Clidepp Requital (40 page)

"We don't have to search all of the containers. We only have to search until we find the generator."

"But what if the generator's in the last of the thirty-three hundred containers?"

"Well, that would be against the odds. We have a fifty-fifty chance of finding it in the first fifteen hundred containers we search."

"So far we've only searched sixty-three in seven days. And we're not going to be able to keep up this pace for much longer."

"I've been giving that a lot of thought, Kel. I agree that we need help, but I haven't wanted to cry for help too soon. If we don't find the generator in three more weeks, I'll request help from SHQ. In the meantime, let's take tomorrow off. Your folks can sleep in or whatever. The tunnel in the cargo section is ten kilometers long. That's a great place to run. It sure beats the twenty meters in the habitat."

"Good idea."

"How's the food holding up? Still got plenty?"

"We have enough for five years, so I hope we're not still here when it runs out."

"I'm going to send a message to SHQ to update them on the list of containers we've searched. Perhaps they've gotten more information about which container the generator might be in."

"Put a gentle plug in for more help."

"Okay, Kel, I will. Anything else?"

"No, that's all for now."

"Okay. Keep up the great work. Marcola, out."

"MacDonald, out."

Sydnee sat and thought about the message she would send to SHQ for the next ten minutes, then walked to her office to actually record it.

"Message to Arthur Wherton, Captain, SHQ, Earth."

"Sir, as per your orders, we have spent the past seven days searching containers in the cargo section of the Trans-Galaxy Freight Systems ship
Gatherer IV
en route to Centrasia. In my experience as part of interdiction teams, the usual complaint from senior officers aboard ships stopped for searches is the time lost from their schedules. When stopping ships crossing into GA space, there's always the possibility that we'll have to turn them around, so we naturally delay further travel into our nation. That situation doesn't apply here, so, expecting this search to take considerable time and in the interest of peaceful cooperation, I've allowed the
Gatherer IV
to continue its journey towards its destination while the
Justice
travels alongside. Captain Choi has been most appreciative and given his full cooperation. He has even offered to assist our search, but since I'm forbidden to brief him, I've had to decline his offer.

"My Marines have been very thorough as they've performed their searches. I've been observing via helmet cam images as they work, and I'm proud of their diligence and the consideration they've shown for the property being searched. As each container is cleared, we seal it with the tamper-sensitive seals provided for that purpose; however, we were unprepared for an operation of this magnitude and will soon exhaust our small supply of seals.

"I'm appending a list of the containers that have been searched to date. If you had any new information regarding which container might hold the generator, I'm sure you would have forwarded that to me. We shall continue searching each and every container until we locate it; however, it appears that when the
Gatherer IV
reaches Centrasia in six month's time we will have only searched a small part of the cargo section. If the generator is not found in that time, I will be forced to impound the ship to keep the Captain from offloading containers and adding new containers. I'm sure you understand the implication of that action. It will take my six Marine fire teams well over a year to search every container in the cargo section should that be necessary. Naturally, we hope to find the generator long before then, but we must be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

"Sydnee Marcola, Lieutenant(jg) aboard the GSC Destroyer
Denver's
CPS-14
Justice.
Message complete."

Sydnee replayed the message before sending it. She had touched on all the important topics, including the lack of manpower, the potential time needed to complete the mission, and the shortage of tamper seals. Satisfied with the report, she tapped the transmit button.

~ Sept. 2
^nd
, 2286 ~

"Personnel from an SC interdiction ship are presently searching the freighter which my people believe is transporting the generator," Admiral Bradlee reported during the regular meeting of the Admiralty Board. "We don't believe there's any collusion between the vessel's owner, Trans-Galaxy Freight Systems, and the people responsible for the theft. It was probably just the most innocuous way to transport the device. And once something gets swallowed up among the tens of millions of items shipped every day, it can be almost impossible to find if you don't have a waybill number for tracking."

"How large is the ship, Roger?" Admiral Plimley asked.

"It's a standard bi-section freighter with a full ten kilometers of cargo containers."

"Ten kilometers? How many ships have been assigned to search the cargo section?"

"Just one."

"It will take the crew of an interdiction destroyer a year to search that ship. There has to be over three thousand containers attached to that freighter."

"There wasn't a destroyer available for the interdiction. We have a CPS-14 crew performing the search."

"A CPS-14?" Admiral Moore said in surprise. "With a crew of just seven to ten?"

"No, the CPS-14 we recruited presently has a flight crew of eight and a small Marine platoon of twenty-seven."

"I take back what I said about the task taking a year," Admiral Plimley said. "It will take five years."

"Were you aware of this, Evelyn?" Admiral Moore asked.

"No request for an interdiction stop was brought to my
personal
attention," Admiral Platt said, "but that's not unusual. I'm sure a member of my staff handled it and made the closest ship we had in the area available to SCI."

"But a CPS-14 with a crew of just thirty-five?"

"For security reasons, SCI doesn't always take my people into their confidence. It's possible the officer handling the request wasn't aware of the enormity of the task. Perhaps he or she believed it was a standard interdiction stop to inspect for smuggling where only a dozen containers might actually be searched, and then only a cursory check unless something is found."

"That's very possible," Admiral Bradlee said. "Our work necessitates that we operate on a need-to-know basis."

"It seems that, in this case, the officer assigning the assets had a need to know," Admiral Plimley said. "Why was a CPS-14 even available. Where's its destroyer?"

"The ship had just left Mars where its repository cover was replaced with the newly redesigned airtight hatch cover."

"The only active duty CPS-14 to enter the yard for a hatch cover retrofit to date is the
Justice,
" Admiral Plimley said.

"That's right. The ship assigned to the interdiction stop is the
Justice
. It was headed back to the
Denver
near the Clidepp border, and the freighter was on its way to Centrasia. Their courses almost overlapped."

"So Lt. Marcola is once again involved in this issue?" Admiral Hillaire asked.

"Yes, she's still in command of the
Justice
."

"Do you have a problem with that, Arnold?" Admiral Woo asked.

"Not at all. I believe her to be extremely competent. She's done an incredible job to date. But I don't believe her small staff is up to the task being asked of them. Evelyn, are additional resources available to assist the
Justice
crew?"

"I'll check on it as soon as the meeting's over, Arnold. We're talking about the heart of Region One, so there must be at least one other ship available."

"Is there anything else to be discussed on this topic Roger?" Admiral Moore asked.

"No, I've covered everything we've learned to date. My people continue to search for other leads and information, but we've put most of our chips on the generator being somewhere among the cargo in the
Gatherer IV
."

"Okay, let's move on to the subject of naming a new commanding officer for Ethridge SCB, and then we'll review the proposed plans for the new GA Senate complex on Quesann."

* * *

"Captain, we've just received a Priority-One message from SCI," the com chief said to Sydnee.

"I'll take it in my office. Lt. Caruthers, you have the bridge."

"Aye, Captain," Caruthers said. As he rose from the helm console station and moved to the command chair, Lt. Olivetti moved to take his place.

Sydnee plopped into her office chair and pulled herself close to the monitor so she could perform the requisite retinal scan. When the computer was satisfied of her identity, the message opened. It was Captain Wherton again.

"Lieutenant Marcola, additional resources are being sent to aid your search of the
Gatherer's
cargo. Within the next two weeks you'll be joined by the Destroyer
Seoul
, commanded by Captain William Carver. The
Seoul
has adequate personnel and equipment, such as the tamper-sensitive seals that are in short supply aboard the
Justice.
It's possible another ship may become available as well, although at this time no ship has been named. I assure you that neither SCI nor SHQ has failed to appreciate the enormity of the task you face.

"Arthur Wherton, Captain, SHQ Earth. Message complete."

Sydnee, sat back in her chair and breathed deeply. It appeared the update she'd sent had had some effect. Of course, they might have been aware of the problem before and been working on a solution. She would probably never know. And it didn't really matter. All that mattered is that the
Justice
would soon have help in performing the search.

"We're getting some help, Kel," Sydnee said to MacDonald a short time later.

"Great. It can't come soon enough. When and how much?"

"The Destroyer
Seoul
has been assigned to assist our effort and should arrive sometime in the next two weeks. That's all I was told. Since we know they're not a DS ship, their max speed is probably about Light-375. When they arrive, the Captain will probably assume command of the effort because he'll be the senior officer present. The
Seoul
should have a full company of Marines, with at least four full platoons plus a number of SC interdiction-trained officers."

"An additional two hundred pairs of hands and eyes will make quite a difference. We might actually be able to wrap this up by the time we make Centrasia."

"I keep hoping every morning that today will be the day we find the generator."

"You're an optimist."

"Maybe. But SCI is pretty sure it's over there somewhere, and I know we'll find it if it is."

* * *

"Captain," the com chief said, "I just received a request to provide our current position to the GSC Destroyer
Seoul
."

"Navigator, send a position report to the com. Chief, forward it to the
Seoul
."

"Aye, Captain," both said.

"Communication from the
Seoul
, Captain," the com chief said. "It's directed to you. There's a three-second delay."

A three-second delay meant the
Seoul
was fairly close.

"Put it on my right-hand monitor, Chief."

The image of Captain William David Carver immediately appeared on the monitor. The voice communication would be conducted via her CT.

"Good morning, Captain," Sydnee said.

"Good morning. I see you're underway. Have you completed the interdiction effort?"

"No, sir, we're still at it. I anticipated a lengthy effort so I allowed the
Gatherer
to continue its travel. If we need access, the freighter drops its envelope, we take care of the issue, and then allow them to rebuild their envelope and resume travel."

"An unusual arrangement."

"The captain has been most appreciative. If I had held them where we first made contact, I would have had him chewing on my ear every day, if not more often."

"I can appreciate that, and I think your solution is a wise one. I believe I'll try it myself in the future where circumstances permit. Since the freighter is underway, we won't be able to join you for at least four hours."

"I understand, sir. We look forward to welcoming the
Seoul
to this massive effort."

"And I look forward to getting a tour of your ship. I've seen the specs but haven't seen the new CPS-14 in person. I doubt we'll be receiving any. I don't believe our bays are large enough to accommodate the new ship. I'm sure they'll all go to the new DS destroyers."

"Probably so, sir, but in time all of the ships will be DS."

"That's true. Well, we'll see you in about four hours, Captain."

"I look forward to it, sir."

"
Seoul
, out."

"
Justice
, out."

* * *

"The
Seoul
is coming alongside, Captain," the tac officer said.

"Com, extend our greetings to the
Seoul
."

"Sent, Captain, and acknowledged. Captain Carver is on the com. Shall I put it on your right monitor?"

"Yes, Chief."

"Welcome, Captain Carver," Sydnee said as Carver's image appeared on her monitor.

"Thank you, Captain. Is everything still in order?"

"Yes, sir. My Marines are still hard at work. We've been watching the helmet cam images. I'll have my com chief send you the scramble code." Sydnee nodded to Chief Lemela, who promptly sent the code to the
Seoul
so they could view the images as well.

Captain Carver spent a few minutes watching the transmissions before speaking. "They're being very thorough," he said finally.

"I impressed upon them that if we miss it, we'll have to start the search over again from the very beginning. They're well motivated to find it on the first pass."

Carver chuckled. "As would I. Okay, Captain, my teams are sitting in MATs and shuttles ready to go. If you'll have the freighter drop its envelope, we'll storm the battlements."