Chapter 9-Ruth and the Subversives

Cale sat in the bridge quietly working under a computer panel. He was busy checking each and every system. He wouldn't work but only a few hours a day. There was still a bunch of debris around the bridge. A pipe here, a piece of glass there, it was a mess. He didn't know how he was supposed to fix all this. In fact, he was worried that he wouldn't be able to.

Korso came in to the bridge and stood there with his hands on his hips looking at Cale. Cale didn't notice him there for a while until Korso spoke up. "How's things comin'?" Korso asked.

"Well, not too good," he began, still working underneath the panel, "most of the systems are trashed: communications, targeting, deep-space radar." Cale said. "I'm just glad navigation is still up," he continued as he pulled himself out from underneath the large, dark computer, "we could be floating endlessly around here had that gone out."

"Sounds bad." Korso replied.

"It is." Cale returned. "Most of it we're probably going to have to replace." Korso sighed at his account.

"Why don't you take a break? C'mon, I'll get you a drink." Korso said as he nodded his head toward the exit of the bridge. Cale nodded in agreement and followed him out the door.

Korso entered his room and immediately walked over to a small, blue refrigerator box. Cale followed him in and closed the door behind them. He watched Korso as he yanked open the door to the box and took out two bottles with one hand of that familiar light-blue glowing liquid. He closed the door and walked over to Cale and offered the bottle in his left hand to him. "Here's a cold one." Korso said as he handed Cale the bottle.

"Thanks," Cale replied as he opened the bottle and took a big gulp.

"Have a seat." Korso said as he gestured to Cale to sit down by holding out his hand before the chair. Cale obeyed and sat down while setting the bottle on the table. As soon as he did this, he tilted back and folded his hands behind his head. Korso too sat down and took a sip from the bottle. He started to lightly swing his bottle back and forth as he began talking, "So, how's you and the Mrs. doin'?" Cale sat up.

"Huh? Oh, Akima!" Cale answered, "We're doin' just fine. She's really looking forward to the baby." Cale laughed a little and took a drink as he sat forward, closer to Korso.

"You know what your gonna name 'er?" Korso asked. He stopped swinging his drink and took a sip.

"Nah, not yet. We figure that we have plenty of time to think about things like that." Cale explained and set his bottle on the table. "Space is big enough for me." he added. It had already been three weeks since their last run-in with the Drej. The Valkyrie was faster than light, but it still took a fair amount of time to get between places. The warp engine carried ships a factor beyond light speed. It was invented when no one wanted to spend four and a half years just to get from the old earth to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. The warp engine could get you there within a day or two, but this still took time. They were trekking half-way across the galaxy.

"Well, anyway," Korso began, "it's great to see you and Akima like that." He paused long enough to take another gulp. "You two seem really happy together. I always knew she would make an excellent wife: she travels a lot, she is tough, beautiful, reckless, and above all, she knows how to cook." They both laughed at his last account of her.

"Well, she does know how to cook, but I must admit, she's still learning." Cale chuckled silently and took a drink. "Her old job as a chef in the New Merrakech souks paid off, because I really don't know about cooking." Cale paused a little and gathered words. "Yeah, she's great isn't she. I don't ever remember a night we didn't have-"

"Okay, kid, no need to go into detail!" Korso interrupted as they both shared a laugh. "Cale, when you reactivated the Titan, you were sitting on a gold mine." Korso began. "You could have been the ruler of new earth: an emperor, a tyrant, or maybe even a god to the people of earth." Korso leaned forward to get closer to Cale. "Why did you just give it all up? There are people who would kill to have that position and you just give it away."

"I wanted to be the savior of the human race, not a ruler." Cale started. "I guess I hadn't been around people long enough to realize just how bitter I was to them. The neglect my father showed me at that spaceport I will never forget."

"Your father saved you and the rest of humanity by doing that, Cale." Korso snapped, almost in defense of Sam. "You should be thankful he did or you would have died right along with him."

"He didn't have to leave me," Cale returned, "at that moment I would have given anything to be with him. I... was only... five." He began to rub his eyes and wipe away any tears that might have escaped. "He was my only family. I never knew my mother. He was all I had."

"Ah, your mom was somethin' else." Korso reminisced.

"You knew my mother!?" Cale said with quite a puzzled expression on his face.

"Yep. She was one tough cookie." he answered.

"How did you know her?"

"She was my partner. We were assigned along with me to protect your father, Sam." Korso told.

"What was her name? I never knew her name." Cale squeezed through before Korso could say something else.

"Her name was Ruth Kimball. She was a captain at the time, just like I was. We were specially assigned to rescue Professor Tucker from a Drej attack on Kronos. We got him out of there. As we worked together, though, I noticed she was starting to get closer to your father. They eventually married and that's how you're here." Korso said.

"What did she look like?" Cale asked, now with his complete and undivided attention to him.

"She was tall, strong, with long, flowing blonde hair. She was one of the prettiest things I've ever seen. I sometimes hoped she would've chosen me, but I can't be jealous." Korso ended with a small sigh. Cale sat there for a bit and thought. Then, he picked up his drink and finished it. As he stood from his seat, he wiped his mouth with his forearm.

"Thanks," Cale said as he began to walk out only to pause and turn toward Korso one more time, "You've told me more than my father ever did."

"Anytime," he replied as they traded smiles. Cale then slowly left with his hands in his pockets.

All the way through the hall his mind was racing with ideas about his mom. What she looked like, how she talked, what she did. He didn't go back to work, instead, he headed for Akima and his room. He wanted to share something with her and figured that their was no use trying to fix what couldn't be. Korso had just revealed a major part of himself that he never knew before. No matter how alien it was to him, he liked having an idea of his ancestors in mind. "Akima, uh, are you in there?" Cale asked as he leaned up against his door.

"Yeah, love," she answered from the bed on which she was sitting. She was wearing a large, green shirt that went past her knees for she had outgrown her pants. "How's the ship?"

"I think most of it is trashed," he answered as he opened the door just enough for him to walk through and closed it behind him, "we're gonna have to get replacement parts, I'm afraid. Anyway, I have a name for our daughter."

"I hope it's not anything like, 'Bob'!" she joked.

"No, I'm serious about this," he explained, "how 'bout the name, 'Ruth'?"

"Hmm, 'Ruth Tucker'," she said almost as if she were trying it out, "Well, it does roll easily off the tongue. Why Ruth?"

"It was the name of my mother. I never knew her." Cale said as he walked over to the bed and sat down on her left side. "I figured that if I couldn't have Ruth as a mother, I would like one as a daughter." Akima smiled at his compassion.

"Cale, that's so sweet! Ruth Tucker it is!" said she. Cale gently paced his hand on her curved stomach and began to rub it tenderly.

"I just want the best for the baby." Cale quietly whispered while looking softly into her eyes. He came closer to her in order to engage her in a kiss. She followed and moved closer as well.

"I know you-" she said, but she was interrupted. She felt a small movement in her abdominal area. Cale gasped and looked up at her too.

"Was that the-?!" he asked, now feeling more intently looking for another faint vibration.

"Yes, Cale," Akima said with a small laughter of joy, "That was the baby! She's moving!"

As the Valkyrie shot through the emptiness of space, the Drej battleship followed close behind. They made sure they were keeping their distance, but could keep an eye on the object of pursuit. The lack of proximity of the two ships more or less camouflaged the Drej ship from viewers on the Valkyrie. It was passed off as another blue star off in the distance. The tip of the menacing marvel pointed directly in the common destination of the Valkyrie, wherever that might be.

"How long do we have to follow these humans?! I want to annihilate them right now!" Lehedihir raved. Tigaj watched him storm about the room in a controlled fit. Tigaj was much too mature to go off on incessant bantering like Lehedihir and it often annoyed him.

"Patience, Lehedihir, we shall destroy them soon enough. Once we know where the Orb is, we may dispose of them, but as of now, they are the only lead we have." Tigaj said, trying to calm him down.

"It is too great of a venture! What if they reach it first?!" Lehedihir ranted. His voice was rather high and it was an ear-sore to hear him like this.

"I will make sure of it." Tigaj replied in a mature manner.

"You'd better. Once we get there, I shall engulf the Orb and bring the Drej into a time of prosperity." Lehedihir said with a sense of glory in his voice. Tigaj became unsettled and, if he could, he scowled at his aspiration.

"Do you not realize that once we find the Orb, it will be every Droheh for himself?" Tigaj said deeply and quietly. Lehedihir turned from the stars and the Valkyrie to face him. It was quiet all except for their surging energy as they stood there looking over each other, as if they were searching for each other's weaknesses within their eyes. Again, they had their eyes because there wasn't any current ruler, so they were able to make their own thoughts.

"Do you think I'm afraid?" Lehedihir boldly asked getting close to his face.

"I think you are. I think you've been in fear ever since I took command of this vessel. Octajava was your only way to power." Tigaj replied with a low roar and a sly, evil smirk, "And she's dead now." Lehedihir winced and didn't want to back down. He tried to intimidate the seeming invulnerable Tigaj who was larger and a deeper blue than he was.

"What are you going to do, kill me?" Lehedihir asked, now fearing for his life.

"Not yet," He answered in that still, low voice, "It wouldn't appear to be favorable on my record to have committed murder for no... just reason." Lehedihir backed away. He attempted to break eye contact with his diplomatically incorrect adversary. "We can make it just." Tigaj added.

"Hamaj. I beseech you to forgive me for my trespasses on your ideas." Lehedihir said. 'Hamaj' was a Drej word that was equivalent to the English form of, 'apology', but it had a much stronger meaning.

"You keep your lack of proximity and you may keep your life." Tigaj replied. Lehedihir stayed where he was and searched the creature's black face.

"Why?" Lehedihir answered in a reasoning way, "If I don't rule, I am damned anyway." Lehedihir turned and exited by sinking through the floor.