“Absolutely,” she said and headed off guided by the blinking lights. “Don’t let that bastard out of sight, even to use the facilities.”
“Understood,” the captain said. “ConDeck out.”
Somehow, she managed to arrive at the ConDeck ready room before Tomlinson. She felt like she jogged most of the way, but fortunately when she got out of the spin gravity section she made speed, falling back on her decades of weightless experience. She was on her home turf, and in a microgravity environment, both of which gave her an advantage as she watched him pull himself into the room and into a seat. Anchoring himself down, he sat glaring at her across the table.
Tomlinson had his Chief Operations Officer with him and Chancellor Roja had Nakamiru. No one else joined them. The DoCartel chancellor resisted leaving his security detail in his shuttle, but Jeffers informed him that if he didn’t there would be no meeting.
“So Derek, tell me what you want to talk about and let’s get this over with,” Katryna said. “I have a busy schedule and you were lucky I managed to fit you in without an appointment.” It was clear from his glare that neither of them wanted the pretense of civility to get in the way of their discussion.
“I know you planned the disappearance of Tamir bin Ariqat,” he said, jumping directly into the deep end. “You infiltrated the internal management of SourceCartel and were conducting espionage in violation of the Union Charter and did it to keep him from taking you down.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, holding her face immobile.
“You know that was why he called the sealed docket,” he said.
She leaned forward and put her arms on the table in front of her. “You want to make accusations, let’s talk about Arun’s murder.”
“You can’t believe I did that,” he said. “That’s preposterous. He died of a heart attack.”
“A medically induced one,” Nakamiru said. “It was murder and the IG is pursuing it as such.”
“He’s a paranoid old cop,” Derek said, waving a hand dismissively. “Unlike the kidnapping and subsequent death of Chancellor Ariqat, his death was no crime.”
She blinked. Once. “I had nothing to do with Ariqat’s disappearance.”
“I have evidence to the contrary,” he said, looking at the admiral. “I know that the vessel involved in the abduction was stolen from a LEO colony and that fleet officers were involved.”
“If so, I will hand them over myself,” the admiral said. “Do you know the identities of these officers?”
“Their names have been turned over to the authorities and warrants will be issued,” Derek said, looking down at the table as he answered.
He’s bluffing. She glanced at Nakamiru and his face showed that he’d come to the same realization.
“You said you believe Tamir is dead? Why?” she asked.
“A radio telescope on the Aldrin Cycler colony tracked a debris field moving along the same trajectory as the vessel that fled from Galileo,” he said, pulling a thinpad out of his pocket and handing it to the admiral with a file open.
“That is well faster than a ship that size could operate. The reaction mass limits would never allow it to reach that velocity.” The admiral pushed the thinpad back toward Tomlinson.
“Unless it refueled,” he said. “In any case, the ship is clearly destroyed. Under the assumption that it is the same vessel, Chancellor Ariqat must be dead.”
“Those are circumstantial leaps,” Katryna said. This time when she met his gaze he didn’t flinch. But he believes them.
“Those are facts Chancellor Roja,” he said.
“You said yourself ‘under the assumption.’ That makes your whole allegation capricious,” the admiral said.
“We will see about that,” Tomlinson said.
“Yes, we will.” Keeping her eyes on Tomlinson she said, “Admiral, I want you to check this out.” Nakamiru gave a short nod, typing into his thinpad.
“So why did you come all the way out here?” she asked. “It couldn’t be simply to waste my time with these unfounded accusations?”
“No, I came to ask you to return to Galileo and admit to your crimes,” he said. “You cannot hide from the truth out here in your isolated world.”
She snorted. “You think I’m hiding? I think you and reality have parted company somewhere along the way.”
“We moved our operations to the Armstrong upon the recommendation of the IG,” the admiral said. “He advised us that the chancellor might be in danger if she remained in her offices on Galileo.”
“He does have other suspects in his investigations,” she said, leaning back and shaking her head.
“Perhaps he does, but your guilt in the disappearance of Chancellor Ariqat—”
“Enough of this!” she snarled, slapping her hand on the table. “If you want to lay your cards on the table, then maybe it’s time I do the same thing.”
He almost lurched out of his seat at her sudden explosion.
“You want to tell me what you and Source are doing out in the Neptune L-4 Trojan Cluster? Or maybe you should tell me about Project Odysseus?” He visibly blanched as she leaned in and glared a hole in him.
“I didn’t think so,” she said, floating out of her seat and hanging over him like a storm cloud for a moment before she shoved off toward the opposite side of the room. “Get him the frag off my ship.”
“We’re not done here,” Tomlinson said, regrouping and trying to hold his ground.
“If Chancellor Roja says you are done, then you are done,” the admiral said, gesturing toward the door.
She turned back toward him. “You don’t want to pick this fight, Derek.”
“Neither do you,” he said, eyes narrowing. As he stood, his maglocks clicked awkwardly against the deck. “I’m not alone in this, and with Chancellor Markhas gone, you are.”
“Out,” she said, ignoring his threat.
Unfortunately, he is probably right.
Jakob Waltz: Orbiting L-4 Prime:
For several days, they’d been easing the Jakob Waltz down toward L-4 Prime. They approached to within one thousand klick of the surface, but still saw no sign of a base, or a fleet, or even an impact crater, on the surface. It was to all measurable effects a perfectly smooth iceball. That oddness added to Jeph’s unreasonable expectation of weapons popping out of hidden emplacements to blow them out of the sky. Yet, other than the steady pulse of the beacon signal, they were alone as far as they could tell.
Every kilometer downward was another step into the rabbit hole.
As they descended, they imaged the source of the beacon. It was an old-style class-three emergency recorder buoy. Nothing more than a two-meter titanium lozenge with almost no discernible features, it had a single motor that burned until the fuel ran out, and was otherwise a featureless dot on their screens.
The Waltz carried two of the newer iterations of the same buoy, and Jeph had ordered Dutch to begin archiving data to one of theirs on the day the computer came back online. Just in case. Seeing this one circling the ice was a stark reminder that it represented the last ditch effort of a doomed crew.
A titanium epitaph of a ship that had come to the end of the road.
They settled into an orbital plane where they could hook the beacon with a pod, and Seva volunteered to make the run to get it. They were still well above the buoy and were not really in orbit. Instead they were paralleling it and allowing the quantum quicksand’s gradient to hold them in position. Kiro shaved their speed using the maneuvering engines as they descended, so they hung in a static location 400 klick directly over it.
“Keep a close eye on her telemetry,” he said, glancing over at Rocky.
She nodded, her eyes stayed glued to the readouts on her console. She seemed to be the only other one on the crew who shared his feeling of imminent disaster.
“Well, there’s no doubt we’re not the first out here,” Danel said. A second window on the main display showed th
e latest images of the remains of a ship embedded nose down in the ice. The reactors and engine assembly stuck almost straight out of the surface like a tower.
“Doesn’t look like it smacked too hard,” Chei said. “Superstructure’s undamaged.”
“Yah, but face first is nogo for landing on purpose,” Kiro said. “Had to hit hot to stick that deep.”
“Can we tell for sure that’s the Hector?” the captain asked. It was obvious that the others were trying to distract him from watching Seva diving toward the buoy.
“All the identification markings are on the nose section,” Dutch said. “It does, however, fit the design specifications for a Sagan Class science vessel. That series of ships went out of production in 2187.” The computer opened another screen and displayed the schematics of the ship class.
“That long ago?” Shona said.
“Yes, but they are still in service throughout the fleet,” the computer said. “They usually have a standard eight person crew with up to twelve science personnel.”
“So that means up to twenty bodies down there,” Chei said. “That’s a lot of crew to go silently into the dark.”
“The dossier update that Roja sent said there were only seven aboard,” Jeph said.
“That’s still a lot of people to be lying around in a dead ship,” Chei said.
“Lack of damage might indicate potential survivors,” Rocky said.
“That would be hard to imagine,” Danel said. He was studying the design drawing. “There’d have to be fifty meters of it embedded in the ice.”
“There’s also no impact crater or blast debris,” Kiro pointed out. “Looks almost like it fell in a hole and then froze in place.”
“That would be possible I guess, but there’s no atmosphere to precipitate new ice. Unless there’s some kind of internal reservoir of liquid, I don’t see how that could happen.”
“An interesting suggestion, Dr. Cross,” Dutch said. “Internal thermal potential would also explain the extrusion fissure structure across the equatorial region and the recently resurfaced appearance.”
“I don’t think that’s likely,” he said. “Without a major tidal force, it would be virtually impossible to have a heat source out here. Cryovolcanism happens when the gravity of a big planet deforms the internal structure of an object and creates heat. The only other viable source would be heavy reactive elements, and they all settled down-system in the rocky planets.”
“There could actually be survivors,” Rocky said. “Perhaps we should investigate?”
“There could also be a base down there,” Jeph said. “Unless we have no choice, I think we’ll leave it alone. If that is the Hector, it’s been down there for eleven years.”
“Reactor on Sagan Class ship is hydrogen cycle technology. Will work on automatic controls as long as hydrogen supply lasts,” she said. “If anyone survived impact, would be easy to reconfigure life support and food production to work inverted.”
“Let’s look at the buoy first and then if that gives us any indication we need to go down, we can consider it. If they’ve been hanging around for this long, another few days won’t make any difference.”
“I’ve snagged it,” Seva said. Her voice hauled Jeph’s attention back to the screen that showed her shuttlepod’s optic feed.
“Any identification on it?” Kiro asked, punching in to the ship-to-ship comlink.
“Has an ID plate that says it’s from the Hector.”
“I guess that means we’re in the right place,” Jeph said. This meant they’d accomplished one of the new mission objectives. They’d located the missing ship. The records on the buoy might answer the rest of his questions about what happened, once they got it aboard and could access them. “Just bring it home and let’s take a look at it.”
“Ja Roger,” she said. “I’m nose up and making feet.”
“She’s a long way out,” Jeph said, squeezing Kiro’s shoulder. “Keep an eye on her and help her find her way back.”
The pilot nodded.
“I didn’t realize how far up there you guys were,” she said. “I can’t see you from here.”
“Nojo. It’s a long haul in a pod,” Kiro said. “I’m tracking you. Once you start your burn, I’ll get you lined up square.” The design of a shuttlepod included only rudimentary navigation equipment, since it only served mainly for ship-to-ship transfers, when both vessels were in line of sight.
“I’m burning fuel already,” she said. “Have been for most of a minute.”
“Stand by,” Kiro said, punching out of the comlink. “Boss she’s not moving.”
“Fraggin, frack!” Chei said, smacking himself in the forehead. “It’s uphill against the gradient.”
“How did we not expect that?” Jeph said.
“Nothing’s ever obvious until the universe rubs your nose in it,” Danel said.
“Do we have any options?” he asked.
Chei and Danel both shook their heads in unison. He looked at the pilot who just shrugged.
“Tell her to quit wasting juice. We’re coming to get her.” Jeph said. “It’s only another 400 klick.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
DoCartel Operations: Galileo Station:
Derek Tomlinson sat at the end of the table in his cartel’s private conference room surrounded by screens. Each screen was connected to the office of a member of the Executive Council. There were technically only four seated chancellors currently holding office, but the chancellor-elect for Source, and the Deputy Director of Dev, each represented their cartels.
The only one not in attendance was Chancellor Roja. She had not been invited to this informal meeting since she was the order of business on his agenda.
“I’d like to address the Sealed Docket Action of Chancellor Ariqat,” he said. “I’ve recently discovered the issue that he was seeking to address, and I’d like the Executive Council to consider continuing with his action in this matter. I believe the nature of his accusation against the person that he sought to charge is such that it may also implicate the culpable party in his disappearance.”
“This is a rather serious issue chancellor,” the Prime Minister said. “It is well outside the procedures of our charter. For us to even entertain this type of discussion would require extraordinary evidence.”
“I do understand that Madam Ambrose,” Tomlinson said. “That’s why I’ve asked for this informal session, so that I may present the evidence. Hopefully you will understand why I feel it must be allowed to continue with me as the SourceCartel Chancellor’s Proxy.”
“That would be extremely irregular,” Tana Drake said. “You’re asking to represent the interests of the members of a cartel for which you are not the duly elected agent. This would set a precedent that could unbalance the entire Union.”
Several of the faces on his screens showed that they agreed with her, but SourceCartel’s Chancellor-Elect nodded in support. Tomlinson’s office had done well in making sure he understood the urgency of the situation, and that when the time came, he would support the motion. Even without a vote, his willingness to support DoCartel’s position as proxy would carry substantial strength.
“Being that Katryna Roja is not present, obviously you are preparing to accuse the FleetCartel Chancellor of some high crime,” the Prime Minister said. “Do you not feel that she should be allowed to represent herself in this meeting?”
“I recently met with Chancellor Roja aboard the FleetCom flagship Armstrong,” he said. “I discussed her side of things with her, and she declined to return with me to attend.” He smiled slightly and then added, “With rather powerful metaphors to emphasize her intent.”
“I am extremely uncomfortable with this,” Chancellor Drake said.
“I would not bring this before the Council if I did not believe that there is a high risk in delaying action. Please, just let me present my evidence, then if the Executive Council feels it is insufficiently compelling, I will let it drop,” he said.<
br />
“If I may,” Paulson Lassiter said, clearing his throat. The Steward of the Union seldom spoke in their regular sessions but, as he represented the unaligned majority of the human population, in this setting his words carried disproportionate weight.
“Of course, Paul,” the Prime Minister said, giving him the floor.
He cleared his throat again. “I think there would be no harm in hearing Chancellor Tomlinson’s evidence. The Union is currently facing a leadership crisis of exceptional scale with the untimely death of Arun Markhas and the disappearance of Tamir bin Ariqat. When you add to this that Chancellor Roja has abandoned her offices in Galileo, we need to understand what is going on here. I for one would appreciate some insight into what may have precipitated the issue.”
“Again, I say that I think this is dangerous territory we’re exploring,” Chancellor Drake said. “We have a charter that provides a Sealed Docket process for charging a chancellor with crimes and it guarantees that both the accuser and the accused have a chance to state their case in a formal setting. If we abridge this process we are undermining our own rule of law in a fundamental way.”
“I am not making an accusation at this point, I am seeking to find out if this is something that warrants further consideration by the council,” Tomlinson said. “With all due respect Chancellor Drake, I do not see this as a violation of anyone’s rights.”
“I am inclined to agree with Paulson,” Prime Minister Ambrose said. “Listening to what he has to say can’t hurt, and it might shed some much needed light into the darkness.”
“Thank you Madam Prime Minister,” he said.
He reached forward and picked up his thinpad. “Before I begin, I have a file I’d like you to examine. It contains the background on what I know so far.” He punched in the authorization code and watched as each of them downloaded the file.
“What is this?” she asked as she looked at his information.
“I believe that the evidence shows a well defined campaign on the part of Chancellor Roja to undermine the very principles of the Union,” he said. “What I have discovered begins with a series of covert operations against the protected information of SourceCartel. It then goes on to include at least three murders she ordered in an effort to cover her act of espionage. Ultimately, it culminates in what may be the most disturbing crime of them all. She has ordered the refitting of several FleetCom multicruisers with weapons to wage war.” He paused as he gave each of them a chance to digest the evidence.
Shan Takhu Legacy Box Set - With an Extra Bonus Story Page 21