All Enemies Foreign and Domestic (Kelly Blake series)

by Smith, Rodney

  Captain M’Taso was elated as the report came in that all teams were at the rendezvous point and awaiting her arrival. She made her approach and set the S’Kauf down in the high mountain clearing. In seconds, the teams and their equipment were loaded on board. M’Taso lifted off again and took them up into the highest mountain valley that sensors could find.

  * * * * *

  Lieutenant Commander Consuela Cortez, Captain of the GRS Orion for all of two weeks, was in the middle of conducting work-ups, getting her crew to act as a crew and not as a bunch of individual sections, when the message came in for her to make best possible speed to a planetary system on the fringe of K’Rang space. She was to accept a K’Rang liaison officer on board, who would join her enroute through the mini-gate. Her orders further directed her to assess the situation on the ground and in the surrounding space. It instructed her, within capabilities, to destroy any unidentified ship entering, orbiting, or attempting to leave the system. It further instructed her to make contact with Captain M’Taso of the K’Rang deep space survey ship, S’Kauf, and render aid as required. It directed her to make no planetary landing except to effect rescue of the S’Kauf’s crew.

  Connie called her executive officer, Lieutenant Sina Totuofu, and her master chief, Master Chief Petty Officer Johnson, and informed them of the change of mission. She instructed her XO to work on gunnery during the passage and to get the sections’ patrol supply lists and shift delivery to the mini-gate. She ordered Chief Johnson to work out some issues between Sensors and Operations that seemed to be due to previous bad blood between Senior Chief Julie Marquette of Sensors and Senior Chief Jon Kolasinski of Operations. It seems they were previously married and had a bitter divorce. Personnel should never have assigned them to the same ship, much less one as small as the Orion.

  “Chief, sort them out or send one home through the gate. I won’t have them hissing and spitting at each other at a critical moment. We can always make an emergency requisition. It’s a hell of a thing to do to throw someone new into the middle of a potential combat, but I won’t have that discord on my ship. Understood?”

  Aye aye, Ma’am, I’ll throw some ice water on them and cool them down. If I send one home it will be the end of their career. That seems kind of harsh for just a bad assignment decision by some far off personnel specialist.”

  Connie sighed, “Chief, sort it out and let me know what you recommend. Just get them under control. Marquette’s outburst during the gunnery drill today was uncalled for and damn disruptive. In combat it could have gotten us all killed.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll see to it there are no more repeats.”

  Connie dismissed them and wondered to herself, how did Kelly make it look so easy?

  * * * * *

  Candy awoke on the cot that had been brought into the small detention cell by a shadow warrior some hours before. He did not speak to her and she had seen no one else. Her request for the use of sanitary facilities had gone unheeded. She really needed to go.

  She shouted out in her best K’Rang, “Hey! I really need to use a toilet. I need to use it now or it is going to get really messy in here. I’m pregnant and don’t have as much bladder room as I used to.”

  In a few moments the door opened and a senior K’Rang ground force officer stepped into the room accompanied by a K’Rang female.

  “May we have your name, please?” asked the senior K’Rang.

  Candy saw no harm in letting them know who she was and replied, “ I am Candy Blake, assistant legal council to the Galactic Republic embassy. I am accredited through your Foreign Ministry. My abduction is in violation of the terms of the treaty of G’Durin with respect to immunity and inviolability of diplomatic personnel and their possessions.”

  The senior officer paid no attention to Candy’s last statement. Instead, he conferred with the female K’Rang for a few moments before turning back to Candy.

  “Candy Blake, I apologize for you having been brought into this. The team conducting the extraordinary rendition of Elder J’Gon exceeded their orders. You will be returned to your embassy as soon as secure transportation can be arranged. I sincerely regret your being inconvenienced. This female will escort you to the nearest sanitary facilities. They will be a little different than you are used to, but this facility was built before the absurd notion of humans living on our planet was even imagined.”

  He left Candy and the female shadow warrior alone. The shadow warrior, in only slightly accented Galactic Standard, said her name was L’Gan and asked if Candy was ready to use the facilities.

  Candy said yes and L’Gan opened the door and led her into the corridor. Candy saw it was closed on both ends by rather substantial doors. Two burly guards stood in front of the doors on either end of the corridor. A K’Rang pushing a cart through the door into the corridor showed Candy that, at least on that end, there was a guard outside the door, too. She assumed the same arrangement on the other end of the corridor.

  L’Gan opened a door for her and waited for her to go inside then followed. The facility was not what she expected. It looked remarkably like a human restroom, with stalls along one wall and a long row of sinks opposite. She entered one of the stalls and found it not too different from a human toilet, but designed for the K’Rang anatomy. Candy was able to adapt and soon her distressed bladder felt relief. She finished, washed up, and splashed some water on her face. Cloth towels were placed out for wiping paws dry, but she used one to remove last night’s make-up as best she could.

  L’Gan asked what she was washing off her face. Candy told her, “Human women put tints and powders on their faces to enhance their better features and deemphasize their not so good features. It is part of our mating practices.”

  “But you are already mated as evidenced by the slight bulge in your abdomen, signifying your baby is growing within you. Why do you still use this make-up?”

  “Well, I just don’t want my husband to forget why he mated with me in the first place.”

  “You humans are so silly at times. If you are done in here we should return to your room. I may stay with you if you wish for company.”

  “That would be nice, L’Gan. I would like that.”

  They returned to the detention room and Candy used her law training to expertly elicit information from L’Gan on why she was there and what they were doing with J’Gon.

  Meanwhile, in the other larger detention room, J’Gon’s tribunal was starting. The five unified force commanders were assembled on K’Rol and were conducting the tribunal by teleconference. As the senior officer, M’Juna was again president of the tribunal and head judge.

  “Excellency, in accordance with section III, paragraph five of the Grant of Extraordinary Powers to the Military in the Event of an Imperial Emergency…”

  J’Gon interrupted, “It is paragraph six, not five.”

  M’Juna looked up surprised, “Excuse me, Excellency?”

  “It is paragraph six you mean, not five. Five deals with temporary control over the civilian population. Six deals with military tribunals. I wrote the document you cite as your authority and you are greatly outside the legal bounds of the Grant of Powers. My fellow elders and myself are not incapacitated. The government continues to function. There has been no breakdown in social order, natural disasters, or loss of government control. Your careers and lives are forfeit at this point, along with any others involved. I suspect you are operating under the orders of Marshall T’Kana. I assure you that these are treasonous acts punishable by death. No trial is necessary. No appeals are considered. I myself may judge you guilty and prescribe the death penalty. I am Elder J’Gon of the K’Rang Empire. Proceed at peril of your lives and the future of your families.”

  The five commanders sat silent for a few seconds, until M’Juna spoke again. “Excellency, if we acquit you, you may do with us as you wish, but we have pledged our honor and lives to the Empire, an empire that is now under the Human and A’Ngarii boot. We must know why and the C
ouncil of Peers has chosen not to investigate. We consider that to be a loss of government control and authority for us to act. We will proceed.

  “You have a right to council of your choice. Under the current situation, we cannot bring any council to your location, so you are limited to council within that facility. We have three military advocates from which you may choose or you may choose to act as your own council.”

  J’Gon thought but a moment, then his face lit up. “I am limited to council in this facility, am I? I, therefore, choose Mrs. Candy Blake, the Human woman brought in with me.”

  The jaws of all five commanders dropped as one.

  Chapter Seven

  The Orion coasted into the system where the K’Rang scout had been lost. The appropriate world was easy to pick out, for it was the green and blue one, the only one looking capable of sustaining life. It was remarkably similar to Earth with its continents and oceans. Connie ordered an orbit of the next world over to first search for any unidentified ships in the system. It was either gone already or not here yet. No ships of any kind showed up on the short or long-range scans.

  The Orion moved into high planetary orbit over the bug planet, as the Operations Chief started to call it.

  She directed their liaison officer, Shadow Leader J’Nol, to contact the K’Rang captain and get a status report. She made sure he had all the code words ready for authentication that the Humans were who they said they were and that they were really asked by the K’Rang high commander to help.

  It was some time before the planet turned enough so that the K’Rang ship was in line of sight of the Orion. It took a bit of convincing, especially as M’Taso only had her hand communicators working at maximum range, the bugs being in possession of her comms suite, but the final K’Rang code word, the one from the K’Rang Fleet commander, convinced Captain M’Taso that it was a rescue, not some Human or bug subterfuge.

  Captain M’Taso urgently requested that the Orion use her sensors to see if they could locate the navigation system the bugs had stolen from her ship. She had the metallic spectrum of the case and internal alloy components sent to the Orion so that the special sensors on the Orion might sniff out where the bugs carried her nav system.

  The Orion made several low orbits of the planet, but was unsuccessful in pulling the navigation system out of the clutter. Connie found out that Captain M’Taso had retaken her ship and was now in a high mountain meadow, cleaning up the ship and tracking the insectoid activity. M’Taso relayed how she had plasma bombed the nearest insectoid burrow, but didn’t feel she had done any real damage. She noted that the insectoids scrambled out of the burrow in large numbers after the first plasma burst and made easy targets for her subsequent plasma strikes. Captain M’Taso estimated she killed over a thousand of the insectoids as she flew off, but more than double that number climbed out of the nest to replace them.

  Connie made the connection. “They were ants, giant ants!”

  Connie called her Sensor Chief, “Chief Cho, I want you to research old Earth ants and develop a template for how far apart ants locate their burrows when they swarm. I want to see if there is a similar corollary here. See if you can template the ground to tell us the most likely places for a burrow to be.

  “Don’t devote all your people to this one problem. I’ll need eyes to warn me of any ships entering or exiting the system, especially the bug courier.”

  * * * * *

  Tammy’s and Angie’s appointments to find their assignments following the War College were scheduled for the same time. Tammy met her detailer in room 109, Rose Hall. Angie met her assignments officer in room 101, Olsen Hall. They had different traditional titles, but they meant the same thing. This person sitting across the desk held one’s career in his hand. A good assignment could make a career. A bad one could end a career. Angie and Tammy were pretty sure their records were exemplary and they could get the assignment they wanted. They both had won the Distinguished Flying Cross in command, in combat. They had both been awarded the Galactic Star for specific decisive action against the enemy. Tammy received hers for her attack on the K’Rang lunar defense system. Angie received hers for actions against the K’Rang drones, and drone ships. Both had successful combat commands with high mission success, yet extremely low losses.

  Tammy and Angie walked into each other on the quad. Neither of their faces gave away what they had received until they looked at each other and said simultaneously in stunned voices, “I got a command!”

  It took a moment for it to sink in, but eventually they screamed at each other, “I got a command!”

  Tammy was being given command of the newly created 8th Composite Attack wing. It would have two squadrons of A-100s and three squadrons of A-120s. Her orders directed her to proceed to Schirra immediately after graduation. She was given three days travel time and a reporting date immediately following. Personal leave enroute was not authorized. They must really want her there in a hurry.

  Angie was assuming command of the 20th Carrier Fighter Wing. She also had similar words about an immediate reporting date and no personal leave authorized. Something must be up. Angie and Tammy had no idea what was afoot, but they celebrated anyway. The club was holding an assignments party and the women let their inner child out that evening. Surrounded by future brigade commanders, wing commanders, ship captains, and senior staff officers, they were the life of the party. They knew they would pay for it in the morning, but tonight might be their last party for a long time to come.

  * * * * *

  A Doctor F’Von, from the Imperial Academy of Physicians, asked for an appointment with Kelly. Kelly was about to blow him off, when the doctor said, “I can have your bones healed in a week.”

  This intrigued Kelly and he agreed to meet the K’Rang doctor just before the end of the day. Kelly returned to his task of reviewing K’Rang message traffic for any mention of Candy. He became so absorbed in it he had to be reminded of his end of day appointment and then what the appointment was about. He called the embassy surgeon to meet him, then rode his grav chair down to reception, where he was advised that the K’Rang doctor was in one of the uncleared reception rooms. He rode into the room to find a relatively fit and above average height K’Rang looking out the window with his back to the door.

  Kelly said, “Please excuse me for being late, Doctor F’Von, but my wife has been kidnapped and I am awaiting any word of her whereabouts and safe return. What can I do for you?”

  “Captain Blake, it is more what I can do for you. We at the Academy of Physicians have developed a technology that speeds bone healing by a factor of 100 to one. Your cracked clavicle can be healed in three days; your leg in a week. Elder J’Kol asked us to offer this technology to you so that you would be healed as quickly as possible. He would prefer you not be reunited with your wife in this chair.”

  Doctor Stevenson, the embassy surgeon, arrived and Kelly introduced him to Doctor F’Von. He filled Doctor Stevenson in on the K’Rang offer.

  Doctor Stevenson asked, “Have you tested this on Humans?”

  Doctor F’Von replied, “No, we have not, but our bone structure is so similar, there should be no ill effects. The only major side effect we have noticed in our test subjects is brief spasm of nausea if a rib is being repaired. We think this is due to the proximity of our stomachs to our rib cages. We also get an occasional itch in the healing spot. We think this is just an aftereffect of the healing process as the bones knit together. We offer this technology to you free of charge. Take it, try it, test it, do what you need to make it safe and compatible with Human systems. It is a gift to you from the K’Rang people.”

  Kelly asked, “How does it work?”

  Doctor F’Veh opened the case he had walked in with and pulled out what looked like a big, long beanbag. He walked over to Kelly, asked permission, laid it over Kelly’s shoulder and turned it on. It heated up quickly and soon Kelly felt an itch in that shoulder. It grew in intensity until the itch was more than he coul
d believe possible.

  Doctor F’Veh turned off and removed the device, then said, “This device analyzes your body, detects the fracture, and creates a customized electromagnetic field on the spot of the injury to make your bones knit back together more quickly. Your blood flow to any damaged cells is higher than before and thereby helps in your rapid healing of any soft tissue injuries.”

  Doctor F’Veh conversed with Doctor Stevenson for a while, explaining every component of the kit. He came over to Kelly, shook his good hand, and Kelly escorted him out.

  He came back to find Doctor Stevenson pouring over the components and reading the translation of the manual.

  “What do you think, Doc, will it work or just leave me with a gangrenous stump where my leg used to be?”

  Doctor Stevenson looked up from the manual and said, “I don’t see that it could do any harm. I can knock you out with a sedative if the itching gets too bad to sleep. It really projects a smaller strength electromagnetic field than you would get from a tri-vid viewer. I recommend giving it a try overnight. I’ll have my Physician’s Assistant watch over you.”

  Kelly said, “We’ll do this at my quarters instead of in here, just in case this is a K’Rang Intelligence ruse. Let me get my stuff and you grab your PA and go to my place. Drinks are on me.”

  * * * * *

  The Supreme Queen of the Civilization, alone in her birthing chamber, reviewed the report of the furry bipeds recapturing and making off with their ship on the fifth world. The local sentient queens still had the navigation and communication devices and the courier ship should be there in a day or two. The sensors on the courier should be sufficient to locate the ship. The furry bipeds were not leaving the system without their nav system and there was technology on that ship that could be adapted to the Civilization’s use. Their engines alone could do much to improve the Civilization’s own engine technology.