The Iron Admiral: Deception (26 page)

He lumbered to the door and up the corridor. “This is the accommodation module. We have a small staff here. About sixty people.”

“What is this place?”

“I expect you’ll have guessed. It is the GPR’s principal research laboratory. We carry out some medical research here as well as military self-defense projects.”

She strode in Tepich’s wake. He almost seemed to float along in his robe. Almost like a Tor. She grinned; better keep that to herself. Self-defense. Of course. They all said that, didn’t they? Nobody ever

described themselves as aggressors.

He stopped and gestured at a door. “This is yours. It is a little cramped but I’m sure you’ll find it adequate.”

He waited while she stuck her head around the door. A bed, a wardrobe. “Where’s the washroom?”

“At the end of the passage. It’s shared, of course.”

“Of course.” She threw her pack onto the bunk.

They walked on to a heavy door. Tepich turned to face a retinal scanner and the door opened. Good.

Allysha filed that away for future reference. A retinal scanner was easy to fool. At least, it was for her.

Beyond the door she noticed a subtle change in the air, the smell that had bothered her was stronger.

Antiseptic? Something reminiscent of hospitals? Well, Tepich had mentioned they did medical research here. It was to be expected.

 

He pressed his palm against a door pad and gestured her into a room, as utilitarian and featureless as all the others. Benches against the side walls held a number of computer terminals, all pretty basic. The top-of-the-range InfoDroid that hovered in the corner was surprising in this setting.

“May I introduce Mister Galen, who you will be training.”

A short man with a forest of hair around a bald pate, Galen stepped forward, rubbing his hands together as if he were washing them. “So nice to have you here, Miss Marten. I’ve been told to expect much from

you.”

She nodded at him. At least this fellow she could relate to; your typical university academic, obsessed with his own work and not interested in much else. She wondered what had happened to make his hair fall out. “Nice to be here. Will the others be joining us?”

“No others,” Tepich said.

“Really?”

“Mister Galen is the only operative who would benefit from your knowledge. We find InfoDroids more than adequate for our usual activities,” Tepich said.

“Okay. But… I won’t be teaching him anything until that contract is signed.”

“An understandable sentiment,” Tepich said. “Perhaps you would join us for dinner?”

They went back through to the accommodation module and to Tepich’s rooms. He had a separate dining room off the living room in which he had spoken with Allysha. The time crawled. If she’d hoped to

find out what Galen was working on, she soon discovered he wasn’t talking. Tepich asked her questions about what she’d taught the Fleet staff. How to get around security was the obvious and truthful answer.

He seemed pleased. When they had finished their meal she pleaded exhaustion and adjourned to her room, the enigmatic Agnita as her escort.

They locked the door on her. She’d expected that. She turned off the lights and pulled out her techpack.

Time to find out about this place. The techpack found a data port and she was in. The security wasn’t particularly stringent, but then, they probably thought that being inside a moon was security in itself. The restricted area needed a retinal scan, as she’d seen; a simple match with a stored image. They’d scanned hers, of course. But if she needed to get around, she’d simply force the system to accept the image of Tepich’s retina that she’d copied to her implant.

The base had twenty-seven staff, of which ten were engineers, doctors and technical specialists, with the rest listed as support staff. Tepich was a visitor using the VIP quarters. The place had five laboratories working on projects with code names. One of them, set into the rock, appeared to be shielded, with an observation area at the same level as the rest of the base. Now for vehicles. The shuttle she’d arrived on remained in the airlock. Apart from that, a dune crawler sat in a corner of what was clearly the maintenance hub. It seemed an odd item to have in a place like this. But then, they would have to go out and check the external antennas and so on from time to time, wouldn’t they? And maybe they used it in the tunnels, too, for clearing rock falls and such.

What else? What else could she use if she had to hide, for instance? Thoughts of the chase in warehouse 30-Hector rose and she shuddered. The image of Tensan lying face-down in his own blood, his head shattered, would haunt her forever. The base’s layout appeared before her. They’d brought modules here and constructed them in specially cut tunnels. They had allowed for an exit to the surface; an airlock near the maintenance area led into a tunnel wide enough to take a vehicle. It must have been a left-over from when they constructed the place.

She turned the techpack off and put it on the table beside the bunk. She’d found out as much as she could, nothing to do now but wait. She still didn’t know what they wanted from her. Would Sean have escaped? She hoped so. And she hoped Chaka understood and she hoped Vlad would find her. The contract came back to her mind. Too easy; Tepich had agreed too quickly. Four hundred thousand wasn’t a huge amount in the scheme of things. So either she’d asked for less that she should have or they didn’t intend to pay her, anyway. She’d have to be vigilant. And careful.

ChapterThirty

“I have Admiral Leonov for you, Grand Admiral,” Arcturus said.

At last. Leonov’s image appeared.

“Any news?” Saahren said.

“She met O’Reilly on Carnessa.”

“O’Reilly?” What was she thinking? “I don’t believe it. How many chances is she going to give this fool?

Did you grab him?”

Leonov rubbed his nose. “Look, I know you won’t like this. They’ve gone away together. I want… no, I need to know where and why.”

“No.” Saahren slammed his hand down on the desk. “Not again, Vlad. Finished. Get her back.” She haunted his dreams and complicated his days. Where was she? Was she safe? Fear added a red flicker to his white-hot rage.

Leonov lifted his hands, palms out. “Calm down, calm down. I have people following.”

He took a moment to shove down the fury. Anger was pointless. Worse if it affected rational thought.

 

“Where is she now?”

“She was at Kentor space station, meeting a couple of people from the GPR. The good news is she left a tracking device with our agent. She must have recognized the operative in some way so now we can at least locate her.”

“What you’re saying is you’ve lost her.” Calm; he had to stay calm.

“She’s left the space station on another ship and we’re tracking that. The listed destination is El Dorado, which makes sense.” Leonov grinned without humor. “We’ve suspected for a long time that the GPR

had

some sort of facility tucked away somewhere. Looks like we’re about to find out where it is.”

“Good. Then maybe we can find out what they’re up to.”

Leonov cocked an eyebrow. “Let’s hope she can find out for us.”

Allysha? That wasn’t what he’d meant at all. “She is not an intelligence operative, Vlad. You will NOT

use her as one. This is starting to turn into Brjyl all over again. She’s done enough.” He unclenched his jaw. He hated this. Hehated this. “You will get her out of there. Do whatever is necessary.”

The older man licked his lips. “Chaka, I don’t like this any more than you do. But it looks to me like she wants to help, wants to get this over with. And if it makes you feel any better, O’Reilly is no longer with her.”

“Which means what? He’s sold her to the highest bidder? Left her to face the music on her own? When I get hold of that bastard…”

He unclenched his fist. This wasn’t helping. He felt so helpless. If… He started again.When he had her back beside him, he’d make certain he kept her safe. Whether she liked it or not. And as the words passed across his mind, he recalled the conversation they’d had. ‘What should I do, Allysha? You don’t want gifts, you don’t want me to protect you’. And her reply. ‘Let me be me.’

He took a deep breath. “Okay. Keep me informed.”

Leonov’s image vanished.

He rubbed the back of his hand across his jaw.Oh, Allysha. If anything happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself. But Leonov was right. She’d made it clear in her message to him that she wanted to do this herself. There had been a poster on the wall at school. He’d thought it stupid at the time. A picture of a bird, flying free and the words ‘if you love something, set it free. If it comes back, you’ll know it’s yours; if it doesn’t—it never was’. She’d promised; promised to come back. It was all he had to cling to.

Arcturus’s smooth voice interrupted. “President McKinley wishes to talk to you, Grand Admiral, Code Five.”

The intrusion was almost a relief. “Put him through.”

President McKinley sat behind his desk in his office, the massive window behind him revealing the Malmos cityscape on a fine day. “We’ve had an unexpected request. The Suldan of Qerra is as concerned about Anxhou’s military maneuvers as we are. He’s asked us to help.”

 

“Well, he’d be stupid not to be concerned. But what can we do?”

“A goodwill visit. It’s clear he trusts us a lot more than he trusts Anxhou. He doesn’t have the military clout to withstand Anxhou’s fleet if he attacks; we do.”

“Only if the Khophir keeps out of it.” He wished he was as sure as McKinley. The Confederacy Fleet was good, well trained, well-armed. But how could even he, Saahren, withstand the wave upon wave of ships the Khophirate could throw at them?

“I think he will. The Khophir is having trouble maintaining his authority. Anxhou isn’t the only governor flexing his tentacles. If Anxhou makes a move toward us, that’s a good way of building prestige; but only if it works. If he gets involved in an attack and it fails, he’s finished.” McKinley rested his arms on his desk and leaned forward. “There’s that and also I think he’ll hang back to see if you can finish Anxhou for him.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I’m sending your fleet. Grand Admiral Saahren himself.”

“Did you also consider that might be like sending out an invitation? Saahren’s there, let’s get him.”

“Suldan Bentrax doesn’t think so.”

“If those are your orders, I’ll obey, of course. But you do know the ptorix see me as a demon, don’t you?Chohzu the Destroyer.”

“Only the ordinary ptorix. You mean all that nonsense about you bombarding Jossur, don’t you?

Bentrax knows the truth.”

Bentrax. But Allysha hadn’t. And neither had her closest friends, Professor Xanthor and his family. Or so Allysha believed.

McKinley disappeared. Saahren issued orders. Then he called Vlad Leonov. The multi-dim transmitters were running hot today.

“Any more news?”

Leonov shook his head. “I’m sorry, Chaka. I wish there was something more we could do.”

He could see Leonov was concerned. Well, so was he. He’d never, in all his days since he graduated from the Academy, felt so helpless. With the might of the Confederacy Star Fleet at his command, the fate of the woman he loved was beyond his reach. “There’s one more thing that I can do; I’m going to put a frigate as close to the border as I can get. Or even closer than that. The GPR’s surveillance isn’t too wonderful.”

“What will that achieve?”

“Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing,” Saahren snarled, fists clenched. “But it’ll make me feel better. If the worst comes to the worst, I’ll attack the place, send in a team to get her out.”

****

Saahren sat up in his bed. He couldn’t sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, he thought of Allysha. Even with his eyes open he thought of Allysha. She would be at El Dorado by now. And then what? He wrapped his arms about bent knees and stared unseeing at the bulkhead. Was she safe? Would she succeed? Had that arse of a husband of hers inveigled her into some new, murderous plot? He wished he

 

could see her, talk to her, reassure himself that she was all right but she was beyond his control, beyond his help.

He could at least see her. “Arcturus, show me Allysha.”

“What would you like to see, Admiral?”

“I don’t know. Whatever you have.” Anything. Anything was better than nothing. He watched with an aching heart as Allysha traded words with him inArcturus’s hangar bay, saw her working with her team, flicking her hair back over her shoulder as she was wont to do; watched her dance with him at the Fleet Ball. That hurt the worst. He almost felt her in his arms, smelt her scent, the texture of her skin under his fingers.

“Turn it off.” If anything, the ache, the longing was worse. He wanted to touch her, hold her. At least, in a way, he could do that. He didn’t do this often; but then he’d thought he was past this sort of adolescent

suffering. “Put me into VISE.”

Officially, the program was called Amarra. No one remembered why; some said it was the name of an ancient potentate’s favorite concubine, others, more prosaic, said it was the name of a long gone brothel on Celesia. Throughout the messes on all the ships it was called VISE; short for Virtual Sex; the Fleet’s answer for love sick crewers.

“Certainly, Admiral.” A selection of images appeared, all sorts of women—and men—to suit anyone’s tastes. “Please select a partner.”

He didn’t even look at them. “I want Allysha.”

“I can’t do that without her express approval, Grand Admiral.” The IS almost sounded disapproving.

“That’s an order.” He was Grand Admiral. He could override any constraint that would not jeopardize the safety of the ship.

“You are officially overriding my constraints?”

She would be his wife. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t already been intimate and they would be again. “Do it.”

The minutes it took to build the avatar felt like hours. At last it was done, hair, eyes, skin, voice. She was beautiful.

“I have provided the avatar with the default response set, Admiral. If you require anything else—”

“Default is fine.” He moistened dry lips as she came toward his virtual self. She smiled and slid her arms around his neck.