For the past three days the Gabriel had been undergoing discreet flybys of a few of the outer Klatt worlds and had so far found no sign of the Uly vessel or Ed and Pol. The atmosphere on the ship was decidedly gloomy, even with Cleo attempting to keep everyone cheerful.
‘What do you call a factory that makes good products?’ she said, as she appeared in front of Phil and Bache on the bridge, dressed in a jester’s outfit.
They both glanced up at her and raised their eyebrows in a lazy, exasperated manner.
‘A satisfactory,’ she said, as an orchestral fanfare following the punchline sounded around the bridge.
Bache rolled his eyes at Phil.
‘Boom – tish,’ Phil mumbled, half-heartedly.
‘Cleo, I know you’re trying to be helpful,’ said Bache, ‘but you’re—’
‘—just being trying,’ interrupted Phil without taking his eyes off his control icons. ‘Only talk to us if you have something critical to the operation to tell us.’
‘Well actually I have as a matter of fact,’ she said, sticking her nose in the air and looking at them out of the corner of her eye.
‘And that is?’ Bache asked, not convinced she was telling the truth as the bells on her hat had jingled as she said it.
‘I’m receiving a coded transmission from Dasos as we speak. If you just give me a – oh dear.’
‘Just spit it out,’ said Phil, thinking she was still messing them around.
‘Erm, it’s in holographic form and you’re not going to like it.’
‘Just…’
The holomap suddenly disappeared and the image of a senior GDA naval officer materialised, flanked by two marines in full battle armour.
‘That’s Admiral Geltz,’ Bache said, grimacing. ‘Joined only a few months before me, was less experienced at just about everything and got promoted above me at every—’
Bache was cut short as the Admiral began speaking.
‘Starship Gabriel, it is the decision of the GDA council for you to return to Dasos immediately and surrender your vessel for the purpose of the full investigation into the loss of the 28. Retired Commander Bache Loftt must be handed over to us to face multiple charges, including treason and murder.’
‘What the fuck?’ said Bache.
‘Failure to comply with these instructions will entail your vessel being designated as renegade. You have seventy-two hours.’
‘That’s complete madness,’ said Bache, standing and stomping angrily around the bridge.
‘What is?’ asked Andy, stepping off the tube lift as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and ran his hand through his bed hair. ‘Well, what’s happened? What’s Cleo got me up for?’ he added, turning towards Bache as he noticed Phil’s nervous glance in that direction.
‘Replay the message, Cleo,’ Bache growled.
The hologram replayed as Andy stood and gaped.
‘That’s just fucking insane,’ he said as it ended. He slumped into his couch and stared at the other two. ‘Whoever came to that conclusion needs to be locked in a padded cell.’
‘Who is that guy?’ asked Phil.
‘He’s the new chief military advisor to the GDA Council,’ said Bache. ‘Part of the reason I retired was so I didn’t have to cross paths with that kiss-arse again.’
‘Not one of your drinking buddies then?’ Andy asked.
‘No, he’s one of those people who doesn’t care how many others’ reputations and careers he tramples on to get to the top.’
‘Looks like it worked,’ said Andy.
‘But you’ve retired,’ said Phil. ‘You’re no threat to anyone. Who could possibly want to destroy your reputation now?’
‘D’you want me to make a list?’
‘I didn’t know you had any enemies,’ Andy replied.
‘It doesn’t matter how good a person you are, some people just love to hate and to be honest, I have uncovered a few unscrupulous individuals over the years. So, it could be any one of them, or the ones that are still alive anyway.’
‘We could hypothesise about this all day,’ said Phil. ‘We need to make a decision about what to do.’
‘We’re not fucking surrendering the ship for a start,’ said Andy.
‘Or you,’ said Phil, pointing at Bache.
‘Thank you,’ Bache replied, nodding at Phil and raising his eyebrows at Andy.
‘Yes, yes, I agree,’ said Andy, reading Bache’s unasked question. ‘But what I want to know is – what does being designated as renegade actually mean?’
Bache flinched and pulled a pained expression.
‘Any vessel is authorised to engage and destroy a renegade ship without warning and most likely would receive a handsome reward,’ he said.
‘Oh, joy of joys,’ said Andy, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head. ‘Not only do we have the Klatt wanting to kill us all, but just about every other ship in the galaxy too.’
They all went quiet as the tube lift arrived and a smiling Rayl stepped onto the bridge.
‘Morning, everyone,’ she said cheerily and stopped when she noticed no one was smiling back.
‘What?’ she said, scanning their three stern faces.
‘She’s your wife,’ said Phil, giving Andy a quick look and returning to concentrate on the control icons.
Bache turned away and concentrated on a spot on the wall.
Andy tried to smile, but it came across as more of a toothy grimace.
‘Hello, dear.’
Rayl glared at her husband.
‘What have you done?’
‘Well, it’s nothing we’ve done,’ he answered, defensively. ‘It’s the rather unexpected reaction of the GDA.’
Cleo replayed the message as the other three watched and waited for her reaction. Surprisingly, she didn’t react at all. She just stepped across to her couch, sat down and began tapping away at control icons and waking up her station.
‘Looks like we’re renegade then,’ she said, finally, looking up and around at the other faces. ‘It’s not something this ship isn’t familiar with after all.’
Bache nodded and sat down again.
‘There’s something going on here that Ed’s kidnapping was just a small part of,’ he said.
‘And the destruction of the Klatt battle fleet was a large part,’ said Phil, ruefully.
Andy sat back and crossed his arms in thought.
‘Though rescuing Ed and Pol is still our priority,’ said Andy, ‘can I try something first?’