Mission to Sector ZZ1219 Read online

  “Okay,” Captain Butler said finally. “What do we do? And just who are you?”

  “My questions exactly,” added Captain Echart.

  “I use many names,” Johnny said.

  Willi had been monitoring the frequency, even as she scanned others and watched the sensor monitors. She grinned.

  “So does Johnny Oneshot, so go the rumors. You have to do better than that, mister. I’m not endangering Captain Echart and all the others that are going to be put at risk if we do something about this.”

  “Oh, I think you will. You know you have to, no matter who I am. What I’ve told you fits everything you’ve found out on your own.

  “But just so you know, I am Johnny Oneshot. I do use different names when the situation demands it. And don’t believe the rumors. There isn’t that much truth to them.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Captain Echart said immediately. “Oh, I do about what is going on out here. But you… Johnny Oneshot? Come on. Anyone could use that name. From what I hear, quite a few have, just to try to get something.”

  “Well, just call me Guy Richardson, then. That’s as good a name as any.”

  “Not good enough,” Captain Butler insisted. “I want to know who you are before I risk the others.”

  “You can check me. Use your contacts in Logistics. One of them will remember Guy. Mention Periwinkle Red.”

  “Okay. I guess that will have to do. For now. What do we do, assuming you check out?” asked Captain Butler.

  “Continue as you have. With the two of you going on the patrols, the pirate activity has slowed. That is going to interfere with the plans that are in place. Be extremely careful personally. You could both be targeted. The Dominator and Triple Seven are also likely to be attacked.

  “Do what you can to protect yourselves and your craft, but don’t make it obvious you are suddenly at a higher state of awareness. Things are going to come to a head shortly after the Inaugural Ball.”

  Even with the interference, Captain Butler’s groan was audible. Despite the seriousness of what they were discussing, Janet and Johnny both chuckled. Willi chuckled, too, though she had not heard the groan.

  “You’ve had your suspicions, Captain Butler,” Johnny continued, the seriousness back. “I know you can’t get out of attending the ball with the Governor. Are you going to be able to handle the situation?”

  The two saw him put his head back against the cockpit headrest and suspected he did exactly what he did, though they could not see it. He closed his eyes for a moment. “I don’t suppose assassinating her would make the problem go away? I think I could do it.”

  “You are a soldier,” Johnny said, “not an assassin. It would change things, but not stop them. It would make part of what we need to do even more difficult. We can use her to a degree, after she finds out that it has become known what she is planning.”

  “How will she find that out? And when? Isn’t it important that we control that information?”

  Just as Willi had been, the two Captains were amazed when Johnny informed them that he planned to let her know at the Inaugural Ball. Both made similar protests.

  “She’ll know, but it won’t be quite as outright as I just stated. You’ll both see the effect it has at the ball. Isis, you need to be there. I know you weren’t planning on it and it is short notice, but I do think it important. But it has to be legitimate and not contrived. There is tight security. The guest list is already set. I have an idea that I believe will work. If you get another invitation, from a totally unexpected source, accept.”

  “Wait a minute. How do you know I’ve been asked and turned them down?” Janet asked.

  “You looked in the mirror lately?” Bill asked, and then bit his lips. It had just popped out.

  “Exactly,” Johnny said. “It is just as well that you did not accept any of them. Your appearance with the man I’m thinking about will set things up nicely and be quite obviously legitimate.”

  “But…” Janet started to protest but her words were interrupted.

  Willi had lost track of the conversation. Something had entered the range of the long-range sensor. It was big. She pulled away slightly from the swarm, the conversation completely ignored now as she worked her controls. Knowing the response she would get, Willi sent the IFF challenge. The Identify, Friend or Foe challenge word Prometheus was ignored. She broad banded it to make sure they heard in on at least one frequency. It was still ignored.

  Her warning cut off Janet. “Bogie. It’s an Orion Class ship. Pirates. I’ll do as much damage as I can. Use the distraction to get away and take care of what’s happening. Pipeline out.”

  “Who is that?” Janet asked, doing exactly what the others were. Backing away from one another and turning to exit the asteroid swarm.

  “You’ll be surprised when you find out,” was all Johnny said. “This is step two, people. We take this ship out totally unexpectedly, and they are going to be frantic to find out what happened. It could trigger other mistakes.”

  They left the swarm nearly side by side and quickly accelerated to join Willi. “You should be running,” she said, her sensors picking them up as soon as they left the swarm.

  Johnny repeated what he had told the Captains. “I think it did the other time. You know which one I mean.

  “The Orion has a soft spot just aft of the midship docking bay, north ventral section. Isis, you can get closest before they lock weapons on you. Loop behind, come up from their rear. Reverse and fire down into the area. I’ve got your wing, Pipeline. We handle the fighters if they launch. And provide suppressive fire on their defensive weapons for Isis if they don’t.”

  “They’ll launch,” Captain Butler said. He had already moved into lead position, to provide suppressive fire for Captain Echart’s attack run.

  “Not necessarily,” Johnny said. “Pipeline. Check weapons bay three. Did not go over it earlier.”

  “Got it.” Willi locked the image of the launch bays of an Orion ship into three of the missiles in weapons bay three. “Spread of three, port bay.”

  “Three spread, starboard bay,” said Johnny. His “Missiles away,” came just after Willi’s.

  “Geez!” exclaimed Janet as the slender missiles streaked away at nearly five times their own speed.

  “Something new, I take it,” Captain Butler said.

  It was obvious when the Orion ship picked up the missiles on their sensors. It changed vectors and launched countermeasures, as well as long-range weapons. Though they could not see it visually at that range, Johnny and the others knew the Orion class ship would be trying to launch its ready craft. But even the ready craft took a few moments to activate and pirates were not known to have the most disciplined crews, even if the pilots were often good.

  The long-range weapons launched toward them from the Pirate’s Orion class ship were easily destroyed by the defensive weapons the Dominators carried. When it was obvious that the missiles they had launched had destroyed the launch bays on the other ship, Willi and Johnny pulled slightly ahead of Captain Butler and Captain Echart. They did not have to loop past and come back toward the other ship. It was trying to run, accelerating as quickly as it could.

  Willi, Johnny, and Captain Butler’s weapons devastated the sensors and defensive weapons pods and bays, leaving the way open for Captain Echart’s Triple Seven to get in close and discharge her entire weapon load into the weak spot of the Orion ship. The four broke away immediately upon the release of her weapons. They streaked away at the Triple Seven’s highest speed, to avoid the debris field that was about to be created.

  Though they could not see it visually, not only because they were traveling away from it, but also because they were out of visual range, even had they been looking in that direction, it was obvious on the sensor screens that the ship had been destroyed completely. A large blip changed to a growing pattern of minute dots.

  “I’m sure you two will have reasonable explanations when you return,” Johnny s
aid a bit later as they headed back home. “I will contact you at the Ball. Be very careful.”

  Willi had numerous questions she wanted to ask as they headed back to the parking orbit where the jumper was. She stayed silent, despite the secure commlink with Johnny’s Dominator. In a situation such as this, security was relative. Besides, she doubted Johnny would respond, anyway.

  Even when they were aboard the jumper, settling back toward the planet, she hesitated. Finally, as Johnny maneuvered the jumper into the hanger, he broke the silence. “If anything should happen… anything at all… that makes you think your security is at risk, get out here any way you can, take the jumper up, and run for it in one of the Dominators.”

  He had not been looking at her as he spoke. Now he turned and his eyes met hers. “Betty Myers, despite her looks and outwardly charming demeanor, is as cold and calculating as they come. People have died because of this plot already. Many people. Most, of course, due to the pirates and the few actual Ecronian activities that have taken place.

  “But I am sure that there have been at least three deaths directly attributable to her. On her orders, though in one case, she might have done it herself. I do believe she is capable of it. So, do not take any chances.”

  “I understand,” Willi replied. “But I’m not sure I could run, if I know others are at risk... Janet and Bill… and I’m sure there are others that I know nothing about.”

  “I have not involved anyone else,” Johnny said carefully. “There may be one more person I involve, but he, like the two Captains, is capable of taking care of himself.”

  Willi bristled a bit at the implication that she could not take care of herself, but was more or less mollified when Johnny continued. “You are one of the most capable people I’ve ever met, but you are essentially on your own and isolated here. All the others have some contacts and means to escape and evade if necessary through their local connections. You don’t.

  “Now, I need to accomplish a few more things. You should have no trouble catching a regular taxi back to your place.”

  “Will you be at Smokey’s tonight?” she asked, deciding to wait for another time to ask the questions she wanted.

  “For a while,” Johnny replied. He was changing clothes, his back to her. He had not hesitated to start the process and Willi quickly turned her back as he stripped out of the flight suit.

  It took some concentration not to turn around when he continued speaking as he changed. “You won’t see me, and I expect to be leaving not long after I get there, if what I’ve got set up goes as planned.”

  “If you’re there,” Will replied firmly, “I’ll see you.”

  Johnny just smiled, knowing Willi could not see it. “Perhaps,” he said, simply to mollify her. He did not want her being obvious about looking for him. She would never recognize him, but he did not want her openly looking. It might make someone think she was looking for someone else.

  “If you do just don’t let on.”

  “Well, of course not!” she said, turning around slightly when he moved within her peripheral vision. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of him dressed as a very prosperous businessman. An old prosperous businessman. She could see the likeness, but she suddenly was not sure she would have recognized him, if she had not known it was him.

  “I’ll give you some privacy to change,” he said, handing her a small wallet. “Credits. No sense in you using your own hard-earned money in this endeavor. Marilyn.”

  She had seen the flash of his smile when he used her… she smiled slightly… stage name. But she had been distracted by the weight of the small wallet and did not have time to respond before he had disappeared out one of the hanger doors.

  Opening the wallet, Willi gasped. There were various denominations of standard credit chips, but the bulk of the space was filled with the high-density crystal icosahedrons used for storing large amounts of credit. The amount was glowing brightly in each and would until the credit was used or replaced during each transaction. Each of the crystals held a value that took her breath away. She held as much value in her hand as Trinity Home did business in a year.

  Lifting her eyes, Willi stared at the door through which Johnny had disappeared. She could go anywhere in the galaxy and do anything she wanted, for as long as she wanted, with what the wallet contained.

  Quickly Willi changed, and stashed the wallet securely in her clothing. “You’ll be getting this back tonight,” she whispered. There was no way she was going to be responsible for that money.

  The thought struck her then that the crystals might be counterfeit. It was rumored to have been attempted, but as far as she knew, and the traders did if anyone did, no one had ever made a counterfeit crystal that was even halfway effective.

  Putting it out of her mind, Willi left the jump port, decided to stop for something to eat, and then went back to the boarding house. It was only when she started to change clothes that the reality of everything that was happening struck her. Suddenly she felt like she weighed a ton and had not slept in days.

  Making sure to set a wake-up time, Willi crawled into the bed and let herself relax. She had come out here on a whim, and now she was involved in a clandestine plot to destroy another clandestine plot that could cause the deaths of millions if not stopped.

  Having set the wake-up time just as a precaution, Willi was glad she had. Intending to sleep for only an hour or so, when the annunciator woke her, she had time only to get ready to go to Smokey’s. She would have to get something to eat when she arrived. She did feel better, at least.

  Even though she was keeping an eye out for Johnny, she did not see him. She assumed she had just missed him, since the crowd was as large as the one the night before. With a shrug, she dismissed it and went to her dressing room after the last set.

  Despite the rest she had had that afternoon, she was still exhausted when she went back to the boarding house. Willi knew it was from the mental stress, as well as the physical, she was under. Stashing the wallet in the hidden compartment in one of her bags, she stripped and fell into the bed.

  “Do you have any idea what Commander Calhoun wants with me?” Janet asked Bill when she met him in the hall on her way to the Commander’s office.

  “Not a clue. He sent for me, too.”

  They did not find out for several minutes, the commander’s aide having them wait for some time before he ushered them in to Commander Calhoun’s office.

  With no preliminaries, Commander Calhoun said, “Are you ready to go down to attend the protocol briefing?”

  “Yes, sir. Of course, sir,” Captain Butler said, finishing his salute as he spoke. The commander did not bother to return it.

  Both Captain Echart and Captain Butler had turned eyes on the civilian standing off to one side. Bill managed not to frown, but it was a near thing when the man turned. Bill recognized him from news broadcasts.

  The commander was speaking to Captain Echart and Bill turned his attention back to him. “Captain, as you obviously know, Captain Butler has been assigned to accompany Governor Myers at the Inaugural.”

  He cut his eye to the man now approaching the Commander’s desk. “She the one? Fine. I suppose a Captain will have to do. Full dress uniform. I’ll send a transport in plenty of time.” He headed for the door.

  “Sir! I protest! What is he…” Janet was livid and it was obvious.

  “Enough, Captain!” barked Commander Calhoun. “He is one of the most important men in the sector. A major… the major contractor providing over half the goods and services the government buys. He expects and deserves a military escort to the inaugural ball.”

  At the looks on both the Captains’ faces, his softened somewhat. “Look. I know this isn’t right,” he admitted. “But… my hands are tied. The General received his orders, and I’ve received mine. Now you have received yours.”

  “This is not something you can order me to do, sir,” Janet said stiffly. “It is well outside propriety and proper military co
nduct.” Suddenly Guy Richardson’s words came back to her.

  Even before the Commander began frowning at her words, she made herself relax slightly. “But… I know how difficult this situation is for you, Sir. If you honestly think it will help, of course I will accompany the gentleman.”

  Thinking he might get suspicious if she was too acquiescent, Janet put a little steel back in her voice and continued. “But it is military escort duty, sir, and that is all. If he thinks it will be something else, he will be vastly disappointed.”

  “Of course, Captain,” Commander Calhoun said stiffly. “You would be in serious trouble if you decided to act in any other way. I’m glad you have decided not to protest this, considering your situation here. Your assignment here is in serious jeopardy still. It would not do your career good at all to wind up with anymore black marks in your record.”

  “Yes, sir,” Captain Echart said, her face just as stiff as the Commander’s again.

  “Dismissed,” Commander Calhoun replied, giving a casual salute. “Both of you.”

  “You should have stuck to your guns, Janet,” Captain Butler said as soon as they were out of earshot of anyone. “He had no right to…”

  Janet saw the change in Captain Butler. He had maintained absolute control in the commander’s office, but he was as angry as she had been, if not more so. Her hand touched his arm. “Think about it, Bill. This has to be what Richardson was talking about. Do you think this man… who is he, anyway? Do you think maybe he is on our side and got him to do this just to get me there?”

  “Bond Cretorian? Hell no, he isn’t on our side! He is a crony of the Governor. That’s why he’s got the contracts he has. Substandard goods and services at astronomical prices!” Making a concerted effort to control himself, Captain Butler visibly calmed down. “But you are probably right. I’ve no idea how he might have accomplished it, but Richardson must have arranged this.”

  Seeing the glare still in Captain Butler’s eyes, Janet had to smile just a bit as he continued. “But I plan to have a few words with him about it. I do not like the idea of you being with Cretorian.”