Chapter 38: 38. Intelligence

Our after-breakfast conversation left me blushing while Jenny acted a bit awkward. Meanwhile both Sarah and Piper seemed to be enjoying themselves and having a little fun with the subject we'd been discussing.

And despite my embarrassment I was glad to note that our captain was able to smile and joke about that sort of thing. I took it as a good sign that she was comfortable enough with both the topic and herself, that it didn't bother her to discuss that stuff.

Sarah finally suggested, "That's probably enough for now? We can always pick up the conversation again at dinner, but for now I should probably get back down to the hold. I want to see about fabricating some clamps."

"Actually how about you leave that till later," Piper suggested. Her expression and tone had suddenly become serious, and she added "There's something I've had on my mind since we left port, and I think it's time I shared it with the rest of you."

I frowned, "Is this what was troubling you the day we launched?"

The captain grimaced, "I guess I'm not as good at hiding my feelings as I thought? You're right Amanda, it is."

She got up and fixed herself another mug of coffee as she continued, "The day before launch, when I was out arranging supplies and taking care of business, there was another stop I made in the city."

"You remember the sealed orders we recovered from the Hammersmith's safe?" she asked as she sat back down. "I took those three cases to a guy I knew could open them. He's got a reputation for that kind of thing, he knows his way around security systems, especially computer security. He got them open in no time, and I left the data crystals with him so he could decrypt them."

I asked, "That was your business in the city the morning we left? You went to pick up the crystals?"

Piper nodded, "Correct. He had them decrypted by the time I went back that morning, we put the originals back into their cases and re-sealed them so nobody could tell they'd been tampered with. And he gave me the decrypted orders on a separate crystal. We also looked them over while I was there, and..."

"And it's not good news," Sarah guessed.

"Nope," the captain shook her head.

Her expression darkened and she sighed, then had another sip of coffee. All four of us were quiet for the next few seconds, Piper looked like she was organizing her thoughts while the rest of us waited.

"So first thing," she finally stated, "The three sets of orders were obviously never intended to be all opened or read. They're very clearly an either-or set. One of them would be activated, the other two probably destroyed. All three had some common elements between them, but very different outcomes."

She paused again and took a deep breath. "All three made it clear that the Hammersmith's goodwill mission was a cover story, it was an excuse to place an Imperium warship in this sector and get folks used to having her wandering around patrolling the shipping lanes. Whichever set of orders was activated, they all had the same opening instructions. The goodwill mission was terminated immediately, the Hammersmith was to go into a comms lockdown and assume a combat-ready posture. Basically they were to act as though they were at war and behind enemy lines."

"But why?" Sarah frowned. "The Imperium's not at war with anyone in this sector. And if they were planning to invade, there'd have been a lot more chatter. I was never part of the command pipeline, but officers talk to other officers. I know a lot of other engineers in the service. If they'd been amassing ships along the border I'd have heard about it."

The captain shook her head, "They weren't going to invade, and they weren't planning on declaring war. Though depending which orders were activated, there could have been an attack."

She frowned again as she stated, "The first set of orders were to drop everything, go to a combat-ready posture, then proceed directly to the Fuminja Cluster. They were ordered to destroy Fuminja Epsilon without warning, and to ensure there were no survivors. When that was done they were to return to base immediately."

She continued, "The second set of orders also had them going directly to the Fuminja Cluster, but instead of attacking they were to dock with Fuminja Epsilon and arrange a transfer of cargo. The orders said to contact Dr. Ayala Kelsonian of Fuminja Epsilon, and hand over six hundred bars in cash in return for a sealed shipment. Then they were to return immediately to base with that shipment."

"Which explains why there was so much cash in the captain's safe," she added. "Some of it was for ship's operations, but three of those strongboxes were a payoff for something."

Piper had another sip of coffee and finished, "The final set of orders had them going to Ecclestone's World. They were to deploy their contingent of marines, under-cover so they could carry out a few 'extraordinary renditions'. The orders identified three Ecclestonian citizens by name, and if they couldn't be captured alive then they were to be terminated. Following that, the Hammersmith would head to Fuminja and destroy Fuminja Epsilon as per the first set of orders. And when that was done, they'd take their three prisoners back to Imperium space."

"Holy shit," Sarah gasped quietly. "So option A was unprovoked attack and murder, option B was hand over a small fortune in local cash in return for secret cargo, and option C was kidnapping and or assassination plus unprovoked attack and murder?"

A moment later she frowned, "I have a hard time believing the Hammersmith would carry out those orders. Maybe the second one? But Captain Stenlake was a good man, I really can't believe he'd blindly obey orders that involved an unprovoked attack like that. Not without a really good reason."

The captain responded, "The orders for the first and third options claimed Fuminja Epsilon is supporting terrorist operations within the Imperium. Which might have been plausible, except for the orders which involved paying a small fortune for some mystery cargo."

There was a cold heavy feeling in my gut as I asked, "We're going to the Fuminja Cluster right now. Will we be anywhere near Fuminja Epsilon?"

"Yep," Piper nodded. "That's our next port of call. And my contact there, the person who handles Lebeau's shipments, is Ms. Kelsonian. I didn't know she was a doctor. I don't even know what they do there, apart from it being a private installation. I've never set foot in the place, I just dock and we exchange cargo through the main airlock. I don't even get fuel there, the public port is at Fuminja Beta."

Jenny had a worried frown on her face as she asked, "Do you know who their three targets were at Ecclestone's world?"

The captain nodded again, "The number one target is Viktor Lundin. He's been the governor of Ecclestone's World for the past eight or nine years. Target number two is Kessy Godard. I'm not sure what her exact position is but I know she's another ranking government official. And the third target is one Auguste Lebeau. Small-time businessman and two-bit crook."

"Oh shit," Sarah grimaced.

I asked, "What do you think's going on?"

Piper slowly shook her head, "I'm not sure yet, but whatever it is I'm probably not going to like it."

"So Lebeau is connected with the governor and another ranking government official on Ecclestone's World," Sarah commented. "And Lebeau is also connected to a doctor at a private facility in an asteroid belt. And we're carrying goods between Lebeau, the doctor, and a mining colony. And whatever's going on is big enough that the Imperium is interested."

"Could it be weapons?" I asked. "Maybe the place at Fuminja is some kind of arms facility."

Jenny asked, "How would the mining colony be involved in weapons research?"

Sarah shrugged, "Could be they're testing new high-energy weapons in the mine? Claim it's some new mining equipment. Something that can carve through rock and ore might also do a number on ship hulls?"

Piper shook her head, "The Imperium does a ton of weapons research as it is, and they have no reason to hide it. My guess is it's something the Imperium wants, but needs to keep from public scrutiny. Some kind of forbidden tech maybe."

I suggested, "Could it be drugs after all? Some new kind of drug development program? Develop the drugs at the research facility, then test them on the miners. Maybe they're introducing something new and monitoring the results on a controlled population."

Sarah frowned, "Why would the Imperium want drugs?"

"I don't mean recreational stuff," I clarified. "I mean medical drugs. I'm sure they must have medical facilities at the mining colony, a doctor on staff? Someone who could administer experimental drugs and monitor the effects."

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"Again, why would they need to do that in secret?" Piper responded. "Unless it was something that broke their own rules, something forbidden."

Jenny asked, "What sort of tech is forbidden in the Imperium?"

I sighed, "Artificial Intelligence and nano-tech are the two big ones I'm aware of."

"Neither of those would necessarily involve a doctor," Sarah pointed out. "Do you know of any banned medical technology?"

"Some," I replied with a frown. "There's a complete ban on certain biotech applications, including a moratorium on research. Mostly stuff that interfaces or interacts with the brain? Like memory augmentation or manipulation, direct brain communication, that kind of thing."

Our AI crew-mate sighed, "In other words, my existence is outlawed, along with the two tools I use to do my job."

The boss told her, "Don't worry Jenny, it's not like we'd ever be going anywhere near the Imperium."

We were all quiet for a few moments after that, till Sarah finally asked "So what do we do?"

Piper shrugged, "No point speculating right now, we don't know enough about what's going on. Whatever it is, it's big enough that the Imperium's interested, and interested in a way that sounds like it's a threat to anyone involved. And thanks to my contract with Lebeau, we're involved."

Jenny asked in a worried tone, "Do you think we're in danger?"

The captain grimaced, "I think as long as we're a quiet little freighter who does our job without asking too many questions, we're probably ok. Obviously me taking on crew set off a lot of alarm-bells for Lebeau, but to be honest I'm not sure how much he'd know of what's really going on? I still think he's a two-bit nobody."

She added, "He probably got hired to handle the logistics? He probably thinks he scored a major coup, working for some top government people. Somehow the Imperium learned his name so he ended up on a list. I'm just glad the Demeter didn't appear anywhere in those orders."

"So what do we do?" Sarah asked again. "Just business as usual and pretend we don't know what's going on?"

Piper frowned as she thought it over for a minute or so, before agreeing "Yes. But be ready for any trouble. And keep our eyes and ears open, and our mouths shut."

She added, "This whole thing smells like an Imperium Intelligence operation to me. They've probably got spies in the sector. They probably already know the Hammersmith was lost, though whether that information is shared with the Navy would depend on how sensitive their operation here is."

The captain drained the last of her coffee, then she glanced at the three of us and asked "I don't suppose any of you know much about computers, or computer security?"

Both me and Sarah turned to look at Jenny, which made the AI cringe slightly.

"I maybe know a thing or two, but I'm no expert," she stated warily.

Sarah asked, "What did you have in mind, boss?"

Piper's eyes were on Jenny as she asked, "When we're docked at Fuminja Epsilon, could you take a very gentle look at their systems? Maybe see if there's any easily-accessible information, or try and figure out what the place is and what they do there?"

"I can try?" our AI crew-mate responded. "I'm really not trained for that kind of thing, and if their systems are properly secured and hardened then I doubt I'll get anywhere. But if they have a public-facing network I can attempt to access it."

The captain nodded, "Understood. Do what you can when we get there, but do not get caught. Better that we come away empty-handed then have them realize you're probing their network."

"Very well captain," Jenny replied.

Sarah asked, "Boss did you happen to see who signed the sealed orders?"

"Yeah," Piper responded. "All three were issued and signed by an Admiral Trogawa, Fleet Commander, Forty-Seventh Fleet. Why?"

The engineer grimaced, "I've heard of her. She's got a reputation as as hard-ass. Lots of political clout too, supposedly she's friends with a couple Senators."

I was frowning again, "Why would she be giving secret orders to the Hammersmith? We weren't in the forty-seventh fleet. The Hammersmith was in the two-oh-three."

"Temporarily assigned to the forty-seventh," Sarah explained. "You probably weren't in the Navy long enough, or maybe they didn't go into this stuff in the med-corps, but different fleets have different standing assignments? The Hammersmith was part of the two-oh-three, and that fleet's standing assignment covered routine patrols and support missions in a couple quiet sectors inside Imperium space."

She continued, "The forty-seventh fleet doesn't have a standard assignment. It's used for one-off or unusual missions. Sometimes that includes goodwill or diplomatic missions, sometimes it's special combat. And they probably use it for top secret stuff too."

Piper stated, "In other words, Imperium Intelligence. I didn't know they had their own Navy fleet number, but it makes sense they'd have a special command structure set up to handle their own operations. I'll bet this Trogawa works with or for Imp-Int. She might even be their primary Navy liaison."

"So why was the Hammersmith dragged into all this?" I asked. "And do you think her destruction was somehow part of the plan?"

Sarah frowned, "It might have just been luck of the draw that the Hammersmith was picked? If they needed a ship, they had to take somebody. Though..."

Her expression got darker and she looked uncomfortable as she continued, "If I was going to be really cynical I'd say maybe they picked the Hammersmith because she was expendable? She was definitely reaching the end of her operational life. Don't get me wrong, she was still a good ship, but Navy accountants and all that, right? They'd see an eighty-five year old hull and be weighing the cost of yet another refit and ongoing maintenance against a new ship that had eight or nine decades of active service ahead of it."

"As for the ship's destruction, I can't believe the Navy planned or arranged that," Sarah added.

Piper spoke up, "She hit a mine. I'm positive it was a random accident. Those mines have been a problem in this sector since the war, there's big ships lost to them every few years. And considering those sealed orders were never unsealed, I doubt anyone on the Hammersmith knew what the real mission was? Not even the captain would have known anything other than the 'goodwill' cover story. So no reason to destroy her."

"Ok," I nodded slowly. "So that was just a random coincidence."

Sarah agreed, "It was a string of bad luck. A plasma conduit blew which dropped us out of Jump-0. And that left us vulnerable to threats like an old anti-shipping mine. Unfortunately Imperium Intelligence might not see it that way. They might think someone found out about their involvement and took action against their ship."

"Right," Piper sighed. "And we're potentially caught in the middle of it, but we haven't got a clue what 'it' is."