A Writer's Tale #2: The Commander's Courage

Chapter 9: Final Confrontation

The Commander all but glared at us as the blast door slid shut. I could well imagine the fighting going on outside, but in here, sealed off from everything else, it was easy to believe that this tight knot of hissing red aliens was all that remained of the horde.

"Well?" Commander Gerald growled. "What have you to say for yourself?"

I couldn't look at him; my eyes were drawn to Gayle instead; how had she done it? The Drothikans were huge, humanoid crab things, with a long torso protruding from a wide, flat body. The person standing next to me had all the right dimensions, no sign of the big flat shell. She walked all stiff and disjointed, kind of like how Cher walked now—but other than that, she covered her alternate identity well.

Captain Gayle cleared her throat. She'd caught me staring, and her pointed gaze made me blush as well. Behind her, the knot of Drothikans shifted and shuffled.

"Yes, Alliian," she murmured. "Do you actually have something you think proves my alleged treachery, or are you trying to shift suspicion off of yourself, and your own commission of sabotage by attributing them to me?"

"Just what I was going to say, Captain," announced the commander from relative safely behind the console. "This ship has fought well and borne many armies from many planets, but the minute this stranger arrives, it devolves into chaos!"

My mind raced; this was not where I wanted this conversation to go! I had not meant to make it this far without Marx; I had no idea how to handle these people! I needed proof!

"Dr. Igorax!" I spluttered.

Commander Gerald frowned. "What about him?"

I pointed to the console screen. "He's in league with the saboteurs. He's able to make masks for the Drothikans, to make them look like humans."

Beside me, Gayle shuddered, but she hid it with a cry of disgust. "That has to be the most preposterous notion I have ever heard!" She turned back to Gerald.

He still wore that implacable frown, but it didn't hold such disdain anymore. "Again, Ambassador Laura," he said slowly, a dangerous edge to his voice, "you throw out accusations, but you have yet to provide proof. I would like to see it, if you have it."

I fought to stay focused with all the hissing and clicking behind me."I can prove it because I've seen one!" I said. "I trapped him in a hallway in Sector 6. I knew he was a fake because I had seen the original soldier on my way into the medical bay when I first arrived." I nodded to Captain Gayle. "I probably would have been none the wiser if you hadn't sent me there first thing." I turned back to the commander. "The soldier I saw was all mangled and dying, but then I crossed paths with him on the way here, and Cher was able to access the personnel files, which reported that soldier as deceased."

Captain Gayle tensed further, but still she did not break. "One impostor does not mean a whole conspiracy of infiltrators!" She said. "And it certainly does not include me!"

Commander Gerald wagged his head. "You're forgetting something, Laura. Cher can't access high-security files like that. She doesn't have the protocols to get past the firewall."

I frowned. "She didn't have any problems bringing up the right files on the console in the cafeteria," I said. "That's how I first learned about the Terrestrials—"

Commander Gerald waved his hand. "I'm sorry, but what does a failed population experiment have to do with our current invasion?"

My voice caught in my throat. Was he really this blind? How could he not know?

"It has everything to do with them!" I cried. "And we're running out of time!"

Gayle grabbed my arm with a painful grip. "Laura," she said in her dead, quiet, cold voice. "I am afraid the Commander doesn't have time for your silly games and wild theories—"