“Ships? As in more than one? How many-”
“Who knows? They do not appear on any of our devices.”
“This is stupid and ridiculous,” Leri said. She smelled Weecs’s sincerity, but she refused to respond to it. “Be gone and take the Council with you. I must meditate now.”
“Please, Leri, hear me out. The Verfen said that before you refused you should seek the advice of your Confidante.”
She was speechless. How could the Verfen know about the Confidantes? Did they use them also? Is that why they had visited long ago? To seek Confidantes? That made no sense. None of it made any sense. “Very well,” she said finally, “I will seek the truth with my Confidante.”
“We will remain and await your response.”
“You will go! Proctor or no Proctor, you will go. Tell the Verfen they will have my response when I am ready to give it.” Without waiting to see or hear the reactions of Weecs and the Council, she turned and hurried back into the grotto.
“Do you have questions?” the Confidante asked even before Leri had settled back into her coil.
“Yes, I have many questions.”
“Do I have the answers you seek?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
For a long, long moment the grotto was silent. Then the Confidante said, “Yes, I have answers.”
32
“WE’VE TRIED ALMOST EVERYTHING we can think of, but we’re still trapped in the cockpit,” Marsha said into the transceiver. “Given what the remotes show us, it’s a wonder Graycloud’s life support system is functioning at all.”
“Yes, I can see numerous holes in your hull and fragments of the other two ships,” Delightful Childe said. “Where is Captain Teeman now?”
“In the access tunnel, trying to reach the suit locker. I cleared the wiring from the first twenty meters, and he’s trying to clear the rest of it.”
“He is safe?”
“He damn well better be. If he dies, I’ll kill him.”
“Such strange things you say at times. You are safe?”
“So far we’re both safe.” It had finally sunk in to her when she was in the access tunnel just how seriously Graycloud was damaged. Now she really wasn’t sure they were safe at all, but until the situation got worse, she continued to assume that she and Lucky would find a way to handle this problem.
“We have a good supply of air, and the Gouldrive is still supplying power. We’re maintaining decent pressure in the cockpit despite the leaks but there’s no telling how long that’s going to last. Can’t you send someone over to help us?”
“No. Housa is crewed by checkdroids, and without someone to lead them, there is no accounting for what they would do if and when they reached you.”
“And you cannot lead them?”
“Then who would pilot Housa? I am the only True Person aboard.”
“So you’re going to just sit there and watch us die?” The word popped out of her mouth and unintentionally revealed how thin her hope for survival had become. She was down to operating on blind faith. For a brief instant she thought of her father, and then she pushed him from her mind. For all he cared she could be dead. She refused to waste energy worrying about him.
“No, Partner Yednoshpfa, I cannot just sit and watch you die. I will attempt to bring Housa into direct contact with Graycloud. If we can clamp onto you, then I can direct the droids in opening the emergency hatch or cutting through your hull.”
“What’s he saying?” Lucky asked as he drifted feet first out of the access tunnel.
Marsha smiled with relief. “He’s going to try to latch onto us and have his checkdroids perform the rescue.”
Lucky wiped his face as he floated over to her. “Tell him not to bother. We can reach the survival capsule through here. The air’s getting bad, but once we get in the capsule, we’ll be all right. It will be a lot easier for him to pick up the capsule than to latch onto Graycloud.”
“I heard most of what you said, Partner. Where on Graycloud is the survival capsule?”
“Amidships fore of the dorsal hump,” Marsha said.
“We’d better start, Mars. I don’t know how much longer we’ll have usable air in the tunnel.”
“Keep your fingers crossed-all fourteen of them.”
“I pray for your success,” Delightful Childe said.
Marsha unbuckled her harness and turned to Lucky as she floated off her chair. “You first, my love. You’re the smallest.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Just go.” She pushed him gently toward the access tunnel.
Lucky couldn’t understand why she wanted him to go first, but there was no time to argue. Taking a deep breath, be guided his body into the opening, caught the first handhold, and pulled himself in.
Marsha followed as close behind him as she could without getting kicked in the face. As soon as her body was completely in the tunnel, she realized how stale the air was in there and was glad she had made Lucky go first. It had gotten much worse since her first trip, but at least Lucky had a good chance of making it to the survival capsule.
Hand over hand they pulled themselves through the dimly lit tunnel. Lucky paused and coughed, and Marsha’s head hit his feet. “Keep going,” she said in a high, squeaky voice.
“Helium backup,” Lucky said in the same octave. “We’re almost there. Another ten meters.”
But almost there and being in the survival capsule were two different things. The turnbolt stuck. Then the hatch.
“Sheiss and tensheiss,” he cursed as he put as much pressure on the handle as he could. The hinges squealed. He pulled harder. They were both gasping for air.
The hatch sprang open with a loud clang. A burst of dusty air highly charged with oxygen blew out in Lucky’s face. He took a heaving breath before pulling his head and shoulders through the hatch.
Marsha smelled the air but couldn’t get enough of it into her lungs. Desperately she grabbed his foot and let him drag her into the capsule.
As he fought for breath, Lucky managed to turn himself around and close the capsule’s hatch. For a minute or two they both floated in the tiny sphere, heaving in oxygen.
“Grab something,” Marsha said. When she was sure he had a handhold, she grabbed one of her own, flipped the cover off the ejection button, and slammed it home with her palm.
Graycloud’’s outer doors popped open, releasing the cocked spring under the capsule, which thrust it into space.
“There’s the Housa,” Marsha said as she stared through the capsule’s only port. “We’re headed straight for it. Stay still. We don’t want to alter the trajectory.
Using Housa’s double grappling arms, Delightful Childe made several inaccurate attempts before he eventually caught the capsule and drew it into the main loading bay.
It took thirty minutes to fully pressurize the bay, but finally Marsha, then Lucky, climbed out of the capsule and were greeted by a Delightful Childe with his wrinkled arms outstretched and all his yellow teeth bared. “Thank the gods,” he said.
“Amen to that,” Marsha answered, sending up her own silent prayer of thanks.
Lucky put his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze as he looked at Delightful Childe. You don’t mind two passengers back to Oina, do you, Partner”
Delightful Childe fluttered his proboscis in an approximation of human laughter. “Not for the rest of my life. What is mine is yours, Partners.”
Lucky and Marsha looked at each other and smiled. “Then let’s head for Oina,” Marsha said. She kissed Lucky, and they both knew that for them the war was over. They were going home.
◊ ◊ ◊
“The LRRS report more Uke hunks headed our way, Admiral, estimated to reach effective firing range in two-pointtwo hours.”
Josiah Gilbert glanced at the external viewscreens and wondered how the Ukes could afford to send so many of their ships against him. Had Schopper and Pajandcan been beaten?
It
had been over four hundred hours since Nordeen had relayed any word about either of their fleets, and he was growing more and more concerned. Could the Ukes have defeated both fleets and sent all their ships to intercept him? Or was this a to-the-last-ship effort to keep his fleet from striking against Gensha? For the moment the answers didn’t matter. As long as the Ukes were harassing his fleet, there was no way it could make an organized subspace jump to Gensha.
“Dougglas, what is our fighter deployment strength?”
“Forty percent, sir.”
“Increase to sixty, and let’s get these Ukes out of our way.
“Dixie, give me the latest on the fleet’s status.”
“Of our thirty-four ready ships, two cruisers and the launchship Tems are still questionable for subspace. The Stern is taking as many of the Tems’s fighters as it can carry. The New McQuay will take on the rest.”
“Which gives us how many fighters, Dougglas?”
“Approximately nine hundred seventy-five operational, sir.” Gilbert allowed himself a small smile. “Admiral Dixie, hold that fighter transfer order. Dougglas, I want all the Tems’ fighters operating from her bays in one hour. For each of those you put up against the Ukes, pull one back for us or the Stern. When that is complete, pull all our fighters back.”
“Aye, sir,” Dougglas said slowly, “but that will put a tremendous load on the Tems. And won’t it also slow down our attack departure?”
“Yes and yes. Dixie, I want a double squadron assembled around the New McQuay and the Stern. That will leave seven ships to support the Tems. Prepare the squadrons for a mass subspace flight to the Hiifi-II attack coordinates.” He saw the immediate look of doubt on her face. “You have a question, Admiral?”
“Uh, sir, it’s just that-well, sir isn’t a double squadron of twenty-six ships rather weak to be attacking Hiifi-ii? I thought that was Schopper’s target?”
“It was, but we’re going there first. If he needs help, we’ll give it. If not, we’ll join forces for the attack on Gensha. If the Ukes have sent most of their ships to fight us here, the other systems are bound to be more vulnerable. Now execute that order.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Tech Mate, I want to send a message to Nordeen, informing them of my intentions.”
“It will take four relays from here, sir.”
“I don’t care how many it takes. Just set it up.”
Fifty-three hours later Gilbert’s double squadron broke through the Ukes off Shakav and entered subspace with twenty-five ships. Uke hunks caught three more ships in subspace before he exited eighty tachymeters off the Hiifi-ii system with a fleet of twenty-two.
Much to Gilbert’s relief and surprise, the initial Uke resistance was light as he closed on Hiifi-ii. With a little more luck his fleet might be able to capture and control Hiifi’s space before the Ukes knew what was happening. Then all he had to do was hold what he captured until Schopper arrived to support him.
◊ ◊ ◊
“For some reason your father has changed the plan. According to Nordeen his fleet should already have reached Hiifi-II,” Schopper said. “We should have direct contact with him in a few hours. In the meantime, I want to present you with something. Along with the messages from Nordeen came these orders for your promotion to Post Commander. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, sir,” Mica said, accepting the sealed packet he handed her, “but I don’t understand why they promoted me. Am I to be reassigned?”
“Not that I know of. There are also several personal messages for you in that packet. I’ll notify you when we make contact with your father.”
“Thank you again, sir,” Mica said with a quick salute. She left his cramped office and headed for her own, eager to see what the packet contained but more eager to hear from her father. When she reached her tiny combination office-cabin, she shut the door and quickly tore open the packet.
The dispatches were routine information and intelligence updates. She glanced over their title pages and told herself there was no reason to read them right away.
There were three personal messages, one from Rochmon, one from her father, and one from Henley. She read his first and smiled. He wanted her to pick a place for them to meet when the war was over. Apparently his emotions were not as guarded as he wanted her to believe.
The message from her father was his usual query about her health and cryptic references to their mutual activities. The message from Rochmon stopped her cold. It was clearer than anything he had ever said or sent to her – a proposal of marriage.
But why? What had she ever done to encourage his feelings in that direction? Nothing, she decided as she reread the message. He wasn’t proposing to her. He was proposing to some Ideal of what he wanted her to be. She quickly convinced herself that Hew Rochmon had never really tried to know her as anything but the young girl who had flirted with him – some sweet, innocent child that had captured his warped devotion.
It was enough to make her cry. She liked Hew, but after she entered the Service, she had never truly felt anything stronger than the affection of friendship for him. Maybe she had done some things that he misunderstood, but nothing to lead him to this.
“Captain, uh, Commander Gilbert, we’ve made contact with your father’s fleet,” Schopper’s voice said through her speaker-phone. Meet me in communications.”
“On my way.” Mica put the personal messages aside and quickly stuffed the dispatches back into the packet. Tucking that under her arm, she had a feeling that she was missing something, but she was in too much of a hurry to worry about it.
When she arrived at the communications center, it was crowded with the normal complement of technicians plus all of General Schopper’s staff, the Space Commander, Admiral Flowers, and as many of his staff as could squeeze into the room. They made room for her, but she had to suck in her breath, and work her way in on tiptoe.
“We’re all assembled, Admiral,” Schopper said.
“Thank you,” Admiral Gilbert’s voice said over the static. “First I want to compliment all of you on the fine job you’ve done thus far. All indications are that the Ukes are disorganized and on the fly. We have –“
A loud cheer covered his next words.
“-reform our attack plan. Resistance here has been minimal, but Admiral Pajandcan’s fleet had serious problems at Buth, and her LRRS report a heavy buildup of Uke shipping in the area of Yakusan. Consequently, Admiral Flowers, I want you to split your war fleet as evenly as possible into two task forces numbered ten and twenty.
“General Schopper, send me your five reserve legions with Admiral Flowers and Task Force Ten, and then take Task Force Twenty, including the rest of your legions, as quickly as possible to Yakusan to support Pajandcan. Is that all clear?”
“Clear, sir,” Admiral Flowers said.
“Yes, sir,” Schopper said more slowly, “but if I send my five reserve legions to you, by headcount I only have enough troops left to form six tired and battered legions to support Admiral Pajandcan, plus her inexperienced six.”
“I understand that, General, but most of the battle for Yakusan should take place in space before you ever have to land those troops, so yours will have some time to rest. I want your reserves because I plan a simultaneous ground invasion and space attack on Gensha.”
Mica was startled by her father’s decision, but even through the static she could hear the pride and determination in his voice.
“If there are no further questions,” Admiral Gilbert said, “I will confirm these orders by message and expect to see Task Force Ten within eighty hours. Gilbert out.”
As he signed off, everyone in the communications center seemed to be talking at once. Only Schopper’s booming voice stilled the noise. “All staff officers to the strategy room on the double,” he announced. “Fleet coordination officers will pass the readiness orders to the legion.”
Mica followed the crowd out of the center toward the strategy room. A sudden feeling that
she had missed something grabbed hold on her mind, and as soon as she got to the room, she parked herself in a corner and reopened the packet. She found what was nagging her in the third dispatch.
The Castorians had joined the war on Sondak’s side. Furthermore, it was rumored that the mysterious Verfen had sent emissaries to the other neutrals. She was pleased about the Castorians and knew her father would be pleased also, but she didn’t know what to think about the Verfen. Surely if the rumors had been important, Cryptography would have made a point of saying so.
She dismissed the Verfen and made quick note to tell Schopper and Flowers about the Castorians. As busy as everyone was going to be, she wanted to be sure she didn’t forget.
33
“SEND THEM THIS MESSAGE, AOCO. Tell them I want a full strategic retreat, with as many of their ships as they can break away to rendezvous at Alexvieux. And tell Marshall Zonazuza that if he wants to remain Senior Commander, he will give us no more excuses.
“Why Alexvieux, sir?” Melliman asked.
Because that is the last place the Saks will think to look for a fleet. From there we can take the northern polar route to Nordeen and smash Sondak’s nerve center.”
“Uh, sir, it seems to me ...”
His face wrinkled into a frown at the negative tone in her voice. “Spit it out. Clarest.
She looked down for a brief second before turning her face up and meeting his gaze. “It seems to me this is a terribly big risk for us – maybe our final shot. We lost so many ships at Shakav and the polar systems that-”
“Dammit, Clarest!” He said as he stood up behind his desk and glared at her in annoyance. “Don’t second-guess me. If we don’t form a new fleet and strike immediately, Sondak well isolate and cripple the rest of our systems one by one. We should have done this a long time ago. But between the conservatives and the kyosei, my hands have been tied like a ginga hung for slaughter. To emphasize his point, he slapped his wrists together as though they were bound.
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