"Several motion sensors in the aft cargo room have been tripped."
"Shifting cargo from the solar flares we encountered?"
"Negative, I’ve analyzed the pattern of the movements, and only a person can trip it."
"Have you pulled up the video?"
"No, sir," Grove said, still trying to balance the calls of friendship and duty. "Article 4, Section 15 under the Principles of Man disallows any camera to record or display real-time video of any public area."
"I understand, but this is a war, and some rules are made to be broken," Parker said. He could hardly believe he was saying this. Before the war, he was the biggest advocate for the Principles of Man. But with all the sabotage, threats against his family’s life, and a war, he was constantly bending his old arguments about why the Principles were so vital to everyone. Safety was now his top priority. "Additionally, the cargo hold is hardly a public place at the moment. It was supposed to be sealed until we arrive on Mars."
"I will need you to authorize the activation codes," Atalo said, enunciating an emphatic ‘you’ to make sure Parker understood the gravity of the request.
But Parker already recognized they were treading into water few had dared stick their toes into over the past ten years.
He nodded his order to proceed.
The screen flashed green, and then the video from the cargo hold popped up.
At first, nothing happened, and then three images toward the back of the cargo hold formed. Judging by the curvature and the narrowness of their shoulders, there were two women sitting with their backs to the camera. The third was out of view, but Parker could see the person moving against the backdrop of shadows.
He leaned in but couldn’t distinguish any better. "Do we have another angle?"
"This is the only camera," Atalo said. "Let me try something." He tapped on the keypad and adjusted the analog stick on the terminal top. The image pushed in closer.
Instantly, a pang of anger surged within Parker. He recognized the third person’s face. "Jinx," he murmured. The other two were identifiable shortly after: Jan Falloom, Chloe Smith, and facing him, Seth Smith.
He let out a long drawn-out sigh. He had absolutely no idea what he was going to do with them. Without some emergency, he couldn’t send them back to Lunara, and Sarah would want them locked up. The anger within him was a mixture of frustration and disbelief they would put him in this position.
He turned to Grove. "Can I trust you not to tell anyone about this?"
"Of course. They are my friends, too."
"I’m not sure why they are here."
"They want to go to Mars."
"Obviously, but for what reason?" He shrugged. "Ty was adamant that they were not to go to Mars, and judging by their presence in the cargo hold, they went against his wishes."
"Even Jan?"
"She might go, for them," he said, brushing his hair away from his eyes. "I guess I’ll have to go down there and ask them. Your job is to make sure these sensors are shut off until I get them out."
Grove nodded and then closed the video screen and called up his Incident Report screen. "I will report this as an anomaly, and I will try to find them quarters on the ship. It will provide a better hideaway at the least."
"See if the brig has room," he said dryly and walked toward the doorway.
After several minutes of debate within his own mind, Parker slinked his way through the access tube to cargo bay five, hoping the pain and sore back were worth the effort. He knew if he released the cargo bay doors, the entire security force would be under yellow alert. A heightened state of readiness he wished to avoid.
Jinx! He wished to avoid his security officers for the next few hours. He couldn’t think of a worse situation than hiding stowaways on the most important ship in the fleet.
Finally, two stings in his back later, he came to the grate separating him from cargo bay five. He entered the pass code, popped it off, and slid inside the cargo bay.
He tiptoed behind the cargo crates and fuel barrels. Voices carried to him. Jan, Chloe, and Seth were talking about nothing in particular. Somehow, he wished he was seeing ghosts or distorted images, but they were real.
As soon as he emerged from behind the crates, the voices stopped, and all three of them turned toward him. No one said anything for about ten seconds; Jan had a dense gaze on her face as if she was surprised he had caught them, Chloe stared at him with her inviting eyes; somehow she knew he was coming, and Seth leaned back with a smile. With Parker finding them, he was so sure his luck was in.
He snapped at Seth first. "Wipe that smugness off your face. How did you three get up the nerve to board the flagship of the fleet and stowaway?"
"Park—" Seth began.
"We could have easily drained the oxygen from this entire cargo bay!" Parker had so many thoughts running through his head that he was not prepared to listen. "How would your trip to Mars have looked then? I would have identified three bodies. Bodies that housed the most tactless and disrespectful people I have ever met. You’re setting off every sensor in the cargo bay. How do you expect me to hide you?"
"We are coming to Mars to help," Chloe said. "I don’t need a lecture from you. I already received one from Ty and every other two-cent opinion on the station."
Parker shook his head. "Maybe the theme of the opinions was your first clue you should dock your butt on Lunara and protect yourself from further danger."
"I can find the metalor cache. That is why I came. Ending this war helps my ‘danger.’"
"The end of this war needs more than a cache of metalor and three misguided fools."
"When did you turn into such a straight rope?" Seth said with a smirk Parker wished he could wipe off with his fist.
Parker’s arms tightened. "It was around the time that my best friends were prisoners of the MSA. And the same time a planetary war was fracturing the society we all worked so hard to achieve. Do you realize the MSA want you? Really bad. I don’t know if it will be possible to hide you on Mars when the MSA find out you are there."
"We can fend for ourselves," Chloe said.
"Don’t tell me that. The MSA are the most powerful force in human history. By my estimation, when the MSA find you are on Mars, they will launch one of the largest counterstrikes in the history of human civilization. The MSA don’t care about other people’s lives and will hunt you down until you are caught."
"What about the rumors of a cease-fire?" Seth said. "The MSA is weakening. This is the best time for us to come and help."
"You just don’t get it," Parker replied. "The regrouping of forces is all part of the war. By the time we arrive, Aethpis could be lost. It could all turn that fast. You should have trusted Ty."
"We can always trade ourselves for peace," Chloe said. "It isn’t as bad as it will seem to you guys. Our capture helped open my eyes to a new world—"
"Stop trying to justify your actions." He waved his hand to stop the useless conversation. "Come with me now. I have Atalo holding the sensors, but we must move quickly so no one grows suspicious. If Sarah finds out you are aboard, you will be locked away or even executed. You are in her jurisdiction now."
"Thank you," Jan said. "We won’t forget it."
"What else was I supposed to do?" he said, walking away toward the access tube.
Chapter 26
"Madam, we’ve entered orbit over Mars," the deck officer addressed the minister from his station toward the front of the bridge.
Parker shifted his focus to his wife.
To his surprise, Sarah was silent as she looked across the red terrain of Mars. The normal clouds masking the globe stretched thinly to expose the surface. Even the legendary cracks of Phobos and the smoother exterior of Deimos showed on Mars’s near side to the sun.
Parker didn’t say it, but Mars had never looked more beautiful to him. From right to left, he picked out the west end of Valles Marineris as it tailed off toward the darkness, then to the north Olympus Mons and it
s three mountainous brothers, and finally Elysium Mons, the closest landmark to Aethpis colony. A nervous excitement tickled his body as he thought about touching down on the surface and watching Sarah walk the colonial halls of Aethpis. He was excited for her.
"So beautiful," Sarah muttered under the roar of the engines.
"Excuse me, Minister," Terry questioned.
She shook off her awe and looked across the bridge to Parker and Terry. "Mars is showing off today. It’s hard to believe that a war is happening below our feet."
Terry twisted his face. "I understand, madam."
But his tone convinced Parker that he was agreeing with her only because of a desire to end the discussion. Terry had been antsy the last few days, gripping a little tighter on his CommUn and hesitating on command directives. Sarah had tried to schedule plenty of leisure time, but with the shadow of war overhead, any hope seemed too fleeting to grab.
"Madam," Terry said. "Infrared and ultraviolet scanners are moving along the hull. I can’t scatter it so soon after disengaging our quickdrives."
"Raise the plasma shields," Parker said, knowing it would be useless now that they had a lock on their hulls. But at the very least, their scanned coils would need to be continually modulated. "And don’t spray any deaf bombs. The dispersion will confuse our spotters more then flooding their scanners."
"Minister McCloud," Captain Terry said, hurrying across the Sheriff’s bridge. "Two scout ships from the MSA fleet were spotted circling our ships at twenty thousand kilometers. Should we pursue them?"
"Negative," Sarah said. "I expected a response from the MSA. It is best if they know the power of our forces."
Terry bristled. "Such reconnaissance shouldn’t be tolerated."
Parker agreed. "Sarah, the MSA—"
"Our defensive formation has been fully established, and our spotters have not reported any cruisers," she said. "They can count us from the surface, so we aren’t showing any more than we should."
"But Minister," Captain Terry replied.
She raised her hand for him to stop. "We can’t break our defensive formation or we will be exposed. Monitor their positions, and if their scouts get too close, clip their wings."
"I don’t like the idea of them knowing our fleet strength and numbers," Parker protested. "The scout ships have had their way through Lunaran space. I don’t want that to happen on Mars."
"Neither do I," Sarah bit back. "But we can’t hide ships of this size under our skirts. Our heavy bombers and fighters are stowed inside the cruisers. They can’t measure our attacking fleet."
Captain Terry grunted, showing his anxiety, but he agreed. He scanned the surface for some answer and then turned back at her. "With your permission, I would like to send scout ships of our own to check if they return our courtesy."
"Affirmative," she said. "Also, until I can access the entire situation from the ground, I want us on full alert around the clock."
"Already underway, Minister," Captain Terry said. "When will you be shuttling to the surface?"
"How long is our window for a surface run?"
"Three hours total and then Aethpis will be on the dark side," he said.
"Very well, one hour will be fine."
"I’ll notify the fleet and form a squadron to escort you to the surface."
"My kids and Parker will be coming with me," she said.
"I have security business to attend to," Parker said.
"I need you on Mars with me." Sarah’s tone suggested that argument was futile.
"Of course," he said, knowing how much a return to Mars meant to her. But he needed to attend to three large problems and get them moved to Mars. Atalo, once again, would have to be a great friend to them. He had to keep his crew and Sarah separated. He wasn’t ready to choose between the two quite yet.
Chapter 27
"So what did you tell Sarah?" Seth said, leaning his hands against the rail of the platform overlooking the cylindrical abyss of the hydroxygen electrolysis processing plant. He turned and looked at Parker, who stood with a yellow warning light pulsating over his head. Through the thumping echo of the water table hitting walls below, he said, "So, what did you tell her?"
Parker looked at him, then panned around to Jan standing in front of him, Chloe beside the access door, and finally back to Seth, seeming to ponder his words. Parker stepped toward him. "I haven’t told her anything. Even with you safely on Mars, she will still consider you a threat to Alliance security. If they knew you were here, MSA intelligence would be crawling all over our side of Aethpis. It took every favor I had to get you off the Sheriff and down to Mars without Sarah knowing."
He furrowed his brow. "At the war tribunal, Sarah invited us to come to Mars. She should have no problem with us."
"That was when you were coming on her terms," Parker replied. "If she caught you here now, without any preparations to keep you away from the MSA, she would bury you so deep you could never come out. As long as Atalo and I are the only people who know you are on Mars, the secret will remain a secret. We can trust no one."
"But—"
Parker raised his hand and stopped Seth’s reply. "Before, Sarah could’ve leaked your presence through a set of controlled sources," he said. "It’s like a meteor run. We can’t throw all the stones into the hold at once or it would rip the Protector apart. We ease it in slowly to bear the weight and monitor the structural integrity of the hull. Instead of investigating shadows and dead ends, the MSA using your vulnerability will send everyone after you. We are the only ones you can trust."
"Besides Shannon," Seth said, shaking his head. "Since we are meeting with her, I guess we have already agreed to trust her."
Parker shrugged. "What else are we supposed to do? She has a lead on where to find Eamonn, and she specifically asked for you."
Seth nodded. "Getting Eamonn back should outweigh our safety. Remember we aren’t in mortal danger," he said, shaking his head in frustration. He took in a deep breath of the clean air within the cavern. "It was just the way she spoke about his capture. Should we believe her story? Going into MSA territory to rescue her son? He wouldn’t take the Protector for a personal mission. She isn’t telling us everything."
"Trust your Alliance allies," Parker said. "Shannon Buckley was a hero during the Battle of Lunara and that says a lot to me. Eamonn believes in her."
Chloe sighed from behind them. "He believed in me, too."
"The entire crew is back on Mars," a voice called to Seth’s left.
He shifted his feet into a defensive position but was relieved when he saw Shannon Buckley, alone, riding a hovertram across to their level. Past her, Seth noticed another yellow light flickering in the distance, similar to the one above them now, and no doubt the platform from where she had boarded.
He refocused toward Shannon; her reddish brown hair tied in a ponytail and her ever-focused eyes looking directly at him. "Mars is a big planet, and I don’t think breaking orbit means we are back together."
"As together as you can get," she said, slowing the hovertram against the platform. She disengaged the magnetic locking clasp, and with a punch of her fist on the control panel, she opened the waist-high cage and stepped onto the platform. "Any troubles convincing Minister McCloud to meet with me?"
Parker pointed at her. "She doesn’t know about our meeting or that Seth and Chloe are on Mars, and we would like to keep it that way."
"Actually, I was hoping for that," Shannon replied. "If the MSA catch rumors of Seth or Chloe on Mars, there will be no chance to rescue Eamonn with all the commotion they’ll create."
He laughed. "Yeah, we were discussing our arrival and how terrible it is."
For a handful of seconds, silence dangled, long enough for Chloe to step toward the group. "A strange place for a meeting," she said, focusing her gaze over the edge to the endless abyss below her.
"This was the only place I could guarantee no MSA spies would follow," Shannon said. "Parker has access, and I still
have high-level clearance from a previous mission." She eyed Chloe’s gaze, which was still trained on the edge in front of her. "Don’t like heights?"
Chloe tilted her head upward toward Shannon. "I will be fine," she said. "How are we going to rescue Eamonn?"
"We, no," Shannon said, leaning her hindquarters against the railing and crossing her arms. "Seth and I will be going to meet my informant to find out where Eamonn is."
Chloe placed her hands on her hips. "We are all going to help. Jan and I didn’t come to do nothing."
"Parker and I have already discussed it," said Seth, putting his hand up to stop her rebuttal. "You will be staying in Aethpis colony to find the metalor cache."
"No!" She balled her fists and her posture went rigid. "We…how could I not sense this?"
"You aren’t practiced enough yet." A sense of pride rippled through Seth, knowing he had managed to keep a scrap of a secret from her—his first in a long time. "Listen, you are the only person who can find the metalor cache. This isn’t a debate. You and Jan will stay in Aethpis colony to help Parker find the cache."
"He is right," Shannon said. "The first part of this mission is a two-person operation anyway. We can’t have a group of four or five running around Archeron Fossae. They don’t take kindly to strangers and definitely don’t like a horde of strangers."
Chloe looked at Parker for an argument, but he looked back at her and shook his head.
Seth was glad Parker backed him up. Sure, they all wanted the crew back together, more than anything in the solar system, and they tasted the opportunity to go into MSA territory and bring Eamonn back. But it was his burden and his ability that could get his captain back. Parker was too valuable to the security of the minister to go, Jan was a pilot—a damn good pilot—but her talents weren’t useful to this mission, and Chloe couldn’t go because of her value to the Alliance. This was his mission, his danger, and his fate. "It is for the—"
"Best," Chloe said, then shook her head. "I understand all your logic, and I’m surprised you were able to keep it from me. You and Parker going behind my back to make secret plans, how could you?"
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 51