by Kal Spriggs
Senior Captain, on the other hand, was an actual rank and it brought with it an added level of seniority... one step below Flag Officer's rank.
"The squadron will consist of the Constellation as flagship, as well as Captain Bowder's light cruiser Lancer, Captain Matthew Copley's light cruiser Gallant, with Lieutenant Commander Forresy Perkin’s destroyer Bowie, and Lieutenant Commander Ronald Shaw's destroyer Spathae," Admiral Doko went on. "The squadron will also have increased complements of Marines, an entire battalion between all five ships. Additionally, all five vessels have been retrofitted with armories to carry powered armor for their entire Marine compliments."
Alannis blinked in surprise at that. Powered armor was relatively rare and prohibitively expensive to use on a large scale by most nations. The Centauri Confederation and Nova Roma Empire had both made use of it in limited fashions, but they rarely fielded it in large scale. A battalion's worth of powered armor almost represented more expense than the ships of their squadron.
"Commander Camilla Jiang will head up your intelligence and support elements, while I'll handle anything that requires senior rank," Admiral Doko continued. "She'll have full access to all of our intelligence channels as well as any updates you pass along. Until we've finalized our ansible network encryption system we'll be utilizing an express courier system. That will be Lieutenant Commander Shaw's primary mission, initially."
Alannis looked over at the destroyer's commanding officer. She knew that he’d had an accelerated career since he’d signed up, just after the liberation of Faraday from the Chxor. He’d served with her brother aboard the Hector, one of the captured Balor vessels, as an ensign, where he’d fought at the Fourth Battle of Nova Roma. He’d just been promoted to the command of his own vessel, if she remembered right. It must be somewhat disappointing to be reduced to the equivalence of a delivery man, but he simply gave a solid nod. Apparently he wouldn't let his emotion get the better of him. Which only makes sense, she thought, they wouldn't have selected someone impulsive or emotional for that assignment.
"Now, before our engineers inform us of what they've been able to learn, I'll add one more thing," Admiral Doko stated. "The reason for the small size of this task force is twofold. Firstly, a smaller group like this is easier to maintain security. Secondly... due to the rapid expansion of worlds requesting entry to the United Colonies, we're running low on capable ships and crews. Our shipyards here at Sanctuary Station should begin full production over the next few months, but we're still stretched very thin. Thus, Senior Captain Beeson has been authorized to augment your forces with whatever agreements you deem necessary during the course of your operation. He will also have a representative of the government, in the form of Princess Alannis Giovanni, on hand to authorize such decisions."
Oh, great, Alannis thought. It was less a carte blanche to make any agreements she wanted and more of a dread responsibility. While it was possible that her brother could overturn any agreement she made, it would look rather bad if he did that, especially after their allies took actions in good faith. What that meant was that she had to make some very careful agreements and consider the long term consequences for any agreements she made... all the while balancing her normal ship's duties and trying to aid in hunting down Reese.
"Now, then," Admiral Doko said with a grim smile, "Rory and Feliks along with Lieutenant Medica have all been working very hard to learn as much as they can about what Reese Leone's goals might be and where he may be operating from. I'll yield the floor to them."
"Thank you, sir," Lieutenant Medica said. The Nova Roma Military Academy graduate stood straight and his uniform was crisp. His handsome features and neatly trimmed dark hair stood a stark contrast to Rory’s overweight body, thinning brown hair and slovenly look or Feliks’s, tall and stooped frame and eyes with a perpetual squint.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we'll quickly address what we've learned to date," Lieutenant Elvis Medica said. "We've been able to trace the ansible connection from the kidnapping attempt to an ansible relay platform the 571A08 system..."
"Which fits the profile I've developed exactly," Rory interrupted. "The 571A08 system is only a short distance from Kapteyn’s Star, which is the location of the Temple of Light, that is, the other Enforcer Station. The planets in the Kapteyn’s Star system, Gorgon and Medusa, are where numerous Illuari artifacts have been located."
"...and we think he may have a base of operations there," Lieutenant Medica continued. "If not, there may be clues to be found."
Alannis heard murmurs from the other officers. It did seem like a long-shot. So far, Reese had never undertaken an operation in a permanent location. The couple times they thought he had a permanent base, he'd long since moved on. Still, she thought, the proximity to the Kapteyn’s Star is a clue... and there is the importance of his kidnapping attempt to him. Reese must have spent millions to get a team positioned for that, plus hundreds of thousands just in the expense of the data connection through the ansible network. Granted, she thought, he might have hacked that relay station and done it all for free, but that still took considerable personal time.
"It is imperative that we capture this man alive," Rory stated. "He's shown himself to be extremely resourceful as far as acquiring and understanding Illuari technology and artifacts. While we can safely assume his end-game is the activation of the Enforcer Station, we can't know for certain how he plans to do that... or where he learned about the station's capabilities. We need to know everything he knows!"
Right, Alannis thought, like he's going to tell us anything. She'd rather that he be safely dead and buried. She listened with half an ear as the trio went on, most of her mind focused on how she'd kill Reese if he came within her power. Something quick, she thought, I don't want him to suffer… a bullet to the back of the head or something clean like firing the main guns of the Constellation... She almost didn't hear when Admiral Doko ended the meeting.
"One last thing," Rory said as people began to rise, "some of these Illuari artifacts are small, they look like trinkets or jewelry, odd bits of crystal... whatever you do: do not underestimate their power." He toggled something on his datapad and the holoprojector shifted to show smoldering wreckage. "This is what one of those small trinkets can accomplish. This is the remains of Danzig Police Station, and we have video footage of Reese using this item," he showed Reese with a small, bronze bracelet, "to do it."
From how quiet the room had gone, evidently the others in the briefing realized the extent of the danger that her ex-husband posed.
***
"I still can't believe you didn't publish that paper!" Rory said as he and Feliks followed Elvis Medica down the corridor. Elvis had hoped that the duo would remain to try to heckle Admiral Doko for more funding for one of their many pet projects, but it seemed they were still focused on him.
"It was very good," Feliks nodded. "Not as good as something that I or Rory could write, but very good."
"It was just a technical paper about how I thought the unknown alien's shielding functioned," Elvis said for what felt like the millionth time. "I wrote it while I was still stuck in a hospital having my legs regrown. It's no big thing."
"But your analysis was excellent!" Rory protested, "I mean, you didn't even have access to the pieces we'd been taking apart. If you had that access, it would have been good, but without that access, that paper was brilliant!" Rory shook his head, "You are utterly wasted in the military. Utterly."
"I'm doing my duty," Elvis snapped. He had regretted sending Rory the paper almost from the second that he hit send. The reaction he'd had from the two of them had been infuriating. They didn't seem to realize that he didn't want recognition. "Besides, everything about those aliens is classified. So it isn't as if I could publish it anyway..."
"Bah, that's just a technicality," Rory waved a dismissive hand. "Who pays attention to classification, anyway?"
"I do," Feliks said, "it is why I haven't communicated with my family in seventeen years.
Everything we do is classified. My mother wouldn't stop asking me about what I did at work, so I stopped talking to her."
"Right," Rory pointed at his companion, "don't be like him. Call your mother, heck, call your father, tell them both what an awesome paper you wrote."
"Both my parents were killed when the Chxor captured Nova Roma," Elvis said quietly.
"Oh, well, that sucks," Rory said. He looked at Feliks, "doesn't that suck?"
"Yes," Feliks nodded. "You should get a girlfriend. Nice, robust woman to cook you food and keep you warm at night. My sister, she would make good girlfriend, I would have to find out if she is still single."
"Eh, better your sister than mine," Rory nodded. "My sister would natter his ear off, 'why don't you pay more attention to the rules' and 'playing with the laws of reality doesn't make you God,' that kind of thing..."
"You haven't talked to your family in seventeen years and now you want to set me up with your sister?" Elvis demanded. "You..." He just shook his head. "Look, I appreciate the offers, I really do. I'm glad that you liked my paper and I'm glad it helped you out on your research of the shielding systems..."
"Help!" Rory gave a laugh, "He thinks we needed help!" He and Feliks both chuckled at that. "No, we figured that out, easy enough. It's all made with human components, we reverse engineered most of it in just a few hours."
“Yes,” Feliks nodded, “They may be able to put it into production in the next six months. They’re integrating it into the design of the next class of cruisers.”
Elvis rolled his eyes, "Then why won't you two drop it?"
"Because you figured it out without access to the information we had. I mean, yeah, we could have done it, but we never expected that you had that capability!" Rory ran a hand through his thinning hair as Elvis led them into his cramped office. Technically it wasn't his office anymore. Now that his convalescent leave had ended, he had orders assigning him as the Engineering Officer aboard the Bowie. It would be a nice change from the various oddball assignments that he'd been saddled with recently... mostly due to Rory and Feliks.
"That's why we ran it past James Harbach," Rory said, just as Elvis went to take a seat.
Elvis missed the chair and fell to the floor. He stared up at the two engineers in shock, "Wait, you what?"
Feliks and Rory looked at each other, "We passed it along to James Harbach. He said with a bit of editing he could publish it in one of the classified engineering journals." Rory reached inside his jacket and pulled out a rolled up magazine, "He even sent us a copy, it showed up this morning."
"You sons of..." Elvis's jaw clenched. "You sent my paper to Jimmy Wiggles!?"
"I think that is his nickname," Feliks nodded.
"Oh, right," Rory nodded with a smirk, "you know, because he does the..." he did a little wiggling dance and both engineers laughed.
"You stupid, self-centered, morons!" Elvis shouted. "You have no idea what you've done, do you? The very last person I'd want to see that paper would be him!"
"What?" Rory looked at Feliks in confusion, "I mean, yeah, he's a jerk, and weird, and, well, a jerk, but he loved your paper, and he got it in a peer-reviewed, classified, journal. See, it even has a classified symbol on the cover!"
"I think you said jerk twice," Feliks noted.
"He is a jerk. He's also my mother's father, and my parents hated him and I am not too fond of him either," Elvis snapped. "The very last thing I wanted was for him to see my paper and feel like he has some kind of connection to me! The man's so selfish that he held a fleet hostage in order to get a retirement bonus!"
"Yeah," Rory nodded, "I'd heard about that. Seems silly, to me, I mean the solution for the power issue was pretty simple, after all..."
"You have no idea what you've done!" Elvis shouted. "Get out. Both of you... just get out."
They left without saying anything else and Elvis Medica settled behind his desk. They had left the magazine lying there, he saw, page open to his paper. The top read, "Stabilized Quantum Fluctuation of Psuedomatter by Lieutenant Elvis Medica and Professor James Harbach."
***
"Sir, Lieutenant Giovanni reporting," Lieutenant Alannis Giovanni said as she stepped into Senior Captain Daniel Beeson's office.
Daniel gave her a welcoming smile, "Lieutenant," he nodded. "Take a seat."
He waited as she sat and then took a deep breath, "Lieutenant, I'm counseling all of my officers as their senior rater and commanding officer. Most of this is pretty generic, bullet points that I've noticed or that the XO has called to my attention." He waited as she nodded. "In some cases there are some exceptions... this is one of them."
"Sir?" She asked. From the way she stared at him it was clear that she didn’t understand.
"Lieutenant, I want you to know now that when they assigned me as squadron commander, the first thing I did was request you to be transferred out from under this command." He saw shock turn her face pale, her dark eyes went wide, and she started to stand from her chair, halfway in protest and half to flee the room. He imagined she would have managed to control her reaction better if he'd struck her across the face. "I want you to understand, I didn't make that request because of the quality of officer that you are... I did it because I think you're far too close to all of this."
The Lieutenant blinked at him and he saw the gears start to turn behind her eyes. She settled back to the chair, still not entirely in control of her expression, but at least listening and thinking about what he had said.
"I think that you are far too emotionally invested in our current mission," Daniel said. He met her dark eyes and she didn't flinch away. "This man, our target, has betrayed your trust, is responsible for the murder of several good men and women, and he was someone that you cared for… even loved." Daniel shrugged, "Even more, he's the father of your child. I can't wrap my head around parts of that and I have far more distance and separation. I want him dead and buried just for what he did to Lieutenant Commander Douglass. I can't imagine how you feel... and in many ways, Lieutenant, I don't want you in a position where you will hold his life in your hands."
She did look away, then, a clear sign that she'd already decided to kill her ex-husband if she had him in her sights. In all reality, Daniel didn't see a way for them to take the man alive, not without a lot of luck... but that didn't mean he wanted his assistant tactical officer out for blood... or that she might not make the wrong call as a result.
"I've been overridden, Lieutenant," Daniel said. "Apparently, for all my reservations, your brother the Emperor feels that the knowledge you have, your experience with him, will outweigh the risks I've discussed. So I want you to consider this: a dispassionate and calm officer will make the decisions that will safeguard the men and women under his command. You have to think of your duty, Lieutenant, no matter how hard it might be not to think of yourself... or your son."
That was a low blow, he knew, as she flinched as if he'd hit her. Yet she gave him a slow nod, "I understand, sir. If I decide that I can't distance myself from my personal feelings?"
"Then I'll relieve you and ship you back to Faraday and I'll deal with the Emperor's displeasure," Daniel replied. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, Senior Captain," Lieutenant Giovanni gave him a solid nod, meeting his eyes. "I understand." He hoped that meant she would be honest with him, that if it came down to it, that she would recuse herself if she thought she couldn't make the right call.
If not, he thought, then I'll do what I need to do.
***
Aboard the UCS Bowie
Shadow Space
September 1, 2409
"Damn, Skipper, but it's good to be aboard ship again!" Lieutenant Elvis Medica exclaimed
Lieutenant Commander Forrest Perkins looked up from his paperwork and blinked at his Engineer Officer, "Paperwork is that exciting, eh?" When he'd heard that Medica would come off medical light duty just before their planned departure date, he'd scooped the officer up.
Part
of that was because he remembered how Elvis Medica had put himself in severe danger to save the Constellation. Part of that was because he'd seen the engineer was involved in finding Reese Leone. And face it, he thought, part of it was just to hear Senior Captain Beeson complain about me poaching one of 'his' officers, Forrest thought with a goofy grin.
"Eh, paperwork isn't too bad," Lieutenant Medica said. "I'm just glad to be away from those two yahoos." He shook his head, "Rory and Feliks. They basically didn't leave me alone for the past six months, it was like I was their favorite puppy or something."
Forrest snorted at that. While he knew how to turn a wrench, he knew he wasn't anywhere near as capable as Lieutenant Medica... much less the two scientists who seemed to delight in taking apart alien tech and figuring out how it all worked. Speak of which, he thought, "So, what do you think of the modified forward armament?"
"It's interesting," Lieutenant Medica replied. "I can't say that I'm entirely comfortable with how they've installed everything." Sanctuary Station had just finished refitting the Bowie. Commander Mills had overseen the Bowie's trials after the refit, but he'd resigned his command after the sudden death of his wife in a tragic accident. From what Forrest had heard, the man had sought a hardship discharge almost immediately in order to care for his three children.
That had been a hard hit for the crew of the Bowie. Morale had already been somewhat mixed at the “rehabilitation” assignment. The Kukri-class of destroyers had not fared well in combat with the Balor or the Chxor. Of the twelve that had been a part of the Dreyfus Fleet, four had been destroyed at the Third Battle of Faraday against the Balor. During the Dreyfus Coup, two more, including the Bowie had been the site of massive bloodshed as their officers and crew slaughtered each other. During the Liberation of Nova Roma, three of the ships had fought and two had been destroyed with all hands while the third had been so damaged that it was scrapped. Only five of the vessels remained and all five had been placed on reserve status.
