The Iron Admiral: Deception

by Greta van Der Rol

  “Wait,” Saahren tossed the word over his shoulder at her.

  He was soon in discussion with the deck officer, so Allysha moved a few paces away and gazed around at ordered activity. The cavernous hangar was busy with people and ships, the background hum of life support overlaid with the whine of engines, the dense buzz of conversation, the tramp of feet. To the right, one of the larger transports still disgorged its passengers, officers and crew in working uniform. He said her team would be coming up in something like that. Maybe they were over there. She scanned the faces, looking for anyone she knew. Many interested glances were directed at the grand admiral’s shuttle, but she expected that would always be the case. Ordinary fleeters wouldn’t get to see him too often, she wouldn’t think. A glimpse of Grand Admiral Saahren would merit a mention in a comm home.

  “Allysha!”

  Anna waved to her from the other side of the docking bay, her voice just audible over the background din. Allysha grinned and waved back. Her team stood together in a group with a commander she didn’t know. They must have been on that transport. The officer frowned and spoke to Anna, clearly not impressed.

  “And quite right too.” Saahren appeared beside her, his voice laced with irritation.

  She curled her lip at him. Typical military stuffiness.

  “This is a warship, not a school playground. They should know better. And you shouldn’t condone that behavior. Now then,” he continued in a different tone, “you’ll join your team for the moment, meet SenComm Ernshaw and see where you’ll be working. You’ll attend the SO mess for dinner. SenComm Ernshaw will show you where to go.”

  Her hackles rose. Oh, no. That wasn’t going to happen. She waved her arm backwards over her shoulder to where the others waited for her. “You said I could mess with my team.”

  Saahren frowned. “I said you’d attend the SO mess weekly. What made you imagine it would not be the first night? They’ll want to know why you’re here.”

  “You can tell them.” She jabbed her finger at his chest. “I don’t need to be there.”

  He caught her hand in his fist, none too gently, and thrust it away. “When will you learn to accept an instruction without argument?” He’d raised his voice sufficiently to attract attention.

  She took a step closer to him. This wasn’t in her contract and she wasn’t going to put up with it. “It’s not in my nature and that’s not what you pay me to do. I’m not one of your precious star fleet and you can’t order me around.”

  His face hardened. “You will do as you are told.” He enunciated each word very clearly, his voice as soft and deadly as falling snow.

  A tremor shivered through her nerves. His eyes were black and cold just as they’d been at Lake Sylmander. This was the scary side of him.

  “Oh, all right. Have it your own way.” It wasn’t exactly graceful but it was the best she could do. She looked away at something to her right. Anything.

  “Look at me.”

  Her head moved before her brain had time to complain; without hesitation, like a puppet on a string.

  “Do not take that attitude with me in public, ever again. Do you understand?” His eyes held hers. Not the pits of hell. He wasn’t angry, not even scary; he was just the grand admiral. Her heart-beat returned to normal.

  He frowned and sighed and the military mask dropped away. “Allysha, this is a warship. Warships can’t work without discipline. And that includes you.” He hesitated, his expression troubled. “Please, don’t try to take advantage of your civilian status. I will not—I cannot—permit it. This is not like working with your team at the Fleet complex. Here, if somebody questions an order, somebody might die.”

  “Is anybody going to die if I don’t go to the SO mess this evening?”

  “Just remember that everybody who just got off that transport is looking at us. I would not tolerate a senior admiral jabbing a finger at me and challenging me as you did.”

  Challenge him? She’d simply asked for some clarification. Oh, this was such a pain. “Okay.”

  He nodded, once. “Senior Commander Ernshaw is waiting for you. He is the officer commanding the comms and intel section to which you are assigned. I’ll expect you to be ready to attend the SOM at twenty-two ninety-five. Wear a dress.”

  A dress? “I didn’t bring a dress. You didn’t tell me I’d need a dress.”

  “You’ll find one in your quarters. Now go.” He gestured across the hangar. “I’ll see you later.”

  She went. He’d flicked her off, dismissed like a naughty girl. Huh. A dress. One dress. Surely not the one she’d danced in all night. If it wasn’t, who’d picked the replacement? Probably Irina; she hoped Irina, in which case it should be acceptable. And of course it hadn’t even occurred to him to mention she’d need a dress. Men were idiots.

  ****

  Saahren watched her walk across the hangar bay. She wasn’t happy. But what was he supposed to do?

  He couldn’t accept her poking a finger at him like that. Surely she’d realize.

  Admiral Valperez and Captain Pedder, just disembarked from the other shuttle, joined him. “So the beautiful Miss Marten will be joining us for a time?” Valperez said.

  Saahren tore his gaze away and walked toward the transit. “Yes. On the job training for her team. And I’d like her to check our logistics systems one more time. Just to be certain we aren’t inadvertently providing our enemies with weapons.”

  Pedder raised his eyebrows. “I thought we’d been declared clean. But… I suppose you never know; a different point of view may find something.”

  “If anyone can, she can. And if she can’t, I’ll accept that,” Saahren replied.

  If he was honest with himself he didn’t expect her to find anything. No, more than that; he didn’twant her to find anything. “Her team will get some real experience on a warship but she’ll work on the other problem behind the scenes.”

  A twinkle lurked in Valperez’s eyes. “Is there a reason you two arrived together?”

  Saahren shot him a glance. “Not what you might think.”

  With these two and a few other senior officers, the fires of speculation had started after Tisyphor. They probably had a wager going in the mess. He wished he could have won the bet for somebody.

  “Ah.” Valperez nodded. “So this last performance wasn’t a lover’s spat?”

  He squirmed. “It was unseemly public behavior. I simply made the point that on a warship, I expect her to obey orders.”

  The transit doors open and he stepped inside, the other two at his heels.

  Valperez chuckled. “Well, she is a civilian.” He pressed the buttons for levels seven and eight. “She didn’t look very happy. But I expect she’ll forgive you. Eventually.”

  Saahren stared at him, at the knowing look under a quirked eyebrow. Valperez knew about women.

  He’d probably messed things up. Again.

  ChapterFifteen

  Well, that was a great start. A public row with the grand admiral. She didn’t miss the covert glances, heads bent together as she passed. A bit more to gossip about.

  The commander who’d spoken to Anna saluted as she approached. Her team was gone. “Miss Marten, I am Senior Commander Ernshaw, in charge of communications and intelligence on this ship. You’ll ostensibly be part of my section and your people will report to me.”

  “Thank you, SenComm.” Allysha sized him up as they exchanged pleasantries. As usual with Confederacy people, she couldn’t pick his age but laughter lines surrounded intelligent brown eyes. “I’m not Fleet, so you don’t need to salute me. And what do you mean ‘ostensibly’? Who do I report to?”

  Ernshaw’s grin brightened his face. “I think there’s only one person you report to, ma’am.”

  She snorted. “Who needs God when you’ve got the grand admiral?”

  He swallowed a grin. “One of my officers is showing your people to their quarters and then he’ll bring them to you. If you’ll come this way, I’ll sho
w you your training room.” He led the way to the transit foyer, talking as he walked. “I’ve heard a little about your work with the systems at Head Quarters. I’m very pleased to have you with us. I hope you’ll share your expertise with more than just these five officers.”

  “Sure. We can set up some sessions with your technical staff if you’d like. In fact, my officers can help conduct the training.”

  “Excellent. I’ll have my people set up a roster.”

  A car arrived, pinging softly as the doors slid apart. He stepped inside and pressed a button. Numbers whirled past in the display as the car rose. Allysha felt slight pressure as the motion changed to horizontal at level ten and again as it slowed to a halt and the doors opened. From the foyer they walked along a corridor lined with doors Every ten meters or so, the numerals 10-D were painted in large letters on both

  walls and on the floor and ceiling, red on one side of the corridor, green on the other, black on the ceiling, white on the floor.

  “What are the numbers?”

  “The section ID, in case of system failures. The red numbers are to port, green to starboard and black and white for top and bottom. If you keep the green on your right, you’re heading for the bow and you’ll know where the rest of the ship is even if the artificial gravity fails.”

  He stopped outside a room marked thirty-five and slid a card into a slot in the door. “This is room 10-D35. That’s the tenth level on the port side. C and D are to port and A and B are starboard. Get off the transit at section 10-D. The odd door numbers are also to port.” He gestured for her to enter.

  The small conference room was set up with similar workstations to the ones they used at Fleet HQ on Malmos, only with less space and no windows. Allysha looked around a clean and neat room, the furniture a little worn. The barely-heard rumble of the ship’s life support systems would soon disappear into her subconscious. “It’s functional and I can’t ask for anything else. I expect my passwords and access levels will be unchanged?” She crossed to one of the terminals and checked.

  “That’s correct, ma’am.” He watched with undisguised interest as she made her way through the system with practiced ease. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” With a nod, he turned and left.

  The team showed up a few minutes later, excited at the prospect before them.

  “Hey, ‘Lysha. What’s the story?” Todd pulled out one of the chairs and placed it opposite her as she swung away from the terminal. The others followed suit until they sat in a cramped circle.

  “What were you told?” She watched their faces carefully.

  Todd lifted his shoulders. “Not much. Just that we were to meet at the space port for a trip toArcturus .”

  They all looked expectant. They were curious about this assignment, obviously, but there was an undercurrent of something else.

  “This is a working training trip,” she replied. “The idea is to give you all some experience of what it’s like to be doing this sort of work on a living, breathing war ship. We need to look at it as very much a team thing. I’m accommodated in a VIP suite but I’ll mess with you. Except not tonight. I’ll be attending the SOM this evening, under orders.”

  Anna and Sirikit exchanged a smile, Hassan smirked and Tensan, frowning slightly, scratched his lip.

  Todd folded his arms and looked at the floor. Some strange undercurrent hung around all of them.

  Whatever it was, Todd’s reaction was different to the others.

  Anna cleared her throat. “Um… There’s been lots of rumors about the Fleet Ball…”

  “Yes?” Allysha folded her arms to hide the jolt of alarm. Was Sean’s visit public knowledge, or more to the point, had somebody found out she’d actually stayed at Saahren’s apartment?

  “Yeah,” Hassan drawled. “We kept getting asked questions about you and the GA. They showed some images from the ball on the screens in the space port and there was this scene of you dancing with him.”

  Todd stirred and nodded, a shadow in his blue eyes. Tensan, clearly uncomfortable, passed a hand across his mouth. Anna and Sirikit tried to suppress smiles. Hassan grinned.

  Allysha cringed inside. The gossip and innuendo had started before the ball ended, and Todd’s reaction simply underlined that Saahren was right about how the young man felt. She’d have to distance herself from him, if only to protect Todd. “So?”

  Anna wriggled in her chair. “There’s all this… stuff… about you and him. The GA. Hassan’s made a database.” She turned to Hassan for support.

  Hassan laughed and took up the story. “Most of it’s stupid. People say they saw you leave together, that you spent the night with him; you arriving in his shuttle will fuel that one.” He grinned as Allysha rolled her eyes. He glanced through the entries on his pad. “Someone saw the two of you… er… in a passionate embrace in the Fleet gardens—”

  “Oh, please.” Allysha ran a hand through her hair. “What total unadulterated, fanciful, Poonta swill.” She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Oh, well. I’ll just have to negotiate the asteroids until it gets replaced by the next gossip topic.”

  “So whydid you come in the grand admiral’s shuttle, ‘Lysha?” asked Todd.

  “My morning meeting with Grand Admiral Saahren had to be cancelled,” she replied without hesitation.

  She’d prepared for this question. “Something else more important. He didn’t have any other free time, so, since I was going to be onArcturus anyway, we had our discussion on the shuttle trip.”

  The explanation was plausible and they accepted it, as she’d known they’d have to. Todd looked relieved. Now that she knew to look, his infatuation was so obvious. Trust Saahren to notice.

  “What’s he like?” Anna said, leaning forward eagerly.

  Allysha heaved a sigh. “We’re not going to get anything done until I satisfy your curiosity, are we? He’s about… let’s see…” she stood up and raised her hand, “about this tall—”

  “No,” interrupted Anna, wrinkling her nose, “what’s he like as a person?”

  “He’s smart, asks intelligent questions, listens to answers. He’s very good at his job, domineering, autocratic and arrogant.”Careful. I’m getting snarky; not a good idea . Then there were the other things, a

  parade of images flicking through her mind; making love with him, swinging above the crashing waves of the ocean held tightly in his grip, his face as she dived in front of him to save him from an assassin’s weapon.

  “Oh, c’mon, ‘Lysha,” sighed Anna.

  Sirikit had been quiet throughout the discussion. Now she asked, very softly, “Is he Brad?”

  “What?” Oh, buckrats. She should have realized one of them would have made the connection.

  The others looked on, silent and interested.

  “Is Brad really Grand Admiral Saahren? The one that sends you love lilies?” Sirikit asked.

  Blast and damnation. Drat the girl. Too smart by half. She raised an eyebrow. “Last time I heard, the grand admiral’s given name was Chaka.” She hoped she sounded a lot cooler than she actually was.

  Anna opened her mouth, her eyes sparkling. Oh, this was spiraling out of control. Allysha raised her hands. “Enough. I worked with Grand Admiral Saahren over the Carnessan crisis. That’s it, nothing more

  to say. And since we’re all here, we might as well do some work.” She brought the schematic for an InfoDroid up on the display. “Let’s work through it together.”

  She kept them working for an hour before she finally said, “That’ll do for today. Have a big think about what you’ve seen. There are at least six ways to improve the security on this system. See if you can come

  up with four between you for tomorrow morning. Before breakfast. I’ll see you here.”

  They trooped out obediently and she locked the door behind her.

  A request to the ship’s IS elicited directions to the VIP suite Allysha had used last time she’d been on Arcturus . She walked through the sitting room w
ith its dark blue leather lounge suite and into the bedroom. Her belongings had been stowed in the drawers and the closet. And there hung the dress Saahren had mentioned, made from the material Allysha had admired at the Cusang market; soft and green with shots of gold. She slipped the garment on and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She couldn’t have designed a more suitable gown herself. Simple, floor length with a scooped neckline, it showed enough cleavage to be interesting. It was beautiful, quite magnificent and made just for her.

  She scowled at herself. Oh, buckrats, why did he have to pre-empt like that? If she’d wanted the material, she would have bought it. And he’d even had a dress made without consulting her. He ordered her around, told her what to do and now he was dressing her up like his own little doll.

  Well, not any longer. She took the dress off, not without a moment of regret, and hung it back in the closet.

  True to form, Saahren was punctual, immaculate in white dress uniform. He frowned at Allysha, who stood defiantly in black slacks and a white shirt.

  “I told you to wear a dress.”

  “And I told you I didn’t bring one.”

  “The dress in the closet—”

  “Isn’t mine.” She folded her arms.

  Saahren sank down on the arm of the couch, brows lowered, puzzled. “Allysha, the dress is beautiful.

  Ventaris designed it especially for you.”

  Ventaris. Allysha schooled her expression. A Ventaris design would have cost a small fortune. She hardened her heart. “Look, stop trying to run my life. I’m not a… a doll for you to dress and show off.

  You don’t own me, you don’t have the right to tell me what to do except where it relates to my work. I will not wear that dress.”

  Rubbing his forehead with his fingers he sighed. “I don’t understand. I’m the same man you loved on Tisyphor.” He flung his arms out, hands open. “What should I do, Allysha? You don’t want gifts, you don’t want me to protect you. I tell you I love you and you turn away.”