The Terran Fleet Command Saga BoxSet

by Tori Harris

  Understanding at a fundamental level that there was nothing he needed to say in response, Prescott simply nodded and smiled appreciatively.

  “Now,” Reynolds continued, “can we please get out of here and pick up our Wek friends before someone decides to tell us we can’t?”

  Chapter 14

  Terran Fleet Command Headquarters

  (Admiralty Building access tunnel)

  “I expect Captain Prescott will arrive shortly to take you aboard the Theseus, so this may be the only opportunity I have to apologize to the two of you for the manner in which things have degenerated over the past few days,” Admiral Sexton said as he escorted Wek Ambassador Turlaka and Admiral Naftur down the long corridor leading to the TFC Marine barracks facility. “I don’t recall ever witnessing a more disgraceful breach of protocol and general lack of good sense. I hope you will bear in mind that this situation does not reflect how we normally treat our guests.”

  “My dear Admiral Sexton,” Nenir purred with an amused grin, “to my knowledge, we are Terra’s only visitors to date, so isn’t it fair to say that this is the way you normally treat your guests?”

  Sexton stopped dead in his tracks at this and looked Ambassador Turlaka in the eyes. Both she and Naftur lasted only a few seconds before both of their faces took on the rather savage-looking smiles that Sexton had come to appreciate, followed by the usual rumbling growls that he now knew was the Wek equivalent to a good laugh at his expense.

  “Oh, that’s good, you two. I appreciate very much that you can both manage to find some humor in this situation,” he chuckled before resuming their progress towards the barracks. “I’m not sure I would be so gracious if our roles were reversed.”

  “You have been a most courteous host, Admiral Sexton,” Naftur replied. “I’m sure Ambassador Turlaka would agree that we have been treated with the utmost respect and hospitality throughout our stay. I very much hope to have the opportunity to return after things settle down, and I have every confidence that they will do so once the current crisis has passed. The political unrest is no surprise, after all. Fomenting this sort of global fear and turmoil is very consistent behavior for the Pelarans.” Naftur breathed deeply and let out a long, weary sigh. “In any event, I would like to return to Terra in an unofficial capacity in hopes that I might be able to do some exploring.”

  “I would like that of all things. Once it is safe for you to return, you have an open invitation to do so. I will personally see to it that you have the opportunity to experience every wonder our world has to offer. We are deeply in your debt, sir.”

  “Thank you, Admiral, but I am afraid that remains to be seen. If you still believe that to be true four weeks hence, I will happily allow you to serve me more of your stimulating carbonated soft drinks.” Both Wek had been given the opportunity to sample a variety of Human cuisine during their stay, in addition to a number of different beverages — both alcoholic and otherwise. Although they both seemed to enjoy several types of wine, coffee, and even beer, Coca-Cola had been their hands-down favorite.

  Very few TFC Marines remained on the headquarters campus at this point, and the Leadership Council’s recent insistence on demilitarizing the facility had placed strict limits on the manner in which they were allowed to conduct themselves. Only two Marines had been available to accompany Admiral Sexton’s small group for the rendezvous with Theseus. Under normal circumstances, a pair of TFC Marines in full combat armor and armed with pulse rifles would be more than adequate to protect their group from anything less than a full-on assault from a platoon-sized contingent of HQSEC troops. The Marines were now better equipped for office duty than combat. Since Crull’s edicts had taken effect, they had been restricted to wearing their basic black TFC fatigues and were allowed to carry only their sidearms.

  Now, as they reached a point roughly thirty meters from the end of the corridor, the Marine in the lead position raised his right hand in a fist to signal a halt. He then turned and signaled the group to hold their position before jogging ahead alone to check the room at the end of the hallway. Not expecting trouble at this point, Sexton wasn’t entirely sure this precaution was necessary, but stopped nonetheless. He was keenly aware that the current rules of engagement did not allow the Marines to use force unless their ‘principals’ were openly attacked — which he thought extremely unlikely. The more probable scenario was that Chairwoman Crull and her allies on the Council would issue new orders in response to his refusal to turn over Naftur and Turlaka the previous evening. If and when that happened, her large contingent of HQSEC troops would quickly realize that he and the two Wek were not where they should be. He felt sure this would immediately lead to something resembling a full-scale manhunt across the entire Headquarters facility. If he could manage to get them safely aboard Theseus before that happened, however, it would be a fairly straightforward exercise in bureaucratic spin to delay their return to Earth until the current, volatile situation came to some sort of resolution.

  The lead Marine glanced in both directions through the small windows set in the double doors at the end of the corridor, then, with his back against the wall, slowly pushed one of the doors open before proceeding into the barracks facility. The first room was really nothing more than an extension of the access tunnel, with two elevators on the right-hand side. Straight ahead, a double staircase led up to the first floor before intersecting a long corridor running parallel to the front of the building. Hearing nothing, he proceeded quietly up the stairs to make a quick check of the main hallway.

  After two full minutes had passed, the second Marine approached from the rear. He quickly put a finger over his lips for silence, then signaled the group to crouch down below the line of sight from the doorway ahead. Without any means of communicating with the other guard, he was unsure why his partner was taking so long, but he felt certain that something was amiss.

  “Sir,” he whispered to Admiral Sexton. “Sergeant Hicks should have been back by now. I’m afraid we may be compromised.”

  “Agreed. I think we need to assume that HQSEC has been mobilized to find and detain us at this point. You know where the LZ is, Sergeant. Do we have any other options for getting there from here?”

  “Not good ones, Admiral, no. If we turn back, we’re going in the wrong direction. Besides, I’d say back at the Admiralty Building will be the first place they’ll start looking for us. Also, if we assume they just grabbed Sergeant Hicks, the fact that they didn’t come running down those stairs up ahead leads me to believe they may be waiting for backup.”

  “That sounds logical to me. What do you propose?”

  “I’m guessing we’re only dealing with a couple of guys, so they are probably sitting tight up there in the main corridor. Let’s move out as a group and see if we can manage to get ourselves into one of the elevators just on the other side of those doors. If we go up to the third floor, we can take the skyway over to the JAG Building next door. If we’re lucky, we can get out the back door before they figure out where we’ve gone.”

  “That’s right, there’s a picnic area back there that adjoins the wooded area next to the landing pad. Good plan … let’s move.”

  “Sir, what about Hicks?”

  “He’ll be fine. Detaining him is one thing, but I can’t imagine they would be dumb enough to do anything to hurt him. We’ll find him as soon as we get these two out of here.”

  “Aye, sir. Everyone stay low, keep quiet, and follow me.”

  With that, the Marine moved over to one side of the corridor and hurried off in a crouch towards the double doors. Upon reaching the end of the corridor, he allowed everyone to catch up, signaled again — quite unnecessarily at this point — for quiet, and then slowly pushed the right-hand door open. Seeing no one on the stairs or in the hallway intersection beyond, he quickly ushered the group through the doorway before allowing the door to close silently behind them. Realizing that the slightest sound would attract unwanted attention, the young sergeant turned
to face his three companions and mouthed “Ready?” before holding up his hand and flashing a three-count; he then pressed the up arrow to call the elevator. As he had hoped, the elevator was already on their level, but, as he had feared, the doors immediately clattered noisily open, accompanied by a mind-numbingly loud BING.

  Before the doors were even halfway open, several things seemed to happen at one time. The Marine sergeant pivoted to place himself between the stairway and the rest of the group as they quickly boarded the elevator. From the hallway above came the sound of footsteps hurrying in their direction, followed immediately thereafter by a confusing combination of clattering metal and muffled swearing as a single HQSEC guard came stumbling into view before falling face-first onto the hard tile floor. Before the guard could manage to pick himself up and continue after the group, the elevator doors rumbled closed.

  Even with skyscrapers routinely topping two kilometers in height around the world and paired with wondrously fast elevators for whisking their occupants into the heavens with remarkable speed, the elevators in smaller office buildings had changed very little over the past three centuries. Now safely inside, the Marine sergeant, Sexton, Naftur, and Turlaka stood facing the doors, staring passively as the digital indicator above slowly changed to display their current floor. Overhead, a tinny-sounding speaker softly played an ancient, instrumental version of “Memory” from the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical Cats. Only a few seconds into their seemingly endless journey to the third floor, a low, threatening growl could be heard radiating from the center of Admiral Naftur’s chest.

  Stricken by the comic and rather surreal nature of the situation, and unable to control himself any longer, the young Marine burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, and was immediately joined by all three of his charges. He assumed neither of the Wek had any idea what had set him off, but the fact that they were laughing fully justified his momentary lapse in military bearing as far as he was concerned.

  Fortunately for the four of them, the single HQSEC guard who had been lucky enough to surprise Sergeant Hicks had been generally inept otherwise. The fall they had witnessed had been caused by a combination of his headlong rush down the corridor towards the sound of the elevator door and a heavy metal stand normally used for holding a TFC Marine guidon. With the taste of blood in his mouth, one Fleet Marine already in custody, and reinforcements on the way, he had made no further attempt to give chase.

  When the elevator doors finally opened on the third floor, the Marine sergeant held the door and listened momentarily, then quickly checked the immediate area before moving to the intersection with the main hallway. Seeing nothing, he motioned for the others to follow and trotted off in the direction of the skyway leading to the TFC Judge Advocate General Building.

  “Are you two doing okay?” Sexton asked the two Wek in a low voice from the rear of the group. Both Naftur and Turlaka had already begun picking up a surprising amount of conversational English, sometimes even managing to preempt the tablets they still carried for translation services.

  “We are doing quite well, Admiral Sexton, thank you,” Turlaka whispered in English, the corners of her mouth turning upwards in a satisfied smile. She then paused for a moment, furrowing her brow before deciding to let the tablet handle her next sentence. “As long as no one starts shooting at us, this is actually quite stimulating.”

  While smaller than average compared to other planets Humanity had long referred to as ‘terrestrial,’ Earth’s iron/nickel core resulted in a density that was significantly above the norm. This, of course, also meant that Earth’s mass was quite high for her size compared to other habitable worlds. Contrary to popular belief, a given planet’s surface gravity was not necessarily higher than another’s simply because it was physically larger. While surface gravity did indeed increase with a planet’s mass, it actually decreased with the square of the planet’s radius. The Wek home world of Graca, for example, while possessing nearly double the Earth’s land mass and a planetary diameter roughly twenty percent larger than Earth’s, had a surface gravity of only 7.85 m/s2. This was largely due to the fact that the planet’s density was closer to that of Mars — a full one-third less than that of the Earth.

  The twenty-percent increase in gravity coupled with a slightly lower atmospheric pressure and oxygen content made heavy physical exertion a bit of a challenge for the two Wek. Fortunately, both were in excellent overall physical condition and had been on Earth long enough to begin the process of adapting to the environment. Although breathing heavily, neither had much difficulty keeping pace with their Human companions.

  “Will the neighboring structure be occupied at this time of day?” Naftur asked as they paused at the entrance to the skyway leading across to the JAG facility.

  “Normally, I would say no,” Sexton replied, “but with everything that’s been going on with the Council, it wouldn’t surprise me if there are a few people already in the office. I doubt a few lawyers and custodial staff are what we need to be worried about at this point, though. Sergeant, I think you were probably right about the HQSEC guards downstairs. It was probably just a random patrol … maybe even just one guy.”

  “Yes, sir. Otherwise, I think they would have been right on our heels. The bad news is that they will have help on the way by now, so we need to keep moving. At the other end of the skyway, hang a left and head towards the stairwell — it will be the last door on the right at the end of the hallway. There should be an external door on the ground floor that will allow us to exit behind the building. We can run the length of the skyway ahead, but I need all of you to stop before we reach the end so that I can clear the intersecting hallway.”

  Run they did — loudly. Upon reaching the halfway point, Sexton realized that something about the structural properties of the skyway had the effect of magnifying the sound of their crossing into something approaching that of a herd of wildebeests in a mad rush to escape a pride of hungry lionesses. While the irony of such a comparison was still forming in his mind, he noticed that both Wek had removed their shoes at some point, and, unlike the two Humans’ pounding gaits, their footfalls were virtually silent.

  The Marine sergeant slowed to a brisk walk as he approached the hallway ahead, then strolled as casually as possible around the corner to the left while motioning with his head for the others to follow. Although a few voices could be heard coming from some of the offices, no one seemed to pay particular attention to their passing, and they were soon in the stairwell heading down to the ground floor.

  “Alright, everyone,” Sexton said, risking a more conversational volume upon reaching the external door, “I honestly don’t think there is much point in making a run for it once we are outside. We have to cross a relatively open common area for the first fifty meters or so behind this building, and I think the four of us running will do nothing but get us noticed. Do you agree, Sergeant?”

  “Well, sir, the problem is that we’re likely to stand out this time of day no matter what we do, but, yes, I think we should avoid looking any more suspicious than we have to. Once we reach the tree line, we should have some pretty good cover all the way to the LZ.”

  “Very good. Everyone ready?” Sexton asked. Since the encounter with the HQSEC guard back in the Marine barracks, his mind had been preoccupied with the moral ambiguity of the current situation. Arranging for the two Wek to leave TFC Headquarters before any orders to the contrary had been issued was one thing, but now that it was clear that the Council’s security contingent had been given orders to detain them, it would be much more difficult to justify his actions. Was this what mutineers always felt like when in the act of defying their superiors? Could he trust his own judgment in a case like this? He wasn’t sure it mattered at this point, and he was certain that he didn’t give a damn either way. The Commander in Chief, TFC had gone through this particular scenario in his mind countless times over the past week, and, right or wrong, believed that his duty was clear. He would see the two Wek safely abo
ard the Theseus because he firmly believed that Admiral Naftur offered the best chance — perhaps the only chance — of preventing an attack from the Resistance task force. That, he believed, was the single course of action he could take that best supported TFC’s most important mission of defending the planet. He would leave it to the historians to determine if he had made the right call.

  Receiving nods all around, Admiral Sexton opened the door and proceeded outside. It was a frigid, April Fool’s Day morning with a heavy white frost covering the grass-covered common areas behind the JAG Building. As they walked, the water vapor in their breath condensed into small, puffy clouds in front of them. Looking off in the direction of the landing pad, Sexton also noted that Headquarters was socked in with heavy fog, resulting in something approaching zero visibility.

  Trying their best not to give the impression that they were running from something, the small group followed the diagonal path leading towards the picnic pavilion located near the center of the park-like common area behind the JAG Building. They walked two by two, with the Humans even attempting a bit of small talk in an effort to seem as unremarkable as possible. As they passed the pavilion, a low-flying formation of Canadian Geese crossed the sky having recently — and rather optimistically, Sexton thought — begun their trip north for the summer months. The surprisingly loud wingbeats and flight calls as the birds passed overhead briefly distracted all four members of the small party. Not even the keen hearing possessed by the two Wek detected the faint clicks and whining sounds as over forty pulse rifles were powered up and trained in their direction.