I trusted Ana’s abilities. I had done so from the very start. She could do this. And I would let her. I would prove to her that we could be captain and commander and also more than that.
Much, much more than that.
She approached the ops area and met my eyes.
“You have the channel, sir?” she asked.
“Pavo?” I queried not taking my gaze off the woman before me.
“I have patched you into Commander Kereama’s earpiece, Captain. I will also provide visual coverage of the mayor’s offices. The security team is in place and waiting for the commander. The mayor is alone.”
“Either supremely confident,” I remarked, “or aware that we’re watching.”
“Both,” Ana said.
“Be careful, Commander,” I warned. “I don’t trust the man.”
“I won’t be alone, sir,” she said, tapping her ear.
“Never again,” I promised, speaking softly so no one could overhear.
“I meant Pavo, sir,” she said with a smirk.
“And I didn’t” I countered.
She shook her head and turned on her heel; back straight, shoulders set, chin lifted. She made a striking picture. Just before she left the bridge, she turned back. But she didn’t turn to look at me. She was looking at her flight crew.
And they were all looking attentively at her.
“Are you set, Childs?” she asked.
What was that?
“Yes, ma’am. As soon as you’re in position.”
I sat forward.
“Maxwell?” she pressed.
“Ready when you are.”
I might as well have not come back. Ana had this, whatever this was. I tried not to laugh.
“Find my aunt,” she instructed and then left.
“Pavo,” I murmured. “You’d better give me a full report.”
“Of course, Captain. Ana has been very busy in your absence. I think you’ll approve.”
Text began to scroll across the ops table viewscreen outlining the sting Ana had put in place for Archibald’s men, but I didn’t need to read it to know how I felt about Ana.
I completely approved of the commander.
With every bit of my head and heart.
Forty-Five
Security Alert
Ana
The mayor’s offices were in perfect order; you wouldn’t know a plasma gun battle had recently occurred here. The gel walls were pristine with the whale mural behind the secretary’s desk moving sinuously. The gel-coated floor was clean, devoid of blood splatter. All the furniture had been returned to their former positions, and the woman who greeted me wore well tailored and perfectly appropriate business attire.
Well, perfectly appropriate for back on Earth that is.
“Commander Kereama to see Mayor Cecil,” I said when the woman looked up at me expectantly.
She glanced at her datapad and frowned.
“I don’t have you on the Anderson Universal crew manifest,” she said.
“I’m newly appointed.”
The frown turned into a scowl.
“And you’re the officer in charge?”
“I am at present, yes.”
“Please take a seat,” she instructed.
I walked across the room and looked at a gel wall. Pavo wisely did not change it to a lush green scene for me. From the corner of my eye, I watched as the woman tapped her ear and then spoke in muted tones.
I turned fully to the gel wall, my back to her.
“Can you hear what she’s saying, Pavo?” I whispered.
“Speech amplifier enabled,” Pavo said in my own earpiece.
“It says here, she’s a pay-for-passage,” the secretary’s barely there voice sounded out in my ear. “Or she was. Do you want me to turn her away?”
“Scanning. Source located. Rerouting now.”
“We knew it wouldn’t be Jameson,” the mayor’s voice sounded out in my ear. “But he’s up to something. Let’s play along for the time being.”
“Yes, sir,” the woman replied.
Then she cleared her throat.
“Commander?”
I turned and offered her my attentive military face.
“Yes?”
“The mayor will see you now.”
“Thank you,” I murmured and followed her directions to the mayor’s office.
He was sitting behind a large desk; one that should not have made it onto the vessel. It looked out of place. Dark wood, leather insert. Various brass key locked drawers down both sides. It would have been completely isolated from Pavo’s systems. The AI could neither look inside it nor control it.
It was a surprisingly well thought out addition to the mayor’s domain.
“Mayor Cecil,” I said in greeting.
“Who are you?” he demanded, his fat jowls wobbling.
“Commander Ana Kereama. First Officer.”
“I don’t know you. What happened to Commander Torrence.”
“Killed, sir. By Damon Archibald’s security team.”
He studied me.
“And the captain?” he finally said.
“Injured in the crossfire. He will recover.”
I watched him closely, but he didn’t show a reaction. Which, in and of itself, was unusual. Hearing the captain of the ship had been injured, whether you suspected he was indisposed or not, should have elicited a reaction of some sort.
“Well, then,” he said in a huff. “I guess I have to deal with you. What’s your background, Kereama?”
“New Zealand Army. Four tours. Corporal. Honourable discharge.”
He laughed. “Come up in the world, haven’t you, eh?”
“If you consider we may very well no longer have a world, then yes.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re just like him. Full of your self-righteous survivor guilt. What’s gone has gone, all that matters is what we do now as a species.”
“And what do you plan to do, sir?” I asked.
“Above your pay grade, Corporal.”
“Commander,” I corrected. “First Officer. Currently the officer in charge of this ship.”
“That’s what you think. That’s what he thought, too.” He had to mean Jameson. “But from recent evidence, you’re barely in charge of your own men. Anderson Universal might have held power back on Earth, but as you’ve just pointed out, Earth is gone. Dead. If we’re to survive, we need to make changes. And the first is to appoint a new leaseholder.”
He knew Archibald was dead. No announcement had been made. None of Archibald’s mercs had escaped the encounter on the bridge. Those that were still hiding Aunt Mara would have had to come out of hiding to contact the mayor. And why? Because he was the natural replacement for Damon Archibald?
“I would assume his stepbrother is his next of kin,” I said.
“Whom you have locked in the brig, I believe.”
We had a mole. This man knew too much. Did he know Jameson was back on the bridge and this was all a sham?
“Besides,” Cecil went on, “Stefan Archibald had no part in Archibald Enterprises. Damon tolerated him. Barely. There was no love lost there. I have the correct Archibald Enterprises command structure here.”
He pushed a datapad across the desk toward me.
I stepped forward and peered down at the list of upper management outlined for Archibald Enterprises. It did not surprise me to see Samuel Cecil’s name directly below that of Damon Archibald.
I looked up at the mayor. “I will need to confirm this with Anderson Universal Incorporated.”
“Do it now.”
I really didn’t like this man.
“Pavo,” I said.
“Confirming, Commander. Stand by.”
“You trust it?” the mayor asked with a scoff.
“The AI? Yes.”
“You’re a fool, then. Once it gets rebooted, it might be able to do what it was designed for. But until then, it’s a loose cannon.”
Rather like this man, I thought.
Time to test the waters.
“Pavo will not be rebooted," I said.
“Says who?”
“Anderson Universal.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Corporal. You don’t have the authority for that.”
“I am the first…”
“I know what you think you are. But according to my information, you are nothing more than a pay-for-passage. And as per the lease agreement, liaisons to Archibald Enterprises must be approved by the leaseholder. We approved Captain John Jameson, and in his stead, Commander Mark Torrence, with the failsafe of a Lieutenant Commander George Maxwell as back up. Jameson is out of action. Torrence is dead. Where’s Maxwell? I want to deal with him. He’d see sense.”
Would he now? And why was that? I wanted to ask. Cecil seemed very sure of himself.
“You’ve got me,” I said instead, working hard to keep my impassive military facade in place.
“Confirmation completed,” Pavo suddenly announced over the gel ceiling speakers. “Mayor Samuel Cecil is the second in command of Archibald Enterprises.”
I had not seen that coming.
“That’s not right,” Jameson said quietly in my ear. “I was familiar with that command structure back on Earth, and Cecil was a low-level employee, nothing else.”
“Now,” the mayor said, pushing his great bulk up from his chair, “I expect you to stand down, Corporal, and allow the correct command structure to be reinstated.”
He walked around his desk to face me. He was slow and obese; I could take him easily.
“Movement on the main deck,” Pavo suddenly said in my earpiece. “They were masked, but my decryption algorithms have found the correct frequency. It took sixteen million, seven hundred thousand, four hundred and twenty-three computations to achieve this.”
“Ana, get out of there,” Jameson ordered. “Archibald mercs approaching the mayor’s offices. This was planned.”
“Is there a reason why you won’t work with me, sir?” I asked the mayor.
“Get out of there, Ana!” Jameson shouted in my ear. I tried not to wince. “They’re armed, weapons hot. It’s a trap.”
“Security is on standby,” Pavo said almost on top of him. “They can intercept on your order, Captain. I have forwarded the masking frequency to the crewman in charge.”
Don’t give the order, I thought, but could not voice aloud in front of the mayor.
“You are inexperienced and ill-prepared for this style of command,” Cecil was saying. Keeping abreast of three conversations at once was becoming difficult. “Don’t take this personally, Corporal; I’m sure Jameson saw something in your conduct to recommend you to the position, but it is not necessary; we have a fallback in Maxwell.”
“And when the captain is back in command?” I pressed, aware time was running out.
“We must not expect too much of the captain; I believe his injuries were rather severe.”
I shook my head.
“Mercenaries in the mayoral hub,” Pavo announced over the earpiece channel. “Orders, Captain?”
Don’t do it. We didn’t have enough to convict the mayor. We still had no idea where Aunt Mara was. I could only hope Childs had trapped a rat or two while this was all happening, but considering the mercs approaching were masked, we couldn’t count on that. We needed more from the mayor. He knew where Aunt Mara was. He knew everything, I was pretty damn sure.
“Send in security,” Jameson said.
I allowed a little irritation to show through on my facade. The mayor smiled smugly.
“Stand down, Corporal. You are not in charge here,” he said.
Plasma shots sounded out down the hallway. The secretary screamed. The gel walls turned red. The mayor lunged for a drawer on this side of the desk and pulled out a gun. His hands were steady.
And then Pavo said, “Shots fired on the bridge. Shots fired on the bridge. Security alert.”
Maxwell, I thought, cursing our stupidity, just as the mayor lifted his weapon and fired.
Forty-Six
It’s Ana!
Jameson
She had to get out of there. I didn’t trust the mayor not to deal with the unexpected problem of Ana lethally. His mercs certainly would once they got there. But that wasn’t the extent of our problems. Torrence’s death had clearly been planned; not merely collateral damage. I knew the attempt on my life had been purposeful, but I hadn’t put two and two together regarding my first officer’s death.
But Cecil had been right. In the event of the captain being indisposed, either due to death, medical emergency, or being unfit for duty, the first officer took command. Should he be incapable to do so, either due to death, medical emergency, or being unfit for duty, then the next in line was Lieutenant Commander Maxwell.
Maxwell was our mole.
I spun to look at the Lieutenant Commander and came face to face with a plasma rifle. He fired a warning shot over my head making me freeze. The flight crew, I noticed, were out for the count.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I’d been so concerned with Ana’s fate; I hadn’t even noticed Maxwell incapacitating my officers.
“I really don’t want to have to use this, sir,” the Lieutenant Commander said.
“Then don’t,” I offered.
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir. But I have my orders.”
“Anderson Universal orders?” I queried, trying to decide if I could reach my weapon before he fired a shot.
The odds weren’t looking good. Pavo would tell me I had something like a 5.63% chance of success. Even as a human, I wasn’t sure I wanted to take that bet.
“You must know by now that Anderson Universal is no longer in charge of this ship,” Maxwell said. “It never really was.”
“Could have fooled me,” I muttered. “I am still the captain.”
“Does it look like you’re the captain?” He waved at the unconscious flight crew.
“What did you do to them?” I demanded.
He held up an injector. “Strong sedative. They’ll live.”
“You won’t,” I said. “Mutiny, Maxwell? Is this how you want your career to end?”
“Why would you think it’s ending? This is only the beginning. And once we get to New Earth, I’ll have proved myself quite adequately. I expect to get a pay rise out of this.”
“So, it’s money you’re after.”
“Gonna offer me more, Captain? Even Anderson Universal, should you have access to their coffers, couldn’t pay me more than what Archibald promised.”
“Archibald’s dead,” I pointed out.
“But your pathetic pay-for-passage was right, Captain; the snake’s head might be cut off, but the snake sure as hell is still alive.”
“Cecil,” I guessed.
“You really think Damon Archibald would have put someone unintelligent in command of the civilian population?”
“I really think Damon Archibald would have wanted someone he could control.”
“But there’s the genius of it all, you see. Who would think a fat lard-arse like Cecil could circumvent all of Archibald’s hard work? He gives the impression of being a pompous, lazy prick, doesn’t he? But it’s Samuel Cecil, former Doritos-munching tech geek employee in Archibald Enterprises, that figured out how to control Pavo.”
“Pavo’s not in anyone’s control,” I pointed out, trying to decide if the threat Maxwell implied was real or not. I could hardly ask Pavo if he was all right. Maxwell’s finger had started twitching on that plasma rifle trigger. He was itching to fire the gun now despite his earlier words to the contrary.
“For now, but once we locate him, and it sure as hell won’t be because Childs misdirects us, we’ll have him locked down with Cecil’s algorithm. One that ties into the captain’s reboot override, I believe. Ingenious, really. The only command Pavo can’t counteract.”
Shit.
“And then what?” I asked.
Maxwell laughed. �
�Don’t worry about it, Captain. You won’t be around to find out.”
He lifted the plasma gun, lining the muzzle up with my head.
“I really am sorry about this, but my orders have changed.” He tapped his ear with his free hand, then returned it to cup the fist holding the plasma gun. He looked rock solid. Unaffected by what he was about to do.
My gaze scanned the flight deck. No one had woken from their forced sleep. Chan had fallen off his seat at the security console at some stage. Or maybe he’d been moving to attack when Maxwell got him with the tranquilliser. Either way, I was on my own.
And plasma fire could be heard down in the mayor’s offices through the speakers on the ops table. So, Ana was under attack there, and I was nowhere near capable of saving her.
I was nowhere near capable of saving myself.
I took solace in the fact that Ana Kereama was a survivor. A soldier through and through. She’d been in enough gunfights to know how to handle herself. She was smart, quick, and steady. I couldn’t have chosen a better first officer.
The joke was on Samuel Cecil.
But as Maxwell’s finger shifted and pressure was placed on the trigger of his plasma rifle, I couldn’t help thinking about lost opportunities. Lost wishes and dreams and hopes.
I should have kissed her again.
“Goodbye, Captain,” Maxwell said in some form of bizarre executioner respect.
To hell with this, I reached for my sidearm.
And the whole bridge went dark.
I didn’t question the timing; I threw myself to the side and fired at the same time. But the sudden darkness, a pitch black that wasn’t even illuminated by lights flashing on consoles, was enough to throw Maxwell off guard.
His returning shot was too slow.
The plasma fire lit up the darkness in a blinding red light. My shot hit Maxwell in the chest. His shot went wide.
Accelerating Universe: The Sector Fleet Book One Page 22