Beyond the Horizon: New Dawn

19) Anthony

There were several pounds against the door that made Anthony shut the book he was reading. Captain Boyd told him that the matter was urgent and that he needed to get to the command deck. Anthony dropped the book and stepped outside. He asked Captain Boyd what was going on and he was told that it was something he had to see for himself. The two then made their way to the command deck.

There was a paused video message on one of the computer terminals. Anthony and Captain Boyd joined Matt, Adah, and Mila who were huddled around the monitor. A high ranking UN sentinel officer was the one giving them the message. The officer had several pendants lined across the chest of his navy blue suit jacket. His white shoulder pads indicated that he had long retired from in the field work.

Captain Boyd told Matt to play the message again for Anthony. Matt nodded and tapped the monitor.

"Alpha Team," the man began. "This is Colonel Burns of The Serenity. I am here to inform you of new developments regarding the UN's pursuit of Beta. Her current location has been discovered, she is on Titan. General Wells would have normally conveyed this information to you himself, but he has reason to believe that his comms are being tapped by BlackDiamond. We are currently en route to you and should be no more than twelve hours away. We will rendezvous and organize a plan of attack. Burns, out."

The video terminated and Anthony shifted his focus onto Captain Boyd. His eyes were still locked on the monitor, as if there was something more to interpret in the message. Anthony struggled to wrap his mind around the fact that BlackDiamond was tapping UN communications. This new information made him believe that they were the ones who had been pursuing Beta other than the UN, were behind the death of Braddock, and the crew that attacked them in space. It all seemed to revolve around Beta and Doctor Braddock. They had to have something that both the UN and BlackDiamond wanted. But there was no telling what that was.

Captain Boyd exhaled heavily as he stroked his large graying beard. "He's not telling us everything. Which means he probably thinks he's being tapped as well."

"Never thought we'd have to deploy The Serenity for this," Adah admitted. "That's a lot of sentinels for whatever operation Burns has planned."

"Whoever was after Beta," Mila began. "I think it's safe to assume they have her now. Else Burns wouldn't be getting involved, command would have just told us to go to Titan ourselves."

"Whoever?" Captain Boyd asked. "You heard it from Colonel Burns. It's BlackDiamond."

Mila did not seem to be convinced that it was BlackDiamond. "I heard him say that they had reason to believe BlackDiamond was tapping their comms. We don't know that for sure."

"Because they couldn't tell us. BlackDiamond's listening in on their comms."

"Listen Gary, I know people who have joined BlackDiamond. They're not bad people."

"People change. You'd be surprised what people will do if the pay is good enough."

"You two made your points," Adah interjected, bringing their argument to a halt. "When we get to The Serenity we'll find out for sure."

"Colonel Burns probably has an assault planned," Captain Boyd said. "So, I'll take a look at our stock." He left the command deck and made his way towards the armory.

Matt suggested he make something for everyone for dinner. Anthony and the others looked at him with uncertainty. He remembered what Mila had told on his first day about the medical bay. She implied that Matt's cooking could possibly put him there. It was something he did not want to experience. Matt sighed and assured everyone that he would not add anything to their dishes. That was all Adah and Mila needed to hear to agree to the dinner. Anthony followed their lead and agreed to eat with them. Matt smiled then led them to the galley.