Homesick

Sally stood at the door to Vlad’s quarters for several moments before hitting the chime. There would never be a convenient time to confront him, but Poole and Ian were busy downloading her files and preparing for their guests, providing her the closest thing to privacy she was likely to get. She knew Poole could observe her in any room of the ship and she didn’t want to have to explain what she was going to say to Vlad.

Vlad stood at attention when she entered. Sally glanced around the room. His dark console was littered with discarded ration packs and empty drink globes mixed in with pieces of a half-finished airplane model. Sally could see an over-abundance of fingerprints on the panel, indicating that he never wiped it down. Worse, spots of model glue bubbled from the surface and she could detect traces of it in the air. A nest of clutter also surrounded a couch, where he obviously spent most of his time. His uniform jacket stood open and rumpled, and he had not shaved in what looked like two days. Vlad was clearly not expecting company.

“Vladimir Coronov,” she said, suppressing her reaction to the mess. “We need to talk.”

Vladimir said nothing, still standing in exaggerated straightness.

“Okay, Vlad, sit down if you have to, but don’t do that attention thing with me. I’m not military and I always thought it looked stupid.”

Vlad started with surprise as if she had insulted him.

“We don’t like each other, Vlad, do we?”

He said nothing.

“Ever since you set foot on this ship, you’ve made it a point to disagree with just about every one of my decisions.”

He started to protest.

“You have a right to your opinion,” she said before he could speak. “You even have the right to keep us up-to-date on how members of your government feel. But I do expect you to do your duty as a member of this crew. That is your responsibility.”

“Agreed,” he said with a slightly hoarse voice.

“You did something very wrong, Vlad. You tried to undermine my authority and you could have jeopardized the mission. You also set aside your own duty and could have gotten yourself killed.”

“That is true, Captain, but I had orders__”

“No you didn’t!” Sally snapped. “That’s exactly what we have to clear up right now! We’re not on Earth now. That means we’re nowhere near Russian territory. I know you’ve got loyalties at home and so do I. We all have idiotic bureaucrats to kiss up to and they all have different agendas. But, if we’re going to survive out here, we need to understand that we’re essentially on our own. This mission isn’t run from Moscow, Washington, London, Ontario, or even UN Headquarters. It’s up to us to make it work, and that means loyalty to the crew and respect for the chain of command. That’s me. I’m responsible for all our lives. That means you don’t have any orders unless I give them to you! Got it?”

“Captain, you left me no choice__”

“No choice but to mutiny? Is that really what you’re saying? You see, that’s why I can’t trust you, Vlad, and I don’t buy that excuse anyway! Even if Ian and I had been killed on the surface, you could have waited a little while, couldn’t you? Like maybe until we were out of contact for a day? A few hours maybe?” She shook her head. “But no, you wasted no time at all, did you? We probably hadn’t even touched down before you started hacking our systems and screwing up my ship.”

“I did not intend to leave you behind if you were alive, Captain.”

She started to pace the room, kicking empty food tins as she did. “You know, Coronov, that’s neither here nor there.” She faced him again. “In fact, I don’t give a damn what you intended to do. The fact is you screwed up. Can we agree on that?”

He sighed. “Yes, Captain.”

“Now, you know I could end your career over this. I wouldn’t even have thought twice about it yesterday.”

“You could complain to my government,” he agreed.

“I could press criminal charges,” she corrected. “Under international law, I might even be able to make a case for piracy and treason. Of course, admittedly, your people might argue your case and do a little magic. But, believe me, you’d still come out of it looking like crap at the end of the day and so would anyone who supported you.”

His jaw tightened.

“You’d be an embarrassment to them, Vlad. Your name would be removed from the history books forever and they’d relocate you to . . . Siberia?”

Vlad said nothing, but his eyes grew darker.

“Vlad, I said I could do this, and I think any commanding officer in the Russian armed forces wouldn’t hesitate, would you agree?”

“Perhaps,” he whispered.

“But our situation here is unusual, I’ll admit that. Now, I don’t condone your actions, nor do I excuse you in any way, but I need you to do your job. I need to be able to count on you, at least until this crisis is over.”

His eyes widened. “You’re going to do it? You’re going to let the aliens onboard? You’re going to bring them here?”

“Word travels fast, I see.”

“Captain, no!” His face became a mask of fear and he started prancing wildly. “This is madness!”

“Vlad, this is exactly the position we found ourselves in a few days ago.” She smiled. “You disagree with me, and that’s your right. But this time you can do your duty and keep your mouth shut! I’m giving you one last chance. If you do your job and I’m completely satisfied with your work, I won’t lodge any formal complaints against you. I won’t even include what Ian and I suspect you did in our logs, which might take some doing by the way. Of course, that’s all assuming we get out of this alive.”

Vlad started to say something, but stopped.

“That’s right, Vlad, maybe it’s a mistake, but that’s the deal. You behave yourself and do what you’re told and I don’t pee on your service record. You have my word.” She kicked an empty coffee globe and watched it bounce up the side of the wall out of sight. “Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll give you a medal or invite you to dinner, but we don’t have to be friends in order to work together.”

Vlad was speechless.

“Vlad, we’ve got a staff meeting coming up with Dr. Poole in the main dining area in about twenty minutes. If you’re going to work with us I’ll need you there. If not, I’ll need to know now. Which is it?”

He faced her with a mixture of suspicion and reluctant acceptance. “I’m in.”

“Good,” she said without showing any surprise. Then she looked him up and down. “And, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, you might spend that twenty minutes . . . freshening up a bit. You know, iron your shirt, wash your face, that sort of thing. We are representing the mission, after all.”