Battlecruiser Alamo - 7 - Battlecruiser Alamo: Sacred Honor Page 7

   Sub-Lieutenant Steele had joined the throng at the door, her face growing pale as she saw the body. More than a dozen people were milling around, though none of them seemed eager to actually step into the room.

   “Steele,” Marshall said, “Go in and take a look at her computer. Find out what she was working on.”

   She looked up at him with pleading eyes, then nodded, walking into the room and stepping over her friend’s body to the terminal, starting to work. Lane stepped towards Cooper, her gun still extended, a datapad in her other hand.

   “Cooper, you need to talk.”

   “I’ve told you everything I know,” he said.

   “Why did you go up to the bridge just now?” she asked, waving the datapad. “In fact, you’ve been doing a lot of wandering around the ship recently, Corporal. Fabrication control, for example.” She turned to Marshall, “I had a report just before I went to my quarters. There’s been a glitch with the processing circuits, and Petty Officer Furneaux suspects sabotage.”

   “Ma’am, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. And I was looking for Matsumoto.”

   “Why? What for?”

   “I…”, before Cooper could respond, Steele stepped out of the cabin.

   “I’ve managed to get some of the data. Security will need to do more, but she was looking up a lot of personnel files, rosters, and correlating them with experience of demolitions manufacture.” She turned to Cooper, fire on her face, “I never knew you did a tour at the Enceladus Proving Grounds.”

   “Because I never did!”

   “Your personnel file says otherwise. Six months spent there last year.”

   “Last year? Last year I was doing Advanced Training, then a tour at Titan. Someone’s forged the records.”

   “Or we’ve found the person who responsible for the sabotage. And back at Hercules, as well, I bet you were..”

   Cooper couldn’t help it; a red mist flashed in front of his eyes, and he leapt out at Steele, fists flying through the air. It took Duggan, Marshall and Orlowski to wrestle him down to the deck, pinning his flailing arms.

   “They were my friends!” he yelled, as Lane looked down at him.

   “I’m sure that’s what they thought.” Turning to Marshall, she continued, “Sir, I see no alternative at this time but to file charges against Mr. Cooper.”

   Looking down, sadness in his eyes, Marshall replied, “I agree. Corporal, you can consider yourself formally charged with the murder of Sub-Lieutenant Matsumoto. Legal counsel will be provided at the earliest opportunity; until formal court-martial proceedings can be held, you will be confined to the brig. Have you anything to say?”

   Bitter tears welled in his eyes, “I didn’t kill her, Captain. You’ve got to believe me. The person who did this is still out there.”

   Turning to Lane, Marshall said, “Seal this area off and get Lieutenant Bailey up here; she is to assume responsibility for the investigation.”

   “I can handle that, sir,” she replied.

   Shaking his head, he said, “You are a material witness, Lieutenant, and one who appears to have already decided what happened.” He looked down at Cooper, “I’m less sure.”

   “Sir, all the evidence…”

   “I’ve made my decision. You’d better get Doctor Duquesne up here was well. We’re going to need to hold an autopsy.” Turning to the troopers, he said, “Duggan, Orlowski, get Cooper down to a holding cell.”

   “Aye, sir,” they replied, picking the now-limp Cooper up, one arm apiece, and half-carrying, half-walking him to the elevator. Lane stared after them as they rounded the corner, heading into the waiting car.

   “Guys, you have to believe me.”

   Orlowski looked at Duggan, and said, “If you say you didn’t do it, that’s good enough for me.”

   Nodding, Duggan added, “You saved my life, Gabe. I trust you. I don’t know what we can do, though. We can’t let you go – they’d have us as accomplices, and three of us in the cells isn’t going to help.”

   “Lane wasn’t around when I started to break into the room…”

   “What the hell was that about, anyway?” Duggan said.

   “I can’t tell you.” He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, “I need to both to trust me on this one.”

  They looked at each other, and Orlowski nodded, “If you can’t tell us, you can’t. I’ll do a little digging, see if I can find out anything about Lane, but we’re going to have to be careful. Odds are that she’ll suspect us, anyway.”

   “Probably true,” he replied as the elevator came to a stop. “Tell Barbara what happened, as well. What actually happened.”

   “Gabe, none of us who know you think you could have done this,” Duggan said. “It all fits together too neatly anyway; if you’d wanted to kill her, you could have got a bullet with no ident easily enough, or erased it, for that matter. The Captain must know that.”

   “I think he does,” Orlowski replied. “I saw...anyway, come on. This way.”

   Equanimity restored, Cooper walked down the corridor to the cell, a stark, cold, white room. Duggan entered a ten-digit code to open the door, and Cooper walked in, sitting down cross-legged on the floor. Orlowski tossed his datapad after him.

   “In case you want something to read,” he said.

   “Thanks, Orlok.”

   “If you need anything...one of us will be round with some food in a bit,” Duggan said. “Stay loose. We’ll start work on getting you out of here.”

   “Thanks,” Cooper replied, as the door slammed shut.

  Chapter 8

   Nelyubov and Carpenter were waiting at the airlock when Orlova arrived, carrying the light travel holdall that the fabricators had managed too produce. She had a hunting rifle slung across her pack, a pair of cartridges stuffed into her pocket; Price had accepted her interest in trying the ‘sport’ without any questions, almost seeming eager for her to give it a try.

   “I should be going down there,” Carpenter said. “You’re too valuable to the ship.”

   Nelyubov looked across at her, then said, “She’s right. Let me go, instead. I’m as good with a gun as you are, and if I go missing…”

   “The invitation only had one name on it, and it was mine,” she replied. “This is my job.”

   “You’re the commanding officer,” Nelyubov pressed, “which gives you certain responsibilities.”

   “I am fully aware of my duties, Lieutenant. Prime among them at the moment is finding a way to get this ship back to Triplanetary space. Someone down there seems willing to help us, and I need to find out who. Carpenter, you are in command until I get back.”

   “What?” Nelyubov said. “With all due respect, she’s a scientist with an honorary rank.”

   “A rank in the Triplanetary Fleet, which means she outranks everyone else on this ship.”

   “Maggie, I shouldn’t be doing this,” Carpenter said. “Take me with you, if that’s a problem…”

   “I can’t spare anyone for this but me.” A loud clang issued from the hull; the shuttle had arrived. “With luck I’ll be back in a few hours. Keep going with the repairs. If something does go wrong, don’t come after me. That’s an order.”

   “Damn it, ma’am,” Nelyubov said.

   “Lieutenant, I said that it was an order. Don’t make me repeat myself again.”

   The airlock opened, and a man’s head peered through it with a gleaming smile, wearing a khaki jumpsuit, “Looking for a Commander Forster?”

   “Right here,” Orlova said. “I’ll want a full report on the repair schedule when I get back,” she said to Carpenter. “Keep pushing Price.”

   “Have a good trip, ma’am,” Nelyubov said, managing a smile. “I’d like to get down there myself.”

   “Rank hath its privileges, Lieutenant, but we’ll see what we can do.” Stepping into the cramped shuttle, she said to
the pilot, “Let’s get going, then.”

   With a nod, the pilot threw a series of switches, and the lock door began to close. He settled into his couch, activating control surfaces, and pointed towards the spare seat to his right.

   “Hope you don’t mind flying up front. We’ve got the aft section configured for cargo; the Boss is trying to get some supply dumps set up down there or something. I’m Vijay, by the way, the best damn pilot in the system.”

   “Every pilot thinks that.”

   “In my case it’s quite true.” With a loud crack, the shuttle dropped away from Hercules and began to head down towards the planet; Vijay was nursing the thrusters to a gentle, constant acceleration. “Say, you don’t need a spare pilot on Hercules, do you?”

   “If you’re that good, why aren’t you in the Fleet already?”

   Barking a laugh, he replied, “Failed the last stages of the reliability test. I couldn’t take any of those questions seriously; I’m just in this for the flying. Maybe I’ve done this approach once too often.”

   Yes, and maybe you are a plant sent here to try and get me to confess something, Orlova thought. She glanced across at the pilot; his hands danced around the controls with the careless concentration of the truly experienced, making minor adjustments as they began to broach the upper limits of the atmosphere.

   “There isn’t much I can do if you won’t take the screenings seriously, I’m afraid.”

   “I figured if there is a big battle coming up, you might want everyone you can get.”

   Shaking her head, she replied, “Even ship captains can’t override the top brass. You know that.”

   “How’d you get to be a captain, anyway? You don’t look any older than me.”

   Orlova barely managed to suppress a smile, managing to reply, “Flattery will get you everywhere. I always did look young for my age.”

   The planet below was coming fully into view now, a brown and red wasteland with scattered belts of green, thin slivers of blue cutting into the endless deserts, the view punctuated by the occasional white cloud. Vijay pulled the nose up, and flickering flames began to appear as the shuttle entered its re-entry cycle.

   “I just want to get away from here for a while. I know this is a good posting, and I’m like the Boss – I like to get a breath of real air sometimes, but there are some many stars out there to see.” He turned to her, flashing a grin, “I guess I’m just a born tourist. I’d probably be complaining if I had got onto one of the starships, stuck in hendecaspace for days at a time with nothing to do.”

   “What’s Sandveld like?”

   “Dry, mostly. Lots of fertile spots though, and it’s possible to grow crops. Not that anyone much bothers with that, though the ground station grows a few bits and pieces for luxury trading. I think we’re here to make sure no-one else is. Some ruins out in the wilds if you like that sort of thing, I heard a team came out a while ago to take a look. None of it means anything to me.”

   “Where?”

   “Hell, the guides will give you a better idea than I can. I’m just a taxi driver.”

   “Guides?”

   Vijay chuckled as he adjusted his flight path, sweeping the shuttle high over a mountain range with a flick of his control stick, “Some of the ground crew set themselves up. We do get the occasional visitor, usually someone who wants to collect a pelt. Got to be a bit of a fad a few years ago.” He pointed at a red dot on the horizon, “There we go. Crashlander Base.”

   “Crashlander?”

   “First one to land here – the Boss’s grandfather – messed up his approach and was stranded here for a month before a new shuttle could be sent. If he hadn’t found an inhabited world, they’d probably have just left him here. I’ve got to concentrate on my approach now, we’re getting a bit of a crosswind.”

   Orlova watched the pilot make his approach; the ground base didn’t look like much from the air, just a collection of prefabricated huts scattered around a long runway, a few fields and a couple of wrecked shuttles placed neatly by a hangar, evidently being scavenged for parts. A few figures were wandering around, and a large trunk was racing down the runway to meet the shuttle as it touched down, its wheels bouncing a couple of times on the surface before it slowly slid to a stop. Vijay reached over and popped the side hatch, dry, dusty air blasting into the cabin.

   “All safe and sound, Commander,” he said. “I’ll be down here overnight getting all of the stuff in the back unloaded, so I’ll take you back up tomorrow. Scheduled takeoff at 0700.”

   “Thanks,” she said, sliding out of the shuttle onto the ground. The air was good, crisp and clean, if a little hot; no matter how good the life support systems were, they still couldn’t match real air, even if this was on a world dozens of light-years from Earth. A man wearing a white uniform walked over to her, dust splattering the bottoms of his trouser legs.

   “Commander?” he said with an unusual twang. “I was told to expect you. I’m Durman, I run this place.”

   “A pleasure to meet you,” she replied. “Thanks for having me.”

   “Always good to meet new people,” he said. “I understand you want to take a trip into the outback?”

   She hefted her carryall, and said, “That’s the idea. Not sure about the hunting, but heading out into the wilderness sounds like it might be fun.”

   “It might sound like fun, but it isn’t. It’s not a controlled environment out here; there are plenty of wild animals that haven’t learned that humans don’t taste good yet.” Gesturing to a series of mounds at the end of the runway, he continued, “A few people have found that out the hard way.”

   “I’d still like to take a look for myself. Can I take a vehicle?”

   “We’ve got some ground cars fitted for the job, but I can’t let you head out on your own. I thought I’d take you myself.”

   Frowning, she replied, “I’d far rather go on my own, thank you. This isn’t the first planet I’ve been on.”

   Shaking his head, he said, “You are my responsibility, and you might be God himself up on that ship of yours, but I’m in charge down here, and what I say goes. Or you don’t. Is that understood?”

   “Very well. If you insist. I accept this under protest, Mr. Durman, and I must make that perfectly clear.”

   Rolling his eyes, Durman gestured her towards one of the cars, parked by the side of a nearby building. “The cars are over there, I’ve had Number Four serviced for the trip. There are refreshments inside, I presume you wish to get started right away.”

   “I do indeed,” she replied, the note feeling as if it was burning a hole in her pocket. “Shall we go?”

   “As soon as I’ve certified this shipment.” He shook his head, “Two already today, and three more tomorrow. I don’t know where the hell Price thinks I’m going to store it all. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

   “Right.” Orlova walked over to the cars, looking them over, and climbed into the cab of the selected vehicle. The controls were strange, unfamiliar; briefly she contemplated trying to hot-wire it and take it out by herself, but the resultant hue and cry would be impossible to reconcile with her cover story. The unfortunate Mr. Durman was likely to find himself walking home, as soon as she could work out how to drive the machine.

   After what seemed like hours, Durman walked over to the car. Reaching under her seat, Orlova found a box that was cool to the touch; evidently she had managed to find the drinks, and she reached her hand in to grab a bottle of some sort of blue liquid, a chemical concoction that tasted of nothing at all but was at least cool.

   “Sorry about the wait,” Durman said, “but we’re ready to go now. Any particular direction in mind? There are some herds of green runners heading out on the hills to the north, if that suits. Fairly easy prey, and the head looks good on a wall, so I’m told.”

   “You hunt yourself?”

   “We can’t eat the m
eat, and I’ve got nowhere to put trophies. I’ve shot at a few of the creatures on occasion, but not for myself.” He chuckled, “We once got in a Carrier Admiral, and he couldn’t shoot worth a damn. Swore me to secrecy, and got me to take down half a dozen beasts for him. Then presumably spent the next few months bragging about it to everyone who would listen.”

   “When was that?”

   “About four, five years ago. Hell, I got a raise out of it. Which my ex-wife promptly spent.”

   Orlova chuckled. Against her better instincts, she was beginning to like Durman. The car bounced over dunes, then settled into a flatter area, the ground rolling away towards the hills as it wove through scrub-land.

   “Why isn’t this planet settled? A colony could be planted here. Over time, they could terraform the place.”

   Shaking his head, Durman replied, “I talked to a planetologist about that once. The place is doomed, near the end of its biocycle. Not enough moisture, atmosphere leaking away. Forty, fifty thousand years, it’ll be uninhabitable. I guess they don’t think it’s worth the effort.”

   “Forty thousand years isn’t worth it?” she said. “Sounds strange.”

   “The Court works in mysterious ways. I reckon they just wanted an excuse not to settle here.”

   While he talked, Orlova studied the controls. They looked simple enough – throttle for the engine, control lever for the course, a few navigational systems built in. Handling it seemed easy. Which was just as well, as they’d already traveled quite a few miles. If she was going to make that rendezvous, now was the time to act.

   “Mind if we stop here? I want to stretch my legs for a minute.”

   Durman shrugged, and brought the vehicle to a halt. “Take all the time you want, but we’re way short of the nearest herd yet.”

   Orlova stepped out onto the soil, walking into the shade of a low, scrubby tree. It didn’t seem real that in just a few thousand years, all of this would be gone. Kneeling into the dust, she saw a piece of shaped stone in the ground; snatching it with her hand, she held it up, spotting a regular pattern of dots and lines.