by M. D. Cooper
The holotank flared to life, and a tall woman stood before Tanis. A colonel’s birds adorned the Jovian officer’s lapels, and she stared down at Tanis with an imperious glare.
“Commander Tanis Richards, I was alerted to your ship’s passage through Ouranos’s nearspace by the civilian STC on Titania….”
She left the phrase hanging, as though Tanis should have some answer as to why the moon’s space traffic control tower had alerted the JSF military to the Kirby Jones’s passage.
A name appeared on the holo next to the colonel just as Tanis was working up a reply, and she passed a mental thanks to Darla for sourcing the information.
“Colonel Leona, I’m uncertain as to why Titania’s tower would have alerted you to our presence. I’m sure you have more important things to attend to—”
“Commander. They alerted me because your ship has deviated from its patrol path for this slingshot maneuver. As you know, Ouranos’s nearspace is an MOA restricted to all but authorized craft.”
Darla commented.
“I’m certainly well aware of that,” Tanis said with a sweet smile. “I think we’ve passed at least fifteen beacons announcing the flight restrictions on our way through. Those relays directed us to log our flight path with Titania’s STC, and so we have.”
“Commander, do not be obtuse. I don’t care about who you’ve logged your flight path with. It’s taking you within a light second of GE’s MBH storage array, and that requires special authorization.”
“Yes, ma’am. I understand your desire not to have ships flitting by those black holes and I appreciate your vigilance,” Tanis replied with a smile. “I have orders from Admiral Kocsis directing me to take this flight path. It has all the correct approvals attached and logged acknowledgement from the JSF High Command at Ganymede.”
The JSF colonel’s face fell. “You what? How come you didn’t provide those to Titania’s STC?”
“They never asked,” Tanis said with a slight shrug. “While it’s SOP to share flight paths with civilian STCs, I’m not aware of a need for me to provide them with a copy of my orders. We even queried Titania’s tower, asking if we needed to sync with the JSF’s 1837th Fleet, but they said they would handle the coordination.” As she spoke, Tanis could see Colonel Leona’s expression darken further. “Was the tower incorrect about that?”
“That’s not proper procedure,” the colonel muttered as she glowered at Tanis. “You’re required to coordinate directly with us.”
“Happy to,” Tanis smiled sweetly again. “I’ve passed the High Command’s acknowledgement of our flight path to you. We can shift now and take a more circuitous route to Crantor, but we’re not carrying enough fuel to do that and will need to dock at a nearby station first.” Here, Tanis let a look of concern and confusion furrow her brow. “Problem is, I’m not authorized for a refuel before Crantor and I’ll have to put in a request with procurement for a top-off. I might be stuck there for a while, and then I’ll have Admiral Kocsis breathing down my neck. Should I direct him to your office when he asks why we’re delayed?”
A scraping sound came through the holoprojection, and Tanis realized it was the colonel grinding her teeth. “I don’t like people playing games with me, Commander,” Colonel Leona said. “Your orders seem to be in order. Next time file them properly.”
“I will,” Tanis replied equably. “So long as your relays and civilian STCs don’t mislead me about what I need to do to comply with your ridiculous rules.”
“Comma—”
The woman’s voice was cut off as Tanis killed the holoprojection and turned to sit back in her seat.
“Whoa,” Smythe whistled. “Gutsy, Commander. What if she retaliates? I’ve heard the JSF likes to detain and board TSF ships with even the slightest provocation.”
A soft chuckle slipped past Tanis’s lips. “Well, I have to do something for entertainment around here. It’s either that or listen to you and Darla crack ‘Uranus’ jokes.”
“Darla…” she muttered, shaking her head.
“Uh, Commander?” Smythe asked, a worried note in his voice. “I just got an update from Titania’s STC that they’ve transferred us to the JSF fleet’s STC, and the Js are giving us a new path to cease burn and pull into a polar orbit around Uranus.”
Tanis couldn’t help but laugh. “What an ass that colonel’s turned out to be. Jeannie, get us on their assigned vector. This should be fun.”
RESIGNATION
STELLAR DATE: 02.17.4085 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: JSS Teremity, 1837th Fleet
REGION: Ouranos, Jovian Combine, OuterSol
“I don’t like this one bit,” Colonel Leona muttered as she pulled on her light armor. “We should be imprisoning Tanis Richards, not hiring her.”
Gage chuckled. Not a nice laugh, or a happy one. It didn’t sound rueful, either. Leona imagined that it was the sort of sound a vulture might make as it settled down in front of a recently deceased animal in the desert. Better yet, one still gasping out its last breaths.
“Well, from her point of view, it’s certainly going to feel a lot more like we’re imprisoning than hiring.” He glanced at her, his black eyes narrowed. “How would you feel if you were in her position?”
“Me?” Leona snorted. “I would never be in her position.”
“Too smart for that?” Gage gave the same chuckle, and Leona began to wonder if it was the only one he had.
“I’m not smart.” Leona gave Gage her own narrow-eyed glare. “I’m prepared.”
Leona kept a smile from showing on her lips as she turned to see four of her Spectres enter the ready room, each geared up for heavy combat.
“Remember. Stay out of view unless you get the signal,” she advised them. “We don’t want to spook the Terrans.”
“We’ll be tucked behind the thruster shields on the cradle,” Forrest replied with his thick grey brows knitted together. “Gotta say, Colonel, I don’t like you going in there solo. Makes my teeth itch.”
“Relax, Forrest,” Pearl said as she clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Think the colonel needs you to wipe her ass after she hits the san, too?”
Leona grimaced and shot a glance at Gage, who was wearing the grin that went along with his chuckle. Her Spectres usually operated on the fringe of the military, and gained habits that made their behavior a bit unsuitable for civilized company. She’d have to remind them—again—that so long as they were protecting the oligarch, they needed to keep their mouths shut.
“Not worried about her,” Forrest replied, giving Gage a sidelong look.
“This is a walk in the park,” Leona said with a smile, trying to get her team to relax. “Just a conversation. We’ll be back before you know it.”
“We’d better,” a new voice said from behind her fireteam. “My afternoon is stacked.”
BOARDING PARTY
STELLAR DATE:
02.17.4085 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: TSS Kirby Jones
REGION: Ouranos nearspace, Jovian Combine, OuterSol
“Vector matched. Easing into their cradle,” Jeannie announced over the ship’s 1MC.
A peculiarity of the Jovians was that they wouldn’t latch an umbilical onto a foreign vessel without a ship’s outer airlock doors being open. Their reasoning was that they wanted to be sure no surprises were waiting for them in the airlock.
The rationale was silly, because there was no reason that a hostile force—or whatever it was they feared—couldn’t also be waiting behind the inner airlock door.
Once, back on Mars 1, Tanis had gotten into an argument with a Jovian officer who explained that a crew was less likely to have a bomb in an inner passageway than an airlock, so it decreased risk for boarders.
Her counter was that it created complacency in boarding teams if they really believed that such a requirement made them any safer. Putting a ship at a risk of depressurization during boarding made them resentful, and less likely to take steps to ease an inspection.
Not to mention that a crew up to no good could be in armor and EV gear and have their whole ship vented. In that case, they’d be perfectly willing to set a shape charge in an inner passage to greet the boarders, as it would cause minimal damage to the ship and likely toss a boarding party out into the void.
The Jovian she’d been arguing with dismissed that out of hand and proceeded to explain how it was safer for the target ship. His logic was asinine, and she’d shut that line of reasoning down by citing the ninety-two boardings she’d undertaken and asking the JSF officer how many he’d participated in.
Unsurprisingly, his answer had been zero.
Still, winning that argument didn’t change the fact that when in Jovian space, docking with a Jovian cruiser, she had to abide by their rules.
Well, I don’t have to. Legally they’re just a state military, and TSF is federal. But it doesn’t hurt to play nice…a little bit, at least.
A shudder ran through the ship as the Kirby Jones settled against the JSF cruiser’s external cradle.
“We have solid grapple,” Jeannie announced. “Killing all thrust. We’re a barnacle on the JSS Temerity. The jerks.”
Tanis held back a laugh as the Temerity’s umbilical stretched out toward the Kirby Jones. It made a positive seal against the airlock, and then began to pressurize to match the interior of the Jones.
She could only imagine how unnerving such an event must feel, a civilian ship being boarded by the Jovians. Nearly every inner airlock door in existence had a visual inspection port set in it. One shot from the other side of the umbilical, and whoever was standing in front of that window would experience the very worst explosive that decompression had to offer.
Not that Tanis was worried. The Jones had interior ES barriers. The last thing she expected the Jovians to do was take a shot at her, but just in case, she had the ES shields up.
Darla gave a coarse laugh.
Tanis nodded as she stared through the airlock’s window at the opaque faceshields of the three jovians on the other side.
Tanis loosened her feet in the deck straps as the inner airlock finally opened, and the three members of the JSF boarding party stepped through.
They hooked their feet into deck straps, but didn’t offer greeting until the airlock door closed behind them. Then the two on either side pulled off their helmets.
She was surprised to see that one was Colonel Leona. The other was a man she’d never seen before, though he didn’t have the look of a JSF officer.
Then the third person pulled off their helmet, and Tanis nearly exclaimed in surprise.
THANKS BUT NO THANKS
STELLAR DATE: 02.17.4085 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: TSS Kirby Jones
REGION: Ouranos nearspace, Jovian Combine, OuterSol
Tanis sat in the Kirby Jones’s galley, directly across from one of the most powerful people in the Sol System.
Someone who had to want something from her, to secretly board her little ship.
Though the Jovian Combine was a democracy of sorts, their oligarchy sat above the elected representatives, modifying laws and statutes to suit their needs as often as not.
The Terrans had a strong dislike for the way the JC was run, but as a Marsian, Tanis appreciated it a bit more. Maintaining a strong government that could stand up to the Terrans in the SSF’s general assembly was important, and the Jovians used their oligarchy’s power to ensure they could react decisively to political and economic threats.
But none of that really mattered now. All Tanis wanted to know was why this man was aboard the Kirby Jones, and what he was going to do to screw up her day, or month, or worse.
“I’m sure you’re all but bursting to know what I’m doing here,” Oligarch Alden said as he glanced around the galley—the only room on the ship with enough room for four people to sit comfortably, other than the bridge or engineering bay.
“Yes, sir, just a bit,” Tanis replied with a note of humor in her voice that earned her a narrow-eyed gaze from Colonel Leona, though not so much as a twitch from the other, as yet unnamed man.
The oligarch placed his hands on the table. “Well, firstly, the Jovian Combine would like to say thank you.”
“Thank you?” Tanis asked, careful to keep her tone from betraying anything other than genuine curiosity. “For what, sir?”
“Saving my life comes to mind.”
A frown creased Tanis’s brow. “I don’t understand, sir. We’ve never met before.”
“No? I suppose that’s true. We
never did meet…Silversquid.”
If Tanis hadn’t already been in tight control of her heart rate and blood flow, she would have flushed furiously at the reference.
“That name rings a bell…wait, that was a performer at your Blue Lagoon casino. She was thought to have been implicated in the assassination attempt…though I thought the whole thing ended up being orchestrated by that orca faction who held you captive.”
The oligarch frowned as Tanis spoke, but then he let out soft laugh. “Well, I won’t fault you for not acknowledging something that’s supposed to be a secret—though I imagine you understand I’m more than a little annoyed that it all led to the Europan Treaty and their separation from the Combine.”
“I can see how that would be frustrating, sir,” Tanis allowed. “I hope you know that I had nothing to do with that.”
Oligarch Alden leant back in his chair. “Yes, I’ve read the reports—such as have been passed on to me. Your name isn’t in them, but it didn’t take long to put two and two together. You’re Division 99, Commander Richards.”
“M-I-C-I?” Tanis spelled out the letters. “I sure wish that was the case. I bet I’d get a better assignment than random patrol runs across Sol. I kinda feel like I’ve been punished lately.”
Alden snorted. “I’m sure. I’m also sure that you would not be surprised to know that my investigators have been spending a lot of time going over everything that happened around the events at Europa with a fine-tooth comb. You left after the decoy was killed during Silversquid’s performance, yet no one ever questioned you.”
Tanis replied.