Metal Boxes (39 page)

“Drascos? Is that what you call those creatures
, Mister Stone?”

“Yes
, sir. They are also part of my personal defense detail, sort of.”

“Understood
, Captain. I asked if you wanted to take the con. I mean, Mister Stone, do you want to take control of the ship now.”

Stone shook his head, “Not quite yet, Commander. Can I be on the bridge and not take the con?”

“Certainly, Mister Stone. As captain that is your prerogative,” Melendez said.

“Good. Because I would like to come in and sit down for a while. It has been a busy
day so far.” Stone walked into the room.

The bridge was a
lmost a circular room. There were three tiers of workstations stair-stepping up in a semicircle. An officer sat at each station. Most of the officers were watching Stone. A few officers remained focused on their duty stations.

The remaining
bulkhead from deck to ceiling was a real time display of Tamvor Station and surrounding space. The only thing on the deck was a conference table with a dozen seats.

Melendez pointed to the chair at the head of the table. It had its back to the
bulkhead display. “That is the captain’s chair, Mister Stone.” Melendez looked over Stone’s shoulder. He winced slightly. “Mister Stone, standing orders are that marines are not allowed on the bridge, certainly never armed marines.”

Stone turned around
, bumping into Peebee, scrapping his knee against her side. He saw Allie and Hammermill standing just inside the front door.

Turning back to Melendez
, he asked, “Whose rule, sir? Is it navy regulation, ship’s rule or just bridge tradition?”

Melendez looked at Jay and Peebee as if they were a lot less objectionable than
marines. “Mister Stone, it was Admiral Shalako’s standing regulation that army and marines were to wait in the atrium.”

Stone nodded at his drascos. “No problem with pets,
sir?”

Melendez shook his head. “Oh no, Mister Stone, the
admiral often brought his Pekinese onto the bridge.”

“Is that a dog of some sort, Commander?”

“Yes, Mister Stone, it is a rather obnoxious and yappy little puddle-making sort of a dog. Are you suggesting that we consider your marines pets?”

Stone laughed. “I wouldn’t suggest it, Commander. The Hammer is quite obnoxious on occasion, but I wouldn’t call him
yappy to his face.” He glanced at the two marines. He tried to look past them to see where Numos was, but he could not see around their bulk. “You know, Commander, someone very recently did call them dogs.”

Allie laughed. “Sir, if it eases you
r mind, the old United States Marines back on Earth One were often called Devil Dogs by their enemies. We can live with that.”

“Well
I can’t,” Stone said. “First of all, they are not my marines. They are the Emperor’s marines, just as this ship is the Emperor’s ship. These two are actually assigned as staff on this spacecraft. What I am suggesting is that since Admiral Shalako is no longer in command that we change the regulation!”

“That is acceptable, Captain
,” Melendez grinned. “I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one to try and throw these marines off the bridge. I suggest we change the regulation to read, ‘authorized personnel only.’ It is well within navy regulations and allows us to say who or who is not allowed on the bridge.”

“Thank you, Commander. Um, we do consider my drascos to be pets.”

“Sir, they appear to be well behaved at the moment, but I have seen them in action both in the atrium and the hanger deck. I do not mean to question your right to have pets on board, you are the captain, but are you sure they are safe?”

“Safe? From what?” Stone looked around. “I don’t see anything that can hurt them in here
.”

Allie said
with a chuckle, “No, Captain Stone, I believe Commander Melendez wants to know is if he is safe from them.”

“Oh
,” Stone said. He looked at his drascos. They swiveled their heads around as they watched everything going on, but they looked relaxed. “They do seem to be calm right now, sir. They are not the type of pets you actually pet. Don’t try to touch them and you should be okay, I guess. And they are a bit protective of me, so I wouldn’t try to touch me either when they are around.”

“Mister Stone, I heard you say that they were hungry and…um…well…”

Stone grinned. “Commander, I apologize for that. Jay and Peebee are vegetarians, or what is that word…herbivorous. They don’t eat people.” He grabbed Jay around the head and pried open her mouth with his fingers. “See, Jay only has flat grinding molars.”

Jay snapped her head around and grabbed Stone’s hand holding it gently in her mouth. The action drew gasps from
several officers around the room.

Stone ignored Jay and the officers
, leaving his hand in Jay’s mouth. Looking back at Melendez, he said, “Commander Wright assures me they don’t eat meat.”

Melendez shook his head. “Son, you may be comfortable enough to stick your head the in the mouth of a lion, but those things have big enough teeth to take a big bite out of someone whether they intend to chew and s
wallow, or not.”

“I guess they do at that
,” Stone said. “I do think they might be hungry. It has been a long day and they haven’t eaten in a while.”

He looked up at Allie. “
Lieutenant Vedrian, do you still have my knife?”

“Yes, Captain.” Before she could actually finish the words, she drew the knife from her belt and held it out to him, hilt first.

Stone glanced at the tiers of officers around him. He felt like he was on stage in an amphitheater. He was not particularly shy, but he was not used to having his every move scrutinized by fifty pairs of eyes.

He slid his hand out of Jay’s mouth and pulled out a block of golden ooze from a pocket. Jay and Peebee’s eyes locked on the bar. He carefully cut the dried tree sap into two even pieces. The bar had been whittled on for a while and
was pretty small, but it still made a bigger piece than they were used to getting as a mid-morning snack.

Jay stood up on her hind legs
, stretched her neck, puffed her chest out, waved her arms, and wonked loudly. The officers near the rail on the first and second tiers quickly backed up. Peebee shook her head and wonked louder.

Stone pointed a finger at Jay. “Listen, Miss Greedy, just because you are trying to look bigger than your sister, doesn’t mean you get a bigger piece.”

He tossed one piece high in the air. Jay jumped, snapping her teeth around the ooze and landing with a thump. He held the other piece out to Peebee. She took his whole hand in her mouth, but spit his hand out without the ooze.

He tossed the knife back to Allie. Even though she had been watching every
one in the room except for him, she still caught the knife and slipped it into her belt. She continued watching the room as if she did not trust anyone in it except him, Hammermill and his two drascos.

“Commander Melendez, I am sure you have read the important parts of the
EMIS Agent’s Writ that put me in charge of the U.E.N.S. Periodontitis?”

“Sir, it is a long document.” He waved a hand around the room. “
There are a lot of officers here because of the general quarters alert. We have many more officers here than we would have for a normal station sub-light departure. We each took a few pages to summarize, so we do have the gist of its meaning. May I speak freely, Mister Stone?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“I am appalled at these criminal allegations.” He glanced around him at the men and women. “Frankly, I can’t imagine any of these fine officers being involved in such activities and I am angry that my friends and crew are being unjustly investigated.”

“Fair enough, Commander. I can tell you that you
cannot be angrier about unjust investigations than I am about having been drugged, stuffed into an escape pod and shoved into hyperspace. All-in-all, I do get your point. I doubt if any but a small percentage of officers or crew even had any knowledge about what has been going on.”

“Yes, exact-”

“Yes,” Stone interrupted with an angry edge to his voice. “But why didn’t you know? It is your ship too, right? You are the first officer, right? Why didn’t you know? It can’t be that hard to miss, if a lowly midshipman found out about it. Oops, sorry, sir. I shouldn’t have said that. I guess it is my own anger coming through.”

Melendez did
not speak.

“Okay. What else, Commander?”
Stone asked.

“Speaking freely,” Melendez emphasized the phrase
, “with your permission Captain, and nothing personal, but…I understand the need for the investigation. And while, I am appalled we are being investigated without cause, I am more appalled that we have to submit to the command of the most unqualified midshipman on board.”

Stone nodded. “I get it, Commander. Thank you for being so polite up to this point. I really appreciate it. And believe
me; I do appreciate your honesty. But, and this is a big but, the range of the investigation is stated in the Emperor’s Writ. Feel free to gripe to the Emperor the next time you see him. I can’t do anything about it. As to the other, let me check something first.”

He pulled out his
p.a. and called Numos. “Major, are we secure for now? I don’t want to hold everyone at general quarters any longer if I can help it.”

“Captain,” Numos responded quickly. “We are as secure as I can make it right now. How far do I trust
the navy security forces?”

Stone said, “I am going to leave that up to you. You
trust anyone you have to trust until you hear anything different about any specific individual.”

He glanced at the drascos. Peebee had finished her ooze and fallen asleep. Jay was still chewing her ooze slowly, but her eyes were looking droopy.

“I am going to sit right here at this table, Commander. You still have control of the ship. I suggest you release the ship from general quarters for now. Please tell every officer here they are free to leave the bridge and return to their quarters if they will not submit to my command.”

Melendez started to speak.

“And,” Stone continued, “if we fall below whatever number of officers is required to fly this ship to its next destination, please poll the second and third shift until you get enough officers up here. Let me know when you have done that and if you want, then I will take the con from you at that time, and you’ll be free to leave. Does that work for you, Commander?”

“Yes, Captain. That is more than fair.”

“Yep, that is me. Try to kill me and I just become a fair kind of guy…sir.” He swiveled his chair around and began calling up random bits of data on the table. He was reminded of the bar top the old gunnery sergeant had used to show him software data. He thought about it as he shuffled various screens on the table.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

The next thing he knew he was
jarred awake by shouting behind him.

“Oh
crap!” he thought. “I wonder if anyone noticed I was asleep. Maybe I only drifted off for a second and no one saw.” He knew sleeping on duty was a major sin. It always had been and probably always would be. He did not even remember being that sleepy, just a bit tired from all of the running around.

He looked at the table in front of him. It had a time indicator in one corner, but it did
not matter since he did not remember what time it was when he sat down. He cleared his throat and reached for a bottle of water in a container set in the center of the table. He winced as the movement caused shooting pains pulsing through his head.

He recognized one of the loud voices. “Maggot, this is a small room. Is it necessary to shout so
loud?” He spun his chair around. Maggot and Melendez were standing toe-to-toe, both with red faces and clenched fists.

Allie glanced at him. “Are you okay,
Mister Stone?”

“I think so. I was…um…just resting my eyes for a bit.”

Allie said, “Yeah, that’s what I call it too. You missed the doctor. He did a couple of scans on your head. Once we could convince him that the drascos wouldn’t eat him, that is. He said to let you ‘rest your eyes’ a bit longer. The doc said you don’t have a concussion, just a little tired. Then these two start going at each other.”

“
So, Maggot, what is that all about?” Stone asked.

“Commander Melendez has set course and gotten us under weigh without consulting me
,” Maggot shouted. “You tell him to turn around. We are going the wrong way.

“And why should I consult you?” Melendez spat back. “You don’t set the schedule for the
navy. Captain, please explain to this civilian that he shouldn’t even be on the bridge.”

“Don’t shout
,” Stone said. “Please? I have a headache from getting punched in the face. And you know, I am really getting tired of people telling me what to do, okay? Can’t you two figure it out?”

“You are the
captain, Mister Stone,” Melendez said with a cold edge to his voice.

Stone looked at Allie. She nodded in agreement although she did
not look at him when she did so. She and Hammermill continued to scan the room, watching everything at the same time. Another marine stood side by side with a security force member in the atrium doorway with their backs to the bridge.

He looked around at the officers on the tiers. He did
not recognize any of them, but they looked like the same bunch that had been there before. Most of them should have left if they had been released from general quarters, even if Commander Melendez had left for their next space station. A few of the officers met his gaze, most would not. He did not know if that was a good thing or not.

“Why did I join the
navy?” he thought. “If I wanted people to keep telling me what to do all the time I could have stayed home. At least when Grandma told me what to do she just said do it, not make a decision and make someone else do it. Crap! Aren’t these the grownups?”

“Okay
,” Stone said with a sigh. “Agent Storovitch, you are first. What is your issue?”

Maggot shouted, “This moron has-”

Stone held up a hand to stop him. “Agent Storovitch, Maggot, if you can’t keep from shouting and name calling I am going to have Lieutenant Hammermill drag you out of here until you can behave like an adult. Got me, you clod?”

Maggot closed his eyes for a second
, took a deep breath and sighed.

“Better now?
” Stone asked. “Okay, remember I am just a lowly midshipman, so explain things to me in terms that even I can understand.”

He heard Allie snicker, but when he looked she was studiously avoiding his gaze.

“Mister Stone, I have delivered an approved Emperor’s Writ that gives me the right to investigate any activity on this ship I deem appropriate, to make such arrests as I deem necessary and to appoint anyone in command that I require to facilitate the investigation.”

Stone nodded. “I got that part. That is why I am sitting here
in the captain’s chair instead of having ice cream back on Brickman’s Station.”

“Yes, Mister Stone, everything we have done
so far has been done to get the Periodontitis to Lazzaroni Station for lock down and a complete investigation.”

“I got it, Maggot. So what is the problem?”

Maggot exploded and shouted. “He won’t go!” He jabbed a finger at Commander Melendez.

“Really?” Stone said. “
Lieutenant Hammermill, please drag this civilian out into the atrium. He is not allowed back on the bridge…no, he is not allowed back in my presence until he learns not to shout in polite company.”

Maggot started to protest, but Hammer
mill grabbed him and practically carried him off the bridge before he could get a word out.

Stone turned to Melendez. “Commander?”

“Thank you, Mister Stone. I am glad you agree with me,” Melendez replied.

“I didn’t say I agree
d with you, Commander. As a matter of fact, I agree with Agent Storovitch. Someone on this spacecraft tried to kill me and if we have to go to Lazzaroni Station to find out who, then that is where we are going.”

“But you can’t go to
Lazzaroni Station. You don’t understand-”

“No, and I am not going to understand.” Stone interrupted. “Not until you quit telling me what I can and cannot do and start giving me a good reason to listen to you. Or would you rather continue yelling at Agent Storovitch in the
atrium. I am sure the Hammer will be glad to show you the way out.”

“I am sorry, Mister Stone. Do you know where our next station is?”

“Commander, I don’t know squat,” Stone answered with a sigh. “Please explain to me in complete, but simple terms as if you were talking to a lowly midshipman who doesn’t know anything except moving metal boxes around in tower three.”

“Mister Stone
,” Melendez said. “Our next stop is the front lines of the Hyrocanian War.”

“We are on a direct course to the front lines?”

Melendez nodded. “It is just as direct a course as I can make it. We are only a few minutes away from a hyperspace jump in that direction. What did you expect? This is a navy warehouse and supply ship. We carry everything our front line troops need to keep the Hyrocanians from attacking and slaughtering all across human space. Why do you think we gather up all of the missiles, food stuffs, and even replacement marines? Is this all just for fun? We are at war here. Our supplies are required at the front or our people die.”

“Oh
,” Stone said.

“Oh?” Melendez spat back. “Yeah, oh! That agent picked a bad time to replace an
admiral who had years of combat experience with a midshipman who does not have enough experience to get off third watch. But you’re here now, what are you going to do?”

“How long to Hyperjump, Commander?”

Melendez yelled over his shoulder, “Navigation, how long to hyperjump?”

A
voice shouted back, “Now, sir.”

Stone closed his eyes. He took a shallow breath and thought about how he had been complaining that everyone had been telling him what to do. “
Now I really wish I had someone telling me what to do,” he thought. “This isn’t good. I can defy the Emperor’s Writ and go where I might have a chance at getting killed again. And if I am not killed by the war, then when I get back I could be killed for refusing a direct order from the Emperor in a time of war. Or I go to Lazzaroni Station and other people die because I didn’t supply them.”

Stone looked up at Melendez. “Hyperjump now, Commander. Please continue on your original course.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Melendez said.

There was a smattering of applause as if the officers present agreed with him, but most of the officers swiveled in their chairs and
attended their monitors prior to the jump. A voice swiftly counted down and then announced that hyperspace had been achieved.

“Commander Melendez, do I really have to take the con?” Stone asked.

Melendez looked surprised. “No, Midshipman Stone, you do not. You are the captain. You may be on the bridge to advise and to give consent, leaving the actual con to the officer on deck. Admiral Shalako often gave advice and consent from his stateroom.”

“Yes,
sir,” Stone snorted. “But his stateroom is right down that hallway. Mine is about fifteen kilometers down.”

Melendez smiled. “I think we can find something a bit closer,
sir. By ship tradition Admiral Shalako’s quarters is really the captain’s cabin. Since he has been relieved of command you can order him moved and you can move in there.”

“No
,” Stone said. “He is an admiral and he may be not guilty for all I know. I think his rank should allow him to stay where he is comfortable. Speaking of his comfort, can you get him another personal assistant or two? His last two were sort of damaged.”

“That has already been taken care of, Mister Stone. But nice thought.”

“I need to explain my actions to Agent Storovitch. He is not going to be happy.”

“No
Captain, he is not. But with your devil dogs and your drascos behind you, I don’t think there is much he can do,” Melendez grinned. “And while you were ‘resting your eyes’ we had a new uniform brought up for you. It is in your ready room.”

“Thank you,
sir,” Stone said. “Can you give the con to someone else and join me in the admiral’s conference room?”

“Yes,
Captain,” Melendez turned and called out. “Light Commander Gubicza, you have the con.”

A voice floated down from the third tier. “
Aye, aye, sir.” Ignoring the stairs and ramps, the athletic young officer vaulted the third tier rail, bounced on the second tier, fairly flew to the first tier, and then landed on the deck.

“All right, you landlubbers
,” he shouted. “We only have four weeks of hyperspace to get ready, so no slacking off up there.” He was deluged by a rain of styluses and empty drink cartons. “Commander Goobie has the con, sir.”

Melendez shook his head, “The Emperor help us all.”

“The Emperor help us all, sir,” Goobie shouted. “Amen. Can I get an amen from the gallery?”

A chorus of
amens rang in the room. Jay and Peebee awoke and wonked back. Soon the bridge was shouting amen and wonking with equal abandon.

Melendez ushered Stone down the short corridor to the
admiral’s conference room.

“Commander?” Stone asked. “Is the bridge always that rowdy?”

“No, Mister Stone. We can be very sedate and serious when we need to be. That type of shenanigans only happens when the admiral is off the deck. Admiral Shalako doesn’t approve and if you find it objectionable then I can have it stopped, Captain.”

“No
, Commander. You feel free to run the bridge any way you want to. Since, as we both know, I do not know what I am doing, I want you to take complete control of the bridge. Just let me know what is going on so I am not so far outside the loop that I will be in further violation of the Emperor’s Writ than I already am.”

“
Aye, aye, Captain. Trust me Mister Stone, the ship won’t see any activity for the next month while we transit hyperspace.”

Stone looked grim. “You mean other than tossing a few officers into escape pods and
sending them in to the gray to die?”

Melendez paled. He started to speak
. Stone stopped him.

“Commander, I want to put a lock
-out on all escape pods. We can’t use them in hyperspace, so no one even needs access to an escape pod.”

“Sir, the escape pods will need to be prepped prior to our jump into the war zone.”

“No one goes near them without an approved escort,” Stone replied with a nod. “I know there are a lot of ways to kill people on a spacecraft this big and I can’t lock them all off. But I can prevent someone from being thrown into hyperspace.”

“Yes, Captain
. May I ask who constitutes an approved escort?” Melendez asked.

“That would be up to Agent Storovitch or
Major Numos.”

Stone turned to Allie. “
Lieutenant Vedrian, would you contact Major Numos and ask him to join us? And Lieutenant Hammermill, please see if you can locate EMIS Agent Storovitch and ask him to join us as well.”

Bob and Jake were already set up in the conference room. They jumped to their feet when Stone and Melendez entered the room.

Stone looked back at Commander Melendez. “Sir, the bridge may be quiet during hyperjump, but I can tell you there are other rather unpleasant things that have happened to me and others during hyperjump on this spacecraft.”

Melendez looked thoughtful. “Mister Stone, I don’t understand how you could have been pushed into hyperspace and still be standing here.”