that oath\u2019s been violated in the last eighteen years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name is Alana Chase, sirs, and I have a right to be here because I swore I would protect Commander Channing\u2019s daughter with my life.\u00a0 You can have everything I ever gave to the Compact, including my body\u2026and my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-last-colony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25yjF-2V","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}