Chapter 16: Lieutenant Reilly

The Olympus was large enough to take both the cargo ship and the syndicate ship into its landing bay with plenty of room to spare. Aboard the luxury flyer were 36 people which included the operations crew of 14, 20 men, who claimed to just be freight workers with no clue of what was going on, even though the ship had a completely automated cargo system, the man in the suit who had been holding their leashes on Woodland Beach and Barbra Klum. She was the daughter of Senator Klum who was being investigated for alleged ties to the London syndicate. Everyone aboard that ship was taken into custody. Just being aboard a ship equipped with military grade weapons is enough to get an appearance before a judge, being part of a crew that fired those weapons on any ship, especially an unarmed ship is a minimum of 10 years of prison time. Firing on an Alliance officer who clearly identified herself, as Captain Mitchell had, and forcing her to surrender, as they did, well that crossed into the realm of treason.

Once our ship was tractored into the landing bay, the atmosphere of the carrier filled all the compartments that were breached on our little ship. That allowed us to open our compartment and Mitchell to free the rest of the crew. We were swiftly taken into custody, not officially arrested, but held in confinement until the Captain of the Carrier could get a clear understanding of what was going on.

I wasn’t entirely certain what we would be charged with, but we did break a number of laws, from petty theft to high-jacking a starship, and a few dozen other laws. It was all in the name of survival. But I could only assume we would have to make that case in front of several judges in multiple jurisdictions. The interstellar government that makes up the Alliance had significant influence with the member worlds but didn’t like to interfere with them when they couldn’t avoid it, so I wasn’t foreseeing a whole lot of help clearing up most of our acts.

Kayla and I were separated as soon as we emerged from the cargo ship and Mitchell was escorted off the deck by a group of officers who wanted to debrief her first. With the brig overflowing with individuals listed as ‘hostile,’ I and the rest of the cargo ship’s crew were held in a conference room under guard. They all talked amongst themselves, occasionally shooting me dirty looks, but didn’t say a word directly to me. I didn’t blame them for being pissed at me. Despite our reasons for stealing their ship, we had threatened them, held them captive, destroyed their cargo hold and lost all of their shipment. I was sure Mitchell would be good to her word about making sure they were compensated, but I doubted that would bring me any forgiveness from them. In the end, it didn’t matter. I was probably going to prison for a good stretch, and if not, I had nowhere else to go, so I wasn’t going to worry about any of it. I put my feet up on the table, crossed my arms in front of me, closed my eyes and tried not to think for a while.

About an hour or two later the door opened, and an armed security officer directed me to follow him. “Can I ask where we are going?” I asked as we walked down the hallway, his hand firmly on my left arm. He didn’t answer. “You would tell me if it’s to a firing squad, right?” I joked, but I didn’t get so much as a half grin out of him. We continued to a lift and stood silently as it when up to one of the top decks. Then he walked me onto and across the bridge. When we got to the Captain’s office, he stopped an pushed the buzzer to announce our presence. The door slid open, and he put his hand on my back with a bit of pressure to direct me to step in. As I did, I saw Captain Mitchell. They had given her a fresh uniform that was fleet and had no rank or insignia, but it was clean, pressed and was a clear indication that she was on active duty. That gave me a great sense of comfort because it indicated that they believed her and the crazy story of what we had been through over the past few weeks. I had no doubt they would, but the off chance that they wouldn’t had made me a little uneasy up to that point.

“Lieutenant,” Captain Tansky said as she sat at her desk, raven black hair framing her face as it turned down her head and just off her shoulders, borderline regulation, but anyone who made it to the rank of Captain of a fleet carrier didn’t have to answer to too many people and could take liberties with such grey areas. The way she said my rank made me stand straight and I started to salute, but then considered that I was not in uniform and no longer active duty. Then I decided that it was proper to show the respect to the Captain whose ship had just save our asses. I gave a proper salute and held it waiting for the return. She seemed to think about it for a moment and then returned it. She then spoke.

“You’ve had quite an adventure,” she said.

“Yes, Captain,” I said, my stance closer to attention than at ease.

“I think you should know that I am in command of not just this ship, but also the entire third fleet,” she stated.

“Captain?” I said I was very confused at why she felt she needed to make that clear to me.

She looked directly at me as if she was evaluating every movement. “That means I have Alpha One clearance.” She waited for my reaction, and I think my face kept the same confused look. “If you are working off the books for any security branch of the Alliance or any Alliance government you can tell me.”

“I’m not working for anyone,” I answered.

“Alright,” she said standing and crossing around the desk and standing directly in front of me. She was a tall woman, nearly a head taller than me and with a presence that would make any man feel like a schoolboy in the principal's office. “Very well then, I will make it an order Lieutenant. Which agency do your report to?”

I took a half step back, cleared my throat and answered. “I don’t work for anyone.”

Her face went from serious to annoyed, she turned and crossed back behind her desk, picking up the data pad with the details of everything as dictated by Mitchell starting from my firing from the Glacier Runner. “You expect me to believe that you just happened to get yourself fired from a ship that was about to be sabotaged and that the young woman with the evidence to completely unravel an intergalactic conspiracy to create a civil war was just a coincidence?”

I looked over at Mitchell and asked, ‘Civil War? What the hell is she talking about?”

“If I may, Captain?” Mitchell asked, and with a nod giving her permission she turned to me and explained the part I didn’t know. “We were able to put Kayla into a state that allowed her to reveal what Gerald forced her to store in her memory. Senator Klum was working with the London Syndicate to undermine the seven worlds of the Grievous sector, starting with rigging the Presidential election on Apollo. They’ve been strategically placing people in key positions in the government of each planet, more of which are little more than overgrown human colonies. Using various media outlets, they’ve been spreading rumors that the Gelnoria are building a fleet and army to take back these worlds now that they don’t have to worry about the Serken. That’s resulted in the leadership of those worlds to approve major increases to military funding and build-ups, buying up surplus from a number of our allies. We were operating under the assumption that the syndicate was just trying to create a new market to sell weapons, but what we uncovered was much more sinister.

Captain Tansky then continued, “Your young friend told us of a meeting between Mr. Carplex and Senator Klum. In that meeting, they outlined what steps they would take to run members of their organization for positions of top leadership on each of the seven worlds, and once they were in place, they would broadcast a fake attack by the Gelnoria, then lead a fleet of ships on a counter attack. The Alliance would quickly see through the deception and try to defuse the incident with the truth, but they planned to use that in their favor by telling their citizens that the Alliance was lying to them and that they needed to stand on their own to defend themselves. That would lead to a proclamation of forming a new and independent government, controlled by the syndicate. The Senator stated in that meeting that he would convince his party that a war with the new government of the seven worlds would cost too many lives and we would have no choice but to recognize the new government as legitimate and independent. Then they would easily convince their citizens that they needed to build up their military to protect them from two sides, the Gelnoria and the Alliance.”

“That’s insane,” I said having a hard time believing that anyone would try to do such a thing or believe that they could get away with having a criminal organization form a new government. Then I thought about all the wars I had studied in school and then realized it wasn’t such a new idea.

Captain Tankey then took her seat and said, “We had suspected that the London Syndicate had influence in many levels of our government, and we had been building some evidence, but until your young friend gave us names, dates, and locations, we couldn’t prove anything. Now we will be able to head off the conspiracy before they can cause any real damage and hold most of the people behind it accountable. We have been trying to turn over this particular rock for nearly two years, and I just have a hard time accepting that you just happened to have found it and then delivered it to us wrapped in a ribbon.”

I looked to Mitchell who had her practiced neutral expression on her face. I then looked back at Captain Tankey. “Do you honestly believe I could have planned out and executed such a convoluted series of events?”

She thought about that for a moment and let a half-smile appear on her face for a second. Then she looked at me. “Well, now I have a problem. If you had been working for any legitimate intelligence organization, I would have been able to turn you over to them and let them clean up the mess that you left in your wake. But if you are a civilian, then you are accountable for your actions and everyone you effected along the way. Which means I must put you under lock and key until we reach a base with a JAG office. Then you will be their problem. Since our brig is full, I will have you put in a vacant officer’s quarters.” She then pushed a button on her desk and the security officer who had escorted me there entered and once again grabbed my arm. “Find an empty room on deck 5 and put a guard on the door until further notice.” She instructed. He saluted, she saluted back, and he then directed me out the door.

~~~

The quarters that they put me in would have normally been assigned to a couple of ensigns. It was small, had two single beds, two chairs, each at a writing desk built into the wall, and two computer terminal ports that were vacant of their keypads and screens. There was a small bathroom with a single shower stall and one sink and a door connecting to the next quarters that was locked at the moment. For about five minutes I enjoyed being in a clean and safe place without having to look over my shoulder or worry about anything jumping out of the shadows, but then boredom set in. There was nothing, no access to music or books, nothing to work on, not even a technical manual to review… nothing. The small porthole-sized window looked out to black space with a few pin lights of stars. I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes hoping to pass some time by sleeping, but the ship was so large it hardly made a sound. I was used to hearing all kinds of hums and groans from battle worn and aged ships, each telling me exactly how the old bird was doing. This fairly new and modern super-carrier was more like a flying space station. The main engines were so far away from the section I was on that the vibrations that they made were completely defused by the time it traveled to the midsection.

I don’t know how much time had passed, maybe an hour, maybe more, probably less, but the knock on the door was such a contrast to the quiet that it made me jump. “Come in,” I replied, and the door opened. Mitchell stepped in and closed the door behind her. I sat up and started to stand, but she waved her hand to indicate that I need not bother. Then she grabbed one of the desk chairs and took a seat.

“I just came by to let you know that I checked in on Kayla and she’s doing okay. The drugs they gave her were mostly muscle relaxers to get her in the right state of mind to recall the implanted memories. I got her up for a few minutes, made her drink some water and then let her go back to sleep. She’ll be herself again by morning. How are you fairing?”

“Okay,” I answered, stretching out my neck, trying to crack a knot that was making it stiff but with no luck in doing so. “Just laying here thinking. Trying to figure out exactly how many laws we broke over the past few weeks and wondering if I’ll live long enough to serve out all of the time.”

“Yeah, about that,” she said and then got up, crossed to the bathroom, and poured a cup of water, “After your meeting with Captain Tenkey I had a video call from my CO.” She brought the cup to me, and as I took it, she sat on the single bed opposite the one I was on. “General Oberon, my CO, wants me to return to New Harmony and take over the JAG office. My primary assignment will be to ferret out all of those who have a syndicate association. He’s letting me put together a small team of people from off that world, from active duty personnel that I can trust so I can achieve this objective. When he asked me if I had anyone in mind, I thought about what Tankey had said, about if you had been affiliated with an agency they would be able to clean up any legal problems that you might have stepped in. So I explained your situation, how I would have been dead a number of times without your assistance, and how you are the only one I know whom I could absolutely trust to have my back. Then I suggested that we list you as on active duty, as of a month ago, and list you as an investigator for our office. That would give us the clout to handle any charges as your actions would be classified, and you would be protected from any prosecution.”

“You want me to come to work for you as a spy?” I asked, the words sounding just as absurd coming out of my mouth than they were in my head.

“Not a spy,” she said with a slight chuckle, “ An investigator. Most of the job would be data work, research, occasionally questioning people and maybe on a rare occasion some undercover work, but most days would be a 9 to 5 office job.”

One of the reasons I joined the service was that I could never imagine myself sitting behind a desk for 8 hours a day. But attitudes change with age. The idea of not being covered in sweat and grime at the end of each day, eating meals at regular times and actually having weekends off sounded kind of nice. Plus my other option was to face a number of court dates for at least 20 small crimes that I had counted up so far in my head. “What about Kayla?” I asked.

“Well, she’s being classified as a victim and a material witness for a galactic grand jury. Any activity that she was a part of during her time in my custody is classified, and she is protected from prosecution. Because we have her testimony recorded and transmitted to the courts already, she will be free to go where she wants. If she wants to come to New Harmony with us, she can, but I’ve cashed in what leverage I had to give you this deal. I don’t think I can get her a job in our office.”

“Yeah, I don’t see her sitting behind a desk for any period of time,” I said, “ but maybe we can convince her employer at the casino to give Kayla her job back. That is if she wants to go back to New Harmony. She might want to do her own thing.”

“She’ll go where you go. I’ll make some calls. If I can’t get her the waitress job back, I’m sure I can find something for her. That is if you want the deal.” A very infrequent smile appeared on her face, and I returned it in kind.

“I guess I have to start calling you ‘Boss,” I answered.

“Captain will do,” she said as she pulled a couple of rank pins out of her breast pocket and tossed them to me. I caught them in my right hand and opened my palm to see two lieutenant bars. Then she said, “Assuming that you would take the deal I had the quartermaster grab me a pair of those for you. Don’t put them on yet. I’ll let you know when you're listed as active duty again. It looks like your discharge paperwork got finalized yesterday.”

“Of course, it did,” I said with frustrated sarcasm. “I suppose that’s going to tie up any pay I earn for a while.”

“Probably,” she said. “I’m sure we can figure something out for the short term.”

“Yeah, we’ll need to figure something out,” I said. “Because without some cash in hand we’ll be on the street and would probably have to crash with you for a while.”

The look on her face was not a happy one. “I’ll find a way to expedite your paperwork,” she said and left it at that.

~~~

A little over a week later we were back at New Harmony. With my status put back to active duty, I was able to take out an advance against my future paycheck, but my savings and bonus that I had earned were put back into a pension that I could not access until my term of enlistment matured in another five years. Kayla and I were able to get a small one-room apartment that was a little nicer than what we had before, but all of our belongings were gone, so we had to start from scratch with funds that were nearly as limited as what we had before. Yet we were not on the run and could live a little more normally as we didn’t have to worry about saving every penny for a ticket out of there. Kayla was able to get her old job back with a slight promotion thanks to Mitchel’s implying that her investigation of the syndicate might or might not lead her to some of the hotel's books of business. Kayla went from being a waitress on the late shift to a bartender on the day shift. I was happy too as she didn’t have to flirt so much to make her tips.

My job was pretty much what Mitchell had suggested. Mostly sitting at a desk, reading reports and following up on the victims and suspects interviews.

A few weeks into life on New Harmony things were becoming predictable and comfortable. It was a Friday afternoon, and a rainstorm was building over the city, and my knee was throbbing. I had been sitting at the desk for most of the afternoon trying to get through a full list of files before the end of the day. I opened the next file and put my knee up on the corner of my desk to relax it somewhat. Then I saw something on my screen that made me sit up and kick my coffee cup off my desk. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and had to read the paragraph over again to make sure I had it right. Out loud I said, “Son of a Bitch.”

The End

Lt. Reilly - 2321