The Begining (The Navigator Book 1) (17 page)

Joe nodded. "I will consider it, Doctor. I do appreciate all you have done to assist us in this mission. Thank you."

Symms shook his head. "Major, I'm just glad you came along when you did. I doubt we could get rid of the crazy bastard any other way."

"Excuse me, Major," Gary said interrupting the conversation. "Doctor, may I ask how many of your team are medically trained?"

"Doctor, this is Lieutenant Finn. He's working for me," Joe explained.

Symms dipped his head in greeting. "Pleased to meet you Lieutenant. Yes, there will be two medical doctors; counting myself, and three medically trained nurse practitioners. May I ask way?"

Gary nodded. "We know that the current medical officer on the Citadel is working for our target and cannot be trusted. We may have need of medical assistance we can trust."

Joe nodded agreement. "Good idea, Gary." He looked at Symms again. "Think you can sneak a couple of emergency kits in with the other equipment?"

Symms nodded. "Not a problem. I'll handle that right now, then call in the team. Is there anything else I can help with, Major?"

"Not that I can think of. We're on approach to the complex now, so we should be seeing you shortly. Thanks again for your help, Doctor," Joe replied.

Symms smiled. "My duty to serve, my pleasure to help a friend. See you soon." He closed the connection.

Shana headed for the cockpit to get the ship moving while he spoke. The two men nodded their agreement and took seats with Becka and Joe.

"Sir, when did I become a Lieutenant?" Gary asked.

"Well, I sort of forgot to tell you two when I came to see you in medical. I had the Admiral promote both of you. You're probably going to need the extra rank at some point, so I just asked him to handle it now," Joe explained shrugging.

"We're both officers?" Luke asked. "What are we going to be doing that will need a higher rank?"

"Citadel Security. I would like the two of you to eventually take charge of that area. That way, there are two men I can trust close by if I need to call on you, and it gives you a cushy job off-planet," Joe explained. "That was my thinking on it anyway. I owe both of you for when you came to get me. You could have been real dicks about it, but you trusted me and treated me like a fellow soldier. I really appreciated that."

"Sir, this is one hell of a thank you!" Luke replied, smiling.

"That's right, neither of you have been to the Citadel before!" Becka said. "Guys, when we get there, you will get an immediate headache. If it wouldn't dull your reactions I would suggest that Doctor Symms give you an analgesic for it."

All three men looked at the woman in confusion. So she explained. "Joe, you remember the reaction you had when we went to the Citadel before. With normal humans, it manifests as a mild to moderate headache initially." She looked at the two Marines. "When Navigators practice, it creates a lot of 'noise' in hyperspace. Continual exposure would eventually drive you insane, but we shouldn't be there that long. Still, you will feel it; everyone does. That's actually what Doctor Symms will be trying to resolve with the shielding he's installing. I just thought you would like to know before we got there."

Joe nodded. "I'll have Symms give you something that won't dope you up. Good catch, Becka."

"This party just keeps getting better and better," Gary commented dryly.

Joe nodded. "Just be glad we're not facing a bunch of extremists with assault rifles and a nuclear weapon."

"Amen to that!" Luke replied. "That's no fun at all."

Shana received clearance to land outside Dr. Symms labs and everything went off like clockwork. Joe, Luke and Gary pitched in and helped get the equipment loaded just as if they were exactly what they appeared to be; techs from Darkwater station. After they took off for the forty-five minute flight, the group settled down as well as they could in the common area of the ship. Before they had landed, Joe had asked Becka to use her ability to monitor the team coming aboard when he told them of the mission. If any of them were working for Jarad, the news would make them have a very different reaction than it would the others.

Joe asked Symms about something for Luke and Gary to help with the headache they would get but would not dull their senses or reactions. Grinning, he reached into his pocket and drew out a small bottle of acetaminophen and tossed it to Luke, who was closer.

Joe nodded and looked at the group. "Can I have everyone's attention for a moment?"

When everyone had stopped talking and looked at him he continued. "I apologize for our earlier deception, but I'm not who Dr. Symms introduced me as. My name is Major Joseph Anderson. Myself and my two companions work for Admiral Hawklings and the Council. We are with you today as a means of sneaking into the Citadel in order to remove Jarad Smalls from power there." He paused, and put a worried look on his face. "We will be armed, and there is a strong possibility that we will need to use our weapons. All of that should take place far away from you folks, but I would still like to ask each of you to wear a ballistic vest under your coveralls. Once we arrive at the Citadel, we will help you get your gear off-loaded and even appear to begin helping you. So please don't say anything when we slip away."

"Is that why you didn't bring Sara and the others Doctor?" one of the techs asked. Luke and Gary went to the replicator and began making the vests for the technicians, then handing them out.

Symms shook his head. "I trust all of you. This is a very important mission for the Council as I'm sure all of you can attest to. Guys, the Major and his men are professionals. Before they joined us, all three of them were highly trained special operations soldiers. Rest assured, they know what they are doing and will work to ensure we are kept safely away from what they have to do."

"In other words, they're assassins, right?" someone said, neutrally.

"No, I'm the assassin, my men were Marines," Joe said. "I'll be doing what needs to be done. They will be trying to keep everyone else safe while I'm doing it."

"Jarad is insane and is trying to set himself up as a dictator. He has to be stopped, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable being party to murder, Doctor. We took an oath to save lives, not help someone else take them," the other medical doctor said.

"Doctor," Joe began. "You are not party to this action. I would be doing it whether you are here or not. However, we know the medical officer on the Citadel is under Jarad's control and can't be trusted to treat any wounded. We honestly need you with us to help save the lives of anyone that might get caught in the crossfire. Ideally, you won't have anything to do but work on the shielding with Doctor Symms and you won't know anything else even happened."

"There is a rumor that Jarad is psychic and can see events before they happen. How certain are you that he doesn't already know you’re coming?" someone else asked fearfully.

"Jarad is not clairvoyant. He gets his knowledge the same way others do; with spies. Most of whom do not work for him willingly, but are rather coerced or controlled into doing his bidding. This is another reason we are doing this. Ladies and gentlemen, Jarad Smalls is a person that cannot be brought to trial for his crimes because he has the ability to control the jurors. He is abusing his powers and authority, he has kidnapped free citizens and has used them as hostages, he has committed murder, as well as ordered others to commit murder and so many other crimes it would be redundant to repeat them all.

"I'm not a mindless killer. I do not enjoy doing this. However, I also understand that in certain circumstances this is the only way justice can be served, or failing that, lives can be saved. I agree, everyone deserves their day in court. If this person were anyone other than who he is, I'd be the first person to make sure he got it. That is simply not an option under these circumstances," Joe finished.

"If Jarad can control people, what's to keep him from controlling you or your men?" the doctor asked.

"I'm told he can't control me because I'm stronger than he is." Joe shrugged. "I have no idea what that has to do with it, but I do know he already tried once and failed. As for my men, we simply don't know. It doesn't seem to work on everyone. I plan to make certain he doesn't get the chance to try."

"You'll just kill him without saying a word?" someone else asked. "That's pretty cold."

"Talking to him would serve no purpose. No matter how you go about it, killing someone is always cold," Joe said. "We'll do everything we can to keep you safe. But if Doctor Symms tells you to report to the shuttle for a design meeting, immediately stop what you’re doing and go. That'll be the signal that things have gone to hell and we want you to get to safety. Does everyone understand?"

"Everyone, I would like to support what the Major has told you. Jarad has tried to control me on several occasions. It has failed every time and I possess no abilities at all. Chances are, he has tried the same with any of you that have met him," Symms said. "If you trust me, I ask that all of you trust the Major in this. He really does know what he's doing here."

Joe looked at Becka who smiled and shook her head. Everyone had passed. Joe let out a mental sigh of relief. It had been bad enough telling these folks about Jarad's ability to control others, but most folks would figure that out for themselves anyway. He just hoped it wouldn't make everyone afraid of all Navigators.

Using the intercom, Shana announced their pending arrival at the Citadel. Joe closed his eyes and raised the personal shields that Doctor Symms had given him. He looked at the small group. "Thank you for helping us."

"Good luck Major," one of the techs said, and the rest of the group nodded agreement, even the other doctor.

Shortly after arriving at the Citadel, the team was unloading the equipment they brought along and setting it off to one side in the bay. Doctor Symms stood by and had certain boxes placed in other positions based on how they would need access to them. The door into the Citadel proper opened, two men entered and walked up to Doctor Symms.

"Doctor, the Prime would like to see you in his office."

Symms ignored the man and continued to direct his team. Finally he turned to the man. "It can wait a few minutes, this is important."

"I'm afraid we must insist, Doctor. The Prime wants to see you. Now," the other man said stressing 'now'.

Symms motioned with his hand and got Joe's attention. When he walked up, Symms said. "Take two people and go check the power unit. If we have to modify it, it's really gonna throw us off."

"Certainly Doctor," Joe replied, but glanced at the two men. "Is everything alright Sir?"

Symms nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah, Senior Navigator Smalls is just throwing his weight around again, he's demanding to see me right away."

"That'll really mess up our schedule. Would you like me to come along to explain about the power unit? I can send Wills and Bennet to look over the system?" Joe suggested. "Maybe we can ease his mind and be able to keep our schedule. This headache is really bed, I know it has to be affecting the others." Joe was using the headache issue as an explanation to why they wanted to hurry.

"That's a good idea, Andre. I'm sure Navigator Smalls will appreciate it as well," Symms replied.

"As you wish, Doctor. I'll go get the others moving and grab my data sheet. It'll only take a moment," Joe replied.

"Just hurry up, The Prime is not known for his patience," the first man said.

"It'll only take a moment, who's 'the prime?" Joe asked as he stepped away.

Symms turned to the men. "He's a power systems engineer sent here from Darkwater station to assist us in getting the new shielding installed. He's one of the men that designed the last power upgrade you got."

"You know The Prime does not like bringing outsiders here Doctor. He is not going to be happy about this," one of the men said.

"He'd be even less happy if we overloaded the power unit. This was the only way to do this, so deal with it," Symms said getting annoyed.

Symms continued to direct the operations while Joe gave his order to his men and Becka. Very shortly, Joe trotted back to the waiting men carrying a small case of the type used for data sheets. "All set up, Doctor. They'll head over as soon as the rest of the gear is unloaded."

Symms nodded. "Perfect, with any luck, we'll be back before they return with the good news."

Joe nodded agreement, "That would be ideal, yes."

"Whatever, let's go," the man said and took a step toward the door.

Symms sighed. "Doctor Harolds? Can you take over here? Navigator Smalls wants to see me."

Doctor Harolds looked upset with the request, but nodded agreement. Then Symms turned to the two belligerent men, "Well?"

Ironically enough, Jarad's office was actually in the hold of the original cargo shuttle the Citadel was built around. There was an extra hatch built into the side of the old shuttle that Joe knew led to Jarad's private quarters. As they approached the hatch, Joe opened the case he was carrying and began sorting through the pile of data sheets it contained.

"I asked for Symms, who's the other person?" Jarad's voice sounded when the guard pressed the entry request.