"Pity. You were doing so well— especially with that Sherlock Holmes hypothesis. Why did you give up on that?"
"I know firsthand of the work the Raiders have done with age prolongation. And Mikel Arneu told me of the intensive efforts to find a way to restore youth, but those old people were all men."
"Exactly. So why did you eliminate them?"
"You're saying I shouldn't have?"
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
"You're a man?"
"Come now, Angel, do I look like a man?"
"You…"
"Uh oh, I've let the cat out of the bag, haven't I?"
"Only one person has ever called Jenetta, Eliza, and me Angel."
"It seems that our game is nearly over."
"You can't be Mikel Arneu."
"Why not?"
Christa just looked on in silence as she thought. Finally, she said, "Because Mikel Arneu had such low esteem for women that he would never have become one."
The woman laughed. "Yes, I was that way. I guess I've changed in more ways than one. Perhaps it was seeing things from a different perspective that changed my attitude. I admit that I miss the strength of my male body, but there are certain compensations."
"Such as?"
"You would know as well as I do. Instead of threatening everyone to get them to do my bidding, I've learned that cajoling is just as effective— sometimes more so with men. Most are exceedingly eager to please me."
"But why change your sex? You never seemed to have difficulty getting people to do what you wanted."
"As you know, I was pressing my scientists to find a way for eternal life and for a way to restore my lost youthful looks. Year after year they worked and year after year they failed to find the secrets. Like you and your sisters, I had received the age prolongation treatment so I knew I had possibly thousands of years ahead of me, but I also wanted to be young again. Well, my scientists finally found a way, but there was a qualification. It seems that the youth restoration process they developed would only work on women. It had something to do with the estrogen levels in the body or something. Men don't have sufficient levels of the hormone for the process to work.
"I kept after them to find a different formula, but after a decade of work they said it was no use. They said they could only restore youth to female bodies. What was I to do? If I wanted a young body, I had to take the plunge and go through the DNA manipulation to change me to a woman. You'll no doubt be pleased to hear that the pain you experienced with your DNA manipulation was like a walk in an EVA suit compared to what I went through. Apparently, creating a uterus and ovaries takes massive amounts of energy. I was always hungry and it seemed like I never stopped eating throughout the day. But that wasn't the worst. It was a full year before I reached a point where I didn't groan in pain every time I moved. Reconstructing a pelvis is no simple matter, even when it's done without surgery."
"My, my, how you do carry on," Christa said with a smile.
"I knew you'd be pleased to hear how I suffered."
"You have no idea. Tell me, what name do you use now?"
"You can still call me Mikel. There's no sense giving you my assumed name, Angel, and you'd probably feel compelled to make some remark I wouldn't like."
"You surely don't think you can take me out of here and send me to a whore palace somewhere, do you?"
"That was part of the plan at first, but things sort of got out of hand here with those aerial attacks. That wasn't us by the way."
"I know. We've learned who was responsible."
"Then, when I discovered there was no superior technology down here like the cloning process at the other facility, the trip appeared wasted. Still, I couldn't just leave without paying a visit."
"You don't…"
Christa's words were interrupted by a knock at the door. When Arneu and Kasim turned partway around at the sound, Christa made a move for the laser pistol. She knew they intended to kill her before they left. As long as no one outside the Raider organization knew of his sex change, he could come and go anywhere at any time. Now that he had told her, he couldn't let her live. Christa knew this might be her only chance to survive the day.
As Christa swung back with the pistol, she saw that Kasim was also turning back. He spotted the pistol in her hand and fired his lattice pistol at the same time Christa fired.
All three rounds from Kasim's three-round burst hit Christa. The first lattice round entered her right side just below the rib cage. The second round hit her right shoulder, cutting through muscle and ripping up everything down to the bone. The third round hit her left cheek just ahead of the ear, removing a swath of flesh from there to the rear of her skull. Most of the left ear was gone, along with the skin over the skull behind the ear. The damage to Christa's right arm caused her to drop her weapon but not before her shot had taken out Kasim.
With the laser set to narrow beam, the entire force of the energy struck Kasim in the center of his chest, passing completely through his body at one point as the laser beam swept across his chest for a dozen centimeters. His heart was so severely damaged that it was barely pumping. Although a laser pistol seared flesh closed as quickly as it opened it, the heart damage meant Kasim had mere minutes left to live. The lattice pistol fell from his hand as his life-force began to give up its impermanent hold on his body.
Christa and Kasim fell to the floor at the same instant, landing within a meter of one another. It was difficult to know who had screamed first, but a cacophony had echoed around the room for several seconds.
Through the two-or-three-second interval while the shooting had taken place, Mikel Arneu had stood transfixed by the door, her weapon still dangling in her hand as if she had forgotten it was there. When the door flew open, it caught Arneu in the back and she dropped the pistol, but as Madu burst into the room Arneu suddenly regained her wits and stepped back while extending a foot to trip the director.
Madu fell face forward towards the floor and Arneu ducked out the door. The Director wound up on the floor looking at Christa and Kasim, both of whom still had their eyes open. There was no blood by Kasim, but it was pooling up considerably by Christa. Madu jumped up and ran out the door.
With what must have been his final breath, Kasim managed to say to Christa, "I gave you life— and now I've taken it back. Fitting, don’t you think?"
Christa heard the words, but was unable to respond. She was going into shock and her last image was of Kasim's dead body as everything turned black.
Doctor Johannes burst into Christa's room with Nurse Gibson right behind him and Madu behind her. As soon as Johannes saw the amount of blood, he stopped and turned, putting a hand up to Madu.
"Please wait outside," Johannes said to Madu. "We need room to work." As she stepped back out, he closed the door.
Johannes immediately knelt next to Christa and put his hand on her neck. "Good Lord, no pulse at all. She probably bled out."
"This one is dead as well," Nurse Gibson said.
Standing up, Johannes said, "Okay, let's get this straight. Commander Carver is seriously injured, but she's not dead."
"But you said she has no pulse. That means she's dead."
"She's NOT dead. Do you understand?"
"Uh, yes, Doctor. But why isn't she dead if she has no pulse and isn't breathing?"
"Help me bandage her wounds," he said as he knelt next to Christa and began wrapping gauze around her head. "The reason is not simple. First, I just heard she's been named as Commander of the Dakistee Outpost. She's in charge of the entire planet. We don’t want people to think it's this easy to assassinate the top person here. Second, the Carver women have some kind of unique physiology that lets them heal from wounds that would kill anyone else. Perhaps something can still be done for her. But mainly, I don't want to be the one whose signature is on the death certificate, so I'm not ready to pronounce her dead. Admiral Holt should be the one to
release any information like that."
"I've heard about their amazing recuperative powers, but surely that doesn't apply here. She's expired, Doctor. She cannot come back to life."
"We don't know that, so I'm going to assume she'll recover. We'll get her into one of the stasis chambers the Dakistians use."
The job was hastily done, and, when Christa was bandaged and an oxygen mask placed over her face, Johannes used a bed sheet to soak up the pooled blood, then jammed the saturated sheet into a plastic disposal bag before going to the door.
Two orderlies with an oh-gee stretcher were waiting outside. He gestured them in and they placed Christa on the stretcher.
"Take her to the Vault level," Johannes said. "We're right behind you."
Gibson hurried after the stretcher-bearers as Johannes said to Madu, "She's very seriously injured and we're not equipped to work on her here. I'd like to place her in one of your stasis chambers and take her to Higgins where she can get proper attention."
"Of course," Madu said. "How long will it take to get to Higgins?"
"Higgins is about thirty light-annuals away. The diplomatic ship in orbit can make the trip in just over a solar."
"The stasis chamber that I was in has more than enough power to sustain the process for that long without being hooked into our power system."
"Great. Let's go."
Carmoody had heard the news, and, in her haste to get to Christa's room, ran into Madu as she and Doctor were headed towards the elevator. Madu explained the situation quickly and the three ran after the first group.
Once in the Vault, Carmoody logged into the computer so Madu could do what was necessary. Christa hadn't yet restored Madu's full access rights, although that would have happened soon now that the crisis was over.
Madu's chamber was gently lowered to the deck and Johannes worked with Gibson to get Christa situated inside.
It was necessary that Madu have the computer place the chamber back in the racks to initiate the process, but that took less than ten minutes. When the chamber was again lowered to the deck, the process was in full effect. Christa would be preserved at her condition when the process was initiated. As the computer lowered the chamber, the two orderlies situated the oh-gee stretcher beneath."
"Take her to the surface," Dr. Johannes said. To Nurse Gibson, he said, "You have ten minutes to get whatever you need or do whatever needs doing. We're accompanying the Commander to Higgins."
"Yes, Doctor."
"I'll see you topside. Remember, talk to no one."
"Yes, sir."
An hour later, the Diplomatic Yacht Wellington, captained by Commander Pieter Survossa, left orbit and headed for Higgins at the fastest speed available in Dakinium-sheathed ships— Light-9793.48.
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Four
~ December 4th, 2285 ~
Admiral Jenetta Carver opened her message queue as she sat sipping from her first cup of Colombian in what was usually a long line of such refreshments throughout the day. A message marked Priority-One from Admiral Holt naturally grabbed her attention. It should have been delivered to her regardless of the hour and how she was otherwise engaged. She would find out later who on her staff had dropped the ball and make sure it didn't happen again. For now, she punched the play key and watched as the somber face of Admiral Holt appeared on her monitor.
"Jenetta, Christa was injured in a shootout with a dig site person at Loudescott. It's imperative that you drop whatever you're doing and come to Higgins as soon as possible."
"Brian Holt, Rear Admiral Upper, Base Commander, Higgins Space Command Base, message complete."
Jenetta stared at the screen for several seconds while she thought. It wasn't like Brian Holt to send such a brief and cryptic message, and he wasn't prone to melodramatics. There was more here than his words indicated. If Christa had been injured, her physiology should see to the repair of the damage, although doctors had never been able to determine the level of severity from which the Carver system couldn’t recover. For instance, would their bodies replace an entire limb over time? Perhaps Christa had lost an arm or a leg and her body wasn't repairing the damage.
Since the message time was eighteen days to Higgins, it would take thirty-six days to get a more accurate picture. In that time she could be more than halfway to Higgins, which was about a fifty-day trip each way. She made her decision.
Jenetta's office was thrown into turmoil as aides tried to reschedule everything that had been planned for the next four months. Much of it resettled onto the shoulders of lower ranked admirals or senior base officers, but some things would just have to wait until Jenetta returned.
The SC Battleship Ares was in port, so Jenetta contacted Captain Gavin and told him she needed a ride. He was a bit surprised by the travel orders, but when the Commander of the Second Fleet designated a destination for a ship, that's where it went, and it went when she said. All leaves were immediately cancelled and everyone dirt-side hurried to get back to the ship while on-duty personnel struggled to complete in-progress maintenance operations and stow gear and recently delivered supplies.
Less than three hours after Jenetta had viewed the message from Admiral Holt, the Ares left orbit around Quesann, outbound for Higgins Space Command Base.
* * *
A General Court-Martial for enlisted personnel in Space Command and the Space Marine Corps, as was the case for commissioned officers, was conducted before a judge and a six-to-twelve member jury. But general officers faced a tribunal composed of only five general officers drawn at random. Both court-martial types decided guilt or innocence and determined the sentence to be imposed. A senior JAG officer presides as judge at a General Court-Martial, but the most senior general officer in rank and time in grade of the five selected to hear the case performed as president of the tribunal.
Admiral Bernake, Rear Admiral Upper, sitting in the center of the five admirals, said, "The accused will rise and face the court."
When Admiral Hubera and his civilian attorney had risen and faced the five admirals, Bernake said, "Admiral Hubera, you have heard the list of charges and specifications. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty to all charges," Hubera said loudly and proudly.
"The record will show that the accused has pled not guilty to all charges. The trial will begin tomorrow, December 8th, at 0900 in this courtroom. This Court is adjourned until that time."
* * *
"Come," Jenetta said when the computer informed her Captain Lawrence Gavin was at her office door on the Admiral's bridge aboard the Ares. In response, the computer opened the door to admit the Captain of the ship.
"Good morning, Jen," Captain Gavin said as he strode in. Although she was a four-star admiral, Jenetta preferred an informal rapport whenever protocol didn't dictate that they behave differently.
Newly promoted Lt. Commander Jenetta Carver had been posted to Captain Gavin's battleship Prometheus almost two decades earlier and their friendship had grown out of mutual respect for the other's abilities. Gavin had been offered a flag numerous times, but he preferred to remain as a ship's captain for as long as he could. Jenetta would have preferred a battleship captaincy as well, but war and other events had seemingly conspired to keep pushing her up the ladder. She allowed it to happen because she honestly believed she could make a difference. That was true, and, mainly through her efforts and the unremitting efforts of galactic rulers to absorb the Galactic Alliance, the GA had grown five hundred percent of the size it had been when she graduated from the Academy.
"Good morning, Larry," Jenetta said almost absentmindedly as he walked to the beverage dispenser and prepared a mug of coffee.
As Gavin took a seat facing her desk, he said, "You have a troubled look on your face. Anything you can discuss?"
"I've been reviewing all the reports Christa submitted during the months she was on Dakistee. Progress was slow at first until she solved the problem of how to open the door, and then things slowed even mor
e as she waited for the special cylinders to be located in the ruins of collapsed buildings around the planet. After she managed to open the door, only one report was transmitted before she was forced to seal the facility to save the dig site people and the secrets of the facility. But she continued to record reports, and the computer sent them as soon as the facility was unsealed and communications were reestablished. The last report was prepared an hour before she unsealed the entrance door to the tunnel. After that, nothing. Her injuries must be horrific or she would have sent something."
"I wouldn't be too concerned," Gavin said. "She inherited that famous Carver physiology. By the time we get there, she'll probably be back on her feet and anxiously looking for her next assignment."
* * *
"Our involvement on Dakistee has ended," Councilman Ahil Fazid said to Chairman Strauss on the com from his office. "All of our people, save one, have pulled out. We lost the man who was functioning as an assistant labor supervisor. He was good. We'll miss his information and evaluations."
"What happened?"
"According to Mikel Arneu, or perhaps I should say Nicole Ravenau, our man tried to shoot it out with Christa Carver. Apparently, they fired at the same instant and killed each other, dying within minutes of one another where they fell. He was using a lattice pistol from several feet away and she was using a laser pistol."
"Damn," Strauss said. "Damn, damn, damn. Carver is going to be coming after us with a vengeance now. Are we sure Arneu had nothing to do with it?"
"He— she— says not. She never fired her weapon."
"What was she doing there and why was that laborer armed?"
"Well, Arneu has carried a grudge against Jenetta for a long time— ever since she destroyed Raider One and made him look foolish. He may have been trying to exact a little revenge on her sister, whom he actually had as a prisoner for a short time until she escaped from the Tsgardis guarding her."
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