Star Missions - Book One - Part I

Chapter 7 - Unanswered Questions

Other ships had no idea what had happened, and all but a few people at the base knew of the Colonel's orders. As soon as the shockwave hit them, the radio chatter started to pour in.

"This is transport Gentry," a woman's voice began. "Was that an atomic bomb explosion?"

"Hello, this is cargo ship Valiant. What happened?" a man with an accent asked. "What's going on down there?"

Though he listened, Victor kept his eyes closed and didn't say a word. Neither the pilots nor Colonel Hand responded to the questions from other ship captains that continued to inundate their communications board. The answer was obvious enough. The ships would have to wait for more details along with everyone else.

Colonel Hand was quietly talking on another channel, but the noise from the thrusters and the alarmed voices drowned out whatever he was saying. Victor's hope that one of the ships would contact him and inform him that his family was aboard and safe faded. No such message came. The sick feeling in his gut grew more intense with each passing minute.

He finally stood up and moved toward a viewport and glanced outside. The Colonel's shuttle was now in Low Hydra Orbit, high enough for him to see the stars and the curve of the planetary horizon. It was hard to keep his composure. One moment he was grieving, and the next, he was angry. He wanted to scream and then cry. How could this have happened? He took deeper breaths and tried to behave like the leader he needed to be. He had to be strong.

As the chatter continued in the background, Victor overheard Space Dog Clark Walters raising his voice to Lopez, who was sitting next to him in the shuttle's main cabin. He had forgotten they were there and had lost himself in his prayers and meditation. Specialist Walters looked angry. Lopez attempted to keep Walters quiet and focused on his duties, but was having a hard time doing so. Hand glanced at Victor as if to say that he would look into the commotion. He returned shortly after consulting with Lopez. Walter's wife was working at the lab that day, and with the radio chatter, now realized what had happened. He ordered them to pipe down. It was then that he began to think of everyone else affected by the events that had just taken place.

Victor felt that maybe he had made the wrong decision. He sat back down. Other than Dr. Neal, and those he recognized with her, he didn't know who else was working at the lab complex when the bugs attacked. The horrendous scene outside the lab kept coming to mind. What more could he have done? He thought about the flippant attitude he had when the Doctor exposed the potential threat. He was ashamed. He started blaming himself for the bug attack, and then for the drastic actions he felt he had to take. If only he had ordered an evacuation sooner! He speculated how many people in the surrounding area got to safety. The fact that he didn't know made him even more desperate for answers.

There was nothing he could do now for the people who had died. What was done was done, and there was no way to undo it. He worked his analytical mind to determine what he had to do next. What was important was to move on and to pick up the pieces as best he could, but he first wanted to make sure that he had not ordered the detonation of an atomic bomb on the lab in vain. He stood up and turned to Colonel Hand. He wanted to make sure the bomb had bugs had destroyed ALL the bugs.

"Colonel, make sure that we got all those damned bugs," he ordered in a soft tone.

"Then begin the search for survivors and assess the damage as soon as the radiation and fallout clear. I want a full report as soon as possible,"

Victor knew he had to put his concerns aside and focus on what was best for the rest of the planet's residents.

In a surprising gesture of comfort, the Colonel placed a hand on Victor's shoulder for a brief moment. "Of course," the Colonel said in a comforting way, "as soon as we can."

As Hand moved to the communications board to issue the orders, Victor's thin facade of strength broke again as he lowered himself back to his seat and buried his face in his hands. He felt an overwhelming sense of loss. He had lost his loving wife and beautiful children forever. He wrestled with the thought that he possibly ordered their deaths. A part of him still clung to the hope that they were still alive, but the reality was that they would have contacted him by now if they had safely made it out.

Colonel Hand's voice giving instructions to the base personnel broke through his dark thoughts and melancholy mood. Victor listened with keen interest if only to give his tortured mind something different to focus on.

"Hydra Base, this is Colonel Hand. A one-megaton H-bomb has been detonated near the Nova lab complex. There may be survivors in the area outside the blast radius. We need rescue crews mobilized for search and rescue when possible, using protective radiation gear. All personnel should be advised to stay indoors until the all potential fallout clears. Hand out."

After Hand cut off the connection, an oppressive silence settled over the shuttle again. Victor remained where he was, unable and unwilling to move. Walters, who'd returned from the other compartment, also appeared to be in mourning, and Victor wanted to do something to comfort the man. However, the cold, accusing glare Walters kept directing over his way made him think it was not the right time. It might not ever be.

Victor felt responsible. But then again, did he have a choice? The top military leader in the Strolla System agreed with his decision. Still, no matter how many justifications he came up with, it didn't make him feel any better.

Even if he had no other choice, he still questioned everything, including his decision to accept the Governorship. Had it been wrong to marry, have children, and live in a world where unknown dangers lurked all around them? A flood of doubts began to race through his mind when he suddenly heard the pilot's voice.

"Colonel, I've got Captain Beauregard from the Gentry. He wants to speak with you immediately."

Hand waved it off.

"We're pretty busy over here. Have Captain Beauregard call me once we return to the base."

"Yes, sir, but he says you will want to hear what he has to say," the pilot relayed.

There was something in the pilot's voice that made Victor raise his head. It must have grabbed Hand's attention, too, because he punched a button on the communications board, despite the scowl on his face. Maybe it had to do with survivors. Victor tried to restrain his hope.

"This is Colonel Hand. We don't have time to lose, Captain. I hope this won't take long."

"Well, sorry to disturb you, Colonel," Beauregard replied with an evident tone of sarcasm in his voice, "but maybe you should head over here and take a look on the port side of my ship."

The Gentry had left Hydra's atmosphere along with the rest of those who evacuated the area.

Victor knew Captain Beauregard well. He found the motivation to rise again and moved to the viewport, where he stood next to Hand. He could see a line of different sized shuttles, transports, and cargo freighters in orbit near them, and along with Hand spotted Beauregard's ship. The Colonel's shuttle wasn't close enough for them to see anything that appeared out of the ordinary.

Hand didn't like wasting time.

"I don't have time for games, Captain," he snapped. "What is it?"

"An alien floating in space," Beauregard informed him in a blunt, casual tone, but stressing the alien part. "And... it looks like it could be alive."

His words took everyone on the Colonel's shuttle by surprise. It was hard for Victor to accept yet another alien creature suddenly appearing in orbit around Hydra. He wasn't sure he wanted to save any more aliens after the catastrophe of the last rescue mission.

Nonetheless, he wanted answers, and maybe this alien could provide them. This alien could very likely have been an occupant of the shuttle that brought the killer bug. It was too much of a coincidence. Victor needed some sort of direction, a plan of action, and he had one now. There were so many unanswered questions, and now he had someone or something to ask them.

Whatever the answers were, he was determined to get them and do something about it.