“I doubt it matters what I think.”
Fletcher’s eyes narrowed and he spoke in a low voice. “I can summon people who will stuff you into a deep dark hole, Captain. There, you’ll rot out the rest of your existence. I’m not the only one who realizes it’s a terrible mistake giving…” Fletcher caught himself and trailed off.
Maddox said nothing, trying to understand how leaving a senile old man in charge of Star Watch helped Nostradamus.
“You will address me as sir and speak to me humbly as befits my high rank,” the Lord High Admiral said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Now. Answer the question. Do you really believe that you’re di-far?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
Fletcher scowled. “You honestly think you’re a historical agent of change?”
“Begging your pardon, sir, but that isn’t the meaning behind the word.”
Fletcher nodded as the scowl smoothed away. He sat straighter. “I run Star Watch, and I will not tolerate disobedience and certainly no outright insubordination of the kind you used to practice against Cook. I’ll bust you down in ranks so fast…” Fletcher trailed off. There was a triumphant gleam in his eyes as he studied the captain. “Do you think that’s unfair of me?”
“Lord High Admiral, I’ve retained my commission because I believe you love Star Watch. I’ve seen you in action on many occasions. You’re courageous and a gifted fleet commander. I willingly serve under you, sir.”
“You speak as if we’re equals.”
“No, sir. I’m merely the captain of a unique starship and crew. Like you, I yearn to protect humanity, most especially my grandmother.”
“The Iron Lady,” Fletcher muttered. As he spoke the words, his focused shifted. “Has Brigadier Stokes already spoken to you?”
“In reference to what, sir?”
“Never mind,” Fletcher muttered. “You’re here because the brigadier asked for you personally. Stokes believes you and your crew can find our hidden enemy better than anyone else can. I tentatively agreed, on the condition that I spoke to you first and assured myself you understood the parameters. You will obey orders, Captain, or you will wish you had. That means you will do exactly as Stokes says. Do you agree with that?”
“I do,” Maddox said promptly.
“That ‘I do” I consider as binding.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go off the reservation, Captain…” Fletcher stared at him until a tiny smile played upon his lips. “By the way, I’m sending you reinforcements from Political Intelligence.”
“I see,” Maddox said.
“We’ve made some changes while you were away. For all our sakes, I hope you realize that your cowboy days are over. You may believe that you’re di-far and a New Man in all but name, but to me, you’re a Star Watch officer and had better damn well act like one. Any questions?”
“No, sir.”
“Then, go talk to Stokes. He’ll give you your new assignment. I suspect the handiwork of Lisa Meyers or possibly the New Man agent from Pandora. That’s the agent that tricked you several years ago in the Carlota Casino regarding Vint Diem.”
Maddox stood and saluted smartly.
Fletcher eyed him, and the Lord High Admiral seemed frail and had a faraway look in his eyes.
Fletcher flicked his left hand in dismissal.
Maddox rotated smartly. It was time to talk to Stokes all right.
-5-
Galyan felt awful for directly disobeying Captain Maddox, but in this instance, he believed it warranted. Galyan still felt he was partly under the directive to do everything he could to find Mary O’Hara.
A short time ago, he had indeed found her mentioned. It was in highly classified data under a sub-division of Political Intelligence. It regarded moving Mary O’Hara to a special rehabilitation center. Galyan believed the center was somewhere on Earth in the Southern Hemisphere. He had also found another reference, this one about ex-Lord High Admiral Cook. Cook had been in a rehabilitation center in Montana but had made an escape somewhere into space.
The sub-division of Political Intelligence was to make sure nothing like that happened to Mary O’Hara.
Now, Galyan observed Maddox leaving the main headquarters building, heading to a different Star Watch HQ campus building. The captain had not made any gesture nor spoken any word to indicate that Galyan should appear near him. Therefore, Galyan kept his distance.
The dim holoimage watched for those watching Maddox. It was strange, but people acted oddly around Maddox, too many of them covertly eyeing him.
Maddox headed into a building.
Galyan zipped in ahead of him, projected from Victory in orbit. The captain walked down various halls. Space Marines watched everyone here but did not give extra attention to the captain.
Maddox rode an elevator up, soon walking along the fifth floor. The Space Marines watched him again and watched those who noticed Maddox too carefully.
Galyan noticed one odd man. He was small, pallid and—Galyan made a quick calculation. The man possessed an extraordinarily large head, mainly the cranium. The Space Marines did not watch that man. They did not notice him in the slightest.
That was abnormal. There had to be a reason for it.
Maddox went to see Brigadier Stokes. The bigheaded man hurried into a nearby office, moving as if no one would question him.
Galyan calculated odds and made a decision. He projected himself into the office where the bigheaded man had gone just in time to see him order the man working there to lie on the floor and go to sleep.
The man did just that.
Then, the bigheaded man took the empty chair, swiveled it around and sat down in it. He faced the wall that adjoined Stokes’s office. The man wore a neck-brace and obviously worked at balancing his overlarge head just so. The man rested his chin against upraised hands. He closed his eyes, and exuded concentration.
Galyan debated options. Who was this man anyway?
Galyan’s eyelids flickered faster and faster. He kept at it for a time, narrowing it down to—Captain Josef Becker!
Galyan’s eyelids quit flickering. That was an altered Becker. This was a Liss agent. He must—Becker was listening in to Stokes and Maddox. Should Galyan let him eavesdrop like this?
Galyan glided behind the seated captain. He gathered energy back up in Victory, and he flashed it through the projected ghost holoimage!
The flash struck Becker. The man shot out of the chair, his big head thumping against the wall. The combination of shock and thump caused Becker to slump dazed onto the floor. He groaned, tried to rise—
Galyan shocked him again.
This time, it was enough. The eavesdropper shuddered before falling unconscious. At that point, something in Becker’s jacket began beeping.
Galyan analyzed, and he sensed—with something approaching panic, Galyan zipped back upstairs to Victory. He needed to lie low because he had just sensed an alien presence that had almost detected him. And there was something to the presence that was all too familiar.
Galyan would wait just a little before he called Maddox and told him what had happened.
-6-
Unaware of any of this, Maddox entered the brigadier’s main office.
Stokes with his dark goatee looked up as Maddox walked in. The man sucked on a stimstick, red smoke leaking from his nostrils. He’d been writing on a computer slate.
“Welcome back,” Stokes said.
Maddox nodded. “Thanks.”
“Now, sit, sit,” Stokes said, his focus back on the slate.
The secretary closed the door behind Maddox. He took a chair, crossing his legs and waiting. He found it relaxing in here. There were no protective glass cages, no battlesuited military police. Perhaps Stokes hadn’t caught the HM virus yet.
The brigadier continued scribbling on the slate. He must have been absorbed, as ash dribbled from the end of the stimstick. He frowned, jerked up and wiped his lap. He mashed out the stimstic
k afterward, stared at the slate and clicked a button, sending a message to someone.
A bump sounded from a wall. Stokes and Maddox glanced that way. Stokes frowned. After a second, Maddox shrugged.
“Captain,” Stokes said. “Have you spoken to Director Chom and the Lord High Admiral yet?”
“I have.”
“Then you understand, I presume.”
Maddox cocked an eyebrow.
Stokes felt his uniform jacket pocket and pulled up a pack of stims. He thrust the pack toward his face, his lips nibbling and finding one cigarette-tip slightly higher than the rest. He drew it out and sucked the stim into life, drawing deeply.
“Filthy habit,” Stokes said mildly. “I’ll have to quit one of these days.”
“The Lord High Admiral said something about a special mission,” Maddox said.
Stokes nodded. “It involves O’Hara.”
Maddox straightened. “Why couldn’t we find any mention of her anywhere?”
“What do you mean?”
“Records, computers, all mention of Mary O’Hara has been scrubbed.”
Stokes eyed the captain. “How did you discover this? Never mind,” he said a second later, waving his hand. “I don’t want to know. If you keep your own secrets, I can’t give them away.”
Maddox frowned. This didn’t sound like the Stokes he knew. “My new mission regards my grandmother?”
Stokes stared at him intensely. “Before we get into that, did you discover anything interesting in the Erill System?”
Maddox nodded slowly.
Stokes continued to stare. He held up a hand suddenly, as if coming to a conclusion, reached down, opened a drawer and withdrew a scrambler, setting it on the table. The slight vibration showed it had already been activated, must have been working the entire time.
“Oh,” Maddox said. “I see.”
Stokes held up the computer slate. On it were the words, Despite the scrambler, I’m sure Nostradamus is listening. How, I don’t know. Do you know about Nostradamus?
Maddox nodded.
Strokes slumped in obvious relief before straightening again. He clicked the slate, showing Maddox the words: We’re going to play a charade. During it, I’ll give you your assignment and warn you about Political Intelligence. The real enemy is Nostradamus.
Maddox nodded again, indicating paper and pen. Stokes pushed the items over. Maddox scribbled, showing Stokes: Nostradamus is a Liss creature or creation. He is from Jarnevon. Have you heard of Captain Josef Becker?
Stokes shook his head.
Maddox wrote again, When can we really talk?
Stokes shrugged, shaking his head.
Maddox thought about that, writing, Let’s get started then. I want to know about Mary.
Stokes cleared his throat. “The Lord High Admiral spoke about a mission. Believe me when I say that I worked hard to gain oversight of it, and I worked even harder to get you assigned to it. I don’t know all the parameters regarding it, but we’re the spear tip on this one.”
“Oh?”
“It involves your grandmother as I said.”
Maddox straightened, not sure what to say, finally muttering, “The Iron Lady.”
“Ex-Iron Lady. You’ll need to remember that. Oh, she had a good run. The troubles of her post finally caught up with her, though.”
Maddox frowned. “She paid a high price for taking a risk years ago and trusting Ludendorff. Her risk ultimately helped Star Watch, though.”
Stokes nodded encouragingly. “Very true. I hope to live up to her reputation.” He sucked on his stim. “Now, listen, Captain, as this is important. I’m all that’s standing between you and harsh Patrol duties from here to eternity. If you thought two years in the Beyond was long—Fletcher despises your methods. You wouldn’t believe the number of likeminded admirals and commodores who are itching to make an example of you.”
“Does this hate have anything to do with Humanity Manifesto Doctrine?”
“You’ve heard about that, eh? It’s the rage here at headquarters. Chom is a diehard proponent of it, but there are others just as powerful. Listen, the HM boys and girls have ramped up security like you wouldn’t believe.”
“I’ve seen it.”
Stokes nodded. “The trouble is that maybe they’re right. How do we stop New Men, Spacer and android spies from infiltrating us like they have in the past?”
“The Iron Lady knew how.”
“No, she didn’t. She had a few successes, I’ll grant you. But it was never enough to make sure. The HM people have gone crazy, but you know what? Their craziness worked. They caught a Lisa Meyers spy and interrogated her to death. Because of that, they slew four Lisa Meyers assassins several weeks later attempting to make hits against those in High Command. Another time, Conqueror-class battleships swooped in on two stealth vessels, burning them into crisps. They might have been Spacers or another Lisa Meyers attempt. My point is that some HM thinking is sound enough. We regular folk might not be the brightest around, but we can hunker down together and make the smart move if we keep on our toes.”
Maddox stared at him.
Stokes showed him the slate: They caught a spy, I heard, a Lisa Meyers plant. The rest is BS.
Maddox nodded thoughtfully. “So, ah, you agree with what the HM people are doing?”
“To a degree,” Stokes said. “They’ve compartmentalized Intelligence and maybe that’s good. Maybe that makes it harder for spies to do what they did in the past. We all watch each other. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“I guess,” Maddox said. “Where do I fit in, though? Chom thinks I’m a New Man.”
“It’s not only him. But you have people like me in your corner. There are many in Star Watch who appreciate your former exploits. It means Chom and the others need a pretext to act against you. I hope you don’t give them one.”
Maddox waited.
“Confound it, man! Can’t you see I’m an ally?”
“We both love the Iron Lady,” Maddox said. “I see that much.”
“Er, well, she’s your grandmother. She used to be my superior officer. She was a—she’s a remarkable woman. She’s in danger, though. That’s what Chom has told me. I went to Fletcher. Chom followed. The two of us argued it out with Fletcher as a referee. Finally, the Lord High Admiral agreed I could use you and add you to her security team.”
Stokes held up the slate: This is real.
Maddox nodded. “What’s going on? Why won’t you say it straight?”
Stokes hesitated before saying, “It’s possible Star Watch and the Commonwealth are in danger through your grandmother.”
“How?”
Stokes stared at Maddox. “She’s hearing voices again.”
The captain grew tense, raising his eyebrows.
Stokes nodded. “Chom’s operators have detected the old signals, the same type and frequency when Mary escaped her Pacific Island Compound.”
“Her prison, you mean.”
“Call it what you want. We know those—let’s call them neuron rays. We know the rays are focused on her again, and we know she is highly susceptible to them. We haven’t been able to pinpoint their exact location—their origin point—but the rays have intensified the last few days. I’d hoped to have fully briefed you before this and—”
“Pick her up,” Maddox said. “Secure her.”
Stokes scowled, shaking his head. “Firstly, she is secured in a rehabilitation center.”
“I’m talking about putting her on a battleship or better yet, onto Victory.”
Stokes wrote on a pad. Don’t blow this. Keep calm.
Maddox looked away before nodding.
Stokes wrote again. I think this is Nostradamus’s plan. But this is what I’m supposed to tell you.
Maddox sighed, indicating to talk already.
“While I might agree with your basic feelings,” Stokes said, “Director Chom convinced the Lord High Admiral that this is the best way to capture Lisa Meyers. Fletch
er is a frightened old man when it comes to Meyers.” Stokes stopped and cleared his throat. “The Lord High Admiral believes that Lisa Meyers will make good on her original threats. We know aliens will take shots at Star Watch and most certainly at Intelligence. As I told you, they already have since the Battle of the Gomez System. While the Iron Lady—Mary—is no longer in charge, she knows far too much about delicate Intelligence operations. Kidnapping her would amount to a coup for several of our hidden enemies.”
“You said she’s in a rehabilitation center. Kidnapping her should be impossible if the place is guarded heavily enough.”
Stokes wrote, We have to make this look real to the Lisa Meyers agents. That’s why all mention of Mary has disappeared. If Nostradamus is going to trick Meyers, he has to go all out.
Maddox read and ingested that.
“I don’t like this,” Maddox said. “My grandmother is bait. Chom or the HM people are dangling her in the wind. The idea of allowing the kidnapping attempt take place—it’s bait in more ways than one. They must know I won’t willingly jeopardize my grandmother…”
Stokes gave him a thumb up.
“I imagine my grandmother is in a remote rehab center,” Maddox said.
“East Antarctica,” Stokes said.
“Uh-huh. Bait. I imagine Chom figures a Lisa Meyers agent will make a stab for her soon. We have to dangle O’Hara in the wind, let the enemy get as close as possible, and capture the enemy agent. Nothing can go wrong with that.”
“Listen to me. This is critical. I hope I have your undivided attention.”
Maddox nodded.
“Fletcher has ordered us—me—to let whoever kidnaps your grandmother succeed.”
“What?”
“I told you to listen.”
“Okay…I’m listening.”
“You’re going to trail the kidnappers afterward. But my guess is that both Fletcher and Chom hope you disobey orders and save her. Then, the HM people will have a pretext to cashier you from the service.”
The Lost Intelligence (Lost Starship Series Book 12) Page 22