Part 19 (1/2)
”Well, there have been times when I'd have thought that n.o.body ever would. You okay?” She looked over her shoulder at him from the pilot's chair of the enemy troop transport vehicle.
”Penzington?” DeathRay did a double take. ”Is that you?”
”It's me, DeathRay. Had to have a little work done to change my look. Hazards of the job.”
”Well they sure did good work.” DeathRay was pretty sure he looked like h.e.l.l warmed over.
”The ejection chair absorbed most of the crash landing onto the QMT moon, but my already broken tailbone, back, and neck from the previous crash into the s.h.i.+p hadn't quite healed yet. So it f.u.c.king hurt when I hit.” Jack gritted his teeth and pulled himself into the copilot's chair. He snapped the safety cap off another shot of immun.o.boost and jammed it into his neck. He started feeling better almost instantly. ”I'll be tip top before we hit the planet. What's our ETA on that? Do we have a plan?”
”ETA depends on where we are going, but we could be on the planet in five to ten minutes. A plan? Well, no. Intel? Yes. Deanna Moore is being held in Elle Ahmi's penthouse suite. We have to get inside there to get her out,” Nancy responded. ”I can get in as Ensign Bella Penrose to the first or maybe second floor, but there is no way to get to the penthouse through the front door. And there are SIFs around the top floors, so we can't teleport in.”
”What else do we know about the penthouse?” Jack rubbed his neck some more and then started pulling off the flight armor suit down to the second skin layer. He slid out a small bag about the size of a deck of playing cards and unfolded the contents from within it. The universal combat uniform top and pants he pulled from the vacuum-packed bag expanded as soon as they hit the air. He shook the no-wrinkle, fire-r.e.t.a.r.dant, nanotube-armored compression materials out and set them aside as he pulled the organogel seal layer off his body. The seal layer schlurrped schlurrped like pulling a suction cup from wet gla.s.s. Then he slipped into the UCUs and put his flight boots back on. He stretched his spine straight briefly and was certain that he'd be fine in five or ten minutes. He pulled an MRE bar from his gear and started crunching on it. like pulling a suction cup from wet gla.s.s. Then he slipped into the UCUs and put his flight boots back on. He stretched his spine straight briefly and was certain that he'd be fine in five or ten minutes. He pulled an MRE bar from his gear and started crunching on it.
”Hungry?” he offered the CIA agent a bite. ”d.a.m.ned immun.o.boost and stims make me hungry and thirsty as a horse.”
”Uh, no thanks,” Nancy said.
”Okay, so what'd we know about the penthouse?”
”There is only one elevator into it, and only Elle Ahmi has the key.”
”Well, is it guarded with AA guns as well as SIFs? If not, I say we ram in there with this s.h.i.+p and just take her away. All I have to do is put this on her.” Jack showed Nancy the forward QMT teleport device on his wrist. ”I push this b.u.t.ton, and she'll be teleported to the Oval Office. Well, after we clear the SIFs, of course.”
”I don't know about the AA, but I'd imagine it has at least the same protections that the White House would have. And I doubt we could knock out the SIFs long enough to get through them and and back out. I used a Lorda and a Stinger once to burst through the SIFs on a battle cruiser, and I barely had time to punch through before they closed back up.” Nancy glanced over at Jack and shrugged. back out. I used a Lorda and a Stinger once to burst through the SIFs on a battle cruiser, and I barely had time to punch through before they closed back up.” Nancy glanced over at Jack and shrugged.
”How are we not being chased down right now?” It had just dawned on Jack that they were in a Seppy troop/cargo transport vehicle-the counterpart to the U.S. Starhawk-and n.o.body seemed to be looking for them.
”After twelve years of being here, my AIC is really good at negotiating with the Seppy flight-manifest systems. As far as anybody but us knows, we are doing just what we are supposed to be doing,” Nancy replied quite confidently.
”Jesus, that's right. You've been here all by yourself a long f.u.c.king time. That's a h.e.l.l of a sacrifice, Penzington.” DeathRay had gone into the s.h.i.+t many times over in the past couple of decades, but he hadn't been in it twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for over a decade. That had to be h.e.l.l on your psyche. His respect for the CIA agent went through the roof as he made the realization.
”It's my job, Jack. I volunteered for it, same as you.” Nancy shrugged. ”So, what is our plan?”
”Can that AIC of yours figure out where the SIF generators for the penthouse are?” Jack finished off the food bar and swigged at some sports drink from a pouch in his flight suit. He was beginning to feel his normal self again.
”She says so. Here, I'll put her on speaker,” Nancy said.
Candis, go audible also, he told his AIC. he told his AIC.
Roger that.
”h.e.l.lo, Captain Boland, my name is Allison,” Penzington's AIC said. Jack was surprised it was a female AIC. Jack had long known that some women can talk to a female personality easier than a male one. Some couldn't. As fully female as Penzington appeared, he half expected some very male and suave voice. He was always surprised by the story he found inside the cover of books. He thought of Fish. Karen Fisher was more than ”boat cute” by a long shot, but she was as much a tomboy as anybody would ever meet. Her AIC was as male as could be.
”Nice to meet you, Allison, Ms. Penzington. I'm Candis.”
”Call me Jack, or DeathRay, Allison.”
”Yes, Captain,” Allison replied.
”So, what can you tell us about the SIF generators on the penthouse?” Nancy asked her AIC audibly.
”Here, I'm transmitting a DTM image of the Capitol Building at New Tharsis. The engineering components of the building are mainly in the bas.e.m.e.nt area here,” Allison pointed out in Jack's mindview. He could see the Seppy leader's building, and then it zoomed in and downward to an auxiliary equipment room beneath and behind it.
”Hmm, that is kind of stupid. There are no SIFs around the SIF generators?” Jack pondered out loud.
”Yeah, that seems a bit uncalculated for Ahmi, doesn't it?” Candis added.
”Well, if you take into account that there is a garrison of soldiers that usually stands guard there, I'm not so sure,” Allison answered.
”Well, were I to attack from the air or s.p.a.ce or even with tankheads, I'd go for the SIF generators first.” Jack replied. That gave him an idea.
”Hey, that gives me an idea,” Nancy said.
”Me, too. You go first.” DeathRay turned to the CIA agent and pointed. He smiled at Nancy. She looked a lot different than he remembered her. Her hair was a different color, and shorter, her body was very tanned from what he could tell, she was in amazing athletic shape, or at least the enemy compression flight suit she wore suggested so, and she looked much younger. Jack was sure she had been rejuved fairly recently, maybe within the last four or five years.
”Okay. We see about commandeering some mecha.” Nancy didn't seem to even flinch at the thought of stealing enemy fighters. Jack just figured that her time here must have really made her proficient at getting what she needed. ”Stingers or Gnats would be fine. We autopilot the Lorda into the SIF generators, and then we burst into the penthouse with the fighters. There you teleport her out of danger. Then we fight our way out as best we can. Or not.”
”Okay. That's more or less my plan. I figured you being a secret agent and all, your plan would be more sneaking around, breaking and entering, and getting out without being detected.” Jack smirked at Nancy with his left eyebrow raised.
”I prefer the direct approach sometimes,” she said. The tone in her voice almost sounded to Jack like an invitation to flirt with her. Some other time he'd consider it, but right now, saving Dee was the only thing on his mind.
Saving Dee was the only thing on Alexander's mind. He and Sehera and his two loyal Marine bodyguards had rushed across the Sol System to the QMT facility in the Oort Cloud. They boarded the USS Anthony Blair Anthony Blair only seconds before the jump to Tau Ceti. Alexander and company were led to the bridge by the XO of the s.h.i.+p as the QMT teleport occurred. Before they reached the bridge, the entire remaining U.S. Naval Fleet had teleported to a three-minute hypers.p.a.ce jaunt from the planet Ares. That put them about four-and-a-half astronomical units from the planet. Their location was directly out of the ecliptic plane of the Tau Ceti system above Ares. only seconds before the jump to Tau Ceti. Alexander and company were led to the bridge by the XO of the s.h.i.+p as the QMT teleport occurred. Before they reached the bridge, the entire remaining U.S. Naval Fleet had teleported to a three-minute hypers.p.a.ce jaunt from the planet Ares. That put them about four-and-a-half astronomical units from the planet. Their location was directly out of the ecliptic plane of the Tau Ceti system above Ares.
”Mr. President.” Rear Admiral Lower Half Sharon ”Fullback” Walker addressed him as he stepped onto the bridge of the supercarrier. The rest of the bridge crew stood at attention and saluted. Moore promptly returned the salute.
”Please, as you all were. Admiral Walker. Thank you for, uh, entertaining us today.” Alexander smiled at her through thin lips. His sense of humor had left him about the time he realized his daughter was in trouble. Sehera stood beside him, and the other two marines stood behind him quietly.
”My pleasure, Mr. President. What are your orders, sir?”
”I'm not here to give you orders, Admiral. I know two things about running a supercarrier, and diddly is one of them. We are here to take this system back from the G.o.dd.a.m.ned Separatists, and I am here specifically to find my daughter, who has been kidnapped by Elle Ahmi!”
Admiral Walker gasped. ”My G.o.d, sir! We had no idea. We are at your disposal, sir.”
”No, Admiral. Once we have found Deanna and gotten her safe, we'll get out of your way. My guess is that the Seppies must have detected our QMT by now. Shouldn't we be getting the battle plan under way?” Moore nodded to the admiral.
”Uh, yes, Mr. President. We have. I'll have the long-range sensors looking for your daughter.” Walker turned to her crew. ”STO, start looking for the First Daughter's AIC emergency beacon as soon as we get into range.”
”Aye, ma'am!”
”As soon as you find her, Admiral, my team and I will be teleporting down as close to her as you can manage,” Moore said, motioning to his wife and the two bodyguards with him. The four of them were wearing AEM skin suits. ”We'll be in the QMT deck getting our suits on.”
”Uh, sir, we need to speak...privately. If you'd join me in the briefing room.”
The president was ready to cut the Admiral off on the spot but looked around the command deck and thought better of it.