by Tori Harris
“Now, while I wish we had more time to get acquainted, both with each other and with our new ship, we were at least fortunate enough to get a few extra days of training and prep time before being sent out on our first mission. Hopefully, you’re all reasonably well-rested and ready to go, because our so-called ‘grace period’ is just about to expire, and I suspect we will be getting underway shortly thereafter. On that note, I’m going to let Commander Reynolds go over what we know so far regarding our first assignment. Commander.”
“Thank you, Captain. First watch crew, you can all take your seats. Standby crew, please remain with us for just a moment, if you would. This won’t take long,” she said as she walked around to the space between the Helm console and the bridge view screen. “I see that you have all reviewed the pre-mission briefing materials,” she began, taking a quick glance at her tablet, “so I’ll just hit the highlights and then give you the opportunity to ask questions. As you know, Admiral Patterson believes we have located the site of the original Pelaran Resistance rally point, which is now being referred to as Location Dagger.” Reynolds turned to confirm that the AI was displaying the appropriate imagery, knowing, even as she did, that it was wholly unnecessary to do so. “One of TFS Jutland’s fighters has managed to deploy comm beacons in these locations, so the entire area now has excellent comm coverage. We expect that our role will be to transport Sajeth Collective Admiral Rugali Naftur to the area and attempt to make contact with Resistance forces. Lieutenant Commander Schmidt, did you have a question?”
“Yes, ma’am. Sorry for the interruption. Does Admiral Naftur expect the Resistance forces to be receptive to opening some sort of dialog?”
“I think the most honest answer to that question is that he thinks doing so offers our best chance of avoiding a military confrontation, so it’s at least worth a try. The Resistance crews are expected to be made up almost entirely of Wek personnel, and I think it’s safe to say that Admiral Naftur is widely known and respected among their military forces. He believes there are likely to be many among them who would also prefer to avoid bloodshed, if at all possible — especially if we can convince them that Humanity does not pose a threat to the Sajeth Collective. The question, of course, is whether attempting to communicate in this fashion will provoke at least some of their forces into attacking us immediately.”
“And do we have some way of letting them know that we are proposing a parley? A signal of some kind?”
“Yes we do, and their forces do have a historical context for such meetings, just as we do. Admiral Naftur has indicated that it would be considered a grave breach of their rules of war to execute an attack during a parley. Then again, one could argue that the entire Resistance movement is operating outside the bounds of their legal command authority structure,” she said. “That brings us to our contingency plan. A full squadrons of F-373s will be standing by for our signal here,” she said, turning to point to the comm beacon now indicated by a pulsating red oval by the ship’s AI. “The comm beacon where our fighters will be waiting has been designated Location Willow and is approximately five light hours from Location Dagger. That should be well outside the detection range of the Resistance ships, but the fighters will remain in hyperspace, just in case. If our, uh, negotiations are unsuccessful, they will immediately join us and assist in whatever actions are deemed appropriate at that time. Captain Zhukov and Commander Waffer from the Jutland will lead the two flights of Reapers, but Captain Prescott will be in overall command of the mission.”
“Ma’am?” Ensign Fisher said, raising his hand to get her attention. “If the fighters remain in hyperspace, how will we call them if we need their help? I thought we couldn’t communicate with ships in hyperspace.”
“That’s a better question for Commander Logan, or Lieutenant Dubashi, but the details will have wait for another time. My decidedly nontechnical understanding is that the beacons are indeed point-to-point, real-time links … almost like telegraph stations alongside an old-fashioned railroad track. So, from a practical standpoint, it’s true that you can’t communicate with a ship traveling in hyperspace — just like the telegraph operator couldn’t communicate with the train once it left the station. A ship can, however, still communicate directly with the comm beacon, just as we do in normal space. That’s where the physics get way over my head. Bottom line, as long as you’re in the immediate vicinity of the comm beacon, it works fine.”
“Commander Reynolds,” Lieutenant Dubashi interrupted, “we have received an authenticated launch order from the Flag. Admiral Patterson says he needs two minutes alone with Captain Prescott and yourself, but he wants us underway immediately thereafter.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Reynolds replied, then paused as if considering how best to wrap things up quickly. “Believe it or not,” she began again, “I have already covered most of what I had planned to show you anyway. Clearly, we continue to find ourselves at the center of a historic and rapidly evolving situation. So far, our success has depended less on detailed planning than it has on our ability to think on our feet and give each other our absolute best … and I have no reason to believe that will change on this mission. All of you are ready. Theseus is ready. Let’s get this done.” Even with only eleven crewmembers and a Marine sentry on the bridge, Reynolds received enthusiastic applause and expressions of approval as she joined Captain Prescott on the way to his ready room. “Lieutenant Commander Schmidt, you have the bridge,” she ordered. “Notify Engineering to expect an immediate departure and work on getting us cleared for launch with Yucca Control.”
“Aye, ma’am,” he replied, moving to take his place at one of the Command consoles while being immediately replaced at Tactical 1 by a lieutenant from the standby crew.
“Good brief,” Prescott said as he and Commander Reynolds reached the privacy of the ready room.
“I’ve always said there should be a three-minute limit. Anything longer than that needs to be handled some other way. A lot of our youngsters struggle to keep their attention on one topic for even that long,” she said as Prescott entered the required commands to pull up the vidcon stream with TFS Navajo.
“Did you read that the spooks seem to think our encrypted comm is secure again?” he asked.
“I did. Long may it last … and I only mean to sound a little cynical when I say that,” she replied as Terran Fleet Command’s official service seal appeared on the view screen, followed a few seconds later by the obviously tired but smiling face of Admiral Kevin Patterson.
“Good morning to you both,” he said cheerfully. “I trust you’ve enjoyed your extended R&R at the Yucca Mountain resort and are ready to get back to work.”
“Good morning to you as well, Admiral. Sir, I’m just glad you’re not sitting here with us, since having my XO cooling her heels in the brig for slugging you wouldn’t be particularly helpful at the moment,” Prescott laughed.
“I’ve been slugged for a lot less, I can assure you,” Patterson replied mischievously. “In all seriousness, while I do wish we had located the Resistance task force rally point several days ago, it’s good that you had a little extra time to prepare. I know even six days was nowhere near sufficient, but I’m sure you’re much better off now than you would have been a few days ago. I also congratulate you both for achieving ‘mission effective’ status so quickly after transitioning out of Ingenuity. Don’t get me wrong. I expected nothing less from you two, but it’s excellent work nonetheless.”
“Thank you, Admiral,” both officers replied in unison, grateful that their CNO actually did understand and appreciate the Herculean effort required to prepare Theseus for her first mission.
“I’ll keep this short. I know you are fully briefed on the mission to Location Dagger. What you may not have had time to notice over the past week, however, is just how unstable things have become, politically, in the wake of the Guardian’s entrance onto the world stage. And, by the way, we will not be calling that damn thing Griffin, Tom, Dick, or
Harry for that matter. It’s a foolish affectation in my opinion, and we’ll have no part of it unless, God forbid, the Leadership Council orders us to do so. If that happens, I’d personally be more comfortable addressing it as we would any other ambassador … which would at least prevent us from sounding like a flock of mindless sheep.”
Both Prescott and Reynolds smiled and nodded approvingly as the admiral continued.
“Admiral White’s folks over at Fleet Intelligence have put together some good summary documentation regarding the political situation that you should probably read through when you have a moment. I guess if I had to provide a one-word description of world affairs at the moment, I’d use ‘chaotic.’ Classified information has been leaking like a sieve for a full week now. All of that can probably be traced back to the Guardian in one form or another, but I suppose that’s neither here nor there at this point. Some nations are up in arms that we would ever even consider membership in the Pelaran Alliance. Others are incensed that we allowed representatives from the Sajeth Collective to come aboard one of our vessels, let alone be granted diplomatic status by TFC. Pretty much everyone is angry for being kept in the dark about the true state of our fleet … although I suppose most of them are able to see some benefit in not being completely defenseless in the face of a possible Sajeth Collective attack on Earth. I’m just scratching the surface here, but you get the gist. Things are a real mess at the moment, but I’m sure they will settle down after the immediate threat has passed.”
“Will Admiral Naftur be shuttled over to us before we launch?” Prescott asked.
“No, and that gets to the heart of why I just summarized the current political situation for you. The Leadership Council has largely been in continuous session since the first direct contact from the Guardian a month ago. Council sessions have always been a little on the contentious side, but over the past week, things have gotten especially tense among the representatives. While it’s generally not appropriate for Fleet personnel to comment on how the Council conducts its business, the Admiralty has serious concerns regarding some of what we have been seeing. For the sake of our discussion, I’ll simply say that Chairwoman Crull has been behaving in a manner we believe is inconsistent with the TFC charter. Under normal circumstances, I think we would probably expect to see someone calling for a vote of no confidence in her leadership, followed shortly thereafter by her being removed as Chair and perhaps as the Central and South American Union’s representative. Unfortunately, that’s not what’s happening. Somehow, she has managed to put together a fairly solid voting block composed of seven of the fifteen members … not a majority, for the moment, but enough where she manages to get her way on pretty much every issue that comes up. That’s all well and good, but right after the first Guardian speech, she began what appears to be a well-planned campaign to ‘demilitarize’ TFC Headquarters.”
“I wasn’t aware that HQTFC was a military installation before,” Reynolds commented.
“It was not by any means … and that was intentional. Part of the reason why that was the case was to support the original cover story that TFC was not a true military organization. Beyond that, even though defending the Earth has obviously always been at the top of our priority list — developing Pelaran technology and the peaceful exploration of space are primary missions as well. As you both know, we are also dedicated to the idea of civilian control … civilians who are duly elected representatives of our member nations.”
“Is the Admiralty concerned that this voting block the chairwoman has put together is the result of some kind of election fraud?” Prescott asked.
“No. Frankly, I’m not sure what we collectively think at the moment, so let’s not go down that path. The first element of her campaign to ‘demilitarize’ the headquarters campus, however, was to replace the Marine security contingent with a private security force. Other than a few Marines assigned to provide security for a few key admirals, notably Sexton and White, the rest have all been reassigned. From what we can tell, there are at least one hundred civilian guards in the new security force. We don’t know much about them, other than the fact that they are armed to the teeth and appear to have at least some level of special operations training. There are several large private military corporations with significant interests in the governments that make up the Central and South American Union, so it’s a safe bet that these firms are providing the troops and their equipment. We are still looking into how all of this took place so quickly, but clearly it had been in the works for some time.”
“Well it certainly doesn’t sound ‘demilitarized’ now,” Reynolds observed.
“Precisely, Commander, and that’s just one of the reasons we are concerned. In any event, I tell you all of this because we need Admiral Naftur aboard the Theseus immediately for your mission. Ordinarily, we would have shuttled him back to Yucca Mountain before your departure, but late yesterday, a contingent of HQSEC — that’s what they’re calling themselves — security guards showed up at Sexton’s office. They demanded that both Admiral Naftur and Nenir Turlaka be turned over to them for what they referred to as ‘protective custody.’ Admiral Sexton refused, of course, but he suspects they won’t be put off for long. Sexton is now concerned that if he attempts to fly our two Wek out onboard a shuttle, they’ll just end up being detained. At that point, we will have not only lost access to Naftur, but also relegated them both to an uncertain fate. There are many who already refer to them as enemy combatants. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that if anything happens to either of them, they might as well have been enemy combatants. They’ll be coopted as martyrs for the Resistance cause, and the entire Sajeth Collective will almost certainly declare war on Humanity.”
Prescott furrowed his brow and stared intently into Admiral Patterson’s eyes. “Sir, this is starting to sound like you are asking us to perform an extraction.”
The CNO sat back in his chair and sighed wearily. “No, Tom, I’m not. I’m telling you that I am about to send you into an ambiguous and potentially dangerous situation. All I’m asking you to do is use your heads and be aware that all of this is going on behind the scenes. Get there, evaluate the situation on the ground, and get both Naftur and Turlaka aboard Theseus and out of harm’s way, as quickly as possible. So far, no order has been given by the Leadership Council that would prevent us from doing so within the bounds of our ongoing operations against the Pelaran Resistance. I’m afraid, however, that this could very well change as early as this afternoon when the Council reconvenes. Once that happens, our choices will become much more limited.”
“Either proceed without Naftur or commit an act in open defiance of the Leadership Council,” Prescott concluded.
“I believe we generally refer to that as mutiny, Captain. If possible, I would prefer to avoid putting ourselves in a situation where we might feel obliged to do such a thing in order to fulfill the promises we made when we took our oaths of office.”
There was a long moment of silence as all three officers struggled to come to grips with what might be required of them … and all before they even set out to meet the enemy.
“There is an access tunnel linking the Marine barracks to the Admiralty Building. At the moment, it appears that HQSEC either hasn’t discovered it yet, or just isn’t using it for whatever reason. The barracks is less than a kilometer from the only suitable landing location in the immediate area. It’s a heavily reinforced concrete pad that was built by TFC for that purpose. Believe it or not, it’s so large that there wasn’t room on the campus itself, so it was constructed on leased property outside the main boundary fence. Admiral Sexton will meet you there with Naftur and Turlaka. All of the pertinent data has been uploaded to your AI. Any questions?”
Prescott glanced at Reynolds, who had the look of someone with a number of unanswered questions, none of which she was inclined to ask at the moment. “No sir. We will be on our way shortly and contact you when we reach orbit.”
“Be safe and be
smart, you two. Patterson out.”
There was a period of uncomfortable silence after the display returned to a view of the five other Theseus-class destroyers in the berths immediately to starboard. It was Prescott who finally broke the silence.
“Here’s the thing, Sally. It looks like we’re going to be navigating some very murky waters here, and it’s going to be very important for the two of us to stay on the same page. I honestly don’t know what to say about any of what we just heard, other than the tired old platitudes about holding each other accountable and trying to do what we think is right.”
“Uh huh, that’s fine, but if I’m going to participate in a coup, I’d prefer to do so on the winning side,” she said.
Prescott stared back at his XO, incredulous. “You amaze me sometimes. That didn’t rattle you at all, did it?”
“It’s not that it didn’t rattle me, it’s just that I tend to take things like that as nothing more than additional background information. Is it important to keep in mind? Sure. Is it likely to change much about how I conduct myself? Offhand, I’d say not really.” She stopped and stared back at her captain for a moment, narrowing her eyes as she began again. “As to our being on the same page … I’ve always read how command of a ship of war can become extremely isolating for a captain, so please allow me to respectfully remind you of something I’m sure you knew before you ever sat in the big chair. I don’t follow you — respect you — push myself to ridiculous feats of endurance for you — because it’s my job. I could do much less and still be doing my job … and doing it well. I do those things because I know you, because I trust your judgment implicitly, and because you have earned it. In over two years of working together, I have never seen a day when I didn’t think you deserved my very best. Rest assured that if that day ever comes, I’ll be the first to let you know.”
