by Chris Hechtl
“True, but is all of this an act or are they fraying? Is their discipline coming apart or is it all an act to suck us in and come in before we're ready?” Fara asked.
“I don't know if we can stretch paranoia that far,” Shelby said slowly. “We haven't had any sniff of stealthed ships in the system, correct?”
“If we didn't that doesn't mean they aren't there,” Fara persisted. “They've been hunting each picket when it arrives. Sometimes our people can't get a good look at what's going on beyond the hunters.”
“Beaters? Drive the picket off or blind their passives so something else can happen?” Boni asked. “But there are two. Unless you think the distraction of the new ship's arrival made Demon Chaser miss something?”
“It is possible. It is definitely a cat and mouse game for the pickets. And we all know who's the cat in that picture,” Fara said darkly.
Sadie twitched her ears and nodded once. “True.”
“All right, we need to plug in what we know about their current shipping,” Shelby ordered. “I need a better assessment of each ship. Use this decrypt dump to see if you can fill in some of the blanks.”
“We know they are pushing to get another capital ship online, perhaps more than one. We might have a time issue there too,” Fara stated.
“Which side are you on?” Sadie said, rounding on the spook in disgust. “You are offering caution then you turn around and throw that out there?”
“I'm laying out all the options and intel to my superiors,” Fara stated stiffly, “as is my duty.”
“Understood,” Shelby said, cutting Sadie off from a further retort. She didn't need or want another argument. “Okay, we get it. Okay. So, we need to look into this carefully and definitely look before we leap. And yes, I know there might be a ticking clock. I can't help it. I refuse to go off half-cocked.”
“Time, Commodore. We give them too much time …”
“I know. And I know about good enough. But I refuse to be pushed into a situation we'll all regret.” She turned to the intel officer and then the A.I. and then surveyed the room. There were a series of grimaces and reluctant nods. “Nor do I want to send in a small force that might do the job but get torn up in the process. I want a way to finish the job if possible. If that means we wait a little longer, so be it.”
Reluctantly Sadie and Fara both nodded.
“Keep your shops and bots on the data. Massage it but don't get too cocky. I want a clear picture. Pull in an engineer to look at those ships they are working on. If you've got a class, maybe they can get an estimate on what might be needed to get them up and running. And look into cutting orders for the next picket ship we cycle through there to sneak a recon drone into their boneyard for a closer look.”
“Aye aye, ma'am.”
“Now …”
Chapter 10
Rolling Meadows
Captain JG Twitch smiled a tight-lipped smile of relief as he got the latest report from the ground. He flicked his ears and chewed on the inside of his cheek a little. The news was mixed; the plagues were indeed gone. But the bastard pirates had raided and had hammered the natives back into submission. They were firmly opposed to any Federation involvement with their planet.
Which sucked. But, at least they didn't have the plague.
His “Rho Mercy Flight I” mission was something of a Hail Mary. He had two Liberty class hospital ships, one Liberty class tanker, one courier, and two Arboth class destroyers escorting them. They were a mighty juicy target.
And now this he thought as he read the report from Dasher's CO.
“We'll take your wayward waifs off your hands of course. But I'm not going back for this Félicité'. As much as I'd like to have another ship, a Dutchman with the plague is out. It is too much of a problem for my command to take on. Besides, the commodore should be coming in behind us. If she can, she'll pick the ship up.”
The human courier captain nodded.
The courier had encountered the near derelict pirate cruiser on the outskirts of the Tau-247196 star system after a minor jump navigational error. Félicité had picked up the plague after raiding the Platte star cluster for supplies.
The bastards had gotten what they'd deserved the satyr medic thought coldly. Even though he was from Bek, he had a number of medical officers from Epsilon Triangula, and they had their own experience with the Xeno plague on Epsilon Triangula. That one had been far more deadly. He could well imagine what it had been like on the ship—the fear, the terror, the sick dread of wondering which shipmate would come down with it next. Having to kill your own shipmates … He shook his head. The sector was lucky that their plague ship had been contained and that they hadn't managed to make port.
Félicité' had limped to the next star system with her crew dying one by one in the process, many going mad. Somehow, against the odds, they'd made it into real space once more. The five surviving human crew members had been badly shaken and about out of hope of a rescue. Dasher's intervention had been something of a miracle to them.
They had been pulled off the ship after some intense negotiating. The five had not been thrilled about being on a Federation ship, but that had been a sight better than being trapped on a ship riddled with the plague. From reading between the lines in the report, it was clear a few of them had considered trying to force Dasher's cooperation.
Dasher had been lucky to have caught his command at all. They'd just broken orbit after the final round of trying to negotiate with the stubborn intractable and apparently inconsolable natives. Another three days and they would have missed each other.
“I fully understand, sir,” First Lieutenant Isabella Zu, captain of Dasher, replied with a nod. The courier captain was in full uniform and looked quite crisp, almost as if she'd been expecting a reaming out rather than a compliment. “To be honest, I'm regretting not finding a way to scuttle her to keep her out of enemy hands. Spirits of Space knows we need the ships but …”
“It's not the superstitious aspects that bother me,” Captain Twitch said slowly. He knew full well how short of ships they were in the quadrant. He was also aware that the New Federation Navy had started out by salvaging ships. “It's the manpower involved. I've got extra hands on each ship, but we've been running flat-out whenever we run into a world that's been hit by the plague.”
“Understood, sir.”
“As I said, Commodore Logan may pick her up. I don't know. I will pass on the news to Commodore Logan on the next courier. No doubt she will dispatch the appropriate engineers on a ship to pick her up. I'm glad you marked her as a plague ship to keep the natives out of her.”
The lieutenant nodded.
“You are right; cruisers are hard to come by so we do need every one of them, even old cursed ones. And keeping this one out of the hands of the enemy is important too,” the satyr stated.
“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Zu stated with another nod.
“Your people took a bit of risk in boarding the ship, but without risk there can be no reward. Just your download of their database alone …,” the captain gave a human-style, tight-lipped smile. His species didn't like showing their teeth; it was a show of anger or aggression. But he'd been around other species long enough to not be bothered by the expression. “Damn good bit of work there.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Okay, if I've done this right, I've entered the commendation into your record,” the captain said after a bit of electronic paperwork.
“You have, sir,” the ship's A.I. stated.
“Ahem, as I was saying, that's done. Now, about the surviving POWs? Specifically, their disposition and mental state?”
“Sir, I don't know how much of my report you managed to read before I came over, but one of them is actively helping us. I gave her a full dog and pony show about Horath and what her people have been doing. I think she's genuinely interested in helping us now. Everything we've gotten out of her has been confirmed as far as I know. But, I admit none of us are trained inte
rrogators.”
“You probably should have left that part to the experts,” the satyr said in mild disapproval.
The human captain grimaced slightly but then nodded.
“But, you wanted to flip her. And, if you are correct, you have. Good work. We'll see what the experts have to say.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
Captain Twitch eyed the human female. To some his horizontal slitted irises bothered them. If it bothered the lieutenant, she didn't show any sign of reaction. “You didn't really think we'd space her, did you?” he asked, curious about the answer. He was technically a doctor and sworn to do no harm. But that oath had been altered when he'd accepted duty as a Federation Naval Officer.
Lieutenant Zu grimaced but then shrugged. “Not my call to make, sir. I'm aware that once she's off my ship she's someone else's problem. But …”
“But, you made promises?”
“Yes, sir. To some degree.”
“See? Now you know why it's a good idea to leave such things to the experts?” Captain Twitch asked, cocking his head.
“Aye, sir, I do.”
“Good,” the satyr replied and then paused for a long moment, then shrugged mentally. “I'm not going to order her spaced if that's what you are worried about.”
“You aren't, sir?” That had been a troubling thought for a long time. Not that she expected anyone to squander a resource like the ensign lightly.
“No. If she's actively helping us and has genuinely turned over a new leaf, we'll get as much as we can out of her. From there the powers that be can decide if she's fully reformed and is able to be salvaged to become a member of society again.”
“Aye, sir,” the lieutenant said with something akin to relief in her voice.
Captain Twitch snorted, ears flicking in humor at her reaction. “We'll make sure your ship is resupplied. I'm afraid we're out of fresh consumables though, and Rolling Meadows isn't in a sharing mood.”
“Understood, sir,” Lieutenant Zu said with a sigh. That was bad news. Not that she'd expected any less. She'd heard about the recent pirate raid.
“And, I know you just had five extra warm bodies eating you out of house and home,” the captain said wryly. “Sorry about that. What I can get you is a full life-support purge. And we can swap your replicator sludge out.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate anything you can do for us.”
“And I like someone who appreciates it. So, we're going to get along fine.”
“Sir, do you have orders for us? I was supposed to find you, but also to return to the capital …”
The captain snorted. “If you are wondering if I'm going to keep you toddling along with my ships, I'm tempted to swap you out for Donner and let them make the run to the capital. I'll let you know.”
Captain Zu nodded.
Captain Twitch cocked his head but didn't say anything further just yet. He had recently picked up Donner when the courier had come in with news of the recent battle. He decided to leave the news of the battle for the lieutenant and crew to discover when they got the news downloads and had the free time to pursue them of course.
“Aye aye, sir.” There was a long pause. “If that is all?” the lieutenant asked in an interrogatory voice.
“Eh? Oh, yeah, dismissed with my compliments, Lieutenant,” the captain said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “The captain will get on your resupply.” The lieutenant came to attention and then about-faced and departed.
Once the lieutenant was gone, Captain Twitch sat back and considered his options. Good Hope was his flagship; it would be better to keep the prisoners here in his ship's brig where he could keep an eye on them. Though, security would be better in the brig of one of the tin cans …
He shrugged such considerations away. He'd leave it to the master-at-arms to figure out in the long term; after all, he was the expert there, not a certain satyr. For the moment he wanted to meet the prisoners, especially this Ensign Pons, and get a feel for them.
As soon as Dasher was resupplied, he intended to move on to the next jump point. There really was no point in remaining in a star system that had been cured and vaccinated. People were dying elsewhere and that was where Good Hope and his other ships were most needed.
He checked the calendar. They still had a few months before the Gamma Flight and Rho Mercy Flight II caught up with him. He had the updated timetable courtesy of the ansible in the cluster. No doubt Admiral Irons would stick to the agreement to leave a division to guard the cluster.
That would reduce the commodore's cruiser strength to just six ships to escort the remaining Liberty class hospital ships and other support ships to the capital. Really, if Commodore Richards felt at all confident with that coverage, she'd assign them to detour to neighboring star systems along the route to find plague outbreaks and treat them. But he was pretty sure that Helen had been counseled not to send her precious ships into unknown territory without scouting first.
He had to admit with what he'd heard about the number of pirates in the sector it was a wise order. They couldn't help planetary populations if they were dead.
<()>^<()>
Ensign Miley Pons was quiet and passive as she was cuffed by the MPs and led to the shuttle. She noticed the others were there too. She hadn't seen much of them since she'd talked with the captain.
They glared at her ferociously. She shrugged it off. She couldn't help but feel a bit of relief and satisfaction at leaving Dasher's company.
Relief in that her former shipmates wouldn't have another opportunity to try to take her. And an odd sense of satisfaction that they'd realized that chance was gone too. But intermixed in there was a complex regret at possibly never seeing Captain Zu … Isabella again.
“No talking,” a stern bear growled when Dale started to say something.
<()>^<()>
Captain Twitch met with the four male prisoners first once they came on board. He had already planned to meet with the female separately. He had Commander Huresh Rockland with him. Doctor Rockland was from ET and was one of the few officers on board who had taken advanced intelligence courses including interrogation techniques.
He looked at the four human pirates coldly but with some interest. He'd had more time to read the reports while they'd been shuttled over to Good Hope. They had given only minimum information. From what she'd read between the lines, the four of them were dangerous. They'd been overheard trying to find a way to take Dasher. The ensign had admitted they'd thought about trying to take Dasher several times.
“Gentlemen, I'd offer you a chance to sit but I don't have enough chairs, sorry about that,” the satyr stated with calculated indifference to the problem. He had to admit, having four hostile humans standing over him was psychologically imposing. Not that he was going to show that. At least he hoped not.
He ignored the soft snort from the MP in the room with them. “As you have no doubt surmised, you're now on board another Federation vessel. Good Hope is a hospital ship, not a warship. We do have plenty of MPs to keep you in line though,” he indicated the Neobear. The bear cocked his head ever so slightly in amusement.
All four men looked at the black bear. The bear sniffed slightly. With the bear in the small compartment, it was tight quarters. No one wanted to so much as stretch with the bear there. He looked like he'd had a breakfast of pine cones and wasn't looking forward to the time they came out.
But, they'd have to come out eventually. Hopefully, they'd be well out of range when that occurred.
“No doubt the master-at-arms will put in an appearance if he hasn't already and the ship's captain. But I wanted to put my two cents worth in,” he said as he rose to his hooves. “My name is Captain Twitch, and this is Commander Rockland. He’s from Epsilon Triangula. If you've never heard of it, well, we'll give you a short history lesson.”
He saw one of the men, PO2 Dale Moombassa grimace and roll his eyes to the others. “Here we go,” he muttered.
Doctor Rockland shook his
head. All eyes turned to him. He wasn't a big man; he had a slight build but a heavily scarred face. “Right. A few years ago one of your Horathian spy vessels visited my world. They dropped off a Xeno plague,” the man stated quietly.
That instantly got their attention. They stared at him, eyes wide in shock.
He nodded curtly. “That's right, a Xeno plague.” He waited a moment for that to fully sink in before continuing. “Nanotech and viruses embedded in stasis pods. They unleashed viruses and other medical plagues while they ramped up for the big one. Fortunately for us, Admiral Irons was there. He taught Commodore Richards and the other medics how to beat the viruses and eventually the nanotech plague. He killed the core, and we were safe. I was a med student at the time so I got a firsthand experience with the plague.”
Captain Twitch was studying the group carefully. He could see that news was also having an effect on them. Good. A bit of shock and awe of his own. Let them chew on that cud. If they tried to swallow it and ignore it, he hoped they choked.
He was pretty sure the commander had let them know his history as a way to get under their skin. Again, shock might loosen some tongues.
“Admiral Irons left Commodore Richards in charge of the navy medics while he went to rebuild the Federation to take on Horath. I was attached to Good Hope. Captain Twitch and I were dispatched here to clean up the mess your people made. The mess I believe you had a firsthand experience with not so long ago,” the commander said, eyeing each of them. He was trying to balance how much he should reveal with what they might already know.
“It's up to you what you want to share with us. Technically, we didn't catch you in an act of piracy. An argument could be made that the death penalty shouldn't be applied under the right circumstances,” the commander stated.
He let that thought linger for a moment like bait.
“But, we'll leave that up to the lawyers to hash out later. The more you are willing to help us, the easier things will go for you and you really should be looking out for your own necks,” the commander said with a thin cold smile. “I will confirm that the more you share with us the more likely you'll get a much-reduced sentence. Some of you might even see daylight in your lifetime.”