by C. R. Daems
"When is the Oedius scheduled to leave and what is its next stop?" I asked, and crossed my fingers. Several minutes later, Leyva spoke.
"The layover in Fire Rock is four days. The next stop is Oxax."
"Continue to monitor. Maybe we will get lucky," I said, feeling the space djinni had just crashed the party.
"What now?" Gillette asked, and I felt her amusement."
"Nothing my mother is going to like," I said, and Gillette frowned. I pointed to my Purple Heart ribbon with its silver and bronze clusters. "If they don’t come up with a contract in the next two days, I'm going to need you to arrange a meeting with the captain of the Oedius on your ship."
* * *
Captain Gillette arranged to have dinner with Captain Murphy. At dinner she convinced him to return to the Zelus using Webb's name and vague orders. I thought that better than mentioning my name. She had me wait for her in the conference room.
"Anna, it looks like you are going to do something really dangerous and stupid," Pannell said as we sat waiting.
"Paul, I trust you to keep me safe. I promise to help and to listen to your advice."
"I noticed you didn't say ‘and take your advice.’"
"We can't let killers like this go free, Paul. They tarnish the UAS service and the Marines." I gave him my best little-girl look. He shook his head in disgust.
"I'd rather that than seeing you hurt."
Just then the security guard in the hallway knocked and announced Gillette and Murphy coming. Pannell nodded to let them in. We stood when Gillette entered.
"Captain Murphy, this is Commander Paulus and her security, Colonel Pannell."
Murphy glared at me for a long time before speaking. "The NIA agent who is fast-tracking on the backs of good Naval officers," he growled, his face an image of disgust.
"An interesting observation, Captain Murphy. I would imagine you are talking about Captains Sharat and Dixon." I waited until his head jerked, which I took as confirmation. "Both had much authority but forgot they are employees—"
Murphy interrupted, "Employees? They are captains in charge of UAS Cruisers."
"Correct. They work for the UAS Navy, hence they are employees with superiors, and as officers they are responsible for their decisions and for the people in their care. I talked back to Sharat and rightly given a letter or reprimand, Sharat made the decision to enter into a known trap and Nixon threatened my life. Their superiors—the men they work for—judged them, not me. So if you want to accuse someone of ruining their careers, I would start with Sharat and Dixon, who forgot they are employees and accountable for their actions." I smiled and took a sip of my coffee, awaiting Murphy's reaction. He walked over to the sidebar and fetched a glass of wine before returning to the conference room table.
"What do you want?" he asked cautiously. I handed him my ID and Webb's letter. As he read the letter, Red made his entrance with his head lying on my shoulder, facing Murphy. "What does that have to do with me?"
"Admiral Lulltrel asked me to look at…" I wanted the captain on my side and decided to start at the beginning so he would have a complete picture. His face tightened when I informed him he had HoBos on his ship.
"And since they didn't have a contract in Fire Rock, you can't identify them. Why can't you just follow them back to Oxax… Oh, you think their contact on Oxax will warn or just ignore them." Murphy was quiet for a while. "So you want to be a passenger on the Oedius? What good will that do?"
Pannell spoke before I could. "The HoBos have a five million credit Dead Reward on her and are tracking her activity."
"Five million? Why?"
"Because she broke the Hijackers operation and they are afraid she will break the HoBo organization," Pannell said.
"She's had help…" Murphy said, implying others were involved in the cases.
"When Commander Paulus took command of the Eastar NIA station, the Hijackers and the HoBos had been operating for two years. No one had a clue we had FPU cruisers in UAS space or organized crime operating out of UAS cruisers. Don't let her age fool you, Captain."
"You think they will attack her on my ship?" Murphy asked, frowning. Pannell laughed and lifted my jacket, which was on the empty chair next to me, and pointed to the Purple Heart ribbon.
"She has been attacked on the Tityus, Vulcan, and the Scylla as well as in NIA headquarters buildings. Yes, they will try."
The discussion went on for six hours. It was morning before Murphy left to make arrangements.
* * *
"I've heard they changed our next port of call," Corporal Sisck said. Sergeant Gavin nodded.
"From Oxax to Eastar, which is strange since that isn't on our normal circuit," Gavin said as he scanned the exercise room. Finding the man he was looking for, he waved to a broad-shouldered man lifting weights, halfway across the room. The man nodded, picked up a towel, and wiped sweat from his body before striding in their direction.
"What's up, Gavin?" Sergeant Hass asked after draining half a bottle of water.
"Do you know why we changed our schedule?" Gavin asked. "I hear we are going to Eastar instead of Oxax. That isn't in our normal patrol area."
"I heard some VIP boarded the ship several hours ago, accompanied by four Marines." Hass gave a shrug of indifference.
"That's strange, as they aren't being quartered in the Marine area," Sisck said.
"Might be a good thing, since our contact didn't have anything for us," Hass said just above a whisper. "Maybe we will get lucky in Eastar."
"I don't know. Several of our mates have gotten stung lately. Might be a good time to retire," Gavin said.
"Why? They screwed up. The police and the Navy will consider those isolated incidents," Hass said, shaking his head.
"You know they destroyed the Hijackers… Could be they discovered their connection with us. If so, it could be just a matter of time."
* * *
"I've solved your problem, Gavin," Sisck said as he entered their quarters later that evening.
"Which problem was that?"
"Wanting to retire." Sisck smiled.
"I've five more years to go before I can retire with a full pension."
"Don't need one if you got well over a million credits in the bank." Sisck laughed at Gavin and Hass's confused expressions. Finally Hass spoke.
"Something in Eastar?"
Sisck shook his head. "No. The Oedius has delivered us the Golden Fleece. He produced a bottle of Scotch and poured some in three glasses, picked up one, and nodded to the other two. "To a life of excesses."
"If something sounds too good to be true…" Gavin said, frowning at Sisck.
"What's the catch, Sisck?" Hass asked.
"Commander Paulus is the VIP they brought on board yesterday. She's in the room across from the XO, and her four Marines are in the adjoining two rooms," Sisck said. "I talked with Corporal Larson. He was on duty when they assigned her quarters."
"How did he recognize her?"
"He didn't. But he said she had a red-headed snake around her neck."
"I don’t like it," Galvin said. Killing her on the ship won't be easy…and there will be a massive investigation, even if we could pull it off."
"If we do it at night, very few will have alibis, since they will be sleeping," Hass said, as he picked up the glass of Scotch and raised it.
"The trip to Eastar will take another five days. That gives us four days to see if we can come up with a plan that gives us a reasonable chance of success," Gavin said, picking up the remaining glass and raising it to touch the other two.
* * *
The flight from Oasis to Eastar was going to be the longest of his career, Pannell thought as he entered the Oedius with Captain Murphy and four Marines. They were met by the XO, who was the OOD when they arrived. Murphy led them to the conference room and waited with them for the next hour as four more Marines joined them, and a half hour later the XO.
"Thank you, Michele."
"What's
going on, Captain?" Commander Michele Lamb asked, looking around the room at the assembled Marines.
"This is Colonel Pannell, who is providing security for the NIA team, which has been investigating the Hijackers and a criminal organization called the HoBos… It took Pannell over two hours to explain the Hijacker and HoBo activities, Commander Paulus's participation, as well as the efforts of the HoBo to kill her, and the current reward.
"Five million credits! They must really hate her…and you're bringing her aboard the Oedius. Where is she… Shit!"
"You guessed right, Commander. You have HoBos on the Oedius, and we are hoping they are going to try to collect the five million." Pannell went on to explain the plan.
* * *
I approached the Oedius with my four-man detail following me. It was early and only a few crew were in line. I stepped up and handed my ID to the Officer on Deck and waited. He checked my ID and me several times and looked to the XO, who nodded. He saluted.
"Welcome aboard, ma'am."
"Welcome aboard, Commander Paulus. It's a pleasure to meet you," Lamb said.
"Thank you, Commander Lamb. I'm looking forward to being on the Oedius," I said. Lamb frowned but said nothing. After the Marines where admitted, she led me to my quarters.
"If you need anything, Commander Paulus, my room is across the hallway." She shut the door and I sat waiting. In the next half hour, the captain would call his office guard into the room to witness Commander Lamb's signature on a fake document. I opened the door when I heard a soft knock. It was Pannell, and I followed him to the conference room.
"Well, I think we have left enough clues to your identity that the HoBos will know you are on board the Oedius. The question is whether they will take the bait," Pannell said, looking concerned. "I hope five million is sufficient for them to think it's worth the risk."
"I just hope they don't kill the Marine guarding the captain's office," I said, hoping they used gas or something. They did appear reluctant to kill Marines.
"It wouldn't surprise me if the guard on duty wouldn't be one of the HoBos. The captain will be monitoring the list to see if there are any changes over the next few days. I just hope they act quickly. Living in the conference room is not going to be fun." Pannell shrugged.
* * *
"We are all set," Sisck said, smiling as he opened a bottle of beer and sat on Galvin's bed. "I'm on the schedule to guard the captain's office during the night shift tomorrow."
"How are you going to get into her room?"
"With this." Hass held up a hand-sized box. "It's illegal but it will open any electronic locking mechanism. You give us the all-clear signal, we open her door, shoot her, shoot you, and leave."
"They are going to know it was Marines," Galvin said, still uneasy about the plan.
"No. They are going to know it was a crew member. So they will have close to five hundred suspects. And they aren't going to detain hundreds of personnel, and they would have to because they can't assume anyone is innocent," Hass said. "More likely they will monitor everyone, hoping the shooter will reveal himself."
"Just make sure you shoot me in the left shoulder."
"Don't worry, regen will have you as good as new in a day or two."
* * *
Two nights later, with Sisck on guard duty, Galvin and Hass made their way down silent corridors to the officers' quarters and toward the Bridge where Sisck stood guarding the captain’s office door. He smiled as his two mates approached. Hass pressed the box against the access plate and the door slid open. Galvin stepped into the room as he couldn't see the woman's head. When he pulled the sheet back, it revealed pillows.
Just then two Marines stepped out of each of the adjacent rooms as Pannell and six Marines exited the conference room.
"Drop the weapons," Pannell shouted. Galvin looked at Hass who shrugged. They hadn't killed anyone so there was no sense fighting to certain death.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
One Month Later
I lay on my bed, sulking. I didn't move when I heard Alexa entered the house, nor did I move when she went upstairs to change for dinner. When I heard her start downstairs, I rose and stomped my way downstairs. Alexa stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching with an amused look.
"You look like you had a bad day, my daughter," Alexa said, and put her arm around me as we walked to the dining room. "I would think you would be happy. Admiral Keller has been arrested, along with the HoBo leadership. He allowed them to operate as a government unit under his organization for a monthly payment. And the police, along with the NIA on each planet, have investigated the contacts and software companies you identified. They have isolated those individuals who were working with the HoBos. As a consequence, the organization has been shut down. Even Sergeant Carrillo and Corporal Trejo have been captured. Without the HoBo organization, there was no one to pay the reward on you, so they moved inland. And without money to disappear, they weren't difficult to locate. So you and your team were successful."
"That's part of the problem," I whined. "Admiral Lulltrel had an impromptu staff meeting today and invited my staff. When she arrived, Admiral Webb was with her. He praised my team for their excellent work on Project Rabbit and informed them and Odom that they were on the list to be promoted to commander. And Lulltrel informed Newman, Atkins, and Cooper that they would be assigned their own NIA offices."
"I see," Alexa said, and I felt her concern. "You are losing people you have become close to and will be getting a new staff."
"It didn't stop there," I whined louder. Webb then awarded Lulltrel the Medal of Honor for solving the Smugglers’, Raiders’, Hijackers’, and HoBo cases."
"She did deserve it, Anna. She may not have worked on the cases directly, but it was her organization and she supported the teams that did the work."
"I agree, Mother. That was the only good thing that came out of the meeting. He explained the UAS Committee had to approve all promotions to admiral rank. He said that Byrnes, Leyva, and Hadley were long overdue the rank of rear admiral because they managed major components of the NIA, but the UAS wasn't convinced until they solved the HoBo case. They are officially on the next list to rear admiral."
"You don't think they deserved the promotion? Or—" Alexa began but I stopped her.
"I'm happy they were promoted. They were the Owlet Project team and they do manage major parts of the organization that impact all the NIA offices. That's not the problem."
"What then?"
"Lulltrel decided I shouldn't manage the Eastar NIA Station and left it to me to decide on my replacement."
"Why?" Alexa shot out of her chair and grabbed me in a bear hug. "My poor daughter. What was her reason?"
"She wants me to monitor the NIA stations!"
"That's what you have been doing." Alexa sounded confused. "And what about Rawls and even Stauffer? They outrank you."
"That's the problem, Mother. Rawls is retiring. And the UAS Committee has approved my promotion to rear admiral when Webb explained I was the one to identify the Hijackers and the HoBos," I shouted. After a few seconds staring at me, Alexa began laughing.
"It not a laughing matter, me dressed in an admiral's uniform." I threw up my arms in disgust. Alexa laughed even harder. Between gasps for air she pointed to my shoulder where Red was hanging limp. I couldn't help but join her laughing.
"The Red Admiral," Alexa said as we joined arms and headed for the living room.
But that's another story.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
>
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN