Stars in the Sand (6 page)

 “
Remember that day in the Officers’ Club at Mariner? Right back before you assumed command of this ship? You told me then that you needed me on board, that I was the one crewman you couldn’t do without. Your wingman, you said.”

 “
I remember,” he nodded.

 “
That’s why I signed up. And that’s why I’m coming with you on this mission. Besides, you know I’m a born tourist. You think I’d miss a chance to take a look at a Cabal world close up?”

 “
From Cooper’s report, it doesn’t sound like much of a tourist spot. Apparently it rains oil.”

 “
Sounds lovely. Bet there are some good fleshpots, though.”

 “
You can file a report about the possibilities for shore leave when we get back.”

 She smiled, then said, “So that’s settled, then.”

 Leaning back to his desk, he said, “We’ve got a lot of work to get done tonight. Call a meeting of the senior staff for noon tomorrow, and make sure that Cooper is present.”

 “
Do I tell them what it is about?”

 “
Not yet. I’ll have a word with Tyler about the intelligence angles of this, see if he can bulk up Cooper’s research a little. Most importantly, see whether he comes to the same conclusions. You get on Quinn, and get his word on what it will take to get the freighter back up to specification.”

 “
We could probably make some modifications to it, as well.”

 “
Nothing that will show on a search. Better EWO software, though.”

 
“
I’ve never met a freighter that wasn’t loaded with secret compartments for smuggling. I suspect the crew might be willing to tell us where they are.”

 Nodding, Marshall said, “There’s a real danger that I might actually start to enjoy this, I think. See what you can find out from a scan. I’ll have Tyler start an interrogation schedule for them on that and anything else they can tell us about the lie of the land. Usually the most interesting details aren’t in the database.”

 “
Right, will do. Should I have a word with Mulenga, see if he can scare us up some sort of course?”

 “
No, that really would give the game away. We’ll leave that until after the meeting.”

 She stood up, saying, “I guess I’m not going to get much sleep tonight, am I? I’ll take the next shuttle over to Ouroboros and take a look, see what I can find. I want to check the cargo as well, see what they were carrying; we might be able to sell it at Denebola. And see what is on our route, as well.”

 “
Cooper didn’t find any military installations to speak of.”

 Shaking her head, she said, “We’re pretending to be on a trading run, remember. It’ll look suspicious if we don’t have anything to trade.”

 “
Good point. Can you be ready by noon?”

 “
I think so. I’ll let you know what I find.”

 “
Right. On your way.”

 She nodded, then walked out of the room, no doubt the subject of endless curiosity on the bridge about their discussion. Marshall watched her leave, then started to look through the datafile again, pausing at the dossiers of the captured Espatiers. There were twelve letters to their families logged in his system, missing more than a month ago. It was worth this risk if he might be able to delete them.

Chapter 6

 The Espatier barracks on Alamo had been eerie enough with only four people living there; now that Cooper was on his own, it was even worse. There were ghosts everywhere, memories of his friends either dead or missing. Along one wall
sat
a
sad
pile of kitbags, carefully prepared with the possessions of the platoon to be shipped back home to their families; Cooper had seen to that himself, and the first thing he had done upon leaving sickbay was get the last three put together.

 He looked down at the stump where his hand once was; it was itching like mad, as though it was still there. Doctor Duquesne had told him that it would go away in time, especially once the new hand was fitted. He’d seen people in the past using them, but never really thought he would be one of them. When he signed up with the Espatiers, he had been quite prepared to die. Enough of his relatives had failed to come home during the war that he knew what the price of the uniform was. Somehow, though, being crippled had never occurred to him.

 Sliding a datapad out of his pocket, he started to look over his mission plan again. He knew that some parts of it were short on detail, were too rough and ready, but the basic plan seemed sound – and moreover, wouldn’t place Alamo at any serious risk. They could certainly manage without him for a while. One soon-to-be-ex-Espatier; he wouldn’t be missed.

 “
I thought you’d be in here,” Barbara said, walking into the room.

 “
Where else would I be?”

 “
Well, there aren’t any surprise boarding actions going on at the moment, so this is probably the most likely place.” She looked around the room, then said, “I thought you were assigned new quarters?”

 “
Something like that. I’ve got a berth here, though.”

 “
It isn’t healthy for you to be here by yourself.”

 With a deep sigh, he said, “I’d feel like I was abandoning them if I left. It just wouldn’t seem right, somehow.”

 
“
You think any of them would want you to be sitting here moping?”

 
“
I think at least a dozen of them would rather be sitting here with me.” He tossed the datapad to the side. “Not that I think they’ll get the chance.”

 “
Did you get in to see the Captain?”

 “
Oh, I pushed my way into his office, all right. You should have seen old Kibaki’s face; I never thought it was possible to make him angry.”

 Shaking her head, she said, “You could have made an appointment.”

 “
There isn’t time,” he replied. “We need to be getting started on putting Ouroboros back together, get a proper mission plan outlined. Hell, I need to get that new hand fitted if I’m going to be at full ability for this mission.”

 “
You did well enough on the freighter.”

 “
That was a short boarding action, and not exactly against top-grade opposition.”

 “
Even so, there were enough bullets flying around for you to get yourself into real trouble.”
 
“
It wouldn’t be the first time.”

 “
That’s what’s worrying me.”

 She walked over, sitting down beside him, “What makes you think that the Captain will turn you down?”

 “
The look on his face,” he replied. “I don’t think he really believes they are there.”

 “
You know,” she said, “This is going to need more that just you. If you fly as well as you hack, you’ll need some help.”

 “
Are you volunteering?”

 “
I guess I am. I’ve looked over that ship, and I think I could fly her. She isn’t that different from the ships your Uncle had me working on.”

 Placing his hand on her elbow, he replied, “Thanks. That means a lot. I had a word with Cantrell, earlier; she thinks she can handle the sensors.”

 “
Cantrell? Lisa Cantrell? Sensor tech?”

 “
Yeah. Turned out to be a pretty good shot. The only one of the newbies to actually hit anything.”

 She withdrew, shaking her head, “You realize that she’s just trying to tick you off her list, right?”

 “
Huh?”

 Sighing, she said, “How can you get so naive?”

 “
Are you jealous?”

 “
Don’t be stupid.”

 “
You are!” he said, smiling. “Don’t worry, I know where to find my girl.”

 “
You’d better,” she replied, pulling closer again. “What are you going to do if that Captain says no?”

 Glancing at the viewport, the freighter just sliding into position, he said, “I thought about taking matters into my own hand.”

 “
Wait a minute…”

 “
They’re our people, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get them back.”

 “
Do you actually think the two of us – even with the dubious assistance of Loose Lisa…”

 “
What?”

 She shook her head, “Evidently you haven’t been hanging around the lower decks enough.”

 “
I guess not.”

 “
We’d need at least a dozen people to man that ship. Where are you going to get the rest from?”

 “
I’ll think of something.”

 She paused, then said, “For whatever it’s worth, I said I’d go, so I’ll go.”

 “
You don’t have to.”

 “
Yes, I do,” she said. “Something interesting, though; I just had to ferry Lieutenant Caine over there. She’s doing some sort of inspection, looking for hidden compartments or something like that.”

 He sat bolt upright, “Why didn’t you say that before? I bet the Captain’s having her check the ship out. She sat in on my meeting with him.”

 “
Those two are tight,” she said. “If he was going to send anyone over quietly, I bet it would be her.”

 “
Which means we might be getting to go after all, without doing anything desperate.”

 Cooper’s communicator bleeped, and he reached for it with his stump. He cursed under his breath, reached around and raised it to his ear, “Cooper here, Captain.”

 “
Captain?” Duquesne said. “Are you promoting me, Corporal? I wish you’d reconsider, if so. I don’t want the damn job.”

 “
Sorry, Doctor. I was expecting a call from the Captain.”

 “
Well, I’m sorry to interfere with your social arrangements, but I want to see you at 0700 tomorrow morning. Quinn’s delivering your new hand around then, and we need to get it tuned.”

 “
I thought I wasn’t getting it for a fortnight?”

 “
Someone bumped you up the priority schedule. Obviously you have friends in high places now. Put in a word for me, will you; I could use a pay rise.”

 “
Thanks, Doctor. I’ll be there on time.”

 “
Bring coffee. Lots of coffee. I don’t do mornings well. Duquesne out.”

 “
Did I hear that right?” Barbara asked. “They’ve bumped you up ahead of the critical ship repair components.”

“
Let’s not get our hopes up,” he said. “This could be the Captain’s idea of a consolation prize.”

Shaking her head, she replied, “He doesn’t strike me as that sort. I think if he said no, he’d just say no, he wouldn’t try and pacify you.”

“
When we lost them, he told me that he would do anything it took to get them back. I understand that he can’t commit Alamo to this. Most of the crew just want to get home, and I don’t blame them. That’s why I tried to give him the alternative, so that he didn’t have to commit the whole crew to this. Hell, I know that the ship would never get through. We’ll have to sneak in, and the freighter is perfect for the job.”

“
It won’t be as easy as that,” Barbara replied. “There are a lot of hoops to jump through. The Captain has to think of all of them.”

“
We can do it, though. Between Alamo, the freighter and the station, we’ve got everything we would need to pull this mission off.”

Pausing for a second, she looked around the empty room, “Even if all of that is so, you’ve got to remember the odds. This isn’t exactly going to be a low-risk operation. There’s a good chance that we could end up captured like the rest.”

 “
I know. I’m willing to take the risk.”

 
Another figure appeared in the door, and uninvited, Cantrell walked in, carrying a pair of ration packs. She looked at the two of them with a smile and walked over to sit opposite them, dropping her cargo onto the table.

 “
What’s up?” she asked.

 “
We were just having a conversation,” Barbara said.

 “
I think I can add something to it. Besides dinner.”

 “
What?” Cooper asked.

 “
Petty Officer Fox just got back from the station. He was grousing in the mess about being on double duty; he’s been ferrying prisoners back and forth all evening.”

 “
Did he say why?”

 “
Something about an urgent series of interrogations. Top priority stuff. Hey, and I took a look around the freighter with Caine, and she was installing some new stuff in the computer systems. You know what that means.”

 “
Don’t jump to conclusions,” Barbara said. “We could just be planning to take the freighter home with us. I could think of a hundred reasons for a software upgrade.”

 “
Only one of them makes sense, though,” she said, snatching a piece of nearly-cheese from the food pack. “They’re going ahead with Coop’s plan, and we get to head out into the wild black yonder again.”

 “
What do you think we’ve been doing?” Barbara said, shaking her head. “Alamo already holds the record for the longest patrol in history without friendly resupply, and we do have five new systems to explore on the way home.”

 “
Brown dwarves and all boring as hell, most likely. I’ve been working on the long-range surveys, and all we have to look forward to are barren rocks and ice giants. I can see those any
time.”

 “
Pining for the bright lights of the Cabal?”

 “
I joined up to see new things, explore the universe! Did you ever see the Captain’s recruitment advert?”

 Cooper looked at Barbara, then said, “I must have missed that one.”