The Clones of Mawcett (43 page)

“The entire incident lasted only a few minutes. The doctor bandaged my wound and I was perfectly fine in a few weeks.”

The mess attendant began to serve the entrees, so further discussion was delayed until everyone was served. For the rest of the meal the visiting officers questioned Jenetta about the attack on Mawcett, the Battle for Higgins, and the taking of the asteroid space base.

“I have a copy of your book about Mawcett,” Kirvan said. “It's wonderfully detailed and written. It's amazing that such technology existed almost twenty thousand years ago and yet all trace was lost until the scientists uncovered it during the past decade.”

“I'm sure there have been a number of civilizations throughout the galaxy that have risen to greatness only to disappear into oblivion. There were even several on Earth, although none achieved anywhere near Dakistee's level of sophistication. Until the underground facility was found, no one even suspected that the Dakistee civilization had been so advanced, but twenty thousand years of erosion and corrosion can erase most signs of a dead civilization.”

“Commander,” Flores said. “I have a good friend aboard your old ship, the Prometheus. He says it's a great ship and that everyone misses you.”

“It is a great ship, and it has a great crew. Who's your friend?”

“Lt. Commander Timothy Eaton. He was promoted into your old position as Second Officer.”

Jenetta felt as though Flores had stepped up to her and slapped her. Space Command had promoted someone into her position? They didn't promote for temporary reassignments, so now she understood why she was still here on Dixon; there wasn't a position to go back to. Jenetta carefully hid her emotions from her visitors.

“When did your friend join the crew?”

“About seven months ago.”

'Seven months!' Jenetta screamed silently. 'That was right around the time that the Prometheus left Dixon. They must have gotten Eaton from one of the other ships in the task force. One way to find out.'

“Your friend must have been part of the task force that helped take this station?” she said to Flores.

“Yes, he was on the Amsterdam. They took a torpedo hit that killed thirty-one crewmen. Tim was lucky to have been on the bridge at the time. The bridge made it through the battle intact.”

“The Amsterdam is a good ship with an excellent crew. They kept on fighting until the battle was over, even though, as you say, they were seriously damaged.”

Jenetta continued to smile and entertain the group for a couple of more hours even though her heart wasn't in it. She had been so busy the past months that she hadn't maintained contact with anyone on the Prometheus. Just keeping up with calls to her folks, her brothers, Eliza, and Gloria required more free time than her busy schedule allowed. Now, with her position aboard the Prometheus gone, she wondered how much longer she'd be stuck here. She shouldn't really have expected them to hold the job open for six or more months, but she felt that she should have been told. Perhaps they didn't want her to know, fearing that her performance here would suffer. She was sure they knew how much she wanted to be part of the Prometheus' crew.

The San Francisco remained at Dixon for two more weeks, and Jenetta spent every possible free minute with her brother. She never mentioned what she had learned about the Prometheus, and never again expressed her unhappiness with her job.

At the end of its R&R stay, the San Francisco left for its patrol of sector 8667-4869. Jenetta came down to the docking pier to smile and wave goodbye to Richie, who waved from the ship as the docking hatch was closed and sealed.

Jenetta stopped looking for her replacement after that. She would see the job through until Space Command decided that she should go elsewhere. She might have been able to use her fame and influence to get a ship, but playing politics was something she was loath to do. Instead, she began associating more and more with the people that moved through the port.

Since being named as commanding officer of Dixon, Jenetta hadn't had time to work on leads to Christa's whereabouts, but now she began to make time to collect information she thought might help her find Christa. As the days, weeks, and months passed, she built a small network of valuable acquaintances. Her role as base commander provided a lot of contact with military people, freight haulers, civilians, and the numerous lower forms of sentient life arrested by the Marine security patrols. She encrypted and sent to Captain Kanes any pertinent information that she picked up.

Jenetta was working in her office one day when a message arrived from Commander DeWitt. She pushed the play button to view it after finishing the report that she was working on.

“Hello, Jen, congratulations on your promotion and your appointment as Base Commander. Your present, in the form of the Raider security ship, arrived yesterday and I just had to thank you right away. My people are already busy trying to reverse engineer the energy weapon. It's the most exciting thing that's come our way in months. I'll let you know what we find once we figure it out. Congratulations again, and thanks.”

Jenetta smiled and then sighed as she returned to her work as an administrator. At least the people in the Weapons Research section at Higgins were enjoying the work they were assigned.

The occasional perk of meeting an old friend was a lot more common on a base than onboard a ship. A few weeks after Richie left, the GSC research ship Archimedes, named after the famous Sicilian-born Greek mathematician and inventor, docked at Dixon and Jenetta received an unexpected visitor at her office.

“Karen!” Jenetta cried, when one of her best friends from her Academy days entered her office.

Lieutenant Karen Anderson, all five-foot six-inches of her, came stiffly to ersatz attention. “Lieutenant Anderson reporting to the Base Commander's office, to request a visit with an old friend, ma'am.”

Jenetta came out from behind her desk and wrapped her arms around the red-headed officer. “It's so good to see you. You look wonderful.”

As Anderson relaxed her prankish stance, her animated, freckled face lit up with a wide smile. “Not as good as you though; you haven't aged a day since we graduated from the Academy. Everybody always says that, but in your case, it's a hundred percent true. And I seem to remember being a couple of inches taller than you once. I can't believe that you're the Base Commander here, Jen. Of course, since returning from the dead you're the hottest thing in Space Command.”

“It's true; I'm the CO. I was also a bit shocked when it happened. But I'll get back into space again.”

“This is a dream job. You're not happy?”

“You know me, Karen. My heart is on a ship. Speaking of which, what are you doing on a ship? I didn't think that you wanted shipboard duty.”

“That was just a defense mechanism,” Karen said, her pixie-like green eyes twinkling. “I only said that I didn't want it because I knew that I'd never be in the top half of our class at the Academy. I'm not a brain like you. Scholastically I was only 186th in our class of 289, so I never expected to get shipboard duty. I was stationed on the Ethridge Space Station at Nivella-3 when I was offered the posting to the Archimedes, so I naturally jumped at it. I couldn't believe they picked me. I love it on the ship and I've never been happier in my life.”

“That's wonderful, Karen. I'm so happy for you. Um, Ethridge? Wasn't that where Heather Gulvil was posted?”

“Yes, and she's still there. She's a Lieutenant and a Senior Food Service Administrative Officer now. She talks about you all the time, telling everyone how close you both were while at the Academy.”

“We were close?” Jenetta said grinning.

Karen laughed. “In her mind, you were. I didn't remember it exactly that way either.”

“Does she still tell everyone that'll listen, how I smoked up the zero-grav lab at the Academy?”

“Yes, but now she claims that it was a planned prank, rather than a mistake. She tells people that you did it just to get a reaction out of grumpy old Professor Hubera. She says that you were the only one who could do it and not have it hurt her grade. Even with the failing score on that one lab exercise, you finished number one in his class.”

“I guess that I'll never live that incident down completely.”

“Jen, you were only seventeen; a kid. You were nervous, and time was almost up for the test. It's time to get over it. Besides, I don't think that it's thought of very much anymore; other than by you, that is. Whenever your name comes up, all people normally talk about is how you single handily destroyed Raider-One and cleaned up this part of the galaxy. Of course, now all they're talking about is how you were cloned. A lot of people think the Galactic Alliance Council, the Admiralty Board, or SCI was behind it so they'd have more Jenetta Carvers around.”

“You're kidding!”

“No. You know how some people are. That's why giving your clones citizenship has been such a hot issue. The paranoids are afraid that it may lead to more un-intentional cloning of important personages.”

“I was as opposed to cloning as everyone else!” Jenetta said sharply, then softened her voice as she added, “but now I've changed. I love having two sisters. I wish that I had them when I was growing up.”

“How does your family feel about them?”

“They've welcomed them as if they were always there.”

“That's great. Now tell me how you wound up on Dixon as the Base Commander.”

“Wrong place at the wrong time. I was the acting first on the Prometheus and my captain was the senior officer at the engagement here. When the battle was over he sent me to take command here and get things sorted out. That led to me being named Acting Base Commander while the task force repaired the battle damage to the ships, which in turn led to me being posted as the official Base Commander. I guess that I owe the promotion to the position, since they only appoint officers holding the rank of Commander, or higher, as base commanders, other than at small outposts.”

“You're the first in our class at the Academy to become a full Commander, you know.”

“Yes, I know. Quite a leap for the person voted 'most likely to remain an ensign for the longest time.'”

“Oh, those class titles are such nonsense. Look at Gary Bushnell; he was voted 'most likely to be first to make captain.' He's still a Lieutenant, although he's been on the Lieutenant Commander Promotion Selection List for two years now.”

“How about you? Are you on the list?”

“No, we science officers don't move up like you hot shot line officer types. Maybe in a few years I'll make the list. When you make Admiral, in a couple of years,” Karen said smiling, “you can give me a little push.”

Jenetta laughed. “You've got it. For now how about a walk through the shopping concourse; then tonight you'll join me for dinner.”

“Great. Can you get away?”

Jenetta smiled. “I'm the base commander. Who's going to tell me I can't take a break to chat with an old friend. Let's go.”

Karen's ship remained at the base for five days and she and Jenetta spent every evening together until she had to leave. Karen even joined Jenetta for dinner as a special guest when Jenetta entertained the senior command crew of the Archimedes, surprising the other officers by her presence at the meal. 

A month after the Archimedes departed, the Johannesburg arrived at the port. They had briefly exchanged fire after a chance encounter with a Raider destroyer in sector 8667-4332. The  Johannesburg tried to give chase when the Raider ship turned and fled, but damage to its power systems prevented them from traveling faster than Light-150. They naturally headed for Dixon so repairs could be made. Dixon didn't have a complete ship repair facility like that found at Mars, but it did have three enclosed shipdocks, and offered the maximum in Space Command protected refuge while a ship's systems were taken off-line.