The Enclave (The Verge) (6 page)

Katherine took another sip of her coffee and turned away from the screens.  There was only four hours until
Addie
turned up the lighting for the ships artificial day.  She decided to take her own advice and turn in.

The ear splitting sound of a buzzer rang through the command cabin, jerking Katherine from her sleep.  The clock above her bunk showed that she barely had an hours sleep. 
This better be important!

Katherine rolled over and slapped a hand on the data reader on her bedside.  The beeping suddenly stopped and the optic display suddenly sprang to life next to the bed.  She sat up and swung her legs out of the bed as Fred Johnson addressed her.

“Sorry to disturb you skipper, but a high priority FTL transmission has just come in for you.”

“Thank you Johnson, patch it through.”  Katherine turned to the optic screen while running a hand through her hair to neaten it.  Luckily she only took off her jacket and her boots before collapsing onto her bed.

She blinked in surprise when Johnson’s face was suddenly replaced by a frozen Admiral Baverstock’s.  In the top corner of the screen flashed the secure password icon.

“Alpha Tango Motel five eight Indigo Sierra Niner, Commander Katherine Kirk Authorize.”  She rattled o
ff her encryption authorization automatically and waited for the security software to clear the communication for viewing.  The words
Security Access Confirmed
flashed briefly across the frozen image, and then the message began to play.

“I know this message will get you out of bed but I would prefer you heard this news from me now rather than later on the military channels.  Or the media.”  The Admiral sat behind the desk in his office.  And he looked angry.  “We didn’t get Hyde.  He wasn’t on board when Battle Group Two took his ship.  And from what we could get from the crew he hadn’t been on board for months.  We are now back at square one Commander.  It looks as if he’s moved to a new ship with a new crew, the man could be anywhere.”  The Admiral looked away from the screen for a moment as Katherine heard the door to his office open.  There was a soft murmur and he gave a nod and she heard the door close.  “I’m sorry Katherine.”  Baverstock leaned forward and the screen went blank and was then replaced by an
End of transmission
banner.

Katherine stared incomprehensively at the screen. 
I’ve got to be dreaming
, but the tired ache in her bones told her she was not. 
Hyde wasn’t
there?  How can he not be there?
 

Springing up from her bed, Katherine frantically paced her cabin.  Thoughts churned in her mind, feeding the tight knot in her belly. 
Naval intelligence said he’d be there!  How can it be so wrong?  They had virtually guaranteed his capture after telling the
Adelaide
that our information was wrong.

Her pacing bought Katherine back to the bedside and the flashing
End Secure Transmission
screen.  Jabbing a finger at the console, the screen changed as the terminal waited for Katherine’s call to be answered.  Then Richard Coulthard’s sleep creased face appeared.

“What is it Katherine?”  Coulthard asked rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands.

“I want a meeting with the Department Heads at 0600,” Katherine snapped.

Coulthard suddenly looked more awake.  “What’s happened?”

“I’ll tell you at the meeting.  Just make sure all the Department Heads are there.  I want no excuses.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Katherine abruptly cut the connection ignoring her XO’s sudden formality.  She was too angry to do anything more than pace at the moment.  They would have to start the hunt for Hyde all over again, but this time the
Adelaide
will
not
put all its trust in information from naval intelligence.  They will not be screwed over by them again.

The meeting ended in uproar with veiled abuse being aimed at RANSIO.  Katherine was glad that it was not common knowledge that her brother was a ‘Sid operative.  And now the feeling of the ship had changed.  Before this meeting, even though the crew was pissed off, there was a sense of resolution.  All that had now vanished. 

Now they were all back at the beginning with no idea of what Hyde had been up to for the last three months.  The Alliance black ops must be sitting back and congratulating themselves over making a fool of the Federation.  Bastards!

And now her brother has requested a private meeting to discuss the ‘real purpose’ of this mission.  They had gone through the system Stargate during her brief moment of sleep and had exited through the closest Federation gate to the Junter system.  The
Adelaide
was now FTLing through the disputed zone and should arrive in system in about eight hours, if no one tries to challenge their ‘right of way’ through the DMZ.  Mark hunter was doing wonders in avoiding both Alliance and Federation traffic.  She determined to make mention of Hunter in her next log entry.

Petty planetary politics paled in comparison to getting back on track to throw Hyde into the dank prison cell he deserved.  Whatever John’s cloak and dagger assignment is, Katherine hoped it could be finished fast enough for them to get back to Port McMahon and start their hunt all over again.

Glancing at the time display on the briefing room wall, Katherine breathed a sign of frustration. 
He’s late.  And I hope he is not bringing Hayes with him.
  Katherine was well aware of the back sniping about her that Hayes was telling to her crew.  But it seems that Hayes was unaware that the crew had been passing Intel back to their captain (always in round about ways).  For an attractive woman, she had managed to rub a predominately male crew the wrong way.  Lieutenants Shepherd and Hunter were the only two who said anything nice about Hayes.

Katherine did not care what the woman said about her, as long as she obeyed Naval and ships regulations while on board.

The door opened and John stepped into the room, this time without a Serviceman escorting him, and again, thankfully without Hayes.  If Katherine did not know better, she would think the woman was avoiding her!

“Hello John,” she said, not bothering to get up from her chair to welcome him.  She was tired and her body was making sure she knew it.

“Hello Katherine.”  The access door closed quickly behind John, sealing them both inside.  John sat in the chair next to her, dropping his datapad on the table.

“You’re not going to give me another holo presentation again are you?”  Katherine placed a little ‘mock horror’ sarcasm in her voice, but from the startled look on John’s face that was exactly what he had planned to do.

“I was, but if you prefer to skip it and have me tell you straight, that’s fine.  It’s just that Julie spent a lot of time preparing this file.”

“Even more reason to skip it.”

John paused and gave Katherine a questioning glance but said nothing.

“Look John, you’re looking at a woman who has only managed to scrape a few hours sleep in the last forty eight hours.  I am tired and in need of a good nap.”

“Alright then little sister.”

Katherine tired not to wince at the phrase.  She had forgotten he used to call her that.

“I know that you and the
Adelaide’s
crew are angry at me for taking you away from Battle Group Two and the capture of Hyde-”

“We’re not angry with you anymore.  Hyde wasn’t there.  Admiral Baverstock informed me this morning.”  She could not keep the bitterness from her voice.  “It looks as if Naval Intelligence let us down.”

“No it didn’t”

“Yes it bloody well did!” Katherine bit back angrily.

“I’m sorry to say that it didn’t.”  Johns’ fingers twitched by his datapad but he restrained himself from thumbing it on.  “We fed Battle Group Two the information that Alliance black ops were feeding us.”

“What!” Katherine was aghast. 
How could they be used like that!
  All that time and effort wasted.

John held his hand up for calm.  “It’s not as bad as it sounds Katherine.  We had Battle Group Two follow Hyde’s false trail while Intelligence followed his real one.  We had to find out why the Alliance felt the need for this elaborate deception.”

“What has this to do with me?” Katherine could not keep the rage from her voice.  She was angrier now than she was this morning after the Admiral’s message.

“There are reasons why I specifically asked for you on this mission little sister.”

Katherine’s anger still smoldered but he had her attention now.  In fact, the knot deep down in her stomach rose up and Katherine knew what her brother was about to tell her.

“It was Hyde who attacked Val Myra wasn’t it?”

“Yes it was.”  John showed no surprise at her statement.  He looked at her as if it was the most obvious secret in the galaxy.

“And Naval Intelligence did nothing to warn Val Myra that they were about to be attacked?”  Katherine’s mind then leapt to the event that constantly haunted her thoughts.  “Did Naval Intel have forewarning against the attack on Adveral?”

“No, of course not!” John stared at her aghast.  “We-I would never willingly let that happen to you.  Never.”

The sincerity and hurt in John’s voice mollified Katherine, but he still had not answered her original question.

“But why not warn Val Myra?  They wanted to leave the Alliance, the warning might have swung them our way.”

“It’s not as simple as that Katherine.”

“It never is, is it?”  Katherine leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes as a wave of tiredness flowed over her.  Getting her hackles up had burnt away what little alertness she had left.

“Did you ask for me thinking it would put us on talking terms again?”  Her voice was flat and emotionless.

“No.  But the fact that you would do anything to get Hyde into Federation hands helped get my choice approved.”

“Tom will be glad to know that Fleet doesn’t think me a cold blooded killer,” Katherine murmured.

“What?”

Katherine waved away his question.  “Did your intelligence also tell you where he is hiding?  Or for that matter,
if he is even still on Junter Three?”

“He’s still there, we just don’t know where.”

“So they hit Val Myra and just disappeared, but are still on the planet.”

“Yes.”

“Any Special Ops team could do the job.  Why the
Adelaide
? Why me?”

“You and your crew have experience in tracking Hyde.  And you are more…”  John paused, searching for the right words, “shall we say ‘subtle’ in your operations.”

Katherine looked up sharply at John’s words, unsure if he was taking a dig at her or not.  She felt too tired to know the difference, or really care.  “You do look like death warmed up Kath.  Go and get some sleep.  We’ll finish this when we arrive at New Holland.  I have arranged a meeting with the New Holland Security Director before we meet with the Val Myran representatives.  We’ll talk before then.”

Katherine gave her brother a thankful nod and left to collapse in her bunk.

Chapter

Six

New Holland Prefecture was one of the most beautiful colonial cities that Katherine had seen.  Not that she had been too many in the last three years.  Katherine had not been big on giving herself shore leave, and had refused the quarters that had been assigned to her by the New Holland authorities, preferring to stay aboard the
Adelaide.
 

AFV
Adelaide
was met on landing by a delegation from the New Holland leading Council.  Katherine did not pay them much attention, except when she was introduced to Robert Prockter, the New Holland SIO Director.  Katherine briefly wondered if the man knew why they were really there, she would not have been surprised if he did.  Prockter probably knew more about what was going on than she did.

Then the group rushed John and his entourage away and left her and the
Adelaide
in peace.  Coulthard was already organizing the shore leave roster for the crew as they had not had any decent leave in over six months.  Once everyone had done a rotation, the hunt for Hyde could begin.

It was just after dinner when Brenton Joyce came to her door saying that Ambassador Kirk would like a meeting and had sent someone to escort her back to his rooms.

“Why can’t he come here?” Katherine murmured.  But Joyce thought she was asking him.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged.

“He hasn’t sent Hayes to escort me has he?”  Katherine asked as she slipped on her coat.  She was dressed casually, hoping for a quiet night before the round of long meetings scheduled for tomorrow.

“No Skipper.  It’s an officer from the local security forces.”

Thank god
, Katherine thought as she nodded to her Steward to leave.  “Inform Mr. Coulthard that I’ll be ashore with the Ambassador.  I don’t know how long I’ll be.”