The Santana Nexus (Junkyard Dogs Book 3) (19 page)

H
e was asleep himself just a few minutes later.

Sometime
before morning, she awoke and kissed him on the cheek before disentangling herself from him and standing up. She straightened her coverall and ran her fingers through her short brown hair.

"Thanks, Ryan. I feel a lot better. I'd better get back to my own quarters before someone finds us here."

"I...don't really care about that. Will you be alright?"

"I think so..."

"Should you talk to someone besides me about this? Maybe the
Istanbul's
doctor?"

"I...don't know
...maybe, but it was just the one dream."

"How about you tell me if you have
any more dreams like that?"

She looked relieved.

"I can do that. Thanks Ryan. Really, I feel much better now.

She
reached down and squeezed his hand before slipping out the door and returning to her own quarters.

Harris wore a worried look as he got
up and got ready to face the new day.

Chapter
29.

UTFN Reclamation Center, onboard Federation Auxiliary ship
Greyhound
, January 8, 2599.

Immediately
after they had finished their breakfast the following morning, the two junior officers approached the Commander on the bridge of the
Greyhound
. Kresge looked up at them from his command terminal where they could see that he was still obsessing over the inventory situation.

"
Yes, what is it?" he asked.

"We
came across some information last night that we think you should know about, Commander," said Harris.

"What sort of information?"

"We're not exactly sure," replied Harris, "Carlisle was going over the download
that she copied onto her wrist computer just before the auxiliary tracking station was destroyed two months ago and she found some...locked files. We think you might want to have a look it."

"
Okay," said Kresge, "Show me."

Carlisle brought up the same display that she had show
n to Harris the previous evening.

"File folder for access by Station Commander only?" Kresge scratched his head. "I've never seen
any of this before. This was not on the command computer of the main facility. At least not that I remember."

"I
found it buried in a folder labeled 'miscellaneous,' Commander," said Carlisle.

"Any idea what's in it
?" asked Kresge.

"We don't know, Commander," said Harris, "We just copied everything we could onto Carlisle's wrist computer before we abandoned the auxiliary tracking station
back during the Veritian Brotherhood's attack on the Scrapyard. Last night, she was sifting through the inventory, looking for donor ships that might have parts to upgrade the
Greyhound's
weapons systems, when she found this."

"
I suppose I'd better take a look at it."

"There is a problem, Commander," said Carlisle.

"And that is....?"

"The
files were copied while we were on the auxiliary tracking station just before it was destroyed and you were back at the New Ceylon station."

"And this means
...?"

"This copy of the files 'thinks' that Lieutenant Harris is in charge."

"That's strange," said Kresge.

"We aren't sure what happened, Commander," said Carlilse, "but it looks like the Lieutenant is the only person who can
unlock this particular version of these files."

"So
you're telling me that accessing these files means that the two of you will have to be present, at least when I initially open them?"

"If we just made
a copy to your personal computer, I wouldn't be needed, Sir," said Carlisle.

Kresge looked back and forth
between the two junior officers and shook his head. "Frankly, I don't see that as a problem. Like it or not, you two are my de facto second and third in command. Besides that, I trust you both completely. The fact that you could have accessed these files yourselves without my permission, and you didn't, only serves to reinforce that trust."

Kresge thought briefly
and quickly came to a decision, "I say we all have a look!"

"
We were hoping you'd say that, Sir," said Harris.

"Chief
Jenkins?" Kresge called out the chief who was tending his station on the other side of the bridge.

"Yes, Sir?" replied the Chief.

"See that we aren't disturbed for a while, would you please."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

The three of them went into the Commander's ready room. Kresge closed the door behind them and indicated that his two subordinates should take the two seats in front of his desk before going around behind the desk and sitting down himself. "Okay, Ensign, bring up that file."

Carlisle made a few deft movements with the fingers of her right hand and a list of files appeared in the air in front of the three officers.

"It was this file here, Commander," she said, highlighting the file in question. She attempted to access the file and received the now familiar warning message.

"
This file can only be accessed by the Station Commander."

Carlisle entered: Identify current commander.

The reply came back:
Acting Current Commander is Lieutenant Ryan Harris."

"Well, I'll be
..." said Kresge.  "I remember officially transferring command of the loading and unloading operations to Perkins, before the station was attacked. However, I did list you as the highest ranking officer before I went to New Ceylon, we can assume that the responsibility for this information must have been automatically transferred to you when I left. Can you copy all of those files to this computer, Ensign? We could use a backup or two anyway."

Carlisle spoke a command at
her wrist computer and a string of files being copied appeared on Kresge's computer monitor. After about a minute all of the inventory and other files had been duplicated on the Commander's computer. He brought up the file in question and pushed his chair back from the computer terminal.

"Harris
? Go ahead; input your command code."

Harris got up and came around behind the desk where he leaned over and
typed in a string of numbers and letters. The computer came back with:
"Command code recognized, access granted."

A string of
subfile and folder names began to scroll down the screen.

Harris went back to his seat and Kresge rolled his chair back to the terminal. He placed the computer in projection mode which brought up a holo display that all of them could read. He
then picked a folder at random and began to access some of the files it contained. As expected, it was a fairly long list of personnel information and other materials that appeared to be mostly of a mundane clerical nature. Kresge closed the file and began to scroll downward again. Towards the bottom of the list, the name of one folder stood out for all of them.

"
New Ceylon Reclamation Center: Special Inventory
," Kresge read out loud, "
Commander's eyes only?
"

"What do you suppose that is?" asked Carlilse.

"I don't know," replied Kresge. "I've sure as hell never seen it before."

Kresge
opened the file and the monitor began to scroll downward again as the screen was immediately flooded with what appeared to be a fairly large amount of detailed inventory information. They all looked it over for several minutes before reaching a somewhat shocking conclusion.

"
This is impossible," said Harris, his eyes scanning the inventory list, "It's a list of scrapped ships but all of them are newer than anything we have here in the Scrapyard. Check this out; there are three Orion Mark V Destroyers, a couple of fast command cutters and several prototype warships. There's a whole bunch of stuff we never knew about. There are several newer cruisers and even some experimental craft that must not have worked out so well."

"Where is
all this stuff supposed to be located?" asked Carlisle.

Kresge
did some more searching within the file folder.

"As near as I can tell, it's
near an asteroid in the L5 point of Naccobus V," he said, finally.

As a minor system in a minor corner of Federation space,
New Ceylon was the only planet in the Naccobus system that had been officially named. The rest of the planets had only received number designations. Naccobus V was a gas giant planet located some twelve times as far from the primary as was the far smaller but inhabited, and therefore named, planet of New Ceylon.

"I'm not so sure,
Commander," said Carlisle, "from what I'm reading it looks more like the inventory is
inside
the asteroid."

"You mean it's hollow
?" asked Kresge, "Like the colony at Patagonia?"

"Probably
," replied Carlisle, "According to the history files I studied on the way out here, there actually was some mining activity here in the Naccobus system. They used the materials to provide income while they got the colony on the planet started. As you know, the L-4 and L-5 points of gas giant planets often contain a few sizeable asteroids. A mining station could easily have been set up in that region and operated for a few years, leaving a hollowed out asteroid behind."

"And then
the Federation Navy used the asteroid to store some secret inventory that they wanted to keep well hidden," finished Harris.

"How long would it take to get
out there?" asked Kresge.

Carlisle performed a preliminary calculation on her wrist computer.

"It's in the L5 point of that gas giant, so there's no significant gravity source anywhere near the location. Let's see...given about an hour to get clear the Scrapyard and a microjump to within about an hour or so away from the asteroid," she said. "I figure we could easily get there in half a day. Give or take an hour or two."

Harris had been
continuing to scan the display of the inventory list. Each entry contained a brief outline of the item or ship concerned. He began to get excited.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff that
we might be able use out there," he said. "There're a number of prototype experimental ships."

"Yeah and several of these ship types had more modern weapons and other systems, like shields and sensors that we could use as well,"
added Kresge. He looked at his two companions. "We'll simply have to go out there and take a look around."

"That would seem like the logical next step," said Harris, "and I say the sooner the better, we have no idea if we will be
attacked again or not or whether something else just as unpleasant might be coming our way."

"I totally agree," said Kresge, "
Now is a good time since we have a few days before any of our recruiting and supply expeditions get back."

He thought for a moment. "For now
we'd better do our best to keep this information secret. I want a small expedition of only a few absolutely trustworthy people and a foray that takes no more than a day or so to complete. They'll be fewer questions that way." He looked at his two companions. "That means you Harris...and Hawkins. Who else?"

"We could take one of the cutters and maybe two or three other personnel," replied Harris. "I'd say
Talbot, if he's willing to go and maybe Orville Steuben. With myself plus Hawkins and the others, we should be able to handle a quick reconnaissance job and figure out what we can concerning any advanced engineering, especially in the limited time we have."

Harris could
n't miss the look of disappointment on Carlisle's face as she realized that the Commander wasn't intending to include her in the mission. He made a plea on her behalf.

"With respect, Sir, I would also like to take Dr. Carlisle.
That wrist computer with her running it is likely to come in very handy. That and she can get into places in her special suit where the rest of us simply can't go."

Kresge looked
intently at the Ensign. "Are you sure you're up to this, Tamara?"

Eyes wide,
she bobbed her head eagerly.

Kresge
still looked doubtful as he acquiesced, "Alright, Ensign, you can go as well."

"Thank you, Sir!"
she said, unable to disguise her excitement.

"Start making preparations to leave
immediately," said Kresge. "Your first priority is to procure whatever hardware you might be able to find that will permanently solve the weapons problems on the
Greyhound
." He shook his head. "I take full responsibility for having used the weapons at full power during that first battle for the Scrapyard but I don't know if we had any choice. Unfortunately, we did overheat the module that we salvaged from the
Exeter
and we could definitely use something a bit more robust. Beyond that, get me as much information on the condition of the ships and other materiel out there as you can. Are we clear?" Harris and Carlisle nodded. "Good. Get out there as quickly as you can, and I don't have to tell you to keep this absolutely quiet. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir," replied the two young officers, almost in unison.

"And you, Ensign," he looked sternly at Carlisle, "You're going along because they're likely to need you. Don't forget that you're still recovering from some pretty serious injuries. We're going to need you in top form if we're to go through with your plan to liberate the Nexus. You are not to overdo it!"

She nodded
eagerly in affirmation.

"Harris? Can I count on you to keep an eye on her?"

Harris looked at Carlisle, "I'll make sure she doesn't get out of hand, Sir," he said, though he was unable to totally suppress a good-natured smirk.