Alina docked Warren’s ship to Peter. Ignoring Artemus’ protests, Alina and Warren stepped across to Peter’s flight deck and sent Artemus and his mother on ahead under auto pilot.
Alina and Warren sat in the control seats that until a few hours previously had been occupied by members of the Fourth. The fourth had moved to the two old pirate interdiction warships standing on either side of Peter.
Once he had settled into his seat next to Alina, Warren asked, “Do you ever get used to sending people to their deaths?”
Alina turned to him. “No, but the plan is to leave them out there only long enough to get shot at, but not long enough to get killed. Your ship is capable of defending itself automatically against a substantial force. There is a reason you travel in that monster.”
“Do you think they will survive?” Warren asked.
“If the Fourth and Saul’s group get there in time, yes,” Alina said.
“If not, then what?” Warren asked.
“You lose a very expensive ship, a son, an ex-lover and a Swordsman spy.”
Warren watched as the two small warships separated from Saul’s command ship.
Saul’s voice came over the radio, “All right, ladies and gentlemen, this is what we get paid for. On my mark, 3, 2, 1, Mark.”
The warships whisked out of sight. Thirty seconds later, Peter jumped into hyper drive.
As Saul had expected, Warren’s ship became the center of attention immediately upon its arrival. In spite of Artemus’ frantic entreaties to stop shooting at him, the space around the ship was a chaotic mess of missiles, counter-missiles, lasers and diversionary countermeasures. The Fourth’s two ships, Buddy and Daisy, were the first to arrive after the mayhem started. They took a moment to select targets and noticed that Warren’s ship was doing quite well defending itself completely automatically. They would keep that in mind if they ever had to attack one. Buddy drew first blood. Daisy was not far behind.
Saul’s two P I ships dropped out of hyper drive at the edge of the developing battle. While both of their pilots had seen combat, neither of their fire control officers had. Even so, they carved huge swaths out of the Swordsman fleet. Saul and Fiona had chosen their station to catch any of the enemy that might try to retreat. They did not have to wait long.
The security service interceptors arrived to find the battle fully engaged. They selected targets and went to work. The exercises with the Fourth paid off. The lopsided battle continued to get even more brutal until the last of the Swordsman fleet was gone. There would be no survivors to tell the tale.
Peter arrived at the battle’s peak and stood off a distance from the swirling warships. Saul had wanted Warren to see what combat in space looked like. Saul was concerned that the Swordsman might figure out that the unarmed cargo ship was the real high value target, but he had a plan for that. As it turned out, he did not need it.
Saul’s forces suffered some battle damage. Two of the ships would need to be carried home, but that was Peter’s job. None of the personnel had been seriously injured although the two the fire control officers in the ships that needed to be carried had suffered concussions.
Saul sounded the recall. The music he used was the triumphant fanfare the Constant News Channel wrote for the documentary they had produced about his assault on the Swordsman base that rescued his parents from a Swordsman torture cell. Peter took control of Warren’s ship and programmed it for the short trip.
Saul’s assault group reformed at the same point they had originally staged before the final jump.
Peter had long ago stopped carrying regular cargo and had been fitted with docking ports where the cargo containers had previously attached to support his current role as a tender for small warships. There were enough ports for all the ships in the task force to attach. Some of the crews would have to bunk in the troop transport containers but that was preferable to the way they had traveled out. Saul’s command ship and Warren’s ship, both much larger than the others, would dock to Peter’s two docks near the flight deck and the remainder would dock around the large empty center cargo hold.
Warren’s ship was the last to dock. As soon as the airlock opened, Warren entered his ship and dragged Artemus screaming and crying across to Peter. He pointed at one of his security officers. “Find someplace to lock them up. I will deal with them later.”
Artemus’ mother followed quietly under her own power with tears flowing and creating small floating droplets in the weightlessness.
“Saul, gather your group. Take your ships and meet me at headquarters. I want to see all of you in my office as soon as you arrive.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Gabby, you and the Fourth have done an excellent job. You all have. Thank you. I would appreciate you giving the security personnel and their ships a ride home. Relax, take your time. I will see you when you get there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Alina, 1.5 G. Let’s go home.”
“Yes, sir.”
CHANGE OF COMMAND - CHAPTER EIGHT
WARREN WAS NOT ABLE to see Saul and his group immediately upon their arrival. Tab took advantage of the time and raced to the forensic linguistics lab. When they finally met, Warren silently ushered them into his private conference room and closed the door. He greeted each by name. He shook hands with the men and hugged the women. Saul was the last. He held Saul with one hand on each shoulder and looked into his eyes. “You are more loyal to me than my own son.”
“Sir, it is another day at the office. It is what you pay me for,” Saul replied.
“Is that all? That I pay you?” Warren asked.
“No, I believe in what you believe in. That’s what matters.”
“Please sit, all of you. I would like to discuss the battle.”
“Sir, with all due respect, shouldn’t we wait until the Fourth returns.”
“I will talk to them later. Saul, based on what you saw, if you had not been there and I had only my ship would I have survived?”
“No, sir.”
“On what do you base that statement?”
“The amount of ordinance I saw that ship throw in a short period of time was awe inspiring. However, as it was, before the battle was over, all the external missiles had been fired. At least one of the forward internal tubes and the stern tubes were empty. In another ten minutes the ship would have been defending itself with only its lasers. With the number of enemies it faced, the ship would have been overwhelmed.”
“If you had sent only the Fourth, would that have been enough?”
“Only delayed the inevitable.”
“If you had come with your group and the Fourth?”
“Hard to tell. We might have pulled it off. We might not. Certainly would have taken longer and increased the risk.”
“So, you think you brought the right number of ships.”
“No, I underestimated the number of ships the enemy could muster for an operation like that. I should have brought another four to eight ships. We pulled it off, but for a while there, I was afraid we would lose your ship. It was way too close for my liking.”
Warren nodded. “I understand. Thank you again.”
He turned to Tab. “Have you had any luck with the message?”
“Yes, sir. I have the translated text.” She passed an envelope to him. “Peter was right. It was Japanese. The linguistics lab picked it up right away. I may have found the leak. I will know by the end of second shift tomorrow.”
“Father, what will happen to Artemus and his mother?” Fiona asked.
“I have not decided except that none of you will ever see either of them again. Oh, do I need to ask that you keep this operation a secret? I do not want anyone to know we got suckered this hard. It’s bad for business and it tempts others to try something similar.”
“Another confidential mission, another day at the office,” Saul said with a smile. “We’ll do after action reports aboard Peter.”
“Thank you. Saul, Fiona, cou
ld I have a word with you privately?” He stood and opened the door to his inner office.
Once he had closed the door, Warren said, “Friday, we have a convoy going to New St. Louis and then on to the Central System. I want to stage an exercise around the convoy’s departure. I will observe the exercise. From the exterior, your ship is identical to my ship. The interior, of course, is much different. I understand the fire power of our convoy escorts and the security they give our convoys. A fourth convoy escort would not be unwelcome in such an environment.”
“Consider it done sir, only those that need to know will be told what they need to know when they need to know,” Saul said.
“Thank you.”
Locating Tab’s suspect turned out to be more difficult than she expected. She stayed behind while Saul and the fourth ran the exercise that covered Warren’s departure with the convoy. The exercise ran flawlessly for which Saul, Fiona and Warren were grateful.
Tab finally tracked down her suspect and collected a group of station police to collect him. Unfortunately Tab’s suspect suffered a suit failure before Tab could get to him. By the time she found out all that could be done for him was to notify his next of kin. The station police and safety personnel under Zelda’s command swarmed over the victim’s remains and declared the death a homicide. They were anxious to keep their safety record clean.
Saul and Fiona moved back to their quarters from the ship. Life settled back to normal although none of the siblings would talk to either Saul or Fiona. There was fear in their eyes when Saul and Fiona looked at them.
In the middle of the night a few days later, Saul awoke to a pounding on the door. A woman’s voice shouted, “Captain! Open up. I have a critical message!”
Picking up his weapon as he went, Saul opened the door. A young woman held an unopened message module in her hands. It was marked with bright red tape and had hand written the words “Deliver immediately. Do not delay. For Saul Cohen’s eyes only.”
“Captain, sorry to bother you, but this seemed important. It was the only thing in the courier.”
Saul looked at the module with bleary eyes that were rapidly clearing. “Thank you.” He took the module into his quarters and put it on the table. Fiona stood opposite him as they looked at it. “That looks like Aida’s hand writing,” she said.
“It does, doesn’t it.”
“Are you going to open it?”
“I am afraid to. What if it’s a bomb?”
“Let’s bring it to Peter. He’ll know what to do.”
They dressed and gingerly carried the message module to Peter. Peter instructed them to place it on the exam table in the sick bay and close the door behind them. Calling it a sick bay was an undeserved compliment. A relatively recent addition, it was a tiny room little bigger than a walk in closet. Peter scanned the module and declared it safe to open. Saul carried the module to the flight deck and opened it. There was a hand written note inside. The note was on stationery that said “From the Desk of Rachel Solomon” in fine script. The text read, “We need help. Bring everything you can spare.” There was a set of coordinates written underneath the words.
Saul read it and handed it to Fiona.
“When was the last time your mother asked for help on anything?” Fiona asked.
“I don’t remember the last time she asked for help, although if she could have that once she would have,” Saul replied.
“Either she’s in a lot of trouble or this is a fake.”
“Place the note in the scanner,” Peter said.
Fiona gently placed the note in the scanner.
“I am certain your mother wrote this note,” Peter said.
“How can you be sure?”
“When they left for the Academy, Admiral Sherman had notepads made for each of them with their names on it as a going away present. The pads have special inks. Look at the borders. Under each border is a plastic thread that if you run it over your fingernail, you will hear her say her name. Not only that, if you view the note under ultra violet light, you will see that it has been modified by scratching it with a fingernail. The coordinates are crossed out and a second set is visible below them. This is a feature woven into the special paper used to make the pad. Look in the lower right hand corner. See the number four? I know where the previous three notes were used.”
“Are you 100% sure?” Saul asked.
“So close that the difference is insignificant.”
“Are you telling me my mother is in such serious trouble that she needs me to come rescue her?”
“That would be my assessment.”
“Peter, where is the Fourth?”
“In the cabins behind you.”
“Please wake them and tell them to select two squadrons of interceptors from the security service and have them attach to your docking ports.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Are Buddy and Daisy combat ready?”
“Aye, Captain,” Buddy responded way too cheerful for this hour of the morning.
“All systems go,” Daisy added.
“Fiona, gather our group. Make sure we are combat ready. Have everyone assemble in the hold for a briefing at 0300 hours.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Peter, I have an errand to run on the station. I will be back before 0300 hours. We will depart by 0500 hours for a surprise combat readiness exercise.”
“Aye, Captain.”
No one was fooled by the summons to an exercise. They knew whatever was going down was real.
As soon as Saul hit the station’s corridor he called Fiona’s half sister, Geraldine.
“SAUL! Do you know what time it is?”
“0216 in the morning. Do we have any Constant News embedded reporters?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I am doing a surprise combat readiness exercise and I want them on the Fourth’s cargo ship by 0400 hours. Tell them to bring all their cameras and gear including their flight suits and combat armor if they have it. They should be ready for an extended deployment.”
“For an exercise?”
“Yes.”
“Saul, what is going on?”
“It’s an exercise.”
“It is not an exercise. Tell me the truth.”
“Geraldine, please go with me on this.”
“I’ll have two embeds there before 4. What else do you need?”
“Watch your back. I need you in one piece.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Sorry.”
Saul slowly and deliberately sauntered into the pilot’s lounge. The two elderly gentlemen he sought were quietly playing a three dimensional strategy game at a table in the corner of the room.
Saul sat at the table and silently watched their game for a few minutes. Quietly he said, “Gentlemen could I interest you in a little tag team match in the combat simulators?”
One of the elderly men said, “Joe, what do you bet I kick this youngster’s butt all over the simulator?”
“Fred, I’m not taking that bet. It’s a sure thing. You’ll kick him so hard he wouldn’t be able to look at himself in the mirror for a week for the shame of it.”
Saul looked at the two men. “If I am going to get my butt kicked, I can’t think of two gentlemen more appropriate to do it.”
“Learning from your failures, youngster?”
“Something like that.”
“I’m in.”
“Me, too.” They left a marker on the game so they could remember whose turn it was when they returned. Although the games computer would remember the location of every piece and potential play options, they still felt the need to leave the marker.
As Saul shook each of their hands he passed each of them a note. The note read simply. “Bring the Third, 0900.” Underneath that was a set of coordinates.
The men paled slightly. “Are you sure?”
“Combat readiness exercise.”
“I don’t think so, but we’ll be there.”
/> “Thank you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Saul found Tab in her quarters. “We’re going out. Stay here and watch our backs. We have at least one spy. Maybe more. You need to find them. I expect they will show themselves while we are gone. Be careful. I think you can trust Timothy. He may be the only one you can trust.”
“Aye, Captain.”
At 0300 Saul and Fiona briefed the Fourth and their crew on what they knew and discussed what little plans they had at this point.
At 0330 the two reporters from the Constant News Network showed up and Gabby sent one to Peter. The other she sent to Saul’s ship. Members of the Fourth helped them with their gear.
The harbor master watched his displays with dismay. He knew better than to think that what was going on was an exercise. He had hoped to never again see what he knew to be happening. Two old large freighters moved slowly away from the periphery of the bone yard where they had sat like sleeping dragons for the last two years. Fewer than a dozen people knew the contents of these two supposedly out of service freighters. Their fission reactors had been carefully tended and their perishable supplies replaced when they went stale so that their fusion reactors could be quickly restarted and the ships sent out. A heavily armed cruiser that had been parked near them followed at a respectful distance. The Fourth had departed an hour earlier carrying reinforcements. Saul had just called in for clearance to initiate the exercise. That old fear gnawed at the shipyard’s most senior officer. This was no mere exercise. Too many ships were moving for it to be anything other than a full combat deployment of the Third Force and support assets. He silently raised the security threat level and prepared the station to defend itself.
CHANGE OF COMMAND - CHAPTER NINE
SAUL’S TASK FORCE DROPPED out of hyper at the marshaling point after only a day in transit. Fiber optic links connected the ships so they could travel together in formation and continue to pass data for the week it would take them to arrive at their second marshaling point. Saul needed some serious reprogramming done on the Third Force missiles and this was the only way to do it.
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