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The Meeting - Part Eleven
Shuffling the Deck (cont'd)
21.03.2268. 1008 GMT
Saltlake Naval Base
L5 point in Earth orbit
One hour after the mission briefing had finished, the
officers of the Redoubt sat together in a common recreation lounge a few
doors away from Ferris' billet.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss details of the briefing
any more than I already have, but that's the news. Sorry, Kenji."
"Transferred?!
What.I mean, did I do anything wrong? Captain, am I being punished for
something?" Iwamasa was still in shock from the news of the briefing.
"No,
this is not punishment. It's life in the Navy. You go where you're ordered, and
hope that they know where you can do the most good." Ferris said, still trying
to reassure his Chief Engineer. "Reassignment is common, you know that. Don't
take it so personally. They're just shuffling the deck a little." He regretted
starting the post-briefing analysis with that piece of news. They circled the
soft chairs together around a low table in the lounge, trying to look like they
were just catching up on old times, and not conferring on a secure mission
briefing that ended twenty minutes ago.
Iwamasa,
stung by the news, was still visibly upset. "Yeah, but the Niagara?"
"Look
on the bright side Kenji. She's only a year old. You're getting a ship that's
almost brand new. And you'll be joining a good crew." McMichael tried his hand
at consolation, too. "Lejeunne will be a good Captain, and the rest of the
former Corregidor gang is a good bunch to get behind. They're
experienced and they're tough. And hey, at least everyone aboard the Niagara has
skin of some colour or another. We get to look at the Visible Man for the next
few weeks."
"I
guess the crew could be worse," Iwamasa conceded, "but the Niagara spent
the last eight months in repair docks, getting her premix chamber and faulty
coil shielding replaced." Everyone knew about the recent spate of problems
cropping up in newer corvettes as contractors tried cutting costs during
manufacturing. "It isn't much comfort getting assigned to a ship that needs a
new crew because her previous crew is still recovering from the dose they got.
It sounds more like a curse than a blessing to me."
Ravindran
reframed the assignment for him again. "Then think of it this way: Of all the
things that can go wrong on a machine as complex as a star ship, that
particular problem isn't likely to occur again." Whether it was her logic, or
simply because it came from her, this argument provided the most effective
tonic for his hurt. He stopped complaining, and looked at Ferris to continue
his description of the briefing. They all looked at him, which was his cue to
continue.
"I
wish that was the worst part of the news, but there's more." Ferris said. "Not
only will Skarsgaard fill Kenji's seat. We have a number of crew replacements
and guests, which means we have to bench almost a third of our standard crew
just to fit everyone on board." He waited for them to react with sounds of
disbelief before he continued. "We'll get an intelligence specialist from the
spook department; a desk jockey, by the looks of it. Apparently, it's the same
guy Rav reported to when we got back from a certain chilly mission that shall
go un-named. His name is Lt. Yves Dupuis." They looked at Ravindran, who nodded
in recognition of the name, then turned their attention back to Ferris. "The
cherry on the cake, though, is our esteemed guest, Colonel Carr and an assault
squad of marines, complete with their own, specially equipped accommodation
module."
McMichael
spoke first. "You're joking, right? The Barber?! That guy is completely
unhinged. He's a psycho, Captain! You've heard of him, right? He's the guy
responsible for eliminating an entire colony of miners out in the NDS-A system,
because they were suspected of being Indie sympathizers."
"Or so
the story goes." Ferris finished for him. "Unfortunately, Mac, though the
rumours we hear about Colonel "Barber" Carr may or may not be true, he's our
psycho. We're stuck with him and his marines for the duration. He may be a
little overly enthusiastic, but he has a reputation as the guy who gets the job
done." Ferris replied. "Like everything else, these are our orders, and it's
our job to carry them out. We're going to have to make the best of it. We
launch either late tomorrow or first thing the day after that, depending on
when they get the Redoubt ready."
"They're
really rushing the turnaround, aren't they?" Iwamasa said, he was coping with
the news of his reassignment better now. "Is there anything I can do to help,
Captain?"
"That's
good of you to ask, Kenji, but I'm afraid you're going to have your hands full.
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the Niagara heads
out for a shakedown patrol tomorrow morning with a skeleton crew. You're going
to be on it. You've got even less leave time than we do. You probably have a
message waiting for you from Lejeunne as we speak. It's a safe bet that you'll
be in meetings for most of the afternoon," Ferris said. Both Ravindran and
McMichael looked at each other in disbelief, then more sympathetically at
Iwamasa.
McMichael, in a rare gesture of camaraderie, placed
his hand on Iwamasa's shoulder and said, "As much as I love to bug you, Kenji,
I hate to see you go. You'll be missed."
Ravindran looked at Iwamasa a moment longer and said,
"That really doesn't give you much leave time. Perhaps we should go for a walk,
to delay receiving Captain Lejeunne's message.at least for a short while." She
stood, tilted her head, and raised her eyebrows at Iwamasa, who sat there still
stunned. "There are some things I need to pick up on the concourse. I could use
your help. Are you coming or not?" She turned and started toward the corridor.
He didn't need any more signalling than that. He stood
quickly, and cast a glance back at Ferris. "I'm just going to.ahh, go give
Rav.um, a hand."
"Get going, then. We'll catch up with you before you
launch." Ferris smiled and watched them leave.
McMichael blew out some air from pursed lips, raised
an eyebrow, and shook his head. After Ravindran and Iwamasa rounded the corner,
Ferris and McMichael sat in a silent reprise of the previous day's tension. The
air between them remained uncomfortable for a few moments. McMichael finally
broke the silence. "I must be missing something, Captain. This mission makes no
sense to me. They're all hot to catch a spy, and we're being sent out to hunt
one of our own spies, one that we've hardly seen or heard from in months. How
are the spooks on the Wolf-In-The-Fold supposed to be responsible for
the Amarid massacre? It's not like we keep sending them a steady stream of
sensitive information about our ambush plans. In fact, we've been pretty much
out of contact for some time. It just doesn't track."
"I'm glad you see it, too." Ferris replied just as
sceptically. "There is a lot about this mission that leaves me wondering. The
evidence against them is thin indeed, and it all hinges on some EDR recordings
I haven't even had time to review. We need to keep our eyes open. There are
still a few things we don't know about the connection between the Amarid
massacre and the Wolf-In-The-Fold, but its possible that the data we
retrieved from them during the Out in the Cold mission set the time and place
for that ambush."
"That far in advance?" McMichael said incredulously.
"I find that hard to believe. I'd be surprised if they knew where they were
going to be a week in advance, let alone a few months. No, that just doesn't
make sense to me."
"I agree. The logic doesn't seem right. But it won't
be the first time we've seen flawed logic in this man's navy." Ferris nodded.
"They really want these guys badly, dead or alive, and I get the feeling that
the preference is dead. I'm not at all sure we're being sent after the right
target, either. Still, something is definitely going on with the Wolf-In-The-Fold,
they've been out of touch so long.
"We owe them a serious favour. Screwed up or not, if I
can use this mission to help bring them in, or help them in any way at all, I'm
damn well going to do it. We owe it to them to see them out of harm's way." He
paused and shook his head again. "There are just too many things that don't add
up about this one." Ferris sighed as he slapped the palms of his hands on the
arms of the chair in a gesture of resignation. "I guess we aren't supposed to
require it to make sense. Vice Admiral Wexler said it himself: we're just a
piece of the puzzle. There are other things afoot we don't get to know about.
We follow our orders and trust in the folks upstairs."
They each sat for a moment in silence, absorbed in
their own thoughts, until the sound of McMichael sucking the last droplets of
his juice through a straw noisily from the bottom of his paper cup broke the
reverie. Ferris stood with a slight grunting sound and said, "I'm going to hit
the fitness centre for awhile, and then go over some of the mission prep notes.
I'll call you later. I need to get our people ready, go through your
recommendations to ensure we have the best of our crew with us, and then inform
everyone of the roster changes. After that, I'm going to try to get some rest.
I get the feeling we're going to need it. You should consider doing the same."
He turned and started to leave, but then stopped short of the exit, and looked
back at McMichael, who was still loudly sucking tiny juice droplets through his
straw. "The Niagara launches tomorrow at oh nine hundred. I think we
should be there about an hour earlier than that to see Kenji off."
"Absolutely. I wouldn't miss it." McMichael replied
with more sincerity than Ferris had seen in awhile. It suddenly struck him how
much he and Mac truly would miss the kid.
22.03.2268. 0806 GMT
Saltlake Naval Base
L5 point in Earth orbit
0800 hours came faster than Ferris would have liked.
The previous day had flown by. He had found too many things that had needed
doing, and too little time in which to do them all, including his hope to catch
up on sleep. He was still feeling a little groggy when he arrived at the ramp
of Saltlake's docking arm six, cup of coffee in hand. McMichael was arriving at
the same moment, taking a few hurried steps off the nearest lift to catch up
with Ferris as they approached the main dock ramp, trying carefully not to
spill his tea. Ferris saw that Ravindran and Kenji were already there, chatting
together. Iwamasa seemed to be doing much better than he had been doing
yesterday, when he learned of this new posting in the lounge. In fact, he was
laughing and smiling with Ravindran at some shared joke. Ravindran looked
different, too. She looked more relaxed and animated than usual. She looked
surprisingly feminine and attractive with her wavy black hair down around her
shoulders. Ferris wondered if it was due to the fact that she wore a more
casual outfit than her usual amber and green duty coveralls.
McMichael called out to them as they approached. "Hey
Rav, I almost didn't recognize you without the flight suit and the braid." She
responded with a look toward Mac that made it clear he wasn't the reason she'd
softened her appearance this morning. Ravindran and Iwamasa turned and greeted
Ferris with salutes and smiles. Iwamasa held his salute for Ferris a moment
longer than usual, making Ferris feel the full impact of Kenji's departure. He
returned the salute, and then shook Iwamasa's hand.
"I'm glad you could make it, Captain. I just got the
request to get aboard and start readying things." Iwamasa said. "This whole
shakedown patrol is happening really fast. Admiralty wants the Niagara tuned
and calibrated and ready for combat operations as soon as possible."
"I wouldn't have missed seeing you off, Kenji." Ferris
said with genuine warmth. "I was just getting you whipped into shape, too. I've
already filed the request paperwork to get you back, so don't get too
comfortable on this bucket, hear me?"
"I won't. At least I know that Lejeunne and his crew.I
guess I should say my new crew, are a decent lot." Iwamasa said. "Thanks
for coming down, but I'd better get aboard before my new captain declares me
AWOL. That wouldn't be a great way to start, would it?"
McMichael stepped in closer to Iwamasa, and shook his
hand, and said, "Take care of yourself out there, kid."
"Mac." Iwamasa smiled, "Do you have any idea how much
it bothers me when you call me 'kid'? It drives me nuts."
"Oh I know. I know exactly how much it bothers you."
McMichael returned the smile. "My life just isn't going to be as much fun anymore."
"Maybe you can dazzle the new see-through engineer
with your wit." Iwamasa countered. "I hate to admit it, but I'm going to miss
you, Mac."
"Me too, kid." McMichael winked, then stepped back a
few paces to let the others say their farewells.
Ravindran stepped up to Iwamasa and hugged him gently
for a moment, placed an even gentler kiss on his cheek, and then stepped back
without a word, joining McMichael a little further away. Iwamasa looked blankly
after her, as if he'd just missed something important, but wasn't certain what.
Then Ferris reached out to shake hands with him again,
and said, "I know you'll do us proud, and make your mark with your new crew.
You'll be an asset to whoever gets you. I just wished to hell we could keep you
with us. Stay safe, Kenji." With that he stepped away to join the others. They
began to walk away, to let Iwamasa turn and join his new crew, but before they
got more than a couple of meters away, Ravindran turned and walked quickly back
to where Iwamasa stood. She stepped in close to him, stood on her toes, reached
up to grasp the back of Kenji's neck in her hands, and drew him in for a kiss
with a force that seemed incongruous with her small frame. Iwamasa's arms found
their way around her slender waist, and they stood like that, pressed against
one another in a deep kiss, for longer than was comfortable for Ferris or
McMichael to observe. She finally ended the kiss, whispered something into his
ear, and then stepped away from him with an awkward backhanded wipe of her mouth.
Kenji continued to look blankly stunned, but this time
there were overtones of ecstasy in his expression. Without turning back,
Iwamasa stepped through and disappeared into the CNV Niagara.
Ravindran walked back to the others, gave them each a
confident look and a wry smile that silently dared either of them to make a
wisecrack. McMichael, unable to resist, said "Rav, you are just full of
surprises aren't you? You will never cease to amaze me."
She stepped in close to McMichael, her eyes fixed on
his, and placed her hand on his cheek, tapped it there three times and said,
"Good." before turning and walking away from all of them, toward the main
levels of the station.
McMichael turned to Ferris, and asked, "Didn't you
just lecture them about romance between ship mates?"
"Yes," Ferris replied, "but they aren't ship mates
anymore."
McMichael responded to that with a nod. He then asked,
"I wonder what she said to him?"
Ferris shook his head before saying, "None of our
business. Come on, we've got work to do." He turned and followed Ravindran away
from the ramp. McMichael shrugged and trotted a few steps to join them.
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