The Iron Admiral: Deception

by Greta van Der Rol

  “Fine. Come here tomorrow morning at oh-eight-fifty. Organize some clothes for her, just for the day and bring them with you.” He could get Butcher to organize the other delivery.

  ChapterTwelve

  Allysha opened her eyes and looked at an unfamiliar wall. Where… oh yes. Saahren’s apartment. She was wearing his tee shirt. The garment smelled of him, even now. She lay on her stomach and smiled ruefully to herself. Wouldn’t the Fleet gossip columns have fun with that if they ever found out? She rolled over, stretched and looked around for a chrono. Oh-eight-seventy-four. He’d let her sleep in. She climbed out of bed and, scratching at her hair, went off to find the kitchen.

  The sight of two men in full uniform sitting in the living room with half-empty cups in front of them stopped her in her tracks.

  Saahren grinned. “Good morning, my dear.” He looked her up and down. “Just as well it’s Vlad and not some other admiral. That tee shirt will never be washed again.”

  She sighed. “I slept in the spare room, Vlad.”

  “I realize that, Allysha,” Leonov said. “Otherwise I expect Chaka would have rescheduled this meeting on the grounds of something having come up.”

  “Nice,” she said, rolling her eyes, “schoolboy humor.”

  Saahren picked up a travel bag propped next to Leonov’s chair and handed it to her. “Go and put on some clothes. You’re much too distracting like that. Vlad—or rather, Irina—organized some emergency supplies for you. You can shower later—we need to talk about a number of things, including your ex’s visit to you.” He said the last words with distaste. “I’ll get you a cup of kaff when you come back.”

  She retreated to the bedroom. The bag contained some underwear, dark blue slacks and a white shirt with socks and short boots, enough to get her started until she could get some other garments. She sluiced her face and brushed her teeth, pulled on her clothes and padded barefoot back out to the sitting room.

  “Sit.” Saahren pointed at the couch and disappeared into the kitchen.

  She subsided onto the couch as instructed. Leonov’s eyes sagged and his skin had a grayish tinge. He’d probably been up most of the night. “What do you know about Sean’s visit, Vlad?”

  “It’s quite disturbing, actually,” Leonov said seriously. “He had a fake ID to pass as a fairly high level security operative. That’s how he was able to bring a weapon into your apartment, quite apart from just getting in. And then, as you know, he set the IS to standby.”

  Allysha cleared her throat. She’d taught Sean how to do that. “I take it he escaped?”

  Saahren put a cup in front of her and resumed his seat. “No thanks to you.”

  “I said I was sorry.” In the cold light of day she felt foolish. Now he was still out there. She hoped he’d given up and gone away.

  “Yes, he escaped,” cut in Leonov. “There were at least two of them. The accomplice warned him to expect company.”

  She nodded and picked up the cup. “I asked Albert to replay it.”

  “Did you recognize the voice?”

  She shook her head. The kaff was freshly brewed, rich, fragrant and delicious. “But then, I didn’t recognize Sean’s voice, either.”

  Leonov grunted. “A voice modulator. He’s been to see a body shaper.” He scrubbed at his jaw.

  “We’ve had no results so far from voice matching and the forensic labs are working on everything they picked up in your apartment.”

  “You’ll be safer in space,” Saahren said.

  She put down her cup. “And just exactly what does that mean?”

  “You’re coming onArcturus for a time. And yes,” Saahren continued before she could interrupt, “that was the purpose of the meeting we were going to have. I want you to do some work for me. Those weapons we found on Tisyphor come from somewhere. I want to know where.”

  Orders again. She swallowed her irritation. “And what do you think one Carnessan civilian female can do that the might of Fleet Intelligence has not?”

  “I want you to look at it from the delivery end,” Saahren said. “You come with the fleet and see what you can do once an incident takes place.”

  Was this serious or just some sort of plot to get her into closer contact with Saahren? “You mean like Brjyl?”

  “Like Brjyl, except that you’ll be there immediately, not weeks later.”

  “But surely you’ve done that already?”

  Saahren pointed a finger at Leonov. “They have.” He moved his hand to point at her. “You haven’t.”

  Allysha looked at Leonov, who sat silent, and then back at Saahren. “What makes you think I can make a difference?”

  “You have a different mindset. And you have other ways of finding evidence.”

  “Evidence of what? I’m an IS specialist, not a private investigator.”

  Saahren stood and paced. “We’re getting nowhere, running out of ideas. If you can’t come up with anything, I’ll accept that.” He stopped in front of her and looked down at her. “The Fleet is riddled with supporters of the HRL—the Human Rights League, fundamentalist humans who despise the ptorix every bit as much as the GPR does. The fact is, warships have weapons. We think our systems are fool-proof but maybe, just maybe, somebody’s found a way around our security. Remember you set up the system at Tisyphor to show the schematics and inventory you wanted, depending on who was asking? Hid the ptorix data?”

  She nodded.

  “That’s the kind of devious lateral thinking I want you to apply to this.”

  She hadn’t expected anything like this. “What about the training you hired me to do? I’m not extending the contract. When the five months is up I’m off home.”

  Saahren sat again. “Easy. The whole team comes on boardArcturus . You continue to train them and meanwhile you dig around. We have all the data from the previous incidents as a starting point and you’ll have a cover story.”

  “I can look at that here,” she countered. “If anything happens you could get me there in a few days.”

  Saahren shook his head. “No. Leaving the business with O’Reilly aside, I want you there when it happens. I want you to see the sequence of events.”

  Damn it, He could be so military. “What do you think about this, Vlad? I know he’s your boss, but surely.”

  “I can tell him I think this is stupid?” asked Leonov with a smile at Saahren. “Frankly, I’m out of ideas.

  There’s no evidence of anything untoward happening onArcturus or any of the other ships but I learned a long time ago not to discount Chaka’s hunches. No, don’t roll your eyes, madam. I’m not being sycophantic; he usually turns out to be right. And I see some benefit in it for your team. They get some experience under your guidance on a ship in real conditions.”

  She could see some benefit for Grand Admiral Saahren, too. She’d be there, on his flagship, no way out. “This is rather beyond what I believe I agreed to do in the contract.”

  Saahren shrugged. “It’s all academic now, anyway. I want you there to keep you safe. But there is a clause that says something like ‘any other duties the Fleet requires’.”

  Blast and buckrats. She never read contracts properly. Then again, it might be fun, working on a warship. As long as she could keep away from him. “I’ll do it on condition.”

  “I’ll listen to your requests,” Saahren said. He put some stress on the word ‘listen’.

  “No staterooms. I’ll be accommodated like any other officer and I’ll mess with my team.”

  “No.” His answer was immediate and uncompromising. “You’re not an officer. It’s best if you’re separated from the military structure.”

  “If you put me in a state room you’ll separate me from them physically and mentally. They’ll be reluctant to come to me. I want them to be able to get to me easily.” And in ordinary officer quarters it would be harder for him to get to her. He’d know that.

  After a moment Saahren said, “I see your point but I’m not convinced. You’ll s
pend all day with them.

  No.”

  “What about if I share with Anna?” she countered.

  “No.”

  Damn him. “All right. But I’ll mess with my team.”

  Saahren shrugged. “If that’s what you want. But you’ll have to appear at the SO mess—the Senior Officer’s Mess—from time to time, let’s say weekly.”

  “What for?”

  “My senior officers will be kept informed, of course. They were disappointed that they didn’t have the opportunity to even meet you last time.”

  Allysha scowled. She knew that tone. Don’t bother arguing and in this case, it hardly mattered. “If you say so. What now?”

  “I return toArcturus this afternoon. You’ll come with me. Vlad will arrange for your team to go up separately and you’ll meet them there.”

  “What about clothes? Can I go back to my apartment and pack?”

  “No. Order what you need and have it delivered to Vlad’s office on priority. He’ll make sure it gets onto a shuttle.”

  “You should do that immediately, Allysha,” Leonov said.

  She sucked in a deep breath then let it out again. Backed into a corner with nowhere to go. “I really don’t have any choice, do I?”

  Saahren raised an eyebrow. “Correct.” He stood. “I have some matters to attend to. You will stay here.” He pointed at the floor to emphasize the instruction. “I’ll be back before twenty-one hundred.

  Make sure you’re ready.”

  ChapterThirteen

  “I told you this was stupid,” Pyndrees hissed. “And I sure as hell hope this shield of yours works.”

  “Shut up.” Sean peered up through the tree branches. The aerial patrol passed slowly overhead, its engines a whisper in the darkness. He hoped the shield worked to cover both of them, too. He’d had to pull to make the belt stretch around two bodies. Surely Pyndrees didn’t imagine Sean was enjoying being

  up close and personal with him. The fellow’s breath stank.

  The two men molded themselves against the thick trunk until the patrol was half a kilometer away, moving just above tree height. “Let’s get out of here. They’ll send in a foot patrol for sure.”

  They scrambled up, arms still around each other.

  “Damn shame you didn’t have two of these gadgets,” whispered Pyndrees.

  “Well, I haven’t, so we’ll just have to make the best of it.”

  They stumbled together under the trees. If anyone saw them, they were just a couple of late night drunks. They stopped once as a foot patrol passed by a hundred meters away. At last, they ventured back onto a path, removed the shield belt and hurried down into the commuter system to catch a train.

  Neither man spoke until they were back in their rented flat.

  “What did she say?”

  “Didn’t want to know.” Sean poured himself a drink and slammed down a mouthful. “But she let me go.

  Told me to bugger off. She could have kept me there, but she didn’t.” She’d given them just enough time to get out of the Fleet compound unnoticed. But only just. He wondered why. Perhaps she still had feelings for him?

  “What now?” asked Pyndrees. “Okay, you got us in there, past their security. I’m impressed. But you won’t be able to do it again. They’ll increase the security on her for sure.”

  Sean rubbed his face. The liquor burned down his throat and spread warmth through his body. “We could try a bait. Put something out there that shouts to her.” If he could talk to her again, maybe he could reason with her, convince her to help him.

  Pyndrees dropped into a chair. “Like what?”

  “I don’t know,” growled Sean. “Something on an edge world, where they have toe rags. She’s good at that.”

  “More information,” Pyndrees said, unimpressed.

  “Haven’t you got something clandestine that she could uncover? Something she’ll see but nobody else will? Like… I don’t know,” he waved an arm. “Like this shield, or the locator. They’re her design.”

  Pyndrees grunted. “And then what? They take her off somewhere and where does that leave us? Back to surveillance for the time being, my friend. We won’t know what to do if we don’t know what’s happening.”

  ChapterFourteen

  Saahren returned at twenty-seventy-five, apparently pleased with himself, as if he’d achieved something.

  She wasn’t about to ask. He sat down at the dining table and told the IS to brew some kaff.

  “How was your day?” he asked.

  “Boring. I slept a bit, which was good.”

  She brought the freshly brewed kaff over to the table, one cup for him, one for her, and sat opposite him, watching the steam rise from the cup as he lifted it to his lips. The rich aroma filled the apartment.

  “What about the guys?” she said. “Will they be coming with me?”

  He swallowed, the cup still in his hand. “ToArcturus ? You’ll be coming in my shuttle with me. They’ll go up in a crew transport.”

  “You were jealous, weren’t you? Jealous of Todd because I was there with him.”

  “Jealous.” He set his cup down and rolled the word around in his mouth. “Yes, in as much as he gets to spend so much more time with you than I do. And it’s true I didn’t enjoy watching you dance with him, seeing him holding you.” His voice trailed off and he frowned.

  “It was a dance. He’s just a friend. I went to the ball with him because his fiancée couldn’t come, so I did him a favor. Besides, it’s none of your business.” She sipped at her kaff, eyeing him over the rim. He sat there looking at her, his lip twisted in the shadow of a smile. Why did she feel she had to justify herself?

  “Do you really believe that?” he asked her softly. “That he’s just a friend? Or perhaps I should say that another way.You think he’s just a friend, someone you work with. Do you think that’s whathe thinks?”

  She held the cup in midair. “What he thinks?”

  “Open your eyes, darling. You’re so busy trying to convince yourself you don’t like me, you can’t see what’s in front of you. He’s crazy about you.” He stood. “Time to go. Finish your kaff.”

  She tipped out what she hadn’t drunk and handed him her cup so he could put it in the kleendish. With a flick of his hand he gestured her toward the transit in the passageway that took them on the short journey to the hangar. As he walked back into the public spotlight, he changed seamlessly from the man into the grand admiral. It was subtle, hard to spot, as though he’d slipped on an invisible mask. Or maybe it was more that the two personas occupied the same space, with one having more prominence than the other at

  any given time.

  A President Class shuttle waited for them, the pilots already in the cockpit, engines engaged. Four armed troopers in body armor stood guard. They acknowledged the grand admiral briefly but stayed at their posts.

  Saahren motioned for Allysha to board before him. “My seat is the first one on the right,” he said as she passed him. “Sit in the first seat on the left.”

  Whatever you say, Sir. His words echoed in her mind. Todd? No. He wouldn’t be so silly. Would he?

  He was engaged to be married. She was years older than him.

  She dropped into the seat beside Saahren’s and sat quietly as the seat harness deployed to fit snugly over her shoulders and legs. The sound of the engines changed; the ship lifted and slipped between the gray walls of the hangar bay into clear air, affording a brief, panoramic view of the city before it accelerated through the clouds, heading for space.

  The high acceleration launch out of Malmos’s gravity well only took a few minutes; from there, a half hour glide would take the shuttle toArcuturus’s docking bay. Saahren immediately busied himself with some reports while Allysha sat with eyes closed, her head too full of thoughts to take advantage of the view as Melchior receded below.

  What about Todd? The shared meals after work, the unarmed combat practices, the way his hand had trembled a little when h
e first put it on her bare skin at the ball. She’d thought he’d just been a bit nervous. Saahren was right as usual, damn him. How had she been so blind?

  She glanced across the aisle at him, absorbed in his reports, hand absently scratching at the scar on his cheekbone. And he, he had used the ball to virtually make an announcement.She is mine. Well, she wasn’t.

  With a little shake of her head, she turned to the screen in front of her and adjusted the view so that she could watch the shuttle’s approach to the battle cruiser, drifting in high orbit around the planet. As they approached, the string of lights along the ship’s side resolved into a line of air locks and the grand admiral’s shuttle was not the only transport heading that way.

  “Oh. Looks like we’re in a queue,’ she remarked half to herself.

  Saahren glanced up from his report and gave a short shake of his head. “Not for me.”

  Allysha jerked a lip. No, not for him. The larger transports were in a holding vector, waiting while this shuttle passed. She even noticed another President Class shuttle holding position. Saahren’s ship changed

  neither course nor speed as it approached the battle cruiser, sweeping past the waiting ships.

  “So quite a few people had leave on Malmos?” she asked.

  “Not many, no. We weren’t here long enough. There’ll be a few assignment rotations, though. Like your team. They’ll be on one of the larger transports. And there is always some re-provisioning.”

  The shuttle slowed, angled itself to match the battle cruiser’s orientation, then slipped between grey walls. The bay hatch closed behind the ship as it settled gently to the deck. Allysha watched the lights on the environment censors turn from red to green as the bay aired up. Flashing green.

  “You may disembark when ready,” the IS said.

  Saahren motioned for her to precede him down the ramp.

  The senior officer waiting for Saahren came to attention when the grand admiral appeared. His eyes had widened for just a moment when he saw her but he resumed that closed military expression and saluted as soon as Saahren set foot on the deck.