The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #4, Retribution (23 page)

“
Anything else, sir
?
”

The chairman smiled
.“
Sign it and send i
t
… and then join me in the pool
.
”

“
Yes, si
r
”

***

Cat awoke with a start. She had not even realized the doctor had drugged her to make her sleep. One moment she had been talking with him about her kidneys and the next she was waking up in a cell with Private Stone.

“
What happened, Admiral
?
” the younger man asked when she fought to open her eyes. The cell was certainly bright.

“
My name is Cat
.
”

“
Yes, Admiral, it is
.
”

“
Then why do you insist on calling m
e‘
Admira
l’?
”

“
Wel
l
… because yo
u’
re an admiral and
I’
m a private
,
” he said, somewhat bemused.

“
And this is significant
?
” Cat said.

“
Some people think so
,
” Private Stone answered, not sure of what to make of the situation
.“
Are you remembering much
?
”

“
Bits and pieces
,
” Cat said
.“I’
m not sure what happened, but it sure knocked me for a loop
.
”

“
How much of your Heshe tech is still functioning
?
”

“
What the heck is a Heshe
?
” Cat asked, confused.

“
I
t’
s probably better you do
n’
t remember.
I’
m pretty sure this room and these clothes are bugged
,
” Private Stone speculated.

“
I’
m cold
,
” Cat said.

The Private moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to try and share some of his body heat. She grabbed his hand, ostensibly to pull him closer for warmth. Once she had his hand, she began to gently press her forefinger into his palm. She pressed quickly twice followed by a long press and then a short one
.‘L
’
 
This was followed by two short presse
s‘I
’ a pause and then three short presse
s‘S’
. Slowly, one letter at a time, she spelled out the wor
d‘
Liste
n
’ in Morse code.

He raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing. Thus they began to plan their escape. A few of Ca
t’
s memories had slowly returned of their own accord, but she continued to feign complete amnesia. For the better part of a week she was removed from the cell and taken to an interrogation chamber where the ship
s
’ captain, a Modos named Dry-Bait, would ask her a series of questions about the location and disposition of Coalition forces. She would tell him honestly she did
n’
t remember.

On the sixth day the routine changed. Instead of asking her questions, she was strapped in a chair and a technician fitted a small machine to her head. It was connected by a fiber optic cable to a small unit on a table. When the captain asked the questions, this time she felt a warm sensation just beneath the skin of her scalp.

She answered truthfully and the technician adjusted a series of controls. The questions were asked a second time and a second time she answered truthfully.

The captain swore and swept the small device off the table. The technician cowered.

“
Get out of here
!
” Captain Dry-Bait yelled at the man.

Turning to face Cat, he glowered
.“
Wel
l
…
Admiral
Kimbridg
e
… It seems your memories truly are gone. Oh, we see you have regained some trivial vestiges of your former self, but by-and-large your mind has been wiped clean
.
”

Cat smiled
.“
I take it this displeases you
?
”

“
It does indeed
.
”

“
Goo
d
… because whatever else I wa
s
… I know thi
s
… I was against whatever it is you are planning for that planet down below
.
”

Dry-Bait laughed
.“
I was planning to simply crush the rebellion. Our illustrious Chairman, however, has decided to make an example of Naanac. Trust me. You would have been happier with my solution
.
”

***

WhimPy-101 played back the response it had received from the Heshe listening post in this universe. It was the third time he played back the message. His perfect recall negated the need to replay the message but he derived a subtle pleasure listening to the voice of the race that created him. He supposed it was the same feeling a human had when they talked with a parent. The message remained the same:
We are coming. Tell no one.

***

  Jason Ruck finally sat on the bridge of the
GCP Mador
again. Ricky Valen and the
Honey-Dipper
had paid the WhimPy platform a visit deep in the su
n’
s corona. The
Honey-Dippe
r’
s
stealth systems were among the best in the Coalition. This, combined with its relatively small size, made it a hard craft to spot. Nevertheless, the Honey-Dipper was forced to use an unusual approach to the sun. An active drive system would have been easy to spot. The only reasonable option was to allow the su
n’
s own gravity to provide the needed acceleration. That way even if the ship was spotted it would appear to be one of the many thousands of rocks consumed by the star on any given day.

It had taken Ricky and his ship a full four days to fall into the sun. It might have taken just as long to talk the recalcitrant captain into the mission, except that his AI had a mind of her own and insisted that she was going whether he came or not. Grumbling that there was something fundamentally wrong with a ship that could mutiny by itself, he finally agreed to the mission. It was
n’
t that Ricky was above risking his lif
e
… it was just that deliberately falling into a sun and hoping for the best was not his idea of a reasonable risk.

Jason swiveled in his command chair
.“
Com
m
… Raise Admiral Faragon
.
”

“
Aye, sir
,
” the young lieutenant said, as she carried out his instructions
.“
Admiral Faragon is onlin
e
”

“
Admiral, the
Mador
and
Yorktown
are in position
.
”

The holographic image of Admiral Faragon floated in front of Jason
.“
Very good, Commodore. The fleet is set to transit into the Betaverse in just under twenty minutes. Are you still holding the WhimPy cloak
?
”

“
Tha
t’
s an affirmative, Admiral, but as I indicated before, I do
n’
t belief that Uruk forces have been fooled. They did a pretty good number on 101. H
e’
s spent the last several days harvesting material from the sun in order to rebuild and augment his defenses
.
”

“
Understood, Jason. To be frank, son, we really do
n’
t know what to make of the situation. Clearly the Uruk contingent has the strength to press their agenda, but they are restraining themselves and hiding their capabilities from the bulk of the Syndicate forces. We are hoping they continue to do so. Our bigger problem is the massed Syndicate force, which should arrive in the next solar day. Our ENOs picked up a conversation which seems to indicate the chairman plans to engage what they call their loss-mitigation system on Naanac
.
”

“
W
e’
ve confirmed that here, as well, sir. As you know, we are getting feeds from Admiral Kimbridge. The captain of the
Retribution,
which is one of the Uruk ships, seems to already be aware of the order to destroy Nannac
.
”

The holographic image paused and listened to a voice off camera. He nodded before turning back to Jason
.“
That can only mean that the Uruk have an equivalent listening system in place on the Syndicate flagship
.
”

“
I would agree, sir. It still leaves us with a problem
.
”

Admiral Faragon nodded
.“
How do we stop this loss-mitigation system from sterilizing the planet? The loss of life and the message it would send to the other worlds in revolt are both unacceptable
.
”

“
The only good news is the WhimPy has finished digesting the data-mining Admiral Kimbridge put in place before she was taken. We now know where all the devices are located. We could target the devices from orbit, but we would do almost as much damage as if we let them go off. The problem is the Modos build all of their sites on top of naturally occurring radioactive sites. Anything we do is likely to release large amounts of radioactivity
.
”

“
Again, not an acceptable solution
,
” the Admiral said
.“
The Suhtii have provided us with some additional technology that they developed. I
t’
s a shield enhancement that dissipates energy along a time continuum. It has some unusual constraints that make it difficult to use on a starship but
I’
m hopeful it may prove useful in our current situation. I was hoping to have Ca
t’
s brain working on it, but we may have to work out the details on our own.
I’
m transmitting the specifics to you now. Please share this with Captain Kirkland on the
Yorktown
. Meanwhile, I will see you both in about fifteen minutes
.
”

“
Very good sir. Ruck, out
.
”

Chapter Twent
y–
Escape...

As Cat was being led back to her cell she thought about what Captain Dry-bait had said. The planet below was to be made an example of. She could
n’
t allow that to happen. But what could she do?

Anthony, the young soldier who shared her cell, was of a mind to attempt to force a break out. Cat had her doubts. Even if they managed to break free of the cell, where would they go? What would they do?

Before they were halfway back to her cell, however, an alarm klaxon sounded battle stations. Lights in the corridor began to flash rhythmically. The soldiers escorting her looked at each other in indecision. Clearly they had other duty stations during an emergency that did not include prisoner escort. Suddenly Cat had a thought. She froze in place, staring at the flashing lights. They tried to move her along, but she remained rigid.

Undoubtedly they knew she had suffered some type of traumatic brain injury. The frequent visits by the shi
p’
s senior medical staff, as well as the mocking laughs others cast her direction as they walked her to and from the interrogation facility, should have been enough to ensure that.

As they became more insistent in their attempts to move her along, she allowed her body to collapse, and then began a series of violent spasmodic movements. She knew her antics would not fool a human medical professional, but she was betting that the Modos were not as familiar with human ailment
s
… especially not these Modos.

Her ploy worked. The soldiers were frantic to get to their duty stations. A sick prisoner was somebody els
e’
s problem. She allowed her body to relax, and she adopted a completely blank stare. After a moments of heated discussion, they scooped her up between them and literally ran down an adjoining hall to the medical bay. As luck would have it the chief physician was in surgery, and so she was left in the care of an assistant. The soldiers practically dropped her on an examining table and bolted out of the room. Cat, for her part, continued to feign unconsciousness.