Clidepp Deja Vu

by Thomas DePrima

  "Aye, Captain. Even adults who haven't experienced it before can get a little carried away at times."

  "I just had a thought. Berths are our biggest concern right now. The seating in the rear cabin of the shuttles can be converted to beds. We can lock the flight deck so the children can't get in, but we might have to post a guard at the access hatches of each ship so the children can't slip into the main ship."

  "No matter how I look at it, Captain, it's going to be a major headache."

  "Yes," Sydnee said in agreement, "a fourteen month headache."

  * * *

  "The captain says we can bring all thirty-five members of your group up to the ship if we can squeeze them into the shuttle," Blade said to the SCI agent. "By the way, what should I call you?"

  "Call me— Winston."

  "Is that your first name or your last name?"

  "Neither. It's just something you can call me since you need a handle. What about the other group?"

  "There's no way we can fit forty-nine additional people into the shuttle. We'll have to make a second trip. And probably a third."

  "Okay, we'll load you up, and then I'll go to the other site and prepare the rest."

  "No, the captain says you come this trip or nobody comes."

  The SCI agent stared at Blade for about ten seconds before responding. He was trying to read Blade's determination to enforce the captain's orders. "If you return without me, SCI will have your heads."

  "SCI requested that we pick you up. We're here, right now, just waiting to give you a ride off the planet. If you refuse to get aboard the shuttle, it's not our responsibility. We've put our necks on the line just coming down here to get you."

  "I'm not coming."

  "Fine by me. I wish you luck finding another ride." Talking to his team via Com 1 while the external speaker on his armor was still active, Blade said, "Okay people. Get on board the shuttle. We're pulling out."

  The SCI agent stood impassively, watching as the Marines climbed back into the shuttle. He waited until Blade was about to step through the hatchway before shouting, "Wait, Captain. I've decided to come after all. I'll get my people."

  Blade nodded, and when the SCI agent turned away, he smiled. Marcola played that one perfectly, he thought. He watched as the man who had chosen the name Winston walked towards the mountains on one side of the wide ravine and disappeared into an opening in the rock wall.

  *

  It took over half an hour for the SCI agent to return with the thirty-five people who had remained hidden in the cave until then. Only four— all women— were adults. The rest were children, three of whom were infants. Three of the children were Yolongi, while the others and the four women were Terrans.

  Every seat in the rear cabin was filled when the shuttle finally lifted off, with some seats having two small children strapped into it. The women were holding the infants. Blade had never taken his eyes off the SCI agent, believing he might try to make a break for it after the shuttle was fully loaded, but Winston took his seat and glared at Blade before twisting to talk with one of the women.

  The shuttle again identified itself as the Patoosch as it climbed through the planet's atmosphere and received an immediate clearance to depart the planet.

  When the shuttle reached the Justice, half the children were screaming or crying and had been since the small ship had climbed through the planet's atmosphere. Blade had removed his helmet after the shuttle lifted off but put it back on and turned down the audio because his head was already splitting by the time they reached the halfway point. He reminded himself over and over that he had definitely made the right decision when he chose never to marry and have a family. He had made the decision because he never knew if he would return from the next mission, but now he realized that he didn't have the patience for fatherhood if it meant listening to screaming children on a regular basis.

  As the docking procedure was completed and the shuttle's hatch was opened, several of the Marines practically knocked one another over trying to get out and away from the noise. Sydnee was standing off to the side of the corridor with Lt. Kelly MacDonald and a staff sergeant as Special Ops personnel rushed past them on their way to the access tube that would take them down to the quiet of the Marine habitat container.

  "In my office," Sydnee said to Blade as he emerged from the shuttle. MacDonald and the staff sergeant were there to see that the newly arrived passengers all remained aboard the shuttle until Sydnee okayed them to exit the small vessel.

  "Rough trip?" Sydnee asked as the door to her office closed.

  "Those kids didn't stop screaming the whole way. And I mean the whole way, Captain."

  "The smaller children probably haven't been taught how to equalize the pressure in their ears. The babies definitely haven't."

  "Yeah, that's probably it. I didn't think of that."

  "Did the SCI agent give you any difficulties about not retrieving the other group right away?"

  "Yes, and you were right. Winston refused to come with us until I told him that if he didn't come, nobody else would."

  "Winston?"

  "That's the name he wants to use. It isn't his real name. He says he's a lieutenant commander in SCI."

  "Did he give you the location of the other people?"

  "No, and I didn't ask. We couldn't handle any more than the one group."

  "Okay. I'm glad that was the most serious problem we've had to face on this assignment."

  "Are you going to retrieve the others?"

  "If we can. I just don't know how many times we can pass ourselves off as the Patoosch before the Yolongi fleet wises up. Perhaps we've already used up all of our free passes. Thank you, Major. Would you ask Winston to come in?"

  "Do you want me here also?"

  "No, go take some aspirin and relax. He may want to speak alone. You know how these SCI types are."

  Blade nodded and left the office. A few minutes later the computer advised Sydnee that an unidentified person was at the door.

  "Computer, in the future refer to that individual as Winston."

  "Information recorded."

  "Open the door."

  * * *

  Chapter Seven

  ~ January 17th, 2287 ~

  As the door slid open, the SCI agent looked into the office and said, "Is this your office or a clothes locker?"

  "It's my office and my private quarters, and yes, it's smaller than a Petty Officer's sleeping quarters on a warship. Come in, Winston."

  "That's not my name."

  "What is your name?"

  "Uh, just call me Winston."

  Sydnee resisted an urge to roll her eyes. "Okay, Winston. Come in and have a seat."

  "What about my people?"

  "I'm sure they'll be perfectly comfortable now that the Marines are out of the shuttle. They should have plenty of room."

  "I'm talking about the ones still on the planet."

  "That's a more difficult question. We disguised that shuttle for one surreptitious visit to the planet in order to accomplish our mission here. We've now used that one visit to rescue you, and we haven't accomplished our original mission. We got away with it once, but the risk increases exponentially if we try it again. All it takes is for one Yolongi to note that the real shuttle named the Patoosch never landed at the proper location on its last flight and then also left much too quickly. The obvious deduction is that it wasn't really the Patoosch."

  "Are you saying I wasn't your original mission?"

  "Until a few hours ago I had no idea you were on the planet. Your rescue was assigned to us because we were already in the neighborhood preparing for a different mission to the surface. Now we have to devise a way to make at least one more secret trip, and possibly three. I don't know how long it will be before we can recover your people, or even if we can recover them. You became our top priority when I received orders to get you, but my original mission has top priority again now that we've recovered you."

  "What is y
our mission?"

  "Sorry, it's need to know, and you don't need to know."

  "I knew I shouldn't have gotten aboard that shuttle."

  Sydnee knew she had to make Winston believe she would have stood behind her threat, even though she knew she would have ordered the shuttle to bring the group from the cave even if he had refused to come along, so she said, "If you hadn't gotten aboard, you and those thirty-four passengers would still be on the surface. Because of you, more than a third of your people have been rescued."

  "I can't believe you would have left helpless Terran children behind if it was so easy to save them. Aren't you the same Lieutenant Marcola who shot the ambassador aboard a diplomatic ship because he had a harem full of Terran slaves?"

  "I've never shot an ambassador. I wish I knew how that rumor got started. I did shoot the ambassador's guards, and the ambassador thought I was going to shoot him next, but I never did. And I was acquitted of all charges regarding shooting the guards because the recorded data from my helmet cam proved they were reaching for their weapons before I reached for mine."

  "You pulled your weapon and shot two guards after they started reaching for their weapons? Impressive."

  "They were torturing a female slave in my presence, so my adrenaline was peaking. But that's old news."

  "Are you saying you don't intend to rescue the others?"

  "Tell me something, Winston. Did you fill that cave with just women and children because you believed it would be harder for us to leave them behind and not because it was the safer of your two locations?"

  "It was the safer of our two locations. The remoteness made it ideal because it can be difficult to quiet very young children when they're scared or hungry. Are you going to rescue the rest of my people now that I yielded and came aboard?"

  "I already answered that question when I said we have to figure a way to make as many as three more trips. Naturally, I can't make any promises about the others on the surface. For instance, they may be discovered before we can reach them."

  "If you had come in a destroyer, you could have forced your way through the Yolongi Fleet perimeter. They're no match for a GA destroyer."

  "As I said, you were not our mission. We came in a ship best suited for our original goals. But for the record, the entire Yolongi fleet is no match for this ship either. However, SHQ doesn't want anyone to know we were ever here, so forcing our way through a planetary blockade is out, regardless of the size and armament of the vessel."

  "What exactly is this ship's designation and armament? It's far too small to be a Scout-Destroyer."

  "It's a CPS-14. Think of it as a tug on steroids."

  "Blade said it was a tug. I didn't believe him."

  "It's not like any standard tug, not even a space tug. But like a tug, this ship is mostly power plant. It's been designed to be the central component when assembling a ship for a specific mission. While the crew space inside the CPS is limited, we can attach up to four shuttles to the larboard and starboard sides, and up to eight customized twenty-meter-long containers to the keel. Our armament consists of missiles and laser cannons, and we currently have an Air Wing of Marine FA-SF4 fighters on board. The hull is Dakinium-sheathed and we can achieve Light-9790. When configured like this, we're sort of like a mini Scout-Destroyer."

  "So you've got the protection of Dakinium and all the firepower you need to withstand an attack by the Yolongi fleet?"

  "As I said, my orders are to not let anyone know we're here or ever were here. Shouldn't you be preparing a communication to SCI?"

  "Actually, what I want to do is to send a communication to my people still left on the planet. I'm sure they're wondering where I disappeared to and may be considering leaving their current hiding place if they fear I've been arrested and will crack under torture and reveal their location."

  "I'll arrange for you to send a short message. Can they handle a burst transmission?"

  "No, but we have an encryption computer system."

  "That will have to do. You'll have to record it rather than send a live message. That way we can work to make it as brief as possible and relay it through a sensor buoy we dropped near the planet. We want to conceal as much of our operating methods as possible from the Yolongi military and security forces. I want you to tell your people to remain where they are and stay hidden until they hear from you again. Tell them we'll pick them up as soon as possible, but if they're not there when we arrive, we can't return for a second try. We will only make one attempt to get them."

  "Tell me something, Captain— how did a lieutenant junior grade come to be in command of a powerful mini-warship like this one? Especially one with a mission this vitally important."

  "The junior officers aboard the Denver all drew straws," Sydnee said drolly.

  "And that's how you won command?"

  "No, I lost. Damn my bad luck."

  "You're joking."

  "Yes. We never actually drew straws. We played musical chairs."

  "Now I know you're joking."

  "I was offered this volunteer mission by my captain."

  "And you wanted to prove yourself?"

  "No. Someone had to do it, and I was the only Space Command officer aboard the Denver who had previously commanded a clandestine mission to Yolongus."

  "You've commanded other such missions to Yolongus?"

  "This is not my first."

  Winston chuckled. "And that's how you got a Marine captain to report to you?"

  "Winston, I'm the duly appointed captain of this vessel, an appointment which has been fully endorsed by SHQ and SCI. You can verify that when we get back. For now, know this. This is my ship for the duration of this mission, and everyone aboard reports to me. If you really are a lieutenant commander in Space Command you know that both Earth's maritime laws and the GA extraterrestrial laws establish that the duly appointed captain of any military vessel is the master and commander of all persons aboard said vessel. That is unequivocal unless a person having a superior military rank and guilty of disobeying a command from the captain can prove that the appointed individual was either operating outside their orders or was mentally incompetent. My appointment gives me the same authority as if I held the Space Command rank of Captain. That authority extends over all Space Command and Space Marine personnel who have volunteered for special duty and been assigned to this vessel— including Marine Captain Blade and his Special Ops team, a platoon of Marines from the destroyer Denver, Lt. Colonel Dennier, who is my Air Wing commander, the officers of the Wing, and anyone else who comes aboard, such as lieutenant commanders from SCI. When this mission is over and we've returned to GA space, you will outrank me if you really are a lieutenant commander in Space Command. But until this mission is over, I'm in command, and you will obey my orders or I will have you confined to the brig. Are we perfectly clear on that point?"

  Winston nodded and said somberly, "Of course, Captain," then turned towards the office door.

  "One last thing, Winston. Do you really have the vital information you claimed to have, or was this all a ruse because you needed transportation for the eighty-four people?"

  As he touched the small control plate that would open the office door, Winston turned back slightly and gave Sydnee an enigmatic smile. "I'll prepare that message for my people still on the surface."

  As the door closed behind Winston, Sydnee scowled. Whether his claim was a ruse or not, she had received orders to rescue Winston, so it didn't really matter if he had the information he professed or not. Taking her seat behind her desk, she turned her attention to devising a new plan to deliver the package. The first trip to the planet had worked flawlessly, but she was loath to push her luck with another such mission. Unfortunately, the options seemed severely limited. And she knew that as soon as the package was delivered, it would become even more difficult to penetrate the Yolongi defenses. Despite what she said to Winston about the importance of conducting their original mission next, she knew that if they were to have an
y hope of rescuing Winston's forty-nine people still remaining on the surface, they must do that before dropping off the package.

  * * *

  Sydnee listened to the prerecorded message Winston created for his people on Yolongus before she allowed it to be sent. Even though it would be encrypted before going out, it contained a number of special code words and phrases. Winston said they were necessary so that the people receiving the message knew it hadn't been faked. In a message that seemed to be sent to Yolongi parents, he told his mother that he had to leave town unexpectedly on business, but that he was okay and expected to return very shortly. He told her not to take any long trips because he expected to have very good news when he returned and he was anxious to celebrate with her. The phrases could have very different meaning from what they seemed, but Sydnee had no way of knowing what they might really be communicating.

  "Good," Sydnee said. "You kept it very brief. I'll have the Chief send it right away."

  "How soon can we leave for the surface?"

  "I'm still weighing options, but in any event, you can't go."

  "What do you mean? I have to go."

  "Have you written and filed a full report that contains the information you claimed to have when you reported to SHQ?"

  "I'm not writing that report until my people are safely aboard. It's the only leverage I have."

  "You don't need leverage, Winston. What you need is a friend. And you're not improving your position by refusing to cooperate. Let me put it like this. Right now you are the only one with the information you claim to have gathered, so I can't allow you to leave this ship and possibly be captured or killed. However, if you prepare a complete report with all the information you've promised, it will no longer be necessary to restrict your movements. You'll be able to return to the surface and help bring your people back to the ship."

  "If I prepare the report, you will no longer be anxious to help me rescue my people."

  "That's incorrect. I'm not anxious to help you at all. But I do want to rescue any slaves, their children, and others who have risked their lives to provide us with the information SHQ wants. That's my only motivation in your regard. I already have you onboard, so whether you send SHQ the information to prevent it from possibly being lost if I allow you to return to the planet or I keep you up here and simply return you to SHQ when our original mission is complete won't really matter to SHQ. Either way they get the data you've collected. All you'll accomplish by not filing your report is to ensure you don't leave the ship before we return to GA space."