First Command (17 page)

* * * * *

      
Kelly did not expect the courier to turn back toward him.
 
He ordered a mini-missile aimed at the courier ship engines, to bring him to a halt.
 
The missile left the pod, streaked past the Red Eagle, turned back, and lined up with the exhaust nacelles just as the Red Eagle made a hard turn to port. They didn’t hit the engines, but blew off part of the Red Eagle’s port atmospheric wing.
 
The Red Eagle slowed to below FTL to be able to bring his gun turret to bear.
 
Kelly slowed down to below FTL to keep him from getting too far behind and slipping away.
 
The Red Eagle gunner, with a powerful particle beam cannon, got in a good shot and took out the camera and the dorsal or upper tail gun.
 
Vigilant was now blind astern.
 
If he had fired a little lower, he might have taken out the top engine.
 
Kelly decided to end this deadly ballet and lined the Vigilant to bring all guns to bear amidships on the courier ship.
 
He ordered a sharp turn to port and brought the Vigilant around to fire on the Red Eagle, probably cutting it in half.

      
Kelly asked for damage reports as he awaited the firing solution to present itself.
 
Engineering reported damage to the dorsal engine nacelle and rear camera.
 
Gunnery reported the top rear gun was out of commission, but the other two were still functional.
 
Engineering reported one man to sickbay for burns from an arcing relay.

      
Yeoman Benitez came up on the shipboard communicator and announced, “Captain, I have a message from Admiral Craddock for you – let the K’Rang courier escape.
 
I say again, let the K’Rang ship escape.”

      
Kelly, confused, asked Benitez to confirm the order.
 
She told him she already had.
 
It was a genuine order.

      
Kelly ordered his gunners to miss, but miss closely.
 
The top turret gunner missed a little too closely and took out the K’Rang ship’s turret.
 
Kelly ordered evasive to start the ship tumbling then cut power to the engines.
 
The Vigilant passed beneath the courier ship and tumbled off through space.

      
The K’Rang ship did not hesitate.
 
It increased speed to FTL power 5.5 and left the Vigilant behind.
 
Kelly kept the ship tumbling until the courier ship was off their short-range sensors.

      
While the K’Rang ship sped away, he sent a message saying the order had been carried out and asked for clarification.
 
The reply merely said return to base and job well done.

      
Kelly ordered the helm to make course for Antares Base at FTL power 5.
 
He was anxious to find out why he let a K’Rang espionage ship escape across the frontier with the secret to the Republic’s strategic advantage.
 
His order didn’t make sense, but he checked the raw message file and it was sent from the Admiral.
 
His release code was on the original message, confirmation, and subsequent order.

      
Kelly secured from general quarters, turned the conn over to Chief B, and did a quick walk-thru inspection of his ship, occasionally mumbling to himself about strange orders and admirals.

* * * * *

      
H’Topa was overjoyed.
 
The enemy scout was disabled, possibly with their top engine damaged, and they were able to slip away.
 
Nothing stood between them and the frontier.
 
H’Topa ordered M’Toth to increase speed to maximum and was told they were already at maximum.
 
He fidgeted and paced across the bridge until M’Toth kicked him out, telling him to wait in his cabin if he was nervous.
 
He was disturbing the bridge watch.
 
M’Toth would let him know when they were safe.

      
H’Topa went back to his cabin, opened the safe and inventoried the material that would even the odds for the K’Rang against the Humans.
 
He decided to calm his nerves by going through the packages one-by-one, cataloguing the contents, checking for completeness, and duplicating the digital files on a master data device.
 
As he finished securing the data back in the safe, he allowed his thoughts to wander.
 
J’Kraul and he were safe.
 
Against all odds, he had achieved total success.
 
If the Analytical Cabal could translate the Blakes’ language, then they would have the transporter ring plans in the inventors’ own writing.
 
H’Topa imagined this coup might even lead to promotion to the nobility.
 
Even a minor noble lived quite comfortably.
 
A baronet would suit H’Topa quite well.
 
J’Kraul deserved a full barony for all the heat he had been taking from the Elders.

      
Captain M’Toth came up on the communicator to announce they were about to cross the frontier and would H’Topa care to come forward to watch.
 
H’Topa would and did.
 
The burden of his mission lifted from H’Topa as soon as they passed through the gap in the Human sensors and mines and on through the deactivated K’Rang mine and sensor cluster.
 
G’Durin was now only two weeks away.
 
H’Topa was becoming ecstatic.

* * * * *

      
Kelly reviewed the video of the damage to the dorsal tail gun mount.
 
Chief Miller sent a crawler robot out to get a look at the damage, assess it, and make sure it wasn’t getting worse.
 
The video showed a black gash across the fairing around the dorsal tail gun.
 
A view into the gash showed the rear view camera missing several pieces, including the lens.
 
The rail gun’s top rail and several magnets were shot away.
 
It wasn’t bad damage as battle damage went, but would require a few days in drydock when they returned.
 
He pushed their speed up a half, in a hurry to solve this mystery.

* * * * *

      
The Red Eagle entered the G’Durin space traffic control zone and was escorted in by two K’Rang attack craft.
 
As they landed at the main military spaceport, the two attack craft climbed and executed matching left and right rolls.
 
Dignitaries were gathered around the Red Eagle as it landed and parked in a VIP parking position.
 
Captain M’Toth changed quickly into his dress uniform.
 
H’Topa gathered all the data and put it in a shoulder case.
 
The captain marched down the gangplank alongside H’Topa.

      
H’Topa looked around and saw the Imperial Analytical Cabal chief, the Collection Directorate chief, and his friend J’Kraul.
 
The Collections chief met them at the bottom of the gangplank, took the case from H’Topa, and led them over to introduce them to Baron N’Gana, recently appointed Chief Secretary to the Elders.
 
Baron N’Gana had lost a son during a courier ship mission and always met each returning courier ship.
 
His status as Secretary to the Elders and a member of the Intelligence Coordinating Committee gave him special access to operational information.

      
Baron N’Gana sniffed muzzles with H’Topa and said, “Shadow Lead Agent H’Topa, you have accomplished a great task for the Empire.
 
The Council of Peers meets now to determine suitable rewards for your, J’Kraul’s, and Captain M’Toth’s service to the Empire.
 
I cannot say what it is yet, as the council is still deliberating, but it will be commensurate with your service to the Empire.
 
The Elders wished for me to congratulate you and express their thanks.
 
They have directed that your names be entered into the scrolls of the M’Drella, honoring the Empire’s heroes.”

      
H’Topa was overwhelmed.
 
He had dreamed of a cape with a white lining, denoting nobility.
 
It seemed this somewhat officious noble was suggesting such a dream might come true.
 
All this ceremony and excitement was starting to get to H’Topa.
 
He had not eaten or slept in the last 36 hours.
 
He felt himself start to fade.
 
He explained that he and Captain M’Toth were exhausted and asked if they could be released.

      
His request was granted immediately and J’Kraul took him and M’Toth to the best restaurant he knew.
 
They celebrated their mutual success and dreamed what their rewards might be.

* * * * *

      
Kelly ordered a standard approach to Antares Base after they unloaded their missile pod at the Antares Station ordnance dock.
 
They were directed immediately to Drydock Six for evaluation and repair.
 
Kelly gathered his logs and reported to CDR Timmons’ office.
 
Edgar Timmons exploded from his chair as Kelly walked in.
 
He gave Kelly a hearty handshake and had him sit down.
 
He called out to his admin assistant to bring in two coffees.

      
He sat on the front of his desk and said, “Damn good job out there, Kelly.
 
The admiral is quite pleased with you.
 
No, I don’t know why the admiral had you let him go.
 
I guess we’ll both find out when we go see him.
 
I’m waiting for a call from Hasselrode telling us when to come over.”

      
The admin assistant brought in two cups of coffee and left a tray of sweeteners and creamer.
 
Kelly put in two sugars and stirred it, then sipped the coffee while he gave CDR Timmons his patrol report.
 
As he finished, CDR Timmons’ communicator buzzed with a message from Captain Hasselrode, telling them to arrive in ten minutes.

      
They walked to Scout Force HQ and Captain Hasselrode led them into Admiral Craddock’s office.
 
Kelly was surprised to see his parents and CDR Johnson from Fleet Intel.

      
The Admiral stood up, walked around his walnut desk, shook Kelly’s hand, and said, “I’m sure the uppermost question in your mind, Kelly, has to be why did we let them go.
 
I’ll let your dad tell you.”
 
Admiral Craddock motioned Kelly and Edgar to seats.

      
Andrew said, “Remember that meeting in Tom’s den where we talked about the agent network working to steal the ring data?
 
After you left Tom came up with an idea to really set the K’Rang back.
 
We decided to provide them with bogus data.
 
Everything they stole was bogus except the ring codes, but those are easily replaced.”

      
“The K’Rang will spend the next five years trying to build a ring from the plans they have.
 
They will be convinced that they must have mistranslated the full set.
 
It will stymie them and hold them back from developing a ring.
 
Meanwhile, they’ll be driving themselves crazy.
 
We got their network, so they won’t be trying to steal another set of the plans for quite some time.”

      
“We started with the janitor’s supposedly fortuitous acquisition of the second section of the design plan.
 
This was actually the result of a carefully choreographed act by the foreman and the security guard.
 
We knew getting one of the three sections would whet the K’Rangs’ appetite for the rest.”

      
“We replaced the set in our safe on Gagarin with a bogus set.
 
Bart Morton’s superior encouraged Bart to increase security.
 
He mentioned that it was a key area of concern by the head of Fleet Intel.
 
Bart saw late night security sweeps as an easy way to justify his presence after hours and get at our safe.
 
We watched him and his mistress practicing steaming open the safe combo envelopes.
 
In fact, we watched the whole operation.
 
It will make great evidence at his trial.”

      
“The part we were unaware of was when Valeri’s assistant stole his design for the disruptor weapon he’s working on.
 
We didn’t want that falling into K’Rang hands, so we left your original orders in effect.
 
It wasn’t until we interrogated Cindy, his assistant, that we knew they had missed the dead drop and it was safe to let them go.
 
That’s when you got the call to let them get away.”

      
Moira said, “We hope it didn’t inconvenience you too much.”

      
Kelly replied, “A minute more would have made it very inconvenient for the K’Rang, as he’d have been floating in two pieces.”