The Clones of Mawcett (39 page)

“Base Commander? But I'm assigned to the Prometheus, sir.”

“You're temporarily reassigned to this new base. You'll return to the Prometheus as soon as you're relieved here.”

“But what if the Prometheus receives orders to leave before the new administrator arrives?”

“Then you'll catch up with us when you're relieved here.”

“But why me, sir?”

“My report to Space Command mentioned that I had put you in charge immediately following the battle and that you had done an excellent job of organizing the station and taking responsibility for the thousands of Raider prisoners. Since you're the only available senior line officer with command experience that we have out here, they've decided that you should continue in the position until a permanent administrator can be sent. You've had two warship commands, and we just don't have anyone else more qualified for the post among the task force crews.”

“Very well, sir,” Jenetta said, her disappointment obvious in her voice.

Gavin looked over at Kanes and nodded slightly. Then both men stood up. “Stand up, Commander,” Gavin said to Jenetta.

Jenetta looked questioningly at Gavin for a second and then stood.

“The room will come to attention,” Gavin said. Kanes came stiffly to attention. Jenetta followed suit. “Lieutenant Commander Jenetta Alicia Carver, by order of Space Command Supreme Headquarters, with confirmation by the Galactic Alliance Council, you are immediately advanced to the rank of Commander on this 22nd day of October, in the Earth year 2270. Congratulations, Commander. At ease.” Gavin smiled and held out a small box to Jen.

Jenetta was stunned. She took the box and flipped up the cover. Inside were two rank insignias bearing three wide gold bars, the insignia for a full commander in GSC. Looking back at Gavin, she said, “Commander, sir?”

“That's correct, Commander,” Gavin said, as he and Kanes sat back down and grinned at the surprised expression on Jenetta's face. “The Promotion Selection List for Commander was posted a month ago and you were named as an eligible. Space Command regulations specify that the duly appointed base commander of any official base or StratCom-4 station must have the rank of Commander or higher. Space Command has decided that you should fill the available position here.”

“Th-Thank you, sir,” Jenetta stammered slightly as a cascade of thoughts rushed through her mind. “I'll do my best to fulfill my new responsibilities.”

“There was never any doubt in my mind, Commander. Now that this is an official base, personnel will be arriving to staff it properly.”

“Yes sir. What about civilians, sir?”

“What about them?”

“Well–– on every base or station with which I'm familiar, there are sections set aside for civilian use; shops, businesses, recreation, and housing.”

“Use your judgment, Commander. I've never been a station administrator, so I can't properly advise you. With luck you won't have to worry about civilians before the new administrator arrives. Then it'll be his or her problem.”

“Yes sir.”

“Is there anything that you need?”

“A few good officers would help a great deal. I've been able to borrow engineers and labor, but I need a few people with administrative ability so that I don't have to personally supervise every facet of this operation.”

“I'll find some good people that'll give you a hand until their ship departs.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Have you restored the computers yet?”

“Not yet. The engineers are still trying to recover expunged data. Once we start using the computers, any old data will be lost for good. Only the separate systems for life-support and weapons control are functioning properly at this time.”

“How much more time do they need?”

“They've requested another week, and I've told them that they must complete their work by then because we need the system. We're getting by with portable systems right now, networked through the Chiron's main computer system, and a cumbersome paper system.”

“They must receive whatever time they need,” Kanes said. “Please rescind your deadline.”

Jenetta looked at Kanes and nodded once. “Yes sir. I'll notify them immediately. It'll make our task here more difficult, though, and I really don't think they'll recover anything more if they have extra time.”

“It's important that we recover every kernel of data available, regardless of the time required. You'll just have to get by as best you can.”

“Yes sir.”

“Space Command has notified the families of the crewmen killed in the battle and announced the seizure of the station, so I've lifted the ban on outgoing communications,” Gavin informed Jenetta. “The jamming satellites should be disabled within the hour, if not already deactivated.  You can contact your family if you wish.”

“Thank you, sir, I will. I'm sure they're beginning to worry since we've been out of communication for so long.”

Gavin and Kanes stood as if on cue. “We'll get out of your hair, Jen,” Gavin said. “I'm sure that you have much to do and so do we. Captain Kanes will be back tomorrow to start working with your prisoners, and I'll find some good people for you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

After the two captains had left, Jenetta removed her tunic just long enough to replace her insignia of rank with the new insignia that Gavin had given her. Her father had said two years ago that she might be considered for early promotion when the selection committee met again, but at the time she hadn't really considered it very likely since her previous advancement had been just eight months earlier. As she expected, she hadn't been named to the list that next time around. But being promoted almost a year shy of the normal 'minimum three years in grade' guideline meant that the Selection Board had named her eligible for early promotion with the newest list. The three bars had come as a complete surprise because the list had apparently been posted while they were already involved in the siege of the asteroid and normal communications were suspended.

Jenetta worked until midnight, then walked to her quarters in the station. She was tired but took time to send a message home to her folks, to Eliza, and then to each of her brothers. She relayed the sad news that Christa was still missing. But it wasn't all bad news since Jenetta was alive and well after a major battle, and sporting the three wide bars of a full Commander now.

As Commander Jenetta Carver, she now held the same rank as her eldest brother, Billy, and outranked her other three brothers, all of whom were older by four to six years. Her mother had told her that Billy was extra sensitive about Jenetta possibly catching him or even surpassing him, so she didn't make a big fuss over the promotion. She didn't want him to think she was rubbing his nose in it, but inside she was screaming with delight. She had been the butt of jokes at the Academy because of an embarrassing incident that occurred during her first semester. Just prior to graduation, she had been voted most likely to remain an ensign for the longest period. It was a slightly less crass way of being named 'Least Likely to Succeed', and it certainly wasn't a distinction that anyone would take pride in. As it turned out, the prediction had been spot-on accurate, but not for the reasons expected. Several months after graduation, Jenetta had barely made it into a life pod and ejected before the ship on which she was serving, exploded. She'd spent almost eleven years floating through space in a stasis bed that virtually suspends life. Since being found, she'd used her 'second life' to swiftly climb through the ranks. No other member of her class at the Academy had yet reached the rank of Commander, although two others had attained Lt. Commander.

Slowly, through incredibly long hours and hard work, the space station operations began to come together. Jenetta named Lt. Commander O'Day from the battleship Bellona, one of three officers reassigned from shipboard duty by Gavin, to function as Warden of the Prison after hearing him recount his previous job duties. Lieutenant Orlean, also of the Bellona, was named as Food Services Administrator, while Lieutenant Sayars, from the destroyer Buenos Aires, was named as Headquarters Administrator. With these three main jobs delegated, Jenetta would have more freedom to handle the myriad of problems that required her personal attention, as well as being available to help the three officers when they got inundated with problems.

The computer engineers finally agreed that they had recovered as much as they were ever going to get. Once that milestone was reached, they overwrote all memory storage areas with binary strings of zeros, rebooted the system, and began loading Space Command software modules. It took another week to run and test every part of the system, but by the time all the ship repairs were completed, the station's main computer system was fully functional. They could finally do away with the all the paper and rely on the computer for information. Updated versions of the Space Command databases were copied over from the Chiron's main system before operations were shifted to the station's system. With the communications systems repaired and operational, the station would automatically receive encrypted asynchronous systems and data updates directly from Space Command.

As procedures were established and refined, life aboard the station began to seem almost routine. The prisoners were still a constant worry to Jenetta, but so far everything was under control. Kanes and his people came every day and interviewed prisoners, filling volumes with what was said, and with what wasn't said.

As the weeks passed, Jenetta began to spend an increasing number of hours working on a master plan for the base. She suspected that civilians would soon pour in looking to corner the choicest spots for commerce on a new base, so a group of engineers was conscripted to prepare basic designs for a concourse shopping level after establishing the basic requirements by using the layouts of the Vinnia station and three Earth stations as models. They also prepared plans to convert former Raider barracks quarters to military and civilian housing. Jenetta didn't want her successor to arrive and not have any plans in place for the station's development. Besides, the intense work effort helped keep her mind off Christa for at least a few hours each day.

All levels below the docking/main warehouse level were designated as military use only and required an implanted CT or ID chip for main entry points, with handprint and/or retinal scans for the more secure areas. While all officers have a CT, or cranial transducer chip, NCOs and enlisted personnel have an implanted ID chip. It lacks the two-way communication capability of the CT, but it can receive messages and be detected by sensors located throughout a ship or base so that an approximate location of any individual can be instantly determined. Like the CT, it's also used for low-level identification purposes, unlocking entrance doors to secure areas for which the individual is authorized.

Huge lists of the equipment and materials necessary for the new construction and remodeling efforts were prepared and forwarded to the Space Command Quartermaster. It would take many months before it started to arrive, but a lot of the construction preparation work could be completed in the meantime.

Requesting, and receiving, permission from Space Command Supreme HQ to move the base, Jenetta had the hollow, hundred-eighteen-kilometer long asteroid pushed out and away from the edge of the asteroid belt. It was positioned it in its own orbit around the star. By distancing the asteroid twenty million kilometers from the asteroid belt, ship movement around the base would be both safer and easier. The Raiders wanted to hide, and used the asteroid belt as cover, but there was no such need to disguise a Space Command base.

Although the habitat had been completely inspected from top to bottom, an examination of the Raider spaceships in port had yet to be performed. The Marines had swept them the first day and cleared them of Raider personnel, but none had been examined further. None of them were adequately armed, or protected for fighting, so they hadn't even tried to run the blockade around the station.

Although the habitat section was only three-kilometers long, the docking platform and piers extended along the interior wall for some forty-kilometers in the asteroid. As many as a hundred-fifty ships could docked simultaneously. Survey crews were sent into each former Raider vessel to determine its space worthiness, while another group was assigned to examine the ship hulls at the far recesses of the thirty-kilometer wide by sixty-kilometer deep cavern where the Raiders had been repairing ships taken in their attacks. The hulls of ships destroyed during the battle, as well as whatever other floating debris could be collected, had been brought into the asteroid and placed in the scrap area where it would eventually be recycled.