“On screen,” John ordered. “Locate Imperial Compound.”
The image came up, the compoundclearly shown. A brief consultation between McReidy and Gillespie had themagreeing about where they had to transport to.
McReidy turned her attention backto John. “If you don’t hear from either of us within fifteen seconds, pull usout.”
“Are you sure you can talk fastenough to convince them?” John began to worry. A slight frown creased hisbrow.
“Don’t ask silly questions. I’ma woman. Of course I can.”
The reassuring smile did littleto ease his mind. The open admission to the annoying female fault brought asmirk from everyone. No one could ever accuse McReidy of talking too much.
With the departure of McReidy andGillespie, the bridge was quiet. Too quiet. Giacomo was restless. He couldbarely keep his hands still. The seat beside him stayed empty. Gillespie’sposition was filled – John insisted the station be permanently manned.
Giacomo allowed his gaze towander around the bridge. Anything to distract him. Everyone else had theirminds on their job. Was he the only one who worried…? No. He saw his concernreflected in John. He watched the commander for a moment, then turned away inembarrassment as the dark eyes felt, then returned his stare.
John wanted to say something toGiacomo. He felt he couldn’t do so with the rest of the crew looking on.
“McReidy to bridge. We’re readyto transport down… Remember, fifteen seconds. Not an instant longer.”
As if John needed to be told! Hewas ready to pull them out earlier. His calm voice belied his true feelings. “Keep that transporter lock on at all times, Mister Kowalski.”
“Yes, sir.”
There was a few seconds silence.
“They’re down, sir.”
John glanced up from his watch. Giacomo was also counting. The first five seconds flew by. John cared. Heknew he cared. That protective male instinct came naturally to him. He leantone elbow on the arm of his chair, unaware that he had begun biting at histhumb nail.
Eight… nine… The tensionincreased with each passing second. What was taking so long?
Twelve… The waiting wasunbearable.
“Ready, Mister Kowalski?’ Johnknew the question was unnecessary.
“Ready, sir.” Kowalski’s handswere resting quietly on the controls.
Fourteen…
“McReidy to Bismarck. Stand by.”
“Standing by,” John acknowledged.
“Stand by?” Giacomo cried, unableto keep quiet any longer. “What does she mean ‘stand by’? Stand by for what?”
“That’s enough,” John stoppedhim. Giacomo had voiced his own thoughts. As much as he wanted to tellKowalski to bring them back, he knew he had to trust McReidy. She obviouslyhad things under control and just needed a little more time. They had to waita bit longer, no matter how difficult that seemed.
“McReidy to Bismarck. Everything’s under control. Bring us up.”
John felt Giacomo’s relief sweepover him. Had he admitted his own tension, he would not have easily creditedthe pilot.
“That was the longest fifteenseconds of my life!” Giacomo breathed.
“Twenty five,” John corrected.
“Same thing.”
McReidy and Gillespie were backon the bridge within minutes. Gillespie took back his console; McReidy filledher empty position.
“That was the shortest fifteenseconds of my life!” she sighed. “Are you all right? You don’t look verywell,” she told Giacomo, who blushed slightly at his apparent vulnerability.
“Well?” John interrupted hertrain of thought.
“Oh…” It took McReidy a secondto get back on track. “Complete success. From our point of view, anyway. They are willing to begin discussions. Once we put them in contact withCommand, it’s out of our hands. All you need to do is notify Command.”
John waived the responsibility toGillespie. “You do it.”
* * *
John expected a full report fromMcReidy. One he knew would be on his desk by morning. She surprised him bydropping it by his quarters that night.
“I thought you’d still be workingand I couldn’t see the point of waiting until morning,” she explained.
John glanced briefly at thereport. “It’s longer than I expected.” He was leaning against the opendoorway.
“Yeah, well it takes longer towrite it down than it does to say it.”
He heard the slight irritation inher voice and looked up from the report as she stifled a yawn. “You looktired.”
“I am a bit.” She glanced pasthim at his cluttered desk. “And you look like you’ll be up all night.”
He turned and followed her gazeto his desk. He turned back, was about to say something, then changed hismind.
“Want a hand?” she offered.
“Thanks,” he smiled. He wasgrateful for the offer. There was a lot he wanted to get through and McReidywasn’t the only one who was tired. She followed him back to his desk and hepulled up a chair for her. His ribs twinged only slightly as he did.
“Where do you want me to start?”
“We’ve been eavesdropping allday. I’m just going through the transcripts.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I waswondering how you picked your targets.”
He shrugged. “Something I can dowith broken ribs.”
She looked at the papersscattered everywhere. “Wouldn’t it be easier to listen to the tape?”
“Yes, but it’s harder to crossreference.” He pulled out three sheets of paper and passed them over. “Takethese three. All from roughly the same area. Two from ships, the otherpossibly a land based source. They all refer to the same thing.”
McReidy read the transcripts. They were brief, sketchy and unclear, making very little sense. She shook herhead.
“They refer to a single alienship,” John explained as he sat down. “All our reports state they move inpacks.”
“A cripple heading home?”
“That was my first thought. Don’t worry.” He sensed her anxiety. “I’m not going after it. It’s too farout of our way.”
Back to top
Chapterfifteen
The following morning, John wasslipping his jacket on, ready to head out of his quarters, when the doorbeeped. He automatically thought it was McReidy with something she hadn’tannoyed him with last night.
“Mister Tan?”
The communications officer stoodthere, his gaze straight ahead. He slowly lifted his eyes to meet John’s and asmile broke out, widening to a grin.
John mirrored the elation. “Youdid it?”
“Yes, sir,” Tan nodded.
John put his hands on Tan’sshoulders and squeezed gently. “Thank you.”
“Lieutenant Spencer is working ona language, but we got the code. I’ve already installed the key in thesystem.”
“You have just made my year,Mister Tan.” That was going to make those long nights so much easier. “Takethe rest of the day off. Both of you.”
“I’d rather go back to work,sir.”
John
