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The Eagle, when they found her, was sitting pretty near a large space rock. The magnetic properties of which were enough to fool any instrument into believing the rock was alone out there. Unless you knew exactly where to look and, thanks to the info gleaned from the Seal Pirates’ servers, they did. A quick scan showed that the flagship of the Roman Armada was battle damaged but not enough to render her incapable of flight.
Marcus could not tear his gaze from the viewscreen as he remembered that moment years ago when, as a young child in awe of his father, had watched as the man had been named Captain of the Armada’s latest and most advanced frigate.
“Marcus!” A hand landed on his shoulder causing his eyes to snap to that of his companion. “What do you want to do? The Seal Pirates will surely find us soon.”
Esca was right, they could not afford to linger, yet they couldn’t just leave the ship here. “Bring us closer Esca, we need to find a way inside.”
The ship was too valuable to be left in enemy hands, even if said enemy could not operate it. They would head inside, remove the ship’s memory core and then, though it would pain him, scuttle it. Perhaps returning the core, in order to discover what had happened during the Eagle’s final battle, would be enough to restore his family’s honour.
“The shuttle bay doors are still open,” Esca said as he manoeuvred their little skiff inside.
-
The Eagle was fully operational; its AI readily responding to Marcus after identifying his father’s Command Ring but two people were not enough to man her. And it tore at Marcus’ heart knowing that they had to destroy her.
After removing the memory core, Marcus instructed the AI to initialise the self-destruct feature and to set the timer giving them enough time to get outside the blast radius. A moment later, as they made their way back to their skiff the AI informed him that it could not access the self-destruct system; that it would have to be initialised manually.
There was only one thing Marcus could do, “Take the core. Make sure it gets back to Rome Prime.”
Esca shook his head even as Marcus spoke, jaw jutted out. “I’m not leaving you here.”
“Do not dishonour me. Take it.” If they returned with the core not having destroyed the ship, he would never restore his family’s honour. Yet that same honour kept him from abandoning both the core and the ship to the Pirates. Esca had to leave. The memory core had to reach Rome Prime. The honour of Aquila had to be restored.
“I came this far with you. I won’t leave you now.” Esca shifted his weight and planted his feet more firmly as he squared his shoulders. “I swore an oath of honour, never to abandon you. If you want me to leave, set me free. Give me my freedom.”
Marcus withdrew Cunoval’s dagger from his boot, if he was to die here, the least he could do was release Esca from servitude. “You’re free,” he said as he deactivated the link to Esca’s control chip and handed it over. “You’re free my friend.” Esca gripped the pommel placing his other hand over Marcus’. “Take it,” Marcus said again as he held out the core with his free hand.
“No.” Esca closed the distance between them, cupping Marcus’ cheek in one hand, his eyes soft and warm as he said, “I will return.” And then he turned and ran down the hallway while Marcus stood frozen in place.
-
Marcus knew it was foolish waiting for Esca to return but he wanted to believe the man’s words. To pass the time, he replaced the memory core and accessed the data pertaining to that final battle. His father had ordered the evacuation of the ship. But even as the shuttles took off, a Seal Pirate boarding ship had docked and had taken the remaining crew hostage, including his father.
The ship’s AI alerted him to the skiff’s return so he headed for the shuttle bay.
Esca stepped out of the ship followed closely by Guern and then several other men all dressed in what was once Roman Armada uniforms. “Your father’s crew,” his former slave stated grinning.
“The Seal Pirates are not far behind us. Orders Sir?” Guern asked as he and the other men snapped to attention, fists to their chests.
Marcus looked across the men before his eyes came to rest on Esca. “Prepare to defend the Eagle!”
The men nodded as one before taking off for various parts of the ship until only Marcus and Esca remained.
Marcus stepped forward and cupped Esca’s cheek, a mirror of the other man’s earlier move, then leaned in until their foreheads touched. “Thank you.”
Esca’s eyes fell closed as he rested a hand over Marcus’. “You are welcome.”
They shared a quiet moment, only pulling apart when Guern’s voice came over the ship’s comm system announcing the imminent arrival of the Seal Pirates’ ship.
“Come on!” Esca grinned as he pulled Marcus down the halls by his hand. “I want to see what she can do.”