Cassandra's Challenge (40 page)

“That’s fine.” Sinking his fingers into her
loose hair he looks into her eyes. “I love you Cassandra, with
everything I am.” Giving her a hard kiss that leaves her
breathless, he turns to the hatch. “Secure the door.” After
securing the hatch she returns to find Victoria has eaten every
last bite of the flatcakes.

“I’d say you were hungry.”

“It was so good.”

“Do you want some of mine?”

“No, I’m packed.”

“Okay, then why don’t you go shower, by the time
you’re done we should be able to call Amina.”

“Okay.” As the shower starts, she clears the
dishes from the table. Walking over to the couch she picks up the
iPod. Scrolling back she finds the picture of her father. Gently
she touches his face.

“I love you dad. I miss you.” With one last look
she shuts off the iPod and takes it into Tori’s room.

“Colonel, I want a status report on the hull
repairs.” The Admiral barks out as he enters the bridge.

“Yes sir.”

“Sensors, any contacts?”

“No sir.” At his comm center the Admiral picks
up his headset punching in communications.

“This is Zafar, I want all the recorded
transmissions transferred to the comm in my quarters. Yes, ALL of
them!” Disconnecting he looks at Quinn.

“Something I need to know?”

“Not at this time. Have you got the report?”

“Yes.” Quinn hands it to him. “Seventy-five
percent complete.”

“Tell them I want it 100% by 1100.”

“Admiral…”

“The Talon’s gone Quinn. Rapid decompression.
Their shields failed before repairs were completed. 100%!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Communications, open all comms.”

“Yes sir”

“Attention crew. We will remain at Alert Status
Two until further notice. The Coalition is sending three battle
ships to support the fleet at the border. Until they arrive and the
fleet is fully operational
WE
are the only defense between
the Regulians and our homes. We will not fail. All posts will be
manned at all times. All defenses
FULLY
operational. Make
ready!”

“Quinn, go take you’re twelve.”

“Yes sir.”

Listening to him, pride fills Cassandra. This is
her man, doing what he does best, leading his crew, protecting what
he loves.

Walking over the comm she connects with Javiera
arranging for Amina to come play. Ending the call the recorded
transmissions come in. William hadn’t been wrong it’s going to take
awhile to search them.

“Time to get to it.” Pulling her hair back her
fingers fly.

“Aunt Cassie.” Cassandra raises an eyebrow as
she chews. “Can Amina stay here tonight?” Two pair eyes plead with
hers.

“I don’t see why not.” She swallows. The girls
give each other a fist bump. “But I need to check with your mom
first.” With arrangements made, second meal plates are cleared and
two very excited girls head into Victoria’s room.

Reviewing the preliminary scan results, she
finds the majority of transmissions are in a group containing only
sixteen lines of coding. “For now those can wait. They should be
regular transmissions.” Cassandra thinks.

The codes she’d be able to isolate were all
contained in transmissions with eighteen lines of coding. The scan
produced several dozen transmissions with that many lines. Creating
another query she digs deeper into these transmissions, searching
for transmissions with the two ‘signatures’, and moves on to the
next group.

Nineteen lines of coding, high security, these
have to be between William and the High Admiral there are only a
handful. Running the query Cassandra lets the computer search.

The final group contains two transmissions, with
twenty lines of coding each. Running the second query she leans
back.

If she’s right about the nineteen line codes
then who needs more security then a High Admiral? William would
know.

“Here’s the casualty list you requested
Admiral.”

“What are you doing here Quinn.” The Admiral
takes the report.

“I’m here to relieve you Admiral. This is my
twelve.”

“What?” Looking at the clock the Admiral wonders
were the day’s gone.

“What do I need to know?” Bringing him up to
date he picks up the list and heads to his quarters.

Entering his ready room William hears squeals of
little girls’ laughter. The sound lightens the weight of the list
he carries. Leaving it on his desk he follows the laughter to find
mayhem.

“Alright now that’s enough. Girls! I’m serious
here!” Trying to fend off tickling fingers Cassandra doesn’t see
William enter the room. “I mean it! Victoria Lynn! Amina!”

“Looks like you’re out numbered.” Three heads
look up from the couch where Cassandra is at the bottom of the
pile.

“I am,
help
!” Leaning over William adds
his fingers to the tickling mix.

“William! Stop!” Laughing Cassandra tries to
wiggle away. “I give! I give!” Sitting up as the tickle attack
finally ends she looks at William.

“Just remember I believe in pay back.” She turns
to the girls. “Why don’t you two go get ready for bed?” As they
scamper off William sits, giving her a kiss.

“Looks like you’ve had a busy day.”

“Not too bad. As you can tell Amina’s staying
the night. I figured it was alright.”

“It’s fine.”

“Did you eat?”

“On the bridge.” Pulling her close she lays her
head on his shoulder.

“Are you done for the night?”

“I have some paper work I need to do.” Thinking
of the letters he needs to write he rises from the couch. “I’d
better get to it.” With one last kiss he heads to his desk.

With the girls settled for the night, Cassandra
puts the lights on low.

“Night girls.”

“Night Aunt Cassie.” Two voices say in unison
bringing a smile to her face. She now has two nieces.

Closing the bedroom door she turns to look
around their private quarters. It looked well lived in today.
Walking around, putting things right, she wonders if she should
interrupt William with her questions. The paper work he said he
needed to do had brought a serious look to his eye. Sitting in
front of her comm she studied the results of her searches.

All the known transmissions between the
Regulians and the Carinian traitor had eighteen lines of coding.
Her search identifying two ‘signatures’, one she knows is Regulian.
The transmissions have been translated, and not one of them gives
the Regulians the fleet’s coordinates. So how did they get them?
Could someone else have sent them? Is her search to specific? She
needs to search for just the Regulian signature see if they’ve
missed any. Initiating the search she pushes back from the comm.
It’s time to ask William some questions.

With his back to the door William doesn’t hear
her enter, just feels her touch as she hugs him from behind.

“Are you about done?”

“Have awhile yet.” Reading over his shoulder her
eyes widen.

“You’re writing the families of the men who
died.”

“Yes.”

“It’s your job to notify them?”

“No. The Coalition will handle that.”

“But you’re writing them too.”

“They were mine.”

She shouldn’t be surprised, this is who he is.
He may keep people at a distance but that didn’t mean he doesn’t
care. That he doesn’t take each loss personally. Taking his face in
her hands she gives him a long gentle kiss. Then leaves him to his
work, her questions can wait.

Checking the comm she finds some interesting
results. There are two more eighteen line transmissions sent to the
Regulians, but from a different sender. Why hadn’t communications
flagged them as Regulian? Opening the transmission she discovers
why. There are no words, just numbers. Here were the transmissions
giving up the fleet, both times. But how did they get the
coordinates?

Using only the two new transmissions she
searches for the senders ‘signature’. Ten minutes later she has it.
The same person sent both.

“Closer…getting closer.” Sitting back she rubs
tired eyes. What’s the next step? Who is this new person? How can
she find him? Or her.

Knowing fatigue is starting to slow her down she
walks to the closet pulling out a sleeping top, with buttons, and
changes. Her mind is still on the latest results.

Walking back to the comm she sits down
cross-legged, there has to be more transmissions with the new
signature. Reaching a decision she writes a search to scan all
transmission for the new signature. Knowing it’s going to be time
consuming, she decides it’s time for bed. Hoping William won’t be
much longer she climbs into their bed and is instantly asleep.

Finishing the last letter, William leans back
rubbing his eyes. Such a waste of life, someone would pay. Rising
he shuts down his comm, he needs some sleep, he needs
Cassandra.

A new day starts as he enters their quarters
finding Cassandra asleep in their bed. Checking on the girls he
finds one at each end of the bed, sound asleep. Tucking the covers
around each he quietly closes the door.

“They okay?” A sleepy voice asks as he walks
across the room.

“They’re fine.” Sitting on the edge of the bed
he leans down to kiss her. “You should be asleep.”

“I will be once you’re beside me.” Leaving her
he puts on his sleeping pants, returning to pull her close.

“Did you finish?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a good man William Zafar.” Stretching up
she gives him a gentle kiss. “Those letters will mean a lot to
their families.” Laying her head over his heart she sleeps.

An irritating buzz pulls Cassandra from sleep.
Slowly she realizes it’s the comm with her search results, easing
across William she rises to silences the buzz. Rubbing her eyes she
tries to focus on the search results.

“What have you got?” William sits on the edge of
the bed.

“Just some search results, go back to sleep,
you’ve got a long day ahead of you.”

“We didn’t get to talk about the transmissions
yesterday.”

“You had more important things to do.”

“I don’t now, tell me what you found.” She
brings up the previous search results.

“There are a total of four transmissions from
the Carinian traitor to the Regulians. Both sets of signatures
match.”

“That includes yesterday’s transmission?”

“Yes, but I couldn’t match the signatures to the
attacks where they had the fleets location. So I broadened the
search to find any transmissions that contained the Regulian
signature.”

“Communications should have picked up anything
in Regulian.”

“They weren’t in Regulian, just
sent
to
the Regulians.”

“They.”

“Two, each containing only numbers.”

“The fleet’s location.”

“Yes.” Cassandra waits as he stands, pacing,
than the Admiral’s eyes pin hers.

“It’s not the same signature.”

“No.”

“Someone else…it’s the same in both
transmissions?”

“Yes.”

“There are two.”

“It looks that way.” Waiting, she watches as he
runs all the different scenarios in his head. Pulling over a chair
he sits next to her.

“What else.”

“All these transmissions have eighteen lines of
coding. Which means some security, but not high level, high level
might cause someone to look, right?”

“Yes.”

“I found transmissions with nineteen lines of
coding. I’m assuming they are communications between you and the
High Admiral.”

“Assume?”

“I didn’t open them.” She looks at him.

“I gave you my codes.”

“I know…”

“What?”

“Giving me your codes, you could get in serious
trouble for it.”

“That’s not important.”

“Don’t start with that again, please. Your
career
is
important William. There’s been enough damage to
it because of me. I’m not going to knowingly cause more!”

“So you’re going to protect me.”

“Someone has too. You don’t deserve to have
people doubting you when all you’re doing is your job.” Pulling her
into his lap he just holds her for a minute.

“Thank you.” His voice is low. Reaching around
her he enters his code playing the transmissions.

Cassandra listens hearing the Admiral blow up at
the High Admiral, telling him of his suspicions, asking for the
Dioscuri to replace the Retribution, knowing what it means.

He feels her stiffen in his arms but she says
nothing. This will always be a sore point between them. Listening
to the rest she can hear the High Admiral’s frustration. But she
also realizes something else.

“You never told him we were involved.” Sapphire
eyes look up at him.

“No.”

“Because it would complicate things or because
he wouldn’t take you as seriously?”

“Both.”

“So what’s he going to do when you leave the
Retribution with me?”

“He won’t be able to do anything.”

“William…”

“Once we arrive, there will be a meeting, here,
I’ll demand that. We’ve already arranged a security detail here on
the ship, you know that. Since the return of the Retribution is
already being questioned my leaving the ship won’t raise any
eyebrows.”

“But…”

“Let it go for now, we’ll deal with it when the
time comes.”

“As long as
we
do.” William gives her a
fierce kiss.

“We’re a unit Cassandra, nothing separates
us.”

“Okay.” She looks back at her data.

“Who would have more security then the High
Admiral?”

“What?”

“I found two transmissions with twenty lines of
coding.”

“Twenty? No one has twenty. The High Admiral has
the highest security.”

“But I have two transmissions. And William, they
are both right before the transmissions to the Regulians with the
fleet’s locations.”