Retribution (The Federation Reborn Book 3) (68 page)

“Well, the good news is, you're not carrying it back,” Sprite said.

“Good,” the captain replied with a relieved smile.

“The bad news is, you're carrying warheads. Nuclear warheads,” she said. He flinched. “You're up for it? They will of course be split apart into components and safety is our primary concern here.”

“Aye, I think we can handle it,” the captain replied cautiously.

She waited until she was gone before she put a call in to the admiral. “Unloading of the antimatter is going as planned. I didn't have the heart to tell him he's going to be bringing us more,” she said with a grin.

“Right,” he drawled.

“Storage for the antimatter?”

“For now most of it, yes. But not all of it. We're going to accelerate our plans a bit.”

“That sounds ominous,” Sprite replied warily. “Should I be worried?”

“No, but the enemy should be,” the admiral said. Sprite cocked her head and then nodded slowly.

Chapter 27

Not all the news was good. Four days after announcing the yard loan project, the salvagers came back to haunt them. News came through from Centennial that a ship had docked with a derelict in the outskirts of the star system. The
Moth
class
Gahira
had been boarded and had turned out to be booby trapped. The weapon killed the scavengers and critically damaged
Midnight MX2
which had force undocked and had tried to get clear in time.

The small tramp freighter had taken damage to her port side and stern, but she'd managed to limp to Centennial orbit. Word was already spreading through the ansible network as the crew told their story and requested help to get to the nearest space port or yard for repairs.

Repairs that they expected the federation to pay for was the subtext the admiral read. He pinched and rubbed the bridge of his nose. They were stupid, they knew the risks, and of course insurance was a concept that hadn't yet gotten to everyone. But there was an added complication; he could see it in Monty's eyes.

“We knew. That's our current dilemma. We knew where the ship was and that it was booby trapped,” Monty said miserably during the briefing.

“How?” Otto demanded.

“Fourth Fleet debrief. It was in the databases we recovered as well,” Admiral Sienkov interjected. He glanced at Monty and nodded.

“The problem is we didn't dispatch a ship in time. We thought …,” Monty sighed and rubbed his brow.

“In this case honesty isn't the best policy. I say we leave it alone,” Admiral Sienkov suggested, turning to Admiral Irons. The fleet admiral frowned thoughtfully. “It is a case of the burnt hand. They'll be more wary. You'd think after what happened before over the centuries they would have learned. But sometimes it takes the occasional fresh horror show like this one to remind the public that derelicts are dangerous.”

“I'm glad it blew the ships up myself,” Monty said. They turned to him in surprise. “Sorry, but I'd rather a booby trap of that nature than say a bioweapon. One with a long shelf life like on p34cv9? Or that liner in Pyrax? Or the one the bastards unleashed on ET?”

“You would bring that up,” Admiral Sienkov replied with an atavistic shiver.

“I'm worried about not saying we knew. It could come back and haunt us. Bite us in the ass,” Otto said carefully.

“We tell the truth. It was lost in the shuffle of more pressing priorities,” Admiral Sienkov said. He turned to Monty. “You really think someone could find a plague ship?”

“You don't? It’s part of what we're paid to look into—to speculate such scenarios and alert the chain of command that they are out there,” Monty said, nodding to Admiral Irons.

“Right,” Admiral Sienkov said in a different tone of voice. There was a hint of grudging respect in it.

“We didn't get to it in time. We were wrong not to pass on a warning; if it comes out, we'll eat a little crow over that. So be it. The burned hand works both ways I suppose, from now on we pass on warnings ASAP,” the admiral stated, glancing at Monty.

“Agreed,” Monty chimed in with a nod.

“Coulda woulda shoulda. Do better gentlemen,” the admiral stated, eying both of them with moderate severity. “I shouldn't have to remind you, lives ride on the line. And your point about a plague ship is valid. Let's backchannel that possibility to the media to get it out to the public. That will also help dampen enthusiasm.”

“Hopefully, sir,” Monty replied crisply. “We passed on a warning to the group working in B448c. We know there is another booby trapped ship there, the
Tarzed
. There have been no reports of an incident though.”

“Yet,” Otto said.

“Yet,” Monty echoed. “We didn't get word of warning to
Molly
in time before she jumped for the star system. Given that they and others have passed through it without seeing it, there is a chance that it hasn't been discovered.”

“I recommend we dispatch a ship to find the ship and either disable the booby trap or destroy the ship. It is a hazard to navigation, sir,” Admiral Sienkov stated.

“Agreed,” Admiral Irons said with a curt nod. He turned to the OPS officer. “Okay Otto, next subject,” he said as the OPS officer jotted out the order on his tablet.

“Yes sir,” Otto said. “We have your plan to deal with the antimatter stockpile. Recent events including the arrival pushed that up a bit,” the commander said, skimming the bullet point subject before he looked up. “I know you used the last shipment already, but there is one scheduled to arrive in the next convoy. Are you still considering using it for torpedoes, sir? Or mines? I know we could use it in some of the fighter designs and definitely in fighter ordinance,” Otto stated.

Admiral Sienkov frowned thoughtfully but didn't interject his viewpoint. Instead all eyes turned to Admiral Irons.

“For the moment I want to stay the course. Torpedoes and mines yes. We do not want to tie a ship up and make it dependent on a finite fuel source. That's why I've held off on using it with the couriers,” he admitted.

“That and we only have so many capable helmsmen who can handle Delta and Epsilon available,” Sprite interjected.

“That too is indeed a limiting factor,” Admiral Irons said, nodding to her avatar. “Nice of you to join us, Captain,” he said with a small smile.

“I've been monitoring the conversation but I've been tied up with a few other projects. Torpedoes would have the most impact, Admiral.”

“Ordinance handling would be a problem. We'd need to retrain some of our people. We'd also need to check the handling and containment methods on the ships that would hold the ordinance. Not to mention the munitions colliers expected to move them,” Otto warned.

“Regulations can be reviewed and the crews trained,” Sprite replied. “That takes time. Time which we'll have since it will be a while before the antimatter arrives, then more time to process it into the warheads. There will be some losses there,” she warned.

“There always is when handling antimatter. We'll deal with it,” the admiral stated.

“Anyway we can get it to Admiral White?” Monty asked. “I know he could use it,” he said.

“Unfortunately, no, not in the time we've got left before the enemy's expected arrival,” Admiral Sienkov replied. Otto grimaced but nodded in agreement.

“The courier brought back news that Admiral White abandoned B-95a3. He's due in to Protodon at any time,” Sprite reminded them.

“I know,” Admiral Irons said quietly.

:::{)(}:::

Prometheus's
arrival in Pyrax triggered a promotion. Commander Shelby Logan was promoted to Captain JG when her ship returned to Pyrax for rest and refit. She had downloaded the news that she was on the list when they'd passed through Gaston, but the deliberations and final decision had been held while her ship had been in hyperspace to Pyrax.

One of the first things Shelby did once they docked was march herself over to Admiral Subert's office. Commander Garretaj slipped her into the admiral's schedule for a brief ceremony and link-up so Admiral Subert and Admiral Irons could download her new implant keys.

Admiral Irons had only a moment to congratulate her through the ansible before he had to depart. She managed to stammer a thanks before he signed off.

With the implant keys came new downloaded orders. She and her crew were going to be given long overdue liberty, and there would be some promotions and shuffling around of her personnel. But once that was finished and they reported back to duty, they were scheduled for a brief working-up exercise to blow the rust off before a new adventure.

The newly-minted junior grade captain had been designated as the future Tau sector naval commander. Her orders were to take
Prometheus
and a rebuilt and reinforced task force around the southern loop to Airea 3 and then into Tau. Her mission was planned to be a beachhead and an olive branch to the sector, building off the intelligence that hopefully the light cruisers
Pugila
and
Belfast
would provide them.

While making contacts with the locals and hopefully securing space around the shipways to Rho sector, she was to establish a base and new sector capital. Unfortunately, she was going to have her work cut out for her; her reinforced task force was to be used as security to protect
Prometheus
.

Which meant she wouldn't be able to draw them down to chase pirates. She'd have to figure something else out. She'd have her ship and industrial plant but only local resources and a finite amount of personnel to start with. Talk about making bricks without straw Shelby thought before she put the problems of the future aside to bask in the moment at hand.

Shelby grinned in bemusement as she looked at her shiny new rank insignia and the congratulations from friends that started to hit her inbox. When she departed the admiral's office, the staff room was filed with her officers and senior enlisted as well as personnel she knew. They applauded her.

“If you think I'm taking you all out for drinks, you've got another think coming,” she growled playfully, which sparked a laugh from the group.

Captain Firefly also passed on his congratulations. He was still considering signing on to the Tau mission since he'd been denied command or participation in the eastern front mission. If he did it would jog Shelby's elbow though, since he would be the senior officer and thus in command of the mission. But she would understand he thought.

He considered going on the mission as a fresh start, but it would mean taking on a crew and getting the Admiralty to light a fire under his mothballed ship's repair. Something they were loath to do apparently, quite possibly to let the story of her disastrous battle die down for a while, he wasn't certain.

Then there were the problems he knew lurked in the shadows and deep web of the star system's electronic net. Captain Sprite and the Xeno Wraith hunters couldn't guarantee the star system was clear of intrusion. He had recently picked up a sniff of the Wraith, most likely a clone or bot.

Whatever it was it had self-destructed before he'd managed to catch and analyze it fully. He had managed to get a contact report off to ONI. They were tight lipped about the incident. He speculated that civilian hardware in the star system had been compromised, but the ONI techs Commander Teague had dispatched had refused to speculate.

Should he go? He wasn't certain if he had a choice or not. He also didn't like the idea of leaving an enemy behind him. Either way the decision was out of his hands.

:::{)(}:::

Apparently the recent promotions were enough to kick start something loose in the Pyrax Congress. Governor Saladin called a press conference. “I'd like to apologize for not doing this sooner,” he said from his office as the cameras rolled. He made a show out of taking a parchment and signing it, using different pens for each syllable of his name until he was finished. “There. Fleet Admiral Irons, I have just singed the official pardon from Pyrax. You have me and my people's full apology for the mistreatment you endured and have continued to endure. You are an innocent man, and I hope this exoneration moves us all a step in the right direction,” he said.

He then went on to expound the virtues of Pyrax, how they'd turned over a new leaf, and how Pyrax should be the proper capital of the reborn federation. He waxed poetic about how the admiral had started that mission in Pyrax which had been the sector capital in the days of the old federation.

Protector cut into the admiral's scheduled reading session for him to view the news as it played out over the ansible. Admiral Irons saw the press conference and was amused by it.

“A pardon? For what? I wasn't tried, I didn't commit a crime …,” he shook his head.

“Apparently someone wasn't thinking of that, sir.”

“No, they weren't. They are giving fresh justification to the charges all over again,” the admiral mused.

“Hopefully it doesn't come to that,” the A.I. aide stated. “Ah, Press Secretary Liobat was about to hold the daily brief. Apparently she is being hit with questions about it.” The A.I. changed the video over to the press secretary.