by Chris Hechtl
“Unless one asks the right questions to avoid being exposed. Which makes the testers possibly complicit,” Defender stated.
“Who watches the watchers? The best place to put someone in there is the AG and counter Intel shop too. We need to test the testers. Anyone we find complicit will have to have their records searched. It will mean everyone they did a security check on is a suspect,” the admiral said.
“Definitely,” Sprite sighed, envisioning the tangled mess that would evoke. “But it has to be done to find the guild members allowed into the military. Do you think they were behind the thefts? And the changes to Destiny's security system?” Sprite asked thoughtfully.
“Most definitely,” the admiral said before Defender could reply. “We'll have to monitor suspects with an AI, eventually bringing JAG into it too,” he said with a grimace.
“The more people that know ...”
“I am aware of that.”
“Are you aware that some AI may be compromised too?” Defender asked.
“Then check for that too,” the admiral ground out. Now he didn't like where this was going. Creating paranoia and distrust was destructive to morale and to the proper function of the fleet. So far the assassins weren't doing any more harm, but he wasn't ready to let bygones be bygones either. Besides, they might be playing kiss up to him but that didn't mean they may target other naval and marine personnel. For instance Jethro, he thought.
“That means Defender and I will have to do it personally. I doubt they could corrupt an AI I created though. Unless you suspect me,” Sprite said.
“I suspect everyone,” Defender rumbled with a base tone.
“Who asked you,” Sprite said to the other AI.
“Again, we're going in circles. Get the orders out. Classified cover to those we trust. Start with the AI. Buffer them to the ansible to be sent when Agnosta and Pyrax are connected to the network. Make sure Bast is in on this,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
“Admiral, you and I both read the report on Sergeant McLintock incident. His recent misadventure on Anvil with the guild,” Sprite stated. “He sent along a short list of everyone he spoke with. It confirms that Miss O'Neill was on the short list for people he spoke to and even hinted about the guild. She may have exposed him to silence him. That's a problem.”
“Yes, I know,” the admiral said, closing his eyes in pain. “We just don't know for certain.”
“You could have found out,” Sprite said quietly.
“How? Accessing her memories? That would show us some of what happened, but not her thought processes involved. So, no intent. Besides, you and I both know it is illegal.”
“I know, Admiral,” Sprite said.
“You didn't bring up ethical subroutines and programming when I did it,” the admiral accused, looking at Defender as well as Sprite.
“We supported it,” Defender stated. “There are times to follow the law, and times to follow the spirit of the law for a higher intent. That was one of those cases.”
“I think I've corrupted him,” Sprite said, shaking her head mournfully. “To see mister 'I am the law,'" her voice deepened into a falsetto similar to Defender's, "stoop to that? I have seen it all now,” she said.
“Hush,” the admiral scolded mildly.
“Well, if they know she's being watched you know they will kill her. Despite your relationship and her order to protect you,” Sprite said, changing the subject quickly.
“I know,” the admiral said.
“They could make it look like an accident. Natural causes,” Sprite said.
“I know,” he said, voice tightening into a growl of warning.
“And then you know that other people, innocent people could be caught in the crossfire when they take her out,” Sprite warned. He froze and then set his jaw.
“And you can't protect her. Especially if you are away,” Sprite warned him softly. “Like now.”
“I know,” the admiral replied with a growl. He closed his eyes and leaned against the window. “Damn it. Don't you think I don't know?!? And if I order protection for her someone will get suspicion. And hell if I'm going to bring her along with me! A reporter in one of the most classified facilities in the sector? One who may, no I admit, most likely is a spy of some sort?” he snorted.
“Admiral something has to be done about her. Soon.”
“We'll figure it out,” he said gruffly. “But not now.”
“Perhaps the assassins will do the job for us,” Sprite said in an aside to Defender.
...*...*...*...*...
The admiral surveyed the star system as they warmed up the hyperdrive at the B450a jump point. “Admiral, are you sure about this?” Captain Sampson asked nervously.
“Just get us into hyper here. On a vector to B450a,” the admiral ordered. “Once we are underway I'll give you further instructions,” he said.
“Aye aye, sir,” the captain said helplessly. The admiral felt for him. He was torn between duties. He'd understand eventually. Hopefully, he thought.
He was leaving behind a handful of warships. Corvettes and frigates, but ships like Fuentes, Viper, and Maine, as well. Cutlass was to be put in the yard hands again for an additional round of repair and refit. The factory ships Andrew Carnegie and Remora would continue to aide in the ship's repair as well as the yard and industrial growth. Remora should go out to Triang to speed up work on the orbital fortresses there he thought, but realized he was fretting. He put the idea aside.
As he watched the plot one of the two remaining tankers lumbered across the system. She was on course to refuel the inner system platforms while her sister ship was moving from jump point to jump point, moving fuel out to them. Colliers 5 and 6 had jumped weeks ago for home; they would pass Le More and Lieandra in hyper and arrive in another seven weeks, loaded with goods and some eager passengers.
The governor was busy holding more conferences with the delegates, hopefully something good would turn up there. With Captain Vargess in charge of the system and Vestri backing him up they were okay. They had to be okay, he thought.
He checked the video feed once more. The ansible core was properly secured in her cargo hold. All of her lights were green. Good. He'd doubled up on the core size because of the turbulence they were about to endure. He shook his head again. Was he making the right decision?
“Worried you are making a mistake?” Sprite asked softly. “You know it's okay to get cold feet,” she murmured.
The admiral set his shoulders. “No,” he said simply.
“Admiral. We're ready,” the captain reported.
“Then jump.”
ACT III
Chapter 32
Cookie's presence on board came as a slight surprise to the admiral. He shook his head at her expression when he finally did find out she was on board. “What? You can't get rid of me that easily,” she growled, eyes flashing at him in defiance.
“I didn't think I could,” he said with a shake of his head. Obviously Sprite had helped the steward get on board and had her hide out in the ship's galley or somewhere else until they were in hyper. He shrugged as he let it go. “To be honest, I didn't want to get rid of you at all. But where we are going could be very dangerous.”
“I'm going,” the woman said stubbornly, jutting her chin out at him.
“I see that,” he said, noting her resolution. He had to admire it. He studied her for a moment and then slowly nodded. It wasn't like he could put her off now that they were in hyper. He cocked his head to her. “Fine then. Welcome aboard,” he said, trying to keep his exasperation out of his voice.
“As if you had a choice,” Sprite said in amusement in his ear.
“The good news is, you can have my cabin while I'm on the bridge. I'll be spending most of my time there so don't be surprised if you don't see me,” the admiral told the steward. He smiled. “A tin can isn't really set up to handle a flag officer,” he said with a shrug.
“I see that,” she said with
a shrug as she looked about the quarters. “I'll make it work, sir,” she said with a firm nod.
“If you could take care of the other officers while I am occupied, I'd appreciate it. And I know they'll appreciate some of your deserts,” the admiral said with a smile. She nodded as he left the compartment.
When he was ready the admiral tied into the helm of Xavier. He had the medics set up life support for him and then he took over the helm and navigation personally. “This is going to be rough, Admiral,” Sprite warned. “We've never done this for so long on your own.”
“You have the program loaded for the helm, right? And you can spell me. We'll make it work,” he said, laying back. They had set course for the B450a jump point in hyper, mainly as window dressing for those watching in Antigua. Once in hyper he took over and redirected the ship on a new course. Captain Sampson was very nervous about the change in course. He hovered near the admiral.
The admiral glanced at him then back to the helm. “Unfortunately you and your crew do not have need to know about where this location is. So I have to keep you in the dark,” the admiral stated over the intercom. “Be assured, we'll get there just fine. That is all.”
“We're in good hands, sir,” the captain replied with a tight nod to the admiral's image and then to his bridge crew.
“I know you don't like being passengers on your own ship, but please resist the urge to access the navigational systems. Commander Sprite and I will get us to where we are going.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Then let's see how long I can fly her before I need a rest,” the admiral murmured, settling himself in for a long flight.
...*...*...*...*...
The crew wondered why and where they were going. “Admiral, we could spell you,” a helmsman said.
“You can spell, Commander Sprite. She can act as navigator,” the admiral said. The lead helmsman nodded. “But not me. You need to trust me.”
“We do sir. But this is taking a toll, even on you,” the chief said shaking his head.
“Tell me about it,” the admiral murmured. He could use the help, but what he really needed to do was get some rest again. Each time they dropped out of hyper it was at a preplanned location. During that time they traveled on a ballistic course Sprite set.
Navigating was difficult; the space around the neutron star was dangerous. Hyperspace was even more dangerous, there were a lot of mass shadows projected into hyper, making the transit tricky. They had to pick their way through carefully, every jolt of turbulence made the admiral wince. He was quite frankly concerned about the ansible core in the hold, he wasn't sure if it would survive the trip.
Twice they had to stop due to his exhaustion and to reorient. They traveled for several days distance in subspace, while he recovered and Sprite plotted their position and adjusted their planned course. When they were ready they and once the admiral returned to duty jumped back into hyper for the next leg of their journey.
“I take it we're going someplace secret. Okay, I got that. But why can't my helmsman help?”
“They are,” Sprite said. She had been forced to reduce their speed to the low octaves of alpha when the admiral took time off. “The problem is the admiral has to pick his way around the shadow masses and the hyper mines in the area,” Sprite informed him.
“Hyper mines?”
“The admiral knows their location, but only his IFF can keep them from striking us. However, the safest course of action is to avoid their interdiction range completely.”
“Oh.” That new tidbit of news seemed to both terrify and mollify the officer.
“I am glad we brought all that extra fuel. We're stuffed to the gills with fuel and parts. Even a small industrial replicator and a micro fusion reactor! We lost our fighter compliment to take them on,” the captain grumbled.
“Where we are going we'll need them,” Sprite replied soothingly. “Though we will hopefully not need the equipment. The fuel yes.”
“I just wish we knew where we are going.”
“For me it's a home coming,” Sprite said. Defender's eyes glowed at her through their shared link, a warning to not say anything further. “You'll see soon enough,” she said, ignoring the other AI.
The captain nodded as the AI extracted the next leg of their course and plotted it for the coxswains to follow.
...*...*...*...*...
“One of the things we worried about, he worried about was exhaustion,” Sprite said as Cookie came onto the bridge. The steward studied the admiral worriedly. “He's okay. I am monitoring his vitals. So is the ship's doctor. He is getting some rest. Not a lot, but some,” Sprite told the woman.
Cookie bit her lip, still concerned.
“The good news is, we're almost there,” Sprite informed her. “So, not much more.”
“But then we have to go back to Antigua. We are going back, right?” the steward asked.
“Of course. Yes, eventually we will. Hopefully we'll find what we are searching for.”
“But you won't tell us what it is,” the XO said, crossing his upper arms.
“No, sorry,” Sprite said cheerfully. “Think of it as a ... surprise,” she said when Defender glowered at her again. “You'll see. I think you'll like it if it is ... well, you'll see.”
“Aye aye, ma'am.”
Cookie nodded doubtfully then left the bridge.
...*...*...*...*...
Over a grueling long twelve week period the Admiral and AI commander guided Xavier to the secret fleet research station. The station was in deep space near the magnetar west from Antigua. The neutron star made a brilliant blue backdrop for the station. The Admiral had been there many times, he had built the facility initially from a couple of hollowed out asteroids and a factory ship. He had been traveling from Lemnos back to his new duty station when the ship carrying him had made its fateful encounter in Senka.
The Lemnos fleet research and development station was named after the Terran Greek Island that had been the mythical site of Hephaestus's forge. It was near a magnetar; a powerful neutron star to not only hide its location, few ships could go there, but also to allow the research scientists on board to study the star to advance their stellar projects.
It was on Lemnos that the admiral had directed the Nova bomb project, building off what the scientists had learned about stellar destruction. The station had been the primary research and development center for the sector. Under his guiding hand it had led to all sorts of advances during the initial war years.
“She's there,” Sprite said softly in the admiral's ear. He studied the image of the facility on the main view screen, then used his implants to shunt it to the holographic emitter built into the plotting table.
He turned and stared at it.
“Wow,” Captain Sampson said quietly from behind him. “I see now why you wanted to come here. An industrial center? So close to Antigua?”
“Not quite captain,” the admiral said mildly. He noted Defender's red glowing eyes and exhaled noisily. “I'm going to read you into the project captain to make this legal. But this must remain classified. Not only it's location but also what is here.”
“If we find what we're looking for it won't be classified for long,” Sprite warned from the intercom. “People have already noticed your absence and the direction Xavier took. When we return like Saint Nick loaded with a goodie bag, we're going to start all sorts of questions,” she stated.
“I'll cross that bridge when we come to it,” the admiral said reasonably. “For now,” he nodded to the image. “One thing at a time.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Shouldn't we have brought a bigger ship, sir?” the captain asked carefully. “I mean ...” he indicated the massive facility with his hand. “It's ginormous. There is no way we can fit even a tenth of what is in there in here. If there is anything to find.”
“Less than 1 percent actually,” Sprite said cheerfully. “But that is only if they didn't strip her clean. The good n
ews is she's not a debris cloud.”
“So not helping, Commander,” the admiral sighed with a shake of his head. He continued to study the slowly spinning complex.
“It looks like it was built out of ... I don't know, what was here? Floating around?”
“It was. I built it,” the admiral stated. He pointed to the group of rocks near one end. “This is what we started with. Actually this one,” he said, touching one of the rocks to highlight it. “It's hollowed out with a bay big enough to dock a small ship. Xavier can fit in there if she turns ninety degrees on her X axis.”
“Kind of tight sir,” the captain said cautiously.
“It is. So, we're not going to do that.”
“Should we be discussing this opening on the bridge?” Sprite asked, noting Defender. “A certain somebody is fuming so much I think I see steam coming out of his virtual ears,” she said dryly.
“What can a place like this do?” the XO asked.
“Wardroom,” Defender said abruptly.
“Fine. We'll read the senior officer in on the project in the wardroom,” Commander Sprite said, not quite hiding her exasperation.
That wasn't enough for Lieutenant Defender apparently. He cut the video of the station and then replaced the hologram with one of himself. His avatar stood there with his hands behind his back. “Until then everyone on the bridge is to consider this matter classified level ultra black. That means you are not to discuss it with anyone. Your implants will be monitoring you. If you discuss it, including as scuttlebutt you will be reported and you will face court martial. Is that understood?” Defender rumbled.
The admiral turned to look at the room at large. Eyes were wide and one by one the officers on the bridge nodded. The admiral nodded.
“I'll meet you there in a few minutes,” the admiral said, leaving the bridge ahead of them. The captain nodded and then waved his officers out. “Chief you have the con,” he said.
The coxswain looked up, clearly shocked. “Yes, you heard me. Don't argue,” the captain said. The coxswain gulped and then nodded.