Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) (24 page)

Lombardi nervously looked at the corvette on the system plot. 
“They will recall it.  How fast can it sail?”

“Point three-three-C,” the entire bridge answered in unison.

Lombardi looked curiously around the room, causing Heskan to smile
widely as he explained, “We have a little experience with the Dagger-class
corvettes.”

“Thar she spins, Captain,” Truesworth noted as
Poniard’s
heading reversed radically and her vector line shortened.

“Who wins the race to the tunnel point,
Tenente
?” Lombardi asked
Selvaggio.

“There’s no queue to Bianca—”

“Like we’d wait,” Vernay interjected.

“—and we’re twenty-four light-minutes from the tunnel point.  At
point one-seven-C, we need two hours, twenty-nine minutes and fifty-nine
seconds until we can dive.”  Selvaggio typed rapidly on her console keyboard. 
“Poniard will enter her weapons envelope in two hours, thirty minutes and
forty-one seconds.”  She double-checked her math.  “Wait a minute, she still has
to accelerate toward us.” 
Poniard’s
growing vector line was long but
still not showing .33
c
.  Selvaggio ran her final tally and turned toward
Lombardi.  “She’s going to be about two minutes too late.”

“Plus the travel time of the mass driver shot,” Vernay pointed
out.

Heskan shivered slightly
.  If things are so desperate that we
have to factor in how long it takes a mass driver round to reach us, God help
us.
  He pressed at his comm panel.

“
Ja,
Kapitän,
”
Hussy’s
engineer
replied.

“Mr.
Müller,” Heskan said serenely, “if Hussy has to
reduce speed, I want my first warning of it to be when her engines explode,
understood?”

Müller chuckled heartily.  “
Ja.
 This is a real good chase,
nein
?  Don’t worry,
Kapitän
, my babies will not
let you down.”

Lombardi asked Heskan, “What if that corvette goes faster than
three-three?”

“Unlikely, ma’am,” Vernay pacified from her station.  “I served on
that class for over a year and if our chief engineer couldn’t coax point three-four-C
from her, nobody can.”

 “U-Uh, Captain,” Truesworth stuttered in incredulity.  “Are those
destroyers changing course?”

On the system plot near the Carme tunnel point, both destroyers’
headings changed.  Their courses settled directly toward
Hussy
.

“I guess Brewer is sending in the big guns,” Heskan speculated calmly. 
“They’re too far away to reach us here and I’m not even sure they can catch us
in Bianca since they can’t go much faster than point two-C.  Still, he has to
send something to Bianca, and Poniard lacks a tunnel drive.”

Lombardi looked at Heskan with weary eyes.  “So what is next?”

He wiped his brow.  “Just whatever is stationed in Bianca, Izzy. 
It won’t be much, probably just a single system defense ship because it’s a
dead system that leads to another dead system inside the Federation.”  He began
to crack a smile.  “We just have to get past that ship and we’re out of Brevic
space.”

“Closer to home,” Lombardi said with longing.

“For
you,” Heskan sighed.

*  *  *

The next hours played out like a brazen, slow-motion heist.  All
of
Hussy’s
deceptions had been torn away but too late to make a
difference.  Her pursuers could do nothing more than continue their fruitless
chase after a prize that had already escaped them.

Heskan kept partial notice of the system plot but focused most of
his attention upon
Hussy’s
propulsion.  His greatest fear was losing one
of the CT-B20 drives, forcing a reduction in speed.  Despite Müller’s
assurances that the freighter could maintain .17
c
, he watched his
engineering status display screen with an untrusting eye.  Müller’s only
protestations were centered on the alarming rate
Hussy
was burning
through her power cell.  It was obvious that the freighter would be forced to
switch to only sails early into the transit of the Bianca system.

Heskan nervously looked at the layout of the looming star system. 
One problem at a time,
he told himself.  He was reviewing the three
tunnel points located in the uninhabitable system when Lieutenant Truesworth
interrupted his study.  “Captain, Bianca Control says we are not cleared to
dive.”

Heskan, still staring down at his console, heard Vernay respond
sarcastically, “Yeah, I don’t think we’re going to wait for clearance, Jack. 
Diane, tunnel the instant you can.”

“Oh sure, ma’am,” Selvaggio said cynically from her station.  “Have
me tunnel without clearance so I’m the one who gets her piloting license
revoked.”  She quashed a warning on her navigation panel and added, “Activating
our tunnel drive in thirty-three seconds.”  Behind her, Vernay announced
Hussy’s
imminent dive over the ship’s main channel.

Heskan looked up with hope at the system plot. 
Poniard
was
just 14
ls
behind but the nearest ship with a tunnel drive,
Envoy-3
,
was still 13
lm
away.  The destroyers, speeding in from the Carme tunnel
point, were even farther out. 
Two days in tunnel space to plot the endgame,
he thought before closing his eyes against the disorientation of their dive.

Starzy Sierzant Vidic knocked loudly on the alloy doorframe to one
of
Hussy’s
living quarters.  The portal cracked open to reveal an
annoyed starszy bosman peering at him.  “Nilis, you pervert, you know this is a
female room.  What do you want?”

Vidic exhaled loudly and asked, “Is Ensign Gables in there?”

The portal closed but, after only a few moments, reopened.  “She
is not here,” the woman answered.

From behind the door, Gables yelled, “He’s lucky I didn’t know him
back then or I would have not only launched every missile I had but kamikazed
my fighter into his house!”

Vidic stared soberly at the NCO before him.  “Then what was that,
Marina?”

She shrugged and replied blithely, “Your guilty conscience?”

Vidic placed his hand inside the doorframe to prevent its closure. 
“Marina, I want to apologize.  I was wrong about her… twice.”

The woman’s eyes tracked to his intruding hand.  “You are going to
look strange holding a rifle with only one hand.”

“Please, let me talk to her.”

“
Patru…
”

“I acted rashly.”

“
Trei…
”

“I acted stupidly.”

“
Doi…
”

“I
must
set this right, Marina,” Vidic pleaded.

“
Unu
.”

Vidic
reacted instantly as the portal slammed shut, missing his fingers by just centimeters. 
He stared at the door in anguish. 
It was not meant to be.

*  *  *

“The remaining three bio-canisters will expire in the next seventy-two
hours,” Müller summarized to the group seated in the chartroom.

“But we still have the oxygen candles, right?” Heskan asked from
the head of the table.

“
Ja,
but that will last us one or two more days at most. 
It won’t be enough,” the engineer predicted.

Kapitan Romano pointed emphatically at the star chart letting acrimony
fill his voice.  “We dive into Bianca in five hours.  If we can even reach the Syrinx
tunnel point, that dive will take an additional three days,
Captain
.  Syrinx
is a dead system,
Captain
.  From Syrinx to Syntyche is another three
days,
Captain
.  Your choice of Bianca has killed us all,
Captain
.”

“Screw you, Romano!” Vernay volleyed back.  “Without Captain
Heskan, you’d be rotting in a cell.”

Romano glared insolently at Vernay and retorted, “With plenty of
oxygen to breathe.”

“I didn’t realize Hollies were livestock that enjoyed being kept
in a pen,” Vernay declared mordantly.

Lombardi stared down Romano and growled sinisterly, “If you do not
stop, Marco, suffocation will be the least of your concerns.”

The room grew still as silence filled the void.  Heskan looked at Romano;
the Hollaran’s cheeks were flushed red with anger.  Opposite of him, Vernay
glared at the engineer with a stern expression that dared him to speak again. 
At the end of the table, Lombardi fixated on the star chart.  The only contrast
to the stillness of the room was the nervous shifting of Müller’s weight from
foot to foot.

Finally,
Heskan said softly, “Mr. Müller, thank you for your report.  You’re dismissed.”

“
Danke
schön
,” he muttered gratefully and quickly evacuated the room.  The portal
closed behind Müller and the quiet resumed.  The rattle of an overhead vent
serenaded the tense, gloomy atmosphere.

Heskan
finally looked up from the table and spoke.  “Kapitan, I understand your
position but Bianca was the only option.  We’re running out of food, fuel and
oxygen but I promise you we’re not dead yet.  Syrinx is a border system.  There
will have to be a ship or some type of orbital in it.  We can barter to extend
our life support.”

“With
what?” Romano asked.  His voice grew accusatory.  “You foolishly jettisoned our
only bargaining chip.”

How
about I offer them one, irritating Hollaran engineer, Kapitan?
  Heskan looked at the coarse
man.  “We’ll trade them
Hussy’s
last lifeboat for oxygen candles. 
Between those and the electrolysis Mr. Müller is rigging, that should get us to
the Syntyche system.”

“And
that system is corporate-controlled,” Vernay said with a rising optimism. 
“We’re sure to find some opportunities there.  Does anyone know what outfit controls
Syntyche?”

“Humex,
mostly,” Lombardi answered.  “It is a major exporter in the bio-mechanical
industry.  They also produce some of the best bio-gels available.”  After a
beat, Lombardi added, “They would offer you half the system for the Parasite
gel.”

Vernay
frowned.  “Wish we had some.”

Heskan
looked curiously at her from across the table.  “How do you know all this,
Isabella?”

“My aunt,
Samanta De Luca, sits on the Board of Naval Procurement.  She deals with many
corporate systems eager to feed the Hollaran military machine.  If we make it
to Syntyche, there are contacts and accounts I can access that will aid us.”

Heskan
sat upright at the good fortune. 
That’s right,
he remembered. 
She
told me that not only was her late uncle an intelligence admiral but his wife
was a big wheel in the defense industry.

Lombardi
looked at Heskan and stated, “If you can get us to Syntyche, Commander, I can take
us home.”

Heskan smiled slyly. 
“Then let’s talk about getting us to Syntyche.”

*  *  *

Welcome
to Bianca,
Heskan thought as his navigator echoed the sentiment with confirmation of their
dive.  The system’s star was a blue giant, 12,700 times brighter than Terra’s star. 
The meager two planets in the system had been blasted clean of any chance for life
by intense solar radiation long ago.  Bianca’s isolated position coupled with
her lack of resources made her a trivial star system destined for obscurity. 
No orbital controller greeted
Hussy
, just the tunnel point’s aging
navigation buoy.  The freighter fired her thrusters to orient toward the next
objective, the Syrinx tunnel point, 32
lm
away.

Inside
Hussy’s
bridge, her wall screen presented the desolation of the system. 
Hussy
shared the entire section of space with just three other ships.  Two
of the three were freighters passing between Bianca’s three tunnel points; the third
was a patrol craft, stationed 6
ls
from the New London tunnel point.

Lieutenant
Selvaggio had just begun to re-energize the ship’s smartlines when Heskan called
out, “Incoming message, Stacy.  It’s from the PC.”

The
right half of the wall screen transformed into the face of a female lieutenant. 
“CSV Hussy, this is Lieutenant Dorothy Gwen of BRS Kit.  We’ve received some
interesting alerts in the last three hours via standata, and one of them is about
you.  You will heave to and prepare to be boarded.  Gwen out.”

“Maintain
your course, Diane,” Vernay ordered from the captain’s chair.  “Raise the sails
and keep us moving.”  She looked across the bridge to Heskan for support and
then glanced down at her uniform’s blouse.  Her collar was already damp with
sweat.  “Here we go,” she mumbled.

Vernay
smiled confidently toward the wall screen and answered, “Captain Gwen, this is
Lieutenant Stacy Vernay of BRS Kite.  We are a deep cover ship en route to Syntyche
with critical cargo.  Pursuant to ISC Rules 77.4 and Brevic Military
Regulations, Section 23, we will proceed on course.  IFF incoming.”  She looked
assertively to her right and ordered, “Lieutenant, handshake with Kit.”