Metal Boxes (37 page)

The
junior ensign in charge shouted. “Hold. You!” he pointed at Allie. “Release Admiral Shalako. Stand down and submit to arrest.”

Allie continued to hold
Admiral Shalako by the upper arm. She looked at the junior ensign as if inspecting an unusual insect.

Hammer
mill moved quickly to the left while Numos and Obregon moved to the right.

“Everyone just calm down, please
,” Stone said.

The
junior ensign shouted, “Shut up, Midshipman. You can speak when you are spoken to. Sorry Admiral, we will have you free in a moment. The shuttle steward told us you were probably taken captive by Hyrocanian agents. Is that them?” He pointed his gun barrel at Jay.

Hammermill laughed
, “Moron! Didn’t you even look at pictures of Hyrocanians in your own intelligence department? These are drascos. Every child north of the Shamark Drift knows what drascos look like. You want your admiral free? Try to take him. You couldn’t take him from me even if there weren’t a couple of hundred marines behind you.”

The
junior ensign nervously looked behind him.

Major
Numos said, “Ensign, if anyone fires their weapon in this closed hanger a lot of us are going to get hurt. We are all on the same team here-”

“Attack, you fool!” Shalako shouted.

Hammermill tossed his rifle over his shoulder to Allie and charged the security detail. He bent and sent a flying kick at the junior ensign’s rifle. It shot out of the man’s hands.

Allie caught Hammer
mill’s rifle deftly and slung it over her shoulder. She did not release her grip on the admiral. She shifted her rifle, resting the muzzle lightly against Shalako’s chin.

The security
detail rushed forward.

“O
oyaah!” Hammermill shouted. He took down the junior ensign with a hip toss, throwing him into two other navy ratings. He grabbed two more men and dropped them to the deck. A third man swung the butt of his rifle at Hammermill’s head.

Hammer
mill grabbed the rifle butt as it swished past his skull. In one smooth motion, he locked a grip on the butt, twisted, tossed the rifle over his shoulder and punched the man in the nose.

The man crumpled to the deck.

Major Numos caught the thrown rifle, spilled the ammunition to the deck and shouldered the weapon.

Two more security men jumped on Hammer
mill’s back. Suddenly it was a melee with security forces trying to get past Hammermill and marines pushing through to get to Hammermill’s side.

Stone
grunted and without thinking, rushed forward. He grabbed a man by the collar and yanked him away from Hammermill. The man came up swinging. Stone ducked the punch. He swung a fist into the man’s gut. He heard a swish, a clang of steel and was knocked to the deck as Peebee barreled past him into the riot.

Stone heard a bellow and a screech. He saw a
navy man swing a rifle at a marine in combat armor. Even faster than the marine could react with his combat enhanced neural net, Jay’s tail flashed forward. It crashed through the rifle splintering the unsplinterable stock. The spiked tail crashed sideways into the man, sending him flying across the hanger deck.

Peebee grab
bed two men with her bare hands and tossed them away like rag dolls. She did not seem to care that one was navy and one was marine. She barreled into a knot of swinging fists, plowing the combatants apart.

Stone tried to call Jay and Peebee back, but a fist came out of nowhere and slammed against the side of his head. The next thing he
knew, he was sitting on the deck. Jay and Peebee were standing over him, not allowing anyone to get close to him. They were both in their fighting stances with tails quivering, the chrome flashing in the overhead lights. He levered himself to his feet and patted each of the drascos on the head.

He
did not know how long he had been sitting on the deck, but the fight seemed to be over. Hammermill had the junior ensign in a headlock, holding him off the deck with his feet dangling. Marines held security personnel all over the deck. One marine was holding her arm, obviously broken. A few navy personnel were lying on the deck getting first aid from their marine counterparts.

Hatches clanged shut all around the hanger deck. The main hatch door shot open and
two naval security officers stepped into the hanger. One man stood by the door, ready to slam it shut. The second one, a light commander, walked calmly across the hanger to the shuttle. His uniform had a security badge on his shoulder, ringed in red, showing he was in charge of the ship’s security forces component. He walked up to the small knot of officers. He nodded at Numos and Obregon. He started at the sight of Vedrian still holding a rifle against the admiral’s chin.

The man cleared his throat. “
Admiral? We were told you were being held by Hyrocanian agents?”

Stone stepped forward. He wobbled a bit, but put a steadying hand on Peebee
.

“Commander, I am
Midshipman Stone. You have received a broadcast of an Emperor’s Writ?”

“Yes, I have received the writ, Mister Stone. I know who you are. I was in charge of investigating your accidental death.”

“Sir, as you can see. I am not dead, nor was in an accident. Also, do you see any Hyrocanians here?”

The
ensign squeaked out around Hammermill’s headlock. “They are holding Admiral Shalako hostage. Why are you just talking to them? Gas the whole lot and we can sort it out later.”

“
Ensign,” the commander said. “I would be inclined to do just that. Consider for a moment that we know for a fact Mister Stone is dead and so is Full Commander Danielle Wright, yet she is standing over there as alive as anyone has ever seen her.” He pointed at Vedrian and Hammermill. “That marine and that one were in lock up on Tamvor Station. I put them there myself. Yet, here they are. I do not see any Hyrocanians or any of their known agents. I will admit I don’t recognize those creatures with Mister Stone, but they are not Hyrocanians. So I am more inclined to talk first.”

Stone said, “Thank you, Commander. I can-”

The commander held up his hand interrupting him. “Why am I talking to a midshipman? Who is the highest rank here?”

Stone shrugged
, “I am, Commander. Please take a quick moment and read through the Emperor’s Writ.”

“All right
,” the commander said. “Everybody just stay calm. And you, Hammermill, put my junior ensign down. I promise he will behave himself.”

He tapped open his
p.a. “Mister Stone, this is several hundred thousand bits of legalese. It will take me a week to work through this.”

Stone noticed Maggot had changed back to civilian clothes already as he stepped up to the
commander.

“I am Empirical Military Investigative
Service Agent Ivan Storovitch. This is the relevant part of the writ for you.” He pointed at the screen, scanned down and pointed at another place.

The
commander nodded, “I have never seen one of these writs in real life, but I have seen dozens of examples in training. This seems clear to me.” He turned to Stone. “What are your orders, Captain Stone?”

“Thank you, Commander
,” Stone said. “First, please get some medical assistance here for the men that may need help. Second, please clear a way for me and my staff to get to the bridge. Third, please place yourself and your staff at the disposal of Major Numos in his efforts to secure this vessel.”

“
Aye, aye, sir.”

Everyone crowded around Stone.

Wright grabbed Stone by the hair, twisting his head around and looked at his temple.

“Ow! What are you doing?” Stone grunted.

“You took quite a shot to the face there, Stone. I just wanted to make sure you are okay. Did you lose consciousness?”

“What?”

“Did you pass out?”

Stone shrugged
, “I don’t think so. I got dizzy for a bit, but I am okay.

“
Maybe you are okay and maybe you are not. See a doctor as soon as you can, okay?” Wright said.

“You’re a doctor
,” Stone smiled.

“You know what I mean. You aren’t a goat, you know
,” Wright said.

Allie
dragged Shalako over. “I will make sure a doctor gets to him,” she said.

Maggot pointed at the hatch. “You need to get to the bridge, Stone. The
marines can lock this ship down, but you need to get us back to Lazzaroni Station, the faster the better.”

“No. You need to see a doctor first
,” Wright said.

Hammer
mill asked, “Hey! What are we going to do with all these security forces who attacked us? Have ‘em locked up, Mister Stone!?”

Stone shook his head
and winced at the pain. “Hold on people. Major Numos, can you and the Commander clean up this…misunderstanding?”

The men looked at each other and shrugged.

“Yes, sir,” Numos said. “Damages due to inter-service training exercise.”

“Sounds good to me
,” the commander grinned.

“Okay, everybody else walk. We are going to the bridge.”
Stone turned and stumbled slightly. He braced himself against Jay, but lost a layer of skin on his forearm. “Crap! Sorry Jay, that wasn’t your fault.” Suddenly Allie was standing next to him bracing him up.

Stone had to admit she was a lot more comfortable to lean against tha
n Jay or Peebee. He walked stiffly across the hanger. He wanted to look back to see if anyone was following, but he was afraid that if they were not following he would not know how to make them.

He looked up at Allie. “I got my rear end kicked back there didn’t I?”

“Yep, you got your clock cleaned like a trooper,” Allie smiled. “Nice try, though.”

“You’re not disappointed in me?”

“Why? I don’t like you because you are a fighter. If that was my criteria I would be all over Hellboy instead of panting after a scrawny midshipman like you.”

He parted a sea of
enlisted security forces in the corridor beyond. When the crowd saw Jay and Peebee behind him, they parted farther. Spotting a bank of elevators at the end of the corridor, he checked his p.a. and selected an elevator to take him to the bridge level. He had his p.a. call for the elevator before he got there. It opened just as he arrived and they stepped in without breaking stride.

He turned around and was please
d to see quite a group had followed along with him. He squeezed into the back to make room for a dozen armored marines with Major Numos, plus everyone from his party on the shuttle.

Hammer
mill had Shalako by an arm. “Excuse me, Captain Stone. What do you want me to do with this?”

“I w
ant to keep Admiral Shalako with me. I had hoped he would help to avoid incidents like what happened in the hanger bay, but I guess we will need to find someplace to put him. And Hammer, please try not to twist that arm out of the socket, okay?”

“Oops
. Sorry, Admiral.” There was no hint of apology in Hammermill’s voice.

Stone tapped his personal assistant’s comm
unications device. “Bridge, this is Captain Stone. Do you know who I am?”

The voice came back, “Yes
, Mister Stone.” There were voices arguing in the background, but the voice did not say any more.

“Good
,” Stone said. “Please stop the red alert, but keep everyone at their stations.” With a nod to Wright, he added, “And ask a doctor to meet me on the bridge.”

“I would like to be dismissed to go to farms and check on my animals
,” Wright asked.

“No
,” Stone said. “Not until we get a report from Major Numos that the four men who attacked us have been arrested and detained or he is able to provide a sufficient security detail to protect you.”

“But
you have to let me go, I am not doing any good here,” Wright said.

Stone turned to Numos, “
Major, I thought you had things to do in the hanger and yet you left it?”

“Yes sir. Colonel Obregon can handle things there.
Marines are used to being at the pointy end of a sharp stick. In your case, it is more like the curvy part of a spoon as you stir things up. I thought I should be near you for now. Should I have done different?”

Stone shrugged. “That is your call,
Major. I was just asking out of curiosity and so I will know next time. Dad always says that the best way to learn is to ask questions. Of course, Grandpa says that experience is the best teacher. That kind of sums up my family in a nutshell. Still, I am not qualified to question your duties.”

Shalako snorted, “But you think you are qualified to run a spacecraft? Ha!”

Stone ignored him. “Have you heard from Heller?” he asked Numos.

“He has detained three of the four men
,” Numos answered. “He grabbed them at their stations. The fourth man wasn’t at his general quarters station.”