Red Angel (22 page)

"Red was very slow with the answer. I only
finished a couple of minutes earlier. I guess we need to tell the captain. It
will give him something to do."

"I don't know if unpleasant things qualify as
things one would like as distractions to boredom. But you're right, let's go
ruin his day." Kris opened the door, screamed, and jumped to the side as a
laser beam cut its way through our cabinet. My leg went weak, and I fell to the
floor while reaching for my laser, which I had decided to wear at Kris's
suggestion. In my panic, my first several shots were wild, hitting the
partially open door. But it caused the figure to move to the side out of view.
As my panic eased, I sighted the laser slightly to the right of the opening and
waited—my finger on the trigger ready to fire.

"Security," Kris shouted into her CPC.
"Shots fired in the hallway of officers’ quarters. Room seventy-eight.
Hurry. The shooter might still be outside."

Several minutes later, I heard voices coming down the
hallway.

"No one here."

"Intersection clear."

I eased my finger off the trigger mechanism but stayed
ready to fire if necessary.

"Don't shoot. Security." A few seconds later
a head came into view. I lowered my laser and staggered to my feet, feeling
unsteady.

"Kris!" I screamed. She was holding her arm
and her sleeve was scorched halfway between her elbow and shoulder. "Call
a medic," I shouted as I moved her hand to look.

It looked like it had hit more of her sleeve than her
arm, but she was bleeding. A grizzled sergeant rushed through the door, weapon
in his hand. He quickly scanned the room and lowered his weapon. "They’re
on their way, ma'am. What happened?"

"Kris ... Lieutenant Sinclair opened the door to
go out, and someone standing in the hallway shot into the room. When I fired
back, the person
—
I
don't know if it was a man or a woman
—
jumped
to the side."

"Why were you wearing a laser, ma'am? I know you
are authorized, but it's unusual for officers to wear them," the sergeant
asked, his forehead wrinkled in a frown.

"Lieutenant Sinclair and I are NIA agents, and
this isn't the first time someone has tried to kill us. We are somewhat
paranoid at this point." I helped Kris to the bed as I talked.

He nodded. Not long after, two medics arrived, both petty
officers with registered-nurse patches on their sleeves. By some private sign,
the woman took me and the man Kris.

"She needs help, not me," I said
indignantly.

"Please sit ... Lieutenant, and let me examine
you. Your jacket has laser marks, so you might also have been hit." She
gently removed my jacket and then jumped back as Red emerged and slid toward my
neck. I reached out with my other hand and grabbed him, and he wrapped himself
around my arm.

"Sorry, I forget he's there. It's safe now."

She hesitantly opened my blouse, which had bloodstains,
and examined a six-centimeter cut.

"You were lucky," she said as she covered it
with a pad and taped it in place. "Can you walk?" she asked as she
stepped back. I nodded. "Good." She sighed with relief.

"I've called for a stretcher. Why don't you go ahead?
We'll be there shortly," the male nurse said while taping Kris's arm. I
wanted to stay but knew she was all right and I would just be in the way. When
we reached the medical unit, the nurse got me settled and then spent some time
in an animated talk with the doctor.

"I'm Doctor Salter. How are you feeling,
Lieutenant Paulus? The captain did mention you have a krait living with you.
But you need treatment ..."

"Yes, ma'am." I undressed as Red wound
around my neck to stay out of the way. It took a while, and every movement
brought a sharp response from my injured side. When I finished, I put on the
gown she gave me and reached up and let Red wind around my arm. "There,
Doctor. Red is out of the way and won't leave my arm."

"How do you know?" she asked, looking
somewhat amused.

"Fourteen years of experience. Besides, he's lazy,"
I quipped. She laughed.

"Since I have the antivenin, I trust you."
She called in a couple of aids to help her as she cleaned the wound, sutured it
up, and dressed it. "There, all done. You were right; he's lazy." She
walked off smiling. I felt tired and lay back, intending to rest for only a few
minutes. I was concerned about Kris, but it was four hours later when Salter
stopped by to see me. She checked my temperature, and we got to talking about
Red. An hour later, she helped me to Kris's room. I hadn't realized how weak I
felt until my relief when I sat on the side of her bed and took her hand.

"How are you doing?" I asked. She looked
pale.

"You're a dangerous person to be around. If I
didn't like Red so much, I'd insist on separate rooms." She smiled, and I
could see the pain it caused her. She was right. All my life people had been in
danger because of me. I felt Red's tongue against my cheek, as if to say ... I
didn't know how but somehow I knew he understood.

"Hey, knock it off. You're supposed to be
cheering me up. We have upset the candy-wagon, and the owners are mad. They are
desperate men hoping to make us go away. But like Sharat, Maclin, Thayer, and
Hardgrove; we are not only not going away but we are going to chase them to
extinction. You, Adrian, Wilber, me, and Red."

"Sorry. Looking on the bright side, you have to
agree that the trip is no longer boring. And we will live to be shot at
again," I said with a smile
—
a
genuine smile, now that I knew Kris was going to be all right. She gave a short
laugh, then winced from the pain it caused.

"Maybe a little less cheerful." She squeezed
my hand. "Yes. We are both alive, so it's a good day."

Captain Maclin entered the room sometime later. Kris
had dosed off, and I had curled up in a padded chair—too tired go back to
my room and not wanting to leave Kris's company.

"How are you doing, Paulus?" he asked in a
lowered voice.

"Tired, Captain. Lieutenant Sinclair’s and my
wounds aren't life-threatening."

"Do you know who did this?"

"No. He or she ran off when I fired back."

"You know how to shoot?" he asked, and I
felt his amusement.

"My mother insisted I be trained in all types of
weapons, so she had a friend, Chief Ransom, teach me while I was at the Academy.
I qualified with all the standard weapons all four years. But Lieutenant
Sinclair and I identified a Petty Officer Reaves selling information for
something, and you have someone sending Oasis information about your ship's
itinerary."

"Who?" He seemed to grow and expand, and I
could feel his anger.

"I don't know yet. We were on our way to see you
when the incident occurred. The ones sending messages to Oasis tend to
manipulate the system to make it appear someone else is sending the message. It
will take a bit of digging to discover who."

"In the meantime, I've authorized you and Sinclair
permanent security guards while you are assigned to the Vulcan." He looked
at me and smiled. "I'll have them wheel your bed in here. I think you'd be
more comfortable and sleep better. You're very fond of her, as she is of
you." He left and shortly afterward my bed was wheeled in. I barely
remember getting into it.

* * *

Two days later and accompanied by my two-man security
team, I visited the marine area and sought out Corporal Bennett, who insisted
he hadn't sent a message to Oasis, which I had suspected but had to verify. I
then made my way to the Bridge, anxious to resolve our mystery Oasis-writer’s
identity. He was either the shooter or the one who enticed the shooter to seek
us out. After thanking the captain for his kindness the other day, I was given
access to the Comm panel and the system computer. As I suspected, the charge
for the message had been reversed and sent to Junior Lieutenant Toney, the
third-shift Comm officer. Within minutes of handing my finding to Maclin, Toney
was in custody. For the rest of the trip, I filled in as the Comm officer on
third shift, and all too quickly, the ten days were up and we were exiting the
Wave into Eastar. I found myself wishing the trip were longer. I sat next to
Kris, watching her search the WavCom because it was first shift and I wasn't
the Comm officer. To my surprise, a message marked urgent appeared on my tablet
from Admiral Rawls.

To: Lieutenants
Sinclair and Paulus, Captain Maclin.

Lieutenant
Shrader was attacked and wounded while on planet-side leave on Stone Ring. His
wounds are serious, but he will recover. Lieutenant Weiss was attacked while on
planet-side leave on Black Water and killed. Take extreme caution while on
Eastar and return to Oxax as soon as possible. Signed, Admiral Rawls.

"Nooooo," I wailed. When Kris turned to me,
I showed her the message. Tears filled her eyes as she read. I said, "It's
payback. Their network has identified the four of us as the cause of their
losses."

"Yes," Kris said so quietly I almost didn't
hear. "They want revenge. You need to wear a protective vest. Even a shot
that didn’t kill you might kill Red, then ..." She stopped as tears rolled
down her cheeks.
I’d die
, I finished.

"Sinclair, Paulus, in my office," Maclin
said as he rose. Kris and I followed. Inside, he waved us to chairs, poured
three glasses of wine, and gave us each one. "Drink. What do you want to
do? I can notify the Inquiry Board that it isn't safe for you to attend. Maybe
they will let you testify via telecom." He stared at us, awaiting an
answer. Kris and I looked at each other, also looking for answers.

"I'll go. Captain Sharat has a right to have me
present for questions, and the Inquiry Members will probably want to hear me
firsthand to decide whether my actions require a letter of reprimand or
something more."

"You go, I go. I was a witness to the ...
conversation." Her lip twitched, and I felt her amusement.
Conversation,
was a stretch.

"I guess I'll go along too with extra security.
I'm interested in the outcome. This feels like one of those Supreme Court
rulings on old-Earth: is it ever appropriate to tell your captain she's an
idiot?" He laughed. "Sorry, I know this is serious, but sometimes
it's better to focus on the comedy rather than the tragedy."

* * *

The next day, Kris, Maclin, six armed marines, and I
went in the captain's shuttle to New Hope, the capital city of Eastar. There,
we were transported by an armed military shuttle to the Navy Headquarters Building
and escorted to the courtroom on the fortieth floor. To my surprise, Admiral
Rawls and Commander Stauffer were present. Commander Stauffer was called to
describe the project team's mission, our success in identifying the merchants,
and the breaking of the smugglers' code
—
and
to answer a series of questions about Kris and me. Admiral Rawls was called
next and asked to give the background leading to the three-cruiser search-and-destroy
mission and each captain's assigned area. Captain Sharat was then called and
questioned on her actions leading up to and including the decision to go to the
rendezvous alone.

"It was a judgment call. I decided waiting might
cause the smugglers to abandon the area. Having encountered the smugglers once
before, I felt I knew what the enemy brought to the fight and figured that even
if they outnumbered me, Alliance crews were better trained, so we could give
better than we got."

Then they called Kris. She was asked a series of
questions concerning me and finally to recount the confrontation between Sharat
and me.

"Yes, sir," she said to the commander conducting
the questioning. "The conversation was heated, but NIA Agent Paulus said
nothing I wouldn't have said if she hadn't said it first. You can't plead your
case quietly when you believe the action will result in hundreds of lives
needlessly lost. And yes, I agreed with her actions in sending those messages.
The other NIA agents needed to be warned
—
and
why not ask for help if it's available."

Then it was my turn.

"You are very young for a lieutenant or for an
NIA Agent, aren't you?"

"That's not really relevant, is it sir? I am a
lieutenant and an agent, and consequently I am as responsible as any other
lieutenant or agent," I said, refusing to play word games. Wilber's
killing and Adrian and Kris's near survivals had me in turmoil. I reached up to
touch Red, who had his head on my shoulder, watching the commander. The touch
calmed me.

"True. Do you feel the NIA has the right to
override a captain's orders or to dictate what she should do?"

"I don't believe I ever ordered Captain Sharat to
do one thing or the other. No, the decision was hers to make. I merely told her
what the NIA had found and pleaded for caution. You have the Bridge recording.
I'm not saying I was right or wrong. That is for you to decide. But I will tell
you that under similar circumstances where I thought the lives of five hundred
sailors and marines were being recklessly endangered, I would do it
again."

* * *

"Wow, when you and Red get going, you don't mince
words," Kris said as we sat in the waiting room while the inquiry board
deliberated Sharat and my faith.

"Red made me do it," I quipped.

"I have to admit that was a unique
defense—I'd do it again." Maclin snorted. He had chosen to stay with
us to hear the verdict. I suspect it was as much to hear Sharat's fate as mine.
Six hours later, we were told the Inquiry would resume in fifteen minutes.

"That was quick," Maclin said, and I could
feel his unease. "Means they didn't deliberate much."

"Nervous?" Kris asked, looking at me.

"No. I'll be more concerned to hear what Admiral
Rawls and Commander Stauffer think. I like working for the NIA. The navy
doesn't matter to me. Red would keep me off cruisers, so it's not
important."