Chapter 19

Mary ushered her father into the cabin and waited for the door to close behind them. She stood looking at Ben, as if waiting for something.

"What?" Ben asked.

"I'm waiting for you to tell me what just happened. How is it possible that two missiles managed to hit my ship, but there's no damage? While you're at it, why don't you explain what you were doing rolling around on the floor of my bridge?"

"I suggest you ask your AI to analyse what happened during the attack if you want to know why the missiles didn't damage the Hannah. As for me, I was feeling a lot of pain in my chest, I'll have someone check me out when I get back to the Rebecca," Ben replied.

"And how do you explain that?" Mary asked, pointing to the burn hole in Ben's uniform shirt.

"I think you're forgetting yourself now, daughter mine. I'm the Commander around here and I ask the questions. All you need to know is that you're safe for the time being. Until we get Elise back on-line you need to stay super vigilant."

"You used the metals, didn't you? That's the only explanation I can think of. You somehow used the metals to protect the ship," charged Mary.

Ben didn't reply in words at first, but instead simply shook his head.

"What else could it have been? We all know about the metals — not all of the detail about what they can do obviously, but we know they give you some special abilities. Come on, admit it, I am your daughter!"

"Okay, if you must know. The metals have gone. What you saw was me suffering the pain of them leaving me and I think you're right, I think they coated the hull of the Hannah to protect her from the missiles. Any special abilities I had are gone now. I've already tried to do some of the special things I should be able to, but I can't," Ben replied sadly.

"You said I should ask my AI to analyse the attack, but it's been out of commission since before the attack started. Does that have anything to do with the fact that Elise is out of commission too?" asked Mary.

"I don't really know the answer to that," Ben replied. "Until I get back to the Rebecca I know as much as you do."

"Wait a minute, if Elise wasn't working, how did you manage to transfer from the Rebecca in the first place?" asked a shrewd Mary.

"That was one of the things I used to be able to do — transport myself using the metals, but that power has gone seemingly. I'm beginning to wonder whether Elise will still have her powers even if we get her working again," said Ben.

"Why do you say that?"

"You heard your Science Officer — you suffered two missile strikes, but the Rebecca suffered five without being damaged. Something tells me that there must have been a cost to that."

"How are you going to get back to your ship now then?" Mary asked.

"I don't know to be honest. Can you patch your communications link through to this cabin? At least I can contact Sarah to let her know that I'm okay and to get an update."

Mary pressed a number of buttons on a console that was recessed into the desk that she obviously used while working in her cabin. Moments later her Communications Officer responded.

"Can you patch a link through from my cabin to the Rebecca please," Mary asked.

It was perhaps a measure of how worried Sarah was that it was her voice that Ben heard and not that of his own Communications Officer, Leona.

"Ben? Ben? Are you there? Ben, speak to me, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Sarah. I just wanted to let you know that everything is fine over here, but that I can't transport myself back to the Rebecca. Has Elizabeth had any luck in fixing what's wrong with Elise?" he asked.

"No, she's still working hard at it though; she didn't let up, even when the missiles were flying! When you say that you can't transport yourself, do you mean you physically can't or that you have something you need to deal with?"

"Err, I physically can't. Something happened during the Zytol attack," said Ben.

"Oh!" Sarah exclaimed.

His twin didn't say anything else and Ben knew that she was considering the gravity of what he had just told her. She would know that something had happened to his special abilities. He hated to add to her worries, but he knew he had to warn her that it was possible that the coating of metals on the Rebecca had also been affected — if she wasn't aware of that, she might take unwarranted risks.

"Sarah, it's possible that something has happened that will have affected Elise's abilities too. I don't want you doing anything that relies on the Rebecca having any special qualities. I'll explain later, hopefully once I've figured out how to get back to the ship."

As fortune would have it, the direction the three New Woden ships' escape had taken was directly towards where the Scout was and it wasn't much longer before Marlon's scanners picked them up.

"Sir! I've picked up three ships. One of them is definitely the NWS Rebecca and the other two seem to be in the same class," said an excited Beegs.

"Have you got any data on their status?" Marlon asked.

"They're moving at a speed which is above our maximum and I can't detect any damage. They certainly seem to be in a hurry," said Beegs.

"How did he manage to build two more ships and still get here that fast?" Marlon mused out loud.

"Shall I contact them, Captain?" asked Hansa.

"NO! The last thing I want to do is speak to that upstart. Why couldn't he have kept his savages out of this? We don't need his help," Marlon whined, ignoring the fact that his ship was currently under repair.

The officers on the bridge glanced furtively at each other. Their opinion was quite different — they knew that they needed help and Commander Ben certainly had their respect. The appearance of the three New Woden ships was undoubtedly a welcome event for them.

Marlon was mentally debating what to do to avoid Ben, when the decision was taken out of his hands.

"WS Scout, this is the NWS Hannah. Can we speak to Captain Marlon please?"

Marlon didn't recognise the voice and could only be thankful that it wasn't Ben himself who was trying to contact him. He decided that he had to speak to the savages.

"This is Captain Marlon, who am I speaking to?"

"Forgive me for being rude, Captain. My name is Vera, I'm the Communications Officer onboard the Hannah. Please standby for Commander Ben."

Marlon had no time to object before Ben's voice flooded out of the speakers on the bridge.

"Greetings, Captain Marlon. I'm glad to see that you and the Scout are largely in one piece and from what we can gather that you've been successful in your endeavours against the Zytol."

Marlon's annoyance level dropped a little as he listened to the praise for his efforts over the past few weeks.

"Yes, well, someone has to show these beasts the error of their ways," he responded. "I do have a lot of experience you know."

"Undoubtedly, and no doubt the Zytol have been forced to re-assess their opinion of the Wodenites on the back of what you've done. At the rate you're going, the planet will be liberated in a few months. We wondered whether you might want some help in speeding that up a little?"

Marlon's first instinct was to reject the offer, but he realised that he was being surly. Surely the earlier liberation of his home planet was worth biting his tongue for?

"It's not going to be easy, the Zytol are cunning and tricky. Are you sure you know what you're letting yourself in for?" Marlon asked, unconsciously questioning both Ben's courage and his abilities.

Ben bit back the response that he wanted to make — he knew that wouldn't get him anywhere with the prickly Captain.

"Oh I think I already know just how tricky the Zytol can be. You already know that I've personally been down to the planet's surface and that I took part in a successful attack. What you won't know is that we have just been in an engagement with more than sixty Zytol ships and came out of it unscathed and with quite a few 'kills' to our credit. So, I suppose you could say that I know what I'm talking about."

Marlon could see that his crew were impressed with what Ben was describing and he decided he'd heard enough of Ben's boasting.

"Enough! I'm sure you're exaggerating to make yourself sound good, but you don't impress me. Why did you contact me in the first place?" he asked.

"To discuss how we can work together against the Zytol — what else?"

"I'm quite happy working on my own thanks very much. If your desire for glory means that you insist on doing something, then I suggest you just stay out of my way!" snapped the Captain.

Ben decided that the conversation wasn't going to get any better and that he had to make his request now before Marlon cut him off.

"If that's what you want, then fine. We'll steer clear of you and the Scout. I couldn't prevail upon you to tele-port me onto the Rebecca could I?"

Marlon actually laughed out loud. The great Ben needed his help to get onboard his own ship!

"What's wrong with your own tele-port facilities?" he asked.

"They were damaged during the exchange with the Zytol," Ben lied.

"It would mean lowering my shields and I'm not sure it would be safe to do that," said Marlon, enjoying the fact that he was making Ben plead for his help.

"We both know that there are no Zytol ships close by. It will only take a few seconds to transport me, so there really isn't any danger. I would be much obliged if you could see your way to helping me out here," said Ben, giving Marlon what he knew he wanted — the feeling that Ben would be indebted to him.

"Oh very well! But after this you're on your own and I don't want you getting in my way!" snapped Marlon.

He was sure now that the virus was doing its job — all the signs were that the AI was off-line. The shuddering of the Rebecca confirmed that the ship was under attack and he decided now would be as good a time as any to finish the mission he had set himself.

He stepped onto the moving corridor outside blue group's quarters and noticed that everyone he could see was remaining calm despite the fact that the ship was on red alert.

The shock waves stopped before he reached the bridge and he paused to take in the images on one of the ship's large screens. The status bar on the screen showed that the alert had been reduced to amber, so it seemed as if they were out of immediate danger.

"Should I still make my attempt?" he asked himself. "It would be better if high and mighty Ben was distracted, but can I risk the fact that he might fix the AI? No, for better or worse, his time has come!"

The delay to have his internal debate had wasted a few minutes and by the time he walked through the door to the bridge, Sarah was just finishing her conversation with Ben on the Hannah.

David and Beckie had also made their way to the bridge during the engagement and it was Beckie who saw him first.

"Isaac, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Shut up! You're nothing but a slut and a whore!" he snapped.

David's face grew red and he lunged across the bridge to get to Isaac for insulting his mate. Isaac raised the rifle he was carrying and clubbed David to the floor. The blows didn't stop once David was down — Isaac slammed the butt down on his head with a sickening crack.

"NO!" screamed Beckie and she flew to her mate's defence. Isaac whirled and didn't hesitate to slam his rifle into Beckie's midriff. The air whooshed out of her and she fell to the deck beside the now unconscious David.

"What the heck is going on here?" demanded Sarah.

"I said shut up and I meant it!" said Isaac.

There was something in his eyes, something that hinted at him being unbalanced and Sarah decided that there was little to be gained by challenging him at that moment.

"Where is he?" demanded Isaac.

"Who?" Sarah replied.

"Mr high and mighty Ben, who else would I be looking for?"

"But why are you looking for Ben?" Sarah asked, puzzled.

"Don't play the fool with me! You're as much to blame as he is, so don't try to play the innocent!" barked Isaac.

"To blame for what?" Sarah asked, genuinely confused as to what this clearly disturbed young trooper was going on about.

"Everything!" he snapped back at her. His finger pointed to David and Beckie on the floor of the bridge. "These two for a start. She's my twin, she should have been with me, but instead you and Ben conspired to let him take her away.

"Not satisfied with that, you and that arrogant bastard of a twin of yours were also responsible for the death of my father and my mother. Well, now's the time for you to pay up."

Sarah put the pieces together. She didn't recognise him, but this had to be Isaac, Adam and Hannah's son and Beckie's twin back when she had been 'Lillian'. The hatred was now clear in his eyes and for the first time in her life, Sarah really feared that she was going to die.

"Now, where is the bastard!" Isaac demanded.

"He's not here," Sarah replied woodenly, her fear growing like a ball of fire in her stomach.

"I can see that you stupid bitch! Where is he?"

"He's on one of the other ships."

"Well get him back then, he and I have something that needs settled," snapped Isaac.

"We can't do that, the ship's AI isn't working currently and that means we don't have any transport capability," Sarah explained.

Isaac cursed. His attack on the ship's computer seemed as if it was going to rob him of his big moment.

"He'll have to come back at some point. I guess I'll just have to hold you all here until he does," he said.

"Oh very well! But after this you're on your own and I don't want you getting in my way!" Ben heard Marlon snap.

He prepared himself for the tele-port, relieved that he had the chance to get back onboard the Rebecca. It seemed to take an age for the Scout to do what had to be done, but then he found himself standing on the bridge of the Rebecca.