Hidden Enemies (Book 9 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  Knowing Princess Kelsey, they’d leave much sooner than Zia preferred, so it was best to get as much data as she could now. They’d probably need it all when the time came.

  Talbot tolerated Kelsey’s bad mood until just before their pinnace docked with Audacious. Then he poked a finger in her side.

  She twitched and fixed him with a flat stare. “Why are you poking me?”

  “Because you’re being an idiot. You couldn’t find that guy that you messed up. So what? He didn’t have to go scurrying off like a roach in the sunlight. He made a choice. Let it go. You can’t fix everything.”

  Kelsey stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head. “Sometimes, you don’t understand me at all. I’m not upset because I can’t fix what happened. I’m upset because I’m dead sure that bugger is going to cause me problems later.

  “It’s a curse, I tell you. He’s got bad guy written all over him, like a villain from the vids. He hated me to begin with, I totally trashed him and caused him a grievous injury, and now he’s off somewhere licking his wounds. You can bet your ass he’s going to come back looking for my blood.”

  “Seriously? He’s a primitive. Let him get all freaked out. It won’t do him any good or cause you any problems. Besides, Howell seems pretty competent. If he says he’s going to find someone, I’d wager he’s going to do exactly that. No matter how long it takes or how many rocks he has to turn over to find him.”

  She shook her head and sighed. “I agree that’s what would happen under any normal circumstance, but tell me the last few years have worked out that way. Every time we cross someone, they come after us looking for a fight.

  “At this point, I really hate leaving potential enemies behind. That’s where our backs are, after all. You know those things that are really good at attracting knives? I’d much rather have healed the guy’s injuries and maybe sidestepped this particular blood feud.”

  At that moment, the pinnace docked and the pressure changed slightly as the lock began cycling. Talbot undid his restraints and stood, holding out his hand for Kelsey.

  “You did what you had to do to get through the crisis that guy created. If he pops up later looking to cause trouble, I’ll be happy to give him some. Right now, we need to start planning our mission to Archibald. That has to be the priority. Until it’s done, you’re not going back down to the surface in any case. He can’t exactly get to you up here.”

  They walked out into marine country. Major Gabe Collins, Audacious’s senior marine officer, stood waiting for them. Of normal height and somewhat abnormal width, the marine officer’s hair seemed grayer than the last time Talbot had seen him.

  That didn’t seem likely, but Talbot wasn’t going to rule it out. It had been that kind of month.

  “You’re not here to give me more problems to deal with, are you, Gabe?” Talbot asked.

  The big man shook his head. “Not that I know of. I figured since you were just passing through my area, it would behoove me to at least greet my commanding officers. How was your visit below, Princess? Did you have any trouble? Maybe you need me to drop a detachment of marines to teach someone manners?”

  Kelsey chuckled. “There were a few issues, but nothing I couldn’t handle. What’s your posture going to be like while we’re conducting the raid on Archibald?”

  The man shrugged. “It’s not like you can stuff a battalion’s worth of marines on board Persephone. If I did, Colonel Talbot would be in command in any case. I assume I’m going to be left here with the bulk of our marines because if you get caught, no amount of help I can give is going to save you.

  “Whatever firepower you think is appropriate to go along for your heist, I’ll send. You’re going to have to tell me what you need and I’ll make it happen. Other than that, I figure I’ll be providing security forces for any of the people that need to go down to Pandora’s surface.”

  “As soon as I figure out what we’re going to do, I’ll let you know,” Kelsey said. “It’s really going to depend on what Commodore Anderson has to tell me. If the news is bad enough, then I won’t go. There will be no suicide missions under my watch unless we have no choices left.”

  Talbot was proud of how much Kelsey had grown. A year ago, she would’ve flatly refused to consider any situation valid for a suicide mission. Now she accepted there might come a time where she had to call for volunteers that wouldn’t come back.

  “As soon as you know what you need, let me know. Good luck.” With that, Gabe stepped back and returned to his office.

  Talbot led Kelsey into the corridor outside marine country. “How soon is Zia going to brief us? Until we know what we’re dealing with, we’re at a standstill.”

  “Last I heard, she’d already finished talking with Commodore Murdoch. She’s got people asking follow-up questions to nail down all the details they can, but she’s back in her office. I’ll go get the lay of the land.

  “Meanwhile, I want you to go talk with Carl and find out what exactly we’re going to need to fix the flip drive. If we need parts, that’s probably a lot more doable than a full-size flip drive capable of moving a carrier through the flip point.”

  Talbot really hoped that they’d gotten good news from down at the wreck of the battlecruiser Dauntless, but that seemed unlikely. He also hoped that whatever they needed was going to be something they could easily sneak in and steal at Archibald. Based on their luck, he wasn’t counting on things going that smoothly.

  “I’m on it,” he said, putting a good face over his worry. “Shall we meet for dinner? The VIP cabin Zia assigned us would provide some well-deserved rest and privacy.”

  She smiled widely. “Admit it. Rest is the last thing on your mind. Though privacy would be nice.”

  He grinned. “You know me. We marines like to live for today. Now go on. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out what’s going on with Carl.”

  She headed off in the other direction and he kept a positive expression on his face until he was sure she couldn’t see him anymore. Their situation was bad, and he didn’t expect the news from Carl would make it any better.

  They were in a tight corner this time. The odds against them being able to get the carrier out of this system were pretty steep. It might be trapped here forever. Then Kelsey would have to decide who they left behind when they took the ships they could and tried to get the tech they’d stolen back to the New Terran Empire.

  That wasn’t a choice he’d have liked to make. He didn’t envy her position at all because that was almost certainly what ended up happening.

  15

  Veronica was relieved when Colonel Talbot arrived. Maybe he could explain some of what she’d been watching. Her own understanding of the science seemed… inadequate.

  Stepping away from the lab bench didn’t disturb the scientists fussing over the equipment in the slightest. In fact, they hadn’t noticed Talbot arriving or her departing. They were completely immersed in a technical discussion that made Veronica’s brain ache.

  “Thank God you’re here to save me,” she murmured. “I think my head is about to explode.”

  The marine officer laughed. “You obviously haven’t been demanding explanations in small words. Preferably those with three or fewer syllables. If you don’t yank the science types up short, they’ll run right over you. What are they doing?”

  “It has something to do with interference and your faster than light communications system. Apparently, they were conducting some type of experiment with new hardware and it’s not working the way they expected.”

  “Good enough.” He raised his voice. “Carl, what’s going on? Take a break and explain it to me in small words. Princess Kelsey wants a briefing on this and other subjects, so be concise. Pretend you’re explaining it to an idiot.”

  “That’s like the opposite of concise,” the young man said with a grin. “You know how much longer it takes to explain something to an idiot? If you’ve got the time, I can fill you in.”

  “H
a, ha. You’re a very funny man. What’s the problem?”

  Owlet gestured toward a small table nearby. He and Doctor Parker sat on one side while Veronica took the other next to the marine officer.

  “It’s not exactly a problem,” Carl said. “We’re not experiencing any issues whatsoever with our operational equipment. What happened is that Jacqueline made some modifications to a testbed to explore the theory and the results didn’t match what we expected to see.”

  “How so?”

  The scientist compressed his lips. “We’re seeing a reduction in data throughput between the testbed and the FTL probe we’re using to send back data. It’s positioned on the other side of the system so we can get information at FTL speeds. We send data to it and it in turn sends it right back. Jacqueline thought that the changes she’d made to the hardware might increase the data throughput, but it seems to have had the opposite effect.”

  The older woman nodded. “While I’m still getting to the point where I fully understand the hardware, what I expected to happen was to have a slight but noticeable increase in data throughput. Instead, the data is moving at less than one percent of the normal speed.

  “Worse, it’s inconsistent. Sometimes the hardware is somewhat faster than normal and others it’s being heavily throttled. The problem is that it’s not behaving the same in every case. It either should work or not work the same way every time.”

  Veronica cleared her throat. “While I’m not a scientist, it seems to me that something is interfering with the test. We had something similar occur a few years ago when I was helping Fleet Design work on a new tactical simulator.

  “Sometimes the thing performed brilliantly and other times it introduced stupid errors that none of us could explain. Worse, it did so on an unusual schedule. It took us weeks to locate the problem.”

  Carl crossed his arms over his chest and leaned forward, his expression curious. “If you don’t mind my asking, what caused the issue?”

  “An ensign,” Veronica said dryly. “She was logging into the tactical simulator when it was supposed to be reserved and using the processors to work on simulations after hours. She figured since it was test equipment that no one else would be logged in and she’d be able to get a lot more processing time.

  “It turns out that she was right. In fact, she managed to use so many processing cycles that it completely wrecked the testing protocols we were trying to run. And the fact that she logged in remotely and at odd times made it almost impossible for us to figure out.”

  The scientist laughed. “I can totally see that happening. Back when I was a graduate student, we’d steal processing time from any system we could get into. There were always too many people trying to use the regular systems.”

  Talbot nodded, his expression serious. “Is something like that possible here? Someone being on a system that they’re not supposed to be or trying to tap into the same probe?”

  Doctor Parker shook her head with a sigh. “If only it was something that easy. The way FTL communications work requires a dedicated pairing between devices because of the entangled particles. That means it’s literally impossible for anyone else to be accessing that particular probe.

  “And since we’re standing next to the testbed and it’s not linked to anything else, there’s no way anyone is logged in to that machine and using it in some way. Even so, we’ve been through the logs. Nothing like that showed up.”

  They were all quiet for a short bit, probably trying to think of something they’d missed.

  Talbot leaned back in his seat and shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. It’s not really the most pressing matter on our plates right now, in any case.

  “Princess Kelsey is with Commodore Anderson right now and they’re discussing an operation in Archibald to get what we need to either repair or replace Audacious’s flip drive. We need to know if the drive can be fixed or if we need a new unit.”

  Carl grimaced. “The engineering people disassembled it as much as they could and I’ve tested every part of the system. Usually a failure is in some system or subsystem that has to be swapped out. The basic framework of the unit isn’t damaged during normal operations. Hell, even during abnormal operations.

  “That’s not the case here. When we came through the multiflip point, it set up a resonance deep inside the flip drive. That created power induction where no one ever anticipated anything like that. We’ll either need to build structural parts that aren’t to Rebel Empire specifications or we’ll need an entirely new flip drive.”

  “Crap,” Talbot muttered. “That’s bad. That’s real bad.”

  The scientist nodded his head in apparent agreement. “It’s worse than that. Audacious is significantly larger than other military ships inside the Rebel Empire. Based on what I’ve seen and been told, the largest vessels they have in operation are heavy cruisers.

  “The difference in size of flip drives used for heavy cruisers, or even a battlecruiser, is significant. I doubt very seriously that a flip drive constructed for use in a heavy cruiser would work more than once for a battlecruiser. It wouldn’t work at all for this carrier.”

  Talbot turned to face Veronica. “Can you add anything to that?”

  She briefly cast her thoughts back over her years of service for Fleet. Then she shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Doctor Owlet is absolutely correct. Until we ran into you folk, the concept of a battlecruiser was unknown to me. A superdreadnought or carrier? Unthinkable.

  “But that doesn’t mean we’re out of options. What about a flip drive for a freighter of almost this ship’s size? One designed for military service.”

  Carl’s expression sharpened. “What do you mean ‘designed for military service’? The freighter we have here isn’t built to standards that would work for moving the carrier even once. There’s a whole different level of quality control and precision necessary when making flip drives for warships. Even a freighter of the correct size wouldn’t have a flip drive that would work more than a couple of times at best.”

  Veronica shrugged a little. “I honestly can’t tell you much more than the fact that I’ve seen military transports that were only somewhat smaller than this ship. Huge freighters made to keep up with Fleet elements. Their grav drives were sufficient to move them at a decent speed, so I’m assuming they were military grade. It’s entirely possible their flip drives are, too.”

  Carl rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That has possibilities. We need to see if any of the computer records we’ve captured have anything about those ships in them. Commander Giguere, would you feel comfortable working with us to try and locate any information we have?”

  “Of course,” she said with a nod.

  “Excellent,” Talbot said. “Be as quick as you can because we really need to get this operation moving. Every day we wait makes it more likely Clan warships are going to try to breach the multiflip point. That would be a disaster for us. It’s already going to take far too long to repair this ship. Every minute we delay could spell the death of everyone aboard this ship.”

  Kelsey surveyed the map they’d put together from their single visit to the Archibald system. It wasn’t much to work with considering how far out the multiflip point was, but it was all they had.

  One thing it did provide was a rough idea of where the major hubs of communication were. Where people were talking, that’s where they were living and working.

  “What kind of information were we able to pull out of the various computers we’ve captured from the Rebel Empire?” Kelsey asked, tapping her lip thoughtfully. “As it sits, we’d be going in virtually blind.”

  Zia nodded her agreement. “I would love to have more information, but the Rebel Empire compartmentalizes itself. People from one area aren’t likely to find much information on other places inside the Empire. That goes for Fleet, too.

  “The best source of information we have from inside the Rebel Empire is Commodore Murdoch. Before her transfer to Dresden, she actua
lly worked inside this sector. She’s been to Archibald and visited the shipyard.”

  Kelsey felt her face scrunch up. “Let me guess. She won’t help us.”

  “Actually, she will, for a price. One I’ve already agreed to because I know you.”

  Kelsey leaned back and narrowed her eyes. “I’m not certain if I should be worried or annoyed. What does she want?”

  Zia reached over the table and tapped the main source of communications in the Archibald system: the main planetary body. “Archibald prime doesn’t just have a shipyard, it also has an advanced medical research facility on the civilian station nearby. One that Commodore Murdoch suspects might have regeneration equipment that could repair her spine.”

  The unexpected revelation made Kelsey sit back and think. “She wants us to get something to help her? How much complication is that going to add to our mission?”

  The Fleet officer shrugged. “I haven’t the slightest idea, but it’s not going to make things easier. Still, knowing you as I do, I realized you were going to say yes so I agreed.”

  “And what was she able to give us in exchange? Something worth the hassle she’s asking of us?”

  “Probably not,” Zia admitted. “Though we won’t know until we get there. Her memory of the traffic patterns around the planet and some of the procedures will prove useful. I’m not so sure that the information she provided about the shipyard itself is going to help us.

  “She was only there a couple of times and saw what they wanted her to see. She was acting as an aide to a flag officer, so she was taken on a grand tour and given explanations on how things worked. That’s more than thirty years out of date, though.”

  Kelsey rubbed her face. “We’re going to have to take a look for ourselves. The general information she provided, as well as what Commander Giguere can offer, might get us close. Until we can see it with our own eyes and make a judgment on the security, we’re not going to be able to plan effectively.”