Chains of Destruction (39 page)

It sounded more like he was scraping something across the transmitter.

"Gee! I can't hear anything you're saying."

"Damn it, man
 . . .
I'll see you court-martialed! This is not some joke. My mission is in jeopardy."

The image faded out, and there was no audible response.

"They have cut transmission, Captain," the communications moron reported.

Briggs took in a deep breath and wondered why he had been surrounded by idiots. There was no problem on the station now; they had totally crushed the uprising. No doubt the maintenance people who were giving him all the trouble had managed to make contact with the Kryptonite, and they were refusing to dock as a sign of solidarity.

Well, that just wasn't going to work, not in the Reliance. Not with Captain Briggs!

"Get me a line with Admiral Berk. I'll get that fat jerk off his ass one way or the other," Briggs ordered. "We'll see if the moron is still laughing when Admiral Berk gets done with him."

"Yes, Sir," the communications officer said. It seemed to take the idiot an hour to get Briggs a clear line with the Admiral.

"What is it now, Briggs?" the Admiral's voice sounded tired and angry. His features probably would have been impossible to read even if he had bothered to look into the monitor.

Briggs took a deep breath. It was hard not to tell the guy where to stick his attitude. When he had accepted the position on Pam Station with the duty of moving the Beta 4 humanoids to Earth for military training, he had been promised it was a cushy position that would propel him up the ranks. Now everything was falling apart through no fault of his own, and he was dealing with all these nightmares while the Admiral was curled up in some cozy office planet side. Briggs realized now that if the mission was successful the Admiral would get all the credit, and he'd get his crumb for being a "good boy". If the mission bombed the way it seemed destined to do without some help from, Berk he, Briggs, would be hung out to dry.

"Sir," Briggs saluted and swallowed hard. "We caught and executed the rebel spies who were directly responsible for the attack on the station and for giving top secret information to the New Alliance, and there was a minor disturbance among a few additional personnel. We have contained the rabble-rousers and things are now back to normal. My problem now is that the repair crew from Stashes is refusing to dock and do their job
 . . .
"

"Briggs, handle these problems yourself!" Berk said hotly, looking up for the first time. "We have bigger problems than a few disgruntled maintenance workers. Your little Beta 4 natives have just gone crazy in their camps and are tearing the bases apart and killing all the Reliance personnel they can get their hands on. It's all Earth Forces can do to contain the bastards. It's obvious the rebels were able to infiltrate at some point and win the brown bastards over. Until a full inquiry can be made, your operation is closed down. So you see? Making Pam Station operational is no longer a high priority. Someone somewhere dropped the ball, and you better hope it wasn't you, Briggs."

"Sir, I assure you
 . . .
I followed your orders to the letter! I gathered up anyone I even suspected of spying as soon as I knew there was any sort of problem. I feel as if I have acted admirably under these conditions. Nothing that has gone wrong is my fault. It certainly wasn't my idea to train Beta 4 humanoids to fight the rebels. It certainly wasn't my idea to trade them for radioactive gold. I was just following orders, and I really think
 . . .
"

"Quit whining, Briggs. If I were you, I'd quit wasting time figuring out all the reasons none of this was my fault, and find some way to salvage what's left of the operation. Do something right, and it might even make you look better in front of the board of inquiry." The screen went blank, and the transmission ended.

"Well, that's it then." Briggs sighed. He stood up and started pacing, burying his fingers deep in his ever thinner hair. The worst had happened. The entire plan had fallen apart, and he was going to be blamed. Blamed for all of it. From the missing transport ship and the hole in the station to the Beta 4 natives' attack on Reliance personnel on Earth and the destruction of Reliance property. He was going to be blamed for it all, and at least his career, if not his life, was over. He walked back to his chair, sat down and took a deep breath.

"Yumby, stand on," he ordered. The sergeant turned to look at him curiously. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Power our weapons up and target the Kryptonite
 . . .
Lieutenant Drex, get the Kryptonite on line."

The fat maintenance guy's face filled the screen again. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Briggs?" he screamed. "Our sensors indicate that you have aimed your forward gun at us."

"Yes, that's right, fat boy. And unless you dock and get your fat ass to work, I am going to blast your defenseless ship right out of the sky," Briggs said. "In ten, nine, eight
 . . .
"

"All right, you freaking lunatic! But don't think I'm not going to report this."

"You have exactly twenty minutes to dock and commence work on the station. Transmission out."

"Lieutenant Drex, get me Lieutenant Stratton on the surface. I want to know what if any progress they have made," Briggs ordered.

"Yes, sir," Drex said.

It took quite a while to raise Stratton, and sounded looked hurried and was obviously out of breath as she answered him.

Briggs didn't beat around the bush. "Stratton, it is customary to call in occasionally and inform your Captain of what
 . . .
if indeed
any
progress you have made."

"Sorry, Sir, the magnetic pulses
 . . .
"

"Magnetic pulses! Magnetic pulses! I am sick to death of every incompetent buffoon on this mission using that as their excuse to screw up. You will get up here immediately and report every detail of information that you have learned about that planet."

"Sir
 . . .
We aren't finished gathering information yet," Stratton said.

"Oh, yes. Yes you are," Briggs said. "The entire mission has been scrubbed, and all that remains is for me to try to salvage our previous trading agreement with those filthy primitive bastards and try to save my own ass. I need to be briefed in full about what you've learned about their culture, attitude, and battle readiness immediately."

Nothing but silence answered him for the longest time, and his anger flared again.

"Lieutenant, all that is left is for you to say
Yes, Sir
and report back to the ship immediately."

"Yes, Sir," she said.

The transmission closed.

Briggs screamed in frustration and slammed his fist into his consol, causing warning lights to flash and sirens to wail.

"Get these fucking things turned off!" he ordered the crew.

"Sir," Yumby seemed reluctant.

"Spit it out, man!" Briggs screamed as the emergency alarms shut down.

"Well, Sir
 . . .
the station-wide emergency system which you just activated?"

"Yes?"

"Well, Sir, when it comes on
 . . .
the. . . um. . . the cells automatically. . . uh. . . open. . . in the brig," Yumby explained not without cringing.

"What!" Briggs screamed. "Why the hell would they do that?"

"It's a safety precaution sir," Yumby explained. "People in the brig aren't usually receiving anything more than discipline, and
 . . .
"

"Are you telling me that all those lunatics are loss on the station again?"

"Not the whole station," he said with an air of pride. "I was able to close the cell block off before they had time to escape."

Briggs seemed to be relieved. "Good then they're still locked up."

"Yes, Sir, but
 . . .
Well, they are mostly the maintenance people."

"So?" Briggs snapped.

"So, there are several maintenance hatches in the cell block, and they know their way around the service ducts," Yumby explained.

"Why would they put something so freaking important basically on the arm of my damned chair? How freaking stupid is that
 . . .
Gas them!"

"But, Sir
 . . .
the ducts serve the entire station, and
 . . .
"

"Yumby, you find a way to contain those prisoners, or I'll see to it that when I go down I take you with me. Do you understand!" Briggs screamed.

"Yes, Sir," he said. Then just stood there.

"Do it now!"

Yumby ran to his console and started keying frantically.

Briggs jumped up and started pacing, again pulling at what was left of his hair. "It's all coming undone. I have to think. What do I do now? What is my next move?" He was talking out loud, and when he looked up and realized that everyone on the bridge was staring at him as if he had gone round the bend, he yelled at them all. "Don't you have anything better to do than stand around on the bridge all day?" No one said anything; no one moved. "Well?"

"Sir," Drex started. "We work on the bridge."

"Oh
 . . .
I know that! Don't you think I know that!" he said momentarily stopping to glare at them all.

What next, Briggs? Everything is coming apart, and now all the lunatics who want nothing more in this world than to kill you are loose and running amuck on the station again. If some broom pusher doesn't kill you, it's a sure bet the Tribunal will fry you. You have to do something amazing and brave.

Suddenly he knew exactly what to do.

"I
 . . .
I can't wait for Stratton to get back. I will have to go to the planet's surface myself without the information and try to save our relationship with the natives. Lieutenant Yumby, you're in control until I get back." He turned on his heel then and headed for the door. "Yumby, get me a crack team of Elites and three GSH's, and have them meet me in the hanger. We will be taking a fully loaded and fueled battle cruiser. If the natives won't talk reason, we'll at the very least teach them some respect."

"Yes, Sir," Yumby said.

"Well
 . . .
Get to it! While you're at it, call maintenance. When I get back I want that damned emergency control button to be
 . . .
Somewhere else."

"Where, Sir?" Yumby asked.

Briggs turned to look at the man, his eyes becoming two slits. "Oh, you're pushing it, Yumby. Just tell them to put it somewhere where it can't be accidentally activated."

"Yes, Sir."

"Good," Briggs started towards the door. "I'm on my way to the hanger."

Yumby sighed with relief, glad to see the back of Briggs. He was also pretty pumped about being in control. That is he was pumped until he received the answer to his call.

"They've escaped! All the prisoners have escaped! I don't know where they are, but they're not in the cellblock. I have deployed the troops, but they could be anywhere
 . . .
Man, we are so screwed."

Yumby took in a deep breath and moved to the Captain's chair. "I have accepted temporary command while Briggs goes planet-side, Wiksel." An audible sigh of relief could be heard from Wiksel's end. "Tell the troops to double their efforts. Over"

"Will do. Over."

"Lieutenant Yumby, should we warn Captain Briggs?" Drex asked.

Yumby looked at Drex and smiled. "Warn him about what? The situation is under control."

"This changes everything," David said. "Now we can't just sit around here wasting our time letting blood sucking lizards hang around on our genitalia."

"For the last time, shit boy. The wretched bastard wasn't on my dick," Levits cursed from where he sat holding the poultice the native priest had given him on the bite.

"Well, you wouldn't have guessed that from what you wanted me to do," RJ said with a wicked grin. She turned her attention to Topaz. "Aren't you done yet?"

Topaz looked up from where he stood working on the apparatus that was now attached to Taleed. "This is a complicated piece of equipment, RJ. It's robotics, it takes careful thought and delicate adjustments. You can't just slam it together with rubber bands and baling wire."

"Whatever the hell those things are," RJ said with a smile.

Topaz chose to ignore her. He stood back and looked at the boy. "Try it now."

Taleed moved his elbow, and the robotic hand grabbed the rock he'd been reaching for. His eyes lit up. "I am whole. Look Haldeed, look! I have hands." He experimentally tossed the rock, and it hit Topaz right between the eyes.

"Hey!" Topaz shouted, rubbing the wounded area. He turned to RJ and smiled. "Now that's freaking gratitude for you."

"Oh!" Taleed said his features becoming a mask of apology. "I am so sorry, Old One. It's just that my excitement is far greater than is my aim."