by Terry Mixon
Kelsey wiped her natural eye. “Then I’ll do it.”
11
Olivia stepped off the cutter and into the landing bay on the hospital ship Caduceus currently in Erorsi orbit. It was set up to have small craft come directly inside the hull to expedite patient care. It had a veritable fleet of specialized ambulance cutters to make that happen during emergencies.
Her trauma bays were clustered close to the landing bay to receive the most critical cases immediately. Thankfully, there was no current need for those services.
She’d been the obvious person to brief Commodore Lily Stone, the ship’s commanding officer. Well, not precisely her commanding officer. She had a flag captain that actually commanded the ship, but Stone called the shots.
Doctor Stone stepped forward with a smile. “It’s good to see you again, Coordinator. Welcome aboard Caduceus. I believe you know Justin.”
“Doctor Stone. Doctor Guzman. It’s a pleasure to see you both again. Can we go somewhere private? Time is short.”
Stone gestured for her to accompany them as they retired to a briefing room.
Olivia made certain the hatch was locked behind them. The room probably wasn’t as carefully screened as her offices, but no one should expect critical secrets to be under discussion on a hospital ship. Secrets like the ones she was about to spill.
Once everyone was seated, she started. “Sean is delivering orders from the emperor to Commodore Graves as we speak. They’ve decided to pull most of Jared’s fleet back to Avalon and send them to Terra. You’re coming along.”
Stone seemed surprised, but nodded. “Terra? We can certainly make that happen, but why brief us personally? We’re doctors, not combatants.”
“Because you’re going to be working on a patient that has what I’ll kindly call serious issues while the mission proceeds. One who it’s critical we keep quiet about until the mission is under way. Perhaps even then. I’m not completely sure of how they’ll want to play it.”
The two physicians glanced at one another in obvious confusion.
Guzman took the lead in following up. “Why us? Are the doctors on Avalon not up to the task? The word I’m getting is that they’re catching up with the new technology pretty fast.”
“I suppose,” Olivia said with a shrug. “The key here is your experience. Particularly Doctor Stone’s. We have a woman who was forcibly implanted with Marine Raider implants several years ago and is now suffering from the complications it brought on as well as subsequent injuries.”
Stone leaned forward. “I thought we’d taken care of the Pale Ones. The teams on Erorsi forced them to come to them and overwrote their implant code with the clean version. They treated the injuries they could and didn’t find any recent converts, only the savages. Did they miss one?”
Olivia shook her head. “No. The patient is Princess Kelsey Bandar. Not ours, but one from an alternate universe. She came through Omega looking for help.”
The news made both doctors sit up straight in shock. Stone recovered first. “That’s astounding. Of course we’ll help. Did you bring her records? I assume she’s been examined by someone.”
“The emperor’s personal physician looked her over and recommended treatment,” Olivia said with a nod. “Her history is somewhat different there than we experienced. To the point, she wasn’t rescued until several days after the Pale Ones implanted her.
“She was savaged by the monsters. Her nanites are inactive, she lost an eye and has some kind of crude replacement, and the surgical scarring was not regenerated except for her head, hands, and arms.”
Stone’s jaw hardened and her eyes narrowed. “Leaving aside the emotional damage she has to have suffered, that will create a very challenging path to physical recovery. Why didn’t she get a full regeneration treatment on Courageous?”
“Let’s just say the expedition there was not the same one we went on. A lot of her personal history is different. Jared wasn’t in command of the mission. Commander Roche and Ginnie Dare went with Best Deal. Things played out much differently.”
“Obviously,” Guzman said. “I can’t wait to hear more about it, but I get why we’re keeping this quiet. Someone from an alternate reality has come to see us. Amazing.”
“We need to review her medical files and start developing a treatment plan,” Stone said. “Activating her nanites has to be step one. We’ll make sure her implant code is up to spec, insert some of our Kelsey’s stored nanites, and get the new Kelsey’s body to repairing what damage it can. Let me have the files.”
It only took a moment for Olivia to send them. Stone threw them onto the wall screen.
“It looks so much like her, except for that eye,” Stone said with a frown. “We can’t regenerate something like that, but I can put in a replacement that will be lifelike. Oh, my heart is breaking. The horrors she must’ve gone through.
“Caduceus, secure all discussion in this room under the file KB2 and lock it to only myself and Doctor Guzman. Then connect me with Captain Kemp.”
“File secured, Commodore,” the computer said through the overhead speakers. “Connection open.”
“Yes, Commodore?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Prep the ship for movement, Deloris,” Stone said. “We’ll be getting movement orders shortly and I don’t want to wait a minute longer than we have to. In fact, contact Commodore Graves and inform him that we’re deploying. Gather the chicks and get us all moving for Avalon at best speed.”
“Aye, ma’am. Bridge out.”
“Chicks?” Olivia asked.
“Hospital ships aren’t supposed to fight, but we do have escorts to keep trouble off our backs. Two heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, and eight destroyers. They’re supposed to shield us while we run like good little noncombatants.
“What else can you tell me about this Kelsey? You’ve met her. What challenges are we going to face?”
Olivia grimaced. “Her universe has it tougher than ours. She’s not Jared Mertz’s friend there. There was an attempted coup there, too, and her father was killed. Ethan Bandar is on the Throne.
“I have no idea if that’s because the man actually pulled off a coup or if that Jared Mertz is a cad. Honestly, I don’t think Kelsey knows either. She hasn’t made it to her version of Avalon yet.
“In any case, Jared stole Courageous and fled. Harrison’s World is a sterilized husk, there’s no graveyard, and they’re in an awful bind. The bottom line is that they have very little access to recovered Old Empire technology.”
Stone shook her head. “This is going to be complicated. I assume she doesn’t know me.”
“No, but she knows and trusts Doctor Guzman. Elise has convinced her to let you lead the treatment, but she needs to have a face she trusts standing beside you. That’s why she needs you both.”
“This might not have a perfect outcome,” Guzman said with a sigh. “Her recovery is probably going to be difficult and incomplete.”
“That’s why we’re bringing in the best the Empire has,” Olivia said. “With the technology on this ship and your combined experience, you’ll make as much magic happen as you can. The emperor considers this Kelsey his daughter, too. He’s counting on you. She’s also counting on you, even if she doesn’t know it yet.”
Stone’s expression firmed with resolve. “We’ll figure something out. We always do. If you’ll excuse us, we have a lot of preparatory work to get started.”
Sean watched Charlie Graves as he paced around the office just off Courageous’s bridge. He understood some of the feelings the other man must be feeling. The new orders put him into something of a bind.
“We’re not exactly full strength here,” Graves muttered. “I don’t know how many Rebel Empire ships we’re going to accumulate on the other side of the flip point jammer as things progress.”
“I hear you,” Sean said. “The Pentagarans have moved their ships here to back you up, so the overall strength won’t drop that much. Other than the fact the
y made a great reserve force that you no longer have.”
Graves grimaced and stopped pacing. “Exactly what I was thinking. What’s the schedule on refurbished units at Harrison’s World?”
“We’ve built up a fairly sizable force,” Sean admitted. “We’re short on trained personnel, though. I discussed the issue with Admiral Yeats before he finalized everything. Most of that reserve will be on its way to Avalon to pick up crew within the next week.
“It can be here before the jammer needs maintenance. It won’t completely replace what Admiral Mertz is taking, but it’ll give you a credible force.
“It’ll have a new command for you, too. Much to his annoyance, Admiral Yeats has decided he has to pass Gibraltar on to you so you have the most powerful fleet command unit possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got a bump to admiral along with it. Congratulations.”
“That’s not as shocking as it would’ve been a few months ago,” Graves said, rubbing his face. “I’m basically doing the job now. It’ll be nice having the extra firepower. I’ll miss this ship, though.
“With as many admirals as we’re going to have running around, I’ll need a chart to know who outranks who.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. I gather His Majesty intends to create a new position for overall command. In the next few days, you’ll get notice that Grand Admiral Yeats is in charge.”
“That makes sense and far better him than me.” The other man walked to the screen mounted on his wall. It had a tactical representation of the Erorsi system.
“I’m not sure why the emperor wants to make a push to Terra, but that’s his call to make. I think based on the requirements you’ve given me, the best plan is to send Invincible and her escort back with you.
“They’re used to working as a team now. I’d rather Kelsey had them with her, but she doesn’t. A superdreadnought, two battlecruisers, four heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and a dozen destroyers should provide him a good screen.
“Combine that with four marine transports, six colliers to rearm everyone, eight fast couriers, six Fleet transports, and all twelve scouts and he should have a pretty potent force at his command.”
Sean nodded. “He’ll also inherit a light carrier that just came out of the docks. So will you. We have all the files that Commodore Anderson put together on fighter doctrine. These ships are based on battlecruiser hulls, so they only have one squadron of fighters to deploy, unfortunately.”
“Thirty-six fighters is nothing to sneer at,” Graves said. “I’ll take them. Will the ships come with escorts?”
“Sure will. Two heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, and eight destroyers. They should have more, but we’re light on repaired hulls and even lighter on crew.
“These ships will come close to tapping the last of Fleet’s trained people. The plan is to implement heavy training on boosting skills in our current crews while new people are recruited.
“As repaired ships come online, the experienced crews will split to form the nucleuses of two ships and start over. We’re going to keep going as long as we can, but that’s going to require a lot of hard work on everyone’s part.”
“That’s going to be rough on morale, but I get it,” Graves said. “I’ll manage with the people we have left, I suppose. If we can catch a break when we take the jammer down for maintenance, we’ll have even longer to get new ships into play.”
The flip-point jammer was the weak link here at Erorsi, Sean knew. While it was up, the wormhole was impassible. When it was down, the enemy could send ships probing through and attack in force.
“How long is the maintenance cycle?” he asked.
“Based on the few times we’ve done it, anywhere from four to eight hours. That’s assuming there isn’t a major problem.”
“Mind some advice?”
The other man shook his head and came back to sit beside Sean. “Not a bit. Lay it on me.”
“You’re playing defense. Switch your mindset around into an attack strategy.”
Graves frowned. “I’m playing defense because I have to keep them out of this system. What am I missing?”
“My suggestion for when it comes time to perform maintenance is to mass every ship you have here at the flip point. Not to defend it, but to attack while the flip point is open. If they send a probe through at an inopportune moment, go after them with everything you have.
“The Rebel Empire ships will back off and play defense. You set them on their heels long enough to perform the maintenance and then race back to Erorsi. Played right, they won’t even be in a position to rush you.”
Graves smiled. “Because we’ll have rushed them first. That’s brilliant. Thank you.”
“My pleasure. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but one of my tactical officers on Spear came up with it in a simulation. She really deserves the credit.”
“Send me the simulation details along with her name and I’ll do exactly that,” Graves promised. “I just got word Caduceus and her escorts are pulling out. We need to get you to Invincible before she gets too big a lead on you. Speaking of that, why do you need a hospital ship?”
“Can’t say,” Sean said as he rose to his feet. “Not specifically for the mission to Terra, though. Emperor’s orders.”
“Can’t say or won’t?” Graves asked shrewdly. “I suspect there’s something else afoot.”
Sean smiled blandly and shook the other man’s hand. “Give them hell, Commodore.”
“I will,” the other man assured him. “And good luck on your secret mission. Keep the admiral safe.”
“He’ll get everything I have. You have my word on that.”
12
Jared stood outside the room where Princess Kelsey was meeting with her doctors via FTL com. He’d rather not interrupt them, but he needed the other woman’s attention. She didn’t know it yet, but they’d be leaving to meet the hospital ship and all the other vessels at Harrison’s World shortly.
The Empire had gotten lucky with the relay between Avalon and Pentagar. Though the distance was considerable—even individually over the two artificially created flip points—the repeater was able to connect to both worlds.
Maybe that was because both flip points were new, because the termini in the Nova system were adjacent to one another, or perhaps it was just a fluke. Only about half the repeaters worked in connecting systems more than one flip away from one another.
That meant half didn’t. For example, the repeater to Harrison’s World hadn’t. Luckily, they both had single flip connections to the Nova system and Omega didn’t mind repeating the transmissions. He’d have done the same with Pentagar, but this was better.
Why the alien could do it and the automatic repeaters couldn’t was a mystery.
Carl Owlet had suspected he’d misunderstood part of the new theory on FTL and believed he’d eventually solve the problem. Only he wasn’t here. Ironically, he was far beyond FTL range inside the Rebel Empire with Jared’s Kelsey.
Jared rapped his knuckles lightly on the hatch and waited for it to open. He wasn’t nearly as tense as his guards. By now he suspected that this version of Kelsey was reevaluating him. He felt relatively safe that she wouldn’t attack him.
The hatch slid aside and Kelsey gave him a hard look. “I’m rather busy,” she said brusquely.
Elise stepped up and put a calming hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “I’m sure he knows that. Perhaps you should hear what he has to say before dismissing him.”
Kelsey grunted a little and stepped back. She smiled when her gaze shifted to where Jared’s guards were eyeing her worriedly.
“I’m not going to hurt him. You have my word of honor.”
The half dozen guards at his back seemed unconvinced, but Jared motioned them back. “Her word is good enough for me. Wait out here.”
He stepped through the hatch and closed it in Colonel Bronson’s face as he tried to slip inside and turned to fully face Princess Kelsey. The wall screen wa
s on, he saw.
Lily Stone smiled at him. “Jared. It’s good to see you again. I wish I were there in person.”
“Me, too, but I’m going to have to end this consultation a bit early. The emperor is sending us to meet you and wants to see Princess Kelsey before she leaves. We’ll meet you at Omega. Sorry.”
The other woman shrugged. “We’ve accomplished about all I could honestly expect without being in the same place. This is as good a time to wrap the consultation as any. Just give me a few more minutes.”
Lily turned her gaze to Kelsey. “I understand that you have no reason to trust me, but I know your implant hardware inside and out. Hell, I know your body inside and out, right down to the cellular level.
“I also know this sounds daunting. That’s because it is. I’m not going to sugarcoat this. We won’t get you back to the same level of recovery that our Kelsey managed. There’s been too much injury and it’s had time to set in.
“What I can promise you is that we’ll do everything within our power to repair as much as we can. That’s going to be huge. No matter what universe you come from, I will always do everything I can to keep you in the best health possible. I only ask that you trust me as much as you can.”
The corner of Kelsey’s mouth quirked up. “Believe it or not, I actually do trust you. Maybe it’s the doctor vibe, but I honestly believe you’re in my corner and will do everything you can. I’m deeply appreciative, Doctor Stone. Lily.
“You and Justin have my complete confidence. Whatever you recommend, I’ll do. I only wish that I could take you home with me when this is all over.”
Lily smiled warmly. “I don’t want to steal His Majesty’s thunder, but we have spoken about that. You’re probably going to bring some of your people over to join you on this mission. I hope you can bring a full medical team or two to take a crash course with me and my people.
“We’ve got plenty of spare equipment to send back with them. I wish we could send ships, but that isn’t realistic. What we can do is transship cargo containers full of medical gear and the knowhow to use it. Once you have the data and knowledge to manufacture your own equipment, the sky is the limit.”