by Alan Black
Both Allie and Hammermill’s holograms faded from view. It felt as if they had just left the room.
She held up a hand to stop Stone from speaking. “I know what I look like Mister Stone. I am pretty enough in my own way plus I am old enough to be his mother…well, maybe an older sister. Sorry, I don’t buy it. What I do buy is Allie would have been willing to rip the head off anybody who went after Mister Stone! And from what I know, where Vedrian leads Hammermill follows.”
“It sounds like someone locked them up to shut them up,” Aunt Ruth said.
Maggot nodded. “Okay. How do we prove it. So far all we have is Mister Stone’s word about the phony shipments and about what went on.”
Stone said, “Um…what about my p.a.? I have it all recorded.”
Maggot looked stunned, “You recorded what? You had your p.a. record the attack on you and Commander Wright?”
Stone shook his head. “No, Agent Storovitch. I have my whole time aboard the Ol’ Toothless rerecorded from day one.”
“Of course you did,” Aunt Ruth grinned. “Grandpa’s rules: record everything now. You can wipe what you don’t need later.”
Stone, Aunt Ruth and Brenda said in unison. “In twenty years or so.”
“Everything?” Maggot asked.
Stone nodded along with Aunt Ruth and Brenda. He said, “It is a family habit. Besides look at me, Maggot. If the Hammer wanted to kill me he wouldn’t need to shove me into a pod and push it into hyperspace.”
The living room grew very quiet as Aunt Ruth, Brenda and Maggot realized the two people with them had survived hyperspace in a non-hyperspace capable ship.
Maggot cleared his throat. “That in itself is another whole investigation. Let me see your p.a.?”
“It won’t work,” Wright shook her head. “They wiped it when they killed us.”
Stone shrugged, “Well Commander, that is not strictly true. They did wipe all of the memory they could see but there is a backup memory system bulkheaded off. I can’t get at it. Aunt Ruth can or Brenda for that matter. They have the family’s unlock codes in their p.a.s.”
Wright said, “You didn’t tell me that, Mister Stone.”
“I apologize, Commander Wright. These are prototype models by a company the family owns. They are kind of a family secret.”
Brenda said, “Until now. Give it here, Trey.”
Stone dropped the personal assistant into her hands. She snapped a line from her p.a. into a port on his p.a., spoke a quick command, glanced at the small display and winced. “Sorry, Trey, but I don’t think Grandpa’s rules should include taking this into the toilet with you. Come on, couz. There are some things you should wipe…no pun intended.”
She tossed Stone’s p.a. to Maggot. “Memory has been restored.”
“Not that we were relying on this,” Stone said. “I am sure Grandpa has downloaded my last days on the Ol’ Toothless by now.”
“You e-mailed back up to the Golden Boulder?” Aunt Ruth asked.
“Of course. It won’t have the attack on Commander Wright and me, but it has almost everything else up to that point. I had just e-mailed a letter to Dad and Mom in the elevator on the way up to see Commander Wright. I attached an updated backup as a matter of habit. The message would have sat in a queue in the Periodontitis’ communications stream to be broadcast the minute they did a hyperjump into normal space.”
“Unless whoever is in charge thought to wipe your message from the queue,” Maggot said. “Still, if it did go your dad and mom will have access to this data?”
Stone nodded, “They probably knew I was in trouble before I turned up dead.”
“Oh crap!” Maggot said. “I don’t think they know what they unleashed with your dad.”
“My dad?” Stone said in surprise.
Both Aunt Ruth and Maggot nodded.
Aunt Ruth said, “Your dad is likely to take the Periodontitis apart weld by weld and ask questions later. It looks like you have a couple of tough marine friends. Your Dad is much more dangerous.”
“That means we are just going to have to work faster,” Maggot said. “How do I access your data, Mister Stone?”
“Access granted,” Stone spoke as if to the air in general. He said. “I suggest you just back up through the last twenty-four hours. That will give you most of the relevant data. One question first: are Commander Wright and I dead?”
Brenda snorted but Maggot nodded. “Officially no,” he said, “you two were dead for quite some time, but according to navy regulations you were resurrected when you called into my office.”
“Well, that will have to do,” Stone said. “What about that pod we came in on? It is navy property?”
Maggot replied with a question. “No. Why?”
“Never mind why, Agent,” Stone said. “How did the navy write it off?”
Maggot checked his p.a. “The official report has it lost in hyperspace transit. I still want to know why.”
Stone said, “I will tell you if you tell me why you have such a minor equipment loss report in your p.a. memory instead of having to request the data from a navy database.”
“I have a couple of real stupid low-level criminals who always seem to have way too much money every time the Periodontitis leaves port. That tells me something is going on, so I started checking around. There is too much money flowing around that ship. The first rule of criminal investigations is ‘follow the money’.”
“Aunt Ruth, we need to get that old pod from hanger thirty-six into one of your holding bays,” Stone said. “Commander Wright and I have laid salvage claim to it.”
“Are you sure it is worth the effort?” Aunt Ruth asked.
Stone pulled his hand out of Peebee’s mouth. He flexed his fingers and held up one finger. “First: Commander Wright and I made not one, not two, but three hyperspace jumps in a beat up old navy escape pod without a hyperspace jump capable engine. That doesn’t count a conversion back to sub-light and then back again to hyperspace capable. The diagrams and engine modification specifications are in Commander Wright’s p.a. and they are scrawled on the bulkhead of the engine compartment. Not to mention the engine is worth more than this whole back water station. Agreed?”
“Yes Trey, I agree. We need to contain that knowledge to the family,” Aunt Ruth said.
“Yes. However, it is knowledge jointly owned by the Stone-Wright Partnership,” Stone said.
“We are senior?” Aunt Ruth asked.
Wright grinned. “Yes Signora Stone, you are 65% owners. I only get 25% according to Mister Stone.”
“The other 10% goes to Alberto?” Aunt Ruth asked.
“Who?” Wright asked.
“Alberto,” Aunt Ruth said in an offhand manner. “You know, the Emperor.”
Wright looked stunned. “You call the Emperor by his first name?”
“Well, I did when we used to date before I got married to James,” Aunt Ruth laughed. “He never said to stop so why not? He is a real person not some kind of deity. And since we are in business together you should call me Ruth, okay?”
Wright looked at Stone in amazement, “She calls the Emperor by his first name?”
Stone shrugged, “I wouldn’t try it unless he says it is okay, but yeah like she said, he is a real person.”
“Point two, Trey?” Aunt Ruth prompted.
Stone held up a second finger. “Two. We discovered a planet that is a very short jump from here.” He pointed at the drascos. “That is where we picked up the girls. It is habitable and completely uninhabited by any civilization. The coordinates are in the pod’s navigation system and on Commander Wright’s p.a.”
“A whole planet? That will make Marvin and Vance happy. They haven’t had a fresh planet to carve up in a couple of years.” Aunt Ruth looked at Wright. “Same partnership?”
Wright nodded.
“Sounds fair to me,” Aunt Ruth said. She opened the comms on her personal assistant. “Jim Junior, grab Alex and the sled in bay Bravo-Six. Get ov
er to hanger thirty-six and drag the pod there back here. Take Andy with you and make sure they have their coach-guns with them. Defense only but I want that pod in the bay within the hour.”
“Okay, Mom.” Jimbo reported over the comms.
“On the way, Ruth,” Andy and Alex responded together.
“I better go too,” Stone said. “I put a bio-lock on the hanger. Jimbo won’t be able to get in.”
“Good thinking, Trey. But you can’t leave your two little dragons here alone.”
“Drascos, Aunt Ruth. Not dragons.”
“I don’t care what you call them. I don’t care if they look like they are asleep right now. You can’t leave them alone here,” Aunt Ruth said.
Maggot said, “Besides I need you here to decipher what I am seeing in some of these segments.”
“I can go,” Commander Wright volunteered. “I can get past the bio lock outs.”
“I really should go,” Stone said. “Jay and Peebee left kind of a mess in the middle of the hanger deck that I have to clean up.”
“Crap!” Aunt Ruth exclaimed.
“Exactly,” Stone laughed.
“You and your grandpa’s rules!” Aunt Ruth exclaimed. “Jim Junior, take a bucket and a mop. Clean up the pile of drasco crap in the middle of the hanger deck.”
“Aw, Mom!”
“‘Aw Mom’ nothing,” Aunt Ruth said. “Andy, you make sure Jim Junior cleans it up himself and doesn’t convince Alex to do it for him. And Commander, the last thing you do before you leave is to log out on the register. Have the invoice paid by our family account, but make sure it is listed as Stone-Wright Partnership. I will have you and the corporate entity added to the family account before you get there.”
Jimbo stuck his head in the door. “Commander Wright, if you would follow me please?”
“I will be back as soon as I can,” Wright said. She grabbed a sandwich with each hand and rushed out the door.”
“Brenda, call your father,” Ruth said. “Tell him to wrap up whatever he is doing and get the container loads ready for attachment. I think we need to get to Lazzaroni as soon as we can. We might be able to get there before a message can reach them about Trey being among the living.”
“No, Ruth,” Maggot said.
“No? You can’t tell me ‘no’ on my own ship.”
“No, but I can prevent you from taking Mister Stone with you. I need him and Commander Wright with me.”
“I thought you were going with us to Trey’s funeral,” Aunt Ruth asked.
Stone laughed, “That sounds like fun.”
“It is not funny young man. Your family is hurt by your loss,” Aunt Ruth said.
“Sorry, I guess it is not really funny.”
“I am sorry too, Ruth,” Maggot said. “Mister Stone and I are not going to Lazzaroni Station. I hope you and James can change your plans. We need to go to Tamvor Station after the Periodontitis. When word gets to them that they didn’t kill Mister Stone, the guilty may bolt and I will never find them.”
“Do you have help at Tamvor Station?” Stone asked.
Maggot shook his head. “No Mister Stone, not much. They only have four or five agents there. Most of them will be on field assignments. My plan is to place someone we trust in command of the Periodontitis at Tamvor Station and have them take the whole shooting match under lockdown to the Lazzaroni system. There is an Empire’s Military Investigative Service Regional Office there. Plus, there are enough non-involved navy personnel there to call in as back up.”
“Sounds like a plan, Maggot,” Stone said. “I want to be there when you lock up those S.O.B.s that killed Commander Wright and me.”
“But you don’t need Trey,” Ruth said. “I would like to take him to Lazzaroni to head off his father before he does something stupid. You know he won’t believe anything unless he sees it with his own eyes.”
Maggot shook his head, “Send a message, use family codes, whatever. I do need Mister Stone with me. Look at this video.” He called up a file on Stone’s p.a. The hologram appearing in the living room showed four figures racing down a corridor. Two grabbed Stone and slapped a drug patch on his neck. The other two grabbed Commander Wright putting a patch on her neck. One man grabbed Stone and Wright’s p.a.s and tossed them to another man. The video went blank as they dropped the p.a.s into a black bag. Maggot froze the hologram.
“Okay, Mister Stone. Your personal assistant identifies this man as your direct supervisor Second Lieutenant Vaarhoo. It does not identify these other three. Do you know them?”
Stone looked carefully at the three men. One was an officer and two were enlisted ratings. He pointed at one of the men. “That one I only know by the nickname Skippy. He works…worked for Commander Wright. I don’t recall ever seeing the others. Maybe Commander Wright will recognize them.”
“I will ask her when she gets back. My point is, without this recording I am unable to distinguish them from navy personnel who were not involved,” Maggot said.
“Neither would I until now,” Stone shrugged. “I knew Lieutenant Vaarhoo was a jerk. I figured he knew what was going on. I never imagined he would physically attack me.”
“I can identify these four for sure, but I have no other way to separate who is and who isn’t involved. No one knows how deep or how high this goes into the command structure of the Periodontitis. That is why I need you to go with me to clean this up.”
Stone grinned, “Aye, aye, sir. Midshipmen are made just to clean up other peoples messes.”
“Thank you for agreeing, Mister Stone. My plan is to put you in command of the whole ship.”
“What! I am a midshipman. I can’t run a navy ship,” Stone shouted. Peebee and Jay jumped up and started to hiss.
“Quiet, you two,” Stone said. He reached out a hand. Jay grabbed it in her hand and sat back down.
Maggot had gone pale at the sight of the drascos jumping up. “I think I made a mess in my britches.” He relaxed slightly as Peebee dropped back to the deck and fell asleep again.
“Sorry, Maggot,” Stone said. “They react when I get upset. You know you can’t put a midshipman in command. What about the admiral?”
“A preliminary review of your data doesn’t eliminate the admiral from any involvement. I couldn’t trust him to get us to Lazzaroni Station if he is culpable in theft and attempted murder.”
“It is murder. It is not just attempted murder,” Stone said.
“What?” Aunt Ruth said. “You aren’t dead; neither is Commander Wright.”
“No,” Stone said. “However, the midshipman I replaced was listed as a suicide. I believed it was suicide right up until I woke up on a pod in the middle of hyperspace.” He looked at Maggot. “Do you want to bet he wasn’t all that suicidal?”
“No. No bet. That is why we have to get the ship and crew intact to Lazzaroni Station so we can investigate everything. And it is why I have to have an officer in command I can trust to get the Periodontitis to the Lazzaroni System.”
“What about Commander Wright?” Aunt Ruth asked.
“No,” both Stone and Maggot said in unison.
“She isn’t in the command structure. She is a veterinarian and the rank is really just a courtesy rank,” Stone finished.
“A vet? Really? I wonder if…” She palmed on her comms. “Hey Mel. Get Oliver down to sick bay. Trey’s friend is a veterinarian. Maybe we can get her to look at your dog and see if she can fix why he is throwing up and can’t eat. Brenda, meet me on the bridge. Prep the Ruby to lift off as soon as Jim Junior gets back with the sled. We will pick up Dad when we lock on the containers we have parked in orbit.” She looked at the two men. “You two stay here and figure your military stuff out. I am going to lay a course to Tamvor Station. You know, I hate that dump, but if we have to go there then we have to go.”
“Okay, Maggot. I get why we have to get the Ol’ Toothless to the Lazzaroni System. But it is a big ship. Not everybody can be involved. There must be a higher ranking o
fficer we can trust.”
“I am sure there is crew that is not involved. Who do we choose? Before we investigate how can we be sure that who we choose is not involved with Vaarhoo? And we can’t do a thorough investigation until we get to Lazzaroni. We can do preliminary checks but nothing in-depth.”
“How about choosing a First Lieutenant Aldamani? I met him and his parents. They were nice people. Aldamani’s father was ex-navy. I can’t believe their son would be a thief and a murderer.”
“Aldamani? Let me check.” Maggot scanned through the notes on his personal assistant. “Here. This guy?” He showed Stone a quick vid.
“Yes, that’s him. I met his parents Vedrus and Emiline Aldamani before I signed on board the Periodontitis.”
Maggot shook his head. “Aldamani’s service record says he is an orphan. His parents died in a flitter crash when he was a small boy. You say their names were Emiline and…Vedrus? Would that be these two?”
He flashed another vid.
Stone nodded, “Maggot, I don’t get it. Those look like police mug shots. These are nice people.”
“They are mug shots. This is Emiline Yassova. She runs one of the biggest crime syndicates in this region of space. The man is Vedrus Oorta. He is her bodyguard slash hit man slash lover. If they are taking a personal interest in the Periodontitis then this is a bigger operation than I thought it was. These are not nice people.”
“I can see why it would be difficult to find someone on board you can trust. But surely there is an officer who is on board the Ol’ Toothless because they are just in transit between stations. Can’t you find someone in the navy like that and put them in charge?”
“No. It has to be someone who is officially listed in their chain of command. That is navy regulations. I have the authority to replace any officer but I can’t bring in someone from the outside to do it.” He glanced at a document on Stone’s p.a. “Are these your original orders from midshipman’s school to the U.E.N.S Periodontitis?”
Stone nodded.
“What are the odds that an admiral makes a personal request for a midshipman who is ranked so low?” Maggot asked.