Scout Force

by Rodney Smith

  After five days, they arrived at the orbiting dock above Armstrong. They timed their approach so they could make a clean, unobserved approach to and into the dock. Once inside, dock personnel hooked tugs to the wrecks to tow them into the giant hangars along the dock edge. The craft were locked down and the hanger doors closed, making an airtight seal. The Vigilant moved up to a vacant docking tube and docked.

  Captain Hasselrode was waiting for them when LCDR Timmons and Kelly exited the ship.

  “Come on, you two. The admiral is waiting to see you.”

  Timmons and Kelly accompanied Captain Hasselrode as he made his way through the dockyard administrative area. They came to a cypher-secured door. Captain Hasselrode punched in the code and pushed open the door. Kelly and the captain followed him through. They walked down a carpeted and paneled hallway and turned into a conference room on the right side. Admiral Craddock was seated at the conference table, reading from a terminal tablet. Kelly and LCDR Timmons stood at attention, waiting for him to acknowledge their presence.

  Admiral Craddock looked up and said, “Sit down, you two. You aren’t in any trouble. How’s about some coffee?”

  Both took seats at the table, amazed that they weren’t in hack. Both said they would like some coffee.

  The admiral keyed his tablet. “Yeoman Brice, bring in that platter, a pot of coffee, and four mugs, please.”

  A moment passed, while the admiral continued to read off his tablet. The Yeoman came in and set the platter of sandwiches and coffee out on the table. Kelly and LCDR Timmons helped themselves to coffee. Kelly put a sandwich and some sweet pickles on a small plate. He had learned at the Academy to always eat the meal in front of him.

  Admiral Craddock finished his reading and looked up at both of them. “Good work, you two. Your patrol report looks very thorough. I’ll review your log files later. We’ll get the data you brought back to our tech intel guys to sort out. The most interesting thing is the flame stones. A conservative estimate is that they are worth 200 to 300 million credits. I can find lots of uses for them. Whatever the Indigo folks were selling was that important. That is bad for us. We’ll just have to break into the data devices and see what they were giving away. You’ll be interested to know that the Gurkha never reported its missing shuttle.”

  “As far as shooting up the K’Rang ship, that was a good call. We’ll dispose of the K’Rang bodies in accordance with their customs. LT Blake, I see here your reference to a ring with a planet and three moons. Where exactly did you find that?”

  “Sir, that was on the finger of a severed hand and arm. I found it tangled in a bundle of wiring at the edge of the crew compartment section. I took a photo of it.”

  “We’ll need to find the body that came from. That ring signifies a resident of the K’Rang home world. Only the most trusted and privileged of the K’Rang are allowed to live on the home world. Even people born there have no guarantee that they will be allowed to stay. We’ll need to know more about that individual.”

  Kelly ate his sandwich and munched on a pickle while the admiral continued.

  “It’s a shame the K’Rang shot up the shuttle. We intended to follow them until they made the transfer of what they were bringing back. I wanted to collect evidence against whoever is running this operation before I brought it down. There’s a traitor out there, and I may not be able to catch him or her now. We’ll have to hope we can find incriminating evidence in the data or on the ships you brought back. Of course, I don’t need unimpeachable evidence to take action.”

  “When the tech intel people give me a thumbs up that they have all they need from you, I want you to give me and my staff a ride back down to the planet.”

  The captain was beaming. “We’d be honored, sir.”

  LCDR Timmons stood up and got himself a sandwich and some chips. Kelly could tell the captain was relieved. He had been worried that he might face a board of inquiry for firing on the K’Rang ship. The two of them ate lunch while the admiral reviewed data coming in on his tablet. When the coffee ran low, Yeoman Brice brought more. LCDR Timmons asked to speak to his ship and gave orders to prepare for transporting the admiral and his staff to the planet’s surface.

  The Vigilant left the orbiting dock with the admiral and his staff on board. The trip was uneventful. Each section chief made sure their people carried out their duties in an exemplary manner.

  The crew was usually fairly informal on landings, but this time they sat their positions almost at attention. In spite of their obvious discomfort, they made a textbook perfect approach and landing. Chief Watson had six crewmen standing as side boys for the admiral’s exit down the gangway.

  Admiral Craddock came over to LCDR Timmons at the top of the gangway. “Commander, my congratulations on a very successful patrol. You and your crew are to be commended for your actions. I’m granting you and your crew a week-long stand down. We’ll use some of that week to conduct debriefings, but there should be time for some leave in there.”

  “Thank you, sir, it has been an honor to be your flagship for a short time.”

  Admiral Craddock saluted and stepped down off the Vigilant. His staff followed him off and into waiting vehicles to take them to HQ.

  LCDR Timmons relayed to the crew the admiral’s largesse of a week off from patrolling. A loud cheer erupted from the crew. Kelly retired to his quarters to work on the maintenance and resupply orders. He also took time to send Candy a short message that he was back and asked if her offer still stood. She replied almost immediately. Her video came up. She was obviously sitting at her desk at work.

  “Kelly, of course the invite still holds. When did you get back? When can you come down?”

  “We just landed a few minutes ago. I’m going to be tied up for a few days. It will be later this week before I can make it down. I’ll have to let you know once I’m more certain.”

  “Let me know when you have more certainty. I’ll take a couple of days off and show you around. I’ve found some great restaurants, some plays, and some nightclubs to go to. I’m really looking forward to your visit.”

  “I've got to get back to work, Candy. I’ll let you know when I can come down. Bye now.”

  Kelly sent the maintenance, supply, and provisioning lists to the port logistics sections. He took some time to check for other messages. His mother had left a message. His bank statement came in. He checked to see if his LTJG pay had shown up. It had. There was a message from Angie, as well. Kelly opened it up and saw Angie, John Kanakis, and CPT Willis gathered around the video cam.

  “Hey, guy, how are you doing out there sneaking and peeking? Or are you snooping and pooping? Send us a message. Let us know what you're up to. The Bolivar will be in the Antares system on 2321.07.22. We want to see your sorry butt when we get there. We all will have something to celebrate. General Bugarov will be departing at Antares Station into retirement. We’re all going to get so drunk. Make sure the club has enough booze laid on. We’ll have a powerful thirst after seven months on deployment. Hey, we got to go now. Take care and try and be there when we get in, you hear?” The video file ended with all three of them laughing.

  The next message was from Tammy. She told him that her flight detachment was being upgraded to the S-660 shuttle from their current S-500s. She would be off planet at the Shuttle manufacturer going through transition training for the next month. That simplified things for his spending a few days in the southern hemisphere with Candy. He had wondered how he was going to get south without having a potentially uncomfortable flight on Tammy’s shuttle.

  Kelly got back to work. Fleet paperwork multiplied like rabbits. It was several hours before he was done.

  * * * * *

  After two days of debriefings, Kelly was allowed three days leave. He contacted Candy to ensure that his visit was still okay. She was overjoyed at him visiting.

  He booked passage on the planetary shuttle and packed. He arranged with Chief Watson to assume his duties during his absence.
He met with the captain to close out some last minute items and went out to have dinner with his parents.

  The following morning he caught transport to the shuttle terminal. He signed in and went into the waiting room for the flight to be called. When the flight was called, he lined up in rank order to board. Kelly felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “You seem to be out of rank order there, Ensign.”

  Kelly turned around and came face-to-face with LT Casimirski. Kelly said, “Oh, it’s you. What are you talking about? You can get your hand off my shoulder now, Cas.”

  “You are approaching insubordination, Mister.”

  “Look at my shoulder closer, Lieutenant.”

  Cas moved his hand off the rank insignia on Kelly’s shirt and his jaw dropped. “What kind of joke is this? I can’t believe you would be so stupid as to wear LT’s rank just to get a better seat.”

  Kelly pulled out his ID card and handed it to LT Casimirski. “I’m not the one being stupid. Now get your hand off me.”

  LT Casimirski stared at Kelly’s ID card, handed it back, and stomped off mumbling. Kelly moved onboard and took his seat at the front of the shuttle. The passengers settled in and the doors closed. The flight to the southern spaceport was uneventful. Kelly even had time for a short nap.

  Kelly collected his bag and headed from the military gate into the main terminal. Candy was waiting for him. She gave him a kiss and took his hand to lead him to her ground car.

  “I’m so happy to see you. I thought you kept running away on patrol to get away from me.”

  “Not on your life, Candy. It was only my finely honed sense of duty that kept me away. That and the certainty of court-martial.”

  Candy laughed, put her arm through his and kept walking. They arrived at her ground car. Kelly put his bag in the back and took a seat. She programmed her address and sat back for the ride to her house.

  “So, Kelly, what have you been up to? Is it anything you can tell me about?”

  “Nope, not at all. We just went out on a short patrol. Nothing really exciting.”

  “Oh, well, I didn’t think you could say anything. I have spent a great deal of time around my dad.”

  They chatted on for a bit about matters other than Scout Force, until Candy announced, “Well, here we are, my humble abode.”

  Kelly did not think her house was humble at all. It was magnificent. It was a large, two-story house, built out of some local quarried stone that was very similar to limestone. The front elevation was three side-by-side arches. The central arch was the front door surmounted by a window. The two side arches contained large double height windows.

  Kelly followed Candy inside. The inside mimicked the outside. Her house was decorated in a style reminiscent of Moorish Spain. Large cushions on Persian carpets took the place of chairs and couches. Curtains instead of doors closed off rooms. The breeze through the open windows rippled the doorway curtains slightly. Beaten brass platters and sconces hung on the walls.

  “So, what do you think of my little place?”

  “It’s very nice. Did you decorate it yourself or bring in a professional?”

  “Actually, it came fully furnished. I loved the look when I first saw it. It's so unusual that I just kept it like it was.”

  “I like it, too. It’s exotic.”

  “Come with me and let me show you something.”

  Kelly followed her to the rear of the house. The rear matched the front with its three arches. The three arches were set out from the living area and enclosed a glassed-in porch, which overlooked a small swimming pool and garden.

  “Wow, what a lovely backyard. Has your mother helped you with the garden?”

  “No, that was all there when I moved in. Why don’t you follow me upstairs? I’ll show you where to clean up and change. You probably want to get out of your uniform.”

  Kelly walked up the stairs with her. She pulled aside a curtain on the right side of the hall.

  “This is the guest room. Drop your stuff in here. The guest bath is next on the right. Why don’t you get comfortable? We’ll eat lunch in a bit and then discuss what we’ll do tonight. I’m going to get comfortable myself. I’ll bring you a beer when I’ve changed.”

  Kelly grabbed a shirt and shorts and went to take advantage of her guest bath. Kelly hadn’t had a “Hollywood” or unmetered shower since he moved out of the BOQ. A long hot shower would feel great.

  Kelly stripped down and climbed into the shower stall. He had soaped up and was preparing to rinse when a hand holding a beer was thrust into the shower. Kelly took the beer and thanked Candy. He took a sip and got back to cleaning himself up. The unlimited hot water felt so good. Kelly luxuriated in the warm water. As he quickly finished the beer he also finished his shower. He reached out of the stall for a towel and it met his hand. He looked out and Candy was standing there with a towel in her hand. He took the towel and dried himself off. Candy called out, “Hand me the towel and I’ll dry your back.”

  Kelly stepped out onto a furry rug and handed the towel to Candy. She took it and dried his back. He looked at her in the mirror and she had a large smile on her face. He slipped on a pair of shorts and a shirt, took the towel back from her and hung it on the rack.

  He combed his military short hair with his hand and turned to get a good look at her. She was wearing a pearlescent, low cut, white caftan that left nothing to the imagination. The material was practically transparent. The view almost took his breath away. She grabbed his hand and led him back downstairs.

  “Let me show you the kitchen, in case you get hungry or thirsty. I expect you to make yourself at home and help yourself to anything you want.”

  She showed him hampers full of small loaves of bread, a fridge with cheese, meats, vegetables, and fruit. Beer and wine were kept in a small refrigerator under the counter. It was a well equipped kitchen.

  “Kelly, would you grab a bottle of wine and come out on the sun porch?”

  Candy pulled a cheese tray out of the fridge, got two wine glasses, and walked out to the sun porch. Kelly got the wine and followed Candy, enjoying the view.

  Candy set the cheese tray and glasses on a low table. She took several pillows, threw them up against the wall, and sat down. Kelly sat the wine down, realized he hadn’t gotten a corkscrew and went back to the kitchen. He looked in the drawer nearest the small fridge and got lucky. He took the corkscrew back to the porch, opened the bottle, poured two glasses and handed one to Candy. She clinked glasses with him and said, “To a pleasant visit.”

  Kelly asked, “Are you still going to take the job at JAG on base? If you do, aren’t you going to hate to leave this place?”

  “I like this place, but I won’t miss it. My law firm still treats me like a law clerk. It’s not going to work out. They are so testosterone poisoned, I think they only hired me as decoration. I’ve got no future there.”

  “Well, I hope everything works out for you.”

  Candy and Kelly sipped their wine quietly, watching the clouds pass by. Time passed slowly. She leaned forward, placed her glass on the table and took some cheese and crackers. Kelly couldn’t help but notice her right breast fall out of her caftan. She noticed too, smiled, and pulled the neck of her caftan up to cover it. Kelly smiled back.

  Candy got up, moved over to Kelly, pulled her caftan up to her thighs and sat down straddling Kelly’s lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a long slow kiss. Her warm body pressed against his.

  She broke the kiss and said, “I’m having a very tough time figuring out what I’m going to do with you, Kelly Blake. I like you a lot. I am very attracted to you. I just don’t know if I want a Fleet officer as a lover.”

  Kelly knitted his brow, “What’s wrong with Fleet officers?”

  “Well, they aren’t very reliable. They’re always running off on patrol and deployments and stuff with no advance notice. They have a very limited wardrobe. You can’t sleep over with them if they live on a ship.”

/>   “Oh, that. I thought you were going to mention the girl in every port thing.”

  “That, too.”

  “Damn, I thought I’d found a loophole there.”

  “You can’t use a loophole. I’m a lawyer.”

  “I must have forgotten that. It’s probably got something to do with your breasts poking me in the chest.”

  “Do they bother you? I could put them somewhere else.”

  “No! No! It did for a little while, but I think I’m getting used to it.”

  “Well, my legs are falling asleep. Would you like to go for a swim?”

  “I’d love to go for a swim. I bet the water is so much cooler here in the south. The water up north is so warm. You get no relief from the heat swimming in it.”

  Candy got up and helped Kelly to his feet. “Come on. The landscaping makes the pool very private. She shook the caftan off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor. She stood there for a heartbeat, achingly beautiful, and went out the door to the pool. Kelly took off the shirt and shorts and joined her.

  After their swim, they wore towels and lounged about outside while having lunch. A cool breeze raised goose bumps on Kelly’s arms. The sweet fragrance of some local flowering plant wafted through the area.

  Candy had prepared a fresh vegetable and fish salad. They ate it with a dressing made from some of the local wine. It made for a great afternoon.

  Candy asked Kelly what he had brought to wear. What he brought would decide where they ate. Kelly had a couple of pairs of slacks, one dress pair and one casual pair. He had two shirts, one casual and one dress. He had even brought a tie. He only had a pair of casual shoes, but they were new enough that they would go with either the dress slacks or the casual slacks. Their restaurant choices were wide open.

  “Kelly, I’m going to make reservations at the Triple Moon. It features Armstrong native grown vegetables, meats, and wines. I’ve got tickets for a musical. I’ll make our reservation for 1900 and we’ll have time for a leisurely dinner before the show at 2100. How about another bottle of wine?”