Rick Partlow - Honor Bound

“Knock on wood,” she banged her knuckles against the side of her head. “So, you’ve shanghaied my ship for a trip to the frontier… Jason. Care to tell me why?”

“That’s why I’m here,” he nodded, waving around him. “Here and not on the bridge, I mean. This is for your ears only, for the moment.”

“Oh you spooks and your secrets,” she laughed, a surprisingly girly sound from someone he knew to be tough as nails. “You’ve changed since the war,” she estimated, looking at him sideways. “You seem less… naive, somehow.”

“Five years dealing with politicians will do that to you,” he allowed. “But let’s cut to the chase. Antonov’s back.”

Her eyes widened and he saw her glance around instinctively to make sure no one had come into the room. “You’re sure?”

“An observation post was destroyed on the frontier. Looted, even the bodies stolen. They cleaned up after themselves but we found some brass cartridge casings. I don’t know who or what else it could be.”

“Well, you always thought it would happen eventually,” she shook her head, arms resting on her knees. “So, you’re going out there in person then? Isn’t that a bit risky?”

“Not as risky as missing something because I’m months away. I’m bringing Vinnie and his best Alpha Team with me, along with two platoons of Marines and half a dozen assault shuttles. Hell, if I could get approval, I’d take a couple more cruisers along. I don’t want to do this by half-measures.”

“Yeah, that was never one of your failings,” she snorted. “Jesus, Jason… I need to get my people ready. How long do you need a lid kept on this?”

“Till we’re out of the Solar system,” he told her. “I don’t want this news spreading to the general population until we know more. We have enough problems right now without adding a panic to them.”

“I can live with that.” She checked her watch. “We leave orbit in three hours and I need a shower. I’ll see you on the bridge… how about you come brief my officers just before we hit the g-tanks?”

“Works for me,” he nodded, standing and offering her a hand up. “See you on the bridge, Captain.”

Shannon was silent as she watched the mountain of nickel iron that was the RFS Decatur leave orbit. Reality warped away from the ship in shimmering waves of disrupted space-time and the ship began to move, slowly at first, almost imperceptibly… but then with increasing acceleration and within minutes it was little more than another star in the projection in the viewport on the wall of Jason’s office.

“Damn,” she muttered to herself. Then louder, “Dammit!” She thumped a fist against the wall. It wasn’t just that he was going to be gone for months and that she was going to miss him… and it wasn’t just that he was flying blind into what could be an incredibly dangerous situation. There was just a feeling in her gut that she couldn’t shake that there was something wrong about this. It felt like a trap.

The problem was, they couldn’t not investigate it… and if it was a trap, there was no one better than Jason to sniff it out. But she wished she could have been there.

“Major Stark?” A voice came over the room’s intercom.

“Yes, Lt. Franks?” she said, looking up instinctively.

“You have a call from Senator O’Keefe-Mulrooney.”

“Put her on,” Shannon said, raising an eyebrow in surprise. “Colonel McKay’s desk display.”

The holographic projector in McKay’s desk lit up and an image of Valerie O’Keefe-Mulrooney sprang to life. She looked good, Shannon reflected inwardly. Her brown hair was shorter than Shannon remembered, and there was a glow to her heart-shaped face. The last few years had added a look of maturity and responsibility to her green eyes.

“Hello, Senator,” she nodded.

“Good morning, Shannon,” Valerie said. Shannon supposed it must be morning wherever she was, because the phrase had little meaning on a space station like Fleet HQ. “How’ve you been?”

“Doing well,” Shannon said, trying to hide the loathing she had for meaningless pleasantries. What the hell had Jason been thinking leaving her in charge of dealing with people? “I can see motherhood agrees with you. I hope Glen and your daughter are doing well.”

“Natalia is great,” Valerie smiled warmly. “She’ll be two years old next week. Glen is doing fine, but… well, first of all, I need to know, is this a secure line?”

Shannon blinked, then reached out to the desktop and hit a control. “It is now, ma’am. What’s wrong?”

“Shannon, as father’s chief of staff, Glen, well…” She hesitated, for the first time in the conversation seeming nervous. “He hears things in that position… rumors. Many of them turn out to be nothing, and this one might too, but…”

“…but it’s something you thought we should check out,” Shannon finished for her. “What’s going on, Valerie?”

“Glen has been trying to mediate some of the disagreements between Daddy’s administration and the Southbloc,” Valerie explained. “The end of forced emigration has handed some of their nations a lot of political problems… and the inflation and unemployment increases haven’t done anything to help the situation. He was consulting with a friend of my father’s, Senator Friere of Brazil, and Friere mentioned hearing rumbles from Brazilian officers high in the Colonial Guard about a possible mutiny.”

Shannon blinked. It wasn’t entirely shocking… there was a lot of dissatisfaction in the Colonial Guard, after all. But if it was gaining enough momentum that the Senator from Brazil had heard of it, it could be serious. “Did he have any details?” she asked.

“Just one… that’s the reason I’m calling you and not my father. He said that the mutiny was designed to coincide with an attempt on the President’s life.”

“What?” Shannon exclaimed. “But why? It’s not as if the Vice President will reverse the policies just because the president is killed. That makes no sense.”

“I don’t know anything more.” Valerie shook her head. “It might all be just ridiculous rumor—I know that’s what Daddy would say if I brought it to him. That’s why I’m bringing it to you .”

“I understand, Senator,” Shannon said. “I’ll look into it. If there’s anything to it, I’ll let you know… and I’ll see it gets dealt with.”

“I knew I could count on you, Shannon,” Valerie said, smiling. “I hope you find that it’s just barracks rumor.”

“Me too.” Shannon whispered as the transmission cut off. She ran her fingers through her hair tiredly. “As if there wasn’t enough going on already…” She hit the intercom control. “Franks.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Contact Captain Shamir. Tell him I need to meet him in Colonel McKay’s office as soon as he can get a shuttle up here.” She didn’t even register Frank’s reply… her thoughts were wrapped around what Valerie had told her. There had never been an attempt on a president in the history of the Republic… and now she was finding out about one just after learning that Antonov was back. She wasn’t sure she believed that heavily in coincidences.

Something, she reflected again, was wrong about all this. Time to get to work and find out what.

Jason McKay sat back in his chair and waited for the last of the group to file into the conference room. He was enjoying the Earth-normal gravity while he could. In just hours they would be immersed in the g-tanks, hibernating in the cushioning, aerated fluid while the ship accelerated at a warp—analog of hundreds of gravities for weeks, and when they arrived at their first stop, he’d be back in zero-g until planetfall.