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The Meeting - Part Eighteen
Capsule Jumped
23.03.2268
Capsule Space
En route to Alpha Centauri B
Capsule space never ceased to impress him, no matter
how often he saw it. Ferris watched the barrage of light and colour displayed
before them in the tunnel effect they perceived in this distortion of physical
space. The destination point was nearing, which meant that he had to prepare
for the return to normal space. He listened to his bridge officers reporting on
their respective systems they monitored prior to the shift into the space of
the Alpha Centauri B system.
"How long until we emerge at the Toliman point?"
Captain Ferris asked from the command seat.
"Just
under ten minutes, sir," McMichael answered.
"Time enough for a brief chat with Mr. Allbright,"
Ferris said. He turned to the ENG station to his right. "Mr. Skarsgaard, inform
Lieutenant Allbright of my desire to meet with him in my office immediately."
"Aye Captain."
Ferris un-strapped and exited the bridge quietly. His
arrived at office, only a few steps aft of the bridge, poured himself a cup of
water from the dispenser, and sat down to prepare his questions for Allbright.
It was bad enough to be stuck with unfamiliar personnel on a mission that
reeked of poor planning, but to have someone who didn't understand Navy protocol
engage in unauthorized tinkering was unconscionable. He was considering placing
this Allbright character under arrest when he heard the tap at the doorframe,
and looked up to see a stout, gruff man standing shoulders squared in his doorway.
"Sit," Ferris said, pointing to the chair opposite his
desk. Allbright complied quickly, but not meekly.
"I understand you made some small, last-minute repairs
to my ship just before we made jump," Ferris started out quietly, containing
his anger.
"Yes, sir, I."
"Shut it!" Ferris snapped, escalating to anger faster
than he'd intended. "You'll answer me when I ask you a direct question, not
before," Allbright nodded, crossing his arms in mute defiance. "Do you
understand the consequences of your unauthorized tinkering?"
"I assume we got left behind," Allbright said.
Ferris shook his head and snorted a half chuckle at
this man's insolence. "Correct. We missed our jump. Three of four escort ships
didn't and they are at Alpha Centauri wondering where the hell we are. It's a
pretty sorry way start to a mission, Mr. Allbright."
Allbright said nothing. He simply stared back at
Ferris as if he were bored with the whole interview. Ferris leaned forward,
arms on his desk. "Time for you to start telling me what the hell you are doing
on this ship."
"Captain. You've got a sabotage problem."
"Sabotage, now is it? That isn't exactly the response
I was anticipating. Is this a confession? Because right now, the only act of
sabotage I have in sight is the one where we were prevented from making a
coordinated jump."
"No, Captain. I'm telling you that someone else
sabotaged this ship, maybe while we were in port, maybe someone on board. My
guess is the former, because the damage would have put this ship at serious
risk if any combat situations arose. I'm the one who."
"Mr. Allbright. Answer my question. What the hell are
you doing on this ship?"
Allbright closed his eyes and took
a deep breath before continuing. "I'm the one who spotted it and fixed it as
quickly as I could. There wasn't time for chain of command or protocol, sir. If
we had jumped into a hostile situation, we would have overloaded a main linkage
and lost weapons after one shot, shields probably would have gone offline too
after a hit or two. It was a more complicated repair than I thought so the
system recharge took longer than I thought it would. I do apologize for causing
the mis-jump. But if I were you I'd be asking myself why someone would want
this ship incapacitated in a fight. Sir."
"I find myself asking myself what the hell you are
doing on my ship.and I keep getting bullshit for an answer!" Ferris shouted.
This time it was Allbright who leaned in close to
Ferris, fixing him with a withering stare. "I'm here because I had no other
choice. So fuck you and fuck your barking dog act. I don't give a damn one way
or another what you want. Lock me up for all I care, it seems to be the
standard Navy way of dealing with people, as far as I can tell. You say you
want the truth? Here it is: I was given an offer I couldn't refuse by one of
your Navy Intelligence people. She warned me that someone would try to prevent
this mission from succeeding, and that I should trust no one. She said I might
be able to trust you. So I studied my ass off and tried to keep my eyes open
for problems. I spotted one. I corrected it. I believe the correct response is
'Thank you', but I don't expect I'll hear it from you. Sorry if you lost a few
minutes off your precious 'coordinated jump' schedule."
"I get the impression you're not someone who tolerates
all this Navy bullshit very well."
"No, to be honest, there's a lot about you people I
just don't."
"Because here's the situation acting
Lieutenant Allbright! You're aboard a Navy vessel, which is part of the
Navy fleet, all of which operates according to the tried and true method of
respecting the chain of command and following orders. You don't have to like
it. You just have to do it. Do you think you can do that? Respect rank, and
follow orders?" Ferris glared at him.
Allbright stared back.
"I need to know right now, because if you can't,
you're not only useless to me, you're a liability to this ship, and I will
lock you up somewhere, in which case you won't be able to do whatever you were
put here to do."
"I understand. I can and will respect the chain of
command. You'll have no more problems from me, Captain," Allbright conceded.
"See that I don't. Just tell me who put you here,"
Ferris asked more calmly.
"Chen."
"I don't know much about her," Ferris acknowledged,
"except that she gives half the Navy the creeps, and other half just plain
hates her. She was head of operations of an intelligence-gathering platform at
Midway. They had to be evacuated when it looked like we were going to lose the
whole system, so some ships got diverted to assist the evacuation that were
needed elsewhere. I guess it was a pretty rough time for the evacuees, but the
Navy took that whole thing pretty hard. The folks in intel have never been
popular with the regular navy, but ever since Midway, Chen and the whole,intel
branch have been on a lot of people's shit list."
Ferris paused and thought carefully for a moment
before continuing. "Here's the deal Mr. Allbright. I'm going to give you
another chance. You do your job and you do it extremely well, do you understand
me?"
"Aye, Captain," Allbright said much less
enthusiastically.
"You respect that uniform, and the
people you work with, and.keep your eyes peeled for any more odd occurrences.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this last one. When someone starts
talking about sabotage on my ship, I start getting very nervous. It won't hurt
to have some extra eyes looking for unusual problems, I suppose. Just remember
that I'll be watching you very carefully, too," Ferris checked his watch
and realized they were due to arrive at Alpha Centauri soon.
"I'm needed back on the bridge. Return to your post
and be sure to inform me of any other problems before you decide to take
any action. Is that clear?"
"Crystal clear, sir. Thank you," Allbright was already
up and leaving the office.
"Allbright!"
"Captain?"
"In the Navy, there's this thing called a salute."
"Oh, sorry sir," Allbright seemed genuinely sorry as
he snapped to attention and offered a decent imitation of a Navy salute. "I
really didn't mean any."
"Nevermind, just get," Ferris said with a quick salute
response. He waited for Allbright to leave and headed back to the bridge with
two minutes to spare before exit to normal space. He would need more time than
two minutes to think about the implications of a Navy Intel plant on board.and
so obviously not a properly trained one on top of that, as well as the
possibility of sabotage. Under normal circumstances he would bring everything
to a halt and take the time to think about it. These were not normal
circumstances.
They
emerged in a blinding flash of light almost at the same moment the Crusader emerged
from her capsule space transit. Alarms rang instantly, as they registered
debris and residue from explosions. There has been a battle here very recently,
and some of the wreckage was still hot.
"Captain,
I've got debris and ship fragment contacts all over the area. The fighting is
over, but only just," Ravindran announced. "Five intact ships in the vicinity,
all corvettes. I'm reading two in amongst the nearest cluster of debris, and
three more much further out, near another collection of debris fragments."
"WEPs,
get me IDs!" Ferris shouted. "NAV, stand by evasive manoeuvres and get me Crusader."
Ravindran
was already identifying what she was reading. "The debris is what's left of our
escort. Three destroyed Navy corvettes. The other five ships are all stolen and
heavily armed.three are on our list of known pirates."
"Crusader
here," Hyslop-Smith could be heard on the comm arm as it unfolded in front
of Ferris. "Looks like we caught those pirates trying to salvage what they can
from their victims."
Ferris
looked at the tactical display, and realized that Hyslop-Smith was right. The
pirates probably thought they had time to grab a few goodies before hightailing
it again. "We've got five contacts, assumed hostile, and confirmation that our
escort was destroyed," he replied. "Crusader, you take the nearest
pirate vessel, the Caustic Kiss, and disable her. I want prisoners.
We'll handle the rest."
"Very
well, Captain Ferris. Breaking off to attack now." The comm arm winked out and
folded itself back into the retracted position.
"Rav,
launch a REM missile immediately, and link it to me." Ferris ordered. "Then
launch disruptors at the Just Plain Mean. Defensive PBC fire only."
"They've
spotted and identified us. The pirate vessels are all turning to engage us
now," McMichael said. "It looks like we surprised them a little too. They're
all launching missiles, and the Just Plain Mean and the Caustic Kiss are
firing at us."
Ferris
was busy guiding his REM-linked missile toward the three pirate vessels that
had been further away, but were now speeding toward them. He saw the names of
the targets on his display, as they raced into PBC range. The Something
Wicked, the Gangrene IV, and the Disturbing Development would
be upon them in several seconds, but before that, hopefully they would
encounter his REM missile. If he could guide it toward the middle ship and
detonate it at the right moment, he would be able to destroy them all with one blow.
He guided the missile at them, mentally calculating the timing of the blast
with their approaching velocity. The targeting computer was making the same
calculation, displaying a set of numbers that counted down so quickly they
blurred into a flicker of unreadable symbols. He pressed the detonation trigger
moments before the last of the digits disappeared and lost his link instantly.
He looked out the front view port, to the place he estimated they were, and he
saw the expanding sphere of dissipating light that marked the location of the
missile's explosion.
"Direct
hit, sir," Ravindran said. "The three pirates from the more distant group have
been eliminated. The Something Wicked is the only one left and it is
tumbling and heavily damaged. It doesn't look like it will last long. Internal
explosions are probably still ripping it apart. The Caustic Kiss has
engaged the Crusader. It looks like they're off on a high-speed chase.
Both vessels are already nearing the limits of our sensors. Our first two disruptors
have missed the Just Plain Mean, or were countered. There's just too
much debris over there. They're using the destroyed hulks to evade missile
locks. Launching another now."
"Mac,
get us in closer to those wrecks," Ferris ordered.
"Aye,
Captain. Moving in on them now," McMichael said. He pressed the main thrust
overrides into the full forward position, and gripped the controllers tightly.
They all felt the subtle changes in directional forces while the pilot
manoeuvred closer to the target. "Captain, it looks like the Caustic Kiss
has damaged the Crusader and is returning to engage us. The Crusader
is adrift for the moment."
"Stay
with the Just Plain Mean everyone," Ferris said. "Rav, what's the status
on that last disruptor?"
Ravindran
was about to say, "Hit," when their entire vessel shook violently. Despite the
powerful inertial dampening field, the jolt she felt made her grateful for the
restraint harnesses. They all looked at one another a little shocked at the
reminder of the limits of the dampening field.
"What
the hell was that?" Ferris shouted. "Did we just take a missile right on the
hull, or was that a debris impact?"
"Neither,
Captain," McMichael said. "The starboard accommodation module has just undocked
and hit full thrusters right on top of us. They're headed for the Just Plain
Mean, sir."
"Damn!"
Ferris exclaimed. "What in the hell is Carr up to?" he said as he keyed open a
channel to the marine pastie.
"Captain,"
Ravindran said. "I can confirm that we have successfully disrupted the systems
of the pirate vessel Just Plain Mean. It looks like the marine pastie is
going to dock with her. We have the Caustic Kiss inbound on us now. The Crusader
is in better repair now, and trying to get back in the fight too, but she's
still quite far out."
"How
long until the Caustic Kiss is in range?"
"Less
than fifteen seconds, sir."
Colonel
Carr was not responding to his comm request, so Ferris gave up on the pastie
for the moment and focused his attention on the approaching pirate vessel.
"They're
coming in fast, launching everything they've got at us," Ravindran uttered
calmly into the wire-thin audio pickup attached to her headset. The ship
jittered and bounced to the fire they were receiving. Yellow and magenta light
flared outside the forward view port as the LDA countered incoming PBC fire.
"Evading. launching countermeasures.launching seeker.and returning fire now,"
she continued in her calm manner. PBC fire could be seen streaking forward
toward their unseen enemy as they approached in a head on contest. A rush of
static told Ferris that the pirate corvette had just skimmed past at tremendous
speed. McMichael was already flipping the corvette end over end and firing at
the passing pirate. "Got her!" he exclaimed.
"Confirmed,
Captain," Ravindran announced, excited. "The Caustic Kiss is crippled
and tumbling. Our seeker is about to find her.and..." They all watched the
light flare out the forward viewport. "She's gone. Completely vaporised. Enemy
destroyed, Captain."
"Mac, get us back to the
marine accommodation module," Ferris ordered, watching the pilot nod in reply.
"And try to get the Colonel on comm for me, will you. Skarsgaard, what's the
status on the CRUSADER?"
"Limping
back, Captain. She'll be OK, but my guess is they'll need time to make
repairs."
"We've
got a link to the marines now. Colonel Carr is on the comm."
They heard the
sounds of explosions, gunfire, and screams. They heard Colonel Carr's voice
shouting over the background din, sounding annoyed at the interruption. "We're
kind of busy here, Captain, what do you want?"
"Get
back here as soon as possible, and meet me in my office immediately," said
Ferris. "And make sure we get a captive alive. I have some questions that need
answering."
"Captain," Ravindran shouted. "We're still not alone.
I thought I saw something else when we jumped in, but there was so much
wreckage and then the hostiles, I."
"What
have you got, Rav?" Ferris asked.
"I'm
still not sure, captain. I'm getting two small contacts, quite far out, but within
sensor range. They don't seem to make any sense. If they were truly that small,
at the range we're seeing them, we shouldn't be able.and the speed and power
output doesn't match." Ravindran continued to try to decipher the readings.
"Wait, they've moving off. It looks like they're accelerating to LDS."
"Mac,
Pursue them!"
Aye,
sir. Engaging auto." McMichael cut short his report. "Sorry sir, they're
already gone and off the scope. I couldn't even get a heading."
Ferris
sighed and looked down at his screen for a moment. "Contact the Crusader
and offer assistance. In the meantime, bring that marine pastie back on board."
He watched his screen as the specialized marine accommodation module undocked
from the drifting hulk of the pirate corvette and manoeuvred toward them for
re-attachment.
"Crusader
sends her compliments by text only, Captain," Skarsgaard said. "Captain Hyslop-Smith
states that repairs are proceeding well. They are not in need of assistance,
and will join us presently."
"Very
well," said Ferris, as he keyed his comm arm again, in an effort to raise
Colonel Carr. "Colonel. Please report to my office immediately. I want a full."
"I'm
sorry Captain, but I won't be able to meet with you for some time. We're simply
too busy here with our operations," Carr replied coolly.
Ferris
held back his temper. "Understood Colonel. I'll accept your report here and
now, then. What happened during your boarding action?"
"You'll
receive a full written report of the action within twenty four hours. The upshot
of it is that we had a single survivor, who was not able to provide much
information to us during the debriefing phase."
"Are
you telling me we only have one survivor from that ship left?" Ferris was
incredulous.
"Had,
Captain. Had," Carr corrected. "He did not survive the.debriefing."
"What
were you able to learn during this debriefing?"
"Only
that this group of pirates were in the employ of someone who paid them well to
destroy the group of vessels emerging from that L-point at that precise time,"
Carr reported. "They were instructed to leave no survivors, and were permitted
to take what they wanted from the wreckage, so long as they disappeared very
quickly. These pirates believed they had completed their task and were looting
the wrecks when we emerged.apparently taking them as much by surprise as they
did our former escort ships. That is all."
"So we
have no idea who paid them?"
"I'm
afraid not, Captain. That is all we know, at this point."
"Thank
you, Colonel. Next time I tell you I want survivors, you better give me
survivors to talk to personally. And the next time I call you to a meeting, I
expect you to be there. Ferris out," he cut off the comm, eager to end the
conversation with the marine colonel as quickly as possible.
McMichael
broke the silence. "You hear that Rav? No survivors! I told you the guy was a
complete nut job. I don't even want to think about what they did to interrogate
that pirate. But I'll bet it has something to do with why they call him 'The
Barber'."
"Listen up,
people. We came through that one relatively unscathed, but we need to stay
sharp. This mission is making less and less sense all the time. Good work
everyone. Let's move over to the Crusader, and lend what aid we can."
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