The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration by Ralph L. Angelo Jr. Page B

half.
    He look ed at his friends incredulously. “I’m not holding Eddie responsible for this. He saved Troiano’s life, maybe yours and mine as well. I know he didn’t mean to kill Ari. I know he didn’t,” he repeated.
    Dan fidgeted uncomfortably. “Look, Boss , we need ya to take command again. I mean if you can’t Red or I can do it. But this ship, this crew needs you, not Red or me, you . You get me? You’re its heart an’ soul.”
    “You’re our leader ,” Red added.
    “Yeah, you are. An’ right now we need ya to lead ,” Dan finished.
    “Guys…”
    “Look, man, I know yer hurtin’, we all are. Everyone on the ship. Not just the command crew. Everyone loved Ari. The five of us were a team. We were like a family of dysfunctional siblin’s.”
    “What the illiterate Jovian ape is saying is true, Mark. I’m not a guy who can talk about feelings and stuff so easily.” Red fidgeted. “But Danny’s right. We all loved her. Eddie’s tearing himself up over this. Troiano is like a robot since it happened. The crew is barely speaking to each other. The Cagliostro is like one huge mausoleum right now. We need our captain back. All of us do. We’re not going to be able to get off of this rock without you.”
    “All right. Let me clean up. Wait for me in the kitchen area. I’ll be out in ten minutes. Make yourselves coffee or something. In fact make me something. I haven’t eaten in two days. But I have to get out of this room. Danny, what’s the status of the repairs to the engines?”
    “Everything’s done , Boss. Everything’s complete. We just need to run a few tests and we can get the hell away from this place.”
    “I can’t believe a simple exploratory mission turned into this nightmare ,” Mark murmured.
    “I know ,” Red agreed. “All we were doing was looking for a mineral rich planet close to Earth, relatively speaking to establish a base on.”
    “Yeah these Agalum bastards beat us to this one ,” Dan Sledge added.
    Both men turned and looked at him with furrowed brows.
    “What?” Sledge asked, surprised.
    “Nothing, Danny. You’re right. They beat us here” Mark replied.
    “This place would have been perfec t too. I bet we could’ve even come to some kind of an agreement with the natives or that Chakix thing.”
    Mark looked at Red and agreed with another nod.
    “Where is Ari?” Mark suddenly asked.
    “Med deck , in a suspended animation pod. You know how that works. We bring bodies back to Earth if we can for burial there. Hell, you wrote that rule.”
    “Yeah , I know,” Mark replied glumly, and then continued, “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
     
    Fifteen minutes later the three men walked onto the command deck from the maglovator, a newly shaven and showered Mark Johnson at the forefront, wearing a clean blue and silver tech suit.
    “What is Mr. DiGenovese’s status?” He turned and asked Lori Westin, who was on comm duty.
    Shocked at seeing Mark there and trying to hide it she answered , “Dr. Troiano thinks he’s fit for duty. But he c-can’t bring himself to come up here since the, um accident,” she finished in almost an inaudible whisper.
    “I don’t care. Tell him if he wants to keep his job I need him on the command deck of this ship .”
    Mark turned to a young black man who was sitting at the weapons console. “No offense Hoskins, but I need DiGenovese back up here.”
    The young man smiled . “None taken, Sir.”
    “Good. I have to get this ship and crew back to running order as fast as possible. By throwing DiGenovese back into the fire may be the only way to do it. We need familiarity on this command deck today.”
    “Sir,” Lori Westin called him quietly. Mark turned to look at her . “Sir, I-I know I can’t replace Miss O’Connor, but I’ll do the best I can to serve this ship until we get back to Earth. Lilly feels the same way. W-we both wanted you to know.”
    Mark relaxed a bit, he softened as he looked at her. “I know