The Hot Gate - [Troy Rising 03]

by John Ringo

  Coxswain’s Mate First Class Paul “Raptor” Kelly was the Flight NCOIC for Bravo Troop. Dana was sort of in his good graces in that even if his boat hadn’t made it out of the main bay, “his” coxswains had all been able to find the LZ and get their loads delivered. Of all the “Norté” personnel in the unit, he was the only one not taking major heat rounds. And he was more than aware that a good bit of that had been due to one bitchy-ass engineer and former coxswain.

  “Your orders are downloaded,” the CO said. “Now... run.”

  * * * *

  “Palencia,” Dana commed, headed out of the CO’s quarters at a trot.

  “Go, EM.”

  “Drop everything. When Diaz freaks, tell him it’s a direct order from the CO. Raptor should be on the way down there to run interference. Everybody close up what they were doing, as long as the birds are up, and get in Twenty-Four. I need that transformer fluid cleaned up pronto. And then the bird needs to be cleaned from top to bottom. And I mean spotless. Then Velasquez and Sans get started on Twenty-Three. GI party the hell out of it.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “No time,” Dana said. “I’m going to have to get them to clean my suit as well. And yours. We’ve got a high priority mission.”

  * * * *

  “Comet, Raptor.”

  “Go,” Dana said as she hit the grab bar and entered the corridor. “Make a hole you Sud idiots!” she sent over the local channel. Bodies scattered. Fast. “Quipu” had lasted about a day as a handle. They called her “Muerte Pequeña,” the tiny death, in micro. The rest of the time it was “Hielo Angelica,” Ice Angel.

  “What’s the mission and plan?”

  “High level DP mission,” Dana said. “At least a week TDY. Two birds. I’m specifically designated, by Department of the Navy no less, as a coxswain not an engineer. Palencia is specifically designated as part of the party. Dress uniform required for myself and Palencia. CO has added all personnel have to have dress uniforms. I need our suits and the birds GI’d and I need another cox. I’d like Benito. If he has a dress uniform.”

  “He’s not one of your coxes,” Raptor pointed out.

  “I know that,” Dana said. “But he’s actually a good cox even if he’s an asshole. Sorry, Raptor, but only Contreras is even marginal and we both know it.”

  She flipped through the hatch of Twenty-Four to see Palencia, his helmet off, in a screaming match with Diaz.

  “And I need you down here to handle Diaz,” Dana said. “Because I’m about to boot his ass out of my boats. Physically if I have to.”

  Dana flipped her helmet shield up and screamed.

  “CAN IT!”

  “You cannot just shout at me...” Diaz said.

  “Why not?” Dana yelled. “You yell at each other all the time! And I’m on short time, here. I just got tasked, directly, by the squadron commander. If you have issues with that, you need to take it up with him!”

  “By Captain Higgins?” Diaz said, blinking.

  “Yes,” Dana said. “Raptor is on his way to help. Palencia, Velasquez, Benito and myself are all on TDY as of 1300. Which means we have to have this bird cleaned up, and Twenty-Three, and be packed by 1300. We’ve got a deep space rendezvous to make with the One-Four-Two at 1335. So we have exactly no time for this. Are we clear?”

  “Yes,” Diaz said. “I did not understand—”

  “That is because the CO jumped the chain of command,” Dana said. “Because we’re on short time and it was quicker. Not your fault. Go check with Chief Alegria. He should be in the loop by now. But we need to get started on cleaning this bird up.”

  “Why this one?” Palencia asked. But he’d learned. He was already working on where some of the transformer fluid had squirted on the starboard bulkhead.

  “It’s the newest and we just got done performing all the checks,” Dana said. “I know it’s good, despite the little issue with the transformer. And once we get this stuff cleaned up, it’s also visually the best. Velasquez, I need you to clean down my suit.”

  “Yes, miss,” the EA said.

  “Yes, EM,” Dana said with a sigh.

  “Uh...” the EA paused with his rag in the air when it finally dawned on him where he was going to have to rub.

  “Oh, Jesus Christ,” Dana swore. “Just clean the damned suit, EA!”

  “Yes, Engineers Mate!”

  “Diaz, OUT OF MY BIRD!”

  “Yes, EM,” Diaz said, snapping to attention.

  “Vel, did you seal Twenty-Three when you left?” Dana asked.

  “Yes, EM,” the EA said, rubbing at a spot on her suit. “And I set a telltale.”

  So far it didn’t appear that anyone had tried to sabotage their ships. But Dana wasn’t taking any chances.

  “As soon as you’re done with the suit, get back in the shuttle,” Dana said. “And start doing the pre-flight checks. When we get done with this one, we’ll start on Twenty-Three. When we get into Twenty-Three, you’re to head to your quarters and start packing. I hope you can pack very quickly. Palencia, you too. Dress uniforms and sufficient uniforms and linen for a week. You’ve got that. I know.”

  Dana had not only been cracking down on their maintenance. Aware that it wasn’t the “done” thing in the modern military, she had nonetheless taken it upon herself to make them clean the pigsties they called rooms to her satisfaction. And she wasn’t easily satisfied. That included clean and pressed uniforms. Neatly hung, slight angle, one inch apart, dress right dress. They also weren’t allowed to fall behind on their laundry.

  Going back to a “regular” squadron where she couldn’t be such a controlling bitch was going to be rough.

  “These shuttles leave at thirteen hundred,” Dana continued. “Not at thirteen thirty or thirteen hundred tomorrow. Thirteen hundred this day. That gives us two hours.”

  “What about lunch?”

  One thing that Dana had cracked down on, right at the first, was lunch. Lunch had a special meaning to Latins. To the “lower classes” it basically didn’t exist. To the “right” people it was a three hour meet and greet.

  They had compromised. They had as long as Dana took.

  She ate like a sparrow. Small amounts and fast so the other birds didn’t get it. Three older male cousins. Like a lot of their compromises, the rest of the division didn’t like it. But they were also tired of jungleball.

  “You’ve got helmet chow,” Dana said. “No time. And by the time we make Earth all your suits have to be pristine. But you can have permission to work on them en route.”

  “There isn’t enough time,” Palencia said. “Is this how your Navy often operates?”

  “You hope to have plenty of time to plan and you do what you have to to complete the mission,” Dana said. “So, yeah. Get over it. And there’s enough time. If we all work hard and as a team. Which is why we plan and prepare and learn little things like teamwork. So more scrubbing, less bitching.”

  * * * *

  TWELVE

  “Leonidas,” Parker said. “EM2 Parker with a flight of two requesting vector to the Big Dark.”

  “Roger, Comet,” Leonidas said. “Downloading flight path. Please observe all navigational hazards. Be aware of SAPL activity in main bay. You are cleared for exit to deep space. Main door is open.”

  “Thank you, Leonidas,” Parker said. “Engineer, undocking sequence.”

  “Undocking sequence, aye,” Velasquez said.

  “And we are off into the wild black yonder,” Dana said as the docking clamps came away. It had been a while since she’d had control of a bird and she missed it. “Twenty-Four, follow me.”

  “Roger, Comet,” Benito replied.

  Thirteen hundred on the dot. They’d had enough time for her to work in a shower and fix her hair. Gear was stowed. Birds were in form.

  “This is how things are supposed to work, Vel,” Dana said. “On mission and on delivery. Is any of this sinking in?”

  “Oh, I see your points, EM,” V
elasquez said. “And I’m still unsure we can change. I’m trying to figure out if I can change. It is not easy.”

  “Understood,” Dana said. “Closing my helmet for a second.”

  “Roger, EM.”

  “Benito,” Dana commed.

  “Benito.”

  “Beni, I’m not sure what the hell is going on,” Dana said. “But it looks like high level actual real politics politics.”

  “That would seem to be the tenor of the orders.”

  “What I’m saying is... this is probably not a good time for screwing around. No matter what culture.”

  “You stay in your corner; I’ll stay in mine.”

  “Not sure that will work, either,” Dana said. “We’re going to have to present the front of being one big happy team. And from the POV of the flight, I asked for you, specifically.”

  “Why?” He was clearly surprised. “And why could you ask?”

  “Because I was put in charge of this team by the Department of the Navy. At least until we make rendezvous. I don’t know why, so don’t even ask. Thing is, I asked for you because you’re a good driver. I trust you to fly the bird. Don’t... The term we’ve got in America is don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. That’s all I’m asking.”

  “I will seriously consider it,” Benito commed. “But if you mean being a bad driver, as you put it, this is actually one of those things where our cultures are congruent. Being a good pilot is... You’re either a good pilot or you’re not. I’m not going to bend the bird.”

  “Since this is a DP mission, there’s also not going to be a way to show off,” Dana said. “We’re not going to be hot-dogging it. Very definitely not going to be hot-dogging. Issues?”

  “No,” Benito said. “I’m interested in whether these are... well ‘real’ DPs or a bunch of school kids or what?”

  “Don’t know,” Dana said. “I’m hoping we’ll get more information when we make the rendezvous.”

  “Who are we meeting?”

  “Don’t know, again,” Dana said. “Some people from the 142nd. And, yes, I’ll probably know them.”

  “Old home week. At least you get to see people you know.”

  “In something like this, we need to be as out of sight and out of mind as possible,” Dana said. “If this is an actual DP mission, the last possible thing we want is to be noticed. There’s no ‘good’ way to be noticed in something like this.”

  “You probably need to talk to Palencia about that more than to me.”

  “I’ll brief him in,” Dana said. “And if he steps on his hooter and makes me look bad, I will brief him again in a null grav court.”

  * * * *

  “One-Four-Two Flight, this is One-Four-Three flight, EM2 Parker.”

  “Cooooomet!” the speaker caroled.

  “Yo, Comet! How’s the tat?”

  “Chief?” Dana said, her eyes wide. “Thermal?”

  “The same, babe,” Chief Barnett said. “And the MOG.”

  “EM Parker, good to hear from you”

  “Captain DiNote,” Dana replied. “It is a pleasure to hear from you as well.”

  “Parker, cut in your people, please.”

  “They’re already online, sir,” Dana said, looking over at Velasquez. He had his head craned around and was looking at her with wide eyes. She shrugged as if to say “What?”

  “One-Four-Three flight, this is Captain Chris DiNote, commander of the One-Four-Two squadron. This combined unit is hereby designated MOG flight. Mission of MOG flight has been modified. Element two, consisting of Shuttles Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four of the One-Four-Three will proceed to Buenos Aires Spaceport there to take onboard a party of ten. Party shall consist of following Distinguished Persons. Dr. Jorge Herrera, U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. Dr. Diego Barreiro, Foreign Minister of Argentina. General Alberto Barcena, Alliance Forces, Sud. Dr. Aloysius Werden, Foreign Minister of Chile. Mr. Julio Tarrago, President of Apollo Mining Corporation, Latin American operations. One aide per DP. MOG Two will then and only then proceed to Pentagon SP to take on additional DPs.”

  “Holy hell,” Dana whispered.

  “Method of mission. Birds shall land, observing all traffic control orders, in tight and clean formation with no extraneous operational parameters. Flight crew shall shut down nonessential systems. Ramp door shall be lowered by flight engineer. DPs shall be escorted to the birds by coxswain of each bird. DPs shall determine seats. Flight crew shall not become involved in any discussion of seating arrangements. When all personnel are safely seated, coxswain shall enter flight compartment and begin pre-flight. Engineer will close doors and return to flight compartment. Bird shall take off and proceed, following prepared flight directions, to Pentagon SP. Such movement shall not cause vessel to exceed one gravity of inertia.

  “Commander’s intent. Do not make the Navy look bad. MOGs Two flight was specifically tasked to this mission despite having the most junior personnel. Present a professional demeanor at all time. Exchange minimum communication with personnel, including aides, necessary for safe completion of mission. I hope I don’t have to point out that since these are bigwigs and they’re each limited to one aide, that that ‘aide’ is going to be someone nearly as important. Both the DPs and the aides have been informed that Myrmidons have a minimum of creature comforts. You’re not there to serve tea. Do your jobs and try not to screw up. Any questions?”

  “Captain DiNote, EM3 Palencia, sir.”

  “Go.”

  “Do we know the names of the aides?”

  “Negative.”

  “Roger, sir.”

  “Any other questions? I’m informed that members of the One-Four-Three from the Latin countries are mostly from high class families. I think you probably know very well how to present yourselves. Let’s try to show the best face possible. I need a confirm. CM2 Benito.”

  “Best face, aye.”

  “CM3 Palencia.”

  “Best face, aye.”

  “EA Velasquez.”

  “Best face, aye, sir.”

  “Comet.”

  “High, tight, clean and pro, sir.”

  “Okay, enjoy your flight.”

  “EM2 Parker, EM3 Palencia.”

  “Go, Pal.”

  “Permission to place a personal hypercom call.”

  “Negative,” Dana said, trying not to sigh. “I don’t know who in your family you want to call, but until we’re back on a station I don’t want any interference.”

  “This... I’m not trying to interfere... Dana. I want to call my father.”

  “That was sort of what I meant, Pal.” She wondered about his tone. He’d never called her Dana before. He was either stroking her or... She wasn’t sure what.

  “It’s... It may be important to the mission, EM. It’s not strictly personal. This is... This is socio-political. I want to find out if my father is the aide chosen by the foreign minister!”

  “Is that possible?” Dana said.

  “You still don’t get it,” Palencia said. “I’ve met most of these DPs. I played polo with Pedro Barreiro, the foreign minister’s son. We went to school together. And, yes, my father is the under minister for interstellar affairs. That usually means aliens but this is off-planet. It’s his specialty. I don’t know what, exactly, is going on but if it includes Apollo it’s probable my father is the aide. If there’s some sort of high-level meeting going on in Wolf, Dr. Barreiro isn’t going to want to use the hypercom to consult. For that matter... It’s possible Benito’s father will be on the trip. Hell, Dana, it’s possible this is going to be one big family reunion! Velasquez’s father is one of Chile’s under ministers for off-planet affairs. Not as high as my father, you understand...”

  “Holy hell,” Dana said. “That sort of puts a crinkle in the mission. I’m not sure... Pal, MOGs needs to know about this.”

  “That is why I need to speak to my father. Before we land.”

  “Stand by,” Dana said. “Captain DiNote?”


  “Comet? What’s up, Tat-Gal.”

  “Sir, there is a possible crinkle in the mission. I would like to three-way with Palencia.”