Clidepp Requital (41 page)

Sydnee knew he was kidding, so she said, "Just tell them not to scare the mechanics in the maintenance bay when they leap out of the shuttles. So far the villagers have been friendly."

"Noted. Carver, out."

"Marcola, out."

Sydnee had Chief Lemela pass on the request that the freighter drop its envelope. At the same time, Caruthers stopped generating new envelopes but didn't cancel the
Justice
's envelope. When the
Gatherer
had come to a stop, he would make up the distance to the freighter, then cancel the envelope. The
Seoul
did the same.

Some thirty minutes later, all interdiction teams from the
Seoul
had been transferred to the Gather and the freighter was given a green light to rebuild an envelope and continue their voyage.

As the freighter disappeared from view, Captain Carver contacted the
Justice
. "I'd like to come aboard and see your ship now, if that's convenient. How does my shuttle establish a connection?"

"It would be quicker and simpler if I sent over a MAT, sir. This small ship wasn't really designed for easy access from an older style shuttle. The linkage is different, and it's a bit difficult to establish an airtight seal."

"Very well. Will your MAT enter a bay or link to an airlock?"

"An airlock link would be quickest."

"Very well. Have your pilot connect to the starboard bow airlock."

"Yes, sir. Marcola, out."

"Carver, out."

"Lieutenant Olivetti, would you like to take a short ride?"

"I'd love to, Captain."

"Okay. Why don't you pick up our guest."

"Yes, ma'am."

In less than a second, a smiling Lt. Olivetti was up out of her chair at navigation and headed for MAT-Two.

As Olivetti unlinked from the
Justice
, she banked to starboard, then raised the MAT up and over the CPS-14. The
Seoul
had come to a halt on the
Justice's
larboard side, so she only had to slide left a thousand meters to align with the
Seoul's
forward airlock.

Five minutes after making the connection with
Seoul
, MAT-Two was headed back to the
Justice
.

"Atten-tion," Chief Luscome said as Captain Carver and two of his senior officers entered the ship. The greeting party was a small one since most of the crew was on the
Gatherer
or required to remain on the flight deck. Only Sydnee, Luscome, and Doc could be spared for the greeting.

"As you were," Carver said calmly. After introductions all around, Captain Carver extended his hand towards Sydnee and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant. I've heard a lot about you."

"About me, sir?"

"Don't be modest. The story of how you saved the
Perry
crew was all over the news when the BOI made their findings official."

"Oh, I hadn't heard, sir. We've been away on a mission."

"You've been somewhere where GA news broadcasts weren't available?"

"Yes, sir. But I can't discuss it."

"That must be one hell of a story. Your career so far has been a little like that of my sister."

Sydnee smiled pleasantly but never uttered a word.

"Okay, I won't bait you. I'm here to see your ship, so let the tour begin."

"This way to the bridge, sir," Sydnee said as she turned and led the way.

Once on the bridge, Sydnee just let the Captain and two Commanders look around. There wasn't anything unusual there, so they really needed no explanation until they came to the tactical station.

"This looks more like a tactical station than a security station," Carver said.

"Yes, sir. That's exactly right. I haven't been ordered to maintain secrecy about it, so I'm sure I can alert a fellow SC officer. We're carrying ninety-six missiles and eight laser arrays."

Carver looked at Sydnee for a few seconds to see if she was jesting. When she maintained her serious expression, he said, "Where are they hidden? I saw no indication of armament from outside."

"There are two habitat containers beneath the ship."

"Yes, I noticed them. That's for your Marine complement, right?"

"The center habitat has been moved to the freighter's maintenance bay for the duration of the search. We felt it would make things easier if the interdiction teams could remain in the freighter. They have enough beds for a hundred six, so your people can share the habitat if you wish. There's plenty of food, water, and amenities, such as showers."

"Thank you, Captain. I agree it would make things much easier."

"The two remaining containers are weapons platforms disguised as habitat containers. If you'd care to follow me, I'll show you the rest of the ship, and then we can visit one of the weapons platforms if you wish."

"I wish."

An hour later the tour was over, and Captain Carver and his party were headed back to their ship. Sydnee had enjoyed the time immensely and had been especially pleased when Captain Carver had compared her short career to that of his sister, Admiral Jenetta Carver. She wondered what he'd say if he knew that, like Admiral Carver, Sydnee had been captaining a small ship when it set a new speed record that left Admiral Carver's speed record in the dust.

When MAT-Two had re-linked with the
Justice
and Lt. Olivetti was once more seated at the navigation console, Sydnee gave the order to rebuild the envelope and catch up to the
Gatherer
. Despite the disproportion in their sizes, the
Justice
would be alongside the
Gatherer
for more than an hour before the
Seoul
caught up.

After that brief break from boredom, everything fell back into routine as the interdiction teams aboard the
Gatherer
put all their effort into completing the task at hand. Captain Carver had been just as firm with his people when he told them that if the generator wasn't found by the time they reached the last container at the bow, they would start over again at the stern. It provided enough incentive to ensure that no piece of equipment larger than a size ten boot was passed by without a thorough inspection.

Naturally, there were a number of false calls but all were quickly dismissed either by Addams, Luscome, or one of the engineers from the
Seoul
. Some were for refrigeration units and cooking appliances, and one was an ancient diesel motor for a farm tractor. Since no one on the interdiction team had ever seen one before, it was good for a few minutes of diversion.

As always happens, the minutes turned into hours, the hours turned into days, and the days turned into weeks, but in the fifth week following the arrival of the
Seoul
, news that an interdiction team from the
Seoul
had found an envelope generator spread like scandal gossip at a political event.

Lance Corporal Addams raced to the container where the find had been reported. Chief Luscome, aboard the
Justice
was looking on through Addams' helmet cam.

Addams climbed down into the container and then to the fourth level down. He hurried over to where all members of the interdiction team for this container had gathered around a large crate.

"Get the entire top of the crate off," Addams said. "We can only see a little of it with the probe camera. Be careful to preserve the shipping data."

One of the Marines had a pry bar, and he began forcing the tip under the lid. As he succeeded, he pressed down on the bar and the screeching sounds of embedded nails being pulled from wood filled the space. As the cover came partly free, two of the Marines standing by grabbed the edge and lifted. The cover seemed to hang on stubbornly and then surrender all at once to the futility of the effort.

When the generator was exposed, Addams excitedly yelled on the Com-Two frequency, "That's it! I'd recognize those scars on the outer case anywhere. We've found it! We've found it, Captain!"

~ Oct. 8
^th
, 2286 ~

Sydnee had been working on a report in her office when news of the possible find began reverberating around the
Gatherer
but when Chief Lemela aboard the
Justice
notified Sydnee, she made it to the bridge in time to see the helmet cam images of the generator and hear Addams' excited announcement that it was the one they'd been looking for. The broadcast was like a tonic. Everyone was suddenly more awake then they'd been in weeks. They'd all begun to wonder if they might search the entire cargo section and not find the generator. In total, the teams from the
Justice
and the
Seoul
had already searched one thousand, two hundred thirty-eight containers. That represented more than a third of the cargo section.

Immediately, the other interdiction teams began climbing out of the containers they'd been searching and congregated around the entrance to the one where the generator had been located.

On Com-Three, Sydnee said, "Hey Kel, are you getting this about finding the generator?"

"Yes, Syd, I'm headed over that way now."

"Okay, I'm switching to Com-Two."

On Com-Two, Sydnee said, "Lift the cover, Lance Corporal. Make sure the generator is inside."

Since Light-9790 required that all exterior surfaces be Dakinium, the ship's original generator cover had been used on the replacement generator when it was installed, but the scarred cover from the reclamation yard had been retained and then replaced over the burnt out unit after the replacement unit from the
Lifeguard
had been installed.

Sydnee watched, along with everyone else who had access to the helmet cam images as Addams worked to remove the cover. It didn't require tools when not wearing gloves, but it was difficult without tools while wearing the gloves supplied with the personal armor. Finally, with the help of the other Marines, Addams managed to unlock the clips that held the cover on. He lifted it off and set it aside.

"Yeah, the generator is there, Captain."

"Is the induction coil there? And is it the one you worked on with Padu?"

"Yes, ma'am. It's the one we repaired."

Sydnee breathed a sigh of relief before saying, "Wonderful. Okay, Lance Corporal, let's reassemble the generator and seal the crate. Good job, everyone."

Knowing she should immediately contact the freighter's captain, Sydnee had the com chief set up a call to Captain Choi. He was working in his office and took the call there.

"Captain, we've found what we've been searching for. We'll be out of your hair soon."

"Our security cameras in the link tunnel showed most of your people exiting containers and congregating around the entrance to one in particular. I suspected you might have found what you were looking for. Can you tell me now what it was?"

"Here, I'll send you the shipping data from the crate and the info you sent as part of your manifest log."

As Choi received the info, he said, "Machine parts? That's not very descriptive."

"No, it isn't. That's why we had so much difficulty finding it. The crate actually contains an envelope generator."

"Just an envelope generator? But that's not contraband."

"It is when the generator is an experimental unit stolen from Space Command."

"What's experimental about it?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't say any more. And I ask that you not report this to your company or anyone else. The main office on Earth already knows and was told not to say anything to you or anyone until its presence was ascertained. I'm sure SCI will be waiting for whomever comes to pick up the unit at its destination, so I must ask you not to report that we've taken it off your ship. Speaking of which, I'll need your cooperation in getting it out of the container. It's far too large to fit through the access hatch. Now that everything is winding down, our people will be returning to their ships. It'll probably take an hour, at least, to wrap up everything. My people will have to remove all the tamper seals and gather up all our equipment. I'll contact you when we're done, and you can drop your envelope so we can wrap this up.

"The container is one of the inside units in that link section, so we'll have to separate the cargo section at that point and free the container from the link section so the end doors can be opened to remove the crate. After you've reassembled the link section and rejoined the stern cargo section, you're free to leave. I thank you for your cooperation in helping us to recover this stolen Space Command property."

"I have to say, Captain, that this is the most pleasant interdiction experience I've ever had in my long career. Thank you for allowing us to continue our voyage while you searched. If we'd been forced to sit for weeks back where you first contacted us, the company would have been on my back every hour and probably been screaming to Space Command and every GA Senator to boot."

"I'm glad a spirit of cooperation has made both our jobs a little easier, Captain."

"We'll cancel the envelope when you tell us, and my cargo people will be prepared to separate out that container for you."

"And I'll have my people suited up in EVA gear by the time the container is accessible so we don't hold you up any longer than necessary.
Justice
, out."

"
Gatherer,
out."

Next, Sydnee contacted Captain Carver. "I'm sure you've heard the news by now, sir."

"Yes, I was summoned by my tac officer who had been watching the helmet cam images. When the commotion started, he contacted me and we put the images up on the main monitor. It seems like an awful lot of effort for just an ordinary envelope generator."

"It's a very special generator, sir."

What's so special about it?"

"I'd love to tell you, sir. I really would. But..."

"But you're under orders not to say anything?"

"Exactly."

"I understand, Captain."

"I've asked Captain Choi to give us an hour to organize ourselves and then drop his envelope so we can pick up our people and retrieve the generator. Do you want to return it to Earth, sir?"

"I think that honor should go to you. We're glad we were able to assist your effort here, especially if that generator is as important as you think. Besides, with your speed you can have that generator back on Earth in a few days instead of a few months."