Valor At Vauzlee

by DePrima, Thomas

  "The deck was almost new, and we only found Nichols prints on the face and backs of the cards. If we knew the precise order of the cards before they were dropped, we might be able to develop some partials from the edges, but Nichols had obviously shuffled the deck. We did have the computer attempt to reconstruct prints from the deck edges by arranging every possible permutation of their order, but the edges were just too smudged to get a decent print that matched up with anyone on board other than Nichols. One permutation gave us a partial that pointed to a senior engineering tech, but at the time of the murder he was working with a crew of eight other techs in the stern engineering room on Deck Three. It would have taken a minimum of eight minutes to travel to the storage room where Nichols was killed, and another eight minutes to return. Everyone confirmed his presence and swear that if he had been gone more than a couple of minutes, his absence would have been glaringly obvious since he was the lead on the repair assignment."

  "What about the other door sensors in the corridors?" Rodriquez asked. "Some of them had to have recorded the passage of the killer."

  "They recorded Nichols movements only. No one else passed through the corridor near the storeroom between the hours of 1854 and 0623 the following morning."

  "Wait a minute," Jenetta said. "That's impossible. I'm sure you're not telling me that the murder was committed by a ghost."

  "The logs only show Nichols passage through the corridor leading to the storeroom," Galont said adamantly.

  "Is that possible, Commander?" Jenetta asked Rodriquez.

  "If the killer used a utility tunnel to get to the storage room, it is. I'll check and see if there are any access hatchways near the storeroom."

  "And if there aren't?" Ashraf asked.

  "Then I would have to say that it's almost impossible to approach the storeroom without being sensed and logged. The killer could have slid against the wall, keeping so low and close that he wasn't noticed by a door's motion sensor where there is only one door, but where two doors are opposite one another, there's no way he could have avoided them both. Once a sensor detects movement near a door, the computer activates additional sensors that allow it to make a determination as to whether the individual intends to enter the room by the position and stance of the body. If the person isn't stopped and facing the door, the computer logs the sensor hit, but then cancels the door activation routine."

  "Are there any vid cams in that corridor?" Jenetta asked.

  "No, ma'am," Rodriquez said. "Vid cams inside the ship are limited to the bridge, AC&C, weapons control centers, the brig, launch bays and their control rooms, sensitive engineering areas, and high security areas such as the armories and secure holds, plus transport cars, lifts, and airlocks. All conference rooms have systems for creating logs of meetings, such as the one being created presently, but those systems are only activated when a request is made when the room is reserved, or by someone in the room when the meeting begins."

  "Assuming that there are no access tunnels in that area, and that the killer is flesh and blood, how could he trick the sensors so that they didn't record his passing?" Jenetta asked.

  "He couldn't," Rodriquez said, "unless he was wearing an E.V.A. suit helmet especially lined to prevent the computer from sensing his CT or ID chip. But anyone wearing, or even carrying, such a helmet in a corridor would be grossly out of place and therefore immediately noticed by anyone he passed. Even if he was the only one to use the corridor by the storeroom, he had to have used other corridors to get there, and somebody would have noticed someone carrying a helmet. Of course, the logs could have been altered after the fact to remove a record of his presence."

  "Who has access to the logs?" Dr. O'Neil asked.

  "The logs can be accessed only by authorized personnel on the bridge or in Engineering."

  "No one else?" Jenetta asked.

  "Well, our academies and schools graduate the best and the brightest. It's possible that someone of intelligence and superior computer skills can hack the system and alter the logs."

  "Wouldn't that be detectable?" Ashraf asked.

  "If someone erased entries in the main log, there would be time sequence gaps in the records. If someone only altered entries, which is significantly more difficult, it could go undetected. We'd have to compare the main log with the transaction history logs for each sensor and try to spot any anomalies. Of course, if the killer is sufficiently adept to alter the main log, he or she could easily alter or delete the corresponding records from the transaction history logs."

  "So it appears our killer either travels by access tunnel, or is a highly sophisticated computer expert," Jenetta said. "Major Galont, it appears that you and Lt. Commander Rodriquez have some investigating to do."

  "Yes, ma'am. With the Commander's help, my people will start cross-checking the logs immediately."

  "It'll be a simple matter to check on the access tunnels, Captain," Rodriquez said to Jenetta. "How should I proceed if there is an access point in that corridor, near enough to the storage room that the killer could have used it to avoid being detected by other sensors?"

  "Inform Major Galont immediately and let him handle it," Jenetta said. "He's heading up this investigation. Are there any other suggestions or questions? No? Then you're dismissed. Thank you for your assistance today."

  * * *

  "We can't continue to remain at ‘War Active' status, Admiral," Captain Charles E. Hoyt said from his briefing room aboard the destroyer Calgary during the regular morning vidConference of all commanding officers in the small protection fleet; regular only since the CIC was activated. "It's placing too much stress on our people."

  "Yes, that's true, Charles," Admiral Holt said. "As soon as we've completed our preparations, such as they are, I'll lower our status to War Ready. We'll then remain at that level until the Raiders make their first move, or we're reinforced by the task force ships underway for Higgins."

  "I'm quite concerned about the fighting effectiveness of the Prometheus and Chiron, should they arrive in time," Captain Marie A. Simpson of the destroyer Bonn said. "We know they were severely under strength at the Battle of Vauzlee, and that both lost crew during the battle."

  "As am I, Marie. Supreme Headquarters and the Admiralty Board also share that concern. It's a shame that they weren't able to pick up the crewmembers assembling for them at Earth. I think that each captain here should plan to transfer ten percent of his fighting personnel to the battleships as soon as they arrive. We'll need every one of their guns manned for the fight ahead."

  "They already have twelve of my best gunners aboard," Captain Payton said. "Commander Kanes took them two months ago. I assume it was in preparation for the attack on the convoy."

  "Yes. It was classified ‘need to know only' at the time so he couldn't share the information. We borrowed people from every ship in port. All crewmen will be returned at the conclusion of this upcoming engagement."

  "Assuming we and they survive," Captain Simpson said morbidly.

  "I refuse to entertain any other possibility," Captain Simon H. Pope of the Geneva said.

  "Ignoring the facts won't change them, Simon," Captain Simpson said.

  "The Raiders have been pretty successful at avoiding confrontations with us for years," Admiral Holt said. "The Intelligence Section believes that during that entire time they've been stealthily building their forces in and around this deca-sector. We can guess why. They've felt that the day would come when they could challenge us directly for control here."

  "SCI believes that the Raiders plan to wrest complete control of this deca-sector from the Galactic Alliance?" Captain Pope asked.

  "It's a logical conclusion based on the facts," Captain Payton said. "They've been slowly expanding their presence throughout G.A. space for the past decade, but there's been a much heavier concentration of attacks in this deca-sector than in any other area of G.A. territory."

  "The destruction of Raider-One, rather than pushing them back into the shadows, h
as apparently emboldened them," Captain Simpson said. "With their losses there, and now at Vauzlee, I'm sure they're becoming desperate. They have to know that their chances of controlling this deca-sector are slipping away. If they attack, I expect they'll be coming with everything they have."

  "I think Marie is right," Admiral Holt said, "but I don't want to hear any defeatist talk. The Raiders represent a significant threat, but we're not paid mercenaries, we're Space Command officers. We'll remain at our posts until the end. And when the laser pulses stop, and the torpedoes have done their damndest, we'll still be here. I'm confident we'll be victorious."

  * * *

  Waking to the sound of an alert horn is never pleasant. Jenetta had been there too many times before. She knew that she hadn't scheduled a drill for this morning so it had to be a real emergency. She glanced up at the chronometer as she leapt from her bed and grabbed her robe. It was 0438. Since there was no message being broadcast to abandon ship, she didn't take time to dress. She just slipped into her robe and carpet skimmers before darting into the corridor and running to the bridge. The crewmen there were calm, but intensely focused on their display monitors. Jenetta walked quickly to Lt. Elizi, who was sitting in the first officer's chair. Elizi was speaking to someone on her CT while focusing on the small monitor screen attached to the left arm of the chair.

  "What is it, Lieutenant?" Jenetta demanded.

  Jenetta waited for several seconds and then asked again, "What's the problem, Lieutenant?"

  Elizi looked up, a startled expression on her face as she realized for the first time that her captain was standing in front of her, addressing her. "One second, Captain," she said, her face regaining the look of concentration that it had held before Jenetta spoke up.

  After several seconds, Elizi said, "Elizi out," thereby closing the CT carrier that she had been using. "Captain, we have an out of control fire on Deck Seven, Section Eighteen."

  * * *

  Chapter Twelve

  ~ May 8th, 2268 ~

  Swiveling the small monitor around so that Jenetta could also see the image, Lt. Elizi pointed to a spot on the three-dimensional deck plan of Deck Seven, Section Eighteen. By touching any point on the image, and moving her finger, the displayed image would revolve up, down, or sideways to see it from a different perspective. "It's here," Lt. Elizi said, pointing to a room highlighted in shades of red that indicated temperature gradients above forty degrees Celsius, "in the Corridor Five storeroom. Fire crews from Engineering are just beginning to arrive now. There weren't enough personnel on duty to initially handle the blaze, but the GQ alert has awoken everyone on the ship and more crewmen are checking in and suiting up."

  "What about the fire suppression systems?"

  "They've failed to operate. We don't know why, but neither the Alonn gas nor the fire suppression foam systems responded."

  "What's in that storeroom?"

  "It's a paint locker, which is why the blaze grew out of control so quickly. A lot of the material in there is highly flammable."

  "A paint locker?" Jenetta knew that paint used onboard ship was mixed with a fire retardant as it was applied, but new paint had to be stored in its normal flammable state because the fire retardants caused the pigments to coagulate, making it unsuitable for use after a few days. "What else is in that area?"

  "Other storerooms mostly. No armaments. No crew quarters. The rear bulkhead of the paint locker adjoins a large engineering section."

  "What's in that engineering section?"

  Lt. Elizi tapped an icon on the border of the monitor image, then touched the section in question. A list scrolled quickly up the screen. She looked up at Jenetta with concerned expression. "It's a high security area. It contains data storage and the weapons control computers."

  "Weapons control?"

  "Aye, Captain." Lt. Elizi touched her Space Command ring, put her left hand up to cup her ear, and glanced away. "Watch command officer," she said. After listening for a few seconds she said, "Elizi out. Captain, they're sending us a live vid feed from the fire area."

  Turning to the com chief, Jenetta said, "Put the vid feed on the front viewscreen. Make a general announcement to the crew that we have a fire onboard, but that there appears to be no imminent danger outside of Section Eighteen on decks six through eight."

  "Aye, Captain."

  An instant later, the image of a ship's corridor, with a haze hanging heavily in the air, appeared on the large monitor. Firefighters, fully encased in bright-yellow protective suits, could be seen moving into and out of frame as they worked to attach something near the top of a corridor door. Once the large object, coupled to a large diameter hose, was connected to the door using a special quick-setting epoxy, the firefighters pulled back. No further activity was observed for anxious minutes. Jenetta assumed that the device was performing some important function and that the firefighters had pulled back to a safe area while it operated.

  After what seemed like an hour to the anxious spectators, but was actually only about ten minutes, a pair of firefighters again moved into frame. After squirting a liquid around the base of the device they'd attached to the door, they just stood there. A few seconds later, the device began to peel away from the door. As it fell away into the hands of the waiting firefighters, fire and smoke belched from a new twenty-five-centimeter hole in the door. Another pair of firefighters appeared at the edge of the frame with a fire hose and began shooting a stream of fire suppression liquid into the hole from several meters away. There was no panic and the firefighters moved with skill and purpose.

  The firemen with the hose inched closer and closer to the storeroom's door as the flames retreated into the room. As they reached the door, they held the hose up to the hole while another firefighter appeared with a large pry bar. The bar was inserted into the narrow slit where the door met the casing and the firefighter yanked with all his strength. The door, warped somewhat from the heat, yielded only slightly. Another firefighter appeared, to lend his strength to the effort, and the door slid back a dozen centimeters. Flames immediately leapt from the narrow opening, momentarily engulfing the pair and charring their protective suits a bit. They pulled back to a safe distance, uninjured.

  The pair of firefighters spraying foam into the hole shifted position and began spraying a narrowed stream of fire suppressant into the small gap where the door had been opened. As the flames there retreated, another firefighter appeared near the door with a small thin bundle. The pair spraying suppressant gave way so the device could be slid into the narrow gap. Suddenly the device popped and extended to a full meter in length. The door was instantly pushed into the wall pocket where it normally resided when open. Flames again roared from the room and the firefighters yielded quickly as the device fell to the deck, collapsing back into the small bundle that it had been only seconds before.

  With the door opened wide, a second pair of firefighters with a hose appeared next to the first and also began shooting foam into the room. The flames slackened as the two teams moved ever closer to the door, and then into the room. More and more firefighters joined them, some dragging hoses and some carrying portable suppressant units in backpacks.

  Jenetta and the bridge crew watched until the fire was completely extinguished. The last hose was turned off at 0512.

  "Lt. Commander Rodriquez reports that the fire is completely out, Captain," the com operator said. "He says that it will take perhaps fifteen minutes for the air in that section to be purged of all smoke and fire residue."

  "Thank you. Tell him that we observed the effort, and that his people are to be commended for a job well done. Also tell him that we'll have a meeting of senior staff at 1000 hours in the conference room on this deck."

  "Aye, Captain."

  "Lieutenant," Jenetta said to Elizi, "you kept your cool and took the appropriate action. Well done."

  Elizi smiled. "Thank you, Captain."

  "I'm returning to my quarters now that the excitement is over. I'll relie
ve you at 0800."

  "Aye, Captain."

  Jenetta walked tiredly back to her quarters and lay down, but she was restless and couldn't sleep. She wanted answers immediately, but knew that she had to allow the engineering teams the time to investigate. She finally got up, showered, and notified Woodrow that she would like breakfast a little early. Like everyone else on board, he had been awakened by the alert alarm, and foresaw the possibility that Jenetta might wish to eat when the crisis was over. He brought her a steaming mug of coffee as she entered her dining room and took her customary seat. Within five minutes he produced heaping plates of eggs, toast, breakfast sausages, hash browns, pancakes, and fruit.

  At 0750, with her runaway appetite sated briefly, Jenetta left her quarters and walked the twenty-meters to the bridge. Risco was already there, speaking with Elizi about the fire.

  "You're relieved, Lieutenant," Jenetta said to Elizi. "Get some breakfast. I'll expect you at the 1000 meeting. You'll be able to sleep afterwards."

  "Aye, Captain."

  "Lieutenant Risco, I'll be in my briefing room."

  "Aye, Captain."

  After completing her usual morning work, which consisted chiefly of scanning reports filed by officers aboard the ship, Jenetta reviewed the logged images of the fire fighting effort. The crews had done an excellent job of containing the blaze quickly. She next listened to Rodriquez's initial report. It was naturally a bit sketchy and only gave the highlights of the firefighting effort. A complete investigation should already be underway, and she expected the final report to be incredibly detailed.

  A few minutes before 1000 hours, Jenetta left her briefing room and walked to the conference room. Her senior officers were already gathered. They knew of her habit for always arriving a few minutes early, and made a point of arriving before she did.

  "Take your seats, please," Jenetta said.

  Most of the officers had prepared a beverage at the synthesizer after their arrival. Ashraf had prepared a mug of coffee for Jenetta and a tea for herself.