CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
AIDEN
It was late afternoon by the time we arrived back at the base.
The last of the crew had been rescued, though we’d unfortunately also come across two crew members who were dead.
Injuries from a laser weapon gave clear evidence that they’d been killed in the initial attack, which meant that no matter what my team had done, we wouldn’t have been able to save them, but the simple fact that we’d been the ones to find the bodies still left a sombre weight on us.
Dusty and tired, we all lined up for a final debrief from Henderson. Even Kade was there, his arm in a sling and a clean bandage wrapped around what I’d been assured was a neat row of stitches.
“An outstanding job, everyone,” Henderson said.
“Any of the crew who were injured have been transported to various hospitals around Hon, and everyone else is being put up in hotels until we can arrange flights home for them. The two deceased crew members will be transported home to their families. Alliance HQ is handling notifying their next of kin. They’ve also sent a commendation for everyone who assisted with the rescue.
Thank you all for your efforts, and particularly to the few of you who were injured in the process.
” He sent a nod Kade’s way, and also to a Solof who’d suffered minor burns from a chemical spill.
“I’m also very pleased to announce that we managed to retrieve some very valuable data from the ship’s logs and some quality samples of the planets they were mapping.
Some samples were unfortunately destroyed, but the mission can still overall be considered successful from a scientific perspective.
We’ve got a security team guarding the wreckage for the night, then tomorrow, we’ll begin dismantling the ship and transporting it to the West Hon scrap yard.
“The bad news is that our pilots were unable to locate the pirate ships that were responsible for the initial attack. We’ve notified the local star systems, since there’s little chance the ships could have made it back through the wormhole, and we also have a squad of fighters sweeping the asteroid belt.
If we’re lucky, the pirates will abandon this one as simply too difficult, and move on. ”
It was far from the first time Rendol had been the target of pirates, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Our defences had improved since the Culrads had joined the Alliance, but the Alliance Parliament was still reluctant to spend too much on defending a fringe colony with no real wealth or resources.
“I’ll expect reports from all team leaders by the end of tomorrow. Aside from that, you’re all dismissed. Thank you again, and get some rest this evening.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and rolled my shoulders.
I was looking forward to getting home and taking a long, hot shower.
Aside from the physical exertion of the mission, the desert dust had a way of seeping into every crack and crevice in both my skin and my uniform, and I felt gritty right down to my underwear.
But unfortunately, my escape was not to be quite so easy. “Commander?” Henderson said, stepping over to me. “Do you have a minute for a chat?”
“Yes, sir,” I said, because saying no really wasn’t an option. “What’s up?”
He waved me over to a quiet corner, the room rapidly emptying out as everyone was eager to be getting home.
“I know you’ll be putting this in your official report, but I just wanted to touch base on how Jai went today.
Allowing for the fact that he hasn’t been officially inducted into the Alliance Military and he’s had no training on our specific protocols, how do you think he went? ”
“I was very comfortable with his performance,” I said, mentally running back over the events of the day.
“His physical capabilities are on par with Kade’s – by which I mean they’re damn impressive.
Psychologically, he followed orders, he showed initiative.
He was a bit reluctant to engage with the team, but at the same time, we really did throw him in the deep end.
I need to interview them both about exactly how Kade was injured, but from what Kade’s said so far, it was largely to do with instability within the ship itself, rather than any specific mistakes on our part.
Those are the risks we take when we go into these situations.
So overall, I’d say he performed adequately, given the circumstances, and I’d expect a certain amount of improvement once he’s familiar with all the relevant protocols.
” What I didn’t say to Henderson was that I still had sizable doubts about Jai’s mental state, based on the ongoing issues with his attitude.
He’d shown no sign of his previous belligerence during the mission, so I was reluctant to say too much about it until I’d had the chance to do a bit more investigating.
“Fair enough,” Henderson said. “Have him start reading through the relevant training manuals, and we’ll see about giving him a proper assessment in the next week or two. Aside from that, enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you on Monday.”
? ? ?
The instant we all stumbled in the door back home, Jai immediately turned his scales black again.
He’d been purple for most of the day, first the trip to the shopping centre, then the military mission.
I’d ordered him to wear whatever colour was most appropriate on military activities, and given that we hadn’t been in any kind of active combat, he’d apparently decided that remaining purple would be most suitable – and I had no issue with that decision.
But now, the inky blackness coloured his body again like the slithering of a thousand tiny snakes.
“I’m going to have a quick shower,” I announced, as I kicked off my boots.
“I feel like I’ve got half the desert in my underwear.
Then we can make a fairly quick and simple dinner.
Kade, you’re not doing any cooking, you’re injured,” I said firmly, knowing that if I didn’t stop him, he’d rush off to start preparing the meal.
“I’ll cook something after I’ve had a shower and while I’m doing that, Jai can help you deal with your arm while you both get cleaned up.
” Without waiting for any discussion on the plan, I disappeared into the bathroom, tossing my dusty uniform directly into the washing machine as I stripped it off.
Once I was clean and dressed in a simple pair of sweatpants, I headed for the kitchen.
I was tired, but also hungry, so I wanted something simple but filling.
The options in the fridge were limited, but a few minutes later, I had the makings of a sensible meal; a pan full of fried eggs, plus some pre-cooked rice out of a packet, mixed with frozen vegetables and coconut cream, all of which was heating in a large saucepan.
It was far from a gourmet meal, but it ticked all the major nutritional boxes and it wouldn’t taste like shit.
By the time I was setting the pans on the dining table, Kade and Jai were back, both of them clean and dressed, with Kade’s arm back in a sling.
“Are you going to need help eating?” I asked Kade, knowing the answer would be no. But I asked anyway, simply to let him know it was an option.
“No, sir, I’ll be fine,” Kade said, with a smile. “I can actually use the arm. It’s just in a sling to remind me not to do anything strenuous with it. The doctor was concerned about me pulling the stitches.”
“Gee, I wonder why.”
We ate quickly, all of us hungry after missing out on a proper lunch and working hard all afternoon.
But the day wasn’t quite done yet. Bryce’s advice from this morning was still echoing around in my head.
I needed to find out what sort of person Jai had expected his master to be, and how those expectations were influencing his behaviour.
And furthermore, depending on his answers, whether there was anything I could do to fix that.
Ten minutes later, with our bellies full and the plates in the dishwasher, I called both dimari into the living room.
It occurred to me now that I was going to have to buy an extra arm chair.
The three of us could fit on the sofa if we were watching the wall screen, but it was far more comfortable for conversations to be able to face each other more easily.
As it was, I once again pulled one of the dining chairs into the living room, sitting facing the sofa.
Then, before saying anything more, I pulled up Jai’s operations manual.
Conceptually, I knew the list of skills that was in it, but after that conversation with Bryce, I was expecting there to be more nuances that I could tease out of it to understand why Jai was so on edge all the time.
He’d been trained in a specialty that didn’t suit him, but more than that, he’d quite possibly been trained in individual skills that he disliked.
"Jai,” I said, looking him in the eye. “I’m going to ask you a series of questions, and I understand that a lot of these are not going to make a whole lot of sense to you.
I’d like to make the point first of all that you’re not in any trouble.
You haven’t done anything wrong, and I’m not at all displeased with the way you completed the mission today.