by Terry Mixon
She blinked rapidly for a moment and then shook her head as she sat up. “That was… unpleasant. I had no idea that kind of thing was even possible. I tried to stop myself but couldn’t. My apologies for both doubting you and attacking you.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Kelsey said. “You had no reason to suspect the Lords had done this to everyone that has implants. Your experts looked over the updated implant code and are studying the changes between the original code and the corrupt version you had.
“With Don Sommerville’s assurances, they okayed us updating yours. That will never happen to you again. We have some hardware that we could install that will make it impossible for them to ever change you back or update the code without your informed consent, but that’s something you can do for yourself.”
Gatewood rubbed her face and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “We have a couple of hundred people with implants, mostly former Fleet officers, but a few members of the higher orders, too. I mean here. We have a lot more members of the higher orders in other systems. How the hell am I going to handle this?”
Sommerville put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s something we can manage. It won’t happen immediately, but the knowledge of the New Terran Empire doesn’t have to leave a close circle here until we’re ready. Frankly, we have more pressing matters to deal with.”
Gatewood nodded and stood. “I’ll speak to my people and look at their findings with the implant code another time. You’re really from a world without the Lords?”
“Dozens of worlds,” Kelsey confirmed. “We’re not as large as the Empire, and we’re starting at a technological disadvantage, but we’re making headway and have a military force that isn’t anything to be ashamed of.”
“I can second that,” Sommerville said. “Not only from records they’ve showed me but from walking the decks of their carrier, Audacious. It’s the largest warship I’ve ever seen, and even though it’s designed to service fighters—which are astonishing in their own right—she still has enough firepower to take on three or four heavy cruisers all on her own.”
Kelsey nodded. “We found the place where the Lords stashed any ships that weren’t destroyed outright when they seized control. Most of them are unrepairable, but enough are to make a very powerful strike force.
“It also gave us a leg up from the technology level we’d been at before we found them. We’re growing, but we’ve still got a way to go.”
“That’s not true,” Sommerville disagreed. “I’ve also seen technology that can’t be explained by recovered technology. Things that we could desperately use.”
“Like what?” Gatewood asked him.
He looked meaningfully at the medical staff. They were standing too far away to have heard any of the previous conversation, but she didn’t want to take any chances with them overhearing anything.
“Everyone out and close the hatch,” Gatewood told the other people in the room. When the two men guarding her made to stay, she motioned them out too.
Once the room was cleared, she focused her attention on Sommerville. “Like what?” she repeated.
“Faster-than-light communications that can cross a flip-point boundary.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
“We’ve also arranged a demonstration for you,” Kelsey said. “I assume you know Commander Sommerville’s brother fairly well.”
She nodded. “I do. You want me to send him a message. Does that mean you have a communications unit with you?”
“Actually, we slipped a stealthed FTL probe into this system before we left the previous one,” Angela said. “Since your picket ship was a shade too far away from the flip point and it’s wickedly hard to detect under the best of circumstances, we had an idea of what was here before we arrived.”
The woman’s eyes hardened. “That’s not very neighborly.” Her eyes slid to Sommerville. “You knew?”
“It was already done, and honestly, I wanted to see it for myself. It was a demonstration for me, too.”
Gatewood sighed. “What do we do?”
Kelsey removed her com unit and handed it to the resistance leader. “This is presently linked to the probe. If you send a message, it will go to my ship in the next system, and they’ll transmit it to Gavin Sommerville. They’re expecting the call, so no need to explain it to them. It will let the cat out of the bag, though. Your man will know.”
“I trust Gavin,” she said. “I’ll make sure he’s alone when he gets it.”
She kept her eyes on Kelsey and activated the com. “This is Sara Gatewood. When you signal Gavin Sommerville, request he listen to this message in private, his ears only. Message starts. Gavin, this is Sara. I understand this is confusing, but it’s a Code Hero situation, and I’ll explain it when you get over here.
“Without sending any probes through the flip point, I want you to escort the other ship into Home. After you tell them what’s going on, I want a communications blackout. Neither ship is to signal anyone before transit. Hand them off to the picket ship on this side and stay right there in the flip point and scan hard, looking for any probes to try flipping in or out.
“Acknowledge receipt of this order and also tell me who you’re presently seeing to authenticate your identity. And by seeing, I mean sleeping with. Gatewood out.”
Kelsey took the com back. “This is Princess Kelsey. Do as the… do you have a title to go with your name?”
“I stole one from the Empire. Coordinator Gatewood, please.”
“Do as Coordinator Gatewood told you,” Kelsey finished. “See you shortly.”
She handed the com back to Gatewood.
The other woman shook her head slightly. “It’s a significant delay in transmission time to the flip point, even if this FTL story—”
The com came to life. “Message from Gavin Sommerville,” a female voice Kelsey recognized as Arianna Knox said.
“Order received, though I have no idea how,” Gavin Sommerville said. “As for who I’m sleeping with, you should damned well know, Sara. I’m your guy and yours alone. I do hope dinner is still on when I transfer back to station duty in a week. And the response is Code Hercules. Gavin out.”
Don Sommerville’s eyes widened. “You and Gavin? I had no idea.”
“That’s kind of the point,” she said tartly. “If I’m going to have a relationship with a subordinate, we won’t go blathering on about it.”
She turned Kelsey. “I can’t imagine how this even works, but you have my complete and undivided attention. This kind of technology changes everything. You want to trade this to us in exchange for an alliance and help getting to Terra?”
“This and some other things that Commander Sommerville knows about. Potentially a few things he doesn’t. We haven’t shown all our cards, and we might not right away.”
“They found aliens,” Sommerville said. “I met some. They also have matter transportation that they got from another alien. That’s not fully understood, though. And though I don’t understand all the details, they know of a new kind of flip point that leads to multiple destinations and isn’t readily detectable.”
The resistance leader blinked. “Really? All that and more?”
Kelsey nodded. “Once you trust me to look, we’ll scan the system for one. They’re not in every system, but they’re in enough that you have a chance of having one here.”
One of the guards opened the hatch cautiously. “Coordinator, we just got word the picket ship in the next system flipped in with an unknown vessel.”
Gatewood looked at Kelsey for a few moments. “They’re expected. Stand down and have the near picket escort the ship here. They’re friends, it seems.”
Once the man left, Gatewood shook her head slightly. “This is all so unbelievable. If what you say is true, I’ll agree to that alliance in a heartbeat, but it might not help you that much. We don’t know of any hid
den flip points leading into Terra.”
“We call them far flip points,” Kelsey said. “And that’s potentially okay. If we can get into a close system, we might be able to use one of the multi-flip points to find a way into Terra.”
She really hoped it would be that easy. If they couldn’t find a way in, Jared was on his own.
33
Olivia stood beside Jared’s command console as they approached the main world in the last inhabited system short of Terra. The travel codes that Fielding had given them had gotten them permission to enter the system, and they were less than an hour away from orbit.
That was a relief. If the man had been going to betray them, this system had been the place. All they needed to do now was get rid of Fielding in such a way that he couldn’t betray them or be discovered before they were long gone.
“This is it,” Jared said softly. “We’ll make orbit and stay long enough to get rid of Fielding and then head out. I figure six hours until we’re into the buffer system between us and Terra.
“Everything I’ve seen indicates that one is unoccupied but patrolled by robotic ships. Through traffic is allowed along a direct corridor to the next flip point. The flip point leading to Terra is heavily guarded on the outside, and probably on the inside, too. Add another six hours to get to it.”
“It seems so unreal,” she said. “We’ve been trying to get here for so long, and now we’re here. All the trouble thus far was just the journey. Now the fight to get what we need and escape again is in front of us, and it’s intimidating.”
He nodded. “True, but the AI doesn’t know why we’re really here. We can get in and back out again without giving ourselves away, especially with Kelsey’s help. Both of them.”
“That seems awfully optimistic,” Olivia said. “I’m hoping it’s true, mind you, but I’m leaning toward something serious going wrong with our plans.”
“No plan survives contact with the enemy,” he admitted with a wry smile. “That’s a bit of history I picked up from Kelsey and her obsession with old Terran entertainment. I already knew it, but that’s a very succinct saying.
“What it means is that we plan as best we can and be ready to adapt to the changing situation as quickly as we can. No one can predict the curve balls the pitcher throws at you, so you have to be flexible.”
“What’s a pitcher and why is he throwing balls at you?”
Jared chuckled. “That’s not really important, and you don’t have time to hear the story. It’s time to get our guest ready for transport.”
“I’m not worried about this part,” she confided. “In fact, I’m counting on one of those curve balls you’re throwing around.”
“That’s not how this works,” he said with a chuckle. “Good luck.”
With that, she left the bridge and made her way to the medical center. Lily Stone was waiting for her next to an unconscious Fielding. He had a somatic stimulator on his head and was resting peacefully.
“How is our soon-to-be-departed guest?” she asked.
“Stinking like three-day old fish, metaphorically speaking,” the physician said with a smile. “I’ll be glad when he’s gone.”
“When will he wake up?”
The doctor tapped a finger on the stimulator. “This has a timer that will shut it down in twelve hours. We should be long gone, and the only issue he’ll have is being hungry and thirsty. I’ve loaded him up with fluids and energy. He’ll probably be horrified that I’ve put a catheter into him, but I left written instructions so he can safely remove it. Attached to a handy spot he can’t possibly miss.”
Olivia laughed. “I can only imagine. Well, he’s done more than enough that I don’t feel badly about that. I’ll take him from here.”
The four marines waiting off to the side helped move the sleeping man onto a gurney, catching the sheet and almost pulling it all the way off. The unconscious noble was naked under the gown, and he did indeed have instructions taped to a… delicate area.
“I have his clothes in this,” Lily said, handing her a bag. “Hurry up and get back. I want to be out of here long before he wakes up and comes after us.”
“Your wish is my command,” Olivia said. “Come on, boys.”
The marines got the gurney to the docking tube leading to the noble’s cutter and put him into an acceleration couch. They started to withdraw, but Olivia stopped them.
“Can I borrow a knife?”
They were marines, so she promptly had half a dozen blades to choose from, as some offered her two. The almost monomolecular edge of the blade she chose sliced off Fielding’s gown with ease, leaving the unconscious man naked. It went into the bag with his clothes.
“Help me get rid of anything he can use to cover himself with,” she said. “That’ll keep him trapped on the cutter longer. His ego won’t let anyone else see him in this condition.”
It took fifteen minutes to get every scrap of cloth off the cutter, and every blade that could peel something off a seat. They even stripped the bed the man kept of its mattress and took the serving trays. There was nothing left for him to cover his nakedness with.
She even found something in his office to amuse herself with: a permanent marker. She made sure to leave a personal goodbye written on the man’s naked form that set the marines to howling with laughter.
“Excellent,” she said at last, making sure the grinning marines had removed all of the things they’d gathered. “I suppose I’m ready to go. Thanks, boys.”
The Fleet pilot had stayed in the control area, though Olivia had seen the woman smirking at the antics in the cutter itself. That same expression dominated the woman’s face when Olivia strapped herself in.
“He’s going to be super pissed when he wakes up naked. And what were you doing with that permanent marker?”
“Leaving my own personal message,” Olivia said serenely. “On his stomach with arrows. ‘Objects are smaller than they appear.’”
The pilot laughed. “I had my own share of pranks at the academy. That stuff won’t come out until it wears off in a few weeks. You ready? Athena just entered orbit, and we have clearance to make the trip over. The other cutter will shadow us and bring us back.”
“Let’s get this show on the road. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get the hell out of here.”
The flight over to the station didn’t take very long, and they were quickly inside a cargo bay that reminded Olivia strongly of the one she’d been in at Archibald. It was hectic with activity, and people rushed about on tasks she couldn’t begin to imagine.
A woman in deep-red coveralls met Olivia as soon as she debarked. “This pad is booked. You’ll need to expedite your departure or relocate.”
“If it’s booked, why did your people direct me to it?” Olivia asked, irritated.
“Wasn’t booked then,” the woman said with a shrug. “Happened right before you landed. You want to bitch about it, talk to him.”
The last few words were accompanied with a gesture toward a man standing nearby, smirking at Olivia.
“Fine,” she growled as she headed toward the man. “Why are you screwing with me?”
“Fair seems fair,” he said. “You screwed with me on the trip from the last system.”
Olivia felt her eyes narrow. This had to be the smuggler. What had Kelsey said his name was? Or had she even mentioned it?
“Daniel Goldman,” he interjected at her expression.
“And what can I do to make this situation up to you, Captain Goldman?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“I’m an inquisitive man,” he admitted. “A personal failing in someone who takes cargos from one place to another without asking questions. Your presence on a destroyer has piqued my curiosity. Perhaps you could trade some answers for the parking slip?”
She felt her lips pull up into a smile. “Or I could give you another set of questions that might be worth your time. Step inside and take a look at my cutter.”
His eyes na
rrowed, but he followed her in, only to stop abruptly at the lavish interior and the sight of the naked man strapped into one of the chairs.
“I wasn’t sure what you wanted me to see, but I’ll freely admit this wasn’t on my scanners. Why do you have a naked man asleep in here? And where did you get this fabulous cutter?”
“I can’t say. What I can say with certainty is that I’m leaving this cutter and everything it contains here, and I don’t care what happens to it. He’ll wake up on his own in about eleven hours without having taken any harm, but he’s going to be severely pissed. Particularly if someone stole his very lavish cutter.”
“I’m sure that would be unfortunate,” the smuggler said, his expression odd. “I’ve boosted a number of small craft over the years, but no one ever handed one to me with a smile and a hook.”
“A hook?” she asked.
“A mystery that will have me asking questions I’m sure I probably don’t want to have answered.”
“Excellent,” she said cheerfully. “You’ll want to disable the manual lockout I put on the hatch to keep him penned in here. I never activated it, but it’s still in there. You’ll also want to make sure he never sees your face. He’s a vindictive bastard. Good luck, Captain.”
With that, she marched out and met the pilot as they walked casually to their other cutter and departed the station.
Only once they were clear did the pilot turn to face her. “Is that guy going to cause us trouble?”
“Maybe,” Olivia murmured. “Maybe not. We won’t know for sure until we meet him again. One thing I can say is that he’ll cause Fielding a lot more trouble than us, so I’ll take it.”
Angela stared at the scanner plot and couldn’t believe how quickly the negotiations with the resistance had gone. Audacious was still back at the Home system, settling things like the technology trade and seeing that the newly appointed Ambassador Justine Bandar was installed and briefed.