"Then there's a good chance that...," Kresge began the thought, but paused as his mind churned through some of the ramifications.
"...Yes, Commander, there is a good chance that he might still be alive!" Carlisle finished for him.
"I see what you mean, Ensign." He chewed his lip as he thought it over for a little longer and finally said, "I agree. This is definitely important enough to follow up on."
"I...I think I'm well enough to make a trip out with the Asimov, Sir."
Kresge smiled at her, "I appreciate your offer, Tamara, but I think you'd better stay here. You do need some more rest and we're going to need to do a lot of planning over the next few days. I'm afraid I'm really going to need your tactical expertise right here."
Carlisle couldn't quite hide her disappointment but bowed to the wisdom of Kresge's decision. Kresge got up, signaling that the interview was over.
"I agree with your assessment that this is 'somewhat sensitive' information, Ensign. I think we should keep this under wraps for the time being," he said as he opened the door for her.
"Maybe the Asimov could go back to the derelict under the guise of finishing up the destruction of the surviving big guns?" suggested Carlisle, as she got up to exit the compartment.
"...and while they're out there, someone could check out the computers in auxiliary control room," said Kresge, "That's an excellent suggestion, Ensign. Now do you see why I need you here?"
Chapter 26.
Santana Nexus Station, somewhere on the first level of the fourth ring. January 5, 2599.
Lester Dobbins had a problem. It wasn’t money, for a change. He currently had more money in his bank account then he had ever dreamed of having. No, his problem was that he was stuck on the Santana Nexus Station because of the Sheik of Barsoom's damnable revolution. Dobbins was also known by another name: Ezra Hellfire Brimstone. He was a member of a radical offshoot of the Veritian Way, a religious sect from the same root as the one that Hanna and Caleb Jordan belonged to, only his offshoot was called the Veritian Brotherhood of Christ Resurgent. Brimstone had, in fact, been the leader of the group. Where Caleb and Hanna Jordan were pacifists who would only fight if they had to, members of the Brotherhood were a great deal more proactive and quite willing to resort to violence. With financial backing from the Sheik of Barsoom, Brimstone and his band of misfits had salvaged weapons from the wreck of the Veritian derelict in the Heard's World system, used the weapons to arm two stolen freighters and made an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap the Meridian Ambassador with the intent to ransom him back to the Sheik in exchange for a very large sum of money.
During the course of Brimstone's kidnapping attempt, he and his gang had destroyed the living quarters at the New Ceylon Reclamation Center, killing all aboard and stranding Harris, Hawkins and Carlisle in the Scrapyard. Brimstone had then continued on to New Ceylon where he and his group managed to take over the Orbital Station with the intent of luring the Ambassador on board and capturing him. Brimstone's plans were thwarted by the three Federation personnel left alive in the Scrapyard, as well as Kresge and a ragtag group of resistance fighters that the Commander had managed to cobble together on the orbital station.
One unfortunate sideshow to all of this was that, in addition to the two formidable pulse cannons, Brimstone and his men had also been able to remove the nuclear self-destruct module from the wrecked cruiser. Not knowing what to do with such a thing and, as usual, being somewhat short of cash, Brimstone had just recently sold the device to someone unknown after an enormous sum of money had been deposited in his private bank account. In the meantime, the Sheik had gone public with his Revolution and, so far anyway, looked to be enjoying a great deal of success. Dobbins and thousands of other people were currently confined to the Nexus Station by the Sheik's forces. That's why Brimstone had more money than he would ever need and nowhere to spend any of it.
It was well after midnight on the Nexus Station. Along with Brimstone in his hotel room at the nondescript Nexus Nook Hotel were two of his most trusted followers. The three of them mostly kept to their three adjoining rooms with only occasional forays out for food or other necessities. At the moment, all three of them were arrayed in front of the video set. Brimstone was stretched out and almost asleep on the couch and his two companions were asleep in their chairs when the door to Brimstone's room was kicked in and five well-armed men stormed through. One of Brimstone's guards went for his weapon and was cut down by at least three pulse bolts. The other raised his hands in surrender but was also cut down by a couple of pulse bolts. Dobbins, shocked and bewildered by the sudden violence, got up from the couch with his hands raised.
"You are Lester Dobbins? Also known as Ezra Hellfire Brimstone?"
Trapped and helpless, Brimstone realized that he had no option but to surrender and hope for the best.
"I think you know who I am," said Brimstone. "I also assume that you want me alive or I would be dead already. You...you might have spared my men, they were only trying to protect me."
"You needed to know that we mean business, Mr. Brimstone. You have two minutes to gather up a few of your belongings. Choose carefully, you will not be coming back. Abdul, Samsun, accompany him to his bedroom chamber. If he makes any suspicious moves, shoot him in the leg."
"You'll get no trouble from me," said Brimstone, obviously shaken to the core.
He went to the dresser in his private sleeping portion of the room and, under the watchful eyes of his two "escorts," gathered a few of his belongings including couple of changes of clothing and a shaving kit. He also took his Veritian Bible. He and his guards went back to join the others in the sitting area of the room complex.
"Very good, Mr. Brimstone. Now, come with us."
***
UTFN Reclamation Center, onboard Federation Auxiliary ship Greyhound, January 5, 2599.
Early the next morning, Kresge found himself having to coordinate a veritable flurry of activity. There were several repair projects for him to coordinate in the Scrapyard itself, including the replacement of the front turret of the Perseus with the undamaged one from the Xerxes. The finicky nature of the Greyhound's Bofors weapon interface was another. Admiral Kingston wasn't going to be able to provide much help, she had just had surgery on her damaged leg and would be convalescing for at least another week, probably more, considering her age. That left the running of the Reclamation center as well as the coordinating and final organization of the provisioning and recruiting trips to Heard's World and Catskill-Soroyan entirely up to Kresge. He did what any self-respecting leader worth his salt would do when faced with a series of daunting tasks: he called a meeting.
The meeting convened in the front cargo bay of the Greyhound. All of the Scrapyard officers were present along with Chiefs Allen, Hawkins and Jenkins. Sergeant Kelly of the marine detachment was present as well. Also in attendance were Clancy Davis-Moore of the Dingo, the two mining ship Captains O'Connell and Patrick and Norman Copeland, captain of the City of Darwin, the NiTrans freighter that had come from Catskill-Soroyan with the two mining ships when they had fled that system several weeks ago. Admiral Kingston was present in an anti-grav chair but had warned Kresge that she was taking some fairly potent drugs and was there to observe only. The Ambassador was unable to attend. He had to remain on the Istanbul because, later in the day, he had scheduled another of the endless diplomatic wrangling sessions that were necessary to maintain a semblance of morale among the delegates.
Kresge called the meeting to order.
"I think you all know why we need this meeting but I'll give everyone a complete rundown on the situation as I see it, just so we're all on the same page. We are the sole remaining stronghold of the United Terran Federation in the entire Santana Quadrant. As such, we are duty bound to look after Federation interests in this Quadrant to the best of our abilities."
He paused to look around at his audience before continuing. "The political situation here in the Santana Quadrant is probably best summed
up in two words: total chaos! Terrorist or Revolutionist forces, whatever you want to call them, have managed to occupy the Santana Nexus Station and are using it as a base to consolidate a stranglehold on the Quadrant. Naturally we need to do everything in our power to oppose them, to stop them from getting any stronger than they have already become."
He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing.
"The Revolutionists know we're here and they would like nothing more than to remove us as a threat. As you all know, we've been able to repulse two separate and very determined attacks on the Scrapyard just within the last couple of weeks. We now think that this star system, at least, is pretty well protected and I'm not ashamed to say that I am a great deal more confident about our future since we figured out a way to beat back this latest attack!"
Kresge paused here to scan his audience again, making sure that he had everyone's attention. Seeing only attentive looks, he continued.
"I won't pull any punches," he said. "Our supply situation is critical. We are good out here for a few more days, perhaps as much as a week or so but we are running out of almost everything. Just as important as our immediate supply crises is the need to establish secure supply lines to ensure that we don't run out of food and other staple materials again anytime soon."
He scanned the audience again. "We will be sending the Asimov to the Heard's World system accompanied by a freighter to stock up on food. Clancy Davis-Moore, I'm thinking the Dingo would be a good choice for that foray."
"We'll be happy to go, Commander," said Davis-Moore, "but I may need the better part of a day to get the Dingo unloaded. We were supposed to be on our way to Meridian when this war broke out and I have three holds that are pretty fully loaded with luxury goods. These goods aren't going to be of much use in a war situation but I do need a place to store them until this whole revolution thing blows over."
"I think we can find an empty hold or two out here in the Scrapyard...," said Kresge, "...somewhere."
The last brought a few chuckles.
"Thank you, Clancy," said Kresge. "Now as to the recruitment of personnel. I propose sending the two mining ships and the City of Darwin on a route that loops through Catskill-Soroyan and Patagonia. We would like you to re-establish contact with the Piedmont mining station and the asteroid colony in Patagonia. You're the perfect choice because the people in both systems already know and trust you. I don't imagine that either of those places has all that much food to spare but we'll certainly take whatever they feel they can part with. Mostly we need all the able-bodied men we can find to who feel the same way we do about this confounded Revolution!"
"The hydroponic farms inside that hollow asteroid are pretty extensive, Commander," said O'Connell. "I wouldn't be surprised if they could spare us some provisions, especially if we can pay for them. The Patagonians always seem to be a little short on cash."
"I think we can still transfer Federation credits," said Kresge. "Chief Jenkins?"
"We can draw on Federation accounts at the Bank of Progress on New Ceylon," said Jenkins. "With the government of New Ceylon behind us, we should have access to all the currency we need."
"We also have some stores of precious metals onboard the Glendaloch," said Captain Patrick. "We loaded them up before we left the Piedmont station, to make sure the terrorists didn't get them. Must be a small fortune in there."
"The Federation can pay back anything we might spend after we get through this crisis," said Kresge, "Isn't that right, Jenkins?"
"That is absolutely correct, Commander," said CPO Jenkins, "You can count on the Federation to pay their debts!"
That also brought a few chuckles.
"Thank you, Gentlemen," said Kresge. "At least we shouldn't be wanting for money. I need all of you to get moving on these projects as soon as possible. Does anybody need reaction fluid for their ships?"
A few hands went up.
"We have all the reaction fluid we could possibly need out here in the Scrapyard. See Chief Jenkins here and he'll get you fixed up. Naturally, there will be no charge!"
This comment also triggered a few chuckles.
Again Kresge looked over his audience. "Anybody got anything else?" he asked.
"Are we really gonna try and recapture the Santana Nexus?" someone asked.
"That remains up in the air at the present time. We'll have to see how well these recruiting and supply missions go. Obviously, for the long-term interests of the Federation and for the legitimate government of Jasmine, not to mention Meridian, gaining back control of the Santana Nexus station will be vital. Whether or not we can scrape together the men and material to get that job done remains to be seen. If we are going to make some kind of move, it would be best if we didn't wait very much longer. Our best chance will be to move before the enemy has a chance to get really established on the station."
"I heard that we are cut off from the Sol-Terra Quadrant, Commander. Is there any truth to that?"
"We aren't completely sure about that. There are some pretty strong rumors making the rounds that someone who is allied with Barsoom has figured out a way to block macrojump tranfers through the Sol-Terra hyperlink point. Whether there is any truth to the rumors or not remains unknown. We do know that no ships have come through from Sol-Terra for more than a week now so it surely looks as though something out of the ordinary is going on."
When there were no more questions, Kresge adjourned the meeting.
"Sergeant Kelly? Will you see me afterwards, please?'
The personnel in the cargo bay filed out leaving Kresge, Harris, Carlisle and Kelly.
"We have a special assignment for you Sergeant," began Kresge.
"Whatever you need, Sir!" replied Kelly, "My men and me are at your disposal."
"Very good, Sergeant. You remember that Veritian wreck in the Heard's World system?"
"Yes, Sir," said Kelly, "she was a right fine mess, she was."
"We need you to go back out to that wreck while the Dingo is being loaded up. The story will be that you're going to be disabling the rest of the big weapons. Actually, it would be a good idea to do that if you can but we have another job that could turn out to be a lot more important."
"What is it you need us to do, Commander?"
Carlisle took over, "I need you to go to the auxiliary bridge down near the engineering section and bring me all of the computers in that area. If you can't bring the computers bring me the storage drives."
"That shouldn't be too much trouble," said Kelly, "Can you show us where to find this auxiliary bridge?'
"There's a schematic on this memory chip, Sergeant," said Carlisle as she handed him a standard chip.
"Do I dare ask what this is all about, Sirs?"
"I think it's too early to say for certain," replied Kresge, "Let me say this: It's a follow up on some information that Dr. Carlisle got from the quantum drive she removed from the bridge computer during your last visit to the wreck. We don't know for sure what it all means yet but it could be big. I mean really big!"
"I think I understand, Sir," said Kelly, "You want us to secure all the storage devices left on the auxiliary bridge?"
"Correct, Sergeant. We believe that after the main bridge was damaged, the Captain of that ship used the auxiliary bridge to con the ship and escape the final battle of the Succession War. One or another of the computers down on that auxiliary bridge may have information that we would really like to have a look at. It's a long shot, but the information is important enough that we think it's worth retrieving those drives, especially since you're already going to be in the Heard's World system. "
"Understood, Commander," said Kelly
"Thanks, Kelly. I will inform Captain Nesbitt of the Asimov of the need to visit the wreck as well."
"That's probably a good idea, Commander."
"Carry on, Sergeant!"
Kelly saluted smartly and left to get busy making his preparations for the mission.
Kresge called o
ver to Jenkins, who was at the communications console.
"Can you get me the Ambassador, Chief?"
"Right away, Sir."
Within two minutes Kresge was addressing the Ambassador on his viewscreen.
"What can I do for you, Commander?"
"I'd like to try to contact Heard's World and let them know that we're coming."
"Do they still have Stage II communications capability?"
"As far as we know, Excellency. The communications platform was intact when the Greyhound was there just a week or so ago."
"I must inform you that I am not entirely sure that our Stage II communicator is secure, Commander."
"What precautions have you taken?"
"We have reassigned the technician to a different position. To allay his suspicions, we have put him on the less critical Stage I communicator. We have also thoroughly looked over the storage buffers and can't find anything that looks out of the ordinary. It may be fine, but we won't know for sure until we've completed a more thorough investigation."
"Do you think it's alright to send a simple message that we are coming to pick up some supplies?"
"It seems a routine enough communication that it shouldn't cause any huge problems, Commander. I'll compose and send a message right now. Give us a few minutes."
"Thank you, Excellency."
Kresge went and got himself a cup of coffee and took stroll around the bridge, finally stopping to chat for a few minutes with Helen Murdock who was watching readouts while Hawkins and Talbot worked on the weapons module down in engineering. By the time Kresge sat down again, the Ambassador was calling him back.
"We sent the message, Commander, but we did not get a reply."
"Thank you, Excellency. It means the platform remains unmanned or that it has been destroyed. We had to try sometime. Good luck with your meeting."
"Thank you, Commander, I will almost certainly need it. Saladin out."
Chapter 27.
Junkyard Dogs series Omnibus Page 89
