by Saxon Andrew
Meredith looked at Rory, “My grandfather told me about the evil times and evil men that were a part of his youth. He told me that the real evil was in the Thorpe and Kuchen families and that evil still existed.” She turned to Kuchen and said, “Part of it is here with us in this room.”
Rory looked at Kuchen and sighed, “Is she right about that Kuch?”
“I didn’t believe her, initially. But Aloysha’s Medal makes it clear she is right. Gold was scarce during that time and Aloysha was the only one to ever receive the medal with a steel star; it had to belong to him. But she is wrong about a piece of it.” He looked at Meredith and saw her eyes narrow, “I was too young to take part in the plans to rule Earth. I spent my youth in Russian and moved to New Jersey at my father’s orders because of the danger of being assassinated. I never became a part of Thorpe’s inner-circle but was taught about how our families fought together. My mother died of grief after my father died and I’ve been pretty much a loner ever since.” Kuchen looked up at Rory, “But you became a friend. I did not tell Thorpe about the Techs that migrated to the Colonies because I knew it would cost you your life. I guess I really didn’t much care about who won or lost. You are the only friend I’ve really ever known.”
Meredith sneered, “You have no skin the game!!”
“It appears I do.” Meredith’s head went back. “Your parents, your brother, his family, and you are my family.” Kuchen stared at Meredith with a penetrating gaze, “Sometime in the future when things slow down, will you tell me about your Grandfather?” Meredith stared at him and he said, “Please!” Meredith shook her head and lowered it. A moment later, she nodded. Kuchen turned to Rory and said very deliberately, “The…Colonies…will…not…be…harmed!!”
Rory shook his head, “How can I trust you? You’ve shown yourself to be…”
Kuchen was reaching in his front-pocket, pulled out a datahub, presented it to Rory, and interrupted him, “This should convince you.”
Everyone in the room stared at him and Rory asked, “What is that?”
“I’m not really sure. But General Haley is Thorpe’s right hand man and I stole it from his lap top when Thorpe asked him about operatives. I suspect everyone that’s one of Thorpe’s men are on this. I’ve tried to open it but it is heavily encrypted. It’s going to take a computer genius to get into it.”
Rory smiled and looked at Ginger, “Would you and Major Stanly like to do the honors?”
Ginger stood up smiling, “It would be our pleasure.” She walked around the table and took the datahub from Kuchen.
Rory turned back to Kuchen and he said, “I will not allow my family to be harmed Admiral. I didn’t know they existed or this would have not been an issue.” He turned to Meredith, “I understand your hatred now.” Meredith sighed as Kuchen said, “My father loved his older brother and told me stories as a young boy how wonderful he was. My full name is Leo Aloysha Kuchen; he named me after him. I meant what I said about wanting to know everything about him.”
Rory looked around the room, “I can’t make this decision; I’m not impartial. I felt incredibly betrayed when I learned Kuchen was with Thorpe. But now I still want to believe in him.” He looked at his Admirals and said, “Vote.”
Admiral Logan said “I’m sorry, but I have to say no.”
Donovan sighed, “I have to agree with Admiral Logan, no.”
Rory looked at Dean, “I vote yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I can see in him that family is the most important thing to him. His family is now with us.”
“Meredith?”
Meredith looked at Kuchen and then turned to Rory, “I vote Da.” She turned to Kuchen and smiled, “Cousin.”
Rory smiled as well, “I also vote Da.”
“Sir, I believe I have to vote with Meredith,” Donovan said. “I change my vote to yes.”
“And I do as well, Admiral,” Logan replied.
Rory stood up, went around the table, and hugged Kuchen, “Welcome back, my friend.” Kuchen hugged him and then pulled Rory’s blaster out of his holster, turned, and shot Lenov in the head. The room was shocked and Kuchen handed the blaster back to Rory and smiled, “There are some that do have skin in the game and that one will not leave Thorpe.”
Rory shook his head, “You are back in command of the Carriers.”
“I thought you said I was wasted commanding the carriers.”
“I lied. A good Carrier Commander is worth their weight in Gold.” Rory turned to Donovan, “You will split the Squadrons between you and Logan and get them ready to defend against an attack from Earth.”
“Yes, Sir. And welcome back Admiral Kuchen.”
Kuchen nodded and said, “We need to get a line of Scouts out between the Colonies and Earth. We have some time but Thorpe may act without thinking about the dangers he’s facing.”
Meredith looked at Kuchen with her head tilted, “What do you mean?”
“General Haley saw those five-Brax Warships moving my way and Thorpe has to be fearful they might attack Earth. But he sometimes becomes erratic and acts impulsively. He may wake up at night and order his Squadron to launch an attack on the Colonies.”
Rory nodded, “I have a line of Scouts out already.”
“Then you need to move some Carriers close enough to react in time, Sir.”
“Make that happen, Admiral Kuchen.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“In the meantime, we need to see what was on that datahub you gave to Ginger.”
• • •
Four days later, they were back in the conference room with Ginger and Major Stanly. Ginger activated a wall monitor and said, “Admiral Kuchen was right on both counts. Breaking this encryption was extremely difficult and I have to hand it to Major Stanly that he made the difference.”
“What else was he right about?” Rory asked.
“The datahub had a list of every operative Thorpe has…period. Not only in the Fleet but also on Earth. The list is extensive and numbers in the tens of thousands.”
“Have you been able to get all of those still in our ships?”
“Yes. There’s about seven-hundred-fifty operatives. They appear to fall into two-separate groups.”
Major Stanly nodded, “Most of them, when you click on their names, appear on a huge list that doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Show me what you mean?” Rory requested.
Ginger pulled up the list of operatives and clicked on a name. Another list appeared on the monitor with hundreds of dates. One of the dates was illuminated on the list.”
Kuchen said, “Oh, my God!”
Everyone looked at him and Rory asked, “What?”
Kuchen was shaking his head as he pointed at the large list, “The name at the top of the screen tells us what that list is. Colonel Nesteal is Thorpe’s executioner. Those on the list with a date beside them have been terminated. If you click on the symbol beside the names on the list you’ll see how it was done.”
Stanly clicked on a name beside the highlighted name and the monitor showed a news report on a house fire that killed everyone inside. The wall speaker said, “No survivors.”
Ginger pressed her panel and pulled up the personnel file on the operative. She looked at it and looked up with a stunned expression, “That is Petty Officer Torgaw’s home address. His family was in that house. It was burned less than two-weeks after he was assigned to the fleet.”
Kuchen sighed, “Thorpe was holding his family hostage against his being loyal. I’ve heard Colonel Nesteal complain that he didn’t have the manpower to keep track of all the hostages. It appears they went ahead and killed them and planned to kill the operative when he went back to Earth to report in.”
Major Stanly began punching keys and an address on the monitor illuminated. His head went down and he started weeping. Ginger looked up the address in Fleet Records and said, “Major Stanly’s family was killed the day after you reported him dead, Admiral.”
Rory looked at Kuchen, “What about the operatives not tied to this list?”
Kuchen tilted his head, “They are trusted by Thorpe. He has no fear of them being turned.”
Meredith turned to Kuchen, “Do you think those operatives know about each other?”
“Some may but most probably don’t; you can’t turn someone in if you don’t know about them.”
Rory lifted his communicator, “Colonel Maywell, report to the conference room immediately.”
“What are you going to do, Admiral?”
Rory looked at Dean, “Deal with this cancer.”
Kuchen smiled, “I have an idea on how to do that.”
Meredith looked at him, “Do tell.”
• • •
The shuttles had been arriving for an hour and dropping off the sailors to be given a grand-tour of the new shipbuilding facilities. Tables filled with food and deserts were there for them to consume while they waited for the final attendees. Two of the sailors filled a plate and walked away. One said, “Have you been able to get a message out?”
“No! Every long-range communicator is shut down and password protected. At least this tour will give us more vital information to send Haley.”
“Do you have a recorder?”
“I do.”
“Good.”
• • •
The final shuttle arrived and Ginger walked forward with a microphone and faced the two-hundred sailors. The sailors were stunned by her beauty and all of them hoped she was going to be their tour guide. “All right, when you hear your name, come forward and join me for the first group.” She began calling out names and fifty-sailors stepped forward and followed her toward a large building. Those sailors remaining moved closer together as Meredith stepped forward. She was also a knockout and the smiles in the group were everywhere. She looked at them as the fifteen-servers at the food tables reached under them and pulled out shoulder-blasters. “It has come to our attention that all of you are operatives sent by General Thorpe to spy on the fleet. Denying it will accomplish you nothing. We’ve been told by General Haley that you are in General Thorpe’s inner circle and there is no saving you.” Several sailors began protesting but the blasters silenced them. Meredith looked up at the sky and hoped dealing with the others would go as easy.
“Sir, what do you want done with the bodies?”
Meredith looked at the Marine, “Use your blasters to clean up the mess. They don’t deserve a burial.”
• • •
Harry walked in the huge conference room on the Babylon and saw Megan sitting in the front row. He walked down and sat down beside her, “How’s it going?”
“Ok, I guess. What’s going on?”
“I have no idea. I was ordered to report here to go over some sort of new technology.”
“I was given the same order. I do notice that there are sailors from many different departments here with us.”
Harry shrugged, “Must be a radical change that affects all of us.”
“I suppose.”
• • •
Dean walked to the front of the room and watched it slowly fill up. Rory was past being angry when he was outvoted on attending. His staff finally convinced him that the risk was too high and that he was too important to do it. Dean smiled, they didn’t argue as hard about his being here. Oh well, seniority did have its privileges. There were ten vacant seats and Lt. Cambridge came down the aisle and whispered to him, “The ones missing have been handled.”
Dean nodded and said over the PA, “I need everyone’s attention.” The room grew instantly silent as a Company of heavily armed Marines walked down the aisles on each side of the room and turned toward the attendees. They raised their shoulder blasters and Dean said, “RELAX!!” He stared at the room and saw no one was moving. “You’re here to view something we recently uncovered and you should be fine as long as you don’t do something stupid. You got that?”
Several attendees shouted, “Yes, Sir.”
Deans said louder, “YOU GOT THAT!?!”
The entire assembly shouted, “YES, SIR!!”
Chief Petty Officer Bridges stood up and yelled, “Sir, this is highly irregular!!”
Dean smiled, “I wondered who I would start with and I appreciate you making that decision easy, Chief. Sit down!”
The Chief sat down and two things happened; the huge wall monitor came on behind Dean and Admiral Kuchen walked down to the front of the room. Dean was hard pressed to see which caused the most stir.
Chapter Eighteen
Kuchen took a chair next to Dean and leaned back. Dean pressed a button on his console and a huge list of names appeared on the front wall monitor. Dean announced over the PA, “All the names on the monitor have been alphabetized by last name. Is there anyone present whose name is not on the monitor? Please stand up.”
An attendee on the backrow stood up and yelled, “My name isn’t.”
Another attendee across the room yelled, “YES IT IS; YOU’RE RIGHT BELOW ME!”
Dean shrugged, “Well, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Please escort him out of the room.”
The sailor walked out of the row and Marine Private escorted him out of the door. The door closed and everyone in the room heard a blaster discharge. Dean looked around the room and said, “Computer, was that sailor’s name on the list?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Please remove it now.” A name disappeared from the monitor and all of those below it moved up one space. “Computer, is everyone in attendance on the list?”
“Yes, Admiral. Ten names are not present.”
Dean looked around the room as he said, “They have already been dealt with.”
The room was as quiet as a tomb, until Bridges said, “What’s going on, Sir?”
“Well, let me show you, Chief. The names on the front monitor are operatives sent to spy on the Fleet by General Thorpe.” The room started getting loud and Dean waited.
Harry looked at Megan and she shrugged. He looked at Dean and said, “Oh, Crap!”
The room finally grew silent and Dean smiled, “I assume most of you have confirmed my statement.” Dean looked at Chief Bridges, “We also know that your loyalty to Thorpe is guaranteed by the lives of your families.” Dean looked at Bridges, “What is your address, Chief.”
“Why should I tell you?”
“You don’t need to; but it would help with this demonstration.” The Chief remained silent and Dean said, “I want all of you to notice that I am moving the cursor to Chief Bridges’ name.” Everyone watched the monitor and saw Bridges highlighted. “Now, I click that name and…” The monitor changes showing an address highlighted. “…voila.” Dean looked at Bridges, “I believe that is your address, Chief, right?” The Chief nodded.
Dean clicked on a symbol next to the address and the monitor illuminated showing a news reporter standing on a mountain. The guardrail was bent out of place and the news reporter said, “No one really understands how this accident happened. It was a clear day and the road was dry but all five-members of the Bridges Family died from the long fall off the cliff.” Chief Bridges’ face showed immediate shock. Dean said “Now I’m going to click the symbol next to the one I just clicked.”
The wall speaker began saying, “Termination report on Bridges target. All five were poisoned and dead prior to pushing their vehicle off the cliff. The poison will be gone by the time the bodies are recovered.”
Bridges screamed, “WHO DID THIS!?!”
“Who do you think? Alright, let’s pick another name.”
The process continued for two-hours until Dean had enough. Grown men were weeping uncontrollably and he knew the point had been made. He looked out at the assembly and said, “All of your families are deceased. I’m going to send the records of their deaths to your personal communicators so those of you who have not had
to endure this publicly can grieve in private.”
“WHY HASN’T THIS BEEN REPORTED BY THE NEWS?!”
Dean looked at the screaming sailor, “It was, as most of you have just seen. But it’s a big planet and the deaths happened in distant locations from each other. The Officer in charge of the executions makes sure that none of them happen close together in time or location. They are really good at what they do.”
“But they promised…”
“NOTHING!!” Kuchen yelled interrupting the sailor. The room was silent and Kuchen said, “I know what you’re thinking. Why am I here when I was fighting with Thorpe? What you don’t know is that Thorpe is planning to attack the Colonies and kill every human being living on them. He’s not going to be as discrete as he was with your families; he’s planning to nuke them and remove them just like some of you have removed primitive civilizations.” Kuchen paused and said, “He didn’t trust you to remain loyal. That’s why he held your family’s hostage. Do you think he would have let you or your family live if you went back and reported? He didn’t trust you when he sent you out and he won’t trust you when you return. You’d be eliminated just like your families. The only reason you’re in this room is because he didn’t trust you. The question before us today is, was he right?”
Bridges looked at Kuchen, “What are you asking?”
“Was he right not to trust you?”
Harry stood up, “Just give me a clear shot at him and I’ll be glad to let him find out, Sir. My little sister was the only family I have and he will pay for what he did to her!”
Bridges stood up, “Sir, I want pilot training.”
The entire room stood up and screamed their anguish and anger. There was no doubting their resolve; they had been betrayed in the worse possible way and both Dean and Kuchen knew the ones in the room would not fear losing their lives; they just wanted it to count for something. Kuchen looked at Chief Bridges and nodded. The unsaid message was the Chief would get his chance.
Harry walked up to Dean and said, “Sir, I know other sailors that are Thorpe’s men who are not present.”
“How do you know about them, Lieutenant?”