Scout Force (32 page)

      
“Hmmh, it appears as if our associates can’t hold their liquor.”

      
He closed the door and turned back to the other two men.
 
As he removed his hat he exposed a feline face.

      
“Shadow Warriors, our mission here is completed.
 
Let us return to the home world.
 
We have one more data installment to retrieve.”

      
“As you command, Shadow Leader M’Trang.”

* * * * *

      
An hour later a small insect flying around the single hanging lamp in the warehouse broke away from the light and flew up to a break in an upper clerestory window.
 
It passed through the break and settled on the roof of the warehouse.
 
It stood on its forelegs, the wings transformed into an antenna, and it oriented skyward.
 
In seconds an orbiting ship received the video and audio of the night’s activities.
 
The pilot petted his cat and waited for the data transmission to end.
 
Moments later that ship was in FTL on its way to Fleet Intel for analysis of the data.

Chapter Eight

      
Kelly was back on board the Vigilant by 1400.
 
He put his new clothing purchases away and found room to store his new duffle.
 
He would have his new clothes laundered once they lifted ship again.
 
As with the galley, the laundry on board worked only off-planet.
 
There was the base laundry, but Kelly didn’t trust them with natural fabrics.
 
He tended to buy the best he could afford and took care of them.
 
The wools, cottons, and silks would last a long time if properly cared for.

      
He checked messages on his terminal.
 
There was a message from Candy, saying that she had a wonderful time and hoped they could do it again some time.
 
She also let him know he had forgotten his tie.
 
She would get it back to him next time she saw him.

      
Another message was from LT Bell, inviting Kelly to the Vehement’s relaunching ceremony on Friday.
 
He checked his calendar, saw he had nothing else scheduled, and touched the accept button.

      
The next message was from Tammy.
 
She was enthused about the S-660.
 
It was an exoatmospheric shuttle, as opposed to the current atmospheric S-500s the flight detachment flew.
 
She was having a blast flying the sub-orbital flight path in transition school.
 
She was finally back in space, even if only for a brief time.
 
Of course, the S-660’s boost phase was enough to get into orbit, so they would be making runs to the space dock as well as the shuttle flights to the south.
 
She was really looking forward to that.
 
The last part of her message was a request for Kelly to pin on one of her LTJG rank insignia at her promotion ceremony when she got back.
 
Kelly replied that he would be honored to be a part of her ceremony.

      
Kelly called up the ship’s log to see what had happened while he was gone.
 
Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, that he could tell.
 
He noted Petty Officer Stinson’s name on a lot of the watch log entries.
 
Kelly guessed that multiple watches while the crew had time off was Chief Watson’s way of reminding Stinson to listen to Corpsman Kumar’s advice on what places to stay away from in the south.

      
Kelly changed into his coveralls, attached his communicator to his belt, and made a tour of the ship.
 
Very few of the crew were on board.
 
Those few were engaged in games, studying for proficiency exams, or just lazing about.
 
Chief Blankenship manned the quarterdeck watch.
 
When he approached she was bent over the watch desk, probably reattaching a terminal cable.
 
Chief B had a nice behind.
 
Kelly scuffed his shoes to let her know he was coming and she straightened up and came to attention.

      
“At ease, Chief.
 
How are things going?”

      
“Not bad, sir, it’s been real quiet.
 
Twenty crew are off the ship.
 
Eleven are on leave.
 
Three are hitting the entertainment center on base.
 
The rest are at chow.
 
Captain took off for a couple of days in the south.
 
You are in command.
 
Chief Watson got pulled by Scout Force HQ to sit on a promotion board.
 
He should be back in about three hours.”

      
“Great, keep up the good work.
 
Would you like me to bring you some coffee from the galley on my way back through?”

      
Thank you, sir, but I drink tea.
 
If you could bring back a pot of Lapsang Souchong, I’d appreciate it.”

      
“Lapsang it is.
 
I’ll be right back with it.”

      
Kelly walked on to the rear of the ship.
 
He stopped off in the galley to start a pot of water to boil.
 
He continued astern, checked crew quarters, sensors, and engineering.
 
When he made it back to the galley, the water was boiling.
 
He poured it into a mid-sized pot, dropped in two tea bags, grabbed a cup and saucer and headed back to the Quarterdeck.
 

      
“Here you go, Chief.
 
Enjoy!”

      
“Thank you, sir.
 
This much should last me until Chief P relieves me for dinner.”

      
Kelly returned to his quarters.
 
Conditions on board had the lazy feel of a ship in port.
 
Kelly knew this would revert instantly to crisp efficiency upon receipt of a patrol order.
 
He thought about that for a bit.
 
What would he do if he got an immediate sortie order?
 
He checked the roster to see who was present for duty.
 
When he ran the roster he saw that even though less than half the crew were on board, those on board were sufficient to lift ship and conduct a patrol.
 
He just hoped he wouldn’t have to.

      
Kelly went back to his quarters and checked the news on his terminal.
 
He did a quick search for reports on the Indigo fire.
 
He found several reports and read them in turn.
 
He saw where they had positively identified the body of Charles Delphant.
 
Cause of death was identified as smoke inhalation.
 
There was intense speculation in the press on what Delphant was doing there so early.
 
He had never been known for coming in early, habitually arriving around 0830.

      
Kelly brought up a window on the classified system and searched for any classified reports on the fire.
 
He pulled up two agent reports from a team sent in to coordinate with the local authorities on Secundus.
 
They didn’t have much more information than the news reports.

      
Kelly spent the rest of the afternoon researching all he could find on the Indigo Consortium and its board of directors.
 
After several hours, he looked up and saw that it was late and he should probably hit the rack.
 
He checked his schedule for tomorrow.
 
It would be a light day, with only one outside meeting at Scout Force HQ at 1300.
 
He called up the agenda, saw it was a logistics meeting for all ship execs.
 
He checked the Vigilant’s log status, closed down his terminal, and took a walk around the ship.
 
Kelly then turned in for the night.

      
The next morning, Kelly reviewed the night watch log and saw nothing of interest.
 
He headed over to the dining facility and had breakfast.
 
Kelly was hoping that today would be boring.
 
Boring was good when you were the acting commander.

      
Kelly spent the morning reviewing the manuals on the sensor systems.
 
He was looking for new tricks to use when out on patrol.
 
He was especially interested in applications he could run on his monitor on the bridge.
 
It was a shame that Chief B had the duty last night and was sleeping.
 
She could have helped him in his research.

      
Kelly checked messages.
 
He had a reminder message about the 1300 meeting.
 
He had a message from his bank, giving his balance and including his most recent purchases.
 
He had made a small hole in his account.
 
Fortunately, his expenses were minimal.
 
His quarters were free.
 
His meals were free.
 
His uniforms were subsidized.
 
Life in the Fleet wasn’t bad.

Kelly went to the 1300 meeting.
 
It was one of the interminable meetings by the base admin and logistics folks about the latest regulations on requisitions, personnel actions, and yard procedures.
 
Kelly knew it was going to result in more paperwork for him that evening.

      
Of course, one of the things that was bad about the Fleet was the paperwork.
 
Technically, it wasn’t really paperwork, because all of it was handled electronically.
 
Electronic or paper, it still took a long time to complete.
 
By the time he was finished, it was well past the time the dining facility closed for the evening.
 
He called his parents and invited himself over for dinner.
 
He owed Arnold a chance to cook him a meal.

      
Kelly cleaned up and changed out of his coveralls and into his duty uniform.
 
Officers living on ship generally wore their duty or work uniform while on base.
 
Kelly caught a shuttle and wound up at his parents door.

      
Arnold met him at the door, beaming.
 
“LT Blake, welcome.
 
Your parents are in the outdoor room.
 
Your dinner will be ready shortly.
 
Kelly thanked Arnold for cooking up something for him this late, and went out to see his folks.

      
Kelly’s folks were having a heated argument about digitizing living tissue.
 
Kelly poured a glass of wine from a waiting bottle and sat down.
 
He listened for a few minutes, decided he didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, and tuned them out.
 
When they realized he wasn’t listening, they stopped.

      
Moira said, “Kelly, are we boring you?”

      
No, Mom, I just haven’t a clue what you are talking about.
 
You two are using terms I never heard in college.”

      
“Son, I never knew your education was so deficient.
 
We paid good money for you to be an engineer.
 
Obviously, it didn’t take.”

      
Kelly’s folks broke out laughing.
 
Moira said, “Of course you didn’t understand any of it.
 
We invented it.
 
We are talking about transporting human beings and cargo through the ether like radio waves.
 
It does what our FTL transport system does, but with no receiver on the other end.
 
We’ve done it with inanimate objects over short distances.
 
We are trying to extend our range to hundreds of kilometers...”

      
Kelly broke in, “Are you telling me you are working on a transporter beam?”

      
Andrew said, “Well, son, that’s not what we call it, but that sums it up succinctly.
 
In fact, that is what we’ll call it from now on.
 
We feel we are a couple of years away from perfecting it, but it shows great promise.”

      
Kelly shook his head and laughed, “Mom, Dad, do you get all your ideas from old science fiction works?”

      
All three were laughing when Arnold came in and said dinner was ready.
 
Moira and Andrew had eaten earlier, but they went in with Kelly to keep him company.

      
Kelly sat down and Arnold brought in a local fowl, sort of like a cornish game hen, wild rice, apple relish, and a shredded vegetable salad from local greens.
 
Kelly ate very well.