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Chapter Thirty-One

“So you’re now a fully qualified space pilot?” Murphy asked as soon as Bowden’s butt hit the chair on the other side of the colonel’s desk.

“I’m not certified by anyone or anything…but yeah,” Bowden said. “I can do launches, fly anywhere you need me to go, and then do a reentry to a touchdown.”

“Good. I was a little worried after your first launch…”

“That wasn’t my failure; that was sabotage.”

“I know, but I was worried. Anything I need to know about?”

“Like what?”

“Were there any other incidents after that?”

“None. I did three launches, including one with Burg Hrensku; all were nominal. Launches are actually pretty easy if you survive the RATO takeoff. After that, it’s just ‘keep flying up.’ Then the sky gets black, and you go where you need.”

Murphy looked toward the hatch. “Janusz?”

The large, expressionless submariner appeared in the hatchway, filling it in every dimension. How he’d ever moved through the tight spaces of the Polish submarine Orzel was a mystery to Bowden. Equally mysterious was the disappearance of Murphy’s first bodyguard, Max Messina. Until the last couple of meetings on Spin One, Bowden had rarely seen Murphy without Max nearby. He wanted to ask about the big Vietnam vet’s absence, but doubted Murphy would provide any information if he did.

“Yes, Colonel?” Janusz asked.

“Could you see that we’re not disturbed?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll take care of it.” He closed the hatch.

Bowden smiled. “Is it game time?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, it is.” He sighed. “Past game time, actually. I would have liked to have given you a few extra days for another launch and reentry, but the surveyors were getting too close, and we need you now. Needed you yesterday, if you want to know the truth.”

“Is that a figure of speech or did you really need me yesterday?”

“I really needed you yesterday. Certain opportunities presented themselves that we needed to grab hold of. Now we’re going to be playing catch-up.”

Murphy’s eyes bored into Bowden’s. “Before we go any further, I’m sure you realize this is all strictly classified; I’m the only person with whom you can discuss any of these details.”

Bowden nodded. “Based on your earlier comments, I figured it was something like that. I won’t say a word.”

“Good, because—as you’ve seen—there are entities in this system who are not onboard with what we’re doing.”

“Besides the Kulsians.”

“Yes. People closer to home. People who would sabotage an interface craft full of supplies to prevent what we’re intending. They’d like to stop our daily operations. If they knew the mission on which I was about to send you…”

“There’d be conflict?”

“They would certainly do their utmost to stop us, even more so than they have thus far. Hopefully, by presenting them with a fait accompli, they will have no choice but to join with us.”

“Do you have any more information about who’s organizing this?”

“People among the SpinDogs and RockHounds who are far more comfortable hiding from the Kulsians than they are taking the fight to them. They are unhappy with the way we’ve upset their apple carts.”

“Isn’t it a little late to try to hide this time around? We’ve already made our presence known on the planet.”

Murphy nodded. “We have, and yes, it’s too late to try to hide. That doesn’t mean they don’t wish it was otherwise.”

“Got it. So what’s the mission?”

“There is a lighter—a small freighter—going from R’Bak to the second planet in this system where the Kulsians are already harvesting. We have put people in place to capture it. You and a small team of SpinDogs and RockHounds will rendezvous with the lighter—which is already on its way to the second planet, in accordance with its normal profile. I need you to figure out a way to catch up to it, then, once you do, you’ll load the two modules of commandos you’re carrying onto it.”

“Modules?”

“They’re transfer boxes, but they look a lot like the CONEX boxes we had back home.”

“Who’s in charge of the commandos?” Bowden asked.

“It doesn’t matter, and you don’t need to know. You’ll load the transfer boxes—with their cargo—onto the lighter, then you’ll do whatever is required to get intercepted by the corvette operating above the second planet. At that point, the commando team you’re carrying will capture the corvette for future operations.”

“A corvette, eh? That kind of ship would be able to make it to the other system, wouldn’t it?” Bowden smiled broadly. “I can see a whole host of future operations that would be possible if we had one of those…”

The smile was lost on Murphy, who frowned. “I would appreciate it if you kept any suppositions of what might be possible in the future to yourself and concentrated on the original mission—getting your team into place.”

Bowden’s smile faded. “Yes, sir. I understand. Take the lighter to the second planet and get close to the corvette so we can grab it. Who else am I supposed to coordinate with for this?”

“You’re coordinating with me. It isn’t necessary or desired for you to know or interact with the people you’ll be transporting. This is strictly a need-to-know operation, and you don’t need to know who the cargo is. The SpinDogs and RockHounds on your team will need to know even less. The commandos are in their own modules, and the only time you’ll need to talk to them is when you give them the ‘go’ code to begin their part of the operation.”

“Okay, got it. Don’t talk to the commandos.” Bowden pursed his lips as he thought, then he shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, but that’s not going to work.”

Murphy’s eyes hardened. “It’s going to work because you’re going to make it work.”

“Sir, you were involved in a lot of joint operations, right?”

“I was, which is why I know how important doing this under blackout conditions is. We can’t give them any indication we’re coming. More importantly, if there is a double agent in one of those modules, we need to deprive them of any information they could use to craft a tailor-made sabotage scheme.”

“Sir, a complete comms blackout imposes greater dangers than any possible sabotage, because the most important part of this operation occurs when the cargo streams out to capture the corvette. How am I supposed to orient them so that when they come out, they know where to go and what to do? If I don’t have a method of communicating with them, their odds of success are going to go way down. Ever have a mission where the recon elements couldn’t talk to the operators? And what if we have a critical malfunction? Bottom line: we need the ability to talk to them if required, or at least let them know what’s happening.”

Murphy cocked his head and was silent for a few moments, then he sighed. “There’s a comm panel on one of the transfer boxes. You can jack in there and give them a one-way message.”

“What about the guys in the second module?”

Murphy smiled. “Don’t worry about it. They can handle their own internal communications. And they are the sabotage risk, anyway.”

“Fine,” Bowden said, happy to have gotten at least a small concession. “Is there any other information you can give me on the turnover of the lighter?”

“A different team will secure the craft; that’s not your problem. You just need to catch up to the craft as soon as you can, and hopefully before it gets to the second planet. At that point, the Kulsians are likely to see it and anyone operating around it. The corvette is armed with ship-to-ship missiles, so you don’t want to do anything that will make them shoot first and ask questions later.”

“Has any planning gone into how to get them close to us, then?”

“Yes. You will have the proper codes, and you will make it look like there is a problem with your spaceship. The best way is probably to send out a mayday saying you had an impact with something that has put you into a three-axis tumble, and then kill your radio signal.

“Hopefully, that will get them close enough for the commando team to storm across and capture their ship.”

“You know that hope isn’t a strategy, right, sir?”

“I do, but I have you to fill in all the other operational data to make this happen. We’ve invested a huge amount of assets in setting this up; I need you to bring it to fruition.”

“A three-axis tumble, eh? That’s probably something the cargo might want to be aware of before we do it.”

“They were briefed to expect that.”

“Fair enough.” Bowden shrugged. “What happens if we get caught?”

“Don’t get caught. I doubt you’d be treated very well by the Kulsians.”

“I see.” Bowden thought for a moment. “So, failure isn’t an option. We either succeed…”

“Or you won’t be coming back.”

“Got it. The lives of my team, plus the lives of the commandos, are all riding on the success of this mission.”

Murphy shook his head. “No, Major Bowden. This mission is much more important than that. If you fail, the Kulsians will become aware of our presence here in the Shex system, and it will provoke a response beyond our ability to stop. The lives of everyone on R’Bak, as well as the spins and everywhere else, will be in jeopardy. If you fail, we stand to lose it all.”

“So,” mused Bowden, “just like taking out the transmitter last year.”

“Yes,” Murphy agreed with a very long sigh, “just like that.”


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Framed