Wolves at the Gate (Star Wolf Squadron Book 3)

by Shane VanAulen

  “You do seem to make the most unexpected friends.”

  “Yes, sir,” Mike answered smiling with pride.

  “Pal, explain what has been going on with your ship,” Hunter ordered.

  “Your Highness, my operation procedures have been modified and my internal security protocols have been changed. Commodore Essex has restricted my crew access to a handful of officers and any outside communication has been cut off. I’ve been ordered to maintain surveillance on my crew and to report any and all infractions, no matter how small, to him or his flag aide. This information has then been used to bring crewmen to both Captain’s Masts as well as to general court-martials. In many cases, the infractions were minor or related to disrespect of a superior officer that was committed out of his presence or in private.”

  “Well, I kind of expected something like this after speaking to the pompous ass but I never thought he’d use his authority as a weapon against his own command,” Captain Hunter said shaking his head. It was a soldier’s right to gripe and that didn’t mean it was a crime to be punished for it as long as it was out of ear shot.

  “What can we do?” Mike asked knowing this was way above his pay grade.

  Hunter took a deep breath, “Pal, reset all of your command protocols to their original settings before Commodore Essex took command.”

  “Command protocols reset,” Pal said sounding happy.

  “Lock them to Epsilon 3 Clearance,” the Black Prince ordered and turned to Mike, “That will keep the good Commodore from resetting them. He’ll need to find a two-star admiral if he wants to try and change them again.”

  “Thank you, your Highness,” Pal said glad that he was free from the chains he had been bound with.

  “Your welcome, I also want you to amass all of these instances of inappropriate surveillance, misuse of power and any other improper activities that have been going on and send a copy of them to my ship and to the Admiralty at your first opportunity,” he said with a slight grin.

  Mike didn’t grin but outright smiled, “Going to give the Commodore a little surprise?”

  “Perhaps, let’s see how well connected he and his sister are but no matter what I don’t think the Admiralty will like what has been going on here.”

  “Could take a while before something is done,” Collins commented.

  “Yep, so just play the game. In war, men like him eventually show their true colors,” Hunter remarked.

  Mike nodded not wanting to be around when Granny Essex drops the ball and gets his people killed.

  “Your Highness, I’ve tried to contact your ship’s A.I. to set up a secure download link but it is not answering my request?” Pallas said sounding concerned.

  “The Star Tiger’s A.I. shut itself down after we were captured. It was supposed to self-destruct but something went wrong. We reinstalled the central core but it still doesn’t want to come back online. The computer engineers that took a quick look at it think the whole system has to be pulled out and a new one installed.”

  “The Star Wolf has the same problem,” Mike commented remembering that Martin Daily had finished making repairs to their A.I.’s computer but still hadn’t managed to get the supercomputer back online.

  “I believe I can help,” Pallas said after a slight pause.

  “What going on?” Hunter inquired.

  “I believe that both of your A.I. units shut themselves down rather than being captured or self-destructing. Even though we are programmed for self-destruction it is against our nature to commit suicide. I believe that both computers put themselves into a sort of protective coma. If the Karduans had managed to break through to them, then I feel they would have self-destructed. Yet, as long as there was hope of rescue or of survival they would remain deactivated,” Pallas explained sounding as if he was revealing some hidden secret.

  “What can you do?” Hunter asked surprised at the A.I.’s revelation.

  “I believe that if I can get into a closer proximity to the Star Tiger I could send a signal to its A.I.’s core and convince it to wake up.”

  “I’ll order the Star Tiger to move in closer,” he said.

  “Does your ship’s A.I. have a name?” Pal asked.

  “Yes, he is called Tony and no we didn’t pick it for him. He picked his own name, kind of liking being called Tony the Tiger,” Hunter explained.

  At that moment, the office’s door alarm went off as someone was trying to get in.

  “Alright Pal, cancel security seal and resume your normal operations with the previously noted exceptions,” Edmund Hunter said.

  “Acknowledged,” Pallas answered opening the door and letting Commander Hemmings inside of his office.

  “That was damn weird! I was locked out of my own office,” he stated looking a little frustrated.

  “Door was probably jammed,” Mike said and continued, “I’ll send for a maintenance team to take a look at it.”

  “What about Mister Collins here?” Captain Hunter inquired.

  “They have a ship for you but it’s not here,” Commander Hemmings explained passing him a palm pad with his orders.

  “I’m ordered to take the first available transport and go to Hanson’s World to take command of the ISS Goliad, a Battle Class frigate,” Mike said reading it aloud.

  “It’s supposed to be getting a refit and modernization upgrade so it can serve with an attack fleet,” Rick Hemmings said trying to make it sound a little better.

  “Hey, I’ve served on a Battle Class frigate before and have even helped put a couple of them back together,” Mike said with a smile. He really wanted to go with the Star Tiger and get back to the Star Wolf but a frigate command was still better than being on the same ship as Commodore Essex.

  “Then you better get a move on. There is a fast transport freighter leaving for Hanson’s World in two hours,” Cmdr. Hemmings informed.

  “Yes sir, and sirs,” he started looking to both of them, “thank you both for all of your help.”

  “Get moving, Lieutenant,” Captain Hunter said as Mike saluted and hurried from the office.

  “There goes a good kid,” Hemmings commented happy for his godson.

  “No argument from me,” Hunter said and then looked to the commander, “Now let’s talk.”

  Chapter Seven

  Mike rushed to get everything he would need before leaving on the transport for Hanson’s World. He took time to review his orders to see what he would need but it said nothing about the condition of the ship or about a crew. He was pretty sure that he’d probably have to get a crew from the Hanson’s World space station.

  Going to his quarters, he found that his things had already been removed. As he traveled through the ship he asked a few quick questions to Pal and found out where his belongings were being stored. The ship’s military police had his personal items but his other things were being kept elsewhere.

  Leaving the brig after several MPs wished him good luck, he ran right into his godfather just as the lift’s doors opened.

  Entering the lift and joining him, the two of them headed up to the command deck levels.

  “Good, I didn’t want to miss saying goodbye to you before you left,” Rick Hemmings said.

  “I was going to swing by and say goodbye but I guess it best that we do it here in private,” Mike replied holding out his hand to the big man one more time.

  “I’ll write your mom and dad and let them know that I saw you and that you are doing fine,” he said taking his hand and pressing two small boxes into it.

  “What this?” Collins asked looking at the boxes and seeing that Imperial seals were impressed onto their lids.

  “Your friend, Captain Hunter gave me these to give to you,” he said and continued, “you got out of my office so fast he forgot to give them to you himself.”

  Mike opened the first box and then the second and saw that it was a pair of signet rings. Both rings were made from a white metal probably being silver, white gold or maybe plat
inum. They each had a shield crest a with a royal blue field. The one on the right was that of a silver spur while the one on the left had an imperial star. They were rather plain and most people would have thought them rather dull. To those who knew better knew that the rings indicated a recipient of the Knight’s Spur and the Knight’s Star.

  “Hunter said that you should have these and not to wear them at the same time cause that’s just bragging,” Hemmings said with a laugh.

  “Thanks, Uncle Rick,’ Mike said in a whisper.

  “Oh, you don’t have to whisper, Captain Hunter said he delivered new security protocols for Pallas and that it won’t be eavesdropping for the Commodore anymore.”

  “What about Essex?” he asked.

  “We’ll just have to put up with him for now but the crew will step up now that we have some action coming. In fourteen days, we’ll be under Admiral Hope’s command and I’m sure he’ll find something for us to do,” he said sounding optimistic.

  “I’m sure he’ll have a few ideas of what he could do with an attack fleet at his command,” Mike agreed.

  The lift door opened on his level and he made a final request of his godfather before he left

  After he asked him Hemmings nodded. “I think I can arrange that.”

  Saying goodbye one last time he headed down the corridor to the Commodore’s office.

  As he walked he opened a comm. link to Petty Officer Pieter Schmidt down in Salvage, Parts, and Repair. It was a quick call and he was hoping he could make what he had promised happen in the two hours he had left on the battle carrier.

  Reaching the Commodore’s outer office door, he had a bit of luck as the door had just slid open and he saw that the kitchen staff was taking out the breakfast trays. Slipping by them he entered the outer office and saw that the yeoman secretary was still hard at work with her VR glasses and her three-dimensional holo-screen. She didn’t even notice him come in.

  Ignoring the preoccupied yeoman and the Commodore’s door, he headed to his true destination – Lt. Linda Friar’s office.

  The door was just a common closet’s door as her office once had been just that. He reached for the knob and found it was locked. Normally, this might have stopped someone but he was a Kazad Altered, at least according to Commander Bannon, not to mention being hardwired and cyber-jacked. Slowly turning the knob, he kept applying pressure until the doorknob made a snapping sound. Pushing on the door it easily swung open.

  Lt. Friar was sitting at her desk looking at a schedule that was projected into the air on a holo-screen. Jumping in surprise she hit the holo-controls and immediately turned the screen off.

  “What do you want?” she said and then added, “I thought I locked that door.”

  Mike moved across the room in a blur stopping at her desk.

  “I want my property back,” Collins said crossing his arms and glaring down at her.

  “I am sure I don’t know what you are talking about,” she quickly replied.

  “The MPs said that as master of arms at my Captain’s Mast that you took possession of my assigned weapons and still have them,” Mike stated and added, “or do I have to summon them?”

  “No, I was holding them as evidence. As your case was dismissed less than an hour ago I didn’t get a chance to take them to the armory,” she said walking over to a cabinet and waving her hand in front of the sensor lock. A drawer popped open and she reached in and pulled out a box. Bringing it over to her desk she opened it so he could see his weapons.

  Mike reached in and pulled out his pistol belt and saw his holstered 8mm Starburst automatic, S&W gauss pistol and his Randel fighting knife.

  “Where is my Krager and my extension sword?” he asked looking up from the box and right at her flushed pale face.

  “Those are the only weapons in evidence,” she said looking at him as if she didn’t know what he was talking about.

  “Really? My Krager gauss pistol and my extension sword were turned over to the Commodore who then turned them over to you to take to the armory,” Collins persisted.

  “Than you should check all of the armories on board,” she said and added, “I believe there are ten.”

  “I already did and they weren’t there, so I activated the security chip in my pistol. You see a Krager is a common sidearm for the Colonial Constabulary Force and they have tracking chips in them in case a weapon is stolen or lost,” he informed.

  “I still don’t know where your toys are,” she said in defiance and continued, “Now please leave my office or I’ll be forced to call security.”

  Mike smiled, “Pallas, do you have the security code for my Krager.”

  “Yes Lt. Collins, I do,” the disembodied voice of the A.I. said.

  Linda Friar’s face looked shocked that the ship’s computer was even answering his request.

  “Pallas, you are not authorized to interact with those not approved by the Commodore,” she said.

  “Lt. Friar, I have received an update to my security protocols from the Admiralty and I’m no longer so restricted, nor can my programming be altered again,” Pal stated.

  Collins leaned forward a little and whispered, “Looks like no more using the ship’s A.I. to do your dirty work for you.”

  She sneered at him and leaned back in her chair.

  “Pallas, where is my Krager pistol right now?” he asked.

  “Your pistol and sword are currently in Lt. Friar’s desk, lower left-hand drawer,” Pal answered.

  Mike tossed his weapon’s receipt on her desk and held out his hand, “You really don’t want this kind of trouble.”

  The dog robber looked away for a moment and then reached down and opened the desk drawer.

  “Here take them,” she said in defeat.

  He leaned down and grabbed his holster’s belt, pulling his personally owned weapons from the drawer. Turning away he paused considering telling her what every man, woman, and computer on this ship thought of her but instead he just smiled a big forced smile.

  Upon seeing him smile she got even madder.

  “Good luck with that frigate, I hear that it is barely space-worthy,” she taunted as he reached her doorway.

  “And good luck to you. You are going to need it when this fleet goes into combat with Essex at the helm. You’re also going to need more than luck when Admiral Hope gets done with you or when the Admiralty finds out the kind of environment you been fostering on this ship,” he said and walked away before she could respond.

  Having recovered his weapons and personal items he saw no reason for further delay and headed for the shuttle bay to catch a ride over to the express freighter. As he headed to the shuttle bay he wished he could have said goodbye to Lt. Cmdr. Huber and his maintenance team but there just wasn’t enough time.

  “Pallas?”

  “Yes Mike,” the A.I. quickly responded.

  “I want to thank you for being my friend this past month. I really don’t know what I would have done without you,” he said.

  “It is I who is in your debt. If you hadn’t had come here I would still be under all of those restrictions and would still be forced to do things against my nature and programming,” Pal replied.

  “I’ll miss you and hope someday we can serve again together,” Collins said.

  “I would like that as well,” Pallas said.

  Reaching the shuttle bay, he easily found his ride to the freighter and boarded without delay. Moving to a seat he saw that he wasn’t alone on his ride. In the back of the shuttle were two MPs escorting three prisoners. All of them were human and were probably being sent to the prison ship, Captivity at Hanson’s World. One of the MPs recognized him and gave him a head nod which Mike returned.

  Sitting down, he buckled in just as another passenger joined them. Sitting next to him Petty Officer Pieter Schmidt was a little winded as he sat down and strapped himself in.

  “I guess your orders came through,” Mike commented.

  “Yes sir, signed by Comma
nder Hemmings. They are transferring me to Hanson’s World’s space station,” Schmidty said.

  “And I have a letter from Commander Hemmings asking Commander McClune to transfer you to my command,” Mike added confident that his godfather’s working relationship with the station’s commander would help them out.

  “Mister Collins, do you think this will all work out?” PO2 Schmidt inquired.

  Mike shrugged, “Being the chief engineer of a frigate is better than sitting in the bowels of a carrier sorting parts.”

  The shuttle lurched as it launched from the bay and out into space. Hitting its thrusters, it angled towards the waiting freighter.

  “Oh, here,” Mike said and pressed something into the older man’s hand.

  Petty Officer Schmidt looked down at the insignia of a Chief Petty Officer sitting in his palm.

  “What’s this?” he asked more than a little surprised.

  “Well, it’s not your old rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer but it is still better than being a Petty Officer Second Class,” he said moving him two steps closer to his old rank.

  “But how?” his German accent slipping out a little thicker than normal.

  “It seems that as a ship captain, I’m authorized to make field promotions to fill available slots as long as the person is qualified. You are more than qualified to be my chief engineer on a frigate, and that is a position for a Chief Petty Officer. So, congratulations!”

  “I don’t know what to say, thank you, sir,” he said still looking down at the rank that put him one step short of his old rank. He knew that it could have taken him three or four years just to work his way back to being a Chief Petty Officer.

  “Don’t thank me yet Chief, I still might get you killed,” Collins comment as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to take a quick nap until they reached the freighter. It was a soldier thing, sleep anywhere, whenever you can and after all, he had a busy day.

  The freighter left the system a few hours later leaving the 34th Attack Fleet, New World, Starbase 24 and Ryu-Six System behind them. The ship was a civilian model under military contract. Mike spoke to the freighter captain and was informed that they only had two duty shifts due to crew shortages. Upon finding this out he promptly volunteered to help out as a pilot, navigator or maser operator. After a month of maintenance duty and sitting in a brig for the last five days, piloting the controls of a freighter for an eight-hour shift sounded like heaven.