Owen, to Johannes’s surprise, went quiet. They walked together, neither saying a word. Once in Owen’s quarters, Owen turned on him.
“Out with it.”
“Things have just gotten strange.” He relayed the gist of Richardson’s warning. “So, I have to warn Bettina that she needs to hold Venture ready for immediate departure. I want you on Venture. Your mother will want you on Venture. Haida Gwaii is still a sitting duck. She has next to no defences, can’t run away, and can’t jump – at least not yet. And she needs your mother, and she needs me.”
“And me.”
“No. Both your mother and I will be able to do our jobs better with you gone. But there’s another reason.”
“No. I promised Sharon that I’d come to get her if things went wrong.”
His son had truly fallen for the major. And he could use that against him. “I know. And I’m operating under her orders.”
“What?” Owen’s look of shock almost made him want to laugh. But that would be unkind, and not helpful to his cause.
“Remember when she sent you out of the Catastrophe Core to talk to me alone?”
“Yes.” He fidgeted, not liking what he anticipated.
“She told me to get you out of the system. She said that she had given us that warning specifically so that I would do this. She told me that I owed her, and that this was the only coin she would accept. She loves you, Son.”
“And I love her. And that’s why I have to stay. I’m the only one who will go out of my way to save her. The rest of you consider her the enemy. You won’t lift a finger.”
And that hurt. “You’re wrong. For one thing, if she goes to the Catastrophe Core, she’ll be there with other Family members. So, we’ll at least want to save them, won’t we? And we wouldn’t just leave her behind once we got them out.”
Owen thought about that for a minute, but he didn’t look convinced. Johannes had only one more arrow left in his quiver. After that, he’d use force of authority. Lock the boy in the brig if necessary.
“If Haida Gwaii survives but FTL-1 doesn’t, we’ll go hunting survivors. If Haida Gwaii doesn’t, there’ll be no one to do that. I’m not sending Venture to Liberty, or Manila, or anywhere like that. She’s our last refuge.”
Owen narrowed his eyes. “Then where are you sending her?”
“Out of the system, as promised. But only just. She’ll take station just outside Pluto’s orbit. You’ll be six hours away by radio, so we can recall you relatively easily. And, if things go terribly wrong here, remember that our catastrophe plan has survivors meeting at the rendezvous point seven days after the plan goes into effect.
“Thus, either nothing will happen, in which case, you’ll stay on Venture in company with Haida Gwaii, or something happens and you’ll leave. Then you’ll either come back in answer to our signal, or come back seven days later to rescue survivors.”
And that was it. He had nothing more.
“I’ll need to tell Mom that I’m leaving.”
“Of course you will. I’ll carry your bags.”
“You’re coming with me?”
“Yes. Your mother and I are on good terms again.”
Owen breathed out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad to hear that.” Then he got a suspicious look on his face. “If you’ve lied to me, and Venture jumps for another system, I’ll never forgive you.”
Johannes handed him the datastick. “Tell Bettina I told you that she should watch this with you, in case she has any questions. It contains my orders – just as I’ve told you.”
“Sorry, Dad.”
Johannes patted him on the shoulder. “That’s okay. Let’s go see your mother.”
CHAPTER 29
FTL-1
Friday 27 August
Jill Paxton strode down the corridor of FTL-1 towards the Station Chief’s office. Grim of face, she entered to find Simon Fontaine hard at work over his screen.
“Simon, why are you still here?” she asked.
“There is still work to do, Jill. You know it; I know it. And we have Pierre sitting in his shuttle in Scotland waiting for the word. Operation Seed King, you know. I have charge of this. And we both understand the importance of it.”
At more than twice her age, and probably one hundred times her experience, Simon Fontaine constituted a force in the Families. One didn’t go up against him lightly. Jill drew herself up to her full height, and glared at him.
“Simon Fontaine. By order of the Family Trading League Head in Sol System, I’m ordering you off FTL-1. You are no longer welcome here.”
He stared up at her in disbelief. He slowly stood, forcing her to look up at him. However, she wouldn’t cow at either his experience and power or his height advantage.
“I do not believe you.”
“Believe or not as you wish. However, if you don’t leave this station within the hour, I’ll have security deport you. There’s nothing left of Operation Seed King but for me to give the final order. Or, if you insist on doing so, you can do it from Sendai Maru.”
“I shall call Johannes to get to the bottom of this.”
“Johannes has his own problems – as do I. I’m in the middle of my own operation, you know, and I don’t have time for this. So, if you must interrupt work on Haida Gwaii, you can do that from Sendai Maru, too.”
The old man looked about to blow up. She changed tacks.
“Simon, please. You’re the last Family Rep still on FTL-1. We can’t have those damned USNA soldiers capturing you. What do you think your Family would do if they demanded ransom? Would you put your Family in that position?”
The old man deflated. “No, I would not. But what about you, Jill? You remain here.”
“Someone has to. And my operation isn’t finished. I hope to get the last of Helen White’s people up tomorrow. Then we’ll just need the shuttle maintenance crew until we send down Pierre’s shuttles – or not even until then if they catch up on maintenance.”
He nodded slowly, having aged at least ten years before her eyes. “You make no mistake there. And you have your emergency evacuation plan ready – I have seen to that.”
She smiled, coming down off battle-ready. “Yes you have. Tomorrow, after the last researchers get up to Sendai Maru, she leaves the system. We still have Maid Marion standing by. We’re loading her – and Sendai Maru – with what remains in our warehouses. Anything else that we can get up off Earth will go straight to her, to Venture, or to Haida Gwaii.
“Any other ships of ours that drop will stand off and get their supplies directly from Earth. I believe Nakamura’s Kobe Maru will drop on the 30th. Bill Tannon on Haida Gwaii will do whatever he feels best for her. We don’t need a Station Chief on FTL-1 any longer.”
“Perhaps. And if your America soldiers just up and leave? If everything quiets down?”
She shrugged. “The we go into re-fit mode. As far as being a Family station, Haida Gwaii is fully operational. Everything calms down, Preston gets proved wrong, the sun shines brightly on the Earth, Haida Gwaii will return to Earth Orbit, and we refurbish FTL-1. Either way, you leave. Not so?”
She had won – unless Simon had another trick up his sleeve. The old man smiled at her.
“Bien sûr. Vous êtes formidable! You make a frightening opponent.” He turned his hands palms up and raised them. “May I please have more than one hour?”
She laughed. “Take as long as you need. But, please, leave soon.”
“And you will not send security after me?”
“Not if I have your word.”
“Mademoiselle, you have my word.”
“Thank you, Simon.”
One more thing done. Thanks be to whatever gods looked over her that Simon had seen the correctness of her position. She doubted that even security would have been able to move him had he decided to become obstinate.
She dropped in to the cafeteria, and put together a small meal. Off to one side she saw Major Sharon Temple. Her warning had set all this in
motion. Johannes believed her. Jill still didn’t like what she saw. In either case, friend or foe, Jill felt it better to not go near the woman. She sat by herself on the opposite side of the room, and ate quickly.
But not quickly enough, for her pager went off. Sighing deeply, she walked to the comm wondering what new emergency had arisen.
* * *
Haida Gwaii
Saturday 28 August
Jaswinder looked around the lab. She had begun to hate the place. But she had almost finished. She brushed the silver-streaked black hair away from her face. Never in her life had she felt so tired, so ready to just give up. Just another few days. Just another few days, and then she could rest.
The comm buzzed. Her face broke into a tired smile as Johannes’s face appeared.
“Jazz, they’ve just laid the last belt. It’s secure and tested. We’re ready for you.”
She took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. “I’m on my way.”
Command Centre waited for her, everyone expectant. She felt every eye upon her as she entered and took her place at the pilot’s station.
“You all understand,” she began, “we will not be attempting jump. No one should feel anything. No one, really, should see anything. It’s just a mini-test. I’ll get data from it, and we’ll know more after studying that data. Then we’ll know whether the bolstering will do the trick should we actually need to jump.”
She looked around, catching each person’s gaze in turn. “So, don’t feel disappointed when it looks like nothing happened, okay?”
Smiles appeared. Johannes walked over and stood beside her. “All the outside workers are inside, Jazz. Hit it.”
“Yes, Captain.” She appreciated the warm smile she received for that. She checked her program one more time, and then engaged it. As she had foreseen, nothing appeared to happen – except on the screen. The field formed, then disappeared two seconds later. It looked good, but the mathematical analysis would tell the tale.
“Well, people, that’s that. Back to the lab for me. But, an initial eyeball analysis shows it good. Whether it’s good enough, we’ll soon know.”
Smiles appeared all around.
“Captain?”
“Yes, Nick?”
“We have a shuttle departing Topside One, destination the Moon Colonies.” Nick Fontaine spoke to Johannes, but Jaswinder could see his attention remained firmly on the detector screen.
“That should take her well clear of us, Nick.”
“Yes, sir, it should. But – well, it’s too early to tell, exactly – but she’s slightly off course. It looks like she’s on an interception course for us.”
Everyone went silent. Johannes went to the navigation tank. It did look like an interception course. Then the plotted track changed.
“No, sir. She’s altered course. Now heading for the Moon colonies as stated.”
Jaswinder found she had been holding her breath, and let it out. She walked out of the Command Centre, and headed back to her lab. She had thought to let Kevin handle it, to take a couple of hours for sleep, but the shuttle departure had unnerved her. She wondered how Johannes felt.
* * *
Johannes remained in the Command Centre.
“Keep watching that shuttle, Nick. If it changes course again, I want to know about it. If I’m sleeping, whoever is on detectors wakes me up. Got it?”
“Got it, Captain.”
“And let’s get the outside workers back outside. Maybe the bolstering will do the trick, but we ca use the transit time to put a little more of the hull together.”
He sat back in the command chair, and fretted. He wanted to call Jaswinder, but she hadn’t had time to more than do a cursory look at the figures. He’d just have to wait – like everyone else.
“Captain,” Nick Fontaine called to him.
He took a quick look at the chrono on the wall. An hour had passed.
“A second shuttle has left Topside One headed our way.”
“Towards us, towards Venture, towards the Moon Colonies?”
“Too early to say. But that first shuttle, identified as Topside Shuttle One is still accelerating. But she’s still on course for the Moon Colonies.”
Johannes didn’t like any of it. He sat back to wait.
“Captain, Comm.”
“Yes, Lorrie?”
“Second shuttle identifies as Nakamura Shuttle Eight. With a priority package for Venture.”
Johannes felt some of the tension leave him. It came back when he got a call from Bettina.
“Johannes?”
“Yes, Bettina?”
“Ken Nakamura is headed our way with a priority package he says. ETA 42 hours.”
Johannes wondered why she would bother to tell him that. “We know.”
“Well, he said that we should have a shuttle ready to take Matt his portion of the package. Just letting you know so you’ll expect it.”
Johannes stopped breathing for a moment. “Thank you, Betts. I’ll let him know it’s on the way.”
Everyone in the Command Centre turned to look at him. But he had no time for them. He activated his own comm.
“Family Trading League Office,” came the reply.
“Put me through to the Nakamura Rep. It’s Johannes Yrden.”
The Nakamura Rep came on moments later. “What is it, Johannes?”
“Tatsuo, do all your people know that I’ve taken over Haida Gwaii, and that Matt has left the system on Twin Star?”
“I believe so. It was no secret. Shall I check?”
“No. Definitely not. You know Ken Nakamura?”
“Yes. Good man. Pilot. Works out of Topside One, mostly. At least lately he does.”
“Is he smart. Clever.”
“Very intelligent. You have a job for him?”
“Perhaps. He’s on his way to Venture with a priority package. We might be able to use him if he has a quick wit to get things done under tricky circumstances.”
“Ken’s your man, then.”
“Thank you, Tatsuo.”
Johannes wondered if he was seeing threats that didn’t exist. “Comm.”
“Sir.”
“Lorrie, no outgoing comm without my authorization. We may have a situation. Nick, keep a close eye on those two shuttles.”
“Johannes, Jill Paxton for you from FTL-1”
He answered the comm. “Johannes here, what is it, Jill?”
“Mission complete, Johannes. I’ve also initiated Seed King. And I think I have confirmation on your son’s information. Looks like his friends are on the move. Gotta go.”
She disconnected, leaving what felt like a stone in the pit of his stomach.
“Captain, we’re getting telemetry from FTL-1.”
He jumped from his chair and went to the detector station.
“See these two shuttles? They just changed course, heading for FTL-1. Designations: Space Force Alpha and Space Force Bravo.”
“Jill, get out of there,” he whispered.
He turned to the Shift Commander. “Quentin, it looks like Space Force is taking over FTL-1. Get all our people inside, and then start accelerating towards the insertion point again. Put out a call for all Family Reps and department heads to meet me in Conference Room Number 1 in one hour.” He paused. “Except Jaswinder. Don’t disturb her. Make sure Hank Lowe attends.”
Everyone stared at him.
“And keep a keen eye on those two shuttles. They may be who they say they are; Ken may not know of Matt’s departure; then again, they may both be full of USNA troops. If they change course at all, I want to know about it.” He then grinned at them, to ease the tension. “Other than that, relax. We have a day and a half before they get here. And keep an eye on navigation telemetry from Earth’s satellites.”
He strode out of the Command Centre. As soon as the door closed behind him, he broke into a jog. If only Matt had begun the acceleration a week earlier.
He laughed at himself. ‘If only’ didn�
��t get anything done. You dealt with what existed.
CHAPTER 30
Haida Gwaii
Sunday 29 August
The meeting hadn’t gone as well as planned – well, if he’d had a plan, he wouldn’t have planned it like this. Too many voices, too little real information.
“Quiet!” Johannes ordered, breaking into a multitude of discussions. “I’m in charge of Haida Gwaii. We’re going to defensive alert. Hank, prepare plans for defence against an invasion of enemy troops. See what we have in the way of weaponry. I believe I saw invoices for hunting weapons. Break them out. Raid the armoury. Organize volunteers. We need people who’ve had experience with weapons, but take anyone. We’ll need people watching all entrance points – they don’t need arms, they can run away once they report.”
He turned to Engineering. “Olive. I want every shuttle, workboat, lifeboat, and life-pod checked out. If we have to evacuate, I want people standing by each one. Make sure they are fully supplied – air, water, food, fuel. And set emergency co-ords for the Catastrophe Plan Alpha rendezvous.”
Tatsuo Nakamura stood. “But you do not plan on giving Haida Gwaii up, correct?”
“No. We fight for her. But if the fight goes against us, we have to save those we can.” He looked around the room. “Next. I need a pilot to take a message to Venture – we don’t dare use comm for this. We have to warn her of the possibility that those two shuttles are carrying hostile troops. She can’t, under any circumstances allow them to board her.”
The door opened, and Johannes saw Jaswinder come in, looking very worried. His insides clenched.
“Captain Yrden,” she said loudly, attracting everyone’s attention. “I have the results of the test. As best as I can determine, we will survive a jump to hyperspace. The bolstering will hold.”
Thank the universe for small mercies. Smiles appeared everywhere.
“When?” he asked.
Not With A Whimper: Survivors Page 33
