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Sir. It's the nearest object in space to our position.”
    Vega rushed to the officer’s side and studied everything before him. Huber and Taylor waited anxiously. They half expected it to be an enemy vessel, but prayed for it not to be.
    “It looks like…” Vega started slowly.
    “What, speak clearly damn it!” Huber yelled.
    “Like a space gateway, and yet… not.”
    “Shit!” the Admiral shouted and turned to Jafar.
    “This is on you. All this bullshit about taking us to safety, and you’ve landed us right on top of one of their gateways! What the hell are we supposed to do now? We’re finished!”
    Taylor paced up close to him and leaned in quickly.
    “Get a hold of yourself, Admiral. We need your leadership, right now.”
    “Need? What about what I need? You were in on this, too. What the hell have you done?”
    Without any warning, Taylor backhanded Huber. It wasn’t especially hard, but the shock was enough to take him off balance, and he stumbled down onto the deck. The XO drew his sidearm and several followed, but Parker and her platoon were as quick to respond with rifles trained on them.
    “Put your weapons down!” she screamed.
    “You have struck your commanding officer!” Vega yelled at Taylor. He turned to one of his own marines.
    “Sergeant, arrest this man. Colonel Taylor, you are under arrest and will cool off in the brig.”
    The Sergeant didn’t move through fear of Taylor and his own people.
    “I gave you an order, Sergeant!” Vega repeated.
    “No,” replied Taylor calmly in defiance.
    He wasn’t even holding a weapon, despite the Captain’s pistol being training on him. He took a seat on the edge of the operations table but made no attempt to reach for the rifle on top of it.
    “I’ve gone through too much to put up with this crap. You don’t like me. I get that. Live with it. I don’t want command of this fleet. The Admiral here is quite capable and entitled to the position. But neither will I stand by and see us fall to destruction because of some slackness and weak mindedness.”
    “So what, you want command?” Vega sneered.
    Taylor sighed and yet was as calm as he could be, as all around him were on edge and with fingers on the triggers. He simply shook his head.
    “Is this how it will all end? Will humanity not be taken out by an apocalypse or invasion by an alien race? Will we destroy ourselves? Have you not listened to a single word I have said, Captain?”
    Vega looked confused and bent down to help the Admiral up when he realised Taylor meant him no harm, or at least appeared to.
    “Time to man up, Captain, and that goes for you, too, Sir.”
    The Admiral looked up at him and into his eyes. Huber’s face had no anger in it, only shame. He had already made some bad calls and appeared weak before the crew. Now he had done it all over again.
    “I’m sorry.”
    Taylor looked surprised. He got up and stepped a little closer to the Admiral, and that made Vega nervous.
    “I don’t want an apology. I don’t want you to say sorry. I don’t want you to accept my insubordination. We need you to be the kind of man who doesn’t accept weakness, doesn’t accept defeat. The kind of Admiral that would be so single minded and focussed that I would be in the brig by now for everything I have just done. It isn’t a problem I struck you, Sir, only that you accepted it and have not acted. Get up, and be the man you were always meant to be. Be the Admiral of the fleet.”
    Huber straightened his uniform and stood up a bit straighter. He began to open his mouth to apologise once again but stopped himself. He smiled and then began to laugh. It broke the ice, and Taylor started laughing with him; many of the troops began to lower their weapons. Finally, Huber raised his right hand to bring silence, and he got it.
    “Taylor, you are a son of a bitch, but you are my son of a bitch. You strike me again, and next time you’ll not walk.”
    Taylor grinned at his response, nodding