Sholan Alliance - AU Bk. 03 Ch. 10

Once the decision not to send the females back on the pirate ship it was quickly launched. Currently there was also a single fighter going along with as an escort. Though the ship had a fair compliment of crew and staff for the embassy there were patients as well. A good number were in cryo capsules in a store room aboard the ship. There were a number of the worst off patients as well along with a small medical staff.

It was going to be a cramped flight back but they needed to get as many of the injured back to Shola as soon as possible. There was several of the incoming craft which were only carrying the cryo capsules for patients they weren't able to send back currently. Before the ship left the solar system it received one last communication which was for the Ambassador. It was encrypted specifically for him.

The fighter also had a few injured aboard but it was a small enough craft not to be able to carry many. It was tight for the crew but for this they could carry a few patients. When they finally leapt to hyper everyone tensed up onboard the fighter. They knew that a ship had been lost even though it had taken down a number of the enemy along with. "Secure from flight stations. Keep a full complement on the sensors. If there is anything around I want to know sooner than later. Ensure we have good communications with the other ship as well." He stepped out of the command deck and into his small cabin and office space.

~~~

Since the entire crew of the tramp freighter was still being held incommunicado when the soldiers came for them nobody heard about it. The entire crew was arrested and removed to the secured facility previously used for the pirates. The captain was not happy and was demanding to talk to someone in charge about this outrage. "Damn it I have a properly registered ship and we have had our rights tromped on. We haven't been able to talk to family or friends. We don't know why we are being held this way and I demand to talk to someone in charge." He was yelling through the grill of the cell he was currently in.

The officer in charge of the squad which had detained the crew gave him a cold look. "Shut your trap. Someone will be here shortly to explain what is going on. Just sit down, shut up, or I will secure your cell so we don't have to listen to you." Everything would be recorded even if the cell was sound blocked.

The man kept yelling and carrying on which did get his cell locked down. He was in there for several hours before someone came for him. When his cell was opened he jumped off the bed only to freeze. There were two soldiers with weapons raised. He could tell they were non-lethal weapons but it would be very painful. The third person was a short female in a severe suit. "I am the Legal Officer assigned to this issue. You are being charged with aiding and abetting a known criminal enterprise to wit the pirates we have been dealing with. A tribunal has been held and it has been passed down that a secret trial will be held. You will be provided with a lawyer to represent you and your crew. It is in your best interests to cooperate with our investigation."

The captain did the only thing he could do and tried laughing at her. "I don't know what shit you are trying to pile on me but that is a crock of shit. We are simply a private freighter who was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. There isn't anything aboard my ship showing I am working with the pirates since I ain't."

She didn't even change her expression. "If that is how you wish to have this play out that is your choice. Your arrangement will be this afternoon. Your lawyer will be here shortly to talk to you." She nodded to the soldiers and they shut the door to his yelling and screaming.

This was repeated all the way through the crew and for the moment across the board all were denying everything. She knew better since they had found the hidden storage devices and they were now stripping the ship to the bulkheads. They had learned a great deal from the first ship and had a fairly decent idea of where and what sort of traps there might be.

One thing they had managed to discover was the location the ship had been flying from. Even though most of the data had been stripped out of the main computers one almost inconsequential note had been missed. It was a mention of passing through a well known hazard in Hyper on the way to Earth. It had the entry and exit data related to that section. Some back tracking had been done and as of now there were a number of scout ships in route. There had been several systems the tramp freighter could have come from and they were scouting all of them.

That was going to take at least another week before they heard anything back even using the hyper drones. They traveled much faster than regular vessels since there weren't any human's to worry about. The sooner they had an idea of what happened the better. As of now all the various fleets were on high alert and a number of ships had been dispatched to strengthen the colonies. They had small fleets but since they hadn't been at war for ages the fleets were mostly designed for pirate hunting.

~~~

The captain of the scout ship had dropped out of hyper space a fair distance away from the oort cloud. After using just enough power to get up to speed he killed all but the minimum electronics. The ship was designed for this but they already knew that the enemy was more advanced. Due to that they were cutting back even more than normal. Once they slipped into the system they almost instantly started picking up residue of high energy weapons and explosions.

"Keep all active sensors locked down and secured. Passive sensors on maximum sensitivity. I don't give a damn if we pick up to much incidental data. It is better to take back to much than not enough. Fire a sweep of drones and set their engines to turn on in one hour. Set them to do a sweep along the path of the energy signatures. We will pick them up in two days on the exit. Prep a hyper drone and keep it updated."

The orders started a flurry of activity and a short time later the drones were launched. The ship settled down into EmCon for the duration. Chances were good the enemy had left but it was also very possible they had left a stealth ship or two of their own. It wasn't beyond reason for them to assume a ship would be coming to scout and see what had happened. It is something he would have done himself and he wasn't going to second guess his gut.

The two days they drifted through the system had been interesting to say the least. Based on what the passive scanners were picking up there had been some sort of battle. They had passed some debris here and there. Most of it was unidentifiable scrap but several pieces had been recognizable. He had finally been forced to send a drone shuttle out to snag one piece since it was Terran. When it was brought on board he snarled. He knew the ship it came from since it had been decommissioned while he was aboard. Last he heard it had been sent to the breakers several years ago.

That had left the captain in a foul mood till they finally met up with the drones the second they were aboard they left. He had all the data dumped into the hyper drone and had it sent on ahead. They needed the data badly and this way if anything happened Earth would have all the data. "Okay, dump the data into our systems and I want you to tear it apart. The second you have anything contact me." He turned the bridge over and stalked back to his cabin. One report he had send was very heavily encrypted and it was concerning the hull fragment.

The following day he was called to the Intelligence office. When he walked in he was rather surprised to find just the senior IS Officer and a tech in there. "What is this about?" He started to settle down before the officer waived him over.

"For the moment portions of the data are going to be classified above top secret. You need to see this though Captain." He glanced at the tech and the lights dimmed and a holo field appeared. "I can't tell you what happened but this is what drone's 2 and 3 found." The view cleared up slightly and the counter indicated time laps. "What you will see momentarily is what is classified. Pay close attention to the actual asteroid belt."

The Captain leaned forward slightly and was frowning slightly as he watched the footage. As it scrolled he caught something but he didn't quite get it. "Replay." He had them do that several times but just couldn't put his finger on what was wrong. "Okay, there is something but I am not seeing it."

The officer nodded since the tech had been forced to point it out. "I am going to throw up a wire diagram to enhance what is wrong." He did that and suddenly the Captain caught the problem. "What the fuck?" He really didn't like swearing but right now he didn't give a damn.

"We don't know sir but an almost perfectly circular section of the asteroid belt is simply gone. It is a good one hundred kilometers across and is a sphere. Whatever happened removed an entire section of the belt. Normally we wouldn't have picked it up but the drone caught some traces of odd radiation and zoomed in on it." He gave the captain a shrug since he couldn't explain it. There was simply nothing in that space. No debris, no rocks, nothing.

~~~

Sue Anne had finally called the number on the card that woman had sent her. "Good morning, this is Sue Anne and you wished to set up an appointment with me? I have some time this afternoon which I can take a look at your resume and credentials. Be here at 2:30 PM." Since she was still feeling rather grumpy she hung up on the woman and glowered at the wall. She already had the purported resume and cover letter. It was to work as an assistant for the CEO for the new company. Sue Anne was sure there was more to it than that but she would have to wait and see.

Eventually the time rolled around and ten minutes before the visit her new assistant informed her the lady was there. "Send her in exactly at 2:30 PM. I will be ready for her then." It was interesting she was early since it seemed like being 'fashionably' late was the in thing again. There had been several people who had been fashionably late who she had refused to hire. When asked she had been direct. If they couldn't show up on time for an interview for a very good paying job why would she believe they would be on time for anything else? That had pissed off a number of people. Hell, one idiot had even filed suit against her for discrimination.

That was a hoot since the judge had looked at the suit, looked at the briefs from her lawyers, and laughed the kid out of court. Just for good measure he had informed the young man he was responsible for all legal fees for both him and Sue Anne. Right as the clock turned to 2:30 her assistant opened the door and let the woman in. Sue Anne looked up and gave her a professional smile. "Have a seat and shall we get started? Do you have a hard copy as well?"

Veronica returned the smile as she sat her bag down in the chair next to her. She reached into it and after activating a sensor pulled out a folio. She carefully extracted some documents and handed them over. "Here you go Mrs. Hoag. As you will see I have also included several referral letters." Those were the important ones.

Sue Anne reached across the desk and took the papers. "Please give me a moment to review the letters. If you would like some coffee or a soda feel free." She waved towards the coffee credenza before turning to look at the letters. It was an interesting read and she had to raise an eyebrow. The letters informed her that the FBI had received some information concerning an attempt to infiltrate the new company. It was to gain information on the new processes which were being implemented. They would like to have several people hired to keep an eye on things.

Sue Anne watched as the woman stood up and retrieved some flavored water from the fridge and settled back down. For some reason she had glanced into her purse when she had sat back down. By then she was done reading the letters. "I will need to review the documents and I will be giving you a call back by the end of the week. Those are some interesting referral letters but I would like to make a few calls."

Veronica noticed the sensor indicated there was at least one bug in the office which she had expected. "I would appreciate that Ma'am. I do have one more document for you to consider." She pulled out another piece of paper and handed it over.

Sue Anne took the document and briefly flipped it open and then closed with a sigh. She had a feeling it was going to happen and she did have a company sweeping as best possible for such things. With all the new workers even with the best background checks someone was going to slip through. That was the single biggest reason those in the most sensitive positions were trusted and known. Some were friends of friends but it did help. The biggest question was how to handle this? She needed someone who knew about this stuff but she didn't know of anyone with the skills needed. "Thank you for that and I will keep that in mind as well."

Veronica gave her a professional smile as she stood up and tucked her folio back into her purse. When she did she tripped a switch which would give her a short time to talk. "It is temporarily disabled. You are going to be getting a resume from a Charles Bronski as a network tech. He will be from the NSA and will work to deal with any and all bugs." There was a very faint click and she held her hand out. "It has been a pleasure Mrs. Hoag. I am looking forward to hearing from you." After shaking she left the office.

Sue Anne needed to talk to someone about this but who? She didn't have any idea other than Billy and he had been out of anything government for years. He might be able to give her an idea but again that was problematic since she couldn't just call him up. She wondered if the Sholan's could get a message to him quicker than a terran ship could. She would have to call later once she was home.

~~~

Billy, Satasha, Kingie, Chrystal, and Z'Marl had been invited to Vangie's house by Holla. She was finally tired enough about the idiot who had been hanging around India. India had finally gotten tired of actions and playing cat and mouse with him and tried to warn him away. It hadn't worked and after talking to Holla her mother had come up with a plan. It was pretty much the same one Vangie and Billy had come up with and she was sure it would work.

Billy had previously sent Kingie to the Sandi before she left to get a few of his weapons off it. They were being stored at the Embassy since he wasn't going to take them on the guild grounds. They had very strong opinions on weapons and fighting. From what Billy had understood before the human's had come along telepaths couldn't fight. As soon as a person was hurt they would feel the pain and it would pretty much disable them. This was most true for the stronger telepaths which was why Satasha had been able to serve. She had been a low grade telepath and it just didn't impact on her as much. For the more senior telepaths they just couldn't.

He walked into the Leska suite and gave Z'Marl a hug and kiss. She was already dressed and ready to go. Looking at what she was wearing it was slightly heavier since the summer had drawn to a close and it was starting to get cool at night. "Satasha's in the room getting ready right? Kingie and Crystal are going to meet us there." Kingie had the weapons with him.

Z'Marl rolled her eyes at him. "Yes and I still say this is silly way of dealing with it. You could just threaten him but I know better. This is more fun for you isn't it?" She lightly nipped the tip of his nose before urging him to go and get ready.

Billy didn't even try and look offended. He settled for a snicker before going in. Satasha was, as he had known, in the room working on getting ready. Billy walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her vanishing waist and gave her a light hug. "Hello beautiful. About ready to go?" He nibbled on one ear as she leaned against him. "About four months now right? I am going to miss the link when it fades." From what he understood once a telepathic Sholan female hit about four months their powers were naturally suppressed. It was supposed to be to allow the fetus to develop without being impacted by the mother's talents. He was going to miss that bond now that he had gotten used to it.

She leaned into the nibbling and hug. "The doctor figures since the pregnancy is following a Sholan pregnancy it should happen very soon." She was going to miss it as well. They would still have the link days but other than the physical draw there wouldn't be any memory transfer. "Get ready silly man. We need to get going." She turned in his arms and gave him a light kiss before stepping back so she could finish. Much longer and she wasn't going to be going very far. The longer the pregnancy went on the less comfortable it was to move around much.

He laughed. "Yes Ma'am, I will get ready to go." Billy had already pulled his clothes out though he had teased Tasha with his coveralls and plaid shirt. She had glared at him and threatened to lose them while he was gone. Instead he went with a nicer set of robes and added a fair portion of his fancy jewelry. It was silly but he was going to be slapping the boy silly with his position. Add a pile of weapons being cleaned and Billy was sure he would get the idea.

Once he was done getting ready Satasha rolled her eyes at him though she didn't say anything. She knew exactly what he was doing and it was silly. Then again once he got an evil idea getting him to give it up was virtually impossible. That was especially true when someone annoyed him. When that happened good god... That setup at the Green Goddess when he asked Z'Marl to be their third or those three boys who had hurt him.

Once they were done they walked out of the suite and headed towards the gate. They could have taken their new air car but that was on the silly side. Then again the way Billy drove scared the daylights out of both Satasha and Z'Marl. Taking a public air car was more than fine. When they reached the gate one was already waiting for them.

Billy helped Satasha in first since she was pregnant and then urged Z'Marl in as well. Once he was seated and everything was paid for the air car lifted off and Billy wrapped an arm around Z'Marl and leaned over and gave her a kiss as well. He was actually feeling fairly content at the moment. His bandages were off, the physical therapy was going well, he was going to be a father again, he was getting married. What had happened on earth had been terrible but he wasn't going to let that ruin the evening.

When they finally arrived Crystal came out to greet them. "Good evening Ambassador, it is good to see you again." She was teasing him and Crystal knew he would know it. "Satasha you are looking beautiful as well and so are you Z'Marl. She gave the two women hugs.

Billy grumbled at her. "Girl I would paddle you if I didn't think that oversized kitten of yours wouldn't claw me. Use my name or else." He glowered again at her before giving her a light hug. "You are looking wonderful yourself Crystal." After one last light hug he wrapped an arm around Crystal and walked into the house. "Hello everyone and it is nice to get away for an evening. To be honest I can use the time away." In just a few days was the reception for the Embassy. It was being held at a location in town and catered by the Green Goddess.

Crystal leaned against him slightly giggled quietly. "Kingie has too much respect for you to do that. Yes Yilly I will use your name." She blushed slightly at the compliment. In a very quiet voice she asked him, "can I talk with you later Billy? I", she hesitated for a moment, "I need a father figure to talk to." That was barely audible.