Battlecruiser Alamo: The First Duty

by Richard Tongue

 “We’ve got company. Dauntless jumping after us. Right on our tail. We’re not out of the woods let.” She smiled, then said, “Though at least we’ve got time to work out what to do.”

  Chapter Ten

   Orlova watched from the shade of the shuttle as the Espatier team jogged towards her, racing parallel to the tracks she had found at the murder site. Carpenter was still busy taking photographs of the area, a trio of troopers standing guard, their eyes scanning the horizon. Sergeant Forrest panted as he reached her, and saluted.

   “Sorry, ma’am. They stop after about two miles, and there are burn marks on the site. Looks a lot like a shuttle takeoff.”

   Shaking her head, she replied, “Alamo didn’t see anything, nor did the orbiting satellites. If someone’s messing around with our sensors…” she shook her head, then said, “Thanks, Sergeant. Continue to secure the perimeter.”

   “Aye, ma’am. I’d suggest you get upstairs and have the medics take a look at you.”

   “I’m fine.”

   “Of course, but even so,” he said, glancing at the shuttle.

   Nodding, she replied, “I ought to go and make my report, anyway. Susan, are you about finished?”

   She looked over, and shouted, “Yes, but I want to take another look at the site. See if we missed anything, or if our visitors did any damage. Odds are they picked it clean. Someone should stay down here, anyway.”

   “I’d rather not linger too long,” Forrest said, looking out at the camp site. The bodies had already been shipped back up to Alamo, but Orlova could still see them in her mind, more friends lost forever. “Think we can be out of here before dark?”

   “I think that would be a very good idea. That gives you about six hours; I want you back up on Alamo in four, no matter what Carpenter says. Understood.”

   “We’ll get her home if we have to drag her. I’ll put some surveillance kit out, though, in case anyone decides to check up during the night.”

   “Good idea. See you later.” She climbed on board the shuttle and made her way forward to the passenger cabin, tapping a control. “Alamo and back, fast as you can,” she said to the pilot.

   “Aye, ma’am.”

   The shuttle’s engines roared into life, kicking up dust as they hurtled into the air, then out over the desert on their trajectory into orbit. She glanced down at the patch Forrest had mentioned, and it did look remarkably like a landing site, the burn marks in the ground a good match for the ones they had just left. The implications of that were extremely worrying.

   “Orlova to Alamo,” she said into her communicator, and Yorkina, the duty sensors technician, answered.

   “Yes, ma’am?”

   “I want a full check of all sensor systems, on Alamo and whichever satellite was orbiting the camp during the attack. As soon as possible.”

   “We’ve already done a full diagnostic, Lieutenant.”

   “Then check the diagnostic systems and make sure they haven’t been tampered with. I don’t want to rule out sabotage, and we don’t know how deep this one might run.”

   “Yes, ma’am.”

   She sat in silence for the rest of the ride up to Alamo, occasionally looking out of the window at the planet below. Technically, she still had three days left of her leave, but under the circumstances she didn’t think the Major would object to her getting right back to work. She needed something to distract her, not more chances to dwell on what had happened.

   The shuttle pilot did a nice, conservative job guiding them up to orbit, and into a close rendezvous track; she would have tried to do it in one maneuver, and normally would have pushed her aside and taken the shuttle up herself, but somehow she didn’t feel like flying today, decidedly not normal for her.

   At last, Alamo loomed ahead in the view, and with some cautious pulses on the thruster jets, the pilot guided them up into the docking cradle, and a series of reassuring rattling on the hull saw them slowly rise up to the hangar deck, the hatch opening as the settled inside the pressurized level. The Major was waiting for her, a red-faced Doctor Duquesne standing next to him, her arms crossed.

   “Back down to the surface, Spaceman,” Orlova said as she rose to her feet. “And make sure to be ready for immediate blast-off if there is a problem. I don’t want to risk anyone being trapped down there.”

   “Will do, Lieutenant.”

   Duquesne looked at her as she stepped out onto the deck, shaking her head, and said, “You are going to have a full check-up, right now.”

   The Major smiled, then said, “I don’t think she has the time at the moment, and she looks well enough to me.”

   “I didn’t know you had a medical degree.”

   “Doctor, she has work to do. Come on, Maggie, there’s a staff meeting in ten minutes, and given that you are around, I’d like to have you there. Give your report on what happened.”

   “Such as it is,” she replied, turning to the doctor. “I’ll come down to sickbay as soon as we’re finished, before I do anything else. I can’t come to that much trouble sitting in a conference room, can I?”

   “On this ship? I wouldn’t rule anything out.” Glaring at the Major, she continued, “I suppose that’s the best I’m going to get, isn’t it. Carpenter as well assuming she decides to put in an appearance.”

   “Come on, Maggie, I don’t want to be late for my own meeting,” the Major said, gently taking her by the elbow and guiding her towards the elevator. The shuttle descended down through the deck as she walked, a loud thump indicating its departure back down to the planet.

   “I gave orders to have the surface cleared by nightfall,” she said, as the two of them stepped through the doors. “It seemed like a good idea, and I don’t think we’re going to learn anything else from the site now.”

   “Good, good. I confirmed your orders on the diagnostic systems, as well. Good thinking.”

   “If there was another shuttle on the surface that we missed, I don’t like the implications of that. We should have picked it up easily. Was there any traffic to Hydra Station?”

   “Not according to their logs, but I sent Steele over to have a look in person with a couple of security technicians. I’m rather wary of trusting former Cabal personnel, no matter what loyalties they are professing at the moment.”

   Nodding, Orlova said, “It would be the logical place for a saboteur to be hiding. I had worried about a fifth column element, though I would have thought they’d have picked a higher-profile target.”

   “They killed our Astrogator, Maggie. That’s a pretty major target.”

   The doors opened, and they hurriedly walked down the corridor, heading towards the conference room. Stepping inside, Orlova took her seat near the front, almost making for the Security Officer’s chair automatically before correcting herself at the last moment. The Major settled down at the head of the table. He looked enough like his son that it was an unnerving feeling, as if something was subtly wrong.

   Quinn and Bailey were sitting in their accustomed positions, Nelyubov looking uncomfortable as he sat opposite Orlova, glancing around at the others. The door opened, and Race hurried in, hesitating before sitting down at the far side of the room.

   “Thank you all for coming,” the Major said. “I think we should have a minute’s silence for Mr. Mulenga, before we begin.” The seconds dragged interminably before he looked up from the table and continued, “As of half an hour ago, I named Mr. Race Acting Lieutenant, and assigned him as Astrogator.”

   “Thank you, sir,” Race said. “I’ve been going over the course projections for the Shrouded Stars, and everything seems in order. We can break orbit as soon as you give the order.”

   “Excellent. Make sure you double-check all of your calculations. I don’t want any unnecessary risks. I think we all know what the primary topic of his meeting is going to be, so let’s get everything else out of the way first. Maggie, who have you in mind
to take Flight Ops on Beta Shift?”

   “Do you mind if I go enlisted?”

   “Not at all. Officers are getting a bit thin on the ground, and I don’t like people pulling double duty on the bridge except in emergencies. Who did you have in mind?”

   “Senior Spaceman Bradley. She’s got the experience, and I’m sure could be ready for the job in a few days with some refresher courses. I had a word with the Deck Chief, and he can manage the load with one fewer pilot.”

   “She’s a shuttle pilot,” Zebrova said, “and has just been through quite a major psychological trauma.”

   “Haven’t we all,” Nelyubov interrupted.

   Glaring at him, she continued, “I’m not sure this is such a good idea. Perhaps Tyler could handle it, at least for a while.”

   “Mr. Tyler is busy with his intelligence work, including debriefing the Ouroboros crew. I think it is an excellent idea to spread the load, and giving her a new challenge will take her mind off things,” the Major said. “Keep an eye on her, though, Maggie, make sure this isn’t too much to ask of her.”

   “Of course, sir.”

   “Good. With Acting Lieutenant Nelyubov at Tactical, I think that covers everything. Now all of you have read Maggie’s report on what happened on the surface. Without her quick thinking, it would have been four deaths rather than two, and it might have been some time before we knew what had happened. There’s a real danger here that we have compromised systems on Alamo, as well, if someone has managed to hide a shuttle from our systems.”

   Quinn said, “That doesn’t necessarily mean access to Alamo, of course. There’s been plenty of time for someone on the station – or down on the planet, for that matter – to infiltrate our systems, especially with all the calibration we’ve been doing with the satellite defense networks. Our security can only go so far.”

   Bailey looked at him, then back at the Major, saying, “We have no evidence that anyone has successfully infiltrated our system, sir.”

   “Which only means that our hacker friend was too sharp to be picked up, perhaps,” the Major replied. “I think that someone getting into our sensor systems is the most likely theory, and I intend for us to concentrate our search efforts on Hydra Station.”

   Nodding, Orlova said, “I agree. It certainly seems the best place to start. We’ll have to liaise with Price, but I think it is in his interests that any potential saboteurs should be dealt with before we leave.”

   Zebrova shook her head, and replied, “I don’t think it follows at all. We’re making an assumption that the Cabal is responsible that I do not necessarily think is justified.”

   “On what basis?”

   “Look at the evidence. They hit an archaeological site, and apparently stole relics from it. Why would they do that? And why now? If I was in their place, I’d wait until we were gone, until the station was at its most vulnerable, before choosing to launch such an operation.”

   “What’s your theory, then?” the Major asked.

   “The Neander could be involved.”

   “Forgive me, Lieutenant, but I find it rather hard to see that a bunch of cavemen could have infiltrated our systems or hijacked a shuttle.”

   Bailey frowned, and said, “We shouldn’t rule out that they might be working together for some reason. Alamo fought Neander troops at Hades Depot, remember, which suggests that they have some loyalists on their side.”

   “That is a good point, but my guess is that the station will prove to be the focus of the operation, and we will throw the whole weight of our investigation there.”

   “I still think we should look at other possibilities,” Zebrova said. “We shouldn’t limit ourselves too much at this stage of the investigation, or we’re going to miss something. With your permission, I would like to question some of the Neander leaders as a part of my work.”

   “Denied. In any event, I intend to handle this investigation myself.”

   “Sir, that’s the job of the Security Department,” Bailey replied. “If you no longer have confidence in my ability to fulfill my duties, then I must request to be relieved of my post.”

   “Damn it, Sandra, that isn’t what this is about at all. These are my men, and I want to find out who killed them, and I want to make sure that every trace of the Cabal is gone from this station before we leave. Is that clear?”

   “Yes, sir,” Zebrova said, sullenly. “There also remains the matter of Ouroboros. We’re going to have a difficult time crewing it without stripping too many of our key personnel. We could switch to a two-shift rotation…”

   “No,” the Major said. “I don’t want to leave Alamo short-handed, and I want to bring that ship with us as a backup. Nor do I intend to make use of the original crew, not as things stand. They have to be primary suspects for the sabotage.”

   Shaking her head, she replied, “I don’t see how we can do that, sir, not with the crew we have.”

   “I think we might manage it by shuffling some people around,” Orlova volunteered. “If I have a free hand to give a few people some training over here before we leave, then we might be able to scrape together a crew.”

   “There you are,” the Major said. “Submit your recommendations to me today, and I’ll take a look at them.”

   “Half-trained personnel are going to be difficult to handle, Major,” Zebrova said. “They’re going to need extremely close supervision.”

   “Excellent,” he said, turning to her. “In that case, Lieutenant, you will assume command of Ouroboros forthwith. Tyler can go with you as your Operations Officer, once he has completed his debriefings.”

   “Sir,” Bailey said, “That’s really a Lieutenant’s spot. Isn't Senior Lieutenant Zebrova a little senior for the job?”

   With a smile, the Major replied, “I appreciate your ambition, but I think this is a job for Lieutenant Zebrova.” He glanced at her, then back at the table, sitting back in his chair imperceptibly. “Lieutenant Orlova, you will assume the position of Executive Officer immediately.”

   “Sir?” she said, looking around. “Surely…”

   “I think you are the best choice of those present for the job.” No-one at the table missed the implied insult to Zebrova and Bailey, both of whom had far more seniority. Quinn likewise, but the engineer had no interest in command, and all present knew it. “If you have a problem, though…”

   Orlova was about to conjure up the politest rejection she could think of, before Zebrova shook her head, and instead, she replied, “I’ll do my best, sir.”

   “Excellent. Report to my office after the meeting – oh, after you’ve kept your appointment with our eager medical officer, anyway – and we’ll go over what I perceive your role to be. Based on your performance thus far, I’m sure you will fit the role nicely.” Looking around the table, he said, “I think that’s everything. Dismissed.”

   He stood bolt upright to attention, and immediately left the room. Bailey stormed out just behind him, the rest of the officers looking at the still-seated Zebrova and Orlova as they left, uncertain what to think or to do. Zebrova remained there, sitting calmly, waiting for the doors to close.

   “Lieutenant,” Orlova said, “I don’t want your job.”

   “Peace, Maggie,” she replied. “I know that it wasn’t your fault, but at least he appointed someone who is capable of doing the job. I’m not sure about Bailey, but I think it would probably have been Nelyubov next.” Shaking her head, she continued, “He’s been not-so-subtly hinting that I should volunteer to stay behind on Hydra Station as liaison.”

   “He can’t make you take that job…”

   “Technically, he can assign me to anything he likes, but…,” she paused, then started again, saying, “He doesn’t react well to opposition. Given that my perception of my job is to offer alternatives to the commanding officer, I think we were always going to clash, and given that he has the rank, he was alway
s going to win.”

   “Captain Marshall…”

   “Would not have done that, though between you and I, my plan had always been to request a transfer at the end of our current cruise. No matter. Maggie, this might have damaged my career, but far more important is that Alamo is in safe hands for the journey home.”

   “I’ll do my best. And I’ll see if I can follow up some of those leads for you, as well. I agree with the Major, but I can’t see any harm in looking at alternatives.”

   “Run a parallel investigation, and do it quietly.” She stopped, smiled, and said, “Not that I am in any position to give you orders, of course.”

   “I’m sorry about this.”

   Zebrova raised a hand, and said, “It isn’t your fault. I’ve got to think of some way of getting that freighter home now with a completely inexperienced crew, but that’s my problem, not yours. I’ll think of something. You’ve got the bigger problem. With Caine out, Mulenga dead and me gone, you’re about the only qualified command officer left, aside from the Major.”

   “I’ll do everything I can to keep him on an even keel.”

   “Just be careful, and see if you can prevent too many of his excesses. With the best will in the world, coming back to command after a decade was always going to be difficult, but I doubt the Captain realized how difficult.” Standing up, she looked down at Orlova, and said, “I suppose I should go over to my new ship. Good luck.”

   As she walked out, Orlova said to herself, “Thanks. I think I’m going to need it.”

  Chapter Eleven

   Marshall and Cantrell leaned over the sensor station, replaying the events from the instant immediately prior to their jump to hendecaspace once again. There was no doubt; the Dauntless had jumped after them, and was following them.

   “I thought this was impossible,” Marshall said.

   “There’s been some work on this for years, and last I heard, they were making some progress. The limitation is that the ship has to also be in hendecaspace, of course, and that it must be extremely close to get the bearing. Other than that, this is technology we’ll have in ten years.”