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Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 2
Chapter 8 - Taking a Breath[]
Erin listened as…
…the prize ships began to arrive in the Johnson system. Most of them would require servicing to make ready for the trip to Quatre Belle for auction.
In the interim, Erinyes had not only the tech support for the base staff, and much of the Cluster's equipment and support staff, but also a contingent of stand-by personnel ready to trade crews with the prize crews.
"You understand, Mister Cohn, how this works?" Erin spoke to the biological officer.
"We trade off manning on the vessels for the trip to Quatre Belle yards." Phil Cohn sighed. "Don't worry, there won't be a scratch on them when they get to the auction block."
MOST of those JumpShips would be purchased by Clan Snow Raven, then refitted and equipped and seconded back to the Privateers as support for patrol DropShips, or shifted to local defense militia.
But the two Star Lord class would likely be bought straight into the Touman as support ships for the main fleet.
Erin had no illusions here-the 'shifting of money from one department to another' was for the public's benefit, the Privateer Fleet had to seem self-sustaining to comply with both foreign treaties, and current sensibilities among the Parliament.
A further proof being that while the 'ferry crews' were technically civilians, they were all and sundry filled with a mix of Merchant Caste clanners and OMC regulars on 'detached reserve status' overseen by Clan Watch officers.
Some of those "Merchant caste and "Technician caste” were effectively redressed Warriors of Clan Snow Raven from deactivated ships currently in mothball.
Conveniently, she could at least trust them not to jump the ships into a singularity or something absurd like that.
"All hands prepare the maintenance bay for the arrival of our first customer." Erin announced. "We'll be meeting them in two days. I am activating guest accommodations on the Gravity Wheel, stewards are to assure quarters are properly clean and ready for habitation. That is all."
Erin observed her own crewmen rushing to prepare the repair bays and quarters for her temporary guests. "Mister Ellis, get me a headcount on each arriving vessel, including possible wounded and those with pending shore leaves who might want to spend their waiting time on the surface."
"Aye, Mum." George Ellis got the XO job on the Erinyes through an interview-out of dozens of candidates. He'd been the one who spoke to the ship as if she was a person, rather than asking for overrides.
It almost made up for his habit of treating people like equipment in his secondary position as the 'yard boss' for her maintenance group.
"Form up…
…we have a week to prep for the enemy station, and they're going to be a lot more ready than this bunch was." Fleet Captain Dave Foster had Star Captain Siegel and Captain Roberts in his wardroom this evening. "It's going to be a lot more difficult to take the station, with most of our Marines manning prize-crews to Johnson, and they're bound to have more combat effectives on that station. I am open to suggestions on how we manage this one."
"We have EMU units for the protos?" Seigel asked.
"We do." Amanda nodded. "We're gonna need 'em too, we're going in short of infantry."
"I think you have a different definition of 'short' than I do." Siegel noted. "All due respect, Miss Roberts."
"Taken. We need those fueling docks." Amanda noted.
"What is the status of the follow-on Fleet element?" Siegel asked Dave.
"Well, the last bounce-back from Fleet was two weeks, but it could be longer." he observed.
"We're assuming longer, why?" Amanda asked.
"Because things go wrong, of course." Siegel observed. "Keep your contingency plans warm, because Murphy is a right ******."
"Means we need to hold more marines back." Amanda noted. "We currently comprise every potential way they can get word out of our being here. Also the only extant escape route, we only have two warships. Does anyone else think they might have someone on the other side who knows how to run a boarding op?"
"I think. Given who they claim to be, they must have someone who has at least studied the SLDF manual." Foster observed.
"I thought I picked up a jump signature during the fight…" Siegel said.
"Yeah, and you can see the rear end of that Invader still here. I don't think they're telling anyone anything." Amanda cracked. "I mean, I could be wrong…how good is the commo between the afterlife and our opponents?"
Even Siegel chuckled, shooting Foster a raised eyebrow, "Are you sure she is not from your genes, Dave?"
"I claim nothing there." he said. "She just has a good, working sense of humor……and you might consider that Captain Roberts has a stack of accomplishments that has actively triggered envy among our colleagues, Billie."
"Billie? Really?" Amanda looked confused.
"Nickname-also was my callsign when I was flying a Visigoth back when DAVE and I were shave-tail aviators fresh out of sibko."
"About the time your grandfather was raising hell as a forward observer, Amanda." Dave told her.
"Age, then, respect for elders." Amanda observed it firmly.
"See?" Siegel said. "She gets it."
"Okay, so let us get back to business," David saw this was veering off. "Plan for taking the station, that is what we are here for."
"First we need to…"
"Five JumpShips…
…recovered, including three Invader and two Star Lord class. That is a major collection of assets," Acton Howe stated.
"Strain on the budget?" President Avellar asked. "Will the finance plan still work out?"
"My Merchant caste advisor says it will work out within the expected budget," Khan Crowe stated. "I would call the first part of the Michtal operation to be very successful."
"Leaves the rest of it." the President sighed. "The follow-on forces? Are they going to be on time?"
"Aff," Crowe stated. "If I have to go out there and push them, even."
"What about our visitors from the other Clans??" Avellar asked.
"Handled… for now. I am using 'procedures' to delay the inspectors until the Michtal operation is concluded."
"And the overall mission??"
"Is on track." Howe asserted. "The encirclement of Bannerhoft proceeds, we will be ready to recover that world in August. Right on schedule."
"What about the Republic's people?" Crowe asked.
"Ambassador Bin-Hamin's court case is…stalled. Seems our judiciary is reluctant to allow the lawsuit to move forward based on standing." President Avellar didn't grin. "I'm surprised they haven't tried to use someone in your Clan to shift it to a trial."
"Standing." Crowe stated. "They do not have any to declare a Trial of Grievance or Possession at least. Not currently, the Republic has to get in behind the other five Clans if they want to try for a Trial of Possession-and I do not think the current Khans of Jade Falcon or Wolf are willing to step aside for that."
"What's the progress on the other investigation?" President Avellar asked.
"Well…you will not like it, I know I do not like it." Howe said carefully.
"I didn't take this job to hear things I like, Loremaster." Mitchell Avellar stated.
"We have a strong suspicion, and little actual, actionable proof…but the indicators are that the assassination teams sent against you, Roberts, and the Erinyes were most likely financed and organized by the Republic of the Sphere."
"Alternate explanation?" Mitchell asked without blinking.
"You DO understand what I just told you, quiaff?" Howe demanded.
"Yes. You can't act on it yet," the President stated. "You know what they did, but because of how they did it, proving it to anyone else is a fool's errand. I understood perfectly."
"Witness his surprise," Crowe observed. "Or complete lack of same."
"Terrans," Avellar stated, "have a history of such acts, and the Republic is if nothing else, headquartered on Terra. With most of the infrastructure of Comstar and probably the remnants of the Terran Hegemony's intelligence groups. Enough to 'send a message' while appearing to fail. I am, as Khan Crowe notes, completely unsurprised at this shocking revelation."
"So…why an alternate explanation?"
"Because they're pros." Mitchell stated. "If there isn't a patsy, then your evidence is wrong. Who's their patsy?"
"Remnant Word of Blake." Avellar replied. Howe at least, seemed pleased.
"They're going to run out of those soon, but at least they don't want us in open war with the Dracs or the Feddies."
"There is… another matter, Mister President." Crowe said it hesitantly.
"Related?"
"It might be. Howe?"
Loremaster Howe cleared his throat. "Tangential. One of the recovered ex-prisoners from Devil's Breath… and possibly Director Amanda Roberts."
"What?" Avellar said with surprise.
"There are certain 'practice' DNA sequences retained by the Scientist Caste."
"She's not another Kerensky or something is she? Or…whatchacallem, 'not named'?"
"Nothing like that, Mister President." Howe said. "But Jane Doe 234 from Devil's Breath has a line-for-line genetic match for Elizabeth Cameron the Second... and Amanda Roberts' matrilineal DNA has over sixty percent of the unique markers for Cameron inheritance."
"Maybe cloned?" Mitchell asked.
"No signs of drift or mutation. Jane Doe could not be anyone else, but someone genetically identical to the youngest sister of Richard Cameron-the first lord assassinated by Amaris during the coup. There are unique markers in Cameron DNA, it is one of the things we test new Scientist caste in the Eugenics program to look for."
"Well son of a bitch… how much dynamite is this worth?" Avellar asked.
"She insists on having no memory of how she got here or how she managed to stay physically in her twenties through centuries." Crowe stated.
"You're sitting on this?"
"Aff."
"Then we keep sitting on it until we can work out how and why...and Director Roberts has similar markers?"
"Aff. We tested her brothers, and they also have them, as does her mother. They are, thankfully, recessives."
"Good god," the President shook his head. "Why here, why now? Put those test results under seal, Howe, seal it tight, make it require both MY signature, and the signatures of BOTH Khans, this is the kind of political dynamite that can blow up in our faces if we let it."
"What about Jane Doe?"
"Keep working on her rehabilitation, help her build a new identity if she needs it, keep her comfortable-jesus, what else should any decent person do? The woman was tortured for years!!"
A Courier…
…steps out of a hitched ride in downtown. He believes he is unobserved, he believes nobody is watching him, because his fieldcraft is well trained.
The drop is at an open-air cafe near the spaceport, set on a canal, with pleasure boats and the occasional fisher passing by. People come here for romance, or to see the sights, or, even, to eat the Chef's Special for two-ninety-nine (or an equivalent in labor credit for the personnel from the base.)
He believes himself unobserved. He is wrong.
So terribly, terribly wrong.
The woman who is supposed to pick up the packet, and bring it into the Republic's embassy, will be found in the canal tomorrow.
The Courier, of course, has no idea, and won't have any idea, until police enter his apartment with warrants, and find evidence of his crime.
He will be convicted of murder, because Treason comes with…questions. Questions whose answers pose a number of security threats to the Raven Alliance.
The package is left behind, as our courier hurries off after finishing his meal.
It is retrieved by the busboy, who takes it with the dirty dishes, to be cleaned…or in this case, to be handed to a member of Outworlds Intelligence Corps, counterintelligence division, where it will be passed back to the Raven Watch later this afternoon, sealing the security breach.
This isn't the work of an afternoon, the afternoon's work is the culmination of a nearly decade long investigation.
"Jane, I'm going to show you…
…some images, and I want you to be completely honest about what you see." Dr. Huntington's orders came with a Presidential Seal.
"Will this help me remember who I am?" the patient asked.
"That's what we're going to find out…" and she held up a flimsy.
"Star League symbol, the…the star. I saw a modified version with some of the military around here."
"That's right. What was your first thought?"
"Blood." Jane Doe 264 said.
The next image.
"He looks…not very smart." The young woman said. "It's in his eyes. He's…"
"Go ahead."
"Dim. His father wanted a son so badly."
The doctor put the image of Richard Cameron aside, and brought out another.
The Jane Doe recoiled visibly. "AMARIS!!" there was hatred there.
Stephan Amaris' image joined the first two on the pile, and the next image came up.
"It was Christmas…Solstice, officially, because there are so many faiths in the Hegemony." Jane said. There was something awful in her undertone.
"Jane…isn't your name."
Her eyes were watering when she looked up. "But I want it to be!!"
"Why?"
"I don't want to be her!!" the young woman almost snarled, "WEAK!! She was weak, she couldn't get away!!" she was almost hysterical.
Huntington changed images.
"I DON'TWANTTORMEMEBER!!" this time the patient lashed out, striking the Cameron family photograph from the doctor's hand. "She was a Spare!! 'heir and a spare!!' Heir and a spare, but they left me there!! Heir and a spare and they kept me there!!"
Dr. Huntington took her in a hug. "It's going to be alright…"
"You don't understand…I don't want to go back…it's what happened last time…If I have to be her, then I'll end up back in that place…it happened like that before." a grown woman sounding like…like the traumatized child. "Don't make me be her, doctor. I don't want to be the spare anymore."