First Command

by Rodney Smith

  * * * * *

  Terri worked late that night, preparing notes for the General’s visit to her next plant. It required her to put together a data file with each key plant individual, a picture, notes on compensation, and last performance review. All this was organized into a master file, which included the plant’s production statistics, manpower, facilities, and any issues relating to the plant, such as lawsuits or regulatory issues.

  The General was a tough taskmaster, but Terri could stay ahead of her and usually anticipated her needs. Irina needed to make a first impression of confidence, business savvy, and knowledge of each plant’s contribution to the subsidiaries’ profit potential. Irina needed to get them all pulling in the same direction, like a team of horses dragging a heavy wagon.

  The plant managers were under the same gun as the General. She wasn’t afraid to terminate any of the managers’ contracts if she lost confidence in their ability to do their jobs and contribute to the overall profitability of the subsidiary. She was going to make a profit, a quite considerable profit. Profit was Irina’s mission now.

  * * * * *

  H’Topa was almost done on Shepard. Transport specialists were rendezvousing with dead drop servicers and consolidating the data in one location. The close pass by a Human warship, specifically a scout ship, made him anxious to get away from this planet. He would wait until darkness covered the selected spaceport and land, be on the ground just long enough to pick up the deliveries, and then back into space to Gagarin.

  The captain tried to convince him that the close pass must have just been a coincidence. If the Humans were on to them, why would they alert them to their presence? H’Topa was somewhat assured by the captain’s logic, but didn’t like coincidences. He would be happier when they were a few light years from here and with blank scans behind them.

  * * * * *

  Alistair informed Kelly that the courier ship was moving. Alistair had moved his ship to where he had line of sight on the K’Rang ship. The courier was moving down to a spaceport on the smallest continent. Alistair focused his optics on the ship as it flared out and set down gently on the parking apron. He watched as a vehicle drove out to the ship. A single man carrying a case of some sort passed it over to someone from the ship. The first man received something in a bundle from the man from the ship, and the first man drove away.

  The ship sat on the ground for 30 minutes and lifted off. Alistair informed Kelly that the ship had filed a flight plan to Gagarin and lifted off.

  Kelly ordered his ship to Gagarin and set an initial course 300,000 km parallel to the most direct course. His intention was to shadow the courier ship from just ahead and to the side of his path, hopefully out of his sensor range. As long as the courier ship didn’t have special sensors, they should be okay.

  On the planet below, Cindy was railing at Ron. “How could you have been so stupid? I told you to put the package on top of the south support beam of the footbridge, not the north beam, you jackass! Couldn’t you tell your north from your south?”

  Cindy had been in a foul mood ever since she’d seen the post on the cooking forum with the missed dead drop code. No telling how long it would be before another courier ship would show up. Plus they had to retrieve the package before some inquisitive teenager sneaking a snort under the bridge looked up and saw it. She punched him in the side to encourage him to drive faster.

  * * * * *

  Alistair landed on Shepard and coordinated with the counterintelligence team leader in charge of rolling up the agent network on Shepard. Alistair turned over his report and the detailed information on the suspects. The team spent an hour on Alistair’s ship, reviewing the data and planning their raids.

  Alistair asked the team leader not to start the raids until they received the go signal from him personally. That would signify that the courier ship had launched from Earth and was out of contact with a network node.

  The Vigilant would track the courier ship until it showed them the exfiltration route into K’Rang space. At that time, the Vigilant would destroy the courier ship before it could escape across the frontier.

  Concluding the briefing, Alistair hurried them off and fired up his ship to pursue the courier ship to Gagarin.

  * * * * *

  H’Topa reviewed procedures for collection on Gagarin. The landings were at one of five minor spaceports, chosen at random. He reviewed info on the spaceports, saw no difference between them, and picked the last one according to the Human alphabet. He was heartened to hear from the captain that no ships left orbit behind them. He also did a 360-degree maximum range scan and found nothing but routine intrastellar traffic.

  H’Topa liked this captain. His quiet assurance calmed H’Topa’s nerves. Yes, the scout ship yesterday was probably just a coincidence, but the stakes here were too high to trust to luck. Their successful return to G’Durin would ensure the security of the K’Rang Empire and take away a significant Human advantage, not to mention keeping a certain two Shadow Warriors alive.

  * * * * *

  Kelly conferred with Chief Johnson in the sensor section on the best way to close on Gagarin without the K’Rang ship detecting them. After their close pass at Shepard, the K’Rang would spook if they showed up again. Chief Johnson recommended lying off 300,000 km as they were now and letting Alistair do the orbital surveillance.

  “Nothing says the K’Rang can’t tap into the planet arrival registry and pull us up if we get close enough to be interrogated and registered, even if we just go to Gagarin Station.”

  Kelly saw the logic and agreed to hang back, keeping the ship in sensor range, but moving them laterally so they were parallel to the flight path to Gagarin. “Just because we assume he’ll make a collection run to Earth next doesn’t mean the K’Rang have agreed with us,” he thought.

  Kelly returned to the bridge and tracked the courier ship. After some time of very little going on, he zoned out, and started back to the present when Connie leaned over his shoulder and said, “Captain, you should get some rest. It’s going to be three days to Gagarin, tagging along at this courier ship’s speed.”

  Kelly agreed, turned the conn over to her, and turned in.

  * * * * *

  Alistair pushed the throttle forward and made a broad sweep around the courier ship on its port side, maneuvering to stay out of sensor range, and reach Gagarin before them. He had to confer with the special CI team before the courier ship arrived. He needed them to be very careful not to divulge their presence or be seen by the chief security officer before taking down the Gagarin network. They would not be able to advise the security office, as the special team would be arresting their boss and receptionist. This should have been obvious from the report, but Alistair liked being sure everyone understood what was expected.

  Alistair’s status as a Fleet Reporting Officer gave him certain privileges and authorities. One privilege was a special code that allowed his ship to have unimpeded access to any world in the Galactic Republic with no questions, no entry or landing fees and no record of his arrival or departure. He also had a nominal equivalent rank of brigadier general and special authority to task any Fleet or Fleet Intelligence or counterintelligence unit he needed to help accomplish his mission. Alistair normally never needed these authorities and he used them sparingly. He knew from experience that the more people involved, the harder operational security became.

  Alistair pushed past the courier ship some 350,000 km to his starboard and arrived in Gagarin two days before it. He conferred with the special CI team chief and ensured he understood not to spring the trap until the courier ship left Earth and they had been given the go signal from Alistair. The team chief acknowledged his instructions and left the meeting to coordinate support from the local CI office and the Special Ops School. They would be trying to arrest 12 people in ten locations, eleven if Bart and Silke weren’t together.

  Coordination completed, Alistair positioned his ship in geosynchronous orbit above the Gagarin Research
Facility and waited.

  * * * * *

  H’Topa sent the signal for the transport specialist to deliver his package to the ship at the Whispering Pines Spaceport on the northwest side of Star City. He gave the transporter a simple code phrase to use to identify him. The transport specialist was told to be prompt, as they would not remain on the ground for more than an hour.

  The transporter acknowledged receipt of his instructions and put his material in proper order for the transfer. He filled out a shipping receipt, listing all the included packages by code name and sequence number. He had quite a bundle to pass. He was also hoping they would pass back a larger than normal package his way. His wife’s brother was spending his credits almost faster than he could earn it. If the bum didn’t get a job soon he was getting thrown out the door, no matter what his wife said. She could follow her brother out the door, if she objected this time.

  At the appointed hour, after the cloak of darkness had settled over the spaceport, H’Topa ordered the ship down to the surface. He thought that this delivery would provide him the complete data on the rings he had been seeking. This Gagarin delivery should be a complete copy of the plans from the Blake’s safe, in their special language. The earlier acquired second segment of the design plan received on Shepard, written in galactic standard language, should give the Imperial Analytical Cabal a key to translate the other two segments. H’Topa just had to collect this package and one more on Earth, and he would have all the info necessary to construct a transporter ring.

  The courier ship descended through the night sky and was directed to a parking space on the operations apron. The transporter met them promptly at the assigned time, gave the code phrase, and passed the package over. A package was handed back to the transporter and the gangplank started coming up as the engines wound up. The transporter quickly moved away as the crimson ship leapt back into the sky.

  H’Topa opened the package and verified the contents. An entire copy of the plans, in the Blakes’ special language, was in there and as described. He locked the packages in the ship’s safe and ordered the ship to their final pick up on Earth.

  * * * * *

  Alistair watched the courier ship start its flight up through the atmosphere as he boosted out of orbit toward Earth, ahead of the courier ship. He headed off at an angle away from Gagarin for 400,000 km before increasing speed and heading straight for Earth. That should be sufficient to not appear suspicious on the courier ship’s sensor, if they could pick him up at all. The Vigilant was on a parallel course and slightly behind the K’Rang ship. If the K’Rang ship did not go to Earth as predicted, they were in position to intercept and destroy. The K’Rang courier ship must not be allowed to enter K’Rang space.

  Kelly watched the courier ship on his monitor. It was making a beeline for Earth. He wasn’t letting down his guard, but he was confident that was the K’Rang’s current destination. Kelly turned the conn over to Chief B and turned in for a few hours.

  As he laid on his bunk waiting for sleep, his thoughts drifted back to his last day on Earth, his graduation from the Academy. He wore his Summer White Defense Academy uniform with a forest green stripe down the leg, signifying accession into Fighter Force. He had flight wings on his chest, showing he had qualified on the F-11 Atmospheric Fighter Trainer. He was fulfilling his dream of joining Fighter Force.

  He sat through the speeches and the interminable roll call to receive his diploma and another long wait to receive his commission. He stood with his classmates as they all swore the oath to defend the Constitution of the Galactic Republic. At the final word of the oath, they were officially dismissed from the Academy and their hats soared high into the air.

  He was a brand new second lieutenant in Fighter Force. His classmates shook his hand, hugged him, and a few females kissed him. He had only a short time to meet with his parents, then at 1900 hours would board a shuttle to the transport ship leaving for Gagarin. His parents were disappointed that they didn’t get much of a visit with him, but the ship had to leave that evening, to deliver them all to their branch courses on time.

  The Galactic Republic Transport Ship Admiral Donald B. Hanson was a purpose-built ship, specifically designed to carry ground force troops from home station to where they were needed. It was one of five such ships that were part of the Fleet Reserve. Once a year, it made the voyage from Earth, carrying the entire Defense Academy graduating class to their component basic schools on Gagarin. This trip, the Hanson was having problems with its number three engine, and would take a week longer to reach Gagarin. The ship’s engineer would attempt repairs enroute to speed their journey.

  Kelly shook his dad’s hand and gave his mom a kiss goodbye as his group was called to load on the Hanson’s shuttle. Once on board the Hanson, he was assigned a four-person cabin with three other cadets, two females and a male. The Academy never assigned coed rooms, so this was something new to them. Back to back desks and clothing lockers in the middle of the cabin provided a visual block and they agreed to respect each other’s privacy. After a week, they were so used to each other that passing gas and scratching themselves while walking around in their underwear were routine occurrences on both sides of the central divide. By week two, even the underwear was sometimes optional.

  The Hanson’s captain had made this particular run many times and knew what to expect when several hundred energetic males and females used to rigid discipline were set loose on their own recognizance. He had not just a Master at Arms, but an entire section under him to maintain order. They were specially trained in calming down rowdy junior officers by appealing to their sense of duty. If that didn’t work, they had Sleep Wands that could put a charging elephant down with a touch. Many a new butterbar wound up sleeping the night away in a holding cell, to be freed the next morning with no charges filed and as if nothing had happened, but that the butterbar just needed a good night’s sleep. The captain felt duty bound to deliver his cargo of junior officers as close to the condition they were when they boarded. After all, he took this same trip many years ago himself.

  Kelly’s two female cabin mates, Celia and Marta, had no romantic interest in him and thought of him as a friend. They frequently joined him for late night gabfests, while the ensign in the upper bunk snored the night away.

  This was a military transport, not a luxury liner, so recreational facilities were limited. There were two small bars, one port side and one starboard, a supersized gym with weights, exercise machines, a basketball court, and a pool, and an observation room up on the uppermost deck with a clear dome for watching the stars in reclining seats.

  Kelly, Celia and Marta made the circuit, starting in the gym, moving to one of the bars, then to the observation deck, and back to the gym for a late night dip in the pool. After the third week on board, most people were bored out of their minds. A cheer rose throughout the ship when the captain announced the engines had been repaired and they would be getting into Gagarin a week ahead of schedule.

  Kelly was sad to see Celia and Marta go when they finally disembarked at Gagarin. They made him swear to look for them wherever he was assigned. They exchanged contact info, but he had yet to meet up with them again. His mind finally at rest, he drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Six

  Kelly woke up when they were still hours away from Earth. He checked on the status of the courier ship and saw it was still on a direct course to earth. Alistair was approaching Earth and would be there a day ahead of the K’Rang. He would use that time to coordinate the first CI team’s arrest of Colonel Little, Sergeant Major Days, the yeoman and the admin assistant. Simultaneously, a second team would be rounding up the network’s known support staff on Earth. As with the other planets, this would have to wait until the courier ship had left the bounds of the system network node. In the case of Earth, they would have to wait until the courier left Sol’s system, and then they could execute the raids.

  He had one other task to take care of before he left the Sol system
. He arranged with Fleet Intel to take the cooking forum down. It existed on mirror servers on three planets and on Earth. All four sites would need to be taken down at the same time, so that the word could not go out for the network to go to ground.

  * * * * *

  H’Topa’s confidence swelled as Earth’s sun came into sight. He was seven days away from saving both his and J’Kraul’s lives. The order to the transporter to bring all packages to the Geneva South spaceport had been sent and acknowledged. He ordered the captain to wait until dark over the spaceport and land.

  The transfer went smoothly and the courier ship was immediately ready for take off, but the authorities held them because the spaceport had closed for the night. They could leave at 0600 the next morning. H’Topa almost laughed at the irony of the future of the K’Rang Republic being stymied by blind bureaucratic inertia.

  * * * * *

  Kelly ordered the Vigilant into a geosynchronous Earth orbit. It was a crowded orbit, full of communications satellites. Kelly had the helm move cautiously until they found a parking area above Geneva. Kelly called up the electro-optical sensors and focused them on the K’Rang ship. It was still sitting on the parking apron, an hour after the exchange had been made. Kelly couldn’t imagine why the courier ship hadn’t left yet.

  Why would the K’Rang sit there taking a chance on discovery? It came down to Connie to determine the answer. She researched the operating hours of the Geneva South spaceport and found the K’Rang got caught when the airport closed for the night. The K’Rang probably never heard of quiet hours. Whoever was in charge must be livid right now. Now they had to wait until 0600. Kelly was sure the K’Rang would want to be first out in the morning.