Chapter 5

Chapter 5

H er taste buds did a celebratory dance as she consumed the meal Branson cooked. The three cats were equally entranced, quickly finishing off what was in their bowls and demanding more. They meowed at Branson’s feet rather than communicating to her to translate. Their actions didn’t need anyone to interpret what they wanted.

“You’d have a second career as a chef if ever you decide to leave the military,” she commented before shoveling another forkful of food into her mouth.

It was a combination of his cooking and the fresh ingredients that made the meal so special.

Branson refilled the cats’ bowls with the trout he’d sautéed and let cool. The cats had already feasted on the salmon Jasper had earned. There was still a multitude of fresh fish in the refrigerator for the cats to be bribed with.

“My father owned a restaurant on Gamma Prime,” he said. “I took off to join the Cosmic Consortium army when I turned sixteen.”

She blinked several times. Gamma Prime was a day’s journey from the asteroid field. “After the mission, will you go see your family?”

His pupils dilated slightly. “None of my family survived the attack on Prime six months after I left.”

The attack had been twenty years ago. It had been a minor event in what would become a devastating war. She’d been eight at the time, living on a planet on the far side of the galaxy. Cassidy had also been sixteen when she began her employment with Galactic Solutions. The war had been over for three years at the time. GS, like other organizations, was still rebuilding after the devastating war.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said. “Was the aggressive manner of the Insurgency Alliance the reason you joined the army?”

“It was one of the reasons,” he admitted but didn’t elaborate further.

Cassidy knew enough not to pry. Branson would share more if and when he felt it was necessary. Except for the incredible sex they shared, they were near-perfect strangers.

There was a minor pitching to the ship. It was so slight, the soldiers didn’t notice, but she did.

Her eyes shifted to the cats. All three of them had stopped eating and listened to what The Fury’s systems communicated.

“ I’m heading to the bridge, ” Titus informed her.

“ I’ll check environmental levels and then head to weapons control, ” VIC said.

Jasper took another bite from his bowl. “ Engines are operating within acceptable parameters. Someone has to stay and finish off the food. Goody went to great effort to let it be wasted. ”

“What’s happening?” Branson asked. His team stood in unison after watching Titus and VIC run out of the galley.

“Something that shouldn’t be there is in our path,” Cassidy reported. “The ship has altered course. We’re too far away currently to determine what the object is.”

Branson paced while considering his next move. They weren’t in any immediate danger so he appeared to put thought behind the orders they were about to receive.

“Reg, take Wendell and Oliver to weapon control,” Branson said. “Cassidy, Quinn, and I will head for the bridge.”

There was no organic reason for anything to be in their path. They were too far from the asteroid field for a rogue piece of rock to have drifted off into another sector of space. Their navigational software contained all known comet routes. This far out, a ship crossing their path wouldn’t cause The Fury to deviate from its flight plan.

“What do you think we’re dealing with?” Quinn asked as they exited the galley together.

Quinn was the youngest among the commandos. The giant’s fair complexion and cropped red hair made any anxiety he felt evident on his face. The kid’s cheeks were bright red. Boy, had he chosen the wrong career.

“If I were to venture a guess, I’d say we’re dealing with a damaged ship or its wreckage,” she said. “It’s dead in space, whatever it is.”

Odds were whatever took them to the Gamma Five asteroid field was the reason for whatever altered their course.

She quickened her pace to catch up with Goody. “It’s time you tell me what exactly our mission is.”

His dark eyes scanned her face. They’d made love multiple times but he still vacillated whether or not to give her any specifics about their mission. That fact infuriated her.

“There’s been chatter the old Insurgency Alliance is reassembling allies and the odds are this sector will be at war if action isn’t taken immediately,” Branson shared with her. “It won’t be long before we have another galactic conflict if that occurs.”

The idea of another war caused shivers to run down her spine. Even in the remote world she’d been raised on, she knew what war meant.

“We’ve had peace for fifteen years,” she said, not wanting to believe the significance of what he told her. “Why stir up trouble? The war cost billions of lives.”

“My mission was to meet with a spy who has hard evidence of the alliance’s treachery,” Branson informed her. “He has coordinates for a base hidden in the asteroid field.”

It sounded like a crazy conspiracy theory to her. There had been rumors of secret bases and a buildup of weapons of mass destruction over the years. None of the stories proved true. Maybe it was missions like this one that neutralized the threat before events escalated to war.

“And that’s why you brought three bombs with you,” she concluded. “The location of such a base would make sense. No one travels near asteroid fields because of the instability of the area.”

The hardening of the contours of Branson’s face indicated he believed the rumors and was prepared to sacrifice his crew and hers to stop another galactic war. It would’ve been impossible to build such a base without increasing travel activity in the vicinity. They couldn’t have found a better quadrant since ships went out of their way to avoid it.

“My churning gut tells me the obstacle that caused the navigational shift has or had my contact aboard.”

The pit in her stomach told her the same thing. Within an Earth’s hour, they’d have the first indication of what had caused the navigational change. She feared they weren’t going to like what they discovered.

***

They navigated around the debris of a ship when they reached their destination. There were several large segments that could contain survivors if life-support systems had remained intact. Their sensors couldn’t penetrate the radiation-impacted pieces. The Fury would’ve met the same fate as this ship if the bomb had exploded instead of being neutralized by Jasper and Branson.

“Are we going to check for survivors?” she asked. It was Branson’s call whether they further delayed their mission. They’d lost valuable time slowing to investigate what had caused their altered course.

Branson shook his head and leaned forward to study the disaster in front of them. “The radiation levels are too high. If there are any survivors, they’ll be dead soon. We should be on our way.”

She looked at the debris. “Is this the ship we came to meet?”

“Fortunately, it’s not,” Branson replied. “I noticed an insignia on one of the pieces of debris. This ship belonged to a world the insurgency controls. We may be too late to stop things from escalating into war.”

He exited the bridge without a word. Quinn didn’t follow. The young commando petted Titus’s head. She could hear him purring from where she stood.

“ Titus, get us back on track, ” she communicated. “ Work with Jasper to see if we can make up time. There’s more at risk than I ever imagined. ”

Cassidy left the bridge and headed for her quarters. She had a feeling Branson went there instead of weapon control, the galley, or the engine room.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she entered her quarters and found Branson lying on her bed. After slipping off her shoes, she settled next to him.

“We’re back on course,” she said. “The cats will make up the time we lost. They’re in tune with The Fury . Are things as bad as I believe them to be?”

He gathered her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

“I honestly don’t know,” he admitted.

She appreciated his honesty. He wasn’t the type to water down the risk they faced for her benefit. He wasn’t wired that way.

“Titus will get us to the original coordinates,” she informed him. “Reg won’t leave weapon control. She, Elon, and VIC are monitoring as much space as they can for enemy combatants.”

A smile crept over his face. “Are you now the second-in-command of my unit?”

“Normally, I’d do anything to keep my crew and passengers alive,” she replied. “Life as we know it will change if another galactic war begins. My crew will support your efforts without question.”

He released her and rolled onto his back. Without being told, she knew he needed his space. A lot must be going on in his mind. Branson looked ten years older carrying the fate of the galaxy on his broad shoulders.

“After the attack on Gamma Prime, my unit was assigned to retrieve bodies,” Branson said. “I needed to know what happened to my family. My unit commander got me assigned to the team working in their sector. There were so many bodies. We found dead children clutching dolls in their lifeless arms. The planet had minimal defenses. We were a commerce planet.”

The face of war was never pretty. Branson saw more than most and it had shattered his soul.

Cassidy was almost afraid to ask her next question, but she had to know. “Did you find your family?”

Her question was met with silence. The poor man must have cried all the tears he possessed. No wonder he was hard as nails. Life’s experiences made him that way.

“Another team found them,” he shared. “I buried them myself, saving them from being burned in a community funeral pyre. Within a year, the galaxy was at war. After peace was restored, I returned to Gamma Prime to pay respects to my family and couldn’t find them. The area had been leveled.”

She placed her hand on his heart. “They reside here. That’s what’s important.”

“Do you have family?” he asked.

Cassidy had been waiting for that question to be asked since he mentioned the attack. She’d been debating about telling him what she told everyone else or the truth. After their night together, she decided on the latter.

“My father was killed when I was five,” she admitted. “Our world was in a remote sector of the galaxy and didn’t directly feel the impact of war brewing. My father owned a ship and hauled freight. After a mission, he never returned. My mother believed the hostilities in the sectors he traveled through finally caught up with him. She died when I was sixteen. I inherited my father’s love of flight, so I joined Galactic Solutions as a pilot.”

“Did you ever get confirmation of your father’s death?” he asked.

“No wreckage, no body, nothing,” she shared. “When I had access to GS’s database, I researched both my father and the ship. There were no records of either.”

“That’s not surprising,” he said. “Thousands of ships were destroyed during the years leading to war and the conflict itself. Military and civilian crafts were targeted indiscriminately. Millions of bodies were never returned home. They were lost to history and their families.”

She barely remembered her father. Had his body been returned, she doubted it would’ve changed the direction of her life. After she joined GS, she never returned home to visit her mother’s grave.

“This mission would have us join the millions who died without notice,” she commented. “I guess we’d be in good company.”

“With your father,” Branson finished her unspoken thought. “If our mission is successful, history will not repeat itself, at least for the time being. We’re six hours from our rendezvous point. We should try to get some sleep. Reg will alert us if there’s any danger.”

Cassidy snuggled against his warm body. Titus jumped on the bed and curled up against her back. The ship now flew on autopilot. Being in bed with Branson and one of her cats felt right.

The destroyed alliance ship hovered in her mind, making it impossible to fall asleep. Branson didn’t have the same issue. His light snoring meant the hard-core commando didn’t struggle over what brought the other ship into the sector and what other craft had destroyed it. She didn’t believe in coincidences.

An alarm startled her. The reason for that alarm was familiar to her. Another ship was bearing down on them. She was on her feet seconds before Branson.

“What’s happening?” he asked.

It was a question from him she was used to answering. “We’ve got a ship within detection range. VIC hasn’t communicated with me, so there doesn’t appear to be any immediate danger. It’s unlikely the other ship has noticed us yet. The Fury has automated alarms programmed into it. I recommend we head to weapon control.”

Since they hadn’t undressed, there wasn’t any wasted time. Titus no longer slept on the bed. At some point while she had her back turned to him, he’d returned to the bridge.

When she and Branson entered weapon control, Reg’s and VIC’s gazes were transfixed on one of the monitors.

“Sharpe, report,” Branson commanded.

Reg turned and stood a little straighter. “Two ships in monitor quadrant eight-eight. They are within close proximity to our destination. At this distance, we can’t tell if they’re firing on each other. Both ships are moving, not dead in space. We’ll know more in an hour when I had planned to report to you.”

“Since we have a small ship, our alarm system is programmed at the farthest distance to a possible dangerous event,” Cassidy reported. It was her way of communicating that Reg didn’t need to disturb her commanding officer as of yet.

“Keep monitoring the situation,” Branson said. “The captain and I will be on the bridge.”

She walked beside him to the bridge without uttering a word. There was a question of whether or not he resented her attempt to support Reg. It was odd re-evaluating her words because of another human being. Niles and Elon never gave her questioning looks.

Titus was at the controls when they stepped on the bridge.

“ I’m also monitoring what VIC and Reg are tracking in weapon control, ” Titus reported. “There’s no indication the two ships have picked us up. Even if they have, they haven’t altered course or slowed their progress.”

“ Does it appear they’re traveling together rather than attacking each other? ” she asked.

“ I’ve been watching them enough to know they’re together ,” he replied.

“From what we’ve been able to ascertain, the two ships are together,” Cassidy reported to Branson. “It’s very likely they’re en route to our rendezvous coordinates. It looks like you’ll be able to meet with your spy after all.”

In a matter of hours, she’d know the extent of their involvement in Branson Goody’s orders. It was a thought that had terrified her, now she wanted to get her hands dirty. There was too much at risk to play a passive role in the future of the galaxy.