Merkiaari Wars: 04 - Operation Breakout Page 13

  “I’ve read everything I can get my hands on about what went down. If you don’t mind talking about it, I’d love to quiz you on the details.”

  “I don’t mind. Everything has been declassified, but I don’t think I can add anything that the newsies didn’t already get out of me.”

  He hadn’t much liked that part of what happened when Canada arrived at Sol shot to hell. The President had asked him to put a spin on the entire matter when the newsies got wind of what happened. He needed public support to prepare for the Merki everyone was sure were coming. For Tei’Varyk and his people’s sakes, he had done his best. Since then, the Shan had joined the Alliance. The battle to liberate their worlds and their location had been declassified not long ago. There hadn’t really been anything secret about Canada’s part in the story anyway.

  “I wish I could talk to Tei’Varyk. I have recordings of the speech he gave when he accepted his seat on the Council. I would love to hear his side of your battle with the Merkiaari.”

  Walder knocked on the table with a knuckle, bringing the meeting back to order. “Your exploits are well known, Captain Colgan. I’m afraid your adoring fans are unlikely to be as impressed with your recent performance however.”

  Captain Paice gasped. “Commodore! I must protest.”

  “Must you?” she said mockingly. “I suppose you must. A fan should support his heroes after all.”

  Paice’s face reddened. “Despite your obvious wish to discover some fault in Captain Colgan’s actions here in Helios, I find nothing to support your bias against him.”

  “Captain Paice, that’s enough!” Narraway snapped angrily. “Apologise!”

  “No, it’s all right,” Walder said. “I’m thick skinned enough to fight my own corner.”

  “Insubordination to a superior officer should never be overlooked, ma’am,” Narraway said, disapproval thick in his voice. “It invites further ill discipline.”

  “I agree,” Colgan said and received a look of betrayal from Paice. “Thanks for the thought, Dave, but I don’t need anyone’s protection. My decisions, good or bad, stand for themselves, as do the results of them. If I’ve made mistakes, I expect to be called to account.”

  “Very noble,” Walder sneered. “Men die and you collect your medals, but you’re ready to be called to account.”

  “Yes I am, Commodore. Should I contact my advocate after all?”

  Walder’s lips thinned as she polled the other’s reactions. None but Narraway would look her in the eye. It was obvious that none of the others supported her in this. She looked at Colgan with hatred burning in her eyes. He was fortunate that Warrior wasn’t her flagship. It would have been torture seeing that look every day knowing he had to take her orders.

  He had made a lifetime enemy here and saw no way to fix it. She was his first. Others he knew had made enemies in their rise through the ranks, but he never had. He was as apolitical as a navy officer came. He didn’t make enemies, he made friends. He stared into her hostile eyes wishing for a way to pacify her, but couldn’t think of anything... well no, wait. Vengeance might go some way toward calming her.

  “Commodore, if I don’t need to prepare for a court marshal, may I propose we turn our attention to eradicating the scum who attack innocent traders and kill marines in this sector?”

  Walder’s eyes flashed and her nostrils flared as she inhaled sharply. The rumble of angry agreement swept the room and she nodded.

  Colgan relaxed tight shoulders. “My tactical officer, Lieutenant Ivanova, has done a magnificent job with her analysis of the data we captured. With your permission, I would like her to make her presentation before we discuss ways and means.”

  Walder leaned back in her seat to listen as Anya stood to take Healey’s place at the holotank controls.

  * * *

  10 ~ Stationmaster

  Aboard Viper Courier Ship Harbinger, Helios System.

  The huge wheel of Helios Station hung in the blackness of space, turning majestically as Kate manoeuvred onto the right approach. Eyes closed and linked with Harbinger via her neural interface, she was the ship. It was like swimming in vacuum. No ship between her and the infinite black, no suit to hinder her movement. She had never felt as free as she did right now. Her legs were the drives, ready to propel her wherever she wanted to go. The nanocoat, her skin bathed in the solar wind. Her eyes were the ship’s sensors. She saw everything!

  Helios had become a popular destination only recently but already the navy was here in strength with a lot of heavy metal docked nose to station. She would have to be extra careful getting in safely. She could easily imagine what would happen if she miscalculated the angular velocity she needed to match the station’s spin. Too fast or slow would have the ship next to her assigned docking slip sweep around and smash her like a bat hitting a baseball. Talk about out of the park! She looked around for obstructions and located another ship approaching from behind—a tanker, heading to the deuterium plant that the station controlled. It was gaining but she was on final and had right of way.

  A nanosecond of thought was all it took to cycle through the spectrum and back to visible light. Another burst of pure thought, and her grav detectors reported in. No dangers detected. Another flicker of thought and her anti-grav thrusters in the bow pulsed slowing her. As if she’d raised her hands and pushed against an invisible wall, she felt herself slow, and judged the small rotation she had intentionally introduced into her motion as just about right.

  Closer now, very close. She could see her destination with its docking collar, clamps, and umbilicals waiting. She kicked her legs and a brief pulse of thrust edged her toward those docking clamps reaching to embrace her. A push with her hand to one side... another... another... she drifted slowly forward and sideways. The docking collar was dead ahead. She had matched the station’s motion. Ten metres, five... one.

  Bang! Clang-thump!

  “And we’re docked,” Kate said in satisfaction as the station grapples slammed home. She opened her eyes and turned to the others. “Hey, you think I have a future in the navy?”

  Stone grunted noncommittally.

  Gina laughed. “Sure, I’ll recommend you for retraining. You’ll make a good marine.”

  She growled. “I meant as a ship driver. This is a really sweet ride, you know?”

  “Only the best for the General,” Gina agreed. “Neural interfaces make everything easy.”

  “Think so do you?” Stone said. “Ever tried it in combat?”

  “Well... no, but—”

  “Take my word for it. It’s harder.”

  Gina shrugged.

  Kate was sitting at the helm controls on the bridge with the others, but she hadn’t needed to use them the entire trip. Harbinger was equipped with neural interfaces throughout, meaning she could have flown it from her rack if she’d wanted to. Three of them had handled a class of ship normally crewed by twelve with ease. Gina had monitored environmental and the fusion room, while Stone handled engineering and the drives. Kate had preferred the helm and navigation, but could have performed any or all of the tasks needed to run Harbinger.

  “I bet I could fly this baby on my own,” she said in challenge. “I bet I could.”

  “Sure you could, as long as you swear off sleep,” Stone said. “I wouldn’t recommend it though. We’re not all machine. We still need some sleep to function.”

  She shrugged. She’d gone without sleep before.

  Stone pushed his couch back and away from his station and stood. “Let’s do this and do it right. I had you pack full dress uniforms for a reason.” He turned to Kate who hadn’t risen. “I need you with me, Richmond. I know you want to see your brother, but when one of us falls everything else comes second.”

  Kate stood. “Mission first,” she agreed reluctantly. She didn’t begrudge giving honour where it was due. It was just that she’d been hunting for her brother so long, it was hard waiting even a moment longer. “But I’m seeing him today. I don’t
care if I have to wake up the entire station. I see him today.”

  “That’s fine.”

  “We don’t know our guy is dead,” Gina protested. “I mean the beacon can fail. He could be in hibernation.”

  “That’s rare, but it can happen,” Stone agreed. “Depends on the kind of damage. We can hope, but I’m assuming the worst.”

  Kate agreed. Assuming the worst made all surprises good ones. She joined her friends as they headed for the hatch.

  Kate changed into her dress uniform and met the others at the outer hatch. Stone gave her an approving nod and keyed open the hatch. She noticed the lack of stasis tube and wondered about it briefly, but Stone brought it up as they descended the ramp toward the docks.

  “One of us can come back for it,” Stone said. “We’ve been invited to station offices to present our bona-fides.”

  Gina grimaced and rolled her eyes at Kate.

  She scowled. “This isn’t one of those greet the heroes type of things is it?”

  “Yeah, I think so. Helios isn’t strictly a naval station anymore even though it was built by the navy. I guess the civs are excited to see us in the flesh.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Civilian contractors took it over almost thirty years ago and opened it up to traders passing through. Before that, the refuelling facilities were Fleet only and the place lost money hand over fist. Shame there isn’t a habitable planet here for a colony. I think it makes a good profit now.”

  She smirked at his wistful tone. “Thinking about changing your line of work, Stone? Can’t see you in trade myself.”

  “Ha-de-ha. You want to take a wider interest, Richmond. Blowing shit up is great, but building stuff is more important in the long run. Ask the General which he thinks should be the priority in the Alliance.”

  She had nothing to say to that. It was always easier to tear stuff down rather than build, but destruction was what vipers were designed for and supposed to do. She was good at it.

  They stepped off the ramp and onto the docks. Gina took Stone’s right side and Kate his left. The arrangement was automatic and they quickly matched stride as they marched along the docks toward a transit hub. Already their uniforms had attracted attention. Pedestrians and dockworkers stopped to gawk. The space black colour of their uniforms would have been enough on their own—navy shipsuits and dress uniforms were white—but the colourful ribbons and medals on chests together with the silver piping down the outside of their trouser legs told everyone something unusual was going on. The combination of black tunics and berets shouted their affiliation to anyone with even a little knowledge of military dress. Wearing full dress uniforms and medals caused surprise to sweep through the crowd as they progressed. She didn’t acknowledge them. She kept her eyes cool and straight ahead.

  The great wheel design of Helios Station was more than evident as they navigated the crowds. Kate had a good view of the dock as it curved up into the distance. She had seen the like many times, but it still made her think when she saw people and vehicles climbing an incline that never arrived. Walking the docks like this felt like walking on a level plane, yet if she looked back she would find that she had seemingly been walking downhill. She hadn’t of course; she was navigating the inside of a giant circle.

  Stations were massive constructions. The only things built bigger by man were the shipyards that handled construction of fleet carriers, super dreadnoughts, and the biggest merchant transports. The outer rim they were navigating had a diameter of over 5km, giving Helios the ability to dock and refuel most ships. The system rarely received visitors it couldn’t accommodate in one form or another. It maintained its own small auxiliary fleet in the form of tankers and transports able to resupply ships that couldn’t dock.

  Kate’s sensors reached out and pulled in data from her surroundings constantly. They did so automatically, trawling every spectrum and frequency for threat or data she may have set for the current op. In this case, she wanted anything mentioning the dead viper, the battle here in this system, or the prisoners taken and held here, flagged for her attention. Any information regarding her brother had priority of course, but then it always did. She had set that particular priority the first day after enhancement, her first one, and she’d done so again when her new processor came on-line and she uploaded the backup of her old data. Thank God the damage to her old processor hadn’t cascaded into her database. Hymas had run a full backup to storage crystals the day Stone dragged her broken and dying off the battlefield of Zuleika.

  Kate kept her eyes moving, studying and cataloguing everything she saw. Her database drank it all in. To an outsider she probably looked like Stone’s bodyguard, Gina too, but she knew the others were performing the same sweeps automatically. Stone might be, probably was, already in Helios’ security net looking for information. She would be too, but later, and for a different reason. How else could she bust her brother out without getting caught? For now she let her systems access the net, but kept to public areas.

  She glanced up, but the overhead gantries and support structures were lost to shadow and distance despite the huge lights suspended there. She cycled through infrared and back but there was nothing to be concerned about. She hadn’t expected there would be, but her instincts were always to check. The gantries and whatnot up there made for a good OP for snipers. Most wouldn’t think to look up. She wasn’t most people. She took note of the massive section seals. They pointed to the station’s origins as a naval facility. All stations had them, but blast doors designed as strong as these were intended to withstand more than decompression. Only those resupplying ships with munitions needed such strong safety measures.

  She eyed the dock front stores and eateries wondering if she would have time today to investigate them. Plenty of bars with their neon signs advertising cheap prices and entertainment were scattered amongst them. They would cater to all kinds of interesting people. Crews from visiting ships, yes, but more importantly from her standpoint, station personnel. She had an interest in those, especially anyone working for security.

  “So, Helios is entirely civilian now?” Kate said noting the marine sentries guarding some of the ramps. “What about security?” Stone shot her a knowing look and her face heated. Damn, he knew her too well. “Marines guarding the dock, see?”

  Stone nodded with a small smile upon his lips. “Fleet follows its own procedures as always. Like I said, the station is civilian now; entirely civilian according to my research. They handle their own security. They have a proper system of courts to handle evil doers and drunks.” He laughed at something he’d thought of but didn’t explain.

  “You researched the station?” Gina said in surprise. “Why?”

  “Oh no reason,” Stone said glancing sideways at Kate again. “You never really know what might come in handy in our line of work.”

  Gina snorted. “Spooks. You just can’t help yourselves can you?”

  “Knowledge is power they always say, and I’ve found that to be true. Besides, Richmond and I aren’t spooks or Intel weenies anymore. We’re much too dignified and official these days. Call us OSI operatives or agents.”

  “How about I just call you my friends, or vipers?”

  “That works too,” Stone agreed. “Don’t think opting out of my section gets you entirely off the hook, Fuentez. We all go undercover eventually.”

  Gina shrugged. “I’ll go where the General sends me and do what he tells me to do, but I don’t have to volunteer for it.”

  “I didn’t say that, but having the skills as a contingency never hurts.”

  “Maybe,” Gina allowed.

  Kate grinned. Gina would make a terrible agent. It wouldn’t matter what cover or disguise she used, the moment she opened her mouth everyone within hearing would make her for military. Her personality shouted hard-nosed marine.

  Their luck was in when they reached the transit hub. A pod arrived and emptied of passengers just as they reached embarkation. The three quickly boa
rded and almost immediately were whisked away into the guts of the station. They were the only passengers in the pod. Gina asked about the meeting they were headed for, but Stone didn’t know much more than he’d already said. The Stationmaster wanted to see them, and you didn’t say no to such personages. Stationmasters might as well sit on God’s right hand way out here in the Border Zone. They were the highest authority aboard any civilian station, but in systems like Helios that lacked habitable planets, they governed like kings of old.

  The trip through one of the spokes of the station to Station Offices took only a few minutes. Kate spent the time looking at the ships she could see through the tunnel’s many windows as they blurred by, but her thoughts were on her brother. How could she get him to safety? Stone knew—he must know, that she wouldn’t leave without him. His sharp look when she mentioned station security hinted that he was onto her. Of course he was. He knew her pretty well by now, as she knew him. Would he help? She frowned when she realised that she didn’t know him quite well enough to bet her brother’s life on it. She thought he would, but he had limits. She would do anything to save her brother, anything at all, but Stone would do nothing that harmed the regiment in any way. Normally she wouldn’t either, but her brother was her one exception. She didn’t think Stone had an exception where the regiment was concerned. As for Gina, it was telling that she didn’t once consider asking her friend for help with this. Gina would give her life to save a friend, but Kate knew beyond doubt not to ask her to break the law.

  They debarked from the pod and made their way to the Stationmaster’s office. If they hadn’t known they’d entered the hallowed halls of station administration, the people they encountered there would have clued them in. They all wore expensive suits, the style she thought of as bureaucrat chic—stiff collared like her dress uniform, but light grey and pinstriped in colour, crisply pressed trousers, and blindingly white shirts. Men and women all wore the same thing just like a military unit, and all wore the neural headsets that let them hold conferences in a virtual environment, but there the similarity ended. These people were a riot of colour and style in personal grooming. Orange hair, pink hair, no hair. Hair in stripes or patterns and not just on heads but also on faces. The General would have apoplexy if he saw this. She guessed that being bureaucrats and civilian at the same time must screw with their brains in some odd manner. They couldn’t wear their accustomed clothes while working. The slashed open, colour clashing, near naked—in some cases—styles would be very distracting; so hair colour and style became their way of expressing themselves.