by Jim Rudnick
The EVA astronaut moved off that port, back down two rows, and over a couple too and saw the same row upon row of red-colored, round tanks with no known functionality. The astronaut continued to walk around the lit ports, taped what seemed to be only rows of tanks—not an alien to be seen—and continued his recon of the alien ship ...
"Sleepers ... this is a Goddamn Sleeper Ship—Ansible, get me Navy Hall—Eyes-Only to the admiral STAT!" Tanner barked as he spilled his coffee on his lap and leapt up. "I'm in my Ready Room—STAT, Lieutenant—STAT!"
He jumped over the now spreading coffee stains on the tile and was happy to see he didn't slip. He raced to talk to the admiral ... there were Sleepers on the RIM!
CHAPTER THREE
The Lady St. August stamped her foot, the heel of her pump making a loud splat on the tiled floor of the Station Commander’s office and all present winced. An upset Royal they all knew was not something anyone wanted to be around, and she was mad and her face flushed with anger. Her purple jacket flared as she cocked a hand on her hip and tapped that foot now at a rapid pace.
"Station Commander, you will let the Secretariat know now—right now STAT that we are not to be kept off-world one minute more. Do you hear me, Sir!" she said, her voice dripping with annoyance.
That commander still stood at almost attention in his own office accompanied by a small cadre of Novertag Navy officers who did stand at attention, eyes straightforward and hands knife-like at their sides.
"Ma’am, sorry, Ma’am, but as you know, I am just following orders, Ma’am ..." He stuttered a bit for a moment and held out his hands open palms up and shook his head negatively. "My orders, as you know, Ma’am, are to hold ALL off-world inbound ships here at our Saratov station, and that means all ships, Ma’am," he said, implying that orders for all included the Lady St. August too ...
"Captain Flannery, from whom do you take orders?" she spat out.
"From you, Ma’am, you are of noble blood, and therefore, you control the Sterling completely," he answered as if his life depended upon it. And it did.
She nodded.
"Exactly and if I order us to land, you would, of course, do exactly that immediately, am I correct?" she responded as her toe continued to tap the tile floor.
Flannery was sweating she noted, but he nodded immediately and said plainly, "Aye, Ma’am," and stared right at the station commander.
She turned to look at the commander and pointed at his chest.
"Do you understand exactly what kind of diplomatic crisis you now face, Commander? Can you imagine what the fallout will be if you refuse me—the Lady St. August—landing rights on Novertag?" she asked, the tapping of her toe never stopping.
Now he was sweating and, from what Helena could see, flustered too so she added to that.
"Not to mention, Commander, that we sat out at the edge of Novertag space waiting for your escort ship to meet us—and it never did ... which of your two frigates missed that duty, Commander?" she asked pointedly.
The commander grabbed onto that opportunity like it was a life preserver.
"Ma’am, yes ... I must apologize about that—it was to be the Drozir but it was involved in a ... a ... salvage operation, Ma’am ... uh ..." He suddenly quieted and went back to standing almost at attention.
She appraised that for a moment and turned to her own captain.
"Captain, the word salvage means what, exactly?" she queried as her toe stopped its tapping. This was getting interesting, she realized.
"Ma’am, that term means that the Drozir 'found' a ship to salvage, another spaceship, Ma’am—and as we were just on the bridge of the Sterling, I know of no such operation whatsoever. There were no distress calls, no incidents, and as we have no wars here on the RIM, I can't imagine what kind of 'salvage' the commander might be referring to, Ma’am," he answered stoically.
"So, this 'salvage' operation is an excuse, Commander—have we determined that at least?" she queried and leaned forward to stare at the man as he shrunk before her.
He sighed, then seemed to shrink back a little, and shook his head.
"Ma’am, no, Ma’am ... I am telling you the truth, Ma’am. The Drozir, uh, found an alien ship and has claimed it for the Novertag Secretariat, Ma’am—and I'm told too that the RIM Navy Marwick has confirmed that claim—they're all just a light-year away, Ma’am ...that is the truth, and—Ma’am?" He stopped as the Lady St. August wheeled in front of him, marched out of his office, and turned toward the landing bay to starboard. He could hear her heels clacking on the steel floors of the Station growing quieter as they all moved away.
He moved to his office door and shouted down the hall after the Barony landing party moved quickly to catch up to the Baroness.
"And that news is to be considered a confidential ... uh ... Ma’am. If you please, Ma’am, uh ..." But he received no feedback that he'd even been heard, and he wondered why they were now in such a hurry to land—if that was where they were bound ...
#
On the Ready Room desk, the console suddenly lit up. The splash screen for the RIM Navy came on, followed by the notice that EYES ONLY meant just that ... and Tanner sat very still as the console aperture suddenly went red as the beam shot into his right eye to verify his retinal pattern.
Two seconds later, the screen showed AUTHORIZED, went dark for a moment, and then on-screen came the Admiral McQueen's half-awake face.
"What the blazes are you coming in EYES ONLY for at this time of the night?" the admiral said groggily, his hand rubbing his eyes as he sat up at a desk in his quarters on Juno. Tanner knew that he would have awakened the admiral, but still this would be news that would affect them all ...
"Sir, we're near Novertag, Boundary buoy number eight, and I'm afraid I've got some bad news, Sir ... the Novertag frigate the Drozir has claimed salvage on an alien ship—one mighty big one, Sir," he said as he toyed with the keyboard in front of him.
Admiral McQueen sat back and stared.
"I know you well enough to know, Captain, that you know that any and all claims will come to the RIM Council meeting for adjudication as a matter of course ... so what else did you want to tell me, Captain?" he finished with as he leaned in toward the screen in front of him.
"Sir—I'm not sure—but I believe that this alien ship— is a Sleeper ship, Sir!"
He waited and watched as the admiral's face drew back instantly and furrows appeared on his forehead with deep creased lines.
"Mother Mary ... are you sure, Captain?" he snapped, those lines deepening.
"Not really, no ... Sir, we've not had access to the ship—no boarding facilities or access or landing bays we can find so far—but inside, streaming tape shows thousands and thousands of what look like—at least to me—as sleeper tanks. Sir."
His fingernail pried at the edge of the spacebar key and yet his eyes never left his admiral’s grimace as he seemed to be considering this news but not in a nice way.
"We need recon, here, Captain. I need to know if this is a Sleeper ship, what they're after, and if possible, why. Not the 'why' they'll be telling you about either, Tanner ... but the why we both know lies behind that. We have experience with this kind of a situation, and I want more—much more information before any mistakes are made again ... follow me here, Captain?" he asked and pointed right at him.
"You may need help with the Drozir so I'm sending our destroyer the Nugent along with the frigate Bunker Hill who's just off Abstract—expect them both in about ten days or so ... push diplomacy, Captain ... but you'll soon have some strength behind your position."
He fiddled for a moment with his ear, swabbing it with a little finger, and then after staring at the detritus he'd found, he wiped it on his thigh and then seemed to decide on something.
"But I'm leaving you 'in charge,' Captain—you have Sleeper ship experience so you're the Comm on this one. Um ... watch out for Captain Siegel off the Nugent, tough man to control. Um ... and I take it you're in control out there t
oo, Captain?" he inquired as his eyebrows arched upward.
It looked to Tanner that he wanted to ask right out loud, but didn't, couldn't. And yet he knows, Tanner thought. He knows I'm more in the bottle than I should be. He nodded back his agreement to his admiral.
"Sir, yes, Sir—full recon and then EYES ONLY back to you with the results, and yes, try to determine the depth of what it is they truly want, Sir. Aye-aye, Sir ..." He watched as the screen in front of him faded to the RIM Navy seal ... followed after a few seconds by full black.
Scotch came to mind first, as he thought it should, but he thought secondly about the previous encounter he and the admiral had shared with another Sleeper ship ... and wondered about similarities too ...
#
As the Drozir flew alongside the alien ship, the bridge was mostly silent but for normal bridge duties. Captain Pankov spent most of his time on his console, working on the latest diagnostics for their laser turret that was still down and needed repairs. Once in a while, he'd ask his XO for estimates and whether or not certain parts were really on board or not. He knew, as did most Novertag Navy men, that what was recorded in the ship’s stores was often not so up-to-date ... a matter of course for the way things were.
"Captain," the helmsman said, "we've got incoming ..." He decreased the zoom on the forward view screen and suddenly a new RIM Navy ship appeared, the frigate Bunker Hill, its transponder said.
"XO," Pankov said, "notify our political officer STAT." He looked at the cruiser that had taken up a station directly opposite the Drozir. With the Marwick already on their port side, it seemed uncommon for the Bunker Hill not to come immediately to starboard to flank the Drozir, he thought, and then he knew why.
"There's more incoming, Helm ... see if you can find them early ... and yes, they'll be starboard for sure," Pankov said. If you wish to box someone in, you close all the target's flanks, which was Navy smarts, he knew.
But no other ship arrived and they continued to fly on the Drozir, the Bunker Hill, the Marwick, and the alien ship.
"Ansible?" Pankov asked and received a simple headshake ... the Bunker Hill was not talking to them, but probably to the Marwick, he imagined. Beyond the huge alien ship lay the stars of the RIM, few as they were, and then the blackness that lay outside the galaxy. He watched the blackness stretched out farther than he could see, and he knew that it went on and on. Those few stars—from here he could see Abstract and Juno, and yes, there was Eons too, just outside the RIM but still very much a part of the Confederacy.
"Sir, more incoming ... big one, Sir," Lieutenant Lebedev, the Helmsman, said, "and I mean big—damn, Sir, it's the Nugent ..." he said as the huge destroyer dropped out of FTL and took up its post on the starboard flank of the Drozir.
"Report, Captain," Political Officer Vetochkin said as he stepped onto the bridge and took up the chair to the captain's right-hand side. He could see, of course, the alien ship dead ahead and noted that both the port and starboard angled views showed two RIM Navy ships.
"Sir, we're still matching the same vector from the alien ship, but we have been joined by both the frigate the Bunker Hill and just now by the destroyer the Nugent ... the Marwick, as you can see, is just above us too. Orders, Sir?" he asked as he turned to the Secretariat's voice on the Drozir.
"We appear to be up against the whole RIM Navy, Captain, or at least a major part of same for our own small territory. Has there been any communications, Ansible?" he asked the Lieutenant over at that station.
"No, Sir we have not been contacted at all, Sir," Lieutenant Baryshev replied speedily with undue politeness. One always talked to their political officers with politeness. Everyone on the Drozir knew that, and this lowly lieutenant knew it too!
"Do we know if those Navy ships are talking?" he asked.
The quiet on the bridge was noticeable, but then the captain spoke up after only a few uncomfortable seconds.
"Sir, we wouldn't know as the RIM Navy encrypts all communications. Sir," he said.
"So we know nothing other than they appear to have taken up positions around us, correct?"
"Sir, yes that they have done ... we are ringed in by their ships."
The Ansible lieutenant interrupted. "Captain ... I mean, Sir, more incoming ... Sir," he said, looking at first his captain, then the ship’s political officer, and then the captain.
Beyond the alien ship, a frigate suddenly appeared, and up on the view screen, the sidebar showed that this ship was a Barony frigate, the Sterling.
"Good God ... now we've got the Barony here too ... and that frigate is usually held by the Lady St. August ... a Royal," the Captain said, his voice slightly chagrined.
The political officer stared at the latest arrival as the number of ships around the aliens now numbered five, and then he leaned back in his chair.
"So, we have the RIM Navy here with some real firepower, then there's the Barony who obviously will be looking after their interests—and us ... the original finders of the alien ship, and we have already filed our claim of salvage with the RIM Council, which will be heard in the next meeting. What we have here, crewmen, is a standoff ‘til at least that Council meeting," he said quietly.
"And we need to learn if there is anything that we can do to help our claim, by any means possible—that ship is ours!"
He looked at one and all on the bridge, but no one could meet his gaze but the captain.
"Sir," Captain Pankov said, "should we try to contact the Sterling? They may wish to talk to someone 'other' than the Navy," he added, wondering what Vetochkin might want done.
"Not at this time, Captain, we will await their wants for a while—inform me STAT should they or anyone call us ..." he said and took his leave from the bridge.
Pankov watched the view screen and saw no changes. At this slow speed, the few stars on screen didn't move at all. They hung in front of the coal black background of the space that lay outside the RIM. He shrugged and hoped it might not take long for someone to want to talk to the Drozir. After all, he reasoned, we have salvage rights on that ship, so we control it. At least on paper ... he half-grinned to himself and went back to the console to find out if the laser parts he needed had actually been found by the ship's supply officers ...
#
"Captain, we're working on the away team side, equipment still being stowed, and we've got doubles on the force fields and med supplies as per orders, Sir," Lieutenant Framingham reported and snapped a salute to Tanner who looked over the shuttle in Bay Number One.
"Uh—Sir, permission to come along, Sir," he added a moment later.
Tanner knew he'd want to go, but the shuttle was only so big.
"Denied, Lieutenant, and you know we had to limit our away team size so that we could add two each for our Confederacy members—after all, a shuttle is just so big ..." He looked over at his XO who was talking via the ship’s intercom to the bridge. The XO was nodding but then looked like he listened further and then got red. He shook his head, answered again, then jammed the off switch with his forefinger, and stabbed it three more times too.
For good luck, maybe, Tanner thought and left the final loading of first aid and medical supplies to Lieutenant Commander Shipberg, the Marwick's medical officer, to wander over to the bulkhead comm station.
"XO, everything alright?" he queried and wondered who was getting Craig's blood pressure up so high.
"Sir, everyone complied but surprise—the Sterling. It seems that yes, they will be sending along only two for the boarding party—two EliteGuards—but they will be there to guard the Lady St. August who, I'm told as a Royal, has no intention of following orders from the RIM Navy. 'I tell the Navy what to do' she is said to have commented, and yes, here they are, Sir" he said as the Sterling shuttle craft was docking now in the bay beside them. Its black outer shell had the traditional Barony china blue insignia on the rear quarter flares, and they landed with a flourish, as was the Barony way.
Tanner shook his head with disgus
t as he knew this away team that would board the alien ship was going to be a tough mission in and of itself without being saddled with a Royal. He shook his head again as he watched the shuttle landing gate drop, and the Baroness strode down the walkway with those two EliteGuards behind her, their polished china blue boots clanging on the steel of the bay as they followed her over. Also behind them came a CPO and two other crewman carrying packages of something.
"Ah, Captain, we meet again," she said and waited, her gaze focused on his face.
He bowed his head slightly—enough so that everyone else saw him offer his obedience but not enough to make her happy, he hoped. And he was not wrong.
"I will be here, Captain, to, of course, ensure that the RIM is represented properly to these aliens but also to record the whole proceedings and to report back to the RIM Council for the upcoming meeting. I have already let the admiral know that I am here and will be the eyes and ears of the Council over the next few days. I also have some small gifts to present as well. You are here merely to help with that mission, Captain, as I see it." She still stared at him and waited.
"Ma’am, yes, the admiral did inform me that you were to come along but only as an observer, Ma’am—I am the one who will be in charge of the boarding and first contact with the aliens, Ma’am. But yes, please ... do record it all," he said, and he turned away to go back over to the last of the medical supplies still being loaded into the Marwick shuttle's hold.
One of the EliteGuards started and made as to move toward Tanner whose back was turned but was held back by the guard at his side. The Lady stood stock-still and then turned toward the front of the shuttle to meet the others.
The captain of the Bunker Hill, the RIM Navy frigate, spent a few minutes chatting with her as did the captain of the Drozir from Novertag. Captain Siegel of the Nugent, the huge destroyer, left the area to join Tanner at the small remaining piles of cases and supplies instead of staying put to meet the Royal.
"Captain, are you sure that taking a Royal on this mission is a smart move? More the reason to leave her behind, in my mind. Sir," he added and looked at the younger man in front of him.
