Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 02:46:15 -0800 (PST) From: Warren Subject: The Coldest Place - Chapter 5 *----------------------------* The following story, novel, or chapter contains homosexual themes and is not intended for anyone under the legal viewing age. If depictions of homosexual activities disturb you, DON'T CONTINUE TO READ! You've been warned. Do not e-mail me and complain or harass me with hate mail over this story. I will ignore you, or, if I find your message humorous enough, I'll probably thank you for the best laugh of my life. Copyright 2007 - Warren (singerboi22@yahoo.com) This is my second story...take it easy. Thanks :) Mine Shadow: /nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/mine-shadow/index.html *----------------------------* The Coldest Place Chapter Five -- What Did You See? James felt completely useless -- which wasn't all that surprising. With his ship disabled, and his crew licking their wounds, there was little for him to do but wait. Even his admirable bounty of patience tended to run out from time to time. For the hundredth time it seemed, he asked his communications officer for a connection to Engineering. This time, the reply back from Eli was a bit more heated: "Leave us the hell alone so we can work!" James bit back his retort and calmed himself. His eye still twitched, though. The medic had left the bridge quite a while ago, completely unnoticed. He thought it was rather lucky that she didn't need to take any of his bridge officers along. It was actually a shock to see Kaer hand him a tactical report when he hadn't even noticed the medic had finished. James was still sitting in his chair when Eli returned to the bridge. "We're as ready as we're gonna get, Captain." James started at the sound of Eli's voice and looked around. Most of his officers were walking back to their stations. His happiness must have shown on his face, because Eli gave him a sly look. "Happier now, eh?" James glared at him. It was at that very moment the lights went out and the entire ship shut off as if the plug had been pulled. The first thought in his mind was "What the hell?" followed by "Again?" Again? When had this happened before? Why did this feel so familiar? He felt a drop in his stomach as the gravity plating switched over to backups. He was dimly aware in the darkness of a jumble of sound and sensation; someone swore loudly and he distinctly heard the thud of bone against metal. Most likely someone tripped, he thought, and he fumbled in the dark for his wrist beacon, finally finding it in the pocket of his chair. The light cut through the looming darkness like a warm knife through butter, and after a few moments he could make out his officers doing the same. In no time his well-trained crew were shining their lights around the CC. Someone screamed a terrible cry of fright, and fell backwards as their light smashed on the floor. Immediately, his heart pounding, James leapt up and vaulted over the central table toward his officer. In the dim light of his beacon, as it flashed over the body, he could see it was Kaer. "Call the medic!", James yelled out, hoarsely. He bent over Kaer's side, aware of the blood pooling beneath his junior officer's head. All the while his heart pounded in his chest. He prayed that Kaer was still alive as he felt for the officer's pulse. It was slow, but he was for sure alive, and James breathed a sigh of relief, his heart calming. "Communications are down. I sent a messenger to the infirmary. Is he alive?" Eli had come up beside him and was looking at Kaer with concern on his lined face. "Yeah, he's breathing." He looked up at the officers crowded around them. "Did anyone see what happened?" They all shook their heads. "Nothing, Captain." What had caused Kaer to fall like this? He felt a thread of fear run through him -- in this darkness, anything could be hiding right behind what was, a few minutes before, a safe haven. Was it possible they had intruders on board? He felt like he had to act fast. "Eli, get our security teams equipped with radio transmitters and start patrols. We may have someone on board." "You think somethin' attacked Kaer? I didn't see anythin'." "Just do it, Commander! I'm not taking any chances." He watched Eli motion to a trembling Ensign on the other side of the bridge to come closer. "Captain..." James looked down to see Kaer's eyes were open, though he didn't seem to be able to focus completely. James could see the pain in his eyes, and shared it sympathetically. "The medic is coming, Lieutenant. Don't strain yourself." "Captain... someone's here." "Who is here, Lieutenant?" The tall man tried to shake his head, but James stopped him. "Don't move so much, Kaer. You've got a serious head wound." Kaer swallowed, hard, and took a trembling breath. "I don't know what it was. I saw it -- it was on the ceiling. It looked at me. I wasn't expecting it -- it scared me, and I fell backwards and..." he paused for breath. "I'm sorry, Captain, I should have reacted better, not like a child..." In spite of himself, James shined his light upwards. The ceiling was empty. Whatever it was, it was long gone by now. "Can you describe what it looked like?" he asked, ignoring Kaer's self recrimination. "I can't remember. It's all going fuzzy now. Something... made me fall. I saw... something." James noticed Kaer's eyes were now glassy, and he cursed inwardly. A concussion was serious - where was that damm medic? As if on cue, the medic arrived, a male this time. Completely business-like, he had his team lift Kaer onto the stretcher and out the door, almost before James could even blink. Getting to his feet, he walked around the central table back to his chair, motioning for Eli to follow him. "Commander, advise the security teams to keep an eye on the ceilings, as well, when they make their rounds." Eli nodded, half of his face in the shadows. It made for an eerie tableau. "Oh, and double the patrols until further notice." "Do you really think Kaer saw something?" James wasn't sure what to think. "This feels familiar, somehow." He said, shaking his head. "I feel like it all has happened before. Regardless of whether there are intruders aboard, we need to get our systems back online and return to the supply depot." "They could be sendin' ships for us right now." "Maybe, but without any power, we'd never show up on their sensors. It would be seriously bad luck if they crashed right into us while looking." Eli snorted. "Aye, that would be bad." James chuckled for a moment. "I've been wondering why they haven't attacked us." It was something that had been puzzling him. "The Ascendancy ship? Probably sufferin' the same problems we are, James." James tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Not much we can do about them right at the moment, I suppose." "Well then, what do you want to do now?" "Power is first, obviously." He rolled his eyes. "Then we'll need to -- ", Without a word, Eli crumpled to the deck, James following him just a moment later. * * * Waking with a gasp, James sat up, flailing his arms until a sharp pain made him abruptly stop. "Shit!" He stopped moving, breathing heavily, and surveyed the damage. He had ripped an IV line from his arm, and now a thin line of blood was running down his arm, but he couldn't see anything else wrong. The pain in his arm changed into a stinging sensation and James started to lie back, willing the painful sensation to go away. "Captain! You're awake!" James hadn't noticed the doctor entering the room, and jumped nervously, sitting up completely in the bed. He tried to ignore his arm, which twinged sympathetically. "Yes, great! The Commander has been wearing a hole in the carpet for hours now. I swear if he wasn't married-" The doctor stopped as James raised his hand up for silence. "Please, doctor, not so loud." "Oh. Yes. Sorry, Captain! Yes, well, now that you're up, I need to take a few more readings and then I can clear you for duty. Hold still, please, yes?" James bit back his growing impatience at everything medical (especially after his experiences with the doctor on the depot), and laid back slowly, resting his head on the very uncomfortable headrest. If he heard that doctor say `yes' one more time he would vow to strangle the man -- in his head, at least. As he was poked and prodded and scanned, he idly wondered who had designed such terrible beds. Was it too much to ask that, when you're already miserable, to not add to it? "Yes, well, you can go, Captain. You're perfectly fine." James muttered dark obscenities under his breath as he fled the infirmary. * * * A while later, after meeting with Eli, he was left with even more questions; he ruminated over them in his quarters. Twice now he had found himself unconscious -- once on the depot, and once on his very own ship. Both times, he was without memory of whatever had come before. All of the events that had been happening recently swirled around in his head, the lines connecting them just out of reach. Why had the Ascendancy attacked such an obviously well-defended target? Why did he have such large gaps in his memory? And Kaer -- the doctor had no idea why he was in the infirmary, and couldn't understand why he was in a coma now. James felt a pang of guilt. Kaer was new to his ship, but able and confident. He had no doubt that he would have been a great officer. Now it appeared he would not be anything. He worked late into the night, writing out reports for both the depot and his commanders back home. The Commander wasn't that happy that James had to cancel their meeting, but relented. He had nothing to report that would explain what had happened to the Galactic -- they had neither been attacked, nor experienced another power loss. After a few hours, he slipped into the infirmary to check up on Kaer. The young man was sleeping peacefully, the same as he had for the last day. Sitting there, staring at nothing, James felt completely at peace. Every once in a while he would glance up, check the monitor, and settle back, reassured that Kaer was in the same condition then as he had been the last time he looked. Eli found him like that, just sitting there in a chair next to the bed, later that morning. Gently he reached down and grasped James' shoulder. "Captain, it's about time ya got some sleep." "I know, Eli. I don't think sleep'll come to me as easy as it is to Kaer." Eli smiled, "Maybe not. I'm sure the Lieutenant will be okay in a day or so, James. Ya don't need to always beat yourself up like this every time someone gets hurt." "He was hurt on my ship... under my watch. That makes it my responsibility." His breath hitched. "I want to know that my mistakes won't cost a promising officer his life." "Boy, if that's whatcha want, you ain't gonna get it." Eli replied, dryly. "Only the Good Lord above knows what is gonna happen." James' only response was to sigh deeply, still looking sad. "Well, you can sit here all night if ya want to, Captain. But me? I'm gonna go home to my wife tonight. I think she misses me." James chuckled as he watched Eli slip out of the room nearly as quietly as he'd come in. The truth was that Eli was right. Bad things happened to people, and it wasn't on his hands when everything went wrong. It had always been a failure of his -- letting his emotions go at the wrong moments, taking on too much responsibility. It was what drove Nick from his life as fast as he had entered it. For a moment, he felt a deep rush of regret fill him as his thoughts turned to his ex-lover. What was Nick doing now, this moment, back on Earth? Was he with another man? Probably, James thought to himself, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach. Why would he wait for someone that was `galloping around the galaxy', as Nick had so eloquently put it? He shook his head, hard, to settle himself. He would get nowhere with that train of thought. Besides, what Kaer and his crew needed, right now, was a confident and poised Captain. * * * "Captain on deck!" As he walked into the CC, he simply nodded for everyone to return to their duties, and stepped straight up to Eli. "So, what's the news?" Without a word, Eli handed him a pad, and James scrolled through it. "I hope this is a joke." He sounded level, but he knew Eli could hear the surprise in his voice. "Nope." The orders had confirmed what he had suspected might happen; they were to remain as part of the guard for the depot. It made sense to the brass back home, of course. An attack on the depot, memory loss, power outages -- someone needed to investigate, and the logical choice was him. Didn't make James feel any better, however. "We're one of the more powerful ships in the Confederate Navy, and we're going to just sit here?!" "Guess so, Captain." James slammed the pad down on the center console, sending up a shower of sparks as the pad's display cracked. He stopped, and looked down at the pad, as the entire bridge crew turned around at the unexpected noise. Eli could see the surprise on his face at his loss of control. He turned around and motioned at the officers to give them some privacy, then looked at James. "Investigate. Research. What are we, a...a...fucking floating science lab?" he hissed at Eli, softly. "There are dozens of ships in the fleet that could do this far better than we can. I want to be on the front lines, showing the Ascendants who they're messing with!" Eli's face betrayed no emotion, but James could hear the mirth in his tone. "Spoken like a true warrior, Captain." For a moment he felt ludicrous. He couldn't change his orders, and acting like a tantrum-throwing five year-old would look very bad in front of the crew. Calming himself, he smiled at Eli. "Sorry, Commander, emotions run a little hot." "You were on fire, Captain." James couldn't help it, and he joined in with Eli, laughing. Let the crew think what they wanted to. * * * The next night found James sitting at Kaer's bedside, again. The ship's doctor was no closer to understanding why he was in a coma, and James, in a way, didn't mind. Kaer's injury had given him something to focus on, a way to clear his thoughts each night. Part of him felt guilty at the thought of using someone's misery for own benefit, but he felt justified. Some time later, he crawled into his own bed and let dreams of nothingness take him away. * * * Commander Hillerson sat back in his chair, his grey eyes locked squarely on James. "Have you found anything?" "Well, we did find something small. It was some kind of organic residue on the ceiling in the CC, next to a deep scratch. We haven't been able to figure out what it came from." "Interesting." Hillerson nodded and leaned back slightly, looking like he wanted to say something else, and then stopped. "Are you okay?" "I'm..." The Commander struggled for a moment, then looked James straight in the eye, making the other man tremble inside. His eyes were so beautiful. "Tell me, James, do you find me attractive?" "I -- what?!" James choked on the last word as his ears turned red. That was really forward and for a moment he had no idea what to say. "I get the impression you do, and um, the way you glance at me from time to time, when you think I'm not looking says something." His voice got stronger and more confident. "And how you smile when you see me, even before you get close..." Patrick kept rattling on, oblivious to James sputtering across from him. "Commander, I...I...am...flattered, really, but I..." He said, weakly. Patrick leaned forward, finally noticing how upset James looked. "Seems like it. You're all flustered." It was difficult, but James got control over himself -- and his cock. "If you'll excuse me Commander, I have duties to attend to." Patrick stood up too quickly as James made a break for the door, slamming his knee into the underside of his desk. He wanted to tell James to wait, that he hadn't meant to offend him, but it came out in a wheeze of pain instead. He sat back down, heavily, just a little too late. His stomach plummeted as he watched James disappearing out the door. That had not gone well at all. He had been wanting to say something to James ever since the strong, sensual looking young man had arrived earlier in the week., . He had felt a connection the second their eyes had met. He now felt even worse as he contemplated how deeply he might have screwed it all up. * * * James fled quickly back to his ship, and immersed himself in status reports for the rest of the afternoon. Not even Eli could get into his quarters, and he was sure Patrick -- no, Hillerson, he told himself, was frantic by now. The Commander had taken him completely by surprise, yet it was something he fantasized about, every time he jacked off. He would whisper "Patrick" with every shot. Yet when the Commander made his move, James had run away. It is for your own good, he told himself. He couldn't let himself get caught up in something right now, especially not with a high-ranking officer. He kept that mantra up in his head as he worked through each report. But once he was done, his thoughts turned back to the Commander, back to Patrick. It felt like he was stuffing himself to the exploding point. Missing memories, attacks, investigations... And now advances from someone he was starting to look at as a friend. He had to maintain proper decorum. He was so distracted that he didn't hear the door chime the first time. When it rang harder the second time, he finally answered. "Come in." It was Eli, and the second the door cleared his face, he leaped at James. "What the fuck are ya doin, James? Barricadin' up in here and ignoring the station Commander! Are you looking for a court martial!?" When James didn't respond, Eli's face contorted in anger. "Look at me when I'm yelling at you!" James laughed. "Yelling at me?" "Yeah, yellin' at you! You're like a goddammed child sometimes!" "Am I?" Eli stood there, chest heaving. "Yes! The Commander has been calling for you for hours, but won't tell me why. And you've been ignoring him this whole time. And for what," He yelled as he grabbed a pad off of the pile on the table and looked at the screen, "A fucking report?" James shook his head. "If you only knew, Eli." He said quietly. "Tell me then!" His voice broke. "I can't. Just tell the Commander I'll call him shortly. That'll be all." Eli stiffened. "You're dismissing me?" he asked, incredulity saturating his voice. Wordlessly, James pointed to the door, and ignored the look that Eli shot him as he left, even though it made him feel even worse. Once the door closed, he sat back against the couch, breathing heavily. I could have handled that better, he told himself. Eli was a trusted, long-time friend, and didn't deserve that. But he just couldn't justify himself to Eli's face. Not yet, anyway. His best action was to pretend nothing had happened, and continue on. Business was business, and he needed to work with Patrick. No, he told himself again, the Commander. So he needed to be strong. * * * To his surprise, Hillerson said nothing about what had happened earlier that day, and accepted his daily report without so much as a smile. It was so formal that it twisted James' guts. Even his voice was completely business-like. "Have you analyzed the organic substance you found on the bridge?" "Yes, we did. It's not human genetic material, or Ascendant. We haven't found a match in the genome database just yet, but it can take days to search the entire thing. In the meantime, we've been monitoring for Ascendancy vessels, but it has been quiet." Hillerson nodded. "Good. You're dismissed, Captain." James saluted as he left, and tried to calm his pounding heart as he walked back to his shuttle. It took him the entire trip, and a slow walk to the CC, before he felt completely under control. "How is she doing, Commander?" Like the station's Commander, Eli showed no sign of their recent fight, but unlike Hillerson, Eli acted the same as he always did. Inwardly, James was grateful and knew that to be a sign of how strong their friendship was. He didn't need to apologize to his face for Eli to know how sorry he was. "Not a blip on the sensors. I'm gonna bet losin' two ships put a dent -- " "Commander! I've got an unidentified contact on the sensors!" The replacement tactical officer shouted out, "It's about half our size, sir!" Just when I got my heart back under control, James mused. "Set the ship to Alert status, but don't activate the weapons just yet. Let's see what it is, first. Can you give me a visual?" He heard Eli issuing his orders to the departments. "Negative, Captain. It keeps coming in and out of our range." Eli leaned over. "Should we pursue?" "Perhaps...but what if it is a ploy to get us away from the depot?" "Could be -- but if it isn't..." Eli didn't need to say more. James cleared his throat. "Helm, bring us in a bit closer, but keep our starboard quarter facing them, just in case. Tactical, activate the torpedo bays and prepare to fire on my command." Torpedos were only useful in long range fights usually because close quarters meant backwash from the impact. But it never hurt to be prepared. He just didn't want to appear too aggressive at first. He waited, drumming his fingers on the warm console screen as they got closer. "Can you see what it is, yet, Lieutenant?" "Not yet, sir. We need to be just a little bit closer." Eli growled next to him. "I bet it is Ascendancy. They never know when to give up." He caught James's eye. "We'll give `em a wallop." "It's people like you that are the reason we're winning this war." James said with a fond smile. "Of course it is. And if it was people like you, we'd be waiting all the time." Before James could reply, the Lieutenant at tactical interrupted. "I think I have a visual sir, but it's going to be blurry." The screen showed a faint white blob in the center, but there were very few details due to the distance. Eli apparently couldn't see any better, because he grunted and asked the tactical officer to zoom in. "Well, what do you think it is, James?" He studied the image closely. It looked nothing like any Ascendancy ship he'd seen. They favored long, needle-like vessels. And even the Confederates weren't nearly as blobby as the image showed. It was like a floating lump of lard. "It looks alien, actually. I've never seen a ship like it. Interesting. They don't appear to be doing anything. Helm, bring us in a little closer." The image grew on the screen, and now he could make out quite a bit more detail. It was definitely alien -- a misshapen glob of gleaming white metal. There were no observable view ports, exhaust ducts, sensor arrays, or even weapon emplacements. "Can they see us?" The tactical officer shook his head. "I don't think so. I'm not detecting any scanning fields near us, but the closer we get, the more of a chance they will." For once, Eli said exactly what James felt. "We should go back to the depot, and let Commander Hillerson know." "Good idea." But James didn't feel so happy inside at the prospect of facing Hillerson again so soon. To be continued!