Anachron

The Crucial Moment

It was difficult to tell how long we'd been cruising through deep space, but we finally arrived at Markad.  Captain Lattimer was on duty, of course.  As captain, it was his prerogative to take the moment of glory for himself.

Meanwhile, I sat in my quarters, still unsure about our mission.

Since the evening in the lounge with Leftenant Martin, I had spent most of my time brooding on my own.  Even when I was on duty, I hadn't had much to say to the other officers.

Finally, at the proverbial eleventh hour, I suddenly realized what I had to do.

When I had my epiphany, I leapt out of bed and dove at my trunk.  When I found what I was looking for, I put it on and ran for the bridge.  There was no time to lose.  Just as the fortune teller had told me, we could never change the future just by following orders.

When I arrived on the bridge, I saw Markad floating in the distance.  From its placement relative to the ship, I guessed that we were in firing position.  There wasn't a moment to spare.

Lattimer was there, in the middle of the bridge, standing proud in his moment of triumph.  I felt guilty for trying to steal it away from him.

"Arm the launchers.  Prepare for bombardment."

"Sir, gunnery reports six out of twenty tubes ready to launch."

"Let me know when it's twenty out of twenty."

The captain was going to launch an opening volley, probably emptying all the tubes at once.  By the time the Markadians had time to collect their wits after a salvo like that, we would be ready to give them more.  At least there was still time.

"Captain Lattimer, I need to speak with you."

He turned to look at me.  "You waited until now, Subcaptain?  I think it can wait just a little longer."

"It's about the mission, Captain.  A matter of grave importance."

He glared at me.  My palms began to sweat during the fraction of a second while I awaited his response.  I was risking a lot by confronting him on the bridge like this.  It was a cardinal rule among command officers that we were not to show dissent in front of the rest of the crew.  Military efficiency depended on the troops seeing a unified plan come down from on high, and I had broken that unanimity.

Instead of answer me directly, Captain Lattimer turned to the gunner.

"How long until all the tubes are loaded and ready to fire the opening volley?"

"At current rate of progress, eight minutes."

He turned back to me.  "You've got five."  Then he silently pointed to the ready-room, the appropriate place for a discussion such as this.

I went, and he followed.  As soon as we were both inside, he closed the door behind him.

"Four and a half."  His voice was grim.  This was my moment.

"Don't fire on Markad."

Since this was the critical moment, I was straight and to the point.  I shouldn't have been.  It was a huge mistake.

"Is that an order?  Just who do you think you are?  I am the captain of this ship, and we have an important mission to carry out.  Perhaps the single most important mission in all of history."

"I know, Sir.  That's why we have to act carefully."

"Listen, Davis.  You know as well as I do that it's not our place to pick and choose our missions.  What if someone had decided that they didn't want to stay and defend Jovix?"

I knew he was referring to me.  When I had been subcaptain on the Watchdog, my orders were to patrol and defend the planet.  Even against long odds, I stayed and fought.  And triumphed.

"Sir, I don't know how to say this, but..."

I hesitated, struggling to find the right words for what I wanted to say.

"We started this war."

"What are you talking about?  The Markadians attacked us.  We didn't start out by capturing their worlds.  They took ours."

"No, Sir.  I don't mean Terrans in general.  I mean us.  You and me.  Right here.  Right now.  If you give the launch order, the survivors will pick up the pieces and wage a relentless war of extermination against humanity."

He looked down at his watch.

"You're insane, and your time is up.  If you'll excuse me, I have a job to do."

I didn't excuse him.  I drew my sidearm.  The one I took from my trunk on the way out of my quarters.

"I can't let you do that."

His face turned so red it was almost purple.  If he could bring himself to speak at that moment, he would have spewed a stream of profanity.  I don't know why he didn't.  For a moment, we both stood there in silence.  Finally, in a last moment of frustration, he dove at me, but there was too much ground for him to cover.  For a split second the air between us was ionized and when it was done, Captain Lattimer had no head.  His lifeless body fell to the ground.

I stayed in the ready-room, hyperventilating.  This was mutiny.  I would never be able to go home.  If I did, there would be a court-martial, and I couldn't deny the simple facts.  I had just killed my captain.

In that moment, I had done something I couldn't take back.  I could no longer turn around and walk away.  I was committed.  It was time for me to finish what I started.  I carefully stashed Lattimer's lifeless body.  It didn't have to stay hidden forever, just long enough for me to do what I had to do.

With the body tucked away out of sight, I took a deep breath and stepped back out onto the bridge.

"Assemble a landing team."

For a moment, the bridge was silent.  Everyone looked at me like I was speaking nonsense.  I looked over to the communication station and saw the familiar face of Jack Martin.

"Never Mind."  I pointed at him.  "You, send a message to the surface."

"Sir?"

"I want to meet with their world leader."  Still just a vacant stare.  "Send it!"

He keyed some information into his console, then spoke into his microphone.  A little more button pushing, and talking, and he was done.  He turned to me.

"Well?  What did they say?"

"They would be pleased to meet with us.  They've sent a signal to their leader and are sending directions to his location."

"Perfect.  Now get up and come with me."

"Me, Sir?"

"Yes, you.  I'll need a translator."

He followed me out into the hallway.  When it was just the two of us, he found his voice.

"What's going on, Sir?"

"I found the crucial moment.  I've committed an act of free will.  I only hope I can follow through."