Chapter 33: Commander’s Mess

NSS McDivitt, December 3, 2141
Commander’s Mess

Captain Walter Schirra stood at the airlock and requested permission to come aboard and saluted the Western Alliance flag. “Welcome aboard sir,” said Commander Kanopa, then the bosun’s mate piped the Captain aboard. The PA throughout the ship announced, “Eighth Interplanetary Fighter Wing arriving.”

“Follow me Captain, we have a bit of a reception planned for you, when the rest of the guests arrive.” He led the Captain to the life support locker room where he could change into a more comfortable uniform and have his pressure suit cleaned and upgraded. After changing out of his pressure suit and into a flight suit with all the requisite badges of rank and Wolfpack patches, Wally saw a helmet that was sitting on a rack that intrigued him. “Spaceman, may I see that helmet?”

“Aye aye sir,” and he handed Captain Schirra the purple helmet with white horns.

Wally Schirra turned the helmet over in his hands, then handed it back to the technician. “The Vikings?”

“The Forty Third squadron is called the Berserkers, which were Vikings. This is for the squadron XO when he gets back.”

“Oh? Where is he at?”

“Don’t know sir, but he’s been gone for days.”

“Looks great, but does that comply with Navy regulations spaceman?”

“Not sure, Sir. This is for the Martian Navy.”

“Martian navy ... nice.” Wally left the Life Support section and was still laughing as they floated up the long tube that connected the flight deck area to the command area.

“Can I take that for you?” asked Tim Kanopa, and he reached for the heavy-looking case that the Captain was carrying.

“No. I need to take this to the CinC before we go anywhere.”

“Right here sir, this is intelligence director Sams.”

Wally handed the gunmetal gray case to the director of Intelligence, who grinned as he looked at it. “The Scarlett Encryptor. I’ve been waiting forever for this. Any relationship to our own Lieutenant JG Scarlett?”

“His older sister built it using a design of his. It was an electronics project when she was an undergrad.”

The head of intelligence, Lieutenant Commander Lewis Sams, looked at the box and whistled. “Some project!”

“Run this as soon as it comes up then store it with the device,” and he handed Lt. Commander Sams a piece of paper marked Top Secret, Cabinet 30. It was covered with random symbols, numbers, and letters.

“Aye, aye sir! We have a stack of messages waiting for this!” He set the case into a space on a counter that was waiting for it, opened the lid and connected the network and power. Inside was a metal drum, and he clipped the paper to the drum, hit a switch and it started spinning. An optical scanner looked at the spinning drum, and a counter on the top showed that it was doing something and was 2% complete.

“That will take a while, it’s loading the Dhali code. I’m expecting a message if it’s not here already,” said the commander of the two flying squadrons. “Commander Kanopa, lead on!”

The next stop for Captain Schirra was the commander’s mess, a small, elegant dining facility. “Welcome aboard the McDivitt, sir. I’ve heard so much about you,” said Captain Ellen Baker. “I’m sorry I didn’t meet you at the airlock but we’ve been having some excitement around here.”

“Where are my squadron commanders?” asked Wally as they sat and he poured coffee (actually injected it into a squeeze bottle from a thermos pump.)

“They were expecting you in a few more hours so they both responded to an FTS call,” said Ellen Baker as she sat a container of sandwiches on the magnetic table.

“FTS?”

“Found the ship. They work in near radio silence, the searchers speaking on intercom or helmet-to-helmet contact. On the radio they speak in abbreviations.” She explained how Alan took control of the situation. “This is his mission and there’s no doubt he’s well suited for it. He wouldn’t give many orders; he’d just ask for suggestions and work with the best ones.”

“And his orders he did give?”

“Most I agreed with. I still think he sent too many people to Mars, but...”

“Mars?” demanded Captain Schirra. “What the hell are they doing on Mars and why wasn’t I informed.”

“You weren’t informed due to Operations Security. We’re sure we are being monitored but we didn’t have an encryptor with high enough security for the information this mission generates. As for why, Alan was sure that if the Lake Baikal wasn’t found, they would go to Kōngchéng to find the plague.”

“And Alan Scarlett came up with that all by himself and initiated the operation without permission?” said Captain Schirra, trying to hold back a wry smile.

“Something about forgiveness being easier to get than permission,” said Captain Baker as she poured herself another bottle of coffee. “The deployed fliers are guests of Ray Clark and he’s very happy with them. The detachment is eight ships, four from each squadron and one of the officers is a native Martian. Ray signaled me that she’s now a celebrity and a recruiting poster.”

“Wait, the forty third is his unit, he can do whatever he wants with them. What is the forty fourth doing there? They’re not Martian, if something happens, Mars will freak.”

“They’re flying Top Cap, and the Martians love the idea. We’re getting reports of ships probing the Martian atmosphere, they’re afraid it’s going to get ugly. But still, we need to finish up here and get back there quickly. Luckily it has remained quiet here. Long range radar shows a little movement far off, about three days away but...

Just then Alan Scarlett, Hilde Marks, Lieutenant Lewis, Director of Intelligence, Lieutenant Commander Oswald, Director of Communications and two marines entered the room. “Ma’am, sir,” said Hilde. “We just had a major security breech.”

“What are you saying?”

“Ma’am, we dropped a comms drone ten thousand KM aft of us when we took up station here,” said Lieutenant Commander Oswald. “It picked up a radio signal emanating from this ship. The signal did not contain the Western Alliance header. It was sent in a Slavic alphabet and was immediately flagged as enemy action.”

“I suggest an immediate search of all bunks and personal spaces,” said Lieutenant Lewis. “The antenna array of the McDivitt was used to send the message and it’s going to attract attention.”

“I have the Berserkers on alert ready to defend the Lake Baikal. We are going to have gunnery practice as a show of power,” said Alan.

“I have the Werewolves on their wing,” said Hilde.

The Captain’s mess went silent as Captains Baker and Schirra considered the consequences. Finally, the silence was broken with a single syllable. “Shit,” muttered Captain Baker. “XO, start the search.”

Commander Kanopa rose and floated over to an intercom box. He turned a knob and selected ship wide. “Attention on all decks, attention on all decks. All personnel will stand by their bunk. All personnel will stand by their bunk. Prepare for ship wide inspection.”

“May we accompany you ma’am?” asked Alan.

“Why?” Captain Baker demanded.

“With all due respect, ma’am, this is my mission. This radio signal made my life much more difficult. And I think I know what to look for.”

“And what would that be?” she demanded.

“A toy robot.”

The search didn’t last long. They started with the officers of Captain Baker’s command staff. The marines searched each bunk area for computation devices and radio devices, and they didn’t find anything until they reached Commander Martin Monti’s bunk. The Marine emerged with a toy robot.