Bightmares

Chapter One

Then…

From the safety of the hallway, the young boy peeked around the corner and stared at his mother as she sat on their sofa. Tears streamed down her face. She shook her head and looked up at the two officials from the joint tribunal who had arrived a little earlier to talk to her. He’d hidden around the corner, listening as they introduced themselves, one from the Merchant Marines and one from the Interstellar Naval Corps.

He wondered if the Merchant Marine officer knew his father.

“No. I don’t believe it!” she screamed. “He wouldn’t do anything like that! It’s a lie!”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the Merchant Marine officer softly apologized. “I brought a copy of the report and official findings with me. I’m sorry.”

“My husband was a good man, a decent man!”

The ISNC officer, a chaplain, knelt in front of her. “Would you like me to set up some counseling for you and your son?”

She sneered at him. “Someone tells horrible lies about my husband, gets him killed, and you want me and Jamie to get counseling?” She pushed him away as she stood and paced the living room floor. “I want someone’s head for this!”

A few days later, Jamie stood by his Uncle Bill as they waited for the transport shuttle to arrive. His uncle didn’t say much. So far, nothing he’d said had been right. A career Interstellar Naval Corps military man, he wasn’t used to children.

“We’re changing your last name,” he said. “I don’t want you associated with that man. You deserve better than that. Too bad your mother didn’t see the truth about him years ago.” He looked down at his young nephew, who’d just turned six. “He certainly wasn’t worth her killing herself over.”

The night she died, Jamie’s mother’s last words to him when she tucked him into bed were to extract a promise from her young son.

Retribution. “He was a good man, Jamie,” she’d said as she kissed him goodnight for what would turn out to be the very last time. “Promise me you’ll do right by him. Restore his name. Make them pay.”

Young Jamie Candling didn’t know who his mom meant, but he promised. “Yes, Momma.”

“Good. Remember, I love you. And don’t ever trust anyone. People will stab you in the back to get what they want.”

Then she didn’t wake up the next morning. Every time he tried to rouse her, she laid there, her eyes half-open and her skin a horrible color, her lips parted like she was about to speak.

When he’d touched her cheek, it felt cool and firm, not soft and warm.

Finally, he walked across the hall and asked Mrs. Blackman, the woman who sometimes babysat him, to come help him wake her.

Now, three days later, his mother’s brother was taking him home to live with him. To the Ganymede colony, where Bill Eckhart was some bigwig with the ISNC.

He looked up at his uncle when the man sighed. “Your mom always was a sad woman,” he said. “She didn’t want to believe the truth even when it slapped her in the face, sitting there in black and white and supported by facts and evidence.” He looked down at his nephew. “You need to forget your father ever existed. He didn’t do anything but cause your mother and this family pain.” His face darkened even more. “Not to mention the other innocent people he hurt.”

But Jamie couldn’t—wouldn’t—forget his promise. He simply nodded, because he didn’t want to lie. He didn’t really remember his dad, because he’d been in space for so long. Everything he knew about his father came from pictures and his mother’s glowing words and stories about him.

“You have a chance for a new start before you can get hurt by him,” Uncle Bill said. “I’ll help you make the most of it.”

Now…

From the personnel files of Dr. Louis Graymard, Deep Space Mission Corps Chief Personnel Acquisitions Officer.

Crew Pairing Summary

Date: March 2, 2670

File #20-8630

Ship: DSMC Vessel Tamora Bight

Debarking Base: New Phoenix, Arizona, Earth

Crew: Captain Aaron Lucio; First Officer Caphis Bates; Mate Ford Caliban; Medical Officer Dr. Emilia Hypatia

The Tamora Bight lifts from the New Phoenix base tomorrow with a complete four-pack crew. While they were initially upset about the introductory simulation testing scenario, the crew pairing has gone even better than expected. Dr. Hypatia is, as I thought she would be, the perfect complement for Captain Lucio and his crew. That she is a trained class two empath, in addition to her psychology degree and Alpha-ranked healer status, is very fortunate.

Individual assessments of the men have revealed marked improvement in their emotional health since pairing Dr. Hypatia with them. They all fell in love and formed a plural marriage, in addition to their bonded crew status. It gives me great confidence that we will most likely have them as Deep Space Mission Corps personnel for many years to come…

With no way to change the nightmare, it vividly repeated in Aaron Lucio’s mind as it had played out in real life.

On the surface of the uninhabited planet, the raiders were lying in wait for them. The look of fear on Kels’ face as her eyes met his.

“One more, Captain,” the raider leader said as he leveled his plasma pistol at Captain Candling. “One more or you all die.”

Without thinking, without pulling his gaze from Kels, Aaron stepped forward. “Me. Take me.”

Behind him, Rawley and First Officer Allen of the Wayfarer Margo protested. “Leave her,” Allen said. “Take me instead! I’m worth more ransom.”

One of the raiders shoved Aaron next to Kels. She reached for his hand, and their fingers laced together. He gently squeezed, trying to reassure her despite his own fear they might not survive.

Captain Anderson Candling stood there with a smirk on his face. “You have your two. Now leave.”

“Sir,” Allen protested. “You can’t let them take them! You and me, we’ll go—”

“No. He volunteered, let him go with her. Why risk our lives?”

Rawley and Allen took a step toward the raiders, but Candling overruled them. “Let them take them. That’s an order.” Candling looked at the raider leader. “You’ve got what you want. Get out of here—”

Aaron startled awake when Emi rolled over in her sleep, away from him and toward where Caph slept on her other side. The sweet scent of her shampoo filled his lungs, anchoring him to reality. He stared at the cabin ceiling as his pulse slowed, his body bathed in sweat. He wasn’t standing on the planet’s surface. He wasn’t being betrayed by his captain.

Kels wasn’t about to die. Again.

He lay safe in his own bed, with his husbands and wife, in their shared crew quarters on the Tamora Bight.

Another fucking nightmare.

They didn’t come as often as they once had. This was the first he’d had in over a year, the first since they’d met Emi. Fortunately, tonight he didn’t have to live through the worst of it, the torture the raiders put him through.

Or Kels’ death.

He looked to his other side. Ford lay there, his blue eyes open and staring at him, a worried look on his face. Ford always knew when he had a nightmare. Too many times over the years, Ford had proved his sole link to sanity. “You okay, Cap?” Ford asked.

Aaron nodded.

“You haven’t had one of those in a long time.”

He nodded again.

Ford lifted his head so he could see Emi. She still slept soundly on Aaron’s other side, curled against Caph. They didn’t have to get up for several hours yet. Ford shifted position so he could slip his arms around Aaron. The other man closed his eyes, rested his head against Ford’s chest, and silently wept.

Ford twined his fingers through Aaron’s hair and tightly held him. “I’m here,” Ford whispered in his ear. “It’s okay. Just another bad dream. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

“I hate those fucking dreams! Why are they starting again? Why won’t they go away?”

“It’s okay,” Ford softly soothed. “You’re okay. Go back to sleep, Aar. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

Safe in his husband’s arms, with Ford’s heartbeat soft in his ear as he kept his face pressed against his chest, that’s what Aaron finally did.