Chapter 5: Our Flight to Asteria and back

As we broke orbit and I put us in the grove, I sighed. “Keep the shields at full power.”

Silvia chuckled, “Not taking chances.”

I glanced at Michelle, “No, go get some sleep Cadet.”

I glanced back at Tinker, “One of you can crash and as soon as George and Brit give us the word you are both off.”

I checked my readout and brought up the ships long range scan display. Michelle hesitated behind my seat, “You are not just a pilot are you?”

I grinned to myself as Tinker chuckled. I glanced back, “One day I may tell you about it but not now. Go eat and get some sleep.”

She was in the back of the command deck with Silvia when Peaches cleared her throat. I shivered, “Peaches, how many times do I have to tell you to just talk.”

“It is polite to let someone know before you begin speaking.”

Tinker laughed and I smiled, “Okay you want to talk to me. What is up?”

“Albert sent a reply.”

I glanced back to see Tinker with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged, “Go ahead and play it.”

“Glad you finally remember us Jason. Molly said next time you take this long she is going to kick your ass around the salle...”

“That is the Emperor’s voice!”

I glanced back at the shocked face of Michelle and smiled, “Keep going Peaches.”

“I believe Samuel has been impressed with the need to remain with his bodyguard and not race in one of his modified hover cars. Molly did a good job of soothing the bruises after Sister Shadow was done going over those points with him...”

I laughed and heard Tinker chuckle. “As for Constance, she was really proud you noticed and wanted to send you a private message so Peaches should have it for later. As for the Nelson ... Dragon Intel is going crazy trying to find out how they missed it in the archives. If you have to use it, let us know how it works.”

Albert chuckled and I heard Molly from what sounded like across the room, “Ask him if his Cadet is pretty? Molly wants to know if your Cadet is pretty...”

I turned to look at Michelle, “What do you think Tinker?”

He looked back at a blushing Michelle and Silvia shook her head, “Be nice Jason.”

I grinned checked my readout, “Keep going Peaches.”

“I heard about your fun with the general by the way. It sounds like you took him to the cleaners and if half the things you got work as well as I think they will; I would not mind a ride some day. On a more serious note, Dragon Intel have been hearing whispers from Saras. They think someone is going to try breaking away from the Empire. If you hear or see anything let us know.”

“As for your bag ... I had Top Sergeant Henry check and repack it for you. I sent it on a dispatch courier so you should get it in two or three weeks at the latest. Molly said to tell you Cousin George is at Alpha Central. I believe she was the one that got the field commission and took over a recon platoon, it is hard to keep track of your family.”

“Oh, we had dinner with your mother last week. She was insystem for a short rest break. She said your brother made first officer and the Marines have your sister on some covert mission...”

“I am sending you a platoon of Silver Dragon’s. They are from Griffin Company so that should shake things up. I also sent a private note to Duke Grey but I will leave the military command up to you. You probably remember Wayne much clearer than I do so you know what to look for...”

“Jason, be carefully. Molly and I expect to stand for your wedding if a woman ever manages to catch you.”

“End of message Jason. Do you want to hear the massage from Constance.”

I smiled to myself, “Sure.”

“Cousin Jason thanks for remembering me. Mom said you would not forget. I ... This is private only for you, top secret Dragon Scales and everything...”

I looked at Peaches, “Pause message Peaches.”

I looked at everybody, “Disappear.”

Tinker grinned as he slid out of his seat. Silvia took his hand, “Do I need to leave out a do not disturb sign?”

I waved, “Take him to bed Silvia.”

I looked at Michelle and she kept looking at me. She glanced at the door as Silvia and Tinker closed it and then she looked back, “Constance is the Emperor’s daughter.”

I nodded and she frowned, “She called you her cousin but he ... the Emperor did not sound ... well, not completely...”

She took a breath, “Who are you?”

I smiled, “Peaches?”

“Yes Jason.”

I looked at Michelle, “Give Ms Grey my full Identity.”

“Ms Grey, Jason is Colonel Jason Drake. Imperial Dragon, code name Crimson Dragon and Emperor’s champion.”

Michelle was looking at me with wide eyes, “but ... but you are...”

I nodded, “Disappointing.”

She grinned and then shook her head, “No.”

I nodded towards her quarters, “I need to listen to Constance’s message.”

She grinned and headed into her quarters. I waited and then checked my readouts, “Okay Peaches, play the messages.”

“Jason I met a boy ... he is Duke Thomas’s second son. He is like, really cute and I really like him. I ... do you think it would be okay if we ... you know, had sex?”

“I did some checking ... you remember Uncle Felix? He did some checking for me and he said Joey looks like a keeper. Let me know as soon as you can please.”

“End message Jason.”

I sat there thinking and finally looked at Peaches, “When was the message sent.”

“Twelve hours ago.”

I nodded, “Fire up the star comm Peaches. Crimson Dragon priority, Emperor’s ears only.”

A minute later, “Go ahead Jason.”

I took a breath, “Albert, I need to speak to Molly alone without anyone’s ears, even yours.”

There was a pause and then Albert’s voice came through, “Give me a moment Jason.”

I waited thinking about what I needed to say, “Go ahead Jason, I am alone.”

I sighed, “Just listen Molly. Constance is thinking about a boy.”

I waited for the reply and heard Molly laugh, “We know that. She has been trying to be sneaky but you know how hard that is.”

I nodded, “We talked about this when she was younger. It is time you had the talk with her and changed her primary guard to Mother Steel.”

There was a longer then normal pause and then, “Are you sure Jason?”

I nodded to myself, “She asked Molly. You need to be her friend and confidant now and help her prepare.”

After the pause I heard Molly sigh, “Now I know how my mother felt. Okay Jason.”

I glanced back, “Discomm and prepare another message to Constance. Crimson Dragon channel, top priority.”

“Go ahead Jason.”

I took a breath, “Constance my little angel, I have waited a long time for you to ask me something like that. To ask that question means you have asked it of yourself. This time I can not stay silent. I have talked to your mother in private because we have prepared for this. You are a beautiful young woman and your mother is going to help you. Think of her as your special confidant. She is going to help you prepare to have sex and she will have your primary guard changed to a woman called Mother Steel. Do not even think of sneaking off to be with your young man. Talk to your mother and Mother Steel, they will arrange it so the two of you can be together and if you ... You angel. If you decide to do it, they will protect your secret. This is a Drake family secret Constance, trust me and trust your mom. I can not begin to tell you how much I wish I were there for you, but you have made me very proud. I love you Constance.”

I sighed, “End message Peaches.”

“Message ended and ... sent.”

I sat back and just scanned the readout. It was eight hours before George poked his head onto the command deck. He came in and sat in the jump seat behind me, “How is it look skipper?”

I glanced back and grinned, “Everything is still in the green.”

He smiled, “About Brit.”

I grinned, “She seemed competent.”

He laughed, “She is that. It is personal with us though.”

I looked at his red face and smiled, “It is about time Top.”

He relaxed with a sigh, “I think she is the one Skipper.”

I glanced at him, “How much does she know?”

He grinned, “She was recon, what she does not know, she guesses.”

I nodded, “Than sit her down and tell her.”

He sighed, “Sometimes that either scares them or makes them change the way they...”

I laughed, “George, if she was recon long enough that it sticks. She is not going to be scared or get a case of hero worship.”

He was quiet and then he stood, “I think I will go wake her up and have a talk.”

I cleared my throat and he looked at me. I grinned, “Be carefully waking her. Recon have nasty habits if you wake them up the wrong way.”

He grinned and a moment later it was quiet again. Not surprisingly Michelle was the first one up. She came out yawning and stretching. I grinned and sipped the fresh cup of tea I had made. She sat in the seat behind me with a cup of coffee. It was a quiet half hour before Silvia and Tinker appeared.

Silvia looked wide awake and Tinker ... well, he looked rested but had a pleased expression that he seldom wore. I had to smile at Silvia and shake my head as she slipped into her seat. I looked at Michelle, “Time for a test Cadet. Climb into your seat. You will be flying a sim of a shuttle flight gone wrong.”

I glanced at Silvia, “Would you mind being her engineer?”

She smiled and turned to flip a couple of switches, “Okay Michelle it is you and me against Jason’s sim.”

Michelle had slipped into her seat and was waiting, she grinned back at Silvia. I had already downloaded the flight data to do the sim and paused, “Your call sign is Green Two. You have a logged flight path to Beta Seven from an insystem personal transport.”

Michelle nodded as she slipped the sim helmet on. I started the sim and slid my seat back and stood to stretch. “Ship is your Tinker.”

He grinned, “How many times do you think she will do it?”

I grinned, “Until she gets to tired to think clearly. When she stops, have her eat and then run her through some sims with the 20MM.”

He nodded and I headed to my tiny quarters and bed. My eyes snapped open at the light tap on my door, “come in.”

The door slid aside as my feet hit the deck. Tinker smiled from the doorway, “You are getting old, you have slept for eight hours.”

I glanced at my wall clock and sighed as I stood and reached out to open the tiny shower, “How did she do?”

While I showered Tinker laughed and told me about each run Michelle and Silvia made trying to repeat our landing in the shuttle. When I came out Silvia looked thoughtful and Michelle looked a little worn around the edges. I ate and Michelle kept looking at me. She finally shifted and cleared her throat.

I glanced at her and she looked back, “Tinker said it could be done but I do not see how.”

I grinned, “The proof is that you are here and Tinker and I are here and our old shuttle is probably still sitting on the pad I left her on.”

She blinked and looked at Silvia, “So this was a real flight and not a sim you made up.”

I headed for my seat, “It was real. You will not like the ones I make up either.”

I glanced back, “think about the five directions available in space and everything the ship is capable of doing. Do not think in terms of a ship or flying but what they can do and what systems they use to do it with.”

It was a week before Michelle final landed the shuttle. She and Silvia were both ecstatic and Tinker pulled Silvia into her quarters to ... celebrate. Michelle was sitting in the second seat happily checking the readout. For the last four days I had watched a shadow on the very edge on our scan. I thought it was a low powered recon drone that was trying to keep us marked.

We were a day out from Asteria, the long range scan display flashed as an update was added. One look was enough for me to start adjusting my controls, “Cadet sound GQ!”

She looked at me for a second and then quickly slapped the red button on her console. I glanced at Peaches as Tinker scrambled out the door and into his seat, “Run the scan ID Peaches.”

I looked at Tinker as Silvia slid into her seat reaching for her panels. “We have a destroyer closing from the stern. It is running without a transponder and...”

I glanced at my readout, “And it just started jamming us.”

“It is not registered with the fleet Jason.”

I looked at Tinker as his hands adjusted the shields. I took a breath, “It looks like the weapons were a good idea.”

I did a quick check as Silvia gasped, “I have active targeting scans.”

I flipped the ship and opened the rail gun bay. The twin turret lock as it was extended into place. I had been adjusting the passive targeting and went active. It took a few long seconds for the system to lock and I fired. “Time to impact?”

Tinker grunted, “twenty seconds. I am still running the scan jammer and the counter measures seem to be working.”

Michelle was white faced and I was ready to fire again when suddenly the whole area where the destroyer had been because a chaotic mass of tiny debris from an expanding ball of a double anti matter explosion. I checked my scan display and flipped the ship, “Clear from GQ.”

I checked the shadow on my display and it still ghosted along. I looked at Michelle, “Do you see the ghost on the scan display?”

She nodded jerkily, “Yes.”

I smiled thinly, “The ship is yours. Destroy the ghost using the 20MM.”

She looked at me wide eyed, “But...”

I looked at her, “It is an unmanned recon drone.”

She swallowed and took a second and then she was confident as her hand flicked over the controls. She glanced at Tinker, “Keep the counter measures going.”

He only nodded but she had already turned back and spun the ship sideways. I watched her adjust the targeting system before going active and then she fired. She looked like she was going to fire again but her hand stilled before she did, “Time to impact Tinker?”

Tinker grunted, “thirty seconds.”

Right on time the ghost seemed to flicker and then disappeared. I nodded as Michelle spun the ship and retracted the large rail guns back into their bay. She readjusted the controls back to what they should be and sat back. I nodded and leaned back, “Peaches?”

“Yes Jason?”

I glanced at Tinker, “time to send some messages. Use the standard Dragon information channel. First one goes to Dragon command intel unit. Let them know we encounter and were targeted by an unregistered destroyer and we destroyed it. Second one to Fleet Command, same message. Third to System fleet command, Admiral’s attention needed. An unregistered destroyer has targeted an insystem cargo transport and has been destroyed. Fourth to Gamma station, an unregistered destroyer has been destroyed insystem. It is unknown if there are any others. Last one is to Albert’s desk, I was forced to destroy an unregistered destroyer targeting us a day out from Asteria. Have Dragon inspectors check the fleet yards. Send them Peaches.”

“Sending them now.”

I relaxed and looked at Michelle, “I have her, you can take a break.”

I began our deceleration and even though it was over, everyone was still tense. I checked our supply list and opened the ships comm to the Cargo office, “George?”

Brit laughed as she opened the comm, “He is busy.”

I laughed and glanced at Tinker and Silvia. They were grinning and looking at each other. “You will do Brit. Make a note to fill our water tanks when we finish unloading on Asteria.”

She laughed, “Will do.”

I closed the comm and looked at Michelle who was a little red faced. I grinned, “Not much else to do on long hauls like these.”

She blushed even more and started running more checks. The Asteria control dispatcher seemed abrupt and even rude as he directed us into our docking area. After shutting everything down while George and Brit sealed the cargo transport tubes I nodded to Tinker, “I will go speak with Admiral Jones.”

He nodded and glanced at Michelle. I shook my head, “She is coming with me.”

I looked at Michelle and used the nick name Silvia had given her, “Come along Kitten.”

She looked up and then grinned as she stood to follow me. When I walked into the large cargo bay the cargo handlers scowled at us. It was almost like they were angry at us for something. I led Michelle across the huge bay and through an air lock. The hallway beyond was packed with workers that shut up as soon as they saw us.

When I asked for directions to an express elevator it was ignored and the guy just walked away. I watched him and finally nodded and turned to head down the hallway. When I stepped into the station control room a large man wearing a low slung pistol stepped in front of me. “This is a restricted area and you are not authorized to wear a weapon on the station.”

He was holding his hand out as if he expected me to just hand my pistol over. My left hand came across and grabbed. I pulled, twisted and jerked as I pulled my Mark V and put it again his forehead, “My Name is Jason Drake. You can call me Colonel Drake.”

I looked around the room as everyone looked back even Admiral Jones. “Not only am I authorized to wear this weapon anywhere I want, but I am authorized to go wherever I want. Now, Fleet regulations prohibit civilians from wearing weapons in any control room. So tell me, who let you wear your weapon in here?”

Admiral Jones was walking towards me looking angry, “I did!”

I released his hand and reached down to pull his pistol and dropped it on the floor. I stepped back and faced the Admiral, “In that case Admiral you are relieved of all duties as of right now.”

His face went white, “You do not...”

A young looking Lieutenant stood up, “He out ranks you!”

I smiled but kept looking at the Admiral, “Asteria AI, this is Crimson Dragon do you recognize me?”

The room was quiet as the AI spoke, “I recognize you Colonel.”

I stepped closer to the Admiral, “On my authority you are to execute Dragon override, Imperial code Dragon Claws.”

“I understand Colonel.”

I looked around, “Just so you all understand what that means, I will explain. Every record, every recording, every detail of this station is now frozen. A platoon of Silver Dragons are on their way to this system. You are Imperial citizens and the Emperor has no intention of allowing a revolt...”

The Lieutenant snorted, “We have something for the emperor!”

I pointed my Mark V straight at his head, “Did you just threaten the Emperor in my presence?”

He went pale but did not answer. I nodded, “Asteria AI you are to strip this Lieutenant of all rank and privileges.”

“Cause?”

I smiled, “Violating his oath to the empire and emperor and threatening the emperor.”

“Confirmed.”

I gestured to the door, “Get out.”

I looked at the Admiral, “I should just shoot you now. You will report to the dispatch ship and proceed to system command. When you arrive you will present yourself to the Emperor’s Fleet counsel to face charges of violating control room security and possibly treason.”

He hesitated and I gestured to the door, “Do not stop along the way, no comm will except your signal.”