Chapter IV (barely begun)

IV

“Hey! Michelson! I’ve got something for you. Ethan, come too.” So we both reported to Ortiz.

The job description was normal. There was a detailed, digital map of a very large mining system, a description of a UGC fleet, primarily Augustonian, with occasional details considering the officers of individual squadrons, divisions, and even singular ships. Of special interest was one of the squadron command ships.

“The Admiral will be on that one,” Claudio commented. “Most of his experience is fighting the Execronians, as he is now. They control that star system that the Augustonians are trying to take back you see there. This here is the fleet command ship; it’s a grand flag ship, but that’s not where the Admiral is. Almost a bit of a decoy, really, though I’m not sure whether or not that was the intention. Normally, I’d let the Execronians and the Augustonians fight it out. I’ve no love for either, but I’d have to hope an Execronian victory. The difference is that Admiral (he’s a Vice Admiral, by the way). He’s been involving himself in my affairs, attacking rebels I organized. So, Michelson, you’re going to swat a fly for me. I have confidence that you’re up to it.” So I was only present to watch.

I appreciated him keeping me in the loop. John was becoming my militant counterpart, conducting the clandestine operations, while I did the same thing, but off the battlefield and unarmed, giving the right people the type of nudge necessary to get them to do as Claudio wished. Sometimes I would pass a few thousand credits to a pirate without a word; sometimes I would spend a few hours drinking tea with a prime minister, with no more persuasion than my own verbal rhetoric.

Later

“One of the officers, named Hector Dacre, did not turn over a gravity sword.”

“They all have them.”

“He says he wasn’t allowed one due to some sort of disorder.”

“Well, take it to the captain. It’d be bad to kill wastefully, but it’d be worse to allow one of them to retain a gravity sword. Oh, and I take it he’s been searched.”

“Of course.”

“Fine. Let’s go see Captain Yachovich.”

A few minutes later, good Captain Alexei found himself confronted in the bridge, where he was being held. “Captain, would you be so good as to give me the full medical status of one Hector Dacre?”

Yachivich did not question the command, but the name was not immediately familiar. He finally remembered a Lieutenant Commander with the name. “So he’s an officer,” the captain thought to himself. “They must be asking about his gravity sword. He must have hidden it, and they want it from him. He’s claimed that he doesn’t have one due to a medical condition!” The captain’s mind was quick and accurate. He knew immediately what must be said, but after Princess Irene had so easily pierced the white lie told at the ball, he was unsure if he could deliver the manufactured explanation believably now, when so many lives depended on it.

“He has a mental disorder we are working on correcting, if I remember correctly. He makes regular trips to the infirmary for nanobot injections.”

“That isn’t what the computer says.” The rebel’s countenance betrayed suspicion, but no more than had previously been present.

“Correct. We don’t log such things on the main computer; medical conditions go on a separate drive, which happened to be severely damaged when you attacked us.” Yachovich paused to call a nearby crewman over to him. The man looked unwell. “If you would like to verify this, simply look up Petty Officer Horak. He contracted a rare malicious virus recently, but you will not find that information on the ship’s main computer.” All of this was a lie. Mental conditions were logged on the computer, Dacre did not have one, and there was no separate medical computer. Horak’s infection was not on the main computer only because physical conditions were not logged.

“I see.” Michelson was as impenetrable as ever. Extraordinarily unfortunately for our cause, Michelson did not ask to see the fictional damaged medical computer. He was just barely too credulous, and Yachivich was just barely too quick on his feet. Beyond this, Michelson had a merciful side, and something within him struggled against the impulse to kill the young Dacre without proof of his guilt. Had Ortiz been present at this pivotal moment, I doubt not that the events to come would have transpired differently.