Chapter 8

August 23, 2940

Noah felt a bit queasy as he looked around the meeting room at the rest of the senior staff and wondered how the Grace had been able to accomplish so much with leadership that had so little sense. It boggled the mind. They were not in their home galaxy. They were on a transport ship as opposed to a ship of the line. The crew was made up of cadets who were barely trained. Yet they were considering this asinine plan?

“Alright,” Captain Ó Faoláin said while holding up a hand and quieting the discussion. “I’ve given everyone a chance to share their thoughts and debate the matter but a decision needs to be reached. So, let’s review. Approximately a day ago, Safiya made contact with Mr. Aldram while eating on the station and spoke with him about potential work for the Grace. She brought Mr. Aldram to the ship where he was interviewed by Bastien.” Both Commander Devereaux and Lieutenant Commander Asfour nodded. “Bastien and I spoke shortly thereafter and I decided I wanted to hear the whole story from Mr. Aldram himself so we brought him on board once more and I interviewed him privately.” Another round of nods “I was prepared, during that interview, to decline to assist per Bastien’s recommendation but Mr. Aldram surprised me by offering two hundred thousand credits as well as a complete copy of his people’s central library if we took on and completed the job. That library would include a great deal of scientific data which Natasha informed me could be quite useful to the Grace’s current mission of finding a way home.”

“That is correct,” Specialist Ivanov responded. “As I said, Mr. Aldram allowed me to access some of his files and I believe that his people’s astronomical data alone could benefit us greatly.”

“Right,” the captain continued. “All of you had a chance to review my recorded discussion with Mr. Aldram – which Bastien and Safiya confirmed was essentially what they learned when speaking with him – and now we’re here discussing whether we will take on this job. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Safiya, Brice, and Spencer believe that the humanitarian nature of the request suggests we should assist.” The three nodded. “Natasha advocates that we should take on the job because the payout in credits and scientific knowledge would go a long way to furthering our own goals.” The specialist stayed silent and didn’t object. “Dante and Hiromi, having reviewed the data provided by Mr. Aldram, are convinced that the advantage our engines provide would allow us to significantly minimize the risk quite to the Grace are thus in favor of at least attempting to help Mr. Aldram barring any unforeseen challenges developing once we reach the Macroom system. Right?”

“Yes,” Commander Ito said as she shared a glance with Lieutenant Commander Saez. “We talked about it and we think that we shouldn’t have any problems outrunning and outmaneuvering any Macroom ships we encounter. As Dante said, they build their ships - even their warships – bulky and slow. The Grace is, at least on paper, more maneuverable and quicker even without taking into consideration our ability for FTL flight. Once that’s factored in, the Kingdom’s forces stand very little chance of challenging us.”

The captain let her gaze swing over to Commander Devereaux. “Bastien, you initially encouraged me to tell Mr. Aldram that we were not going to be able to assist. Over the last hour, though, you haven’t advocated for that position. Any position, actually. Thoughts?”

“All things considered,” the commander began, “I feel that the rest of the staff has made some good points but it was the offer of the library data that caused me to rethink turning Mr. Aldram down. Once he put that on the table, I thought it was worth giving a lot more thought to his proposal.”

“Do you think we should do it? I’d like a firm opinion, please.”

The commander shrugged. “I think there is merit to assisting him but I also believe this thing is far more dangerous than anyone, other than Noah, wants to admit. We really don’t know what we’d be walking into and that gives me a lot of concern. If you want me to commit to an answer, Captain, then I think my position is we should not help Mr. Aldram.”

Noah let out a relieved sigh. He and the commander didn’t often see eye to eye but Noah knew that the captain put a lot of stock in her first officer’s opinion. The fact that Bastien had finally picked a side during the meeting and indicated that he was against going to the Macroom system likely meant that the Grace would be spared the unnecessary danger. He’d have to thank the commander later for speaking sense.

All eyes turned to Noah and the captain let out a sigh. “And you’ve maintained the same position since this meeting began,” she said. “That this is too dangerous and that, as Chief of Security, you object to this… what was the term you used? Reckless adventurism?”

“I believe there is no reason to go,” Noah stated firmly. “I’ve reviewed the tactical data that Mr. Aldram provided and I gave my opinion on it earlier; we are well matched against any Macroom vessels if it came to blows. That being said, this is reckless and it is adventurism. The upside is that we gain some credits and some scientific knowledge but the truth is that both of those are things we can acquire without taking on this job. The downside is that we could find ourselves in an unavoidable firefight. A destroyed Grace is not one that will get back to AVAL space.”

Noah watched the faces around him frown at his harsh statement.

“I don’t think that’s particularly fair, Noah,” Lieutenant Cellar said. “And there’s no need to make comments like that.”

“I’ll evaluate and comment on the situation how I like, Lieutenant. You don’t have to worry about the Grace getting blown out of the sky because we’ve involved ourselves in someone else’s civil war. I do. This is a—”

“We’re all concerned about the safety of the ship,” Commander Ito interrupted. “That’s not helpful Noah.”

Grinding his teeth, Noah bit back a response. Most of the meeting had been civil so far and Noah had done his best not to let his frustrations show. But he was at his limit. The captain should have let everyone share their opinion before announcing that this whole mess was too dangerous and that they were going to send Mr. Aldram on his way. But they’d been speaking for nearly an hour! Round and round, with the rest of the staff talking about why the crew should go through with this insanity while Noah, and now finally Bastien, trying to be the voices of reason.

“Captain,” Noah eventually said. “This is a foolish endeavor that has the potential to get us all killed. I’m urging you to point the Grace in a direction other than towards the Macroom system.”

“Thank you,” she said evenly before standing up. Everyone followed suit. “I’ll have an answer as to our heading within the hour. Dismissed.”

*****

Noah was staring intently at the previous shift’s security report when the chime to his office sounded. He didn’t look up. “Come in,” he called, making a note to review with his team a few of the inefficiencies he’d observed within.

“Noah,” Hiromi said as she plopped down in one of the two chairs across from his desk.

“We came to check on you,” Safiya said, taking the other.

With a grunt, Noah turned off his data console and gave his two colleagues a frustrated glare. One of the perks of being the head of security was that he had his own office and he was half tempted to tell the two of them that he was busy and request that they come back another time. Politely, of course, since Hiromi outranked him. He didn’t. “I appreciate that. I would have appreciated it more if the captain had decided not to proceed to the Macroom system but what’s done is done.”

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“As she said in her formal orders, there was too much upside and not enough risk to justify walking away from Mr. Aldram’s offer,” Hiromi responded.

“And I already made a formal objection in the ship’s log,” Noah answered immediately.

“I’m sure you did,” Safiya said calmly. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Noah answered.

“You’re angry,” Hiromi pointed out.

“I’m fine,” Noah said again. The two girls shared a glance. Noah reconsidered kicking them out of his office.

“I wanted to ask you something, if I may?” Safiya said, her tone indicating she was changing the subject. Noah nodded. “At the meeting, you were very engaged when we were talking about the tactical aspects of the mission. Ship speed and maneuverability. Defensive capabilities. That sort of thing. You were also very thoughtful when discussing the offered credits and the library database. When both matters were being debated, I got the sense that you were actually listening to and considering what was being said.”

“I was,” Noah responded. “There was some truth to the idea that the Grace was well positioned tactically for this job and I found merit in the idea that we could get such a large chunk of credits, and an entire planet’s scientific database, if we were successful.”

“You seemed totally dismissive of the humanitarian argument,” Safiya stated. “Why?”

Noah leaned back in his chair and considered the CMO. Then he looked over to Hiromi – likely his best friend on the ship – and frowned. She seemed just as interested in his answer as Safiya. He let his eyes drift to the space between the two and stared at nothing while letting out a long breath. “I was dismissive,” he said. “I thought that the humanitarian argument was inane.”

“You don’t believe in helping people?” Safiya asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Noah answered honestly. “I think helping people is a great thing.”

“We have the opportunity to help Mr. Aldram and his family,” she said.

“True.” Noah paused for a long moment. “Safiya, what do you know about my home planet? Avernus III?”

“Hm…” she began, clearly caught off guard. “I have to admit that I don’t know much. The Avernus system has a reputation for being quite rough. It was accepted into the Union some time ago but, because it’s on the edge of AVAL space and borders an ungoverned frontier, my understanding is that it’s faced a lot of social and economic challenges.”

“That’s a bit of an understatement but it’s essentially correct,” Noah said. “The original colonists of Avernus III came from the Southern Mars Colony and, before that, Earth’s North America. Unlike many other political bodies that were formed after the great diaspora, our people were not particularly united in their cultural, economic, or social goals. The founding and subsequent history of our world is fraught with a lot of disputes and distrust. My ancestors had a rough go of it.”

“That’s tough,” Hiromi said.

“Made tougher by our commitment to humanitarianism.”

“I’m sorry?” Safiya asked with a frown. “By humanitarianism?”

“The Lucifern Expanse – the ungoverned frontier bordering our system – is a nebula-dense solar cluster whose people had a far more difficult start than my own. They floundered due to a variety of reasons but, suffice it to say, societal collapse was a constant threat in that part of space. My people saw this and there were attempts over the next few hundred years to provide humanitarian relief. Doing so almost led to the destruction of our own world.”

“How so?” Safiya asked skeptically.

“Early on,” Noah said with a slight shrug, “it was about food. Our farming sectors had started producing right after the founding but there were soil challenges and unexpected droughts. My understanding of our history is that growing enough food to support our population was hit or miss for quite some time. Certain segments of society – the wealthy, the well-connected, those serving in necessary industries like government and defense – ate well. Everyone else? Not so much. Well, those who were well fed were the ones who were the greatest proponents of sending some of our meager agricultural products to our neighbors and they also had the political power to do so. They preached humanitarianism at a time when there were portions of our populace going hungry. This caused riots and discontentment. While transports loaded up food for our neighbors, secession movements and political factionalism grew.”

“That seems hard to imagine,” Hiromi said. “If there wasn’t enough food to go around, I have a hard time believing a society would ship what they did have elsewhere.” Noah didn't need to imagine it; he knew his people's history.

“Societies are made up of people,” Noah responded. “And people have agendas. For some, sacrificing at home to help their neighbors was noble. It was a moral imperative. For others? A wealthy industrialist might not care if the local working poor can’t eat because sending food abroad – and getting the goodwill from those foreigners – might help him expand his business to that new region or guarantee favorable agreements with its people. A politician who is eating well won’t be bothered if non-constituents are staring so long as foreign governments line his pockets as payback for aid.”

“I—” Safiya began but Noah held up his hand.

“Time marched on and things changed. The humanitarian needs evolved. We sent military vessels to patrol the Lucifern Expanse despite the fact that pirates were routinely hitting our outer mining colonies. Our miners died while our navy protected our neighbors. Then there was a large push to open up one of the southern continents for immigrants. A wonderful gesture, for sure, but you end up with an enraged population when you seize their family homes and businesses so that you can turn them over to the new arrivals. Thirty years ago, when the grey plague hit us hard, we sent huge numbers of doctors out system while our own death toll rose as people died in our understaffed hospitals.” Noah realized his voice was starting to rise so he took a deep breath.

A chime sounded from Noah’s console before any more words were said so Noah tapped the appropriate indicator. “Ser? You ready for us?” Lieutenant Valuri asked over the intercom.

“In a moment,” Noah responded before ending the call and glancing between Safiya and Hiromi. “Avernus III has had two civil wars, several assassinated heads of state, and an unusually wild boom and bust economy since our founding. These periods of intense instability – instability which has hampered our growth in a very real and tangible way – generally came while humanitarian aid was being given to the Lucifern Expanse at the expense of our own people. I’m not against helping others, Safiya. Really. But my people have learned the very hard lesson that helping others when you can’t even help yourself will end in disaster.”

“That’s a very… sad view of charity,” Safiya said quietly.

“It is,” Noah nodded solemnly. “But had my people held that outlook when we first stepped foot on Avernus III, perhaps we wouldn’t have lost millions of our own while trying to help thousands beyond our borders. With the captain’s decision, I fear we run the risk of losing all two hundred souls on board the Grace just to rescue a handful of strangers.” Noah could tell that Safiya and Hiromi didn't understand. They couldn't. He knew he sounded cold-hearted. He knew that they were likely wondering where his humanity or compassion might be. He sighed internally. He did believe in charity - in helping others - but he also knew that the best way to help a neighbor raise a house was to ensure that one's own house was in order first.

“You’re meeting with your staff?” Hiromi asked, nodding to the computer console and clearly desiring to change the subject.

“Yes,” Noah answered softly. “We have a lot to do to prepare for this mission. If you’d both excuse me?”

*****

“So,” Noah said crisply an hour later to the senior members of his department, “does anyone have any questions?” Everyone in his office but Lieutenant Valuri shook their head. “Andrew?”

“Are you sure you want to interview Mr. Aldram in your office and not the brig? The brig might be more intimidating.”

Noah snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure. The captain’s position is that he’s to be treated respectfully so I’ll talk to him in here. I don’t want him to feel as if I am interrogating him.”

“But you do plan on interrogating him, right?”

“Absolutely,” Noah grinned. “I know he’s already talked to the commander and the captain but I have a lot more questions for him and I intend to know everything he knows about Macroom, their military, and any potential dangers before we disembark.” Andrew smirked. “Oh, one more thing,” Noah said as he sat back in his chair. “How is the cross-training going?”

“Well,” Lieutenant Valuri began, “everyone in the department knows what you’d like to see and I’ve already touched base with just about everybody. Folks are sorting out what secondary skillsets they want to pick up but everyone in security is behind you on this.”

“I know it’s only been a few days since we talked about it,” Noah said. “But I’m glad people have gotten the message. With us going to Macroom, I think it’s even more important that our team have as much diverse knowledge as possible. We won’t know what to expect, even once I wring Mr. Aldram for every bit of information he contains. We need to be prepared for anything.”