"How's it hanging down there, sailor?" she asked a man in a purple shirt crawling around under her fighter. "Something up with my bird?"
"Uh, no, ma'am. Just doing the hundred-hour inspection." The petty officer first class crawled out from under the mecha and stood. "What can I do for you, Ensign Penrose?"
"Nothing. I just thought I'd get some air and couldn't think of a better place." She smiled her best girl-in-heat smile. That was always a good technique for greasing the lips of young male soldiers.
"I dunno, I could think of better places," the petty officer said as he unscrewed an umbilical from the empennage and started to drag it across to the next plane on his list.
"Need a hand?" Bella grabbed the umbilical farther behind him and tugged on it and helped him drag it.
"Uh, thanks, ma'am. Did you see all the hubbub a few minutes ago?" he asked her.
"No, what hubbub?" Now she was getting somewhere.
"Well, we had this shuttle come in just a bit ago. Some guy in a U.S. military school outfit led some young girl in a cadet uniform of some type around at the end of a pistol. She was zip-tied, and her mouth was duct-taped. Several fully armed grunts met them and marched them up to the elevator. Fireman Tibbs claims the elevator didn't stop till it went to the top, but she could just be making that shit up."
"That is interesting. Any idea who they were?" Bella had missed that somehow.
Must be the package that we were waiting on, Allison added.
The package is a person. Curious.
"Nope. Somebody said they thought the girl looked like somebody famous, but nobody could put their finger on just who." The sailor turned back to the umbilical and plugged it into the Gnat beside Bella's. "If you don't mind, ma'am, I better get this shit done before the chief rains down on my ass, ma'am."
"Sure, sorry to bother you, Simms," she read off his name tag. "Thanks for the gossip."
"You're welcome, ma'am."
Allison? She turned from the hangar and headed to the elevator.
I'm scanning for images of the two, the AIC replied.
What about AICs?
Wait a minute. I've hacked into the security-camera systems and have a couple of images coming in now. Allison displayed the images into Bella's mindview.
Holy shit! they both thought simultaneously.
That's Deanna Moore! Where is she, Allison?
Right now she is being held under armed guard in the CO's quarters. They had been stationed on the supercarrier long enough that Allison had learned her way in and out of most of the ship's less sensitive functions with simple hacks and without leaving a trace she had been in them.
Shit. Bella thought about it for a few moments. We have to stay with her. See if you can figure out a way to contact her. Can you handshake with her AIC?
I'm trying, but she has firewalled herself off from anybody sending data in.
Shit again.
How about the speakers of the CO's quarters? Allison asked.
Good. Can you take my mindvoice and project it on the speakers?
Yes, I can.
Then we need to get her to talk to us. Do it now.
Go when you are ready.
Will we be able to hear her?
Yes, I'm taking the input from the security sensors placed in the CO's quarters to keep an eye on her and rerouting that back to you. I'm also monitoring the sensors outside of the quarters, just in case.
Okay. Here goes. Ms Moore, I am an undercover CIA operative that just by coincidence is aboard this ship. I just discovered you are here. I will do what I can to help.
Bullshit! Bella heard in her mind.
Yeah, I wouldn't believe it, either, she thought. That doesn't matter. Just do as they tell you and don't provoke them. I'm working on a plan to get you out of here.
There was no response. Bella was pretty sure that the president's daughter didn't believe her. She at least hoped that in the back of the girl's mind it would give her hope and help prevent her from giving up.
What do we do? Allison asked.
I don't know. I'm working on it, she thought. She was startled almost out of her skin by the bosun's pipe.
"General quarters, general quarters, battlestations! All hands, all hands to battlestations. Prepare for incoming fire and immediate evasive QMT jump."
"What the hell?" Bella said out loud. She reflexively turned back toward the hangar, her Seppie pilot kicking in. But right now she had to be a U.S. CIA agent. She paused to think for a second.
Allison, give me a full DTM battleview from my mecha.
Okay, here goes.
The supercarrier became transparent, and she could see space in any direction. Several thousand kilometers out beneath them was the QMT facility, and below that was Arcadia. Then she saw it. Just off the QMT facility and coming in fast was a supercarrier. It looked like it was about to do a drop run on the facility.
I'm getting IFF pings from AICs everywhere, Bella. It's the Sienna Madira!
Goddamn. Talk about timing. Is Boland out there?
I've got him! He is.
Connect me to him now!
The QMT jump into Ross 128 went as planned. Jack squinted against the brilliant sphere of light he found himself engulfed in and readied himself for whatever might be on the other side. The view of the Oort faded out and a much brighter view of a blue and green planet beneath him burst into sight. The Madira was below him as planned, and the Arcadian QMT facility was out ahead and a little beneath them. How the Navs that ran the QMT jumps figured out just where to put a ship on the other side of a quantum mechanical event like the membrane jumps was beyond him, but it didn't matter. What did matter was that the jumps worked. And there he was.
"Warning, enemy contacts bearing seven thousand kilometers, two degrees theta, and nine degrees phi," his Bitchin' Betty dinged at him.
Candis, what is that out there?
Looks like a supercarrier, Jack.
When did the Seppies get a goddamned supercarrier?
I don't know.
Any sign of Dee's beacon?
I'm scanning. Just a moment. Candis paused briefly. I have good news and bad news.
Okay?
Dee is here. She is on that supercarrier.