“Admiral,” the old man began, “You’re accomplishing nothing except to demoralize the bridge crew. May I suggest that you retire to your cabin, and I’ll report as soon as there's something to report?”
“Besides, sir,” he continued, “It’s much more important that you devise some way to cope with that broadcast and the confusion it’s bound to cause. You do realize that our own people have just been ordered by the Commander of the Fleet to arrest us?”
Micah hesitated, and then sighed. “You’re right, of course, Jamin.” He straightened. “All right. Number one priority is to regain comms and shut off that damned broadcast! Number two is to secure all ships. As soon as we can get the landing bay repressurized, I want officers sent to each ship in the flotilla. Officers, not just messengers, and those officers are to be accompanied by marine guards. And escort them with a fighter. Sheol! They may have to shoot their way aboard some of those ships! In the meantime, I’ll work out the message they’re to deliver”
He sighed. “Any idea how he did it, Jamin? It appears that he effectively seized control of this ship from the landing bay!”
Van Lyn echoed his sigh. “No, sir. Perhaps he had a comm tech concealed aboard his ship. Even so, I can't imagine anyone skilled enough to override our systems and seize control in the short time available.”
He shrugged. “You realize, of course, that we’ve just had our authority snatched from underneath us. Where do you suppose Cord got a Vice Admiral? If HQ had sent one out, we’d have known about it. I gather you know the man?”
Micah sighed and nodded. “He served under my command some years back. He was a marine light Colonel, then. Typical marine. No manners, no respect. An uncouth, uncultured outerworlder.” He frowned. “He did possess a certain native shrewdness, though. As for how Cord got him, he created him. Somehow, Kedron must have convinced Cord that he could resist us. Cord is a Sector Viceroy; he has the authority to appoint and promote Fleet officers.”
Van-Lyn's expression was grim. “He did pretty well this time.”
Micah nodded. “True. However, trickery won’t be enough to deal with the force we have available. Eventually Kedron will have to meet us in battle. I’m rather looking forward to that.”
Van-Lyn grunted. “I’m not sure that I am.” He straightened. “Well, that fool Comm Officer has had time to figure out what Kedron did. I hope he’s figured out how to stop it.” He turned and ducked through the bridge hatch.
Micah stared after him for a moment before turning and pushing off toward his cabin.
Micah was scouring his brain for justifications when there was a knock on the hatch. At his bellowed “Come in,” a young sensor tech appeared. “Admiral, Captain Van-Lyn asked me to tell you that we’ve detected a launch from Thaeron. By the size of the blip, it’s that tramp that came in two days ago.”
Micah frowned. “I assume that there is some reason that this is being reported to me?”
The young man fidgeted. “Yes, sir. The Captain thought it was an odd coincidence that she’d lift off at this moment.”
Micah shrugged. “Very well. Though I don’t see what I could do about it. I assume that comms are still down?”
“Yes, Sir. However, the landing bay is being repressurized. Pressure should be up to normal at any moment.”
He shrugged again. “Well, if I could, I’d send a destroyer to check her out. Now, the only thing I could send would be a fighter — and with comms out, they couldn’t even communicate. Very well,” he added, more briskly, “You’ve reported. Please ask the Captain to send someone to me with a progress report.”
“Aye, Aye, sir!” The tech wheeled and started to slip out the hatch.
“Just a moment,” Micah called. The man whipped around with amazing agility. “Please ask Captain Van-Lyn to begin detailing officers and marines for the duty he and I discussed. He’ll know what you mean.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” The young tech repeated. He whirled and was gone.
Micah admired the young man’s easy zero-gee technique for a moment before returning to his task.
When the increasingly anxious Micah finally got his status report several hours later, it did nothing to ease his worries.
The reporting was done by Nemesis ’ Executive Officer, a junior Captain. Micah ignored the man’s narrowed, suspicious gaze. He wasn’t a part of Micah’s organization, and was obviously trying to decide whether to believe his own Captain and Admiral, or a tape purporting to be from CINCFLEET.
“All efforts to restore the gravity generators have so far failed,” he reported. “The engineering staff says that the power is available, and is even being drawn off. But the generators are not activating. The Chief suggests that he may have to shut down the main engineering computer and reboot it with backup programs. But he’s sure there’s nothing wrong with the generators themselves.”
“Is he requesting permission to shut down and restart? I’d think that Captain Van-Lyn would be the one to grant it.”
The XO shook his head. “No, sir, not yet. The Captain has already authorized it if the Chief thinks it necessary.”
“Yes, Yes, of course.” Micah responded hurriedly. “What about the comms? And that cursed tape?”
The man shrugged. “No joy, sir. Commander Falker and his men have been going over the comm system inch by inch. Like the Chief Engineer, the Commander tends to suspect that it’s a computer worm. He says he may have to shut down and reinitialize the whole system.”
Micah frowned. “How long will that take? To reinitialize both systems, I mean.”
The XO shrugged again. “At least twenty-four hours to restore both the mains and all ancillary systems, sir. One of the main problems is that the computer that controls the grav generators also controls a lot of life support functions.”
Micah’s frown deepened. “I thought it was a simple matter of bringing the distributed systems online, then rebooting and reconnecting the main.”
The man nodded. “That was how she was designed, sir. In theory, we should be able to shift from the main life support computer to distributed systems in a matter of seconds.”
“Unfortunately,” he continued grimly, “ Nemesis is an old ship. A lot of jury-rigging has been carried on over the last two and a half centuries. The Chief Engineer has to trace a lot of non-standard wiring and programming. Then, he’ll have to restore a lot of the jury-rigging afterward. It could take up to thirty-six hours. The Captain has told him to eliminate all other possibilities first.”
“And the comm systems?”
“Not quite as bad. Commander Falker thinks he may be able to find and eliminate the message and the subroutine that's overriding our controls without reinitializing the entire system. If a total reboot is necessary, it will take some twelve hours.”
“Very well,” Micah replied. “Oh, I almost forgot. What happened to the weapons systems?”
The XO shrugged again. “Same story, sir. Evidently we were the target of a very sophisticated computer assault.”
Micah nodded. “Very well. Tell the Captain and the Weapons Officer that the status of the weapons system is classified Top Secret, as of now.”
The XO raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Sir?”
Micah waved a weary hand. “Just do it, XO. Because of this imposter and his faked-up message, we may actually be faced with mutiny. Any such mutineers must not find out that Nemesis is, for all practical purposes, unarmed.”
The XO nodded. “Yes, sir.”
After he left, Micah gnawed at his lower lip. He’d listened to Chu-Lo's message several times. It was obvious that Micah was headed for a blaster bolt to the back of the head unless he could do something. However, after several hours, the only hope he could see was his original plan. Seize the Sector, and then offer to return it to the Emperor — but this time with an amnesty as an added proviso.
A pounding awakened him. In response to his growled “Come in,” a marine sentry entered. “Admiral, sir!” the young marine gasped. “The Captain sends his respects and asks that the Admiral join him on the bridge, sir!”