Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Consequence (19 page)

              "And here we were hoping to keep this low key, you know?" Halley said as she shook her head.  "Magnetar, this is a SAR operative.  Check your recognition cards; my passphrase is echo, stratos, thirty-seven, green.  I'll wait while you verify."

              "You certainly put him in his place," Web joked.

              "Needed to be done," she replied.  "Besides, we don't have time for games.  That passcode commands a communication from the senior officer in the vicinity.  We'll find out who's in charge of that fleet he's talking about."

              A minute later the voice returned.  "Freighter, your passcode is verified, but it's way out of date.  We're holding position; when you find us, form up and we'll do a scan before escorting you any further.  Based on what the Admiral says, we'll go from there."

              "So now what?" Halley asked Web.  They were holding station off the starboard bow of the destroyer, the larger ship's shadow blocking the light of a distant supernova which was the scant light source out here in open space.

              "They're going over the results before telling the Admiral what to do with us," Web guessed.  "I don't know if this was a smuggling ship; if so, the compartments where many of them are riding are potentially shielded.  Either way, the ship is seeing a lot of life signs and that's probably striking them as suspicious."

              "Wonderful."

              "Freighter," came the now-familiar voice on the comm frequency.  "Your cargo is curious, but we are ready to patch you through to the Admiral."

              "It needs to be a secure frequency," Web commanded.  "I have sensitive information."

              "The Admiral will be the judge of that."

              Web smacked his hand against the scuffed console in agitation.  "This guy's just marking  territory.  He's so impressed with himself because he's in a destroyer and we're in this rapidly decomposing pile."

              "I rarely see you so agitated," Halley remarked.  "Just let it blow over, ok?  We need the Admiral.  And I need to know if you have any opinions on whose side he's on.  If he's a Dennix loyalist, these senators are no better off now than when the Primans had them."

              "Yeah, I know.  I'll behave."

              "Commander Web Exeter," they heard a voice on the freq.  "This is Admiral Nodam Bak.  Rarely do I have someone tossing around SAR codes demanding to speak to me.  What say we make this a visual conversation?"

              Web broke out in a huge smile and actually laughed quickly, something that Halley wasn't expecting as a possible reaction.  "I've love to, Admiral."

              Web opened the channel and there was the face of Admiral Bak.  There was recognition in the Admiral's eyes as well.

              "Glad to see you, Commander Exeter," Admiral Bak began.  "I was wondering if I'd see you on the other side of this line.  Last I heard you were captured by the Primans."

              "I was, sir," Web replied.  "I escaped, with some help.  And I learned something very amazing that you'll need to see.  Please, Admiral, come over so we can show you what we found.  It will change the war."

              Admiral Bak was relieved to see Web, but still a bit apprehensive.  The man was very eager to get him over to the freighter.  "Commander, do you remember our meeting by the beach?"

              Web knew what the admiral was doing.  He was giving him a chance to screw up the details of the story, intentionally or otherwise.  It would be a warning; something wasn't right.  With no time to pre-arrange a code or phrases, the best they could do was authenticate based on shared experiences.

              "Yes, Admiral.  Myself and a few of my superior officers were present.  You arrived in quite a little hot rod of a ship, something we talked about.  I hope you still have it; I thought it was a great little ride.  You asked us to go somewhere and find some special jewelry.  The friend I went with is right here, actually.  You really should see this, Admiral."

              Admiral Bak was as happy as he'd been in months.  He'd sent Web at Halley's request to meet her, and a while later was rewarded with the data off Senator Dennix's Priman ring he wore all the time.  He'd reviewed the data, stayed holed up in his cabin aboard ship for almost two weeks as he catalogued and indexed all the highlights of the man's treachery.  It was a jackpot of incomparable proportions; it was enough to run the man off the planet and probably right into prison.  He knew Halley and Web had been responsible for the data, but after that, they'd gone dark.  He'd received a quick report from Elco on Avenger once stating that Web had been captured by the Primans and Halley was planning a rescue, but he hadn't realistically expected to hear from either of them ever again.

              "I owe you two, and you know why," Bak admitted.  "I assume you want me to come alone?"

              "That would be best," Web replied, trying to keep a straight face.

              Admiral Bak flew the Freedom class transport over to the freighter.  He'd brought the entire fleet to where the destroyer and freighter were floating, wanting maximum protection for the assets inside.  Captain Montari had almost had a heart attack when Admiral Bak told him he was going over alone to talk to a covert ops team, and had tossed around a handful of pointed and perfectly valid rules regarding why Admiral Bak couldn't go alone.  Still, he was the Admiral, at least for now, and he flew over by himself.

              The transport docked with the freighter's external hatch, and when Admiral Bak opened the inner hatch he was greeted by Web and Halley, both looking decidedly the worse for wear.

              "Web, Halley," Admiral Bak said, extending a hand to shake each of theirs in turn.  The lack of formality caught them both a little off guard, but it wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to them today.  "I haven't heard from either of you in ages!  I'm glad to see you here, though I admit it's a hell of a surprise."

              "That's not the half of it, Admiral," Web said with a grin.

              "Lieutenant Halley Pascal," Admiral Bak said formally.  "I admit I know you by reading some of your mission briefs and hearing your comrades here talk about you, but it's nice to finally meet you in person."

              "Thank you, Admiral; it goes the same for you.  I don't think we'd be doing as well as we are if it wasn't for your patronage of some of our biggest successes.  The Starshakers, Marauders, to name a few."

              "You're too kind," Bak said, and Web thought he could see the old Drisk actually blush a little bit.  "But you said you had something to show me?"

              "If you could follow us, please?" asked Halley, and turned to lead the way.  They walked through a side passage until they ended up at the main bow-stern corridor, broken only by evenly spaced frames that held the tracks for emergency bulkheads.  Their journey took them to a pair of large cargo doors on each side of the corridor.             

              "Inside here is what we found on Callidor," Halley stated.  She reached over and tapped the button to open the hatch they were standing by.  It split in the middle and recessed into the bulkhead, revealing a crowd inside occupying all manner of cots, chairs, and bedrolls on the deck.  It took a second for Bak to place their faces; it had been several years since he'd seen any of them.

              "It's the senate," he said softly in awe.  "Are they all here?"

              "All but three, not counting Senator Dennix, of course," Halley confirmed.

              "How in the name of the creators did you do this?" 

              Web grinned.  He'd never seen the Admiral at such a loss for words.  "Short version: we grabbed the ring data from a Priman facility.  During that mission, we found them practically right on top of us.  I cleverly got myself captured so I could mingle with them, then Halley rescued all of us and here we are."

              "We did sort of blow up a lot of stuff on the way out," Halley admitted.

              "Lots and lots, actually.  In fact, Confed might get a bill from the government of Callidor one day when this is all over."

              "I'd pay it out of my own retirement," said the aghast Admiral Bak.  "You two did this... This could fix everything, do you realize that?  We already have the ring data you stole for us.  We can broadcast it to the entire Confederation and then march the senators right down the streets of Delos to take their places again.  Dennix and his treasonous allies will be finished."

              "Provided we can convince the population these people are still the ones who are supposed to be in charge," said Web.

              "And provided Senator Dennix doesn't have a way to stop us from getting to Delos in the first place," added Halley.

             
These two were a hell of a pair
, Bak thought.  He could only imagine the things they might accomplish.

              The first of the senators noticed them, and shouts rose among the group.  In seconds, they were swamped by the elected officials as they all waited for their chance to shake the admiral's hand and thank him for sending Web and Halley to their rescue, even if it was a few years in the making.  Web and Halley faded out of the compartment and waited out the proceedings.  Admiral Bak was going to have to shake a lot of hands before he'd be allowed to get back to the mission.

              "So," Loren began slowly as he eyed up the conference room he and Velk were sequestered in, "how's it going over there?"

              Velk looked at him out of the corner of his eye.  "My day could be going better, Commander, as could yours."

              "Just checking.  Thought maybe something had changed."

              Loren adjusted his position in the seat.  They'd been placed in a briefing room or conference room of some kind, though all but two of the chairs had been removed.  Likewise, all the computer terminals had been deactivated.  There wasn't even a viewport, or whatever the Priman version of that might be.  Nobody had checked on them in hours, and Loren was beginning to feel a sense of urgency.

              "You think Tash can do it?"

              "You refer to his plan to charge into Confed space and destroy Delos?" asked Velk.  "I believe he has a good chance, yes.  He has a fleet of roughly seventy large capital ships.  Even if we scraped together what was left over Callidor, we'd have less than twenty in pursuit.  So no, nothing my people can do will be able to stop this onslaught.  It is up to you."

              "Except my people aren't massed for a fight, and when Tash runs into some they'll be bound by the treaty to stand down anyway.  Damn, this is a losing game right here."  He crossed his arms and as he adjusted he felt something in his inside breast pocket.  His face changed as he remembered what he'd hidden there.

              "Representative," Loren said, fire back in his eyes, "I might have a plan.  It could involve the minor issue of us dying, but it might also get this ship and therefore Tash killed as well."

              Velk didn't hesitate.  "Tell me."

              Admiral Bak had made the arrangements with the fleet, and now he sat in the chair behind Web and Halley as they flew the rough old freighter right into the middle landing bay of the fleet carrier Broadsword, one of two Sabre class carriers in Admiral Bak's makeshift Fourteenth Fleet.  Admiral Bak had talked to the Senators at length about the current state of the Confederation.  Many of them represented planets or entire systems that had seceded from Confed over Senator Dennix's treaty with the Primans.  There had initially been hard feelings among their number over the fact that some of their constituents had abandoned Confed, or conversely supported a crooked leader.  Admiral Bak had finally made them realize they were all on the same team and for the good of Confed needed to be united when they reached Delos.  That was when the real work was going to start.  They'd need to rebuild the government amidst people who had been placed in office through sham elections and who would probably not go quietly into the night.  It might have been a first in recorded galactic history, but there had been genuine agreement among all politicians involved to work towards a common goal.  For now.

              To that end, they'd decided to keep their return a secret until the right time.  Admiral Bak had told Broadsword's captain to completely clear the flight deck and a passage to the flag officer's quarters.  Between the quarters, work spaces, dining hall, and conference areas, there was enough room for them to stay in relative comfort for the duration of the journey.  There would also be time to shower, clean up, and get into some new clothes, albeit Confed military uniforms.  Most of the senators had requested their more ornate clothing that was worn during session-and therefore what they were dressed in when captured-be either cleaned or reproduced by their arrival at Delos.  The captain of Broadsword and all of the service staff onboard were read into the plan under secret clearances.

              "How long to Delos?" Senator Thyatt asked Admiral Bak as they surveyed some of the displays in one of the briefing rooms they had the run of.