CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

was right, and even though it wasn‟t Atlantis, the place still carried a palpable sense of
entitlement.
“You still haven‟t told any of us where we‟re headed, Commander,” Callaghan noted
after a few moment‟s silence.
Razak‟s head turned slowly, a small smile curling at the corner of his mouth. “Sorry,”
he said. “Hornsby‟s orders.”
Callaghan folded his arms, raising his eyebrow in feigned surprise. “Interesting. I was
under the impression Admiral Ainsley was in command.”
Razak‟s smile vanished. “We have higher orders.”
Davis Akara shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the two Commanders appeared to
settle themselves in for a territorial stoush. Callaghan knew a losing fight when he saw it,
and continued to purse his lips – at the very least, Razak had tipped him off to something
Hornsby hadn‟t thought to explain. Aquarius was acting on the orders of someone much
higher in the chain of command, superseding even Ainsley‟s authority. Few offices had
stripes over the rank of Mark Ainsley, and the options were few – perhaps ultimately coming
down to the heads of the NSIS and ONI, Admirals Anise Schrader and Jason Hargreaves.
Callaghan smirked inwardly. It was hardly his first dealing with the UEO‟s intelligence
services, with both offices having put their noses in to Ainsley‟s affairs on multiple occasions
before then. A move that would ultimately keep him on a shorter, controlled leash at the
helm of the Aquarius had just the right ring of selective oversight to it to point the finger at
Schrader.
Callaghan raised an eyebrow. “So, why did you do it?” he asked the XO bluntly.
“Do what?” Razak looked back.
“Disappeared, cut off communications to the fleet, fought a private war... I need to
spell it out?”
“I don‟t think we had much of a choice, do you?”
“The world thinks you‟re dead, Commander. I don‟t think it was as simple as that.”
Razak took a slow, almost overbearing step forward. “I‟ll say this only once,
Commander, and I strongly suggest that if you wish to remain in Captain Hornsby‟s good
graces you do not ask her the same question,” he said, the gutteral edge of bitter resentment
growling in his throat, “There was nothing simple for this crew in watching their families die in
‟41. We aren‟t going to stand by and be made to watch as that moron of a Secretary-General
in New Cape Quest does it all over again, and that, I can promise you was a simple
decision.”
He continued to stare at Razak for several moments, the rueful twinge of pain quite
visibly glinting in his eyes before he added “and what about you?”
Callaghan didn‟t get a chance to answer as he felt the subtle thump beneath his feet
while the air popped with a change of pressure. Warning bells rang nosily as the massive
clam-shell pressure doors at the control deck‟s port side cracked open under the heavy
whine of hydraulics. Lauren Hornsby was flanked by Mark Ainsley and Anniel Rhodes as she
stepped through the breach and headed straight for the command deck, the Admiral beside
her casting a pale and familiar gaze over the bridge before him, the track of his eyes pausing
as they came to rest on the ghostly avatar of the ship‟s seal on the bulkhead behind the
command chair.
Callaghan and Razak rounded the lower control deck in opposite directions as they
made for the adjacent staircases up to the command level. Aquarius‟s bridge, just like
Atlantis, was split across three levels with the lower control deck containing helm, tactical,
weapons and navigation being ringed behind and at the sides by the operations deck, which
held EVA, the OOD, communications, sonar, and ops. Above both decks, sitting directly
above and behind the primary weapons stations they had just been attending was the
command deck. The Captain‟s view of the bridge from that position was extensive, with clear
lines of sight down past an adjacent navigational plot and several banks of command
consoles. Hornsby stood behind the balustrades at the end of that precipice, exchanging
quiet words with Rhodes as Razak approached from around the chart table. Callaghan fell in
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