Stars in the Sand (21 page)

 Before she could get out of her seat, the freighter began to accelerate; obviously they were in a hurry to get on the move. She pulled herself up and walked on board, Wilson waving at her as she climbed onto the deck. The Captain was already on his way to the bridge, but she was still shaking off the nerves of the launch, and she paused to check on the shuttle post-flight.

 “
No problems down there, Lieutenant?” Wilson asked.

 “
Not as far as I know, Chief. Just a bit of a rough flight.”

 “
I’ll bet. I watched…”

 Suddenly, as he was talking, a burst of loud, discordant music echoed across the speakers, sending her hands clapping to her ears. It stopped as quickly as it came, and she ran down the corridor towards the communications suite. That was unmistakably Durman’s music, and they were still close enough to the planet that she could make her feelings known if this was some sort of practical joke.

 She reached the suite to find a blushing Cantrell sitting at the controls, a pair of data crystals in her hands. As she entered, the technician turned, raising her hands, and gesturing at the console.

 “
I’m sorry, it’s this damn system. I was just trying to back up my copy of the music.”
 
“
Why can’t you use your own terminal? Half the ship must have been deafened.”

 “
It’s too slow, the data transfer rate is lousy. I wanted to…”

 “
Well, next time, perhaps you might think of the ship ahead of your own convenience.” She looked around the suite, then said, “I think this room could do with a clean, don’t you, Spaceman?”

 “
Ma’am?”

 “
Go get to work. I’ll be back in four hours to inspect it, and if I’m not completely satisfied, you can start work on the corridor.” Cantrell sat there for a moment, and she continued, “The clock’s ticking. I’d move.”

 Turning, she decided to head to the bridge, shaking her head. She was going to have to keep a close eye on that one; at this rate, it was only a matter of time before she did something outright dangerous. She turned, and saw Cantrell methodically begin to start work, her attention focused on her task. Maybe, at least, Orlova had found something she was good at.

Chapter 20

 Cooper walked into the cramped cargo bay, looking out of the small viewscreen in the corner. Ouroboros had settled into a tight orbit around the brown dwarf primary, just ahead of a dull, green-misted world, barely half a million miles from the star. He could make out faint patterns on its surface, storms twisting as they raged across the desolate wasteland; if anyone had ever lived on that planet, the weather would have long ago blasted it from the surface.

 Behind him, Orlova drifted in, Nelyubov alongside her, holding out a datapad. A moment later, the Captain followed, Caine floating after her, and took a position at the head of the room. The brief chatter stopped as he cleared his throat, calling for attention.

 “
Well, we’re almost there. One more four-day jump, and we arrive at Ahwaz. You are all familiar with the planet from the briefing we have pieced together, but there are an awful lot of gaps. The official reports won’t tell us the details we really need to know, the information that we have to gather. I’ve given this a great deal of thought, and I have decided that those of us in this room will constitute the three investigation teams.”

 “
I still think it is too big a risk for you to go down,” Caine said.

 “
We’ve talked about this, Deadeye. I’m listed as the commander of this ship; I’m going to have to go down to the planet
anyway
to negotiate cargo, pick up contracts, and talk our way through customs.
I might as well do some snooping while I'm down there. Besides, y
ou will be right with me every step of the way.”

 
“
So I get to keep you out of trouble,” she said, shaking her head. “Story of my life.”

 “
We’re going to be in ready reserve. Our job is partly to attract attention, partly to gather information from official sources, and generally to play the tourists. Orlova, you and Nelyubov will be contacting the resistance.”

 She nodded, “That’s not going to be easy, skipper, even with the information we’ve got, but I think we can manage it.”

 “
Cooper, you are the strike team. We can’t take weapons down there, so procuring something is your first priority, and then you will be responsible for bringing out the prisoners, with support from the rest of us. The odds are that we won’t be able to meet up and discuss this once we’re down on the surface, not and be certain not to be overhead, so I want to get all of this arranged now.”

 “
Am I working alone, sir?” Cooper asked.

 “
That’s up to you. If you want to pick a partner, go ahead.”

 He didn’t have to think for long before saying, “Cantrell.”

 “
Are you joking?” Orlova said. “I’ve just had to put her on report.”

 “
She might not be much on the ship, but I’ve seen her in action, and I think she’s the best choice for the job.”

 “
Cooper,” Marshall said, “are you sure about this? She’ll be working with you on the surface, and if anything goes wrong, you are liable to find yourself in the firing line.”

 “
I understand that, sir. I’ll talk to her; I think I might be able to work something out.”

 “
Very well. You can brief her immediately after this meeting.”

 He nodded, “Are any of the others going down?”

 “
On a rotation I’ve worked out, yes. Except for Mr. Race, who will be remaining in command. We can’t risk our astrogator, not with the course we’re going to have to run to get home. None of the others are leaving the immediate vicinity of the starport, though; they have been instructed to act as though they are on shore leave, with strict orders,” he said with a smile, “not to
get drunk.”

 “
Won’t that seem a little out of character for a crew on leave?” Nelyubov said,

 “
That’s a risk we’re going to have to take. They’ll report anything they see, but we won’t be in safe contact with them after we touch down.” He looked around the room, then continued, “We will remain in orbit for only as long as we need to. Five days, one hour. Any rescue attempt we make will be timed to get us away from the planet, and into hendecaspace, at the correct time.”

 “
It might take longer than that to locate them, sir,” Orlova said. “It’s a big planet.”

 “
Then we leave without them,” Marshall said.

 “
Captain, you said…,” Cooper began.

 Interrupting him, Marshall replied, “We’re not going to take the risk, Corporal. There is a single window of opportunity to pull this off, and during those five days we will do everything in our power to find our people and get them home, but if after that period we have drawn a blank, then we cash in the chips and leave.”

 “
I could remain behind,” Cooper said. “Perhaps make contact with the resistance and work out another way home.”

 “
I’ve made my decision, Corporal, and it stands.”

 “
Yes, sir,” he said, sullenly.

 “
What are we going to do about our cargo?” Orlova said.

 Marshall shrugged, then said, “Unload it, and try and replace it with something high value, low mass. We can’t afford to compromise on maneuvering.”

 “
I wondered if we might be able to take on something that could be useful for Alamo.”

 Nodding, he replied, “I didn’t think of that. Good idea.”

 “
Medical supplies would be useful,” Cooper said. “We don’t know how our people have been treated down there.”

 “
Noted, Corporal. Is there anything else?” No-one said anything, and he continued, “Don’t discuss any details of the mission with any other members of the crew. What they don’t know can’t hurt them if they get picked up. Dismissed.”

 Cooper was the first one out of the room, heading down to the sensor controls; when he arrived, just down the corridor, the room was dark, the stations unmanned. He glanced at his datapad; Cantrell was supposed to be on duty, but a quick check of the system logs showed that she had never turned up. Shaking his head, he headed over to the elevator, electing to spend some time at his cobbled-together firing range. Working out a bit of tension would do him good.

 Already there was the missing Cantrell, expertly lining up shots at the target. He hung quietly in the doorway, waiting patiently to finish, noting her score. Perfect. His eyes widened; he’d struggle to get a perfect score, even on a range. That just didn’t happen.

 “
Afternoon, Corporal,” she said. “Guess I’ve got beginners’ luck.”

 “
Looks like,” he replied, drifting over to take a gun from the locker. Making sure his back was blocking the view, he slid a clip into position, and pulled out the laser projector from the barrel.

 “
Fancy a challenge?” he said, before turning round.

 “
Sure, though I think it’s unfair competition.”

 He turned, and pointed his gun at her chest, saying, “Try this, then. Who the hell are you?”

 “
That was pretty agile work,” she replied.

 “
I’m surprisingly good at
sleight of hand
. My parents gave me a magic kit on my fifth birthday. Now talk.”

 “
I don’t know what the hell you are talking about,” she said, pouting.

 “
Nice try,” he replied with a smile, “but you’re too damn competent for someone who
doesn’t know what they are doing. Add that to your carefully calculated reputation as a screw-up, and it all comes together to something I don’t accept.”

 “
Fine,” she said, “I’m not good at my job, and probably don’t belong in the service and your precious uniform. Are you happy now?”

 “
No,” he replied, shaking his head. “You don’t make any sense.” He reached down to his pocket, and said, “I think it might be time to bring the Captain into this discussion.”

 “
Don’t do that, Corporal,” she said.

 “
Give me a reason.”

 “
How about a direct order.”

 “
I hate to break it to you, but Spacemen Third Class don’t give orders to Lance-Corporals.”

 “
Sub-Lieutenants do.”

 His gun wavered for a second as he replied, “What?”

 With a sigh, she said, “I’m not a Spaceman Third. Well, that’s what my record says, but I’m actually a Sub-Lieutenant with Fleet Intelligence.”

 “
Does the Captain know?”

 “
It was decided that he didn’t need to know that I had been embedded into this mission. Intelligence wanted an officer of their own on board.”

 “
I thought Winter was doing that job.”

 Shaking her head, she said, “Mr. Winter had orders of his own; he was never going any further than Spitfire Station. My mission was to stay low and observe, to monitor the situation and to provide a full report when we get back.”

 “
Which is why you kept a low profile until this mission was launched,” he said. “You couldn’t risk missing out on the opportunities it would provide, but your record to date wasn’t going to impress anyone.”

 “
Do we need the gun now?” she asked, and he put it into his holster, keeping his hand close by. “I wasn’t trained as a sensor tech. I’ve been trying, and admittedly failing, to pick things up on the job. I didn’t even have a commission until a week before Alamo left.”

 “
Don’t they normally train people up for jobs like this?”

 “
Usually, but there wasn’t time. We had to replace all of our field operatives, hell, we didn’t have any idea who might have been turned by the Cabal. That meant quite a bit of unorthodox recruiting.”

 “
What did you do to get this job?”

 She shrugged, then said, “Hacked into the computers at Intelligence headquarters. I wanted
interesting
work, and it seemed the easiest way to
get
it.” She smiled, then said, “I think they use that as a recruitment tool, anyway.”

 
“
Why the hell didn’t they add you to the security team. The number of times we could have used a hacker…”

 “
Corporal, use some common sense. Where would you expect to find a spy?”

 Nodding, he replied, “I’m guessing that you were made as nondescript as possible so that you’d have the best chance of getting away should the Cabal capture us.”

 “
That was the plan. It’s just business, Corporal.”

 “
And this mission?”

 “
An opportunity. To both retrieve information and recover our lost people. You might find this hard to believe, Corporal, but I want to get them back too. Any more intelligence we can gain is a bonus.”

 Nodding, he replied, “So, what happens now?”

 “
That depends on you, I think. I’m not stupid enough to think that you will obey any order I give you to keep silent, but I will point out that we are about to head into enemy territory, and ask you to refrain from putting my life at greater risk.”

 “
The Captain should know.”

 “
And if he gets captured, and interrogated?” She shook her head, then said, “He shouldn’t have gone on this mission in the first place.”

 “
He cares about his people.”

 “
He should care first and foremost about the security of the Triplanetary Confederation. Still, that’s neither here nor there. Thank you for selecting me as your partner, by the way.”