by C. R. Daems
"Paulus, send a message to Rabbit One, checking their status and warning them," Choi said, and then began checking each section.
TO CAPTAIN MENDOZA, UAS TITYUS.
THE FPU CRUISER EXPLODED ALL IT’S MISSILES WHEN CHALLENGED, INFLICTING MAJOR TASKFORCE DAMAGE. WOULD RECOMMEND FURTHER TASKFORCE SEPARATION. CAPTAIN CHOI REQUESTING YOUR STATUS.
FROM CAPTAIN CHOI, UAS SCYLLA.
I sent the message to Choi's tablet. He nodded and I sent it.
* * *
Although the Scylla had been the farthest from the explosion, it had received considerable damage, which the crew estimated would take a full day to repair. We were functional but had lost fifteen crew and had forty injured. The Rhode was a complete loss but we had managed to save over one hundred and fifty individuals—most injured to some degree or other. The Sparta also had incurred major damage, with over half the crew dead or injured. The Sparta was not operational. Choi ordered the ship back to Safe Harber, along with the seriously wounded from the Artemis and Scylla. The Artemis was operational but needed a day to make repairs. As we assessed the damage, the response from the Tityus arrived.
TO CAPTAIN CHOI, UAS SCYLLA
THE FPU CRUISER CHOSE TO FIGHT. WE LOST THE KERES AND HAD DAMAGE TO THE JANUS AND THE TITYUS. I’D LIKE TO SEND THE JANUS BACK WITH OUR WOUNDED AS IT RECEIVED THE MOST DAMAGE. COMMANDER HADLEY IS SAFE. AWAIT ORDERS.
FROM CAPTAIN MEMDOZA, UAS TITYUS.
"Paulus, come with me." He motioned to Pannell, who came over and helped me to follow Choi. "You look like road kill." He laughed and then grimaced and held his side in obvious pain.
"You look to have been run over by the same combat shuttle, sir," I said and couldn't help a laugh, which my ribs didn't think amusing. Choi gave a snort.
"How's Red?" Choi’s head spun back to me, his face twisted with pain from the quick movement. I reached into my jacket and pulled him out. He wrapped around my arm with his little red head pointing at me. I kissed him. "He appears all right, sir."
"Good," he said, looking relieved. When we reached the dispensary, it looked like the initial chaos was under control. Dr. Cahill was quick to see Choi and rushed to us.
"Captain, let me examine you," she said before looking at me. "You too, Paulus." She spent a half hour with Choi before coming into my cubicle.
"Red won't bother you, Dr. Cahill,” I said as he wound around my left arm, which I held over my head while she undressed and examined me.
"You and Choi have roughly the same injuries: fractured ribs, concussion, and multiple bruises. Eight hours in the Regen and a day or two rest," she said when she’d finished. Shortly afterward, Choi entered with Pannell.
"What do you think, Paulus?" he said. I took it as a NIA question.
"You will only have one chance to get the third FPU cruiser." I didn't think we could keep both encounters a secret for more than a couple of days. The existence of the HoBos made it even less likely.
"Agreed," Choi said, "What about…"
"If the Scylla is going to Shadows Rest, send Hadley home with the Janus…" I thought it logical Choi would send the Janus home and the Tityus and Typhon to Shadows Rest. He nodded.
"Can you send a message from here?"
I nodded. "With the proper authority."
He typed on his tablet for a minute, then nodded. "What does the NIA recommend?"
I wasn't sure why, but I pulled Red from around my neck and he wrapped around my arm with his small red head poking out of my hand and pointing toward me. I moved him to within a hand's width of my face.
"What do you think, Red?" I stared at him for several seconds as if awaiting an answer. Silently, I was apologizing again to Alexa for the stress I continued to cause her. Of course, except for the flickering of his tongue, there was no sound.
"All right," I said while stroking his head before typing the message and sending it to Choi's tablet.
TO CAPTAIN MENDOZA, UAS TITYUS
SEND THE JANUS HOME, ALONG WITH THE WOUNDED AND COMMANDER HADLEY. THE TITYUS AND THE TYPHON SHOULD PROCEED TO SHADOW'S REST. THE SCYLLA WILL BE IN POSITION BY THE TIME YOU ARRIVE.
FROM CAPTAIN CHOI, UAS SCYLLA
"Do you talk to…Red often?" Choi asked after staring at me for several long seconds.
"Yes, sir."
"And what did he say?" He frowned but I could feel a hint of amusement.
"He just stares back at me. I take his silence as agreement." I grinned. "He's a very dear friend and a comfort in times of stress."
Choi nodded. "Yes, you are concerned about everyone but yourself. You would make a good captain, but I think the UAS is better served with you in the NIA. Send the message, I agree." He smiled. "We have evil men to catch."
* * *
Hadley was relieved and disappointed as she read the incoming message from the Scylla. She had been terrified and excited. Her whole body had been alive with electricity when she wasn't frozen in panic. It had been an experience she would cherish for the rest of her life: she had been on a ship of war in a battle with a FPU cruiser. Not only been present, but had been on the Bridge and had been the one to identify the enemy cruiser. Emotions clashed. She wanted to go with the Tityus to Shadows Rest to be part of the taskforce that destroyed the last of the FPU cruisers. Teresa knew she wouldn't like cruiser duty and longed to be home with her husband and children, safe. She didn't know how Paulus did it. She plunged into danger like a penguin into water. After her experience on the Shark, Teresa would have expected a disability retirement, years of counseling, and an overwhelming fear of leaving her house. The Hijacker and the HoBos had every right to fear Commander Paulus.
"Captain Mendoza, a message from the Scylla," she said and sent it to his tablet. Mendoza read while nodding…and finally smiling. Paulus was right—captains were attracted to war like bears to beehives.
* * *
The trip to Shadows Rest was estimated to take the Scylla close to forty-eight hours, while the Titus and the Typhon would take an additional twenty-two hours. So it was no surprise Mendoza’s taskforce hadn’t arrived when Choi positioned the Scylla and the Artemis and cut back power to a minimum. This time Choi chose to double the separation between ships. With the previous one hundred kilometers we had been over two hundred kilometers from the blast and had received significant damage. Choi again arranged for meals to be delivered and for the conference room to act as sleeping quarters. I chose to sleep in my chair but added extra pillows—just in case.
The space gods were obviously in a playful mood, as ten hours after arriving, the fourth attempt to access the WavCom was the Happy Jobber.
"Commander Jacoby, the FPU ship has arrived—"
"Clarke, wake the Captain," he shouted and Clarke ran out the door. Jacoby looked to me. I looked at the information streaming back to the Happy Jobber. It seemed a lot.
"A few minutes at most—"
"Comm, connect to the Artemis. Tactical, target the ship broadcasting.
"XO, connected to the Artemis."
"Artemis, target the ship broadcasting, but don't fire until ordered or fired upon—"
"XO, what do you have?"
"Commander Paulus has identified the broadcasting ship as the Happy Jobber, the FPU cruiser."
"How long before the PCU cruiser returns?" Choi asked, looking directly at me. Panic seized me and I grabbed Red, who was resting on my shoulder, and pressed his head to my lips. I knew it was my decision and I didn't have the luxury of waiting to decipher the message sent to the Jobber. The decision had to be made immediately. Unfortunately, lives depended upon my response—Choi would act on my answer as he had to assume I was right. If we stayed to fight, it was two to one, which was good odds, but even if we won the cost would be high. If we left, we would have four to one odds—if the FPU cruiser returned. If not, it would be lost forever.
If I said to let the Jobber leave and was wrong, we would save lives by avoiding the battle but we could lose the third FPU cruiser.
If I said to attack and was wrong, we would lose more lives, not to mention we could lose the battle, than if we had waited for the Tityus and Typhon to arrive. My heart raced, feeling like an out-of-control hurricane that would burst through my chest at any second. Red slipped through my hand, up my face, and wound into my head like a crown. As the warmth of his body, which was normally cool, flowed down through me, my head cleared and my heart slowed.
"He's not coming back, Captain," I said feeling I had made the right decision.
Choi stared at me for what seemed like minutes but was probably more like seconds. He laughed, which dissolved the tension in the room. "Red agrees?"
"Yes, sir."
"Fire in fifteen seconds from now." He sat back, looking relaxed. At first I was surprised, but then thought I understood. He had made the tough decision—the reason he was the captain—and now it was up to others to do their jobs. He wasn't perfect; I wasn't perfect. All either of us could do was make the best call we could, based on what we knew at the time. I reached up and felt the feather-like touch of Red's tongue.
"Eight missiles away," said the Tactical Officer, Nash, excitement in his voice, although it remained steady and professional. His glare boring into his monitor.
"Artimis fired, eight," said Schultz, the Radar Officer. And seconds later, "Seven, no, fifteen direct hits on the FPU cruiser. All her engines have come on line. The seconds felt like minutes as the Bridge waited for the missile tubes to reload.
"Radar, the Jobber's vector?" Choi asked, watching the hologram as the red dot tagged P1 began to move.
"Eight missiles incoming," Schultz said in a loud but steady voice. Uribe's fingers flew over the ECM panel as he worked to stop them. Four jarring impacts occurred in a rapid gunfire-like cadence. "Sir, the ship's identification has changed to the Barracuda.
"Tactical, fire when ready."
"Helm, stay on his tail while increasing the distance between us. This close he could get lucky since our ECM is less effective. His ECM will be more effective but we are throwing twice as many missiles at him.
"Eight missiles fired," Tactical reported. As the distance increased, the Jobber's hits on the Scylla was reduced to one and sometimes two out of eight—the Jobber was ignoring the Artimis. The battle raged on for the next ten minutes and, although each ship had received significant damage, both remained fully functional. Then suddenly the Jobber cut its engines.
Choi's voice came over my station's intercom, indicating he was talking only to me.
"What would you do now, Paulus?" he asked. Startled, I looked to Choi, whose chin dipped in a questioning gesture.
"Move away," I said spontaneously, thinking about our encounter at Safe Harber.
"Why?"
"They aren't stopping for you to board."
"Helm, a vector sixty degrees to starboard. Comm send to Artimis, sixty degrees to port."
"And?" The question was again to me on my station's intercom. It was the captain's decision but I knew he was making it my call. He was seeking an answer to something but I was in too much turmoil to figure it out. The crew on the Jobber were evil, but I didn't wish them dead. But the crew on the Scylla weren't evil. Tears formed in my eyes as I spoke.
"Continue firing."
"Tactical, continue firing full loads," Choi said, never taking his eyes off me.
"But they cut…" Nash said in shock, looking over his shoulder at Choi. Then turned back to the weapons' panel. "Yes, sir. Eight missiles away,"
"Comm. Message to Artimis. Continue firing until the Jobber is destroyed." Choi sat quietly watching the Hologram as Schultz reported the number of hits.
"Captain, the Jobber has lost power."
"Cease fire." Choi picked up his CDC and a moment later spoke. "Colonel Sanchez, in one hour send a combat shuttle to ensure the Jobber is safe to enter. Don't take any chances. Anyone alive will not be in a good mood."
The Bridge was silent, but watching the damage monitor I knew the rest of the ship was busy making repairs, treating the wounded, and tagging the dead. On the hour, a combat shuttle left the Scylla, and thirty minutes later Sanchez reported the ship was safe. They had encountered about twenty survivors who fought to the death, killing five Marines.
"Commander Paulus, would you like to visit the Barracuda?" Choi asked, surprising me. Actually, I did want to visit the ship, hoping I could determine if I’d made the right call—the message they received was a warning and the seventy deaths were justified, or I was wrong and the deaths avoidable.
"Yes, sir," I said, and followed him to the Marines' shuttle bay. We suited up since half the Jobber was open to space. When the Marine shuttle ramp opened on the Jobber I made my way directly to the Bridge with Choi, Pannell, and his full detail surrounding me. On the Bridge, I went straight to the Communication station and began reviewing the recent activity. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Choi had taken a seat in the captain's chair. I easily found the query to the WavCom and the encoded reply, looking like random characters a toddler had made while playing with the keyboard. After several minutes poking around, I found the translation program. Holding my breath, I ran the WavCom message through the program.
IT'S A TRAP. HAPPY JOBBER IDENTITY COMPROMISED.
Was displayed in old Russian, the original language of the FPU, which I knew from my language hobby. I sighed with relief. As I did, I heard Choi's soft chuckle.
"I had this image of you roaming the halls of a cruiser in a captain's jacket and imagined the looks you would get. That was a difficult call, as well as the one to destroy the Jobber. My team has informed me the ship was being rigged to explode. Destroying the Jobber saved lives. With a year or two as XO, I believe you'd make a good captain." He rose and left the Bridge with me frozen in place.
I wanted to scream, No way I want that responsibility. Then gave a weak laugh as I realized I had made such a decision when I told the captain the Happy Jobber wouldn't be returning.
* * *
I was subdued on the six-day trip back to Eastar. Choi invited me to dine with him each night, but somehow the magic of cruiser life had dimmed after the events at Safe Harber and, especially, Shadows Rest. I didn't like having to make decisions that cost people's lives—even crews of enemy cruisers. As strange as it sounded, I liked stopping the bad guys but not killing them. Consequently, I spent most of my time in my room. On the fourth day, I shook myself out of my brooding and began thinking about the HoBos, which turned out to be equally depressing.
I knew what ships they were on but not the specific individuals. So, logically, I needed to be able to identify them. The same with their contacts. I knew the company but not the specific individual or individuals. And the hundred million credit question—who was the brains behind the organization?
I hoped the contacts’ reply to the HoBos' queries would help, after we could decipher their encryption.
* * *
"What's next, Anna, if it isn't classified?" Choi asked at dinner our last night before reaching Eastar.
"The HoBos, but that may be harder than finding the Hijackers," I said, feeling depressed again.
"Why?"
"Let's say I tell you that you have two HoBos on your ship. I doubt they have tattoos and if they do, I don't know what they’d look like. Do you search everyone's quarters? Do you investigate everyone? Give everyone a polygraph…?" I said, imagining the chaos that would result.
Choi nodded. "It would almost be better to let them go free."
"And their contacts, and the ring leader?" I felt like banging my head against the table.
"True. You could make an announcement that you are after the HoBos. If I were them, I'd cease my illegal activities. I wouldn't like you chasing me." He smiled.
"No, they would put a Wanted Dead reward on my head. They would consider me an annoying bug to squash," I said, thinking back to the Raiders. Choi choked on the wine he was drinking.
"I’d rather try to squash a landmine."
* *
*
Although I arrived home very early in the morning, Alexa was sitting up, waiting. I ran into her outstretched arms, feeling content for the first time in weeks.
"Thank you for sending a message from Shadows Rest. Knowing you were safe was a wonderful gift. Although, I'd like to hear all the details around, ‘It was a bumpy ride, but the ride home should be smooth. See you in seven days.’"
"You've got work tomorrow…" I said, knowing the story would last for hours as Alexa dragged every detail out of me.
"The love of my life is home and I want to assure myself she is well and to hear every detail of her latest adventure." She squeezed me tightly. "Let's treat ourselves to dessert and coffee in celebration."
I linked my arm in hers and we marched off to the kitchen. "The taskforce was assembled at Truth Star and consisted of eight cruisers…" As I had anticipated, the telling was slow as Alexa dragged every detail out of me.
"I don't know if that were pure evil or genius…probably both," Alexa said when I told her about the explosion. We had just finished breakfast when I got a message from Lulltrel.
TO COMMANDERS HADLEY AND PAULUS
STAFF MEETING A THIRTEEN HUNDRED HOURS.
FROM ADMIRAL LULLTREL
"I guess I don't get the day off," I said, smiling.
"Like me, she wants to hear all the details and bask in the glory. The NIA discovered and eliminated a major threat to the UAS," Alexa said. "And she has a right to the credit. She moved mountains to get you to take the Easter NIA Station position.
* * *
When I entered Lulltrel's conference room, I was surprised to find my staff there.
"Paulus, you've created a monster," Leyva said, pointing to Commander Hadley. "We can't get her to stop smiling or retelling the battle at Oasis, which she won single handedly."
"Well, I had a little help from the UAS cruisers." She laughed and rushed to me. "I was a little disappointed when Choi sent me home."
"You didn't miss anything. By the time the Tityus arrived, the FPU cruiser had been destroyed," I said.
