by Jim Rudnick
They paid no attention to him as they went by with haste as they made their way to tank Epsilon-1007, twenty feet from the middle of the Epsilon Row. They pushed the cart up directly to be parallel to the red cryonic tank itself.
One of the scientists quickly undid the catch plates to the side of the electronic plate at the tail end of the tank, hooked up a tablet computer with jumper cables, and powered up the unit. Carefully hiding those cables under a clipboard, he tried to look busy writing on the clipboard. Moments later, he got the good-to-go notice from the extraction team leader to his left and lifted the clipboard to make a few electronic switch changes, and then he nodded to the team. On the tablet view screen, all the lights turned green ... and he was pleased.
The team leader was busy setting up a panel of switches on the starboard side of the Sleeper tank. He waited until the values shown were within the needed parameters and nodded to the team when they were up to par.
Above the tank, the third member of the team pulled a hand tool from his end of the cart and began to unlatch the flip on top of the tank. Working quickly, he was done in less than a minute. He moved the tank top up and to the port side of the ship and then hustled removing the balance of the top layer of equipment items from the cart. As he slid the rolling lid back and the eighteen-inch high cavity of the cart was now exposed, the team leader nodded and said one single word.
"Go"
The team leader’s hands dipped into the Sleeper tank to gently seize the child within, and he swung the body up and then down into the cart’s opening. He made sure to make his motion all in one smooth swoop and placement and then nodded to the team.
As the top was replaced down onto the now empty Sleeper tank, the cart’s sliding lid was closed up and equipment strewn about the top to hide the cavity. The top was slid smoothly back into place and the side latches done up as quickly as possible too.
Down at the foot of the tank, the clipboard was again moved off the tablet and further changes were made. He looked at the team leader with a questioning look and got a nod back to go ahead.
He pushed a side button and then ran a script that worked on the tablet, which was connected to the Keshowse's old-style mainframe. He watched as the progress bar slowly moved over from left to right ... and done!
He double-checked his settings looking for confirmation— a successful change had been made to the Ikarian database—this tank held no sleeper and never had. The simplest way to hide the abduction was to make it appear that the tank—like others on the ship—held no Sleeper at all. Memories can say one thing, but a database entry going back more than 1600 years would always be believed, they thought.
After he moved the tablet back to the pile of equipment, the three members of the extraction team U-turned the cart and moved back toward the closed doors being guarded by the Provost Marshall.
He nodded to them and opened up the doorway leading back to the major corridor that lead abaft toward the landing bays. Wheeling the cart and now chatting without a care in the world, the team joked and laughed to look as innocent as possible as they spirited a Sleeper off Epsilon Row and made their way to a shuttle back to the Gibraltar.
“Mission accomplished,” the Provost Marshall said to himself. He made his way along after the team to ensure they made the shuttle with no problems and then to report to the Lady St. August. Above that, he didn't need to know anything else, but he did smile at the ease at which a minor disturbance had emptied the rows of their normal Ikarian babysitters.
#
"Big ship, Sir," Lieutenant Sander said as he stepped aside to let his captain step over the connecting door to the long corridor ahead. The two RIM Navy men had just left the shuttle that had moved them over to the Gibraltar, and leaving the landing bay took almost a full minute to walk out of that space. A couple of Provost Guards who were probably charged with their care and security accompanied them.
Not that we're much to look after, Tanner thought, as he forged ahead toward the elevators at the center axis of the ship. The destroyers were immense—twice as big as the Marwick, with double the firepower and speed. This ultimate type of ship was able to handle just about any sized trouble, and its captains were surely the best at what they did, which Tanner always considered to be keeping the peace. He shook his head.
"Bram, the size of the ship, I just realized, has little to do with the captains in charge. Least that's how I see it ..." he said, still shaking his head.
Bram nodded and made sure to beat his captain to the lift buttons.
Looking over his shoulder to a Provost Guard, he raised his eyebrows in question.
"Deck Thirty-five is your deck, Sir," he answered and gave a quick salute too.
Bram pushed the up button, and Tanner swung to one side to look back at their babysitters.
"Are you gentlemen going to be with us all day?" he said dryly as he scratched his earlobe with a rough thumbnail that made a rasp.
"Sir, no—we're only going to take you up to the luncheon with our captain, Sir," the Provost Guard said still at attention.
"Stand easy, Provost—hell, I'm not even in the Barony Navy—you do realize that, right?" Tanner said.
"Sir, all guests on the Gibraltar are treated the same, Sir. You are our guest and it's our duty to ensure that you are treated as such at all times. Sir," he finished still at attention, and only the hiss of the opening door of the lift deterred Tanner from following up.
Minutes later on Deck Thirty-five, they left the lift to walk again counter-clockwise toward this scheduled lunch held by the Barony Navy. They were quickly shown the way into the conference room and greeted by Captain Vennamo of the Gibraltar at the doorway.
"Captain Scott ... so nice that you could make it here today," she said and held out her hand to shake his. Tanner nodded, smiled, shook her hand, and then half-turned toward Bram to introduce him, but he was interrupted.
"Yes, Captain ... we know Lieutenant Sander, and it's also nice that you brought him along as well," said a woman officer with the rank of lieutenant commander who had stridden up to stand beside her captain. She was pretty, but in a brittle sense, Tanner thought, and those blue eyes were as blue as a glacier on Madrigal he'd once climbed. Her uniform was spotless, and as he studied her chest braid, he saw no ribbons that he knew by heart. Her collar studs showed him nothing but the rank insignia of two gold stripes with the superior star.
He looked at her and smiled.
"Lieutenant Commander ..." he trailed off and held out his hand to make their meeting official.
"Lieutenant Commander Ashley Coriander, Captain Scott," she said and she shook his hand briskly and dropped it quickly. Her handshake had been firm and yet over quickly.
Bram nodded to her and then said, "Ahh ... the Gibraltar Adept Officer, I presume." He held out his own hand, which she ignored.
Each of the four of them looked from one to another. That might have gone on for some time except for the sudden appearance of a squad of EliteGuards who marched into the room and took up stations around the room. A brace of them maintained the entrance as the Lady St. August stepped in the door.
"Ahh ... Captain Vennamo, Lieutenant Commander Coriander, Captain Scott, and Lieutenant Sander ... so nice to have you all here and hungry too, we hope?" she said, looking at none of them and focusing her attention farther into the room.
"Lady St. August, yes ... glad to have been invited, and yes, Navy men are always hungry," Tanner said and glanced back into the room too. Standing over by the bar area, he could see more Navy officers, but he didn't know them at all. More Gibraltar crew, he figured and then he saw the Novertagians were here. And that obviously meant something to the Royal, he thought.
"Nice to meet you again, Ma’am," Tanner said as each of the other officers in their circle nodded and bowed their heads slightly.
"And yes, Ma’am, lunch smells wonderful—better than the RIM Navy Officers’ Mess for sure!" he added as he crowded Bram to his left, and they moved a
way from the group in the doorway.
On the way into the room, he saw a group of Ikarians and was pleased to see that the one alien he liked more than the rest, Sachem Ahanu, was there. He caught the alien's eye, and they nodded to each other. While the group was busy, he observed there were at least a handful of the aliens who were all apparently happy and animated. He thought that meant no Sleeper abduction had occurred yet, which made him smile and feel even a bit more chipper.
Making his way directly to the bar, he ordered a double Black Scotch. Drink in hand, he moved over to stand near the group of Novertagians a few feet away and was noticed in a few seconds.
"Captain Scott, how pleasant to meet up again," Captain Pankov said and held out his hand to shake. But before Tanner could take the few steps toward the captain of the Drozir, he was shouldered aside by the Drozir's political officer.
"Yes, Captain Scott. It is nice to see you again—very nice indeed," Vetochkin said and stood squarely in Tanner's path.
"Yes, Political Officer Vetochkin, it is always nice to meet with all Novertag Navy officers," Tanner said as he strode around the man and reached out to take the hand of the Drozir's captain. Shaking it, he ignored the man behind his back and then went to the bar to top of his drink before walking away to chat with other RIM Navy officers from the Bunker Hill and the Nugent.
During the lunch, he had been seated beside a lieutenant from the Gibraltar, who was one of their science officers. Tanner discovered he could be bored just as easily by astrophysics as he could be by an empty glass, so he kept his table's Steward hopping. Of course, he could have turned to his other side to try to converse with Lieutenant Commander Coriander, but he figured she was way ahead of him so he kept his focus, such as it was, on the study of stars being expounded on by the lieutenant on his left. That and the Scotch kept him from being bored at least, he thought.
Opening the speeches, the Lady St. August welcomed all and made some small talk on various items of really no importance. She talked at some length, and Tanner caught a few “rolled-eyeball” looks among some of the lower RIM Navy officers, and he ignored that as he should.
Finishing up, the Lady then introduced the Ikarian leader who was the next speaker on the list. Sachem Hassun made the surprise announcement that all of the RIM commanding officers would be invited to the Awakening Day coming up at the end of next week, which set the tables abuzz. It appeared that the current leaders of the aliens would be going back into the Sleeper tanks as a whole new group of aliens would be awoken and slowly groomed to become adults and crewmen.
Lunch went by slowly, and there were many well wishes and happy feelings, which was even more indicative of the relationship between the Ikarians and the Barony. It was solid. It was not at all impacted by the mind-link vision that Bram had seen about the alien Sleeper abduction ... perhaps that was all it was ... a vision.
#
"Helm," Captain Pankov said, "updates, please?"
Lieutenant Lebedev, the Helm officer on this bridge shift glanced at his console, clicked a button or two, spoke into his voice mic, and turned back to his captain.
"Sir, it appears that the RIM Navy destroyer, the Nugent, has just publicly sent word to the Marwick that it is busy still over on Faraway with the Leudi trade issues, and as such cannot be at Captain Scott's beck and call, Sir ... at least that's how it was sent, Sir. Plus they have requested that the Bunker Hill join them off Faraway ... no answer as to what the Marwick will make of that request—"
Political Officer Vetochkin interrupted as he usually did on the bridge.
"Lieutenant Lebedev, this is confirmed? There is no mistake, Lebedev?" he asked with what might be called an anxious tone to his voice.
"Sir," Lebedev said, looking at first his captain, then the Politico, and then back to his captain, "Sir ... yes, it was sent wide open, no encryption overlay, and the term 'beck and call' means, I believe, Sir—"
"Yes, Lieutenant, I understand the term. What does that leave here for all of us consorts to the Keshowse?" Vetochkin said, his stare now on the view screen on the fore bulkhead bridge wall.
"Sir," Captain Pankov said, "there's still the RIM Navy cruiser the Marwick and most likely the Bunker Hill that will be leaving. Under the Barony crown, there's the Sterling with the Lady St. August, their big destroyer, the Gibraltar, and two supply frigates, the Coventry and the Shield as well. We, of course, are still here as is our cruiser the Zagara too. But a gentle reminder, Politico, that the Sterling did Ansible over that the Coventry would be leaving as of today and the Shield in a day or two more. So that will make it only our two Novertag cruisers, the Sterling and Gibraltar and the Marwick ... we're in the final set of four babysitters for the aliens."
"Science Officer, can you take a long-range look around here? Let me know if you detect any incoming Ansible traffic or ships that might be joining us. Ignore, if you will, anyone who's on their way into the Navy Yards on our home world though," Vetochkin said and received a nodded assent back from Lieutenant Chubarov.
Vetochkin looked at the view screen and requested that the Helm officer put up a schematic of the ships and their positions in relation to each other in space. Moments later, the positioning of the five remaining ships was apparent. The Keshowse lay at the center of an arc of other ships with the Gibraltar and Sterling on one end and the two Novertagian ships at the other while the Marwick held the center of the span of ships.
Vetochkin nodded and then said, "Save same for me, please, and put it up on the view screen in the captain’s Ready Room, and do it now. Captain and XO, please join me in your Ready Room," he said and rose to make his way there.
While Captain Pankov was not surprised, he was a little perturbed that the Drozir's Political Officer would now also be taking over the ownership of his own Ready Room. It had taken decades to work his way up the Navy hierarchy, and by God, that Ready Room was a perk that only captains could manage, but he swallowed his spite and nodded instead. He moved to the doorway and noticed that Vetochkin had taken the chair at the console and was busy keying in his own ID. He sat in one of the other chairs as Lieutenant Commander Shvernik, the Drozir's XO, joined him. Moments later, the view screen on the wall lit up with the face of Novertag Premier Sigalov.
"Commissars, welcome, and let me apologize for the secrecy in my appearing before you in this manner. Politico Vetochkin was under my direct orders to have you both here —okay, link them in too," he said to someone off screen, and suddenly there were smaller windows down at the bottom of the screen. Captain Pankov and his XO were in the first two, followed by the newly linked in Captain Dmitry Taushev of the Zagara and his XO, Lieutenant Commander Sergi Zheglov. But along the bottom of the screen was another new face that most didn't know. Judging by his Army uniform with the insignia of a silver oak leaf, he was a lieutenant colonel.
Premier Sigalov nodded down toward the bottom of the screen and smiled.
"Also joining us on this mission briefing is Lieutenant Colonel Aleksei Pelyovin, our ranking Army officer for this mission. Oh, his command here is on the Zagara, and it's a full company of our best Army Ops too, more than eighty experienced infantry men—the best that Novertag has when it comes to this type of mission ..."
The Army officer nodded to them all and then turned back to the screen.
"You have new orders. We will—well, Lieutenant Colonel Pelyovin will—lead a raid against the Keshowse to take over their ship and turn it around so that it will end up in Novertagian space and therefore a part of our realm. We intend to have them settled on Yassuk even against their will, and by doing so, we will also gain the ability to test for the virus, and that's of paramount importance too. Lieutenant Colonel, can you elaborate on your plans?" Premier Sigalov said and ignored the open-mouthed stares on all their faces.
"Sir," Lieutenant Colonel Pelyovin said, "our plans are simple. We have four LS troop shuttles on board the Zagara, and the ship will leave the group of four consort ships around the Keshowse. Once w
e've moved off, our LS shuttles will go back to FTL to come up on the far side of the Keshowse and force entry on the juncture of the main sleeper bays and the rear engineering decks. We move in and take the ship. We will force the Ikarians to comply but understand we intend to take the ship. We have read the intel that they appear to be able to shoot what—bows and arrows—and that made us laugh as what kind of a threat is a bow and arrow up against our needlers and blasters. We expect no aggression, as they will be unaware of our own thrust into the ship until it's too late. We will be victorious—the ship will be ours. And once we have it, we will then have our four LS shuttles do a quad TachyonDrive-link to allow us to take the Keshowse to FTL, and we'd get back to Novertag in a day. We expect little defense from these aliens and none either from the Marwick."
He looked at them with no sense of emotion on his face.
"The Barony, however, might be a problem, but with us holding the Keshowse and its ten thousand Sleepers as hostages, we foresee no way that they will do more than to squawk and then notify the RIM Council of this 'impropriety,' and we have the Premier to handle those bureaucrats. Questions, gentlemen?"
At first, there was silence.
Captain Pankov looked at the Army officer and smiled.
"Lieutenant Colonel, what if there is resistance, armed resistance, from the Ikarians. And what would your terms of engagement allow then?"
"We will encounter no such resistance, Captain. And should that happen, our orders on this mission allow us to engage. We will meet what we find with superior force and win the day. Next question?" he said as his face still showed no emotion.
They all sat and no more questions were asked.
The Premier nodded to them all and said, "Good ... dismissed," and his console feed went black.