by C. R. Daems
After a long silence, Moore nodded. "XO, cancel all shore leaves ... on the pretext we have been asked to return to Eastar. The Bacchus is en route to replace us."
Diaz nodded and exited the Bridge at a run while talking on her PCD.
"Can either of you operate the Comm panel?" Moore asked.
I raised my hand.
"Good. Send a message to the Vulcan, letting them know it's tonight."
I sat and typed the following message:
To: Captain MacLin on the Vulcan
The raid is scheduled for tonight at one hundred hours. The location has changed from 40.6212 –84.0224 to 44.6212 -84.0224. Good hunting.
From: Lieutenant Commander Paulus
I then sent the message to Moore's tablet.
"Send it. I estimate it will take us approximately four hours to reach that GPS location," he said after several minutes on his PCD. "We’ll need to leave around nineteen hundred hours, which will give us a couple of hours to find them, hopefully before they dispatch the raider team to Zuno Pharmaceutical. Unfortunately, according to my last information that is several hours before the Bacchus is scheduled to arrive. They were delayed in leaving due to an accident." He stood worrying his lip. "I suggest you stay on the Bridge. It's probably the safest place on the ship. Report back here after we depart from the space station."
"I've enough battle ribbons," Kris said as we exited the Bridge for our quarters.
"The cost of staying on the fast track," I said, trying to lighten her mood.
"I would rather take a few extra years to make Commodore." She gave me a wry smile. "Besides, I already have more awards than most of the officers on crew duty. I don't need another Purple Heart."
"Shouldn't be too bad. We've four ships to their one."
"Their one’s not a merchant ship. They aren't going to just throw up their hands and say, 'We give up' because we outnumber them." Her voice rose in frustration.
I conceded she had a valid point, and we would be the first to engage them, so I switched thoughts. "Think how good that star is going to look on your collar."
"You're incorrigible." Kris put her arm through mine. "Let go eat, and see if we can figure out how to get rid of the raiders so I can find the father of my future children."
* * *
"Nothing, Captain," said the radar operator. We had just finished a pass over the GPS coordinates at forty thousand kilometers. "But the passive sensors would have trouble detecting a ship on minimum power."
"True, but no sense advertising we know they’re in the vicinity. Helm, reverse course and lower us to thirty-five thousand. Tactical, keep the weapon system ready but offline for now."
We waited as the agonizing minutes ticked by. The captain's search pattern took fifteen minutes to complete one way before reversing course and dropping another five thousand kilometers for the next pass. Forty-five minutes had passed when the stony silence was shattered by the ECM operator.
"Four incoming—!"
Just then, the ship seemed to be slammed by a giant sledgehammer, and we were thrown violently sideways.
"All systems active!" Moore shouted.
"Foreign cruiser moving away at two hundred gravities. Distance three hundred kilometers," The radar operated choked out along with blood.
"Tac. Fire all tubes when ready." Moore’s speech was slurred, and I noticed blood trickling from his nose. When I looked at Kris, her nose was bleeding, and when I licked my lips, I tasted blood. A glance at the damage monitor had reports streaming in from every department.
At three hundred kilometers, the ECM operator would have had less than two seconds to respond. In fact, the missiles wouldn't have had time to reach maximum velocity, but they were still clustered together, increasing the impact and damage by a factor of two or three. I concluded we were lucky to be alive.
"Fired, three away. Two tubes are inoperative," the Tac operator shouted, his left arm hanging by his side.
"Three hits!" the radar operator shouted only seconds later. And then … "I've three cruisers on the radar ... it's the Vulcan, Lapis, and Cabiri."
"Helm, half speed. That raider isn't getting away. We're better served looking after our dead and wounded. Comm, send stand down from battle stations."
* * *
It took six hours to get back to the space station. During that time, essential repairs were made, wounded treated, and the dead identified and collected. Four direct hits had opened several sections of the ship and caused fifty-two deaths. Eighty-three crewmembers had been seriously wounded from being thrown against equipment and walls or getting hit by objects that broke loose.
Kris and I could do little other than stay out of the way, although I manned the Comm station to free up the Comm officer to help elsewhere.
"Colonel Pannell, how did your detail fair?" Kris asked when he returned an hour later.
"One dead, one serious, and two with minor injuries." He scanned Kris and me as if double-checking we were all right. "What are you and Commander Paulus planning now?"
"Anna, what do you think?"
"If we or the police go to Zuno Pharmaceutical, it may alert the Controller that the Hermes didn't stumble on the raider cruiser by accident. Actually, it may be interesting to see if he attempts a second try. That would tell us a lot. Since the Bacchus is replacing the Hermes, maybe—"
"We could wait and see—"
"I could wait. I know you—"
"You stay, I stay!" Kris said, but I could feel her frustration. "Anna, you're right, as much as I hate to admit it. At least the Bacchus isn't planning on fighting anyone." She gave a choked laugh. "I just managed to get that image out of my mind of us under the conference room table with that madman on top of the conference room table shooting at us. It's going to take another month to shake that feeling of being slammed by an asteroid. I thought we were going to die."
"You're not alone, Agent Sinclair. None of us ever want to be that close to another cruiser in a battle. They can't miss, and ECM is worthless that close," Moore said. "I'm told the Bacchus is in system and should dock within the next six hours. We can work out a transfer at that time."
"We should inform Stauffer," I said, and when Kris nodded I typed the following message and transferred it to Kris's tablet.
To Commodore Stauffer, NIA office, Oxax
Copy: Lieutenant Commander Shrader, NIA office, Oxax
Transferring to the Bacchus to wait and see what Controller decides to do.
From: Lieutenant Commander Sinclair and Lieutenant Commander Paulus
Kris nodded and I sent it.
* * *
"We've been on more cruisers—the Bacchus will be the sixth—than most career officers who elect cruiser duty," Kris said as she, our security, and I made our way to the next berth, where the Bacchus was docked. "I'm supposed to be a sleuth with a permanent desk."
"You obviously didn't read the fine print when you signed your contract." I had trouble suppressing a grin.
"What fine print?"
"See! You missed it," I quipped.
She slapped my shoulder. "It must have said, 'Join the navy and enjoy free rides on cruisers, front row seats to missile fights with foreign ships of war, target practice with assassins, and learning to care for a venomous red-headed krait.' That fine print?" She actually stopped and looked serious, but her lip did twitch toward the end. I had to admit she had a right to be upset. NIA service should have been a routine career with plenty of leisure time in which to find a husband and have kids. "I guess my crazy NIA partner does compensate ... somewhat." She linked her arm in mine and we continued down the corridor.
At the Bacchus, there was no line and we were quickly admitted.
Inside, a petty officer was waiting. He saluted. "Commanders, Captain Aguilar would like to see you in his office. If you'll follow me, I'll take you there."
When Kris nodded, he proceeded out of the bay with us following. At the captain's door we were ushered in.
; Aguilar was young for a captain, tall, and lean. His eyes evaluated us as he returned our salute. "At ease, Commanders, and have a seat. I understand our delay arriving almost caused a disaster. We had a gas leak, which sent two sailors to the hospital and took several hours to fix. Now that I'm here, what’s the plan?" He felt a bit nervous, although he didn't look it. I would wager he had taken a lot of grief over the delay and now had two P1A agents to contend with.
"The rumor is that you’re replacing the Hermes in order to continue routine patrols of New Zheng. We would like you to take that responsibility. We want to see what the Controller—the raiders’ man on the planet—will do. We're hoping he believes the raider ship sent to rob Zuno Pharmaceutical was discovered by accident. Hopefully we’ll know by what he does over the next two weeks. Make your patrol days and times random." Kris said.
"You know who he is?"
"No. But we know how he communicates with the raiders, so we’ll be monitoring the WavCom each day and will need access to the Bridge and Comm panel."
Red appeared out of my jacket and wrapped himself around my neck with his head facing the captain.
Aguilar's mouth dropped open. "Commander Paulus, what—"
"Red is a red-headed krait. He's venomous but never leaves my person. Hence, you always know where he is." I couldn't help feeling amused. I could imagine people in the same room as me constantly scanning the floor and furniture. "Our relationship is symbiotic. He feeds on my blood, and his venom keeps my Coaca Virus from becoming active."
"Never?" he asked, frowning.
"Not since he showed up when I was four-years-old."
"All right, let me introduce you to my staff and the Bridge crew so they know you’re authorized on the Bridge—and about the krait. I've assigned you senior-level quarters. If you need anything, let me or my XO know."
* * *
The next eight days were busy but boring. Being confined to the ship without an assignment meant an excessive amount of free time. We did strip the WavCom daily and spent hours looking for any suspicious correspondence that might be from or to the Controller on New Zheng. We also monitored the merchant ship traffic and the Master Puzzle bulletin board.
Kris went to the Officers’ Club several times and received lots of attention but didn't make any dates, although she had many offers. That turned out to be amusing, since her lack of interest made the men try harder. I managed to talk several senior officers into giving me a tour of their sections. We also spent time on the Bridge when the Bacchus made its nightly patrol.
"Anna, the Controller sent a puzzle," Kris said, rising from the Comm panel. "This should be interesting."
"You can use the conference room," Aguilar said, looking and feeling excited, since he knew from our discussions that the puzzle message could mean a raid.
Pannell and one guard followed us into the conference room. Kris slid her chair closer to mine and sat watching as I deleted non-meaningful characters and then separated the resulting strings into old-Latin words.
"There," I said, and sat back without smiling.
"Well what does it say, my not so amusing little sister?" Kris grabbed my arm and shook it, which caused Red to slip over my shoulder and hang with his head looking down at Kris's hand. "Red also wants to know." She laughed, but I wasn't so sure how funny it was. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had been able to read it. Maybe someday I'll know what he is, but for now I'm positive he's not just your usual krait. "This is a close approximation:
Art still available. Appears a random encounter. You pick date publish plus ten. We will be at 31.4178 -24.1054.
"So they're going to try again. They're one tough bunch." Kris shook her head. "Harder to stop this time, no date or time and impossible to make it look like an accidental encounter."
"We can't let them know we've deciphered their puzzle code or we'll be back to ground zero. And this proves they aren't easily discouraged."
"What's the alternative? You aren't suggesting we let them carry out the robbery?" Kris stared hard at me, and I could feel her conflicting emotions—not wanting people killed but also not wanting to alert the raiders.
"No. What if we thwart the robbery?" I asked as Red wound his way into my hair and lay his head on mine as if wanting to join the conversation. I idly wondered if his head on mine somehow ... I shook my head so hard in disbelief it almost dislodged Red and his head hung on my ear and his tongue lightly touched it.
"If we do, it'll alert the raiders we know." Kris ignored Red hanging by my ear.
"What will they know? Only that we discovered why they were here, not how. It could have been something on the destroyed cruiser, or a crew member who survived, or ..."
"You’re right, if we make no attempt to engage their cruiser." Kris laughed. "I like it, but what about the contest winner?"
"They never make contact with them again. So if we make him disappear, they won't know anything is wrong. In fact, he could have collected his money and ran."
Just then, the door opened partway and one of the security guards announced Aguilar.
"Is all this security necessary on a UAS cruiser?" he asked as he entered.
"Yes, Captain, it is. They've been attacked four times on UAS cruisers. Last time their two security guards were killed. They’re worth two million credits dead."
"The raiders must really fear you." He stared at us like he had never seen us before. "Can you tell me what the message says and your plans?"
"They plan another raid on Zuno Pharmaceutical."
"Then we can destroy another cruiser." He grinned with obvious excitement at the thought he could be involved.
I wanted to scream, fifty-two died to get that last raider, and we were lucky. But what good would it do? They considered that part of their profession, and it was, but I couldn't help but feel the loss and all the lives it impacted. I forced myself to speak calmly. "No. Not this time. Even if we do run across it by accident, we'll pretend we didn't."
"You can't. I'm not letting a raider—" Aguilar's voice was loud and angry. He stopped midsentence when Kris stood with her P1A badge in her hand.
"That's an order, Captain, not a request. We want those raiders worse than you do, but engaging the one that comes could cause us to lose the pack that's operating in the UAS."
"We need to send a message to Stauffer and Rawls, letting them know what we intend to do," I said, thinking the conversation was over.
"I'm going to contact Naval operations. We don't let the enemy—"
"No you won't. Captain, I'm ordering you not to contact anyone concerning our plans. Ignoring my order will end your naval career and may result in prison time. So hate us if you want, but don't jeopardize your career by ignoring a legal order." Kris held his glare.
After a long silence, he turned and stalked out of the room.
"Anna, let's get that memo to Stauffer and Rawls. I agree with you, but maybe Rawls or Lultrel or Bell won’t."
I laughed mentally. If I understood P1A authority, the UAS committee authorized it and Bell couldn't overrule it. Of course, our careers would be finished afterward. Getting Rawls and whoever to at least agree would be wise.
To Admiral Rawls, Commodore Stauffer, Oxax NIA headquarters
Controller on New Zheng is setting up another raid on Zuno Pharmaceutical. We recommend no attempt to engage the raider's cruiser since it would alert them that we can decode their puzzle messages. Instead, we suggest we stop the robbery. The raiders know we're aware of their presence. many factors could have led to us discovering a potential raid on Zuno Pharmaceutical.
From: Lieutenant Commander Sinclair and Lieutenant Commander Paulus aboard the Bacchus
I sent the message to Kris's tablet.
She nodded as she read. "Good, send it."
I made my way to the Bridge and under Aguilar's stony stare was granted access to the Comm panel. Feeling paranoid, I ran the message through crazy numbers before sending it, which converted it into a jumbled strin
g of upper and lower case letters and numbers. I knew Stauffer had the software to decipher it and that no one else would be able to read it. Two million credits was a powerful incentive.
* * *
Over the next three nights, the Bacchus conducted the routine nightly surveillances, and I wondered what Aguilar would do if he did happen to run across a raider's ship. I didn't blame him for wanting to destroy an invading raider, but the hostility toward Kris and me seemed unwarranted. We also wanted to capture or destroy the raiders—all of them. Maybe it was taking orders from women or from Lieutenant Commanders, or both. Consequently, we spent most of our time in our rooms except to eat and search the WavCom.
The next day, we received a crazy numbers coded message from Stauffer.
To: Lieutenant Commander Sinclair and Lieutenant Commander Paulus
Your plan is approved by Admiral Bell. Keep us advised.
From: Commodore Stauffer
"Wow," Kris said while looking at her tablet. "Talk about pressure."
"What do you mean?" I asked, thinking Bell's approval a good thing.
"If we screw it up or something goes wrong and we disappoint Stauffer, that’s one thing. If we disappoint Bell ..." She left the consequences hanging.
"It would give you plenty of time to look for a husband and to have kids." I managed not to smile.
She laughed. "My today sister. You're right, let’s focus on what we need to do today and forget about all the things that could go wrong." She walked over to Pannell, who was standing next to the entrance hatch. "Colonel, I think we’ll need you and the Bacchus's marine commander and ... Captain Aguilar, you should also attend so you’ll know what’s going on and be able to help develop the plan," Kris said.
I thought it an example of Adult Speak—getting the captain involved.