Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (7 page)

Elise put her hands on the back of a chair in the center of the room. “I always knew there had to have been one, but I thought it long destroyed. The rebels pounded us from orbit. They destroyed the spaceport and two other cities.”

“Hang on while I try to figure out something.” Kelsey cocked her head.
What was the thing you did with my implants?

This unit authenticated your clearance level and diplomatic codes. Everything is in order.

What diplomatic codes? What clearance level?

Your diplomatic codes, Ambassador Kelsey Bandar. This unit acknowledges your authority over it. As an heir to the Imperial Throne and ambassador plenipotentiary of the Terran Empire, you have clearance to communicate and instruct this unit. What are your orders?

How the hell could it know all that? How could her implants have codes like that? The Pale Ones certainly hadn’t known or cared.

Then the answer occurred to her. It had to be
Courageous
. Nothing else explained it. It had to have put the codes into her implants. Probably in the same way a captain controlled his ship. The computers knew who people were and what they could control based on the codes in their implants and their serial numbers.

She remembered
Courageous
had updated her implants for her. It must’ve added the codes then. Why hadn’t it told her? She’d have to ask it.

The question of why it had done so was a little murkier. It might have accepted Jared as its commanding officer, but why would it grant her diplomatic codes? And how did it have them to begin with? Well, perhaps it knew them because a computer had to have them to know they were valid, right?

She looked at Elise. “It seems that
Courageous
gave me diplomatic codes. At least that’s my guess at where they came from. The computer accepts my authority as an ambassador of the Terran Empire. Which is somewhat awkward since Pentagar isn’t part of said Empire.”

“I’m not going to quibble right now.” Elise walked around the room and peered at the consoles. “I can hardly imagine even being in here. This is part of our history. The baron, my great great and so forth grandfather probably stood in this room. Of course, that begs the question of why he never mentioned it.”

“Without weapons systems, it may not have seemed relevant after the rebels failed to return.”

Computer, can you respond verbally?

“Affirmative.”

Elise jerked at the voice from the hidden speakers. It sounded female and soothing.

“What is your status?” Kelsey asked.

“This unit is online. Scanner net degraded to twenty-three percent. Weapon systems offline.”

“Amazing,” Elise said softly. “Computer, do you have records of the attack on Pentagar?”

“Voice not recognized. Implant authorization required to divulge classified information.”

Fortunately, Kelsey had dealt with this situation before. “Computer, I authorize you to respond to Crown Princess Elise Orison.”

“Authorization not accepted. Implants codes required for each individual accessing this system.”

Kelsey frowned. “So, you’re saying you recognize my authority as an ambassador of the Terran Empire, but I can’t authorize someone to access you?”

“Incorrect. Access to the system can be granted once the appropriate authorizations are entered into an individual’s implants. This task may be accomplished at any computer that possesses the appropriate diplomatic security databases.”

“Well, that’s not very helpful,” Kelsey grumbled. “I can see this is going to be a recurring theme. You can do whatever you like, as long as you have the appropriate authorization. Oh, and by the way, you can’t get the appropriate authorization, because there’s no one left to give it to you. Or the people you want to authorize won’t have implants.”

Elise put her hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. “Now, now. Let’s not be so negative. You received the appropriate authorization for diplomatic purposes, didn’t you? Surely, that means that other computer systems can do something similar. What is it that you’re not able to do?”

“The first thing I’d like to do is give you the appropriate authority to access this computer. It’s on your planet, so you should be in control of it, not some visitor from another world. Then I’d like to get more specifications on my implants. I have to piece together little bits and pieces of information to figure out their functionality. I should be able to find a help manual somewhere.”

“And
Courageous
doesn’t have something like that for you?”

“Apparently not. Though it must have a diplomatic security database.”

Elise walked around the control room slowly. “So, what was it you were detecting from the speaker’s podium?”

Kelsey located the access point she’d detected earlier. “Computer, what is this?” She forwarded the signature of the device to the computer.

“That is a closed-circuit data repeater. It interfaces with the podium in the parliamentary chamber. Through it, the podium computer can access authorized material in this unit.”

Kelsey nodded. That made sense. “What restricts access to the podium? Is it only due to the fact that I had diplomatic codes in my implants that I can access it?”

“Correct. The podium computer is designed to interface with all authorized personnel and their designees.”

“What are the criteria for you to designate someone?” Elise asked.

Kelsey repeated the question to the computer.

“Authorized users may designate other individuals to access the podium controls through implant or verbal access.”

“Finally. I designate Crown Princess Elise Orison as my designee. She has complete access to any files that I would have access to through the podium.”

“Please state your name and position for the record, Crown Princess Elise Orison.”

Elise stood a little straighter. “My name is Elise Patricia Orison. My position is crown princess and heir to the throne of Pentagar.”

“Access granted to console systems on podium, Crown Princess Elise Patricia Orison.”

“Please call me Elise.”

“Preference acknowledged.”

The tall noblewoman rubbed her hands together. “I cannot wait to dig into the contents of this computer. However, we really should head back up before they find a drill to come after us. I figure just about enough time has passed that Talbot will be there.”

Kelsey snorted. “I’ll bet you’re right. He’s probably ready to dig his way down with his bare hands. First, let me get a little bit more information.”

She accessed the system and requested plans for the hidden facility. As she’d expected, there were other levels below this one. Probably filled with computers and control systems. The hatch directly across from where they’d entered supposedly led to the known areas of the Parliament Building, but the corridor read as sealed. She imagined someone had filled it in with plascrete to hide the facility. Why, she wasn’t sure. The other two led to various rooms and lifts connected to the areas below.

That mystery was one Elise could figure out on her own. “Okay. There used to be another entrance, but I think someone filled it in. You’ll need to dig it out to get access. I’ll give you the maps as soon as I can. Let’s go back up. This is enough excitement for one day.”

They retraced their steps and Kelsey sent the command to the switch as soon as they were safely inside the storage room. The hatch closed and the lift lurched upward. A minute later, the hatch opened to bedlam.

It seems they had indeed found a drill. A very large one. And a crew of men who seemed determined to drill their way through the wall. Everyone stepped back to allow the two women to exit.

The Royal Guards surrounded Elise as their leader examined her anxiously for signs of injury. “Are you harmed, Your Highness? What happened?”

Elise held her hands up. “Everyone calm down. We discovered a lift leading down into the sealed section. There was nothing dangerous downstairs. We were never in any danger.”

In comparison to the Royal Guards, the female marine assigned to guard Kelsey took her disappearance in stride. Except for the eye roll and head shake.

Talbot rushed in at that moment. He slowed when he saw Kelsey standing there, but she could see the worried expression on his face. “What’s with you? I can’t take a nap without you sneaking off to find some secret facility. I thought we had an agreement?”

Kelsey put on her best innocent face. “It wasn’t my fault. I thought I was turning off a stealth field. I had no idea that was a lift. And I’m perfectly fine. See?” She held up her arms and turned in a circle.

He pulled her into a hug. She knew it was a sign of just how worried he was that he did so with everyone around. He had an exaggerated opinion of how to protect her dignity.

She sighed and melted into him. “This is more like it. Next time I promise to wait for you to come protect me before I explore some strange, possibly dangerous place.”

He squeezed her tight for a moment and then released her. “Okay. I’ll let this go, this one time.” He grinned. “Like I have any control over what you do. So what’d you find down there?”

“It seems that the planetary defense center for Pentagar is still operational. There are no weapons, of course, but the databases are intact. In fact, it seems that
Courageous
gave me some kind of diplomatic codes. The computer recognized me and gave me full access.”

She looked over at Elise. “Come on. Let’s go see if you can access the console on the podium.”

Talbot stepped beside her as they walked out. “I hear you played something back in the main chamber. Some kind of message from the old emperor?”

Kelsey nodded. “Emperor Marcus’ final message to the Terran Empire. His order to fight. It was pretty moving.”

“We’ll need to make a copy for the historians. I can almost hear them drooling from here.”

“You can hear somebody drool? And here I thought my hearing was good.”

He laughed. “You know what I mean.”

She stepped onto the dais. “See if you could play the vid again, Elise. I think Talbot would enjoy it.”

“Enjoy might be the wrong word,” he said. “I know how that story turns out.”

Elise stepped up to the console. “Computer, this is Elise Orison. Please replay the last message from Emperor Marcus.”

Once more, the holo of the emperor from the bridge of his unknown ship played out. And again, Kelsey tapped into a view that wasn’t visible to anyone else. She spent her time examining the strange woman. Not just her, but her armor. It was definitely commando armor. Kelsey had seen images of bulkier marine armor.

One thing was immediately obvious. This armor had seen plenty of combat. Unless she’d borrowed the armor, that was. Kelsey decided she’d go with the assumption that the woman was a combat veteran. It looked as though it had been through hell.

The woman’s expression hardly faltered during the speech. It seemed to Kelsey that the woman had already decided that their chances were slim. She looked like she was determined to fight it out to the bitter end, even though she knew that death most likely awaited her. Or worse.

Kelsey wondered what had happened to her. Had she died well? Had the rebels captured her and turned her into one of them? She would probably never know.

Even as the vid was playing, the computer interrupted her with an implant transmission.
Ambassador Kelsey Bandar, this unit has detected a number of vessels entering the system.

Let me see.

A schematic of the system appeared in her mind’s eye. The unknown vessels had transitioned through the flip point leading to the Courageous system. There were eight vessels.

A jolt of excitement ran through her. They had to be ships from home. Someone had come to rescue them.

And then the reality hit her. Those ships had made a one-way trip. Now the weak flip point had trapped them, too.

As soon as the vid stopped playing, Kelsey leaned close to Elise and tugged Talbot with her. “We have visitors from home. They just transitioned through the flip point to the Courageous system.”

Both of them looked suitably surprised, but Elise recovered first. She smiled. “Then we’d best get ready to welcome more of our allies to Pentagar.”

Kelsey nodded. “I’m not sure what the protocol is, but I think Talbot and I should go out to meet them. I’m certain that Jared explained everything, but it doesn’t pay to take chances.”

“Then you’d best get ready to travel. I look forward to meeting more of your people. Their presence will make capturing the freighter, and possibly dealing with any escort, easier.”

Kelsey nodded again, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that something just wasn’t right. For once, she hoped her instincts were wrong.

Chapter Seven

Jared watched the approach of the Pentagaran fast courier
Lance
from
Courageous
’ bridge. Commander Meyer hadn’t insisted on taking the command console, but instead watched events unfold from one of the observation seats. The one Princess Kelsey normally used, in fact.

Once
Lance
launched from Pentagar, Jared assumed that Princess Kelsey was aboard her. He’d sent a brief message on tight beam giving her the basic situation and warning her that Breckenridge was in control. His implants allowed him to do so unobserved right under Meyer’s nose.

Half an hour later, long after he should’ve opened communications, Breckenridge sent a message of greetings to
Lance
. He asked if Princess Kelsey was aboard and requested that she come to
Spear
.

His ‘request’ sounded like an order, though. Not the smartest approach in dealing with Kelsey, as Jared well knew.

The courier pilot—Jared recognized him as Lieutenant Parker—politely responded that Princess Kelsey was aboard and was looking forward to meeting Captain Breckenridge. He passed along her request that he gather all his commanding officers aboard
Courageous
for a briefing so that she could bring them up to speed on the current situation.