“Clean airbreathers?”
“Ya, some badass prettypuss. More’n me even,” she said, her eyes telling him she was serious. “Lived topside somewhere, but worked down here. Nobody ever sniffed their scam, seeing they were meaner’n they were quiet.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Governor’s Office: Gateway Colony: L-4 Prime:
“I am concerned that you have someone not familiar with the political mechanisms of the chancellery involved in the meeting,” Ariqat said, staring at Jeph. “There is much I could discuss that is, how should I say this delicately …”
“Above my air supply?” Jeph offered. Saf had warned him that Ariqat was a legend in his own mind, so he wasn’t offended. Nor was he inclined to give up his position at the table. Especially since, it was in his office.
“The governor stays,” Nakamiru said.
“As you wish, but I don’t want to waste my time answering questions that might be necessary to educate him in the nuances of political reality,” he said.
“Nu ahn cata-che,” Dutch said and Jeph laughed. He is beneath a child.
Chancellor Roja looked at Jeph and winked, revealing that she might have been studying the language enough to understand the joke.
“What did he say?” Ariqat asked, looking insulted.
“He said the political reality here is far less important than the situational reality,” the admiral said. “It is a point you should consider, before you insult your host again.”
“Very well, I apologize to the governor,” Ariqat said, nodding in Jeph’s direction. “Shall we begin?”
“Tana has told us about their journey to get here, let’s hear yours,” Roja said.
“It began when I was pursuing the infiltration of my Cartel by an operative of FleetCartel,” he said.
“She wasn’t mine,” Katryna said.
“I do believe that now, but the evidence I had was more than circumstantial. The woman—”
“Zora Murphy,” Edison said.
“Yes. This woman discovered irregularities in our joint special operations project,” he said. “You call it the Ghost Fleet. This project has been going on for almost forty years and I only learned of it after my installation as chancellor of SourceCartel.”
“Forty years?” Nakamiru leaned toward Roja and lowered his voice. “Our estimates were all based on this being no more than a twenty year effort.”
“How many ships are in the Ghost Fleet?” she asked.
“Thirteen hundred and sixty give or take,” he said. “There were several in the pipeline before the incident with the Murphy woman. I do not know if they completed those.”
The chancellor turned white and dropped her forehead down into her palm. “Why were you kidnapped?”
“After this woman discovered the supply chain system that fed the fleet, Derek Tomlinson and I were of the opinion that it would be best to suspend new acquisitions until we could develop a different methodology. Paulson Lassiter argued that it was essential to press on. Because he and I were the ones in possession of command authorization codes for the ships and crews, with me removed from the equation that left Lassiter with operational command and Derek with nothing other than a place in repairing and maintaining bases of operations for the fleet.”
“You’re saying that Lassiter kidnapped you so he could take control of the ghost fleet?” the admiral said. “Why did he keep you alive?”
“I do not know for sure, but I assume it was so he could use me as a landing zone for public blame,” he said. “Paulson Lassiter is a master political opportunist, and he never leaves himself without an escape trajectory. I believe that was my role if the ghost fleet were to be exposed.”
“Where were these ships based?” Nakamiru asked.
“At the Centaur Thereus. We kept almost all the fleet there, but there were several locations all over the system where we pushed through the repairs and upgrades. Those were the only part of the operations that Tomlinson oversaw and it was why he was little threat to Lassiter.”
“Did I understand you to say you have command authority over this fleet?” Roja said.
“I did,” he said, his face showing that he was unsure of his position, for the first time. “We set up a system where the command authorizations for anything above routine operations were all manually coded into the vessel by the commander.”
“They also used this type of system to keep nuclear missiles from being accidentally launched before the last war,” Nakamiru said.
Ariqat nodded. “Paulson and I each possess a single code that we deliver verbally to the vessel commander. The code has to match the one on a lock down order sheet in his safe. Once the commander confirms that authorization, then the combined codes are entered into the ship’s computer to bring it to battle status. It can only be done at the command console.”
“And you can use this code to get the fleet to stand down?” the admiral asked.
“At any point prior to engagement,” he said. “This is dependent upon Lassiter not changing the codes since deployment. However I should add that we made the process to change codes difficult, to prevent either of us taking over the fleet without the other’s consent.”
“Then how is Odysseus in command of the fleet we encountered?” Tana asked.
“I doubt that it is,” Ariqat said. “I am less concerned with your alleged computer issues than I am with the real threat of being attacked by my own fleet,” he said, dismissing her concerns with a wave of his hand.
“Both possibilities are distressing,” Roja said, holding up her hand to stop Tana from lobbing a volley of invectives in his direction. “How many ships did you see in the fleet coming at us?”
“Over six hundred,” Tana said. “They were scattered, and there might have been more beyond our sensor range.”
“There are 651 ships,” Dutch said. “Dr. Whitewind is in the Kanahto control center and is scanning them.” The wall behind Jeph disappeared and a list of ships and their positions appeared overlaid on the area of space the fleet occupied.
“When will they get here?” Nakamiru asked.
“Twenty-six days, three hours and sixteen minutes, depending on braking curves,” Dutch said.
“That gives us an absolute deadline to work against,” Roja said. “We need to get free of the quicksand. This has to be the priority.”
Jeph clamped his jaw down, but forced himself not to push back as hard as he wanted. It had become his biggest sore spot. “We’re doing the best we can, but we’ve only got one person that can access the control systems.”
“We understand that governor, but it no longer matters,” Nakamiru said. “The problem must be solved.”
“If I may?” Tana said, leaning forward and making sure Roja acknowledged her before she turned toward Jeph. “I would like to offer our support to the work down here. My crew is made up of … specialists … and they might be an asset to you.”
“I think you should stay with us,” Katryna said. “When the fighting starts, you will be safer.”
“That’s still weeks away and we can make that decision later,” she said, glancing at Roja. “You and Tamir can focus on a strategy, if we need to fight. I’d be useless in helping plan something like that. Down here we can at least contribute to the effort.”
“While I appreciate the offer, there’s a steep learning curve to be conquered before you could be of much help,” Jeph said. “Your administrative skills might be better served with the other chancellors aboard the Armstrong.”
Tana’s face exploded into a huge grin. “I have to say you are rather good at politics. I don’t think I’ve ever been told to keep my nose out of someone’s business so politely.”
He looked down at the table, embarrassed that she saw his real intent.
“I don’t work for the Union anymore, so you don’t have to worry about me getting all uppity with you,” she said. “I just think, if we get a couple days on the ground, you might be surprised at how fast w
e can saddle up.”
FleetCom Military Operations Center: Lunar L-2 Shipyard:
Mayor Pallassano’s face filled the center screen. She leaned in toward the optic and gave everyone a much more intimate close up than they wanted. The uplink routed through TFC, and Cartwright and Commandant Pratte occupied the screens to either side of her. Admiral Quintana had his entire command staff around the table in his office.
“They’re cutting their way toward Underhive,” she said, wiping away a bead of sweat that ran down the side of her face. “They’ve breached the landing center and took over the local tube control from there.”
“Cutting toward Underhive?” Pratte asked.
The mayor nodded. “They brought in a drill rig and they’re pushing down through the floors directly. We can give them a fight at the interconnects, so they’re avoiding them.”
“What’s down there that they might want?” Admiral Quintana asked.
She wiped another rivulet of sweat away with the back of her hand. “It’s all low overhead. It’s a bad neighborhood and other than a few WellCartel clinics, I don’t think there’s much there.”
“I’d have figured their first push would be to take the civil control center,” Cartwright said.
“Yah, so did we,” Pallassano said, nodding. “When they hit the power couplings and dropped our grid, we figured they were on the way. I’ve got a crew out there at the moment doing repairs and they’re not getting any action.”
“It’s a delaying tactic,” Visser said, nodding. “If they can keep you thinking they’re after NHC you can’t commit the manpower to push back in Underhive.”
“They do seem determined to take the basement first.” The mayor grabbed a towel off her desk and wiped her face.
“It could be to get a toehold in a soft spot,” Ducat said.
“A beachhead?” Visser said, shaking her head. “It’s a fair distance from Underhive to NHC isn’t it?”
“About twenty kilometers, but some deeper levels extend under the outer habs of the city,” the mayor said. “Level twenty-five is massive. It might reach as far as the inner ring since it was one of the original mining drifts. Nobody’s kept the maps up for a hundred years.”
“Seems like a hell of a detour just to avoid a firefight,” Visser said.
“Especially since they cut through my security forces like they weren’t even there,” she said.
“Do you have any idea how many troops they’ve landed?” Quintana asked.
“Not yet, but it has to be well over a thousand,” she said. “We’ve got no eyeballs topside now, so we don’t know how many drop ships they put on the ground. We sent a rover crew up to take a looksee, but until they get into position we’re guessing.”
“Tokyo down under isn’t tracking approaches?”
“Only above thirty klick,” she said. “We’re below the horizon for their high resolution radar, so they can’t tell us what’s tracking for the landing pits. All they can say is that something is coming down, not what it is or even how many of them there are, when it comes to the smaller dropships.”
“You do still have com with TDU though?”
“It’s limited. They cut the inter-colony relay before they took the local loop control.” She wiped her face again and shook her head. “Frag I hope they hurry on the power,” she said as someone walked up and handed her a glass of water.
“So you don’t know what’s above you right now?” Pratte asked.
“Tokyo approach said we’ve still got sixteen science vessels in station-keeping, plus that troop carrier. It dropped low, and they lost it right after the attack began, and since we’re down to audio com only, we’re not getting much useful data.”
“We ordered two wings of multicruisers, but they are still a couple hours out. I’m not sure what kind of ground support they can do when they get there,” the admiral said.
“We’ve loaded up loop cargo-cars with security units and they’re en route now,” Pratte said. “If the cruisers can chase their ships out of your sky, maybe we can keep them from putting more troops on the ground before the reinforcements get there.”
“That would help, but you need to know they might be reinforcing their orbital position,” Pallassano said. “Tokyo told us they were tracking several ships departing Galileo and moving in our direction. We don’t know if they’re still coming or if they went somewhere else.”
“Several ships?” Ducat said. “We’ve only got six multicruisers in those two wings.”
“Yah,” Quintana said. “If they mean to hold their high guard, then that will be a bloody mess.”
“It is already a bloodbath in the Underhive,” the mayor said as the lights came back up behind her and she sighed. “The units they’re landing are trained soldiers, they are cutting the civilian forces to shreds and our security forces aren’t doing much better.”
Someone else came in and handed the mayor a thinpad. She nodded and wiped her face again. “Now that we have power again, I’ve got to get on the newswave and let people know we’re pushing back. I’ll let you know if anything else explodes.”
“Let’s hope not. We’ll do what we can on our end,” the admiral said, trying to sound reassuring as she signed off.
“It would help if we knew their objective,” Visser said.
Gateway Colony: L-4 Prime:
“Look governor,” Tana said, “I’d hate having someone crawl up my ass with a microscope, too. Especially a bureaucrat.” She followed Jeph down the hall toward the main lounge where he hoped to lose her to someone else’s care. Tana Drake seemed a pleasant enough person, but she was orders of magnitude higher up the air supply, so he didn’t need her attached to him.
He stared at the floor as his ring drifted along with him. During the meeting he’d worn his PSE, but as soon as it was over he’d dialed it to standby and had let the gravity shelf give him a little bubble of personal space. He chose not to respond, hoping his silence said what he didn’t want to vocalize.
“Here we are,” he said as they entered the open area in the center of the third stack. Anju saw them come in and waved him over. The perfect person to unload my new keeper onto. He smiled as they walked over.
The doctor sat at a low table along one window, with Saffia Drake and another woman. Several other people Jeph didn’t recognize sat nearby. Glancing around, it seemed like he’d transported back to one of his college cram sessions in the student hall at the Academy.
Anju didn’t say anything as she stared up at him, and nodded at the nearest group. He raised an eyebrow and looked around again. They were all staring at thinpads or talking amongst themselves. It took several seconds for him to realize the short bursts of conversation he was catching were in the Shan Takhu language.
“I know I’m slow, but what the hell is going on here?” he asked, pulling up a seat and dropping into it.
Anju tilted her head toward the woman across from her. “Kylla here started studying the language database just about the time you went into your meeting. That was what, maybe an hour and a half ago?”
Jeph nodded. “And?”
She picked up a thinpad from the table and held it out to him. One of the shanak-che primers was open and the file indicator showed it was over half way through. Taking it back from him she handed it to Kylla and smiled. “Can you read that for me?”
“Kasha-ahn nuko-asha naka-ahku-aht ahn oshtaht rahn-che, ahn kan-che akotath-etar ako-aht naet-naka un rahn-un fet-nuko. Da-ahn un-che naka aht-osht ako-rahn …”
“Now do you mind translating that for us?” she said.
“Differential permeability of matter created through time space sinking, is achieved through gradient stimulation of any matter construct in upper tier stages of state change. This structural variant results through the matter space displacement—”
“Ouch,” Jeph said, blinking both in surprise, and as his brain struggled with both versions of the text.
“I told you we might have some s
kills,” Tana said.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Operations Control Center: Galileo Station:
Derek Tomlinson caught the news of the attack on Underhive and New Hope City on the newswave. When he asked Odysseus for an explanation, he got silence. Repeatedly.
“Are you locking me out?” he growled as he stormed through the corridor from his office to the operations control center. “You cannot do this to me.”
His security escorts glanced around trying to spot who the director was talking to, but he didn’t slow down so they charged along behind him.
“You need me,” he said, again causing the men behind him to scan the corridor for someone else. “I will not let you cut me out. Do you hear me?”
“You will fragging answer me,” he snarled as he exploded through the doors to the control center. The room was almost empty and the main viewscreen carried a display of the ships around Galileo and over the lunar surface. He could hear the background chatter of what sounded like troops in combat, but there was nothing else going on.
“What the hell is happening?” he bellowed. “Somebody, tell me what you’re doing.”
“Watching the show,” the deck commander said as he walked up beside the director and shrugged.
“I am solving problems you have created,” Odysseus said, over the implant surprising him with a response.
What problems? he thought, sending the message back through the link. Silence answered him.
What problems? he repeated. When no answer came back for the second time, he asked out loud. “Why are you attacking New Hope City?”
“I am not,” it thought to him.
“We don’t know where the orders came from,” the officer said, looking down like he expected Tomlinson to blame him.
“I can see you’re bombing the landing center with my own eyes,” he hissed. You are starting a war.
Shan Takhu Legacy Box Set - With an Extra Bonus Story Page 73