13 Degrees of Separation

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Mom, we have to let go sometime,” Jane said rolling her eyes and brushing her hair out of her eyes. Her mother flinched, that had stung a bit. “I'm 15, I can handle it.”

  Wendy bit her lip. Her daughter was growing up fast. She was always a bit of a tomboy, what with her ponytail, hat, and air of mischief. She didn't hesitate to dive into engineering project and get her hands dirty. And she loved to fly, she said flying was her happy thought. “We'll talk about it some more, we've got time.”

  “Not a lot. They are finished with the hull, Pete's testing systems now. I need to get this planned. Either way mom, I'm going.”

  “Where did all this spunk come from?”

  Jane smiled, tipping her hat back. “You know where,” she poked her mother gently. “You see it in the mirror all the time, you just don't use it unless you want something out of dad. Well, I'll put mine to good use too.”

  Her mother chuckled and wrapped her arms around her, hugging and kissing her. “I know you will baby, I know,” she said fiercely, softly crying. “It's just hard.”

  “I know mom. Leaving the nest always is. And don't even think about following me! This I can do on my own!”

  “I know,” her mother said.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Logan ordered Fuentes and Hecate to go to Agnosta, and then on to Antigua.

  “Are you sure that's wise sir? Um, isn't Governor Walker and his party going to kick up a fuss?” the intel officer asked.

  “I for one could care less,” Logan growled. The intel officer winced. “Walker has no say in naval deployments. Besides, we need to get the word to Agnosta now. Hecate can backstop the system with Firefly. If Mayweather hears about the system she might go off on her own initiative. I'd rather send Vargess in Fuentes. A tin can and a frigate can hold the fort there.”

  “Yes sir. Against a few ships.”

  “Which is why I'm also ordering the frigate on picket duty to go with him after they refuel in Agnosta. They can make a stop in Triang and check on things before heading to Antigua.”

  “What about the political considerations in the system?”

  “That may be a problem. I'm leaving discretionary orders with Vargess. If they give him any flack he can say that he is passing through and it is a good will stop.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “You are still digesting the downloads from MM?”

  “Yes sir. I have the files for you from the admiral. Unfortunately they are encrypted,” the intel officer replied, making a puckering face.

  “And implant signature keyed,” Logan replied. Tricky, if anything had happened to me it would have been a problem. Pass them to me and I'll go over them.”

  “Yes sir, um...”

  “No, you aren't getting them. The admiral encrypted them with me as the key for a reason. Get over it,” Logan growled. He'd been so wrapped up in gloating over the prized equipment and new recruits he'd forgotten that. He hated paperwork, but he kicked himself for not seeing to it sooner.

  “Aye sir,” the intel officer replied. He hated not knowing something, it might after all, be vital. He slid a chip across the table. “Since it's encrypted and most likely classified, this is the only copy sir. Don't lose it please.”

  “I see,” Logan said nodding.

  “Is there anything else?”

  “Go over what that freighter said again. I want a thumbnail brief on each ship they've encountered, each star system. Make sure you log all the movers in each chain of command for future reference. Cross reference with our other source material.”

  “Aye sir. The AI repairing their net is almost finished. Apparently Miss Darling has kept detailed notes on all their visits. It is a lot of information. We're sifting it now.”

  Logan nodded. “Good.”

  “They were remarkably free of viruses. Apparently someone had a go at cleaning them out a few times in the past. The last time was a year ago.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Nothing relevant,” the intel officer replied.

  “Dismissed then,” Logan replied, opening a port in his arm. “Tell my yeoman not to disturb me for the next hour,” he said as he plugged the flash chip into his arm.

  “Aye sir,” the intel officer said, snapping too and then doing an about face as he left. When the hatch shut Logan tapped the security lock and then sent the signal to the memory chip.

  “Okay, John, what do you have on your mind now,” he murmured, closing his eyes as the decryption began.

  One of the messages was a series of orders to get a ship or ships to Antigua ASAP, detailing everything that had happened there, and the admiral's reasons for wanting a ship there to babysit. Logan nodded, relieved he'd gotten the ball rolling already. He just hoped it was fast enough.

  There was another set, detailing the admiral's political problems in the system. Horatio frowned. He bookmarked them to send to the intel shop. Randall seemed a piece of work, though from John's viewpoint he might be worth salvaging. A lot better than that prick Walker at any rate. They'd all but proved he'd been up to his neck involved in the admiral's exile.

  The admiral's image was replaced by a star map. Pyrax was briefly highlighted, as was Epsilon. A line ran from that system to another across from Pyrax. Horatio frowned. That was quite a long jump, a jump through space without a chart. He wouldn't attempt it.

  “Horatio, I'm tempted to pass through Pyrax, I still might. But my current plan is to do a long jump from Epsilon Triangula to B100omega. From there I want to head south to B101a and see if Bek is still alive and kicking. If it is, and I'm hoping it is, I want to set up shop there.”

  “Interesting,” the Commander murmured softly.

  “I was in Bek before I had my long nap. They had a small yard, just a support yard, but if it's still around it would be another ace in the hole for us. And a damn good place to get the ball rolling once more. I am seriously getting tired of swanning around the sector looking for some place to hang my hat.”

  Horatio snorted. “Me too,” Sprite interjected. That got a wan smile on the old man's face.

  “Bek is a long shot, if it doesn't pan out I'll either stop by your shop on my way to something else, or figure out another place to go. I'm expecting a jump to Omega to happen within six months of you getting this message. Give or take whatever time I spend in Epsilon getting ready of course.”

  Horatio nodded. He knew how things like that were subject to the whim of fate and luck.

  “I've sent supplies on Destiny, you should of gotten them by now. Also supplies on the Lieandra and the Kiev 221, you should be hearing from them shortly. I tried to get some stuff out on Cassidy but I ran out of time in Antigua, and besides,” he shrugged. “I wasn't sure they were headed your way anyway.”

  Logan nodded.

  “I know you'll catch flack for bringing the system defenses down. If necessary release some vague news report about construction. Just a couple of ships, point out how they will be replacing the ships you are sending out. That should shut the doubters up for a while. Maybe,” the admiral said wryly. “Though I have my doubts on that.”

  Horatio snorted softly. “I do too.”

  “See if you can get a courier off to b101a sometime in oh, say a month or so, have it drop a satellite with an update for me. Use my encryption, you have the open key.”

  “Will, do admiral,” Logan said, making a note to do that.

  “That way they don't have to stick around and wait for me. Hell, I might of already made the jump, it all depends on Epsilon like I said. I'm curious how it will go there, Sprite had heard some rumors it's civilization was a bit further up the tech tree than Antigua. They never had any space based industry, and according to the encyclopedia the belt is too sparse to really mine economically, but... well, we'll see.”

  “Good luck, good sailing. Irons out.”

  “To you too admiral,” Horatio said as the admiral's image faded out. “Stay safe John,” he murmured.

  ...*...*...*.
..*...

  Logan studied the report one more time. He rubbed his chin, trying to think of what to say. The gear MM had brought were parts for Prometheus and other things they needed to get additional hyperdrives and fusion reactors online. All the components were small, most likely because the admiral was limited to the replicators he had installed on the ship.

  With these components the yard had enough now to finish a light destroyer, corvette, and six sublight frigates. Also some of the gear he could use in his planned orbital forts. He had worked out with the historian orbital forts using asteroids and superconductor rail guns. They were primitive but hopefully effective. He'd have to test them thoroughly to find out.

  “Commander, have you seen the latest news?” Doctor Thornby asked opening a private link to him.

  Horatio frowned. “No... no, I've been going over what the admiral sent.”

  “I think you should take a look. I think the Navy is going to need a press release soon. Hysterics are already getting involved.”

  “Shit, I'm looking,” Logan said, turning in his chair and keying the remote in his implants to turn on the wall screen. He could of course watch it through his implant feed but didn't want to do so. He wanted the ability to close his eyes without it being forced into his brain if he needed it. He blinked as a familiar red haired newswoman came on.

  “...this is April O’Neill, Knox news reporting. According to unconfirmed reports two of the Navy's largest operational ships, the Destroyer the Fuentes, and the Frigate the Hecate have been ordered to Agnosta with orders to travel up chain. Concern is mounting about sending all of our military assets out of the system. We go now to Charles in the field.”

  The red haired woman nodded as her image split and a window opened with another man, this one balding. A Veraxin was added a moment later. “Gentlemen, welcome. Charles?”

  “Yes April, we have yet to get a confirmation from the Navy, however it seems a done deal. There's no way to return the ships to their assigned orbits. They have finished taking on fuel and have been underway for several hours.”

  “I see.”

  Horatio listened as each of the reporters bemoaned the situation, building it up. This Charles seemed to take sadistic pleasure in describing how horribly vulnerable they now were, and how Logan should be forced to retire since he was obviously senile. Changing the channel to other news reports garnered similar commentary.

  Various talking heads on each of the news channels appeared nervous about the 'inexcusable' draw down of fleet. “They should be protecting here, Pyrax, not off swanning around in other systems!” one reporter said, eyes flashing.

  Right on cue the yeoman knocked and opened the hatch. “Sir the Governor's on line two,” she said.

  “Shit,” Logan sighed. “Not him again. The Governor himself or a lackey?”

  “Lackey sir?”

  “Then they can damn well wait. It's a twenty minute turnaround from the capital anyway. Why call? Why not send an e-mail?”

  “I don't know sir. Perhaps you could ask him yourself?” she asked hopefully.

  Logan grunted. “Go. I've got this.” He turned from the wall screen, sending a signal to mute it. “Yes Governor?” he asked, with just the barest hint of exasperation in his voice as the signal connected. “Yes, to answer your question, we are sending a ship. Two ships actually. No, it is a naval deployment, ordered by admiral Irons. It is non-discretionary,” he said, giving a little white lie.

  “I'll, um, get my intel officer to send you a briefing shortly. Commander Logan out.” he stabbed the disconnect button and then frowned at the screen. The reporters were still going at it. He sighed, closed his eyes and rubbed his temple briefly. Finally he hit the intercom key.

  “Lacy, get Knox on the phone... no, you know, wait. Set up a press release. Brief public statement.”

  A male voice answered.“Aye sir. This is Liam, Lacy just went off shift.”

  “Whatever,” Logan replied testily.

  “What would you like the message to say sir?” Liam asked.

  “Simple. Simple statement, we received a shipment from the admiral with orders to send ships to another location. The shipment allows us to reactivate some of our building slips and put additional ships in space. Point out that sending two ships out of over two dozen isn't a Major draw down on the fleet and the hysterics can stop.”

  “Um, do you want that verbatim or diplomatically put sir?” Liam asked slowly and cautiously.

  “You figure it out,” Logan replied with a growl. “Just make sure they know we're not putting Pyrax at risk. We'll have more at a later date. That's all.”

  “Aye aye sir. Will there be anything else?”

  “No. I'm going to finish up here then call it a day. Set up a conference tomorrow with the senior staff. I'll lay out what the admiral said then. It can wait until morning.”

  “Aye sir,” the rating replied sounding slightly disappointed. Logan smiled a little. No doubt the rating, hell all the Navy crew were waiting with bated breath for what the admiral had had to say. Well, they could wait one more day, it wouldn't kill them. “Done. Get that taken care of.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Logan snorted as he cut the connection and then went over the admiral's orders once more. Then he turned to the building schedule and started detailing orders for the morning. With the hoopla going on he'd need to get those ships out into space doing running up exercises soon.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Nervously Jane waited in the Anvil naval recruiting station. It was a small office, clean and in a good part of the station. She was impressed with the small office when she went in. It had holo projections of naval officers past and present, images of various ships and slogans, it was very uplifting and inspiring. She also liked the image of the Federation flag and motto behind the sharply dressed recruiter's desk. That was a nice touch. The recruiter was interested in her, but reluctant to sign her on due to her age.

  He did however allow her a carrot, the Navy would sign her on as an ROTC candidate. They would offer her a scholarship and basic ident implants as she went into the college. She wanted the Navy reserve, reluctantly the recruiter agreed. She would spend a year in training before she went active and either went for officer candidate school or something else. She did put in for flight duty which amused the recruiter.

  “You do realize not everyone gets what they want right?” the man asked. She nodded. “And that not everyone is cut out for their dream job?”

  “Yes sir,” she said shifting slightly. “Look sir, I'm a spacer born and bred. I've been a small craft pilot, I sit second chair when we do drops. I'm good sir. I know I've got an age issue. I can handle it.”

  “All right, you'll be given a chance to prove yourself.”

  “I brought along my flight quals sir,” she said, passing a chip over to him. The Lieutenant took it and put it in his machine. He frowned slightly as he downloaded the information, then passed it back. “And I don't have a problem with implants. I like to be hands on, but all small craft are fly by wire anyway,” Jane replied with a shrug. “I'm not a hot dog, though I do like sims,” she said smiling wolfishly.

  Slowly the recruiter smiled. “Well Miss Darling, I'm sure you will have your shot. We do have the best flight sims, though the full sims you have to be a pilot to get into right now. They are limited and heavily scheduled for training purposes.”

  “I see.”

  “But once you have full implants you can sim through them as well,” he said, tapping his temple. Her eyes widened slightly in excitement. “So, I'll need a parent to sign off on this and you are good to go.” He passed a chip back to her as well as a tablet.

  “Yes sir,” she said, a little more hesitantly as that news dampened her enthusiasm. “I'll get that taken care of,” she murmured, taking both items.

  He studied her. “You do that. And they will need to leave a fingerprint, image, and DNA trace proving origin. We don't want blow back Miss. Darling.”
<
br />   “I'll get it sir, no worries,” she said with a nod. “Is there any conflict with me working a second job?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “ROTC and college usually takes up a lot of time young lady.”

  “I'm looking to keep in practice. I saw the ad for pilots for Valdez tugs. I'd like to give it a shot.”

  The recruiter blinked. “Valdez you say? Interesting. I can put a call in for you. Do you have a place to stay or were you planning to bunk in the college? It's tight quarters now. There are so many people applying there is a waiting list.”

  Jane winced. “I hadn't known that sir. I was more interested in exploring the class selections and lining up financing to attend sir.”

  “Best to get all your bases covered right off,” the recruiter replied with a slight frown. He cocked his head. “I flagged you for flight training, I'll put a call in to Lieutenant Sergio Valdez. His family owns Valdez Tugs. If they are in agreement maybe something could be worked out.”

  Jane was all smiles. “Thank you sir,” she said.

  “Oh, don't thank me, none of this comes about until you've got that signed,” he indicated the chip and tablet.

  “I'll take care of it sir,” she said getting to her feet. He nodded.

  “You do that,” he murmured, watching the young woman leave. She had poise and grace, but he could tell she was a scrapper. She'd get it done, one way or another. “I believe you will,” he murmured.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Jane was practically dancing on air as she made her way to the shuttle that would take her back to the MM's slip. She was trying to dampen her enthusiasm, dad would let her do it, but mom was still holding out. So she was shocked when she found not only her father, but also her mother and two uncles waiting for her at the ferry. “Dad? Mom?” she asked, looking at each of them. “What's going on?”

  “Michael heard about you asking for directions to the recruiting station,” her father said gruffly. “So? Did you sign up?”

  “Not, um, not yet,” she said holding the tablet to her chest. “I need a parent's signature to go forward.”

  “Like that? Send a kid off to war?”