Alarm of War

other MPs had their batons pushed against their chests.

“Sirs!” Donaldson said harshly. “You will stand down right now or so help me I will put you on the deck and then I will arrest you for interfering with a military police officer in the line of his duty. Now stand back!”

“Lieutenant Commander Rudd, Chief Gibson, stand back, please.” Hiram Brill put his tablet back in his pocket and stepped forward. “Do as I say, everything will be all right.” Rudd and Gibson exchanged a glance.

“Please,” Emily said softly. “I don’t want either of you hurt.” And reluctantly, they stepped back, glowering at the MPs.

“Thank you, Commander,” Major Donaldson said. Then, to one of his men, “Cuff her.”

“One moment,” Hiram said. He peered at the MP’s name tag. “Major Donaldson, I believe you are here on the orders of Captain Joseph Wicklow of the Gloucester, is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And out of curiosity, where are you to deliver Lieutenant Tuttle?”

Donaldson hesitated. “To Captain Wicklow on the Gloucester, sir.”

“Hmmm…on the Gloucester, not to the Fleet Detention Facility for processing?”

Donaldson hesitated, his mouth opening and closing.

“I asked you a question, Major,” Hiram said, with just a little touch of authority in it.

Donaldson’s ruddy complexion grew a shade redder. “Captain Wicklow gave me specific instructions, sir.”

“And did he also give you specific instructions about the New Zealand’s log?”

Donaldson nodded reluctantly. He couldn’t see where this was going, but he didn’t like it. “Yes, sir. I am to remove the log from each of the Coldstream Guard ships and deliver them personally to Captain Wicklow.”

Hiram put on a puzzled frown. “Really, Major Donaldson? In the case of charges this serious, wouldn’t you normally deliver the logs to the Fleet’s Judge Advocate Corp for analysis and use at the courts martial?”

Donaldson shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, sir, that would be normal procedure.”

“And Major Donaldson, how is it that you came to be taking orders from Captain Wicklow in the first place? He’s not in the MPs, as I recall. And you have a superior officer in the MPs, do you not?”

Emily’s head had been swiveling back and forth, trying to see where Hiram was going with all of this. Major Donaldson looked increasingly unhappy.

“Sir, my superior office is Colonel Wesseling. He gave me specific orders to do what Captain Wicklow told me to do. I am following his orders, sir.”

As he spoke, a group of ten Marines trotted up the main concourse and formed a circle around them. They were dressed in full battle gear, body armor and battle helmet, and each carried a sonic assault rifle or pistol. But what really got everyone’s attention was the Model T7 Military Assault Robotic Vehicle, Infantry Node. Or, as the troops called it, ‘Marvin.’ It walked, or rather, scuttled, on eight spider legs, had twelve sonic blasters sprouting from its hide, three grenade launchers, and a small anti-aircraft missile launcher. It was five feet tall and six feet long. Its multiple sensors had been designed to look like large, red eyes, and some mischievous engineer had designed them to slowly blink, creating the unpleasant sensation that it was a living, breathing thing staring right at you.

The MPs looked at each other in alarm.

“Marvin, guard!” ordered one of the Marines, and the robot’s sonic blasters each moved to aim at one of the MPs.

“Ah, good,” Hiram said warmly. “Major Donaldson, may I introduce you to Lieutenant Hunter and Sergeant Nici of the 4^th Marine Regiment. They have been assigned to protect the Queen while she is our guest on Atlas.”

Donaldson looked carefully around, taking in the battle-ready Marines and the menacing Marvin. “Commander, you are interfering with a Military Police Officer in the performance of his duties. I must ask you to stand down and I will take the prisoner-”

“No, actually, you won’t,” Hiram replied shortly. He was more relieved than he cared to admit that the Marines had finally showed up. “See this braid, Major?” he asked, gesturing to the scarlet braid he wore over his right shoulder. Donaldson nodded glumly. “This braid means that I am on the Queen’s personal staff and that I speak with her authority. The Queen outranks both Colonel Wesseling and Captain Wicklow, and she and Admiral Douthat are waiting right now to debrief Lieutenant Tuttle on the results of her mission. In case you’ve forgotten, Admiral Douthat is the senior Admiral of the Home Fleet. So, Major, I will be taking Lieutenant Tuttle with me to meet with Queen Anne and Admiral Douthat, and I have asked Lieutenant Hunter and Sergeant Nici and their charming companions to ensure that you do not interfere. In the name of Queen Anne, I hereby order you to stand down. Is that understood?”

Donaldson worked his jaw for a moment, staring hard at Hiram. He didn’t like what was happening…but he hadn’t much liked it when Wesseling had told him to turn over the prisoner to Wicklow, either. He had the unpleasant feeling that he was missing something important.

“I acknowledge your orders, sir.” He motioned to the two MPs holding Emily and they let go, one looking relieved and the other thoroughly pissed off.

“And Major,” Hiram said pleasantly. “You should know that although Captain Wicklow claimed Lieutenant Tuttle demonstrated cowardness in the face of the enemy, the ship’s log shows that in fact she led the Coldstream Guards into an attack when she was outnumbered three to one. The other Coldstream Guard ship’s logs show the same thing. Those are the logs you were supposed to remove and hand over to Captain Wicklow, if I recall correctly, rather than give them into the custody of the Fleet Judge Advocate General. Curious, isn’t it, Major? And also, you should know that Colonel Wesseling is Captain Wicklow’s brother-in-law. Food for thought, Major, in case you receive any more unusual orders today.”

Hiram turned to Rudd and Gibson. “Gentlemen, I am hereby ordering you to seal your logs in preparation for a national security investigation being conducted by the Queen. Communicate this order to the other ships in the Coldstream Guard. If the MPs show up demanding access, you should immediately contact Lieutenant Hunter here, and in the meantime you are authorized to use force to protect the ship’s log from being seized.” He turned to Hunter and Nici. “Now, gentlemen, if you would be kind enough to escort us to Queen Anne and Admiral Douthat, we are late for a debriefing.”

They walked for several minutes in silence, then Emily blurted: “How did you know Wicklow was-”

Hiram laughed ruefully. “I didn’t. I thought you were dead. Wicklow had told a story of treason and cowardness, but while the picket was escorting you in, Captain Rowe of the Bristol contacted me. Seems someone was using a C2C connection to try to edit the Bristol’s log of the events with Wicklow. I looked into it and discovered that Wicklow had talked to Colonel Wesseling and that Wesseling had essentially delegated the entire investigation of the charges against you to Wicklow. Pretty damn unusual. We did some more digging and found out they were going to arrest you and interrogate you on the Gloucester instead of at the Detention Facility. So I thought I would meet you at the docking bay, just in case.” He shook his head. “Wicklow is turning out to be a real head case, and not too bright to boot.”

“And you can do this? I mean, you can just whistle up a squad of Marines and take me away from the MPs?”

Hiram grinned coldly. “I am one of the Queen’s personal advisors; I can do pretty much whatever I please, as long as I’m careful not to abuse it.”

Emily smiled, a little bit uncertain and a little bit astonished. This wasn’t the same Hiram Brill she knew at Camp Gettysburg. “Are we really going to a debriefing?”

“Absolutely, but not for another two hours. I just wanted to get you away from the MPs. But, yes, there is a debriefing of you and the other Coldstream Guards captains. Admiral Douthat is very anxious to learn what you know. In just a few hours we are going to be making the last push to Refuge and we need to know any insight’s you’ve learned.”

Emily suddenly remembered. “Hiram, listen, there is someone I need you to talk to right away. It’s important, but I would prefer you meet them in your quarters rather than at the Fleet Intelligence Offices.” Hiram looked at her, obviously bewildered. “Trust me,” she pleaded. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think it was really urgent.