Edric held his breath as Lyriss tried to reason with the angry Colonel Rachjen aboard Destroyer. The Hirken flagship had at least twice the weaponry of the Dreamer, and its shields were far stronger. If it came down to a fight, they would not be winning.

Then Lady Qane strode energetically onto the bridge, followed by Chief Ehlomm and the doctor, who was supporting a young human girl. Edric looked at her curiously, for the moment forgetting the danger. This is the infamous General Najia? Loric was right, she is pretty, but—she’s so young! And she looks so frail. How can someone like that be the leader of all those Hirken?

“Colonel Rachjen,” said Lady Qane calmly. “Why are you threatening my ship? We have done nothing wrong.”

“You have kidnapped our general!” replied the Hirken, almost incoherent with anger. “We have just received word from Hirken City that you captured her from the medical center there, where she was receiving treatment. You are obviously working with the Mirra to try to destroy the Hirken! Return General Najia immediately, or we will blow you out of the sky!”

“If you destroy us, you destroy your own general as well,” replied Lady Qane imperturbably. “She is standing next to me right now, on the bridge. Do you wish to kill her just to punish us?”

“I—if she is harmed—you”—sputtered the Hirken incoherently.

“Captain,” said the girl quietly. “You will get nowhere by exchanging threats with him. Allow me to address him. I have an idea.” When Lady Qane nodded, the girl raised her voice so it could be heard over the comm. “Colonel Rachjen, who gave you orders to attack this ship?”

Relief entered the Hirken’s voice. “General! You are there! What do you wish us to do?”

A hard edge entered the girl’s voice, although she still leaned on the doctor for support. “I wish you to answer my question, Colonel. Who gave you orders to attack this ship?”

“Doctor”—he spat out an unpronounceable name. “He told us you were kidnapped and to punish your kidnappers at once.”

“The doctor is a traitor,” she announced authoritatively, though still with a brittle snap to her tone. “He is working to betray us. He has also forgotten that the Hirken army answers to me alone, not to him. He is a fool. Had you obeyed his orders, I would be dead and the Hirken people doomed.”

“Forgive me, General!” wailed the colonel. “I was concerned for your well-being—I did not think!”

“I do not forgive,” responded the girl angrily, the color rising in her face. Doctor Jillius shifted his grip on her arm, as if in warning. “I do not forgive,” she repeated more calmly, ice still evident in her voice. “And not thinking is inexcusable. Colonel Rachjen, you are hereby stripped of your rank. Captain Lafroichka!”

A new Hirken voice came over the comm. This one was a bit calmer and more controlled than that of the unfortunate colonel. “Yes, my general?”

“Take the former colonel Rachjen and put him to work in the bowels of the ship until such a time as you deem he has learned his lesson. From this moment forth, you are my second-in-command, Colonel Lafroichka.”

The Hirken’s voice displayed neither happiness nor apprehension about his new assignment. “As you wish it, so shall it be, General.”

“That is correct. Here is your first assignment. Go to Hirken City and raze the medical center. If you find Doctor”—Edric couldn’t understand how a human throat could reproduce the strange hacking and gurgling of the doctor’s name, but she managed—“execute him as a traitor. If the coward flees, hunt him down and destroy him in front of all the Hirken. His disgrace will be complete then.”

“Yes General, it shall be done!”

“In the meantime, I am going off on a secret mission. Nobody was supposed to even know of my departure, but that thrice-accursed doctor has now made that evident to all. However, I cannot disclose where I am going or when I will return, but know that this is necessary for the future of the Hirken nation! Command the army well in my absence, Colonel, and when I return I will have the key to destroying the Mirra once and for all!”

“Yes, my General! All success to you on your quest!”

“Farewell, Colonel. General Najia out.”

Lady Qane nodded to Arky Lark, and the Nyrosian cut the comm. link. Everyone on the bridge drew a deep breath. The girl smiled. “I don’t think you need worry about the Hirken anymore, Captain, although I would suggest leaving the planet before the Mirra realize you have me. They would have no qualms about blowing you up just to kill me.” Her smile shrank at the corners. “They have reason enough to hate me.”

“Not by any fault of your own,” said the doctor insistently.

Edric raised his eyebrows and exchanged surprised looks with Loric. What’s all this about? His thoughts were interrupted by Lady Qane.

“Edric, plot us a course out of here, now!”

“Yes ma’am!” His fingers flew over his screen as he punched up the quickest way out of the system. Once he had it inputted, he nodded at Lady Qane and sent it to Loric’s terminal. At the captain’s command, the pilot punched it in and flew them away. Forever, I hope.

Once they were well away, Lady Qane turned to General Najia, still leaning heavily on the doctor, but with a new brightness in her eyes. “Thank you for getting us out of there.”

“No, Captain,” she responded. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”

Lady Qane hesitated. “If you still want to be dropped off at the nearest inhabited planet, we will do so, but…if you wished to reconsider staying on here, I think we might be able to make it work.”

Najia smiled. “I still have issues with the Time Travelers in general, but I believe I could stand to remain on this ship…for a little while at least. Even a general can become a crewman temporarily.”

Jillius beamed, and even Chief Ehlomm smiled as the two women shook hands. “Welcome to the Future Dreamer, General Najia-Wren of Gyric,” said Lady Qane. “May your stay be both pleasant and profitable.”

Edric turned to his terminal screen again. Well, well. A new crew member, we didn’t have to alter history, and we didn’t even get blown up. I’m not sure what’s going to happen next, but I think I can safely say that with Najia on board, the Dreamer will never be the same. And all for the best, I say. With a constant reminder of the dangers of altering history on board, hopefully the rest of the crew would soon come to see what he—and now the doctor too, apparently—already believed:

The past was best left to itself. The present had enough dangers and excitement to satisfy anyone, and as for the future? Edric smiled. We can only go forward and discover what’s there.

The End