Favors Part 3
09 May 2024Vasil Vasilescu
FollowingTittle of Marque (Pt3)
Favors (Pt2)
Risk vs Reward
With under two hours before operations against the Anansi commenced, Captain Marcela “Red Jade” Enciso entered the command deck of the Destinies Jester, wearing a broad smile and a jacketed ruby-colored combat flight suit trimmed in bright green. Tradition had to be upheld; her great-grandmother, grandfather and father had all worn something similar during their time as Red Jade. Marcela, though, had opted for something more stylish than her father’s simple utilitarian suit and less Harlequin-like than her great-grandmother, the first Red Jade.
William Baines, her salt-n-pepper bearded first officer, relinquished the command chair as the Red Jade approached. He nodded to her. “Captain."
Red Jade patted her first mate on the shoulder and took her seat. “How are we doing, Bill? We going to kick some ass or what?”
“That’s the plan, Captain. We just completed the final jump synchronization with the Löwe flotilla. Everything looks in order.”
Red Jade swung her command console into place. The Jump countdown ticked past minus one hour and thirty-seven minutes to jump. She scrolled through the carrier reports and combat assignments. After a few moments of scrolling and noting that her first mate was unusually quiet, she asked so only he heard her voice over the comm chatter on the command deck. “What’s wrong, Bill? Still not sure about this?”
He responded in an equally low tone. “Big operation. Short time to plan. IISS is involved.” Bill shook his head. “It doesn’t feel quite right, Marcela.”
“Think I can’t handle it?” Of all the crew, she knew he’d give her a straight answer. There was not a moment in her young life that “Bully” Bill Baines had not been present. He was her father’s best friend and first officer, the closest thing she had to an uncle, and the only real family she had left.
“No, I’m sure you can handle it. Your dad spent eighteen years getting you ready to be Red Jade. Just wish we’d had a bit more time is all.”
Marcela looked up to him and laid her hand on Bill’s wrist, her thin fingers gripping it reassuringly. “I miss him too, Uncle Bill. But here we are. We got this. The crew’s got this. Everyone knows their part.” She flashed him that infectious, encouraging smile of hers. “And when it is all done, I promise I won’t make you call me Baroness.”
“As if,” snorted Bill.
“First,” interrupted one of the radio and electronics techs. “We have an unauthorized transmission signal.”
Bill moved to the comm station and looked over the RET’s shoulder. “Where?”
The RET brought up a screen showing the Destinies Jester. “It looked like a normal telemetry push from flight control but we traced the origin to Deck E5, cargo hold 382. The transmission was only a few seconds long.”
“That’s where some of the slave pods are stored. Could it be a distress beacon triggered by a low power cell?”
“Unlikely. It was encrypted and short burst, and went out on the Jester’s comm array.” Anticipating Bill’s next question, the RET added, “It used none of our encryption hashes. It could be a breach. We’ve already isolated the hold from all ship’s networked comms.”
Bully Bill moved to the secondary command console and raised cargo control. “CGO, this is First. Comm has detected unauthorized transmissions from hold 382. Do you have any personnel working in that area?”
“Negative, First. All cargo holds are secured for action.”
“Copy. CGO.”
Bill contacted Security Control. “Regina, Bill. We have a possible bad actor in hold 382. Need a team to check it out. Coordinate with Comms and CGO.”
“Roger that. I’ll send a team immediately,” replied the Chief Security Officer, Regina Wood.
Red Jade entered the channel with Bill and Regina. “Reggie, how long before you can check out the hold?”
“I can have a team there in under five, Captain. Searching the hold, though, could take another fifteen or twenty. Longer if you want a detailed search.”
“Understood, Reggie. Let us know as soon as they find anything. Out.” Red Jade looked to Bill. “Think we’ve been compromised?”
“Hard to tell. The scouts have not reported any unusual activity around the Anansi.”
Red Jade slid her console to the side and stood from her command chair. “Combat Control,” she ordered with a confident authority belying her age. “Set ship-wide combat alert to level two, fleetwide to level three. Bill, inform the Löwe of the situation. I’ll handle the IISS. For now, we remain on schedule.”
* * *
Belladonna had no idea if her message reached the Anansi warning them that the Jester and the Löwe were about to attack them in the Summerland system. She’d not yet received a reply, and was about to risk sending another message to ask what the hell the plan was, when she heard at least three others in the cargo bay.
“Stay alert, they might still be down here.”
“Check. Three clear. Moving to four. Where is the goddamn console?”
“Frame 946, just up ahead.”
From the way they communicated and the heavy clunk of magnetic boots, she knew they were not cargo mates checking the pods. These were people with guns and a purpose. Probably ship’s force protection, the MAs, Master-at-Arms. Bellladonna slipped back into her pod but the pneumatic seal would not engage. Her tablet’s charging cable had caught in the door near her feet, leaving it open a few millimeters. A light illuminated the row of pods. Bella held the door as tight as she could.
An MA walked down the row of pods. The tactical light on his helmet and drawn pistol swept side to side, flashing through the crack. Though only 2mm wide, the crack might as well have been two meters as far as Belladonna was concerned. It felt like a spotlight sweeping the inside of the pod.
“There it is,” said the MA walking past her pod.
Belladonna breathed a quiet sigh of relief, short lived when she heard the MA say, “Smith, let comm know we found the console they say was compromised. Tell them we’ll lock it out and continue the search. No sign of any suspects.”
“Suspects,” grunted another MA walking past Belladonna’s pod. “It was probably just one of the cargo mates down here whackin’ it to Thargoid porn or some shit.”
“Whatever. Let’s finish up the search. There’s only about an hour before we jump.”
Belladonna remained quiet and still until she could no longer hear the MA’s or see their lights, then used her foot to kick free the the tablet cable keeping the pod door from being closed. This was turning into a real shit show. She’d wait until the Jester attacked the Anansi before waking up the others. That would give them the best odds of getting out in one piece. Vodan had better not leave them hanging out to dry, either. If he did, she swore she’d personally cut off his nuts the next time she saw him.
* * *
“How did to go with the Major?” asked Bill, taking a seat at the conference table.
Red Jade sighed and shrugged her thin shoulders. “You know how the IISS is,” she said, sitting back in her chair. “There were subtle threats of an investigation and reconsidering the deal because of their disappointment that we may not have maintained operational security. But I smoothed it out.”
Bill arched a brow. “Did you now?”
“I politely told Major Stiles that if he had lost confidence in us, we would happily cooperate and stop the operation. All he had to do was ask.” She snorted. “What’s he going to do, throw away all the time and money spent on their investigation? I don’t think he’d want to explain that to whatever IISS grand council of secret spooks and inquisitors he reports to back on Achenar. Anyway, how about the Löwe?”
“They are still on board with the plan,” confirmed Bill. “Both carriers jump at the same time, aim for forty thousand kilometers from the target and engage them at distance with small craft carrier operations.”
“Good. No sense getting into a close quarters fist fight. Still no word what the system authority will do?”
The Patreus Sentinels have their hands full dealing with several anarchic factions in system. Unless our IISS friends request assistance, my guess is the Sentinels will be content to let us and the Anansi fight it out.”
The conference table intercom beeped twice. “Captain, SO. I have an update on the cargo situation.”
Red Jade tapped the intercom. “Give me some good news Regina. I got Bill here with me.”
“The security team worked with the RETs and managed to find what they believe was the cargo console use to breach the comm system. They found no one in the hold. No one appears on any surveillance recordings, but cargo reports they have been having intermittent camera issues in 382. Whoever breached the console is either gone or very well hidden.”
“The only thing in 382 are slave pods,” said Bill. “Are you saying one of the sleepers woke up, sent a message and went back to sleep?”
“Maybe, Bill” said Regina, “but without going pod-to-pod, there is no way to tell.”
Red Jade looked to the jump countdown. Fourty-three minutes to go. Not enough time to check all the pods in the hold. “Okay. Secure the hold, cut its power and vent it. If someone is hiding, the vacuum will take care of them and if they pop out of a pod, they’ll be in for a rude surprise.”
* * *
Witch space began to peel back as the Destinies Jester emerged from the growing, bruise-like interaction of real and hyperspace above Summerland 8b. Red Jade closed her eyes; she disliked the in-between. The few seconds it took the carrier to transition back into real space always gave her slight motion sickness as mass-transfer waves rolled through the huge vessel.
Rapid chatter filled the command deck, urgent but calm and professional.
“Jump complete. All systems green,” announced the navigator. “Secured from jump.”
“Löwe reports secured from jump, bearing 224, elevation negative 45, 10,200 meters. Combat Information Center reports positive target ID, Anansi, at 38,500 kilometers.”
Red Jade opened her eyes. “Set interdictor cordon at 6,000 km. If they manage to send anything our way, I want it interdicted and destroyed before it reaches us. Fire Control, coordinate standard close support matrix with the Löwe. If anything gets through the cordon, shred it.”
Mixed in with the stars, one of the small dots of light beyond the bridge’s combat holo projections and the large viewports, was the Anansi, her path to an Imperial title, and the first step toward becoming something more than a privateer. “Send the first wave,” ordered Red Jade. She took a deep breath. There was no going back now.