“Any one of these would be worthy of seeking Chancellor Roja’s divestiture,” Lassiter said. “Taken together they indicate crimes of unprecedented proportion.”
“Exactly my concern,” Tomlinson said. “If I may be blunt. From this evidence, it looks like she may well be seeking to overthrow the Union.”
Jakob Waltz: Orbiting L-4 Prime:
“Was substantially harder to open buoy than anticipated,” Rocky said. “Exterior titanium casing covered mono-carbon inner shell. Required use of proton cutter to access data core.”
I assume you managed and that it was still in good shape?” Jeph said as he watched her hooking up a stack of hardware to a thinpad. She had things spread all over the galley table and was stringing cables between several boxes. It looked more like an explosion in a pasta recycler than a computer interface.
“Core was intact,” she said, nodding, “but is older design and does not conform to current hardware specifications. I fabricated interface to provide access, but is limited. Log level files only. Deeper records have encryption in place. Dutch will need to analyze in order to extract information.”
“Why would they encrypt a record they hope to be recovered?” Cori asked. “Isn’t that why you launch a buoy?”
“Is good question,” Rocky said, pushing one of the components down to secure it to the magnetic surface of the table. The wires popped another one up in response. She shoved it down and a third one broke free. Frowning she pulled a roll of tape out of her pocket and managed to defeat her electronic nemesis the old-fashioned way.
“Is that going to work?” Danel asked, trying to hide his smile.
“Tape will hold,” she said.
“I think he meant the interface,” Jeph said, flinching as she launched a hairy eyeball in Danel’s direction with enough intensity to blow him through the hull.
“Ouch,” Kiro said, nearly choking as he struggled to hold back a belly laugh.
“Let’s see what we’ve got,” Jeph said, biting back on his own laughter.
“Dutch, can you open files?” Rocky said, punching a command into the thinpad.
“Yes,” he said. “Interface is operational although bandwidth is low.”
“Is best I can do,” she said, shooting another glare at Danel. “At least tape is high quality.”
“Play last entry first,” the captain said, trying to ignore the absurdity that had taken hold of his crew. This was a serious moment, but it was getting hard to tell.
The face of a man in his middle years appeared on the screen. He had piercing blue eyes and a nose that looked like it had suffered from several accidental redesigns. An unruly explosion of red hair and a month’s worth of beard framed a sea of freckles. He blinked several times.
“That’s Ian Whitewind,” Chei whispered.
“It’s been seventy-six days. I’m the last one alive and the least qualified to get the ship home. It’s ironic that I was the only mesomorph on the mission. The first impulses took out the chief engineer, the medic, the pilot, and the AI. Before the second series started, the captain and both of my assistants were dying from internal injuries.
“I can’t even call for help. The com only works through the main computer. What kind of stupid idiot designs a ship without a backup?
“I can’t take the idea of drifting alone out here. The food vats are still operating and I know I could survive for years, but without the AI, I don’t know enough to guarantee the life support system will keep working. I can’t face the idea of slowly suffocating.
“I’ve downloaded all my theories on the gravitational phenomenon that grabbed us and maybe, if someone ever retrieves it and doesn’t end up trapped too, it might be worth something.”
He paused and looked around the ConDeck behind him. Finally, he drew a deep breath and turned back to the optic. His face looked as if he had made a decision.
“I don’t know exactly what it is that grabbed us, but we burned most of our fuel trying to get away. I’m no pilot, although if I’m reading the instruments right, I have about eight minutes of reaction mass left. I do know enough to be able to point the ship in a direction and hit the button.
“Too bad only one trajectory seems to work.”
Office of the Investigator General: Galileo Station:
Investigator General Wentworth sat staring at his wall display grinding his teeth. He’d just gotten off the com with the Undersecretary of DoCartel. They ordered him to close his investigation and turn all his findings over to the Chancellery’s Office of Special Investigations. From here forward, Derek Tomlinson would be investigating and prosecuting the case.
The wolf’s loose with the sheep.
He’d been glaring at the datamap for long enough that when his door chimed, “Deputy Inspector Carsten,” his jaw was screaming in agony.
“Enter,” he growled, not turning to face the door.
Joe was the only one in the IG office he could trust implicitly. Regardless of what anyone said publicly, politics shaped investigation policy, and there was no one that Wentworth knew that was more apolitical than his Deputy.
He heard the sound of a hardball landing on his desk and the squeak of the old wooden chair across from it. “I see it’s true then,” he said after several seconds. “They’re really taking the case away from us?”
Wentworth shook his head. “No. They aren’t taking it, they’re burying it.” He turned and glanced around the room like he expected it to be full of eyes. “You heard who they appointed as the special investigator?”
“Yah. Tomlinson.” He shook his head. “When he finds out he’s our prime suspect, he sure as hell won’t be happy.”
“Frag that, I am more afraid he’s going to hang this on Roja,” he said, picking up the hardball and wincing as he took a big mouthful. “They came out and told me that ‘the guilty party had already been found.’ Can you believe that?”
“That’s a bit premature,” Joe said, “but we do have some circumstantial evidence that she might know something about Ariqat, even if she isn’t guilty.”
“He’s going to nail her for it regardless of facts. And once the Council tastes blood they’ll put the rest of it on her, if for no other reason than that they’ll want to get this scandal into history as soon as they can.” He leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head, trying to force himself to relax.
“That’s actually what I came to talk to you about,” Joe said. “They’ve already got blood. They issued an Executive Warrant this morning to arrest Katryna Roja for high treason.”
“We can’t let them do that,” Wentworth snarled.
“There’s nothing we can do about it. They’re sending over the council orders later today and then it’s officially out of our hands.”
“Politics trumps law,” Wentworth said. “That’s not how it’s supposed to work.”
“We live in that reality,” he said. “The scales are tipped in the favor of the powerful. It’s always been that way. Guys like us just have to try not to get dumped off as the balance beam swings.”
“Usually they swing slow enough we might still be able to dance,” he said, an idea taking shape in his brain. “How long will it take to get the entire investigation files pulled together?”
“It’s almost done already. When word came down, I had the records department start compiling it. Why?”
“The less you know the better,” he said. “Just copy the file to me before they pull it from the archives.”
“Edison, when you get that look in your eyes I know you’re about to do something I will regret,” he said, leaning forward and sighing. “We’ve been through a lot of shit over the years, so stow it and tell me what I have to know to do damage control preemptively for a change.”
“Get the files put together. This time I plan to make sure the scales stay balanced.”
“It’s going to cost your career if they find out,” he said.
Wentworth shrugged. “I’ve been in t
his job for a long time. Long enough to have learned right from wrong. Some days you just have to do the right thing, even if it might not be what you’re supposed to do.”
Jakob Waltz: Orbiting L-4 Prime:
“Jeph, before you go in there, I need to tell you something.” Anju stopped him by setting her hand in the middle of his chest and holding him firmly away from the door. “She’s alert now because she’s been awake off and on for two days, but she’s a long way from alright.”
“What does that mean?” he asked, reaching up and moving her hand to the side.
“The spinal regeneration is going slow,” she said. “I can’t even tell you for sure if she’s made any progress. She’s got no motor control in her lower body. Her organs are repaired and functioning as well as can be expected and I’ve replaced most of her skeleton with plastic, but she has no sensation at all from just below her breasts down to her toes.”
“What’s her prognosis?”
“She’ll live as long as either of us, but she’s trying to get her mind around the idea that she may never move her lower body again. She’s pretty fragile emotionally, so be gentle with her.”
“You still think I’m an unfeeling flatch, don’t you?” he said before he realized he should probably keep his opinions to himself. That was a stupid thing to say.
“It doesn’t matter what I think,” she snapped, responding to his tone. “I just want you to keep that side of yourself under control when you talk to her.”
“Understood,” he said, closing his eyes and letting out a slow hissing sigh before he moved around her and floated through the door.
Alyx looked better than Shona had when she walked onto the ConDeck almost three weeks ago. Her face was smooth and although it was a bit puffy, it showed no signs of the heavy bruising that had been so horrifically evident last time he’d visited her. She hung beside the bed, wearing only her PSE’s polymorphic liner, and holding a tether of cables to the biometric sensors in her hand.
“You look good,” he said. She was staring intently at a screen and hadn’t heard him come in.
“Considering what happened, I don’t feel too bad either,” she said, pulling herself around to face him. “Actually I don’t feel much of anything I guess.” She smiled sadly and glanced down at her legs.
“So you know what happened?”
“Yah. I’ve been trying to catch up.” She nodded in the direction of the screen. “Dutch gave me access to the ship archive, so I can be up to speed as soon as Anju lets me out of here.”
“She seems a little—”
“Overprotective,” Alyx said. “She thinks I’m all bent, but what I need is to be doing something and not sitting around here dwelling on what’s happened. My brain is still working even if my legs aren’t. You’ve got to convince her to let me get back to work.”
“I think I’ve overexerted my ability to push her,” he admitted. “I don’t know if I can do much to sway her at this point.”
“Talk to Rocky,” she said. “We could build a neural interface like the one Anju uses for her augment arm and hook it up to my exosuit. It’d give me back my mobility until my spine heals.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “Downside is that those tend to have a limited use cycle. She almost burnt hers out patching us back together.”
“Hers is an implanted fine motor transducer. I don’t need that much of a buffer amplifier or even an implanted hookup. I just need a gross movement controller to get around,” she said. “And you need me back on duty.”
“I want you to be well enough to get out of here,” he said, nodding. “But the sensors were destroyed. You’re mostly out of a job at the moment.”
“We may not have sensors, but the Hector probably still does,” she said, swinging the screen so he could see what she was looking at. It was a technical schematic of the crashed ship. “Their kit was integrated to the superstructure of the ship. That made it a lot tougher than ours. Based on what it looks like in the images I’ve seen, I’d bet it survived.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely. And if we’re ever going to find that hidden base, you need me to get them working.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Armstrong: Halo Orbit: Galileo Station:
“Madam Chancellor,” Admiral Nakamiru stood in the doorway to her private dining lounge. She was startled to see him in his formal uniform. He never wore it aboard ship and if memory served, she hadn’t seen him in it since he’d attended her council investiture ceremony. She looked down at her own casual attire and frowned.
“Madam Chancellor, a word please?” he said. He stepped to the side and she realized there were four guards behind him.
“Of course, Admiral,” she said, realizing what was going on. Tomlinson had won the opening volley by formally accusing her in Ariqat’s disappearance. She stood up slowly and squared her shoulders before she walked toward the door.
“Snap to!” he barked and the guards all stepped back to clear the corridor. The admiral stood just inside the door and almost out of line of sight.
As she walked up she silently mouthed, “He made good on his threat didn’t he?”
He nodded his head imperceptibly.
“So am I being arrested?” she asked.
He reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her before she walked past. “I have orders to confine you to your quarters until such time as security units from Galileo dock with the Armstrong,” he said. “I am sorry ma’am, but if you agree to offer no resistance, I will not be forced to place you in restraints.”
She leaned around Nakamiru’s shoulder and looked at the guards in the hall. Three endos and a meso and none of them were wearing PSEs. Even as old as she was, she probably could have given them a run. She almost laughed. She glanced at the front of his uniform and caught the body optic. He’s doing this for show.
“Fine, let’s get on with it,” she said. His eyes softened. He knew she was onboard with whatever he had in mind.
Admiral Nakamiru nodded to the door and waited for her to take the lead. Two guards dropped in front of her and two to the sides while he brought up the rear. They marched in silence, turning right at the first corridor. Every hallway in the immense ship was indistinguishable from any other, but even being relatively unfamiliar with the Armstrong, she realized they turned away from her quarters. After a dozen meters, the two guards ahead of her paused and took up positions to the left and right of the door to her executive offices. The sign that identified the room was conspicuously missing.
“Take positions here,” the Admiral said to the guards. “No one leaves or enters without command authority.”
“Yes sir,” the sergeant of the guard said, snapping to and saluting.
He cleared his throat to get her attention, pausing while she turned to face him. “FleetCartel Chancellor Katryna Roja, you are bound by law to face charges of high treason against the Union. You are ordered to remain in your quarters, until transport arrangements to Galileo Station are complete. Do you understand these statements as I have delivered them?”
She leveled her best glare at him. She drew in a deep breath, settling her stance into what she hoped appeared to be resignation. “I do,” she said quietly.
“You are further advised to make no comments to any party regarding these charges. You will be allowed to contact counsel should you seek professional legal consultation. Do you also understand these statements as I have delivered them?”
She nodded, looking down at the floor before she answered. “I do.”
“You may elect to waive your right to silence and make a statement at this time. Do you wish to do so?”
“I do not wish to wave any of my rights,” she said, looking back up and making eye contact with his body optic for the first time. “I’ve already had enough of them taken away, thank you.” She pivoted and slapping her palm on the door actuator, disappeared into the darkened interior of her office.
As the door s
hut behind her, the lights faded up and she saw Captain Jeffers holding a glass of scotch out to her. “I know it’s early,” she said, “but the sun’s over the ecliptic somewhere.”
She glanced at her chrono and nodded, taking the glass and slamming it back. “That didn’t take long did it?”
“No ma’am,” she said, turning around and grabbing the bottle. “Another?”
She shook her head, walked over to her desk, set her empty glass down, and then pressed both hands flat on the desktop.
“The admiral and I had been expecting this, so we weren’t surprised,” Jeffers said.
“Me either,” Katryna said. “I’m just surprised they didn’t come at me square. The Union is a government of laws. At least it’s supposed to be.” She pushed herself back to a standing position and turned around to face the captain.
“At least FleetCom is still an organization of trust and loyalty,” Jeffers said. “Admiral Nakamiru is one of your most loyal supporters. He hand-picked all of us for this ship and we’re with you, as far as we have to take it.”
The Chancellor stared at her feet and nodded, unable to find her voice.
“May I speak freely, Madam Chancellor?”
Katryna nodded again and the captain sat down before she spoke. “For many years things in the Union have been unhealthy. Those of us who’ve been close enough to see it, but far enough back not to be part of it, have watched the cancer spread. The admiral knew this was where it was heading long ago.”
“Apparently, I’ve been part of it,” the chancellor said. “My hands aren’t clean either.”
“We’ve all done things that make us feel dirty,” Jeffers said. “The important thing is that, while we may get dirty, we never are dirty. It isn’t what defines us. Because of that we have hope that we can overcome times like this.”
Shan Takhu Legacy Box Set - With an Extra Bonus Story Page 22