Scout Force (29 page)

      
Captain Hasselrode was waiting for them when LCDR Timmons and Kelly exited the ship.

      
“Come on, you two.
 
The admiral is waiting to see you.”

      
Timmons and Kelly accompanied Captain Hasselrode as he made his way through the dockyard administrative area.
 
They came to a cypher-secured door.
 
Captain Hasselrode punched in the code and pushed open the door.
 
Kelly and the captain followed him through.
 
They walked down a carpeted and paneled hallway and turned into a conference room on the right side.
 
Admiral Craddock was seated at the conference table, reading from a terminal tablet.
 
Kelly and LCDR Timmons stood at attention, waiting for him to acknowledge their presence.

      
Admiral Craddock looked up and said, “Sit down, you two.
 
You aren’t in any trouble.
 
How’s about some coffee?”

      
Both took seats at the table, amazed that they weren’t in hack.
 
Both said they would like some coffee.

      
The admiral keyed his tablet.
 
“Yeoman Brice, bring in that platter, a pot of coffee, and four mugs, please.”

      
A moment passed, while the admiral continued to read off his tablet.
 
The Yeoman came in and set the platter of sandwiches and coffee out on the table.
 
Kelly and LCDR Timmons helped themselves to coffee.
 
Kelly put a sandwich and some sweet pickles on a small plate.
 
He had learned at the Academy to always eat the meal in front of him.

      
Admiral Craddock finished his reading and looked up at both of them.
 
“Good work, you two.
 
Your patrol report looks very thorough.
 
I’ll review your log files later.
 
We’ll get the data you brought back to our tech intel guys to sort out.
 
The most interesting thing is the flame stones.
 
A conservative estimate is that they are worth 200 to 300 million credits.
 
I can find lots of uses for them.
 
Whatever the Indigo folks were selling was that important.
 
That is bad for us.
 
We’ll just have to break into the data devices and see what they were giving away.
 
You’ll be interested to know that the Gurkha never reported its missing shuttle.”

      
“As far as shooting up the K’Rang ship, that was a good call.
 
We’ll dispose of the K’Rang bodies in accordance with their customs.
 
LT Blake, I see here your reference to a ring with a planet and three moons.
 
Where exactly did you find that?”

      
“Sir, that was on the finger of a severed hand and arm.
 
I found it tangled in a bundle of wiring at the edge of the crew compartment section.
 
I took a photo of it.”

      
“We’ll need to find the body that came from.
 
That ring signifies a resident of the K’Rang home world.
 
Only the most trusted and privileged of the K’Rang are allowed to live on the home world.
 
Even people born there have no guarantee that they will be allowed to stay.
 
We’ll need to know more about that individual.”

      
Kelly ate his sandwich and munched on a pickle while the admiral continued.

      
“It’s a shame the K’Rang shot up the shuttle.
 
We intended to follow them until they made the transfer of what they were bringing back.
 
I wanted to collect evidence against whoever is running this operation before I brought it down.
 
There’s a traitor out there, and I may not be able to catch him or her now.
 
We’ll have to hope we can find incriminating evidence in the data or on the ships you brought back.
 
Of course, I don’t need unimpeachable evidence to take action.”

      
“When the tech intel people give me a thumbs up that they have all they need from you, I want you to give me and my staff a ride back down to the planet.”

      
The captain was beaming.
 
“We’d be honored, sir.”

      
LCDR Timmons stood up and got himself a sandwich and some chips.
 
Kelly could tell the captain was relieved.
 
He had been worried that he might face a board of inquiry for firing on the K’Rang ship.
 
The two of them ate lunch while the admiral reviewed data coming in on his tablet.
 
When the coffee ran low, Yeoman Brice brought more.
 
LCDR Timmons asked to speak to his ship and gave orders to prepare for transporting the admiral and his staff to the planet’s surface.

      
The Vigilant left the orbiting dock with the admiral and his staff on board.
 
The trip was uneventful.
 
Each section chief made sure their people carried out their duties in an exemplary manner.

      
The crew was usually fairly informal on landings, but this time they sat their positions almost at attention.
 
In spite of their obvious discomfort, they made a textbook perfect approach and landing.
 
Chief Watson had six crewmen standing as side boys for the admiral’s exit down the gangway.

      
Admiral Craddock came over to LCDR Timmons at the top of the gangway.
 
“Commander, my congratulations on a very successful patrol.
 
You and your crew are to be commended for your actions.
 
I’m granting you and your crew a week-long stand down.
 
We’ll use some of that week to conduct debriefings, but there should be time for some leave in there.”

      
“Thank you, sir, it has been an honor to be your flagship for a short time.”

 
      
Admiral Craddock saluted and stepped down off the Vigilant.
 
His staff followed him off and into waiting vehicles to take them to HQ.

      
LCDR Timmons relayed to the crew the admiral’s largesse of a week off from patrolling.
 
A loud cheer erupted from the crew.
 
Kelly retired to his quarters to work on the maintenance and resupply orders.
 
He also took time to send Candy a short message that he was back and asked if her offer still stood.
 
She replied almost immediately.
 
Her video came up.
 
She was obviously sitting at her desk at work.

      
“Kelly, of course the invite still holds.
 
When did you get back?
 
When can you come down?”

      
“We just landed a few minutes ago.
 
I’m going to be tied up for a few days.
 
It will be later this week before I can make it down.
 
I’ll have to let you know once I’m more certain.”

      
“Let me know when you have more certainty.
 
I’ll take a couple of days off and show you around.
 
I’ve found some great restaurants, some plays, and some nightclubs to go to.
 
I’m really looking forward to your visit.”

      
“I've got to get back to work, Candy.
 
I’ll let you know when I can come down.
 
Bye now.”

      
Kelly sent the maintenance, supply, and provisioning lists to the port logistics sections.
 
He took some time to check for other messages.
 
His mother had left a message.
 
His bank statement came in.
 
He checked to see if his LTJG pay had shown up.
 
It had.
 
There was a message from Angie, as well.
 
Kelly opened it up and saw Angie, John Kanakis, and CPT Willis gathered around the video cam.

      
“Hey, guy, how are you doing out there sneaking and peeking?
 
Or are you snooping and pooping?
 
Send us a message.
 
Let us know what you're up to.
 
The Bolivar will be in the Antares system on
 
2321.07.22.
 
We want to see your sorry butt when we get there.
 
We all will have something to celebrate.
 
General Bugarov will be departing at Antares Station into retirement.
 
We’re all going to get so drunk.
 
Make sure the club has enough booze laid on.
 
We’ll have a powerful thirst after seven months on deployment.
 
Hey, we got to go now.
 
Take care and try and be there when we get in, you hear?”
 
The video file ended with all three of them laughing.

      
The next message was from Tammy.
 
She told him that her flight detachment was being upgraded to the S-660 shuttle from their current S-500s.
 
She would be off planet at the Shuttle manufacturer going through transition training for the next month.
 
That simplified things for his spending a few days in the southern hemisphere with Candy.
 
He had wondered how he was going to get south without having a potentially uncomfortable flight on Tammy’s shuttle.

      
Kelly got back to work.
 
Fleet paperwork multiplied like rabbits.
 
It was several hours before he was done.

* * * * *

      
After two days of debriefings, Kelly was allowed three days leave.
 
He contacted Candy to ensure that his visit was still okay.
 
She was overjoyed at him visiting.

      
He booked passage on the planetary shuttle and packed.
 
He arranged with Chief Watson to assume his duties during his absence.
 
He met with the captain to close out some last minute items and went out to have dinner with his parents.

      
The following morning he caught transport to the shuttle terminal.
 
He signed in and went into the waiting room for the flight to be called.
 
When the flight was called, he lined up in rank order to board.
 
Kelly felt a hand on his shoulder.

      
“You seem to be out of rank order there, Ensign.”

      
Kelly turned around and came face-to-face with LT Casimirski.
 
Kelly said, “Oh, it’s you.
 
What are you talking about?
 
You can get your hand off my shoulder now, Cas.”

      
“You are approaching insubordination, Mister.”

      
“Look at my shoulder closer, Lieutenant.”

      
Cas moved his hand off the rank insignia on Kelly’s shirt and his jaw dropped.
 
“What kind of joke is this?
 
I can’t believe you would be so stupid as to wear LT’s rank just to get a better seat.”

      
Kelly pulled out his ID card and handed it to LT Casimirski.
 
“I’m not the one being stupid.
 
Now get your hand off me.”

      
LT Casimirski stared at Kelly’s ID card, handed it back, and stomped off mumbling.
 
Kelly moved onboard and took his seat at the front of the shuttle.
 
The passengers settled in and the doors closed.
 
The flight to the southern spaceport was uneventful.
 
Kelly even had time for a short nap.

      
Kelly collected his bag and headed from the military gate into the main terminal.
 
Candy was waiting for him.
 
She gave him a kiss and took his hand to lead him to her ground car.

      
“I’m so happy to see you.
 
I thought you kept running away on patrol to get away from me.”

      
“Not on your life, Candy.
 
It was only my finely honed sense of duty that kept me away.
 
That and the certainty of court-martial.”

      
Candy laughed, put her arm through his and kept walking.
 
They arrived at her ground car.
 
Kelly put his bag in the back and took a seat.
 
She programmed her address and sat back for the ride to her house.

      
“So, Kelly, what have you been up to?
 
Is it anything you can tell me about?”

      
“Nope, not at all.
 
We just went out on a short patrol.
 
Nothing really exciting.”