Red Angel (15 page)

"Put her on first shift for now. Lieutenants
Sinclair and Paulus are authorized to be on the Bridge at any time. Any
questions?" Sharat asked. We spent an hour answering general questions,
although Kris and I were careful not to divulge details which if leaked could
alert the smugglers and cause them to change their operating methods.
Afterward, Sharat had a petty officer show us to our rooms.

"I was concerned about the captain, but I think
her desire to beat the men to the prize is going to cancel any competitiveness
with us," Kris said as she unpacked her suitcase.

"I agree," I said as I slipped the chip
Adrian had given me into my CPC and opened it. "Would you like to split
the merchant's messages between us?"

"No. Take one and I'll take one. When we finish
one, we start work on the next one," she said and selected the Dealmakers,
so I picked the Wanderer. Kris made some coffee, and I decided to try some,
since I would have to go somewhere just to get juice and didn't feel like it. I
kept adding milk until I liked the taste.

"That's a coffee-flavored milk drink," Kris
said after watching me make it.

"Not a bad drink." I smiled, sipping it. We
lapsed into silence as we began reviewing the messages. As I did, Red slipped
into my hair and settled on my forehead.

"That's creepy." Kris pointed to my
forehead. I nodded agreement.

The Wanderer code was similar but different. The
times, dates, and coordinates were split between two crew members as was the
key to them. As a result, it took me a couple of hours to decode them. Kris
hadn't finished, so I grabbed the Spinner's messages and began.

"Done," Kris said and sat back and rubbed
her eyes. I had finished a third one a few minutes ago and now she had finished
the last two. "Clever, encrypting each one slightly differently. If you
were looking through a bunch of messages, they wouldn't appear the same on the
surface. One of mine had no numbers and relied on the position of the letter in
the alphabet."

"I had one of those. Let’s merge our list and see
if we have anything to give the captain."

"All right, but let's do it over something to
eat. We missed lunch ... and dinner. It's twenty hundred hours. Well, there is
always the
foogenie
, the food
replicator. It should be a pretty good one on an Alliance cruiser. And you can
choose what you want for dinner." She grinned. I didn't know whether it
was my early life or Red, but food wasn't important. I liked the taste of some dishes
better than others but wouldn't go out of my way for any of them. "Let's
merge the lists and we can review them while we eat."

I knew where the general dining facility would be
located from my studies at the academy, and I managed to lead us there without
getting lost. Kris programmed a basic steak, potatoes, and broccoli dinner with
a berry pie for dessert along with milk. I chose the same. As we ate, I
reviewed our merged list:

Merchant's Ship / Pickup System / Pickup Date /
Drop-off System and pickup time

Dealmaker / unknown
/ unknown / Holy Star +110

Wanderer / Black Water / +35 / New Zheng +80

Spinner / Fire Rock / +15 / Truth Star +220

Dreamer / unknown / unknown / Safe Harbor +140

Star Trader / unknown/ unknown / Fire Rock +10

"Although our previous analysis indicates they
change the pickup system every six months, it appears they don't assign them
much in advance. Nothing is happening in the captain's area of responsibility
for a while," I said, reviewing the list.

"I think she is going to be very happy with our
findings. Look at Fire Rock," Kris said, grinning.

"But Fire Rock isn't on her list," I
protested.

"No, but it isn't on anyone's list. You don't
think she won't consider that fair game?" Kris said, taking a bite of her
pie. I agreed. It was not only not in anyone's assigned area, it was close, and
the dates were promising.

"Should we interrupt her now, or wait?" I
asked, not sure what I would have done if Kris weren't along.

"Now. It will tell us a lot about her. My guess
is she’ll be pissed if we wait until tomorrow." Kris spent a few minutes
typing, then turned her tablet so I could see it.

To: Captain
Sharat,

We have decoded
current known messages. Possible target of opportunity within the next few
days.

Signed Sinclair

I nodded, and she touched
Send
and went back to finishing her pie. She had just put her fork
down when our tablets lit with an incoming message.

To: Sinclair,
Paulus.

My office
immediately.

Signed Sharat.

"I guess that answers that question. She would
have been screaming mad if we had waited." Kris understood people,
something I was still learning. Although I could sense people's emotions thanks
to Red, that didn't help me understand them. Being a loner had limited my
interaction with others, which would have helped me learn.

We made our way to her office, which was just a few
meters from the Bridge. When the security guard saw us coming, he knocked on
her door, stuck his head inside, and then held the door open for us. Before the
door closed behind us and we could salute, she waved us to the chairs.

"Sit. What do you have?" Her eyes lit with
excitement, and she leaned forward in her chair.

"We've decoded the most recent messages to and
from the five merchants we're monitoring. They appear to assign the pickup
systems every six months but leave the actual pickup date until much nearer the
expiration date. We found no known pickup dates in your area of responsibility.
They assign drop-off systems yearly. The closest one in your area is Safe
Harbor, and it's one hundred forty days off." Kris said, and quickly held up
her had to stop Sharat interrupting. I smiled mentally as I could feel Sharat
losing patience. "But Fire Rock
—
which
is close to Westar and wasn't assigned to anyone
—
will be expiring in ten days for the merchant
ship Star Trader, and the merchant ship Spinner has a pickup date there only
five days later."

"It will take another ... eighteen hours to
Westar and ..." Sharat said, reaching for her tablet.

"Twenty-six, ma'am," I said, having
calculated the time to Fire Rock from Westar.

"Forty-four to Fire Rock, getting us there six
days before the drop-off year ends and eleven before the Spinner is due.
Excellent. And yes, you guessed right. I want to be informed as soon as you
know anything worthwhile, even if there is no urgency." She sat back and
smiled. "I assume the other agents will figure out the same thing?"

"We were all given the latest messages from the
five merchants, and we all understand the basic encryption method they are
using, although they are not all exact, but how they will treat Fire Rock is
unknown. If you were to—" Kris began to explain.

 
"Notify
Admiral Rawls that based on my NIA Agents' findings, the Tityus is being
diverted to Fire Rock," she said as she typed, tapped on her CPC, and sat
back smiling. "Message ready for sending when we reach Westar. I wasn't
sure I was going to like you two, but I do. You work well as a team and
understand me. Lieutenant Paulus, you are the Comm officer on first shift,
beginning at six hundred hours. Sinclair, you are authorized on the Bridge
anytime, as is Paulus."

* * *

I reported for duty at six hundred hours and took the
communications officer's seat after exchanging greetings with the others on
duty and getting a nod from Sharat. Since we were traveling in the Wave, there
wasn't much to do, so I looked through the messages being queued for sending
when we reached Westar. It was amusing, since the vast majority were to women
on Westar from men letting them know they would be arriving that day. However,
two were to relatives, which piqued my interest, since the smugglers tended to
send their correspondence to
relatives
.
Of course, navy personnel did have relatives across the Alliance, but I had
nothing better to do, so I pulled up the messages to and from the ship in Oxax.
The traffic was much the same, to friends and relatives. I dumped everything to
my tablet to review later and wondered if spooks were naturally paranoid
because of their work or if it were in their nature and whether I was becoming
paranoid.

"XO, notify second shift that first shift personnel
will be staying on duty until we enter the Wave to Fire Rock."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Agent Paulus, let me know when you have what you
need from the WavCom. Commander Burkett, as soon as we exit the Wave, compute
us a vector to Fire Rock. We will be leaving the minute the NIA agents say they
have what they need."

"Captain, most of these queued messages to Westar
are notifying ... people of their arrival. Should I hold them or return them to
the senders?"

"Return them. Who knows when or if we will return
to Westar," She said, somewhat distracted as she stared at the chronometer
as if willing it to move faster. Just then, Kris entered the Bridge.

"Anything interesting happening?"

"In about fifteen minutes we will be exiting the
Wave. After we search the WavCom, the captain will order us on a vector to Fire
Star. I think she's in a hurry," I said just above a whisper.

"Exiting the Wave in one minute," Burkett
said, and I repeated it over the loud speakers and sent a message to all CPCs.
"Thirty seconds ... ten ... three, two, one, now."

A tingling sensation rippled through my body, ending
in a brief dizzy feeling. I quickly sent the captain's message to Rawls and the
few directed to other systems that did not appear predicated on the Tityus
arriving on Westar.

"Captain, vector to Fire Rock on the Helm's
board. Estimated time twenty-six hours and five minutes," Burkett said,
and the captain glanced in my direction, probably remembering my estimate
yesterday, then at Sinclair who was busy searching the WavCom. I watched but
said nothing, as she seemed to have everything under control. As she worked, I
downloaded the messages intended for the Tityus. When Kris looked up, I nodded.

"Captain, we have what we need," Sinclair
said with a sigh of relief.

I didn't blame her. I'd wager Kris could have felt
Sharat tapping her fingers on the armrest of her chair as she waited.

"Helm, execute the vector on your board,"
Sharat said. "Comm, announce entering Wave in ..."

"Ten minutes," Burkett said, confirming my
quick calculation.

"Attention, the Tityus will be entering the Wave
in ten minutes."

"XO, rearrange the schedules. I want the first
shift crew on duty in twenty-four hours. And Lieutenant Sinclair, Lieutenant
Paulus, I want you to meet with me twenty-two hours from now."

I left with Kris when the second shift replaced us.

"No messages to any of the merchants," Kris
said as we walked toward our rooms. "I'll get you for dinner."

"I'd like to see more of this ship. It's a later
model than the Minerva. This will probably be my last chance, and I want to
enjoy it," I said as I entered my room.

Being the Comm officer was magical.
And it allows for some good snooping,
I
mused, thinking about the messages I had opened. Ironically, it was unethical
for a Comm officer to snoop on people, but not for an NIA Agent. The same for
the WavCom. I giggled as I held Red up to my face. "We've become spooks,
my red-headed friend," I said as I undressed for a shower. When I finished,
I intended to nap until dinner, but couldn't resist opening my tablet and
browsing the messages I had copied. A few looked as tantalizing as the
smugglers coded messages, as did one from Westar to the Tityus. The first hour,
Red lay on my forehead while I read and then disappeared when I couldn't seem
to find the key. Then I realized the merchants had a crew to hide the key
whereas this sender didn't—if it was in fact a coded message. When I
returned to his message, Red appeared as if to say,
finally
. An hour later I found the key,
see you at eight fifteen at the Peacock
. He couldn't possibly know
when we would arrive or when he would be released. The decoded message read:
Need usual have schedule
. I stared at it
for a long time. Was that the message, or did I decode a message that wasn't
coded? What was the usual, drugs or something else? And what was the schedule?
Ship movements, or a family event coming up? But why would you code a message
unless ... I had a cruiser-size headache. Just then, my CPC buzzed, reminding
me Kris would be coming for me in fifteen minutes. I finished dressing just as she
knocked.

"Hi, I'm ready," I said, joining her in the
hallway.

"You look tired," Kris said, looking into my
eyes.

"Is there such a thing as spook-paranoia?"

"You mean the irrational compulsion to think
everyone is doing something illegal? We spooks call that
diligence
." She laughed. "Why, do you suspect the captain
of doing something illegal?" She sobered. "You don't!"

"No, do you?" I quipped, but maintained a
serious face.

"What did you and Red find while you were supposed
to be resting?"

"I'm not sure. After dinner, would you look at a
couple of messages for me?"

"Sure, after dinner. Until then we'll assume the
captain is innocent." She laughed and hooked her arm in mine, then stopped
and stood holding her breath.

"I think it's already too late, Kris. Red seems
to allow people close to me to touch me. If not, I have the antivenin." I smirked
at the shocked look on her face.

Kris was a bit pale by the time we reached the dining
area. The officers and enlisted used the same serving line, but the officers
had a separate seating area, although it wasn’t mandatory. The area was crowded,
but we found an empty table and sat.