Task Force Mars - Kevin Dockery [119]
“Burns like that, over so much of the body, are often fatal,” the doctor replied. “I told your corpsman that he saved Robinson’s life. But he’s going to be off the active duty roster for a very long time. It takes time to heal, even for a SEALS.”
The klaxon warned of imminent acceleration, and the doctor and the SEALS officer went into the XO’s quarters and sat at the little table as the ship started to move.
“You and your Team—that was a pretty impressive accomplishment, rescuing us. And then getting your whole Team off the planet alive. You’re an amazing commander, and the men are lucky to have you,” she said quietly. “I never expected to see anyone from home again. Thanks for coming after us.”
“I’m lucky to have those men. And we never leave our own behind,” Jackson said. “And out here, that includes you.” He hesitated, then asked a blunt question. “Are you going back to Mars?”
“That’s my plan. I was in the middle of some important research, and I think they need a doctor up there.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess they do.”
“So, Lieutenant,” she said with a smile that brightened her dark eyes, “if you’re ever in the neighborhood, you might give a girl a call.”
“You know,” he said, “I was going to do that even if you didn’t ask.”
The engines powered up with a thrumming whine that could be felt throughout the long, sleek vessel. Pegasus pulled away from Batuun with steady acceleration, the inertia dampened to the comfortable weight of 1 G. As soon as they got used to the pressure of gravity again, the two went all the way down the transport tube to L Deck, the Aft Con.
Consul Char-Kane, Chief Harris, Master Chief Ruiz, Olin Parvik, and Ensign Sanders were already there, watching the green planet slowly shrink. The CO had ordered the frigate to plot a course back to the solar system, and the steady press of 1 G allowed the seven of them to look straight “down” through the Plexiglas deck at their feet as the frigate sped away.
“You mentioned something about the Spider War—the Second Spider War, if I recall correctly,” the lieutenant said to the Shamani woman. “When was that? What was it about?”
“The Spider cluster is a group of nearly a thousand stars, perhaps twenty light-years from here. It is so named because the stars are grouped in eight ‘legs’ that spiral out from a core. Some forty of the systems have livable planets, which is a very high percentage compared to the galaxy as a whole. It is one of the ancestral homes of my people, but we were driven out centuries ago by an Eluoi incursion.
“Then, when I was a young woman, being held as a slave there, the Shamani came back and reclaimed all the worlds of the cluster. The Eluoi presence in the cluster was shattered, the survivors driven out. It is a loss that rankles them to this day.”
“Will you go back there?” Chief Harris asked.
“Someday, certainly. But there are many other places I would like to see first. If I may be of further service to your people…to you SEALS…I should very much like to do what I can.”
“We couldn’t have survived this mission without you,” Jackson said, remembering how she had piloted the shuttle that had carried them down to Batuun and the invaluable information she had given them as they negotiated the perils of that alien world. “Thank you, on behalf of the SEALS, the U.S. Navy, and, I daresay, the whole of planet Earth.”
Char-Kane’s red eyes widened slightly in response to this, and she appeared momentarily flustered. Harris took her hand, and she smiled almost shyly. “You’re welcome,” she said. She looked at the chief, and her expression warmed. “I owe you all thanks, as well, for you have helped me understand that there are many ways for people to work, and talk, and live with others. We Shamani sometimes feel as though our way is the only way, and I know that is not the case.”
Jackson looked at the void, and he remembered the four men, brave SEALS all, who had perished on Mars. They wouldn’t be coming back with the Team, but neither would they be forgotten. Almost unconsciously,