After checking with Lê, Moore retired to the captain’s Ready Room. He settled into the chair behind the desk with a sigh. This wasn’t a combat situation, so they were using the Hab Bridge, which gave them normal half-gee gravity. At some point, Admiral Moore would have to upgrade the sitcon, and they would move to the on-axis bridge. Moore hoped that time would be brief. Although he wouldn’t admit it publicly, he’d always hated low-gee and free-fall conditions.

He pulled out his tablet and connected to NavNet. First, he checked with Bentley on his course analysis, but no joy—Bentley reported that his current estimate was probably about as good as it was going to get.

Next, a quick email to Castillo, who had been tasked with repelling assaults from the ICDC and Jennings. While he waited for a response, he worked on tactical details for the current “exercise”.

Castillo’s response came back quickly—disturbingly so, until Moore read the contents.

No further attempted incursions. Both actors are quiet. No explanation forthcoming.

Moore smiled, glad for the unexpected reprieve. Then he lost his smile as the last sentence registered. Castillo considered this state of affairs anomalous, obviously. And so should he. Something else was in play. They had access to information of some kind that Moore did not.

Moore reached into a drawer and pulled out a pen and notepad. Doodling always helped him think.

Item: Jennings had been partially defanged with the Little Rock threat, but it would be naïve to think that he’d just slink away. If Jennings thought Pritchard was dead, killed by the Navy, he’d be in high dudgeon. Therefore, Jennings believed Pritchard to be alive. Kemp had told him.

Item: The ICDC had no real dog in this hunt. Without Narang pushing, the ICDC would coast to a stop. Therefore, Narang was no longer pushing. Kemp had told her.

These events must have happened very recently, since he’d not yet seen transcripts of any such conversations. Therefore, they would be reacting now.

This was beginning to resemble a conspiracy. Moore chuckled briefly at the irony of that thought, coming from him.

So, what could he expect? Jennings had purchased a new ship. He’d be itching to take it for a cruise in any case. Moore certainly would, in his shoes.

Moore reached for the intercom button and pressed it.

“Lê here.”

“Captain, it is possible that a bogey either is or soon will be following our track. Please keep an eye open for it.”

“High Command? Newsies? SSE? What?”

“Civilian. And with good legs.”

“This is developing into a very odd exercise, Admiral. I hope this will all be clarified at some point.”

“So do I, Captain. So do I.”

67.Strike Force

67.Strike Force