/ Duel Universe
/ Author: The Cowboy of Oklahoma
/ Ch 6: Interrogation, Secrets, and Love? Pt1
/ word count: 2215
Coronado Base:
"After the attack, the sabotage, the attempted theft of world government property, and the killing of over 2 dozen soldiers on this base, why in the hell, in all that remains good on this Earth, should I even consider letting you go!?" I shouted, veins popping across my neck.
"Hey! I didn't kill anyone, okay! And yeah, you'll let me go, because if you don't my father will have your job." The little girl said smugly. "He is a seat holder in the world Senate and has the ear of the Director. I could put in a good word for yo.."
"If you think for one damn minute that line will work here, keep dreaming! I'd like to see your daddy come down here and take my job away, especially since nobody knows you're even here!" I interrupted.
"What?" Her smug expression dropped and a look of near panic took hold. "You haven't...reported it yet?" She asked shakily.
"Report it? You'll be lucky if anyone hears anything about this after we have already left the planet! We have a major crisis on our hands and you and your play buddies thought it be a good idea to storm a military base and steal a top secret piece of machinery! You committed a war crime! That in of itself is punishable by death! When the rest of the world is finally, after hundreds of years of tearing each other's throats out, we're FINALLY working together to ensure the survival of our species, and several others on this planet! You decide to pull some sort of stunt that could have gotten you killed!"
She looked away, her eyes darting around while she thought about what was happening. In the next room, behind the two way mirror, the base commander, Rear Admiral Lower Fleetfoot and Lieutenant Commander Carson, formerly prisoner 627, was watching the interrogation unfold. It's a new view she hasn't had the pleasure of enjoying before. Not that she found any enjoyment here in the prison facility. Carson was granted early release when I told the Admiral how she never broke rank or question her orders except to help save my life, and get the Baddeck off the ground. Adding to it she destroyed the signal jammer and caught several prisoners upon her return to base. I recommended she be released early because we were now very low on functioning staff and command structure. Which that now made her third in command of the entire base, Lord help us.
She turned to the commander, "Sir, I know we need information, but is scarin' the daylites outta some little girl necessary?" She asked.
He shook his head. "As the Commander just said, she did something very stupid, and she is the weakest link in that little groups chain. There's no doubt that somebody was watching from afar, seeing as she was in that group, and they will more than likely find a way to get word back to her father soon. But there is no doubt she will crack under pressure first, compared to the rest of them." He turned to the monitors on the wall.
Six out of the whole group was deemed to have known something. Most of them were here in cells, one was on a hospital bed, bandages covering 1/3 of his body. The girl, a wild card, in a situation that she most likely wasn't supposed to be involved in.
"If I had to guess, she just came because she made the same threat she just made to us, but to whoever's in charge of these fellows. Which means she can point them out to us when enough pressure's applied." He turned and looked Carson in the eye.
"We need to know who that is, and we need to know now. Ka'an will grind her down till she cracks completely."
"Sir, if I may. She could possibly respond to my presence bett'r than brute force. Let me go in and talk to her before she shits herself." She suggested.
"Hm, very well. But I want her talking yesterday Lieutenant!" He chimed the intercom on the wall, signaling Ka'an to come out.
"Aye sir." She said.
Outside the base was being put back into some semblance of order again. Certain building materials weren't even being sent to replace what was destroyed, since the base was to be abandoned shortly. All pertinent material went to fixing the main hangers, and making sure the Gotango wasn't too damaged. All structures too damaged or unsafe to go back into, were barricaded and orders left for no personnel to enter them for any reason. A handful of personal items were lost due to the firefight, including all of mine. Just thinking about it gave me a slight headache.
"Ugh, sir, do you think Carson can get anything from that girl?" I asked turning to the Admiral.
"If she wants to stay out of her cozy cell, she better." He gave me a sidelong glance that said he wasn't interested in talking about what former prisoner 627 was doing.
I sighed, then took a deep breath. "You have questions about the general, don't you sir?"
"I want to know what happened! General Fornsburge was a decorated war hero and was a great man! What happened!?" He demanded.
"I can't tell you what his reason we're sir. When I met him and the following hours afterwards, he was exactly as you say he was. He even fed his men T-bone steaks before the end. I think whatever it was that sent him over the edge, happened long before the goo ever got to Canada's borders." I looked ahead. "It is rumored that he talked to someone before he did what he did. Maybe the techs can comb through the Baddecks computers and see if he left some sort of message?"
"Get on it then Commander! I want whatever can be found, found!" He ordered.
"Aye sir. What about the prisoners?"
"Leave them to Carson for now. With your opponent currently unconscious from that duel, and that girl about ready to lay eggs the next time she sees you, I think you've done enough with these jokers. She can handle the rest."
"Aye sir. Uh, if you don't mind me asking, what are we going to do if there isn't any sort of message to be found?"
Fleetfoot spoke quietly, "find something Ka'an. We can't have his name smeared, not now." His shoulders drooped for a second, before he straightened up again. "I'll be in the Gotango's main hanger office till we depart. If I'm needed." He said as he walked away.
I walked to the next hanger that housed the Baddeck and her bare minimum crew now that she has been moved to safety.
"Commander!" Acting Executive Officer Lieutenant Michaels called out. "How are the visitors? Any of them crack yet?"
"That's not important right now Lieutenant." I pushed the question aside. "Have the Baddecks final upgrades been finished?" I asked. "We need her space worthy very soon."
"She's ship shape and ready to fly sir." He answered. "But the crew are curious about the intruders."
I sigh. "Lieutenant, they are being interrogated as we speak. If there is anything that needs to be reported, you'll hear about it. Until then it is a need to know, and right now you don't." I said bluntly.
"Well excuse me. Is there anything else I can do for you sir?" He deadpanned.
"Lose the attitude." I warned.
He straightened, then breathed. "Yes sir."
"Now where are the techs from Northface Base? I have an assignment for them." I queried.
"They're inside making some last minute touch ups to the Baddecks systems. Something about some malware or something." He explained.
I pulled up the current roster for the Baddeck crew compliment on my communicator.
"What's the name of the lead tech?" I asked.
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Christopher Lee, sir." Michaels answered.
Hitting the name, it sent a signal to Lee's communicator that I wanted to speak with him.
"There may be something else there they could delete if they're not looking for it." I explained.
My comm beeped his response and then a small holo image of Lee's upper torso and head appeared. "Lee here, what's up Commander?" He responded.
"Lee, halt all your team's current operations. I need you and your Northface team to meet me in the captain's quarters ASAP." I ordered.
"Yes sir. Care to let me know why?"
"In the captain's quarters Lieutenant." I repeated.
Disengaging the comm, I turned and headed for the loading bay of the Baddeck.
"Make sure the rest of the crew know to just keep their minds on their jobs Lieutenant. I don't want anyone distracted and make a mistake by accident." I suggested.
"Yes sir." Michaels affirmed.
Inside the ship, the tech crew was waiting for me in the captain's cabin. They each were a bit anxious, and one was tapping furiously on a laptop.
"Sir." Lee said, snapping his hand to a salute, the rest following suite.
I saluted in return. "At ease. I have an assignment for you and your men."
The group went quiet and waited for me to continue. "General Fornsburge may have left a suicide message in the Baddecks systems. They may even be considered 'malware' to the rest of the regular operating system. So I need you to isolate and show me anything you've found so far and anything you find in the future." I told them. "This is top secret! Do not tell anyone about what you may find or what you are looking for!"
"Aye sir." The four sailors present sounded off.
"Sir, Jackson here has already been checking with what malware we've found sir. She has it isolated and downloaded to that laptop. It's completely safe and it can't get off there unless we want it to." They reported as Jackson sat there typing some more.
"Have you found anything yet Ensign?" I asked.
She turned to me, but was still staring at the computer screen. "Sir, most of what this is is simple junk data that normally finds its way into any computer system. But a few of these are strange, there are patterns like nothing I've ever seen." She said, her voice was lite, studious, but very clear.
"What do you mean Jackson?" I prodded.
"Here." She turned the screen so we could see it. "This one here, when we found it, it looked as though it was a steady pulse. It had a rhythm, but it started acting up while we were over the base and you were dueling that intruder. As a matter of fact it was strongest during the duel." She explained.
"Strongest? Was it some sort of signal?" I asked. "And how long have you been monitoring these?"
"I found the first one about as soon as we got into radar range of Coronado. But before I could report it, you ordered the ship into silent running. The 'signal' I found didn't seem to be messing with any of the ships major functions. Just a minor system, but we weren't using it at the time."
"And after you removed it?" I asked.
"The system checked out 100%. There have been about a dozen different minor systems infected with some sort of malware. All have been given a clean bill of health since they were removed."
"We only have about three systems left to check, one of them is the mazer master system." Lee said.
"Alright, get back to it. Once all the malware is removed, do a full systems check. I'll be on the bridge. Dismissed." I ordered.
"Yes sir." They said in unison, stood and left.
I sat in the Captain's chair on the bridge, thinking back over the past 48hrs, the goo, the general, the infiltration, the duel and now this. Something or someone was pulling strings, a puppeteer to our current situation. We need to find them befor…
"Commander Ka'an, Ensign Jackson."
A chime in the comms interrupted my thoughts.
"Ka'an here, what is it Ensign?" I answered.
"Sir, if you have time, could you come to the galley? I want..no, I need to..talk to you..about..something private, sir."
What in the world is she..? "On..my way Ensign." I said slightly hesitant.
Turning, I handed over the Con to the next in charge on board. Walking the deck and heading below to the galley, I'm trying to figure out why she'd want to get something to eat with meeee….! No! Nononono! She couldn't be, could she? I didn't get that impression when we were talking earlier. She can't possibly be into me! Could she? I tried to keep an air of indifference about me as I stepped into the galley. Ensign Jackson was sitting in the corner by herself, back to the rest of the galley, so she didn't see me walk in.
"Ensign." I said as I stepped closer.
She visibly flinched, before she peeked over her shoulder and looked me in the eye. From what I could see, her cheek had a shade of red to it. My eyebrow shot up, in a questioning manner.
"Oh boy." I said to myself.
To be continued...