Diell Breaker (LGBT- Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 42

Chapter 42 

Captain Farrell considered he had pushed Harris as far as he could. He knew what Cheung was trying to do, but he felt he couldn't take the risk. If he tried to back away now, Harris was wound up enough to detonate the bomb in retaliation, killing himself and Cheung instantly, doing god knew what damage to the rest of them. 

He squared his shoulders and walked through the docking bay to the embarkation chamber. Cheung backed up reluctantly to allow him in to the small space. Before anyone else could act, Harris stepped in behind them both and sealed the chamber. He gestured both men into the shuttle and stood against one wall, watching closely as Cheung settled back into the control seat and Farrell took a position on the opposite wall, his arms folded over his broad chest. 

"Take us towards Moonta," he directed Cheung, then turned to Farrell. "Sit down right there and keep your hands where I can see them." 

He wanted to search both men but he couldn't let go of his wristcom. He had programmed the device to go off as soon as he released the pressure, his finger was the only thing keeping them all alive at the moment. This way, if either man jumped him or even triggered nerve gas to knock everyone out, the bomb would explode automatically. He wondered how long he could keep it in place, the stress was already causing his finger to tremble slightly. 

He waited impatiently while Cheung launched the shuttle into space, setting the co-ordinates for Moonta, before turning to Farrell.  

"You killed my father!" he accused. 

"Pardon?" The Captain was startled, it was the last thing he had expected to hear. He had killed exactly four men in the course of his duties, none of whom were called Harris. His mind raced furiously over the few men who had died while he was in command of the Diell. Nothing. 

"I'm sorry but I have no idea what you mean, who your father was. Can you explain it to me, from the beginning?" Like any good hostage negotiator, Farrell knew it was important to keep the perpetrator talking.  

"My father was Tom Wilson!" 

"Wilson! But-" Farrell hadn't intended to interrupt but he couldn't help himself. As far as he knew Wilson had been an unequivocal om, he'd had no idea he had a family. 

Harris thought he knew what the other man was going to say. "I know you weren't the one who actually stuck a knife in his side but you may as well have been. It was your fault he killed that man Doyle, your fault he couldn't come home to us!" His face was red with emotion, struggling to get the words out. 

"I'm sorry about your father's death," Farrell said sincerely, "but I wasn't the cause of his fight with Doyle. They fought because Doyle lied to him and your father believed him rather than asking me for the truth. It didn't help that they'd both had far too much to drink that night, either." It had taken him some years to reach that conclusion and he didn't really expect that Harris would see it that way, but they were the simple facts, once he had got past the guilt. 

"You're lying!" 

"No. There were three oms on the Reval, Tom Wilson, Doyle and me. Wilson and I were friends but I never liked Doyle. He made a pass at me early on and I turned him down flat." He could see Harris shaking his head in denial but he kept going, keeping his tone conversational. "Tom wanted us to be more than friends but I wasn't sexually attracted to him and I told him so, the very day they had that fight. That night, they were drinking in the Two Rings and from what your father told me, Doyle boasted that he'd slept with me, which was a flat lie as I said. But they were both drunk and they fought over it. Wilson was a much bigger man and it turned ugly, he threw Doyle against the wall and broke his neck."