Icarus (25 page)

   “And more devious, I imagine.”

   “Don’t try too hard. If half the things I’ve heard about him are true,
you’d lose a month’s sleep from the stories I could tell.”

   Shawn folded his arms lightly across his chest. “And here I thought
you knew him pretty well.”

   “I work for him, Shawn. That doesn’t mean I get invited to his kid’s
birthday parties.”
   “He has kids?”

   “I don’t know. It’s a figure of speech.”

   “But you know him well enough to admit he’s dangerous. You did warn me
about him, remember? And not too subtly, I might add.”

   “Let’s just say I know his methods, and that you were wise to take my
advice.”

   “I do make good decisions from time to time.” He placed a hand on
hers.

   She smiled and nodded. “We’ll see about that one. For now, let’s check
the navigational computer before we go talk to Captain Krif. I want all the
ammunition I can get my hands on before I get stuck in a room with him again.”

   “That’s the kind of thinking I like to hear.” Shawn moved into the
back of the bay and retrieved the
Icarus
’ computer from the same storage
locker that had held his EVO suit. The box seemed somewhat lighter than the
last time he’d held it. He walked back to the mid deck and placed it on the
tabletop for Melissa’s inspection.

   She plugged the data cable into the unit and tried to access the
information using
D
’s main computer.

   Nothing happened.

   “I don’t understand,” she said, obviously annoyed. “There’s no data on
here. Your computer says that there’s a hardware malfunction.”

   “Let me try,” Shawn said as he moved between her and the keypad. “This
old computer can be a little temperamental.” After a few keystrokes, Shawn got
the same error message.

   Melissa reached into her pocket and withdrew a magnetic driver. “This
should crack the case in seconds.” She aimed the pen-sized device at the case,
and the lid of the computer popped open with little fanfare. It didn’t take
long to figure out what had happened.

   “The holodrives are gone!” she cried in astonishment.

   Shawn eyed the navigation computer, then looked around the otherwise
empty lounge. “Somebody’s been in here.”

   “Impossible,” she sighed. “This case is coded and magnetically sealed.
Only someone with my clearance level or higher could have opened it. And they’d
need one of these,” she held the pen-sized drive at eye level. “It’s specially
coded to access material such as this. You can’t just make one, nor does the
Rhea’
s
inventory list one on their shelves somewhere.”

   “Then someone else on board the carrier not only has your clearance
level and one of your little toys, but they also had the guts to climb on my
ship to get it.”

   She shook her head. “Again, not possible. I’m the highest-ranking
investigation specialist on board.”

   Shawn looked to the empty computer core. “The proof is in the pudding,
ma’am. And, if what you say is correct, then I’d say we have a spy aboard.”

  
K
rif
stood up from behind his desk, balled his fists, and then slammed them against
the desktop’s unforgiving surface. “So you’re suggesting there is a covert
operative on board my ship?” His fury was nearly unchecked.

   “It looks that way, Captain,” Melissa said as she stood her ground.
She was determined not to let Krif get under her skin this time—no matter how
hard he tried.

   “I guess I should say
another
spy, considering I already know
that you’re here.”

   “Technically, I’m not a spy. I’m an intelligence officer.”

   “If it looks like a fish and smells like a fish,” he said with
disdain.

   “Regardless, Captain. You may not approve of my occupation, but I’m no
spy. So you now have a much bigger problem to deal with.”

   Krif looked to Shawn. “What I don’t understand, Commander, is how this
spy got onto your ship and made off with the drives without you knowing about
it. You said your mechanic was there the whole time?”

   “Yeah, and he said no one came near the ship.”

   “Then he’s obviously lying.”

   “Hey!” Shawn shouted in Trent’s defense. “If you want to—”

   “I’m talking right now, Kestrel. Wait your turn.” Krif’s gaze shifted
to Melissa. “And you’re sure that the drives were inside the module when you
removed them from the ship?”

   “I’m positive. I scanned for the contents myself before we left the
Icarus
’
auxiliary control compartment. There was viable data inside
that
storage
container.”

   “Who ultimately removed the container from the navigational computer?”

   Melissa looked at Shawn, who shifted his eyes to her without turning
his head.

   “Oh, come on. Which one of you did it?”

   “We were…preoccupied,” Kestrel offered.

   “Doing what, may I ask?”

   “Getting the Captain’s log from his personal file.”

   “So then this Lieutenant Garcia took out the drives?”

   “Yes,” Melissa and Shawn said in unison.

   “Then that’s two potential suspects,” he said as he sat back at his
desk. He accessed his communications terminal and punched in his personal
security code. “Sickbay, this is the Captain.”

   A moment later the voice of the ship’s doctor came online. “This is
Doctor Finly. Go ahead, sir.”

   “Is Lieutenant Garcia still with you?”

   “I was just finishing up my examination now, sir. You’ll be happy to
know that—”

   Krif cut the good doctor off midsentence. “Don’t let the lieutenant
leave sickbay.”

   “But, sir…his examination is done. I can’t hold him—”

   “Damn it, woman! You’re a Commander. Pull some rank and keep him
there. I’m sending down another Marine to augment Sergeant Adams.”

   Ophelia was obviously perturbed, but complied. “Yes, sir. I’ll see
what I can do.”

   “Good. Krif out.” He punched another access code into his computer.
“Security, this is the Captain.”

   “Security here, sir. Gunnery Sergeant Murrow speaking.”

   “Gunny, I need you to send one man, fully armed, down to sickbay.
Sergeant Adams is already there. You are to escort Lieutenant Garcia to the
brig on my authority as commanding officer. Understood?”

   “Yes, sir. Absolutely.”

   “Good. Send another detachment of two Marines to the hangar bay where
that civilian transport is located. Grab the mechanic, Sergeant Trent Maddox,
and put him in the brig as well, in a cell opposite the lieutenant.”

   “Right away, sir.”

   “Krif out.”

   Shawn rushed toward Krif’s desk and slammed his palms down on its
surface. “Damn it, Dick! You can’t do that!”

   “I
can
and I
did
. If I had a good reason, I’d throw you
two in there as well, but just because I don’t have it, it doesn’t mean I can’t
make something up.”

   “Trent didn’t do it.”

   “Fine, hotshot. All you have to do is prove it.”

   “You know damn well I can’t do that right now.”

   “Then he stays in the brig until you can produce a reason for him to
not be there. Simple.”

   Melissa tentatively reached for Shawn’s forearm, but he quickly
shrugged her off. “I’m gonna live to prove you wrong, Dick.”

   “Take it down a notch, Kestrel. If he’s as innocent as you say he is,
then he won’t have a single blemish on his record to show he was ever in
custody. If, however, I find out otherwise, he’ll be punished to the fullest
extent of Unified law. So until either of those happens, why don’t you start by
giving me a full debriefing of what you do know, and for now, we can leave this
spy business to the ship’s security.”

   Shawn took his hands off Krif’s desk and stepped back, effectively
handing the briefing over to Melissa.

   She proceeded to relay everything the duo had learned from Captain
Taggart’s log file, not withholding a single detail. Krif spent the entire time
listening without moving a muscle or uttering a word. When she was done, he
leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily.

   “So it looks like Second Earth will have to be our next stop.”

   Melissa had expected this. “What about Corvan?”

   “You mean what about your father?”

   Melissa didn’t reply.

   Krif’s eyes narrowed. “Based on the captain’s log, which I will verify
myself before I make a final decision, Second Earth has been compromised and
plundered by Sector Command forces for some unknown reason. I suspect it has
something to do with your father, and it definitely has something to do with
our missing fleet. So that will be our first objective. We’ll go on from there
to Corvan, or wherever the clues lead us.”

   “The last fleet that went to Second Earth never returned,” she said
evenly.

   “We have more information now than they did,” the captain replied
succinctly.

   “I’m not sure that will give us enough of an edge, Captain. If it
was
the Kafarans…if they
have
the power to utterly decimate an entire battle
group…then what chance will the
Rhea
really stand? We’re one ship!”

   “That shows what you know. I’ve sent out a communiqué to rendezvous
with two destroyers and a pair of cruisers that are already en route. We’ll
link up two parsecs from Second Earth and then head in together.”

   “And what about the little problem of having the clearance needed to
go to Second Earth in the first place? I assume you’ll want some form of
authority to back you up?”

   “That will come from you, or from the Director himself at your
request, since I doubt you hold the ability to make such a monumental request
on your own.”

   “You’d be surprised what I can do,
Captain
.”

   “I probably would. That’s the problem with you OSI. You’re like rats.
You’re hard as hell to corner because you think you’re slick. Well, you’re
running around inside my little maze now, missy, as is any other spy aboard
this ship. Sooner or later it will all come crashing down, and I’ll be there to
spring the trap.”

   “You’re a good one for speeches, Captain.”

   “And you’re a good one for getting into trouble. Both of you are, in
fact. I’ve set up a secured communications link in the next room just for you
to contact the Director of Intelligence. Before you do that, however, I’ll take
that vid-recorder of the captain’s log. My personal log may even overlook the
fact that you initially viewed it without me being present, but don’t hold your
breath on that one.”

   “It’ll take at least two full days for a message to get to him and for
him to send a response back.”

   “And the further away we get from Darus Station the longer it will
take, so I suggest you get cracking on that message. At full speed, and
calculating for the two jumps we’ll have to make, it’ll take us about a week to
get to Second Earth. I expect you both to make the best of your time here—and
try to keep out of my face until then.”

   Shawn gave Krif a mock salute. “Yes, sir.” He then turned to Melissa.
“Let’s get out of here.”

   Melissa glared at Krif, who only sneered in her direction. “With
pleasure, Commander.”

* * *

   “Commander Kestrel, please report to your quarters immediately.
Repeat: Commander Shawn Kestrel, please report to your quarters immediately.”

   The voice had quickly dissolved any chance Shawn and Melissa had at a
peaceful conversation over a warm meal. In fact, they had hardly spoken at all
since they’d arrived back from their experiences on board the
Icarus
.
From Krif’s cabin, the two had made their way in relative silence down to the
officers’ galley, only to be interrupted by the request that had been piped
over the shipwide intercom.

   When the automated message had played once more, Melissa looked at
Shawn in confusion. “What do you suppose that’s all about?”

   “I don’t know,” Shawn replied as he tried to rub away a newly forming
headache. “I’d better go check it out.”

   “I’ll come with you,” she said as she began to rise from her chair,
but was stopped when Shawn placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

   “Don’t worry about it. It’s probably nothing,” he said confidently.
“Besides, you need to get something to eat and you need to rest. You’ve had a
pretty big day.”

   Melissa smiled, recalling vaguely what Shawn had done for her on board
the
Icarus
. “I guess I did,” she acknowledged as she slid her bottom
back onto the cushion. “But so did you.”

   “All in a day’s work.” Shawn got up and put his flight jacket back on.
He stepped to her side, then looked down at her until she turned her eyes up to
meet his. He leaned over and placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be in
touch.”

   She smiled up at him. “You’d better be, mister.”

   When Shawn arrived at his quarters ten minutes later, he was greeted
by the site of three armed Marines standing in the passageway outside his door.
As he cautiously neared them, he saw that his cabin door was stuck in the open
position. After presenting his IDENT card to one of the Marines, he was allowed
to pass into his cabin unhindered.

   The ship’s first officer, Commander Odaka Ashdoe, was there waiting
with two members of the
Rhea
’s security team. Ashdoe, a well-built,
chestnut-colored giant of a man from Niran VIII, stood with his enormous
four-fingered hands clasped tightly behind his eight-foot-tall frame. The
security officers, completely foreign to Shawn, were busily looking over the
remains of Shawn’s wall-mounted security safe.

   “Lieutenant Commander Kestrel,” Ashdoe began, his smooth, baritone
voice concise. “At approximately 1530 hours, Damage Control Central was
notified of an explosion in your quarters. As you can no doubt deduce, the
blast originated from the location of your safe.”

   Shawn once again looked to the security personnel, who were taking
surface samples from the charred outer edges of the safe. The door, or what was
left of it, was hanging loosely on a single hinge.
1530? I was still on
board the
Icarus
then. Whoever did this must have known that.
Shawn
turned his head back toward Ashdoe.

   “Someone forced it open?”

   Ashdoe grunted his acknowledgement. “Preliminary evidence does point
to that hypothesis. However, I’m hesitant to speculate without more facts.”

   “Of course, Commander,” Shawn nodded slowly. It was a well-known fact
that Niranians were lovers of knowledge; a race who treated facts and
statistics as a five year old might worship a handful of candy.

   “I will require a full inventory of what was in the safe, Lieutenant
Commander.”

   “There was nothing inside?” Shawn asked, although he already knew what
the answer was likely to be. Anyone with gumption enough to break into his
quarters and then gain access to his safe wouldn’t be picky and take only what
they needed. Shawn quickly recalled the inventory. The two thousand Unified
credits would be replaceable; he was far from concerned over those.
Fortunately, he had thought to make backup copies of all the data contained in
the holographic cubes, as well as digital copies of the classified files, and
had placed them in a hidden alcove inside
Sylvia’s Delight
—one not even
known to Trent Maddox. The small golden key, etched with the number 0218, was
still safely in his pocket. Was it the spy? If the credits still existed, Shawn
would have wagered them on that fact.

   One thing was glaringly certain: whoever had broken into his safe now
knew everything Shawn did. The only thing stopping him from panicking was the
fact that he still had the mysterious golden key. He also had the one
undeniable asset of this mission on his side: Agent Melissa Graves.

   Ashdoe sighed heavily. Due to his impressive bulk, Shawn half-expected
the supply of air in the compartment to be evacuated in the process. “There are
some small fragment remains, but nothing of considerable size. The interior of
the safe is relatively undamaged.”

   “Sounds like they knew what they were doing.”

   A reverberating grunt once again emanated from the Commander. “And
what they were looking for. I’ll be waiting with understandable anticipation on
that inventory, Lieutenant Commander Kestrel. Theft or destruction of
classified materials must be immediately reported, as I’m sure you are aware.
However, bearing in mind the fact that we arrived here before you did, you may
consider such a report filed.”

   Shawn leveled his eyes at Ashdoe.
How did the first officer know
that classified materials were in there in the first place? Was it just an
assumption? That would be exceedingly hard to believe, giving his species’
proclivity toward facts.
“I’ll do that, Commander.”