Orion Gambit - Traci Ganner series book 2

Orion Gambit - Ch 16

Chapter 16

A meeting of the Minds

Doctor Godsman was making his rounds, checking on the last of the patients that had not been transferred to the fleet base. Yeoman Gills was still recovering from a fractured ulna, but it was healing nicely following surgery. Godsman scanned the yeoman’s arm with a remote diagnostic reader and checked the density of the synthetic hydroxylapatite rod that had been used to splint the repair. He smiled at the readings and felt confident yeoman Gills would be able to return to his duty station within another few days, albeit with a cast. Within another two weeks, the specially constructed, biodegradable ceramic would dissolve into his bloodstream, leaving a perfectly healthy bone in Gills’ right arm.

He looked up and saw Traci standing in the doorway, looking slightly uncomfortable. After a few reassuring remarks to Gills, he made his way over to her.

“May we talk in your office, Doctor?” she preempted him.

Godsman smiled and led her into his office, pointing to one of the chairs. Traci took the chair, but still did not appear to be at ease. He shut the door and took the other chair.

“What can I do for you, Captain?” he asked.

“I have been encouraged by… someone outside of my direct chain of command to…” She struggled for the right words. Traci knew there was no turning back once she crossed this bridge. But she felt that if she didn’t confide in someone soon, she was going to crack up for sure.

Godsman waited patiently for her to formulate her thoughts. Traci took a deep breath and continued.

“I may no longer be fit to command this vessel,” she said. “There are events from my past that are causing me to have feelings… feelings that I am losing control over.”

Godsman leaned a little closer. “Are these feelings related to something that has happened to you? Has someone hurt you?”

Traci looked up briefly, and then down at her hands again. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s something I’ve done. Something terrible.”

Godsman remained quiet and noted that Traci was looking down at her hands.

“What I am about to tell you, I have not shared with anyone else. As the ship’s captain, I don’t really have anyone to talk to about this. It can be lonely at the top of the food chain.”

Godsman presented his best doctor’s smile. “As the ship’s senior medical officer, you may confide in me. I assure you it will not leave this room.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” she said. Traci took another deep breath and dove in.

“It was during my undercover assignment in the Terran navy. I was newly promoted as commander of the Terran light cruiser Corsair, with what was supposed to be a very easy patrol assignment in a backwoods star system. But when we discovered the rift that led to Valdi space, everything changed.”

“Go on,” Godsman prompted.

“I presented a plan to the council to surrender my ship to the Valdi and open the door to invasion. We believed that such a drastic act was necessary to disrupt the Imperial regime long enough to promote someone within it who was more broad-minded. To make it work, I was supposed to arrange a way to get the crew off of the ship and have it become derelict, but the council felt it should have a crew aboard to convince the Valdi that is was genuine. They wanted me to… suffocate my crew.”

Traci looked up with a haunted expression in her eyes. “I tried to get as many of them off the ship as I could using the cover of an evacuation drill, but I was careless, and my officers didn’t buy the ruse. Only a few survived in escape pods, and those that did had no knowledge of the rift. We were towed to the Terran side of the rift and ‘discovered’ by the base’s rescue teams.”