A Trip to Signe Read online

  “What do you think, Ma’am?” Logan asked quietly as he was now standing next to the chair.

  “Judging from the direction she came from, I would bet she is returning from an inner Empire patrol. She has probably been out for three weeks or so. This intercept should be routine.” She turned to look at Logan. “The operative word being ‘should.’” She paused and then added. “Let’s put shields up and take the lockouts off the fire control system and computer.”

  “Aye, Ma’am,” Logan responded as he turned away. He smiled. Both actions were exactly what he would have done. The shields would protect the ship from an initial surprise barrage. With no lockouts, if the closing ship shot at them, the fire control system would automatically fire Predator’s missiles in response without waiting for a human command.

  The great majority of the Royal Navy’s ships were on the battle line with the Orion Confederation. However, policing the Empire was still a necessity, and the answer was inner Empire patrolling. The Aurora Empire was vast and largely composed of empty space. There were plenty of hiding places for pirates, smugglers, revolutionaries, and other assorted ne’er-do-wells who did not suddenly reform just because there was a war on. The Royal Navy sent lone ships into the interior of the Empire on a regular basis to do many of the policing duties the Royal Navy did before the war. These ships also showed the flag at port visits and searched for OrCon raiders who may have slipped across the lines. The Queen believed Jackline was returning from such a patrol.

  The two ships continued on converging courses. As the Royal Navy destroyer came close, she adjusted course so to take up station behind Predator. It was a good maneuver, but Jackline could not read the name of the pirate ship from that position. Once close astern, Jackline hailed Predator, and Alexis took the call.

  A young man appeared on the screen. His slightly triumphant demeanor and smartass smile made Alexis think he had just caught her out after curfew at The Academy and was about to write her up.

  He talked in a tone to match his manner. “This is the Royal Navy destroyer Jackline; Alvaro Tate commanding.”

  “This is the pir-.”

  Tate interrupted with that same haughty tone. “I know exactly who you are. You are a Clan class destroyer pretending to be a freighter, so that makes you are a liar.”

  The entire bridge crew shifted in their seats. Eli the helmsman said, “Let’s kick their asses.” Several heads nodded in agreement with that sentiment as the tension on the bridge ratcheted up. The only exception was Logan. He leaned back in his ops chair, put his elbows on the armrests and folded his hands across his stomach. He smiled as he thought, “I wish I had popcorn right now. This is going to be good.”

  Alexis frowned and then spoke calmly. “Perhaps you would care to rephrase that. It would save you from an ass kicking.”

  Smiles flashed all around the bridge. OD was a fighter and respected the honor of her ship.

  Tate barked out a harsh laugh. “I think not. Jackline is a veteran of the Electra fight and of the recent offensive at the Metal Moon and the border.”

  As he finished speaking, a voice off screen spoke with urgency. “Captain!” Tate ignored it.

  Alexis gave him a sardonic smile. “That may be true of Jackline, but you weren’t her captain then.”

  Once again, the off-camera voice spoke with greater intensity. “Captain!” Tate gave a warning glare to his right at the unseen speaker and then returned to Alexis. His manner showed the slightest crack. “How do you know that?”

  The Queen said softly, “If you had been at any of those fights, you would recognize this ship.” She stared at him with unblinking eyes.

  For a third time, the unseen speaker talked with an urgency that could not be ignored. “Captain! The facial recognition screen! Now!”

  Tate stared again at the unseen speaker. He then pivoted to his left to give the floating screen a cursory glance before turning back toward Alexis. He opened his mouth to speak to her and then froze. His brain had just realized what his eyes had seen on the screen. As if against its will, his head turned slowly left to view the screen again. He stared at it long and hard. Alexis was silent as she was quite willing to give him all the time he needed to recognize his dire situation.

  As Alexis waited, she noticed a number in the lower left corner of her screen. It was increasing at a steady rate. That tiny readout was the number of screens aboard ship tuned to this particular screen. Ideally, it is used so everyone sees what the captain sees so reduces confusion and lag time in keeping situational awareness. Now some bridge watch standers were calling around the ship telling people to tune into this. It was evident that this episode was being viewed throughout the ship and people were probably getting out of their racks to watch.

  Captain Tate looked at the screen to his left long and hard. Then he looked back at Alexis for a moment. Now his eyes returned to the screen and began to go back and forth. Queen, screen, Queen, screen. Everyone knew what he was doing. He was running his own facial recognition in his head and praying he would arrive at a different, yet definitive, answer. An answer that might allow him to keep his career, his command, and his ass intact. He stopped swiveling his head and stared at Alexis. Without taking his eyes off of her, he reached with his left hand and punched a virtual button on the recognition screen’s lower edge. Everyone knew what he was doing then too. He was telling the program to run again. Since the program was right the first time, it only took a nanosecond to confirm the original identity. As he slowly turned his head to look at the facial recognition screen, Alexis calmly predicted, “It will still be me.”

  As Tate looked at that screen, the Queen leaned forward toward her floating screen. When Tate looked back to her, she spoke one word.

  “Boo.”

  The Predator bridge crew started laughing. Even someone aboard Jackline was heard laughing. Tate glance off to his right and the laughing stopped. He looked down at his hands for a moment and took a deep breath before looking at the Queen. He knew this would not end well for him, and there was no getting around that basic fact.

  The haughty tone was gone as he spoke quietly. “Your Majesty, I-.”

  Now it was Alexis’ turn to cut off the speaker. She spoke with a formal tone that only royalty can summon. “Finally, the truth dawns. You do not recognize this ship. You do not recognize me. You ignore all the clues available to you and so are easily surprised, Captain. Not a trait I value in the officers who command in my navy.”

  “Your Majesty, I never expected to see you out here.”

  “You find it strange that I would be aboard my consort’s ship? I’m not allowed here?”

  “I just never expected you to be standing the watch, Madam.”

  “So, I’m not good enough to be an OD?”

  “No, Your Maj-.”

  “No? So, you do believe I am not good enough to be an OD.”

  Alexis stared at him like a tiger looking at a lamb that was about to become a meal. The destroyer captain took a deep breath. “Madam, I am sure you are highly qualified to be an OD. I just find it unusual that you would be serving in that capacity.” He paused as he struggled to find words to undo all of this.

  Alexis beat him to it. She was angry but knew she needed to control it before doing something rash.

  “Proceed ahead of us to Signe, Captain.” Her tone and manner said this conversation was over.

  Tate bowed his head. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”

  Alexis terminated the connection and sat quietly, watching the tac screen as Jackline passed her ship and move toward Signe at a greater speed than Predator. The bridge crew smiled discreetly at each other and went back to work.

  Logan had watched it all from the ops station with a slight smile on his face. He was glad this had happened as he was becoming concerned about the crew’s treatment of the Queen. Oh, they were polite and deferential but a little too familiar of late. Over the last few days, it was clear that the awe was wearing off. Logan was the sh
ip’s master-at-arms, and he thought some of the crew were getting a little lax. Alexis was Queen of the Aurora Empire, for heaven’s sake, and, more importantly to Logan, she was the captain’s wife. Respect was owed for both of those positions. He had been coming to the conclusion he would have to tighten a few people up.

  During this episode, while the bridge crew was watching Alexis, he was watching them. He observed the looks on their faces when the transformation happened. One second OD was sitting in the captain’s chair, and the next second, the Queen of the Aurora Empire was sitting there. She was regal, aristocratic, and completely unyielding. It became quickly apparent that pissing off the Queen of the Aurora Empire was a really bad thing to do. She was nobody’s pal or drinking buddy, and it would be a critical mistake to think she was. Logan saw the thought process wind its way through everyone’s brain and that the bridge crew was drawing the right conclusions from this little escapade. He smiled again as he realized he wouldn’t have to do anything at all. Word would get around.

  At 0400, the watch was swapped out, and Alexis turned the officer of the deck over to Baby Doll. After a quick conversation on a couple of topics with her, Alexis retired to the captain’s stateroom, undressed, and slid into bed beside her husband. He awoke at the activity next to him and waited for his wife to settle in close to him. He wrapped his arms around her as she snuggled close.

  “How was the watch?” he asked sleepily.

  “Routine,” she responded as they both drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 5

  Alexis woke with her nose twitching. She smelled coffee, her coffee, and it was brewing next door. She smiled and sat up in the rack. She knew her husband was out in the day cabin now and had put on the coffee for her. He didn’t drink coffee. She glanced at the chronometer. It was just after 1000 Zulu time. Time on all spaceships outside of a planet’s spaceport was always Zulu time, a remnant of Old Earth. Regardless of a ship’s location in open space in any of the three empires or the many independent systems, it was just after ten o’clock in the morning on that ship. It was one of the few constants that transcended laws, governments, and technology. Right now, it was just after 1000 everywhere in vacuum, no matter where that vacuum was. For some reason, Alexis had always liked that.

  She rose and walked to her consort’s dresser. She helped herself to a pair of his sweat pants and a shirt and padded out to the day cabin in her bare feet. She paused coming through the hatch. She wanted to take it all in. The first two days of this trip, her husband had been at the desk on his computer. To get coffee and morning junk food, Alexis had to go down the passageway to the officers’ mess to load up a plate and then return.

  Now her consort reviewed his computer screens while sitting on the couch, leaving space for her to join him there. There was a coffee maker on the table next to the couch where the chess set had set. On the couch cushion next to Hawkins was a plate of pastries. She hadn’t asked for any of this. She knew Raferty had quietly arranged the changes, and it had quickly developed into their morning routine.

  She went out as Hawkins glanced up from his work and smiled. She walked to the coffee maker and poured a large mug. She drank it black. She moved the few steps to the couch, picked up the pastry plate, and sat down in its place while placing the mug on the deck below her. There was a small afghan on the back of the couch. Alexis pulled it down and covered her feet and lower legs as she brought them up onto the couch. She leaned against her husband and looked at his computer screen.

  She took a pastry from the plate in her one hand and took a bite. She held the pastry to Hawkins who shook his head. She took another bite and observed, “When I’m dirtside, I follow a proper diet, but while aboard ship, I eat a bunch of crap. I have no idea why that is.”

  Hawkins looked at her and smiled. “Good morning to you too.”

  She smiled back as they leaned toward each other for a morning kiss. Afterwards, she nodded toward the floating screen. “Anything interesting?”

  Rafe shook his head. “Nothing at all. I’m getting half the messages I usually get. None of them have any of the normal problems I usually need to referee. I suspect Mason, Tactical, and Baby Doll are intercepting all the tough messages.” He paused and added, “Or the crew mutinied and replaced me as captain, and they just haven’t gotten around to telling me yet.”

  “That was damn nice of them not to give you the bad news,” Alexis said. “If they put you dirtside, come to Zelenka. I think I can get a job for you.”

  “Good to have backup,” Rafe smiled at his wife.

  “Well, you’d have to work your way up. We would start you off feeding the ducks and koi in the palace ponds and see how it goes.”

  “If I work hard, I might move up to mucking out the horse stalls,” Hawkins said, playing along.

  “Hey, buddy, that’s the stuff of dreams so don’t get ahead of yourself here. We’ll see.”

  They smiled at each other, and he went back to reading while she drank coffee and ate pastry.

  He finished up a few minutes later. “There is some intel stuff here you might want to read. I routed it to your computer.” Alexis nodded, and he went on. “Jack Wilson is tearing up the OrCons behind the lines. He must have half the Orion Navy chasing him around.”

  Alexis smiled. “Jack has been raiding all the way to the other side of the Confederation. He is taking supply depots and convoys so replenishing on the run. There are Orion planets demanding a military presence to protect them even though Jack hasn’t gotten within a light year of them. It’s great.” She paused and then said, “I’ll review the messages later.” She changed the subject. “How would you like it if I cut my hair short?”

  Rafe shrugged. “It’s your hair. Wear it any way you want.”

  Alexis shook her head. “Men! You have to look at it, so what do you think?”

  Hawkins smiled at his wife. “You are a beautiful woman. You could shave your head and would still look great. What brought this on?”

  “I put up my hair per navy regs when I stand watch and will again when we go dirtside on Signe because I’m wearing shipboard overalls there. It’s a pain to take care of, so I’m leaning toward cutting it. Baby Doll told me Holly is the fashion expert aboard Predator, so I’m thinking of going to her.”

  “Do it. Holly will take care of you, and you’ll look great.”

  “I think I will.” She now looked intently at her husband. “Admiral Wu and I have had talks about the changes we will make in the military after the victory. I’m adding hair regulations to the list.”

  “Good idea. Over the last several decades, your navy has become wrapped up in nitty gritty BS while forgetting their job was to win wars.”

  She nodded. “Our military has been successful for two hundred years, so we seem to have forgotten why that is, or maybe we just assumed it would always be that way so stopped working at it. We lacked a challenge and got complacent. Also, the military has always been a play toy for the peers, and we have had many idiots in important posts and countless stupid ideas pushed through the Upper House and the bureaucracy. Now it has all come home in this damn war.”

  Hawkins nodded at his wife. “Good evaluation. You seem to have given it some serious thought.”

  Alexis nodded back. “I have, and there will be changes after this is all over.”

  She took up her coffee cup and drank the remainder of the hot liquid. She looked at her husband. “Thanks for breakfast. I’m thinking of taking a nap for a few hours.”

  “Alex, before you do that, I have one question,” he said.

  She looked at him and he leaned toward her so their noses were only a few millimeters apart. He smiled as he asked his one-word question. “Boo?”

  She let out a laugh. “He was pissing me off, and I was about to go all royal on him, but I went with that so only went half royal on him.” She paused and then asked, “How did you know?”

  “Everyone on the ship knows. In fact, it was downloaded from the command net
over thirty times and was sent off the ship almost twenty times before Tactical shut it off. Captain Tate is going to be famous whether he wants to be or not.” He shook his head. “It is a good thing we are inside the security zone for Signe because operational security regarding your trip has been shot to hell.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault. It is the fault of some of my crew. They forgot they are not in the Badlands now. Baby Doll is going over the records now to assess the damage. We will have to shut down comm for a while so we can scrub the system clean. The XO will yell at a few people, and some people won’t get liberty any time soon.” He paused and asked, “You going to terminate Tate?”

  Alexis paused in thought. “At first, I absolutely was going to have Admiral Levant fire him. Now, I don’t know. I’m not mad at him for not recognizing me. I admit having the Queen as an OD is unusual. I think I’m more pissed off about him not recognizing Predator. The only three Clan class destroyers that would ever be in this quadrant are Predator, Nemesis, or Vindictive. All should be treated with respect. Hell, with your peerage and this ship’s war record, Predator might be the most famous ship on our side right now. She is certainly the most famous non-Royal Navy ship. It bothers me that Tate didn’t know that. We’ll see at Signe.”

  Hawkins picked up a piece of paper from the table and held it out. “For your consideration,” he said simply.

  She took the paper and quickly read through it. “That changes things. I think we should forget about this unfortunate incident.”

  Rafe nodded as Alexis, holding up the paper, asked, “How did you get this?”

  “I sent a P4 to Admiral Levant earlier this morning and requested Tate’s war record. We are less than a day out so the turnaround was fast. I was curious. All facts should be considered.”

  “I agree,” she said and then added, “I can easily find someone else to fire. Heaven knows there is enough incompetence around for that to be a simple task.”