January 14, 2363 AIA
Rising Ship 0027
The ship was silent. It’d been so long since Falk had moved, the lights had dimmed themselves. He hadn’t bothered to wake them. He sat on the small bench in the main cabin with his chin resting on his interlaced hands.
In that still reverie, he heard the muted crack of metal being pounded on the back hull. It sounded three times.
He smiled, stood up, and crossed over to the small on-board com next to the airlock.
Pressing the button, he said, “Who is it?”
“Who do you think it is?”
“No solicitors.”
“Christopher Falk, open the damn door this instant!”
The general entered the code to unlock his ship. Through the porthole, he saw two figures drag themselves inside. The larger one stumbled in the transition to artificial gravity.
Poor Jordan. The man had always hated space.
By the time Ito and Jordan had struggled out of their suits and made it into the cabin, Falk had already put three glasses down on the minuscule table.
“Make mine a double.” Jordan stumbled over to a seat.
Falk felt a momentary pang of regret when he saw the sheen of sweat on the man’s face. As an apology, he poured a generous second helping of whiskey.
“How long has it been?” Falk asked as Ito joined them.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“How long what?” Jordan said.
“How long has it been since we’ve all been together?”
“Six and a half years,” Ito said.
Jordan tried to calculate and decided it wasn’t worth the effort. “Something like that.”
“It’s…it’s good to see you both. Face to face,” Falk said.
Jordan grunted. Ito hid her smile.
Falk drew in a deep breath and let out a sigh as he sat down. “Next time then.”
“Next time what?” Jordan asked.
“The next time we’re all drinking together,” Ito explained, “we’ll be toasting to the end of the war.”
Falk tapped the side of his glass with his finger. “I don’t know now. We said that last time.”
“You said,” Jordan corrected him.
“But here we are.” Falk took a swallow. “If we ever have to do something like this again, you’ll bring the—what do you drink, Ito? Sake? You’ll bring the sake?”
“I’ll bring tea.”
Falk wrinkled his nose with distaste.
Jordan said, “And let’s hope we never have to do something like this again.”
The three generals fell silent.
When their glasses were empty, Ito said quietly, “Then we’re agreed?”
“I don’t like this,” Jordan said.
“We’re agreed on that too.”
Falk added, “But if you have any other solution…”
There was a grumble from deep in Jordan’s throat. The other two generals waited.
“I haven’t found any,” he admitted.
Ito murmured, “That’s it then.”
“Now we have to talk about who’s going to be there,” Falk said.
General Jordan’s eyes moved between Falk and Ito. “It isn’t time for a switch.”
“We’ve switched at odd times before.”
“Yes, when a project demanded it. I thought the whole point of us doing this—”
Ito put a hand on Jordan’s arm. “Malik, listen. No matter how careful we are, there’s probably going to be trouble over this. Falk’s right, we need to decide who’s going to be there.”
“You’re the next one out.”
“That’s not an option. Not to me. I’m going to be there.”
Jordan watched Ito’s face for a moment, then looked at Falk.
“You think I’d miss this for anything in the galaxy?” Falk said.
General Jordan grabbed the whiskey bottle and poured himself a half measure. “And I can’t argue with that, can I?”
“Jordan.” Ito waited until the man looked at her. “You’re the best of us. If anything happens, we want you well out of it.”
The only response was a grunt.
“Do you honestly think Ito or I could run this war without you?” Falk asked.
Jordan drained his drink. “I can’t argue with that either.” The glass clicked when he put it down on the metal table.
“So, then we’re agreed?”
They were a hidden speck in the infinity of space, light-years from any planet. Every signal was shut down. Only the lights and life-support were running. Nothing on the ship could record them. Still, they each only nodded to give their consent.