"You know what I mean. She's stuck in an office now, piloting a desk."
"It was Captain Carver that sent a ship to pick us up after we were marooned at Rivemwilth's old base. She was only able to do that because of her position. But sending the battleship after us left the base's protection fleet short-handed when the Raiders attacked Stewart. By the time we got there, the battle was long over, but it could have ruined her career."
"Yes, we've heard your story of how she directed the battle and destroyed twenty-six Raider ships with just two warships in port and two that she was able to recall from patrol duty."
"I would hardly call that being mothballed."
"But she's stuck aboard a base, like an old, impotent admiral."
"I know that she'd rather be commanding a battleship, but like all of us, she follows orders, and the powers that be, want her at Stewart. Don't underestimate what she can accomplish while flying a desk in an office. Captain Kanes is over four hundred fifty light-years away, yet we do his bidding."
"I just hope that I never get to a point where I have to ride a desk all day."
Vyx smiled. "It's unlikely that we will. Field agents never integrate back into the formal command structure very well. After graduating from the Academy, we spend our years being totally reliant on our own wits, reflexes, and fighting skills. At most, we can share our little world with a few others cut from the same bolt of fabric. But we wouldn't last a week saluting and following inane military protocols on a base, or even on a warship. Besides, few of us live long enough to require a change of jobs."
* * *
The mood relaxed considerably now that no one had to be on guard constantly to protect their cover. It was only a matter of waiting until the Ottawa arrived to take over responsibility for the base. Byers and Nelligen spent their time in the mess hall, playing cards and harassing one another, while the two young women spent their time altering the Tsgardi uniforms to fit them better, or exercising to keep fit. Vyx spent most of his time reading in a comfortable spot that he had put together in one of the rear storerooms using several blankets from the dormitory. He also spent a couple of hours each day exercising, usually before the others were even up. His favorite exercise was running around one of the empty storerooms. He was surprised one morning when Brenda suddenly appeared next to him as he ran. They jogged without talking for over an hour until Vyx stopped to take a rest and cool down. Brenda stopped as well.
Once they were breathing normally, she said, "I wondered where you sneaked off to every morning."
"I don't sneak. I get up early, dress, and come here to exercise."
"Alone?"
He shrugged. "I'm used to working and being alone. I never worked with partners until this past year, and that was accidental. We just sort of fell in together because we were all leaving Gollasko after the borders changed. That and we were still involved in the stolen arms case."
"But even during the day you spend your time alone, locked in that storeroom. What do you do all day?"
"I read. I love to read, and it's something that you can really only do alone, unless you just happen to be with other people who are also reading alone. Noise is a distraction so I go to the storeroom. I haven't ever locked the door."
"What do you read?"
"Almost anything that's interesting, but I have a decided preference for fiction. I often reread the old classics such as those by Shakespeare, but I'm not stuck on that period. Of course there have been relatively few great works created since the start of the twenty-first century, but the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were rich in great literature."
"I never would have thought that of you. I would have pegged you as a two-fisted loner that enjoys spending his spare time sitting in the corner of a bar, nursing one drink all night."
"You're not too far off. Except I occasionally enjoy several beers with dinner when I'm not actively working a case."
"No, I was way off. You're just in a profession that requires you to sit in bars nursing one drink all night. Maybe you should have majored in Literary Science?"
Vyx smiled. "I did. When recruited for the Intelligence Section, while at the Academy, I pictured myself reading reports, and compiling data for more reports. They pictured me a bit differently."
"What now?"
"Now? Now I'm going to take a shower and have breakfast."
Brenda had been moving slowly closer as they talked. She put her hands on his hips and said, "Alone?"
Vyx shrugged. "I'm used to working and being alone."
"But this isn't work. How do you feel about showering alone? It's a more efficient use of water to wash two bodies at the same time."
"Oh? And do you know where I might find someone else that also needs a shower right now?"
"I might," she said, moving her body suggestively. "Let's walk to the shower room and we'll see what we can come up with."
Vyx continued to spend his days reading alone. Brenda also began to read alone, by his side. They could have read together, but their tastes in reading material were somewhat different. While he preferred plays and novels, she couldn't get enough poetry. Fortunately, the Scorpion's computer contained enormous quantities of both. Vyx downloaded a large selection of works into a holo-magazine cylinder for Brenda.
Twice as long as the thinner, ten-centimeter holo-tubes used for data, the three-centimeter thick holo-magazine cylinders were extremely sturdy and lightweight, while offering better image resolution. Even at twenty-centimeters, the composite-material tubes were very portable and updatable in minutes from files contained in a computer. Pressing a recessed button activates it, and a page of text and images rises up from the length of the cylinder. The reader can then twist the end of the cylinder slowly until they found something of interest. Although providing a much larger image than a viewpad, the tube doesn't offer interactive computer capability.
Vyx and Brenda were each enjoying an afternoon reading session when the alert lights began blinking and the klaxons began bleating. Vyx was on his feet and halfway to the door before his holo-magazine cylinder stopped skidding across the floor. Brenda wasn't more than two steps behind as he raced through the corridors. When they reached the communications room, they found Nelligen buckling on his laser pistol.
"What is it?" Vyx shouted over the noise from the klaxon.
"Sensors have picked up a ship in orbit, and someone appears to be hailing us."
"I take it that it's not the Ottawa?"
"Right the first time. It's a small transport, not a large destroyer."
"It might be Rivemwilth's men returning," Vyx said.
"That would be my guess, since this base is so secret, but it might also be an innocent prospector or survey team. Except— why would they be hailing us?"
Vyx spun on his left heel and raced towards the flight bay. Nelligen watched for a second, with a confused expression on his face, and then followed Brenda, who was already running after Vyx.
Vyx was pulling on his EVA suit when Nelligen arrived outside the airlock next to the control room. "Where are you going?" he shouted over the sound of the klaxon.
"Until I know differently, I'm going to assume that the ship is Rivemwilth's. When Rivemwilth buried us alive in his old base, I swore that I would never allow that to happen again. The Scorpion is all prepped and will be ready to lift off in minutes. You guys remain here."
"You're just going to leave us here?" Brenda screamed, trying to make herself heard above the din.
"You're infinitely safer in here than outside. There's only one entrance, making this place easy to defend, and you have plenty of weapons in the storerooms. Space command has precise directions on how to locate the moon and the base. If I just leave the Scorpion where it is, they'll blast it to pieces as soon as they descend to the surface. Maybe I can get away and get them to follow me. I'll head towards Stewart, and, if I get lucky, I'll meet up with the Ottawa. If Rivemwilth's men don't follow me, I'll swing around and be able to attack t
hem from the rear."
Vyx pulled on his helmet and activated the suit's seal. Turning without another word, he entered the airlock to the flight bay while Nelligen and Brenda hurried to the control room window. They watched as Vyx crossed the bay and entered the airlock that led outside to the moon's surface. Byers and Kathryn rushed into the control room just as Vyx closed the airlock door.
"What's up?" Byers asked.
"Where have you been?" Nelligen asked angrily.
"I had to go to the can."
"I was washing my clothes again," Kathryn said. "I'm still trying to get the Tsgardi stink out of them."
"It appears that the rest of Rivemwilth's missing men have returned. We have to get ready to greet them. I'll head to the communications room and turn off the klaxon and warning lights. The rest of you better get to the storerooms and pick out some weapons. I'll join you there."
Firing up the Scorpion, Vyx maneuvered it out from under the concealing roof. After turning the ship, he punched a track to a low orbit path into the ship's nav computer. If he could achieve orbit, the ship's Light Speed drive would engage. But the Tsgardi, not having received a reply to their hails, were on alert, and the ship in orbit began firing its laser weapons at the Scorpion as soon as it emerged from beneath the camouflaged roof. Fortunately, for Vyx, the gunners weren't tremendously skilled and most of the shots passed wide of the small ship.
Vyx achieved orbit and was just about to engage FTL when the Scorpion rocked violently. The emergency lighting kicked on as power fluctuated and then quit. Vyx was out of his seat in a microsecond, popping covers off panels, and working furiously. He was able to restore most of the power, but the temporal field generator remained off-line. Without the ability to escape, there was only one option, fight.
Moving to the targeting computer, Vyx saw the Tsgardi ship coming up behind. They had stopped firing after he lost power and momentum, and he continued to monitor them in passive mode so as not to alert them that he was preparing to fire. He knew that he'd only have time for one shot before they threw everything they had at him. Firing without a targeting lock usually meant that the gunner had one chance in a thousand of actually hitting his target, but Vyx had no choice. For their part, the Tsgardi were approaching his ship directly off the stern because it's the most vulnerable spot of any small ship. Large ships usually have rear torpedo tubes.
Time seemed to slow down immeasurably as Vyx waited for the Tsgardi ship to move to a position where he stood a chance of hitting them. He fixed a spot at which he intended to fire but the Tsgardi ship began slowing before it reached that point. He cursed silently under his breath as he waited and prayed that the ship would drift into the position he had selected.
The minutes seemed to pass like hours as he waited for the Tsgardi ship to reach the target point. Finally, it drifted into proper position. Pressing the control that would open the two hidden doors, he quickly fired once and then again. Two small torpedoes left their launch tubes a few seconds apart and streaked towards the Tsgardi ship. The Tsgardi must have spotted the launch because the helmsman suddenly pitched the ship to larboard and down, to avoid the small torpedoes. The maneuver worked, and Vyx's first torpedo narrowly passed over the Tsgardi ship's bow. Vyx was considering it lost when it suddenly exploded against the Tsgardi ship's stern. The explosion swung the ship around slightly just as the second torpedo reached it. The movement put the bow directly back into the path of the second torpedo. The effect of the helmsman's attempt to avoid the high-explosive torpedoes was inadvertently responsible for the strikes. Both missiles would probably have missed the ship altogether. Vyx smiled as the most forward frame section of the ship disintegrated into thousands of tiny fragments that glowed brightly for a second or two.
The damage to the stern had disabled the larger ship's main engines, and the damage to the bow destroyed their forward maneuvering thrusters. Because of the evasion maneuver, the ship was descending towards the moon without any way to stop or alter course. The Scorpion might be without engine power, but at least it was in a stable orbit. Vyx watched as the Tsgardi ship sank lower and lower towards the surface. While the moon had a low gravity, it would still exert an ever-increasing force over the ship as it neared the surface.
Vyx didn't believe that the damage his small torpedoes caused to the Tsgardi ship had incapacitated the gunners, but they were probably busy trying to save their skins. No more laser fire or torpedoes came in his direction as the disabled ship began to drop ever faster towards the surface. Once the Tsgardi accepted that they couldn't save their ship, they made a dash for their two small onboard shuttles.
Both shuttles made it out of the crippled ship, and then, surprisingly, three escape pods ejected as well. Vyx knew that if the shuttles made it down safely, the four agents in the base would have a real fight on their hands, so he targeted the shuttles and filled their engine sections with coherent light pulses from his laser weapons. Both shuttles, already in the grip of the moon's gravity, stopped moving under power and began to drop like the ship. It wasn't pleasant to fire on unarmed ships, but it was sometimes necessary in the fight for self-preservation, and this was one of those times. Vyx continued to watch as the main ship and the shuttles plummeted towards the surface and crashed, sending up great plumes of moon dust at each impact site. The three escape pods, not having soft landing capability, had automatically moved higher and achieved a stable orbit path around the moon.
With the excitement over, Vyx called the base.
"Nels here, Vyx. What's the story?"
"I engaged the Tsgardi ship and it's crashed onto the surface of the moon. I doubt there are any survivors aboard. They launched two shuttles, but I took them out also, and they crashed onto the surface as well. Three small escape pods made it into orbit, and I guess that they can remain there until the Ottawa shows up."
"That's great. I guess that we can stand down now. You're sure that there's no additional threat."
"Reasonably sure; the main ship spiraled in. The shuttles tried to glide in, but instead crashed on the surface with great force. They're a very long way from the base, but keep an eye out just in case one of the Tsgardi survived. They're a pretty hardy species."
"We will. Are you going to return now?"
"I took a serious hit and my power systems are damaged. I have to see if I can make repairs to the Scorpion on my own. I'll let you know as soon as I figure out what the situation is."
"Okay, Vyx. And thanks."
"Vyx out."
"Nels out."
After several hours of trying to repair the small ship, Vyx admitted to himself that he wasn't going anywhere soon. He had thruster power, but that was it. He called the base.
"Nels here, Vyx."
"I've tried to repair the ship but I can't do it without some basic replacement parts that I just don't have. It looks like I'm going to be stuck up here for a while; like the Tsgardi in those escape pods. Life support is working fine, and between fresh food, and emergency packs, I have sufficient food stores for a couple of years. I'm glad that we stocked the base after moving in, so you guys should be in good shape also. I'll just wait for the arrival of the Ottawa from up here."
"You can't even land?"
"Not with any real degree of control. I have thrusters, but power to the opposed gravity system is out. At best, a landing would be a controlled crash. I'm sure that the Ottawa will have the parts that I need to get the Scorpion repaired well enough for us to get to a repair facility where I can have the temporal field generator and the Sub-Light engines overhauled."
"Okay, Vyx. Thanks for saving our bacon. We'll be here if there's anything that we can do."
"Right. I'm going to send a message to the Ottawa and request their E.T.A. Vyx, out."
"Nels, out."
* * *
The reply from the Ottawa took more than eighteen hours. In the encrypted message, the captain informed Vyx that the ship expected to arrive at the moon in twenty-nine days. He also con
firmed that the parts necessary for Vyx's repairs were available in ship's stores, and that they had a maintenance bay large enough to accommodate Vyx's entire ship. Working in a pressurized environment would make the repair work much easier, and speedier. Working in an EVA suit made every task take three times as long.
The days passed quickly for Vyx as he settled down to await the arrival of the Ottawa. He had his books, and everything else that he needed for comfortable survival, but he found himself missing the warmth of Brenda's fine young body beside his as he read. He also couldn't stop thinking about her when he took his daily shower.
* * *
Chapter Ten
~ September 19th, 2275 ~
"Captain, the head of the Arrosian delegation is here to see you," Jenetta read, as the message from her aide, Lt. Commander Ashraf, scrolled up on her com screen.
"Send him in, Lori," she replied.
Jenetta stood up to greet the Arrosian diplomat, who walked in and strode over to her desk.
"Good morning, Minister," Jenetta said.
"Good morning, Captain. I'm here to request that we begin the hearing as soon as possible. We can't wait any longer."
"Pardon me? You wish to start as soon as possible? But Minister, the Selaxian delegation and I have been ready for months. It's only your delegation's objections to the room design and furniture that's prevented us from starting."
"Are you blaming us for the delay?"
"Minister, every time we've asked you if you're ready, you've replied that the hearing can't begin until we correct some minor defect or other in the room. Right now, we're repainting the room to agree with the new table that you demanded, which was necessary to complement the new carpeting that you insisted upon."
"I demand that we begin by tomorrow or I'll file a formal protest with the Galactic Alliance Council."
Milor! Page 10
