Ep.#5 - "Rise of the Corinari" Read Online Free Page A

regarding physics and relativity I need answered.”
    “Whenever you like, Captain,” Abby responded.
    “Nash, Kamenetskiy, you two remain seated. Ensign Willard, if you’ll wait outside with the guards, Ensign Nash will be out to take you for your debriefing shortly.”
    “Of course.”
    “Everyone else, thank you. You’re dismissed.”
    Nathan leaned back in his chair, watching the others exit, waiting until the room was clear before speaking. He couldn’t help but feel like a secondary school administrator about to punish a couple of unruly teens. It was an amusing thought, as in the past he was usually the one doing the misbehaving.
    Although he wasn’t looking directly at them, he could see Jessica and Vladimir exchange glances. Neither of them appeared to have any idea why they had been asked to stay behind. Jessica, however, appeared as calm as ever, confident that she could do no wrong. That was her strength, and Nathan knew it. But at times it was also her weakness, and he wondered if she was aware of that side of her personality.
    Vladimir was a different story altogether: excitable, emotional, outspoken, but generally a nice, dependable guy. On Haven, in fact, he had also proven himself quite reliable under fire. If he had any real fault, it was that he worked too hard. The man refused to sleep unless everything was working, sometimes falling asleep on his console in engineering with a tool in his hand. The Aurora had been in need of repair since they first jumped away from Earth, so it was reasonable to assume that Vladimir had gotten very little sleep over the last two weeks.
    Two weeks , Nathan thought. It seemed like only a few days ago. Everything had been happening so fast. At other times it felt like months since he had looked down on the familiar sight of the Earth slowly rotating below them. That view had been comforting, but he hadn’t realized just how comforting it had been until now.
    Tug was the last to exit the briefing room, casting a knowing look Nathan's way as he closed the hatch behind him. Nathan stared at the hatch as he thought about how to best proceed. He didn’t relish the idea of having to admonish his friends. They had been through a lot together. The events of the last two weeks had been hard on everyone, but they had also brought them closer together. They were rapidly becoming comrades in arms, family. Unfortunately, the behavior of his friends was disrupting the operations of his ship, and as captain he could not tolerate it.
    “It has come to my attention that the two of you have been casting blame on one another for the most recent attempted assault on this ship. Is that correct?”
    “I never said it was his fault,” Jessica began.
    “Oh, please. Why do you lie?” Vladimir objected.
    “I didn’t say it was your fault. I said that you should have…”
    “Enough!” Nathan warned sternly, his earlier soft spoken tone having vanished. “Listen to you two. You’re like a couple of teenagers…”
    “If he had just taken the time to check…”
    “Time? What time? If she had done her job to begin with…”
    “Zip it!” Nathan said even louder. “It’s not your fault,” he told Vladimir, “and it’s not yours either, Jess. The fault is mine. I’m the captain. I should have made damned sure that the ship was secure before I went down to the surface. Hell, I probably shouldn’t have gone down to the surface at all, for that matter. But I was more worried about my injured friend than my ship. I should have given clear instructions to both of you. So the fault is mine and mine alone, got it?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “ Da .”
    “I’ve got to stop being everyone’s friend and start being the captain of this ship,” he said, more to himself than to his friends. He turned to look at them again. “And that also means you two have to start treating me like the captain as well. No more 'Nathan this' or 'Nathan that'. It’s either ‘Captain’ or ‘sir’. Is