Scout Force

by Rodney Smith

  “I’ll see what I can do. We’ve been held here on Armstrong for the test. We are past due to go out on patrol. When we do, it will be for at least a month. We’ll work something out.”

  Kelly kissed Angie goodbye. He watched her walk over and fall into her Squadron formation. LTC Matthews called them all to formation, gave a safety speech and ordered all personnel to their ships. The crew chief and pilots walked to their fighters, the pilots mounted up, and taxied out. Angie and Janey waved as they moved out. When the fighters all took off in four-ship flight formation, the crew chiefs and the rest of the squadron boarded three transport craft and also took off. In 30 minutes they would be in the Tau Ceti system. Kelly and Timmons walked back to the Vigilant to prepare for their upcoming patrol.

  That night, as he was about to turn in, Kelly checked his messages. The first message was from his bank. It showed an increase in his pay from the previous monthly statement. Kelly checked the calendar and realized he must have received a seniority pay increase. His next message, which was from the bureau of personnel, confirmed it. He could always use more credits.

  The next message was from Tammy. The space-going dry dock carrying her and the new shuttles would be arriving on Tuesday. She asked if he knew anything about a shuttle service to Tau Ceti. Kelly laughed and replied to her message with information on the new transport gate.

  She must have been sitting at a terminal, because her response came back almost instantly. In a few seconds an indicator on his screen told him that he had an incoming video conference request. It was from Tammy and he accepted. He had just come out of the shower and was wearing only a towel, but she would only be seeing him from the waist up anyway.

  The video conference program became active and a window showing Tammy’s smiling face appeared on the screen, “Kelly, it’s so good to see you again.”

  Kelly could see she was using a terminal in a public area of the ship. He reached behind him and pulled on a shirt.

  “Hey, I’ll be back on Tuesday. They are going to use my ship for maintenance training for a few days. I’m being given a few days off. I’d like to go back out to the lake. Would you be able to take some time off?”

  Kelly said, “I'm swamped at the moment. We're preparing for patrol and I don’t know if I can take any time off. My evenings will be free by the time you get here, though.”

  Tammy’s smile turned into a frown. “I was really hoping you could take some time off with me. I go back on flight status after the mechanics finish looking over my ship.”

  “Sorry, but that’s how things are. How about we meet for drinks when you get in and we play it by ear. I might be able to get a day off this weekend. It will all depend on what the captain brings back in the form of orders from HQ today.”

  “Okay, but drinks are on you. I’ve been on this slow, dry bucket of bolts for two weeks now. We would have been in days ago, if these idiots only knew how to maintain their engines properly. Can you imagine how excruciatingly slow power 2 is?”

  Kelly laughed, “I’ll see you when you get in.”

  Tammy put a pouting expression on her face. “See if you can get a couple of days off. It will be fun. I promise.”

  “We’ll talk when you get in. I’ll check with the captain and see what I can come up with. No promises, though.”

  “Oh, all right. See you when I get there. Bye.”

  The window showing her face flicked off. Kelly read through the remainder of his messages and turned in for the night. It would be the last full night of sleep he would get for a while.

  Chapter Eleven

  Now was the time for the mystery of the trade between the Indigo Consortium and the K’Rang to be solved. Kelly and Timmons were called to building 603 again a week later. They were met at the security desk by LTJG Taylor and escorted to the fourth floor. As they got off the elevator, they turned to the right and went through a set of double doors with a cypher lock.

  “Welcome to Fleet Intel,” said a Fleet Commander, “I’m CMDR Will Johnson. Come with me please. LTJG Taylor, we’ll call for you when were done.” LTJG Taylor left and CMDR Johnson took them into a small briefing room.

  “Captain Timmons, we want you to trail one of the Indigo Consortium freighters when it makes its next run. The Manchu Warrior will be leaving Secundus on the 15th of this month. That gives you a few days for some modifications and four days to get there. We want you to trail the Manchu Warrior such that they never know you are there. We also want you to trail them so that anyone else trailing them doesn’t know you are there, either.”

  Timmons asked, “Is there anything about this situation that you want to tell me, Commander? Following a freighter doesn’t require much from me and my crew. What else is going that on I should know about?”

  “Relax, Captain, I didn’t bring you here just to tell you what could have been put in a one page deployment order. We have more information to give you. You are not to share it with your crew. Only the two of you can know of this information until you are on your second day of patrol.”

  He fixed them both with a withering stare. “Do you understand?”

  They both nodded their understanding.

  “Alright, members of the Indigo Consortium board of directors have been conspiring for some time with the K’Rang. As you stumbled onto, the voyages of the consortium’s freighters have been the method they have been using to transfer information in exchange for flame stones.”

  “Mr. Delphant‘s death was in retaliation for the loss of the data you intercepted. We have been able finally to break the cypher on the information you brought us. It appears that there is a great deal more information there beyond just the technical information on the Blakes’ inventions.”

  “The consortium has been selling inside information on fleet deployments, composition, personalities, weapons developments, and other details. We think we have a solid lead on the source of the leaks. We also know that he needs to deliver one more block of data to a K’Rang courier. The K’Rang used Delphant’s death to convince this individual they were serious. We will close the noose on that individual shortly after you move out on patrol.”

  “We expect the Manchu Warrior to make a rendezvous with a K’Rang ship carrying their courier to receive the last data block. They will probably do it like the way you saw and interfered with, or they may not. Either way, we expect an exchange to be made on the next run of the Manchu Warrior. We will have Fleet Intel teams on the ground at all of their port calls. They will take care of the courier if the exchange happens on the ground. You are to take care of it if it happens in space or if the courier slips by our cordon.”

  “Your mission is to capture the K’Rang courier alive, with the data. You are not to interfere with the information exchange this time. It is imperative, however, that you take the courier alive and return him here. To that end, we will be sending you out with a special device in your weapons bay. It will be an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, weapon. It's designed to fire a very precise EMP charge, thereby frying any circuitry in its path. The beam is very focused, so that none of your circuits will be harmed. You will use it to disable the ship carrying the K’Rang courier. It won’t hurt the crystal data storage devices the K’Rang use, so the data will be safe. We will install a retractable assault docking collar in the rear of your weapons bay in the space dock. A boarding party will use it in breaching the courier’s ship’s hull.”

  Timmons was just about to speak, when CMDR Johnson continued.

  “You will embark a Marine platoon to act as your boarding party. They will be equipped with lethal and non-lethal weaponry to quickly subdue any forces on board the courier’s ship and snatch the courier. The platoon leader has been handpicked for this mission, as have the platoon members. They've been training for over a month.”

  “You'll get meet the platoon tomorrow. We'll shuttle you to Gagarin, to the Marine Special Operations Training Center, and introduce you. We have a special demonstration set up for you to
show the effectiveness of our techniques. It's important that you have faith in the abilities of your boarding party.”

  “Captain, do you have any questions?”

  LCDR Timmons said, “Sir, the Vigilant is not that big a ship. We don’t have a brig. How many prisoners do you expect we’ll have to haul back here? How far away do you anticipate we will be when we grab them?”

  “Well, Captain, it could be as few as one and as many as five or more. You could be ten or more days away.”

  Well, conditions will be pretty austere, but we can handle that. Do I have to wait until I’m in space dock to modify a space as a brig, or can I start now? If I have my crew work on it now, it can be ready before we lift off.”

  Commander Johnson mulled that over for a few seconds and said, “You can have your crew start now, but don’t tell them what it is for. Tell them you will be picking up some prisoners and bringing them back for court martial.”

  Timmons nodded his assent and asked. “Kelly, how about you? Any questions or concerns?”

  “No, sir. I might have some when I see the demonstration tomorrow, but nothing at this time.”

  CMDR Johnson said, “Good, then I’ll call LTJG Taylor to escort you out of the building.”

  LTJG Taylor met them at the double doors and led them down the elevator and out of the building. They walked in silence to a waiting shuttle and rode back to the Vigilant.

  When they reached the Vigilant, LCDR Timmons ordered Chief Watson to start fabricating a brig to hold up to six prisoners in the port stores bay. He told him that they would be picking up the prisoners to bring them back for court martial. He told him to make up a fully enclosed separate space to lock up one of the prisoners that would be testifying against the others. He told the chief that the prisoners were politically sensitive and to limit information to the absolute minimum. When Chief Watson started to ask a question, LCDR Timmons just told him firmly to follow his orders. Chief Watson was an old school chief. He said “Aye aye,” and carried out the order without further question.

  Timmons motioned Kelly into his ready room.

  “I’ll hold off on telling the Chief that we'll have about thirty guests on board, in addition to the prisoners, until we get up to space dock. We’ll just open up the starboard stores bay and install bunks. You'll have to bunk with the lieutenant. Pull down the overhead bunk in your cabin for him. We’ll put the senior NCOs in with the chiefs. The rest will go into the stores bay. Stack them three high. Better lay on some extra rations.”

  “Aye Aye, sir. I think we are okay on rations. We still have about a month and a half’s worth of rations in the stasis lockers from our last patrol.”

  “Okay, lay on two weeks’ more rations to give us a full two months worth. Don’t get anything fancy. We’ll feed this to the prisoners. Read up on what the K’Rang eat.”

  Kelly excused himself, went back to his quarters, and researched K’Rang dietary needs. He was not surprised to find their preferred diet was proteins, mainly fish and meats, raw or cooked. Vegetables were only a minor part of their diet. He laid on two weeks worth of some of the poorer cuts of meat and fish for the prisoners and arranged to receive them in space dock.

  When Kelly finished the requisitions, he looked up at the clock, realized how late it was, and turned in. The trip to Gagarin was the next day.

  The next morning, Kelly got up early and went off to breakfast. Kelly joined the captain, and they ate quietly together. LCDR Timmons read the news on his pocket terminal during the meal and didn’t say much. Kelly shared his mood and did the same. Wisely, none of the Vigilant crew that entered the mess hall came over to sit with or near them.

  At 0900, Timmons and Kelly rode over to the Shuttle Detachment. When they checked in, they were led out to the ramp and escorted to the new S-660. Tammy met them at the top of the ramp and welcomed them aboard.

  “Commander, welcome aboard the maiden flight of the City of San Francisco. Please follow me. You are my senior passengers today, so you can sit anywhere you please. I’m very proud of my new ship. If you would like a tour of the cockpit, we have a few minutes before the rest of the passengers arrive. I expect clearance from the tower shortly.”

  LCDR Timmons turned down her invitation, but he waved Kelly forward and took a seat. Kelly followed Tammy into the cockpit and was impressed. The S-660 was fairly robust for a planetary shuttle. In addition to the normal instrumentation for an atmospheric shuttle, he saw exoatmospheric instrumentation. With the transporter rings in the Antares and Tau Ceti systems, this S-660 had an interplanetary, interstellar capability.

  “This is nice, Tammy. It’s a lot more complex than I thought it would be. This cockpit looks like a dual position version of the F-53. I’m impressed.”

  Tammy practically beamed at Kelly’s compliment. “Of course, it lacks weapons; however, it’s got everything else that a Scout has, but the FTL drive. I hear the new 700 series coming out will have an FTL drive. But with your parent’s invention, we may not need to have FTL in the future.”

  “You may be right, but I think the military will still need FTL to cover the areas that won’t be served by rings.”

  Tammy’s co-pilot entered the cockpit and told her that all the passengers were onboard.

  “Kelly, meet Ensign Jim Stevens, my co-pilot. You’ll have to go back and take a seat now. I’ve got a ship to fly.”

  Kelly rolled his eyes, shook Ensign Stevens’ hand, said, “Aye aye, Captain,” and went back to join his captain. He settled into a seat, buckled up, broke out his pocket terminal, and caught up on messages.

  He was absorbed with his messages during lift off and climb into space. He completely missed Tammy’s announcement as they came into orbit. It wasn’t until she announced that shortly they would be docking at space dock that he even looked out the window. He noticed a frigate on one of the external docking arms.

  “Hey, Captain, did you know there was a frigate up here? It looks like the Tenacious.”

  LCDR Timmons leaned over to look out his window. “Yeah, that does look like the Tenacious. I wonder why they're hanging around. When the Bolivar Battle Group came through here last week, they must have broken something. Why don’t you see if there is anything in the reports?”

  Kelly keyed up his terminal and saw the yard report of a blown FTL engine. It was waiting for parts that were due in this week. He wondered why they didn’t just head through the ring to the better equipped yard at Gagarin.

  Kelly watched as Tammy made a perfect approach to the docking arm. She came to a complete stop next to the arm, applied side thrusters, and made a bumpless connection to the docking flange. Kelly was impressed.

  In the cockpit, Ensign Stevens looked over at Tammy and said, “Your friend should have been impressed with that one. I think that was your best docking ever.”

  She grinned and said, “I had to. I wasn’t about to give him anything to kid me over. You get to do it on the way back. I hope you’re up to it.”

  The transfer of personnel and equipment onto and off of the space dock went smoothly, and in under 30 minutes they were on their way. Kelly watched as the space dock receded and the transporter ring came into sight. He felt Tammy line up with the ring and increase speed. The ship went through the ring and Kelly felt the familiar cold and blackness, but with the increased speed, it went by much faster than during the initial tests, just a few weeks ago.

  He looked out as they came into orbit around the planet, Gagarin. Kelly felt the thrusters fire and the shuttle orient into re-entry attitude. Ships no longer burned into the atmosphere as in olden times. Modern engines gave the ships the ability to make a controlled spiral into the atmosphere. Heat shields were no longer a part of modern ship construction.

  They landed at the military spaceport and Kelly and Timmons left the ship behind a Fleet Commander that had gotten on at the Antares space dock. A marine captain met them at the bottom of the ramp and escorted them to a hover vehicle.

  “Comma
nder, I am Captain Roger Starr. I’m an instructor at the Marine Special Operations Academy. I’ll be your escort. It will take about thirty minutes to get to the academy. Relax, gentlemen, while I get us going.”

  The captain, actually equal in rank to Kelly, moved forward to sit next to the pilot and the shuttle lifted off. It quickly achieved altitude and sped off to the west. Kelly sat back and spent the time working though more of his messages. By the time he finished, they were maneuvering into a parking space near a large warehouse-like building. A group of marine officers were standing waiting for them as they debarked. The senior individual was a marine full colonel. Two majors and a Fleet commander accompanied him. Kelly and Timmons walked over to the colonel and saluted. His nameplate said Kumar.

  “Sir, I’m LCDR Timmons. This is my exec, LT Blake.”

  The salute was returned. The colonel reached over to shake Timmon’s hand and said, “I’m Rashid Kumar. Welcome to the Marine Special Operations Academy. I believe you know a nephew of mine.”

  LCDR Timmons smiled. “You must mean Rajna, sir. Doc is my Corpsman and a damn fine one at that.”

  “Rajna is my little sister’s boy. She always wanted him to be a doctor. I’m glad to hear he’s doing well. Now let me make some introductions and we’ll go inside. Commander Stew Thompson here is from Fleet Intel. He’s here to handle security for us while we’re training for this mission. These two are Majors Jones and Valicelli. Jones is my operations officer. Valicelli is my senior tactics instructor. You’ve already met Captain Starr. Let’s go inside.”

  They walked into the building, up some stairs, down a corridor, and came into a room with a set of stepped theater seats facing a curtain-covered wall.

  The Colonel motioned LCDR Timmons and Kelly over to sit next to him. Captain Starr sat on Kelly’s other side. The others took seats in the row behind them.