by C. R. Daems
As you wish. Ten hundred hours.
From: Lieutenant Commander Shrader
My face was red when I entered the kitchen for breakfast.
Alexa laughed when she saw me. "Did you wake someone else last night?"
"I forgot what time it was and sent Adrian an urgent message ... sometime after two."
"I'm sure he and the others won't mind when they hear your news."
Feeling antsy, I said goodbye and left early for work. When I arrived, everyone was already there.
Adrian smiled. "Good morning, Anna, or is it afternoon by your clock?"
"Sorry. I woke my mother too." I felt my cheeks burning.
"Well, since we’re all here, why don't we adjourn to the conference room and hear your exciting news?"
"Anna, I don't have any proof of anything," Rich whispered as we entered the room.
I winked at him but said nothing. When everyone had sat, I began. "Rich ran our three puzzles against the X-series decipher programs, and X25 produced the following strings of what appear to be random numbers." I then displayed the results on the room monitor and sent them to their individual tablets.
Eastar: 9*151(3#44$20)5*1h
Stone Ring: 6*24/5(23)34/4*3z
Holy Star: 11*215%1&32#39%5*8w
"Last night I was wondering why and whether other puzzle messages would produce similar results. They did and they didn't." I then displayed and sent last night’s results.
Eastar: Stone Ring: Holy Star:
6#231[3#24%20]5$1a 1&175%1&82#9%5$3d 8!15$1&28(39)2&8m
6%14/5(23)34/4$3k 3$11(1#49%50)5*1f 7#81(3#12$20)3%1s
5$151(3#66$40)5&1w 4&51(5$14(80&2)8r 1&201(8#1#25)1$1o
"I understand the did but not the didn't part," Adrian said to nodding heads.
"Look closely." I waited more than twenty minutes while the team studied the strings of characters.
"Do you mean the asterisks?" Kris finally asked. "The messages we think are real have them, but the others don't. And they’re always at the beginning and end."
"Correct. That led me to assume the asterisks had a specific meaning and also signaled a meaningful string." I waited for comments but got none. "What if the asterisks are really periods?" I put up the new strings:
Eastar: 9.151(3#44$20)5.1h
Stone Ring: 6.24/5(23)34/4.3z
Holy Star: 11.215%1&32#39%5.8w
"That takes care of two symbols, but what about the others?" Rich asked the obvious question on everyone's mind.
"Since they appear random, I assumed they all stood for the same symbol." I waited and when I didn't hear any comment, I continued. "A space or simply a separator." I put up the modified strings:
Eastar: 9.151 3 44 20 5.1
Stone Ring: 6.24 5 23 34 4.3
Holy Star: 11.215 1 32 39 5.8
"That doesn't help!" Kris said in frustration. "Only Red knows what you’re getting at!" She quipped to general smiles.
"What if I add?" I then put up the strings with the words that went with them.
Eastar: 9.151 degrees 3 hour 44 minutes 20 seconds 5.1 astronomical units
Stone Ring: 6.24 degrees 5 hour 23 minutes 34 seconds 4.3 astronomical units
Holy Star: 11.215 degrees 1 hour 32 minutes 39 seconds 5.8 astronomical units
"They're the rendezvous coordinates!" Adrian and Kris screamed together.
"In h, Safe Harbor, z, Zespar, and w, Westar," Rich said after looking at his notes.
"So the Controller sends a puzzle with some details we haven't decoded yet to someone with a spacecraft to meet someone at the designated coordinates. Presumably for a meeting with the raiders to relay the message, which we can assume contains information about the target." Adrian diagrammed it on his tablet, which he linked to ours. "Obviously, we should tell Rawls and Stauffer, but before we do, does anyone have any suggestion as to our next step?"
"I vote for anything except going along in a space submarine to those coordinates," Kris said. "My future husband is not on one of those flying prisons."
"I think they’re going to want to see what's at those coordinates, and if there’s a WavCom near, I think they’ll want us to search it," Adrian said. "Great work, Anna. I think you’re the only one on the team with the background to recognize those numbers as vector and astronomical units. You too, Rich. You had the sense to recognize something wasn't right and bring it to the team's attention. That's important. The team needs to chase every lead or anomaly. They won't all turn out, but if we don't, we're liable to miss the one that could lead us to the raiders." Adrian rose. "Stand by while I update Stauffer."
"What you people do is scary. No wonder you caught the smugglers and the raiders want you dead," Rich said into the silence.
"Us dead. You just gave them reason to want you dead," Kris said. "If you hadn't run the X-series programs and hadn't the sense to know something wasn't right, Anna might never have found those coordinates. We work as a team, and there are no bad ideas, only ones that don't work out."
"Kris, if they want one of us to go to those coordinates, I could go and you could—"
"Go with you. We're the girl team." She laughed. "I don't like space submarines, but I have to admit they treat us like VIPs: dining with the captain, unrestricted access to the Bridge, senior officer's quarters, and the run of the ship. We're on the fast track, even if it's a bit slippery."
"Thank you." I knew she was doing it mostly for my sake. She already had enough awards to stay on the fast track to admiral: Navy Distinguished Service Medal, crew duty on a cruiser, battle ribbons, and Purple Hearts.
"Besides, who would look after Red if you upset some admiral or other?" Kris went on to tell the story of Sharat and me.
"Now I see what Adrian means about you two being ..."
"Insane? If we are, we're happy nuts," Kris said as Adrian appeared.
"Stauffer says for us to continue doing whatever we're doing. He needs to brief Rawls, who will undoubtedly want to pass it up the chain of command. I suggest we continue working on the messages, unless someone has a better idea."
No one did.
I decided to go home and continue working on the puzzle messages, because finding the coordinates had confirmed my feeling that another message was hidden in the puzzle. How else would the pirates know what the Controller wanted? I said my goodbyes and left with my marine security detail.
* * *
When I arrived for our normal scheduled conference, we were directed to Admiral Rawls’ conference room, where MacLin, Thayer, Hardgrave, and Pannell were waiting along with Rawls.
"You have everyone excited," Rawls began after we had taken seats. "Best case scenario, we'll find the raiders at those locations. Worst case, we're one step closer to finding them. Admiral Bell has directed the taskforce to check out each of those coordinates and would like someone from the NIA team to accompany them. He feels you might find the raiders, or it might trigger some hunch to pursue if no one is in the area. He has convinced the UAS Security Commission to make your P1A access permanent until the raiders are found and destroyed. Captain MacLin, when can you be ready to leave?"
"We could leave within twenty-four hours." MacLin received nods of agreement from his fellow captains.
"If you don't mind, Admiral Rawls, I would like to discuss it among my teammates," Adrian said.
"Alright. Although everyone is excited to know what’s at those coordinates, the raiders may be long gone, or it may be a permanent base. Either way, a few days won't matter. Let Captain MacLin know when you decide." Rawls rose, signaling the end of the meeting.
* * *
"Pros and cons as I see it," Adrian began after we had returned to our area, "together, we might see something one of us would miss like with Rich's X25 anomaly, but it would put us all at risk, with no one to continue the work if something happened. A new team would take years to come up to speed and might not have the insights we have developed. Of course, it's probably dangerous here on Oxax as well. The raiders c
ertainly know where our home office is located." Adrian looked at each of us before continuing. "I'm sure you’ve given it some thought, so who would like to stay here?"
Adrian was right. I had given it a great deal of thought, as I was sure the others had. My biggest concern was leaving Alexa with the worry I caused her, but she wouldn't want me to stay home on her account—keeping in touch would be sufficient. And I loved being on a cruiser, being part of the team, and chasing the raiders—so I wanted to go.
When no one said anything, Adrian smiled.
"I guess we’re all going. The next decision is who goes on which cruisers?"
"I suggest we split up like before, just in case ..." Kris left off, the cruiser we're on gets destroyed. "And let MacLin decide."
"Alright, I'll let MacLin know and contact you with the details."
* * *
I reported to the Vulcan two days later. MacLin had decided Kris and I would start on the Vulcan but transfer to the Lapis if we decided to visit any planets. Adrian and Rich would stay on the Cabiri.
After showing my ID to the Lieutenant on duty, I entered the loading bay and found Major Pannell waiting for me.
"Good morning, Commander Paulus, I'm here to escort you to your assigned quarters. I understand Commander Sinclair is arriving on the next shuttle."
"Good morning, Major Pannell. You must be busy with your new security detail."
"Yes, I have forty-one marines: a detail of ten for each of the four of you and a lieutenant as my second-in-command. She's currently responsible for the two details on the Cabiri. I'm staying on the Vulcan with my exciting high-risk duet." He grinned.
"Hopefully for Kris's sake, it will be a boring cruise: we go to the coordinates, the raiders surrender, and we return home."
Pannell laughed. "What about for your sake?" He sounded genuinely interested.
"I've come to accept ... excitement as part of my destiny. What worries me is that the people I love are exposed to danger because of me."
"I'm here to minimize the excitement so that neither you nor anyone with you is harmed." He looked at the two corporals behind us. "The men and women guarding you know you're an extra high-risk person and to be alert at all times. In fact, one of the reasons you haven't seen much of me is because we’ve been undergoing some additional training by the UAS Secret Service on what to look for when guarding an individual." He stopped at a door in the hallway to the Bridge and nodded. "The Captain has taken very good care of you and your partner."
I put my hand against the hand plate, and the door slid open to reveal a spacious room by cruiser standards, with a single bed and a fresher, no doubt a full commander's quarters. My suitcase already stood against one wall.
I had just stored my things when my PCD displayed a message from MacLin to join him in his office. When I exited, Kris was just leaving her room next door.
"Going my way?" she quipped. "For all the time I'm getting on cruisers, I might as well have volunteered for cruiser duty."
"But then you would be in smaller quarters, never getting time on the Bridge or dining with the captain—and you wouldn’t be nanny to a red-headed krait."
"True. Hi, Red," she said as Red made his way out of my blouse and around my neck. "I would never have met you, and I wouldn’t be on the slippery slope they call the fast track." She laughed and linked her arm in mine.
The guard at MacLin's office opened the door when he saw us coming. Inside we braced to attention and saluted.
"Relax and get yourself something to drink. I understand that Commander Shrader wants to visit the coordinates in Safe Harbor first, then Westar, and Zespa last."
"Right, the coordinates were from the Controller in Eastar, which was the most recent raid," Kris said.
"What do you expect to find at these coordinates?"
"Nothing," I said, and I could feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment.
"Why not?" MacLin frowned.
"If it were a permanent base of operations, then the Controller wouldn't have to send the coordinates. He has to send them because it changes periodically, maybe after a delivery—or it might just be a drop-off point for the messenger. In either case, they’ll be long gone."
"Then why go?"
"I agree with Anna, but we have to follow every lead. Most will lead nowhere, but if we don't, we might miss the one that does lead to results," Kris interjected, to my relief.
"Or hope the raiders aren't as logical as you and we catch them sleeping." MacLin grinned. "Travel time should be two days to Safe Harbor, three to Westar, and six to Zespa."
* * *
"Sixteen days including the time back to Oxax!" Kris said as we sat in the captain's conference room examining the puzzle messages for some anomaly that would lead to breaking the code. "Sixteen days I could be searching the Oxax Officer's Club for the father of my children."
"Is that how you find a mate?" I wasn't sure if I ever would be, but it was good information for when I was ready.
"Yes and No. You frequent places where you’re comfortable and hope one of the men you meet will turn out to be the one. I'm not comfortable with the men one meets at bars or places where crews frequent on shore leave. Sometimes you can meet the right man at work, but I'm never there!" She gave an exaggerated sigh. "Instead, I'm on a cruiser with men who I refuse to consider because they're like gypsies."
"I wonder where someone with a permanently attached venomous snake goes to find a man." I had intended it as a joke, but it did hit home. I wasn't interested in looking right now, but what about when I was? I could feel Kris's deep sympathy as she struggled to come up with an answer.
"Red found you when you needed him, and the right man will find you when the time is right."
"Thanks, Kris. That's not only a comforting thought but no crazier than Red seeking me out in the snow." The thought actually cheered me up, and I turned back to reviewing the puzzle messages.
INTERLUDE
Oxax: A deal they can't refuse.
"Brett, how are you doing? Cody asked as they stood in the bathroom attached to a backroom in the High Roller's nightclub.
"The damn cards have turned to shit. I was ahead at least eighteen thousand but my cards have gone sour over the past hour and that last hand killed me. That friggin’ merchant from Holy Star went all-in and I had to give a twenty thousand marker to see him. I couldn't let him have the pot when ten thousand of it was my credits and I had a full house, queens over sevens. That was the best hand all evening. So I signed a twenty thousand credit marker. The bastard had kings over fives. Where in hades am I going to get twenty thousand credits? These guys aren't going to let me pay in installments." He choked out a laugh. "They would grow grey waiting for me to pay off that kind of money. I don't guess you’ve won enough to help pay it off?" He stood looking at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror. It had been a long night. They had been playing for more than twenty hours.
Cody laughed. "I've had to sign two ten thousand credit markers to keep playing. Like you, I knew I couldn't pay off the first marker so I signed the second, hoping to get lucky. When we were winning at the blackjack table, it seemed like a good idea to join the poker table for some real money."
"Too much free alcohol makes you feel invincible. If we could get back to the ship ..."
"I agree, brig time looks pretty good right now." Cody looked around the room, hoping for a window to freedom.
Solid walls stared back. The only door led into the card room, where certain catastrophe awaited. When they walked back in, the four other players had left and only the dealer and the three security men remained.
"I've paid off your markers, as the men were anxious to get back to their ship, which is due to leave in a few hours. So if you'll settle up, we can call it a night," the dealer said. He was a tall wiry man with space-cold eyes.
The security men didn't look like typical bouncers—big muscle-bound men with scarred faces. These men had athletic builds and each had a multifunctional gun at
his waist. As marines, Brett and Cody recognized cold-blooded killers—men who enjoyed killing—when they saw them.
"We don't have it," Cody said, thinking it was better to get it out right away.
"Now that’s a shame," the dealer said. "I'm out forty thousand credits. That's a lot of money. I should let my men make you suffer like I'm going to suffer losing all that money, but that won't get me my forty thousand. Sorry, the only thing you have of value is your body parts, probably not worth forty thousand but maybe ten to fifteen each."
"It's there something else we could do ... smuggling, maybe?" Brett's face was pale and sweat stained his armpits. He wasn't afraid of dying in a fight where he had a chance, but knowing he was going to be butchered for body parts generated a fear he had never experienced before.
"What ship are you currently serving on?" the dealer asked, looking interested.
"The Vulcan," Brett said, feeling a slight glimmer of hope.
"Cody?"
"The Vulcan."
"We might be able to reach an agreement if you're clever, greedy, and risk takers."
"We're marines!" Cody said, thinking that would satisfy the dealer.
"I've a proposition for one or both of you. I want someone killed and could buy a couple of good assassins for forty thousand credits. In your case forty thousand plus your lives. But I personally don't know if I can trust you not to renege on our deal, thinking I couldn't or wouldn't chase you down and kill you."
"You can trust us," Cody said, willing to agree to anything that got them out of this room.
"That proves my point. You're too fast to agree without knowing who or where or when." He smiled. "Don't underestimate me. If we can't agree, I'll kill you painlessly and take your saleable body parts. If you agree and then renege, I'll spend whatever it takes to find you, but then I'll be in a bad mood and will kill everyone you hold dear before I brutally kill you. That's lots of body parts, which will make it worth the effort and expense."