Retribution (26 page)

“Come on don’t play games. Did you activate that cyber attack earlier this morning?”

“No I definitely did not. I swear. I never touched anything.”

“So who did?”

“I don’t know for sure but I have my suspicions.”

“And they’d be?”

“It’s not for me to dob in a fellow officer” said Alice defensively.

“Look your career’s on the line here. If you hold back here I will be left with little alternative but to recommend your dismissal. You know what that will do to your career?”

“Yes. But this is unfair. I didn’t do it.”

“Well the XO seems certain you did.”

“Well he would, wouldn’t he.”

“Why?”

“Because I wouldn’t go out with him.”

“Is that the case?”

“Yes Maam. He invited me out to dinner last night but I declined. He’s not my type” said Alice who felt the need to explain why.

“And what, he just got up on the wrong side of the bed and decided to set you up during the exercise.”

“Basically, yeah. Look I didn’t even know we were going to be doing a cyber-attack. He made it out as though he had already told me. That never happened. I reckon he activated it himself to deliberately get back at me.”

Aubrey recalled how Manuel had repositioned himself behind his workstation. ‘Yes he would have had the opportunity’ she said to herself.

“Leave it with me. Don’t say anything about this to anyone. Understand?”

“Yes, I suppose.”

“Look Alice I’m not going to stand for any harassment on my ship. Rest assured of that. But I need to be certain before I charge an officer with such an offense. You have to trust me. OK”

“OK” said Alice.

After Alice left, Aubrey pondered for a while. Then an inspiration occurred to her. She got up and went back to the command centre. Tola had the watch and was all by herself. She saw Aubrey sit down at her workstation and heard her tapping away.

“You bastard” said Aubrey out loud.

“Excuse me Maam” said Tola.

Aubrey looked up “Not you Tola. You’re in my good books. Come here. I want you to witness this.”

“What?”

“Here take a look at this log. Look which workstation activated the cyber attack.”

“Why that’s the XO’s.”

“Yes and I may need you to verify this log OK.”

“OK” said Tola looking decidedly unsure. “What’s going to happen?”

“Justice!” replied Aubrey. She saved the log to her personal documents. She hailed Martin Lodi and asked him to take the watch. She also hailed James Dunstan and asked him to meet her at the briefing room. “Come with me Tola.” With the three of them in the briefing room she briefed James on what was now known. Aubrey finished by saying “So I have asked you two, my two most senior subalterns to be here when I ask the XO back in. I want you to witness what is said but otherwise stay out of it.” She looked at them and they both nodded in turn.

Manuel received Aubrey’s request to meet him again and assumed she had made her decision to dismiss Alice. He strode into the briefing room full of confidence. However, that dissipated when he saw Tola and James. ‘Maam?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’ve done some investigating Manuel and I now know who did activate that cyber-attack. It was done from your workstation at the time you were standing behind it. You did it and you deliberately tried to setup Lieutenant Wu. I now know that you did so because she refused your advances – specifically your invite to dinner last night. That amounts to harassment in my book and in the Fleet’s. Do you deny this?”

“Of course I deny it. She’s obviously edited the logs.”

“No she hasn’t. Tola was there with me when we examined them and they have been unedited. You can check the timestamps yourself.”

“That’s rubbish. You are not seriously going to take the word of this incompetent over mine are you?”

“You’re right” said Aubrey “I’m not but I am hereby suspending you from all duties. You will report to Fleet HQ on landing and charges will be pending. I advise you to say no more until you get legal representation.  Get out and pack your bags.”

A flabbergasted Manuel just stood there in total disbelief.

“Now” demanded Aubrey.

James moved forward and took the stunned Manuel by the arm and walked him out the door.

“Tola, until we get a new XO appointed, you’re it.”

“Right Maam. I must say I have never experienced anything like this before.”

“Well let’s hope you never have to again.”

As James turned around after walking Manuel to his cabin he heard him mutter “How unlucky can a guy get!”

Chapter 11. Nova Vista 1900 20 June

Dave opened the door and invited Aubrey into their apartment. She was still in her uniform. Dave and Rihan were not. “So what brings you upstairs?” asked Dave. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Oh yes please - something strong.”

“What’s happened Aubrey?” asked Rihan. “You sound strung out.”

“Oh nothing really” said Aubrey “I’ve just lost my XO.”

“Well at least you had one” joked Dave. “But seriously what happened?” Dave poured her a rum and coke and watched her down most of it in a few gulps. “That bad hey?”

“Oh Rodriguez tried it on with one of my subalterns and she rejected him. In a fit of pique he made it look like she had fucked up during today’s exercise and then tried to get me to dismiss her. He’s before the Fleet Attorney right now or in the brig. I don’t know.” Aubrey drained the glass and asked for another. “What I do know is that I’m now without an XO and only a few days out from battle.”

“Well that makes two of us” said Dave.

Aubrey sat down on the lounge and looked at Rihan. “You know I just sensed something wasn’t right with Rodriguez. What a creep. Why do men think that they can get away this sort of harassment?”

“Yeah I know what you mean Aubrey” agreed Rihan.

“Hold on” said Dave “He’s just one man, not all men and he hasn’t got away with it. Has he?”

“I mean they think they have some god given right” said Aubrey completely ignoring what Dave had just said. “And if they deem to ask a girl out then she had better accept or else.”

“Yeah they can be bastards” said Rihan.

“Oh I get it. Just pretend I’m not here then” said Dave.

“Oh darling” said Rihan “can you order some home delivery”. Facing Aubrey, Rihan asked “Turkish OK with you?”

“Yeah fine” said Aubrey.

Dave threw his hand up in the air. “Sure. I’ll order the food. At least they might listen to me.”

Chapter 12. Nova Vista 1030, 21 June

Defence Minister Alisha Corvel shifted her body in her seat. She was a mature woman, one of the most senior and respected ministers in the Polaris Council.

“So let me understand this correctly Admiral.” She looked at Dave and the others before turning to Phil and continuing “You don’t want us to warn the populous, nor take any precautionary measures to protect their safety because you fear this will rob you of your surprise against the rogan.”

“Yes” said Phil.

“And what happens if the enemy comes in overwhelming numbers? You said yourself that you won’t know that till they arrive. It will be too late then to effect evacuation.”

“Evacuation yes but shelter no. Minister I don’t think that the likelihood of the enemy appearing in overwhelming numbers is high. But if that were to happen we have wargamed out various contingencies and we believe these will buy us enough time for the population to take shelter.”

“But as you also admit these shelters are not foolproof against a massive nuclear strike. Are they?”

“No they are not, but we don’t think, that with all our defences, we will be subjected to such a strike.”

“I know what you are saying Admiral. I respect your judgement. But I just don’t like it. The Council does not like it. We are gambling with billions of lives here. I don’t know about you but that does not rest easy with me.”

“Nor me Maam. But if we are to wrest the initiative from the enemy we need to do this. We need to win here and win big. We can only do that by taking these risks.”

For the second time in the meeting Alisha stood up and paced over to the water cooler and took a drink, even though there was one on the table in front of her. Dave could see from her mannerisms that she was extremely agitated. This was a huge call on anyone. The pressure was immense. She came back and sat down.

“Won’t the rogan be in warp at the moment? So why can’t we shut this device down now and effect an evacuation well before they arrive. I’d be so much happier with that.”

They had been through this once before. Phil was a pretty patient man but his was starting to wear thin. “As I explained Minister, the Rogan have the capability to communicate in warp. So they will know we’ve shut it down and we’ll miss the opportunity to surprise them.”

“Right, sorry I forgot that. How the hell did they get that capability?”

“How is not relevant?” said Phil. It was taking a lot of effort for him to keep his cool. “Please Minister?”

Alisha once again looked around at the others. She was tempted to ask Shen once again whether he was confident of marshalling the people into the shelters in time but she knew he would just confirm that he was. She took a deep breath in. “All right, I’ll champion your submission to Council. We will relocate all government and key personnel to the secure facilities as per the normal emergency procedures.”

Phil nodded. “Thank you Minister.”

“I do hope we’re doing the right thing here. This is not going to do my ulcer any good at all.”

Chapter 13. Nova Vista 1100, 21 June

After the meeting with the Polaris Defence Minister, Dave cornered Alex over the assignment of an XO to both the Resolute and the Phantom. He also asked for a new ops officer to replace Aubrey on the Resolute.

Alex was at his wits end obtaining suitably qualified officers. There was a real shortage. He was under Phil’s instructions to give priority to the Resolute and Phantom but that didn’t mean much when it came to finding Commanders and Lieutenant Commanders.

“Well it doesn’t help when Aubrey loses the one I just provided” said Alex.

“That’s not fair Alex and you know it” said Dave.

“Yeah I know but look at this” said Alex pointing to the list on the screen. “See that. That’s how many Commanders and Lieutenant Commanders we’re short. Yes thirty six. No make that 37 now that Aubrey’s scratched Rodriguez. Dave, the only way I’m going to get you an XO is to strip someone away from an active command or staff position. Same goes for Aubrey. Look at us here, just Rihan and me when we should have at least seven others. I’m sorry Dave. The best I can do is give you some green one pippers – straight out of the academy with only 90 days practical.”

“You’re not seriously going to put them into battle” asked Dave.

“Deadly serious Dave. I know it’s not right but we’re scraping the barrel.”

“All right then” said Dave and paused before adding “They won’t have a specialty will they?”

“No, you’ll have to give them some on the job training.”

“Shit… OK Give me two and Aubrey one. I want them available at Hangar 1 by 1500, kitted out and ready to go.”

“Is that all?” asked Alex raising his eyebrows .

“No I’d like a maid and a manservant too” said Dave with a hint of frustration.

Alex smiled. “I can probably rustle them up for you.”

“Yeah that would be right. You can probably press gang them here can’t you?”

“Maybe” said Alex. “Are we done?”

“Yeah we’re done. 1500 remember.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Dave took over one of the vacant staff offices and began calling his subordinate commanders ensuring arrangements were in hand for them to be at Hangar 1 by 1500. The shuttle was due in at 1530 and he wanted to be at Tumos in time for dinner. It was going to be a long night.

At 1230 Rihan poked her head in the door. Dave looked up like a man on a mission annoyed at the distraction. “Lunch?” she asked tentatively.

“Oh is it time?” Rihan nodded. Dave relaxed a little. He knew he needed a break. “You know I thought for a moment there you were going to say you were lactating again.”

Rihan laughed. “That only happens once a month. But if you like, I’m up for it” she said with a cheeky grin. “Not likely to get another opportunity before D Day.”

“No, probably not.” Dave pondered that for a moment. “What, a condemned man’s last shag hey?”

“And a condemned woman’s.”

“We better hurry then” said Dave with a big grin.

Chapter 14. Nova Vista 1330, 21 June

Sue was packing her gear on the bedroom floor of her apartment prior to moving out to Hangar 1. “Here you’ll need these” said Art as he used his left arm to pick up her webbing. She smiled at him impressed by his new agility. The physio had also been impressed and had told Art he could ditch the robo cast two days ago. That more than anything had done wonders to lift his spirits.

“I’ve been thinking” said Art.

“That’s dangerous!” interjected Sue.

Art frowned at her. “As I was saying, I’m going to see if the Admiral can use me on his staff. Without you here I’ll go out of my mind unless I have something real to do.”

“Good idea. But you can’t neglect your recovery exercises.”

“Yes Dr Chalker” said Art.

She leaned up with her right hand and gave him a gentle slap on his chin as he bent over her. He just grinned back. So she added “well at least you know who’s boss.”

With that he lifted her up into his arms. She gave herself willingly. “Show off!” she said looking at his left arm.

He kissed her on the lips. She responded and grabbed his bum with both her hands. He did likewise. “Ooh another trick” she said.

He squeezed and responded “I’ve got a few more.”

“We better hurry then.”

Chapter 15. Nova Vista 1500, 21 June

Hangar 1 was chock full again. Dave debussed with fifty or so of his crew. He saw Ivan and Chase and beckoned them both to come to him. He led them into the theatre where a few weeks earlier he had briefed them all on their mission to Beta Phi. He closed the door and they sat down.

“I couldn’t get a new XO or a new Ops Officer” explained Dave, “just two brand new, and I mean brand new, one pippers. There’s such a shortage at the moment. So until such time as we get a new XO I want you Ivan to act in the job and you chase to act up in the Ops Officer role. Are you good with that?”