“In combat, quick decisions…”
Snapping back, she said, “I’ve commanded in combat a lot more than you have, Captain, and I know how the game works. We’re not in combat right now, and I have the luxury to consider my actions.”
He laughed, and said, “By damn, Maggie, you ought to be sitting center-seat on a battlecruiser with an attitude like that. You are excused from classes tomorrow, and can think it over in your quarters. You can be of great help to us at the moment, getting our forces positioned for the war. Refuse to take a part, and you will be transferred to the Scoutship Viking as Executive Officer. I need you in the war, Maggie, but i have a choice about where to put you.”
“Then you are offering me a bribe.”
“I need to trust my subordinates.” He glanced ahead, and said, “We’re almost there. I met you in town and gave you a lift home, if anyone asks.”
“Right.”
They drove into the low dome of the College, through the airlock, and stepped out, each going their separate ways back to their quarters. As soon as she reached the sanctuary of her room, she sat down on her bed, cross-legged, and ran through what to do in her mind. She was under close observation, that much was certain, and in the morning she was going to be asked to make a choice.
There was something to what Tarrant had said. The President had certainly committed an impeachable offense, and on one level, it all seemed simple enough. War, though, was another question entirely. A war that they might not win. She longed for someone to talk to, to talk things through with, but the decision was hers, and hers alone.
Not that it mattered on one level. One junior officer more or less wasn’t going to affect the war, unless she could find a way of preventing it from happening. She looked over at her terminal, aware that any messages she would send would be monitored – if, indeed, they were transmitted at all, which she thought unlikely.
In her head, it came down to one thing, and one thing only. Whatever their motivation, those behind the coup were starting the war, and had tried to kill her father. Launched an attack without Presidential order. The rest was all talk, and nothing more. She pulled a slender datarod out of a hidden pocket, slid it into her terminal, and smiled as her old hacking software began to work. Quickly, she started to type.
“For the attention of Lieutenant-Captain Logan Winter, private and confidential…”
Chapter 13
Harper burst into Logan’s office brandishing a datapad, and said, “She’s been arrested. I just got the word from the underground.”
He looked up, sighed, and said, “Are we that far gone already? We’re talking about an underground?”
“The hacker community.” She slid the datapad across his desk, and replied, “Lieutenant Margaret Orlova, currently being held on the base pending transfer to maximum security detention up on Deimos. Logan, we’ve got to do something about it.”
Shaking his head, he replied, “We daren’t. What about the rest of it?”
She sat down opposite him and said, “I can’t get confirmation of the orders. The file she sent looks right, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing. The President sleeping with the Chairman of…”
“It’s all over the news right now,” he said. “And already the calls to resign are growing. You should have heard the Progressive Leader on the subject. It’s getting bad.” He tapped a button on the desk, and said, “Ryder and Quinn should be here in a minute.”
“What about your network.”
“What network? It’s as if Intelligence never existed, and damn it all, I can guess why.”
“They’ve got to do something, damn it.”
He looked up at her with sad eyes, and said, “Their job is to defend the Confederation, and they’ve buried themselves deep in order to do just that. never mind that it means ostracizing me for a while. I’m involved in all this – and my guess is that my boss has decided that the time has come to look to the walls.”
“What about leaking the whole story to the press.”
“Try it and I’ll shoot you.”
“Logan?” she said, shocked. “They’re using the press…”
“To depose a President who – let us not forget – has committed an act that probably should see him impeached. Don’t get the idea that the side we’re on is clean.” Sighing, he said, “If we leaked the story to the press, what happens next?”
“Massive outcry, peace riots, everyone involved has to resign.”
Nodding, he said, “We don’t know who that is, Kristin. And no matter what we do here today, we could easily be fighting the Cabal tomorrow.” Pointing at the screen, he said, “That fleet has sailed, and is days away from its target, impossible to recall. They knew that, damn it. Do you really want a civil war on top of that?”
“It might not come to that.”
With a mocking laugh, he said, “Don’t bet against human stupidity, Kristin. You’ll lose every damn time. Besides, if this goes where I think it does, we could lose most of our flotilla commanders in one shot, and if we’re at war, we’re going to need them.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“The people of the Triplanetary Confederation. Someone has to be.”
The door slid open, and Ryder walked in, followed by Quinn. She looked around, and said, “Watson saw us leave the bridge. He’s getting very interested in what we’re doing.”
“Could be honest curiosity,” he mused, “but I don’t think that I want to bet the farm on that. Did you make any progress on those fleet movements?”
She nodded, and replied, “Lots of transfers over the last two months in the mid-ranks, mostly Senior Lieutenants, Lieutenant-Captains, that sort of thing. People being moved into key positions in the orbital defense networks and the capital ships. All but two of the battlecruisers have had new Executive Officers, all three carriers have new commanding officers.” She shook her head, and continued, “It’s one hell of a list.”
“Then we have some suspects,” Quinn said.
“Not necessarily, Jack. In fact I doubt it. Someone’s positioning their pieces to get ready for a war, but that doesn’t mean the pawns they’re moving know what’s going on. All most of them know is that there is a chance war will break out soon, and that we need to be ready for it.”
“Fleet supply inventories are at a two-year high, and leave has been curtailed in key installations,” Ryder said. “Someone knows something is up. I think we can assume that Personnel is in on it.”
“Who’s the number two over there at the moment?”
She looked down at a datapad, poked the controls for a moment, and said, “Captain Walter Grainger.”
“Any relation to Fleet Captain Tarrant, or either of the two Counter-Admirals?”
“Worked in Tramiel’s office for three years, before the absorption into the Triplanetary Fleet.”
“I’m willing to add him to the list.” He turned to Quinn, and said, “Now comes the big question. You’ve had three weeks to get Alamo ready. How goes the refit?”
“We’re about halfway through, maybe a little less. We’re not getting any help from Carter Station to speak of, and we’re having to fabricate almost everything ourselves. Raw materials we’re not short of, though.” He paused for a moment, then said, “I think three to four weeks is a reasonable estimate.”
“Ryder, those key personnel. How many of them are on leave?”
“Maybe half. Due to be back by this time next week, then the non-essentials go off.”
“Jack,” he began, before the engineer interrupted him.
“No.”
With a smile, he said, “No to what?”
“I can’t have Alamo ready in a week. Every damn time I’ve been promised an opportunity to put this beautiful girl back together again, I’ve had to rush it. This time I’m going to finish.”
“You
want Alamo to go down without even a fight?”
With a deep sigh, he replied, “Do they fight dirty in Intelligence?”
“As a rule. I need Alamo ready to move as soon as the crew are on board. Everything’s about to come to a head, and we’ve got to be prepared for it. For war if it comes, or to prevent it if we can.”
“Ten days,” Quinn said. “I can have all the pieces put back together again in ten days. Will that be enough?”
“It’ll have to do,” Logan replied.
Shaking his head, he said, “I’ll go tell my wife that dinner is canceled. Again.”
“She’s a fighter pilot, isn’t she?”
“Commanding the training squadron here at the moment, pending transfer to the Curtiss when she finishes her overhaul. Which is pretty damn soon, I think.” He looked up at Logan, and said, “Oh, no.”
“I think you need to spend more quality time with her,” he replied with a smile. “I see no reason at all why you shouldn’t be co-habiting at the moment. She can move into your quarters if you want.” With a shrug, he said, “She must have some leave due…”
“And so must some of her pilots,” Ryder said, catching on.
“Damn it, Logan, I’m not going to do that,” he said. With a growing smile, he continued, “I could suggest, though, that this might be a good opportunity for some of her better pilots to get a taste of life on board a battlecruiser, run a few readiness drills. I’ll get it arranged right away.”
“Catch you later,” Logan replied.
“I thought it was dismissed?” Harper said.
“You must be confusing me for a real Captain. I get that a lot.”
Ryder looked at him, and said, “You realize that most of this…”
“Is enough to get me cashiered if anyone notices? Hell, half the fleet’s doing exactly this right now. No-one’s going to notice, and if they do, they’ll assume that I’m just in on the plot.” His communicator buzzed, and he cracked it open, saying, “Logan here.”
“Duquesne here. Your friend has woken up. Better get here fast, though; Watson will know in a minute. One of his new middies was wandering around down here.”
He glanced at Ryder for a second, then burst into a sprint towards the corridor, racing past a pair of confused technicians in his rush to reach the elevator. The others chased after him, but only Ryder narrowly made it in before the doors closed, Harper left standing frustrated in the corridor. The car seemed to take hours to reach its destination, before finally releasing them opposite sickbay.
Running inside, he barely gave Ryder a second to follow him before locking the door behind them, sealing it with his personal access code, then sparing himself a moment for a sigh of relief.
“I’m not going to fault you for not getting sufficient exercise,” Duquesne said, shaking her head. “Was there really that much urgency, though?”
“I want to speak to her first, Doctor.”
“Which is why I put her in medical quarantine, a seal that only I can breach,” she replied.
Logan glanced at Ryder, then said, “You’re in the wrong business, Doc. Let me in, Ryder too, and then don’t let anyone after us.”
“All this cloak-and-dagger crap…”
“Is what has kept me alive for a lot of years, and I have no intention of ceasing to exercise such an eminently sensible policy. Let’s get this over with.”
The two of them stepped through the door to the private room, and saw Chambers sitting up on a bed, a datapad in her lap, frowning at its contents. She looked up as they arrived, and relief spread across her face.
“Thank God. I didn’t believe it when I heard you were on board.”
“What’s the news, Melissa? We might not have long.”
“We don’t,” she replied. “I managed to speak to the President, your boss passed me onto him, and he told me about what was going to happen. They wanted me to get in touch with you as soon as I got back to Spitfire Station; Captain Paine arranged a covert passage for me.”
“Not covert enough, evidently,” Logan replied.
“We were to stop the fleet from sailing,” she said, shaking her head. “I failed.”
“A would-be assassin stopped you, Melissa, and I can personally assure you that the bastard is roasting nicely right now. What else?”
“They’re going to overthrow him, Logan.”
“This must have been in the works before we sent back the peace envoy,” Ryder said. “What’s behind it?”
Logan looked at her, and said, “The brass are terrified that the Technocrats are going to win the election, cut the fleet and leave us open to an attack. By sparking a war, they think that everyone will vote Progressive instead, and…,”
“Then the war becomes a certainty,” Ryder finished.
“You’ve got to get to the President, Logan,” Chambers said. “He needs to know that someone’s on his side.”
“Is anyone backing him?”
Shaking her head, she said, “The Freedom Party will push any peace proposal, but impeachment proceedings have priority. They win either way. Either the impeachment takes long enough that it pushes the peace talks until after the election, or the new President stops it all dead in its tracks. Ackerman’s been promised the Progressive nomination.”
“They’re dumping Norman? I’ll be damned,” Ryder said.
With a thin smile, Chambers replied, “They’ve got a chance of winning. She’ll settle for the second slot, figuring to ease Ackerman out later. I know the senior dogs in the Freedom Party are barking with the President, but the party as a whole isn’t.”
“And everyone else is staying out of it,” Logan said.
“I still find all of this hard to believe,” Ryder said. “A military coup in the Confederation.”
“It isn’t a military coup,” Chambers said. “It’s a constitutional coup, and very cleverly organized.” She looked up at Logan, and said, “I know this is hard to believe, but…”
“I believe it. Orlova got herself arrested telling me some other parts of the story.” Folding his arms, he said, “None of this leaves the room. Is that understood? We cannot let this get into the public domain.”
“Then what do we do? Sit back and watch it happen?” Ryder asked.
“First of all, I’m going to go and see the President. He might have some ideas we don’t. Right now we don’t have a lot of options left on the table, and they are getting fewer all the time.”
“The Combined Chiefs?”
“Might not even know any of this is happening.” He glanced around at their surprise, and said, “Typically, revolutions come from the middle ranks in a military, not at the top. The more stars on the shoulder, the more they have to lose. As for Intelligence, I don’t know what they are up to, but we need to operate as if we’re the only pieces left on the table.”
The door slid open, and Watson stood at the other side of it, his hand on the keypad, a protesting Duquesne standing by his side. Logan’s hand drifted down towards his hidden revolver.
“What is this, Lieutenant?”
“I need to see you, Captain, and it is quite urgent.” He looked at Chambers, and said, “I see our guest has woken up. Did you know that there is a warrant out for her arrest?”
“She can’t be moved,” Duquesne said. “Not until I give the word. I don’t think she’s going to get very far tied to a support machine.”
He looked across at her, and said, “Actually, that’s not a problem. We’re only a short shuttle ride to the station, and they have excellent medical facilities there.”
“That would require my authorization, Lieutenant,” Logan said, “and I have no intention of overriding the opinion of my medical officer in this matter. She’s the expert, not you.”
“Captain, I must protest.” He handed over a datapad, and said, “She is wanted on
several counts of espionage. These are serious charges.” He looked across at Ryder, and said, “Lieutenant, I think this exchange does not require your presence.”
“I disagree,” Logan replied.
“Have the authorities even been informed of her presence?”
“Not being aware that there were any charges against her, no.”
He looked between the two of them, and said, “I will, in that case, head to the bridge and correct that error immediately. No doubt new orders will be coming shortly.” Turning on his heels, he walked out of the room, the door sliding shut behind him.
“Doctor,” Logan said, “Tell me that you were making up what you said about not being able to move her.”
“Only up to a point,” she replied.
“Let me put this another way. Can I get her to safety?”
She looked at Chambers, and said, “If I go along for the ride, yes.”
“That’ll leave Alamo without a doctor,” Ryder said.
“Pass the word to all hands not to get sick until I get back.”
“Get Harper down to the shuttle bay,” Logan said, “And have Shuttle One ready for launch. I’m taking her to Callisto.”
“That’s two days each way, Logan,” Ryder replied. “By the time you get back, Watson will have convinced somebody to turn command over to him.”
“He’ll find that harder than he thinks.” He looked at Ryder, then said, “I think I’m about to finally end your career, Lieutenant. While I am off the ship, I’m leaving you in command.”
“Watson has seniority of rank and position…”
“But I’m the one who makes the call. Hell, I can leave the ship’s cook in command if I want to. Regulations, for once, give me some leeway on this.”
Shaking her head, she said, “My command of this ship will last only until he gets through to someone in headquarters to relieve me, and we both know it.”
With a smile, he reached to a nearby datapad and entered a sequence of numbers, and a pair of red lights began to flash on. “He might, but they’ll have to be hand-delivered. All new orders are coming to my terminal, and only to my terminal, and Lieutenant, my terminal is off-limits.”
Battlecruiser Alamo: Take and Hold Page 12
