Mission Origin View (Final Days Trilogy) (8 page)

“
Hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time, Captain.” Admiral Frank said.

“
No, Admiral. As a matter of fact, I was going to contact you later,” she said.

“
Great. You go ahead and let me know what I can do for you first, and then we’ll discuss why I’ve called,” Admiral Frank said.

“
It’s really nothing important, Admiral,” she said. “I was reviewing the crew’s personnel files and noted that all of my crew, with the exception of
Petty Officer Third Class Joseph Sipes, have either specialized skills or above-average intelligence. Why was Sipes assigned this mission?”

“
Simple, Captain. Our first choice for the position couldn’t report in time for the mission’s planned departure. We needed a hull specialist with
plastanium
experience, and Sipes was the closest available crewman. He might not be the best and surely not the brightest, but I’m sure you noted during your review of his records that he is dedicated to his work.” Admiral Frank paused for a second and continued. “Does that answer your question, Captain?”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Is there anything else, Captain?”

“
No, sir.”

“
Good. The reason I called you on an ultra-secure channel is to set up a private, secure communications system between you and I during the mission. We’ll be using QMAC for communications when the
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leaves Phobos, and we won’t be able to communicate privately. There may be, on occasion, some information I want only you to know, and there may be something you only want me to know. We’ll use encryption keys to transfer and receive encrypted messages between our ATCCS—or should I say Anna?—systems when the QMAC is being used. We’ll have our Anna piggyback our messages through the QMAC using the QMAC ship-to-Earth maintenance and status communications channel. Any questions?” Admiral Frank asked.

“
Sir, is there something going on that leads you to believe that we’ll need this secure communication channel?” Mary asked.

“
Not really, Captain. It’s just that neither of us has ever had a mission like this.” The admiral paused and leaned into his video camera. “Frankly, as I mentioned, we might want to share need-to-know information that we may not want the scientists on the
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or here at Mount Mitchell to know.”

“
Very good, sir,” Mary said, though she didn’t quite buy his explanation and decided to let it go for now.

“
All right. I’m transmitting the encryption keys now. Have your Anna receive it and verify it with my Anna,” Admiral Frank said as he reached for and selected a holographic switch on his display.

“
Anna, receive the encryption keys being transmitted on this channel and verify authentication with Admiral Frank’s Anna,” Mary requested.

“
Yes, sir,” Anna said. A second later Anna added, “Received the encryption keys and have authenticated with Admiral Frank’s Anna. It is operational.”

“
I received and authenticated the encryption keys, sir,” Mary told Admiral Frank.

“
Excellent, Captain. That’s all I have for you now. Let me know if you need anything.”

“
Thank you, sir,” Mary said, and the communication was terminated.

***

Admiral Frank leaned back in his chair after the communication link was terminated. Deep in thought, he reassured himself that the secure communication channel was needed, and he would use it when he thought the time was right.

SRS
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1530
—February 15, 2372

The crew, scientists, and
marines began their training schedule by familiarizing themselves with the ship. In groups, their Anna led them to every compartment aboard and explained its function. Duty stations were noted during normal work and during emergency situations.

After the ship orientation training, the enlisted
marines and sailors headed back to their designated areas of the ship. The marines and sailors met each other in the ship’s main corridor that extended from the bow of the ship to the stern.

Joseph was trailing behind
a group of sailors, looking at the corridor walls and ceiling, and noting how the
plastanium
hull was engineered. He recalled what he had been taught about repairing such material. As he looked and walked, he strayed into the middle of the corridor and didn’t see the marines coming.

Gunny Xia was leading the
marine team and couldn’t avoid Joseph when he stepped in front of him. The big man hit Xia and knocked Xia to the deck.

“
Sorry, Gunny!” Joseph exclaimed as he reached down to help Xia up. “It was my fault…I, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Xia pushed the big man
’s hand away and stood.

“
You’d better start watching where you’re going, squid!” Xia yelled as spittle flew from his mouth. “You ever run into me again, or even touch me, and I’ll make you wish you’d never set foot aboard this ship.”

Xia star
ted to walk away, stopped, and turned. “How could a dumb, useless, backwoods ancestor of slaves ever be assigned to a mission like this anyway?”

Joseph
’s jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. He looked at Xia and said, “Like I said, Gunny, I’m sorry.”

“
Just stay out of my way!” Xia yelled back and stormed off with the rest of the enlisted marines following him. The marines laughed at Joseph as they walked away, and even some chuckles from the sailors could be heard as they continued on their way.

Joseph
waited a few seconds before he followed as tears welled up in his eyes. He didn’t want anyone to see and wished he had a friend aboard he could talk to.

***

The enlisted marines arrived at their quarters a few minutes later, and Xia was still mad. He told his men they were going to have an inspection in an hour and they’d better be squared away. A second later Xia left and stormed down the corridor.

“
What’s wrong with him?” Gault asked the other marines.

“
He’s always had a short fuse,” Sergeant Mucha started to explain. “Plus he’s prejudiced against just about anyone…be it race, nationality, planet, or what they eat! He’s not the most pleasant person to be around, but when you’re in a firefight, you’ll be glad he’s there. He’ll cool down after the inspection, so let’s make sure we’re squared away before he gets back.”

“
I’m loving this mission more by the minute!” Gault said as he finished a hospital corner on his bunk.

Sergeant Manelly finished his preparation for the inspection and walked into the corridor while the other
marines were still busy. He hurriedly typed a message to Gideon on his Anna forearm interface display.

Lieutenant, there’s been an incident with Gunny Xia that I think you should know about. Contact me when you’re available to talk.

Manelly sent the message, and a second later he saw Xia coming down the corridor.

“
Are they ready for inspection?” Xia asked Manelly in a now- calmer voice as he neared the quarters.

“
I hope so, Gunny,” Manelly said and followed Xia inside.

Marine Armory, SRS
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1635
—February 15, 2372

“
Gideon, I have a message for you from Sergeant Manelly,” Anna said.

Gideon was taking inventory in the
marine armory, making sure that everything on his manifest was indeed accounted for.

“
Read it to me, Anna,” Gideon said as he continued counting the number of assault weapon power packs. Anna read the message, and without stopping his work, he told Anna to send Manelly a reply to come to the armory as soon as possible.

A half hour later Manelly arrived at the armory and told Gideon what had happened between Xia and Sipes.

“Thanks for the heads-up, Sergeant; I’ll take it from here,” Gideon said.

“
Yes, sir,” Manelly said and turned to leave.

“
By the way, we never had this discussion,” Gideon added.

Manelly stopped, turned to Gideon
, and said with a smile, “What discussion, sir?”

Gideon stopped his inventory and walked toward Captain Neubauer
’s office in the corner of the armory, thinking as he walked that he should’ve already talked to the captain about Xia.

Gideon rapped on the
captain’s door and heard, “Enter!”

Gideon walked in and stood at attention.

“Permission to speak to you about a matter concerning Gunny Xia,” Gideon said, still standing at attention.

Captain Neubauer stopped what he was doing, leaned back in his chair, and looked at Gideon.

“
At ease, and for goodness’ sake, Gideon, when we’re alone we can suspend marine protocol,” Neubauer said, and then he added, “What did Gunny Xia do this time?”

T
he captain’s response surprised Gideon. It was as if he already knew Xia was in some kind of trouble.

“
I overheard a sailor taking about an incident with Gunny Xia. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t bring something like this to your attention, but I’ve noted several things in Gunny Xia’s records that concern me.”

With a sigh
Captain Neubauer said, “Very well, fill me in.”

Gideon told the
captain about what had happened, and when he finished, Captain Neubauer didn’t look surprised.

“
I’ll take care of it, Gideon. I’ll order Gunny Xia to stay away from Sipes and stay out of trouble.”

“
Can I ask you a question—off the record, Rezin?”

“
Shoot.”

“
Why was Gunny Xia assigned this mission? Looking at his record, I think he’s a liability.”

“
He wasn’t assigned to the mission,” Captain Neubauer said, sighed again, and then continued. “I requested him. I had to go all the way up to the marine commandant to get it approved.”

“
Why’d you want him so bad?” Gideon asked, confused.

“
There’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, Gideon: any mission that you’re assigned to that sounds like a cakewalk…well, it usually leads to some nasty fighting. I agree with you. Gunny Xia is a loose cannon, and you have to keep your eye on him, but if we do run into trouble, he’s the best fighting marine I’ve ever seen.”

“
Understood,” Gideon said.

Captain’s Quarters
,
SRS
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1900
—February 15, 2372

“
Have a seat, Petty Officer,” Mary told Joseph after he reported to her.

“
Yes ma’am,” he said as he sat down.

“
Petty Officer, please address me as ‘Captain’ or ‘sir,’” Mary said with a smile.

“
Yes, Captain. My great-grandma always scolded me when I didn’t address a lady properly. I’d better just address you as Captain because I’ll always forget to say ‘sir’…if that’s okay?” Joseph said.

“
Very well, Petty Officer,” Mary said as she smiled again.

“
Tell me about your family,” Mary said.

Joseph told his story about the death of his family,
about how his great-grandmother had raised him, and about his enlistment after her death.

“
Your great-grandmother sounds like she was a wonderful person,” Mary said.

“
She was, Captain. She taught me to work hard and for me to treat everybody like I’d want them to treat me,” Joseph said, then smiled. “She was pretty hard on me sometimes too. She had rules in her house, and if I broke one, she’d punish me. Like if I was late coming home after school and didn’t call her and let her know, she’d make me do extra homework or read to her from her favorite book. I wish she was still here. I’d give anything to be able to read to her again.”

Mary sat in her chair
, listening to how open and honest Joseph was. It was a pleasant change from her normal interaction with other people. She immediately knew she could depend on him, and he’d do whatever she ordered him to do.

“
Do you like the navy?” Mary asked, trying to change the subject.

“
Yes, Captain, I do. I love to work, and I love going out of the ship and working on the hull.”

“
Why is that, Petty Officer?” Mary asked because no sailor liked to go outside a ship into space unless he or she had to. Not only was the task dangerous; it usually made one sick.