"Reminiscence"

by Wildean

The viewscreen was showing the preliminary stages of the Teal-Vandor conflict. Servalan, and the arbiters of Teal and Vandor were taking the oath of one of the combatants.

As Vila heard his voice, and saw the man's face, something was nagging at him. Something familiar. 'I know him, don't I?'

The others didn't seem to have noticed anything unusual, with the exception of Cally, who had taken one look at the screen and now sat staring at Tarrant, who was almost hypnotised by what he saw.

Vila was now certain that this man looked familiar. Hang on a moment, if you ignore the hair, he was the dead spit of... 'I'm sure I know him.' he said.

'I doubt that.' Tarrant's voice was quiet, almost as if he was talking to himself. 'He left Earth a long time ago.'

Avon was now looking closely at the screen. 'Who is he?' he asked.

Tarrant looked round, his smile a mere ghost of its normal self. 'His name is Deeta. He's my brother.'

For a moment, no one spoke. No-one seemed to want to intrude on this moment.

Tarrant now looked uncomfortable. He surveyed the watching, silent faces. 'What? You're looking at me as if I just announced that I'm secretly bedding Servalan. Lots of people have brothers, you know. We can't be the only family members left in the galaxy, surely?'

Abruptly, Cally rose and hurried off the flight deck, Dayna following.

'What did I say?' Tarrant asked, full of contrition.

Vila came and sat next to him. 'You're forgetting Cally's sister.'

'Hell. I'd better go after her.' Tarrant was stopped by Vila's arm.

'Don't worry, she just needs a moment. You just caught her off guard, that's all.'

'I'm not normally so inept. That's your job, Vila.' Tarrant's smile belied these habitual words.

'Thanks a lot! Anyway, I think I'd be the same if I'd just seen my brother down there.'

Tarrant looked searchingly at Vila. 'Your brother? I thought you were an only child.'

'I am. Now.' Vila paused reflectively. 'I *had* a brother, 'til the Federation got their hands on him. You know, you'd have liked Sam. You remind me a lot of him.'

Tarrant's old smile was back. 'In what way? Devastatingly handsome, young, or the best pilot in the galaxy?'

'Actually, he was a pilot,' said Vila. 'Did test runs on new ships, that sort of thing.'

Tarrant was dumbfounded. 'What did you say his name was?'

'Sam.'

Tarrant sat gazing into space for a moment, then realised Vila was staring curiously at him. 'Of course! I should have recognised the name. Sam Restal, the Pride of the Academy.'

'You knew Sam?'

'Knew him? He was my partner for the first three years at the FSA. We studied together, ate together, everything!'

'What happened after that?'

Tarrant sighed. 'We were given different assignments. I started moving up the chain of command, and Sam went into the R&D side of things. He was a test pilot, now I come to think of it. Until he deserted.'

Vila's eyes blazed. 'Look. Get one thing straight. Sam did not desert! He wouldn't!'

'I'm sorry, that's just what we were told. That he'd deserted, stolen the ship he was testing. The Cormallen.'

'Yes, I know all about the Cormallen. The first Federation ship to cross into negative hyperspace, only it didn't! The ship disappeared, along with the pilot. The official line was what you said. That he'd deserted, and stolen the Cormallen. And you know what happens to the families of deserters.'

'They're sold into slavery. Are you saying that's what happened to you?'

'To me and my mother, yes. I was only six at the time, too young to be a slave. But Mum wasn't. They separated us, and sent me back to Earth, only now I wasn't an Alpha grade. Shoved all the way down to Delta level, and that's where I grew up.'

'That's barbaric!' Tarrant was disgusted, but showed no trace of surprise. It was after all common knowledge.

'It's only this past few months I've managed to find out what really happened.'

'How?'

Vila pointed. 'Orac. As Avon's always saying, Orac's a good research tool. When he isn't being a vis-player, that is. Anyway, this past year, I kept getting reminded, what with one thing and another, you know, Dayna's family, and Zelda. The main reminder was you, actually. Your past.'

'Vila, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to remind you.'

'No, I'm glad you did. I've managed to find the truth at last, about what happened. When Sam activated the hyperdrive on the Cormallen, it just ... ceased to exist.'

'The ship was destroyed?'

'Completely. Not a trace left. Orac managed to find a copy of the flight recorder data, and it proves that the drive system managed to wipe itself out, along with an area a few thousand spatials across. Just vanished, without trace.'

'So why was it hushed up?'

'Top secret project? The scientific division were embarrassed at mucking it up so badly? Who knows?'

'Presumably whoever declared your brother a deserter knows.'

'She's probably forgotten by now. It was some time ago.'

'She? You know who it was?'

'That was the other information Orac found for me. The name of the officer who signed the order.'

'Who was it?'

'Servalan. She'd just been made Space Commander, apparently.'

'Well, now that you know, what are you going to do about it?'

'There's not much point doing anything. It was thirty years ago.'

'So? Servalan's down there, on the planet we're heading for. We'll be in orbit in five minutes!'

'What am I supposed to do?'

'If I were you, I'd want revenge!'

'Kill her, you mean? Pointless, really. It won't bring Sam back, and like I said, it was a long time ago. She'll never remember.'

'You're mad! You've got every reason to go down there and kill Servalan, so why don't you?'

'It's not my style. Besides, I'd have to join a long queue. She's done far worse than what she did to me. I mean, look at Auron. I reckon Cally's got first call on Servalan at the moment.'

'I don't understand you, Vila. I really don't.'

'Think of it this way. She's waited thirty years, she can wait a while longer. Besides, if I went and did for Servalan, what chance would you have of meeting up with your brother? We'd be too busy running away, plus we'd miss the big fight. Now get on that communicator and send your brother a message, will you?'

Tarrant smiled. 'I suppose you're right.'

Dayna came back in. 'Don't worry, Tarrant,' she said. 'Cally's all right. You just took her by surprise, that's all.'

'I'll go and talk to her,' Tarrant said. He stood up, and turned to leave. He paused. 'One more reason, Vila. Imagine Dayna's reaction!'

Vila smiled.

Dayna glared at Tarrant. 'Imagine my reaction to what, Tarrant?' she asked sharply.

Tarrant was about to reply, when he was interrupted by Zen. 'Information.' it said. 'Orbit is now established. All systems are functioning normally. Status is firm.

Tarrant looked up. 'Thank you, Zen,' he said.