Metal Boxes (30 page)

“Point two
, Trey?” Aunt Ruth prompted.

Stone held up a second finger. “Two. We discovered
a planet that is a very short jump from here.” He pointed at the drascos. “That is where we picked up the girls. It is habitable and completely uninhabited by any civilization. The coordinates are in the pod’s navigation system and on Commander Wright’s p.a.”

“A whole planet? That will make Marvin and Vance happy. They haven’t had a fresh planet to carve up in a couple of years.” Aunt Ruth looked at Wright. “Same partnership?”

Wright nodded.

“Sounds fair to me
,” Aunt Ruth said. She opened the comms on her personal assistant. “Jim Junior, grab Alex and the sled in bay Bravo-Six. Get over to hanger thirty-six and drag the pod there back here. Take Andy with you and make sure they have their coach-guns with them. Defense only but I want that pod in the bay within the hour.”

“Okay
, Mom.” Jimbo reported over the comms.

“On the way
, Ruth,” Andy and Alex responded together.

“I better go too
,” Stone said. “I put a bio-lock on the hanger. Jimbo won’t be able to get in.”

“Good thinking
, Trey. But you can’t leave your two little dragons here alone.”

“Drascos
, Aunt Ruth. Not dragons.”

“I don’t care what you call them
. I don’t care if they look like they are asleep right now. You can’t leave them alone here,” Aunt Ruth said.

Maggot
said, “Besides I need you here to decipher what I am seeing in some of these segments.”

“I can go
,” Commander Wright volunteered. “I can get past the bio lock outs.”

“I really should go
,” Stone said. “Jay and Peebee left kind of a mess in the middle of the hanger deck that I have to clean up.”

“Crap!” Aunt Ruth exclaimed.

“Exactly,” Stone laughed.

“You and your
grandpa’s rules!” Aunt Ruth exclaimed. “Jim Junior, take a bucket and a mop. Clean up the pile of drasco crap in the middle of the hanger deck.”

“Aw
, Mom!”

“
‘Aw Mom’ nothing,” Aunt Ruth said. “Andy, you make sure Jim Junior cleans it up himself and doesn’t convince Alex to do it for him. And Commander, the last thing you do before you leave is to log out on the register. Have the invoice paid by our family account, but make sure it is listed as Stone-Wright Partnership. I will have you and the corporate entity added to the family account before you get there.”

Jimbo stuck his head in the door. “Commander Wright
, if you would follow me please?”

“I will be back as soon as I can
,” Wright said. She grabbed a sandwich with each hand and rushed out the door.”

“
Brenda, call your father,” Ruth said. “Tell him to wrap up whatever he is doing and get the container loads ready for attachment. I think we need to get to Lazzaroni as soon as we can. We might be able to get there before a message can reach them about Trey being among the living.”

“No
, Ruth,” Maggot said.

“No? You can’t tell me ‘no’ on my own ship.”

“No, but I can prevent you from taking Mister Stone with you. I need him and Commander Wright with me.”

“I thought you were going with us to Trey’s funeral
,” Aunt Ruth asked.

Stone laughed
, “That sounds like fun.”

“It is not funny young man. Your family is hurt by your loss
,” Aunt Ruth said.

“Sorry
, I guess it is not really funny.”

“I am sorry too
, Ruth,” Maggot said. “Mister Stone and I are not going to Lazzaroni Station. I hope you and James can change your plans. We need to go to Tamvor Station after the Periodontitis. When word gets to them that they didn’t kill Mister Stone, the guilty may bolt and I will never find them.”

“Do you have help at T
amvor Station?” Stone asked.

Maggot
shook his head. “No Mister Stone, not much. They only have four or five agents there. Most of them will be on field assignments. My plan is to place someone we trust in command of the Periodontitis at Tamvor Station and have them take the whole shooting match under lockdown to the Lazzaroni system. There is an Empire’s Military Investigative Service Regional Office there. Plus, there are enough non-involved navy personnel there to call in as back up.”

“Sounds like a plan
, Maggot,” Stone said. “I want to be there when you lock up those S.O.B.s that killed Commander Wright and me.”

“But you don’t need Trey
,” Ruth said. “I would like to take him to Lazzaroni to head off his father before he does something stupid. You know he won’t believe anything unless he sees it with his own eyes.”

Maggot
shook his head, “Send a message, use family codes, whatever. I do need Mister Stone with me. Look at this video.” He called up a file on Stone’s p.a. The hologram appearing in the living room showed four figures racing down a corridor. Two grabbed Stone and slapped a drug patch on his neck. The other two grabbed Commander Wright putting a patch on her neck. One man grabbed Stone and Wright’s p.a.s and tossed them to another man. The video went blank as they dropped the p.a.s into a black bag. Maggot froze the hologram.

“Okay
, Mister Stone. Your personal assistant identifies this man as your direct supervisor Second Lieutenant Vaarhoo. It does not identify these other three. Do you know them?”

Stone looked carefully at the three men. One was an
officer and two were enlisted ratings. He pointed at one of the men. “That one I only know by the nickname Skippy. He works…worked for Commander Wright. I don’t recall ever seeing the others. Maybe Commander Wright will recognize them.”

“I will ask her when she gets back.
My point is, without this recording I am unable to distinguish them from navy personnel who were not involved,” Maggot said.

“Neither would I until now
,” Stone shrugged. “I knew Lieutenant Vaarhoo was a jerk. I figured he knew what was going on. I never imagined he would physically attack me.”

“
I can identify these four for sure, but I have no other way to separate who is and who isn’t involved. No one knows how deep or how high this goes into the command structure of the Periodontitis. That is why I need you to go with me to clean this up.”

Stone grinned
, “Aye, aye, sir. Midshipmen are made just to clean up other peoples messes.”

“Thank you for agreeing
, Mister Stone. My plan is to put you in command of the whole ship.”

“What! I am a
midshipman. I can’t run a navy ship,” Stone shouted. Peebee and Jay jumped up and started to hiss.

“Quiet
, you two,” Stone said. He reached out a hand. Jay grabbed it in her hand and sat back down.

Maggot
had gone pale at the sight of the drascos jumping up. “I think I made a mess in my britches.” He relaxed slightly as Peebee dropped back to the deck and fell asleep again.

“Sorry
, Maggot,” Stone said. “They react when I get upset. You know you can’t put a midshipman in command. What about the admiral?”

“
A preliminary review of your data doesn’t eliminate the admiral from any involvement. I couldn’t trust him to get us to Lazzaroni Station if he is culpable in theft and attempted murder.”

“
It is murder. It is not just attempted murder,” Stone said.

“What?” Aunt Ruth said. “You aren’t dead
; neither is Commander Wright.”

“No
,” Stone said. “However, the midshipman I replaced was listed as a suicide. I believed it was suicide right up until I woke up on a pod in the middle of hyperspace.” He looked at Maggot. “Do you want to bet he wasn’t all that suicidal?”

“No. No bet. That is why we have to get the ship and crew intact to
Lazzaroni Station so we can investigate everything. And it is why I have to have an officer in command I can trust to get the Periodontitis to the Lazzaroni System.”

“What about Commander Wright?” Aunt Ruth asked.

“No,” both Stone and Maggot said in unison.

“She isn’t in the command structure. She is a veterinarian and the rank is really just a courtesy rank
,” Stone finished.

“A vet? Really? I wonder if…” She palmed on her comms. “Hey Mel. Get Oliver down to sick bay. Trey’s friend is a veterinarian. Maybe we can get her to look at your dog and see if she can fix why he is throwing up and can’t eat. Brenda, meet me on the bridge. Prep the Ruby to lift off as soon as Jim
Junior gets back with the sled. We will pick up Dad when we lock on the containers we have parked in orbit.” She looked at the two men. “You two stay here and figure your military stuff out. I am going to lay a course to Tamvor Station. You know, I hate that dump, but if we have to go there then we have to go.”

“Okay
, Maggot. I get why we have to get the Ol’ Toothless to the Lazzaroni System. But it is a big ship. Not everybody can be involved. There must be a higher ranking officer we can trust.”

“I am sure there is crew
that is not involved. Who do we choose? Before we investigate how can we be sure that who we choose is not involved with Vaarhoo? And we can’t do a thorough investigation until we get to Lazzaroni. We can do preliminary checks but nothing in-depth.”

“How about choosing a First
Lieutenant Aldamani? I met him and his parents. They were nice people. Aldamani’s father was ex-navy. I can’t believe their son would be a thief and a murderer.”

“Aldamani? Let me check.”
Maggot scanned through the notes on his personal assistant. “Here. This guy?” He showed Stone a quick vid.

“Yes
, that’s him. I met his parents Vedrus and Emiline Aldamani before I signed on board the Periodontitis.”

Maggot
shook his head. “Aldamani’s service record says he is an orphan. His parents died in a flitter crash when he was a small boy. You say their names were Emiline and…Vedrus? Would that be these two?”

He flashed another vid.

Stone nodded, “Maggot, I don’t get it. Those look like police mug shots. These are nice people.”

“They are
mug shots. This is Emiline Yassova. She runs one of the biggest crime syndicates in this region of space. The man is Vedrus Oorta. He is her bodyguard slash hit man slash lover. If they are taking a personal interest in the Periodontitis then this is a bigger operation than I thought it was. These are not nice people.”

“I can see why it would be difficult to find someone on board you can trust. But
surely there is an officer who is on board the Ol’ Toothless because they are just in transit between stations. Can’t you find someone in the navy like that and put them in charge?”

“No
. It has to be someone who is officially listed in their chain of command. That is navy regulations. I have the authority to replace any officer but I can’t bring in someone from the outside to do it.” He glanced at a document on Stone’s p.a. “Are these your original orders from midshipman’s school to the U.E.N.S Periodontitis?”

Stone nodded.

“What are the odds that an admiral makes a personal request for a midshipman who is ranked so low?” Maggot asked.

“Probably pretty
poor odds. I didn’t even think I was going to graduate. Senior Chief Tsosie said I would most likely spend my whole navy career trying to get out of midshipman’s school. You can see in my records I wasn’t doing very well on the academics side of training.”

“You are indeed your
father’s son. He doesn’t do math well either. Here look at this attachment. Why would Senior Chief Tsosie, who has such a low opinion of you, personally recommend you to the admiral?”

“What?”

“Right here; he says that you are exactly what the admiral is looking for. Of course, it could read like typical navy b.s. filler on standard authorization forms, but it also reads like a recommendation.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I think I do. Don’t get mad at me, Mister Stone. I think the Senior Chief and Admiral Shalako deliberately set out to find a midshipman who wasn’t very bright that they could put in charge of third watch warehouse. I think they wanted someone who wouldn’t rock the boat.”

“And I fit the bill perfectly
,” Stone said.

“Not exactly
, Mister Stone. You are a good boat rocker from where I sit.”

“Okay.
Thanks I think. Since it doesn’t sound like you are giving me any choice in the matter of command I will try to do this. How do I get anyone to listen to me? I am just a midshipman?”

“I will hand them an
EMIS writ. That allows me to put you in charge. Honest officers will follow you as the writ has the force of the Emperor’s backing. The others may have to be coerced. How friendly are you really with this Lieutenant Vedrian?”

“I don’t know what you mean
, signore. I am not about to kiss and tell.”