Right Ascension (The Sector Fleet, Book 3)

by Nicola Claire

  “Stop it!” Commander Kereama whispered, hand to her ear. “Calm down.”

  “I would like to see this code,” Commander Rey announced.

  “Don’t let it anywhere near Vela,” Vaughan growled.

  “Just who the hell are you?” Jameson said, staring hard at me.

  “I won’t let them,” Kereama whispered. “I promise.”

  “Enough!” Sophia snapped. Full authority in her tone.

  Everyone shut up quickly.

  She pointed at Jameson. “We’ll tell you as much as we can.”

  Then she pointed at Kereama. “Tell Pavo he has nothing to fear from us unless he chooses to blast us into our component pieces.”

  “Ditto for Vela,” she said, waving toward Captain Vaughan.

  Then finally she looked at Commander Rey. “No one sees the code but Lieutenant Commander Saitō. Not even me.”

  Sophia sucked in a breath of air and centred herself then.

  “As it is,” she said, voice low and serious, “the idea of what this code can do goes against everything I was raised to believe in. Even thinking of it scares me half to death. So, do not believe for a second that I authorise its use lightly. I, of all people, understand. I saw these AIs in their infancy. I watched them become a reality. I know exactly what Simon Anderson intended for them, and this was not it.

  “But he was also wise. My grandfather knew their potential better than most. He feared it. And as such, he prepared a contingency. A last resort. Do you hear me? A last resort.”

  She stared each and every one of them down, and I couldn’t have been more proud of her.

  “The question is,” she said softly, “does this situation with Aquila amount to a last resort?”

  Silence. And then Jameson let out a sigh which seemed to allow everyone else to breathe.

  “As the only other Anderson Universal captain here,” he said, “I speak with some measure of authority.”

  Sophia held his stare.

  He gave her a steady look back for a long moment and then he broke eye contact, looking toward Captain Vaughan and Commander Rey instead.

  “This is a last resort situation,” he said. “Aquila is the definition of rogue.”

  “Agreed,” Captain Vaughan said.

  Everyone looked back at Sophia.

  “We’ll take your lead on this, Captain,” Jameson surprisingly said. “But how exactly do you plan to do this?”

  She looked at me. She wasn’t going to like this.

  “I need direct access to his systems,” I said. “It can’t be activated remotely.”

  “Well, that’s that, then,” Vaughan said throwing up his hands in disgust.

  Sophia looked at me with her signature impassive mask. Behind which I knew was utter turmoil.

  “We don’t even know where he is,” Commander Kereama said. “Pavo’s searching now, but there’s no sign of him.”

  “He’ll be near the jump point,” I offered. “Waiting for us.”

  “You don’t think he’ll try to ambush us on the way there?” Commander Rey asked.

  “Possibly, but I doubt it,” I said. “He’s damaged; limping. Where would he go that provides a measure of protection and access to resources he might need to effect a swift repair?”

  “His fleet,” Jameson said.

  “Exactly. He’s got a head start on us. Over a day already. He’ll reach them well before we will. That’s where our trap will be waiting.”

  “How soon can we mobilise the fleets?” Vaughan asked.

  Sophia finally entered the conversation again. I’d been well aware that she’d been silent since I’d dropped my bombshell. Thinking no doubt. Trying to devise a way for me to avoid boarding Aquila. She wouldn’t be able to come up with one, I was pretty sure. She may not have been familiar with the code on an intimate level, but she understood the mechanics. The restrictions using a code like that had.

  There was no other choice. I had to board Aquila to access his systems directly and upload that code. And end this.

  I didn’t relish it. But I would do it. For all of us. For Sophia.

  “We’re still repairing our main boost thrust,” she said quietly. “And two of our fleet vessels are also under repair. Twenty-four hours ideally. Twelve at best if we put a rush on it.”

  “Can I offer the expertise of my chief engineer?” Captain Vaughan asked.

  “I can’t speak for the Seeker and Valiant, but our chief engineer is more than up to the task,” Sophia said.

  Vaughan looked at Commander Rey. “I am naturally biased, but my chief engineer is outstanding.”

  Commander Rey rolled her eyes at him. “Captain,” she said, looking back at Sophia. “May I have your permission to contact the Seeker and Valiant to offer my aid?”

  She was the Chariot’s chief engineer. Why hadn’t I picked that one up? Somehow it made it easier to be standing there. In amongst this powerhouse grouping of senior officers. Granted, she was a commander, and I was only a lieutenant commander. But she wasn’t a first officer.

  I smiled.

  “Permission granted,” Sophia said to Rey.

  “We’ll get going then,” Vaughan announced. “We don’t have an earpiece to Vela, and he’ll be getting antsy.”

  They stood up. Everyone else did as well.

  “Your AI gets antsy?” Sophia asked.

  “Perhaps an exaggeration,” Vaughan admitted. “But he does like us to be punctual.”

  “Ah,” Sophia said in understanding just as Corvus giggled.

  “Corvus?”

  “Nothing, Captain.”

  “OK,” Sophia said, dismissing our AI’s outburst easily. Corvus had frequent outbursts, and we were, maybe not getting used to them as such, but adjusting to accommodate them.

  And then Corvus added, “Anal. Not antsy.”

  Sophia closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

  “Did your AI just call my AI anal?” Vaughan asked.

  “You’re hearing things, Captain,” Sophia said, ushering them to the door and gaining the attention of security. “Have a safe trip back to your ship,” she said in an uncharacteristic rush.

  “Captain Anderson,” Noah Vaughn said, trying not to smile. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to get rid of us.”

  “Not at all,” Sophia said. “Goodbye.”

  Vaughan started laughing as he sauntered off down the corridor with his chief, security at their side.

  Sophia turned around and looked at the rest of us. Then grimaced.

  “Please tell me Pavo gets you into trouble as well?” she said.

  “All the time,” Jameson offered. “And trust me, so does Vela. The rumours I’ve heard over inter-ship comms.” He shuddered. “Frightening.”

  Sophia smiled and returned to her seat. We all sat down.

  Vaughan and Sophia stared at each other. Commander Kereama and I might as well have not been there.

  Then finally Jameson said, “My condolences on the loss of Vladimir. I knew Captain Petrov quite well. From teleconferences back on Earth mostly. But it’s amazing how familiar those could become.”

  Sophia nodded her head but said nothing.

  “The loss of the vessel Vela hit us hard,” he added. “Losing Aquila would be a bitter blow.”

  “Agreed,” Sophia said.

  Jameson looked at me. “Do you have any infiltration skills to speak of?”

  “No, sir,” I said. “I have the standard Anderson Universal basic combat training and am proficient in Aikido. But I was in Tech Development in Tokyo.” Tech geek.

  “Part of Simon’s pet projects,” he said.

  I nodded.

  He looked at Commander Kereama. “I think we might be able to help with that.”

  The commander grinned back at him. It was decidedly mischievous.

  “I’m already formulating a plan,” she told him.

  “As I thought you would be, Commander,” Jameson said.

  H
e looked back at Sophia again.

  “This won’t be easy,” he said. “I expect Aquila will do everything in his power to avoid a boarding party. So even getting people on his ship will be a tall task. But once they’re there.” He shook his head. “What sort of resistance will the leaseholder offer?”

  Sophia tapped a finger on the desk, contemplating the other captain’s words for a moment.

  Then she looked at me.

  “I think it’s time I settled things with our mayor,” she said.

  I blinked. And then nodded my head.

  If our leaseholder had been planning a coup, then it's likely our mayor either knew about it or had since found out about it. And what he knew or had found out could mean the difference between life or death.

  I tried not to think it was my life or death we were talking about. But it was difficult.

  And then my eyes met Commander Kereama’s.

  Oorah, I thought. There was something decidedly military looking about her just then.

  Kereama, for her part, just smiled.

  I wouldn’t want to have been Aquila’s leaseholder faced with the look on the commander’s face just then.

  I was glad she was on my side.

  Forty-Five

  I Couldn’t Stop This From Happening

  Sophia

  The mayor sat alone at a finely set table in the most expensive restaurant onboard the vessel. My walk through the Habitat One central hub to get there had been met with countless pleasant greetings. I had heard the odd person whisper too loudly. The whispers carrying on the filtered air to my ears.

  “There goes the captain. Doesn’t she strike an imposing figure?”

  “No wonder she had Aquila running.”

  “She certainly knows how to make an appearance.”

  “She’ll get us out of this mess and to New Earth.”

  I’d smiled when passengers smiled at me. I’d nodded my head and said, “Good evening.” But I’d ignored the murmurs. The whispers of awe. I may well have been their captain, but I was only one woman. I would not entertain notions of grandeur.

  I came to a stop in front of the maître d’ and waited for him to give me his attention. He blinked when he saw the uniform. Sucked in a breath when he noticed the four bars on the collar. Swallowed thickly when his eyes met mine.

  “The mayor is expecting me,” I said by way of greeting.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he rushed to say. “If you’d follow me please,” he offered with a slight bow that made little sense.

  There had been nothing I could have done about the rumours in the officers’ mess hall, the names I’d been called, the looks I’d received. And there was equally nothing I could do about this…hero worship.

  So I chose to ignore it as I had ignored Steel Tits. Eventually, it would settle. Just like the officers’ mess had settled. I only hoped it wouldn’t take as long as Steel Tits to go away.

  I walked across the restaurant, following the maître d’, receiving a different type of look from the patrons. I held my head up, kept my shoulders back, and put one foot in front of the other.

  In the end, that’s all you can do, really. Put one foot in front of the other until you come out the other side.

  I’d come out the other side with the majority of the AU crew now. I would come out the other side of this. Hopefully, it would be a side that didn’t include a rogue AI trying to destroy us.

  “Your guest has arrived, Your Worship,” the maître d’ said.

  The mayor looked up, saw that I was in uniform, winced slightly, and then stood to his feet.

  This would be no social visit.

  “Captain,” he said.

  “Mayor Nikolaev,” I offered, taking the seat the maître d’ held for me. The mayor sat once I was settled. The maître, in the way of most fine restaurant’s who claimed maître d’s, vanished into thin air.

  The mayor studied his menu. I said nothing, letting the man find his footing. When the waiter arrived, he ordered the steak and a merlot. I asked for the same. It was his budget.

  Finally, he looked up from staring at the table and let out a subtle breath of air.

  “What can I do for you, Captain?” he asked.

  “This could have been discussed in your office,” I said.

  He shook his head. “If I am to be stood before the firing range, I’d prefer to eat a decent last meal.”

  I smiled, amused at his melodramatic imagination.

  “You’re not being fired, Mayor,” I said. “At least, not yet.”

  He scowled at me.

  “You have a choice,” I went on. “Work with me or work against me. It’s simple, really.” I studied him for a moment and then asked, “How much do you want what we have here to work?”

  “I don’t understand,” he said, sitting more upright in his seat.

  “The lease,” I explained. “The governing of the civilians onboard this vessel. Did you ever believe in it? Or was it all an act?”

  He could have lied, of course. But I thought he might just realise this was his last chance. His only chance at survival.

  “I’ve always believed in it, Captain.”

  “And yet you’ve never served the public before,” I offered.

  “Civil servants don’t earn a decent wage,” he offered.

  “But PR pays.”

  He smiled. “Yes.”

  “What do you know of the leaseholder’s intentions?” I asked, dropping the real reason why I was here in his lap like a hot potato.

  He blanched.

  My smile wasn’t quite as benign as his had been.

  I leaned forward. “Let’s cut to the chase,” I said. “The leaseholder did not have an heir. In fact, he made every effort not to have an heir. Here onboard Corvus and back on Earth. Felip Nowak did not like to share. Without an heir to the lease, the lease becomes the property of the vessel’s legal owner. But it does not become void.”

  He watched me warily but said nothing.

  “I’m sure you’re aware that I am now the rightful owner of Anderson Universal Incorporated and all its subsidiaries. I own the lease, Mayor Nikolaev and I need a mayor.”

  He blinked. But I wasn’t certain he was actually breathing just yet.

  “I’m interviewing for the role right now,” I said.

  He swallowed thickly.

  “My number one criteria is loyalty,” I added. “Loyalty to Anderson Universal and those people in its care. To gain that loyalty I need something very specific from you, Mayor Nikolaev.”

  I waited. I’d make him sweat bullets if I had to. This man was not likeable on a personal level. But he was good at charming the pants off the civilian population. Despite his sexist views on women in positions of authority. But I rather liked the idea of making him suffer through answering to a woman employer. What better way to improve Alexei Nikolaev's prejudices than make him face them publicly?

  “Wh..what do you need exactly, Captain?” he asked.

  I sat back in my chair and looked at the man before me. Dressed in a fine silk suit with patent leather shoes and gold cufflinks, he was the epitome of a top-tier. And yet somehow, he could still chug a beer with the pay-for-passages.

  You didn’t have to like someone to work with them. But I did have to trust them to some degree.

  “Tell me everything you know of the leaseholder’s plan to start a revolt onboard Corvus,” I said.

  His face paled. Sweat beaded his brow. For a moment, I thought he might faint from the pressure.

  He knew what Felip Nowak had planned. Whether he knew before the leaseholder’s death or afterwards, I’d probably never know for certain. But he knew something right now, and that was all I cared about.

  “Start at the beginning,” I said as our steaks and merlots arrived.

  I took a sip of my drink and then placed the glass back on the white tablecloth carefully. Looking at the mayor briefly, I got stuck into my very expensive meal.

  By the time the mayor f
inished telling me of notes he’d found in the leaseholder’s quarters, outlining his intentions to seize control of the bridge, kill Captain Petrov, and take command of Corvus, the mayor hadn’t touched a morsel of his meal.

  It might have been he’d lost his appetite. But it was more obviously due to the story he regaled.

  Of leaseholders across the four sectors agreeing to a grand plan to overthrow their leases and race each other to the finish line and New Earth. Power. Money. Just like Jameson had said. Greedy on Earth and greedy in space, the leaseholders planned to carve up our new world between them, the winner, in this case, could very well have taken all.

  But it wasn’t until the mayor was winding down that the true intelligence emerged.

  “All of his private security force?” I enquired.

  “Yes. All of them were aware of his intentions.”

  “Corvus,” I said softly; taking an unconcerned sip of my drink.

  “Security is moving on their quarters now, Captain,” Corvus said. “Stand by.”

  We waited. The mayor continued to perspire. His steak grew colder.

  “All of Felip Nowak’s security force has been arrested, Captain,” Corvus said a few moments later. “Operation Clean Sweep is a go for success.”

  I suppressed the grimace that wanted out on those overly enthusiastic words.

  “You’ll make available all technical equipment and any weaponry the leaseholder had in his possession,” I said.

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “And I expect a report on absolutely every detail you have ascertained by 0800 tomorrow.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Congratulations,” I said, standing from the table. “You’re hired. Don’t let me down, Mayor.”

  He nodded his head and stood also. He looked at me with something akin to surprise and, dare I say it, respect. I dismissed that last and held out my hand for the man to shake.

  He took it. Shook it hard. Determination on his face.

  I wasn’t sure what that determination could mean in the long run, until he said, “I misjudged you, Captain Anderson.”

  I held his steady stare and nodded my head.

  “A lot of people do,” I offered. “But they soon learn.”