The Refugee (The Korvali Chronicles Book 1) (32 page)

Although he’d told her not to look at it unless something happened to him, curiosity got the better of her and she got up, retrieved it from its hidden location, and viewed its contents. After doing so, she understood Eshel’s warning; it contained intelligence that any non-Korvali military would love to get their hands on. Catherine carefully hid it away again and got back into bed.
 

A loud beep awakened Catherine.
Shit
. Chirps were fine, but beeps meant trouble. She glanced at the time: 0610.
 

“Yes, Sir,” she said, not even checking who’d contacted her.
 

“Lieutenant Finnegan,” said Yamamoto’s voice. “Report to the Captain’s office immediately.”

“On my way, Sir.”
 

As she quickly dressed, dread came over her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why they’d called her up. They’d found out about her project with Holloway. Steele was onto them. Her mind immediately went to Eshel. That’s what he’d meant about hidden information. He’d found out something and meant to warn her.
 

As Catherine walked to Ferguson’s office, she considered her defense… what she would reveal and how. She’d need to tell the brass about Steele’s clandestine emails to Dr. Vanyukov, and produce them if necessary. They’d charge her with violating Steele’s direct order and working with Eshel’s DNA file, but Steele would face bigger consequences. He had more to lose, while her career trajectory with the Space Corps had turned out to be a dead end anyway.
 

Catherine could feel her palms sweat as she arrived at Captain Ferguson’s office. When she saluted, she noticed their grave expressions. Both looked tired, like they’d been up all night. Ferguson was dressed down in pants and a Space Corps t-shirt, several strands of dark hair having come loose from her bun. Her blue eyes lacked their usual sparkle.
 

“At ease, Lieutenant,” Yamamoto said. “Sit down.”
 

Catherine sat down in the other chair, waiting for him to speak. But it was the Captain who spoke first.
 

“Lieutenant,” Ferguson said. “Nothing we talk about here can leave this room. Do you understand?”
 

“Yes, Captain.”
 

“Last night, the Command Center received an emergency signal from Eshel’s contactor. When he didn’t respond to contact, we sent Tom out with a crew to find him. They found the contactor… but Eshel’s gone.”

Eshel’s gone
. Catherine was rendered speechless for several moments as she sat before Yamamoto and Ferguson, her mind sprinting from one thought to another. Last night, Eshel hadn’t been trying to warn her to protect his data, or to protect herself from Steele… he’d known he was in danger. “They took him,” she finally said.

A look of recognition made a fleeting appearance on Ferguson’s face. She took a deep breath and flicked the escaped strands of hair away from her face. “Grono Amsala just contacted us. Sunai vessel logs show that a ship left Suna last night around the time of Eshel’s disappearance. The same ship was detected at Station Ten.”

“They’re taking him to Korvalis,” Catherine said.
 

“It looks that way.”

Catherine turned to Yamamoto, eager to see a face that would comfort her. And that’s when he spoke. “We didn’t ask you here just to tell you what’s happened. We have an interplanetary alert out for Eshel. It is imperative that we attempt to retrieve him, and the sooner the better. The Alliance has offered its full support. However, to do this, we must ask you some questions, questions you may find difficult to answer.”

Catherine nodded.
 

“Based on your former relationship with Eshel, and your knowledge about him, do you have any reason to believe that his disappearance was planned by him in some way?”

“No.”

“You believe he was taken by force.”

“Yes. He knew this could happen.”

“When Tom found Eshel’s contactor, it lay on the ground, out in the open. There was no indication that any data had been downloaded from the device, suggesting that his abductor was not a cracker.” He paused. “As I said, we must attempt to retrieve Eshel. However, to have the Alliance’s support, we must do so without conflict. The ship carrying Eshel has too much lead-time on us and will enter Korvalis’s atmosphere before we can catch up. Thus, we’ve discussed various methods of retrieval, each riskier than the last.” He paused, leaning forward in his chair. “Catherine, do you have any information that could give us an advantage in this operation?”

Catherine looked at her mentor. She nodded.
 

“Not over my dead body, Suko!” Ferguson said.
 

“Janice…” Yamamoto began.

“We can’t send a whitecoat to do a soldier’s job!” she shouted, her face red. “She has no field experience! And I won’t risk the life of a scientist and one of my best soldiers with this ridiculous plan, Suko.”

“She has volunteered—” But Ferguson cut him off. “Let me finish, Janice,” he hissed. She reluctantly stopped talking and let him speak. “She has volunteered, knowing the risks. So has Tom. An F-6 will get them to Korvalis in one day instead of three, giving them an advantage. The Alliance has made it very clear we’re responsible for getting him back, and that we must do so without conflict. This is the only way to achieve that end.
We have no other option
.”

“Yes, we do.”

He shook his head. “That will risk more lives, damage our relationship with the Alliance, and it could start a war with the Korvali. We cannot risk war.” He paused. “I know you don’t like Eshel, or trust him… but you know his character. He would not entrust those he cares most about to a foolhardy plan.”

“How do you know he cares for them? He doesn’t seem to care for anyone.”

“I believe he does, in his own way.”

“The Alliance has no goddamn business telling us how to handle this,” Ferguson said. “They aren’t the ones with the burden of protecting him.”

“I agree. But they didn’t ask us to take him under our protection, either.”

“No. Headquarters did. And where are they now? Enjoying crab cakes on the Chesapeake Bay!” She gestured toward the window.
 

Yamamoto didn’t respond. Although Ferguson’s way of handling their difficult situation was different than his, he couldn’t disagree with any of her sentiments.
 

Ferguson heaved a great sigh and ran her hands over her face. “I’ll authorize this plan. But Tom should lead this op, not Finnegan. He’s far more qualified.”

“I tried that. Catherine insisted that it must be her.”

Ferguson glared at him. “Who is she to insist?”

“She’s the one with the information. I leaned on her, Janice. She would not relent. It seems she has something necessary for the operation to succeed.”
 

“Like what? I want the details.”

“So do I. But it’s clear that Eshel is protecting something. And given who he is and where he comes from, are you surprised?”
 

“Tom hates not being in charge.”

“Tom’s wishes aren’t what’s important here. Getting Eshel back is. And we’ll make it clear to Tom that if the op goes awry, he’s authorized to take over.”

Ferguson nodded absentmindedly. “We have a whitecoat rescuing a Korvali from the Forbidden Planet he escaped from, using methods only they know, while one of my best soldiers goes along as nothing more than a babysitter. All under my goddamn watch.” She shook her head. “You can’t make this stuff up. I hate this, Suko. I don’t trust Finnegan. If it weren’t for Tom, I’d kill this ridiculous plan.”

“Unfortunately, this is one of those situations when we must relinquish some control,” Yamamoto told her, knowing full well she would hate that answer.

Ferguson rolled her eyes. “Let me guess. Now you’ll tell me there’s no point in worrying about it, that worrying solves nothing, right?”

“Janice, it is extremely easy for the less worried person to lecture the worrier on the ills of worrying. I know Catherine better than you do. She’s not a soldier, but she’s a skilled fighter and tough in her own way. It isn’t her character to embark on challenges she cannot handle.”

“Well, Suko, it’s your faith in her that I’m relying on. You haven’t let me down yet.” She walked to her window and looked out. “Why would Eshel entrust such information to her if they haven’t been on speaking terms, especially after what he said about using her to acclimate to us?”

“I don’t know. There are aspects to Eshel, and his people, that are a mystery to us all.”

“How much do you want to bet he’s shared more than this with her?”
 

Yamamoto didn’t answer. He couldn’t think about that now.
 

Catherine quickly climbed the stairs to the hangar deck, where Tom waited for her. He too was dressed in full field uniform. She wanted to tell him everything, just to share the burden with someone she trusted. But she couldn’t. Eshel had made it clear to tell no one else what she knew.
 

“Do you have the units?” she said.

“Yup,” Tom said, reaching into his pack. He retrieved six black devices and handed them to her. They were small, only a couple of centimeters in diameter. “Be careful not to lose them. You’ll get five hours out of these. Six at most. Keep your eye on the light—it’ll blink when it’s getting low on power, about once per second, then faster once it gets really low. Change out when it’s one per second. Don’t take any chances.” She put them into her pack and looked at Tom expectantly. “Oh,” Tom said in recognition. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a larger flat, rectangular device. “Be careful with this one. It can do some damage.”

Maintenance had just finished preparing the F-6 “Mosca” for launch. Snow emerged from inside it. “She’s ready to go,” he said. He’d spent hours making modifications to it, using the directions Catherine had given him. “Are you going to tell us what the modifications are for?”
 

“Yeah,” Tom added. “And what are the little black devices for?” He glanced at Snow. “I tried one out and nothing happened.”

“We have to go,” Catherine said.

“Let me come with you,” Snow said. “You don’t have to tell me anything. But if something goes wrong with the Mosca…”

“Sorry, buddy,” Tom said, slapping Snow on the shoulder. “Captain’s orders.”

Snow shrugged. “Worth a try.” He came over and hugged Catherine. “Kick some ass.”
 

When he released her, she looked over and saw Ferguson and Yamamoto enter the hangar bay. Both looked right at her; she saluted. She’d managed to convince them to send her to Korvalis. But she no longer felt the confidence she’d conveyed.

She turned to Tom and Snow. “Promise me, and Eshel, that you’ll both keep quiet about what you’ve found out. Promise on your tattoos.”
 

The guys looked at one another and touched their left shoulders, where each wore the emblem of military social services, and put their hands up briefly.
 

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Tom said, eyeing her. “I’m telling you, I can take the lead. I know how to keep a secret. Just say the word.”

“I’m fine.”
 

“We’ll get him,” he said, putting his arm around her. “I’m a soldier, C, and soldiers never leave a comrade behind.”
 

As Catherine and Tom got into the craft, Snow left them and went to stand with Ferguson and Yamamoto behind the glass barrier. The bay doors opened. Catherine felt a bit lightheaded from the craft’s motion, which felt quick and dynamic compared to that of
Cornelia
.
 

In the initial hours of their journey, they reiterated their plan again and again. They divided the operation into multiple steps, hashing out minimum and maximum time estimates for each step. The Captain and XO issued a time limit for the entire operation, at the end of which they must report back. They planned for every contingency and every what-if, including what to do if they were detected at any point. These conversations were helpful to Catherine. They must have helped Tom as well, as he repeated their plan multiple times and made her do the same. But after many of these repetitions, there wasn’t much else to say.
 

So Tom, whose chatter often did much to ease tensions, told stories. He recalled memorable wins and losses from their many poker games, including the one where they wound up with Eshel’s sick bay duty shifts. He talked of the brawl between him and Haus, and the one between Eshel and Middleton, and even the argument he’d had with Greta, who’d gotten angry when she asked to join his game and he told her that poker and romance don’t mix. Catherine smiled at the memories, although they did little to ease her worry. And Tom noticed. “What’s the matter?” he said.
 

Catherine shook her head. “How did this happen, Tom? I was just talking to him last night at the party. It was the first conversation we’d had in five months. At least until you showed up.”

Tom let out a sigh. “Yeah… sorry about that. Eshel told me he wanted to go back and talk with you. He didn’t?” She shook her head. “That’s my fault, too.”

“How’s that?”

Tom’s face clouded over. “We got into an argument. A bad one. I had a few too many… said some shit I shouldn’t have. Not that he let me get away with it, believe me,” Tom added. “But I gave him a hard time about talking to you.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Tom said defensively. “Because of everything that happened with you guys. I was trying to look out for you. I don’t always let on, but I look out for you.”

“I know you do.”
 

Tom’s jaw clenched. “I should’ve kept my mouth shut.” He glanced at the time. “Get some sleep. You’ll need to be rested for this.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Take this.” He tossed her a small box. “When it wears off, you keep watch and I’ll get a few hours in.”
 

She took one of the pills and lapsed into a heavy sleep. But before she was asleep long, someone shook her. “Catherine. Wake up.”