“Aye,” Diviana replied.
While she started speaking into the comm, Maker turned to Wayne, who was in the pilot’s seat. “Wayne, fire up the engines.”
“Already on it, sir,” Wayne stated.
“Lieutenant,” Diviana uttered with a sense of urgency. “The space station is denying us permission to leave.”
Maker raised an eyebrow. “Are they now?”
Diviana nodded. “Yes. They’re saying… Wait, I’ll put it on the intercom.”
She pressed a button on the comm, and a moment later, a man’s voice began sounding across the bridge.
“–ova is not cleared for departure. Please power down your engines. I repeat, the Nova is not cleared for departure. Please power down your engines.”
Maker sighed as the message continued to repeat. “Diviana, please let the station know that there’s some kind of interference, and their message is coming through garbled and indecipherable.”
Looking slightly befuddled, Diviana nodded as she turned off the intercom and began to relay Maker’s message. Browing, his face a mask of concern, opened his mouth to speak but was stopped by Maker holding up an open palm in his direction.
“Wayne, get ready to get us out of here,” Maker instructed.
“On standby, el-tee,” Wayne declared.
Diviana suddenly turned to him. “They’re not buying it, Lieutenant. They’re refusing to open the bay doors.”
“That’s funny,” Maker observed. “The bay doors are already opening.”
Maker tapped a button on a control panel by his bridge seat, and a large monitor on a nearby wall blazed to life. Obviously connected to one of the Nova’s external cameras, it showed an image of the bay doors opening, just as Maker had said.
“Wayne, take us out.”
“Aye, sir,” the young Marine replied.
Moments later, they were outside the bay and moving away from the station.
“Sir,” Diviana called out. “The space station is ordering us to return to the docking bay. They say they have orders to shoot if we don’t.”
“Garbled, indecipherable, blah, blah, blah,” Maker stated as they continued moving away from the station with increasing speed. He did note, however, the guns of the station swinging in their direction on the monitor.
At this point, there was general consternation plainly evident on the faces of almost everyone present. Browing had a deep frown etched in stone on his face, while Chantrey bit her lip with concern. Even Adames, who trusted Maker implicitly, seemed worried enough to speak up, but kept silent when his commanding officer looked at him and emphatically shook his head.
Maker then turned to Wayne. “Prepare to jump to hyperspace as soon as we’re clear.”
Wayne nodded. “Will do, Lieutenant. Coordinates are locked.”
Moments later, with the guns of the space station unmistakably aimed at the Nova, they made the leap to hyperspace.
Chapter 32
They were waiting on Maker and his team when the Nova came back – Lafayette, Steiner, and Grasso. The three general officers were watching from an observation platform as the ship came in to dock, but hustled down as soon as the bay doors closed. Watching them on the monitor, Maker couldn’t read Lafayette’s expression, but the other two appeared furious.
Telling his people to sit tight and leaving Adames in command on the bridge, Maker disembarked and was immediately met by an enraged Grasso screaming, “Where the hell have you been?!”
“We just took the Nova out for a quick jaunt,” Maker replied.
“You weren’t authorized for departure of any type!” Grasso countered. “You were ordered to power down by the space station.”
“Were we?” Maker asked, eyebrows raised. “I’m afraid we were experiencing some type of interference and the message didn’t come through clearly.”
“Well, if you didn’t understand the message, why did you leave?” Steiner asked.
“Because the bay doors opened,” Maker explained. “Thus, we assumed that they could understand us – even if the reverse wasn’t true.”
“The bay doors opened because someone hacked the system controlling them,” Steiner shot back. “I don’t suppose you know anything about that?”
Maker shook his head. “Not at all.”
Lafayette seemed to snicker at this, while his two colleagues gave Maker steely looks.
“Well, you’ve been given a ship that’s top-of-the-line in all aspects,” Grasso said. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe you shouldn’t take it out for a joyride?”
“With all due respect, sir,” Maker stated, bristling, “it wasn’t a joyride. It was a test run.”
“A test run?” Steiner repeated.
“Yes, sir,” Maker confirmed with a nod. “My team is being asked to leave tomorrow on a mission that’s literally taking us into the unknown. I’m not heading into a possible ambush in a ship that hasn’t been put through the paces – whose guns haven’t been fired and whose shields haven’t been tested, among other things.”
“Fine,” Grasso chimed in. “Assuming that’s what happened, it doesn’t explain why it took so long. You’ve been gone over nine hours.”
“We had some trouble,” Maker confessed. “We went to a star system with an asteroid field in order to test the weapons and shields. Unfortunately, we ran into some kind of electromagnetic interference that knocked everything offline. We didn’t suffer any damage, but it took some time to get everything back in working order.”
There was silence following Maker’s statement, as Grasso and Steiner seemed to stew on what he’d said, while Lafayette continued to look amused.
“If that will be all,” Maker finally said, “we still have a lot of preparations to make for tomorrow’s departure.”
“No, Lieutenant,” Grasso said in heated response, “I’m afraid that will not be all.”
Chapter 33
Although they really didn’t have anything more to address, Grasso and Steiner spent another ten minutes berating Maker. Without any specific questions to answer, Maker simply stood there and took the tongue-lashing. Eventually, the two general officers seemed to tire of the sport, such as it was, and left. Lafayette, however, stayed behind.
“So,” the admiral began after his two colleagues were gone, “I take it you found the bugs.”
Maker stayed silent, not exactly sure how to respond.
“Come on, son,” Lafayette continued. “We’ve been doing a good job of being straight with each other thus far. No need to change shoes in the middle of the dance.”
“All right,” Maker said. “We found your little devices, and I have to say that I’m somewhat disappointed.”
The admiral shook his head in frustration. “I told them it was a bad idea, but they wouldn’t listen.”
“Who?” Maker asked, intrigued.
“My compadres in the Star Chamber, as you put it. I know it may seem like I’m in charge – and, admittedly, my voice does carry a little weight – but we’re a committee. We do most things by vote.”
“And the vote in this instance was to bug the Nova.”
Lafayette nodded. “Yeah, but you’ve got to understand: you’re dealing with some of the most powerful people in Gaian Space. They’re not used to being in the dark about anything, so the notion of not knowing what was happening on this mission – specifically, on the Nova – galls them.”
“I get that to a certain extent, but it was information that was only going to be available to them for a limited time. I mean, once we make the hyperspace jump to wherever Skullcap guides us, they won’t be in proximity to…”
Maker trailed off as a new train of thought unexpectedly popped up in his brain.
“Okay,” he finally said. “What aren’t you telling me?”
The admiral sighed. “It’s not a big deal, but when you leave tomorrow, you won’t be going alone. Two battle cruisers are going with you. And before you go there, the specific purpose in assigning them to accompany you
was not to pick up the broadcasts from the bugs.”
“Of course not,” Maker chimed in sarcastically. “Why would I think that?”
Ignoring the lieutenant’s comment, Lafayette continued. “They’re tagging along primarily in order to transport the sub rosa tech back while you continue escorting the ambassador home. Getting the info from the bugs was just a bonus, although they’ll also provide additional protection as long as they’re with you.”
“So wait,” Maker muttered, frowning. “If I’m understanding this correctly, as soon as the tech is retrieved, my squad continues on alone with Skullcap and possibly wanders into a trap, while two battle cruisers immediately return home – safe and sound – with the goods.”
“Well, it won’t be an immediate return home,” Lafayette clarified. “We’ll want Planck to verify that we’re getting the real thing first.”
Maker’s brow furrowed, as he now had an understanding as to why no one had tried to stop Planck from joining the mission. Lafayette and the Star Chamber wanted him there.
“I’m sorry if we didn’t clarify it before,” the admiral stressed, “but that was the deal. The ambassador doesn’t want the sub rosa tech anywhere near the Vacra homeworld, so there was always going to be at least one other ship there to take possession of it and bring it back.”
“Great,” Maker said sardonically. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Not really. However, there is something I’d like to know.”
“What?”
“You were gone almost nine hours on your little junket. Even if you actually did spend time testing the weapons and shields” – Maker nodded to indicate that they had – “I seriously doubt it took that long to recover from the EM ‘interference’ you mentioned. So what did you really do the rest of that time?”
Maker smiled. “Just reflect on the joy of being in the Corps, sir.”
Chapter 34
Maker spent a few more minutes talking to Lafayette, primarily reminding the admiral that he was still owed some things under their agreement. After soliciting a promise that he’d receive everything he was due before the mission formally commenced, Maker went back aboard the Nova and sought out Adames on the bridge. The two of them then went to the ship’s conference room, where Maker essentially repeated the conversations he’d had with the general officers.
“I turned the exterior cameras on you,” Adames said when he’d finished. “There’s no audio on those – don’t need it in space – but I could see that the discussions were tense.”
“It wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” Maker stressed. “The first two didn’t even mention the listening devices, and Lafayette didn’t seem that bothered by it. In fact, he seemed amused by the entire situation.”
“Are you sure he doesn’t know what we were up to while we were gone?”
Maker contemplated the question for a moment, then shook his head. “I doubt it. But even if he did, I get the impression that he wouldn’t be too bothered by it.”
“I’ll tell you what bothers me,” Adames chimed in. “Having a couple of battle cruisers load up the tech we’re risking our lives for and then taking off.”
“I know,” Maker declared in agreement with his NCO. The sub rosa tech had been, in his opinion, their insurance policy – an unstated guarantee that the Star Chamber expected (no, needed) them to come back. Without it, anything that happened to Maker and his team might be considered an acceptable loss.
“Anyway,” Maker continued, “it’s getting late. Let’s sleep on it and see if anything new occurs to us tomorrow.”
“Sounds good,” Adames acknowledged with a nod. “The morning is wiser than the eve, as they say.”
“Also, let’s do the final briefing in the A.M.,” Maker added. “I want to be ready to take off as soon as Skullcap sets foot on this ship.”
“No problem,” Adames assured him.
Chapter 35
Following his conversation with Adames, Maker went to see Chantrey. Needless to say, she was expecting him. After letting him in, she took his hand and led him to a nearby sofa, then sat and pulled him down next to her.
“So, how’d it go?” she asked.
Maker quickly gave her the same overview he’d shared with Adames.
“So you’ve infuriated two of the three general officers who you’ve interacted with,” Chantrey concluded. “You’re losing your touch. Normally all three would be clamoring for your blood.”
Maker chuckled. “Guess I’m slowing down in my old age.”
“Maybe,” Chantrey said with a frown, obviously focused on something else. “And you said that Lafayette wasn’t angry about you debugging the ship?”
“No, it was almost like he was expecting it,” Maker stated. “Why? What are you thinking?”
“Maybe it was a test.”
“A test?” Maker repeated, looking confused. “A test of what?”
“Maybe just to see what you’d do – how radically you’d respond.”
He gave her a curious look. “You think what I did was radical?”
“Well, let’s consider,” she said. “You could have just let Wayne shut the bugs down, but instead you come up with a plan that requires us to essentially violate orders to stand down and hack into the space station bay controls, among other things.”
“Well, I didn’t know what the reaction would be once we deactivated the bugs, and I didn’t want someone showing up trying to figure out why they weren’t working anymore. As you know by now, we had some things to do on the Nova that required a certain amount of privacy.”
“I know – you had Wayne put us all to work during our little excursion.”
“Well, we only had a limited amount of time to get everything done, so it was all hands on deck.”
Chantrey sat back and crossed her arms. “I still can’t believe you kept most of us in the dark about what was going on – and especially about the fact that the ship was bugged.”
Maker let out an exasperated breath. “Are you kidding? How am I supposed to tell people, confidentially, that the ship is bugged when there are listening devices everywhere? That info couldn’t be shared until we were out of range of whoever might have been listening.”
“You could have taken us off the ship and told us, the way Wayne did it with you.”
“Right,” Maker muttered sarcastically. “That wouldn’t have looked suspicious: ‘Come outside, everyone – I have something to tell you.’” He spoke the last sentence in an excited, conspiratorial voice.
“Okay, okay,” Chantrey intoned. “You’ve made your point. But tell me something: how pervasive were the bugs?”
“Like I said, they were everywhere.”
“Okay, let me be precise: I’m asking specifically in terms of our cabins.”
Maker gave her a skeptical look. “Weren’t you around when Wayne rounded them all up?”
Chantrey shook her head. “No, I was busy working on your secret project, so I just gave him a temporary access code.”
“Oh,” Maker muttered a bit absentmindedly. “Well, my understanding from Wayne is that they were in every area of our living quarters – living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, etcetera.”
Chantrey glanced in the direction of her bedroom and then looked back at Maker expectantly.
“Bedrooms, too,” he added.
Chantrey reflected on this for a second and then seemed to mentally shrug, saying, “Well, I hope they got an earful.”
Maker looked at her in surprise, and then laughed. “You, lady, have no shame.”
Looking at him salaciously, she said, “And this is news to you?”
Chapter 36
As promised, Adames had everyone in the Nova’s conference room bright and early the next morning. When Maker arrived, with Erlen by his side, everyone was already seated around the table, ready to begin. As he entered, Adames immediately called the room to attention, followed by Maker telling everyone (or rather, the Marines present) to be at ease as
he took a position at the end of the table.
“I’ll make this quick,” Maker began, “mostly because I don’t have much more to impart than what you already know. We’ll be leaving shortly to escort Skullcap home. As far as I’m concerned, he’s an enemy combatant, and for the duration of this mission, we’ll be traveling under threat conditions. In other words, everybody needs to stay alert. In addition, there are a couple of other little wrinkles…”
Maker then proceeded to tell them about the battle cruisers that would accompany them for at least part of the mission. However, he hadn’t been talking for more than a minute when his p-comp chirped, indicating an emergency message. Glancing at it, Maker was surprised to see a missive from Admiral Lafayette:
Permission to come aboard?
***
As the message had implied, the admiral was indeed outside the Nova, where he waited patiently until Maker came to greet him and welcome him aboard. With him was a young Navy captain carrying a briefcase, whom he introduced as his executive officer.
“I have to admit that I didn’t expect you this early,” Maker confessed as they entered the Nova. “In truth, I thought general officers typically slept in.”
“That’s a rumor that we like to perpetuate,” the admiral responded, “so we can catch young officers unawares.” He eyed Maker critically for a second as they walked. “Doesn’t look like it worked today.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” Maker quipped. “Will this disqualify me from the mission?”
“Sadly, there’s almost nothing that will get you off the hook,” Lafayette said jovially. “Anyway, I owe you some stuff, so I’m here to make good on it.”
“I was actually in the process of conducting the final briefing when your message popped up. So if you just want to leave it–”
“Nonsense,” the admiral said dismissively. “We might as well do this right, and if your people are already assembled, that’s perfect.”
Maker didn’t say anything more but simply led the admiral to the conference room.
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