Reconnaissance in Force (Book 6 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  Once her fighter was secure, she put it into standby mode. Unlike a ship, she could get to full power instantly. The lines holding her in place among the ore would snap at the first application of real power.

  Half an hour later, the recovery ship moved into the flip point.

  The flip was unusual. She’d never been outside the hull during one before, and this created some unusual effects for her. Her vision seemed to cycle through a quick spectrum of color before settling back to normal, and the dizziness was impressive. Thankfully, it faded quickly.

  None of that kept her from using her implants to follow the situation along. The recovery ship pulled out of the flip point and headed into the system. The Rebel Fleet battle station was bigger than Audacious, but farther away than she’d expected.

  That was a plus in this case. Their scan felt cursory and they signaled the ship to proceed.

  The princess’s crazy plan had worked. They were in.

  Chapter Thirty

  Jared had to force himself not to pace the flag bridge. Such things only made the crew nervous that their commander was worried.

  Which he was, but that was beside the point.

  They didn’t dare use the FTL coms with a known enemy force present. One they couldn’t keep quiet if they saw something they shouldn’t. That might make them go after Kelsey and the rest.

  The silence from Dresden was reassuring. No news was good news. If they’d been flagged, the crap would have already hit the fan, and there’d have been no reason not to call them in.

  That was what his forces were arrayed for. They sat in the Dresden flip point ready to flip. If they did, they’d fire every missile they had ready at the battle station to take it out quickly.

  Doing so was the worst-case scenario. He’d rather let Kelsey do her thing and call for help when she was ready to leave, if she needed it.

  Having Audacious and her fighter groups along made Kelsey needing help less likely. Their intelligence said there were very few mobile platforms in the Dresden system, and they were all out at flip point number three. Waiting for the Ghosts, if the crew of the recovery ship was to be believed.

  He supposed it didn’t matter what he believed. If they believed there were boogiemen, who was he to argue? That might camouflage this attack.

  The basic plan Kelsey had laid out called for them to capture the orbital at Dresden and use the fighters to interdict any hostiles there, as well as any ships that came in from the flip point. It didn’t matter what the crew on the battle stations thought was happening.

  Kelsey would strip the equipment and supplies off the orbital and come hauling back out to rejoin him. She’d signal him when the time came and Jared would launch a surprise attack through the flip point at an inconvenient moment.

  Of course, nothing ever worked out according to plan, so he could only hope they didn’t have to improvise too much.

  “Admiral, I have some information that may be useful to you,” Marcus said through the speaker in the arm of Jared’s chair.

  “Go ahead.”

  “I’ve been monitoring the prisoners’ conversations,” the AI said. “They are obviously aware that is likely, so they are being circumspect, but one of them asked a question that has implications on the princess’s mission.

  “It was the executive officer of the destroyer speaking with the captain. He spoke very softly, but I have excellent hearing. Even over the extra loud conversation around them, I picked up enough to piece together what was said. Also, reading lips is an excellent skill to add to one’s toolbox.”

  Jared smiled. “And what did they want to keep private?”

  “The executive officer asked when ‘the ships’ were due. The captain told him to shut up and didn’t answer, but even the inquiry means that there will be other mobile ships to deal with at some as yet unknown future point.”

  He grimaced. “Well, we couldn’t expect everything to go our way. Hopefully, he’s thinking that the fleet they dispatched to Erorsi will be coming home. That’s the most likely thing. Otherwise, they should’ve already had fresh ships here before they left.

  “If not, there isn’t exactly anything we can do about it, other than be ready to act on a moment’s notice. Which is what we’re doing anyway.”

  “Should we warn the princess?”

  “No. That would break operational security and not really give her any useable information. If the situation changes, she’ll know as soon as we do. Probably sooner, since they’re going to send probes out to monitor the other flip points.

  “As dissatisfying as it is, we’re just going to have to ride this out. Work with the operations staff to come up with some likely scenarios. Make plans to react to various possibilities and get them to me as soon as you can. Chance favors the prepared mind.”

  The AI chuckled. “Someone has been reading the classics. When we have something for you, I’ll let you know.”

  Jared tried not to worry about this troubling turn of events, but that wasn’t going to be easy. That was his sister out there, and the heir of the New Terran Empire. If something happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.

  * * * * *

  Brandon sat in the cramped control center on the recovery ship and watched the returns from the stealthed probes they’d launched earlier. The telemetry beams were very tight and almost impossible to detect, but he still worried.

  They’d been out of scanner range of the defensive station for almost two hours, and were now more than halfway to Dresden. After consulting with the princess and commodore, he’d launched a brace of probes borrowed from Persephone toward the world growing larger ahead of them.

  He wasn’t crazy enough to send them into orbit, but they’d make a wide pass around the world and send back some rough data. Even at this range, he could tell that the planet wasn’t being used effectively.

  As the captured crew had indicated, there was only a single large orbital. Based on what the princess had said, they used it for several kinds of manufacturing. If this really was the source of the Raider implants, then they were using the place for both civilian and secret military purposes.

  If it had been him, he’d have used two orbitals and made sure there was no unauthorized access at all.

  Some of the work took place on the planet, based on the steady stream of cargo shuttles running back and forth. It seemed as though they were all coming from a single continent in the southern hemisphere.

  There were two freighters in wide orbits around the single space station. They also had a few shuttles ferrying things back and forth with them.

  He opened a channel to Annette Vitter. She was still in her fighter on the surface of their disguise.

  “How’s the weather out there?”

  “Dry and hard to breathe,” she said. “As it usually is in space. I assume things are going well.”

  He grinned at her image. “Better than we had any reason to expect. I haven’t gotten a good look at the orbital yet, but there don’t seem to be any Rebel Fleet vessels in orbit. Just a couple of freighters. It doesn’t look like you’ll have to blow anything up this time.”

  “Oh ye of little faith. Things will probably go to hell soon enough. Any word on what the plan is once we get there?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. I’d imagine that they want to be sure what they’ll be facing before the commit to a strategy. There is a steady stream of shuttles from one location on the planet, too.”

  “Is it under the station?”

  “No. The station isn’t in geosynchronous orbit. The two locations are sometimes on the opposite sides of the planet from one another. Do you think that might be helpful?”

  The pilot smiled. “I do. Let me bring the princess and the commodore into the conversation, and I’ll run something past them.

  * * * * *

  Kelsey felt naked without her powered armor, but it would stand out on a scouting mission like this. Annette Vitter’s plan was audacious—appropriately, given her sh
ip. If it worked, they’d get onto the station without disturbing anyone at all.

  As a reward—or perhaps punishment—she’d brought the fighter pilot along for the ride. She was on the other pinnace.

  The stealthed pinnaces would join the stream of cargo shuttles from Dresden when the station wasn’t in a position to see where they came from. Unless they were severely paranoid, this had a very good chance of getting her people where they needed to be.

  “Any indication they’re using specialized identification?” she asked her intelligence specialist.

  “Not that I can see,” he said after consulting his console closely. “There are standard Rebel Fleet IFF signals, but the only communications I’m detecting are standard traffic control stuff. Instructions to change course or use specific docking areas.”

  “Are they querying origin or passenger manifests?”

  The man shook his head. “Nothing like that. My guess is that if it has a valid IFF, that’s good enough. It’s not like someone is going to sneak into the system with stolen codes and brazenly waltz right up.”

  Like they were doing.

  “When are they squawking ID for the station?” she asked.

  “Just before final approach.”

  The pilot slow tapered off the stealth field as they got into the right orbit, and then boosted speed a little.

  “We’re in the open,” he said. “No one seems to have seen anything unusual. I’m heading around the planet and I’ll squawk our stolen codes when we hit the right spot.”

  Kelsey was tapped into the com system, so she heard the response from the station when the pilot had done so.

  “Control has you, Y-112. You and Y-243 are cleared for approach along your current vector. There are two shuttles in front of you, so watch for them crossing ahead of you. You can dock at the indicated markers.”

  “Copy that, Control. Y-112 out.”

  The pilot turned and looked over his shoulder. “You get that, Colonel?”

  “Yes, but stick to calling me captain going forward. Everyone, mind your cover stories. Once we arrive, we’ll need to scout the station, verify it’s what we think it is, and plan our mischief. Then we’ll execute stage two.”

  The pinnaces entered the docking bay without incident. Kelsey waited until the lock was green and cycled herself in. Here they went.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Annette sauntered down the ramp of her pinnace and onto the space station as though she owned the place. She wore the uniform of a commander in the Rebel Fleet. The team assigned to her was at her heel.

  Princess Kelsey’s pinnace was right down from hers, so she gave the other woman a covert nod when their eyes met. They each had different areas of the station to search, so she’d best get about it. Time was wasting.

  The two pinnaces would depart as soon as they unloaded some precious crates. They had marines on board tasked with seizing the two freighters when phase two kicked off. They’d go in with extravehicular suits, so as not to announce themselves.

  There was quite a crowd bustling about. Based on what she’d heard from Commander Richards, she responded to the people around her in different ways.

  The Fleet officers either saluted her or she saluted them. Enlisted personnel got a look down her nose when they saluted and they dodged her. She ignored the civilians entirely. They were unlikely to bother those of them in uniform.

  The second set of her people were another story. The recovery agents were in civilian clothes taken from the captured ships. They’d hit other parts of the station where uniforms might raise eyebrows.

  They split into groups and began wandering the corridors.

  It didn’t take her long to find something interesting. As one would expect on a large installation, there were maps to help lost souls find their way.

  Not that any of them listed “secret manufacturing area” for her, but there were entire sections of the station that were helpfully blank. She figured that any place that they didn’t want visitors knowing about would be interesting.

  Of course, getting into them might be a challenge. She wouldn’t know until she made a pass by them.

  Princess Kelsey had given them a few pointers on slipping past security, so she had one of her people pick up a large tray of pastries. One that precluded her from opening any doors.

  A lookout made sure she arrived at the unmarked security doors right behind someone. The man proved himself a gentleman when he held it open for her. She repaid his kindness with a sugary treat and the two of them vanished inside.

  A few minutes later, the woman opened the door for Annette and Jon Paul Olivier. She’d kept the pastries, so Annette snagged one. Being a spy was hungry work.

  Just inside the security door was another map for the lost. This one labeled most of the previously hidden areas with letter designations. Five of them. She guessed that might correspond to various security restrictions.

  The area surrounding all of the other shaded spaces was labelled with “A” and the other four went from “B” to “E.”

  “Interesting,” Olivier said. “This covers almost all the areas left blank on the public map, but not completely.”

  “I noticed that,” she said. “What do you think it means?”

  “The remaining area is directly in the rear, so it’s part of the concealed grouping, but they didn’t want to draw attention to it, even in here. Only someone looking closely for missing areas would see that they’d excised it.”

  He sent her an updated map with a black area in the deepest part of the protected area. They could get close in the corridors, but they’d have to go through area “E” to get there. She dubbed it area “F.”

  Together, they wove their way deeper into the secret facility. Other people, both Rebel Fleet and civilian, passed them without comment.

  The conversation she overheard tipped the hand for area “C.” They were researching enhancements to existing weapons in there. Longer range missiles with faster speeds. More powerful beams. God knew what else.

  This place sounded a little like the Grant Research Facility on Harrison’s World. Capturing it would be damned useful in its own right. Too bad they couldn’t just put everything into their pockets. Maybe they could steal some of the computer cores.

  The hatch to area “E” had guards, so they weren’t getting in. They’d just pass by and see what else they could hear before getting out of the shielded area and contacting the princess.

  Annette was almost to the hatch when the massive slab of metal slid open and a Rebel Fleet commander strode out.

  He smiled at Annette. “Commander Renner? I’m Edward Irons. We’ll be working together. I thought I’d have to walk all the way to the main entrance for you. I didn’t realize they’d already issued you clearance for the secure areas. Welcome to the project.

  “Commodore Murdock is about to start the briefing.” He smiled even more widely at the pastries. “Unfortunately, your aides are not cleared for this, but the donuts are. I’ll take those, Lieutenant.”

  Going along with his mistake was dangerous. If anyone realized she wasn’t the expected officer, the jig would really be up. Still, this was about the only way they were going to see what was in the most secret area.

  “No worries,” she told the man as she discreetly updated her name in her implants. It wouldn’t do to have someone ping her and get her real name. Sir Carl had made the update allowing it to all their implants, just in case any data needed to be changed, or the implant responses turned off altogether.

  Annette took the tray and whispered in Olivier’s ear. “Find the real Renner. Take her out of play quietly.”

  The man nodded. “Of course, Commander.”

  Irons escorted her into area “E” and led her past a compartment filled with manufacturing gear. Her heart soared when she recognized a little sled with pharmacology units. This was the right place.

  He gestured at the cart. “We’re wrapping up the production on these and the
related hardware. The project is being mothballed and we’re getting the space once it’s done.”

  Annette smiled. “You can never have enough space.” She wanted to ask him why it was wrapping up, but she could guess. They didn’t expect to need them anymore once the AI at Erorsi was gone.

  He nodded to another pair of guards at the hatch in front of them as he led her into area “F.” It was bigger than area “E” by a factor of five, according to Olivier’s map.

  Their destination was a conference room. Several dozen Fleet officers and civilians waited for them inside. No commodore, so they’d gotten there early enough. No one wanted to arrive after a flag officer.

  Her escort showed her to a pair of open seats with folders laid out in front of them. Printed matter meant it was very classified.

  Since other people were looking at the contents, she opened her packet. It only took a few moments to realize what she was looking at. Enhancements to equipment that made complex computer cores. Ones she’d seen before, in the compartment that housed Marcus on Invincible.

  Area “F” was where the Rebel Empire made AIs. Capturing the facility just became critical, but she had no way to notify the princess. She’d just have to hope that the woman pulled the mission off with her usual flair, even though she didn’t know how critical it had become.

  * * * * *

  “Admiral, we have an incoming FTL message from Audacious,” Marcus said. “It was a prerecorded video in burst mode.”

  “Put it on screen,” he told the AI.

  Zia Anderson appeared on the screen. “Admiral, I have to risk using the FTL. Our stealthed probes just picked up activity at flip point two. It appears that a large number of ships just transitioned into this system. I’m attaching the data.

  “Princess Kelsey is already aboard the station, so I can’t notify her about it. It’s going to complicate our extraction, so you’ll need to factor them into your planning. I’ll risk another transmission when we have a better assessment of the enemy reinforcements. Audacious out.”