Mutiny (12 page)

"Have it your way." He studied her as he ate his soya steak.
Is this hero worship, or are you one of the three ladies Sharon warned me about? I can't ask you, of course, but I think I'll keep the table, and a little distance, between us until I know for sure.

"I've never been to the Phoenix Cluster before," she said. "I'm really looking forward to it."

"You are?"

She nodded. "I hope we get some shore leave. They say that there's a wonderful theater district on New Jamestown."

"If the cluster's as dull as it's supposed to be, I can't see any reason why we shouldn't get some leave."

"We had some fine theater back on Far London," she continued wistfully.

"Is that where you come from?" asked Cole.

"Yes."

"I hear it's got quite an art museum."

She spent the next half hour extolling the virtues of New London, and then she had to go back on duty. He finished his coffee, tossed his cup and tray in the atomizer, and went down to check on the gunnery department.

Forrice was instructing a team of four—two humans, a Polonoi, and a Mollutei—on the duties involved, and they seemed to be assimilating it. Satisfied, he left and returned to the bridge.

"I hope you had a nice meal, sir," said Briggs.

"I hesitate to call soya products 'nice.' Edible is about the best they can aspire to."

"They say there are some excellent restaurants on Dalmation II," offered Briggs.

"That's not all that's on Dalmation II from what I hear," said Cole.

A guilty smile spread across the young lieutenant's face. "Well, you have to eat, too, sir."

"Good for you," said Cole. "Most healthy young men and women tend to forget that."

"I never said you had to eat first, sir," said Briggs, still smiling.

"Well, it's nice to know you have your priorities straight, Lieutenant."

There was a very mild
bump!
as the ship emerged from its worm-hole.

"We have entered the Phoenix Cluster," announced Wxakgini.

"Good," said Cole. "Ensign Jacillios, make contact with the
Bonaparte
and the
Maracaibo
and set up the rendezvous."

The Molarian looked up a moment later. "Something's wrong, sir. I can't raise them."

"It probably just means we beat them here," said Cole.

"No, sir," she said. "I plotted all three of our courses, and we were going to be the last to arrive by almost two hours."

Cole frowned. "Try again."

Jacillios sent out a signal. "No response, sir."

"Ensign, who's the best sensor expert on the ship?"

Before she could answer, Briggs spoke up. "I am, sir."

"What are your qualifications?"

"Qualifications, sir?"

"If I'm going to put every life on the ship in your hands, I want to know that I'm making the right decision."

Briggs just stared at him. "Actually, sir . . ." he began.

"Don't apologize," said Cole. "There's nothing wrong with self-confidence. I just asked the wrong person."

"I don't know the answer, sir," said Jacillios.

"But there's someone on the bridge who does," said Cole. "Someone who's more intimately connected with the ship than anyone else, and more likely to know who will function best to help keep it safe." He walked over to the pilot. "I need your advice, Wxakgini. Who's the best sensor expert aboard the
Teddy R?"

"Lieutenant Mboya, sir," replied the pilot.

"Thank you." He turned back to Briggs. "Summon her to the bridge, Mr. Briggs."

"She's been rotated to white shift," he said. "She's probably asleep by now."

"Then wake her up."

Christine Mboya arrived a few minutes later, and Cole briefly outlined the situation to her. "Now get on those sensors and see what you can find," he concluded.

She spent about ten minutes scanning, checking, and rechecking. Finally she looked up.

"I can't prove that it was the
Bonaparte"
she said, "but there's a hell of a lot of debris, some small, some big, scattered about twenty light-years from here—just the kind a ship might leave after it was torpedoed by pulse cannons."

"What about the
Maracaibo?
"No trace of it."

"Why do you think this is the debris of one ship rather than the other?"

"Titanium traces," she responded. "The
Maracaibo'
s a newer ship. We stopped using titanium alloys about five years after they built the
Bonaparte."

"There aren't supposed to be any enemy ships in the cluster," said Cole. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know," said Christine. Suddenly she tensed. "But it's about to happen again."

"What is it?"

She pointed to a tiny blip on her screen. "A Teroni dreadnought."

"I don't suppose we can match weaponry or defenses with it?" said Cole.

"Not a chance," she replied grimly.

"Pilot, get us the hell out of here!" ordered Cole as the enemy ship continued approaching. The
Teddy R
turned and began taking evasive action, and he turned to Christine Mboya. "What kind of range does their weaponry have?"

"I have no idea what they're carrying, sir," she said. "Just that whatever it is, it was powerful enough to destroy the
Bonaparte,
and possibly the
Maracaibo,
too."

"I don't suppose there are any other Republic ships stationed here?"

"No, sir," said Briggs. "The other three were rotated out two days ago."

"I could try sending an SOS, sir," suggested Jacillios.

"Absolutely not!" said Cole firmly. "If they smell blood, they're going to follow us until they catch us. Patch me through to Four Eyes."

"You mean Commander Forrice, sir?"

"Just do it."

Forrice's image appeared seconds later. "Everyone looks grim," he said, glancing around the bridge. "What's the matter?"

"The
Bonaparte
and the
Maracaibo
were destroyed," said Cole, "and the ship that got them is coming right at us. I want you to stay where you are, and keep your crew there, too. We'll send food to you, and I'll order the medic to stop by in a few hours and give each of you something to keep alert."

"I've spotted it on the screen," said Forrice. "The computer says it's too far away. There's no sense shooting until it gets closer."

"I don't want you shooting at all unless we're disabled," said Cole.

"We can't match firepower with it. Before we get close enough to do it any damage, it'll blow us apart."

"Understood. You'd better let me get back to checking the weapons and making sure they're all activated."

"Right," said Cole, breaking the connection. "How are we doing, Pilot?"

"I have a name," said Wxakgini.

"I know—but by the time I learn to pronounce it the war will be over. Are they following us?"

"They're tracking us," answered Wxakgini, "but they don't seem to be making an effort to close with us."

"All right. Thanks." He turned back to Jacillios. "Are they sending anything at all-—warnings, orders, queries, anything?"

"No, sir."

"And they're not closing, they're just tracking us," he said, frowning. "Yet they destroyed the other two ships."

"We
assume
they did," said Christine Mboya. "We don't
know
it."

"The only way to know it is to ask them," said Cole. "I'll settle for assuming."

"But it doesn't make any sense, sir," continued Briggs. "Why would they destroy two ships and then let us escape? Surely they know that once we report it, the Navy will send massive reinforcements."

"Good question," said Cole. "I can think of three reasons, but there might be more."

Briggs frowned. "The only one I can come up with is that they're on their way out of the cluster and they don't care if reinforcements show up tomorrow."

"That doesn't make sense, Lieutenant," said Cole. "We're at war. They destroyed two of our ships. They have a chance to destroy the
Teddy R.
Why let us live, just because they're leaving the cluster?"

"I'm sorry, sir."

"For being wrong?" said Cole. "There's no need to apologize for that."

"No, for speaking before I'd thought. I'll be honest, sir: I was trying to impress you."

"You don't have to apologize for honesty, either, Mr. Briggs," said Cole. "Take a minute, think it through, and try to see what I see." He walked over to the Molarian. "I want to talk to the medic. No, strike that. Patch me through to Security."

The image of a tall, angular being from Pelleanor appeared. It was a dark gray in color, with piercing orange eyes and cheekbones that protruded until they looked like wings. It might have had a gender, but no one except another Pelleanor would ever be able to tell.

"Where's Sharon Blacksmith?" asked Cole.

"Asleep," answered the Pelleanor. "She worked part of red shift and all of white."

"We haven't met," said Cole. "Do you know who I am?"

"Of course," said the plain mechanical tones of the Pelleanor's T-pack. "I have monitored you many times since you came aboard."

"Fine. I want you to designate as large a security crew as you think necessary, and either take the three prisoners to the infirmary or take the doctor to the brig. If he can clean the junk of out any of their systems and get them functioning efficiently within the next two hours, have him do it."

"And if not?"

"Then keep the prisoners in the brig, and have the doctor do whatever's necessary to keep their replacements alert."

"It will be done," said the Pelleanor, breaking the connection.

"Pilot, are they still just tracking us?" asked Cole.

"I've put some ground between us and them," answered Wxakgini, "but I don't know if it was my maneuvering or if they merely allowed me to do so."

"Still no communication, Ensign?"

"None, sir," said Jacillios.

"That figures," said Cole.

"It does, sir?"

He nodded.

"Sir?" said Briggs.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I've been thinking about the three reasons for their behavior that you alluded to," said the young officer.

"And?"

"One possibility is that the
Bonaparte
or the
Maracaibo
disabled them. Not totally, or they couldn't track us, but enough so that they don't want to engage in a pitched battle, even though they are clearly the bigger, more powerful ship."

"That's one, Mr. Briggs. Got any others?"

"They know the Republic has sent three ships to the Phoenix Cluster. They may be afraid that more are on the way, too many for them to cope with. We could be in the unlikely position of blocking their way out of the cluster."

"We could be," said Cole, though his expression said he didn't believe it for a second.

"For the life of me, sir, I can't think of any other reasons."

"It could be a bluff, for reasons we know nothing about. They could be losing power in their weapons systems; Lord knows each side puts enough saboteurs into the other side's military. Some of their top personnel could be on one of the planets. Or this whole cluster could be a trap, and they might
want
us to escape and bring back a major punishment party that they're positioned to destroy. Or it could be something as unlikely as their religion saying that you can't destroy more than two ships on this day of the week. The problem, of course, is that we have to figure out which is the real reason, and we have to be right the first time."

"How can we tell?" asked Jacillios.

"We need a little more input," said Cole. "I'm sure we'll get it. In the meantime, I think we'd better alert the Captain."

"You didn't alert him when you went to Rapunzel," noted Briggs.

"I took a shuttlecraft with two volunteers, expressly to keep the
Teddy R
and the crew out of danger," answered Cole. "This time the ship's in danger no matter what we do, and that calls for a command decision." He paused. "Ensign Jacillios, you might as well summon the First Officer, too."

"Shall I signal a red alert, sir?" asked the Molarian.

"Hell, no," said Cole. "What if the attack comes in eleven hours, or fifteen, or nineteen? It'd be nice if
someone
was awake and alert. If anyone's sleeping, let 'em sleep. The only one I need to speak to is the Captain."

"Commander!" said Wxakgini urgently.

"What is it?" asked Cole.

"They've turned back."

"Confirmed," chimed in Briggs, staring at his computer. "They've broken off the chase."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Cole. "They've got us on the run. Why would they stop?" He frowned, trying to consider all the possibilities. After a moment he approached Wxakgini. "Pilot, have we charted all the wormholes in the cluster?"

"Just the five major ones, sir," answered Wxakgini.

"Pretend, for the sake of argument, that the Teroni ship is in the exact center of the cluster, rather than out here near the perimeter. Can one of the wormholes take us between 120 and 240 degrees around them?"

"Let me check. It is as much a matter of feel as calculation, at least when I'm tied in to the navigational computer." A pause. "Yes, we can enter a wormhole less than one light-year from here and come out 173 degrees around the Teroni ship."

"Do it."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

"But shouldn't we wait for the Captain?" asked Wxakgini. "He'll be on the bridge shortly."

"I'm in charge until he gets here," said Cole. "I gave you an order."

The Bdxeni made no reply, but an instant later the ship sheared off its path, and shortly thereafter entered the wormhole. Most of the time the crew wasn't even aware of the wormholes they traversed, but once in a while they were physically affected by some element of the worm-hole. This was one of those times. A wave of dizziness swept over Cole, and he reached out to steady himself—but his vision started playing tricks on him, and instead of making contact with a bulkhead, he found himself falling to the floor. He saw no reason to get up until they emerged from the wormhole, so he just lay there, keeping his eyes shut and trying to ignore the pain from his bruises.

The ship was back in normal space in less than a minute, and Cole climbed painfully to his feet.

"We have arrived," announced Wxakgini. "If finding ourselves midway between two unnamed class-M stars can be considered an arrival."

"I'm glad the hyperspacial wormholes don't affect
your
race," said Cole.

"They do," replied Wxakgini. "But when I am tied in to the ship's computer, my perceptions are filtered through its logical synapses. Had I been in your position, I would have been just as disoriented as you are."

"For future reference it's comforting to know that you can't get sick or dizzy unless the computer does," said Cole. "Has the Teroni ship spotted us?"

"Not yet."

"Ensign, is the Captain on his way to the bridge?"

"If he wasn't before, I'm sure he'll be now," replied Jacillios.

"Commander?" said Wxakgini.

"Yes?"

"The Teroni ship is approaching us."

"At top speed?"

"No."

"Back off."

"I don't understand," said Wxakgini.

"Move toward the core of the cluster. Don't make any attempt to break out of it."

"Even if they start firing?"

"Ask me then," said Cole, as Fujiama and Podok arrived on the bridge just seconds apart.

"What's going on, Mr. Cole?" demanded Fujiama, staring at one of the viewscreens.

"It would appear that a Teroni ship destroyed the
Bonaparte
and the
Maracaibo,
sir," said Cole. "That same ship is now leisurely pursuing us."

"Leisurely?" repeated Fujiama.

"Yes, sir."

"Explain."

"It was waiting for us near the debris of at least the
Bonaparte,"
explained Cole. "We stopped beyond the outside range of its weaponry. Once it spotted us it began approaching us, and since we couldn't match firepower with it, I ordered the pilot to retreat."

"Through the wormhole?" asked Fujiama.

"No, sir," said Cole. "The Teroni ship pursued us for perhaps two light-years and then broke off the chase."

Fujiama frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. We're going to escape, and report what happened, and by tomorrow Admiral Pilcerova will have dispatched a dozen warships to the cluster."

"Admiral Pilcerova is dead, sir," said Jacillios.

"All right—Admiral Rupert, then," said Fujiama irritably. "The point is, if they let us go, they can expect major reprisals."

"If you know it, they know it, too, sir," said Cole.

"What are you getting at, Mr. Cole?" He glanced at another screen. "And why are we surrounded by stars? Why aren't we in deep space?"

"I ordered the pilot to circle behind around the Teroni ship, though 'behind' probably isn't the right word," replied Cole.
"That
was the reason we went through the wormhole. One moment, sir." He turned to Wxakgini. "Have they increased their speed?"

"No, sir," said the pilot.

Cole allowed himself the luxury of a small smile. "I didn't think they would."

"Mr. Cole," said Podok, "your first responsibility is the safety of the
Theodore Roosevelt.
You had the opportunity to escape from the cluster and call for reinforcements, and you failed to do so. This constitutes a clear breach of professional conduct."

"The Teroni ship isn't going to be here tomorrow," said Cole. "The reinforcements would arrive too late, and we'd have taken ships away from where they're needed."

"That's a very glib answer to a charge of malfeasance, which I shall enter in my report on the next white shift."

"Why didn't you expect them to come after us full speed and weapons firing, Mr. Cole?" asked Fujiama.

"Sir!" said Podok sharply. "This man has once again disobeyed standing orders. We are in a hostile military situation. Listening to him just wastes valuable time."