by Clay Moore
The Sergeant major had the advantage of this powered armor. He advanced at a powered armor trot which was the maximum speed allowed to powered armor on the flight deck. Before he reached the command elevator, he called from his suit computer. That was why when he arrived the doors opened. He entered first. He did a sweep to make sure that no bad guys wanted his charge. Then he signaled for John to get into the lift car.
They rode up in complete silence. There was nothing that John wanted to say to the Sergeant major. Right now he was trying to figure out why he was summoned to the command deck of the Narwhal. He wondered who had the authority to do that. No one in the military, who liked to keep their rank, would do that. They had to have authority from a higher system. That meant either someone hiding in the government itself or someone him in John's service.
The more he thought about it, the more likely it was that someone of high rank in the Eridani Secret Service. John rather doubted that it would be A. A operated much as a spider did. He was at the center of its web while other spiders brought him information. J used this information to assign his agents to their tasks. The only group of officers that he ever was on friendly terms were the Z agents. Would he risk traveling in a military vessel simply to be here? Then John remembered that he was chasing Anton Hecton. That particular villain was named as a wanted felon number one. For that high a profile They would know that he had to come and debrief the agent who discovered him.
When the lift stopped, and John stepped out of if he was surprised that the Sergeant Major had to go with him. Apparently, he had some orders to escort and then leave. The only one that could issue that order was the fleet commander; however, that was. When John was in the EHG, he knew all of the fleet commanders as well as all the fleets, but once he entered into the intelligence, the community was more focused on the other worlds than his own. Frequent changes often occurred without his knowledge at this time.
The doors of the lift shut slowly. The only time they ever closed quickly was when there was a gas leak problem, and they were losing atmosphere. John had never been on the command floor at all. The only one of his team that ever had that privilege was Vivana. Even she was vague about what was up here. All she knew was that the command deck was near the top of the whole ship. It might even be at the head of the superstructure. The command deck was one large Corridor running the length of the ship. This was officers country. The further towards the bow of the ship the higher and ranking work with one exception. The captain of this ship always sat next to the command floor. Then followed the Lord and Master of the fleet. John knew that his appointment had not been on the power level. There were usually a couple of conference rooms located near that area to facilitate planning. That would be the place that he would have his debriefing with A.
John moseyed his way down the passageway. He was in no mood for a harangue from A. On cards written with indelible ink were the names of the various officers to whom these quarters were assigned. When John got to the command staff, rooms were larger. But they got even larger when he went to the last two places. One was for the rear Admiral lower half who commanded the entire fleet. And the other was the Captain. In this case, the card said, "Captain Amelio Warner." He did not know this person. He wondered where Iris went.
When he went past the Captain's quarters, he could see through the wall into the command center. It was from here that the captain fought his ship and the rear Admiral commanded the fleet. The transparent wall was to make it easier for rescuers and other personnel to see inside the control center and determine if it was even possible to save anyone in case of a catastrophic hit. Through that transparent wall, he saw some familiar things because he simply was a pilot and can interpret controls of the ship. Some of the other stations were little foreign to him because he was nothing more than a Marine Corps Sergeant Major. He guessed that those were the positions that dealt with sensors, the computers, and the weapons. On either side of the entrance into the command center stood two huge holo projectors. John read about these in his briefing on ships. This allowed the commander and the Admiral to take control of a particular station, or to send information to a location, or to send orders to a station. No one was inside of those holoprojectors.
John wondered where the commander of the ship and the commanding officer of the fleet were. He saw A. John scanned to the left he saw a very tall well-built woman wearing the white uniform of an admiral. Then John noticed the man standing next to her wearing the traditional uniform of an officer of the new Eridani space navy. Of course, the two highest officers in the fleet would pay court to A. He zeroed in on the woman. John thought John knew her, but the only time that Hardesty really ever saw her was through a concussion addled brain. When he was in the state, he thought she was a rather unattractive woman. How can you make that mistake?
The admiral that stood next to the captain was not an everyday woman. She was no Miss galaxy, but who would want one of those. She was self-assured and did not play with her Sidearm as some males did when they got to wear a sidearm. She didn't wear the black jackboots that were part of the uniform down, but she added a small touch. She added a more feminine view to the boots. Her heels were higher and less than the authorized boots. She could do this because she was a Rear Admiral.
John took a moment to understand that. The woman he had known through holo conversations and meetings had been a Fleet Captain. Now as a rear Admiral lower half she could play with the regulations a little bit and no one cared. The standard military jackboots would look good on her. Her version of the army jackboot great on her and did wonder for her figure. One of the reasons that he probably didn't notice her that well was that he still was in love with the Vivana. Where Vivana was an attraction of pure physicality, the attraction he felt for rear Admiral Jernwel could be even deeper than what he had with Vivana.
While he was admiring Admiral Jernwel, A went to the hatch and stuck his head out. He said: "hey, Hardesty to get your ass in here. We have of Anton Hecton living in hiding for over a year was something to be rejoiced at. John could just see the wheels turning in his head. And then his calculation John was one of his variables. John started to walk again. It was a leisurely walk because double time was absolutely forbidden unless it was general quarters.
Iris Jernwel turned her head to see the person to which A was talking. When she saw the man immediately, she remembered the last time she had seen him in the brig cell all gluttony, bruised, broken bones, and a concussion. She did not know how he survived that beating. If it wasn't the blow that would kill him the transport back to his own ship to put them inside his own Autodoc should've killed him. A day later he walked out of that Autodoc. He walked to the Tristan means cabin that he shared with Vivana. Due to agents were great team members, but she never thought that they were actually married. Lavonne was a supermodel, and John was a gangly tall Marine, indeed a match of opposites. Then something caught her eye. She couldn't be sure. Shows she's snuck into the compartment that held the auto doc. She stepped into the opening to the captain's cabin. She watched as Vivana helped him out of his clothes. Jernwel could not get a perfect look. Then as Vivana helped him into the shower unit, she saw the whole thing. What she saw about Hardesty haunted her.
Desired overwhelmed her for a moment. She caught that feeling squished it. Technically John was a subordinate in the thoughts that she was having could have gotten her a court-martial. She had not seen John for over a year. In that time she thought she had gotten over her desire. Here on the flight deck of her flagship, the man of her dreams walked back into her life.
John decided the best thing that you do would be to ignore Admiral Jewel's existence. There was much too much to do to get involved heavily with another woman. At least with the Vivana, she could use her on his missions. With he dare not use her on his missions. Real admirals with the experience that she had were hard to find. Unless she did something first, he decided that he would keep away.
John came to the hatch which opened to
his presence. He stepped through the hatch and heard a boatswain's call give out the traditional greeting to a visiting officer. Deposing the player to call then spoke into a microphone and said "Z04 arriving."
John looked at A with a questioning glance. A put on the negative face and his head. John can only interpret that as go with the flow. The new captain of the Narwhal introduced his officers to John. John was not actually paying attention to everybody's name, but a facility that he learned while he was a non-com for the Marines was how to compartmentalize names so that he could recall them at will. It was not infallible, but more often than not it worked. Then the captain introduced him to Iris. He reached out his hand, and I was told it. They really didn't shake their hands, but rather felt them.
John had never had actual electricity flow through a through a handshake before. With the father was no handshake, it was a kiss after their mission together. What was interesting was that he was receiving this electrical shock from her and it looked like she was receiving a shock as well.
He shook he is you in bewilderment. Just what was with John. It seemed something in a skirt always attracted his attention. By her luck, he could tell that the feelings were reciprocated.
"John! We're going into the conference room off the bridge. Admiral Jernwel, are you coming with us?" Admiral Jernwel started as if someone had flicked her ear with their finger. Whatever was that spell was now over. She followed A and John as well a few of A's aids and attendance, matched by her own eggs and audience. Even though she was not the commander of the special, she was the commander of the fleet. When that all ghost personage wants to borrow something from your ship, you better make the sure that person Tim Farland. This particular captain of the Narwhal.
Admiral Jernwel followed the other two men into the conference room. All of the other lieutenants follow the three principles into the meeting room and found seats near the person for whom they were an aide. The only person that did not have a was John, but he exuded that confidence that said I don't need no stinking aid.
A rapped his knuckles for order. It worked and soon the conference room was quiet. He reorganized his sheets. He did not have the luxury of his file folders, but John had no doubt that he would do just nicely without them.
"In a few hours, I will be planet side. There I shall be helping the Eridani ambassador to the Galactic AI convention. Why am having this meeting now is I need the information that my agent has found. I also need to know the amount of damage that has done to the genetic robot manufacturing. I understood that he also had captured a paycheck from another planet. I need to know about that as well. Then I also need to know whether or not I need to maintain a fleet presence on faraway.
"So let's start at the beginning with my agent and his arrival unit and greater delivery lot clergy." * * *
"I have no idea what was to expect. We have no intelligence concerning the reestablishment of a genetic robot manufacturing. When I arrived, I met a friend of mine who had given me excellent information before and gave me wonderful information now.
"He stated that there was something unusual going on in the old genetic concepts land. When I heard that I went to a bag that I carry with me and in so terrible was a military binocular with low light capability. With the use of this, I noticed that the manufacturing facility was very well guarded. Then I noticed that some of the guards looked exactly like other guards. And when I mean exactly like I mean exactly like. If they were twins a mole what all you need to do to determine if they were indeed twins. These were not twins they have the exact same face.
"The reason I was there in the first place was at a request of another friend the planetary director. He had set some photographs and some documents. These two women were exactly alike. These were not twins, these were genetic robots. In a rather interesting twist of fate, our people in codes had given this operation the name of fallen Angels. Sometimes I think Codes need to get their heads out of the books."
A sat up, he scratched his nose. "Well, yes, we've had a word with Codes, but they are for us that this was an entirely random assignment of a code name to an operation for which it was aptly named."
Everyone in the conference room chuckled, and the tension left the room altogether. Nobody knew how to treat these people in a military organization. Part of the sudden release of pressure was the simple fact that Admiral Jernwel accepted these people as not only colleagues but as friends.
"Agent Z04, please pick up the narrative where you left off." "I decided that I had to do a reconnaissance of the genetic robot factory. I had purchased a grav-road. I also bought some articles of clothing that would help me to blend in as someone whom mind ride a grav-rod. Again my friend brought out a piece of equipment that we had managed to leave, and he had c gleaned from our previous encounter. It basically was a field helmet, and it was still operational. With this area helmet and my binoculars, I felt that I could map out a plot.
"I came back from the reconnaissance with the information that I needed in noisiness is 5000 my tank fear AND they like to have nothing touching them when they're in the middle Gina intimate unity now, and I want to know sometimes people it to carry it out I plan. I thought that this would be the case, and so I brought with me approximately 42 bricks of explosives. I returned that evening burdened with my bombs. Using what I learned. I snuck up and would have entered without killing anyone one, but at least one of the guards associates this was because Anton you have time you side I shot him in the chest and then picked up my baggage that contained the explosives. I put a single explosive package on each of the mechanical wombs. On the first floor, I was captured, by the proprietor of the factory, a woman whose name is Doctor yada Grosvenor. I have already placed all the explosives. I make sure that I have enough of a margin so that they could take about half of them, and the planet succeed. However, Yana noticed that her own genetic robots were playing with the bones. She opened the door for me to enter the river office and I took it. Nobody stops my progress, and with a couple minutes the explosives blew up. Since the laboratory was actually built inside of the original building, it contained the blast to within side of the building.
“The next morning a few person of the high-level people and I toured the damage. The photos of those results are included in my report.”
"I have noted that in the all of our report of the service." “During the construction of the bombs, I noticed Amanda had to be either Anton Hecton I had to verify that it was indeed Anton. Or a twin that no one knew about. Now my task was to determine if it was indeed and Anton.
“The next morning I went to confront Anton in the headquarters of his new company. I did not know how he would greet me. In my cover, I called to make an appointment with an undercover company doing business with him. It was accepted and suggested that the day I stood in front of his building was the day that I should meet him. I started to notice for men trying to encircle me. Once that was accomplished, Anton came out of this building. We looked hard at each other. I finally had found him. Now it was a matter of staying alive. That meant even allowing him to escape. I had it escapable proof that Anton did not die in the bombardment. That was information that I had to get out. It would've been nice to kill Anton, but that would mean my death which is something that I do not want to have happened while I'm still alive."
Iris could not resist a little jab at John. "You would like for death to occur at any moment except when you're alive."
John did the double take. Most naval of ficers were too dangerous to take a joke, or even to come up with one of their own. What he nodded to Jernwel was a pleasant smile showing his white teeth.
“So," said A, "you were trying to figure out how to preserve your life so that you could report the existence of Anton Hector. How did you manage to escape?"
"All I can think of is that one of the of ficers who are in command appears, commanded his Marine unit to provide a squad and an assault shall. They flew over disgorging themselves of the Marines, they came about and lai
d down some suppressing fire. I now know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a Marine assault.”
The captain of the Narwhal rapped his knuckles against the conference room table." Not all of my Marines wanted to go until they found out that they were going to help Sergeant Major Hardesty. Then I have to say that I formed a squad from the volunteers. Today they brought honor on themselves and this ship."
"Yes, it felt great to be rescued by my old unit," said John.
The Narwhal's captain rapped his knuckles one more time to indicate his consensus with John's assessment. "We now leave clear narrative of John Hardesty. From the witnesses, Anton headed for a secret executive shuttle. This craft had been seen rising and heading into space. My man Hardesty forced the sensor operator to train his stencils on this administrative shop. Even though ours was a Marine shuttle, the crews were Navy and origin. I believe it was the captain of the Narwhal who sustained a Hardesty's request for us to track. I am happy to say that as a result of this we know which will be their first jump.” A turned to face the captain of the Narwhal. "Have you anything to report?"
"Yes, sir. It looks like his first job is going to take into lesser monotone. Through some sound reduction, we have an idea as to where he might be going. However, it is not strong enough to lead action. It appears that they are heading for snake eyes. My navigator says that that is somewhere right around a 25% chance."
A steeple his fingers together. He looked at all of the command officers seated in the conference room with him and John. He came to a decision and looked at John.
"Agent Hardesty, it seems that you are destined to handle this Anton Hecton person. This could take a while. That means you will not be able to work on any other missions until this one is completed. Will you accept this charge?"
A was offering him a chance of a lifetime. Hecton was a nasty guy. And an offensive guy was killed by an agent that agent would no longer be safe in the shadows. He would have to come forth. John did not know if he wanted that, yet. Finally, he looked at A and said I don't want to leave being a Z agent. I would like to deal with this person."