Ships?
One (1) Very Large Container Freighter, fully loaded with high-mass cargo.
Two (2) Very Large Container Freighters, fully loaded with average cargo.
Three (3) . . . the list went on. Cecelia didn't think two or three or four container ships would be traveling in close convoy, but farther down the list, item 8 gave her pause: "Flotilla or wave of military vessels with aggregate mass as above, traveling in close convoy . . ."
In other words, she had split or nearly split a group of military ships, whose combined mass was sufficient to pop her out of jump, and disable her FTL drive.
"Oh, great," she muttered.
"What?" Miranda asked, from behind her.
"If the autolog is right, then the most probable cause of our sudden exist from FTL was that we ran into a cluster of military ships."
Miranda whistled. "I wonder what we did to them."
"Possibly nothing. Possibly we blew them away. But if we didn't . . ."
"They might be after us. I wonder if they're mutineers or loyalists."
"Me, too," Cecelia said. "Did you find that ice pack?"
"Yes—you'd dropped it in the sink. How's your leg?"
"It hurts. But not too badly." The EPLS bleeped, and she looked back at it. "Ah . . . here we are . . ." The figures it displayed made no immediate sense, but at least it had figures. Cecelia jotted them down, then called up a graphics display.
They were still in Familias Space, but that was about all the good news. They'd come out in a region of relatively sparse habitable worlds; the nearest mapped systems were two and three jump points away, respectively. Copper Mountain—she knew that, from the hoorah about Brun's abduction. It was a Fleet base. It was also—the memory jolted her like ice cubes down the spine—it was also where the mutiny had started. Cecelia muttered a string of oaths, and Miranda came forward.
"Bad news?"
"Bad news. Copper Mountain's the closest inhabited system. Want to bet the ships we almost hit were mutineers?"
Passive scan made it clear that they were a long way from anything useful . . . some 18 AU away, the nearest star glowed orange. Cecelia left the scan on, and after two minutes, it had coded six dots as possible ships based on their relative motion. Another minute, and the color shifted, confirming them as artificial and under power. They were accelerating away; the mass sensor reported an aggregate mass very close to what the autolog had postulated as the cause of dropout.
"That's what we nearly hit, I gather," Miranda said, leaning over Cecelia's shoulder.
"Yeah . . . whatever and whoever it is." The sinking feeling in her gut said they were mutineers . . . had to be.
"Are you going to try hailing them?"
"Without knowing? No. Let them think we're a dead issue." They might well be a dead issue anyway, if she couldn't get one of the drives up and running.
"Fine with me," Miranda said. "But we can listen, can't we?"
"I don't know if our communication's working at all," Cecelia said. The telltale had gone from red to yellow by itself, and she didn't trust it. "I guess we can try, though."
She turned the receivers on, and was rewarded by hisses and crackles. She ran through the settings. Then a distorted voice, quickly adjusted by the speech-recognition software.
"—could have been a ship?"
"Not likely. Got anything on scan?"
Cecelia tried to interpret the passive scan data and wished she'd paid more attention when Koutsoudas and Oblo were talking to Brun about scan technique. How far away were those ships, and whose were they?
"There it is." Cecelia flinched as that distant voice changed tone. "It's little; that's why it didn't blow itself and us to bits. Drives are dead . . . it's ballistic . . . but there's a chance the crew are alive."
"Not our problem," said the second voice. "They're unlikely to report us . . . and without a working drive . . ."
So it was the mutineers. Cecelia looked at Miranda, who had gone white. She understood.
"We don't know the drive's dead—they might have turned it off. We can't take the chance. Too much has been going wrong—"
"Doesn't this system have a navigation beacon?" Miranda asked. "A Fleet ansible? Something?"
Cecelia looked it up. "It's uninhabited. There's a mapped jump point, but it's considered inferior—there's some big lump of metal barreling in an eccentric orbit which causes some kind of problem . . ." She put her finger on a footnote. "Wait . . . there's an ansible . . . there's been a research station here. Trouble is, I don't know if it's accessible to civilian signals . . . let's see . . ."
"Will they notice if we hail it?"
"Probably." Cecelia selected the listed frequency. "And we don't have a functioning tightbeam, or any of the other goodies I wish we had. But they already know we're here, and they're going to come after us. If we can get a signal to that ansible, we can at least let Fleet know where some mutineers are." Where they were, that is. They wouldn't stay in this system. "And maybe, if they realize we've signalled, they'll decide to run for it and leave us behind. We'll already have done all the damage we can."
"Somehow," Miranda said, eyeing the scan on which the marked icons had changed color, with lengthening cones to indicate course change and acceleration, "somehow, I don't think they'll do that."
"Probably not." Cecelia entered the pulse combination for the ansible and crossed her fingers. Six full minutes for that signal to reach the ansible, six to return . . . and she had to wait for confirmation before sending any message. She knew all too well how much could happen in twelve minutes.
Two of the distant ships disappeared from scan, and two possible ship? icons appeared much closer. Microjump, of course. She retuned the frequency to the one they'd eavesdropped on before.
"—got the transponder," she heard. Damn. She'd forgotten that going to emergency power did not cut off the ship's automatic ID signal—in fact, it boosted the power to it, on the grounds that any ship in an emergency would want to be found. They must be lit up like a candelabra on the military ships' scans.
"Pounce . . . owner Cecelia de Marktos. Isn't that the broad who's crazy about horses . . . the one who hired Heris Serrano as a captain?"
"Yesss . . ."
Cecelia did not like the sound of that meditative hiss.
Chapter Ten
Sector VII Headquarters
Admiral Minor Arash Livadhi stared blindly at the wall of his office. With the star had come considerably more work than he'd anticipated, despite Admiral Serrano's honest attempt to make the changeover easy on him. Not only were all the experienced flag officers gone, but so were a startling number of the senior NCOs. Anyone who had had a rejuvenation . . . he hadn't ever noticed how many personnel had had a rejuv; he hadn't even decided what he'd do when his own number came up in a few years.
And now the mutiny, and all those personnel were coming back—the fit ones at least. The gossip mill, operating at translight speed through illicit private communications on Fleet ansibles, warned that former admirals were moving right back into their places, and the recently promoted were scrambling to find a place. He wondered what he was supposed to do. Go back to ship command? It would be easier, and he knew himself to be a good captain. But his ship—he still thought of his last command as his ship—and his crew were far away, over on the Benignity border, under a new captain.
He considered the forces available. Heris Serrano's ship was here and she'd been assigned another, halfway across Familias Space. He knew many of her crew, and they knew him. Perhaps he should volunteer to take it? Otherwise the incoming admiral he expected any day would certainly question why he hadn't assigned someone already, why it wasn't out on patrol like the others.
It made sense, in more ways than one. Arash did not like considering all the ways; there were things in his life he preferred to forget and ignore. If no one knew, no one would be hurt by the knowledge. That Heris Serrano's ship, and Heris Serrano's crew, might be insurance agai
nst that discovery, he didn't quite allow himself to recognize.
He might as well prepare the ship; he might as well make a plan that would convince the incoming admiral of his good intentions. He called in his clerk. "Please inform the officer in charge aboard Vigilance—"
"That'll be Lt. Commander Mackay," his clerk said.
"That I need to see him at his earliest convenience."
"I'm sure you've wondered why Vigilance wasn't sent out on patrol," he began.
"Yes . . . we thought at first we were waiting for Commander Serrano to return."
"Of course. But she was assigned to Indefatigable—I frankly thought they'd be revising the assignments as soon as people had time to recover from the first shock, so I didn't hurry to put someone into Vigilance. Out here on the border is the ideal place for a combat-experienced commander, and I thought she'd be back. But apparently not. Now we know another flag officer's coming to take over this headquarters, and I'm going to ask for Vigilance myself. I know that any ship Heris Serrano has commanded will be combat-ready, and she and I have been friends for years."
"I see, sir." The response wasn't as whole-hearted as he would have liked. "The crew will be glad to get out of dock and into space again. Does the admiral think the new admiral will agree?"
"I expect so," Arash said. "Why not? A few months behind a desk doesn't make me overqualified for ship command."
"Of course, sir."
"In any case, whoever gets her will probably use her for his flagship. We should be putting the extra communications gear aboard and making sure there's space for the admiral's staff."
The lieutenant commander grinned. "Sir, we anticipated that she might become a flagship, and most of that's in place. If the admiral has time, he might want to come aboard and look over the changes."
"I'll make the time," Arash said.
Converting any ship to flag service meant squeezing in the extra staff and their equipment as well as their supplies. Arash noted that Vigilance's crew had put the flag functions some distance aft of the bridge, but in line with it, displacing the senior officers' wardroom. This was one of the two commonest configurations for large cruisers; the other put the flag space directly across the port corridor from the bridge access, but that was a busier area, and most admirals preferred the aft location. With duplication of bridge readouts and communications, it was just as convenient. Arash approved.
Not entirely to his surprise, Vida Serrano arrived to take her own office back. Arash did his best to conceal the chagrin with which he noticed her staff's burst of enthusiasm. They had worked well for him, but he had never had the kind of warm reception they showed her. The Serrano mystique, he thought sourly, and wondered for a moment if his request to take over Heris Serrano's ship was such a good idea as it had seemed before. But Admiral Serrano brought up the topic before he could sheer away. It was clear she thought admirals minor with combat experience should be out there in fighting ships.
"I'd be commanding from a ship myself if my orders didn't specifically prohibit it," she said. "You'd better take Vigilance—Heris's exec will make you a good flag captain, I don't doubt—"
"That'll be fine, Admiral," Arash said. "But actually, I was thinking of Commander Burleson. He's been with me quite awhile; we're used to working together. He has combat experience; he was my XO on Firedrake and then again on Emperor Roy."
"Well . . . someone you're used to could be a real help. I was hoping to keep Burleson on staff here, but you'll be the one under fire."
"Thank you, sir." Arash managed not to heave an audible sigh of relief. He was sure Heris's exec was capable, or more, but the man's coolness towards him would make it just that bit more difficult to work together. Would the man resent being displaced?
"In that case, I think I'll give Mackay a ship. You can find someone for your exec, can't you?"
"Of course, Admiral." With Burleson and . . . Keller, yes . . . he would have two people who were comfortable with him. And Mackay wouldn't see himself as shunted aside if he were given a ship. "Thank you, sir."
"You're quite welcome. I'm just sorry more of Heris's crew isn't available."
It would work out, he told himself. He told himself that again when he packed up his things and had them taken over to Vigilance, and when he went aboard. Heris's crew—his now—certainly gave every evidence of superb training. They rendered the honors due an admiral minor coming aboard a flagship with precision and enthusiasm.
"Welcome aboard, Admiral," Lt. Commander Mackay said. "We're looking forward to some action."
"Congratulations on your new command," Arash said. "I hear your ship's in transit, due in a few days."
"Yes, sir." Mackay grinned. "I hate to leave old Vigilance, but—my own ship—"
"You've earned it," Arash said. Inspiration struck. "Look here—we're all dealing with scratch crews—if you'd like to take a few people you know along with you, I'm sure we can work something out."
Mackay looked relieved. "Are you sure, sir? Admiral Serrano said they still hadn't found me an exec, and there's a fine young fourth officer aboard. He's a bit junior, but—"
"Go ahead," Arash said. "You ought to have someone you're comfortable with, on your first ship. I'll take a replacement—with the rest of this crew as experienced as they are, it's not a problem."
"Thanks, sir. When will Captain Burleson be coming aboard?"
"Tomorrow morning, I think. He had a dental checkup—tried to get out of it, but the surgeons grabbed him."
He seemed enthusiastic, and Arash—who had met the ships' officers frequently in the past few days—now felt the same warmth from all of them. He relaxed a little. Serrano mystique was one thing, but the Livadhis knew something about command as well. Admiral Serrano had already complimented him on doing a good job under difficult conditions.
The ones who worried him most, the ones who had been imprisoned on false charges when Heris left Fleet, seemed as cordial as the rest. He made a point of searching them out and greeting them, but he saw nothing in their eyes but respect. Several were now officers, and if mustangs, they were capable mustangs. Heris would have insisted on that, he knew. The ship felt good, the way a happy ship should. Burleson reported the same, once he took over.
He was waiting for the arrival of a light cruiser and some patrol craft that would form his combat group, when word came that mutineer ships had begun hitting commercial vessels as they made the long insystem crawl from jump point to orbital Station.
"Something's cut them off from their supply base," was Admiral Serrano's analysis. "They've hit ships carrying Fleet resupply, including weaponry." She looked at the group in her office. "We're going to start using convoys; I'm not waiting for HQ on this one. We need the cargos, and we don't want the mutineers to have them. Admiral Livadhi, there's a supply run heading next week. You'll direct the convoy. We're not announcing it; they'll find out soon enough."
Organizing the convoy took several days. The civilian captains of the ships involved did not like the restrictions which a convoy would place on them; they argued that Fleet should simply have enough patrols in any system to protect them. Arash wore his voice out explaining why this wouldn't work and finally had to ask Admiral Serrano to intervene. They had Fleet contracts for some of their cargo, and therefore, she said, they were under Fleet control until those cargos were delivered.
"Might as well be mutineers," muttered one of the captains.
"Think again," Vida Serrano said. "They take ears."
"Uh?"
"Ears cut from the bodies they leave behind. Take a look." She handed out flatpics of the carnage the mutineers had left behind on the Saffron Dynasty and the Settis III. The captains blenched and gave in.
The convoy moved out toward the jump point in a ragged formation flanked by four patrol ships and two escorts, with Vigilance in the lead. Arash had read that in wet navies ships could zigzag to avoid raiders, but zigzags were impractical in space, especially for ships which lacked the a
bility to microjump. He did insist on their practicing some maneuvers in formation, but Eliza Garnerin came within 1300 meters of Haboob, and so terrified both captains that it took all Arash's persuasive skill to keep them from dropping out altogether. "We know there aren't any mutineers in this system," one of them said. "We could just stay here . . ."
On that first run to the more distant pickets, they met no mutineers. Arash's force stood by while supplies were moved from the cargo ships to those keeping station. They repeated the actions in one system after another, and Arash felt a growing confidence in both Vigilance and the others under his command. He overheard—and knew he was meant to overhear—favorable comments on his leadership. More importantly, his staff heard even more.
The Serrano Succession Page 57
