A Galaxy Unknown 10: Azula Carver (21 page)

As he stepped out of his office, he realized his bodyguards were not at their posts. He pulled out his com device but couldn't get an activation signal, so he stuffed it back into his pocket. He was getting angrier by the second and was really going to ream them a new hole when he saw them. They were probably down in the lobby, shooting the bull with the other morons the company owned.

As he reached the elevator bay, he realized there was no one else around either. The secretary who greeted visitors was nowhere to be seen.

"What is this?" he growled. "I'm going to sack the entire lot of them."

Soroman stepped into an open elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. But the elevator, which was supposed to stop only at the lobby and the top floor executive suite, dropped just three floors before stopping. As the elevator doors opened, four very large men with grim expressions on their faces entered the elevator. Soroman backed up until his back was against the rear wall. Instead of turning around to face front, as people always do, the four men continued to stare at Soroman as the car descended. Fear was etched into Soroman's face.

Soroman never made it home, never picked up the hooker he had already paid for, never made it to the restaurant or the theatre, and was never seen again. No exhaustive search for Soroman would be made, as there had been for Arthur Strauss. The Upper Council already knew where he was— or rather where he had been just before the giant machines began grinding up his body for pet food.

~ March 21
^st
, 2289 ~

Hugh had only been gone a day, and Jenetta was miserable already. For three months they had lived like newlyweds, sans the big wedding, and life had been wonderful.

Jenetta was still staring at her untouched breakfast when her Mother arrived in the family dining room. Annette recognized the look immediately, so she walked behind her daughter and placed her hands on Jenetta's shoulders.

"I felt the same way every time your father returned to his ship because I knew it would be a year or more before I would hold him— and be held by him— again. Thank heavens for vidMail. It's helped keep me sane."

"That's all we've had for the twelve and a half years before this leave."

"You'll be okay in a few days, dear. The mood fades quickly when you're busy, and you're always busy. I was always busy as well, because I had your four brothers and you to take care of. You five kept me running. Well, look who's here."

Jenetta looked up and saw Tayna walking towards them with one of her cubs dangling from her mouth. She came directly to Jenetta and deposited the cub on Jenetta's lap. Without a word, she turned and raced out the door.

"I guess Tayna's ready to move back into the house," Annette said.

Twenty minutes later, all four cubs had been brought from the garden birthing box to the dining room. When Tayna brought the last cub, she put it on Jenetta's lap, then sat down. Cayla heard the commotion in the next room and came from the sitting room to welcome Tayna back. After a minute of mewling and low growls with Cayla, Tayna activated her microphone.

"Jeneeta, you name babies. Like with Cayla babies."

"Of course, Tayna. The family has been discussing possible names."

Lifting one of the four squirming cubs on her lap, she checked it's sex. It was male, with dark brown fur and deep green eyes like his father, Thor.

"How about Jake for this little fellow?"

Tayna nodded and said, "Jake."

Jenetta handed Jake to Annette and picked up another cub. It was another male, but unlike Jake's coloration, he had black fur and yellow eyes like his mother.

"How about Alex?"

Tayna said, "Al-ex," and nodded.

After handing Alex to Annette, Jenetta picked up the third of the cubs Tayna had put onto her lap. It was a female with light grey fur and yellow eyes.

"I think I like Autumn for this little girl. What do you think, Tayna?"

Tayna nodded and said, "Aw-tum."

The last cub to be named was another female. This cub also had light grey fur, but her eyes were green.

"I think this little girl looks like a Chelsea."

"Chel-see," Tayna said and nodded.

"So we have Jake, Alex, Autumn, and Chelsea," Jenetta said as she placed the last cub next to Autumn on her lap. "All of your babies are beautiful, Tayna, and all look healthy. How are you feeling?"

"Tired. Babies keep me up. Want to be fed all time, or climbing out of box."

"Why don't you find a quiet place to rest. We'll look after your babies while you sleep."

"Good. Need sleep."

Tayna stood up, and padded out of the room in search of a quiet, pleasant place to nap.

A few minutes later, Regina and Marisa arrived for breakfast with Arturo and Berl in tow. As soon as the boys noticed the cubs on Auntie Jenetta and Nonnie Annette's laps they squealed, "More kitties!" and raced to pet them. They had to be reminded to be very gentle because the cubs were only a few weeks old.

Cayla knew her babies couldn't yet climb out of the new box because of its higher sides, so she relaxed in the family dining room until it was time for her breakfast. When she returned, Thor and Nicky were with her. Each of them now had their own microphone collar they could activate or turn off at will. They relaxed on the floor with Cayla while they digested their meals, but in a couple of hours they would probably be racing around the grounds. With unrestricted access to the entire palace and the grounds, they usually spent hours each day racing around outside and inside. They had especially been enjoying use of the swimming pools since arriving on Obotymot. Like the jaguars on Earth, Jumakas loved the water. In the wild it had been an important source of food and they were very adept at swimming.

~     ~     ~

Lt. Commander Eliza Carver stopped running on the track aboard the
Ares
to take a break, cool down a bit, and get a drink of water. She had been running for over thirty minutes.

As soon as she stopped, three other officers who had been running on the track stopped as well and approached her as a group. One was a lieutenant commander and the others were lieutenants.

"Come on, Christa," Lt. Commander Mandera said. "Just tell us if Admiral Carver is coming back. Everyone is dying to know."

"I honestly don't know what her plans are, guys. I'm not even sure she does. Right now she's relaxing at her estate and enjoying the first real rest she's had in more than two decades. We're Space Command officers, and we go where they tell us and do what they tell us, but Admiral Carver had the entire weight of Region Two and Region Three on her shoulders. She was responsible for all of us, all of the Space Command personnel in these two regions, and all of the inhabitants on all of the occupied planets. I can't even imagine having that kind of responsibility for so long. Let it go, guys. When she's rested and made a decision, we'll all know."

"But you're her sister, you must have some idea what…"

Mandera's words were interrupted when all four of the officers received an emergency message via their CT. Everyone aboard the
Ares
received the same message. A second later it came over every speaker on the ship, but by then the four officers were already racing down the corridor.

"GQ! GQ! This is not a drill. Secure the ship and proceed to your General Quarters stations."

As a bridge officer, Eliza's GQ station, when not on duty, was the Auxiliary Command and Control Center. She raced there as quickly as her tired legs would take her. She was dressed in perspiration-soaked sweats and needed a shower, but that would have to wait.

As Eliza reached the AC&C, off-duty bridge officers were already crowding into the enormous Center. The large monitor at the front of the room showed a ship at maximum magnification. It appeared to be a derelict freighter.

"Attention, this is the captain. We've come across what appears to be a derelict ship. We're going to circle around it and check space for any other ships. We won't drop our envelope until we sure we're alone out here, but stay alert."

Eliza watched as the
Ares
circled the derelict ship from the minimum safe distance of twenty-five thousand kilometers. While the tac officer searched space for other vessels, especially hostile ones, the people in engineering were appraising the condition of the derelict.

When the
Ares
had completed a full three-hundred-sixty-degree circle of the derelict, the captain announced, "We appear to be alone out here with the derelict, but we don't know if anyone aboard her is still alive. Commander Carver, report to the bridge."

All eyes in the room watched Eliza as she stood and hurried to the door. A few minutes later she appeared on the large AC&C monitor as she entered the bridge. Captain Gavin gestured towards his office and she followed him in.

"Eliza, two Marine fire teams are assembling in the shuttle bay. Take them and as many engineers as can be crammed into a shuttle, and visit that hulk. Everybody must be in EVA gear because the ship appears to be full of holes as were the
Yenisei
and the
Salado
when they were found. If the holes in
this
ship were also made by those Denubbewa missiles with the tiny nuke warheads, the interior of the ship may be glowing with radioactivity, so nobody removes their EVA gear until the radiation levels of the area have been determined to be safe."

"Yes, sir."

"We want to confirm her identity and learn anything we can about her last minutes."

"
Confirm
her identity, sir? Do you believe you know who she was?"

"We think her name was
Lina Algocoldo
, a Eulosi freighter reported missing a few months ago."

"Eulosi?"

Gavin nodded. "She took ten kilometers of food, wood products, and electronics to Milor and was returning with Milori foodstuffs and unprocessed ore when she went missing. We need to know what happened to her. Remain vigilant at all times. If the Denubbewa suddenly show up, we might not be able to recover you right away. Hide as best you can, and we'll contact you when we're able."

"Yes, sir."

Eliza braced to attention, then turned and hurried out. Her first destination was the EVA preparation room near the shuttle bay. Once she was suited up, she hurried to the shuttle bay. The two Marine fire teams and a second lieutenant were fully suited up except for their helmets. They lined up as soon as Eliza appeared. While Eliza performed a walk-around with the shuttle mechanic, eight engineers in EVA suits arrived.

Eliza nodded to the mechanic as they completed the check and then hurried aboard, signaling to the lieutenant that the Marines and engineers should board.

Eliza was working her way through the checklist when the Marine Second entered the flight deck and dropped into the co-pilot seat.

"Lieutenant Nathan, isn't it?" Eliza said as she finished her checks.

"Yes, ma'am, Commander."

"All buttoned up in back?"

"Yes, ma'am. We're good to go."

Eliza checked to verify the system was showing the hatches as being locked and sealed, then released the skid magnets and raised the shuttle into the air, turning it towards the temporary airlock as it slowly rose half a meter above the deck. A slight touch on the thruster control sent the ship moving towards the hull airlock.

After positioning the shuttle within the airlock markers, Eliza lowered the ship and locked the skids. The operator in the control room began lowering the temporary walls when his systems stated that the shuttle was down and locked.

It took just seconds for the huge motors to remove all the air from the temporary airlock and a few more seconds for the huge hull doors to open.

"
Ares
shuttle bay operations," Eliza said, "Shuttle-06 ready to depart the
Ares.
"

"Shuttle-06, you're cleared to depart."

Eliza used thrusters to get clear of the
Ares
, then lit the Sub-Light engines and headed towards what they believed was the
Lina Algocoldo.

As the small ship neared the derelict, Eliza flew the shuttle around the freighter vertically, then horizontally. It was a mess. There were numerous holes in the hull. Whoever attacked the freighter wanted to make sure it couldn't get away.

"
Ares
, this is Shuttle-06, confirming the damage appears to have been made by Denubbewa missiles. The holes in the hull are so numerous it appears doubtful there will be any airtight areas, but we're going to make an attempt to board the freighter now if such action is approved."

Eliza recognized the voice of Captain Gavin when she heard, "Roger, Shuttle-06. You're cleared to proceed. Use extreme caution."

The entire aft section of the freighter, which was always the cargo section, was missing, so there was no maintenance bay segment where the shuttle could dock. Eliza maneuvered the small ship to a position close to an emergency airlock in the main ship before addressing the Marines and engineers in the cabin area.

"This is Commander Carver. We're unable to dock with the freighter, so we'll have to do this the hard way. I want four teams, each consisting of two Marines and two engineers. Lt. Nathan will make the team assignments once you're aboard the freighter. It appears that the freighter was damaged by Denubbewa missiles. We know from bitter experience that their missiles have small nuclear warheads, so we believe there will be radiation aboard the ship. Your EVA suits will protect you from the radiation, so even if you find an airtight area, you will remain fully suited at all times. We need to confirm the identity of the freighter and recover whatever logs we can from her computers if there's any energy left in her power cells. The
Ares
communications chief is standing by, ready to accept all transmissions.

"We also want to check for any possible survivors, even if there are no airtight areas in the ship. Check all escape pods and stasis beds. It's doubtful anyone in an EVA suit would still be alive, but confirm that as well.

"As the only pilot aboard, I have to remain in the shuttle to hold its position steady. Once Lt. Nathan joins you in the rear cabin, I'll depressurize so we won't have to use the small airlock. Good luck and use extreme caution aboard that ship. We have no idea what you might find.