by Robert Boren
“Yes, as much as I’m anxious to talk to Bryce, I agree with Drake,” Vermillion said. “Concentrate on the mission for now. We’ll get together for an update before dinner time.”
“Yes sir.”
“Remember that we can’t talk to him when we’re in a jump,” JJ said.
“If this works out, we’ll share more,” Vermillion said, “but we’ll be prudent as usual. We’re talking about a lot of people, and some of them might still view us as villains.”
“Okay. Any new updates from Estes?”
“Good, then I’ll go get to work. Klemperer is up here, right?”
Vermillion nodded. “Yes, since the war situation on Amberis has settled down, we pulled him back up here with most of his pilots.”
“Great, then I’ll work with him on the coordination.”
“Got anything else, Drake?” Vermillion asked.
“See you two later,” Vermillion said. We left, going to the bridge.
Skip and Sondra smiled as we walked in.
“We were just getting ready to clear the Zephyrus for their trip to the surface,” Sondra said.
“Good,” I said. “Andrea’s there, I assume.”
“Yep, she knew you’d want her in command,” Skip said. “Is the scuttlebutt true? You’re back on the New Jersey for a while?”
“It’s true at least for now. I’ll brief you and the others on the mission a little later.”
“The Zephyrus is ready to go,” Andrea said over the speakers.
“Okay, sending you out,” Skip said, putting the main bay on screen. The floor moved, taking the Zephyrus to the bay door, which opened, the ship shooting out in a flash, the door shut a moment later.
“Off they go,” JJ said.
“Wonder how much fuel Tac’s got ready?” Sondra asked.
“Andrea said he had more than she could bring up in one trip, so we’ll be doing this again later.”
“Wow,” JJ said. “Good thing we have so much storage capacity.”
“More fuel than we can carry is the kind of problem I like to have,” I said. “Butch, contact Commander Klemperer, please, and find out where Nolan is too. I’ll want to chat with both of them in the big conference room.”
“Who else do we need?” JJ asked.
“That’s it for the moment,” I said. “I want to know who the team leads are. Our fighters are the part of this mission that scares me the most.”
“Yeah, we know for a fact that Clan fighters can jump,” JJ said.
“Clan fighters?” Sondra asked. “I thought those were Overlords fighters.”
JJ and I shot each other a glance, and I shrugged. “We might as well fill you in now. Won’t hurt anything, and then we can talk freely.”
“It’s up to you, Captain,” Skip said.
“Bridge crews only, please.” I told them the gist of what our mission was.
“Wow,” Sondra said. “Brilliant plan. I’ll have to commend Commander Klemperer next time I see him.”
Skip chuckled. “She’s sweet on him, you know.”
“Shut up,” Sondra said, her angry face changing to a sly grin. “Don’t you dare tell him that.”
“Mum’s the word,” I said, JJ shaking her head.
“Tell them to meet us at the big conference room in half an hour. I’m hungry.”
“Good, I thought it was just me,” JJ said. We left, going to our favorite fast-food stand for burgers, eating them at the standing tables in front of the establishment.
“Here’s the best part of staying on this ship,” JJ quipped.
“Wonder what the livestock thinks when we’re going into jumps?”
“Might scare them a little,” JJ said. “They might not be smart enough to notice, though. Hard to say.”
We finished our burgers and got to the conference room a few minutes before Nolan arrived. Klemperer arrived last, looking tired and a little harried.
“You okay, Commander?” I asked.
“Just the usual mission plan haggling. That’s why they pay me the big bucks.”
Nolan chuckled. “Glad we have you in place.”
“Anything new to tell us?” Klemperer asked.
I gave him a brief rundown on the meeting with Bryce Cannon.
“Wow,” Nolan said. “This is a promising development. We shouldn’t do anything before this mission is over, though.”
“I wish we could bring them into it,” Klemperer said. “I know many of those folks. Fought with many of them over the years. Hope none of my best friends got killed in the earlier battles.”
“I didn’t get that kind of info out of the first call,” I said. “Why would you bring them in before the mission?”
“You know the Clan is gonna go nuts after we do this. They might go on a rampage and attack our worlds openly, and even if we take out every single Clan battleship in the mission, that leaves them with at least forty ships that we know of, and who knows how many smaller ships, drones, mines, and what have you.”
Nolan got a sick look on his face. “He’s right, Captain.”
“I’m all ears,” I said. “AIs, go on speaker.”
“There’s a flaw with that,” JJ said. “We’d lose a lot of Centurion ships, and their Razors aren’t tuned, as we found out in our prior engagements with them.”
I felt dizzy, my mind wobbling.
“You okay?” JJ asked.
“Somebody’s lying to us,” I said. “Either Simone or Bryce, and I doubt it’s Bryce.”
“Dammit, the whole thing was a ruse,” Nolan said. “Wonder if Prime Minister Aeon was involved back when those engagements happened?”
“Butch, get on that and bring in whoever else you need, except for AIs on Commander Klemperer’s team.”
“This doesn’t change our current mission,” I said. “We know those troop transport ships are Clan vessels, and I’m certain the Razor ships escorting them are Clan vessels as well. We’re gonna give them a very bad day.”
Klemperer locked eyes with me. “I agree, Captain. I should get back with my team. We’ve been going over the scan data we have, and the technical specs on those troop transports. We have a lot of data on those in the databanks of this ship.”
“Proceed,” I said. “Butch, let me know as soon as you’ve sorted out the three Razor variants.”
Klemperer and Nolan left the conference room. I started to get up.
JJ eyed me. “We’ve got too many unknowns. Sit for a moment.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Simone might be the one who’s on the side of the Clan.”
I thought about it for a moment. “Either that, or the Clan is much more sophisticated than we’re giving them credit for. What idiot thought it was a good idea to buy our main battleships from our most dangerous enemy? Especially if they can do what we’re both thinking they can do.”
“Both thinking?�
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“We’re being deceived, and you realize it. What would be the biggest advantage an enemy could build into a ship they planned to sell to an enemy?”
JJ chuckled. “Remote destruct capability. We know who was guilty of that.”
“Okay, that would be first, I guess. Wasn’t thinking about that.”
“Go on.”
“How about the ability to pretend your ships were your enemy’s ships?”
JJ’s brow furrowed. “You think they can manipulate their drive profiles and frequencies. That would be tough, but it would explain a lot.”
“Might not be that tough to pull off. I hope Butch can make use of the other emissions.”
“What are you going to work now?”
“I’ll study the area around Oollanders. Good places to rendezvous with the fighters and flight suits, for one thing. I also want to review traffic scans of the area.”
“Need me for anything?” she asked. “If not, I’ll go back to the waste management task. Emerald did a bunch of work on that. I can review it, so I don’t bother her while she’s working with Butch on the Clan ship emissions.”
“Okay,” JJ said. “Should we be scared?”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“They could’ve gotten fuel from our zone, couldn’t they?” JJ asked.
“Go on,” I said.
I grinned at JJ. “Emerald’s right, we need to talk to Vermillion and Drake right away. Butch, send a request, please. Oh, and good job. Both of you.
“Yes,” JJ said. “Don’t know what I’d do without you, Emerald.
“Thanks,” I said. “Let’s go, JJ.”
We arrived at Vermillion’s office in a few minutes.
“You found something out,” he said as we entered. “Something important.”
“Simone isn’t lying to us. The Clan is deceptive. They’re very clever.”
JJ nodded. “Can we let the AIs go on speaker and explain it?”
“Please do,” Vermillion said, taking a seat, JJ and I sitting next to him at the small conference table.
“Butch and Emerald, proceed please,” I said.
They told the story to the Chairman and Drake.
“Yes,” Vermillion said. “Simone. We need to talk to her right away. I feel awful.”
Vermillion nodded, speaking into his PA. The screen over the far end of the table turned on, a message indicating Simone was being paged. Her beautiful face showed, lighting up when he saw JJ and I.
“Hello, Mr. Chairman. Good to see you again, Captain Clarke and JJ. Should I bring in my second?”
“Please do,” Vermillion said.
Kaleb entered after a moment. “Hello. Something happened?”
“Captain, please tell Simone and Kaleb what you’ve learned,” Vermillion said.
I went through the whole story, leaving out the part that we weren’t trusting her. They looked at each other, then back at us.
“You had reason not to trust us,” Simone said.
“I’m sorry,” Vermillion replied.
Simone shook her head. “Nonsense, you have people to protect. I would’ve done the same thing. Believe me.”
“The Prime Minister is probably dead,” Kaleb said. “Or at least under arrest.”
“You’ve got a plan,” Simone said.
“We’re working on one,” Vermillion said.
JJ’s brow furrowed. “The Central Authority passed that law about mandatory use of the PA system. How many worlds have submitted to that?”
Simone flashed a horrified look. “Oh no. Devonia Axxiom.”
“There are others as well,” Kaleb said. “There have been police actions, but I haven’t been keeping up with it. Perhaps we should bring somebody else onto this conference. He’s been obsessed with it. He’ll know more than anybody else.”
“Calling him,” Simone said. “This might take a few minutes.”
“While we’re waiting,” I said. “I made contact with Bryce Cannon.”
Simone grinned. “How many are still alive?”
“They lost five of their Razors in the initial battle, and then fled. He mentioned they haven’t been able to contact the Prime Minister or anyone on the high command.”
“Dead or under arrest,” Kaleb said.
Another face appeared on the screen next to Simone and Kaleb. He was younger, half his head shaved, the other half blazing red hair, long and braided, hanging down in front of his right shoulder.
“Hamilton, thanks for joining us,” Simone said.
“Wow, Hamilton Zenos,” JJ said.
Hamilton looked over at Simone. “Is that who I think it is?”
She smiled. “Meet Chairman Vermillion, Captain Clarke, and JJ Ostermann.”
“It’s an honor,” he said.
I smiled. “Likewise. Too bad Nolan isn’t here. He got us started following you. Big fan.”
“I’m flattered,” Hamilton said, beaming. “What can I do for you?”
“What’s the status on the roll-out of the mandatory PA usage?” Simone asked.
“Sixty-three hundred worlds have complied so far, despite my best efforts,” he said.
“That’s an insane number of people,” JJ said. “If we use the 20 billion average.”
“It’ll be less than that,” Hamilton said, “since we aren’t putting PAs on humans younger than twelve.”
“Do we know where the master control for the stun capability is?” Vermillion asked.
“It’s on Devonia Axxiom, and I can send you the exact location,” Simone said. “Unless they’ve moved it. If the Clan is clever enough to manipulate their Razor drive profiles and frequencies, they might have either moved it or protected it in some way.”
“You’re planning to hit the Clan,” Hamilton Zenos said.
{ 15 }
Battle Preparations
W e were in a video conference with Simone, Kaleb, and Hamilton Zenos.
“If you aren’t planning to hit the Clan, you should be,” Simone said.
I glanced at Vermillion and JJ, then back at the screen.
I took a deep breath. “Yes, we’re planning to hit them, and soon. We’re tracking their Razors and their troop transport ships as we speak.”
“You can track them?” Kaleb asked, his eyes wide.
“Yes,” I said, “and we can tell Clan Razors from Central Authority Razors and Overlords Razors.”
“How?” Simone asked, her eyebrows raised.
“A combination of drive profiles and frequencies, fuel emissions, and other things. We’ll share that information with you and with Bryce Cannon.”
“We will help you tune your Razor ships if you’d like.”
“Tune them how?” Kaleb asked.
“Your shields and plasma weapons aren’t optimized,” JJ said. “We can analyze them and suggest revised settings. What we don’t know is how well tuned the Clan Razors are.”
Simone was silent for a moment, thinking as Kaleb and Hamilton watched her. “What do you want in return?”
I smiled. “We want allies, and we want as much help as you can give us in disabling the PA stun capability, because when we hit the Clan, they’ll go on a rampage.”
“How are you going to hit the Clan fleet with just one battleship?” Kaleb asked.
“I can’t reveal that yet,” I said, “but in essence, it’ll be a Trojan Horse type of attack.”
“We should bring Bryce Cannon’s group into this as well,” Vermillion said. “We need all the help we can get.”
“Can we bring him onto this call?” Kaleb asked. “He’s an old friend.”
“We’ll work that,” I said. “I have to rush down to my stateroom and slip a token into my comm device.”
“Go do that, and grab Nolan on your way back,” Vermillion said.