Emerald Sea tcw-2

by John Ringo

  She opened up the door to their bunkroom and then stepped back, closing her eyes.

  “Sorry, miss,” the marine said. “I’ve got my pants on, now.”

  “Not your fault,” Rachel said, opening her eyes. There were a round dozen of the marines in the narrow room, most of them in their bunks since they were off duty. The half-dressed marine finished toweling, looking at her questioningly.

  “I need to speak to your CO or the senior NCO,” Rachel said.

  “Gunny’s off-shift,” the marine said. “He was up most of the night. The CO’s awake.” The marine gestured with his chin to a door at the end of the corridor.

  Rachel walked down the corridor and knocked this time, waiting for permission to enter.

  “Yes, miss?” the marine captain asked. He was sitting at a small desk, working on paperwork.

  “Captain, I need to ask some of your marines some questions,” she said, pulling out a sheet of paper and proffering it. “This is my authority.”

  The captain frowned and glanced at the paper, stopping to read it more thoroughly.

  “This is a pretty blanket authority, Mistress Ghorbani,” the captain said, his lips pursed.

  “Yes, it is,” Rachel said. “And it gets worse. I need to ask them some questions and I need to do so privately. You cannot ask them what was said and you cannot report the questions to anyone on the ship. Is that clear?”

  “Very clear,” the marine said, his face hard. “Which means you have a problem with something on the ship that you can’t even bring to the skipper.”

  “Not the skipper, not the naval officers, none of them,” Rachel said. “Clear?”

  “Clear, ma’am,” the marine said, shaking his head. “Who do you need to see?”

  “The marines that were on duty in the officers’ corridor during last shift,” she said. “One at a time. Now, where?”

  “Here,” the captain said, getting up and buckling on his tunic. “You can have my chair. Let me ask you a question; should I turn out the duty guard?”

  “Not yet,” Rachel said. “Hopefully it won’t come to that. Hopefully this is nothing.”

  * * *

  “Nothing,” Joanna said as she landed. “Fish, yes. Orcas, ixchitl, the carrier, no.”

  “The orcas could have just given up,” Jason said.

  “Not Shanol,” Herzer replied. “Not with one eye gone. He’s got it in for me, bad.”

  “They might not know where we’re going,” Elayna interjected. “I mean, there are lots of places we could go.”

  “Their intelligence has been too good,” Edmund replied. “They’ve known our movements all along. I doubt that whoever is feeding them intelligence is unaware of our destination, route or rendezvous.”

  “You mean there’s a spy?” Jason said. “Who?”

  “I don’t know,” Edmund said. “I suspect more than one. But I notice that Mosur has been missing since the first attack. And I didn’t see him in the square when the ixchitl attacked.”

  “But he was around for a while after,” Antja said, looking unhappy. “He talked to me. He wanted me to leave with him.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that?” Jason asked, angrily.

  “Why do you think?” Antja said. “He’s been hanging around a lot lately. I didn’t tell you because I could handle it.”

  “He said something like that to me, too,” Elayna said. “But it was before the attack. He said that he thought that you guys,” she pointed at Herzer and Edmund, “would bring trouble and he had a place to hide. I just laughed at him and told him to get lost. After the attack I was around people too much, I guess. He probably didn’t feel safe coming near me.”

  “But he would know where we were going,” Jason said. “Everyone had been told.”

  “So we can assume, I think, that the orcas know,” Edmund said. “Don’t let your guard down.”

  * * *

  “Have a seat on the sea locker,” Rachel said to the young marine. She vaguely recognized him as one of the marines who had guarded her father’s quarters. “I need to ask you some questions. You’re not to tell anyone what I asked. Anyone, is that clear?”

  “Yes, miss,” the marine said, swallowing nervously. “The captain said the same.”

  “Not even the other marines I’m questioning,” she said. “Don’t go comparing notes. Understood?”

  “Yes, miss.”

  * * *

  Rachel was on the sea locker now, with her mother pacing nervously in the captain’s office and the marine CO sitting back behind his desk.

  “All three of the guards, independently, stated that the only person to be in the wardroom alone during their shift was Commander Mbeki,” Rachel said, glancing at her notes. “The CO was in his quarters most of the time. He left, but only to go to the quarterdeck. The navigator and the three lieutenants were never in the corridor. One steward was in there, but only while Commander Mbeki was present.”

  “Okay,” Daneh said. “Damn. Mbeki?”

  “Can I ask, now, what is going on?” the marine asked.

  “Not yet, Captain,” Daneh said. “But on my husband’s authority, get your guard ready and armored up. Rachel and I need to go see the CO.”

  * * *

  The skipper tossed the letter onto his desk and looked up angrily.

  “It is not normal, nor wise, to turn over full military authority to a civilian, Mistress Daneh,” the skipper said, his mouth pursed. “Can I ask the reason for this extraordinary document?”

  “Let me ask you a question first,” Daneh said. “Have you noticed anything about the New Destiny attacks?”

  “Other than they have been inept?” the captain asked sarcastically.

  “Have they?” Daneh asked, pacing up and down. “The first attack they were beaten off by using the rabbit, an attack that no one could have anticipated who wasn’t aware of his full capabilities, not to mention the deal he had set up with Evan, correct?”

  “I suppose,” Chang said.

  “The caravel would have carried fifty or sixty Changed warriors. Despite the valor of your crew, between them and the ballista, it is likely that they would have captured or destroyed your ship, unless you ran. And you couldn’t really run, could you?”

  “Not without losing days in the voyage, no,” the skipper admitted. “Effectively we had to fight our way through. On that Commander Mbeki and I agreed.”

  “The second attack was by five ships. Even if the rabbit could have been induced to help you, again, there wasn’t much you could have done, was there?”

  “No,” the skipper said. “Thanks for pointing that out.”

  “But, again, Evan had a device that he had concocted, more or less without anyone knowing.”

  “I knew,” the colonel said. “Nobody gets on my ship with sodium, gasoline and all the rest without my knowledge.”

  “The kraken is another example,” Rachel said.

  “The point is that at each attack, they knew your location and thought they knew your capabilities,” Daneh said, stopping her pacing to face the skipper.

  “You suspect a spy,” the skipper sighed.

  “Edmund suspected that New Destiny had an agent on board,” Daneh said. “But he didn’t know who it was. There were, however, some clues.”

  “It had to be someone who knew our course and plans,” the skipper said with another sigh. “Which means it could have been me. It’s not; I’d know,” he added with a grimace.

  “But that does explain the orders,” Daneh said, gesturing at the paper. “The agent had to be communicating. We have managed to track the communications to the wardroom.”

  “How?” Chang snapped.

  “I’m… going to decline to answer that,” Daneh said. “I’m not sure I want the knowledge getting around. Sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” the skipper said. “And who used the wardroom during the period? I guess it wasn’t me or we wouldn’t be having this extraordinary conversation.”

&nbs
p; “Sadly, only Commander Mbeki,” Daneh said.

  “Owen?” Chang said. “I’ve known Owen Mbeki for years. He’s the most trustworthy man I know. There’s no way that he’s a spy for New Destiny!”

  “Unfortunately, skipper, that’s who it points to,” Daneh replied. “And the evidence, while slim, is going to be more than enough for Edmund.”

  “It won’t be for a court-martial,” the skipper replied, his face hard. “And that is what this is going to come to. You’ll have to reveal your methods for that at least.”

  “Not if we catch him in the act,” Rachel said, frowning.

  “How do we do that?” the skipper asked.

  “We can’t if we don’t all act normal,” Rachel replied. “It’s gonna have to be a surprise…”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  The squeal of a delphino scout was all the warning that they had and then the orcas were on them, coming up from behind where there wasn’t a dragon guard.

  The group had nearly reached Hope Harbor. It was late afternoon and the formation had started to get ragged. Herzer had had to, more than once, shove one of the mer-warriors back into the hemisphere as their excitement and nervousness got the best of them. Everyone was worried because they had expected the carrier to beat them to the harbor, but so far there was no sign of it or the mer-women and children that it carried. The mer tended to stick their heads up out of the water, hoping for a glimpse of the elusive ship.

  So it was in a gaggle more than a disciplined formation that they were hit by the orcas exploding off the bottom.

  Their black bodies had blended into the shadows of the reef and they had apparently created a sonar image that hid them from the oncoming delphinos. Furthermore, they seemed to care nothing for the ring of spears, slashing through them to get to the interior.

  Herzer was ripped from his seat as Chauncey turned hard right to attack into the formation. As the two wyverns slashed into the group it exploded outward with a swirl of orcas, mer-women and confused spear-wielders.

  Herzer dove deep and came up from below the formation, slashing his sword through the belly of an orca that had just caught one of the mer. The cut was too late, though; the orca’s jaws crushed the mer-girl before he even realized his guts were trailing in the water.

  “Form a globe around them,” Edmund yelled, “women to the outside.”

  But as fast as the mer tried to regroup, the orcas were faster. Their powerful flukes smashed any attempt at formation and after their first attack on the women and older men they turned on the broken formation of spear-wielders and attacked them.

  Herzer saw Pete caught that way, one of the orca catching him by his tail and tossing him up and out of the water like a play toy. Jason was fighting a desperate action against another, jabbing with his sword to keep the orca at bay.

  It was the dragons, and Bast, that saved the day.

  Herzer thought that the orcas were fast until he saw Bast. Her fins blurred like the tail of a tuna as she cut through the water like a shark. Her saber wasn’t well suited for killing the big whales, but where she went orcas were left bleeding with huge gashes in their side, back, stomach, guts hanging out and fins cut away so they had to swim lopsidededly.

  Donal had a nasty bite in his side but he still drove through the pod of orcas like a killing machine, tearing huge chunks out of their sides, catching fins and flukes and ripping them off to stain the water with crimson.

  Chauncey was more methodical. He had caught one of the orcas with both claws and tore at it as it struggled. He didn’t let go until the orca went limp and floated up to the surface, dead or so injured that it could struggle no more.

  Joanna was more like Donal, her snakelike head darting through the formation and slashing at any orca that was stupid enough to get in range. One managed to get its teeth in her tail only to find out how well sprung it was; the two-ton orca was spun through the water, raising a wave on the surface for a moment, until he was brought in range of those killer teeth and when they closed the orca fought no more.

  As fast as the attack started it was over and the water was filled with dead and dying orcas and mer.

  “Oh, God,” Jason said, looking around.

  Bill and three of the other mer-warriors were clearly dead, horrible jaw marks on their chests and abdomens, their entrails drifting in the current. Pete was floating at the surface, his tail bitten half-way through. Herzer wasn’t sure that he’d live, even if Daneh had been there. Several of the mer-women were dead as well and others were badly injured.

  “Get to land,” Edmund said. “Get them up in the shallows. The ones that are whole all the way out of the water. We’ll… see what we can do for the rest.”

  “Grace is all we can give most,” Bast said, wiping her sword on the flank of one of the still-twitching orcas.

  “We’ll see,” Edmund replied.

  Herzer floated up to one of the injured mer-warriors and grabbed him by the wrist, towing him towards shore. Everyone was dragged shoreward, the injured and the dead. None would be left for the sharks, as the bodies of the orcas were being left.

  The sharks and the dragons. Chauncey grabbed the tail of the one he had killed and dragged it along as Donal grabbed another. Joanna got two.

  “You’re not going to eat them, too, are you?” Jason asked.

  “Why not?” Joanna replied. “They’d eat me if they got a chance.”

  “They didn’t eat any of us,” Herzer replied. “We’re all here.”

  “Are we?” Edmund said. “That’s a damned good question. Jason?”

  “Anyone notice anyone not here?” Jason said. “I never bothered to really get a list.” He looked around and blanched white. “Antja?”

  “Elayna,” Bast hissed. “Where’s Elayna?”

  By the time they reached the shore it was clear that the two mer-girls were missing.

  “Where could they have gone?” Herzer asked. “They would have come out if they hid in the reef.”

  “That was why they went for the women, first,” Edmund said. “I thought it was a brilliant tactic. But I bet that they made off with them while we were still fighting, come and gone before anyone noticed.”

  “Herman,” Herzer said, ducking under the water. “Did you see Antja or Elayna taken?”

  “No,” the delphino responded. “Too fast. None of ours injured.”

  “They ignored the delphinos,” Edmund said, shaking his head. “They went for the girls and ignored the delphinos.”

  “Why?” Jason shouted. “Why them?”

  “Tender mer-girl snacks?” Joanna asked, craning her head up to look around. “I can find them.”

  “Me too,” Herzer said, climbing on Chauncey who had just started to rip into his lunch. The wyvern snarled at being kept from his meal but turned to look at Joanna.

  “I’m coming,” Bast said, climbing on Joanna. “At least seven whales. Two dragons; Donal’s too hurt to fly. We’ll do.”

  “Herzer?” Jason said, looking up at him.

  “You take care of your people,” Herzer ground out. “Time for this to end.”

  “Oh, we’ll end it,” Joanna replied. “They’re not getting away from me this time.”

  * * *

  The marine sentry at the skipper’s door shook his head as the telltale on the box next to him sprung up.

  He didn’t bother to turn, simply knocked quietly on the door behind him.

  “Yes,” the skipper said, sticking his head out.

  The sentry pointed at the telltale and motioned to the door of the general’s quarters. The marine there was looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

  The skipper nodded and walked swiftly and silently down the corridor as a group of marines in armor exited Talbot’s quarters. Moving the marines around without, it was hoped, anyone noticing had been difficult. But with any chance it was about to pay off.

  Daneh and Rachel trailed the group. They knew their place and in the front of battle, if it came to battle,
was not it.

  The skipper started to open the door to the wardroom and then stepped back, letting the marine corporal in charge of the group enter first.

  The corporal drew his sword silently and then threw open the door, entering the wardroom and moving to the side to let the rest of the marines in.

  Commander Mbeki was at the far end of the room, looking up at a projection of a tall, fair man with black hair. The projection turned to look at the group and snarled, tossing up his hand and throwing a red bolt of power at the skipper in the doorway.

  The bolt, however, stopped in midair and faded as the datacube protecting the ship was activated.

  “Well,” the projection said, turning to look at Mbeki. “It would seem that your utility is at an end.” He reached out and his hand entered the commander’s chest.

  The skipper bellowed in anger, rushing forward and throwing the commander to the ground as the marine threw himself on the projection. But it was nothing but a hologram that faded with a mocking laugh.

  Commander Mbeki was already turning blue at whatever the projection had done to him. He grabbed the skipper’s arm and shook his head.

  “Why?” Chang ground out. “You were my friend.”

  “Wife,” Mbeki said. “Sharon. Ropasa. Bastards…” His eyes widened in pain and then his head rolled back.

  “I’d guess that the projection crushed his aorta,” Daneh said, clinically. “Blue tongue and fingertips. Maybe introduced cyanide but why do that when you can just give him a heart attack.”

  “He’d always wondered what happened to Sharon, after the Fall,” Chang said, lowering the body of the XO to the deck. “She was in Italia visiting the museums when the Fall hit. He’d hoped… Damn them.”

  “Yes,” Daneh said, thinking her own thoughts, of her own memories. And nightmares. “Damn them all to hell.”

  “What now?” Rachel asked.

  “Find the mer,” Chang said. “Keep fighting. Until New Destiny is destroyed or we are.”