"The Knave"

[Joe Manning 0]

One day away from the Hyades Cluster, Verbistul and Qob had both dropped out of warp and were now beginning the process of joining via Verbistul's docking arm. It was a second stop on the return voyage, one last chance for Captain Manning to confer with acting Captain Simmons and for the scientists to put the finishing touches on reports that would be submitted to the colony. Before returning to his ship, Joe determined to resolve one last order of business -- a chat too long in the waiting.

 

The door to Verbistul's Captain's quarters slid upward, and Joe entered without announcement or invitation. That authority had been given to him by Simmons, as it had been given to the two armed guards who stood on either side of the sitting room beyond the door. The quarters were sparsely and neatly furnished. It did not appear to be greatly disturbed, though it was likely that any weapons or communications devices had been relocated. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary for the domicile of a career officer, save that the computer terminal on the desk in one corner was completely dark.

 

Herman Maxwell appeared in the narrow doorway leading to the small adjoining bedroom. With a single glance at the visitor, his face showed mild and brief surprise. It passed, and he quickly recomposed himself and leaned against the door frame. He smirked at Joe, who looked back with a hard gaze. "The illustrious and victorious mercenary himself ... here to gloat, perhaps, or to apologize and return me to my command? Has his pirate friend proven threacherous at last?"

 

"Tomar?" Joe shrugged. "Time will tell what it will, but so far he's proven more of an ally to me than the people I was hired to protect on this wondrous voyage of ours. Funny how things work out, ain't it?"

 

"It is indeed," Maxwell answered slowly, an edge of poison to his voice.

 

"Sit down."

 

"I'll stand."

 

"Wasn't askin'" Joe pointed at the guard standing beside the bedroom door.

 

The guard removed one hand from his rifle to grab at Maxwell's arm, but the former Captain pulled it away sharply and walked toward the armchairs grouped around a low table near the corner opposite the desk. He glowered at Joe the whole way, but again smiled coldly as he lowered himself into the nearest armchair. "A guest in my quarters and on my ship and you address me with such indignity. I suppose I can expect no more from a mercenary."

 

"I ain't buyin' the deluded madman act, Herman," Joe said as he seated himself across from Maxwell. "I know that the Rimward Territories can break a man, but not after two weeks, not after a single raider attack that didn't cost your crew one man's life. You know damn well what you done and what it's cost you, and if this whole act is meant to convince the colony to go soft on you, I don't expect it'll get you far."

 

"My colony?" Maxwell leaned forward and stared into Joe's eyes with an expression of self-satisfaction. "I have been a faithful servant of the administrators of Xorax for twelve years. My service record is impeccable, as it was when I served the Federation. It is quite possible that I enjoy their backing to a greater extent then you would give me credit for."

 

Joe peered back at Maxwell as he sat back in the armchair and joined his fingers together above his lap, that same smile of invincibility on his face. Did he have a way out of this trouble? Were there strings he could pull at Xorax Colony, favors he could call in? Would it, perhaps, be best for Joe to take him into custody? "What is your sin, Herman?"

 

Maxwell laughed mockingly and shook his head back at Joe. "My sin?"

 

"We all got one," Joe shrugged. "One that stands out a little more than the others, at least. But Bull's Head's got a way o' drawin' out every man's sins a little more. And your sin o' choice has to be a big one ... seein' as how you oversaw the deaths of a fair number of Capricorn's crew as well as your own ... and tried your damndest to oversee mine." Joe allowed his cheeks to flush a bit at that last.

 

"Are you here to intimidate me, mercenary?" Maxwell asked, though he still smiled.

 

"For what purpose? If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. If I wanted you hurt, I'd spare you the conversation and get right to business. Simmons wouldn't stop me; he holds you here at my behest. And I couldn't rightly scare or humiliate you if I wanted to ... cause I don't know you. That's why I'm here, Herman -- to know you.

 

"My sin is easy. I'm a gluttony man. I got a fondness for the drink. My fondness grows when I get myself all depressed, and that happens when I think on the past. And I ain't a happy drunk, Herman. I'm an angry drunk, the kind no one wants around when he's drinkin' heavy. And I get cranky when I ain't drinkin' enough. It so happens I've spent the last three days locked aboard the ship with not a drop of liquor in sight and with a lot o' thinkin' about the past on my mind. Got me nice and cranky to pay you a little visit."

 

"You're not going to scare me, Manning." Maxwell blinked and crossed his arms.

 

"Scare you?" Joe laughed. "Boy, I just gave you the key to my weakness. You know how dependent the habit makes a man? I got to rely on a steady stream of the juice, and I just ain't content if I can't get the good stuff -- Louisiana bourbon right from the source, no cheap imitations. I'm lucky enough that I got a reliable supplier. But cut me off long enough, and I'll get edgy enough to do something stupid; I'll make mistakes that I'll regret later.

 

"You made mistakes, Herman. I'm sure that, for all that you appear to be at peace with yourself, you realize you made some big mistakes. And now I'm wonderin' what sin compelled you to make them." Joe stood up and started pacing slowly in front of the door out of the quarters. Maxwell watched him, the same smile on his face. "On the surface it might seem like wrath. You see the 'mercenaries,' as you like to throw around with disdain, rubbin' elbows with the pirates that tried to 'jack your ship, and you decide somethin' needs to be done about. But that don't seem to fit. The raiders may have put a scare in some of your crew, but no one was hurt and the ship wasn't damaged too bad. You had my crew to thank for that, so you had no cause to bear us ill will. And, hell, the Lucky Hand wanted to blast Capricorn into dust as much as you might have wanted to; turnin' us against them didn't serve no lust for revenge.

 

"So what about greed? You have a chat with your traitorous engineer, Holstrum, and he spills the beans about Capricorn's plot to expose Xorax colony's Eden Project, maybe even to get their hands on that hydroponics ship. You weren't interested in feedin' no hungry colonists, that's for sure. But I'm sure the thought crossed your mind that controllin' the Eden Project would have given you one hell of a trade chip. Think of all the money that could be made sellin' the Eden plans to someone with the resources to build a fleet of those ships. Or think of how much more could be made with just the threat, sellin' the plans to Gaia Prime so they can keep their monopoly on the food trade." Joe stopped to look down at Maxwell.

 

"Quite a bit of profit to be made, I'm sure," Maxwell said with a tone of disinterest.

 

"But you don't care about that," Joe replied, waving his hand dismissively. "If money was your only aim, you wouldn't have wasted twelve years of your life ferryin' scientists around the galaxy for Xorax colony. You'd have gone mercenary like me. Or pirate like Tomar. An old Starfleet man like yourself's certainly got the skills. And the past week has shown that you've got some taste for danger. You wouldn't look down on us mercenary sorts the way that you do if your only motivation was profit."

 

Joe nodded slowly and a small smile wrinkled his face. "O' course, I know what your sin is, Herman. I knew it when you first stepped onto my Bridge. Knew it when you looked around that little green wreck that Xorax colony was investing the whole mission in. Saw it in your eye when you looked at me, that barely concealed disdain and frustration. Sensed it fighting its way to the surface when I made it clear that we were gonna help those raiders out ... and there was nothin' you could do about it.

 

"Yours is the deadliest sin of all, Herman -- pride. Twelve years of service to the colony, and rather than trustin' the expedition to you, they forced you to answer to one of us no-good mercenary types. It killed you to be told what to do by someone you couldn't tell apart from a raider. Especially when you know that that someone fought in the Civil War. Oh yeah, I'm sure you inquired about me, and Xorax colony had enough intel on me to share some of the important facts with you." Maxwell shook his head, but Joe noted that he was no longer smiling.

 

"But I inquired about you too, Herman. I asked around about you back on Xorax, tryin' to get a sense of the type of people I was workin' with. I know that you were Starfleet during the war, but you didn't fight in the war. You were a Federation patriot, and if the people in charge didn't want its fleet involved in the conflict, you weren't about to sign on with one of the warring ships. You had yourself a nice safe job as a security officer on a patrol ship, makin' sure the war didn't spill over into this region here. Maybe this region grew on you, maybe the war cost you something -- I don't know -- but in time you saw fit to settle down in the Hyades Cluster."

 

Joe took a step toward Maxwell's armchair and looked down at him with cold eyes. "Or maybe there's another reason you decided to stay put here. That'da been around the time Bull's Head started goin' independent. Maybe you thought if you stuck around, you could do some important work for your beloved Federation. Workin' at a science colony -- that'd give you a nice inside track, info on what sorts of new innovations the Commonwealth is working on, intel you could pass back to your old superiors ... or maybe to other pro-Federation agencies right here in Bull's Head."

 

Maxwell sprung out of the armchair and fixed Joe with a furious gaze. The two guards flinched but made no attempt to stop Maxwell when it was clear that Joe was not going to back away. "Just what do you think to imply about me?"

 

"I been surrounded by Rainmakers of late, Herman. It's put me in quite the paranoid state."

 

"I'm not member of that cult!" Maxwell protested angrily. "And how dare you direct such an accusation at me! I love the Federation and I love the Hyades Cluster, but I am no terrorist and their means only sicken me."

 

"Yet you were behind the deaths of ... what was the final count, sixty, seventy people? Chemical attacks on wounded people? Using misdirection to turn crews to fightin'? Hell, you even had Grotte murder one of your own crew. More'd be dead and my ship smolderin' on Zoalus if your boy Lazarus'd done his job right.

 

"I get to thinkin' -- maybe you don't see profit in the Eden Project. Maybe you see a revoutionary new hydroponic ship prototype, and you start thinkin' about what that could do for Bull's Head. Hell, a fleet of ships like that could solve all the hunger problems on the fringe worlds. But then without the fringe worlds cut off, there'd be no call for Federation aid. Without their people sufferin', there'd be no vast fields of recruits for the Rainmakers. Could be, I reckon, that you only wanted to get your hands on that ship so you could destroy it, then use the data to cause as much infighting as you could between Gaia Prime, Xorax, the Guardians, and anyone else you could stir up. Pull off a coup like that, and I'm sure Minos himself would award you points."

 

Without warning, Maxwell lunged forward and grabbed for Joe's neck, rage seething from his features. Joe tried to twist one of his elbows with one hand and push him back at the shoulder with the other. The guards swooped in to pull them apart. For Joe's part, the scuffle served as an unwanted reminder of his age; the strong, fit Maxwell managed to push him against the door before the guards managed to pry him loose. "Damn you," Maxwell fumed, struggling against the grip of the guard. "Your kind are the tools of Minos! Men of no scruples hopping around the stars pretending to be starship Captains when you're nothing more than paid thugs and hired hitmen. I won't stand here and listen to your accusations a moment more. Just as I wouldn't stand to follow a single one of your orders when it was quite clear that you cared nothing for this expedition, for your duty! We were ambushed, my crew held for ransom, their very lives held over my head ... and when they entreat for aid, you open your arms to them like a long-lost friend!? I restored order to this expedition when you and your raider friends were poised to muscle in and do God knows what to my crew and my ship.

 

"I tell you now I didn't authorize a single death. I would have had the fleet brought under my control with no conflict, no bloodshed. But you all forced the hands of my crew ... th-they had to resort to desperate measures, and lives w-were lost when I wanted no such affair weighing on my conscience. Look to Grotte for your accusations ... but, no, now he's dead at the hands of the raiders, and I say with no lack of confidence that you will produce no proof that may condemn me for the bloodshed that was caused. Turn in yourself, turn in the thugs you surround yourself with and dare to call 'officers,' if you want blame to be laid."

 

Joe straightened his vest and shook his head at the figure now shrinking back into the grip of the two guards. "You're a fool, Maxwell. A proud fool, but a fool. And a dupe. I don't know what exactly went on aboard this ship while my crew were on Capricorn, and I don't know why exactly you were after the Eden Project -- I'll leave it to Xorax Colony to figure that out. But I see now that the brains of your little takeover were elsewhere. Maybe it was Grotte, maybe Lazarus. Someone was motivated by either profit or sabotage; you just let yourself get strung along because your pride was an easy weakness for anyone to target. You were used ... and in the end you probably would have been disposed."

 

He smacked his fist against the access panel beside the door and it slid up behind him. "I wasted my time coming here ... and my effort thinkin' you could be anything so fanciful as a calculating criminal. We'll be at Xorax Colony shortly, and you'll be turned over to the Administrators, who will do with you as they please. We both know you don't have anywhere near the clout with them or anyone else to get yourself out of this. You're just a Jack who played at bein' a King."

 

As Joe turned and left the quarters, Maxwell, his energy spent, slumped completely into the arms of the guards. He was dragged back to his armchair, where he was left with his anger, his sorrow, and his fear.