Hurst knew how to do a casual mask of the scans, so it wouldn’t seem like they were looking for something. If they did get caught, he planned to say that the ships made him nervous and he wanted to know if they were a threat.
The three vessels didn’t seem to notice The Seeker. They didn’t come after it and they didn’t say anything to it.
Finally, the small team got a reading on the Dignity Vessel. They were even able to get a holographic image of it. They compared that image to the images I gave them before I left, and figured that not much has changed in the intervening years.
They even saw the probe.
Hurst wanted to go in closer. Jennifer agreed. It was Mikk who wanted to come back.
“I figured we were too exposed,” Mikk says, “but Hurst reminded me that Boss wanted a recon, and if we had to send another ship, then the people surrounding the Dignity Vessel might get suspicious.”
“I’m confused,” I say. “Those ships surrounded the Dignity Vessel? I thought they were small.”
“They were small,” Jennifer says. “But they were constantly moving around it.”
“The two skips were, anyway,” Hurst says. “The command vessel stayed in place.”
“You’re sure that was a command vessel?” Squishy asks.
Hurst nods. “I don’t think it could’ve been anything else.”
Neither of us tell Squishy that Hurst used to pilot ships in combat zones. He’s as familiar with military procedure as she is.
She shrugs skeptically, looking away. I’m not skeptical at all, and it’s my opinion that counts.
“I knew they were watching us,” Hurst says. “And I figured we should continue our ruse. We’re just a lost band of wannabe divers. Then we see the Dignity Vessel and we want to know more about it. We figured we would go in closer.”
“Did you?” Turtle asks.
Hurst nods. “I wanted to get into a better scanning range. I didn’t believe what we were seeing.”
“I thought there had to be more ships,” Squishy mutters.
“It’s not the ships,” Mikk says. “There were only three. But the readings we were getting of the Dignity Vessel were odd.”
“Odd?” I ask.
“I think they were feeding us scans off their own ship’s systems,” Hurst says. “They added some stuff.”
I hold up a hand. “What did they add?”
“Radiation,” he says. “The ship was giving off the strongest radiation signature I’ve ever seen.”
“Every ship gives off radiation,” Squishy says, “especially if it’s spent some time in space.”
“We know,” Mikk says gently.
I give him a sharp look. He gets softer and more gentle when he’s irritated. He doesn’t meet my gaze. He knows I’m sensing his mood.
“The readings we were getting off the Dignity Vessel were off the charts,” Hurst says. “The kind of readings you’d get if the ship had been in some kind of firefight. You know, with ancient radioactive weapons or something.”
“The implication,” Jennifer says, “is that the ship is so contaminated no one dare go on board, even in an environmental suit.”
“We didn’t get readings like that ever,” Turtle says in surprise.
I fold my hands together. “But it’s a great way to keep passersby away from the ship, and it also explains why the military is there. They’re trying to clean up some kind of toxic mess, which they generally only do when they’re the ones who cause the mess.”
“Well,” Mikk says to me, “you never said anything about radiation, but we knew about stealth tech, and we thought maybe it went haywire or something and caused the readings.”
“We reviewed your information again,” Hurst says. “From what we can tell, you got no radiation readings from the stealth tech at all.”
“We weren’t in the cockpit very long,” I say. We weren’t thinking of taking radiation readings. When Karl and I were in the cockpit, we were trying (hoping) to save Junior.
“Not just the cockpit, Boss,” Turtle says. “Karl and I never noticed anything on our first dive, and believe me, I would have monitored for it. I’m terrified of radiation.”
“She is,” Squishy says, and they look at each other from across the table. For a moment, the old attraction between them becomes obvious to everyone.
Then Squishy looks away.
Turtle makes herself look at the others. Her cheeks are flushed.
“The readings had to be false,” Mikk says. “We argued about that a little. Hurst wanted to get closer, and I have to say, I was the one arguing for caution.”
“But Boss wanted to know what we were facing,” Hurst repeats. I’m beginning to sense that was his mantra on this trip with Mikk and Jennifer. It must have annoyed them after a while, but I’m relieved that Hurst listened.
I did—I do—want to know what we are facing.
Mikk nods. “We got really close and took our own scans. That’s when it got dicey.”
One of the smaller military ships broke away from the Dignity Vessel and headed straight for The Seeker. As the military ship came, it demanded that everyone on The Seeker identify themselves and why they were in the vicinity.
“We thought about lying,” Mikk says.
“Be honest,” Hurst says. “I thought about lying. I didn’t want them to know I was a vet.”
Squishy looks at him in surprise. She has underestimated him, and she finally realizes it. She gives me a glance, as if I should have protected her from herself.
I say nothing. I let them continue with the story.
“But I decided it was better that I tell the truth,” Hurst says.
“Or as much of the truth as we could,” Jennifer says. “We agreed to answer questions directly, but not to embellish.”
“I wanted to do most of the talking,” Mikk says.
“And so he did,” Hurst says with a small smile.
The military ship took their identification and then demanded to board them. The entire crew had expected that. So they agreed to the boarding and crowded near the airlock to wait.
It didn’t take long. The military ship grappled onto theirs, holding it in place. Then four soldiers boarded, coming through the airlock with weapons drawn.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Jennifer says. “It scared me worse than any dive.”
“Except the Room,” Hurst says softly.
She gives him a sad look. Then she nods. “Except the Room.”
The four soldiers crowded into The Seeker’s cockpit. Their weapons—laser rifles—were long and looked more powerful than anything Mikk had ever seen. Hurst believed they were newer models than the ones he’d trained with, powerful guns that could kill from a great distance—and if the settings were right, wouldn’t do any damage to a ship’s hull.
“Scary,” Turtle mutters.
Half the people around the table nod.
Squishy just crosses her arms, as if she already knew about this sort of thing.
“They asked us to identify ourselves all over again,” Jennifer says. “So I introduced us.”
“It was a nice effect,” Mikk says, “because her voice was shaking.”
“It wasn’t an effect,” she says. “I was scared.”
The soldiers muscled their way in. They searched the ship, found the rented diving equipment, and asked a lot of questions about where the team planned to go and what they planned to do.
Jennifer told them that the team had been looking for a specific wreck, but couldn’t find it. They’d gotten turned around several times.
“All four soldiers were men,” Mikk says, “and Jen’s doing this little lost girl thing with them. They believed it.”
“I believed it,” Hurst says, “and I knew she was lying.”
“They checked our logs and our trips report, and they offered to help with plotting the correct course,” Jennifer says. “Then Hurst got all defensive with them, and I got worried. I thought he was going to ruin it.”
>
“But it turns out that was the thing that turned the tide,” Mikk says. “They might have thought it was a setup if it weren’t for Hurst saying he knew better. They pushed him aside and proved to him he was wrong.”
“I pretended like that hurt my feelings.” Hurst laughs. “Instead, I used the time they were searching through my equipment to do a quiet scan on them.”
“Did you learn anything?” I ask.
“Nothing I didn’t expect. These were real soldiers, fighters, career military. Their work was classified, but they were strong and battle-ready.” Hurst looks at me. We both know that’s significant.
When we go to the Dignity Vessel, we have to be ready to fight.
Squishy squirms beside me. She has realized that we must fight as well, and she clearly doesn’t like the idea.
I turn my chair slightly so that I don’t have to see her. She’s distracting me.
“It took a while,” Mikk says, “but they accepted our story. Then they told us to leave immediately.”
“I did ask them about the ship,” Jennifer says.
“But she was smart about it,” Hurst says. “She did that lost little girl thing again, talking to the big bad soldiers.”
“It wasn’t as bad as all that,” Jennifer says.
“No, she wasn’t acting like a little girl,” Mikk says. “She was flirting.”
Jennifer gives him a fond smile. “I asked them if they were worried about being that close to so much radiation.”
“And one of them says to her, ‘It’s not as bad as it seems.’” Mikk laughs. “The guy next to him whacks him on the arm, as if he’d done something wrong. Which, essentially, he had. He told us that the radiation wasn’t really a problem.”
“But the way he said it, you could interpret it as he was just being a tough soldier,” Hurst says. “That’s what Jen did. She saved our butts.”
“She got us a lot of information,” Mikk says.
“Like what ?” I ask.
“The ships have a minimum complement of soldiers,” Jennifer says. “They aren’t paying a lot of attention to what’s going on around them. I even got the sense that it took them a while to see us.”
“All the time we thought we were being watched, and they probably hadn’t even noticed us,” Hurst says.
“They consider it the worst duty in the sector because it’s so dull,” Jennifer says.
“It makes sense,” Hurst says. “They were trained for battle, and there they are, circling some abandoned ship for weeks, with nothing really to do.”
“What about the command ship?” Squishy asks.
Mikk looks at her. His expression is measuring, as if he doesn’t really want to talk with her. Squishy is not making herself popular with my team.
Hurst is the one who answers her.
“The command ship is the one detail we weren’t able to figure out,” he says. “They didn’t tell us why it was there, and we couldn’t ask.”
“I tried,” Jennifer says. “I said something dumb like how come it wasn’t the big ship that came for us, and they said that the big ship rarely does hands-on work. But that’s all they said about it.”
“They probably didn’t dare say anything else.” I scan the table. Everyone is watching Jennifer, Mikk, and Hurst. Apparently they haven’t told this to the team—or if they have, they haven’t told the story in its entirety.
“Then what?” I ask. “Did they detain you?”
“They talked a little bit,” Jennifer says. “They wanted to know about diving.”
“We had to be careful,” Hurst says. “We didn’t want to sound too knowledgeable.”
“But we did want to seem enthusiastic,” Mikk says. “I think we achieved that.”
“I don’t think they cared,” Jennifer says. “I think they wanted something to do. Imagine circling around that wreck, waiting for something to happen.”
“They’ll be itchy,” Squishy says. “That’s dangerous.”
Turtle nods. So does Hurst.
Odette leans forward. Her movement is so abrupt that it’s an interruption all by itself.
“You were on a fact-finding mission,” she says to Mikk, sounding like she’s the leader instead of me. I let her take this. Odette can be quite forceful if need be. “You discover three ships—two small military vessels and something you call a command ship. Four restless soldiers who really didn’t investigate you all very deeply from what I can tell, and a manufactured scan of the Dignity Vessel. Is that all you found?”
“It doesn’t sound like much when you put it that way,” Hurst says.
“You’ve given us details, but no understanding,” she says. “For us to make plans, we need understanding.”
“I have to add one more detail,” Mikk says. “We did get a good scan of the Dignity Vessel. One of our own.”
We all look at him.
He spreads his hands as if he’s apologizing. “It’s not too different from what you found. But … Squishy? Is that really your name?”
“It’s what Boss calls me,” Squishy says, “and that’s good enough.”
He sighs as if he doesn’t approve. “They never fixed the hole where the probe is. The ship is still open to space. They haven’t put anything on it. The radiation readings were in the normal range.”
“With the hull still open to space like that, then that means they didn’t get the ship’s internal environment up and running,” Turtle says.
“The ship is the same vessel you found,” Mikk says to me. “Same low power reading, same openings. If anything, the hull is even more pockmarked, but I can’t say that for certain.”
“They haven’t done anything with the Dignity Vessel?” Squishy asks.
“Not that we could tell.”
“No life signs on board or anything?” Squishy asks.
“The Seekers equipment wasn’t that sophisticated,” he says. “We couldn’t get life sign readings from any of the ships.”
“The military vessels were shielded,” Squishy says.
“I figured,” Mikk says in that gentle dry tone that implies he’s humoring her. “But we couldn’t get anything from the Dignity Vessel either, and I doubt they shielded that.”
“It would’ve been too risky,” Turtle says, taking him seriously.
Squishy just frowns at him. “I can’t believe they’re not working on the vessel.”
“I told you,” I say. “They’re waiting for my father and Riya Trekov to finish their experiment.”
“I thought they did, with you,” Squishy says.
“Things move slowly in the Empire,” Hurst says. “As former military, you should know that.”
She glares at him, then leans back.
“Maybe that’s why the command vessel was there,” Turtle says. “Maybe something is happening. Or am I misunderstanding what a command vessel is?”
“You’re not,” Hurst says. “That’s the mystery of the place. With two tiny military vessels, they didn’t need a vessel that big. We couldn’t get any information about it, and they certainly weren’t going to tell us why it was there.”
“Do you think they’re bringing in more ships?” Bria asks. “Maybe that’s why it was there.”
“You’d think the ships would arrive before the command vessel,” Hurst says.
“It’s all speculation,” Odette says. “We need facts.”
I agree with her. We need facts.
“Here’s what I understand,” I say. “The Dignity Vessel is exactly where we left it. They have a small team of guards surrounding it. Two small military vessels with a crew complement of—what?”
I look at Squishy, then at Hurst. I’m hoping they know.
Hurst shrugs one shoulder. “I can’t imagine more than eight soldiers on each of those ships.”
“They’re built for ten,” Squishy says. “But if this is easy duty, the military isn’t going to waste twenty soldiers on some wreck in space. There might only be four on each vessel.”
>
“You mean we saw the entire crew?” Jennifer says. “That makes no sense. Someone had to remain with the ship.”
Odette nods. “It makes sense to me. Five. That’s half what the ships will bear. If you have five on each, then you have a redundant system. Something can happen to one ship, and you haven’t lost your entire crew. But you’re not fully staffed, so you’re not wasting money either.”
“What about the command vessel?” I ask.
“I’d like to see the specs,” Squishy says. “Maybe it’s a scout vessel.”
Finally, Hurst gets annoyed. “Believe me,” he says, “it was a command ship.”
“That’s a minimum of thirty,” Squishy says to me, as if she hasn’t noticed his irritation.
“On the command ship?” I ask.
She nods.
“So we have forty soldiers, minimum, maybe fifty,” I say, “and God knows how many nearby.”
“We didn’t register any,” Mikk says, “but they could’ve been in stealth mode.”
“I don’t see the point of that,” Odette says. “Especially if nothing has happened to that vessel in years. I think we have to assume there were only the three ships.”
“All right,” I say. “Three ships. Maybe fifty soldiers. No one on the Dignity Vessel. And probably no one is doing long-range scans or they would have come to get The Seeker much sooner. They wouldn’t have let The Seeker get that close.”
“I agree,” Squishy says.
“They may be itchy,” I say, “but they’re also complacent. It’ll take them a while to get up to speed on any situation. The question is time.”
“Time?” Mikk asks.
“We need time to plant that bomb. We haven’t dived the Dignity Vessel in years. We could get to the heart of it within about fifteen minutes, if my memory serves, but we can’t do that now.”
“Why not place the bomb in that hole in the hull?” Jennifer asks.
Squishy shakes her head. “We want the bomb outside of the stealth tech. Close, but not close enough to be in the stealth tech field.”
“Still, planting it outside seems the logical thing to do,” Jennifer says.
“That also makes the bomb obvious to the military,” I say. “I’d rather put it in the cockpit.”
I want to obliterate that place from my memory. I’m not sure a bomb will do it, but I hope it will.
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