Dana scoffed, reminding, There are no married admirals in the fleet.
The truth was, they all had children scattered throughout the galaxy, but no spouses.
Well, fane, Dana mused, I have siblings scattered throughout the galaxy, too.
Seeing the change in Novem, since Doctor Talon had begun reversing the mutations, Dana wondered if the same techniques could benefit August. Surely, March could help him. No, his specialty was eyes.
Why do I have a photographic memory and the others — the clones — do not? Is it simply a gene from Shelby?
The idea of conducting a study appealed to her. Actually, just getting to compare their DNA sounded fascinating. Such a shame February, May, September and October are gone.
You should do it, Shalee counseled.
Dana agreed. Thank you, Your Highness. I rather enjoy linking with you.
And I with you…
The weave device signaled a problem. Janz’s body twitched; the right leg showed signs of a tremor.
Dana jumped into action, checking and rechecking. “Oh, no!” She finally found the cause. As a last resort, she stopped, adjusted, and restarted the weave, but to no avail.
As Janz began to recover and the anesthesia effects wore off, he felt her despair. “What’s wrong?”
“I tried everything. I’m sorry, Janz,” she tucked the blanket about him and eased him onto his back.
He shrugged, wincing from the pain. “It’s not as bad as it was,” he assured.
“Maybe with some aquatic therapy you will experience less pain,” she offered, while moving the spinal weave device to a side counter.
“Dana?” Janz reached and took hold of her hand, squeezing gently. “It really is much better. You did a great job.” He tested his legs and the range of motion.
“Gently!” She warned, “Take it slowly.”
However, he was up and off the diagnostic bed already, clutching a blanket, demanding, “Need a uniform and boots.”
Dana obliged, going to a duplicator, and ordering a jumpsuit uniform and boots for him. Then, returning with the clothing, she helped him as much as he would allow.
He grinned and straightened up. “Let’s go eat.”
“Sir? Something light… You’ve just had…”
“I know.” He took hold of her arm to steady his first few steps. “This is a very nice ship.”
She chuckled, “Yes. Thresher is quite a prize.”
“Got a fine Captain, too,” Macao decided. “Are you thinking of re-upping?”
“No... I can’t.”
“I can’t either. I’m dead.”
“Resurrected,” she corrected, smiling. “I still don’t understand all that. Why did Kieran have to shoot you?”
“It was all a ruse, intended to make the mercenaries think he’d abandoned me and the ship. It was to put out some cheese. Put out cheese, and the mouse always surfaces. I know…you hate cat and mouse games…”
Dana led to Nine-Forward. They settled down at a table by the view wall. “You’d think such a ploy would long ago have stopped being effective.”
Janz chortled, settling back gingerly in the comfortable, high-backed chair. He swiveled toward her. “The cat/mouse/cheese scenario always works because men are, by nature, curious critters.”
Dana blinked. “Men? How does that apply to mice and cheese? I would think the correct analogy is: all creatures have cravings; once you know what they are, you can lure them in, in spite of logic and common sense warnings to the contrary.”
Janz Macao grinned. “A little Galt mixed in there, I see. Did you study on Galaxea?”
“I studied with Ambassador Solon.”
“The logical approach never seems to work for me. I go with my gut.”
“Gut or instinct.”
“Same thing really,” he quipped. “My gut says: feed me.” He mocked her order of vegan soup, while he ordered scrambled eggs and whole grain pancakes.
When a yeoman delivered their order, Dana watched, pleasantly amused, as the captain wolfed down breakfast and was preparing to order lunch. She thought even Shalee, his life-mate, was chuckling.
“Didn’t they feed you in sickbay?”
“Just some brown broth and tea.” He wrinkled his nose.
Dana laughed, barely touching her soup, deciding, “What I really need is a stiff drink.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I…” She let out a sigh, “I don’t know what to do. Shalee nearly has me convinced that I should mate with Kieran, and give up my…”
“Your freedom?” Janz laughed. “Oh, Dana, it’s not like that at all when you mate.”
“With Commodore Jai?”
“Oh, yes, well…” He re-evaluated, “Kieran needs to retire; or maybe become an ambassador. That’s it! Ambassador to…say…Enturize… perhaps?”
Now, Dana really sighed. “What about my home, Earth?”
“Is Earth home?” Janz wondered. “Or is the bridge of an ambassadorial shuttle home?”
Dana scowled. He’d hit on the real dilemma.
“Mating with Kieran means a life-star and…”
“That it does.”
“…And his being disowned by your father.”
“Our father is dead now, so no longer a factor. Jad is gone, too. Jorn, I’m sure, couldn't care less. I’m Kieran’s only other living relative, and I wholeheartedly approve of your union.”
“You’re dead, too,” she reminded, and they both laughed, that the conversation had come full circle.
Janz ordered a bowl of noodle soup, but not the vegan stuff Dana liked. He paused before slurping it down long enough to advise, “You could be the commodore’s personal pilot, you know.”
She scoffed. “I just crashed a shuttle on Tonner III. Not likely the Star Service would let me fly for a commodore.”
“You were absolved. There was an explosion. Oh, well, he’d probably protest anyway… Don’t forget, Kieran has crashed a ship or two himself.”
All of a sudden, Janz Macao got to his feet, albeit, carefully.
Dana swiveled to see why.
The woman in the doorway had platinum hair longer than even Dana’s, tied in a tail on the left side. She wore the uniform of the GCE, a sapphire blue tunic down to the knee, covered by a blue wrap jacket with gold sleeves, and gold mesh boots. Except for the woman’s brilliant blue eyes, and the color of her hair, she and Dana could be twins.
“Captains?”
Macao responded. “Captain?”
“Would you follow me, please?”
Dana jumped up and demanded, “Who are you?”
“Marina Carver, Captain of the LoStar.”
Janz Macao tugged Dana along. “Where are we heading, Captain Carver?”
“Captain McHale has invited us all to his private dining room. I volunteered to come fetch you so I could prowl about Thresher a bit.” Carver chuckled.
Dana noticed Janz Macao eyeing Carver’s legs and had to stifle a snicker, and a bit of jealousy, because her own were not all that shapely.
Carver glanced in her direction.
“Are you two related?” Janz wondered, but the Enturian Captain shrugged rather than answer.
Carver stepped aside to allow them to enter the dining room first, taking the opportunity to assess Dana’s attributes.
Captain McHale stood at the head of the banquet table with seven of the Enturian command crew already seated, all dressed very similarly to Carver, but for silver sleeves on their wrap jackets.
“Pardon my indiscretion, Captains. I should have sent down an invitation earlier. Please join us. I think you should be in on this.”
Dana surveyed the faces as McHale introduced the bridge crew of the LoStar.
The commanders all nodded in introduction, and every single one focused on Dana’s resemblance to Carver.
Like an uninvited guest, Janz Macao nervously waited to be introduced, wondering how Captain McHale would handle it.
McHale pointe
d to him and announced, “Also, please greet Commodore Jai’s brother and my very good friend, Captain Janz Macao.”
All around nodded to Macao.
They took chairs at the foot of the table and Captain Carver settled down between her officers.
“We have a unique opportunity, Dana.”
She blinked at McHale. “Sir?”
“We’re going to catch a rat.” He chuckled.
She knew instantly the plan. “You want me to be the cheese?”
“Not exactly,” Carver responded. “Augustus Kaelin King has requested access to the Enturian delegation. We’re not sure why. I suspect he thinks Terrin Hale is here. We need you to impersonate my mother.”
“Your mother?” Dana stared. “My mother!”
“Our mother,” Marina Carver corrected.
Dana shook her head. “What about my eyes?”
“Easily disguised,” Janz assured.
“And my hair,” Dana said, staring at Carver. “You could far more easily do it. You were raised on Enturize. I was raised on Earth. That would surely give me away. August seems quite paranoid.” She watched their faces, realizing such a description — a medical term — as schizophrenic — might not translate for them.
They didn’t seem to understand so she repeated in Enturian the closest term.
All eyebrows rose. Marina Carver nodded. “So, we must proceed very carefully.”
Captain McHale agreed. “I suspect he is far more cunning than we could estimate. To become the kingpin of such an organization as Crown Enterprises, he has the business acumen of a Kentorian.”
All the Enturians scowled.
Dana did not respond.
“Conference security will never permit this,” Janz countered. “King is far too dangerous to be allowed aboard LoStar.”
Dana sighed. “I don’t…I can’t.” She got up quickly and left the dining room, feeling an urgency to escape, with the desire to hide.
Instead, she found a remote corner and had a good cry, overwhelmed with emotions that flooded up from deep within.
Janz Macao found her a few minutes later and offered a shoulder.
“Sorry,” she sniffled. “This is tearing me up inside. I’m not sure why. I need that N-Link back. What did Kieran do with it?”
“I think he kept it,” Macao said, patting her back. “We’ve solved the problem. Thresher has a virtual reality deck. No one need be placed in danger.”
Dana’s eyes widened. “A V-R? Can they create a holographic Terrin Hale?”
“Captain McHale says he’ll borrow a programmer from Navitor. A friend of ours…remember Mackenna?”
Dana laughed. If anyone could pull it off, he could. Her mood changed to one of anticipation. “When do we start?”
“That’s why I came after you.”
Macao led the way to the lift, limping just a little.
Carver and Mackenna already had two avatars, and a sim, programmed. Mackenna grinned at Dana and Janz Macao. “Good to see you both again, Captains.”
Cartwright grinned back. “You amaze me, Mac!” She walked around the Terrin Hale and Franklin Shepherd holographic avatars, frozen in place amid the set of the LoStar main deck.
Marina noticed Dana’s interest in Shepherd. “I programmed him as I recall from last year. Did I get something wrong?”
“I haven’t seen my father…” Dana shuddered, full of emotion, “…for fourteen years.” Her eyes misted up. “He looks well.”
Marina pointed to Terrin Hale’s avatar. “Mother dotes on him. Such displays of love and emotion are rare among Enturians.” She chuckled, rather embarrassed by the memories.
“At least, you’re near them.”
Mackenna interrupted. “Um, we need you to program your avatar, ma’am.”
“Not sure I know how,” Dana responded. “I haven’t studied V-R procedures.”
Mackenna handed her a padlet. “Oh, it’s mostly automated these days. Computer? Create avatar of Dana J. Cartwright, and accept programming from padlet.”
An avatar form appeared beside the other two, identical to Dana as she stood there, even down to her bare feet.
Dana scanned the padlet appearance instructions, and began by adding boots, which, to her amazement, instantly appeared.
“They’ll never know the difference,” Mackenna assured.
“What about weapons? What if they…” Macao began to interrogate Mackenna.
Dana lost interest, even in her own avatar, going back to stand near Terrin Hale and Franklin Shepherd, wishing an “if only” wish, wondering, “Can we program for Shelby, too?”
Mackenna shook his head, “Yes, but we’d need a very recent image of her, and a lot more time. Captain McHale gave us only an hour. A program like this normally takes days.”
“Where will we be?” Macao asked.
Mackenna pointed to the main bridge above them.
“All authentic?” Dana wondered. “August is very intelligent. Don’t underestimate him.”
Marina Carver blinked, obviously calculating the odds and preparing to recount them, just the way a science officer might.
Mackenna coaxed them to finish up and then called out, “Computer, compile and run program Mac-One.”
Janz Macao questioned the avatars, while Marina and Mackenna modified the voices slightly. The Dana avatar voice was already identical to hers.
Captain McHale called down, “Ten minute warning!”
Mackenna motioned Dana and Janz to follow him up to the bridge.
“What about…” Janz pointed to Carver.
Mackenna chuckled. He pointed to the real Captain Carver up on the bridge level.
“Impressive!” Macao offered. He let Mackenna and Dana lead, took a long, hard look around and declared, “Shouldn’t there be more people about?”
“All at the conference,” Captain Carver answered.
“Is that plausible? Seems like there should be a security detail for Master Captain Hale,” Dana interrupted.
Mackenna countered, “There’s no time.”
“Two-minute warning,” came Captain McHale’s voice.
They settled down at the bridge consoles, watching the lower deck on the monitors.
Dana held her breath, as she watched August and March materialize on the deck below.
“Show time,” Mackenna whispered, grinning happily. “This is the fun part.”
Captain McHale watched the forward view screen, listening in to the conversations, fretting that something might go wrong. His fingers hurt from clenching them so tightly, from the moment Augustus Kaelin King and Doctor March Garcia materialized.
It didn’t help to have Xalier beside the command chair, hissing and baring teeth, an instinctual response to the slave owner and ‘king’ of Crown Enterprises.
As they watched, August spent a long, long time staring at Shepherd, finally locking mismatched eyes to mismatched eyes.
So long did King stare that Commander Coe worried, “Do you think he suspects something?”
Then King finally spoke, addressing Shepherd. “So, you’re the man I can blame for this!” August pounded his fists on the robo-chair.
The Shepherd avatar responded coolly, “I was in one of those myself for nearly twenty-five years.”
King scoffed, “Oh, really?”
“After the assassination attempt on our lives,” Shepherd indicated Hale and himself, “I was in a deep coma. Fortunately, my Star Service medical orders expressly prohibited termination, else I wouldn’t be here today. And, thanks to January, who reached deep down into my soul to revive me.”
The Dana avatar simply nodded affirmation.
King turned on the platinum-haired women. “You’re Hale,” he said, acknowledging the older. “Who are you?”
“Captain of the LoStar, Marina Carver — your sister.”
“Sister?” March frowned. “That’s not possible.”
“I am your older, half-sister, raised on Enturize.”
Ki
ng’s expression changed to a much deeper scowl. “Where are the others?”
“June and July, the twins, are aboard the Forester.”
“Are they perfect?” King demanded, pointing at her with a gnarled finger.
“No one is perfect,” Shepherd countered. “We are all unique individuals — everyone in this universe is!”
“Hah!” King growled, and the robo-chair began to spin in a circle.
McHale frowned, “This is not going well.”
Coe nodded in agreement.
“Text a message to Mackenna to steer the conversation to the conference and the treaty so we can get King’s reaction.”
“And tell him to get a DNA sample,” Xalier added, “by touching him…or him touching something.”
The voyeurs on the bridge waited.
Marina Carver nodded to Mackenna, and directed her avatar to interrupt down below. “Won’t you join us in the conference room so we can discuss…”
“Discuss what? Our childhoods! Hah!” King scorned her, making the robo-chair circle around her. “I’ve had enough.”
Shepherd extended his right hand to shake.
King ignored it.
The Dana avatar stepped in front of the robo-chair, forcing it to stop. She reached out, and rested her hand on King’s gnarled fingers. “August? Please let April run some scans on your DNA. She’s had tremendous success with Novem.”
“Return my slave!” King pushed her hand away. “The Republic has no jurisdiction over my enterprises.”
“He’s not your slave. He’s your brother…our brother,” Dana countered.
August glared and swatted at her second attempt to touch him. He tapped a device pinned to his chest; he and March dematerialized.
“Freeze program,” Mackenna ordered. All the avatars stopped in their places. “Do you think you got a DNA sample?”
“I hoped by touching him I could,” Dana answered.
Mackenna asked, “Computer? Analyze hand of avatar Dana J. Cartwright. Did touching King retrieve sufficient DNA for a scan?”
“Affirmative,” came the voice from Thresher’s feminine computer system.
“Excellent! Send to medical and begin detailed DNA analysis.”
Janz Macao watched Dana’s reaction, sensing distress.
Dana Cartwright Mission 3: Kal-King Page 16