by C. R. Daems
"Stop."
"That was fun." Kris grinned. "But I don't think I'd like being in a cruiser loading missiles when someone was shooting back at me. Would you?" she asked, frowning at me.
"I don't know. I thought the Bridge a magical place. In reality, I'll never get the opportunity, so I guess it doesn't matter. Come, let's go see your missile and what goodies it has for us." I was excited. We were helping to catch smugglers, maybe friends of the same ones who almost killed Alexa. When we reached the weapons bay, a lone missile sat on the loading train. "You want to take it apart?" I quipped.
"You’re kidding, aren't you?"
"You watched Chief Hartley do it. A few screws and off it came." I managed to keep a straight face.
"How do we know this one is a fake?" Kris protested while staring at the missile. "You want to take it apart?"
"I'd like to bring it back to Oxax. Maybe Captain Vogel wouldn't mind." I shrugged. Kris choked.
"I want to be there when you ask. Pretty please, Captain, for my mother," she said in a little girl’s high-pitched voice while batting her eyelids and smiling.
"We ... you could invoke Priority One Access," I smiled and batted my eyelids.
"Seriously, do we want to let the smugglers know that we found their clever cache? I think it's conference time. Come."
I left the ship following Kris. At the entrance bay, Captain Pfeiffer stood glaring at us as we exited.
"Well, are you satisfied? Can I have my ship back?"
"No, we found some illegal drugs in one of the crew's compartments. That warrants a further search," Kris said, and continued walking with me almost running to keep up. In the Port Authority headquarters building, Kris insisted on speaking to the commodore in charge, and when the officer on duty began to protest, she pulled out the P1A badge.
"Now," she said quietly, with the badge only inches from his face. After a couple of phone calls, we were ushered into his office. After saluting, Kris began before the commodore could speak.
"Sir, this is a Priority One Access request. We need a secure message transmission to Admiral Rawls on Oxax and Lieutenant Adrian on Eastate, copy Admiral Lulltrel."
"Come, I'll take you to our communications center. It will save time and questions. You seem in a hurry." He gave a wry grin as he rose. He didn't seem annoyed with Kris, which was surprising considering she was a lieutenant giving orders to a commodore. He had a pleasant face with definite laugh lines and felt curious. "That badge can move mountains and commodores." He smiled as he proceeded to guide us to the basement, where the computer network was housed along with his communications personnel. "Does one of you know how to operate the equipment?" he asked. Kris looked to me, and I shook my head. I knew how to operate communications equipment, but not how to sent P1A messages.
"It won't matter, Commodore. It will be encrypted," Kris said, taking out her tablet and typing out the message. After a few minutes, she turned it so I could see.
Priority One Access To: Admiral Rawls, Copy: Admiral Lulltrel, Commander Stauffer, Lieutenant Adrian.
Dealmaker like Wheeler. Holding under excuse we found illegal drugs in crew compartment. Do we let the ship leave or keep quarantined under current excuse or open to see contraband and alert smugglers?
"Can you add, ‘Anna believes Wheeler could lead to the organization’s methodology if smugglers unaware of our discovery’?"
"What are you thinking?" Kris asked. "I thought we could shut down their Alliance operation."
"I took Chief Hartley to lunch the other day. I asked him if someone could retrieve one of those missiles once fired. He thought it wouldn't be too hard and said he could tell if he got a chance to take the Wheeler's missile apart."
"Oh ... Interesting. So we might catch who is bringing the stuff in from one of the other empires. That would be even better." She began typing again, finally turning the message for me to see.
Priority One Access To: Admiral Rawls, Copy: Admiral Lulltrel, Commander Stauffer, Lieutenant Adrian.
Dealmaker like Wheeler. Holding under excuse we found illegal drugs in crew compartment. Do we let the ship leave or keep quarantined under current excuse or open to see contraband and alert smugglers? Agent Paulus believes Wheeler could lead to the organization's methodology if smugglers unaware of our discovery. I concur. Talk to Chief Hartley on Oxax.
Signed Lieutenant Sinclair
She called up the encryption program I had named Crazy Numbers, touched Go, and the message suddenly became a collection of numbers and special characters. She transferred it to a chip and handed it to the commodore, who handed it to a chief petty officer.
"Chief Bauman, set this Priority One Access to the addresses on the chip." The chief nodded, slipped the chip into his panel, nodded again, typed for a minute, then hit one of the switches.
"It's on its way. I'd say you should have a reply within sixteen to twenty four hours," he said, looking at something on his monitor. "How can I contact you, Lieutenant?"
"Send a message to Captain Vogel for my attention."
After thanking Commodore Mosby, we visited the Windjammer but found nothing. The ship had no missiles. I played with their laser system but discovered nothing.
* * *
"It's been more than twenty-four hours, what do you think?" I asked Kris as we sat talking in her room.
"Admirals don't like all-or-nothing solutions. Probably deciding who will take the blame if it turns out to be nothing." She laughed. "You and me."
I panicked. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble— "
"It was a joke, sort of. Usually it's the lowest man or woman on the totem pole who gets blamed when something goes wrong, and the ranking person who gets the credit if things go right. But Stauffer is one of the good ones, so he would get hit the hardest."
"That's wrong," I blurted. "It's my idea. I should take the blame." I didn't really understand. I ... we were all just doing our jobs. Why did someone have to take the blame if things didn't work out? My head pounded so bad I wouldn't be surprised if Red could hear it and if that was the reason he was wrapped around my leg.
"It’s the reality of life, Anna. Credit gets you promoted, so everyone ... most everyone spends a lot of time trying to take credit for the good things that happen under them and trying to pass the blame for the bad things to others. My advice is to do your best and don't worry about the consequences."
"I've a lot to learn." I sat thinking for a long time before coming to a conclusion. "My goal is not to change who I am, but to understand those around me: worthwhile friends like you."
* * *
My tablet woke me with a P1A message. When I looked at the time, it was three-thirty hours. I called up Crazy Numbers and touched Go. Slowly the numbers disappeared and the message appeared:
Priority One Access To: Lieutenant Sinclair, Lieutenant Adrian, Lieutenant Weiss, A. Paulus.
Let all the merchants go. Report back as soon as inspections finished.
Signed Admiral Rawls.
I didn't have to wake Kris; she had coffee brewing when I knocked.
"Well, Rawls is on the hot seat. Lulltrel probably made the decision, but she is the one officially giving the order. I'm surprised she didn't pass it to Stauffer."
"Maybe she's one of the good ones," I said. Kris nodded.
"Let's notify Mosby and tell the captain we’re ready to go to Zespa.
The trip to Zespa only took a little more than two days, and Vogel was in a good mood after hearing a synopsis of the situation. In Zespa we visited the Spinner, Wanderer, and Storm Runner and found smugglers' missiles on the Spinner and Wanderer. A day later we were back on the Minerva and heading back to Oxax.
CHAPTER TEN
Chasing missiles
When the Minerva docked at the space station, a shuttle was waiting for us along with a message from Stauffer:
To Lieutenant Sinclair, A Paulus.
Report to the office immediately upon arrival.
Commander Sta
uffer.
"I guess that means no shower and no early night to bed," Kris quipped. "Adrian and Wilber have probably been back for days and everyone has been waiting on us. Welcome to the navy. A good paying job with excellent benefits but lousy working hours and conditions."
"And they are slowing down your search for a father for your children," I quipped.
"And that too." Kris smiled.
When the shuttle landed, I used my skimmer to fly us to the office. Alexa had been right about me needing a mode of transportation. My hours were erratic, and it was certainly convenient to have my own skimmer to get around. The best part? I was getting paid to use it. We arrived at sixteen hundred hours and found Admiral Rawls and Commander Stauffer waiting in the conference room with Adrian and Wilber. Rawls waved us to seats when we entered the room.
"First, I'd like to congratulate everyone. This team has exceeded all our expectations, but don't quote me. Those of us who were part of the selection committee want everyone to think we're geniuses and expected no less." She grinned. "You have identified six—probably all the merchants working with the smugglers: Wheeler, Spinner, Wanderer, Dealmaker, Dreamer and Star Trader. Next, I like the way this team thinks ahead. All of us were content to arrest the merchants you uncovered and shut down the smugglers' Alliance connection. That wouldn't have stopped the smugglers, but it certainly would have slowed them down. But the team was ahead of us and already thinking about the next objective—the merchants' contacts. Admirals Webb and Lulltrel were impressed and want a shot at the smugglers’ ships, which they believe originate out of the PRS and or FPU. Chief Hartley examined the Wheeler’s missile and found it has an emergency beacon that can be activated at a specific frequency. He knows the frequency but not the code that activates it. And he was able to determine the celestial coordinates the missile was programmed to go to. However, he can't determine which solar system. We have a team of astronomers trying to determine whether that could be in Oxax or Eastar, since the Wheeler was in Oxax and heading for Eastar. But of course, it could be anywhere in the Alliance. If we had the missiles from the other merchants, we would know if the coordinates were the same, meaning they had one drop, or whether they had multiple drop locations. But then the smugglers would know we were on to them, and the information would be interesting but useless. Comments?" she asked, pausing for a drink of her coffee.
When nobody said anything, she continued. "You have been away from family and friends, and I'm sorry to delay your reunion, but I wanted to bring you up to date and thank you for a job well done. You are free to take time off while the experts ponder the problem. Of course, it would be nice if you could come up with the answer." She laughed and departed the room.
Stauffer stood, which kept everyone from rushing the door. "In a sense, I believe everyone thinks this project has ended, and maybe it has. We certainly can't go running around in Peeps or Freebees space looking for smugglers. But I would encourage you to use your excellent instincts to look for anything we might have overlooked. Even if the project is over, you are the golden team, and I predict you will be kept intact for the next big problem. Of course, you could put in for a transfer, but I doubt you'd get it." He left laughing.
"Anyone want a transfer?" Adrian asked, looking at each of us. Everyone shook his or her head. "Me neither. Check in with me to let me know how to get in touch with you in the event it's necessary, and I'll keep you up to date on what I hear."
We stayed for another hour, exchanging brief accounts of our activities. It was twenty hundred hours when the meeting broke up. I was glad the team planned to stay together. I was tired of making friends then losing them. I would particularly have missed Kris, who I was beginning to think of as an older sister.
When I arrived home, Alexa was still up. Neither of us said anything. We met halfway into the room in a tight hug.
"Welcome home, daughter. I'm glad to see you safely back in the nest," she finally said while holding me at arms’ length and examining me. "You look good and have no injuries."
"The trip was interesting and exciting, but I'm glad to be back."
"Have you eaten?" she asked. When I shook my head, she dragged me off to the kitchen and prepared a meat and cheese sandwich and cut a huge slice of berry pie. Afterward, I gave her a detailed account of my experience, which lasted well into the morning hours. It felt good to be home.
* * *
I stayed home the next couple of days, pondering the problem of the smugglers and a little disappointed that the team’s involvement had ended. I checked with Adrian and had him send me the celestial coordinates, since I was familiar with them from my studies of navigational mathematics at the academy. Then I used my tablet and connection to the NIA computer to look at the position it represented in the Eastar and Oxax systems. Both positions were out of the conventional traffic lanes leading to and from the Wave entrance and exit points. That made sense if you didn't want to be seen. Even if one of these points were valid, the key was timing: hour, day, week, and or month. Six merchants dropping off and picking up contraband in the same solar system didn't seem logical. That would be easier to verify than which solar system the celestial coordinates pertained to. I sent a quick message to Adrian.
Adrian, if the merchants were picking up and dropping off contraband on a regular basis, wouldn't their itineraries give us an indication of where? Regardless, I would think the day would have to be communicated whether it were a regular drop point or scheduled. Anna.
Four hours later, I received a reply back from Adrian.
Anna, everyone agrees. I'll put in a request for the information. Let’s meet three days from now at the office. Adrian.
Kris had been right. Adrian would make Admiral someday, and he was a good leader for the group. He never seemed to rest, didn't mind the administrative work, and had a good leadership style—he listened to each person, didn't feel like he had to have the answer, and supported each of our suggestions. Two of the days, I picked Alexa up at the end of her day and we went shopping and ate out.
When I arrived for our team meeting, everyone was already there, to my surprise. Adrian nodded when he saw me and headed for the conference room with us following.
"That was a good suggestion, Anna. Besides, it will give us something to do while we await another assignment." He grinned as he slid a CPC chip to each of us. "Homework. I suggest we each look at the itineraries for all the merchants we identified to see if we can determine a pattern." He looked around the table to nodding heads.
"This is going to detract from Kris's effort to find the father of those kids," Wilber said looking serious, but I could feel his amusement.
"What about you, Wilber? Aren't you looking for Mrs. Right?" she shot back. "That’s going to take a while, I'd wager."
"The longer the better. I’m having too much fun to settle down."
"All right, how about three days from today we meet back here to discuss what we've each found?" Adrian said. "That should allow for some fun and some looking."
"What about you, Anna?" Wilber asked.
"I'll have to discuss it with my chaperone," I said to nods and feelings of sadness. I suspected they were each considering what their life would be like with a poisonous krait around their neck. I had been too young to worry about that, but I was already at the age where fun and dating were normal. But with Red, I wasn't likely to attract anyone unless he had the Coaca Virus. For me, the future was a topic best avoided, as it presented a black hole of depression: How long will Red live? Will someone kill Alexa trying to get Red? Even if I could have children, which wasn’t certain, would I live long enough to see them reach school age? If the team were dissolved, what would happen to me?
Everyone rose as if sensing my thoughts.
"Remember to keep me updated if you change locations," Adrian said as everyone began leaving.
"Sorry, Anna," Wilber said as he approached me, and I felt his genuine concern. "Sometimes my mouth gets ahead of my brain. Actually,
quite often."
"I'm looking forward to seeing Kris's children and your wife," I said after a brief pause. I thought that a good future to look forward to.
"And a cure for the Coaca Virus," he said with real emotion as he headed for his desk.
"Does anyone need a ride?" I asked, since it was early and I wasn't in a rush to get home.
"I do if you want to go to lunch," Kris said, waving at me from her desk.
"I'll join you, if you don't mind," Adrian said to my surprise. He was not so much unfriendly as he was serious and focused. I laughed mentally. Like me, a loner either by nature or by circumstance.
"Great, any preferences?" Kris asked. "If not, how about somewhere we can hear ourselves talk. Maybe the Flamingo."
"Okay with me," Adrian said.
I would enjoy the company and didn’t care where. The Flamingo was on the other side of Eteos and was noted for their fish menu. The restaurant wasn't full when we arrived, and we were seated promptly.
"Anna, I hope you weren't upset that Admiral Rawls gave the team credit for your suggestion and your work with Chief Hartley," Adrian said, looking concerned.
"No. One for all and all for one." I meant it. I was content to be thought of as a full member of the team. Individual credit didn't matter. In my experience, individual credit tended to ostracize you from the group.
"Rawls and Stauffer know your part in the missile discovery and work with Chief Hartley. It's normal policy to give the credit to the team rather than individuals. Recognition is usually reflected in your annual review and in consideration for promotion."
"I would prefer it that way. I've first-hand experience with singling out individuals. It usually just causes problems."
"That's the reason the team always gets the credit. I'm glad you understand."
Kris snorted, "She's eighteen going on forty."
"This is a good team. You never know what will happen when you throw four people who don't know each other together for a project, but the chemistry feels good. I for one am hoping we stay together for a long time," Adrian said.