“With that kind of mass, could it be the ghost fleet?” Jeph asked.
Alyx shook her head. “It looks like one ship.”
“The only thing in the Union that big is the Armstrong,” he said.
“If it is, they’re a month early,” Shona said.
“How much time do we have?”
“If they maintain their present curve, eight hours and six minutes,” she said.
He sighed and settled into the seat beside the sensor station. Tapping his comlink, he shook his head. “Kiro, do you have an estimated time to completion?”
“Couple hours,” the pilot said. “It’s slow going up here.”
“Roger, just get it done quick-like, then jump over to give Chei and Cori a hand,” he said.
“Problems?” Chei asked, cutting in on the channel.
“Depends,” Jeph said. “How long until you’re done?”
“Ten hours on this part and another two to bolt it up,” he said.
“Bolt it up?” Alyx asked, glancing at Shona who shrugged.
“You’ve got eight,” he said. “Kiro will be joining you, but from now on keep the com chatter to a minimum. We’ve got someone coming into earshot and we don’t want to show off, if you catch my meaning.”
“Frag me,” Cori said. “A month early?”
“Looks like it,” Jeph said. “Just stay focused and be safe, but work fast.” He cut the comlink and held a finger up to head off a repeat of Alyx’s question.
“Dutch, call everyone back from cata Tacra Un,” he said. “Tell them the party’s about to begin, and they need to be home and showered before the dancing starts.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
FleetCom Lunar L-2 Shipyard: Lunar Lagrange Two:
Edison stood on the edge of the treadwheel and steadied his breathing. He’d just finished a round of isokinetics and wished he could burn off some of his frustration. Exercising in weightlessness was different and never seemed to satisfy the urge to kill things in the same way as pushing heavy plates of steel uphill out of a gravity well.
He’d just cinched his tension straps down to his belt and stepped forward onto the spinning wheel when Admiral Quintana appeared beside him and latched himself down to the opposite side.
“Mind if I join you?”
Edison wasn’t in the mood for company, but rather than protest he nodded. The two of them walked in silence for several minutes. “You need to follow up with your lead on Sentinel,” he said finally.
“I take it that means you’ve discovered something?”
“No,” Edison said, glancing around the gym and lowering his voice despite being alone to a safe distance. “I think if you dig into it with your own source, you might find a line to pull on.”
“If you didn’t uncover anything, what makes you say that?” the admiral said.
Edison shook his head. “All I’m comfortable sharing is that there’s a connection.”
“So you talked to the chancellor about it?”
“I’d rather not name my sources,” he said, knowing it was only a matter of principle given the situation.
“Here at L-2, I suspect they’re limited,” Quintana said, chuckling.
“They are, but I do not recommend you pursue it by asking directly.” Edison stepped to the side and stopped walking. “I know now, that they’re not exaggerating when they say you can’t risk keeping them here. Unfortunately, I suspect you really don’t see that yet.”
“So show me what I’m missing.” The admiral stopped the treadwheel and lowered his voice. “What are we talking about?
He let out a breath and checked the room again. “I don’t know if Jahen Tanner will give you much more than what she already did, but you need to pull the threads from that end of the situation or you won’t understand this end when you get to it.”
“Nobody mentioned Dr. Tanner,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
Edison shrugged. “Connect the data points and draw your own conclusions there.” He uncinched his belt and looped it over the handrail as he turned to leave.
“Wait,” the admiral said, grabbing his arm firmly. “I don’t have the time to chase rattling chains and ghost stories. I have a shipyard and thousands of families living here that I have to protect.”
“I don’t have the answers you want. I don’t even know what fragging questions to ask.” Edison reached up and peeled his fingers loose one at a time. His own frustration giving him strength enough to make sure the admiral didn’t try again. “I don’t plan to ask anything more at this point.”
“What the hell does that mean?” he hissed.
“War is coming,” he said. “Nothing we can do will stop it, because we don’t know yet what we’re even fighting for.”
“I’m trying to stop it,” Quintana said.
“I think you believe that, but are you?” Edison said, stepping back and shaking his head. “I’m an old man and it’s time for me to find a deep hole and crawl into it.”
Personal Quarters of the Executive Director: Galileo Station:
Derek walked over and handed Lassiter a gin. He sat it down on the table in front of him without comment. The Director had summoned him away from his evening meal and it was obvious he was not amused. Every move and gesture he made was a punctuation of his disapproval.
“You know there’s a lot more at play here,” Tomlinson said as he sat down and put his feet up on the edge of the table. He wanted to make this a casual talk, but that was going to be a tough sell. “We’ve got to work together to keep this all on track. We all have to do our part.”
“Yes,” he said. “I understand that.”
“Your part has to be to help me fill in the power vacuum so that things keep running smoothly.”
“You mean running at all,” Lassiter said. “As you pointed out before, things are barely holding together with FleetCom at the moment.”
“Regardless, I need you to help me stop this before it gets out of hand.” Derek said, leaning forward and setting his own drink down beside his feet. “We still need to apprehend Tana Drake. Unfortunately, we can’t get a ship within fifty klick of L-2. When they brought those multicruisers and threatened to burn down our interceptors, we had to pull out. In another week, we’ll never regain our position there.”
“Now I understand why you called me here, but we’ve already covered this,” Paulson said, his face dropping into the expressionless mask he used to hide anger. “You still don’t have anything you can use to push them back. If you don’t get in there and take her soon, you won’t be able to.”
“We know she’s still hunkered down, because we’ve got assets all over Zone One. They’re good eyes, but they’ve got no eggs,” Tomlinson said. “Most of them are repair tenders and shuttlecruisers.”
“You need a surgical team to bag and tag her,” Paulson said. “Quiet precision, not blunt force trauma.”
“Nothing is allowed to approach L-2 Shipyard that isn’t direct from TFC,” he said. “We’ve got the manpower, but there’s no way to get them inside.”
“You think you need something to hit them hard enough to land a party and take her,” Lassiter said, shaking his head. “Like I said the last time you asked, I don’t have anything close to Zone One.”
“But we have to move now,” Derek said. “Our latest update puts another ten multicruisers coming inbound and due to arrive within the month.”
“That number keeps growing, but you aren’t listening to me,” he said. “I can’t get anything into the game before those ships get here.”
“You expect me to believe you’ve kept every ship you have based in port?” Derek challenged.
“And you expect me to believe you’ve not managed to get anything local weaponized?” he said.
“Small ships are closely tuned so we get the best efficiency out of them. There isn’t the reactor reserve to mount a gun in anything smaller than a Sagan Class science vessel, but you fragging well know that,” Tomlinson said. “We c
an throw whiffshots at them all day, but even in a swarm they can’t get close enough to put a landing party aboard. We’ve got video of them bolting big guns to the shipyard infrastructure for the last month. They’ll all have at least a 500 klick firing range against anything approaching. Everything we’ve got armed so far, are gnats by comparison.”
“Let’s assume you can keep her bottled up for long enough that I could order the fleet to attack. Then what?” Lassiter closed his eyes and rubbed them. “That’s not going to play well in the evening newswaves.”
“I was thinking about that. If you bring them in as unidentified ships, we can spin it as freelancers,” he said.
“That won’t hold air,” Paulson snorted. “L-2 might be out there a ways, but a fleet will not read like pirates no matter how you paint them. Reality does tend to leak through and the truth will be damned loud.”
“The truth is irrelevant in politics,” Derek said.
Lassiter sat back and stared at him for almost a minute. “Let’s say hypothetically, I could bring some ships in to go after her. It will take a while to get them into place and Quintana’s already got L-2 armed to the rails. This sure as frag won’t be a cheap date.”
“It never is when you start shooting,” the Director said.
“You’re right,” he said, nodding. “The problem is, every ship we lose in a firefight is an irreplaceable asset right now. We can’t afford any losses at all.”
“We know they’re reinforcing, so time is the crucial element,” Derek said. “If we hope to take her at all, we need to move fast.”
“Fast is still not immediate, don’t you get that?” Paulson said. “By the time we’re ready for this, they’ll have those multicruisers in the Zone too. When that time comes, you won’t be looking at taking her, you’ll be looking at killing her, and then obliterating anyone standing close enough that she might have passed the information to. We’re not doing a strike on the shipyard, we’re talking a full on battle. And it is only going to be the first in a long drawn out war.”
Lassiter stood up to leave. “Derek, I’ve known you for a long time. My advice to you is that you need to think real hard before you move forward with this.”
Jakob Waltz Fixed Base of Operations: L-4 Prime:
“There are two multicruisers in polar orbit and the Armstrong has taken up station directly above us,” Alyx said as she eased into a seat at the galley table. “They initially made orbit at 250 kiloklick and after the first couple hours began a slow descent. They’re now at 118,000.”
“What are they doing?” Danel asked.
“Probably trying to figure out what we’ve found down here,” she said. “They’ve been pinging continuously with a full sensor array from all three ships.”
“Given what is below us, is likely they suspect we have encountered hostile base,” Rocky said. “If Roja believes we have been taken prisoner, would explain early arrival.”
“We told her we’re not in danger,” Shona said.
“She would not accept that,” Rocky said. “Is old trick to take hostages and force to make statements contrary to fact. If she thinks is possibility, would explain her caution as well.”
Jeph nodded. “I guess sending them what we did backfired.”
“It was a risk, but we had no way of knowing how they’d take it,” Danel said.
“If they think we’ve been captured, it might also explain the lack of com,” Kiro said. He and Chei were fresh from the showers, having just completed their preparations outside.
“Also means will point every gun at us until they have answer,” the engineer added.
“That’s unsettling,” Cori said from the galley where he was grabbing drinks for everyone. He almost sounded excited at the prospect of a real tactical situation.
“It would be nice if we could get an image to confirm that,” Jeph said.
“Even if the gas cloud wasn’t obscuring the optics, The Armstrong’s position puts it lined up straight into the sun,” Alyx said. “We can barely see it with the optics on the Hector and even then it’s hard to pick out of the glare.”
“Then I think it’s time to let them know the cannibals haven’t eaten us,” Jeph said. “Everybody grab a seat and let’s do this. Dutch open a com please.”
“Jakob Waltz FBO to Armstrong,” he said. “Welcome to L-4 Prime.”
“Copy Jakob Waltz. Requesting confirmation code.”
“Dutch send them our handshake please,” Jeph said. “I have to say we’re surprised to see you this soon.”
“Yes sir, we made some serious feet to get here. From where you’re sitting, it looks like you’ve got an interesting story to tell,” the com officer said. He paused for several seconds and then asked, “Is this Captain Cochrane?”
Dutch muted the com. “As the Jakob Waltz is no longer in service, your status has legally changed. Confirming captaincy gives Chancellor Roja implied jurisdiction.”
“This is Jephora Cochrane,” he said, adding a little emphasis to his first name.
“The Chancellor would like to speak with you on visual if you have the capability,” he said.
“Our systems are all functional,” he said. “At her convenience.”
The wallscreen lit up and Roja smiled at him for several seconds before she spoke. “Captain Cochrane, I’m relieved that you and your crew are alright. I have to say we’re very proud of you and know how difficult this must have been. The fact that you’ve kept your ship and crew safe given these extraordinary events is a testament to your leadership skill.”
“Thank you Madam Roja,” he said, blushing in spite of the fact that he knew it was false flattery. “Unfortunately my ship is permanently marooned, so I think calling me a captain at this point might be a bit generous.”
“Details,” she said, dismissing his comment with a wave of her hand. “I look forward to reading your full report, but for now, please tell me what you have discovered down there.”
He cleared his throat and looked around at the rest of his crew. “I’m afraid I can’t do that ma’am,” he said, holding what was left of his breath then letting it hiss out slowly between his lips.
She blinked repeatedly before she glanced off to the side to where one of her advisors must be sitting. “Excuse me? I need your report Captain.”
“No ma’am, I cannot give it to you at this time,” he said.
“Why not?”
This was where it started to get ugly and Jeph took another deep breath to set himself to push back. “I respectfully decline your request,” he said.
The pleasantness of her expression melted off of her face. “You misunderstood me. This is not a request Captain Cochrane, it is a direct order,” she said. He could see the muscles in her jaw clenching as she stared at him.
He shook his head. “There are matters of jurisdiction that may come into play, so I’m inviting you to come down here as my guest and we can talk it over. I will explain everything we know once we’re face to face, but not before then. The situation is far more complex than you may realize.”
“Indeed it is Captain,” she said, cutting the link from her side.
“I don’t think she likes being told no,” Anju said quietly.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Armstrong: Station-keeping Above L-4 Prime:
“I have had my fill of uppity captains,” Katryna snarled as she spun away from the screen and pushed toward the ready room. Jeffers and the admiral followed close behind her.
“Short of putting together a landing party and taking him out of his own ship, I don’t think there’s much we can do. At least not at the moment.” Nakamiru said, grabbing the seat closest to the door.
Dr. Jameson stood staring at an image on the wallscreen and spun to face the chancellor as she sailed across the room to the VAT and grabbed a hardball. He had been waiting for them with a science briefing when Cochrane made contact. Apparently reading her frustration, he spun back and faced the wall.
“We�
�ve got a firm location on the Jakob Waltz on the surface, so we could do that,” Captain Jeffers said, pointing at the image of the Waltz on the screen. “There are only ten of them down there. A show of force might be persuasive.”
“I’d point out that any landing party would be a one-way trip,” the scientist said, glancing at Katryna and shrugging. “Until we’re below the 400 klick threshold, we couldn’t recover any team we sent down.”
“That assumes that their statements are factual,” Nakamiru said.
“The shelf in the gas blanket surrounding L-4 Prime seems to corroborate that, but we could easily determine the truth,” he said. “We could send a teleoperated workpod down and see if it can come back.”
The Chancellor nodded to the captain. “Can we do it?”
“Not from this altitude,” she said. “We’d have to descend to within a thousand kilometers of the surface.”
She looked over at the admiral and smiled in spite of her frustration. She knew he would be shaking his head and frowning. He was. “Just because we’re not dead yet doesn’t mean we can keep tempting fate,” he said.
“Is there any scientific reason to believe an approach to one kiloklick will be a problem?” she asked, without turning to face the scientist.
“Not that I can see,” he said.
“Before we do this, I’d like to mention that Cochrane said he’d only make his report face to face,” the chancellor said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean he wouldn’t be willing to come up here to talk.”
“Again, if the shelf is real, it means we have to descend to recovery altitude,” Jameson said.
“So either way we need to test it,” she said, turning toward Jeffers and nodding. “Take us down to a thousand kilometers and deploy a pod. Once we know for sure, we can decide where to go from there.”
“Yes ma’am,” the captain said. “I recommend that under no circumstances do you go down to the surface.” She spun toward the ConDeck to give the orders.
Nakamiru nodded. “If it comes down to it, we invite him up here and if he refuses, then we go get him.”
Shan Takhu Legacy Box Set - With an Extra Bonus Story Page 52