Hope looked back and held up a single finger.
“Eggy, we’re going to knock you out for a bit,” he said to his old classmate.
The admiral looked at him and nodded.
“You take command of the 12th and get them back into the fight,” Norton-Underhill said and then motioned with his head for him to come closer.
Captain Hope leaned closer and closer coming right up to his face. Once there his friend whispered to him.
“Don't trust the Templars,” he said in the shallowest of breaths.
Randolph put his left hand on his shoulder as he held his remaining hand with his right and gently squeezed.
“No worries,” he replied and smiled. Looking back, he nodded to the doctor and a second later the admiral was fast asleep.
“According to Dr. Henri and the auto medical unit’s records, the admiral has taken damage resulting in a traumatic brain injury. They have treated him with surgery and Heal X type II. He is still experiencing abnormal electrical disturbance in his brain causing periodic seizures, uncontrollable shaking and a sporadic inability able to speak or understand others.”
“Is this normal for this type of injury?” Commander Hutton inquired. Having recently lost his wife after a long illness, he had become very familiar with asking questions of doctors.
“Yes, sixty-five percent of people who have been shot in the head or have had any kind of skull and brain penetration have seizures,” she replied as a matter of fact.
“Other than a regeneration tank which we don’t have, what can be done?”
“If we can identify what is wrong we could perform corrective surgery to alleviate the problem. There are also numerous drugs that can help TBI victims to control their seizures. I’m hoping that some of the more advanced Heal X drugs will be able to help as well,” she said confident of the new drugs ability to heal.
Mike nodded looking at the left side of her face that only months ago had been marred with third degree burns. Regen X had completely healed her burnt flesh and restored her beauty in the matter of just a few shots.
“Will Regen X be able to regrow his limbs?” he asked.
“I don’t know usually we use a regeneration tank or replace them with cybernetics prosthetics,” she replied making an expression of uncertainty.
“Get him ready for transport back to the Star Wolf,” Captain Hope ordered releasing his friend’s limp hand.
“Sir Randolph, I don’t think that is advisable,” Sir James remarked with a look of concern.
Hope started at the Templar for a moment and then turned to Dr. Duarte.
“What is your opinion on this matter?” he asked.
Angelique shrugged a little.
“We have the same type of facilities on the Star Wolf as well as having the advance Heal X and Regen X drugs which the Templars do not have.”
“Then I believe that is settled,” the Hawk said.
“The Knight Commander will have to approve of this,” Sir James stated.
“Nonetheless, he will be coming with us so get a few of your people and prepare him to be moved. Dr. Duarte will stay here to supervise.”
The Templar knight let out a sigh and nodded to the Chaplain Doctor to proceed.
“Now that we have that out of the way, let’s go see your Knight Commander,” Hope suggested with a polite smile.
Sir James nodded with a slight frown and then turned away as the Confederation officers followed after him.
Mike looked to Angelique who winked at him. He smiled and then left her to carry out her part of the mission - the welfare and safe extraction of the admiral.
“Well, what do we have?” Lt. Dover inquired.
“It is like peeling an onion, with every peel comes another wall of security,” Daily announced.
“And that is just for the low level protocols,” Cappillo added.
“If we only had a crack to exploit or some way to piggy back into their systems,” Specialist Rojas commented sounding like an engineer.
Martin looked up from his holo screen and smiled.
“What?” Rufo said.
“Go on spill,” Dover directed.
“I have an idea but we’ll need to get some help from the others,” Daily stated and then proceeded to reveal his plan to them.
Passing through the plain hallways they finally reached a door just like the others with no name plate or way to distinguish it from any other except for a single letter and a series of numbers.
Sir James walked right up to the door just as it slid open. Following him into the room they found themselves in an outer office.
Sir Matthew and two other knight Templars were waiting in the center of the room. They were standing in a sort of semi circle and were talking until they saw Sir James enter.
The room was Spartan at best, with no chairs for guest or any adornment other than a large wooden cross behind a standard metal secretarial desk. The desk was old looking but had a modern holo computer and communications station. Behind the desk was a man in a plain brown robe except for a red cross embroidered over his heart. He had an ear wick communication plug in his right ear and a ruby tinted holo visor screen over his eyes. These devices allowed him to better interface with his computer and communication systems.
“Sir James, I passed your message onto Sir Jacob,” Sir Matthew reported breaking from the two other young knights and stepping closer to the senior knight as he spoke.
The Templar nodded to him and moved onto the knight commander’s door. Unlike all of the other doors of the complex, this one stayed shut and the knight had to stop before walking right into the door.
Turning back, he looked at the monk secretary and frowned.
“Brother, please let the Preceptor know that I’m here with our guests,” Sir James said sounding a bit annoyed.
The lay brother nodded once but didn’t say anything in reply.
A moment later the door slid open and Sir James entered with their group following close behind.
The knight commander’s office was in stark contrast to the rest of the complex. The floor was covered in plush brown carpeting. The walls were covered with tapestries depicting past Templar glories. Archaic weapons, shields and a single bookcase filled the wall space around the room. A sofa occupied the back corner of the room along with several chairs and a coffee table.
The center of the room had a large and modern command desk complex with several floating holo screens as well as a desk surface display. All of these screens were on when they reached the doorway but were quickly shut off as they entered.
Behind the desk sat the knight commander. Sir Jacob had silver blond hair that was cut short in military fashion. The Templar Preceptor or station commander was dressed in a plain light tan duty uniform with a Templar white shield with a red cross placed above his heart.
His stern face was frowning as he watched them come into the room. He also had remained seated, failing to rise for his guests.
“Sir Jacob may I present Sir Randolph Hope, Captain of the Star Wolf, Commander Sir Alfred Hutton and Lt. Michael Collins,” Sir James said and then stepped around to the side of the desk to stand out of the way.
“Yes, I already know about Sir Randolph and Sir Alfred,” the Knight Commander stated “your service records are both very colorful.”
Hope nodded, “I’m sure that the Papal Intelligence Agency is as thorough as their reputations claims them to be.”
The Papal Intelligence Agency had been one of the oldest, most effective and knowledgeable organization of spies ever to exist. They were not limited to the loyalty of their nationally as their operatives had only one thing in common - that they were all devout Catholics.
The frown deepened on the Sir Jacob’s face.
“I’m sure that you are now going to ask what is this outpost doing here and why haven’t we been wiped out by the Karduan Forces?” he said already knowing the questions they wanted to ask.
“I believe that those
are very valid questions,” Captain Hope replied.
“Well, I can’t give you any explanations other than that your ships are welcome here as long as they don’t give us any trouble. I expect them to move to the outer portion of our system where the remains of 12th Defense Fleet is hiding.”
Hope let out a sigh and turned to look back at his two officers.
“Gentlemen, could you please give me a few minutes in privacy with Sir Jacob,” the Hawk said his eyes squinting and looking like he was about to get into a fight.
Commander Hutton smiled and grabbed Mike by the arm.
“Let’s wait outside,” he said guiding him back to the outer office. As he reached the door he looked back. “Sir James, would you care to join us?”
The Templar looked to his Knight Commander who nodded just once. He then hurried from the office behind the two Confederation officers.
Once the door slid closed Hope turned his gaze towards the Templar Preceptor.
“Now Sir Jacob, maybe you can explain to me why you have made a deal with the Blues?” he said looking down at the seated knight.
“Sir Randolph, I don’t have to explain anything to you or to any Confederation officer,” the Knight Commander stated sounding somewhere between being half angry and annoyed.
“Beings you are guilty of treason, I suggest you start talking,” Captain Hope persisted while crossing his arms.
The Templar let out a sigh of frustration.
“And if I don’t, what do you plan to do arrest me?” Sir Jacob said with a weak laugh and a forced smile.
“Yes, I do,” Hope replied in earnest continuing to glare down at him.
The grin on the Templar’s face was quickly replaced with an angry frown.
“Your file didn’t say you were a fool,” he said “which you must be if you think your pathetic task force could possible pose a threat to my ships and base.”
It was Captain Hope’s turn to grin.
“I suggest you reread your intelligence file on me as you will see that I’m not a man that bluffs.”
“My ships would blow you out of the sky,” Sir Jacob said rather flatly.
“I saw when I entered this room that you had a holo screen up showing my ships in orbit, could you bring it up again please,” the old space captain asked.
The knight commander shook his head but complied. Touching a sensor on his desk the images of the Wolf Squadron appeared. The ships were in orbit around Blue Rock’s mother planet. The armored cruiser Heath was in a parallel orbit to the Star Wolf.
“I assume the Heath was named after Sir William Heath, onetime Templar Master of England,” Hope remarked.
“Yes,” Sir Jacob answered mildly impressed at his knowledge or at least his quick research.
“You can see that the express freighter Randori is in orbit well behind the Star Wolf,” the Confederation captain pointed out and continued, “and she is in perfect position to fire on the Heath.”
The Templar chuckled, “You really expect me to believe that a merchant freighter could even stand chance of damaging an armored cruiser! You are mad Sir Randolph, stark raving mad!” he exclaimed.
Hope looked at him sternly.
“Who said the Randori is just a freighter?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Randori is a Q-ship, with the fire power and armor of a light cruiser,” Hope revealed and added, “She is also equipped with Blitzkrieg torpedoes, which at this range would be very hard to shoot down.”
The Knight Commander just stared at the holo screen.
“Even if what you say is true and you manage to defeat the Heath my other two ships would still crush you.”
“Perhaps but Admiral Underhill-Norton has given me command of the 12th Defense Fleet. That gives me another eight warships in addition to my five warships.”
The Preceptor face turned beet red in anger.
“You’d still wouldn’t win!” he said in defiance.
Hope looked at him with a straight face and then smiled a big, broad smile.
“That is what I thought, that you have more ships than the three that are guarding the gravity well,” he said in victory.
“What?”
“I’d guess you also have a quantity of star-fighters and perhaps some planetary based particle cannons,” Hope remarked fishing for more information.
“This was all a trick?” Sir Jacob exclaimed in surprise.
“Yes, but you still have a lot of explaining to do,” Captain Hope said still grinning.
“As I said before I don’t answer to you and I think it is time for you to leave,” the Templar said pointing to the door.
“No, I don’t think so,” the Hawk continued, knowing that he had him in his grasp.
Sir Jacob finally stood up, “Don’t make me have you removed sir!”
“As a Confederation Fleet Captain, I hereby activate your ships’ commissions in the naval reserves. I believe that all Templar knights hold reserve commissions as well their ships.”
“I don’t recognize your authority,” Jacobs quickly said.
“You don’t have to as this is an edict issued by the Emperor stating that all para-military orders and security forces are hereby activated to Confederation service,” Hope said showing him his palm pad and the edict.
“I’m under a Papal Brief to hold this base at all cost, by use of force and or deception. So I don’t care if you do have a fucking Imperial Edict!” the Templar Preceptor revealed.
“At last we have more truth,” the Hawk said with a slight and satisfying nod.
“Get out!” Sir Jacob shouted, losing his temper and grabbing the extension sword at his belt.
“The Emperor was not alone in his Imperial Edict. The Pope completely supports him and issued a Papal Bull ordering all Papal forces to immediately place themselves under Confederation command,” Hope revealed now having him checkmated.
“What!” The Knight Commander exclaimed.
Hope brought up the Papal order and passed his palm pad over to the shocked Templar. He wasn’t surprised that the distant outpost hadn’t received the Imperial Edict and Papal Orders as they were issued just days before the Karduan break through.
“I believe a Papal Bull outranks and supersedes your Papal Brief. I’m also fairly sure that there is some kind of authorization code imbedded in this order for you to verify its authenticity. I have also taken the liberty of sending a copy of this order to all of your ship commanders.”
Sir Jacob took the order and sat down hard into his padded leather chair. Working the pad’s screen, he then laid it on his computer desk’s flat screen and waited a moment until he saw a green light flash signaling that the message had been verified.
“What would you have of me, Sir Randolph?” the Templar Preceptor said in defeat.
Outside of the Knight Commander’s office another heated argument was going on.
“Where did you get the extension sword?” Sir Matthew said rushing over to Lt. Collins as he was talking to Commander Hutton and reached down to his belt.
Mike’s back was to him and as he turned his hand instinctively grabbed the Templar’s hand. He then quickly twisted it hard as he turned driving outward and against the wrist and elbow.
The young knight was driven to his knees totally surprised by the very effective joint lock. Using his superior strength, he tried to fight it and stand back up but the Confederation Officer simply twisted it on a sharper angle and drove him back down.
“Its called Katatori Nikkyo,” Mike replied as Hutton put a hand on his shoulder.
“That’s enough Mike,” he said keeping his eyes on the two other young knights as they grabbed their extension swords and activated their blades. In an instant their eight-inch cylinders became full length poly-carbon swords.
Sir James stepped in front of the two young knights and ordered them to stand down.
Mike released Sir Matthew’s wrist and stepped back his hand drifting to his Krager gauss p
istol. He firmly believed in bringing a gun to sword fight whenever possible.
Sir James came over to the fallen Templar just as he regained his feet and moved his hand towards his extension sword.
“We’ll have had enough of that,” the senior knight said grabbing the younger man’s arm at the elbow. “Now what is this about?”
“Beats me, Sir Matt here got all grabby,” Mike said and then added, “I thought you guys all took a vow of celibacy?”
The young Templar’s face turned beet red whereas the old knight simply shook his head while suppressing a smile.
“He has one of our extension swords on his belt,” Sir Matthew said pointing to the hanging weapon.
Sir James looked down to the extension sword.
“It does look like a Templar model sword may I ask where you got it?”
Commander Hutton answered before Mike had a chance.
“Lt. Collins took that sword from a space pirate whom he defeated in battle. Where the weapon came from before that we really couldn’t say as its crest markings had been chiseled off.”
Sir James nodded, “Do you mind if I look at it and verify that it is not one of ours?”
“Does it really matter? It belongs to me now,” Mike said not wanting to give up his sword.
Sir Matthew had heard enough, “You’ll give us that sword or we will take it from you!”
“Brave words from a bunch of cowards, who make deals with the enemy just so they won’t get their butts handed to them by a few little Blue girls,” Collins replied having chosen his words carefully.
Now Sir Matthew stepped forward as well as the other two young knights standing behind them. They all made for their swords but the young Confederation officer drew his pistol first. All of them were surprised at his smooth and very fast draw.
“Stop this right now!” Sir James yelled growing angry at these young men and they poor behavior.
“I agree,” Sir Alfred said stepping up and standing next to the senior Templar. “Lieutenant, stand down and that is an order.”
“Aye sir,” Mike said and holstered his Krager.
Sir Matthew was now fuming as he looked to both Sir James and Commander Hutton.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 25
