Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Reprisal Page 28

  Fleet Admiral Dant surveyed the scene for a good minute before trying to craft a reply. “Best guess on the number of mines around HQ?”

  “Several hundred already, and that number will of course increase. Also, occasionally a mine will head in towards the HQ or shipyard area, and we have to shoot it down. I assume they have several targets in their memory and we have to consider that at some point they may try an attack en masse.”

  “What a nice parting gift the Primans have left us,” muttered Dant.

  Onboard the Torino, Senator Zek Dennix had been placed in visiting dignitary’s quarters, accommodations that he felt suited him nicely. He had of course sweated out the battle like everyone else aboard, but once the dropships had been recovered Torino and the rest of the Assault Ships had jumped to a rally point away from the main battle yet within recall distance. It would have been a colossal waste if they went to the trouble to rescue the Senator and then left his ship in battle to be destroyed.

  Luckily enough, the Torino soon broadcast an all-clear and a voice from the bridge announced that not only had the Primans been turned back, but the Delos System was theirs and they were returning immediately to the system. It would still be the better part of an hour before the big ship was settled in planetary orbit, but Dennix was on his way home.

  He was waiting now for his liason, an officer that had been appointed to him by the Navy to act as his go-between in matters concerning the elected government and the Confed Navy. He had only met the man once, during a crowded briefing, but Dennix could sense the ambition in him. From his very first conversation he knew the officer considered himself a candidate for bigger things, and seemed to have a bit of political sense as well. The officer was technically released from normal duty to work with the Senator, and Dennix was going to find out this afternoon if the man was what he needed in order to continue his work to reshape the Confederation.

  The door notification chimed, and the Senator bade his guest to enter.

  A trim young officer entered carrying a small attaché case. “Commander Enric Shae, reporting as your aide, Senator.”

  Loren and Sarria sat alone at a table on the upper level of the Aft Quarter late that shift. The place was running on half illumination, and a small assortment of ration bars and flavor-ready protein cubes sat on the tabletop with them waiting to be infused with their flavor of choice.

  There was work that needed to be done, and after a quick visit to sickbay for each of them, they had decided to set up shop in a quiet area of the mess hall/rec area to get away from the noise a bit. C3 was temporarily shut down while crews worked on patching it together. Elco had said he’d received an extremely unusual tasking for Avenger, and she was currently anchored in Delos orbit with the rest of the tattered Ninth Fleet while crews rushed to make her mission ready again. A briefing was promised later the next morning, but for now Loren had a big pile of work which was his lucky job to do.

  The first thing he’d done was draft Mastruk to help and take charge of C3 and the repairs, and that had brought them here. The briefing room behind C3 was too crowded, Loren’s small office on the hanger deck was no longer his, and he felt completely wrong asking Mastruk to come to his quarters to work, so she had suggested the Aft Quarter as their workplace.

  They actually had the place to themselves, and Loren realized he had grown very comfortable working and associating with Mastruk these last few weeks. They had been spending a good deal of time together, and it was a comforting feeling to have someone to be with. It had occurred to him as well that he was subconsciously using her to fill in for all those who he was missing; his wife was on occupied Toral and he hadn’t heard from or talked to her in more than half a year. Merritt, Web, and Cory were running the air wing of Avenger and were leading very different lives than Loren as the XO, and there he was, stuck in C3.

  He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to look out the large panoramic windows at the aft section of the dining hall. A vibrant and picturesque slice of Delos filled the upper portion of the window, and within his field of view he could make out two ships- a Confederation class cruiser and another Crusader class hunter/killer. The Crusader was at the end of a long line of little blinking lights, the running lamps of a stream of shuttles and tugs ferrying parts and personnel to the ship from the one operational Centurion class battle station in orbit. The Crusader’s ventral landing bays were both a shambles, one torn open to space along half its’ length and the other intact but with the forward opening shredded and scorched as though it had borne the brunt of a violent explosion and fire.

  Mastruk looked up from her work, and that brought Loren’s eyes back to her and the table.

  “Daydreaming,” she asked with a raised eyebrow, “or plotting the death and destruction of all things Priman?”

  Loren realized at that moment that he was perhaps enjoying her company a little too much. That sort of comment, the eyebrow, was something Cassie would have done. Sarria Mastruk reminded him of Cassie, too, in more than one way. The graceful Drisk woman across the table from him wouldn’t have any way of knowing that, however, and Loren feared he was barreling down the path to an awkward situation of his own doing.

  She caught something of the look in his eyes, put her datascreen down, and folded her hands in front of her on the table.

  “Something bothering you.” She said it more like a statement than a question.

  Loren, usually not at a loss for words or embarrassed to explain himself, faltered.

  “It strikes me that maybe I’m enjoying our time together a little too much.” he said.

  “Yes, we wouldn’t want our time together to be enjoyable, would we?”

  “No, I think you know what I mean. I haven’t been in C3 that long, but already we’ve been through some interesting times together, fought some tough fights in the ass end of space, where we only have each other to count on. And when it’s all over, I keep looking forward to talking to you about it afterwards, and maybe not just because of your position and abilities.”

  “You mean because I’m a witty, smart officer who’s a spiffy dresser and likes loud noises?”

  “Now you’re just mocking me,” he grinned despite himself, then got serious again. “Because it feels nice to be with someone I feel comfortable with. You remind me in many ways of my wife, who I haven’t even seen in a long time. And I wonder if I enjoy being around another smart, attractive woman a little too much. I always said that if I would have trouble explaining whatever I was doing to Cassie, then I probably shouldn’t be doing it. Guilty conscience, and all. Well, if she called right now, I might stumble around explaining some things about our working relationship.”

  “It’s not like you’ve ever done anything inappropriate, you know. I mean, I would remember, since these actions would involve me.”

  “Still.”

  “Look, I know what you’re getting at. You’re a pretty spiffy dresser yourself, I might add. But you’re married, and frankly I’d be a bit disappointed in you if you’d expected anything out of us. We can still be pals, though.”

  “Definitely.” Loren’s relief was noticeable. “And we can both enjoy wiping every bit of that Priman disease off the face of our galaxy.”

  As promised, there had been a briefing called for ten hundred hours that morning. Loren and Sarria had parted ways late, and he had even slept a bit before getting up to man his place in C3 as XO before the briefing.

  Gathered in the C3 conference room were Loren, Captain Elco, Captain Sosus, Lieutenants Marks and Exeter, and an officer Loren recognized as being from the signals intelligence analysis branch.

  There was a generous tray of light snacks on the table along with some drinks; everyone ravenously helped themselves before the briefing started, as most had worked straight through the last few meals and only ate when the opportunity provided itself.

  Finally, Elco stood. He walked to the main viewscreen and brought up a series of images and text which
was repeated on the desktop stations where each person sat. Loren could pick out a few familiar planets, and even spotted some names that he recognized.

  “First, congratulations to you all on a fine performance the last two days. It’s obviously been a trying time and a hell of a ride, but I want to take a few seconds to say that I’m very proud of all you’ve done. I just wish I could reward you with something other than what just came down to me.”

  Curious looks and a few stolen glances among them was evidence that nobody knew what was coming.

  “Before we get to the main body of the briefing, I do need to talk to Captain Stone.”

  Elco turned to look directly at Loren, who again stole a glance at Cory. She shrugged ever so slightly; she had no idea, either.

  “Captain, I’ve received some communications from higher up in Confed Navy about what you’ve done since becoming XO. They felt that it was time I do something about you.” Captain Elco was enjoying this a bit, Loren could tell, and he still didn’t know if he should be nervous or proud.

  “Loren, I don’t know if you’re going to think this is good news or bad, but I have just processed a field promotion for you to Commander, First Rank. You’re also now officially the XO of Avenger. Congratulations.”

  Elco stepped over to offer his hand to Loren, who stood up to shake it. There was light applause from the rest and a ‘boo-hiss’ from Merritt.

  “You know he’ll abuse his authority,” Merritt said to Elco.

  “Well, he can’t hurt me with it, only you, so that’s fine with me. Do your worst, Commander Stone.” And he gave Loren a snappy salute, which Loren returned.

  Loren simply looked at Merritt and Web and then made a fist, smacking the fist into his open palm several times while giving his best evil grin.

  “Of course,” the Captain continued, “this means something for the rest of you. Corinne, you’re officially the CAG of Avenger, though you’re already at Captain Second Rank. Merritt, you assume command of the Vipers, leaving Web and whomever you choose as section leaders.” Elco truly enjoyed this part of his job- rewarding people for their hard work, skills, and mastery of their craft.

  “Now, the really interesting part.” Captain Elco turned to the anonymous intelligence officer, who stood up as Elco sat down at the head of the briefing table.

  “Hello, I am Lieutenant Commander Riles,” the Qualin officer began.

  “I am here to conduct a briefing classified as above top secret. You all have had your security clearances adjusted for this accordingly, and you can review the details later. This mission was approved by Admiral Nodam Bak. Suffice it to say, you shouldn’t talk about this to anyone. Don’t dream about it, and unless you’re in a shielded room, don’t think about it, either.”

  Loren noticed Cory looking at him quizzically, and wondered if she was thinking the same thing he was. Was this man serious, or did he just have a terribly dry sense of humor? In addition, anything involving the notorious Admiral Bak was worrisome.

  “A few days ago, a SAR operative that you know sent in a request for assistance. That operative is Lieutenant Halley Pascal, and she is currently operating undercover and alone on Callidor.”

  Loren watched Web, who positively glowed at news of Halley.

  “Captain Elco, this briefing is for you as well, since this information is only being relayed by hand. The Primans have been conducting regular attacks on our communications, and they are somewhat better at it than we would prefer them to be.

  “In any case, here is the story. Lieutenant Pascal sent us a message signaling she needed assistance. She mentioned several events on Callidor while she was there with you, and after reviewing her mission reports, we have determined that she was in fact requesting all of you, perhaps Avenger herself. We do believe she asked for the Torino as well, and we’re still trying to figure out if we can accommodate that request.”

  “Must be something special if you’re considering sending a ship like her with five thousand Marines aboard,” said Web.

  “Actually, we think she just wants the surface bombardment ability of the ship.”

  “So why does she want help?” Web continued.

  “She has found evidence of an advanced DNA weapon, one that could spell destruction for most of the advanced civilizations in this part of the galaxy,” Riles replied simply.

  “Oh. Well, that’s a good reason, I guess,” was all Web could muster.

  “She has sent us data on the weapon, as well as possible locations of the production and research facilities. She wants additional help in investigating and neutralizing these targets. Frankly, a detachment of SAR operatives would be more appropriate, but she would know that they are all widely scattered right now. In addition, a full frontal assault would probably be beyond us at this time. As you may have seen, the Ninth and Third Fleets are pretty well exhausted. We’ll need months before they’re both at acceptable strength, and acceptable is nowhere near what they entered the battle with. So they’re going to be off the line for a while refitting and acting as theater reserves as soon as we start patching divisions together. In the meanwhile, our other fleets are occupied, and I just don’t think we’d be able to free up enough hulls to mount a traditional assault right now.”

  “That’s a very long and thoughtful explanation, but I think this is the place where I mention that we’re not trained as covert operatives or ground soldiers,” Loren spoke. “We’re pilots.”

  “I’ll go,” said Web.

  “Of course you would,” replied Cory, “we know you’re ready, but we wonder if we’re best suited for this mission.”

  “Your purpose is support and extraction. She’s been trained to know how to deal with a situation like this, and she’s asking for the people who are qualified for whatever she needs help with. Based on your skill set, she most likely could use help with the extraction. She also most likely wants people she knows and can trust, and according to your debriefings as well as hers, you all handled yourself well during a combat engagement on Callidor. Frankly, you fit the bill nicely. I realize your primary expertise is not ground combat, but if that’s all she needed she would have asked for troops. She’s asking for people she knows can handle themselves, and that she can reasonably expect to be assigned to the mission. If she’d asked for fifty SAR operatives, she would be sorely disappointed. Besides,” Riles softened, “the Primans will be less likely to expect trouble from Confed on Callidor since it’s a neutral planet.”

  “You can count on me, I can handle a weapon,” chimed Web again.

  “You just want her to handle your weapon,” Merritt said just loud enough for Web to hear.

  “I will punish you for that later, you realize.”

  “Gentlemen,” said Riles, “if we could return to the task at hand? Thank you.”

  Loren also decided he wanted the conversation back on track. The thought of taking the battle to the Primans was becoming very alluring. “How would we get on-planet? The security there is enormous.”

  “We have a covert operative who managed to infiltrate one of the companies that operates some of the passenger liners that have been conscripted into service to ferry people between the surface and the orbiting space stations. In the days following the initial Priman invasion, we sent out every operative, agent, everyone but the interns, with the intent to place them in positions on occupied worlds where we might someday use their access to our advantage. Luckily, we have this asset available to us. You will arrive at one of the space stations, meet him there, and he will provide you cover as the crew of one of the transports. Since the transport company itself is responsible for vetting the employees daily, once you’re aboard the ship as a crewmember you won’t be scanned or inspected. Once on the surface, you just walk off the field through the employee areas.”

  “What about the actual crew?” asked Cory.

  “Our agent will subdue them before you arrive and stash them in his quarters. You’ll meet him and he’ll give you IDs as t
he crew of the transport he’s on, and together you’ll impersonate the regular crew. Meanwhile the ship that brought you to the station will take the crewmembers he’s incapacitated back out to Confed space , because we can either do that or kill them to guarantee their silence and cooperation. I assume we’d all prefer kidnapping and relocation for them and their families to the alternative.

  “He’s arranged the schedules so that the crew you’ll be impersonating is only supposed to operate one flight down to the surface and then switch to another ship and schedule. As far as the schedule goes, the company will expect that crew to show up at another ship. In reality, your contact will just walk off and disappear, as will you, through the employee access areas. You’ll bring some weapons and equipment with you as well. That spaceport is busy enough that nobody will realize there’s anything out of sorts for quite some time, and even when they realize it’s not just some sort of scheduling error, we doubt anyone will know what to make of it until you’re long gone.”

  This time it was Elco who spoke up. “You’re covering the personnel side of things, but the Avenger isn’t ready for a fleet action at this time, either.”

  “We realize most of the Ninth Fleet is in rough shape, but that works fine with our plans. We don’t expect you to go in guns blazing. This is a covert op, something that a ship like yours is best suited to handle. You aren’t there to engage an enemy fleet; you’re there to insert Commander Stone and his team, then monitor for an extraction or help signal. Torino will stand off farther out, since she’ll be much easier to detect. This mission is perfectly suited for your ship, Captain Elco. Your major systems will be mission-ready in a day and a half, and then you’re on your way. The rest you can work on enroute.”

  “Doesn’t leave much room for debate,” countered Elco.

  “Or error,” added Riles. “There’s no turning back in any case; we’ve already sent Lieutenant Pascal a message alerting her to your arrival.”