Earth Arise (Oblivion #8) - Joshua James Page 0,4

emotion.

Engano actually chuckled. “I softened him up.”

Rhule ignored her. “I am. Putting aside how crazy that plan you just laid out was, the evidence I’ve seen is dire. Long shots might be the only shots we have left.” He paused again. “Besides, like I said, I owe you my life.”

Lee began to thank him, but Rhule held up a hand. “But there’s a catch.”

“What’s that?” asked Ben.

Rhule pointed at Ben. “You aren’t going with him.”

“What?”

“I need you. We need you to talk to the UEF. Your experience with them and your relationship with the great Captain Lee Saito means that you’ll be more effective at this task than any of us.”

“No. Absolutely not,” Ben said. “I’m going with my—”

Ben felt Lee’s hand on his shoulder. He looked over at Lee. His father was sad but also smiling, making an unnerving mix.

“No you’re not, son. I’m smart enough to know that this is my mission. This is my wrong to put right. None of this had to happen, if it weren’t for me.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ben said. “This wasn’t your fault!”

“You’re needed here,” Lee said firmly. “No one else knows as much about the Shapeless as you do.”

Ben looked at Rhule, who just frowned sternly back.

Engano looked apologetic but no more supportive. “It’s what needs to happen, Ben,” she said.

“This is bullshit!” Ben exclaimed. But even as he raged in protest, he understood that the wheels were already in motion. Nothing he did was going to stop anything now.

An hour later, as he and his father walked behind Rhule toward the Veruvian docking bay, Ben was still pleading his case, however pointless it was. “I just….I finally just saved you. And now you’re going to go off on a suicide mission to an alien planet?”

“I doubt Captain Rhule would like to think that I’m taking his expensive ship on a suicide mission.”

Ahead of him, Rhule shook his head. “I’d never think that way, but I’d never discount the possibility.”

Ben could appreciate Rhule’s candor while still wishing he didn’t need to spell it out.

“I’m sorry, Ben,” Lee said. “I wish there was another way.”

“You’re sorry,” Ben said, shaking his head. He held back the words, but in his mind his response was swift.

That’s it!? ‘Hey, son, sorry I disappeared after your mom died. I know you went to great lengths, including leaving the military, to go out and try to find me. Then you found me, and I decided to go and get myself killed anyway. But it’s all good, ‘I’m sorry’. No, that’s not enough.

Ben fought back tears as they walked. Tears of anger and frustration. Anger at his father, maybe? Anger at himself, since he’d brought Lee here. Anger at everything.

“I have to do this,” Lee said firmly.

Ben was silent. He’d say anything and everything he could to stop his father, but nothing would work now. He knew that.

“Here it is, Mr. Saito,” said a deckhand who appeared next to Captain Rhule. A salute for Rhule but not even a rank for me, Lee thought. No surprise. Considering they’d come aboard as prisoners, this was all pretty confusing for anyone who didn’t understand the circumstances. It was still all a little confusing for Lee. He still felt like he was in a daze, and had felt that way ever since he’d managed to yank himself free of the Pale Man’s control.

“It’s a stealth-class interceptor. The height of AIC technology. One of these bad boys costs several billion colonial credits. It’s all yours. I can get one of the pilots here to come run you through the procedures for takeoff, and—"

“I’m familiar, thank you,” Lee said, cutting off the deckhand. The young man glanced at Rhule, who dismissed him. “Thank you,” Lee said to Rhule, genuinely appreciative.

“No need for thanks, Captain,” Rhule said, shaking his hand. “Just repaying a debt.” He paused. “And hoping to be back in your debt again.”

Rhule smiled, and Lee found himself smiling as well. “I’ll do my best.”

Rhule must have seen the expression on Ben’s face. “I’ll give you two a minute,” he said, then stepped away and gave them as much privacy as an open docking bay could provide.

“There has to be another way,” Ben said.

Lee found it impossible to look into Ben’s sad eyes. He began walking around the fighter to check the surfaces. “Not that I can think of,” he said.

“Well then, let’s think of one together.”

“There’s no time, Ben. I wish there was, but there isn’t.”

“Stop it! Please just….stop and talk to me.