Aneka Jansen 6: The Lowest Depths of Shame (11 page)

‘The FSA appears to be convinced that one or more of your refugees has been compromised by the Herosians,’ Elroy said. ‘They won’t let me see any of them, and they’re convinced they sabotaged the Hand. They were fairly negative about me coming here.’

‘We had fifty people in the sickbay,’ Tasker replied. ‘Thirty-two of those were unconscious the entire time, half of those in medical comas. We almost lost two of them. There were only three who could move about unaided, and none of them ever left the hospital block. And they all came aboard with the clothes they were wearing. Medical scans would have detected implants… Do you mean the FSA or this Pierce person who’s been nagging me to allow a technical team aboard?’

‘For practical purposes it’s the same thing,’ Truelove replied. ‘Analysts suggesting other things are being quietly ignored. There are plenty of trustworthy people in the Agency, but Pierce is doing a rather effective information management job.’

‘Perhaps my choice of Head was not as well informed as I thought,’ Elroy sighed. ‘He seemed like a good idea at the time.’

‘He was,’ Truelove countered. ‘It just… hasn’t worked out as well as it could have. I don’t think this plot was in place when he was installed. Something happened. Someone had an idea and Pierce is in a position to influence things the way they want.’

‘It had to start when Lonar fell so easily,’ Tasker stated. ‘It would take time to work out a plan for Beryum and I don’t think Thackett was working off his own bat.’

‘And someone faked the footage from Marchant,’ Sharissa said, nodding. ‘Around the sixth or seventh of the fifth. It started then, even if they just told Thackett to be ready for new orders when he arrived at Beryum.’

‘We attacked fairly quickly after arriving at Beryum,’ Tasker said. ‘They couldn’t have
got
new orders to him unless…’

‘Unless a ship took them there before you arrived and transmitted them
when
you arrived,’ Truelove said. ‘It’s thirteen days from Dokar to Beryum in a courier-type ship or a frigate. They could have spent ages planning and dispatched a ship long before you arrived.’

‘Great, so we know how they did it. What do we do about it?’

‘Wait,’ Elroy said. ‘So far there have been a few rumblings about continuing the offensive, but nothing overt. If they try to push for further attacks I can rally support for stepping the Navy down. Until then I’m fighting smoke.’

‘Well, Ambassador Linden will be back in about eleven days,’ Tasker said. ‘Then it’s her problem.’

Elroy looked at her. ‘They’re coming back? All of them, or just Abigail?’

‘Everyone,’ Truelove said, ‘plus another “ambassador” of sorts. They’ll want to talk to you.’

‘Oh, I’ll want to talk to them.’

Gwy.

‘Oh…’ Ella said as she stood in the empty room filled with stars. Gwy was projecting the sensor feed from the Hyde, via Aggy, rather than her own external view; it seemed as though they were hanging in empty space, flying among the suns of other worlds.

‘You get how it works?’ Aneka asked. ‘Rather than using virtual versions of physical controls, you just
want
the ship to move and Gwy does what you wish with the engines.’

‘Uh-huh,’ Ella replied. Physically she was lying on the bed in Gwy’s cabin. Mentally she was standing beside Aneka as they walked through space. ‘It might take a little practice, but I get it. I wonder why we didn’t think of it before.’

Aneka shrugged. ‘Apparently it was the first thing Shannon thought of.’

Ella giggled and then turned around, hooked her arms around Aneka’s neck, and kissed her. It was not a quick kiss: she let it linger, her tongue playing over Aneka’s as if tasting her. Then she broke the kiss and stepped back, grinning.

‘What was that for?’ Aneka asked.

‘I wanted to know if it felt the same.’

‘And?’

‘I… I don’t think I can tell the difference if there is one.’

Aneka smirked at her lover. Ella’s real body was dressed in a rather brief, white pantsuit. The top crossed over her breasts and had a halter, the pants graded to translucent as they went down her legs, and there were slits running up the front of each leg to just below her hip. Clothes on the Amethyst Hyde were a useful place to clip your ‘puff,’ as Monkey called it. The Personal Force Field devices were basically emergency spacesuits which could be activated manually, or by Aggy. The virtual version of Ella’s outfit left just as little to the imagination.

Stepping forward, Aneka slid a hand under the right cup of Ella’s top and found the nipple hidden there. Ella gasped and Aneka stroked her thumb until the flesh beneath it stiffened.

‘How does that feel?’ Aneka asked softly.

‘F-feels the same.’ Pushing the virtual cloth aside, Aneka bent and flicked her tongue across the tip of Ella’s nipple. ‘And that does…’ Sucking produced, ‘Oh Vashma! That does too!’

Aneka grinned up at the redhead, who was looking eager. ‘I think, purely for scientific enquiry, we should find out what else does.’

‘Oh yes,’ Ella breathed. ‘Just for science.’

Amethyst Hyde, 13.9.530 FSC.

‘New Earth Control,’ Drake said into the virtual environment of the Hyde’s bridge, ‘this is the Amethyst Hyde. Captain Mallory Drake in command. Please acknowledge.’

Aneka stood at the back of the ‘room,’ her presence projected there through the ship’s network from her cabin. She had wanted to be there when they dropped out of warp and neither Drake nor Shannon had objected. She grinned: using his full name must have cost the Captain as he hated being called Mallory. She could see why, but it was not the worst name ever.

‘We’re getting transmissions through from one of the probes,’ Shannon said. She was also on her feet, even though her Captain was seated with an array of virtual displays in front of him. The blonde pilot waved a hand off to one side and several screens appeared displaying various data feeds streaming in from the Shadataga probes. ‘Looks like the Hand is orbiting Corax. Lot of Navy ships out there too.’

‘Aneka,’ Drake said, ‘see if you can get through to Charley Tasker.’

Aneka reached out to the comms system, but what she said was, ‘They’re taking their time answering.’

‘Yes, they are. This is the science vessel Amethyst Hyde to New Earth Control. Please respond. Over.’

‘Aneka?’ Tasker’s voice sounded in Aneka’s ears, sort of. ‘You’re here? Great. You’ve got Abby with you?’

‘We’re here,’ Aneka replied, ‘and Abby’s aboard. Currently we’re having trouble getting through to Control.’

‘They’re being arseholes. They say it’s because of the war, but I think just about everything is going through Naval Flight Control. I’m glad you’re here, we all are.’

‘Okay, save the complicated stuff for face-to-face. We’ll sort that out as soon as we get something from…’

‘Amethyst Hyde, this is New Earth Control. We show you as an unregistered vessel. Please hold position until you can be escorted to Corax.’

‘We are on a diplomatic mission,’ Drake stated calmly. ‘We have the Old Earth Ambassador aboard. Transmitting diplomatic verification codes now. Ambassador Linden requests immediate clearance to meet with the Hand of God. Our intention is to proceed to Joval Six for rendezvous with the Hand.’

There was silence from the other end.

‘They aren’t happy with us having diplomatic privileges,’ Aneka said to Tasker. ‘They’ll be less happy when they figure out what we are and get told they can’t look.’

‘Huh,’ Tasker grunted. ‘I’ve got a request through for clearance to leave Corax. They’re being slow to respond.’

‘Amethyst Hyde, this is New Earth Control.’

‘Finally,’ Aneka growled.

‘You are cleared for transit to Joval Six. Please be advised that deviation from your course would be considered threatening, and–’

‘Understood, New Earth,’ Drake broke in. ‘Please be advised that any active scanning of this vessel will be viewed as a breach of diplomatic protocols. Any such attempts will be actively countered. Amethyst Hyde out.’ Drake stabbed at a virtual button and then added, ‘Fucking shazi. Get us under way, Shannon.’

Around them the stars began to move at an ever-increasing pace as Shannon directed the engines to full power.

‘We’re on our way,’ Aneka said.

‘We just got clearance,’ Tasker responded. ‘See you there.’

~~~

It was easier for Tasker to take a shuttle over to the Hyde than to transport those who needed to see her in the other direction, plus she really wanted to see the inside of the sleek, new ship. They gathered in the mess hall, which was comfortable and could do just as good a job of displaying any data they needed. But the first step was to stop the Hand’s Captain looking around at the smooth, off-white walls.

‘This ship is gorgeous,’ Tasker said. ‘I mean… this was
designed
to look good.’

‘Thank you, Captain Tasker,’ Aggy said, materialising beside their table. ‘I had a hand in the design myself, primarily in the ergonomics, but the higher AIs allowed me final say on the aesthetics as well. They felt I should feel good about my new accommodation.’

‘I’m used to you projecting yourself on walls, Aggy,’ Tasker commented.

‘Girls and their toys, Captain.’

‘All right, Charley,’ Abby said, settling back in her seat and crossing her arms. ‘I’ve skimmed the data Shadataga relayed over, so we know more or less what’s going on. Personal notes?’

‘The Jenlay are being pushier about trying to work out how the Hand is built. I don’t see that as a good sign. I think they know we’ll pull out if they go after the Herosians and they want the tech.’

Drake nodded. ‘A fair assessment. The Hand is a generation or so in advance of anything they have. The Hyde is… You wouldn’t believe how much re-familiarisation we had to go through. We’ve got the ECM suite tuned to make it hard for them, and we’ve got the cloak if they get too persistent.’

‘This thing can cloak?!’ Tasker asked, eyes widening.

‘I was designed for study of any civilisation we might encounter,’ Aggy replied. ‘The need for concealment might apply, as it did for my original ship, the Agroa Gar.’

‘Huh… wow. Um, the hospital station they’ve got around Corax is basically a prison. They don’t want anyone talking about Beryum they don’t have control over. The people we brought over wouldn’t be going anywhere anyway, but the next lot… Some of them could be out in a few days if the treatment is good enough. I suspect they’ll be kept on the station unless they’ve got stories to tell which will back up the latest line.’

‘And that is?’ Aneka asked.

‘From what I can tell, “The Herosians are still a threat. There could be agents anywhere you look. Anyone who seems sympathetic to the Herosians probably is one.” I mean, it’s pretty simple psychology. I’m surprised it’s working.’

‘The Jenlay haven’t had a
real
threat to their existence since the Federation started,’ Ella replied. ‘They got used to scoffing at the Herosians always harping on about the Xinti being out there, but it was a constant threat in the background that the Big Bad Xinti might come out of the darkness. Now they have a city with holes in it, three planets invaded, and they can’t
see
the Herosians running around like headless cockroaches.’

‘Chickens,’ Tasker corrected absently.

‘It’s cockroaches with us. We don’t have chickens, but roaches get everywhere.’

‘Right… So it seems to be working. Elroy and Truelove look worried whenever I talk to them.’

‘Well, we’ll see how he looks when I talk to him,’ Abby said. ‘I should come back to the Hand with you when this is done and request his presence. I think if they’re all paranoid about Herosian agents, me being paranoid about security should cover it. We’ll tell him he’s meeting me, but Aneka will be over from the Hyde. She’s guarding our other Ambassador.’

‘Yeah, what other ambassador?’

‘The one from Shadataga.’

‘That,’ said a voice from behind Tasker, ‘would be me.’

The Captain turned in her seat to see a short, slim woman with tanned skin, brown eyes, full lips set between hollowed cheeks, and a cap of short, white hair.

‘Do I know you?’ Tasker asked.

‘Not,’ the woman replied, ‘exactly.’

BC-101 Hand of God, 14.9.530 FSC.

The pleasantries had been handled with a lot of ‘how are you’ and ‘as well as can be expected’ kind of statements. Abby was actually starting to feel stressed after feeling pretty good until she arrived and got to read the reports Tasker had compiled fully. She was now looking only slightly less weary than Elroy. She had, however, not wanted to start until Aneka and her charge arrived.

As the two women walked into the room, Elroy got to his feet and smiled at Aneka. ‘Proper protocol aside,’ he said, ‘you’ll forgive me for thanking Aneka for her recent work with the Herosians, I hope?’ He held out a hand and Aneka took it after the usual protocol.

‘You need to thank Ella and my ship’s AI too if you’re thanking me. It was Ella who did the work while I ran the distraction.’

‘Your Ella? Ella Narrows? The rather nice young woman who studies palaeoanthropology?’

‘Uh-huh. She’s pretty good at kicking butt now too.’

Elroy smiled, and looked better for it. ‘And this is…?’ He turned to the woman beside Aneka, waiting patiently.

She was wearing a short, black dress, belted, and a bolero jacket. Her heels were high enough to bring her up to Aneka’s cheek. Aneka had, on first meeting her, commented on the hair and she had said, ‘I wanted something of me in you.’

‘This,’ Aneka said, ‘is Xenia Winter, founder of the FSA, now Ambassador for Shadataga.’

Three Jenlay stared at the woman. Truelove and Sharissa looked as though they were seeing a ghost, which was not too far from the truth. Elroy swallowed hard and rallied himself.

‘Ambassador,’ he said, holding out a hand, ‘it’s a pleasure to… Your statue doesn’t really do you justice.’

Winter laughed. ‘I made sure it didn’t. I used this avatar for a very long time. I was using it when Aneka’s original body was made and I felt it appropriate that I bring it back for this job.’