Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) (18 page)

On
screen, the image of the Heskan-Jennings brawl played out.  Heskan then pushed
the agent at gunpoint into a container before returning to the control room to
don a pressure suit.  Several minutes later, the cargo bay camera footage
revealed Heskan assisting while a freighter crane pulled both containers from
the bay.

A
single obscenity tumbled from Brewer’s mouth.  He looked toward the deck and
added, “Damn you, Garrett.  After everything I’ve given you.”  He pointed to
the panel while locking eyes with Neal.  “Find out what ship that is.”

Every
person inside the room moved as if cracked by a whip.  During the flurry of
activity, Brewer placed both elbows on his station and his head in his hands. 
“Contact tower control,” he mumbled.  “I want the records to their Class B
control space, everything around the orbital.  Once we have that ship’s I.D., I
want to know everything about it.  Who owns it, where it is now and where it’s
headed.”

“On
it, Mr. Secretary,” an agent answered timidly.

Next
to him, Neal stated, “We have a corvette docked at the orbital.  I need permission
to invoke the Emergency Powers Act so I can order it to cast off.”  He scanned
a side monitor and added, “There’s another one inbound for the orbital, only
ten light-minutes away.”

“Consider
it invoked, Mr. Neal,” Brewer proclaimed.  “This is a grave matter of Republic
security.  I will speak to each of the ‘vette’s captains personally if they make
the unfortunate choice to resist your commands.”

An
agent at a side station cried triumphantly, “Got her!  The freighter’s I.D. is
CSV Hussy.”

“Which
corporation?” Neal asked.

“United
Services Corp, sir.  That’s in the Eris corporate system.”

The news
did not surprise Brewer.  A good percentage of freighters that operated inside
the Republic flew “flags of convenience” belonging to corporate systems that
offered more generous financial incentives and less restrictive operating
standards than Bree.  “Where is she now?”

The
agent was rapidly fast-forwarding through the controller’s logs.  “She headed
for the Titan tunnel point… reached it...” The agent sighed before saying,
“Dove out nearly five hours ago.”

Brewer
stared at the monitor in mute rage.

Neal
broke the uncomfortable silence.  “The inbound corvette is forty-five light-minutes
from the Titan tunnel point.  We could send it back there.”

“Why?”
Brewer snapped angrily.  “Corvettes can’t dive.”  After several moments of
consideration, Brewer sighed in resignation.  “No, we’ll either have to
transmit an alert using the militarized folders embedded in the standata or go
after him ourselves.”  Brewer pushed himself out of his chair and motioned for
Neal to follow.

Walking
down the deserted corridor, Brewer stated, “Jackson, I’m leaving this wretched
system.  Prepare Envoy-Three to cast off the moment I board.”

Neal
nodded obediently and asked, “Where are you headed now, Mr. Secretary?”

“I
want a look at Garrett’s hotel room.  I won’t be long.”

“Sir,”
Neal said, “Do you think Agent Jennings is still alive?”

Brewer
huffed slightly.  “Why would he be?  No, he’s floating in space somewhere
between this orbital and the tunnel point.”  He shrugged dismissively.  “No
matter, pawns can be easily replenished.”

A
long pause took hold between the pair before Brewer said, “The real question is
how I word the alert and if I allow it to travel past the Titan system.”

Neal
stumbled to a stop and looked gravely at his superior.  “You mean, let it flow
into Bree?”

“Precisely,”
Brewer confirmed.  “I’m pleased you understand the significance of that.  Pawns
might be routinely sacrificed to protect bishops but even the bishops become
expendable when the queen is endangered.”  Brewer felt chills run down his
spine.

Neal’s
face tightened as he added, “And Madam Minister has never hesitated to protect
herself.”

“Captain,
we’re cleared to dive,” Truesworth announced.

About
time,
Heskan
grumbled to himself.  They had been waiting impatiently almost twenty minutes in
Titan for their turn to tunnel to Lysithea.  As a military captain, Heskan was
accustomed to his ships taking priority over civilian traffic.  Now, as a lowly
freighter, he was forced to wait for what felt like an eternity in powerless
silence, contemplating what he feared was trailing them.  “Announce and dive,
Diane,” he ordered.

He
recalled their destination’s information onto his console but before he could review
it, the nausea from the dive rippled through the ship.  Seconds later, Heskan’s
vision cleared and he heard Selvaggio’s announcement.

“We
are in the Lysithea star system, Captain.  Beacon is green and we have
clearance to proceed down the traffic pattern.”  Her fingers lightly tapped
Hussy’s
thrusters as the ship began to orient away from the tunnel point.

“Distance
and time to the Bree tunnel point, Diane?” Heskan asked.

“Thirty-one
light-minutes at point one-five-C will have us at the tunnel point in three
hours and twenty-six minutes plus whatever the queue is, sir.”  Selvaggio slid a
pair of controls forward, energizing
Hussy’s
drives.  “Jack, file our
dive request, please.”

“Very
well,” Heskan acknowledged as he looked at the system plot.  While not as
cluttered as Titan, Lysithea was decorated with hundreds of beacons and the
normal fixtures of a busy star system.  The ship repair yard orbiting the
fourth planet was filled to capacity, including
BRS Curator
.

“Should
we swing by and say hello to Lieutenant Arnold, Captain?” Vernay joked with a
smile.

Heskan
snorted but his eyes remained glued to the plot.  There was traffic between the
Titan and Bree tunnel points, including two corvettes, but he estimated they
would not pose a problem. 
We’re probably going to transit this system
before any kind of standata warning passes through but we won’t stay ahead of
the alerts for long.
  His console beeped at him.

“Captain,
this is Ensign Gables.  Doctor Timoleon requests you come to sickbay.”

Heskan looked up
again at the system plot.  All appeared to be quiet.  “Be right there,” Heskan
replied and broke the connection.  He looked to his left at Vernay, sitting at
the auxiliary control station.  “Stacy, I think we’re going to get through
Lysithea all right but notify me immediately if you pick up a warning about us
or if those corvettes change course.”

*  *  *

Heskan
entered the sickbay to find not only Ensign Gables and Doctor Timoleon inside
the small chamber but Komandor Lombardi as well.  Ensign May appeared to be
resting comfortably on a bed attached to the far side of the room.

“How’s
she doing?” Heskan asked Lombardi.

Timoleon
answered.  “Your people keep insisting on challenging my abilities, Commander Heskan,
but skillfully applied medicine has, once again, prevailed.”  His eyes narrowed
as he cautioned irritably, “Your crew’s mystifying decision to delay this
woman’s treatment almost cost her life.”

“Doctor,”
Lombardi growled.

“There
was nothing Vernay could do.  She couldn’t stop, Doctor,” Heskan replied
defensively.  “That would have meant all of our lives.”

Timoleon
remained indignant.  “Commander, I may not care to understand the grand plots
and machinations between our peoples but I do understand the principle of
triage.”  The doctor made a slight adjustment to a tube in May’s arm before
continuing, “But I would caution you not to be so willing to spend one life to
save others.”  He turned to face Heskan with a troubled expression.  “For each
time you do, it will become easier and easier.”

“What
the doctor is saying,” Lombardi clarified, “is he is pleased to inform you that
your ensign will survive.  Perhaps something was lost in the translation.”

“Will
most likely
survive,” Timoleon corrected.  “She is out of immediate
danger and should recover assuming no post-procedure complications.”  He
glanced at Lombardi.  “I warned you that I cannot guarantee complete recovery in
such a primitive environment.”

“At
any rate, Doctor,” Heskan said, “you have my gratitude.  Twice over, actually. 
I was never able to thank you for saving Diane Selvaggio.”

Timoleon’s
expression brightened considerably at the mention of the name.  Even Lombardi’s
eyes lit up as Timoleon asked, “She has resumed serving her Republic, I
assume?”

Heskan
shook his head.  “Actually, she’s serving on this freighter.  I’m afraid her
time aboard Phoenix cast doubt on her loyalties to our political masters.”

The
doctor snorted derisively.  “Naturally, a truly loyal Brevic citizen would have
let herself die.  What was she supposed to do, crawl out of her bed to the
nearest airlock?”

Heskan
had begun to reply when Vernay’s voice filled the freighter over the ship’s
main channel.  “Captain Heskan to the bridge, please.”

“Excuse
me, Doctor, and thank you again.”  Heskan spun in place and left the room.

He
was walking down the corridor to the stairs when Lombardi asked behind him,
“Garrett, may I join you on the bridge?”

“Certainly,”
he replied. 

The page sounded
again and Heskan found himself taking the stairs two at a time.

*  *  *

“What
is it, Stacy?” Heskan asked with concern.

“Trouble,”
Vernay answered.  “Maybe.”  She pointed at the system plot.

“What
a quaint, little bridge,” Lombardi mumbled as she entered behind Heskan.

The
corvette ahead of them had come about.  The sleek ship was now cruising at .2
c
toward
Hussy
.  “Is it on a direct intercept course, Stacy?”

Vernay
rose from the captain’s chair and, after an annoyed glance at Lombardi, moved
back to the auxiliary control station.  “Close, but not exactly.  It is either
going to pass to starboard less than a light-minute from us and continue to the
Titan tunnel point or it is intercepting us.”

Lombardi
walked the three steps to the captain’s console.  She reached over the panel
and extrapolated the corvette’s course from its present location past
Hussy
and to the tunnel point.  The corvette would indeed pass nearby, but it would also
pass close to nearly all the traffic between it and the Titan tunnel point. 
She grumbled in frustration.  “So, it is either going to stop us or it is going
to pass by harmlessly.  Any other astute observations, Lieutenant?”

Vernay
flinched at the verbal jab but tried to ignore it.  “Captain,” she said with
emphasis, “you requested to be notified in the event a system defense ship
changed its course.”

The
tension between Vernay and Lombardi was apparent to all on the bridge,
especially Heskan. 
Once again, I’m caught in the middle,
he thought. 
How
does this keep happening?
  “Good work, Stacy,” Heskan commended.  He
quickly asked, “Jack, have you heard any kind of warning about us?”

Truesworth
shook his head.  “No, sir, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t receive one.  There
could be a warning in any of the standata updates we’ve received but if Brewer
placed it in the militarized section, we won’t have access to read it.”  He
shrugged helplessly.  “We could have actually transmitted a warning to that
corvette about ourselves and not even known it.”

Heskan
kicked himself. 
I should have tried to get software from Kite that would
have allowed us to read the military parts of the standata.  It never even
occurred to me.
  He stared at the system plot.  “Options?”

“We
could always change course,” Vernay suggested.  “Head in-system and see if the
corvette corrects to intercept.”

“We
cannot reverse course, though,” Lombardi advised.  “It would invite suspicion.”

“Even
heading in-system is going to look odd,” Vernay admitted.

Either
we act and potentially make ourselves stand out,
Heskan thought,
or we sit
tight for an agonizing hour while that ‘vette sails toward us.  There’s still
enough time to reverse course and escape the system.
  He thought back to
the freighter,
Vagabond
, and how her captain had panicked and fled
Skathi even though Heskan did not intend to stop it.  His thoughts then turned
to
Anelace
waiting inside the Beta Field patiently for
Paragon
to
rendezvous with her pirate brethren.  The urge to do something after they lost
contact with the freighter had been nearly overwhelming even when waiting
patiently won the game of cat and mouse.

Heskan
sat back.  “We’ll stay the course,” he decided.  “There could be a thousand
reasons why that corvette came about.  Only one of them involves us.”

Lombardi
leaned close to Heskan and whispered tentatively, “And if their reason is the
one that involves us?”

Heskan
cringed slightly as he looked at her.  “We have no means to fight them, Izzy,”
Heskan confided quietly.  “And even if we did, I honestly don’t think I could.” 
He tilted his head to the side in a mute apology.