Troy Rising 3 - The Hot Gate (20 page)

“No,” Benito said. “I’m interested in whether these are…well ‘real’ DPs or a bunch of school kids or what?”

“Don’t know,” Dana said. “I’m hoping we’ll get more information when we make the rendezvous.”

“Who are we meeting?”

“Don’t know, again,” Dana said. “Some people from the 142nd. And, yes, I’ll probably know them.”

“Old home week. At least you get to see people you know.”

“In something like this, we need to be as out of sight and out of mind as possible,” Dana said. “If this is an actual DP mission, the last possible thing we want is to be noticed. There’s no ‘good’ way to be noticed in something like this.”

“You probably need to talk to Palencia about that more than I.”

“I’ll brief him in,” Dana said. “And if he steps on his hooter and makes me look bad, I will brief him again in a null-grav court.”

* * *

“One-Four-Two Flight, this is One-Four-Three flight, EM2 Parker.”

“Cooooomet!” the speaker caroled.

“Yo, Comet! How’s the tat?”

“Chief?” Dana said, her eyes wide. “Thermal?”

“The same, babe,” Chief Barnett said. “And the MOG.”

“EM Parker, good to hear from you.”

“Captain DiNote,” Dana replied. “It is a pleasure to hear from you as well.”

“Parker, cut in your people, please.”

“They’re already online, sir,” Dana said, looking over at Velasquez. He had his head craned around and was looking at her with wide eyes. She shrugged as if to say “What?”

“One-Four-Three flight, this is Captain Chris DiNote, commander of the One-Four-Two squadron. This combined unit is hereby designated MOG flight. Mission of MOG flight has been modified. Element two, consisting of Shuttles Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four of the One-Four-Three will proceed to Buenos Aires Spaceport there to take onboard a party of ten. Party shall consist of following Distinguished Persons. Dr. Jorge Herrera, US Ambassador to Argentina. Dr. Diego Barreiro, Foreign Minister of Argentina. General Alberto Barcena, Alliance Forces, Sud. Dr. Aloysius Werden, Foreign Minister of Chile. Mr. Julio Tarrago, President of Apollo Mining Corporation, Latin American operations. One aide per DP. MOG Two will then and only then proceed to Pentagon SP to take on additional DPs.”

“Holy hell,” Dana whispered.

“Method of mission. Birds shall land, observing all traffic control orders, in tight and clean formation with no extraneous operational parameters. Flight crew shall shut down non-essential systems. Ramp door shall be lowered by flight engineer. DPs shall be escorted to the birds by coxswain of each bird. DPs shall determine seats. Flight crew shall not become involved in any discussion of seating arrangements. When all personnel are safely seated, coxswain shall enter flight compartment and begin pre-flight. Engineer will close doors and return to flight compartment. Bird shall take off and proceed, following prepared flight directions, to Pentagon SP. Such movement shall not cause vessel to exceed one gravity of inertia.

“Commander’s intent. Do not make the Navy look bad. MOGs Two flight was specifically tasked to this mission despite having the most junior personnel. Present a professional demeanor at all time. Exchange minimum communication with personnel, including aides, necessary for safe completion of mission. I hope I don’t have to point out that since these are bigwigs and they’re each limited to one aide, that that ‘aide’ is going to be someone nearly as important. Both the DPs and the aides have been informed that Myrmidons have a minimum of creature comforts. You’re not there to serve tea. Do your jobs and try not to screw up. Any questions?”

“Captain DiNote, EM3 Palencia, sir.”

“Go.”

“Do we know the names of the aides?”

“Negative.”

“Roger, sir.”

“Any other questions? I’m informed that members of the One-Four-Three from the Latin countries are mostly from high class families. I think you probably know very well how to present yourselves. Let’s try to show the best face possible. I need a confirm. CM2 Benito.”

“Best face, aye.”

“CM3 Palencia.”

“Best face, aye.”

“EA Velasquez.”

“Best face, aye, sir.”

“Comet.”

“High, tight, clean and pro, sir.”

“Okay, enjoy your flight.”

* * *

“EM2 Parker, EM3 Palencia.”

“Go, Pal.”

“Permission to place a personal hypercom call.”

“Negative,” Dana said, trying not to sigh. “I don’t know who in your family you want to call, but until we’re back on a station I don’t want any interference.”

“This… I’m not trying to interfere… Dana. I want to call my father.”

“That was sort of what I meant, Pal.” She wondered about his tone. He’d never called her Dana before. He was either stroking her or… She wasn’t sure what.

“It’s… It may be important to the mission, EM. It’s not strictly personal. This is… This is socio-political. I want to find out if my father is the aide chosen by the Foreign Minister!”

“Is that possible?” Dana said.

“You still don’t get it,” Palencia said. “I’ve met most of these DPs. I played polo with Pedro Barreiro, the foreign minister’s son. We went to school together. And, yes, my father is the Under Minister for Interstellar Affairs. That usually means aliens but this is off-planet. It’s his specialty. I don’t know what, exactly, is going on but if it includes Apollo it’s probable my father is the aide. If there’s some sort of high-level meeting going on in Wolf, Dr. Barreiro isn’t going to want to use the hypercom to consult. For that matter… It’s possible Benito’s father will be on the trip. Hell, Dana, it’s possible this is going to be one big family reunion! Velazquez’ father is one of Chile’s under ministers for off-planet affairs. Not as high as my father, you understand…”

“Holy hell,” Dana said. “That sort of puts a crinkle in the mission. I’m not sure… Pal, MOGs needs to know about this.”

“That is why I need to speak to my father. Before we land.”

“Stand by,” Dana said. “Captain DiNote?”

“Comet? What’s up, Tat-Gal.”

“Sir, there is a possible crinkle in the mission. I would like to three-way with Palencia.”

“Go.”

“Pal…short form.”

“Captain, the reason I asked about aides is that my father is the Under Minister for Interstellar Affairs. It is possible, even probable, given the small number of personnel chosen for this trip that Deygay chose him as his aide. It is additionally possible that there are additional family connections among the aides. CM2 Benito’s father is an admiral in Alliance, Sud, forces. If there are ever enough Sud units to make up a task force he is the most likely officer to be given command. I would like to contact my father and find out. Because, with due respect, sir, in this sort of thing the last thing you want is…”

“Surprises,” MOGs said. “The last thing I wanted. Rather than contacting your father, I’m going to contact Alliance liaison and apprise them. We’ll try to get a listing of accompanying personnel.”

“Permission to speak, sir,” Dana said.

“Go.”

“Why don’t we just ask Athena? She’ll probably know.”

“Cause…that makes too much sense? Athena?”

“It’s what Comet would probably call a three-fer,” the AI replied instantly. “The accompanying personnel, all of whom should be considered as DPs, include Rear Admiral Cruz Benito, father of CM3 Benito, Dr. Guillermo Palencia, Under Minster for Interstellar Affairs, Argentina, CM3 Palencia’s father and Dr. Raul Velasquez, Deputy Undersecretary for Interplanetary Affairs, Chile, father of EM Velasquez. This was a matter of not quite coincidence. As EM3 Palencia can point out, most of the members of the One-Four-Three are from families in some way connected with international or interstellar affairs of their respective countries. Most of the rest of the aides have relations in the One-Four-Three. Mostly sons, some nephews.”

“Well, that explains why they can all get our State Department’s attention,” Dana said, bitterly.

“Indeed,” Athena replied.

“Comet?” MOGs commed.

“Nothing, sir,” Dana said. “Do they know the identities of the pilots?”

“No,” Athena replied. “But due to the interconnectedness and familial nature of the coxswains and engineers of the One-Four-Three it could be more or less expected that some of the DPs would know some of the members. The only shock, and this is something that may be an issue, may be EM2 Parker. However, Parker’s name was on the basic formulating document. I’m unsure if the original issuer was aware of the socio-political aspect or not. It could go either way.”

“Why would SecNav send Parker if she’s…” MOGs commed. “Parker, something you want to tell me?”

“Long story, sir,” Dana said, looking over at Velasquez. He was pointedly paying attention to his engineering screen.

“SecNav was not the originator of the basic formulation,” Athena replied. “All other items, however, are classified.”

“Who the hell could get all these people to drop everything and travel to Wolf system, on Myrmidons, without any aides that really meet the definition, for a meeting?” MOGs asked.

“Classified.”

“Then we’re not going to speculate,” MOGs commed. “Okay… Palencia, tell all the… Sud? members of the flight to contact their parents and let them know they’re going to be arriving on earth in short order.”

“Aye, sir,” Palencia replied.

“Please let this be the last issue with getting these people to Wolf.”

* * *

“Captain,” Chief Barnett said. She was according him the honor of flying as his engineer.

“Yeah, Chief?” MOGs said.

“You know how we’ve been getting these reply by endorsements from the State Department about the Sud guys?”

“Yeah,” the squadron CO replied. They were a pain in the ass but he’d had one of the geeks write a program to give random platitudes. He just hit his mood and it automatically generated. Some of the invective was pretty fun.

“Dana’s been back-channeling for advice since she got to the One-Four-Three,” Barnett said. “And she’s been catching nothing but grief. Dana has collected forty-three of these things. I just checked and, sure enough, about half the people among the DPs have contributed.”

“Holy hell,” MOGs said, blinking. “Are they all as petty and stupid as…”

“ ‘You’re being mean to my precious boy,’ sir? Yes. For that matter, one of the DPs was the originator of two of the ones we’ve gotten.”

“Hell,” MOGs repeated. “I don’t know how to handle… This is international affairs stuff. I haven’t had to play that game in a long time and it depends on the culture. Damnit. Athena!”

“Captain?” the AI said.

“Got a second again?”

“I’m upgraded, I’ve had my task level reduced and things are pretty quiet at the moment. I’m actually a bit bored.”

“Are you keeping up with some of the political aspects of the Latin contingents and their relationship with…” Captain DiNote stopped and frowned.

“The fact that the Foreign Minister of Argentina is the originator of two complaints about racist treatment of personnel assigned to your unit, Captain? As the Chief would put it, there’s an AI network. If it’s not strictly outside our classification, and not much is, we share information. So, yes.”

“What the hell do we… Do you have the programming to give some advice about the political implications? How do I play this?”

“Ignore it,” Athena said. “Act as if it never happened. As the Foreign Minister will ignore your somewhat blunt and insulting replies. He’s not going to give you the cold shoulder any more than a Foreign Minister is going to do so given that you’re a lowly captain. But the essential aspect of this meeting has to do with the issues with Myrmidons and especially the One-Four-Three’s shuttles. Thus using Myrmidons instead of Columbias, visiting Granadica and the group that is being gathered. The shuttles will be packed. So while you are of a rank that normally would be below the level the Foreign Minister would normally deign to notice and although you have sent across his desk a very scathing reply by endorsement he is going to notice you as someone he has to be diplomatic with. He will, therefore, on the surface, ignore all previous negative interactions and appear very friendly. I would suggest you take the same approach.”

“Makes sense,” Barnett said.

“Agreed. I hope he’s playing by the same playbook.”

“The Argentineans, all of the Latin countries, are doing this because they want something. Something to them very large and important. Not from you, but they will see you as a means to that end. Rather, they are aware that if they treat you harshly or negatively, it will reduce the likelihood of their obtaining what they want.”

“What do they want?” Barnett asked.

“Classified,” Athena replied. “It is one of those things about being an AI. I know. All the AIs know. But they have so far concealed their agenda from the other parties. It is not our jobs to engage in functional espionage. We are, in fact, constrained against it except in matters of real security. This does not meet the test. Ergo, we cannot share it. What we are all finding humorous, though, is that their agenda for this meeting, while part of the official agenda of the meeting, has nothing to do with its real purpose. They may end up getting what they want, anyway. But only as a corollary to something they’re entirely unaware is going on. However, if any of that becomes obvious, to them, it will create a very real and serious international incident. So I would suggest you consider that information classified.”

“Will do,” MOGs said, looking at Barnett.

“Lips sealed,” the Chief said.

“Even off the Chief network,” MOGs noted.

“Absolutely.”

“It is likely, however, that they will be less pleasant, initially, to EM2 Parker, who has definitely attracted their ire. Which will be interesting. The Latins are very big about socio-political interactions. Which makes it even more humorous that the largest and most important socio-political aspect of this entire meeting is completely off their radar.”

“Which is?” DiNote asked.

“I think you’ll figure that out shortly after Flight Two arrives at the Pentagon.”