Scout Force

by Rodney Smith

  The Vigilant turned back to land on New Alexandria, on the request of the New Alexandria authorities. The ramp dropped, and the captain went out with the Exec, Chief Watson, Chief B, and three gunnery crew members. All went armed. Chief B had a sensor pack and a hand sensor.

  A Defense Force first lieutenant came over and saluted. “Sir, General Holcomb sends his complements and asked me to escort you to his headquarters.”

  The Vigilant team followed the lieutenant to a collection of large hover vehicles arranged as a mobile command post. They were led into the largest vehicle and General Holcomb came over. He was a short, balding man, but with a weightlifter’s physique. The Vigilant team saluted and had their salute returned.

  “Saluting is not necessary indoors, Captain. Stand easy. I know you Fleet guys do that, but it’s not required here. I want to thank you for your timely assistance. We’d have lost a lot more soldiers if you guys hadn’t come along. When you attacked the lighter carrier, the K’Rang lost all interest in what they were doing. They ran for their lighters and lost all discipline. It was a rout at that point. We didn’t take any prisoners. They even shot their own wounded.”

  LCDR Timmons made introductions and asked, “General, do you have any idea what they were trying to do?”

  “No, Captain, they were attacking this industrial complex. We are checking to see what is in here. None of the companies are defense related. There are a couple of electronics manufacturing firms, but they are mostly consumer electronics producers. I can’t see any reason for a battalion-sized assault.”

  On a hunch, Timmons asked, “General, does the Indigo Consortium have a facility here?”

  The General looked over at one of his staff officers and asked for a listing. The major passed a data tablet over to him.

  “Yes, the Indigo Consortium has a shipping office here. It was right in the area that took the most damage when they came in.”

  “Sir, with your permission, I’d like to send a couple of my people to go over and have a look.”

  “Sure, Captain, we are under martial law here at the moment and you can go look at whatever you want. If you want I can arrange transport for your folks and a guide. I see you are all armed, but I’ll send a security squad along just in case any stray K’Rang are still around.”

  “Thank you, sir. Exec, take Chief B and a couple of the gunners and have a look around. See if you can find out what the K’Rang may have been looking for.”

  The first lieutenant that greeted them on landing was their guide. He led them out to a small hover vehicle that already had a security squad onboard. They lifted off and flew over the industrial complex to a row of warehouse-sized buildings, and landed near one building that had taken several pulse cannon hits. The New Alexandrian security squad dismounted first, established a perimeter and the lieutenant led them off. “The Indigo Consortium offices are over here.”

  It was obvious as they got closer what part of the building was occupied by the Indigo Consortium. The door had been blasted in and the offices were in a shambles. Kelly had Chief B unship her sensor pack and give him her hand sensor. Kelly checked for life signs in the building while Chief B got the sensor pack on line. The building was devoid of life. Kelly could see several indications of bodies. Chief B gave him a thumbs up signal and they proceeded inside.

  One of the security squad led the way. They passed through a lobby and reception area and came to a double security door that had been blown in. A body was just inside the door. The blast had thrown the door at him and crushed him against the wall, almost cutting him in half. His office attire identified him as an employee. They went on.

  They came to a vault where the door had been cut through. A crew-served pulse cannon sat abandoned in front of the door. When they walked inside they found three more bodies, a man and two women, that had obviously attempted to take shelter in the vault. The man had died a rather gruesome death. His body was almost skinned. Kelly supposed he had some information the K’Rang needed and they tortured it out of him. The women’s throats had been slashed. They stepped carefully around the blood pools.

  Chief B put the sensor pack on full record mode and set it in the middle of the vault space. Kelly went over to the man’s body and located his identity card. He was James Fulks, the Indigo Consortium general manager on New Alexandria.

  Kelly looked over at Chief B. “Can you tell if anything is missing, Chief?”

  “Nothing so far, sir. I’ll know more once we run the sensor pack recording through the ship’s system. My eyeballs tell me they concentrated on this locker area here.”

  Chief B was standing next to a bank of lockers. The K’Rang had been systematically burning into the lockers. They had gotten through half of them before they stopped. That must have been when word of the Vigilant’s attack on the lighter carrier must have reached them.

  Kelly spoke in low tones to Chief B. “Chief, I don’t think they found what they were looking for. Could you open these other lockers for me?”

  Kelly led the lieutenant and the security squad member out of the vault, telling them that the sensor pack would work best with them out of the room. This would allow Chief B to do her magic. Chief B had lock opening techniques that only Fleet knew, and they wanted to keep them that way. Kelly left a gunner at the vault entrance to see she wouldn’t be disturbed.

  A few minutes later, Chief B came out to talk to Kelly in low tones. “Sir, the K’Rang stopped just short of their goal. The last locker they were working on had what they probably were looking for. It’s a data device. It’s in my pocket. Remember what we found on that K’Rang ship we shot up on last patrol? This looks like a copy of that data.”

  “Hmmm, keep it in your pocket. What was in the other lockers?”

  “They all just contained gold and gems, sir. None of them had flame stones.”

  “Okay, let’s keep wandering around for a bit to disguise that we found what we were looking for and then we’ll return.”

  Kelly and his team wandered around for a bit, poking here and there. He called the lieutenant over. “I think we’ve seen all we can here. Let’s get back so we can have this data analyzed by our ship’s computers.”

  They boarded the hover vehicle and headed back to the command post. When they landed, the General and the captain were waiting for them. “Exec, what did you find?”

  “Sir, it appears that the K’Rang raiders were after gold and jewels at the Indigo Consortium. They had burned there way through half the vault’s lockers before we interrupted their party. If you check the wreckage of the lighters, you might find the gold and jewels they took.”

  LCDR Timmons turned to the General. “Sir, with your permission, I’d like to get back to my ship so I can make my reports and analyze the data we’ve collected. I’ll forward whatever we discover to you.”

  “Thank you, Captain, please accept the thanks of myself, my men, and my government for your assistance today.”

  The team exchanged salutes with the General then walked back to the Vigilant. On the way back, Kelly briefed the captain on what they found. LCDR Timmons was not surprised.

  Chief B hooked the sensor pack and the handheld into the ships computer. Sensors would spend the next few hours analyzing the data. Kelly and the captain went to the galley for lunch, filled their trays and proceeded to LCDR Timmons’ ready room.

  “Kelly, I’m going to recommend that the engineers take another look at the data we got off that K’Rang ship last patrol. The K’Rang want it too much for it to be low-level technology. Either the techies don’t know what they are talking about or don’t want to let us know what it’s about. I’d like your folks to look at the data, too.”

  Kelly prepared a full report of their combat with the K’Rang ships to send to the New Alexandrian authorities. With the captain’s okay, he transmitted it.

  The New Alexandrian Defense authorities requested the Vigilant return in a week and land at the Jefferson City Spaceport, the New Alexandria capi
tal city. The officials wanted to bestow honors on the ship and its crew. The captain made Scout Force aware of the request and got their approval.

  The Vigilant continued its Scutum sector patrol to provide warning of any further K’Rang incursion into GR space. A reinforcement GR cruiser squadron moved into the area to provide a visible deterrent to any K’Rang plans for revenge. A week later, the Vigilant made its way back to the New Alexandrian capital.

  The captain gave orders to Chief Watson to give the ship a quick once over in case they had to entertain visitors. Chief Watson set off to get the crew polishing and cleaning the ship. Crew, chief, and officer quarters were inspected and brought to Chief Watson’s high standards. Classified material and components were properly secured. The ship was ready for company.

  The Vigilant made a slow, deliberate approach to the Jefferson City Spaceport, making a classic textbook landing. It was obvious where they expected the Vigilant to touch down. There were a reviewing stand and bleachers sitting on the apron. The Vigilant’s best helmsman brought them to a perfect landing within feet of the reviewing stand. The gangway ramp was lowered and the captain, Kelly and Chief Watson, in their dress uniforms, disembarked. A senior New Alexandrian functionary met them.

  He walked over to LCDR Timmons and shook his hand. “Captain, I’m James Marcus, Special Assistant to the Governor. Let me first thank you for your help in the Battle of New Alexandria. That’s what we are calling the K’Rang invasion. If you will follow me, I'll take you inside the terminal and brief you on the events we have planned. We want to clear everything with you, of course.”

  They were led into a plush VIP room in the terminal, where a host of functionaries were waiting. After brief introductions,

  Mr. Marcus started his briefing. “There will be a reception today at noon at the Jefferson Hotel for you and as many of your crew as you can spare from your ship. There will be rooms for all of you. If you will let me know how many and the name and rank of your personnel, I will arrange it. In fact, if you could furnish me with a complete crew roster, it will make preparing the awards easier.”

  “There will be a memorial ceremony for those lost in the attack at 1400 hours. As many of your crew as you wish may attend. Just let me know how many and their ranks so that I may set aside seating. There will be an award ceremony and dinner at 2000 at the Governor’s Mansion. The Governor’s Security Office has asked that no more than ten of your crew attend and that you not be armed, not even with ceremonial weapons. Tomorrow, there will be a breakfast with the Planetary Defense Commander for you and your second-in-command. There will be a second award ceremony at Defense Force Headquarters for you and as many of your crew as can attend at 1000. Finally, there will be a victory ball at the Jefferson Hotel at 2000 hours for your entire crew or as many as you can spare.”

  “I will arrange for transport for you and your crew to all of the events, if you will give me that list with names and ranks. I have a van and driver that will be parked here at the terminal for your use. Just call the number on this card and it will come to the gangway and pick you up. Here is my card; if you need anything else, call me.”

  The next two days were a whirlwind. The Vigilant was given a unit commendation by the Governor of New Alexandria. LCDR Timmons and Kelly were each given the New Alexandrian Order of Valor, a gaudy gold and bejeweled medal on a red and white neck ribbon. The Chiefs were all inducted into the New Alexandrian Legion of Valor, a smaller, but no less gaudy medallion on a blue neck ribbon. The whole crew was awarded the Golden Shield of New Alexandria, a gold medallion in the shape of a lion’s head that went on the left breast pocket. If Kelly was going to fit all these awards on his uniform, he would have to gain some weight.

  The officers and crew were feted for two days. No crewman bought a single drink. The single ladies of New Alexandria all wanted to be on the arm of one of their gallant male defenders. Kelly, with his bemedaled mess dress uniform, was in particular demand. He never wanted for a pretty and attentive escort. He had to arrange to be called away on important ship’s business a couple of times to save him from a too-attentive escort.

  The men of New Alexandria also strove to have a female crewman on their arm at the festivities. Chief Blankenship as the senior female crewman was in high demand. Kelly had to admit that she was a fine figure of a woman in her mess dress uniform.

  The receptions, ceremonies, and dinners were almost too much for the crew. Hungover crew members, chiefs, and officers lifted ship the third day and headed back to Antares.

  On the final morning, Kelly worked through his hangover. They had managed to download messages while on New Alexandria. His message queue seemed to be filled with messages from young ladies of New Alexandrian society, asking him to return again some day. Kelly quickly scanned through them, and found messages from Candy, Tammy and Angie.

  Candy’s message was news of her new job at the base JAG. She was staying with her folks until he returned. She wanted him to help her hunt for some land around the base. Her hiring bonus would allow her to purchase an air car, so distance was not a concern. She was thinking about a place in the country. There were some mountains to the west that she wanted to explore. He was invited to accompany her. She might even have the air car by the time he returned.

  Kelly thought wandering in the mountains with her might be fun and looked forward to it.

  Tammy had sent three messages. The first was more on her transition training. She was really enjoying the orbital component of her training. Her instructor pilot had let her have free rein on one orbital flight and she had really put the transport through its paces. She described it as almost as good as sex.

  Her second message was to tell him that she had done so well in training that she would be returning to Armstrong early. They were sending her back with the first of the new S-660 transports. It would be transported on a space-going dry dock ship. She would be a week getting back to Antares. She hoped to be back by the time his patrol ended. Her third message was to tell him that she had loaded her transport on the dry dock ship and she was shipping out. She would see him when they both got back to Armstrong.

  Angie’s message was short and sweet. She would be on Armstrong for a month as their fighter squadron would disembark from the Bolivar and be stationed at Antares Base for a time. They were supposed to be taking part in some experiment. It was all hush hush and they wouldn’t know what it was until a week after they arrived on Armstrong. She insisted that he be there to greet her and show a lady a good time.

  Kelly thought to himself, how was he going to juggle three women at the same time. Oh well, he hoped they would all like each other.

  After he got his personal messages out of the way, he set himself to the task of figuring out what signature had given them away to the K’Rang torpedo. The Valiant class scout ships were supposed to be the stealthiest ships in the Fleet. They had special scan-reflective hull coatings, their engine exhaust was shielded, and not even their shields emitted a recognizable signature, at least that was the theory. What could have given them away so readily?

  He left his quarters to seek out Chief Blankenship. He found her sitting at one of the sensor positions, with headphones on, and concentrating hard on a sensor display in front of her. Her jump suit was unzipped to the waist and pulled off her shoulders. She was wearing a thin tank top normally part of the physical training uniform. When Kelly tapped her on the shoulder after unsuccessfully attempting to get her attention, she nearly jumped out of her chair.

  “Damn, sir! Don’t sneak up on me like that! You just scared the hell out of me.”

  “Sorry, Chief. What had your attention so riveted?”

  She looked down and took a few calming breaths. Kelly watched her chest move up and down, but broke contact and was looking in her eyes when she sat up straight.

  “I’ve been analyzing the data from the original torpedo. That thing picked us out of the whole Scutum sector. I’m trying to figure out how it did it.”
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br />   “That’s exactly what I was coming here to talk to you about. It was almost as if they knew we were here.”

  “Exactly, sir. The Vigilant should have appeared like any other spot in space. What could they have homed in on? When we get back, we need to have our ship tested against this new K’Rang sensor we have installed. I’m running diagnostic tests on the ships sensor array to make sure we aren’t emitting some unintentional signal and missing it.”

  “Chief, I’d like you, Chief Watson, and me to meet with the captain on this. We need to figure out what gave us away so easily.”

  Kelly arranged for all four of them to meet in the ready room. The captain also wanted Chiefs Miller and Billings in on the discussion.

  “Exec, this meeting was your idea. Why don’t you start us off?”

  “All right, sir. I have concerns with how easily the K’Rang torpedo was able to pick us out of the entire Scutum sector. That torpedo was launched from the K’Rang ship and made a high speed run, just below FTL, through the longitudinal axis of the sector. On its return trip it turned toward us and proceeded to make a weaving path toward us, as if it was constantly refining its bearings as it got closer. If we had stayed where we were, the calculations show, it would have hit us dead on. Now Chief B and I have gone over the sensor logs and the ship logs. We found no signal emitted from the ship. We found no movement of the ship or of the turrets that could have given us away. The K’Rang torpedo shouldn’t have been able to home in on us like that. It was not actively scanning.”

  Chief B said, “Sir, I have run a full diagnostic on the ship’s sensors. They are operating better than specs. If there is something giving us away, it’s something the sensors can’t pick up.”

  Kelly broke in, “Sir, we’d like to modify one of the probes we have on board to apply the K’Rang sensor suite to it. We’ve checked the inventory. We have enough spare parts on board to rig it up. I’d like to launch that probe and use it to analyze the Vigilant’s signature. We’re going to be out here on patrol for another week; we can schedule it so it doesn’t interfere with our normal patrol duties.”