by Chris Hechtl
"To be a fly on the wall …," Jake sighed.
"How the hell did Bek get a SEAL admiral of all things? I thought they just had spooks?"
"I'm wondering the same thing. I'd like to look into his record and see what they have for SEAL training to qualify," Hakeem said slowly. "In fact, I want to look into that without kicking over anthills in the process."
Nick snorted. "Good luck with that."
"I think we need a standard. We're supposed to have the same standard across the board. Does this guy even have implants?" Jake asked. "What about Admiral Lemans? Has that gotten back to them yet?" He was now concerned about Marine Recon. He hadn't heard anything about Bekian Recon experts, but you never knew until they showed up apparently.
"I think we all need to look into this. Create a list and submit it to Joshua and have him find this shit out," Nick stated.
The other two officers nodded.
"And we need to find out who's replacing Subert in Pyrax. Word is it's a Bekian," Nick said.
"Ah frack, there goes the neighborhood. Next, they'll be sending officers our way," Jake growled, thoroughly disgusted.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Pyrax
Admiral Subert scowled bleakly as he realized a Bekian was going to take over his command. His insistence in getting involved in command in the capital, specifically getting into ONI, was coming back to haunt him. Supposedly he was being replaced with a female admiral though he didn't have a name or any details.
Saul had finally received a promotion and was gone. Part of his staff was going too, though some like Irene Teague were staying on for a short time. Technically, he should be taking her with him to the capital. She was good people. Unfortunately, they needed experienced hands in Pyrax to ease the new staff in.
He had just watched two transports and a pair of cruisers leave for New Horizon. The transports were loaded with prize crews and supplies for the prize ships stacking up there. Now that the CruRon was in Finagle they too were adding ships to the stockpile.
John's idea of sun scuttling the lot was tempting. Captain Sprite's idea of selling the civilian ships was also a good one. The civilian ships would help grow the economy as long as they didn't get into any dangerous areas.
He didn't like how the politics were stacking up. He'd thought there were two sides, the old guard versus the new, but now he was seeing things differently. Bek's inclusion in the fleet was an eye-opening experience. And they had accused him of nepotism! Not to mention other things, like being too acerbic and rough on his people! He shook his head.
This Lemans was just one case among many he was sure. Oh, they looked good on paper, but none of them had seen an actual shot fired in anger. Able administrators but also slick politicians who kissed ass with the best of them. He was going to have to take some steps when he got to the capital.
John might want them to be one big happy family but the games the Bekians were playing behind his back while kissing his ass said something else. And he'd come to realize he preferred the people he'd trained over the Bekians.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Antigua
Antigua Command was a well-oiled machine. They had sensor arrays scattered in strategic positions around the star system. Orbital fortresses guarded each jump point as well as formed an inner shell of defenses around the yard, stations, and planet. Tachyon buoys had been set up to communicate across the vast distances effortlessly.
Ship schedules were well plotted out in advance. So, when a series of unexpected returns appeared, the entire Command went into overdrive. Alerts went out across the void. By the time the unknowns had transmitted their IFFs and had been identified, every ship or fortress had come to battle stations. The space around the carrier forts swirled with launching small craft.
Vice Admiral Odette Champion was caught off guard, but she oversaw the alert. Her staff handled the majority of the details; by the time she had gotten to her flag bridge, everyone had gotten through the initial jolt and were finishing the buttoning-up process.
To everyone's surprise the IFFs were of the antimatter platforms. They had returned months earlier than planned.
Admiral Irons had been inspecting the new lead ship in the Freedom's Dawn class of super dreadnoughts when the alert was transmitted. They had just had the keel-laying ceremony less than a month ago, and as usual, the prototype already had teething problems with her design. He was ushered into a secure area where he could link into the net to find out what was going on.
"Why did they come back?"
"Checking now," Sprite stated. He waited, drumming his fingers as she sent a signal to the nearest fort through the buoy network. It was processed, transmitted to the platforms; they responded and then the response was transmitted back to them.
"Admiral, you aren't going to believe this …," Captain Sprite's image shook her head. "But they are full."
"Full? Did you say full?"
"Yes. We'll need to send inspection parties over. Something odd is going on for them to have not only collected enough energy but also to have turned it into antimatter in such a short period of time."
"Yeah, but I'm not complaining," he said. "Is Odette standing down?"
"Yes, sir. She has issued the order."
"Good. Make sure she gives a full report on this unexpected drill. And I want to know what happened with those platforms. Not that I'm complaining like I said."
"Aye aye, sir."
-~~~///^\~~~-
Nara stood stiffly as she listened to the promotion board complete their review of her career up to the present day. There were no black marks; she'd completed her work with the Ssilli and was continuing with overseeing the project. It wasn't her fault that a live population had been found in a remote corner of the sector.
Her jaw worked as she listened to them regretfully state they had no posting for her to move into, which was bullshit. They were just supposed to give her a bump in rank to rear admiral. She had her A.I.; she had her boss's recommendation and no flags on her record. Well, none other than one that she could do nothing about.
Again she was being hassled for not being an Academy graduate. Apparently, that and not being from Bek. She normally didn't care, but she'd taken an interest in the board as of late when she had found out others had been passed over. She and a few of her Pyrax colleagues had even gone so far as to make themselves available to sit on a few boards. She had heard through Jack that scuttlebutt had stated she, Monty, Matilda, and the others hadn't made themselves popular with that move.
Well, that was too bad. But this was bullshit. The latest scuttlebutt was that they were going to try to push her and anyone else who wasn't a ring knocker out.
She realized guiltily she'd allowed it to happen, to get to that point. Sitting on a board was like sitting in jury duty; she needed to step it up. She needed to socialize too and know who the players were. For too long the Bekians had been too seductive in getting her to pass on it and attend to her other duties. Now Admiral Irons had made it mandatory and the positions rotated.
She was a bit worried though that it might be too late for some.
She was still pissed when she heard that a recent Bekian medical officer had been promoted out of the zone. He had less time than her as a medic or officer and not nearly the number of accomplishments, but he apparently had the right patronage.
She called Monty to vent. He shook his head. "It's getting bad; I know. The admiral was right; we need to sit on more boards."
"They take up so much time!"
"I know, but that's how it works. You invest the time or get passed over. You don't like getting slighted."
"You're damn right I don't!" she growled. "I can't help it that I'm not from a proper school," she said, rolling her eyes. "I set them up, I taught them, but that doesn't matter. I know more than these young whippersnappers … stop snickering you … you … oh!" she growled, making grasping motions as he snickered.
He threw his head back and laughed. "Whip
persnappers?" he guffawed. Her lips quivered. His levity might be misplaced but it did help relieve some of her anger a little. Especially at the absurdity of her last statement.
"Okay, so … I'm not thrilled."
"I've never seen you point out how old you are before," he said, pretending to dash a tear. "Dang, I needed that."
"Funny," she growled. "If you tell anyone, I'll make sure you get an enema or something equally dire," she growled.
He snorted. "And I know you'll do it too," he said with a shake of his head.
"Damn right I would."
"Feel better?"
She shook her head. "Not much. Still sucks."
"I know. Right way, wrong way, navy way. We need to sort this out. Hopefully without running to daddy Irons."
"Yeah," she sighed.
Chapter 9
Bek
Reactions about the news of Admiral Lemans' forced retirement were mixed. Many Bekian officers were not pleased that their people took second place and that Lemans and his decades of experience had been casually dismissed.
"Don't they see how important we are? The role we are playing? We've got years, decades of experience!" Captain Doight said. The elf was the lowest-ranking officer in the room. She was also not afraid to identify herself.
"They do. Admiral Irons has placed many of our people in command positions."
"Then they should use them! Our people aren't getting the combat experience they should!"
"Are you saying it is a detriment to their future careers, sir?" Captain Doight asked. The elf had just gotten promoted to the rank of captain JG after a friend of a friend had erased reports of her prejudices against A.I. from her personnel file.
"Yes! His people are getting all the combat experience! Horath is about to fall, and when it does our people will be playing second fiddle. His people will rack up the combat experience and come home heroes. They'll eventually rise through the ranks."
"I see."
"Our people in Antigua have placed the right people in powerful positions. But not being able to control BuSchools is a problem."
"Tell them to solve it. We need the right people in every position. People we know we can trust to shape things to come."
"And Cheech?"
"Cheech screwed himself. I saw the emails from him. He screwed up by standing up to Irons directly. There are ways to game the system. He exhausted them and got caught."
"I know that. How should we handle it?"
"Get medical to sign off on delays. Tell them to find a reason. And tell our people to opt for dumb A.I.s."
"They won't go for that. How far are we from getting the constitution rewritten to eliminate that requirement?" Captain Doight asked.
"You're kidding, right? We're decades away from something like that! It may not be necessary. If we can get the right people in the justice system, we can throw enough red tape and injunctions to gum up the works to make Irons back off on the requirement."
"Something tells me it's not going to be that easy."
"We'll see."
-~~~///^\~~~-
Antigua
Vice Admiral Pashenkov was not surprised that feelings back home were rather high and conflicted. The old guard was not happy about the slap. Nor were they thrilled about giving up any amount of control of the Federation navy after having invested so much into getting it in the first place.
He knew what they wanted, they leaned heavy, but he refused to agree to anything. First, it was just stupid. Irons would notice blatant attempts to circumvent his orders. Second, anyone involved would be handed their heads. He didn't want or need the trouble so he passed on it.
He wasn't surprised though when the captain's promotion was tied up in red tape and orders were cut to other officers to fill the void.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Pyrax
Vice Admiral Subert finished with his latest inbox and then stretched. According to the itinerary he had, his Bekian replacement was en route and on schedule. She should be arriving in B101a1 in another two weeks. That was good; the last transport was on her way to Pyrax for a node rebuild. He checked in with the staff but there was really no need. The ceremony preparations were well underway and were going off without a hitch. He was planning on a full-blown ceremony, but they still had at least five weeks before his replacement showed up.
He was still of two minds about handing over his command to a Bekian. Apparently, he couldn't have it both ways. He was starting to regret bitching about Horatio passing through. Now that he'd had time to think about it, he wouldn't have minded handing off command of Pyrax back to Horatio.
But apparently that wasn't going to happen. Pity.
Well, if he wasn't going to get the replacement he wanted, at least he was getting the posting he wanted. John had confirmed he was going to take on ONI. Monty was going to be moved to the front and eventually Sigma. He wasn't too keen about having a Bekian ten years younger than him as his boss, but he'd deal with it once he got there.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Commodore Farook San Pao wrinkled his nose as he read the email from BUPERS. It looked like a promotion and transfer, but something seemed off about it.
He had finally settled down into his job running the San Diego Academy in Pyrax. He had even joined a family troop; they were a mixed group from various star systems. They were pretty loose too, given that they were all military or contractors with assignments all over the star system. It was nice to get together though, and he was considering putting in for paternity. That would be nice, to be the father of a chimp or passel of chimps. It was always nice to pass on the genes.
But now this. Were they serious? Someone in Antigua, he couldn't make sense of the codes and there was no signature, wanted him to run BuSchools? Not the Academy there but all of BuSchools? It didn't make sense.
He checked with a friend of a friend and got an ambiguous answer back. The orders had indeed been cut from Antigua after consulting with Bek. That didn't make any sense. His hackles raised as he thought about it. No, something was definitely off. He decided to play it safe; he put through back channels that he was settled into his position as was his family. It might cost him, but he didn't like the way they were playing it. He preferred his orders aboveboard, cut and dried. This stank.
The orders were rescinded within twenty-four hours of his reply. He found out through a friend of a friend in BUPERS that fresh orders had been cut for another flag officer from Bek to take the position.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Antigua
Yorgi received confirmation that the Shield Team had passed through Agnosta and were on their way.
He had a lot of pieces in play, a lot players moving around and therefore a lot to keep track of. He was starting to be grateful for having Geni in his corner even if they were still at odds.
He sat back and twisted his chair from side to side as he considered his options. Briefly he considered having the team drop on Briev 4 to perform a quick and dirty scout and then possibly a change in government.
It was tempting. His fingers moved as if on their own violation to type out the order. They could gather intel and … no, he thought with a shake of his head. The team was technical; Fitz, Simmons, and Skye would be out of their element in a medieval society. Besides, Colton and the team had an honor streak; he would only put up with so much before they “accidentally” did something about the Red Queen. Something permanent that might come back to haunt him from State. Worse, it could backfire and get into the press.
No, it was best to keep to his original three options. Four, he corrected himself.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Enki noted the uptick in message traffic between Bek and Antigua. The message traffic used a private encryption that sounded alarm bells. It could be a copy of the Wraith trying to get into Bek, so she made copies of the files and decrypted them.
She scanned the files into memory and then processed them. The message traffic was to and from naval officer
s, so it wasn't the Xeno A.I. Instead of stopping there though, she finished processing the data and noted discussions about Admiral Lemans’ and Admiral Irons’ orders. There was enough there for her to forward a copy to Sprite. Before she copied it to anyone else, she wanted to know who she could trust with it.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Sprite looked into the message traffic and then did some digging. Along the way she found out about the BuSchools transfer and alterations to Admiral Irons' stated orders. “Oh ho!” She immediately contacted Admiral Irons.
“Guess who's still playing games with the system?” she said when Protector opened a port for her to talk to the admiral.
“I'm guessing no one good,” Admiral Irons said, looking up from the tablet he'd been reading. He set it down. “Now what?” He'd been getting reports of the Bekians playing games. He'd thought they'd gotten it under control, apparently not.
“Enki passed on a tidbit about traffic between Bek and the capital, specifically about some discussions about BuSchools. Low and behold, I just found Matilda's rushed promotion canceled and the Bekian Commandant of Pyrax's San Diego Academy has been tasked to head BuSchools. He refused it, so it went to a commodore in Bek. It comes with a promotion. They've written the transfer orders and authorized his promotion and movement.”
The admiral scowled. “And no one consulted me on this?” he asked dangerously.
“Apparently not,” Sprite said with a syrupy sweet smile.
“Ah. I think I need to have a chat with Vice Admiral Pashenkov. No, first, cancel that transfer. Reinstate the promotion for Matilda. Put my seal on it. And then call the IG's office and let them know someone countermanded my clear orders and I want heads. Then call the Admiralty senior staff. Protector, I think you need to clear part of my schedule for this.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Fun fun fun!” Sprite said with a shake of her head. “And done, done, and … done,” she stated.