The Hot Gate: Troy Rising III-ARC

by John Ringo

  “Thank you,” Barnett said.

  “And I sure as hell wasn’t going to just sign off on the birds when they weren’t good or their training when it wasn’t to standard,” Dana said. “I couldn’t see Thermal doing that.”

  “Damned straight,” Thermal said, his jaw flexing.

  “Is that what’s been going on?” Captain DiNote asked.

  “Not in my division, sir,” Dana said. “I will not speak for others. However, I think the results speak for themselves. The 143 had a nearly one hundred percent availability condition. On paper. Real availability was myself, three shuttles from another division with a Norte division chief and one shuttle that was straight out of Vulcan and came in without any faults.”

  “That’s the conclusion of the MASSEX report,” Barnett said.

  “The report isn’t...” Captain DiNote said then stopped. “Chief’s phone?”

  Chiefs reviewed reports before any officer got their hands on them.

  “More like 1MC, sir,” Barnett said, referring to the intercom system of ships which tended to be turned up to nuclear levels.

  “Then...” DiNote said then paused as Admiral Duvall, followed closely by her aide, walked over.

  The group came subtly to attention and drinks were lowered to their sides.

  “As you were,” the Admiral said, smiling. “Captain, we spoke briefly at the airfield.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” DiNote said.

  “Have you or your people had any significant briefing?” the Admiral asked.

  “None whatsoever, ma’am,” the captain replied. “As far as we were aware we were transporting DPs. We were not expecting to attend the reception.”

  “Receptions,” the Admiral said. “Formal. Most evenings. We’re laying in dry cleaning support. And you’ll be attending the meetings. All of the 142nd personnel, EM Parker and EM Palencia. The last was a hasty add. If he opens his mouth without good reason, I will personally see he hangs. I don’t care who his father is. And he is not going to be sitting on the... Sud side of the table. You will explain to him that he is there as a member of the Alliance Navy. No more, no less.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the captain said.

  “The same does not hold for yourself, your people or, interestingly enough, EM Parker,” Duvall said, turning to look at the Engineer’s Mate. “You were, I’m told, the primary add by Apollo to this meeting. The rest of us are more or less window dressing.”

  “I don’t know why, ma’am,” Dana said, trying not to tremble. Engineer’s Mate Second Class should never ever be noticed by admirals.

  “Well, it was clearly Vernon,” Duvall said, thoughtfully. “Is there anything I need to know about this relationship, EM?”

  “Ma’am,” Chief Barnett interjected. “I know the EM very well, ma’am. I know a good bit about her personal life on the Troy. She and Mister Vernon are not engaged in a relationship as such. Take that from a Chief, ma’am.”

  “I see,” Duvall said. “He certainly greeted you warmly.”

  “I was surprised by that, ma’am,” Dana said. “But the explanation is that we seem to...get along. He considers me a friend, which I found a bit shocking.” She wanted to mention that he had something specifically in mind in regards to Granadica but she knew better than to say that where the AI could hear.

  “Well, I’ve also been told he specifically wants your input,” Duvall said. “All of your input but especially yours, EM Parker.” A look of frustration crossed her normally sunny face.

  “I wish I could read that bog of his mind. I’ll give Apollo credit. From the very first point that it was even vaguely noticeable that there were consistent problems with the Myrmidons they have been giving us unprecedented access. Not burying us with data, just anything we felt we needed, wanted or desired. I have been beating my head against this wall for three years. I’m not sure why he feels an Engineer’s Mate has a significant contribution!” She paused and shook her head. “EM Parker, please don’t get me wrong...”

  “Ma’am, I don’t know either,” Dana said, trying not to squirm. “I don’t have a degree or anything.”

  “Nonetheless, that is why you are all at the reception,” Duvall said. “And the others to follow. And the primary meetings. At the table, not with the aides. The table is larger than I’d expected it to be and I think that will be an issue. But that is what we’ve been handed.”

  Dana suddenly remembered Vernon’s comment that all the big wigs that had signed on to the trip were “a useful addition.” She started to open her mouth then shut it.

  “Parker?” Duvall said.

  “Just... I’m sure it will work out, ma’am,” Parker said.

  “Eight hundred and thirty-seven thousand man hours,” the Admiral said. “Most of it by PhDs and masters engineers. You are refreshingly optimistic, Engineer’s Mate.” She nodded at the group and walked over to a cluster of admirals.

  “Never offer an unsolicited opinion in a situation like that, Dana,” Barnett said.

  “I didn’t, Chief,” Dana said. “All I did was open and close my mouth.”

  “Learn a poker face,” DiNote said. “This is the highest level meeting on the subject of the problem of the Myrmidons ever held. With the people who are in attendance, the CNO should be here. He would be here except he was tied up. Those sort of meetings, opening and closing your mouth is liable to kill you quicker than sabotaging your suit. Metaphorically. Coughing at the wrong time can lose the battle.”

  “She was just told by the Admiral that her input is expected, sir,” the Chief pointed out.

  “Why, Engineer’s Mate?” the Captain asked. “Seriously. I know you know a reason.”

  “Sir...” Dana said. “Not... Sir, you’re not cleared.”

  “Not...” DiNote said, his eyebrows raising. “Dana, what the hell is going on?”

  “We’re here to cover her back, sir,” Mutant said.

  “Go.”

  “That was implied by what the Admiral said, sir,” CM1 Glass said. “She was specifically requested by Apollo. Presumably by Mister Vernon. Why, I don’t know. But our job is to make sure she doesn’t...cough at the wrong time or if she does figure out the fix. We’re here to cover her back. Like the Chief just covered her back by pointing out to the Admiral that Dana wasn’t screwing Vernon.”

  “Thanks, Mutant,” Dana said, wincing. “And for the record, I am definitely not in a relationship with Tyler Vernon, sir.”

  “Very well,” DiNote said, shaking his head. “It would be nice to know what we’re covering it for.”

  “And against who,” Barnett said.

  SIXTEEN

  “What was discussed with Vernon?” General Benito asked as soon as the three enlisted men were gathered.

  “Simple greetings,” Palencia answered. “He was interested in why so many better class were assigned to the 143rd.”

  “And your answer?” Benito asked.

  “That it was our first opportunity of space faring and that persons who were likely to assume higher level positions in later life had been chosen,” the EM answered, shrugging. “He mentioned the crass theory that to be a good officer requires experience as an enlisted man and I did not dissuade him. He is new rich. Very unsubtle and without class.”

  “When I want an opinion from you I’ll squeeze your head like a zit,” the General said. “Did he give you any indication that he is aware of the issues with regard to EM Parker?”

  “No, sir,” Palencia said.

  “Do we have any better understanding of their relationship?”

  “I spoke, briefly, with CM1 Glass when Mister Vernon entered and immediately approached her,” CM Benito said. “He was as unaware of any relationship, prior to this, as EM Parker has maintained.”

  “It is looking increasingly like a sham of some sort,” the General said. “That is the only rational explanation. Continue to circulate. Keep your mouths shut and your ears open. Palencia, you are to sit at the meeting tomorrow. You are going
to be with the Navy contingent. Again, keep your mouth closed and your ears open.”

  “Yes, sir,” Palencia said.

  “I can’t believe they have enlisted men at this thing,” the General said, shaking his head. “Dinner follows the reception. Do not embarrass us by getting drunk and stupid. Follow orders and report each evening to your respective father.”

  “Yes, sir,” Palencia said.

  “Permission to speak to my father now, my General,” Velasquez said.

  “Why?”

  “He’s my father, my General?” Velasquez said. He wasn’t about to say that he felt the General was wrong in a very big way.

  “And very busy even if he is just chatting,” the General said. “Just circulate. You all should be carrying the trays like monkeys.”

  * * *

  It was late and all that Velasquez wanted to do was get this uncomfortable uniform off and go to bed. But duty was beginning to be a strange but comfortable burden.

  “Papa, it is Diego.”

  “It is late, son, get some sleep.”

  “I would but there is something I need to discuss with you. It is in fact important. At least I believe so.”

  “Then come to my quarters.”

  “I am down the hall. The doors are locked.”

  The security door opened and Diego walked down the corridor to his father’s compartment.

  “Not the most fabulous accommodations, eh,” his father said, gesturing around.

  The compartment was about the size of the one Diego shared with Benito and Palencia. Which meant small. They could barely fit themselves and their gear in it. But that was to be expected. They were the lowest of the low.

  Compared to what an Under Secretary would normally occupy at a major conference, it was a box.

  “The Ambassador’s is not much larger.”

  “More insults?” Diego asked.

  “We do not think so,” Dr. Velasquez answered. “They are the best quarters on the fabber. That people work for years in these conditions...”

  “Six hours a day in suits, Papa,” Diego said.

  “That is simply...”

  “Necessary,” Velasquez said. “Father, this is not what I have come to talk about. But perhaps peripherally. It is about the relationship between Mister Vernon and EM Parker.”

  “A sham,” Velasquez said. “We have figured that out.”

  “I must, respectfully, disagree, Father.”

  “On what basis?” Dr. Velasquez asked.

  “On having spent six hours a day, in suits, working on a boat with EM Parker, Father,” Diego said, chuckling. “I will not say that there is not more going on here. There is. And it involves Parker. But her relationship with Vernon is very real. At least on his part. Perhaps he is attracted by her looks but I think it is more complex than that. I think it is...cultural.”

  “Go ahead,” Dr. Velasquez said, leaning back on his bunk. “Since it’s my degree, why don’t you lecture?”

  “Yes, Papa, that is why I think I am right,” Diego said. “Papa, first you must consider the situation of Tyler Vernon. He is notoriously reclusive. He has had any number of opportunities to meet with persons of high estate. He eschews them.”

  “Avoids them like the plague,” Dr. Velasquez said. “Go on.”

  “He seems to mostly avoid people,” Diego said. “He does not seem to mind them, but he is perfectly comfortable, apparently, alone. He does not even have a particular group of protectors or handlers. He has no personal aide but AIs.”

  “That has been mentioned as being a possible issue with his mental health,” Velasquez said.

  “I don’t think that is the issue, Papa, sorry,” Diego said. “Vernon simply is a... We say that we think about people’s other culture, but we do not. We still emotionally think of our culture. Our own lives. That he has to... Maintain status. And that requires that he interact. Make deals. Make sure his children get the right schools, the right deals, the right spouses...”

  “Yes,” Dr. Velasquez said.

  “First, he has none of those issues,” Diego said. “He has become as hyper-powerful in the realm of business as, sorry, the United States is in war. In politics as well. Why else are you here. It is not about the Myrmidons.”

  “Why, exactly, we are here is not your concern,” Dr. Velasquez said.

  “But my point is made,” Diego said. “He simply does not have to play those roles, those...games.”

  “Recognized,” Dr. Velasquez said, then shook his head. “Sorry, that was an automatic response. You are right. And it will require much thought. Why is he here? Wait, why is he really here?”

  “You were working on his agenda being placating our group of the Alliance for the problems of the Myrmidons,” Diego said, smiling. “To help us save face. Perhaps to polish some alliances. You now realize that he cares less about that than a stray cat in Santiago?”

  “You are becoming decidedly subtle, young man,” Dr. Velasquez said. “I’m proud.”

  “Strangely, I’m a bit troubled,” Diego said. “Because the more I work with Parker, who I have come to respect if not like, the more I am troubled. And that cuts to the other part of the relationship. Have you ever really paid attention to Vernon’s relationships with women?”

  “What relationships?” Dr. Velasquez said. “According to our intelligence he has passed up the opportunity, repeatedly, with both women and men. It is assumed he is heterosexual trended asexual.”

  “Yet, I believe he genuinely likes Parker,” Diego said. “But not because she is female, per se. I think that it is because, somehow, he sees in her his culture.”

  “He is the richest man in the world,” Dr. Velasquez said with a snort. “She is not his culture.”

  “He is that almost purely American form of self-made rich,” Diego said. “The sort that is not a social climber. They simply wish to be wealthy and powerful and have no interest in taking on the views or attitudes of higher class culture. Look at his deep background. Raised in a suburb in the conservative area of his country. And his high school record indicates he was what Americans term a ‘geek.’ To the extent there is a sexual component to this relationship, Parker would have been a high status girlfriend when he was growing up. She was a cheerleader.”

  “How could we miss that,” Dr. Velasquez said, shading his eyes with his hands.

  “Furthermore, they are of similar cultural background,” Diego continued. “How many people does he meet on a regular basis from similar cultural background who are still close enough to it that they...echo it. Most of the time when he meets with military they are admirals whose culture, no matter where they come from, is simply Navy at this point. Parker is perhaps the only person he’s met in a very long time that he can really connect with. I state that it is a real relationship. One of friendship. And the friendship is deeply steeped in their mutual culture. About that I am less certain of the meaning. Parker, herself, warned me of some trap there obliquely. ‘You don’t understand friendship.’ ”

  “Which is why she is included in the meeting,” Dr. Velasquez said. “She is a touch stone.”

  “Again, disagree, Papa,” Diego said.

  “If you keep being right and everyone else wrong it will go hard with you,” Dr. Velasquez said, smiling. “Why?”

  “Although Tyler could easily pull strings to get Parker reassigned to the Troy, where he makes his base, he did not. Yet he pulled those strings to get her assigned to this meeting. Seriously, Papa, do you think that he felt he needed a touch stone for this meeting? He meets with the President of the United States when he, Tyler Vernon, bothers to open up his schedule. I’m sorry but...”

  “The Foreign Minister of Chile is not of the same order,” Dr. Velasquez said. “And when I present these thoughts to the minister I will have to think hard how to put it delicately.”

  “Last point, Papa.”

  “You’ve been thinking.”

  “You know I’m a thinker, Papa,” Diego said,
smiling. “This is the thought. We have established that at a certain level Tyler Vernon’s innate psychology and culture have some resemblance to EM Parker.”

  “I will take that as a given for the discussion,” Dr. Velasquez said. “I am still assimilating it.”

  “Vastly different conditions,” Diego said. “But similar world-view. Now, Papa, what does that tell you?”

  “It tells me it is late, Diego.”

  “How many complaints have you generated about EM Parker, Papa?”

  “Many. She is simply imposs...” Dr. Velasquez said then grimaced. “Oh, no.”

  “It is not the problem of the complaints that you need concentrate on, Papa,” Diego said. “Well, those too. Because you are having to deal with a tremendously powerful person who has the same view of how the universe should work as that lowly EM you have been repeatedly blasting. For, at base, refusing to change her world-view to suit your own. Which means that Tyler is going to have the same absolute stubbornness. And infinitely more power.”

  “Now I’m never going to get to sleep!”

  “Thank the Virgin Mother I can. Your problem now. Good night, Papa.”

  * * *

  “AT LEAST I CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WARRANTY MALFUNCTION AND SLOPPY MAINTENANCE!”

  “And now that we’ve gotten all that out,” Tyler said, holding up his hands. “We’re going to dial it down...”

  “IF YOU THINK THAT...” Dr. Barreiro shouted.

  “And if the Foreign Minister would kindly refrain from antagonizing the AI that controls our air and gravity...”

  “If you think that...” Granadica said, snarled.

  “Whose core I will pull if she doesn’t dial it down...” Tyler said. “And she can spend the rest of the meeting as a small squeaky box on the table.” He paused and looked around. “And now all the colloidals can take some deep cleansing breaths... In through the nose, out through the mouth while the AI runs some soothing checks on her system while saying ‘Oooommmm’...”