by Chris Hechtl
“Doesn't he?” Agent Ahuja asked. “He's senior-most ranking officer in the nexus, right? So, by extension he could declare the B-102c star system under his jurisdiction, right? And didn't he cut orders to build the Harbor Station in the first place?” he asked. He frowned. “I seem to recall he did,” he said, fishing through the clutter of chips and papers on his desk.
“Yes, he did. It's thin,” she replied.
“It is a hot button emotional issue. If it is played right, it will be more important than the message he transmitted.”
Valentine pursed her lips in thought, but it was clear from her expression that she wasn't buying it. “I'll take it under advisement. But I suggest you stay on point.”
“We've covered the interviews. We've got the recordings; we've already gone over those events. Those reports have been written. We've bagged and tagged everything. Anything we can't field process has been set aside for processing in the lab.”
“Well, I suggest you send your reports to me. I might suggest a few revisions that our superiors would prefer to see,” Valentine suggested firmly.
The Neodog frowned and then stared up at her intently to see if she was serious. The woman just quirked her left eyebrow a millimeter upward in response. Realizing the officer wasn't going to give, he exhaled noisily and then fished through the chips on the desk for the right file. It took two tries before he got the right one in the tablet. He scanned it once, then popped the chip over and held it up without looking at it.
“Thanks,” Valentine said dryly as she took it and departed.
“Anything to keep you out of my fur another day,” he muttered.
“I heard that,” she replied from the open hallway.
The Neodog grimaced and then used his foot to swing the hatch door shut.
@
Gemma and Fitz knew things were bad, but they had no orders from Colton so they decided to maintain their cover and keep a low profile. The two of them had not really been deeply interviewed initially since they had nothing to do with what had happened on the bridge.
When the investigation turned to exploring what had happened on the Harbor Station, Fitz grimaced and shook his head. “It's a bloody witch hunt,” he grumbled.
“I know. This is bad, Fitz. I mean, really bad. Really,” Gemma shook her head meaningfully. “I think we're on the brink of a civil war if things don't break soon.”
“Don't be like that, Gemma. It will be all right.”
“Will it, Fitz? Obviously, Childress hasn't been relieved. He and his supporters are standing their ground. What side is Colton on?”
“He sent us here to monitor Logan and the situation.”
“I know. Monitor. We're not supposed to do anything. I …,” she sighed heavily.
“You like Logan,” Fitz accused, watching her from his seat as she paced the compartment.
“Of course I do,” she admitted. “He's a good man. He's an engineer. I … we've done so much! That Harbor Station, it's nothing short of brilliant!” she threw her hands up in the air.
“I thought it was kludged together myself,” Fitz drawled.
“Oh, come on,” she said, eyeing him severely. “We had little to work with, just the ship and crew. Yet we pulled that scrap together …”
“And look where that got us with that bloody virus!” Fitz said, erupting from his seat. Her eyes flared in alarm as she took an involuntary step backward into the refresher.
“Sorry,” Fitz muttered.
“It's okay,” she said softly as she recovered herself. “Fitz, the virus wasn't his fault. It was good at hiding, that was what it was built for! I think we're lucky it only got as far as it did!”
“I know. It just bothers me that it goes that far at all. If he's such a great engineer, why didn't he see it?”
“And what, head it off? Everyone makes mistakes Fitz. And he's an admiral. He has to delegate some of the job,” she said with a shake of her head. “Come on, give over,” she said as she took a seat on the rack. She caught his hand and pulled him down beside her. “He did the impossible.”
“Yeah, and he's going to be punished for it,” Fitz growled.
“Oh, they'll say that, but …”
“Mark my words Gemma; they are going to hang him for it.” She looked longingly into his eyes but the answers there only made her bite her lip and look away in dismay.
@
Agent Ahuja realized that the situation he was in was not good for his career or hell, his life. He snorted, realizing if he thought it wasn't good, Admiral Logan must be thinking similar or worse things. He shook his head.
Oh, he had plenty to build a case, but he was of two minds about doing so. He was well aware that he and his team were in the shit and orders were orders. He also wanted to endear himself to the brass, even if things were turning out less than ideal and the brass was a bit slimy. Unfortunately, you couldn't pick and choose your boss. They had to be mindful of the orders of the officers in Bek over any wrath Irons might shoot their way eventually. Hopefully, that wrath would fall on the brass alone.
His team had pulled all of the ship's records and interviewed the senior officers over and over again. It was clear from Commander Lockyear's report that Admiral Shren and the Admiralty were not happy that the orders from Irons seemed legitimate.
He looked over to the two JAGs as they held a briefing on the eve before docking. Their final reports were due soon. He wasn't at all certain what they would write. Most likely the powers that be planned to throw the book at Logan. From the expression of the two commanders, they were willing to use the admiral as their stepping stones to bigger and better things for their careers.
He'd be sick to his stomach if he was a young wet-behind-the-ears agent like Nogales was. The kid was naive if he thought it was going to go any other way. That was how Bek worked.
Which was a pity since he'd actually come to like the admiral. He was a good man, an honorable man. It was a pity he was a boy scout. He should have known better than to play with the big boys, and he definitely shouldn't have done so openly no matter what Admiral Irons had wanted. After all, it was Logan's ass on the line, not Irons.
He wasn't certain how much he liked Irons anymore. After all, you don't send someone into the lion's den … no, that's not right, you don't send someone to kick over a hornet's nest without the right protection and backup, he corrected himself.
Logan might find himself a martyr he thought with a mental grimace.
“We haven't found a single hole in his story or the orders he was given or had issued,” Agent Ahuja said. “The question is, where do we go from here?”
Commander Dauplin turned to look at Commander Lockyear. She cocked her head and then shrugged slightly when he didn't say anything. She turned to the special agent. “Do you think that matters in the least? Where he is going, he's up for a short drop no matter how much justification he has or who he thinks he has in his corner. Irons is far away.”
“But when he finds out …” Agent Nogales protested.
“That will be years from now no doubt,” Commander Dauplin said dismissively as he gave the junior agent a quelling look. “Not our problem.”
Agent Ahuja looked around the room. He could see some of his junior team members weren't too sure about that, but they would follow the lead of older and wiser heads. He nodded once. The winds of protests seemed to sail out of a few of them instantly as they sat back in their chairs.
“Focus on the incident with the virus. We need to know more. And have someone in cyber security take a hard look at this ship's computer when we get into port. Recommend they do the same for all the other ships that came in. The stupid idiots might have let the Xeno virus into our systems,” Agent Sito suggested. “We cleared the ship of nanite or Xeno infestation, but that virus could be clever.”
“Damn it,” Agent Ahuja said as he sucked in a shocked breath. “I hadn't thought of that!”
“Yeah, well, I just did too,” Com
mander Lockyear said. “Get on that. Get with ONI too; have them take a look.”
“You realize what this means, right?” Agent Sito demanded. Commander Lockyear turned to stared at him. “Think about what you are implying. It's a major cyber security breach. And all of our equipment has been hooked up to the ship's systems.” he said grimly has he picked a tablet up and set it down for added significance. “Not to mention, we've been transmitting information to Command One as we crossed the star system,” he said. Everyone in the room suddenly froze.
“Right. And guess what? When we ask that question, they are going to freak. And when they do, they are going to want answers. Answers to questions like, why didn't you think of this before?” he said as Commander Lockyear's eyes tracked to him.
“So …?”
“So, I think I don't want to be on this ship when they start asking those questions. It would be just our luck that someone on high might decide to be better safe than sorry and blow the ship up. Coincidentally with any inconvenient people on board right along with it.”
“Mother fracker, you are right,” Commander Daublin said as he sucked in a breath.
“Yeah. So, you might want to delay that transmission until after we dock,” Agent Ahuja pointed out.
“But … what if the virus really is here?” Agent Ahuja asked.
“If it was, we would have seen signs of it—us or the crew. I've been through this database backwards and forwards. I've taken an interest in the thing. I am pretty sure the engineers are right; it never got outside the station. I'll talk to the crew again, but I'm betting the ship's systems and those that in the ships they salvaged are clean. But people are sheep; they tend to panic when people scream fire, shark, nanotech, or Xeno virus,” the computer tech pointed out.
Commander Lockyear nodded glumly. “They aren't going to be too happy with us for the delay.”
“I think, given the choices of living or getting blown away, I'll just suffer with that.”
“Me too,” Commander Daublin said after a long moment of thought. “We'll have to make sure this, um, news flash comes later.”
A few people winced but then the team began to nod, one by one.
@
Once Ilmarinen's report was completely digested by the staff on Command One, ONI and cyber security looked into the Xeno virus issue further. Ilmarinen had been certified clear of nanites or Xenos, so the question of the A.I. virus still remained.
When the thrust of the NCIS investigation changed to focus on the Xeno virus, a level of deep concern over a possible hidden computer infection hit Admiral Creator of Things, so much so that he ordered a further check of Ilmarinen's systems. That order was transmitted to Ilmarinen's crew but was filtered through the NCIS agents and therefore re-transmitted back to Command One.
The head of BUSHIPS was called in to explain the order to Admiral Draken. The red chimera shook his head as he listened to the bug's report. When the bug paused he grimaced. “See? This is why we don't allow A.I.!”
“We have other reasons you know,” the bug replied. “We had some incidents in our past, yes, and we took some lessons from history to heart it is true. But there are other reasons.”
“But this is the main one!” the chimera admiral insisted. “With an A.I., we're ripe for an infection like Skynet!”
The bug cocked his head. “I don't know. If we had our own, wouldn't they defend against such an intrusion? That was what happened in your own history after all. The A.I. Athena and others defended Terrankind.”
“Yes, but what if one got suborned? Didn't you hear about that happening? It was in a classified report, a recent one we got from Caroline I believe. It can happen!”
“Maybe,” the bug said dubiously, now regretting his own concern. At least the admiral had not panicked fully he thought. “As I said, there is no sign of infection. Admiral Logan certified the system clean himself.”
That brought the chimera admiral up short. He frowned pensively. “Okay,” he said as he shook off his fear. “Order all files to be screened first. Air gap any transmissions from Ilmarinen. Keep them to a minimum. I understand it is a bit late for that, but do it anyway. I don't want any network connections to that ship. In fact, sever the connections to the other ships that were salvaged. I want each of them scanned. Take them down to the molecular level. In fact, tear out the hardware and replace it.”
“That's expensive and unnecessary …”
“Just do it!”
“Aye aye, Admiral.”
“Good.”
Chapter 4
Ilmarinen sailed into the inner star system on a course to rendezvous with Command One. It took nearly a week for the ship to arrive at the administration station. Along the way, they were met by a shuttle with an additional security and ONI team on board.
All requests for comment from the media were ignored by order of the JAG team on board as well as the Neochimp ONI commander who came on board. An NCIS cyber tech sternly watched the crew and monitored all communications to make certain nothing got out. The crew were reminded to keep their mouths shut.
@
Once the ship was docked, the master-at-arms and investigators wasted no time washing their hands of the situation. Horatio was transferred to Command One's justice department within minutes of their docking. He was taken in the dead of the ship's night, but some personnel on board still showed up in the corridors and access ways to silently see him off.
Horatio nodded in acknowledgment to each in passing, aware of the wary looks from the MPs. He was not allowed to talk of course, but that didn't stop him from sending and receiving implant texts. He could see more than one face was dismayed at the sight of him in chains. The sight pissed many officers and noncoms off, but they were helpless to do anything about it.
“Keep the faith and do your duty,” was Horatio's parting message to them all.
He was amused when the moment he stepped on board the station, his implants picked up and downloaded his backlog of waiting electronic correspondence. His filters kicked in, filtering out the junk, but there was plenty there from his friends and colleagues in the star system to keep him busy. Taking a chance, he sent out his own backlog of emails. He knew he might catch hell for it, some of his intended recipients might as well, but he had to try.
@
Rear Admiral Zekowitz blinked when his inbox showed a new email. As he looked, the number increased. He frowned as he opened the inbox and groaned when he read the sender line on all of the emails. “Now you put me in a nice pickle. Thanks, Horatio,” he said softly. He wavered on what to do. It could be a trap from ONI, or something else. It really could be from Horatio. The only way to know was to open it.
“Here goes,” he murmured as he opened the oldest file.
His eyes scanned left to right as he read the file. His eyebrows rose as he realized it was an old email, one Horatio had apparently written when he'd been on the station. Nothing too dangerous or subversive there he thought as he finished scanning it. There was no chance he was going to answer it, so he deleted the file and then opened the next.
He wasn't certain about the latest email however. He was of two minds about opening it, but decided he'd wait until he got to it, if he had time before class.
@
Commander Onslo checked in with his team once the admiral was off ship.
“Sir, we've got emails coming from Ilmarinen. Some are encrypted … from … Admiral Logan?” an ONI analyst tech reported.
Commander Onslo shook his head. “So? Read them.”
What he meant was run each email through a program to look for certain key words and phrases as well as any hidden or proscribed content.
“I did already, sir. Most are old. The most recent ones explain the situation. All of them mention the recently deceased. Several break it gently to their intended recipients. Apparently, the admiral's flag lieutenant was killed on the station.”
“Do they ask for anyone to d
o anything overt?” the commander demanded.
“No, sir. They explain the situation from his point of view and tell them to keep their heads down.”
“Okay. Pass them on. We'll monitor the recipient's responses.”
“Aye aye, sir,” the tech replied dubiously as she logged the order.
“I'm headed back to Ilmarinen. I'm curious about how the crew and investigators will react when they found out he sent those emails. I'm curious as to how he did it myself. Did he have help?”
The tech opened her mouth, her long fingers pausing over the keyboard. She looked up in concern to him but he was already turning away. After a moment, she closed her mouth and then turned back to the screen.
@
The ONI, NCIS, and cyber security team on Ilmarinen were informed about Horatio's emails from a server tech monitoring network traffic and then from Commander Onslo's team who were monitoring the transplant's communications. Everyone on the ship was surprised that there were any emails at all. “How the hell did he do that? He hasn't had access to a terminal, right?” Commander Lockyear demanded.
Agent Ahuja shook his head. “No, he hasn't.”
“Then how'd he pull that off?” the JAG demanded, looking over in disgust to the cyber security experts that had come on board the ship. Their own departure from the ship had been delayed since they'd been tasked to keep all of their evidence and the cyber techs had insisted on keeping everything on the ship and checking every bit on sight.
Agent Ahuja checked the video record of the admiral's incarceration on fast forward and then scowled. Finally, he sat back as a realization came to him. “Oh, that's right, he has implants.”
Commander Onslo, the ONI spook who had come on board, cocked his head at the agent. The Neochimp had been tasked with monitoring all of the transplants from Pyrax. His section was scattered across the solar system. Commander Lockyear turned to the commander as well. “Should we block them?”