Art by Rain Eligy
Previous Chapter 20: Give Us Free-dum…bbb…! https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2026/03/15/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-chapter-20-give-us-free-dum-bbb/
Admiral Rankin stood by the large viewing port of his Alpha One suite admiring his Task Force Renewal. The task force line would soon include the newly arrived ULE Athena, the damaged Poseidon’s replacement. She would serve as his flag ship and be the first carrier to go through the Portal. His anticipation of serving as its captain made waiting for her arrival frustrating. He had to control his impatience as they ran inventory to assess whether Athena had full provisions for the voyage.
He filled some of the time studying the Emissary plans for moving the Task Force through the Portal and then immediately have it fan out in Girassian space. This work included meetings with Intelligence specialists in Emissary current events. They briefed him on new date and analyses.
Normally, he did not give the Emissaries much thought. But now, they were all he thought about since his force was going to fall under their command.
The Emissaries never showed their ships’ true capabilities. Whenever encountered, Emissary ships cruised at speeds far below the standard cruising speeds of Earth’s Star Force ships. Everyone assumed they were capable of much higher velocities than the League and Martian star forces. Using his tactical expertise, he would discern what the Emissaries planned to do off of the formations, how they would use the human ship movements as a foundation for their own maneuvers. After studying his orders, Rankin concluded the human ships were to be used like the classical infantry squares, the Emissaries wheeling like cavalry on the flanks.. And, by inductive reasoning, Rankin would project what the true features of their ships might be.
The Admiral also met separately with each of the Task Force captains. He liked pressuring a captain to see how they responded when challenged. His staff searched cruise logs and maintenance reports to find details of unresolved problems. He especially wanted to see how a captain handled enquiries when they did not know of the resolution. He judged the basis for the confidence they always showed. Suffering no bullshit, he turned any faltering hesitancy into a painful teaching moment.
There had been some good news when the ULE Athena arrived earlier than expected. Two days before the accident, she had embarked from Alpha One on a voyage to the asteroid belt. On being called back, Athena’s newly-installed RKC-42 biodroid pilot pushed beyond standard velocities to join Rankin’s fleet. She was already nearly completely provisioned for the task force exercises, except for extra unarmed torpedoes needed for war games. They were loaded in little time.
But then, just as his Task Force convened and readied to leave for Mars, Rankin had to endure another complication. The alarm for a priority video call demanded immediate attention. A severe appearing Director of Surveillance for Alpha One immediately spoke. “Admiral, the London disappeared. We received no distress call before her disappearance. There were no signs of malfunction. No debris.”
“You’re confident in your systems?” In his challenge, Rankin looked like he was drilling a hole into a plank.
“Systems were up and showed no break in data flow. We linked to the League’s radio telescope for x-ray and ultraviolet detection. This added nothing. There’s no trace of the London.”
Before Rankin could recover to interrogate further, the Director continued. “Three commercial ships also blinked off surveillance. They too showed no aberrant signals before disappearing. But they reappeared within twenty minutes and responded to our calls, all of them unaware of any problem on their side. The London remains missing,”
The Lion glared at the Director who quietly took a deep breath, working hard to look certain of his report. “What happened? How do ships just ‘blink’ off and come back?” Rankin hammered the word “blink.”
“We don’t know what caused their disappearance. Based on the timing of the ships’ disappearance and reappearance, we used their location and vector velocities to generate a model that explains what we see.”
“You have nothing more than a model?” Rankin said.
“It’s only a theoretical explanation, but it gives us something to work with. Imagine a wave of interference advancing radially from a point, reaching a limit and then receding, like a balloon expanding and then collapsing. A wave sliding up a beach and then falling back into the surf.”
“Yes?” Rankin said. “What’s the nature of this wave of interference? Has someone developed an EMP delivery system we don’t know about?” Rankin did not see how this explanation should reassure him over the London.
“No electromagnetic pulse was detected.. We found nothing emitting a signal. This is just a model. ”
The Admiral closed his eyes, shook his head, then became as still as the air before a tornado. Finally, he said, “You don’t have anything that accounts for this blackout. Still, shouldn’t the London have moved out of this, this bubble of non-transmission? Where is it?”
The Director’s voice cracked as he continued. “Correct, Sir. If the London remained on course to Mars, she should have reappeared by now. Like the other ships.”
The Director was acting more certain of himself than Rankin thought he should have been. “This suggests, what? We’re back to knowing nothing to account for our lost ship. ”
“We have two working theories, Admiral. Either, the London was obliterated, leaving no trace. Unlikely. Or, she changed course and headed for the center of the field, chasing ahead into the receding wave. She is still covered by an unknown form of interference.”
Rankin remained silent. The director hurriedly added, “Surveillance, Engineering, and Astrophysics are looking at everything, trying to figure out what the source of this and whether this has ever been reported before.” The Director looked down, avoiding Rankin’s eyes.
“Is there anything else, Sir? I have reported everything. We will send Athena our data.”
“Send everything, including this modeling. Keep me apprised.” He abruptly terminated the call. and clenched his teeth. Has Maureau gone off mission despite the critical time element of his orders. Really? Who am I dealing with? Damn Vastatis for insisting the London be part of Renewal. Maureau is so unpredictable.
Despite his frustration, Rankin found himself hopeful that the inexplicable had occurred twice: an unexplainable physical phenomenon and an unexplainable action by his Captain.
#
The Admiral usually kept the hatch into his office open regardless of whom he was speaking to unless the discussion was classified. He closed the hatch and took some antacids before making a call to the Chief of Star Force Operations, Admiral Lisa Milroy. She already knew about London’s disappearance, surprising him that someone outside his Task Force would know of the crisis before him.
“I have a deep foreboding something really catastrophic has happened. I fear London may be destroyed,” she said.
“I cannot think of that,” Rankin said. “Surveillance offers an alternative explanation of what we are seeing based on modeling by they have done.” He described the expanding and contracting blackout for Milroy. “Captain Maureau may have altered course and redirected London deeper into a functional blackout.”
He looked up from the monitor to see Captain Plotkin arriving for her meeting with him. Rankin admired her bearing. Here is someone I can rely on. Raising a finger he nodded to the seats outside of his office. She clearly was dissatisfied having to wait. I better be able to rely on her..
“It’s hard to believe. Why would he go off mission?” Milroy said. “And such an important one at that! I’m not convinced Maureau went off course into some sort of communication void.”
As he worked to reassure Admiral Milroy, Rankin realized he was also convincing himself Maureau had gone off mission. His recusant commander had to have had some reason to go off-mission, to perhaps chase something. That much he would allow him.
“I like your optimism, Ted. Or, is this mistrust of Captain Maureau? Regardless, if this is just your captain being unpredictable, that’s better than losing the London.”
“You don’t know him like I do.”
#
Expecting the next captain to arrive soon, he reopened his office hatchway to make his call to the Chair of Parliament’s Armed Forces Committee. It was a courtesy call as Parliament’s envoy to the Emissaries was on the London and his disappearance affected the diplomatic work of the League. With the three commercial ships briefly disappearing and then reappearing, he reassured the Chair that this was a benign astrophysical phenomenon. He expected the reappearance of the London at any moment.
While he was was still on the call with the Chair, Captain Angelique Plotkin arrived. Rankin was distracted while admiring her bearing. Here is someone I can rely on. I better be able to.
He raised a finger and nodded to the antechamber. She clearly was dissatisfied having to wait. During his conversation with the legislator, he kept his gaze on her who acted oblivious to his attention, studying her computer pad with an unnatural intensity. He knew she was listening to his conversation with the Senator. I would expect anyone sitting outside my office to be listening to my conversation, But Plotkin, you’re being a bit too obvious.
Rankin promised the Chair he would immediately notify him when the London reappeared. Done with the call, he sat looking at Plotkin, waiting for her to look up. After way too long, she was no longer able to feign inattention and looked up at him. He waved for her to come into his office, stood up and closed the hatch behind her.
“That’s strong perfume you’re wearing, Captain.”
Plotkin looked at Rankin blankly, but her voice betrayed disappointment. “Admiral, wearing perfume on duty is not permitted. I do nothing that is not regulation,” she said, looking at his full beard which was not regulation. “If my soap is too intense, let’s open up your office hatch.”She narrowed her eyes and seemed to dare him to try baiting her again.
She was not someone he could intimidate and he laid aside his set of challenging questions. They were a bad idea to use on her, a waste of time. He already knew what he needed to know. After all, they were co-equals in their plot to unveil the secret technology of the Cloaking Mirror.
“No, that is not necessary. I think it is pleasant.” Rankin inhaled slowly, exaggerating his enjoyment.” She frowned. “How do you think I handled the Chair of Armed Forces?”
“You speak strongly, Sir. Loudly.” She smiled. “It sounded like you commanded him to relax.”
Rankin could not tell if this was a compliment or criticism. He immediately moved the subject to something he felt in control of. “This is the last time we will meet in person before the mission. Are you ready?”
“All of my crew is aware of the Cloaking Mirror now. Before we include the London in our cloaked run, I recommend we do at least one more test run to assess its steadiness in projection. If the London appears out of the Cloak before we reach the Girassian border the mission will be a failure. We need to test the Mirror once more.”
“Vastatis did not want it tested again before the mission,” Rankin said.
“Admiral, may I speak plainly?” She paused, wanting him to approve anything provocative she might have to say. She waited and frowned when he remained silent.
“I agree that we should straight-talk one another,” Rankin said. “Speak frankly.” He nodded for her to continue.
“Admiral. We are deep into black ops with Vastatis. Arguably, we plan treasonous activity and need complete transparency between us if we are to be confident in one other.
“He gives us this technology to see if it was good enough to hide from our own Star Force. Then, he asks us to use it to betray a fellow officer. Given what is at stake, I don’t think he has any say in what we do with it now. We are taking on all the risk. I want my crew to operate it flawlessly, before we race into Girassian space.”
Her hair swept back, angular jaw clenched, and intense gaze set upon him, she projected defiance and confident competence. Why would she think she needed to tap into political influence for advancement? She did not need Vastatis for advancement.
As if in answer to his thoughts, she added, “I want to master his technology and make the Chicago the premier starship in the Force. With his Mirror working, I could bring down the entire fleet by myself.”
“Interesting example of mastery you use, Captain. I can see why he asked for you,” Rankin said. “I like that you seek tactical mastery. You may take the Chicago out as much as you feel you need to.”
Without smiling, she nodded. “His demand we use the technology to frame Maureau seems strange, even given the political climate. Do you think, Captain Maureau will lose his commission over this?”
“No. This will all become a political issue, pulling in his father and the Republican Socialist Party. It’s ironic. Maureau will heat up interstellar relations when his father is such a dove.
“Will he lose his captaincy?” she said.
“That’s certain. His reprimand will have to satisfy Central Command and the Parliament. Once again, Rankin found himself reassuring a fellow officer about Maureau. He recognized the irony given his negative interactions with him. “Maureau is a competent officer. He will weather the political storm. It will be easy to blame his BDP for acting on bad coordinates. We know his BDP is defective. We gave him this unit for the purpose of disrupting his mission.”
“I know his BDP. It is erratic and inappropriate. It may be dangerously insubordinate. One might even question his judgment for keeping it.”
“You’re not having misgivings now, are you? Rankin said.
“No, I am not having second thoughts. I understand this is a good exercise for testing the Cloaking Mirror while we can asses Girassian defensive technology. It’s good for the League and Southern America. I’ll be part of a great accomplishment for mankind, helping us gain freedom from the Emissaries.”
They went over the tactical operations of the mission named the Operation Probe. The mission parameters were programmed into plugin modules for the London that would auto-delete their instructions as soon as they were executed. The ships’ navigation officers needed to pay especial attention to their course in relation to one another as the Chicago and London would be required to move through space closer than safety limits allowed.
Plotkin had the mission’s timetable memorized. After an hour of review, Rankin sat back and looked at her admiringly. “I’m feeling strong on Operation Probe. When completed, I will hand Star Force a system that exceeds anything the Emissaries have. And you will command the benchmark ship in the fleet. You will become a consultant for captains.
Very good,” Plotkin said. “And for whatever reasons the Vastatis has, he will have his political mess with Girassia and Maureau in the center of it.”
After she left, Rankin’s thoughts kept coming back to Senator Vastatis. As admiral of the Star Force Task Force, he had no duty to be communicating with him, but he put in a call to him. Vastatis would be very concerned that the London had disappeared. He kept the hatch door closed.