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

Vernay’s
private cabin on the
Jewel of the Night
was one of the largest, offering
more than enough room for the meeting between herself, Selvaggio, Truesworth,
and Brown.  All four sat hunched over the computer screen inlaid into the
cabin’s desk.  Vernay’s datapad was slaved to the universal docking port on the
side of it.

A
dozen freighter models cluttered the screen.  Brown’s hand swept over them one
by one, purging six from view.  “These ain’t no good, L.T.  Anythin’ their size
is gonna be a liner an’ that’ll raise red flags as soon as we divert from their
established trade routes.”  Brown used his index finger and thumb to zoom in on
the remaining six ship types.

“You
don’t have to call us by our ranks anymore, Chief,” Vernay said before reflecting
on the irony of her statement.

Brown
ignored the comment.  “We need a tramp freighter so we can go where we want.  Somethin’
small enough that we can operate safely back to Anthe an’ we also need it to
have internal holds.”  He stopped his scan and looked at Vernay.  “Do we know
how many Hollarans we’re gonna have to fit?”

Vernay
scratched her head before shaking it.  “No, but a heavy cruiser can have
upwards of eight hundred personnel.”

Brown
exhaled loudly.  “Yeah, I know.  That’s what I’m talkin’ about.  Even the
largest freighters in the Republic don’t have anywhere near the living quarters
fer that many people.  Not to mention the logistics capability to wash an’ feed
that many folks.”  He stared absently at the wall.

Vernay
leaned closer to the monitor.  “These designs are the freighters matched to the
names that we think were involved in the Skathi pirate activity.”  She pointed
at the computer screen. “These are our choices, Chief.”

Selvaggio
sat back in her chair.  “How do we know this, Stacy?”

Vernay
opened her mouth but Truesworth answered for her.  “Because the captain’s
brilliant, that’s how.  All those months we spent in Skathi, Diane?  Captain
Heskan analyzed the shipping patterns of the freighters that operated in Skathi
and discovered that the pirate freighters all eventually sailed to Erriapius
after loading their drugs in the Beta Field.”

“The
captain thinks that’s where their main distribution system was,” Vernay added. 
“They used big freighters to get the drugs out of Skathi in periodic, huge
shipments and then went to Erriapius to allocate the drugs to smaller vessels
that would transport them to individual systems in the Republic.  His analysis
of tramp freighters routinely in Erriapius with the freighters seen in Skathi
resulted in our list of targets.”

“At
least, that’s the theory,” Truesworth said.  “Paragon turned out to be a pirate
freighter so it does bear out.”

Vernay
pointed to a list of ship names off to the side of the computer screen.  “This
is the master list Captain Heskan worked out.  He thinks these ships are running
the contraband and that makes them open game for us.”  Vernay manipulated the
computer controls, eliminating two additional unsuitable freighter models from
the screen.  “Getting back to the chief’s point, the captain thought we could
use internal holds as makeshift barracks,” Vernay said.  “I don’t know how he
was planning on handling the logistics of food and such but it’s not like we’re
deploying for six months; we just have to get to the Commonwealth.”  She looked
at Brown.  “How long do you figure that will take?”

“Depends
on the route,” Brown answered.  “Take the shortest route an’ we could be there
in a little more than a week but that means sailin’ straight through the front
lines.  There’s no way we’d make it past Second Fleet.  It’d be suicide tryin’
to run the freighter blockade in Sponde.”  Brown quickly input commands into
Vernay’s datapad and a map of the Brevic Republic appeared on the desktop.  The
Anthe star system glowed in the Republic’s upper left corner.

“The
safest route would be east,” Selvaggio said.  “We could be out of the Republic by
our fourth dive.”  She pointed at the tunnels between Anthe, Titan and Tetium. 
“And these tunnels are Type B; we could be in Tetium in less than a day.”  Her
finger continued to trace the route farther east.  “Then, just a standard dive
to Despina and after that, we’re out of the Republic.”

Brown
zoomed the galaxy map out to display not only the Republic but also the Solarian
Federation and Hollaran Commonwealth.  Selvaggio’s route ended in the
Federation, on the opposite side of the Republic from the Commonwealth.

The raven-haired
navigator sighed.  “I know, Chief.  We’d have to spend months sailing to the
Commonwealth, skirting the Republic’s border.”  She looked away from the
desktop map and at the window-mode wall screen of Vernay’s cabin.  The
Jewel
was in tunnel space between Anthe and Tarvos but the starscape looked ordinary. 
“If we don’t take the direct route to the Commonwealth or the safest but longer
route through the Federation… then what?”

Brown
considered the map for several moments.  “Well, we’re gonna have to sail
through Titan.  There’s no way around it.  An’ since east an’ west are out of
the question, that really just leaves Bree.”

Truesworth
shuddered.  “Would we really risk sailing through the capital?  Isn’t that
where they’ll take us after we’re captured?  Why rush it?”

Vernay
chuckled lightly.  “We have to stay ahead of the information wave, Jack.  When
we break out the Hollarans, we won’t just slip away like we did last night.  If
we don’t take the routes that keep us ahead of the alerts that they’ll send
from Anthe, the Republic will set up blockades that we won’t be able to avoid.”

“But, Stacy,”
Selvaggio stated, “information travels at the speed of light.”  She pointed at
the freighter designs.  “These ships will be lucky to make point two-C.  We’re
dead meat.”

*  *  *

Heskan
entered
Envoy-3’s
lavishly furnished conference room behind Jennings. 
Brewer and Neal, already seated in plush leather chairs, waited until the pair
reached the table before Brewer brusquely stated, “I trust your investigation
moves forward.”

Jennings
cast a sideways glance at Heskan before answering, “Yes, sir.  We have several
items to report.  Since the search of quarters on Kite yielded nothing, we have
allowed the destroyer to move to the Anthe construction yard.  Also, the
traitors did not remain on this orbital.  Our search was exhaustive.  This
leaves us with either the planet or the group took passage on a ship.  Thirty-nine
ships departed the Anthe orbital between the time Truesworth and Brown freed
the traitors and when we suspended departures.”  Jennings punched at his
datapad briefly before the inlaid conference table console flashed into
brilliance.  “As you can see, three of the departures were system defense
ships, while the other thirty-six were civilian.”

“We
can immediately rule out the SDSs,” Heskan interjected.

Jennings
looked crossly at Heskan but continued, “Seventeen ships that departed were
intra-system journeys, and all but six of those have already returned to the
orbital.  The remaining ships were fourteen freighters and five passenger ships
that left the system.”

“Where
are the six remaining intra-system ships right now?” Brewer asked.

Heskan
remained silent as Jennings answered, “Two are private ships touring the outer
planets, one is a maintenance ship for an asteroid mining company and another
is a helium-three skimmer.  The last two are docked, one at the research
station around Anthe Five and the other at the fortress near the tunnel point
to Titan.”

Brewer
continued to gaze at the information on the table console.  “An intra-system
ship would be pointless to run in.  What about the ships that have left Anthe?”

Heskan
looked at Jennings and, when the I.S. agent remained mute, began to speak. 
“The freighters are very difficult to account for, sir.  We have each of their
names and listings but only nine are regular liners with established routes. 
The other five are privately owned, tramp freighters and they go wherever the
profits take them.”

Jennings
added, “It’s unlikely that the traitors hopped a freighter, but possible.  A
group that small could have booked passage on a freighter with enough living
space and we’d never know because freighters aren’t required to have a
passenger manifest other than their crew.”

Brewer
hissed under his breath.  “Have we at least checked the five passenger ship
manifests?”

Jennings
nodded quickly, eager to assuage his superior.  “Yes, three are regular cruise
liners.  None of the fugitives appear on their passenger lists.  The other two
were private charters for businesses, one is a company named Adventures
Incorporated and the other is called Hydroculturists Limited.  However, because
the companies sponsored the trips, only the company names appear on the
manifests.”

Brewer
looked away angrily but remained silent.

“We’re
working with both liners to get the actual passenger manifest for each trip but
since neither ship’s home port is Pallene, it will take some time.”  Jennings
shrugged apologetically.

“One
good thing,” Heskan offered.  “Both of those charters have destinations that
make it unlikely the traitors boarded these ships.”  Heskan pointed to the
first ship and struggled over its Russian name.  “Meh-fech-skya Ez-ye-da is
headed toward Novyah Dom.  The other ship, the Jewel of the Night, will dock in
Erriapius.”

“Do
any of these people call either of those systems home?” Brewer asked.

Jennings
shook his head.  “No.  Erriapius would be a horrible choice because it’s a dead
end system.  Novyah Dom would be marginally better but there are much wiser systems
to charter a ship toward if you are looking to escape Brevic justice.”

Brewer
pointed at the Russian ship’s name.  “I want more investigation into this ship
and its passengers.  They may have chosen a less optimal destination to throw
us off.”  He nodded as if to confirm his own findings and then scrutinized
Jennings.  “I hope you have accomplished more than this during the last week.”

Jennings
shifted nervously on his feet before responding, “Well, they are not on the
orbital and it’s unlikely they have left the system.  That leaves only
Pallene.  We’re scouring electronic records for telltales of financial
transactions by any of them.  We believe it’s only a matter of time before
they’re forced to use a datapad to pay for something.  We’ll be alerted when
that happens.  We also have agents pouring through the surveillance records at Duresin’s
star port on the night of the escape.  Lastly, and most importantly, we have a
solid lead.”  Jennings looked optimistically to Heskan.

Heskan
manipulated his datapad and the conference table console blinked briefly to
replace the list of ships with an electronic message.  “I received correspondence
from Jack Truesworth, sir.  Agent Jennings analyzed the message trail and it
originated from Pallene.”

Brewer
sat up immediately.  “This would confirm that he fled to the capital city then,
yes?”

Heskan
nodded.  “Yes.  This message was most likely sent from his datapad and Jennings
says the transmission trail shows it passed through several Pallene relays on
its way to me.  It appears to have been sent on a delivery delay, but Agent
Jennings’ people insist that the datapad that sent this is on the planet’s
surface.”

“This
is fact,” Jennings attested.  “I believe the time delay was meant to cast doubt
on whether they are still on the surface but a delayed message sends out two
pulses.  The first, at the moment the message is entered into the buffer and a
second when the message is actually sent. Both pulses occurred on Pallene.”

“In
other words,” Heskan simplified, “Truesworth’s datapad was on Pallene the night
of the escape and on Pallene when I received this message three hours ago.”

“We
must double our efforts on Pallene then,” Brewer concluded.

Heskan held up a hand
and then motioned to the table.  “Please consider the message first, Mr.
Secretary.”  Brewer cast his eyes down and read:

Commander
Heskan,

I
have no doubt been branded a traitor and deserter but I promise you that I am neither. 
I simply could not sit idly by and watch the woman I love be wrongfully detained. 
Diane is a Brevic loyalist and to say otherwise is to cast doubt on what
loyalty truly means.  I can’t help but feel a great hatred toward the Hollarans
because, quite simply, Diane would never have been thrown into this situation
without their interference.  I understand why you, sir, were forced to work
with them; Kite’s survival depended upon the Hollies.  But to think that our
hated enemy would deal such a blow to not only Diane’s career but also her very
freedom is beyond belief. 

Then
there are the pilots!  Denise Gables was one of the Navy’s best, most loyal
sailors, and the Republic would throw her life away.  Think of how much your
crew has bonded during the war.  Now understand that Denise, Andrew, Diane and
I have known each other far longer than even that.  We all go back to Anelace. 
How could we allow people we love, comrades we know to be faithful citizens of
the Republic, to endure this travesty?