Clidepp Deja Vu

by Thomas DePrima

  "Perhaps they're smugglers contacting their buyers and making arrangements for delivery. If so, they can't simply arrive, land on the planet, and go through customs," Olivetti offered from the navigation console.

  "True. Or perhaps they're no more welcome on the planet than we are," the Tac officer said.

  "It must be something like that," Sydnee said. "Perhaps they're gunrunners supplying the Rebels. Tac, alert the Wing. I want two SF4s ready to launch and perform a fly-by investigation of that ship. Helm, take us to twenty-five thousand kilometers and keep the SF4 launch platform hidden from the contact so they don't get a radar hit when the hatch opens."

  "Aye, Captain."

  A few seconds later the com chief said, "Colonel Dennier's aide says the Colonel would like to speak with you, Captain."

  "Put her through to my CT, Chief."

  "Aye, Captain, making the connection."

  "Good morning, Colonel."

  "What's up, Captain?"

  "There's a space yacht parked out in space beyond DeTect range from the planet. We believe it's been conducting extremely heavy communications with someone on Yolongus for the past twenty-four hours. We've moved to within twenty-five thousand kilometers. I'd like you to have a couple of your pilots perform a fly-by and look it over."

  "What do you suspect?"

  "Nothing specific. I'm just wondering why a space yacht would be parked out here in space instead of parking in orbit or landing on the planet."

  "Aye, Captain, we'll launch two SF4s within sixty seconds. Dennier out."

  "Marcola out."

  After watching the SF4s deploy, Dennier headed to the bridge. She entered just as the fighters arrived in the area where the space yacht was parked and reported in.

  "Lima-Five reporting. It's a space yacht alright, and a fancy one at that. It's definitely a luxury model. Wait a second, Justice, they're raising their temporal generator."

  "On an RF band, warn them to stand down and heave to," Sydnee said. RF band communications were rarely used in space simply because the signals traveled so slowly compared to the S-band transmissions that traveled in hyperspace, but they were still used frequently in ship-to-ship communications where a laser protocol hadn't been established. By the time a low-power RF signal traveled the billions of kilometers back to Yolongus, the parties would probably be long gone.

  "They're not responding, Captain."

  "Warn them that if they don't respond within sixty seconds, you'll destroy their generator."

  "No response yet," the pilot said after fifty seconds. "I'm locked onto their generator."

  "Fire," Sydnee said. A few seconds later, a small explosion flared briefly where the temporal generator had been raised on the sail area of the ship and then winked out.

  "They'll not be going anywhere FTL for quite a while," the pilot said.

  "Maintain your surveillance, Lima-Five."

  "Aye, Captain."

  After a few more minutes, the Lima-Five pilot said, "They've fired up their sub-light engines."

  "Their direction?"

  "They're headed away from the planet, Captain."

  "Lima-Five, return to the ship."

  "Aye, Captain. Lima-Five and Lima-Six breaking contact and returning to the Justice."

  "We know they can't see either us or the SF4s with radar," Sydnee said aloud, "so they can't know we're here. But if they were legit, they'd be heading towards Yolongus for help just as quickly as their sub-light engines would take them. Helm, as soon as we've recovered our fighters and closed the outer hatches, follow that yacht. Match their sub-light speed and remain near the edge of our DeTect range. To minimize the chance they can catch a glimpse of us between them and the sun in this solar system, make sure it's never behind us."

  "Aye, Captain."

  * * *

  "That ship had to be GA," the Rebel leader said to the ship's officers in a hurriedly called meeting.

  "I was told no one ever saw a thing, so it could have been anyone," the first officer said.

  "No. A Clidepp Empire pilot never would have destroyed the temporal generator on a luxury yacht without first getting permission from the Triumvirate. And that would have taken much more time. By the time they got approval to fire, we'd have been long gone."

  "Why haven't they pursued us after we engaged the sub-light engines?" the first officer asked.

  "What makes you think they haven't? The ship that destroyed the temporal generator didn't register on radar."

  "But we've been scanning the area around us visually using the cameras mounted on the hull. There's nothing out there."

  "They're out there," the Rebel leader said. "Their ship is probably painted black. All Space Command warships are painted black these days. Without radar you can't see a black ship in space unless there's a sun or moon behind it."

  "Then we should maneuver so the sun will be behind us. If they're following, we'll be able to spot them."

  "They're not fools," the Rebel leader said. "They're not going to let us catch a glimpse of them. I don't know the purpose of this game, but I know they're back there. They only destroyed our generator to make sure we didn't get away."

  "Get away? If it's the GA, they can fly circles around us. This tub has trouble doing sixty times the speed of light."

  "They prevented us from going FTL because they can't fire on a ship while it's traveling faster than light. This way we're at their mercy. They can take us down anytime they wish."

  "What are we going to do?"

  "I don't know yet. I need to think. Leave me alone so I can concentrate and plan a way out of this."

  * * *

  "I wish we had access to the Clidepp Empire ship registry files," Dennier said as she stood next to Sydnee's command chair.

  "That would be nice," Sydnee said. "The Space Command ship registry file has a good number of Clidepp registrations in it because every ship that's ever stopped in a GA port would have had its description and owner information recorded. However, that ship wouldn't be registered. It's so slow it would take twenty years to reach the GA. I doubt it can even approach the Light-75 restriction in effect in the Clidepp Empire for all civilian ships. And it probably wouldn't do much good to learn who it's registered to anyway. It's most likely stolen. The only reasons I can think of for the ship remaining billions of kilometers out in space while they carried on almost a full day of non-stop conversations with Yolongus is that they are either smuggling contraband or at least one of the people aboard is wanted by the Yolongi or Clidepp governments. We know the ship wasn't disabled until we destroyed their temporal generator."

  "Captain, does this little side-trip have anything to do with recovering our people from the embassy?"

  "Suppose you were a senior politician who had an extremely angry populace blaming you for allowing someone to destroy their power grid, leaving them without power for weeks. Now suppose you learned the whereabouts of a notorious smuggler and that he was someone who could be put on public display and blamed for all the power problems in the capital. What would you do?"

  "I'd probably mobilize all my forces, arrest him, then put him on display in a big fancy trial."

  "Yes, that's what I was thinking. It would take a substantial burden off your back, even in an oligarchy. Wouldn't it be nice if all the Qummuc APCs were suddenly withdrawn from around the embassy because they were needed to track down and arrest that very elusive smuggler and close down his operation?"

  "Do you really think such a person is aboard that yacht?"

  "I don't know. But I do know that whoever is aboard that yacht was trying to avoid having certain people know he or she was out here. I also know that yachts like the one we're following cost many millions of credits and only major businessmen, celebrities, or criminal kingpins can afford something like that. And I also know that of the three types, only the criminals would be afraid of having the authorities know they were nearby."

  "So what now?"

  "Now, we reel in the bi
g fish we've been tailing and weigh him to see if he meets the requirements of a legal catch. If he screams for help from the Clidepp authorities, we'll know I made a mistake and we'll have to quickly lose ourselves in the blackness of space. But if he doesn't scream for help, we'll know we might have a real trophy on our hands."

  * * *

  Chapter Nineteen

  ~ April 7th, 2287 ~

  "Sir, we're being warned again. This time they say to cut our sub-light engines and perform something called 'heave-to.'"

  "Who's giving the orders?"

  "We don't know. We can't see any ships out there. But they're still using the old RF frequency, so we know they're close."

  "And if we don't comply?"

  "They haven't identified what they'll do. I suppose they'll threaten us with destruction. This yacht has no weapons that will help us in a ship-to-ship battle. All we have are dirt-side weapons."

  "They're useless if that ship blasts us out of existence. But if we can get them to board us, we might be able to capture some of them and use them as hostages in negotiations."

  "Do we cut our engines?"

  "We seem to have no choice."

  "Does that mean yes?"

  "Of course it means yes," he said angrily.

  "I'll go give the order."

  "You do that," he said as he began to pace around the luxurious stateroom trying to figure a way out, but he knew he had no real options. He would have to allow them to board the yacht. He had thought that no one would ever dare question a luxury yacht in Clidepp space. He decided that his best response would be to play the role he knew so well, that of a rich dilettante who was merely out for a cruise in his birthday present. As he paced, he worked to immerse his mind in the persona he was attempting to portray.

  "We've stopped," the ship's captain reported via intercom. "Now they're saying we must go over to them rather than them boarding us."

  "They don't want to search our ship for contraband? That's unusual. Have they identified themselves yet?"

  "No. They say they will tell us where to take our shuttle once we leave the ship."

  "So they haven't identified me by name?"

  "No."

  "That probably means they don't know who they've stopped. Okay, tell them our shuttle only carries two. Tell them they'll have to pick us up if they want all of us to come to their ship."

  A few seconds later the ship's captain called again and said, "They say to send over our two top people. And they added that if our shuttle suddenly develops problems during launching, we should get into escape pods and eject because they're going to destroy the ship."

  "So they're willing to play rough— unless it's all bravado. Okay, tell them we'll be over just as quickly as we can launch our shuttle."

  * * *

  "What appears to be a shuttle has been launched from a bay on the starboard side of the ship, Captain," the Tac officer said.

  "Com, give them a course heading to the Justice."

  "Aye, Captain, sending them the course on the same RF frequency we've been using," the com chief said. A few seconds later, he added, "They acknowledge receipt of the course heading."

  "The shuttle is headed directly towards us," the Tac officer said.

  "Com, when they reach us, direct them to the larboard, upper airlock amidship."

  "Aye, Captain."

  As Sydnee stood up she said, "Lt. Templeton I need you at the Tac station, so although you are next in the rotation, Lt. Olivetti will take command while I'm off the bridge."

  "Aye, Captain," Templeton said.

  "Com, notify the Marine mess hall staff I need the room for conducting interviews. Inform the senior Marine non-com on duty that I need an armed Marine fire-team at the airlock to escort our visitors to the mess hall. The visitors are to be considered armed and dangerous, so I want them checked for weapons as soon as they're aboard. Also, any electronic gear should be confiscated. Their images are to be recorded as they enter the ship and checked against our Space Command facial recognition database during the interviews. I will interview the senior member first while the other one is kept isolated in a separate area. Once I start the first interview, the visitors are not to be allowed voice contact or even eye contact with one another until both have been interviewed. I also want the Marines to prepare two storage lockers to serve as brig cells. Nothing elaborate or large. And extend an invitation to Colonel Dennier to attend the interviews."

  "Aye, Captain."

  Turning to where Galli was sitting at the engineering console, Sydnee said, "Lt. Galli, once our visitors have been escorted below deck, have your people check the shuttle for weapons and explosives. Then collect all the fingerprints you can find on board. I want to compare the prints of everyone who has been in that shuttle lately with the fingerprints we have on file for persons wanted by the Yolongi government."

  "Aye, Captain."

  Having completed making her arrangements, Sydnee left the bridge and walked down to the mess hall to await the visitors.

  *

  Some twenty minutes later, as Sydnee and Dennier sat at a table in silence, a Marine non-com stuck his head into the mess hall and said, "The visitors are here, Captain."

  "Send the senior person in, Staff Sergeant."

  "Yes, Ma'am."

  As the Marine non-com withdrew, a Yolongi appeared in the doorway and entered the room. Sydnee gestured to a chair across from her and Colonel Dennier.

  "State your name for the record," Sydnee said.

  "I'm Eroclis Sleeques, the captain of the Bluqcols."

  "Who was right?"

  "What?"

  "Who was right?"

  "I don't know what you mean."

  Sydnee touched a point on the viewpad in front of her and the words of the man calling himself Eroclis Sleeques issued from a speaker overhead in Yolongi. The translation to Amer was, "He was right."

  "That was you," Sydnee said as she stared at the man. "It was recorded as you entered this ship."

  "Uh, uh, I uh, was referring to my helmsman. He said that you were probably GA."

  "Really? Your helmsman?"

  "Yes."

  "We told you we wanted the two top people to come here. Where is your boss? Why did he send you?"

  "I'm the most senior person aboard the ship."

  "You own it?"

  "Uh, no. I'm just the captain."

  "Well, I wanted to see the owner."

  "Uh, he's on Yolongus."

  "Then why are you out here? Shouldn't you be waiting for him on Yolongus?"

  "He was afraid that if the authorities saw the yacht sitting on the ground, they might decide to confiscate it for their own use. Private property means nothing to them. He'll contact us when we should pick him up."

  "How many crewmen are aboard the Bluqcols?"

  "Seventeen."

  "Seventeen? That's a lot of people for such a small ship."

  "Well, they're not all bridge personnel and engineers. We have two cooks, four attendants, and two maids."

  "And what contraband are you carrying?"

  "We're carrying nothing that concerns the GA. You have no right to stop us or board us. This is not your nation, so such an act is considered piracy."

  "So call me a pirate. Now, what contraband will we find when we search the Bluqcols?"

  "None. And if you intend to board my ship, why did you insist I come over here first?"

  "Simple. Now there are two fewer fools we'll have to kill when we board your ship because you'll be here in our brig rather than facing us with light weapons."

  "You cannot board my ship," Sleeques screamed. "I'll have you arrested if you do."

  Sydnee touched a couple of points on her viewpad and then asked calmly, "Do you have a brother?"

  "What?"

  "It's a simple question. Do you have a brother?"

  "What business is that of yours?"

  "I was just wondering," she said as she turned the viewpad so Sleeques could see the fa
ce, "because this individual looks amazingly like you. In fact, our computer says there's a 99.99% chance it is you. And we can make that 100% simply by taking your fingerprints."

  Sleeques looked at the image and went pale as his mouth dropped slightly open. It was from an old reward poster from when he had escaped custody while being transported to prison on a gunrunning conviction. He couldn't believe the GA had a copy of that old poster on file.

  "But I don't think we have to retake your fingerprints here again. By now my Marines have entered your shuttle and made copies of all the fingerprints found in there. I see your name is really Rodhrer Blethque. And your companion is Wydteep Hliprez, who also happens to be wanted by the Yolongi authorities for gunrunning. Uh, do you still want to contact the Yolongi government and prefer charges of piracy against me?"

  Blethque scowled at Sydnee but said nothing.

  "I thought not. So let's stop playing games. Who is the top person aboard that ship?"

  "I am the top person currently aboard that ship."

  "So you're not tired of playing games yet?" Sydnee said as she pressed several contact points on her viewpad.

  A second later the door opened and the Staff Sergeant looked in questioningly.

  "Staff Sergeant, is the other person secured somewhere other than the corridor?"

  "Yes, Captain. We have him totally isolated and under guard in a food storage locker."

  Sydnee smiled. "It must be kind of tight in there."

  "Yes, ma'am. We managed to squeeze him in, although it was a bit difficult closing the door. Secure places where he could wait and not see or hear anything were limited because of all the provisions we picked up recently. We probably shouldn't leave him in there too long because it's bitterly cold."

  "Take our friend here and put him into one of the prepared brig cells. He'll be remaining with us for a while."

  "You can't hold me," Blethque screamed. "I'm a Yolongi citizen."

  "We're only doing what the Yolongi will do when we turn you over to them."