Captain Keith and the Saturnian Saboteur

 

Chapter 30: The Endgame Comes to a Final Close

The counter ticked down.

"Thirty seconds!" yelled Cadet M'g'n.

The young crew members looked anxiously at Captain Keith. "Steady on, team," he said, in his soothing baritone. He knew that the real enemy now was not this mysterious saboteur who had been plaguing the ship. It was panic. To someone of Captain Keith's intellect, practically no problem was beyond saving, if one kept one's cool and hewed to analysis, not desperation.

"Staff Sergeant Joh," said Major José through gritted teeth, "Now would be a great time for you to wrap this up."

Keith looked at Joh and did his best to suppress his contempt. Which was difficult. The man was the antithesis of everything the Space Explorers stood for. He was slovenly. Lazy. Unable to play a musical instrument. And right now, he was all that stood between Captain Keith's crew and a core explosion that would send them hurtling into the cold vacuum of space.

Lieutenant EvAn pulled Captain Keith aside and hissed, "By the sea winds of Neptune, Keith, can't you step in and fix this?"

"EvAn, there's a reason ships have crews," Keith said, " It's true that there's precious little in the galaxy that falls out of my incredibly large area of expertise, but the inner workings of atomic space-drive engines fall into that narrow category. I fought off the Cygnian pirates that attacked us; I rescued Major José from their clutches; I welded the new cargo hatch into place and I made us soup. This...this is in Joh's hands."

"Wait a minute! Wait just a Venusian pico-second!" It was Rahn-Da, the Science Officer from E-Minear 7. "There's no saboteur!"

Major José's mouth hung open and his space cigar dropped to the deck. "What are you talking about?"

Rahn-Da's eyes glowed with fury. "Nobody has been deliberately undermining us. It's just that this flektar is bad at his job!"

Joh hung his head. Clearly, the use of the worst slur the Rigellian language had to offer had stung.

Captain Keith fixed the pathetic wretch with his comforting gaze. "Joh, whatever has happened up to this point, whatever gross incompetence you've shown, however badly you've shirked your duty...you can still do this. I believe in you."

Joh straightened up slightly. He wiped the snot from his lip and gave a nod. Captain Keith had given the idiot the smallest piece of his own ineffable willpower. He raised his space-wrench in a salute. "Okay, Captain. I'll tr--"