by Randal Sloan
Commander Crusoe gave them all a moment, then cleared his throat. “As I warned you yesterday, next year’s sim certification will be harder since you’ve raised the bar for us, although I suspect your team will find a way to succeed despite our efforts. It’ll be fun to try. Just for your information, historically about forty percent of our teams attempt to fight the enemy, none of whom have ever come close to succeeding, and the other sixty percent have tried some version of your run and hide. Before yesterday, no one has ever used the moon as a weapon in their flight to the nebula or even considered hacking the enemy’s fire control systems to aid their endeavor to escape.
“Our analysts are hard at work at this moment considering if that is a viable repeat strategy and also if we need to work on hardening our own fire control systems to prevent an enemy from using that same strategy against us.
“I will share with you, although I will ask you to keep our discussion regarding this to amongst yourselves, it is the considered opinion of a number of us out here on the Rim that the Empire is about to enter a period of risk and unrest. It is therefore up to us to do what we can to mitigate those risks and I don’t have to tell you how often the Rim Patrol is on the tip of the spear in those situations. That is why some of us are here, to take advantage of that challenge.
“Unfortunately, within that background we have a mission that I must give you that is quite important and possibly dangerous. A few days ago, a number of mysterious probes arrived in our District Capitol. We haven’t been able to learn the originator behind them or the purpose of the probes. Every time one was discovered and approached, it self-destructed with quite destructive results, so we have no hard data on them. Fortunately we were able to spot a few in flight, so that we were able to record their hyper signatures when they left the district.
“It is believed that a small ship like yours will be able to follow the hyper trail and discover the origin without detection. Your orders are as follows: Follow the hyper trail, determine the planet of origin, and, if possible, discover who is sending them and why. You are instructed to avoid confronting the perpetrators, but we’ll have forces awaiting your call if you get into trouble. If you are unable to avoid contact, you are to use your speed advantage to pull away from their forces and hide until reinforcements can arrive, much as you did in the Doomsday Scenario.
“Any questions? My assistant will provide you with all the data we have available on the probes and the encryption codes necessary to contact your support forces.”
When no questions were forthcoming, he handed the order chip to Jarra. “If not, good luck and Godspeed.” Nodding to Commander Connors, he left the group in his capable hands.
Commander Connors quickly provided them with the data they had and the encryption codes to call for help. They were instructed to plan for departure the next day or as soon as possible after provisioning their ship for the mission. He gave Jarra one more piece of additional information.
“Here are my personal implant contact codes. If you have any questions or any trouble with your provisioning, contact me directly. If you need something not on the Approved Provisional List, contact me before submitting the request and that will allow me to intercede on your behalf, or if it’s something we won’t be able to do, I will be able to tell you so up front.
“Do you have any questions at this point?” He waited a moment, “Very good. I would like to echo my Commander’s sentiment and wish you good luck.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The Search
Sasha was nearly finished with her data dive using the feeds pulled directly on Rigelus Prime with no extraneous data. Arriving two nights prior after one of the fastest trips across the galaxy she’d ever heard of, Sasha wasted no time in getting set up in the Rigelus branch of Imperial Intelligence. Thanks to Crown Prince John, she was being given all the resources she needed to do her job. She smiled when she thought back to her first meeting with John.
Sasha had still been reeling from her close call on the frigate and the high speed flight to the flagship. The immensity of the ship did nothing to steady her nerves. After all, she had somehow managed to get lost on a frigate, of all things. Luckily for her, the Master Sergeant recognized her situation and dispatched a pair of the marines to escort her to the ship’s medical department.
There Sasha had met a most unusual doctor. Rather than prescribing her medication, which Sasha would have forgotten to take anyway, the doctor led her into an unusual room. It was like stepping into a private garden; beautiful plants covered the entire area, soft flute music played in the background, and the whole feel of the place was relaxing.
The doctor pinged her with a program he wanted her to run and left her alone. Sasha stared after him in surprise, but she followed the instructions from the program. It was amazing! As she sat there and just breathed, for the first time in days Sasha found herself relaxing and lost track of how long she had been there.
Sasha looked up when a man came into the room. Wearing robes, the man looked like he should be a monk in a monastery on some remote planet, but he seemed to fit in the room. Not speaking, the man came to sit beside her, where he remained unmoving.
Finally Sasha had all she could take. “Pardon me, sir, but do you come here often?”
The monk nodded. “I try to come here daily. It’s something I learned from my cousin. We grew up very close, almost like brother and sister. I would say I tried to look after her like an older brother, but the truth is, she was always two steps ahead of me. Like now. I still need this special room before I can reach the fully relaxed state. I swear, she could do the same thing in the middle of a battle, and yet she would be able to tell you everything that happened around her.”
“Sounds like she’s an amazing person.”
“She is. I’m hoping we’ll meet up with her in a few days. Then I’ll introduce you to her. She’s going to love you when she finds out what you can do.”
Sasha had been wondering just what that meant, but before she could ask, their conversation was interrupted when one of Sasha’s marine escorts stuck his head in the door. “Sorry to bother you, Your Highness, but the Captain wanted me to tell you we’ll be ready to jump back into hyperspace in a few minutes. His navigator has some suggestions as to how we could shave off some time if you would be available to discuss it with him.”
“Thank you, Thomas. Tell him I’ll be there shortly.”
As the marine turned away, allowing the door to close, John turned back to Sasha, who was staring at him in near disbelief. “Yes, Sub-Lieutenant, I’m Prince John, unofficially for the moment, so no bowing allowed. I’ve been anxiously awaiting our meeting after finding out what you discovered on Santiago Station. You were so relaxed when I came in, I just couldn’t bring myself to interrupt you. It looks like we have to wait until later to talk about what you found.” He gave her a smile.
Not having an idea of what to say, Sasha just stared. This was nothing like the Crown Prince she had expected to meet.
Then a thought came into his head. “I have an idea. Come with me. I want to see what you have to suggest when I talk with the navigator about our hyperspace flight.”
Sasha still remembered with amazement what had happened in that meeting with the navigator. She had dutifully followed her Prince to the bridge of the ship, fascinated by everything she saw but unable to take in all the details or remember the route they took through the huge ship.
When they arrived at the bridge, the navigator proceeded to walk through the potential solutions to a minimum time trip to Rigelus. At first a very distinctly displayed line, when their path reached an area of space the navigator called the Kyronian Straits, the path dissolved into a group of fuzzy lines indicating the solution was indeterminate to the ship’s AI. The AI was suggesting the path on the far left as its choice, merely due to the fact it was on the left, Sasha suspected.
That’s when the Prince surprised Sasha the second time. Addressing the navigator, he ordered, “
Display the section around the Straits with a visual representation of the area in hyperspace.”
The display changed to show the flows of hyperspace. “Lieutenant,” Prince John said, “Which path through the Straits will be the fastest?”
At first puzzled by the question, Sasha stared at the scene before her. As she looked, the patterns began to become apparent. She gasped in surprise; the patterns were obvious to her. “The second path from the right will be the fastest,” she told him. "Approximately 30% better, although the size of this ship will reduce that by some 5% or so.”
The Captain and navigator were staring at her in surprise, but the Prince just nodded. “You’re entirely correct. The last time I traveled this area, we crossed using that pathway and we completed the transition 25% faster than that for the times recorded by ships using the other pathways.”
He gave her a smile. “I was right. My sister is going to love you. If the situation wasn’t so critical right now, I would fight to keep you here. Still, I’m going to be keeping my eye on you.”
Sasha herself had gone to her assigned quarters in shock. But the Prince had repeated that instance on the bridge the next day and then the next, and by the third time, Sasha was quite used to the idea and had easily given the Prince her answer. She’d grown accustomed to him and his easy manner, and thinking about it now, Sasha realized something else. She really missed him.
Sasha’s AI announced its last data pull, requiring her immediate attention. She started looking over the data, looking for the patterns. Unfortunately, it kept giving her the same answers. Not good!
#
Lieutenant Gregorio Resault IV, or Greg to most everyone, was even in a worse mood today. Not only did he have his father’s mess to deal with, but now he had to deal with another one. Those idiot Marines had roughed him up pretty good, although the only thing really hurt was his pride. He had a few bruises, but surprisingly the Marines had been careful about where they’d hit him.
Greg knew it was stupid, but he was burning with resentment. I’ve got to get even with that girl. How dare she waltz into my district, steal the best job with her own ship, and then make me look bad in front of all my friends?
This is stupid, Greg tried to tell himself. She hasn’t done anything to me. But I just can’t let it go. There’s got to be some way to get her back. At least she’s supposed to be leaving soon, probably on some silly little mission.
Greg smiled. His ship was about to deploy for a patrol and he would be on the bridge in charge of the watch, even if it was the third watch. Who cares about a tiny little X-series ship anyway? I should just forget about her.
Greg vowed he would try. After all, this was supposed to be the new version of him, the one who acted responsibly. The plans were in place to protect his mother whenever he gave the word. Greg had to call in every favor owed him and then some, and he had to spend every dime of credit he could get his hands on to hire the mercenary team that would snatch her away to safety. The credit chip from that night’s gambling with the girl’s crew had made the difference.
Again, everything went back to the girl, but at least he owed her on this one. How the heck did she see that card? At least that had worked out to his benefit, his friends all amazed at his ability to cheat so well. Of course, the two rounds of beer he’d bought afterward hadn’t hurt, and the fact that they hadn’t been the victims of his cheating.
Greg did remember how helpless he felt when those Marines grabbed him. From now on, I need to make sure there’s enough people with me to keep that from happening again. That, and try not to do anything that stupid again.
#
Provisioning for their mission went rather quickly for Jarra and her team. They only had to contact Commander Connors once. When their request for spare parts was rejected, Jarra took him at his word and sent it up the chain. Jarra had gotten both Galen and Gabo to provide their input, so it was a very comprehensive list, but their mission was such that they didn’t know where their quest would take them, possibly to places where spare parts wouldn’t be available.
Commander Connors didn’t take long to agree; Jarra suspected they’d been given the green light to get anything reasonable they requested. However, she wasn’t going to push for more, because she didn’t want to be seen as taking advantage of the situation.
Jarra had put Sara in charge of their food provisions and a couple of additions Sara had added to the list caught her eye, but Jarra didn’t argue the choices. She suspected if their deployment became extended, those additional items might come in handy. She nodded approvingly when she saw the quantities of coffee and tea; those two items were of a critical nature as far as she was concerned.
The Rim Patrol, like the Imperial Navy, ran on coffee, but that didn’t mean the standard issue coffee was acceptable to her. After all, the lowest bidder meant no one would be entirely pleased with the quality. Although Jarra willingly gave up most of the perks someone of her position could have demanded, she wasn’t willing to do that for her coffee. For that reason, she replaced the standard provisioning supply with her own selections, which she paid for out of her own funds. She made sure she had enough to share with her team. She also included a large variety of teas, something she sometimes would partake of when her coffee intake had hit its limits, and in other cases she would use an herbal tea as part of her meditation ritual.
Jarra also had certain items in her personal possession transferred to the ship. One of them was something in a sealed crate that caused Galen to push an eyebrow up when it came aboard, but Jarra refused to tell him what it was. In fact, she couldn’t tell him; she had the right to have that particular item, having earned that right, but her continued possession of it was declared top secret.
The team nervously settled down in their quarters for the night, each one’s thoughts dwelling on their mission beginning the next day. None of them had a clue just what would come about in that mission.
#
Crown Prince John Von Hasson sat in his suite onboard the super-dreadnought Dauntless staring at the decrypted report he had received from the Imperial Intelligence office on Rigelus. Young Sasha had come through again, sending a detailed report with information telling him that both a rebellion and alien involvement were very high probabilities. Because this time she was pulling directly from the Rigelus feeds, she had been able to eliminate all the extraneous information, making her final probability determinations even more accurate and the numbers had gone even higher.
Separate from the main report, Sasha had pulled together additional information that worried him even more. It appeared that someone high in the District Governor’s office, possibly even the Governor himself, had made considerable effort to keep a lid on the reports coming out of the sector. That partially explained why the rest of the Imperial Intelligence group had failed to come up with anything, although the shoddy operation run by former Admiral Kosak hadn’t helped.
The result of all this was that made the accomplishment by Sasha appear to be even more amazing. She had seen the patterns enough to connect the dots that everyone else had seen as only separate events. That made the second report seem altogether even more likely to be true, something that worried him greatly.
Most of his staff believed it was someone in the Governor’s organization that was responsible, but John suspected that wasn’t the case. Having met Governor Resault only once, John had disliked him on first sight. As far as he was concerned, the man was a toad. That was still a far cry from the charge of pure treason which any implication of him in the plot would lead to, but it was enough for John to believe it was the case.
After a few moments thought, John composed two messages. One he sent to his uncle, the other he sent to Sasha. To the Emperor, he sent a message detailing his suspicions and his plans to follow up. Right now that meant following the Aeres discretely on her search mission. The trick was going to be to stay close enough to not lose the trail but not close enough to set off any warning flags
with the enemy, whoever they were.
The second message he found more difficult to send. That message instructed Sasha to covertly begin an investigation into the Governor and his son to try to determine the level of their involvement. John feared that might put Sasha in some danger and for some reason, that really worried him.
John knew that was more than the normal feelings he had when he gave orders to someone that put them at risk. After all, that was just a part of the job as a commander. Good commanders never hesitated to give those orders, but they also did them with an understanding of the possible consequences. So that was part of the reason, but not all of it. Somehow, that young lady had affected him in a much deeper way than anyone else ever had except maybe his cousin.
The Galactic Empire didn’t have the usual nobility a lot of Empires were burdened with, so other than the fact that the young lady reported at least indirectly in his chain of command, John knew he was free to pursue a relationship with her if he wanted to, not that they were ready for that anyway. But right now, they needed to get through the current crisis. He sent the message.
John did think his long term plan would resolve the issue of the chain of command. He would have to approach that solution carefully, or it would backfire on him.
#
Jarra stood looking at their projections for the flight paths of the enemy probes. They appeared to lead further out into the rim, exactly what she expected to find. So it wasn’t a surprise, but it worried her, because that meant their backup resources would get further and further away as they traveled on their search. Jarra had a bad feeling about their mission, fully expecting it to get much worse than they had reason to expect. She had learned to trust those feelings, hence the worry. But surely the District Commander already knew the direction they were going and had arranged the patrols such that they would have support available if it came down to it.
Jarra still wondered about the Imperial Marines she had seen those two nights ago in the bar. Imperial Marines meant ships of the Imperial Navy and a quick check of the ships officially in the District showed none. That meant at least one stealth ship and that meant they probably were going to be covertly following her ship. Normally, that would have made her quite angry, but today that didn’t bother her. Instead, she clung to the hope that if things went from bad to worse, they would have help close by to aid in their struggles.