The Belt Loop (Book Two) - Revenge of the Varson
Page 20
“That ship picked up a Varson spy out in the Fringes, sir, and brought him here. His name is Lieutenant Colonel Yaguud, and he was second in command at the Varson Intelligence Directorate.”
“What? He was picked up as a spy? What was he doing out there, Lieutenant Mols?”
“No, sir, it wasn’t like that. He’s defecting. And bringing us valuable information on what he calls the Malguur Decimation Project.”
“I see. And you’re buying into this scheme? What if he’s just trying to infiltrate our defenses here on Bayliss. Haven’t we already experienced enough of this ‘cloak-and-dagger’ bullshit back on Elber? Now we’re starting that same stuff out here?”
She looked over her shoulder at the rest of the shuttle passengers. “It’s not just starting, sir. This has been going on for years. This is the first time we’ll be able to get some first person accounts of what’s been going on behind that blockade. I see it as an opportunity to break up whatever spy network the Varson have in place in the colonies.” After a brief pause, she added, “Sir.”
“So when are you going to see this Varson spy, lieutenant? I want to be there. Maybe he can shed some light onto what happened to my XO.”
“That’s possible, captain, entirely possible. But don’t you have pressing matters at the War College? Shouldn’t that take priority? After all, that’s the real reason you guys were scheduled to come here in the first place.”
He looked at her and absent-mindedly rubbed the scars on the left side of his face. “To hell with the school, lieutenant. Commander Mason and Lieutenant Hansen can do the propers on that publicity stunt. My concern is for my missing officer and if there’s a chance this Varson spy can help me find him, I’m going to go that route.”
“I don’t know, Captain Haad, I’d have to check with Fleet —”
“And I don’t have to check with anyone, lieutenant. I’ll be in that debriefing room whether Fleet approves or not. These Varson operatives have killed one of my officers and kidnapped or killed another. You get me in that briefing room. That’s an order, Lieutenant Mols.”
She looked him in the eyes. Was now the time to play the “Uncle Vinny” card? His return stare convinced her that the card should be saved for later. For a bigger game. Captain Haad had won the first round.
“Aye, aye, Captain Haad. Understood,” she said.
“Then let us be first off this boat, lieutenant, and meet this Yaguud soonest. Make it happen.”
She acknowledged his order and went to the back of the boat and prepped for landing.
* * *
“Attention Varson vessel. You are in violation of Colonial Navy space and you are ordered to surrender your ship and prepare to be boarded. This is the captain of the CNS Puget Sound. You must acknowledge this message immediately on one niner seven point six. No reply from you will result in your immediate destruction. You have five minutes.”
The message repeated on a continuous loop. Yorn tried twenty different ways to activate the Varson radio but tried as he could, he couldn’t get the damned thing to cooperate. Then he had an idea.
He ran to the back of the ship and retrieved the large flashlight he had used earlier. When he returned to the control cabin he moved the ship a degree or two to starboard and lifted his nose four degrees. If they had him on their front blister, they should be looking right down his throat. He started blinking the light.
The threat warning message kept repeating. He kept blinking the light. After a few minutes he figured his time was running short. And he didn’t have a clue if the Puget Sound’s comm operator was up to snuff on his 900-year-old signaling techniques. He was just about to give up and try to make a run for it when the message suddenly changed.
“If you are who you say you are, and your transmitter is down, flash your serial number, Varson intruder. Signal that you received this message with standard language hailing.”
Yorn breathed a long sigh of relief. He flashed the light.
One minute of silence from the radio.
“Charlie November Two Two Four Seven Seven Niner, come in please.”
They got him, they got his message! That was his Colonial Navy serial number!
Yorn spent the next few minutes answering a series of security questions and finally the captain of the Puget Sound was convinced he was legitimate. The slow process of finding out if he had pressure and environmental gear consumed the next five minutes. Yorn thanked his lucky stars that he had learned that ancient signaling code from one of his readers some years before. Since he had a sea-going boat back on Elber, he thought the skill would be handy to have.
It took the lifeboat from the warship twenty minutes to rendezvous with him and another half-hour before he was properly outfitted and welcomed onto the bridge of the Puget Sound.
Now, Yorn thought, as he shook hands all around, he had to find out just where he was in the Fringes and figure a way to get back to Elber Prime without delay.
The captain introduced himself as Captain Janz and introduced Yorn to the communications officer that had decided to run the flashes from the alien boat into his PRS computer. The Pattern Recognition Software made quick work out of the old-fashioned Morse Code and Yorn promised the man a free round of his favorite drinks when they next made port. It was the least he could do.
Chapter 33
“You must be careful speaking to me in that manner. And you may call me ‘Hube Rossi’ as that is the name I’ll be using here. If you are overheard speaking in our native tongue, someone will hear and report you. Out here closer to the Fringes, these humans are far more paranoid when it comes to the Varson Empire.”
Teeluur appraised Galuud from across the table. He had told the waitress that he would like to join an old acquaintance of his and they moved his placesetting accordingly. After ripping into Galuud unmercifully for a few minutes, Teeluur was getting his comeuppance.
“So you say. Once I leave this restaurant, I plan on never seeing you again, Mister Rossi. You left me high and dry on Elber and now I have to fend for myself. It’s only a matter of time before someone that knows Commander Yorn reports me, reports seeing me. I’m sure they know he’s missing by now.”
Galuud took a sip of water and looked around the tables. Outside, the industrialized landscape of Weyring slipped past and the area surrounding the Navy Base was easing into view. He said, “Of course they do. Back on Elber. Out here you’re just another face. That officer you represent has been in deep space for over three years, I might remind you, and most of that hoopla that happenen out in the Belt Loop hasn’t gained much traction here on Bayliss. And besides,” he continued after looking around once more, “so what if you are recognized? Didn’t you say that Yorn was coming to Bayliss for some kind of bullshit show out at the War College? Makes sense that he would be seen around town.”
“I still don’t like it. And since you left Elber without so much as a comm call to me to warn me of what you did, I assume that you have decided to abandon the plans we had made. Are you prepared for the wrath of Phatie?”
Galuud shook and dipped his head. He raised his hand to his mouth and whispered, “Not so loud, not so loud. You may be still willing to go down with the fucking Domain foolishness, but I chose to cut and run. What you do here is no longer my concern.”
Teeluur leaned into the table and snorted. “That’s where you’re wrong, old man. I am now making your activities my concern. I need to know who your contacts are on this miserable piece of rock and you will take me to them so I can get started with the Decimation plan.”
“In your dreams, you idol-worshipping fool. I’m here to have my dinner and enjoy the view. If you were smart, you’d do the same.”
Two tables over, a couple of heads turned their way. Teeluur lowered his voice and said, “Have your meal. I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby. I’ll give you twenty minutes. After that, I’ll be back up here looking for you.”
“You can’t threaten me. All I have to do is raise my ha
nd and ask for a comm line. I’m sure the Navy will be very interested in listening to what I have to say.”
Teeluur stood and pointed one of his long digits at Galuud. “Twenty minutes, Mister Rossi, no more.” He turned and pushed his way out of the dining room, almost knocking over a tray carried by his waitress.
He waited by the elevator and looked at the slice of restaurant that slowly turned by him.
“Nineteen,” he whispered to himself.
* * *
Inskaap was relieved that they had hustled him off the tarmac so quickly. He was still wearing his environmental suit and even though it was uncomfortable for him and felt a little tight on his lean body, it offered him a level of anonymity among these humans. The soldiers that had gathered him and his things from the shuttlecraft said nothing more than simple instructions and offered no clue as to where they were taking him in the Navy staff car. He passed plenty of low buildings and hangars and saw squadrons of atmospheric fighter planes on the ground. Heavy cranes and hydraulic lifting machinery dotted the cement aprons on the backside of the base and the place seemed alive with activity. The place was in stark contrast to the underground facilities on Canuure and Rauud Mithie, where all of the Malguurian weapon manufacturing and ship building was done in secret.
After a ten minute ride he was hustled into a cement blockhouse with heavy metal doors. Once inside he was told he could remove the evo suit. He did as he was told.
Two human security officers approached him shortly thereafter and instructed him to follow. One of the officers took up a position directly behind him. He figured they had every right to be suspicious of him and his motives but he hoped that he would at least get to talk to someone with an open mind.
The little group made a couple of turns, marched down one corrider after another, bypassed several doors before coming to a halt at a metal door with no external markings. A security keypad was to the right of the door and one of his escorts activated the controls. A buzzer sounded and the lock snicked open.
He was surprised to see a young human military officer sitting at the table in the center of the room. Standing behind her and leaning against the rear wall was a rather rugged Navy officer with three prominent scars on his face. Inskaap recognized him from the many descriptions of him in his files back on Canuure. This officer was Captain Uriel Haad. He noticed the captain was wearing a sidearm.
The security escorts plopped his bags and coat down on one of the chairs and told Lieutenant Mols that was it, all he had with him.
“Have these items been scanned, Chief Nelson?”
“Yes’m. he’s clean,” Nelson said and followed his partner out of the room.
Inskaap looked at the rest of the set up. High ceilings, no doubt surveillance recorders hidden up there somewhere, large two-way glass panel on the short wall, large media screen on the opposite one. Small sideboard with bottles of water and odd-looking pebbly white cups. Focused lighting directed at the middle of the gray table. Four or five chairs, military functional and heavily used. He wondered if this was an interrogation room used for military prisoners. When he pulled back the chair to sit, the turnbuckles and welded loops in the floor answered that question for him. Places to secure chains.
“Is it all right if I sit?” he said in Elberese.
“By all means, Colonel Yaguud. That’s correct, is it not? Lieutenant Colonel Huuer Yaguud?” Mols said in practiced Varson speak.
He nodded, assuming the head movement was a universal sign of understanding. Her Malguur dialect was a bit off but he was impressed with her command of the language. He had never met any humans that could master the double-vowel pause and accent correctly.
“Your pronunciation is precise. What are you called?
“Since you have demonstrated your ability to speak our language, Colonel Yaguud, let us conduct these proceedings in native Elberese, for the benefit of my observer back there, Captain Haad. You can address me as Lieutenant Mols.”
“Ah, yes. The captain I have heard of, lieutenant. I must remark you are very young to be in such a high position. Is that usual for human officers?”
Haad pushed himself away from the wall and approached the table. He was about to say something when Mols said, “We can get to me later if you wish, colonel, but right now, it’s not about me. It’s about you. I need to verify some of your information before we can proceed. You realize this has never been done before?”
Inskaap looked up at Haad but redirected his words to Mols. “Yes. I know. But, in my mind, I wanted to do something to, how do you say, ‘unrailroad’ the madman who has declared another war on your people.”
Mols and Haad exchanged glances and she said, “You mean ‘derail’, you’re trying to derail him. Why, colonel?”
“Because many will die. Human and Malguur. Our lesson was not learned after the first war and now, armed with new super-weapons, Bale Phatie will lead us into further destruction.”
“And who is this ‘Bale Phatie’ you are referring to?” Haad wanted to know.
“He is the Piru Torgud, our supreme military commander. A ‘torgud’ is equivalent to your rank of admiral. He is like what you would call the ‘fleet admiral’ and is in charge of the military.”
A Navy man. How apropos, Haad thought. “But you, you are a lieutenant colonel. Is that an Army rank?”
He looked back and forth between the humans. He would much rather be interrogated by the woman. “Yes. And No. I work for the Intelligence Directorate, something left over from the last war. The Malguur Army was actually disbanded once we encountered your Colonial Navy and its space fleet. The Orduud — our civilian government — recognized the fact that our greatest threat would come from space bombardment, not from ground assaults.”
“So, tell me about this Intelligence Directorate. What are your functions?” Mols asked.
“Water, please?” he said and motioned to the sideboard.
Haad went to the wall and retrieved a bottle of water and a styrofoam cup and placed it in front of Inskaap.
He opened the bottle and took a drink. Idly, he picked up the cup and felt its rough yet smooth texture. “This container will hold liquids?” he wanted to know.
“Try it, Colonel Yaguud. It works,” Haad said.
Inskaap pushed the cup aside. “This bottle is fine, captain.”
“You were going to tell me about your Intelligence Directorate?”
“Yes, lieutenant. We are a small department that reports directly to the Piru Torgud and we supply him with both foreign and domestic intelligence. He likes to keep up with his underlings if you know what I mean.”
“Does this ‘foreign’ intelligence include placing altered Varson operatives on planets in Colonial Navy jurisdiction, colonel? Do you have a network of spies working the colonies?” Haad’s question was harshly presented and went straight to the point.
Moment of truth. So far, the humans had treated him well by Malguurian standards. If this had been an interrogation conducted on Canuure at the behest of Bale Phatie, he would probably be looking at his severed fingers on the table through one eye. He had to tell them.
“Yes, captain, we do. And I have a confession to make as well. My real name is Colonel Zuure Inskaap, and I am the Director, Malguur Intelligence Directorate. I am the one that has placed those spies.”
Chapter 34
“Take the next car, please,” Teeluur said to the group of tourists. “My friend here has had a bad reaction to the fish. I would not want him to get sick on you and your lovely children,” he explained.
The elevator door wheezed shut and he propped Galuud against the far wall with one hand. The man had a broken neck and it was all Teeluur could do to keep him upright until the car started moving. Then he let him slip to the deck. He rummaged through his pockets and found what he’d been looking for. Galuud’s contact list, a laminated card with the tiny Malguur script on both sides. Names and numbers. It had been taped to the inside of the man’s wide belt.
He walked briskly for a few blocks and then settled into a forced march. He wanted to put some distance between himself and the hotel but not get so far away that a return trip would be impossible on foot. He saw a passing ground-car-for-hire and waved the man down. He instructed the driver to take him to the closest shopping district and wait while he made a few quick purchases. The 100-credit note sealed the contract.
Two hours later when the cab dropped him off at the entrance to the hotel several local policemen were milling around the entrance and off to the side a hospital wagon stood with its back doors opened.
He side-stepped this confusion and walked straight to the bank of elevators, certain that his new jacket, cap and sunglasses would make him unremarkable to anyone that might have seen him leave.
Once in his room he hastily packed his bags and donned another uniform for his trip out to Nardin and the War College. That was where his next contact would be made.
* * *
The train ride to the Hayes School was only about an hour in duration and Har made most of it sitting quietly by the window and looking at the bleak landscape whiz by. The maglev train was capable of speeds approaching 150 kilometers per hour but in the restricted terrain of the rocky lowlands, it seemed to crawl around the hairpin turns and endless switch backs, trading speed for altitude.
Max was really surprised that Har had offered no resistance when she informed him that he was to report to the military school two days early. She’d told him that he’d be better served getting the registration process over with early instead of waiting for the last minute. Also, she wanted him out of harm’s way just in case the Varson plot against the Christi’s crew spilled over onto Bayliss and the little knot of officers staying at the Weyring Navy Base.