Reavers (Book 3) (50 page)

Cassandra balled a fist as Angela pulled him behind her.

“Looks like you have some . . . dignified friends, Sanderson,” Nobue said.  “I can see now where you get your sense of decorum.”

“He’s always been that way,” Humphrey mumbled.  “The man doesn’t even sweat in the jungle, if you can believe that.”

“I wish we were all that lucky,” Rhea said as she locked her eyes on Humphrey.

“For the last time, it wasn’t sweat.  They dropped ice-cold water on us!  Of course my uniform got wet.”

“Enough,” Nobue said in an uninterested voice.  “Why don’t you tell me about Masuyo?  I mean what
really
happened.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sanderson said politely.

“I had an investigation unit assigned to the affair,” Nobue said smugly.  “You left out some . . . interesting details.”

“You mean like the cover-up I had done?” Cain asked plainly.  “I’ll tell you, investigation units don’t bribe as cheaply as they used to.”

“You admit it?” Nobue asked in disbelief.  “
You
were responsible for all that?”

“Wait,” Cain said with a wide grin.  “
That’s
why you dragged us all here?  I borrow a few old squad mates and cover my tracks - and you drag us out here?”

Nobue stared at him in complete surprise.  He had been sure Sanderson was responsible for the plot.

“In any case, you have been very useful,” Brent said with a warm smile.

Nobue stared at him and tilted his head to the side.  Zia clung to Frank a little tighter.

“You’ve saved me a great deal of time,” the playful trooper said with a nod.  “It would have taken me months to track down who attacked my home.  More than that, you’ve given me a base of operations to mount an assault, and a force of highly trained troopers to use.  And I’m sure I’ll be able to get the Navy on my side.  Isn’t that right, Admiral?”

Nobue rose from his desk as Admiral Shen entered the large office.  Behind Shen were two-dozen heavily armed MI troopers.

“What’s going on here?” Nobue asked.

“Just clearing the air, and as Cain would say . . . actually, why don’t you just say it?” Brent asked.

“There has been a change in the narrative,” he said enthusiastically.  “MI is under new management for now.”

“You can’t be serious!”  Nobue shouted.  “Troopers, escort these fools to the holding cells.”

The MI troopers lifted their rifles, but pointed them at Gazsi and Nobue.

“Shen?” Jack asked curiously.

“Don’t look at me; this show is all the boy’s doing.”  Shen shrugged as he joined Jack.  “I have to admit I had a feeling I’d be running into him again someday.  Was too convenient for such a powerful young man to simply die.  Although, I never expected it to be like this.”

“I think it’s time for explanations,” Brent said with a small smile.  “About a quarter of this ship had seen Cain’s little 3P.”

“Nothing little about it!” Cain protested.  “It’s my first work
and
magnum opus rolled into one.”

“Be quiet and let him go on,” Erin said, clearly uninterested in Cain’s pride.

“Of course, of that quarter only half were willing to overthrow their . . . arrogant leaders,” Brent said, placating Erin.  “Not much of a force to take a ship this size - although they were certainly willing to try.  Apparently they had no love at all for their superiors.”

Sanderson smiled widely at Nobue as he simmered.

“So I had a handful of loyal troopers and access to the MI databanks.  That force was doomed to failure.  However, while doing some research on the foes that attacked my home, I came across an interesting little plan.”

“They attacked Jeirude?” Jack asked in alarm.

“Sadly,” Cassandra said as her shoulders sank.  “The attack was brutal.  Killed a lot of good people and destroyed too many lives.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Nathan said genuinely - although he had no idea what anyone was talking about.

“I’m interested to hear about this little plan,” Shen said as he scratched his unkempt beard.  “Must have been something if it got most of the ship to rebel.”

Nobue turned wide eyes on Shen.

“You heard me,” Shen said with a large grin.  “Someone is finally putting you in your place.  With the idiocy I’ve seen so far, I have to say it’s about time.”

“You have no idea,” Brent said shaking his head.  “Although, I don’t think I can do this justice.  Henry, have you gotten us a link yet?”

Abruptly a large monitor descended from the ceiling and an image slowly took form.  It was of an older man with a long deep scar running from his hairline, down his neck and disappearing under his collar.  He was wearing the dull black of an MI commander, but his entire left side was filled with pins and badges.

“A simple
yes
would have done, you know,” Cain said mockingly to Henry.

“You’re not commander Yamakawa,” the man on the monitor said in a slightly nasally voice.

“You are the leader of Military Intelligence, are you not?” Brent asked.

“That’s correct.  Supreme Commander Renoff.  But who exactly are you?”

“
Supreme Commander
?” Ronald asked condescendingly.

“Someone is certainly full of himself,” Hiroko scoffed.

Owen waved the others to be silent as Renoff locked in on Brent.

“My name isn’t important for now,” he said with a shrug.  “What is important is operation
Valiant Strike
.”

The decorated man seemed to turn slightly green at the mention of the name.

“Valiant Strike?” Shen asked.  “Never heard of it.”

“I’d be shocked if you had,” Brent said with a growing smile.  “Supreme Commander, why don’t you explain it to the Admiral?”

“That matter is classified,” Renoff said angrily.  “How did you get a hold of that information?  What’s going on over there?  Yamakawa!  Where are you?”

“But certainly Shen should know,” Brent said innocently.  “After all, he was going to be the linchpin of the whole operation.  Wasn’t he?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Renoff said as he desperately scanned the room for Nobue.

“Really?  Isn’t this your signature?”  He reached into his pocket and presented his pad to the monitor.  “In fact, this whole thing originated from you alone.  A private directive if you will.  Don’t tell me you simply can’t remember in your old age.”

“What’s going on, Brent?” Jack asked in an annoyed voice.

“It seems I really have spent too much time around Cain,” he said with a light sigh.  “I’m developing his flare for the dramatic.”

Casually, Brent tossed his pad to Shen.  After quickly devouring the information, Shen balled a fist and turned a deep red as anger consumed him.

“What is it?” Nathan asked as he tried to peer over his shoulder.

“You vile worm!” Shen shouted at the monitor.  “I take it back.  I just insulted every single beast that slithers on its belly by comparing them to
you
.  You unabashed, self-righteous lunatic!”

Shen thrust the pad into Jack’s hands as he stormed toward the monitor, calling out every foul name and word he could think of.

“Well, Jack?” Nathan asked in a hushed voice to hide under Shen’s ranting.

“It’s suicide,” Jack said in awe.  “Renoff was going to have us try a second attempt at communication with the moon.  What he didn’t tell anyone else was he had secret orders to be transmitted to agents he was going to plant on every Navy ship.”

“Moon? Secret orders?” Helen asked.

“Sorry, let me backtrack,” Jack said hurriedly.  “We lost contact with a colony on the rim.  A ship was sent to investigate but was attacked by hostile craft and self-destructed.  Turns out the hostile force built a moon over the conquered world and have been pumping out their craft by the bucketful since the start.  The only reason they hadn’t made a larger move was probably because the self-destruct damaged the moon.”

“Makes me glad to be an Administer,” Nathan said.  “Worst things I have to deal with are a few fights in the mess hall from time to time.  But I gather you and Shen knew all this . . . or is that why he’s so mad?”

“We knew and we were part of an attempt to make contact with them.  They weren’t exactly interested in talking.  Attacked our fleet and we barely made it back.”

“So why is he flying off the handle like this?” Helen asked.

“Those covert agents on the Navy ships were going to be told, minutes before the final jump, to take control of the jump drives.”  Jack shook his head with strong disapproval.  “They were going to change the destination of the jump.  Renoff had planned to tell them it was simply a last minute change, and there was no time to inform the Navy or the rest of the crew.  He was planning on lying to them that it was a better tactical arrangement.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask where they were actually going,” Nathan said.

“The new jump coordinates were to take the ships into a low orbit over the moon,” Jack said.  “Renoff has already planted devices on every Navy ship that survived the last mission.  Those devices give him direct access to their self-destruct protocols.  He planned to have the ships jump on top of the moon and then blow them all up before anyone knew what was happening.”

“That’s horrible!” Helen shouted.  “Why would he kill so many innocent people?”

“Because he was trying to cover up his mistake,” Brent said.

Shen ceased his rant, and everyone turned to face the playful trooper.

“I have no doubt that
Supreme Commander
Renoff knows all about the attack on Jeirude by now,” he said as he approached the monitor.  “Things were getting out of hand, but they were contained.  However, his contained problem out on the rim had just gone public.  It was only a matter of time before the military and the government had full knowledge of what was going on out here.  Even he couldn’t hide what happened on Jeirude.  Before long they would know that for an unimaginably long period of time, he sat on his hands and watched the threat from afar.”

“I took proper steps to contain and ascertain the nature of the threat!” Renoff shouted.

“You sat back and did nothing but launch a few probes,” Brent countered.  “The mission you launched with Jack and Shen was the first of its kind.  And that took place several months
after
you had completed all your sensor sweeps and recon runs.  You messed up and you knew it.”

“I have no idea what . . .”

“But that wasn’t the worst of your troubles!” Brent cut off Renoff.  “Others knew.  Sure, you could change the records, alter the data to make it look like you weren’t completely incompetent, probably even make it look like you did exactly the right thing.  But what about Shen and the Navy personnel - they weren’t MI agents.  They wouldn’t bow to your will, let alone Jack.  A Master Weaver letting you cover all this up?  Never!  So you had to silence them.  You planned on executing them all and making it look like a failed attempt to destroy the moon.”

“You have no evidence . . .”

“I have more than enough, and you know it.  You’ve already forged statements and reports from Shen and Jack to make it look like they knew it was a suicide mission beforehand.  There is even a
very
emotional farewell letter from Jack to Dr. Benedict.  It’s very noble and rambles on about self-sacrifice and the greater good.”

“Is any of this true?” Nobue asked in a weak voice.

“Of course not!” Renoff shouted.  “This is just the deranged muttering of an obviously mentally unstable man.”

Jack tossed the pad at the uncertain Nobue.  With a single glance Nobue confirmed it.  It was the same signature he had seen on countless orders and directives.

“With that bit of information I was able to convince just about everyone to turn against MI,” Brent said in triumph.  “The rest, as they say, is history.  Just like you, Supreme Commander Renoff.”

“Simulacrum!” Cain shouted without warning.

Those nearby paused to stare at him for a moment before returning to their duties.

“Bad dream?” Angela asked soothingly.

“I wasn’t asleep, just thinking.”

“About what?”

“An S word for avatar.”

Angela rolled her eyes.

“Well, I had to find something to think about - nothing else for me to do,” Cain said with a shrug.

“You could lend the rest of us a hand,” Marie said with a grunt.

Cain leaned over the side of the Navy battleship to look down at Marie.  She was hanging by a harness and was about halfway done with replacing another beam turret with a crude missile launcher.  In the time they had been sitting on the bow of the large ship, she had replaced an entire strip of turrets.

“I’m afraid I’m all butter fingers when it comes to technical applications that don’t involve credits,” Cain called down to her.  “I’d get in the way more than anything else.”