Sorry for the delay.Lord Grise made a suggestion about the Spider-wasps that will become a full blown story following Witch Maiden II. I have also been working on an 'alien invasion' story that I hope to sell. But as you can see, Witch Maiden has their own problems, so without further ado...
Ominous foreboding
Reba Sanders stretched, looking at the space beyond as TRMLAC Runaway. She was off Milch Cow duty at last, heading out to replace Bandit. When she'd been freed on Good Times, she had been overjoyed. Just because she had been trained by her owner as a pilot so he always had her close for... that. The only problem she'd had with his death had been that the Marines hadn't let her blow his sorry ass out the airlock herself.
She purred to herself about this beautiful ship. Her skills as a shuttle pilot had made her one of the best in her class learning about these LACs, and she had been chosen to command her own. Technically it should have an officer in charge, but the Sidemorans had waxed lyrical about what had once been called Sergeant Pilots back in Earth's Second World War. Except for the old Army Air Corps, all combatants in that war had enlisted pilots. So Torch was following that tradition. Pilot rating 1st class Reba Saunders wasn't the first, but she was going to be one of the best.
She shifted her viewscreen to full magnification, and saw Bandit dawdling along at only a few kph, pretending to be a hole in-
She blinked. Something had passed between her and Bandit. "Cody, what do we have between us and Bandit?"
Radarman 2nd class Cody Washburne ran the system back. They were running with navigational radars operational only. "There's a small target, reads less than five meters across, less than fifty tons." He shrugged. "Probably a small meteor."
She didn't buy it. Whatever it had been looked too angular. "Go to full emissions. Scan from forward of Bandit to aft of her."
Cody shrugged. "Full emissions aye." He flipped the switch, and the radar scanned from 200 kilometers ahead of bandit, and past her. There was something-
An explosion rent the darkness.
"That was some kind of recon drone!"
She looked to her communications rating. "All LACs from Runaway! Drones passing through formation! Go active! full scans!"
It took a few minutes, but suddenly the wormhole became a center of full scans. While small, the LACs were capable of scanning as much as ten million kilometers away just to pick their targets. Megawatts of radar shot out, and across the front of the formation suddenly there were more explosions.
Which left even more questions.
The drone looked like nothing Captain John Tubman had seen in the data base from Manticore. Runaway had only caught a glimpse of it as it passed between her and Bandit, running past at about one hundred and ten thousand KPS, so it was visible for only a fraction of a second. The view screen image had almost not even recorded it, the time was so brief. But it was larger than the radar signature suggested. Very good stealth technology there. It didn't look like any impeller design at all; it was actually shaped as if it had three wedges. But chemical drives small enough to fit in a fifteen meter long drone wouldn't have been able to drive it up to that speed.
"Megan, use the Hermes Net. Sent this to Witch Maiden."
Three hyper footprints appeared less than a minute apart. One was huge, obviously a large freighter or SD at the 8 o'clock position. The second was very small, a dispatch boat most likely, at the 7 o'clock position. The last was in the middle sized range at the 2 o'clock position. It was about the size of a modern Manticoran Battlecruiser. Midshipman Krueger who was assisting Lieutenant Zachary at tactical, and swiftly went through the procedure to verify them.
"Large one is 7.25 megaton size... Wait, squawking transponder. Witch Queen. Transponder. The 2 megaton reading is the freighter TRMMV Enna." He bent over his screen, fingers flying over the keyboard. "The small one, Solarian design dispatch boat. Registry... Dragon lines."
"Comm, Notify the LACs nearest them. Have them do a visual verification before allowing them to approach." Zachary ordered. On the tactical display, eighteen LACs in half squadrons closed.
"Exec, we have a signal from Witch Queen. Via Hermes buoy."
Diedre nodded. "On my screen, Phillip." She looked down, and smiled. "Welcome home, Captain Schaefer. How did your trip to Carstairs?"
"Brutal. I'd hoped my memories of dealing with the Sollies had been bad dreams, but these people out here take the cake! If the captain aboard?"
"She is. One moment, please." She nodded to the comm rating. The screen blanked. A moment later it came up again. "Yes, Captain?"
"Come down here please, Number One."
"On my way. Zachary, you have the Conn."
"I have the conn, aye." He stood up, and took the command chair as Hughes left.
A few minutes later, Diedre walked into the Captain's office. Rebecca nodded, motioning to a chair near her own. "Please repeat that, Miriam."
"The patrol in Carstairs has gone completely insane. They ordered us to heave to, and when I refused, locked us up with their weapons. Then they ordered us to heave to or else."
Both women tensed at that.
"What did you do?"
"I played the Sollie merchant captain, of course. I reversed course, went to all frequencies, and screamed that a pirate pretending that he was a Sollie cruiser skipper was firing into me. While he dithered, I hypered out." She gave a crooked grin. "Don't think we're going to be too popular there for a while."
"We had the same experience in Roundelay. They didn't actually aim at us, but they did claim that Torch products are not welcome and will be seized from this point on." The com screen chimed. "Hold, Miriam." Rebreeca hit the switch. "What is it, Phillip?"
"Dispatch boat from Roundelay. He has message for you as the skipper of Golden Dragon, and more for Mrs. Keil as well under Tubman."
"Thank you." She went back to Captain Schaefer. "Miriam, dispatches from Roundelay under Code Tubman. Meet me down below."
"Understood." The other woman looked to someone else. "Be there in four hours."
PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER
Jinhua met them both, leading them into her office. "The representative of Dragon Lines on Roundelay had a message handed to him by Haven intelligence operatives." She brought it up, and turned the screen.
Rebecca and Miriam leaned over, looking at the terse message. "A Mesan cargo ship bound for the Inferno Prison? I've never heard of it."
"Back before the Sollies moved in, the people of Roundelay used it as a prison. It's an M9; only an asteroid belt and one gas giant. They used it as an escape proof prison, until of course, someone finally succeeded. The prison facility itself is still there, abandoned." Jinhua replied. "The take for resources is so small, primarily fuel from the planet's atmosphere itself, that it wasn't even converted to commercial use. Last ship to go there according to the Sollie records was one hundred and sixty years ago, before the Sollies moved in to set up Warsaw Sector."
It wasn't that odd. It cost a lot of money to put in an orbital facility, but almost as much to dismantle and move it. There were hundreds of such stations some long forgotten as this one was. Thousands if you counted all of Human occupied space.
"A perfect place to set up a slaver operation. Or a staging area for ships sold off to pirates." Miriam commented.
"Exactly. Did they get a size on the merchant ship?" Rebecca asked.
"Six point four megaton. An Antilles class built in Mesa."
"So..." Rebecca stood up. "As soon as I recall all my shuttles and cutters I'll take this one, Miriam. We've been waiting for your return, but this system is only about a week from Roundelay, and only about twenty from here. Right on the edge between Maya ans Warsaw Sector. Maybe we'll catch them with slaves aboard. If not, we can put Marines aboard the station and catch the next one.
"I want you to wait for Con to show up. One of you is going to Smoking Frog, the other will join me in Inferno. As senior officer on station, you'll decide which of you does. Notify Governor Borregos of what we do know. Leave up to them as to whether they want to check it out." She smiled. "At the same time, you can help the Institute."
"The Institute?"
"The Institute is what Ruth Winton is calling her intelligence network. She asked us to help her with an odd request. She wants low angle photo reconnaissance of some of the coastlines from the sea. Any area where there is a separation of no more than 20 kilometers between two landmasses, including large bays. She wants to know how many of them match a specific holo-pic. We've been able to get photos of the main continent, but there are still the other two continents and all of those island groups."
"Aye, Ma'am."
The annunciator on the desk sounded, and Jinhua hit it. "Vas?"
"Grafin Kiel, Ein Manticoraner Versand Boot ist mit Nachrichten für Captain Duvalier angekommen." Shang-Ti Jaeger reported.
"Something for me?" Rebecca asked.
Jinhua thanked the man before replying. "A dispatch boat from the Manticoran Home system with dispatches for you."
"I'll deal with them before we leave." Rebecca told her.
"Captain, we have a shuttle inbound from the station." Diedre Hughes reported as Rebecca came aboard.
"Any idea what it is about?" She asked.
"Someone off the dispatch boat is all I know, skipper." Hughes replied. "When I asked, I was told it was someone from JAG who needs to speak with you directly."
Rebecca grimaced. While she had expected it, having JAG send an investigator was a pain in the ass for whatever reason they were sent. "Very well. Make all preparations for getting underway, and pull what we know about the Inferno system; there won't be a lot."
"Aye aye, ma'am."
Rebecca went to her office. Os popped out with the cat carrier, and put Irene in it. His arcane powers were working as always. He had delivered a pot of tea when the annunciator sounded. "Yes, Corporal Willis?"
"Commander De Frees from JAG to see you, Ma'am."
"Send him in." The hatch snapped open, and a brunette man in a crisp uniform marched in and saluted. Rebecca let her eyes run across his medals, the 'fruit salad' that told her what he had done of note during his service. On the whole, she wasn't impressed. While he was a few years older than she was; maybe forty-five or six, his awards were all noncombatant. The top one was the Naval Staff medal, a staff officer medal, that as an ancient writer had commented about the Legion of Honor, was given because you hadn't blotted your copybook by getting a social disease. Except for the medal given for serving during the first war with Haven, he had nothing to show that he had served anywhere an enemy might have been shooting at him. Her own father had recieved a medal for serving on a cruiser in Silesia before the war.
"Lieutenant Commander."
"Captain." The man took out a chip case. "My orders."
Rebecca took the case, slid the chip into her computer, and read them. She did not show it, but she was alarmed. "So, you are here to investigate illegalities in the investigation concerning the Dollarydes, my actions in the incident, and my own actions in using the Merchant Cruiser Addenda without proper authorization?"
"That is correct, Captain." The man watched her like a hawk.
"The investigation into the Dollaryde charges were undertaken by my Number One and Bosun, you can speak to them about it."
"My men are already doing so."
She looked up mildly. "Your men? How many men did you bring?"
"Three others. One is speaking with the Dollarydes themselves. We will also be speaking to Chief Sisko and Midshipman Krueger."
"And who ordered this?"
"Upon statements made by Lieutenants Cathcart and O'Connor, this investigation was requested by Rear Admiral Sir Arthur Collingwood."
Another co-religionist. "We are preparing to depart on a mission. How long will this take, Commander?"
"I have no idea. As you would know, being the daughter of a former JAG officer, this can take time. We may have to delay your departure."
Her eyes narrowed. "Mister De Frees, operational necessity requires us to leave immediately. We will not delay for anything."
"You do not have the authority to circumvent our investigation, Captain." He replied blandly.
She leaned forward. "As senior officer on this station, I have all the authority I need to assign my ships as I deem fit. So if you wish to investigate, you will just have to come along. Inform your team, and I will have quarters assigned. Once we are enroute, you may speak with me. Dismissed."
"Captain. My orders from JAG-"
"My orders do not come from JAG, they come from the Admiralty and ONI. Unless you have something on this chip that supercedes that authority, I would suggest you prepare for a long voyage. Dismissed."
WITCH HUNT
What followed for the next four days had all the grace of a medieval witch hunt. De Frees' men went at it as if the crew had decided to oppress the poor members of Cathcart's faith. Every step in the investigation by the Exec and Bosun, and her decision in the Captain's Mast were challenged.
Rebecca looked at the system they were headed for. "All right, Number One, an M9 has a hyper limit of only 10 LMs, and the planet is barely inside it, less than thirty minutes from the wall. However if I were in charge, I would place a web of recon drones out beyond it to detect a ship out to say fifteen light minutes from the planet. So we are going-"
"Captain?" She looked from the holo. "Yes, commander?"
"I have some further questions-"
"Number one, I will be back in a moment. Commander, a word if you please." She walked from CIC, and once they were in the passageway, she turned and faced the man.
"Commander, so far all of your 'questions' have assumed the people charged back home are innocent. We both know you are supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the tenor of the questions by you and your team suggests that we here must be automatically guilty of a conspiracy againt the defendants."
"I resent the implication-"
"Did I give you leave to speak, Commander?" She snarled. She crossed her arms, glaring at him. "You may resent what I say as much as you wish. However, my Number One, the Bosun, Chief Midshipman Krueger, Chief Sisko and the Dollarydes have commented on the tone of the questions asked, and they all lead to the conclusion I have mentioned."
"Really Captain-"
"'Bosun Sharp, did the captain show you the orders that makes a fleet collier an armed Merchant Cruiser?'." She grinned. "'Chief Sisko, under what authority did the captain allow you to open a bar aboard this ship in violation of regulations?'."
"Enlisted men tend to obey orders without question-"
"The bosun has been in service longer than either of us have been alive, Commander. Chief Sisko has served almost as long. Do you honestly think either of them were going to blindly obey my orders if they were illegal?"
"Captain, it was felt by Admiral Collingwood that your charges against the defendants were overly harsh."
"I for one, do not care what the admiral thinks. Those men colluded in trying to destroy a young man's career for religious reasons, those are the facts of the matter."
"That is for our investigation and a court martial to decide." He replied unctuously. "I find, so far, that that was not the case. The Admiral suggested a lesser charge..."
She gave him a smile, though any predator worthy of the name would have run for cover. "Is that so? Well you can file your whitewashing report, and be damned. But if you interrupt me while planning an operation that might risk all of our lives again, I will personally throw you off my ship without a suit!"
She stalked back to the holotank. For a moment, she merely quivered with suppressed rage. Then she opened her eyes, the calm captain once again. "All right Number One, we are going to make a low speed translation here, seventy-five light minutes from the primary..."