by C. R. Daems
“Like you Commander, she has her nose in everything,” Master Chief Mundz said as he neared with r-Zaria.
*Interesting. Not enough pictures* r-Zaria’s box translated.
“Ma’am, if you’ll follow me into the conference room I’d like to show you our latest Intel. We’ve had three raids now, though they might not be related.” She led me into the conference room and showed me the colonies raided, what the raiders took, and the number of ships reported.
“I believe they are not only related, but they are the same raiders. I want you to look for two merchant ships acting like the Compton. If I’m right, they are trying to hide the fact they’re using merchant ships again.”
“How did you reach that conclusion?” Iglis asked, frowning.
“Notice the delay between the raids in the two sectors. Time to go from one to the other and the number of raider ships reported feels like a small squadron.”
*Humans devious* r-Zaria said.
“I should have seen that or at least reported that fact,” Iglis said. She looked mad at herself.
“You’ll learn. That’s why I picked you. Right now, I’m in their minds. I just know how they think. Soon you’ll know too.”
Chapter 11
I found that the XO didn’t do anything. I just asked when I wanted something and someone did it. There was no more sticking my nose in things, no people to manage, and no one to take orders from—except the Captain. I stood one watch, checked on each department for status, resolved misunderstandings, and taught Riss mathematics with specific application to the tactical and navigational functions. To make matters worse, it wasn’t long before the Riss, r-Mair on Tactical with Commander Vanasse, and r-Kojin with Commander Palete on Navigation, had grasped the concepts and were able to help tutor their counterparts. I prepared simulations and critiqued the results but was consulted less and less each day.
I spent some time examining the two engagements with the raiders I had participated in. I found it easier to be objective when no one was trying their best to kill me and the ship wasn’t being torn apart around me. It occurred to me that a simulation should have some fear factor introduced while it was going on. Maybe electrical shocks that increased as the enemy closed the distance or the participant failed to stop a sufficient number of missiles or to disable the other ship quickly enough. I wondered whether I was being sadistic or trying to provide a more realistic environment, which would help produce better-qualified individuals. On the job training during an engagement was a good learning tool, but failing the exam was very costly. Off duty with no current duties, I decided to wander around and look for something for an idle XO to do. I found Alena in the Environmental section.
“How are things going, Lieutenant Commander Alena?” I asked. Alena had blossomed since her promotion and assignment to the Snowcat. Like me, Eva was a small woman. Her mousy colored hair, small nose, and plain features made her an easy target for anyone with a bad attitude. Her new rank and Riss-sensitive crew transformed her into a new person.
“Excellent, XO.” Her smile was genuine and refreshing. I’d worried my new rank and position would strain my relations with the other Riss-humans.
Thalia was right, it hadn’t. Alena was happy to be a Riss-human with a friend to provide her support, if necessary. “I’ve never regretted becoming a Riss-human, but the hatred and abuse made me afraid to leave my quarters. After you suggested an inquiry, life improved but was never good. Life on the Snowcat is wonderful. I can’t wait to get up in the morning. Most days I start work early and quit late. I’ve taken your advice and poke my nose everywhere. I’ve learned a lot and the morale is good. The Riss are adapting quickly and there’s been little friction. And the little that has occurred I’ve had no trouble resolving.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Your experience to date has been confined to the Environmental section. Now that you have it running smoothly, I plan to rotate you through the other departments like Captain Gebauer did with me. He did it to prove the Riss and Riss-humans were unfit for service. In your case, it’ll help you gain the experience you’ll need for your new rank.”
Ironically, I owed Gebauer for trying to break me. The experience had been invaluable, and I had the opportunity to work with outstanding people, like Uchida and Kollar. That had led to the equations for projectiles and recognition of Symath.
Eva stared at me in disbelief. “You believe I’m going to keep my acting rank?”
“Yes, Eva, I not only believe you’ll keep your rank, but that you’ll deserve it based on performance and experience. I’ll tell Commander MacAll, in Shuttle Maintenance, to expect you tomorrow.” I left Alena bubbling with excitement. I knew she’d do well. All she’d ever needed was someone to believe in her and provide support. On a whim, I decided to visit the Attack Fighter Group, and get a look at their Sharks, which were the SAS’s newest fighters. The Snowcat and Leopard had the latest versions of the single-seat fighter, which supported larger engines, the latest fifty-centimeter lasers, and additional missiles—and crazier jocks.
“Good morning, Commander Reese,” a good-looking pilot said as he approached. It took me a minute to recognize Lieutenant McInnis, now a Lieutenant Commander. The younger McInnis had epitomized fighter pilots—boisterous and arrogant. Although it had been several years, he looked much the same: a tall, lean, muscular-looking man who’d terrorized the shuttle maintenance crews, except his dark-brown hair was longer, eyes tired-looking. He seemed to have lost that cocky self-confidence I remembered. Although he’d tried to get me court marshaled after I had KOed him in a boxing match, I held no grudge. After all, it was he who’d lost face in front of his friends and was subsequently fined for bringing unfounded charges against me. I didn’t consider him a friend, but as the Snowcat’s XO, I felt an increased responsibility to maintain morale and to go the extra kilometer.
“Good morning, Commander McInnis. It doesn’t surprise me to find you flying the new Sharks. You were one of the best Striker pilots, if the craziest.”
“I owe you an apology. You wounded my ego and I acted childishly. I’m still that cocky pilot I used to be, but hopefully I think before I act nowadays.” He put out his hand and I shook it.
“Accepted. I came looking for Commander Fabert. Do you happen to know where I can find him?”
“The last time I saw him, he was in his office.” He smiled. “It’s on level 2 right next to Shark bay 2-20, I assume you know where that’s located.”
“Yes. Thanks. It has been nice seeing you again. I hope you’re not tearing the struts off the new Sharks,” I said, as I turned to walk away. He smiled.
“No, they’re extremely tough. I think they incorporated the changes you and Chief Nesstor made on the Strikers.”
When I found Commander Fabert’s office, his door was open. Before I could knock, he looked up and saw me. He stood and waved me towards a chair. Where McInnis epitomized the image of a fighter jock, Fabert was atypical. He wasn’t much taller than me, had a round pudgy face, and stocky build. His neatly trimmed beard and mustache with short brown hair gave him a steady, dependable appearance. And his penetrating blue eyes spoke to a sharp mind.
“Come in, XO. Would you like some kaffa?” Fabert asked. I nodded. As if he had been waiting, a Petty Officer entered with two mugs. “I still find it difficult to reconcile your looks and your position. No disrespect, Commander Reese—”
I held up my hand before he could say anything else.
“I know. I’m young, petite, and don’t have that command look that comes with experience. Believe me, Commander, I feel too young for my position and know I don’t have adequate experience, so I have the same difficulty as everyone else.” I shrugged. I am what I am and there was no sense pre
tending otherwise.
“As Vice Admiral Zann said, you may not have a lot of time in service, but you’ve battle experience and the awards to prove you deserve the position. Only a few grizzly chiefs have as many metals and awards as you. Many great generals and admirals throughout history have been young and inexperienced. It’s results not age that count.” He paused, then smiled. “For what do I owe this visit?”
“I trying to learn my new job and can use all the help I can get.” He stared at me for a moment before gesturing for me to follow him. He spent the next two hours showing me around his domain, explaining Shark training, operations, and attack formations. I liked Fabert. He was interested in killing raiders and content doing what he did. Judging by the pilots we encountered, they liked and respected him.
* * * *
On my way to see Commander MacAll on level one, I saw someone come out of Shuttle bay 2-20. When he saw me, he turned around began walking fast down the corridor in the opposite direction. The way he appeared to change direction when he saw me coming seemed strange. He was dressed in a navy work uniform, but the angle and distance precluded me from making any kind of identification. When I reached the door the man had exited, I stepped inside. Except for two shuttles, the bay was empty. One reserved for the Captain and senior commanders for trips planet-side or to other ships. The other used for general traffic to and from planet-side.
A feeling of amusement. Thalia loved to poke around as much if not more than me. Like me, she wanted to touch the actual thing and physically see how it worked. I understood shuttles from my assignment in shuttle maintenance, so I walked around the shuttle giving it a thorough inspection but didn’t notice any obvious tampering.
A feeling of strong interest. I entered the cabin and inspected the control panel. It looked untouched and in order, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right and decided it was better to appear stupid than be stupid. I clicked on my SID.
“Commander MacAll, this is the XO. Would you please come down to Shuttle bay 2-20. Bring r-Siwa and a couple of your best mechanics.” I didn’t explain why. No one should be able to tap into my SID, but after the incident on the Leopard, I chose caution. Besides, I didn’t want MacAll to mention why I wanted him here to anyone, until my curiosity had been satisfied. He entered the bay slightly out of breath, as if he’d been running.
“Is there a problem, Commander?” MacAll asked. He was a short, lean man with brisk movements and a voice that tended to be high-pitched when he got excited, like now.
“I don’t know. I saw someone leaving this bay. He was acting strangely. I’m not supposed to poke around any more, so I thought I’d let your people do it. If nothing else, it would be good experience for r-Siwa. And, I wanted to make sure you knew what I was doing.” After MacAll nodded, I asked the mechanics to remove the control panel and to check the equipment. A half hour later, the senior mechanic, a Petty Officer first class Varlas, looked up. He was frowning.
“Commander, there’s some kind of mechanism attached to the control panel, with leads running to several indicators—the altimeter, power controls, closing speed radar, and speed indicator for a start,” he said. “I’m not sure what it does, but it’s sure not supposed to be there.”
“Commander MacAll, I leave you and your men to figure it out. Please let me know when you do. I’d rather you didn’t mention this to anyone.” I chuckled to myself.
Laughing tingled through me.
Three hours later MacAll called me.
“Ma’am. Someone installed a clever device, which at around ten kilometers above the surface of a planet would shut everything down. The shuttle would then be in free fall with no control. Do you want me to inspect all the shuttles?”
“For now, do nothing unless a shuttle is needed, then check that one. I don’t want this discussed with anyone. Oh, I almost forgot in all the excitement. I’m assigning Lieutenant Commander Alena to your section. I’d appreciate you helping her to understand the responsibilities of your department. She won’t be there permanently. I plan to rotate her through all the departments. You may talk to her about our recent incident.”
Chapter 12
When Sakaata answered my knock, I entered her office, braced to attention, and prepared to salute.
“Nadya, you don’t have to salute me except on formal occasions. Relax. What do you have?”
She waved me to a chair. This XO business was going to take some getting used to. No more saluting the God of the ship, people bracing to attention when they see me, and my own office.
“Ma’am... Skipper,” I said after a moment’s hesitation. I never heard anyone call Gebauer Skipper, but Jordanno’s XO used the term frequently. While less formal, it sounded like a form of respect. Sakaata smiled. “Someone sabotaged the shuttle reserved for you and senior members of your staff.”
“Like you.”
“I don’t think this was personal. I’ve had several attempts on my life over the years. The personal ones wanted me to know who was trying to kill me. The others just wanted me dead. It was nothing personal. This feels like it could be clan business.”
“You think it was an attempt to kill senior officers?”
“Yes. If they could kill you or several senior members of your staff, it would degrade the capability of the Snowcat.” The more I thought about it, the more I was certain that the raiders had one or more clan members on every SAS ship. They had been planning for many years. That was why the raiders we caught on Saipha wouldn’t talk—they were clan. “I think we have one or more raiders on the ship.”
“Raiders? A scary thought.” She had her fingers under her chin, and her eyes looking down in obvious thought. Then she looked back up. “Well, Intel Chief, what are you going to do about it?”
For a minute I thought she must have been talking to someone else, until I realized she was looking at me. My mouth dropped open.
“Nadya, all I ask is your best. I don’t expect miracles, but I won’t mind if you can pull one off.”
I left her office in turmoil. We had clan on the ship. He or she wanted to destroy our ability to wage an effective war on his clan and was willing to kill the Skipper or anyone else he considered a threat,
A tingle of amusement. I headed for the Intel unit. The guard’s verification was formal but perfunctory. I’m the Chief of Intel, I reminded myself. Iglis met me at the door. She seemed to know by magic when I was coming. I wondered if the security personnel at the checkpoint somehow alerted her. If they did, it was clever.
“I’d like you and Chief Mundz to join me in our office.” I’d suggested Iglis share my office with me, since I didn’t need it on a full-time basis. Chief Mundz managed to find kaffa from some place and we settled down.
“We have at least one saboteur on the Snowcat. I think he or she is a clan member and trying to impede our ability to engage the raiders with maximum effectiveness. Today he sabotaged the Captain’s shuttle.”
“How did we catch it?” Mundz asked.
“By luck, Master Chief. The problem is that we can’t expect to be lucky all the time. I want you to check everyone’s personnel file, including the Captain’s staff. We’ll assume it’s not the Captain.” I smiled. “I don’t think you’re going to find anything, but we need to check anyway, and...check the officers assigned to the bridge to see who served on the Tiger and the Snowcat, and in what positions.” I realized that the person who initiated the gas a
ttack on the Tiger not only had to have extensive system expertise but also had to be assigned to the Bridge. That was the only way he could have had the system access to unlock my quarters. The four lieutenants had done much the same thing—manipulated the system. They had no authority, but they had access.
“Yes, Ma’am. That shouldn’t be too hard. The personnel records will tell us what we want to know.” Iglis stopped to check her SID. “We haven’t made a lot of progress monitoring the merchant ships that stopped at the two colonies that were raided in the Darkov Sector and the one in Oracle. We eliminated one of the four in Darkov and but still have five in Oracle to be resolved. Unfortunately, it’s going to take more attacks to narrow the list,” Iglis said, clearly frustrated with the lack of progress. I left wondering what more we could do. I decided we were doing everything we could and went back to my cabin for a few more hours of sleep. It had been a long troubling day. It was bad enough when people were only trying to kill me.
* * * *
I woke rested and decided I needed a workout. I’d found it not only relaxed me but also cleared my mind. When I arrived, Terril was teaching a Si’jin class.
“Good morning, Master Terril.” Seeing Terril always made me feel like I’d come home. The army had always been a place of refuge and Terril had become my friend and guardian angel. I owed her much.
“Good morning, Master Reese. If you have nothing to do, I have several students who could benefit from your gentle touch,” She smiled, nodding towards a group of three who were being instructed by Staff Sergeant Simon, one of her five-knot students. Petar was among them.
“Simon I’ll take them for a while. You’re welcome to stay,” I said, surveying the group, three four-knots, one a woman, and Simon, who’d elected to stay. I grinned, thinking back to my first year in Si’jin and my antagonist who did everything he could to drive me out of the class. I remember one specific technique he taught me that was designed to punish, since I didn’t have the experience to counter it. One day I found a counter move and taught him that two could play the game.