Chapter 19

V1794 Cygni System
GNS Neil Armstrong
02/18/42 NR 2115 Hours

Aaron placed his hand on the armrest to brace himself as the shuttle rolled to align itself with Armstrong’s docking port. Kayla and George were both with him, albeit under varying degrees of protest. They felt, with good reason, the admiral admitted to himself, the fleet admiral’s place was aboard his flagship, especially when his fleet was being pursued by a superior enemy. They were right, of course, but this was something he had to do himself.

The craft shivered as the pilot expertly eased into the docking collar. A solid bump heralded their arrival, and Aaron pushed himself out of his seat. There were no formal procedures about who boarded ship in what order, but the admiral was apparently in a hurry, and everyone deferred to him. He waited while the seal was verified and the pressure equalized between the two vessels so the airlocks could be bypassed.

Finally, Aaron pulled himself through the joined airlocks and into the scout’s boat bay. The senior rating on duty stiffened as he spotted his commander in chief. “Uh, good evening, Admiral.” He braced to something like attention, but the Genevan Navy had no formal military courtesy protocol, so the man nodded politely. “How may I help you, Sir?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t comm ahead, Chief. Would you, with my compliments, inform Captain Whitney that I am aboard with two of my staff, and we’d like to see her at her earliest convenience.”

“Yes, Sir.” The chief activated his comm and spoke quietly and urgently into it. “One of the officers will be down to escort you to the briefing room, Admiral”, he told Aaron a moment later.

“Thank you, Chief.”

The scout had stopped accelerating while the docking was accomplished, and a chime came over the ship’s intercom. “Stand by for boost in ten seconds. All hands, brace for gravity.” The chime sounded ten seconds later, and Aaron rotated his body so his feet pointed at the deck.

Five minutes later, a full one gravity held them firmly to the deck. Aaron followed a very nervous and very young ensign to the scout’s briefing room. She ushered them inside a tiny compartment that was filled with a table and six chairs. The blonde turned and stammered something unintelligible, and turned bright red.

“Relax, Ensign, I don’t bite,” Aaron told her gently. “We’re fine here until the captain comes. You can go back to whatever it was you were doing, okay?” The ensign nodded spastically and disappeared through the doorway like a puff of smoke.

“I’d say she was cute, if she weren’t an officer, and if your august presence hadn’t scared the wits from her,” Kayla observed dryly. “You...” she broke off as the briefing room door opened again.

“Good evening, Admiral,” Captain Armala Whitney said as she strode into the room. She was small, dark, wiry, and exuded enough energy to move her vessel without a fusion plant. “Please, sit down. May I offer you something to eat or drink?”

“No, thank you, Captain,” Aaron released the chair from its stowage lock and sat down. “I’ll come to the point. We’re here to investigate Luisa McDaniel’s activities aboard your ship. I hope to have your full support as we conduct this inquiry.”

Whitney sat back and regarded him coolly. “Forgive my impertinence, Admiral, but I have a question for you.”

Aaron sat up straighter in his chair. “You may speak your mind, Captain.”

“Did you, or any of your subordinates give orders that Luisa McDaniel be killed?” Her voice was calm, but her eyes burned like black coals.

“No. I did not ever, or would I ever, order her to be harmed.” Aaron kept his voice level. He held the woman’s gaze until she nodded in satisfaction.

“Very well, Sir. How might I aid your investigation?”

“Simply put, my staff and I will ask everyone who had contact with Luisa to tell us everything that happened while she was aboard this ship. Meet my investigators: Kayla Robbins and George MacGregor.” They each nodded to Armala in turn. “Now, we’d like your recollection of events, from the time Luisa arrived aboard.”

“Yes, Sir. Luisa came aboard while we were docked to Foster in 28 Librae. Lovell had a fire in their accommodations section, and Perla asked me if I’d take over her duty as Luisa’s transport, and she’d guard the transports. I said that was fine, and, after a team of researchers came aboard, we left. Or, more precisely, Luisa ordered me to take her to Arwen. We transited the wormholes and entered orbit without any problems. Luisa and her team went down to the surface with their rover, and everything was fine for a couple of days.”

Armala shook her head. “Then, all hell broke loose. One of the other team members, April, I think her name was, is telling us that everything is fine, when Luisa comes up on the comm squawking emergency and command codes all at once. She tells us April had killed the other two team members, and she was stranded on the surface. I gathered up all the people I could spare, and sent the shuttle off immediately.”

“When they landed, April and the rover were nowhere to be found. But, we did find Luisa, and,” her eyes glowed, “a whole lot more. Let me show you.” Armala activated her holo display and tapped at her virtual keyboard. The briefing room’s display came to life, and Aaron inhaled audibly. “This is what Luisa found, and, we think what April was trying to keep secret.”

The lighting could have been better, but the alien craft’s sleek shape was clearly visible in the cavern entrance. The camera moved slowly as the operator picked their way along a narrow ledge leading to the cavern mouth. Inside the cavern, the camera moved around the nose of the craft, and then to the cabin door on the right side of the fuselage. The interior was strange because of its familiarity, and finally the operator entered the cargo compartment in the rear of the cabin. A large, oblong box came into view, and all three officers exclaimed aloud when a young woman’s face came into focus.

“Wait a minute!” Aaron nearly leapt from his seat. “No one said a word about finding a person there.”

Armala looked away from the frozen video frame and gazed at her superior. “That is correct, Sir. Only my crew, Luisa, and a few others know of Ku-aya’s existence. And, I’d like to ask you to consider keeping it that way for now.”

George and Kayla exchanged incredulous glances, and George took at breath. “Admiral, maybe we should simply let the good captain continue her story.”