I wasn't sure where the brig was, never planned on going there. The wheeled truck looked pretty well used, and the sergeant drove while the other three got in back with me. They took me off the Academy grounds, and then back around to another base nearby. This one looked a lot different; the buildings were newer, and shorter. The Naval Academy had a proud tradition, and some of the buildings were over a hundred years old.

Nothing on this base looked more than ten years old. It had grass between the buildings, but the trees weren't very tall. Lots of Marines jogging around, and a big garage with grav tanks all parked outside.

No one had said anything, they had just pointed me into the truck, and then out of it. I wasn't sure if they hadn't handcuffed me because of climbing into the truck, or what. We marched into the side door of one building, and then just the sergeant and me when down three flights of stairs. We all stopped at a door with a bunch of "Authorized Personnel Only" signs, and two armed Marines.

The sergeant pulled out small comp and handed it to one of the armed Marines. That one read the orders, and then handed it to the other. They both nodded, and the first one pushed a button and said "Secure the deck."

I had no idea what was going on, but a few minutes later the door unsealed and opened up. Another armed Marine came out, read the orders, and then looked at me. "This way, sir."

Everyone was all serious like, so I wasn't going to remind him that I was just a cadet. The room had a bunch of desks with people sitting at them. All of the computer screens were turned off, and so was the trio of big screens on the far wall. A few people looked at me, one girl raised an eyebrow, and then they all went back to doing nothing at their desks.

The new Marine led me into a small room with a fancy looking comm unit. He looked at me and said, "Do you know how to operate this?"

I shook my head, I didn't even know what it was. In a minute he had the thing fired up, and the screen came on. There was someone in the background of the screen, and the Marine with me left the room.

Then things quit making sense. Captain turned to the screen, smiled, and said "Hello, Chief!"

I sat bolt upright and almost saluted. Captain had LTCMDR insignia on his collar, and he was kind of fuzzy on the comm. "Captain! Sir! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"

"What?" Captain said. It sounded like he was a bit far away. He moved closer to the screen and said, "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I didn't hit him with the book, though I felt like it," I replied. "They got me under arrest, I think, but no one has tossed me in jail yet."

"Chief, I have no idea what you're talking about. Please explain, but quickly, if you can." Captain leaned back in his chair, and looked at me.

I told him about the idiot professor, and trying to calm Smiley's brother, and then the idiot professor saying Captain lied about the Mark 19s. And then me yelling, throwing the book, and the gray suiters fixing to fight the Marines until I stopped them. I talked fast as I could, and Captain didn't say a word.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"And I'm sore sorry, Sir. I should not have lost my temper," I said quietly.

"You're right, you should not have done that. I've heard about that professor, total hogwash. Still, you might want to write an apology," Captain said, and then he leaned forward. "Now, my turn to talk, but this is classified, Chief. No one, no cadets, not even your family, can know about this. There's a bigger problem than a bad professor, and I need your help. Would you mind taking a break from the Academy for a year?"

It took me a minute to suss it all out what Captain had said. "A year, sir?"

"I know it's going to make it hard on you, but we have sabotage on a critical mission, there are security issues, budget problems, and the entire project will be scrapped if I can't move things forward. I need people I can trust, Chief. That's why I had the Marines bring you to a secure comm facility. It's not about the professor, it's a lot larger than that."

I nodded. "You know I will give you my best, sir. What can you tell me?"

"Lots of experimental engineering, and ships specifically re-worked for the mission. We've had to get everyone off the deck; there was a bomb planted and we lost several good people. I can get some experts, but they won't work for the civilian engineers." Captain paused, and looked at me. "Actually, they won't work for anyone but you."

"Who...oh." I'm not the smartest fella around, but sometimes things click in place. "You're out there, aren't you?"

Captain nodded, and then the idiot professor wasn't worth another thought.

"How are they doing?" I said. It kind of choked out, I remembered telling them all goodbye when I left for dirtside. They couldn't come with me, their bodies were too weak for real gravity. They was all just kids, really, and they trusted me more than I deserved. The Academy was a big career boost for me, and right about then I felt stupid. My friends needed me, and Captain needed me. There was work to be done.

"Physically, they are adjusting. We've set up exercise gear and have been changing their diet to real food slowly." Captain grimaced. "A friend of mine runs a dietary science company, and she insisted on dealing with this personally. Her people say the Mulgoi are in all respects human, but separated from us by a thousand years of development. Maybe more, I don't really understand the science of it, but I trust their research."

Captain sighed. "More than I can trust many people, these days. There's a big push to sell the ship, and the people, to either the Confeds or the Atreans. The money would wipe out Birach's planentary debt, and a lot of nobles are pushing for it. But we know what will happen to our Mulgoi friends, if that deal goes through. That's what the sabotage is about, trying to prove we can't handle the research. Two enemy fleets are sitting in Birach space, waiting for us to fail."

"Huh?" I sat back. "How can they just sit there? Can't we kick 'em out?"

Captain shook his head. "No, as much as we'd like to. Birach has been very intentional about keeping it's Navy as a local, defensive measure only. We can fight a few pirates, but not a fleet of capital ships. Either fleet outnumbers us ten to one, and they have much higher technology. This isn't a fight we can win."

"What's the plan, Sir?" I leaned forward. "Missy and I are going to have a baby pretty soon."

"Congratulations! That's great news!" Captain said. His smile just about broke his face. Then it kinda got small. "Well, great for you, not so great for me. I'm critically short of Engineers I can trust, but I know how important family is."

I knew how he knew; everyone knew. Captain was a hero, and people had written books about him. About how his dad was lost in space for years, and how Captain grew up without a dad. Without even knowing if his dad was alive or dead. Captain would never ask me to put my child through the pain that he grew up with.

Missy would never let me go. Truth of it, if it wasn't Captain who needed me, I wouldn't go anyway. But Gdtr, Laku, and the other Mulgoi trusted me. They revered Captain, and like everyone else, they were scared to death of the First Officer. But they had worked side by side with me. We had cried over dead friends as we sent their bodies to the sun.

I hung my head, and sighed. "Let me talk it over with Missy, Sir. I'll let you know."

There was a long pause, and then Captain quietly said, "I understand, Chief. Truly, I do."