Cassandra's Challenge (41 page)

“There’s no higher security. It has to be
something else.”

“So I need to compare the two to one of your
transmissions to the High Admiral find the differences. I can do
that.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Looking at the time he lifts
her to her feet. “I need to get cleaned up and relieve Quinn.” As
he heads to the shower she sits down to write a new search.

“The ships are a day and a half away from the
fleet Admiral. All ships are stabilized but not yet fully
operational. Communications are still spotty. There’s been no
contact on any sensors. It appears the Regulians have returned to
the Relinquished Zone.”

Nodding the Admiral takes the report from
Quinn.

“Our repairs?”

“100%. All decks. All posts manned.”

“Good. Dismissed Colonel, get some down
time.”

“Yes sir.”

Leaving the bridge Quinn heads for quarters,
passing the Admiral’s quarters he sees Cassandra opening the hatch
for Hutu.

“Colonel.”

“Cassandra.”

“Could I speak to you for a minute?” Wondering
what’s up Quinn enters the ready room.

“I’ll just be a minute.” Leaving him she gets
the girls set up for first meal. Closing the connecting door she
walks Hutu to the hatch, securing it. Turning she looks at him,
William’s friend, he returns her look.

“Look Colonel, I know we haven’t always gotten
along.” She starts.

“I have no problem with you.” Cassandra gives
him a little grin.

“Oh we’ve had our moments, but that’s beside the
point. You are one of the Admiral’s oldest friends, in addition to
his second in command.”

“Yes.”

“You’re willing to tell him when he’s
wrong.”

“The Admiral is seldom wrong.”

“Agreed.” She runs a hand through her hair not
sure how to approach the subject.

“If you’ve got something to say just say it!”
The look he receives tells him he’s pissed her off.

“Once the fleet is up and running we will be
proceeding to Carina.” She waits.

“Yes.”

“There is going to be some controversy over my
arrival.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Yes. You’ve been involved in the planning
understand what’s happening, and have a unique view on
situation.”

“What do you want?” Tar is blunt.

“I want you to leave the Retribution with us. I
want you to watch William’s back.” The shock in Quinn’s eyes is
unmistakable.

“He knows this?” He questions.

“No.”

“You want me to go behind his back and…”

“No
! This is about
me
building
my
House. That’s what it amounts too. You know there is no
guarantee. Lucas will protect Victoria, William will protect me,
but someone needs to protect
him
.”

“Just how am I supposed to do that?”

“By being there, watching his back. I’m not the
only one that’s going to be attacked, is already being attacked,
you know this.”

“I know.”

“It means risking your career, I know that too.
That’s why I asked you without the Admiral here. It’s your
decision, if you decide you can’t he’ll never know.”

“You think I wouldn’t back the Admiral!?!?”

“You always have his back. But this
is
different. You know that. You also know he’d never ask it of you.
So I am.”

It’s Quinn’s turn to run a frustrated hand
through his hair. She
is
asking a lot and she knows it. But
she’s not asking him to help
her
, she’s asking him to help
Will. She’s right, the Admiral would never ask and they are going
to need all the help they can get. From people they can trust.

“I’m in.” He makes his decision.

“Thank you.” She momentarily closes her eyes,
another piece.

“I’m not doing it for you.” Her eyes flash to
his.

“I know, thank you anyway. He matters to me more
than you can know.”

“More than being Queen?” Quinn has to ask.

“I’ve never claimed I
wanted
to be
Queen.” She turns as the connecting door opens.

“Aunt Cassie we’re done.” Tori enters the room.
“Hi Colonel.” She gives him a brilliant smile.

“Hi Tori.”

“I’ll be right there.” She turns back to the
Colonel. “Thank you Colonel, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this
between us for now, the Admiral is dealing with enough.”

“I can do that…for now.” When he leaves
Cassandra secures the hatch.

With the girls in the shower, Cassandra cleans
up the dishes. Realizing she never read the overnight search
results she heads to the comm. Pulling them up she reads.

“Shit!” The new signature she’s searching for
was in
both
of the twenty line transmissions.

She needed to know if the same person received
those transmissions. The search is quick. Not only were both
transmissions received by the same person, they were nearly
identical in every line of coding.

“Who is giving up the fleet’s location?”

“Admiral, incoming transmission from High
Admiral Valeria, secure line.”

“Zafar.” The Admiral says into his headset.

“What’s your status Zafar?”

“100%.”

“Good, still no news on the First Son. The
communications out there are still sporadic.”

“Crap, how hard can it be!”

“Look I know you’re frustrated, not being there.
But I need you right where you are.”

“I know that. We’ve been doing long range scans.
The only ships we’re picking up are ours. We’re staying at Alert
Status Two until the border is secured.”

“Understood, once it is, we’ll get back to the
other matter.”

“Understood, by then I might have some more
Intel for you.”

“What are you sniffing?”

“I’m not sure yet, but it’s something.”

“Dig it out Admiral. I want this traitor!”

“So do I sir, so do I. Zafar out.” Removing his
headset the Admiral leans back in his chair. Thinking about the
transmissions Cassandra has found. Twenty fucking lines, what did
that mean?”

Opening the hatch Cassandra finds Leander and
Javiera.

“Hi, come on in. The girls are in the back. They
just got done with their showers.” Securing the hatch she finds the
Michelakakis’ standing by the Admiral’s
desk.

“We wanted to talk to you alone first.” Leander
tells her.

“You’ve reached a decision.” Seeing them look at
each other she knows they have.

“We leave the Retribution with you.” Javiera
announces.

“You’re sure?” Her eyes jump from Leander to
Javiera. “Really sure, you’ve thought it through?”

“Yes we have.” Leander tells her. “Especially
after this last attack, it really brought it home. Someone on
Carina is helping the Regulians. They destroyed your planet. If the
Retribution hadn’t been here to stop them they would have done the
same to Carina. This isn’t just your fight anymore, it’s ours too.
We need to find this traitor.”

“Whoever it is?” She has to ask.

“Whoever it is.” Giving them both a hug
Cassandra takes a deep breath, her eyes full of gratitude.

“Thank you, both of you. I can’t tell you what
it means to me that….”

“Mommy! Daddy!” Amina comes running out into the
ready room. “I didn’t know you were here! We’ve been having the
best
time!”

Hugging their daughter they listen to her
excited chatter, knowing how close they’d come to losing her just
days before.

“Do I have to go home now? Tori and I wanted to
play more.” Young eyes turn to Cassandra.

“She’s welcome to stay. Especially since you
both are on alert. I think it’s good for both of them.”

“I tell you what. Why don’t we take them for
awhile, give you a break. Then if she could stay again that would
be great.”

“Please Aunt Cassie?!?” Tori pleads.

“That’s fine with me.” Leander turns as they
leave.

“We’ll talk more later.”

“We will.” Securing the hatch Cassandra takes a
moment to be thankful for her new friends then heads back to the
comm center.

“Time to find a traitor. So if I want to know
where the twenty line transmission went I need to compare them
too…the sixteen will take too long…the nineteen I’m not opening
without William…so that leaves the eighteen. I need to set it up to
find any matches between the strings it. Here goes.” With the
search running it was time for a shower.

Washing her hair, she lets her mind wander.
Lucas is in, he’ll protect Victoria. Tar is in, he’ll watch
William’s back. Leander, Javiera, and Amina are in. Leander will be
with Lucas, helping watch both girls, Javiera will help her
understand Carina from a woman’s viewpoint. She’s going to need to
know how to present herself, and that includes dress plus all those
little rules she doesn’t know.

It’s starting to come together, she needs to
talk to William, he’ll know what’s missing, but now isn’t the time.
When they start back to Carina, off Alert Two, there will be
time.

Turning off the shower, she leans over wrapping
a towel around her head, standing up the room starts to tilt.
Grabbing the sink she steadies herself.

“What the hell was that?” Looking at her
reflection she takes a deep breath. “Time to see what Hutu has
brought for breakfast.” Wrapping a towel around her, she leaves
what’s become an overheated room for the coolness of their
chambers. Dressed she heads to her covered plate.

Finding her favorite loblolly she sits down,
managing to finish over half of the oversized portion. With her
hunger satisfied she puts the bowl on the tray, turning as the comm
buzzes.

The search has uncovered matches to different
codes within the string. Pulling up the first match, she plays the
transmission and is surprised to hear the Admiral’s voice.

“Admiral, this is Captain Procne.”

“What the fuck are you doing over there Procne!
It takes you TWO WEEKS to send over Regulian traffic for
translation!”

“Admiral, I can explain.”

“It’d better good!”

“Admiral, the transmission was recorded after
the battle but it wasn’t on any of the normal Regulian channels. As
you know we took a serious hit during the attack losing a
communications specialist.”

Stopping the transmission Cassandra realizes
it’s the first transmission found in Regulian. But who is Captain
Procne? Captain of what ship?

This is a transmission between the Retribution
and another Coalition ship. Comparing this transmission to a
nineteen line one between the Retribution and the High Admiral
Cassandra finds the Retribution’s code. And knows it means no one
on the Retribution revealed the fleet’s location. She hadn’t
realized she’d been worried the traitor was on board. But what ship
did?

Connecting to the bridge she hopes William can
tell her.

“Sensors?”

“No contacts Admiral.”

Looking at his comm, he sees his private line is
ringing.

“Zafar.” He answers putting on his headset.

“Question.”

“Okay.”

“Who’s Captain Procne?”

Silence answers her.

“William?”

“He’s the Captain of the Sentinel.”

“The Sentinel. The ship that’s dead in
space?”

“Yes.” He can hear her mind racing through the
comm.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“What doesn’t?”

“Admiral! I have long range sensor
contacts!”

“Location!”

“Sir, they are still in the Relinquished Zone.”
Disconnecting the Admiral removes his headset.

“Communications! Contact the Dioscuri make them
aware of the situation.”

“Yes sir!”

“Move us to Alert Status One!”

“Yes sir!”

“Communications have you been able to raise the
Dioscuri?”

“No Admiral, I’m transmitting but have received
no response.”

“Keep trying! Get me a secure line to the High
Admiral.”

Picking up his headset he suddenly realizes he’d
hung up on Cassandra.

“Zafar! What have you got?” Valerian
demands.

“Sir at this time we’re tracking multiple long
range contacts, still in the Relinquished Zone. We’ve trying to
raise the Dioscuri but get no response. We are at Alert One.”

“Fuck!”

“Couldn’t agree more sir.”

“Stay on it, keep me informed.” The High Admiral
disconnects.

Cassandra’s waiting at the hatch when Javiera
comes rushing up.

“Go! I’ve got them!” Securing the hatch she
ushers the girls back to the private quarters, closing that door
too. Turning she finds two frightened faces staring up at her.

“Hey, it’s okay. Come on lets go sit on the
couch.” Leading them over, one sits on each side of her.

“Are the Regulians attacking again?” Tori
whispers.

“No honey. I was talking to the Admiral just
before the Alert. They are still in the Relinquished Zone. Nowhere
near here. We’re okay.”

“So why the alarm?”

“Because the Admiral is doing his job, keeping
us safe.” The two girls look at each other.

“Can we go play in my room then?”

“If you want.” Watching them close Victoria’s
door Cassandra takes a deep breath.

What a morning it’s turning out to be. Thinking
about the Sentinel she returns to her comm.

The traitor contacted the Sentinel twice. Once
before each attack. Who is he talking too? The Sentinel is being
targeted. Why? Why would you target the ship your informant is on?
What if they didn’t know they were?

The Sentinel isn’t about the ‘Light’…about her.
This is something different. Someone different. But who?

As the day wears on the Retribution remains at
Alert One.

“Sensors?”

“Sir, the Regulians have not crossed the border.
They are maintaining their last coordinates.”