First steps
#7 of The Odds Against
Alrighty, the next chapter of the odds against is at last ready for submission. Hope you enjoy it.
As always, comments are apprecaited and requested.
Continued from "Its all in the details..."
10-17-3015
Time Index; 0900 hours GST
TFMC Headquarters
*Location Classified, required clearance; Beta*, Terran space
I looked up at a knock on the doorframe of my office. I was once again dressed in a flight suit, though it didn't look likely that I would be flying anytime soon. This part of the Headquarters planet always stayed about 32 degrees centigrade and the flight suit was far more comfortable than any other uniform could have been at that temperature. I actually felt very sorry for everyone who had to wear their dress uniforms in this heat. The room I now sat in was my new office at headquarters, and, oddly enough, it was bigger than my entire set of quarters on board the Endeavor had been. Aside from my desk with its computer and anti surveillance equipment, it also had a table and four chairs and an outer door leading to a balcony overlooking the neatly cultivated park that sat outside the building, a better view than most officers had. Rank certainly had its privileges. Returning my thoughts to the man waiting outside my door, I activated a new file on my computer, displaying a service record and spoke while the computer brought it up.
"Come in." I ordered and a man dressed in tan half-dress uniform of a Marine officer stepped inside, coming to attention before my desk and saluting. The half-dress uniform consisted of a light tan shirt and trousers with rank and qualification badges, but no medals or ribbons. It was certainly more comfortable than the royal blue full-dress uniform that I had half expected the man to be wearing. His choice for comfort over formality made my opinion of him go up a few points already. He was a major, the bronze oak leaves standing out amid the silver qualification badges he was wearing. After looking him over, I returned his salute, waiting for him to speak.
"Major Paul Dillinger reporting as ordered, General." He said, his eyes fixed on a point above my head.
"Stand at ease Major." I said and he relaxed, putting his hands behind his back. I let him stand there in silence while I read through his file once more, carefully and silently reading his emotions with my mind while he stood there. He was excited and eager inside, though he didn't show it, displaying the customary disciplined demeanor of a Marine. His face was creased with a faint scar along the line of his jaw, a pattern I recognized as a bullet graze. Flicking my eyes back down to his file, I reread his previous postings, which were the reason I had called him in. He had served for four years in the 6th Marine Special Forces Battalion, the sister unit of the Starwolves, also known as the Revenants, before being transferred to his current post in the regular infantry. Finally, my initial evaluation satisfactory, I looked back up at him and spoke. "Major, I called you here because I want you to serve as my adjutant and chief of staff." Disappointment rang through his mind and I smiled slightly, watching as the skin around his eyes crinkled, the only sign he showed that he was upset. "Something wrong Dillinger?"
"No sir." He said, drawing himself up straighter, seeming surprised that I had caught the emotion. I smiled again and rose to my feet.
"You seem disappointed with your assignment Major." I persisted, coming around so I sat on the side of my desk. "So tell me, what is wrong?"
"Permission to speak freely sir?" He asked and I nodded. "Its just that when I received word that you had an assignment for me, I thought, given your reputation, that it would be more important than this. Sir." I grinned wryly and activated the surveillance blocking equipment set into my desk, then leaned forward to speak.
"I didn't pick your name at random Major." I said. "I specifically requested you from among two hundred other officers."
"May I ask why sir?" He asked, seeming surprised. "I am a combat officer sir, and I would think that a staff officer would serve you better."
"It might." I replied. "But I picked you because, while serving with the Revenants, you received nine separate commendations for valor and ingenuity under combat conditions. I have been given a top secret assignment by the Commandant of the Marine Corps himself. It is both highly important and highly dangerous and I need every officer that serves under me to be of the highest caliber. Now, knowing that, are you willing to serve on my staff?"
"Yes sir." He said, sounding suddenly pleased.
"I thought so." I replied. "I will give you all the details later. But, first things first," I plucked a datapad from my desk and held it out to him. "This pad contains a list of your duties, as well as new access codes for AFNet. Memorize those codes, the files will delete themselves after being accessed. You will also find a file on this pad containing your first assignment. I have a list of personal I need you to locate. Go to it."
"Yes sir." He said and saluted before turning to leave.
"And Major," I said, returning to my chair. He turned back and I spoke once more. "I want you to wear fatigues from now on. I know it is protocol to wear at least half dress while at headquarters, but I would rather my staff be comfortable. And another thing, keep your armor and weapons maintained. You might need them."
"Yes sir."
***
10-18-3015
Time Index; 0630 hours GST
MASC Battlecruiser Stilian
Andronius System, Merxian space
The loud chime of the ship's intercom jarred Katy awake from what had been a deep sleep. For a moment, her mind refused to acknowledge that she had business in the waking world and remained mostly asleep. She was lying on her stomach, one hand hanging off the side of the bed, for the moment staring at a bulkhead. When her blurry eyes found nothing of interest there, they started to close, returning her to sleep, but life insisted on intruding on her sleep that morning. The com chimed once more, and her eyes opened fully again, her mind reluctantly committing itself to waking up. She had been very busy settling into her new job, which had its perks, and several obvious drawbacks. While she was no longer bothered by the work load of a fighter group commander, she now had to read the reports of all the other group commanders in her fleet. What was more, she couldn't get most of the work she needed to do done because her billet aboard the Stilian was only temporary. At the moment, the Stilian was supposed to be heading for a rendezvous with other elements of Admiral Antius' fleet, including her new home, the heavy fighter carrier Yunius, freshly returning to action from the repair yards. Still, she had had quite a lot of work to do tracking down leads on the Conclave and had only nodded off into sleep four hours ago. Yawning drowsily, the fox woman rolled over beneath her covers and pressed the activation button on the wall next to her bed.
"Jes'ic here." She said, restraining another yawn.
"General, Communications here." The voice of the comms officer said, soundly slightly altered from the speaker under the button. "Sorry to disturb you ma'am, but you have a priority communiqué standing by."
"Alright, send it down to my terminal." She replied, dragging herself from the comfortable confines of her bed and walking unsteadily over to the nearby desk, yawning once more before settling herself into the chair before it. The terminal blinked to life and the crest of the Merxian Alliance appeared, surrounded by the words 'Merxian Military Headquarters Archives.' Smiling to herself, she realized that some of the information she wanted had arrived early. Passing her right hand over the scanner in the desk, she waited for it to confirm her security clearance. Once the scanner turned green, the crest vanished, bringing up the standard classified information warning page. Once she had read it, she brought up the file she had been given. A feral grin came to her face as her eyes flicked back and forth over the information in the file. It contained hypercom communications records of several ranking officers that she and her mate suspected were Conclave operatives. She was all set to begin reading it more thoroughly when the intercom chimed again, breaking her concentration.
"Attention, Attention. The Stilian will be docking with Fleet Battlestation Finon in twenty minutes, all stations prepare for docking maneuvers." The watch officer said and Katy sighed, copying the file onto her personal pad along with several other documents she had been working on the night before. Once the computer was done transferring the data, she tossed the pad on top of her equipment satchel and headed for her bathroom. Once inside, she stripped off her underwear and climbed into the shower stall, starting the chemical vapors swirling around her. While she breathed in the odorless vapors, she tried her best to wake up. Ever since the month long sojourn on the moon had ended, she had realized that she had gotten used to a few things not found on the warship. One thing she missed quite a bit was the cold freshwater spring she could go to, to wake up in the mornings. But still, one of the things she had gotten used to was still there.
Smiling, she looked down at the necklace hanging around her neck, next to her ID tags. The wolf necklace was only an out-word sign of the thing she missed most. She had gotten used to the presence of her mate, the human from her home world. It had taken her all of about a week to realize why she couldn't seem to get comfortable in her bed at night. It wasn't because it was too soft, because the bed was far more comfortable than a sleeping roll on top of hard stone was. It wasn't even that the temperature of her quarters was uncomfortable. It was that she missed cuddling up to her mate, feeling his heart beating against her, hearing his quiet breath as they slept. While that was certainly impossible onboard a Merxian ship, she had found the next best thing. When she had been tossing and turning late one night, after she had returned to her duties, she had hit upon a wild idea and had acted upon it without thinking. She had reached out with her mental powers, casting about across the endless void of space, seeking the mind of the one she loved. And to her surprise, after only an hour of searching, she had found an answering tendril of thought. Her mate had been unconsciously reaching out to her as well. Since then, she had maintained a link with him; she could feel his emotions, his frustrations, his hopes, and most of all, she felt the longing he carried in his heart for her. And that above all, allowed her to sleep.
Once the vapors had cleared, she stepped from the shower and reached for the brush once more. She began to run it through her fur, the bristles untangling knots and smoothing out her red orange coat. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she realized suddenly how much finding her mate had changed her. Where before this ritual was little more than one of habit, now, she genuinely cared about the way she looked. Smiling, she brushed her lover's wolf shaped necklace with her finger tips. Still grinning, she walked back into her quarters and changed into a fresh flight suit and began donning her armor. She had just clipped her helmet to her belt and slung her equipment pack on her shoulder when the door chimed. Curious, she looked toward the corridor. She hadn't been expecting anybody to visit her quarters today.
"Come." She said and the door slid open to reveal a young female wolf, wearing the ranks of a marine corporal on her armor, and two other canids, both privates, though what sub-species they belonged to was hidden by their helmets. All three of them saluted and Katy returned the gesture of respect.
"We were ordered to assist you in moving your belongings to your new ship, ma'am." The corporal declared, standing with her hands behind her back.
"Very well, corporal." Katy replied, relieved. She still hadn't gotten used to the privileges being a flag officer entailed. Smiling slightly, she gestured to the duffel bag and equipment case that sat at the foot of her bed. Nodding the corporal hefted the duffle bag onto her shoulder and the two privates each grabbed an end of the case, leaving Katy to grab her newly issued assault carbine from its rack on the wall, the last piece that had made these rooms her home for so long. Trying not to look uncomfortable, Katy led the way out of the room and through the corridors of the massive Battlecruiser to the nearest airlock, and then out onto the station.
While still a military base, and therefore lacking some of the openness of civilian stations, Finon station was still more luxurious than one might expect. Huge windows gave anyone walking along the main ring of the station an excellent view of the swirling atmosphere of the gas giant the station orbited, often painting the grey decking with swirls of bright color, sunlight from the binary suns reflecting off the gas giant. The moment Katy stepped on board, she couldn't help but feel a little better. Intriguing scents drifted her way from the cafes and restaurants catering to visiting personal that ringed the station on this deck, interspersed with PXs, tattoo parlors and any of a dozen other entertainments for soldiers. It was meant to be something of a home away from home for the military. And yet, even as one felt that the station had an almost civilian air to it, Katy could not help but notice the huge armored blast doors that would cover the windows if the station was attacked. Plus, there were always the armed Marines stationed here and there, or patrolling in groups along the concourse. And then, as Katy passed another window, she found her gaze drawn, as it always was, to one of the huge weapon emplacements just outside the window. Those were constant reminders that this was first and foremost a fortress, not a civilian hang out.
Picking up the pace a little to distract herself from the sights and sounds of the station, Katy headed for the docking ring on the other side of the station from the Stilian, returning the salutes of lower ranked personal as she walked. Every species in the Alliance was represented here, and it suddenly struck her that the Terrans were at least lucky enough to all look roughly alike. Here, there were so many different colors and patterns of fur that it made picking individuals out of a crowd very difficult. Shrugging off that line of thought, she passed out of the main ring and into the docking ring once more, joining the line of sailors and marines headed for the Yunius. Since she was a flag officer now, she could have just bypassed the line altogether, but she had always felt that that was extremely rude, even if they outranked everybody else in the line. It would be a while before she passed the security checkpoint, but she didn't mind.
Instead, as she waited, she ran through the checklist of everything she had to do once on board and sighed slightly to herself. All she really wanted to do was to track down the Conclave and punish them for the deaths of her family and the destruction of her world, but she had to take care of the work that had piled up before she could even look at it. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'at least it is a start...'
***
11-02-3015
Time Index; 1115 hours GST
TFMC Headquarters
*Location Classified, required clearance; Beta*, Terran space
Sighing slightly in relief, I tapped the send key on my computer, sending off the very last report I had to deal with for my current duties. And even better, I was leaving the Headquarters planet for a while. Officially, I was going on a tour of inspection of several key facilities throughout Terran space, but the truth was, my adjutant had located all of the people I had to talk to. Thankfully, they all happened to be posted to locations that I had a legitimate excuse to go to. Standing up from behind my desk, I deactivated the computer terminal and walked to the front door of my office. My aide, a marine master sergeant, was hurrying to finish packing up his stack of computer pads and I waited patently for him to finish before continuing on down the hallway. Even after all this time in the job, it still amazed me how many people were assigned to my office.
I had seven senior officers assigned as my staff, and each of them had two or three officers acting as assistants, and about twenty enlisted technicians and orderlies under them. All told, I had about a company's worth of personal at my direct disposal, and that didn't count the pilots of Samurai squadron, which also reported directly to me. And I had chosen every one of them personally. If the situation ever arose where we would be called on to go into battle, my staff company could perform like an infantry unit. Not that there was much going on in the office right now. My section of the Marine General Headquarters was almost empty, the computers secured and the individual offices locked down. Most of my staff had been transferred up to the Bismarck, another battleship of the same class as the Endeavor, that was on its way to the first destination on my list. I had cut orders that would allow us to tag along, the first time I had made such a serious order.
"Major, are you ready?" I asked, as Major Dillinger walked into the corridor, falling in step a pace behind me with two of his orderlies trailing him.
"Yes sir." He replied. "Commander Archer confirmed that everything will be ready when we arrive."
"Good." I stated, walking to the elevator that would take us to the landing pad. It took a good ten minutes for the shuttle to reach orbit, and another five or so to dock with the Bismarck. Most of the trip was spent in silence, everyone busy with the details of running the Marine Corps' fighter command. But finally, when we stepped on board the Bismarck, my adjutant spoke up at last.
"Sir, if I may ask, why are we taking the entire office on this fact finding tour?" He asked and I smiled. I had wondered just how long it would take for one of my officers to ask that question.
"You may ask." I replied. "I received a message from Admiral Brinkley, saying that he had something for me, something that would allow me even more mobility than I had when I was a group commander. And that is something that will make cleaning up the mess Davenport left behind much easier."
"Very well sir." Dillinger replied, the answer enough to mollify his concerns. As we were walking, a naval commander joined us from a side passageway and spoke.
"Welcome aboard the Bismarck, General." He said and I nodded in reply. "Commodore Lavenda wanted you to know that we will be arriving in the Asgard system in approximately 12 hours."
"Thank you commander." I said, heading for my quarters. The fancifully named Asgard system contained the Terran Federation's primary shipyard, as well as the primary manufacturing facilities for all military hardware, making it one of the most vital, and most heavily defended systems in the Federation. I had once heard that it would have taken at least two thousand cruiser size ships and an army of millions of troops to have a chance of taking the system, and even then, at any given time, at least four battle groups were within striking distance. But more important to me even than all of that, two of the people I wanted to contact called the Asgard system home...
***
11-02-3015
Time Index; 2155 hours GST
TFV Battleship Bismarck
Enroute to Asgard system, Terran space
A knock on my doorframe made me glance up from the pad I had been working on. Major Dillinger stood there, looking a little concerned and I considered him for a while in silence. He was obviously deeply troubled for the emotion to show so prominently on his face.
"What can I do for you Major?" I asked and he paused for a little while before replying.
"Sir, may I ask you a question?" He asked and I nodded for him to continue. "General, I have done everything you asked me to since I accepted the position of adjutant. And sir, I know you have said that we are investigating General Davenport's activities, trying to see how far his connections go." He paused again and I waited, knowing what was coming next. "But sir, some of the information you requested that I locate has nothing to do with the General. Sir, normally, I would never ask this, but I have to know. What is really going on?" I sighed at his question and set aside my work.
"Well, Major, the truth is, things are not as simple as we have been led to believe." I replied, waving him to seat before the desk. "Every Terran soldier has been taught for years that the Merxians are evil, untrustworthy beings that would just as soon slaughter every Terran that lives. We are told that, since the day we made contact for the first time, they were planning to attack us, just waiting for the chance to betray the uneasy peace that had ruled between us." Dillinger nodded his agreement. At this, I leaned forward a little across the desk and spoke quietly, activating the surveillance blocking equipment set into my desk. After the system closed the door, I continued to speak. "Major, I can't tell you the rest of this unless I know whether I can trust you."
"Sir?" He asked, confused.
"There is only one way that a psychic can know whether to trust someone or not." I explained, and understanding broke across his face.
"You are going to read my mind." He said, his tone carrying a note of alarm within it.
"Yes and no." I replied, looking down at my desk for a moment. "I will be looking into your mind, yes. But anyone with enough training can hide things from a casual probe. As a Special Forces officer, I know you received that training. But as you know, a powerful enough psychic can find any information within the mind of someone if he tries hard enough. The thing is, doing so almost always results in deep emotional trauma, and sometimes even permanent damage to one's mind. I only say this because I want you to know the consequences of trying to fight it. Since you have asked that question, I have to know your loyalties. But understand this, even if you don't resist, it will not be a pleasant experience."
"I understand sir." He said, looking nervous. He took a deep breath, then said the thing I had hoped he would say. "Go ahead, I am ready."
"Alright." I replied, raising my gaze and looking into his eyes.
Reaching out with my mind, I touched his consciousness. Even that slight contact made his eyes open wide. Taking a breath to prepare in case I had to fight my way in, I pushed into his mind, reaching for his memories. He winced a little, but remained still, his face as stoic as ever. I ran into no barriers as I pushed deeper into his mind and that was a very good sign. Still, I knew it must have taken all of his control to let me see what I wanted. Focusing, I began to read through his mind, letting my instincts take over, guiding me to the sections of memory that were useful. I saw a young soldier dressed in the pristine royal blue dress uniform of a new marine taking the oath to defend the Federation. I saw the moments when the same marine's dedication to that oath was tested. The first time he killed, the first time he saw a comrade die. On and on, as the marine in the memories got older and higher ranked. It took little more than two minutes for me to scan his mind all the way to his current assignment, but I knew that it would seem much longer to Dillinger. By the end, his face was red and a vein was throbbing in his forehead, but finally, I withdrew from his mind, satisfied. All through his career, he had been nothing less than a loyal Marine.
"Relax Major." I said, "You pass." I paused to let him recover before I continued with the conversation we had been having before I had probed his mind. "The truth of the matter is that the Merxians didn't want a war with us. And before you ask, they didn't attack Arc." The major looked even more confused and I let him absorb that statement for a while. "I have uncovered evidence that there is a vast conspiracy, spanning both the Federation and the Merxian Alliance. From the evidence I have collected so far, I know that they call themselves the Conclave, and that they ordered the attack on Arc, framing the Alliance." The major was silent for a while longer, then he finally spoke.
"Sir, if that is true, why haven't you come forward with that information?" He asked.
"For them to have successfully gotten the Federation to blame the alliance for the attack, they would need to have operatives within both militaries." I answered, sitting back in my chair. "Operatives that would have had to have been highly placed and influential." My new confidant nodded slowly and I could see the cogs working in his mind.
"Sir, how do you know that this isn't something worked up by the Merxians themselves?" The question didn't surprise me and I dug a datachip out of a pocket of my flight suit, sliding it across the desk to him.
"That data comes straight from the archives of Military Intelligence." I explained as he picked up the chip. "It is all the deployment data for their military units just prior to the war. Read it yourself. You will find that at the time the attack on Arc came, the Merxian Alliance was wholly unprepared for a war, as were we. What is more, their forces almost exactly matched ours in strength and numbers. In such a situation, it makes no sense for them to have attacked us so blatantly. But, in the furor over the attack, no one so much as made mention of this data and it was mostly forgotten." Major Dillinger sat for a long time in silence, thinking everything over.
"Sir, there is still one thing that bothers me." He said and I nodded for him to continue. "Your reputation shows that you hated the Merxians more than anyone. You were ruthless in combat against them. What made you suspect that this was going on?"
"Well major, that is good question." I answered. "As for hating the Merxians, I did at first. But years of war have a tendency to change people. I stopped hating them; instead, I didn't really care one way or the other about them. That is, until I was shot down a couple months ago over the moons of Arc. When I recovered from the crash, I realized that another pilot had crashed near me on Arc 4. It was a Merxian Colonel, one of their fighter aces. We ended up meeting on the surface, and since Arc 4 is inhabited by hostile creatures, we agreed on a temporary truce so we could both get out of there alive. We ended up being stuck there for more than a month, and by the end of the first week, we were friends. It was the first opportunity I had to question one of them without them being a prisoner and that was when I found out they had not attacked Arc. In fact, their leadership blamed us for the attack, saying we just wanted an excuse to go to war. But, during our time on the moon, we found the Conclave spying on us, and when we took care of them, we also captured several computers. We searched their archives together and when we found out what was on them, it became as clear as day. The Conclave wanted this war, and did everything it needed to do to make it a reality. They have been manipulating both sides from the beginning. It was then that we agreed that something had to be done to stop them. And, I am doing my part of that plan, hunting down the Conclave operatives within our ranks."
"Sir, that's... that's treason." He said, his eyes wide.
"No, it isn't." I said and he looked taken aback. "Neither of us is acting against our country, or our allegiances. The members of the Conclave are the ones who have committed treason. Think about it major. They caused a war that has cost the lives of billions on both sides. They have forced the war to continue by committing atrocities on one side or the other, driving us to hate one another until we won't even consider peace. Don't you see? If it continues as it is going, this war will eventually devastate both sides, and what will be left over?"
"Nothing." He replied, nodding slowly. "Alright. I am with you sir. What needs to be done?"
"At the moment, all we can do is gather information, gather resources." I explained. "But eventually, we will take them down, and maybe then this war will have a chance of ending peacefully."
"Well, in that case," He said, rising to his feet. "With your permission General, I have some work to do."
"Its good to have you with us." I said, offering him my hand. He shook it, smiling.
"Its good to be here sir..."