April 9th, 2264. 14:30 CNS Vigilant – Admiral Nelson’s Office
It didn’t take long for the crew on the CNS Fargo to notice Deborah missing. John was the first to be made aware, but according to the first officer, John looked and sounded like he was in a deep sleep when he was woken up. It didn’t seem that he was responsible for her escape but given his previous shady dealings onboard the ship there weren’t many people willing to clear his name.
John was ordered to board the CNS Vigilant the moment the CNS Fargo docked at St. Mary’s station. A pair of armed guards met him in the docking ring to escort him to the Admiral’s office. His escorts strongly suggested to John that Admiral Nelson was pissed off. John hadn’t seen the fury of this admiral yet. In a moment everyone could see coming he felt that fury for the first time.
“What in the bloody hell were you thinking letting her go?” Admiral Nelson slammed his fist into the table.
“I’m pretty sure the records show she escaped without any assistance from me,” John said while standing at attention.
Admiral Nelson stood up and stared up at John, “Now’s not the time to be a smartass son. You let a convicted felon with a potential death sentence free.”
“Well, I didn’t let her go free. The hangar locks for the shuttle could be disengaged from the shuttle. The hangar doors were also accessible from the shuttle. There are only like three corridors between the brig and the hangar bay. And the crew on shift at the time weren’t working in the hangar, they were cleaning out a storage room to prepare for our next deployment,” John then placed a data slate on the admiral’s desk, “I’ve got updated recommendations for non-military-issued shuttles. To make a long story short I’m suggesting the shuttles can no longer connect with the ship and unlock the restraints and open the hangar doors.”
“Do you have an answer for everything I ask?”
John nodded, “Most likely, sir.”
Admiral Nelson sighed as he looked at the young lieutenant, “You are going to say you were ordered to let her go.”
“No, sir, I will not be saying my orders enabled me to do that. But the overly broad orders granted me the ability to think outside the box as it were.”
“This is yet another situation that proves that if we give you an inch, you’ll take a mile, isn’t it?”
“I believe the Navy needs some out-of-the-box thinking from time to time.”
Admiral Nelson's anger changed to exasperation, “Do you have that electronic doo-hickey?”
John grinned as he pulled the device from his pocket and activated it. He set it on the desk before snapping back to attention.
“The recording devices are not working I’m presuming?”
“They haven’t been since I entered the room, sir.”
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“She wasn’t the big fish. Frying her made no sense. I’m sure NI wants her under wraps but killing her doesn’t solve anything. Watanabe was the mole; Deborah was just a weak-willed fool that slept her way up the ladder.”
“She was a patsy?”
“Of sorts. Dexter shared with her some videos produced by Norman’s organization that had some extremely strong subliminal messages encoded within them. She bought them hook, line, and sinker. She sent him material but never sent Dexter’s handlers anything. Those videos were likely watched before she did anything illegal. I’m no lawyer but I’m pretty sure I could beat all the charges, even the treason one.”
“In any case, we never would have approved letting her go. Or even approving that surgery either.”
“I felt it was the most humane thing to do. Plus, she was absolutely truthful in her statements to me. We got a literal treasure trove of intel from them. Deborah was the willing participant and Dexter provided us data by using his connection to their quantum server.”
“How long have you known about that?”
“A few weeks. I’ve got a couple more that are still active. I don’t want to burn those just yet. I’ve got my VI working on a plan to circumvent most of their security on the server side. Should be close to testing that.”
“If we still had her we could ask new questions about the investigation,” Admiral Nelson rubbed his eyes.
“I doubt she’d be of any further use to any new leads we source. Her being gone doesn’t impede the operation, if anything with those two out of commission Dr. Norman no longer has eyes on what we are or aren’t doing,” John said with a smirk, “Dexter on the other hand is the one we want to keep and talk too.”
“How are you planning on ensuring the crew of the CNS Fargo is not burned because of your actions.”
John handed the admiral a data slate, “I believe this report will show that the crew handled everything within the minimum required specifications. That a minor power spike to the brig overloaded the shield emitters was not a contingency that was expected, nor one that is currently trained for. The officer in charge of monitoring the brig was getting meals for our guests at the time. It’s standard practice to leave them alone for a brief time to fetch the meals on smaller ships.”
“What I’m hearing Lieutenant is that if you were on a cruiser this whole scheme would’ve been much more involved.”
John nodded again, “That’s a safe assumption, sir.”
“If this operation doesn’t end in an overwhelming success this is going to come back and bite you in the ass,” Admiral Nelson was rubbing his forehead, “Even if it does you are not doing anything to improve your reputation.”
“Well then sir, I will redouble my efforts to ensure success.”
16:30 Naval Psychology Clinic – Dr. Huber’s Office
It was a bit early for John to have his monthly psych meeting, but as he was due to be deployed once again this was the best time to have the meeting. Naturally, he didn’t feel this was necessary at all. Orders were orders. John laughed at that though, orders were something he tried to bend or outright break. This was one that attempts to be his normal self would come back and haunt him, so he would play the part of a dutiful agent.
John sat down on the chair and leaned back and yawned, “Good afternoon, doctor.”
“Good afternoon, how are you feeling?”
“Same old, same old I suppose,” John said without much feeling in his voice.
“Is there anything bothering you?”
“Not really. I suppose if I really had to pick something it’d be that this operation hasn’t seen a successful end but we’re working toward that though.”
“No difficulties in sleeping or eating? Do you feel your work is deficient in any way?”
“Nope, I am working far more hours than I want to, but it’s necessary to work,” John grinned, “The bosses probably wish I wouldn’t be so creative with some of my solutions to the issues we face.
Dr. Huber looked a bit frustrated, “How would you handle an order that you feel deeply morally against?”
“I’d like to say I’d follow my conscious, but orders are orders.”
“Lieutenant, I’ve read your file. Well, the unclassified bits that are. Your record lacks a track record of following orders,” Dr. Huber chuckled, “In fact, it shows a shocking disregard for orders and a degree of free thinking unheard of in the military.”
“Doctor, I want nothing more than to end this asshole’s life. I’ll bend the orders to my will as much as possible but given the visibility of this operation I need to play by the rules.”
“The timing of your following orders could be considered too convenient. For your sake, I hope you can use that intellect of yours and make the right decision.”
“Oh, I will doctor.”
“Well, seeing as how you’re as well adjusted as you have been I think we can cut this short. Let’s meet again in the latter half of next month and as always if you need to speak to anyone let me know.”
John stood up and saluted the doctor, “Thank you, sir, I will definitely do that.”
2 days later, April 11th, 2264. 11:30 St. Mary’s Station – Marine War Room
The crew of the CNS Fargo was not quickly dispatched as originally thought. There weren’t any known sites for them to be sent to and they’d arrive at any of the locations far too late to be of any use. Some of the crew was given leave. John was not so lucky, because of his maverick dealings with his orders, and letting a convicted felon go, he was dutifully working.
Three different pairs of platoons were raiding three different labs this morning. John was ordered to watch the operations and participate where possible. He was sitting in the back of the room near a smaller holographic display watching Platoons 5 and 6 sweeps an enemy base.
The base was much more heavily guarded compared to the previous labs they’d hit. The Marines were able to push through, but casualties were being suffered in much higher figures than they have in the past. Seven of those assaulting marines were now dead and another ten were injured severely.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
John pressed the communications button, “God’s Eye I suggest you send a squad to scan the bodies of their security team. We need to know their nationality.”
Chief Warrant Officer Greg Mendez replied back, “Thank you for the suggestion, Lieutenant. I will have a reserve squad on the west end begin doing that.”
Colonel Perentz walked over near John, “This is unusual.”
John shook his head, “We should have expected them to step up their defenses when we shut down their moles. This is a result of piss-poor planning on our part. Our marines are holding their own, we’re running into proper defenses for the first time.”
“The other pairs are pushing through with their operations. Both labs have been confirmed to be active as well.”
John nodded, “Sir, I believe now is the turning point of this operation. Unfortunately, we’re not done losing people though.”
“I wish I could say I disagreed with you, but I suspect you aren’t far from the mark with that.”
John looked back down at the holographic display and saw Platoon 1’s drop ships drop off their precious cargo and begin the second assault of the day. The drop ships for Platoon 2 were in a holding pattern to drop their cargo off. Platoon 7’s drop ships were a minute out from doing the same.
A bright flash was seen in the display followed by static on Platoon 1 and 2’s screens. Nothing was transmitting. John stood up and tried contacting both of the dropships to no avail. He quickly contacted the CNS Williamsburg.
“Williamsburg, do you have a visual on the lab site? Transmit the feed to us stat!”
“Transferring now. It's… not good.”
John immediately shouted, “CALL OFF PLATOONS 7 AND 8 NOW!”
The lab that Platoons 1 and 2 were set to assault set off what appeared to be a small fusion bomb. The lab, and the marines, were sadly no more. Dr. Norman’s organization escalated things by denying the Confederates the ability to secure the base and people. It was a pyrrhic victory for Dr. Norman, the denial of all that intelligence and knowledge of what was going on there.
“What in the fuck?” Colonel Peretz said as he stared at the screens.
“Platoon 5, you must gain control of the main computer systems to deny the enemy the ability to immolate the base,” John transmitted to God’s Eye once more, “The server room must be secured and access to all the base’s terminals needs to be shut off immediately.”
“We just took control of their systems,” the chief warrant officer said, “One of the squads found a fusion bomb in the cargo hold. It was in the process of being armed… Holy hell, that could have been bad.”
“Platoon 7 and 8’s dropships have diverted. Suggestions on next steps?” Captain Elwood Henry asked.
“Order the San Diego to level the lab from orbit,” John said, “The risk-reward ratio is properly fucked now.”
Elwood pointed to one of the communication officers and nodded.
“CNS San Diego, once drop ships are clear you are to initiate a lance strike on the surface. How copy?”
A surprised voice played back on the speakers, “Please confirm. You want us to eliminate the base from orbit?”
“CNS San Diego, that is correct. Level the site.”
“Copy that command. Beginning artillery barrage.”
Twelve lance strikes were fired at the surface. It would take thirty minutes for the dust to subside before the San Diego and operation command were able to see the results. The base was fully annihilated, along with a small section of the mountain range. Nothing but rubble was left behind.
One day later, April 12th, 2264. 08:30 St. Mary’s Station – Operations Boardroom
There were many gloomy faces in the room. The Naval Intelligence members looked like they had sucked one too many lemons. Colonel Perentz looked exhausted, likely from writing letters to the deceased’s families. Admiral Nelson and General Mizrahi looked like they had both seen a ghost.
For John’s part, he was furious, but he expected this move from Dr. Norman. Just not this quickly though. Ironically, the detonation of a fusion bomb, despite its relatively low yield, was exactly what John needed for the next steps in the operation.
General Mizrahi started the meeting with his booming voice, “Fleet Command wants answers. As do I. Director LeCroix, I believe this is where you start things out.”
“There was no evidence of this organization booby trapping the bases themselves. The data and servers were, but those don’t kill people generally. We have no record of any missing bombs or weapons being transferred across borders.”
Deputy Director Anson Bourget added, “We’ve reviewed the biological and hazardous scans from the previous sites. There were no indications any fusion bombs were present. We don’t know if the lab personnel were aware, but obviously, someone onsite was.”
John then stepped in, “Apologies, not NI here, but there was another key change. The leader of the labs is now a Mercantilist from Dr. Norman’s organization.”
He shared the new intel he had just received from a source of his on the various screens in the room.
“Platoon 5 captured this man after a pitiful suicide attempt. He’s one of Norman’s top genetic researchers,” John made the screen split as he shared some messages between the lab and Dr. Norman’s organization, “NI would have known about this because I had to burn another quantum core, but Dr. Norman has escalated things.”
“How do you have this information?” Director LeCroix asked.
“Last month I found a quantum computing core attached to a terminal. I kept it quiet because I didn’t know who to trust. That whole mole issue was a bit troublesome,” John said sarcastically, “Anyways, it was one from the original FTL communication system that the Confederate scientists developed over a hundred years ago.”
“These were all destroyed or accounted for though,” Captain Henry said.
“They were until one of our wars with the Alliance at the turn of the century. About a quarter of the pairs were acquired by the Alliance. They didn’t see the benefits of this system, so they sold them off. And Dr. Norman used them to not only keep in contact with the bases but also for the moles to contact them without leaving behind any records.”
“Intel like that…”
“Keep in mind that had we raided the servers for intel, thus causing that pair to be burned and lost forever, before the sixth of the month we would’ve found nothing to suggest the enemy was capable of doing something like this,” John said, “This isn’t an intelligence failure, it’s a failure of us not predicting an escalation in behavior. I said nothing about my concerns. No one else did either in this room. Not publicly anyway.”
“The Lieutenant is correct,” Admiral Nelson said, “Assigning blame isn’t going to help. We need to understand how we are going to move forward.”
Colonel Perentz took control of the view screen and displayed a zoomed-in galactic map with sixteen sites.
“There are sixteen labs, fourteen of which are active, one is in the process of being assembled, and one we do not have confirmation of activity,” Admiral Nelson pointed at the screen, “What do we do with these?”
Captain Henry answered confidently, “There are CNS ships in orbit of each planet currently. Suggest we perform a coordinated attack on all sixteen sites.”
“I’ll second that,” John said, “The sooner we annihilate these sites the better.”
Admiral Nelson looked around the room. Everyone was in agreement. Director LeCroix was the only other individual to speak up.
“Are we willing to accept the loss of intel?”
“Director, it’s hard to get intel on a site annihilated by a fusion bomb,” General Mizrahi, “Our best estimates suggest that we’d secure two, maybe three, sites without triggering the self-destruct systems. I’m not sending my men to die over such terrible odds.”
“Not like we need to know that we’re dealing with sick fucks anymore,” John said sarcastically, “Besides, you are going to tell us about the curious nature of that fusion bomb, aren’t you?”
“Very perceptive of you Lieutenant. As everyone in this room is abundantly aware of the military safeguards around nuclear and fusion weapons. Security around them is exceptionally tight. None of those weapons have been lost or misplaced. Which means the bomb that was set off was from another nation.”
“Twenty credits say it was a Mercantilist design with a thorium detonator,” John said as he rested his head on his hand.
“It was as you guessed, Lieutenant,” Director LeCroix said.
Admiral Nelson pressed a button at his terminal, “Captain Whitewood, contact CNS ships orbiting these planets, preferably cruisers or larger. There’s a ground target that we need to annihilate in a coordinated strike.”
“Understood sir, I’ll contact you once all ships have been repositioned.”
“Director, what do you suggest our next steps be?”
“We are working more closely with universities across our space to ensure radicalization doesn’t happen. We’re also well into a review of individuals with PHDs that could be of use to our enemy. I think we’re to the point of officially contacting the leadership of the Mercantilist Union.”
John’s demeanor changed a bit, something General Mizrahi noticed.
“Lieutenant, you look like you don’t agree with that statement.”
“I do and don’t. If my intel is to be believed Dr. Norman’s position within the government is tenuous at best. But if we go in with guns a-blazin' we will lose him. He’ll do cockroach things and hide.”
“What are you suggesting?” Deputy Director Bourget asked.
“I suggest the new paradigm of dealing with Dr. Norman is to locate the bases and blow them the hell up. Time is on our side now. As much as I want to rush to the finish line, doing so isn’t going to help us any. We have time to afford to just bleed this asshole dry.”
Director LeCroix nodded, “I agree. The disgraced agent has had a change of heart and is spilling his guts to our interrogators. We’re getting more useful and actionable intel from him about their operations.”
“How long do you all suggest we continue this campaign of bleeding him before we make a move on him?” Admiral Nelson asked.
“Six months, maybe more,” John answered immediately.
“It may take a year,” Director LeCroix said, “We don’t know the status of his cash reserves. But if enough active sites are destroyed the pool of disgraced scientists will shrink to the point of non-viability. And if he is getting funding from their government, we will need to create a scenario where he is asking for substantially more money than is normal.”
Captain Whitewood could then be heard, “All ships are moving into position. The strike will commence in forty-two minutes and counting.”
“Director LeCroix, we need intelligence working on finding additional sites. We also need boots on the ground to confirm these sites are functional.”
“I’ve ordered our forward recon division to begin scanning sites. We have eight more to review and confirm. We will coordinate with friendly ships in the area to destroy these sites post-haste.”
“Good, thank you, Director,” General Mizrahi said, “What else can we do to hurt them?”
“Dr. Norman’s top agent, Lisa Benning, was in the unclaimed territories working with the pirates on something. That alliance is said to have disintegrated after our trap was sprung on them,” John said, “She’s back there working with one clan.”
“You want to attack her?” Colonel Perentz asked, “What would that accomplish?”
“Dr. Norman is no longer acting rationally. He’s booby-trapping his own bases. Denying us the base or intel by killing his own people is not a rational act. It will erode trust in him within his organization. Having his best agent killed in action, wounded, disfigured, or damaged beyond repair will cause ramp up that irrationality to an eleven.”
“We’ll provide what intel we have, but the unclaimed territories aren’t exactly our area of expertise,” Director LeCroix said.
“No attack is going to happen until we know where she is. Once we have that then I can start fleshing a plan out,” John said.
“We have our marching orders. I’ll keep this feed available of the coming attack for people to view in a secure setting,” Admiral Nelson said.
“NI has already contacted colonial governors about military actions. Three have been most receptive in our talks in the past twenty minutes,” Director LeCroix said, “We will work with the colonies to keep the military actions quiet. The fusion bomb story is being played off as a weapons test gone wrong.”
The meeting adjourned and people began filing out. John didn’t move though. He continued to watch the countdown on the screen.
Admiral Mizrahi spoke up when everyone else had left the room, “What are you planning?”
“I have a move I’d like to make but I need to spend some time researching it before anything happens.”
“For what purpose?” Admiral Nelson asked.
“I have a contact within the Mercantilist Intelligence Bureau who himself has a contact with one of their government’s cabinet members.”
“You want to have a meeting with this individual directly?” General Mizrahi asked as he slid back in his seat.
“I do. I believe I can persuade her to approve our final attack on him.”
“How long until you meet with them?” Admiral Nelson leaned forward and looked down the table at John.
“Ideally it would be after the assault on the pirates. I suspect he’s using his funding to pay for all of this shit. We need to bleed this fucker dry, and we can do that if we keep the heat up on him.”
“What makes you think you can turn this cabinet member?” General Mizrahi asked, “These aren’t rational people.”
“I agree they aren’t. Dr. Norman is said to have ceased his genetic testing. This information should be enough to convince them that he’s not as clean as they once thought.”
“I hope you aren’t going there to instigate a war Lieutenant,” Admiral Nelson said, “I doubt you will have much of a career after that.”
“Oh, I’m not going to instigate one that we’ll be involved in, though I don’t think it’ll come to that,” John flashed a mischievous grin to his commanding officers.