Masterson drummed his fingers on the desk, considering the question, then reactivated his tablet. “As a matter of fact, yes. I’m sending you a segment of security footage from the Vendale 2 incursion last week.”
“The one where Minister Kean was taken?”
“The very same. The section of footage I’m sending you contains images of an Auran staff sergeant. His name is Danny Tucker, and he’s apparently a member of the 102nd infantry. I want you to find him for me.”
Briggs looked puzzled. “All right, but what’s his significance?”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him.” Masterson cut a glare at his device. “The first was five years ago…at our outpost on Myrick 4.”
Briggs started. “That’s where Captain Hourne…your son was—”
“That’s correct. Needless to say, I’d very much like to meet Sergeant Tucker in person for a chat.”
“Was he the one who…?”
“No, Captain, he was not,” Masterson said curtly. “That was his CO, a man named Lee Summerston. At present, though, I know nothing else about him—hence my interest in Tucker.” Masterson pulled up a still shot of Danny’s face and showed it to Briggs. “Find this man, Captain, and when you do, bring his location to me. I’ll decide how we proceed from there.”
“Yes, sir,” Briggs announced.
“One more thing. This is a private assignment, not for the books. You report to me and me alone. Is that clear?”
“Crystal, sir.” Briggs turned for the door. “I’ll make it a top priority as soon as the Kurgorian ship is aboard.”
“Excellent, Captain. All of my contacts and resources are at your disposal. Dismissed.”
* * * * *
Chapter 14: Olive Branch
More than an hour after entering hyperspace from her own galaxy, Katie still found herself sitting cross-legged on her bunk, staring in total awe at the blue-tunneled view beyond her cabin’s portholes. Talk about surreal!
In spite of Madisyn’s plain and wonderfully rational explanation of how this all worked, part of Katie still couldn’t believe that any of it was happening. Intergalactic travel, humans from other worlds, genetic enhancement programs designed to fast-track physical performance—it was all like something out of a futuristic summer blockbuster, not real life in the twenty-first century. And yet, here she was,—Kaitlin Kay Summerston, MD, PhD, recipient of the NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence and honorary chair of the Campbell Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences in Baltimore—sitting on a starship, watching the cosmos go by on her way to another planet.
“So alien life really exists,” she mumbled to no one. “And my doofus kid-brother found it with a stinking videogame…Go figure.”
The door alert to her quarters chimed.
“Yeah?” Katie’s cabin doors swooshed open to reveal Danny Tucker.
“This a bad time?” he asked.
“Huh?” Katie said, somewhat taken aback by his appearance—navy blue fatigues, black duty boots, and snug black t-shirt topped with silver dog tags. Wow, Danny, that’s quite the downgrade from your usual designer look, isn’t it?
“Katie, you with me here?” Danny snapped his fingers.
“Oh, yeah, sorry. Guess I’m still kinda dealing with the whole space thing.”
“Ah, no worries. That’s a pretty natural response, honestly.”
“I’d think so.” Katie glanced at her watch. “I didn’t think I was supposed to see you for another forty-five minutes. What’s up?”
Danny shrugged. “I know Lee and Mac had to bolt pretty quickly after bringing you aboard, and Madisyn’s slammed getting ready for this conference thing. So, since we’ve got some time, I thought you might like the nickel tour of the ship to give you a taste of what we’re all doing out here.” He chuckled awkwardly. “That’s assuming, of course, that you don’t mind putting up with me solo for a few minutes.”
Katie’s first impulse was to cringe at the thought. Then, remembering her promise to Madisyn, and seeing him genuinely making an effort to play nice, she decided to table her usual distaste for Danny and accept his olive branch. “Ya know, that sounds great.”
* * *
“So how does this work, anyway?” Katie asked, seeing a uniformed private salute Danny in the hall on their way to the lift.
“How do you mean?” Danny asked.
“Well, I’ve spent the last twenty years calling you Danny, but I still want to give you the proper respect around your peers, just like Madisyn does. So am I supposed to call you Sergeant Tucker while we’re out in public, or Staff Sergeant Tucker, or Sergeant Danny, or what?”
Danny laughed. “You’re a guest on holiday, Katie, and a civilian at that. So I wouldn’t sweat the ceremony. Besides, Madisyn’s job with Reiser Industries requires her to spend a lot of time in formal briefings where that sort of thing is SOP. Somehow I don’t see you venturing into too many of those while you’re here.”
Katie nodded. “I’ve gotta hand it to you, Danny. That’s one impressive lady you’ve got there. Very classy, and sharp, too. I read over some of her work after they shot me up with a nano-translator.” She twitched at the recollection. “Talk about a weird experience, by the way, being able to suddenly read and write in somebody else’s language.”
“Ya think?” Danny grimaced. “I just hated the frickin’ delivery. You remember my thing with injections.”
Katie giggled. “You mean the time when you were sixteen and you passed out in a clinic from a tiny little allergy shot? Yeah, I remember.”
“Laugh it up all you want, but when a nut-bar pediatrician harpoons your ass with an immunization at six years old, it sticks with you. No pun intended.”
Katie lifted her shoulders. “Fair enough.”
“They are handy little tools, though,” Danny said. “The translators, not the shots. They’ve come a long way, too, even since we arrived. Cultural slang, humor, syntax. Even your more esoteric stuff like medical or engineering, it pretty much all tracks, now.”
“That’s wild, especially the medical stuff.”
“Oh yeah. But you can thank Madisyn for that. She had to fast-track the med database for Mimic integration when the original expedition hit Earth, so it’s one of the more comprehensive archives on file. That, and well, the one for ‘Yo Mama’ jokes.”
“Link,” they said in unison.
“Speaking of Madisyn’s Mimic protocol,” Katie said. “That’s some crazy-radical stuff. Fascinating, though. I’ve got friends back in Bethesda who’d kill for a look at it.”
Danny gave her a look as they reached the lift. “Sorry Katie, but that’s privileged information, for your eyes only. Madisyn gave you access as a favor to Lee and Mac, and because you’re a fellow scientist, not because you were supposed to have it. That stuff is just now being released to the public back home on Aura, and most of them aren’t even ready to read it. What do you think that says about the medical world back on Earth, that can’t even agree on a healthcare system?”
“I know, I know,” Katie said with a modicum of disappointment. “Mum’s the word, I promise. Still, the whole notion of a gene therapy to expedite advanced muscle memory is amazing in and of itself. But couple that with the suit she and this Reiser guy developed for the actual training process, and that’s the kind of stuff that changes lives, Danny, and not just those of soldiers, either. We’re talking about quadriplegic kids in wheelchairs and seniors who’ve suffered strokes, or people with neurodegenerative diseases like Lou Gehr—” She broke off and looked down at the deck.
“Believe me, Katie. I know better than most how Madisyn’s research can help people, on both of our worlds. It’s one of the reasons why some of us chose to stick around on Aura, rather than return to Florida.” Danny paused as the lift descended past E Deck, his expression turning almost happy. “One of a lot of reasons, actually.”
Katie’s eyes bulged. “No…freaking…way! I was totally on the fence about whether I believed it, bu
t it’s actually true! You really like this girl! You’re not, like, amused by her or infatuated with her like all of your troll-bags back home. You really, honest-to-goodness, genuinely like this girl!”
Danny rolled his eyes.
“Ha!” Katie clapped her hands in delight. “Danny’s got a girlfriend! Danny’s got a girlfriend!”
“Okay, seriously. What are we, twelve here?”
“Hey man, I’m so not hating on this. I mean it, Danny. Madisyn’s a great girl, and I’m thrilled to see you with her. But more than that…I’m thrilled to see you thrilled to be with her. I’ve known you for a lot of years. And in all that time I never, ever, thought I’d live to see Danny Tucker—the great ladies’ man himself—ditch his Nautica threads and swinging-single lifestyle for BDUs and a real, adult relationship.” Katie slugged him in the arm. “Good for you, dude. I’m proud of you!”
“Funny you should mention single people,” Danny shot back, “because Private Aikman back there is totally available, and he’s a really swell guy. Loves kids, too.”
Katie raised her palms. “Not interested. With all due respect to Private Aikman, who I’m sure is a perfect gentleman, this single girl is all about the space right now. We clear?”
Danny grinned. “If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that out of a Summerston…”
Katie started to respond but stopped when the lift halted on G Deck and opened into another corridor, where she was met by a clamor of voices, turbines, and power tools in the distance, along with…Creedence Clearwater Revival? Her bemusement gave way to astonishment, however, when she rounded the corner with Danny and found herself on the Larrin’s flight deck.
“Wow,” she breathed, stepping forward into the hangar and seeing the collection of ships, vehicles, and personnel in gold coveralls moving about the chamber. “What is all this?”
“Off the top of my head, I’d call it two fighter squadrons, four surface-to-air drop ships, three refueling carts, two shuttles, and eight Sand Tigers.” Danny pointed to one of the armored ground vehicles. “That’s those things.”
“Got it,” Katie said. Meanwhile, John Fogerty lamented being stuck in Lodi again from an eighties-style boom box in the motor pool. “I don’t know what to say, Danny, other than ‘this is amazing.’”
“Ah, it’s not bad. The Larrin is actually one of the smaller light cruisers in the ASC fleet. So by comparison, she gets dwarfed by a lot of the others, like the Praetorian.”
“The Praetorian’s the ASC flagship, right?” Katie asked, soaking up all the sights, sounds, and smells of the industrial scene around her.
“Somebody was paying attention in class.”
“Hey, what’s up with the music, anyway?” Katie pointed to the motor pool. “Since when do they listen to The Best of ’Nam on an alien starship?”
Danny looked amused. “You can thank your brother for the Creedence. That’s all him, right down to the novelty boomer, which is where some of the other guys got it from. Me, personally, I was always more of an O.A.R. guy, myself.”
“Frat rock,” Katie scoffed.
“Whatever.”
“Katie, love!” a baritone voice boomed in a familiar Scottish accent, causing the pair to turn and see Hamish roll out on a sled from beneath a fighter. Like most everyone around, he too wore gold coveralls that were covered in grease, though his were tied off at the waist, exposing his brawny, tank-topped shoulders and array of Celtic tattoos.
“Hi, Hamish,” Katie said as he hopped to his feet and ambled over. “What’ve they got you working on?”
“Oh, nothing in particular. I’ve never been one to kill time in ma bunk, so I thought I’d come down here and tinker for a while.” Hamish touched a grimy finger to the bill of his New Zealand All Blacks cap. “How about you two? What brings ye down here?”
“Danny’s giving me the tour,” Katie said.
“Is he now?” Hamish shot Danny a look of mild surprise. “How wonderfully…diplomatic of him.”
“So, Hamish,” Danny said after clearing his throat. “You ready for the big trip? And don’t tell me you haven’t been counting down for it.”
The Scot shrugged. “Aye, I’m ready. I’ll admit, though, that I don’t exactly relish the thought of leaving everyone behind for two years.”
“Yeah, but you get breaks to come home, right?” Danny asked.
“Aye, we get a break.” Hamish raised a single finger. “One, one-week holiday in third semester. That’s it until graduation.”
Danny turned back to Katie. “Hamish here was recently called up by the Auran Corps of Engineers for the Mardolla School. It’s, like, SEAL training for wrench guys.”
“In fairness,” Hamish said, “I’m one of several lads to go, so it’s not like it’s just me.”
“Ah, cut the modesty already, Hamish,” Danny said. “More than a thousand ACs put in for that assignment, and you’re one of six to get it. That pretty much places you among the best of the best of the engineering badasses, bro. I don’t care how you slice it.”
“ACs?” Katie asked.
“Assistant chief,” Danny said. “It’s the last stop on the engineering chain of command before you make chief, and Hamish here landed the AC slot on the Praetorian last year when Jon Simpson made chief of the AS Bakersmith.”
“Hey, Hamish,” another voice called from the fighter’s far side. “Do me a favor—check the bin for the three-eighths, will ya?”
“Speaking of the chief,” Hamish said to Katie and Danny before calling back, “Hey, Kris. Take a break for a second and come meet someone.”
Katie watched the owner of the voice roll out from under the fighter, get to his feet, and run a quick rag over his glistening hands and face before approaching.
“Katie Summerston, allow me to introduce Kristofer Wyatt, chief engineer of the AS Praetorian and a friend of the family.” Hamish gestured to the lean yet rock-solid mechanic in his mid-forties with sandy blond hair and blue eyes.
“Hi,” Wyatt said with a warm smile. Then, inspecting his hands, he offered her the less filthy of the two. “It’s real nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, you too.” Katie felt the rugged skin of his palm scrape against hers as they shook. “I think I saw you in the crowd at the reception, but we just never really had the chance to be introduced.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” Wyatt said. “You were the maid of honor, plus Hamish said you had a heavy hand in the coordinating. So we knew you were busy.”
“You might say that, yeah,” Katie laughed, admittedly a bit curious as to how she’d come up in conversation.
“You ladies looked real nice, by the way,” Wyatt said. “Stunning, even.”
Katie blushed, causing Danny and Hamish to trade looks beside her.
“Um, thanks,” Katie said. “Well, you know Mac. She never wants to do anything conventional, so we just went with it.” Awkwardly clearing her throat, she stepped toward the fighter they’d been working on. “This is like the one in the videogame on Earth, right?”
“Yes, ma’am, it sure is.” Wyatt followed her over. “This here is the SF-13 Mako Interceptor and, I might add, a personal favorite of your brother’s. She’s the first fighter ever created with the new C-100 series power plant, which means she’s capable of entering hyperspace without the aid of a carrier.”
“Huh,” Katie said, admiring the machine’s flat-bodied shape and retractable wings. “Looks kinda like an F-14 from back home. What’s C-100 mean, anyway?”
“The C stands for caldrasite, which is the mineral we derive our fuel from,” Wyatt said. “The 100 means 100% pure, or unblended. If I may, though, her engines are only part of what make her unique.”
“With the other part being…?” Katie asked.
“Her body configuration,” Wyatt said. “The Mako has a wider, flatter fuselage than her predecessors. That, along with her variable-sweep wings and twin dorsal-finned tail, allows her to serve as both a short-range, air-superiority fighte
r and a long-range interceptor.”
“Why does she need fans?” Katie pointed to the massive turbines ahead of the port and starboard nacelles. “Those would seem to be pretty useless in a void, right? For that matter, so would wings.”
Wyatt looked impressed. “Good question. In layperson’s terms, this is what we typically refer to as a stellar fan engine. It combines a Z-201 series ion propulsion system with our version of a turbo fan to allow the fighter access to both the intra and extra-atmospheric theaters. The same goes for the body design and the wings, neither of which mean anything in zero G but make all the difference over a coastline.”
“A jet fighter and a spaceship in one,” Katie mused, running her eyes down the machine’s sleek, silvery frame.
“Precisely,” Wyatt said.
“All right, that’s enough tech-talk for one session.” Danny stepped in and took Katie by the arm. “Madisyn’s expecting us in the OC in twenty minutes, and Chief Wyatt here will talk your ear off about this stuff if you let him.”
“Designer’s privilege,” Hamish said with a toothy grin.
“Wow, you designed this?” Katie’s eyes darted back to Wyatt, who tucked his hands in his pockets.
“Yes, ma’am, I did. Danny’s right, though. You guys have plans, and we’re keeping you. Again, it was real nice meeting you.”
“Yeah,” Katie said, falling in line behind Danny for the exit, but not without a final glance back at the Mako, then at Wyatt, who was already elbow-deep in his tool bin. “Yeah, nice meeting you, too.”
* * * * *
Chapter 15: Conflicted
“Damn him,” Lucius Zier snarled, closing his channel to the Kamuir then storming from his study into the imperial alcazar’s main common area.
Across the room, Zier’s wife, Charlotte—an elegant woman of sixty-two years—sat in a silk robe on the sofa with her legs folded, a book in one hand and a wine glass in the other.
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